Neurosciences Commons^™

Predictors And Temporal Trends Of Withdrawal Of Life-Sustaining Therapy After Acute Stroke In The Florida Stroke Registry, Ayham Alkhachroum, Lili Zhou, Negar Asdaghi, Hannah Gardener, Hao Ying, Carolina M Gutierrez, Brian M Manolovitz, Daniel Samano, Danielle Bass, Dianne Foster, Nicole B Sur, David Z Rose, Angus Jameson, Nina Massad, Mohan Kottapally, Amedeo Merenda, Robert M Starke, Kristine O'Phelan, Jose G Romano, Jan Claassen, Ralph L Sacco, Tatjana Rundek

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Temporal trends and factors associated with the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST) after acute stroke are not well determined.

DESIGN: Observational study (2008-2021).

SETTING: Florida Stroke Registry (152 hospitals).

PATIENTS: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS), intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients.

INTERVENTIONS: None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Importance plots were performed to generate the most predictive factors of WLST. Area under the curve (AUC) for the receiver operating curve were generated for the performance of logistic regression (LR) and random forest (RF) models. Regression analysis was applied to evaluate temporal trends. Among 309,393 AIS patients, 47,485 ICH patients, and …

Bystanders Or Not? Microglia And Lymphocytes In Aging And Stroke, Justin N Nguyen, Anjali Chauhan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

As the average age of the world population increases, more people will face debilitating aging-associated conditions, including dementia and stroke. Not only does the incidence of these conditions increase with age, but the recovery afterward is often worse in older patients. Researchers and health professionals must unveil and understand the factors behind age-associated diseases to develop a therapy for older patients. Aging causes profound changes in the immune system including the activation of microglia in the brain. Activated microglia promote T lymphocyte transmigration leading to an increase in neuroinflammation, white matter damage, and cognitive impairment in both older humans and …

Arterial Spin Labeling Changes Parallel Asymmetric Perisylvian And Perirolandic Symptoms In 3 Pediatric Cases Of Anti-Nmdar Encephalitis, Alexander J Sandweiss, Varun Kannan, Nilesh K Desai, Stephen F Kralik, Eyal Muscal, Kristen S Fisher

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Anti-NMDA receptor autoimmune encephalitis (NMDAR AE) is an autoantibody-mediated disorder characterized by seizures, neuropsychiatric symptoms, movement disorder, and focal neurologic deficits. Conventionally defined broadly as an inflammatory brain disease, the heterotopic localization is rarely discussed in children. Imaging findings are often nonspecific, and there are no early biomarkers of disease other than the presence of anti-NMDAR antibodies.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of our pediatric NMDAR AE cases (as determined by either positive serum or CSF antibodies or both) at Texas Children's Hospital between 2020-2021 and extracted medical record data of those patients who had arterial …

Targeting Aav Vectors To The Central Nervous System By Engineering Capsid-Receptor Interactions That Enable Crossing Of The Blood-Brain Barrier, Qin Huang, Albert T Chen, Ken Y Chan, Hikari Sorensen, Andrew J Barry, Bahar Azari, Qingxia Zheng, Thomas Beddow, Binhui Zhao, Isabelle G Tobey, Cynthia Moncada-Reid, Fatma-Elzahraa Eid, Christopher J Walkey, M Cecilia Ljungberg, William R Lagor, Jason D Heaney, Yujia A Chan, Benjamin E Deverman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Viruses have evolved the ability to bind and enter cells through interactions with a wide variety of cell macromolecules. We engineered peptide-modified adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids that transduce the brain through the introduction of de novo interactions with 2 proteins expressed on the mouse blood-brain barrier (BBB), LY6A or LY6C1. The in vivo tropisms of these capsids are predictable as they are dependent on the cell- and strain-specific expression of their target protein. This approach generated hundreds of capsids with dramatically enhanced central nervous system (CNS) tropisms within a single round of screening in vitro and secondary validation in vivo …

Prematurity Blunts Protein Synthesis In Skeletal Muscle Independently Of Body Weight In Neonatal Pigs, Marko Rudar, Jane K Naberhuis, Agus Suryawan, Hanh V Nguyen, Marta L Fiorotto, Teresa A Davis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background

Postnatal growth failure in premature infants is associated with reduced lean mass accretion. Prematurity impairs the feeding-induced stimulation of translation initiation and protein synthesis in the skeletal muscle of neonatal pigs. The objective was to determine whether body weight independently contributes to the blunted postprandial protein synthesis.

Methods

Preterm and term pigs that were either fasted or fed were stratified into quartiles according to birth weight to yield preterm and term groups of similar body weight; first and second quartiles of preterm pigs and third and fourth quartiles of term pigs were compared (preterm-fasted, n = 23; preterm-fed, n …

Long-Term Continuous Glucose Monitor Use In Very Young Children With Type 1 Diabetes: One-Year Results From The Sence Study, Michelle A Van Name, Lauren G Kanapka, Linda A Dimeglio, Kellee M Miller, Anastasia Albanese-O'Neill, Persis Commissariat, Sarah D Corathers, Kara R Harrington, Marisa E Hilliard, Barbara J Anderson, Jennifer C Kelley, Lori M Laffel, Sarah A Macleish, Brandon M Nathan, William V Tamborlane, R Paul Wadwa, Steven M Willi, Kristen M Williams, Kupper A Wintergerst, Stephanie Woerner, Jenise C Wong, Daniel J Desalvo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: Achieving optimal glycemic outcomes in young children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is challenging. This study examined the durability of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) coupled with a family behavioral intervention (FBI) to improve glycemia.

STUDY DESIGN: This one-year study included an initial 26-week randomized controlled trial of CGM with FBI (CGM+FBI) and CGM alone (Standard-CGM) compared with blood glucose monitoring (BGM), followed by a 26-week extension phase wherein the BGM Group received the CGM+FBI (BGM-Crossover) and both original CGM groups continued this technology.

RESULTS: Time in range (70-180 mg/dL) did not improve with …

Reprogramming Tumour-Associated Macrophages To Outcompete Cancer Cells, Xian Zhang, Shun Li, Isha Malik, Mytrang H Do, Liangliang Ji, Chun Chou, Wei Shi, Kristelle J Capistrano, Jing Zhang, Ting-Wei Hsu, Briana G Nixon, Ke Xu, Xinxin Wang, Andrea Ballabio, Laura S Schmidt, W Marston Linehan, Ming O Li

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

In metazoan organisms, cell competition acts as a quality control mechanism to eliminate unfit cells in favour of their more robust neighbours1,2. This mechanism has the potential to be maladapted, promoting the selection of aggressive cancer cells3-6. Tumours are metabolically active and are populated by stroma cells7,8, but how environmental factors affect cancer cell competition remains largely unknown. Here we show that tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) can be dietarily or genetically reprogrammed to outcompete MYC-overexpressing cancer cells. In a mouse model of breast cancer, MYC overexpression resulted in an mTORC1-dependent 'winner' cancer cell state. A low-protein diet inhibited mTORC1 signalling in …

Telehealth For Assessing And Managing Tardive Dyskinesia: Expert Insights From A Cross-Disciplinary Virtual Treatment Panel, Rif S El-Mallakh, Amy Belnap, Sanjay Iyer, Jeremy Schreiber, Desiree Matthews, Linda Lefler, Daniel Dees, Allen Bott, Nora Vanegas-Arroyave, Adam Wolff, Ulises Pesce, Khody Farahmand, Chirag Shah, Leslie Lundt

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Publications on the integration of telehealth in the care of patients with movement disorders are increasing, but little has been presented regarding its use in tardive dyskinesia (TD), a drug-induced movement disorder associated with prolonged exposure to dopamine receptor blocking agents. This study was conducted to address that knowledge gap, based on insights from a panel of TD experts.

Methods: In 2020, six neurologists, three psychiatrists, and three psychiatric nurse practitioners participated in individual semistructured interviews about in-person and virtual TD assessment and management in their practices. Two virtual roundtables were then conducted to consolidate findings from these interviews. …

Epileptic Spasms In Cdkl5 Deficiency Disorder: Delayed Treatment And Poor Response To First-Line Therapies, Heather E Olson, Scott Demarest, Elia Pestana-Knight, Ahsan N Moosa, Xiaoming Zhang, José R Pérez-Pérez, Judy Weisenberg, Erin O'Connor Prange, Eric D Marsh, Rajsekar R Rajaraman, Bernhard Suter, Akshat Katyayan, Isabel Haviland, Carolyn Daniels, Bo Zhang, Caitlin Greene, Michelle Deleo, Lindsay Swanson, Jamie Love-Nichols, Timothy Benke, Chellamani Harini, Annapurna Poduri

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the treatment response of infantile-onset epileptic spasms (ES) in CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD) vs other etiologies.

METHODS: We evaluated patients with ES from the CDKL5 Centers of Excellence and the National Infantile Spasms Consortium (NISC), with onset from 2 months to 2 years, treated with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), oral corticosteroids, vigabatrin, and/or the ketogenic diet. We excluded children with tuberous sclerosis complex, trisomy 21, or unknown etiology with normal development because of known differential treatment responses. We compared the two cohorts for time to treatment and ES remission at 14 days and 3 months.

RESULTS: …

Defining The Full Spectrum Of Pediatric Firearm Injury And Death In The United States: It Is Even Worse Than We Think, Bindi J Naik-Mathuria, Cary M Cain, Elizabeth A Alore, Liang Chen, Lisa A Pompeii

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the full spectrum of pediatric firearm injury in the United States by describing fatal and nonfatal injury data epidemiology, vulnerable populations, and temporal trends.

BACKGROUND: Firearm injury is the leading cause of death in children and adolescents in the United States. Nonfatal injury is critical to fully define the problem, yet accurate data at the national level are lacking.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study combining national firearm injury data from the Centers for Disease Control (fatal) and the National Trauma Data Bank (nonfatal) between 2008 and 2019 for ages 0 to 17 years. Data were analyzed using descriptive …

Cortex-Wide Neural Dynamics Predict Behavioral States And Provide A Neural Basis For Resting-State Dynamic Functional Connectivity, Somayeh Shahsavarani, David N Thibodeaux, Weihao Xu, Sharon H Kim, Fatema Lodgher, Chinwendu Nwokeabia, Morgan Cambareri, Alexis J Yagielski, Hanzhi T Zhao, Daniel A Handwerker, Javier Gonzalez-Castillo, Peter A Bandettini, Elizabeth M C Hillman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have observed dynamically changing brain-wide networks of correlated activity, fMRI's dependence on hemodynamic signals makes results challenging to interpret. Meanwhile, emerging techniques for real-time recording of large populations of neurons have revealed compelling fluctuations in neuronal activity across the brain that are obscured by traditional trial averaging. To reconcile these observations, we use wide-field optical mapping to simultaneously record pan-cortical neuronal and hemodynamic activity in awake, spontaneously behaving mice. Some components of observed neuronal activity clearly represent sensory and motor function. However, particularly during quiet rest, strongly fluctuating patterns of activity across …

Lateral Septum As A Melanocortin Downstream Site In Obesity Development, Yuanzhong Xu, Zhiying Jiang, Hongli Li, Jing Cai, Yanyan Jiang, Joshua Ortiz-Guzman, Yong Xu, Benjamin R Arenkiel, Qingchun Tong

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Sox7 Deficiency Causes Ventricular Septal Defects Through Its Effects On Endocardial-To-Mesenchymal Transition And The Expression Of Wnt4 And Bmp2, Andrés Hernández-García, Katherine E Pendleton, Sangbae Kim, Yumei Li, Bum J Kim, Hitisha P Zaveri, Valerie K Jordan, Aliska M Berry, M Cecilia Ljungberg, Rui Chen, Rainer B Lanz, Daryl A Scott

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

SOX7 is a transcription factor-encoding gene located in a region on chromosome 8p23.1 that is recurrently deleted in individuals with ventricular septal defects (VSDs). We have previously shown that Sox7-/- embryos die of heart failure around E11.5. Here, we demonstrate that these embryos have hypocellular endocardial cushions with severely reduced numbers of mesenchymal cells. Ablation of Sox7 in the endocardium also resulted in hypocellular endocardial cushions, and we observed VSDs in rare E15.5 Sox7flox/-;Tie2-Cre and Sox7flox/flox;Tie2-Cre embryos that survived to E15.5. In atrioventricular explant studies, we showed that SOX7 deficiency leads to a severe reduction in endocardial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT). RNA-seq …

Induction Of Astrocytic Slc22a3 Regulates Sensory Processing Through Histone Serotonylation, Debosmita Sardar, Yi-Ting Cheng, Junsung Woo, Dong-Joo Choi, Zhung-Fu Lee, Wookbong Kwon, Hsiao-Chi Chen, Brittney Lozzi, Alexis Cervantes, Kavitha Rajendran, Teng-Wei Huang, Antrix Jain, Benjamin R Arenkiel, Ian Maze, Benjamin Deneen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Neuronal activity drives alterations in gene expression within neurons, yet how it directs transcriptional and epigenomic changes in neighboring astrocytes in functioning circuits is unknown. We found that neuronal activity induces widespread transcriptional upregulation and downregulation in astrocytes, highlighted by the identification of a neuromodulator transporter Slc22a3 as an activity-inducible astrocyte gene regulating sensory processing in the olfactory bulb. Loss of astrocytic Slc22a3 reduced serotonin (5HT) levels in astrocytes, leading to alterations in histone serotonylation. Inhibition of histone serotonylation in astrocytes reduced expression of GABA biosynthetic genes and GABA release, culminating in olfactory deficits. Our study revealed that neuronal activity …

Aging Fly Cell Atlas Identifies Exhaustive Aging Features At Cellular Resolution, Tzu-Chiao Lu, Maria Brbić, Ye-Jin Park, Tyler Jackson, Jiaye Chen, Sai Saroja Kolluru, Yanyan Qi, Nadja Sandra Katheder, Xiaoyu Tracy Cai, Seungjae Lee, Yen-Chung Chen, Niccole Auld, Chung-Yi Liang, Sophia H Ding, Doug Welsch, Samuel D'Souza, Angela Oliveira Pisco, Robert C Jones, Jure Leskovec, Eric C Lai, Hugo J Bellen, Liqun Luo, Heinrich Jasper, Stephen R Quake, Hongjie Li

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Aging is characterized by a decline in tissue function, but the underlying changes at cellular resolution across the organism remain unclear. Here, we present the Aging Fly Cell Atlas, a single-nucleus transcriptomic map of the whole aging Drosophila. We characterize 163 distinct cell types and perform an in-depth analysis of changes in tissue cell composition, gene expression, and cell identities. We further develop aging clock models to predict the fly age and show that ribosomal gene expression is a conserved predictive factor for age. Combining all aging features, we find unique cell type-specific aging patterns. This atlas provides a …

Dietary Sources Of Linoleic Acid (La) Differ By Race/Ethnicity In Adults Participating In The National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey (Nhanes) Between 2017-2018, Shabnam R Momin, Mackenzie K Senn, Ani Manichaikul, Chaojie Yang, Rasika Mathias, Mimi Phan, Stephen S Rich, Susan Sergeant, Michael Seeds, Lindsay Reynolds, Floyd H Chilton, Alexis C Wood

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Linoleic acid (LA) is a primary n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), which is of interest to nutritional professionals as it has been associated with health outcomes. However, as some LA-rich foods offer protection against chronic diseases such as CVD (e.g., fatty fish), while others increase risk (e.g., red meat), the individual foods contributing to LA intake may be an important factor to consider. Therefore, this analysis sought to examine whether there are racial/ethnic differences in the proportion of overall LA intake accounted for by individual food groups, via a cross-sectional analysis of 3815 adults participating in the National Health …

Complement C3ar Depletion Reverses Hif-1Α-Induced Metabolic Impairment And Enhances Microglial Response To Aβ Pathology, Manasee Gedam, Michele M Comerota, Nicholas E Propson, Tao Chen, Feng Jin, Meng C Wang, Hui Zheng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Microglia are the major cell type expressing complement C3a receptor (C3aR) in the brain. Using a knockin mouse line in which a Td-tomato reporter is incorporated into the endogenous C3ar1 locus, we identified 2 major subpopulations of microglia with differential C3aR expression. Expressing the Td-tomato reporter on the APPNL-G-F-knockin (APP-KI) background revealed a significant shift of microglia to a high-C3aR-expressing subpopulation and they were enriched around amyloid β (Aβ) plaques. Transcriptomic analysis of C3aR-positive microglia documented dysfunctional metabolic signatures, including upregulation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) signaling and abnormal lipid metabolism in APP-KI mice compared with wild-type controls. Using primary …

Poly(A)-Binding Protein Is An Ataxin-2 Chaperone That Regulates Biomolecular Condensates, Steven Boeynaems, Yanniv Dorone, Yanrong Zhuang, Victoria Shabardina, Guozhong Huang, Anca Marian, Garam Kim, Anushka Sanyal, Nesli-Ece Şen, Daniel Griffith, Roberto Docampo, Keren Lasker, Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo, Georg Auburger, Alex S Holehouse, Edor Kabashi, Yi Lin, Aaron D Gitler

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Biomolecular condensation underlies the biogenesis of an expanding array of membraneless assemblies, including stress granules (SGs) which form under a variety of cellular stresses. Advances have been made in understanding the molecular grammar of a few scaffold proteins that make up these phases, but how the partitioning of hundreds of SG proteins is regulated remains largely unresolved. While investigating the rules that govern the condensation of ataxin-2, a SG protein implicated in neurodegenerative disease, we unexpectedly identified a short 14aa sequence that acts as a condensation switch and is conserved across the eukaryote lineage. We identify poly(A)-binding proteins as unconventional …

Diet Quality Among Pre-Adolescent African American Girls In A Randomized Controlled Obesity Prevention Intervention Trial, Debbe Thompson, Yiming Mirabile, Noemi Islam, Chishinga Callender, Salma M A Musaad, Julie Miranda, Jennette P Moreno, Jayna M Dave, Tom Baranowski

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Consuming an unhealthy diet increases health risks. This study assessed the impact of a culturally adapted behaviorally innovative obesity prevention intervention (The Butterfly Girls and the Quest for Founder’s Rock) on diet quality in pre-adolescent non-Hispanic Black/African American girls. The RCT consisted of three groups (experimental, comparison, and waitlist control); block randomization allocated participants to each group. The two treatment groups varied in terms of whether or not they set goals. Data were collected at baseline (prior to receiving the intervention), post 1 (3 months post-baseline), and post 2 (6 months post-baseline). Two dietitian-assisted 24 h dietary recalls …

Effects Of Spaceflight On The Eeg Alpha Power And Functional Connectivity, Sandra Pusil, Jonathan Zegarra-Valdivia, Pablo Cuesta, Christopher Laohathai, Ana Maria Cebolla, Jens Haueisen, Patrique Fiedler, Michael Funke, Fernando Maestú, Guy Cheron

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Electroencephalography (EEG) can detect changes in cerebral activity during spaceflight. This study evaluates the effect of spaceflight on brain networks through analysis of the Default Mode Network (DMN)'s alpha frequency band power and functional connectivity (FC), and the persistence of these changes. Five astronauts' resting state EEGs under three conditions were analyzed (pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight). DMN's alpha band power and FC were computed using eLORETA and phase-locking value. Eyes-opened (EO) and eyes-closed (EC) conditions were differentiated. We found a DMN alpha band power reduction during in-flight (EC: p < 0.001; EO: p < 0.05) and post-flight (EC: p < 0.001; EO: p < 0.01) when compared to pre-flight condition. FC strength decreased during in-flight (EC: p < 0.01; EO: p < 0.01) and post-flight (EC: ns; EO: p < 0.01) compared to pre-flight condition. The DMN alpha band power and FC strength reduction persisted until 20 days after landing. Spaceflight caused electrocerebral alterations that persisted after return to earth. Periodic assessment by EEG-derived DMN analysis has the potential to become a neurophysiologic marker of cerebral functional integrity during exploration missions to space.

Chronic Basal Forebrain Activation Improves Spatial Memory, Boosts Neurotrophin Receptor Expression, And Lowers Bace1 And Aβ42 Levels In The Cerebral Cortex In Mice, Jacob Kumro, Ashutosh Tripathi, Yun Lei, Jeremy Sword, Patrick Callahan, Alvin Terry, Xin-Yun Lu, Sergei A Kirov, Anilkumar Pillai, David T Blake

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The etiology of Alzheimer’s dementia has been hypothesized in terms of basal forebrain cholinergic decline, and in terms of reflecting beta-amyloid neuropathology. To study these different biological elements, we activated the basal forebrain in 5xFAD Alzheimer’s model mice and littermates. Mice received 5 months of 1 h per day intermittent stimulation of the basal forebrain, which includes cholinergic projections to the cortical mantle. Then, mice were behaviorally tested followed by tissue analysis. The 5xFAD mice performed worse in water-maze testing than littermates. Stimulated groups learned the water maze better than unstimulated groups. Stimulated groups had 2–3-fold increases in frontal cortex …

Inferring Personalized Treatment Effect Of Antihypertensives On Alzheimer's Disease Using Deep Learning, Pulakesh Upadhyaya, Yaobin Ling, Luyao Chen, Yejin Kim, Xiaoqian Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, especially among the elderly. Recent studies have shown how hypertension is related to cognitive decline in elderly patients, which in turn leads to increased mortality as well as morbidity. There have been various studies that have looked at the effect of antihypertensive drugs in reducing cognitive decline, and their results have proved inconclusive. However, most of these studies assume the treatment effect is similar for all patients, thus considering only the average treatment effects of antihypertensive drugs. In this paper, we assume that the effect …

Predicting The Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementia In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment Using A Semi-Competing Risk Approach, Zhaoyi Chen, Yuchen Yang, Dazheng Zhang, Jingchuan Guo, Yi Guo, Xia Hu, Yong Chen, Jiang Bian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (AD/ADRD) are a group of progressive neurodegenerative diseases. The progression of AD can be conceptualized as a continuum in which patients progress from normal cognition to preclinical AD (i.e., no symptoms but biological changes in the brain) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD (i.e., mild symptoms but not interfere with daily activities), followed by increasing severity of dementia due to AD. Early detection and prediction models for the transition of MCI to AD/ADRD are needed, and efforts have been made to build predictions of MCI conversion to AD/ADRD. However, most existing studies …

Thirty-Day Outcomes Of Resolute Onyx Stent For Symptomatic Intracranial Stenosis: A Multicenter Propensity Score-Matched Comparison With Stenting Versus Aggressive Medical Management For Preventing Recurrent Stroke In Intracranial Stenosis Trial, Farhan Siddiq, Ravi S Nunna, Jonathan M Beall, Inamullah Khan, Musharaf Khan, Wondwossen G Tekle, Mohamad Ezzeldin, Omar Tanweer, Jan-Karl Burkhardt, Pascal M Jabbour, Stavropoula I Tjoumakaris, Nabeel A Herial, Adnan H Siddiqui, Ramesh Grandhi, Renee L Martin, Adnan I Qureshi, Ameer E Hassan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease (sICAD) is estimated to cause 10% of strokes annually in the United States. However, treatment remains a challenge with several different stenting options studied in the past with unfavorable results.

OBJECTIVE: To report the 30-day stroke and/or death rate associated with intracranial stent placement for sICAD using Resolute Onyx Zotarolimus-Eluting Stent (RO-ZES) and provide a comparison with the results of Stenting Versus Aggressive Medical Management for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis (SAMMPRIS) trial.

METHODS: Prospectively maintained databases across 8 stroke centers were used to identify adult patients treated with RO-ZES for sICAD between January …

Sex And Gender Differences In Acute Stroke Care: Metrics, Access To Treatment And Outcome A Territorial Analysis Of The Stroke Code System Of Catalonia, Yolanda Silva, Laura Sánchez-Cirera, Mikel Terceño, Laura Dorado, Adrián Valls, Marina Martínez, Sònia Abilleira, Marta Rubiera, Helena Quesada, Laura Llull, Ana Rodríguez-Campello, Joan Martí-Fàbregas, Laia Seró, Francisco Purroy, Iago Payo, Sònia García, David Cánovas, Jurek Krupinski, Natalia Mas, Ernest Palomeras, Dolores Cocho, Maria Àngels Font, Esther Catena, Elsa Puiggròs, Claudia Pedroza, Gemma Marín, Dolors Carrión, Xavier Costa, Mari Cruz Almendros, Ivan Torres, Carla Colom, John Alejandro Velasquez, Gloria Diaz, Xavier Jiménez, Teresa Subirats, Anna Deulofeu, Verónica Hidalgo, Mercè Salvat-Plana, Natalia Pérez De La Ossa, Catalan Stroke Code And Reperfusion Consortium (Cat-Scr)

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Previous studies have reported differences in the management and outcome of women stroke patients in comparison with men. We aim to analyze sex and gender differences in the medical assistance, access to treatment and outcome of acute stroke patients in Catalonia.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were obtained from a prospective population-based registry of stroke code activations in Catalonia (CICAT) from January/2016 to December/2019. The registry includes demographic data, stroke severity, stroke subtype, reperfusion therapy, and time workflow. Centralized clinical outcome at 90 days was assessed in patients receiving reperfusion therapy.

RESULTS: A total of 23,371 stroke code activations were …

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Paired With Rehabilitation For Upper Limb Motor Impairment And Function After Chronic Ischemic Stroke: Subgroup Analysis Of The Randomized, Blinded, Pivotal, Vns-Rehab Device Trial, Jesse Dawson, Navzer D Engineer, Steven C Cramer, Steven L Wolf, Rushna Ali, Michael W O'Dell, David Pierce, Cecília N Prudente, Jessica Redgrave, Wuwei Feng, Charles Y Liu, Gerard E Francisco, Benjamin L Brown, Anand Dixit, Jen Alexander, Louis Demark, Vibor Krishna, Steven A Kautz, Arshad Majid, Brent Tarver, Duncan L Turner, Teresa J Kimberley

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) paired with rehabilitation improved upper extremity impairment and function in a recent pivotal, randomized, triple-blind, sham-controlled trial in people with chronic arm weakness after stroke.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine whether treatment effects varied across candidate subgroups, such as younger age or less injury.

METHODS: Participants were randomized to receive rehabilitation paired with active VNS or rehabilitation paired with sham stimulation (Control). The primary outcome was the change in impairment measured by the Fugl-Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) score on the first day after completion of 6-weeks in-clinic therapy. We explored the effect of VNS …

Towards Neuromarkers For Tailored Smoking Cessation Treatments, Francesco Versace, Jason D Robinson, Paul M Cinciripini

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Vulnerability to compulsive drug use stems from dysregulated activity within the neural networks that underlie reward and executive functions. Empirical evidence suggests that a) attributing high motivational salience to drug-related stimuli leads to compulsive drug seeking and b) cognitive control deficits lead to compulsive drug taking. Noninvasive neuroimaging techniques enable brain activity monitoring during affective and cognitive processing and are paving the way to precision medicine for substance use disorders. Identifying robust neuromarkers of affective and cognitive dysregulation would allow clinicians to personalize treatments by targeting individual psychophysiological vulnerabilities. However, methodological choices have biased the field toward experimental paradigms that …

Commentary On "Mini-Open Intercostal Retroperitoneal Approach For Upper Lumbar Spine Lateral Interbody Fusion", Alexander E Ropper

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Fetal Malrotation With Midgut Volvulus: Prenatal Diagnosis And Planning, Oluyinka O Olutoye, J D Hammond, Jamie Gilley, Ross M Beckman, Marie Bulathsinghala, Sonya S Keswani, Jonathan Davies, Mark V Mazziotti, Roopali Donepudi, Michael A Belfort, Alice King, Pamela M Ketwaroo, Timothy C Lee

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Malrotation of the intestinal tract is a congenital malformation commonly found either incidentally or after affected individuals develop signs and symptoms of intestinal obstruction. Malrotation is prone to midgut volvulus that can cause intestinal obstruction and lead to ischemia and necrosis requiring emergent surgical intervention. Rare instances of in utero midgut volvulus have been reported in the literature and carry a high mortality given the difficulty in establishing a diagnosis prior to development of signs of intestinal ischemia and necrosis. Advancements in imaging have made it possible to diagnose in utero malrotation earlier, raising the question of optimal timing …

De Novo Variants In Mrtfb Have Gain-Of-Function Activity In Drosophila And Are Associated With A Novel Neurodevelopmental Phenotype With Dysmorphic Features, Jonathan C Andrews, Jung-Wan Mok, Oguz Kanca, Sharayu Jangam, Cynthia Tifft, Ellen F Macnamara, Bianca E Russell, Lee-Kai Wang, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Stanley F Nelson, Hugo J Bellen, Shinya Yamamoto, May Christine V Malicdan, Michael F Wangler

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Purpose: Myocardin-related transcription factor B (MRTFB) is an important transcriptional regulator, which promotes the activity of an estimated 300 genes but is not known to underlie a Mendelian disorder.

Methods: Probands were identified through the efforts of the Undiagnosed Disease Network. Because the MRTFB protein is highly conserved between vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms, we generated a humanized Drosophila model expressing the human MRTFB protein in the same spatial and temporal pattern as the fly gene. Actin binding assays were used to validate the effect of the variants on MRTFB.

Results: Here, we report 2 pediatric probands with de novo …