Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Motor Assessment With The Stega Ipad App To Measure Handwriting In Children, Benjamin A. Philip, Fuhai Li, Elizabeth Hawkins-Chernof, Ling Chen, Victoria Swamidass, Igor Zwir

School of Medicine Publications

Importance: Handwriting and the fine motor control (hand and fingers) underlying it are key indicators of numerous motor disorders, especially among children. However, current assessment methods are expensive, slow, and subjective, leading to a lack of knowledge about the relationship between handwriting and motor control.

Objective: To develop and validate the iPad precision drawing app Standardized Tracing Evaluation and Grapheme Assessment (STEGA) to enable rapid quantitative assessment of fine motor control and handwriting.

Design: Cross-sectional, single-arm observational study.

Setting: Academic research institution.

Participants: Fifty-seven typically developing right-handed children ages 9 to 12 yr with knowledge …

Red Breast Syndrome And Acellular Dermal Matrix, Allison Podsednik Gardner, Aidee Nunez, Mauricio De La Garza

School of Medicine Publications

Increasingly popular for use in breast reconstruction, acellular dermal matrix (ADM) can provide support and protection to implants. However, use of ADM may be associated with infection and complications, including red breast syndrome (RBS). RBS is an inflammatory event that typically presents with cutaneous erythema over the domain where the ADM is surgically implanted. As ADM use increases, presumably, more cases of RBS will occur. Thus, techniques and tools to mitigate or manage RBS are needed to improve patient outcomes. Here, we describe a case where RBS was diagnosed and interestingly resolved after exchange for a different brand of dermal …

Primary Pancreatic Mature T-Cell Lymphoma As A Cause Of Obstructive Jaundice: A Case Report And Review Of The Literature, Rodolfo Garza-Morales, Arup Ganguly, Daniela Hernandez, Brandon Cantazaro

School of Medicine Publications

Primary pancreatic lymphoma (PPL) is an extremely rare type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). It accounts for 0.1% of all lymphomas and less than 1% of pancreatic tumors. Within this subtype, T-cell lymphomas only account for up to 6.7% of pancreatic lymphomas. In this study, we present the case of a 78- year-old Hispanic man who presented with obstructive jaundice associated with a mass within the head of the pancreas; pathologic analysis of the tumor revealed a mature T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (NOS).

A Case Of Hemorrhagic Myositis Associated With Prophylactic Heparin Use In Dermatomyositis, Mery Bartl, Jose G. Gomez Casanovas, Christine E. Loftis, Laura Rincon-Rueda, Andres R. Suarez

School of Medicine Publications

Dermatomyositis (DM) is a rare systemic autoimmune disease that is associated with inflammation of the skin and muscles. It typically presents with weakness of the proximal muscles along with characteristic skin lesions such as Gottron's papules and heliotrope rash. One of the most feared complications of this disease is the appearance of spontaneous hemorrhagic myositis, as most reported cases are fatal. The mechanism or risk factors of this condition have not been elucidated; however, prophylactic anticoagulation has been correlated with it in previous case reports, although idiopathic hemorrhagic myositis may also be present. We present a case of spontaneous intramuscular …

Deeper Seated Than Skin Deep: Report Of A Rare Case Of Follicular Occlusion Tetrad And A Literature Review, Yilen K. Ng-Wong, Blesset Alexander, Mery Bartl, Christine E. Loftis, Dina Hammad, Emilia C. Dulgheru, Mauricio De La Garza, Aidee C. Nunez

School of Medicine Publications

Follicular occlusion tetrad (FOT) is a clinical syndrome consisting of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), acne conglobata (AC), dissecting cellulitis of the scalp (DCS), and pilonidal cyst (PC). These entities typically occur independently, but occasionally present simultaneously comprising FOT. The four components share similar pathophysiology affecting the apocrine glands, follicular hyperkeratinization being the hallmark of each entity.Understanding shared similarities of each disease is paramount for the treatment approach as the relapsing and chronic nature of this syndrome can be burdening to patients. We present the case of a 22- year-old obese Hispanic man with a history of tobacco use who presented with …

A Mathematical Model To Optimize The Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Treatment Sequence For Triple-Negative Locally Advanced Breast Cancer, Juan C. Lopez-Alvarenga, Antonmaria Minzoni-Alessio, Arturo Olvera-Chávez, Gustavo Cruz-Pacheco, Juan C. Chimal-Eguia, Joselin Hernandez-Ruiz, Mario A. Alvarez-Blanco, Maria Y. Bautista-Hernandez, Rosa M. Quispe-Siccha

School of Medicine Publications

Background: Triple-negative locally advanced breast cancer is an aggressive tumor type. Currently, the standard sequence treatment is applied, administering anthracyclines first and then a taxane plus platinum. Clinical studies for all possible treatment combinations are not practical or affordable, but mathematical modeling of the active mitotic cell population is possible. Our study aims to show the regions with the tumor’s most substantial cellular population variation by utilizing all possible values of the parameters (������) that define the annihilatory drug capacity according to the proposed treatment.

Method: A piecewise linear mathematical model was used to analyze the cell population growth …

Osteosarcoma Of The Larynx: A Case Report And Review Of Literature, Arup Ganguly, Rodolfo Garza, Vinayak Jain, Shravan Narmala

School of Medicine Publications

The most common malignant laryngeal tumors are squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), and other types such as sarcomas are rare. Osteosarcomas of the larynx are extremely rare within the subset of sarcomas, with very few cases reported in the literature. This cancer has a predilection for elderly males, in the sixth to eighth decades of life. Associated symptoms include hoarseness, stridor, and dyspnea. It is known to spread early and has a high rate of recurrence. We present the case of a 73-year-old male, a former smoker, who presented to the clinic with severe dyspnea and progressive hoarseness and was found …

Monodelphis Domestica As A Fetal Intra-Cerebral Inoculation Model For Zika Virus Pathogenesis, John Thomas, Juan Garcia, Matthew Terry, Susan M. Mahaney, Oscar Quintanilla, Dionn Carlo Silva, Marisol Morales, John Vandeberg Phd

School of Medicine Publications

Monodelphis domestica (the laboratory opossum) is a marsupial native to South America. At birth, these animals are developmentally equivalent to human embryos at approximately 5 weeks of gestation, which, when coupled with other characteristics including the size of the animals, the development of a robust immune system during juvenile development, and the relative ease of experimental manipulation, have made M. domestica a valuable model in many areas of biomedical research. However, their suitability as models for infectious diseases, especially neurotropic viruses such as Zika virus (ZIKV), is currently unknown. Here, we describe the replicative effects of ZIKV using a fetal …

A Rare Cause Of Lymphadenopathy In A Young Hispanic Female: Unmasking Recurrent Nodal Rosai-Dorfman Disease, Blesset Alexander, Alfarooq Alshaikhli, Mery Bartl, Emilia Dulgheru

School of Medicine Publications

Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is a rare histiocytic disorder that can present with painless bilateral symmetrical cervical lymphadenopathy, mimicking lymphomas. RDD is characterized by excessive tissue infiltration by dendritic cells, macrophages, or monocyte-derived cells, with a histopathologic diagnosis based on the presence of CD68+, CD163+, and S100+ histiocytes, which differentiate it from other histiocytic neoplasms. In this case report, we present a young Hispanic female with recurrent subcutaneous growths and lymphadenopathy, initially thought to be lymphoma, who was diagnosed with RDD after a significant diagnostic workup. Treatment initially consisted of surgical excision; however, due to recurrence, the patient was successfully treated …

Country-Level Gender Inequality Is Associated With Structural Differences In The Brains Of Women And Men, André Zugman, Luz María Alliende, Vicente Medel, Richard A.I. Bethlehem, Jakob Seidlitz, Grace Ringlein, Celso Arango, Aurina Arnatkevičiūtė, Laila Asmal, Anderson M. Winkler

School of Medicine Publications

Significance

Gender inequality is associated with worse mental health and academic achievement in women. Using a dataset of 7,876 MRI scans from healthy adults living in 29 different countries, we here show that gender inequality is associated with differences between the brains of men and women: cortical thickness of the right hemisphere, especially in limbic regions such as the right caudal anterior cingulate and right medial orbitofrontal, as well as the left lateral occipital, present thinner cortices in women compared to men only in gender-unequal countries. These results suggest a potential neural mechanism underlying the worse outcome of women in …

Abortion Access And Medically Complex Pregnancies Before And After Texas Senate Bill 8, Whitney Arey, Klaira Lerma, Emma Carpenter, Ghazaleh Moayedi, Lorie Harper, Anitra Beasley, Tony Ogburn, Kari White

School of Medicine Publications

Objective: To evaluate how Texas health care professionals who care for patients experiencing medically complex pregnancies navigate abortion restrictions.

Methods: We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with health care professionals across Texas who cared for patients with life-limiting fetal diagnoses or who had existing or developed health conditions that adversely affected pregnancy. We conducted the first round of interviews March-June 2021 and the second round of interviews January-May 2022 after the implementation of Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8), which prohibited most abortions after detection of embryonic cardiac activity. We used inductive and deductive qualitative analysis to identify themes and changes in …

Gender, Personality, And Cognitive Resilience Against Early-Life Disadvantage, Joseph L. Saenz, Sadaf Arefi Milani, Silvia Mejia-Arango

School of Medicine Publications

Objectives: Early-life disadvantage (ELD) relates to lower late-life cognition. However, personality factors, including having an internal locus of control (LOC) or a conscientious personality, relate to resilience and effective stress coping. We explore whether personality factors convey resilience against the negative effects of ELD on cognition, by gender, in Mexico.

Methods: Using the 2015 Mexican Health and Aging Study, we estimated expected cognition using multiple ELD markers to identify a subsample in the lowest quartile of expected cognition given ELD (n = 2,086). In this subsample, we estimated cross-sectional associations between personality and having above-median observed cognitive ability (n = …

Bioenergetics And Neuroimaging Research: A Neuropathophysiological Linkage In The Setting Of Cocaine Use Amongst Persons With Hiv, Cory J. White, Karl Goodkin

School of Medicine Publications

Despite innovations in antiretroviral therapy (ART) that have transformed HIV infection from an acute illness with high mortality risk into a chronic, largely manageable disease, the viral reservoir that persists in brain continues to pose a risk for neurocognitive impairment and other deleterious clinical outcomes. ART regimens can inhibit viral integration and suppress replication to nondetectable levels in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) but do not eliminate viral reservoirs, including that in brain ^[1]. Moreover, HIV transcripts within CSF cells have been associated with brain injury despite suppressive ART ^[2]. Comorbid HIV and cocaine use exacerbates brain atrophy …

Characterization Of Childhood Trauma, Hippocampal Mediation And Cannabis Use In A Large Dataset Of Psychosis And Non-Psychosis Individuals, Elisabetta C. Del Re, Walid Yassin, Victor Zeng, Sarah Keedy, Ney Alliey-Rodriguez, Elena Ivleva, Scott Hill, Nicole Rychagov, Jennifer E. Mcdowell, Jeffrey R. Bishop

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Cannabis use (CA) and childhood trauma (CT) independently increase the risk of earlier psychosis onset; but their interaction in relation to psychosis risk and association with endocannabinoid-receptor rich brain regions, i.e. the hippocampus (HP), remains unclear. The objective was to determine whether lower age of psychosis onset (AgePsyOnset) is associated with CA and CT through mediation by the HP volumes, and genetic risk, as measured by schizophrenia polygene scores (SZ-PGRS).

Methods

Cross-sectional, case-control, multicenter sample from 5 metropolitan US regions. Participants (n = 1185) included 397 controls not affected by psychosis (HC); 209 participants with bipolar disorder type-1; …

The Comorbidity Of Depression And Neurocognitive Disorder In Persons With Hiv Infection: Call For Investigation And Treatment, Karl Goodkin, Teresa H. Evering, Albert M. Anderson, Ann Ragin, Cynthia L. Monaco, Christina Gavegnano, Ryan J. Avery, Sean B. Rourke, Lucette A. Cysique, Bruce J. Brew

School of Medicine Publications

Depression and neurocognitive disorder continue to be the major neuropsychiatric disorders affecting persons with HIV (PWH). The prevalence of major depressive disorder is two to fourfold higher among PWH than the general population (∼6.7%). Prevalence estimates of neurocognitive disorder among PWH range from 25 to over 47% – depending upon the definition used (which is currently evolving), the size of the test battery employed, and the demographic and HIV disease characteristics of the participants included, such as age range and sex distribution. Both major depressive disorder and neurocognitive disorder also result in substantial morbidity and premature mortality. However, though anticipated …

The Genetic Determinants Of Recurrent Somatic Mutations In 43,693 Blood Genomes, Joshua S. Weinstock, Cecelia A. Laurie, Jai G. Broome, Kent D. Taylor, Xiuqing Guo, Alan R. Shuldiner, Jeffrey R. O'Connell, Ravi Duggirala, Joanne E. Curran, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

Nononcogenic somatic mutations are thought to be uncommon and inconsequential. To test this, we analyzed 43,693 National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine blood whole genomes from 37 cohorts and identified 7131 non-missense somatic mutations that are recurrently mutated in at least 50 individuals. These recurrent non-missense somatic mutations (RNMSMs) are not clearly explained by other clonal phenomena such as clonal hematopoiesis. RNMSM prevalence increased with age, with an average 50-year-old having 27 RNMSMs. Inherited germline variation associated with RNMSM acquisition. These variants were found in genes involved in adaptive immune function, proinflammatory cytokine production, and lymphoid …

Clonal Haematopoiesis And Risk Of Chronic Liver Disease, Waihay J. Wong, Connor Emdin, Alexander G. Bick, Seyedeh M. Zekavat, John Blangero, Joanne E. Curran, Ravi Duggirala, Harald H. H. Goring, Michael Mahaney, Juan M. Peralta

School of Medicine Publications

Chronic liver disease is a major public health burden worldwide1. Although different aetiologies and mechanisms of liver injury exist, progression of chronic liver disease follows a common pathway of liver inflammation, injury and fibrosis2. Here we examined the association between clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) and chronic liver disease in 214,563 individuals from 4 independent cohorts with whole-exome sequencing data (Framingham Heart Study, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, UK Biobank and Mass General Brigham Biobank). CHIP was associated with an increased risk of prevalent and incident chronic liver disease (odds ratio = 2.01, 95% confidence …

Anti-Inflammatory Activities Of Two New Deoxygenated N-Acetyl Glucosamines In Lipopolysaccharide-Activated Mouse Macrophage Raw264.7 Cells, Quang Le, Zhichang Zhang, Daniel Sun, Quanjun Cui, Xinlin Yang, Ameer E. Hassan

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Glucosamine and N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG) are amino sugars found in human extracellular matrix with previously described anti-inflammatory effects. Despite mixed results from clinical studies, these molecules have been used extensively in supplements.

Objective

We investigated the anti-inflammatory properties of two synthesized derivatives of N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG), bi-deoxy-N-acetyl-glucosamine (BNAG) 1 and 2.

Methods

Using mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 cells with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammation, the effects of NAG, BNAG 1, and BNAG 2 on the expression of IL-6, IL-1β, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and COX-2 were studied using ELISA, Western blot and quantitative RT-PCR. Cell toxicity and nitric oxide …

45 Senolytic Therapy Transiently Reduces Inflammatory Markers In Primary Blood Mononuclear Cells Of Individuals With Early Alzheimer’S Disease: Exploring The Conserved Transcriptional Response To Adversity As A Biomarker For Disease State, Valentina R. Garbarino, Peng Xu, Bin Zhang, Mitzi M. Gonzales, Miranda E. Orr

School of Medicine Publications

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Determine if the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity transcriptomic profile established in primary blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of chronically stress caregivers, is present in individuals with early Alzheimer’s disease. Chronic stress is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, and may be an untapped biomarker for disease risk and pathology.

METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: To collect preliminary data on the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity profile in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, we were able to utilize primary blood mononuclear cell samples from a small open label pilot study called Senolytic Therapy to Modulate the Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease, designed to clear stressed senescent …

Glutathione-Responsive Tannic Acid-Assisted Fret Nanomedicine For Cancer Therapy, Partha Laskar, Anupam Dhasmana, Sudhir Kotnala, Meena Jaggi, Murali M. Yallapu, Subhash C. Chauhan

School of Medicine Publications

In cancer combination therapy, a multimodal delivery vector is used to improve the bioavailability of multiple anti-cancer hydrophobic drugs. Further, targeted delivery of therapeutics along with simultaneous monitoring of the drug release at the tumor site without normal organ toxicity is an emerging and effective strategy for cancer treatment. However, the lack of a smart nano-delivery system limits the application of this therapeutic strategy. To overcome this issue, a PEGylated dual drug, conjugated amphiphilic polymer (CPT-S-S-PEG-CUR), has been successfully synthesized by conjugating two hydrophobic fluorescent anti-cancer drugs, curcumin (CUR) and camptothecin (CPT), through an ester and a redox-sensitive disulfide (-S-S-) …

The Relationship Of Trait-Like Compassion With Epigenetic Aging: The Population-Based Prospective Young Finns Study, Henrik Dobewall, Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen, Saara Marttila, Pashupati P. Mishra, Aino Saarinen, C. Robert Cloninger, Igor Zwir, Mika Kähönen, Mikko Hurme, Olli Raitakari, Terho Lehtimäki, Mirka Hintsanen

School of Medicine Publications

Introduction: Helping others within and beyond the family has been related to living a healthy and long life. Compassion is a prosocial personality trait characterized by concern for another person who is suffering and the motivation to help. The current study examines whether epigenetic aging is a potential biological mechanism that explains the link between prosociality and longevity.

Methods: We used data from the Young Finns Study that follows six birth-cohorts from age 3–18 to 19–49. Trait-like compassion for others was measured with the Temperament and Character Inventory in the years 1997 and 2001. Epigenetic age acceleration and telomere …

Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Chronic Disease Management And Patient Reported Outcomes In Patients With Pulmonary Hypertension: The Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry, Megan Mayer, David B. Badesch, Kelly H. Nielsen, Steven Kawut, Todd Bull, John J. Ryan, Jeffrey Sager, Sula Mazimba, Anna Hemnes, Adolfo Kaplan

School of Medicine Publications

To better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care of patients with pulmonary hypertension, we conducted a retrospective cohort study evaluating health insurance status, healthcare access, disease severity, and patient reported outcomes in this population. Using the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Registry (PHAR), we defined and extracted a longitudinal cohort of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients from the PHAR's inception in 2015 until March 2022. We used generalized estimating equations to model the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient outcomes, adjusting for demographic confounders. We assessed whether insurance status modified these effects via covariate interactions. PAH patients …

A Pilot Investigation Of Differential Hydroxymethylation Levels In Patient-Derived Neural Stem Cells Implicates Altered Cortical Development In Bipolar Disorder, Ashish Kumar, Mark Z. Kos, Donna Roybal, Melanie A. Carless

School of Medicine Publications

Introduction: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic mental illness characterized by recurrent episodes of mania and depression and associated with social and cognitive disturbances. Environmental factors, such as maternal smoking and childhood trauma, are believed to modulate risk genotypes and contribute to the pathogenesis of BD, suggesting a key role in epigenetic regulation during neurodevelopment. 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) is an epigenetic variant of particular interest, as it is highly expressed in the brain and is implicated in neurodevelopment, and psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Methods: Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were generated from the white blood cells of two adolescent patients with …

Novel Functionalized Spiro [Indoline-3,5'-Pyrroline]-2,2'Dione Derivatives: Synthesis, Characterization, Drug-Likeness, Adme, And Anticancer Potential, Mohd Asif, Sahir Sultan Alvi, Tazeen Azaz, Abdul Rahman Khan, Bhoopendra Tiwari, Bilal B. Hafeez, Malik Nasibullah

School of Medicine Publications

A highly stereo-selective, one-pot, multicomponent method was chosen to synthesize the novel functionalized 1, 3-cycloaddition spirooxindoles (SOXs) (4a-4h). Synthesized SOXs were analyzed for their drug-likeness and ADME parameters and screened for their anticancer activity. Our molecular docking analysis revealed that among all derivatives of SOXs (4a-4h), 4a has a substantial binding affinity (∆G) -6.65, -6.55, -8.73, and -7.27 Kcal/mol with CD-44, EGFR, AKR1D1, and HER-2, respectively. A functional study demonstrated that SOX 4a has a substantial impact on human cancer cell phenotypes exhibiting abnormality in cytoplasmic and nuclear architecture as well as …

Aberrant Activation Of Tcl1a Promotes Stem Cell Expansion In Clonal Haematopoiesis, Joshua S. Weinstock, Jayakrishnan Gopakumar, Bala Bharathi Burugula, Md Mesbah Uddin, Ravi Duggirala, Joanne E. Curran, John Blangero, Michael C. Mahaney, Juan M. Peralta, Harald H. H. Goring

School of Medicine Publications

Mutations in a diverse set of driver genes increase the fitness of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), leading to clonal haematopoiesis1. These lesions are precursors for blood cancers2,3,4,5,6, but the basis of their fitness advantage remains largely unknown, partly owing to a paucity of large cohorts in which the clonal expansion rate has been assessed by longitudinal sampling. Here, to circumvent this limitation, we developed a method to infer the expansion rate from data from a single time point. We applied this method to 5,071 people with clonal haematopoiesis. …

Indocyanine Green-Based Glow Nanoparticles Probe For Cancer Imaging, Neeraj Chauhan, Marco A. Cabrera, Pallabita Chowdhury, Prashanth K.B. Nagesh, Anupam Dhasmana, Fnu Pranav, Meena Jaggi, Subhash C. Chauhan, Murali M. Yallapu

School of Medicine Publications

Indocyanine green (ICG) is one of the FDA-approved near infra-red fluorescent (NIRF) probes for cancer imaging and image-guided surgery in the clinical setting. However, the limitations of ICG include poor photostability, high concentration toxicity, short circulation time, and poor cancer cell specificity. To overcome these hurdles, we engineered a nanoconstruct composed of poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP)-indocyanine green that is cloaked self-assembled with tannic acid (termed as indocyanine green-based glow nanoparticles probe, ICG-Glow NPs) for the cancer cell/tissue-specific targeting. The self-assembled ICG-Glow NPs were confirmed by spherical nanoparticles formation (DLS and TEM) and spectral analyses. The NIRF imaging characteristic of ICG-Glow …

Cardiovascular Risk Of Metabolically Healthy Obesity In Two European Populations: Prevention Potential From A Metabolomic Study, Dongmei Wei, Vannina González Marrachelli, Jesus D. Melgarejo, Chia-Te Liao, Angie Hu, Stefan Janssens, Peter Verhamme, Lucas Van Aelst, Thomas Vanassche, Josep Redon

School of Medicine Publications

Background

A new definition of metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) has recently been proposed to stratify the heterogeneous mortality risk of obesity. Metabolomic profiling provides clues to metabolic alterations beyond clinical definition. We aimed to evaluate the association between MHO and cardiovascular events and assess its metabolomic pattern.

Methods

This prospective study included Europeans from two population-based studies, the FLEMENGHO and the Hortega study. A total of 2339 participants with follow-up were analyzed, including 2218 with metabolomic profiling. Metabolic health was developed from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the UK biobank cohorts and defined as systolic blood …

Trial Of Endovascular Thrombectomy For Large Ischemic Strokes, Amrou Sarraj, Ameer E. Hassan, Michael G. Abraham, Santiago Ortega-Gutierrez, Scott E. Kasner, M Shazam Hussain, Michael Chen, Spiros Blackburn, Clark W. Sitton, Wondwossen G. Tekle

School of Medicine Publications

Background: Trials of the efficacy and safety of endovascular thrombectomy in patients with large ischemic strokes have been carried out in limited populations.

Methods: We performed a prospective, randomized, open-label, adaptive, international trial involving patients with stroke due to occlusion of the internal carotid artery or the first segment of the middle cerebral artery to assess endovascular thrombectomy within 24 hours after onset. Patients had a large ischemic-core volume, defined as an Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score of 3 to 5 (range, 0 to 10, with lower scores indicating larger infarction) or a core volume of at least …

Qunex—An Integrative Platform For Reproducible Neuroimaging Analytics, Jie Lisa Ji, Jure Demšar, Clara Fonteneau, Zailyn Tamayo, Lining Pan, Aleksij Kraljic, Andraž Matkovic, Nina Purg, Markus Helmer, Anderson M. Winkler

School of Medicine Publications

Introduction: Neuroimaging technology has experienced explosive growth and transformed the study of neural mechanisms across health and disease. However, given the diversity of sophisticated tools for handling neuroimaging data, the field faces challenges in method integration, particularly across multiple modalities and species. Specifically, researchers often have to rely on siloed approaches which limit reproducibility, with idiosyncratic data organization and limited software interoperability.

Methods: To address these challenges, we have developed Quantitative Neuroimaging Environment & Toolbox (QuNex), a platform for consistent end-to-end processing and analytics. QuNex provides several novel functionalities for neuroimaging analyses, including a “turnkey” command for the reproducible deployment …

Temperament & Character Account For Brain Functional Connectivity At Rest: A Diathesis-Stress Model Of Functional Dysregulation In Psychosis, Igor Zwir, Javier Arnedo, Alberto Mesa, Coral Del Val, Gabriel A. De Erausquin, C. Robert Cloninger

School of Medicine Publications

The human brain’s resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) provides stable trait-like measures of differences in the perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning of individuals. The rsFC of the prefrontal cortex is hypothesized to mediate a person’s rational self-government, as is also measured by personality, so we tested whether its connectivity networks account for vulnerability to psychosis and related personality configurations. Young adults were recruited as outpatients or controls from the same communities around psychiatric clinics. Healthy controls (n = 30) and clinically stable outpatients with bipolar disorder (n = 35) or schizophrenia (n = 27) were diagnosed by …