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Describes Neighbors Helping Neighbors: Turning Ideas into Action, a two-part program involving the Medical College of Wisconsin that facilitates the community-building process for low-income public housing residents in Milwaukee. (EV)

Sought to develop a reliable and valid instrument to measure pharmacy students' self-confidence and to determine the effect of selected demographic variables as independent predictors of self-confidence. Found that the instrument had content validity, high internal consistency reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. Several demographic variables were found to be significant predictors of students' level of self-confidence. (EV)

Describes how two partnerships have applied nine principles of good partnership to move beyond funding setbacks, including grant application rejections, to implement programs and make partnership progress. Experiences of the Marion Area Partnership, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, and the Partners for Progress in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, show how partnerships can move forward in spite of obstacles. (SLD)

A partnership for medical student education and community health improvement between the Medical College of Wisconsin and a rural Wisconsin area illustrates four stages of partnership development and advantages over traditional student placement. Two elements key to such partnerships are long-term commitment and the ability and willingness of students to spend time in the community. (TD)

A systematic approach to reform of pharmaceutical education is seen as necessary to link intended outcomes of reform to a progressive and generally accepted mission of professional practice. Cooperation between pharmaceutical education, professional organizations, and regulatory agencies is viewed as necessary and refinement of professional mission as primary. (Author/MSE)

Fourteen computer-assisted pharmacy modules on self-care using guided design were compared with print-based counterparts in a 2-hour practice course with 20 students. Results indicated students were able to master content without the guided design format, and students preferred print-based exercises. However, computer-assisted instruction reduced instructor time required. (Author/MSE)

The intent of an integrating laboratory was to help pharmacy students learn to solve problems, make decisions, and develop good communication skills. Educational units included exercises in guided design, patient profile review, patient inquiries, extemporaneous prescription compounding, clinical literature evaluation, and videotapes of simulated pharmacists' situations. (Author/MLW)

Epsins are a family of ubiquitin-binding, endocytic clathrin adaptors. Mice lacking both epsins 1 and 2 (Epn1/2) die at embryonic day 10 and exhibit an abnormal vascular phenotype. To examine the angiogenic role of endothelial epsins, we generated mice with constitutive or inducible deletion of Epn1/2 in vascular endothelium. These mice exhibited no abnormal phenotypes under normal conditions, suggesting that lack of endothelial epsins 1 and 2 did not affect normal blood vessels. In tumors, however, loss of epsins 1 and 2 resulted in disorganized vasculature, significantly increased vascular permeability, and markedly retarded tumor growth. Mechanistically, we show that VEGF promoted binding of epsin to ubiquitinated VEGFR2. Loss of epsins 1 and 2 specifically impaired endocytosis and degradation of VEGFR2, which resulted in excessive VEGF signaling that compromised tumor vascular function by exacerbating nonproductive leaky angiogenesis. This suggests that tumor vasculature requires a balance in VEGF signaling to provide sufficient productive angiogenesis for tumor development and that endothelial epsins 1 and 2 negatively regulate the output of VEGF signaling. Promotion of excessive VEGF signaling within tumors via a block of epsin 1 and 2 function may represent a strategy to prevent normal angiogenesis in cancer patients who are resistant to anti-VEGF therapies., Introduction Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from preexisting vessels, is essential for embryogenesis and postnatal organ repair under physiological conditions. However, under pathological conditions, such as in cancer, [...]

The ability to sense oxidative stress in live cells and organisms would have far-reaching implications for biotechnology, drug discovery, and potentially medical imaging. We hypothesized that tyrosine-containing fluorescent proteins could be used as switches for sensing oxidative stress, based on their sensitivity to environmental and structural variations. We therefore tested purified EGFP, EYFP, ECFP, and DsRed proteins against the heme-peroxidase/[H.sub.2][O.sub.2] reaction. We found that peroxidase-mediated oxidation resulted in up to 99.5% quenching of EYFP fluorescence (but not that of other fluorescent proteins) in a dose-dependent manner. Western blotting revealed inter- and intramolecular cross-linking. The observed detection limit for hydrogen peroxide was ~100 nM, well below the extracellular levels previously reported to occur in mammalian tissue during signaling. Combined expression of EYFP (quenchable) and ECFP or EGFP (nonquenchable) is expected to allow sensitive monitoring of oxidative stress.