Digital Commons Network^™

Crispr/Cas9-Mediated Genome Editing Reveals 12 Testis-Enriched Genes Dispensable For Male Fertility In Mice, Yuki Oyama, Haruhiko Miyata, Keisuke Shimada, Yoshitaka Fujihara, Keizo Tokuhiro, Thomas X Garcia, Martin M Matzuk, Masahito Ikawa

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Gene expression analyses suggest that more than 1000-2000 genes are expressed predominantly in mouse and human testes. Although functional analyses of hundreds of these genes have been performed, there are still many testis-enriched genes whose functions remain unexplored. Analyzing gene function using knockout (KO) mice is a powerful tool to discern if the gene of interest is essential for sperm formation, function, and male fertility in vivo. In this study, we generated KO mice for 12 testis-enriched genes, 1700057G04Rik, 4921539E11Rik, 4930558C23Rik, Cby2, Ldhal6b, Rasef, Slc25a2, Slc25a41, Smim8, Smim9, Tmem210, and Tomm20l, using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats /CRISPR-associated …

Reduced Pro-Inflammatory Dendritic Cell Phenotypes Are A Potential Indicator Of Successful Peanut Oral Immunotherapy, Sara Anvari, Levi B Watkin, Charles G Minard, Kimberly Schuster, Oluwatomi Hassan, Aikaterini Anagnostou, Jordan S Orange, David B Corry, Carla M Davis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Dendritic cells are important mediators in the early presentation of antigen and regulation of the differentiation of T cells. Peanut oral immunotherapy (POIT) results in desensitization in most peanut allergic individuals (responders), but not in others due to allergic reactions (non-responders). Delineation of early immunologic changes contributing to desensitization would help clarify the POIT mechanism of action. We analyzed dendritic cells in 15 pediatric subjects (5-12 years) undergoing a phase 1 single-center POIT study. We examined dendritic cells at baseline, 6-, 12-, 18- and 24-weeks after initiation of POIT and responders of therapy were compared to non-responders and healthy controls. …

Characterization And Outcomes Of Hospitalized Children With Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Report From A Multicenter, Viral Infection And Respiratory Illness Universal Study (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Registry, Utpal S Bhalala, Katja M Gist, Sandeep Tripathi, Karen Boman, Vishakha K Kumar, Lynn Retford, Kathleen Chiotos, Allison M Blatz, Heda Dapul, Sourabh Verma, Imran A Sayed, Varsha P Gharpure, Erica Bjornstad, Nancy Tofil, Katherine Irby, Ronald C Sanders, Julia A Heneghan, Melissa Thomas, Manoj K Gupta, Franscene E Oulds, Grace M Arteaga, Emily R Levy, Neha Gupta, Margit Kaufman, Amr Abdelaty, Mark Shlomovich, Shivanand S Medar, A M Iqbal O'Meara, Joshua Kuehne, Shina Menon, Paras B Khandhar, Aaron S Miller, Suzanne M Barry, Valerie C Danesh, Ashish K Khanna, Kimberly Zammit, Casey Stulce, Patrick W Mcgonagill, Asher Bercow, Ioana G Amzuta, Sandeep Gupta, Mohammed A Almazyad, Louisdon Pierre, Prithvi Sendi, Sidra Ishaque, Harry L Anderson, Pooja Nawathe, Murtaza Akhter, Patrick G Lyons, Catherine Chen, Allan J Walkey, Azra Bihorac, Imam Wada Bello, Judith Ben Ari, Tanja Kovacevic, Vikas Bansal, John T Brinton, Jerry J Zimmerman, Rahul Kashyap

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: Multicenter data on the characteristics and outcomes of children hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 are limited. Our objective was to describe the characteristics, ICU admissions, and outcomes among children hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 using Society of Critical Care Medicine Discovery Viral Infection and Respiratory Illness Universal Study: Coronavirus Disease 2019 registry.

DESIGN: Retrospective study.

SETTING: Society of Critical Care Medicine Viral Infection and Respiratory Illness Universal Study (Coronavirus Disease 2019) registry.

PATIENTS: Children (< 18 yr) hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 at participating hospitals from February 2020 to January 2021.

INTERVENTIONS: None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The primary outcome was ICU admission. Secondary outcomes included hospital and ICU duration of stay and ICU, hospital, …

Hypermethylation Of Pi3k-Akt Signalling Pathway Genes Is Associated With Human Neural Tube Defects, Tian Tian, Xinyuan Lai, Kuanhui Xiang, Xiao Han, Shengju Yin, Robert M Cabrera, John W Steele, Yunping Lei, Xuanye Cao, Richard H Finnell, Linlin Wang, Aiguo Ren

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Neural tube defects (NTDs) are a group of common and severe congenital malformations. The PI3K-AKT signalling pathway plays a crucial role in the neural tube development. There is limited evidence concerning any possible association between aberrant methylation in PI3K-AKT signalling pathway genes and NTDs. Therefore, we aimed to investigate potential associations between aberrant methylation of PI3K-AKT pathway genes and NTDs. Methylation studies of PI3K-AKT pathway genes utilizing microarray genome-methylation data derived from neural tissues of ten NTD cases and eight non-malformed controls were performed. Targeted DNA methylation analysis was subsequently performed in an independent cohort of 73 NTD cases and …

Rotavirus Nsp1 Contributes To Intestinal Viral Replication, Pathogenesis, And Transmission, Gaopeng Hou, Qiru Zeng, Jelle Matthijnssens, Harry B Greenberg, Siyuan Ding

Open Access Publications

Rotavirus (RV)-encoded nonstructural protein 1 (NSP1), the product of gene segment 5, effectively antagonizes host interferon (IFN) signaling via multiple mechanisms. Recent studies with the newly established RV reverse genetics system indicate that NSP1 is not essential for the replication of the simian RV SA11 strain in cell culture. However, the role of NSP1 in RV infection

Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Mediate T Cell Dysfunction In Nonhuman Primate Tb Granulomas, Bindu Singh, Dhiraj K Singh, Shashank R Ganatra, Ruby A Escobedo, Shabaana Khader, Larry S Schlesinger, Deepak Kaushal, Smriti Mehra

Open Access Publications

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) represent an innate immune cell population comprised of immature myeloid cells and myeloid progenitors with very potent immunosuppressive potential. MDSCs are reported to be abundant in the lungs of active tuberculosis (TB) patients. We sought to perform an in-depth study of MDSCs during latent TB infection (LTBI) and active TB (ATB) using the nonhuman primate (NHP) model of pulmonary TB. We found a higher proportion of granulocytic, polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSCs) in the lungs of ATB animals compared to those with LTBI or naive control animals. Active disease in the lung, but not LTBI, was …

A Cross-Sectional Survey Of Potential Factors, Motivations, And Barriers Influencing Research Participation And Retention Among People Who Use Drugs In The Rural Usa, Angela T. Hetrick, April M. Young, Miriam R. Elman, Sarann Bielavitz, Rhonda L. Alexander, Morgan Brown, Elizabeth Needham Waddell, P. Todd Korthuis, Kathryn E. Lancaster

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Despite high morbidity and mortality among people who use drugs (PWUD) in rural America, most research is conducted within urban areas. Our objective was to describe influencing factors, motivations, and barriers to research participation and retention among rural PWUD.

METHODS: We recruited 255 eligible participants from community outreach and community-based, epidemiologic research cohorts from April to July 2019 to participate in a cross-sectional survey. Eligible participants reported opioid or injection drug use to get high within 30 days and resided in high-needs rural counties in Oregon, Kentucky, and Ohio. We aggregated response rankings to identify salient influences, motivations, and …

Emerging Themes In The Molecular Pathogenesis Of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia Coli, James M Fleckenstein, Alaullah Sheikh

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) are ubiquitous diarrheal pathogens that thrive in areas lacking basic human needs of clean water and sanitation. These genetically plastic organisms cause tremendous morbidity among disadvantaged young children, in the form of both acute diarrheal illness and sequelae of malnutrition and growth impairment. The recent discovery of additional plasmid-encoded virulence factors and elucidation of their critical role in the molecular pathogenesis of ETEC may inform new approaches to the development of broadly protective vaccines. Although the pathogens have been closely linked epidemiologically with nondiarrheal sequelae, these conditions remain very poorly understood. Similarly, while canonical effects of …

Skin Bacterial Metacommunities Of San Francisco Bay Area Salamanders Are Structured By Host Genus And Habitat Quality., Shannon Buttimer, Obed Hernandez-Gomez, Erica Bree Rosenblum

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship

Host-associated microbial communities can influence physiological processes of macroorganisms, including contributing to infectious disease resistance. For instance, some bacteria that live on amphibian skin produce antifungal compounds that inhibit two lethal fungal pathogens, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal). Therefore, differences in microbiome composition among host species or populations within a species can contribute to variation in susceptibility to Bd/Bsal. This study applies 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize the skin bacterial microbiomes of three widespread terrestrial salamander genera native to the western United States. Using a metacommunity structure analysis, we identified dispersal barriers for these influential bacteria between salamander …

Phase 3 Safety And Efficacy Of Azd1222 (Chadox1 Ncov-19) Covid-19 Vaccine, Ann R Falsey, Magdalena E Sobieszczyk, Ian Hirsch, Stephanie Sproule, Merlin L Robb, Lawrence Corey, Kathleen M Neuzil, William Hahn, Julie Hunt, Mark J Mulligan, Charlene Mcevoy, Edwin Dejesus, Michael Hassman, Susan J Little, Barbara A Pahud, Anna Durbin, Paul Pickrell, Eric S Daar, Larry Bush, Joel Solis, Quito Osuna Carr, Temitope Oyedele, Susan Buchbinder, Jessica Cowden, Sergio L Vargas, Alfredo Guerreros Benavides, Robert Call, Michael C Keefer, Beth D Kirkpatrick, John Pullman, Tina Tong, Margaret Brewinski Isaacs, David Benkeser, Holly E Janes, Martha C Nason, Justin A Green, Elizabeth J Kelly, Jill Maaske, Nancy Mueller, Kathryn Shoemaker, Therese Takas, Richard P Marshall, Menelas N Pangalos, Tonya Villafana, Antonio Gonzalez-Lopez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The safety and efficacy of the AZD1222 (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) vaccine in a large, diverse population at increased risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the United States, Chile, and Peru has not been known.

METHODS: In this ongoing, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 3 clinical trial, we investigated the safety, vaccine efficacy, and immunogenicity of two doses of AZD1222 as compared with placebo in preventing the onset of symptomatic and severe coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) 15 days or more after the second dose in adults, including older adults, in the United States, Chile, and Peru.

RESULTS: …

The Five Ds Of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship For Urinary Tract Infections, Melanie C Goebel, Barbara W Trautner, Larissa Grigoryan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most common indications for antibiotic prescriptions in the outpatient setting. Given rising rates of antibiotic resistance among uropathogens, antibiotic stewardship is critically needed to improve outpatient antibiotic use, including in outpatient clinics (primary care and specialty clinics) and emergency departments. Outpatient clinics are in general a neglected practice area in antibiotic stewardship programs, yet most antibiotic use in the United States is in the outpatient setting. This article provides a comprehensive review of antibiotic stewardship strategies for outpatient UTI in the adult population, with a focus on the "five Ds" of stewardship …

Minimally Invasive Postmortem Intestinal Tissue Sampling In Malnourished And Acutely Ill Children Is Feasible And Informative, Erika Feutz, Wieger Voskuijl, Peter J Finch, Ta-Chiang Liu, Robert H J Bandsma, Phillip I Tarr, Christopher Alan Moxon, Kelley Vanbuskirk, Sarah Lawrence, Grace Umutesi, Kirkby D Tickell, James A Berkley, Judd L Walson, Steve Kamiza, Donna M Denno

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Intestinal disorders such as environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) are prevalent in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and important contributors to childhood undernutrition and mortality. Autopsies are rarely performed in LMICs but minimally invasive tissue sampling is increasingly deployed as a more feasible and acceptable procedure, although protocols have been devoid of intestinal sampling to date. We sought to determine (1) the feasibility of postmortem intestinal sampling, (2) whether autolysis precludes enteric biopsies' utility, and (3) histopathologic features among children who died during hospitalization with acute illness or undernutrition.

METHODS: Transabdominal needle and endoscopic forceps upper and lower intestinal sampling …

Utility Of Facebook's Social Connectedness Index In Modeling Covid-19 Spread: Exponential Random Graph Modeling Study, Beth Prusaczyk, Kathryn Pietka, Joshua M Landman, Douglas A Luke

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 (the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus) pandemic has underscored the need for additional data, tools, and methods that can be used to combat emerging and existing public health concerns. Since March 2020, there has been substantial interest in using social media data to both understand and intervene in the pandemic. Researchers from many disciplines have recently found a relationship between COVID-19 and a new data set from Facebook called the Social Connectedness Index (SCI).

OBJECTIVE: Building off this work, we seek to use the SCI to examine how social similarity of Missouri counties could explain similarities …

Overexpression Screen Of Interferon-Stimulated Genes Identifies Rarres3 As A Restrictor Of Toxoplasma Gondii Infection, Nicholas Rinkenberger, Michael E Abrams, Sumit K Matta, John W Schoggins, Neal M Alto, L David Sibley

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Electronically Available Patient Claims Data Improve Models For Comparing Antibiotic Use Across Hospitals: Results From 576 Us Facilities, Katherine E Goodman, Lisa Pineles, Laurence S Magder, Deverick J Anderson, Elizabeth Dodds Ashley, Ronald E Polk, Hude Quan, William E Trick, Keith F Woeltje, Surbhi Leekha, Sara E Cosgrove, Anthony D Harris

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses standardized antimicrobial administration ratios (SAARs)-that is, observed-to-predicted ratios-to compare antibiotic use across facilities. CDC models adjust for facility characteristics when predicting antibiotic use but do not include patient diagnoses and comorbidities that may also affect utilization. This study aimed to identify comorbidities causally related to appropriate antibiotic use and to compare models that include these comorbidities and other patient-level claims variables to a facility model for risk-adjusting inpatient antibiotic utilization.

METHODS: The study included adults discharged from Premier Database hospitals in 2016-2017. For each admission, we extracted facility, claims, and …

Covid-19 Modulates Inflammatory And Renal Markers That May Predict Hospital Outcomes Among African American Males, Wendy Fonseca, Nobuhiro Asai, Kazuma Yagi, Carrie-Anne Malinczak, Gina Savickas, Christine C. Johnson, Shannon L. Murray, Edward M. Zoratti, Nicholas W. Lukacs, Jia Li, Charles F. Schuler Iv

Public Health Sciences Articles

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: African Americans and males have elevated risks of infection, hospitalization, and death from SARS-CoV-2 in comparison with other populations. We report immune responses and renal injury markers in African American male patients hospitalized for COVID-19.

METHODS: This was a single-center, retrospective study of 56 COVID-19 infected hospitalized African American males 50+ years of age selected from among non-intensive care unit (ICU) and ICU status patients. Demographics, hospitalization-related variables, and medical history were collected from electronic medical records. Plasma samples collected close to admission (≤2 days) were evaluated for cytokines and renal markers; results were compared to a …

Physical Activity May Mitigate Covid-19 Infections In People With Obesity: A Call To Action., Christina D Economos, William H. Dietz, Kathleen Tullie, James F Sallis

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Clinical Follow-Up Practices After Cervical Cancer Screening By Co-Testing: A Population-Based Study Of Adherence To U.S. Guideline Recommendations, Rebecca B. Perkins, Rachael Adcock, Vicki Benard, Jack Cuzick, Alan Waxman, Jean Howe, Stephanie Melkonian, Janis Gonzales, Charles Wiggins, Cosette M. Wheeler

Pathology Research and Scholarship

Failure to follow-up women after abnormal cervical screening could lead to cervical cancers, yet little is known about adherence to recommended follow-up after abnormal co-testing [cytology and high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing]. We documented clinical management following cervical screening by co-testing in a diverse population-based setting. A statewide surveillance program for cervical screening, diagnosis, and treatment was used to investigate all cytology, hrHPV and biopsy reports in the state of New Mexico from January 2015 through August 2019. Guideline-adherent follow-up after co-testing required 1) biopsy within 6 months for low-grade cytology if positive for hrHPV, for high-grade cytology irrespective of …

Metabolic Syndrome And Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome In Hospitalized Patients With Covid-19, Joshua L Denson, Aaron S Gillet, Yuanhao Zu, Margo Brown, Thaidan Pham, Yilin Yoshida, Franck Mauvais-Jarvis, Ivor S Douglas, Mathew Moore, Kevin Tea, Andrew Wetherbie, Rachael Stevens, John Lefante, Jeffrey G Shaffer, Donna Lee Armaignac, Katherine Belden, Margit Kaufman, Smith F Heavner, Valerie C Danesh, Sreekanth R Cheruku, Catherine A St Hill, Karen Boman, Neha Deo, Vikas Bansal, Vishakha K Kumar, Allan J Walkey, Rahul Kashyap, Society Of Critical Care Medicine Discovery Viral Infection And Respiratory Illness Universal Study (Virus): Covid-19 Registry Investigator Group

Division of Infectious Diseases and Environmental Medicine Faculty Papers

Importance: Obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are common comorbidities in patients with severe COVID-19, yet little is known about the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or death in patients with COVID-19 and metabolic syndrome.

Objective: To determine whether metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of ARDS and death from COVID-19.

Design, setting, and participants: This multicenter cohort study used data from the Society of Critical Care Medicine Discovery Viral Respiratory Illness Universal Study collected from 181 hospitals across 26 countries from February 15, 2020, to February 18, 2021. Outcomes were compared between patients with metabolic syndrome (defined …

Predicting Death From Covid-19 Using Pre-Existing Conditions: Implications For Vaccination Triage, Shujie Xiao, Neha Sahasrabudhe, Samantha Hochstadt, Whitney Cabral, Samantha Simons, Mao Yang, David E. Lanfear, Keoki L. Williams

Center for Individualized and Genomic Medicine Research Articles

INTRODUCTION: Global shortages in the supply of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have resulted in campaigns to first inoculate individuals at highest risk for death from COVID-19. Here, we develop a predictive model of COVID-19-related death using longitudinal clinical data from patients in metropolitan Detroit.

METHODS: All individuals included in the analysis had a laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thirty-six pre-existing conditions with a false discovery rate p<0.05 were combined with other demographic variables to develop a parsimonious prediction model using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression. The model was then prospectively validated in a separate set of individuals with confirmed COVID-19.

RESULTS: The study population consisted of 15 502 individuals with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2. The main prediction model was developed using data from 11 635 individuals with 709 reported deaths (case fatality ratio 6.1%). The final prediction model consisted …

Burden Of Mycoplasma Genitalium And Bacterial Coinfections In A Population-Based Sample In New Mexico, Anne Hammer, Patti E. Gravitt, Rachael Adcock, Nicole Patterson, Jack Cuzick, Cosette M. Wheeler

Pathology Research and Scholarship

In this population-based US study, the overall prevalence of Mycoplasma genitalium was 1.95% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.62%-2.34%), declining from 6.12% (95% CI, 4.72%-7.92%) in women aged 21 to 24 years to 0.48% (95% CI, 0.25%-0.94%) in women aged 40 to 64 years. The prevalence of coinfections with Chlamydia trachomatis and Trichomonas vaginalis was low.

Minimizing The Impact Of The Triple Burden Of Covid-19, Tuberculosis And Hiv On Health Services In Sub-Saharan Africa, Jean B Nachega, Nathan Kapata, Nadia A Sam-Agudu, Eric H Decloedt, Patrick D M C Katoto, Tumaini Nagu, Peter Mwaba, Dorothy Yeboah-Manu, Pascalina Chanda-Kapata, Francine Ntoumi, Elvin H Geng, Alimuddin Zumla

Open Access Publications

In this perspective, we discuss the impact of COVID-19 on tuberculosis (TB)/HIV health services and approaches to mitigating the growing burden of these three colliding epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). SSA countries bear significantly high proportions of TB and HIV cases reported worldwide, compared to countries in the West. Whilst COVID-19 epidemiology appears to vary across Africa, most countries in this region have reported relatively lower-case counts compared to the West. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has added an additional burden to already overstretched health systems in SSA, which, among other things, have been focused on the longstanding dual epidemics of …

Transient Ascaris Suum Larval Migration Induces Intractable Chronic Pulmonary Disease And Anemia In Mice, Yifan Wu, Evan Li, Morgan Knight, Grace Adeniyi-Ipadeola, Li-Zhen Song, Alan R Burns, Ana Clara Gazzinelli-Guimaraes, Ricardo Fujiwara, Maria Elena Bottazzi, Jill E Weatherhead

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Ascariasis is one of the most common infections in the world and associated with significant global morbidity. Ascaris larval migration through the host's lungs is essential for larval development but leads to an exaggerated type-2 host immune response manifesting clinically as acute allergic airway disease. However, whether Ascaris larval migration can subsequently lead to chronic lung diseases remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that a single episode of Ascaris larval migration through the host lungs induces a chronic pulmonary syndrome of type-2 inflammatory pathology and emphysema accompanied by pulmonary hemorrhage and chronic anemia in a mouse model. Our results reveal that …

Nutrition, Atherosclerosis, Arterial Imaging, Cardiovascular Risk Stratification, And Manifestations In Covid-19 Framework: A Narrative Review., Smiksha Munjral, Puneet Ahluwalia, Ankush D Jamthikar, Anudeep Puvvula, Luca Saba, Gavino Faa, Inder M Singh, Paramjit S Chadha, Monika Turk, Amer M Johri, Narendra N Khanna, Klaudija Viskovic, Sophie Mavrogeni, John R Laird, Gyan Pareek, Martin Miner, David W Sobel, Antonella Balestrieri, Petros P Sfikakis, George Tsoulfas, Athanasios Protogerou, Prasanna Misra, Vikas Agarwal, George D Kitas, Raghu Kolluri, Jagjit Teji, Mustafa Al-Maini, Surinder K Dhanjil, Meyypan Sockalingam, Ajit Saxena, Aditya Sharma, Vijay Rathore, Mostafa Fatemi, Azra Alizad, Vijay Viswanathan, P K Krishnan, Tomaz Omerzu, Subbaram Naidu, Andrew Nicolaides, Jasjit S Suri

Heart and Vascular Articles

Background: Atherosclerosis is the primary cause of the cardiovascular disease (CVD). Several risk factors lead to atherosclerosis, and altered nutrition is one among those. Nutrition has been ignored quite often in the process of CVD risk assessment. Altered nutrition along with carotid ultrasound imaging-driven atherosclerotic plaque features can help in understanding and banishing the problems associated with the late diagnosis of CVD. Artificial intelligence (AI) is another promisingly adopted technology for CVD risk assessment and management. Therefore, we hypothesize that the risk of atherosclerotic CVD can be accurately monitored using carotid ultrasound imaging, predicted using AI-based algorithms, and reduced …

A Reevaluation Of The Tolerability And Effects Of Single-Dose Ivermectin Treatment On Onchocerca Volvulus Microfilariae In The Skin And Eyes In Eastern Ghana, Nicholas O Opoku, Michael E Gyasi, Felix Doe, Daphne Lew, Augustine R Hong, Sithembele Chithenga, Peter U Fischer, Christopher L King, Gary J Weil

Open Access Publications

Mass administration of ivermectin (IVM) has significantly reduced onchocerciasis prevalence, intensity, and morbidity in most endemic areas. Most IVM clinical trials were performed long ago in persons with high-intensity infections that are uncommon in West Africa today. This cohort treatment study recruited participants from a hypoendemic area in eastern Ghana to reevaluate the efficacy and tolerability of IVM with a special focus on the kinetics of microfilaria (Mf) clearance. Mf in the skin and anterior chambers (AC) were assessed by skin snip and slit lamp examinations at baseline and at 3 and 6 months after treatment with IVM 150 μg/kg. …

Case Report: Molecular Diagnosis Of Cystoisospora Belli In A Severely Immunocompromised Patient With Hiv And Kaposi Sarcoma, Roumen Borilov Iordanov, Lauren M Leining, Meng Wu, Galant Chan, Andrew R Dinardo, Rojelio Mejia

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Diarrhea in an immunocompromised patient has a broad infectious differential. Diagnosis is difficult despite advances in diagnostic modalities. We report a case of a 45-year-old Nigerian woman who immigrated to the United States 2 years ago. She presented to the hospital with gastrointestinal bleeding, newly diagnosed HIV, and disseminated Kaposi sarcoma. During hospitalization, the patient had an onset of watery diarrhea and high eosinophilia. Subsequent stool analysis using multi-parallel real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction for 13 parasites was positive for Cystoisospora belli. The patient was treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, but had relapsed disease when her antibiotics were stopped prematurely. After restarting …

Case Report: Molecular Diagnosis Of Cystoisospora Belli In A Severely Immunocompromised Patient With Hiv And Kaposi Sarcoma, Roumen Borilov Iordanov, Lauren M Leining, Meng Wu, Galant Chan, Andrew R Dinardo, Rojelio Mejia

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Diarrhea in an immunocompromised patient has a broad infectious differential. Diagnosis is difficult despite advances in diagnostic modalities. We report a case of a 45-year-old Nigerian woman who immigrated to the United States 2 years ago. She presented to the hospital with gastrointestinal bleeding, newly diagnosed HIV, and disseminated Kaposi sarcoma. During hospitalization, the patient had an onset of watery diarrhea and high eosinophilia. Subsequent stool analysis using multi-parallel real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction for 13 parasites was positive for Cystoisospora belli. The patient was treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, but had relapsed disease when her antibiotics were stopped prematurely. After restarting …

Enterovirus D68-Associated Acute Respiratory Illness ─ New Vaccine Surveillance Network, United States, July-November 2018-2020., Melisa M. Shah, Ariana Perez, Joana Y. Lively, Vasanthi Avadhanula, Julie A. Boom, James Chappell, Janet A. Englund, Wende Fregoe, Natasha B. Halasa, Christopher J. Harrison, Robert W. Hickey, Eileen J. Klein, Monica M. Mcneal, Marian G. Michaels, Mary Moffatt, Catherine Otten, Leila C. Sahni, Elizabeth Schlaudecker, Jennifer E. Schuster, Rangaraj Selvarangan, Mary A. Staat, Laura S. Stewart, Geoffrey A. Weinberg, John V. Williams, Terry Fan Fei Ng, Janell A. Routh, Susan I. Gerber, Meredith L. Mcmorrow, Brian Rha, Claire M. Midgley

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is associated with a broad spectrum of illnesses, including mild to severe acute respiratory illness (ARI) and acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). Enteroviruses, including EV-D68, are typically detected in the United States during late summer through fall, with year-to-year fluctuations. Before 2014, EV-D68 was infrequently reported to CDC (1). However, numbers of EV-D68 detection have increased in recent years, with a biennial pattern observed during 2014-2018 in the United States, after the expansion of surveillance and wider availability of molecular testing. In 2014, a national outbreak of EV-D68 was detected (2). EV-D68 was also reported in 2016 via …

Impact Of Annual Versus Semiannual Mass Drug Administration With Ivermectin And Albendazole On Helminth Infections In Southeastern Liberia, Obiora A Eneanya, Lincoln Gankpala, Charles W Goss, Fatorma K Bolay, Gary J Weil, Peter U Fischer

Open Access Publications

We compared the impact of three rounds of annual and five rounds of semiannual mass drug administration (MDA) with albendazole plus ivermectin on helminthic infections in Liberia. Repeated annual cross-sectional community surveys were conducted between 2013 and 2019 in individuals of 5 years and older. Primary outcome was the change of infection prevalence estimates from baseline to month 36 (12 months after the last treatment). After three rounds of annual MDA, Wuchereria bancrofti circulating filarial antigen (CFA) and microfilaria (Mf) prevalence estimates decreased from 19.7% to 4.3% and from 8.6% to 0%, respectively; after semiannual MDA, CFA and Mf prevalences …

Association Between Convalescent Plasma Treatment And Mortality In Covid-19: A Collaborative Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Randomized Clinical Trials, Cathrine Axfors, Perrine Janiaud, Andreas M. Schmitt, Janneke Van't Hooft, Emily R. Smith, Noah A. Haber, Akin Abayomi, Manal Abduljalil, Abdulkarim Abdulrahman, Yeny Acosta-Ampudia, Manuela Aguilar-Guisado, Farah Al-Beidh, Marissa M. Alejandria, Rachelle N. Alfonso, Mohammad Ali, Manaf Alqahtani, Alaa Alzamrooni, Juan-Manuel Anaya, Mark Angelo C. Ang, Ismael F. Aomar, Luis E. Argumanis, Alexander Averyanov, Vladimir P. Baklaushev, Olga Balionis, Thomas Benfield, Scott Berry, Nadia Birocco, Lynn B. Bonifacio, Asha C. Bowen, Abbie Bown, Carlos Cabello-Gutierrez, Bernardo Camacho, Adrian Camacho-Ortiz, Sally Campbell-Lee, Damon H. Cao, Ana Cardesa, Jose M. Carnate, German J. Castillo, Rossana Cavallo, Fazle R. Chowdhury, Forhad U.H. Chowdhury, Giovannino Ciccone, Antonella Cingolani, Fresthel Monica M. Climacosa, Veerle Compernolle, Carlo Francisco N. Cortez, Abel Costa Neto, Sergio D'Antico, James Daly, Franca Danielle, Joshua S. Davis, Francesco Giuseppe De Rosa, Justin T. Denholm, Claudia M. Denkinger, Daniel Desmecht, Juan C. Díaz-Coronado, Juan A. Díaz Ponce-Medrano, Anne-Françoise Donneau, Teresita E. Dumagay, Susanna Dunachie, Cecile C. Dungog, Olufemi Erinoso, Ivy Mae S. Escasa, Lise J. Estcourt, Amy Evans, Agnes L.M. Evasan, Christian J. Fareli, Veronica Fernandez-Sanchez, Claudia Galassi, Juan E. Gallo, Patricia J. Garcia, Patricia L. Garcia, Jesus A. Garcia, Mutien Garigliany, Elvira Garza-Gonzalez, Deonne Thaddeus V. Gauiran, Paula A. Gaviria García, Jose-Antonio Giron-Gonzalez, David Gómez-Almaguer, Anthony C. Gordon, André Gothot, Jeser Santiago Grass Guaqueta, Cameron Green, David Grimaldi, Naomi E. Hammond, Heli Harvala, Francisco M. Heralde, Jesica Herrick, Alisa M. Higgins, Thomas E. Hills, Jennifer Hines, Karin Holm, Ashraful Hoque, Eric Hoste, Jose M. Ignacio, Alexander V. Ivanov, Maike Janssen, Jeffrey H. Jennings, Vivekanand Jha, Ruby Anne N. King, Jens Kjeldsen-Kragh, Paul Klenerman, Aditya Kotecha, Fiorella Krapp, Luciana Labanca, Emma Laing, Mona Landin-Olsson, Pierre-François Laterre, Lyn-Li Lim, Jodor Lim, Oskar Ljungquist, Jorge M. Llaca-Díaz, Concepción López-Robles, Salvador López-Cárdenas, Ileana Lopez-Plaza, Josephine Anne C. Lucero, Maria Lundgren, Juan Macías, Sandy C. Maganito, Anna Flor G. Malundo, Rubén D. Manrique, Paola M. Manzini, Miguel Marcos, Ignacio Marquez, Francisco Javier Martínez-Marcos, Ana M. Mata, Colin J. Mcarthur, Zoe K. Mcquilten, Bryan J. Mcverry, David K. Menon, Geert Meyfroidt, Ma Angelina L. Mirasol, Benoît Misset, James S. Molton, Alric V. Mondragon, Diana M. Monsalve, Parastoo Moradi Choghakabodi, Susan C. Morpeth, Paul R. Mouncey, Michel Moutschen, Carsten Müller-Tidow, Erin Murphy, Tome Najdovski, Alistair D. Nichol, Henrik Nielsen, Richard M. Novak, Matthew V.N. O'Sullivan, Julian Olalla, Akin Osibogun, Bodunrin Osikomaiya, Salvador Oyonarte, Juan M. Pardo-Oviedo, Mahesh C. Patel, David L. Paterson, Carlos A. Peña-Perez, Angel A. Perez-Calatayud, Eduardo Pérez-Alba, Anastasia Perkina, Naomi Perry, Mandana Pouladzadeh, Inmaculada Poyato, David J. Price, Anne Kristine H. Quero, Md M. Rahman, Md S. Rahman, Mayur Ramesh, Carolina Ramírez-Santana, Magnus Rasmussen, Megan A. Rees, Eduardo Rego, Jason A. Roberts, David J. Roberts, Yhojan Rodríguez, Jesús Rodríguez-Baño, Benjamin A. Rogers, Manuel Rojas, Alberto Romero, Kathryn M. Rowan, Fabio Saccona, Mehdi Safdarian, Maria Clariza M. Santos, Joe Sasadeusz, Gitana Scozzari, Manu Shankar-Hari, Gorav Sharma, Thomas Snelling, Alonso Soto, Pedrito Y. Tagayuna, Amy Tang, Geneva Tatem, Luciana Teofili, Steven Y.C. Tong, Alexis F. Turgeon, Januario D. Veloso, Balasubramanian Venkatesh, Yanet Ventura-Enriquez, Steve A. Webb, Lothar Wiese, Christian Wikén, Erica M. Wood, Gaukhar M. Yusubalieva, Kai Zacharowski, Ryan Zarychanski, Nina Khanna, David Moher, Steven N. Goodman, John P.A. Ioannidis, Lars G. Hemkens

Infectious Diseases Articles

BACKGROUND: Convalescent plasma has been widely used to treat COVID-19 and is under investigation in numerous randomized clinical trials, but results are publicly available only for a small number of trials. The objective of this study was to assess the benefits of convalescent plasma treatment compared to placebo or no treatment and all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19, using data from all available randomized clinical trials, including unpublished and ongoing trials (Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GEHFX ).

METHODS: In this collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis, clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform), the Cochrane COVID-19 register, the LOVE …