Digital Commons Network^™

Tuberculosis Screening In Migrants To The Eu/Eea And Uk, Niklas Köhler, Anca Vasiliu, Anna Maria Mandalakas, Leonardo Martinez, Christoph Lange

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Amoxicillin On The Gut Microbiome Of Children With Severe Acute Malnutrition In Madarounfa, Niger: A Retrospective Metagenomic Analysis Of A Placebo-Controlled Trial, Drew J Schwartz, Amy Langdon, Xiaoqing Sun, Céline Langendorf, Fatou Berthé, Rebecca F Grais, Indi Trehan, Sheila Isanaka, Gautam Dantas

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Children with severe acute malnutrition are treated with antibiotics as outpatients. We aimed to determine the effect of 7 days of amoxicillin on acute and long-term changes to the gut microbiome and antibiotic resistome in children treated for severe acute malnutrition.

METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial (NCT01613547) of amoxicillin in children (aged 6-59 months) with severe acute malnutrition treated as outpatients in Madarounfa, Niger. We randomly selected 161 children from the overall cohort (n=2399) for initial 12-week follow-up from Sept 23, 2013 to Feb 3, 2014. We selected a convenience sample of …

Market Competition And Anemia Management In The United States Following Dialysis Payment Reform, Anshul Bhatnagar, Vishnupriyadevi Parvathareddy, Wolfgang C Winkelmayer, Glenn M Chertow, Kevin F Erickson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Whether market competition influences health care provider responses to national reimbursement reforms is unknown.

OBJECTIVES: We examined whether changes in anemia management after the expansion of Medicare's dialysis payment bundle varied with market competition.

RESEARCH DESIGN: With data from the US dialysis registry, we used a difference-in-differences (DID) design to estimate the independent associations of market competition with changes in anemia management after dialysis reimbursement reform.

SUBJECTS: A total of 326,150 patients underwent in-center hemodialysis in 2009 and 2012, representing periods before and after reimbursement reform.

MEASURES: Outcomes were erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) and intravenous iron dosage, the probability of …

Identification Of Novel Genetic Loci For Risk Of Multiple Myeloma By Functional Annotation, Angelica Macauda, Klara Briem, Alyssa Clay-Gilmour, Wendy Cozen, Asta Försti, Matteo Giaccherini, Chiara Corradi, Juan Sainz, Yasmeen Niazi, Rob Ter Horst, Yang Li, Mihai G Netea, Ulla Vogel, Kari Hemminki, Susan L Slager, Judit Varkonyi, Vibeke Andersen, Elzbieta Iskierka-Jazdzewska, Joaquin Mártinez-Lopez, Jan Zaucha, Nicola J Camp, S Vincent Rajkumar, Agnieszka Druzd-Sitek, Parveen Bhatti, Stephen J Chanock, Shaji K Kumar, Edyta Subocz, Grzegorz Mazur, Stefano Landi, Mitchell J Machiela, Andrés Jerez, Aaron D Norman, Michelle A T Hildebrandt, Katalin Kadar, Sonja I Berndt, Elad Ziv, Gabriele Buda, Arnon Nagler, Charles Dumontet, Malgorzata Raźny, Marzena Watek, Aleksandra Butrym, Norbert Grzasko, Marek Dudzinski, Malwina Rybicka-Ramos, Eva-Laure Matera, Ramón García-Sanz, Hartmut Goldschmidt, Krzysztof Jamroziak, Artur Jurczyszyn, Esther Clavero, Graham G Giles, Matteo Pelosini, Daria Zawirska, Marcin Kruszewski, Herlander Marques, Eva Haastrup, José Manuel Sánchez-Maldonado, Uta Bertsch, Marcin Rymko, Marc-Steffen Raab, Elizabeth E Brown, Jonathan N Hofmann, Celine Vachon, Daniele Campa, Federico Canzian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Ramipril For The Treatment Of Covid-19: Ramic, A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial, Daniel Q Huang, Veeral Ajmera, Christian Tomaszewski, Andrew Lafree, Ricki Bettencourt, Wesley K Thompson, Davey M Smith, Atul Malhotra, Ravindra L Mehta, Vaishal Tolia, Jeffrey Yin, Paul A Insel, Stone Leachman, Jinho Jung, Summer Collier, Lisa Richards, Kristin Woods, Maral Amangurbanova, Archana Bhatt, Xinlian Zhang, Oana M Penciu, Stuart Zarich, Tamrat Retta, Michelle S Harkins, J Pedro Teixeira, Brian Chinnock, Netanya S Utay, Jordan E Lake, Rohit Loomba

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Retrospective studies report that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) may reduce the severity of COVID-19, but prospective data on de novo treatment with ACEIs are limited. The RAMIC trial was a randomized, multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind, allocation-concealed clinical trial to examine the efficacy of de novo ramipril versus placebo for the treatment of COVID-19.

Methods: Eligible participants were aged 18 years and older with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, recruited from urgent care clinics, emergency departments, and hospital inpatient wards at eight sites in the USA. Participants were randomly assigned to daily ramipril 2.5 mg or placebo orally in a …

Increasing Glutathione Levels By A Novel Posttranslational Mechanism Inhibits Neuronal Hyperexcitability, Ashwini Sri Hari, Rajeswari Banerji, Li-Ping Liang, Ruth E Fulton, Christopher Quoc Huynh, Timothy Fabisiak, Pallavi Bhuyan Mcelroy, James R Roede, Manisha Patel

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Glutathione (GSH) depletion, and impaired redox homeostasis have been observed in experimental animal models and patients with epilepsy. Pleiotropic strategies that elevate GSH levels via transcriptional regulation have been shown to significantly decrease oxidative stress and seizure frequency, increase seizure threshold, and rescue certain cognitive deficits. Whether elevation of GSH per se alters neuronal hyperexcitability remains unanswered. We previously showed that thiols such as dimercaprol (DMP) elevate GSH via post-translational activation of glutamate cysteine ligase (GCL), the rate limiting GSH biosynthetic enzyme. Here, we asked if elevation of cellular GSH by DMP altered neuronal hyperexcitability in-vitro and in-vivo. Treatment of …

Feasibility Of A Dietary Intervention To Modify Gut Microbial Metabolism In Patients With Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Mary M Riwes, Jonathan L Golob, John Magenau, Mengrou Shan, Gregory Dick, Thomas Braun, Thomas M Schmidt, Attaphol Pawarode, Sarah Anand, Monalisa Ghosh, John Maciejewski, Darren King, Sung Choi, Gregory Yanik, Marcus Geer, Ethan Hillman, Costas A Lyssiotis, Muneesh Tewari, Pavan Reddy

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Evaluation of the impact of dietary intervention on gastrointestinal microbiota and metabolites after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is lacking. We conducted a feasibility study as the first of a two-phase trial. Ten adults received resistant potato starch (RPS) daily from day −7 to day 100. The primary objective was to test the feasibility of RPS and its effect on intestinal microbiome and metabolites, including the short-chain fatty acid butyrate. Feasibility met the preset goal of 60% or more, adhering to 70% or more doses; fecal butyrate levels were significantly higher when participants were on RPS than when they …

Appropriateness Of Antibiotic Prescribing Varies By Clinical Services At United States Children's Hospitals., Devin T. Diggs, Alison C. Tribble, Rebecca G. Same, Jason G. Newland, Brian R. Lee, Sharing Antimicrobial Reports For Pediatric Stewardship (Sharps) Collaborative

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: To describe patterns of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing at US children's hospitals and how these patterns vary by clinical service.

DESIGN: Serial, cross-sectional study using quarterly surveys.

SETTING: Surveys were completed in quarter 1 2019-quarter 3 2020 across 28 children's hospitals in the United States.

PARTICIPANTS: Patients at children's hospitals with ≥1 antibiotic order at 8:00 a.m. on institution-selected quarterly survey days.

METHODS: Antimicrobial stewardship physicians and pharmacists collected data on antibiotic orders and evaluated appropriateness of prescribing. The primary outcome was percentage of inappropriate antibiotics, stratified by clinical service and antibiotic class. Secondary outcomes included reasons for inappropriate use …

Human Intestinal Organoids From Cronkhite-Canada Syndrome Patients Reveal Link Between Serotonin And Proliferation, Victoria Poplaski, Carolyn Bomidi, Amal Kambal, Hoa Nguyen-Phuc, Sara C Di Rienzi, Heather A Danhof, Xi-Lei Zeng, Linda A Feagins, Nan Deng, Eduardo Vilar, Florencia Mcallister, Cristian Coarfa, Soyoun Min, Hyun Jung Kim, Richa Shukla, Robert Britton, Mary K Estes, Sarah E Blutt

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cronkhite-Canada Syndrome (CCS) is a rare, noninherited polyposis syndrome affecting 1 in every million individuals. Despite over 50 years of CCS cases, the etiopathogenesis and optimal treatment for CCS remains unknown due to the rarity of the disease and lack of model systems. To better understand the etiology of CCS, we generated human intestinal organoids (HIOs) from intestinal stem cells isolated from 2 patients. We discovered that CCS HIOs are highly proliferative and have increased numbers of enteroendocrine cells producing serotonin (also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5HT). These features were also confirmed in patient tissue biopsies. Recombinant 5HT increased proliferation …

Epidemiology Of Giardiasis And Assemblages A And B And Effects On Diarrhea And Growth Trajectories During The First 8 Years Of Life: Analysis Of A Birth Cohort In A Rural District In Tropical Ecuador, Tannya Sandoval-Ramírez, Victor Seco-Hidalgo, Evelyn Calderon-Espinosa, Diana Garcia-Ramon, Andrea Lopez, Manuel Calvopiña, Irene Guadalupe, Martha Chico, Rojelio Mejia, Irina Chis Ster, Philip J Cooper

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: There are limited longitudinal data on the acquisition of Giardia lamblia infections in childhood using molecular assays to detect and type assemblages, and measure effects of infections on diarrhea risk and childhood growth.

METHODS: We analysed stool samples from a surveillance sample within a birth cohort in a rural district in tropical Ecuador. The cohort was followed to 8 years of age for the presence of G. lamblia in stools by quantitative PCR and A and B assemblages by Taqman assay or Sanger sequencing. We explored risk factors associated with infection using generalized estimating equations applied to longitudinal binary …

Reducing Length Of Antibiotics For Children With Ear Infections: Protocol For A Cluster-Randomized Trial In The Usa, Amy Keith, Timothy C Jenkins, Sonja O'Leary, Amy B Stein, Sophie E Katz, Jason Newland, Deborah J Rinehart, Aiden Gilbert, Sherry Dodd, Cindy M Terrill, Holly M Frost

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Copy-Back Viral Genomes Induce A Cellular Stress Response That Interferes With Viral Protein Expression Without Affecting Antiviral Immunity, Lavinia J González Aparicio, Yanling Yang, Matthew Hackbart, Carolina B. López

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Antiviral responses are often accompanied by translation inhibition and formation of stress granules (SGs) in infected cells. However, the triggers for these processes and their role during infection remain subjects of active investigation. Copy-back viral genomes (cbVGs) are the primary inducers of the mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS) pathway and antiviral immunity during Sendai virus (SeV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections. The relationship between cbVGs and cellular stress during viral infections is unknown. Here, we show that SGs form during infections containing high levels of cbVGs, and not during infections with low levels of cbVGs. Moreover, using RNA fluorescent in …

Establishment Of A Consensus Protocol To Explore The Brain Pathobiome In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment And Alzheimer’S Disease: Research Outline And Call For Collaboration, Richard Lathe, Nikki M Schultek, Brian J Balin, Garth D Ehrlich, Lavinia Alberi Auber, George Perry, Edward B Breitschwerdt, David B Corry, Richard L Doty, Robert A Rissman, Peter L Nara, Ruth Itzhaki, William A Eimer, Rudolph E Tanzi, Intracell Research Group Consortium Collaborators

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Microbial infections of the brain can lead to dementia, and for many decades microbial infections have been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. However, a causal role for infection in AD remains contentious, and the lack of standardized detection methodologies has led to inconsistent detection/identification of microbes in AD brains. There is a need for a consensus methodology; the Alzheimer's Pathobiome Initiative aims to perform comparative molecular analyses of microbes in post mortem brains versus cerebrospinal fluid, blood, olfactory neuroepithelium, oral/nasopharyngeal tissue, bronchoalveolar, urinary, and gut/stool samples. Diverse extraction methodologies, polymerase chain reaction and sequencing techniques, and bioinformatic tools will …

Gastrointestinal Infections Modulate The Risk For Insulin Autoantibodies As The First-Appearing Autoantibody In The Teddy Study, Maria Lönnrot, Kristian F Lynch, Marian Rewers, Åke Lernmark, Kendra Vehik, Beena Akolkar, William Hagopian, Jeffrey Krischer, Rickhard A Mcindoe, Jorma Toppari, Anette-G Ziegler, Joseph F Petrosino, Richard Lloyd, Heikki Hyöty, Teddy Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: To investigate gastrointestinal infection episodes (GIEs) in relation to the appearance of islet autoantibodies in The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) cohort.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: GIEs on risk of autoantibodies against either insulin (IAA) or GAD (GADA) as the first-appearing autoantibody were assessed in a 10-year follow-up of 7,867 children. Stool virome was characterized in a nested case-control study.

RESULTS: GIE reports (odds ratio [OR] 2.17 [95% CI 1.39-3.39]) as well as Norwalk viruses found in stool (OR 5.69 [1.36-23.7]) at(OR 0.48 [0.35-0.68]). GIE reports at any other age were associated with an increase in …

Breastfeeding And Risk Of Childhood Brain Tumors: A Report From The Childhood Cancer And Leukemia International Consortium, Jeremy M Schraw, Eleni Th Petridou, Audrey Bonaventure, John D Dockerty, Maria Karalexi, Evangelia Ntzani, Claire Infante-Rivard, Jacqueline Clavel, Paige M Bracci, Roberta Mckean-Cowdin, Eve Roman, Eleanor Kane, Friederike Erdmann, Joachim Schüz, Beth A Mueller, Michael E Scheurer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: Studies report mixed findings regarding the association of breastfeeding with childhood brain tumors (CBT), the leading causes of cancer-related mortality in young people. Our objective was to determine whether breastfeeding is associated with CBT incidence.

Methods: We pooled data on N = 2610 cases with CBT (including 697 cases with astrocytoma, 447 cases with medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor [PNET], 167 cases with ependymoma) and N = 8128 age- and sex-matched controls in the Childhood Cancer and Leukemia International Consortium. We computed unconditional logistic regression models to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of CBT, astrocytoma, medulloblastoma/PNET, …

Geographic Variation In Late-Stage Cervical Cancer Diagnosis, Itunu O Sokale, Aaron P Thrift, Jane Montealegre, Victor Adekanmbi, Onyema G Chido-Amajuoyi, Ann Amuta, Lorraine R Reitzel, Abiodun O Oluyomi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: There are stark disparities in cervical cancer burden in the United States, notably by race and ethnicity and geography. Late-stage diagnosis is an indicator of inadequate access to and utilization of screening.

OBJECTIVE: To identify geospatial clusters of late-stage cervical cancer at time of diagnosis in Texas.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This population-based cross-sectional study used incident cervical cancer data from the Texas Cancer Registry from 2014 to 2018 of female patients aged 18 years or older. Late-stage cervical cancer cases were geocoded at the census tract level (n = 5265) using their residential coordinates (latitude and longitude) at …

Flow-Sizing Critical Care Resources, Joseph L Nates, John M Oropello, Neeraj Badjatia, Gregory Beilman, Craig M Coopersmith, Neil A Halpern, Daniel L Herr, Judith Jacobi, Roozehra Kahn, Sharon Leung, Nitin Puri, Ayan Sen, Stephen M Pastores

Staff and Researcher Publications

Objectives: To describe the factors affecting critical care capacity and how critical care organizations (CCOs) within academic centers in the U.S. flow-size critical care resources under normal operations, strain, and surge conditions.

Data sources: PubMed, federal agency and American Hospital Association reports, and previous CCO survey results were reviewed.

Study selection: Studies and reports of critical care bed capacity and utilization within CCOs and in the United States were selected.

Data extraction: The Academic Leaders in the Critical Care Medicine Task Force established regular conference calls to reach a consensus on the approach of CCOs to "flow-sizing" critical care services. …

Controversies Regarding Management Of Helicobacter Pylori Infections, Alyssa Price, David Y Graham, Mimi C Tan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The recognition that Helicobacter pylori should be considered and treated as an infectious disease has yet to fundamentally change diagnostic and treatment practices and has resulted in many controversies.

RECENT FINDINGS: We discuss the following controversies: whether the current 'per-patient' approach to H. pylori testing based on symptoms should be expanded to include achieving population-level H. pylori eradication, whether H. pylori should be approached as an infectious gastrointestinal disease similar to that of other infectious diseases of similar severity and outcome, whether treatment of H. pylori should be primarily empiric or based on antibiotic susceptibility and locally …

Does Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Originate From Different Cell Types?, Yohannes Tesfaigzi, Jeffrey L Curtis, Irina Petrache, Francesca Polverino, Farrah Kheradmand, Ian M Adcock, Stephen I Rennard

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The onset of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is heterogeneous, and current approaches to define distinct disease phenotypes are lacking. In addition to clinical methodologies, subtyping COPD has also been challenged by the reliance on human lung samples from late-stage diseases. Different COPD phenotypes may be initiated from the susceptibility of different cell types to cigarette smoke, environmental pollution, and infections at early stages that ultimately converge at later stages in airway remodeling and destruction of the alveoli when the disease is diagnosed. This perspective provides discussion points on how studies to date define different cell types of the lung …

The Ethical Data Practices Framework And Its Implications For Data Privacy Relations Between The United States And The European Union, Vasiliki Rahimzadeh

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Early Antibody Treatment, Inflammation, And Risk Of Post-Covid Conditions, Kelly A. Gebo, Sonya L. Heath, Yuriko Fukuta, Xianming Zhu, Sheriza Baksh, Allison G. Abraham, Feben Habtehyimer, David Shade, Jessica Ruff, Malathi Ram, Oliver Laeyendecker, Reinaldo E. Fernandez, Eshan U. Patel, Owen R. Baker, Shmuel Shoham, Edward R. Cachay, Judith S. Currier, Jonathan M. Gerber, Barry Meisenberg, Donald N. Forthal, Laura L. Hammitt, Moises A. Huaman, Adam Levine, Giselle S. Mosnaim, Bela Patel, James H. Paxton, Jay S. Raval, Catherine G. Sutcliffe, Shweta Anjan, Thomas Gniadek, Seble Kassaye, Janis E. Blair, Karen Lane, Nichol A. Mcbee, Amy L. Gawad, Piyali Das, Sabra L. Klein, Andrew Pekosz, Evan M. Bloch, Daniel Hanley, Arturo Casadevall, Aaron A R Tobian, David J. Sullivan

Pathology Research and Scholarship

Approximately 20% of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 experienced long-term health effects, as defined PCC. However, it is unknown if there are any early biomarkers associated with PCC or whether early intervention treatments may decrease the risk of PCC. In a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial, this study demonstrates that among outpatients with SARS-CoV-2, increased IL-6 at time of infection is associated with increased odds of PCC. In addition, among individuals treated early, within 5 days of symptom onset, with COVID-19 convalescent plasma, there was a trend for decreased odds of PCC after adjusting for other demographic and clinical …

Daily Fosfomycin Versus Levofloxacin For Complicated Urinary Tract Infections, Nadine Rouphael, Patricia Winokur, Michael C Keefer, Jessica Traenkner, Ana Drobeniuc, Yohei Doi, Sonal Munsiff, Vance G Fowler, Scott Evans, Randolph E Oler, Bonifride Tuyishimire, Marina Lee, Varduhi Ghazaryan, Henry F Chambers

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Concerns over resistance and safety have been identified in the current treatment regimen for complicated urinary tract infections. Fosfomycin is a drug that is routinely used for the treatment of uncomplicated cystitis. This study shows that fosfomycin could be an oral alternative as step-down therapy for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections, with a clinical cure rate comparable to levofloxacin but a lower microbiological success rate 3 weeks from start of antibiotics.

Tgf-Β1 In Aplysia: Role In Long-Term Changes In The Excitability Of Sensory Neurons And Distribution Of Tβr-Ii-Like Immunoreactivity, Muhammad S Khan, Eun Kim, Quentin Le Hingrat, Adam Kleinman, Alessandro Ferrari, Jose C Sammartino, Elena Percivalle, Cuiling Xu, Shaohua Huang, Thomas W Kenniston, Irene Cassaniti, Fausto Baldanti, Ivona Pandrea, Andrea Gambotto, Cristian Apetrei

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The study provides important insights into the immunogenicity and efficacy of a tetravalent protein subunit vaccine candidate against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The vaccine induced both humoral and cellular immune responses in nonhuman primates with controlled SIVagm infection and was able to generate Omicron variant-specific antibodies without specifically vaccinating with Omicron. These findings suggest that the tetravalent composition of the vaccine candidate could provide broad protection against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants while minimizing the risk of immune escape and the emergence of new variants. Additionally, the use of rhesus macaques with controlled SIVsab infection may better represent vaccine …

Early Antibody Treatment, Inflammation, And Risk Of Post-Covid Conditions, Kelly A Gebo, Sonya L Heath, Yuriko Fukuta, Xianming Zhu, Sheriza Baksh, Allison G Abraham, Feben Habtehyimer, David Shade, Jessica Ruff, Malathi Ram, Oliver Laeyendecker, Reinaldo E Fernandez, Eshan U Patel, Owen R Baker, Shmuel Shoham, Edward R Cachay, Judith S Currier, Jonathan M Gerber, Barry Meisenberg, Donald N Forthal, Laura L Hammitt, Moises A Huaman, Adam Levine, Giselle S Mosnaim, Bela Patel, James H Paxton, Jay S Raval, Catherine G Sutcliffe, Shweta Anjan, Thomas Gniadek, Seble Kassaye, Janis E Blair, Karen Lane, Nichol A Mcbee, Amy L Gawad, Piyali Das, Sabra L Klein, Andrew Pekosz, Evan M Bloch, Daniel Hanley, Arturo Casadevall, Aaron A R Tobian, David J Sullivan, Cssc-004 Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Post-COVID conditions (PCCs) are common and have significant morbidity. Risk factors for PCC include advancing age, female sex, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. Little is known about treatment, inflammation, and PCC. Among 882 individuals with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection participating in a randomized trial of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) vs control plasma with available biospecimens and symptom data, the association between early CCP treatment, cytokine levels, and PCC was evaluated. Cytokine and chemokine levels were assessed at baseline, day 14, and day 90 using a multiplexed sandwich immunoassay (Meso Scale Discovery). Presence of any self-reported PCC symptoms was assessed at day 90. …

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Carrying The Rifampicin Drug-Resistance-Conferring Rpob Mutation H445y Is Associated With Suppressed Immunity Through Type I Interferons, Suhas Bobba, Nicole C Howard, Shibali Das, Mushtaq Ahmed, Linrui Tang, Shyamala Thirunavukkarasu, Michelle H Larsen, Barun Mathema, Maziar Divangahi, Shabaana A Khader

2020-Current year OA Pubs

This study highlights the impact of specific rifampicin-resistance-conferring mutations on the host immune response to

Wastewater Sequencing Reveals Community And Variant Dynamics Of The Collective Human Virome, Michael Tisza, Sara Javornik Cregeen, Vasanthi Avadhanula, Ping Zhang, Tulin Ayvaz, Karen Feliz, Kristi L Hoffman, Justin R Clark, Austen Terwilliger, Matthew C Ross, Juwan Cormier, Hannah Moreno, Li Wang, Katelyn Payne, David Henke, Catherine Troisi, Fuqing Wu, Janelle Rios, Jennifer Deegan, Blake Hansen, John Balliew, Anna Gitter, Kehe Zhang, Runze Li, Cici X Bauer, Kristina D Mena, Pedro A Piedra, Joseph F Petrosino, Eric Boerwinkle, Anthony W Maresso

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Wastewater is a discarded human by-product, but its analysis may help us understand the health of populations. Epidemiologists first analyzed wastewater to track outbreaks of poliovirus decades ago, but so-called wastewater-based epidemiology was reinvigorated to monitor SARS-CoV-2 levels while bypassing the difficulties and pit falls of individual testing. Current approaches overlook the activity of most human viruses and preclude a deeper understanding of human virome community dynamics. Here, we conduct a comprehensive sequencing-based analysis of 363 longitudinal wastewater samples from ten distinct sites in two major cities. Critical to detection is the use of a viral probe capture set targeting …

Association Of Social Vulnerability And Covid-19 Mortality Rates In Texas Between 15 March 2020, And 21 July 2022: An Ecological Analysis, Dennis Ogeto Nyachoti, Nalini Ranjit, Ryan Ramphul, Leah D Whigham, Andrew E Springer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Despite the key role of social vulnerability such as economic disadvantage in health outcomes, research is limited on the impact of social vulnerabilities on COVID-19-related deaths, especially at the state and county level in the USA.

METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional ecologic analysis of COVID-19 mortality by the county-level Minority Health Social Vulnerability Index (MH SVI) and each of its components in Texas. Negative binomial regression (NBR) analyses were used to estimate the association between the composite MH SVI (and its components) and COVID-19 mortality.

RESULTS: A 0.1-unit increase in the overall MH SVI (IRR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.04-1.55; …

Dietary Habits, Meal Timing, And Meal Frequency In Kuwaiti Adults: Analysis Of The Kuwait National Nutrition Surveillance Data, Fatema Alkhulaifi, Suad Al-Hooti, Sameer Al-Zenki, Husam Alomirah, Charles Darkoh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Dietary habits, including meal frequency, meal timing, and skipping meals, have been extensively studied due to their association with the development of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). This study describes dietary habits, meal timing, frequency, skipping meals, and late-night eating in Kuwaiti adults. Kuwait National Nutrition Surveillance System data were utilized to reach the objectives of this study. The findings reveal that approximately 54% of the adults in Kuwait eat after 10 p.m., 29% skip breakfast, and 9.8% skip dinner. Furthermore, adults in Kuwait consume 4.4 meals per day on average. Women skip breakfast more often and have more extended night fasting …

Impacting T-Cell Fitness In Multiple Myeloma: Potential Roles For Selinexor And Xpo1 Inhibitors, Adam Binder, Christopher Walker, Tomer Mark, Muhamed Baljevic

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Competent T-cells with sufficient levels of fitness combat cancer formation and progression. In multiple myeloma (MM), T-cell exhaustion is caused by several factors including tumor burden, constant immune activation due to chronic disease, age, nutritional status, and certain MM treatments such as alkylating agents and proteasome inhibitors. Many currently used therapies, including bispecific T-cell engagers, anti-CD38 antibodies, proteasome inhibitors, and CART-cells, directly or indirectly depend on the anti-cancer activity of T-cells. Reduced T-cell fitness not only diminishes immune defenses, increasing patient susceptibility to opportunistic infections, but can impact effectiveness MM therapy effectiveness, bringing into focus sequencing strategies that could modulate …

Bayesian Parametric Models For Survival Prediction In Medical Applications, Iwan Paolucci, Yuan-Mao Lin, Jessica Albuquerque Marques Silva, Kristy K Brock, Bruno C Odisio

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Evidence-based treatment decisions in medicine are made founded on population-level evidence obtained during randomized clinical trials. In an era of personalized medicine, these decisions should be based on the predicted benefit of a treatment on a patient-level. Survival prediction models play a central role as they incorporate the time-to-event and censoring. In medical applications uncertainty is critical especially when treatments differ in their side effect profiles or costs. Additionally, models must be adapted to local populations without diminishing performance and often without the original training data available due to privacy concern. Both points are supported by Bayesian models-yet they …