Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Inhaled Corticosteroids Attenuate The Association Of Fine Particulate Matter And Acute Asthma Events, Kristen A Staggers, Paula Sierra, Drew A Helmer, Charles Minard, Meredith C Mccormack, Tianshi David Wu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Cranioencephalic Functional Lymphoid Units In Glioblastoma, Celia Dobersalske, Jonathan Kipnis, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The ecosystem of brain tumors is considered immunosuppressed, but our current knowledge may be incomplete. Here we analyzed clinical cell and tissue specimens derived from patients presenting with glioblastoma or nonmalignant intracranial disease to report that the cranial bone (CB) marrow, in juxtaposition to treatment-naive glioblastoma tumors, harbors active lymphoid populations at the time of initial diagnosis. Clinical and anatomical imaging, single-cell molecular and immune cell profiling and quantification of tumor reactivity identified CD8

Dna Methylation-Derived Immune Cell Proportions And Cancer Risk In Black Participants, Christopher S Semancik, Naisi Zhao, Devin C Koestler, Eric Boerwinkle, Jan Bressler, Rachel J Buchsbaum, Karl T Kelsey, Elizabeth A Platz, Dominique S Michaud

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Prior cohort studies assessing cancer risk based on immune cell subtype profiles have predominantly focused on White populations. This limitation obscures vital insights into how cancer risk varies across race. Immune cell subtype proportions were estimated using deconvolution based on leukocyte DNA methylation markers from blood samples collected at baseline on participants without cancer in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. During a mean of 17.5 years of follow-up, 668 incident cancers were diagnosed in 2,467 Black participants. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine immune cell subtype proportions and overall cancer incidence and site-specific incidence (lung, breast, and …

“The Truth Should Not Be Hidden”: Experiences And Recommendations Of Individuals Making Npe Discoveries Through Genetic Genealogy Databases, Olivia Schuman, Caroline Beit, Jill Oliver Robinson, Whitney Bash Brooks, Amy L Mcguire, Christi Guerrini

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Purpose: Fueled by direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing and genetic-relative finder services, some participants in genetic genealogy databases are making "not parent expected" (NPE) discoveries. To better understand experiences of this phenomenon, we surveyed a large cohort of users of genetic relative finder (GRF) services concerning their experiences after an NPE discovery.

Methods: Using thematic analysis, we analyzed responses from a cohort of GRF users (n = 646) to open-ended survey items to understand these experiences and their recommendations for DTC genetic testing companies and other GRF users.

Results: We found that individuals had both positive and negative emotional experiences related …

Psychological Distress Among Ethnically Diverse Participants From Eastern And Southern Africa, Kester B B Tindi, Allan Kalungi, Eugene Kinyanda, Bizu Gelaye, Alicia R Martin, Ronald Galiwango, Wilber Ssembajjwe, Fred Kirumira, Adele Pretorius, Anne Stevenson, Charles R J C Newton, Dan J Stein, Elizabeth G Atkinson, Emanuel K Mwesiga, Joseph Kyebuzibwa, Lori B Chibnik, Lukoye Atwoli, Mark Baker, Melkam Alemayehu, Rehema M Mwende, Rocky E Stroud, Solomon Teferra, Stella Gichuru, Symon M Kariuki, Zukiswa Zingela, Moffat Nyirenda, Segun Fatumo, Dickens H Akena

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: Psychological distress is characterized by anxiety and depressive symptoms. Although prior research has investigated the occurrence and factors associated with psychological distress in low- and middle-income countries, including those in Africa, these studies' findings are not very generalizable and have focused on different kinds of population groups.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence and characteristics (sociodemographic, psychosocial, and clinical) associated with psychological distress among African participants.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This case-control study analyzed data of participants in the Neuropsychiatric Genetics in African Populations-Psychosis (NeuroGAP-Psychosis) study, which recruited from general outpatient clinics in Eastern (Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia) and Southern …

Disruption Of Neural Periodicity Predicts Clinical Response After Deep Brain Stimulation For Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Nicole R Provenza, Sandesh Reddy, Anthony K Allam, Sameer V Rajesh, Nabeel Diab, Gabriel Reyes, Rose M Caston, Kalman A Katlowitz, Ajay D Gandhi, Raphael A Bechtold, Huy Q Dang, Ricardo A Najera, Nisha Giridharan, Katherine E Kabotyanski, Faiza Momin, Mohammed Hasen, Garrett P Banks, Brian J Mickey, Brent M Kious, Ben Shofty, Benjamin Y Hayden, Jeffrey A Herron, Eric A Storch, Ankit B Patel, Wayne K Goodman, Sameer A Sheth

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Recent advances in surgical neuromodulation have enabled chronic and continuous intracranial monitoring during everyday life. We used this opportunity to identify neural predictors of clinical state in 12 individuals with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) receiving deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy ( NCT05915741 ). We developed our neurobehavioral models based on continuous neural recordings in the region of the ventral striatum in an initial cohort of five patients and tested and validated them in a held-out cohort of seven additional patients. Before DBS activation, in the most symptomatic state, theta/alpha (9 Hz) power evidenced a prominent circadian pattern and a high …

Metagenomic Study Of The Mesa: Detection Of Gemella Morbillorum And Association With Coronary Heart Disease, Kent D Taylor, Alexis C Wood, Jerome I Rotter, Xiuqing Guo, David M Herrington, W Craig Johnson, Wendy S Post, Russell P Tracy, Stephen S Rich, Shaista Malik

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Inflammation is a feature of coronary heart disease (CHD), but the role of proinflammatory microbial infection in CHD remains understudied.

METHODS AND RESULTS: CHD was defined in the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) as myocardial infarction (251 participants), resuscitated arrest (2 participants), and CHD death (80 participants). We analyzed sequencing reads from 4421 MESA participants in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine program using the PathSeq workflow of the Genome Analysis Tool Kit and a 65-gigabase microbial reference. Paired reads aligning to 840 microbes were detected in >1% of participants. The association of the …

Dsm-5 Criterion-A-Based Trauma Types In Service Members And Veterans Seeking Treatment For Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Natasha Benfer, Breanna Grunthal, Katherine A Dondanville, Stacey Young-Mccaughan, Abby Blankenship, Chadi G Abdallah, Sudie E Back, Julianne Flanagan, Edna B Foa, Peter T Fox, John H Krystal, Brian P Marx, Donald D Mcgeary, Carmen P Mclean, Kristi E Pruiksma, Patricia A Resick, John D Roache, Paulo Shiroma, Denise M Sloan, Daniel J Taylor, Jennifer Schuster Wachen, Argelio L López-Roca, Karin L Nicholson, Richard P Schobitz, Christian C Schrader, Allah-Fard M Sharrieff, Jeffrey S Yarvis, Jim Mintz, Terence M Keane, Alan L Peterson, Brett T Litz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: In posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the assumption of the equipotentiality of traumas ignores potentially unique contexts and consequences of different traumas. Accordingly, Stein et al. (2012) developed a reliable typing scheme in which assessors categorized descriptions of traumatic events into six "types": life threat to self (LTS), life threat to other, aftermath of violence (AV), traumatic loss, moral injury by self (MIS), and moral injury by other (MIO). We extended this research by validating the typing scheme using participant endorsements of type, rather than assesor-based types. We examined the concordance of participant and assesor types, frequency, and validity …

Demystifying Hispanic Versus Latino/A Versus Latinx: Which Do Emergency Department Patients Prefer?, Melanie F Molina, Anita N Chary, Karen Reyes, James S Ford, Brian Chinnock, Robert M Rodriguez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Long Covid Among Undocumented Latino Immigrant Populations In The Emergency Department, Karen P Reyes, Zubaid Rafique, Brian Chinnock, Vijaya Arun Kumar, Michael Gottlieb, Kristin L Rising, Robert M Rodriguez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This cross-sectional study assesses the understanding of and access to care for long COVID symptoms among undocumented Latino immigrants in US emergency departments (EDs).

Circulating Tumor Cell Count And Overall Survival In Patients With Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer, Amir Goldkorn, Catherine Tangen, Melissa Plets, Daniel Bsteh, Tong Xu, Jacek K Pinski, Sue Ingles, Timothy Junius Triche, Gary R Macvicar, Daniel A Vaena, Anthony W Crispino, David James Mcconkey, Primo N Lara, Maha H A Hussain, David I Quinn, Tanya B Dorff, Seth Paul Lerner, Ian Thompson, Neeraj Agarwal

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: In metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), new first-line combination therapies have enhanced overall survival (OS), but clinical outcomes for individual patients vary greatly and are difficult to predict. Peripheral blood circulating tumor cell (CTC) count is the most extensively validated prognostic liquid biomarker in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), and recent studies have suggested that it may also be informative in mHSPC.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the prognostic value of CTC count in men with mHSPC.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this prognostic study, peripheral blood was drawn at registration (baseline) and at progression to mCRPC in the S1216 study …

15-Gene Expression Profile And Prame As Integrated Prognostic Test For Uveal Melanoma: First Report Of Collaborative Ocular Oncology Group Study No. 2 (Coog2.1), J William Harbour, Kisha D Piggott, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSEValidated and accurate prognostic testing is critical for precision medicine in uveal melanoma (UM). Our aims were to (1) prospectively validate an integrated prognostic classifier combining a 15-gene expression profile (15-GEP) and

Rehabilitation Transition Program To Improve Community Participation Among Stroke Survivors: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Rebecca M Bollinger, Melissa J Krauss, Emily K Somerville, Brianna M Holden, Gabrielle Blenden, Holly Hollingsworth, Audrey A Keleman, Alexandre Carter, Timothy D Mcbride, Abigail R Barker, Yan Yan, Susan L Stark

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Interventions are needed to support the long-term needs of stroke survivors when they transition from inpatient rehabilitation to home, where they face new home and community environmental barriers.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of a novel, enhanced rehabilitation transition program with attentional control to improve community participation and activity of daily living (ADL) performance and to reduce environmental barriers in the home and community after stroke.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This phase 2b, parallel randomized clinical trial assessed patients 50 years or older who had experienced an acute ischemic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage, were independent in ADLs before stroke, …

Dysarthria And Weakness In A Patient With Cirrhosis, Jodie Mogensen, Kim N Du, Kimberly Hein, Lee Bach Lu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Burden Of Mortality From Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Biliary Tract Cancers By Race And Ethnicity And Sex In Us, 2018–2023, Donghee Kim, Richie Manikat, Karn Wijarnpreecha, George Cholankeril, Aijaz Ahmed

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUNDS/AIMS: The trends in mortality of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and biliary tract cancers stratified by sex and race/ethnicity in the US continue to evolve. We estimated the sex- and race/ethnicity-based trends in HCC and biliary tract cancers-related mortality in US adults with a focus on disease burden.

METHODS: We performed a population-based analysis using the US national mortality records from 2018 to 2023. We identified HCC and biliary tract cancer using appropriate ICD-10 codes. Temporal trends in mortality were calculated by joinpoint analysis with annual percentage change (APC).

RESULTS: Annual age-standardized mortality from HCC decreased steadily with an APC of …

A Virtual Breakthrough Series Collaborative For Missed Test Results: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster-Randomized Clinical Trial, Lisa Zubkoff, Andrew J Zimolzak, Ashley N D Meyer, Jennifer Sloane, Umber Shahid, Traber Giardina, Sahar A Memon, Taylor M Scott, Daniel R Murphy, Hardeep Singh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: Missed test results, defined as test results not followed up within an appropriate time frame, are common and lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a quality improvement collaborative, the Virtual Breakthrough Series (VBTS), on the follow-up rate of 2 types of test results prone to being missed: chest imaging suspicious for lung cancer and laboratory findings suggestive of colorectal cancer.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This stepped-wedge cluster-randomized clinical trial was conducted between February 2020 and March 2022 at 12 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, with a predefined 3-cohort roll-out. Each …

Corticosteroid Burst Therapy In Patients With Acute Heart Failure: Design Of The Cortahf Pilot Study, Gad Cotter, Douglas L Mann, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

AIMS: Inflammation has emerged as a potential key pathophysiological mechanism in heart failure (HF) in general and acute HF (AHF) specifically, with inflammatory biomarkers shown to be highly predictive of adverse outcomes in these patients. The CORTAHF study builds on both these data and the fact that steroid burst therapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of respiratory diseases and COVID-19. Our hypothesis is that in patients with AHF and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels without symptoms or signs of infection, a 7-day course of steroid therapy will lead to reduced inflammation and short-term improvement in quality …

Generation Of An Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Line (Biortci001-A) From A Healthy Adult Indigenous Nigerian Participant, Zaid Muhammad, Phoebe W Brown, Larema Babazau, Abdulrahman I Alkhamis, Baba W Goni, Haruna A Nggada, Kefas M Mbaya, Selina Wray, Isa H Marte, Celeste M Karch, Louise C Serpell, Mahmoud B Maina

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Genetic backgrounds influence cellular phenotypes, drug responses, and health outcomes, yet most human iPSC lines are derived from individuals of European descent, with lines from indigenous Africans particularly scarce. Addressing this gap, we generated iPSCs from dermal fibroblasts of a healthy 60-year-old indigenous Nigerian male of the Babur ethnic group using Sendai virus. The iPSC line displayed a normal karyotype, was characterized for pluripotency markers and differentiated into neural progenitor cells and astrocytes. To enhance African representation in research, this iPSC line will be available to the scientific community, with ongoing efforts focused on creating an open-access African iPSC biobank. …

Discovery Of Genomic And Transcriptomic Pleiotropy Between Kidney Function And Soluble Receptor For Advanced Glycation End Products Using Correlated Meta-Analyses: The Long Life Family Study, Mary F Feitosa, Shiow J Lin, Sandeep Acharya, Bharat Thyagarajan, Mary K Wojczynski, Allison L Kuipers, Alexander Kulminski, Kaare Christensen, Joseph M Zmuda, Michael R Brent, Michael A Province

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have increased oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, which may escalate the production of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). High soluble receptor for AGE (sRAGE) and low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) levels are associated with CKD and aging. We evaluated whether eGFR calculated from creatinine and cystatin C share pleiotropic genetic factors with sRAGE. We employed whole-genome sequencing and correlated meta-analyses on combined genome-wide association study (GWAS) p-values in 4182 individuals (age range: 24-110) from the Long Life Family Study (LLFS). We also conducted transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) on whole blood in a subset of …

Early Detection Of Malignant And Premalignant Peripheral Nerve Tumors Using Cell-Free Dna Fragmentomics, R Taylor Sundby, Paul A Jones, Divya Srihari, Amy E Armstrong, Stacey Chamberlain, Sanita Burgic, Kara Weekley, John S A Chrisinger, Angela C Hirbe, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: Early detection of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)-associated peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNST) informs clinical decision-making, enabling early definitive treatment and potentially averting deadly outcomes. In this study, we describe a cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentomic approach that distinguishes nonmalignant, premalignant, and malignant forms of PNST in the cancer predisposition syndrome, NF1.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: cfDNA was isolated from plasma samples of a novel cohort of 101 patients with NF1 and 21 healthy controls and underwent whole-genome sequencing. We investigated diagnosis-specific signatures of copy-number alterations with in silico size selection as well as fragment profiles. Fragmentomics were analyzed using complementary feature types: …

Post-Transplant Cyclophosphamide-Based Graft-Versus-Host Disease Prophylaxis Attenuates Disparity In Outcomes Between Use Of Matched Or Mismatched Unrelated Donors, Brian C Shaffer, Ramzi Abboud, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSEAccess to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) remains limited among persons of non-European ancestry if human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching is required. We evaluated whether post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy)-based graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis improved HCT outcomes with HLA-matched unrelated donor (MUD) and mismatched unrelated donor (MMUD) HCT when compared with calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-based prophylaxis.METHODSThree-year overall survival (OS) and GVHD-free, relapse-free survival (GRFS) were compared between adult recipients undergoing initial MUD or single HLA locus MMUD HCT with either PTCy- or CNI-based prophylaxis who were reported to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research between 2017 and 2021.RESULTSIncluded were 10,025 …

Perioperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis Duration In Patients Undergoing Cystectomy With Urinary Diversion: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Maria C Thurnheer, Astrid Schürmann, Markus Huber, Jonas Marschall, Patrick Y Wuethrich, Fiona C Burkhard

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PAP) reduces the incidence of surgical site infections (SSIs). Guidelines recommend 24 hours or less of PAP for cystectomy with urinary diversion; however, evidence specifying optimal PAP duration for this surgery is lacking, and prolonged administration of PAP is common practice.

OBJECTIVE: To establish noninferiority of 24-hour PAP vs extended-duration PAP in preventing SSIs within 90 days after cystectomy with urinary diversion.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This single-center, noninferiority randomized clinical trial was performed from April 18, 2018, to August 18, 2022, in patients aged older than 18 years undergoing elective open cystectomy with urinary diversion. …

Postprostatectomy Radiotherapy Timing And Long-Term Health-Related Quality Of Life, Sagar A Patel, Jeff M Michalski, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: The association between radiotherapy (RT) timing after radical prostatectomy and long-term patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in men with prostate cancer is unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To measure long-term HRQOL in men with prostate cancer up to 15 years after prostatectomy with or without RT and examine whether early vs late postprostatectomy RT is associated with differences in sexual, urinary, and bowel HRQOL.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A prospective, multicenter, longitudinal cohort analysis using HRQOL data from the PROST-QA (2003-2006) and RP2 consortium (2010-2013) studies was conducted. Men with localized prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy were included. Data were analyzed …

Three- And Seven-Month Prostate-Specific Antigen Levels As Prognostic Markers For Overall Survival In Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer: Results From Swog S1216, A Phase 3 Randomized Trial Of Androgen Deprivation Plus Orteronel Or Bicalutamide, Mamta Parikh, Russell K Pachynski, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: A robust decrease in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in response to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been evaluated as a prognostic factor in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) since 2006, but the treatment of mHSPC has since evolved to include intensified therapy.

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the association of PSA levels at 3 (PSA-3mo) and 7 (PSA-7mo) mo with overall survival (OS) in patients with mHSPC treated with ADT combined with either bicalutamide or orteronel in the S1216 phase 3 clinical trial.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: PSA responses to treatment of patients in the S1216 trial were categorized as: …

Increased Periventricular Thalamic Damage Gradient In Multiple Sclerosis Detected By Quantitative Gradient Echo Mri, Amjad Samara, Biao Xiang, Bradley Judge, John R Ciotti, Dmitriy A Yablonskiy, Anne H Cross, Matthew R Brier

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: Thalamic tissue damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) follows a 'surface-in' gradient from the ventricular surface. The clinical consequences of this gradient are not completely understood. Using quantitative gradient-recalled echo (qGRE) MRI, we evaluated a periventricular thalamic gradient of tissue integrity in MS and its relationship with clinical variables.

METHODS: Structural and qGRE MRI scans were acquired for a cohort of MS patients and healthy controls (HC). qGRE-derived R2t* values were used as a measure of tissue integrity. Thalamic segmentations were divided into 1-mm concentric bands radiating from the ventricular surface, excluding the CSF-adjacent band. Median R2t* values within these …

Nongenetic And Genetic Factors Associated With White Matter Brain Aging: Exposome-Wide And Genome-Wide Association Study, Li Feng, Halley S Milleson, Zhenyao Ye, Travis Canida, Hongjie Ke, Menglu Liang, Si Gao, Shuo Chen, L Elliot Hong, Peter Kochunov, David K Y Lei, Tianzhou Ma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Human brain aging is a complex process that affects various aspects of brain function and structure, increasing susceptibility to neurological and psychiatric disorders. A number of nongenetic (e.g., environmental and lifestyle) and genetic risk factors are found to contribute to the varying rates at which the brain ages among individuals.

METHODS: In this paper, we conducted both an exposome-wide association study (XWAS) and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on white matter brain aging in the UK Biobank, revealing the multifactorial nature of brain aging. We applied a machine learning algorithm and leveraged fractional anisotropy tract measurements from diffusion tensor …

Exploring Racial Disparities In Awareness And Perceptions Of Oncology Clinical Trials: Cross-Sectional Analysis Of Baseline Data From The Mychoice Study, Ariel Hoadley, Linda Fleisher, Cassidy Kenny, Patrick Ja Kelly, Xinrui Ma, Jingwei Wu, Carmen Guerra, Amy E. Leader, Mohammed Alhajji, Paul D'Avanzo, Zoe Landau, Sarah Bauerle Bass

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Black/African American adults are underrepresented in oncology clinical trials in the United States, despite efforts at narrowing this disparity.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore differences in how Black/African American oncology patients perceive clinical trials to improve support for the clinical trial participation decision-making process.

METHODS: As part of a larger randomized controlled trial, a total of 244 adult oncology patients receiving active treatment or follow-up care completed a cross-sectional baseline survey on sociodemographic characteristics, clinical trial knowledge, health literacy, perceptions of cancer clinical trials, patient activation, patient advocacy, health care self-efficacy, decisional conflict, and clinical trial intentions. Self-reported …

Single-Cell Transcriptomes And Chromatin Accessibility Of Endothelial Cells Unravel Transcription Factors Associated With Dysregulated Angiogenesis In Systemic Sclerosis, Mengqi Huang, Tracy Tabib, Dinesh Khanna, Shervin Assassi, Robyn Domsic, Robert Lafyatis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: Vasculopathy emerges early in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and links to endothelial cell (EC) injury and angiogenesis. Understanding EC transcriptomes and epigenomes is crucial for unravelling the mechanisms involved.

Methods: Transcriptomes and chromatin accessibility were assessed by single-cell RNA sequencing and single-nucleus transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing. Immunofluorescent staining of skin and proteomics assay were employed to confirm the altered SSc EC phenotypes. Gain-of-function assay was used to evaluate the effects of ETS transcription factors on human dermal ECs (hDECs).

Results: Both control and SSc ECs shared transcriptomic signatures of vascular linages (arterial, capillary and venous ECs) and lymphatic ECs. Arterial ECs …

Reconstructing Oral Cavity Tumor Evolution Through Brush Biopsy, Evit John, Tom Lesluyes, Toby M Baker, Maxime Tarabichi, Ann Gillenwater, Jennifer R Wang, Peter Van Loo, Xiao Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) with genomic alterations have a heightened risk of evolving into oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Currently, genomic data are typically obtained through invasive tissue biopsy. However, brush biopsy is a non-invasive method that has been utilized for identifying dysplastic cells in OPMD but its effectiveness in reflecting the genomic landscape of OPMDs remains uncertain. This pilot study investigates the potential of brush biopsy samples in accurately reconstructing the genomic profile and tumor evolution in a patient with both OPMD and OSCC. We analyzed single nucleotide variants (SNVs), copy number aberrations (CNAs), and subclonal architectures in …

Continuous Adaptation Of Conversation Aids For Uterine Fibroids Treatment Options In A Four-Year Multi-Center Implementation Project, Danielle Schubbe, Tessa Madden, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Fibroids are non-cancerous uterine growths that can cause symptoms impacting quality of life. The breadth of treatment options allows for patient-centered preference. While conversation aids are known to facilitate shared decision making, the implementation of these aids for uterine fibroids treatments is limited. We aimed to develop two end-user-acceptable uterine fibroids conversation aids for an implementation project. Our second aim was to outline the adaptations that were made to the conversation aids as implementation occurred.

METHODS: We used a multi-phase user-centered participatory approach to develop a text-based and picture-enhanced conversation aid for uterine fibroids. We conducted a focus group …