Digital Commons Network^™

Association Between Arsenic Exposure From Drinking Water And Longitudinal Change In Blood Pressure Among Heals Cohort Participants, Jieying Jiang, Mengling Liu, Faruque Parvez, Binhuan Wang, Fen Wu, Mahbub Eunus, Sripal Bangalore, Jonathan D. Newman, Alauddin Ahmed, Tariqul Islam, Muhammed Rakibuz-Zaman, Rabiul Hasan, Golam Sarwar, Diane Levy, Vesna Slavkovich, Maria Argos, Molly Scannell Bryan, Shohreh F. Farzan, Richard B. Hayes, Joseph H. Graziano, Habibul Ahsan, Yu Chen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background:

Cross-sectional studies have shown associations between arsenic exposure and prevalence of high blood pressure; however, studies examining the relationship of arsenic exposure with longitudinal changes in blood pressure are lacking.

Method:

We evaluated associations of arsenic exposure in relation to longitudinal change in blood pressure in 10,853 participants in the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS). Arsenic was measured in well water and in urine samples at baseline and in urine samples every 2 years after baseline. Mixed-effect models were used to estimate the association of baseline well and urinary creatinine-adjusted arsenic with annual change in blood pressure …

Impact Of Insulin Resistance On Neointimal Tissue Proliferation After 2nd-Generation Drug-Eluting Stent Implantation, Takaaki Komatsu, Isao Yaguchi, Sachiko Komatsu, Shiro Nakahara, Sayuki Kobayashi, Yoshihiko Sakai, Isao Taguchi

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Percutaneous coronary intervention is established as an effective treatment for patients with ischemic heart disease; in particular, drug-eluting stent implantation is known to suppress in-stent restenosis. Diabetes mellitus is an independent risk factor for restenosis, so reducing insulin resistance is being studied as a new treatment approach. In this prospective study, we sought to clarify the factors associated with in-stent restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention, and we evaluated the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index as a predictor of restenosis.

We enrolled 136 consecutive patients who underwent elective percutaneous coronary intervention at our hospital from February 2010 through …

Age At Onset In Patients With Medically Refractory Temporal Lobe Epilepsy And Mesial Temporal Sclerosis: Impact On Clinical Manifestations And Postsurgical Outcome., Ali Akbar Asadi-Pooya, Michael R. Sperling

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: To evaluate the demographic and clinical manifestations and postsurgical outcome of childhood-onset mesial temporal sclerosis and temporal lobe epilepsy (MTS-TLE) and establishing the potential differences as compared to the patients with adult-onset MTS-TLE.

METHOD: In this retrospective study all patients with a clinical diagnosis of medically refractory TLE due to mesial temporal sclerosis, who underwent epilepsy surgery at Jefferson comprehensive epilepsy center, were recruited. Patients were prospectively registered in a database from 1986 through 2014. Postsurgical outcome was classified into two groups; seizure-free or relapsed. Clinical manifestations and outcome were compared between patients with childhood-onset MTS-TLE (i.e., age at …

Efficacy Of Galactose And Adalimumab In Patients With Resistant Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis: Report Of The Font Clinical Trial Group., Howard Trachtman, Suzanne Vento, Emily Herreshoff, Milena Radeva, Jennifer Gassman, Daniel T. Stein, Virginia J. Savin, Mukut Sharma, Jochen Reiser, Changli Wei, Michael Somers, Tarak Srivastava, Debbie S. Gipson

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Patients with resistant focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) who are unresponsive to corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive agents are at very high risk of progression to end stage kidney disease. In the absence of curative treatment, current therapy centers on renoprotective interventions that reduce proteinuria and fibrosis. The FONT (Novel Therapies for Resistant FSGS) Phase II clinical trial (NCT00814255, Registration date December 22, 2008) was designed to assess the efficacy of adalimumab and galactose compared to standard medical therapy which was comprised of lisinopril, losartan, and atorvastatin.

METHODS: Key eligibility criteria were biopsy confirmed primary FSGS or documentation of a causative …

Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis In Alopecia Areata Resolves Hla Associations And Reveals Two New Susceptibility Loci, Regina C. Betz, Lynn Petukhova, Stephan Ripke, Hailiang Huang, Androniki Menelaou, Silke Redeler, Tim Becker, Stefanie Heilmann, Tarek Yamany, Madeleine Duvic, Maria Hordinsky, David Norris, Vera H. Price, Julian Mackay-Wiggan, Annemieke De Jong, Gina M. Destefano, Susanne Moebus, Markus Böhm, Ulrike Blume-Peytavi, Hans Wolff, Gerhard Lutz, Roland Kruse, Li Bian, Christopher I. Amos

Dartmouth Scholarship

Alopecia areata (AA) is a prevalent autoimmune disease with ten known susceptibility loci. Here we perform the first meta-analysis in AA by combining data from two genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and replication with supplemented ImmunoChip data for a total of 3,253 cases and 7,543 controls. The strongest region of association is the MHC, where we fine-map 4 independent effects, all implicating HLA-DR as a key etiologic driver. Outside the MHC, we identify two novel loci that exceed statistical significance, containing ACOXL/BCL2L11(BIM) (2q13); GARP (LRRC32) (11q13.5), as well as a third nominally significant region SH2B3(LNK)/ ATXN2 (12q24.12). Candidate susceptibility gene expression …

Nf-Κb Regulation Of C-Flip Promotes Tnfα-Mediated Raf Inhibitor Resistance In Melanoma., Yongping Shao, Kaitlyn Le, Hanyin Cheng, Andrew E. Aplin

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Targeted inhibitors elicit heterogeneous clinical responses in genetically stratified groups of patients. Although most studies focus on tumor intrinsic properties, factors in the tumor microenvironment were recently found to modulate the response to inhibitors. Here, we show that in cutaneous BRAF V600E melanoma, the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) blocks RAF inhibitor-induced apoptosis via activation of NF-κB. Several NF-κB-dependent factors are upregulated following TNFα and RAF inhibitor treatment. Of these factors, we show that death receptor inhibitor cellular caspase 8 (FLICE)-like inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) is required for TNFα-induced protection against RAF inhibitor. Overexpression of c-FLIP_S or c-FLIP_L isoform decreased RAF …

Consumption Of Sutherlandia Frutescens By Hiv-Seropositive South African Adults: An Adaptive Double-Blind Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial., Douglas Wilson, Kathy Goggin, Karen Williams, Mary M. Gerkovich, Nceba Gqaleni, James Syce, Patricia Bartman, Quinton Johnson, William R. Folk

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R. Br. is widely used as an over the counter complementary medicine and in traditional medications by HIV seropositive adults living in South Africa; however the plant's safety has not been objectively studied. An adaptive two-stage randomized double-blind placebo controlled study was used to evaluate the safety of consuming dried S. frutescens by HIV seropositive adults with CD4 T-lymphocyte count of >350 cells/μL.

METHODS: In Stage 1 56 participants were randomized to S. frutescens 400, 800 or 1,200 mg twice daily or matching placebo for 24 weeks. In Stage 2 77 additional participants were randomized to …

Achilles Tendons From Decorin- And Biglycan-Null Mouse Models Have Inferior Mechanical And Structural Properties Predicted By An Image-Based Empirical Damage Model., Joshua A. Gordon, Benjamin R. Freedman, Andrey Zuskov, Renato V. Iozzo, David E. Birk, Louis J. Soslowsky

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Achilles tendons are a common source of pain and injury, and their pathology may originate from aberrant structure function relationships. Small leucine rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) influence mechanical and structural properties in a tendon-specific manner. However, their roles in the Achilles tendon have not been defined. The objective of this study was to evaluate the mechanical and structural differences observed in mouse Achilles tendons lacking class I SLRPs; either decorin or biglycan. In addition, empirical modeling techniques based on mechanical and image-based measures were employed. Achilles tendons from decorin-null (Dcn(-/-)) and biglycan-null (Bgn(-/-)) C57BL/6 female mice (N=102) were used. Each tendon …

Sex Differences In Clinical Features Of Early, Treated Parkinson's Disease, Erika F. Augustine, Adriana Pérez, Rohit Dhall, Chizoba C. Umeh, Aleksandar Videnovic, Franca Cambi, Anne-Marie A. Wills, Jordan J. Elm, Richard M. Zweig, Lisa M. Shulman, Martha A. Nance, Jacquelyn Bainbridge, Oksana Suchowersky

Neurology Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: To improve our understanding of sex differences in the clinical characteristics of Parkinson's Disease, we sought to examine differences in the clinical features and disease severity of men and women with early treated Parkinson's Disease (PD) enrolled in a large-scale clinical trial.

METHODS: Analysis was performed of baseline data from the National Institutes of Health Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease (NET-PD) Long-term Study-1, a randomized, multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 10 grams of oral creatine/day in individuals with early, treated PD. We compared mean age at symptom onset, age at PD diagnosis, and age at randomization between …

New York State: Comparison Of Treatment Outcomes For Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysms Using An Instrumental Variable Analysis, Kimon Bekelis, Symeon Missios, Shannon Coy, Robert J. Singer, Todd A. Mackenzie

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background:

There is wide regional variation in the predominant treatment for unruptured cerebral aneurysms. We investigated the association of elective surgical clipping and endovascular coiling with mortality, readmission rate, length of stay, and discharge to rehabilitation.

Methods and Results:

We performed a cohort study involving patients with unruptured cerebral aneurysms, who underwent surgical clipping or endovascular coiling from 2009 to 2013 and were registered in the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database. An instrumental variable analysis was used to investigate the association of treatment technique with outcomes. Of the 4643 patients undergoing treatment, 3190 (68.7%) underwent coiling, and 1453 …

Improving Early Infant Hiv Diagnosis In Kenya: Study Protocol Of A Cluster-Randomized Efficacy Trial Of The Hitsystem., Sarah Finocchario-Kessler, Kathy Goggin, Samoel Khamadi, Brad Gautney, Jacinda K. Dariotis, Charles Bawcom, An-Lin Cheng, Niaman Nazir, Catherine Martin, Andrea Ruff, Michael Sweat, Vincent Okoth

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Early infant diagnosis among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-exposed infants is a critical component of prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs. Barriers to early infant diagnosis include poor uptake, low retention at designated re-testing intervals, delayed test results, passive systems of communication, and poor linkage to treatment. This study will evaluate the HIV Infant Tracking System (HITSystem), an eHealth intervention that streamlines communication and accountability between the key early infant diagnosis stakeholders: HIV+ mothers and their HIV-exposed infants, healthcare providers, and central laboratory personnel. It is hypothesized that the HITSystem will significantly improve early infant diagnosis retention at 9 and 18 …

Copd: Do Imaging Measurements Of Emphysema And Airway Disease Explain Symptoms And Exercise Capacity?, Miranda Kirby, Damien Pike, Don D Sin, Harvey O Coxson, David G Mccormack, Grace Parraga

Medical Biophysics Publications

PURPOSE: To determine the role of imaging measurements of emphysema and airway disease in determining chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) symptoms and exercise limitation in patients with COPD, particularly in patients with mild-to-moderate disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants (n = 116) with Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) grade U (unclassified) or grade I-IV COPD provided informed consent to an ethics board-approved HIPAA-compliant protocol and underwent spirometry and plethysmography, completed the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), completed a 6-minute walk test for the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), and underwent hyperpolarized helium 3 ((3)He) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and …

Altered Lysosomal Proteins In Neural-Derived Plasma Exosomes In Preclinical Alzheimer Disease, Edward J. Goetzl, Adam Boxer, Janice B. Schwartz, Erin L. Abner, Ronald C. Petersen, Bruce L. Miller, Dimitrios Kapogiannis

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: Diverse autolysosomal proteins were quantified in neurally derived blood exosomes from patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and controls to investigate disordered neuronal autophagy.

METHODS: Blood exosomes obtained once from patients with AD (n = 26) or frontotemporal dementia (n = 16), other patients with AD (n = 20) both when cognitively normal and 1 to 10 years later when diagnosed, and case controls were enriched for neural sources by anti-human L1CAM antibody immunoabsorption. Extracted exosomal proteins were quantified by ELISAs and normalized with the CD81 exosomal marker.

RESULTS: Mean exosomal levels of cathepsin D, lysosome-associated membrane …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Exercise In Spinal And Bulbar Muscular Atrophy., Joseph A Shrader, Ilona Kats, Angela Kokkinis, Cris Zampieri, Ellen Levy, Galen O Joe, Joshua G. Woolstenhulme, Bart E Drinkard, Michaele R Smith, Willie Ching, Laboni Ghosh, Derrick Fox, Sungyoung Auh, Alice B Schindler, Kenneth H Fischbeck, Christopher Grunseich

Physical Therapy and Health Care Sciences Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: To determine the safety and efficacy of a home-based functional exercise program in spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA).

METHODS: Subjects were randomly assigned to participate in 12 weeks of either functional exercises (intervention) or a stretching program (control) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. A total of 54 subjects enrolled, and 50 completed the study with 24 in the functional exercise group and 26 in the stretching control group. The primary outcome measure was the Adult Myopathy Assessment Tool (AMAT) total score, and secondary measures included total activity by accelerometry, muscle strength, balance, timed up …

Fetal, Neonatal, Infant, And Child International Growth Standards: An Unprecedented Opportunity For An Integrated Approach To Assess Growth And Development., Cutberto Garza

Global Health Faculty Publications

The recent publication of fetal growth and gestational age-specific growth standards by the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project and the previous publication by the WHO of infant and young child growth standards based on the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study enable evaluations of growth from ∼9 wk gestation to 5 y. The most important features of these projects are the prescriptive approach used for subject selection and the rigorous testing of the assertion that growth is very similar among geographically and ethnically diverse nonisolated populations when health, nutrition, and other care needs are met …

Hand Use Predicts The Structure Of Representations In Sensorimotor Cortex., Naveed Ejaz, Masashi Hamada, Jörn Diedrichsen

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Fine finger movements are controlled by the population activity of neurons in the hand area of primary motor cortex. Experiments using microstimulation and single-neuron electrophysiology suggest that this area represents coordinated multi-joint, rather than single-finger movements. However, the principle by which these representations are organized remains unclear. We analyzed activity patterns during individuated finger movements using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Although the spatial layout of finger-specific activity patterns was variable across participants, the relative similarity between any pair of activity patterns was well preserved. This invariant organization was better explained by the correlation structure of everyday hand movements than …

Changes In Visual And Sensory-Motor Resting-State Functional Connectivity Support Motor Learning By Observing., Heather R Mcgregor, Paul L Gribble

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Motor learning occurs not only through direct first-hand experience but also through observation (Mattar AA, Gribble PL. Neuron 46: 153-160, 2005). When observing the actions of others, we activate many of the same brain regions involved in performing those actions ourselves (Malfait N, Valyear KF, Culham JC, Anton JL, Brown LE, Gribble PL. J Cogn Neurosci 22: 1493-1503, 2010). Links between neural systems for vision and action have been reported in neurophysiological (Strafella AP, Paus T. Neuroreport 11: 2289-2292, 2000; Watkins KE, Strafella AP, Paus T. Neuropsychologia 41: 989-994, 2003), brain imaging (Buccino G, Binkofski F, Fink GR, Fadiga L, …

Ketamine For The Treatment Of Depression In Patients Receiving Hospice Care: A Retrospective Medical Record Review Of Thirty-One Cases., Alana Iglewicz, Katherine Morrison, Richard A. Nelesen, Tingting Zhan, Boris Iglewicz, Nathan Fairman, Jeremy M. Hirst, Scott A. Irwin

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Depression is prevalent in patients receiving hospice care. Standard antidepressant medications do not work rapidly enough in this setting. Evidence suggests that ketamine rapidly treats treatment refractory depression in the general population. Ketamine׳s role for treating depression in the hospice population warrants further study.

METHODS: A retrospective medical record review of 31 inpatients receiving hospice care who received ketamine for depression on a clinical basis was conducted. The primary outcome measure was the Clinical Global Impression Scale, which was used retrospectively to rate subjects׳ therapeutic improvement, global improvement, and side effects from ketamine over 21 days. Additionally, time to …

Beta-Blocker Use And 30-Day All-Cause Readmission In Medicare Beneficiaries With Systolic Heart Failure, Vikas Bhatia, Kumar Sanam, Taimoor Hashim, Prakash Deedwania, Wilbert S. Aronow, Ross Fletcher, Ali Ahmed

NYMC Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Beta-blockers improve outcomes in patients with systolic heart failure. However, it is unknown whether their initial negative inotropic effect may increase 30-day all-cause readmission, a target outcome for Medicare cost reduction and financial penalty for hospitals under the Affordable Care Act.

METHODS: Of the 3067 Medicare beneficiaries discharged alive from 106 Alabama hospitals (1998-2001) with a primary discharge diagnosis of heart failure and ejection fraction

RESULTS: Beta-blocker use was not associated with 30-day all-cause readmission (hazard ratio [HR] 0.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64-1.18) or heart failure readmission (HR 0.95; 95% CI, 0.57-1.58), but was significantly associated with lower …

Placental Dna Methylation Related To Both Infant Toenail Mercury And Adverse Neurobehavioral Outcomes, Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar Maccani, Devin C. Koestler, Barry Lester, E Andres Houseman, David A. Armstrong, Karl T. Kelsey, Carmen J. Marsit

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background:

Prenatal mercury (Hg) exposure is associated with adverse child neurobehavioral outcomes. Because Hg can interfere with placental functioning and cross the placenta to target the fetal brain, prenatal Hg exposure can inhibit fetal growth and development directly and indirectly.

Objectives:

We examined potential associations between prenatal Hg exposure assessed through infant toenail Hg, placental DNA methylation changes, and newborn neurobehavioral outcomes.

Methods:

The methylation status of > 485,000 CpG loci was interrogated in 192 placental samples using Illumina’s Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadArray. Hg concentrations were analyzed in toenail clippings from a subset of 41 infants; neurobehavior was assessed using the NICU …

Medial Opening Wedge High Tibial Osteotomy: A Retrospective Review Of Patient Outcomes Over 10 Years, Fotios P. Tjoumakaris, Nicholas J. Lombardi, Bradford Tucker, Matthew D. Pepe

Rothman Institute Papers

Objectives: High tibial osteotomy (HTO) has become a well-established treatment for unicompartmental osteoarthritis of the knee. Over the last 30 years, various techniques have been introduced to advance this procedure. The purpose of this study is to review the outcomes of patients who received medial opening wedge HTO over the last ten years (2002-2012) using a modern, low profile, medially based fixation device. In addition, we sought to determine if obese patients had a less favorable outcome than their non-obese counterparts. Methods: Ninety-three patients were identified from a surgical database as having undergone a HTO for medial compartment osteoarthritis of …

Hla-Dqa1 And Plcg2 Are Candidate Risk Loci For Childhood-Onset Steroid-Sensitive Nephrotic Syndrome., Rasheed A. Gbadegesin, Adebowale Adeyemo, Nicholas J A Webb, Larry A A. Greenbaum, Asiri Abeyagunawardena, Shenal Thalgahagoda, Arundhati Kale, Debbie Gipson, Tarak Srivastava, Jen-Jar Lin, Deepa Chand, Tracy E. Hunley, Patrick D. Brophy, Arvind Bagga, Aditi Sinha, Michelle N. Rheault, Joanna Ghali, Kathy Nicholls, Elizabeth Abraham, Halima S. Janjua, Abiodun Omoloja, Gina-Marie Barletta, Yi Cai, David D. Milford, Catherine O'Brien, Atif Awan, Vladimir Belostotsky, William E. Smoyer, Alison Homstad, Gentzon Hall, Guanghong Wu, Shashi Nagaraj, Delbert Wigfall, John Foreman, Michelle P. Winn, Mid-West Pediatric Nephrology Consortium

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) accounts for >80% of cases of nephrotic syndrome in childhood. However, the etiology and pathogenesis of SSNS remain obscure. Hypothesizing that coding variation may underlie SSNS risk, we conducted an exome array association study of SSNS. We enrolled a discovery set of 363 persons (214 South Asian children with SSNS and 149 controls) and genotyped them using the Illumina HumanExome Beadchip. Four common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in HLA-DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 (rs1129740, rs9273349, rs1071630, and rs1140343) were significantly associated with SSNS at or near the Bonferroni-adjusted P value for the number of single variants that were …

Obesity Early In Adulthood Increases Risk But Does Not Affect Outcomes Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Manal M. Hassan, Reham Abdel-Wahab, Ahmed Kaseb, Ahmed Shalaby, Alexandria Phan, Hashem El-Serag, Ernest Hawk, Jeff Morris, Kanwal Pratap Singh Raghav, Ju-Seog Lee, Jean-Nicolas Vauthey, Gehan Bortus, Harrys Torres, Christopher Amos, Robert Wolff, Donghui Li

Dartmouth Scholarship

Despite the significant association between obesity and several cancers, it has been difficult to establish an association between obesity and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Patients with HCC often have ascites, making it a challenge to accurately determine body mass index (BMI), and many factors contribute to the development of HCC. We performed a case–control study to investigate whether obesity early in adulthood affects risk, age of onset, or outcomes of patients with HCC.

Gonad: Genome-Editing Via Oviductal Nucleic Acids Delivery System: A Novel Microinjection Independent Genome Engineering Method In Mice., Gou Takahashi, Channabasavaiah B. Gurumurthy, Kenta Wada, Hiromi Miura, Masahiro Sato, Masato Ohtsuka

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

Microinjection is considered the gold standard technique for delivery of nucleic acids (NAs; transgenes or genome editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 systems) into embryos, for creating genetically modified organisms. It requires sophisticated equipment as well as well-trained and highly skilled personnel to perform the micro-injection technique. Here, we describe a novel and simple microinjection-independent technique, called Genome-editing via Oviductal Nucleic Acids Delivery (GONAD). Using GONAD, we show that NAs (e.g., eGFP mRNA or Cas9 mRNA/sgRNAs) can be effectively delivered to pre-implantation embryos within the intact mouse oviduct by a simple electroporation method, and result in the desired genetic modification in …

Space Environmental Factor Impacts Upon Murine Colon Microbiota And Mucosal Homeostasis, Lauren E. Ritchie, Stella S. Taddeo, Brad R. Weeks, Florence Lima, Susan A. Bloomfield, M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril, Sara R. Zwart, Scott M. Smith, Nancy D. Turner

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Astronaut intestinal health may be impacted by microgravity, radiation, and diet. The aim of this study was to characterize how high and low linear energy transfer (LET) radiation, microgravity, and elevated dietary iron affect colon microbiota (determined by 16S rDNA pyrosequencing) and colon function. Three independent experiments were conducted to achieve these goals: 1) fractionated low LET γ radiation (¹³⁷Cs, 3 Gy, RAD), high Fe diet (IRON) (650 mg/kg diet), and a combination of low LET γ radiation and high Fe diet (IRON+RAD) in male Sprague-Dawley rats; 2) high LET ³⁸Si particle exposure (0.050 Gy), 1/6 G …

Parametric Mapping Of Contrasted Ovarian Transvaginal Sonography., Katrina Korhonen, Ryan Moore, Andrej Lyshchik, Arthur C. Fleischer

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of parametric analysis of transvaginal contrast-enhanced ultrasound (TV-CEUS) for distinguishing benign versus malignant ovarian masses. A total of 48 ovarian masses (37 benign and 11 borderline/malignant) were examined with TV-CEUS (Definity; Lantheus, North Billerica, MA; Philips iU22; Philips Medical Systems, Bothell, WA). Parametric images were created offline with a quantification software (Bracco Suisse SA, Geneva, Switzerland) with map color scales adjusted such that abnormal hemodynamics were represented by the color red and the presence of any red color could be used to differentiate benign and malignant tumors. Using these map …

Bilateral Papillitis And Unilateral Focal Chorioretinitis As The Presenting Features Of Syphilis., Christy E. Benson, Mohamed K. Soliman, Alexander Knezevic, Daisy D. Xu, Quan D. Nguyen, Diana V V. Do

Journal Articles: Ophthalmology

BACKGROUND: Syphilis is a multisystem bacterial infection caused by Treponema pallidum. The incidence of infection in the United States has risen by more than 75% since the year 2000, when it was at a low of 2.1 per 100,000 people. Ocular involvement may occur in any stage of infection and may present in a variety of ways, with posterior uveitis being the most common manifestation. We report a case of ocular syphilis infection with an unusual presentation of bilateral non-granulomatous panuveitis with papillitis and unilateral focal chorioretinitis.

FINDINGS: This is a retrospective case report with literature review. A 39-year-old Caucasian …

Fusion Analysis Of Functional Mri Data For Classification Of Individuals Based On Patterns Of Activation., Mahdi Ramezani, Purang Abolmaesumi, Kris Marble, Heather Trang, Ingrid Johnsrude

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Classification of individuals based on patterns of brain activity observed in functional MRI contrasts may be helpful for diagnosis of neurological disorders. Prior work for classification based on these patterns have primarily focused on using a single contrast, which does not take advantage of complementary information that may be available in multiple contrasts. Where multiple contrasts are used, the objective has been only to identify the joint, distinct brain activity patterns that differ between groups of subjects; not to use the information to classify individuals. Here, we use joint Independent Component Analysis (jICA) within a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification …

Transaction Cost Analysis Of In-Clinic Versus Telehealth Consultations For Chronic Pain: Preliminary Evidence For Rapid And Affordable Access To Interdisciplinary Collaborative Consultation, Brian R. Theodore, Jan Whittington, Cara Towle, David J. Tauben, Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, Alex Cahana, Ardith Z. Doorenbos

Project ECHO Bibliography

OBJECTIVES: With ever increasing mandates to reduce costs and increase the quality of pain management, health care institutions are faced with the challenge of adopting innovative technologies and shifting workflows to provide value-based care. Transaction cost economic analysis can provide comparative evaluation of the consequences of these changes in the delivery of care. The aim of this study was to establish proof-of-concept using transaction cost analysis to examine chronic pain management in-clinic and through telehealth.

METHODS: Participating health care providers were asked to identify and describe two comparable completed transactions for patients with chronic pain: one consultation between patient and …

Genome-Wide Association Study And Admixture Mapping Reveal New Loci Associated With Total Ige Levels In Latinos, Maria Pino-Yanes, Christopher R. Gignoux, Joshua M. Galanter, Albert M. Levin, Catarina D. Campbell, Celeste Eng, Scott Huntsman, Katherine K. Nishimura, Pierre-Antoine Gourraud, Kiana Mohajeri, Brian O'Roak, Donglei Hu, Rasika A. Mathias, Elizabeth A. Nguyen, Lindsey A. Roth, Badri Padhukasahasram, Andres Moreno-Estrada, Karla Sandoval, Cheryl A. Winkler, Fred Lurmann, Adam Davis, Harold J. Farber, Kelley Meade, Pedro C. Avila, Denise Serebrisky, Rocio Chapela, Jean G. Ford, Michael A. Lenoir, Shannon M. Thyne, Emerita Brigino-Buenaventura, Luisa N. Borrell, William Rodriguez-Cintron, Saunak Sen, Rajesh Kumar, Jose R. Rodriguez-Santana, Carlos D. Bustamante, Fernando D. Martinez, Benjamin A. Raby, Scott T. Weiss, Dan L. Nicolae, Carole Ober, Deborah A. Meyers, Eugene R. Bleecker, Steven J. Mack, Ryan D. Hernandez, Evan E. Eichler, Kathleen C. Barnes, Keoki L. Williams, Dara G. Torgerson, Esteban G. Burchard

Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research Articles

BACKGROUND: IgE is a key mediator of allergic inflammation, and its levels are frequently increased in patients with allergic disorders.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify genetic variants associated with IgE levels in Latinos.

METHODS: We performed a genome-wide association study and admixture mapping of total IgE levels in 3334 Latinos from the Genes-environments & Admixture in Latino Americans (GALA II) study. Replication was evaluated in 454 Latinos, 1564 European Americans, and 3187 African Americans from independent studies.

RESULTS: We confirmed associations of 6 genes identified by means of previous genome-wide association studies and identified a novel genome-wide significant association of …