M3 Case Symposium set for Friday

Faculty, staff, residents and students at the USA College of Medicine are invited to attend the M3 Case Symposium on Friday, May 27, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the first-floor conference room of the Strada Patient Care Center. 

At the M3 Case Symposium, rising fourth-year medical students present posters outlining interesting, rare or novel case studies observed during their third-year rotations. The event also is an opportunity for students to present independent projects. The case reports are judged based on originality, strength of conclusions, quality of references, overall appearance, organization and topic. 

For more information about the symposium, contact Sam Thomas at sct1921@jagmail.southalabama.edu.

Herrera presents on renal disease at international conference

Guillermo Herrera, M.D., professor and chair of pathology at the USA College of Medicine, recently lectured at the GlomCon Latinoamérica conference on April 30. He presented virtually to a widely attended audience of pathologists and nephrologists from Central America, South America and North America. 

Herrera discussed tubulointerstitial nephropathy associated with monoclonal immunoglobulins. Tubulointerstitial nephropathy is a renal disease that affects the tubules of the kidneys and the tissues that surround them, leading to the deterioration of kidney function. The mechanism provided a platform for devising a new therapeutic avenue to treat these conditions.

The Glomerular Disease Study and Trial Consortium (GlomCon) provides medical education based on the best available evidence and creates a platform for research collaboration among clinicians, academics and industry partners guided by patients’ and their caregivers’ needs.

USA College of Medicine offers medical and science editing and writing service

Elly Trepman, M.D.

For the past five years, the USA College of Medicine has offered a valuable resource for medical and science authors. Sponsored by the Dean's Office, the service provides editing and writing support for scholarly journal articles and grant applications at no cost to USA College of Medicine faculty, students, residents and fellows. 

"The diverse and innovative basic science and clinical articles and grant applications created by members of the USA College of Medicine are solid evidence of the important and impactful work being done here," said Elly Trepman, M.D., who provides the editing and writing service. "It is a pleasure to collaborate with the brilliant and energetic members of this wonderful community and assist with their scholarly efforts."

Trepman received formal training on how to write a scientific paper as an undergraduate at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He fine-tuned his writing skills on diverse projects in basic science laboratories and clinical academic departments. During his career as an academic orthopaedic surgeon, he gained extensive editorial experience with peer-reviewed journals. As a full-time science and medical editor and writer for the past 13 years, he works at any stage of manuscript preparation and tailors the service to the needs of individual authors.

The service was developed by Mary Townsley, Ph.D., former senior associate dean, and currently is administered by Emily Wilson, Ph.D., associate dean for faculty affairs and faculty development.

Contact Wilson at emilyw@southalabama.edu with inquiries about the service. 

Kestler and Tyler highlight need for better TB diagnostic tools

Shannon Tyler, M.D., an infectious diseases physician and assistant professor of internal medicine, examines a patient. 

Tuberculosis has plagued mankind for millennia and is responsible for more deaths than any other infectious disease.

In a search for answers, Bri Kestler, a Ph.D. student in the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program at the USA College of Medicine, and Shannon Tyler, M.D., an infectious diseases physician at USA Health and an assistant professor of internal medicine at the USA College of Medicine, recently published a historical review on latent tuberculosis in the American Journal of Physiology.

Bri Kestler is the lead author of

an article on latent tuberculosis. 

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the organism that causes TB, primarily infects humans through a respiratory route. Most of the time, the immune system of the infected person contains the pathogen, not allowing it to spread. This condition is known as latent TB infection (LTBI.)

The article, “Latent tuberculosis testing through the ages: the search for a sleeping killer,” explores the history of latent tuberculosis diagnosis infection and discusses the limitations of modern testing.

Tyler, who has seen countless patients with LTBI and treated many with active TB throughout the span of her 20-year career, said though significant advances have been made, the ability to diagnose LTBI – an asymptomatic condition – remains problematic.

Those with LTBI are currently diagnosed by an immune response to tuberculous antigens without any evidence of clinical disease. “Latent tuberculosis has always been a diagnostic challenge as it is the only infection that is diagnosed by the inability to isolate the organism,” Tyler said.

While patients with LTBI are asymptomatic and are considered not infectious, they pose roughly a 10% risk of developing active tuberculosis over their lifetime, at which time they may become contagious. Because of this increased risk, identification and treatment of LTBI is crucial to reducing the incidence of TB. Hence, the authors highlight the importance of identifying the “sleeping killer” before it awakens.

“Although it is clear that the development of active tuberculosis most commonly occurs within the first two years of infection and those certain conditions predispose individuals for reactivation, there is no test available that can determine who has cleared the infection and there is no test that can effectively rule out infection,” Tyler said. “Until better diagnostic tools are widely available, the sleeping killer remains elusive.” 

Read the article in the American Journal of Physiology.