Been There, Seen This? |
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Identify Mystery Photo:
Win Chance for $10 Gift Card
Each week UAB Synopsis publishes a photo of something on campus. Click here to tell us what and where it is, and we'll enter your name in a weekly drawing for a $10 gift card. Winners can choose a card for the North Pavilion Market Place, Starbucks, Gourmet Goodies Bakeshop (adjacent to the UAB Hospital cafeteria), or Lucy's Coffee and Tea. Don't forget to include your name, contact information, and which prize you'd like.
Last week's winner was Administrative Director of Transplantation Martha Tankersley, CRNP, who correctly identified the picture as Jefferson Tower. Click here to learn more about the history of Jefferson Tower. |
Featured Story |
 Social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube are used as communication tools by thousands of people and organizations. This group includes UAB Medicine, which has an official Facebook page. With the increased use of these sites, incidents of inappropriate disclosures of information have risen. UAB Synopsis recently discussed social media networking etiquette with representatives from human resources and corporate compliance. Read More>> |
Headline News |
Candidates for senior vice president/dean of the School of Medicine will visit the UAB campus during the latter half of June. To view the five finalists' CVs, click here. On the first day of their visit each candidate will give a presentation from noon to 1 pm in Volker Hall Lecture Room A; the campus community is invited to attend. Read More>> |
 Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) typically exhibits aggressive behavior and results in poor clinical outcomes. Multiple new interventions under investigation show promise in patients with TNBC, including a monoclonal antibody developed at UAB.
Professor of Medicine Andres Forero, MD, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center's Clinical Protocol and Data Management shared facility and a principal investigator on an upcoming study of monoclonal antibody therapy, discusses TNBC in the inaugural issue of UAB Insight on Cancer Services. Read More>> |
Information |
"Nursing Awareness and Open House," a collaborative campaign by UAB Hospital Nursing Services, UAB Health System Marketing Communications, and UAB Hospital Human Resources, won a Silver Award at the recent 27th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards. Read More>> |
Six UAB biotechnology researchers whose discoveries have spawned spin-out companies recently showcased their work for venture capitalists at the inaugural UAB Research Foundation Spin-Out Company Forum. Investors say it was a wonderful opportunity for them to examine future partnerships. "We always are looking for the most mature technologies that we can find that others haven't, and UAB is a center for excellence that very few others in our position have visited," says Vinny Jindal, chief investment officer of Bay Street Capital Management Corporation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Read More>> |
George Kraft should be dead. After a brain aneurysm burst and his left side was paralyzed, Kraft came to UAB to the Taub Therapy Clinic. The staff of University Professor Edward Taub, PhD, who pioneered constraint-induced (CI) movement therapy, helped remold and retrain affected muscles. After Kraft's therapy proved 95% effective, he approached Belleville Memorial Hospital, located 30 miles east of St. Louis, about the idea of opening a CI therapy unit there. Read More>> |
Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences is offering access to the Nursing Reference Center, an online database of relevant clinical resources for nurses and other health care professionals. Access to the service is on a trial basis until August 8. Send feedback on this new resource to Associate Director for Content Management Elizabeth Lorbeer at lorbeer@uab.edu. |
UAB-SRI Joint Venture Seeks Drug Discovery, Development Projects
A new joint venture among UAB, Southern Research Institute, and Jubilant Organosys, a pharmaceutical and life sciences company, is seeking commercially interesting drug discovery and development projects that could benefit from the joint effort and resources of these three institutions, thereby greatly accelerating their progress. The deadline for applications is July 30. Persons submitting an application should first contact Research Project Director Maaike Everts, PhD, of the Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance, at maaike@uab.edu or 205.934.2973. To view background information, click here. |
UAB is at the forefront of the emerging technology of adaptive-optics, available at only four other centers worldwide, to detect, treat, and slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. The technology reduces the effects of rapidly changing optical distortion to improve the performance of optical-imaging systems. It first was created to help high-powered telescopes see clearly through the turbulent atmosphere of deep space. An adaptive-optics 3-D imaging instrument developed by Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology Yuhua Zhang, PhD, provides an unprecedented view of the human eye that improves ophthalmologists' identification and treatment of eye diseases. Read More>> |
The Benevolent Fund Council is taking nomination forms from UAB employees to serve for the upcoming year (August 2010 through July 2011). Council members attend one business meeting per month, serve on at least one committee, and help with the annual campaign. All council members must be continuous givers to the Benevolent Fund. Employees can self-nominate with supervisor approval. The form is due July 1. Contact Benevolent Fund Manager David Precise with any questions at 205.934.1581 or benevolentfund@uab.edu. To access a nomination form, click here. |
Use or Lose Your Personal Holidays
UAB policy requires non hospital biweekly-paid full-time regular employees to take any unused personal holidays by the last biweekly period with a June pay date - this year the June 6 through 19 pay period - or they will be forfeited. The new personal holiday balance for the 2010 to 2011 period will be reflected on the June 20 through July 3 pay statement. To read the full holiday policy, click here. The policy for monthly paid employees and hospital employees remains unchanged. Direct questions to the Benefits Office at 205.934.3458. |
EatRight True Rewards Weight-Loss Study
EatRight, a lifestyle-oriented weight control program designed to beat the odds of the weight-loss battle by easing participants into new eating and exercising habits, is seeking participants for a 12-week weight-loss study. For more information, click here. |
Professor Emeritus Jack C. Geer, MD, former chair of the UAB Department of Pathology, died June 6. Dr. Geer was a graduate of Louisiana State University (LSU) and the LSU School of Medicine. He was professor and chair of pathology at the Ohio State University School of Medicine prior to being appointed to the same positions at UAB in 1975. He served for 14 years before retiring. The family will hold a visitation from 4 to 6 pm today, June 9, at Ridout's Valley Chapel, 1800 Oxmoor Rd, Homewood. Read More>> |
UAB Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation will present a continuing education course on UAB's Traumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems of Care July 15 through 16 at UAB's Cudworth Continuing Education Center. The course content focuses on the continuum of care of neurotrauma patients, from acute management, to the team approach to rehabilitation, and the role of medical practitioners in long-term health management. To view the conference program click here. Registration deadline in June 30. |
UAB Synopsis is automatically sent to UAB Medicine faculty and staff, but anyone who subscribes can receive news and information about UAB Medicine in their e-mail box each week. Click here to send us an e-mail, and we'll take care of the rest. |
Clinical News |
UAB Medicine is the first medical provider in the state to offer a new, cutting-edge treatment for depression: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The device is the first and only one of its kind to be cleared for treatment of depression by the US Food and Drug Administration. The noninvasive rTMS delivers highly focused, Magnetic resonance imaging-strength magnetic pulses to a particular area of the brain that is linked to depression. It is indicated for patients with depression who have failed to achieve satisfactory improvement from prior antidepressant medication. "A series of strong, focused magnetic pulses from the rTMS stimulates brain's left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex," says Assistant Professor M. Bates Redwine, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology. "This part of the brain is known to have decreased activity in depressed patients." Click here to view a video of the device in clinical use. Read More>> |
Research Extra |
Professor of Medicine Edward W. Hook III, MD, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is first author of a study published online June 1 in the Journal of Infectious Diseases that found oral antibiotic pills are as effective as penicillin injections in curing early-stage syphilis. The study, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that the oral medication azithromycin has advantages over long-acting, injectable penicillin, particularly in resource-limited settings. Read More>> |
With a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation the School of Public Health will evaluate and strengthen public health services for American Indian and Alaskan Native mothers and children. "Among the questions we hope to address is a focus on interorganizational collaborations and the degree to which that works in ways that benefit this particular mother and child population," says Beverly A. Mulvihill, PhD, Department of Health Care Organization and Policy and colead investigator on the project. Read More>> |
Research Funding |
A Grants and Contracts Awarded report is distributed weekly through the UAB Research Administration Listserv. The reports consist of new grants and contracts, competing continuations, competitive renewals, supplements, and amendments or modifications that add additional funds to an existing award. Multiyear awards display the total funding awarded for the entire project period. All industry-sponsored titles have been removed and replaced by the protocol number or "Confidential Title." For the list for June 8, click here. |
UAB In the News |
From the Chicago Sun-Times: "TheraBionic
is leveraging a technique used to treat insomnia to provide what the company hopes will become a more effective way to treat certain advanced cancers, with fewer side effects than today's chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The Obama administration's health care reform 'is meant to find novel, efficacious, and cost-effective treatments with fewer side effects, and this therapy is exactly along those lines,' said Boris C. Pasche, MD, PhD, CEO of the Chicago-based company and a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Pasche and his research partner
have designed a device called the OncoBionic P2 that delivers low and safe levels of electromagnetic energy that can arrest tumor growth." Read More>> |
From Renal & Urology News: Major depression, hypertension, and prostatic enlargement are independently associated with moderate to severe urinary incontinence in men aged 40 years and older, according to researchers. Elucidation of these factors may improve clinicians' ability to identify men who may be suffering from the condition, says lead investigator Alayne D. Markland, DO, MS, assistant professor of medicine, UAB Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. Read More>> |
Accolades |
 Nurse Practitioner Jeannine McCormick, RN, MSN, CRNP, of the UAB Continence Clinic at The Kirklin Clinic, won the National Association for Continence's (NAFC) premier Shining Star Award May 29 in San Francisco. The award was presented during the 2010 American Urological Association's annual meeting by UAB gerontologist Kathryn L. Burgio, PhD, codirector of the clinic where McCormick works and a former member of NAFC's board of directors. The presentation program, "Building Bridges: A Program Supporting the Role of Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants in Urology" was supported by NAFC and funded by Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals, New York, New York. Read More>> |
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Dear Doctors |
When I look at a white wall or paper, I see little "wires" or points that move across my eyes. My vision is very good; I do not wear glasses, and I do not have any other medical problems. I want to know if my vision is in danger. Click here for answer. |
Ask the Expert |
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Events |
May L. Wykle, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and Marvin E. and Ruth Durr Denekas Professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, will deliver the 19th Dr. Jean A. Kelley Endowed Lectureship Thursday, June 10. The lecture is hosted by the UAB School of Nursing (SON). Dr. Wykle's presentation, "Age-Old Health Disparities," will examine health disparities among elders, including racial minorities and the poor. She advocates several solutions, including nursing research and evidence-based practice. The lecture will be held in the SON auditorium from 3 to 4 pm, and a reception will follow in the lobby. Read More>> |
Summer activities often take place outdoors. The Wellness Matters Committee is promoting awareness of skin cancer and other seasonal health concerns to help make this summer a safe one. Stop by the UAB Hospital's North Pavilion atrium from 11 am to 1 pm Wednesday, June 16, for helpful information. For additional information, visit http://www.uab.edu/wellness. |
Karl A. Nath, MD, will discuss "The Training of Physician-Scientists: A Mentee's and a Mentor's Perspective" at 12:30 pm, June 22, in Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium. Dr. Nath is professor of medicine and physiology and a consultant for Mayo Clinic. Click here to register. Lunch will be provided. The event is presented by the Center for Clinical and Translational Science Professional Skills Training Program and the Nephrology Research and Training Center, which provides practical assistance in the areas of scientific writing (such as the development of grants and scientific manuscripts), scientific presentations, career development, and leadership. |
 The UAB Department of Music Summer Band will present a free Fourth of July concert at 7:30 pm, Sunday, July 4, on the lawn in front of Bartow Arena, 617 13th St S. The concert will feature patriotic songs, traditional band music, pop tunes, Disney favorites, movie and Broadway themes, and an audience sing-a-long medley that will include "America the Beautiful," "You're a Grand Old Flag," and "God Bless the USA." Read More>> |
Registration is open for the UAB School of Education Camp Terrific New Technology (TNT)-Yakity Yak for children with autism, cerebral palsy, and other cognitive disabilities that make communication difficult. Sessions will be June 21 through 24 for grades 3 through 5 and June 28 through July 1 for grades 6 through 8. Camp TNT-Yakity Yak is held 9 am to 2 pm at Mountain Chapel United Methodist Church, 2541 Rocky Ridge Rd. Read More>> |
 The Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences at Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences is hosting Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health, a traveling exhibition from the NIH's National Library of Medicine, through June 18. The exhibit highlights the role of communities in improving health at home and around the world and explores the basic needs required for good quality of life: nutritious food, clean water, a safe place to live, and affordable health care. The exhibit also raises awareness of the sources and effects of health inequalities and invites everyone to join the global campaign for health and human rights. For more information about the exhibition, click here. To download the exhibition's audio tour, click here. |
Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center |
 Bring your boogie shoes and get ready for an extra-groovy evening in the Alys Stephens Center Outdoor Plaza when Live on the Plaza presents The Dynamites, featuring Charles Walker, Thursday, June 17. The season's final Live on the Plaza event gives you 10 pieces of straight-up deep funk and original super soul. When lead singer Charles Walker takes the stage, he doesn't imitate, emulate, or try to resuscitate a bygone era: he creates his own. A cash bar will be available along with Southern cuisine from Ezell's Catfish. Before the show take free dance lessons from Dance Trance. To sample the artists' music, click here. For ticket information, click here. |
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Bluegrass Legend Sam Bush
UAB's Alys Stephens Center will present bluegrass legend Sam Bush with opening act, the Alison Brown Quartet, Friday, June 25, at 8 pm in the center, 1200 10th Ave S. The performance is part of the ASC casual Summer Concerts Series; come early for summer tunes, brews, and barbecue in the Haskell Courtyard beginning at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $50, $42, $35. Call 205.975.2787 or go to http://www.alysstephens.org. |
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UAB Synopsis is the weekly e-newsletter for the UAB Medicine community. It is UAB Medicine's primary source of news and information and is the recommended alternative to mass e-mails.  UAB Synopsis staff are here to help UAB Medicine faculty and staff develop articles and distribute news and information. |
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The 
Question: Calories, particularly how many you ingest, are the most important factor determining how fat you are. If you're eating as many calories as you're burning - a condition called energy balance - does the glycemic index of the foods you eat really matter? Won't it all come out in the wash?