NJMS: NEW JERSEY MEDICAL SCHOOL

Grants:

Lucian Del Priore, MD, PhD, associate professor, Ophthalmology, received a one-year, $50,000 grant from the American Health Assistance Foundation to study "Effect of Extracellular Matrix Ligands in RPE Attachment to Bruch's Membrane."

Karen Raphael, PhD, associate professor, Psychiatry, and assistant professor, Oral Pathology, Biology, and Diagnostic Sciences, New Jersey Dental School, received a five-year, $1,881,703 grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to study "Fibromyalgia, Depression and Myofascial TMD: A Family Study."

Marco Zarbin, MD, PhD, professor and chair, Ophthalmology, received a one-year, $50,000 grant from the American Health Assistance Foundation to study "Refinement of Scleral Flap Biopsies for Autologous RPE Transplantation."

Professional Activities:

Joel DeLisa, MD, professor and chair, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was reappointed to the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates' Board of Trustees to represent the American Board of Medical Specialties for a four-year term.

Publications:

"A Placebo-controlled Study of Fluoxetine vs. Imipramine in the Acute Treatment of Atypical Depression," by Malvin Janal, PhD, research specialist, Psychiatry, was in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 157.

"Age-related Macular Degeneration: Review of Pathogenesis," by Marco Zarbin, MD, PhD, professor and chair, Ophthalmology, was in European Journal of Ophthalmology, Vol. 8, No. 4, 1998.

"Acupuncture Reflex Systems of the Ear, Scalp and Hand," by Nadir Soliman, MD, Bray Frank, MD, Hiroshi Nakazawa, MD, and Allison Averil, MD, assistant professors, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, Vol. 10, No. 3, August 1999.

"An Analysis of Cumulative Trauma Disorders in Dental Hygienists," by Todd Stitik, MD, assistant professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Michael Conte, DMD, assistant professor, General Dentistry and Community Health, NJDS; Patrick Foye, MD, assistant professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; and Diane Schoen, BSDH, MS, associate professor, General Dentistry and Community Health, NJDS, was in The Journal of Practical Hygiene, March/April 2000.

"Cerebellar Degeneration Associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection," by Gary Sclar, MD, assistant professor, Neurociences, was in Neurology, Vol. 54, No. 2, 2000. Dr. Sclar also authored "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in HIV-1 Patients: A Metabolic Consequence of Protease Inhibitor Use," was in AIDS 2000, Vol. 14, No. 3.

"Comorbid Fibromyalgia Accounts for Reduced Fecundity in Women with Myofascial Face Pain," co-authored by Karen Raphael, PhD, associate professor, Psychiatry, and Joseph Marbach, DDS, professor, Oral Pathology, Biology and Diagnostic Sciences, New Jersey Dental School, was in Clinical Journal of Pain, Vol. 16.

"Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Reviewing the Research Findings," co-authored by John DeLuca, PhD, associate professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Benjamin Natelson, MD, professor, Neurosciences, was in The Society of Behavioral Medicine, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1999.

"Drusen in Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Pathogenesis, Natural Course, and Laser Photocoagulation-Induced Regression," by Ahmed Abdelsalam, MD, resident, Lucian Del Priore, associate professor, and Marco Zarbin, MD, PhD, professor and chair, Ophthalmology, was in Survey of Ophthalmology, Vol. 44, No. 1, July/August, 1999.

"Effectiveness of Neomycin/ Polymyzin Bladder Irrigation to Treat Resistant Urinary Pathogens in Those with Spinal Cord Injury," by Todd Linsenmeyer, MD, assistant professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1999.

"Effects of Botulinum Toxin A on Upper Limb Spasticity in Children with Cerebral Palsy," by Alan Friedman, MD, resident, Martin Diamond, MD, clinical associate professor, and Mark V. Johnston, PhD, associate professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in The American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 79, No. 1, January/February 2000.

"Encephalomyeloradiculoneuropathy Following Exposure to an Industrial Solvent," by Gary Sclar, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Neurosciences, was in Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, Vol. 101, 1999.

"Examination of Cloninger's Basic Dimensions of Personality In Fatiguing Illness: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis," by Christopher Christodoulou, PhD, assistant professor, John DeLuca, PhD, associate professor, Gudren Lange, PhD, instructor, Elizabeth Gaudino, PhD, instructor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Benjamin Natelson, MD, professor, Neurosciences, was in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol. 47, No. 6, June 1999.

"Impairment Rating and Diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: History and Physical Examination," and "Impairment Rating and Diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Electrodiagnostic Studies," by Todd Stitik, MD, Scott Nadler, DO, and Patrick Foye, MD, assistant professors, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in the American Academy of Disability Evaluation Physicians, Vol. 8, No. 2, May 1999.

"Levels of Spinal Cord Injury and Predictors of Neurologic Recovery," by Steven Kirshblum, MD, associate professor and Kevin O'Connor, MD, assistant professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, Vol. 11, No. 1, February 2000.

"Myofascial Face Pain: Clinical Characteristics of Those with Regional Versus Widespread Pain," co-authored by Karen Raphael, PhD, associate professor, Psychiatry, and assistant professor, Oral Pathology, Biology, and Diagnostic Sciences, New Jersey Dental School, Joseph Marbach, DDS, professor, and Jack Klausner, instructor, both in Oral Pathology, Biology and Diagnostic Sciences, NJDS, was in the Journal of the American Dental Association, Vol. 133.

"Organizational Strategy Influence on Visual Memory Performance After Stroke: Cortical/Subcortical and Left/Right Hemisphere Contrasts," by Gudren Lange, PhD, instructor, Stephen Kirshblum, MD, and John DeLuca, PhD, associate professors, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 81, January 2000.

"Osteoarthritis of the Knee and Hip: Part 2 - Keys to Successful Non-drug Therapy," by Todd Stitik, MD, Patrick Foye, MD, and Scott Nadler, DO, assistant professors, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in Consultant, July 1999.

"Otologic and Audiologic Evaluation of HIV-Infected Patients," by Sujana Chandrasekhar, MD, Patricia Connelly, MD, assistant professors, Sapna Brahmbhatt, MD, former medical student, Chetan Shan, MD, resident, Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Pat Kloser, MD, assistant professor, Clinical Medicine, Medicine and Soly Baredes, MD, associate professor and chief, Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, was in the American Journal of Otolaryngology, Vol. 21, No. 1, January/February 2000.

"Scalp Acupuncture," by Hiroshi Nakazawa, MD, and Allison Averil, MD, assistant professors, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, Vol. 10, No. 3, August 1999.

"Subspecialty Certification in Spinal Cord Injury Medicine: Past, Present and Future," by Joel DeLisa, MD, MS, chair and professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, Vol. 22, No. 3, Fall 1999.

"Treatment Alternatives for Spinal Cord Injury Related Spasticity," by Steven Kirshblum, MD, associate professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, was in The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, Vol. 22, No. 3, Fall 1999.

Book Review

TUBERCULOSIS: A COMPREHENSIVE INTERNATIONAL APPROACH
EDITED BY LEE B. RECHMAN, MD, MPG, AND EARL HERSHFIELD, MD
MARCEL DEKKER, INC., SECOND EDITION

    This new edition is a comprehensive reference on the treatment, control and prevention of TB. It contains 35 chapters written by 50 national and international experts on the disease, and provides a global perspective on its history and epidemiology, as well as strategies for its control. The book has new chapters on the transmission of tuberculosis, international strain genotyping, a model TB elimination program, tuberculosis and medical anthropology, responding to outbreaks of multi-drug resistant TB, treatment of latent tuberculosis infection, and BCG vaccine. It includes the most up-to-date discoveries about the disease, and looks at tuberculosis in the future.

    The New England Journal of Medicine's reviewer of the first edition said, "A major strength of this book is the international stature and experience of the...contributors...a veritable Who's Who in tuberculosis research and control," and "The editors are to be commended for integrating the very different focuses of and priorities for the control of tuberculosis in different regions of the world."

    Reichman is a professor of medicine at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, and executive director of the New Jersey Medical School National Tuberculosis Center.

Research Grant

DIABETIC RETINOPATHY IN AFRICAN AMERICANS

    Monique Roy, MD, associate professor of ophthalmology at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, received a five-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Eye Institute to study "Risk Factors for Diabetic Retinopathy in African Americans" in August,1999. This followed an earlier, federally funded $2.7 million study. Diabetic retinopathy is the most common ocular complication in patients with diabetes and remains the leading cause of new cases of blindness among Americans age 20 to 64. Most studies of this disorder have focused on white patients with diabetes, so little was known about its frequency and severity among blacks.

    The "New Jersey 725" - the first federally funded study to examine diabetic retinopathy among African Americans with early onset type 1 diabetes - was conducted between 1992 and 1997 at UMDNJ-University Hospital in Newark under Roy's direction. Data shows that among this group of 725 patients, glycemic control was poor, renal disease and systemic hypertension were high, and diabetic retinopathy was present in almost two-thirds of patients and was severe in 19 percent. Eleven percent of patients had some visual impairment and 3.1 percent were legally blind. Diabetic retinopathy was more severe and more common in patients who had had the disease for a longer period of time, in those who had poor glycemic control, and in patients who had renal disease and/or systemic hypertension.

    The current study will provide a natural history of diabetic retinopathy found on reexamination of all patients enrolled in the New Jersey 725.