Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Occupational Therapy And Grief: Building Knowledge, Justifying Scope, And Supporting Practice, Jessica Jacques

Capstone Projects

Grief can disrupt individuals’ ability to participate in meaningful daily occupations (Hoppes & Segal, 2010), yet occupational therapy (OT) remains underutilized in grief support. Given OT’s focus on occupational performance, practitioners are uniquely positioned to address the functional and emotional challenges associated with grief. Despite this alignment, a gap exists in structured, occupation-based grief support, as well as limited integration of OT within community-based grief services. This capstone aimed to address this need by developing and implementing grief-informed, occupation-based resources and educational materials. Objectives included revising a grief resource manual, creating evidence-based handouts for community and school settings, promoting sensory …

Occupational Therapy & Zoo Exhibit Design: Embedding Accessibility Within, Jacqui Randall

Capstone Projects

This doctoral capstone project was completed at the Indianapolis Zoo. Zoos and museums infrequently contract, but very few employ an occupational therapist to assist with exhibit design development. An occupational therapy consultant could assess exhibit accessibility and provide potential solutions to make them more accessible and inclusive for individuals with disabilities. The goal of the project was to create a list of refined recommendations to make the oceans building more accessible and incorporate more multisensory experiences when it is renovated in the spring of 2027. Also, the Accessibility and Sensation Among Zoo Exhibits and Interactives: Checklist and Application Guide was …

Developing And Implementing Pediatric Pelvic Health Education Groups For Autistic Youth Focused On Toilet Training, Sasha Poland

Capstone Projects

Occupational therapists (OTPs) have a crucial role in treating pelvic health conditions as toileting is an activity of daily living. However, pelvic health research is primarily focused through a physical therapy lens and doesn’t always address challenges pertaining to children, and even more so neurodivergent youth. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature in how specifically OTPs can assist in providing pelvic health care to all individuals including neurodivergent youth. The goal of this doctoral capstone was to create and provide educational sessions to educate parents, educators, and BCBAs on the role of pelvic health OT in solving their …

Sensory Processing At A Children’S Advocacy Center: Staff Education And Resource Development To Support Trauma-Informed Care, Hayley Jackson

Capstone Projects

This capstone addresses a critical gap in understanding sensory processing within trauma-informed care for children who have experienced sexual abuse. Occupational therapy (OT) offers a unique perspective for supporting children’s sensory processing and regulation needs; however, OT is not utilized in Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) settings. This project aimed to enhance understanding of OT's scope within trauma-informed care, provide education on sensory-based strategies, and develop resources to support regulation in clinical, home, and school settings. Project objectives were achieved through the development of caregiver and educator handouts, a SMART room sensory binder, a visual schedule binder, SMART movement cards, and …

Designing Inclusive Dog Training Opportunities For Handlers With Diverse Access Needs: An Occupational Therapy Approach, Lauren Huffman

Capstone Projects

This doctoral capstone focused on designing inclusive dog training opportunities in the community by integrating occupational therapy approaches to empower meaningful participation and increase carryover of skills into daily life. The project addressed a need for options that are supportive of dog owners (typically referred to as “handlers” in the dog training setting) who experience health and learning barriers impacting human-dog interactions and the ability to attend dog training classes in a group setting. Occupational Therapy’s role in adaptive recreation and use of occupation-based practice guided the development of a foundations-level accessible small group class, individual adaptive sessions, and educational …

Enhancing Feeding Skills: Development And Implementation Of A Pediatric Feeding Group Program In An Outpatient Setting, Alexia Spyrka

Capstone Projects

Children with autism spectrum disorder are five times more likely to present with feeding difficulties when compared to the general pediatric population (Baraskewich,et.al., 2021). Pediatric feeding difficulties can include picky eating, restrictive diets, limited independence with feeding skills, and limited food repertoire. Not only can this effect the child’s nutrition and growth but can affect family members as they are additionally focusing on their child's socialization, communication, and regulation. When addressing feeding difficulties, occupational therapy services are provided 1:1 with clients while educating and supporting family members to improve carry over into the home. However, there is a gap in …

Beyond Baby: How Occupational Therapy Supports Families In The Prenatal And Postpartum Period, Taylor Maysonet

Capstone Projects

This doctoral capstone project focuses on the role of occupational therapy in maternal and infant health, supporting families during the prenatal and postnatal period. While occupational therapy has a strong foundation in promoting health, independence, participation and roles and routines, there remains a gap in community awareness of available support for families during this life transition. Many caregivers report feeling underprepared, overwhelmed, and disconnected from resources that could support their physical, emotional, and occupational wellbeing.

The objective of this project was to identify gaps within the interdisciplinary team during the prenatal and postpartum period. From there, I was able to …

An Occupational Therapy Approach To Sensory Education: Training Paraprofessionals To Support Students’ Sensory Needs, Sophia Hubber

Capstone Projects

Sensory processing plays an important role in the development and participation across the lifespan and is a key focus of occupational therapy (OT) in school settings. This doctoral capstone project addresses the gap in sensory education and training among paraprofessionals, who spend much of the day supporting students with the highest level of needs. While occupational therapists have extensive knowledge in sensory processing, their large caseloads often limit the opportunities to provide direct education to staff.

To address this gap, the project involved collaborating with the occupational therapy department, conducting research on sensory processing, and developing five educational videos with …

Endorsed Programs News: Mda Insurance Receives High Honors, Reva Darling

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This report covers updates on MDA-endorsed programs designed to provide value and operational support to members. It announces that MDA Insurance has won the 2025 "State Administrator of the Year" award for its professional liability programs. The document also promotes the environmental benefits of recycling dental scrap metal through D-MMEX Easyrefine and introduces the cost-saving benefits of MEDVA virtual assistants for administrative tasks. Additionally, it advertises upcoming Medicare educational seminars to help member dentists and their staff navigate retirement planning and health insurance transitions effectively.

Growing South Dakota (Spring 2026), College Of Agriculture, Food, And Environmental Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

[Page] 2 National heritage, statewide research, local impact
[Page] 7 About the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Stations
[Page] 14 Managing the mooo-ment: How SDSU researchers are looking to improve cow health during the Transition Period
[Page] 18 Discovering strength in science: How education through undergraduate research prepares students for the future
[Page] 20 From India to Brookings: One grad student’s path to make a world of difference in virology
[Page] 22 Solving a billion-dollar problem: Identifying disease-resistent wheat genes
[Page] 24 Unlocking manure’s potential: SDSU leads multistate study on the power of swine manure in growing better crops
[Page] 28 …

Tfeb Degradation Is Regulated By An Ikk/Β-Trcp2 Phosphorylation-Ubiquitination Cascade, Yan Xiong, Jaiprakash Sharma, Meggie N Young, Wen Xiong, Ali Jazayeri, Karl F Poncha, Ma Xenia G Ilagan, Qing Wang, Bei Gao, Hui Zheng, Nicolas L Young, Marco Sardiello

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Transcription factor EB (TFEB) is a master regulator of lysosomal biogenesis and cellular clearance pathways. TFEB activity is tightly controlled by multiple post-translational mechanisms, but the exact molecular mechanism controlling its stability has remained elusive. Here, we identify the IκB kinase (IKK) complex as a key regulator of TFEB protein stability through a phosphorylation-ubiquitination cascade. A high-content kinase inhibitor screen reveals that IKK inhibition increases TFEB protein levels, and genetic ablation of IKK components increases TFEB stability, upregulates lysosomal genes, and enhances lysosomal biogenesis and degradative capacity. Mechanistically, we show that IKK phosphorylates TFEB on a cluster of serine residues …

Phenome-Wide Analysis Of Copy Number Variants In 470,727 Uk Biobank Genomes, Xueqing Zoe Zou, Fengyuan Hu, Haiyi Lou, Oliver S Burren, Xiaoyin Li, Karyn Megy, Eleanor Wheeler, Qiang Wu, Santosh S Atanur, Marcin Karpinski, Douglas Loesch, Zammy Fairhurst-Hunter, Sri V V Deevi, Erin Oerton, Sean Wen, Xiao Jiang, Cecilia Salvoro, Jonathan Mitchell, Abhishek Nag, Ben Hollis, Amanda O'Neill, Jen Harrow, Stewart Macarthur, Sebastian Wasilewski, Sean O'Dell, Lifeng Tian, Katherine R Smith, Guillermo Del Angel, Margarete Fabre, Ryan S Dhindsa, Quanli Wang, Slavé Petrovski, Keren Carss

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Copy number variants (CNVs) are key drivers of human diversity and disease risk1. Here we evaluate the role of CNVs across a broad range of human phenotypes and diseases by analysing CNVs from 470,727 UK Biobank whole-genome sequences and conducting a variant- and gene-level phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) with 2,941 plasma protein abundance measurements, 13,336 binary clinical phenotypes and 1,911 quantitative traits. Proteomic analyses validated functional associations of CNVs with nearby genes (cis-protein quantitative trait loci; cis-pQTLs)—with deletions and duplications typically associated with reduced and increased protein levels, respectively—and uncovered previously unknown protein–protein interactions …

An International Mega-Analysis Of Psychedelic Drug Effects On Brain Circuit Function, Manesh Girn, Nico Dosenbach, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Psychedelic drugs are re-emerging as promising scientific and clinical tools. However, despite a rapidly expanding literature on their therapeutic value, the neural mechanisms underlying psychedelic effects remain unclear. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of acute psychedelic effects, conducted independently by several research groups, have so far yielded fragmented and sometimes inconsistent findings. Here, to help facilitate greater convergence, we conducted a 'mega-analysis' integrating 11 independent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets across five psychedelic drugs (psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, mescaline, N,N-dimethyltryptamine and ayahuasca) from research groups spanning three continents and five countries. By applying a uniform preprocessing pipeline and …

Rapid Isometric Hamstring Strength Scores From Professional Soccer Players At Pre-Season: Positional Differences And Relationship To Peak Force, Nicholas Joel Ripley, Ross, Jack Fahey, Christopher Bramah, Paul Jones, Paul Comfort

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The assessment of rapid force within a single joint assessment is becoming common practice within elite sport environments. Recent observations have highlighted that rapid force maybe more sensitive to fatigue than peak force within the hamstrings. Yet limited information exists on rapid force production in elite male soccer players. Eighty-nine senior professional men’s soccer players (age; 24.2±5.1 years, height; 1.83±0.05 m, mass; 78.95±7.53 kg) participated within the present study they performed two isometric assessments at joint angles of 30° and 90° of hip flexion and knee. They performed three trials with mean and standard deviation determined differences between soccer positions …

Rethinking "Very High-Risk" Ascvd: Most Patients Qualify, Few Are Distinct?, Michael D Shapiro, Yuzhi Xi, Tammy Jiang, Xiao Zhang, Lori D Bash, Swapnil Rajpathak, Laura Gellis, Robert Hilkert, Erin D Michos, Christie M Ballantyne

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Advanced Artificial Intelligence Vs Simpler Models For 1-Year Death Prediction Among Patients Receiving Hemodialysis, Karthikeyan K, Jennifer E Flythe, Patrick H Pun, Wolfgang C Winkelmayer, David Carlson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objectives: We evaluated the data requirement for modern AI tools to outperform simpler models in predicting short-term mortality in over 500 000 patients with hemodialysis-dependent kidney failure.

Materials and methods: We compared logistic regression, boosting, and transformers using increasingly complex feature sets (from last-visit data to full trajectories). Performance was measured using the area under the ROC curve (AUC-ROC) and the Precision-Recall curve (AUC-PR) across training data sizes ranging from 500 to 490 197 samples.

Results: Using features with temporal information is beneficial across all models. On the full dataset, Transformers (AUC-ROC = 0.8568) and boosting (AUC-ROC = 0.8598) perform …

Driveline Infections Among Patients Supported With Left Ventricular Assist Devices: A Single Center Sixteen-Year Longitudinal Profile, Anh Nguyen, Alexis Shafii, Gabriel Loor, Andrew Civitello, O Howard Frazier, Todd Rosengart, Kenneth Liao

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) driveline infections significantly impact patient outcomes. This study aimed to identify their risk factors.

Methods: We analyzed LVAD data from our institutional Intermacs database (January 1, 2008-December 31, 2023), combining primary implants and pump exchanges. Patient characteristics were summarized as frequencies for categorical variables and median (IQR) for continuous variables. The nature of repeated infection events was handled by the Andersen-Gill method within a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model for cause-specific hazard of driveline infections, accounting for death and heart transplant as competing risks.

Results: Our cohort included 1026 LVAD implants. Median patient age …

Glp1-Ra And Sglt2-I: Implementation And Insulin Deescalation Strategies, Arthi Palani, Sagar Patel, Shriya Patel, Shivani Srivastava, Jay Patel, Salman Salehin, Yochai Birnbaum, Joseph Allencherril

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose of review: This review will summarize the most contemporary trials for glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RA) and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2-i) and present guidance on management and recommendations on adjunctive tapering of insulin in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, which we term "de-insulinization."

Recent findings: GLP1-RA and SGLT2-i are the principal classes of diabetes medications evidencing cardiovascular benefit. However, there is limited consensus on how to effectively prescribe and maintain these medications for patients on other glucose-lowering therapy, especially insulin. Patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease should be started on either a GLP-1RA, SGLT-i, or …

Long-Term Outcomes Of Left Bundle-Branch Pacing Vs Biventricular Pacing In Heart Failure: The Heartsync-Lbbp Randomized Clinical Trial, Xueying Chen, Xi Liu, Ruogu Li, Zhongkai Wang, Yixiu Liang, Lei Zhang, Wei Wang, Jin Bai, Jingfeng Wang, Shengmei Qin, Weiwei Zhang, Tianbao Yao, Dong Huang, Ting Chen, Xianxian Zhao, Dening Liao, Jingbo Li, Jialiang Mao, Mihail G Chelu, Yangang Su, Kenneth A Ellenbogen, Junbo Ge

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Importance: Left bundle-branch pacing (LBBP) has been proposed as an alternative to biventricular pacing (BiVP) for patients with heart failure with left bundle-branch block (LBBB). However, robust clinical evidence from randomized clinical trials is lacking.

Objective: To evaluate the long-term clinical outcomes of LBBP and BiVP.

Design, setting, and participants: This multicenter, prospective, randomized clinical trial enrolled 200 patients at 6 centers in China with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 35% or less and LBBB from October 2020 to March 2022. This study was took place from October 2020 to September 2024. These data were analyzed September 2024 …

Novel Variants Identified In Families With Snx27 -Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder, Aiding In Characterizing Its Genotypic And Phenotypic Spectrum, Tayyaba Shan, Abrar Hussain, Anushree Acharya, Mulazim Hussain, Yumei Li, Hafiz Muhammad Jafar Hussain, Kiran Afshan, Suzanne M Leal, Rui Chen, Asif Mir, Isabelle Schrauwen, Sabika Firasat

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background:

Sorting Nexin 27 (SNX27), a key regulator of synaptic receptor trafficking and endosomal recycling, has been implicated in maintaining synaptic homeostasis and cognitive function. To date, variants in SNX27 have been reported in a small number of patients across three publications with severe neurodevelopmental phenotypes. However, the genetic and functional landscape of SNX27-related disorders remains poorly understood, and further evidence is needed to confirm its association with disease and to better delineate the associated phenotype.

Methods and Results:

Two unrelated Pakistani families with a total of five affected individuals segregating a neurodevelopmental disorder were investigated via exome …

Widespread Distribution Of Alu/Alu-Mediated Genomic Rearrangement Predisposing To A Broad Range Of Mendelian Disease And Cancer In Human Populations, Ruizhi Vince Duan, Haowei Du, Shruti Pande, Ahmed K Saad, Meryem M Atik, Minal Jamsandekar, Karen J Coveler, Zain Dardas, Shalini N Jhangiani, Jennifer E Posey, Richard A Gibbs, James R Lupski

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background

Genome-wide distributions of Alu elements contribute to a broad range of structural variants (SVs) through Alu/Alu-mediated genomic rearrangement (AAMR). Yet, the prevalence and characteristics of AAMR on the human genome and its scale in generating pathogenic SVs remain poorly understood.

Methods

We established a disease-focused, AAMR-SV dataset and a control dataset to comprehensively delineate the genomic landscape of Alu mutagenesis. The disease-focused dataset included 407 published pathogenic AAMR-SV alleles in 115 known genes for Mendelian disorders or traits through a literature survey. A control dataset was collected from short-read genome sequencing analyses of 100 randomly selected, healthy individuals. …

Efficient In Vivo Pharmacological Inhibition Of Δfosb, An Ap-1 Transcription Factor, In The Brain, Sean Mcneme, Anil Kumar, Yun Young Yim, Brandon W Hughes, Corey St Romain, Yi Li, Ashwani Kumar, Qichao Bao, Molly Estill, Shanghua Fan, Nadeen Takatka, Earnest P Chen, Matthew Rivera, Haiying Chen, Alfred J Robison, Mischa Machius, Stephen J Haggarty, Jeannie Chin, Eric J Nestler, Jia Zhou, Gabby Rudenko

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

ΔFOSB, an unusually stable member of the AP-1 family of transcription factors, mediates long-term maladaptations that play a key role in the pathogenesis of drug addiction, cognitive decline, dyskinesia, and several other chronic neurological and psychiatric conditions. We have recently identified that 2-phenoxybenzenesulfonic acid-containing compounds disrupt the binding of ΔFOSB to DNA in vitro in cell-based assays, and one such compound, JPC0661, disrupts ΔFOSB binding to genomic DNA in vivo in the mouse brain with partial efficiency. JPC0661 binds to a groove outside of the DNA-binding cleft of the ΔFOSB/JUND bZIP heterodimer in a cocrystal structure. Here, we generated a …

Dominant Clones Leverage Developmental Epigenomic States To Drive Ependymoma, Alisha S Kardian, Hua Sun, Siri Ippagunta, Nicholas Laboe, Srinidhi Varadharajan, Kwanha Yu, Hsiao-Chi Chen, Erik Emanus, Tuyu Zheng, Riley M Deneen, Jon P Connelly, Yong-Dong Wang, Jiangshan Zhan, Hengxi Liu, Kimberley Lowe, Taylor Bugbee, Rakesh Pathak, Amanda Bland, Sanya Mehta, Sophie Cochiolo, Amir Arabzade, Blake Holcomb, Kaitlin M Budd, Gabriele Kembuan, Tristen Wright, Emma Caesar, Maxwell Park, Amelia Hancock, David Gee, Joel Murdoch, Yi Xiao, Samuel K Mcbrayer, Thomas E Merchant, Jun Qi, Adam D Durbin, Lindsay A Schwarz, Li Wang, Andrew M Donson, Nicholas K Foreman, Sameer Agnihotri, Alfonso Lavado, Suzanne J Baker, David W Ellison, Hyun Kyoung Lee, Shondra M Pruett-Miller, Kelsey C Bertrand, Benjamin Deneen, Stephen C Mack

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

ZFTA–RELA is the most recurrent genetic alteration seen in paediatric supratentorial ependymoma (EPN) and is sufficient to initiate tumours in mice1. Despite its oncogenic potential, ZFTA–RELA (ZR) is observed nearly exclusively in childhood EPN, with tumours located distinctly in the supratentorial brain of the central nervous system1. We proposed that specific chromatin modules accessible during brain development would render distinct cell lineage programs at direct risk of transformation by ZR. To test this hypothesis, we performed combined single-nucleus assay for transposase-accessible chromatin and RNA (snMultiome) sequencing of the developing mouse forebrain compared with ZR-driven mouse …

Androgen Activity In The Male Embryonic Hindbrain Drives Lethal Pfa Ependymoma, Jiao Zhang, Winnie Ong, Alexandra Rasnitsyn, Ricardo Daniel Gonzalez, Rodrigo Lopez Gutierrez, Polina Balin, Amr Saadeldin, Xiaochong Wu, Maria C Vladoiu, Vicente Santa-Maria Lopez, Fernando Gonzalez-Salinas, Navneesh Yadav, Dinesh Mohanakrishnan, Kannan Boosi Narayana Rao, Raja Gopal Reddy Mooli, Hinda Najem, Sebastian Pacheco, Kaitlin Kharas, Cory Richman, David Przelicki, Evan Y Wang, Haipeng Su, Rachel Naomi Curry, Runze Yang, Michelle Masayo Kameda-Smith, Bryn Livingston, David Scott, Zaili Luo, Mingyang Xia, Namal Abeysundara, Anders W Erickson, Ncedile Mankahla, Lucas Zhongming Hu, Chu Pan, Raul Suarez, Ning Huang, Yihao Wu, Hao Wang, Tajana Douglas, Jonelle Pallota, Steven Hébert, Karen Ng, Krystin Mantione, Heather Whetstone, Hassaan Maan, Hussein Lakkis, Juyeun Lee, Sadeesh K Ramakrishnan, Yanxin Pei, Yujie Tang, Frank Y Lin, Guillermo Aldave, Marco Gallo, Robert M Friedlander, Faiyaz Notta, Laura K Donovan, Murali Chintagumpala, Bo Wang, Yun Li, Daniel D De Carvalho, Zhaolei Zhang, Ying Mao, Wei Hua, Charles Eberhart, Calixto-Hope G Lucas, Sriram Venneti, Poul H Sorensen, Alberto Delaidelli, Hao Li, Wenhao Zhou, Jason Kirk, Dean G Tang, Tao Jiang, Hailong Liu, Justin D Lathia, Hiromichi Suzuki, Jeremy N Rich, Lincoln D Stein, Nada Jabado, Vijay Ramaswamy, Q Richard Lu, Amy B Heimberger, Craig Daniels, Kulandaimanuvel Antony Michealraj, Claudia L Kleinman, Michael D Taylor

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Posterior fossa type A (PFA) ependymoma is an unusual infantile brain tumour with few known somatic mutations, thought to be driven by epigenetic mechanisms1. PFA ependymoma has a markedly higher incidence and worse prognosis in male children than in female children2. The mechanisms that underlie these sex differences are at present unknown. Here we show that the cellular hierarchy of PFA ependymoma is less differentiated in male individuals than it is in female individuals. In the normal developing mouse hindbrain, male gliogenic progenitors are less differentiated than matched female sibling controls. To further parse the effects …

Da Vinci Single-Port Transvaginal Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (Vnotes) Sacrocolpopexy: A Case Report And Literature Review, Xiaoming Guan, Chunhua Zhang, Qiannan Yang, Shunjia Hong, Wai Ieng Fong

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Pelvic organ prolapse remains a common condition requiring durable surgical correction, with sacrocolpopexy considered the gold standard. Transvaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES) has emerged as a scarless minimally invasive approach, while the integration of robotic single-port technology may further enhance surgical precision and ergonomics. However, data on robotic-assisted single-port vNOTES (RSP-vNOTES) sacrocolpopexy remains limited. We report a case of a 58-year-old Asian woman with symptomatic apical pelvic organ prolapse. The pelvic organ prolapse quantification (POP-Q) assessment demonstrated stage II uterine prolapse. She underwent robotic-assisted single-port vNOTES (RSP-vNOTES) sacrocolpopexy using the da Vinci single-port (SP) platform. The procedure was …

Robotic Single-Incision Laparoscopic Surgery For The Management Of Endometriosis: First Experience Via The Da Vinci Sp Platform, Qiannan Yang, Daniel Y Lovell, Xiaoming Guan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: To demonstrate the feasibility and mid-term outcomes of Robotic single-port single-incision laparoscopic surgery (RSP-SILS) for endometriosis management.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 50 adult women with endometriosis who underwent RSP-SILS via the da Vinci SP platform between November 2023 and July 2025.

Results: Median total operative time was 142 min, robot dock time was 3 min, and robot console time was 99 min. Median estimated blood loss was 25 mL. No conversion occurred. Reported mid-term outcomes included 1 case each of pelvic haematoma, Clostridioides difficile colitis, and umbilical surgical site infection, as well as 3 cases of …

Rexinoid Net-3ib Promotes Resident Macrophage Gene Expression And Mitigates Desiccation-Induced Ocular Surface Disease, Jehan Alam, Yangluowa Qu, Jianming Shao, Ebru Yaman, Karen Zheng, Hiroki Kakuta, Stephen C Pflugfelder

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of rexinoid NEt-3IB on desiccating stress-induced dry eye, as well as monocyte/macrophage gene expression and cellular trajectory.

Methods: Eyes were topically treated with rexinoid NEt-3IB (5 µM) or vehicle three times a day for 5 days of desiccating stress-induced dry eye. Single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) profiled gene expression in conjunctival immune cells. RNA-seq was also used to evaluate gene expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated, dexamethasone-treated (Dex, 1 µM), or NEt-3IB-treated (1-1000 nM) cultured monocytes. Cellular state trajectory and latent time were inferred with scVelo, and latent-time-associated genes were identified using Monocle 3. Permeability to Oregon Green-labeled …

Results Of A Randomized, Double-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Phase 1/2 Study Of A Trpv1 Antagonist Sjp-0132 In Participants With Dry Eye Disease, Tomoyuki Wada, Kazunori Omatsu, Stephen C Pflugfelder

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: To investigate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetic profile, and efficacy of SJP-0132 in participants with dry eye disease (DED).

Design: Phase 1/2, randomized, double-masked, single-center, placebo-controlled single and multiple ascending dose study.

Participants: Generally healthy adults aged ≥18 years with a patient-reported history of DED for ≥6 months, eye dryness visual analog scale (VAS: 0-100) ≥40 mm, 5-item dry eye questionnaire (DEQ-5) ≥6, and central corneal fluorescein staining (CFS) of 2 to 4 (Baylor scale: 0-5 for each of five zones).

Methods: This study consisted of Part A and Part B, containing four single- and two multiple-ascending dose cohorts, respectively. …

Avacincaptad Pegol For Geographic Atrophy Secondary To Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Two-Year Efficacy And Safety Results From The Gather2 Phase 3 Trial, Arshad M Khanani, Carl J Danzig, Jeffrey S Heier, Glenn J Jaffe, Peter K Kaiser, David R Lally, Sunil S Patel, Lejla Vajzovic, Christina Y Weng, Hersh Patel, Julie Clark, Dhaval Desai, Don Luo, Erin Henry, Frank G Holz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: Avacincaptad pegol (ACP) is a pegylated RNA aptamer that inhibits complement C5. The efficacy and safety of ACP 2 mg was investigated in GATHER2, with positive year 1 results published. Herein, 2-year results are reported.

Design: Phase 3, randomized, sham-controlled study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT04435366).

Participants: Patients with non-center point-involving geographic atrophy (GA).

Methods: Eligible patients were randomized 1:1 to receive monthly ACP 2 mg (n = 225) or sham (n = 222) for 1 year. At month 12, patients who received ACP 2 mg were randomized again 1:1 to dosing every month (EM; n = 96) or every …

Utility Of Diagnostic Arthroscopy Before Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction In Pediatric And Adolescent Patients Without Articular Findings On Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Holden Archer, Kaleb Patterson, Jonathan D Schwartzman, Scott D Mckay, Indranil Kushare

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction is frequently used to manage recurrent patellar instability. Diagnostic arthroscopy is commonly performed before MPFL reconstruction to identify, confirm, and address intra-articular pathology. However, when preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) does not demonstrate intra-articular lesions, it is unclear how often diagnostic arthroscopy in pediatric patients alters surgical management.

PURPOSE: To determine the utility of diagnostic arthroscopy in young patients undergoing MPFL reconstruction who had no intra-articular chondral or osteochondral pathology, meniscal tears, or loose bodies identified on preoperative MRI, and to characterize intra-articular pathology detected on arthroscopy but not identified on MRI.

STUDY DESIGN: …