Medical Specialties Commons^™

Nurturing Children’S Development Through Healthy Eating And Active Living: Time For Policies To Support Effective Interventions In The Context Of Responsive Emotional Support And Early Learning, Helen Skouteris, Rachael Green, Alexandra Chung, Heidi Bergmeier, Lisa H Amir, Sukhpreet Kaur Baidwan, Angel Marie Chater, Catherine Chamberlain, Ruth Emond, Kay Gibbons, Michelle Gooey, Kostas Hatzikiriakidis, Emma Haycraft, Andrew P Hills, Daryl J Higgins, Oliver Hooper, Sue-Anne Hunter, Pam Kappelides, Sue Kleve, Jacynta Krakouer, Julie C Lumeng, Yannis Manios, Athar Mansoor, Michael Marmot, Louise C Mâsse, Karen Matvienko-Sikar, Zandile June-Rose Mchiza, Caroline Meyer, George Moschonis, Emily R Munro, Teresia Margareta O'Connor, Adrienne O'Neil, Thomas Quarmby, Rachel Sandford, Janet U Schneiderman, Simone Sherriff, Doug Simkiss, Alison Spence, Elizabeth Sturgiss, Dave Vicary, Rebecca Wickes, Luke Wolfenden, Mary Story, Maureen M Black

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Fostering the growth, development, health, and wellbeing of children is a global priority. The early childhood period presents a critical window to influence lifelong trajectories, however urgent multisectoral action is needed to ensure that families are adequately supported to nurture their children's growth and development. With a shared vision to give every child the best start in life, thus helping them reach their full developmental potential, we have formed the International Healthy Eating Active Living Matters (HEALing Matters) Alliance. Together, we form a global network of academics and practitioners working across child health and development, and who are dedicated to …

Structural Brain Alterations Associated With Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviors In Young People: Results From 21 International Studies From The Enigma Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviours Consortium, Laura S Van Velzen, Maria R Dauvermann, Lejla Colic, Luca M Villa, Hannah S Savage, Yara J Toenders, Alyssa H Zhu, Joanna K Bright, Adrián I Campos, Lauren E Salminen, Sonia Ambrogi, Rosa Ayesa-Arriola, Nerisa Banaj, Zeynep Başgöze, Jochen Bauer, Karina Blair, Robert James Blair, Katharina Brosch, Yuqi Cheng, Romain Colle, Colm G Connolly, Emmanuelle Corruble, Baptiste Couvy-Duchesne, Benedicto Crespo-Facorro, Kathryn R Cullen, Udo Dannlowski, Christopher G Davey, Katharina Dohm, Janice M Fullerton, Ali Saffet Gonul, Ian H Gotlib, Dominik Grotegerd, Tim Hahn, Ben J Harrison, Mengxin He, Ian B Hickie, Tiffany C Ho, Frank Iorfino, Andreas Jansen, Fabrice Jollant, Tilo Kircher, Bonnie Klimes-Dougan, Melissa Klug, Elisabeth J Leehr, Elizabeth T C Lippard, Katie A Mclaughlin, Susanne Meinert, Adam Bryant Miller, Philip B Mitchell, Benson Mwangi, Igor Nenadić, Amar Ojha, Bronwyn J Overs, Julia-Katharina Pfarr, Fabrizio Piras, Kai G Ringwald, Gloria Roberts, Georg Romer, Marsal Sanches, Margaret A Sheridan, Jair C Soares, Gianfranco Spalletta, Frederike Stein, Giana I Teresi, Diana Tordesillas-Gutiérrez, Aslihan Uyar-Demir, Nic J A Van Der Wee, Steven J Van Der Werff, Robert R J M Vermeiren, Alexandra Winter, Mon-Ju Wu, Tony T Yang, Paul M Thompson, Miguel E Rentería, Neda Jahanshad, Hilary P Blumberg, Anne-Laura Van Harmelen, Enigma Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviours Consortium, Lianne Schmaal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Identifying brain alterations associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in young people is critical to understanding their development and improving early intervention and prevention. The ENIGMA Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours (ENIGMA-STB) consortium analyzed neuroimaging data harmonized across sites to examine brain morphology associated with STBs in youth. We performed analyses in three separate stages, in samples ranging from most to least homogeneous in terms of suicide assessment instrument and mental disorder. First, in a sample of 577 young people with mood disorders, in which STBs were assessed with the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Second, in a sample …

A Multinational Delphi Consensus To End The Covid-19 Public Health Threat, Jeffrey V Lazarus, Diana Romero, Christopher J Kopka, Salim Abdool Karim, Laith J Abu-Raddad, Gisele Almeida, Ricardo Baptista-Leite, Joshua A Barocas, Mauricio L Barreto, Yaneer Bar-Yam, Quique Bassat, Carolina Batista, Morgan Bazilian, Shu-Ti Chiou, Carlos Del Rio, Gregory J Dore, George F Gao, Lawrence O Gostin, Margaret Hellard, Jose L Jimenez, Gagandeep Kang, Nancy Lee, Mojca Matičič, Martin Mckee, Sabin Nsanzimana, Miquel Oliu-Barton, Bary Pradelski, Oksana Pyzik, Kenneth Rabin, Sunil Raina, Sabina Faiz Rashid, Magdalena Rathe, Rocio Saenz, Sudhvir Singh, Malene Trock-Hempler, Sonia Villapol, Peiling Yap, Agnes Binagwaho, Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Ayman El-Mohandes

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite notable scientific and medical advances, broader political, socioeconomic and behavioural factors continue to undercut the response to the COVID-19 pandemic1,2. Here we convened, as part of this Delphi study, a diverse, multidisciplinary panel of 386 academic, health, non-governmental organization, government and other experts in COVID-19 response from 112 countries and territories to recommend specific actions to end this persistent global threat to public health. The panel developed a set of 41 consensus statements and 57 recommendations to governments, health systems, industry and other key stakeholders across six domains: communication; health systems; vaccination; prevention; treatment and …

Two Specialists, Two Recommendations: Discordance Between Urologists' & Radiation Oncologists' Prostate Cancer Treatment Recommendations, Rebecca K Delaney, Brittany L Sisco-Taylor, Xuechen Wang, Karen Scherr, Peter A Ubel, Benjamin Haaland, Valerie C Kahn, Daniel Hamstra, John T Wei, Farrah Madanay, J Kelly Davis, Taylor U Greeno, Angela Fagerlin

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Objective: To examine the treatment recommendation patterns among urologists and radiation oncologists, the level of concordance or discordance between physician recommendations, and the association between physician recommendations and the treatment that patients received.

Method: The study was a secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial conducted November 2010 to April 2014 (NCT02053389). Eligible participants were patients from the trial who saw both specialists. The primary outcome was physician recommendations that were scored using an adapted version of the validated PhyReCS coding system. Secondary outcomes included concordance between physician recommendations and the treatment patients received.

Results: Participants …

The Risks Of Birth Defects And Childhood Cancer With Conception By Assisted Reproductive Technology, Barbara Luke, Morton B Brown, Ethan Wantman, Maria J Schymura, Marilyn L Browne, Sarah C Fisher, Nina E Forestieri, Chandrika Rao, Hazel B Nichols, Mahsa M Yazdy, Susan T Gershman, Caitlin R Sacha, Melanie Williams, Mary K Ethen, Mark A Canfield, Kevin J Doody, Michael L Eisenberg, Valerie L Baker, Carrie Williams, Alastair G Sutcliffe, Melissa A Richard, Philip J Lupo

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Study question: Is there an association between fertility status, method of conception and the risks of birth defects and childhood cancer?

Summary answer: The risk of childhood cancer had two independent components: (i) method of conception and (ii) presence, type and number of birth defects.

What is known already: The rarity of the co-occurrence of birth defects, cancer and ART makes studying their association challenging. Prior studies have indicated that infertility and ART are associated with an increased risk of birth defects or cancer but have been limited by small sample size and inadequate statistical power, failure to adjust for …

Opioids For Dyspnea End Of Life Review, Lindsey Obarzanek, Wendy Wu, Victoria Tutag-Lehr

Library Scholarly Publications

Objective: The objective of this systematic review is to consolidate the existing evidence on opioid use, including administration, dosing and efficacy, for the relief of dyspnea at end-of-life. The overarching goal is to optimize clinical management of dyspnea by identifying patterns in opioid use, improving opioid management of dyspnea, and to prioritize future research.

Background: Opioids are commonly used in the management of dyspnea at end of life; yet specific administration guidelines are limited. A greater understanding of the effectiveness of opioids in relieving end-of-life dyspnea with consideration of study design, patients, and opioids, including dyspnea evaluation tools …

The Development And Implementation Of Evidence-Based Preanesthesia Assessment Tools For Lvad Patients Undergoing Non-Cardiac Procedures, Tracey Rooney, Casey Weimer, Eileen Giardino, Kerry Shanklin, Pete Pelletier, Audrey Rosenblatt

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

Abstract

A university-affiliated tertiary medical center with a newly developed Advanced Heart Failure and Mechanical Circulatory Support program identified the need to implement a more systematic approach to the preanesthesia assessment process for patients with a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) undergoing noncardiac procedures and standardized guidelines to determine the best blood pressure monitoring system for patients with an LVAD during these noncardiac procedures. A multidisciplinary panel of clinical experts developed an LVAD Preanesthesia Toolkit using standard recommendations identified via evidence-based literature and expert opinion. The Toolkit included an LVAD Preanesthesia Assessment (VaPA) tool and an LVAD Blood Pressure Monitoring …

Cost Analysis Of Implementing An Exercise Program For Fall And Fracture Prevention In Older Adults On Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy, Thomas Adam Wichelmann, Nhan Dang, David H. Kruchko, Sufyan Abdulmujeeb, Eli D. Ehrenpreis

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: Falls have significant financial impact. Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy is associated with an increased risk of falls and fractures. Exercise programs have been shown to decrease risk of falls in the elderly population and are recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for patients over age 65 to reduce falls. Our study aimed to explore the potential financial benefit of implementing three different Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recommended exercise-based interventions for fall prevention (Tai Chi, Stepping On, and Otago Exercise Program) in ≥ 65-year-old patients on PPI therapy.

Methods: A Markov model was developed to predict …

Chemical Relaxers And Hair-Straightening Products: Potential Targets For Hormone-Related Cancer Prevention And Control, Adana A. M. Llanos, Jasmine A. Mcdonald, Dede K. Teteh, Traci N. Bethea

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

"Emerging data show that use of permanent hair dyes, chemical relaxers, and straightening products might contribute to increased risk of hormone-related cancers (1-5) and potentially breast tumors with features indicative of more aggressive phenotypes (6). Given the wide use of these products globally, they are an important source of exposure to potentially harmful chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals—to which we are ubiquitously exposed (7)—and mutagenic and/or genotoxic compounds. The unequal burden of exposure across populations plausibly contributes to cancer inequities as the groups with the greatest exposure also experience poorer cancer outcomes (8). …

The Impact Of Facial Feminization On Qol In Transgender Patients, Odette Rosales, Zane Sejdiu, Justin Michael Camacho, Ali Yasback, Caroline E. Quindlen, Sanjeev Herr, Amir Behnam Md

Tower Health Research Day

No abstract provided.

Cue-Induced Cocaine Craving Enhances Psychosocial Stress And Vice Versa In Chronic Cocaine Users, Ann-Kathrin Kexel, Bruno Kluwe-Schiavon, Markus R Baumgartner, Etna J E Engeli, Monika Visentini, Clemens Kirschbaum, Erich Seifritz, Beate Ditzen, Leila M Soravia, Boris B Quednow

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Stress and craving, it has been found, contribute to the development and maintenance of and relapse in cocaine use disorder. Chronic cocaine users (CU), previous research has shown, display altered physiological responses to psychosocial stress and increased vegetative responding to substance-related cues. However, how psychosocial stress and cue-induced craving interact in relation to the CU's physiological responses remains largely unknown. We thus investigated the interaction between acute psychosocial stress and cocaine-cue-related reactivity in 47 CU and 38 controls. In a crossed and balanced design, the participants were randomly exposed to a video-based cocaine-cue paradigm and the Trier Social Stress Test …

Maternal Gut Microbiota Mediate Intergenerational Effects Of High-Fat Diet On Descendant Social Behavior, Claudia M Di Gesù, Lisa M Matz, Ian J Bolding, Robert Fultz, Kristi L Hoffman, Antonella Marino Gammazza, Joseph F Petrosino, Shelly A Buffington

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Dysbiosis of the maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. We previously showed that maternal high-fat diet (MHFD) in mice induces gut dysbiosis, social dysfunction, and underlying synaptic plasticity deficits in male offspring (F1). Here, we reason that, if HFD-mediated changes in maternal gut microbiota drive offspring social deficits, then MHFD-induced dysbiosis in F1 female MHFD offspring would likewise impair F2 social behavior. Metataxonomic sequencing reveals reduced microbial richness among female F1 MHFD offspring. Despite recovery of microbial richness among MHFD-descendant F2 mice, they display social dysfunction. Post-weaning Limosilactobacillus reuteri treatment increases the abundance of short-chain …

Molecular Pathways Of Major Depressive Disorder Converge On The Synapse, Gabriel R Fries, Valeria A Saldana, Johannes Finnstein, Theo Rein

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a psychiatric disease of still poorly understood molecular etiology. Extensive studies at different molecular levels point to a high complexity of numerous interrelated pathways as the underpinnings of depression. Major systems under consideration include monoamines, stress, neurotrophins and neurogenesis, excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission, mitochondrial dysfunction, (epi)genetics, inflammation, the opioid system, myelination, and the gut-brain axis, among others. This review aims at illustrating how these multiple signaling pathways and systems may interact to provide a more comprehensive view of MDD's neurobiology. In particular, considering the pattern of synaptic activity as the closest physical representation of mood, …

Racial And Ethnic Differences In The Association Of Low-Carbohydrate Diet With Mortality In The Multi-Ethnic Study Of Atherosclerosis, Seung-Won Oh, Alexis C Wood, Seung-Sik Hwang, Matthew Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Importance: Evidence linking low-carbohydrate diets (LCDs) to mortality is limited among multiethnic populations.

Objective: To evaluate the association between LCDs and mortality by race and ethnicity.

Design, setting, and participants: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis is a large, population-based prospective cohort study of adults aged 45 to 84 years recruited from 6 US communities. A total of 6109 participants without baseline cardiovascular disease were included in this analysis. Baseline data were collected from July 2000 to August 2002, with follow-up completed by December 2017. The data were analyzed between May 2021 and April 2022.

Exposures: Food frequency questionnaires were used …

Inequity In National Institutes Of Health Predoctoral Fellowships, 2001-2020, Mytien Nguyen, Nghia D Nguyen, Sarwat I Chaudhry, Mayur M Desai, Jose E Cavazos, Dowin Boatright

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This cross-sectional study examines trends in number of awards and funding of general and diversity F31 predoctoral fellowships from 2001 to 2020.

Allostatic Load Predicts Racial Disparities In Intracerebral Hemorrhage Cognitive Outcomes, Jennifer Harris, Amelia Boehme, Luisa Chan, Harmon Moats, Rachelle Dugue, Chigozirim Izeogu, Marykay A Pavol, Imama A Naqvi, Olajide Williams, Randolph S Marshall

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A large portion of stroke disparities remains unexplained, even after adjusting for demographic, comorbidity, and health care access variables. There is a critical need to close this knowledge gap by investigating novel factors that may contribute to stroke disparities. Allostatic load (AL) is the lifetime adverse physiologic impact of needing to adjust to socially structured stressors such as racism. AL has been shown to increase health vulnerability and worsen outcomes in marginalized populations. We sought to assess the differential impact of AL on cognitive outcomes post intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) across race-ethnicity. The Intracerebral Hemorrhage Outcomes Project (ICHOP) prospectively collected data …

Declining Career Interest In Primary Care In Switzerland And The United States, William Zhang

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Primary care (PC) lies at the center of modern healthcare systems as the primary point of contact between the general public and quality health care. Primary care physicians (PCPs) are known to provide high quality basic care to members of their surrounding community without consuming a large budget, and thus should be a priority for health sector investments. However, the proportion of medical students becoming PCPs is declining across the world, thus putting affordable global health at risk. The U.S. and Switzerland, even with their high health expenditures and advanced healthcare technologies, are no exception to this trend. Analysis of …

Tourism-Oncology: More Than A Treatment, Ozge Buyuk, Gulsah Akkus

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Medical tourism is a growing global niche market all over the world. In this study, which intends to assess the status of "tourism-oncology," texts obtained longitudinally from digital and social media were analyzed for content. Tourism-oncology has evolved as an economic activity within the context of medical tourism in Turkey. The research revealed that (i) oncology was among the top five, (ii) lung cancer was the cancer type that results in the most travel, (iii) the user profiles shared on social media were mostly those of travel agencies and health-consulting businesses, (iv) Istanbul, Antalya, Ankara, Izmir, and Mugla were the …

Correlations Between Peripheral Levels Of Inflammatory Mediators And Frontolimbic Structures In Bipolar Disorder: An Exploratory Analysis, Satyajit Mohite, Haitham Salem, Thiago Cordeiro, Jonika Tannous, Benson Mwangi, Sudhakar Selvaraj, Jair C Soares, Marsal Sanches, Antonio L Teixeira

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Altered peripheral immune/inflammatory system and brain volumetric changes have been implicated in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). This study aimed to evaluate how peripheral levels of cytokines are related to volumetric brain changes in euthymic patients with BD.

METHODS: Euthymic patients with BD (n = 21) and healthy controls (n = 22) were enrolled in this exploratory study. Blood samples were collected on the same day of clinical assessment and neuroimaging. Cytokines were measured through cytometric bead array method. Neuroimaging data were acquired using a sagittal three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging T1-weighted fast field echo sequence and was processed …

How To Survive College As An Acoa: The Effectiveness Of University Resources On Helping Acoas Socially And Psychologically Succeed During Their Academic Career, Kelly Buchan

Senior Theses

In 2019, 14.5 million people ages 12 and older had Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), but only 10% received treatment (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA], 2022). Parental drinking problems can directly affect children, or “Adult Children of Alcoholics.” Of the few studies targeting ACoAs, results show that ACoAs not only have higher risks of mental illness, but they also have lower GPAs and social health (Schroeder & Kelley, 2008). Thus, this study assessed the extent to which perceptions of the college drinking environment are related to higher depression rates in ACoAs, certain drinking motivations, and reluctance to use …

Incidence And 5-Year Survival Of Children And Adolescents With Hepatoblastoma In The United States, Justin A Kahla, David A Siegel, Shifan Dai, Philip J Lupo, Jennifer H Foster, Michael E Scheurer, Andras A Heczey

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Objective: Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common pediatric primary malignant liver tumor, its incidence has been increasing worldwide, but recent changes in incidence and outcomes with high population coverage are not well characterized.

Methods: We defined the incidence of HB diagnosed during 2003-2017 from United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) database, and survival during 2001-2016 from the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR). Data were stratified by sex, race/ethnicity, age, tumor stage, county population, and diagnosis year. Incidence trends were assessed by calculating average annual percent change (AAPC) using Joinpoint regression. Differences in overall 5-year survival were estimated using Cox regression …

Preconditioning By Voluntary Wheel Running Attenuates Later Neuropathic Pain Via Nuclear Factor E2-Related Factor 2 Antioxidant Signaling In Rats, Suzanne M Green-Fulgham, Michael E Harland, Jayson B Ball, Jiahe Li, Michael J Lacagnina, Heather D'Angelo, Renee A Dreher, Kendal F Willcox, Sabina A Lorca, Andrew J Kwilasz, Steven F Maier, Linda R Watkins, Peter M Grace

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Animal and human studies have shown that exercise prior to nerve injury prevents later chronic pain, but the mechanisms of such preconditioning remain elusive. Given that exercise acutely increases the formation of free radicals, triggering antioxidant compensation, we hypothesized that voluntary running preconditioning would attenuate neuropathic pain by supporting redox homeostasis after sciatic nerve injury in male and female rats. We show that 6 weeks of voluntary wheel running suppresses neuropathic pain development induced by chronic constriction injury across both sexes. This attenuation was associated with reduced nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity-a marker for peroxynitrite-at the sciatic nerve injury site. Our data suggest …

Development Of The International Spinal Cord Injury Basic Data Set For Informal Caregivers, Carol Haywood, Rebecca Martin, Kathryn Dent, M J Mulcahey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

STUDY DESIGN: Mixed-methods, including expert consensus for initial development and a multi-center repeated measures design for field testing.

OBJECTIVES: To develop an International Spinal Cord Injury Basic Data Set for caregivers of individuals with spinal cord injury/disorder (SCI/D) for use in research and clinical care settings.

SETTING: International, multi-disciplinary working group with field testing in five North American pediatric rehabilitation hospitals.

METHODS: The data set was developed iteratively through meetings and online surveys with a working group of experts in pediatric and adult SCI/D rehabilitation and caregivers of individuals with SCI/D. Initial reliability was examined through repeat administration of a …

Rumination As A Mediator Of The Association Between Racial Discrimination And Depression Among Black Youth, Donte L Bernard, Colleen A Halliday, Funlola Are, Devin E Banks, Carla Kmett Danielson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Racial discrimination constitutes a significant risk factor for depressive symptoms among Black youth. Rumination, a maladaptive self-regulatory stress response, is a notable pathway by which racial discrimination contributes to depressive symptoms among racial/ethnic minority adults. Yet, examinations of the mechanistic nature of rumination in the context of racial discrimination among racial/ethnic minority youth remain limited. The present study investigated rumination as a mediator of the association between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among Black youth.

METHODS: Data for the current study were drawn from baseline questionnaire responses of community recruited Black pre-and-early adolescents (N = 158, 53% female, M …

Genetics And Epigenetics Of Self-Injurious Thoughts And Behaviors: Systematic Review Of The Suicide Literature And Methodological Considerations, Salahudeen Mirza, Anna R Docherty, Amanda Bakian, Hilary Coon, Jair C Soares, Consuelo Walss-Bass, Gabriel R Fries

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Suicide is a multifaceted and poorly understood clinical outcome, and there is an urgent need to advance research on its phenomenology and etiology. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that suicidal behavior is heritable, suggesting that genetic and epigenetic information may serve as biomarkers for suicide risk. Here we systematically review the literature on genetic and epigenetic alterations observed in phenotypes across the full range of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB). We included 577 studies focused on genome-wide and epigenome-wide associations, candidate genes (SNP and methylation), noncoding RNAs, and histones. Convergence of specific genes is limited across units of analysis, although pathway-based …

Concerns About The Use Of Polygenic Embryo Screening For Psychiatric And Cognitive Traits, Todd Lencz, Maya Sabatello, Anna Docherty, Roseann E Peterson, Takahiro Soda, Jehannine Austin, Laura Bierut, David Crepaz-Keay, David Curtis, Franziska Degenhardt, Laura Huckins, Gabriel Lazaro-Munoz, Manuel Mattheisen, Bettina Meiser, Holly Peay, Marcella Rietschel, Consuelo Walss-Bass, Lea K Davis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Private companies have begun offering services to allow parents undergoing in-vitro fertilisation to screen embryos for genetic risk of complex diseases, including psychiatric disorders. This procedure, called polygenic embryo screening, raises several difficult scientific and ethical issues, as discussed in this Personal View. Polygenic embryo screening depends on the statistical properties of polygenic risk scores, which are complex and not well studied in the context of this proposed clinical application. The clinical, social, and ethical implications of polygenic embryo screening have barely been discussed among relevant stakeholders. To our knowledge, the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics is the first professional …

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells For The Treatment Of Alzheimer’S Disease: Strategies And Limitations, Shobha Regmi, Daniel Dan Liu, Michelle Shen, Bhavesh D Kevadiya, Abantika Ganguly, Rosita Primavera, Shashank Chetty, Reza Yarani, Avnesh S Thakor

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major cause of age-related dementia and is characterized by progressive brain damage that gradually destroys memory and the ability to learn, which ultimately leads to the decline of a patient's ability to perform daily activities. Although some of the pharmacological treatments of AD are available for symptomatic relief, they are not able to limit the progression of AD and have several side effects. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) could be a potential therapeutic option for treating AD due to their immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, regenerative, antioxidant, anti-apoptotic, and neuroprotective effects. MSCs not only secret neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory factors …

Racial/Ethnic And Gender Disparities Of The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (Ohca) In Texas, Summer Chavez, Ryan Huebinger, Hei Kit Chan, Kevin Schulz, Micah Panczyk, Normandy Villa, Renee Johnson, Robert Greenberg, Veer Vithalani, Rabab Al-Araji, Bentley Bobrow

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Prior research shows a greater disease burden, lower BCPR rates, and worse outcomes in Black and Hispanic patients after OHCA. Female OHCA patients have lower rates of BCPR compared to men and other survival outcomes vary. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on OHCA incidence and outcomes in different health disparity populations is unknown.

METHODS: We used data from the Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES). We determined the association of both prehospital characteristics and survival outcomes with the pandemic period in each study group through Pearson's χ

RESULTS: Black OHCA patients (aOR = 0.73; 95% CI: …

Loss Of Lamp5 Interneurons Drives Neuronal Network Dysfunction In Alzheimer’S Disease, Yuanyuan Deng, Mian Bi, Fabien Delerue, Shelley L Forrest, Gabriella Chan, Julia Van Der Hoven, Annika Van Hummel, Astrid F Feiten, Seojin Lee, Ivan Martinez-Valbuena, Tim Karl, Gabor G Kovacs, Grant Morahan, Yazi D Ke, Lars M Ittner

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), where amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau deposits in the brain, hyperexcitation of neuronal networks is an underlying disease mechanism, but its cause remains unclear. Here, we used the Collaborative Cross (CC) forward genetics mouse platform to identify modifier genes of neuronal hyperexcitation. We found LAMP5 as a novel regulator of hyperexcitation in mice, critical for the survival of distinct interneuron populations. Interestingly, synaptic LAMP5 was lost in AD brains and LAMP5 interneurons degenerated in different AD mouse models. Genetic reduction of LAMP5 augmented functional deficits and neuronal network hypersynchronicity in both Aβ- and tau-driven AD mouse models. …

The Development And Initial Validation Of The Promis®+Hf-27 And Promis+Hf-10 Profiles, Faraz S Ahmad, Kathryn L Jackson, Susan E Yount, Nan E Rothrock, Michael A Kallen, Leilani Lacson, Karl Y Bilimoria, Abel N Kho, Raja Kannan Mutharasan, Peter A Mccullough, Jeffrey Bruckel, Savitri Fedson, Stephen E Kimmel, David T Eton, Kathleen L Grady, Clyde W Yancy, David Cella

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Aims: Heart failure (HF) is a common and morbid condition impacting multiple health domains. We previously reported the development of the PROMIS®-Plus-HF (PROMIS+HF) profile measure, including universal and HF-specific items. To facilitate use, we developed shorter, PROMIS+HF profiles intended for research and clinical use.

Methods and results: Candidate items were selected based on psychometric properties and symptom range coverage. HF clinicians (n = 43) rated item importance and clinical actionability. Based on these results, we developed the PROMIS+HF-27 and PROMIS+HF-10 profiles with summary scores (0-100) for overall, physical, mental, and social health. In a cross-sectional sample (n = 600), we …