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Research Activities
Mark Francis, Steve Scaife, Whitney Zahnd
We primarily focus on epidemiologic research in the Division of Rheumatology. While we do some work on rheumatologic topics, our interests lie well beyond rheumatology.
We have a special interest in rural compared to urban health care. With the key help of Steve Scaife, we are using a 2005 Medicare database to determine whether or not there is a difference in the utilization of various surgical procedures between rural and urban people. Whitney Zahnd has just finished a study on health care literacy in rural compared to urban populations. We have begun another study that will exam rural and urban differences in the interactions among social capital, access to health care, perceived health care, and willingness to undergo surgery.
Our group is willing to collaborate with other faculty, residents, and fellows in epidemiologic studies. Some of these studies were initiated by our group but involve residents (whether rural patients present for joint replacement surgeries with more severe joint damage or functional limitation, whether rural patients present with more progressive coronary artery disease, etc.). Many other studies were, however, initiated by residents and fellows: whether patients with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus have a worse outcome after coronary artery revascularization; whether patients with COPD have a higher fatality rate after bronchoscopy compared to non-COPD patients, whether placement of a Swan-Ganz catheter enhances survival in patients with co-existing sepsis and congestive heart failure, etc.
Rita Trammel
Inability to sleep, excessive sleepiness, and fatigue are common problems that many, if not all, people experience at some time in their lives. Excessive sleepiness and fatigue, particularly when persistent, reduce the quality of life of affected individuals and also cause significant economic loss in terms of diminished productivity and employment capability. Considerable data support strong interactions between the immune response and vigilance states. Furthermore, infectious diseases, cancer and/or their therapies are often associated with non-restorative sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness, and fatigue, and many individuals also suffer from chronic fatigue of unknown etiology. Identifying the mechanisms responsible for poor sleep, chronic fatigue and excessive sleepiness and developing effective interventions for these disabling symptoms is the focus of research in our laboratory.
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