Digital Commons Network^™

Bridging Hypoxia And Vision Loss: The Emerging Role Of Connexins In Local And Systemic Eye Diseases, Xianping Zhang, Yalong Cheng, Jean X Jiang, Yuting Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hypoxic eye diseases represent a pivotal yet often underappreciated contributor to the onset and progression of many retinal disorders. When hypoxia persists or exceeds the tissue's compensatory capacity, it triggers pathological retinal neovascularization, blood-retinal barrier disruption, and neuronal apoptosis, ultimately resulting in irreversible visual impairment. Connexins (Cxs) form gap junction channels and hemichannels and regulate retinal cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival, thereby playing a central regulatory role in the pathogenesis of hypoxic ocular diseases. In addition to gap junctions, Cx hemichannels promote transmission of molecules between intra- and extracellular environments, further influencing retinal homeostasis under hypoxic stress. This review synthesizes …

Retention On Buprenorphine For Opioid Use Disorder In Justice-Involved Individuals: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Andrea Yatsco, Francine R Vega, Audrey Sarah Cohen, Marylou Cardenas-Turanzas, James R Langabeer, Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Criminal justice system (CJS) involvement is common among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), yet limited research examines retention in medications for OUD (MOUD) within community settings. This study assessed whether CJS involvement predicted retention on buprenorphine/naloxone and explored related demographic and clinical factors. A retrospective cohort included adults (n = 367) enrolled in a low-barrier outpatient MOUD program in Texas (January 2022–April 2024). CJS involvement was identified from program records. Retention was measured as the number of continuous days with buprenorphine/naloxone prescriptions. Analyses used univariate tests, logistic regression, and nonparametric kernel regression. Nearly one-quarter (24.8%) were CJS-involved. Retention at …

Understanding The Compatibility Of Fluoride-Based Radiopharmaceutical Reaction Solutions And Pdms, Mark Mc Veigh, Charles Frech, Mai Lin, Robert Ta, H Charles Manning, Leon M Bellan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Microfluidic devices offer unique and exciting benefits when applied to radiopharmaceutical manufacturing, and these platforms are now starting to be integrated into commercial products. The field has strayed away from the use of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the most common microfluidic device material, due to its suspected incompatibility with 18F, the most commonly used radionuclide. However, existing literature provides conflicting conclusions as to the existence and extent of this incompatibility. In this study, we use several analytical instruments to uncover the underlying interaction between fluoride and PDMS. SEM imaging and profilometry confirm the reactive relationship between the two materials and suggest that …

Autograft Enlargement After The Ross Procedure In Pediatric Patients: Somatic Growth Or Pathologic Dilatation?, Ioannis Zoupas, Alexander C Mills, Scott D Olson, Damien J Lapar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose of ReviewPulmonary autograft autotransplantation represents a popular surgical approach for pediatric patients requiring aortic valve replacement due to the potential for autograft enlargement to accommodate somatic growth. Nevertheless, autograft dilatation and the subsequent need for reintervention are quite common. Published data suggest that autograft enlargement may result from pathological passive remodeling rather than active somatic growth and vice versa. The present review serves to comprehensively evaluate available evidence related to the fate of the pulmonary autograft after the Ross procedure as it relates to the etiology, risk factors and patterns of autograft failure.ResultsStudies present conflicting results supporting both pathological …

Diet-Responsive Genetic Determinants Of Intestinal Colonization In The Yeast Candida Albicans, Musfirat Shubaita, Mazen Oneissi, Elena Lindemann-Pérez, Cecilia Fadhel Alvarez, Anne-Marie Krachler, Diana M Proctor, J Christian Pérez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Dietary components influence microbial composition in the digestive tract. Although often viewed as energy sources, dietary components are likely to shape microbial determinants of intestinal colonization beyond metabolism. Here, we report that a dietary long-chain fatty acid enhances the yeast Candida albicans colonization of the murine gut partly by eliciting modifications to the fungal cell surface. Mice fed an oleic acid-rich diet were readily colonized by C. albicans and exhibited higher fungal load in feces compared with rodents fed an isocaloric control diet. Surprisingly, β-oxidation, a catabolic process to break down fatty acids for energy production, was dispensable for C. …

Genomics Reveal Staphylococcus Aureus Persists During Long-Term Urinary Catheterization Despite Antimicrobial Therapy And Catheter Exchanges, Jesus M Duran Ramirez, Chelsie E Armbruster, Blake M Hanson, Jennifer N Walker

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Urinary catheters, the most frequently placed medical devices in the US, increase the risk of developing symptomatic catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) - the presence of bacteria in the urine - with those requiring long-term urinary catheters (LTUCs) at highest risk. While ASB and CAUTI are caused by a broad range of uropathogens, most remain understudied. We use whole-genome sequencing to investigate the understudied uropathogen, Staphylococcus aureus. Analysis of 153 longitudinal S. aureus isolates previously collected from urinary catheter or urine samples from 20 individuals with LTUCs (average of 8 longitudinal isolates/person) demonstrates that most strains …

Genome-Wide Gene By Sleepiness Interaction Analysis For Sleep Apnea, Pavithra Nagarajan, Nuzulul Kurniansyah, Jiwon Lee, Sina A Gharib, Yushan Xu, Yiyan Zhang, Brian Spitzer, Tariq Faquih, Hufeng Zhou, Eric Boerwinkle, Han Chen, Daniel J Gottlieb, Xiuqing Guo, Nancy L Heard-Costa, Bertha A Hidalgo, Daniel Levy, Peter Y Liu, Hao Mei, Rebecca Montalvan, Sutapa Mukherjee, Kari E North, George T O'Connor, Lyle J Palmer, Sanjay R Patel, Bruce M Psaty, Shaun M Purcell, Laura M Raffield, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Richa Saxena, Albert V Smith, Katie L Stone, Xiaofeng Zhu, Topmed Sleep Trait Working Group, Brian E Cade, Tamar Sofer, Susan Redline, Heming Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Study objectives: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), influenced by environmental and social-behavioral factors, is reported by a subset of patients with sleep apnea-a group that may be at elevated cardiovascular risk. However, it is unclear whether sleep apnea with and without EDS have distinct genetic underpinnings. In this study, we perform gene-by-EDS interaction analyses for apnea hypopnea index, a diagnostic marker of sleep apnea severity, to understand EDS's influence on its underlying genetic risk.

Methods: Discovery interaction analyses for common variants and gene-based rare variants were conducted respectively using multi-ethnic Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (N = 11 619) data, followed by …

Spatial Omics At The Forefront: Emerging Technologies, Analytical Innovations, And Clinical Applications, Yunhe Liu, Yibo Dai, Linghua Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Spatial omics transforms our understanding of cancer by revealing how tumor cells and the microenvironment are organized, interact, and evolve within tissues. Here, we synthesize advances in spatial technologies that map tumor ecosystems with unprecedented fidelity. We highlighted analytical breakthroughs-including multimodal integration and emerging spatial foundation models-that resolve functional niches and spatial communities, converting spatial patterns into mechanistic insights. We summarize how spatially organized features, from immune hubs to microbiota and neural interfaces, shape tumor evolution and clinical outcomes. We then outline how spatial approaches illuminate precancer biology, metastatic adaptation, and therapy response. Bridging discovery and translation, we provide a …

Identification Of Cadm1 As An Immunotherapeutic Target And Evaluation Of A Novel Cadm1-Targeting Antibody-Drug Conjugate In Preclinical Osteosarcoma Models, Yifei Wang, Zhongting Zhang, Caterina Longo, Wendong Zhang, Qi Wang, Amer Najjar, Xiangjun Tian, Rossana N Lazcano Segura, Michael E Roth, Jonathan Gill, Douglas J Harrison, Zhaohui Xu, Yanhua Yi, Xin Zhou, Sylvester Jusu, Timothy M Stearns, Steven B Neuhauser, Carol J Bult, Jing Wang, Alexander J Lazar, Richard Gorlick

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Due to the paucity of validated cell surface osteosarcoma-specific targets, patients with this condition have long been excluded from the benefits of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapy observed in patients with several solid and hematologic malignancies. Our comprehensive surfaceome profiling approach previously identified osteosarcoma-specific cell-surface antigens that are highly expressed in osteosarcomas but minimally expressed in normal tissues. As a result, one such antigen, CADM1, was selected for the generation of an ADC. We tested a CADM1-targeting ADC with a tesirine payload (SG3249) in vitro in osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and neuroblastoma patient-derived xenograft cell lines. In vivo, we tested six CADM1-expressing osteosarcoma …

An Integrated Single-Cell And Spatial Transcriptomic Atlas Of Thyroid Cancer Progression Identifies Prognostic Fibroblast Subpopulations, Matthew A Loberg, George J Xu, Sheau-Chiann Chen, Hua-Chang Chen, Claudia C Wahoski, Kailey P Caroland, Megan L Tigue, Heather A Hartmann, Jean-Nicolas Gallant, Courtney J Phifer, Andres A Ocampo, Dayle K Wang, Reilly G Fankhauser, Kirti A Karunakaran, Chia-Chin Wu, Maxime Tarabichi, Sophia M Shaddy, James L Netterville, Sarah L Rohde, Carmen C Solórzano, Lindsay A Bischoff, Naira Baregamian, Barbara A Murphy, Jennifer H Choe, Jennifer R Wang, Eric C Huang, Quanhu Sheng, Luciane T Kagohara, Elizabeth M Jaffee, Ryan H Belcher, Ken S Lau, Fei Ye, Ethan Lee, Vivian L Weiss

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (WDTC) is characterized by a robust treatment response, aggressive subtypes, such as anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), remain highly lethal. To understand thyroid cancer evolution in both children and adults, we analyzed single-cell transcriptomes of 423,733 cells from 81 samples and spatially resolved key tumor and microenvironment populations across 28 tumors with spatial transcriptomics, including rare and unique composite WDTC/ATC tumors and pediatric diffuse sclerosing thyroid carcinomas. Additionally, we identified gene signatures of stromal cell populations in 5 large thyroid cancer bulk RNA-sequencing cohorts. Through this multi-institutional effort, we defined a population of POSTN+ myofibroblast cancer-associated fibroblasts …

Comparison Of Surgery And Medicine On The Impact Of Diverticulitis (Cosmid) Trial: A Protocol For A Pragmatic Randomised Study Of Diverticulitis Treatment In The Usa, Mariam N Hantouli, Robert H Schmicker, Janice E Tufte, Fadwa G Ali, Robert D Bennett, Jessica N Cohan, Bryan A Comstock, Thomas Curran, Giana H Davidson, Samuel Eisenstein, Katherine N Fischkoff, Fergal J Fleming, Irena Gribovskaja-Rupp, Mehraneh Dorna Jafari, Larry G Kessler, Mukta K Krane, Sarah O Lawrence, James T Mccormick, Stefanos G Millas, Arden M Morris, Kelsey M Pullar, Caroline E Reinke, Julia T Saraidaridis, Vlad V Simianu, Suzanne P Watkins, Nicole B White, Elizabeth C Wick, Nicole Wieghard, David R Flum, Thomas E Read

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Each year, millions of people experience recurrent diverticulitis episodes. Elective sigmoid colon resection reduces the risk of recurrence, but The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons recommends individualising surgical decisions based on the impact of the condition on a patient's quality of life (QoL). However, no threshold for QoL impairment has been established to guide decision-making, and evidence comparing elective colectomy with medical management in terms of QoL limitation is limited. To address these gaps and to guide treatment decision-making, we designed the Comparison of Surgery and Medicine on the Impact of Diverticulitis (COSMID) trial.The COSMID trial is …

Characterization Of Inflammatory Pseudotumors In A Large Animal Model Of Liver Cancer, Erik N K Cressman, Samantha Hicks, Natalie W Fowlkes, Danielle L Stolley, Maria Sophia Stenkamp

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The development of relevant and robust large animal models of hepatocellular carcinoma is needed to test new therapeutic strategies for this disease. Transgenic approaches hold promise in addressing this complex problem. One such model, the Oncopig, has been reported to develop tumors of up to 4 cm in diameter within 7-14 days at sites of in situ vector inoculation. However, the resulting lesions reportedly contained an extensive inflammatory component that has not been evaluated in detail.

Methods: Herein, we describe our results from multiparametric characterization of the lesions generated using liver biopsy cores incubated in vector solution and replaced …

3d Reconstruction Of Spatial Transcriptomics With Spatial Pattern Enhanced Graph Convolutional Neural Network, Chen Tang, Yuansheng Zhou, Xue Xiao, Lei Dong, Lei Yu, Qiwei Li, Guanghua Xiao, Lin Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Spatially resolved transcriptomics (SRT) is a promising new technology that enables simultaneous analysis of gene expression and spatial information for biomedical research. However, the existing statistical and deep learning algorithms used for analyzing SRT data rely solely on two-dimensional (2D) spatial coordinates, which limits their ability to accurately identify spatial domains, spatially variable genes (SVGs), cell-to-cell communications, and developmental trajectories in a three-dimensional (3D) spatial manner. To address these limitations, we introduced Spa3D, which utilized the anti-leakage Fourier transform and graph convolutional neural network model to reconstruct 3D-based spatial structures from multiple 2D SRT slices. We demonstrate that Spa3D is …

Defective Dna Damage Response Is A Targetable Therapeutic Vulnerability In Esr1 Mutant Breast Cancer, Sarah K Herzog, Jessica H Stevens, Guowei Gu, Sandra L Grimm, Kloma Cardoza, Autumn G M Hawkins, Hangqing Lin, Daniela Ramos, Amanda R Beyer, David G Edwards, Derek Dustin, Harry J Yang, Nicole Liang, Ashfia F Khan, Tasneem Bawa-Khalfe, Daniel J Mcgrail, Shiaw-Yih Lin, Cristian Coarfa, Suzanne A W Fuqua

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

ESR1 mutations are the leading cause of endocrine therapy resistance and progression in ER-positive metastatic breast cancer. ESR1 mutations are detected in ~50% of metastatic breast cancer patients, and identification of effective targeted therapeutics are critically needed. Here, we identified enrichment of dysregulated replication stress and DNA damage responses in multiple ESR1 mutant models. Targeting the replication stress response utilizing checkpoint inhibition in combination with PARP inhibition synergistically suppressed growth, induced cell cycle arrest, and attenuated DNA replication. PARP inhibition blocked metastatic dissemination in vivo and reduced both PARP1 and ER-regulated protein expression. PARP trapping by olaparib treatment with or …

Modality-Agnostic, Patient-Specific Digital Twins Modeling Temporally Varying Digestive Motion, Jorge Tapias Gomez, Nishant Nadkarni, Lando S Bosma, Jue Jiang, Ergys D Subashi, William P Segars, James M Balter, Mert R Sabuncu, Neelam Tyagi, Harini Veeraraghavan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Correction: Sadagopan Et Al Reduced Computed Tomography Scan Speed Improves Alignment Errors For Patients Undergoing Thoracic Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, Ramaswamy Sadagopan, Rachael M Martin-Paulpeter, Christopher R Peeler, Xiaochun Wang, Paige Nitsch, Julianne M Pollard-Larkin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In the original publication [...].

Celltra: Aligning Cell Names With Gene Expression Via A Pathway-Informed Transformer, Zhao Li, Zaiyi Zheng, Rongbin Li, Wenbo Chen, Yuntao Yang, Meer A Ali, Jundong Li, W Jim Zheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Motivation: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) technology enables detailed exploration of gene expression at the individual cell level, crucial for annotating cell types and understanding cellular diversity. Traditional methods for cell type annotation often rely on marker genes and manual labeling, posing challenges due to low data quality and incomplete reference datasets.

Results: We developed CeLLTra, a novel contrastive learning framework that leverages a Transformer-based model integrating biological pathway information to group genes into super tokens, effectively capturing comprehensive gene expression from scRNA-Seq data. By combining this pathway-informed Transformer with a pretrained domain-specific language model, CeLLTra accurately aligns cell-type annotations with …

Circadian-Shaped Immune Variability Predicts Infection Outcome, Jonathan Lalsiamthara, Mariko Locke, Alejandro Aballay

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Disease risk and severity are influenced by genetics, epigenetics, and environmental factors. However, immune responses vary even among genetically similar or related individuals, shaped by inherited and noninherited factors. Using Caenorhabditis elegans, we found that pathogen susceptibility can be predicted by preinfection biomarkers. Individuals with high-basal expression of irg-5, an infection response gene regulated by the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase-1 (PMK-1) pathway, were more susceptible to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. A genome-wide screen identified the myeloid ecotropic viral integration site-1 (MEIS) homeobox protein UNC-62 as a regulator of irg-5 expression, acting through PMK-1 and GATA binding erythroid-like transcription factor …

Cone Beam Computed Tomography For Endodontics: Incidental Findings And Respective Significance, Erin J Key, Nina K Anderson, Dan Colosi, Mina Mahdian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence, distribution, and follow-up recommendations of incidental findings in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans acquired for endodontic treatment.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of limited field-of-view (FOV) CBCT images for endodontic evaluation obtained at the Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine between 2018 and 2022. All scans were reviewed by 1 oral and maxillofacial radiology (OMR) resident and all incidental findings were corroborated with the radiology report approved by 1 of 2 board-certified OMRs. Data extracted for each case included age, gender, and reason for scan; and …

Assessing The Impact Of The 2021 Vwd Guidelines On The Diagnosis/Management Of Low Vwf Patients, Michael Dong, Joanna Larson, Sepideh Saroukhani, Miguel Escobar, Lakshmi Srivaths

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The 2021 ASH/ISTH/NHF/WFH VWD diagnosis guidelines recommend Type 1 VWD diagnoses for patients with (a) VWF < 0.30 IU/mL or (b) 'Low VWF' 0.30-0.50 IU/mL with the presence of abnormal bleeding. This recommendation recategorizes 'Low VWF' patients with abnormal bleeding into Type 1 VWD.

Aim: To assess the impact of the 2021 VWD guidelines on the diagnosis and management of 'Low VWF' patients.

Methods: A single centre retrospective study was conducted to review all patients presenting for VWD evaluation between January 2000 to September 2024, analyzing for clinical features, ISTH-BAT scores, VWF/FVIII levels, and management of bleeding. 149 patients, totalling 305 clinical encounters, were included in the study.

Results: Seventy five percent of patient encounters had a change in diagnosis from 'Low VWF' to Type 1 VWD …

Evaluation Of Interventions For Cognitive Symptoms In Long Covid: A Randomized Clinical Trial, David S Knopman, Deborah Koltai, Daniel T Laskowitz, Jacqueline Becker, Leigh Charvet, Juan Wisnivesky, Alex Federman, Adam Silverstein, Yuliya Lokhnygina, Giuseppina Pilloni, Michelle Haddad, Henry Mahncke, Tom Van Vleet, Rong Huang, Wendy Cox, Diana Terry, Jeannie Karwowski, Netia Mccray, Jenny J Lin, Grace A Mccomsey, Upinder Singh, Linda N Geng, Helen Y Chu, Rebecca Reece, James Moy, Zoe Arvanitakis, Sairam Parthasarathy, Thomas F Patterson, Aditi Gupta, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Jeffrey Parsonnet, Elaine T Kiriakopoulos, Tamara G Fong, Janet Mullington, Sarah Jolley, Nirav S Shah, Sarah Shizuko Morimoto, Joyce K Lee-Iannotti, William D S Killgore, Brigid Dwyer, William Stringer, Carmen Isache, Jennifer A Frontera, Jerry A Krishnan, Ashley O'Steen, Melissa James, Barrie L Harper, Kanecia O Zimmerman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: Treatment for cognitive dysfunction due to postacute sequelae of long COVID (ie, symptoms of fatigue, malaise, weakness, confusion that persist beyond 12 weeks after an initial COVID infection) remains a significant unmet need.

Objective: To test evidence-based rehabilitation strategies for improving cognitive symptoms in persons with long COVID.

Design, setting, and participants: This was a 5-arm, multicenter, randomized clinical trial of 3 remotely delivered interventions conducted between August 17, 2023, and June 10, 2024. The study took place at 22 trial sites and included the screening of individuals with cognitive long COVID.

Interventions: Participants were randomized to 1 of …

Frame: Fast Reference-Based Ancestry Makeup Estimation Tool, Pramesh Shakya, Ardalan Naseri, Degui Zhi, Shaojie Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Motivation: The availability of large-scale genetic data presents a unique opportunity to study the genetic ancestries of individuals, which requires an efficient and scalable method. The existing global ancestry methods are accurate, but they cannot scale to large genetic datasets. Identity-by-descent (IBD) segments are DNA segments shared by individuals such that they are inherited from a common recent ancestor without recombination. These IBD segments, which reflect co-ancestry, provide an efficient alternative for inferring genetic ancestry.

Results: We introduced a reference-based global ancestry inference method called FRAME (Fast Reference-based Ancestry Makeup Estimation). FRAME utilizes partial local ancestry information estimated through IBD …

Multisite, Multiancestry Genome-Wide Association Study Meta-Analysis Of Functional Seizure Disorder In A Hospital Sample Of 675,680 Patients, Slavina B Goleva, Costin Leu, Yen-Chen Anne Feng, David Burstein, Sanan Venkatesh, Rebecca Birnbaum, Veera M Rajagopal, Peter Straub, Jakob Christensen, Jocelyn F Bautista, Robyn M Busch, Imad M Najm, Jakob Grove, Anders D Børglum, Georgios Voloudakis, Panos Roussos, Jordan Smoller, Dennis Lal, Lea K Davis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Functional seizures (FS) are paroxysmal episodes that phenotypically resemble epileptic seizures but are not associated with brain epileptiform discharges; they are also known as psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. The exact etiology and pathophysiology of FS is unknown; however, trauma and stress-related disorders are known risk factors.

Methods: We used a validated algorithm applied to electronic health records to identify individuals with FS in 6 international biobanks and hospital sites. We conducted a multisite FS genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis, including 10,910 FS cases (9040 predicted European ancestry [EA] and 1870 predicted African ancestry [AA]) and 664,500 (561,150 EA and 103,350 …

“If He Did It, I Can Do It, Too. I Can Change My Life Around”: The Social Model Of Recovery Within The Context Of Recovery Homes Accepting Residents Prescribed Medications For Opioid Use Disorder, Jodie M Dewey, Kathryn R Gallardo, Meenakshi S Subbaraman, Amy A Mericle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: This paper provides an in-depth examination of examines four recovery residences, that serve individuals prescribed medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). The study has two primary aims: first, to deepen understanding of how recovery residences adopt and operationalize Social Model of Recovery principles; and second, to identify gaps in staff integration of residents receiving MOUD-gaps that may either support or undermine the integrity of the social model within these settings.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 residents receiving MOUD living in four participating recovery homes. The interviews were conducted between August 2022 and January 2024 using a semi-structured …

Pregnancy And Breastfeeding Are Associated With Less Later-Life Cognitive Decline In A Longitudinal, Prospective Cohort, Molly M Fox, Jennifer E Bramen, Dayoon Kwon, Mark A Espeland, Yijia Sun, Li Zhang, Aladdin H Shadyab, Ramon Casanova, Joann E Manson, Marcus Y Chang, Verna R Porter, Leslie V Farland, Qian Xiao, Robert A Wild, Prabha Siddarth, Carolyn J Crandall

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The brains of female mammals evolved to undergo structural and functional changes during pregnancy and lactation, equipping them for motherhood. However, long-term cognitive health implications of these adaptations in women are poorly understood.

Methods: In the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Memory Study (WHIMS; n = 7427) and WHI Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA; n = 2304), postmenopausal women completed reproductive history interviews, annual global cognitive assessment from mean age 70 for up to 13 years, and multi-domain cognitive testing for up to 8 years.

Results: Each additional month pregnant was associated with higher scores of global cognition. Each additional …

Artificial Light At Night Extends Pollen Season And Elevates Allergen Exposure, Brandt Geist, Lin Meng, Daniel S W Katz, Huidong Li, Franz Hölker, Qian Xiao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Artificial light at night (ALAN), a growing environmental stressor in urban ecosystems, disrupts natural light-dark cycles and alters plant phenological events such as leaf-out and flowering. However, the extent to which ALAN influences airborne pollen season timing and exacerbates allergy-related health risks remains largely understudied. This study investigates how ALAN influences the timing and duration of the airborne pollen season across the Northeastern United States from 2012 to 2023 and the consequences of allergenic pollen exposure. Using daily pollen concentrations from the National Allergy Bureau, ALAN data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite product, and gridded Daymet climate data, …

Subgroup Identification Of Disparities In Buprenorphine Discontinuation In Opioid-Use Disorder: A Virtual Twins Machine Learning Approach Using Nationwide United States Claims Data, 2006–2022, Kehe Zhang, Paula A Jaimes-Buitron, Wanru Guo, Yanmin Gong, Yuanxiong Guo, Carolina Vivas Valencia, Cici Bauer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Buprenorphine retention is crucial for effective treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD), yet disparities in treatment discontinuation persist. This study aims to identify and quantify disparities in buprenorphine treatment retention using a machine learning framework adapted from Virtual Twins approach focusing on disparities related to sex, age, insurance type, geographic region, mental health status and community-level Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). Using a nationwide longitudinal cohort, we applied a two-stage machine learning approach. In Stage one, we trained classification models to estimate the counterfactual differences in treatment discontinuation across disparity types. Model performance was assessed using C-statistics and precision-recall curve. In …

Improving Overall Risk Ranking Via Subgroup-Level Information Borrowing In Survival Risk Stratification, Tia S Thomas, Jing Ning, Ruosha Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Effective risk stratification is essential for providing tailored therapies, improving patient outcomes, and optimizing healthcare resources by identifying sub-populations with similar health risks. However, accurate risk ranking is challenging in the presence of heterogeneous subgroups. Under these instances, subgroup-level information can be leveraged to refine the overall risk ranking. We propose a novel approach that integrates within-subgroup risk ranking percentiles to enhance the overall cohort risk stratification. This method uses both a global model and subgroup-specific models along with optimized weights to improve discriminatory performance across the entire cohort. The proposed method is validated through extensive simulations and applied to …

A Structured Review Of Emerging Prompt Instability Indices (Piis) To Evaluate The Reproducibility Of Prompt-Driven Image Segmentation Models., Adib Shafipour, Deevakar Rogith, Zulfiia Ditto, Hien V Tran, Katie Stinson, Toufeeq Ahmed Syed

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Prompt-aware image segmentation has introduced new flexibility by allowing models to incorporate user-provided cues, such as points, boxes, or text prompts, to guide object delineation across diverse imaging domains. This flexibility introduces a fundamental challenge: ensuring segmentation results remain reproducible when prompts are altered. Minor variations in prompts produce substantially different outputs, raising concerns about the reliability and scientific validity of research and clinical applications. This paper conducts a structured review of emerging Prompt Instability Indices (PIIs), quantitative measures developed to assess the reproducibility of prompt-driven segmentation models. A systematic search of PubMed and arXiv (2020-2025) identified relevant studies, analyzed …

“I Can’T Just Talk It. I Have To Live It”: The Roles, Needs, And Recruitment Of Recovery Home House Managers, I Niles Zoschke, Kathryn R Gallardo, Hannah L N Stewart, Serena A Rodriguez, Danielle Gillespie, Sheryl A Mccurdy, J Michael Wilkerson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Recovery homes are an increasingly important recovery support service for people with substance use disorders, yet limited research has examined the roles of house managers or how individuals are recruited into these positions. This study examines how house managers understand and enact their roles, how recovery home operators recruit for these positions, and how the demands and sustainability of the role are perceived in practice.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of interviews with 29 operators and staff working in 10 Level II and Level III recovery homes across five Texas cities.

Results: Findings indicate that house managers …