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Discovery And Effects Of Pharmacological Inhibition Of The E3 Ligase Skp2 By Small Molecule Protein-Protein Interaction Disruptors, John K. Morrow

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Skp2 (S-phase kinase-associated protein 2), one component of the SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, directly interacts with Skp1 and indirectly associates with Cullin1 and Rbx1 to bridge the E2 conjugating enzyme with its protein substrate to execute its E3 ligase activity. Skp2 is an Fbox protein (due to it containing an Fbox domain) and it is the rate-limiting component of the SCF complex. Skp2 targets several cell-cycle regulatory proteins for ubiquitination and degradation; most notable and significant for cancer are the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p27. Skp2 is an oncogene and studies have shown that over-expression of Skp2 leads to increased …

New Pulmonary Valvuloplasty Technique By Use Of An Hourglass-Shaped Balloon In 3 Adults With Severe Pulmonary Valve Stenosis, Teoman Kilic, Tayfun Sahin, Kurtulus Karauzum, Ertan Ural, Wesley R Pedersen

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Percutaneous balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty is the preferred therapy for pulmonary valve stenosis. However, the designs of the cylindrical balloons historically used for valvuloplasty have limitations, especially in patients who have large pulmonary annular diameters. The hourglass-shaped V8 Aortic Valvuloplasty Balloon may prove to be an effective alternative. The balloon has 2 large bulbous segments that are separated by a narrowed waist. The geometric shape is maintained throughout inflation, improving fixation and enabling broader leaflet opening. We present our first experience with the V8 balloon in 3 adults who had severe, symptomatic pulmonary valve stenosis. In addition to describing their cases, …

Cardiac Magnetic Resonance To Evaluate Percutaneous Pulmonary Valve Implantation In Children And Young Adults, Cesar Gonzalez De Alba, Fernando Molina Berganza, John Brownlee, Muhammad Khan, Dilachew Adebo

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Experience with cardiac magnetic resonance to evaluate coronary arteries in children and young adult patients is limited. Because noninvasive imaging has advantages over coronary angiography, we compared the effectiveness of these techniques in patients who were being considered for percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation.

We retrospectively reviewed the cases of 26 patients (mean age, 12.53 ± 4.85 yr; range, 5–25 yr), all of whom had previous right ventricular-to-pulmonary artery homografts. We studied T2-prepared whole-heart images for coronary anatomy, velocity-encoded cine images for ventricular morphology, and function- and time-resolved magnetic resonance angiographic findings. Cardiac catheterization studies included coronary angiography, balloon compression testing, …

Changes In Coronary Plaque Volume: Comparison Of Serial Measurements On Intravascular Ultrasound And Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography, Rine Nakanishi, Anas Alani, Suguru Matsumoto, Dong Li, Michael Fahmy, Jeby Abraham, Christopher Dailing, Alexander Broersen, Pieter H Kitslaar, Khurram Nasir, James K Min, Matthew J Budoff

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Serial measurements of coronary plaque volume have been used to evaluate drug efficacy in atherosclerotic progression. However, the usefulness of computed tomography for this purpose is unknown. We investigated whether the change in total plaque volume on coronary computed tomographic angiography is associated with the change in segment plaque volume on intravascular ultrasound. We prospectively enrolled 11 consecutive patients (mean age, 56.3 ± 5 yr; 6 men) who were to undergo serial invasive coronary angiographic examinations with use of grayscale intravascular ultrasound and coronary computed tomography, performedvolume, nor between normalized coronary plaque volume. However, in the per-patient analysis, there were …

Murmur Associated With Diastolic Paradoxical Jet Flow In A 43-Year-Old Man With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Michiyo Yamano, Tatsuya Kawasaki, Hirokazu Shiraishi, Tadaaki Kamitani, Takatomo Shima, Takashi Nakamura, Satoaki Matoba

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

A diastolic paradoxical jet flow, often seen in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is a unique flow from the apex toward the base of the left ventricle during isovolumic relaxation. To date, this phenomenon appears to have been noninvasively detected only on echocardiograms. We report the case of a 43-year-old man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and a diastolic paradoxical jet flow, in whom cardiac auscultation revealed a soft S4, a systolic ejection murmur, and a low-pitched early diastolic murmur immediately after S2 at the apex. On comparing his echocardiographic findings with those on phonocardiograms and apexcardiograms, we confirmed that the unusual murmur …

Public Hospitals Matter, Herbert L Fred

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Recent events in this country pose major concerns. Police shoot unarmed blacks, gun-wielding malcontents ambush policemen, white supremacists march, gays are murdered, gender inequality pervades our workforce, and sexual harassment and abuse are surfacing in many segments of our society. In reaction, various social movements have sprung up, including Black Lives Matter, White Lives Matter, Blue Lives (policemen) Matter, Gay Lives Matter, Girls for Gender Equity (GGE), #MeToo, and Time's Up. To that list, I add another battle cry: Public Hospitals Matter.

Endoscopic Full-Thickness Resection Of A Gastric Subepithelial Tumor, Bhavtosh Dedania, Tejal Mistry, Jamie Buryanek, Shashideep Singhal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Meta-Analysis Of The Effects Of Exercise Interventions On Obese Adolescents, Brandy E. Strahan Phd, Rn, Hyochol Ahn Phd, Ms-Ece, Ms-Cts, Aprn, Anp-Bc, Jonathan Shuster M.Sc., Ph.D.

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

A meta-analysis of 10 randomized control studies published in 2003-2013 was conducted to provide a summary of the effects of exercise interventions on obese adolescents. Outcomes of the reviewed trials included body mass index, weight, glucose, and triglycerides. Data were combined using an inverse variance weighted random effects model. The effect size estimate for BMI was 1.354 kg/m² (p < 0.001, SE 0.321), indicating that the BMI of individuals in treatment groups improved, as compared to control groups. A statistically significant reduction in weight was greater in the intervention groups than the control groups by 3.815 kg (p = 0.001, SE 1.101). The findings of this meta-analysis show that exercise interventions may improve control of weight and BMI and in turn be a factor in decreasing obesity.

Sexting And Mental Health: A School-Based Longitudinal Study Among Youth In Texas, Pooja Chaudhary, Melissa Peskin, Jeff R. Temple, Robert C. Addy, Elizabeth Baumler, Ross Shegog

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Background: Sexting has emerged as a common socio-cultural problem in our society today. Few studies have estimated the prevalence of sexting among younger middle school youth and even fewer have assessed the relationship between sexting and mental health outcomes like anxiety and depression symptoms among middle school youth.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of sexting among sixth and seventh-grade middle school students in a large urban school district in Southeast Texas and to assess its relationship with mental health outcomes (both anxiety and depression) among these youth.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of an existing three-year randomized, two-arm, nested longitudinal study …

The Changing Landscape For Lgbtiq Families, Angelo Giardino, Robert Sanborn

Journal of Family Strengths

Angelo P. Giardino and Robert Sanborn discuss the importance of the latest issue of the Journal of Family Strengths.

Randomized Controlled Trials Evaluating Patient-Reported Outcomes After Cholecystectomy: A Systematic Review, Krislynn M Mueck, Deepa V Cherla, Amy Taylor, Tien C Ko, Mike K Liang, Lillian S Kao

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Older Donor Age And Cold Ischemic Time On Long-Term Outcomes Of Heart Transplantation, Heidi J Reich, Jon A Kobashigawa, Tamar Aintablian, Danny Ramzy, Michelle M Kittleson, Fardad Esmailian

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Using older donor hearts in cardiac transplantation may lead to inferior outcomes: older donors have more comorbidities that reduce graft quality, including coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia. Shorter cold ischemic times might overcome the detrimental effect of older donor age. We examined the relationship between donor allograft age and cold ischemic time on the long-term outcomes of heart transplant recipients. rom 1994 through 2010, surgeons at our hospital performed 745 heart transplantations. We retrospectively classified these cases by donor ages of(younger) and ≥50 years (older), then by cold ischemic times of(short), 120 to 240 min (intermediate), and …

Novel Scoring System For Prediction Of Cardiac Syndrome X In Women With Typical Angina And A Positive Exercise Tolerance Test, Farzad Masoudkabir, Ali Vasheghani-Farahani, Elham Hakki, Hamidreza Poorhosseini, Saeed Sadeghian, Seyed Hesameddin Abbasi, Shahram Bahmanyar, Seyed Ebrahim Kassaian

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

A major diagnostic challenge for cardiologists is to distinguish cardiac syndrome X (CSX) from obstructive coronary artery disease in women with typical angina and a positive exercise tolerance test (ETT). We performed this study to develop a scoring system that more accurately predicts CSX in this patient population.

Data on 976 women with typical angina and a positive ETT who underwent coronary angiography at our center were randomly divided into derivation and validation datasets. We developed a backward stepwise logistic regression model that predicted the presence of CSX, and a scoring system was derived from it.

The derivation dataset (809 …

Cardiac Rehabilitation Improves Cardiometabolic Health In Young Patients With Nonischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy, Samuel G Wittekind, Yvette Gerdes, Wayne Mays, Clifford Chin, John L Jefferies

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy is deadly and costly, and treatment options are limited. Cardiac rehabilitation has proved safe and beneficial for adults with various types of heart failure. Therefore, we retrospectively evaluated the hypothesis that rehabilitation is safe and improves cardiometabolic health in young patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomypathy. From 2011 through 2015, 8 patients (4 males) (mean age, 20.6 ± 6.6 yr; range, 10-31 yr) underwent rehabilitation at our institution. They were in American Heart Association class C or D heart failure and were on maximal medical therapy. Their mean left ventricular ejection fraction at baseline was 0.26 ± 0.15. …

Symptomatic Celiomesenteric Trunk: Variable Presentations And Outcomes In 2 Patients, Michael L Kueht, Darrel L Wu, Joseph L Mills, Ramyar Gilani

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Mesenteric ischemia can be difficult to diagnose without a high degree of suspicion because it presents in a variety of ways. Visceral vascular collaterals between the fore- and midgut often provide protection against ischemia; however, the presence of anatomic variations, such as celiomesenteric trunk, can undermine the expected redundancy. Misdiagnosis can result in prolonged suffering or death, as evidenced in 2 of our patients with celiomesenteric trunk. The first patient with chronic mesenteric ischemia was diagnosed in the clinic and underwent successful surgical correction; the other had overwhelming, acute mesenteric ischemia, which resulted in death. Our cases show that successful …

A Great Speech From A Great Man, Herbert L Fred

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Special Issue Introduction: Youth At Risk, Melisa Creamer, Anna Wilkinson, Deanna Hoelscher, Steven Kelder

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Guest editors MeLisa Creamer, Anna Wilkinson, Deanna Hoelscher and Steven Kelder introduce Volume 8, Issue 2 of the Journal of Applied Research on Children.

Marijuana And E-Cigarette Use In A Us National Sample Of 8th And 10th Grade Never-Smokers Of Conventional Cigarettes, Olusegun Owotomo, Julie Maslowsky

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Introduction: E-cigarette use remains a controversial topic in public health and medicine. Historically, cigarette smoking was identified as a gateway to marijuana use among adolescents. Recently, the prevalence of adolescent cigarette smoking has declined, but that of e-cigarette use continues to increase. As e-cigarettes eclipse cigarettes among adolescents, e-cigarette use may predispose adolescents to marijuana use. This study examines the relationship between e-cigarette use and marijuana use in a national sample of adolescents who have never smoked conventional cigarettes.

Methods: A national sample of 8th and 10th grade never-smokers of conventional cigarettes (N=12,743) was obtained from 2014-2015 Monitoring …

Adolescent Marijuana Use And Co-Occurrence With Tobacco Use: Implications For Tobacco Regulation, Erika Trapl, Sarah J. Koopman Gonzalez

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Background: Marijuana use among high school youth has been declining over the past two decades. However, there has been a notable shift in the national landscape with regards to social norms and marijuana legalization that could allow marijuana to become more available and may compete against prevention efforts among youth. Further, youth continue to utilize innovative ways to consume marijuana. There is a documented relationship between marijuana and tobacco use, particularly with the use of blunts. Despite the documented relationship between tobacco and marijuana use, little is known about the modes of marijuana use in relation to different tobacco products. …

Does Exposure And Receptivity To E-Cigarette Advertisements Relate To E-Cigarette And Conventional Cigarette Use Behaviors Among Youth? Results From Wave 1 Of The Population Assessment Of Tobacco And Health Study, Nicole E. Nicksic Phd, Mph, L. Morgan Snell Mpp, Andrew J. Barnes Phd

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Background: E-cigarettes (EC) are the most commonly used tobacco product among youth. Additionally, youth EC users are progressing to smoking conventional cigarettes (CC). Although known to target youth, there are no current restrictions in the US on EC marketing, including advertising. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between EC advertisements and youth EC and CC use behaviors.

Methods: This study analyzed data from youth (12-17 years) aware of EC in Wave 1 (2013-2014) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study (n=12,199). Weighted logistic regression models assessed whether exposure and receptivity to any of …

“If You Are Old Enough To Die For Your Country, You Should Be Able To Get A Pinch Of Snuff”: Views Of Tobacco 21 Among Appalachian Youth, Lindsay K. Tompkins, Clara G. Sears, Joy L. Hart, Kandi L. Walker, Alexander S. Lee, Aruni Bhatnagar

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Background: Multiple strategies have been utilized in attempts to decrease the prevalence of youth tobacco use. One strategy, raising the minimum legal sale age (MLSA) of tobacco products to 21, known as Tobacco 21, has recently gained popularity. Tobacco 21 legislation targets youth tobacco use by obstructing two main sources of youth tobacco products: stores and older friends. Although these sources are the most common for youth across the nation, regional differences have not been explored. Further, youth perspectives about raising the tobacco MLSA have not been considered. Youth may help identify potential challenges to implementing tobacco control measures, as …

A Comparison Of Sociodemographic Correlates Of Cigarette, Alcohol, And Energy Drink Consumption Among High School Students In The United States, 2010-2015, Eun Me Cha, Nalini Ranjit, Deanna M. Hoelscher

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

OBJECTIVE: Despite growing awareness about the harmful physiological effects of energy drinks, especially among young people, there is little regulation governing the marketing and sale of these products to adolescents. Thus, in contrast to substances such as cigarettes and alcohol, energy drinks are readily available to adolescents, and widely consumed. It is not known if the easy availability of energy drinks has the effect of increasing usage of these substances among adolescents, and reducing sociodemographic differences in the consumption of energy drinks. In this study, we use pooled data (2010-2015) from the nationally representative Monitoring the Future survey (n=43,283), to …

Tmc Facts & Figures, Texas Medical Center

TMC Reports

No abstract provided.

Annual Report 2017 - 2018, Houston Academy Of Medicine - Texas Medical Center Library

Annual Reports: 1943 - Present

This file contains the Annual Report for the library from 2017-2018.

Ms225: 2018 Faculty Meeting Minutes, Thomas R. Cole

Thomas R. Cole, PhD Papers

Original Filename: Faculty Meeting Minutes 020718 SWOT_SACRED VOCATION PROGRAM.docx. Format Details: fmt/412; Microsoft Word for Windows; 2007 onwards. See more at Thomas R. Cole, PhD Papers and its finding aid.

Characterizing The Information Needs Of Rural Healthcare Practitioners With Language Agnostic Automated Text Analysis, Melissa Resnick

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Objectives – Previous research has characterized urban healthcare providers' information needs, using various qualitative methods. However, little is known about the needs of rural primary care practitioners in Brazil. Communication exchanged during tele-consultations presents a unique data source for the study of these information needs. In this study, I characterize rural healthcare providers' information needs expressed electronically, using automated methods.

Methods – I applied automated methods to categorize messages obtained from the telehealth system from two regions in Brazil. A subset of these messages, annotated with top-level categories in the DeCS terminology (the regional equivalent of MeSH), was used to …

Using The Literature To Identify Confounders, Scott Malec

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Prior work in causal modeling has focused primarily on learning graph structures and parameters to model data generating processes from observational or experimental data, while the focus of the literature-based discovery paradigm was to identify novel therapeutic hypotheses in publicly available knowledge. The critical contribution of this dissertation is to refashion the literature-based discovery paradigm as a means to populate causal models with relevant covariates to abet causal inference. In particular, this dissertation describes a generalizable framework for mapping from causal propositions in the literature to subgraphs populated by instantiated variables that reflect observational data. The observational data are those …

A Frame-Based Nlp System For Cancer-Related Information Extraction, Yuqi Si, Kirk Roberts

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We propose a frame-based natural language processing (NLP) method that extracts cancer-related information from clinical narratives. We focus on three frames: cancer diagnosis, cancer therapeutic procedure, and tumor description. We utilize a deep learning-based approach, bidirectional Long Short-term Memory (LSTM) Conditional Random Field (CRF), which uses both character and word embeddings. The system consists of two constituent sequence classifiers: a frame identification (lexical unit) classifier and a frame element classifier. The classifier achieves an F

Vitamin E Status Is Inversely Associated With Risk Of Incident Tuberculosis Disease Among Household Contacts, Omowunmi Aibana, Molly F Franke, Chuan-Chin Huang, Jerome T Galea, Roger Calderon, Zibiao Zhang, Mercedes C Becerra, Emily R Smith, Carmen Contreras, Rosa Yataco, Leonid Lecca, Megan B Murray

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Few studies have previously assessed how pre-existing vitamin E status is associated with risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease progression.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the association between baseline plasma concentrations of 3 vitamin E isomers (α-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol, and δ-tocopherol) and TB disease risk.

METHODS: We conducted a case-control study nested within a longitudinal cohort of household contacts (HHCs) of pulmonary TB cases in Lima, Peru. We defined cases as HHCs who developed active TB disease ≥15 d after the diagnosis of the index patient, and we matched each case to 4 control cases who did not develop active TB based on …

Clinical Utility Of The Dsm-5 Alternative Model For Borderline Personality Disorder: Differential Diagnostic Accuracy Of The Bfi, Scid-Ii-Pq, And Pid-5, J Christopher Fowler, Alok Madan, Jon G Allen, Michelle Patriquin, Carla Sharp, John M Oldham, B Christopher Frueh

Staff and Researcher Publications

Background: With the publication of DSM 5 alternative model for personality disorders it is critical to assess the components of the model against evidence-based models such as the five factor model and the DSM-IV-TR categorical model. This study explored the relative clinical utility of these models in screening for borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Methods: Receiver operator characteristics and diagnostic efficiency statistics were calculated for three personality measures to ascertain the relative diagnostic efficiency of each measure. A total of 1653 adult inpatients at a specialist psychiatric hospital completed SCID-II interviews. Sample 1 (n=653) completed the SCID-II interviews, SCID-II Questionnaire (SCID-II-PQ) …