In an article published in December in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at Vanderbilt University, the University of Geneva Medical School and Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., described an imaging protocol to hunt for molecules that will light up beta cells, rare but vital insulin-secreting cells that make up less than one percent of the pancreas mass. “Imaging beta cell mass would be a great biomarker for the diabetes community,” said Jack Virostko, a postdoctoral fellow in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS) and the paper’s lead author.

Beta cells reside in the pancreas and secrete insulin in response to spikes in blood sugar levels. In people with diabetes, the beta cells do not function properly, and are often reduced in number. Because beta cells make up such a small percentage of the pancreas, distinguishing them from surrounding tissue in imaging applications poses a difficult problem. The ability to image beta cells in a patient would help doctors diagnose diabetes earlier and monitor changes in beta cell mass in response to treatments.

The right molecule

“Physicians would love to have that kind of a measurement,” said Virostko, who headed up the imaging part of the study. Physicians think some therapies that result in improvements in diabetes patients actually may increase beta cell mass, but there is currently no way to test this idea. The screening technique designed by Virostko and colleagues means imaging beta cell mass is a real possibility once the right imaging molecule is found.

Designing a method to test molecules called tracers for the ability to bind specifically to beta cells was not an easy task. “In order to do these experiments, it required a lot of different people with a lot of different skill sets,” said Virostko.

Todd Peterson, Jack Virostko and Aramandla Radhika (Anne Rayner/Vanderbilt University)

Together with colleagues at VUIIS and the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center, Virostko imaged mice using positron emission tomography (PET), which detected tissue through the use of radioactive tracers, and bioluminescence, which detected only beta cells genetically modified to express luciferase, the same protein that makes fireflies glow. Combining these two techniques, the authors pinpointed the beta cells within the abdominal cavity of the mouse.

The Vanderbilt researchers next teamed with chemists at Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, which had designed PET tracers thought to only detect the beta cells. The Vanderbilt researchers combined a mouse model developed at Vanderbilt with one created at the University of Geneva Medical School. This new mouse model had beta cells that lit up through bioluminescence, and which also expressed the diphtheria toxin receptor. When the mice were injected with diphtheria toxin, only the beta cells expressing the receptor would be killed.

The mice were imaged with PET and bioluminescence before injection with diphtheria toxin. If the tracers were working properly, the PET and bioluminescence signals would light up only in the beta cells. After the toxin injection, no beta cells would be visible because they did not survive to bind the tracers.

Unexpected finding

To take the screening procedure a step further, the Vanderbilt researchers designed a preclinical model. They transplanted human beta cells into living mice and tested PET tracers for the ability to detect the human cells. The human tissue was provided by the national Integrated Islet Distribution Program, which is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health with support from Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Surprisingly, the PET tracers used in the study did not bind specifically to beta cells in mice or in transplanted human islets. Although this finding was unexpected, a useful tool was created to test PET tracers for the ability to specifically label small groups of cells. “Traditional radiology has dealt with big structural things,” Virostko said. “If you have a broken bone, that’s anatomically easy to detect. But if you’re just losing these small populations of cells, that’s not something you can detect using traditional radiology.”

An islet from a control mouse (left) displays normal insulin-expressing beta cells (green) and glucagon-expressing alpha cells (red). Afer DT administration (right) an islet displays almost complete loss of beta cells (green) and the persistence of alpha cells (red).

“Now that we’ve worked out the protocol, we can test a compound very quickly, much more quickly than was possible before,” he said. The Vanderbilt group is now using this new model to search for specific beta cell imaging molecules.

“This type of interdisciplinary work can only be done at places like Vanderbilt,” Virostko added. The overall experimental approach is applicable to other cell types and different molecular labeling methods: the technique could also screen for molecules to detect cell populations affected by diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, he said.

Other Vanderbilt researchers who contributed to this study were Aramandla Radhika, senior research assistant in the Diabetes Center; Todd Peterson, assistant professor, radiology and radiological sciences; Joseph Henske, former clinical diabetes fellow; Chunhua Dai, research assistant professor of medicine; Ronald Baldwin, former research associate professor, radiology and radiological sciences; Mohammad Ansari, manager, PET Radiochemistry Core Lab, VUIIS; and Alvin Powers, Joe C. Davis Chair in Biomedical Science and director of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center.

Their study was supported in part by the JDRFand several NIH grants, including 5U01DK072473, 5U01DK089572, 5R21DK068854, 5R33DK066636, 5R01DK068764, 3R01DK069603 and 5T32EB001628.

The Friday before Memorial Day has been designated "Don't Fry Day." (iStockphoto)

To help reduce the rising rates of skin cancer from overexposure to UV sun rays, the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention has designated the Friday before Memorial Day as “Don’t Fry Day” to encourage sun safety awareness and to remind everyone to protect their skin while enjoying the outdoors.

Because no single step can fully protect you and your family from overexposure to UV radiation, remember to SLIP, SLOP, SLAP and WRAP:

• SLIP on a shirt
• SLOP on some sunscreen
• SLAP on a hat
• WRAP on some sunglasses.

Vanderbilt Dermatology invites employees and their families to visit Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, May 25, for games, giveaways and to learn how to protect themselves from harmful UV rays.

Also, at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 31, Vanderbilt Health Line on Channel 5+ will feature a live discussion with Vanderbilt cancer and dermatology experts on the rise in skin cancer, how to decrease risk, new treatment options and the latest in research advancements.

Contact: Yani Madson, (615) 936-5994
yani.madson@vanderbilt.edu

Gautam Biswas, professor of computer science and computer engineering; Xenofon Koutsoukos, associate professor of computer science and computer engineering; and Daniel L.C. Mack, a Ph.D. student in computer science, are members of the VLRS technical team along with four members of Honeywell Aerospace Advanced Technology as well as four members of Business Development/Management Support at Honeywell Aerospace, two members from Aerospace Advance Technology and two members from NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Vanderbilt Public Affairs Officer Ann Marie Deer Owens with TCPRA President Julia Wood at the 2012 TCPRA conference at MTSU. Image courtesy of MTSU News.

Vanderbilt News and Communications received five communication awards from the Tennessee College Public Relations Association at its spring meeting May 17-18.

Research News @ Vanderbilt won the silver award for Best Web Page/Site. Also receiving a silver award in the category of Best Media Success Story was the entry “Lamar Alexander donates pre-Senate papers to Vanderbilt Libraries/Come on along exhibit.”

Vanderbilt View received a bronze award for Best Newsletter (printed). Other bronze winners were “That’s Vanderbilt” for Best Radio/TV Show or Newscast and “Vanderbilt libraries now food friendly” in the category of Best News Release.

More than 150 entries were submitted by universities and colleges across the state for the annual competition, which was judged by advertising, marketing and public relations professionals not affiliated with any particular school.

The conference “Revolutionize Your Brand” was hosted by Middle Tennessee State University.

A new federal grant awarded to VUMC researchers actively involves patients and patient families in a study hoped to improve the quality and safety of patient care. Members of the research team include Diane H. Buckberg, Jessica Pasley, principal investigator Matthew Weinger and Susan Morley. Buckberg, Pasley and Morley are Vanderbilt Patient-Family Advisory Council members.

Patients and their families will have a more active role and voice in research designed to improve the quality and safety of patient care, thanks to a federal grant received by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers.

VUMC investigators have been awarded a two-year, $750,000 grant from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), one of the first grants awarded by the nonprofit institute established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the only such grant awarded in Tennessee. The PCORI’s mission is to help patients, providers and other health care stakeholders make informed care decisions by producing and promoting information resulting from research guided by patients, caregivers and the broader health care community.

The Vanderbilt research will begin this summer and will track both patients’/patient families’ and clinicians’ reports of “non-routine” events in four different clinical areas: elective pediatric cardiac surgery, outpatient pediatric oncology (chemotherapy administration), adult day surgery, and adult patients with acute coronary syndrome who are undergoing cardiac catheterization. A non-routine event is defined as any event that deviates from optimal or expected care for a specific patient in a specific clinical situation. A multidisciplinary team of nearly 30 Vanderbilt faculty/physicians and staff, including nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, oncologists, cardiologists, pediatricians, engineers, psychologists, anthropologists, statisticians and informatics personnel, will be working together on the project. Select patients and patient family members who are members of Vanderbilt’s Patient-Family Advisory Council also will be part of the research team.

“I’m excited that Vanderbilt received one of these highly competitive grants,” said U.S. Representative Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), a strong supporter of the mission of the PCORI. “This important research, done right here in Nashville, will help improve health care delivery and outcomes for patients and their families all over the country.”

Matthew Weinger, professor of anesthesiology, biomedical informatics, and medical education; and director of the Center for Research and Innovation in Systems Safety (CRISS), is the study’s principal investigator. Weinger and his staff have already developed a standardized process for capturing reports of non-routine events from clinicians, and the PCORI-funded study will build on this knowledge to also capture and understand what patients and their families consider non-routine events.

Non-routine events in clinical settings have been shown to occur frequently and are typically due to multiple factors. In a previous study of 910 elective surgical cases representing a cross-section of anesthesia techniques, surgical procedures, and patient complexity, 39 percent of cases contained at least one non-routine event, and of those cases, 42 percent included more than one non-routine event. In another study, 107 intensive care unit nurses reported medication-related non-routine events (incorrect medication or dosage) in 31 of 153 four-hour observation periods in three different hospitals.

“This project is important because we will be able to determine what aspects of their interaction with the health care system patients and families feel reflect lower quality of care and safety,” said Weinger, who is also the Norman Ty Smith Chair in Patient Safety & Medical Simulation. “I believe we will also show that patients and their families will provide important new information about ways to change how we deliver care so that it is safer and better meets their needs. A unique aspect of this research will be the involvement of patients in designing the studies and analyzing the results,” he said.

Only 50 pilot projects out of more than 1,000 applications were selected to receive funding for up to two years. Awards approved include those for projects designed to develop a range of tools and techniques aimed at improving patient-centered care and decision-making; create new patient-centered care measures; and improve delivery of patient-centered counseling in health care settings.

Contact: Jill Clendening, (615) 322-4841; (615) 513-8271
jill.clendening@vanderbilt.edu 

Mitt Romney (Brian Rawson Ketchum)

Mitt Romney has a firm lead in Tennessee over President Obama in the November presidential election, according to a new Vanderbilt poll.

Romney leads the president 48 to 40 percent among registered voters in the state. The poll, based on landline and cell phone interviews May 2-9, has an error rate of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

“Mitt Romney is still consolidating his support in the state and looks very likely to win this state comfortably in the fall,” said John Geer, co-director of the poll and holder of the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Political Science.

The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University aims to foster an engaging intellectual environment to explore how political institutions shape political debate, ameliorate conflicts and influence public policy. For more information on the Vanderbilt Poll, see the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions website.

Half of all the 1,002 Tennessee adults polled, 75 percent of whom were registered voters, disapprove of Obama’s job performance, with 43 percent approving it. When asked to parcel blame or credit for the state of the economy in Tennessee, 29 percent pointed at the president. The second-place finisher in this category was Republicans in the state legislature, at 26 percent.

Fifty percent of those polled are in favor of ditching the new federal health care law championed by Obama.

Romney’s performance as the Republican candidate for president earned disapproval from 48 percent of those polled. Thirty-seven percent approved.

AAUDE is a public service organization whose purpose is to improve the quality and usability of information about higher education. More than 60 public and private research universities in the United States and Canada are member institutions. AAUDE collects a wide range of institutional data to allow its member institutions to better understand how they compare to their peers.

AAUDE members participate in the exchange of data and information to assist in decision-making at their institutions. The types of data collected by AAUDE include faculty demographics, research expenditures, student retention and graduation rates, satisfaction surveys and more. AAUDE also meets at least once annually to discuss new developments and continuing priorities.

The Vanderbilt Institutional Research Group, located at 1207 17th Ave. S., will serve as the host unit for AAUDE on campus. (Vanderbilt University)

As the host institution, Vanderbilt will house the AAUDE director and a staff analyst within the offices of the Vanderbilt Institutional Research Group (VIRG). This marks the first time in the exchange’s nearly 40-year history that a private institution will host AAUDE.

“It is exciting for AAUDE to be at Vanderbilt. As a highly ranked AAU institution, we are dedicated to making sound decisions with good data, and AAUDE helps us do that,” said Roberta Bell, director of VIRG. “We are also delighted to have the AAUDE director join our office. She brings a wealth of knowledge and skill in comparative benchmarking that will benefit Vanderbilt.”

For more information about AAUDE, visit the organization’s website.

Contact: Roberta Bell, (615) 322-4359
roberta.bell@vanderbilt.edu

Ann Neely (Jenny Mandeville / Vanderbilt)

Neely, associate professor of the practice of education at Peabody College, is frequently called upon by publishers to review new children’s books entering the market, as well as by friends and former students for insight on what the next classic storybook might be.

So in 2010, she started Neely’s News, a blog for children’s literature enthusiasts devoted to reviewing titles both old and new. Students from her Peabody classes serve as contributors.

The blog is an excellent source for parents wanting to add a new book to their child’s home library or for relatives and friends wishing to purchase a memorable gift. The blog is organized by categories such as age group and genre.

Neely’s trained eye notices a great deal more than the story on the page, and she teaches her students to look critically as well.

“I look at where the page is turning,” she said. “I look to see if the illustrations are appealing and have a nice balance on the page – if they invite discussion between the child and adult reader.

“I even look at the illustrations on the end pages to see if they spark imagination,” she said. “I want children to study it all.”

Picture books are often a child’s first introduction to good art, Neely said. Familiar or oft-read stories have the ability to soothe and provide security. And they can serve as a child’s mirror on his or her own humanity, as well as a window on the world.

The key to selecting a good children’s book for your child, Neely said, is to know your child – his or her personality, sense of humor and ability to handle certain themes. But the most important thing is simply to give your child plenty of exposure to the written word.

“Research shows us that children entering kindergarten who come from literacy-rich homes have been read to over 5,000 more hours than children from literacy-poor homes,” she said. “That’s a deficit that we can’t make up in schools.

“The more opportunities a child has to be surrounded by adult readers – be they parents, teachers, neighbors, aunts, uncles, grandparents or friends – the stronger our communities will be.”

Check out Neely’s News at http://neelysnews.wordpress.com.

Tennessee state lawmakers at work (Vanderbilt University)

Tennessee state legislators should spend more time on the economy and less on issues like how sex should be taught in schools or expanding the rights of gun owners, citizens of the state overwhelmingly told the Vanderbilt Poll.

Gov. Bill Haslam (Photo courtesy of the Tenn. Dept. of Agriculture)

State legislators adjourned the 107^th General Assembly on May 1. The session was “dominated by debates over guns, classroom instruction about sex and Gov. Bill Haslam’s efforts to overhaul state government operations,” summarized the Associated Press.

Bills were passed to prohibit teachers from promoting “gateway sexual activity,” to require Amazon.com to begin collecting Tennessee sales taxes in 2014 and requiring state agencies to verify immigration status before approving public benefits. Among the bills that failed were attempts to ban teachers and counselors from discussing homosexuality with elementary and middle school students and guaranteeing employees the right to store firearms in vehicles parked at work.

A total of 1,002 Tennessee adults, 75 percent of them registered voters, were interviewed May 2-9. Men and women, blacks and whites, wealthy and not-so-wealthy all agreed that the emphasis of state lawmakers on social issues is a misstep.

Fifty-seven percent said that the economy should be the top priority of state lawmakers, followed by education (22 percent) and health care (14 percent). Forty-two percent believe that legislators “spent too much time addressing social, cultural or religious issues” and 56 percent said they spent “too little time addressing economic issues.”

Josh Clinton (Vanderbilt University)

“While we typically have little or no idea what the average Tennessean thinks about the issues that are debated in the state legislature, the Vanderbilt Poll provides a unique opportunity to compare what the state legislature did to what citizens in the state think,” said Josh Clinton, professor of political science and a co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll. “This is critical for assessing the performance of a representative democracy. We find, for example, that a majority of Tennesseans at least somewhat disagree with limitations on teachers’ collective bargaining rights and limitations on tort damages, but a majority agrees with the laws that were passed requiring state-issued photo IDs to vote and the decision not to outlaw the ability of businesses to keep firearms out of vehicles parked in their parking lot.”

The latest Vanderbilt Poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. It included both landline and cell phone interviews and was conducted by the standards of the American Association of Public Opinion Research. The results were weighted to ensure that the sample was representative of Tennessee in terms of age, gender, education, region and race/ethnicity.

John Geer (Steve Green/Vanderbilt)

Questions were also asked about the presidential race between President Obama and Mitt Romney and whether citizens approved of the job performance of prominent public officials and the legislature.

Twenty-eight percent of those polled approved of how the legislature was doing its job. That was the lowest ranking given to an array of public officials or bodies headed by Gov. Bill Haslam, whom 61 percent of those polled believe is doing a good job. President Obama scored 43 percent approval for his job performance.

“Haslam is a popular governor and even has the support of most Democrats,” said John Geer, co-director of the poll and holder of the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Political Science.

Mitt Romney will likely win Tennessee in the November presidential election, according to the poll. Among the registered voters polled, Romney leads the state 48 to 40 percent.

“Mitt Romney is still consolidating his support in the state and looks very likely to win this state comfortably in the fall,” Geer said.

The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University aims to foster an engaging intellectual environment to explore how political institutions shape political debate, ameliorate conflicts and influence public policy.

Source: Vanderbilt Poll, May 2012

The table shows whether a plurality of citizens, Democrats, Republicans and self-identified members of the Tea Party agree with each issue.  It also shows the position of the state legislature based on action or inaction on each issue.  “??” denotes instances in which a plurality had no opinion.

Using all Tennesseans polled, Tennesseans agreed with the actions of the state legislature in 4 out of the 10 issues that we polled about.  Self-identified Democrats and independents similarly agreed with the state legislature in 4 out of the 10 issues as well.

In contrast, Republicans agreed with the state legislature on 8 out of 10 issues (disagreeing only on how judges are to be selected in the state and having no opinion on HB0368).  Self-identified members of the Tea Party agreed with the outcome on 7 out of the 10 issues – disagreeing with the selection of judges and whether teachers should be paid based on the performance of their students.

Stop by from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to learn the warning signs of a stroke, including special risk factors in children.

Visit the Vanderbilt Neurovascular Center website for more information.

Contact: Lori Jordan, (615) 936-5536

The race, to be held June 2 and 3, is geared toward the first-time triathlete, with manageable distances for 5- to 10-year-olds and 11- to 15-year-olds.

In the Junior Division (ages 5-10 – turning 6 by Dec. 31, 2012), participants swim 100 meters, bike three miles and run a half-mile.

In the Senior Division (ages 11-15), participants swim 200 meters, bike six miles and run one mile.

Join “Team Vanderbilt” to race with other Vanderbilt friends and get a free T-shirt.

Contact Karen Kaiser for more information on how to register or volunteer for the event, or visit the triathlon website.

A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Contact: Karen Kaiser, (615) 343-1037
karen.s.kaiser@vanderbilt.edu

(Vanderbilt University/Daniel DuBois)

Vanderbilt’s annual “Symphony on the Lawn” concert – a special performance for the Vanderbilt community presented by Employee Celebration and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra – is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, on The Commons Center Lawn. All faculty, staff, their family members and friends of the university are invited to attend.

Bring a picnic basket, blankets and lawn chairs for a relaxing evening of free music by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. The rousing program will include selections from Bernstein, Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Williams. The use of video or audio recording equipment and/or flash cameras will be strictly prohibited.

Parking info:

Parking is available in any unreserved Zone 1 space.

In case of rain:

In the event of rain or extremely hot weather, the concert will be moved indoors to the Ingram Performance Hall at Blair School of Music.

If the concert should move indoors, an announcement will be posted on theVanderbilt Human Resources website and myVU by midday May 22. Please note that food is allowed in the Ingram Lobby only and that seating is limited.

Questions? Please email symphonyconcert@vanderbilt.edu.

Contact: Midori Lockett, (615) 322-4493
midori.lockett@vanderbilt.edu

Mark Hosford (Steve Green/Vanderbilt)

Works by four Nashville-area artists – including Vanderbilt Associate Professor of Art Mark Hosford and alumna Kristi Hargrove – will be on view in the Frist Center for the Visual Art’s Conte Community Arts Gallery June 8-Oct. 28.

Metamorphoses, which also includes work by Erin Anfinson and Chris Scarborough, features 41 drawings that reveal scrupulously rendered forms, the origin of which are often unclear, conveying a sense of mystery and transformation.

Each of the artists featured in Metamorphoses approaches drawing differently, reminding viewers that of all the arts, drawing is considered among the most personal.

“This is an exhibition to which we all can relate,” said Frist Chief Curator Mark Scala.  “Nearly everyone has made some sort of drawing, whether it be free-form doodle or a finished work of art. In the case of Metamorphoses, we see artists combining the unfettered invention of doodling with virtuosic manipulation to create forms that seem both real and dreamlike.”

For example, in his Rorschach Series, Hosford appropriates templates of the famous inkblot test, which was designed to reveal the viewer’s hidden psychological tendencies. He transforms these symmetrical organic forms by inlaying his own eccentric imagery composed of monstrous creatures and hybrid beings reminiscent of the dark animation of the Brothers Quay and Tim Burton. The works hilariously reverse the instrument of psychology by showing us right up front what horrors lie within the mind. Hosford specializes in printmaking, drawing and animation, using narrative imagery to explore social curiosities and personal obsessions, in additional to serving on the art faculty at Vanderbilt.

In intimate drawings that float between abstraction and recognition, Hargrove pushes the boundaries of pencil, pen and paper. She explores the psychology of perception, in some instances creating realistic illusions and in others employing collage or the physical properties of paper to create actual space and depth. Hargrove’s studio practice is primarily drawing but includes investigations into other mediums such as photography, sculpture and installation. She received a bachelor of arts degree from Vanderbilt, a master of fine arts degree from the Vermont College of Fine Art and is a member of the Nashville artist collective Coop, a curatorial group committed to expanding the city’s dialogue with contemporary art by presenting challenging, new or underrepresented artists and artworks in the community. Hargrove serves as assistant professor of fine arts at Watkins College of Art, Design and Film.

Scarborough re-envisions everyday subjects, skillfully merging depictions of people and animals with fragmenting or even exploding forms. Titles like “The Economist” and “The Modernist” provide a clue to the underlying imagery that is often obscured by random explosive inventions, encouraging viewers to come to their own conclusions about the strange metamorphosis taking place.

Anfinson participates in a type of voyeurism by depicting an imagined bodily interior in excruciating close-up. In her series The Migration of the Disruptors, inspired by the artist’s concern with the adverse effects of certain chemicals and pharmaceuticals on the endocrine system, twisting colonic shapes slowly dissolve into pictorial chemical bonds, provoking a strange transformation of the human interior into a universe of degradation and self-renewal.

On Thursday, July 12, Hosford, Hargrove and Anfinson will participate in an artist’s forum beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Frist Center’s Rechter Room. The event is free.

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Contact: Maggie Carrigan, (615) 744-3351
mcarrigan@fristcenter.org

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