Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Concurrent Optogenetic Motor Mapping Of Multiple Limbs In Awake Mice Reveals Cortical Organization Of Coordinated Movements, Nischal Khanal, Jonah A Padawer-Curry, Trevor Voss, Kevin A Schulte, Annie R Bice, Adam Q Bauer

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Motor mapping allows for determining the macroscopic organization of motor circuits and corresponding motor movement representations on the cortex. Techniques such as intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) are robust, but can be time consuming and invasive, making them non-ideal for cortex-wide mapping or longitudinal studies. In contrast, optogenetic motor mapping offers a rapid and minimally invasive technique, enabling mapping with high spatiotemporal resolution. However, motor mapping has seen limited use in tracking 3-dimensonal, multi-limb movements in awake animals. This gap has left open questions regarding the underlying organizational principles of motor control of coordinated, ethologically-relevant movements involving multiple limbs.

OBJECTIVE: Our …

Distinct Patterns Of Smooth Muscle Phenotypic Modulation In Thoracic And Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, Chien-Jung Lin, Campbell Keating, Robyn Roth, Yasar Caliskan, Mustafa Nazzal, Vernat Exil, Richard Dipaolo, Divya Ratan Verma, Kishore Harjai, Mohamed Zayed, Chieh-Yu Lin, Robert P Mecham, Ajay K Jain

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAs and AAAs, respectively) share morphological features but have distinct clinical and hereditary characteristics. Studies using bulk RNA comparisons revealed distinct patterns of gene expression in human TAA and AAA tissues. However, given the summative nature of bulk RNA studies, these findings represent the totality of gene expression without regards to the differences in cellular composition. Single-cell RNA sequencing provides an opportunity to interrogate cell-type-specific transcriptomes. Single cell RNA sequencing datasets from mouse TAA (GSE153534) and AAA (GSE164678 and GSE152583) with respective controls were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus. Bioinformatic analysis was performed with …

A Phase 1 First-In-Human Study Of The Mcl-1 Inhibitor Azd5991 In Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Hematologic Malignancies, Pinkal Desai, Amanda Cashen, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: AZD5991, a human MCL-1 inhibitor, was assessed for safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity as monotherapy and in combination with venetoclax in patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the monotherapy cohort (n = 61), patients with hematologic malignancies received AZD5991 intravenously in escalating doses either once or twice weekly, following intrapatient dose escalation, during a 3-week cycle. In the combination cohort (n = 17), patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome received escalating doses of AZD5991 and venetoclax during either a 3- or 4-week cycle. Primary objectives were safety and maximum tolerated dose; …

Cohort Expansion And Genotype-Phenotype Analysis Of Rab11a-Associated Neurodevelopmental Disorder, Maria Carla Borroto, Jorge L Granadillo, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: GTPases of the Rab family are important orchestrators of membrane trafficking, and their dysregulation has been linked to a variety of neuropathologies. In 2017, we established a causal link between RAB11A variants and developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. In this study, we expand the phenotype of RAB11A-associated neurodevelopmental disorder and explore genotype-phenotype correlations.

METHODS: We assessed 16 patients with pathogenic or likely pathogenic RAB11A variants, generally de novo, heterozygous missense variants. One individual had a homozygous nonsense variant, although concomitant with a pathogenic LAMA2 variant, which made their respective contributions to the phenotype difficult to discriminate.

RESULTS: We reinforce the …

Impact Of Artificial Intelligence-Based Autosegmentation Of Organs At Risk In Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Solomon Kibudde, Awusi Kavuma, Yao Hao, Tianyu Zhao, Hiram Gay, Jacaranda Van Rheenen, Pavan Mukesh Jhaveri, Minjmaa Minjgee, Enkhsetseg Vanchinbazar, Urdenekhuu Nansalmaa, Baozhou Sun

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: Radiation therapy (RT) processes require significant human resources and expertise, creating a barrier to rapid RT deployment in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Accurate segmentation of tumor targets and organs at risk (OARs) is crucial for optimal RT. This study assessed the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)-based autosegmentation of OARs in 2 LMICs.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: Ten patients, comprising 5 head and neck (HN) cancer patients and 5 prostate cancer patients, were randomly selected. Planning computed tomography images were subjected to autosegmentation using an Food and Drug Administration-approved AI software tool and manual segmentation by experienced radiation oncologists from …

Precision Functional Mapping To Advance Developmental Psychiatry Research, Alyssa K Labonte, M Catalina Camacho, Julia Moser, Sanju Koirala, Timothy O Laumann, Scott Marek, Damien Fair, Chad M Sylvester

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Many psychiatric conditions have their roots in early development. Individual differences in prenatal brain function (which is influenced by a combination of genetic risk and the prenatal environment) likely interact with individual differences in postnatal experience, resulting in substantial variation in brain functional organization and development in infancy. Neuroimaging has been a powerful tool for understanding typical and atypical brain function and holds promise for uncovering the neurodevelopmental basis of psychiatric illness; however, its clinical utility has been relatively limited thus far. A substantial challenge in this endeavor is the traditional approach of averaging brain data across groups despite individuals …

Attention-Based Cnn-Bilstm For Sleep State Classification Of Spatiotemporal Wide-Field Calcium Imaging Data, Xiaohui Zhang, Eric C Landsness, Hanyang Miao, Wei Chen, Michelle J Tang, Lindsey M Brier, Joseph P Culver, Jin-Moo Lee, Mark A Anastasio

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Wide-field calcium imaging (WFCI) with genetically encoded calcium indicators allows for spatiotemporal recordings of neuronal activity in mice. When applied to the study of sleep, WFCI data are manually scored into the sleep states of wakefulness, non-REM (NREM) and REM by use of adjunct EEG and EMG recordings. However, this process is time-consuming, invasive and often suffers from low inter- and intra-rater reliability. Therefore, an automated sleep state classification method that operates on spatiotemporal WFCI data is desired.

NEW METHOD: A hybrid network architecture consisting of a convolutional neural network (CNN) to extract spatial features of image frames and …

Effect Of Surgical Fixation Timing On In-Hospital Mortality And Morbidity Of Distal Femur Fractures, Joseph T Gutbrod, Dustin Stwalley, Anna N Miller

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: The literature lacks a large-scale study investigating the effect of surgical fixation timing on early mortality and morbidity outcomes in distal femur fractures. The aims of this study were to determine the effect of fixation timing on in-hospital mortality and morbidity outcomes for operatively treated distal femur fractures retrospectively using large database data.

METHODS: This study is a retrospective analysis using data from the National Trauma Data Bank. Patients were stratified into a fragility cohort (age ≥ 60, ISS < 16) and polytrauma cohort (age < 60, ISS ≥16), with both cohorts analyzed separately. Within each cohort, patients were split into three fixation timing groups: within 24 h, between 24 and 48 h, and greater than 48 h from presentation to the hospital. Fixation-timing groups were compared based on the primary outcome of in-hospital mortality rate. Secondary outcomes included hospital length of stay (LOS), ICU length of stay (ICU LOS), days on a ventilator, and complications.

RESULTS: The fragility and polytrauma cohorts included 22,045 and 5,905 patients, respectively. The in-hospital mortality rate was 1.23 % in …

Can Acetabular Dysplasia Be Measured On Axial Ct? A Measurement For Trauma Surgeons, Ravi R Agrawal, Eric R Barnard, Helena F Barber, Anna N Miller

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Acetabular dysplasia has been theorized as a risk factor instability amongst common acetabular fractures, such as posterior wall (PW) fractures. However, common radiographic measurements often cannot be acquired in trauma patients. We evaluated axial computed tomography (CT) scans to identify novel, easily-obtained measurements that correlate with acetabular dysplasia for use in surgical indications and planning.

METHODS: Patients with known acetabular dysplasia undergoing elective periacetabular osteotomy were selected. A different group of patients without pelvic ring or acetabular fractures from an institutional trauma registry were selected as a comparison group. Standard indices of dysplasia were collected, such as center-edge angle …

The Known And Unknown Reality Of Knee Dislocations: A Systematic Review, Zachary D Randall, Matthew J Strok, Jacob W Mazzola, Ravi Agrawal, Lauren H Yaeger, Marschall B Berkes

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Knee dislocations (KD) are limb threatening injuries known to cause significant dysfunction and disability. This review aims to summarize KD knowledge and uncover areas where more research is needed.

METHODS: The published literature was queried according to PRISMA guidelines. Studies eligible for inclusion were clinical studies of knee dislocations. Studies published before 1990, or that focused on patellofemoral dislocation were excluded.

RESULTS: A total of 132 studies involving 43,869 knee dislocations were analyzed. The majority of patients were young adult males, with high-velocity trauma, particularly motor vehicle accidents, being the most common cause. Substance use and alcohol involvement were …

Influence Of Physical Activity Measurement On The Association Between Life's Essential 8 And Incident Cardiovascular Disease In Older Women, Eric T Hyde, Steve Nguyen, Michael J Lamonte, Chongzhi Di, John Bellettiere, Lesley F Tinker, Randi E Foraker, Hilary A Tindle, Marcia L Stefanick, Andrea Z Lacroix

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: The American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (LE8) metric includes self-reported physical activity as one of the metrics for assessing cardiovascular health. Self-reported physical activity is prone to misclassification, whereas accelerometer measures are less biased. We examined associations of LE8 and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) using self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity.

METHODS: Participants in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health Study (n = 4,243; mean age = 79 ± 7 years) with no CVD history completed the WHI physical activity questionnaire and the Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors (CHAMPS) questionnaire prior to …

Psychiatric Neuroimaging Designs For Individualised, Cohort, And Population Studies, Martin Gell, Stephanie Noble, Timothy O Laumann, Steven M Nelson, Brenden Tervo-Clemmens

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Psychiatric neuroimaging faces challenges to rigour and reproducibility that prompt reconsideration of the relative strengths and limitations of study designs. Owing to high resource demands and varying inferential goals, current designs differentially emphasise sample size, measurement breadth, and longitudinal assessments. In this overview and perspective, we provide a guide to the current landscape of psychiatric neuroimaging study designs with respect to this balance of scientific goals and resource constraints. Through a heuristic data cube contrasting key design features, we discuss a resulting trade-off among small sample, precision longitudinal studies (e.g., individualised studies and cohorts) and large sample, minimally longitudinal, population …

Differential Chromatin Accessibility And Transcriptional Dynamics Define Breast Cancer Subtypes And Their Lineages, Michael D Iglesia, Reyka G Jayasinghe, Siqi Chen, Nadezhda V Terekhanova, John M Herndon, Erik Storrs, Alla Karpova, Daniel Cui Zhou, Nataly Naser Al Deen, Andrew T Shinkle, Rita Jui-Hsien Lu, Wagma Caravan, Andrew Houston, Yanyan Zhao, Kazuhito Sato, Preet Lal, Cherease Street, Fernanda Martins Rodrigues, Austin N Southard-Smith, André Luiz N Targino Da Costa, Houxiang Zhu, Chia-Kuei Mo, Lisa Crowson, Robert S Fulton, Matthew A Wyczalkowski, Catrina C Fronick, Lucinda A Fulton, Hua Sun, Sherri R Davies, Elizabeth L Appelbaum, Sara E Chasnoff, Madelyn Carmody, Candace Brooks, Ruiyang Liu, Michael C Wendl, Clara Oh, Diane Bender, Carlos Cruchaga, Oscar Harari, Andrea Bredemeyer, Kory Lavine, Ron Bose, Julie Margenthaler, Jason M Held, Samuel Achilefu, Foluso Ademuyiwa, Rebecca Aft, Cynthia Ma, Graham A Colditz, Stephen T Oh, James Fitzpatrick, Kooresh I Shoghi, Milan G Chheda, Deborah J Veis, Feng Chen, Ryan C Fields, William E Gillanders, Li Ding, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Breast cancer (BC) is defined by distinct molecular subtypes with different cells of origin. The transcriptional networks that characterize the subtype-specific tumor-normal lineages are not established. In this work, we applied bulk, single-cell and single-nucleus multi-omic techniques as well as spatial transcriptomics and multiplex imaging on 61 samples from 37 patients with BC to show characteristic links in gene expression and chromatin accessibility between BC subtypes and their putative cells of origin. Regulatory network analysis of transcription factors underscored the importance of BHLHE40 in luminal BC and luminal mature cells and KLF5 in basal-like tumors and luminal progenitor cells. Furthermore, …

Glp-1 Receptor Agonists And Risk For Cirrhosis And Related Complications In Patients With Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease, Fasiha Kanwal, Jennifer R Kramer, Liang Li, Yu-Xiao Yang, Yumei Cao, Xian Yu, Ronald Samuel, Basim Ali, Roxanne Desiderio, George Cholankeril, Mandeep Bajaj, Hashem B El-Serag, Steven M Asch

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is an increasing cause of cirrhosis. Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) are effective in improving liver inflammation in patients with MASLD.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether use of GLP-1 RAs is associated with lower risk of developing cirrhosis and its complications, including decompensation and hepatocellular cancer (HCC), among patients with MASLD.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study with an active comparator, new-user design used data from the national Veterans Health Administration Corporate Data Warehouse and Central Cancer Registry. Patients with MASLD and diabetes who were seen at 130 Veterans Health …

Neighborhood-Level Deprivation Mediates Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Hcc Diagnosis In Texas, Itunu O Sokale, Aaron P Thrift, Hashem B El-Serag, Abiodun O Oluyomi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Texas has the highest HCC rates in the United States, and the greatest burden is among Hispanics. Racial and ethnic disparities in HCC incidence have multiple underpinning factors. We conducted a mediation analysis to examine the role of neighborhood disadvantage (Area Deprivation Index) as a potential mediator of the association between neighborhood race and ethnicity distribution and neighborhood HCC case counts in Texas.

METHODS: The primary outcome measure was counts of new HCC diagnoses per census tract based on Texas Department of State Health Services Texas Cancer Registry data. The primary exposure of interest was the race and ethnicity-based …

Ga2len Anacare Consensus Statement: Potential Of Omalizumab In Food Allergy Management, Torsten Zuberbier, Antonella Muraro, Ulugbek Nurmatov, Stefania Arasi, Katarina Stevanovic, Aikaterini Anagnostou, Roberta Bonaguro, Sharon Chinthrajah, Gideon Lack, Alessandro Fiocchi, Thuy-My Le, Paul Turner, Montserrat Alvaro Lozano, Elizabeth Angier, Simona Barni, Phillippe Bégin, Barbara Ballmer-Weber, Victoria Cardona, Carsten Bindslev-Jensen, Antonella Cianferoni, Nicolette De Jong, Debra De Silva, Antoine Deschildre, Audrey Dunn Galvin, Motohiro Ebisawa, David M Fleischer, Jennifer Gerdts, Mattia Giovannini, Josefine Gradman, Susanne Halken, Syed Hasan Arshad, Ekaterina Khaleva, Susanne Lau, Richard Loh, Mika J Mäkelä, Mary Jane Marchisotto, Laura Morandini, Charlotte G Mortz, Caroline Nilsson, Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, Marcia Podestà, Lars K Poulsen, Graham Roberts, Pablo Rodríguez Del Río, Hugh A Sampson, Angel Sánchez, Sabine Schnadt, Peter K Smith, Hania Szajewska, Natasa Teovska Mitrevska, Alice Toniolo, Carina Venter, Amena Warner, Gary W K Wong, Robert Wood, Margitta Worm

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Immunoglobulin E (IgE)‐mediated food allergies are the most common type of food allergy, often causing rapid symptoms after exposure to allergens posing a serious health risk and a high impact on patient's and caregiver's quality of life. Omalizumab, a humanized anti‐IgE monoclonal antibody, reduces allergic reactions by binding to circulating IgE. Omalizumab has been successfully used in allergic asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, and chronic urticaria, and was recently approved for treating IgE‐mediated food allergies by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This GA2LEN ANACARE Consensus Statement presents our position on the use of omalizumab for treating IgE‐mediated …

Loss-Of-Function In Rbbp5 Results In A Syndromic Neurodevelopmental Disorder Associated With Microcephaly, Yue Huang, Kristy L Jay, Alden Yen-Wen Huang, Jijun Wan, Sharayu V Jangam, Odelia Chorin, Annick Rothschild, Ortal Barel, Milena Mariani, Maria Iascone, Han Xue, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Jing Huang, Cyril Mignot, Boris Keren, Virginie Saillour, Annelise Y Mah-Som, Stephanie Sacharow, Farrah Rajabi, Carrie Costin, Shinya Yamamoto, Oguz Kanca, Hugo J Bellen, Jill A Rosenfeld, Christina G S Palmer, Stanley F Nelson, Michael F Wangler, Julian A Martinez-Agosto

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Epigenetic dysregulation has been associated with many inherited disorders. RBBP5 (HGNC:9888) encodes a core member of the protein complex that methylates histone 3 lysine-4 and has not been implicated in human disease.

METHODS: We identify 5 unrelated individuals with de novo heterozygous variants in RBBP5. Three nonsense/frameshift and 2 missense variants were identified in probands with neurodevelopmental symptoms, including global developmental delay, intellectual disability, microcephaly, and short stature. Here, we investigate the pathogenicity of the variants through protein structural analysis and transgenic Drosophila models.

RESULTS: Both missense p.(T232I) and p.(E296D) variants affect evolutionarily conserved amino acids located at the …

Pharmacogenomic Insights In Psychiatric Care: Uncovering Novel Actionability, Allele-Specific Cyp2d6 Copy Number Variation, And Phenoconversion In 15,000 Patients, Jai N Patel, Sarah A Morris, Raul Torres, Brooke Rhead, Chris Vlangos, Daniel J Mueller, Lisa C Brown, Hailey Lefkofsky, Muneer Ali, Francisco M De La Vega, Kathleen C Barnes, Anthony Zoghbi, Joseph D Stanton, Marcus A Badgeley

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Pharmacogenomic testing has emerged as an aid in clinical decision making for psychiatric providers, but more data is needed regarding its utility in clinical practice and potential impact on patient care. In this cross-sectional study, we determined the real-world prevalence of pharmacogenomic actionability in patients receiving psychiatric care. Potential actionability was based on the prevalence of CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 phenotypes, including CYP2D6 allele-specific copy number variations (CNVs). Combined actionability additionally incorporated CYP2D6 phenoconversion and the novel CYP2C-TG haplotype in patients with available medication data. Across 15,000 patients receiving clinical pharmacogenomic testing, 65% had potentially actionable CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 phenotypes, and …

Impact And Recovery Of Vha Epilepsy Care Services During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Zulfi Haneef, Erin Sullivan-Baca, Rizwana Rehman, Alan Towne, Ann C Van Cott, Aatif Husain

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The Epilepsy Centers of Excellence (ECoE) is a network of facilities within the Veterans Health Administration that evaluates and treats veterans with epilepsy and seizure disorders. This article outlines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted ECoE services and recovery.

METHODS: Directors of 17 ECoEs were surveyed 4 times between May 2020 and July 2022 on 5 domains: functioning of outpatient epilepsy clinics, outpatient electroencephalogram, epilepsy monitoring unit, anticipated permanent operational changes, and utility of national and local recommendations. Data on the spread of COVID-19 and administrative workload data were compared with the availability of epilepsy services.

RESULTS: There was an …

Obturator Neurectomy For The Treatment Of Adductor Spasticity: A Novel Technique And Case Series, Maximillian S Feygin, Michael Larkin, Dan Curry, Scott B Rosenfeld, Aloysia Schwabe, Nisha Gadgil

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background The management of adductor spasticity and long-term sequelae for cerebral palsy (CP) patients is complex. Hip displacement is a common consequence of CP, and obturator neurectomy (ON) is a potentially underutilized procedure to address the underlying adductor spasticity. The aim of this study is to describe the operational technique of ON and highlight the potential efficacy of ON in reducing spasticity, as well as pain, hip, and functional outcomes in these patients. Methods A total of eight patients from Texas Children's Hospital who underwent ON between 2008 and 2023 were included in this case series. Results ON led to …

Fetal Lower Urinary Tract Obstruction: International Delphi Consensus On Management And Core Outcome Set, H J Mustafa, A Khalil, S Johnson, S J Gordijn, W Ganzevoort, C Melling, C J Koh, G T Mandy, M D Kilby, A Johnson, R A Quintero, G Ryan, A A Shamshirsaz, A A Nassr, On Behalf Of The Luto Working Group

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: To reach an international expert consensus on the diagnosis, prognosis and management of fetal lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO) by means of a Delphi procedure, and to use this to define a core outcome set (COS).

METHODS: A three-round Delphi procedure was conducted among an international panel of experts in fetal LUTO. The panel was provided with a list of literature-based parameters to consider for the diagnosis, prognosis, management and outcomes of LUTO. A parallel procedure was conducted with patient groups during the development of the COS.

RESULTS: A total of 168 experts were approached, of whom 99 completed …

Multidisciplinary Amputation Prevention At The Debakey Va Hospital: Our First Decade, Neal R Barshes, Aimee D Garcia, Cezarina Mindru, Maria Rodriguez-Barradas, Panos Kougias, David M Green, Samir S Awad

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: In 2011, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) undertook multidisciplinary efforts to improve care for patients with nonhealing foot ulcers and reduce leg amputation rates. This article examines the impact of interdisciplinary care for amputation prevention in the VHA.

METHODS: The VHA patient population was characterized using internal registries. Texas hospital admission data were used to identify sex and zip-code matched cohorts. VHA provided data on national and local frequencies of various amputations and the number of patients with diabetes.

RESULTS: Compared to matched nonveteran patients, veterans treated at VHA hospitals were older and more often self-identified as Black. They …

Lack Of Detection Of Norwalk Virus In Saliva Samples From A Controlled Human Infection Model, Robert L Atmar, Frederick H Neill, Nicole M Hayes, Antone R Opekun, David Y Graham, Mary K Estes, Sasirekha Ramani

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Following recent reports of norovirus replication in salivary gland cells, we examined whether the prototype norovirus strain, Norwalk virus (GI.1), could be detected in the saliva of 21 experimentally infected persons. Viral RNA was not detected in saliva 2 and 7 days after challenge despite high levels being present in feces.

Metabolites Link Intake Of A Healthy Diet To Better Insulin And Glucose Homeostasis In The Microbiome And Insulin Longitudinal Evaluation Study (Miles), Alexis C Wood, Danielle J Lee, Patricia A Sheridan, Elizabeth T Jensen, Gautam Ramesh, Alain G Bertoni, Stephen S Rich, Yii-Der I Chen, David M Herrington, Jerome I Rotter, Mark O Goodarzi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Dietary quality has been linked to better glycemic control, but the precise molecular mechanisms giving rise to these associations are not fully understood.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the association of metabolites associated with the intake of a healthy diet with measures of insulin/glucose homeostasis.

METHODS: Using cross-sectional data from 295 United States adults, the associations between 3 diet pattern scores and metabolome-wide metabolites were estimated via linear regression models, which controlled for demographic factors and health behaviors. Subsequently, the associations between the diet-related metabolites with 6 measures of glucose/insulin homeostasis were examined in similar models. A Bonferroni correction was applied …

Impact Of Artificial Intelligence-Based Autosegmentation Of Organs At Risk In Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Solomon Kibudde, Awusi Kavuma, Yao Hao, Tianyu Zhao, Hiram Gay, Jacaranda Van Rheenen, Pavan Mukesh Jhaveri, Minjmaa Minjgee, Enkhsetseg Vanchinbazar, Urdenekhuu Nansalmaa, Baozhou Sun

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Radiation therapy (RT) processes require significant human resources and expertise, creating a barrier to rapid RT deployment in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Accurate segmentation of tumor targets and organs at risk (OARs) is crucial for optimal RT. This study assessed the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)-based autosegmentation of OARs in 2 LMICs.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: Ten patients, comprising 5 head and neck (HN) cancer patients and 5 prostate cancer patients, were randomly selected. Planning computed tomography images were subjected to autosegmentation using an Food and Drug Administration-approved AI software tool and manual segmentation by experienced radiation oncologists from …

Pulmonary Artery Stenting In Cancer Patients: A Single-Center Experience, Jay Gupta, Ronak Patel, Neal Patel, David Wynne, Mohammad Ghasemi-Rad

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Endovascular stenting of the pulmonary artery treats arterial stenosis from pulmonary hypertension, congenital heart defects, or post-transplant stricture. Patients with malignant extrinsic pulmonary arterial compression, secondary to large mediastinal or pulmonary masses, often present with dyspnea, hypoxemia, and right ventricular failure. Conventional therapies like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are often slow and fail to promptly resolve acute symptoms. Balloon angioplasty and stenting have been explored as a rapid treatment to alleviate symptoms of external pulmonary artery compression. Despite its potential, the adoption of this procedure is limited due to risks like stent misplacement, migration, cardiac arrhythmias, and arterial rupture. This …

Transcriptomic And Epigenomic Signatures Distinguish High- And Low-Risk Endotypes For Liver Tumor Development, Sandra L Grimm, Tia Talley, Rahul K Jangid, Amrit Koirala, Micah B Castillo, Preethi H Gunaratne, Cristian Coarfa, Cheryl L Walker

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The epigenome is a target for environmental exposures and a potential determinant of inter-individual differences in response. In genetically identical C57Bl/6 mice exposed from gestation to weaning to the endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) tributyltin (TBT), hepatic tumor development later in life varied across multiple cohorts over time and depending on sex and diet. In one cohort where approximately half of TBT-exposed male mice developed liver tumors at 10 months (Katz et al. Hepatic tumor formation in adult mice developmentally exposed to organotin, Environmental Health Perspectives, 128 (1), 17010, 2020), transcriptomic (RNA-seq) and epigenomic (ChIP-seq) profiling was performed on blood and liver …

Age Modulates The Predictive Value Of Self-Reported Sleepiness For All-Cause Mortality Risk: Insights From A Comprehensive National Database Of Veterans, Arash Maghsoudi, Mehrnaz Azarian, Amir Sharafkhaneh, Melissa B Jones, Hoormehr Nozari, Meir Kryger, Amin Ramezani, Javad Razjouyan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Study objectives: Excessive daytime sleepiness is prevalent and overwhelmingly stems from disturbed sleep. We hypothesized that age modulates the association between excessive daytime sleepiness and increased all-cause mortality.

Methods: We utilized the Veterans' Health Administration data from 1999-2022. We enrolled participants with sleep related International Classification of Diseases 9/10 codes or sleep services. A natural language processing pipeline was developed and validated to extract the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) as a self-reported tool to measure excessive daytime sleepiness from physician progress notes. The natural language processing's accuracy was assessed through manual annotation of 470 notes. Participants were categorized into normal-ESS …

Natural History Of Indeterminate Liver Nodules In Patients With Advanced Liver Disease: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study, Amit G Singal, Neehar D Parikh, Kirti Shetty, Steven-Huy Han, Cassie Xie, Jing Ning, Jo Ann Rinaudo, Ashwini Arvind, Anna S Lok, Fasiha Kanwal, Translational Liver Cancer Investigators

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Indeterminate liver nodules (ILNs) are frequently encountered on diagnostic imaging after positive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance results, but their natural history remains unclear.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study among patients with ≥1 newly detected LI-RADS 3 (LR-3) lesion ≥1 cm or LI-RADS 4 (LR-4) lesion of any size (per LI-RADS v2018) between January 2018 and December 2019. Patients were followed with repeat imaging at each site per institutional standard of care. Multivariable Fine-Gray models were used to evaluate associations between potential risk factors and patient-level time-to-HCC diagnosis, with death and liver transplantation as competing risks.

Results: …

Senescence Biomarkers And Trajectories Of Frailty And Physical Function After Kidney Transplantation, Elizabeth C Lorenz, Byron H Smith, Hani M Wadei, Girish Mour, Cassie C Kennedy, Carrie A Schinstock, Walter K Kremers, Andrea L Cheville, Latonya J Hickson, Elizabeth J Atkinson, Thomas A White, Andrew D Rule, Nathan K Lebrasseur

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cellular senescence is a biological mechanism of aging and age-related diseases. The aim of this study was to examine whether senescence biomarkers are associated with frailty and physical function trajectories in patients undergoing kidney transplantation (KT). We also discussed the relationship between senescence biomarkers and KT function. In this multicenter study, we prospectively assessed plasma levels of senescence biomarkers, frailty as measured by the Physical Frailty Phenotype, and physical function as measured by the Short Physical Performance Battery prior to KT. Frailty, physical function, and KT function were also measured 1 year after KT. Variable associations were assessed using Cox …