News Briefs

Helping Preterm Babies

Two distinguished professors at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston authored an editorial for the Journal of the American Medical Associationthat addresses the use of magnesium sulfate in mothers who are delivering preterm babies.

Jon Tyson, M.D., the Michelle Bain Distinguished Professor and director of the Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine, and Larry Gilstrap, M.D., the Emma Sue Hightower Professor and chairman of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, commented on an Australian study. The study found that women who are given intravenous magnesium sulfate just before the birth of a very preterm baby may reduce the infant’s risk of neurosensory impairments, such as cerebral palsy.

Tyson and Gilstrap said the study results are “highly encouraging.” “A true reduction of 17 percent in death and in cerebral palsy would have great clinical and public health importance,” they wrote.

Thanks from Communities in Schools

The UT School of Nursing at Houston (SON) and the UT Dental Branch at Houston (DB) received plaques of recognition Nov. 12 from Communities in Schools (CIS).

John A. Valenza, D.D.S., associate dean for patient care and associate professor and acting chair, Department of Diagnostic Sciences, represented the DB when it was cited as CIS’ longest running community partner. The relationship, which began in 1997, provides dental services to children in both fixed dental clinics and mobile units.

Mary Brown, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing, Department of Target Populations, Children and Child Rearing Families Division, and Glenda Smith, D.S.N., assistant professor of nursing, Department of Target Populations, Child and Adolescent Health Division, staff the CIS mobile van as a faculty practice and represented the SON. The mobile van is a partnership that provides services to low-income children in about 15 public schools and a church site.

High School Evaluation

An advisory team of UT Health Science Center at Houston faculty recently completed an evaluation of 12 courses taught at Hightower High School Medical Sciences Academy in the Fort Bend County Independent School District.

Kathleen Becan-McBride, Ed.D., Medical School (MS); Bryant Boutwell, Dr.P.H., MS; Marilyn Edwards, Ph.D., MS; Vaunette Fay, Ph.D., School of Nursing (SON); Andrew Harper, M.D., MS; Camille Lloyd, Ph.D., MS; Donald A. Molony, M.D., MS; Carlos A. Moreno, M.D., MS; Barry Rittman, Ph.D., Dental Branch; Liliana Rodriguez, MS; Gary Rosenfeld, Ph.D., MS and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS); Gloria Spencer, SON; and Norman Weisbrodt, Ph.D., MS and GSBS, reviewed the courses in medical ethics, pharmacology, pathophysiology, microbiology, medical terminology, clinical nutrition, gerontology, mental health, introduction to medical science technology and several medical science internships taught at Hightower since it opened in 1998.

For the past five years, the health science center has assisted teachers and administrators in providing an advanced and appropriate curriculum as a means to develop a future state resource – well-trained students going to college and ultimately to health professions or graduate schools.