August 20, 1999
Volume XXXII No. 33
-
New HSC holiday schedule includes personal days
- Employees receive personal leave time
- Newly Granted
- Gordon honored with American Heart Association appointment
- A room with a view
- Spurs Coyote joins giving campaign
- Instrumentation Services reorganizes
- Research profiles provide important link to
faculty activities
- Of Note
- A baby's pain
- Library offers training Aug. 25
- Deadline set to order products
- Jackson wins Volunteer of the Year Award
- Calendar for August 16-22, 1999
New HSC holiday schedule
includes personal days
Beginning Sept. 1, each department will credit regular employees with eight hours of personal leave time at the start of each four-month period during the fiscal year, for a total of 24 hours.
Personal leave time may be taken at any time (with the appropriate departmental approvals similar to vacation leave) and may be carried forward to the next year. There is no maximum amount that can be carried forward and employees will be paid for any unused personal leave time when they leave state service. New faculty and staff who have not completed the six-month probationary period also may use personal leave time. This time may be used in conjunction with Family Medical Leave.
Only regular employees--those who have worked at the Health Science Center 20 hours or more a week for four months or more--are eligible to earn personal leave.
The decision to provide Health Science Center employees with personal leave is the result of an action taken during the 76th Texas Legislature. A law was enacted that mandates the vacation accrual and carry-forward rates for all state agencies and higher education institutions.
The Health Science Center previously had the flexibility to convert three holidays (24 hours) to vacation hours, and did so in an effort to boost the monthly vacation accrual rate by two hours for employees.
The Health Science Center opted to convert the 24 hours of vacation per year into three days of personal leave time that can be taken at the discretion of the employee and his or her supervisor.
Employees receive personal leave time
To comply with legislative action, the Health Science Center has changed the holiday and vacation schedule for the 1999-2000 fiscal year.Q. Will there be changes in the holiday schedule for the Health Science Center?
A. Each year U. T. System components, including the Health Science Center, are granted nine national holidays and eight state holidays, provided those holidays fall on a weekday. During the fiscal year ending with this month, 13 out of a possible 17 holidays fell on a Monday through Friday. Because of the new vacation accrual mandate from the Texas Legislature, the Health Science Center has chosen to designate three holidays as personal leave time, so that employees accrue 24 hours of personal time during the year.
In compliance with state law, the Health Science Center calendar will include 10 full holidays plus three days of personal leave. Those three personal leave days may be taken as "days off" or carried forward for future use.
Q. What is the difference between a full holiday and a skeleton holiday?
A. National holidays are the only holidays when the university can be fully closed. According to state law, the Health Science Center cannot fully close on state holidays or on those holidays that are neither national nor state holidays (e.g., Jan. 3 Y2K holiday, San Jacinto holiday). Therefore, those days are designated as skeleton holidays because the Health Science Center must be staffed by a skeleton crew and be open for public business.
Q. Can anyone take time off for special religious holidays or other reasons?
A. With a supervisor's approval, any employee is entitled to observe Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Good Friday and Cesar Chavez Day in lieu of any state holiday on which a skeleton crew is required.
Q. Will the leave-earned reports be changed to reflect these accrual and personal leave changes?
A. Yes. Each department will keep a record of the personal leave time. The accruals will automatically be adjusted monthly based on the service time on record.
Newly Granted
The following new and competitive renewal grants and awards were recorded in the Office of Grants Management for April 1999.
"Comparison of Neutralase to Protamine in Subjects Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery," Dr. Charles Hantler, IBEX Technologies, $41,200, 3 months. "A Phase II Study to Evaluate the Efficacy & Safety of Intravenous & Cardioplegia Administration of RSR13 to Moderate- to High-Risk Patients Undergoing CPB for CABG Surgery," Dr. Charles Hantler, Allos Therapeutics, $86,000, 8 months.
"Metabolic Interactions of Malate Dehydrogenases," Dr. Lee McAlister-Henn, National Science Foundation, $300,000, 2 years.
"APOE-4 and A (Beta) Influence on Development of Alzheimer's Disease," Dr. Gwendolyn Adrian, The University of Texas at San Antonio, $54,908, 1 year. "Intergovernmental Personnel Act Agreement for Chung S. Song," Dr. Bandana Chatterjee, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, $121,059, 2 years. "Salary Support for Elogovan Thavathiru," Dr. Gokul Das, Cancer Therapy & Research Center, $27,720, 1 year. "Sensitizing Breast Cancer for Chemotherapy," Dr. Wanda Hardman, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, $96,813, 1 year. "Role of the Y Chromosome Loss in Prostate Cancer," Dr. Susan Naylor, U.S. Army, $400,817, 30 months.
"Linkage & Association Analysis of IL-1 Gene Polymorphisms with Severe Periodontal Disease," Mary Agnes Manwell-Jackson, Medical Science Systems Inc., $11,025, 3 months.
"Emergency Medical Technology--Medical Director & Continuing Education Services," Dr. Donald Gordon, city of San Antonio, $3,239,944, 2 years.
"Sports Medicine Fellow Support," Dr. Walter Calmbach, Texas Orthopedic Shoulder & Sports Surgery, $5,000, 1 year.
"Pre-emptive Fluconazole Therapy to Prevent Oropharyngeal Candidiasis in Patients Receiving Radiation for Head & Neck Cancer," Dr. Spencer Redding, Pfizer Inc., $111,530, 1 year.
"Molecular Genetics of Rhodopsin," Dr. Steven Britt, National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Eye Institute (NEI), $1,051,111, 4 years. "ATM Signaling & Neurode-generation," Dr. Eva Lee, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS), $50,000, 1 year.
"Intergovernmental Personnel Act Agreement--Dr. Joseph Valente," Dr. Robert Clark, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, $44,117, 1 year. "Medical Services with General Medicine Clinics for Students Registered at The University of Texas at San Antonio," Dr. Marvin Forland, UTSA, $68,487, 1 year. "Medical Services with General Medicine Clinics for Students Registered at UTSA," Dr. Marvin Forland, UTSA, $68,487, 1 year. "Epidemiology Support," Dr. James Young, University Health System/University Physicians Group, $42,727, 1 year.
"CSF-1 Gene Expression in Osteoclast Biology, " Dr. Sherry Abboud, NIH/NIMSD, $760,794, 8 months. "Molecular Analysis of CC Chemokine Receptor 3," Dr. Sunil Ahuja, Council for Tobacco Research, $50,000, 1 year. "A Pilot Trial of the Toxicity, Tolerability & Efficacy of Beta Interferon-1A in Inclusion Body Myositis," Dr. Anthony Amato, University of Rochester/Biogen Inc., $5,000, 1 year. "Distinct Study (Stent Randomized Control Trial)," Dr. Steven Bailey, Biocompatibles Ltd., $45,000, 7 months. "Study of Troglitazone in Early Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Effects on Glucose Metabolism, Insulin Sensitivity and Beta Cell Response to Glucose," Dr. Steven Haffner, Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals, $872,883, 1 year. "Diabetes Prevention Trial (DPP): Substudy to Assess Visceral Adipose Tissue," Dr. Steven Haffner, NIH/George Washington University, $3,320, 1 year. "Alcohol Teratogenesis: Apoptosis & Toxic Aldehydes," Dr. George Henderson, NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA), $1,163,389, 4 years. "Molecular Regulation of Muscle Glucose Metabolism in Man," Dr. Lawrence Mandarino, NIH/National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDKD), $746,927, 2 years. "Prevention of Breast Cancer Using Selective Retinoids," Dr. Powel Brown, NIH/National Cancer Institute (NCI), $1,613,555, 5 years. "Inhibition of Osteoclast Activity by OIP-1/HSCAL," Dr. Sakamuri Reddy, NIH/National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), $563,690, 4 years. "Intergovernmental Personnel Act Agreement for Cheikh Menaa," Dr. David Roodman, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, $26,243, 7 months. "Safety & Efficacy of Intravenous HMR4396 & Epogen for the Management of Anemia in Subjects with Chronic Renal Failure Requiring Hemodialysis," Dr. Theodore Saad, Hoechst Marion Roussel Inc., $262,635, 1 year. "Trial of Varicella Zoster Vaccine for the Prevention of Herpes Zoster & Its Complications," Dr. Jean Smith, NIH/Merck/Friends Research Institute, $1,554,750, 5 years. "Intergovernmental Personnel Act Agreement for Debbie Munoz-Medellin," Dr. Geoffrey Weiss, Biomedical Research Foundation of South Texas, $38,326, 1 year. "DNA Gene Assays for Breast Cancer Studies," Dr. Kendall Wu, Cancer Therapy & Research Center, $774, 1 year.
"Cooperative Study #475: Antibiotic Treatment of Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses," Dr. Joel Baseman, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, $204,353, 1 year. "Neuroimmunology & Pathology of Neurocysticercosis," Dr. Judy Teale, NIH/NINDS, $141,607, 2 years.
"Efficacy Trial of Spermicidal Agents," Dr. Robert Schenken, Family Health International, $98,870, 1 year.
"Mechanism of Adhesion Formation in the TMJ," Dr. Stephen Milam, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation, $54,960, 1 year.
"Contract Agreement for Services," Dr. Dean Troyer, Biomedical Research Foundation of South Texas, $7,900, 1 year.
"Addressing Sentencing-Related Changes in Correctional Health Care: Building a Practitioner Researcher," Dr. Jacques Baillargeon, National Institutes of Justice/University of Texas Medical Branch, $1,500, 9 months. "Baptist Memorial Hospital System--Services of Neonatologist," Dr. Marilyn Escobedo, Baptist Memorial Hospital, $87,500, 5 months.
"Dopamine Efflux: Molecular Basis of Amphetamine Mechanisms," Dr. Aurelio Galli, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia & Depression, $60,000, 2 years.
"Neurobehavioral Outcome of Head Injury in Children," Dr. Peter Fox, Baylor College of Medicine, $55,405, 10 months.
"Respiratory Care Services," Dr. David Shelledy, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, $34,614, 5 months.
"Urologic Cancer Outreach Program," Dr. Joseph Basler, Cancer Therapy & Research Center, $57,717, 11 months. "Clinical Transplant Coordinator to VAMC," Dr. Glenn Halff, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, $22,702, 8 months. "Liver Transplantation Using Monoclonal Antibodies & Minimal Steroids," Dr. Kenneth Washburn, Roche Pharmaceutical, $151,980, 10 months.
Gordon honored with
American Heart Association appointment
A room with a view
Optical Imaging Center opens for researchers
Elizabeth Chang, research technician for the Department of
Cellular and Structural Biology, works with a multiphoton
microscope in the department's new Optical Imaging Center.
The center recently opened and is designed to provide
researchers with sophisticated high-resolution microscopic
images.
The Health Science Center's Department of Cellular and
Structural Biology is offering researchers an opportunity
to probe the inner workings of living cells and tissues
with an array of optical microscope technology.
The recently opened Optical Imaging Center is the gateway,
with three different optical imaging technologies for use in
everything from looking at changes in the level of acidity
of a cell to how cellular constituents interact with one
another.
We are able to look at a variety of different events as
they occur in the cells," said Dr. Brian Herman, chair
of the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, who
is the director of the new facility. "And more
importantly, we can observe the process in a more natural
environment."
With the use of the center's confocal and multiphoton
microscopes, as well as its wide-field microscopes,
researchers can obtain a three-dimensional view of cells
or tissues, look deeper into tissue samples, and record
changes in the physiology of a cell over extended periods
of time.
The center is available to investigators within the Health
Science Center and those outside the university. Dr.
Victoria Frohlich, a research assistant professor skilled
in the design, development and applications of the various
microscopes, operates the facility along with a computer
engineer.
Applications for the technology, said Dr. Herman,
include uses in clinical diagnostics, cancer research
and the development of virtual reality educational tools.
Investigators are using the optical imaging technology to
understand what regulates normal vs. abnormal heart
contractions, to study how to lessen damage to the brain
following stroke, to develop more specific chemotherapeutic
agents and to look at the basic changes in normal cells that
lead to cancer.
Plans are being developed for future uses for the center,
including a biennial course in optical microscopy for the
biological sciences, jointly sponsored by the Health Science
Center and Hamamatsu Photonics. This weeklong course will
teach students and faculty members how to use the different
types of microscopes. During alternating years, an
international meeting on recent advances in microscopy
will be sponsored by the Health Science Center and
Hamamatsu Photonics.
For more information on the center, contact Dr. Victoria
Frohlich at <Frohlich@uthscsa.edu>.
Spurs Coyote joins giving campaign
A special State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC) event
on Sept. 16 will include a visit from the San Antonio
Spurs Coyote at the Health Science Center "food fest.
"
The SECC begins Sept. 1 and continues through Sept. 17.
The "food fest" will be held in the auditorium
foyer from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with the Coyote arriving at
11:30 a.m. The Coyote will bring along the Spurs' own
1999 National Basketball Association championship trophy,
NBA highlight clips and music from the Spurs games. For $5,
SECC donors can be photographed with the Coyote and the
trophy. Donors will be allowed to keep the negatives from
the photos. The proceeds from this event will go to the
United Way.
Fundraisers such as bake sales, taco sales and book sales
will take place during the campaign's 2 1/2-week run.
Silly Hat Day is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10.
Employees who contribute a minimum of $24 to United Way
or its affiliated agencies during the campiagn will be
eligible to win two airline tickets to anywhere in the
world, except Hawaii or Tokyo. Employees who contribute
a minimum of $60 to any SECC-eligible organization will
receive discount coupons for lunch and dinner at either
Saltgrass Steak House location in San Antonio.
In the past year, most of the proceeds from activities
and donations benefited local organizations such as the
American Cancer Society,
Any Baby Can of San Antonio, the Association for Retarded
Citizens of San Antonio, the Child Guidance Center of San
Antonio, the Jewish Community Center and the Santa Rosa
Children's Clinic.
Instrumentation Services reorganizes
Vice President and Chief Information Officer Jerry York
has announced the reorganization of the Department of
Instrumentation Services, which builds and repairs
scientific research equipment and handles PC maintenance at
the Health Science Center. The PC maintenance division will
become a component of the Department of Computing Resources
under the direction of Dr. Frank Stafford. Michael Favor,
director of desktop customer services, will run the
maintenance division.
The remaining operations, under the direction of Frank
Quijano, will be a part of the Office of Educational
Resources, which Dr. James Waldron heads. "This
reorganization will allow us to broaden our resource
base to enhance service, while streamlining processing
and reducing overhead," York said.
Research profiles provide
When a representative from Pfizer's Central Research
Group recently planned a visit with members of the Health
Science Center faculty, he asked for a list of the research
being conducted that might be of interest to Pfizer.
important link to
faculty activities
- If you do not have a profile on the FRP Web site, the following information is needed: name, degree, position, department, division (if appropriate), building, room number, phone number, fax number, e-mail address, research interests, unique technical and clinical research capabilities/instrumentation, list of publications from professional journals and key words. Please use this as your guide, or copy a completed profile from the Faculty Research Profiles Web site paste it into your word processor, and replace the contents with your own information.
- If you do have a profile on the FRP Web site, please look at your page and e-mail an update, if necessary.
- If there is information about you on your department's site, a link to that site can be added to your Faculty Research Profile. This will increase the odds that you will be found by those who have the potential to benefit you and vice versa.
- The profile can be updated as often as you wish and should be no longer than one 8 1/2-inch-by-11-inch page, if possible.
- Please call Lea Harlow at ext. 2048 for more information, or e-mail your profile to her at <harlowl@uthscsa.edu.>
Of Note
Bookstore closed Aug. 30-31The Health Science Center Bookstore, both first and second floors, will be closed Aug. 30-31 for its annual inventory, and will reopen Sept. 1 at 8:15 a.m. Tuning up for fall
The campus choir, the MedTones, will begin fall practices Sept. 8. Faculty, staff and students are welcome to attend. The choir, which performs on campus and in the community, will practice from noon to 1 p.m. every Wednesday in room 4.670U in the Dental School building.
A baby's pain
Physicians look for signs to address
pain management in infants
"Shawn" was born prematurely. As he undergoes
numerous medical procedures, his doctors and nurses never
forget he feels pain. They are sensitive to his tiny body's
reactions to everything they do, whether it's painful, like
an injection, or bothersome, like attaching monitor leads
with adhesive.
It's not that physicians and nurses don't
believe babies feel pain. The questions are how severe
is the pain, how risky is the pain relief, and how is the
baby affected by the pain. Also, since babies' brains are
not fully developed, the fact that they do not remember
pain has had an impact on pain management," said Dr.
Marilyn Escobedo, division chief of neonatology.
Both premature and full-term babies experience pain, and both respond similarly when undergoing medical procedures. "Babies cannot tell us if something hurts. Through keen observation, we look for signs that a baby is hurting, like when heartbeat and respiratory rates go up," said Dr. Escobedo. "You have to keep in mind that the signs are ever so subtle, especially with preemies."
"It's not something physicians or nurses can learn from a book. It requires actual hands-on experience with babies from all age groups. After a period of time, the physician or nurse can begin to tell when something's wrong because of the way the baby is acting." Advances in technology have been a tremendous help in keeping tabs on pain management with babies, she adds. "Premature and full-term babies today have available to them medical care that wasn't available a few years ago, and that's because we, as medical professionals, continue to learn and our machinery becomes more and more sophisticated," said Dr. Escobedo. Meanwhile, Shawn, who was born more than 3 months early, is fighting for his life and faces countless medical procedures. He has a chance of survival, and any pain he might face will always be managed compassionately by medical professionals.Library offers training Aug. 25
The Dolph Briscoe Library will host two training programs Aug. 25 on a database search system for electronic journals available through ScienceDirect. The first session will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m., and the second session will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in library room 2C. Attendance at the sessions is open to all Health Science Center employees and registration is not required. The library is licensing ScienceDirect through the U. T. System Digital Library Initiative. Participation in this project allows the library to make available approximately 700 full-text journals in electronic format. In addition, tables of contents and abstracts are available for more than 300 "non-subscribed" journals. The library is conducting a trial of ScienceDirect prior to licensing; therefore access to the service is currently available under the "What's New" link on the library Web page. Once the license agreement has been completed, links to the journals will be available through BLIS, the library's online catalog, and through the e-journals' link under digital resources on the library Web site.Deadline set to order products
The last date to order products from the General Stores Supplemental Office Products catalog (Boise Cascade) for fiscal year 1998-99 is 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 30. Orders received after this date will be considered FY 1999-2000 business. The fax number for last-minute shoppers is ext. 5972, and faxed orders are welcome. General Stores will be closed for inventory Wednesday, Sept. 1, and will reopen on Thursday, Sept. 2. For more information, contact Curtis Nickel, General Stores supervisor, at ext. 5982.Jackson wins Volunteer of the Year Award
Dr. Brenda Jackson, clinical associate professor in the Department of Acute Care Nursing, has been awarded the Walter M. Kirkendall, M.D., Scientist/Educator Volunteer of the Year Award from the American Heart Association, Texas Affiliate. The award is presented annually to a volunteer who has shown outstanding service at the local, state and national level in the areas of cardiovascular science or education. Dr. Jackson has been an active participant in the association since 1990, promoting educational programs and cardiovascular health issues to the community. She is a member of the association's National Council of Cardiovascular Nurses and was president of the Texas Affiliate Board of Directors in 1998. Dr. Jackson was also recognized this year with a Paul R. Ellis Media Award for educational excellence in cardiovascular awareness. A graduate of the Medical College of Virginia School of Nursing, Dr. Jackson received her MSN at the Health Science Center School of Nursing and her Ph.D. in Adult Health Nursing from The University of Texas at Austin.Calendar for August 16-22, 1999
Monday, August 16, 19997:00 a.m.
Orthopaedic Teaching Conf. "Pelvic Fractures," Dr. Attila Poka (MED: 309L)
8:00 a.m.
Medical Housestaff Specialty Conf. "Resident & Intern M&M" (MED: 409L)
Tuesday, August 17, 1999
6:30 a.m.
Podiatry Case Conf. (LEC: 2.010)
8:00 a.m.
Medical Housestaff Specialty Conf., Dr. Deborah Hunt
(MED: 409L)
Noon
TNT "Cytology: Lawsuits--Fashions for the Future,"
Karen Walker, Unipath, Dallas (call ext. 2700)
1:30 p.m.
TNT "Laboratory Technology Issues: Case Studies in Microbiology," Dr. Andrea Linscott, UCLA Medical Center (call ext. 2700 for information)
Wednesday, August 18
6:30 a.m.
Podiatry Grand Rounds "Case Presentations," Dr. Rothenberg (MED: 309L)
7:00 a.m.
Vascular Surgery Grand Rounds, Dr. Mellick Sykes (MED: 209L)
8:00 a.m.
Medical Grand Rounds, "Radiation Injury to the
Gastrointestinal Tract," Dr. Glenn Gross (MED: 409L)
9:00 a.m.
Surgery Trauma M&M Conf., Dr. Ronald Stewart (MED:
309L)
Noon
TNT "Women's Health Issues & Trends: Mental Health Issues for Older Women: Depression & Anxiety," Pamela Marcus, private practice, Marlborough, Md. (call ext. 2700 for information)
1:30 p.m.
TNT "Health Care Commentaries: Treatment of Obese Women by Health Care Providers," Betsy Stausberg, City College of San Francisco (call ext. 2700 for information)
Thursday, August 19, 1999
7:30 a.m.
Thoracic Surgery Resident Teaching Conf. (VA: 4th-floor CT Library A404)
8:00 a.m.
Neurology Grand Rounds "Treatment of Diabetic
Neuropathy," Dr. Richard Barohn, U. T. Southwestern
Medical Center (MED: 444B)
Noon
Pulmonary, Thoracic & Oncology Conf. (MED:209L)
1:00 p.m.
Psychiatry Grand Rounds "Downstream Targets of the
Noradrenergic Pathway in the Pathophysiology &
Treatment of Bipolar Disorder," Dr. L. Trevor
Young (MED: 409L)
4:00 p.m.
Surgery Tumor Conference, Dr. Anatolio Cruz (MED: 209L)
5:00 p.m.
Citywide Thoracic Grand Rounds Conf. "New Advances in Cardiac Transplantation & Role of Mechanical Circulatory Support in the Treatment of End-Stage Heart Failure," Dr. Branislav Radovancevic, Texas Heart Institute Transplant Service (Santa Rosa Northwest: Villa Rosa main dining room)
Friday, August 20, 1999
7:30 a.m.
Pediatric Grand Rounds "Herbal Medicines: Fact or Fiction," Dr. Alexander Shepherd (MED: 409L)
8:00 a.m.
Rehab Medicine Research Conf. "Gabapentin & Neurogenic Pain in Spinal Cord Injury: Retrospective Study," Drs. Michael Salas & Douglas Barber (UH: Reeves Rehab Center 3rd-floor classroom)
8:00 a.m.
Medical Housestaff Specialty Conf. "Emergency
Series: Bradyarrythmias," Dr. Laura Collins
(LEC: 3.102B)
Saturday, August 21, 1999
7:15 a.m.
Surgical Physiology Conf., Dr. Kenneth Sirinek (MED: 209L)
9:00 a.m.
General Surgery Grand Rounds, Dr. Wayne Schwesinger
(MED: 209L)
THE NEWS is published Fridays by the Office of Public Affairs for faculty and staff of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
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