Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Mean Arterial Pressure (Map) Augmentation In Traumatic Spinal Cord Injuries: Early Hyperperfusion Treatment Influences Neurologic Outcomes., Aimee K Lariccia, Kimberly Sperwer, Michael L Lieber, M Chance Spalding

Trauma and Acute Care Articles

Context: Hyperperfusion therapy, mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) > 85 mmHg, is a recommended treatment of blunt traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). We hypothesized the first 24 h of MAP augmentation would be most influential on neurological outcomes.Design: This retrospective study from a level 1 urban trauma center dating 1/2017 to 12/2019 included all blunt traumatic spinal cord injured patients receiving hyperperfusion therapy. Patients were grouped as "No improvement" vs "Improvement" measured by change in American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) score during their hospitalization. MAP values for the first 12, first 24 and last 72 h were compared between the …

Conservative Approach Versus Percutaneous Coronary Intervention In Patients With Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection From A National Population-Based Cohort Study, Yusuf Kamran Qadeer, Zhen Wang, Mahboob Alam, Samin Sharma, Hani Jneid

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare and often underdiagnosed cause of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), predominantly affecting younger women without traditional cardiovascular risk factors. The management of SCAD remains a subject of debate, likely secondary to inconclusive evidence. This study aims to compare the clinical outcomes of SCAD patients treated with optimal medical therapy (OMT) versus those who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using a national population-based cohort.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2016 to 2020. The study included patients identified with SCAD using the ICD-10-CM (the International …

Serum Levels Of Total Bile Acids Are Associated With An Increased Risk Of Hcc In Patients With Cirrhosis, Jing Ning, Saira Khaderi, Amit G Singal, Sumeet K Asrani, Jorge A Marrero, Hannah Powell, Kinza Rizwan, Omar Najjar, Christopher I Amos, Michelle Luster, Abeer Al-Sarraj, Emad Salem, Michael E Scheurer, Jagpreet Chhatwal, Salma Kaochar, Fasiha Kanwal

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have reported higher circulating bile acid levels in patients with HCC compared to healthy controls. However, the association between prediagnostic bile acid levels and HCC risk among patients with cirrhosis is unclear.

METHODS: We measured total BA (TBA) concentration in serum samples collected from a prospective cohort of patients with cirrhosis who were followed until the development of HCC, death, or last study date. Competing risk proportional hazard-adjusted models were used to estimate the association between tertiles of serum TBA levels and the risk of developing HCC. We quantified the incremental predictive value of serum bile acid …

Pkc-Mediated Phosphorylation Governs The Stability And Function Of Celf1 As A Driver Of Emt In Breast Epithelial Cells, Arindam Chaudhury, Emuejevoke Olokpa, Jason Karch, Anna Malovannaya, Chonghui Cheng, Xiang Zhang, Joel R Neilson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is believed to be a principal factor contributing to cancer metastasis. The post-transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms underlying EMT are comparatively underexplored. We previously demonstrated that the CELF1 RNA binding protein is necessary and sufficient to drive the EMT of breast epithelial cells, and that the relative protein expression of CELF1 in this context was dictated at the post-translational level. Here, we elucidate the mechanism of this regulation. Mass spectrometric analysis of CELF1 isolated from mesenchymal MCF-10A cells identified multiple sites of serine and threonine phosphorylation on the protein, correlating with the increased stability of this …

An Ancient Ecospecies Of Helicobacter Pylori, Takashi Matsumoto, Muhammad Miftahussurur, Kartika Afrida Fauzia, Ricky Indra Alfaray, Ratha-Korn Vilaichone, Vo Phuoc Tuan, Helicobacter Genomics Consortium, Difei Wang, Abbas Yadegar, Lisa M Olsson, Zhemin Zhou, Yoshio Yamaoka, Kaisa Thorell, Daniel Falush

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Helicobacter pylori disturbs the stomach lining during long-term colonization of its human host, with sequelae including ulcers and gastric cancer1,2. Numerous H. pylori virulence factors have been identified, showing extensive geographic variation1. Here we identify a ‘Hardy’ ecospecies of H. pylori that shares the ancestry of ‘Ubiquitous’ H. pylori from the same region in most of the genome but has nearly fixed single-nucleotide polymorphism differences in 100 genes, many of which encode outer membrane proteins and host interaction factors. Most Hardy strains have a second urease, which uses iron as a cofactor rather than …

The Role Of Scribble In Activating The Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) Pathway And Its Role In The Progression Of Shh-Medulloblastoma, Jingwen Zhu

Alternative Theses and Dissertations (AETDs)

Our current knowledge of regulators in vertebrates’ Hedgehog (HH) pathway is incomplete. Gaining a better understanding of HH pathway components is appealing due to the key role of the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) pathway in modulating the developmental proliferation of granule neuron progenitors (GNPs) in the cerebellum. Aberrant activation of SHH pathway in GNPs promotes the formation of SHH-Medulloblastoma (SHH-MB), a common pediatric brain tumor. Though SHH-MB is genetically understood, current therapies are ineffective. Recently, we identified a scaffold protein, Scribble (Scrib), as a novel interactor of our previously identified SHH pathway regulator—Abcc4. Scrib’s reported expression in the brain also suggested …

Circulating Exosomes Alter Skeletal Muscle Gene Expression To Impair Insulin Sensitivity In Type 2 Diabetes And Mediate Adaptive Response To Exercise In Healthy Mice, Christopher R. Pitzer

Alternative Theses and Dissertations (AETDs)

Current evidence from the literature suggests a role for circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases as well as a potential therapeutic role via delivery of vesicular cargo. Type 2 Diabetes is among the most prevalent and costly metabolic diseases in the world. Lifestyle intervention including exercise can cause Type 2 Diabetes to enter effective remission but remain ineffective due to poor adherence. Exercise stimulates the release of EVs from the skeletal muscle (and other tissues), and these vesicles are thought to confer a portion of the metabolic benefits of exercise. However, the direct effects of EV’s …

Variation In Craniodental Pathologies Among Cercopithecoid Primates, Claire A. Kirchhoff, Siobhán B. Cooke, Jessica C. Gomez, D. Rex Mitchell, Tyler Stein, Claire E. Terhune

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Pathologies of the skull and teeth are well documented for many human populations, but there are fewer studies of other primates. We contrast lesion prevalence and patterning among cercopithecoid primates and map variation onto socioecological variables. We compare craniodental lesions in six species: Nasalis larvatus (n = 54), Colobus polykomos (n = 64), Cercopithecus mitis (n = 65), Macaca fascicularis (n = 109), Theropithecus gelada (n = 13), and Papio anubis (n = 76). One of us (C.A.K.) evaluated each adult skull for multiple lesion types using standard criteria. We also tested for a …

Deregulation Of Mitochondrial Gene Expression In Cancer: Mechanisms And Therapeutic Opportunities

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

"Reprogramming of energy metabolism" was first considered an emerging hallmark of cancer in 2011 by Hanahan & Weinberg and is now considered a core hallmark of cancer. Mitochondria are the hubs of metabolism, crucial for energetic functions and cellular homeostasis. The mitochondrion's bacterial origin and preservation of their own genome, which encodes proteins and RNAs essential to their function, make them unique organelles. Successful generation of mitochondrial gene products requires coordinated functioning of the mitochondrial 'central dogma,' encompassing all steps necessary for mtDNA to yield mitochondrial proteins. Each of these processes has several levels of regulation, including mtDNA accessibility and …

First Interim Results From Fine-Real: A Prospective, Non-Interventional, Phase 4 Study Providing Insights Into The Use And Safety Of Finerenone In A Routine Clinical Settingfirst Interim Results From Fine-Real: A Prospective, Non-Interventional, Phase 4 Study Providing Insights Into The Use And Safety Of Finerenone In A Routine Clinical Setting, Susanne B Nicholas, Ricardo Correa-Rotter, Nihar R Desai, Lixin Guo, Sankar D Navaneethan, Kevin M Pantalone, Christoph Wanner, Stefanie Hamacher, Samuel T Fatoba, Andrea Horvat-Broecker, Antonio Garreta-Rufas, Alain Gay, Martin Merz, David C Wheeler

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Background: Finerenone, a selective non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, improves kidney and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The FINE-REAL study (NCT05348733) aims to evaluate the characteristics and treatment patterns of participants treated with finerenone in clinical practice.

Methods: FINE-REAL is a prospective, single-arm, non-interventional study of patients initiated on finerenone as part of their routine care in accordance with country-approved labels. The study, initiated in June 2022, is expected to be completed by January 2028. The cutoff for this pre-specified interim analysis was June 13, 2023.

Results: Participants were …

Exploring Latent Clusters In Pediatric Ocd Based On Symptoms, Severity, Age, Gender, And Comorbidity, Orri Smárason, Robert R Selles, Davíð R M A Højgaard, John R Best, Karin Melin, Tord Ivarsson, Per Hove Thomsen, Bernhard Weidle, Nicole Michelle Mcbride, Eric A Storch, Daniel Geller, Sabine Wilhelm, Lara J Farrell, Allison M Waters, Sharna Mathieu, Noam Soreni, S Evelyn Stewart, Gudmundur Skarphedinsson

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Given diverse symptom expression and high rates of comorbid conditions, the present study explored underlying commonalities among OCD-affected children and adolescents to better conceptualize disorder presentation and associated features. Data from 830 OCD-affected participants presenting to OCD specialty centers was aggregated. Dependent mixture modeling was used to examine latent clusters based on their age- and gender adjusted symptom severity (as measured by the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale; CY-BOCS), symptom type (as measured by factor scores calculated from the CY-BOCS symptom checklist), and comorbid diagnoses (as assessed via diagnostic interviews). Fit statistics favored a four-cluster model with groups distinguished primarily by …

Measuring Perceived Utility Of Genomic Sequencing: Development And Validation Of The Genetic Utility (Gene-U) Scale For Adult Screening, Hadley Stevens Smith, Caryn Kseniya Rubanovich, Jill Oliver Robinson, Ariel N Levchenko, Sarah A Classen, Janet Malek, Adam H Buchanan, Barbara Biesecker, Kyle B Brothers, Benjamin S Wilfond, Christine Rini, Cinnamon S Bloss, Amy L Mcguire, Sara J Knight

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Purpose: As population-based screening programs to identify genetic conditions in adults using genomic sequencing (GS) are increasingly available, validated patient-centered outcome measures are needed to understand participants' experience. We aimed to develop and validate an instrument to assess the perceived utility of GS in the context of adult screening.

Methods: Informed by a 5-domain conceptual model, we used a 5-step approach to instrument development and validation: (1) item writing, (2) cognitive testing, (3) pilot testing and item reduction, (4) psychometric testing, and (5) evaluation of construct validity. Adults undergoing risk-based or population-based GS who had received GS results as part …

A Complementary Metaproteomic Approach To Interrogate Microbiome Cultivated From Clinical Colon Biopsies, Van-An Duong, Altai Enkhbayar, Nobel Bhasin, Lakmini Senavirathna, Eva C Preisner, Richa Shukla, Kai Cheng, Mary P Bronner, Daniel Figeys, Robert A Britton, Sheng Pan, Ru Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The human gut microbiome plays a vital role in preserving individual health and is intricately involved in essential functions. Imbalances or dysbiosis within the microbiome can significantly impact human health and are associated with many diseases. Several metaproteomics platforms are currently available to study microbial proteins within complex microbial communities. In this study, we attempted to develop an integrated pipeline to provide deeper insights into both the taxonomic and functional aspects of the cultivated human gut microbiomes derived from clinical colon biopsies. We combined a rapid peptide search by MSFragger against the Unified Human Gastrointestinal Protein database and the taxonomic …

Genetic Risk Factors In Isolated Dystonia Escape Genome-Wide Association Studies, Tobias Reinberger, Lisa-Marie Nuxoll, Gamze Kilic-Berkmen, Joel S Perlmutter, Sebastian Loens, Carlos Cruchaga, Andre Franke, Valerija Dobricic, Frauke Hinrichs, Anne Grözinger, Eckart Altenmüller, Steven Bellows, Sylvia Boesch, Susan B Bressman, Kevin R Duque, Alberto J Espay, Andreas Ferbert, Jeanne S Feuerstein, Samuel Frank, Thomas Gasser, Bernhard Haslinger, Robert Jech, Frank Kaiser, Christoph Kamm, Katja Kollewe, Andrea A Kühn, Mark S Ledoux, Ebba Lohmann, Abhimanyu Mahajan, Alexander Münchau, Trisha Multhaupt-Buell, Alexander Pantelyat, Sarah E Pirio Richardson, Deborah Raymond, Stephen G Reich, Rachel Saunders Pullman, Barbara Schormair, Nutan Sharma, Azadeh Hamzehei Sichani, Kristina Simonyan, Jens Volkmann, Aparna Wagle Shukla, Juliane Winkelmann, Laura J Wright, Michael Zech, Kirsten E Zeuner, Simone Zittel, Meike Kasten, Yan V Sun, Tobias Bäumer, Norbert Brüggemann, Laurie J Ozelius, Hyder A Jinnah, Christine Klein, Inke R König

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Despite considerable heritability, previous smaller genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have not identified any robust genetic risk factors for isolated dystonia.

Objective: The objective of this study was to perform a large-scale GWAS in a well-characterized, multicenter sample of >6000 individuals to identify genetic risk factors for isolated dystonia.

Methods: Array-based GWASs were performed on autosomes for 4303 dystonia participants and 2362 healthy control subjects of European ancestry with subgroup analysis based on age at onset, affected body regions, and a newly developed clinical score. Another 736 individuals were used for validation.

Results: This GWAS identified no common genome-wide significant …

Comparative Effectiveness Of Different Corticosteroid Regimens In Severe Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis, Leonardo Guizzetti, Rokhsana Mortuza, Winston Dunn, Ashwani K Singal, Douglas Simonetto, Carolina Ramirez-Cadiz, Wei Zhang, Steve Qian, Joaquín Cabezas, Shiv K Sarin, Rakhi Maiwall, Prasun K Jalal, Fatima Higuera-De La Tijera, Lubomir Skladany, Natalia Bystrianska, Diego Rincon, Kristina R Chacko, Meritxell Ventura Cots, Guadalupe Garcia-Tsao, Juan G Abraldes, Patrick S Kamath, Marco Arrese, Vijay Shah, Ramon Bataller, Juan Pablo Arab

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Polygenic Risk Scores And Extreme Coronary Artery Calcium Phenotypes (Cac=0 And Cac≥1000) In Adults ≥75 Years Old: The Aric Study, Yasuyuki Honda, Candace M Howard-Claudio, Jin Jin, Bing Yu, Paul S De Vries, Lynne Wagenknecht, Aaron R Folsom, Ron Blankstein, Tanika N Kelly, Seamus P Whelton, Martin Bødtker Mortensen, Ziqiao Wang, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Kunihiro Matsushita, Michael J Blaha

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Coronary artery calcium (CAC) is heterogeneous in older age and is incompletely explained by traditional atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk factors. The extremes of subclinical atherosclerosis burden are strongly associated with either a low or high 10-year risk of incident atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, respectively. However, the genetic underpinnings of differences in arterial aging remain unclear. We sought to determine the independent association of 2 polygenic scores for coronary heart disease (CHD) with CAC in adults ≥75 years of age.

Methods: There were 1865 ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) participants who underwent genetic testing at visit 1 (1987-1989) and CAC scans …

Bladder-Preserving Radiation Therapy For Patients With Locally Advanced And Node-Positive Bladder Cancer, Patrick Carriere, Omar Alhalabi, Jianjun Gao, Osama Mohamad, Matthew T Campbell, Sangeeta Goswami, Byron Lee, Neema Navai, Henry Mok, Lauren Mayo, Charles Guo, Quynh Nguyen, Sean Mcguire, Ryan Park, Shalin Shah, Karen Hoffman, Steven Frank, Chad Tang, Seungtaek Choi, Ashish Kamat, Comron Hassanzadeh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Trimodality therapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) yields similar oncologic outcomes compared to radical cystectomy in appropriately selected patients; however, data regarding locally advanced MIBC (LA-MIBC) is limited. We explored our experience with LA-MIBC undergoing radiation therapy (RT).

Methods: We retrospectively identified 30 patients from an institutional prospectively collated database with non-metastatic, LA-MIBC. Patients with T3-4 N0 or T2-4 N + treated from 2012 to 2022 with definitive-intent RT, who were not candidates for cystectomy were included. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate time-to-event outcomes, and multivariate analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazards modeling.

Results: 43 % had …

Identifying High-Risk Multiple Myeloma Patients: A Novel Approach Using A Clonal Gene Signature

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogeneous disease with a small subset of high-risk patients having poor prognoses. Identifying these patients is crucial for treatment management and strategic decisions. In this study, we developed a novel computational framework to define prognostic gene signatures by selecting genes with expression driven by clonal copy number alterations. We applied this framework to MM and developed a clonal gene signature (CGS) consisting of 22 genes and evaluated in five independent datasets. The CGS provided significant prognostic values after adjusting for well-established factors including cytogenetic abnormalities, International Staging System (ISS), and Revised ISS (R-ISS). Importantly, CGS …

Economic And Humanistic Burden Of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results From The Us National Survey Data 2018-2020

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to estimate the economic and humanistic burden among US adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS: This study analyzed results from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2018 to 2020. Adults (aged ≥18 years) self-reporting with RA or with the presence of the International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision clinical modification codes were identified. Healthcare expenditures (inpatient care, outpatient care, emergency department, office visits, prescription medications, home health, and others) were measured. The Short Form 12 Health Survey physical component summary (PCS), mental component summary (MCS), activities of daily living (ADL), and instrumental ADL (IADL) were measured. …

Quantitative Biomechanical Analysis In Validating A Video-Based Model To Remotely Assess Physical Frailty: A Potential Solution To Telehealth And Globalized Remote-Patient Monitoring, Mohammad Dehghan Rouzi, Myeounggon Lee, Jaewon Beom, Sanam Bidadi, Abderrahman Ouattas, Gozde Cay, Anmol Momin, Michele K York, Mark E Kunik, Bijan Najafi

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Assessing physical frailty (PF) is vital for early risk detection, tailored interventions, preventive care, and efficient healthcare planning. However, traditional PF assessments are often impractical, requiring clinic visits and significant resources. We introduce a video-based frailty meter (vFM) that utilizes machine learning (ML) to assess PF indicators from a 20 s exercise, facilitating remote and efficient healthcare planning. This study validates the vFM against a sensor-based frailty meter (sFM) through elbow flexion and extension exercises recorded via webcam and video conferencing app. We developed the vFM using Google's MediaPipe ML model to track elbow motion during a 20 s elbow …

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Recruits The Central Cholinergic System To Enhance Perceptual Learning, Kathleen A Martin, Eleni S Papadoyannis, Jennifer K Schiavo, Saba Shokat Fadaei, Habon A Issa, Soomin C Song, Sofia Orrey Valencia, Nesibe Z Temiz, Matthew J Mcginley, David A Mccormick, Robert C Froemke

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Perception can be refined by experience, up to certain limits. It is unclear whether perceptual limits are absolute or could be partially overcome via enhanced neuromodulation and/or plasticity. Recent studies suggest that peripheral nerve stimulation, specifically vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), can alter neural activity and augment experience-dependent plasticity, although little is known about central mechanisms recruited by VNS. Here we developed an auditory discrimination task for mice implanted with a VNS electrode. VNS applied during behavior gradually improved discrimination abilities beyond the level achieved by training alone. Two-photon imaging revealed VNS induced changes to auditory cortical responses and activated cortically …

Loss-Of-Function In Rbbp5 Results In A Syndromic Neurodevelopmental Disorder Associated With Microcephaly, 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 …

An Artificial Intelligence-Generated Model Predicts 90-Day Survival In Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis: A Global Cohort Study, Douglas A Simonetto, Luis A Díaz, Francisco Idalsoaga, Gustavo Ayares, Jorge Arnold, María Ayala-Valverde, Diego Perez, Jaime Gomez, Rodrigo Escarate, Eduardo Fuentes-López, Carolina Ramirez-Cadiz, Dalia Morales-Arraez, Wei Zhang, Steve Qian, Joseph C Ahn, Seth Buryska, Heer Mehta, Nicholas Dunn, Muhammad Waleed, Horia Stefanescu, Andreea Bumbu, Adelina Horhat, Bashar Attar, Rohit Agrawal, Joaquín Cabezas, Victor Echavaría, Berta Cuyàs, Maria Poca, German Soriano, Shiv K Sarin, Rakhi Maiwall, Prasun K Jalal, Fátima Higuera-De-La-Tijera, Anand V Kulkarni, P Nagaraja Rao, Patricia Guerra-Salazar, Lubomir Skladaný, Natália Kubánek, Veronica Prado, Ana Clemente-Sanchez, Diego Rincon, Tehseen Haider, Kristina R Chacko, Gustavo A Romero, Florencia D Pollarsky, Juan C Restrepo, Luis G Toro, Pamela Yaquich, Manuel Mendizabal, Maria L Garrido, Sebastián Marciano, Melisa Dirchwolf, Victor Vargas, César Jiménez, David Hudson, Guadalupe García-Tsao, Guillermo Ortiz, Juan G Abraldes, Patrick S Kamath, Marco Arrese, Vijay H Shah, Ramon Bataller, Juan Pablo Arab

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background and aims: Alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) poses significant short-term mortality. Existing prognostic models lack precision for 90-day mortality. Utilizing artificial intelligence in a global cohort, we sought to derive and validate an enhanced prognostic model.

Approach and results: The Global AlcHep initiative, a retrospective study across 23 centers in 12 countries, enrolled patients with AH per National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism criteria. Centers were partitioned into derivation (11 centers, 860 patients) and validation cohorts (12 centers, 859 patients). Focusing on 30 and 90-day postadmission mortality, 3 artificial intelligence algorithms (Random Forest, Gradient Boosting Machines, and eXtreme Gradient Boosting) …

Impact Of Obstructive Sleep Apnea On Masticatory Muscle Function, Diana Russo, Luis Eduardo Almeida, Vincenzo Ronsivalle, Marco Cicciù, Gabriele Cervino, Maria Maddalena Marrapodi, Giuseppe Minervini

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common and potentially serious sleep disorder characterized by repetitive episodes of complete or partial upper airway obstruction during sleep. These obstructions result in a reduction or cessation of airflow, leading to oxygen desaturation, and disruptions in sleep patterns.1,2 Common symptoms of OSA include loud snoring, gasping or choking during sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness, morning headaches, and irritability. Obstructive sleep apnea is often associated with other medical conditions, such as obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Diagnosis typically involves polysomnography to assess the frequency and severity of apneic episodes.

Circulating Galectin-3: A Prognostic Biomarker In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Shadi Chamseddine, Betul Gok Yavuz, Yehia I Mohamed, Sunyoung S Lee, James C Yao, Michael Lapelusa, Ryan Sun, Jeffrey S Morris, Rikita I Hatia, Manal Hassan, Dan G Duda, Maria Diab, Amr Mohamed, Ahmed Nassar, Hesham M Amin, Ahmed Omar Kaseb

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Galectin-3 plays critical roles in the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of tumor cells. Recent data have suggested that galectin-3 plays a role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, its prognostic value has not been validated. The aim of our study was to evaluate the clinical and prognostic value of galectin-3 in patients with HCC.

METHODS: We prospectively enrolled and collected clinicopathologic data and serum samples from 767 patients with HCC between 2001 and 2014 at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Two hundred patients without HCC were also enrolled and had data collected. The Kaplan-Meier …

Comparison Of Accuracy Of Different Dental Age Estimation Methods In Finnish And Turkish Populations, Aysima Darici, Merih Seval Olmez, H. Cem Güngör, Paivi Rajavaara, Annina Sipola, Vuokko Anttonen, Jari Pakkila

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: The aims of this study were to assess the accuracy of Cameriere’s and Demirjian’s methods in Finnish children, and compare the findings with those of the Turkish children according to dental age.

Material and methods: Dental panoramic tomography (DPT) of children (482 Finnish, 423 Turkish) aged between 5 and 15 years were evaluated. Comparison of mean difference between estimated and chronological age was evaluated. The difference between two means was analysed using paired t-test at 95% confidence interval (CI). Pearson correlation coefficients were used to estimate the correlation between chronological and estimated ages.

Results: Demirjian’s method resulted in …

Short- And Long-Term Effects Of Conventional And Miniscrew-Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion On Hard Tissues Using Voxel-Based Superimposition Of Serial Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Scans, Isaac R. Empson, Marinho Del Santo Jr., Chia-Ling Kuo, Manuel Lagravere Vich, Dawei Liu, Sumit Yadav, Shivam Yogesh Mehta

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Introduction

The objective of this study was to evaluate the short-term and long-term hard-tissue changes with miniscrew-assisted rapid palatal expansion (MARPE) and rapid palatal expansion (RPE) compared with a matched control group with voxel-based superimposition using 3-dimensional cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans.

Methods

A total of 180 CBCT scans were analyzed for 60 patients with a mean age of 13.9 years at 3 time points: pretreatment (T1), postexpansion (T2), and posttreatment (T3). Patients were divided into 3 groups: MARPE, RPE, and controls. Voxel-based superimposition was performed for CBCTs from T1 to T2 and T1 to T3 using the anterior cranial …

Omnidirectional Wireless Power Transfer For Millimetric Magnetoelectric Biomedical Implants, Joshua E Woods, Prahalad Chari, Yumin Su, Jacob T Robinson, Kaiyuan Yang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Miniature bioelectronic implants promise revolutionary therapies for cardiovascular and neurological disorders. Wireless power transfer (WPT) is a significant method for miniaturization, eliminating the need for bulky batteries in today’s devices. Despite successful demonstrations of millimetric battery-free implants in animal models, the robustness and efficiency of WPT are known to degrade significantly under misalignment incurred by body movements, respiration, heart beating, and limited control of implant orientation during surgery. This paper presents an omnidirectional WPT platform for millimetric bioelectronic implants, employing the emerging magnetoelectric (ME) WPT modality, and “magnetic field steering” technique based on multiple transmitter (TX) coils. To accurately sense …

Automated Electronic Health Record Data Extraction And Curation Using Extractehr, Tamara P Miller, Kelly D Getz, Edward Krause, Yun Gun Jo, Sandhya Charapala, M Monica Gramatages, Karen Rabin, Michael E Scheurer, Jennifer J Wilkes, Brian T Fisher, Richard Aplenc

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Purpose: Although the potential transformative effect of electronic health record (EHR) data on clinical research in adult patient populations has been very extensively discussed, the effect on pediatric oncology research has been limited. Multiple factors contribute to this more limited effect, including the paucity of pediatric cancer cases in commercial EHR-derived cancer data sets and phenotypic case identification challenges in pediatric federated EHR data.

Methods: The ExtractEHR software package was initially developed as a tool to improve clinical trial adverse event reporting but has expanded its use cases to include the development of multisite EHR data sets and the support …

Metabolic Stress Induces A Double-Positive Feedback Loop Between Ampk And Sqstm1/P62 Conferring Dual Activation Of Ampk And Nfe2l2/Nrf2 To Synergize Antioxidant Defense, Eun-Ji Choi, Hyun-Taek Oh, Seon-Hyeong Lee, Chen-Song Zhang, Mengqi Li, Soo-Youl Kim, Sunghyouk Park, Tong-Shin Chang, Byung-Hoon Lee, Sheng-Cai Lin, Sang-Min Jeon

Staff and Researcher Publications

Co-occurring mutations in KEAP1 in STK11/LKB1-mutant NSCLC activate NFE2L2/NRF2 to compensate for the loss of STK11-AMPK activity during metabolic adaptation. Characterizing the regulatory crosstalk between the STK11-AMPK and KEAP1-NFE2L2 pathways during metabolic stress is crucial for understanding the implications of co-occurring mutations. Here, we found that metabolic stress increased the expression and phosphorylation of SQSTM1/p62, which is essential for the activation of NFE2L2 and AMPK, synergizing antioxidant defense and tumor growth. The SQSTM1-driven dual activation of NFE2L2 and AMPK was achieved by inducing macroautophagic/autophagic degradation of KEAP1 and facilitating the AXIN-STK11-AMPK complex formation on the lysosomal membrane, respectively. In contrast, …