Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Implementation Strategies To Improve Hiv Care Cascade Outcomes In Low- And Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review From 2014 To 2021, Sita Lujintanon, Ingrid Eshun-Wilson, Noelle Le Tourneau, Laura Beres, Sheree Schwartz, Stefan Baral, Ryan Thompson, Ashley Underwood, Branson Fox, Elvin H Geng, Christopher G Kemp

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic and manage limited resources, optimized implementation strategies are needed to enhance the efficiency of the HIV response. Assessing strategy usage to date could identify research gaps and inform future implementation efforts. We conducted a systematic review to describe the features and distributions of published implementation strategies attempting to improve HIV treatment service delivery and outcomes.

METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL and screened abstracts and full texts published between 1 January 2014 and 27 August 2021, for English-language studies conducted in LMICs that described …

Liver Disease And Transplantation In Telomere Biology Disorders: An International Multicenter Cohort, Yunzu Michele Wang, Steven K Brennan, Sakil Kulkarni, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Patients with telomere biology disorders (TBD) develop hepatic disease, including hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatopulmonary syndrome. No specific treatment exists for TBD-related liver disease, and the role of liver transplantation (LT) remains controversial. Our study objectives were to describe the clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes in patients with TBD-related liver disease, and their LT outcomes.

METHODS: Data from 83 patients with TBD-associated liver disease were obtained from 17 participating centers in the Clinical Care Consortium of Telomere-Associated Ailments and by self-report for our retrospective, multicenter, international cohort study.

RESULTS: Group A ("Advanced") included 40 patients with advanced liver disease. Of …

Estimating The Potential Value Of Msm-Focused Evidence-Based Implementation Interventions In Three Ending The Hiv Epidemic Jurisdictions In The United States: A Model-Based Analysis, Benjamin Enns, Elvin H Geng, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Improving the delivery of existing evidence-based interventions to prevent and diagnose HIV is key to Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States. Structural barriers in the access and delivery of related health services require municipal or state-level policy changes; however, suboptimal implementation can be addressed directly through interventions designed to improve the reach, effectiveness, adoption or maintenance of available interventions. Our objective was to estimate the cost-effectiveness and potential epidemiological impact of six real-world implementation interventions designed to address these barriers and increase the scale of delivery of interventions for HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in three …

Dlg1 Functions Upstream Of Sdccag3 And Ift20 To Control Ciliary Targeting Of Polycystin-2, Csenge K Rezi, Tao Cheng, Jeffrey H Miner, Moe R Mahjoub, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Polarized vesicular trafficking directs specific receptors and ion channels to cilia, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we describe a role for DLG1, a core component of the Scribble polarity complex, in regulating ciliary protein trafficking in kidney epithelial cells. Conditional knockout of Dlg1 in mouse kidney causes ciliary elongation and cystogenesis, and cell-based proximity labeling proteomics and fluorescence microscopy show alterations in the ciliary proteome upon loss of DLG1. Specifically, the retromer-associated protein SDCCAG3, IFT20, and polycystin-2 (PC2) are reduced in the cilia of DLG1-deficient cells compared to control cells. This phenotype is recapitulated in vivo and …

Evaluation Of Markers Of Immunity In Different Metastatic Immune Microenvironments Suggests More Suppression Within Breast To Liver Metastases In Breast Cancer, Robert Hsu, Foluso O Ademuyiwa, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: Programmed death receptor ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression and tumor mutational burden (TMB) are approved screening biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) in advanced triple negative breast cancer. We examined these biomarkers along with characterization of the tumor microenvironment (TME) between breast tumors (BrTs), axillary metastases (AxMs), liver metastases (LvMs), non-axillary lymph node metastases, and non-liver metastases to determine differences related to site of metastatic disease.

METHODS: 3076 unpaired biopsies from breast cancer patients were analyzed using whole transcriptome sequencing and NextGen DNA depicting TMB within tumor sites. The PD-L1 positivity was determined with VENTANA PD-L1 (SP142) assay. The immune cell …

Vaso-Lock For Sutureless Anastomosis In A Pig Arteriovenous Loop Model, Xiaowei Li, Emma R Young, Cameron Martin, Joseph G Ribaudo, Mohamed Zaghloul, Sophia Roberts, Rodrigo Meade, Batool Arif, William R Moritz, Sarah Madira, Jonathon B Schofield, Mohamed A Zayed, Justin M Sacks, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

A vascular anastomosis is a critical surgical skill that involves connecting blood vessels. Traditional handsewn techniques can be challenging and resource intensive. To address these issues, we have developed a unique sutureless anastomotic device called Vaso-Lock. This intraluminal device connects free vascular ends using anchors to maintain traction and enable a rapid anastomosis. We tested the anastomotic capability of Vaso-Locks in a pig common carotid-internal jugular arteriovenous model. The use of Vaso-Lock allowed us to accomplish this procedure in less than 10 min, in contrast to the approximately 40 min required for a handsewn anastomosis. The Vaso-Lock effectively maintained patency …

Cost Effectiveness Analysis Of A Fixed Dose Combination Pill For Primary Prevention Of Cardiovascular Disease From An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis, Andre Lamy, Wesley Tong, Philip Joseph, Peggy Gao, Mark D Huffman, Gholamreza Roshandel, Reza Malekzadeh, Patricio Lopez-Jaramillo, Prem Pais, Denis Xavier, Alvaro Avezum, Antonio L Dans, Habib Gamra, Salim Yusuf

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to impart a large burden on the global population, especially in lower income countries where affordability limits the use of cardiovascular medicines. A fixed dose combination strategy of at least 2 blood pressure lowering medications and a statin with aspirin in a single pill has been shown to reduce the risk of incident CVD by 38% in primary prevention in a recent meta-analysis. We report the in-trial (median follow-up: 5 years) cost-effectiveness of a fixed dose combination (FDC) pill in different income groups based on data from that meta-analysis.

METHODS: Countries were categorized using World …

Tumor-Informed Deep Sequencing Of Ctdna Detects Minimal Residual Disease And Predicts Relapse In Osteosarcoma, Yiwei Fu, Albert H Kim, Dimitrios Mathios, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Current surveillance modalities of osteosarcoma relapse exhibit limited sensitivity and specificity. Although circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has been established as a biomarker of minimal residual disease (MRD) in many solid tumors, a sensitive ctDNA detection technique has not been thoroughly explored for longitudinal MRD detection in osteosarcoma.

METHODS: From August 2019 to June 2023, 59 patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were evaluated in this study. Tumor-informed MRD panels were developed through whole exome sequencing (WES) of tumor tissues. Longitudinal blood samples were collected during treatment and subjected to multiplex PCR-based next-generation …

Clinician-Perceived Barriers To Cervical Cancer Screening Before And During The Covid-19 Pandemic At Three Us Healthcare Systems, Veronica M Boratyn, Gaia Pocobelli, Steven J Atlas, Cheryl R Clark, Sarah Feldman, Gina Kruse, Anne Marie Mccarthy, Meghan Rieu-Werden, Michelle I Silver, Noel O Santini, Jasmin A Tiro, Jennifer S Haas

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic posed serious challenges to cancer screening delivery, including cervical cancer. While the impact of the pandemic on deferred screening has been documented, less is known about how clinicians experienced barriers to screening delivery, and, in particular, the role of pre-pandemic barriers to changes reported during the pandemic.

METHODS: Survey of clinicians who performed ≥ 10 cervical cancer screening tests in 2019 from Mass General Brigham, Kaiser Permanente Washington, and Parkland Health, the healthcare systems participating in the Population-based Research to Optimize the Screening Process (PROSPR II) consortium (administered 10/2020-12/2020, response rate 53.7 %).

RESULTS: Prior to …

A Survey Of Availability And Affordability Of Polypills For Cardiovascular Disease In Selected Countries, Gautam Satheesh, Bishal Gyawali, Marie France Chan Sun, Mark D Huffman, Amitava Banerjee, Pablo Perel, Adrianna Murphy

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The recent inclusion of polypills-fixed-dose combinations of antihypertensive medicines and a statin with or without aspirin-in the World Health Organization's Essential Medicines List (EML) reiterates the potential of this approach to improve global treatment coverage for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Although there exists extensive evidence on the effectiveness, safety and acceptability of polypills, there has been no research to date assessing the real-world availability and affordability of polypills globally.

METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey, based on the WHO/Health Action International methodology, in 13 countries around the world. In the surveyed countries, we first ascertained whether any polypill was authorised …

[18f]F-Arag Imaging Reveals Association Between Neuroinflammation And Brown- And Bone Marrow Adipose Tissue, Jelena Levi, Caroline Guglielmetti, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Brown and brown-like adipose tissues have attracted significant attention for their role in metabolism and therapeutic potential in diabetes and obesity. Despite compelling evidence of an interplay between adipocytes and lymphocytes, the involvement of these tissues in immune responses remains largely unexplored. This study explicates a newfound connection between neuroinflammation and brown- and bone marrow adipose tissue. Leveraging the use of [

Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Control Homeostasis Of Megakaryopoiesis, Florian Gaertner, Marco Colonna, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Platelet homeostasis is essential for vascular integrity and immune defence

Momelotinib Vs. Ruxolitinib In Myelofibrosis Patient Subgroups By Baseline Hemoglobin Levels In The Simplify-1 Trial, Vikas Gupta, Stephen Oh, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

A key hallmark of myelofibrosis is anemia, which ranges from mild to severe based on hemoglobin levels. To more clearly define outcomes with the Janus kinase (JAK) 1/JAK2/activin A receptor type 1 inhibitor momelotinib by anemia severity, we performed a descriptive post hoc exploratory analysis of the double-blind, randomized, phase 3 SIMPLIFY-1 study (NCT01969838;

Modulation Of Tmem16b Channel Activity By The Calcium-Activated Chloride Channel Regulator 4 (Clca4) In Human Cells, Monica Sala-Rabanal, Zeynep Yurtsever, Kayla N Berry, Conor Mcclenaghan, Alyssa J Foy, Alex Hanson, Deborah F Steinberg, Jessica A Greven, Colin E Kluender, Jennifer M Alexander-Brett, Colin G Nichols, Tom J Brett

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The Ca

Diagnostic Efficacy And Clinical Impact Of Image-Guided Core Needle Biopsy Of Suspected Vertebral Osteomyelitis, Winston L Winkler, Ige A George, Sumanth Gandra, Jonathan C Baker, Anderanik Tomasian, Benjamin Northrup, Theodore L Vander Velde, Travis J Hillen, Chongliang Luo, Resten Imaoka, Gino M Dettorre, Jack W Jennings

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVES: The diagnostic yield and clinical impact of image-guided core needle biopsy (ICNB) of suspected vertebral osteomyelitis in adults is heterogenous in published studies owing to small sample sizes, indicating the need for large cohort studies.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis of ICNBs was performed from 2010 to 2021 for patients with imaging findings consistent with vertebral osteomyelitis. For each biopsy, a series of factors were analyzed, as well as if histopathology was diagnostic of osteomyelitis and if microbiological cultures were positive. In addition, it was recorded in what way biopsy influenced clinical management regarding antimicrobial treatment. A multivariate statistical analysis …

Persistent Transcriptional Changes In Cardiac Adaptive Immune Cells Following Myocardial Infarction: New Evidence From The Re-Analysis Of Publicly Available Single Cell And Nuclei Rna-Sequencing Data Sets, Natasha De Winter, Jiahui Ji, Amalia Sintou, Elvira Forte, Michael Lee, Michela Noseda, Aoxue Li, Andrew L Koenig, Kory J Lavine, Sikander Hayat, Nadia Rosenthal, Costanza Emanueli, Prashant K Srivastava, Susanne Sattler

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Chronic immunopathology contributes to the development of heart failure after a myocardial infarction. Both T and B cells of the adaptive immune system are present in the myocardium and have been suggested to be involved in post-MI immunopathology.

METHODS: We analyzed the B and T cell populations isolated from previously published single cell RNA-sequencing data sets (PMID: 32130914, PMID: 35948637, PMID: 32971526 and PMID: 35926050), of the mouse and human heart, using differential expression analysis, functional enrichment analysis, gene regulatory inferences, and integration with autoimmune and cardiovascular GWAS.

RESULTS: Already at baseline, mature effector B and T cells are …

Il2 Targeted To Cd8+ T Cells Promotes Robust Effector T-Cell Responses And Potent Antitumor Immunity, Kelly D Moynihan, Hussein Sultan, Robert D Schreiber, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IL2 signals pleiotropically on diverse cell types, some of which contribute to therapeutic activity against tumors, whereas others drive undesired activity, such as immunosuppression or toxicity. We explored the theory that targeting of IL2 to CD8+ T cells, which are key antitumor effectors, could enhance its therapeutic index. To this aim, we developed AB248, a CD8 cis-targeted IL2 that demonstrates over 500-fold preference for CD8+ T cells over natural killer and regulatory T cells (Tregs), which may contribute to toxicity and immunosuppression, respectively. AB248 recapitulated IL2's effects on CD8+ T cells in vitro and induced selective expansion of CD8+T cells …

Epigenetic Developmental Mechanisms Underlying Sex Differences In Cancer, Joshua B. Rubin, Tamara Abou-Antoun, Joseph E. Ippolito, Lorida Llaci, Camryn T. Marquez, Jason P. Wong, Lihua Yang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Cancer risk is modulated by hereditary and somatic mutations, exposures, age, sex, and gender. The mechanisms by which sex and gender work alone and in combination with other cancer risk factors remain underexplored. In general, cancers that occur in both the male and female sexes occur more commonly in XY compared with XX individuals, regardless of genetic ancestry, geographic location, and age. Moreover, XY individuals are less frequently cured of their cancers, highlighting the need for a greater understanding of sex and gender effects in oncology. This will be necessary for optimal laboratory and clinical cancer investigations. To that end, …

Ballc And Ballcools: Efficient Formatting And Operating For Single-Cell Dna Methylation Data, Wei Tian, Wubin Ding, Jiawei Shen, Daofeng Li, Ting Wang, Joseph R Ecker

2020-Current year OA Pubs

MOTIVATION: With single-cell DNA methylation studies yielding vast datasets, existing data formats struggle with the unique challenges of storage and efficient operations, highlighting a need for improved solutions.

RESULTS: BAllC (Binary All Cytosines) emerges as a tailored format for methylation data, addressing these challenges. BAllCools, its complementary software toolkit, enhances parsing, indexing, and querying capabilities, promising superior operational speeds and reduced storage needs.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: https://github.com/jksr/ballcools.

Clinical Mycology Today: Emerging Challenges And Opportunities, Jessica Little, Adriana M Rauseo, Julio C Zuniga-Moya, Andrej Spec, Peter Pappas, John Perfect, Todd Mccarthy, Ilan S Schwartz

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium is a collective of clinicians, researchers, and educators with the common goal to advance awareness, diagnosis, and management of invasive fungal diseases. Clinical Mycology Today, the Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium's biennial meeting, is dedicated to discussing the most pressing contemporary issues facing the field of clinical mycology, promoting clinical, translational, and basic science collaborations, and mentoring the next generation of clinical mycologists. Here, we review the current opportunities and challenges facing the field of mycology that arose from discussions at the 2022 meeting, with emphasis on novel host risk …

Suicide In Us Preteens Aged 8 To 12 Years, 2001 To 2022, Donna A Ruch, Lisa M Horowitz, Jennifer L Hughes, Katherine Sarkisian, Joan L Luby, Cynthia A Fontanella, Jeffrey A Bridge

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

A Phase Ii Trial Of The Wee1 Inhibitor Adavosertib In Setd2-Altered Advanced Solid Tumor Malignancies (Nci 10170), Edward Maldonado, Nikolaos A Trikalinos, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

UNLABELLED: We sought to evaluate the efficacy of WEE1 inhibitor adavosertib in patients with solid tumor malignancies (cohort A) and clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC; cohort B). NCT03284385 was a parallel cohort, Simon two-stage, phase II study of adavosertib (300 mg QDAY by mouth on days 1-5 and 8-12 of each 21-day cycle) in patients with solid tumor malignancies harboring a pathogenic SETD2 mutation. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate. Correlative assays evaluated the loss of H3K36me3 by IHC, a downstream consequence of SETD2 loss, in archival tumor tissue. Eighteen patients were enrolled (9/cohort). The median age …

Spinal Calcifying Pseudoneoplasms Of The Neuraxis: A Case Report And Review Of The Literature, Ajay Chatrath, Mackenzie Lemieux, Rujvee P Patel, Kaleigh F Roberts, Sonika Dahiya, Brenton Pennicooke

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Calcifying pseudoneoplasms of the neuraxis (CAPNON) are rare, non-neoplastic, slow-growing tumors that can present anywhere throughout the central nervous system. While the etiology of these lesions remains unknown, the mainstay of treatment is surgical excision. We describe a case of CAPNON at our institution in a 66 year-old female patient who presented with 5 months of pain and burning sensation in her thigh. On MRI, an intradural extramedullary lesion was identified at the level of T11-T12. The mass was surgically excised and the patient reported resolution of her symptoms by her six week follow-up appointment. We reviewed 79 spinal CAPNON …

A Personalized Semi-Automatic Sleep Spindle Detection (Psasd) Framework, Mohammadmehdi Kafashan, Gaurang Gupte, Paul Kang, Orlandrea Hyche, Anhthi H Luong, G V Prateek, Yo-El S Ju, Ben Julian A Palanca

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Sleep spindles are distinct electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns of brain activity that have been posited to play a critical role in development, learning, and neurological disorders. Manual scoring for sleep spindles is labor-intensive and tedious but could supplement automated algorithms to resolve challenges posed with either approaches alone.

NEW METHODS: A Personalized Semi-Automatic Sleep Spindle Detection (PSASD) framework was developed to combine the strength of automated detection algorithms and visual expertise of human scorers. The underlying model in the PSASD framework assumes a generative model for EEG sleep spindles as oscillatory components, optimized to EEG amplitude, with remaining signals distributed …

Gene Expression Networks Regulated By Human Personality, Coral Del Val, Elisa Díaz De La Guardia-Bolívar, Igor Zwir, Pashupati P Mishra, Alberto Mesa, Ramiro Salas, Guillermo F Poblete, Gabriel De Erausquin, Emma Raitoharju, Mika Kähönen, Olli Raitakari, Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen, Terho Lehtimäki, Claude Robert Cloninger

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Genome-wide association studies of human personality have been carried out, but transcription of the whole genome has not been studied in relation to personality in humans. We collected genome-wide expression profiles of adults to characterize the regulation of expression and function in genes related to human personality. We devised an innovative multi-omic approach to network analysis to identify the key control elements and interactions in multi-modular networks. We identified sets of transcribed genes that were co-expressed in specific brain regions with genes known to be associated with personality. Then we identified the minimum networks for the co-localized genes using bioinformatic …

Alcohol Milestones And Internalizing, Externalizing, And Executive Function: Longitudinal And Polygenic Score Associations, Sarah E Paul, David A A Baranger, Joshua J Jackson, Aaron J Gorelik, Alexander S Hatoum, Michael Strube, Andrey P Anokhin, Arpana Agrawal, Kathleen K Bucholz, Ryan Bogdan, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Although the link between alcohol involvement and behavioral phenotypes (e.g. impulsivity, negative affect, executive function [EF]) is well-established, the directionality of these associations, specificity to stages of alcohol involvement, and extent of shared genetic liability remain unclear. We estimate longitudinal associations between transitions among alcohol milestones, behavioral phenotypes, and indices of genetic risk.

METHODS: Data came from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (

RESULTS: Externalizing phenotypes (e.g. conduct disorder symptoms) were associated with future initiation and drinking problems (hazard ratio (HR)⩾1.16). Internalizing (e.g. social anxiety) was associated with hazards for progression from first drink to severe …

Motor Competence Is Related To Acquisition Of Error-Based But Not Reinforcement Learning In Children Ages 6 To 12, Jeffrey D Konrad, Natasha Marrus, Keith R Lohse, Kayla M Thuet, Catherine E Lang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: An essential component of childhood development is increasing motor competence. Poor motor learning is often thought to underlie impaired motor competence, but this link is unclear in previous studies.

AIMS: Our aim was to test the relationship between motor competence and motor learning in the acquisition phase. Both reinforcement learning (RL) and error-based learning (EBL) were tested. We hypothesized that slower RL and slower EBL acquisition rates would relate to lower motor competence.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Eighty-six participants ages 6-12 performed a target throwing task under RL and EBL conditions. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children - 2nd edition …

A Pilot Study Of Nintedanib In Molecularly Selected Patients With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Christine Auberle, Feng Gao, Mark Sloan, Daniel Morgensztern, Linda Winkler, Jeffrey P. Ward, Siddhartha Devarakonda, Timothy P. Rearden, Ramaswamy Govindan, Saiama N. Waqar

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Nintedanib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), and fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR). The purpose of the study was to evaluate the response rate for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with mutations in

METHODS: Patients with advanced NSCLC previously treated with platinum-doublet chemotherapy with the above mutations were enrolled. Exclusion criteria included necrotic tumors with invasion of blood vessels, history of recent thromboembolic events, increased risk of bleeding or thrombosis, myocardial infarction, and weight loss >10% within past 6 months. Nintedanib was …

Obesity Is Associated With Muscle Atrophy In Rotator Cuff Tear, Simone D Herzberg, Robert H Brophy, Matthew V Smith, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and muscle atrophy in individuals with rotator cuff tears.

METHODS: This study consists of patients with rotator cuff tears identified by MRI from two independent cohorts, the Rotator Cuff Outcomes Workgroup (ROW) and the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON). Presence of atrophy (yes/no) and severity of atrophy (as an ordinal variable) were assessed on MRI by expert physicians. We used multivariable regression models to evaluate the relationship between BMI and muscle atrophy while adjusting for age and sex in each study, conducted sensitivity …

Python Tooth-Inspired Fixation Device For Enhanced Rotator Cuff Repair, Iden Kurtaliaj, Ethan D Hoppe, Yuxuan Huang, David Ju, Jacob A Sandler, Donghwan Yoon, Guy M Genin

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Rotator cuff repair surgeries fail frequently, with 20 to 94% of the 600,000 repairs performed annually in the United States resulting in retearing of the rotator cuff. The most common cause of failure is sutures tearing through tendons at grasping points. To address this issue, we drew inspiration from the specialized teeth of snakes of the Pythonoidea superfamily, which grasp soft tissues without tearing. To apply this nondamaging gripping approach to the surgical repair of tendon, we developed and optimized a python tooth-inspired device as an adjunct to current rotator cuff suture repair and found that it nearly doubled repair …