Diseases Commons^™

Covid Birthday, Anonymous

Community Reflections

Covid 19 was a shock to us all. No one knew what to expect. It was a new way of living for everyone.

My Brutal Covid Experience, Anonymous

Community Reflections

Within weeks, Covid 19 was present in the United States. It affected everyone in the world. Nobody knew what to do at the start of this, and nobody completely knew what was going on.

My Account Of Covid- 19, Ryan Anonymous

Community Reflections

It was March 13, 2020, when the first encounter happened. The Coronavirus was still new to many of us, so we really did not know the true severity that this virus had in store. One morning, during second period, the entire school was called down to the auditorium for an impromptu assembly. With the recent closings of neighboring schools, we were certain that we were the next to close; everyone was ecstatic.

Covid 19 And Other Pandemics, Anonymous

Community Reflections

The Coronavirus was a global pandemic that spread from China to the United States in March 2020. In March, it was announced to us that the United States had to go into lockdown for two weeks. Little did we know that this two-week lockdown was going to turn into almost a year. This news was found to be very surprising by everyone because it has been so many years since we had a pandemic that affected everyone.

Family Experience, Anonymous

Community Reflections

It started with whispers in the hallway. Hearing rumors from peers that we would have two weeks off from school and then return to share stories from those glorious 14 days. In hindsight, it was naïve to think that Covid-19 would have such little impact on my life, but it eventually struck my family as it did thousands of others.

Remembering Covid, Anonymous

Community Reflections

This is a short reflection on my experience as a firefighter during the COVID-19 pandemic.

My Covid Experience, Anonymous

Community Reflections

Each person today has had such different covid experiences, in this paragraph I will be going into depth my own covid experience. My sophomore year of high school, I was homeschooled, taking classes at home for months due to several different circumstances.

My Covid Reflection, Anonymous

Community Reflections

March 2020 is a year that I will never forget. Covid-19 was becoming more known, but it did not affect my dance team trip. My team and I were in Orlando, Florida for NDA Dance Nationals. I felt so drained and feverish, a sickness I have never had before.

Covid Reflection, Anonymous

Community Reflections

The Covid-19 pandemic was an unforgettable time in the lives of anybody who had the ability to form memories. It was an absolutely unprecedented event that scared the entire world into locking themselves inside for months at a time to avoid risk of a very dangerous condition that could affect anybody enough to hospitalize them. When many of us who lived through this era think about the pandemic, we can reflect on it as a time when the world stopped moving.

Improving Traditional Registrational Trial End Points: Development And Application Of A Desirability Of Outcome Ranking End Point For Complicated Urinary Tract Infection Clinical Trials, Jessica Howard-Anderson, Toshimitsu Hamasaki, Weixiao Dai, Deborah Collyar, Daniel Rubin, Sumathi Nambiar, Tori Kinamon, Carol Hill, Steven P Gelone, David Mariano, Takamichi Baba, Thomas L Holland, Sarah B Doernberg, Henry F Chambers, Vance G Fowler, Scott R Evans, Helen W Boucher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Traditional end points used in registrational randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) often do not allow for complete interpretation of the full range of potential clinical outcomes. Desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR) is an approach to the design and analysis of clinical trials that incorporates benefits and risks of novel treatment strategies and provides a global assessment of patient experience.

METHODS: Through a multidisciplinary committee of experts in infectious diseases, clinical trial design, drug regulation, and patient experience, we developed a DOOR end point for infectious disease syndromes and demonstrated how this could be applied to 3 registrational drug trials (ZEUS, …

Association Of Circulating Mtdna With Cvd In Hemodialysis Patients And In Vitro Effect Of Exogenous Mtdna On Cardiac Microvascular Inflammation, Zhen Fan, Ya Feng, Li Zang, Yi Guo, Xiao-Yi Zhong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients sustain a fairly high prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Microvascular inflammation is an early manifestation of CVD, and the released mitochondrial DNA (MtDNA) has been proposed to be a crucial integrator of inflammatory signals. Herein, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between CVD, microvessel, and circulating MtDNA in the settings of uremia.

METHODS: Forty-two maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients and 36 health controls were enrolled in this study. Plasma cell-free MtDNA was detected by TaqMan-based qPCR assay. CVD risk markers including high-sensitive C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), fibrinogen, and …

Combination Sodium Nitrite And Hydralazine Therapy Attenuates Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction Severity In A “2-Hit” Murine Model, Kyle B. Lapenna, Zhen Li, Jake E. Doiron, Thomas E. Sharp, Huijing Xia, Karl Moles, Kashyap Koul, John S. Wang, David J. Polhemus, Traci T. Goodchild, Ravi B. Patel, Sanjiv J. Shah, David J. Lefer

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested that cardiac nitrosative stress mediated by pathological overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) via inducible NO synthase (iNOS) contributes to the pathogenesis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Other studies have suggested that endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) dysfunction and attenuated NO bioavailability contribute to HFpEF morbidity and mortality. We sought to further investigate dysregulated NO signaling and to examine the effects of a NO-based dual therapy (sodium nitrite+hydralazine) following the onset of HFpEF using a “2-hit” murine model. METHODS AND RESULTS: Nine-week-old male C57BL/6 N mice (n=15 per group) were treated concurrently with high-fat …

Endogenous Mirna-Based Innate-Immunity Against Sars-Cov-2 Invasion Of The Brain, Walter J. Lukiw, Aileen I. Pogue

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

The severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19, possesses an unusually large positive-sense, single-stranded viral RNA (ssvRNA) genome of about ~29,903 nucleotides (nt). In many respects, this ssvRNA resembles a very large, polycistronic messenger RNA (mRNA) possessing a 5′-methyl cap (m7GpppN), a 3′- and 5′-untranslated region (3′-UTR, 5′-UTR), and a poly-adenylated (poly-A+) tail. As such, the SARS-CoV-2 ssvRNA is susceptible to targeting by small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) and/or microRNA (miRNA), as well as neutralization and/or inhibition of its infectivity via the human body’s natural complement of about ~2650 miRNA species. Depending on host cell and tissue …

Antibiotic Indications And Appropriateness In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A 10-Center Point Prevalence Study, Kathleen Chiotos, Jennifer Blumenthal, Juri Boguniewicz, Debra L Palazzi, Erika L Stalets, Jessica H Rubens, Pranita D Tamma, Stephanie S Cabler, Jason Newland, Hillary Crandall, Emily Berkman, Robert P Kavanagh, Hannah R Stinson, Jeffrey S Gerber

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Antibiotics are prescribed to most pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients, but data describing indications and appropriateness of antibiotic orders in this population are lacking.

METHODS: We performed a multicenter point prevalence study that included children admitted to 10 geographically diverse PICUs over 4 study days in 2019. Antibiotic orders were reviewed for indication, and appropriateness was assessed using a standardized rubric.

RESULTS: Of 1462 patients admitted to participating PICUs, 843 (58%) had at least 1 antibiotic order. A total of 1277 antibiotic orders were reviewed. Common indications were empiric therapy for suspected bacterial infections without sepsis or septic …

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (Sars-Cov-2) Testing And Detection During Peripartum Hospitalizations Among A Multicenter Cohort Of Pregnant Persons: March 2020-February 2021, Miranda J Delahoy, Flor Munoz, De-Kun Li, Carmen Sofia Arriola, Nanette Lee Bond, Michael Daugherty, Jeannette Ferber, Nickolas Ferguson, Louise Hadden, Jillian T Henderson, Stephanie A Irving, Mary Juergens, Venkatesh Kancharla, Mara Greenberg, Roxana Odouli, Gabriella Newes-Adeyi, Erin G Nicholson, Lawrence Reichle, Momodou Sanyang, Margaret Snead, Fatimah S Dawood, Allison L Naleway

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Identifying severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections during peripartum hospitalizations is important to guide care, implement prevention measures, and understand infection burden.

METHODS: This cross-sectional analysis used electronic health record data from hospitalizations during which pregnancies ended (peripartum hospitalizations) among a cohort of pregnant persons at 3 US integrated healthcare networks (sites 1-3). Maternal demographic, medical encounter, SARS-CoV-2 testing, and pregnancy and neonatal outcome information was extracted for persons with estimated delivery and pregnancy end dates during March 2020-February 2021 and ≥1 antenatal care record. Site-stratified multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with testing …

Transfusing Convalescent Plasma As Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (Sars-Cov-2) Infection: A Double-Blinded, Phase 2 Randomized, Controlled Trial, Shmuel Shoham, Evan M Bloch, Arturo Casadevall, Daniel Hanley, Bryan Lau, Kelly Gebo, Edward Cachay, Seble G Kassaye, James H Paxton, Jonathan Gerber, Adam C Levine, Arash Naeim, Judith Currier, Bela Patel, Elizabeth S Allen, Shweta Anjan, Lawrence Appel, Sheriza Baksh, Paul W Blair, Anthony Bowen, Patrick Broderick, Christopher A Caputo, Valerie Cluzet, Marie Elena Cordisco, Daniel Cruser, Stephan Ehrhardt, Donald Forthal, Yuriko Fukuta, Amy L Gawad, Thomas Gniadek, Jean Hammel, Moises A Huaman, Douglas A Jabs, Anne Jedlicka, Nicky Karlen, Sabra Klein, Oliver Laeyendecker, Karen Lane, Nichol Mcbee, Barry Meisenberg, Christian Merlo, Giselle Mosnaim, Han-Sol Park, Andrew Pekosz, Joann Petrini, William Rausch, David M Shade, Janna R Shapiro, J Robinson Singleton, Catherine Sutcliffe, David L Thomas, Anusha Yarava, Martin Zand, Jonathan M Zenilman, Aaron A R Tobian, David J Sullivan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) convalescent plasma (CCP) for preventing infection in exposed, uninfected individuals is unknown. CCP might prevent infection when administered before symptoms or laboratory evidence of infection.

METHODS: This double-blinded, phase 2 randomized, controlled trial (RCT) compared the efficacy and safety of prophylactic high titer (≥1:320 by Euroimmun ELISA) CCP with standard plasma. Asymptomatic participants aged ≥18 years with close contact exposure to a person with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the previous 120 hours and negative SARS-CoV-2 test within 24 hours before transfusion were eligible. The primary outcome was …

Hepatocytes Demarcated By Ephb2 Contribute To The Progression Of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis, Yang Xiao, Kirill Batmanov, Wenxiang Hu, Kun Zhu, Alexander Y Tom, Dongyin Guan, Chunjie Jiang, Lan Cheng, Sam J Mccright, Eric C Yang, Matthew R Lanza, Yifan Liu, David A Hill, Mitchell A Lazar

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Current therapeutic strategies for treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) have failed to alleviate liver fibrosis, which is a devastating feature leading to hepatic dysfunction. Here, we integrated single-nucleus transcriptomics and epigenomics to characterize all major liver cell types during NASH development in mice and humans. The bifurcation of hepatocyte trajectory with NASH progression was conserved between mice and humans. At the nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) stage, hepatocytes exhibited metabolic adaptation, whereas at the NASH stage, a subset of hepatocytes was enriched for the signatures of cell adhesion and migration, which were mainly demarcated by receptor tyrosine kinase ephrin type B receptor …

Session 12: Active Learning To Minimize The Possible Risk From Future Epidemics, Kc Santosh

SDSU Data Science Symposium

In medical imaging informatics, for any future epidemics (e.g., Covid-19), deep learning (DL) models are of no use as they require a large dataset as they take months and even years to collect enough data (with annotations). In such a context, active learning (or human/expert-in-the-loop) is the must, where a machine can learn from the first day with minimum possible labeled data. In unsupervised learning, we propose to build pre-trained DL models that iteratively learn independently over time, where human/expert intervenes only when it makes mistakes and for only a limited data. In our work, deep features are used to …

The Covid-19 Pandemic And International Students: A Mixed-Methods Approach To Relationships Between Social Media Use, Social Support, And Mental Health, Hyunjin Seo, Yuchen Liu, Husain Ebrahim, Muhammad Ittefaq, Donghwa Chung

School of Communication Studies - Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic and international students: A mixed-methods approach to relationships between social media use, social support, and mental healthThe COVID-19 pandemic has added significant stress to international students in the U.S. who already facemyriad challenges in adjusting to their host country. We used a mixed-method approach combining surveyand interview research involving international students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs at aU.S. university to analyze how their social media use and perceived social support and social adjustmentare associated with their sense of mental well-being when taking into account demographic and socialpsychological characteristics. Our findings show that international students spent an …

Remembering Covid-19, David Anonymous

Community Reflections

My content is primarily about my personal experience and feelings I've had during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Covid-19 (Sc 3669), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3669. Miscellaneous communications issued via U.S. mail, e-mail and internet regarding closures, operational changes and mitigation measures during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes instructions on mask making, press releases from Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s office, information on financial and mental health management, and the White House’s letter enclosing an Economic Impact Payment. Also includes some communications from Bowling Green, Kentucky churches, businesses and banks.

Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy And Hematopoiesis, Bryanna Reinhardt, Patrick Lee, Joshua P. Sasine

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a promising treatment option for patients suffering from B-cell- and plasma cell-derived hematologic malignancies and is being adapted for the treatment of solid cancers. However, CAR T is associated with frequently severe toxicities such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS), immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS), macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), and prolonged cytopenias—a reduction in the number of mature blood cells of one or more lineage. Although we understand some drivers of these toxicities, their mechanisms remain under investigation. Since the CAR T regimen is a complex, multi-step process with frequent adverse events, ways …

Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Derived Microvascular Perfusion Modeling To Assess Peripheral Artery Disease, Olga A Gimnich, Tatiana Belousova, Christina M Short, Addison A Taylor, Vijay Nambi, Joel D Morrisett, Christie M Ballantyne, Jean Bismuth, Dipan J Shah, Gerd Brunner

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background

Computational fluid dynamics has shown good agreement with contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging measurements in cardiovascular disease applications. We have developed a biomechanical model of microvascular perfusion using contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging signal intensities derived from skeletal calf muscles to study peripheral artery disease (PAD).

Methods and Results

The computational microvascular model was used to study skeletal calf muscle perfusion in 56 individuals (36 patients with PAD, 20 matched controls). The recruited participants underwent contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and ankle‐brachial index testing at rest and after 6‐minute treadmill walking. We have determined associations of microvascular model parameters including the transfer …

Working At An Assisted Living Facility During Covid, Anonymous

Community Reflections

For the past few years, learning how to deal with a pandemic referred to as Covid-19, was an everyday struggle for humankind. The fear of leaving your house to get groceries, or even going to work had people struggling to live the life of what was worry-free. At the very beginning of the pandemic, I was working at my very first job, which was at an assisted living facility. I was a server at the dining hall in the facility and made great connections with some really nice people. In the midst of the first wave of Covid, the facility …

Covid-19 Reflection, Anonymous

Community Reflections

The COVID-19 Pandemic was one of the most difficult times in recent history for not only the infected, but also the general public. When COVID-19 first became an issue in the United States with schools closing down for two weeks in March of 2020, I was a junior attending a private, all-boys high school. When the school officially closed, we began virtual classes which was a difficult adjustment due to classes being taught on Zoom and the schedules of classes being strangely different. This form of learning was difficult for me personally.

Muc1 Expressions And Its Prognostic Values In Us Gastric Cancer Patients, Young-Il Kim, Robert Luke Pecha, Tara Keihanian, Michael Mercado, S Valeria Pena-Munoz, Kailash Lang, George Van Buren, Sadhna Dhingra, Mohamed O Othman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This study aims to evaluate the prognostic value of MUC expression in US GC patients. A total of 70 tumor specimens were collected from GC patients who underwent surgery or endoscopic resection between 2013 and 2019 at a tertiary referral center in the US. MUC expression status including MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC6 was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. The positive rates of MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC6 were 71.4%, 78.6%, 74.3%, and 33.3%, respectively. Patients with positive MUC1 expression had a significantly higher rate of aggressive pathologic features including diffuse-type cancer (42.0% vs. 0%; p < 0.001), advanced GC (80.0% vs. 30.0%, p < 0.001), lymph node metastasis (62.0% vs. 20.0%; p = 0.001), and …

Hmgb1/Gpc3 Dual Targeting Vaccine Induces Dendritic Cells-Mediated Cd8+T Cell Immune Response And Elicits Potential Therapeutic Effect In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Xiaoqing Shi, Jiage Ding, Yanyan Zheng, Jiawei Wang, Navid Sobhani, Praveen Neeli, Gang Wang, Junnian Zheng, Dafei Chai

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a fatal malignant tumor, but effective clinical interventions are limited. PLGA/PEI-mediated DNA vaccine encoding the dual targets of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) or GPC3 was developed for HCC treatment. Compared with PLGA/PEI-GPC3 immunization, PLGA/PEI-HMGB1/GPC3 co-immunization significantly inhibited the subcutaneous tumor growth, while increasing the infiltration of CD8

Immunogenetic Determinants Of Susceptibility To Head And Neck Cancer In The Million Veteran Program Cohort, Yanhong Liu, Jennifer R Kramer, Vlad C Sandulache, Robert Yu, Guojun Li, Liang Chen, Zenab I Yusuf, Yunling Shi, Saiju Pyarajan, Spyros Tsavachidis, Li Jiao, Michelle L Mierzwa, Elizabeth Chiao, Yvonne M Mowery, Andrew Shuman, Sanjay Shete, Andrew G Sikora, Donna L White

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Increasing rates of human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) have largely offset declines in tobacco-associated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) at non-OPC sites. Host immunity is an important modulator of HPV infection, persistence, and clearance, and also of immune evasion in both virally- and nonvirally-driven cancers. However, the association between collective known cancer-related immune gene variants and HNSCC susceptibility has not been fully characterized. Here, we conducted a genetic association study in the multiethnic Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program cohort, evaluating 16,050 variants in 1,576 immune genes in 4,012 HNSCC cases (OPC = 1,823; non-OPC = 2,189) and …

Genome-Wide Screening Reveals The Genetic Basis Of Mammalian Embryonic Eye Development, Justine M Chee, Louise Lanoue, Dave Clary, Kendall Higgins, Lynette Bower, Ann Flenniken, Ruolin Guo, David J Adams, Fatima Bosch, Robert E Braun, Steve D M Brown, H-J Genie Chin, Mary E Dickinson, Chih-Wei Hsu, Michael Dobbie, Xiang Gao, Sanjeev Galande, Anne Grobler, Jason D Heaney, Yann Herault, Martin Hrabe De Angelis, Fabio Mammano, Lauryl M J Nutter, Helen Parkinson, Chuan Qin, Toshi Shiroishi, Radislav Sedlacek, J-K Seong, Ying Xu, Brian Brooks, Colin Mckerlie, K C Kent Lloyd, Henrik Westerberg, Ala Moshiri

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Microphthalmia, anophthalmia, and coloboma (MAC) spectrum disease encompasses a group of eye malformations which play a role in childhood visual impairment. Although the predominant cause of eye malformations is known to be heritable in nature, with 80% of cases displaying loss-of-function mutations in the ocular developmental genes OTX2 or SOX2, the genetic abnormalities underlying the remaining cases of MAC are incompletely understood. This study intended to identify the novel genes and pathways required for early eye development. Additionally, pathways involved in eye formation during embryogenesis are also incompletely understood. This study aims to identify the novel genes and pathways …

Supporting Cardiac Perfusion By Preboa With Reduced Visceral Ischemia Despite Extended Occlusion, Paige Deville, John Hunt, Alan B. Marr, Lance Stuke, Patrick Greiffenstein, Jonathan Schoen, Alison Smith

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.