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Incidence And Impact Of Fungal Infections In Post-Transplantation Cyclophosphamide-Based Graft-Versus-Host Disease Prophylaxis And Haploidentical Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: A Center For International Blood And Marrow Transplant Research Analysis, Genovefa A Papanicolaou, Min Chen, Naya He, Michael J Martens, Soyoung Kim, Marjorie V Batista, Neel S Bhatt, Peiman Hematti, Joshua A Hill, Hongtao Liu, Sunita Nathan, Matthew D Seftel, Akshay Sharma, Edmund K Waller, John R Wingard, Jo-Anne H Young, Christopher E Dandoy, Miguel-Angel Perales, Roy F Chemaly, Marcie Riches, Celalettin Ustun

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Fungal infection (FI) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Neutropenia, HLA mismatch, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and viral infections are risk factors for FI. The objectives of this Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research registry study were to compare the incidence and density of FI occurring within 180 days after HCT in matched sibling (Sib) transplants with either calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-based or post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy)-based GVHD prophylaxis and related haploidentical transplants receiving PTCy, and to examine the impact of FI by day 180 on transplantation outcomes.

Methods: Patients who underwent their first …

Aging-Related Biomarker Discovery In The Era Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors For Cancer Patients, Abdullah Al-Danakh, Mohammed Safi, Yuli Jian, Linlin Yang, Xinqing Zhu, Qiwei Chen, Kangkang Yang, Shujing Wang, Jianjun Zhang, Deyong Yang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Older patients with cancer, particularly those over 75 years of age, often experience poorer clinical outcomes compared to younger patients. This can be attributed to age-related comorbidities, weakened immune function, and reduced tolerance to treatment-related adverse effects. In the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) era, age has emerged as an influential factor impacting the discovery of predictive biomarkers for ICI treatment. These age-linked changes in the immune system can influence the composition and functionality of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) that play a crucial role in the cancer response. Older patients may have lower levels of TIICs infiltration due to age-related immune …

Distinct Reproductive Phenotypes Segregate With Differences In Body Weight In Adolescent Polycystic Ovary Syndrome., Angie Chen-Patterson, Angelina Bernier, Tania S. Burgert, Vanessa Davis, Tazeena Khan, David Geller, Emily Paprocki, Rachana Shah, Selma F. Witchel, Camila Pereira-Eshraghi, Aviva B. Sopher, Melanie G. Cree, Laura C. Torchen

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

INTRODUCTION: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogenous clinical syndrome defined by hyperandrogenism and irregular menses. In adult women with PCOS, discrete metabolic and reproductive subgroups have been identified. We hypothesize that distinct phenotypes can be distinguished between adolescent girls who are lean (LN-G) and girls with obesity (OB-G) at the time of PCOS diagnosis.

METHODS: Data were extracted from the CALICO multisite PCOS database. Clinical data collected at the time of diagnosis were available in 354 patients (81% with obesity) from 7 academic centers. Patients with body mass index (BMI) < 85th percentile for age and sex were characterized as lean (LN-G) and those with BMI percentile ≥ 95th percentile as obese (OB-G). We compared metabolic and reproductive phenotypes in LN-G and OB-G.

RESULTS: Reproductive phenotypes differed between the groups, with LN-G …

Editorial: Updates On Radiation-Induced Lymphopenia, Pim J J Damen, Steven H Lin, Peter S N Van Rossum

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Radiotherapy is a commonly employed and effective treatment for cancer, seeking to achieve an optimal balance between tumor cell death and minimizing damage to healthy tissues. Radiation-induced lymphopenia (RIL) is a common side effect due to the high radiosensitivity of lymphocytes even at low doses (< 1Gy), leading to their direct depletion (1). While the detrimental effects of radiotherapy on lymphocytes have been recognized since 1905, its influence on tumor control and survival has remained largely unclear until recently (2). Moreover, awareness and understanding of the prognostic effects of RIL remain limited in daily clinical practice.

Mri-Guided High-Dose-Rate Gynecologic Brachytherapy Using An Mr-Linac As An Mr Simulator: A Single Institutional Experience, Whitney Massock, Yusung Kim, M Alex Dresner, Wenqing Sun, Joseph Caster, Quentin Adams, Jill Jespersen, Joel St-Aubin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: The goal of this study was to commission the use of a magnetic resonance linear accelerator (MR-linac; Unity) for imaging of gynecologic high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy. This included optimizing imaging protocols and workflow development.

Methods and materials: T1-weighted and T2-weighted HDR imaging protocols were optimized on the Unity for HDR gynecologic imaging and treatment planning. Phantom measurements using these protocols were performed to determine geometric distortion and to assess reconstruction accuracy of the applicator compared with the ground truth computed tomography image. A treatment plan was created within the treatment planning system that was then delivered to a phantom. New …

Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy For Gynecologic Malignancies: A Case-Based Radiosurgery Society Practice Review, Colton Ladbury, Mark H Sueyoshi, Nellie M Brovold, Ritesh Kumar, Therese Y Andraos, Emile Gogineni, Minsun Kim, Ann Klopp, Kevin Albuquerque, Charles Kunos, Eric Leung, Constantine Mantz, Tithi Biswas, Sushil Beriwal, William Small, Beth Erickson, David Gaffney, Simon S Lo, Akila N Viswanathan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: The use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for gynecologic malignancies is controversial. We discuss certain circumstances when highly precise SBRT may be a useful tool to consider in the management of selected patients.

Methods and materials: Case selection included the following scenarios, the first 2 with palliative intent, para-aortic nodal oligorecurrence of ovarian cancer, pelvic sidewall oligorecurrence of cervical cancer, and inoperable endometrial cancer boost after intensity modulated radiation to the pelvis treated with curative intent. Patient characteristics, fractionation, prescription dose, treatment technique, and dose constraints were discussed. Relevant literature to these cases was summarized to provide a …

Editorial: Genetic And Cellular Heterogeneity In Tumors, Zishan Wang, Li Ma, Juan Xu, Chunjie Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Egfr, Hla-G, Cd70, C-Met, And Ny-Eso1 As Potential Biomarkers In High Grade Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma, Duc Vo, Yan Liu, Anil K Sood, Katy Rezvani, Amir A Jazaeri, Jinsong Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

High grade epithelial ovarian carcinoma is an aggressive tumor. Treatment includes platinum therapy, however it recurs in most patients due to therapy resistance. In this project, we study the immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of five potential biomarkers/prognostic markers in high grade epithelial ovarian carcinoma: EGFR, HLA-G, CD70, c-MET, and NY-ESO1. A cohort of 274 patients is used. We compare the IHC expression with age, stage, ascites status, family history of cancer, disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). EGFR expression is significantly correlated with family history and worse OS. HLA-G is associated with worse OS. To confirm the results of …

Expert-Centered Evaluation Of Deep Learning Algorithms For Brain Tumor Segmentation, Katharina V Hoebel, Christopher P Bridge, Sara Ahmed, Oluwatosin Akintola, Caroline Chung, Raymond Y Huang, Jason M Johnson, Albert Kim, K Ina Ly, Ken Chang, Jay Patel, Marco Pinho, Tracy T Batchelor, Bruce R Rosen, Elizabeth R Gerstner, Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose To present results from a literature survey on practices in deep learning segmentation algorithm evaluation and perform a study on expert quality perception of brain tumor segmentation. Materials and Methods A total of 180 articles reporting on brain tumor segmentation algorithms were surveyed for the reported quality evaluation. Additionally, ratings of segmentation quality on a four-point scale were collected from medical professionals for 60 brain tumor segmentation cases. Results Of the surveyed articles, Dice score, sensitivity, and Hausdorff distance were the most popular metrics to report segmentation performance. Notably, only 2.8% of the articles included clinical experts' evaluation of …

Monitoring Variations In The Use Of Automated Contouring Software, Kelly A Nealon, Eun Young Han, Stephen F Kry, Callistus Nguyen, Mary Pham, Valerie K Reed, David Rosenthal, Samantha Simiele, Laurence E Court

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to identify variations in the clinical use of automatically generated contours that could be attributed to software error, off-label use, or automation bias.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: For 500 head and neck patients who were contoured by an in-house automated contouring system, Dice similarity coefficient and added path length were calculated between the contours generated by the automated system and the final contours after editing for clinical use. Statistical process control was used and control charts were generated with control limits at 3 standard deviations. Contours that exceeded the thresholds were investigated to determine the cause. Moving …

Predicting Suicidality In Late-Life Depression By 3d Convolutional Neural Network And Cross-Sample Entropy Analysis Of Resting-State Fmri, Chemin Lin, Chih-Mao Huang, Wei Chang, You-Xun Chang, Ho-Ling Liu, Shu-Hang Ng, Huang-Li Lin, Tatia Mei-Chun Lee, Shwu-Hua Lee, Shun-Chi Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Predicting suicide is a pressing issue among older adults; however, predicting its risk is difficult. Capitalizing on the recent development of machine learning, considerable progress has been made in predicting complex behavior such as suicide. As depression remained the strongest risk for suicide, we aimed to apply deep learning algorithms to identify suicidality in a group with late-life depression (LLD).

METHODS: We enrolled 83 patients with LLD, 35 of which were non-suicidal and 48 were suicidal, including 26 with only suicidal ideation and 22 with past suicide attempts, for resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cross-sample entropy (CSE) analysis …

Jointtracker: Real-Time Inertial Kinematic Chain Tracking With Joint Position Estimation, Bertram Taetz, Michael Lorenz, Markus Miezal, Didier Stricker, Gabriele Bleser-Taetz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In-field human motion capture (HMC) is drawing increasing attention due to the multitude of application areas. Plenty of research is currently invested in camera-based (markerless) HMC, with the advantage of no infrastructure being required on the body, and additional context information being available from the surroundings. However, the inherent drawbacks of camera-based approaches are the limited field of view and occlusions. In contrast, inertial HMC (IHMC) does not suffer from occlusions, thus being a promising approach for capturing human motion outside the laboratory. However, one major challenge of such methods is the necessity of spatial registration. Typically, during a predefined …

Insights Into The Assembly And Regulation Of The Bacterial Divisome, Todd A Cameron, William Margolin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The ability to split one cell into two is fundamental to all life, and many bacteria can accomplish this feat several times per hour with high accuracy. Most bacteria call on an ancient homologue of tubulin, called FtsZ, to localize and organize the cell division machinery, the divisome, into a ring-like structure at the cell midpoint. The divisome includes numerous other proteins, often including an actin homologue (FtsA), that interact with each other at the cytoplasmic membrane. Once assembled, the protein complexes that comprise the dynamic divisome coordinate membrane constriction with synthesis of a division septum, but only after overcoming …

Probing Membrane-Associated Cytoskeletal Oligomers Of The Bacterial Divisome By Electron Microscopy And Tomography, Bo Hu, William Margolin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The cell division machinery or "divisome" of many bacteria, including Escherichia coli, contains homologs of tubulin (FtsZ) and actin (FtsA) that interact with each other to promote the synthesis of septal peptidoglycan. FtsA oligomers have an essential role as a track for tethering dynamically treadmilling FtsZ protofilaments to the cytoplasmic membrane. Other bacterial cytoskeletal oligomers such as MreB also assemble on and move along the membrane. Structures of these oligomers on membranes in vitro may mimic their behavior in the cell. Here, we describe a protocol to visualize FtsA oligomeric structures on membranes and their interactions with FtsZ protofilaments using …

Obesity Is Associated With Improved Progression-Free Survival In Microsatellite-Instability-High Endometrial Cancer Treated With Pembrolizumab, Laurence Bernard, Jeffrey A How, Shrina Patel, Melinda S Yates, Amir Jazaeri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: To determine the clinical predictors of response rate, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) to pembrolizumab in advanced or recurrent, mismatch repair deficient (MMRd) or Microsatellite Instability-High (MSI-H) endometrial adenocarcinomas.

Methods: A retrospective, single institution study was conducted among women with recurrent or advanced MMRd or MSI-H endometrial adenocarcinomas treated with single-agent pembrolizumab at our institution from 2017 to 2021. Logistic regression was used for univariable and multivariable analyses. PFS and OS were estimated using the methods of Kaplan and Meier and modeled via Cox proportional hazards regression. Log-rank test was used for intergroup comparisons based on body …

Research Hot Spots And Trends In Endocrine-Related Adverse Events Caused By Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Bibliometric Analysis And Visualization Research, Jun Zhao, Guangwei Liu, Xue Yang, Chuanzhou Zhang, Bing Han, Man Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: In recent years, with the widespread use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in cancer treatment, the toxicity associated with immunotherapy of ICIs has attracted more attention from scholars. Endocrine toxicity is the most likely immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and is often irreversible, posing a significant clinical treatment challenge.

Methods: In this study, bibliometric methods were used to analyze relevant literature in screening endocrine-related adverse events caused by ICIs in the Web of Science core collection database (WoSCC) and to summarize the status, research hot spots, and future trends in this field.

Results: 321 countries, 297 institutions, 365 authors, and …

Nuanced Impacts And Social Perceptions Of Alpine Newts Ichthyosaura Alpestris In The Uk, Alexandra North

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Invasive species are major drivers of environmental change and their incidence appear to be growing worldwide. An understanding of the subtleties and complexities of invasion is important for conservation decision-making as not all introduced species become invasive, and the impacts of those that do can be highly context dependent. The alpine newt Ichthyosaura alpestris is a non-native species that is now widely distributed across the UK. An understanding of the drivers of introduction and spread of this species are in its infancy, and whilst anecdotal reports are indicative of negative ecological impacts, empirical evidence is lacking. This interdisciplinary thesis aims …

Professional Development In Gifted Education: A Systematic Literature Review, Geraldine Townend, Jennifer L. Jolly, Adrian W. Chew

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This systematic literature review explored the importance of professional development (PD) for educators working with gifted students. Findings highlighted the need for PD to improve teacher knowledge, skills, efficacy, and student outcomes, especially considering the heterogeneously grouped classrooms, unique student needs, and lack of pre-service gifted education training for most teachers. The review identified key themes including PD evaluation, teacher perceptions, and pedagogical practices. The findings suggested that effective PD programs should (a) enhance knowledge and classroom practice, (b) be evidence-based, (c) consider both teacher and student outcomes, (d) be of sustained duration, and (e) include collaborative activities with ongoing …

The Emotional Side Of Teaching Conceptions: Exploring The Relationship Between Conceptions Of Teaching And Teacher Burnout, Well-Being, And Resilience, Marc Clarà, Alba Vallés, Sílvia Cavalcante, Aina Franch, Jordi Coiduras, Patricia Silva, Nick Kelly, Tatiana López, Priscila Marchán, Bárbara Padula

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper investigates the relationship between teachers’ conceptions of teaching and several indicators of their emotional experience. With a sample of 200 teachers, the study identifies three dimensions of teaching conceptions, “student-centeredness,” “educational purpose,” and “projection into the future.” Statistical analysis revealed that student-centeredness is negatively correlated with teachers’ resilience and well-being. Additionally, we found that well-being and sense of personal accomplishment are significantly lower, and depersonalization significantly higher, when the educational purpose is psychosocial learning as opposed to academic learning. We also found some differences in conceptions of teaching among different countries and among different educational levels. These results …

Review On Sizing And Management Of Stand-Alone Pv/Wind Systems With Storage, Guétinsom Jean Kafando, Daniel Yamegueu, Etienne Tchoffo Houdji

All Rsif Scholars' Publications

Extending the public electricity grid to rural or peri-urban areas is sometimes very costly and unprofitable due to their remoteness, low population density and sometimes difficult accessibility. In view of this, and in the concern of a sustainable development, the autonomous PV and/or wind power systems is increasingly used. However, these fluctuating source systems remain unreliable due especially to their intermittent nature, what justifies the integration of battery storage systems to them. They are also still expensive, particularly in the African context, limiting their access to the greatest number of the population. In addition to these problems of cost and …

Genomic Epidemiology Of Rift Valley Fever Virus Involved In The 2018 And 2022 Outbreaks In Livestock In Rwanda, Isidore Nsengimana, John Juma, Kristina Roesel, Methode N. Gasana, Fabrice Ndayisenga, Claude M. Muvunyi, Emmanuel Hakizimana, Jean N. Hakizimana, Gillian Eastwood, Augustino A. Chengula, Bernard Bett, Christopher J. Kasanga, Samuel O. Oyola

All Rsif Scholars' Publications

Rift Valley fever (RVF), a mosquito-borne transboundary zoonosis, was first confirmed in Rwanda’s livestock in 2012 and since then sporadic cases have been reported almost every year. In 2018, the country experienced its first large outbreak, which was followed by a second one in 2022. To determine the circulating virus lineages and their ancestral origin, two genome sequences from the 2018 outbreak, and thirty-six, forty-one, and thirty-eight sequences of small (S), medium (M), and large (L) genome segments, respectively, from the 2022 outbreak were generated. All of the samples from the 2022 outbreak were collected from slaughterhouses. Both maximum likelihood …

Health And Education Services During The Covid-19 Pandemic Among Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Other Developmental Disabilities., Karen Pazol, Lin H. Tian, Carolyn Diguiseppi, Maureen S. Durkin, M Daniele Fallin, Eric J. Moody, Cy Nadler, Patrick S. Powell, Nuri Reyes, Britney Robinson, A Blythe Ryerson, Joann M. Thierry, Sarah C. Tinker, Lisa D. Wiggins, Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: Understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic affected children with disabilities is essential for future public health emergencies. We compared children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with those with another developmental disability (DD) and from the general population (POP) regarding (1) missed or delayed appointments for regular health/dental services, immunizations, and specialty services; (2) reasons for difficulty accessing care; and (3) use of remote learning and school supports.

METHOD: Caregivers of children previously enrolled in the Study to Explore Early Development, a case-control study of children with ASD implemented during 2017 to 2020, were recontacted during January-June 2021 to learn about …

A Novel Collaborative Learning Model For Mixed Dentition And Fillings Segmentation In Panoramic Radiographs., Erin Ealba Bumann, Saeed Al-Qarni, Geetha Chandrashekar, Roya Sabzian, Brenda S Bohaty, Yugyung Lee

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

INTRODUCTION: It is critical for dentists to identify and differentiate primary and permanent teeth, fillings, dental restorations and areas with pathological findings when reviewing dental radiographs to ensure that an accurate diagnosis is made and the optimal treatment can be planned. Unfortunately, dental radiographs are sometimes read incorrectly due to human error or low-quality images. While secondary or group review can help catch errors, many dentists work in practice alone and/or do not have time to review all of their patients' radiographs with another dentist. Artificial intelligence may facilitate the accurate interpretation of radiographs. To help support the review of …

Music And Perceived Stress: An Investigation Into The Effects Of Music On Chemistry Students' Perceived Stress Levels, Alice Young, Eric Malina

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Music has long been a prevalent intervention when trying to lower stress in certain populations (Thoma et al., 2013). This study aimed to explore the possible usefulness of music as an intervention for students experiencing stress in the chemistry laboratory setting. Students in general chemistry laboratories were surveyed regarding their stress at the ends of periods in which music was or was not played in their laboratory classes. While the results were not statistically significant, mean stress scores did lower in those groups where music was played. Further research into this topic should focus on type of music, the effects …

Treaties Establishing Icao And Imo – A Comparative Study, Ruwantissa Indranath Abeyratne

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

The comparison between air law and maritime law reveals both similarities and distinctions rooted in the unique frameworks of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and The International Maritime Organization (IMO). While both entities were established through separate treaties, the Chicago Convention birthed ICAO, emphasizing the organization’s Assembly, Council, and auxiliary bodies. In contrast, the IMO Convention, also known as the Convention on the International Maritime Organization, forms the basis for IMO’s structure and functions as outlined in its preamble. The core objectives of IMO revolve around fostering collaboration among governments to enhance regulatory frameworks for international maritime trade. This …

Ethical Use Of A.I Powered Academic Tools, Cherryle Brown

Open Educational Resources

Teach students how to use AI tools to enhance their research skills and information-gathering techniques.

Proposed Methodologies To Cure The No-Fly List’S Current Violations Of The Due Process Clause For Affected U.S. Citizens, Sierra Stone

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Often, the No-Fly List is a helpful tool that increases the safety of commercial aviation for U.S. citizens flying domestically and internationally. The TSA and various intergovernmental agencies utilize a nomination process and those who meet the requisite criteria are added to a database and can be entered into the No-Fly List. Once being placed on the “List,” an individual is no longer allowed to board a flight flying anywhere within or over U.S. airspace. However, for a small number of people, this deprivation of the ability to fly came unjustifiably and without realistic opportunities to be removed from the …

Green Colonialism: Sidelined While On The Front Lines, M. Alexander Pearl

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Growing Tensions: Consumer Privacy And Corporate Disclosures, Megan Wischmeier Shaner

Faculty Articles

Data privacy and data security have become key issues for legislators, regulators, and individual citizens. Roughly two-thirds of Americans believe their data is being regularly tracked, monitored, and collected by companies and the government. A majority of U.S. adults also believe their data is less secure today than five years ago, expressing concerns that they have little control over how their personal information is being used and that the entities who control their data are not responsible stewards. In the absence of comprehensive federal regulation, a continuous stream of privacy statutes have been proposed at the state level. Beginning with …

The Potential For Conflicts Between Ccs Projects And Mineral Extraction, Joseph Schremmer

Faculty Articles

This article classifies the types of conflicts likely to occur between carbon dioxide sequestration and mineral extraction operations occurring simultaneously on the same tract of land. It then sets up framework for thinking through the legal disputes that may result. These are modest goals, and the central problem—concurrent carbon dioxide sequestration and mineral development—is more complex than can be fully analyzed here. I expect that much more work will need to be done on other important questions, hopefully building on this framework. Three further questions worthy of attention are (i) how these principles guide resolutions of specific kinds of disputes, …