By 2020, there will be more people on earth over the age of 65 than ever before. As the elderly population balloons, so does the number of elder orphans: people 65 and over who live alone with no spouse, companion, or children nearby to help them with health decisions, expenses, or transportation to and from appointments.

Jessica Francis, a population health research postdoctoral fellow with the University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI), studies this vulnerable population and has found that communicating within virtual communities, like Facebook groups, can help them seek support, share stories, promote well-being, and build a community.

Approximately 13.3 million non-institutionalized older adults live alone and are at risk for social isolation. Isolated adults are 64 percent more likely to develop dementia and are at greater risk of cognitive decline due to lack of mental stimulation. But the health effects of social isolation extend beyond mental health.

Social isolation can be just as bad as living with a serious long-term illness like diabetes and can increase the risk of high blood pressure and obesity. In fact, the lack of social connections has been shown to have the same impact on your health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. As a result, socially isolated adults are more likely to visit the doctor, in part just to have human contact, and are more likely to be placed on medication, which adds pressure to the healthcare industry.

Francis, who works in the Center for Health + Technology (CheT), studies how technology and social media can help combat social isolation and promote access to support for vulnerable populations, like elder orphans and individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, she gathers information about their technology use, attitudes toward technology, and their well-being.

She’s currently measuring feelings of loneliness, perception of self, and engagement with and preference for types of technology to determine how participating in virtual communities and Facebook groups impacts these populations.

So far, her research indicates that these technologies can help us stay connected and maintain our health as we age.

The field of adolescent psychology is increasingly focused on parents, with researchers asking how mothers and fathers control themselves (and their rising anger) in difficult interactions with their children.

“Discipline issues usually peak during toddlerhood and then again during adolescence, because both periods are really marked by exploration and figuring out who you are, and by becoming more independent,” says Melissa Sturge-Apple, a professor of psychology and dean of graduate studies in Arts, Sciences & Engineering.

The developmental changes during puberty and the transition to adolescence mean that parents necessarily need to adjust their parenting behaviors, she adds. Part of that adjustment is parents’ ability to think on their feet and navigate conflicts with flexibility as their teens strive for more autonomy and greater input in the decision-making processes. Sturge-Apple is the lead author of a recent study about mothers’ and fathers’ capacity for self-regulation as well as hostile parenting during their child’s early adolescence. The study is published in the journal Development and Psychopathology.

The research was sparked by an obvious deficit: more than 99 percent of parent regulation studies have focused exclusively on mothers. In this study, Sturge-Apple and her colleagues—Patrick Davies, professor of psychology at Rochester; Zhi Li, a postdoctoral fellow at the University’s Mt. Hope Family Center; Meredith Martin ’14 (PhD), now an assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska; and Rochester psychology graduate student Hannah Jones—looked at how mothers and fathers regulated their stress in response to conflict with their adolescent children. They then examined how the stress response affected their discipline of the child.

The researchers found that those parents—both mothers and fathers—who were less capable of dampening down their anger were more likely to resort, over time, to the use of harsh, punitive discipline and hostile conflict behavior vis-à-vis their teenager.

The scientists also measured parents’ set-shifting capacity—that is, the parents’ ability to be flexible and to consider alternative factors, such as their child’s age and development.

On average, fathers were not as good as mothers at set shifting and were less able to control their physiological anger response. As a result, they were more likely to think that their teen was intentionally difficult, or “just trying to push buttons,” which in turn guided their decisions about discipline.

However, the researchers found that those fathers who were better at set shifting than others were also better able to counteract difficulties in physiological regulation. These episodes of physiological dysregulation, the team discovered, predicted over time an increase in parents’ angry responses—and that essentially, set shifting offsets this angry response tendency.

Read more here.

The University employs about 80 radiologists; the country of Zambia has one.

A collaboration between Michael Potchen, professor in the Department of Imaging Sciences; Medical Center  imaging residents; and the Zambian Ministry of Health aims to address this disparity by training Zambian medical school graduates in radiology.

The endeavor is unique in that, while Potchen is the attending physician overseeing the project, the imaging residents are actually running the program.

The goal is to create a complete radiology training program that will be freely available to teaching hospitals not just in Zambia, but other countries. It will include all materials needed for training and evaluating new radiologists, as well as the educational content they need to successfully provide imaging services to patients.

“We’re trying to develop a training guide that could be used in any resource-limited country,” says Simone Montoya, a fourth-year imaging sciences resident who is leading the effort. “We’re working off the framework Dr. Potchen developed and using technology to make the program more accessible to the world.”

In 2008, Zambia obtained two 1.5 Tesla MRI machines, but had only one trained radiologist to run them. Potchen has spent part of every year in Africa since 2005 training international neuroradiology fellows. He moved his research and training programs to Zambia after it acquired the MRI machines and obtained a NIH grant to help fund his training program.

The Zambian government was so pleased with Potchen’s training program that it increased the number of trainees beyond what was in his original grant proposal. “We have NIH funding to train one Zambian resident, but the Zambian Ministry of Health wanted us to train six. Next year they’ve asked us to train 12,” explained Potchen.

The training is conducted by imaging sciences residents through a program called PRACTERRA. This Portable Radiology Curriculum for Training, Evaluating, and Retaining Radiologists in Africa, is spearheaded by Montoya and another fourth-year resident, Sarah Mohajeri Moghaddam.  Montoya has an interest in educational development and Mohajeri Moghaddam has a background in public health.

Together, they are developing a web-based, modular curriculum that includes lectures on how to read CT and MRI scans; case studies that show different conditions; lectures that they deliver over web chat; examinations; and teacher training guides. They are also trying to include concepts like “how to be a radiologist,” lectures on how to write up a report that is useful to other clinicians, an overview of daily tasks, and other aspects of the job that are hard to learn from a book.

Importantly, they recognize that PRACTERRA will work best as a partnership. “We aren’t trying to go to Zambia and say, ‘we are Americans, our way is right.’ We are trying to provide the tools for them to empower themselves,” says Montoya.

Read more here.

Nancy Chen, assistant professor of biology, and Ellen Matson, assistant professor of chemistry, who are among this year’s recipients of prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships. Awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955, the fellowships recognize young scientists for their independent research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become leaders in the scientific community.  Each fellowship carries a $70,000 two-year award.

As an evolutionary biologist, Chen analyzes how different evolutionary forces contribute to genetic variations. One of her current projects involves working with a population of endangered wild birds—Florida scrub jays—that has been individually marked and studied since 1969.

Matson’s lab studies the reactions that occur between molecules called ligands, and the small, molecular-sized clusters of metal atoms they attach themselves to. Her work is focused on developing catalysts for the conversion of inert gases and contaminants into energy-rich fuels and useful chemical products.

Matson has also been chosen as a Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The honor recognizes “the very best early career teacher/scholars in chemistry, physics, and astronomy” for both innovative research and teaching.

Read more here.

Connections among individuals, organizations, and social groups are integral to knowledge transfer between laboratory, clinic, community, and research.

These connections could manifest in the formation of multidisciplinary research teams, inter-organizational partnerships, or engagement of end-users.

Social network analysis provides a framework to study the formation of such social structures and has been used frequently in translational science.

Reza Yousefi Nooraie, an assistant professor of public health sciences, will provide an overview of studies that used network approaches to translational processes, when he presents a UR CTSI Monthly Seminar entitled, “Studying Scientific Collaboration Using Network Analysis; an Overview of CTSA Studies,” on Tuesday, February 26, from 1 to 2 p.m. in Helen Wood Hall Auditorium (1W-304).

He will conclude with a discussion of under-investigated areas and future directions. Contact UR CTSI Education for questions. Add to your Outlook calendar.

ASL interpreters will be provided.

Hennessey Lustica, Warner School counseling and counselor education, “Development and Initial Validation of the Lustica School Counselor Evaluation Tool.” 2:30-3:15 p.m. March 11, 2019. LeChase Hall Room 215. Sponsor: Douglas Guiffrida. Independent chair: Joanne Larson.

Yu-Fu (Michael) Chen, health services research & policy, “Understanding the Role of Paternal Economic Support in Early Childhood Health and Development.” 10 a.m. March 25, 2019. Helen Wood Hall 1W502. Advisor: Peter Veazie.

Shannon Grace Loelius, microbiology & immunology, “Human Platelet Dysregulation by Antiretroviral Drugs and Cigarette Smoke In Vitro.” 11 a.m. March 25, 2019. Medical Center K307 (3-6408). Advisor: Craig Morrell.

Feb. 26: “Studying Scientific Collaboration Using Network Analysis; an Overview of CTSA Studies,” presented by Reza Yousefi Nooraie, an assistant professor of public health sciences.  UR CTSI Monthly Seminar. 1 to 2 p.m., Helen Wood Hall Auditorium (1W-304). Contact UR CTSI Education for questions. Add to your Outlook calendar.

Feb. 27: Phelps Colloquium Series: Elizabeth West Marvin, professor of music theory and of brain and cognitive sciences, Experiencing Absolute Pitch: Insights from AP Possessors in the US and Asia, and Gilbert “Rip” Collins, professor of mechanical engineering and of physics and astronomy, Extreme Matters: A Laboratory Exploration of Planets, Stars, and Quantum Materials. 4-5:30 p.m. Max at Eastman. Register here. Questions? Contact Adele Coelho or call 273-2571.

March 6: Jesse L. Rosenberger Works-in-Progress seminar. Anna Rosensweig, assistant professor of French, presents “Affective Evidence: Rights of Resistance on the Early Modern French Stage” as part of the theme of expertise and evidence. Noon to 2 p.m. Humanities Center Conference Room D at Rush Rhees LIbrary. Lunch provided. RSVP by clicking here.

March 13: Translational genomics and proteomics un-meeting. Researchers from across UNYTE Translational Research Network member institutions will discuss and develop new, innovative, and effective ideas for genomics and proteomics translational research. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Helen Wood Hall 1-304. Click here for registration and agenda.

March 18: Applications due for up to 17 pilot project awards (maximum budget of $50,000 per award) to support novel basic, clinical and translational projects in the neurosciences. Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience. Open to all Medical Center and River Campus faculty. For more information and to download the RFA, click here.

March 19: Nominations due for the Furth Fund, which provides early career scientists with $12,500 in research funds to help foster the development of promising scientists. Nominees should be junior, tenure track faculty appointed in natural or biological science departments within ASE, SMD or SON who have been hired within the past three academic years. Completed nominations should be directed to Adele Coelho at adele.coelho@rochester.edu Additional information about the Furth Fund may be found here.

March 21: Jesse L. Rosenberger Works-in-Progress seminar. William Miller, assistant professor of English, presents “The Prophet Muhammad in the Early English Enlightenment” as part of the theme of expertise and evidence. Noon to 2 p.m. Humanities Center Conference Room D at Rush Rhees LIbrary. Lunch provided. RSVP by clicking here.

March 22: “Stress and Anxiety Disorders.” Discussion of current research with panelists Lisa Starr of the Department of Psychology, Thomas O’Connor of the Department of Psychiatry, and psychotherapist Felicia Reed-Watt.  PONS Luncheon Roundtable Series. Noon, URMC Combined Northeastern Room 1-9525 & 1-9535. Refreshments provided.  For more information on upcoming Neuro-related events, go to http://blogs.rochester.edu/pons/.

March 27: Phelps Colloquium Series: Huaxia Rui, associate professor, Simon Business School, Open Voice or Private Message? The Hidden Tug-of-War on Social Media Customer Service, and Maria Marconi, assistant professor of clinical nursing, and specialty director of Health Care Organization and Management Master’s Program and of the master’s program in nursing, Leveraging Generational Diversity in Our Classrooms. 4-5:30 p.m. Location TBD. Register here. Questions? Contact Adele Coelho or call 273-2571.

April 3: Jesse L. Rosenberger Works-in-Progress seminar. Jennifer Kyker, associate professor of music, presents “Sekuru’s Stories: Musical Sound and the Digital Humanities” as part of the theme of expertise and evidence. Noon to 2 p.m. Humanities Center Conference Room D at Rush Rhees LIbrary. Lunch provided. RSVP by clicking here.

April 4: University Technology Showcase, sponsored by Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences and the Center of Excellence in Data Science. 1 to 5 p.m., Doubletree, 1111 Jefferson Road. Speakers are Julie Gerstenberger, CEO and co-founder of Moondog Labs; Sharon Samjitsingh, co-founder of Health Care Originals; and Michael Molaire, CEO and founder of Molecular Glasses. Poster session. Register at https://ceis.wufoo.com/forms/moa11nv1mhui4d/

April 17: Jesse L. Rosenberger Works-in-Progress seminar. Anaar Desai-Stephens, assistant professor of ethnomusicology, presents “‘You have to feel to sing!’: Affective Pedagogy, and the Commodification of  ‘Feel’ in (Neo)liberalizing India” as part of the theme of expertise and evidence. Noon to 2 p.m. Humanities Center Conference Room D at Rush Rhees LIbrary. Lunch provided. RSVP by clicking here.

May 2: Jesse L. Rosenberger Works-in-Progress seminar. Tracy Stuber and Anastasia Nikolis, Public Humanities graduate fellows, present a public humanities fellowship update. Noon to 2 p.m. Humanities Center Conference Room D at Rush Rhees LIbrary. Lunch provided. RSVP by clicking here.