Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Abortion Patients’ Decision Making About Where To Obtain Out-Of-State Care Following Texas’ 2021 Abortion Ban, Kari White, Whitney Arey, Brooke Whitfield, Asha Dane'el, Laura Dixon, Joseph E Potter, Tony Ogburn, Anitra D Beasley

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: To assess pregnant Texans' decisions about where to obtain out-of-state abortion care following the September 2021 implementation of Senate Bill 8 (SB8), which prohibited abortions after detectable embryonic cardiac activity.

DATA SOURCE: In-depth telephone interviews with Texas residents ≥15 years of age who obtained out-of-state abortion care after SB8's implementation.

STUDY DESIGN: This qualitative study explored participants' experiences identifying and contacting abortion facilities and their concerns and considerations about traveling out of state. We used inductive and deductive codes in our thematic analysis describing people's decisions about where to obtain care and how they evaluated available options.

DATA COLLECTION: …

Antiretroviral Therapy In Pregnancy: A 2023 Review Of The Literature, Alison N Goulding, Kasey Meeks, Lena Shay, Sarah Casey, Colton Applegarth, Jennifer Mckinney

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Selection of antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy must consider maternal physiology and resulting pharmacokinetic changes in pregnancy, resistance and efficacy profiles, tolerability and frequency of adverse effects, teratogenicity, and maternal, neonatal, and pregnancy outcomes. The objective of this review is to summarize the underlying data that informs the current clinical perinatal guidelines in the USA.

RECENT FINDINGS: Data now supports the use of dolutegravir at all stages of pregnancy with no significant increase in neural tube defects. Safety and pharmacokinetic data on newer antiretroviral medications in pregnancy continue to lag behind the general population. While there are multiple …

Timely Delivery Of Port For Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma In A County Hospital, Ana Maria Rosas Herrera, Angela D Haskins, Alexander N Hanania, Pavan M Jhaveri, Christina H Chapman, Quillan Huang, David J Hernandez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to compare the rate of post-operative radiation therapy (PORT) initiation within 6 weeks for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients treated at a safety net, academic institutio between 2019 and 2021 versus those treated in 2022 after implementation of a new clinical pathway.

METHODS: A retrospective case-control study was performed at a single tertiary care, safety-net, academic institution. Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, dates of surgery, and other treatment dates were collected from the electronic medical record. The time from surgery to PORT was calculated. Patients who started radiation treatment within 42 days …

Respiratory Viral Detection In The Plasma And Cerebrospinal Fluid (Csf) Of Young Febrile Infants, Erin G Nicholson, Vasanthi Avadhanula, Leila C Sahni, Laura Ferlic-Stark, Lauren Maurer, Julie A Boom, Pedro A Piedra

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Respiratory viral infections are common in febrile infants ≤90 days. However, the detection of viruses other than enterovirus in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of young infants is not well defined. We sought to quantify the occurrence of respiratory viruses in the blood and CSF of febrile infants ≤90 days.

METHODS: We conducted a nested cohort study examining plasma and CSF samples from febrile infants 15-90 days via rtPCR. The samples were tested for respiratory viruses (respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, enterovirus, parechovirus, adenovirus, bocavirus). Clinical and laboratory data were also collected to determine the presence of serious bacterial …

A Zika Virus Protein Expression Screen In Drosophila To Investigate Targeted Host Pathways During Development, Nichole Link, J Michael Harnish, Brooke Hull, Shelley Gibson, Miranda Dietze, Uchechukwu E Mgbike, Silvia Medina-Balcazar, Priya S Shah, Shinya Yamamoto

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In the past decade, Zika virus (ZIKV) emerged as a global public health concern. Although adult infections are typically mild, maternal infection can lead to adverse fetal outcomes. Understanding how ZIKV proteins disrupt development can provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of disease caused by this virus, which includes microcephaly. In this study, we generated a toolkit to ectopically express ZIKV proteins in vivo in Drosophila melanogaster in a tissue-specific manner using the GAL4/UAS system. We used this toolkit to identify phenotypes and potential host pathways targeted by the virus. Our work identified that expression of most ZIKV proteins caused …

Deep Learning Prediction Boosts Phosphoproteomics-Based Discoveries Through Improved Phosphopeptide Identification, Xinpei Yi, Bo Wen, Shuyi Ji, Alexander B Saltzman, Eric J Jaehnig, Jonathan T Lei, Qiang Gao, Bing Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Shotgun phosphoproteomics enables high-throughput analysis of phosphopeptides in biological samples. One of the primary challenges associated with this technology is the relatively low rate of phosphopeptide identification during data analysis. This limitation hampers the full realization of the potential offered by shotgun phosphoproteomics. Here we present DeepRescore2, a computational workflow that leverages deep learning-based retention time and fragment ion intensity predictions to improve phosphopeptide identification and phosphosite localization. Using a state-of-the-art computational workflow as a benchmark, DeepRescore2 increases the number of correctly identified peptide-spectrum matches by 17% in a synthetic dataset and identifies 19% to 46% more phosphopeptides in biological …

Serum Exosomal Microrna Pathway Activation In Placenta Accreta Spectrum: Pathophysiology And Detection, Jessian L Munoz, Brett D Einerson, Robert M Silver, Sureshkumar Mulampurath, Lauren S Sherman, Pranela Rameshwar, Egle Bytautiene Prewit, Patrick S Ramsey

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Placenta accreta spectrum disorders are a complex range of placental pathologies that are associated with significant maternal morbidity and mortality. A diagnosis of placenta accreta spectrum relies on ultrasonographic findings with modest positive predictive value. Exosomal microRNAs are small RNA molecules that reflect the cellular processes of the origin tissues.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore exosomal microRNA expression to understand placenta accreta spectrum pathology and clinical use for placenta accreta spectrum detection.

STUDY DESIGN: This study was a biomarker analysis of prospectively collected samples at 2 academic institutions from 2011 to 2022. Plasma specimens were collected from patients with …

The Role Of Family Accommodation In Child Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms And Functional Impairment In The Context Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Ogechi Cynthia Onyeka, Samuel D Spencer, Alison Salloum, Katie Jiannetto, Eric A Storch

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Caregiver behaviors such as family accommodation (FA) are negatively reinforced by reduced distress in the short term, but ultimately maintain symptoms. It is important to explore the role of FA on symptoms and impairment. The current study examined the relationship among FA, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and functional impairment in a sample of children and their caregivers who completed trauma treatment.

METHOD: Participants included 183 children and their caregivers (M age = 7.89; 55.19 % female; 73.22 % non-Hispanic; 51.37 % White). Data consisted of parent-reported measures collected at baseline, post-treatment, and 12-month follow-up from a randomized control trial …

Biallelic Creld1 Variants Cause A Multisystem Syndrome, Including Neurodevelopmental Phenotypes, Cardiac Dysrhythmias, And Frequent Infections, Lauren Jeffries, Emily K Mis, Kirsty Mcwalter, Sandra Donkervoort, Nina N Brodsky, Jean-Marie Carpier, Weizhen Ji, Cristian Ionita, Bhaskar Roy, Jon S Morrow, Armine Darbinyan, Krishna Iyer, Ritu B Aul, Siddharth Banka, Katherine R Chao, Laura Cobbold, Stacey Cohen, Helena M Custodio, Margaret Drummond-Borg, Frances Elmslie, Erika Finanger, Bryan E Hainline, Ingo Helbig, Stacy Hewson, Ying Hu, Adam Jackson, Dragana Josifova, Monica Konstantino, Meganne E Leach, Bryan Mak, David Mccormick, Elisabeth Mcgee, Stanley Nelson, Joanne Nguyen, Kimberly Nugent, Lucy Ortega, Howard P Goodkin, Elizabeth Roeder, Sani Roy, Katie Sapp, Dimah Saade, Sanjay M Sisodiya, Karen Stals, Shelley Towner, William Wilson, Deciphering Developmental Disorders, Genomics England Research Consortium, Undiagnosed Disease Network, Mustafa K Khokha, Carsten G Bönnemann, Carrie L Lucas, Saquib A Lakhani

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: We sought to delineate a multisystem disorder caused by recessive cysteine-rich with epidermal growth factor-like domains 1 (CRELD1) gene variants.

METHODS: The impact of CRELD1 variants was characterized through an international collaboration utilizing next-generation DNA sequencing, gene knockdown, and protein overexpression in Xenopus tropicalis, and in vitro analysis of patient immune cells.

RESULTS: Biallelic variants in CRELD1 were found in 18 participants from 14 families. Affected individuals displayed an array of phenotypes involving developmental delay, early-onset epilepsy, and hypotonia, with about half demonstrating cardiac arrhythmias and some experiencing recurrent infections. Most harbored a frameshift in trans with a missense …

Delays Starting Postoperative Radiotherapy Among Head And Neck Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Kelsey A Duckett, Mohamed Faisal Kassir, Shaun A Nguyen, Emily A Brennan, Bhishamjit S Chera, Katherine R Sterba, Chanita Hughes Halbert, Elizabeth G Hill, Jessica Mccay, Sidharth V Puram, Vlad C Sandulache, Russel Kahmke, Salma Ramadan, Brian Nussenbaum, Anthony J Alberg, Evan M Graboyes

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: Initiating postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) within 6 weeks (42 days) of surgery is the first and only Commission on Cancer (CoC) approved quality metric for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). No study has systematically reviewed nor synthesized the literature to establish national benchmarks for delays in starting PORT.

DATA SOURCES: Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines, we performed a systematic review of PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL.

REVIEW METHODS: Studies that described time-to-PORT or PORT delays in patients with HNSCC treated in the United States after 2003 were included. Meta-analysis of proportions and continuous measures …

Cocaine Use And Head And Neck Cancer Risk: A Pooled Analysis In The International Head And Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium, Mingyan Zhang, Chu Chen, Guojun Li, Alzina Koric, Yuan-Chin Amy Lee, Hal Morgenstern, Stephen M Schwartz, Erich M Sturgis, Paolo Boffetta, Mia Hashibe, Zuo-Feng Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Cocaine is an illegal recreational drug used worldwide, yet little is known about whether cocaine inhalation (smoking/snorting) increases the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC).

METHODS: The analyses were conducted by pooling data from three case-control studies with 1639 cases and 2506 controls from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium. Epidemiologic data, including cocaine use histories, were obtained in face-to-face interviews. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using hierarchical logistic regression models.

RESULTS: Controlling for cumulative tobacco and alcohol use, we observed a weak positive association between cocaine use and HNC …

The Differences In Code Status Conversation Approaches Reported By Emergency Medicine And Palliative Care Clinicians: A Mixed-Method Study, Kei Ouchi, Thidathit Prachanukool, Emily L Aaronson, Joshua R Lakin, Masaya Higuchi, Shan W Liu, Maura Kennedy, Anna C Revette, Anita N Chary, Jenson Kaithamattam, Brandon Lee, Thanh H Neville, Mohammad A Hasdianda, Rebecca Sudore, Mara A Schonberg, James A Tulsky, Susan D Block

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: During acute health deterioration, emergency medicine and palliative care clinicians routinely discuss code status (e.g., shared decision making about mechanical ventilation) with seriously ill patients. Little is known about their approaches. We sought to elucidate how code status conversations are conducted by emergency medicine and palliative care clinicians and why their approaches are different.

METHODS: We conducted a sequential-explanatory, mixed-method study in three large academic medical centers in the Northeastern United States. Attending physicians and advanced practice providers working in emergency medicine and palliative care were eligible. Among the survey respondents, we purposefully sampled the participants for follow-up interviews. …

Expression Of Atoh1, Gfi1, And Pou4f3 In The Mature Cochlea Reprograms Nonsensory Cells Into Hair Cells, Melissa M Mcgovern, Ishwar V Hosamani, Yichi Niu, Ken Y Nguyen, Chenghang Zong, Andrew K Groves

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Mechanosensory hair cells of the mature mammalian organ of Corti do not regenerate; consequently, loss of hair cells leads to permanent hearing loss. Although nonmammalian vertebrates can regenerate hair cells from neighboring supporting cells, many humans with severe hearing loss lack both hair cells and supporting cells, with the organ of Corti being replaced by a flat epithelium of nonsensory cells. To determine whether the mature cochlea can produce hair cells in vivo, we reprogrammed nonsensory cells adjacent to the organ of Corti with three hair cell transcription factors: Gfi1, Atoh1, and Pou4f3. We generated numerous hair cell–like …

Frozen Tissue Coring And Layered Histological Analysis Improves Cell Type-Specific Proteogenomic Characterization Of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, Sara R Savage, Yuefan Wang, Lijun Chen, Scott Jewell, Chelsea Newton, Yongchao Dou, Qing Kay Li, Oliver F Bathe, Ana I Robles, Gilbert S Omenn, Mathangi Thiagarajan, Hui Zhang, Galen Hostetter, Bing Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Omics characterization of pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissue is complicated by the highly heterogeneous and mixed populations of cells. We evaluate the feasibility and potential benefit of using a coring method to enrich specific regions from bulk tissue and then perform proteogenomic analyses.

METHODS: We used the Biopsy Trifecta Extraction (BioTExt) technique to isolate cores of epithelial-enriched and stroma-enriched tissue from pancreatic tumor and adjacent tissue blocks. Histology was assessed at multiple depths throughout each core. DNA sequencing, RNA sequencing, and proteomics were performed on the cored and bulk tissue samples. Supervised and unsupervised analyses were performed based on integrated molecular …

Invasive Group A Streptococcus In Infants Less Than 1-Year Of Age From 2012 To 2022: A Single-Center Experience, Taylor Nack, Jesus G Vallejo, James Dunn, Anthony R Flores, J Chase Mcneil

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The incidence of invasive Group A Streptococcus (iGAS) has varied throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We reviewed iGAS infections in infants ≤1 year from 2012 to 2022. Twenty-five percent of cases occurred in the last quarter of 2022. Pneumonia (21.8%) was the most common presentation. Twenty-one patients (65.6%) were successfully transitioned to oral antibiotics.

Adult Neuromuscular Choristoma, A Rare Peripheral Nerve Pathology: Illustrative Case, Ashley Ricciardelli, Alex Flores, Hsiang-Chih Lu, Ekin Guney, Arie Perry, Joey Grochmal

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Neuromuscular choristomas (NMCs) are rare tumors involving aberrant intercalation of muscle fibers into peripheral nerves, most commonly the sciatic nerve. Although benign, these lesions risk developing into NMCs with desmoid-type fibrosis (NMC-DTFs), aggressive lesions potentially requiring amputation. Currently, information on NMCs and the link between NMCs and NMC-DTFs is limited in adults, with the majority of cases reported in children. We present the case of a 66-year-old male with a sciatic NMC alongside a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-based systematic review of similar cases to better characterize this lesion in the adult population.

Observations: A male …

Circulating Microrna Expression And Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease In Adolescents With Severe Obesity, Yi-Jie Li, Brittney O Baumert, Nikos Stratakis, Jesse A Goodrich, Hao-Tian Wu, Jing-Xuan He, Yin-Qi Zhao, Max T Aung, Hong-Xu Wang, Sandrah P Eckel, Douglas I Walker, Damaskini Valvi, Michele A La Merrill, Justin R Ryder, Thomas H Inge, Todd Jenkins, Stephanie Sisley, Rohit Kohli, Stavra A Xanthakos, Andrea A Baccarelli, Rob Mcconnell, David V Conti, Lida Chatzi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common chronic liver diseases in children and adolescents. NAFLD ranges in severity from isolated hepatic steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), wherein hepatocellular inflammation and/or fibrosis coexist with steatosis. Circulating microRNA (miRNA) levels have been suggested to be altered in NAFLD, but the extent to which miRNA are related to NAFLD features remains unknown. This analysis tested the hypothesis that plasma miRNAs are significantly associated with histological features of NAFLD in adolescents.

AIM: To investigate the relationship between plasma miRNA expression and NAFLD features among adolescents with NAFLD.

METHODS: This …

Novel Advancements In Covid-19 And Neuroscience, Alessio Simonetti, Evelina Bernardi, Gabriele Sani

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

From an initial cluster of cases reported in Wuhan, the SARS-Cov-2 infection has since spread globally, causing a pandemic that began on 11 March 2020 [...].

Systematic Review Of Mortality And Survival Rates For Apds, Jennifer Hanson, Penelope E Bonnen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome (APDS) is a rare genetic disorder that presents clinically as a primary immunodeficiency. Clinical presentation of APDS includes severe, recurrent infections, lymphoproliferation, lymphoma, and other cancers, autoimmunity and enteropathy. Autosomal dominant variants in two independent genes have been demonstrated to cause APDS. Pathogenic variants in PIK3CD and PIK3R1, both of which encode components of the PI3-kinase, have been identified in subjects with APDS. APDS1 is caused by gain of function variants in the PIK3CD gene, while loss of function variants in PIK3R1 have been reported to cause APDS2. We conducted a review of the medical …

Ubr5 Promotes Antiviral Immunity By Disengaging The Transcriptional Brake On Rig-I Like Receptors, Duomeng Yang, Tingting Geng, Andrew G Harrison, Jason G Cahoon, Jian Xing, Baihai Jiao, Mark Wang, Chao Cheng, Robert E Hill, Huadong Wang, Anthony T Vella, Gong Cheng, Yanlin Wang, Penghua Wang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The Retinoic acid-Inducible Gene I (RIG-I) like receptors (RLRs) are the major viral RNA sensors essential for the initiation of antiviral immune responses. RLRs are subjected to stringent transcriptional and posttranslational regulations, of which ubiquitination is one of the most important. However, the role of ubiquitination in RLR transcription is unknown. Here, we screen 375 definite ubiquitin ligase knockout cell lines and identify Ubiquitin Protein Ligase E3 Component N-Recognin 5 (UBR5) as a positive regulator of RLR transcription. UBR5 deficiency reduces antiviral immune responses to RNA viruses, while increases viral replication in primary cells and mice. Ubr5 knockout mice are …

Simultaneous Detection Of Helicobacter Pylori Infection Comparing Between White Light And Image-Enhanced Endoscopy, Boonyaorn Chatrangsun, Natsuda Aumpan, Bubpha Pornthisarn, Soonthorn Chonprasertsuk, Sith Siramolpiwat, Patommatat Bhanthumkomol, Pongjarat Nunanan, Navapan Issariyakulkarn, Varocha Mahachai, Yoshio Yamaoka, Ratha-Korn Vilaichone

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is associated with gastric cancer. Early and accurate diagnosis of H. pylori infection can reduce risk of gastric cancer. Conventional white light imaging (WLI) and image-enhanced endoscopic (IEE) techniques such as narrow-band imaging (NBI), linked color imaging (LCI) and blue laser imaging (BLI) plays pivotal role in H. pylori diagnosis. This study aimed to determine diagnostic performance of real-time endoscopy between WLI and other IEE techniques for diagnosis of H. pylori infection.

METHODS: This prospective study compared endoscopic images by gastroscopy using WLI and IEE techniques (LCI, Magnifying-BLI, and Magnifying-NBI) at Thammasat University Hospital, Thailand …

The Yap1/Taz-Tead Transcriptional Network Regulates Gene Expression At Neuromuscular Junctions In Skeletal Muscle Fibers, Lea Gessler, Danyil Huraskin, Yongzhi Jian, Nane Eiber, Zhaoyong Hu, Tomasz J Prószyński, Said Hashemolhosseini

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We examined YAP1/TAZ-TEAD signaling pathway activity at neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) of skeletal muscle fibers in adult mice. Our investigations revealed that muscle-specific knockouts of Yap1 or Taz, or both, demonstrate that these transcriptional coactivators regulate synaptic gene expression, the number and morphology of NMJs, and synaptic nuclei. Yap1 or Taz single knockout mice display reduced grip strength, fragmentation of NMJs, and accumulation of synaptic nuclei. Yap1/Taz muscle-specific double knockout mice do not survive beyond birth and possess almost no NMJs, the few detectable show severely impaired morphology and are organized in widened endplate bands; and with motor nerve endings being …

Genetics And Pathologic Landscape Of Lineage Switch Of Acute Leukemia During Therapy, Ting Zhou, Choladda V Curry, Mahsa Khanlari, Min Shi, Wei Cui, Deniz Peker, Weina Chen, Endi Wang, Juehua Gao, Qi Shen, Wei Xie, Fatima Z Jelloul, Rebecca L King, Ji Yuan, Xiaoqiong Wang, Chen Zhao, Ifeyinwa E Obiorah, Elizabeth L Courville, Eric Nomura, Sindhu Cherian, Mina L Xu, W Richard Burack, Hong-Xing Liu, Elias J Jabbour, Koichi Takahashi, Wei Wang, Sa A Wang, Joseph D Khoury, L Jeffrey Medeiros, Shimin Hu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Strategies For Healthcare Professionals To Identify And Assist Migrant Children At Risk Of Labour Exploitation Or Trafficking, Jordan Greenbaum, Melissa I M Torres, Phuong T Nguyen, John H Coverdale, Mollie R Gordon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Increasingly large numbers of children and youth are migrating across international borders with many seeking employment in both formal and informal work sectors. These young people are at high risk of exploitation. Healthcare professionals need to be able to recognise vulnerable patients and advocate for their protection and safety, yet there is a paucity of literature that provides guidance on how to accomplish this. The goal of this paper is to provide guidance to clinicians on identifying and assisting migrant paediatric patients at risk of being exploited in the work sector, including conducting a risk assessment and making decisions about …

Erectile Dysfunction And Coronary Artery Disease: Unfortunate Bedfellows, Glenn N Levine

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Integrative Genomic Analyses Reveal Putative Cell Type-Specific Targets Of The Drosophila Ets Transcription Factor Pointed, Komal Kumar Bollepogu Raja, Kelvin Yeung, Yoon-Kyung Shim, Graeme Mardon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The Ets domain transcription factors direct diverse biological processes throughout all metazoans and are implicated in development as well as in tumor initiation, progression and metastasis. The Drosophila Ets transcription factor Pointed (Pnt) is the downstream effector of the Epidermal growth factor receptor (Egfr) pathway and is required for cell cycle progression, specification, and differentiation of most cell types in the larval eye disc. Despite its critical role in development, very few targets of Pnt have been reported previously. Here, we employed an integrated approach by combining genome-wide single cell and bulk data to identify putative cell type-specific Pnt targets. …

Virology-The Path Forward, Angela L Rasmussen, Gigi K Gronvall, Anice C Lowen, Felicia Goodrum, James Alwine, Kristian G Andersen, Simon J Anthony, Joel Baines, Arinjay Banerjee, Andrew J Broadbent, Christopher B Brooke, Samuel K Campos, Patrizia Caposio, Arturo Casadevall, Gary C Chan, Anna R Cliffe, Donna Collins-Mcmillen, Nancy Connell, Blossom Damania, Matthew D Daugherty, Kari Debbink, Terence S Dermody, Daniel Dimaio, W Paul Duprex, Michael Emerman, Denise A Galloway, Robert F Garry, Stephen A Goldstein, Alexander L Greninger, Amy L Hartman, Brenda G Hogue, Stacy M Horner, Peter J Hotez, Jae U Jung, Jeremy P Kamil, Stephanie M Karst, Lou Laimins, Seema S Lakdawala, Igor Landais, Michael Letko, Brett Lindenbach, Shan-Lu Liu, Micah Luftig, Grant Mcfadden, Andrew Mehle, Juliet Morrison, Anne Moscona, Elke Mühlberger, Joshua Munger, Karl Münger, Eain Murphy, Christopher J Neufeldt, Janko Z Nikolich, Christine M O'Connor, Andrew Pekosz, Sallie R Permar, Julie K Pfeiffer, Saskia V Popescu, John G Purdy, Vincent R Racaniello, Charles M Rice, Jonathan A Runstadler, Martin J Sapp, Rona S Scott, Gregory A Smith, Erin M Sorrell, Emily Speranza, Daniel Streblow, Scott A Tibbetts, Zsolt Toth, Koenraad Van Doorslaer, Susan R Weiss, Elizabeth A White, Timothy M White, Christiane E Wobus, Michael Worobey, Satoko Yamaoka, Andrew Yurochko

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In the United States (US), biosafety and biosecurity oversight of research on viruses is being reappraised. Safety in virology research is paramount and oversight frameworks should be reviewed periodically. Changes should be made with care, however, to avoid impeding science that is essential for rapidly reducing and responding to pandemic threats as well as addressing more common challenges caused by infectious diseases. Decades of research uniquely positioned the US to be able to respond to the COVID-19 crisis with astounding speed, delivering life-saving vaccines within a year of identifying the virus. We should embolden and empower this strength, which is …

Role Of Polyunsaturated Fat In Modifying Cardiovascular Risk Associated With Family History Of Cardiovascular Disease: Pooled De Novo Results From 15 Observational Studies, Federica Laguzzi, Agneta Åkesson, Matti Marklund, Frank Qian, Bruna Gigante, Traci M Bartz, Julie K Bassett, Anna Birukov, Hannia Campos, Yoichiro Hirakawa, Fumiaki Imamura, Susanne Jäger, Maria Lankinen, Rachel A Murphy, Mackenzie Senn, Toshiko Tanaka, Nathan Tintle, Jyrki K Virtanen, Kazumasa Yamagishi, Matthew Allison, Ingeborg A Brouwer, Ulf De Faire, Gudny Eiriksdottir, Luigi Ferrucci, Nita G Forouhi, Johanna M Geleijnse, Allison M Hodge, Hitomi Kimura, Markku Laakso, Ulf Risérus, Anniek C Van Westing, Stefania Bandinelli, Ana Baylin, Graham G Giles, Vilmundur Gudnason, Hiroyasu Iso, Rozenn N Lemaitre, Toshiharu Ninomiya, Wendy S Post, Bruce M Psaty, Jukka T Salonen, Matthias B Schulze, Michael Y Tsai, Matti Uusitupa, Nicholas J Wareham, Seung-Won Oh, Alexis C Wood, William S Harris, David Siscovick, Dariush Mozaffarian, Karin Leander, Fatty Acids And Outcomes Research Consortium (Force)

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether dietary intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) modifies the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk associated with a family history of CVD. We assessed interactions between biomarkers of low PUFA intake and a family history in relation to long-term CVD risk in a large consortium.

METHODS: Blood and tissue PUFA data from 40 885 CVD-free adults were assessed. PUFA levels ≤25th percentile were considered to reflect low intake of linoleic, alpha-linolenic, and eicosapentaenoic/docosahexaenoic acids (EPA/DHA). Family history was defined as having ≥1 first-degree relative who experienced a CVD event. Relative risks with 95% CI of CVD were …

Extreme Drought Impacts Have Been Underestimated In Grasslands And Shrublands Globally, Melinda D Smith, Kate D Wilkins, Martin C Holdrege, Peter Wilfahrt, Scott L Collins, Alan K Knapp, Osvaldo E Sala, Jeffrey S Dukes, Richard P Phillips, Laura Yahdjian, Laureano A Gherardi, Timothy Ohlert, Claus Beier, Lauchlan H Fraser, Anke Jentsch, Michael E Loik, Fernando T Maestre, Sally A Power, Qiang Yu, Andrew J Felton, Seth M Munson, Yiqi Luo, Hamed Abdoli, Mehdi Abedi, Concepción L Alados, Juan Alberti, Moshe Alon, Hui An, Brian Anacker, Maggie Anderson, Harald Auge, Seton Bachle, Khadijeh Bahalkeh, Michael Bahn, Amgaa Batbaatar, Taryn Bauerle, Karen H Beard, Kai Behn, Ilka Beil, Lucio Biancari, Irmgard Blindow, Viviana Florencia Bondaruk, Elizabeth T Borer, Edward W Bork, Carlos Martin Bruschetti, Kerry M Byrne, James F Cahill, Dianela A Calvo, Michele Carbognani, Augusto Cardoni, Cameron N Carlyle, Miguel Castillo-Garcia, Scott X Chang, Jeff Chieppa, Marcus V Cianciaruso, Ofer Cohen, Amanda L Cordeiro, Daniela F Cusack, Sven Dahlke, Pedro Daleo, Carla M D'Antonio, Lee H Dietterich, Tim S Doherty, Maren Dubbert, Anne Ebeling, Nico Eisenhauer, Felícia M Fischer, T'Ai G W Forte, Tobias Gebauer, Beatriz Gozalo, Aaron C Greenville, Karlo G Guidoni-Martins, Heather J Hannusch, Siri Vatsø Haugum, Yann Hautier, Mariet Hefting, Hugh A L Henry, Daniela Hoss, Johannes Ingrisch, Oscar Iribarne, Forest Isbell, Yari Johnson, Samuel Jordan, Eugene F Kelly, Kaitlin Kimmel, Juergen Kreyling, György Kröel-Dulay, Alicia Kröpfl, Angelika Kübert, Andrew Kulmatiski, Eric G Lamb, Klaus Steenberg Larsen, Julie Larson, Jason Lawson, Cintia V Leder, Anja Linstädter, Jielin Liu, Shirong Liu, Alexandra G Lodge, Grisel Longo, Alejandro Loydi, Junwei Luan, Frederick Curtis Lubbe, Craig Macfarlane, Kathleen Mackie-Haas, Andrey V Malyshev, Adrián Maturano-Ruiz, Thomas Merchant, Daniel B Metcalfe, Akira S Mori, Edwin Mudongo, Gregory S Newman, Uffe N Nielsen, Dale Nimmo, Yujie Niu, Paola Nobre, Rory C O'Connor, Romà Ogaya, Gastón R Oñatibia, Ildikó Orbán, Brooke Osborne, Rafael Otfinowski, Meelis Pärtel, Josep Penuelas, Pablo L Peri, Guadalupe Peter, Alessandro Petraglia, Catherine Picon-Cochard, Valério D Pillar, Juan Manuel Piñeiro-Guerra, Laura W Ploughe, Robert M Plowes, Cristy Portales-Reyes, Suzanne M Prober, Yolanda Pueyo, Sasha C Reed, Euan G Ritchie, Dana Aylén Rodríguez, William E Rogers, Christiane Roscher, Ana M Sánchez, Bráulio A Santos, María Cecilia Scarfó, Eric W Seabloom, Baoku Shi, Lara Souza, Andreas Stampfli, Rachel J Standish, Marcelo Sternberg, Wei Sun, Marie Sünnemann, Michelle Tedder, Pål Thorvaldsen, Dashuan Tian, Katja Tielbörger, Alejandro Valdecantos, Liesbeth Van Den Brink, Vigdis Vandvik, Mathew R Vankoughnett, Liv Guri Velle, Changhui Wang, Yi Wang, Glenda M Wardle, Christiane Werner, Cunzheng Wei, Georg Wiehl, Jennifer L Williams, Amelia A Wolf, Michaela Zeiter, Fawei Zhang, Juntao Zhu, Ning Zong, Xiaoan Zuo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of short-term (~1 y) drought events-the most common duration of drought-globally. Yet the impact of this intensification of drought on ecosystem functioning remains poorly resolved. This is due in part to the widely disparate approaches ecologists have employed to study drought, variation in the severity and duration of drought studied, and differences among ecosystems in vegetation, edaphic and climatic attributes that can mediate drought impacts. To overcome these problems and better identify the factors that modulate drought responses, we used a coordinated distributed experiment to quantify the impact of short-term drought on …

Sigma Leverages Protein Structural Information To Predict The Pathogenicity Of Missense Variants, Hengqiang Zhao, Huakang Du, Sen Zhao, Zefu Chen, Yaqi Li, Kexin Xu, Bowen Liu, Xi Cheng, Wen Wen, Guozhuang Li, Guilin Chen, Zhengye Zhao, Guixing Qiu, Deciphering Disorders Involving Scoliosis & Comorbidities (Disco) Study, Pengfei Liu, Terry Jianguo Zhang, Zhihong Wu, Nan Wu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Leveraging protein structural information to evaluate pathogenicity has been hindered by the scarcity of experimentally determined 3D protein. With the aid of AlphaFold2 predictions, we developed the structure-informed genetic missense mutation assessor (SIGMA) to predict missense variant pathogenicity. In comparison with existing predictors across labeled variant datasets and experimental datasets, SIGMA demonstrates superior performance in predicting missense variant pathogenicity (AUC = 0.933). We found that the relative solvent accessibility of the mutated residue contributed greatly to the predictive ability of SIGMA. We further explored combining SIGMA with other top-tier predictors to create SIGMA+, proving highly effective for variant pathogenicity prediction …