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About Frank
Bio Sketch
Publications
About Vulnerability
Old notes about VP
Exploring Cardiac EP
Exploring EADs
Ion Channel Blockade
Exploring Main Ideas

I - Learning
An enabling infrastructure
Web enabling tools
Prototyping with tools

About Education
The Joy of Learning
Education in Transition
Failure of the IT Age
Learning
Forgetting
Thinking

Distractions
Photos on Flickr
Mostly Asian Nature
Travel photo essays
Karpeles Museum Exhibit
Building the Ravenel Bridge
Unbuilding Bridges

Behind the Scenes

  • The early description of the cardiology databank
  • Duke Cardiology Databank An outgrowth of a program for acute patient monitoring started in 1968 by Joe Greenfield, Andy Wallace and myself
  • From Dr. Nemat Hashem's Lab Ain-Shams Univ, Cairo. From 1988 until 1992, several Duke graduate students and I, funded by USAID via NIH (Charles Lowe, NICHD), designed, developed and installed a Mac-based genetics database in Dr. Nemat Hashem's lab. Marge Dietz was the chief architect while David Cherveny worked out the network design (with the Univ of Cairo). Its use over the years has been quite rewarding.

Recent Publications

  • Starmer, C.F. The web of curiosity Aug 25, 2007, Straits Times
  • Starmer, C.F. The role of intrinsic and induced vulnerability in electrically induced cardiac arrhythmias. J. Cardiov. Electrophys 17:1369-1370, 2006
  • Cimponeriu, A., Starmer, C.F. and Bezerianos, A. Ischemic modulation of the vulnerable period and the effects of pharmacologic treatment on ischemia-induced arrhythmias IEEE Trans BME 50:168-177,2003.
  • Thoughts about eduation, learning, thinking and main ideas. Notes by Josh and Frank and Friends (a work in progress)
  • Starmer, C.F., Grant, A.O. and Colatsky, T.J. What happens when cardiac Na channel function is compromised? 2: Numerical studies of the vulnerable period in tissue altered by drugs. Cardiovascular Research 57:1062-1071, 2003
  • Starmer, C.F., Colatsky, T.J. and Grant, A.O. What happens when cardiac Na channels lose their function? 1: Numerical studies of the vulnerable period in tissue expressing mutant channels. Cardiovascular Research 57:82-91, 2003
  • Grant, A.O., Carboni, M.P., Neplioueva, V., Starmer, C.F., Memmi, M., Napolitano, C. and Priori, S. Long QT, Brugada and conduction system disease linked to a single Na channel mutation. J. Clin Invest. 110:1201-1209, 2002 The commentary from Colleen Clancy and Rocky Kass provides an insightful overview of what we are trying to do: chasing cardiac arrhythmias from altered channel function to arrhythmogenic mechanisms. The above 2 papers in Cardiovascular Research expose the mechanism of altering vulnerability to premature excitation by compromising Na channel function.
  • Starmer, C.F. How antiarrhythmic drugs increase the rate of sudden cardiac death. Int. Journal of Bifurcations and Chaos 12:1953-1969, 2002. Valentin Krinsky and Pierre Coullet wrote a nice editorial about emerging properties - demonstrated in this manuscript - where new properties emerge (vulnerability) when cells are connected in an array.
  • Starmer, C.F. Hitting a moving target: Moving toward a compliance driven Patient Record. JAMIA 9:559-560, 2002.
  • Cimponeriu, A., Starmer, C.F. and Bezerianos, A. A Theoretical Analysis of Acute Ischemia and Infarction. IEEE Trans. Biomed Engrg 48:41-54, 2001
  • Moskalenko, A., Kukushkin, N.I., Starmer, C.F., Deca, A.A., Kukushkina, K.N. and Medvinskii, A.B. Quantitative analysis of variability of the electrocardiograms typical of polymorphic arrhythmias. Biofizika 46:319-329, 2001 (in Russian). and Biofizika 46:319-329, 2001 (in English).
  • Ivashikina, N.V., Sokolov, O.A. and Starmer, C.F. Modeling nitrate absorption in maize seedlings. Agrochemistry 7:10-17, 2001 (in Russian)
  • Grant, A.O., Chandra, R., Keller, C., Carboni, M. and Starmer, C.F. Block of Wild-Type and Inactivation-Deficient Cardiac Na Channels in IFM/QQQ Stably Expressed in Mammalilan Cells. Biophys. J. 79:3019-3035, 2000
  • Starmer, C.F., Medvinsky, A.B., Sidorov, B.Yu., Sarancha, D. and Kukushkin, N.I. Reentrant polymorphic and monomorphic arrhythmias: The influence of activation wave overlap on QRS morphology. 2000.
  • Chandra, R., Chauhan, V.S., Starmer, C.F. and Grant, A.O. Beta-adrenergic action on wild-type and KPQ mutant human cardiac Na+ channels: shift in gating but no change in Ca++: Na+ selectivity. Cardio. Res. 42:490-502, 1999
  • Chandra, R., Starmer, C.F. and Grant, A.O. Multiple effects of KPQ deletion mutation on gating of human cardiac Na+ channels expressed in mammalian cells. Amer. J. Physiol. 274: H1643-H1654, 1998
  • Starmer, C.F. The cardiac vulnerable period and reentrant arrhythmias: Targets of anti- and proarrhythmic processes. Pace 20:445-454, 1997.
  • Starobin, J.M., Starmer, C.F. and Starobin, A.J. Boundary-layer analysis of spiral wave core: Spiral core radius. Phys Rev E 56:R3757-R3760, 1997
  • Starobin, J. M. and Starmer, C.F. A common mechanism links spiral wave meandering and wavefront-obstacle separation. Phys Rev E 55:1193-1197, 1997
  • Starobin, J. M. and Starmer, C.F. Boundary Layer Analysis of Waves Propagating in an Excitable Medium Phys Rev E 54:430-437, 1996
  • Romashko, D.N. and starmer, C.F. Numerical experiments in a modified Beeler-Reuter cable model: Initiating Fast (Na) and Slow (Ca) waves. Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 5:417-424, 1995
  • Starobin, J.M, Zilberter, Y.I., Rusnak, E.M. and Starmer, C.F. Wavelet formation in excitable cardiac tissue: The role of wavefront-obstacle interactions in initiating high-frequency fibrillatory-like arrhythmias. Biophysical J. 70:581-594, 1996.
  • Starmer, C.F., Romashko, D.N., Reddy, R.S., Zilberter, Y.I., Starobin, J., Grant, A.O. and Krinsky, V.I. Proarrhythmic Potential of Potassium Channel Blockade: Numerical Studies of Polymorphic Tachyarrhythmias. Circulation 92:595-605, 1995.
  • Spach, M.S. and Starmer, C.F. Altering the topology of gap junctions: a major therapeutic target for atrial fibrillation Cardio. Res 30:336-344, 1995
  • Gomez-Gesteira, M., Fernandez-Garcia, G., Munuzuri, A.P., Perez-Munuzuri, V., Krinsky, V.I., Starmer, C.F. and Perez-Villar, V. Vulnerability in excitable Belousov-Zhabotinsky medium: from 1D to 2D. Physica D 76:359-368, 1994.
  • Chaylakhyan, L.M., Starmer, C.F., Aliev, R.R. and Medvinsky, A.B.. Novel approaches to science orgainzation: the project "Lab without Walls". Herold of the Russian Academy of Sciences ( Vestnik Akademii Nauk), 64:808-809, 1994 (in Russian).
  • Starobin, J., Zilberter, Y.I. and Starmer, C.F. Vulnerability in one-diensional excitable media, Physica D 70:321-341, 1994.
  • Zilberter, Y.I., Starmer, C.F. and Grant, A.O. Open Na+ channel blockade: multiple rest states revealed by channel interactions with disopyramide and quinidine. American Journal of Physiology 266:H2007-2017, 1994.
  • Zilberter, Y.I., Starmer, C.F., Starobin, J. and Grant, A.O. Late Na channels in cardiac cells: The physiological role of background Na channels. Biophysical Journal 67:153-160, 1994.
  • Starmer, C.F., Biktashev, V.N., Romashko, D.N., Stepanov, M.R., Makarova, O.N. and Krinsky, V.I. Vulnerability in homogeneous excitable media: Analytical and numerical studies of unidirectional propagation, Biophysical Journal, 65:1775-1787, 1993.
  • Spach, M.S., Heidlage, J.F., Darken, E.R., Hofer, E. and Starmer, C.F. Cellular dV/dt(max) reflects both membrane properties and the load presented by admoining cells. American Journal of Physiology 263:H1855-H1863, 1993.
  • Starmer, C.F., Lancaster, A.R., Lastra, A.A. and Grant. A.O. Cardiac instability amplified by use-dependent Na channel blockade. American Journal of Physiology 262:H1305-H1310, 1992
  • Nesterenko, V.V., Lastra, A.A., Rosenshtraukh, L.V. and Starmer, C.F. A proarrhythmic response to sodium channel blockade: The influence of antiarrhythmic drugs on the window of vulnerability in guinea-pig myocardium. Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology 19:810-820, 1992.
  • Barber, J.M., Starmer, C.F. and Grant, A.O. Blockade of cardiac sodium channels by amitriptyline and diphenylhydantoin: evidence of two use-dependent binding sites. Circulation Research 69:677-696, 1991.
  • Starmer, C.F., Lastra, A.A., Nesterenko, V.V. and Grant, A.O. A proarrhythmic response to sodium channel blockade: Theoretical model and numerical experiments. Circulation 84:1364-1377, 1991.
  • Colatsky, T.J., Follmer, C.H. and Starmer, C.F. Channel specificity in antiarrhythmic drug action: mechanism of potassium channel block and its role in suppressing and aggravating cardiac arrhythmias. Circulation 82:2235-2242, 1990.
  • Starmer, C.F. and Dietz, M.A. Managing clinical research data: software tools for hypothesis exploration. Environmental Health Perspectives 87:5-11, 1990.
  • Starmer, C.F., Nesterenko, V.V., Gilliam, F.R. and Grant, A.O. Using ionic currents to identify and estimate parameters in models of channel blockade. American Journal of Physiology 259:H626-634, 1990.
  • Dietz, M.A., Grant, A.O. and Starmer, C.F. An object oriented user interface for analysis of biological data. Computers and Biomedical Research 23:82-96, 1990.
  • Gilliam, F.R., Starmer, C.F. and Grant, A.O. Blockade of rabbit atrial sodium channels by lidocaine: characterization of continuous and frequency-dependent blockade. Circulation Research 65:723-739, 1989
  • Grant, A.O., Dietz, M.A, Gilliam, F.R. and Starmer, C. F. Blockade of cardiac sodium channels by lidocaine. Single-channel analysis. Circulation Research 65:1247-1262, 1989
  • Whitcomb, D.C., Gilliam, F.R., Starmer, C.F. and Grant, A.O. Marked QRS complex abnormalities and sodium channel blockade by propoxyphene reversed with lidocaine. Journal of Clinical Investigation 84:1629-1636, 1989.
  • Starmer, C.F. Characterizing activity-dependent processes with a piece-wise exponential model. Biometrics 44:549-559, 1988
  • Starmer, C.F. Theoretical characterization of ion channel blockade: competitive binding to periodically accessible receptors. Biophysical Journal 52:405-412, 1987.
  • Starmer, C.F., Packer, D.L. and Grant, A.O. Ligand binding to transiently accessible sites: mechanisms for varying apparent binding rates. Journal of Theoretical Biology 124:335-341, 1987.
  • Starmer, C.F., Cherveny, D.J., Dietz, J.A. and Smaltz, J.M. Managing research data with self-documenting files. Computers and Biomedical Research 20:264-278, 1987.
  • Jon Bentley's discussion of annotated files (CACM 30:479, 1987) with an example of an annotated file from our electrophysiology lab.
  • Starmer, C.F., Dietz, M.A. and Grant, A.O. Signal discretization: a source of error in histograms of ion channel events. IEEE Trans. on Biomed. Eng. BME-33:70-73, 1986.
  • Starmer, C.F. Theoretical characterization of ion channel blockade: Ligand binding to periodically accessible receptors. Journal of Theoretical Biology 119:235-249, 1986.
  • Starmer, C.F. and Grant, A.O. Phasic ion channel blockade: A kinetic model and method for parameter estimation. Molecular Pharmacology 28:348-356, 1985.
  • Grant, A.O., Starmer, C.F. and Strauss, H.C. Unitary sodium channels in isolated myocytes of rabbit. Circ. Res. 53:823-829, 1983.
  • Starmer, C.F., Lee, K.L., Harrell, F.E. and Rosati, R.A. On the complexity of investigating chronic illness. Biometrics 36:333-335, 1980
  • Lee, K. L., McNeer, J.F., Starmer, C.F., Harris, P.J. and Rosati, R.A. Clinical judgment and statistics. Lessons from a simulated randomized trial in coronary artery disease. Circulation 61:508-515, 1980.
  • McNeer, J.F., Wallace, A.G., Wagner, G.S., Starmer, C.F. and Rosati, R.S. The course of acute myocardial infarction: Feasibility of early discharge of the uncomplicated patient. Circulation 51:410-413, 1975.
  • McNeer, J.F., Starmer, C.F., Barletl, A.G., Behar, V.S., Kong, Y., Perer, R.H. and Rosati, R.A. The nature of treatment selection in coronary artery disease. Circulation 49:606-614, 1974.
  • Starmer, C. F., Grizzle, J.E. and Sen, P.K. Some reasons for not using the Yates continuity correction on contingency tables. J. Amer. Statistical Assoc. 69:376-378, 1974.
  • Starmer, C.F. and Clark, D.R. Computer computations of cardia output using the gamma function. J. Appl. Physiol. 28:219-220, 1970.
  • Grizzle, J.E., Starmer, C.F. and Koch, G.G. Analysis of categorical data by linear models. Biometrics, 25:489-502, 1969.
  • Grizzle, J.E. Comments of the citation classic: analysis of categorical data by linear models. Current Contents Jan 28, 1980
  • Starmer, C.F., Whalen, R.E. and McIntosh, H.D. Detecting leakage currents in medical equipment Amer. J. Cardiol. 17:437-438, 1966
  • Starmer, C.F., Whalen, R.E. and McIntosh, H.D. Hazards of electric shock in cardiology. Amer J. Cardiol. 14:537-546, 1964
  • Kamei, RK, Cook, S, Puthucheary, J and Starmer, CF. 21st century learning in medicine Traditional Teaching versus Team-based Learning.: medical science educator 22(2)April 2012