Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Validation Studies Of The Flash-Tv System To Passively Measure Children’S Tv Viewing, Anil Kumar Vadathya, Tatyana Garza, Uzair Alam, Alex Ho, Salma M A Musaad, Alicia Beltran, Jennette P Moreno, Tom Baranowski, Nimah Haidar, Sheryl O Hughes, Jason A Mendoza, Ashok Veeraraghavan, Joseph Young, Akane Sano, Teresia M O'Connor

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

TV viewing is associated with health risks, but existing measures of TV viewing are imprecise due to relying on self-report. We developed the Family Level Assessment of Screen use in the Home (FLASH)-TV, a machine learning pipeline with state-of-the-art computer vision methods to measure children's TV viewing. In three studies, lab pilot (n = 10), lab validation (n = 30), and home validation (n = 20), we tested the validity of FLASH-TV 3.0 in task-based protocols which included video observations of children for 60 min. To establish a gold-standard to compare FLASH-TV output, the videos were labeled by trained staff …

Development Of A New Peyronie’S Disease Self-Assessment Screening App, Gregory A Broderick, Jesse N Mills, Lisa Bathish, Christopher Davis, Mohit Khera

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Peyronie's disease (PD) is an underdiagnosed and undertreated fibroproliferative disorder associated with the formation of plaques that results in penile curvature and discourages some men from seeking medical consultation. The PD self-assessment app, a digital application (app), was developed to increase PD awareness, provide men with a self-screening and educational tool for PD, and help eliminate barriers to seeking consultation with a physician. Prior to deployment, 4 board-certified urologists provided qualitative reviews on the app's usability and utility as a screening tool. The PD self-assessment app features a questionnaire that addresses penile curvature, challenges with penetration, partner distress, and the …

De-Identification Is Not Enough: A Comparison Between De-Identified And Synthetic Clinical Notes, Atiquer Rahman Sarkar, Yao-Shun Chuang, Noman Mohammed, Xiaoqian Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

For sharing privacy-sensitive data, de-identification is commonly regarded as adequate for safeguarding privacy. Synthetic data is also being considered as a privacy-preserving alternative. Recent successes with numerical and tabular data generative models and the breakthroughs in large generative language models raise the question of whether synthetically generated clinical notes could be a viable alternative to real notes for research purposes. In this work, we demonstrated that (i) de-identification of real clinical notes does not protect records against a membership inference attack, (ii) proposed a novel approach to generate synthetic clinical notes using the current state-of-the-art large language models, (iii) evaluated …

Heart Failure Beyond The Diagnosis: A Narrative Review Of Patients' Perspectives On Daily Life And Challenges, Michelle Shigi Yang, Mohamed Bilal Abdallah, Zubair Bashir, Wissam Khalife

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome that significantly affects patients' physical, psychological, and socioeconomic well-being. Despite advances in guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT), such as ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, and SGLT2 inhibitors, HF continues to have a high global burden, with over 64 million affected worldwide and a five-year mortality rate of 50%. HF disrupts various life aspects, especially for younger patients (aged 35-55), who often face career interruptions due to severe symptoms like fatigue and frequent hospitalizations. These patients may struggle to maintain employment, resulting in financial instability compounded by high healthcare costs. Moreover, reduced exercise capacity and sexual dysfunction …

A Tetramer Of Bcl11a Is Required For Stable Protein Production And Fetal Hemoglobin Silencing, Ge Zheng, Maolu Yin, Stuti Mehta, I-Te Chu, Stacy Wang, Alia Alshaye, Kirstin Drainville, Altantsetseg Buyanbat, Frédérique Bienfait, Karin Tenglin, Qian Zhu, Stuart H Orkin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Down-regulation of BCL11A protein reverses the fetal (HbF, α2γ2) to adult (HbA, α2β2) hemoglobin switch and is exploited in gene-based therapy for hemoglobin disorders. Due to reliance on ex vivo cell manipulation and marrow transplant, such therapies cannot lessen disease burden. To develop novel small molecule approaches, we interrogated the state of BCL11A protein in erythroid cells. We report that tetramer formation mediated by a single zinc-finger (ZnF0) is required for production of steady-state protein. Beyond its role in protein stability, the tetramer state is necessary for γ-globin gene repression, as an engineered monomer fails to engage a critical corepressor …

Context, Mechanisms And Community Engagement In Implementation Strategies: A Systematic Review Protocol Of Implementation Strategies Designed Using Implementation Mapping, Eunyoung Kang, Gill Ten Hoor, Derek W Craig, Serena Rodriguez, Jennifer Stockton, Maria E Fernandez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Implementation Mapping (IM) has increasingly been used for the design and/or selection and tailoring implementation strategies to promote the effective translation of evidence-based interventions into practice. IM is a tool for guiding the systematic, iterative, step-by-step design process that helps guide the co-creation of theory-based, evidence-informed implementation strategies. This protocol aims to describe the methods of the planned systematic review that will (1) examine the overall landscape of IM in developing implementation strategies, (2) explore the mechanisms of implementation strategies developed using IM and (3) investigate the use of IM and community engagement in the development of implementation strategies. …

Complement Immune System In Pulmonary Hypertension-Cooperating Roles Of Circadian Rhythmicity In Complement-Mediated Vascular Pathology, Hunter Devaughn, Haydn E Rich, Anthony Shadid, Priyanka K Vaidya, Marie-Francoise Doursout, Pooja Shivshankar

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Originally discovered in the 1890s, the complement system has traditionally been viewed as a "compliment" to the body's innate and adaptive immune response. However, emerging data have shown that the complement system is a much more complex mechanism within the body involved in regulating inflammation, gene transcription, attraction of macrophages, and many more processes. Sustained complement activation contributes to autoimmunity and chronic inflammation. Pulmonary hypertension is a disease with a poor prognosis and an average life expectancy of 2-3 years that leads to vascular remodeling of the pulmonary arteries; the pulmonary arteries are essential to host homeostasis, as they divert …

Severity Of Symptoms As An Independent Predictor Of Poor Outcomes In Patients With Advanced Cancer Presenting To The Emergency Department: Secondary Analysis Of A Prospective Randomized Study, Aiham Qdaisat, Elizabeth Stroh, Cielito Reyes-Gibby, Monica K Wattana, Jayne Viets-Upchurch, Ziyi Li, Valda D Page, Huda Fatima, Patrick Chaftari, Ahmed Elsayem

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background/Objectives: Patients with advanced cancer often present to the emergency department (ED) with pain and distressing symptoms that are not systematically evaluated. The current study investigated the association of symptom severity with the diagnosis of delirium and short-term survival.

Methods: In this secondary analysis of a prospective randomized study of delirium among advanced cancer patients in the ED, in which symptoms were assessed by the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI), we analyzed the distribution of MDASI item scores by 90-day mortality (Kolmogorov-Smirnov), the association of MDASI item scores with short-term mortality (logistic regression models), and the symptoms in …

Focal Deletions Of A Promoter Tether Activate The Irx3 Oncogene In T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Sunniyat Rahman, Gianna Bloye, Nadine Farah, Jonas Demeulemeester, Joana R Costa, David O'Connor, Rachael Pocock, Tanya Rapoz-D'Silva, Adam Turna, Lingyi Wang, Soowah Lee, Adele K Fielding, Juliette Roels, Roman Jaksik, Małgorzata Dawidowska, Pieter Van Vlierberghe, Suzana Hadjur, Jim R Hughes, James O J Davies, Alejandro Gutierrez, Michelle A Kelliher, Peter Van Loo, Mark A Dawson, Marc R Mansour

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oncogenes can be activated in cis through multiple mechanisms including enhancer hijacking events and noncoding mutations that create enhancers or promoters de novo. These paradigms have helped parse somatic variation of noncoding cancer genomes, thereby providing a rationale to identify noncanonical mechanisms of gene activation. Here we describe a novel mechanism of oncogene activation whereby focal copy number loss of an intronic element within the FTO gene leads to aberrant expression of IRX3, an oncogene in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Loss of this CTCF-bound element downstream to IRX3 (+224 kb) leads to enhancer hijack of an upstream developmentally active …

The Pharmacogenomic And Immune Landscape Of Snornas In Human Cancers, Runhao Wang, Chengxuan Chen, Yuan Liu, Mei Luo, Jingwen Yang, Yamei Chen, Lifei Ma, Liuqing Yang, Chunru Lin, Lixia Diao, Leng Han

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs primarily known for their role in the chemical modification of other RNAs. Recent studies suggested that snoRNAs may play a broader role in anti-cancer treatments such as targeted therapies and immunotherapies. Despite these insights, the comprehensive landscape of snoRNA associations with drug response and immunotherapy outcomes remains unexplored. In this study, we identified 79,448 and 75,185 associations between snoRNAs and drug response using data from VAEN and CancerRxTissue, respectively. Additionally, we discovered 29,199 associations between snoRNAs and immune checkpoint genes and 47,194 associations between snoRNAs and immune cell infiltrations. Sixteen …

Blood Matters: The Hematological Signatures Of Coronavirus Infection, Ayelen Toro, Ana P Arévalo, Marianoel Pereira-Gómez, Agustina Sabater, Eric A Zizzi, Paula Perbolianachis, Gaston Pascual, Sofia Lage-Vickers, Jorge L Pórfido, Ines Achinelli, Rocio Seniuk, Juan Bizzotto, Pablo Sanchis, Alvaro Olivera, Alejandro Leyva, Pilar Moreno, Alicia Costábile, Alvaro Fajardo, Federico Carrión, Martín Fló, Natalia Olivero-Deibe, Fernando Rodriguez, Nicolas Nin, Nicolas Anselmino, Estefania Labanca, Elba Vazquez, Javier Cotignola, Daniel F Alonso, Maria P Valacco, Marcelo Marti, Francesco Gentile, Artem Cherkasov, Martina Crispo, Gonzalo Moratorio, Geraldine Gueron

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Recent developments have broadened our perception of SARS-CoV-2, indicating its capability to affect the body systemically beyond its initial recognition as a mere respiratory pathogen. However, the pathways of its widespread are not well understood. Employing a dual-modality approach, we integrated findings from a Murine Hepatitis Virus (MHV) infection model with corroborative clinical data to investigate the pervasive reach of Coronaviruses. The novel presence of viral particles within red blood cells (RBCs) was demonstrated via high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, with computational modeling elucidating a potential heme-mediated viral entry mechanism via Spike protein affinity. Our data affirm viral localization in RBCs, …

A Virtual Scalable Model Of The Hepatic Lobule For Acetaminophen Hepatotoxicity Prediction, Stelian Camara Dit Pinto, Jalal Cherkaoui, Debarshi Ghosh, Valentine Cazaubon, Kenza E Benzeroual, Steven M Levine, Mohammed Cherkaoui, Gagan K Sood, Sharmila Anandasabapathy, Sadhna Dhingra, John M Vierling, Nicolas R Gallo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Addressing drug-induced liver injury is crucial in drug development, often causing Phase III trial failures and market withdrawals. Traditional animal models fail to predict human liver toxicity accurately. Virtual twins of human organs present a promising solution. We introduce the Virtual Hepatic Lobule, a foundational element of the Living Liver, a multi-scale liver virtual twin. This model integrates blood flow dynamics and an acetaminophen-induced injury model to predict hepatocyte injury patterns specific to patients. By incorporating metabolic zonation, our predictions align with clinical zonal hepatotoxicity observations. This methodology advances the development of a human liver virtual twin, aiding in the …

Strategies To Enhance Diagnostic Capabilities For The New Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (Dr-Tb) Drugs, Antonia Morita Iswari Saktiawati, Anca Vasiliu, Francesca Saluzzo, Onno W Akkerman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The global burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) continues to challenge healthcare systems worldwide. There is a critical need to tackle DR-TB by enhancing diagnostics and drug susceptibility testing (DST) capabilities, particularly for emerging DR-TB drugs. This endeavor is crucial to optimize the efficacy of new therapeutic regimens and prevent the resistance and overuse of these invaluable weapons. Despite this urgency, there remains a lack of comprehensive review of public health measures aimed at improving the diagnostics and DST capabilities. In this review, we outline strategies to enhance the capabilities, especially tailored to address the challenges posed by resistance to new …

Host Dna Depletion On Frozen Human Respiratory Samples Enables Successful Metagenomic Sequencing For Microbiome Studies, Minsik Kim, Raymond C Parrish, Michael J Tisza, Viral S Shah, Thi Tran, Matthew Ross, Juwan Cormier, Aribah Baig, Ching-Ying Huang, Laura Brenner, Isabel Neuringer, Katrine Whiteson, J Kirk Harris, Amy D Willis, Peggy S Lai

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Most respiratory microbiome studies use amplicon sequencing due to high host DNA. Metagenomics sequencing offers finer taxonomic resolution, phage assessment, and functional characterization. We evaluated five host DNA depletion methods on frozen nasal swabs from healthy adults, sputum from people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) from critically ill patients. Median sequencing depth was 76.4 million reads per sample. Untreated nasal, sputum, and BAL had 94.1%, 99.2%, and 99.7% host reads, respectively. Host depletion effects varied by sample type, generally increasing microbial reads, species and functional richness; this was mediated by higher effective sequencing depth. Rarefaction curves showed …

An Annotated Biobank Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Patient-Derived Xenografts Featuring Treatment-Naïve And Longitudinal Samples Throughout Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy, Amanda L Rinkenbaugh, Yuan Qi, Shirong Cai, Jiansu Shao, Faiza Hancock, Sabrina Jeter-Jones, Xiaomei Zhang, Emily Powell, Lei Huo, Rosanna Lau, Chunxiao Fu, Rebekah Gould, Petra Den Hollander, Elizabeth E Ravenberg, Jason B White, Gaiane M Rauch, Banu Arun, Clinton Yam, Alastair M Thompson, Gloria V Echeverria, Stacy L Moulder, W Fraser Symmans, Jeffrey T Chang, Helen Piwnica-Worms

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) that fails to respond to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) can be lethal. Developing effective strategies to eradicate chemoresistant disease requires experimental models that recapitulate the heterogeneity characteristic of TNBC. To that end, we established a biobank of 92 orthotopic patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of TNBC from the tumors of 75 patients enrolled in the ARTEMIS clinical trial ( NCT02276443 ) at MD Anderson Cancer Center, including 12 longitudinal sets generated from serial patient biopsies collected throughout NACT and from metastatic disease. Models were established from both chemosensitive and chemoresistant tumors, and nearly 30% of PDX models …

Upper Urinary Tract Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Using A 15 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Linear Accelerator: Workflow And Physics Considerations, Yao Zhao, Adrian Cozma, Yao Ding, Luis Augusto Perles, Reza Reiazi, Xinru Chen, Anthony Kang, Surendra Prajapati, Henry Yu, Ergys David Subashi, Kristy Brock, Jihong Wang, Sam Beddar, Belinda Lee, Mustefa Mohammedsaid, Sian Cooper, Rosalyne Westley, Alison Tree, Osama Mohamad, Comron Hassanzadeh, Henry Mok, Seungtaek Choi, Chad Tang, Jinzhong Yang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

The Brain Initiative Data-Sharing Ecosystem: Characteristics, Challenges, Benefits, And Opportunities, Sudhanvan Iyer, Kathryn Maxson Jones, Jill O Robinson, Nicole R Provenza, Dominique Duncan, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, Amy L Mcguire, Sameer A Sheth, Mary A Majumder

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this paper, we provide an overview and analysis of the BRAIN Initiative data-sharing ecosystem. First, we compare and contrast the characteristics of the seven BRAIN Initiative data archives germane to data sharing and reuse, namely data submission and access procedures and aspects of interoperability. Second, we discuss challenges, benefits, and future opportunities, focusing on issues largely specific to sharing human data and drawing on N = 34 interviews with diverse stakeholders. The BRAIN Initiative-funded archive ecosystem faces interoperability and data stewardship challenges, such as achieving and maintaining interoperability of data and archives and harmonizing research participants’ informed consents for …

Targeted Variant Assessments Of Human Endogenous Retroviral Regions In Whole Genome Sequencing Data Reveal Retroviral Variants Associated With Papillary Thyroid Cancer, Erik Stricker, Erin C Peckham-Gregory, Stephen Y Lai, Vlad C Sandulache, Michael E Scheurer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is one of the fastest-growing cancers worldwide, lacking established causal factors or validated early diagnostics. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), comprising 8% of human genomes, have potential as PTC biomarkers due to their comparably high baseline expression in healthy thyroid tissues, indicating homeostatic roles. However, HERV regions are often overlooked in genome-wide association studies because of their highly repetitive nature, low sequence coverage, and decreased sequencing quality. Using targeted whole-genome sequence analysis in conjunction with high sequencing depth to overcome methodological limitations, we identified associations of specific HERV variants with PTC. Analyzing WGS data from 138 patients …

Mechanisms Of Memory-Supporting Neuronal Dynamics In Hippocampal Area Ca3, Yiding Li, John J Briguglio, Sandro Romani, Jeffrey C Magee

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Hippocampal CA3 is central to memory formation and retrieval. Although various network mechanisms have been proposed, direct evidence is lacking. Using intracellular Vm recordings and optogenetic manipulations in behaving mice, we found that CA3 place-field activity is produced by a symmetric form of behavioral timescale synaptic plasticity (BTSP) at recurrent synapses among CA3 pyramidal neurons but not at synapses from the dentate gyrus (DG). Additional manipulations revealed that excitatory input from the entorhinal cortex (EC) but not the DG was required to update place cell activity based on the animal’s movement. These data were captured by a computational model that …

Comparing Neoantigen Cancer Vaccines And Immune Checkpoint Therapy Unveils An Effective Vaccine And Anti-Trem2 Macrophage-Targeting Dual Therapy, Sunita Keshari, Alexander S Shavkunov, Qi Miao, Akata Saha, Tomoyuki Minowa, Martina Molgora, Charmelle D Williams, Mehdi Chaib, Anna M Highsmith, Josué E Pineda, Sayan Alekseev, Elise Alspach, Kenneth H Hu, Marco Colonna, Kristen E Pauken, Ken Chen, Matthew M Gubin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The goal of therapeutic cancer vaccines and immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) is to promote T cells with anti-tumor capabilities. Here, we compared mutant neoantigen (neoAg) peptide-based vaccines with ICT in preclinical models. NeoAg vaccines induce the most robust expansion of proliferating and stem-like PD-1+TCF-1+ neoAg-specific CD8 T cells in tumors. Anti-CTLA-4 and/or anti-PD-1 ICT promotes intratumoral TCF-1- neoAg-specific CD8 T cells, although their phenotype depends in part on the specific ICT used. Anti-CTLA-4 also prompts substantial changes to CD4 T cells, including induction of ICOS+Bhlhe40+ T helper 1 (Th1)-like cells. Although neoAg vaccines or ICTs expand iNOS+ macrophages, neoAg vaccines …

High Diagnostic Accuracy Of Arterial Phase Ct In Differentiating Pheochromocytoma In Good/Poor Washout Adrenal Masses, Aditya Phadte, Brijesh Krishnappa, Saba Samad Memon, Virendra Patil, Anurag Lila, Padma Vikram Badhe, Vijaya Sarathi, Gwendolyn Fernandes, Sameer Rege, Gagan Prakash, Santosh Menon, Manjiri Karlekar, Rohit Barnabas, Nalini Shah, Hemangini Thakkar, Tushar Bandgar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Differentiating pheochromocytomas from other adrenal masses based on computed tomography (CT) characteristics remains challenging, particularly in lipid-poor lesions with variable washout patterns. This study evaluated CT features for distinguishing pheochromocytomas in good and poor washout subcohorts.

Methods: We prospectively analyzed 72 patients with unilateral lipid-poor adrenal masses. CT protocol included basal, bolus-tracked arterial, early venous (45 seconds postarterial), and delayed (15 minutes postarterial) phases. Masses were categorized into good and poor washout groups. Histopathology provided the final diagnosis. CT characteristics and calculated indices were compared between pheochromocytomas and other masses in each washout category.

Results: The cohort included pheochromocytomas …

Real-World Impact Of Emicizumab And Immunosuppression On Acquired Hemophilia A: A Multicenter Us Cohort, Jacqueline N Poston, Cassandra Bryan, Annette Von Drygalski, Kadhim Al Banaa, Jenny Y Zhou, Aric Parnes, Evan C Chen, Osman Khan, Patrick Ellsworth, Lorraine Cafuir, Christopher Walsh, Miguel A Escobar, James F Wu, Lynn M Malec, Craig M Kessler, Maissaa Janbain, Rebecca Kruse-Jarres

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Acquired hemophilia A (AHA) is an autoimmune bleeding disorder that is caused by factor VIII (FVIII) autoantibodies with high morbidity and mortality due to bleeding and complications from immunosuppression (IST). To address the real-world implications of the FVIII mimetic antibody, emicizumab, and the role of IST, we retrospectively collected de-identified data on 62 patients with AHA who were treated off-label with emicizumab for a median of 10 weeks at 12 US-based hemophilia treatment centers. Most patients (95.2%) had acute bleeding at diagnosis, and 62.9% had partial or no control of bleeds despite the use of hemostatic agents at the time …

Septal Wall Synthesis Is Sufficient To Change Ameba-Like Cells Into Uniform Oval-Shaped Cells In Escherichia Coli L-Forms, Masafumi Hayashi, Chigusa Takaoka, Koichi Higashi, Ken Kurokawa, William Margolin, Taku Oshima, Daisuke Shiomi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A cell wall is required to control cell shape and size to maintain growth and division. However, some bacterial species maintain their morphology and size without a cell wall, calling into question the importance of the cell wall to maintain shape and size. It has been very difficult to examine the dispensability of cell wall synthesis in rod-shaped bacteria such as Escherichia coli for maintenance of their shape and size because they lyse without cell walls under normal culture conditions. Here, we show that wall-less E. coli L-form cells, which have a heterogeneous cell morphology, can be converted to a …

Neurohospitalist Core Competencies, Jana J Wold, Jetter Robertson, Jerome A Jeevarajan, Molly G Knox, Prateek Thatikunta, Guillermo E Solorzano, Kristin Galetta, Shefali Dujari, Tarini Goyal, Matthew E Ehrlich, Jonathan P Donnelly, Elizabeth Marriott, Vishal A Mandge, Roshni S Dhoot, Matthew W Luedke, Matthew B Maas, Margaret Y Yu, Michel Toledano, Rafid Mustafa, Jamie L Palaganas, Kathryn Kvam, Rachelle Dugue, Ethan Meltzer, Lahoud Touma, Maulik P Shah, Vanja C Douglas, Karen Orjuela, Brian J Scott, Joshua P Klein, David J Likosky, Jennifer R Simpson, Megan B Richie, Carolin Dohle, Jane G Morris, Carl A Gold

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Neurohospitalist Core Competencies comprise a set of competency-based learning objectives that encapsulate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of neurohospitalitists who specialize in the care of hospitalized patients with neurologic conditions. These competencies serve to characterize the rapidly expanding field of neurohospitalist medicine. The 27 chapters are divided into 3 sections entitled: neurological conditions, clinical interventions and interpretation of ancillary studies, and neurohospitalist role in the healthcare system. Each individual learning objective in the chapters describes a specific concept with an action verb to illustrate the behavior that the neurohospitalist exhibits. The individual neurohospitalist may not exhibit mastery in each …

Modulation Of Energetic And Lipid Pathways By Curcumin As A Potential Chemopreventive Strategy In Human Prostate Cancer Cells, Michele Pellegrino, Maria Antonietta Occhiuzzi, Fedora Grande, Ilaria Stefania Pagani, Stefano Aquaro, Paola Tucci

Staff and Researcher Publications

In Western industrialized countries, prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common malignant disease and prevalent cause of death for men. Epidemiological studies have shown that curcumin (CUR) either prevents PCa initiation or delays its progression to a more aggressive and treatment-refractory form, thus reducing related mortality. Our previous studies have proven the anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties of CUR on PCa cells. However, there are few reports of the effect of CUR on energy and lipid pathways in PCa. Herein, we show that CUR can modulate the two metabolic energy pathways, increasing glycolytic reserve and reducing oxidative phosphorylation. Moreover, …

Cd4+ T Cells Drive Corneal Nerve Damage But Not Epitheliopathy In An Acute Aqueous-Deficient Dry Eye Model, Alexia Vereertbrugghen, Manuela Pizzano, Agostina Cernutto, Florencia Sabbione, Irene A Keitelman, Douglas Vera Aguilar, Ariel Podhorzer, Federico Fuentes, Celia Corral-Vázquez, Mauricio Guzmán, Mirta N Giordano, Analía Trevani, Cintia S De Paiva, Jeremías G Galletti

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Dry eye disease (DED) is characterized by a dysfunctional tear film in which the corneal epithelium and its abundant nerves are affected by ocular desiccation and inflammation. Although adaptive immunity and specifically CD4+ T cells play a role in DED pathogenesis, the exact contribution of these cells to corneal epithelial and neural damage remains undetermined. To address this, we explored the progression of a surgical DED model in wild-type (WT) and T cell-deficient mice. We observed that adaptive immune-deficient mice developed all aspects of DED comparably to WT mice except for the absence of functional and morphological corneal nerve changes, …

Surgical Treatment Of Brachiocephalic Artery Aneurysm With Impending Rupture And Tracheal Communication, Soon Jin Kim, Kyung Hwa Kim, Jong Hun Kim, Tae Yun Kim

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Brachiocephalic artery aneurysm is uncommon but may require surgery because it tends to enlarge, rupture, or cause symptoms related to thrombosis or compression. This case report describes a brachiocephalic artery aneurysm in a 72-year-old man who presented at the hospital with dyspnea and hemoptysis resulting from impending rupture and tracheal communication.

Current Therapeutic Opportunities For Estrogen Receptor Mutant Breast Cancer, Murugesan Palaniappan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Estrogen receptor α (ERα) drives two out of three breast cancers and therefore ERα is a major therapeutic target for ER-positive breast cancer patients. Drugs that inhibit ERα activity or block estrogen synthesis in the body are currently being used in the clinic to treat ER-positive breast cancer and have been quite successful in controlling breast cancer progression for the majority of patients. However, ER-positive breast cancer often becomes resistant to these endocrine therapies, leading to endocrine-resistant metastatic breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer that leads to death. Recent large-scale genomic studies have revealed a series of activating somatic mutations …

Intervention Mapping For Refining A Sport-Based Public Health Intervention In Rural Schools, Mckenna G Major, Janette M Watkins, Janelle M Goss, Derek W Craig, Zack Waggoner, Vanessa M Martinez Kercher, Kyle A Kercher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Sport-based youth development programs, delivered through campus-community partnerships, can create impactful experiences for college students, meet university objectives, and improve the health of children in under-resourced rural communities. This study aimed to pilot test intervention mapping (IM), a systematic approach to intervention development and implementation, to refine the Hoosier Sport intervention, which is a local public health initiative that utilizes the Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials (ORBITs) model to improve physical activity in middle school children. The IM process, which included a diverse IM planning and advisory group of university representatives and local schools, was guided by self-determination theory (SDT) and …

Impact Of Vitamin D On Hyperoxic Acute Lung Injury In Neonatal Mice, Thu T Tran, Jonathan Davies, Richard A Johnston, Harry Karmouty-Quintana, Huiling Li, Caroline E Crocker, Amir M Khan, Joseph L Alcorn

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Prolonged exposure to hyperoxia can lead to hyperoxic acute lung injury (HALI) in preterm neonates. Vitamin D (VitD) stimulates lung maturation and acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. Our objective was to determine if VitD provides a dose-dependent protective effect against HALI by reducing inflammatory cytokine expression and improving alveolarization and lung function in neonatal mice.

METHODS: C57BL/6 mouse neonates were randomized and placed in room air or hyperoxic (85% O

RESULTS: Neonatal mice treated with VitD in hyperoxic conditions had improved weight gain, reduced pulmonary edema and increased alveolar surface area compared to untreated pups in hyperoxia. No significant …