Digital Commons Network^™

De Novo And Inherited Dominant Variants In U4 And U6 Snrna Genes Cause Retinitis Pigmentosa, Mathieu Quinodoz, Kim Rodenburg, Zuzana Cvackova, Karolina Kaminska, Suzanne E De Bruijn, Ana Belén Iglesias-Romero, Erica G M Boonen, Mukhtar Ullah, Nick Zomer, Marc Folcher, Jacques Bijon, Lara K Holtes, Stephen H Tsang, Zelia Corradi, K Bailey Freund, Stefanida Shliaga, Daan M Panneman, Rebekkah J Hitti-Malin, Manir Ali, Ala'a Altalbishi, Sten Andréasson, Georg Ansari, Gavin Arno, Galuh D N Astuti, Carmen Ayuso, Radha Ayyagari, Sandro Banfi, Eyal Banin, Tahsin Stefan Barakat, Mirella T S Barboni, Miriam Bauwens, Tamar Ben-Yosef, Virginie Bernard, David G Birch, Pooja Biswas, Fiona Blanco-Kelly, Beatrice Bocquet, Camiel J F Boon, Kari Branham, Dominique Bremond-Gignac, Alexis Ceecee Britten-Jones, Kinga M Bujakowska, Cyril Burin Des Roziers, Elizabeth L Cadena, Giacomo Calzetti, Francesca Cancellieri, Luca Cattaneo, Naomi Chadderton, Peter Charbel Issa, Luísa Coutinho-Santos, Stephen P Daiger, Elfride De Baere, Marieke De Bruyne, Berta De La Cerda, John N De Roach, Julie De Zaeytijd, Ronny Derks, Claire-Marie Dhaenens, Lubica Dudakova, Jacque L Duncan, G Jane Farrar, Nicolas Feltgen, Beau J Fenner, Lidia Fernández-Caballero, Juliana M Ferraz Sallum, Simone Gana, Alejandro Garanto, Jessica C Gardner, Christian Gilissen, Roser Gonzàlez-Duarte, Kensuke Goto, Sam Griffiths-Jones, Tobias B Haack, Lonneke Haer-Wigman, Alison J Hardcastle, Takaaki Hayashi, Elise Héon, Lies H Hoefsloot, Alexander Hoischen, Josephine P Holtan, Carel B Hoyng, Manuel Benjamin B Ibanez, Chris F Inglehearn, Takeshi Iwata, Brynjar O Jensson, Kaylie Jones, Vasiliki Kalatzis, Smaragda Kamakari, Marianthi Karali, Ulrich Kellner, Caroline C W Klaver, Krisztina Knézy, Robert K Koenekoop, Susanne Kohl, Taro Kominami, Laura Kühlewein, Tina M Lamey, Rina Leibu, Bart P Leroy, Petra Liskova, Irma Lopez, Victor R De J López-Rodríguez, Quinten Mahieu, Omar A Mahroo, Gaël Manes, Luke Mansard, M Pilar Martín-Gutiérrez, Nelson Martins, Laura Mauring, Martin Mckibbin, Terri L Mclaren, Isabelle Meunier, Michel Michaelides, José M Millán, Kei Mizobuchi, Rajarshi Mukherjee, Zoltán Zsolt Nagy, Kornelia Neveling, Monika Ołdak, Michiel Oorsprong, Yang Pan, Anastasia Papachristou, Antonio Percesepe, Maximilian Pfau, Eric A Pierce, Emily Place, Raj Ramesar, Francis Ramond, Florence Andrée Rasquin, Gillian I Rice, Lisa Roberts, María Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Javier Ruiz-Ederra, Ataf H Sabir, Ai Fujita Sajiki, Ana Isabel Sánchez-Barbero, Asodu Sandeep Sarma, Riccardo Sangermano, Cristina M Santos, Margherita Scarpato, Hendrik P N Scholl, Dror Sharon, Sabrina G Signorini, Francesca Simonelli, Ana Berta Sousa, Maria Stefaniotou, Kari Stefansson, Katarina Stingl, Akiko Suga, Patrick Sulem, Lori S Sullivan, Viktória Szabó, Jacek P Szaflik, Gita Taurina, Alberta A H J Thiadens, Carmel Toomes, Viet H Tran, Miltiadis K Tsilimbaris, Pavlina Tsoka, Veronika Vaclavik, Marie Vajter, Sandra Valeina, Enza Maria Valente, Casey Valentine, Rebeca Valero, Sophie Valleix, Joseph Van Aerschot, L Ingeborgh Van Den Born, Mattias Van Heetvelde, Virginie J M Verhoeven, Andrea L Vincent, Andrew R Webster, Laura Whelan, Bernd Wissinger, Georgia G Yioti, Kazutoshi Yoshitake, Juan C Zenteno, Roberta Zeuli, Theresia Zuleger, Chaim Landau, Allan I Jacob, Siying Lin, Frans P M Cremers, Winston Lee, Jamie M Ellingford, David Stanek, Susanne Roosing, Carlo Rivolta

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) combine with specific proteins to generate small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), the building blocks of the spliceosome. U4 snRNA forms a duplex with U6 and, together with U5, contributes to the tri-snRNP spliceosomal complex. Variants in RNU4-2, which encodes U4, have recently been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. Here we show that heterozygous inherited and de novo variants in RNU4-2 and in four RNU6 paralogs (RNU6-1, RNU6-2, RNU6-8 and RNU6-9), which encode U6, recur in individuals with nonsyndromic retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic disorder causing progressive blindness. These variants cluster within the three-way junction of the U4/U6 duplex, …

Geospatial Disparities In Adolescent Mental Health Resources: School- And Community-Level Evidence From Travis County, Texas, Sharon V Munroe, Jingjing Gao, Gayla Ferguson, Muinat Abolore Idris, Eric C Jones

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Adolescents in the United States face growing mental health challenges, with nearly one in three high school students reporting poor mental health in the past 30 days. Schools increasingly serve as key access points for mental health care. However, geographic disparities in access to school-based mental health services remain underexplored.

Purpose: This study examines the spatial distribution of adolescent mental health resources in Travis County, Texas, and evaluates how school- and community-level factors are associated with the presence of on-site school social workers.

Methods: School locations, enrollment data, and the presence of on-site social workers were mapped and analyzed …

Understanding Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: A Claims-Based Analysis Of Healthcare Cost Patterns, Samson A Oyediran, Youngran Kim, Zhanna Novikov, Trudy M Krause

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a rare connective tissue disorder associated with substantial clinical complexity and healthcare utilization. Despite increasing recognition of EDS, little is known about its economic burden in the United States.

Objective: To assess the all-cause healthcare costs for individuals with newly diagnosed EDS during the pre-diagnosis year and the first 2 years post-diagnosis.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Merative™ MarketScan® Commercial Claims and Encounters Database (2016-2022). Newly diagnosed patients were identified using ICD-10-CM codes, with the first observed diagnosis defined as the index date. Continuous enrollment for 12 months pre-index and 24 …

Latent Classification Of Time-Dependent Transition Rates In Longitudinal Binary Outcome Data, Joonha Chang, Wenyaw Chan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) models and latent classification methods are commonly used to analyze longitudinal categorical outcomes in medical research. While CTMC models are popular for their simplicity and effectiveness, their assumption of constant transition rates presents limitations in capturing dynamic behaviors. To address this, non-homogeneous continuous-time Markov chains (NH-CTMCs) have been developed, incorporating time-varying transition rates to enhance model flexibility. In this study, we leverage closed-form transition probabilities for a fully ergodic two-state NH-CTMC model and propose a latent class clustering approach to identify heterogeneous transition rate patterns within the population. We emphasize the potential advantages of these models …

“If He Did It, I Can Do It, Too. I Can Change My Life Around”: The Social Model Of Recovery Within The Context Of Recovery Homes Accepting Residents Prescribed Medications For Opioid Use Disorder, Jodie M Dewey, Kathryn R Gallardo, Meenakshi S Subbaraman, Amy A Mericle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: This paper provides an in-depth examination of examines four recovery residences, that serve individuals prescribed medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). The study has two primary aims: first, to deepen understanding of how recovery residences adopt and operationalize Social Model of Recovery principles; and second, to identify gaps in staff integration of residents receiving MOUD-gaps that may either support or undermine the integrity of the social model within these settings.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 residents receiving MOUD living in four participating recovery homes. The interviews were conducted between August 2022 and January 2024 using a semi-structured …

Corrigendum To 'Continuous Vital Sign Monitoring On Surgical Wards: The Cosmos Pilot, Nikola Anusic, Alper Gulluoglu, Elyad Ekrami, Edward J Mascha, Shuyi Li, René Coffeng, Alparslan Turan, Amber Clemens, Christine Perez, John W Beard, Daniel I Sessler, Cosmos Pilot Investigators

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Study objectives: Alerts for vital sign abnormalities seek to identify meaningful patient instability while limiting alarm fatigue. Optimal vital sign alarm settings for postoperative patients remain unknown, as is whether alerts lead to effective clinical responses reducing vital sign disturbances. We conducted a 2-phase pilot study to identify thresholds and delays and test the hypothesis that alerts from continuous monitoring reduce the duration of vital sign abnormalities.

Design: Two-phase pilot.

Patients: 250 adults having major non-cardiac surgery.

Setting: Surgical wards.

Intervention: All patients had routine vital sign monitoring by nurses at 4-h intervals. We initially continuously recorded clinician-blinded saturation, heart …

Pregnancy And Breastfeeding Are Associated With Less Later-Life Cognitive Decline In A Longitudinal, Prospective Cohort, Molly M Fox, Jennifer E Bramen, Dayoon Kwon, Mark A Espeland, Yijia Sun, Li Zhang, Aladdin H Shadyab, Ramon Casanova, Joann E Manson, Marcus Y Chang, Verna R Porter, Leslie V Farland, Qian Xiao, Robert A Wild, Prabha Siddarth, Carolyn J Crandall

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The brains of female mammals evolved to undergo structural and functional changes during pregnancy and lactation, equipping them for motherhood. However, long-term cognitive health implications of these adaptations in women are poorly understood.

Methods: In the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Memory Study (WHIMS; n = 7427) and WHI Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA; n = 2304), postmenopausal women completed reproductive history interviews, annual global cognitive assessment from mean age 70 for up to 13 years, and multi-domain cognitive testing for up to 8 years.

Results: Each additional month pregnant was associated with higher scores of global cognition. Each additional …

Artificial Light At Night Extends Pollen Season And Elevates Allergen Exposure, Brandt Geist, Lin Meng, Daniel S W Katz, Huidong Li, Franz Hölker, Qian Xiao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Artificial light at night (ALAN), a growing environmental stressor in urban ecosystems, disrupts natural light-dark cycles and alters plant phenological events such as leaf-out and flowering. However, the extent to which ALAN influences airborne pollen season timing and exacerbates allergy-related health risks remains largely understudied. This study investigates how ALAN influences the timing and duration of the airborne pollen season across the Northeastern United States from 2012 to 2023 and the consequences of allergenic pollen exposure. Using daily pollen concentrations from the National Allergy Bureau, ALAN data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite product, and gridded Daymet climate data, …

Plasma Proteomic Profile Of Dietary Potassium And Incident Ckd, Jiaqi Yang, Lauren Bernard, Jingsha Chen, Valerie K Sullivan, Bing Yu, Eugene P Rhee, Paul A Welling, Casey M Rebholz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background:: There is a need for objective biomarkers of dietary potassium. The mechanisms through which dietary potassium influences kidney health are incompletely understood.

Methods:: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study participants at visit 3 (1993–1995) with dietary and proteomics data were randomly divided into discovery (N=6,814) and replication (N=3,380) sets. We examined associations between dietary potassium and 4,955 aptamers using multivariable linear regression, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and estimated glomerular filtration rate, with a false discovery rate of 0.05. Then, we tested the prospective associations between potassium-related proteins and incident chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Results:: …

Examining Tobacco Prevention And Cessation Among Dental Students In Southern Italy, Olga Di Fede, Samuel Tundealao, David Okuji, Gaetano La Mantia, Irene Tamí-Maury

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Previous studies have reported that tobacco use among healthcare providers (HCPs) has a negative impact on their beliefs and attitudes toward tobacco prevention and control measures. However, little is known about these among Italian dental students. Therefore, this single-site study examined tobacco use behaviors and the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of dental students at a public university in Southern Italy regarding tobacco prevention and control.

Methods: A cross-sectional study through an online survey was conducted among 115 students aged 18 + years enrolled in dentistry and dental hygiene programs at a Southern Italy university. Chi-squared, Fisher's, t-tests, and …

Adapting A Smartphone-Based Auricular Point Acupressure Self-Management Program For Rural Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Qualitative Study, Jungkyung Min, Peiyin Hung, Jane N Bolin, Rupsikha Bora, Sarah Pace, Patricia Pitones, Hulin Wu, Jennifer Kawi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Chronic musculoskeletal pain is more prevalent in rural areas where access to pain interventions, including complementary approaches like Auricular Point Acupressure (APA), remains limited. APA is a non-invasive, needle-free approach, and its smartphone-based self-management delivery model has not been optimized for rural contexts.

Objectives: To explore the perspectives of rural partners on adapting a smartphone-based Auricular Point Acupressure-Self-Management (APA-SM) program to better meet rural needs. Study objectives were to: (1) refine the APA-SM program for rural adults, (2) identify implementation barriers, (3) understand practice workflows and engagement, and (4) identify strategies to integrate the APA-SM program into rural pain …

The Disability History Of Brown V. Board Of Education, Britney Wilson

Articles & Chapters

In 1952, two years before the Supreme Court of the United States decided Brown v. Board of Education, Black deaf students in Washington, D.C., who had been prohibited from attending the local school for white deaf students and forced to go to school in Maryland, won the right to be educated in their hometowns in Miller v. Board of Education of District of Columbia. Brown is heralded as one of the most important racial justice cases of all time. It overturned Plessy v. Ferguson's longstanding "separate but equal" mandate and ruled that the segregation of students based on race violates …

Carbon Nanotube/ Thermoplastic Polyurethane (Cnt/Tpu)-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator With Self-Charge Pumping For Implantable Knee Load Sensing And Energy Harvesting, Osama Abdalla, Maryam Hosseini, Milad Azami, Amir Ameli, Emre Salman, Milutin Stanacevic, Ryan Willing, Shahrzad Towfighian

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Aseptic loosening and joint instability remain the primary modes of failure in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). To provide real-time biomechanical load monitoring, this study presents a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) utilizing a carbon nanotube/foamed thermoplastic polyurethane (CNT/TPU) composite dielectric layer paired with a Kapton tape between dual electrodes. By leveraging the triboelectric effect, the device functions simultaneously as an energy harvester and a self-powered load sensor. To overcome power density limitations, a self-charge pumping mechanism via a multi-stage voltage multiplier circuit (VMC) was integrated and evaluated under physiological cyclic loading (2100 N at 1 Hz). The system’s charge dynamics were further …

Black Hole Spectroscopy And Tests Of General Relativity With Gw250114, Jaclyn (Jax) Sanders

Physics Faculty Research and Publications

The binary black hole signal GW250114, the loudest gravitational wave detected to date, offers a unique opportunity to test Einstein’s general relativity (GR) in the high-velocity, strong-gravity regime and probe whether the remnant conforms to the Kerr metric. Upon perturbation, black holes emit a spectrum of damped sinusoids with specific, complex frequencies. Our analysis of the postmerger signal shows that at least two quasinormal modes are required to explain the data, with the most damped remaining statistically significant for about one cycle. We probe the remnant’s Kerr nature by constraining the spectroscopic pattern of the dominant quadrupolar (ℓ=m=2) …

Data For Forthcoming Article: "Employing Zebrafish To Understand Genetic Drivers Of Epilepsy-Related Comorbid Behaviors", Colleen Carpenter-Swanson

Biology Faculty Publications

Forthcoming from Frontiers in Pharmacology:

"Children with epilepsy frequently experience a range of significant comorbidities beyond seizures, such as motor dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and neurodevelopmental delays. In some cases, these comorbidities contribute more significantly to overall disease burden than the seizures themselves. To improve quality-of-life (QOL) for these children, treatment options should be selected that control seizures and ameliorate comorbidities. Unfortunately, such therapeutics remain largely elusive. Addressing this issue requires suitable preclinical models. Here we used CRISPR-generated zebrafish with single-gene mutations linked to pediatric epilepsy and applied clinically-relevant behavioral assays to study the effects of these mutations. Using high-throughput locomotion-based …

Subgroup Identification Of Disparities In Buprenorphine Discontinuation In Opioid-Use Disorder: A Virtual Twins Machine Learning Approach Using Nationwide United States Claims Data, 2006–2022, Kehe Zhang, Paula A Jaimes-Buitron, Wanru Guo, Yanmin Gong, Yuanxiong Guo, Carolina Vivas Valencia, Cici Bauer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Buprenorphine retention is crucial for effective treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD), yet disparities in treatment discontinuation persist. This study aims to identify and quantify disparities in buprenorphine treatment retention using a machine learning framework adapted from Virtual Twins approach focusing on disparities related to sex, age, insurance type, geographic region, mental health status and community-level Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). Using a nationwide longitudinal cohort, we applied a two-stage machine learning approach. In Stage one, we trained classification models to estimate the counterfactual differences in treatment discontinuation across disparity types. Model performance was assessed using C-statistics and precision-recall curve. In …

Improving Overall Risk Ranking Via Subgroup-Level Information Borrowing In Survival Risk Stratification, Tia S Thomas, Jing Ning, Ruosha Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Effective risk stratification is essential for providing tailored therapies, improving patient outcomes, and optimizing healthcare resources by identifying sub-populations with similar health risks. However, accurate risk ranking is challenging in the presence of heterogeneous subgroups. Under these instances, subgroup-level information can be leveraged to refine the overall risk ranking. We propose a novel approach that integrates within-subgroup risk ranking percentiles to enhance the overall cohort risk stratification. This method uses both a global model and subgroup-specific models along with optimized weights to improve discriminatory performance across the entire cohort. The proposed method is validated through extensive simulations and applied to …

Understanding The Experiences Of First-Generation College Students Working As Resident Assistants, Mairead S. Murray

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

First-generation college students have been a population of interest in higher education for several decades as they are both a historically underserved group and make up a significant portion of the college-going population (RTI International, 2019a; Schuyler et al., 2021), making them an impactful group of students to research. As a whole, first-generation college students tend to fall behind their non-first-generation college student peers in key areas that are indicators of student success, including engagement, persistence, and degree completion (Goldman et al., 2022; Kezar & Kitchen, 2020; Kuh et al., 2007; McCallen & Johnson, 2020; Means & Pyne, 2017; Pendakur, …

Relationship Between Foraminiferal Assemblages And Cassiopea Coverage Across A Gradient Of Human Influence In Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Puerto Rico, Nylah Barber, Angelique Rosa Marín, Natalia López-Figueroa, Darma Ramos-Negrón, Xiomara Cruz-De León, Andrea Acevedo Colón, Pamela Hallock

Making Waves REU

Ecological Relevance: Foraminifera and Cassiopea (upside down-jellyfish) are symbiont-bearing organisms that respond rapidly to environmental changes in tropical systems, hence potential candidates as bioindicators to support ecological monitoring at JBNERR. Purpose: By using foraminiferal assemblages and Cassiopea as potential bioindicators, we can assess environmental conditions and contribute to management needs in the reserve. Hypothesis: Foraminiferal assemblages and the percent coverage of Cassiopea will reflect the habitat conditions of sites with varying levels of human influence at JBNERR.

To Pursue Or Not To Pursue An Academic Doctoral Degree: Perceived Motivators And Barriers Of Women Working In Allied Health Educational Programs, Karen J. Honeycutt, Betsy Becker, Victoria Kennel, Sarah Mcbrien, Makayla Schissel, Tammy Webster

Journal Articles: Medical Laboratory Science

BACKGROUND: Women faculty in allied health education frequently transition from clinical roles without formal training in teaching or research methodologies. This study examined motivators and barriers of women faculty in an allied health educational setting when determining to pursue an academic doctoral degree. Data was collected from faculty working in 48 allied health programs in Nebraska representing 14 professions.

METHODS: Women faculty were invited to complete a confidential online survey. Using a four-point Likert scale, participants responded to perceived motivators (nine) and barriers (nine) related to their decision to pursue or not pursue a doctoral degree.

RESULTS: Responses from 142 …

Metastasis-Directed Radiotherapy For Oligometastatic Urothelial Carcinoma Of The Bladder And Upper Tract, Patrick Carriere, Omar Alhalabi, Jianjun Gao, Amishi Shah, Sangeeta Goswami, Matthew Campbell, Ruitao Lin, Lauren Mayo, Osama Mohamad, Karen Hoffman, Henry Mok, Charmaigne Lozano, Ashish Kamat, Neema Navai, Kelly Bree, Byron Lee, Charles Guo, Michael Rooney, Chad Tang, Seungtaek Choi, Comron Hassanzadeh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) for oligometastatic cancer is utilized for genitourinary malignancies including prostate and kidney cancers. Clinical research on MDT for urothelial carcinoma (UC) remains sparse, especially as systemic therapy advances have improved outcomes.

Objective: We investigated the role of MDT, specifically radiotherapy, for patients with oligometastatic bladder or upper-tract UC.

Methods: Data were collated on patients with metastatic UC with 5 or fewer metastatic sites undergoing MDT with ablative radiotherapy with or without preceding systemic therapy during January 2016 to July 2024. Endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Cox proportional hazards analysis was conducted to …

The Lysine Demethylase Kdm4c Is An Oncogenic Driver And Regulates Erk Activity In Kras-Mutant Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Menna-T-Allah Shaheen, Sarah Dhebat, Kimal I Rajapakshe, Bidyut Ghosh, Benson Chellakkan Selvanesan, Shariq S Ansari, Cara L Haymaker, Dorsay Sadeghian, Huamin Wang, Ching-Fei Li, Haoqiang Ying, Anirban Maitra

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Deregulation of proteins involved in chromatin regulation is common in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Lysine demethylase 4C (KDM4C) is one of the chromatin-modifying proteins frequently overexpressed across multiple solid cancers and is linked to chromatin instability, increased cell proliferation, and enhanced stem cell–like behavior. We observed upregulation of KDM4C protein in a panel of human PDAC cell lines and patient samples compared with nonneoplastic controls. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of KDM4C in human and murine PDAC cells reduced proliferation, clonogenicity, and increased survival of orthotopically implanted murine PDAC allografts. Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses revealed that loss of KDM4C in both human and …

Highly Effective Combination Of Brg1/Brm Inhibitor With Bet Inhibitor Or Decitabine For High-Risk Mecom-Rearranged Aml, Warren Fiskus, Christopher P Mill, Jessica Piel, Mike Collins, Murphy Hentemann, Branko Cuglievan, Christine E Birdwell, Kaberi Das, John A Davis, Hanxi Hou, Antrix Jain, Anna Malovannaya, Lauren B Flores, Tapan M Kadia, Naval Daver, Koji Sasaki, Koichi Takahashi, Danielle Hammond, Jian Wang, Sanam Loghavi, Xiaoping Su, Courtney D Dinardo, Ruud Delwel, Kapil N Bhalla

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In AML with 3q26.2 rearrangements (r) the distal GATA2 hematopoietic enhancer becomes aberrantly relocated leading to activation of EVI1 expression. EVI1 is a transcriptional regulator that plays a role in proliferation and maintenance of a stem cell-like phenotype in AML. BRG1 (SMARCA4) and BRM (SMARCA2) are the mutually exclusive ATPases of the BAF (BRG1/BRM-associated factor) chromatin remodeling complexes. They regulate access to enhancers/promoters and gene-expressions orchestrating AML stem/progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation. AML with 3q26.2 rearrangements are clinically challenging and prognosis remains very poor. FHD-286 is an orally bioavailable, selective inhibitor of BRG1/BRM under clinical development in AML. Present studies …

Clinical Outcomes With Perioperative Nivolumab By Nodal Status In Patients With Stage Iii Resectable Nsclc: Phase 3 Checkmate 77t Exploratory Analysis, Mariano Provencio, Mark M Awad, Jonathan D Spicer, Annelies Janssens, Fedor Moiseyenko, Yang Gao, Yasutaka Watanabe, Aurelia Alexandru, Florian Guisier, Nikolaj Frost, Fabio Franke, T Jeroen Nicolaas Hiltermann, Jie He, Fumihiro Tanaka, Shun Lu, Cinthya Coronado Erdmann, Padma Sathyanarayana, Phuong Tran, Vipul Devas, Tina Cascone

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Individuals with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with metastases to the ipsilateral mediastinum or subcarinal lymph nodes (N2 disease) have poor long-term survival. This exploratory analysis from the randomized phase 3 CheckMate 77T study assessed clinical outcomes by nodal status in individuals with stage III NSCLC who received neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant nivolumab (nivolumab) versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant placebo (placebo). Here we show that among patients with N2 disease, nivolumab versus placebo improved event-free survival (1-year rate, 70% versus 45%; hazard ratio, 0.46 (95% confidence interval, 0.30–0.70)) and pathological complete response rate …

A Qualitative Examination Of Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Access, Beliefs, And Behaviors Among Adult Males Aged 18–35: Applying The Health Stigma And Discrimination Framework, Jacquelin I Cordero, Louis D Brown, Jesús M Alemán, María E Fernández, Serena A Rodríguez, Eva M Moya

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Males, who disproportionately account for 83% of oropharyngeal cancer cases, are underrepresented in health promotion research, including human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination studies. The initial exclusion of males in HPV vaccine research, policies, and interventions has negatively affected male vaccine uptake. Furthermore, stigma, a well-documented barrier to healthcare engagement, has been overlooked in HPV vaccination behaviors. This study aimed to provide a more contextualized understanding of HPV vaccine disparities among adult males by applying the Health Stigma and Discrimination Framework (HSDF) to examine how stigma is produced, enacted, and sustained across social systems, which may impact male vaccine uptake.

Methods: …

Driving Impairment In Patients With Movement Disorders: Examining The Baylor Driving Questionnaire By Objective Driving Assessment, Abhishek Lenka, Ruosha Li, Karim Makhoul, Alan Gonzalez, Rory D Mahabir, Joseph Jankovic

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: The development of a screening tool to identify driving impairment in patients with movement disorders is an unmet need.

Objective: To validate Baylor Driving Questionnaire for Movement Disorders (BDQMD) by objective driving assessment (ODA).

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 142 patients with various movement disorders completed the 10-item BDQMD and of those, 25 completed ODA using the driver performance analysis system (DPAS).

Results: The mean total BDQMD score for the whole cohort was 14.7 ± 5.6 (range 10-47). Patients who underwent ODA had a mean BDQMD score of 12.8 ± 2.9. Four had minimum driving skill, 20 had average, …

The Longitudinal Effect Of Repetition And Practice On The Accuracy Of Lay Anal Examinations For Detecting Perianal And Anal Canal Abnormalities: A Prospective Study, Alan G Nyitray, Timothy L Mcauliffe, Jenna Nitkowski, Cameron Liebert, Michael D Swartz, Ashish A Deshmukh, Jared Kerman, Ellen Almirol, John A Schneider, J Michael Wilkerson, Lu-Yu Hwang, Derek Smith, Duo Yu, Aniruddha Hazra, Elizabeth Y Chiao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: While anal cancer screening is now recommended in several countries for high-incidence populations, barriers impede screening uptake. It is well known that patient recognition of symptoms increases cancer screening uptake, and we previously demonstrated that patients can detect small masses at the perianus and in the anal canal. In this current analysis, we aimed to longitudinally assess the effect of repetition and practice on patient self-recognition of small masses.

Methods: Individuals and couples of sexual minority men and transgender women were taught to conduct an anal self-examination or anal companion examination (ASE/ACE) at visit 1 and then randomized to …

Phadp Letter To Alabama Board Of Medical Examiners, Phadp, Anthony Boyd

Advocacy for Persons Facing Execution

Letter from Anthony Boyd of PHADP to Dr. William Perkins, Executive Director of the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, urging the board to take more direct action to limit physician participation in executions.

Alabama Death Penalty Quiz, Phadp

Moratorium Advocacy

A 12-question true/false quiz about Alabama's death penalty created by Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Alabama Should Freeze Executions While Questions Remain, Unknown

Moratorium Advocacy

An unknown Birmingham City Council member's essay supporting a moratorium, citing race, judicial override and innocence issues.