Digital Commons Network^™

Cation Leak Through The Atp1a3 Pump Causes Spasticity And Intellectual Disability, Daniel G Calame, Marwan Shinawi, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

ATP1A3 encodes the α3 subunit of the sodium-potassium ATPase, one of two isoforms responsible for powering electrochemical gradients in neurons. Heterozygous pathogenic ATP1A3 variants produce several distinct neurological syndromes, yet the molecular basis for phenotypic variability is unclear. We report a novel recurrent variant, ATP1A3(NM_152296.5):c.2324C>T; p.(Pro775Leu), in nine individuals associated with the primary clinical features of progressive or non-progressive spasticity and developmental delay/intellectual disability. No patients fulfil diagnostic criteria for ATP1A3-associated syndromes, including alternating hemiplegia of childhood, rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism or cerebellar ataxia-areflexia-pes cavus-optic atrophy-sensorineural hearing loss (CAPOS), and none were suspected of having an ATP1A3-related disorder. Uniquely among known …

Shephard: A Modular And Extensible Software Architecture For Analyzing And Annotating Large Protein Datasets, Garrett M Ginell, Aidan J Flynn, Alex S Holehouse

2020-Current year OA Pubs

MOTIVATION: The emergence of high-throughput experiments and high-resolution computational predictions has led to an explosion in the quality and volume of protein sequence annotations at proteomic scales. Unfortunately, sanity checking, integrating, and analyzing complex sequence annotations remains logistically challenging and introduces a major barrier to entry for even superficial integrative bioinformatics.

RESULTS: To address this technical burden, we have developed SHEPHARD, a Python framework that trivializes large-scale integrative protein bioinformatics. SHEPHARD combines an object-oriented hierarchical data structure with database-like features, enabling programmatic annotation, integration, and analysis of complex datatypes. Importantly SHEPHARD is easy to use and enables a Pythonic interrogation …

Increased Incidence And Risk Of Septicemia And Urinary Tract Infection After Clostridioides Difficile Infection, Margaret A Olsen, Matthew R Keller, Dustin Stwalley, Holly Yu, Erik R Dubberke

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Although increased occurrence of septicemia in persons with

METHODS: The first episode of CDI was identified using 2011-2017 MarketScan and CMS Medicare data and CDI cases categorized by standard surveillance definitions. Uninfected persons were frequency matched 4:1 to cases by the CDI case surveillance definition. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify risk factors for septicemia and UTI within 90 days of CDI onset, accounting for the competing risk of death in the Medicare population.

RESULTS: The incidence of septicemia was highest after hospital-onset CDI in the Medicare, younger commercial, and younger Medicaid populations (25.5%, 15.7%, and …

Pact: A Pipeline For Analysis Of Circulating Tumor Dna, Jace Webster, Ha X Dang, Pradeep S Chauhan, Wenjia Feng, Alex Shiang, Peter K Harris, Russell K Pachynski, Aadel A Chaudhuri, Christopher A Maher

2020-Current year OA Pubs

MOTIVATION: Detection of genomic alterations in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is currently used for active clinical monitoring of cancer progression and treatment response. While methods for analysis of small mutations are more developed, strategies for detecting structural variants (SVs) in ctDNA are limited. Additionally, reproducibly calling small-scale mutations, copy number alterations, and SVs in ctDNA is challenging due to the lack to unified tools for these different classes of variants.

RESULTS: We developed a unified pipeline for the analysis of ctDNA [Pipeline for the Analysis of ctDNA (PACT)] that accurately detects SVs and consistently outperformed similar tools when applied to …

Harm Reduction: A Missing Piece To The Holistic Care Of Patients Who Inject Drugs, Nathanial S Nolan, Sarah M Fracasso Francis, Laura R Marks, Susan E Beekmann, Philip M Polgreen, Stephen Y Liang, Michael J Durkin

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The rise in injection drug use (IDU) has led to an increase in drug-related infections. Harm reduction is an important strategy for preventing infections among people who inject drugs (PWID). We attempted to evaluate the harm reduction counseling that infectious diseases physicians provide to PWID presenting with infections.

METHODS: An electronic survey was distributed to physician members of the Emerging Infections Network to inquire about practices used when caring for patients with IDU-related infections.

RESULTS: In total, 534 ID physicians responded to the survey. Of those, 375 (70%) reported routinely caring for PWID. Most respondents report screening for human …

Proteomics Of Adjacent-To-Tumor Samples Uncovers Clinically Relevant Biological Events In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Hongwen Zhu, Li Ding, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Normal adjacent tissues (NATs) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) differ from healthy liver tissues and their heterogeneity may contain biological information associated with disease occurrence and clinical outcome that has yet to be fully evaluated at the proteomic level. This study provides a detailed description of the heterogeneity of NATs and the differences between NATs and healthy livers and revealed that molecular features of tumor subgroups in HCC were partially reflected in their respective NATs. Proteomic data classified HCC NATs into two subtypes (Subtypes 1 and 2), and Subtype 2 was associated with poor prognosis and high-risk recurrence. The pathway and …

Impact Of Donor Age And Relationship On Outcomes Of Peripheral Blood Haploidentical Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Aaron Pruitt, Feng Gao, Elisa De Togni, Hunter Cochran, Sonia Godbole, Michael Slade, Ramzi Abboud

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Here we describe a retrospective analysis of outcomes in 299 patients who underwent peripheral blood haplo-HCT with PTCy from July 2009 through May 2021 and their association with donor characteristics. Patients had mostly acute leukemias and high or very high DRI. Multivariate analyses were conducted examining OS, NRM, relapse, cytokine release syndrome, acute and chronic GVHD. Donor characteristics included age, sex, relationship, ABO status, CMV status, and HLA match grade. Our analysis revealed increasing donor age was associated with higher NRM (compared to age <30; age 30-44 HR, 1.65; P = 0.110, age >44 HR, 1.80; P = 0.056) but lower relapse risk (compared to age <30; age 30-44 HR, 0.61; P = 0.034, age > 44 HR, 0.71; …

Pharmacokinetics Of Moxidectin Combined With Albendazole Or Albendazole Plus Diethylcarbamazine For Bancroftian Filariasis, Yashpal S. Chhonker, Catherine Bjerum, Veenu Bala, Allassane F. Ouattara, Benjamin G. Koudou, Toki P. Gabo, Abdullah Alshehri, Abdoulaye Meïté, Peter U. Fischer, Gary J. Weil, Christopher L. King, Philip J. Budge, Daryl J. Murry

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Moxidectin (MOX) is a milbemycin endectocide recently approved by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of onchocerciasis in persons at least 12 years of age. MOX has been shown to have a good safety profile in recent clinical trials. The efficacy of MOX for the treatment of lymphatic filariasis (LF) and its potential use in mass drug administration protocols for the elimination of LF is currently under evaluation. In the context of a clinical trial, we investigated the pharmacokinetics and drug interactions of a combination of MOX plus albendazole (ALB) with or without diethylcarbamazine (DEC) compared to ivermectin (IVM) plus …

Csf Mtbr-Tau243 Is A Specific Biomarker Of Tau Tangle Pathology In Alzheimer's Disease, Kanta Horie, Nicolas R Barthélemy, Yan Li, Yingxin He, Benjamin Saef, Charles D Chen, Hong Jiang, Chihiro Sato, Brian A Gordon, Tammie L S Benzinger, David M Holtzman, John C Morris, Suzanne E Schindler, Randall J Bateman, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Aggregated insoluble tau is one of two defining features of Alzheimer's disease. Because clinical symptoms are strongly correlated with tau aggregates, drug development and clinical diagnosis need cost-effective and accessible specific fluid biomarkers of tau aggregates; however, recent studies suggest that the fluid biomarkers currently available cannot specifically track tau aggregates. We show that the microtubule-binding region (MTBR) of tau containing the residue 243 (MTBR-tau243) is a new cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker specific for insoluble tau aggregates and compared it to multiple other phosphorylated tau measures (p-tau181, p-tau205, p-tau217 and p-tau231) in two independent cohorts (BioFINDER-2, n = 448; and …

Spatial Epidemiologic Analysis And Risk Factors For Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Infections, Missouri, Usa, 2008-2019, Carlos Mejia-Chew, Miguel A Chavez, Min Lian, Angela Mckee, Leighton Garrett, Thomas C Bailey, Andrej Spec, Mansi Agarwal, George Turabelidze

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections are caused by environmental exposure. We describe spatial distribution of NTM infections and associations with sociodemographic factors and flooding in Missouri, USA. Our retrospective analysis of mycobacterial cultures reported to the Missouri Department of Health and Social Services surveillance system during January 1, 2008-December 31, 2019, detected geographic clusters of infection. Multilevel Poisson regression quantified small-area geographic variations and identified characteristics associated with risk for infection. Median county-level NTM infection rate was 66.33 (interquartile range 51-91)/100,000 persons. Risk of clustering was significantly higher in rural areas (rate ratio 2.82, 95% CI 1.90-4.19) and in counties with …

Management Of Acetaminophen Poisoning In The Us And Canada: A Consensus Statement, Richard C Dart, Michael E Mullins, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: The US and Canada currently have no formal published nationwide guidelines for specialists in poison information or emergency departments for the management of acetaminophen poisoning, resulting in significant variability in management.

OBJECTIVE: To develop consensus guidelines for the management of acetaminophen poisoning in the US and Canada.

EVIDENCE REVIEW: Four clinical toxicology societies (America's Poison Centers, American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, American College of Medical Toxicology, and Canadian Association of Poison Control Centers) selected participants (n = 21). Led by a nonvoting chairperson using a modified Delphi method, the panel created a decision framework and determined the appropriate clinical …

Anesthesia Clinical Workload Estimated From Electronic Health Record Documentation Vs Billed Relative Value Units, Sunny S Lou, Laura R Baratta, Daphne Lew, Derek Harford, Michael S Avidan, Thomas Kannampallil

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Accurate measurements of clinical workload are needed to inform health care policy. Existing methods for measuring clinical workload rely on surveys or time-motion studies, which are labor-intensive to collect and subject to biases.

OBJECTIVE: To compare anesthesia clinical workload estimated from electronic health record (EHR) audit log data vs billed relative value units.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study of anesthetic encounters occurring between August 26, 2019, and February 9, 2020, used data from 8 academic hospitals, community hospitals, and surgical centers across Missouri and Illinois. Clinicians who provided anesthetic services for at least 1 surgical encounter were …

Engaging Adolescents In Using Online Patient Portals, Bryan A Sisk, Alison L Antes, Christine Bereitschaft, Madi Enloe, Sunny Lin, Meghana Srinivas, Fabienne Bourgeois, James M Dubois

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Many health care systems offer adolescents access to health information through online patient portals, but few studies have explored how to engage adolescents in using and benefiting from online portals.

OBJECTIVE: To determine how US children's hospitals have attempted to encourage adolescent portal use, barriers to engaging adolescents, and ideal future goals for engagement.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This qualitative study performed structured qualitative interviews with informatics administrators from children's hospitals across the US between February and July 2022. Informatics administrators were employed by US health care systems that managed a children's hospital with at least 50 dedicated pediatrics …

Effect Of Fecal Microbiota, Live-Jslm (Rebyota [Rbl]) On Health-Related Quality Of Life In Patients With Recurrent Clostridioides Difficile Infection: Results From The Punch Cd3 Clinical Trial, Kevin W Garey, Erik R Dubberke, Amy Guo, Adam Harvey, Min Yang, Viviana García-Horton, Mirko Fillbrunn, Hongjue Wang, Glenn S Tillotson, Lindy L Bancke, Paul Feuerstadt

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Recurrence of

METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study (PUNCH CD3). The disease-specific

RESULTS: Findings were analyzed in a total of 185 patients (RBL, n = 128 [69.2%]; placebo, n = 57 [30.8%]) with available Cdiff32 data. Patients from both arms showed significant improvements in Cdiff32 scores relative to baseline across all outcomes and at all time points (all

CONCLUSIONS: In a phase 3 double-blinded clinical trial, RBL-treated patients reported more substantial and sustained disease-specific HRQL improvements than placebo-treated patients.

CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03244644 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03244644).

Alcohol Consumption Among Adults With A Cancer Diagnosis In The All Of Us Research Program, Mengyao Shi, Chongliang Luo, Oluseye K Oduyale, Xiaoyu Zong, Noelle K Loconte, Yin Cao

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Alcohol consumption is associated with adverse oncologic and treatment outcomes among individuals with a diagnosis of cancer. As a key modifiable behavioral factor, alcohol consumption patterns among cancer survivors, especially during treatment, remain underexplored in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To comprehensively characterize alcohol consumption patterns among US cancer survivors.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study used data from May 6, 2018, to January 1, 2022, from the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program, a diverse US cohort with electronic health record (EHR) linkage, and included 15 199 participants who reported a cancer diagnosis and 1839 …

The Flipped Classroom Approach In A Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship Curriculum, Rachel Moquin, Megan Dewey, Ashley Weinhold, Ottavia Green, Anna Rebecca Young

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Background The flipped classroom approach is well documented to enhance medical education outcomes. Additionally, both the need for online learning materials and the increased demand for medical professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic has made this approach more relevant. The pediatric anesthesiology fellowship curriculum at one institution transitioned from a traditional classroom model to a flipped classroom approach to optimize the educational experience and support learner well-being. Approach Utilizing the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) content outlines, a novel, comprehensive curriculum was developed focusing on core clinical material and board review with the …

Delayed-Onset Angioedema Following A Snakebite In A Patient On Ace Inhibitors: A Case Report, Christopher Scott Sampson, Evan Schwarz

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) are a common class of medications prescribed to patients for hypertension. Anti-hypertensive use is not normally considered an important factor when treating patients with crotalid envenomations; however, in combination with the venom in this patient, it may have resulted in angioedema.

CASE REPORT: A 65-year-old male on ACEI presented to his community emergency department following a snake envenomation to his thumb. Six vials of Crotalidae polyvalent immune fab were administered, and he was transferred to a referral center. Approximately 18 hours after the envenomation, the patient complained of tongue swelling and difficulty speaking. There …

Symbiotic Bacteria, Immune-Like Sentinel Cells, And The Response To Pathogens In A Social Amoeba, Trey J. Scott, Tyler J. Larsen, Debra A. Brock, So Yeon Stacey Uhm, David C. Queller, Joan E. Strassmann

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Some endosymbionts living within a host must modulate their hosts' immune systems in order to infect and persist. We studied the effect of a bacterial endosymbiont on a facultatively multicellular social amoeba host. Aggregates of the amoeba

Mapping Cortical Activations Underlying Covert And Overt Language Production Using High-Density Diffuse Optical Tomography, Mariel L Schroeder, Arefeh Sherafati, Rachel L Ulbrich, Muriah D Wheelock, Alexandra M Svoboda, Emma D Klein, Tessa G George, Kalyan Tripathy, Joseph P Culver, Adam T Eggebrecht

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Gold standard neuroimaging modalities such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and more recently electrocorticography (ECoG) have provided profound insights regarding the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of language, but they are limited in applications involving naturalistic language production especially in developing brains, during face-to-face dialogues, or as a brain-computer interface. High-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) provides high-fidelity mapping of human brain function with comparable spatial resolution to that of fMRI but in a silent and open scanning environment similar to real-life social scenarios. Therefore, HD-DOT has potential to be used in naturalistic settings where other …

Gel Stent Versus Trabeculectomy: The Randomized, Multicenter, Gold-Standard Pathway Study (Gps) Of Effectiveness And Safety At 12 Months, Arsham Sheybani, Vanessa Vera, Davinder S Grover, Steven D Vold, Frank Cotter, Sahar Bedrood, Gagan Sawhney, Scott D Piette, Susan Simonyi, Xuemin Gu, Mini Balaram, Mark J Gallardo

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: To compare effectiveness and safety of the gel stent to trabeculectomy in open-angle glaucoma (OAG).

DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, multicenter, noninferiority study.

METHODS: Patients with OAG and intraocular pressure (IOP) 15 to 44 mm Hg on topical IOP-lowering medication were randomized 2:1 to gel stent implantation or trabeculectomy. Primary end point (surgical success): percentage of patients at month 12 achieving ≥20% IOP reduction from baseline without medication increase, clinical hypotony, vision loss to counting fingers, or secondary surgical intervention (SSI) in a noninferiority test with 24% margins. Secondary end points (month 12) included mean IOP and medication count, postoperative intervention …

Long-Term Endothelial Safety Profile With Istent Inject In Patients With Open-Angle Glaucoma, Iqbal Ike K Ahmed, Arsham Sheybani, Ticiana De Francesco, Jonathan H Lass, Beth Ann Benetz, Thomas W Samuelson, Dale Usner, L Jay Katz

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: To report 5-year postoperative safety data of iStent inject, including overall stability, endothelial cell density (ECD), and endothelial cell loss (ECL) in patients with mild-to-moderate primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

DESIGN: 5-year follow-up safety study of the prospective, randomized, single-masked, concurrently controlled, multicenter iStent inject pivotal trial.

METHODS: In this 5-year follow-up safety study of the 2-year iStent inject pivotal randomized controlled trial, patients receiving iStent inject placement and phacoemulsification or phacoemulsification alone were studied for the incidence of clinically relevant complications associated with iStent inject placement and stability. Corneal endothelial endpoints were mean change in ECD from screening and …

The Dusp Domain Of Pseudophosphatase Mk-Styx Interacts With G3bp1 To Decrease Stress Granules, Jonathan Smailys, Fei Jiang, Tatiana Prioleau, Kylan Kelley, Olivia Mitchell, Samah Nour, Lina Ali, William Buchser, Lynn Zavada, Shantá D Hinton

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Mitogen activated protein kinase phosphoserine/threonine/tyrosine-binding protein (MK-STYX) is a dual specificity (DUSP) member of the protein tyrosine phosphatase family. It is a pseudophosphatase, which lacks the essential amino acids histidine and cysteine in the catalytic active signature motif (HCX

Androgen Deprivation And Radiotherapy With Or Without Docetaxel For Localized High-Risk Prostate Cancer: Long-Term Follow-Up From The Randomized Nrg Oncology Rtog 0521 Trial, Oliver Sartor, Jeff M Michalski, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Intensification of therapy may improve outcomes for patients with high-risk localized prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To provide long-term follow-up data from phase III RTOG 0521, which compared a combination of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) + external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) + docetaxel with ADT + EBRT.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: High-risk localized prostate cancer patients (>50% of patients had Gleason 9-10 disease) were prospectively randomized to 2 yr of ADT + EBRT or ADT + EBRT + six cycles of docetaxel. A total of 612 patients were accrued, and 563 were eligible and included in the modified intent-to-treat analysis. …

Framework For Quality Assurance Of Ultrahigh Dose Rate Clinical Trials Investigating Flash Effects And Current Technology Gaps, Wei Zou, Tianyu Zhao, Walter R Bosch, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

FLASH radiation therapy (FLASH-RT), delivered with ultrahigh dose rate (UHDR), may allow patients to be treated with less normal tissue toxicity for a given tumor dose compared with currently used conventional dose rate. Clinical trials are being carried out and are needed to test whether this improved therapeutic ratio can be achieved clinically. During the clinical trials, quality assurance and credentialing of equipment and participating sites, particularly pertaining to UHDR-specific aspects, will be crucial for the validity of the outcomes of such trials. This report represents an initial framework proposed by the NRG Oncology Center for Innovation in Radiation Oncology …

Impact Of Prior Therapies And Subsequent Transplantation On Outcomes In Adult Patients With Relapsed Or Refractory B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treated With Brexucabtagene Autoleucel In Zuma-3, Bijal D Shah, Armin Ghobadi, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Brexucabtagene autoleucel (brexu-cel) is an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy approved in the USA for adults with relapsed or refractory (R/R) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and in the European Union for patients ≥26 years with R/R B-ALL. After 2 years of follow-up in ZUMA-3, the overall complete remission (CR) rate (CR+CR with incomplete hematological recovery (CRi)) was 73%, and the median overall survival (OS) was 25.4 months in 78 Phase 1 and 2 patients with R/R B-ALL who received the pivotal dose of brexu-cel. Outcomes by prior therapies and subsequent allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) …

The Covid-19 Pandemic And Associated Inequities In Acute Myocardial Infarction Treatment And Outcomes, Laurent G Glance, Karen E Joynt Maddox, Jingjing Shang, Patricia W Stone, Stewart J Lustik, Peter W Knight, Andrew W Dick

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted usual care for emergent conditions, such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Understanding whether Black and Hispanic individuals experiencing AMI had greater increases in poor outcomes compared with White individuals during the pandemic has important equity implications.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased disparities in treatment and outcomes among Medicare patients hospitalized with AMI.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study used Medicare data for patients hospitalized with AMI between January 2016 and November 2020. Patients were categorized as Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White. The association between race and ethnicity …

Sars-Cov-2 Uses Cd4 To Infect T Helper Lymphocytes, Natalia S Brunetti, Louis-Marie Bloyet, Spencer Stumpf, Marjorie C Pontelli, Sean Whelan, Alessandro S Farias, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the agent of a major global outbreak of respiratory tract disease known as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 infects mainly lungs and may cause several immune-related complications, such as lymphocytopenia and cytokine storm, which are associated with the severity of the disease and predict mortality. The mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 infection may result in immune system dysfunction is still not fully understood. Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 infects human CD4

Mettl1 Promotes Tumorigenesis Through Trna-Derived Fragment Biogenesis In Prostate Cancer, Raquel García-Vílchez, Sabine Dietmann, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Newly growing evidence highlights the essential role that epitranscriptomic marks play in the development of many cancers; however, little is known about the role and implications of altered epitranscriptome deposition in prostate cancer. Here, we show that the transfer RNA N

Using The Sociotechnical Model To Conduct A Focused Usability Assessment Of A Breast Reconstruction Decision Tool, Randi Foraker, Crystal Phommasathit, Kaleigh Clevenger, Clara Lee, Jessica Boateng, Napiera Shareef, Mary C Politi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: BREASTChoice is a web-based breast reconstruction decision aid. The previous clinical trial-prior to the adaptation of this refined tool in which we explored usability-measured decision quality, quality of life, patient activation, shared decision making, and treatment choice. The current usability study was designed to elicit patients' and clinicians' perspectives on barriers and facilitators for implementing BREASTChoice into the clinical workflow.

METHODS: We conducted qualitative interviews with patients and clinicians from two Midwestern medical specialty centers from August 2020 to April 2021. Interviews were first double coded until coders achieved a kappa > 0.8 and percent agreement > 95%, then were coded …

Subunit Gating Resulting From Individual Protonation Events In Kir2 Channels, Grigory Maksaev, Michael Bründl-Jirout, Anna Stary-Weinzinger, Eva-Maria Zangerl-Plessl, Sun-Joo Lee, Colin G Nichols

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels open at the 'helix bundle crossing' (HBC), formed by the M2 helices at the cytoplasmic end of the transmembrane pore. Introduced negative charges at the HBC (G178D) in Kir2.2 channels forces opening, allowing pore wetting and free movement of permeant ions between the cytoplasm and the inner cavity. Single-channel recordings reveal striking, pH-dependent, subconductance behaviors in G178D (or G178E and equivalent Kir2.1[G177E]) mutant channels, with well-resolved non-cooperative subconductance levels. Decreasing cytoplasmic pH shifts the probability towards lower conductance levels. Molecular dynamics simulations show how protonation of Kir2.2[G178D], or the D173 pore-lining residues, changes solvation, K