Life Sciences Commons^™

Hydroponic Nutrient Solution Temperature Impacts Tulane Virus Persistence Over Time, Gayatri R. Dhulappanavar, Kristen E. Gibson

Food Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA), or indoor agriculture, encompasses non-traditional farming methods that occur inside climate-controlled structures (e.g., greenhouses, warehouses, high tunnels) allowing for year-round production of fresh produce such as leaf lettuce. However, recent outbreaks and recalls associated with hydroponically grown lettuce contaminated with human pathogens have raised concerns. Few studies exist on the food safety risks during hydroponic cultivation of leaf lettuce; thus, it is important to identify contributing risk factors and potential mitigation strategies to prevent foodborne transmission via hydroponically grown produce. In this study, the concentration of infectious Tulane virus (TV), a human norovirus surrogate, in hydroponic …

Sustainability Information, Taste Perception And Willingness To Pay: The Case Of Bird-Friendly Coffee, Klaus Grunert, Han-Seok Seo, Di Fang, Victoria J. Hogan, Rodolfo M. Nayga

Food Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using bird-friendly coffee as an example, we investigated how sustainability information affects willingness to pay directly, to what extent this effect is mediated by taste perception and whether the effect of the sustainability information on taste perception is due to positive affect and/or due to a feeling of moral satisfaction. Stability of these effects was studied across two coffee tastings. Participants tasted two coffees prepared from two bird-friendly coffees, either after being informed about bird-friendly coffee and that the coffees they were about to taste were bird-friendly or in a control condition where tasting was blind. After each tasting, participants …

Relationship Between Parents’ Feeding Styles, Nutrition Practices And Risk Of Obesity Among 3-5 Years Old Children In The United Arab Emirates, Reem Mohamed Alkarbi

Theses

Previous studies suggest that parental feeding practices shape preschool eating and physical activity habits, ultimately influencing children's weight status. Despite the high obesity rate in UAE youth, preschoolers’ nutrition habits and their links to parental feeding styles are explored. This study aims to describe parental feeding styles: Emotional (E), Instrumental (I), Prompting and Encouragement (PE), Control Over Eating (COE)), and their associations with nutrition practices, socio-demographic factors, and obesity in UAE preschoolers. Using an online questionnaire, a cross-sectional study surveyed Emirati families with 3-5-year-old children. Data was analyzed using SPSS v.29. 70 preschool Emirati children living in Abu Dhabi participated. …

Agricultural Groundcover Update May 2024, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

• In May, over 9% (1,410,000 ha) of the arable farmland in the south-west of Western Australia had less than 50% vegetative groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion.
• Northern grainbelt had the highest risk of wind erosion and over 26% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover, predominantly found on landscapes known for sandy soils.
• About 1.3% (208,900 ha) of arable land had a high to very high risk of wind erosion because groundcover was less than 30%. Half of this land was in the West Midlands Ag Soil Zone.

Agricultural Groundcover Update April 2024, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

• In April, over 12% (1,876,000 ha) of the arable farmland in the south-west of Western Australia had less than 50% vegetative groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion.
• Northern grainbelt had the highest risk of wind erosion and over 26% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover, predominantly found on landscapes known for sandy soils.
• About 1.5% (238,900 ha) of arable land had a high to very high risk of wind erosion because groundcover was less than 30%.

Titration Of Dietary Histidine During A 22-To 42-Day Feeding Phase Following A 0-To 21-Day Feeding Phase With Variable Dietary Histidine Concentrations In Female Cobb 500 Broilers, Kenneth B. Nelson, Matheus F. Costa, Savannah C. Wells-Crofton, Shivaram K. Rao, Garrett J. Mullenix, Craig W. Maynard, Michael T. Kidd

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Further reductions of crude protein in broiler diets may cause essential amino acids traditionally considered to be supplied at adequate levels to become limiting. Requirement data for histidine are currently scarce and this amino acid is uniquely able to be stored within the body. Thus, the objectives of this study were to evaluate female Cobb 500 broiler growth performance and carcass characteristic responsiveness to increasing digestible histidine to digestible lysine ratios (dHis:dLys) during a 22- to 42-day feeding period and determine if dHis:dLys in preceding feeds influence the former responses. Starter diets were formulated to contain dHis:dLys of 33% or …

Assessing The Impact Of Spirulina Platensis And Organic Trace Minerals On The Incidence Of Bacterial Chondronecrosis With Osteomyelitis Lameness In Broilers Using An Aerosol Transmission Model, Andi Asnayanti, Amer Hasan, Khawla Alharbi, Intisar Abdullah Hassan, Walter Bottje, Samuel J. Rochell, Marco A. Rebollo, Michael T. Kidd, Adnan A.K. Alrubaye

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Spirulina platensis is an emerging poultry diet source due to its essential nutrition and bioactive ingredients. Spirulina microalgae confers beneficial effects on broiler's growth performance, immune response, and antioxidant activity. We investigated the effect of Spirulina platensis on BCO lameness, one of the most driving factors for economic and animal well-being concerns in the poultry industry. Additionally, supplementation of Availa ZMC containing organic trace minerals – zinc, manganese, and copper – was shown to alleviate lameness by 20 to 25%. We hypothesized that pairing microalgae and organic trace minerals might confer a synergistic effect in reducing BCO. A 2 × …

Applied Research Note: Microbial Composition Of The Biofilm Of Poultry Drinking Water System, T. T. Ogundipe, S. Beitia, T. Obe

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ensuring good water quality is one of the key management strategies to promote optimal broiler health and performance. A few studies have assessed the microbial status of drinking water for poultry, but there is insufficient information on biofilm in the drinking water lines within the poultry housing facilities. The buildup of microbes in the drinking water system could potentially result in biofilm formation which eventually deteriorates water quality. Hence, in this preliminary study, we sought to evaluate biofilm formation in the drinking water lines of selected broiler houses and characterize their microbial composition. Three random houses in each of 5 …

Agronomic And Economic Productivity Of Summer Annual Forage Systems Under Different Poultry Litter Application Methods, Ivanelle Meyer, Michael P. Popp, Christine C. Nieman, Amanda J. Ashworth, Phillip R. Owens

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

Poultry litter (litter) is a nutrient dense fertilizer that increases nutritive value and yield in pastures in the mid-southern US. Nutrient losses due to runoff and nitrogen volatilization are common when broadcasting litter. As such, incorporating litter below the soil surface (subsurface) was evaluated in comparison to broadcasting in 2021 and 2022 by quantifying yield and nutritive value of annual forages. The study was a randomized complete block design with three forage treatments—sorghum-sudangrass only (Sorghum bicolor L.), cowpea only (Vigna unguiculata L.), and their mixture, and three litter application methods (broadcast, subsurface, and a no litter control). Litter …

Soil Profile Distribution Of Nutrients In Contrasting Soils Amended With Struvite And Other Conventional Phosphorus Fertilizers, Tatum Simms, Kristofor R. Brye, Trenton L. Roberts, Lauren F. Greenlee

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Phosphorus (P) can be recovered from wastewater and used as an alternative fertilizer, namely, struvite [MgNH₄PO₄·6(H₂O)]. However, the soil mobility of wastewater-derived P and other nutrients needs to be evaluated. The objective of this study was to compare the vertical distribution of water-soluble (WS) soil P and other nutrients from a synthetic-wastewater-derived electrochemically precipitated struvite (ECST) to that from a chemically precipitated struvite (CPST), triple superphosphate (TSP), monoammonium phosphate (MAP), and a control in six soils from Arkansas (AR; loam [L] and silt loam [SiL]), Missouri (MO; SiL 1 and SiL 2), and Nebraska …

Prioritization Of Kidney Cell Types Highlights Myofibroblast Cells In Regulating Human Blood Pressure, Mahboube Ganji-Arjenaki, Zoha Kamali, International Consortium Of Blood Pressure; Soroush Sardari, Soroush Sardari, Martin De Borst, Ahmad Vaez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Blood pressure (BP) is a highly heritable trait with over 2000 underlying genomic loci identified to date. Although the kidney plays a key role, little is known about specific cell types involved in the genetic regulation of BP.

METHODS: Here, we applied stratified linkage disequilibrium score (LDSC) regression to connect BP genome-wide association studies (GWAS) results to specific cell types of the mature human kidney. We used the largest single-stage BP genome-wide analysis to date, including up to 1,028,980 adults of European ancestry, and single-cell transcriptomic data from 14 mature human kidneys, with mean age of 41 years.

RESULTS: …

Ascc1 Structures And Bioinformatics Reveal A Novel Helix-Clasp-Helix Rna-Binding Motif Linked To A Two-Histidine Phosphodiesterase, Naga Babu Chinnam, Roopa Thapar, Andrew S Arvai, Altaf H Sarker, Jennifer M Soll, Aleem Syed, Michal Hammel, Albino Bacolla, Panagiotis Katsonis, Abhishek Asthana, Miaw-Sheue Tsai, Ivaylo Ivanov, Olivier Lichtarge, Robert H Silverman, Nima Mosammaparast, Susan E Tsutakawa, John A Tainer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Activating signal co-integrator complex 1 (ASCC1) acts with ASCC-ALKBH3 complex in alkylation damage responses. ASCC1 uniquely combines two evolutionarily ancient domains: nucleotide-binding K-Homology (KH) (associated with regulating splicing, transcriptional, and translation) and two-histidine phosphodiesterase (PDE; associated with hydrolysis of cyclic nucleotide phosphate bonds). Germline mutations link loss of ASCC1 function to spinal muscular atrophy with congenital bone fractures 2 (SMABF2). Herein analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) suggests ASCC1 RNA overexpression in certain tumors correlates with poor survival, Signatures 29 and 3 mutations, and genetic instability markers. We determined crystal structures of Alvinella pompejana (Ap) ASCC1 and Human (Hs) …

Deep Learning-Based Prediction Modeling Of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events After Liver Transplantation, Ahmed Abdelhameed, Harpreet Bhangu, Jingna Feng, Fang Li, Xinyue Hu, Liu Yang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: To validate deep learning models' ability to predict post-transplantation major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT).

Patients and methods: We used data from Optum's de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart Database to identify liver transplant recipients between January 2007 and March 2020. To predict post-transplantation MACE risk, we considered patients' demographics characteristics, diagnoses, medications, and procedural data recorded back to 3 years before the LT procedure date (index date). MACE is predicted using the bidirectional gated recurrent units (BiGRU) deep learning model in different prediction interval lengths up to 5 years after the index date. In total, …

Novel Cancer Prevention Strategies In Individuals With Hereditary Cancer Syndromes: Focus On Brca1, Brca2, And Lynch Syndrome, Charles M Bowen, Kaitlin Demarest, Eduardo Vilar, Payal D Shah

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Germline pathogenic variants (PVs) in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes confer elevated risks of breast, ovarian, and other cancers. Lynch syndrome (LS) is associated with increased risks of multiple cancer types including colorectal and uterine cancers. Current cancer risk mitigation strategies have focused on pharmacologic risk reduction, enhanced surveillance, and preventive surgeries. While these approaches can be effective, they stand to be improved on because of either limited efficacy or undesirable impact on quality of life. The current review summarizes ongoing investigational efforts in cancer risk prevention strategies for patients with germline PVs in BRCA1, BRCA2, or LS-associated …

Opioid Risk Tool, In-Hospital Opioid Exposure, And Opioid Demand Predict Pain Outcomes Following Traumatic Injury, Danielle A Kessler, Heather E Webber, Constanza De Dios, Jin H Yoon, Joy M Schmitz, John A Harvin, Charles E Green, Shweta Kapoor, Angela L Stotts, Kandice L Motley, Robert Suchting

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Prescribed opioids are a mainstay pain treatment after traumatic injury, but a subgroup of patients may be at risk for continued opioid use. We evaluated the predictive utility of a traditional screening tool, the Opioid Risk Tool (ORT), and two other measures: average in-hospital milligram morphine equivalents (MME) per day and an assessment of opioid demand in predicting pain outcomes. Assessments of pain-related outcomes (pain intensity, interference, injury-related stress, and need for additional pain treatment) were administered at 2 weeks and 12 months post-discharge in a sample of 34 patients hospitalized for traumatic injury. Bayesian linear models were used to …

A Comprehensive Investigation Of The Performance Of A Commercial Scintillator System For Applications In Electron Flash Radiotherapy, Kevin Liu, Shannon Holmes, Emil Schüler, Sam Beddar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Dosimetry in ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) beamlines is significantly challenged by limitations in real-time monitoring and accurate measurement of beam output, beam parameters, and delivered doses using conventional radiation detectors, which exhibit dependencies in ultra-high dose-rate (UHDR) and high dose-per-pulse (DPP) beamline conditions.

Purpose: In this study, we characterized the response of the Exradin W2 plastic scintillator (Standard Imaging, Inc.), a water-equivalent detector that provides measurements with a time resolution of 100 Hz, to determine its feasibility for use in UHDR electron beamlines.

Methods: The W2 scintillator was exposed to an UHDR electron beam with different beam parameters by …

Venetoclax And Cobimetinib In Relapsed/Refractory Aml: A Phase 1b Trial, Marina Y Konopleva, Monique Dail, Naval G Daver, Jacqueline S Garcia, Brian A Jonas, Kevin R Kelly, Sarit Assouline, Gail J Roboz, Stefania Paolini, Daniel A Pollyea, Agostino Tafuri, Joseph M Brandwein, Arnaud Pigneux, Bayard L Powell, Pierre Fenaux, Rebecca L Olin, Giuseppe Visani, Giovanni Martinelli, Maika Onishi, Jue Wang, Weize Huang, Diana R Dunshee, Habib Hamidi, Marion G Ott, Wan-Jen Hong, Michael Andreeff

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Therapies for relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia remain limited and outcomes poor, especially amongst patients who are ineligible for cytotoxic chemotherapy or targeted therapies.

Patients and methods: This phase 1b trial evaluated venetoclax, a B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) inhibitor, plus cobimetinib, a MEK1/2 inhibitor, in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia, ineligible for cytotoxic chemotherapy. Two-dimensional dose-escalation was performed for venetoclax dosed daily, and for cobimetinib dosed on days 1-21 of each 28-day cycle.

Results: Thirty patients (median [range] age: 71.5 years [60-84]) received venetoclax-cobimetinib. The most common adverse events (AEs; in ≥40.0% of patients) were diarrhea (80.0%), nausea (60.0%), vomiting …

Immune Infiltration At The Primary Tumor Is Associated With Clinical Outcome Of Patients With Extranodal Extension Of Lymph Node Metastasis In Oral Cancer, Chieko Michikawa, Frederico O Gleber-Netto, Curtis R Pickering, Xiayu Rao, Jing Wang, Jeffrey N Myers

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Extranodal extension (ENE) of lymph node metastasis is one of the most reliable prognostic indicators for patients with locally advanced oral cancer. Although multiple reports have found a close relationship between immune infiltration of tumors and patient clinical outcomes, its association with ENE is unknown.

Methods: We identified 234 human papillomavirus-negative (HPV-) oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas and investigated the immune infiltration profiles of primary tumors and their association with survival.

Results: Hierarchical clustering analysis clearly classified the overall immune infiltration status in OSCC into high immune or low immune groups. The …

Incidence And Mitigation Of Corneal Pseudomicrocysts Induced By Antibody-Drug Conjugates (Adcs), Ethan S Lindgren, Rongshan Yan, Onur Cil, Alan S Verkman, Matilda F Chan, Asim V Farooq, Hope S Rugo, Paula R Pohlmann, Janice Lu, Laura J Esserman, Neel D Pasricha

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose of review: This study is to highlight the incidence of corneal pseudomicrocysts in FDA-approved antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and success of preventive therapies for pseudomicrocysts and related ocular surface adverse events (AEs).

Recent findings: ADCs are an emerging class of selective cancer therapies that consist of a potent cytotoxin connected to a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that targets antigens expressed on malignant cells. Currently, there are 11 FDA-approved ADCs with over 164 in clinical trials. Various AEs have been attributed to ADCs, including ocular surface AEs (keratitis/keratopathy, dry eye, conjunctivitis, blurred vision, corneal pseudomicrocysts). While the severity and prevalence of ADC-induced …

Current Methods For Hyperpolarized [1-Current Methods For Hyperpolarized [1-13c]Pyruvate Mri Human Studies, Peder E Z Larson, Jenna M L Bernard, James A Bankson, Nikolaj Bøgh, Robert A Bok, Charles H Cunningham, Jan-Bernd Hövener, Christoffer Laustsen, Dirk Mayer, Mary A Mclean, Franz Schilling, James B Slater, Jean-Luc Vanderheyden, Cornelius Von Morze, Daniel B Vigneron, Duan Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

MRI with hyperpolarized (HP) 13C agents, also known as HP 13C MRI, can measure processes such as localized metabolism that is altered in numerous cancers, liver, heart, kidney diseases, and more. It has been translated into human studies during the past 10 years, with recent rapid growth in studies largely based on increasing availability of hyperpolarized agent preparation methods suitable for use in humans. This paper aims to capture the current successful practices for HP MRI human studies with [1-13C]pyruvate - by far the most commonly used agent, which sits at a key metabolic junction in glycolysis. The paper is …

Genetic Evidence For Functional Diversification Of Gram-Negative Intermembrane Phospholipid Transporters, Ashutosh K Rai, Katsuhiro Sawasato, Haley C Bennett, Anastasiia Kozlova, Genevieve C Sparagna, Angela M Mitchell

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria is a barrier to chemical and physical stress. Phospholipid transport between the inner and outer membranes has been an area of intense investigation and, in E. coli K-12, it has recently been shown to be mediated by YhdP, TamB, and YdbH, which are suggested to provide hydrophobic channels for phospholipid diffusion, with YhdP and TamB playing the major roles. However, YhdP and TamB have different phenotypes suggesting distinct functions. It remains unclear whether these functions are related to phospholipid metabolism. We investigated a synthetic cold sensitivity caused by deletion of fadR, a transcriptional regulator …

Author Correction: Concurrent Intrathecal And Intravenous Nivolumab In Leptomeningeal Disease: Phase 1 Trial Interim Results, Isabella C Glitza Oliva, Sherise D Ferguson, Roland Bassett, Alexandra P Foster, Ida John, Michelle Rohlfs, Masood Iqbal, Tina Dett, Carol Lacey, Natalie Jackson, Theresa Rodgers, Suzanne Phillips, Sheila Duncan, Lauren Haydu, Ruitao Lin, Rodabe N Amaria, Michael K Wong, Adi Diab, Cassian Yee, Sapna P Patel, Jennifer L Mcquade, Grant M Fischer, Ian E Mccutcheon, Barbara J O'Brien, Sudhakar Tummala, Matthew Debnam, Nandita Guha-Thakurta, Jennifer A Wargo, Fernando C L Carapeto, Courtney W Hudgens, Jason T Huse, Michael T Tetzlaff, Elizabeth M Burton, Hussein A Tawbi, Michael A Davies

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Evaluations Of An Early Change In Tumor Pathophysiology In Response To Radiotherapy With Oxygen Enhanced Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging (Oe Epri), Tianzhe Li, Grace A Murley, Xiaofei Liang, Renee L Chin, Jorge De La Cerda, Mark D Pagel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging (EPRI) can image the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2) within in vivo tumor models. We sought to develop Oxygen Enhanced (OE) EPRI that measures tumor pO2 with breathing gases of 21% O2 (pO221%) and 100% O2 (pO2100%), and the differences in pO2 between breathing gases (ΔpO2). We applied OE EPRI to study the early change in tumor pathophysiology in response to radiotherapy in two tumor models of pancreatic cancer.

Procedures: We developed a protocol that intraperitoneally administered OX071, a trityl radical contrast agent, and then acquired anatomical MR images to localize the tumor. Subsequently, we …

Liver Late Effects In Childhood Cancer Survivors Treated With Radiation Therapy: A Pentec Comprehensive Review, Matthew D Hall, Rebecca M Howell, Andrew Jackson, Constance A Owens, Soleil Hernandez, Cecile M Ronckers, Julie A Bradley

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: A pediatric normal tissue effects in the clinic (PENTEC) comprehensive review of patients with childhood cancer who received radiation therapy (RT) to the liver was performed to develop models that may inform RT dose constraints for the liver and improve risk forecasting of toxicities.

Methods and materials: A systematic literature search was performed to identify published data on hepatic toxicities in children. Treatment and outcome data were extracted and used to generate normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models. Complications from both whole and partial liver irradiation were considered. For whole liver irradiation, total body irradiation and non-total body irradiation …

Targeting Sinonasal Undifferentiated Carcinoma With A Combinatory Immunotherapy Approach, Austin T K Hoke, Yoko Takahashi, Michelle R Padget, Javier Gomez, Moran Amit, Diana Bell, Patrick Soon-Shiong, James W Hodge, Ehab Y Hanna, Nyall R London

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC) is a rare, aggressive malignancy of the sinonasal cavity with poor prognosis and limited treatment options. To investigate the potential for SNUC sensitivity to combinatory immunotherapy, we performed in vitro studies with SNUC cell lines and used multi-spectral immunofluorescence to characterize the in vivo patient SNUC tumor immune microenvironment (TIME).

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Human-derived SNUC cell lines were used for in vitro studies of tumor cell susceptibility to natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapeutic strategies. Tumor samples from 14 treatment naïve SNUC patients were examined via multi-spectral immunofluorescence and clinical correlations assessed.

RESULTS: Anti-PD-L1 blockade enhanced NK …

Contemporary Approach To Neurofibromatosis Type 1-Associated Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors, Angela C Hirbe, Carina A Dehner, Eva Dombi, Vanessa Eulo, Andrea M Gross, Alexander J Lazar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Most malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are clinically aggressive high-grade sarcomas, arising in individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) at a significantly elevated estimated lifetime frequency of 8%-13%. In the setting of NF1, MPNSTs arise from malignant transformation of benign plexiform neurofibroma and borderline atypical neurofibromas. Composed of neoplastic cells from the Schwannian lineage, these cancers recur in approximately 50% of individuals, and most patients die within five years of diagnosis, despite surgical resection, radiation, and chemotherapy. Treatment for metastatic disease is limited to cytotoxic chemotherapy and investigational clinical trials. In this article, we review the pathophysiology of this …

Cascade Genetic Testing: An Underutilized Pathway To Equitable Cancer Care?, Roni Nitecki Wilke, Erica M Bednar, Sara Pirzadeh-Miller, Sayoni Lahiri, Isabel C Scarinci, Melissa K Frey, J Alejandro Rauh-Hain

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Precision Medicine Initiative was launched upon the potential of genomic information to tailor medical care. Cascade genetic testing represents a powerful application of precision medicine and involves the process of familial diffusion or the "cascade" of genomic risk information. When an individual (proband) is found to carry a cancer-associated germline pathogenic mutation, the information should be cascaded or shared with at-risk relatives. First degree relatives have a 50% likelihood of carrying the same cancer-associated mutation. This process of cascade testing offers at-risk relatives the opportunity for genetic testing and, for those who also carry the cancer-associated mutation, genetically targeted …

Understanding The Treatment Paradigm And The Sequencing Of Antiglaucoma Fixed-Dose Combinations In A Tertiary Center In South India, Ronnie George, Praggya Mishra, Balekudaru Shantha, Lingam Vijaya, Nitin Maksane

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: To analyze the medical management of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and ocular hypertension (OHT) and the placement of fixed-drug combination drugs (FDC) in the treatment paradigm at a tertiary eye care center in South India.

METHODS: Retrospective study (January 2011-December 2015) of newly diagnosed POAG and OHT patients (≥18 years) with ≥5 years follow-up. Primary outcome included percentage use of different antiglaucoma drugs (at initiation) and FDCs at the first, second, and third progression (sequencing). Secondary outcomes: Percentage discontinuation for different FDCs, efficacy parameters (decrease in intraocular pressure (IOP)/visual field), adverse events, and the median number of antiglaucoma medications …

Presentation, Management, And Outcomes Of Norovirus In Adult And Pediatric Solid Organ And Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients: A Multicenter, Retrospective Study, Michelle Callegari, Lara A Danziger-Isakov, Anne Rose, Daniel Kaul, Kelly Shaffer, Diana Florescu, Robin Avery, M Hong Nguyen, Brett Wildfeuer, Marian G Michaels, Michael Green, Kexin Guo, Lihui Zhao, Amna Daud, Michael G Ison

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Norovirus (NoV) can cause chronic relapsing and remitting diarrhea in immunocompromised patients. Few multicenter studies have described the clinical course, outcomes, and complications of chronic NoV in transplant recipients.

Methods: A multicenter retrospective study of adult and pediatric SOT and HSCT recipients diagnosed with NoV between November 1, 2017, and February 28, 2021. Data were obtained from electronic medical records (EMR) and entered into a central REDCap database. Descriptive statistics were calculated.

Results: A total of 280 NoV+ patients were identified across eight sites. The majority were adults (74.1%) and SOT recipients (91.4%). Initial diagnosis of NoV occurred a …

Understanding Nanoparticle-Liver Interactions In Nanomedicine, Yuxin He, Yifan Wang, Lin Wang, Wen Jiang, Stefan Wilhelm

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Understanding the interactions between administered nanoparticles and the liver is crucial for developing safe and effective nanomedicines. As the liver can sequester up to 99% of these particles due to its major phagocytic role, understanding these interactions is vital for clinical translation.

Areas covered: This review highlights recent studies on nanoparticle-liver interactions, including the influence of nanoparticle physicochemical properties on delivery, strategies to enhance delivery efficiency by modulating liver Kupffer cells, and their potential for treating certain hepatic diseases. Additionally, we discuss how aging impacts the liver's phagocytic functions.

Expert opinion: While liver accumulation can hinder nanomedicine safety and …