Digital Commons Network^™

Can Erythropoietin Reduce Hypoxemic Neurological Damages In Neonates With Congenital Heart Defects?, Sara Ottolenghi, Giuseppina Milano, Michele Dei Cas, Tina O Findley, Rita Paroni, Antonio F Corno

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Congenital heart defects (CHD), the most common cause of birth defects with increasing birth prevalence, affect nearly 1% of live births worldwide. Cyanotic CHD are characterized by hypoxemia, with subsequent reduced oxygen delivery to the brain, especially critical during brain development, beginning in the fetus and continuing through the neonatal period. Therefore, neonates with CHD carry a high risk for neurological comorbidities, even more frequently when there are associated underlying genetic disorders. We review the currently available knowledge on potential prevention strategies to reduce brain damage induced by hypoxemia during fetal development and immediately after birth, and the role of …

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 …

“Doing What I Can, But I Got No Magic Wand:” A Snapshot Of Early Childhood Educator Experiences And Efforts To Ensure Quality During The Covid-19 Pandemic, April Crawford, Kelly A Vaughn, Cathy L Guttentag, Cheryl Varghese, Yoonkyung Oh, Tricia A Zucker

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted early childhood programs serving infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in dramatic ways. After temporarily closing, many educators quickly adapted their procedures to ensure children's safety as they reopened to provide childcare for essential workers and then the community at large. This manuscript reports on statewide efforts to continue quality improvement initiatives for early childhood programs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We first describe the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for over 2000 educators-teachers, administrators, and specialists-who completed surveys in the Spring and Fall of 2020. These survey data come from a statewide system called the Texas Early Childhood …

Recognizing A Mis-Chievous Cause Of Acute Viral Gastroenteritis, Rohit Josyabhatla, Ankur A Kamdar, Shabba A Armbrister, Rhea Daniel, Konstantinos Boukas, Keely G Smith, Melissa R Van Arsdall, Kokila Kakarala, Anthony R Flores, Audrey Wanger, Yuying Liu, Jon Marc Rhoads

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Historically, children evaluated for vomiting and diarrhea secondary to viral enteritis have symptoms lasting 2-4 days and respond to supportive care, including oral rehydration and anti-emetics if required. Recently, within a 14-day timespan, we encountered three children with severe diarrhea who rapidly became dehydrated and went into hypotensive shock. Although SARS-CoV-2 molecular tests were negative by nasopharyngeal swab, all were later found to have MIS-C. This small case series underscores features reported in previous larger studies and emphasizes the rapid clinical evolution of this condition. We highlight the importance of early recognition of cardinal laboratory findings characteristic of MIS-C (i.e., …

Recurrent Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Tenosynovitis, Melissa Kwan, Richard Tupler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Nontuberculous mycobacteria are an uncommon pathogen for musculoskeletal infection and are difficult to treat because of delays in diagnosis, prolonged treatment requiring both antimycobacterial therapy and surgical debridement, and high rates of resistance to antimycobacterial therapy.

Case Report: We report the case of an 88-year-old male with recurrent Mycobacterium avium complex tenosynovitis despite receiving multiple courses of pharmacologic therapy and surgical debridement.

Conclusion: Nontuberculous mycobacterial musculoskeletal infections can be difficult to diagnose and equally difficult to treat. A combination of antimycobacterial therapy and surgical debridement is often required; however, the rate of treatment failure remains high, particularly with rapidly …

Prevalence And Factors Associated With Mental Health Symptoms In Adults Undergoing Covid-19 Testing, Ikponmwosa Osaghae, Linh K Nguyen, Tong Han Chung, Olivia Moffitt, Yen-Chi L Le, Mark B Suh, Pooja N Prasad, Eric J Thomas, Christine D Gordon, Kevin O Hwang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Understanding the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on persons receiving COVID-19 testing will help guide mental health interventions. We aimed to determine the association between sociodemographic factors and mental health symptoms at 8 weeks (baseline) after a COVID-19 test, and compare prevalence of mental health symptoms at baseline to those at 16-week follow-up.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective cohort study of adults who received outpatient COVID-19 testing at primary care clinics. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19 test results with mental health symptoms. Mental health symptoms reported at …

Prevalence And Factors Associated With Mental Health Symptoms In Adults Undergoing Covid-19 Testing, Ikponmwosa Osaghae, Linh K Nguyen, Tong Han Chung, Olivia Moffitt, Yen-Chi L Le, Mark B Suh, Pooja N Prasad, Eric J Thomas, Christine D Gordon, Kevin O Hwang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Understanding the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on persons receiving COVID-19 testing will help guide mental health interventions. We aimed to determine the association between sociodemographic factors and mental health symptoms at 8 weeks (baseline) after a COVID-19 test, and compare prevalence of mental health symptoms at baseline to those at 16-week follow-up.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective cohort study of adults who received outpatient COVID-19 testing at primary care clinics. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19 test results with mental health symptoms. Mental health symptoms reported at …

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, …

Pathologic Femur Fracture Through Osteoid Osteoma After Radiofrequency Ablation: Case Report And Review Of The Literature, Nathan B Rogers, Brennan P Roper, Alfred A Mansour

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This is a case report of a 4-year-old girl who sustained a femoral shaft fracture 2 weeks after radiofrequency ablation of an osteoid osteoma. The fracture occurred after a relatively low-energy impact, jumping off the second to last step of a staircase. The pathologic fracture was successfully treated with closed reduction and spica casting, with full return to activities. Cases have been reported in the literature of femoral shaft fractures in older patients after radiofrequency ablation, but all are farther out than 2 weeks and none in patients as young as 4 years.

Extensive Mycobacterium Abscessus Pneumonia In An Immunocompetent Infant With No Underlying Lung Pathology, Morouge M Alramadhan, James R Murphy, Michael L Chang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pulmonary infection due to Mycobacterium abscessus occurs in patients with cystic fibrosis, but rarely in immunocompetent children without underlying lung pathology. Treatment is complicated by frequent resistance to many antibiotics. We present a case report of a 4-month-old female infant with 2 months of cough, difficulty feeding, and failure to thrive, with extensive culture-confirmed M. abscessus pulmonary infection without identified immunodeficiency or underlying lung pathology following multidisciplinary evaluation. We describe our complete evaluation including immunodeficiency evaluation incorporating whole-exome sequencing, describe our antibiotic selection and treatment duration given complicated susceptibility pattern of the M. abscessus isolate, and review literature for nontuberculous …

Awareness And Preparedness Of Healthcare Workers Against The First Wave Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey Across 57 Countries, Nguyen Tien Huy, R Matthew Chico, Vuong Thanh Huan, Hosam Waleed Shaikhkhalil, Vuong Ngoc Thao Uyen, Ahmad Taysir Atieh Qarawi, Shamael Thabit Mohammed Alhady, Nguyen Lam Vuong, Le Van Truong, Mai Ngoc Luu, Shyam Prakash Dumre, Atsuko Imoto, Peter N Lee, Dao Ngoc Hien Tam, Sze Jia Ng, Mohammad Rashidul Hashan, Mitsuaki Matsui, Nguyen Tran Minh Duc, Sedighe Karimzadeh, Nut Koonrungsesomboon, Chris Smith, Sharon Cox, Kazuhiko Moji, Kenji Hirayama, Le Khac Linh, Kirellos Said Abbas, Tran Nu Thuy Dung, Tareq Mohammed Ali Al-Ahdal, Emmanuel Oluwadare Balogun, Nguyen The Duy, Mennatullah Mohamed Eltaras, Trang Huynh, Nguyen Thi Linh Hue, Bui Diem Khue, Abdelrahman Gad, Gehad Mohamed Tawfik, Kazumi Kubota, Hoang-Minh Nguyen, Dmytro Pavlenko, Vu Thi Thu Trang, Le Thuong Vu, Tran Hai Yen, Nguyen Thi Yen-Xuan, Luong Thi Trang, Vinh Dong, Akash Sharma, Vu Quoc Dat, Mohammed Soliman, Jeza Abdul Aziz, Jaffer Shah, Pham Dinh Long Hung, Yap Siang Jee, Dang Thuy Ha Phuong, Tran Thuy Huong Quynh, Hoang Thi Nam Giang, Vy Thi Nhat Huynh, Nguyen Anh Thi, Nacir Dhouibi, Truc Phan, Vincent Duru, Nguyen Hai Nam, Sherief Ghozy, Tmgh-Global Covid-19 Collaborative

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave.

METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training.

RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 …

Pathologic Femur Fracture Through Osteoid Osteoma After Radiofrequency Ablation: Case Report And Review Of The Literature, Nathan B Rogers, Brennan P Roper, Alfred A Mansour

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This is a case report of a 4-year-old girl who sustained a femoral shaft fracture 2 weeks after radiofrequency ablation of an osteoid osteoma. The fracture occurred after a relatively low-energy impact, jumping off the second to last step of a staircase. The pathologic fracture was successfully treated with closed reduction and spica casting, with full return to activities. Cases have been reported in the literature of femoral shaft fractures in older patients after radiofrequency ablation, but all are farther out than 2 weeks and none in patients as young as 4 years.

N95 Respirator Reuse, Decontamination Methods, And Microbial Burden: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Zi Yang Jiang, Zhen Huang, Isaac Schmale, Eric L Brown, Michael C Lorenz, Scott J Patlovich, Karan Goswami, Hannah B Wilson, Jumah Ahmad, Ronda Alexander, William Bryan, Luke Burke, Martin J Citardi, Jose Elias, Tang Ho, Jack Jacob, Garren Low, Pedro Miramón, Aniruddha U Patki, William C Yao, Amber U Luong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness and ease of N95 respirator decontamination methods in a clinic setting and to identify the extent of microbial colonization on respirators associated with reuse.

METHODS: In a prospective fashion, N95 respirators (n = 15) were randomized to a decontamination process (time, dry heat, or ultraviolet C light [UVC]) in outpatient clinics. Each respirator was re-used up to 5 separate clinic sessions. Swabs on each respirator for SARS-CoV-2, bacteria, and fungi were obtained before clinic, after clinic and post-treatment. Mask integrity was checked after each treatment (n = 68). Statistical analyses were performed to determine factors …

N95 Respirator Reuse, Decontamination Methods, And Microbial Burden: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Zi Yang Jiang, Zhen Huang, Isaac Schmale, Eric L Brown, Michael C Lorenz, Scott J Patlovich, Karan Goswami, Hannah B Wilson, Jumah Ahmad, Ronda Alexander, William Bryan, Luke Burke, Martin J Citardi, Jose Elias, Tang Ho, Jack Jacob, Garren Low, Pedro Miramón, Aniruddha U Patki, William C Yao, Amber U Luong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness and ease of N95 respirator decontamination methods in a clinic setting and to identify the extent of microbial colonization on respirators associated with reuse.

METHODS: In a prospective fashion, N95 respirators (n = 15) were randomized to a decontamination process (time, dry heat, or ultraviolet C light [UVC]) in outpatient clinics. Each respirator was re-used up to 5 separate clinic sessions. Swabs on each respirator for SARS-CoV-2, bacteria, and fungi were obtained before clinic, after clinic and post-treatment. Mask integrity was checked after each treatment (n = 68). Statistical analyses were performed to determine factors …

Addressing Health Literacy For Improved Outcomes: A Focus On Pregnancy, S.L. Killeen, I. Brown, A.A. Geraghty, F.M. Mcauliffe

Articles

Health literacy influences how messages are received and understood by patient or population groups. In Europe, incomprehension of health information is common, affecting the ability of many individuals to make informed decisions about their health. In addition, incomprehension of health information may impact the effectiveness of interventions and subsequently, health outcomes. In this article, we illustrate the importance of health literacy in the context of maternity services, a time during which, health interventions affect both maternal and child health. Through this, we suggest that health literacy should be recognised in healthcare settings as a tool to facilitate behaviour change. To …

Here You Have To Be Mixing: Collaborative Learning On An Engineering Program In Ireland As Experienced By A Group Of Young Middle Eastern Women, Shannon Chance, Bill Williams

Articles

This research project uses grounded theory to analyze interviews conducted with eight women from Oman and Kuwait. Members of the sample group were studying together at an institute of technology in Dublin, Ireland. The paper reports patterns in 15 interviews collected in the years 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 to provide a longitudinal overview of the experience of the learners. During the coding process, three major themes emerged having to do with the experience of learning with others and/or learning in groups. The first theme involved communication within the group and the group's approaches to working together. The second identified …

Disaster Analysis Using Satellite Image Data With Knowledge Transfer And Semi-Supervised Learning Techniques, Palavi Jain

Reports

With the increase in frequency of disasters and crisis situations like floods, earthquake and hurricanes, the requirement to handle the situation efficiently through disaster response and humanitarian relief has increased. Disasters are mostly unpredictable in nature with respect to their impact on people and property. Moreover, the dynamic and varied nature of disasters makes it difficult to predict their impact accurately for advanced preparation of responses [104]. It is also notable that the economical loss due to natural disasters has increased in recent years, and it, along with the pure humanitarian need, is one of the reasons to research innovative …

Toward A More Perma(Nent) Conceptualization Of Worker Well-Being? A Cross-Cultural Study Of The Workplace Perma Profiler, William P. Jimenez, Xiaoxiao Hu, Rebecca Garden, Xiaofei Xie

Psychology Faculty Publications

We examined the factor structure of the recently developed worker well-being measure the Workplace PERMA Profiler and relationships between PERMA dimensions (i.e., positive emotions, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, accomplishment) and job performance (viz., task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors benefiting individuals and the organization at large). The measure exhibited metric (i.e., weak) invariance across samples of participants from the U.S. (N = 284) and China (N = 420). Additionally, for participants who responded to both the Workplace PERMA Profiler and the performance measures, there was a general pattern of positive PERMA–performance relationships across both …

Fake It Till You Make It With Your Boss? Surface Acting In Interactions With Leaders, Xiaoxiao Hu, Yujie Zhan, William P. Jimenez, Rebecca Garden, Yi Li

Psychology Faculty Publications

Due to its influence on important workplace outcomes, surface acting has drawn increasing attention from researchers in recent years. Most of the research in this area has focused on employees’ interactions with individuals external to the organization, such as customers and clients (Bolton, 2005; Grandey et al., 2013). With the current study, we contribute to and extend the literature by focusing on employees’ leader-directed surface acting and examining how leader-directed surface acting (i.e., faking positive emotions and suppressing negative emotions in interactions with one’s leader) relates to leader ratings of employee task performance. Data collected from 414 employees and 103 …

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury, Suicide Planning, And Suicide Attempt Among High-Risk Adolescents Prior To Psychiatric Hospitalization, Christina M. Sellers, Antonia Díaz-Valdés, Andrew C. Porter, Catherine R. Glenn, Adam Bryant Miller, Adeline Wyman Battalen, Kimberly H. Mcmanama O'Brien

Psychology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to understand the trajectories of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide plans (SP) in the 90 days prior to inpatient hospitalization, understand the role of NSSI and SP in predicting suicide attempts (SA) on a given day, and to test the interaction between NSSI and SP in predicting same-day SA. Participants included 69 adolescents (77% female, 65% white, 77% Non-Hispanic/Latinx, Mage = 15.77 SDage = 1.00) from an inpatient psychiatric unit. Past 90 day NSSI, SP, and SA were measured using the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale and Timeline Follow Back. First, mixed effect models …

Reconciling The Past: Language Validation In A First-Year Experience Course At A Border, Jose Saldivar

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) has made part of its mission to become a bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate public institution. Established in 2015 on two legacy institutions, The University of Texas-Pan American and The University of Texas Brownsville, it must reconcile a past that was not always welcoming of its students’ bilingualism. This article examines one instructor’s experience taking one of the university’s signature first-year experience courses and creating a class that is welcoming and supportive of the students’ bilingualism while also reconciling his own educational experiences with language.

Admissions Viewbook, 2021-2022, Illinois State University, Office Of Admissions

Admissions Viewbook

Recruitment booklet created by Illinois State University's Office of Admissions

Striving For Equity In Pandemic Times: The Administrator's Role In The Shift To Online Education In K-12 And Higher Education Spaces, Linsay Demartino, S. Gavin Weiser

Faculty Publications - College of Education

This chapter considers the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the reality of educational administrators in U.S.-based institutions of education. Looking closely at 17 educational administrators from both K-12 systems and institutions of higher education, the authors come to a more comprehensive understanding of crisis leadership and its impact on equitable educational practices – both for students as well as for the administrators themselves. This chapter is based on a larger project the authors undertook to explore through narratives and photography the experiences of administrators during the global COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020. This chapter illustrates the …

The Desert Flowers Always Bloom Following The Monsoon: Activism, School Boards, And Covid-19, Linsay Demartino, S. Gavin Weiser

Faculty Publications - College of Education

No abstract provided.

Restoration Of Cardiac Function After Myocardial Infarction By Long-Term Activation Of The Cns Leptin-Melanocortin System, Fabio N Gava, Alexandre A Da Silva, Xuemei Dai, Romain Harmancey, Sadia Ashraf, Ana C M Omoto, Mateus C Salgado, Sydney P Moak, Xuan Li, John E Hall, Jussara M Do Carmo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Heart failure has a high mortality rate, and current therapies offer limited benefits. The authors demonstrate that activation of the central nervous system leptin-melanocortin pathway confers remarkable protection against progressive heart failure following severe myocardial infarction. The beneficial cardiac-protective actions of leptin require activation of brain melanocortin-4 receptors and elicit improvements in cardiac substrate oxidation, cardiomyocyte contractility, Ca

Racial Disparities In Systemic Sclerosis: Short‐ And Long‐Term Outcomes Among African American Participants Of Sls I And Ii, Elizabeth R Volkmann, Virginia Steen, Ning Li, Michael D Roth, Philip J Clements, Daniel E Furst, Shervin Assassi, Dinesh Khanna, Grace-Hyun J Kim, Jonathan Goldin, Robert M Elashoff, Donald P Tashkin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate short- and long-term outcomes of African American (AA) participants of Scleroderma Lung Studies (SLS) I and II.

METHODS: SLS I randomized 158 participants with systemic sclerosis-interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) to 1 year of oral cyclophosphamide (CYC) versus placebo. SLS II randomized 142 participants with SSc-ILD to 1 year of oral CYC followed by 1 year of placebo versus 2 years of mycophenolate (MMF). Joint models compared the course of forced vital capacity (FVC) and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) between AA and non-AA, and Cox proportional hazard models assessed long-term morbidity and mortality outcomes.

RESULTS: In …

Restoration Of Cardiac Function After Myocardial Infarction By Long-Term Activation Of The Cns Leptin-Melanocortin System, Fabio N Gava, Alexandre A Da Silva, Xuemei Dai, Romain Harmancey, Sadia Ashraf, Ana C M Omoto, Mateus C Salgado, Sydney P Moak, Xuan Li, John E Hall, Jussara M Do Carmo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Heart failure has a high mortality rate, and current therapies offer limited benefits. The authors demonstrate that activation of the central nervous system leptin-melanocortin pathway confers remarkable protection against progressive heart failure following severe myocardial infarction. The beneficial cardiac-protective actions of leptin require activation of brain melanocortin-4 receptors and elicit improvements in cardiac substrate oxidation, cardiomyocyte contractility, Ca