Digital Commons Network^™

Hippo-Yap Pathway Orchestrates Neural Crest Ontogenesis, Xiaolei Zhao, Tram P Le, Shannon Erhardt, Tina O Findley, Jun Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Neural crest (NC) cells are a migratory stem cell population in vertebrate embryogenesis that can give rise to multiple cell types, including osteoblasts, chondrocytes, smooth muscle cells, neurons, glia, and melanocytes, greatly contributing to the development of different tissues and organs. Defects in NC development are implicated in many human diseases, such as numerous syndromes, craniofacial aberration and congenital heart defects. Research on NC development has gained intense interest and made significant progress. Recent studies showed that the Hippo-Yap pathway, a conserved fundamental pathway with key roles in regulation of cell proliferation, survival, and differentiation, is indispensable for normal NC …

Cost Efficacy Of Rapid Whole Genome Sequencing In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Erica Sanford Kobayashi, Bryce Waldman, Branden M Engorn, Katherine Perofsky, Erika Allred, Benjamin Briggs, Chelsea Gatcliffe, Nanda Ramchandar, Jeffrey J Gold, Ami Doshi, Elizabeth G Ingulli, Courtney D Thornburg, Wendy Benson, Lauge Farnaes, Shimul Chowdhury, Seema Rego, Charlotte Hobbs, Stephen F Kingsmore, David P Dimmock, Nicole G Coufal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The diagnostic and clinical utility of rapid whole genome sequencing (rWGS) for critically ill children in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been substantiated by multiple studies, but comprehensive cost-effectiveness evaluation of rWGS in the ICU outside of the neonatal age group is lacking. In this study, we examined cost data retrospectively for a cohort of 38 children in a regional pediatric ICU (PICU) who received rWGS. We identified seven of 17 patients who received molecular diagnoses by rWGS and had resultant changes in clinical management with sufficient clarity to permit cost and quality adjusted life years (QALY) modeling. Cost …

Biomarkers In Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Leveraging Next Generation Sequencing Data For Optimal Therapeutic Strategies, Hanadi El Achi, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Next generation sequencing (NGS) is routinely used for mutation profiling of acute myeloid leukemia. The extensive application of NGS in hematologic malignancies, and its significant association with the outcomes in multiple large cohorts constituted a proof of concept that AML phenotype is driven by underlying mutational signature and is amenable for targeted therapies. These findings urged incorporation of molecular results into the latest World Health Organization (WHO) sub-classification and integration into risk-stratification and treatment guidelines by the European Leukemia Net. NGS mutation profiling provides a large amount of information that guides diagnosis and management, dependent on the type and number …

Effects Of Image Quantity And Image Source Variation On Machine Learning Histology Differential Diagnosis Models, Elham Vali-Betts, Kevin J Krause, Alanna Dubrovsky, Kristin Olson, John Paul Graff, Anupam Mitra, Ananya Datta-Mitra, Kenneth Beck, Aristotelis Tsirigos, Cynthia Loomis, Antonio Galvao Neto, Esther Adler, Hooman H Rashidi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Aims:

Histology, the microscopic study of normal tissues, is a crucial element of most medical curricula. Learning tools focused on histology are very important to learners who seek diagnostic competency within this important diagnostic arena. Recent developments in machine learning (ML) suggest that certain ML tools may be able to benefit this histology learning platform. Here, we aim to explore how one such tool based on a convolutional neural network, can be used to build a generalizable multi-classification model capable of classifying microscopic images of human tissue samples with the ultimate goal of providing a differential diagnosis (a list of …

The Bmal1/Hif2a Heterodimer Modulates Circadian Variations Of Myocardial Injury, Hui Li, Xinwei Kuang, Long Liang, Youqiong Ye, Yongchang Zhang, Jialu Li, Fangyu Ma, Juan Tao, Guang Lei, Shuang Zhao, Juan Su, Nong Yang, Cong Peng, Xiaowei Xu, Mien-Chie Hung, Leng Han, Hong Liu, Jing Liu, Xiang Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune checkpoints blockades have shown promising clinical effects in various malignancies, but the overall response rate is low. Here, the immune features are comprehensively characterized in >10 000 cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas and significantly positive correlations are observed between targets of Sunitinib and inhibitory immune checkpoints and suppressive immune cells. It is further confirmed that Sunitinib treatment increases the antitumor immunity in a phase III trial. Mechanistically, it is discovered that Sunitinib regulates the stability of tumor PD‐L1 via p62, that p62 can bind to PD‐L1 and specifically promote its translocation into autophagic lysosome for degradation. Preclinically, …

Mir-9-1 Suppresses Cell Proliferation And Promotes Apoptosis By Targeting Uhrf1 In Lung Cancer, Cheng-You Jia, Wei Xiang, Ji-Bin Liu, Geng-Xi Jiang, Feng Sun, Jian-Jun Wu, Xiao-Li Yang, Rui Xin, Yi Shi, Dan-Dan Zhang, Wen Li, Zavuga Zuberi, Jie Zhang, Gai-Xia Lu, Hui-Min Wang, Pei-Yao Wang, Fei Yu, Zhong-Wei Lv, Yu-Shui Ma, Da Fu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Lung cancer is listed as the most common reason for cancer-related death all over the world despite diagnostic improvements and the development of chemotherapy and targeted therapies. MicroRNAs control both physiological and pathological processes including development and cancer. A microRNA-9 to 1 (miR-9 to 1) overexpression model in lung cancer cell lines was established and miR-9 to 1 was found to significantly suppress the proliferation rate in lung cancer cell lines, colony formation in vitro, and tumorigenicity in nude mice of A549 cells. Ubiquitin-like containing PHD and RING finger domains 1 (UHRF1) was then identified to direct target of miR-9 …

Influenza Vaccination For The Prevention Of Cardiovascular Disease In The Americas: Consensus Document Of The Inter-American Society Of Cardiology And The Word Heart Federation, Álvaro Sosa Liprandi, María Inés Sosa Liprandi, Ezequiel José Zaidel, Gabriel M Aisenberg, Adrián Baranchuk, Eduardo Costa Duarte Barbosa, Gabriela Borrayo Sánchez, Bryce Alexander, Fernando Tomás Lanas Zanetti, Ricardo López Santi, Ana Girleza Múnera-Echeverri, Pablo Perel, Daniel Piskorz, Carlos Enrique Ruiz-Mori, Jorge Saucedo, Osiris Valdez, José Ramón González Juanatey, Daniel José Piñeiro, Fausto J Pinto, Fernando Stuardo Wyss Quintana

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular mortality is decreasing but remains the leading cause of death world-wide. Respiratory infections such as influenza significantly contribute to morbidity and mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. Despite of proven benefits, influenza vaccination is not fully implemented, especially in Latin America.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to develop a regional consensus with recommendations regarding influenza vaccination and cardiovascular disease.

METHODS: A multidisciplinary team composed by experts in the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease from the Americas, convened by the Inter-American Society of Cardiology (IASC) and the World Heart Federation (WHF), participated in the process and the formulation of …

A Developmental Stage-Specific Network Approach For Studying Dynamic Co-Regulation Of Transcription Factors And Micrornas During Craniofacial Development, Fangfang Yan, Peilin Jia, Hiroki Yoshioka, Akiko Suzuki, Junichi Iwata, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Craniofacial development is regulated through dynamic and complex mechanisms that involve various signaling cascades and gene regulations. Disruption of such regulations can result in craniofacial birth defects. Here, we propose the first developmental stage-specific network approach by integrating two crucial regulators, transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRNAs), to study their co-regulation during craniofacial development. Specifically, we used TFs, miRNAs and non-TF genes to form feed-forward loops (FFLs) using genomic data covering mouse embryonic days E10.5 to E14.5. We identified key novel regulators (TFs Foxm1, Hif1a, Zbtb16, Myog, Myod1 and Tcf7, and miRNAs miR-340-5p and miR-129-5p) and target genes (

Clinical Prediction Of Coronavirus Disease-2019: How Accurate Can One Be?, Gabriel Aisenberg, Kevin O Hwang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background Some models based on clinical information have been reported to predict which patients have Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia but have failed so far to yield reliable results. We aimed to determine if physicians were able to accurately predict which patients, as described in clinical vignettes, had, or did not have this infection using their clinical acumen and epidemiological data. Methods Of 1177 patients under investigation for COVID-19 admitted, we selected 20 and presented them in a vignette form. We surveyed physicians from different levels of training (

Epilepsy Risk Prediction Model For Patients With Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, Laura S Farach, Melissa A Richard, Philip J Lupo, Mustafa Sahin, Darcy A Krueger, Joyce Y Wu, Elizabeth M Bebin, Kit Sing Au, Hope Northrup, Tacern Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Individuals with tuberous sclerosis complex are at increased risk of epilepsy. Early seizure control improves developmental outcomes, making identifying at-risk patients critically important. Despite several identified risk factors, it remains difficult to predict. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the combined risk prediction of previously identified risk factors for epilepsy in individuals with tuberous sclerosis complex.

METHODS: The study group (n = 333) consisted of individuals with tuberous sclerosis complex who were enrolled in the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Autism Center of Excellence Research Network and UT TSC Biobank. The outcome was defined as having an epilepsy diagnosis. …

Social And Leisure Activities Predict Transitions In Cognitive Functioning In Older Mexican Adults: A Latent Transition Analysis Of The Mexican Health And Aging Study, Heather Mary Brown, Stephen A Murray, Hope Northrup, Kit Sing Au, Lee A Niswander

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Disruptions in neural tube (NT) closure result in neural tube defects (NTDs). To understand the molecular processes required for mammalian NT closure, we investigated the role of Snx3, a sorting nexin gene. Snx3−/− mutant mouse embryos display a fully-penetrant cranial NTD. In vivo, we observed decreased canonical WNT target gene expression in the cranial neural epithelium of the Snx3−/− embryos and a defect in convergent extension of the neural epithelium. Snx3−/− cells show decreased WNT secretion, and live cell imaging reveals aberrant recycling of the WNT ligand-binding protein WLS and mis-trafficking to the lysosome for degradation. The importance …

Identification Of Novel Candidate Risk Genes For Myelomeningocele Within The Glucose Homeostasis/Oxidative Stress And Folate/One-Carbon Metabolism Networks, Paul Hillman, Craig Baker, Luke Hebert, Michael Brown, James Hixson, Allison Ashley-Koch, Alanna C Morrison, Hope Northrup, Kit Sing Au

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are the second most common complex birth defect, yet, our understanding of the genetic contribution to their development remains incomplete. Two environmental factors associated with NTDs are Folate and One Carbon Metabolism (FOCM) and Glucose Homeostasis and Oxidative Stress (GHOS). Utilizing next-generation sequencing of a large patient cohort, we identify novel candidate genes in these two networks to provide insights into NTD mechanisms.

METHODS: Exome sequencing (ES) was performed in 511 patients, born with myelomeningocele, divided between European American and Mexican American ethnicities. Healthy control data from the Genome Aggregation database were ethnically matched and …

Association Of Visceral Adipose Tissue And Subclinical Atherosclerosis In Us-Born Mexican Americans But Not First Generation Immigrants, Clarence Gill, Miryoung Lee, Kristina P Vatcheva, Nahid Rianon, Beverly Smulevitz, David D Mcpherson, Joseph B Mccormick, Susan P Fisher-Hoch, Susan T Laing

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background Excess visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a primary driver for the cardiometabolic complications of obesity; VAT-associated cardiovascular disease risk varies by race, but most studies have been done on Non-Hispanics. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and metabolic correlates of VAT, its association with subclinical atherosclerosis, and the factors affecting this association in Mexican Americans. Methods and Results Participants (n=527) were drawn from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC), on whom a carotid ultrasound to assess carotid intima media thickness and a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan to assess for VAT were obtained. Those in the highest quartiles of …

Representation Of Ehr Data For Predictive Modeling: A Comparison Between Umls And Other Terminologies, Laila Rasmy, Firat Tiryaki, Yujia Zhou, Yang Xiang, Cui Tao, Hua Xu, Degui Zhi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Predictive disease modeling using electronic health record data is a growing field. Although clinical data in their raw form can be used directly for predictive modeling, it is a common practice to map data to standard terminologies to facilitate data aggregation and reuse. There is, however, a lack of systematic investigation of how different representations could affect the performance of predictive models, especially in the context of machine learning and deep learning.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We projected the input diagnoses data in the Cerner HealthFacts database to Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and 5 other terminologies, including CCS, CCSR, …

Evidence For Craniofacial Enhancer Variation Underlying Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip And Palate, Vershanna E Morris, S Shahrukh Hashmi, Lisha Zhu, Lorena Maili, Christian Urbina, Steven Blackwell, Matthew R Greives, Edward P Buchanan, John B Mulliken, Susan H Blanton, W Jim Zheng, Jacqueline T Hecht, Ariadne Letra

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCLP) is a common birth defect for which only ~ 20% of the underlying genetic variation has been identified. Variants in noncoding regions have been increasingly suggested to contribute to the missing heritability. In this study, we investigated whether variation in craniofacial enhancers contributes to NSCLP. Candidate enhancers were identified using VISTA Enhancer Browser and previous publications. Prioritization was based on patterning defects in knockout mice, deletion/duplication of craniofacial genes in animal models and results of whole exome/whole genome sequencing studies. This resulted in 20 craniofacial enhancers to be investigated. Custom amplicon-based …

Representation Of Ehr Data For Predictive Modeling: A Comparison Between Umls And Other Terminologies, Laila Rasmy, Firat Tiryaki, Yujia Zhou, Yang Xiang, Cui Tao, Hua Xu, Degui Zhi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Predictive disease modeling using electronic health record data is a growing field. Although clinical data in their raw form can be used directly for predictive modeling, it is a common practice to map data to standard terminologies to facilitate data aggregation and reuse. There is, however, a lack of systematic investigation of how different representations could affect the performance of predictive models, especially in the context of machine learning and deep learning.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We projected the input diagnoses data in the Cerner HealthFacts database to Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and 5 other terminologies, including CCS, CCSR, …

Yebc Regulates Variable Surface Antigen Vlse Expression And Is Required For Host Immune Evasion In Borrelia Burgdorferi, Yan Zhang, Tong Chen, Sajith Raghunandanan, Xuwu Xiang, Jing Yang, Qiang Liu, Diane G Edmondson, Steven J Norris, X Frank Yang, Yongliang Lou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease pathogen causes persistent infection by evading the host immune response. Differential expression of the surface-exposed lipoprotein VlsE that undergoes antigenic variation is a key immune evasion strategy employed by B. burgdorferi. Most studies focused on the mechanism of VlsE antigen variation, but little is known about VlsE regulation and factor(s) that regulates differential vlsE expression. In this study, we investigated BB0025, a putative YebC family transcriptional regulator (and hence designated BB0025 as YebC of B. burgdorferi herein). We constructed yebC mutant and complemented strain in an infectious strain of B. burgdorferi. The yebC mutant could …

Sirolimus For Kaposiform Hemangioendothelioma And Kasabach-Merritt Phenomenon In A Neonate, Trevor B Cabrera, Allison L Speer, Matthew R Greives, Donna A Goff, Neethu M Menon, Eric W Reynolds

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We present a case of a neonate born with kaposiform hemangioendothelioma (KHE), complicated by Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon (KMP) and other serious conditions, who was successfully treated with sirolimus. In addition to complications from thrombocytopenia and fluid overload, during the course of therapy, our patient experienced supratherapeutic drug levels at the commonly accepted starting dose of sirolimus. Patients with KHE and KMP should be closely monitored for potential complications of both the initial disease and unexpected side effects of treatments.

Parental Intent To Initiate And Complete The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Series In The Usa: A Nationwide, Cross-Sectional Survey, Kalyani Sonawane, Yenan Zhu, Jane R Montealegre, David R Lairson, Cici Bauer, Lindy U Mcgee, Anna R Giuliano, Ashish A Deshmukh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake among US adolescents is primarily dependent on the intent of their parents. to the best of our knowledge, an analysis quantifying parental intent to initiate and complete the HPV vaccine series in the USA at both the national and state level has not been done. We aim to estimate parental intent to initiate and complete the HPV vaccine series at the national-level and state-level and to identify reasons for lack of intent to initiate and complete the vaccine series.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study uses data from the adolescent component of the 2017-18 National Immunization …

Loss Of Uncoupling Protein 3 Attenuates Western Diet-Induced Obesity, Systemic Inflammation, And Insulin Resistance In Rats, Tyler M Lomax, Sadia Ashraf, Gizem Yilmaz, Romain Harmancey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3) is a mitochondrial carrier related to fatty acid metabolism. Although gene variants of UCP3 are associated with human obesity, their contribution to increased adiposity remains unclear. This study investigated the impact that loss of UCP3 has on diet-induced obesity in rats.

METHODS: Male UCP3 knockout rats (ucp3

RESULTS: Loss of UCP3 decreased fat mass gain, white adipocytes size, and systemic inflammation. The ucp3

CONCLUSIONS: Loss of UCP3 partially protects rats from diet-induced obesity. This phenotype is related to induction of a compensatory antioxidant mechanism and prevention of iBAT whitening.

Bahamas National Implementation Project: Proposal For Sustainability Of An Evidence-Based Hiv Prevention Intervention In A School Setting, Bo Wang, Lynette Deveaux, Sonja Lunn, Veronica Dinaj-Koci, Samiran Ghosh, Xiaoming Li, Sharon Marshall, Glenda Rolle, Nikkiah Forbes, Bonita Stanton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Sustained implementation of school-based prevention programs is low. Effective strategies are needed to enhance both high-level implementation fidelity and sustainability of prevention programs.

OBJECTIVE: This proposed study aims to determine if the provision of either biweekly monitoring and feedback and site-based assistance and mentorship or both to at-risk and moderate-performing teachers with monitoring through an enhanced decision-making platform by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Health (MOH) based on the real-time implementation data will increase national implementation fidelity and result in sustained implementation over time.

METHODS: This study will target government schools including 200 grade 6 teachers …

Dendritic Cell Derived Exosomes Loaded With Immunoregulatory Cargo Reprogram Local Immune Responses And Inhibit Degenerative Bone Disease In Vivo, Mahmoud Elashiry, Mohamed M Elashiry, Ranya Elsayed, Mythily Rajendran, Carol Auersvald, Rana Zeitoun, Mohammad H Rashid, Roxan Ara, Mohamed M Meghil, Yutao Liu, Ali S Arbab, Roger M Arce, Mark Hamrick, Mohammed Elsalanty, Marshall Brendan, Rafal Pacholczyk, Christopher W Cutler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Chronic bone degenerative diseases represent a major threat to the health and well-being of the population, particularly those with advanced age. This study isolated exosomes (EXO), natural nano-particles, from dendritic cells, the "directors" of the immune response, to examine the immunobiology of DC EXO in mice, and their ability to reprogram immune cells responsible for experimental alveolar bone loss

Recurring Pleural Effusion Secondary To Walled-Off Pancreatic Necrosis, Adwait Mehta, Gabriel Aisenberg, Roy Tomas Davee, Eden Henry, Nicole Thomason

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Recurring, exudative, lymphocytic-predominant pleural effusions have not been previously reported in association with walled-off pancreatic necrosis. We present a case of chronic pancreatitis complicated by a large pancreatic fluid collection and recurrent pleural effusion. Endoscopic drainage of the walled-off pancreatic necrosis was the definitive treatment for both fluid collections.

Critical Micrornas And Regulatory Motifs In Cleft Palate Identified By A Conserved Mirna-Tf-Gene Network Approach In Humans And Mice, Aimin Li, Peilin Jia, Saurav Mallik, Rong Fei, Hiroki Yoshioka, Akiko Suzuki, Junichi Iwata, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cleft palate (CP) is the second most common congenital birth defect. The etiology of CP is complicated, with involvement of various genetic and environmental factors. To investigate the gene regulatory mechanisms, we designed a powerful regulatory analytical approach to identify the conserved regulatory networks in humans and mice, from which we identified critical microRNAs (miRNAs), target genes and regulatory motifs (miRNA-TF-gene) related to CP. Using our manually curated genes and miRNAs with evidence in CP in humans and mice, we constructed miRNA and transcription factor (TF) co-regulation networks for both humans and mice. A consensus regulatory loop (miR17/miR20a-FOXE1-PDGFRA) and eight …

Metformin Enhances Autophagy And Normalizes Mitochondrial Function To Alleviate Aging-Associated Inflammation, Leena P Bharath, Madhur Agrawal, Grace Mccambridge, Dequina A Nicholas, Hatice Hasturk, Jing Liu, Kai Jiang, Rui Liu, Zhenheng Guo, Jude Deeney, Caroline M Apovian, Jennifer Snyder-Cappione, Gregory S Hawk, Rebecca M Fleeman, Riley M F Pihl, Katherine Thompson, Anna C Belkina, Licong Cui, Elizabeth A Proctor, Philip A Kern, Barbara S Nikolajczyk

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Age is a non-modifiable risk factor for the inflammation that underlies age-associated diseases; thus, anti-inflammaging drugs hold promise for increasing health span. Cytokine profiling and bioinformatic analyses showed that Th17 cytokine production differentiates CD4+ T cells from lean, normoglycemic older and younger subjects, and mimics a diabetes-associated Th17 profile. T cells from older compared to younger subjects also had defects in autophagy and mitochondrial bioenergetics that associate with redox imbalance. Metformin ameliorated the Th17 inflammaging profile by increasing autophagy and improving mitochondrial bioenergetics. By contrast, autophagy-targeting siRNA disrupted redox balance in T cells from young subjects and activated the Th17 …

Covid-19 Testnorm: A Tool To Normalize Covid-19 Testing Names To Loinc Codes, Xiao Dong, Jianfu Li, Ekin Soysal, Jiang Bian, Scott L Duvall, Elizabeth Hanchrow, Hongfang Liu, Kristine E Lynch, Michael Matheny, Karthik Natarajan, Lucila Ohno-Machado, Serguei Pakhomov, Ruth Madeleine Reeves, Amy M Sitapati, Swapna Abhyankar, Theresa Cullen, Jami Deckard, Xiaoqian Jiang, Robert Murphy, Hua Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Large observational data networks that leverage routine clinical practice data in electronic health records (EHRs) are critical resources for research on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Data normalization is a key challenge for the secondary use of EHRs for COVID-19 research across institutions. In this study, we addressed the challenge of automating the normalization of COVID-19 diagnostic tests, which are critical data elements, but for which controlled terminology terms were published after clinical implementation. We developed a simple but effective rule-based tool called COVID-19 TestNorm to automatically normalize local COVID-19 testing names to standard LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes) …

Models For Small Area Estimation For Census Tracts, John R Logan, Cici Bauer, Jun Ke, Hongwei Xu, Fan Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study examines issues of Small Area Estimation (SAE) that are raised by reliance on the American Community Survey (ACS), which reports tract-level data based on much smaller samples than the decennial census long-form that it replaced. We demonstrate the problem using a 100% transcription of microdata from the 1940 census. By drawing many samples from two major cities, we confirm a known pattern: random samples yield unbiased point estimates of means or proportions, but estimates based on smaller samples have larger average errors in measurement and greater risk of large error. Sampling variability also inflates estimates of measures of …

Hypoxia-Inducible Factor (Hif)-2Α Reprograms Liver Macrophages To Protect Against Acute Liver Injury Via The Production Of Interleukin-6, Rachel Y Gao, Meng Wang, Qihui Liu, Dechun Feng, Yankai Wen, Yang Xia, Sean P Colgan, Holger K Eltzschig, Cynthia Ju

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose represents the most frequent cause of acute liver failure, resulting in death or liver transplantation in more than one third of patients in the United States. The effectiveness of the only antidote, N-acetylcysteine, declines rapidly after APAP ingestion, long before patients are admitted to the clinic with symptoms of severe liver injury. The direct hepatotoxicity of APAP triggers a cascade of innate immune responses that may exacerbate or limit the progression of tissue damage. A better understanding of this complex mechanism will help uncover targets for therapeutic interventions.

APPROACH AND RESULTS: We observed that …

Decomposing Loss Aversion From Gaze Allocation And Pupil Dilation, Feng Sheng, Arjun Ramakrishnan, Darsol Seok, Wenjia Joyce Zhao, Samuel Thelaus, Puti Cen, Michael Louis Platt

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Loss-averse decisions, in which one avoids losses at the expense of gains, are highly prevalent. However, the underlying mechanisms remain controversial. The prevailing account highlights a valuation bias that overweighs losses relative to gains, but an alternative view stresses a response bias to avoid choices involving potential losses. Here we couple a computational process model with eye-tracking and pupillometry to develop a physiologically grounded framework for the decision process leading to accepting or rejecting gambles with equal odds of winning and losing money. Overall, loss-averse decisions were accompanied by preferential gaze toward losses and increased pupil dilation for accepting gambles. …

On The Estimation Of The Incidence And Prevalence In Two-Phase Longitudinal Sampling Design, Prithish Banerjee, Samiran Ghosh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Two-phase sampling design is a common practice in many medical studies. Generally, the first-phase classification is fallible but relatively cheap, while the accurate second phase state-of-the-art medical diagnosis is complex and rather expensive to perform. When constructed efficiently it offers great potential for higher true case detection as well as for higher precision at a limited cost. In this article, we consider epidemiological studies with two-phase sampling design. However, instead of a single two-phase study, we consider a scenario where a series of two-phase studies are done in a longitudinal fashion on a cohort of interest. Another major design issue …