Digital Commons Network^™

Low Skeletal Muscle Mass Is Associated With Inferior Preoperative And Postoperative Shoulder Function In Elderly Rotator Cuff Tear Patients, Yang Yang, Binbin Zheng, Xiaofang Lin, Mengqin Zhang, Yongzhi Ye, Haixiao Chen, Xiaobo Zhou

Student and Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass is an important characteristic of sarcopenia, an increasingly recognized condition with systemic implications. However, its association with shoulder function in elderly patients with rotator cuff tears (RCT) remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between low skeletal muscle mass and shoulder function in elderly RCT patients.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on RCT patients who underwent chest computed tomography (CT) scans for clinical evaluation. Preoperative CT scan images of the chest were used to calculate the cross-sectional area (CSA) of thoracic muscle at the T4 level. The medical records …

Tumor Biomechanical Stiffness By Magnetic Resonance Elastography Predicts Surgical Outcomes And Identifies Biomarkers In Vestibular Schwannoma And Meningioma, Bailey H Duhon, Kristin Thompson, Melanie Fisher, Vivian F Kaul, Han Tn Nguyen, Michael S Harris, Varun Varadarajan, Oliver F Adunka, Daniel M Prevedello, Arunark Kolipaka, Yin Ren

Student and Faculty Publications

Variations in the biomechanical stiffness of brain tumors can not only influence the difficulty of surgical resection but also impact postoperative outcomes. In a prospective, single-blinded study, we utilize pre-operative magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) to predict the stiffness of intracranial tumors intraoperatively and assess the impact of increased tumor stiffness on clinical outcomes following microsurgical resection of vestibular schwannomas (VS) and meningiomas. MRE measurements significantly correlated with intraoperative tumor stiffness and baseline hearing status of VS patients. Additionally, MRE stiffness was elevated in patients that underwent sub-total tumor resection compared to gross total resection and those with worse postoperative facial …

Vascular Risk Profile And Changes Of Arterial Hypertension After Surgical Revascularization In Adult Moyamoya Patients, Patrick Haas, Lucas Moritz Wiggenhauser, Jonas Tellermann, Helene Hurth, Daniel Feucht, Marcos Tatagiba, Nadia Khan, Constantin Roder

Student and Faculty Publications

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a rare stenoocclusive cerebral vasculopathy often treated by neurosurgical revascularization using extracranial-intracranial bypasses to prevent ischemic or hemorrhagic events. Little is known about the vascular risk profile of adult MMD patients compared to the general population. We therefore analyzed 133 adult MMD patients and compared them with data from more than 22,000 patients from the German Health Update database. Patients with MMD showed an age- and sex-adjusted increased prevalence of arterial hypertension, especially in women between 30 and 44 years and in patients of both sexes between 45 and 64 years. Diabetes mellitus was diagnosed significantly …

The Long-Term Effects Of Blood Urea Nitrogen Levels On Cardiovascular Disease And All-Cause Mortality In Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study, Hongfang Liu, Xiaoqin Xin, Jinghui Gan, Jungao Huang

Student and Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The long-term effects of blood urea nitrogen(BUN) in patients with diabetes remain unknown. Current studies reporting the target BUN level in patients with diabetes are also limited. Hence, this prospective study aimed to explore the relationship of BUN with all-cause and cardiovascular mortalities in patients with diabetes.

METHODS: In total, 10,507 participants with diabetes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2018) were enrolled. The causes and numbers of deaths were determined based on the National Death Index mortality data from the date of NHANES interview until follow-up (December 31, 2019). Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were …

Proteomics For Optimizing Therapy In Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Venetoclax Plus Hypomethylating Agents Versus Conventional Chemotherapy, Eduardo Sabino De Camargo Magalhães, Stefan Edward Hubner, Brandon Douglas Brown, Yihua Qiu, Steven Mitchell Kornblau

Student and Faculty Publications

The use of Hypomethylating agents combined with Venetoclax (VH) for the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) has greatly improved outcomes in recent years. However not all patients benefit from the VH regimen and a way to rationally select between VH and Conventional Chemotherapy (CC) for individual AML patients is needed. Here, we developed a proteomic-based triaging strategy using Reverse-phase Protein Arrays (RPPA) to optimize therapy selection. We evaluated the expression of 411 proteins in 810 newly diagnosed adult AML patients, identifying 109 prognostic proteins, that divided into five patient expression profiles, which are useful for optimizing therapy selection. Furthermore, …

Montelukast As A Repurposable Additive Drug For Standard-Efficacy Multiple Sclerosis Treatment: Emulating Clinical Trials With Retrospective Administrative Health Claims Data, Astrid M Manuel, Assaf Gottlieb, Leorah Freeman, Zhongming Zhao

Student and Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Effective and safe treatment options for multiple sclerosis (MS) are still needed. Montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA) currently indicated for asthma or allergic rhinitis, may provide an additional therapeutic approach.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to evaluate the effects of montelukast on the relapses of people with MS (pwMS).

METHODS: In this retrospective case-control study, two independent longitudinal claims datasets were used to emulate randomized clinical trials (RCTs). We identified pwMS aged 18-65 years, on MS disease-modifying therapies concomitantly, in de-identified claims from Optum's Clinformatics

RESULTS: pwMS treated with montelukast demonstrated a statistically significant 23.6% reduction in relapses compared …

Survival Predictive Nomograms For Non-Surgical Brain Metastases Patients From Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Receiving Radiotherapy: A Population-Based Study, Peng Li, Jie Luo, Zilong Zheng, Lu Meng, Anqi Zhang, Wei Cao, Xiaomei Gong

Faculty and Staff Publications

OBJECTIVE: A high number of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastasis who have not had surgery often have a negative outlook. Radiotherapy remains a most common and effective method. Nomograms were developed to forecast the cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) in NSCLC individuals with nonoperative brain metastases who underwent radiotherapy.

METHODS: Information was gathered from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database about patients diagnosed with NSCLC who had brain metastases not suitable for surgery. Nomograms were created and tested using multivariate Cox regression models to forecast CSS and OS at intervals of 1, …