Digital Commons Network^™

Using Co-Creation Focus Groups To Customise A Remote Multidomain Programme Designed To Increase Dementia Literacy, Walter Wittich, Edeltraut Kröger, Gabrielle Aubin, Asma Fadhlaoui, Nicole D Anderson, Nouha Ben Gaied, Inbal Itzhak, Sylvie Belleville

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives

To adapt the content and functionalities of Brain Health PRO, a web-based multidomain program designed to increase dementia literacy, to the context and needs of users, providers and community organisations across Québec, Canada.

Design

Five consecutive qualitative co-creation focus group sessions 30–90 min in duration each, exploring potential barriers and facilitators to usability, accessibility, comprehensibility, participant recruitment and retention.

Setting

Virtual meetings.

Participants

A 15-member team based in Québec and Ontario, Canada, consisting of 9 researchers (including a graduate student and the project coordinator), representing occupational therapy, sensory rehabilitation, neuropsychology, psychology, health science and research methods, 3 informal caregivers …

Reduced Maternal Immunity And Vertical Transfer Of Immunity Against Sars-Cov-2 Variants Of Concern With Covid-19 Exposure Or Initial Vaccination In Pregnancy., Rupsa Boelig, Sidhartha Chaudhury, Gregory D Gromowski, Sandra Mayer, Jocelyn King, Zubair H Aghai, Elke Bergmann-Leitner

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to evolve, we face new variants of concern with a concurrent decline in vaccine booster uptake. We aimed to evaluate the difference in immunity gained from the original SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine series in pregnancy versus SARS-CoV-2 exposure during pregnancy against recent variants of concern.

STUDY DESIGN: This is a retrospective analysis of previously collected samples from 192 patients who delivered between February 2021 and August 2021. Participants were categorized as 1) COVID vaccine: mRNA vaccine in pregnancy, 2) COVID-exposed, and 3) controls. The primary outcome was neutralizing capacity against wild-type, Delta, and Omicron-B1 between …

Elimination Of Oncogenic Kras In Genetic Mouse Models Eradicates Pancreatic Cancer By Inducing Fas-Dependent Apoptosis By Cd8+ T Cells, Krishnan K Mahadevan, Valerie S Lebleu, Elena V Ramirez, Yang Chen, Bingrui Li, Amari M Sockwell, Mihai Gagea, Hikaru Sugimoto, Lakshmi Kavitha Sthanam, Desiree Tampe, Michael Zeisberg, Haoqiang Ying, Abhinav K Jain, Ronald A Depinho, Anirban Maitra, Kathleen M Mcandrews, Raghu Kalluri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oncogenic KrasG12D (Kras*) is critical for the initiation and maintenance of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and a known repressor of tumor immunity. Conditional elimination of Kras* in genetic mouse models of PDAC leads to reactivation of Fas, CD8+ T cell mediated apoptosis, and complete eradication of tumors. Kras* elimination recruits activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and promotes the activation of antigen presenting cells. Mechanistically, Kras* mediated immune evasion involves epigenetic regulation of the Fas death receptor in cancer cells, via methylation of its promoter region. Further, analysis of human RNA sequencing identifies that high KRAS expressing PDAC tumors show …

Krasg12d Inhibition Reprograms The Tumor Microenvironment Of Early And Advanced Pancreatic Cancer To Promote Fas-Mediated Killing By Cd8+ T Cells, Krishnan K Mahadevan, Kathleen M Mcandrews, Valerie S Lebleu, Sujuan Yang, Hengyu Lyu, Bingrui Li, Amari M Sockwell, Michelle L Kirtley, Sami J Morse, Barbara A Moreno Diaz, Michael P Kim, Ningping Feng, Anastasia M Lopez, Paola A Guerrero, Francesca Paradiso, Hikaru Sugimoto, Kent A Arian, Haoqiang Ying, Yasaman Barekatain, Lakshmi Kavitha Sthanam, Patience J Kelly, Anirban Maitra, Timothy P Heffernan, Raghu Kalluri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The KRASG12D mutation is present in nearly half of pancreatic adenocarcinomas (PDAC). We investigated the effects of inhibiting the KRASG12D mutant protein with MRTX1133, a non-covalent small molecule inhibitor of KRASG12D, on early and advanced PDAC and its influence on the tumor microenvironment. Employing 16 different models of KRASG12D-driven PDAC, we demonstrate that MRTX1133 reverses early PDAC growth, increases intratumoral CD8+ effector T cells, decreases myeloid infiltration, and reprograms cancer associated fibroblasts. MRTX1133 leads to regression of both established PanINs and advanced PDAC. Regression of advanced PDAC requires CD8+ T cells and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) synergizes with MRTX1133 …

Global Proteomic Identifies Multiple Cancer-Related Signaling Pathways Altered By A Gut Pathobiont Associated With Colorectal Cancer, Ewa Pasquereau-Kotula, Giulia Nigro, Florent Dingli, Damarys Loew, Patrick Poullet, Yi Xu, Scott Kopetz, Jennifer Davis, Lucie Peduto, Catherine Robbe-Masselot, Philippe Sansonetti, Patrick Trieu-Cuot, Shaynoor Dramsi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In this work, we investigated the oncogenic role of Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. gallolyticus (SGG), a gut bacterium associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). We showed that SGG UCN34 accelerates colon tumor development in a chemically induced CRC murine model. Full proteome and phosphoproteome analysis of murine colons chronically colonized by SGG UCN34 revealed that 164 proteins and 725 phosphorylation sites were differentially regulated. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) indicates a pro-tumoral shift specifically induced by SGG UCN34, as ~ 90% of proteins and phosphoproteins identified were associated with digestive cancer. Comprehensive analysis of the altered phosphoproteins using ROMA software revealed up-regulation of …

Elimination Of Oncogenic Kras In Genetic Mouse Models Eradicates Pancreatic Cancer By Inducing Fas-Dependent Apoptosis By Cd8+ T Cells, Krishnan K Mahadevan, Valerie S Lebleu, Elena V Ramirez, Yang Chen, Bingrui Li, Amari M Sockwell, Mihai Gagea, Hikaru Sugimoto, Lakshmi Kavitha Sthanam, Desiree Tampe, Michael Zeisberg, Haoqiang Ying, Abhinav K Jain, Ronald A Depinho, Anirban Maitra, Kathleen M Mcandrews, Raghu Kalluri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oncogenic KRASG12D (KRAS∗) is critical for the initiation and maintenance of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and is a known repressor of tumor immunity. Conditional elimination of KRAS∗ in genetic mouse models of PDAC leads to the reactivation of FAS, CD8+ T cell-mediated apoptosis, and complete eradication of tumors. KRAS∗ elimination recruits activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and promotes the activation of antigen-presenting cells. Mechanistically, KRAS∗-mediated immune evasion involves the epigenetic regulation of Fas death receptor in cancer cells, via methylation of its promoter region. Furthermore, analysis of human RNA sequencing identifies that high KRAS expression in PDAC tumors shows …

Proteogenomic Insights Suggest Druggable Pathways In Endometrial Carcinoma, Yongchao Dou, Lizabeth Katsnelson, Marina A Gritsenko, Yingwei Hu, Boris Reva, Runyu Hong, Yi-Ting Wang, Iga Kolodziejczak, Rita Jui-Hsien Lu, Chia-Feng Tsai, Wen Bu, Wenke Liu, Xiaofang Guo, Eunkyung An, Rebecca C Arend, Jasmin Bavarva, Lijun Chen, Rosalie K Chu, Andrzej Czekański, Teresa Davoli, Elizabeth G Demicco, Deborah Delair, Kelly Devereaux, Saravana M Dhanasekaran, Peter Dottino, Bailee Dover, Thomas L Fillmore, Mckenzie Foxall, Catherine E Hermann, Tara Hiltke, Galen Hostetter, Marcin Jędryka, Scott D Jewell, Isabelle Johnson, Andrea G Kahn, Amy T Ku, Chandan Kumar-Sinha, Paweł Kurzawa, Alexander J Lazar, Rossana Lazcano, Jonathan T Lei, Yi Li, Yuxing Liao, Tung-Shing M Lih, Tai-Tu Lin, John A Martignetti, Ramya P Masand, Rafał Matkowski, Wilson Mckerrow, Mehdi Mesri, Matthew E Monroe, Jamie Moon, Ronald J Moore, Michael D Nestor, Chelsea Newton, Tatiana Omelchenko, Gilbert S Omenn, Samuel H Payne, Vladislav A Petyuk, Ana I Robles, Henry Rodriguez, Kelly V Ruggles, Dmitry Rykunov, Sara R Savage, Athena A Schepmoes, Tujin Shi, Zhiao Shi, Jimin Tan, Mason Taylor, Mathangi Thiagarajan, Joshua M Wang, Karl K Weitz, Bo Wen, C M Williams, Yige Wu, Matthew A Wyczalkowski, Xinpei Yi, Xu Zhang, Rui Zhao, David Mutch, Arul M Chinnaiyan, Richard D Smith, Alexey I Nesvizhskii, Pei Wang, Maciej Wiznerowicz, Li Ding, D R Mani, Hui Zhang, Matthew L Anderson, Karin D Rodland, Bing Zhang, Tao Liu, David Fenyö

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We characterized a prospective endometrial carcinoma (EC) cohort containing 138 tumors and 20 enriched normal tissues using 10 different omics platforms. Targeted quantitation of two peptides can predict antigen processing and presentation machinery activity, and may inform patient selection for immunotherapy. Association analysis between MYC activity and metformin treatment in both patients and cell lines suggests a potential role for metformin treatment in non-diabetic patients with elevated MYC activity. PIK3R1 in-frame indels are associated with elevated AKT phosphorylation and increased sensitivity to AKT inhibitors. CTNNB1 hotspot mutations are concentrated near phosphorylation sites mediating pS45-induced degradation of β-catenin, which may render …

A Split And Inducible Adenine Base Editor For Precise In Vivo Base Editing, Hongzhi Zeng, Qichen Yuan, Fei Peng, Dacheng Ma, Ananya Lingineni, Kelly Chee, Peretz Gilberd, Emmanuel C Osikpa, Zheng Sun, Xue Gao

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

DNA base editors use deaminases fused to a programmable DNA-binding protein for targeted nucleotide conversion. However, the most widely used TadA deaminases lack post-translational control in living cells. Here, we present a split adenine base editor (sABE) that utilizes chemically induced dimerization (CID) to control the catalytic activity of the deoxyadenosine deaminase TadA-8e. sABE shows high on-target editing activity comparable to the original ABE with TadA-8e (ABE8e) upon rapamycin induction while maintaining low background activity without induction. Importantly, sABE exhibits a narrower activity window on DNA and higher precision than ABE8e, with an improved single-to-double ratio of adenine editing and …

Nurse Engagement In Antibiotic Time-Outs: The Collaborative Process Of Leveraging Design To Disseminate Research Findings, Mary Lou Manning, Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

INTRODUCTION: Research findings and knowledge translation are typically disseminated via presentations at professional meetings and publication in peer-review journals. However, other opportunities to translate research evidence into practice exist, including the use of visual cues.

AIM: The aim of this paper is to describe the collaborative process of translating key research findings into a clear and compelling visual communication tool.

DESIGN: As part of a multimodal research dissemination strategy, the researchers partnered with the University Health Communication Design Program faculty to develop a visual communication strategy to promote the use of antibiotic time-outs by nurses in a health system. An …

Structures Of Ctcf-Dna Complexes Including All 11 Zinc Fingers, Jie Yang, John R Horton, Bin Liu, Victor G Corces, Robert M Blumenthal, Xing Zhang, Xiaodong Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) binds tens of thousands of enhancers and promoters on mammalian chromosomes by means of its 11 tandem zinc finger (ZF) DNA-binding domain. In addition to the 12-15-bp CORE sequence, some of the CTCF binding sites contain 5' upstream and/or 3' downstream motifs. Here, we describe two structures for overlapping portions of human CTCF, respectively, including ZF1-ZF7 and ZF3-ZF11 in complex with DNA that incorporates the CORE sequence together with either 3' downstream or 5' upstream motifs. Like conventional tandem ZF array proteins, ZF1-ZF7 follow the right-handed twist of the DNA, with each finger occupying and recognizing …

Evidence Of Neurovascular Water Exchange And Endothelial Vascular Dysfunction In Schizophrenia: An Exploratory Study, Eric L Goldwaser, Danny J J Wang, Bhim M Adhikari, Joshua Chiappelli, Xingfeng Shao, Jiaao Yu, Tong Lu, Shuo Chen, Wyatt Marshall, Alexa Yuen, Mark Kvarta, Yizhou Ma, Xiaoming Du, Si Gao, Osamah Saeedi, Heather Bruce, Patrick Donnelly, Hugh O'Neill, Alan R Shuldiner, Braxton D Mitchell, Peter Kochunov, L Elliot Hong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Mounting evidence supports cerebrovascular contributions to schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) but with unknown mechanisms. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is at the nexus of neural-vascular exchanges, tasked with regulating cerebral homeostasis. BBB abnormalities in SSD, if any, are likely more subtle compared to typical neurological insults and imaging measures that assess large molecule BBB leakage in major neurological events may not be sensitive enough to directly examine BBB abnormalities in SSD.

STUDY DESIGN: We tested the hypothesis that neurovascular water exchange (Kw) measured by non-invasive diffusion-prepared arterial spin label MRI (n = 27 healthy controls [HC], n = …

Stem-Like Cd4+T Cells In Perivascular Tertiary Lymphoid Structures Sustain Autoimmune Vasculitis, Yuki Sato, Abhinav Jain, Shozo Ohtsuki, Hirohisa Okuyama, Ines Sturmlechner, Yoshinori Takashima, Kevin-Phu C Le, Melanie C Bois, Gerald J Berry, Kenneth J Warrington, Jörg J Goronzy, Cornelia M Weyand

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Autoimmune vasculitis of the medium and large elastic arteries can cause blindness, stroke, aortic arch syndrome, and aortic aneurysm. The disease is often refractory to immunosuppressive therapy and progresses over decades as smoldering aortitis. How the granulomatous infiltrates in the vessel wall are maintained and how tissue-infiltrating T cells and macrophages are replenished are unknown. Single-cell and whole-tissue transcriptomic studies of immune cell populations in vasculitic arteries identified a CD4+ T cell population with stem cell-like features. CD4+ T cells supplying the tissue-infiltrating and tissue-damaging effector T cells survived in tertiary lymphoid structures around adventitial vasa vasora, expressed the transcription …

Lem2 Is Essential For Cardiac Development By Maintaining Nuclear Integrity, Jacob A Ross, Didier Hodzic, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

AIMS: Nuclear envelope integrity is essential for the compartmentalization of the nucleus and cytoplasm. Importantly, mutations in genes encoding nuclear envelope (NE) and associated proteins are the second highest cause of familial dilated cardiomyopathy. One such NE protein that causes cardiomyopathy in humans and affects mouse heart development is Lem2. However, its role in the heart remains poorly understood.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We generated mice in which Lem2 was specifically ablated either in embryonic cardiomyocytes (Lem2 cKO) or in adult cardiomyocytes (Lem2 iCKO) and carried out detailed physiological, tissue, and cellular analyses. High-resolution episcopic microscopy was used for three-dimensional reconstructions …

Development And Replication Of Objective Measurements Of Social Visual Engagement To Aid In Early Diagnosis And Assessment Of Autism, Warren Jones, Cheryl Klaiman, Shana Richardson, Meena Lambha, Morganne Reid, Taralee Hamner, Chloe Beacham, Peter Lewis, Jose Paredes, Laura Edwards, Natasha Marrus, John N Constantino, Sarah Shultz, Ami Klin

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Autism spectrum disorder is a common and early-emerging neurodevelopmental condition. While 80% of parents report having had concerns for their child's development before age 2 years, many children are not diagnosed until ages 4 to 5 years or later.

OBJECTIVE: To develop an objective performance-based tool to aid in early diagnosis and assessment of autism in children younger than 3 years.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In 2 prospective, consecutively enrolled, broad-spectrum, double-blind studies, we developed an objective eye-tracking-based index test for children aged 16 to 30 months, compared its performance with best-practice reference standard diagnosis of autism (discovery study), …

Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer: Expert Consensus Report On The State Of The Science, Rachel N Grisham, Brian M Slomovitz, Nicole Andrews, Susana Banerjee, Jubilee Brown, Mark S Carey, Herman Chui, Robert L Coleman, Amanda N Fader, Stephanie Gaillard, Charlie Gourley, Anil K Sood, Bradley J Monk, Kathleen N Moore, Isabelle Ray-Coquard, Ie-Ming Shih, Shannon N Westin, Kwong-Kwok Wong, David M Gershenson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Compared with high-grade serous carcinoma, low-grade serous carcinoma of the ovary or peritoneum is a less frequent epithelial ovarian cancer type that is poorly sensitive to chemotherapy and affects younger women, many of whom endure years of ineffective treatments and poor quality of life. The pathogenesis of this disease and its management remain incompletely understood. However, recent advances in the molecular characterization of the disease and identification of novel targeted therapies with activity in low-grade serous carcinoma offer the promise of improved outcomes. To update clinicians regarding recent scientific and clinical trial advancements and discuss unanswered questions related to low-grade …

Development Of A Culturally Adapted Dietary Intervention To Reduce Alzheimer's Disease Risk Among Older Black Adults, Ashley R Shaw, Mickeal N Key, Samantha Fikru, Saria Lofton, Debra K Sullivan, Jannette Berkley-Patton, Crystal M Glover, Jeffrey M Burns, Eric D Vidoni

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The objective of this study is to identify and understand knowledge and attitudes that influence dietary practices among older Black adults using a community-engaged approach. This is a non-interventional mixed methods study designed to inform the development of an adapted brain-healthy soul food diet intervention. A purposive sampling approach was used to conduct seven semi-structured focus group discussions and an online quantitative survey. In total, 39 participants who self-identified as Black, aged 55 years and older, English speaking, and who were cognitively normal with an AD8 < 2; (25.6% men; 74.4% women) participated in the online survey and one of the seven 60 min virtual focus group discussions (5-7 per focus group). Quantitative frequency data from the online surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative focus group data were analyzed using a 6-step thematic analysis process. Five themes emerged: dementia awareness; practices shaping food choices and consumption; barriers to eating healthy; instrumental support; and elements of a culturally adapted brain-healthy dietary intervention. Older Black adults perceived an adapted MIND dietary model as the most acceptable with the incorporation of salient cultural characteristics and strategies within both the design and delivery phases.

Taz2 Truncation Confers Overactivation Of P300 And Cellular Vulnerability To Hdac Inhibition, Longxia Xu, Hongwen Xuan, Wei He, Liang Zhang, Mengying Huang, Kuai Li, Hong Wen, Han Xu, Xiaobing Shi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The histone acetyltransferase p300/CBP is composed of several conserved domains, among which, the TAZ2 domain is known as a protein-protein interaction domain that binds to E1A and various transcription factors. Here we show that TAZ2 has a HAT autoinhibitory function. Truncating p300/CBP at TAZ2 leads to hyperactive HAT and elevated histone H3K27 and H3K18 acetylation in cells. Mechanistically, TAZ2 cooperates with other HAT neighboring domains to maintain the HAT active site in a 'closed' state. Truncating TAZ2 or binding of transcription factors to TAZ2 induces a conformational change that 'opens' the active site for substrate acetylation. Importantly, genetic mutations that …

Atypical Squamous Verrucous Lesions Of The Oral Cavity: Challenges In Interpretation Of Small Incisional Biopsies, Ryland Richards, Shweta Agarwal

Pathology Research and Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Squamous verrucous proliferative lesions of oral cavity can pose a diagnostic challenge for the general pathologist, especially on small biopsies. The superficial nature of incisional biopsies and inconsistent histologic terminologies used for these lesions contribute to often-discrepant clinical diagnosis, resulting in delayed treatment. This study aims to explore the proliferative squamous lesions of oral cavity, correlate biopsy & resection diagnoses, and evaluate possible reasons for discrepant diagnosis (if any).

DESIGN: A retrospective review of oral verrucous squamous lesions was undertaken. Pathology database was searched for oral cavity biopsies from January2018 through August2022 with the keywords: atypical, verrucous, squamous, and …

Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Significantly Increases Collagen Level And Fiber Maturity In Patient-Specific Biological Engineered Blood Vessels, Bryan T. Wonski, Bijal Patel, Donna G. Tepper, Aamir Siddiqui, Loay S. Kabbani, Mai T. Lam

Surgery Articles

Tissue engineering has driven significant research in the strive to create a supply of tissues for patient treatment. Cell integration into engineered tissues maximizes functional capabilities, however, issues of rejection remain. Autologous cell sources able to solve this issue are difficult to identify for tissue engineering purposes. Here, we present the efficacy of patient-sourced cells derived from adipose (adipose-derived stem cells, ASCs) and skin tissue (dermal fibroblasts, PtFibs) to build a combined engineered tunica media and adventitia graft, respectively. Patient cells were integrated into our lab's vascular tissue engineering technique of forming vascular rings that are stacked into a tubular …

Medical Students' Attitudes And Beliefs Toward Psilocybin: Does Terminology And Personal Experience With Psychedelics Matter?, Antonio F Pagán, Claudia Lex, Jair C Soares, Thomas D Meyer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Psilocybin and psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) have gained renewed interest due to recent findings that PAT can enhance therapeutic outcomes. In 2019, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved breakthrough therapy status to psilocybin for the treatment of depression, but PAT has yet to be approved as a therapeutic treatment for mental health disorders. Should the FDA approve PAT, medical students will serve as gatekeepers to PAT.

METHODS: Medical students (

RESULTS: Regardless of the terminology utilized, medical students held overall positive attitudes but their attitudes were significantly more positive when the term "psilocybin" was used. Furthermore, experience with …

Host Interactions Of Novel Crassvirales Species Belonging To Multiple Families Infecting Bacterial Host, Bacteroides Cellulosilyticus Wh2host Interactions Of Novel Crassvirales Species Belonging To Multiple Families Infecting Bacterial Host, Bacteroides Cellulosilyticus Wh2, Bhavya Papudeshi, Lindsay Droit, Scott A Handley, David Wang, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Bacteroides, the prominent bacteria in the human gut, play a crucial role in degrading complex polysaccharides. Their abundance is influenced by phages belonging to the

Current Curricular Trends After The Covid-19 Pandemic: A National Survey Of Psychiatry Residency Programs, Jeff Wang Jin, Kacy Smith, Amanda Helminiak, Vineeth John, Hanjing Emily Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many psychiatry residencies (academic, community, and hybrid programs) have adopted different learning modalities to preserve a high quality of educational training. There is minimal data on specific program adaptations, related change perspectives, and program type stratification. This study sought to examine trends in curriculum changes in accredited psychiatry residency programs in the United States.

METHODS: Program directors of accredited general psychiatry programs in the United States were surveyed to assess both general program details and changes in educational content, delivery, and perspectives with regard to program curricula.

RESULTS: A total of 63 program directors out …

Machine Independence Of Ultrasound-Based Quantification Of Vitreous Echodensities, Cameron Hoerig, Justin H Nguyen, Jonathan Mamou, Cedric Venuat, J Sebag, Jeffrey A Ketterling

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) provides objective indices of Vision Degrading Myodesopsia (VDM) that correlate with contrast sensitivity (CS). To date, QUS methods were only tested on a single ultrasound machine. Here, we evaluate whether QUS measurements are machine independent.

METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 47 eyes (24 subjects; age = 53.2 ± 14.4 years) were evaluated with Freiburg acuity contrast testing (%Weber), and ultrasonography using 2 machines: one with a 15-MHz single-element transducer and one with a 5-ring, 20-MHz annular-array. Images were acquired from each system in sequential scans. Artifact-free, log-compressed envelope data were processed to yield three parameters (mean …

Reduced Digestion Of Circulating Genomic Dna In Systemic Sclerosis Patients With The Dnase1l3 R206c Variant\, Brian Skaug, Xinjian Guo, Yuanteng Jeff Li, Julio Charles, Kay T Pham, Jacob Couturier, Dorothy E Lewis, Claudia Bracaglia, Ivan Caiello, Maureen D Mayes, Shervin Assassi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: Polymorphism in a coding region of deoxyribonuclease I-like III (DNASE1L3), causing amino acid substitution of Arg-206 to Cys (R206C), is a robustly replicated heritable risk factor for SSc and other autoimmune diseases. DNASE1L3 is secreted into the circulation, where it can digest genomic DNA (gDNA) in apoptosis-derived membrane vesicles (AdMVs). We sought to determine the impact of DNASE1L3 R206C on digestion of circulating gDNA in SSc patients and healthy controls (HCs).

Methods: The ability of DNASE1L3 to digest AdMV-associated gDNA was tested in vitro. The effect of R206C substitution on extracellular secretion of DNASE1L3 was determined using a transfected …

Differentiating Urgent From Elective Cases Matters In Minority Populations: Developing An Ordinal "Desirability Of Outcome Ranking" To Increase Granularity And Sensitivity Of Surgical Outcomes Assessment, Michael A Jacobs, Susanne Schmidt, Daniel E Hall, Karyn B Stitzenberg, Lillian S Kao, Chen-Pin Wang, Laura S Manuel, Paula K Shireman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Surgical analyses often focus on single or binary outcomes; we developed an ordinal Desirability of Outcome Ranking (DOOR) for surgery to increase granularity and sensitivity of surgical outcome assessments. Many studies also combine elective and urgent procedures for risk adjustment. We used DOOR to examine complex associations of race/ethnicity and presentation acuity.

STUDY DESIGN: NSQIP (2013 to 2019) cohort study assessing DOOR outcomes across race/ethnicity groups risk-adjusted for frailty, operative stress, preoperative acute serious conditions, and elective, urgent, and emergent cases.

RESULTS: The cohort included 1,597,199 elective, 340,350 urgent, and 185,073 emergent cases with patient mean age of 60.0 …

Global Blood Pressure Screening During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Results From The May Measurement Month 2021 Campaign, Thomas Beaney, Wei Wang, Markus P Schlaich, Aletta E Schutte, George S Stergiou, Luis Alcocer, Jafar Alsaid, Alejandro Bimbo Diaz, Rafael Hernandez-Hernandez, Mohammad Ishaq, Jacek Jozwiak, Nadia Khan, Gaia Kiru, Harsha Mccardle, Augustine Nonso Odili, Wook Bum Pyun, Cesar A Romero, Jiguang Wang, Neil R Poulter, Mmm Investigators

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Raised blood pressure (BP) remains the biggest risk factor contributing to the global burden of disease and mortality, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. May Measurement Month (MMM), an annual global screening campaign aims to highlight the importance of BP measurement by evaluating global awareness, treatment and control rates among adults with hypertension. In 2021, we assessed the global burden of these rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS: Screening sites were set up in 54 countries between May and November 2021 and screenees were recruited by convenience sampling. Three sitting BPs were measured, and a questionnaire completed including demographic, lifestyle and …

Host-Derived Reactive Oxygen Species Trigger Activation Of The Candida Albicans Transcription Regulator Rtg1/3, Mazen Oneissi, Melissa R Cruz, Bernardo Ramírez-Zavala, Elena Lindemann-Perez, Joachim Morschhäuser, Danielle A Garsin, J Christian Perez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The signals that denote mammalian host environments and dictate the activation of signaling pathways in human-associated microorganisms are often unknown. The transcription regulator Rtg1/3 in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans is a crucial determinant of host colonization and pathogenicity. Rtg1/3's activity is controlled, in part, by shuttling the regulator between the cytoplasm and nucleus of the fungus. The host signal(s) that Rtg1/3 respond(s) to, however, have remained unclear. Here we report that neutrophil-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) direct the subcellular localization of this C. albicans transcription regulator. Upon engulfment of Candida cells by human or mouse neutrophils, the regulator …

Alliance For Innovation On Maternal Health: Consensus Bundle On Sepsis In Obstetric Care., Melissa E Bauer, Catherine Albright, Malavika Prabhu, R Phillips Heine, Chelsea Lennox, Christie Allen, Carol Burke, April Chavez, Brenna L Hughes, Susan Kendig, Maile Le Boeuf, Elliott Main, Tiffany Messerall, Luis D Pacheco, Laura Riley, Rachel Solnick, Andrew Youmans, Ronald Gibbs

Women’s Health Articles

Sepsis in obstetric care is one of the leading causes of maternal death in the United States, with Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native obstetric patients experiencing sepsis at disproportionately higher rates. State maternal mortality review committees have determined that deaths are preventable much of the time and are caused by delays in recognition, treatment, and escalation of care. The "Sepsis in Obstetric Care" patient safety bundle provides guidance for health care teams to develop coordinated, multidisciplinary care for pregnant and postpartum people by preventing infection and recognizing and treating infection early to prevent progression to sepsis. This is …

Current Curricular Trends After The Covid-19 Pandemic: A National Survey Of Psychiatry Residency Programs, Jeff Wang Jin, Kacy Smith, Amanda Helminiak, Vineeth John, Hanjing Emily Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many psychiatry residencies (academic, community, and hybrid programs) have adopted different learning modalities to preserve a high quality of educational training. There is minimal data on specific program adaptations, related change perspectives, and program type stratification. This study sought to examine trends in curriculum changes in accredited psychiatry residency programs in the United States.

Methods: Program directors of accredited general psychiatry programs in the United States were surveyed to assess both general program details and changes in educational content, delivery, and perspectives with regard to program curricula.

Results: A total of 63 program directors out …

Gross Hematuria And Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Associated With Military Burn Pits Exposures In Us Veterans Deployed To Iraq And Afghanistan, Mosammat M. Perveen, Henry E. Mayo-Malasky, Mary F. Lee-Wong, Julie M. Tomaska, Edward Forsyth, Amy Gravely, Mark A. Klein, Janeen H. Trembley, Tammy A. Butterick, Robert A. Promisloff, Pamela K. Ginex, Paul Barach, Anthony M. Szema

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to describe rates of hematuria and other lower urinary tract symptoms, including self-reported cancer rates, among veterans postburn pits emissions exposure during deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

METHODS: US post-9/11 veterans with burn pits emissions exposure confirmed via DD214 forms in the Burn Pits360.org Registry were sent a modified survey. Data were deidentified and anonymously coded.

RESULTS: Twenty-nine percent of the 155 respondents exposed to burn pits self-reported seeing blood in their urine. The average index score of our modified American Urological Association Symptom Index Survey was 12.25 (SD, 7.48). High rates of …