Digital Commons Network^™

Prognostic Significance Of Central Skull Base Remodeling In Chiari Ii Malformation, John T Freiling, Nilesh K Desai, Stephen F Kralik, William E Whitehead, Thierry A G M Huisman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background and purpose: Outward convexity of the basiocciput and posterior atlanto-occipital membrane are common in patients with Chiari II malformation associated with an open neural tube defect. We aimed to determine if the severity of these findings correlated with the need for future hydrocephalus treatment.

Materials and methods: A retrospective chart and imaging review identified patients who underwent open neural tube defect repair at a quaternary care pediatric hospital from July 2014 through September 2022. Patients were classified by the need for hydrocephalus treatment and whether they received prenatal or postnatal neural tube defect repair. Measurements of imaging parameters related …

Blocking Senescence And Tolerogenic Function Of Dendritic Cells Induced By Γδ Treg Cells Enhances Tumor-Specific Immunity For Cancer Immunotherapy, Fusheng Si, Xia Liu, Yan Tao, Yuanqin Zhang, Feiya Ma, Eddy C Hsueh, Sidharth V Puram, Guangyong Peng

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Regulatory T (Treg) cells are a key component in maintaining the suppressive tumor microenvironment and immune suppression in different types of cancers. A precise understanding of the molecular mechanisms used by Treg cells for immune suppression is critical for the development of effective strategies for cancer immunotherapy.

METHODS: Senescence development and tolerogenic functions of dendritic cells (DCs) induced by breast cancer tumor-derived γδ Treg cells were fully characterized using real-time PCR, flow cytometry, western blot, and functional assays. Loss-of-function strategies with pharmacological inhibitor and/or neutralizing antibody were used to identify the potential molecule(s) and pathway(s) involved in DC senescence …

Targeting Branched N-Glycans And Fucosylation Sensitizes Ovarian Tumors To Immune Checkpoint Blockade, Hao Nie, Pratima Saini, Taito Miyamoto, Liping Liao, Rafal J Zielinski, Heng Liu, Wei Zhou, Chen Wang, Brennah Murphy, Martina Towers, Tyler Yang, Yuan Qi, Toshitha Kannan, Andrew Kossenkov, Hiroaki Tateno, Daniel T Claiborne, Nan Zhang, Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Rugang Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Aberrant glycosylation is a crucial strategy employed by cancer cells to evade cellular immunity. However, it's unclear whether homologous recombination (HR) status-dependent glycosylation can be therapeutically explored. Here, we show that the inhibition of branched N-glycans sensitizes HR-proficient, but not HR-deficient, epithelial ovarian cancers (EOCs) to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). In contrast to fucosylation whose inhibition sensitizes EOCs to anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy regardless of HR-status, we observe an enrichment of branched N-glycans on HR-proficient compared to HR-deficient EOCs. Mechanistically, BRCA1/2 transcriptionally promotes the expression of MGAT5, the enzyme responsible for catalyzing branched N-glycans. The branched N-glycans on HR-proficient tumors augment their …

Neutrophil Elastase Remodels Mammary Tumors To Facilitate Lung Metastasis, Amriti R Lulla, Said Akli, Cansu Karakas, Joseph A Caruso, Lucas D Warma, Natalie W Fowlkes, Xiayu Rao, Jing Wang, Kelly K Hunt, Stephanie S Watowich, Khandan Keyomarsi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Metastatic disease remains the leading cause of death due to cancer, yet the mechanism(s) of metastasis and its timely detection remain to be elucidated. Neutrophil elastase (NE), a serine protease secreted by neutrophils, is a crucial mediator of chronic inflammation and tumor progression. In this study, we used the PyMT model (NE+/+ and NE-/-) of breast cancer to interrogate the tumor-intrinsic and -extrinsic mechanisms by which NE can promote metastasis. Our results showed that genetic ablation of NE significantly reduced lung metastasis and improved metastasis-free survival. RNA-sequencing analysis of primary tumors indicated differential regulation of tumor-intrinsic actin cytoskeleton signaling pathways …

Genetic Diversity Promotes Resilience In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease., Neelakshi Soni, Lindsay A Hohsfield, Kristine M Tran, Shimako Kawauchi, Amber Walker, Dominic Javonillo, Jimmy Phan, Dina Matheos, Celia Da Cunha, Asli Uyar, Giedre Milinkeviciute, Angela Gomez-Arboledas, Katelynn Tran, Catherine C Kaczorowski, Marcelo A Wood, Andrea J Tenner, Frank M Laferla, Gregory W. Carter, Ali Mortazavi, Vivek Swarup, Grant R Macgregor, Kim N Green

Faculty Research 2024

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with multifactorial etiology, including genetic factors that play a significant role in disease risk and resilience. However, the role of genetic diversity in preclinical AD studies has received limited attention.

METHODS: We crossed five Collaborative Cross strains with 5xFAD C57BL/6J female mice to generate F1 mice with and without the 5xFAD transgene. Amyloid plaque pathology, microglial and astrocytic responses, neurofilament light chain levels, and gene expression were assessed at various ages.

RESULTS: Genetic diversity significantly impacts AD-related pathology. Hybrid strains showed resistance to amyloid plaque formation and neuronal damage. Transcriptome diversity was …

The Power And Promise Of Patient-Derived Xenografts Of Human Breast Cancer, Michael T Lewis, Carlos Caldas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In 2016, a group of researchers engaged in the development of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) of human breast cancer provided a comprehensive review of the state of the field. In that review, they summarized the clinical problem that PDXs might address, the technical approaches to their generation (including a discussion of host animals and transplant conditions tested), and presented transplantation success (take) rates across groups and across transplantation conditions. At the time, there were just over 500 unique PDX models created by these investigators representing all three clinically defined subtypes (ER

Barriers To Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Among People Who Use Drugs In The Rural United States: A Qualitative, Multi-Site Study., T. J. Stopka, A. T. Estadt, G. Leichtling, J. C. Schleicher, L. S. Mixson, J. Bresett, E. Romo, P. Dowd, S. M. Walters, A. M. Young, W. Zule, P. D. Friedmann, V. F. Go, R. Baker, R. J. Fredericksen

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: In 2020, 2.8 million people required substance use disorder (SUD) treatment in nonmetropolitan or 'rural' areas in the U.S. Among this population, only 10% received SUD treatment from a specialty facility, and 1 in 500 received medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). We explored the context surrounding barriers to SUD treatment in the rural United States.

METHODS: We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews from 2018 to 2019 to assess barriers to SUD treatment among people who use drugs (PWUD) across seven rural U.S. study sites. Using the social-ecological model (SEM), we examined individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy factors contributing …

Sensory Experiences Questionnaire Unravels Differences In Sensory Profiles Between Mecp2-Related Disorders, Bernhard Suter, Davut Pehlivan, Muharrem Ak, Holly K Harris, Ariel M Lyons-Warren

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The methyl CpG-binding protein-2 (MECP2) gene is located on the Xq28 region. Loss of function mutations or increased copies of MECP2 result in Rett syndrome (RTT) and MECP2 duplication syndrome (MDS), respectively. Individuals with both disorders exhibit overlapping autism symptoms, yet few studies have dissected the differences between these gene dosage sensitive disorders. Further, research examining sensory processing patterns in persons with RTT and MDS is largely absent. Thus, the goal of this study was to analyze and compare sensory processing patterns in persons with RTT and MDS. Towards this goal, caregivers of 50 female individuals with RTT and 122 …

Reliability And Validity Of Smartphone Cognitive Testing For Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration, Adam M Staffaroni, Nupur Ghoshal, Jason Hassenstab, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is relatively rare, behavioral and motor symptoms increase travel burden, and standard neuropsychological tests are not sensitive to early-stage disease. Remote smartphone-based cognitive assessments could mitigate these barriers to trial recruitment and success, but no such tools are validated for FTLD.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reliability and validity of smartphone-based cognitive measures for remote FTLD evaluations.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this cohort study conducted from January 10, 2019, to July 31, 2023, controls and participants with FTLD performed smartphone application (app)-based executive functioning tasks and an associative memory task 3 times over 2 weeks. …

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Screening In A Contemporary Cohort Of At-Risk Patients, Darine Daher, Karim Seif El Dahan, Nicole E Rich, Nabihah Tayob, Vincent Merrill, Daniel Q Huang, Ju Dong Yang, Anand V Kulkarni, Fasiha Kanwal, Jorge Marrero, Neehar Parikh, Amit G Singal

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: Cohort studies demonstrating an association of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening with reduced mortality are prone to lead-time and length-time biases.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the clinical benefits of HCC screening, adjusting for lead-time and length-time biases, in a diverse, contemporary cohort of at-risk patients.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study of patients with HCC was conducted between January 2008 and December 2022 at 2 large US health systems. Data analysis was performed from September to November 2023.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was screen-detected HCC, defined by abnormal screening-intent abdominal imaging or α-fetoprotein level within 6 …

Re-Evaluation Of The Methodology For Estimating The Us Specialty Physician Workforce, W Stephen Black-Schaffer, David J Gross, Zakia Nouri, Aidan Delisle, Michael Dill, Jason Y Park, James M Crawford, Michael B Cohen, Rebecca L Johnson, Donald S Karcher, Thomas M Wheeler, Stanley J Robboy

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Increasing pursuit of subspecialized training has quietly revolutionized physician training, but the potential impact on physician workforce estimates has not previously been recognized. The Physicians Specialty Data Reports of the Association of American Medical Colleges, derived from specialty designations in the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Professional Data (PPD), are the reference source for US physician workforce estimates; by 2020, the report for pathologists was an undercount of 39% when compared with the PPD. Most of the difference was due to the omission of pathology subspecialty designations. The rest resulted from reliance on only the first of the AMA PPD's …

The Dementia Care Study (D-Care): Recruitment Strategies And Demographic Characteristics Of Participants In A Pragmatic Randomized Trial Of Dementia Care, Mia Yang, Rafael Samper-Ternent, Elena Volpi, Aval-Na'ree Green, Maya Lichtenstein, Katy Araujo, Pamela Borek, Peter Charpentier, James Dziura, Thomas M Gill, Rebecca Galloway, Erich J Greene, Kristin Lenoir, Peter Peduzzi, Can Meng, Jordan Reese, Amy Shelton, Eleni A Skokos, Jenny Summapund, Erin Unger, David B Reuben, Jeff D Williamson, Alan B Stevens

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Pragmatic research studies that include diverse dyads of persons living with dementia (PLWD) and their family caregivers are rare.

METHODS: Community-dwelling dyads were recruited for a pragmatic clinical trial evaluating three approaches to dementia care. Four clinical trial sites used shared and site-specific recruitment strategies to enroll health system patients.

RESULTS: Electronic health record (EHR) queries of patients with a diagnosis of dementia and engagement of their clinicians were the main recruitment strategies. A total of 2176 dyads were enrolled, with 80% recruited after the onset of the pandemic. PLWD had a mean age of 80.6 years (SD 8.5), …

Abatacept Pharmacokinetics And Exposure Response In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19, Stephen J Balevic, Daniel K Benjamin, William G Powderly, P Brian Smith, Daniel Gonzalez, Matthew W Mccarthy, Linda K Shaw, Christopher J Lindsell, Sam Bozzette, Daphne Williams, Benjamin P Linas, John Blamoun, Heta Javeri, Christoph P Hornik

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: The pharmacokinetics of abatacept and the association between abatacept exposure and outcomes in patients with severe COVID-19 are unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize abatacept pharmacokinetics, relate drug exposure with clinical outcomes, and evaluate the need for dosage adjustments.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This study is a secondary analysis of data from the ACTIV-1 (Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines) Immune Modulator (IM) randomized clinical trial conducted between October 16, 2020, and December 31, 2021. The trial included hospitalized adults who received abatacept in addition to standard of care for treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia. Data analysis was performed between September 2022 …

Machine Learning-Enabled Maternal Risk Assessment For Women With Pre-Eclampsia (The Piers-Ml Model): A Modelling Study, Tünde Montgomery-Csobán, Kimberley Kavanagh, Paul Murray, Chris Robertson, Sarah J E Barry, U Vivian Ukah, Beth A Payne, Kypros H Nicolaides, Argyro Syngelaki, Olivia Ionescu, Ranjit Akolekar, Jennifer A Hutcheon, Laura A Magee, Peter Von Dadelszen, Piers Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Affecting 2-4% of pregnancies, pre-eclampsia is a leading cause of maternal death and morbidity worldwide. Using routinely available data, we aimed to develop and validate a novel machine learning-based and clinical setting-responsive time-of-disease model to rule out and rule in adverse maternal outcomes in women presenting with pre-eclampsia.

METHODS: We used health system, demographic, and clinical data from the day of first assessment with pre-eclampsia to predict a Delphi-derived composite outcome of maternal mortality or severe morbidity within 2 days. Machine learning methods, multiple imputation, and ten-fold cross-validation were used to fit models on a development dataset (75% of …

Reciprocal Relationships Between Stress And Depressive Symptoms: The Essential Role Of The Nucleus Accumbens, Yizhou Ma, Peter Kochunov, Mark D Kvarta, Tara Legates, Bhim M Adhikari, Joshua Chiappelli, Andrew Van Der Vaart, Eric L Goldwaser, Heather Bruce, Kathryn S Hatch, Si Gao, Shuo Chen, Ann Summerfelt, Thomas E Nichols, L Elliot Hong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Stress and depression have a reciprocal relationship, but the neural underpinnings of this reciprocity are unclear. We investigated neuroimaging phenotypes that facilitate the reciprocity between stress and depressive symptoms.

METHODS: In total, 22 195 participants (52.0% females) from the population-based UK Biobank study completed two visits (initial visit: 2006-2010, age = 55.0 ± 7.5 [40-70] years; second visit: 2014-2019; age = 62.7 ± 7.5 [44-80] years). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the longitudinal relationship between self-report stressful life events (SLEs) and depressive symptoms. Cross-sectional data were used to examine the overlap between neuroimaging correlates of SLEs and …

Ems Treatment Guidelines In Major Traumatic Brain Injury With Positive Pressure Ventilation, Joshua B Gaither, Daniel W Spaite, Bentley J Bobrow, Bruce Barnhart, Vatsal Chikani, Kurt R Denninghoff, Gail H Bradley, Amber D Rice, Jeffrey T Howard, Samuel M Keim, Chengcheng Hu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: The Excellence in Prehospital Injury Care (EPIC) study demonstrated improved survival in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) following implementation of the prehospital treatment guidelines. The impact of implementing these guidelines in the subgroup of patients who received positive pressure ventilation (PPV) is unknown.

Objective: To evaluate the association of implementation of prehospital TBI evidence-based guidelines with survival among patients with prehospital PPV.

Design, setting, and participants: The EPIC study was a multisystem, intention-to-treat study using a before/after controlled design. Evidence-based guidelines were implemented by emergency medical service agencies across Arizona. This subanalysis was planned a priori and …

Neural And Behavioural State Switching During Hippocampal Dentate Spikes, Jordan S Farrell, Ernie Hwaun, Barna Dudok, Ivan Soltesz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Distinct brain and behavioural states are associated with organized neural population dynamics that are thought to serve specific cognitive functions^1–3. Memory replay events, for example, occur during synchronous population events called sharp-wave ripples in the hippocampus while mice are in an ‘offline’ behavioural state, enabling cognitive mechanisms such as memory consolidation and planning^4–11. But how does the brain re-engage with the external world during this behavioural state and permit access to current sensory information or promote new memory formation? Here we found that the hippocampal dentate spike, an understudied population event that …

An Oocyte-Specific Cas9-Expressing Mouse For Germline Crispr/Cas9-Mediated Genome Editing, Denise G Lanza, Jianqiang Mao, Isabel Lorenzo, Lan Liao, John R Seavitt, M Cecilia Ljungberg, Elizabeth M Simpson, Francesco J Demayo, Jason D Heaney

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cas9 transgenes can be employed for genome editing in mouse zygotes. However, using transgenic instead of exogenous Cas9 to produce gene-edited animals creates unique issues including ill-defined transgene integration sites, the potential for prolonged Cas9 expression in transgenic embryos, and increased genotyping burden. To overcome these issues, we generated mice harboring an oocyte-specific, Gdf9 promoter driven, Cas9 transgene (Gdf9-Cas9) targeted as a single copy into the Hprt1 locus. The X-linked Hprt1 locus was selected because it is a defined integration site that does not influence transgene expression, and breeding of transgenic males generates obligate transgenic females to serve as embryo …

The Role Of Epigenetic Mechanisms In The Long-Term Effects Of Early-Life Adversity And Mother-Infant Relationship On Physiology And Behavior Of Offspring In Laboratory Rats And Mice, Olga V Burenkova, Elena L Grigorenko

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Maternal care during the early postnatal period of altricial mammals is a key factor in the survival and adaptation of offspring to environmental conditions. Natural variations in maternal care and experimental manipulations with maternal-child relationships modeling early-life adversity (ELA) in laboratory rats and mice have a strong long-term influence on the physiology and behavior of offspring in rats and mice. This literature review is devoted to the latest research on the role of epigenetic mechanisms in these effects of ELA and mother-infant relationship, with a focus on the regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. An important part of …

Cognitive Outcomes Of Children With Sagittal Craniosynostosis Treated With Either Endoscopic Or Open Calvarial Vault Surgery, Suresh N Magge, Annahita R Fotouhi, Virginia Allhusen, Brent R Collett, Gary B Skolnick, Sybill D Naidoo, Matthew D Smyth, Robert F Keating, Raj Vyas, Gary F Rogers, Kamlesh B Patel

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Several studies have reported a higher incidence of neurodevelopmental delays and cognitive deficits in patients with single-suture craniosynostosis; however, there are few studies examining the associations of repair type with cognitive outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To measure differences in neuropsychological outcomes between school-age children who were treated for sagittal craniosynostosis and unaffected controls and explore differences in cognitive function among children with sagittal craniosynostosis who were previously treated with either endoscopic strip craniectomy or open calvarial vault surgery.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study was performed between 2018 and 2022. Eligible participants included patients aged 5 to 17 years who …

Abatacept Pharmacokinetics And Exposure Response In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19: A Secondary Analysis Of The Activ-1 Im Randomized Clinical Trial, Stephen J Balevic, Daniel K Benjamin, William G Powderly, P Brian Smith, Daniel Gonzalez, Matthew W Mccarthy, Linda K Shaw, Christopher J Lindsell, Sam Bozzette, Daphne Williams, Benjamin P Linas, John Blamoun, Heta Javeri, Christoph P Hornik, Activ-1 Im Study Group

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: The pharmacokinetics of abatacept and the association between abatacept exposure and outcomes in patients with severe COVID-19 are unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize abatacept pharmacokinetics, relate drug exposure with clinical outcomes, and evaluate the need for dosage adjustments.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This study is a secondary analysis of data from the ACTIV-1 (Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines) Immune Modulator (IM) randomized clinical trial conducted between October 16, 2020, and December 31, 2021. The trial included hospitalized adults who received abatacept in addition to standard of care for treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia. Data analysis was performed between September 2022 …

Brain High-Throughput Multi-Omics Data Reveal Molecular Heterogeneity In Alzheimer's Disease, Abdallah M. Eteleeb, Brenna C. Novotny, Carolina Soriano Tarraga, Christopher Sohn, Eliza Dhungel, Logan Brase, Aasritha Nallapu, Jared Buss, Fabiana Farias, Kristy Bergmann, Joseph Bradley, Joanne Norton, Jen Gentsch, Fengxian Wang, Albert A. Davis, John C. Morris, Celeste M. Karch, Richard J. Perrin, Bruno A. Benitez, Oscar Harari

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Unbiased data-driven omic approaches are revealing the molecular heterogeneity of Alzheimer disease. Here, we used machine learning approaches to integrate high-throughput transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and lipidomic profiles with clinical and neuropathological data from multiple human AD cohorts. We discovered 4 unique multimodal molecular profiles, one of them showing signs of poor cognitive function, a faster pace of disease progression, shorter survival with the disease, severe neurodegeneration and astrogliosis, and reduced levels of metabolomic profiles. We found this molecular profile to be present in multiple affected cortical regions associated with higher Braak tau scores and significant dysregulation of synapse-related genes, endocytosis, …

Systemic Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin Alterations In Chronic Pancreatitis: A Multicenter, Cross-Sectional Study, Kristyn Gumpper-Fedus, Kaylin Chasser, Valentina Pita-Grisanti, Molly Torok, Timothy Pfau, Thomas A Mace, Rachel M Cole, Martha A Belury, Stacey Culp, Phil A Hart, Somashekar G Krishna, Luis F Lara, Mitchell L Ramsey, William Fisher, Evan L Fogel, Chris E Forsmark, Liang Li, Stephen Pandol, Walter G Park, Jose Serrano, Stephen K Van Den Eeden, Santhi Swaroop Vege, Dhiraj Yadav, Darwin L Conwell, Zobeida Cruz-Monserrate, Consortium For The Study Of Chronic Pancreatitis, Diabetes, And Pancreatic Cancer (Cpdpc)

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a progressive fibroinflammatory disorder lacking therapies and biomarkers. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a proinflammatory cytokine elevated during inflammation that binds fatty acids (FAs) such as linoleic acid. We hypothesized that systemic NGAL could serve as a biomarker for CP and, with FAs, provide insights into inflammatory and metabolic alterations.

Methods: NGAL was measured by immunoassay, and FA composition was measured by gas chromatography in plasma (n = 171) from a multicenter study, including controls (n = 50), acute and recurrent acute pancreatitis (AP/RAP) (n = 71), and CP (n = 50). Peripheral blood mononuclear …

Disease Progression, Survival, And Molecular Disparities In Black And White Patients With Endometrioid Endometrial Carcinoma In Real-World Registries And Gog/Nrg Oncology Randomized Phase Iii Clinical Trials, Zachary A Kopelman, Chunqiao Tian, Jordyn Tumas, Neil T Phippen, Christopher M Tarney, Erica R Hope, Stuart S Winkler, Suzanne Jokajtys, Calen W Kucera, John K Chan, Michael T Richardson, Daniel S Kapp, Chad A Hamilton, Charles A Leath, Nathaniel L Jones, Rodney P Rocconi, John H Farley, Angeles Alvarez Secord, Casey M Cosgrove, Matthew A Powell, Ann Klopp, Joan L Walker, Gini F Fleming, Nicholas W Bateman, Thomas P Conrads, G Larry Maxwell, Kathleen M Darcy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Investigate racial disparities in outcomes and molecular features in Black and White patients with endometrioid endometrial carcinoma (EEC).

METHODS: Black and White patients diagnosed with EEC who underwent hysterectomy ± adjuvant treatment in SEER, National Cancer Database (NCDB), the Genomics Evidence Neoplasia Information Exchange (GENIE) project (v.13.0), and eight NCI-sponsored randomized phase III clinical trials (RCTs) were studied. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated for cancer-related death (CRD), non-cancer death (NCD), and all-cause death.

RESULTS: Black (n = 4397) vs. White (n = 47,959) patients in SEER had a HR (95% CI) of 2.04 (1.87-2.23) …

A Randomized, Non-Comparative Phase 2 Study Of Neoadjuvant Immune-Checkpoint Blockade In Retroperitoneal Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma And Extremity/Truncal Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma, Christina L Roland, Elise F Nassif Haddad, Emily Z Keung, Wei-Lien Wang, Alexander J Lazar, Heather Lin, Manoj Chelvanambi, Edwin R Parra, Khalida Wani, B Ashleigh Guadagnolo, Andrew J Bishop, Elizabeth M Burton, Kelly K Hunt, Keila E Torres, Barry W Feig, Christopher P Scally, Valerae O Lewis, Justin E Bird, Ravin Ratan, Dejka Araujo, M Alexandra Zarzour, Shreyaskumar Patel, Robert Benjamin, Anthony P Conley, J Andrew Livingston, Vinod Ravi, Hussein A Tawbi, Patrick P Lin, Bryan S Moon, Robert L Satcher, Bilal Mujtaba, Russell G Witt, Raymond S Traweek, Brandon Cope, Rossana Lazcano, Chia-Chin Wu, Xiao Zhou, Mohammad M Mohammad, Randy A Chu, Jianhua Zhang, Ashish Damania, Pranoti Sahasrabhojane, Taylor Tate, Kate Callahan, Sa Nguyen, Davis Ingram, Rohini Morey, Shadarra Crosby, Grace Mathew, Sheila Duncan, Cibelle F Lima, Jean-Yves Blay, Wolf Herman Fridman, Kenna Shaw, Ignacio Wistuba, Andrew Futreal, Nadim Ajami, Jennifer A Wargo, Neeta Somaiah

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Based on the demonstrated clinical activity of immune-checkpoint blockade (ICB) in advanced dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS) and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS), we conducted a randomized, non-comparative phase 2 trial ( NCT03307616 ) of neoadjuvant nivolumab or nivolumab/ipilimumab in patients with resectable retroperitoneal DDLPS (n = 17) and extremity/truncal UPS (+ concurrent nivolumab/radiation therapy; n = 10). The primary end point of pathologic response (percent hyalinization) was a median of 8.8% in DDLPS and 89% in UPS. Secondary end points were the changes in immune infiltrate, radiographic response, 12- and 24-month relapse-free survival and overall survival. Lower densities of regulatory T cells …

Dietary Magnesium Replacement For Prevention Of Hypomagnesemia In Patients With Ovarian Cancer Receiving Carboplatin-Based Chemotherapy, Wenli Liu, Larissa Meyer, Meroë Morse, Yisheng Li, Juhee Song, Rosalinda Engle, Gabriel Lopez, Santhosshi Narayanan, Pamela T Soliman, Lois Ramondetta, Eduardo Bruera, Lorenzo Cohen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Hypomagnesemia is a common side effect of platinum-based chemotherapy and predicts poor overall survival in some cancers. Standard magnesium replacement strategies are often inadequate for maintaining magnesium levels. We hypothesized that a daily dietary magnesium replacement approach through magnesium-rich foods would help maintain adequate magnesium levels during platinum-based treatment.

Materials and methods: We conducted a prospective feasibility study of magnesium-rich diets in patients 18 years and older with previously untreated ovarian cancer scheduled to receive carboplatin-containing chemotherapy of at least six consecutive cycles. Education about magnesium-rich diets was provided at enrollment and then weekly during chemotherapy. Feasibility was defined …

The Rust Belt Gothic: Charting The Affective Politics Of Deindustrialization And The Emergence Of A Great Lakes Horror Genre In Film, Micheal B. Raines

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the past decade, a string of notable horror films set within the Steel Belt has emerged. These works collectively invoke the specter of the ‘Rust Belt’ in their narratives: the industrial Midwest’s derelict urban and suburban sprawls in the wake of the economic decline and white flight of the USA’s once-mighty manufacturing sector. Scholarship has commented upon the subtext of these works individually but fails to observe their collective nature as an emergent subgenre in horror fiction, centered upon directly confronting the Steel Belt’s twentieth-century history of stagnation. In this paper, I examine films which share clear aesthetic and …

Effect Of Early Vs Late Inguinal Hernia Repair On Serious Adverse Event Rates In Preterm Infants: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Martin L Blakely, Andrea Krzyzaniak, Melvin S Dassinger, Claudia Pedroza, Jorn-Hendrik Weitkamp, Ankush Gosain, Michael Cotten, Susan R Hintz, Henry Rice, Sherry E Courtney, Kevin P Lally, Namasivayam Ambalavanan, Catherine M Bendel, Kim Chi T Bui, Casey Calkins, Nicole M Chandler, Roshni Dasgupta, Jonathan M Davis, Katherine Deans, Daniel A Deugarte, Jeffrey Gander, Carl-Christian A Jackson, Martin Keszler, Karen Kling, Stephen J Fenton, Kimberley A Fisher, Tyler Hartman, Eunice Y Huang, Saleem Islam, Frances Koch, Shabnam Lainwala, Aaron Lesher, Monica Lopez, Meghna Misra, Jamie Overbey, Brenda Poindexter, Robert Russell, Steven Stylianos, Douglas Y Tamura, Bradley A Yoder, Donald Lucas, Donald Shaul, P Ben Ham, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Kara Calkins, Aaron Garrison, Diomel De La Cruz, Shahab Abdessalam, Charlotte Kvasnovsky, Bradley J Segura, Joel Shilyansky, Lynne M Smith, Jon E Tyson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: Inguinal hernia repair in preterm infants is common and is associated with considerable morbidity. Whether the inguinal hernia should be repaired prior to or after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit is controversial.

Objective: To evaluate the safety of early vs late surgical repair for preterm infants with an inguinal hernia.

Design, setting, and participants: A multicenter randomized clinical trial including preterm infants with inguinal hernia diagnosed during initial hospitalization was conducted between September 2013 and April 2021 at 39 US hospitals. Follow-up was completed on January 3, 2023.

Interventions: In the early repair strategy, infants underwent inguinal …

Targeting Mitochondrial Dysfunction Using Methylene Blue Or Mitoquinone To Improve Skeletal Aging., Sher Bahadur Poudel, Dorra Frikha-Benayed, Ryan R Ruff, Gozde Yildirim, Manisha Dixit, Ron Korstanje, Laura Robinson, Richard A Miller, David E Harrison, John R Strong, Mitchell B Schaffler, Shoshana Yakar

Faculty Research 2024

Methylene blue (MB) is a well-established antioxidant that has been shown to improve mitochondrial function in both in vitro and in vivo settings. Mitoquinone (MitoQ) is a selective antioxidant that specifically targets mitochondria and effectively reduces the accumulation of reactive oxygen species. To investigate the effect of long-term administration of MB on skeletal morphology, we administered MB to aged (18 months old) female C57BL/J6 mice, as well as to adult male and female mice with a genetically diverse background (UM-HET3). Additionally, we used MitoQ as an alternative approach to target mitochondrial oxidative stress during aging in adult female and male …

Advocacy Connection Team-Now Educational Program For Headache Fellows And Patients/Caregivers: Assessment Of Educational Objectives, Courtney Seebadri-White, Hsiangkuo Yuan, William B. Young, Karissa N. Arca

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: To assess for improvement in comfort in participating in advocacy for migraine and headache disorders and knowledge needed for successful advocacy.

BACKGROUND: The Advocacy Connection Team (ACT)-Now program is an educational program offered through Miles for Migraine, a non-profit advocacy organization. It is designed to teach headache fellows and patients advocacy skills.

METHODS: In a cross-sectional pre-test-post-test design, the 2021 ACT-Now cohort of 98 participants were administered a set of 11 pre-course survey questions identifying their role (healthcare provider/headache fellow or patient/caregiver), baseline knowledge of migraine-related disability and stigma, and baseline engagement and comfort with advocating. The post-course survey …