Medical Immunology Commons^™

Artificial Intelligence-Powered Discovery Of Small Molecules Inhibiting Ctla-4 In Cancer, Navid Sobhani, Dana Rae Tardiel-Cyril, Dafei Chai, Daniele Generali, Jian-Rong Li, Jonathan Vazquez-Perez, Jing Ming Lim, Rachel Morris, Zaniqua N Bullock, Aram Davtyan, Chao Cheng, William K Decker, Yong Li

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Checkpoint inhibitors, which generate durable responses in many cancer patients, have revolutionized cancer immunotherapy. However, their therapeutic efficacy is limited, and immune-related adverse events are severe, especially for monoclonal antibody treatment directed against cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), which plays a pivotal role in preventing autoimmunity and fostering anticancer immunity by interacting with the B7 proteins CD80 and CD86. Small molecules impairing the CTLA-4/CD80 interaction have been developed; however, they directly target CD80, not CTLA-4.

SUBJECTS/METHODS: In this study, we performed artificial intelligence (AI)-powered virtual screening of approximately ten million compounds to identify those targeting CTLA-4. We validated the …

Early Immune Factors Associated With The Development Of Post-Acute Sequelae Of Sars-Cov-2 Infection In Hospitalized And Non-Hospitalized Individuals, Jacqueline M Leung, Michelle J Wu, Pouya Kheradpour, Chen Chen, Katherine A Drake, Gary Tong, Vanessa K Ridaura, Howard C Zisser, William A Conrad, Natalia Hudson, Jared Allen, Christopher Welberry, Celine Parsy-Kowalska, Isabel Macdonald, Victor F Tapson, James N Moy, Christopher R Defilippi, Ivan O Rosas, Mujeeb Basit, Jerry A Krishnan, Sairam Parthasarathy, Bellur S Prabhakar, Mirella Salvatore, Charles C Kim

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can lead to post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) that can persist for weeks to years following initial viral infection. Clinical manifestations of PASC are heterogeneous and often involve multiple organs. While many hypotheses have been made on the mechanisms of PASC and its associated symptoms, the acute biological drivers of PASC are still unknown.

METHODS: We enrolled 494 patients with COVID-19 at their initial presentation to a hospital or clinic and followed them longitudinally to determine their development of PASC. From 341 patients, we conducted multi-omic profiling on peripheral blood …

Applying Market Basket Analysis To Determine Complex Coassociations Among Food Allergens In Children With Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (Fpies), Ankona Banerjee, Kenneth Nobleza, Cynthia Haddad, Joshua Eubanks, Ruchit Rana, Nicholas L Rider, Lisa Pompeii, Duc Nguyen, Sara Anvari

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) is a non-IgE-mediated food allergy, characterized by delayed onset of repetitive vomiting occurring 1 to 4 h following ingestion of a food allergen. Managing FPIES requires strict avoidance of the food trigger. The concern with FPIES is determining the risk of another FPIES food trigger reaction due to potential coassociations with other foods or food groups. An effective statistical approach for analyzing FPIES-related data is essential to identify common coallergens and their associations.

METHODS: This study employed Market Basket Analysis, a data-mining technique, to examine correlations and patterns among allergens in FPIES patients at …

Genital Tract Infections, The Vaginal Microbiome And Gestational Age At Birth Among Pregnant Women In South Africa: A Cohort Study Protocol, Ranjana M.S. Gigi, Mandisa M. Mdingi, Hyunsul Jung, Shantelle Claassen-Weitz, Lukas Bütikofer, Jeffrey D. Klausner, Christina A. Muzny, Christopher M. Taylor, Janneke H.H.M. Van De Wijgert, Remco P.H. Peters, Nicola Low

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Introduction Preterm birth complications are the most common cause of death in children under 5 years. The presence of multiple microorganisms and genital tract inflammation could be the common mechanism driving early onset of labour. South Africa has high levels of preterm birth, genital tract infections and HIV infection among pregnant women. We plan to investigate associations between the presence of multiple lower genital tract microorganisms in pregnancy and gestational age at birth. Methods and analysis This cohort study enrols around 600 pregnant women at one public healthcare facility in East London, South Africa. Eligible women are ≥18 years and …

Timigp: An R Package To Depict The Tumor Microenvironment From Bulk Transcriptomics, Chenyang Li, Jianjun Zhang, Chao Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Exploring the clinical relevance of diverse immune cell types within the tumor microenvironment is pivotal for unraveling cancer intricacies and developing treatments. Here, we present a protocol for using tumor immune microenvironment illustration based on gene pairs, an R package to deduce cell-cell interactions, unveiling the association between immune cell relative abundance and patient prognoses from bulk gene expression and survival data. We describe steps for harnessing cell-type markers derived from single-cell RNA sequencing data to map the tumor immune microenvironment across a spectrum of cancer types. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer …

The Dna Glycosylase Neil2 Is Protective During Sars-Cov-2 Infection, Nisha Tapryal, Anirban Chakraborty, Kaushik Saha, Azharul Islam, Lang Pan, Koa Hosoki, Ibrahim M Sayed, Jason M Duran, Joshua Alcantara, Vanessa Castillo, Courtney Tindle, Altaf H Sarker, Maki Wakamiya, Victor J Cardenas, Gulshan Sharma, Laura E Crotty Alexander, Sanjiv Sur, Debashis Sahoo, Gourisankar Ghosh, Soumita Das, Pradipta Ghosh, Istvan Boldogh, Tapas K Hazra

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

SARS-CoV-2 infection-induced aggravation of host innate immune response not only causes tissue damage and multiorgan failure in COVID-19 patients but also induces host genome damage and activates DNA damage response pathways. To test whether the compromised DNA repair capacity of individuals modulates the severity of COVID-19 infection, we analyze DNA repair gene expression in publicly available patient datasets and observe a lower level of the DNA glycosylase NEIL2 in the lungs of severely infected COVID-19 patients. This observation of lower NEIL2 levels is further validated in infected patients, hamsters and ACE2 receptor-expressing human A549 (A549-ACE2) cells. Furthermore, delivery of recombinant …

Efficacy And Safety Of Mas825 (Anti-Il-1Β/Il-18) In Covid-19 Patients With Pneumonia And Impaired Respiratory Function, Alex D Hakim, Mustafa Awili, Hollis R O'Neal, Omar Siddiqi, Naseem Jaffrani, Richard Lee, Jeffrey S Overcash, Ann Chauffe, Terese C Hammond, Bela Patel, Michael Waters, Gerard J Criner, Alok Pachori, Guido Junge, Rafael Levitch, Jen Watts, Philip Koo, Tirtha Sengupta, Lili Yu, Michael Kiffe, Anne Pinck, Richard R Stein, Jamie Bendrick-Peart, Janet Jenkins, Marianna Rowlands, Frank Waldron-Lynch, Jesse Matthews

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

MAS825, a bispecific IL-1β/IL-18 monoclonal antibody, could improve clinical outcomes in COVID-19 pneumonia by reducing inflammasome-mediated inflammation. Hospitalized non-ventilated patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (n = 138) were randomized (1:1) to receive MAS825 (10 mg/kg single i.v.) or placebo in addition to standard of care (SoC). The primary endpoint was the composite Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score on Day 15 or on the day of discharge (whichever was earlier) with worst-case imputation for death. Other study endpoints included safety, C-reactive protein (CRP), SARS-CoV-2 presence, and inflammatory markers. On Day 15, the APACHE II score was 14.5 …

Stratification Of Pediatric Covid-19 Cases Using Inflammatory Biomarker Profiling And Machine Learning., Devika Subramanian, Aadith Vittala, Xinpu Chen, Christopher Julien, Sebastian Acosta, Craig Rusin, Carl Allen, Nicholas Rider, Zbigniew Starosolski, Ananth Annapragada, Sridevi Devaraj

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

While pediatric COVID-19 is rarely severe, a small fraction of children infected with SARS-CoV-2 go on to develop multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), with substantial morbidity. An objective method with high specificity and high sensitivity to identify current or imminent MIS-C in children infected with SARS-CoV-2 is highly desirable. The aim was to learn about an interpretable novel cytokine/chemokine assay panel providing such an objective classification. This retrospective study was conducted on four groups of pediatric patients seen at multiple sites of Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX who consented to provide blood samples to our COVID-19 Biorepository. Standard laboratory markers of …

Avocado Consumption And Markers Of Inflammation: Results From The Multi-Ethnic Study Of Atherosclerosis (Mesa), Feon W Cheng, Nikki A Ford, Alexis C Wood, Russell Tracy

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose

Since avocado consumption has been linked to a possible reduction in inflammation, we investigated associations between avocado consumption and markers of inflammation in a population-based multi-ethnic cohort [Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)].

Methods

We used a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) at MESA exam 1 to capture avocado/guacamole consumption. To calculate daily servings of avocado/guacamole, we used both frequency and serving size data from the FFQ. We classified participants into three consumer groups: rare or never (daily serving ≤ 0.03), medium (0.03 < daily serving < 0.1), and heavy (0.1 ≤ daily serving). Inflammation was estimated by natural log-transformed inflammatory biomarkers (CRP, IL-2, IL-6, homocysteine, fibrinogen, TNF-a soluble receptors). We used multivariate general linear regression models to assess associations accounting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, educational level, income, energy intake, smoking status, physical activity, diet quality, body mass index, and diabetes type.

Results

Among 5794 MESA participants, the average age and BMI were 62.25 y ± 10.26 and 28.28 ± …

A Review Of Staphylococcus Aureus Pathogenesis, Global Impact, And The Rise Of Antibiotic-Resistant Clones, Anders Kleinbeck

Honors Scholar Theses

Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen of grave concern to global public health. The pathogen has shown an unrivaled propensity to obtain resistance to nearly every antibiotic drug approved and prescribed for its treatment. This review will provide an overview of the history and evolution of S. aureus, including an analysis of its transition from the nosocomial setting to the community and the factors contributing to the species’ innate pathogenicity. This paper will also discuss the molecular mechanisms by which resistance to a wide range of popular antibiotic substances was obtained and will provide insight into the evolutionary patterns exhibited by …

Bladder Mucosal Cystitis Cystica Lesions Are Tertiary Lymphoid Tissues That Correlate With Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection Frequency In Postmenopausal Women, Marianne M Ligon, Brooke Liang, Stacy M Lenger, Priyanka Parameswaran, Siobhan Sutcliffe, Jerry L Lowder, Indira U Mysorekar

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: We identify correlates and clinical outcomes of cystitis cystica, a poorly understood chronic inflammatory bladder change, in women with recurrent urinary tract infections.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective, observational cohort of women with recurrent urinary tract infections who underwent cystoscopy (n=138) from 2015 to 2018 were identified using electronic medical records. Cystitis cystica status was abstracted from cystoscopy reports and correlations were identified by logistic regression. Urinary tract infection-free survival time associated with cystitis cystica was evaluated by Cox proportional hazards regression. Exact logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with changes to cystitis cystica lesions on repeat …

Global Epidemiology And Clinical Outcomes Of Carbapenem-Resistant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa And Associated Carbapenemases (Pop): A Prospective Cohort Study, Jinnethe Reyes, Lauren Komarow, Liang Chen, Lizhao Ge, Blake M Hanson, Eric Cober, Erica Herc, Thamer Alenazi, Keith S Kaye, Julia Garcia-Diaz, Lanjuan Li, Souha S Kanj, Zhengyin Liu, Jose M Oñate, Robert A Salata, Kalisvar Marimuthu, Hainv Gao, Zhiyong Zong, Sandra L Valderrama-Beltrán, Yunsong Yu, Paul Tambyah, Gregory Weston, Soraya Salcedo, Lillian M Abbo, Qing Xie, Karen Ordoñez, Minggui Wang, Martin E Stryjewski, Jose M Munita, David L Paterson, Scott Evans, Carol Hill, Keri Baum, Robert A Bonomo, Barry N Kreiswirth, Maria Virginia Villegas, Robin Patel, Cesar A Arias, Henry F Chambers, Vance G Fowler, Yohei Doi, David Van Duin, Michael J Satlin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) is a global threat, but the distribution and clinical significance of carbapenemases are unclear. The aim of this study was to define characteristics and outcomes of CRPA infections and the global frequency and clinical impact of carbapenemases harboured by CRPA.

Methods: We conducted an observational, prospective cohort study of CRPA isolated from bloodstream, respiratory, urine, or wound cultures of patients at 44 hospitals (10 countries) between Dec 1, 2018, and Nov 30, 2019. Clinical data were abstracted from health records and CRPA isolates were whole-genome sequenced. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality from the day …

Role Of Biomarkers (Sflt-1/Plgf) In Cases Of Covid-19 For Distinguishing Preeclampsia And Guiding Clinical Management, Guilherme M Nobrega, Jose P Guida, Juliana M Novaes, Larissa M Solda, Luciana Pietro, Adriana G Luz, Giuliane J Lajos, Carolina C Ribeiro-Do-Valle, Renato T Souza, Jose G Cecatti, Indira U Mysorekar, Tabata Z Dias, Maria Laura Costa

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: To analyze soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) and placental growth factors (PlGF) concentrations and their ratio in pregnant and postpartum women with suspected COVID-19, and further investigate conditions associated with an increased ratio (sFlt-1/PlGF > 38), including preeclampsia (PE) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

STUDY DESIGN: The present study is a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort. Blood samples were collected at time of COVID-19 investigation and the serum measurements of sFlt-1 and PlGF were performed. Clinical background, SARS-CoV-2 infection characteristics, maternal and perinatal outcomes were further analyzed.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum measurements of sFlt-1 and PlGF; obstetrics …

The Immunomodulating Effects Of Morphine Dependence And Withdrawal In A Rat Model, Mark Stoll

Annual Research Symposium

Would you like to know what happens to the immune system during opioid drug withdrawal?

Antibody-Dependent Enhancement Activity Of A Plant-Made Vaccine Against West Nile Virus, Amber M. Paul, Haiyan Sun, Dhiraj Acharya, Huafang Lai, Junyun He, Fengwei Bai, Qiang Chen

Publications

West Nile virus (WNV) causes annual outbreaks globally and is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in Unite States. In the absence of licensed therapeutics, there is an urgent need to develop effective and safe human vaccines against WNV. One of the major safety concerns for WNV vaccine development is the risk of increasing infection by related flaviviruses in vaccinated subjects via antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADE). Herein, we report the development of a plant-based vaccine candidate that provides protective immunity against a lethal WNV challenge mice, while minimizes the risk of ADE for infection by Zika (ZIKV) and dengue …

Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In Asean: Insights From A Multi-Wave Survey Database From July 2020 To March 2021, Kenneth Y. Hartigan-Go, Ronald U. Mendoza, Madeline Mae A. Ong, Jurel K. Yap

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Objectives

Early studies on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy showed varied intensity across countries, which was linked to various factors such as socio-economic conditions, information sources, and issues of trust in government, scientific experts, and the health sector. This study aims to evaluate the determinants of vaccine hesitancy to offer insights into the strategies that may be successful in designing communications campaigns for enhanced vaccination uptake.

Methods

Through logistic regression, this study examines correlates of survey data from five Southeast Asian countries, namely Indonesia (ID), Malaysia (MY), Philippines (PH), Thailand (TH), Vietnam (VN) collected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Initiative on …

Covid-19 And Pregnancy: Clinical Outcomes; Mechanisms, And Vaccine Efficacy, Deepak Kumar, Sonam Verma, Indira U Mysorekar

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues into its third year, emerging data indicates increased risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth, stillbirth, and risk of developmental defects in neonates. Here, we review clinical reports to date that address different COVID-19 pregnancy complications. We also document placental pathologies induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection, entry mechanisms in placental cells, and immune responses at the maternal-fetal interface. Since new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are emerging with characteristics of higher transmissibility and more effective immune escape strategies, we also briefly highlight the genomic and proteomic features of SARS-CoV-2 investigated to …

A Longitudinal Seroepidemiology Study To Evaluate Antibody Response To Sars-Cov-2 Virus Infection And Vaccination In Children In Calgary, Canada From July 2020 To April 2022: Alberta Covid-19 Childhood Cohort (Ab3c) Study, Emily J Doucette, Joslyn Gray, Kevin Fonseca, Carmen Charlton, Jamil N Kanji, Graham Tipples, Susan Kuhn, Jessica Dunn, Payton Sayers, Nicola Symonds, Guosong Wu, Stephen B Freedman, James D Kellner

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Measurement of SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity is important to accurately understand exposure to infection and/or vaccination in specific populations. This study aimed to estimate the serologic response to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and vaccination in children in Calgary, Alberta over a two-year period.

METHODS: Children with or without prior SARS-CoV-2 infections, were enrolled in Calgary, Canada in 2020. Venous blood was sampled 4 times from July 2020 to April 2022 for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid and spike antibodies. Demographic and clinical information was obtained including SARS-CoV-2 testing results and vaccination records.

RESULTS: 1035 children were enrolled and 88.9% completed all 4 visits; median …

The Prevalence Of Sars-Cov-2 Antibodies Within The Community Of A Private Tertiary University In The Philippines: A Serial Cross Sectional Study, Lourdes S. Tanchanco, Jenica Clarisse Y. Sy, Angel Belle C. Dy, Myla D. Levantino, Arianna Maever L. Amit, John Wong, Kirsten Angeles, John Paul Vergara

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a public health emergency in all sectors of society, including universities and other academic institutions. This study determined the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among administrators, faculty, staff, and students of a private tertiary academic institution in the Philippines over a 7 month period. It employed a serial cross-sectional method using qualitative and quantitative COVID-19 antibody test kits. A total of 1,318 participants were tested, showing 47.80% of the study population yielding IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 virus. A general increase in seroprevalence was observed from June to December 2021, which coincided with the vaccine roll-out of …

Cov-Inception: Covid-19 Detection Tool Using Chest X-Ray, Aswini Thota, Ololade Awodipe, Rashmi Patel

SMU Data Science Review

Since the pandemic started, researchers have been trying to find a way to detect COVID-19 which is a cost-effective, fast, and reliable way to keep the economy viable and running. This research details how chest X-ray radiography can be utilized to detect the infection. This can be for implementation in Airports, Schools, and places of business. Currently, Chest imaging is not a first-line test for COVID-19 due to low diagnostic accuracy and confounding with other viral pneumonia. Different pre-trained algorithms were fine-tuned and applied to the images to train the model and the best model obtained was fine-tuned InceptionV3 model …

Real-World Third Covid-19 Vaccine Dosing And Antibody Response In Patients With Hematologic Malignancies, Michael A. Thompson, Sigrun Hallmeyer, Veronica E. Fitzpatrick, Yunqi Liao, Michael P. Mullane, Stephen C. Medlin, Kenneth Copeland, James L. Weese

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: This study sought to describe the changes in immune response to a third dose of either Pfizer’s or Moderna’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (3V) among patients with hematologic malignancies, as well as associated characteristics

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed pre-3V and post-3V data on 493 patients diagnosed with hematologic malignancies across a large Midwestern health system between August 28, 2021, and November 1, 2021. For antibody testing, S1 spike antigen of the SARS-CoV-2 virus titer was used to determine serostatus.

Results: Among 493 participants, 274 (55.6%) were seropositive both pre- and post-3V (+/+) while 115 (23.3%) seroconverted to positive …

Rates And Perceptions Of Covid-19 Vaccination From University Of Mississippi Students, Josie Parham

Honors Theses

The trials, tribulations and triumphs of the global COVID-19 pandemic are impacted by and are a product of behaviors that occur at the level of nations, states, cities and, ultimately, communities. In the wake of the development of safe and effective vaccines against SARS-CoV2, the virus responsible for the pandemic, the significance of the vaccine is closely linked to the number of individuals that receive the vaccine. To date, surveys have measured sizable variations in vaccination rates between nations, states, cities, and communities. Focusing on events that have transpired in one such local community, the present study (i) measured the …

Evaluating The Validity Of Restrictions On Blood Donation Eligibility For Men Who Have Sex With Men (Msm) In The United States, France, And Switzerland, Swathi Gorantla

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For the first time in a decade, the number of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnoses is higher for heterosexual people compared to gay and bisexual men (Florêncio, 2022). Additionally, in the United States, the American Red Cross has declared a national blood crisis due to the nationwide shortage of donated blood. During this crisis, charged with the new information on HIV diagnosis rates, many advocates for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community question why discriminatory policy surrounding gay and bisexual men donating still exist around the world. These policies are changing worldwide – several European countries have …

Creation Of An Influenza A Virus Neuraminidase Consensus Vaccine In An Adenoviral Vector, Leigh Jahnke

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In the last decade, the estimated annual burden of the flu includes 12,000-52,000 deaths, 140,000-710,000 hospitalizations, and 9 million – 41 million illnesses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Disease burden of the flu). Influenza A virus can mutate and infect a variety of different hosts, which results in frequent antigenic changes and even pandemics. This has led to increased attention on the creation of a universal Influenza A vaccine containing broader immunogenic coverage than current vaccines. Our research involved detailing the steps of the cloning process utilizing a consensus neuraminidase antigen. We utilized the pAdEasy Adenoviral Vector …

Sars-Cov-2 Anti-Spike Antibodies After Vaccination In Pediatric Heart Transplantation: A First Report, Joseph A Spinner, Christopher L Julien, Lily Olayinka, William J Dreyer, Claire E Bocchini, Flor M Munoz, Sridevi Devaraj

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of data regarding the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in children after solid organ transplant.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the SARS-CoV-2 Anti-Spike IgG antibodies measured following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination at our pediatric heart transplant (HTx) center.

RESULTS: Among patients (median age 17.1 years) in whom antibody testing was performed (median 118 days post-vaccine completion), a SARS-CoV-2 Anti-Spike IgG antibody was detected in 28 of 40 (70%) post-HTx recipients (median antibody level 10.9 AU/ml). Neutropenia, diabetes mellitus, and previous use of rituximab were associated with absence of a detectable antibody. All 7 post-HTx patients with a …

In Silico Cd4 + T-Cell Multiepitope Prediction And Hla Distribution Analysis For Marburg Virus—A Strategy For Vaccine Designing, Anupam Dhasmana, Swati Dhasmana, Ahmad Alsulimani, Sudhir Kotnala, Vivek Kumar Kashyap, Shafiul Haque, Meena Jaggi, Murali M. Yallapu, Subhash C. Chauhan

School of Medicine Publications

Marburg, a RNA virus (MRV), is responsible for causing hemorrhagic fever that affects humans and non-human primates. World Health Organization (WHO), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considered this as an extremely dangerous virus, thus categorised as risk group 4, category A priority pathogen and category “A” bioterrorism agent, respectively. Despite of all these alarming concerns, no prophylaxis arrangements are available against this virus till date. In fact, the construction of immunogenic vaccine candidates by traditional molecular immunology methods is time consuming and very expensive. Considering these concerns, herein, we have designed CD4 …

Prevalence Of Infectious Diseases Among 6078 Individuals With Down Syndrome In The United States, Veronica Fitzpatrick, Anne Rivelli, Sagar Chaudhari, Laura Chicoine, Gengjie Jia, Andrey Rzhetsky, Brian Chicoine

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

A recent disease prevalence study of the largest documented Down syndrome (DS) cohort in the United States strongly suggested significant disparity in general infectious disease conditions among individuals with DS versus those without DS. In this follow-up retrospective analysis, we explored these differences in greater detail by calculating prevalence of 52 infectious diseases, across 28 years of data among 6078 individuals with DS and 30,326 age- and sex-matched controls, abstracted from electronic medical records within a large Midwestern health system. We found that the DS cohort had higher prevalence of pneumonias (including aspiration, viral, bacterial, pneumococcal, and unspecified/atypical); otitis externa; …

Seroprevalence Of Covid-19 Igg Antibody In Resident And Fellow Physicians In Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Analysis Of A Cross-Sectional Survey, Dennis J. Baumgardner, Alexander Schwank, Jessica J. F. Kram, Wilhelm Lehmann, Jacob Bidwell, Tricia La Fratta, Kenneth Copeland

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: Medical trainees are likely at differential risk of exposure to COVID-19 per respective clinical activity. We sought to determine the seroprevalence of COVID-19 antibody (Ab) among resident and fellow physicians with varying degrees of exposure to COVID-19.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of Milwaukee-based resident and fellow physicians, encompassing December 2019–June 2020, was conducted. Relevant variables of interest were ascertained by survey and payroll data, and Abbott ARCHITECT Ab test (index cut-off of ≥ 1.4) was performed. Descriptive statistics were generated, with 95% CI calculated for the study’s primary outcome of seroprevalence.

Results: Among survey respondents (92 of 148, 62%), …

Identification Of Lung Cancer Drivers By Comparison Of The Observed And The Expected Numbers Of Missense And Nonsense Mutations In Individual Human Genes, Olga Y Gorlova, Marek Kimmel, Spiridon Tsavachidis, Christopher I Amos, Ivan P Gorlov

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Largely, cancer development is driven by acquisition and positive selection of somatic mutations that increase proliferation and survival of tumor cells. As a result, genes related to cancer development tend to have an excess of somatic mutations in them. An excess of missense and/or nonsense mutations in a gene is an indicator of its cancer relevance. To identify genes with an excess of potentially functional missense or nonsense mutations one needs to compare the observed and expected numbers of mutations in the gene. We estimated the expected numbers of missense and nonsense mutations in individual human genes using (i) the …

Examining The Pulmonary Response To Repeated Vishniacozyma Victoriae Exposure And Its Association With Allergic Airway Disease, Rachael Erin Rush

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Allergic airway diseases such as asthma continue to increase in incidence in industrialized nations like the United States. These diseases are complex inflammatory processes involving numerous cells and mediators and are strongly influenced by fungal exposures. Recent developments in fungal detection methods have highlighted the contribution of Basidiomycota yeast species in indoor environments such as Vishniacozyma (syn. Cryptococcus) victoriae. However, despite the high levels of this yeast detected in indoor environments, very little is known about it or its role in respiratory morbidity. V. victoriae is phylogenetically similar to pathogenic Cryptococcus neoformans but lacks a capsule and is …