Digital Commons Network^™

Octadecyl Chain-Bearing Pegylated Poly(Propyleneimine)-Based Dendrimersomes : Physicochemical Studies, Redox-Responsiveness, Dna Condensation, Cytotoxicity And Gene Delivery To Cancer Cells, Partha Laskar, Sukrut Somani, Margaret Mullin, Rothwelle J. Tate, Monika Warzecha, Deborah Bowering, Patricia Keating, Craig Irving, Hing Y. Leung, Christine Dufès

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers have become increasingly important for nucleic acid and drug delivery in cancer therapy. Here, we report the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of disulphide-linked, octadecyl (C18 alkyl) chain-bearing PEGylated generation 3-diaminobutyric polypropylenimine dendrimer-based vesicles (or dendrimersomes) for gene delivery. The lipid-bearing PEGylated dendrimer was successfully synthesized through in situ two-step reaction. It was able to spontaneously self-assemble into stable, cationic, nanosized vesicles, with low critical aggregation concentration value, and also showed redox-responsiveness in presence of a glutathione concentration similar to that of the cytosolic reducing environment. In addition, it was able to condense more than 70% of DNA at …

Loss-Of-Function Genomic Variants Highlight Potential Therapeutic Targets For Cardiovascular Disease, Jonas B. Nielsen, Oren Rom, Ida Surakka, Sarah E. Graham, Wei Zhou, Tanmoy Roychowdhury, Lars G. Fritsche, John Blangero, Joanne E. Curran, Juan M. Peralta

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Pharmaceutical drugs targeting dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease (CVD) may increase the risk of fatty liver disease and other metabolic disorders. To identify potential novel CVD drug targets without these adverse effects, we perform genome-wide analyses of participants in the HUNT Study in Norway (n = 69,479) to search for protein-altering variants with beneficial impact on quantitative blood traits related to cardiovascular disease, but without detrimental impact on liver function. We identify 76 (11 previously unreported) presumed causal protein-altering variants associated with one or more CVD- or liver-related blood traits. Nine of the variants are predicted to result in loss-of-function of …

Treating Ms After Surviving Pml: Discrete Strategies For Rescue, Remission, And Recovery Patient 1: From The National Multiple Sclerosis Society Case Conference Proceedings, Nidhiben Anadani, Megan Hyland, Roberto A. Cruz, Robert Lisak, Kathleen Costello, Eugene O. Major, Yasir Jassam, Ethan Meltzer, Thomas C. Varkey, Matthew S. Parsons

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

A 38-year-old woman with MS receiving natalizumab presented to the neurology clinic with the complaint of a new neurologic symptom.

Treating Ms After Surviving Pml: Discrete Strategies For Rescue, Remission, And Recovery Patient 2: From The National Multiple Sclerosis Society Case Conference Proceedings, Roberto A. Cruz, Nick Hogan, Jayne Sconzert, Megan Sconzert, Eugene O. Major, Robert P. Lisak, Esther Melamed, Thomas C. Varkey, Ethan Meltzer, Andrew Goodman

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis In A Pediatric Male, Florentino Saenz Rios, Sandhya Devaraj, Giri Movva, Hari Movva, Quan D. Nguyen

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Significant eosinophilia is a prominent feature in Churg-Strauss syndrome but has not been described in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) in a pediatric patient. We present a biopsy case that confirmed granulomatosis with polyangiitis with significant eosinophilia > 30% on the initial presentation. Etiologies that could account for eosinophilia were excluded during workup. The patient's presentation of pulmonary alveolar hemorrhage, conjunctivitis arthritis, high-titer cytoplasmic antineutrophil, PR3-ANCA antibodies, and cytoplasmic antibodies (cANCA) was consistent with a clinical picture of atypical GPA in a pediatric patient. This case presents a rare opportunity not only due to GPA’s low incidence in the pediatric population but …

Role Of Nutraceuticals In Covid-19 Mediated Liver Dysfunction, Mohammed Sikander, Shabnam Malik, Anyssa Rodriguez, Murali M. Yallapu, Acharan S. Narula, Sanjaya K. Satapathy, Vijian Dhevan, Subhash C. Chauhan, Meena Jaggi

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

COVID-19 is known as one of the deadliest pandemics of the century. The rapid spread of this deadly virus at incredible speed has stunned the planet and poses a challenge to global scientific and medical communities. Patients with COVID-19 are at an increased risk of co-morbidities associated with liver dysfunction and injury. Moreover, hepatotoxicity induced by antiviral therapy is gaining importance and is an area of great concern. Currently, alternatives therapies are being sought to mitigate hepatic damage, and there has been growing interest in the research on bioactive phytochemical agents (nutraceuticals) due to their versatility in health benefits reported …

Current Available Computer-Aided Detection Catches Cancer But Requires A Human Operator, Florentino Saenz Rios, Giri Movva, Hari Movva, Quan D. Nguyen

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Introduction: This study intends to show that the current widely used computer-aided detection (CAD) may be helpful, but it is not an adequate replacement for the human input required to interpret mammograms accurately. However, this is not to discredit CAD’s ability but to further encourage the adoption of artificial intelligence-based algorithms into the toolset of radiologists.

Methods: This study will use Hologic (Marlborough, MA, USA) and General Electric (Boston, MA, USA) CAD read images provided by patients found to be Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) 6 from 2019 to 2020. In addition, patient information will be pulled …

Protein Kinase D1 Regulates Metabolic Switch In Pancreatic Cancer Via Modulation Of Mtorc1, Sonam Kumari, Sheema Khan, Radhiki Sekhri, Hassan Mandil, Stephen Behrman, Murali M. Yallapu, Subhash C. Chauhan, Meena Jaggi

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND: Protein kinase D1 (PKD1) is a serine–threonine kinase that regulates various functions within the cell. Herein, we report the significance of PKD1 expression in glucose metabolism resulting in pancreatic cancer (PanCa) progression and chemo-resistance.

METHODS: PKD1 expression in PanCa was investigated by using immunohistochemistry. Functional and metabolic assays were utilised to analyse the effect of PKD1 expression/knockdown on associated cellular/molecular changes.

RESULTS: PKD1 expression was detected in human pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia lesions (MCS=12.9; P < 0.0001) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma samples (MCS=15, P < 0.0001) as compared with faint or no expression in normal pancreatic tissues (MCS= 1.54; P < 0.0001). Our results determine that PKD1 enhances glucose metabolism in PanCa cells, by triggering enhanced tumorigenesis and chemo-resistance. We demonstrate that mTORC1 activation by PKD1 regulates metabolic alterations in PanCa cells. siRNA knockdown of Raptor or treatment with rapamycin inhibited PKD1-accelerated lactate production as well as glucose consumption in cells, which confirms the association of mTORC1 with PKD1-induced metabolic alterations.

CONCLUSION: This study suggests a novel role of PKD1 as a key modulator of the glucose metabolism in PanCa cells accelerating tumorigenesis …

Consenso Experto En Tiempos De Covid-19: Aplicaciones Del Método Delphi En Materia De Salud [Expert Consensus In Times Of Covid-19: Health Applications Of The Delphi Method], José D. Martínez-Ezquerro, Sonia Maria Ruiz-Cejudo, Alejandra Bustamante-Fuentes, Alvaro Diaz-Badillo, Esperanza M. García-Oropesa, Elena B. López-Sosa, Yoscelina E. Martínez-López, Óscar O. Moctezuma-Chávez, Edna J. Nava-González, Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarenga

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

La epidemia de COVID-19 ha modificado la cultura de la comunicación. La solución para los problemas de salud puede ser asertiva cuando es consensuada. El método Delphi es una herramienta de consenso que emplea rondas de listas de preguntas para recopilar información del conocimiento de un panel de expertos que analizan planteamientos y posibles soluciones a problemas. Se basa en la premisa de que, con la libertad del anonimato, la inteligencia combinada mejora el juicio individual y captura la opinión colectiva experta. El proceso del método es muy flexible, pues las rondas de preguntas pueden realizarse de manera presencial o …

Gambogic Acid Potentiates Gemcitabine Induced Anticancer Activity In Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Elham Hatami, Prashanth K. B. Nagesh, Meena Jaggi, Subhash C. Chauhan, Murali M. Yallapu

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most frequent type of lung cancer accounting up to 80-85% of all lung cancer (LC) cases. Gemcitabine (Gem), a pyrimidine nucleoside antimetabolite, is widely used chemotherapy offering several months survival benefit in patients with NSCLC. The emergence of Gem resistance is a main clinical concern in cancer treatment and thus a continuous demand for development of new therapeutic strategies to improve its antitumor activity. Hence, we report an adjuvant therapeutic regimen based on natural compound, gambogic acid (GA) which has been shown to enhanced Gem induced inhibition of cancer cell growth, arrest cell …

Two-Year Neurocognitive Responses To First Occupational Lead Exposure, Yu-Ling Yu, Lutgarde Thijs, Nelly Saenen, Jesus D. Melgarejo, Dong-Mei Wei, Wen-Yi Yang, Cai-Guo Yu, Harry A. Roels, Tim S. Nawrot, Gladys E. Maestre, Jan A. Staessen, Zhen-Yu Zhang

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Objectives Lead exposure causes neurocognitive dysfunction in children, but its association with neurocognition in adults at current occupational exposure levels is uncertain mainly due to the lack of longitudinal studies. In the Study for Promotion of Health in Recycling Lead (NCT02243904), we assessed the two-year responses of neurocognitive function among workers without previous known occupational exposure newly hired at lead recycling plants.

Methods Workers completed the digit-symbol test (DST) and Stroop test (ST) at baseline and annual follow-up visits. Blood lead (BL) was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (detection limit 0.5 μg/ dL). Statistical methods included multivariable-adjusted mixed …

Discovery, Validation And Sequencing Of Urinary Peptides For Diagnosis Of Liver Fibrosis—A Multicentre Study, Ayman S. Bannaga, Jochen Metzger, Ioannis Kyrou, Torsten Voigtländer, Thorsten Book, Jesus Melgarejo, Agnieszka Latosinska, Martin Pejchinovski, Jan A. Staessen, Harald Mischak

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Background

Liver fibrosis is a consequence of chronic inflammation and is associated with protein changes within the hepatocytes structure. In this study, we aimed to investigate if this is reflected by the urinary proteome and can be explored to diagnose liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.

Methods

In a multicentre combined cross-sectional and prospective diagnostic test validation study, 129 patients with varying degrees of liver fibrosis and 223 controls without liver fibrosis were recruited. Additionally, 41 patients with no liver, but kidney fibrosis were included to evaluate interference with expressions of kidney fibrosis. Urinary low molecular weight …

Health And Social Correlates Of Dementia In Oldest-Old Mexican-Origin Populations, Silvia Mejia-Arango, Emma Aguila, Mariana López-Ortega, Luis Miguel Gutiérrez-Robledo

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Introduction: Substantial gaps in research remain across oldest-old ethnic populations while the burden of dementia increases exponentially with age among Mexican and Mexican American older adults.

Methods: Prevalence and correlates of dementia among individuals ≥82 years of age were examined using two population-based cohort studies: The Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS, n = 1078, 2012) and the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (HEPESE, n = 735, 2012-2013). The analytic MHAS and HEPESE samples had an average age of 86.4 and 88.0 years, 1.2 and 1.8 women to men, and 2.7 and 5.1 average years …

Associations Of Cannabis Use Disorder With Cognition, Brain Structure, And Brain Function In African Americans, Marinka M. G. Koenis, Joke Durnez, Amanda Rodrigue, Samuel R. Mathias, Aaron F. Alexander-Bloch, Jennifer Barrett, Gaelle E. Doucet, Sophia Frangou, Joanne E. Curran, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Although previous studies have highlighted associations of cannabis use with cognition and brain morphometry, critical questions remain with regard to the association between cannabis use and brain structural and functional connectivity. In a cross-sectional community sample of 205 African Americans (age 18–70) we tested for associations of cannabis use disorder (CUD, n = 57) with multi-domain cognitive measures and structural, diffusion, and resting state brain-imaging phenotypes. Post hoc model evidence was computed with Bayes factors (BF) and posterior probabilities of association (PPA) to account for multiple testing. General cognitive functioning, verbal intelligence, verbal memory, working memory, and motor speed were …

Antibody Fc Glycosylation Discriminates Between Latent And Active Tuberculosis, Lenette L. Lu, Jishnu Das, Patricia S. Grace, Sarah M. Fortune, Blanca I. Restrepo, Galit Alter

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Background. Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains a global health problem and clinical management is complicated by difficulty in discriminating between latent infection and active disease. While M. tuberculosis-reactive antibody levels are heterogeneous, studies suggest that levels of IgG glycosylation differ between disease states. Here we extend this observation across antibody domains and M. tuberculosis specificities to define changes with the greatest resolving power.

Methods. Capillary electrophoretic glycan analysis was performed on bulk non-antigen–specific IgG, bulk Fc domain, bulk Fab domain, and purified protein derivative (PPD)- and Ag85A-specific IgG from subjects with latent (n = 10) and active (n = 20) tuberculosis. PPD-specific …

New Technology Add-On Payment (Ntap) For Viz Lvo: A Win For Stroke Care, Ameer E. Hassan

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently granted a New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) for Viz ContaCT (Viz LVO) by Viz.ai, Inc, an applied artificial intelligence healthcare company.1 This is the first time CMS has reimbursed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based software using this designation. It applies to Viz.ai’s acute ischemic stroke product, Viz LVO, officially known as Viz ContaCT, under which the ICD-10 Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) procedure code 4A03×5D was established. Viz ContaCT is an AI-based system that creates a parallel alert system whenever it detects a large vessel occlusion (LVO) on a computed tomography angiogram. …

Mitigating Alemtuzumab-Associated Autoimmunity In Ms: A "Whack-A-Mole" B-Cell Depletion Strategy, Ethan Meltzer, Sarah Campbell, Benjamin Ehrenfeld, Roberto A. Cruz, Lawrence Steinman, Matthew S. Parsons, Scott S. Zamvil, Elliot M. Frohman, Teresa C. Frohman

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Objective: To determine whether the punctuated administration of low-dose rituximab, temporally linked to B-cell hyperrepopulation (defined when the return of CD19+ B cells approximates 40%-50% of baseline levels as measured before alemtuzumab treatment inception), can mitigate alemtuzumab-associated secondary autoimmunity.

Methods: In this hypothesis-driven pilot study, 10 patients received low-dose rituximab (50-150 mg/m2), a chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, after either their first or second cycles of alemtuzumab. These patients were then routinely assessed for the development of autoimmune disorders and safety signals related to the use of dual monoclonal antibody therapy.

Results: Five patients received at least 1 IV infusion of …

Understanding Nanoparticle Toxicity To Direct A Safe-By-Design Approach In Cancer Nanomedicine, Jossana A. Damasco, Saisree Ravi, Joy D. Perez, Daniel E. Hagaman, Marites P. Melancon

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Nanomedicine is a rapidly growing field that uses nanomaterials for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of various diseases, including cancer. Various biocompatible nanoplatforms with diversified capabilities for tumor targeting, imaging, and therapy have materialized to yield individualized therapy. However, due to their unique properties brought about by their small size, safety concerns have emerged as their physicochemical properties can lead to altered pharmacokinetics, with the potential to cross biological barriers. In addition, the intrinsic toxicity of some of the inorganic materials (i.e., heavy metals) and their ability to accumulate and persist in the human body has been a challenge to …

Addressing Neurocognitive Disorders, Dementias, And Alzheimer’S Disease In Colonias Of The Lower Rio Grande Valley: Establishing A Research Foundation Using Promotores, Noe Garza, Marucela Uscamayta-Ayvar, Gladys E. Maestre

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Several Texas communities along the Mexican border, including the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), are home to low-income Hispanic populations, many of whom live in underserved communities known as colonias. These areas have high incidences of neurocognitive disorders, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD); health care strategies that are culturally and linguistically appropriate for the area are needed. We aim to build capacity to reduce risk, facilitate treatment, and provide caregiver support for affected individuals. However, gaining trust of communities and presenting information about research studies in a way that is culturally appropriate is critical for engagement of underserved communities.

This …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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. …

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% …