Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Social And Psychosocial Determinants Of Racial And Ethnic Differences In Cardiovascular Health: The Masala And Mesa Studies, Nilay S. Shah, Xiaoning Huang, Lucia C. Petito, Michael P. Bancks, Alka M. Kanaya, Sameera Talegawkar, Saaniya Farhan, Mercedes R. Carnethon, Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, Norrina B. Allen, Namratha R. Kandula, Sadiya S. Khan

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

BACKGROUND: Social and psychosocial determinants are associated with cardiovascular health (CVH).

OBJECTIVES: To quantify the contributions of social and psychosocial factors to racial/ethnic differences in CVH.

METHODS: In the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America cohorts, Kitagawa-Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition quantified the contributions of social and psychosocial factors to differences in mean CVH score (range 0-14) in Black, Chinese, Hispanic, or South Asian compared with White participants.

RESULTS: Among 7,978 adults (mean age 61 [SD 10] years, 52 % female), there were 1,892 Black (mean CVH score for decomposition analysis 7.96 [SD 2.1]), 804 …

Fluorescent Peptide For Detecting Factor Xiiia Activity And Fibrin In Whole Blood Clots Forming Under Flow, Yue Liu, Jennifer Crossen, Timothy J. Stalker, Scott L. Diamond

Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research

Background

During clotting, thrombin generates fibrin monomers and activates plasma-derived transglutaminase factor (F) XIIIa; collagen and thrombin-activated platelets offer thrombin-independent cellular FXIIIa (cFXIIIa) for clotting. Detecting fibrin on collagen and tissue factor surfaces in whole blood clotting typically uses complex reagents like fluorescent fibrinogen or antifibrin antibody.

Objectives

We want to test whether the peptide using the α2- antiplasmin crosslinking mechanism by FXIIIa is a useful tool in both monitoring FXIIIa activity, and visualize and monitor fibrin formation, deposition, and extent of crosslinking within fibrin structures in whole blood clots formed under flow.

Methods

We tested a fluorescent peptide derived …

Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Of Vagal Nerve Stimulation To Regulate Hemodynamic Variables, Oluwasanmi Adeodu, Michelle Gee, Babak Mahmoudi, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, Mayuresh Kothare

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Various pre-clinical investigations indicate that the electrical stimulation of the cervical branch of the vagus that innervates the heart has therapeutic value in the management of various cardiac diseases. In theory, the design of a closed-loop control mechanism that automatically adjusts vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) parameters based on real-time physiological feedback can eliminate intra-patient variability in VNS outcomes and therefore represents a major step towards patient-specific therapy. This study develops a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) approach for VNS of a pulsatile, human cardio-baroreflex system. The manipulated variables are the frequency and amplitude of a charge-balanced biphasic current. The effects …

Large Right Lower Quadrant Abdominal Mass, Isheeta Madeka, Cannon Greco-Hiranaka, Ozlem Kulak, Wilbur Bowne

Jefferson Hospital Staff Papers and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Climate Change On Surgery: A Scoping Review To Define Existing Knowledge And Identify Gaps, Tina Bharani, Rebecca Achey, Harris Jamal, Alexis Cherry, Malcolm K. Robinson, Guy J. Maddern, Deirdre K. Tobias, Divyansh Agarwal

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

With climate change accelerated at a worrisome rate, global warming also will have implications for surgery and surgical practice. The goal of this current study was to systematically survey the literature and better understand how climate change has affected surgical disease burden, surgical care delivery, and surgical outcomes. We performed a comprehensive scoping review, screening 3334 unique citations from three databases – 1766 from Embase, 1329 from Pubmed and 239 from Scopus – to identify studies that had associated climate change with surgery. After systematic searching, quality appraisal, and data extraction, we synthesized findings from qualitative and quantitative studies. Twenty-six …

Educational Case: Endometrial Ectopia In Endometriosis And Adenomyosis, Carolyn G. Chen, Joanna S.Y. Chan

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Mavs Is A Double-Edged Sword, Christina Huang, Jack L. Arbiser

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

No abstract provided.

Tav-In-Tav And Beyond: How Far Can We Go?, Taramasso Maurizio, Ana Paula Tagliari, David L. Fischman

Division of Cardiology Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Characteristics And Outcomes Of Patients Who Underwent Coronary Atherectomy In Centers With And Without On-Site Cardiac Surgery, Mohamed Dafaalla, Muhammad Rashid, Saadiq Moledina, Tim Kinnaird, Peter Ludman, Nick Curzen, Sarah Zaman, James Nolan, Mamas A. Mamas

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients who underwent atherectomy at the time of percutaneous coronary intervention in centers with on-site surgical centers (SCs) versus nonsurgical centers (NSCs). Patients treated with coronary atherectomy between January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2019, from the British Cardiovascular Society Intervention (BCIS) registry were included. Primary outcomes were in-hospital all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. A total of 20,833 patients were treated with coronary atherectomy, of which 7,983 (38%) were performed at NSC. The proportion of coronary atherectomies performed in NSC increased from 12.5% in 2006 to …

Transmission Of Yellow Fever Vaccine Virus Through Blood Transfusion And Organ Transplantation In The Usa In 2021: Report Of An Investigation, Carolyn V. Gould, Rebecca J. Free, Julu Bhatnagar, Raymond A. Soto, Tricia L. Royer, Warren R. Maley, Sean Moss, Matthew A. Berk, Rebecca Craig-Shapiro, Rosy Priya L. Kodiyanplakkal, Lars F. Westblade, Thangamani Muthukumar, Yoram A. Puius, Amresh Raina, Azam Hadi, Kymberly A. Gyure, Danielle Trief, Marcus Pereira, Matthew J. Kuehnert, Vennus Ballen, Debra A. Kessler, Kimberly Dailey, Charles Omura, Thuy Doan, Steve Miller, Michael R. Wilson, Jennifer A. Lehman, Jana M. Ritter, Elizabeth Lee, Luciana Silva-Flannery, Sarah Reagan-Steiner, Jason O. Velez, Janeen J. Laven, Kelly A. Fitzpatrick, Amanda Panella, Emily H. Davis, Holly R. Hughes, Aaron C. Brault, Kirsten St George, Amy B. Dean, Joel Ackelsberg, Sridhar V. Basavaraju, Charles Y. Chiu, J. Erin Staples

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: In 2021, four patients who had received solid organ transplants in the USA developed encephalitis beginning 2-6 weeks after transplantation from a common organ donor. We describe an investigation into the cause of encephalitis in these patients.

METHODS: From Nov 7, 2021, to Feb 24, 2022, we conducted a public health investigation involving 15 agencies and medical centres in the USA. We tested various specimens (blood, cerebrospinal fluid, intraocular fluid, serum, and tissues) from the organ donor and recipients by serology, RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, metagenomic next-generation sequencing, and host gene expression, and conducted a traceback of blood transfusions received by …

C9orf72 Poly(Pr) Mediated Neurodegeneration Is Associated With Nucleolar Stress, M. E. Cicardi, J. H. Hallgren, D. Mawrie, K. Krishnamurthy, S. S. Markandaiah, A. T. Nelson, V. Kankate, E. N. Anderson, P. Pasinelli, U. B. Pandey, C. M. Eischen, D. Trotti

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

The ALS/FTD-linked intronic hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the C9orf72 gene is aberrantly translated in the sense and antisense directions into dipeptide repeat proteins, among which poly proline-arginine (PR) displays the most aggressive neurotoxicity in-vitro and in-vivo. PR partitions to the nucleus when heterologously expressed in neurons and other cell types. We show that by lessening the nuclear accumulation of PR, we can drastically reduce its neurotoxicity. PR strongly accumulates in the nucleolus, a nuclear structure critical in regulating the cell stress response. We determined that, in neurons, PR caused nucleolar stress and increased levels of the transcription factor p53. …

Gene Signature Reveals Decreased Sox10-Dependent Transcripts In Malignant Cells From Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Resistant Cutaneous Melanomas, Timothy J. Purwin, Signe Caksa, Ahmet Sacan, Claudia Capparelli, Andrew E. Aplin

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Evidence is mounting for cross-resistance between immune checkpoint and targeted kinase inhibitor therapies in cutaneous melanoma patients. Since the loss of the transcription factor, SOX10, causes tolerance to MAPK pathway inhibitors, we used bioinformatic techniques to determine if reduced SOX10 expression/activity is associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor resistance. We integrated SOX10 ChIP-seq, knockout RNA-seq, and knockdown ATAC-seq data from melanoma cell models to develop a robust SOX10 gene signature. We used computational methods to validate this signature as a measure of SOX10-dependent activity in independent single-cell and bulk RNA-seq SOX10 knockdown, cell line panel, and MAPK inhibitor drug-resistant datasets. Evaluation …

Arthroscopic Treatment Of Shoulder Stiffness With Rotator Cuff Repair Yields Similar Outcomes To Isolated Rotator Cuff Repair, Parker L. Brush, Adrian Santana, Ruchir Nanavati, Gregory R. Toci, Tariq Z. Issa, Daniel J. Fletcher, Joshua Hornstein

Rothman Institute Faculty Papers

Purpose To compare patient-reported and surgical outcome measures in patients with and without secondary shoulder stiffness (SSS) undergoing rotator cuff repair (RCR).

Methods Patients undergoing rotator cuff repair from 2014 to 2020 with complete patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) by the short-form 12 survey (SF-12) were retrospectively reviewed to identify if operative intervention for SSS was performed alongside the RCR. Those patients with operative intervention for SSS were propensity matched to a group without prior intervention for stiffness by age, sex, laterality, body mass index, diabetes mellitus status, and the presence of a thyroid disorder. The groups were compared by rotator …

Increased Sirt3 Combined With Parp Inhibition Rescues Motor Function Of Sbma Mice, David R. Garcia Castro, Joseph R. Mazuk, Erin M. Heine, Daniel Simpson, R. Seth Pinches, Caroline Lozzi, Kathryn Hoffman, Phillip Morrin, Dylan Mathis, Maria V. Lebedev, Elyse Nissley, Kang Hoo Han, Tyler Farmer, Diane E. Merry, Qiang Tong, Maria Pennuto, Heather L. Montie

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a neuromuscular disease with substantial mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunctions. SBMA is caused by polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion in the androgen receptor (AR). Activating or increasing the NAD+-dependent deacetylase, SIRT3, reduced oxidative stress and death of cells modeling SBMA. However, increasing diminished SIRT3 in AR100Q mice failed to reduce acetylation of the SIRT3 target/antioxidant, SOD2, and had no effect on increased total acetylated peptides in quadriceps. Yet, overexpressing SIRT3 resulted in a trend of motor recovery, and corrected TCA cycle activity by decreasing acetylation of SIRT3 target proteins. We sought to boost blunted SIRT3 activity …

Identification Of Potential Non-Invasive Biomarkers In Diastrophic Dysplasia, Chiara Paganini, Ricki S. Carroll, Chiara Gramegna Tota, Andrea J. Schelhaas, Alessandra Leone, Angela L. Duker, David A. O'Connell, Ryan F. Coghlan, Brian Johnstone, Carlos R. Ferreira, Sabrina Peressini, Riccardo Albertini, Antonella Forlino, Luisa Bonafé, Ana Belinda Campos-Xavier, Andrea Superti-Furga, Andreas Zankl, Antonio Rossi, Michael B. Bober

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

Diastrophic dysplasia (DTD) is a recessive chondrodysplasia caused by pathogenic variants in the SLC26A2 gene encoding for a cell membrane sulfate/chloride antiporter crucial for sulfate uptake and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) sulfation. Research on a DTD animal model has suggested possible pharmacological treatment approaches. In view of future clinical trials, the identification of non-invasive biomarkers is crucial to assess the efficacy of treatments. Urinary GAG composition has been analyzed in several metabolic disorders including mucopolysaccharidoses. Moreover, the N-terminal fragment of collagen X, known as collagen X marker (CXM), is considered a real-time marker of endochondral ossification and growth velocity and was studied …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Hospitalization Outcomes Of Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction In The Usa, F.E. Markson, E. Akuna, C.Y. Lim, L. Khemani, A, Amanullah

Einstein Health Papers

Background/study objective: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic affected health care delivery, as it led to variable outcomes in different disease states including cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we evaluated the impact of coexisting COVID-19 on Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). Design/setting: We analyzed discharge records of AMI patients from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) in the year 2020.

Main outcome measures: Using propensity score matching, we assessed the impact of COVID-19 infection on the in-hospital outcomes of patients presenting with AMI.

Results: There were 1154 patients with concomitant COVID-19 infection and AMI who were matched with 109,990 patients with AMI …

Impact Of Social Media And Multimedia Platforms: View From The Jacc: Case Reports Some Editors, Estefania Oliveros, Yevgeniy Brailovsky, Alessandro Beneduce, Hooman Bakshi, Edoardo Zancanaro, Indah Sukmawati, Mrinali Shetty, Gina Lundberg

Division of Cardiology Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Physical And Stressful Psychological Impacts Of Prolonged Personal Protective Equipment Use During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study, Giuseppe Candido, Costanza Tortù, Chiara Seghieri, Riccardo Tartaglia, Chiara Baglioni, Paolo Citti, Ida Marina Raciti, Micaela La Regina, Silvia Simonini, Moira Urbani, Chiara Parretti, Paul Barach

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCWs) caring for COVID-19 infected patients are exposed to stressful and traumatic events with potential for severe and sustained adverse mental and physical health consequences. Our aim was to assess the magnitude of physical and mental health outcomes of HCWs due to the prolonged use of personal protective equipment (PPE) treating COVID-19 patients.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study assessed the symptoms of stress, anxiety, insomnia, and psychological resilience using the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics (SAVE) scale, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Resilience Scale (RS), respectively, in Italy between 1st February and 31st March 2022. The physical …

Differential Response Of C9orf72 Transcripts Following Neuronal Depolarization, Layla T. Ghaffari, Davide Trotti, Aaron R. Haeusler

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

The (G4C2)n nucleotide repeat expansion (NRE) mutation in C9orf72 is the most common genetic cause of ALS and FTD. The biological functions of C9orf72 are becoming understood, but it is unclear if this gene is regulated in a neural-specific manner. Neuronal activity is a crucial modifier of biological processes in health and neurodegenerative disease contexts. Here, we show that prolonged membrane depolarization in healthy human iPSC-cortical neurons leads to a significant downregulation of a transcript variant 3 (V3) of C9orf72, with a concomitant increase in variant 2 (V2), which leads to total C9orf72 RNA transcript levels remaining unchanged. However, the …

Acute Diplopia After Glabellar Hyaluronic Acid Filler Injection, Caroline W. Chung, Eric J. Shiuey, César A. Briceño, Vivian Lee

SKMC Student Presentations and Publications

Purpose: Blindness is a well-known complication of filler injection in the glabellar region. Acute diplopia from filler injection without vision loss is a rare complication that typically results in clinical ophthalmoplegia which can have permanent sequelae. Here, we describe a patient who presented with acute diplopia with grossly intact full extraocular motility after glabella hyaluronic acid filler injection that resolved after 1 month.

Observations: A previously healthy 43-year-old woman underwent her first hyaluronic acid injection in the glabella and developed immediate binocular double vision with severe pain and skin mottling above her right eyebrow and central forehead. Hyaluronidase injections, nitroglycerin …

Automated Subfield Volumetric Analysis Of Amygdala, Hippocampus, And Thalamic Nuclei In Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Arichena Manmatharayan, Michael Kogan, Caio Matias, Mashaal Syed, India Shelley, Amar Chinni, Kichang Kang, Kiran Talekar, Scott H. Faro, Feroze B. Mohamed, Ashwini Sharan, Chengyuan Wu, Mahdi Alizadeh

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Purpose: Identifying relationships between clinical features and quantitative characteristics of the amygdala-hippocampal and thalamic subregions in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) may offer insights into pathophysiology and the basis for imaging prognostic markers of treatment outcome. Our aim was to ascertain different patterns of atrophy or hypertrophy in mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) patients and their associations with postsurgical seizure outcomes. To assess this aim, this study is designed in 2 folds: (1) hemispheric changes within MTS group and (2) association with postsurgical seizure outcomes.

Methods and materials: 27 mTLE subjects with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) were scanned for conventional 3D …

Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Management Of Risk Factors In Patients With Stable Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease, Dean Karalis, Patrick Moeller, Albert Crawford, Maria Janelli, Scott Hessen

Division of Cardiology Faculty Papers

Background

Effective control of risk factors in patients with ASCVD is important to reduce recurrent cardiovascular events. However, many ASCVD patients do not have their risk factors controlled, and this may have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We retrospectively evaluated risk factor control among 24,760 ASCVD patients who had at least 1 outpatient encounter both pre-pandemic and during the first year of the pandemic. Risk factors were uncontrolled if the blood pressure (BP) ≥ 130/80 mm Hg, LDL-C ≥ 70 mg/dL, HgbA1c ≥ 7 for diabetic patients, and patients were current smokers.

Results

During the pandemic, many patients had …

Publication Rates Of Abstracts Presented Across 6 Major Spine Specialty Conferences, Tariq Z. Issa, Yunsoo Lee, Mark J. Lambrechts, Christopher Reynolds, Ryan Cha, James Kim, Jose A. Canseco, Alex R. Vaccaro, Christopher K. Kepler, Gregory D. Schroeder, Alan S. Hilibrand

Rothman Institute Faculty Papers

Background: Although scientific researchers aim to present their projects at academic conferences as a step toward publication, not all projects mature to become a peer-reviewed manuscript. The publication rate of meetings can be utilized to assess the quality of presented research. Our objective was to evaluate the contemporary publication rate of abstracts presented at spine conferences.

Methods: We reviewed annual meeting programs of North American Spine Society (NASS), Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST), Spine Global Spine Congress (GSC), Lumbar Spine Research Society (LSRS), and Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS) from 2017 to 2019. Abstracts …

Incidence And Risk Factors For Retinal Detachment And Retinal Tear After Cataract Surgery: Iris® Registry (Intelligent Research In Sight) Analysis, Michael J. Morano, M. Ali Khan, Qiang Zhang, Colleen P. Halfpenny, Douglas M. Wisner, James Sharpe, Alexander Li, Maurizio Tomaiuolo, Julia A A. Haller, Leslie Hyman, Allen C. Ho

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Objective To report the incidence of and evaluate demographic, ocular comorbidities, and intraoperative factors for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) and retinal tear (RT) after cataract surgery in the American Academy of Ophthalmology IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight).

Design Retrospective cohort study.

Participants Patients aged ≥ 40 years who underwent cataract surgery between 2014 and 2017.

Methods Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate demographic, comorbidity, and intraoperative factors associated with RRD and RT after cataract surgery.

Main Outcome Measures Incidence and risk factors for RRD or RT within 1 year of cataract surgery.

Results Of the 3 177 195 …

Advances In Retinopathy Of Prematurity Imaging, Taku Wakabayashi, Samir N. Patel, J. P. Campbell, Emmanuel Y. Chang, Eric D. Nudleman, Yoshihiro Yonekawa

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) remains the leading cause of childhood blindness worldwide. Recent advances in ROP imaging have significantly improved our understanding of the pathogenesis and pathophysiological course of ROP including the acute phase, regression, reactivation, and late complications, known as adult ROP. Recent progress includes various contact and noncontact wide-field imaging devices for fundus imaging, smartphone-based fundus photography, wide-field fluorescein angiography, handheld optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices for wide-field en face OCT images, and OCT angiography. Images taken by those devices were incorporated in the recently updated guidelines of ROP, the International Classification of Retinopathy of Prematurity, Third Edition …

Genetics For The Ophthalmologist., Karthikeyan A Sadagopan, Jenina Capasso, Alex V Levin

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

The eye has played a major role in human genomics including gene therapy. It is the fourth most common organ system after integument (skin, hair and nails), nervous system, and musculoskeletal system to be involved in genetic disorders. The eye is involved in single gene disorders and those caused by multifactorial etiology. Retinoblastoma was the first human cancer gene to be cloned. Leber hereditary optic neuropathy was the first mitochondrial disorder described. X-Linked red-green color deficiency was the first X-linked disorder described. The eye, unlike any other body organ, allows directly visualization of genetic phenomena such as skewed X-inactivation in …

Perspectives On: Sgp Symposium On Mitochondrial Physiology And Medicine: Molecular Identities Of Mitochondrial Ca2+ Influx Mechanism: Updated Passwords For Accessing Mitochondrial Ca2+-Linked Health And Disease., Jin O-Uchi, Shi Pan, Shey-Shing Sheu

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Welcome To Our Newest Senior Scholars

Population Health Matters (Formerly Health Policy Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Smallpox Subunit Vaccine Produced In Planta Confers Protection In Mice, Maxim Golovkin, Sergei Spitsin, Vyacheslav Andrianov, Yuriy Smirnov, Yuhong Xiao, Natalia Pogrebnyak, Karen Markley, Robert Brodzik, Yuri Gleba, Stuart N Isaacs, Hilary Koprowski

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

We report here the in planta production of the recombinant vaccinia virus B5 antigenic domain (pB5), an attractive component of a subunit vaccine against smallpox. The antigenic domain was expressed by using efficient transient and constitutive plant expression systems and tested by various immunization routes in two animal models. Whereas oral administration in mice or the minipig with collard-derived insoluble pB5 did not generate an anti-B5 immune response, intranasal administration of soluble pB5 led to a rise of B5-specific immunoglobulins, and parenteral immunization led to a strong anti-B5 immune response in both mice and the minipig. Mice immunized i.m. with …

H-Ras Inhibits Rhoa/Rock Leading To Decrease In The Basal Tone In The Internal Anal Sphincter, Marcio A.F. De Godoy, Chirag A. Patel, Scott A. Waldman, Motoya Katsuki, Raymond F. Regan, Satish Rattan

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Background & Aims: Present studies evaluated the role of H-ras and its implications in the RhoA/Rho kinase (ROCK) pathway in regulating basal tone in the murine internal anal sphincter (IAS).

Methods: Studies were performed in the IAS from the wild type (H-ras^+/+) and knock-out (H-ras^-/-) mice. The basal tone of smooth muscle strips were measured by isometric force transducers. Length of smooth muscle cells (SMC) isolated from the IAS in the basal state was determined by phase contrast microscopy. Experiments were repeated in the presence of Y 27632 a ROCK inhibitor. Involvement of the RhoA/ROCK machinery …