Digital Commons Network^™

Functionalized Scaffold And Barrier Membrane With Anti-Bmp-2 Monoclonal Antibodies For Alveolar Ridge Preservation In A Canine Model, Seiko Min, Taewan Kim, Oksu Kim, Carames Goncalo, Tadahiko Utsunomiya, Takashi Matsumoto, Kayo Kuyama, Nikola Angelov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of anti-bone morphogenetic protein 2 monoclonal antibody (anti-BMP-2 mAb) to functionalize scaffolds to mediate bone regeneration in a canine model.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The mandibular right premolar 4 (PM4) was extracted in eight beagle dogs and grafted with anti-BMP-2 mAb+anorganic bovine bone mineral with 10% collagen (ABBM-C) and porcine bilayer native collagen membrane (CM). The ABBM-C and CM were functionalized with either anti-BMP-2 mAb (test group) or an isotype matched control mAb (control group). Animals were euthanized at 12 weeks for radiographic, histologic, and histomorphometric analyses. Outcomes were compared …

Distinct Profiles Of Specialized Pro-Resolving Lipid Mediators And Corresponding Receptor Gene Expression In Periodontal Inflammation, Brittney Ferguson, Nishantha R Bokka, Krishna Rao Maddipati, Srinivas Ayilavarapu, Robin Weltman, Lisha Zhu, Wanqi Chen, W Jim Zheng, Nikola Angelov, Thomas E Van Dyke, Chun-Teh Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Polyunsaturated fatty acid-derived specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators (SPMs) play an important role in modulating inflammation. The aim of the study was to compare profiles of SPMs, SPM related lipid mediators and SPM receptor gene expression in gingiva of subjects with periodontitis to healthy controls. A total of 28 subjects were included; 13 periodontally healthy and 15 periodontitis before or after non-surgical periodontal therapy. Gingival tissues were collected from two representative posterior teeth prior to and 8 weeks after scaling and root planning; only once in the healthy group. Lipid mediator-SPM metabololipidomics was performed to identify metabolites in gingiva. qRT-PCR was …

Systemic Th17 Response In The Presence Of Periodontal Inflammation, Lina J Suárez, Daniel E Vargas, Adriana Rodríguez, Roger M Arce, Nelly S Roa

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The relationship between periodontitis and the pathogenesis of other inflammatory diseases, such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and obesity has been an important topic of study in recent decades. The Th17 pathway plays a significant role in how local inflammation can influence systemic inflammation in the absence of systemic pathology.

OBJECTIVE: To determine Th17 biased-cells in systemically healthy patients in the presence of generalized chronic periodontitis.

METHODOLOGY: A total of 28 patients were recruited without systemic inflammatory pathology, which was determined by clinical history, the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and rheumatoid factor detection. Of these patients, 13 were diagnosed as …

Pediatric Immunization Practices In Nephrotic Syndrome: An Assessment Of Provider And Parental Knowledge, Cheryl L Tran, David T Selewski, Gia J Oh, Jonathan P Troost, Susan F Massengill, Samhar I Al-Akash, Shefali Mahesh, Rasheda Amin, Isa F Ashoor, Rahul Chanchlani, Mahmoud Kallash, Robert P Woroniecki, Debbie S Gipson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Children with nephrotic syndrome (NS) are at high risk for vaccine-preventable infections due to the immunological effects from the disease and concurrent treatment with immunosuppressive medications. Immunizations in these patients may be deferred due to their immunosuppressive treatment which may increase the risk for vaccine-preventable infections. Immunization practices in children with NS continue to vary among pediatric nephrologists. This raises the question of whether children with NS are receiving the recommended vaccinations at appropriate times. Therefore, it is critical to understand the practices and patient education provided by physicians to patients on the topic of vaccinations.

Methods: After informed …

Prevalence And Predictors Of Chronic Pain Intensity And Disability Among Adults With Sickle Cell Disease, Nadine Matthie, Coretta Jenerette, Ashley Gibson, Sudeshna Paul, Melinda Higgins, Lakshmanan Krishnamurti

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Among 170 adults with sickle cell disease, we evaluated chronic pain impact and disability prevalence, assessed age and gender differences, and identified psychosocial predictors of chronic pain intensity and disability. Most participants had a high level of disability. Chronic pain intensity and disability were significantly associated with pain catastrophizing and chronic pain self-efficacy, and worsened with age. Further research is needed to confirm study findings and develop interventions, including palliative care approaches that address catastrophizing and disability, particularly for young women and middle-aged adults with sickle cell disease. Moreover, consistent clinical assessment of chronic pain and psychosocial health should be …

An Incidental Finding Of Gastric Mucosa-Associated Lymphoma (Maltoma) In A Sleeve Gastrectomy With Literature Review, Brenda Mai, Michaelangelo Friscia, Pamela Younes, Jaiyeola Thomas-Ogunniyi, Lei Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma can typically be identified as a mass lesion or nodularity endoscopically and macroscopically. We report an incidental finding of a Helicobacter pylori gastric mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma in a sleeve gastrectomy specimen with no gross examination findings.

Burden Of Rare Deleterious Variants In Wnt Signaling Genes Among 511 Myelomeningocele Patients, Luke Hebert, Paul Hillman, Craig Baker, Michael Brown, Allison Ashley-Koch, James E Hixson, Alanna C Morrison, Hope Northrup, Kit Sing Au

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Genes in the noncanonical WNT signaling pathway controlling planar cell polarity have been linked to the neural tube defect myelomeningocele. We hypothesized that some genes in the WNT signaling network have a higher mutational burden in myelomeningocele subjects than in reference subjects in gnomAD. Exome sequencing data from 511 myelomeningocele subjects was obtained in-house and data from 29,940 ethnically matched subjects was provided by version 2 of the publicly available Genome Aggregation Database. To compare mutational burden, we collapsed rare deleterious variants across each of 523 human WNT signaling genes in case and reference populations. Ten WNT signaling genes were …

Covid-19 Sampling From The Middle Ear And Mastoid: A Case Report, George B Wanna, Zachary G Schwam, Vivian F Kaul, Maura K Cosetti, Enrique Perez, Peter Filip, Waleed Javaid, Avi Kandel, Alberto Paniz-Mondolfi, Satish Govindaraj, Eric M Genden

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Microbiotyping The Sinonasal Microbiome, Ahmed Bassiouni, Sathish Paramasivan, Arron Shiffer, Matthew R Dillon, Emily K Cope, Clare Cooksley, Mahnaz Ramezanpour, Sophia Moraitis, Mohammad Javed Ali, Benjamin S Bleier, Claudio Callejas, Marjolein E Cornet, Richard G Douglas, Daniel Dutra, Christos Georgalas, Richard J Harvey, Peter H Hwang, Amber U Luong, Rodney J Schlosser, Pongsakorn Tantilipikorn, Marc A Tewfik, Sarah Vreugde, Peter-John Wormald, J Gregory Caporaso, Alkis J Psaltis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study offers a novel description of the sinonasal microbiome, through an unsupervised machine learning approach combining dimensionality reduction and clustering. We apply our method to the International Sinonasal Microbiome Study (ISMS) dataset of 410 sinus swab samples. We propose three main sinonasal “microbiotypes” or “states”: the first is Corynebacterium-dominated, the second is Staphylococcus-dominated, and the third dominated by the other core genera of the sinonasal microbiome (Streptococcus, Haemophilus, Moraxella, and Pseudomonas). The prevalence of the three microbiotypes studied did not differ between healthy and diseased sinuses, but differences in their distribution were evident based …

Transcriptional Insights Into Pathogenesis Of Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis Using Pathway Driven Meta-Analysis Assisted By Machine Learning Methods, Xiao Xu, Meera Ramanujam, Sudha Visvanathan, Shervin Assassi, Zheng Liu, Li Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pathophysiology of systemic sclerosis (SSc, Scleroderma), an autoimmune rheumatic disease, comprises of mechanisms that drive vasculopathy, inflammation and fibrosis. Understanding of the disease and associated clinical heterogeneity has advanced considerably in the past decade, highlighting the necessity of more specific targeted therapy. While many of the recent trials in SSc failed to meet the primary end points that predominantly relied on changes in modified Rodnan skin scores (MRSS), sub-group analysis, especially those focused on the basal skin transcriptomic data have provided insights into patient subsets that respond to therapies. These findings suggest that deeper understanding of the molecular changes in …

Developing And Evaluating A Remote Quality Assurance System For Point-Of-Care Ultrasound For An Internal Medicine Residency Global Health Track, Steven Fox, Michelle Fleshner, Collin Flanagan, Thomas Robertson, Ayako Wendy Fujita, Divya Bhamidipati, Abdulrahman Sindi, Raghunandan Purushothaman, Thuy Bui

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: A quality assurance system is vital when using point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to ensure safe and effective ultrasound use. There are many barriers to implementing a quality assurance system including need for costly software, faculty time, and extra work to log images. Methods: With minimal funding or protected faculty time, we successfully developed an effective remote quality assurance system between residents rotating internationally and faculty in the US. Results: 270 total exams were logged using this system (41 per resident over a 7 week period). Over the course of the implementation period, a significant increase was seen in average image …

Adenosine At The Interphase Of Hypoxia And Inflammation In Lung Injury, Xiangyun Li, Nathanial K Berg, Tingting Mills, Kaiying Zhang, Holger K Eltzschig, Xiaoyi Yuan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hypoxia and inflammation often coincide in pathogenic conditions such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and chronic lung diseases, which are significant contributors to morbidity and mortality for the general population. For example, the recent global outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has placed viral infection-induced ARDS under the spotlight. Moreover, chronic lung disease ranks the third leading cause of death in the United States. Hypoxia signaling plays a diverse role in both acute and chronic lung inflammation, which could partially be explained by the divergent function of downstream target pathways such as adenosine signaling. Particularly, hypoxia signaling activates adenosine …

Anesthesiology Resident Performance On The Us Medical Licensing Examination Predicts Success On The American Board Of Anesthesiology Basic Staged Examination: An Observational Study, Travis H Markham, Johanna B De Haan, Sara Guzman-Reyes, John F Zaki, Semhar J Ghebremichael, Carlos Artime, Evan G Pivalizza

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Correlation has been found between the US Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 examination results and anesthesiology resident success on American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) examinations. In 2014, the ABA instituted the BASIC examination at the end of the postgraduate year-2 year. We hypothesized a similar predictive value of USMLE scores on BASIC examination success.

METHODS: After the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at UTHealth Institutional Review Board approved and waived written consent, we retrospectively evaluated USMLE Step examination performance on first-time BASIC examination success in a single academic department from 2014-2018.

RESULTS: Over 5 years, 120 …

Causal Discovery In Radiographic Markers Of Knee Osteoarthritis And Prediction For Knee Osteoarthritis Severity With Attention-Long Short-Term Memory, Yanfei Wang, Lei You, Jacqueline Chyr, Lan Lan, Weiling Zhao, Yujia Zhou, Hua Xu, Philip Noble, Xiaobo Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The goal of this study is to build a prognostic model to predict the severity of radiographic knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and to identify long-term disease progression risk factors for early intervention and treatment. We designed a long short-term memory (LSTM) model with an attention mechanism to predict Kellgren/Lawrence (KL) grade for knee osteoarthritis patients. The attention scores reveal a time-associated impact of different variables on KL grades. We also employed a fast causal inference (FCI) algorithm to estimate the causal relation of key variables, which will aid in clinical interpretability. Based on the clinical information of current visits, we accurately …

Digilego For Peripartum Depression: A Novel Patient-Facing Digital Health Instantiation, J Rodin, C Timko, S Harris

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Digital health technologies offer unique opportunities to improve health outcomes for mental health conditions such as peripartum depression (PPD), a disorder that affects approximately 10-15% of women in the U.S. every year. In this paper, we present the adaption of a digital technology development framework, Digilego, in the context of PPD. Methods include mapping of the Behavior Intervention Technology (BIT) model and the Patient Engagement Framework (PEF) to translate patient needs captured through focus groups. This informs formative development and implementation of digital health features for optimal patient engagement in PPD screening and management. Results show an array ofPPD-specific Digilego …

The Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Indomethacin Induces Heterogeneity In Lipid Membranes: Potential Implication For Its Diverse Biological Action, Mihnea P Dragomir, Stefan Tudor, Keishi Okubo, Masayoshi Shimizu, Meng Chen, Dana Elena Giza, William Ruixian He, Cristina Ivan, George A Calin, Catalin Vasilescu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Splenectomy is a common surgical procedure performed in millions of people worldwide. Epidemiologic data show that splenectomy is followed by infectious (sepsis) and non-infectious complications, with unknown mechanisms. In order to explore the role of the non-coding transcripts involved in these complications, we analysed a panel of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs), which were previously reported to be deregulated in sepsis, in the plasma of splenectomized patients. MiR-223 was overexpressed immediately and late after splenectomy, while miR-146a was overexpressed immediately after splenectomy, returning latter to basal levels; and miR-16, miR-93, miR-26a and miR-26b were overexpressed only late after splenectomy, suggesting similarities with …

Enhancing Clinical Concept Extraction With Contextual Embeddings, Yuqi Si, Jingqi Wang, Hua Xu, Kirk Roberts

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Neural network-based representations ("embeddings") have dramatically advanced natural language processing (NLP) tasks, including clinical NLP tasks such as concept extraction. Recently, however, more advanced embedding methods and representations (eg, ELMo, BERT) have further pushed the state of the art in NLP, yet there are no common best practices for how to integrate these representations into clinical tasks. The purpose of this study, then, is to explore the space of possible options in utilizing these new models for clinical concept extraction, including comparing these to traditional word embedding methods (word2vec, GloVe, fastText).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Both off-the-shelf, open-domain embeddings and …

Integrating Primary Care Into Community Mental Health Centres In Texas, Usa: Results Of A Case Study Investigation, Rebecca Wells, Ellen D Breckenridge, Sasha Ajaz, Aman Narayan, Daniel Brossart, James H Zahniser, Jolene Rasmussen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Despite evidence that people with serious mental illness benefit from receiving primary care within mental health care settings, there is little research on this type of integration. The objective of this study was to characterize how providers and patients experienced implementation of primary care into specialty mental health services.

METHODS: During site visits, study team members interviewed staff and conducted focus groups with patients at 10 United States community mental health centres then beginning to integrate primary into their practices. One year later, follow up phone interviews with key centre staff informants validated and updated findings. Data analysis included …

Safety Climate, Safety Climate Strength, And Length Of Stay In The Nicu, Daniel S Tawfik, Eric J Thomas, Timothy J Vogus, Jessica B Liu, Paul J Sharek, Courtney C Nisbet, Henry C Lee, J Bryan Sexton, Jochen Profit

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Safety climate is an important marker of patient safety attitudes within health care units, but the significance of intra-unit variation of safety climate perceptions (safety climate strength) is poorly understood. This study sought to examine the standard safety climate measure (percent positive response (PPR)) and safety climate strength in relation to length of stay (LOS) of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants within California neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

METHODS: Observational study of safety climate from 2073 health care providers in 44 NICUs. Consistent perceptions among a NICU's respondents, i.e., safety climate strength, was determined via intra-unit standard deviation …

Tinnitus And Self-Perceived Hearing Handicap In Firefighters: A Cross-Sectional Study, Samson Jamesdaniel, Kareem G Elhage, Rita Rosati, Samiran Ghosh, Bengt Arnetz, James Blessman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Firefighters are susceptible to auditory dysfunction due to long-term exposure to noise from sirens, air horns, equipment, and tools used in forcible entry, ventilation, and extrication. In addition, they are exposed to ototoxic chemicals, particularly, during overhaul operations. Studies indicate that 40% of firefighters have hearing loss in the noise-sensitive frequencies of 4 and 6 kHz. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is often accompanied by tinnitus, which is characterized by ringing noise in the ears. The presence of phantom sounds can adversely affect the performance of firefighters. However, there has been limited research conducted on the prevalence of tinnitus in firefighters. …

Energy Balance Related Lifestyle Factors And Risk Of Endometrial And Colorectal Cancer Among Individuals With Lynch Syndrome: A Systematic Review, Adriana M Coletta, Susan K Peterson, Leticia A Gatus, Kate J Krause, Susan M Schembre, Susan C Gilchrist, Mala Pande, Eduardo Vilar, Y Nancy You, Miguel A Rodriguez-Bigas, Larkin L Strong, Patrick M Lynch, Karen H Lu, Karen Basen-Engquist

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Lifestyle factors related to energy balance, such as excess body weight, poor diet, and physical inactivity, are associated with risk of sporadic endometrial cancer (EC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). There are limited data on energy balance-related lifestyle factors and EC or CRC risk among individuals with lynch syndrome, who are at extraordinarily higher risk of developing EC or CRC. We conducted a systematic review of evidence related to weight status, weight change, dietary habits, and physical activity on EC and CRC risk among individuals with lynch syndrome. Findings are reported narratively. We searched Medline, EMBASE, CENTRAL, PubMed, and clinicaltrials.gov up …

Adolescent Dating Violence Prevention Program For Early Adolescents: The Me & You Randomized Controlled Trial, 2014-2015, Melissa F Peskin, Christine M Markham, Ross Shegog, Elizabeth R Baumler, Robert C Addy, Jeff R Temple, Belinda Hernandez, Paula M Cuccaro, Melanie A Thiel, Efrat K Gabay, Susan R Tortolero Emery

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives. To test the efficacy of Me & You, a multilevel technology-enhanced adolescent dating violence (DV) intervention, in reducing DV perpetration and victimization among ethnic-minority early adolescent youths. We assessed secondary impact for specific DV types and psychosocial outcomes.

Methods. We conducted a group-randomized controlled trial of 10 middle schools from a large urban school district in Southeast Texas in 2014 to 2015. We used multilevel regression modeling; the final analytic sample comprised 709 sixth-grade students followed for 1 year.

Results. Among the total sample, odds of DV perpetration were lower among intervention students than among control students (adjusted odds …

Unraveling The Functional Role Of The Orphan Solute Carrier, Slc22a24 In The Transport Of Steroid Conjugates Through Metabolomic And Genome-Wide Association Studies, Sook Wah Yee, Adrian Stecula, Huan-Chieh Chien, Ling Zou, Elena V Feofanova, Marjolein Van Borselen, Kit Wun Kathy Cheung, Noha A Yousri, Karsten Suhre, Jason M Kinchen, Eric Boerwinkle, Roshanak Irannejad, Bing Yu, Kathleen M Giacomini

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Variation in steroid hormone levels has wide implications for health and disease. The genes encoding the proteins involved in steroid disposition represent key determinants of interindividual variation in steroid levels and ultimately, their effects. Beginning with metabolomic data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), we observed that genetic variants in the orphan transporter, SLC22A24 were significantly associated with levels of androsterone glucuronide and etiocholanolone glucuronide (sentinel SNPs p-value

Low-Cost, High-Resolution Imaging For Detecting Cervical Precancer In Medically-Underserved Areas Of Texas, Sonia G Parra, Ana M Rodriguez, Katelin D Cherry, Richard A Schwarz, Rose M Gowen, Laura B Guerra, Andrea M Milbourne, Paul A Toscano, Susan P Fisher-Hoch, Kathleen M Schmeler, Rebecca R Richards-Kortum

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Cervical cancer rates in the United States have declined since the 1940's, however, cervical cancer incidence remains elevated in medically-underserved areas, especially in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) along the Texas-Mexico border. High-resolution microendoscopy (HRME) is a low-cost, in vivo imaging technique that can identify high-grade precancerous cervical lesions (CIN2+) at the point-of-care. The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of HRME in medically-underserved areas in Texas, comparing results to a tertiary academic medical center.

METHODS: HRME was evaluated in five different outpatient clinical settings, two in Houston and three in the RGV, with medical providers …

Drunk Without Drinking: A Case Of Auto-Brewery Syndrome, Bobak J Akhavan, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Eric J Thomas

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Information on auto-brewery syndrome is limited in the medical literature. This rare syndrome occurs when yeast overgrowth leads to ethanol fermentation in the gut. We present a patient presenting with symptoms of alcohol intoxication with objective laboratory data of elevated blood ethanol levels without a history of alcohol consumption. We reviewed the literature and have discussed the current diagnostic and therapeutic options.

Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4 Group A Member 2 Inhibits Activation Of Erk Signaling And Cell Growth In Response To Β-Adrenergic Stimulation In Adult Rat Cardiomyocytes, Sadia Ashraf, Yassmin K Hegazy, Romain Harmancey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Sustained elevation of sympathetic activity is an important contributor to pathological cardiac hypertrophy, ventricular arrhythmias, and left ventricular contractile dysfunction in chronic heart failure. The orphan nuclear receptor NR4A2 is an immediate early-response gene activated in the heart under β-adrenergic stimulation. The goal of this study was to identify the transcriptional remodeling events induced by increased NR4A2 expression in cardiomyocytes and their impact on the physiological response of those cells to sustained β-adrenergic stimulation. Treatment of adult rat ventricular myocytes with isoproterenol induced a rapid (<4 >h) increase in NR4A2 levels that was accompanied by a transient (<24 >h) increase …

Infant With Protein C Deficiency And Stroke In The Setting Of Iron Deficiency Anemia, Tahseen Jalal Karim, Dustin J Paul, Regina M Troxell, Rajan Patel, Ian J Butler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We report an 18-month-old infant with ischemic stroke, neurocognitive impairment, and psychomotor retardation in the setting of severe iron deficiency anemia. Although an uncommon outcome in anemic children, stroke is important to consider as a cause for developmental delay in children with iron deficiency anemia.

Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4 Group A Member 2 Inhibits Activation Of Erk Signaling And Cell Growth In Response To Β-Adrenergic Stimulation In Adult Rat Cardiomyocytes, Sadia Ashraf, Yassmin K Hegazy, Romain Harmancey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Sustained elevation of sympathetic activity is an important contributor to pathological cardiac hypertrophy, ventricular arrhythmias, and left ventricular contractile dysfunction in chronic heart failure. The orphan nuclear receptor NR4A2 is an immediate early-response gene activated in the heart under β-adrenergic stimulation. The goal of this study was to identify the transcriptional remodeling events induced by increased NR4A2 expression in cardiomyocytes and their impact on the physiological response of those cells to sustained β-adrenergic stimulation. Treatment of adult rat ventricular myocytes with isoproterenol induced a rapid (<4 >h) increase in NR4A2 levels that was accompanied by a transient (<24 >h) increase …

Indications For Lung Transplant Referral And Listing, Omar Shweish, Goutham Dronavalli

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Lung transplantation is a valuable therapeutic option for many patients with severe lung disease who have exhausted other medical or surgical therapies. However, since lungs are not a manufacturable organ like artificial heart valves or left ventricular assist devices, and since they are a limited resource compared to number of patients requiring the organs, the Department of Health and Human Services set the Final Rule of organ allocation in 1998. This led to development and implementation of Lung Allocation Score (LAS) in 2005. The score broadly divides lung diseases into 4 diagnostic criteria with a coefficient factor given to each …

Low-Cost, High-Resolution Imaging For Detecting Cervical Precancer In Medically-Underserved Areas Of Texas, Sonia G Parra, Ana M Rodriguez, Katelin D Cherry, Richard A Schwarz, Rose M Gowen, Laura B Guerra, Andrea M Milbourne, Paul A Toscano, Susan P Fisher-Hoch, Kathleen M Schmeler, Rebecca R Richards-Kortum

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Cervical cancer rates in the United States have declined since the 1940's, however, cervical cancer incidence remains elevated in medically-underserved areas, especially in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) along the Texas-Mexico border. High-resolution microendoscopy (HRME) is a low-cost, in vivo imaging technique that can identify high-grade precancerous cervical lesions (CIN2+) at the point-of-care. The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of HRME in medically-underserved areas in Texas, comparing results to a tertiary academic medical center.

METHODS: HRME was evaluated in five different outpatient clinical settings, two in Houston and three in the RGV, with medical providers …