Digital Commons Network^™

Variants In Washc3, A Component Of The Wash Complex, Cause Short Stature, Variable Neurodevelopmental Abnormalities, And Distinctive Facial Dysmorphism, Youn Hee Jee, Julian C Lui, Dana Marafi, Zhi-Jie Xia, Ruchika Bhatia, Elaine Zhou, Isabella Herman, Adrian Temnycky, Philip Whalen, Gene Elliot, Ellen W Leschek, Robin Wijngaard, Ronald Van Beek, Annemarie De Vreugd, Maaike C De Vries, Clara D M Van Karnebeek, Machteld M Oud, Thomas C Markello, Kevin M Barnes, Hadil Alrohaif, Hudson H Freeze, William A Gahl, May Christine V Malicdan, Jennifer E Posey, James R Lupski, Jeffrey Baron

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: Genetic defects that impair growth plate chondrogenesis cause a phenotype that varies from skeletal dysplasia to mild short stature with or without other syndromic features. In many individuals with impaired skeletal growth, the genetic causes remain unknown.

Method: Exome sequence was performed in 3 unrelated families with short stature, distinctive facies, and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. The impact of identified variants was studied in vitro.

Results: Exome sequencing identified variants in WASHC3, a component of the WASH complex. In the first family, a de-novo-dominant missense variant (p.L69F) impaired WASHC3 participation in the WASH complex, altered PTH1R endosomal trafficking, diminished PTH1R …

Science, Physiology, And Nutrition For The Nonscientist, Judi S. Morrill

Open Educational Resources

A wonderful blend of physiology, nutrition, biochemistry, genetics, biology, evolution, chemistry--what we all need to know as informed citizens. A basic knowledge of the life sciences and how our bodies work--to promote our own good health, especially as we're bombarded with misleading advertisements, soundbites, and the like. DNA fingerprinting, calorie requirements, dietary advice, genetic engineering (including gene editing with CRISPR cas9)--all in an easy-to understand book.

Realities Of Nutrition, Judi S. Morrill

Open Educational Resources

What Is Nutrition Reality? Is it in the advertising claims that a food is natural or supplies instant energy? Is it in the myriad of dietary supplements? Is it in the diet plans for instant weight loss and glowing health? The only way to find out is to learn the basic principles of nutrition science, so you can be your own nutrition expert. Here is the true introduction to nutrition that you will read with pleasure and real understanding. It will free you from dependence on popular sources of information - often misinformation - so you can distinguish illusion from …

The Lived Experiences Of African American Women In Predominantly White Higher Education Institutions In Texas And Their Journey To Advancement To Tenure, Wanda Dyer, Wanda Yvonne Carter-Dyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

African American women are underrepresented in predominantly White higher education institutions in Texas. Inconsistent treatment and policies have contributed to the disparate numbers of African American women in predominately White institutions. African American women are subjected to discrimination based on race, sex, and color. The problem investigated in this study was the barriers to African American tenure-seeking women in predominately White institutions. Barriers discussed in those interviews were discrimination, equity, inclusion, lack of support systems, organizational culture and relationships, and mentors. Six African American women in PWIs in Texas were interviewed to give a voice to the barriers experienced …

Numerical Modelling Of Gravel Transportation By A Tsunami With The Extended Xbeach-G, Masashi Watanabe, Gerd Masselink, Daisuke Ishimura, Masaki Yamada, Adam D. Switzer

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Estimating coastal erosion by a tsunami is essential for land use planning, assessing hazards for current structures (e.g., coastal nuclear power plants), and for paleotsunami reconstruction. Such estimations are currently available only for sandy beaches, using sand sediment transport models, which are not applicable to gravel beaches, which are the most common beach type in high-latitude settings. This study extended the one-dimensional cross-shore XBeach-G model to account for two-dimensional gravel transport by a tsunami. First, this study confirmed that the extended XBeach-G model can simulate a time series of waveforms of solitary waves during laboratory experiments. The proposed model was …

Characterisation Of Tyre Wear Particle Transport From Road Runoff To Sea In Coastal Environments, Florence N.F. Parker-Jurd, Geoffrey D. Abbott, Daniel C. Conley, Cijo M. Xavier, Florian Pohl, Richard C. Thompson

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Data on the fate of tyre wear particles (TWPs) within aquatic environments is limited. This study quantified TWPs entering estuaries in stormwater drainage and atmospheric fallout, and once they have reached the marine environment, within surface waters and sediments. TWPs were found at concentrations of 0.4 mg/L, 2.55 mg/m2/d, 0.00063 mg/L, and 0.96 g/kg respectively. Samples were partitioned by size to examine the distribution of TWP mass. 80-90% of TWP mass entering marine systems (stormwater and atmospheric fallout) lay between 31-125 µm. Larger particles preferentially accumulated in sediments where ∼50 % of TWP mass was >250 μm, compared to surface …

Generalizable Self-Supervised Learning For Brain Cta In Acute Stroke, Yingjun Dong, Samiksha Pachade, Kirk Roberts, Xiaoqian Jiang, Sunil A Sheth, Luca Giancardo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Acute stroke management involves rapid and accurate interpretation of CTA imaging data. However, generalizable models for multiple acute stroke tasks able to learn from unlabeled data do not exist. We propose a linear probed self-supervised contrastive learning utilizing 3D CTA images and the findings section of radiologists' reports for pretraining. Subsequently, the pretrained model was applied to four disparate tasks: large vessel occlusion (LVO) detection, acute ischemic stroke detection, acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage classification, and ischemic core volume prediction. The tasks chosen are particularly challenging as they cannot be directly extracted from the radiology reports findings with keywords. The …

Unraveling Complex Temporal Patterns In Ehrs Via Robust Irregular Tensor Factorization, Ren Yifei, Linghui Zeng, Jian Lou, Li Xiong, Joyce C Ho, Xiaoqian Jiang, Sivasubramanium V Bhavani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Electronic health records (EHRs) contain diverse patient data with varying visit frequencies. While irregular tensor factorization techniques such as PARAFAC2 have been used for extracting meaningful medical concepts from EHRs, existing methods fail to capture non-linear and complex temporal patterns and struggle with missing entries. In this paper, we propose REPAR, an RNN REgularized Robust PARAFAC2 method to model complex temporal dependencies and enhance robustness in the presence of missing data. Our approach employs Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) for temporal regularization and a low-rank constraint for robustness, enabling precise patient subgroup identification and improved clinical decision-making in noisy EHR data. …

Rank Aggregation Methods And Tools In Genomic Data Analysis, Wenping Zou, Savannah Mwesigwa, Sayed-Rzgar Hosseini, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Rank aggregation (RA) is the process of consolidating disparate rankings into a single unified ranking. It holds immense potential in the field of genomics. RA has applications in diverse research areas, such as gene expression analysis, meta-analysis, gene prioritization, and biomarker discovery. However, there are many challenges in the application of the RA approach to biological data, such as dealing with heterogeneous data sources, rankings of mixed quality, and evaluating the consolidated rankings. In this review, we present an overview of the existing RA methods with an emphasis on those that have been tailored to the complexities of genomics research. …

Session Introduction: Translating Big Data Imaging Genomics Findings To The Individual: Prediction Of Risks And Outcomes In Neuropsychiatric Illnesses, Peter Kochunov, Li Shen, Zhongming Zhao, Paul M Thompson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This PSB 2025 session is focused on opportunities, challenges and solutions for translating Big Data Imaging Genomic findings toward powering decision making in personalized medicine and guiding individual clinical decisions. It combines many of the scientific directions that are of interest to PSB members including Big Data analyses, pattern recognition, machine learning and AI, electronic health records and others.

Temporal Ensemble Logic For Integrative Representation Of The Entirety Of Clinical Trials, Xiaojin Li, Yan Huang, Rashmie Abeysinghe, Zenan Sun, Hongyu Chen, Pengze Li, Xing He, Shiqiang Tao, Cui Tao, Jiang Bian, Licong Cui, Guo-Qiang Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Clinical trials are typically specified with protocols that define eligibility criteria, treatment regimens, follow-up schedules, and outcome assessments. Temporality is a hallmark of all clinical trials, reflected within and across trial components, with complex dependencies unfolding across multiple time points. Despite their importance, clinical trial protocols are described in free-text format, limiting their semantic precision and the ability to support automated reasoning, leverage data across studies and sites, or simulate trial execution under varying assumptions using Real-World Data. This paper introduces a formalized representation of clinical trials using Temporal Ensemble Logic (TEL). TEL incorporates metricized modal operators, such as “always …

Non-Invasive Measurement Of Elasticity In Glioblastoma Multiforme Validates Decreased Tmz Sensitivity In Astrocyte Co-Culture, Megan Mendieta, Maryam Hatami, Manmohan Singh, Sajedeh Saeidi Fard, Mohammad Dehshiri, Alexander Schill, Dmitry Nevozhay, Salavat Aglyamov, Bulent Ozpolat, Konstantin V Sokolov, Yasemin M Akay, Kirill V Larin, Metin Akay

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Goal: In this research, we investigated the changes in elasticity of in vitro glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) spheroids when treated with the gold standard chemotherapy for GBM, Temozolomide (TMZ). Additionally, we aimed to use this alternative biomarker to assess how modifying the tumor microenvironment (TME) with the addition of human astrocytes (HA) would influence treatment efficacy. Methods: Spheroid stiffness was investigated using advanced non-invasive optical techniques, nanobomb optical coherence elastography (nb-OCE) and Brillouin microscopy to obtain new biomechanical insights by assessing local tumor progression or response to therapy using GBM cells (LN229). Results: The treated monocultured GBM groups showed a significant …

Nrg Oncology White Paper On The Relative Biological Effectiveness In Proton Therapy, Harald Paganetti, Charles B Simone, Walter R Bosch, Daphne Haas-Kogan, David G Kirsch, Heng Li, Xiaoying Liang, Wei Liu, Anita Mahajan, Michael D Story, Paige A Taylor, Henning Willers, Ying Xiao, Jeffrey C Buchsbaum

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This position paper, led by the NRG Oncology Particle Therapy Work Group, focuses on the concept of relative biologic effect (RBE) in clinical proton therapy (PT), with the goal of providing recommendations for the next-generation clinical trials with PT on the best practice of investigating and using RBE, which could deviate from the current standard proton RBE value of 1.1 relative to photons. In part 1, current clinical utilization and practice are reviewed, giving the context and history of RBE. Evidence for variation in RBE is presented along with the concept of linear energy transfer (LET). The intertwined nature of …

Advanced Method For The In Vivo Measurements Of Lysophospholipid Translocation Across The Inner (Cytoplasmic) Membrane Of Escherichia Coli, Yibin Lin, Lei Zheng, Mikhail Bogdanov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Phospholipid translocation occurs ubiquitously in biological membranes and primarily is protein catalyzed. Lipid flippases mediate the net translocation of specific phospholipids from one leaflet of a membrane to the other. In the inner (cytoplasmic) membrane (IM) of Gram-negative bacteria, lysophospholipid translocase (LplT) and cytosolic bifunctional acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) synthetase/2-acylglycerolphosphoethanolamine acyltransferase (Aas) form a glycerophospholipid regeneration system, which is capable of facilitating rapid retrograde translocation of lyso forms of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and cardiolipin (CL) but not exogenous (host-derived) phosphatidylcholine (PC) across the IM of Gram-negative diderm (two-membraned) bacteria in consequential order lyso-PE = lyso-PG > > lysophosphatidic acid (lyso-PA) >> lyso-PC. …

Efficacy And Safety Of Once-Daily Roflumilast Cream 005% In Pediatric Patients Aged 2-5 Years With Mild-To-Moderate Atopic Dermatitis (Integument-Ped): A Phase 3 Randomized Controlled Trial, Lawrence F Eichenfield, Rocco Serrao, Vimal H Prajapati, John C Browning, Lisa Swanson, Tracy Funk, Mercedes E Gonzalez, Adelaide A Hebert, Mark Lee, Mark Boguniewicz, Eric L Simpson, Melissa S Seal, David Krupa, Diane Hanna, Scott Snyder, Patrick Burnett, David H Chu, Erin Almaraz, Robert C Higham, David R Berk

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background/objectives: Efficacy and safety of roflumilast cream 0.15% were demonstrated in patients aged ≥ 6 years with atopic dermatitis (AD) in two Phase 3 trials. This Phase 3 parallel-group, double-blind trial (INTEGUMENT-PED; NCT04845620) compared the efficacy and safety of roflumilast cream 0.05% and a vehicle in patients aged 2-5 years with AD.

Methods: Patients aged 2-5 years with mild-to-moderate AD were treated with once-daily roflumilast cream 0.05% or vehicle for 4 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was Validated Investigator Global Assessment for AD (vIGA-AD) Success (0 [Clear] or 1 [Almost Clear] plus ≥ 2-grade improvement from baseline) at Week …

Administration Of Anti-Gfap Antibodies Increases Cgrp Expression And Increases Pain Hypersensitivity In Spinal Cord Injured Animals, Georgene W Hergenroeder, Samuel T Molina, Juan J Herrera

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in a multitude of cellular and pathological changes including neuronal loss, axonal damage, gliosis, and loss of motor and sensory function. In 40%-70% of patients, SCI can also trigger the development of neuropathic pain. Our previous study demonstrated that SCI patients who developed autoantibodies to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were at increased risk for the subsequent development of neuropathic pain. However, whether GFAP autoantibodies (GFAPab) contribute to the development of neuropathic pain after SCI had yet to be examined.

Objective: Using a mid-thoracic contusion model of SCI in male Sprague-Dawley rats, we examined …

Editorial: Ovarian Cancer Targeted Medication: Parp Inhibitors, Anti-Angiogenic Drugs, Immunotherapy, And More, Volume Ii, Zhi-Bin Wang, De-Hua Liao, Guang Lei, Zhao-Qian Liu, Nayiyuan Wu, Jing Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Individualized Frequency And Montage Tacs To Engage Theta-Gamma Coupling And Enhance Working Memory In Mild Cognitive Impairment, Mina Mirjalili, Iryna S Palamarchuk, Heather Brooks, Reza Zomorrodi, Ashley Melichercik, Wei Wang, Sean M Nestor, Daniel M Blumberger, Abhishek Datta, Christopher Bowie, Bernadette Mdawar, Kullervo Hynynen, Sanjeev Kumar, Tarek K Rajji

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a clinical prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease. Enhancing executive functions in patients with MCI could optimize cognitive compensatory mechanisms and slow cognitive decline. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) and its connections to the hippocampus support executive functions, including working memory. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) can modulate these connections by engaging theta-gamma coupling (TGC) and may thereby strengthen working memory. This study, "tACS to engage theta-gamma coupling and enhance working memory in MCI" (tACS-MCI), will assess the feasibility and cognitive effects of EEG and MRI-guided individualized tACS. The stimulation will target the prefrontal and temporal cortices …

Comprehensive Genomic Analysis Reveals Molecular Heterogeneity In Pediatric Alk-Positive Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, Timothy I Shaw, Stanley Pounds, Xueyuan Cao, Jing Ma, Gustavo Palacios, John Mason, Sherrie Perkins, Gang Wu, Yiping Fan, Jian Wang, Xin Zhou, Alyssa Obermayer, Marsha C Kinney, Jacqueline Kraveka, Thomas Gross, John Sandlund, Jinghui Zhang, Charles Mullighan, Megan S Lim, Vasiliki Leventaki

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a mature T-cell lymphoma that accounts for 10-15% of childhood lymphomas. Despite the observation that more than 90% of pediatric cases harbor the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement resulting in aberrant ALK kinase expression, there is significant clinical, morphologic, and biological heterogeneity. To gain insights into the genomic aberrations and molecular heterogeneity within ALK-positive ALCL (ALK+ ALCL), we analyzed 46 pediatric ALK+ ALCLs by whole-exome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and DNA methylation profiling. Whole-exome sequencing found on average 25 SNV/Indel events per sample with recurring genetic events in regulators of DNA damage (TP53, MDM4), transcription …

Predictors For Spontaneous Pleurodesis In Patients With Indwelling Pleural Catheters For Malignant Pleural Effusion: A Safety Net Hospital Experience, Saad Farooq, Sabiha Armin, Jordan E Killingsworth, Akriti Agrawal, Adishwar Rao, Rosa M Estrada-Y-Martin, Sujith V Cherian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) affects approximately 150,000 patients in the United States each year and usually signifies advanced-stage cancer. The optimal treatment remains a challenge but indwelling pleural catheters (IPC) offer several advantages and may help achieve spontaneous pleurodesis (SP) in some patients.

Objectives: We aim to investigate the predictors of SP among patients with MPE, particularly in a resource-limited community-based safety net hospital.

Design: This is a retrospective cohort study done at a community-based safety net hospital.

Methods: Adults diagnosed with or suspected of having MPE between January 2015 and December 2023 who underwent IPC placement were included. …

Global Research Trends And Focus On Immunotherapy For Endometrial Cancer: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Insight And Visualization Analysis (2012–2024), Yachen Xu, Tao Wang, Xiaojing Liang, Jie Yang, Yuxiang Zhang, Shan Bao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: This study conducted a novel systematic bibliometric and visualization analysis of global literature on immunotherapy for endometrial cancer (EC) to explore dynamic trends, research hotspots, and emerging topics, providing valuable references for future research.

Methods: Articles and reviews on EC immunotherapy published between 2012 and August 2024 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Bibliometric tools, CiteSpace and VOSviewer, were used to analyze clustering patterns and research dynamics.

Results: A total of 861 articles were contributed by 5,331 authors from 1,392 institutions across 58 countries or regions, involving 1,823 keywords. China demonstrated outstanding performance in this …

Measurement Of Oxygen Consumption Rate In Mouse Aortic Tissue, Zhen Zhou, Ripon Sarkar, Jose Emiliano Esparza Pinelo, Alexis Richard, Jay Dunn, Zhao Ren, Callie S Kwartler, Dianna M Milewicz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAD) is a life-threatening vascular disorder, and smooth muscle cell mitochondrial dysfunction leads to cell death, contributing to TAD. Accurate measurements of metabolic processes are essential for understanding cellular homeostasis in both healthy and diseased states. While assays for evaluating mitochondrial respiration have been well established for cultured cells and isolated mitochondria, no optimized application has been developed for aortic tissue. In this study, we generate an optimized protocol using the Agilent Seahorse XFe24 analyzer to measure mitochondrial respiration in mouse aortic tissue. This method allows for precise measurement of mitochondrial oxygen consumption in mouse …

Long-Term Symptom Burden In A Young, Ambulatory Cohort After The Omicron Outbreak In China, Simeng Ren, Yumeng Tan, Hongkun Xu, Mian Wang, Rumei Xiang, Jiayue Jin, Baojin Han, Jiaheng Shi, Jingyu Zhang, Jinliang Yang, Xin Tian, Ying Li, Jiaojiao Chen, Wenzheng Zhang, Jingqi Yang, Xin Shelley Wang, Qiuling Shi, Jie Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: At the end of 2022, an outbreak of the Omicron BF.7 and BA.5.2 subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 occurred in China. In this prospective cohort study, we investigated the pattern of development of major symptom burden and influencing factors in infected Chinese patients.

Methods: First-time infected outpatients were enrolled from December 7, 2022, to January 11, 2023 (N = 355). The prevalence of symptoms was monitored by a repeated patient-reported quantitative symptom survey over nine months.

Results: At the onset of the infection, the most prevalent symptoms (score ≥1 on a 0-10 numeric rating scale) were fatigue (91.8%), cough (91.8%), …

Characterization Of Additive Gene-Environment Interactions For Colorectal Cancer Risk, Claire E Thomas, Yi Lin, Michelle Kim, Eric S Kawaguchi, Conghui Qu, Caroline Y Um, Brigid M Lynch, Bethany Van Guelpen, Kostas Tsilidis, Robert Carreras-Torres, Franzel J B Van Duijnhoven, Lori C Sakoda, Peter T Campbell, Yu Tian, Jenny Chang-Claude, Stéphane Bézieau, Arif Budiarto, Julie R Palmer, Polly A Newcomb, Graham Casey, Loic Le Marchandz, Marios Giannakis, Christopher I Li, Andrea Gsur, Christina Newton, Mireia Obón-Santacana, Victor Moreno, Pavel Vodicka, Hermann Brenner, Michael Hoffmeister, Andrew J Pellatt, Robert E Schoen, Niki Dimou, Neil Murphy, Marc J Gunter, Sergi Castellví-Bel, Jane C Figueiredo, Andrew T Chan, Mingyang Song, Li Li, D Timothy Bishop, Stephen B Gruber, James W Baurley, Stephanie A Bien, David V Conti, Jeroen R Huyghe, Anshul Kundaje, Yu-Ru Su, Jun Wang, Temitope O Keku, Michael O Woods, Sonja I Berndt, Stephen J Chanock, Catherine M Tangen, Alicja Wolk, Andrea Burnett-Hartman, Anna H Wu, Emily White, Matthew A Devall, Virginia Díez-Obrero, David A Drew, Edward Giovannucci, Akihisa Hidaka, Andre E Kim, Juan Pablo Lewinger, John Morrison, Jennifer Ose, Nikos Papadimitriou, Bens Pardamean, Anita R Peoples, Edward A Ruiz-Narvaez, Anna Shcherbina, Mariana C Stern, Xuechen Chen, Duncan C Thomas, Elizabeth A Platz, W James Gauderman, Ulrike Peters, Li Hsu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common, fatal cancer. Identifying subgroups who may benefit more from intervention is of critical public health importance. Previous studies have assessed multiplicative interaction between genetic risk scores and environmental factors, but few have assessed additive interaction, the relevant public health measure.

Methods: Using resources from CRC consortia, including 45,247 CRC cases and 52,671 controls, we assessed multiplicative and additive interaction (relative excess risk due to interaction, RERI) using logistic regression between 13 harmonized environmental factors and genetic risk score, including 141 variants associated with CRC risk.

Results: There was no evidence of multiplicative interaction …

Rates Of Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections In Hospitalized Non-Immunocompromised Pediatric Patients: A 9-Year Retrospective Study At A Lebanese Tertiary Medical Center, Ramia Zakhour, Sarah Khafaja, Rawan Korman, Celina F Boutros, Zeinab El Zein, Ahmad Chmaisse, Magda Haj, Amani Haddara, Zeina El-Houry, Malak Jbahi, Sarah Chamseddine, Samer Bou Karroum, Dana Al Oweini, Yolla Salama Youssef, Nour Youssef, Mayse Nasser, Danielle Fayad, Farida Abi Farraj, Clara El Nakib, Imad Isaac, Mireille Lteif, George F Araj, Ghassan S Dbaibo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Multidrug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacterial infections are considered a major public health threat. The objectives of this study were to describe the epidemiology, potential contributing factors, and antimicrobial resistance patterns associated with infections caused by MDR Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) in non-immunocompromised children and adolescents.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study conducted at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) from 2009 to 2017. The study included non-immunocompromised patients 18 years of age or younger with infections caused by GNB isolated from a sterile site or nonsterile site in the setting of clinical infection.

Results: A total of …

Targeting Ferroptosis For Neuroprotection: Potential Therapeutic Avenues In Neurodegenerative And Neuropsychiatric Diseases, Muhammad S Khan, Qichan Hu, Kendrix Okeibunor, Liang Ma, Jean C Bopassa

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent programmed cell death that plays an important role in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. In the present study, we have highlighted how different risk factors are involved in the induction of ferroptosis in brain cells. In addition, we also demonstrated how ferroptosis plays an important role in different brain diseases. In our study why we focused and elaborated on the mechanisms of ferroptosis only in brain cells (Neurons, oligodendrocytes, and microglia) because they are particularly vulnerable to such kind of cell death. Additionally, brain cells are more dependent on mitochondrial function, iron regulation, and high levels of …

Mic60/Mitofilin Inhibitor, Miclxin, Induces Rat H9c2 Cardiomyoblast Death By Inhibiting The Removal Of Damaged Mitochondria, Muhammad S Khan, Somayyeh Nasiripour, Michele Oyarzabal, Swati Banerjee, Kumar Sharma, Manzoor A Bhat, Jean C Bopassa

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of various pathologic conditions, including ischemia/reperfusion injury, stroke, myocardial infarction, neurodegeneration and metabolic syndrome. As with all biological organelles, the function of mitochondria is tightly linked to their structure. The inner mitochondrial membrane is a highly regulated membrane with a large surface area that hosts the electron transport chain machinery, generates the membrane potential necessary for ATP generation, and forms the signature cristae folds of mitochondria. The mitochondrial inner membrane protein (Mitofilin/Mic60) is part of a large complex that constitutes the mitochondrial inner membrane organizing system, which is critical in maintaining mitochondrial architecture and function. …

Examining The Relationship Between Cardiometabolic Risk Factors And Telomere Length In Women: A Systematic Review, Jeni Page, Catherine Stephens, Melissa A Richard, Elizabeth Lyons, Elizabeth Baumler, M Terese Verklan, Elizabeth Lorenzo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background and objectives: Cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS) poses a significant public health challenge due to its rising prevalence in aging and significant healthcare costs. Recent studies have suggested telomere length (TL), a marker of cellular aging, may be impacted by CMS among women, but comprehensive evidence remains limited. This study aimed to examine the association between CMS risk factors (increased waist circumference [WC], elevated blood pressure, impaired fasting blood glucose, elevated triglycerides, decreased high-density lipoproteins) and TL in women, with consideration of age and race or ethnicity.

Research design and methods: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines, with searches …

A Prior-Knowledge-Guided Feature Selection Method And Its Application To Biomarker Identification Of Schizophrenia, Ying Xing, Godfrey D Pearlson, Peter Kochunov, Vince D Calhoun, Yuhui Du

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite considerable efforts to uncover the neural basis of psychiatric disorders using neuroimaging, few methods utilize intrinsic brain-derived knowledge, leading to limited specificity and discriminability in biomarker identification. To leverage the inherent characteristics within the brain, we propose a prior-knowledge-guided feature selection method to flexibly unveil discriminative and target-oriented biomarkers of psychiatric disorders. Specifically, we construct a constrained sparse regularization allowing for the flexible integration of diverse prior knowledge to identify sparse neuroimaging features linked to specific psychopathology. Additionally, we simultaneously integrate graph-based regularization and redundancy-removal regularization to further ensure the discriminability and independence among the selected features. Different priors …

Optimization Of Proximity Labeling In Endothelial Cells: Overcoming Endogenous Biotin Interference And Cost Barriers, Ying Jiang, Kuizhi Qu, Mengjun Dai, Yan-Ning Rui, Zhen Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Proximity labeling has become a powerful technique for mapping protein-protein interactions under physiologically relevant conditions, with TurboID offering high enzymatic activity and rapid labeling. However, its application in endothelial systems has been limited, partly due to the presence of endogenous biotin in specialized media, which reduces labeling specificity. Here, we optimized TurboID-mediated proximity labeling in brain microvascular endothelial cells by addressing two key challenges: endogenous biotin interference and cost-effective depletion. We discovered that endothelial cell medium contains substantial biotin levels, which saturate TurboID labeling and obscure the effects of exogenous biotin. Using High Capacity NeutrAvidin