Digital Commons Network^™

Parp Inhibitor Response Is Enhanced In Prostate Cancer When Xrcc1 Expression Is Reduced, Kaveri Goel, Vani Venkatappa, Kimiko L Krieger, Dongquan Chen, Arun Sreekumar, Natalie R Gassman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer worldwide and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men. The emergence of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) after androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) exemplifies the complex disease management for PCa. PARP inhibitors (PARPis) are being tested to treat mCRPC in tumors with defective homologous recombination repair (HRR) to address this complexity. However, increasing resistance towards PARPi in HRR-deficient patients and the low percentage of HRR-defective mCRPC patients requires the identification of new genes whose deficiency can be exploited for PARPi treatment. XRCC1 is a DNA repair protein critical in the …

Norovirus Replication, Host Interactions And Vaccine Advances, B V Venkataram Prasad, Robert L Atmar, Sasirekha Ramani, Timothy Palzkill, Yongcheng Song, Sue E Crawford, Mary K Estes

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide in all age groups and cause significant disease and economic burden globally. To date, no approved vaccines or antiviral therapies are available to treat or prevent HuNoV illness. Several candidate vaccines are in clinical trials, although potential barriers to successful development must be overcome. Recently, significant advances have been made in understanding HuNoV biology owing to breakthroughs in virus cultivation using human intestinal tissue-derived organoid (or enteroid) cultures, advances in structural biology technology combined with epitope mapping and increased metagenomic sequencing. New and unexpected strain-specific differences in pandemic versus …

An Atypical Presentation Of Nodular Hidradenoma Of The Thigh Treated With Mohs Micrographic Surgery, Nabor S Mireles, Natalie H Garcia, Isabella Camacho-Hubbard, Abdul Hafeez Diwan, Jennifer S Ranario

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Nodular hidradenoma (NH) is a benign adnexal tumor demonstrating both eccrine and apocrine differentiation. NH generally presents as a slow-growing, solitary, firm nodule, most commonly measuring 0.5-2 cm in diameter. It most frequently occurs on the scalp, thorax, abdomen, and gluteal regions, with a predilection for adult women in their fourth to eighth decades of life. We report the case of a 41-year-old immunocompetent female who presented with a red, 3.6 × 2.5 cm nodule on the left thigh. Due to the cystic nature of the lesion, it was initially presumed to be a benign cyst. However, as the lesion …

The Efficacy Of Complementary And Alternative Medicines Utilized In Cosmetic And Surgical Dermatology: A Comprehensive Review, Promise Ufomadu, Bartley Joseph Gill, Theodore Rosen, Ikue Shmizu, Ida Orengo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Lately, there has been a growing demand for the utilization of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) with dermatological applications. This is true despite limited RCT-level studies on such agents. This presents a barrier for dermatologists and fellow clinicians in counseling patients who may be using or are tempted to use these CAM modalities. This review highlights CAM agents used by patients for applications in cosmetic and surgical dermatology, exploring their efficacy and toxicity profiles.

Methods: A comprehensive review was conducted on the effectiveness of several CAMs utilized in cosmetic and surgical dermatology by patients. A literature search was performed …

Mitral Annular Disjunction Is Associated With Ventricular Arrhythmias In Children With Marfan Syndrome, Carlos A Sanchez Parra, Ruthie M Vaughan, Alejandra Iturralde Chavez, Christina Y Miyake, Santiago O Valdes, Ricardo H Pignatelli, Anitha Parthiban, Shaine A Morris, Tam T Doan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Severe Gastrointestinal Manifestations In Childhood-Onset Lupus: A Single-Center Cohort And Review Of The Literature, James Orozco, Jessica Nguyen, Sara Mm Yasrebi, Marnie Blalock, Sara L Grisales, Craig L Jensen, Marietta M Deguzman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune condition with diverse manifestations. Childhood-onset SLE (cSLE) presents more severely than adult-onset disease with a higher incidence of severe neurologic or renal manifestations and lower estimated survival rates. There is limited literature on the range of severe gastrointestinal manifestations at presentation in cSLE, and this lack of information results in underappreciation of these potentially life-threatening complications and little guidance regarding management of these patients.

Methods

We reviewed cases of patients with cSLE and severe GI manifestations at presentation diagnosed at our institution and additionally provide a comprehensive review of existing cases …

Design Of The Type 1 Diabetes And Life (T1dal) Pilot And Feasibility Study: A Brief Telehealth Intervention Targeting Health-Related Quality Of Life Across Clinical Settings, Marisa E Hilliard, Wendy Levy, Ruth S Weinstock, Korey K Hood, Paula M Trief, Daniel J Desalvo, Yuliana Rojas, Kyrah Holland, Aika K Schneider-Utaka, Selma A Alamarie, Lynn Agostini, Se-Kang Kim, Maartje De Wit, Meghan E Mcgrady, Laurel H Messer, Barbara J Anderson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) management is demanding and can impact quality of life among persons with diabetes (PWDs) and their family members. Behavioral intervention research has largely focused on adolescents, and previous interventions that have benefitted quality of life have limited potential for implementation in routine care. This trial is piloting a brief behavioral intervention that targets health-related quality of life (HRQOL), which can be implemented with PWDs of all ages in a range of clinical care settings. The aims are to (1) evaluate intervention feasibility and acceptability, (2) explore pre-post change in psychosocial and clinical outcomes, and (3) …

Sci – U: Validation Of An Updated Self-Care Inventory For Contemporary Diabetes Management In Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes, Sarah S Jaser, Tamim A Hamdan, Marisa E Hilliard, Joyce P Yi-Frazier, Randi Streisand, Faisal S Malik, Daniel J Desalvo, Maeve B O'Donnell, Annette M La Greca

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Aims: The Self-Care Inventory is a widely used measure to assess diabetes self-management behaviors. We sought to adapt and streamline the measure to reflect advances in diabetes management, including increased use of continuous glucose monitor and automated insulin delivery systems.

Methods: Through an expert-driven, iterative process, the updated Self-Care Inventory (SCI-U) was created by modifying items to reflect modern diabetes management and reducing the measure to 8 items. The measure was administered to 369 adolescents with type 1 diabetes in 4 regions of the United States, at baseline of two separate intervention trials (mean age = 15.5 ± 1.5, 56 …

Speech Delay And Hearing Rehabilitation Disparities In Children With Hearing Loss, Lacey C Magee, Malek Bouzaher, Mihika Thapliyal, Yi-Chun Liu, Samantha Anne

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objectives: To investigate the influence of race and insurance type on speech delay rates and hearing rehabilitation access in children with bilateral hearing loss (HL).

Study design: Retrospective cross-sectional study of pediatric patients with bilateral HL who received cochlear implants (CIs) or hearing aids (HAs).

Setting: This study used the national Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database to identify patients with HL across 52 tertiary care pediatric hospitals in the United States.

Methods: Data collected included demographics, CI/HA use, speech delay/disorders, and type of insurance coverage.

Results: This study identified 18,422 patients with bilateral HL (40.1% female, 66.3% white, 66.3% …

Linking Symptom Inventories Using Semantic Textual Similarity, Eamonn Kennedy, Shashank Vadlamani, Hannah M Lindsey, Kelly S Peterson, Kristen Dams O'Connor, Ronak Agarwal, Houshang H Amiri, Raeda K Andersen, Talin Babikian, David A Baron, Erin D Bigler, Karen Caeyenberghs, Lisa Delano-Wood, Seth G Disner, Ekaterina Dobryakova, Blessen C Eapen, Rachel M Edelstein, Carrie Esopenko, Helen M Genova, Elbert Geuze, Naomi J Goodrich-Hunsaker, Jordan Grafman, Asta K Håberg, Cooper B Hodges, Kristen R Hoskinson, Elizabeth S Hovenden, Andrei Irimia, Neda Jahanshad, Ruchira M Jha, Finian Keleher, Kimbra Kenney, Inga K Koerte, Spencer W Liebel, Abigail Livny, Marianne Løvstad, Sarah L Martindale, Jeffrey E Max, Andrew R Mayer, Timothy B Meier, Deleene S Menefee, Abdalla Z Mohamed, Stefania Mondello, Martin M Monti, Rajendra A Morey, Virginia Newcombe, Mary R Newsome, Alexander Olsen, Nicholas J Pastorek, Mary Jo Pugh, Adeel Razi, Jacob E Resch, Jared A Rowland, Kelly Russell, Nicholas P Ryan, Randall S Scheibel, Adam T Schmidt, Gershon Spitz, Jaclyn A Stephens, Assaf Tal, Leah D Talbert, Maria Carmela Tartaglia, Brian A Taylor, Sophia I Thomopoulos, Maya Troyanskaya, Eve M Valera, Harm Jan Van Der Horn, John D Van Horn, Ragini Verma, Benjamin S C Wade, Willian C Walker, Ashley L Ware, J Kent Werner, Keith Owen Yeates, Ross D Zafonte, Michael M Zeineh, Brandon Zielinski, Paul M Thompson, Frank G Hillary, David F Tate, Elisabeth A Wilde, Emily L Dennis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

An extensive library of symptom inventories has been developed over time to measure clinical symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but this variety has led to several long-standing issues. Most notably, results drawn from different settings and studies are not comparable. This creates a fundamental problem in TBI diagnostics and outcome prediction, namely that it is not possible to equate results drawn from distinct tools and symptom inventories. Here, we present an approach using semantic textual similarity (STS) to link symptoms and scores across previously incongruous symptom inventories by ranking item text similarities according to their conceptual likeness. We tested …

All Genetic Subtypes Of B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Exhibit Increased Incidence Rates In Children With Down Syndrome, Ching-Ju Hsu, Jeremy M Schraw, Tania A Desrosiers, Amanda E Janitz, Russell S Kirby, Eirini Nestoridi, Wendy N Nembhard, Jason L Salemi, Charles Shumate, Jean Paul Tanner, Mahsa M Yazdy, Michael E Scheurer, Karen R Rabin, Philip J Lupo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Characteristic Profiling Of Cho-Cell Expressed Mers-Cov Rbd-Fc, Mashal M Almutairi, Yi-Lin Chen, Jungsoon Lee, Zhuyun Liu, Ulrich Strych, Peter J Hotez, Maria Elena Bottazzi, Wen-Hsiang Chen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The ongoing circulation of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in camels across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, along with its occasional transmission to humans, demonstrates a need for a MERS vaccine. Previously, we have reported a receptor binding domain (RBD) of MERS-CoV fused with human Fc as a promising vaccine antigen (MERS-CoV RBD-Fc). We generated a stable recombinant CHO cell line expressing such a protein and developed a basic production process suitable for future technological transfer to pilot-scale manufacture. In this study, we employed various in-house analytical assays to examine the characteristics of purified RBD-Fc protein and …

Dosing Recommendations For Ampicillin And Ceftriaxone In The Treatment Of Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia Using Monte Carlo- And Physiologic-Based Pharmacokinetic Simulations, Norint Tung, Dustin Huynh, Quang Dam, Tri Tran, Kristina G Hulten, Christopher J Harrison, Sheldon L Kaplan, Tyler H Do, Amartya Setty, Lana Hoang, John S Bradley, Jennifer Le

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: Since 2011, Ampicillin (AMP) has been recommended as the parenteral antibiotic of choice for pediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), but ceftriaxone (CRO) is recommended for unvaccinated children and those with complicated CAP. Using penicillin and CRO susceptibility data for pneumococcus, we evaluated the adequacy of currently recommended doses of AMP and CRO.

Methods: With nonlinear mixed-effects modeling v7.3, Monte Carlo simulations (MCS, N = 10,000) for AMP and CRO were conducted for 6 virtual patients aged 3 months, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 15 years. PK-Sim v9.0 was used to develop physiologic-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models for AMP (N = 4000) …

An Innovative Interprofessional Mock Trial Experience: Collaboration Between Emergency Medicine Residency Program And Law School As A Tool To Demonstrate Medical Malpractice Litigation, Adaeze Stephanie Onyechi, Cedric Dark, Vidya Eswaran

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Due to the nature of the job and healthcare climate, emergency medicine physicians are constantly at risk for malpractice claims. Despite this, there is a gap in education around malpractice litigation. Given the considerable number of curricular topics residency programs must cover in conjunction with the volume of clinical hours residents work, we found that there is a need for an educational experience that is thorough yet compact enough to cause minimal disruption for educators and trainees. We created an easily reproducible educational session featuring collaboration between an emergency medicine residency program and a law school that covers medical …

Neuroanatomical Features Of Naa10 And Naa15-Related Neurodevelopmental Syndromes, Rahi Patel, Rikhil Makwana, Carolina Christ, Elaine Marchi, Christina Y Miyake, Fabricio Guimaraes Goncalves, Gholson J Lyon, Matthew T Whitehead

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: NAA10-related and NAA15-related neurodevelopmental (ND) syndromes present with intellectual disability, hypotonia, cardiac abnormalities, and delayed development. While data exists on the clinical manifestations of these conditions, there are few reports describing the neuroanatomical abnormalities present on imaging.

Objective: We aim to provide neuroimaging analyses for a subset of probands with NAA10- and NAA15-related neurodevelopmental symptoms and assess the severity and number of neuroanatomical anomalies and their associated functional impairments to better understand the pathophysiology of these disease processes.

Materials and methods: Neuroimaging studies were obtained from 26 probands (18 with pathogenic variants in NAA10, 8 with pathogenic variants in …

Barriers To And Facilitators Of Sustaining A Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Sle) Patient Decision Aid In Regular Rheumatology Outpatient Care In The Usa, Erin E Blanchard, Allyson G Hall, Ezra Gore, Parvaneh Yaghoubi Jami, Aizhan Karabukayeva, Larry R Hearld, Shelby Gontarz, Jasvinder A Singh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: This study investigates the barriers to and facilitators of sustaining a decision aid (DA) tool for patients with SLE in routine rheumatology outpatient care across the USA. The DA was initially developed for assisting patients with SLE in making informed medication choices by providing personalized information on their treatment process.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with clinicians, administrators, and information technology (IT) professionals from 15 geographically diverse rheumatology clinics that participated in a large-scale DA implementation trial. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo, with thematic coding to identify key factors influencing DA sustainability.

Results: The analysis identified several …

Point-Of-Care Ultrasound For Guiding Pulmonary Artery Catheter Placement, Erik Su, Saul Flores

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

A Phenotypic Screen Identifies Xanthohumol And Other Flavonoids As Killers Of Bladder Cancer, Michael J Bolt, Jessica Oceguera, Alejandra Rivera Tostado, Christopher D Candler, Elina Mosa, Kazem Safari, Maureen G Mancini, Michael A Mancini

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Bladder cancer accounts for 4 % of cancer diagnoses in the US. Current treatments primarily involve trans-urethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBT) and immunotherapy with Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG). Despite the efficacy of TURBT, issues with residual tumors persist. We chose to utilize Cell Painting to screen a set of 244 flavonoid compounds for bladder cancer cell toxicity. Using multiparametric high content analysis termed SPACe, we discover promising candidates underscoring the potential of flavonoids in targeting bladder cancer cells and elucidating their mechanisms of action. Notably, compounds such as xanthohumol show promise in reducing cancer cell viability by altering lipid metabolism. …

Bridging Genomics To Cardiology Clinical Practice: Artificial Intelligence In Optimizing Polygenic Risk Scores: A Systematic Review, Kaveh Hosseini, Nazanin Anaraki, Parham Dastjerdi, Sina Kazemian, Mandana Hasanzad, Mohamad Alkhouli, Mahboob Alam, Khurram Nasir, Jamal S Rana, Ami B Bhatt

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite advances in cardiovascular disease risk stratification, traditional risk prediction models often fail to identify high-risk individuals before adverse events occur, underscoring the need for more precise tools. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) quantify genetic susceptibility by aggregating genetic variants but face challenges in practice. This systematic review investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms can optimize PRS (AI-optimized PRS) to improve cardiovascular disease prediction. Analyzing 13 studies, we found that AI-optimized PRS models enhance predictive accuracy by improving feature selection, handling high-dimensional data, and integrating diverse variables-including clinical risk factors, biomarkers, imaging, and combining multiple PRS. These models …

Derivation And Internal-External Validation Of Clinical Prediction Model For Postoperative Clinically Important Hypotension In Patients Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery: An International Prospective Cohort Study, Stephen Su Yang, German Malaga, Maria Lazo-Porras, Patricia Busta-Flores, Aida Del Carmen Rotta-Rotta, Pavel S Roshanov, Daniel I Sessler, Amal Bessissow, Thomas Schricker, Vicky Tagalakis, Diane Heels-Ansdell, Shirley Pettit, P J Devereaux

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Intraoperative and postoperative hypotension are associated with myocardial injury/infarction, stroke, acute kidney injury, and death. Because of its prolonged duration, postoperative hypotension contributes more to the risk of organ injury compared with intraoperative hypotension. A prediction model for clinically important postoperative hypotension after noncardiac surgery is needed to guide clinicians.

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of the Vascular Events in Noncardiac Surgery Patients Cohort Evaluation (VISION) study. Patients aged ≥45 yr who had inpatient noncardiac surgery across 28 centres in 14 countries were included. In 14 of the centres selected at random (derivation cohort), we evaluated 49 variables …

A Bundle To Prevent Postinduction Hypotension In High-Risk Noncardiac Surgery Patients: The Zero-Hypotension Single-Arm Interventional Proof-Of-Concept Study, Kristen K Thomsen, Alina Kröker, Linda Krause, Karim Kouz, Christian Zöllner, Daniel I Sessler, Bernd Saugel, Moritz Flick

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Postinduction hypotension is common and associated with organ injury but might be largely preventable by careful anaesthetic management. We thus aimed to quantify the severity and duration of postinduction hypotension in high-risk noncardiac surgery patients treated with a hypotension prevention bundle.

Methods: In this prospective single-arm interventional proof-of-concept study, 107 high-risk noncardiac surgery patients were treated with a hypotension prevention bundle. The bundle included continuous intra-arterial blood pressure monitoring, a hypotension alarm set at a mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 75 mm Hg, careful administration of anaesthetic drugs, and continuous administration of norepinephrine when MAP decreased below 75 mm …

Large-Scale Plasma Proteomic Profiling Unveils Diagnostic Biomarkers And Pathways For Alzheimer’S Disease, Gyujin Heo, Ying Xu, Erming Wang, Muhammad Ali, Hamilton Se-Hwee Oh, Patricia Moran-Losada, Federica Anastasi, Armand González Escalante, Raquel Puerta, Soomin Song, Jigyasha Timsina, Menghan Liu, Daniel Western, Katherine Gong, Yike Chen, Pat Kohlfeld, Allison Flynn, Alvin G Thomas, Joseph Lowery, John C Morris, David M Holtzman, Joel S Perlmutter, Suzanne E Schindler, Natalia Vilor-Tejedor, Marc Suárez-Calvet, Pablo García-González, Marta Marquié, Maria Victoria Fernández, Mercè Boada, Amanda Cano, Agustín Ruiz, Bin Zhang, David A Bennett, Tammie Benzinger, Tony Wyss-Coray, Laura Ibanez, Yun Ju Sung, Carlos Cruchaga

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Proteomic studies have been instrumental in identifying brain, cerebrospinal fluid and plasma proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we comprehensively examined 6,905 aptamers corresponding to 6,106 unique proteins in plasma in more than 3,300 well-characterized individuals to identify new proteins, pathways and predictive models for AD. We identified 416 proteins (294 new) associated with clinical AD status and validated the findings in two external datasets representing more than 7,000 samples. AD-related proteins reflected blood-brain barrier disruption and other processes implicated in AD, such as lipid dysregulation or immune responses. A machine learning model was used to identify a set …

Longitudinal Trends In Pediatric Survival By Congenital Heart Defect In Texas, 1999 To 2017, Sara B Stephens, Shaine A Morris, Renata H Benjamin, Mark A Canfield, Charles J Shumate, Ruosha Li, Cecilia Cazaban-Ganduglia, A J Agopian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Despite previously improved survival among children with congenital heart defects (CHDs), U.S. population-level evaluations of survival within recent years are scarce.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the survival landscape among children with CHDs in a large population-based birth defects registry overall and by CHD lesion.

Methods: This population-based cohort study evaluated 1999 to 2017 live births with ≥1 major CHD in the statewide Texas Birth Defects Registry. Variables included CHD lesion, demographics, gestational age at birth (term/preterm), low birthweight (< 2,500 g at birth), among others. Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to describe survival to 7 days, 28 days, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years of life. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates were generated for 1-year survival for CHDs overall by lesion, using log-rank tests assessing differences by exposure.

Results: Of 61,656 children with CHDs, survival was 98.1% and 90.7% at 7 days and …

Library Holiday Hours, Beatriz Varman

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

he TMC Library will be closed Friday, July 4 in observance of Independence Day. Regular hours resume Saturday, July 5.

Mini-Digitization Project, Kelsey Koym

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

Although called a “mini-digitization,” the recent project to scan six photographs from the IC 086 Hermann Hospital Archive Records is part of a larger effort. With help from a UTHealth community member, the McGovern Historical Center now has digital files and a detailed inventory for about 185 blueprints of the Hermann Professional Building. To see the rest of the photographs, visit the McGovern's portal on AToM.

Refworks Access Ends July 29, 2025, Joanne Romano

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

The TMC Library ended our subscription to RefWorks to focus on open products for students, faculty, and staff. Learning and using an open citation manager like Zotero or Mendeley is a good lifelong learning goal which will support future research projects. Get started and learn more about Zotero and Mendeley.

Users who want to switch to an individual RefWorks account should contact RefWorks.

Allergic Fungal Rhinosinusitis Diagnosis, Management, Associated Conditions, Pathophysiology, And Future Directions: Summary Of A Multidisciplinary Workshop, Lauren T Roland, Cecelia Damask, Amber U Luong, Antoine Azar, Charles S Ebert, Thomas Edwards, Katherine N Cahill, Do-Yeon Cho, David Corry, Tara L Croston, Alexandra F Freeman, Amin Javer, Paneez Khoury, Jean Kim, Michael Koval, Edward D Mccoul, James W Mims, Anju Peters, Jay F Piccirillo, Richard P Ramonell, Amali Samarasinghe, Robert P Schleimer, Prestina Smith-Davidson, Andrej Spec, Michael E Wechsler, Sarah K Wise, Joshua M Levy

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS) is a unique endotype of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). Despite high recurrence rates and often more severe presenting signs compared with other subtypes of CRSwNP, research dedicated to AFRS has been lacking. Diagnostic criteria are outdated, the mechanistic relationship of AFRS to other associated diseases is unclear, and the pathophysiology of disease and risk factors for recurrence have not been well studied. In December 2023, a multidisciplinary group of rhinologists, otolaryngologists, pulmonologists, allergists, immunologists, scientists, and infectious disease experts met at the National Institute of Health to discuss unmet needs for future AFRS research …

Identification And Functional Assessment Of Candidate Causal Cis-Regulatory Variants Underlying Electrocardiographic Qt Interval Gwas Loci, Supraja Kadagandla, Lavanya Gunamalai, Dongwon Lee, Ashish Kapoor

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Background: Identifying causal variants among tens or hundreds of associated variants at each locus in genome-wide association studies is challenging. As the vast majority of genome-wide association studies variants are noncoding, sequence variation at cis-regulatory elements (CREs) affecting transcriptional expression of specific genes is a widely accepted molecular hypothesis. Following this hypothesis, combined with the observation that open chromatin is a universal hallmark of all types of CREs, we aimed to identify candidate causal cis-regulatory variants underlying QT interval genome-wide association studies loci.

Methods: Common variants in high linkage disequilibrium with genome-wide significant variants were identified using variant …

Monte Carlo Study Of Gold Nanoparticle-Mediated Radiosensitization Effects Using Nanoscale Cell Model Combined With Fractal-Based Dna Model, Amrit Kaphle, Sandun Jayarathna, Sunil Krishnan, Sang Hyun Cho

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Background: Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are promising radiosensitizers in radiation therapy, yet the exact mechanisms behind their effectiveness remain not fully understood. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations have been used to study extra energy deposition and increased DNA damage by the secondary electrons from intracellularly present GNPs, which are believed to be the key physical mechanisms responsible for the radiosensitization effects observed in many radiobiological studies. However, discrepancies between experimental results and computational predictions persist. While often attributed to purely biological effects, such discrepancies, from a physical modeling point of view, can also be due to the use of MC models constructed …

Allergic Fungal Rhinosinusitis Diagnosis, Management, Associated Conditions, Pathophysiology, And Future Directions: Summary Of A Multidisciplinary Workshop, Lauren T Roland, Cecelia Damask, Amber U Luong, Antoine Azar, Charles S Ebert, Thomas Edwards, Katherine N Cahill, Do-Yeon Cho, David Corry, Tara L Croston, Alexandra F Freeman, Amin Javer, Paneez Khoury, Jean Kim, Michael Koval, Edward D Mccoul, James W Mims, Anju Peters, Jay F Piccirillo, Richard P Ramonell, Amali Samarasinghe, Robert P Schleimer, Prestina Smith-Davidson, Andrej Spec, Michael E Wechsler, Sarah K Wise, Joshua M Levy

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS) is a unique endotype of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). Despite high recurrence rates and often more severe presenting signs compared with other subtypes of CRSwNP, research dedicated to AFRS has been lacking. Diagnostic criteria are outdated, the mechanistic relationship of AFRS to other associated diseases is unclear, and the pathophysiology of disease and risk factors for recurrence have not been well studied. In December 2023, a multidisciplinary group of rhinologists, otolaryngologists, pulmonologists, allergists, immunologists, scientists, and infectious disease experts met at the National Institute of Health to discuss unmet needs for future AFRS research …