An interdisciplinary team of University researchers has received a $1.5 million NIH grant to develop a mobile health app for parents and caregivers of children with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD).

Principal investigators Christie Petrenko, a research associate at Mt. Hope Family Center and a recognized FASD expert, and Cristiano Tapparello, a research associate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will develop the app to provide health information for self-directed and peer-to-peer interventions.

Fetal alcohol syndrome disorders represent a major public health problem, affecting around 2 to 5 percent of school-aged children in the U.S. Only a small fraction of these children and their families have access to FASD interventions. Previous research indicates that self-directed and peer-to-peer interventions are not only acceptable to many families but can also significantly improve parenting, child behavior, and increase the use of existing resources.

The mobile health intervention app will provide caregivers with evidence-based content and peer-moderated support they can easily access in order to improve outcomes for their children and families.

“Having easy access to peers who really understand both the joys and challenges of raising children with FASD can help reduce feelings of isolation and increase support. Caregivers can brainstorm together and reinforce educational content on the app to help each other come up with strategies to try to manage specific behaviors displayed by their children,” says Petrenko.

Read more here.

Being deficient in vitamin D has been linked to poorer survival in many cancers, including lymphoma. A new $3 million grant to the Wilmot Cancer Institute allows oncologists to evaluate whether adding vitamin D to standard therapy will help patients live longer.

The funding supports one of the first national clinical trials addressing this issue in lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Principal investigator Jonathan W. Friedberg, director of the institute, will oversee the research in Rochester and at several other leading cancer centers such as the Mayo Clinic, Emory University, Weill Cornell Medicine, Washington University, and MD Anderson.

Patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) and other low-grade lymphomas will be eligible for the five-year study. FL is the second most common and the most prevalent of the non-Hodgkin lymphomas in the U.S.  Although it is generally incurable, in recent years newer therapies have resulted in FL being treated like a chronic disease, boosting the median survival to about 20 years.

The randomized, phase 3, blinded study will enroll approximately 200 patients. Researchers will compare the outcomes of people who receive standard rituximab therapy alone (plus a placebo pill) to a combination of rituximab and 2000 I.U. oral vitamin D daily for three years. They also will conduct genomics tests on tissue samples to determine subsets of patients who might particularly benefit from vitamin D therapy.

Friedberg noted that some FL patients die earlier than expected, and many others require intermittent treatment for the rest of their lives that can be toxic and expensive, potentially exceeding $100,000 per patient a year.

“If vitamin D can boost the effectiveness of rituximab early in the disease process,” Friedberg said, “it could result in an immediately available, inexpensive, and well-tolerated new standard treatment approach.”

In a prior study published in 2015, Friedberg discovered that when an individual has lower vitamin D levels at the time of the follicular lymphoma diagnosis, it strongly correlates with an earlier death.

Read more here.

(Next week: The first of four installments, based on a recent story at the institute’s Dialogue Blog, about the lymphoma program at Wilmot Cancer Institute.)

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a grant to Medical Center researchers exploring methods of making cognitive training more effective for older adults by improving their attitudes toward computers.

Feng Vankee Lin, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing and director of the CogT Lab promoting successful aging, and Benjamin Chapman, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, are principal investigators on the $421,000, two-year study.

Computerized cognitive training methods, such as online “brain games,” have been widely implemented among adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in recent years. However those interventions have not proven to be a consistently reliable method of improving or maintaining the cognitive health of older adults. Results are highly variable, and one possible explanation lies in how comfortable seniors feel using technology.

“The goal of this study is to generate a proof-of-concept for an intervention that may improve attitudes toward computers among those older adults with MCI,” said Lin. “It is the first study that we know of that strives to augment computerized cognitive training by addressing an attitudinal or affective element of the person.”

At the core of the study is the notion of person-centered care – integrating individuals’ preference throughout the process of intervention. The person-centered approached has been shown to improve engagement among older persons, including those with MCI. Pilot data collected at assisted-living facilities suggests that computer-led leisure activities promotes psychological well-being among older persons with MCI and may change their perception about technology. A computer used for fun activities may no longer seem daunting, complex, or irrelevant, but instead be seen as familiar and enjoyable.

Investigators will lead a small randomized controlled trial among assisted-living residents to assess whether a period of computer-led leisure activities prior to cognitive training improves attitudes toward computers, engagement with the intervention, or cognitive outcomes.

Anton Porsteinsson, professor of neurology, is a co-investigator on the grant, which is also receiving recruitment support from Dallas Nelson and Sarah Howd in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Geriatrics and Aging.

The inaugural Orthopaedic Research Society’s (ORS) Northeast Regional Symposium will be held at the University this Thursday and Friday.

Farshid Guilak, professor of orthopaedic surgery at Washington University, editor-in-chief of Journal of Biomechanics, and ORS past president, will give a plenary talk on Thursday after presentations by Center of Musculoskeletal Research trainees. There will be poster sessions and career development panels later that day.

On Friday, program directors Michele J. Grimm of the National Science Foundation and Fei Wang of the National Institutes of Health will give talks.

Click here for more information. Catherine K. Kuo, associate professor of biomedical engineering and orthopaedics, is organizing the symposium in collaboration with the Center for Musculoskeletal Research. The event is co-sponsored by ORS, the Department of Orthopaedics, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

• Zvi Galil, dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing;
• Shafi Goldwasser, a Turing Award winner and the RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT;
• Jon Kleinberg, Tisch University Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University;
• Muthu Venkitasubramaniam, assistant professor of computer science at Rochester.
  

A new Fulbright Arctic Initiative will bring together both established experts and early career specialists from the eight Arctic Council states (United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden) for collaborative research in one of two focus areas: community resilience and adaptation, and building sustainable economies. Scholars participate in an individual Fulbright exchange, as program activities will begin in spring 2018 and conclude in fall 2019. Deadlines are in October. Read more here.

The Center for Community Health is accepting Community Health Mini-Grant Applications for a grant to be awarded in September 2017.

The competitive grant program began in February 2009 in response to faculty and staff surveys that looked at ways to address barriers to pursuing community health partnerships. It has provided Medical Center-community partnerships with additional funding to address issues such as transportation, childcare, meeting space rental, refreshments for meetings, etc. Grant funding of up to $1000 is made on a quarterly basis. Applications are welcome from either Medical Center or community partners.

The application deadline is at noon August 10. The application and instructions are located on the Center for Community Health website.  Click here to apply, or contact Mary McDonald at: 585-224-3062 or by email: Mary_McDonald@urmc.rochester.edu.

Frank Garcea, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, “The organization of manipulable object concepts in the human brain.” 1 p.m. July 26, 2017. 269 Meliora Hall. Advisor: Bradford Mahon.

Boshen Gao, Optics, “Applications of silicon-on-insulator photonic crystal structures in miniature spectrometer design.” 2 p.m., July 27, 2017. Dewey 2162. Advisor: Robert Boyd.

Today:  Pangaea Discussion Series: “From Imaginationland to the Realm of Reality:  How Science Fiction Transforms Us.” 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Medical Center Specialty Room 2-7536. Discussion Leader: Jeffrey Tucker, associate professor in the Department of English.  Snacks, coffee and tea provided. Hosted by the SMD Graduate Student Society and AS&E Graduate Student Association. Pangaea is a free-flowing group discussion that brings together perspectives from multiple academic disciplines to help participants discover creative new ideas and opportunities. Visit the GSS Facebook page for more student event updates.

July 27-28: Orthopaedic Research Society’s Upstate New York and Northeast Regional Symposium.  Class of ’62 Auditorium and Goergen Hall. Click here for information.

July 28: Kearns Center Research Symposium, showcasing undergraduate summer research projects by McNair Scholars, Xerox Engineering Research Fellows, and students participating in the Advancing Human Health, and the Music, Media and Minds REU programs. Oral presentations 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; poster session, 1-3 p.m. Feldman Ballroom, Douglass Commons.

Aug. 10: Deadline to file applications for mini-grants from the Center for Community Health. Click here to apply, or contact Mary McDonald at: 585-224-3062 or by email: Mary_McDonald@urmc.rochester.edu.

Sept. 1: Deadline to apply for pilot funding from The Rochester Aging Research Center for projects in basic or geriatric aging research. Contact Dirk Bohmann or Anne Reed for more information.

Sept. 4: Honoring Joel Seiferis, professor emeritus of computer science. Series of talks by leading computer science theoreticians. Click here for more details and to register by Aug. 22.

Sept. 25 to 29: Early Stage Faculty Boot Camp to help senior instructors and assistant professors identify the skills they need for successful career advancement. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit the CTSI website for more details. Registration deadline is September 1.