Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Hyperpolarized 3he Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of Bronchoscopic Airway Bypass In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease., Lindsay Mathew, Miranda Kirby, Donald Farquhar, Christopher Licskai, Giles Santyr, Roya Etemad-Rezai, Grace Parraga, David G Mccormack

Medical Biophysics Publications

A 73-year-old exsmoker with Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease stage III chronic obstructive pulmonary disease underwent airway bypass (AB) as part of the Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema (EASE) trial, and was the only EASE subject to undergo hyperpolarized 3He magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of lung function pre- and post-AB. 3He magnetic resonance imaging was acquired twice previously (32 and eight months pre-AB) and twice post-AB (six and 12 months post-AB). Six months post-AB, his increase in forced vital capacity was

Modeling Stochastic And Spatial Heterogeneity In A Human Airway Tree To Determine Variation In Respiratory System Resistance, Del Leary, Swati A Bhatawadekar, Grace Parraga, Geoffrey N Maksym

Medical Biophysics Publications

Asthma is a variable disease with changes in symptoms and airway function over many time scales. Airway resistance (Raw) is variable and thought to reflect changes in airway smooth muscle activity, but just how variation throughout the airway tree and the influence of gas distribution abnormalities affect Raw is unclear. We used a multibranch airway lung model to evaluate variation in airway diameter size, the role of coherent regional variation, and the role of gas distribution abnormalities on mean Raw (Raw) and variation in Raw as described by the SD (SDRaw). We modified an anatomically correct airway tree, provided by …

A Pilot Online Survey Assessing Risk Factors For Hiv Acquisition In The Navy And Marine Corps, 2005-2010, Shilpa Hakre, Adam W. Armstrong, Robert J. O'Connell, Nelson L. Michael, Paul T. Scott, David Brett-Major

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

The Department of Defense policy Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) ended in September, 2011. The Navy Bloodborne Infection Management Center conducted a post-DADT pilot survey of HIV seroconverters identified when the DADT policy was in effect. Sailors and Marines newly diagnosed as HIV positive from 2005 to 2010 were invited to participate in an online survey. A structured questionnaire elicited risk information about the 3-year period before HIV diagnosis. Respondents reported engaging commonly in same sex sexual activity, having concurrent partners, and poor condom use for anal sex. In this first post-DADT repeal report of self-reported behaviors, male-to-male sexual contact …

Macrophage Imbalance (M1 Vs. M2) And Upregulation Of Mast Cells In Wall Of Ruptured Human Cerebral Aneurysms: Preliminary Results., David Hasan, Nohra Chalouhi, Pascal Jabbour, Tomoki Hashimoto

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: M1 and M2 cells are two major subsets of human macrophages that exert opposite effects on the inflammatory response. This study aims to investigate the role of macrophage M1/M2 imbalance and mast cells in the progression of human cerebral aneurysms to rupture.

METHODS: Ten patients with cerebral aneurysms (five ruptured and five unruptured) underwent microsurgical clipping. During the procedure, a segment of the aneurysm dome was resected and immunostained with monoclonal antibodies for M1 cells (anti-HLA DR), M2 cells (anti-CD 163), and mast cells (anti-tryptase clone AA). A segment of the superficial temporal artery (STA) was also removed and …

A Systematic Review Of Physical Activity Interventions In Hispanic Adults, Melinda J. Ickes, Manoj Sharma

Kinesiology and Health Promotion Faculty Publications

Healthy People 2020 aims to achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups. Regular physical activity (PA) improves overall health and fitness and has the capability to reduce risk for chronic diseases. Identifying barriers which relate to the Hispanic population is important when designing PA interventions. Therefore, the purpose was to review existing PA interventions targeting Hispanic adults published between 1988 and 2011. This paper was limited to interventions which included more than 35% Hispanic adults (n = 20). Most of the interventions were community based (n = 16), although clinical, family-based, and faith-based …

The Burden Of Breast Cancer In Italy: Mastectomies And Quadrantectomies Performed Between 2001 And 2008 Based On Nationwide Hospital Discharge Records., Prisco Piscitelli, Maddalena Barba, Massimo Crespi, Massimo Di Maio, Antonio Santoriello, Massiliamo D'Aiuto, Alfredo Fucito, Arturo Losco, Francesca Pentimalli, Pasquale Maranta, Giovanna Chitano, Alberto Argentiero, Cosimo Neglia, Alessandro Distante, Gian Luca Di Tanna, Maria Luisa Brandi, Alfredo Mazza, Ignazio R Marino, Antonio Giordano

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Where population coverage is limited, the exclusive use of Cancer Registries might limit ascertainment of incident cancer cases. We explored the potentials of Nationwide hospital discharge records (NHDRs) to capture incident breast cancer cases in Italy.

METHODS: We analyzed NHDRs for mastectomies and quadrantectomies performed between 2001 and 2008. The average annual percentage change (AAPC) and related 95% Confidence Interval (CI) in the actual number of mastectomies and quadrantectomies performed during the study period were computed for the full sample and for subgroups defined by age, surgical procedure, macro-area and singular Region. Re-admissions of the same patients were separately …

Kaempferol Nanoparticles Achieve Strong And Selective Inhibition Of Ovarian Cancer Cell Viability., Haitao Luo, Bingbing Jiang, Bingyun Li, Zhaoliang Li, Bing-Hua Jiang, Yi Charlie Chen

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death for women throughout the Western world. Kaempferol, a natural flavonoid, has shown promise in the chemoprevention of ovarian cancer. A common concern about using dietary supplements for chemoprevention is their bioavailability. Nanoparticles have shown promise in increasing the bioavailability of some chemicals. Here we developed five different types of nanoparticles incorporating kaempferol and tested their efficacy in the inhibition of viability of cancerous and normal ovarian cells. We found that positively charged nanoparticle formulations did not lead to a significant reduction in cancer cell viability, whereas nonionic polymeric nanoparticles …

Tp53 Codon 72 Polymorphism Affects Accumulation Of Mtdna Damage In Human Cells, Serena Altilia, Aurelia Santoro, Davide Malagoli, Catia Lanzarini, Josué Adolfo Ballesteros Álvarez, Gianluca Galazzo, Donald Carl Porter, Paolina Crocco, Giuseppina Rose, Giuseppe Passarino, Igor Roninson, Claudio Franceschi, Stefano Salvioli

Faculty Publications

Human TP53 gene is characterised by a polymorphism at codon 72 leading to an Arginine-to-Proline (R/P) substitution. The two resulting p53 isoforms have a different subcellular localisation after stress (more nuclear or more mitochondrial for the P or R isoform, respectively). p53P72 variant is more efficient than p53R72 in inducing the expression of genes involved in nuclear DNA repair. Since p53 is involved also in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) maintenance, we wondered whether these p53 isoforms are associated with different accumulation of mtDNA damage. We observed that cells bearing p53R72 accumulate lower amount of mtDNA damage upon rotenone stress with respect …

Gene Expression Signatures Modulated By Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Activation And Their Relationship To Cetuximab Resistance In Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma., Elana J Fertig, Qing Ren, Haixia Cheng, Hiromitsu Hatakeyama, Adam Dicker Md, Phd, Ulrich Rodeck, Michael Considine, Michael F Ochs, Christine H Chung

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Aberrant activation of signaling pathways downstream of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been hypothesized to be one of the mechanisms of cetuximab (a monoclonal antibody against EGFR) resistance in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). To infer relevant and specific pathway activation downstream of EGFR from gene expression in HNSCC, we generated gene expression signatures using immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT) subjected to ligand stimulation and transfected with EGFR, RELA/p65, or HRASVal12D.

RESULTS: The gene expression patterns that distinguished the HaCaT variants and conditions were inferred using the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) matrix factorization algorithm Coordinated Gene Activity …

Eae/Ase Recommendations For Image Acquisition And Display Using Three-Dimensional Echocardiography., Roberto M. Lang, Luigi P. Badano, Wendy Tsang, David H. Adams, Eustachio Agricola, Thomas Buck, Francesco F. Faletra, Andreas Franke, Judy Hung, Leopoldo Pérez De Isla, Otto Kamp, Jaroslaw D. Kasprzak, Patrizio Lancellotti, Thomas H. Marwick, Marti L. Mcculloch, Mark J. Monaghan, Petros Nihoyannopoulos, Natesa G. Pandian, Patricia A. Pellikka, Mauro Pepi, David A. Roberson, Stanton K. Shernan, Girish S. Shirali, Lissa Sugeng, Folkert J. Ten Cate, Mani A. Vannan, Jose Luis Zamorano, William A. Zoghbi, American Society Of Echocardiography, European Association Of Echocardiography

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

No abstract provided.

Associations Of Cardiorespiratory Fitness And Fatness With Metabolic Syndrome In Rural Women With Prehypertension., Patricia A. Hageman, Carol H. Pullen, Melody A. Hertzog, Linda S. Boeckner, Susan Noble Walker

Journal Articles: Physical Therapy

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the associations of fitness and fatness with metabolic syndrome in rural women, part of a recognized US health disparities group.

METHODS: Fitness, percentage body fat, BMI, and metabolic syndrome criteria were assessed at baseline in 289 rural women with prehypertension, ages 40-69, enrolled in a healthy eating and activity community-based clinical trial for reducing blood pressure.

RESULTS: Ninety (31%) women had metabolic syndrome, of which 70% were obese by BMI (≥30 kg/m²), 100% by percentage body fat (≥30%), and 100% by revised BMI standards (≥25 kg/m²) cited in current literature. Hierarchical logistic regression models, adjusted for …

Spina Bifida Subtypes And Sub-Phenotypes By Maternal Race/Ethnicity In The National Birth Defects Prevention Study, A J Agopian, Mark A Canfield, Richard S Olney, Philip J Lupo, Tunu Ramadhani, Laura E Mitchell, Gary M Shaw, Cynthia A Moore

Journal Articles

Spina bifida refers to a collection of neural tube defects, including myelomeningocele, meningocele, and myelocele (SB(M) ), as well as lipomyelomeningocele and lipomeningocele (SB(L) ). Maternal race/ethnicity has been associated with an increased risk for spina bifida among offspring. to better understand this relationship, we evaluated different spina bifida subtypes (SB(M) vs. SB(L) ) and sub-phenotypes (anatomic level or presence of additional malformations) by maternal race/ethnicity using data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. This study is a large, multisite, population-based study of nonsyndromic birth defects. Prevalence estimates were obtained using data from spina bifida cases (live births, fetal …

Erk2 Phosphorylation Of Serine 77 Regulates Bmf Pro-Apoptotic Activity., Y Shao, A E Aplin

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) homology 3 (BH3)-only proteins represent a class of pro-apoptotic factors that neutralize pro-survival Bcl-2 proteins, and, in some cases, directly activate Bax. The mechanisms of control and the role of BH3-only proteins, such as Bcl-2 like protein 11 extra large and Bad are well studied. By contrast, relatively little is known about the regulation and role of Bcl-2 modifying factor (Bmf). The B-RAF oncogene is mutated in ∼8% of human tumors. We have previously shown that Bmf is upregulated at the transcript level and is required for apoptosis induced by targeting B-RAF signaling in tumor cells …

Genes Adopt Non-Optimal Codon Usage To Generate Cell Cycle-Dependent Oscillations In Protein Levels., Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern, Tamar Danon, Thomas Christian, Takao Igarashi, Lydia Cohen, Ya-Ming Hou, Lars Juhl Jensen

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

The cell cycle is a temporal program that regulates DNA synthesis and cell division. When we compared the codon usage of cell cycle-regulated genes with that of other genes, we discovered that there is a significant preference for non-optimal codons. Moreover, genes encoding proteins that cycle at the protein level exhibit non-optimal codon preferences. Remarkably, cell cycle-regulated genes expressed in different phases display different codon preferences. Here, we show empirically that transfer RNA (tRNA) expression is indeed highest in the G2 phase of the cell cycle, consistent with the non-optimal codon usage of genes expressed at this time, and lowest …

Measurement And Correlates Of Empathy Among Female Japanese Physicians., Hitomi U Kataoka, Norio Koide, Mohammadreza Hojat, Joseph S Gonnella

CRMEHC Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The measurement of empathy is important in the assessment of physician competence and patient outcomes. The prevailing view is that female physicians have higher empathy scores compared with male physicians. In Japan, the number of female physicians has increased rapidly in the past ten years. In this study, we focused on female Japanese physicians and addressed factors that were associated with their empathic engagement in patient care.

METHODS: The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) was translated into Japanese by using the back-translation procedure, and was administered to 285 female Japanese physicians. We designed this study to examine the psychometrics …

Emergence Of Bimodal Cell Population Responses From The Interplay Between Analog Single-Cell Signaling And Protein Expression Noise., Marc R Birtwistle, Jens Rauch, Anatoly Kiyatkin, Edita Aksamitiene, Maciej Dobrzyński, Jan B. Hoek, Walter Kolch, Babatunde A Ogunnaike, Boris N Kholodenko

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Cell-to-cell variability in protein expression can be large, and its propagation through signaling networks affects biological outcomes. Here, we apply deterministic and probabilistic models and biochemical measurements to study how network topologies and cell-to-cell protein abundance variations interact to shape signaling responses.

RESULTS: We observe bimodal distributions of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) responses to epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulation, which are generally thought to indicate bistable or ultrasensitive signaling behavior in single cells. Surprisingly, we find that a simple MAPK/ERK-cascade model with negative feedback that displays graded, analog ERK responses at a single cell level can explain the experimentally …

Identification Of The Functional Binding Pocket For Compounds Targeting Small-Conductance Ca²⁺-Activated Potassium Channels., Miao Zhang, John M Pascal, Marcel Schumann, Roger S Armen, Ji-Fang Zhang

Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Faculty Papers

Small- and intermediate-conductance Ca(2+)-activated potassium channels, activated by Ca(2+)-bound calmodulin, have an important role in regulating membrane excitability. These channels are also linked to clinical abnormalities. A tremendous amount of effort has been devoted to developing small molecule compounds targeting these channels. However, these compounds often suffer from low potency and lack of selectivity, hindering their potential for clinical use. A key contributing factor is the lack of knowledge of the binding site(s) for these compounds. Here we demonstrate by X-ray crystallography that the binding pocket for the compounds of the 1-ethyl-2-benzimidazolinone (1-EBIO) class is located at the calmodulin-channel interface. …

Evidence That The Density Of Self Peptide-Mhc Ligands Regulates T-Cell Receptor Signaling., Nadia Anikeeva, Dimitry Gakamsky, Jørgen Schøller, Yuri Sykulev

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Noncognate or self peptide-MHC (pMHC) ligands productively interact with T-cell receptor (TCR) and are always in a large access over the cognate pMHC on the surface of antigen presenting cells. We assembled soluble cognate and noncognate pMHC class I (pMHC-I) ligands at designated ratios on various scaffolds into oligomers that mimic pMHC clustering and examined how multivalency and density of the pMHCs in model clusters influences the binding to live CD8 T cells and the kinetics of TCR signaling. Our data demonstrate that the density of self pMHC-I proteins promotes their interaction with CD8 co-receptor, which plays a critical role …

James Marion Sims, M.D., Ll.D., Jonathan Tavares, B.S., Charles J. Yeo, Md, Pinckney J. Maxwell, Iv, Md

Department of Surgery Gibbon Society Historical Profiles

Few physicians have been as celebrated and loathed as James Marion Sims, M.D., LL.D. Dr. Sims’ modest early life and education never could have predicted that he would one day be called the ‘‘Father of American Gynecology.’’1, 2 Lauded by contemporaries and early historians as ‘‘one of the most original and gifted of American surgeons,’’ he performed the first successful operation to correct vesicovaginal fistulas (a condition that prior to 1852 was known as the ‘‘stumbling-block of gynecology’’).1 Today, the same work that earned Dr. Sims fame, fortune, and innumerable honors has been called into question, because of the unethical …

Detection Of Evolving Injury To The Brachial Plexus During Transaxillary Robotic Thyroidectomy., Adam Luginbuhl, Daniel M Schwartz, Anthony K Sestokas, David Cognetti, Edmund Pribitkin

Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Continuous intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) of transcranial electric motor evoked potentials (tceMEPs) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) has gained universal acceptance as an efficacious method for detecting emerging positional brachial plexopathy or peripheral nerve compression during spinal and shoulder surgery. This has implications for transaxillary thyroid surgery.

STUDY DESIGN: Case report with literature review.

METHODS: The patient underwent robotic transaxillary thyroid surgery with continuous tceMEP and SSEP monitoring of brachial plexus function. We present detailed IONM data depicting the emergence of positional brachial plexopathy.

RESULTS: Significant amplitude loss of both IONM modalities were identified during an evolving positional plexopathy, which …

Eae/Ase Recommendations For Image Acquisition And Display Using Three-Dimensional Echocardiography., Roberto M. Lang, Luigi P. Badano, Wendy Tsang, David H. Adams, Eustachio Agricola, Thomas Buck, Francesco F. Faletra, Andreas Franke, Judy Hung, Leopoldo Pérez De Isla, Otto Kamp, Jaroslaw D. Kasprzak, Patrizio Lancellotti, Thomas H. Marwick, Marti L. Mcculloch, Mark J. Monaghan, Petros Nihoyannopoulos, Natesa G. Pandian, Patricia A. Pellikka, Mauro Pepi, David A. Roberson, Stanton K. Shernan, Girish S. Shirali, Lissa Sugeng, Folkert J. Ten Cate, Mani A. Vannan, Jose Luis Zamorano, William A. Zoghbi, American Society Of Echocardiography, European Association Of Echocardiography

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

No abstract provided.

Association Between Hospitals Caring For A Disproportionately High Percentage Of Minority Trauma Patients And Increased Mortality: A Nationwide Analysis Of 434 Hospitals., Adil H. Haider, Sharon Ong'uti, David T. Efron, Tolulope A. Oyetunji, Marie L. Crandall, Valerie K. Scott, Elliott R. Haut, Eric B. Schneider, Neil R. Powe, Lisa A. Cooper, Edward E. Cornwell

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is an increased odds of mortality among trauma patients treated at hospitals with higher proportions of minority patients (ie, black and Hispanic patients combined).

DESIGN: Hospitals were categorized on the basis of the percentage of minority patients admitted with trauma. The adjusted odds of in-hospital mortality were compared between hospitals with less than 25% of patients who were minorities (the reference group) and hospitals with 25% to 50% of patients who were minorities and hospitals with more than 50% of patients who were minorities. Multivariate logistic regression (with generalized linear modeling and a cluster-correlated robust …

Lymph Node Ratio Is An Important And Independent Prognostic Factor For Patients With Stage Iii Melanoma, Adam C. Berger, Michael Fierro, John C. Kairys, David Berd, Takami Sato, Jocelyn Andrel, Terry Hyslop, Michael J. Mastrangelo

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION:

The incidence of melanoma is dramatically increasing worldwide. We hypothesized that the ratio of metastatic to examined lymph node ratio (LNR) would be the most important prognostic factor for stage III patients.

METHODS:

We retrospectively reviewed our institutional database of melanoma patients and identified 168 patients who underwent lymph node dissection (LND) for stage III disease between 1993 and 2007. Patients were divided into three groups based on LNR (≤10%, n = 93; 10-≤25%, n = 45; and >25%, n = 30). Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazards model.

RESULTS:

The median survival time of …

Mir-128 Inhibits Tumor Growth And Angiogenesis By Targeting P70s6k1., Zhu-Mei Shi, Jing Wang, Zhiping Yan, Yong-Ping You, Chong-Yong Li, Xu Qian, Yu Yin, Peng Zhao, Ying-Ying Wang, Xie-Feng Wang, Ming-Na Li, Ling-Zhi Liu, Ning Liu, Bing-Hua Jiang

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

MicroRNAs are a class of small noncoding RNAs that function as critical gene regulators through targeting mRNAs for translational repression or degradation. In this study, we showed that miR-128 expression levels were decreased in glioma, and identified p70S6K1 as a novel direct target of miR-128. Overexpression of miR-128 suppressed p70S6K1 and its downstream signaling molecules such as HIF-1 and VEGF expression, and attenuated cell proliferation, tumor growth and angiogenesis. Forced expression of p70S6K1 can partly rescue the inhibitory effect of miR-128 in the cells. Taken together, these findings will shed light to the role and mechanism of miR-128 in regulating …

Unaltered Myocilin Expression In The Blood Of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Patients., Khaled K Abu-Amero, Taif Anwar Azad, George L Spaeth, Jonathan Myers, L Jay Katz, Marlene Moster, Thomas M Bosley

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

PURPOSE: To investigate the expression of the myocilin gene (MYOC) in the blood of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients to determine if altered systemic expression is playing a role.

METHODS: Patients (n=47) were eligible for inclusion if they met standard clinical criteria for POAG. Control subjects (n=27) were recruited who were free from glaucoma by examination. RNA was extracted from leukocytes of patients and controls and converted to cDNA by reverse transcriptase enzyme, and quantitative PCR was used to assess expression levels of MYOC and the house keeping gene β-globulin (HBB). The ratio of MYOC expression to HBB expression …

Is There A Role For The Quantification Of Rrm1 And Ercc1 Expression In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma?, Matias E Valsecchi, Thomas Holdbrook, Benjamin E Leiby, Edward Pequignot, Susan J Littman, Charles Yeo, Jonathan Brody, Angieszka Witkiewicz

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: RRM1 and ERCC1 overexpression has been extensively investigated as potential predictive markers of tumor sensitivity to conventional chemotherapy agents, most thoroughly in lung cancer. However, data in pancreatic cancer are scarce.

METHODS: We investigated the mRNA and protein expression of ERCC1 and RRM1 by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded pancreatic ductal carcinoma (PDA) tissues. The primary outcome investigated was the association between RRM1 and ERCC1 expression and overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS).

RESULTS: A total of 94 patients with resected PDA were included in this study. Most of them (87%) received gemcitabine based chemotherapy. Data …

Early Versus Delayed Decompression For Traumatic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Results Of The Surgical Timing In Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study (Stascis)., Michael G Fehlings, Alex R. Vaccaro, Jefferson R Wilson, Anoushka Singh, David W Cadotte, James Harrop, Bizhan Aarabi, Christopher Shaffrey, Marcel Dvorak, Charles Fisher, Paul Arnold, Eric M Massicotte, Stephen Lewis, Raja Rampersaud

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: There is convincing preclinical evidence that early decompression in the setting of spinal cord injury (SCI) improves neurologic outcomes. However, the effect of early surgical decompression in patients with acute SCI remains uncertain. Our objective was to evaluate the relative effectiveness of early (injury) versus late (≥ 24 hours after injury) decompressive surgery after traumatic cervical SCI.

METHODS: We performed a multicenter, international, prospective cohort study (Surgical Timing In Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study: STASCIS) in adults aged 16-80 with cervical SCI. Enrolment occurred between 2002 and 2009 at 6 North American centers. The primary outcome was ordinal change …

Giant Fornix Syndrome: A Case Series., Kiran Turaka, Robert B Penne, Christopher J. Rapuano, Azin Abazari, Ralph C Eagle, Kristin M. Hammersmith, Brandon Ayres

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

PURPOSE: To describe the demographics, characteristics, and treatment of giant fornix syndrome, a rare cause of chronic purulent conjunctivitis in the elderly.

METHODS: Retrospective chart review of five patients with giant fornix syndrome evaluated by the Cornea Service, Oculoplastics and Orbital Surgery Service and the Department of Pathology at the Wills Eye Institute.

RESULTS: The median age of the 5 female patients was 75 years (mean 80, range 70-95). The median duration of eye symptoms before presentation was 2 years (mean 2.4, range 1-4). Before referral, the chronic conjunctivitis was treated with topical antibiotics in all 5 cases and with …

Absence Of Altered Expression Of Optineurin In Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Patients., Khaled K Abu-Amero, Taif Anwar Azad, George L Spaeth, Jonathan Myers, L Jay Katz, Marlene Moster, Thomas M Bosley

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

PURPOSE: To investigate the expression level of the optineurin gene (OPTN) in the blood of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients to determine if altered expression is playing a role in primary open angle glaucoma systemically.

METHODS: Patients (n=47) were eligible for inclusion if they met standard clinical criteria for POAG, including age greater than 40 years, intraocular pressure ≥21 mmHg in at least one eye before treatment, normal-appearing anterior chamber angles bilaterally on gonioscopy, and optic nerve injury characteristic of POAG. Control subjects (n=27) were recruited who were free from glaucoma by examination. DNA from patient was sequenced to …