Digital Commons Network^™

Neighborhood-Level Social Vulnerability, Race And Ethnicity, And Stage At Diagnosis: A Population-Based Study Of 12,957 Patients With Oral Cavity Cancer, Guillermo A Tortolero, Erich M Sturgis, Jose-Miguel Yamal, Melissa F Peskin, Cici Bauer, Caitlin C Murphy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Oral cavity cancer (OCC) is marked by racial and ethnic disparities. We examined these differences in OCC stage at diagnosis and whether neighborhood-level social vulnerability, a measure of susceptibility to hardship at the census-tract level, modifies disparities.

Methods: We identified adults newly diagnosed with OCC (1995 to 2020) from the Texas Cancer Registry. We estimated the association between stage at diagnosis and race and ethnicity using logistic regression and assessed effect modification by neighborhood-level social vulnerability.

Results: The sample included 12,957 reported OCC cases, 77% non-Hispanic White, 6% non-Hispanic Black, and 14% Hispanic patients, and 47.4% late stage at …

Ataxia-Telangiectasia Mutated Activation Mediates Transforming Growth Factor Beta Signaling In Acetaminophen-Induced Liver Injury In Mice, Matthew Mcmillin, Christopher S Chu, Elaina Williams, Juliet Venter, Kiersten Bell, Anca D Petrescu, Patrick Mireles, Sharon Demorrow

Faculty and Staff Publications

Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose is associated with increased transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ1) signaling and elevated oxidative stress, which exacerbate DNA damage. TGFβ1 has been shown to regulate ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) signaling and DNA repair in other cell types. This study investigates the DNA damage response (DDR) during APAP-induced liver injury, focusing on ATM-mediated regulation of TGFβ1 signaling. APAP administration in vitro and in vivo resulted in DNA damage, increased ATM signaling, accumulation of γH2AX, and activation of phosphorylated ataxia telangiectasia mutated (pATM) and phosphorylated checkpoint kinase 2 (pChk2). Pretreatment with an ATM inhibitor, KU55933, attenuated APAP-induced hepatocyte damage and …

Sleep-Disordered Breathing Subtypes And Future Diet Quality In The Multi-Ethnic Study Of Atherosclerosis, Kaitlin S Potts, Cecilia Castro-Diehl, Tianyi Huang, Alexis C Wood, Jerome I Rotter, Stephen S Rich, Tamar Sofer, Susan Redline, Heming Wang

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Objectives: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and diet quality impact cardiometabolic disease, but few studies have examined if SDB influences diet quality. This study estimated the association between SDB subtypes (with and without sleepiness) and future diet quality in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

Methods: Probable SDB was characterized by self-reported physician-diagnosed sleep apnea (PDSA) or habitual snoring and subtyped by presence or absence of sleepiness. A food frequency questionnaire measured diet 1.6 years before, and 7.8 years after SDB assessment. Diet quality was measured with the Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI). Mean differences in AHEI at follow-up by SDB subtypes were …

Survey Of U.S. Reproductive Medicine Clinicians’ Attitudes On Polygenic Embryo Screening, Rémy A Furrer, Dorit Barlevy, Aayushi Gandhi, Shai Carmi, Todd Lencz, Stacey Pereira, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Polygenic embryo screening (PES) is used to screen embryos for their genetic likelihood of developing complex conditions and traits. We surveyed 152 U.S. reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialists (REIs) on their views of PES. While most respondents (97%) were at least slightly familiar with PES, general approval of PES was low (12%), with the majority expressing disapproval (46%) or uncertainty (42%). A majority (58%) believed risks outweigh benefits, while only 16% felt benefits outweigh risks. Most clinicians (85-77%) were very or extremely concerned about low accuracy, confusion over results, false expectations, and eugenics. Nonetheless, when asked to vote on whether …

Association Of Area Deprivation Index With Perinatal And Covid-19 Outcomes During The Early Pandemic: A Secondary Analysis Of A Prospective Cohort Study, Abigail Bell, Megan Foeller, Candice Woolfolk, Emily Diveley, Fan Zhang, Amy Scheffer, Ruizhi Huang, Daniel Jackson, Nandini Raghuraman, Ebony Carter, Indira U Mysorekar, Jeannie C Kelly

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Objective: We sought to evaluate the relationship between neighborhood-level deprivation and perinatal outcomes, particularly preterm birth, as well as COVID-19 outcomes among pregnant patients during the early pandemic.

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal cohort study that investigated the impact of prenatal COVID-19 exposure on perinatal outcomes. Pregnant patients were recruited 12/23/20-7/18/22 and serially assessed for COVID-19 exposure during pregnancy, with serum antibody testing, electronic medical record review, and patient report. For this secondary analysis, address at the time of delivery was used to categorize patients into low ADI (≤50th percentile Area Deprivation Index, indicating low …

Surgical Removal Of Implanted Microchips To Correct Mri Susceptibility Artifacts In Mice, Elizabeth Hipskind, Nicole Hernandez, Sydney Fox, Tina Manirambona, Rita Schack, Brian Gibson, Robia G Pautler

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Purpose: Implanted microchips are becoming increasingly common in research for animal identification and have been adopted by commercial vendors for some mouse strains. However, they often contain metal components, which generate magnetic susceptibility artifacts on MR images. Despite this, some microchips are marketed as MR-compatible, even though they are likely to affect image quality.

Methods: We assessed the impact of a radiofrequency identification microchip on MR images of the mouse brain and present a method for precise surgical removal. A handheld magnet was used to locate and stabilize the microchips during removal. Mice were imaged before and after microchip removal. …

Real-World Adherence And Effectiveness Of Inclisiran In Lowering Ldl-C: Results From 1 Year Of Follow-Up, Christie M Ballantyne, Timothy E Graham, Lucinda J Van Anglen, Bruce J Iteld, Harvey Serota, Xiaoli Niu, Sean Mcelligott, Kelly E Hanna, Tyler J Varisco

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is a global health concern. Reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is critical in ASCVD prevention and treatment. Inclisiran, a novel RNA therapeutic agent, offers a promising solution by lowering LDL-C with twice-yearly dosing after an initial and 3-month dose. The study objective was to evaluate adherence to inclisiran and its lipid-lowering effectiveness over a year of treatment.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study involved patients over 18 years old with ASCVD or hyperlipidemia who initiated inclisiran between January 1, 2022, and May 17, 2023, in US outpatient clinics. LDL-C reduction was evaluated in patients with ≥ …

Where, How, And How Much? A Multicenter Cohort Study Of The Relationship Across Lupus Decision-Aid Modality, Place Of Administration, Interruption And Viewing Completeness, And Patient-Reported Outcomes, Jasvinder A Singh, Mark Beasley, Larry R Hearld

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: We assessed whether shared decision-making (SDM) and patient acceptability, feasibility, and overall satisfaction with a computerized patient decision aid (PtDA) for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) differs by PtDA setting, modality, and the viewing experience.

Methods: Patients with SLE were invited to view a self-administered computerized SLE PtDA during regular clinic visits at 15 rheumatology clinics in an implementation trial. Patients completed a survey that included SDM measures including the decision conflict scale (DCS), Preparation for Decision Making (PDM) scale, and CollaboRATE scale, and we measured perceived patient acceptability, feasibility, and satisfaction. Patients viewed the SLE PtDA in …

A Deep Generative Model For Deciphering Cellular Dynamics And In Silico Drug Discovery In Complex Diseases, Yumin Zheng, Jonas C Schupp, Taylor Adams, Geremy Clair, Aurelien Justet, Farida Ahangari, Xiting Yan, Paul Hansen, Marianne Carlon, Emanuela Cortesi, Marie Vermant, Robin Vos, Laurens J De Sadeleer, Ivan O Rosas, Ricardo Pineda, John Sembrat, Melanie Königshoff, John E Mcdonough, Bart M Vanaudenaerde, Wim A Wuyts, Naftali Kaminski, Jun Ding

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Human diseases are characterized by intricate cellular dynamics. Single-cell transcriptomics provides critical insights, yet a persistent gap remains in computational tools for detailed disease progression analysis and targeted in silico drug interventions. Here we introduce UNAGI, a deep generative neural network tailored to analyse time-series single-cell transcriptomic data. This tool captures the complex cellular dynamics underlying disease progression, enhancing drug perturbation modelling and screening. When applied to a dataset from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, UNAGI learns disease-informed cell embeddings that sharpen our understanding of disease progression, leading to the identification of potential therapeutic drug candidates. Validation using proteomics reveals …

Gender Matters: A State-Of-The-Art Review Of Transcatheter Structural Interventions In Older Women Vs Men, Jing Liu, Radmila Lyubarova, Jennifer Riggs, Jina Chung, Puja Kiran Mehta, Simrat Kaur, Abdulla Al Damluji, Vasilis Babaliaros, Leslie Cho

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

With rising life expectancy, the population of older adults over the age of 65 is rapidly expanding, with women comprising the majority. Structural heart disease is common in this group, and transcatheter interventions have transformed its management. Optimal outcomes require careful consideration of sex-specific differences. This review examines transcatheter structural heart interventions in older adults with a focus on sex-based outcomes, procedural planning, and current knowledge gaps.

Abca4-Mutant Human Retinal Organoids Sequencing Reveals Organoids Application In Inherited Retinal Diseases, Yourong Bao, Sujung Soh, Jean Li, Zhen Zuo, Salma Ferdous, Xinye Qian, Jin Li, Jiaxiong Lu, Xuesen Cheng, Anna Matynia, Yumei Li, Rui Chen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In the studies of Inherited Retinal Diseases (IRDs), the knockout of traditional animal models like mice often fails to accurately replicate human phenotypes due to genetic and anatomical differences. Human retinal organoids (ROs) derived from stem cells have emerged as promising developmental models in retinal studies to delineate cell growth, but their ability to represent the characteristics of late-onset IRDs remains unclear. This study aims to validate ROs as a disease model for Stargardt's Disease (STGD) caused by ABCA4 mutations. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, ROs from 2 STGD patients were compared with healthy control-derived ROs at two developmental stages on …

Rbm8a Deficiency Causes Hematopoietic Defects By Modulating Wnt/Pcp Signaling, Agnese Kocere, Elena Chiavacci, Charlotte Soneson, Seth T Jacobson, Emma N Harrison, Kevin Manuel Méndez-Acevedo, Jacalyn S Macgowan, Harrison H Wells, Max S Hiltabidle, Azhwar Raghunath, Jordan A Shavit, Daniela Panáková, Margot L K Williams, Mark D Robinson, Christian Mosimann, Alexa Burger

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Thrombocytopenia-Absent Radius (TAR) syndrome is a rare congenital condition with reduced platelets, forelimb anomalies, and variable heart and kidney defects. TAR syndrome is caused by mutations in RBM8A/Y14, a component of the exon junction complex. How perturbing a general mRNA-processing factor causes the selective TAR Syndrome phenotypes remains unknown. Here, we connect zebrafish rbm8a perturbation to early hematopoietic defects via attenuated non-canonical Wnt/Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) signaling. In hypomorphic rbm8a zebrafish, we observe a reduction of cd41-positive thrombocytes. rbm8a-mutant zebrafish accumulate mRNAs with retained introns, including non-canonical Wnt/PCP pathway components resulting in convergent extension defects. We found that reduced rbm8a …

A Multimodal Non-Invasive Approach For Intracranial Pressure Assessment: A Single-Center Study, Dana Klavansky, Helaina Lehrer, Aris Desai, Gabriela Keeton, Neha Dangayach, Alexandra Reynolds, Spyridoula Tsetsou

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring is an integral part of acute brain injury management. While invasive ICP monitoring is the gold standard, there are several medical conditions that preclude its placement. The aim of the present study is to validate a multimodal approach for increasing ICP detection.

Material and methods: In this retrospective study, patients with acute brain injury who had an external ventricular drain (EVD) placement were included. We measured bilateral optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) and assessed for optic nerve disk elevation (ONDE) by using ocular ultrasound, bilateral middle cerebral artery pulsatility index (PI) by using transcranial Doppler, …

Transoral Robotic-Assisted Removal Of A Submucosal Pyriform Sinus Foreign Body, Elisabeth Wenneker, Rebecca Doctor, Ari Schuman, Adam Szymanowski, Ray Wang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Submucosal foreign bodies of the medial pyriform sinus represent a challenge given limited visualization and difficult retraction with endoscopic approaches, and risk of injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve with open approaches. Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) offers improved visualization and multiple working arms to facilitate retraction. We present a novel case utilizing the Da Vinci SP system for removal of an embedded fishbone of the medial pyriform sinus.

Results: An 84-year-old woman presented with five days of odynophagia and globus sensation after swallowing a fish bone. Non-contrast computed tomography scan revealed a 3.0 cm submucosal object within the post-cricoid …

Differential Microrna Profiling Of Blood L1cam And Bulk Extracellular Vesicles In Bipolar Disorder, Gabriel R Fries, Salahudeen Mirza, Jun Wang, Camila N C Lima, Wei Zhang, Marcela Carbajal Tamez, Giselli Scaini, Jair C Soares, Joao Quevedo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: This preliminary study aimed to identify microRNA (miRNA) signatures associated with bipolar disorder (BD) by profiling blood-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) of both putative neuronal origin and from all sources.

Method: In two parallel studies of individuals with BD and controls (CON), we characterized miRNA expression profiles of blood EVs selected for L1CAM, a putative marker of neuronal origin (n = 20 BD/20 CON), as well as bulk EVs (n = 21 BD/20 CON). For each study, analyses identified miRNAs differentially expressed between groups, followed by functional interrogation and testing for associations with clinical features.

Results: Results of …

Plasma Metabolomic And Proteomic Signatures Of Blood Pressure Management After Bariatric Surgery Among Adolescents, Shudi Pan, Zhenjiang Li, Juan Pablo Lewinger, Jesse A Goodrich, Hongxu Wang, Sarah Rock, Carmen Chen, Todd M Jenkins, Stephanie Sisley, Stephen R Daniels, Douglas I Walker, Max T Aung, Erika Garcia, Rob Mcconnell, Sandrah P Eckel, Michele A La Merrill, Tanya L Alderete, Zhuanghua Chen, Frank D Gilliland, Thomas H Inge, David V Conti, Justin R Ryder, Lida Chatzi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Emerging omics approaches, including metabolomics and proteomics, can be integrated into obesity treatment for better blood pressure management. We tested whether preoperative metabolomic and proteomic profiles predict long-term elevated blood pressure (EBP) changes better than known risk factors in adolescents undergoing bariatric surgery.

Methods: We included 108 participants from the Teen-LABS (Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery). Plasma untargeted metabolomics (via liquid chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry) and Olink proteomics were assessed pre surgery. An elastic net model with stability selection was used to identify features predictive of EBP reductions 5 years post surgery. Models including identified metabolites, proteins, and …

A Model For Developing Subspecialty Clinical Practice Guidelines: The Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines 20, Satheesh Gunaga, Christopher R Carpenter, Maura Kennedy, Lauren T Southerland, Alexander X Lo, Sangil Lee, Kirby Swan, Fabrice Mowbray, Rachel M Skains, Teresita M Hogan, Martin F Casey, Kei Ouchi, Naomi R George, Kerstin De Wit, Cameron J Gettel, Katherine Selman, Luna C Ragsdale, Anita N Chary, James D Van Oppen, Glenn Arendts, Charles L Maddow, Katherine M Hunold, Katren R Tyler, Danya Khoujah, Ula Hwang, Shan Liu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The original consensus-based Geriatric Emergency Department (GED) Guidelines, published in 2014, established a framework of core principles for delivering high-quality, age-appropriate emergency care for older adults. In response to significant advances in geriatric emergency medicine research and evolving clinical priorities, we developed the GED Guidelines 2.0 to ensure continued relevance, clinical utility, and evidence-based rigor. This concept paper describes the systematic and iterative process undertaken to update the guidelines, including the formation of multidisciplinary working groups and the application of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. Unlike the original GED Guidelines, our approach prioritized methodological transparency, …

Biochemical And Clinical Response To A Sulfur-Restricted Diet In Ethylmalonic Encephalopathy, Steven H Lang, Andres Caceres Salgado, Matthew T Snyder, Brandy Rawls-Castillo, Aaron Williams, Charul Gijavanekar, Sarah H Elsea, Xia Wang, Mary Elizabeth M Tessier, Claudia Soler-Alfonso, Fernando Scaglia

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Ethylmalonic encephalopathy (EE) is an often-severe inborn error of metabolism caused by biallelic variants in the ETHE1 gene leading to impaired detoxification of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). H2S is produced both exogenously by anerobic intestinal bacteria as well as by the endogenous catabolism of the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine. Existing therapies including metronidazole, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), and orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) have been pursued with the objective of reducing or detoxifying exogenously produced H2S. However, strategies to reduce endogenously produced H2S using a methionine and cysteine restricted diet are an understudied therapeutic avenue.

Methods: We performed an open-label, …

Clinical Exome Sequencing Efficacy And Phenotypic Expansions Involving Non-Isolated Congenital Anomalies Of Kidney And Urinary Tract (Cakut+), E Andres Rivera-Munoz, Xiaonan E Zhao, Jill A Rosenfeld, Pamela N Luna, Chad A Shaw, Jennifer E Posey, Daryl A Scott

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Congenital Anomalies of Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT) can occur in isolation or in conjunction with one or more non-CAKUT associated congenital anomalies or neurodevelopmental disorders (CAKUT+). A molecular cause is not identified in most individuals with CAKUT+. This is due, in part, to uncertainty regarding the efficacy of genetic testing and an incomplete understanding of the genes that cause CAKUT+. Here, we use data from 515 individuals with CAKUT+ (n = 500) or isolated CAKUT (n = 15) to determine the efficacy of clinical exome sequencing (cES) and to identify new phenotype expansions that involve CAKUT. We determined that …

Genetics Services In Latin America: A Descriptive Study Of Availability And Utilization Of Genetics In Healthcare, Ryan J German, Erin Atkinson, Eric A Storch, Claudia Soler-Alfonso, Sonia Margarit, Philip J Lupo, Stacey Pereira

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Genetic services are expanding globally, but access remains limited in low-resource regions such as Latin America. Understanding current service availability, barriers, and facilitators is critical to guide capacity building and improve patient care. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals providing genetic services in Latin America. The survey, available in Spanish and English, assessed genetic services, referral patterns, testing availability, barriers, facilitators, and perceived needs. Descriptive statistics summarized quantitative data, and thematic analysis was applied to open-ended responses. Eighty-five respondents from 18 countries reported broad clinical activity across pediatric, cancer, and adult-onset genetic conditions. Commonly ordered tests included karyotype, …

Cross-Species Standardised Cortico-Subcortical Tractography, Stephania Assimopoulos, Shaun Warrington, Davide Folloni, Katherine Bryant, Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, Wei Tang, Saad Jbabdi, Sarah R Heilbronner, Rogier B Mars, Stamatios N Sotiropoulos

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite their importance for brain function, cortico-subcortical white matter tracts are under-represented in diffusion magnetic resonance imaging tractography studies. Their non-invasive mapping is more challenging and less explored compared to other major cortico-cortical bundles. We introduce a set of standardised tractography protocols for delineating tracts between the cortex and various deep subcortical structures, including the caudate, putamen, amygdala, thalamus, and hippocampus. To enable comparative studies, our protocols are designed for both human and macaque brains. We demonstrate how tractography reconstructions follow topographical principles obtained from tracers in the macaque and how these translate to humans. We show that the proposed …

Frequency, Duration, And Cost Of Pulmonary Exacerbations Among Patients With Bronchiectasis, Maitreyee Mohanty, Claudia Leiras, Haiyan Sun, Reina Rau, John Fastenau, Joseph Feliciano, Sunjay R Devarajan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: In administrative claims database studies of bronchiectasis, pulmonary exacerbations are usually defined using a fixed period for their start and end, which prevents assessment of exacerbation duration and thereby limits assessment of exacerbation characteristics. Here, we applied a novel cost-based algorithm to characterize exacerbations.

Methods: This cohort study used the Merative MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database, 1-Jan-2016 to 31-Dec-2022. Patients ≥18 years with bronchiectasis (≥2 outpatient or ≥1 inpatient claim with bronchiectasis; no cystic fibrosis) had 12 months of continuous enrollment before (baseline) and ≥12 months after (follow-up) index (first bronchiectasis claim). Cost-based exacerbations were identified by compound …

The Microstructure Of Metastatic Bone Lesions Suggests Tumor Mediated Alterations In Bone Mineralization, Hanwen Fan, Zhan Xu, Carla Berrospe Rodriguez, Noah Dover, Andrei Demkov, Morgan Lilly, Guillermo Aguilar, Larry J Suva, Xiang H-F Zhang, Yuxiao Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Breast, prostate and lung cancer cells frequently metastasize to bone, leading to disruption of the bone microstructure. This study utilized mechanical testing coupled with micro-CT imaging, digital volume correlation (DVC), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) nanomechanical testing to examine the mechanical property variations in mouse long bones (tibia) with metastatic lung cancer cell involvement, spanning from the whole-bone scale to the microstructural level. In addition, we also investigated how metastatic invasion alters the morphology of hydroxyapatite nanocrystals in bone at the nanometer scale. The biochemical composition within metastatic lesions was assessed using Raman spectroscopy and correlated with AFM mechanical testing …

Lilrb4 Regulates Circadian Disruption-Induced Mammary Tumorigenesis Via Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway, Olajumoke Ogunlusi, Mrinmoy Sarkar, Kayla Carter, Arhit Chakrabarti, Devon J Boland, Tristan Nguyen, James Sampson, Christian Nguyen, Danielle Fails, Yava Jones-Hall, Loning Fu, Gus Wright, Da Mi Kim, James J Cai, Bani Mallick, Alex C Keene, Jeff R Jones, Tapasree Roy Sarkar

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Epidemiological studies have shown that circadian rhythm disruption (CRD) is associated with the risk of breast cancer. However, the role of CRD in mammary gland morphology and aggressive basal mammary tumorigenesis and the molecular mechanism underlying CRD-induced carcinogenesis remain unknown. To investigate the effect of CRD on aggressive tumorigenesis, a genetically engineered mouse model of aggressive breast cancer was used. The impact of CRD on the tumor microenvironment was investigated using the tumors from LD12:12 and CRD mice via scRNA-seq, flow cytometry, multiplexing immunostaining, and realtime PCR. The effect of LILRB4-immunotherapy on CRD-induced tumorigenesis was also investigated. Here we investigated …

Adrenomedullin Overexpression Protects Mice From Experimental Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia And Associated Pulmonary Hypertension, Shyam Thapa, Poonam Sarkar, M Waleed Gaber, Roberto Barrios, Madhulata Chauhan, Chandrasekhar Yallampalli, Binoy Shivanna

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) associated pulmonary hypertension (PH) or BPD-PH is a lung disease of infants with significant morbidity. Adrenomedullin (Adm) is an angiogenic peptide that signals through calcitonin receptor-like receptor (Calcrl) and receptor activity modifying protein 2 (RAMP2). Adm deficiency potentiates hyperoxia-induced experimental BPD-PH in mice; however, whether Adm overexpression can mitigate this lung disease is unclear. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that Adm overexpression attenuates hyperoxia (HO)-induced murine experimental BPD-PH by using a novel transgenic mouse that overexpresses Adm globally (Admhi/hi mice). One-day-old Admhi/hi mice or their wild-type littermates (Adm+/+ mice) were exposed to …

The Association Between Condom Use Self-Efficacy And Condom-Decision Abdication Among College Students, Mikaela Gjoka, Madison K Firkey, Alan Z Sheinfil, Sarah E Woolf-King

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: Condomless sex and its related consequences are a persistent problem on college campuses in the United States. This study aimed to examine the association between condom use self-efficacy and condom-decision abdication among college students, and whether this association was moderated by gender.

Participants & methods: Undergraduate college students (N = 212; 50.5% female) were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk as part of a larger online study that examined normative feedback for condom use.

Results: The association between condom use self-efficacy and condom-decision abdication was significantly moderated by gender (B = -0.07, p < .001), such that condom use self-efficacy was associated with condom-decision abdication in college women (B = -0.05, p < .005) but not in college men (B = .02, p = .18).

Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that …

Fast And Accurate Measurement Of Small Field Dosimetry Using A Novel Scintillation Detector, Yiding Han, Jingzhu Xu, Yao Hao, Baozhou Sun

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: The most used instruments for small-field dosimetry have notable limitations, including the need for correction of output factors, limited scanning speeds, and challenges in alignment for percentage depth dose (PDD) measurements, particularly for extremely small fields. However, plastic scintillation detectors (PSDs) are an attractive alternative for small-field dosimetry due to their correction-free nature, linear dose response, and fast response time.

Purpose: This study evaluates the robustness and accuracy of the dosimetric measurements using a new water-equivalent PSD in small-field dosimetry. The study also aims to report accurate measurements of output factors, profiles, and an indirect method for measuring PDD …

Administration Of A Novel Reprogramming Formula Improves Cardiac Function And Decreases Cardiac Fibrosis In A Myocardial Infarction Model, Megumi Mathison, Saliha S Pathan, Aliya Lackan, Jianchang Yang, Tamer M A Mohamed, Todd K Rosengart

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: The reprogramming of fibroblasts into (induced) cardiomyocytes offers a direct myocardial regeneration strategy for improving postinfarction myocardial function. Compared to lower-order species, human cells are relatively resistant to such reprogramming. We previously found that p63-transactivation inhibitory domain (TID; the portion of p63 that physical interacts and interferes with its activation of the epigenetic repressor HDAC1) combined with the cardio-differentiation factors Hand2 and Myocardin (HM) enhanced rat and human cell transdifferentiation. The present study sought to determine the in vivo effects of this reprogramming strategy in a rat myocardial infarction model.

Methods: Adult male and female rats underwent left anterior …

Rescue Bare-Metal Device Placement To Treat Iatrogenic Acute Type A Aortic Dissection During Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, Hiroaki Osada, José G Diez, Ahmed Khouqeer, Susan Y Green, Marc R Moon, Vicente Orozco-Sevilla, Joseph S Coselli

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Publisher Correction: Piezo1 Regulates Meningeal Lymphatic Vessel Drainage And Alleviates Excessive Csf Accumulation, Dongwon Choi, Eunkyung Park, Joshua Choi, Renhao Lu, Jin Suh Yu, Chiyoon Kim, Luping Zhao, James Yu, Brandon Nakashima, Sunju Lee, Dhruv Singhal, Joshua P Scallan, Bin Zhou, Chester J Koh, Esak Lee, Young-Kwon Hong

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.