Translational Medical Research Commons^™

Test-Retest Reliability Of Virtual Reality Devices In Quantifying For Relative Afferent Pupillary Defect, Prithul Sarker, Nasif Zaman, Joshua Ong, Phani Paladugu, Molly Aldred, Ethan Waisberg, Andrew G. Lee, Alireza Tavakkoli

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

Background: The swinging flashlight test (SFT) is one of the most prominent clinical tests for detecting the relative afferent pupillary defect (RAPD). A positive RAPD localizes the lesion to the affected afferent pupil pathway and is a critical part of any ophthalmic exam. Testing for an RAPD, however, can be challenging (especially when small), and there is significant intrarater and interrater variability.

Methods: Prior studies have shown that the pupillometer can improve the detection and measurement of RAPD. In our previous research, we have demonstrated an automatic SFT by utilizing virtual reality (VR), named VR-SFT. We applied our methods to …

A Comprehensive Investigation Of Linear Energy Transfer Optimization Effectiveness In Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy Via Alternating Direction Method Of Multipliers (Impt Let-Admm), Q Fan, G Liu, Lili Zhao, Xiaoqiang Li, Xuanfeng Ding, S Dai

Conference Presentation Abstracts

Linear energy transfer (LET)-guided optimization in intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) via alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) has the potential to improve its biological effectiveness (IMPTLET- ADMM), in which the LET distribution in target can be escalated, while the LET distribution in the organs at risk can be mitigated. This study aims to quantitatively investigate the effectiveness of LET optimization in IMPT via ADMM with different solvers in its iteration loop. Methods: The clinical dose-volume-histogram (DVH) constraint noted dose sub-problem and clinical LET -volume-histogram (LVH) constraint noted LET sub-problem are combined to generate a composite objective function, which is available …

Urinary Cytokines As Potential Biomarkers Of Mild Cognitive Impairment And Alzheimer’S Disease: A Pilot Study, Nadia Ashrafi, Sumeyya Akyol, Sangeetha Vishweswaraiah, Abhishek Maiti, Ilyas Ustun, Sarah Bartolone, Travonia Brown-Hughes, Roland Thorpe Jr, Tammy Osentoski, Stacey Ruff, Amita Pai, Michael E. Maddens, Zaid Imam, Stewart Graham

Conference Presentation Abstracts

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Dual Iqos And Cigarette Smoke Exposure On Airway Epithelial Cells: Implications For Lung Health And Respiratory Disease Pathogenesis, Pritam Saha, Siddhi Jain, Ipsita Mukherjee, Samir R. Panda, Amir A. Zeki, V.G.M. Naidu, Pawan Sharma

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

Background Cigarette smoking remains a primary cause of chronic lung diseases. After a steady decline, smoking rates have recently increased especially with the introduction of newer electronic nicotine delivery devices, and it is also emerging that dual- or poly-product usage is on the rise. Additionally, with the introduction of IQOS (a heated tobacco product) globally, its impact on human health needs to be investigated. In this study we tested if dual exposure (cigarette smoke (CS)+IQOS) is detrimental to lung epithelial cells when compared with CS or IQOS exposure alone.

Methods Human airway epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) were exposed to either CS, …

Comparing Performance Of Spectral Image Analysis Approaches For Detection Of Cellular Signals In Time-Lapse Hyperspectral Imaging Fluorescence Excitation-Scanning Microscopy, Marina Parker, Naga S. Annamdevula, Donald Pleshinger, Zara Ijaz, Josephine Jalkh, Raymond Penn, Deepak Deshpande, Thomas C. Rich, Silas J. Leavesley

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technology has been applied in a range of fields for target detection and mixture analysis. While HSI was originally developed for remote sensing applications, modern uses include agriculture, historical document authentication, and medicine. HSI has also shown great utility in fluorescence microscopy. However, traditional fluorescence microscopy HSI systems have suffered from limited signal strength due to the need to filter or disperse the emitted light across many spectral bands. We have previously demonstrated that sampling the fluorescence excitation spectrum may provide an alternative approach with improved signal strength. Here, we report on the use of excitation-scanning HSI …

Gp38 As A Vaccine Target For Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Gabrielle Scher, Dennis A. Bente, Megan C. Mears, Maria N.B. Cajimat, Matthias J. Schnell

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV) is a tick-borne virus that causes severe hemorrhagic disease in humans. There is a great need for effective vaccines and therapeutics against CCHFV for humans, as none are currently internationally approved. Recently, a monoclonal antibody against the GP38 glycoprotein protected mice against lethal CCHFV challenge. To show that GP38 is required and sufficient for protection against CCHFV, we used three inactivated rhabdoviral-based CCHFV-M vaccines, with or without GP38 in the presence or absence of the other CCHFV glycoproteins. All three vaccines elicited strong antibody responses against the respective CCHFV glycoproteins. However, only vaccines containing GP38 …

Protocol Of A Multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial Assessing Transperineal Prostate Biopsy To Reduce Infectiouscomplications, Jim Hu, Alec Zhu, Andrew Vickers, Mohamad Ezzeddine Allaf, Behfar Ehdaie, Anthony Schaeffer, Christian Pavlovich, Ashley E. Ross, David A. Green, Gerald Wang, Serge Ginzburg, Jeffrey S. Montgomery, Arvin George, John N. Graham, Benjamin T. Ristau, Andres Correa, Jonathan E. Shoag, Keith J. Kowalczyk, Tenny R. Zhang, E.M. Schaeffer

Einstein Health Papers

Introduction Approximately one million prostate biopsies are performed annually in the USA, and most are performed using a transrectal approach under local anaesthesia. The risk of postbiopsy infection is increasing due to increasing antibiotic resistance of rectal flora. Single-centre studies suggest that a clean, percutaneous transperineal approach to prostate biopsy may have a lower risk of infection. To date, there is no high-level evidence comparing transperineal versus transrectal prostate biopsy. We hypothesise that transperineal versus transrectal prostate biopsy under local anaesthesia has a significantly lower risk of infection, similar pain/discomfort levels and comparable detection of non-low-grade prostate cancer.

Methods and …

Noninvasively Monitoring Of Cerebral Blood Flow In Piglet Models Of Graded Hemorrhage And Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Injury Using Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy And Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Randolph Sinahon, Danielle Shoshany, Shadi Malaeb, Mert Deniz Polat, Meltem Izzetoglu, Kurtulus Izzetoglu

St. Chris Research Day

No abstract provided.

Functional Evaluation Of A Novel Rpl30 Mutation And Its Role In Diamond Blackfan Anemia (Dba), Alexandra Prosser, Alexandria Cockrell, Danny Miller, Chris Seidel, Tamara Potapova, John M. Perry, Midhat Farooqi, Erin M. Guest, Jennifer Gerton

Research Days

Background: Bone marrow failure is life-threatening and requires prompt, intensive treatment, which is dependent upon identification of genetic drivers. Although there has been investigation into associated genetic mutations, especially in Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA), the relationship between genotype and phenotype remains unclear.DBA has been identified as a ribosomopathy, also known as a disease associated with defects in ribosome biogenesis. We identified a novel heterozygous variant (c.167+769C >T) in the noncoding region of RPL30 in a patient with clinical diagnosis of DBA. Clinical RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) suggests the variant generates a novel splice acceptor site resulting in truncated RPL30 transcripts. Elucidation …

Awareness & Prevention Of Health Hazards For Americans Embarking In Space Tourism, Krzysztof Zembrzuski

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Since the beginning of spaceflight, keeping humans healthy has been a serious concern. Prior to 2021, astronauts had to undergo an elite selection process to embark in space travel. Now that commercial spaceflight is a reality, the criteria to experience space has been significantly loosened, raising health concerns to a larger and unhealthier pool of travelers. Most commercial spaceflight clients are anticipated to be middle-aged adults, which implies many will suffer from high blood pressure and heart disease, both of which are frequent ailments in this age group. Because of the massive compression the body undergoes during takeoff and return, …

Extravasated Brain-Reactive Autoantibodies Perturb Neuronal Surface Protein Expression In Alzheimer's Pathology, Wardah Bajwa, Mary Kosciuk, Randel L. Swanson, Anuradha Krishnan, Venkat Venkataraman, Robert Nagele, Nimish Acharya

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is reported in both the neuropathological and in vivo studies in both Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and age matched cognitively normal, no cognitive impairment (NCI), subjects. Impaired BBB allows various vascular components such as immunoglobulin G (IgG) to extravasate into the brain and specifically bind to various neuronal surface proteins (NSP), also known as brain reactive autoantibodies (BrABs). This interaction is predicted to further enhance deposition of amyloid plaques.

Hypothesis: Interaction between extravasated BrABs and its cognate NSPs lower the expression of that NSPs in AD patients.

Methods: We selected Western blotting technique to study …

Application Of Informatics Tools To Facilitate The Practice Of Precision Medicine With Genomic Testing And Clinical Data, Michael Sayer

Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

The practice of precision medicine considers a variety of sources of information to optimize patient care. Factors such as patient demographics, clinical history, and lab test values have well understood effects on treatment outcomes and influence decision making. However, effective inclusion of biomolecular data such as protein expression and DNA sequencing data within the practice of precision medicine needs continued study. Informatics tools offer solutions to allow these complex data sources to be effectively embraced. Utilization of informatics tools to visualize data pertaining to the gene selection practices of pharmacogenomic (PGx) tests effectively communicated large amounts of information into concise …

Social Dominance Alters Stress-Induced Neural Activity And Generates Individual Differences In Stress Vulnerability, Jenna Lee Laymon

Masters Theses

Identifying the physiological and behavioral mechanisms that underlie stress vulnerability is a crucial step toward identifying novel targets for the prevention and treatment of stress-related disorders. Social status is a key environmental factor that contributes to individual variations in stress vulnerability. In particular, achieving a subordinate social status has been shown to produce susceptibility to anxiety-like and depressive-like behavior. In this project, our aim was to identify neural ensembles regulating how dominance status modulated stress-induced changes in avoidant behavior in male and female Syrian hamsters. Using a viral vector that codes for robust activity marker (RAM), we investigated whether stress-induced …

Kir-Based Inhibitory Cars Overcome Car-Nk Cell Trogocytosis-Mediated Fratricide And Tumor Escape, Ye Nmn Li

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Trogocytosis is an active process that transfers surface material from targeted to effector cells. Using multiple in vivo tumor models and clinical data, we report that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) activation in natural killer (NK) cells promoted the transfer of the CAR-cognate-antigen from tumor to NK cells, resulting in (1) lower tumor antigen density, thus impairing the ability of CAR-NK cells to engage with their targets, (2) induced self-recognition and continuous CAR-mediated engagement, resulting in fratricide of trogocytic antigen expressing NK cells (NK^TROG+) and NK cell hyporesponsiveness. This phenomenon could be offset by a dual-CAR system incorporating both …

Iatrogenic Nerve Injuries During Surgeries Of The Neck: A Systematic Review, Tajuldeen Al-Hasani, Jickssa Gemechu, Varna Taranikanti

Posters

Iatrogenic nerve injuries in the neck can present with a wide spectrum of symptoms ranging from mild pain, numbness, or weakness, to devastating consequences for patients such as permanent irreversible damage, disability, or even death. Surgical interventions in the neck region, especially those requiring radical dissections in the neck carry a significant risk of iatrogenic injury to several vital nerves passing through the neck such as vagus, phrenic, brachial plexus, cervical plexus, and ansa cervicalis.

Incidence Of Myopathy In Post Covid-19 Patients Undergoing Statin Therapy, Jithin John, Eduardo Leon, Ramin Homayouni

Posters

Statin-associated myositis has been documented since its first use, causing an increase in Creatinine Kinase levels. While some suggest avoiding statins in individuals with COVID-19, recent literature suggests that statin use is protective against SARS-CoV-2 infection due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The role of statin therapy in COVID-19 cases, especially regarding myopathy, remains scarce. We hypothesize that different statin therapies prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection are associated with an increased risk of myopathy and an increase in blood CK levels.

Identification Of Molecular Markers Associated With Copd In Non-Smokers And Smokers: A Bioinformatics Analysis, Agede O. Ayodele, Isa M. Wasagu, Ademola E. Fawibe, Alakija K. Salami

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background

Even though the proportional burden of COPD among never-smokers is significant in both developing and developed nations, accounting for around 30% of all COPD in the community, there is little awareness of the prevalence of COPD in this population. Understanding the molecular processes that underlie COPD in nonsmokers is essential.

Methods

Dataset (GSE146560) was acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The limma and clusterProfiler software tools were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and conduct a functional enrichment analysis respectively.

Results

In all, 10,583 DEGs were found, of which 1,065 were up-regulated and 9,518 were down-regulated. The …

Targeting Metabolic Alterations Associated With Smooth Muscle Α-Actin Pathogenic Variant Attenuates Moyamoya-Like Cerebrovascular Disease, Anita Kaw

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Heterozygous pathogenic variants in ACTA2, encoding smooth muscle α-actin (α-SMA), predispose to thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. De novo missense variants disrupting ACTA2 arginine 179 (p.Arg179) cause a multisystemic disease termed smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome (SMDS), which is characterized by early onset thoracic aortic disease and moyamoya disease-like (MMD) cerebrovascular disease. The MMD-like cerebrovascular disease in SMDS patients is marked by bilateral steno-occlusive lesions in the distal internal carotid arteries (ICAs) and their branches. To study the molecular mechanisms that underlie the ACTA2 p.Arg179 variants, a smooth muscle-specific Cre-lox knock-in mouse model of the heterozygous Acta2 R179C variant, termed …

Immobilization And Its Effects On Functional Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury., William H. Gregory

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Recovery, or rather the failure to recover, is a perplexing issue of spinal cord injury that is currently being investigated. This issue becomes more puzzling when investigating models in which spinal cord injury (SCI) is studied. There appears to be greater functional recovery experienced by animals within these models after injury as compared to patients in the clinical setting. While many things could contribute to this disparity, one difference that stands out when comparing the basic research model and clinical experience of SCI is the inactivity and limb disuse after the injury. This same level of immobility is rarely accounted …

Modeling Antihypertensive Therapeutic Inertia And Intensification To Support Clinical Action Toward Hypertension Control, Benjamin Martin

All Dissertations

Background

Hypertension is the leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and consequent mortality worldwide. In the U.S., more than half of hypertension cases remain uncontrolled, despite availability of effective pharmaceutical treatment options. Evidence suggests that therapeutic inertia, defined as clinician failure to initiate or increase therapy when treatment goals are unmet, is the most influential barrier to improving hypertension control. Substantial rates of therapeutic inertia have been reported in ambulatory primary care settings where hypertension is typically treated and managed. Understanding and overcoming the forces driving therapeutic inertia in hypertension management is a critical strategy to reach population health …