Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Digital Twin Mathematical Models Suggest Individualized Hemorrhagic Shock Resuscitation Strategies, Jeremy W Cannon, Danielle S Gruen, Ruben Zamora, Noah Brostoff, Kelly Hurst, John H Harn, Fayten El-Dehaibi, Zhi Geng, Rami Namas, Jason L Sperry, John B Holcomb, Bryan A Cotton, Jason J Nam, Samantha Underwood, Martin A Schreiber, Kevin K Chung, Andriy I Batchinsky, Leopoldo C Cancio, Andrew J Benjamin, Erin E Fox, Steven C Chang, Andrew P Cap, Yoram Vodovotz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Optimizing resuscitation to reduce inflammation and organ dysfunction following human trauma-associated hemorrhagic shock is a major clinical hurdle. This is limited by the short duration of pre-clinical studies and the sparsity of early data in the clinical setting.

METHODS: We sought to bridge this gap by linking preclinical data in a porcine model with clinical data from patients from the Prospective, Observational, Multicenter, Major Trauma Transfusion (PROMMTT) study via a three-compartment ordinary differential equation model of inflammation and coagulation.

RESULTS: The mathematical model accurately predicts physiologic, inflammatory, and laboratory measures in both the porcine model and patients, as well …

An Essential Gene Signature Of Breast Cancer Metastasis Reveals Targetable Pathways, Yiqun Zhang, Fengju Chen, Marija Balic, Chad J Creighton

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The differential gene expression profile of metastatic versus primary breast tumors represents an avenue for discovering new or underappreciated pathways underscoring processes of metastasis. However, as tumor biopsy samples are a mixture of cancer and non-cancer cells, most differentially expressed genes in metastases would represent confounders involving sample biopsy site rather than cancer cell biology.

METHODS: By paired analysis, we defined a top set of differentially expressed genes in breast cancer metastasis versus primary tumors using an RNA-sequencing dataset of 152 patients from The Breast International Group Aiming to Understand the Molecular Aberrations dataset (BIG-AURORA). To filter the genes …

Frontotemporal Dementia-Like Disease Progression Elicited By Seeded Aggregation And Spread Of Fus, Sonia Vazquez-Sanchez, Britt Tilkin, Fatima Gasset-Rosa, Sitao Zhang, Diana Piol, Melissa Mcalonis-Downes, Jonathan Artates, Noe Govea-Perez, Yana Verresen, Lin Guo, Don Cleveland, James Shorter, Sandrine Da Cruz

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

RNA binding proteins have emerged as central players in the mechanisms of many neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, a proteinopathy of fused in sarcoma (FUS) is present in some instances of familial Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and about 10% of sporadic Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Here we establish that focal injection of sonicated human FUS fibrils into brains of mice in which ALS-linked mutant or wild-type human FUS replaces endogenous mouse FUS is sufficient to induce focal cytoplasmic mislocalization and aggregation of mutant and wild-type FUS which with time spreads to distal regions of the brain. Human FUS fibril-induced FUS aggregation …

Rigor And Reproducibility In Human Brain Organoid Research: Where We Are And Where We Need To Go, Soraya O Sandoval, Gerarda Cappuccio, Karina Kruth, Sivan Osenberg, Saleh M Khalil, Natasha M Méndez-Albelo, Krishnan Padmanabhan, Daifeng Wang, Mark J Niciu, Anita Bhattacharyya, Jason L Stein, André M M Sousa, Elisa A Waxman, Elizabeth D Buttermore, Dosh Whye, Carissa L Sirois, Cross-Iddrc Human Stem Cell Consortium, Aislinn Williams, Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, Xinyu Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Human brain organoid models have emerged as a promising tool for studying human brain development and function. These models preserve human genetics and recapitulate some aspects of human brain development, while facilitating manipulation in an in vitro setting. Despite their potential to transform biology and medicine, concerns persist about their fidelity. To fully harness their potential, it is imperative to establish reliable analytic methods, ensuring rigor and reproducibility. Here, we review current analytical platforms used to characterize human forebrain cortical organoids, highlight challenges, and propose recommendations for future studies to achieve greater precision and uniformity across laboratories.

Feasibility Of Achieving Nutritional Adequacy In Critically Ill Children With Critical Neurological Illnesses (Cnis)?-A Quaternary Hospital Experience, Marwa Mansour, Nicole Knebusch, Jennifer Daughtry, Thomas P Fogarty, Fong Wilson Lam, Renan A Orellana, Yi-Chen Lai, Jennifer Erklauer, Jorge A Coss-Bu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The literature on the nutritional needs and outcomes of critically ill children is scarce, especially on those with critical neurological illnesses (CNIs). Current evidence shows a lower mortality in patients who achieve two-thirds of their nutritional needs during the first week of pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission. We hypothesized that achieving 60% of the recommended dietary intake during the first week of a PICU stay is not feasible in patients with CNI. We designed an observational retrospective cohort study where we included all index admissions to the PICU in our institution of children (1 month to 18 years) with …

Controversy In Consciousness: Is The Brainstem Sufficient For Sentience?, Shadia Kawkabani, Kevin P. Kaut

Journal of Neuropsychology and Behavioral Processes

Our understanding of consciousness is quite possibly in need of further discussion, elaboration, and updating. What was once principally the domain of philosophical inquiry has entered the era of advanced research methods and biomedical ethics – both of which have influenced the need to reconsider this most challenging of topics. The challenge for those interested in consciousness is at least twofold: 1) to further operationally define what is meant by consciousness, with a greater understanding of how consciousness can be manifest, and 2) to better identify the neural mechanisms subserving the diverse presentations/manifestations of consciousness, and reconcile the developing literatures …

Vertebral Hu Value And The Pectoral Muscle Index Based On Chest Ct Can Be Used To Opportunistically Screen For Osteoporosis, Xiong-Yi Wang, Sheng Pan, Wei-Feng Liu, Yi-Ke Wang, Si-Min Yun, You-Jia Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Existing studies have shown that computed tomography (CT) attenuation and skeletal muscle tissue are strongly associated with osteoporosis; however, few studies have examined whether vertebral HU values and the pectoral muscle index (PMI) measured at the level of the 4th thoracic vertebra (T4) are strongly associated with bone mineral density (BMD). In this study, we demonstrate that vertebral HU values and the PMI based on chest CT can be used to opportunistically screen for osteoporosis and reduce fracture risk through prompt treatment.

METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 1000 patients who underwent chest CT and DXA scans from August 2020-2022. The …

Recurrent Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding Due To Radiation-Induced Hemorrhagic Gastroduodenal Ectasia: A Review Of Current Treatment Options For Radiation-Induced Gastric Injury, Simone Jarrett, Rushi Kaushik Talati, Johann Hasbun, Wenqing Cao, Scott Smukalla

Einstein Health Papers

INTRODUCTION: Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding is one of the most common medical emergencies that present to the hospital, and delineating the underlying etiology is essential to provide adequate definitive treatment. The purpose of this case report was to review the diagnosis and treatment of a rare complication known as radiation-induced hemorrhagic gastritis (RIHG) that can occur in patients with prior radiation exposure. The motivation for this study arose from the identification of a case within our institution.

CASE PRESENTATION: The study involved a review of the diagnosis and management of a patient who presented with anemia and recurrent episodes of …

Improved Liver Disease Prediction From Clinical Data Through An Evaluation Of Ensemble Learning Approaches, Shahid Mohammad Ganie, Pijush Kanti Dutta Pramanik, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Liver disease causes two million deaths annually, accounting for 4% of all deaths globally. Prediction or early detection of the disease via machine learning algorithms on large clinical data have become promising and potentially powerful, but such methods often have some limitations due to the complexity of the data. In this regard, ensemble learning has shown promising results. There is an urgent need to evaluate different algorithms and then suggest a robust ensemble algorithm in liver disease prediction.

METHOD: Three ensemble approaches with nine algorithms are evaluated on a large dataset of liver patients comprising 30,691 samples with 11 …

Seroprevalence Of Anti-Sars-Cov-2 Igg Antibodies In Healthcare Personnel In El Salvador Prior To Vaccination Campaigns, José Elías Aguilar Ramírez, Adrianna Maliga, Allison Stewart, Allison Lino, José Eduardo Oliva, Xochitl Sandoval, Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez, Rafael Chacon-Fuentes, Parminder S Suchdev, Susana Zelaya, Mario Sánchez, Delmy Lisseth Recinos, Beatriz López, Ella Hawes, Julie Liu, Shannon E Ronca, Sarah M Gunter, Kristy O Murray, Rhina Domínguez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is a highly pathogenic emerging infectious disease. Healthcare personnel (HCP) are presumably at higher risk of acquiring emerging infections because of occupational exposure. The prevalence of COVID-19 in HCP is unknown, particularly in low- to middle-income countries like El Salvador. The goal of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among HCP in El Salvador just prior to vaccine rollout in March 2021. We evaluated 2176 participants from a nationally representative sample of national healthcare institutions. We found 40.4% (n = 880) of the study participants were seropositive for anti-spike …

Microvascular Reconstruction Of Midface Osteoradionecrosis, Larissa Sweeny, Neeraja Konuthula, Ryan Jackson, Mark K. Wax, Joseph M. Curry, Sara Yang, Dev Amin, Anne C. Kane, Steve B. Cannady, Kendall Tasche, Michael Dileo, Daniel Lander, Alexandra E. Kejner, Patrik Pipkorn

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: Head and neck osteoradionecrosis (ORN) of the midface requiring free flap (FF) reconstruction is uncommon. This multi-institutional study was designed to review outcomes for this rare patient population. Methods: Retrospective multi-institutional review of FF reconstruction for midface ORN (2005–2022; n = 54). Results: The FF survival rate was 87% (n = 54). Patients were less likely to be tolerating a regular diet at 3 months postoperative if they had a preoperative history of prior head and surgery (80% vs. 95%; p = 0.02), a pathologic fracture (50% vs. 90%; p = 0.04), exposed bone intraorally (43% vs. 94%; p …

Long-Term Survival Follow-Up For Tebentafusp In Previously Treated Metastatic Uveal Melanoma, Joseph Sacco, Richard Carvajal, Marcus Butler, Alexander N Shoushtari, Jessica Hassel, Alexandra Ikeguchi, Leonel Hernandez-Aya, Paul Nathan, Omid Hamid, Josep Piulats, Matthew Rioth, Douglas B Johnson, Jason Luke, Enrique Espinosa, Serge Leyvraz, Laura Collins, Chris Holland, Takami Sato

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Tebentafusp, a bispecific (gp100×CD3) ImmTAC, significantly improved overall survival (OS) outcomes for HLA-A*02:01+ adult patients with untreated metastatic uveal melanoma (mUM) and showed promising survival in previously treated mUM with 1-year OS of 62% in the primary analysis of study IMCgp100-102. Here we report long-term outcomes from this phase 1/2 study in pretreated mUM.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with previously treated mUM received tebentafusp weekly intravenous at 20 µg dose 1, 30 µg dose 2 and either 54, 64, 68, or 73 µg (phase 1) or 68 µg (phase 2) dose 3+. The primary objective was overall response rate. …

Perturbations In Risk/Reward Decision Making And Frontal Cortical Catecholamine Regulation Induced By Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Christopher P Knapp, Eleni Papadopoulos, Jessica A Loweth, Ramesh Raghupathi, Stan B Floresco, Barry D Waterhouse, Rachel L Navarra

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) disrupts cognitive processes that influence risk taking behavior. Little is known regarding the effects of repetitive mild injury (rmTBI) or whether these outcomes are sex specific. Risk/reward decision making is mediated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is densely innervated by catecholaminergic fibers. Aberrant PFC catecholamine activity has been documented following TBI and may underlie TBI-induced risky behavior. The present study characterized the effects of rmTBI on risk/reward decision making behavior and catecholamine transmitter regulatory proteins within the PFC. Rats were exposed to sham, single (smTBI), or three closed-head controlled cortical impact (CH-CCI) injuries and …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Sociodemographic Factors Associated With Physical Functional Impairment In Icu Survivors, Megan A. Watson, Marie Sandi, Johanna Bixby, Grace Perry, Patrick J. Offner, Ellen L. Burnham, Sarah E. Jolley

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

IMPORTANCE: Physical functional impairment is one of three components of postintensive care syndrome (PICS) that affects up to 60% of ICU survivors. OBJECTIVES: To explore the prevalence of objective physical functional impairment among a diverse cohort of ICU survivors, both at discharge and longitudinally, and to highlight sociodemographic factors that might be associated with the presence of objective physical functional impairment. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a secondary analysis of 37 patients admitted to the ICU in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Denver, Colorado between 2016 and 2019 who survived with longitudinal follow-up data. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Our primary …

Reply To: Correlation Between Right Ventricular Echocardiography Measurements And Functional Capacity In Patients With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Annalisa Caputo, Gianmarco Scoccia

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Effectiveness Of Empiric Carbapenem Versus Non-Carbapenem Therapy For Extended-Spectrum Β-Lactamase Producing Enterobacterales Infections In Non-Intensive Care Unit Patients: A Real-World Investigation In A Hospital With High-Prevalence Of Extended-Spectrum Β-Lactamase Producing Enterobacterales, Amy Y. Kang, Mary Elkomos, Danny Pham, Michelle Guerrero, Deborah Kupferwasser, Loren G. Miller

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Objective:

To investigate whether empiric carbapenem therapy, compared to empiric non-carbapenem therapy, was associated with improved clinical outcomes among hospitalized, non-intensive care unit (ICU) patients with extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales infections.

Methods:

We performed a retrospective cohort study of adult, non-ICU patients admitted with ESBL-producing Enterobacterales infections. Primary outcome was time to clinical stability from the first empiric antibiotic dose. Secondary outcomes were early clinical response and 30-day all-cause hospital readmission. We used multivariate regression methods to examine time to clinical stability.

Results:

Of the 142 patients, 59 (42%) received empiric carbapenems and 83 (58%) received empiric …

Postoperative Bioactive Adrenomedullin Is Associated With The Onset Of Ards And Adverse Outcomes In Patients Undergoing Open Thoracoabdominal Aortic Surgery, Panagiotis Doukas, Oliver Hartmann, Jelle Frankort, Birte Arlt, Hanif Krabbe, Michael Johan Jacobs, Andreas Greiner, Jan Paul Frese, Alexander Gombert

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cytokine-mediated systemic inflammation after open thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) repairs plays a pivotal role in disrupting circulatory homeostasis, potentially leading to organ dysfunction. The bioactive form of adrenomedullin (bio-ADM) is a peptide hormone with immunomodulatory and vasomotor effects, making it a potential diagnostic agent in these cases. This retrospective, bicentric study, conducted between January 2019 and December 2022, recruited 36 elective open TAAA repair patients in two German centres. Serum and plasma samples were collected at multiple time points to measure bio-ADM levels. The primary objective was to evaluate the association of bio-ADM levels with the onset of acute respiratory …

Access To Prostate-Specific Antigen Testing And Mortality Among Men With Prostate Cancer, Hari S. Iyer, Benjamin V. Stone, Charlotte Roscoe, Mei Chin Hsieh, Antoinette M. Stroup, Charles L. Wiggins, Fredrick R. Schumacher, Scarlett L. Gomez, Timothy R. Rebbeck, Quoc Dien Trinh

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Importance: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer is controversial but may be associated with benefit for certain high-risk groups. Objectives: To evaluate associations of county-level PSA screening prevalence with prostate cancer outcomes, as well as variation by sociodemographic and clinical factors. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used data from cancer registries based in 8 US states on Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White men aged 40 to 99 years who received a diagnosis of prostate cancer between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2015. Participants were followed up until death or censored after 10 years or December …

Hairy Tongue Associated With The Use Of Baricitinib Therapy For Ophiasis Pattern Alopecia Areata, Anthony Gaspari

Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology Faculty Papers

We report a case of hairy tongue that developed in a young Caucasian
/="/">woman during systemic baricitinib therapy for severe alopecia areata.
/="/">Because she experienced good clinical regrowth of her hair during
/="/">treatment, she did not want to interrupt therapy. We recommended she
/="/">use a toothbrush to debride her tongue on a daily basis, which was
/="/">successful. Hairy tongue most commonly occurs in elderly, debilitated
/="/">males with poor oral hygiene. It is thought to occur because of overgrowth
/="/">of chromogenic bacteria and/or yeast on the tongue. This unusual side
/="/">effect during baricitinib …

Medmicromaps, A Novel Decision-Tree Guide For Infectious Diseases Differential Diagnoses, And Evaluation Of Pre- And Post-Pandemic User Engagement By Preclinical Medical Students, Jason Ceballos, Tavsimran Luthra, Lucia Garces-Torres, Valerie Lentz, Jack Nelson, Claudia Carceles-Roman, Ian Holyoak, Jane Harrington

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

Background: Medical education has undergone major changes in the past 5 years to adapt to the digital-centered student population with diverse learning preferences. To address the challenges of shifting delivery modalities, multimedia resources were created to provide interactive e-learning material on infectious diseases for year 2 medical students.

Methods: Medical students at a USA-accredited Caribbean medical school were provided with supplemental e-learning materials including animations, illustrations, diagnostic algorithms aka MedMicroMaps, and Case-Based tutorials. Participants were classified by semester and lecture delivery: In-person: Cohort 1 (n=526); Virtual: Cohort 2 (n=651); and Hybrid: Cohort 3 ( …

A “Fishy” Situation, Rare Pathogen And Presentation In Prosthetic Valve Infective Endocarditis, Nichole Schtupak, Patrick Kennedy, Darko Pucar, Linda Godinez, Jodi-Ann Chin, Kristen Selema, Dipan Uppa, Antonio Lewis, Marcelo Helguera

DMSc Student Publications

Lactococcus garviae (L. garviae) is a gram-positive coccus belonging to the Streptococcaceae family. While primarily a pathogen in fish farms causing hemorrhagic sepsis, it can act as a rare opportunistic pathogen in humans. A 2021 case report by Bravo et al. documented less than 30 cases of infective endocarditis caused by L. garviae worldwide at that time. This case report describes the 27th documented case globally and 7th documented case in the USA of L. garviae causing infective endocarditis of a prosthetic valve.
L. garviae is found in unpasteurized dairy products, raw fish, and meat (pork, beef, and …

Identifying Targetable Vulnerabilities To Circumvent Or Overcome Venetoclax Resistance In Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Clare M. Adams, Amanda Mcbride, Peter Michener, Irina Shkundina, Ramkrishna Mitra, Hyun Hwan An, Pierluigi Porcu, Christine M. Eischen

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Clinical trials with single-agent venetoclax/ABT-199 (anti-apoptotic BCL2 inhibitor) revealed that diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is not solely dependent on BCL2 for survival. Gaining insight into pathways/proteins that increase venetoclax sensitivity or unique vulnerabilities in venetoclax-resistant DLBCL would provide new potential treatment avenues. Therefore, we generated acquired venetoclax-resistant DLBCL cells and evaluated these together with intrinsically venetoclax-resistant and -sensitive DLBCL lines. We identified resistance mechanisms, including alterations in BCL2 family members that differed between intrinsic and acquired venetoclax resistance and increased dependencies on specific pathways. Although combination treatments with BCL2 family member inhibitors may overcome venetoclax resistance, RNA-sequencing and drug/compound …

Development Of A Novel Comprehensive Hepatocellular Carcinoma Outcome Prognostic Scoring System With Integration Of Imaging Features, Hop S Tran Cao, Russell G Witt, Khaled M Elsayes, Ali A Baiomy, Lianchun Xiao, Sarah Palmquist, Sunyoung S Lee, Yehia I Mohamed, Armeen Mahvash, Ching-Wei D Tzeng, Yun Shin Chun, Eugene Jon Koay, Asif Rashid, Manal M Hassan, James C Yao, Jean-Nicolas Vauthey, Ahmed O Kaseb

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Accurate prognostic stratification of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is vital for clinical trial enrollment and treatment allocation. Multiple scoring systems have been created to predict patient survival, but no standardized scoring systems account for radiologic tumor features. We sought to create a generalizable scoring system for HCC which incorporates standardized radiologic tumor features and more accurately predicts overall survival (OS) than established systems.

Methods: Clinicopathologic parameters were collected from a prospectively collected cohort of patients with HCC treated at a single institution. Imaging studies were evaluated for tumor characteristics. Patients were randomly divided into a training set for identification of …

An Atlas Characterizing The Shared Genetic Architecture Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease With Clinical And Behavioral Traits, Vikram R Shaw, Jinyoung Byun, Rowland W Pettit, Jason K Hou, Kyle M Walsh, Younghun Han, Christopher I Amos

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) development is a complex, multifactorial process that involves extrinsic and intrinsic factors such as host genetics, the immune system, the gut microbiome, and environmental risks. To help understand the genetic contribution of clinical, behavioral, psychiatric, and diet-related traits, we aim to provide a deep and comprehensive characterization of the shared genetic architecture between IBD and hundreds of potentially related traits.

METHODS: Utilizing publicly available summary statistics from a previously published IBD genome-wide association study and hundreds of traits from the United Kingdom BioBank (UKBB), we performed linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSR) analysis to estimate cross-trait …

Strength Of Selection In Lung Tumors Correlates With Clinical Features Better Than Tumor Mutation Burden, Ivan P Gorlov, Olga Y Gorlova, Spyridon Tsavachidis, Christopher I Amos

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Single nucleotide substitutions are the most common type of somatic mutations in cancer genome. The goal of this study was to use publicly available somatic mutation data to quantify negative and positive selection in individual lung tumors and test how strength of directional and absolute selection is associated with clinical features. The analysis found a significant variation in strength of selection (both negative and positive) among tumors, with median selection tending to be negative even though tumors with strong positive selection also exist. Strength of selection estimated as the density of missense mutations relative to the density of silent mutations …

The Role Of Skeletal Muscle Ampk/Mtorc1 Signaling In Disrupted Metabolism During Chemotherapy Treatment And Recovery, Jessica L. Halle

Alternative Theses and Dissertations (AETDs)

Colorectal cancer patient survival rate has increased over the past decade due to improved screening and treatment options. The clinically relevant FOLFOX (5-fluorouracil [5-FU], oxaliplatin, leucovorin) chemotherapy regimen is a mainstay treatment option, despite the development of severe side-effects that can occur acutely or develop as a late effect after treatment cessation. Cancer and chemotherapy can promote systemic metabolic dysfunction; consequently, patients will likely experience debilitating weakness and fatigue, and these symptoms are often accompanied by excessive fat and muscle loss. Although studies have established chemotherapy effects on the tumor, few have investigated mechanisms underlying the metabolic complications associated with …

Cognitive Reserve, Cortisol, And Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers: A Memory Clinic Study, Manasa Yerramalla, Alexander Darin-Mattsson, Chinedu Momoh, Jasper Holleman, Ingemar Kåreholt, Malin Aspö, Göran Hagman, Miia Kivipelto, Alina Solomon, Anna Marseglia

Brain and Mind Institute

INTRODUCTION Cognitive reserve might mitigate the risk of Alzheimer's dementia among memory clinic patients. No study has examined the potential modifying role of stress on this relation.

METHODS We examined cross-sectional associations of the cognitive reserve index (CRI; education, occupational complexity, physical and leisure activities, and social health) with cognitive performance and AD-related biomarkers among 113 memory clinic patients. The longitudinal association between CRI and cognition over a 3-year follow-up was assessed. We examined whether associations were influenced by perceived stress and five measures of diurnal salivary cortisol.

RESULTS Higher CRI scores were associated with better cognition. Adjusting for cortisol …

Pediatric Cancers And Family Financial Toxicity In The Philippines: Insights For Southeast Asia And Similarly Resourced Settings, Rod Carlo Columbres, Erin Jay G. Feliciano, Kathleen Joy Taleon-Tampo, Katelyn Edelwina Y. Legaspi, Michelle Ann B. Eala, Kenrick Ng, Fumiko Chino, Frederic Ivan L. Ting, Edward Christopher Dee

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Cancer is a leading cause of death among children in the Philippines, a low-middle-income country of over 110 million people. In this Comment, we describe how financial toxicity affects families of pediatric patients with cancer in the Philippines. We explore direct costs of care, indirect costs such as transportation and lodging, and psychosocial sequelae, in the Filipino medical system and sociocultural contexts. We present examples of successful interventions in the Philippines and in similarly resourced settings, with the goal of galvanizing further research, clinical interventions, and policy-level changes, aimed at mitigating family financial toxicity for pediatric patients with cancer in …

Design And Implementation Of A Vision-Based Deep-Learning Protocol For Kinematic Feature Extraction With Application To Stroke Rehabilitation, Juan Diego Luna Inga

Master's Theses

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, affecting thousands of individuals annually and significantly impairing their mobility, independence, and quality of life. Traditional methods for assessing motor impairments are often costly and invasive, creating substantial barriers to effective rehabilitation. This thesis explores the use of DeepLabCut (DLC), a deep-learning-based pose estimation tool, to extract clinically meaningful kinematic features from video data of stroke survivors with upper-extremity (UE) impairments.

To conduct this investigation, a specialized protocol was developed to tailor DLC for analyzing movements characteristic of UE impairments in stroke survivors. This protocol was validated through comparative analysis using peak …

Jak-Stat Signaling And Beyond In The Pathogenesis Of Spondyloarthritis And Their Clinical Significance, Siba P Raychaudhuri, Ruchi J Shah, Sneha Banerjee, Smriti K Raychaudhuri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose of Review

Janus kinase–signal transducers and activators of transcription cell signaling proteins (JAK-STATs) play a key regulatory role in functioning of several inflammatory cytokines. JAK-STAT signaling proteins are the key regulators of the cytokine/cytokine receptor system involved in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune disease including spondyloarthritis (SpA). This article mainly highlights the JAK-STAT signaling system, its association with the relevant cytokine/cytokine-receptor system, and its regulatory role in pathogenesis of SpA. Also, we have briefly addressed the principle for the use JAKi in SpA and the current status of use of JAK inhibitors (JAKi) in SpA.

Recent Findings

Recent developments …