Medical Specialties Commons^™

Longitudinal Dynamics Of Circulating Tumor Cells And Circulating Tumor Dna For Treatment Monitoring In Metastatic Breast Cancer, Lorenzo Gerratana, Andrew A Davis, Qiang Zhang, Debora Basile, Giovanna Rossi, Kimberly Strickland, Alessandra Franzoni, Lorenzo Allegri, Zhaomei Mu, Youbin Zhang, Lisa E Flaum, Giuseppe Damante, William John Gradishar, Leonidas C Platanias, Amir Behdad, Hushan Yang, Fabio Puglisi, Massimo Cristofanilli

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Liquid biopsy-based biomarkers, including circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), are increasingly important for the characterization of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). The aim of the study was to explore CTCs and ctDNA dynamics to better understand their potentially complementary role in describing MBC.

METHODS: The study retrospectively analyzed 107 patients with MBC characterized with paired CTCs and ctDNA assessments and a second prospective cohort, which enrolled 48 patients with MBC. CTCs were immunomagnetically isolated and ctDNA was quantified and then characterized through next-generation sequencing in the retrospective cohort and droplet digital polymerase chain reaction in the prospective …

Tumor Metabolism And Associated Serum Metabolites Define Prognostic Subtypes Of Asian Hepatocellular Carcinoma., Yotsawat Pomyen, Anuradha Budhu, Jittiporn Chaisaingmongkol, Marshonna Forgues, Hien Dang, Mathuros Ruchirawat, Chulabhorn Mahidol, Xin Wei Wang

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

Treatment effectiveness in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) depends on early detection and precision-medicine-based patient stratification for targeted therapies. However, the lack of robust biomarkers, particularly a non-invasive diagnostic tool, precludes significant improvement of clinical outcomes for HCC patients. Serum metabolites are one of the best non-invasive means for determining patient prognosis, as they are stable end-products of biochemical processes in human body. In this study, we aimed to identify prognostic serum metabolites in HCC. To determine serum metabolites that were relevant and representative of the tissue status, we performed a two-step correlation analysis to first determine associations between metabolic genes and …

Capecitabine-Associated Loss Of Fingerprints: A Case Report Of A 62-Year-Old Man With Colorectal Cancer Suffering From Capecitabine-Induced Adermatoglyphia, Tasneem Dawood, Muhammad Nauman Zahir, Muhammad Afzal, Yasmin Abdul Rashid

Section of Haematology/Oncology

Background: Capecitabine is a prodrug of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and is converted to 5-FU in tumor tissue. Its primary mechanism of action is the suppression of DNA synthesis via inhibition of thymidylate synthetase. It is mostly used for neoadjuvant chemoradiation, adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer, metastatic breast, and localized and metastatic gastric cancer, among others. Adverse effects of capecitabine include diarrhea, hand-foot syndrome (HFS), pancytopenia, stomatitis, increased bilirubin, nausea, vomiting, and very rarely adermatoglyphia. Dermatoglyphics refers to fingerprints. Adermatoglyphia refers to the loss of fingerprints.
Case review summary: We report the case of a 62-year-old male patient known case of locally …

Rap1 In The Vmh Regulates Glucose Homeostasis, Kentaro Kaneko, Hsiao-Yun Lin, Yukiko Fu, Pradip K Saha, Ana B De La Puente-Gomez, Yong Xu, Kousaku Ohinata, Peter Chen, Alexei Morozov, Makoto Fukuda

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The hypothalamus is a critical regulator of glucose metabolism and is capable of correcting diabetes conditions independently of an effect on energy balance. The small GTPase Rap1 in the forebrain is implicated in high-fat diet-induced (HFD-induced) obesity and glucose imbalance. Here, we report that increasing Rap1 activity selectively in the medial hypothalamus elevated blood glucose without increasing the body weight of HFD-fed mice. In contrast, decreasing hypothalamic Rap1 activity protected mice from diet-induced hyperglycemia but did not prevent weight gain. The remarkable glycemic effect of Rap1 was reproduced when Rap1 was specifically deleted in steroidogenic factor-1-positive (SF-1-positive) neurons in the …

Opportunities To Improve Symptom Control With Somatostatin Congeners In Gep-Nets: A Review Of Key Issues, Lowell B. Anthony, Thomas M. O'Dorisio

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Octreotide acetate (octreotide) is the most prescribed and most studied somatostatin congener, or analog, for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) and carcinoid syndrome, the latter of which may be characterized by debilitating diarrhea and flushing. Approved in the U.S. more than 30 years ago, octreotide is widely used to control the symptoms of carcinoid syndrome and has been shown to demonstrate antiproliferative activity. The two formulations available in the U.S. include a subcutaneous immediate-release (IR) injection introduced in 1989 and a long-acting repeatable (LAR) intramuscular injection approved in 1999. Lanreotide depot (lanreotide), a more recent somatostatin congener, has been available in …

American Association For The Surgery Of Trauma Prevention Committee Review: Family Justice Centers-A Not-So-Novel, But Unknown Gem, Thomas K. Duncan, Ronald Stewart, Kimberly Joseph, Deborah A. Kuhls, Tracey Dechert, Sharven Taghavi, Stephanie Bonne, Kazuhide Matsushima

School of Medicine Faculty Research

The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma requires that trauma centers demonstrate adequate financial support for an injury prevention program as part of the verification process. With the ongoing challenges that arise with important social determinants of health, trauma centers have the important task of navigating a patient through the complex process of obtaining services and tools for success. This summary from the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Prevention Committee focuses on a model that has been present for several years, but has not been brought to full awareness in the trauma world. It highlights the importance …

Estimating The Tolerance Of Brachial Plexus To Hypofractionated Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy: A Modelling-Based Approach From Clinical Experience., Irina Kapitanova, Sharmi Biswas, Sabrina Divekar, Eric J. Kemmerer, Robert A. Rostock, Kenneth M Forster, Rachel J. Grimm, Carla J Scofield, Jimm Grimm, Bahman Emami, Anand Mahadevan

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Brachial plexopathy is a potentially serious complication from stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) that has not been widely studied. Therefore, we compared datasets from two different institutions and generated a brachial plexus dose-response model, to quantify what dose constraints would be needed to minimize the effect on normal tissue while still enabling potent therapy for the tumor.

METHODS: Two published SBRT datasets were pooled and modeled from patients at Indiana University and the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center from 1998 to 2007, as well as the Karolinska Institute from 2008 to 2013. All patients in both studies …

Rv Lead Placement - A Forgotten Cause Of Right Heart Failure., Muhammad Arslan Cheema, Talal Almas, Waqas Ullah, Donald C. Haas

Abington Jefferson Health Papers

Introduction: Cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) have opened new doors, improving the quality, and increasing the duration of life by providing support of heart rate, atrioventricular and interventricular synchrony, thereby preventing sudden cardiac death. Nevertheless, these devices can pose some risks to the patients, including pacemaker-mediated cardiomyopathy and endocarditis.

Case presentation: We elucidate the case of a patient who had severe Tricuspid Regurgitation as a result of single chamber Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) placement which led to right heart failure (RHF). His chief complaints were generalized fatigability and difficulty climbing steps at home. He also had orthopnea but denies paroxysmal …

Patients' And Providers' Needs And Preferences When Considering Fertility Preservation Before Cancer Treatment: Decision-Making Needs Assessment, Aubri Hoffman, Laura Crocker, Aakrati Mathur, Deborah Holman, June Weston, Sukhkamal Campbell, Ashley Housten, Andrea Bradford, Shilpi Agrawala, Terri L Woodard

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: As cancer treatments continue to improve, it is increasingly important that women of reproductive age have an opportunity to decide whether they want to undergo fertility preservation treatments to try to protect their ability to have a child after cancer. Clinical practice guidelines recommend that providers offer fertility counseling to all young women with cancer; however, as few as 12% of women recall discussing fertility preservation. The long-term goal of this program is to develop an interactive web-based patient decision aid to improve awareness, access, knowledge, and decision making for all young women with cancer. The International Patient Decision …

Essential Package Of Palliative Care For Women With Cervical Cancer: Responding To The Suffering Of A Highly Vulnerable Population, Eric L. Krakauer, Khadidjatou Kane, Xiaoxiao Kwete, Gauhar Afshan, Lisa Bazzett-Matabele, Danta Dona Ruthnie Bien-Aimé, Lawrence F. Borges, Sarah Byrne-Martelli, Stephen Connor, Raimundo Correa

Department of Anaesthesia

Women with cervical cancer, especially those with advanced disease, appear to experience suffering that is more prevalent, complex, and severe than that caused by other cancers and serious illnesses, and approximately 85% live in low- and middle-income countries where palliative care is rarely accessible. To respond to the highly prevalent and extreme suffering in this vulnerable population, we convened a group of experienced experts in all aspects of care for women with cervical cancer, and from countries of all income levels, to create an essential package of palliative care for cervical cancer (EPPCCC). The EPPCCC consists of a set of …

Flash Radiotherapy: Skin Pigmentation As A Non-Invasive Indicator For Radiation-Induced Damage, Brady Mccallister

ENGS 88 Honors Thesis (AB Students)

FLASH ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy (RT) is one of the most rapidly growing subfields of radiation oncology today due to its potential to increase the limits of the therapeutic ratio. The FLASH effect, which includes heightened normal tissue sparing paired with iso-effective tumor cell killing, has been literature documented, in a limited manner, in rodent models, a few large animals, and one clinical patients.

A porcine-based experiment was conducted to test the effects of FLASH RT on normal tissue compared to conventional (CONV) RT. A clinical linear accelerator (LINAC) was reversibly converted to be capable of FLASH RT. A female …

A Novel Approach To Explore Safety-I And Safety-Ii Perspectives In In Situ Simulations-The Structured What If Functional Resonance Analysis Methodology., Ralph James Mackinnon, Karin Pukk-Härenstam, Christopher S. Kennedy, Erik Hollnagel, David Slater

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVES: With ever increasingly complex healthcare settings, technology enhanced simulation (TES) is well positioned to explore all perspectives to enhance patient safety and patient outcomes. Analysis from a Safety-II stance requires identification of human adjustments in daily work that are key to maintaining safety. The aim of this paper is to describe an approach to explore the consequences of human variability from a Safety-II perspective and describe the added value of this to TES.

METHODS: The reader is guided through a novel application of functional resonance analysis methodology (FRAM), a method to analyse how a system or activity is affected …

The Ways In Which Women’S Suffrage Affected Healthcare, Madison M. Weber

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

The 19th Amendment had and continues to have a major impact on women’s healthcare in the United States. Prior to suffrage, women had little to no ability to voice their thoughts on and change policies that regarded their own health. This essay addresses the way in which the vote both directly and indirectly impacted healthcare; including workplace conditions, maternal and reproductive rights, racial disparities, political advocacy and healthcare, the different waves of feminism, and how this has all affected modern healthcare for women. From progressive articles being published in women's magazines, to the establishment of marital rape, to the availability …

Treating Early-Stage Dlbcl On The Flyer: What Lesson For Radiation Therapy?, Kelsey Sokol, Amanda Mcbride, Adam Binder, Pierluigi Porcu

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Flecainide-Induced Atrial Flutter With 1:1 Conduction Complicated By Ventricular Fibrillation After Electrical Cardioversion, Timothy Colangelo, Drew Johnson, Reginald Ho

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Flecainide, a widely prescribed class IC agent used to treat atrial arrhythmias, can in rare cases cause 1:1 atrial flutter with rapid conduction. We describe the case of a 59-year-old man who was on a maintenance regimen of flecainide for refractory atrial fibrillation. When 1:1 atrial flutter with rapid conduction developed, emergency medical technicians attempted synchronized cardioversion, which caused ventricular fibrillation necessitating defibrillation. The patient ultimately underwent radiofrequency ablation and cryoablation to resolve his symptomatic atrial flutter. We discuss the atrial proarrhythmic effects of flecainide and how to mitigate complications in high-risk patients.

Association Between Morning Surge In Systolic Blood Pressure And Syntax Score I In Patients With Stable Coronary Artery Disease, Alaa Quisi, Gokhan Alici, Hazar Harbalioglu, Omer Genc, Ibrahim Halil Kurt, Murat Cayli

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

A high morning surge in systolic blood pressure poses a risk in people who have cardiovascular disease. We investigated the relationship between this phenomenon and the SYNTAX score I in patients who had stable coronary artery disease.

Our single-center study included 125 consecutive patients (109 men and 16 women; mean age, 54.3 ± 9 yr) in whom coronary angiography revealed stable coronary artery disease. We calculated each patient's sleep-trough morning surge in systolic blood pressure, then calculated the SYNTAX score I.

The morning surge was significantly higher in patients whose score was >22 (mean, 22.7 ± 13.2) than in those …

Pembrolizumab Plus Concurrent Chemoradiation Therapy In Patients With Unresectable, Locally Advanced, Stage Iii Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: The Phase 2 Keynote-799 Nonrandomized Trial., Salma K Jabbour, Ki Hyeong Lee, Nikolaj Frost, Valeriy Breder, Dariusz M Kowalski, Theodore Pollock, Evgeny Levchenko, Noemi Reguart, Alex Martinez-Marti, Baerin Houghton, Jean-Baptiste Paoli, Sufia Safina, Keunchil Park, Takefumi Komiya Md, Amy Sanford, Vishal Boolell, Hong Liu, Ayman Samkari, Steven M Keller, Martin Reck

PCI Publications and Projects

IMPORTANCE: Administration of pembrolizumab plus concurrent chemoradiation therapy (cCRT) may provide treatment benefit to patients with locally advanced, stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate treatment outcomes and safety of pembrolizumab plus cCRT in stage III NSCLC.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The phase 2, nonrandomized, 2-cohort, open-label KEYNOTE-799 study enrolled patients between November 5, 2018, and July 31, 2020, from 52 academic facilities and community-based institutions across 10 countries. As of October 28, 2020, median (range) follow-up was 18.5 (13.6-23.8) months in cohort A and 13.7 (2.9-23.5) months in cohort B. Of 301 patients screened, 216 eligible …

Pembrolizumab Plus Concurrent Chemoradiation Therapy In Patients With Unresectable, Locally Advanced, Stage Iii Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: The Phase 2 Keynote-799 Nonrandomized Trial, Salma K. Jabbour, Ki Hyeong Lee, Nikolaj Frost, Valeriy Breder, Dariusz M. Kowalski, Theodore Pollock, Evgeny Levchenko, Noemi Reguart, Alex Martinez-Marti, Baerin Houghton, Jean-Baptiste Paoli, Sufia Safina, Keunchil Park, Takefumi Komiya Md, Amy Sanford, Vishal Boolell, Hong Liu, Ayman Samkari, Steven M. Keller, Martin Reck

PCI Publications and Projects

Importance: Administration of pembrolizumab plus concurrent chemoradiation therapy (cCRT) may provide treatment benefit to patients with locally advanced, stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Objective: To evaluate treatment outcomes and safety of pembrolizumab plus cCRT in stage III NSCLC.

Design, setting, and participants: The phase 2, nonrandomized, 2-cohort, open-label KEYNOTE-799 study enrolled patients between November 5, 2018, and July 31, 2020, from 52 academic facilities and community-based institutions across 10 countries. As of October 28, 2020, median (range) follow-up was 18.5 (13.6-23.8) months in cohort A and 13.7 (2.9-23.5) months in cohort B. Of 301 patients screened, 216 eligible …

Evidence-Based Approach To Early Outpatient Treatment Of Sars-Cov-2 (Covid-19) Infection, J Drew Payne, Kimberly Sims, Cynthia Peacock, Tanis Welch, Ruth E Berggren

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Misinformation and promotion of well-intended but disproved therapies for COVID-19 have plagued evidence-based shared decision-making throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In times of crisis, clinicians may feel that their strong inclination to prescribe potentially harmful, unproven therapies on behalf of their patients is supported by beneficence. Clinicians should mindfully identify and avoid commission bias during this pandemic, especially as more data have accumulated to assist with clinically sound decision-making. We describe a more evidence-based approach to treatment of early outpatient COVID-19, stressing the availability of Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization therapies and considering plausibly beneficial, nonprescription supplements that are …

Targeted Treatment Of Head And Neck (Pre)Cancer: Preclinical Target Identification And Development Of Novel Therapeutic Applications, Anne Van Harten, Ruud H. Brakenhoff

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) develop in the mucosal lining ofthe upper-aerodigestive tract. In carcinogen-induced HNSCC, tumors emerge from premalignantmucosal changes characterized by tumor-associated genetic alterations, also coined as ‘fields’ that areoccasionally visible as leukoplakia or erythroplakia lesions but are mostly invisible. Consequently,HNSCC is generally diagnosedde novoat more advanced stages in about 70% of new diagnosis.Despite intense multimodality treatment protocols, the overall 5-years survival rate is 50–60% forpatients with advanced stage of disease and seems to have reached a plateau. Of notable concern isthe lack of further improvement in prognosis despite advances in treatment. This can be attributedto …

Evaluation Of Somatic Mutations In Solid Metastatic Pan-Cancer Patients, Moom Roosan, Isa Mambetsariev, Rebecca Pharaon, Jeremy Fricke, Angel R. Baroz, Joseph Chao, Chen Chen, Mohd W. Nasser, Ramakanth Chirravuri-Venkata, Maneesh Jain, Lynette Smith, Susan E. Yost, Karen L. Reckamp, Raju Pillai, Leonidas Arvanitis, Michelle Afkhami, Edward W. Wang, Vincent Chung, Mihaela Cristea, Marwan Fakih, Marianna Koczywas, Erminia Massarelli, Joanne Mortimer, Yuan Yuan, Surinder K. Batra, Sumanta Pal, Ravi Salgia

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Metastasis continues to be the primary cause of all cancer-related deaths despite the recent advancements in cancer treatments. To evaluate the role of mutations in overall survival (OS) and treatment outcomes, we analyzed 957 metastatic patients with seven major cancer types who had available molecular testing results with a FoundationOne CDx^® panel. The most prevalent genes with somatic mutations were TP53, KRAS, APC, and LRP1B. In this analysis, these genes had mutation frequencies higher than in publicly available datasets. We identified that the somatic mutations were seven mutually exclusive gene pairs and an additional fifty-two co-occurring gene pairs. Mutations …

Draft Genome Sequences Of 13 Vibrio Cholerae Strains From The Rio Grande Delta, Jeffrey W. Turner, Jorge Duran-Gonzalez, David A. Laughlin, Daniel Unterweger, David Silva, Boris Ermolinsky, Stefan Pukatzki, Daniele Provenzano

Publications and Research

Vibrio cholerae is the etiologic agent of cholera, an acute and often fatal diarrheal disease that affects millions globally. We report the draft genome sequences of 13 non-O1/O139 V. cholerae strains isolated from the Rio Grande Delta in Texas. These genomes will aid future analyses of environmental serovars.

Serious Mental Illness In Nursing Homes: Quality Concerns, Dylan J. Jester

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective: This dissertation is made of two academic papers followed by a chapter discussing policy implications of the findings. The objective of this dissertation is to better understand if high-serious mental illness (SMI) nursing homes (NHs) provide poorer quality of care (e.g., operationalized as staffing levels, NH Compare quality star ratings, and health deficiencies) and whether quality in high-SMI NHs is confounded by payer mix (e.g., the proportion of residents who are Medicaid-reimbursed). A modified Donabedian Structure, Process, Outcome (SPO) Model was used as the main theoretical framework.

Methods: Data came from the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) …

Comparative Analysis Of 1152 African-American And European-American Men With Prostate Cancer Identifies Distinct Genomic And Immunological Differences., Walter Rayford, Alp Tuna Beksac, Jordan Alger, Mohammed Alshalalfa, Mohsen Ahmed, Irtaza Khan, Ugo G. Falagario, Yang Liu, Elai Davicioni, Daniel E. Spratt, Edward M. Schaeffer, Felix Y. Feng, Brandon Mahal, Paul L Nguyen, Robert B. Den, Mark D. Greenberger, Randy Bradley, Justin M. Watson, Matthew Beamer, Lambros Stamatakis, Darrell J. Carmen, Shivanshu Awasthi, Jonathan Hwang, Rachel Weil, Harri Merisaari, Nihal Mohamed, Leslie A. Deane, Dimple Chakravarty, Kamlesh K. Yadav, Kosj Yamoah, Sujit S. Nair, Ashutosh K. Tewari

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Racial disparities in prostate cancer have not been well characterized on a genomic level. Here we show the results of a multi-institutional retrospective analysis of 1,152 patients (596 African-American men (AAM) and 556 European-American men (EAM)) who underwent radical prostatectomy. Comparative analyses between the race groups were conducted at the clinical, genomic, pathway, molecular subtype, and prognostic levels. The EAM group had increased ERG (P < 0.001) and ETS (P = 0.02) expression, decreased SPINK1 expression (P < 0.001), and basal-like (P < 0.001) molecular subtypes. After adjusting for confounders, the AAM group was associated with higher expression of CRYBB2, GSTM3, and inflammation genes (IL33, IFNG, CCL4, CD3, ICOSLG), and lower expression of mismatch repair genes (MSH2, MSH6) (p < 0.001 for all). At the pathway level, the AAM group had higher expression of genes sets related to the immune response, apoptosis, hypoxia, and reactive oxygen species. EAM group was associated with higher levels of fatty acid metabolism, DNA repair, and WNT/beta-catenin signaling. Based on cell lines data, AAM were predicted to have higher potential response to DNA damage. In conclusion, biological characteristics of prostate tumor were substantially different in AAM when compared to EAM.

The Embodiment Of Discovery: An Adapted Framework For Qualitative Analysis Of Lived Experiences, Helen B. Hernandez, Laurie P. Dringus

The Qualitative Report

We reflect on our process of working with an adapted framework as an effective strategy for analyzing and interpreting the results of our qualitative study on the lived experiences of insulin pump trainers. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was applied as the overarching research methodology and was encapsulated into a framework adapted from Bonello and Meehan (2019) and from Chong (2019). We describe this framework as the “embodiment of discovery” to posit the researcher’s tangible experience of discovering the meaning of data that also brought transparency to the researcher’s process for data analysis and interpretation. We present challenges the doctoral student …

Assessing Health-Related Quality Of Life, Morbidity, And Survival Status For Individuals With Down Syndrome In Pakistan (Ds-Pak): Protocol For A Web-Based Collaborative Registry, Ayat Siddiqui, Laila Akber Cassum, Abdul Momin Kazi, Sidra Kaleem Jafri, Fizza Akbar, Salman Kirmani

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal disorder, with a global incidence of 1 in 700 live births. However, the true prevalence, associated morbidities, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of these individuals and their families are not well documented, especially in low- and middle-income countries such as Pakistan. Disease-specific documentation in the form of a collaborative registry is required to better understand this condition and the associated health outcomes. This protocol paper describes the aims and processes for developing the first comprehensive, web-based collaborative registry for Down syndrome in a Pakistani cohort.
Objective: This study aims to assess …

Detection Methods And Clinical Applications Of Circulating Tumor Cells In Breast Cancer, Hongyi Zhang, Xiaoyan Lin, Yuan Huang, Minghong Wang, Chunmei Cen, Shasha Tang, Marcia R. Dique, Lu Cai, Manuel A. Luis, Jillian Smollar, Yuan Wan, Fengfeng Cai

Publications and Research

Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that split away from the primary tumor and appear in the circulatory system as singular units or clusters, which was first reported by Dr. Thomas Ashworth in 1869. CTCs migrate and implantation occurs at a new site, in a process commonly known as tumor metastasis. In the case of breast cancer, the tumor cells often migrate into locations such as the lungs, brain, and bones, even during the early stages, and this is a notable characteristic of breast cancer. Survival rates have increased significantly over the past few decades because of progress made …

Gene Expression Analysis Of Environmental Temperature And High-Fat Diet-Induced Changes In Mouse Supraclavicular Brown Adipose Tissue, Yufeng Shi, Honglei Zhai, Sharon John, Yi-Ting Shen, Yali Ran, Giang Hoang, Miao-Hsueh Chen

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Obesity, a dysregulation of adipose tissue, is a major health risk factor associated with many diseases. Brown adipose tissue (BAT)-mediated thermogenesis can potentially regulate energy expenditure, making it an attractive therapeutic target to combat obesity. Here, we characterize the effects of cold exposure, thermoneutrality, and high-fat diet (HFD) feeding on mouse supraclavicular BAT (scBAT) morphology and BAT-associated gene expression compared to other adipose depots, including the interscapular BAT (iBAT). scBAT was as sensitive to cold induced thermogenesis as iBAT and showed reduced thermogenic effect under thermoneutrality. While both scBAT and iBAT are sensitive to cold, the expression of genes involved …

Integration Of Circulating Tumor Cell And Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio To Identify High-Risk Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients., Weelic Chong, Zhenchao Zhang, Rui Luo, Jian Gu, Jianqing Lin, Qiang Wei, Bingshan Li, Ronald E. Myers, Phd, Dsw, Grace Lu-Yao, William Kevin Kelly, Chun Wang, Hushan Yang

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been associated with survival in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). However, no study has examined the prognostic value of NLR and PLR in the context of CTCs.

METHODS: Baseline CTCs from mCRPC patients were enumerated using the CellSearch System. Baseline NLR and PLR values were calculated using the data from routine complete blood counts. The associations of CTC, NLR, and PLR values, individually and jointly, with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis, as well as univariate and multivariate Cox models.

RESULTS: …

Transient Leukopenia, Thrombocytopenia, And Severe Neutropenia Associated With Acute Sars-Cov-2 Infection, Austin Schatzman, Julia Vandenheuvel Md, Tibisay Villalobos Md, Kris Rooney Md

Department of Pediatrics

No abstract provided.