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In | sight
How Marquette researchers use imaging technology to deepen our understanding of the world around us.
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MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP 2013
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In | sight
Marquette researchers are using imaging technology to solve problems and deepen our understanding of the world around us.
In Brief
18 Improving rural health care one nurse at a time The intersection of culture and new media 19 Predicting the next big disaster 20 Improving ADHD treatment for Latino children 21 Understanding the relationship between terrorists and society A 2-minute lifesaver 22 Crime and (differing) punishment Halo Project ignites meaningful student research 23 Reading your way to kindness 24 Marquette Bookshelf 25 Research and scholarship at Marquette
My communitys dying.
African-American women are leading the fight against HIV and AIDS, and Dr. Angelique Harris wants to understand why.
Stepping forward
Dr. Gerald Harris and the Tech4Pod consortium are engineering better devices for children with orthopaedic disabilities.
14 Unfiltered images
Dr. Craig Andrews research shows graphic visual health warnings influence intentions to quit smoking.
Discover: Marquette University Research and Scholarship is published annually by the Office of Marketing and Communication.
Editor: Nicole Sweeney Etter Designer: Joan Holcomb Contributing writers: April Beane, Becky Dubin Jenkins, Stephen Filmanowicz, Chris Jenkins, Brigid Miller, Joni Moths Mueller, Lynn Sheka, Christopher Stolarski Illustrators: Melissa McGill, Mikela Prevost and James Steinberg Photography: Dan Johnson, Ben Smidt and Alan Fethiere Stock images: iStockphoto.com
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Imaging plays a key role in research across Marquettes campus, with faculty focusing their sights on everything from the tiniest nanostructures to supernovae light years away. Weve had faculty working in the area of imaging in a wide variety of STEM disciplines for a number of years, says Dr. Jeanne Hossenlopp, vice provost for research. Development and use of new imaging tools will continue to be crucial in work across disciplines, ranging from atomic-level imaging for nanoscience to imaging on the human scale for biomedical applications to exploring the universe. Read on to learn how Marquette researchers are using imaging technology to solve problems and gain new insights about our world.
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Physics Letters in November. Lee uses a high-powered microscope to learn about the nanostructure growth mechanism, and in 2012 he succeeded in growing atomically
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sharp tips at nanoscale, which could be used in materials such as metals, metal-oxides and polymers. The applications of this technology are broad in science and engineering, Lee says. One possible application: using a single molecule as an electric device such as an electronic computer chip, which may be more efficient than current computer chips, he says. Working within spaces less than 1/10,000th diameter of a human hair, Lee builds his nanostructures with an unusual method, using an optical lithography that is common in industry and an electrical field.
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My communitys dying
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How African-American women are leading the fight against HIV and AIDS
In three decades since the dawn of the HIV/AIDS crisis,
By Chris Jenkins
Her book traced the work of an activist organization, the Balm in Gilead, which prompted churches in the AfricanAmerican community to become more involved in the fight against AIDS. Now its not weird, really, for churches in the United States to address HIV, Harris says. In fact, many of them are expected to in some way, shape or form. And women led the way, a phenomenon Harris says holds true for most social justice issues in the African-American community. Thats just seen as being the responsibility of black women within the culture to do that, she says. I thought that was interesting in terms of linking that to the AIDS work that I was doing because there were very few heterosexual black men involved in the AIDS movement. Its just incredibly, incredibly rare, in large part because of the stigmas associated with it. For her latest research project, Harris spoke with a wide variety of female AIDS activists facing different challenges. In rural areas, victims might not have access to the latest medical advances. And in urban areas, it can be a struggle for an activist to have her voice heard quite literally, in the case of one New York City activist she interviewed. Theres even one woman who walks around in Harlem on 125th Street with a bullhorn, just yelling about HIV and handing out condoms, Harris says. What drives them all to act? A lot of them are infected themselves but a lot of them arent infected, she says. They just got involved because somebody was sick years ago that got them really upset, a sister got sick or a friend. And they wanted to do something. They still face an uphill fight. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans comprised 14 percent of the U.S. population in 2009 but accounted for 44 percent of all new HIV infections. Its a massive problem, Harris says. And the numbers arent going down.
there have been significant changes in the way society thinks about its victims and advances in what medical science can do to treat them. But much of that progress has bypassed the African-American community, where social stigma presents roadblocks and new infections continue to skyrocket. A small group of activists, almost exclusively women, is trying to change that. Dr. Angelique Harris, an assistant professor of social and cultural sciences, wants to know what motivates them. When youre asking them about how they see their work, all of them say something along the lines of, My communitys dying, the people are sick and I need to do something about it, Harris says. Harris has conducted extensive interviews with 36 female African-American HIV/AIDS activists around the country. After analyzing the data, she plans to publish her findings in several papers and, eventually, a book. Its an extension of work she did earlier in her career, when she examined how churches in the African-American community initially responded to the HIV and AIDS epidemic or, as often was the case, didnt respond at all. Her first book, AIDS, Sexuality, and the Black Church: Making the Wounded Whole, was published in 2010. Harris research on the often-precarious intersection of AIDS awareness and religion has made her a sought-after speaker at conferences. In examining the churchs role in the African-American community, Harris found that stigmas against HIV and AIDS victims including the initial perception that it was a disease that affected only homosexual men and intravenous drug users kept churches from addressing the crisis. A lot of that was the church, Harris says. And it still exists in large part, because theres still a lot of ignorance in terms of how people actually become infected.
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Dr. Gerald Harris and the Tech4Pod consortium are engineering better devices forchildren with orthopaedic disabilities.
We hope to be able to ... increase their physical function, their integration with their peers and community, their By Chris Jenkins mobility and, ultimately, their quality of life.
Wearing futuristic-looking light-reflecting markers as 14 video cameras record her movements at 120 frames per second to generate real-time animation on a nearby computer, Lillie Wacaster could be modeling for the next big video game. Instead, shes helping researchers in the gait laboratory at Shriners Hospital in Chicago study how children with orthopaedic challenges walk and, as part of a multimillion-dollar research project led by Marquette biomedical engineering professor Dr. Gerald Harris, help improve their lives.
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By wearing an array of sensors that feeds live data into a computer, Lillie Wacaster helps researchers at Shriners Hospital in Chicago study how children with orthopaedic challenges walk. The analysis is part of a multimillion-dollar research project led by Marquette biomedical engineering professor Dr. Gerald Harris.
clubfoot, spina bifida, spinal cord injuries and other orthopaedic issues. For Harris, who spends a few days each month at Shriners, its the latest step in a career-long commitment to helping children with orthopaedic challenges. He says helping kids is a driving force for everyone involved. Thats what motivates them, the fact that theyre really having a positive impact on these children and their families, says Harris, who also directs Marquettes Orthopaedic Research & Rehabilitation Engineering Center. At Shriners, they care for those kids for 18 or 19 years. The children keep coming back. We have a long history of quantitative assessment, and its sort of like the well that you can keep going back to for more encouragement. Harris team uses a relatively new technology, called nanoindentation, to measure bone fragments removed from OI patients during surgery. In the past, those fragments simply were discarded. But now, we can take those tiny little fragments and we can actually get the material property information, Harris says. Weve put that into a series of models so we can predict fracture in these children. By combining data gathered from bone fragments with gait analysis plates in the floor of the gait lab at
a rare condition also known as brittle bone disease that makes her especially vulnerable to fractures. Though Lillie has a less severe form of the disease, lab workers at Shriners recall one OI patient who broke both femur bones simply by sneezing. These children, by the time theyre aged 20 or so, have many fractures. Some have had as many as 50 or more, says Harris, who co-authored a new book on OI that will be published this spring. They represent a very fragile patient but a patient that has tremendous capacity for increasing the quality of life. Harris and Marquette are part of a research consortium that includes higher education and health care partners in Milwaukee and Chicago. The group, called Tech4Pod technologies for pediatric orthopaedic disabilities was designated a national Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center by the U.S. Department of Education in 2010 and is funded by a five-year, $4.75 million grant. The consortium also includes Shriners inChicago, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the Medical College of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Together, theyre developing new tools and improved treatment strategies for children with cerebral palsy, OI,
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Shriners measure the forces applied as a subject walks Harris and his team hope to help prevent fractures in OI patients by modifying childrens activities and designing better assistive walking devices to absorb forces. Its really cutting-edge, Harris says. And what it means to us is we hope to be able to take a child with OI, do a couple of assessments, and then be able to prescribe safe activities that would increase their sports, their physical function, their integration with their peers and community, their mobility and, ultimately, their quality of life. Researchers also are studying cases of severe clubfoot, a congenital condition that causes an infants foot to turn inward and downward. Clubfoot often is treated with corrective casts. By analyzing the tissue of deformed feet and the types of casts used to correct them, Harris and his team hope to identify treatments that best keep the condition from recurring. Another part of Harris research focuses on studying the strain children experience when they use assistive devices. By putting sensors on crutches, walkers and wheelchairs, Harris team has found that such devices put considerable stress on a patients upper body. Theyre actually loading the upper extremities to high levels and coming
close to thresholds of acute injury at the shoulder joint, depending on what their patterns look like, Harris says. Harris also is studying children with flatfoot who have had implants, hoping to improve treatment planning and posttreatment follow-up. The research being carried out by Harris and the rest of the Tech4Pod team requires the participation of families like the Wacasters, who hope to contribute to something that helps other kids in the future. There was so little research in this area, says Lillies mother, Priscilla Wacaster, who also has OI. And how you walk, how you play, how you interact with people this is everyday stuff. The surgeries are important, but the orthotics in your shoe make a difference in how you walk, which makes a difference in how you go to school. Its affecting your day-to-day life. Lillie, fortunately, has a more mild form of OI. And it doesnt seem to hold her back much. Thanks to drug treatments that help strengthen her bones, she has had only two recent fractures: She broke her arm after falling off her bike and broke a vertebra when she flipped an all-terrain vehicle. Or, as she puts it, doing normal stuff.
Few researchers bring more intimate experience to the problem of traumatic spinal cord injury and
paralysis than Dr. Murray Blackmore. The assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Health Sciences was 12 years old when his mother suffered a C5 injury to her spinal column. The injury near the top of the vertebral column left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. It wasnt an abstract problem that can happen somewhere else, he says, remembering time spent in Count Blackmore among the scientists who are making progress in understanding how to reverse the rehab with his mom. injury physicians once considered untreatable. Historically, science focused on repairing the injury site. But Blackmores research, funded in part with a Craig H. Neilsen Foundation grant of $300,000, breaks new ground, focusing instead on re-establishing the communication highway that connects the brain and spinal cord. Neurons in the brain send signals along millions of microscopic cables that run down to the spinal cord. These cables, called axons, deliver the brains instructions to tell the body when and how to move. If some of the axons are damaged, those that remain will team up to restore the flow of information and most functionality. Paralysis occurs when all the axons are damaged. You can lose 90 percent of the axons, and the remaining 10 percent is enough to carry most of the functionality, Blackmore says. That means if we can just get 10 percent of the cables to regrow, that is enough to make a difference. Species such as the adult salamander are able to regenerate and regrow axons. This growth machinery is also active in the human embryo, but its turned off once the axons reach their target growth. Theres an evolutionary reason for shutting down additional growth to prevent aberrant connections, Blackmore says. Thats nature. He believes gene therapy can be used to reactivate the growth machinery in adult human cells. I try to understand what is different between an embryonic neuron and an adult neuron that explains this difference in their ability to grow, he explains. And then this is where it gets really cool ultimately you want to restore that ability in the older neuron. You want to change gene expression in the older neuron to mimic the young neuron. Blackmores target: the approximately 1,000 genes in the young neuron that differ from the older neuron. His lab methodically changes each genes expression in a petri dish. With a high-throughput screening microscope, he can see whether the gene helps axons grow and by how much. Before he arrived at Marquette, Blackmore and researchers in Miami had identified one growth-promoting gene. His Marquette lab recently succeeded with a second gene. The lab has packaged these potentially therapeutic genes in a virus and injected them into rodents with spinal cord injuries. What were really excited about is were seeing actual regrowth of axons as a result of this gene therapy, he says. Thats huge. Thats a first for the field. Its the first gene therapy reagent that can be delivered to an adult animal that can result in improved growth of a really important set of axons. Blackmores findings appeared in the 2012 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Moving forward, the goal is to identify a cocktail of genes that boosts growth even more and then eventually to move to clinical trial in humans. I
think its a matter of time, Blackmore says, but, yes, I believe well have a cure.
In this close-up scan of injured motor control nerve cells, a fluorescent red reporter identifies cells that successfully respond to gene therapy reagents applied in Blackmores lab.
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Dr. Craig Andrews research shows graphic visual health warnings influence intentions to quit smoking.
By Christopher Stolarski
On a given day, approximately 45.3 million Americans will light up a cigarette, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This suffocating addiction will kill half of them prematurely. Experts widely agree that increased information about the severity of tobaccos health risks is key to curtailing one of the nations most dire public health issues.
In the study, 511 adult smokers were shown one of four graphic visual health-warning labels that covered approximately 40 percent of a standard cigarette package. All labels contained the phrase, WARNING: Smoking Causes Mouth Diseases. Three of the labels also featured a different photograph depicting increasingly stronger degrees of mouth disease; the fourth label was a control that contained only the text. Among other measures, participants were asked their opinions about the labels, fear and their intentions to quit smoking.
For Dr. Craig Andrews, professor and Charles H. Kellstadt Chair in Marketing, one answer lies with the graphic pictorial warnings that are now emblazoned on cigarette packages in more than 50 countries worldwide. The United States is not one of them. Andrews and collaborators from the University of Arkansas and Villanova University conducted an experiment with more than 500 U.S. and Canadian adult smokers and found that highly graphic images of the negative consequences of smoking have the greatest impact on smokers intentions to quit, and the more graphic the depictions, the stronger the effects. Further, the researchers found that the images evoked fear, which in turn served as the primary underlying mechanism driving smokers attitudes toward quitting. Their research was published in 2010 by the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. Two years later, the team was awarded the journals prestigious Thomas C. Kinnear Award, which honors the journal article published between 2008 and 2010 that made the most significant
contribution to the understanding of marketing and public policy issues. This was a massive two-year review process, Andrews recalls. What made this project challenging are the different viewpoints on the topic. This is a controversial area. Though the topic is indeed controversial, Andrews emphasizes that he and his collaborators made no judgments. The project was meant to be objective, consumer research that could help inform officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he says. Those are the two agencies ultimately responsible for enforcing the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, a now-stalled U.S. law that requires graphic pictorial warning labels on cigarette packages. One federal appeals court has since agreed with the tobacco industrys assertion that the law violates First Amendment rights for commercial speech. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has appealed and tobacco companies still havent added the warnings.
Dr. Craig Andrews
The U.S. was the first country in the world to mandate text-based warnings on cigarette packages, yet well be one of the last to have graphic images, Andrews notes. Though the project started more than four years ago, it continues to evolve. Andrews, who also serves on the FDAs Risk Communication Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C., worked the research into his new book, the ninth edition of the market-leading text Advertising, Promotion and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, which he co-authored with his dissertation adviser, Dr. Terence Shimp. The original research team has shifted focus to adolescent and young smokers, and theyve discussed international studies that may include the European Union. Andrews is also turning his attention to a separate project on the efficacy of color-coded nutrition disclosures on food labels, a practice thats gaining traction in the United States and United Kingdom.
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Dr. Theresa Tobin
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The Wisconsin Nurse Residency Program has improved average two-year retention rates by as much as 50 percent.
when she launched the Wisconsin Nurse Residency Program. During the last seven years, nearly 2,000 newly licensed nurses completed the program, improving average
I think it fits very well with Marquettes mission of social justice and trying to make state-of-the-art treatment available to all families, Gerdes says. I think we have a lot to offer the Latino community that wasnt available before. An estimated 5 to 9 percent of school-age children suffer from ADHD, Gerdes says. Though ADHD affects Latino children at least as much as the population as a whole, there had been little research on those families needs. Most ADHD research studies involve middle-class Caucasian children, notes Gerdes, whose work has been published in the Journal of the Abnormal Child and the Journal of Attention Disorders. Latino children are also less likely to be diagnosed and to receive help for mental health disorders. Although Gerdes speaks only a little Spanish, she works with Spanish-speaking graduate students and has developed community connections with Latino churches and schools. Together, they have translated and validated some of the diagnostic tools used with ADHD children. Along the way, Gerdes discovered that some tools arent culturally valid. For example, she noticed that many Latino students were referred for psychological assessment by teachers, not parents, and learned that Latino families are more likely to see their childs behavior as part of their personality instead of as a problem. So instead of the traditional focus on symptoms, she and her graduate students designed a new measure around functional impairment, asking questions such as Is your child having peer problems in the classroom? and Is your child having trouble getting homework done? Time outs, a mainstay of traditional ADHD treatment plans, were another idea that didnt translate well. The whole concept of time out is something that our Latino families dont really understand, Gerdes says. They dont really get why somebody would do this. So she found a tool that does appeal to many Latino parents: natural consequences. For example, if a child resists getting dressed in the morning, send him to school in his pajamas (with his clothes in his backpack, of course). Gerdes, who has funding from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, will test the modified treatment plan with Latino families in a pilot study this spring. For me, the real question is not only does the modified treatment work, but is it better? she asks. Because it takes a lot of work and time to modify treatment, and if it doesnt outperform standard treatment, then theres really no point in doing it. NSE
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How are these kinds of groups that we often think of as extremely violent and extremely vile responding to cues from society?
A 2-minute lifesaver
Who knew taking 2 minutes to complete a form could help save your life? More than 8,000 Americans die from oral cancer each year roughly one person every hour. But Dr. Amir Seifi in the Marquette School of Dentistry is working on an oral cancer risk assessment form that has the potential to catch this deadly disease at early stages and reduce the number of fatalities. Finding a way of assessing the risk in our patients and catching the disease early with good diagnostic tools is our goal, says Seifi, an assistant professor of oral medicine and diagnosis. The assessment form asks patients about their medical history, ethnicity, age and personal habits. Dentists routinely do comprehensive soft tissue exams, but Seifi says his form would help make the risk assessment a standardized practice helping dentists educate their patients on avoiding risk factors and determine how aggressively they should treat a patient based on his or her risk factors. If I see a discoloration or ulceration and my patient is at high risk, I would biopsy it, Seifi says. Early detection is critical. Caught early, oral cancer has an 80 to 90 percent survival rate, and patients can typically avoid surgery (which can involve removing part or all of certain head and neck structures, such as the tongue or soft palate). When you know youre adding to this persons life quality and life strength, it feels amazing, Seifi says. Starting this spring, patients at the campus clinic will be asked to complete the new form. Seifi will use the data collected to compare the diagnoses and treatments received by high-risk patients against those with low risk factors to determine the forms effectiveness. AB
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The available data didnt reflect the depth and complexity of services that many inner-city faith communities provide to the community.
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Marquette Bookshelf
Looking to dig into a new book? Check out the latest offerings written and edited by Marquette faculty.
Be That Teacher! Breaking the Cycle for Struggling Readers
By Dr. Doris Walker-Dalhouse, associate professor of educational policy and leadership, and Victoria J. Risko Demonstrates how teachers can provide differentiated instruction based on students individual and cultural backgrounds to aid struggling readers.
Social Psychology
By Dr. Stephen Franzoi, professor of psychology The sixth edition expands coverage of social cognition and social neuroscience.
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MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP 2013