Reliability of spot check transcutaneous hemoglobin measurements in children in the pediatric outpatient setting
Dr. Molly Posa
Email
mollyposa@peds.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 222-9688
Faculty Department/Division
Pediatrics
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
Currently the AAP recommends universal screening for IDA at the 12-month-old well child visit and at any age in children who are at increased risk for iron deficiency. The current method for testing for iron-deficiency anemia is through a finger stick to collect a capillary blood sample. Given this is an invasive procedure, this frequently causes stress to both the child and the parent because of the discomfort causes to the child. There is a noninvasive hemoglobin test available, but little research has been done to determine the reliability in the outpatient pediatric setting. Our study will access the accuracy and reliability of a non-invasive hemoglobin measurement device compared with our standard capillary measurement in an outpatient pediatric office.
Enrollment will include any pediatric patient who needs a hemoglobin measurement during a specified enrollment period (summer 2023). After agreement to participate, each participant will have a hemoglobin measurement obtained with Pronto Pulse Co-Oximeter during the same day that a capillary sample is obtained and resulted in clinic. Paired hemoglobin results will be compared.
The medical student will be responsible for submitting an IRB-1, obtaining informed consent, obtaining the participant transcutaneous hemoglobin measurement in pediatric outpatient primary care clinics, completing a chart review of pediatric subjects to collect and review data (to be determined by MSRP mentors and student). The correlation between the two measurements (capillary vs transcutaneous) will be evaluated on Bland-Altman analysis. Medical students will participate in data collection and analysis of the chart review along with preparation of abstracts and manuscripts resulting from the study. Results of this study will help determine the validity and reliability of a non-invasive hemoglobin measurement device in the pediatric primary care clinical setting.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Natural History and Mechanisms of Exocrine Pancreatic Pathology in Pre-Type 1 Diabetes
Dr. Brittany Bruggeman
Email
bruggemanbr@ufl.edu
Phone
(321) 537-8832
Faculty Department/Division
Pediatrics
This project is primarily:
Translational
Research Project Description:
Although type 1 diabetes is historically thought of as an autoimmune disease of insulin-producing beta cells, the overall pancreas is smaller and there is reduced exocrine pancreatic function in this disease. It is not known when this pathology begins, why it occurs, or if we can use exocrine pancreatic markers as biomarkers of disease progression. In this project, medical students will participate in translational benchwork within the UF Diabetes Institute. Students may run ELISAs for fecal elastase, evaluate pancreas histopathology through high-throughput imaging, and will have the opportunity to see clinical research patients in the CRC. This project is fully funded and IRB approved. Students would have the opportunity to be on a publication relating to this work.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Congruence of lab versus histopathologic findings of acute pancreatitis in the nPOD consortium
Dr. Brittany Bruggeman
Email
bruggemanbr@ufl.edu
Phone
(321) 537-8832
Faculty Department/Division
Pediatrics
This project is primarily:
Translational
Research Project Description:
Clinical acute pancreatitis is typically diagnosed through elevated amylase and lipase levels as well as changes on imaging. However, the correlation of these lab findings with changes in histopathology is not well described. The nPOD cohort, a large biobank of pancreatic samples from organ donors along with their hospital records, provides a good opportunity to study this question. We hypothesize that elevations in amylase will not be as well correlated with acute pancreatitis by histopathology as elevations in lipase. In this project, the student would review terminal hospital charts for amylase and lipase levels, would record these in REDCap, and would compare these to recorded findings of acute pancreatitis by histopathology (already completed). This project should be able to be completed remotely and should result in publication of a short report, of which the student could be first author.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Social determinants of health screening in pediatric diabetes clinic
Dr. Brittany Bruggeman
Email
bruggemanbr@ufl.edu
Phone
(321) 537-8832
Faculty Department/Division
Pediatrics
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
The American Diabetes Association recommends social determinants of health (SDOH) screening at each diabetes clinic visit, including screening for food insecurity, housing issues, and trouble accessing medications or supplies. Our clinic is not currently screening for these issues. We will perform a clinical research study evaluating the prevalence of unmet SDOH needs in pediatric diabetes clinic, demographics associated with increased SDOH needs, and the feasibility and acceptability of introducing this screening. We plan to start the clinic screenings over the summer when the medical student starts. They would help with in-clinic screenings, referrals to social work and our medical-legal partnership, and recording data in REDCap.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Outcomes and patient satisfaction after treatment in youth gender clinic
Dr. Brittany Bruggeman
Email
bruggemanbr@ufl.edu
Phone
(321) 537-8832
Faculty Department/Division
Pediatrics
This project is primarily:
Case Review
Research Project Description:
The UF Pediatric Gender Clinic evaluates and treats pediatric and adolescent transgender and gender diverse patients per standards of care. This project would be a chart review and potentially involve contacting current and previous patients regarding patient satisfaction and health outcomes after treatment. The medical student would conduct the chart review and potentially contact patients via telephone or Zoom. The majority of the project should be able to be completed remotely.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Development of 3D Engineered heart tissue to model Wolfe-Parkinson-White syndrome
Dr. Christopher Wendler
Email
cwendler@ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 294-4451
Faculty Department/Division
Pediatrics
This project is primarily:
Basic
Research Project Description:
This project will use 3D engineered heart tissue (EHT) to develop an in vitro disease model of Wolfe-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, a rare autosomal-dominant disorder that results in accumulation of glycogen within cardiomyocytes. Development of 3D engineered heart tissues (EHT) with patient-like functional profiles will allow use to assess function of cardiomyocytes, including changes in the force frequency, systolic contraction, diastolic contraction, maximum twitch, maximal twitch amplitude and full width at half max can be derived from the disease models. Next, we will test therapeutic approaches to restore EHT and EMT functions. For WPW syndrome, this aim will test therapeutic AAV vectors and their ability to rescue cardiac muscle function. Developing this in vitro model of muscle disease will provide a powerful tool to assess the effectiveness of therapeutics, as it will provide important data on cellular and tissue functionality.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Facilitators and Barriers to Enrolling Children and Families in Pediatric ED Research
Dr. Colleen Gutman
Email
ckays21@ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 265-5911
Faculty Department/Division
Pediatrics
This project is primarily:
CQI
Research Project Description:
Clinical research in pediatric emergency medicine has grown nationally in recent years. This is important to advancing the care of ill and injured children and for investigating strategies to promote child health equity. However, there are important ethical considerations to when approaching and enrolling acutely ill and injured children and their families in research (Neuman G, Shavit I, Matsui D, Koren G. Ethics of research in pediatric emergency medicine. Pediatric Drugs. 2015;17(1):69-76). Using a quality improvement framework, this project seeks to understand the facilitators of and barriers to approaching and enrolling children and families for clinical research in the UF Pediatric ED. The MSRP student(s) will work to collect and analyze the perspectives of multidisciplinary stakeholders, including IRB members, pediatric ED patients and families, pediatric ED staff, and nationally recognized pediatric emergency medicine researchers. Depending on the project timeline, this project may also include the development and PDSA testing of an intervention to screen pediatric emergency medicine patients for participation in available clinical research opportunities.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
Health Tracker in Pediatrics
Faculty Mentor’s Name: Dr. Angelina Bernier
Email: angelina@ufl.edu
Phone Number: (352) 265-7337
Project Category: Clinical
International Component or Travel: No
Research Project Description:
This project is a chart review to examine the trends in health and fitness for a pediatric population followed in the UF Pediatric Metabolic & Obesity clinic. The 95210 Health Tracker is a survey that was created as part of a wellness initiative that encourages participants to reach their personal health and wellness goals by tracking health behaviors such as exercise and nutrition based on America Academy of Pediatric guidelines for obesity prevention. The aim is to determine the wellness behaviors of this specific pediatric population and assess survey response trends over time in subsequent follow up visits.