PROBLEM Although efforts to integrate health systems science (HSS) topics, such as patient safety, quality improvement (QI), interprofessionalism, and population health, into health professions curricula are increasing, the rate of change has been slow. APPROACH The Teachers of Quality Academy (TQA), Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, was established in January 2014 with th...

The relationship between DNase I-hypersensitive sites (HSs) and transcriptional enhancers of the rat tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) gene was examined by comparing HSs in and around the TAT gene with the activity of the corresponding DNA sequences in transient transfection assays. In this manner, we identified two HSs as liver-specific enhancers. Of three hepatoma cell lines examined, only one ...

This paper presents a residential hybrid thermal/electrical grid-connected home energy system (HES), including a fuel-cell with combined heat and power and a battery-based energy storage system. The minimum operation cost of this integrated energy system is achieved by proper scheduling of different energy resources, found by applying a new powerful optimization algorithm, the Hyper-Spherical S...

OBJECTIVES To assess the internal consistency and factor structure of the abridged Spanish version of the Berger HIV Stigma Scale (HSS-21), to provide evidence for its convergent and discriminant validity, and to describe perceived stigma in an urban population from northeast Mexico. METHODS Seventy-five HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) were recruited. Participants answered the Sp...

BACKGROUND An external evaluation was conducted to assess the performance of the national HIV sentinel surveillance system (HSS), identify operational challenges at national and local levels and provide recommendations for improvement. METHODS The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems were followed...

In a previous in vitro study, the standardized turmeric extract, HSS-888, showed strong inhibition of Aβ aggregation and secretion in vitro, indicating that HSS-888 might be therapeutically important. Therefore, in the present study, HSS-888 was evaluated in vivo using transgenic 'Alzheimer' mice (Tg2576) over-expressing Aβ protein. Following a six-month prevention period where mice received ex...

Skin color is one of the most distinct features in the human race. To assess the mechanisms of skin color variation, human skin substitutes (HSS) were constructed by grafting mixtures of cultured keratinocytes and melanocytes from a combination of donor skin types, together with light skin derived fibroblasts, into chambers inserted onto the back skin of severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) m...

Homospermidine synthase (HSS) catalyses the formation of the polyamine homospermidine from 2 mol of putrescine. The general and kinetic properties of purified HSS from Rhodopseudomonas viridis are given and compared with those of the respective enzymes from other sources. The R. viridis enzyme is shown to catalyse a number of side reactions: (I) In the presence of putrescine or spermidine as do...

Here we provide a mechanism for specific, efficient transcription of the TNF gene and, potentially, other genes residing within multigene loci. We identify and characterize highly conserved noncoding elements flanking the TNF gene, which undergo activation-dependent intrachromosomal interactions. These elements, hypersensitive site (HSS)-9 and HSS+3 (9 kb upstream and 3 kb downstream of the TNF...

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are toxic secondary metabolites that are found in several distantly related families of the angiosperms. The first specific step in PA biosynthesis is catalyzed by homospermidine synthase (HSS), which has been recruited several times independently by duplication of the gene encoding deoxyhypusine synthase, an enzyme involved in the posttranslational activation of t...