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This Week@WesternU, Nov. 21-23, 2011

by Rodney Tanaka

November 21, 2011

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A Tribute to Caring

WesternU set new records in tickets sold and money raised at its annual gala, “A Tribute to Caring,” on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, Calif. The gala raised more than $170,000 for student scholarships and honored longtime College of Pharmacy supporter AmerisourceBergen Corporation with the 2011 A Tribute to Caring Corporate Humanitarian Award. Click here to read the full story and to view a slideshow.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Kudos on accomplishments

A recently-published book edited by COMP Assistant Professor of Microbiology/Immunology Vishwanath Venketaraman, PhD, examines HIV transmission, how HIV infection alters the host immune responses and the prevention and treatment of AIDS related diseases. The book, “Global View of HIV Infection,” published by InTech, brings together authors from around the world, including areas with a high burden of HIV infection, to provide a comprehensive look at HIV and AIDS.

Click here to read more.

Dr. Venketaraman was lead author of a recently published book chapter. Vishwanath Venketaraman, Devin Morris, Clare Donohou, Andrea Sipin, Steven Kung, Hyoung Oh, Mesharee Franklin, John P. Murad, Fadi T. Khasawneh, Beatrice Saviola, Timothy Guilford and Clare Donahue (2011). Role of Cytokines and Chemokines in HIV Infection, HIV and AIDS – Updates on Biology, Immunology, Epidemiology and Treatment Strategies, Nancy Dumais (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-665-2, InTech.

Dr. Venketaraman will publish an article, “Unveiling the Mechanisms for Decreased Glutathione in Individuals with HIV Infection,” in a special issue of Clinical and Developmental Immunology titled “HIV-Associated Tuberculosis 2012.” Co-authors are Devin Morris, Carlos Guerra, Clare Donahue, Hyoung Ho and Melissa Khurasany.

Another research article by Dr. Venketaraman titled, “Glutathione and adaptive immune responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in healthy and HIV infected individuals,” will be published in PLoS ONE. Co-authors are Carlos Guerra, Devin Morris, Andrea Sipin, Steven Kung, Mesharee Franklin, Dennis Gray, Michelle Tanzil, Federick Guilford and Fadi Khasawneh.

Marek Malecki, MD, PhD, was an invited speaker at the 3rd Annual World Summit on “Circulating Tumor Cells” in San Diego Nov. 8-9, 2011. He presented the lecture, “Novel Clinical Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Targeted Therapy of Cancer Based Upon Molecular Profiling of CTCs.”

He was also the leader of the professional workshop, “Circulating Tumor Cells: From Research to Clinics,” on Nov. 7, 2011 in San Diego.

From the College of Allied Health Professions:

Department of Physical Therapy Education News

Congratulations to Julia Chui, DPT Class of 2014, for having co-authored a research manuscript that has been published by PLoS ONE. The manuscript title is Oral Treatment with γ-Aminobutyric Acid Improves Glucose Tolerance and Insulin Sensitivity by Inhibiting Inflammation in High Fat Diet-Fed Mice with authors Jide Tian, Hoa N. Dang, Jing Yong, Wing-Sheung (Julia) Chui, Matthew P. G. Dizon, Catherine K. Y. Yaw, and Daniel L. Kaufman. PLoS ONE is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), a nonprofit organization.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Kudos on accomplishments

Dr. Olivia Phung was invited by the Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit at the Mayo Clinic to deliver a half-day workshop to their research group on how to use the statistical program WinBUGS for Network Meta-Analysis. This was a hands-on workshop on Nov. 4, 2011 at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., with short practice activities using the statistical program, and discussion of basics about network meta-analysis.

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius was a co-author on an abstract presented this week at the American Heart Association. Meytal Avgil Tsadok, Cynthia Jackevicius, Elham Rahme, Karin H Humphries, Vidal Essebag, Mark J Eisenberg, Jack V Tu, Hassan Behlouli, and Louise Pilote. Sex Differences in Risk Factors, Treatment Patterns and Clinical Outcomes of Stroke Among Patients with Atrial Fibrillation. Circulation. 124:A13626.

The Anticoagulation clinic at a community pharmacy initiated and managed by Professor Roger Klotz and Dr. Micah Hata continues to receive media attention, most recently by the California Society for Health-System Pharmacists.

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