Digital Commons Network^™

Tough Decisions During The Covid 19 Pandemic: A Frail Latino Patient, Irma Huayanay, Stephanie Luu

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

The pandemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had overwhelmed the healthcare system worldwide with multiple ethical dilemmas. Several tools have been used to assess risk factors in these patients. One of them, the Clinical Frailty scale, has shown good correlation between the patient functional status and hospital stay with overall mortality. We present a case were the Clinical Frailty Scale was used to assess patient management and goals of care.

Long Non-Coding Rna (Lncrna) As A New Biomarker For Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Hcc) Progression And Drug Resistance, Areeb Masood, Sanjaya Satapathy, Manish Tripathi

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a primary malignant liver tumor that commonly occurs as a progression of chronic liver inflammation due to long-standing viral hepatitis infection, toxins, metabolic conditions, and congenital disorders. In 2018, HCC was the 4th leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, accounting for approximately 780,000 deaths in total.

HCC’s prognosis is directly correlated with early detection. Unfortunately, HCC has an asymptomatic pattern of growth in the early stages of the disease which makes early detection challenging. When HCC progresses to advanced stages, it leaves clinicians with limited therapeutic and curative options, leading to high rates of morbidity and …

Unexpected Ground-Glass Opacities On Abdominopelvic Ct Of A Patient With A Negative Sars-Cov-2 Antigen Test Result And No Respiratory Symptoms Upon Admission, Carol Soler-Luna, Domingo Reynoso-Saldana, Monica I. Burgos, Cesar H. Gutierrez

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

One of the biggest challenges during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to be the detection of asymptomatic and presymptomatic persons infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 who do not have symptoms of COVID-19 may transmit the virus to others and may have subclinical lung abnormalities. Some hospitals use SARSCoV-2 antigen tests for pre-admission screening testing because they are relatively inexpensive, have a rapid turnaround time, and can be performed at the point of care; however, antigen tests are generally less sensitive than nucleic acid amplification tests with reverse transcription polymerase chain …

Acanthosis Nigricans As A Composite Marker Of Cardiometabolic Risk And Its Complex Association With Obesity And Insulin Resistance In Mexican American Children, Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarenga, Geetha Chittoor, Solomon F. D. Paul, Sobha Puppala, Vidya S. Farook, Sharon P. Fowler, Roy G. Resendez, Joselin Hernandez-Ruiz, Alvaro Diaz-Badillo, David Salazar, Doreen D. Garza, Donna M. Lehman, Srinivas Mummidi, Rector Arya, Christopher Jenkinson, John Blangero, Ravindranath Duggirala

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Aim

Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a strong correlate of obesity and is considered a marker of insulin resistance (IR). AN is associated with various other cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs). However, the direct causal relationship of IR with AN in obesity has been debated. Therefore, we aimed to examine the complex causal relationships among the troika of AN, obesity, and IR in Mexican Americans (MAs).

Methods

We used data from 670 non-diabetic MA children, aged 6–17 years (49% girls). AN (prevalence 33%) severity scores (range 0–5) were used as a quasi-quantitative trait (AN-q) for analysis. We used the program SOLAR for …

Permutation Inference For Canonical Correlation Analysis, Anderson M. Winkler, Olivier Renaud, Stephen M. Smith, Thomas E. Nichols

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) has become a key tool for population neuroimaging, allowing investigation of associations between many imaging and non-imaging measurements. As age, sex and other variables are often a source of variability not of direct interest, previous work has used CCA on residuals from a model that removes these effects, then proceeded directly to permutation inference. We show that a simple permutation test, as typically used to identify significant modes of shared variation on such data adjusted for nuisance variables, produces inflated error rates. The reason is that residualisation introduces dependencies among the observations that violate the exchangeability …

Inherited Causes Of Clonal Haematopoiesis In 97,691 Whole Genomes, Alexander G. Bick, Joshua S. Weinstock, Satish K. Nandakumar, Charles P. Fulco, Erik L. Bao, Seyedeh M. Zekavat, Mindy D. Szeto, Juan M. Peralta, Joanne E. Curran, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Age is the dominant risk factor for most chronic human diseases, but the mechanisms through which ageing confers this risk are largely unknown1. The age-related acquisition of somatic mutations that lead to clonal expansion in regenerating haematopoietic stem cell populations has recently been associated with both haematological cancer2,3,4 and coronary heart disease5—this phenomenon is termed clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP)6. Simultaneous analyses of germline and somatic whole-genome sequences provide the opportunity to identify root causes of CHIP. Here we analyse high-coverage whole-genome sequences from 97,691 participants of diverse …

Telehealth Care And Its Role In Undergraduate Medical Education In The Covid-19 Era., Peter J. Gonzalez, Dustin J. Paul

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

Background

On March 17, 2020, the American Association of Medical Colleges issued a statement which “strongly supports medical schools pausing all student clinical rotations, effective immediately, until at least March 31.” The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine immediately withdrew third- and fourth-year students from clinical rotation sites, and developed alternative, online-based clerkship curricula to complete for the remainder of the academic year. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges to Undergraduate Medical Education, and has deprived upper-level students of foundational, in-person, clinical experiences. The UTRGV School of Medicine Department of Neurology is among the first …

Using The Integrated Developmental Model Of Supervision In A Vocational Counseling Setting, Viviana Garza

School of Rehabilitation Services & Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper proposes a concept of supervision at a vocational counseling setting. Using the Integrated Developmental Model with triadic supervision for trainees employed at YGS Placement Service agency will facilitate client welfare and counselor in training development. Along with supervision comes evaluating and assessing trainees' competence. Using the Counseling Competency Scale, the Supervisee Levels Questionnaire-Revised, and reflective journaling will benefit the supervision experience. Determining the level of development of trainees using the integrated development model is the first step to organize and plan the supervision meetings.

Localized Vibration: Effects On Flexibility, Louis Vince Lepak, Thomas W. Allen, Candace Robledo, David M. Thompson

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Background. Flexibility is an important component of physical conditioning used to improve performance and prevent injury. The application of vibration is one method that has been reported to increase flexibility. The preponderance of the literature reports the effects of whole-body vibration; fewer studies have investigated the effects of local vibration (LV) therapy.

Aims. To assess if LV affects spinal flexibility, the sit-and-reach test, or lower extremity range of motion measurements when compared to controls. To determine if the effects were specific to the site of LV application and if changes persisted between the follow-up visits.

Methods. Forty-three college students (age …

Effect Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Mechanical Thrombectomy For Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment In United States, Adnan Qureshi, Farhan Siddiq, Brandi R. French, Camilo R. Gomez, Vishal Jani, Ameer E. Hassan, M.Fareed K. Suri

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

There is accumulating data suggesting that the ischemic stroke may be increased in patients with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to hyper coagulopathy. An increase in acute ischemic stroke patients who require mechanical thrombectomy is to be expected particularly in regions with high rates of COVID-19.

Epidemiological Implications Of The Genetic Diversification Of Dengue Virus (Denv) Serotypes And Genotypes In Mexico, Ericel Hernandez-Garcia, Maria De Lourdes Munoz, Randy E. David, Gerardo Perez-Ramirez, Joel Navarrete-Espinosa, Alvaro Diaz-Badillo, Eduardo Dominguez-De-La-Cruz, Miguel Moreno-Galeana, Cesar Armando Brito-Carreon

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Variation and clade shifts in dengue virus (DENV) genotypes are responsible for numerous dengue fever outbreaks throughout Latin America in the past decade. Molecular analyses of dengue serotypes have revealed extensive genetic diversification and the emergence of new genotypes in Brazil (DENV-4 genotype I) and elsewhere in tropical and subtropical America. The goal of the present study is to assess the extent to which the adventitious introduction of DENV genotypes and their increasing genetic diversity affects dengue epidemiology in Mexico. A nuanced sequence inspection and phylogenetic analysis of the C-prM nucleotide region of DENV was performed for specimens collecting in …

Metabolic Regulation In Hpv Associated Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Vaishali Chandel, Sibi Raj, Prabhat Kumar, Shilpi Gupta, Anupam Dhasmana, Kavindra Kumar Kesari, Janne Ruokolainen, Pravesh Mehra, Bhudev C. Das, Mohammad Amjad Kamal, Dhruv Kumar

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Cancer cells exhibit distinct energy metabolic pathways due to multiple oncogenic events. In normoxia condition, the anaerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect) is highly observed in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). HNSCC is associated with smoking, chewing tobacco, consumption of alcohol or Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection primarily HPV16. In recent years, the correlation of HPV with HNSCC has significantly expanded. Despite the recent advancement in therapeutic approaches, the rate of HPV infected HNSCC has significantly increased in the last few years, specifically, in lower middle-income countries. The oncoproteins of High-risk Human Papillomavirus (HR-HPV), E6 and E7, alter the metabolic phenotype …

Multi National Survey Of The Advice Given To Muslim Kidney Graft Recipients By Muslim Nephrologists About Lifestyle And Religious Rituals With Potential Medical Risk, Ziad M. S Arabi, Elwaleed A. Elhassan, Mubarak I. Abdalla, Mahfooz A. Farooqui, Atif A. Mateen, Saleh Kaysi, Syed A. Alam, Saif Khan, Mohamed F. Elmuzaini, Mourad M. Alsabbagh

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Muslim renal transplant recipients often ask their physicians if performing certain lifestyles or religious obligations may be harmful to their health. Permissibility as advised by an expert Muslim physician is considered as being religiously accepted. A cross-sectional, survey-based study was conducted enquiring what nephrologists would advise their transplant recipients to do, about some lifestyles and religious duties. Fifty-eight nephrologists responded to the survey. Of these, 77% routinely follow-up post-transplant patients; 34% were from Saudi Arabia, 18% from the USA, and 20% from Pakistan. Fifty-four percent of the respondents would let patients with stable graft function fast during Ramadan, while 20% …

Uncovering The Complex Genetics Of Human Character, Igor Zwir, Javier Arnedo, Coral Del-Val, Laura Pulkki-Råback, Bettina Konte, Sarah S. Yang, Rocio Romero-Zaliz, Mirka Hintsanen, Kevin M. Cloninger, Gabriel A. De Erausquin

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Human personality is 30–60% heritable according to twin and adoption studies. Hundreds of genetic variants are expected to influence its complex development, but few have been identified. We used a machine learning method for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to uncover complex genotypic–phenotypic networks and environmental interactions. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) measured the self-regulatory components of personality critical for health (i.e., the character traits of self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence). In a discovery sample of 2149 healthy Finns, we identified sets of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that cluster within particular individuals (i.e., SNP sets) regardless of phenotype. Second, we identified five …

Retrospective Study Examining Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome In Covid+ Patients, Lily Chen, Areeb Masood, Ayman Khaddam, Alyssa Chen, Ildiko Lingvay, Henry Kwang

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

Purpose: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected millions of people all over the world with worse proven outcomes in those with certain comorbid conditions, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and pulmonary complications. The Rio Grande Valley located in South Texas with a largely Hispanic population has been hit especially hard during this pandemic with over 3,200 virus-related deaths. This region’s high population of diabetic and obese patients is likely correlated with the especially high mortality rate. While it is understood the impact that obesity has on worsening health outcomes, further research is needed to better understand whether more adverse COVID-19 …

Progressive Lowering Of Transverse Mastectomy Scars Onto The Inframammary Fold: A Novel Technique To Simultaneously Improve Cosmesis While Performing Implant-Based Breast Reconstruction, Annalisa Lopez

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

The post-reconstruction appearance of mastectomy scars is a contributing factor that affects how patients perceive themselves after breast reconstruction.1 Patients that undergo a skin-sparing mastectomy (SSM) may often have a periareolar incision which can leave an unappealing transverse scar. Regardless of whether reconstruction is performed in a delayed or immediate fashion, the transverse mastectomy scar itself commonly lies in the center of the breast near the reconstructed nipple-areolar complex, causing psychological trauma and continued patient dissatisfaction.2 This also may lead to post-reconstruction multiple mastectomy scar revisions. This research aims to describe a novel technique to reliably avoid the presence of …

Withania Somnifera As A Potential Future Drug Molecule For Covid-19, Vivek K. Kashyap, Anupam Dhasmana, Murali M. Yallapu, Subhash C. Chauhan, Meena Jaggi

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

COVID-19 is an infection disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 is a mild to severe respiratory illness which has caused significant disruption to normal life over the past few months, nearly bringing parts of the world to a halt. As of 26 August 2020, more than 24 million COVID-19 infections have been reported and 821,000 deaths are associated with this disease [1]. According to the WHO (Geneva, Switzerland) and the US CDC (MD, USA), the clinical manifestation of COVID-19 is the presence of fever or chills, sore throat, dry cough, fatigue, muscle/body aches, headache, loss …

Multi National Survey Of The Advice Given To Muslim Kidney Graft Recipients By Muslim Nephrologists About Lifestyle And Religious Rituals With Potential Medical Risk, Ziad M. S. Arabi, Elwaleed A. Elhassan, Mubarak I. Abdalla, Mahfooz A. Farooqui, Atif A. Mateen, Saleh Kaysi, Syed A. Alam, Saif A. Khan, Mohamed F. Elmuzaini, Mourad M. Alsabbagh, Abdulrahman R. Altheaby

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Muslim renal transplant recipients often ask their physicians if performing certain lifestyles or religious obligations may be harmful to their health. Permissibility as advised by an expert Muslim physician is considered as being religiously accepted. A cross-sectional, survey-based study was conducted enquiring what nephrologists would advise their transplant recipients to do, about some lifestyles and religious duties. Fifty-eight nephrologists responded to the survey. Of these, 77% routinely follow-up post-transplant patients; 34% were from Saudi Arabia, 18% from the USA, and 20% from Pakistan. Fifty-four percent of the respondents would let patients with stable graft function fast during Ramadan, while 20% …

Stratifying Chronic Stroke Patients Based On The Influence Of Contralesional Motor Cortices: An Inter-Hemispheric Inhibition Study, Yin-Liang Lin, Kelsey A. Potter-Baker, David A. Cunningham, Manshi Li, Vishwanath Sankarasubramanian, John Lee, Stephen Jones, Ken Sakaie, Xiaofeng Wang, Andre G. Machado

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Objective:

A recent “bimodal-balance recovery” model suggests that contralesional influence varies based on the amount of ipsilesional reserve: inhibitory when there is a large reserve, but supportive when there is a low reserve. Here, we investigated the relationships between contralesional influence (inter-hemispheric inhibition, IHI) and ipsilesional reserve (corticospinal damage/impairment), and also defined a criterion separating subgroups based on the relationships.

Methods:

Twenty-four patients underwent assessment of IHI using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (ipsilateral silent period method), motor impairment using Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer (UEFM), and corticospinal damage using Diffusion Tensor Imaging and active motor threshold. Assessments of UEFM and IHI were repeated …

Tobacco Smoke Carcinogens Induce Dna Repair Machinery Function Loss: Protection By Carbon Nanotubes, Anukriti Dhasmana, Anupam Dhasmana, Hobani Yahya H, Abdullah Farasani, Mahmoud Habibullah, Freah L. Alshammary, Saif Khan, Shafiul Haque, Mohtashim Lohani

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Purpose: DNA damage is a continuous process occurring within the cells caused by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, but it gets repaired regularly. If the DNA repair process is faulty, the incidences of damages/mutations can accumulate in cells resulting in cell transformation. It is hypothesized that the negative variations in DNA repair pathways in even at one point viz. genetic, translational or posttranslational stage may fairly be crucial for the beginning and development of carcinogenesis. Therefore, we investigated the potential of tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNs) related carcinogens to interact with the enzymes involved in DNA repair mechanisms in the current study. …

Cerebrovascular Events And Outcomes In Hospitalized Patients With Covid-19: The Svin Covid-19 Multinational Registry, James E. Siegler, Pere Cardona, Juan F. Arenillas, Blanca Talavera, Ana N. Guillen, Alba Chavarrıa-Miranda, Mercedes De Lera, Priyank Khandelwal, Ivo Bach, Ameer E. Hassan, Laurie Preston, Mary S. Patterson, Saif Bushnaq, Osama Zaidat

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Background

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been associated with a significant risk of thrombotic events in critically ill patients.

Aim

To summarize the findings of a multinational observational cohort of patients with SARS-CoV-2 and cerebrovascular disease.

Methods

Retrospective observational cohort of consecutive adults evaluated in the emergency department and/or admitted with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) across 31 hospitals in four countries (1 February 2020–16 June 2020). The primary outcome was the incidence rate of cerebrovascular events, inclusive of acute ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhages (ICH), and cortical vein and/or sinus thrombosis (CVST).

Results

Of the 14,483 patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2, …

Initial Experience With The Next-Generation Resolute Onyx Zotarolimus-Eluting Stent In Symptomatic Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease, Ameer E. Hassan, Mahmoud H. Mohammaden, Rani R. Rabah, Wondwossen G. Tekle

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Background and Purpose: Intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) is a common cause of stroke worldwide. Although there are different endovascular options for the treatment of symptomatic ICAD (sICAD), it is still controversial. Herein, we aim to study the safety and efficacy of a new generation of drug-eluting balloon-mounted stent (DES); Resolute (R) onyx DES in the treatment of sICAD.

Methods:A prospectively maintained neuroendovascular procedures database in a high-volume comprehensive stroke center was reviewed from October 2019 through January 2020. Patients were included if they had sICAD (≥70% stenosis), failed medical management, and underwent intracranial stenting with R-onyx DES. Technical success …

Isolated Central Nervous System Metastasis From Neuroendocrine Carcinoma Of The Cervix Without Pulmonary Metastasis, Fabiola Valenzuela, Sohum Desai

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix (NECC) accounts for 2% of all cervical cancers. Brain metastasis is rare, with few cases described in the literature, and is usually associated with preceding pulmonary metastasis. We describe an additional case of isolated brain metastasis without pulmonary metastasis from NECC and reflect on unique management.

A 37-year-old woman with a history of NECC presented with severe headache post-total hysterectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection. The computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated obstructive hydrocephalus with several intra-axial lesions located in the pineal region, left cerebellar hemisphere, and left frontal operculum. A right frontal ventriculostomy was initially …

Detrimental Effects Of Malaria, Toxoplasmosis, Leishmaniosis And Chagas Disease On Cardiac And Skeletal Muscles, Mauro Toledo Marrelli, Matthew William Fiedler, Cláudia Cristina Biguetti, Marco Brotto

School of Podiatric Medicine Publications and Presentations

The pathogenic mechanisms of several diseases triggered by protozoan parasites, such as the causative agents of Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis, leishmaniosis, and malaria, have demonstrated to cause direct detrimental effect on cardiac and skeletal muscle. These are amongst the most prevalent and epidemiologically relevant protozoan infections worldwide and infecting millions of people per year. As such, this review focuses on the current knowledge on the pathogenic mechanisms of these diseases on muscles. Case studies and original research addressing the mechanisms of action for direct and indirect damage to cardiac and skeletal muscle were analyzed and the main findings summarized. Importantly, all …

Role Of Mirna-Mrna Interaction In Neural Stem Cell Differentiation Of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Satish Kumar, Joanne E. Curran, Erica De Leon, Ana C. Leandro, Tom E. Howard, Donna M. Lehman, Sarah Williams-Blangero, David C. Glahn, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

miRNA regulates the expression of protein coding genes and plays a regulatory role in human development and disease. The human iPSCs and their differentiated progenies provide a unique opportunity to identify these miRNA-mediated regulatory mechanisms. To identify miRNA–mRNA regulatory interactions in human nervous system development, well characterized NSCs were differentiated from six validated iPSC lines and analyzed for differentially expressed (DE) miRNome and transcriptome by RNA sequencing. Following the criteria, moderated t statistics, FDR-corrected p-value ≤ 0.05 and fold change—absolute (FC-abs) ≥2.0, 51 miRNAs and 4033 mRNAs were found to be significantly DE between iPSCs and NSCs. The miRNA target …

Surrogates And Artificial Intelligence: Why Ai Trumps Family, Ryan Hubbard, Jake Greenblum

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

The increasing accuracy of algorithms to predict values and preferences raises the possibility that artificial intelligence technology will be able to serve as a surrogate decision-maker for incapacitated patients. Following Camillo Lamanna and Lauren Byrne, we call this technology the autonomy algorithm (AA). Such an algorithm would mine medical research, health records, and social media data to predict patient treatment preferences. The possibility of developing the AA raises the ethical question of whether the AA or a relative ought to serve as surrogate decision-maker in cases where the patient has not issued a medical power of attorney. We argue that …

Nuclear And Chloroplast Dnas Reveal Diverse Origins And Mis-Identifications Of Juniperus Cultivars From Windsor Gardens, Uk, Part 3 Of 3, Robert P. Adams, Sam T. Johnson, John Anderson, Keith Rushforth, Nicolas Valentin, Andrea E. Schwarzbach, Sonja Siljak-Yakovlev

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ploidy was determined for 15 plants labeled as Juniperus squamata at the Windsor Gardens, UK and revealed 12 were tetraploids (2n=4x=44) and 3 were diploids (2n=2x=22). nrDNA (ITS) and cp DNA sequencing the tetraploids found: 4 J. squamata (4x); 4 J. tibetica (4x) x J. squamata (4x); 2 J. sabina var. balkanensis (4x) x J. squamata (4x); and one J. chinensis var. sargentii (4x) x J. squamata (4x). Sequencing the 3 diploids revealed: 2 J. pingii (2x) x J. pingii (2x); and 1 J. pingii (2x)? x J. komarovii(2x)? Ploidy analyses of 18 additional cultivars, putatively from Juniperus davurica, J. …

Covid-19: Fighting The Invisible Enemy With Microrna, Neeraj Chauhan, Meena Jaggi, Subhash C. Chauhan, Murali M. Yallapu

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Introduction: The novel coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. It is believed that early reports of COVID-19 cases were noticed in December 2019 and soon after became a global public health emergency. It is advised that COVID-19 transmits through human to human contact and in most cases it remains asymptomatic. Several approaches are being utilized to control the outbreak of this fatal viral disease. microRNAs (miRNAs) are known signature therapeutic tool for the viral diseases; they are small non-coding RNAs that target the mRNAs to inhibit their post-transcriptional expression, therefore, impeding …

The Reliability And Heritability Of Cortical Folds And Their Genetic Correlations Across Hemispheres, Fabrizio Pizzagalli, Guillaume Auzias, Qifan Yang, Samuel R. Mathias, Joshua Faskowitz, Joshua D. Boyd, Armand Amini, Denis Rivière, Katie L. Mcmahon, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Cortical folds help drive the parcellation of the human cortex into functionally specific regions. Variations in the length, depth, width, and surface area of these sulcal landmarks have been associated with disease, and may be genetically mediated. Before estimating the heritability of sulcal variation, the extent to which these metrics can be reliably extracted from in-vivo MRI must be established. Using four independent test-retest datasets, we found high reliability across the brain (intraclass correlation interquartile range: 0.65–0.85). Heritability estimates were derived for three family-based cohorts using variance components analysis and pooled (total N > 3000); the overall sulcal heritability pattern was …

The Case For Capping Residency Interviews, Helen K. Morgan, Abigail F. Winkel, Taylor Standiford, Rodrigo Munoz, Eric A. Strand, David A. Marzano, Tony Ogburn, Carol A. Major, Susan Cox, Maya M. Hammoud

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Objective

To determine 2020 residency cycle application practices and to model potential consequences in the 2021 cycle if (1) applicants scheduled an uncapped number of interviews; (2) applicants were capped to schedule 12 interviews; (3) residency programs kept their number of interview offers unchanged; and (4) programs increased their interview offers by 20%.

Design and Setting

The authors sent an anonymous survey to all obstetrics and gynecology applicants registered through the Electronic Residency Application Service in February 2020 asking respondents to share demographics and number of interview offers received and completed. Based on prior estimates that 12 interviews are needed …