by A. Mark Dalessandro
Daniel W. McNeil faces pain, fear, and anxiety every day.
As a member of the clinical faculty in the WVU Department of
Psychology, the associate professor trains future mental health
practitioners how to recognize, analyze, and alleviate the aspects
of our minds that cause distress.
Much of McNeil's work takes place in the Quin Curtis Center,
the Psychology Department's outpatient treatment facility, where
he works directly with students and patients in research and
clinical practice. But he also works in other places at WVU and
in the community, including the School of Dentistry and the West
Virginia Pain Treatment Center.
In addition to assisting graduate clinical psychology students
in treating clients who have problems such as difficulty relating
to supervisors or employees, family conflicts, and stage fright,
McNeil is trying to understand pain. He is particularly interested
in exploring how fear of pain affects our experiences with it.
"When you have pain, you are going to have anxiety,"
he said.
McNeil is supervising John Sorrel, a doctoral student in adult
clinical psychology, in research examining how anticipating pain
affects people's ability to endure it. "What we want to
understand better is the fear of pain and the response to pain,"
Sorrel said.
The study's participants are men and women who have been seeking
treatment for chronic pain at the West Virginia Pain Treatment
Center for at least six months. Patients at the clinic suffer
from a variety of ailments that contribute to their pain, including
arthritis, spinal cord and back injuries, and diabetes.
The patients are asked to answer questions that assess their
levels of pain anxiety, fear of pain, sensitivity to anxiety,
depression, and pain they are currently experiencing. Then Sorrel
describes the research procedure to each patient individually,
using one of two descriptions: "exceedingly painful"
or "not painful." Using weights, Sorrel puts pressure
on the patient's finger. An undergraduate psychology student
records the client's heart rate as a measure of anxiety.
Sorrel theorizes that anticipation of pain among those who are
told the procedure may be "exceedingly painful" will
cause them to experience greater pain.
After the experiment, Sorrel explains his theory to each client.
"This is helpful for the individuals because they will learn
how they respond to fear in the management of their pain,"
Sorrel says.
McNeil's interest in the psychology of pain extends from his
work as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Clinical
and Health Psychology at the University of Florida, where he
served as associate director of the Anxiety Disorders and Fear
Clinic and completed his fellowship in clinical psychology and
behavioral medicine.
While working with individuals with a fear of dental treatment,
McNeil learned of the powerful effect anticipation of pain can
have. During the next ten years, McNeil continued researching
the relationships among pain, fear, and dentistry as a faculty
member at Oklahoma State University and as an instructor at the
University of Oklahoma's College of Dentistry.
When McNeil interviewed for his WVU position, he met with the
School of Dentistry faculty and administration to make sure he
could continue his work in Morgantown. They were supportive of
his work, and now McNeil lectures in various Health Sciences
courses, trying to integrate the behavioral sciences into students'
understanding of physical illness and disease. In addition to
his tenured position in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences,
he holds adjunct appointments in the School of Dentistry and
the School of Medicine.
"We deal with anxiety and fear as a reason why people don't
see dentists," said Richard J. Crout, a professor of periodontics
in the School of Dentistry. Crout said that recent research has
revealed just how important regular dental checkups are: heart
disease, stroke, and low birth weight in babies are increasingly
being associated with gum disease.
McNeil is collaborating on numerous research projects with his
dentistry colleagues, including experiments with virtual-reality
glasses that patients could wear to distract them during dental
procedures.
"People like Dan have shown us the advantage of doing research
beyond our walls," Crout said.
McNeil also has conducted research on anxiety, depression, and
substance abuse among Native Americans. Last year he led a group
of WVU undergraduates on a visit to the Seneca Nation, touring
mental health centers on the Cattaraugus and Allegheny Indian
Reservations in upstate New York.
"As a group, American Indians tend to be unnoticed and ignored,"
McNeil said. "Alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse are common
among the residents of the Seneca Nation, as well as anxiety,
depression, and child neglect."
McNeil said he hopes the WVU students gained an appreciation
for the problems suffered by minority populations. "The
students' reactions were really positive," he said. "I
think they were impressed at some of the similarities and needs
in the community for health and mental health services."
McNeil's work in developing students' clinical and research skills
led to his receiving the 1999 Raymond D. Fowler Award, given
by the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students
to honor an outstanding mentor each year.
"Dr. McNeil skillfully brings together theory and research
and makes them relevant in the classroom and in practical applications,"
said M. Duane Nellis, dean of the Eberly College of Arts and
Sciences. "His work is important to the local community,
the state, and his field of behavioral psychology."
McNeil said he feels fortunate to work in an environment that
encourages him and his colleagues to do their best work. "As
faculty members at a land-grant institution we have the responsibility
and the privilege to conduct research that will advance science,
utilize scientific principles in improving clinical practice,
and thereby directly and indirectly better the lives of the people
we serve, particularly West Virginians," McNeil said.
McNeil's wife, Cheryl B. McNeil, also is a clinical psychology
associate professor at WVU and a nationally recognized expert
in treating severe behavior disorders in children. They both
joined the faculty in 1994.
This summer, WVU topped 13 other North American schools to
win bragging rights for creating the most fuel-efficient, environmentally
friendly sport utility vehicle. The WVU team tied with the University
of Maryland as overall winner of the FutureTruck 2000 competition
in Mesa, Ariz.
"This is certainly the best result we've ever had with a
student vehicle competition," said Chris Atkinson, a mechanical
and aerospace engineering professor and the WVU team's faculty
advisor. "It's extremely gratifying after all the hard work.
It's only with the support of many people at WVU that we were
able to achieve first place."
Fifteen student teams from the United States and Canada participated
in this year's competition. The U.S. Department of Energy, General
Motors, and Yahoo! Inc. were the main sponsors.
Participants were required to modify the powertrain of a 2000
Chevrolet Suburban sport utility vehicle to increase fuel economy.
They could employ various advanced technologies, including hydrogen
fuel cells, hybrid powertrains that combine electric motors with
internal combustion engines, lightweight materials, advanced
electronics, and alternative fuels. WVU's vehicle was re-engineered
as a hybrid electric and diesel-powered vehicle.
The FutureTruck teams competed in more than a dozen events. They
were evaluated on safety, performance, towing ability, greenhouse
gas emissions, fuel economy, consumer acceptability, and other
features.
State's Growth Not Keeping Pace with Nation's
The West Virginia economy should continue growing, according
to a new 10-year forecast by the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic
Research.
The long-term forecast is part of the West Virginia Economic
Outlook Project.
George Hammond, project director, said the state will continue
to grow and improve during the 2000-2010 period-if the national
economy avoids recession.
"However, the forecast calls for economic growth in the
state to fall short of gains expected for the nation," Hammond
said. "This leaves the state further behind the national
economy in terms of per capita personal income."
The state is forecast to continue generating net job gains during
the next 10 years, but those gains are expected to come at a
slower rate than they did during the 1990s. The services sector
will drive job growth during the new decade.
Manufacturing, especially durable goods sectors like lumber and
wood products and transportation equipment, is expected to be
a bright spot in terms of slowing net job losses. The forecast
calls for the state's population to register moderate losses
as slow job and income growth are insufficient to stem out-migration.
Finally, the forecast calls for the unemployment rate to stabilize
in the 5.5 to 6 percent range.
Seeking the Cause of Osteoporosis
People with osteoporosis experience bone fractures caused by
simple actions such as shaking hands or coughing. The disease
is most common in post-menopausal women. Sufferers may find relief
in the future, thanks in part to the research of three WVU professors.
Philip E. Keeting, associate professor of biology, has been studying
the influence of estrogen on bone cell biology as the chief researcher
on a $520,000 grant awarded by the National Institute on Aging
in Bethesda, Md.
Keeting, David Blaha, professor and chair of orthopedics, and
Marc Kantorow, assistant professor of biology, are focusing their
research on characterizing the physical changes leading to osteoporosis.
The combined activity of the bone-forming cells, known as osteoblast,
and the activity of cells that degrade the bone, known as osteoclast,
maintain the skeleton. For healthy adults, the process of formation
and degradation of bone occur in balance with each other. In
some cases, though, bone degradation accelerates, while bone
formation fails to keep up. This imbalance could lead to osteoporosis.
Keeting says one major breakthrough they have made has been in
identifying fundamental distinctions between male and female
bone cells, which may relate to the difference in the formation
of new bone.
TIGERS to Take Research Into Schools
A multidisciplinary team of WVU professors has been awarded a
$1.46 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)
to improve engineering and science education statewide and encourage
middle school students to pursue careers in engineering, science,
and technology.
The grant, called "Teams of Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellows
Engaged to Reinvigorate Students (TIGERS) to Science, Mathematics,
Engineering, and Technology," is a joint project of the
WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, the Eberly
College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Human Resources
and Education, and the Office of Service Learning.
The project will give multi-disciplinary teams of WVU engineering,
science, and mathematics graduate students the opportunity to
share the excitement of current, cutting-edge research with middle
school teachers and students throughout West Virginia over a
three-year period starting this fall.
In addition to making graduate students better teachers and helping
middle school teachers become more familiar with the latest advances
in engineering and scientific fields, the project aims to encourage
students to pursue education and careers in engineering, science,
and technology.
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