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The Impact Of Covid-19 On Risky Behaviors And Health Changes In African-American Smokers Who Are Eligible For Ldct Screening, Tung-Sung Tseng, Mirandy Li, Yu Hsiang Kao, Lei Shih Chen, Hui Yi Lin Dec 2021

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Risky Behaviors And Health Changes In African-American Smokers Who Are Eligible For Ldct Screening, Tung-Sung Tseng, Mirandy Li, Yu Hsiang Kao, Lei Shih Chen, Hui Yi Lin

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted much of day-to-day life in the US and around the world. Smokers have a higher risk of adverse outcomes due to COVID-19. This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on risky behaviors and health changes in lower income African-American smokers eligible for Low dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening, who may be more adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 22 African-American daily smokers who were eligible for LDCT screening participated in this study. The mean age of participants was 61.2 years old (SD = 4.7), 77.3% of the smokers were female, all participants …


Acute Macular Neuroretinopathy Associated With Covid-19 Infection, James A. David, George D. Fivgas Dec 2021

Acute Macular Neuroretinopathy Associated With Covid-19 Infection, James A. David, George D. Fivgas

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Purpose: To report a case of bilateral acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMN) associated with a COVID-19 infection. Observations: A 22-year-old female was referred for evaluation of bilateral scotomas concurrent with a mildly symptomatic COVID-19 infection. Exam showed normal visual acuity, bilateral reddish-brown petaloid retinal lesions which were hyporeflective on near infrared (NIR) optical coherence tomography (OCT), and had associated hypoperfusion of the deep vascular plexus on OCT-angiography (OCT-A) consistent with bilateral AMN. At follow-up, scotomas and retinal findings on near infrared imaging and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography had only slightly improved. Conclusions: COVID-19 has been documented to be the etiology of …


Passive Immunity Trial For Our Nation (Passiton): Study Protocol For A Randomized Placebo-Control Clinical Trial Evaluating Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma In Hospitalized Adults, Wesley H. Self, Thomas G. Stewart, Allison P. Wheeler, Wissam El Atrouni, Amanda J. Bistran-Hall, Jonathan D. Casey, Vince D. Cataldo, James D. Chappell, Claudia S. Cohn, Jessica B. Collins, Mark R. Denison, Marjolein De Wit, Sheri L. Dixon, Abhijit Duggal, Terri L. Edwards, Magali J. Fontaine, Adit A. Ginde, Michelle S. Harkins, Thelma Harrington, Estelle S. Harris Dec 2021

Passive Immunity Trial For Our Nation (Passiton): Study Protocol For A Randomized Placebo-Control Clinical Trial Evaluating Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma In Hospitalized Adults, Wesley H. Self, Thomas G. Stewart, Allison P. Wheeler, Wissam El Atrouni, Amanda J. Bistran-Hall, Jonathan D. Casey, Vince D. Cataldo, James D. Chappell, Claudia S. Cohn, Jessica B. Collins, Mark R. Denison, Marjolein De Wit, Sheri L. Dixon, Abhijit Duggal, Terri L. Edwards, Magali J. Fontaine, Adit A. Ginde, Michelle S. Harkins, Thelma Harrington, Estelle S. Harris

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: Convalescent plasma is being used widely as a treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the clinical efficacy of COVID-19 convalescent plasma is unclear. Methods: The Passive Immunity Trial for Our Nation (PassITON) is a multicenter, placebo-controlled, blinded, randomized clinical trial being conducted in the USA to provide high-quality evidence on the efficacy of COVID-19 convalescent plasma as a treatment for adults hospitalized with symptomatic disease. Adults hospitalized with COVID-19 with respiratory symptoms for less than 14 days are eligible. Enrolled patients are randomized in a 1:1 ratio to 1 unit (200–399 mL) of COVID-19 convalescent plasma that has …


Structural Barriers Associated With The Intersection Of Traumatic Stress And Gun Violence: A Case Example Of New Orleans, Rahn Kennedy Bailey, Chikira H. Barker, Amit Grover Dec 2021

Structural Barriers Associated With The Intersection Of Traumatic Stress And Gun Violence: A Case Example Of New Orleans, Rahn Kennedy Bailey, Chikira H. Barker, Amit Grover

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Gun violence drastically increased in urban cities following the ease of shutdown restric-tions associated with the Coronavirus Pandemic. The association of gun violence and COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of taking a public health perspective, particularly as it relates to impacts on the Black community. In this article we discuss macro-level factors and community traumas in the city of New Orleans, an area that has had longstanding issues related to gun violence. Community structural issues, traumatic stress from disasters, and recommendations to address disparities in social determinants of health are discussed.


Changes Of Exercise, Screen Time, Fast Food Consumption, Alcohol, And Cigarette Smoking During The Covid-19 Pandemic Among Adults In The United States, Liwei Chen, Jian Li, Tong Xia, Timothy A. Matthews, Tung-Sung Tseng, Lu Shi, Donglan Zhang, Zhuo Chen, Xuesong Han, Yan Li, Hongmei Li, Ming Wen, Dejun Su Sep 2021

Changes Of Exercise, Screen Time, Fast Food Consumption, Alcohol, And Cigarette Smoking During The Covid-19 Pandemic Among Adults In The United States, Liwei Chen, Jian Li, Tong Xia, Timothy A. Matthews, Tung-Sung Tseng, Lu Shi, Donglan Zhang, Zhuo Chen, Xuesong Han, Yan Li, Hongmei Li, Ming Wen, Dejun Su

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Objective: To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple lifestyle changes among adults in the United States (USA). Methods: We conducted a survey, the Health, Ethnicity, and Pandemic (HEAP) Study, in October 2020 among USA adults. Participants were selected from the United States using 48 sampling strata, including age, race, ethnicity, education, and gender, and were asked to report five lifestyle behaviors (i.e., exercise time, screen time, fast-food meal consumption, alcohol drinking, and cigarette smoking) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The associations of sociodemographic factors with each lifestyle change were estimated using weighted multivariable logistic regression models. …


Severe Covid-19 Is Characterized By An Impaired Type I Interferon Response And Elevated Levels Of Arginase Producing Granulocytic Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells, Matthew J. Dean, Juan B. Ochoa, Maria Dulfary Sanchez-Pino, Jovanny Zabaleta, Jone Garai, Luis Del Valle, Dorota Wyczechowska, Lyndsey Buckner Baiamonte, Phaethon Philbrook, Rinku Majumder, Richard S. Vander Heide, Logan Dunkenberger, Ramesh Puttalingaiah Thylur, Bobby Nossaman, W. Mark Roberts, Andrew G. Chapple, Jiande Wu, Chindo Hicks, Jack Collins, Brian Luke Jul 2021

Severe Covid-19 Is Characterized By An Impaired Type I Interferon Response And Elevated Levels Of Arginase Producing Granulocytic Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells, Matthew J. Dean, Juan B. Ochoa, Maria Dulfary Sanchez-Pino, Jovanny Zabaleta, Jone Garai, Luis Del Valle, Dorota Wyczechowska, Lyndsey Buckner Baiamonte, Phaethon Philbrook, Rinku Majumder, Richard S. Vander Heide, Logan Dunkenberger, Ramesh Puttalingaiah Thylur, Bobby Nossaman, W. Mark Roberts, Andrew G. Chapple, Jiande Wu, Chindo Hicks, Jack Collins, Brian Luke

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic in 35% of cases to severe in 20% of patients. Differences in the type and degree of inflammation appear to determine the severity of the disease. Recent reports show an increase in circulating monocytic-myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M-MDSC) in severe COVID 19 that deplete arginine but are not associated with respiratory complications. Our data shows that differences in the type, function and transcriptome of granulocytic-MDSC (G-MDSC) may in part explain the severity COVID-19, in particular the association with pulmonary complications. Large infiltrates by Arginase 1+ G-MDSC (Arg+G-MDSC), expressing NOX-1 and NOX-2 (important for production of reactive oxygen …


Covid-19 Vaccines And Thrombosis—Roadblock Or Dead-End Street?, Kenneth Lundstrom, Debmalya Barh, Bruce D. Uhal, Kazuo Takayama, Alaa A.A. Aljabali, Tarek Mohamed Abd El-Aziz, Amos Lal, Elrashdy M. Redwan, Parise Adadi, Gaurav Chauhan, Samendra P. Sherchan, Gajendra Kumar Azad, Nima Rezaei, Ángel Serrano-Aroca, Nicolas G. Bazan, Sk Sarif Hassan, Pritam Kumar Panda, Pabitra Pal Choudhury, Damiano Pizzol, Ramesh Kandimalla Jul 2021

Covid-19 Vaccines And Thrombosis—Roadblock Or Dead-End Street?, Kenneth Lundstrom, Debmalya Barh, Bruce D. Uhal, Kazuo Takayama, Alaa A.A. Aljabali, Tarek Mohamed Abd El-Aziz, Amos Lal, Elrashdy M. Redwan, Parise Adadi, Gaurav Chauhan, Samendra P. Sherchan, Gajendra Kumar Azad, Nima Rezaei, Ángel Serrano-Aroca, Nicolas G. Bazan, Sk Sarif Hassan, Pritam Kumar Panda, Pabitra Pal Choudhury, Damiano Pizzol, Ramesh Kandimalla

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Two adenovirus-based vaccines, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and Ad26.COV2.S, and two mRNA-based vaccines, BNT162b2 and mRNA.1273, have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and are invaluable in preventing and reducing the incidence of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Recent reports have pointed to thrombosis with associated thrombocytopenia as an adverse effect occurring at a low frequency in some individuals after vaccination. The causes of such events may be related to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein interactions with different C-type lectin receptors, heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) and the CD147 receptor, or to different soluble splice variants of the spike protein, adenovirus vector interactions with the …


Successful Clearance Of 300 Day Sars-Cov-2 Infection In A Subject With B-Cell Depletion Associated Prolonged (B-Deap) Covid By Regen-Cov Anti-Spike Monoclonal Antibody Cocktail, Arnaud C. Drouin, Marc W. Theberge, Sharon Y. Liu, Allison R. Smither, Shelby M. Flaherty, Mark Zeller, Gregory P. Geba, Peter Reynaud, W. Benjamin Rothwell, Alfred P. Luk, Di Tian, Matthew L. Boisen, Luis M. Branco, Kristian G. Andersen, James E. Robinson, Robert F. Garry, Dahlene N. Fusco Jul 2021

Successful Clearance Of 300 Day Sars-Cov-2 Infection In A Subject With B-Cell Depletion Associated Prolonged (B-Deap) Covid By Regen-Cov Anti-Spike Monoclonal Antibody Cocktail, Arnaud C. Drouin, Marc W. Theberge, Sharon Y. Liu, Allison R. Smither, Shelby M. Flaherty, Mark Zeller, Gregory P. Geba, Peter Reynaud, W. Benjamin Rothwell, Alfred P. Luk, Di Tian, Matthew L. Boisen, Luis M. Branco, Kristian G. Andersen, James E. Robinson, Robert F. Garry, Dahlene N. Fusco

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

A 59-year-old male with follicular lymphoma treated by anti-CD20-mediated B-cell depletion and ablative chemotherapy was hospitalized with a COVID-19 infection. Although the patient did not develop specific humoral immunity, he had a mild clinical course overall. The failure of all therapeutic options allowed infection to persist nearly 300 days with active accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 virus mutations. As a rescue therapy, an infusion of REGEN-COV (10933 and 10987) anti-spike monoclonal antibodies was performed 270 days from initial diagnosis. Due to partial clearance after the first dose (2.4 g), a consolidation dose (8 g) was infused six weeks later. Complete virus clearance …


Efficiency Of Prolonged Prone Positioning For Mechanically Ventilated Patients Infected With Covid-19, Elizabeth M. Parker, Edward A. Bittner, Lorenzo Berra, Richard M. Pino Jul 2021

Efficiency Of Prolonged Prone Positioning For Mechanically Ventilated Patients Infected With Covid-19, Elizabeth M. Parker, Edward A. Bittner, Lorenzo Berra, Richard M. Pino

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Hypoxemia of the acute respiratory distress syndrome can be reduced by turning patients prone. Prone positioning (PP) is labor intensive, risks unplanned tracheal extubation, and can result in facial tissue injury. We retrospectively examined prolonged, repeated, and early versus later PP for 20 patients with COVID-19 respiratory failure. Blood gases and ventilator settings were collected before PP, at 1, 7, 12, 24, 32, and 39 h after PP, and 7 h after completion of PP. Analysis of variance was used for comparisons with baseline values at supine positions before turning prone. PP for >39 h maintained PaO2/FiO2 (P/F) ratios when …


Microrna Heterogeneity, Innate-Immune Defense And The Efficacy Of Sars-Cov-2 Infection—A Commentary, Walter J. Lukiw Jun 2021

Microrna Heterogeneity, Innate-Immune Defense And The Efficacy Of Sars-Cov-2 Infection—A Commentary, Walter J. Lukiw

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a member of the genus Betacoronavirus in the family Coronaviridae, possesses an unusually large single-stranded viral RNA (ssvRNA) genome of about ~29,811 nucleotides (nt) that causes severe and acute respiratory distress and a highly lethal viral pneumonia known as COVID-19. COVID-19 also presents with multiple ancillary systemic diseases and often involves cardiovascular, inflammatory, and/or neurological complications. Pathological viral genomes consisting of ssvRNA, like cellular messenger RNA (mRNA), are susceptible to attack, destruction, neutralization, and/or modulation by naturally occurring small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) within the host cell, some of which are known as microRNAs (miRNAs). …


Microrna Heterogeneity, Innate-Immune Defense And The Efficacy Of Sars-Cov-2 Infection-A Commentary, Walter J. Lukiw Jun 2021

Microrna Heterogeneity, Innate-Immune Defense And The Efficacy Of Sars-Cov-2 Infection-A Commentary, Walter J. Lukiw

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a member of the genus Betacoronavirus in the family Coronaviridae, possesses an unusually large single-stranded viral RNA (ssvRNA) genome of about ~29,811 nucleotides (nt) that causes severe and acute respiratory distress and a highly lethal viral pneumonia known as COVID-19. COVID-19 also presents with multiple ancillary systemic diseases and often involves cardiovascular, inflammatory, and/or neurological complications. Pathological viral genomes consisting of ssvRNA, like cellular messenger RNA (mRNA), are susceptible to attack, destruction, neutralization, and/or modulation by naturally occurring small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) within the host cell, some of which are known as microRNAs (miRNAs). …


Global Sex Disparity Of Covid-19: A Descriptive Review Of Sex Hormones And Consideration For The Potential Therapeutic Use Of Hormone Replacement Therapy In Older Adults, Samuel C. Okpechi, Jordyn T. Fong, Shawn S. Gill, Jarrod C. Harman, Tina H. Nguyen, Queendaleen Chukwurah, Ifeanyichukwu O. Onor, Suresh K. Alahari Apr 2021

Global Sex Disparity Of Covid-19: A Descriptive Review Of Sex Hormones And Consideration For The Potential Therapeutic Use Of Hormone Replacement Therapy In Older Adults, Samuel C. Okpechi, Jordyn T. Fong, Shawn S. Gill, Jarrod C. Harman, Tina H. Nguyen, Queendaleen Chukwurah, Ifeanyichukwu O. Onor, Suresh K. Alahari

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

The 2019-2020 SARS-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to healthcare sectors around the world. As of November 2020, there have been over 64 million confirmed cases and approaching 2 million deaths globally. Despite the large number of positive cases, there are very limited established standards of care and therapeutic options available. To date, there is still no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved vaccine for COVID-19, although there are several options in various clinical trial stages. Herein, we have performed a global review evaluating the roles of age and sex on COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU admissions, deaths in hospitals, …


Neurological Complications Of Covid19 During March 2020 At Lcmc Health University Medical Center: Dataset, David Chachkhiani, Michael Y. Soliman, Delphi Barua, Marine Isakadze, Nicole R. Villemarette-Pittman, Deidre J. Devier, Jesus F. Lovera Mar 2021

Neurological Complications Of Covid19 During March 2020 At Lcmc Health University Medical Center: Dataset, David Chachkhiani, Michael Y. Soliman, Delphi Barua, Marine Isakadze, Nicole R. Villemarette-Pittman, Deidre J. Devier, Jesus F. Lovera

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

We reviewed the electronic medical records (EMR) of patients hospitalized during the peak of the pandemic, March 1st through March 31st, to document the type and frequency of neurological problems seen in patients with COVID-19 at presentation to the emergency room. Secondary aims were to determine: 1) the frequency of neurological complaints during the hospital stay; 2) whether the presence of any neurological complaint at presentation or any of the individual types of neurological complaints at admission predicted three separate outcomes: death, length of hospital stay, or the need for intubation; and 3) if the presence of any neurological complaint …