Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Commons^™

How Does Covid-19 Vaccination Affect Long-Covid Symptoms?, Ali Akbar Asadi-Pooya, Meshkat Nemati, Mina Shahisavandi, Hamid Nemati, Afrooz Karimi, Anahita Jafari, Sara Nasiri, Seyyed Saeed Mohammadi, Zahra Rahimian, Hossein Bayat, Ali Akbari, Amir Emami, Owrang Eilami

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to identify the association between COVID-19 vaccination and prolonged post-COVID symptoms (long-COVID) in adults who reported suffering from this condition.

METHODS: This was a retrospective follow-up study of adults with long-COVID syndrome. The data were collected during a phone call to the participants in January-February 2022. We inquired about their current health status and also their vaccination status if they agreed to participate.

RESULTS: In total, 1236 people were studied; 543 individuals reported suffering from long long- COVID (43.9%). Chi square test showed that 15 out of 51 people (29.4%) with no vaccination and 528 …

Digital Clock Drawing As An Alzheimer's Disease Susceptibility Biomarker: Associations With Genetic Risk Score And Apoe In Older Adults, L I Thompson, M Cummings, S Emrani, David J. Libon, A Ang, C Karjadi, R Au, C Liu

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in older adults, but most people are not diagnosed until significant neuronal loss has likely occurred along with a decline in cognition. Non-invasive and cost-effective digital biomarkers for AD have the potential to improve early detection.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the validity of DCTclockTM (a digitized clock drawing task) as an AD susceptibility biomarker.

DESIGN: We used two primary independent variables, Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele carrier status and polygenic risk score (PRS). We examined APOE and PRS associations with DCTclockTM composite scores as dependent measures.

SETTING: We used existing data …

Mental Health Differences In Medical Students Based On Curriculum And Gender, Maxim Jestin, Shelly Sharma, Deval Jhaveri, Brittany Mitchell, Dean Micciche, Venkat Venkataraman, Kathryn Lambert

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of mental health struggles among students in medical school is widely reported; however, little is known about how it is impacted by the medical school curriculum. This study aimed to evaluate differences in anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion in medical students based on gender, class year, and curriculum.

METHODS: An anonymous online survey consisting of questions from established, validated questionnaires about demographics, anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, and personal health behaviors was sent to 817 medical students who attended Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine during the Spring of 2021. When applying to this school, each of these students …

Serotonin Reduction In Post-Acute Sequelae Of Viral Infection, Andrea Wong, Ashwarya Devason, Iboro Umana, Timothy Cox, Lenka Dohnalová, Lev Litichevskiy, Jonathan Perla, Patrick Lundgren, Zienab Etwebi, Luke Izzo, Jihee Kim, Monika Tetlak, Hélène Descamps, Simone Park, Stephen Wisser, Aaron Mcknight, Ryan Pardy, Junwon Kim, Niklas Blank, Shaan Patel, Katharina Thum, Sydney Mason, Jean-Christophe Beltra, Michaël Michieletto, Shin Foong Ngiow, Brittany Miller, Megan Liou, Bhoomi Madhu, Oxana Dmitrieva-Posocco, Alex Huber, Peter Hewins, Christopher Petucci, Candice Chu, Gwen Baraniecki-Zwil, Leila Giron, Amy Baxter, Allison Greenplate, Charlotte Kearns, Kathleen Montone, Leslie Litzky, Michael Feldman, Jorge Henao-Mejia, Boris Striepen, Holly Ramage, Kellie Jurado, Kathryn Wellen, Una O'Doherty, Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Alan L Landay, Ali Keshavarzian, Timothy Henrich, Steven Deeks, Michael Peluso, Nuala Meyer, E. John Wherry, Benjamin Abramoff, Sara Cherry, Christoph Thaiss, Maayan Levy

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC, "Long COVID") pose a significant global health challenge. The pathophysiology is unknown, and no effective treatments have been found to date. Several hypotheses have been formulated to explain the etiology of PASC, including viral persistence, chronic inflammation, hypercoagulability, and autonomic dysfunction. Here, we propose a mechanism that links all four hypotheses in a single pathway and provides actionable insights for therapeutic interventions. We find that PASC are associated with serotonin reduction. Viral infection and type I interferon-driven inflammation reduce serotonin through three mechanisms: diminished intestinal absorption of the serotonin precursor tryptophan; platelet hyperactivation and thrombocytopenia, …

Dissociating Statistically Determined Normal Cognitive Abilities And Mild Cognitive Impairment Subtypes With Dctclock., Emily F. Matusz, Catherine C. Price, Melissa Lamar, Rod Swenson, Rhoda Au, Sheina Emrani, Victor Wasserman, David J Libon, Louisa I. Thompson

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the DCTclock can detect differences across groups of patients seen in the memory clinic for suspected dementia.

METHOD: Patients (n = 123) were classified into the following groups: cognitively normal (CN), subtle cognitive impairment (SbCI), amnestic cognitive impairment (aMCI), and mixed/dysexecutive cognitive impairment (mx/dysMCI). Nine outcome variables included a combined command/copy total score and four command and four copy indices measuring drawing efficiency, simple/complex motor operations, information processing speed, and spatial reasoning.

RESULTS: Total combined command/copy score distinguished between groups in all comparisons with medium to large effects. The mx/dysMCI group had the lowest total …

How Did The Dietary Habits Of Patients With Chronic Medical Conditions Change During Covid-19?, Sahil K. Patel, Adarsh Gupta

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

CONTEXT: Previous studies have examined the changes in the dietary habits of general populations during the COVID-19 pandemic but have not focused on specific populations such as those with chronic medical conditions (CMCs). Prior to major vaccination efforts, 96.1% of deaths were attributed to patients with preexisting CMCs, thus it is important to examine how this population has endured changes.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify differences in dietary habits, lifestyle habits, and food attitudes between those with CMCs compared to the populations without chronic medical conditions (non-CMCs) since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS: An …

Evaluating Cognition In Individuals With Huntington Disease: Neuroqol Cognitive Functioning Measures, Jin-Shei Lai, Siera Goodnight, Nancy R Downing, Rebecca E Ready, Jane S Paulsen, Anna L Kratz, Julie C Stout, Michael K Mccormack, David Cella, Christopher Ross, Jenna Russell, Noelle E Carlozzi

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

PURPOSE: Cognitive functioning impacts health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for individuals with Huntington disease (HD). The Neuro-QoL includes two patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures of cognition-Executive Function (EF) and General Concerns (GC). These measures have not previously been validated for use in HD. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Neuro-QoL Cognitive Function measures for use in HD.

METHODS: Five hundred ten individuals with prodromal or manifest HD completed the Neuro-QoL Cognition measures, two other PRO measures of HRQOL (WHODAS 2.0 and EQ5D), and a depression measure (PROMIS Depression). Measures of functioning The Total …

Word-List Intrusion Errors Predict Progression To Mild Cognitive Impairment, Kelsey R Thomas, Joel Eppig, Emily C Edmonds, Diane M Jacobs, David J Libon, Rhoda Au, David P Salmon, Mark W Bondi, Alzheimer’S Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: Preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) defined by a positive AD biomarker in the presence of normal cognition is presumed to precede mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Subtle cognitive deficits and cognitive inefficiencies in preclinical AD may be detected through process and error scores on neuropsychological tests in those at risk for progression to MCI.

METHOD: Cognitively normal participants (n = 525) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were followed for up to 5 years and classified as either stable normal (n = 305) or progressed to MCI (n = 220). Cox regressions were used to determine whether baseline process scores on …

Assessing Working Memory In Mild Cognitive Impairment With Serial Order Recall., Sheina Emrani, David J Libon, Melissa Lamar, Catherine C Price, Angela L Jefferson, Katherine A Gifford, Timothy J Hohman, Daniel A Nation, Lisa Delano-Wood, Amy Jak, Katherine J Bangen, Mark W Bondi, Adam M Brickman, Jennifer Manly, Rodney Swenson, Rhoda Au, Consortium For Clinical And Epidemiological Neuropsychological Data Analysis (Cenda)

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Working memory (WM) is often assessed with serial order tests such as repeating digits backward. In prior dementia research using the Backward Digit Span Test (BDT), only aggregate test performance was examined.

OBJECTIVE: The current research tallied primacy/recency effects, out-of-sequence transposition errors, perseverations, and omissions to assess WM deficits in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

METHODS: Memory clinic patients (n = 66) were classified into three groups: single domain amnestic MCI (aMCI), combined mixed domain/dysexecutive MCI (mixed/dys MCI), and non-MCI where patients did not meet criteria for MCI. Serial order/WM ability was assessed by asking participants to repeat …

Leukoaraiosis And Sex Predict The Hyperacute Ischemic Core Volume, Nils Henninger, Eugene Lin, Diogo Haussen, Laura Lehman, Deepak Takhtani, Magdy Selim, Majaz Moonis

Nils Henninger

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Leukoaraiosis (LA) and male sex have been associated with decreased cerebrovascular reactivity, which potentially adversely affects tissue viability in acute stroke. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate the contribution of LA-severity and sex to the extent of the hyperacute ischemic core volume after intracranial large artery occlusion. METHODS: We analyzed data from 87 patients with acute intracranial large artery occlusion who had acute multimodal computed tomography-imaging. LA-severity was assessed using the van Swieten scale on noncontrast computed tomography. Computed tomography perfusion data were analyzed using automatic calculation of the mean transit time and hyperacute cerebral blood volume defects. …

Imp3 Expression Is Associated With Poor Outcome And Epigenetic Deregulation In Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma, Yuanyuan Gao, Michelle Yang, Zhong Jiang, Bruce A. Woda, Arthur M. Mercurio, Jianjie Qin, Xinli Huang, Feng Zhang

Arthur M. Mercurio

IMP3 is a fetal protein not expressed in normal adult tissues. IMP3 is an oncoprotein and a useful biomarker for a variety of malignancies and is associated with reduced overall survival of a number of them. IMP3 expression and its prognostic value for patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) have not been well investigated. The molecular mechanism underlying IMP3 expression in human cancer cells remains to be elucidated. Here we investigated IMP3 expression in ICC and adjacent nonneoplastic liver in 72 unifocal primary ICCs from a single institute by immunohistochemistry, immunoblotting, and real-time polymerase chain reaction. IMP3 was specifically expressed in …