Digital Commons Network^™

Cabozantinib Plus Nivolumab And Ipilimumab In Previously Untreated, Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma: Final Results And Biomarker Analyses From The Phase Iii Cosmic-313 Study, R J Motzer, M A Reimers, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Primary results from COSMIC-313 demonstrated significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) with first-line cabozantinib plus nivolumab and ipilimumab versus placebo plus nivolumab and ipilimumab in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. Final efficacy and safety results, as well as data from exploratory biomarker analyses, are reported here.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The design, participants, and primary-endpoint PFS outcomes have been reported previously for this phase III, double-blind, randomized (1 : 1) study of cabozantinib or placebo plus nivolumab and ipilimumab in adults with previously untreated, advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma. The secondary endpoint was overall survival (OS) in the intention-to-treat …

Biomedgraphica: An All-In-One Platform For Joint Textual Biomedical Prior Knowledge And Numeric Graph Generation, Heming Zhang, Shunning Liang, Tim Xu, Wenyu Li, Di Huang, Yuhan Dong, Philip Miller, Peter Goedegebuure, Marco Sardiello, Jonathan Cooper, William Buchser, Patricia Dickson, Ryan C Fields, Carlos Cruchaga, Yixin Chen, Michael Province, Philip Payne, Fuhai Li, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

MOTIVATION: Multiomics data analysis is essential for scientific discovery in precision medicine. However, translating analysis results of omics data analysis into novel scientific hypotheses remains a significant challenge. Human experts must manually review analysis results and generate new hypotheses based on extensive and interconnected biomedical prior knowledge, which is subjective and not scalable. While large language models can accelerate the discovery, their reasoning improves when grounded in structured, auditable, and comprehensive biomedical prior knowledge. However, biomedical knowledge is scattered across heterogeneous databases that use diverse and inconsistent nomenclature systems, making it difficult to integrate resources into a unified format for …

Short Autoinhibitory Sequences Control Phase Separation Of An Essential Bacterial Transcription Termination Factor, Emilia Krypotou, Kiersten M Ruff, Leah K Mckinney, Guy E Townsend Ii, Jue D Wang, Rohit V Pappu, Eduardo A Groisman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Within cells, across diverse organisms, macromolecular condensation enables spatial and temporal organization of biochemical reactions by organizing proteins and nucleic acids into compositionally distinct membraneless biomolecular condensates. In the gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, condensate formation by the transcription termination factor Rho (BtRho) increases its termination activity and promotes B. thetaiotaomicron fitness in the mammalian gut. Here, we elucidate the molecular mechanism governing carbon starvation-induced BtRho phase separation. We establish that short, specific amino acid sequences within BtRho's intrinsically disordered region (IDR) control BtRho condensation via complex coacervation. The identified sequences participate in RNA and intra-IDR regulatory interactions that drive condensate …

Initial Injury Type And Violent Reinjury, Nicholas Szoko, Daphne Lew, Taylor Kaser, Zoe M Miller, Matt Vogel, Michael A Mancini, Lindsay M Kranker, Christopher Behr, Vicki Moran, Rachel Ancona, Kristen Mueller

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Violent injuries are the leading cause of death among children and young adults in the United States. Violent injury may increase the risk of subsequent injury (ie, violent reinjury), but it is unclear how this risk varies across different injury types (eg, blunt assault, stabbing, firearm).

OBJECTIVE: To describe patterns of violent reinjury across different injury types to inform tailored prevention strategies.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This multicenter cohort study included patients who presented with violent injuries to 2 adult and 2 pediatric level I trauma centers in St Louis, Missouri, from January 2016 to December 2023.

EXPOSURES: Violent …

Role Of Households With Children In Community Spread Of Multidrug-Resistant Enterobacterales, St. Louis, Missouri, Usa, Barrett Breeze, Ahmed Babiker, Sreenivas Konda, Alaina L Robinson, Stefan J Green, Catherine C Babbs, Federico Cunha, Katherine Y Shen, India Shepherd Hammond, Stephanie A Fritz, Latania K Logan

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Community-acquired multidrug-resistant (MDR) Enterobacterales bacteria are an increasing public health concern, yet whether households play a role in community spread remains unclear. We investigated 150 households with children in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, for MDR Enterobacterales. We cultured swab specimens from household members and environmental surfaces for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. We also performed whole-genome sequencing in the 53 (35%) households where >1 MDR Enterobacterales species were recovered. Enterobacter hormaechei predominated, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pantoea species. Whole-genome sequencing revealed closely related strains shared between persons and environmental surfaces, suggesting potential intra-household transmission. We identified >1 horizontal gene …

Natural History Of Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy R1 (Lgmdr1): A Grasp Consortium Study, Stephanie M Hunn, Andrew R Findlay, Amanda Clause, Conrad C Weihl, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Identifying clinical outcome assessments (COAs) that are able to detect change in functional abilities over time in the limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) population is critical for managing disease progression in addition to determining drug efficacy in the context of anticipated therapeutic trials. Through the Genetic Resolution and Assessments Solving Phenotypes in LGMD (GRASP-LGMD) Consortium, 42 participants with LGMDR1 were enrolled in a 12-month natural history study across 11 international sites. Each participant completed a battery of COAs, including the North Star Assessment for Limb Girdle-Type Muscular Dystrophies (NSAD), 100-meter timed test (100 m), Performance of the Upper Limb (PUL), …

Viscoelastic And Morphologic Changes In The Lumbar Intervertebral Discs Of The 5xfad Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, C E Gonzalez, C A Schurman, K A Wilson, B Schilling, L M Ellerby, S Y Tang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Chronic low back pain, commonly associated with intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration, is highly prevalent in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the severity of the pain is correlated with the severity of the dementia. While incidences of both afflictions increase dramatically in the elderly population, it is unknown whether AD exacerbates the health of the IVD.

AIMS: The aim of this study is to examine how AD-related mutations affect the structure and mechanics of the IVD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Utilizing one-year-old male and female 5xFAD mice that constitutively express human APP and PSEN1 transgenes with five AD-linked mutations, we …

Early Results Of Sotatercept Treatment In Patients With Severe Pulmonary Hypertension And A Potts Shunt, Manish A Aggarwal, Kelly Merrill, Delphine Yung, R Mark Grady

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Twelve patients with severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) who had a pulmonary artery-to-descending aorta (Potts) shunt were treated with the novel PH drug sotatercept for an average of 12 months. Overall, the group showed significant improvement in a number of clinical parameters with no serious complications. Thus, a trial of sotatercept could be considered prior to an invasive intervention in patients with severe PH. Similarly, it may also be useful in patients with Eisenmenger-like physiology.

Quantitative Assessment Of Cardiac Phosphocreatine Metabolism Under Physiological And Pharmacological Stress Using Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Qi Huang, Caleb Berberet, Ryan Wahidi, Todd Pavek, Cihat Eldeniz, Liya Dai, Rong Guo, Yang Yang, Scott Bugenhagen, Linda R Peterson, Thomas H Schindler, Pamela K Woodard, Jie Zheng

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Phosphocreatine (PCr) exhibits a distinct chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) resonance at ∼2.5 ppm with slower exchange kinetics and lower pH sensitivity than creatine. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility of quantifying myocardial PCr-dominated concentration ([PCr]

METHODS: Phantoms with varied concentrations of PCr and Cr were scanned to characterize PCr CEST signals under physiological conditions. Experiments were conducted at both room temperature and 37 °C with full Z-spectra acquisition. For the study in vivo, CEST imaging was performed in normal canines (n = 13), at rest and after regadenoson vasodilation, and during dobutamine stress (n = 5). In addition, …

Synergistic Effects Of Diabetic Neuropathy And Kidney Function Decline On Second Metatarsal Skeletal Health And Foot Function: A Pilot Study, Victor A Cheuy, Saghi Sadoughi, Hasung Moon, Jalen Ellis, Rodney Gross, David R Sinacore, Mary K Hastings, Richard B Souza, Galateia J Kazakia

2020-Current year OA Pubs

A discouraging increase in diabetes-related nontraumatic lower-extremity amputations (NLEA) has occurred over the last decade. Individuals with diabetic neuropathy (DMPN) and CKD are at the highest risk for NLEA. Despite the critical implications, little is known about the factors that initiate the cascade of events leading to NLEA, limiting early and effective interventions. We aimed to develop and implement a technique for quantifying metatarsal bone density and microstructure using HR-pQCT. Twelve participants were enrolled:

Toward Better Response Assessment Of Cutaneous Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease: A Report From The National Institutes Of Health Consensus Project Task Force, Alina Markova, Iskra Pusic, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) Consensus Project established response criteria that enabled clinical trials and facilitated regulatory approval of multiple therapies. Nonetheless, organ-specific assessments have limitations, particularly for severe sclerotic skin involvement. Cutaneous manifestations occur in approximately half of patients with chronic GVHD but are difficult to evaluate due to heterogeneous clinical features. To address these challenges, the NIH Consensus Skin Task Force convened from 2024 to 2025 to refine skin response measures for use in clinical trials. This report (1) summarizes current diagnosis and scoring of skin chronic GVHD, (2) reviews existing response assessments, …

Expanding The Omop Common Data Model To Support Extracorporeal Life Support Research, Clemens Rieder, Ahmed Said, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: Despite the increased availability of electronic health records, open-source standardized data collection to facilitate high-resolution data during extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is lacking. This project aimed to assess the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model (OMOP CDM) for interoperability to store data sufficiently generated in the context of ECLS and to develop a custom data model expansion in case the OMOP CDM proved insufficient.

DESIGN AND SETTING: The OMOP CDM was analyzed qualitatively by expert consensus for its capability to capture data relative to ECLS as well as the presence of fitting ECLS-related concepts. Database entries necessary to …

Neural Plasticity Across Hormonal States In Females: From Modulator To Dynamic Regulator, Takahiro Sasaki, Christine Nwaigwe, Sayaka Inoue

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Ovarian sex steroid hormones play a critical role in regulating fertility. In addition, these hormones influence behavior and mood across the lifespan in females. Converging evidence from rodent studies and human neuroimaging shows that ovarian hormones dynamically regulate neuronal excitability, synaptic efficacy, and structural remodeling across menstrual/estrous cycles, puberty, and reproductive aging. Estrogen and progesterone reorganize network dynamics and gate plasticity eligibility rather than uniformly scaling synaptic strength, with additional contributions from glia, the extracellular matrix, and neurosteroid signaling. Here we synthesize recent cross-scale advances that link structural and functional changes to cellular and circuit mechanisms, and relate these dynamics …

Use Of Wearable Sensors To Measure Improvements In Real World Upper Extremity Activity After Brachial Plexus Reconstruction, Arakua N Welbeck, Catherine E Lang, David M Brogan, Christopher J Dy

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: Current functional assessments after brachial plexus (BP) reconstruction, including surgeon-graded active range of motion and strength scores, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs), have limitations. This study evaluated the feasibility of wearable sensors to quantify recovery and functional outcomes following BP reconstruction. We hypothesized that sensor-derived measures of daily upper-extremity use would correlate with PROs and that real-world upper-extremity use would improve.

METHODS: Traumatic BP injury patients wore bilateral wrist accelerometers for 7-day periods at 3- to 6-month intervals. Data were grouped relative to timing of reconstruction. Duration and magnitude of upper-extremity activity were expressed as ratios of injured to uninjured …

Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor Inhibition For Succinate Dehydrogenase-Deficient Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: A Phase 2 Trial, Priscilla Merriam, Brian A Van Tine, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

While most gastrointestinal stromal tumors are driven by oncogenic mutations in KIT or PDGFRA, 10-15% exhibit functional loss of the succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) complex and genome-wide DNA hypermethylation. Excess methylation in SDH-deficient gastrointestinal stromal tumors disrupts genomic insulators, inducing aberrant expression of oncogenic ligands FGF3, FGF4, and activating an autocrine signaling loop mediated through FGFR1. We conducted a phase 2 trial of pan-fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitor rogaratinib in patients with sarcoma and report here on the cohort of patients with advanced SDH-deficient GIST. The primary objective was to estimate objective response rate. Secondary objectives were to estimate progression-free survival …

Non-Invasive Profiling Of The Tumour Microenvironment With Spatial Ecotypes, Wubing Zhang, Abul Usmani, Noah Earland, Chloe M Sachs, Peter K Harris, David Y Chen, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Multicellular programs in the tumour microenvironment (TME) drive cancer pathogenesis and response to therapy but remain challenging to identify and profile clinically

Focal White Matter Lesions Drive Grey Matter Inflammation And Synapse Loss, Omar De Faria Jr, Sabine Dietmann, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Focal white matter lesions occur in most neurodegenerative disorders

Golden Hour Open Conceptual Architecture For Citizen-Initiated Structured Urgency Signaling, Jaime Gerardo Figoni Him

Defensive Publications Series

Abstract Golden Hour proposes a minimalist, open, and low-bandwidth emergency signaling architecture that enables any citizen to transmit structured urgency information during the critical first hour (“Golden Hour”) of a disaster. The system combines a single-tap severity code (Red / Yellow / Green), a brief guided question sequence, and resilient transmission paths (including SMS/USSD fallback) to generate a live, color-coded situational heat map for emergency responders.

By treating emergency response as a problem of controlling informational entropy, Golden Hour enables a near-instantaneous reduction in chaos while fostering voluntary human solidarity. It is designed as a supplement to — not a …

Recording And Automating Browser-Based Workflows, Benjamin Albert Azose

Defensive Publications Series

A browser automation framework is disclosed for automating browser-based workflows using record-and-replay architecture. In the framework, interaction events are captured within a browser environment and associated contextual metadata, and the captured data is processed to generate a structured representation of executable actions. In response to a trigger condition, the structured representation is replayed. The trigger condition includes at least one of a time-based condition, an event-based condition, or a system-detected state condition. The structured representation is executed by identifying candidate elements in a current browser state, and the candidate elements are evaluated based on element similarity and action compatibility. The …

System And Method For Automating Recurring Browser-Based Workflows, Benjamin Albert Azose

Defensive Publications Series

A browser automation system is disclosed for automating recurring, multi-step web interactions. The system receives input defining a routine including a recurrence schedule, a sequence of navigation operations, and a target element corresponding to content within a webpage. Based on the input, the system generates and stores an execution plan comprising scheduling parameters, navigation operations, extraction rules, and evaluation conditions. At runtime, the system automatically executes the execution plan by programmatically navigating one or more webpages, identifying the target element, and extracting associated content. The system evaluates the extracted content to determine whether specified criteria are satisfied, including detecting changes …

Vacuum-Indicator Ribbon Gasket For Bail-Type Glass Jars With Integrated Machine-Vision Inspection Capability, William Heublein

Defensive Publications Series

A one-piece or two-piece food-grade silicone gasket for bail-type (hinge-top, flip-top, clamp-lid) glass jars incorporates an integrated cross-diameter ribbon element with a central elliptical aperture. The ribbon element functions as a mechanically deflectable, optically readable vacuum-integrity indicator readable from above the sealed jar by top-down machine-vision inspection systems.

In the preferred embodiment, the ribbon is intentionally asymmetric: the two halves on opposite sides of the aperture have different widths, producing a differential bending stiffness. Under vacuum, the ribbon deflects upward into the recessed inner volume of the glass lid, and the aperture undergoes measurable lateral centroid displacement along the ribbon …

Electronic Device Placement Via Three-Dimensional Space Reconstruction, Ruofei Du, Mahdi Tayarani Najaran

Defensive Publications Series

Difficulties are encountered when determining placements for electronic devices to ensure coverage of a physical space. A framework for visualizing coverage and suggesting device quantities through three-dimensional space reconstruction is described. Live camera and depth data from portable electronic devices are utilized to generate a digital representation of an environment. A transformer-based neural network is employed to determine device poses and quantities based on the reconstructed space and semantic attributes. Coverage areas, areas without coverage, and unmonitored hazard zones are depicted in real-time, maintaining alignment as a device is physically reoriented. A data-driven approach for deploying equipment such as cameras, …

Set Lists For Conversations On Necropolitics, Antiblackness, And Colonialism, Noah Morton

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

In lieu of a traditional syllabus, the following setlist uses the form of an academic syllabus to unsettle ideas around knowledge production and includes six sets with multimodal resources (films, songs, articles) to engage conversations on necropolitics, antiblackness, and colonialism. The setlists come from engaging in genealogies of resistance and liberation and are attentive to recognizing (re – again | cogn – to know | ize – to make) and acknowledging various technologies of domination while witnessing anachoreographies, or spirits of refusal. Each setlist flows from a check-in song, continues to the main set of readings/videos/podcasts, and ends with an …

Dissertatin' While Black, T. Gertrude Jenkins

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

Dissertatin’ While Black (DWB) is a racial affinity space that employs a community-engaged approach to completing dissertation elements. More than a writing retreat, DWB centers holistic care, creating a site for mentorship, celebration, and the exchange of ideas. Rooted in BlackCrit (Dumas & ross, 2016) and Black Liberatory Educational Subversion (Jenkins, 2024), DWB emphasizes that participation in Black institutional third spaces can counter the isolation often experienced by Black doctoral students, especially at predominantly white institutions. Ultimately, DWB operates as a “homeplace” where Black doctoral students can feel seen, valued, and supported in their research (hooks, 1994). We believe that …

“Hip-Hop Permeates Everything I Do:” The Intersections Of Global Politics, Hip-Hop, And Education, Mecedes Lindsay

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

This qualitative study examines how the absence of Critical Hip-Hop Pedagogy (CHHP) within academic institutions shapes students’ sense of belonging, motivation, and engagement by regulating which forms of cultural capital are deemed legitimate. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with students, educators, scholars, and members of the hip-hop generation, this research adopts an interpretivist framework to center participants’ lived experiences within educational spaces. Informed by Freirean critical pedagogy and Yosso’s theory of community cultural wealth, the study situates schooling as a site where America’s soft power operates through curriculum design, disciplinary norms, and definitions of deviance. Findings reveal that …

Purposefully Black Interactional Systems: Disrupting Punitive School Discipline Models Through Banter, The Funk, And The Black Aesthetic, S. M. Wilson

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

This empirical study seeks to understand the narratives of four Black men teachers and two Black women teachers about how they implement school discipline and classroom management in their K–12 contexts. This track draws on interdisciplinary perspectives from education, linguistic anthropology, and African American studies to understand how banter and ritual insults function as alternatives to traditional discipline. Phenomenology and thematic analysis of six semistructured interviews demonstrated Black teachers’ beliefs that outdated and punitive orientations should be challenged. These teachers enacted discipline through talk—particularly banter, ritual insults, and what I call “purposefully Black interactional systems,” which embed discipline within them, …

Remixing The Academy Through Backyard Spaces: The Making Of Black Educology, The Mixtape, Dre Carter, Eghosa Obaizamomwan-Hamilton

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

As Black academics, researchers, and educators, we navigate the twin topographies of the academy and the open territories of possibility. Connecting these realms, we construct “backyard project” spaces—semi-enclosed areas linking academic spaces and liberated spaces. We use our creation of the backyard as a locality wherein we challenge oppressive, antiquated academic systems and anti-Blackness without waiting for reform. For example, our collective project, the Black Educology Mixtape “Journal,” exemplifies this concept. This track discusses the “backyard” as an extension of both third and fugitive spaces and, through material culture and fugitivity as method, highlights the backyard as a site for …

Uplifting Black Pedagogical Rituals Of Purpose Through Portraits Of Toni Morrison’S Humanistic Education, Darion A. Wallace, Natalie Hibdon, Gabriela Lopez

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

No abstract provided.

So Great A Cloud Of Witnesses: A Critical Race Counterstory On Teacher Preparation And Repair, La Mont Terry

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

Selective liberal arts colleges (SLACs) are traditionally undergraduate institutions that focus on providing a broad education in the arts, sciences, and humanities rather than the professional training for the workforce typically available at other institutions of higher education. Despite their comprehensive curriculum, many SLACs have a decades-long commitment to teacher preparation as recognition of the connected nature of K–12 schooling and higher education. This track examines the closure of one such teacher preparation program at an urban liberal arts college and its impact on the faculty who taught in it. Using the critical race theory method of counterstorytelling, I position …

Kong Koch: An Autoethnography On Jieng Indigenous Wisdom And Ethos Of Leadership, Dau D. Jok

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

In this track, I argue that Jieng (Dinka) epistemology reshapes leadership by foregrounding restraint (achin te lui ye), emotional regulation (kong koch), and social harmony (wel tuc). These Indigenous approaches challenge dominant trait-based leadership models by exposing their limits in confronting social and contextual diversity. To illustrate these ideas, I draw on personal accounts and member checks with my grandmother (Aboba) to show how Jieng wisdom reframes concepts of leadership, disposition, and practice. Building on this, the track advances Afrocentric leadership literature by defining leadership as communal accountability. Furthermore, it stresses the urgent need for scholars and practitioners to engage …