Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

About: Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is a education organization based out in Springfield, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 3747 authors who have published 5977 publications receiving 209115 citations. The organization is also known as: SIU School of Medicine.

The Shape School: Assessing executive function in preschool children

Abstract: Age‐related changes in executive function were examined on a new task, the Shape School, in 70 preschool children (32–68 months old). The Shape School is a colorful storybook designed to examine inhibition and switching processes in young children. Results confirmed that task efficiency varied significantly with age, with older age groups outperforming younger groups. Furthermore, inhibition efficiency improved significantly between 3 to 4 years of age, whereas switching skills showed developmental improvement from 4 to 5 years of age. These results suggest that the Shape School is sensitive to maturational effects and that performance can be parsed into inhibition and switching processes. The Shape School may be useful in clinical populations in order to elucidate developmental brain‐behavior relations in preschool children.

The Drg-1 Gene Suppresses Tumor Metastasis in Prostate Cancer

Abstract: Drg-1 was previously identified (N. van Belzen et al., Lab. Investig., 77: 85-92, 1997) as a gene that was up-regulated by the induction of differentiation in a colon carcinoma cell line in vitro. Subsequently, this gene was found to be regulated by several factors including hypoxia, androgen, p53, and N-myc. Recently, Drg-1 has also been shown to be involved in tumor progression in animals, although the clinical significance of its involvement remains to be investigated. To clarify the functional role of Drg-1 in prostate cancer, we examined a clinical archive of cancer specimens for the expression of Drg-1 by immunohistochemistry. We found that the expression of Drg-1 had a significant inverse correlation with the Gleason grading and the overall survival rate of patients. In particular, the gene expression in patients with lymph node or bone metastasis was significantly reduced as compared with those with localized prostate cancer, suggesting that the function of Drg-1 is negatively involved in metastatic progression of the disease. To further clarify the function of this gene in the advancement of prostate cancer, a spontaneous metastasis assay was performed in a severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mouse model. We found that Drg-1 almost completely inhibited lung colonization of highly metastatic prostate cancer cells without affecting the growth of the primary tumors. These results strongly suggest that Drg-1 is a candidate metastasis suppressor gene for prostate cancer and may serve as a useful prognostic marker.

Targeted disruption of growth hormone receptor interferes with the beneficial actions of calorie restriction

Abstract: Reduced intake of nutrients [calorie restriction (CR)] extends longevity in organisms ranging from yeast to mammals. Mutations affecting somatotropic, insulin, or homologous signaling pathways can increase life span in worms, flies, and mice, and there is considerable evidence that reduced secretion of insulin-like growth factor I and insulin are among the mechanisms that mediate the effects of CR on aging and longevity in mammals. In the present study, mice with targeted disruption of the growth hormone (GH) receptor [GH receptor/GH-binding protein knockout (GHRKO) mice] and their normal siblings were fed ad libitum (AL) or subjected to 30% CR starting at 2 months of age. In normal females and males, CR produced the expected increases in overall, average, median, and maximal life span. Longevity of normal mice subjected to CR resembles that of GHRKO animals fed AL. In sharp contrast to its effects in normal mice, CR failed to increase overall, median, or average life span in GHRKO mice and increased maximal life span only in females. In a separate group of animals, CR for 1 year improved insulin sensitivity in normal mice but failed to further enhance the remarkable insulin sensitivity in GHRKO mutants. These data imply that somatotropic signaling is critically important not only in the control of aging and longevity under conditions of unlimited food supply but also in mediating the effects of CR on life span. The present findings also support the notion that enhanced sensitivity to insulin plays a prominent role in the actions of CR and GH resistance on longevity.

Cisplatin and Aminoglycoside Antibiotics: Hearing Loss and Its Prevention

Abstract: This review introduces the pathology of aminoglycoside antibiotic and the cisplatin chemotherapy classes of drugs, discusses oxidative stress in the inner ear as a primary trigger for cell damage, and delineates the ensuing cell death pathways. Among potentially ototoxic (damaging the inner ear) therapeutics, the platinum-based anticancer drugs and the aminoglycoside antibiotics are of critical clinical importance. Both drugs cause sensorineural hearing loss in patients, a side effect that can be reproduced in experimental animals. Hearing loss is reflected primarily in damage to outer hair cells, beginning in the basal turn of the cochlea. In addition, aminoglycosides might affect the vestibular system while cisplatin seems to have a much lower likelihood to do so. Finally, based on an understanding the mechanisms of ototoxicity pharmaceutical ways of protection of the cochlea are presented.

Using path analysis to understand executive function organization in preschool children.

Abstract: There continues to be no consensus definition of executive functions. One way to understand different executive function components is to study abilities at their emergence, that is, early in development, and use advanced statistical methods to understand the interrelations among executive processes. However, to fully determine the constructs of interest, these methods often require complete data on a large battery of tasks, which are difficult to obtain with young children. Path analysis is an alternative statistical technique that requires only a single measure of each construct, yet still allows researchers to investigate complex relations among measures, to compare nested models, and to compare model fit across groups. Therefore, 117 preschool children (ages 2 years 8 months to 6 years 0 months) completed several executive function tasks. Path analysis was used to determine the relations between complex problem solving and working memory, inhibition, and set shifting processes. The best-fitting model included paths from working memory and inhibition to problem solving, and a correlation between working memory and inhibition. Interestingly, in younger children, inhibition was the strongest predictor of problem solving, whereas working memory contributed more strongly in older children. Suggestions for useful statistical methods to investigate the relations among executive functions in children are discussed.