Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Treatment Setting And Buprenorphine Discontinuation: An Analysis Of Multi-State Insurance Claims, Kevin Y Xu, Alex K Gertner, Shelly F Greenfield, Arthur Robin Williams, Richard A Grucza

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Potential differences in buprenorphine treatment outcomes across various treatment settings are poorly characterized in multi-state administrative data. We thus evaluated the association of opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment setting and insurance type with risk of buprenorphine discontinuation among commercial insurance and Medicaid enrollees initiated on buprenorphine.

METHODS: In this observational, retrospective cohort study using the Merative MarketScan databases (2006-2016), we analyzed buprenorphine retention in 58,200 US adults with OUD. Predictor variables included insurance status (Medicaid vs commercial) and treatment setting, operationalized as substance use disorder (SUD) specialty treatment facility versus outpatient primary care physicians (PCPs) versus outpatient psychiatry, ascertained …

Defining Clinical Endpoints In Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy: A Grasp-Lgmd Study, Amy Doody, Lindsay Alfano, Jordi Diaz-Manera, Linda Lowes, Tahseen Mozaffar, Katherine D Mathews, Conrad C Weihl, Matthew Wicklund, Man Hung, Jeffrey Statland, Nicholas E Johnson, Grasp-Lgmd Consortium

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophies (LGMDs) are characterized by progressive weakness of the shoulder and hip girdle muscles as a result of over 30 different genetic mutations. This study is designed to develop clinical outcome assessments across the group of disorders.

METHODS/DESIGN: The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the utility of a set of outcome measures on a wide range of LGMD phenotypes and ability levels to determine if it would be possible to use similar outcomes between individuals with different phenotypes. We will perform a multi-center, 12-month study of 188 LGMD patients within the established …

A Journey In Science: Molecular Vaccines For Global Child Health In Troubled Times Of Anti-Science, Peter J Hotez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

My scientific life in translational medicine runs in two parallel, yet often converging paths. The first, is four-decade-long commitment to develop new vaccines for parasitic and neglected tropical diseases, as well as pandemic threats. This includes a vaccine for human hookworm infection that I began as an MD-PhD student in New York City in the 1980s, and a new low-cost COVID vaccine that reached almost 100 million people in low- and middle-income countries. Alongside this life in scientific research, is one in public engagement for vaccine and neglected disease diplomacy to ensure that people who live in extreme poverty can …

Β-Actin G342d As A Cause Of Nk Cell Deficiency Impairing Lytic Synapse Termination, Abigail E Reed, Jackeline Peraza, Frederique Van Den Haak, Evelyn R Hernandez, Richard A Gibbs, Ivan K Chinn, James R Lupski, Enrica Marchi, Ran Reshef, Bachir Alobeid, Emily M Mace, Jordan S Orange

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Natural killer (NK) cell deficiency (NKD) occurs when an individual’s major clinical immunodeficiency derives from abnormal NK cells and is associated with several genetic etiologies. Three categories of β actin-related diseases with over 60 ACTB (β actin) variants have previously been identified, none with a distinct NK cell phenotype. An individual with mild developmental delay, macrothrombocytopenia, susceptibility to infections, molluscum, and EBV-associated lymphoma had functional NK cell deficiency for over a decade. A de novo ACTB variant encoding G342D β actin was identified and was consistent with the individual’s developmental and platelet phenotype. This novel variant also was found to …

Dolutegravir-Induced Neural Tube Defects In Mice Are Folate Responsive, Gabriel L Tukeman, Hui Wei, Ying L Lin, Bogdan J Wlodarczyk, Richard H Finnell, Robert M Cabrera

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objectives: In 2018, the Botswana Tsepamo Study reported a nine-fold increased risk of neural tube defects in infants whose mothers were treated with dolutegravir (DTG) from the time of conception. As maternal folate supplementation and status is a well known modifier of neural tube defect (NTD) risk, we sought to evaluate birth outcomes in mice fed normal and low folic acid diets treated with DTG during pregnancy.

Design: DTG was evaluated for developmental toxicity using pregnant mice fed normal or low folic acid diet.

Methods: CD-1 mice were provided diet with normal (3 mg/kg) or low (0.3 mg/kg) folic acid. …

The Evidence Of Electronic Cigarettes For Harm Reduction Is Not There, Manuel C Pacheco Gallego, Harold J Farber

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploration Of Latina/Hispanic Women's Experiences Living With Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Qualitative Study With Patients In Houston, Natalia I Heredia, Erika Mendoza Duque, Sylvia Ayieko, Amelia Averyt, Lorna H Mcneill, Jessica P Hwang, Maria E Fernandez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: A deeper understanding of the lived experiences of Hispanic patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) can help guide the development of behavioral programs that facilitate NAFLD management. This paper explores Hispanic women's experiences living with NAFLD.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: We collected brief sociodemographic questionnaires and conducted in-depth interviews with 12 low-income (all had household income ≤USD$55 000 per year) Hispanic women with NAFLD from the Houston area. Transcripts were audio-recorded and transcribed. We developed a coding scheme and used thematic analysis to identify emergent themes, supported by Atlas.ti.

RESULTS: Participants identified physicians as their main information source on …

The Effect Of Severe Intraventricular Hemorrhage On The Biorhythms Of Feeding In Premature Infants, Hyun Ho Choi, Soo-Yoon Sung, Bo-In Lee, Hyun Cho, Yunho Jung, Jae Myung Park, Young-Seok Cho, Kang-Moon Lee, Sang Woo Kim, Hwang Choi, Hiun-Suk Chae, Myung-Gyu Choi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study investigated whether the personality traits of endoscopists are associated with the effect of interventions for the improvement of colonoscopy quality.

METHODS: This prospective, multicenter, single-blind study was performed with 13 endoscopists in three health screening centers over a 12-month period. Quality indicators (QIs), including adenoma detection rate (ADR), polyp detection rate (PDR), and withdrawal time, were measured every 3 months. Consecutive interventions for the improvement of colonoscopy quality were conducted every 3 months, which included the personal notification of QIs, the in-group notification of QIs, and finally a targeted "quality education" session. The personality traits of each …

Sabr For Sarcoma Lung Metastases: Indications For Treatment And Guidance For Patient Selection, Ahsan S Farooqi, Alison K Yoder, Heather Y Lin, Dario Pasalic, Jeremy Erasmus, Sonia Betancourt, Cort Wernz, Devarati Mitra, Maria A Zarzour, Neeta Somaiah, Anthony Conley, Ravin Ratan, Andrew Livingston, Dejka M Araujo, Christina Roland, Christopher Scally, Emily Keung, Saumil N Gandhi, B Ashleigh Guadagnolo, Quynh-Nhu Nguyen, Andrew J Bishop

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: The lungs are the most common site of metastasis for patients with soft tissue sarcoma. SABR is commonly employed to treat lung metastases among select patients with sarcoma with limited disease burden. We sought to evaluate outcomes and patterns of failure among patients with sarcoma treated with SABR for their lung metastases.

Methods and materials: We performed a retrospective review of patients treated at a tertiary cancer center between 2006 and 2020. Patient disease status at the time of SABR was categorized as either oligorecurrent or oligoprogressive. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate disease outcomes. Uni- and multivariable …

Clonal Dominance Defines Metastatic Dissemination In Pancreatic Cancer, I-Lin Ho, Chieh-Yuan Li, Fuchenchu Wang, Li Zhao, Jingjing Liu, Er-Yen Yen, Charles A Dyke, Rutvi Shah, Zhaoliang Liu, Ali Osman Çetin, Yanshuo Chu, Francesca Citron, Sergio Attanasio, Denise Corti, Faezeh Darbaniyan, Edoardo Del Poggetto, Sara Loponte, Jintan Liu, Melinda Soeung, Ziheng Chen, Shan Jiang, Hong Jiang, Akira Inoue, Sisi Gao, Angela Deem, Ningping Feng, Haoqiang Ying, Michael Kim, Virginia Giuliani, Giannicola Genovese, Jianhua Zhang, Andrew Futreal, Anirban Maitra, Timothy Heffernan, Linghua Wang, Kim-Anh Do, Gaetano Gargiulo, Giulio Draetta, Alessandro Carugo, Ruitao Lin, Andrea Viale

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tumors represent ecosystems where subclones compete during tumor growth. While extensively investigated, a comprehensive picture of the interplay of clonal lineages during dissemination is still lacking. Using patient-derived pancreatic cancer cells, we created orthotopically implanted clonal replica tumors to trace clonal dynamics of unperturbed tumor expansion and dissemination. This model revealed the multifaceted nature of tumor growth, with rapid changes in clonal fitness leading to continuous reshuffling of tumor architecture and alternating clonal dominance as a distinct feature of cancer growth. Regarding dissemination, a large fraction of tumor lineages could be found at secondary sites each having distinctive organ growth …

Toward Clinical-Grade Evaluation Of Large Language Models, Amy C Moreno, Danielle S Bitterman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Phase I Study Of Oric-101, A Glucocorticoid Receptor Antagonist, In Combination With Enzalutamide In Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Progressing On Enzalutamide, Wassim Abida, Andrew W Hahn, Neal Shore, Neeraj Agarwal, Paul Sieber, Matthew R Smith, Tanya Dorff, Paul Monk, Matthew Rettig, Rupal Patel, Anne Page, Maureen Duff, Rongda Xu, Jian Wang, Shravani Barkund, Aleksandr Pankov, Amber Wang, Melissa R Junttila, Pratik S Multani, Anneleen Daemen, Edna Chow Maneval, Christopher J Logothetis, Michael J Morris

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Increased glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling is a proposed compensatory mechanism of resistance to androgen receptor (AR) inhibition in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). ORIC-101 is a potent and selective orally-bioavailable GR antagonist.

Patients and methods: Safety, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic, and antitumor activity of ORIC-101 in combination with enzalutamide were studied in patients with mCRPC progressing on enzalutamide. ORIC-101 doses ranging from 80 to 240 mg once daily were tested in combination with enzalutamide 160 mg once daily. Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics was assessed after a single dose and at steady state. Disease control rate (DCR) at 12 weeks was evaluated at the recommended phase …

Validation Of A Multiomic Model Of Plasma Extracellular Vesicle Pd-L1 And Radiomics For Prediction Of Response To Immunotherapy In Nsclc, Diego De Miguel-Perez, Murat Ak, Priyadarshini Mamindla, Alessandro Russo, Serafettin Zenkin, Nursima Ak, Vishal Peddagangireddy, Luis Lara-Mejia, Muthukumar Gunasekaran, Andres F Cardona, Aung Naing, Fred R Hirsch, Oscar Arrieta, Rivka R Colen, Christian Rolfo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have showed unprecedent efficacy in the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, not all patients manifest clinical benefit due to the lack of reliable predictive biomarkers. We showed preliminary data on the predictive role of the combination of radiomics and plasma extracellular vesicle (EV) PD-L1 to predict durable response to ICIs.

MAIN BODY: Here, we validated this model in a prospective cohort of patients receiving ICIs plus chemotherapy and compared it with patients undergoing chemotherapy alone. This multiparametric model showed high sensitivity and specificity at identifying non-responders to ICIs and outperformed …

Case Report: Molecular Profiling Facilitates The Diagnosis Of A Challenging Case Of Lung Cancer With Choriocarcinoma Features, Hui Li, Xin Hu, Matthew S Ning, Gregory N Fuller, John M Stewart, Jared C Gilliam, Jia Wu, Xiuning Le, Ara A Vaporciyan, J Jack Lee, Don L Gibbons, John V Heymach, Andrew Futreal, Jianjun Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Accurate diagnoses are crucial in determining the most effective treatment across different cancers. In challenging cases, morphology-based traditional pathology methods have important limitations, while molecular profiling can provide valuable information to guide clinical decisions. We present a 35-year female with lung cancer with choriocarcinoma features. Her disease involved the right lower lung, brain, and thoracic lymph nodes. The pathology from brain metastasis was reported as "metastatic choriocarcinoma" (a germ cell tumor) by local pathologists. She initiated carboplatin and etoposide, a regimen for choriocarcinoma. Subsequently, her case was assessed by pathologists from an academic cancer center, who gave the diagnosis of …

The Digital Transition: Are Adults Aged 65 Years Or Older Willing To Complete Online Forms And Questionnaires In Patient Portals?, Nancy P Gordon, Sherry Zhang, Joan C Lo, Christina F Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Patients are being encouraged to complete forms electronically using patient portals rather than on paper, but willingness of older adults to make this transition is uncertain.

METHODS: The authors analyzed data for 4105 Kaiser Permanente Northern California 2020 Member Health Survey respondents aged 65-85 years who answered a question about willingness to complete online forms and questionnaires using a patient portal. Data weighted to the Kaiser Permanente Northern California membership were used to estimate percentages of older adults willing to complete patient portal forms and questionnaires. Chi-square tests and log-Poisson regression models that included sociodemographic, internet use, and patient …

Safety And Efficacy Of Ibrutinib In Combination With Rituximab And Lenalidomide In Previously Untreated Follicular And Marginal Zone Lymphoma: An Open Label, Phase 2 Study, Max J Gordon, Lei Feng, Paolo Strati, Hun Ju Lee, Fredrick B Hagemeister, Jason R Westin, Felipe Samaniego, Mario L Marques-Piubelli, Francisco Vega Vazquez, Edwin R Parra Cuentas, Luisa M Solis-Soto, Wencai Ma, Jing Wang, Linda Claret, Barbara Averill, Karina Ibanez, Luis E Fayad, Christopher R Flowers, Michael R Green, R Eric Davis, Sattva S Neelapu, Nathan H Fowler, Loretta J Nastoupil

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Follicular lymphoma (FL) and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) are indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas (iNHL). Median survival for iNHL is approximately 20 years. Because standard treatments are not curative, patients often receive multiple lines of therapy with associated toxicity-rationally designed, combination therapies with curative potential are needed. The immunomodulatory drug lenalidomide was evaluated in combination with rituximab for the frontline treatment of FL in the phase 3 RELEVANCE study. Ibrutinib, an oral Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is active in NHL and was evaluated in combination with lenalidomide, rituximab, and ibrutinib (IRR) in a phase 1 study.

Methods: The authors conducted an …

Effects Of A Liquefied Petroleum Gas Stove Intervention On Stillbirth, Congenital Anomalies And Neonatal Mortality: A Multi-Country Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial, Ashley Younger, Ashley Toenjes, Lindsay J Underhill, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Household air pollution (HAP) from cooking with solid fuels used during pregnancy has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. The Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial was a randomized controlled trial that assessed the impact of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove and fuel intervention on health in Guatemala, India, Peru, and Rwanda. Here we investigated the effects of the LPG stove and fuel intervention on stillbirth, congenital anomalies and neonatal mortality and characterized exposure-response relationships between personal exposures to fine particulate matter (PM

Outpatient Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma Recipient Antibody Thresholds Correlated To Reduced Hospitalizations Within A Randomized Trial, Han-Sol Park, Anna Yin, Caelan Barranta, John S Lee, Christopher A Caputo, Jaiprasath Sachithanandham, Maggie Li, Steve Yoon, Ioannis Sitaras, Anne Jedlicka, Yolanda Eby, Malathi Ram, Reinaldo E Fernandez, Owen R Baker, Aarthi G Shenoy, Giselle S Mosnaim, Yuriko Fukuta, Bela Patel, Sonya L Heath, Adam C Levine, Barry R Meisenberg, Emily S Spivak, Shweta Anjan, Moises A Huaman, Janis E Blair, Judith S Currier, James H Paxton, Jonathan M Gerber, Joann R Petrini, Patrick B Broderick, William Rausch, Marie Elena Cordisco, Jean Hammel, Benjamin Greenblatt, Valerie C Cluzet, Daniel Cruser, Kevin Oei, Matthew Abinante, Laura L Hammitt, Catherine G Sutcliffe, Donald N Forthal, Martin S Zand, Edward R Cachay, Jay S Raval, Seble G Kassaye, Christi E Marshall, Anusha Yarava, Karen Lane, Nichol A Mcbee, Amy L Gawad, Nicky Karlen, Atika Singh, Daniel E Ford, Douglas A Jabs, Lawrence J Appel, David M Shade, Bryan Lau, Stephan Ehrhardt, Sheriza N Baksh, Janna R Shapiro, Jiangda Ou, Yu Bin Na, Maria D Knoll, Elysse Ornelas-Gatdula, Netzahualcoyotl Arroyo-Curras, Thomas J Gniadek, Patrizio Caturegli, Jinke Wu, Nelson Ndahiro, Michael J Betenbaugh, Alyssa Ziman, Daniel F Hanley, Arturo Casadevall, Shmuel Shoham, Evan M Bloch, Kelly A Gebo, Aaron Ar Tobian, Oliver Laeyendecker, Andrew Pekosz, Sabra L Klein, David J Sullivan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND

COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) virus-specific antibody levels that translate into recipient posttransfusion antibody levels sufficient to prevent disease progression are not defined.

METHODS

This secondary analysis correlated donor and recipient antibody levels to hospitalization risk among unvaccinated, seronegative CCP recipients within the outpatient, double-blind, randomized clinical trial that compared CCP to control plasma. The majority of COVID-19 CCP arm hospitalizations (15/17, 88%) occurred in this unvaccinated, seronegative subgroup. A functional cutoff to delineate recipient high versus low posttransfusion antibody levels was established by 2 methods: (i) analyzing virus neutralization–equivalent anti–Spike receptor-binding domain immunoglobulin G (anti-S-RBD IgG) responses in donors …

Utility Of Peripheral Protein Biomarkers For The Prediction Of Incident Interstitial Features: A Multicentre Retrospective Cohort Study, Samuel Ash, Tracy J Doyle, Bina Choi, Ruben San Jose Estepar, Victor Castro, Nicholas Enzer, Ravi Kalhan, Gabrielle Liu, Russell Bowler, David O Wilson, Raul San Jose Estepar, Ivan O Rosas, George R Washko

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION/RATIONALE: Protein biomarkers may help enable the prediction of incident interstitial features on chest CT.

METHODS: We identified which protein biomarkers in a cohort of smokers (COPDGene) differed between those with and without objectively measured interstitial features at baseline using a univariate screen (t-test false discovery rate, FDR p

RESULTS: In COPDGene, 1305 biomarkers were available and 20 differed between those with and without interstitial features at baseline. Of these, 11 were associated with feature progression over a mean of 5.5 years of follow-up, and of these 4 were available in PLuSS, (angiopoietin-2, matrix metalloproteinase 7, macrophage inflammatory protein 1 …

Opportunities And Challenges For The Use Of Deep Brain Stimulation In The Treatment Of Refractory Major Depression, Prashin Unadkat, Joao Quevedo, Jair Soares, Albert Fenoy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Major Depressive Disorder continues to remain one of the most prevalent psychiatric diseases globally. Despite multiple trials of conventional therapies, a subset of patients fail to have adequate benefit to treatment. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising treatment in this difficult to treat population and has shown strong antidepressant effects across multiple cohorts. Nearly two decades of work have provided insights into the potential for chronic focal stimulation in precise brain targets to modulate pathological brain circuits that are implicated in the pathogenesis of depression. In this paper we review the rationale that prompted the selection of various brain …

Effect Of Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Treatment On Early Trajectories Of Virologic And Immunologic Biomarkers In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19, Tomas O Jensen, Greg A Grandits, Mamta K Jain, Thomas A Murray, Birgit Grund, Kathryn Shaw-Saliba, Michael A Matthay, Mahsa Abassi, Magdalena Ardelt, Jason V Baker, Peter Chen, Robin L Dewar, Anna L Goodman, Timothy J Hatlen, Helene C Highbarger, Mark Holodniy, Perrine Lallemand, Sylvain Laverdure, Bradley G Leshnower, David Looney, Charalampos D Moschopoulos, Henry Mugerwa, Daniel D Murray, Eleftherios Mylonakis, Stephanie Nagy-Agren, M Tauseef Rehman, Adam Rupert, Randy A Stevens, Stuart Turville, Amy Weintrob, Katherine Wick, Jens Lundgren, Emily R Ko

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nmAbs) failed to show clear benefit for hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Dynamics of virologic and immunologic biomarkers remain poorly understood.

METHODS: Participants enrolled in the Therapeutics for Inpatients with COVID-19 trials were randomized to nmAb versus placebo. Longitudinal differences between treatment and placebo groups in levels of plasma nucleocapsid antigen (N-Ag), anti-nucleocapsid antibody, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and D-dimer at enrollment, day 1, 3, and 5 were estimated using linear mixed models. A 7-point pulmonary ordinal scale assessed at day 5 was compared using proportional odds models.

RESULTS: Analysis included 2149 participants enrolled between …

Btn1a1 Is A Novel Immune Checkpoint Mutually Exclusive To Pd-L1, Young-Seung Kim, Seung-Hoon Lee, Andrew H Park, Chunai Wu, Bong-Ki Hong, Hyunjin Jung, Steven H Lin, Stephen S Yoo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: While Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) blockade is a potent antitumor treatment strategy, it is effective in only limited subsets of patients with cancer, emphasizing the need for the identification of additional immune checkpoints. Butyrophilin 1A1 (BTN1A1) has been reported to exhibit potential immunoregulatory activity, but its ability to function as an immune checkpoint remains to be systematically assessed, and the mechanisms underlying such activity have yet to be characterized.

METHODS: BTN1A1 expression was evaluated in primary tumor tissue samples, and its ability to suppress T-cell activation and T cell-dependent tumor clearance was examined. …

Effect Of Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Treatment On Early Trajectories Of Virologic And Immunologic Biomarkers In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19, Tomas O Jensen, Greg A Grandits, Mamta K Jain, Thomas A Murray, Birgit Grund, Kathryn Shaw-Saliba, Michael A Matthay, Mahsa Abassi, Magdalena Ardelt, Jason V Baker, Peter Chen, Robin L Dewar, Anna L Goodman, Timothy J Hatlen, Helene C Highbarger, Mark Holodniy, Perrine Lallemand, Sylvain Laverdure, Bradley G Leshnower, David Looney, Charalampos D Moschopoulos, Henry Mugerwa, Daniel D Murray, Eleftherios Mylonakis, Stephanie Nagy-Agren, M Tauseef Rehman, Adam Rupert, Randy A Stevens, Stuart Turville, Amy Weintrob, Katherine Wick, Jens Lundgren, Emily R Ko, Activ-3/Tico Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nmAbs) failed to show clear benefit for hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Dynamics of virologic and immunologic biomarkers remain poorly understood.

METHODS: Participants enrolled in the Therapeutics for Inpatients with COVID-19 trials were randomized to nmAb versus placebo. Longitudinal differences between treatment and placebo groups in levels of plasma nucleocapsid antigen (N-Ag), anti-nucleocapsid antibody, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and D-dimer at enrollment, day 1, 3, and 5 were estimated using linear mixed models. A 7-point pulmonary ordinal scale assessed at day 5 was compared using proportional odds models.

RESULTS: Analysis included 2149 participants enrolled between …

Resolution Of Severe Portopulmonary Hypertension With Inhaled Treprostinil And Liver Transplantation, Alex J Chang, Choon Hwa Goh

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Portopulmonary hypertension is a rare condition with a poor prognosis. Prompt management is essential for liver transplantation eligibility, a potentially curative option. This report presents a case of severe portopulmonary hypertension that resolved with a conservative therapeutic regimen of tadalafil, macitentan, and inhaled treprostinil, which ultimately enabled successful liver transplantation. There was no recurrence of pulmonary hypertension after transplantation, and the patient was weaned off most pulmonary arterial hypertension therapies. This case report is the first to provide evidence that inhaled treprostinil is a safe and effective alternative to continuous intravenous prostacyclins in portopulmonary hypertension.

An Exposome Atlas Of Serum Reveals The Risk Of Chronic Diseases In The Chinese Population, Lei You, Jing Kou, Mengdie Wang, Guoqin Ji, Xiang Li, Chang Su, Fujian Zheng, Mingye Zhang, Yuting Wang, Tiantian Chen, Ting Li, Lina Zhou, Xianzhe Shi, Chunxia Zhao, Xinyu Liu, Surong Mei, Guowang Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although adverse environmental exposures are considered a major cause of chronic diseases, current studies provide limited information on real-world chemical exposures and related risks. For this study, we collected serum samples from 5696 healthy people and patients, including those with 12 chronic diseases, in China and completed serum biomonitoring including 267 chemicals via gas and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Seventy-four highly frequently detected exposures were used for exposure characterization and risk analysis. The results show that region is the most critical factor influencing human exposure levels, followed by age. Organochlorine pesticides and perfluoroalkyl substances are associated with multiple chronic diseases, …

A Novel Staging System To Consolidate Silent Sinus Syndrome And Chronic Maxillary Atelectasis: A Systematic Review And Case Series, Dev Amin, Shreya Mandloi, Kathryn Nunes, Neha Garg, Chase Kahn, Alexander Duffy, Elina Toskala, Mindy Rabinowitz, Marc Rosen, Gurston Nyquist

Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Faculty Papers

Key points:

• Silent sinus syndrome (SSS) and chronic maxillary atelectasis (CMA) represent an overlapping clinical entity, both likely lying on the spectrum of one disease process.
• There is widespread inconsistency of diagnosis in the literature of reported cases of SSS and CMA.
• We propose a novel, comprehensive staging system to simplify diagnosis and inform management.

Strabismus Management In Retinoblastoma Survivors, Babak Masoomian, Carol L. Shields, Hamid Riazi Esfahani, Atefeh Khalili, Fariba Ghassemi, Pukhraj Rishi, Mohammad Reza Akbari, Masoud Khorrami-Nejad

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

PURPOSE: To report the result of strabismus surgery in eye-salvaged retinoblastoma (Rb) patients.

METHODS: A retrospective case series including 18 patients with Rb and strabismus who underwent strabismus surgery after completing tumor treatment by a single pediatric ophthalmologist.

RESULTS: A total of 18 patients (10 females and 8 males) were included with a mean age of 13.3 ± 3.0 (range, 2-39) months at the time tumor presentation and 6.0 ± 1.5 (range, 4-9) years at the time of strabismus surgery. Ten (56%) patients had unilateral and 8(44%) had bilateral involvement and the most common worse eye tumor's group was D …

Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Values Predict Response To Brachytherapy In Bulky Cervical Cancer, Elizabeth E Dong, Junqian Xu, Joo-Won Kim, Jason Bryan, Jewel Appleton, Daniel A Hamstra, Michelle S Ludwig, Alexander N Hanania

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) provides a measurement of tumor cellularity. We evaluated the potential of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values obtained from post-external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) DWI and prior to brachytherapy (BT) to predict for complete metabolic response (CMR) in bulky cervical cancer.

METHODS: Clinical and DWI (b value = 500 s/mm2) data were obtained from patients undergoing interstitial BT with high-risk clinical target volumes (HR-CTVs) > 30 cc. Volumes were contoured on co-registered T2 weighted images and 90th percentile ADC values were calculated. Patients were stratified by CMR (defined by PET-CT at three months post-BT). Relation of …

Retrospective Evaluation Of Penguin Cold Caps For Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia., Dale Weaver, Michelle L Pershing, Bethany Golden, Laura Hammel, Pauline Kefalas Russ, Mark Cripe

Oncology Articles

BACKGROUND: Scalp cooling is an increasingly recognized non-pharmacologic approach to minimize chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA). Several commercially available machine-based and manual scalp cooling systems are available; however, literature reports of effectiveness are highly variable. The purpose of this study was to determine real-world tolerability and subjective effectiveness of a manual cold capping system in minimizing CIA across a variety of patient race and hair types. This study was a single-institution review of outcomes from manual cold capping.

METHODS: We identified retrospective cohort of adult patients who presented to discuss cold capping between January 14, 2019, and March 31, 2022. Data collected …

Quality Improvement In Public-Private Partnerships In Low- And Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review, Cassandra Iroz, Rohit Ramaswamy, Zulfiqar Bhutta, Paul Barach

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Public-private partnerships (PPP) are often how health improvement programs are implemented in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). We therefore aimed to systematically review the literature about the aim and impacts of quality improvement (QI) approaches in PPP in LMICs.

METHODS: We searched SCOPUS and grey literature for studies published before March 2022. One reviewer screened abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. The study characteristics, setting, design, outcomes, and lessons learned were abstracted using a standard tool and reviewed in detail by a second author.

RESULTS: We identified 9,457 citations, of which 144 met the inclusion criteria and underwent full-text abstraction. We …