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Medical assistants are multi-skilled health professionals educated to work in ambulatory settings performing administrative and clinical duties. The practice of medical assisting requires mastery of a complex body of knowledge and specialized skills requiring both formal education and practical experience that serve as standards for entry into the profession. Our nationally accredited Medical Assistant (MA) programs emphasize the skills and knowledge needed for employment in doctors' offices, clinics, insurance companies, and other medical facilities.The associate degree includes advanced training in clinical procedures and the choice of electives that will enhance your education and training.Program GoalThe program's goal is to prepare competent entry-level medical assistants in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains, incorporating values, ethics, and professionalism. The program promotes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of medical office administration, clinical procedures, and the ethics and values associated with such a career.

THLABCRADMN122M223BIOL106M303ENGL110XM orENGL110Mor404CIS110M223AHLT110M303AHLT123M303AHLT205M303MEDA128M324Total Credits - 26Phlebotomy CertificatePhlebotomists (PBT) are essential members of the healthcare delivery team who are primarily responsible for collecting blood specimens from patients for laboratory testing. Qualified phlebotomists may be employed in hospital laboratories, private laboratories, doctors’ offices, clinics, emergency rooms or blood donor centers.Classroom learning is combined with a 120-hour internship that is performed in a clinical laboratory or other healthcare facility to provide the skills required of a certified PBT. Internships are limited and offered as sites become available.Fine motor skills are required to successfully perform in most clinical facilities: drawing patient’s blood in the inpatient and outpatient settings, processing specimens including operating mechanical and computerized equipment, and performing clinical duties.

Good communication skills are critical in dealing with patients, clients, physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers.Students must have complete documentation of physical exam, immunization records, TB testing, health insurance coverage and liability insurance in effect prior to registering for AHLT135M. Students who participate in the internship must be available on a full-time basis for three 40-hour weeks. There are no evening or weekend internships. Only the Phlebotomy Coordinator may register students for AHLT135M, Phlebotomy Internship.Students who successfully complete this program are qualified for immediate employment at independent labs, hospitals, clinics, and are eligible to sit for a national certification examination offered by several professional organizations.National certification boards, internship sites, and employers may restrict candidates who have been involved in civil and legal proceedings.

Admissions RequirementsApplicants must satisfy the general requirements for admission to the college in addition to program requirements. Students must have college assessment results that indicate placement into College Composition I with Corequisite or College Composition I (ENGL110XM or ENGL110M). Students must demonstrate reading and listening comprehension competencies in the English language as well as the ability to speak English clearly and correctly. Applicants whose first language is not English must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

.Li, Min; Li, Lijuan; Wang, Ke; Su, Wenting; Jia, Jun; Wang, Xiaomin2017-10-15Electroacupuncture (EA) has been reported to alleviate motor deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, and PD animal models. However, the mechanisms by which EA improves motor function have not been investigated. We have employed a 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA) unilateral injection induced PD model to investigate whether EA alters protein expression in the motor cortex. We found that 4weeks of EA treatment significantly improved spontaneous floor plane locomotion and rotarod performance. High-throughput proteomic analysis in the motor cortex was employed. The expression of 54 proteins were altered in the unlesioned motor cortex, and 102 protein expressions were altered in the lesioned motor cortex of 6- OHDA rats compared to sham rats.

Compared to non-treatment PD control, EA treatment reversed 6 proteins in unlesioned and 19 proteins in lesioned motor cortex. The present study demonstrated that PD induces proteomic changes in the motor cortex, some of which are rescued by EA treatment. These targeted proteins were mainly involved in increasing autophagy, mRNA processing and ATP binding and maintaining the balance of neurotransmitters. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

All rights reserved.Haleagrahara, Nagaraja; Siew, Cheng Jun; Ponnusamy, Kumar2013-02-01The catecholaminergic neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine is used to lesion dopaminergic pathways in the experimental animal models of Parkinson's disease. The present study was aimed to evaluate the combined treatment with bioflavonoid quercetin (QN) and desferrioxamine (DFO) on 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA) - induced neurotoxicity in the striatum of rats. Adult, male Sprague - Dawley rats were divided into control, sham lesion, 6- OHDA treated (300 µg, intracisternal), 6- OHDA with QN (50 mg/kg) treated, 6- OHDA with DFO (50 mg/kg) treated and 6- OHDA with QN and DFO treated groups. Striatal dopamine, protein carbonyl content (PCC), glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were estimated. There was a significant increase (p.99). Only one patient with bilateral incidentalomas underwent unilateral resection. The mean follow-up was 4 years (range, 1.2-13.0 years).

There were no occult adrenocortical carcinomas. Bilateral incidentalomas are more likely to be associated with subclinical Cushing syndrome and less likely to be pheochromocytomas. Although patients with bilateral incidentalomas undergo a workup similar to that in patients with unilateral lesions, differences in their natural history warrant a greater index of suspicion for subclinical Cushing syndrome.Wu, Shao Ping; Fu, Ai Ling; Wang, Yu Xia; Yu, Lei Ping; Jia, Pei Yuan; Li, Qian; Jin, Guo Zhang; Sun, Man Ji2006-07-21The present study aimed to evaluate whether the protein transduction domain (PTD)-conjugated human tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) fusion protein was effective on the 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA)-induced Parkinson's disease (PD) model rats. An expression vector pET-PTD-TH harbouring the PTD-TH gene was constructed and transformed to the Escherichia coli BL21 cells for expression.

The expressed recombinant PTD-TH with a molecular weight of 61 kD was successfully transduced (1 microM) into the dopaminergic SH-sy5y human neuroblastoma cells in vitro and visualized by immunohistochemical assay. An in vivo experiment in rats showed that the iv administered PTD-TH protein (8 mg/kg) permeated across the blood-brain barrier, penetrated into the striatum and midbrain, and peaked at 5-8 h after the injection. The behavioral effects of PTD-TH on the apomorphine-induced rotations in the PD model rats 8 weeks after the 6- OHDA lesion showed that a single bolus of PTD-TH (8 mg/kg) iv injection caused a decrement of 60% of the contralateral turns on day 1 and 40% on days 5-17.

The results imply that iv delivery of PTD-TH is therapeutically effective on the 6- OHDA-induced PD in rats, the PTD-mediated human TH treatment opening a promising therapeutic direction in treatment of PD.de Jager, Lorena; Amorim, Eric Diego Turossi; Lucchetti, Bruno Fernando Cruz; Lopes, Fernanda Novi Cortegoso; Crestani, Carlos Cesar; Pinge-Filho, Phileno; Martins-Pinge, Marli Cardoso2018-07-01Studies showed that physical exercise decreases the risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD) as slowing its progression. Nitric oxide (NO) increases in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) of individuals with PD. However, no study has evaluated the effects of exercise on peripheral NO levels and its modulatory effects on cardiovascular dysfunctions of subjects with PD. Trained (T) or sedentary (S) animals underwent stereotactic surgery for bilateral 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA) or vehicle microinfusion (Sham group). After 6 days, the animals were catheterized for baseline parameters, followed by inhibition of NOS by Nw-nitro-arginine-methyl ester (L-NAME, 10 mg/kg - i.v.). Nitrite concentration was performed in the aorta, heart, kidney, adrenal and plasma.

After exercise, the animals presented resting bradycardia ( 6- OHDA T and Sham T). NO was increased in the aorta of 6- OHDA S, and decreased in 6- OHDA T animals. In the heart, NO was increased in Sham T compared to sedentary and decreased in 6- OHDA T relative to 6- OHDA S and Sham T animals. At the kidney, NO decrease in 6- OHDA S and Sham T when compared to Sham S and, in adrenal gland, there was a decrease in 6- OHDA T in relation to 6- OHDA S. L-NAME promoted lower increases in MAP in 6- OHDA groups.

The decreases of HR were enhanced due to physical training. 6- OHDA S group presented decreased systolic arterial pressure variability, not altered by exercise. Our data showed alterations in peripheral NO in the association of exercise with Parkinsonism in the cardiovascular function. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Eyselbergs, M; Vanhoenacker, F; Hintjens, J; Dom, M; Devriendt, K; Van Dijck, H2014-01-01Noonan syndrome (NS) is an etiologically heterogeneous disorder caused by mutations in the RAS-MAPK signaling pathway. Noonan-Like/Multiple Giant Cell Lesion (NL/MGCL) syndrome is initially described as the occurrence of multiple gnathic giant cell lesions in patients with phenotypic features of NS.

Nowadays, NS/MGCL syndrome is considered a variant of the NS spectrum rather than a distinct entity. We report the case of a 14-year-old female patient carrying a SOS1 mutation with a unilateral giant cell lesion of the right mandible. Cross-sectional imaging such as CT and MRI are not specific for the diagnosis of oral giant cell lesions. Nonetheless, intralesional scattered foci of low SI on T2-WI, corresponding to hemosiderin deposits due to hemorrhage, can help the radiologist in narrowing down the differential diagnosis of gnathic lesions in patients with NS.Kim, Heung Deok; Jeong, Kyoung Hoon; Jung, Un Ju; Kim, Sang Ryong2016-02-01We recently reported that treatment with naringin, a major flavonoid found in grapefruit and citrus fruits, attenuated neurodegeneration in a rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD) in vivo. In order to investigate whether its effects are universally applied to a different model of PD and whether its treatment induces restorative effects on the lesioned nigrostriatal dopaminergic (DA) projection, we observed the effects of pre-treatment or post-treatment with naringin in a mouse model of PD. For neuroprotective effects, 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA) was unilaterally injected into the striatum of mouse brains for a neurotoxin model of PD in the presence or absence of naringin by daily intraperitoneal injection.

Our results showed that naringin protected the nigrostriatal DA projection from 6- OHDA-induced neurotoxicity. Moreover, similar to the effects in rat brains, this treatment induced the activation of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), which is well known as an important survival factor for DA neurons, and inhibited microglial activation in the substantia nigra (SN) of mouse brains treated with 6- OHDA. However, there was no significant change of DA phenotypes in the SN and striatum post-treated with naringin compared with 6- OHDA-lesioned mice, despite the treatment being continued for 12 weeks.

These results suggest that post-treatment with naringin alone may not be enough to restore the nigrostriatal DA projection in a mouse model of PD. However, our results apparently suggest that naringin is a beneficial natural product to prevent DA degeneration, which is involved in PD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Sala, M A; Oteui, J T; Benedetti, W I1975-01-01To determine whether central catecholaminergic pathways are involved in the neural contral of gonadotrophin secretion, they were interrupted at the hypothalamic level by microinjections of 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA). The effects on ovulation, estral cycle and ovarian and uterine histology were studied. Microinjections of 50 mug of 6- OHDA hydrobromyde were made bilaterally into the anterolateral hypothalamus in a group of rats.

Another group was injected with 25 mug of 6- OHDA, while a control group recieved an equivalent volume (5 mul) of saline with ascorbic acid. Animals injected with 50 mug of 6- OHDA showed blockade of ovulation, vaginal cytology characteristics of persistent estrous, polyfollicular ovaries and enlarged uteri with hypertrophic endometrial glands. In the group injected with 25 mug, similiar effects were demonstrated, but the number of affected animals was smaller than that in the 50 mug group. Control animals dit not show modifications, either in estral cycle or in ovarian and uterine histology. These results suggest that 6- OHDA injected into the anterolateral hypothalmus interferes with catecholaminergic pathways that participate in the neural control of ovulation.Metz, Gerlinde A; Gonzalez, Claudia L R; Piecharka, Dionne M; Whishaw, Ian Q2003-06-16Low doses of alcohol impair movement and reduce anxiety. Most assessments of movement under ethyl alcohol (alcohol) in the rat have been tests of whole body movements, however. There has been no examination of the effects of alcohol on skilled limb movements, such as reaching for food with a forelimb.

This was the purpose of the present study. Rats were trained to reach through a slot of a box with a forelimb in order to obtain a food pellet located on an external shelf. Once asymptotic performance was achieved, rats were given alcohol (20 ml of 8, 12 or 20% (v/v) solution) in separate tests to establish a relationship between alcohol ingestion and skilled reaching performance.

Acute treatment with all doses of alcohol impaired postural support, but doses of 8 and 12% alcohol improved skilled reaching success. Qualitative analysis of the movements used for reaching at doses of 8 and 12% indicated that some limb components of the reaching movement were also impaired, perhaps secondarily due to impaired posture. In contrast, the reaching success of rats with unilateral dopamine depletion, induced with the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA) in the nigrostriatal bundle, was impaired by the same dose of alcohol that improved reaching success in control rats.

The finding of improved success in reaching associated with reduced postural support in normal rats suggests a differential action of alcohol on movement subsystems underlying posture relative to skilled movement that depends upon an intact dopaminergic system. The results are also discussed with respect to the relationship of subsystems of movement and anxiety.Ikeda, Shigaku; Kawada, Juri; Yaguchi, Hitoshi; Ogawa, Hideoki2003-01-01Multiple hair follicle nevi are an extremely rare condition. In 1998, a case of unilateral multiple hair follicle nevi, ipsilateral alopecia and ipsilateral leptomeningeal angiomatosis of the brain was first reported from Japan. Very recently, hair follicle nevus in a distribution following Blaschko's lines has also been reported. In this paper, we observed a congenital case of unilateral, systematized linear hair follicle nevi associated with congenital, ipsilateral, multiple plaque lesions resembling epidermal nevi but lacking leptomeningeal angiomatosis of the brain. These cases implicate the possibility of a novel neurocutaneous syndrome.

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Additional cases should be sought in order to determine whether this condition is pathophysiologically distinct. Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel.Park, Sun Young; Kim, Do Yeon; Kang, Jong-Koo; Park, Geuntae; Choi, Young-Whan2014-09-01Free radical-mediated neurodegeneration is one of the many causes of Parkinson's disease (PD). As part of our ongoing studies on the identification of biologically active Schisandra chinensis components, we have isolated and structurally elucidated α-iso-cubebenol. This study was carried out in an attempt to clarify the neuroprotective effect of α-iso-cubebenol on toxin-insulted dopaminergic neuronal death using 6-hydroxy-dopamine ( 6- OHDA)-induced dopaminergic SH-SY5Y cells.

Α-iso-cubebenol significantly attenuated the loss of mitochondrial function (MTT assay) and membrane integrity (lactate dehydrogenase assay) associated with 6- OHDA-induced neurotoxicity. Pretreatment of the cells with α-iso-cubebenol diminished the intracellular accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and calcium in response to 6- OHDA. Moreover, α-iso-cubebenol protected against 6- OHDA-induced neurotoxicity through inhibition of SH-SY5Y cell apoptosis.

In addition, JC-1 staining, which is a well-established measure of mitochondrial damage, was decreased after treatment with α-iso-cubebenol. Notably, α-iso-cubebenol inhibited the release of mitochondrial flavoprotein apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) from the mitochondria to the cytosol and nucleus following 6- OHDA treatment. In addition, α-iso-cubebenol reduced the 6- OHDA-induced phosphorylation of ERK and induced the phosphorylation of PKA, PKB, and CREB in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, α-iso-cubebenol stimulated the activation of Nrf2, a downstream target of CREB. Furthermore, α-iso-cubebenol stimulated the expression of multiple antioxidant response genes (NQO-1 and HO-1).

Finally, CREB and Nrf2 siRNA transfection diminished α-iso-cubebenol-mediated neuroprotection. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Xi, Ye; Feng, Dayun; Tao, Kai; Wang, Ronglin; Shi, Yajun; Qin, Huaizhou; Murphy, Michael P; Yang, Qian; Zhao, Gang2018-05-26Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra compacta (SNc). Although mitochondrial dysfunction is the critical factor in the pathogenesis of PD, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood, and as a result, effective medical interventions are lacking. Mitochondrial fission and fusion play important roles in the maintenance of mitochondrial function and cell viability. Here, we investigated the effects of MitoQ, a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant, in 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA)-induced in vitro and in vivo PD models.

We observed that 6- OHDA enhanced mitochondrial fission by decreasing the expression of Mfn1, Mfn2 and OPA1 as well as by increasing the expression of Drp1 in the dopaminergic (DA) cell line SN4741. Notably, MitoQ treatment particularly upregulated the Mfn2 protein and mRNA levels and promoted mitochondrial fusion in the presence of 6- OHDA in a Mfn2-dependent manner. In addition, MitoQ also stabilized mitochondrial morphology and function in the presence of 6- OHDA, which further suppressed the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), as well as ameliorated mitochondrial fragmentation and cellular apoptosis. Moreover, the activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) was attributed to the upregulation of Mfn2 induced by MitoQ.

Consistent with these findings, administration of MitoQ in 6- OHDA-treated mice significantly rescued the decrease of Mfn2 expression and the loss of DA neurons in the SNc. Taken together, our findings suggest that MitoQ protects DA neurons in a 6- OHDA induced PD model by activating PGC-1α to enhance Mfn2-dependent mitochondrial fusion.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Benvenutti, Radharani; Marcon, Matheus; Reis, Carlos G; Nery, Laura R; Miguel, Camila; Herrmann, Ana P; Vianna, Monica R M; Piato, Angelo2018-01-01Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. In addition to its highly debilitating motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms may precede their motor counterparts by many years, which may characterize a prodromal phase of PD. A potential pharmacological strategy is to introduce neuroprotective agents at an earlier stage in order to prevent further neuronal death. N -acetylcysteine (NAC) has been used against paracetamol overdose hepatotoxicity by restoring hepatic concentrations of glutathione (GSH), and as a mucolytic in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by reducing disulfide bonds in mucoproteins.

It has been shown to be safe for humans at high doses. More recently, several studies have evidenced that NAC has a multifaceted mechanism of action, presenting indirect antioxidant effect by acting as a GSH precursor, besides its anti-inflammatory and neurotrophic effects. Moreover, NAC modulates glutamate release through activation of the cystine-glutamate antiporter in extra-synaptic astrocytes.

Its therapeutic benefits have been demonstrated in clinical trials for several neuropsychiatric conditions but has not been tested in PD models yet. In this study, we evaluated the potential of NAC to prevent the damage induced by 6-hydroxydopamine ( 6- OHDA) on motor, optomotor and morphological parameters in a PD model in larval zebrafish. NAC was able to prevent the motor deficits (total distance, mean speed, maximum acceleration, absolute turn angle and immobility time), optomotor response impairment and morphological alterations (total length and head length) caused by exposure to 6- OHDA, which reinforce and broaden the relevance of its neuroprotective effects. NAC acts in different targets relevant to PD pathophysiology. Further studies and clinical trials are needed to assess this agent as a candidate for prevention and adjunctive treatment of PD.Holmstrom, Linda; Vollmer, Brigitte; Tedroff, Kristina; Islam, Mominul; Persson, Jonas Ke; Kits, Annika; Forssberg, Hans; Eliasson, Ann-Christin2010-01-01Aim: To investigate relationships between hand function, brain lesions, and corticomotor projections in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP).

Method: The study included 17 children (nine males, eight females; mean age 11.4 SD 2.4 range 7-16y), with unilateral CP at Gross Motor Function Classification System level I and Manual Ability.Zong, Haiyang; Ma, Fenfen; Zhang, Laiyin; Lu, Huiping; Gong, Jingru; Cai, Min; Lin, Haodong; Zhu, Yizhun; Hou, Chunlin2016-12-01Lower extremity spasticity is a common sequela among patients with acquired brain injury. The optimum treatment remains controversial. The aim of our study was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of contralateral nerve root transfer in reducing post stroke spasticity of the affected hindlimb muscles in rats. In our study, we for the first time created a novel animal hindlimb spastic hemiplegia model in rats with photothrombotic lesion of unilateral motor cortex and we established a novel surgical procedure in reducing motor cortex lesion-induced hindlimb spastic hemiplegia in rats. Adobe director price. Thirty six rats were randomized into three groups.

In group A, rats received sham operation. In group B, rats underwent unilateral hindlimb motor cortex lesion. In group C, rats underwent unilateral hindlimb cortex lesion followed by contralateral L4 ventral root transfer to L5 ventral root of the affected side. Footprint analysis, Hoffmann reflex (H-reflex), cholera toxin subunit B (CTB) retrograde tracing of gastrocnemius muscle (GM) motoneurons and immunofluorescent staining of vesicle glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1) on CTB-labelled motoneurons were used to assess spasticity of the affected hindlimb. Sixteen weeks postoperatively, toe spread and stride length recovered significantly in group C compared with group B (P.Pagnozzi, Alex M; Dowson, Nicholas; Doecke, James; Fiori, Simona; Bradley, Andrew P; Boyd, Roslyn N; Rose, Stephen2016-01-01White and grey matter lesions are the most prevalent type of injury observable in the Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs) of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Previous studies investigating the impact of lesions in children with CP have been qualitative, limited by the lack of automated segmentation approaches in this setting.

As a result, the quantitative relationship between lesion burden has yet to be established. In this study, we perform automatic lesion segmentation on a large cohort of data (107 children with unilateral CP and 18 healthy children) with a new, validated method for segmenting both white matter (WM) and grey matter (GM) lesions.

The method has better accuracy (94%) than the best current methods (73%), and only requires standard structural MRI sequences. Anatomical lesion burdens most predictive of clinical scores of motor, cognitive, visual and communicative function were identified using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection operator (LASSO). The improved segmentations enabled identification of significant correlations between regional lesion burden and clinical performance, which conform to known structure-function relationships. Model performance was validated in an independent test set, with significant correlations observed for both WM and GM regional lesion burden with motor function (p.