Digital Commons Network^™

Characterizing Global Dermatologic Engagement And Needs: A Cross-Sectional Study From 83 Countries, Alexis G. Strahan, Christine Li, Maud Guérin, Tom Allison, Gene Colón, Jehireh Peraza-Williams, Olyvia Zarchin, Morvarid Zehtab, Ann M. Pacheco, Jadesola Akinwuntan, Shivani Jain, Marlous L. Grijsen, Wendemagegn Enbiale, Wingfield Rehmus, L. Claire Fuller, Karolyn Wanat, Esther E. Freeman

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Capacity, Allocation And Update Dynamics Of Human Memory Systems, Shaoying Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Information is encoded and stored in three types of memory: sensory memory (SM), short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM). SM has a large capacity but retains information for only a brief period. When information transfers to STM, only a limited amount can be stored. Information in STM can then be transferred to LTM, which has a much larger capacity and longer retention time. STM is often conceptualized as working memory (WM) to highlight its role in active information processing. Due to the limited capacity of STM, it is commonly believed that STM serves as the bottleneck for information processing. …

Multi-Parametric Profiling Of Il-7-Augmented Gd2cart Products In A Phase 1 Clinical Trial, Lukas Ehlen, Stephan Schlickeiser, Samira Picht, Lena Peter, Marco Mai, Candise L Tat, Jacqueline Keye, Desiree Kunkel, Frank Lin, Cliona M Rooney, Bilal Omer, Michael Schmueck-Henneresse

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

CAR T cell (CART) therapy holds promise for cancer treatment, but heterogeneity among products limits clinical effectiveness, making systematic profiling essential to identify predictors of success. Recently, a phase 1 clinical trial investigated whether a constitutively active IL-7 receptor (C7R) could safely improve the function and persistence of GD2-directed CARTs (GD2.CARTs) in pediatric patients with high-grade CNS tumors. We analyzed infusion products from trial participants using a custom-designed 33-color full spectrum flow cytometry (FSFC) panel combined with an image-based tumor killing assay to characterize CART products and evaluate the impact of C7R on GD2.CART performance. Patient-specific variations in T cell …

Deletion Of Fibro-Adipogenic Progenitors-Specific Follistatin Impairs Muscle Function And Accelerates Skeletal Muscle Atrophy In Obese Mice, Tomonobu Kado, Shinya Abe, Nguyen Quynh Phuong, Memoona, Sana Khalid, Le Duc Anh, Ayumi Nishimura, Yoshiyuki Watanabe, Yoshiko Igarashi, Naeem Iqbal, Maki Yokoyama, Yasuhiro Onogi, Kennichi Hirabayashi, Hiroyuki Miwa, Takumi Era, Martin M Matzuk, Seiji Yamamoto, Koichi Ikuta, Isao Usui, Kohta Kobayashi, Toshihiko Satake, Masaru Kato, Shiho Fujisaka, Kazuyuki Tobe

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Follistatin is a potent regulator of various TGF-β superfamily members, including myostatin (MSTN) and activin A. Previous studies have shown that follistatin is crucial in enhancing myogenesis during acute muscle injury. The mechanism by which fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs)-specific follistatin influences muscle homeostasis in obese mice remains unknown. Therefore, we investigated the physiological role of follistatin in PDGFRα-positive FAPs in the regulation of muscle homeostasis and exercise in obese mice.

Methods: A PDGFRα-specific follistatin knockout (follistatin KO) mouse model was generated using PDGFRα-GFP-CreERT2 (PDGFRα-GCE) and follistatinflox/flox mice. These mice were fed a 60% high-fat diet (HFD) for 20 weeks, followed …

Identifying Compounds To Treat Opiate Use Disorder By Leveraging Multi-Omic Data Integration And Multiple Drug Repurposing Databases, Melyssa S Minto, Logain Elnimeiry, Ravi Mathur, Matthew Schu, Bryan C Quach, Javan Carter, Tracy Nolen, Nathan Vandergrift, Thomas R Kosten, Eric Otto Johnson, Bradley T Webb

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Genes influencing opioid use disorder (OUD) biology have been identified via genome-wide association studies (GWAS), gene expression, and network analyses. These discoveries provide opportunities to identifying existing compounds targeting these genes for drug repurposing studies. However, systematically integrating discovery results and identifying relevant available pharmacotherapies for OUD repurposing studies is challenging. To address this, we've constructed a framework that uses existing results and drug databases to identify candidate pharmacotherapies. For this study, two independent OUD related meta-analyses were used including a GWAS and a differential gene expression (DGE) study of post-mortem human brain. Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) sub-networks enriched for GWAS …

Shp2: A Redox-Sensitive Regulator Linking Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy To Cancer Treatment And Vascular Risk, Silvia Fernanda López Moreno, Stefania Assunto Lenz, Bernardo Casso-Chapa, Angelica Paniagua-Bojorges, Jung Hyun Kim, Kevin T Nead, Gilbert Mejia, Oanh Hoang, Jonghae Lee, Steven H Lin, Joerg Herrmann, Guangyu Wang, Syed Wamique Yusuf, Cezar A Iliescu, Noah I Beinart, Charlotte Manisty, Masuko Ushio-Fukai, Tohru Fukai, Pietro Ameri, Roza I Nurieva, Michelle A T Hildebrandt, Keri Schadler, Efstratios Koutroumpakis, Sivareddy Kotla, Nhat-Tu Le, Jun-Ichi Abe

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Src homology 2-domain containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 2 (SHP2), encoded by the Ptpn11 gene (Tyrosine-protein phosphatase non-receptor type 11), is a key downstream effector of PD-1/PD-L1 signaling and is likely important, in addition to immune modulation, in tumor development and vascular homeostasis. SHP2 conveys PD-1 mediated inhibitory signaling in T cells, and is emerging as a therapeutic target. Importantly, there is an association between immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), immune-related adverse events (irAEs), and cardiovascular complications, underscoring the need to understand SHP2’s role in these processes. This review aims to summarize current knowledge on SHP2/PTPN11 biology, its role in immune …

Integrative Profiling Strategies To Guide Personalized Therapy In Mantle Cell Lymphoma: A Pilot Study, Yang Liu, Holly A Hill, Yijing Li, Joseph Mcintosh, Vivian Jiang, Yixin Yao, Jared Zhang, Lawrence Qu, Jun Yao, Preetesh Jain, Ken Chen, Michael Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) responds to frontline therapy but is susceptible to relapse. While Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKi) achieve high response rates, most patients eventually experience disease progression. Predicting responses to subsequent treatments remains challenging due to the lack of an established platform. Heterogeneity in gene alterations and cellular pathways contribute to resistance, complicating treatment approaches. Here, we present a multi-modal profiling platform, targeting key pathways rather than focusing on singular DNA-associated lesions. We identified dysregulated signaling pathways by performing gene expression profiling on 20 MCL samples using a custom MCL MATCH gene set and analyzed the data with …

The Effect Of Uterine Entry Technique On Chorioamniotic Membrane Separation In Fetoscopic Laser Photocoagulation For Twin-To-Twin Transfusion Syndrome: Protocol For A Randomized Controlled Trial, Christian M Parobek, Luis E Delgadillo Chabolla, Cara Buskmiller, Roopali V Donepudi, Magdalena Sanz Cortes, Michael A Belfort, Ahmed A Nassr

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Chorioamniotic membrane separation (CAS) is a recognized complication of fetoscopic laser photocoagulation (FLP) for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), associated with increased risks of preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM) and preterm birth (PTB). Although CAS is well described, its incidence and relationship to specific surgical techniques, particularly the method of uterine entry, are not well defined in the published literature. No randomized trials have evaluated whether entry technique influences the risk of CAS.

Methods: We present the protocol for a randomized controlled trial comparing sharp-trocar and Seldinger uterine entry techniques for FLP in TTTS diagnosed between 16 + 0 …

Alteration Of Gut Microbial Ecology By The Direct Activation Of The Brain: Inverse Gut-Microbiome-Brain Dynamics, Mikhail Y Kochukov, Shelly A Buffington, Sean W Dooling, Benjamin R Arenkiel, Mauro Costa-Mattioli

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The gut-microbiome-brain axis is a bidirectional communication system influencing host physiology and overall fitness. While "bottom-up" effects-where gut microbes influence brain function and behavior-are well established, direct evidence for "top-down" modulation-where the brain shapes the gut microbial ecology-remains elusive. Here, we show that the selective expression of the bacterial ion channel mNaChBac in glutamatergic lateral habenula (LHb) neurons increases their bursting activity and leads to endophentypes associated with depression. Importantly, this chronic activation leads to changes in the gut microbiome composition over time, as reflected by shifts in alpha-diversity and alterations in specific microbial taxa. These findings provide direct evidence …

Cardiomyocyte Maturation And Proliferation Is A Flip Coin, Riham R E Abouleisa, Kamal Abou Farraj, Stuti G Mehta, Tamer M A Mohamed

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cardiac regeneration offers a promising approach to treating ischemic heart disease. Accumulating evidence indicates that maturation limits the proliferative capacity of the adult myocardium. During cardiac development, cardiomyocytes (CMs) undergo genetic reprogramming, leading to maturation characterized by polyploid CMs, increased sarcomere rigidity, and metabolic reprogramming that prepares the heart for efficient, sustained blood pumping capacity throughout life. This maturation process also coincides with cell cycle exit in adult CMs and forms a barrier to replenishing the CM loss after ischemic injury. Over recent decades, studies have shown that forced induction of adult CM proliferation involves reversion to an immature state. …

Diras3-Derived Cyclic Peptides Disrupt Kras-Raf Interaction And Kras Nanoclustering, Suppressing Kras-Driven Pancreatic And Ovarian Tumors, Margie N Sutton, Jing Wang, Amarachi O Osuji, Nefeli Batistatou, Hailing Yang, Weiqun Mao, Zhi Tan, Geneviève M C Gasmi-Seabrook, Junchen Liu, John F Hancock, Christopher B Marshall, Joshua A Kritzer, Mitsuhiko Ikura, Robert C Bast, Steven W Millward, Zhen Lu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Mutations in KRAS drive 88% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) and up to 40% of low-grade serous ovarian cancers (LGSOC), making KRAS a long-standing therapeutic target. We previously showed that DIRAS3 binds RAS, forming heterodimers that disrupt RAS clustering and downstream MAPK signaling. Building on this, we developed conformationally constrained DIRAS3-derived peptides using two cyclization strategies and characterized them by NMR and biolayer interferometry. These cyclic peptides attenuate the interaction between KRAS and the BRAF RAS-binding domain, penetrate cells efficiently, and inhibit KRAS nanoclustering on the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. Functionally, they reduce cell viability and suppress PDAC …

Semaglutide Use Before Single-Level Lumbar Fusion Associated With Fewer Readmissions And 90-Day Costs, Mitchell K. Ng, Paul G. Mastrokostas, Ariel N. Rodriguez, Abigail Razi, Leonidas E. Mastrokostas, Ahmed K. Emara, Brian T. Ford, Jacquelyn J. Xu, Jonathan Dalton, Rajkishen Narayanan, Christopher K. Kepler, Alan S. Hilibrand, Alex R. Vaccaro, Jad Bou Monsef, Afshin E. Razi

Rothman Institute Papers

CONTEXT: Semaglutide, a glucagon-like protein-1 receptor agonist used in diabetes and obesity management, has demonstrated perioperative benefits in other surgical populations. However, its role in spine surgery remains unclear.

AIMS: This study aims to evaluate whether patients undergoing single-level lumbar fusion demonstrate: (1) fewer medical complications; (2) surgical complications; and (3) healthcare utilization as measured by readmissions and costs.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study using a national claims database from 2010 to 2021.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with diabetes mellitus undergoing single‑level lumbar fusion were identified and matched 1:5 using propensity scores based on age, sex, body mass …

Providencia Rettgeri As An Unusual Pathogen In Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis: A Case Report And Literature Review, Stephanie N. Campbell, Madeleine Mehaffey, Nikita Gambhir, Amanda L. Killeen

School of Podiatric Medicine Publications

Providencia rettgeri is a Gram-negative bacterium, rarely reported as a cause of diabetic wound infections. Its frequent resistance to β-lactams and carbapenems limits treatment options, especially in immunocompromised patients. We present the case of a 59-year-old unhoused male living with diabetes, peripheral artery disease, and prior bilateral transmetatarsal amputations who presented with a University of Texas 3B diabetic foot ulcer. Magnetic resonance imaging showed osteomyelitis of metatarsals 2–4, and bone biopsy grew Providencia rettgeri and Proteus mirabilis. The patient declined further surgery and was treated with 6 weeks of cefepime and metronidazole, with outpatient wound care, achieving wound closure …

A Scoping Review Of Breastfeeding Interventions Conducted In The Republic Of Türkiye And The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus, Suha Ballout, Basil Hassan Aboul-Enein, Ilknur Yesilcinar, Patricia J Kelly

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

Objective: Breastfeeding (BF) is essential for maternal and child health, yet disparities persist in initiation, exclusivity, and duration. Despite cultural and policy support in Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, challenges such as inconsistent hospital practices, early formula supplementation, and limited workplace accommodations hinder optimal BF outcomes. Understanding the effectiveness of BF interventions in these regions is key to improving maternal and infant health. This review is aimed to identify and synthesize BF interventions and their outcomes in Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Materials and Methods: A scoping review was conducted following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting …

Single Cell Long Read Whole Genome Sequencing Reveals Somatic Transposon Activity In Human Brain, Xinchang Zheng, Nadine Holmes, Marco Toffoli, Zeliha Sahin, Yi Han, Heer H Mehta, Sonja W Scholz, Clifton L Dalgard, Donna M Muzny, Adam Ameur, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Christos Proukakis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The advent of single cell DNA sequencing revealed astonishing dynamics of genomic variability, but failed at characterizing smaller to mid size variants that on the germline level have a profound impact. In this work we discover previously uncharacterized genomic dynamics in 18 cells from three human brains utilizing single cell long-read whole genome sequencing. This provides key insights into the dynamic of the genomes of individual cells and further highlights brain specific activity of transposable elements, but requires validation in larger studies.

Tca Cycle Mode Switch Determines The Fate Of Pirtobrutinib-Tolerant Persister Cells In Mantle Cell Lymphoma, Wei Wang, Qingsong Cai, Yang Liu, Lei Nie, Heng-Huan Lee, Yue Fei, Yijing Li, Lin Tan, Philip L Lorenzi, Ying-Nai Wang, Jun Yao, Zhihong Chen, Joseph Mitchell Mcintosh, Cheng-Tai Yu, Preetesh Jain, Vivian C Jiang, Jovanny Vargas, Xiaolin Li, Tianci Zhang, Shaoying Li, David Santos, Selvi Thirumurthi, Erin Heather Seeley, Lukas Mikolaj Simon, Christopher Flowers, Chi Young Ok, Michael Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKis) and cell therapy have successfully been used to treat mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). However, therapy resistance inevitably emerges. Cancer cells can progressively develop stable resistance by traversing through a transient drug-tolerant persister (DTP) state. The mechanisms enabling DTP cells to reversibly adapt to therapies and evolve to acquire heterogeneity remain poorly understood, and characterizing DTP cells in MCL continues to pose a challenge for clinic translation. Here, using pirtobrutinib, a recently US Food and Drug Administration-approved noncovalent BTKi, we identified pirtobrutinib-tolerant persister cells exhibiting morphological variability by presenting a unique population of enlarged cells (giant …

Acute Myeloid Leukemia With T(10; 17)(P15; Q21)/ Zmynd11::Mbtd1: A Subtype With Minimal Differentiation, Cd7/Cd56 Expression, And Generally Poor Outcomes In Adults, Qing Wei, Naveen Pemmaraju, Sa A Wang, Shimin Hu, Courtney Dinardo, Carlos E Bueso-Ramos, Shaoying Li, Jeffrey L Medeiros, Guilin Tang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Early Tumor Volume Reduction By Breast Dce Mri Predicts Pathologic Complete Response To Neoadjuvant Therapy In Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Mary S Guirguis, Beatriz E Adrada, Clinton Yam, Debu Tripathy, Rosalind Candelaria, Miral Patel, Frances Perez, Gary J Whitman, Jessica W T Leung, Huong Le-Petross, Deanna L Lane, Lei Huo, Jennifer K Litton, Vicente Valero, Kelly K Hunt, Banu Arun, Rania Mohamed, Jia Sun, Anil Korkut, Zhan Xu, Sanaz Pashapoor, Jason White, Jong Bum Son, Alastair Thompson, Peng Wei, Jingfei Ma, Stacy Moulder, Gaiane M Rauch

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous disease with variable response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST). Patients with pathologic complete response (pCR) following NAST have improved survival. Our goal was to establish readily accessible imaging biomarker to identify which TNBC patients will have pCR. Building on prior favorable results in the literature, we hypothesized that manually measured tumor volume changes at DCE-MRI may predict pCR early during NAST. This prospective study included 287 stage I-III TNBC patients who underwent DCE-MRI at baseline, after two and four cycles of NAST, with pCR accessed at surgery (NCT02276443). Tumor volume and percentage tumor …

Five-Year Follow-Up Analysis Of Zuma-5: Axicabtagene Ciloleucel In Relapsed/Refractory Indolent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Sattva S Neelapu, Julio C Chavez, Alison R Sehgal, Narendranath Epperla, Matthew L Ulrickson, Pashna N Munshi, David G Maloney, Sven De Vos, Ran Reshef, Lori A Leslie, Olalekan O Oluwole, Ibrahim Yakoub-Agha, Rashmi Khanal, Joseph D Rosenblatt, Jacob Wulff, Rhine R Shen, Wangshu Zhang, Soumya Poddar, Harry Miao, Olga Nikolajeva, Caron A Jacobson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) is an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy approved for relapsed/refractory (R/R) follicular lymphoma (FL). Here, we report updated clinical outcomes from ZUMA-5 in 159 enrolled patients with R/R indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL; 127 with FL and 31 with marginal zone lymphoma) after a median follow-up of 64.6 months. Patients underwent leukapheresis and received lymphodepleting chemotherapy and axi-cel (2 × 106 CAR T cells/kg). The overall response rate was 90% (75% complete response rate). The median duration of response was 60.4 months, and the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 62.2 months; median time to next …

Genome-Wide Association Study Of 398,238 Women Unveils Seven Loci Associated With High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer, Daniel R Barnes, Jonathan P Tyrer, Joe Dennis, Goska Leslie, Manjeet K Bolla, Amber M Aeilts, Nadine Andrieu, Irene L Andrulis, Hoda Anton-Culver, Adalgeir Arason, Banu K Arun, Judith Balmaña, Elisa V Bandera, Rosa B Barkardottir, Lieke P V Berger, Amy Berrington De Gonzalez, Pascaline Berthet, Katarzyna Białkowska, Line Bjørge, Amie M Blanco, Marinus J Blok, Kristie A Bobolis, Natalia V Bogdanova, James D Brenton, Henriett Butz, Saundra S Buys, Maria A Caligo, Ian Campbell, Carmen Castillo, Kathleen B M Claes, Sarah V Colonna, Linda S Cook, Mary B Daly, Agnieszka Dansonka-Mieszkowska, Miguel De La Hoya, Anna Defazio, Allison Depersia, Yuan Chun Ding, Jennifer A Doherty, Susan M Domchek, Thilo Dörk, Zakaria Einbeigi, Christoph Engel, D Gareth Evans, Lenka Foretova, Renée T Fortner, Florentia Fostira, Maria Cristina Foti, Eitan Friedman, Megan N Frone, Patricia A Ganz, Aleksandra Gentry-Maharaj, Gord Glendon, Andrew K Godwin, Anna González-Neira, Mark H Greene, Jacek Gronwald, Aliana Guerrieri-Gonzaga, Ute Hamann, Thomas V O Hansen, Holly R Harris, Jan Hauke, Florian Heitz, Frans B L Hogervorst, Maartje J Hooning, John L Hopper, Chad D Huff, David G Huntsman, Evgeny N Imyanitov, Louise Izatt, Anna Jakubowska, Paul A James, Ramunas Janavicius, Esther M John, Siddhartha Kar, Beth Y Karlan, Catherine J Kennedy, Lambertus A L M Kiemeney, Irene Konstantopoulou, Jolanta Kupryjanczyk, Yael Laitman, Ofer Lavie, Kate Lawrenson, Jenny Lester, Fabienne Lesueur, Carlos Lopez-Pleguezuelos, Phuong L Mai, Siranoush Manoukian, Taymaa May, Iain A Mcneish, Usha Menon, Roger L Milne, Francesmary Modugno, Jennifer M Mongiovi, Marco Montagna, Kirsten B Moysich, Susan L Neuhausen, Finn C Nielsen, Catherine Noguès, Edit Oláh, Olufunmilayo I Olopade, Ana Osorio, Laura Papi, Harsh Pathak, Celeste L Pearce, Inge S Pedersen, Ana Peixoto, Tanja Pejovic, Pei-Chen Peng, Beth N Peshkin, Paolo Peterlongo, C Bethan Powell, Darya Prokofyeva, Miquel Angel Pujana, Paolo Radice, Muhammad U Rashid, Gad Rennert, George Richenberg, Dale P Sandler, Naoko Sasamoto, Veronica W Setiawan, Priyanka Sharma, Weiva Sieh, Christian F Singer, Katie Snape, Anna P Sokolenko, Penny Soucy, Melissa C Southey, Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet, Rebecca Sutphen, Christian Sutter, Yen Y Tan, Manuel R Teixeira, Kathryn L Terry, Liv Cecilie V Thomsen, Marc Tischkowitz, Amanda E Toland, Toon Van Gorp, Ana Vega, Digna R Velez Edwards, Penelope M Webb, Jeffrey N Weitzel, Nicolas Wentzensen, Alice S Whittemore, Stacey J Winham, Anna H Wu, Siddhartha Yadav, Yao Yu, Argyrios Ziogas, Andrew Berchuck, Fergus J Couch, Ellen L Goode, Marc T Goodman, Alvaro N Monteiro, Kenneth Offit, Susan J Ramus, Harvey A Risch, Joellen M Schildkraut, Mads Thomassen, Jacques Simard, Douglas F Easton, Michelle R Jones, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Simon A Gayther, Antonis C Antoniou, Paul D P Pharoah

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Nineteen genomic regions have been associated with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). We meta-analyzed >22 million variants for 398,238 women from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), UK Biobank (UKBB) and Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/BRCA2 (CIMBA) to identify novel HGSOC susceptibility loci. Eight novel variants were associated with HGSOC risk. An interesting discovery biologically was TP53 3’-UTR SNP rs78378222-T’s association with HGSOC (per-T-allele relative risk (RR) = 1.44, 95% CI:1.28–1.62, P = 1.76 × 10−9). Polygenic scores (PGS) were developed using OCAC and CIMBA data and trained on FinnGen data. The optimal PGS included 64,518 …

Impact Of Video Laryngoscopy On Pediatric And Neonatal Transport Intubation Success, Brooke A. Shahriary

Dissertations

Abstract

Problem: Airway management is the primary intervention for halting clinical decompensation in pediatric and neonatal patients. In cases where patients require invasive support, endotracheal intubation (ETI) is the preferred method of airway securement. Unfortunately, ETI is a challenging skill to develop, especially when caring for children and infants, resulting in increased rates of failed ETI attempts which can result in worse outcomes. ETI success rates in the population of interest have fallen in recent years, nationally and among the clinicians in this project. The institution established a goal for first pass success (FPS) and video laryngoscope (VL) was introduced …

Perioperative Nutrition In Pediatric Patients With Congenital Heart Disease And Heart Failure., Jaime Silva-Gburek, Kelsey May, Bailey Walvoord, Catalina Lozano, Jorge A. Coss-Bu

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Optimal nutritional therapy is important for infants and children with perioperative congenital heart disease and heart failure. Medical providers face physiological and metabolic challenges when administering enteral and parenteral nutrition to these patients. Complications related to enteral nutrition can increase morbidity and mortality, although outcomes are improved in those cases in which caloric and nutrient administration can be achieved. Consensus regarding feeding strategies and timing of nutritive care is lacking. This narrative review aims to summarize, analyze and discuss the most recent literature on nutritional therapy in perioperative congenital heart disease, heart failure and pediatric patients requiring mechanical circulatory support …

Conjunctival Melanoma Genomic Analysis Reveals Intermediate Tumor Mutation Burden And Genomic Overlap With Cutaneous Melanoma, Florentia Dimitriou, Xiaogang Wu, Priyadharsini Nagarajan, Isabella C Glitza, Li Zhao, Sapna P Patel, Andrew Futreal, Scott Woodman, Jennifer L Mcquade, Bita Esmaeli

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Conjunctival melanoma (CJM) is a rare and aggressive malignancy. Mainly attributed to its rarity, the genomic features of CJM have not been well characterized. In the present study, we sequenced the exomes of primary and metastatic CJM tumors with the aim to unravel their genomic landscape. The results of the study suggest that CJM is a molecularly distinct melanoma subtype with mixed genotype and targetable mutations. Notably, there were features overlapping with both mucosal, and mainly cutaneous melanoma. Of note, some genetic alterations were found in association with specific subsets of CJM, such as bulbar anatomical localization. CJM tumors had …

A Week-Long Departmental Scholarship Curriculum For Pediatric Subspecialty Fellows, Amy Creel, Amanda Messer, Robin English

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Scholarly activity is a key requirement in pediatric subspecialty fellowship training. However, clear guidance on how to effectively support fellows in their scholarly endeavors remains limited. OBJECTIVE: This study assesses the impact of a week-long departmental scholarship curriculum designed to enhance fellows' research competencies. METHODS: In 2024, a curriculum was designed and delivered to first-year pediatric subspecialty fellows over 5 days, combining group learning sessions with individualized tasks. Pre- and post-curriculum surveys assessed fellows' confidence and knowledge across key scholarly domains. Daily session evaluations provided additional feedback. Fourteen fellows from 9 pediatric subspecialty programs participated. RESULTS: All first-year fellows …

Be Faster Community Of Practice To Increase Rapid Initiation Of Antiretroviral Therapy In Houston, Texas: A Pre-Post Intervention Study, Monisha Arya, Avishek Ghosh-Hajra, Kathryn Fergus, Shital M Patel

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy (Rapid ART) is a key strategy of the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative. The Baylor College of Medicine Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Facilitating Antiretroviral Start Earlier (BE FASTER) program was developed to address this call-to-action. The program uses the ProjectECHO tele-mentoring model as an implementation tool in Harris County, a priority EHE jurisdiction. The authors present results on the acceptability and feasibility of the BE FASTER program.

Methods: Multidisciplinary health professionals from 5 Ryan White Part A funded agencies formed the community of practice. The BE FASTER program included 9 monthly …

Unveiling Humility In Emergency Medicine Chief Residents: A Thematic Exploration Of Standard Letters Of Evaluation, Abagayle Bierowski, Ridhima Ghei, Casey Morrone, Xiao C. Zhang, Dimitrios Papanagnou

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: Although humility is a key leadership trait linked to collaboration and trust, current residency application processes lack methods to identify it. By examining whether themes of humility appear in the Standardized Letters of Evaluation (SLOE) of medical students who later became emergency medicine (EM) chief residents, we sought to determine the presence of humility-related traits in SLOEs and explore their potential to inform the identification of applicants with leadership potential during residency selection.

METHODS: Two independent reviewers examined 104 SLOEs (52 chief, 52 non-chief) from 2015-2021, representing 43 students (21 who later assumed chief resident positions and 22 who …

Prognosis And Treatment Response Stratification According To Loss Of Proofreading (Lop), Giulia Maddalena, Fadl A Zeineddine, Saikat Chowdhury, Mohammad A Zeineddine, Abdelrahman M Yousef, Sara Lonardi, Michael Geoffrey White, Michael J Overman, Scott Kopetz, John Paul Shen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Only a subset of polymerase epsilon (POLE) mutations is associated with hypermutant phenotype; we hypothesized that only loss-of-proofreading (LOP) POLE mutations are associated with favorable immunotherapy response.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included a pan-cancer cohort of 69,223 patients from cBioPortal and a cohort of patients with 41 POLE mutant metastatic colorectal (CRC) treated with immunotherapy at the MD Anderson Cancer Center between January 2017 and May 2023. We evaluated prognosis according to POLE mutation functionality.

Results: In the pan-cancer cBioPortal cohort (n=69,223) POLE was mutated in 2.8% (1,965) of tumors; of these, only 7.5% (n=148) had …

Insights Into The Relevance Of Targeting Fibroblasts To Control Cancer, Viktoria Boeker, Raghu Kalluri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the tumor microenvironment (TME) have garnered significant research attention in the last decade. As key stromal cells of the TME, studies have explored them as a potential target for controlling cancer. Using high-throughput technologies like single-cell RNA sequencing coupled with proteomics, the classification of different CAF subgroups reveals a complex system that varies by cancer type. Unraveling novel big data, potentially through AI platforms, will be key to identifying the role of CAFs in tumor progression and therapy escape mechanisms, enabling new therapies that manipulate CAFs to increase patients' survival. We summarize and discuss new developments …

Identification Of Therapeutic Targets For Renal Medullary Carcinoma Via Integrated Genomic And Transcriptomic Profiling, Pavlos Msaouel, Nizar M Tannir, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Jennifer M King, Martin H Voss, Susan S Thomas, Menuka Karki, Rong He, Giannicola Genovese, Rahul A Sheth, Davis R Ingram, Diana Shamsutdinova, Khalida M Wani, Wei-Lien Wang, Alexander J Lazar, Dominique Knipper-Davis, Amber Berlinski, Tayla Soares, Danil Stupichev, Kirill Kryukov, Suren Davitavyan, Anna Novokreshchenova, Dmitry Lebedev, Stanislav Kurpe, Andrey Kravets, Dmitrii Belousov, Michael Hensley, Alexander Bagaev, Francesca Paradiso, Vladimir Kushnarev

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) is a rare but highly aggressive kidney cancer that resists conventional therapies. To identify therapeutic targets, this study employs histopathologic, genomic, and transcriptomic profiling of 25 RMC samples. TROP2, EPCAM, CLDN6, and CDH6 are significantly overexpressed compared with other renal and solid tumors. Pathway analyses indicate Hippo pathway upregulation and a tumor microenvironment rich in fibroblasts and neutrophils. We subsequently explore treatment of four heavily pretreated patients, all with high TROP2 expression, using sacituzumab govitecan, a TROP2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate. Of these four patients, one patient achieves a partial response with symptom improvement, two patients maintain stable …

Voices: Future Directions In Targeting The Tumor Microenvironment, Tanja De Gruijl, Catherine Sautès-Fridman, Daniela S Thommen, Michael A Curran

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

What do you envision as the most promising future directions for therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating the tumor microenvironment?