Digital Commons Network^™

Therapeutic Strategies For Rb1-Deficient Cancers: Intersecting Gene Regulation And Targeted Therapy, Mo-Fan Huang, Yuan-Xin Wang, Yu-Ting Chou, Dung-Fang Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The retinoblastoma (RB) transcriptional corepressor 1 (RB1) is a critical tumor suppressor gene, governing diverse cellular processes implicated in cancer biology. Dysregulation or deletion in RB1 contributes to the development and progression of various cancers, making it a prime target for therapeutic intervention. RB1's canonical function in cell cycle control and DNA repair mechanisms underscores its significance in restraining aberrant cell growth and maintaining genomic stability. Understanding the complex interplay between RB1 and cellular pathways is beneficial to fully elucidate its tumor-suppressive role across different cancer types and for therapeutic development. As a result, investigating vulnerabilities arising from RB1 deletion-associated …

Advanced Nano-Drug Delivery Systems In The Treatment Of Ischemic Stroke, Jiajie Zhang, Zhong Chen, Qi Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In recent years, the frequency of strokes has been on the rise year by year and has become the second leading cause of death around the world, which is characterized by a high mortality rate, high recurrence rate, and high disability rate. Ischemic strokes account for a large percentage of strokes. A reperfusion injury in ischemic strokes is a complex cascade of oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, immune infiltration, and mitochondrial damage. Conventional treatments are ineffective, and the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) leads to inefficient drug delivery utilization, so researchers are turning their attention to nano-drug delivery systems. Functionalized nano-drug …

Recent Advances In Nanomaterial-Based Biosensor For Periodontitis Detection, Mohammad Hosseini Hooshiar, Masoud Amiri Moghaddam, Mohammad Kiarashi, Athraa Y Al-Hijazi, Abbas Fadel Hussein, Hareth A Alrikabi, Sara Salari, Samar Esmaelian, Hassan Mesgari, Saman Yasamineh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory condition caused by bacteria, often causes gradual destruction of the components that support teeth, such as the alveolar bone, cementum, periodontal ligament, and gingiva. This ultimately results in teeth becoming loose and eventually falling out. Timely identification has a crucial role in preventing and controlling its progression. Clinical measures are used to diagnose periodontitis. However, now, there is a hunt for alternative diagnostic and monitoring methods due to the progress of technology. Various biomarkers have been assessed using multiple bodily fluids as sample sources. Furthermore, conventional periodontal categorization factors do not provide significant insights into the …

Transposable Elements Regulate Thymus Development And Function, Jean-David Larouche, Céline M Laumont, Assya Trofimov, Krystel Vincent, Leslie Hesnard, Sylvie Brochu, Caroline Côté, Juliette F Humeau, Éric Bonneil, Joel Lanoix, Chantal Durette, Patrick Gendron, Jean-Philippe Laverdure, Ellen R Richie, Sébastien Lemieux, Pierre Thibault, Claude Perreault

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Transposable elements (TEs) are repetitive sequences representing ~45% of the human and mouse genomes and are highly expressed by medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs). In this study, we investigated the role of TEs on T-cell development in the thymus. We performed multiomic analyses of TEs in human and mouse thymic cells to elucidate their role in T-cell development. We report that TE expression in the human thymus is high and shows extensive age- and cell lineage-related variations. TE expression correlates with multiple transcription factors in all cell types of the human thymus. Two cell types express particularly broad TE repertoires: …

Sequential Requirements For Distinct Polθ Domains During Theta-Mediated End Joining, Carel Fijen, Lea Drogalis Beckham, Dante Terino, Yuzhen Li, Dale A Ramsden, Richard D Wood, Sylvie Doublié, Eli Rothenberg

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DNA polymerase θ (Polθ) plays a central role in a DNA double-strand break repair pathway termed theta-mediated end joining (TMEJ). TMEJ functions by pairing short-sequence "microhomologies" (MHs) in single-stranded DNA at each end of a break and subsequently initiating DNA synthesis. It is not known how the Polθ helicase domain (HD) and polymerase domain (PD) operate to bring together MHs and facilitate repair. To resolve these transient processes in real time, we utilized in vitro single-molecule FRET approaches and biochemical analyses. We find that the Polθ-HD mediates the initial capture of two ssDNA strands, bringing them in close proximity. The …

Academic Detailing As A Health Information Technology Implementation Method: Supporting The Design And Implementation Of An Emergency Department-Based Clinical Decision Support Tool To Prevent Future Falls, Hanna J Barton, Apoorva Maru, Margaret A Leaf, Daniel J Hekman, Douglas A Wiegmann, Manish N Shah, Brian W Patterson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Clinical decision support (CDS) tools that incorporate machine learning-derived content have the potential to transform clinical care by augmenting clinicians' expertise. To realize this potential, such tools must be designed to fit the dynamic work systems of the clinicians who use them. We propose the use of academic detailing-personal visits to clinicians by an expert in a specific health IT tool-as a method for both ensuring the correct understanding of that tool and its evidence base and identifying factors influencing the tool's implementation.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess academic detailing as a method for simultaneously ensuring the correct …

Human Dna Polymerase Θ Does Not Harbor Intrinsic Nuclease Activity, Denisse Carvajal-Maldonado, Karl Zahn, Ryan Jensen, Richard D Wood, Sylvie Doublié

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Ml241 Antagonizes Erk 1/2 Activation And Inhibits Rotavirus Proliferation, Jinlan Wang, Xiaoqing Hu, Jinyuan Wu, Xiaochen Lin, Rong Chen, Chenxing Lu, Xiaopeng Song, Qingmei Leng, Yan Li, Xiangjing Kuang, Jinmei Li, Lida Yao, Xianqiong Tang, Jun Ye, Guangming Zhang, Maosheng Sun, Yan Zhou, Hongjun Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Rotavirus (RV) is the main pathogen that causes severe diarrhea in infants and children under 5 years of age. No specific antiviral therapies or licensed anti-rotavirus drugs are available. It is crucial to develop effective and low-toxicity anti-rotavirus small-molecule drugs that act on novel host targets. In this study, a new anti-rotavirus compound was selected by ELISA, and cell activity was detected from 453 small-molecule compounds. The anti-RV effects and underlying mechanisms of the screened compounds were explored. In vitro experimental results showed that the small-molecule compound ML241 has a good effect on inhibiting rotavirus proliferation and has low cytotoxicity …

Improved Data Quality And Statistical Power Of Trial-Level Event-Related Potentials With Bayesian Random-Shift Gaussian Processes, Dustin Pluta, Beniamino Hadj-Amar, Meng Li, Yongxiang Zhao, Francesco Versace, Marina Vannucci

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Studies of cognitive processes via electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings often analyze group-level event-related potentials (ERPs) averaged over multiple subjects and trials. This averaging procedure can obscure scientifically relevant variability across subjects and trials, but has been necessary due to the difficulties posed by inference of trial-level ERPs. We introduce the Bayesian Random Phase-Amplitude Gaussian Process (RPAGP) model, for inference of trial-level amplitude, latency, and ERP waveforms. We apply RPAGP to data from a study of ERP responses to emotionally arousing images. The model estimates of trial-specific signals are shown to greatly improve statistical power in detecting significant differences in experimental conditions …

High-Performance Cementitious Composites Containing Nanostructured Carbon Additives Made From Charred Coal Fines, Yuan Gao, Viet Hung Pham, Jennifer Weidman, Ki-Joong Kim, Richard E Spaulding, Congjun Wang, Christopher S Matranga

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Carbon-based nanomaterials, such as carbon nanoplatelets, graphene oxide, and carbon quantum dots, have many possible end-use applications due to their ability to impart unique mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties to cement composites. Despite this potential, these materials are rarely used in the construction industry due to high material costs and limited data on performance and durability. In this study, domestic coal is used to fabricate low-cost carbon nanomaterials that can be used economically in cement formulations. A range of chemical and physical processing approaches are employed to control the size, morphology, and chemical functionalization of the carbon nanomaterial, which …

Tissue-Specific Atlas Of Trans-Models For Gene Regulation Elucidates Complex Regulation Patterns, Robert Dagostino, Assaf Gottlieb

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Deciphering gene regulation is essential for understanding the underlying mechanisms of healthy and disease states. While the regulatory networks formed by transcription factors (TFs) and their target genes has been mostly studied with relation to cis effects such as in TF binding sites, we focused on trans effects of TFs on the expression of their transcribed genes and their potential mechanisms.

RESULTS: We provide a comprehensive tissue-specific atlas, spanning 49 tissues of TF variations affecting gene expression through computational models considering two potential mechanisms, including combinatorial regulation by the expression of the TFs, and by genetic variants within the …

Eye Infection Risks From Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Via Hand Soap And Eye Drops, Anna Gitter, Kristina D Mena, Karla S Mendez, Fuqing Wu, Charles P Gerba

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Eye infections from bacterial contamination of bulk-refillable liquid soap dispensers and artificial tear eye drops continue to occur, resulting in adverse health outcomes that include impaired vision or eye enucleation. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), a common cause of eye infections, can grow in eye drop containers and refillable soap dispensers to high numbers. To assess the risk of eye infection, a quantitative microbial risk assessment for P. aeruginosa was conducted to predict the probability of an eye infection for two potential exposure scenarios: (i) individuals using bacteria-contaminated eye drops and (ii) contact lens wearers washing their hands with …

Gut Symbionts Alleviate Mash Through A Secondary Bile Acid Biosynthetic Pathway, Qixing Nie, Xi Luo, Kai Wang, Yong Ding, Shumi Jia, Qixiang Zhao, Meng Li, Jinxin Zhang, Yingying Zhuo, Jun Lin, Chenghao Guo, Zhiwei Zhang, Huiying Liu, Guangyi Zeng, Jie You, Lulu Sun, Hua Lu, Ming Ma, Yanxing Jia, Ming-Hua Zheng, Yanli Pang, Jie Qiao, Changtao Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The gut microbiota has been found to play an important role in the progression of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), but the mechanisms have not been established. Here, by developing a click-chemistry-based enrichment strategy, we identified several microbial-derived bile acids, including the previously uncharacterized 3-succinylated cholic acid (3-sucCA), which is negatively correlated with liver damage in patients with liver-tissue-biopsy-proven metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). By screening human bacterial isolates, we identified Bacteroides uniformis strains as effective producers of 3-sucCA both in vitro and in vivo. By activity-based protein purification and identification, we identified an enzyme annotated as β-lactamase in B. …

Surface-Functionalized Magnetic Silica-Malachite Tricomposite (Fe–M–Si Tricomposite): A Promising Adsorbent For The Removal Of Cypermethrin, Shaoyu Kong, Min Ouyang, Yi An, Wei Cao, Xiaobo Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Surface charges of catalysts have important influences on the thermodynamics and kinetics of electrochemical reactions. Herein, we develop a modified version of the grand-canonical potential kinetics (GCP-K) method based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations to explore the effect of surface charges on reaction thermodynamics and kinetics. Using the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the Pt(111) surface as an example, we show how to track the change of surface charge in a reaction and how to analyze its influence on the kinetics. Grand-canonical calculations demonstrate that the optimum hydrogen adsorption energy on Pt under the standard hydrogen electrode condition (SHE) …

Brafv600e-Mutant Metastatic Nsclc: Disease Overview And Treatment Landscape, David Planchard, Rachel E Sanborn, Marcelo V Negrao, Aria Vaishnavi, Egbert F Smit

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In this review, we cover the current understanding of BRAF mutations and associated clinical characteristics in patients with metastatic NSCLC, approved and emerging treatment options, BRAF sequencing approaches, and unmet needs. The BRAFV600E mutation confers constitutive activity of the MAPK pathway, leading to enhanced growth, proliferation, and survival of tumor cells. Testing for BRAF mutations enables patients to be treated with therapies that directly target BRAFV600E and the MAPK pathway, but BRAF testing lags behind other oncogene testing in metastatic NSCLC. Additional therapies targeting BRAFV600E mutations provide options for patients with metastatic NSCLC. Emerging therapies and combinations under investigation could …

Emerging Variants Develop Total Escape From Potent Monoclonal Antibodies Induced By Ba4/5 Infection, Chang Liu, Raksha Das, Aiste Dijokaite-Guraliuc, Daming Zhou, Alexander J Mentzer, Piyada Supasa, Muneeswaran Selvaraj, Helen M E Duyvesteyn, Thomas G Ritter, Nigel Temperton, Paul Klenerman, Susanna J Dunachie, Neil G Paterson, Mark A Williams, David R Hall, Elizabeth E Fry, Juthathip Mongkolsapaya, Jingshan Ren, David I Stuart, Gavin R Screaton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 is driven in part by a need to evade the antibody response in the face of high levels of immunity. Here, we isolate spike (S) binding monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from vaccinees who suffered vaccine break-through infections with Omicron sub lineages BA.4 or BA.5. Twenty eight potent antibodies are isolated and characterised functionally, and in some cases structurally. Since the emergence of BA.4/5, SARS-CoV-2 has continued to accrue mutations in the S protein, to understand this we characterize neutralization of a large panel of variants and demonstrate a steady attrition of neutralization by the panel of …

Revolutionizing Diabetic Foot Ulcer Care: The Senotherapeutic Approach, Guiqin Zhang, Priyadarshani Nadeeshika Samarawickrama, Li Gui, Yuan Ma, Mei Cao, Hong Zhu, Wei Li, Honglin Yang, Kecheng Li, Yang Yang, Enfang Zhu, Wen Li, Yonghan He

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a prevalent and profoundly debilitating complication that afflicts individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM). These ulcers are associated with substantial morbidity, recurrence rates, disability, and mortality, imposing substantial economic, psychological, and medical burdens. Timely detection and intervention can mitigate the morbidity and disparities linked to DFU. Nevertheless, current therapeutic approaches for DFU continue to grapple with multifaceted limitations. A growing body of evidence emphasizes the crucial role of cellular senescence in the pathogenesis of chronic wounds. Interventions that try to delay cellular senescence, eliminate senescent cells (SnCs), or suppress the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) have shown …

Syntaxin 3 Is Haplosufficient For Long-Term Photoreceptor Survival In The Mouse Retina, Tahira Jabeen, Muhammad Shahid Khan, Sana Javaid, Waqar Azeem, Rabia Ayoub, Martin Motola

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Here, synthesis and thorough characterization of β-NaFeO2 nanoparticles utilizing a co-precipitation technique is presented. XRD analysis confirmed a hexagonal-phase structure of β-NaFeO2. SEM revealed well-dispersed spherical nanoparticles with an average diameter of 45 nm. The FTIR spectrum analysis revealed weak adsorption bands at 1054 cm-1 suggested metal-metal bond stretching (Fe-Na). UV-Visible spectroscopy indicates a 4.4 eV optical band gap. Colloidal stability of β-NaFeO2 was evidenced via Zeta potential (-28.5 mV) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) measurements. BET analysis reveals a substantial 343.27 m2 g-1 surface area with mesoporous characteristics. Antioxidant analysis indicates efficacy comparable to standard antioxidants, while concentration-dependent antibacterial …

Fabrication Of Mos2/Rgo Hybrids As Electrocatalyst For Water Splitting Applications, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, Tayyaba Noor, Erum Pervaiz, Naseem Iqbal, Neelam Zaman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Environmental degradation and energy constraint are important risks to long-term sustainability in the modern world. Water splitting is a vital approach for environmentally friendly and sustainable energy storage, providing a clean way to produce hydrogen without pollutants. Preparing a catalyst that is active, bifunctional, and durable for water splitting is a difficult task. We addressed the difficulty by creating a bifunctional heterogeneous catalyst, MoS2/rGO, with an ideal weight percentage of 5 wt% by a hydrothermal process. The optimized sample showed exceptional electrocatalytic activity, requiring an overpotential of 242 mV and 120 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA …

Self-Assembled Sting-Activating Coordination Nanoparticles For Cancer Immunotherapy And Vaccine Applications, Xiaoqi Sun, Xuehui Huang, Kyung Soo Park, Xingwu Zhou, Andrew A Kennedy, Carla D Pretto, Qi Wu, Ziye Wan, Yao Xu, Wang Gong, Jonathan Z Sexton, Andrew W Tai, Yu Leo Lei, James J Moon

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The cGAS-STING pathway plays a crucial role in innate immune activation against cancer and infections, and STING agonists based on cyclic dinucleotides (CDN) have garnered attention for their potential use in cancer immunotherapy and vaccines. However, the limited drug-like properties of CDN necessitate an efficient delivery system to the immune system. To address these challenges, we developed an immunostimulatory delivery system for STING agonists. Here, we have examined aqueous coordination interactions between CDN and metal ions and report that CDN mixed with Zn2+ and Mn2+ formed distinctive crystal structures. Further pharmaceutical engineering led to the development of a functional coordination …

Microbiome And Cancer Immunotherapies, Haoyan Chen, Laurence Zitvogel, Zhi Peng, Xiaochen Yin, Florencia Mcallister

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Here, we present 3 different perspectives on how the microbiome has impacted cancer patients, treatment, and clinical studies. We hear about the challenges of implementing microbiome analyses into the clinics, the impact these analyses might have on patients' care, and treatment in the future, specifically for gastric cancer treatment. These are a few of the many voices that are highlighting the role of the microbiome in cancer development, treatment, and clinical outcomes.

Jennifer A Wargo, Nadim J Ajami, And Carrie R Daniel-Macdougall, Jennifer A Wargo, Nadim J Ajami, Carrie R Daniel-Macdougall

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Dr. Jennifer A. Wargo, Dr. Nadim J. Ajami, and Dr. Carrie R. Daniel-MacDougall describe their academic and clinical work on the role of the microbiome to determine response to immunotherapies and discuss current challenges and potential needs to integrate their findings into clinical practice.

The Study On Mechanical Model Considering Optimal Self-Adaption In The Bottleneck Area, Longcheng Yang, Huajun Wang, Jun Hu, Hongyu Pan, Juan Wei, Lei You, Hao Zhang, Junxi Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

It aims to solve the problem that the evacuation state of pedestrians depicted by the traditional social force model in a crowded multiexit scenario has a relatively large difference with the actual state, especially the 'optimal path' considered by the self-driving force is the problem of shortest path, and the multiexit evacuation mode depicted by the 'herd behavior' is the local optimum problem. Through in-depth analysis of actual evacuation data of pedestrians and causes of problem, a new crowd evacuation optimization model is established in order to effectively improve the simulation accuracy of crowd evacuation in a multi-exit environment. The …

Multi-Omics Analysis Reveals Immune Features Associated With Immunotherapy Benefit In Patients With Squamous Cell Lung Cancer From Phase Iii Lung-Map S1400i Trial, Edwin Roger Parra, Jiexin Zhang, Dzifa Yawa Duose, Edgar Gonzalez-Kozlova, Mary W Redman, Hong Chen, Ganiraju C Manyam, Gayatri Kumar, Jianhua Zhang, Xingzhi Song, Rossana Lazcano, Mario L Marques-Piubelli, Caddie Laberiano-Fernandez, Frank Rojas, Baili Zhang, Len Taing, Aashna Jhaveri, Jacob Geisberg, Jennifer Altreuter, Franziska Michor, James Provencher, Joyce Yu, Ethan Cerami, Radim Moravec, Kasthuri Kannan, Rajyalakshmi Luthra, Gheath Alatrash, Hsin-Hui Huang, Hui Xie, Manishkumar Patel, Kai Nie, Jocelyn Harris, Kimberly Argueta, James Lindsay, Roshni Biswas, Stephen Van Nostrand, Seunghee Kim-Schulze, Jhanelle E Gray, Roy S Herbst, Ignacio I Wistuba, Scott Gettinger, Karen Kelly, Lyudmila Bazhenova, Sacha Gnjatic, J Jack Lee, Jianjun Zhang, Cara Haymaker

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Identifying molecular and immune features to guide immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based regimens remains an unmet clinical need.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Tissue and longitudinal blood specimens from phase III trial S1400I in patients with metastatic squamous non-small cell carcinoma (SqNSCLC) treated with nivolumab monotherapy (nivo) or nivolumab plus ipilimumab (nivo+ipi) were subjected to multi-omics analyses including multiplex immunofluorescence (mIF), nCounter PanCancer Immune Profiling Panel, whole-exome sequencing, and Olink.

RESULTS: Higher immune scores from immune gene expression profiling or immune cell infiltration by mIF were associated with response to ICIs and improved survival, except regulatory T cells, which were associated with worse …

Safety Profile And Adverse Event Management For Futibatinib, An Irreversible Fgfr1-4 Inhibitor: Pooled Safety Analysis Of 469 Patients, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Antoine Hollebecque, Junji Furuse, Do-Youn Oh, John A Bridgewater, Masashi Shimura, Bailey Anderson, Nanae Hangai, Volker Wacheck, Lipika Goyal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Futibatinib, a covalently-binding inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR)1-4 gained approval for the treatment of refractory, advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) harboring an FGFR2 fusion/other rearrangement. An integrated analysis was performed to evaluate safety and provide guidance on the management of futibatinib-associated adverse events (AEs) in patients with unresectable/metastatic tumors, including iCCA.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data from three global phase I or II studies of futibatinib (NCT02052778; JapicCTI-142552) were pooled. AEs were graded per NCI CTCAE v4.03, where applicable. Safety was analyzed for patients receiving any futibatinib starting dose (overall population) and in those receiving the approved starting dose …

Proportion Of Cancer Cases And Deaths Attributable To Potentially Modifiable Risk Factors In Peru, Jhony A De La Cruz-Vargas, Willy Ramos, Willer Chanduví, Lucy E Correa-López, Nadia Guerrero, Joan Loayza-Castro, Irene Tami-Maury, Diego Venegas

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Limited evidence exists on the population attributable fraction (PAF) of cancer cases and deaths in Latin America. In Peru several studies have been published regarding the PAF of various risk factors and their associated diseases. The objective of this study was to estimate the fraction of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in Peru in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic in the population of 15 years old and older.

METHODS: An ecological study was conducted using the prevalence of exposure of the Peruvian population to modifiable risk factors for cancer, the relative risk associated with …

Longitudinal Regression Of Covariance Matrix Outcomes, Yi Zhao, Brian S Caffo, Xi Luo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In this study, a longitudinal regression model for covariance matrix outcomes is introduced. The proposal considers a multilevel generalized linear model for regressing covariance matrices on (time-varying) predictors. This model simultaneously identifies covariate-associated components from covariance matrices, estimates regression coefficients, and captures the within-subject variation in the covariance matrices. Optimal estimators are proposed for both low-dimensional and high-dimensional cases by maximizing the (approximated) hierarchical-likelihood function. These estimators are proved to be asymptotically consistent, where the proposed covariance matrix estimator is the most efficient under the low-dimensional case and achieves the uniformly minimum quadratic loss among all linear combinations of the …

Effects Of Family Dignity Interventions Combined With Standard Palliative Care On Family Adaptability, Cohesion, And Anticipatory Grief In Adult Advanced Cancer Survivors And Their Family Caregivers: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Nannan Wang, Kun Wang, Xinyu Lu, Shuyu Zhang, Xuhan Sun, Yuxi Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Family involvement and comfort are equally important in palliative care. Dignity undertook a new meaning and novel challenges as a result of restrictions on visits and companionship during the pandemic. Family-centered family dignity interventions have been shown to be effective in increasing patients' sense of dignity, increasing levels of hope, and reducing psychological distress; however, the effectiveness in enhancing family adaptability and intimacy in the survivor-caregiver binary and reducing expected grief have been inconclusive.

OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of family dignity interventions on family adaptability and cohesion. The secondary objective was …

Icariin Accelerates Bone Regeneration By Inducing Osteogenesis-Angiogenesis Coupling In Rats With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Sheng Zheng, Guan-Yu Hu, Jun-Hua Li, Jia Zheng, Yi-Kai Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Icariin (ICA), a natural flavonoid compound monomer, has multiple pharmacological activities. However, its effect on bone defect in the context of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has not yet been examined.

AIM: to explore the role and potential mechanism of ICA on bone defect in the context of T1DM.

METHODS: The effects of ICA on osteogenesis and angiogenesis were evaluated by alkaline phosphatase staining, alizarin red S staining, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, and immunofluorescence. Angiogenesis-related assays were conducted to investigate the relationship between osteogenesis and angiogenesis. A bone defect model was established in T1DM rats. The …

Sensitivity Analysis With Iterative Outlier Detection For Systematic Reviews And Meta-Analyses, Zhuo Meng, Jingshen Wang, Lifeng Lin, Chong Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Meta-analysis is a widely used tool for synthesizing results from multiple studies. The collected studies are deemed heterogeneous when they do not share a common underlying effect size; thus, the factors attributable to the heterogeneity need to be carefully considered. A critical problem in meta-analyses and systematic reviews is that outlying studies are frequently included, which can lead to invalid conclusions and affect the robustness of decision-making. Outliers may be caused by several factors such as study selection criteria, low study quality, small-study effects, and so on. Although outlier detection is well-studied in the statistical community, limited attention has been …