Digital Commons Network^™

Aadc Deficiency From Infancy To Adulthood: Symptoms And Developmental Outcome In An International Cohort Of 63 Patients, Toni S Pearson, Laura Gilbert, Kathleen D Meeks, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency (AADCD) is a rare, autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired synthesis of dopamine, noradrenaline, adrenaline and serotonin, leading to a complex syndrome of motor, behavioral, and autonomic symptoms. This retrospective study assessed the symptoms and developmental outcome of a large international cohort of patients with AADCD via physician and/or caregiver responses to a detailed, standardized questionnaire. Sixty-three patients (60% female; ages 6 months-36 years, median 7 years; 58 living) from 23 individual countries participated. Common symptoms at onset (median age 3 months, range 0-12 months) were hypotonia, developmental delay, and/or oculogyric crises. Oculogyric crises …

A Germline Variant At 8q24 Contributes To Familial Clustering Of Prostate Cancer In Men Of African Ancestry, Burcu F Darst, Adam S Kibel, Bettina F Drake, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Although men of African ancestry have a high risk of prostate cancer (PCa), no genes or mutations have been identified that contribute to familial clustering of PCa in this population. We investigated whether the African ancestry-specific PCa risk variant at 8q24, rs72725854, is enriched in men with a PCa family history in 9052 cases, 143 cases from high-risk families, and 8595 controls of African ancestry. We found the risk allele to be significantly associated with earlier age at diagnosis, more aggressive disease, and enriched in men with a PCa family history (32% of high-risk familial cases carried the variant vs …

Nine-Year Prospective Efficacy And Safety Of Brain-Responsive Neurostimulation For Focal Epilepsy, Dileep R Nair, Kenneth D Laxer, Peter B Weber, Anthony M Murro, Yong D Park, Gregory L Barkley, Brien J Smith, Ryder P Gwinn, Michael J Doherty, Katherine H Noe, Richard S Zimmerman, Gregory K Bergey, William S Anderson, Christianne Heck, Charles Y Liu, Ricky W Lee, Toni Sadler, Robert B Duckrow, Lawrence J Hirsch, Robert E Wharen, William Tatum, Shraddha Srinivasan, Guy M Mckhann, Mark A Agostini, Andreas V Alexopoulos, Barbara C Jobst, David W Roberts, Vicenta Salanova, Thomas C Witt, Sydney S Cash, Andrew J Cole, Gregory A Worrell, Brian N Lundstrom, Jonathan C Edwards, Jonathan J Halford, David C Spencer, Lia Ernst, Christopher T Skidmore, Michael R Sperling, Ian Miller, Eric B Geller, Michel J Berg, A James Fessler, Paul Rutecki, Alica M Goldman, Eli M Mizrahi, Robert E Gross, Donald C Shields, Theodore H Schwartz, Douglas R Labar, Nathan B Fountain, W Jeff Elias, Piotr W Olejniczak, Nicole R Villemarette-Pittman, Stephan Eisenschenk, Steven N Roper, Jane G Boggs, Tracy A Courtney, Felice T Sun, Cairn G Seale, Kathy L Miller, Tara L Skarpaas, Martha J Morrell, Rns System Ltt Study

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively evaluate safety and efficacy of brain-responsive neurostimulation in adults with medically intractable focal onset seizures (FOS) over 9 years.

METHODS: Adults treated with brain-responsive neurostimulation in 2-year feasibility or randomized controlled trials were enrolled in a long-term prospective open label trial (LTT) to assess safety, efficacy, and quality of life (QOL) over an additional 7 years. Safety was assessed as adverse events (AEs), efficacy as median percent change in seizure frequency and responder rate, and QOL with the Quality of Life in Epilepsy (QOLIE-89) inventory.

RESULTS: Of 256 patients treated in the initial trials, 230 participated in …

The De Winter Ecg Pattern: Distribution And Morphology Of St Depression, Zhong-Qun Zhan, Yang Li, Li-Hong Han, Kjell C Nikus, Yochai Birnbaum, Adrian Baranchuk

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The reported positive predictive value (PPV) for the "de Winter ECG pattern" to predict an acute left anterior descending artery (LAD) lesion is inconsistent. Besides, the morphology of upsloping or nonupsloping ST depression (STD) may have different significance of severity and prognostication.

METHODS: We searched the MEDLINE database using "de Winter" or "junctional ST-depression with tall symmetrical T-waves" or "tall T wave" or "STEMI equivalent" as the item up to March 2020. We compared the ECG differences between the different culprit arteries and various morphological STD.

RESULTS: A total of 70 patients with analyzable ECGs were included. In 60 …

Impact Of Investigational Microbiota Therapeutic Rbx2660 On The Gut Microbiome And Resistome Revealed By A Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial, Suryang Kwak, Joohee Choi, Tiffany Hink, Kimberly A Reske, Kenneth Blount, Courtney Jones, Margaret H Bost, Xiaoqing Sun, Carey-Ann D Burnham, Erik R Dubberke, Gautam Dantas, Cdc Prevention Epicenter Program

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Intestinal microbiota restoration can be achieved by complementing a subject's perturbed microbiota with that of a healthy donor. Recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) is one key application of such treatment. Another emerging application of interest is reducing antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) and organisms (AROs). In this study, we investigated fecal specimens from a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b study of microbiota-based investigational drug RBX2660. Patients were administered either placebo, 1 dose of RBX2660 and 1 placebo, or 2 doses of RBX2660 via enema and longitudinally tracked for changes in their microbiome and antibiotic resistome.

RESULTS: All patients exhibited significant …

Barriers That Impede Foreign-Born And Educated Male Nursing Students' Success In A United States Nursing Program: A Case Study, Lisa Marie Dunn

Theses and Dissertations

The United States has a 36% shortage of full-time nurses. This is projected to worsen. There will be a need for 260, 000 more nurses by 2025 and more than 581,000 new nursing positions will be created through 2024 (American Association College of Nursing, 2011; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). By 2030, New Jersey's shortage of nurses will exceed 43% (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2017). If a diverse population of students complete a nursing program and become nurses working in the field, the literature reports that there are better client outcomes when the healthcare industry mirrors …

Regional Correlation Of Biochemical Measures Of Amyloid And Tau Phosphorylation In The Brain, Kanta Horie, Nicolas R Barthélemy, Nipun Mallipeddi, Yan Li, Erin E Franklin, Richard J Perrin, Randall J Bateman, Chihiro Sato

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathologic change is characterized by amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) that consist of aggregated amyloid beta (Abeta) and hyperphosphorylated tau proteins (p-tau), respectively. Although the global relationship between Abeta and p-tau has been studied for decades, it is still unclear whether a regional correlation exists between Abeta and p-tau in the human brain. Recent studies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have suggested that tau phosphorylation at specific sites such as T217 is modified at an early stage of AD when amyloid plaques become detectable. We applied biochemical and mass spectrometry methods in human brain samples with and …

Genetic Variants And Functional Pathways Associated With Resilience To Alzheimer's Disease, Logan Dumitrescu, Carlos Cruchaga, Et Al

Open Access Publications

Approximately 30% of older adults exhibit the neuropathological features of Alzheimer's disease without signs of cognitive impairment. Yet, little is known about the genetic factors that allow these potentially resilient individuals to remain cognitively unimpaired in the face of substantial neuropathology. We performed a large, genome-wide association study (GWAS) of two previously validated metrics of cognitive resilience quantified using a latent variable modelling approach and representing better-than-predicted cognitive performance for a given level of neuropathology. Data were harmonized across 5108 participants from a clinical trial of Alzheimer's disease and three longitudinal cohort studies of cognitive ageing. All analyses were run …

Deletion Rescue Resulting In Segmental Homozygosity: A Mechanism Underlying Discordant Nipt Results, Samantha Caldwell, Katelynn Sagaser, Zoe Nelson, Jennifer Frey, Jenna Wardrop, Theresa Boomer, Ron Mccullough, Stuart Schwartz

Research Administration Articles

With the increasing capabilities of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), detection of sub-chromosomal deletions and duplications are possible. This case series of deletion rescues resulting in segmental homozygosity helps provide a biological explanation for NIPT discrepancies and adds to the dearth of existing literature surrounding segmental UPD cases and their underlying mechanisms. In the three cases presented here, NIPT reported a sub-chromosomal deletion (in isolation or as part of a complex finding). Diagnostic testing, however, revealed segmental homozygosity or UPD for the region reported deleted on NIPT. Postnatal placental testing was pursued in two cases and confirmed the NIPT findings. This …

Removal Of High Frequency Contamination From Motion Estimates In Single-Band Fmri Saves Data Without Biasing Functional Connectivity, Caterina Gratton, Ally Dworetsky, Rebecca S Coalson, Babatunde Adeyemo, Timothy O Laumann, Deanna M Barch, Nico U F Dosenbach, Abraham Z Snyder, Joel S Perlmutter, Steven E Petersen, Meghan C Campbell, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Denoising fMRI data requires assessment of frame-to-frame head motion and removal of the biases motion introduces. This is usually done through analysis of the parameters calculated during retrospective head motion correction (i.e., 'motion' parameters). However, it is increasingly recognized that respiration introduces factitious head motion via perturbations of the main (B0) field. This effect appears as higher-frequency fluctuations in the motion parameters (>0.1 ​Hz, here referred to as 'HF-motion'), primarily in the phase-encoding direction. This periodicity can sometimes be obscured in standard single-band fMRI (TR 2.0-2.5 ​s) due to aliasing. Here we examined (1) how prevalent HF-motion effects are …

Auxora Versus Standard Of Care For The Treatment Of Severe Or Critical Covid-19 Pneumonia: Results From A Randomized Controlled Trial, Joseph B. Miller Md, Charles Bruen, Michael Schnaus, Jeffrey Zhang, Sadia Ali, April Lind, Zachary Stoecker, Kenneth Stauderman, Sudarshan Hebbar

Emergency Medicine Articles

BACKGROUND: Calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC) channel inhibitors stabilize the pulmonary endothelium and block proinflammatory cytokine release, potentially mitigating respiratory complications observed in patients with COVID-19. This study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of Auxora, a novel, intravenously administered CRAC channel inhibitor, in adults with severe or critical COVID-19 pneumonia.

METHODS: A randomized, controlled, open-label study of Auxora was conducted in adults with severe or critical COVID-19 pneumonia. Patients were randomized 2:1 to receive three doses of once-daily Auxora versus standard of care (SOC) alone. The primary objective was to assess the safety and tolerability of Auxora. Following FDA …

The Effect Of Neighborhood Social Environment On Prostate Cancer Development In Black And White Men At High Risk For Prostate Cancer, Shannon M Lynch, Elizabeth Handorf, Kristen A Sorice, Elizabeth Blackman, Lisa Bealin, Veda N. Giri, Elias Obeid, Camille Ragin, Mary Daly

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: Neighborhood socioeconomic (nSES) factors have been implicated in prostate cancer (PCa) disparities. In line with the Precision Medicine Initiative that suggests clinical and socioenvironmental factors can impact PCa outcomes, we determined whether nSES variables are associated with time to PCa diagnosis and could inform PCa clinical risk assessment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study sample included 358 high risk men (PCa family history and/or Black race), aged 35-69 years, enrolled in an early detection program. Patient variables were linked to 78 nSES variables (employment, income, etc.) from previous literature via geocoding. Patient-level models, including baseline age, prostate specific antigen (PSA), …

Atypical Reactivation Of Varicella Zoster Virus Associated With Pancreatitis In A Heart Transplant Patient., Christine Shieh, Ashley Barnes, Drew Johnson, Ilya Danelich, Pharmd, Bcps, Bccp, Preethi Pirlamarla, Rene Alvarez, H. Todd Massey, Md, Mahek Shah

Division of Internal Medicine Faculty Papers & Presentations

BACKGROUND Acute pancreatitis is rare following solid organ transplantation but is associated with high mortality. It has been most commonly reported following renal transplant but can occur with other solid organ transplantations. CASE REPORT A 46-year-old male who had an orthotopic heart transplant 6 months ago presented with a 3-week history of abdominal pain. The patient described it as intermittent, sharp, and stabbing, originating in the periumbilical area and radiating to the back. His lipase was elevated at 232 U/L. Given that the patient's symptoms and lipase were elevated to greater than three times the upper limit of normal, he …

The Accidental Academic Library: Meeting The Needs Of A Health System–Affiliated University, Heather Martin

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Background: In 2017 a small liberal arts college affiliated with a large western health system was re-branded, and a School of Health Professions was created to prepare for future staffing shortages and to train the next generation of healthcare workers. Instead of relying solely upon its own library, University administration reached out to the health system library to meet the information needs of this new group of students, most of whom were active employees of the healthcare enterprise. Thus, a group of hospital librarians found themselves as accidental academic librarians.

Description: Library leadership researched academic library bench-marking to propose a …

Oral Cancer: Clinicopathological Features And Associated Risk Factors In A High Risk Population Presenting To A Major Tertiary Care Center In Pakistan, Namrah Anwar, Shahid Pervez, Qurratulain Chundriger, Mohammad Sohail Awan, Tariq Moatter, Tazeen Saeed Ali

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has the highest prevalence in head and neck cancers and is the first and second most common cancer in males and females of Pakistan respectively. Major risk factors include peculiar chewing habits like areca nut, betel quid, and tobacco. The majority of OSCC presents at an advanced stage with poor prognosis. On the face of such a high burden of this preventable cancer, there is a relative lack of recent robust data and its association with known risk factors from Pakistan. The aim of this study was to identify the socioeconomic factors and clinicopathological features …

De Novo And Bi-Allelic Pathogenic Variants In Nars1 Cause Neurodevelopmental Delay Due To Toxic Gain-Of-Function And Partial Loss-Of-Function Effects, Andreea Manole, Marwan Shinawi, Marisa V. Andrews, Dustin Baldridge, John F. Mantovani, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are ubiquitous, ancient enzymes that charge amino acids to cognate tRNA molecules, the essential first step of protein translation. Here, we describe 32 individuals from 21 families, presenting with microcephaly, neurodevelopmental delay, seizures, peripheral neuropathy, and ataxia, with de novo heterozygous and bi-allelic mutations in asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase (NARS1). We demonstrate a reduction in NARS1 mRNA expression as well as in NARS1 enzyme levels and activity in both individual fibroblasts and induced neural progenitor cells (iNPCs). Molecular modeling of the recessive c.1633C>T (p.Arg545Cys) variant shows weaker spatial positioning and tRNA selectivity. We conclude that de novo and …

Medium-Term Complications Associated With Coronary Artery Aneurysms After Kawasaki Disease: A Study From The International Kawasaki Disease Registry., Brian W Mccrindle, Cedric Manlhiot, Jane W Newburger, Ashraf S Harahsheh, Therese M Giglia, Frederic Dallaire, Kevin Friedman, Tisiana Low, Kyle Runeckles, Mathew Mathew, Andrew S Mackie, Nadine F Choueiter, Pei-Ni Jone, Shelby Kutty, Anji T Yetman, Geetha Raghuveer, Elfriede Pahl, Kambiz Norozi, Kimberly E Mchugh, Jennifer S Li, Sarah D De Ferranti, Nagib Dahdah

Paediatrics Publications

Background Coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs) may occur after Kawasaki disease (KD) and lead to important morbidity and mortality. As CAA in patients with KD are rare and heterogeneous lesions, prognostication and risk stratification are difficult. We sought to derive the cumulative risk and associated factors for cardiovascular complications in patients with CAAs after KD. Methods and Results A 34-institution international registry of 1651 patients with KD who had CAAs (maximum CAA

The Landscape Of Rna Polymerase Ii-Associated Chromatin Interactions In Prostate Cancer, Susmita G Ramanand, Yong Chen, Jiapei Yuan, Kelly Daescu, Maryou Bk Lambros, Kathleen E Houlahan, Suzanne Carreira, Wei Yuan, Guemhee Baek, Adam Sharp, Alec Paschalis, Mohammed Kanchwala, Yunpeng Gao, Adam Aslam, Nida Safdar, Xiaowei Zhan, Ganesh V Raj, Chao Xing, Paul C Boutros, Johann De Bono, Michael Q Zhang, Ram S Mani

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Transcriptional dysregulation is a hallmark of prostate cancer (PCa). We mapped the RNA polymerase II-associated (RNA Pol II-associated) chromatin interactions in normal prostate cells and PCa cells. We discovered thousands of enhancer-promoter, enhancer-enhancer, as well as promoter-promoter chromatin interactions. These transcriptional hubs operate within the framework set by structural proteins - CTCF and cohesins - and are regulated by the cooperative action of master transcription factors, such as the androgen receptor (AR) and FOXA1. By combining analyses from metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC) specimens, we show that AR locus amplification contributes to the transcriptional upregulation of the AR gene by increasing …

Risk Of New Bloodstream Infections And Mortality Among People Who Inject Drugs With Infective Endocarditis., Charlie Tan, Esfandiar Shojaei, Joshua C. Wiener, Meera Shah, Sharon Koivu, Michael Silverman

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

IMPORTANCE: People who inject drugs (PWID) who are being treated for infective endocarditis remain at risk of new bloodstream infections (BSIs) due to ongoing intravenous drug use (IVDU).

OBJECTIVES: To characterize new BSIs in PWID receiving treatment for infective endocarditis, to determine the clinical factors associated with their development, and to determine whether new BSIs and treatment setting are associated with mortality.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study was performed at 3 tertiary care hospitals in London, Ontario, Canada, from April 1, 2007, to March 31, 2018. Participants included a consecutive sample of all PWID 18 years or …

Maternal Obesity Reduces Placental Autophagy Marker Expression In Uncomplicated Pregnancies, Matthew Cohen, Emily Guo, Aidan Pucchio, Barbra De Vrijer, Trevor G Shepherd, Genevieve Eastabrook

Obstetrics & Gynaecology Publications

AIM: Obesity has been associated with changes in autophagy and its increasing prevalence among pregnant women is implicated in higher rates of placental-mediated complications of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction. Autophagy is involved in normal placentation, thus changes in autophagy may lead to impaired placental function and development. The aim of this study was to investigate the connection between obesity and autophagy in the placenta in otherwise uncomplicated pregnancies.

METHODS: Immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis were done on placental and omental samples from obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥30 kg/m

RESULTS: As pre-pregnancy BMI increased, there was …

Early Working Memory Is A Significant Predictor Of Verbal And Processing Skills At 6-7 Years In Children Born Extremely Preterm, Jean Lowe, Carla M Bann, Janell Fuller, Betty R Vohr, Susan R Hintz, Abhik Das, Rosemary D Higgins, Kristi L Watterberg, Support Study Group Of The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development Neonatal Research Network

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to investigate whether attainment of object permanence, a measure of early working memory used at 18-22 months corrected age, was associated with executive function at 6-7 years in a cohort of children born extremely preterm.

STUDY DESIGN: Children enrolled in the Neuroimaging and Neurodevelopmental Outcome (NEURO) study, a secondary study to the Surfactant Positive Airway Pressure and Pulse Oximetry Trial (SUPPORT) of the NICHD NRN, were eligible for this longitudinal study. Testing completed at 18 to 22 months corrected age was compared to testing at school age with a specific focus on measures of executive …

Telemedicine In Liver Disease And Beyond: Can The Covid-19 Crisis Lead To Action?, Marina Serper, Allen W. Cubell, Mary Elisabeth Deleener, Tara K. Casher, Dale J. Rosenberg, Dale Whitebloom, Roy M. Rosin

Project ECHO Bibliography

Evidence strongly supports that access to specialty gastroenterology or hepatology care in cirrhosis is associated with higher adherence to guideline-recommended care and improves clinical outcomes. Presently, only about one half of acute care hospitalizations for cirrhosis-related complications result in inpatient specialty care, and the current hepatology workforce cannot meet the demand of patients with liver disease nationwide, particularly in less densely populated areas and in community-based practices not affiliated with academic centers. Telemedicine, defined as the delivery of health care services at a distance using electronic means for diagnosis and treatment, holds tremendous promise to increase access to broadly specialty …

White Matter Abnormalities Across Different Epilepsy Syndromes In Adults: An Enigma-Epilepsy Study, Sean N. Hatton, Khoa H. Huynh, Leonardo Bonilha, Eugenio Abela, Saud Alhusaini, Andre Altmann, Marina K. M. Alvim, Akshara R. Balachandra, Emanuele Bartolini, Benjamin Bender, Neda Bernasconi, Andrea Bernasconi, Boris Bernhardt, Núria Bargallo, Benoit Caldairou, Maria E. Caligiuri, Sarah J. A. Carr, Gianpiero L. Cavalleri, Fernando Cendes, Luis Concha, Esmaeil Davoodi-Bojd, Patricia M. Desmond, Orrin Devinsky, Colin P. Doherty, Martin Domin, John S. Duncan, Niels K. Focke, Sonya F. Foley, Antonio Gambardella, Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht, Renzo Guerrini, Khalid Hamandi, Akari Ishikawa, Simon S. Keller, Peter V. Kochunov, Raviteja Kotikalapudi, Barbara A.K. Kreilkamp, Patrick Kwan, Angelo Labate, Soenke Langner, Matteo Lenge, Min Liu, Elaine Lui, Pascal Martin, Mario Mascalchi, José C.V. Moreira, Marcia E. Morita-Sherman, Terence J. O'Brien, Heath R. Pardoe, José C. Pariente, Letícia F. Ribeiro, Mark P. Richardson, Cristiane S. Rocha, Raúl Rodríguez-Cruces, Felix Rosenow, Mariasavina Severino, Benjamin Sinclair, Hamid Soltanian-Zadeh, Pasquale Striano, Peter N. Taylor, Rhys H. Thomas, Domenico Tortora, Dennis Velakoulis, Annamaria Vezzani, Lucy Vivash, Felix Von Podewils, Sjoerd B. Vos, Bernd Weber, Gavin P. Winston, Clarissa L. Yasuda, Alyssa H. Zhu, Paul M. Thompson, Christopher D. Whelan, Neda Jahanshad, Sanjay M. Sisodiya, Carrie R. Mcdonald

Research Administration Articles

The epilepsies are commonly accompanied by widespread abnormalities in cerebral white matter. ENIGMA-Epilepsy is a large quantitative brain imaging consortium, aggregating data to investigate patterns of neuroimaging abnormalities in common epilepsy syndromes, including temporal lobe epilepsy, extratemporal epilepsy, and genetic generalized epilepsy. Our goal was to rank the most robust white matter microstructural differences across and within syndromes in a multicentre sample of adult epilepsy patients. Diffusion-weighted MRI data were analysed from 1069 healthy controls and 1249 patients: temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (n = 599), temporal lobe epilepsy with normal MRI (n = 275), genetic generalized epilepsy (n …

Therapeutic Plasma Exchange Taper Does Not Decrease Exacerbations In Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Patients, Jay S. Raval, Marshall A. Mazepa, Marian A. Rollins-Raval, Raj S. Kasthuri, Yara A. Park

Pathology Research and Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Despite rapid and intensive treatments with therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) and immunosuppression, immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) patients are at risk of disease exacerbation, i.e., early recurrence of TTP within 30 days of achieving treatment response. TPE taper, a practice of performing additional TPE procedures after achieving treatment response, is commonly performed for decreasing exacerbations, although no evidence supports this practice.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: In this prospective observational investigation over four years, our center switched its standard of care for treating all TTP patients from not performing TPE taper after achieving treatment response (i.e., no-taper cohort) to performance …

Profound And Redundant Functions Of Arcuate Neurons In Obesity Development, Canjun Zhu, Zhiying Jiang, Yuanzhong Xu, Zhao-Lin Cai, Qingyan Jiang, Yong Xu, Mingshan Xue, Benjamin R Arenkiel, Qi Wu, Gang Shu, Qingchun Tong

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The current obesity epidemic faces a lack of mechanistic insights. It is known that the acute activity changes of a growing number of brain neurons rapidly alter feeding behaviour; however, how these changes translate to obesity development and the fundamental mechanism underlying brain neurons in controlling body weight remain elusive. Here, we show that chronic activation of hypothalamic arcuate GABAergic (GABA

Radiation Causes Tissue Damage By Dysregulating Inflammasome-Gasdermin D Signaling In Both Host And Transplanted Cells, Jianqiu Xiao, Chun Wang, Juo-Chin Yao, Yael Alippe, Tong Yang, Dustin Kress, Kai Sun, Kourtney L. Kostecki, Joseph B. Monahan, Deborah J. Veis, Yousef Abu-Amer, Daniel C. Link, Gabriel Mbalaviele

Open Access Publications

Radiotherapy is a commonly used conditioning regimen for bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Cytotoxicity limits the use of this life-saving therapy, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly defined. Here, we use the syngeneic mouse BMT model to test the hypothesis that lethal radiation damages tissues, thereby unleashing signals that indiscriminately activate the inflammasome pathways in host and transplanted cells. We find that a clinically relevant high dose of radiation causes severe damage to bones and the spleen through mechanisms involving the NLRP3 and AIM2 inflammasomes but not the NLRC4 inflammasome. Downstream, we demonstrate that gasdermin D (GSDMD), the common effector of …

Straight Men Come Out: Queer Eye And The Path To A More Mindful Masculinity, Eli M. Roush

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

My thesis explores the culture surrounding the 2018 reboot of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in relation to contemporary arguments in masculinity studies about the costs of hegemonic masculinity, performance, and identity. This paper examines how Queer Eye carefully creates space where heteronormative men can safely express emotional vulnerability and embody a more functional masculinity that expands beyond the bounds of hegemonic performance. The bulk of the analysis involves close readings of specific episodes and scenes from Queer Eye that introduce and examine the strategies the Fab Five use to redefine their subject's engagement with masculinity, explore the effectiveness …

Myocardial Infarction Can Be Safely Excluded By High-Sensitivity Troponin I Testing 3 Hours After Emergency Department Presentation., W Frank Peacock, Robert Christenson, Deborah B Diercks, Christian Fromm, Gary F Headden, Christopher J Hogan, Erik B Kulstad, Frank Lovecchio, Richard M Nowak, Jon W Schrock, Adam J Singer, Alan B Storrow, Joely Straseski, Alan H B Wu, Daniel P Zelinski

Heart and Vascular Articles

BACKGROUND: The accuracy and speed by which acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is excluded are an important determinant of emergency department (ED) length of stay and resource utilization. While high-sensitivity troponin I (hsTnI) >99th percentile (upper reference level [URL]) represents a "rule-in" cutpoint, our purpose was to evaluate the ability of the Beckman Coulter hsTnI assay, using various level-of-quantification (LoQ) cutpoints, to rule out AMI within 3 hours of ED presentation in suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients.

METHODS: This multicenter evaluation enrolled adults with >5 minutes of ACS symptoms and an electrocardiogram obtained per standard care. Exclusions were ST-segment elevation …

Longitudinal Effects Of A Novel Advanced Pneumatic Compression Device On Patient-Reported Outcomes In The Management Of Cancer-Related Head And Neck Lymphedema: A Preliminary Report, Carolina Gutiérrez, Harvey N Mayrovitz, Syed Hassan Shiraz Naqvi, Ron J Karni

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors experience head and neck lymphedema (HNL), which requires treatment to prevent morbidity. We explore the self-reported outcomes and satisfaction of patients with HNC receiving treatment for HNL with an advanced pneumatic compression device (APCD).

METHODS: HNC survivors (n = 205) prescribed with an at-home Flexitouch head and neck APCD completed pretreatment and posttreatment self-reported assessments addressing efficacy, function, and symptoms. Participant average age was 60 years with 74% male. Pre-post responses for ≥25 days of use were assessed via the non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed Rank test.

RESULTS: Analysis revealed statistically significant improvement in all …

Symmetric Inverse Consistent Nonlinear Registration Driven By Mutual Information, Wen Fury, Keun Woo Park, Zhuhao Wu, Eunhee Kim, Moon-Sook Woo, Yu Bai, Lynn E Macdonald, Susan D Croll, Sunghee Cho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Stroke is a major cause of chronic neurological disability. There is considerable interest in understanding how acute transcriptome changes evolve into subacute and chronic patterns that facilitate or limit spontaneous recovery. Here we mapped longitudinal changes in gene expression at multiple time points after stroke in mice out to 6 months.

METHODS: Adult C57BL/6 mice were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. Longitudinal transcriptome levels were measured at 10 time points after stroke from acute to recovery phases of ischemic stroke. Localization and the number of mononuclear phagocytes were determined in the postischemic brain. Whole-mount brain …