An Examination of HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Attitudes Among Medical
Trainees
It is estimated that the number of persons with HIV infection
in the United States ranges from 650,000 to 900,000. Given these
numbers, future physicians can anticipate being involved in the
direct care of patients with HIV infection and/or assisting in
identifying care resources for them. However, research indicates
that a notable percentage of health care professionals have negative
attitudes towards HIV-infected and AIDS patients. Our research
examines the factors which influence knowledge of AIDS and attitudes
towards AIDS and HIV-infected patients among medical trainees
during their medical education.
Sponsor: College Seed Grant
PIs: Vivian Stevens and Damon Baker
Area Prevention Resource Centers
The Department of Psychiatry administers three Area Prevention
Resource Centers (APRCs). Each APRC serves a defined catchment
area from offices within its geographical region. The Tulsa APRC
serves north and west Tulsa County; the PaNOK APRC provides services
to Payne, Pawnee, Noble, Osage, and Kay Counties; and the Tri-County
APRC functions in Creek, Okmulgee, and Okfuskee Counties.
These programs promote the prevention of substance abuse, and
its related problems of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect,
youth depression and suicide, teenage pregnancy, STFDs and AIDS,
violence, gangs and occult involvement, and school dropouts through
services that positively influence the personal attributes of
individuals and the environmental conditions of the community.
APRCs organize individuals into task forces that assess the mental
health needs within their community and, with the assistance of
APRC staff members, develop and implement programming to reduce
the incidence of high-risk behaviors. APRC community-based programs
provide information and education, increase community awareness
and citizen involvement, present life skills development training,
organize alternative activities, examine social policy, and refer
individuals for intervention services as needed.
Sponsor: Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance
Abuse Services
PI: Bruce A. Singer
African-American Specialty Center
The goal of the Center is the development of healthy, responsible,
productive citizens who will be unlikely to experience alcohol
or drug-related problems in their lives. This is accomplished
through the delivery of culturally-specific prevention services
that identify individual and environmental factors that place
African-Americans at increased risk and address these conditions.
Sponsor: Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance
Abuse Services
PI: Bruce A. Singer
Carnitine Levels in Normal and Disease States
Several studies have suggested that tissue carnitine levels are
adversely affected by several diseases or the treatments for those
diseases. This project is developing an assay for blood cell carnitine
levels and establishing normal baseline levels to allow studies
on the effect of such things as dialysis and AZT on carnitine
levels.
Sponsor: Departmental Seed Grant
PIs: Martin Banschbach and Thomas Stees
Cognitive Impairment Among Cherokee Elders
A pilot project is being conducted in collaboration with Ralph
Richter of St. John Medical Center and the Alzheimer's Disease
Center of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
at Dallas dealing with cognitive impairment among Cherokee elders
in Oklahoma. The purpose of the study is to obtain preliminary
data on the prevalence of cognitive impairment, profiles of cognitively
impaired and non-impaired Cherokee elders, and the usefulness
of several standard mental health and functional assessment instruments
for this population.
Sponsor: College Seed Grant
PI: Nancy Van Winkle
Cognitive Rehabilitation Following Brain Injury
Injury of brain tissue occurs in many diseases and traumatic insults.
Impaired cognitive abilities secondary to these injuries often
prevent patients from returning to productive work and family
life. Rehabilitation therapies have been widely available for
only the past 20 years; research into their effectiveness is in
its infancy. Current investigation involves comparing the efficacy
of biofeedback and a patented system of in-home, computerized
cognitive retraining therapies in remediating deficits in patients'
abilities to sustain and modulate attention appropriately. Collaboration
with an ophthalmology resident and a faculty member of the Northeastern
State University College of Optometry is producing an evaluation
of the efficacy of remediating impaired visuomotor functions,
visual acuity, and visuospatial reasoning in brain injured patients.
Sponsor: College Seed Grant
PI: Richard H. Bost
End of Life Issues in American Indian Communities
Funding is being pursued to conduct a pilot study in two Oklahoma
tribes to 1) identify the values, beliefs, and behaviors of tribal
members regarding end-of-life issues, e.g. advance directives,
autopsies, organ donations; 2) determine tribal members' and health
providers' perspectives of how the health care system currently
deals with these issues; and 3) determine tribal members' and
health providers' perspectives of how the health care system can
be improved to better meet the needs of tribal people with regard
to end-of-life issues. This is the first step in a research program
whose ultimate goal is to develop curricular materials on end-of-life
issues to train culturally competent health care providers. This
is a collaborative effort with Dianne Miller-Hardy of OSU-COM
and Everett Rhoades of OU Health Sciences Center.
Sponsor: College Seed Grant
PI: Nancy Van Winkle
Oklahoma Area Health Education Center Program
The Oklahoma Area Health Education Center Program (OkAHEC) is
a sponsored program of OSU-COM that is conducted through regional
AHEC's located in Enid, Poteau, Lawton, and Pryor, and a training/health
care facility in the Osage Hills Complex in Tulsa. The program
combines academic and community resources to improve the supply
and distribution of primary care professionals and to increase
the accessibility of quality health care services in rural and
medically underserved areas. The OkAHEC mission is accomplished
through community-based training for health professional students
and medical residents with rural and underserved populations;
educational interventions that promote disease prevention and
improved health through access to primary health care services;
continuing education for health practitioners in rural communities;
health careers recruitment with a special focus on minority and
underserved populations; locally based initiatives that respond
to emerging health care needs; and coordination with other state
and federal primary care initiatives.
Sponsor: Oklahoma Department of Health and U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services
PI: Larry Cherry
Prevention of Post-Cerebral Ischemic Damage by Intravenous
Hypothermic Resuscitation Fluid Intervention in the Rat
A variety of post-ischemic treatment protocols employing normothermic
and hypothermic saline and resuscitation fluid will be administered
intravenously to rats that have undergone a 10-minute period of
global cerebral ischemia. These will be carried out to determine
whether or not the deterioration in motor skills and working and
reference memory, that usually accompany such conditions as stroke,
can be reduced or eliminated through such therapeutic maneuvers.
Physiological function tests, such as electroencephalographic
recordings, maze testing, and foot-fault testing as well as histopathological
data, will be correlated at the conclusion of the 21-day recovery
period to determine the relative protection of the various post-ischemic
protocols.
Sponsor: Life Resuscitation Technologies, Inc.
PIs: Loren G. Martin, Thomas Wesley Allen, George M. Brenner,
Richard G. Cooper, Warren E. Finn, Kirby L. Jarolim, JoAnn Ryan,
and Thomas J. Stees
Prevention Resource and Evaluation Center
The Prevention Resource and Evaluation Center (PREC) provides
consultation, material resource support, and a wide range of program
evaluation services for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health
and Substance Abuse Services (DMHSAS), the Oklahoma Area Health
Education Centers (OAHEC), and other agencies throughout the state.
Originally developed exclusively for drug and alcohol prevention
programs, PREC has expanded its scope to include the evaluation
of other health-related topics and provides services, i.e. evaluation
design, instrument development, and the production of formal evaluation
reports to many other agencies. The collection, input, analysis,
and services offered by PREC staff are survey development and
implementation, evaluation site visits, conducting informational
or training presentations on evaluation or related topics, and
providing consultation or technical assistance.
Sponsor: Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance
Abuse Services
PI: Bruce A. Singer
Stress and Human Motor Activity
Restlessness and psychomotor agitation, i.e., excessive nonproductive
or nongoal-oriented motor activity, are symptoms of anxiety. This
research examines the use of a body-borne, motor activity measurement
device to detect changes in motor activity associated with anxiety-provoking
life events. This research may help improve diagnosis and treatment
of anxiety disorders by aiding in the development of quantitative
methods for reliable, unobtrusive assessment of nonproductive
motor activity during daily life and in response to stressful
life events.
Sponsor: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
PI: Michael H. Pollak
Suicide Among American Indians in New Mexico
Ongoing studies are being conducted with Philip A. May, Director
of the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions at
the University of New Mexico on the epidemiology of completed
suicides among the Apache, Navajo and Pueblo Indians of New Mexico
using state death certificates from 1957-1996 and death reports
from the Office of the Medical Investigator from 1980-1996. The
association of alcohol and suicide, age and gender differences
in suicides, and trends in suicide rates are being explored currently.
Sponsor: College Seed Grant
PI: Nancy Van Winkle
Clinical Drug Trials
Several faculty contract with different pharmaceutical companies
to test new drugs. Ongoing trials are testing drugs for the treatment
of HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and other diseases.