Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Magnetic Couples Study: Protocol For A Mixed Methods Prospective Cohort Study Of Hiv-Serodifferent Heterosexual Couples’ Perspectives And Use Of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep), James M. Mcmahon, Janie Simmons, Jessica E. Haberer, Sharon Mannheimer, Natalie M. Leblanc, Leilani Torres, Robert Quiles, Guillermo Aedo, Anabel Javier, Amy Braksmajer, Graham Harriman, Nicole Trabold, Enrique R. Pouget, Ann Kurth, Martez D. R Smith, Judith Brasch, Eric J. Podsiadly, Peter L. Anderson

Publications and Research

Introduction HIV transmission within serodifferent heterosexual couples plays a key role in sustaining the global HIV pandemic. In the USA, transmission within established mixed-status couples accounts for up to half of all new HIV infections among heterosexuals. Oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective prevention method, although underutilised among serodifferent couples. Moreover, there is a dearth of research on US HIV-serodifferent couples’ perspectives and use of PrEP, alone or in combination with other prevention methods. In this paper, we describe the study protocol for the Magnetic Couples Study, designed to fill critical knowledge gaps regarding HIV-serodifferent heterosexual couples’ …

Using Economic Evaluation To Hasten Health Equity, Maria-Isabel Roldos, Nancy Breen

Publications and Research

Achieving health equity has proven elusive for two reasons. First, most research has focused on changing the behavior of individuals; however, policies that address socioeconomic factors or change the context to facilitate healthy decisions tend to be more effective. Second, health disparity science and evidence are not consistently used to guide policymakers, even those seeking health equity. In this perspective, we discuss economic evaluation tools that researchers can use to assist decision-makers in conducting research or evaluating policy: self-reported health-related quality-of-life surveys and cost–benefit analysis evaluations informed with the willingness to pay for research and analyses.

Oral Manifestations Of Tuberculosis, Diana V. Macri, Sandra Castellanos, Elvir Dincer

Publications and Research

This article will update the reader on tuberculosis and its oral manifestations.

After decades of decreasing incidence, tuberculosis resurgence is being seen in some global regions due to factors that include the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic, increased immigration from countries with endemic tuberculosis, transmission of tuberculosis in crowded or unsanitary environments, and poor healthcare infrastructure. Additionally, this review is especially prescient considering the increasing prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Covid-19 Impact On Radiology Students’ Distance Learning (Summer 2021), Mary Lee, Jason Chan, Cheryann Jackson-Holmes, Renzo Marmolejo, Zoya Vinokur

Publications and Research

The Radiological Technology students have adjusted from the urgent distance learning that was enacted in the Spring of 2020, to the hybrid distance learning that is currently in place. This hybrid distance learning is the same way the incoming class of radiological technology students were taught. Both cohorts of students were tracked over the year by online anonymous surveys. We wanted to know how students were adapting to distance learning, if their focus and motivation varied over the course of the year due to changing pandemic conditions. For the students that were working, what impact did it have on their …

Radiologic Contrast-Induced Transmetallation In Mineral Rich Fruits: X-Ray Imaging To Understand Heat Cycling During Climate Change And Map Metal Redistribution In Biological Media For Biomedical Applications, Lin Mousa, Hayley Sanchez, Subhendra Sarkar, Zoya Vinokur

Publications and Research

Heat cycling due to climate change can affect hydrated protein or carbohydrate functions, the latter is not well studied. The project started with involving the study of heat-stressed carbohydrate behavior when bulk water was partly stripped from carbohydrates in model microwaved fruits and vegetables, like apples and sweet potatoes (that are mineral-rich) and was set in mineral exchange competition with toxic metals like Gadolinium and chelating complexes like iodinated EDTA. These are common radiologic contrast medias that strongly absorb x-rays and are currently implicated in man-made environmental toxins. Our goal was to map diffusion of injected heavy atoms as well …

Part Iii: Chemical Exposure From Manufactured Gas Plants: Naphthalene?, Aneeza Hussain

Publications and Research

In the previous parts of this research, we studied the historical, sociological, and public policy impact of the former manufactured gas plant site at Gowanus. Gowanus Canal is heavily contaminated with coal tar and was found to be a concern of public health risk from chemical exposure to naphthalene, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene pollutants on former Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) sites when developed. We studied all these chemicals and their risks to the public around the site. We concluded that Naphthalene is a toxic chemical and has carcinogenic properties. In the present study, with an emphasis on the Chemistry …

Examining Inequities In Rates Of Undiagnosed Hiv And Rectal Stis In A Large Nationwide Cohort Study Of Sexual Minority Men, H Jonathon Rendina, Ali Talan, K Marie Sizemore, Nicola F. Tavella, Brian Salfas, Ore Shalhav, Drew Westmoreland, Brian Mustanski, Carlos E. Rodríguez- Díaz

Publications and Research

Objective Sexual minority men (SMM) of colour are disproportionately impacted by HIV and bacterial STIs (bSTIs). To better understand within-group heterogeneity and differential risk factors by race and ethnicity, we sought to examine rates of undiagnosed HIV and rectal bSTI at the intersection of racial and ethnic identity with other sociodemographic factors.

Methods We examined data from 8105 SMM conducting home-based self-testing at enrollment in a nationwide cohort study collected from November 2017 to August 2018. We conducted analyses stratified by racial and ethnic groups to examine within- group (ie, subgroup) unadjusted rates of HIV and rectal bSTI infection across …

Telomeric And Sub-Telomeric Structure And Implications In Fungal Opportunistic Pathogens, Raffaella Diotti, Michelle Esposito, Chang Hui Shen

Publications and Research

Telomeres are long non-coding regions found at the ends of eukaryotic linear chromosomes. Although they have traditionally been associated with the protection of linear DNA ends to avoid gene losses during each round of DNA replication, recent studies have demonstrated that the role of these sequences and their adjacent regions go beyond just protecting chromosomal ends. Regions nearby to telomeric sequences have now been identified as having increased variability in the form of duplications and rearrangements that result in new functional abilities and biodiversity. Furthermore, unique fungal telomeric and chromatin structures have now extended clinical capabilities and understanding of pathogenicity …

The Effect Of Fluid Flow Shear Stress And Substrate Stiffness On Yes-Associated Protein (Yap) Activity And Osteogenesis In Murine Osteosarcoma Cells, Thomas R. Coughlin, Ali Sana, Kevin Voss, Abhilash Gadi, Upal Basu-Roy, Caroline M. Curtin, Alka Mansukhani, Oran D. Kennedy

Publications and Research

Osteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive bone cancer originating in the mesenchymal lineage. Prognosis for metastatic disease is poor, with a mortality rate of approximately 40%; OS is an aggressive disease for which new treatments are needed. All bone cells are sensitive to their mechanical/ physical surroundings and changes in these surroundings can affect their behavior. However, it is not well understood how OS cells specifically respond to fluid movement, or substrate stiffness—two stimuli of relevance in the tumor microenvironment. We used cells from spontaneous OS tumors in a mouse engineered to have a bone-specific knockout of pRb-1 and p53 in …

Preventing Transmission Of Covid 19 In Hvac Duct Systems: Implementations Of Hvac System Design Upgrade, Jacob S. Lopez, Adama Barro

Publications and Research

The recent pandemic outbreak has triggered a global alarm to increase efforts on finding the best methods to mitigate contagious viral pathogens. This project is a continuation of our mission to study engineering guidelines needed to implement upgrades to HVAC Systems in order to deter airborne pathogens such as the covid-19 virus. In our previous projects we researched how covid-19 can possibly flow through the ambient air inside of restaurants, office spaces, and locomotive train cabins. As we continued our research, we were able to find some solutions that will be best used to deactivate and prevent the virus from …

Area Characteristics And Consumer Nutrition Environments In Restaurants: An Examination Of Hispanic Caribbean Restaurants In New York City, Melissa Fuster, Hanish Kodali, Krishnendu Ray, Brian Elbel, Margaret A. Handley, Terry T. Huang, Glen Johnson

Publications and Research

Hispanics in the USA, particularly those of Caribbean descent, experience high levels of diet-related diseases and dietary risk factors. Restaurants are an increasingly important yet understudied source of food and may present opportunities to positively influence urban food environments. We sought to explore food environments further, by examining the association between neighborhood characteristics and restaurant consumer nutrition environments within New York City’s Hispanic Caribbean (HC) restaurant environments. We applied an adapted version of the Nutrition Environment Measurements Survey for Restaurants (NEMS-R) to evaluate a random sample of HC restaurants (n=89). NEMS-HCR scores (continuous and categorized as low, medium, and high …

Atypical Presentation Of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Masquerading As Diffuse Severe Esophagitis, Hafsa Abbas, Haider Ghazanfar, Ali Naqqi Ul Hussain, Ahmed Baiomi, Ariyo Ihimoyan

Publications and Research

Esophagitis is described as an inflammation of the esophagus and can result from multiple etiologies. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), presenting as diffuse esophagitis in the absence of a mass or lesion, is rare. We present a case of a 61-year-old man who presented to the gastroenterology clinic for dysphagia and heartburn of 3 months duration. The patient had lost about 15 pounds unintentionally over 6 months. The patient underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy, which revealed significant diffuse Grade 4 esophagitis without any overt bleeding. Random biopsies were taken with cold forceps from proximal, middle, and distal esophageal segments because of the striking …

Covid-19 Multi-Targeted Drug Repurposing Using Few-Shot Learning, Yang Liu, You Wu, Xiaoke Shen, Lei Xie

Publications and Research

The life-threatening disease COVID-19 has inspired significant efforts to discover novel therapeutic agents through repurposing of existing drugs. Although multi-targeted (polypharmacological) therapies are recognized as the most efficient approach to system diseases such as COVID-19, computational multi-targeted compound screening has been limited by the scarcity of high-quality experimental data and difficulties in extracting information from molecules. This study introduces MolGNN , a new deep learning model for molecular property prediction. MolGNN applies a graph neural network to computational learning of chemical molecule embedding. Comparing to state-of-the-art approaches heavily relying on labeled experimental data, our method achieves equivalent or superior prediction …

Admissions Of Covid-Positive Patients To Us Nursing Homes With Personal Protective Equipment Or Staffing Shortages, Diane M. Gibson, Jessica Greene

Publications and Research

Background: US nursing homes are required to follow Centers for Disease Control guidance for COVID-19 transmission-based precautions (TBP) when admitting COVID-positive patients.

Objective: To assess how frequently nursing homes had shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) or staffing in weeks when they admitted COVID-positive patients, which likely made it more difficult to follow TBP, and to compare facility characteristics by admissions practices.

Design and Setting: Facility-level data from the Nursing Home COVID-19 Public File for the period between June 7, 2020 and March 7, 2021 was combined with additional data. The percentages of nursing homes that admitted COVID-positive patients and …

Draft Genome Sequences Of 13 Vibrio Cholerae Strains From The Rio Grande Delta, Jeffrey W. Turner, Jorge Duran-Gonzalez, David A. Laughlin, Daniel Unterweger, David Silva, Boris Ermolinsky, Stefan Pukatzki, Daniele Provenzano

Publications and Research

Vibrio cholerae is the etiologic agent of cholera, an acute and often fatal diarrheal disease that affects millions globally. We report the draft genome sequences of 13 non-O1/O139 V. cholerae strains isolated from the Rio Grande Delta in Texas. These genomes will aid future analyses of environmental serovars.

Detection Methods And Clinical Applications Of Circulating Tumor Cells In Breast Cancer, Hongyi Zhang, Xiaoyan Lin, Yuan Huang, Minghong Wang, Chunmei Cen, Shasha Tang, Marcia R. Dique, Lu Cai, Manuel A. Luis, Jillian Smollar, Yuan Wan, Fengfeng Cai

Publications and Research

Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that split away from the primary tumor and appear in the circulatory system as singular units or clusters, which was first reported by Dr. Thomas Ashworth in 1869. CTCs migrate and implantation occurs at a new site, in a process commonly known as tumor metastasis. In the case of breast cancer, the tumor cells often migrate into locations such as the lungs, brain, and bones, even during the early stages, and this is a notable characteristic of breast cancer. Survival rates have increased significantly over the past few decades because of progress made …

Depression, Depression Literacy, And Sociodemographic Characteristics Of Korean Americans: A Preliminary Investigation, Kunsook Bernstein, Young-Me Lee, Philmon N. Gona, Shinhi Han, Soonsik Kim, Sun S. Kim

Publications and Research

Despite the rapid growth in the number of Korean Americans (KAs) and the alarmingly high prevalence of depression in this population, relatively little is known about the impact of depression literacy on KAs’ depression. This study investigated the prevalence of depressive symptoms among a community-based sample of KA adults; the associations among socio-demographic characteristics, depression literacy, and depressive symptoms; and predictors related to depressive symptoms. A sample of 600 KAs completed depression and depression literacy scales, as well as socio-demographic questionnaires. Data analyses were conducted to assess the association between depressive symptoms, depression literacy, and the covariates. Forty-five percent of …

Deep Learning Predicts Chromosomal Instability From Histopathology Images, Zhuoran Xu, Akanksha Verma, Uska Naveed, Samuel F. Bakhoum, Pegah Khosravi, Olivier Elemento

Publications and Research

Chromosomal instability (CIN) is a hallmark of human cancer yet not readily testable for patients with cancer in routine clinical setting. In this study, we sought to explore whether CIN status can be predicted using ubiquitously available hematoxylin and eosin histology through a deep learning-based model. When applied to a cohort of 1,010 patients with breast cancer (Training set: n = 858, Test set: n = 152) from The Cancer Genome Atlas where 485 patients have high CIN status, our model accurately classified CIN status, achieving an area under the curve of 0.822 with 81.2% sensitivity and 68.7% specificity in …

Efficacy Of Hand Instrumentation Vs Power Instrumentation, Khrystyna Vyprynyuk, Annie Chitlall

Publications and Research

Dental hygienists face many challenges as they practice during a global pandemic. The strict implementation of a variety of new infection control guidelines needed to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has changed the way many oral health professionals practice. On June 9, 2020, the American Dental Association’s (ADA) Advisory Task Force on Dental Practice Recovery issued guidelines that included the preferred use of hand instrumentation over ultrasonic instrumentation for plaque and calculus removal to reduce aerosol production.

As many clinicians are accustomed to using power instrumentation during periodontal therapy, this article will examine the effectiveness of hand instrumentation in the …

Analysis Of Gaps In Feline Ectoparasiticide Purchases From Veterinary Clinics In The United States, Robert Lavan, Dorothy Normile, Imran Husain, Amita Singh, Kathleen Heaney

Publications and Research

Background: The study objective was to examine cat owner ectoparasiticide purchases in the United States and estimate the impact of purchase gaps on timely ectoparasite protection administration. These purchase gaps lead to periods of time when cats are unprotected from ectoparasites.

Methods: Ectoparasiticide purchase transactions for individual cats from 671 U.S. veterinary clinics from January 1, 2017 through June 30, 2019 were evaluated to determine time “gaps” between doses of ectoparasiticides purchased in a defined 12-month period. Ectoparasiticides examined were topically applied products that contained fluralaner, fipronil/(S)-methoprene/pyriproxyfen, imidacloprid/pyriproxyfen or selamectin as active ingredients. The duration of protection following administration of …

An Update On Cardiovascular Disease, Susan H. Davide, Audra E. Haynes

Publications and Research

In the United States, cardiovascular is the leading cause of death in men and women, and most racial and ethnic groups. There are several types of heart conditions; the most common type is coronary heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease or ischemic heart disease, which can cause acute myocardial infarction. Other heart conditions which can lead to heart failure include a past history of myocardial infarction, abnormal heart valves, heart muscle disease, or congenital heart muscle disease. In adults ages 65 and younger, approximately 2 in 10 deaths are caused from coronary artery disease and about 18.2 million …

At What Cost: Modern Capitalism And The Future Of Health (Preface), Nicholas Freudenberg

Publications and Research

Freedom of choice lies at the heart of American society. Every day, individuals decide what to eat, which doctors to see, who to connect with online, and where to educate their children. Yet, many Americans don't realize that these choices are illusory at best. By the start of the 21st century, every major industrial sector in the global economy was controlled by no more than five transnational corporations, and in about a third of these sectors, a single company accounted for more than 40 percent of global sales. The available options in food, healthcare, education, transportation, and even online presence …

Symptoms And Testing For Covid-19, Daniel Gurvich, Laura E. Fasulo, Micah Goltsman

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …

Use Of Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants Among Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation And Multimorbidity, Steve Deitelzweig, Allison Keshishian, Amiee Kang, Amol Dhamane, Xuemei Luo, Christian Klem, Lisa Rosenblatt, Jack Mardekian, Jenny Jiang, Huseyin Yuce, Gregory Y. H. Lip

Publications and Research

Introduction

Non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) is often accompanied by multiple comorbid conditions, which increase the associated risks and complexity of patient management. This study evaluated the risk of stroke/systemic embolism (SE) and major bleeding (MB) among multimorbid patients with NVAF who were prescribed non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) or warfarin.

Methods

A retrospective study of patients with NVAF and high multimorbidity who initiated apixaban, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, or warfarin from 1 January 2013 to 30 September 2015 was conducted using five insurance claims databases. Multimorbidity was defined as six or more comorbid conditions, and 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was …

Chemical Exposure From Manufactured Gas Plants: Public Health Risks?, Aneeza Hussain

Publications and Research

This project aims at identifying the chemicals and their risk factors to public health, which were found underneath Public Place, a brownfield next to the Gowanus Canal. The site is heavily contaminated with coal tar — a toxic chemical by-product of gas manufacturing, which happened at the site for 100 years until the gas plant closed down in the 1960s and the land was seized by the city. Recently, the city has planned to develop Public Place into “Gowanus Green” and which will be comprised of a school and low-income housing units on this site. The aim of this research …

Interfacial Dynamics And Ionic Transport Of Radiologic Contrast Media In Carbohydrate Matrix: Utility And Limits Of X-Ray Imaging, Lin Mousa, Hayley Sanchez, Subhendra Sarkar, Zoya Vinokur

Publications and Research

Hello, our names are Lin Mousa and Hayley Sanchez, this semester we participated in a research project dedicated to analyzing the interactions of contrast media with the molecular components of fruits to compare how they would react with the human brain. This project involved the injection of fruits with varying contrasts and the imaging of the diffusion and interactions of the contrast within the fruits with X-rays. With setup technical parameters on the x-ray equipment images were taken with identical setups at an hourly rate for several days. The final results of this experiment indicated that contrasts such as Gadolinium …

Additive Vs. Subtractive Manufacturing In Dental Laboratory Technology, Aneeza Hussain

Publications and Research

Have you seen technicians using milling and 3d printing machines yet? The development of computer-aided manufacturing and the medical application of this industrial technology have provided an alternative way of fabricating oral and facial prostheses. This narrative review aims to evaluate the different streams of computer-aided manufacturing in dental technology. To date, there are two streams: the subtractive and the additive approaches. The differences reside in the processing protocols, materials used, and their respective accuracy. In general, there is a tendency for the subtractive method to provide more homogeneous objects with acceptable accuracy that may be more suitable for the …

Chemical Exposure From Manufactured Gas Plants: Demographic & Governmental Research, Aneeza Hussain

Publications and Research

There are thousands of brownfields in New York on former Manufactured Gas Plants (MGP) similar to the Public Place site in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Public Place is an active brownfield abutting an EPA Superfund site currently undergoing remediation. After consulting recent literature finding that populations living on and near superfund sites have lower life expectancy that also correlate with “sociodemographic factors” like income and race, we used American Community Survey data to conduct a demographic analysis of census districts within the rezone area. Assessment of current demographic data shows that Gowanus residents living within census districts overlapping with the rezone area …

Understanding Of Aerosol Transmission Of Covid 19 In Indoor Environment - Part 2: Approaches To Mitigation, Adama Barro, Cathal O'Toole, Jacob S. Lopez, Matthew Quinones, Sherene Moore

Publications and Research

The challenge we face in implementing solutions for new HVAC ventilation and filtration design, is to effectively improve air quality for virus mitigation without losing performance efficiency. The purpose of this improvement is to decontaminate the occupied enclosed areas, reducing the transmission of the corona virus aerosol transmission. Our research seeks reliable approaches to mitigate the further spread of aerosol transmission in indoor spaces. The methodology is to examine innovative HVAC engineering solutions that combat epidemiological problems of Covid-19 for the post-pandemic era, by researching scholarly articles and ASHRAE journals. We are achieving the goal of finding highly efficient resolutions …