Grants

Lesley Allen, PhD, assistant professor, Psychiatry, received a one-year, $24,500 grant from the Foundation of UMDNJ to study "Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Somatization Disorder."

Ira Black, MD, professor and chair, Neurosciences and Cell Biology, received a five-year, $5,000,000 grant from the NIH to study "Growth and Development of the Nervous System."

Daniel Cowen, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Psychiatry, received a three-year, $60,000 National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression 1998 Young Investigator Award for his study, "Direct Comparison of Coupling of 5-HT1A and Neurotrophin Receptors to Pathways for Regulation of Protein Synthesis."

Devendra Deshmukh, PhD, associate professor, Surgery, received a one-year, $25,000 grant from the Foundation of UMDNJ to study the "Effects of Aging on Intestinal Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury."

The Research Center in Environmental Health Sciences with principal investigator Michael Gallo, PhD, professor, Environmental and Community Medicine, RWJMS, and director, Center for Environmental Health Sciences, EOHSI, received a five-year, $6.8 million grant from The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Jerome Langer, PhD, associate professor, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, received a one- year, $25,000 grant from the Foundation of UMDNJ for "Studies of Cloned Interferon Receptors."

Michael Lewis, PhD, University Distinguished Professor, Pediatrics, and director, Institute for the Study of Child Development, received a one-year, $304,221 grant from NIH to study the "Emotional Regulation/Stress in Prenatal Cocaine Exposure."

Stephen Lowry, MD, professor and chair, Surgery, received a five-year, $1,408,267 merit status grant from NIH to study "Hormone and Cytokine Regulation of Endotoxin Injury."

Stuart Lutzker, MD, PhD assistant professor, Medicine and Biochemistry, received a one-year, $25,000 grant from the Foundation of UMDNJ to study "Regulation of p53 Activity in Teratocarcinoma Cells."

Yuh-Hwa Wang, PhD, assistant professor, Biochemistry, received a one-year, $25,000 grant from the Foundation of UMDNJ for "Structural and Functional Studies of Chromatin Formed Over Repeating Trinucleotides from Human Disease."

Publications

"Breaking the Pain Cycle: Traditional and Nontraditional Techniques," by Robert Carabelli, MD, clinical assistant professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in the March 1998 edition of Advance for Directors in Rehabilitation.

"Pediatric Peripheral Neuropathy in Proteus Syndrome," by Mihye Choi, MD, Philip Wey, MD, both assistant professors, Surgery, and Gregory Borah, MD, chief, Plastic Surgery, was in Annals of Plastic Surgery, Vol. 40 - No. 5, May 1998.

Professional Activities

Edward Arnold, PhD, resident faculty member, CABM, and adjunct professor, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, RWJMS, presented "Structure of Poliovirus Type 2 Lansing and Implications for Biological Function" at the Second International Virus Assembly Symposium held in the Canary Islands.

Honors

Peter Aupperle, MD, assistant professor, Clinical Psychiatry, was selected by the National Institute of Mental Health to participate in the 1998 Summer Research Institute in Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Ticks May No Longer Be a Threat

For those who love the outdoors, there's good news. A new vaccine was shown to be 92 percent effective in protecting adults against Lyme disease.

Rheumatologist Leonard Sigal, MD, director of the Lyme Disease Center at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, was the principal investigator of a three-year study of the drug ImuLyme, developed by Pasteur, Merieux and Connaught in Swiftwater, PA. The findings were published in the July 23rd issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The vaccine works by triggering the immune system to produce an antibody to outer surface protein A, which is found on the surface of the bacterium Borrelia bergdorferi. It is this organism that causes the disease. The bacteria is carried inside the deer tick, which transmits the disease with its bite.

Over the course of a year, either ImuLyme or a placebo was given in three doses to 10,306 participants 18 or older. Testing sites included New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin, New York and Massachusetts, all Lyme disease "hot spots." Participants' blood was regularly tested for the presence of antibodies.

The vaccine was shown to be 100 percent effective in women of all ages and men under 60, after all three doses were administered. However, only 67 percent of men over 60 were safeguarded. Sigal says the poorer rate in older men will be the subject of future studies by his laboratory and at Connaught. The pharmaceutical company is also preparing to launch a study of the effectiveness of the vaccine for children, one of the highest risk groups for contracting Lyme. The vaccine has not yet won FDA approval, but is expected to do so very soon. A similar vaccine, developed by SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals in Philadelphia, was found to be 76 percent effective after three shots.

New Jersey ranks fourth in the nation in the number of Lyme cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year 2, 190 people in the Garden State were infected. The disease causes flu-like symptoms, joint and muscle pain, severe headaches and sometimes a bull's-eye rash in the early stages.

Publications

"Position of The American Dietetic Association: Nutrition Education for Health Care Professionals," coauthored by Julie O'Sullivan Maillet, PhD, associate dean, Academic Affairs and Research, was in the Journal of The American Dietetic Association, Vol. 98 - No. 3, March 1998.

Honors

Riva Touger-Decker, PhD, RD, assistant professor and director, Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition program, was appointed to the Medical Advisory Committee of Special Olympics International as an alliance representative from the American Dietetic Association.

Professional Activities

Robin Eubanks, MA, assistant professor, Clinical Interdisciplinary Studies, presented "Failure and Recognizing the Impact of Motivation" at the 8th National Indian Nursing Education Conference at the University of North Dakota.

Grants

Michael Henry, PhD, assistant professor, Molecular Biology, received a one-year, $25,000 grant from the Foundation of UMDNJ to study the "Role of Protein Arginine Methylation in RNA Maturation."

Richard Schimmel, PhD, associate professor, Cell Biology, received a one-year, $25,000 grant from the Foundation of UMDNJ to study "Cholesterol Organization: A Determinant of Platelet Function."

Publications

"Inhibition of NO Synthase Attenuates Peroxynitrite Generation, But Augments Neutrophil Infiltration in the Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion in Rats," coauthored by Peitan Lui, PhD, instructor, Kingsley Yin, PhD, adjunct assistant professor, both in Cell Biology, Robert Nagele, PhD, associate professor, Molecular Biology, and Patrick Wong, PhD, chair, Cell Biology, was in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Vol. 284 - 1998.

"Notes on the History of Suicide and Physician Assisted Suicide," by Edmund Erde, PhD, professor, Family Medicine, was in Hawkeye Osteopathic Journal, Vol. 16 - No. 1, April 1998.

"Third Calcium-Modulated Rod Outer Segment Membrane Guanylate Cyclase Transduction Mechanism," coauthored by Anu Kirshman, PhD, Rafal Goraczniak, PhD, both research teaching specialists, Teresa Duda, PhD, assistant professor, and Rameshwar Sharma, PhD, chair, all in Cell Biology, was in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Vol. 178 - 1998.

"Use of Doppler Echocardiography to Monitor Embryonic Mouse Heart Function" and "Application of Plastic Embedding for Sectioning Whole-Mount Immunostained Early Vertebrate Embryos," two chapters in the book "Developmental Biology Protocols," Vol. I and II - 1998, were coauthored by Kersti Linask, PhD, assistant professor, Cell Biology.

"Use of Transvaginal Color Doppler Ultrasound to Diagnose Vasa Previa," coauthored by Kenneth Chen, DO, resident, and Peter Konchak, DO, assistant professor, Clinical Obstetrics/Gynecology, was in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, Vol. 98 - 1998.

Professional Activities

Esther Deblinger, PhD, professor, Clinical Psychiatry, and clinical director, Center for Children's Support, presented "Lessons Learned in the Field of Child Sexual Abuse" at the New Jersey American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children's conference.

Thomas Cavalieri, DO, professor, Clinical Medicine, was elected to Fellowship in the Academy of Medicine of New Jersey by the Board of Trustees of the Academy.

Carman Ciervo, DO, assistant professor, Clinical Family Medicine, was honored and presented with the Distinguished Service Recognition Award at the New Jersey Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons House of Delegates.

Peter Konchak, DO, assistant professor, Clinical Obstetrics/ Gynecology, was honored as Distinguished Fellow by the American College of Osteopathic Obstetricians and Gynecologists.