Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Methylome-Wide Association Analyses Of Lipids And Modifying Effects Of Behavioral Factors In Diverse Race And Ethnicity Participants, Yao Hu, Jeff Haessler, Jessica I Lundin, Burcu F Darst, Eric A Whitsel, Megan Grove, Weihua Guan, Rui Xia, Mindy Szeto, Laura M Raffield, Scott Ratliff, Yuxuan Wang, Xuzhi Wang, Alison E Fohner, Megan T Lynch, Yesha M Patel, S Lani Park, Huichun Xu, Braxton D Mitchell, Joshua C Bis, Nona Sotoodehnia, Jennifer A Brody, Bruce M Psaty, Gina M Peloso, Michael Y Tsai, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Jennifer A Smith, Sharon L R Kardia, Alex P Reiner, Leslie Lange, Myriam Fornage, James S Pankow, Mariaelisa Graff, Kari E North, Charles Kooperberg, Ulrike Peters

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Circulating lipid concentrations are clinically associated with cardiometabolic diseases. The phenotypic variance explained by identified genetic variants remains limited, highlighting the importance of searching for additional factors beyond genetic sequence variants. DNA methylation has been linked to lipid concentrations in previous studies, although most of the studies harbored moderate sample sizes and exhibited underrepresentation of non-European ancestry populations. In addition, knowledge of nongenetic factors on lipid profiles is extremely limited. In the Population Architecture Using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) Study, we performed methylome-wide association analysis on 9,561 participants from diverse race and ethnicity backgrounds for HDL-c, LDL-c, TC, and TG …

Long-Term Patient-Reported Bowel And Urinary Quality Of Life In Patients Treated With Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy Versus Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy For Localized Prostate Cancer, Kimberly R Gergelis, Miao Bai, Jiasen Ma, David M Routman, Bradley J Stish, Brian J Davis, Thomas M Pisansky, Thomas J Whitaker, Richard Choo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This study aimed to compare long-term patient-reported outcomes in bowel and urinary domains between intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) for localized prostate cancer.

Methods and materials: Patients with clinical T1-T2 prostate cancer receiving IMRT or IMPT at a tertiary cancer center from 2015-2018 were analyzed to determine the changes in the prospectively collected bowel function (BF), urinary irritative/obstructive symptoms (UO), and urinary incontinence (UI) domains of EPIC-26. The mean changes in EPIC-26 scores were evaluated from pretreatment to 24 months post-radiotherapy for each modality. A score change >50% of the baseline standard deviation was considered a …

The Microbiome-Restorative Potential Of Ibezapolstat For The Treatment Of Clostridioides Difficile Infection Is Predicted Through Variant Polc-Type Dna Polymerase Iii In Lachnospiraceae And Oscillospiraceae, Jacob K Mcpherson, Julian G Hurdle, Matthew L Baker, Tahir Hussain, Ashok Kumar, Kevin W Garey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Ibezapolstat (IBZ), a first-in-class antibiotic targeting the PolC-type DNA polymerase III alpha-subunit (PolC) in low G + C bacteria, is in clinical development for the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). In the phase 2 trials, IBZ had potent activity against C. difficile while sparing or causing regrowth of Lachnospiraceae, Oscillospiraceae, and Erysipelotrichales, common commensal low G + C bacteria. The purpose of this study was to utilize in silico approaches to better interpret the narrower than expected IBZ spectrum of activity. IBZ susceptibility to human commensal microbiota was predicted using genomic analysis and PolC phylogenetic tree construction in relation …

Chronic Viral Mimicry Induction Following P53 Loss Promotes Immune Evasion, Charles A Ishak, Sajid A Marhon, Naïri Tchrakian, Anjelica Hodgson, Helen Loo Yau, Isabela M Gonzaga, Melanie Peralta, Ilinca M Lungu, Stephanie Gomez, Sheng-Ben Liang, Shu Yi Shen, Raymond Chen, Jocelyn Chen, Biji Chatterjee, Kevin N Wanniarachchi, Junwoo Lee, Nicholas Zehrbach, Amir Hosseini, Parinaz Mehdipour, Siyu Sun, Alexander Solovyov, Ilias Ettayebi, Kyle E Francis, Aobo He, Taiyi Wu, Shengrui Feng, Tiago Da Silva Medina, Felipe Campos De Almeida, Jane Bayani, Jason Li, Spencer Macdonald, Yadong Wang, Sarah S Garcia, Elisa Arthofer, Noor Diab, Aneil Srivastava, Paul Tran Austin, Peter J B Sabatini, Benjamin D Greenbaum, Catherine A O'Brien, Trevor G Shepherd, Ming Sound Tsao, Katherine B Chiappinelli, Amit M Oza, Blaise A Clarke, Robert Rottapel, Stephanie Lheureux, Daniel D De Carvalho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Epigenetic therapies facilitate transcription of immunogenic repetitive elements that cull cancer cells through ‘viral mimicry’ responses. Paradoxically, cancer-initiating events also facilitate transcription of repetitive elements. Contributions of repetitive element transcription towards cancer initiation, and the mechanisms by which cancer cells evade lethal viral mimicry responses during tumor initiation remain poorly understood. In this report, we characterize premalignant lesions of the fallopian tube along with syngeneic epithelial ovarian cancer models to explore the earliest events of tumorigenesis following loss of the p53 tumor suppressor protein. We report that p53 loss permits transcription of immunogenic repetitive elements and chronic viral mimicry activation …

Conformal Predictive Intervals In Survival Analysis: A Resampling Approach, Jing Qin, Jin Piao, Jing Ning, Yu Shen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The distribution-free method of conformal prediction has gained considerable attention in computer science, machine learning, and statistics. Candès et al. extended this method to right-censored survival data, addressing right-censoring complexity by creating a covariate shift setting, extracting a subcohort of subjects with censoring times exceeding a fixed threshold. Their approach only estimates the lower prediction bound for type I censoring, where all subjects have available censoring times regardless of their failure status. In medical applications, we often encounter more general right-censored data, observing only the minimum of failure time and censoring time. Subjects with observed failure times have unavailable censoring …

Computational Sensitivity Evaluation Of Ultrasound Neuromodulation Resolution To Brain Tissue Sound Speed With Robust Beamforming, Boqiang Fan, Wayne Goodman, Sameer A Sheth, Richard R Bouchard, Behnaam Aazhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) neuromodulation requires precise targeting and high resolution enabled by phased array transducers and beamforming. However, focusing optimization usually relies on phantom measurements or simulations with inaccurate acoustic properties to degrade neuromodulation resolution. Therefore, this work analyzes the sensitivity of neuromodulation resolution, measured by off-target activation area (OTAA), to brain tissue sound speed. A Robust Optimal Resolution (ROR) beamforming method is proposed to minimize the worst-case OTAA with restricted sound speed inaccuracy and propagation information estimated with deviated sound speed. The propagation estimation model utilizes equivalent source method (ESM) to map sound field between different acoustic parameter …

Identifiability And Model Selection Frameworks For Models Of High-Grade Glioma Response To Chemoradiation, Khushi C Hiremath, Kenan Atakishi, Ernesto A B F Lima, Maguy Farhat, Bikash Panthi, Holly Langshaw, Mihir D Shanker, Wasif Talpur, Sara Thrower, Jodi Goldman, Caroline Chung, Thomas E Yankeelov, David A Hormuth Ii

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We have developed a family of biology-based mathematical models of high-grade glioma (HGG), capturing the key features of tumour growth and response to chemoradiation. We now seek to quantify the accuracy of parameter estimation and determine, when given a virtual patient cohort, which model was used to generate the tumours. In this way, we systematically test both the parameter and model identifiability. Virtual patients are generated from unique growth parameters whose growth dynamics are determined by the model family. We then assessed the ability to recover model parameters and select the model used to generate the tumour. We then evaluated …

Zp4: A Novel Target For Car-T Cell Therapy In Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Lauren K Somes, Jonathan T Lei, Xinpei Yi, Diego F Chamorro, Paul Shafer, Ahmed Z Gad, Lacey E Dobrolecki, Emily Madaras, Nabil Ahmed, Michael T Lewis, Bing Zhang, Valentina Hoyos

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains one of the most challenging subtypes of breast cancer to treat due to a lack of effective targeted therapies. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells hold promise, but their efficacy in solid tumors is often limited by on-target/off-tumor toxicities. Through comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of public RNA and proteomic data, we identified zona pellucida glycoprotein 4 (ZP4) as a novel target for TNBC. ZP4 RNA and protein were detected in a subset of TNBC patient samples and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, with expression otherwise restricted to oocytes. We generated 89 ZP4-specific novel monoclonal antibodies and used the …

Epidemiologic Investigation Of Protozoa And Soil-Transmitted Helminths In Starr County, Texas, Lauren M Leining, Timothy A Erickson, Craig L Hanis, Cici Bauer, Maya D Murry, Eric L Brown, Rojelio Mejia, Sarah M Gunter

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The burden of pathogenic enteric protozoa and soil-transmitted helminths among impoverished populations living on the Texas-Mexico border is unclear. We conducted a cross-sectional study on an ongoing longitudinal cohort of 616 adults residing in Starr County, Texas. A total of 359 adults were screened for four protozoa and five soil-transmitted helminths by using real-time polymerase chain reaction. This analysis identified 48 (13.4%) participants who tested positive for Blastocystis sp., three (0.8%) who tested positive for Giardia intestinalis, and one (0.3%) who tested positive for Strongyloides stercoralis and was also coinfected with Blastocystis sp. Infection was significantly associated with age, a …

Bone-Induced Her2 Promotes Secondary Metastasis In Hr+/Her2- Breast Cancer, Rahat Alam, Anna Reva, David G Edwards, Bree M Lege, Laura S Munoz-Arcos, Carolina Reduzzi, Swarnima Singh, Xiaoxin Hao, Yi-Hsuan Wu, Zeru Tian, Laura M Natalee, Gargi Damle, Deniz Demircioglu, Yixian Wang, Ling Wu, Elisabetta Molteni, Dan Hasson, Bora Lim, Zbigniew Gugala, Jerry E Chipuk, Julie E Lang, Joseph A Sparano, Chonghui Cheng, Massimo Cristofanilli, Han Xiao, Xiang H-F Zhang, Igor L Bado

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Bone metastases can disseminate to secondary sites and promote breast cancer progression creating additional clinical challenges. The mechanisms contributing to secondary metastasis are barely understood. Here, we evaluate the prediction power of Her2-expressing (Her2E) circulating tumor cells (CTCs) after analyzing over 13,000 CTCs from a cohort of 137 metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients with initial HR+/Her2− status and employ preclinical models of bone metastasis (BM) to validate the role of Her2E CTCs in multi-organ metastases. While Her2 expression was higher in patients with bone metastasis, experimental analyses revealed that Her2E CTCs derived from bone lesions were more dependent on Her2 …

Prdm1 Is A Key Regulator Of The Nkt-Cell Central Memory Program And Effector Function, Gengwen Tian, Gabriel A Barragan, Hangjin Yu, Claudia Martinez-Amador, Akshaya Adaikkalavan, Xavier Rios, Linjie Guo, Janice M Drabek, Osmay Pardias, Xin Xu, Antonino Montalbano, Chunchao Zhang, Yanchuan Li, Amy N Courtney, Erica J Di Pierro, Leonid S Metelitsa

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Natural killer T cells (NKTs) are a promising platform for cancer immunotherapy, but few genes involved in the regulation of NKT therapeutic activity have been identified. To find regulators of NKT functional fitness, we developed a CRISPR/Cas9-based mutagenesis screen that uses a guide RNA (gRNA) library targeting 1,118 immune-related genes. Unmodified NKTs and NKTs expressing a GD2-specific chimeric antigen receptor (GD2.CAR) were transduced with the gRNA library and exposed to CD1d+ leukemia or CD1d-GD2+ neuroblastoma cells, respectively, over six challenge cycles in vitro. Quantification of gRNA abundance revealed enrichment of PRDM1-specific gRNAs in both NKTs and GD2.CAR NKTs, a result …

A Prospective, Multicenter Analysis Of Recurrence-Free Survival After Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Decisions Influenced By The 31-Gep., J Michael Guenther, Andrew Ward, Brian J Martin, Mark Cripe, Timothy Beard, Oliver Wisco, Rohit Sharma, Stanley P Leong, Richard Essner, Joseph I Clark, John Hamner, Brenda Sickle-Santanello, Maki Yamamoto

Oncology Articles

BACKGROUND: Although most patients with cutaneous melanoma (CM) will have a negative sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), up to 20%-30% of these patients will recur. The 31-gene expression profile (31-GEP) test has been prospectively validated to identify patients at low (Class 1A), intermediate (Class 1B/2A), and high (Class 2B) risk of SLN positivity and recurrence.

METHODS: DECIDE is a prospective, multicenter study to assess the effect of 31-GEP testing on SLNB performance rates in patients with T1-T2 tumors considering SLNB and to study long-term outcomes. Here, we assessed outcomes in patients with a Class 1A 31-GEP result (n = 130). …

Fostering Autonomy And Self Efficacy: An Informal Caregiver's Guide To Encouraging Participation In Self-Care, Jade A. Evans, Steven M. Gerardi, Precious Osuoha

Spring 2025 OTD Capstone Symposium

Helping Hands and Active Lives is a practical guidebook designed to empower informal caregivers to support senior independence and well-being. It offers evidence-based strategies to enhance communication, mobility, and daily function while emphasizing the impact of caregiving approaches on occupational success.

Semi-Parametric Testing For Ordinal Treatment Effects In Time-To-Event Data Via Dynamic Dirichlet Process Mixtures Of The Inverse-Gaussian Distribution., Jonathan A Race, Amy S Ruppert, Yvonne Efebera, Michael L Pennell

Ambulatory and Primary Care Articles

Time-to-event data often violate the proportional hazards assumption under which the log-rank test is optimal. Such violations are especially common in the sphere of biological and medical data where heterogeneity due to unmeasured covariates or time varying effects are common. A variety of parametric survival models have been proposed in the literature which make more appropriate assumptions on the hazard function, at least for certain applications. One such model is derived from the first hitting time paradigm which assumes that a subject's event time is determined by a latent stochastic process reaching a threshold value. Several random effects specifications of …

Project Gender Nutriscope: Methods Of A Mixed Methods, Community-Engaged Study Design To Explore The Nutritional Needs Of Transgender And Gender-Diverse Youth And Young Adults., Heather E Schier, Krithika Chetty, Shivakriti Induri, Liam Gallagher, Miriam Knopp, Julie Kennel, Whitney Linsenmeyer, Avery M Anderson, Matthew Adkins, Irene E Hatsu, Janna D Stephens, Carolyn Gunther

Ambulatory and Primary Care Articles

OBJECTIVE: Despite growing evidence of distinct nutrition-related experiences and disparities, transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth and young adults are an underrepresented population in nutrition research. This paper describes the methods and study design from Project Gender NutriScope, a study that will explore the nutritional needs of TGD youth and young adults.

DESIGN: Parallel convergent cross-sectional mixed methods; community-engaged.

SETTING: A purposive sample will be recruited in a Midwest city through clinics, youth organizations, and a large state university.

PARTICIPANTS: Transgender and gender-diverse youth and young adults aged 13-24 years.

INTERVENTION: Findings from this formative study will be used to inform …

Cerebral Air Embolism: Process Change With Unintended Consequences., J J Baumann, Michelle Hill, Amy Swank, Ricky Medel

Neuroscience Articles

INTRODUCTION: During a cerebrovascular procedure, diligent care is made to ensure no air is present in lines and connectors. Should air enter the cerebral vasculature, cerebral air emboli can cause worsening neurological outcome or death. This communication outlines how a process change of refrigerating mixed heparin for storage lead to the presence of unintentional air, or off-gassing of the fluid.

MATERIAL & METHOD: The off-gassing phenomenon was noted during procedure. Various hypotheses were considered, including fluid preparation and manufacturing defects of lines and tubes. Further investigation identified a new process in mixing of heparin bags that were then refrigerated. The …

The Relationship Between Physical Activity And Telomere Length In Women: A Systematic Review, Jeni Page, Catherine Stephens, Melissa Richard, Elizabeth Lyons, Elizabeth Baumler, M Terese Verklan, Elizabeth Lorenzo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Telomere length (TL) is a biomarker of cellular aging with variations observed by sex, age, race, and ethnicity. Prior studies have suggested that physical activity (PA) may positively impact TL by potentially elongating telomeres and slowing cellular aging. However, research examining the optimal type and intensity of PA needed to elicit these changes specific to women remains limited. This systematic review aimed to investigate variations in TL in response to PA among women, exploring how these effects differ by age, race, or ethnicity. Following PRISMA guidelines, searches across five databases identified 17 relevant studies published from 2008 to 2022. A …

An Examination Of Ambulatory Care Code Specificity Utilization In Icd-10-Cm Compared To Icd-9-Cm: Implications For Icd-11 Implementation, Susan H Fenton, Cassandra Ciminello, Vickie M Mays, Mary H Stanfill, Valerie Watzlaf

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: The ICD-10-CM classification system contains more specificity than its predecessor ICD-9-CM. A stated reason for transitioning to ICD-10-CM was to increase the availability of detailed data. This study aims to determine whether the increased specificity contained in ICD-10-CM is utilized in the ambulatory care setting and inform an evidence-based approach to evaluate ICD-11 content for implementation planning in the United States.

Materials and methods: Diagnosis codes and text descriptions were extracted from a 25% random sample of the IQVIA Ambulatory EMR-US database for 2014 (ICD-9-CM, n = 14 327 155) and 2019 (ICD-10-CM, n = 13 062 900). Code …

Neuroimmune Mechanisms Of Type 2 Inflammation In The Skin And Lung, Masato Tamari, Aaron M Ver Heul

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Type 2 inflammation has a major role in barrier tissues such as the skin and airways and underlies common conditions including atopic dermatitis (AD) and asthma. Cytokines including interleukin 4 (IL-4), IL-5, and IL-13 are key immune signatures of type 2 inflammation and are the targets of multiple specific therapeutics for allergic diseases. Despite shared core immune mechanisms, the distinct structures and functions of the skin and airways lead to unique therapeutic responses. It is increasingly recognized that the nervous system has a major role in sensing and directing inflammatory processes. Indeed, crosstalk between type 2 immune activation and somatosensory …

Enhancing Human Nk Cell Antitumor Function By Knocking Out Smad4 To Counteract Tgfβ And Activin A Suppression, Anna Rea, Bishan Bhattarai, Marco Colonna, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) and activin A suppress natural killer (NK) cell function and proliferation, limiting the efficacy of adoptive NK cell therapies. Inspired by the partial resistance to TGFβ of NK cells with SMAD4 haploinsufficiency, we used CRISPR-Cas9 for knockout of SMAD4 in human NK cells. Here we show that SMAD4

Antibody Responses In Klebsiella Pneumoniae Bloodstream Infection: A Prospective Cohort Study, Wontae Hwang, Paeton L Wantuch, David A Rosen, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Klebsiella pneumoniae is a leading cause of infection-related deaths globally, yet little is known about human antibody responses to invasive K pneumoniae. We sought to determine whether the O-specific polysaccharide antigen is immunogenic in humans with K pneumoniae bloodstream infection. We also sought to define the cross-reactivity of human antibody responses among structurally related K pneumoniae O-specific polysaccharide subtypes and to assess the effect of capsule production on O-specific polysaccharide-targeted antibody binding and function.

METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, we compared plasma antibody responses to O-specific polysaccharide in a cohort of consecutively enrolled patients with K pneumoniae bloodstream …

Associations Of Cerebrospinal Fluid Orexin-A, Alzheimer Disease Biomarkers, And Cognitive Performance, Ruijin Lu, Krish Shah, Cristina D Toedebusch, Ashley Hess, Rachel Richardson, Emmanuel Mignot, Suzanne E Schindler, Tammie L S Benzinger, Shaney Flores, Jason Hassenstab, Chengjie Xiong, John C Morris, David M Holtzman, Brendan P Lucey

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) orexin-A has been suggested to be a biomarker of Alzheimer disease (AD). In both cognitively unimpaired healthy older adults and individuals with symptomatic AD, CSF orexin-A is positively associated with CSF Aβ42, p-tau181, and total tau (t-tau) concentrations. However, a recent systematic review and meta-analysis did not support differences in orexin-A between AD and controls. In this study, we tested the association between CSF orexin-A concentrations, AD biomarkers, and cognitive performance in older adults with and without symptomatic AD.

METHODS: Two hundred and seventy community-dwelling older adults underwent standardized cognitive assessments, sleep monitoring with a single-channel …

Multi-Omic Analysis Of Biological Aging Biomarkers In Long-Term Calorie Restriction And Endurance Exercise Practitioners: A Cross-Sectional Study, Giovanni Fiorito, Valeria Tosti, Silvia Polidoro, Beatrice Bertozzi, Nicola Veronese, Edda Cava, Francesco Spelta, Laura Piccio, Dayna S Early, Daniel Raftery, Paolo Vineis, Luigi Fontana

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Calorie restriction (CR) and physical exercise (EX) are well-established interventions known to extend health span and lifespan in animal models. However, their impact on human biological aging remains unclear. With recent advances in omics technologies and biological age (BioAge) metrics, it is now possible to assess the impact of these lifestyle interventions without the need for long-term follow-up. This study compared BioAge biomarkers in 41 middle-aged and older adult long-term CR practitioners, 41 age- and sex-matched endurance athletes (EX), and 35 sedentary controls consuming Western diets (WD), through PhenoAge: a composite score derived from nine blood-biomarkers. Additionally, a subset of …

A Scoping Review Of Interventions To Address Financial Toxicity In Pediatric And Adult Patients And Survivors Of Cancer, Christina Ping, D Carolina Andrade, Ashley Housten, Michelle Doering, Eliana Goldstein, Mary C Politi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Financial toxicity (FT) is a common and significant challenge for people with cancer, impacting immediate clinical outcomes such as treatment adherence, as well as long-term outcomes such as quality of life and mortality. Multiple studies have tested interventions to address FT and develop recommendations for their implementation.

METHODS: In this scoping review, we analyzed thirty-six studies across 35,405 participants examining institution-based interventions for FT in both pediatric and adult patients and survivors of cancer in the U.S.

RESULTS: Common interventions included: financial navigation (n = 15), direct financial/medical assistance (n = 8), financial counseling or coaching (n = 5), …

Linear Growth During Treatment With A Simplified, Combined Protocol: Secondary Analyses Of Severely Wasted Children 6-59 Months In The Compas Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial, Grace Heymsfield, Kevin Stephenson, Zachary Tausanovitch, André Briend, Marko Kerac, Heather Stobaugh, Jeanette Bailey, Suvi T Kangas

2020-Current year OA Pubs

A simplified, combined protocol treats children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), defined by mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) of <  125 and ≥ 115 mm and no oedema, with 1 daily sachet of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and those with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), defined by MUAC <  115 mm and/or oedema, with two daily sachets of RUTF. This protocol was previously shown to result in non-inferior recovery compared to standard treatment that used higher, weight-based RUTF dosing among children with SAM and ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF) for MAM in a cluster-based randomised controlled trial in Kenya and South Sudan. We conducted a secondary analysis of this trial to compare linear growth among children admitted with MUAC <  115 mm. Linear and ponderal growth were calculated from admission to discharge and visualised using aggregate growth curves. HAZ change adjusted for admission characteristics was negative across the course of treatment but similar across arms [-0.21 ± 0.18 SE in the standard arm, -0.24 ± 0.18 SE in simplified; difference (95% confidence interval) 0.03 (-0.12, 0.18)]. The unadjusted mean ± SE linear growth velocity from admission to discharge was 1.8 ± 0.7 mm/week in the standard arm compared to 1.7 ± 0.7 mm/week in the simplified arm [difference = 0.09 (-0.36, 0.53)] and similar in adjusted analysis. MUAC and weight gain velocities were not significantly different by treatment arm. Reducing the RUTF dose prescribed to children during SAM treatment does not appear to affect linear growth or other growth velocities during treatment.

Model For End Stage Liver Disease Excluding International Normalized Ratio Predicts Severe Right Ventricular Failure After Heartmate 3 Implantation In A Contemporary Cohort, David S Lambert, Ana María Picó, Justin D Vincent, Elena Deych, Erin Coglianese, Joel D Schilling, Justin M Vader, Bin Q Yang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular failure (RVF) after left ventricular assist devices is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Therefore, identifying patients at risk for severe RVF is important for clinical decision-making. Current risk prediction models were not developed in contemporary populations with left ventricular assist devices and have limited clinical applicability. In this study, we sought to evaluate whether the Model for End Stage Liver Disease Excluding International Normalized Ratio (MELD-XI) can predict severe RVF after HeartMate 3 implantation.

METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed all adult patients who received HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist devices as initial implantation at 2 academic medical …

The Implications Of The American Board Of Radiology's Decision To Relinquish Its Specialty Board Designation On Prospective Authorized Medical Physicists (Amps) And Radiation Safety Officers (Rsos), Christopher J Tien, Samantha J Simiele, Joann I Prisciandaro, Jacqueline E Zoberi, Y Jessica Huang, William A Hinchcliffe, Hania A Al-Hallaq

2020-Current year OA Pubs

In order to independently supervise the medical use of byproduct material, physicists in the United States (US) must legally meet the qualifications defined by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the 35th part of the tenth title of the Code of Federal Regulations (§ 10 CFR Part 35). The American Board of Radiology (ABR) relinquished its NRC-recognized specialty board (NSB) status at the end of 2023, which eliminated the NSB application pathway for those who earn ABR certification in 2024 and beyond. While these changes in NSB status are not retroactive and will not affect eligibility for diplomates who already …

Hospital-Onset Bacteremia In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Strategies For Risk Adjustment, Erica C Prochaska, Shaoming Xiao, Elizabeth Colantuoni, Nora Elhaissouni, Reese H Clark, Julia Johnson, Sagori Mukhopadhyay, Ibukunoluwa C Kalu, Danielle M Zerr, Patrick J Reich, Jessica Roberts, Dustin D Flannery, Aaron M Milstone, Cdc Prevention Epicenters Program

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the impact of patient- and unit-level risk adjustment on infant hospital-onset bacteremia (HOB) standardized infection ratio (SIR) ranking.

DESIGN: A retrospective, multicenter cohort study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Infants admitted to 284 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in the United States between 2016 and 2021.

METHODS: Expected HOB rates and SIRs were calculated using four adjustment strategies: birthweight (model 1), birthweight and postnatal age (model 2), birthweight and NICU complexity (model 3), and birthweight, postnatal age, and NICU complexity (model 4). Sites were ranked according to the unadjusted HOB rate, and these rankings were compared to rankings based …

The Ten Test And Sensory Evaluation Of Hand And Finger Injuries In The Emergency Department, Emilie H Lothet, Aaron J Lacy, Elizabeth B Odom

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Hand and finger injuries are a common presenting complaint to the emergency department (ED) and are associated with significant morbidity. Neurologic evaluation of these injuries is a crucial component of the patient assessment and can be done via a variety of testing methods.

DISCUSSION: Although most taught and cited in the ED literature, the two-point discrimination test for sensation has several drawbacks, including limited reproducibility and reliability. Although often utilized by hand surgical specialists, the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test and the Weinstein Enhanced Sensory Test are not practical for the emergency physician due to the need for specialized equipment and …

Dynein Light Chains 1 And 2 Are Auxiliary Proteins Of Ph-Sensitive Kir4.1 Channels, Sun-Joo Lee, Jian Gao, Ellen Thompson, Jonathan Mount, Colin G Nichols

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Inward rectifier Kir4.1 potassium channels are abundantly expressed in cells that are important for electrolyte homeostasis. Dysregulation of Kir4.1 underlies various neurological disorders. Here, through biochemical and structural studies of full-length Kir4.1, we show that dynein light chain 1 and 2 proteins, also as known as LC8, copurify with Kir4.1 at stoichiometric levels. Direct interaction between Kir4.1 and LC8 is supported by in vitro binding assays and reiterated with native Kir4.1 proteins from mouse brain. Notably, we identify a LC8 binding motif in the unstructured N terminus of Kir4.1. Among Kir subtypes, the motif is unique to Kir4.1 and is …