Medical Specialties Commons^™

Distress Tolerance: Prospective Associations With Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Outcomes In Adults With Posttraumatic Stress And Substance Use Disorders, Anka A Vujanovic, Heather E Webber, Shelby J Mcgrew, Charles E Green, Scott D Lane, Joy M Schmitz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Distress tolerance (DT; perceived or actual ability to tolerate aversive physical or emotional states) is related to both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and substance use disorders (SUD). This investigation evaluates self-report and behavioral measures of DT as potential predictors of PTSD and SUD cognitive-behavioral therapy outcomes. Participants included 41 treatment-seeking adults (53.7% women; 73.2% African American; Mage= 44.90, SD = 9.68) who met at least four symptoms of DSM-5 PTSD and DSM-IV substance dependence, assessed via structured interviews. At baseline (pre-treatment), participants completed the Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), Mirror-Tracing Persistence Task (MTPT), Breath Holding task, and Paced Auditory …

Algorithmic Approach To The Diagnosis Of Organizing Pneumonia: A Correlation Of Clinical, Radiologic, And Pathologic Features, Sujith V Cherian, Dhara Patel, Stephen Machnicki, David Naidich, Diane Stover, William D Travis, Kevin K Brown, Jason J Naidich, Akhilesh Mahajan, Michael Esposito, Bushra Mina, Viera Lakticova, Stuart L Cohen, Nestor L Muller, Jenna Schulner, Rakesh Shah, Suhail Raoof

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Organizing pneumonia (OP), characterized histopathologically by patchy filling of alveoli and bronchioles by loose plugs of connective tissue, may be seen in a variety of conditions. These include but are not limited to after an infection, drug reactions, radiation therapy, and collagen vascular diseases. When a specific cause is responsible for this entity, it is referred to as "secondary OP." When an extensive search fails to reveal a cause, it is referred to as "cryptogenic OP" (previously called "bronchiolitis obliterans with OP"), which is a clinical, radiologic, and pathologic entity classified as an interstitial lung disease. The clinical presentation of …

The Relationship Between The Field-Shifting Phenomenon And Representational Coherence Of Place Cells In Ca1 And Ca3 In A Cue-Altered Environment, Jeremy Miciak, Yusra Ahmed, Phil Capin, David J Francis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Few studies have systematically investigated the reading skill profiles of English Learners (ELs) in late elementary school, a critical developmental period for language and literacy and the most common grades for initial identification with specific learning disabilities (O’Connor et al., 2013). We investigated the reading skill profiles of 331 ELs in 3rd and 4th grades, including ELs with and without risk for dyslexia due to significant deficits in word and pseudo-word reading accuracy and fluency. We utilized latent profile analysis and factor mixture modeling to investigate: (1) the nature and distribution of reading skill profiles; (2) whether these …

Rationale And Design Of The Phase 3 Keylynk-013 Study Of Pembrolizumab With Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy Followed By Pembrolizumab With Or Without Olaparib For Limited-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer, Andreas Rimner, Wei-Chu Victoria Lai, Raffaele Califano, Salma K Jabbour, Charles M Rudin, Corinne Faivre-Finn, Byoung Chul Cho, Terufumi Kato, Jinming Yu, Wyatt Chafin, Li Yu, Bin Zhao, Lauren Byers

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The current standard of care for patients with newly diagnosed limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). The prognosis remains poor due to the aggressiveness and high risk of progression or relapse of SCLC even if an initial response is achieved. Therefore, there is an urgent unmet clinical need in this population. The multicenter, phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind KEYLYNK-013 study evaluates the addition of pembrolizumab to CCRT followed by pembrolizumab with or without olaparib in participants with previously untreated limited-stage SCLC. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04624204).

Methods: Eligible participants aged ≥18 years with newly diagnosed, pathologically confirmed, limited-stage …

Shared Nearest Neighbors Approach And Interactive Browser For Network Analysis Of A Comprehensive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Data Set, Stephanie T Schmidt, Neal Akhave, Ryan E Knightly, Alexandre Reuben, Natalie Vokes, Jianhua Zhang, Jun Li, Junya Fujimoto, Lauren A Byers, Beatriz Sanchez-Espiridion, Lixia Diao, Jing Wang, Lorenzo Federico, Marie-Andree Forget, Daniel J Mcgrail, Annikka Weissferdt, Shiaw-Yih Lin, Younghee Lee, Erika Suzuki, Jeffrey J Kovacs, Carmen Behrens, Ignacio I Wistuba, Andrew Futreal, Ara Vaporciyan, Boris Sepesi, John V Heymach, Chantale Bernatchez, Cara Haymaker, Tina Cascone, Jianjun Zhang, Christopher A Bristow, Timothy P Heffernan, Marcelo V Negrao, Don L Gibbons, Icon Team

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Advances in biological measurement technologies are enabling large-scale studies of patient cohorts across multiple omics platforms. Holistic analysis of these data can generate actionable insights for translational research and necessitate new approaches for data integration and mining.

Methods: We present a novel approach for integrating data across platforms on the basis of the shared nearest neighbors algorithm and use it to create a network of multiplatform data from the immunogenomic profiling of non-small-cell lung cancer project.

Results: Benchmarking demonstrates that the shared nearest neighbors-based network approach outperforms a traditional gene-gene network in capturing established interactions while providing new ones …

Alyref, A Novel Factor Involved In Breast Carcinogenesis, Acts Through Transcriptional And Post-Transcriptional Mechanisms Selectively Regulating The Short Neat1 Isoform, Christiane Klec, Erik Knutsen, Daniela Schwarzenbacher, Katharina Jonas, Barbara Pasculli, Ellen Heitzer, Beate Rinner, Katarina Krajina, Felix Prinz, Benjamin Gottschalk, Peter Ulz, Alexander Deutsch, Andreas Prokesch, Stephan W Jahn, S Mohammad Lellahi, Maria Perander, Raffaela Barbano, Wolfgang F Graier, Paola Parrella, George Adrian Calin, Martin Pichler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The RNA-binding protein ALYREF (THOC4) is involved in transcriptional regulation and nuclear mRNA export, though its role and molecular mode of action in breast carcinogenesis are completely unknown. Here, we identified high ALYREF expression as a factor for poor survival in breast cancer patients. ALYREF significantly influenced cellular growth, apoptosis and mitochondrial energy metabolism in breast cancer cells as well as breast tumorigenesis in orthotopic mouse models. Transcriptional profiling, phenocopy and rescue experiments identified the short isoform of the lncRNA NEAT1 as a molecular trigger for ALYREF effects in breast cancer. Mechanistically, we found that ALYREF binds to the NEAT1 …

Targeting Syndecan-1: New Opportunities In Cancer Therapy, Zecheng Yang, Shuaitong Chen, Haoqiang Ying, Wantong Yao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Syndecan-1 (SDC1, CD138) is one of the heparan sulfate proteoglycans and is essential for maintaining normal cell morphology, interacting with the extracellular and intracellular protein repertoire, as well as mediating signaling transduction upon environmental stimuli. The critical role of SDC1 in promoting tumorigenesis and metastasis has been increasingly recognized in various cancer types, implying a promising potential of utilizing SDC1 as a novel target for cancer therapy. This review summarizes the current knowledge on SDC1 structure and functions, including its role in tumor biology. We also discuss the highlights and limitations of current SDC1-targeted therapies as well as the obstacles …

Medical Training In Home Care Medicine: The Time Is Now, Rachel K Miller, Melissa D Morgan-Gouveia, Linda V Decherrie

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Different Metrics Of Cerebral Autoregulation In Association With Major Morbidity And Mortality After Cardiac Surgery, Xiuyun Liu, Joseph Donnelly, Ken M Brady, Kei Akiyoshi, Brian Bush, Raymond C Koehler, Jennifer K Lee, Charles W Hogue, Marek Czosnyka, Peter Smielewski, Charles H Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Cardiac surgery studies have established the clinical relevance of personalised arterial blood pressure management based on cerebral autoregulation. However, variabilities exist in autoregulation evaluation. We compared the association of several cerebral autoregulation metrics, calculated using different methods, with outcomes after cardiac surgery.

METHODS: Autoregulation was measured during cardiac surgery in 240 patients. Mean flow index and cerebral oximetry index were calculated as Pearson's correlations between mean arterial pressure (MAP) and transcranial Doppler blood flow velocity or near-infrared spectroscopy signals. The lower limit of autoregulation and optimal mean arterial pressure were identified using mean flow index and cerebral oximetry index. …

Telerounding: A Scoping Review And Implications For Future Healthcare Practice, Natasha N Ludwig, Amanda E Child, Dasal Tenzin Jashar, Allison J Mostow, Ericka L Wodka

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) provides access to interventions that are important for fostering development and improving quality of life. Thus, the timeliness of a diagnosis should not be limited by social-distancing limitations whenever possible. Despite this, clear guidance for transitioning autism diagnostic services to a telehealth model of care in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic is lacking. At our Institute, we have adapted our approach to ASD evaluation to promote continued access to evaluation services during this unprecedented time. The purpose of this case series is to provide examples of three different approaches to ASD differential …

Elimination Of Pseudo-Hfos In Ieeg Using Sparse Representation And Random Forest Classifier, Behrang Fazli Besheli, Zhiyi Sha, Thomas Henry, Jay R Gavvala, Candan Gurses, Sacit Karamursel, Nuri F Ince

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

High-Frequency Oscillation (HFO) is a promising biomarker of the epileptogenic zone. However, sharp artifacts might easily pass the conventional HFO detectors as real HFOs and reduce the seizure onset zone (SOZ) localization. We hypothesize that, unlike pseudo-HFOs, which originates from artifacts with sharp changes or arbitrary waveform characteristic, real HFOs could be represented by a limited number of oscillatory waveforms. Accordingly, to distinguish true ones from pseudo-HFOs, we established a new classification method based on sparse representation of candidate events that passed an initial detector with high sensitivity but low specificity. Specifically, using the Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) and a …

Impact Of Risk-Based Sexually Transmitted Infection Screening In The Emergency Department, Fahd A Ahmad, Kayleigh Fischer, Hongjie Gu, Thomas C Bailey, Donna B Jeffe, Christopher R Carpenter, Philip R O Payne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including chlamydia, gonorrhea, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pose a significant health burden in adolescents. Many adolescents receiving care in the emergency department (ED) are in need of testing, regardless of their chief complaint. Our objective was to determine whether an electronic, risk-based STI screening program in our ED was associated with an increase in STI testing among at-risk adolescents.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of patient outcomes in our pediatric ED after integrating an Audio-enhanced Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) as standard of care. It obtained a focused sexual history and generated STI testing …

Estimated Size Of The Clinical Medical Imaging Physics Workforce In The United States, Sean D Rose, David W Jordan, Nicholas B Bevins, Jaydev K Dave, David E Hintenlang, Brad K Lofton, Pankaj Patel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

There is no current authoritative accounting of the number of clinical imaging physicists practicing in the United States. Information about the workforce is needed to inform future efforts to secure training pathways and opportunities. In this study, the AAPM Diagnostic Demand and Supply Projection Working Group collected lists of medical physicists from several state registration and licensure programs and the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) registry. By cross-referencing individuals among these lists, we were able to estimate the current imaging physics workforce in the United States by extrapolating based on population. The imaging physics workforce in the United …

Biological Treatment Usage In Patients With Hiv And Rheumatic Disease, 2003-2021: Long-Term Safety And Follow-Up, Benjamin Sornrung Naovarat, Gloria Salazar, Mariko Ishimori, Francis M Williams, John D Reveille

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the safety and efficacy of biological agents, especially tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, for HIV-positive rheumatology patients refractory to standard therapy.

METHODS: This study is a retrospective case series including patients derived from a community HIV clinic as well as from two academic centres. Initial visit data collected included: sociodemographic characteristics, CD4 counts, HIV viral load and medication use. Patients with persistent disease activity despite standard conservative therapy were begun on biological agents.The main outcomes were patient and physician global assessment of treatment response and medication side effects in patients with rheumatological disorders treated with biological …

Urgent Cytoreduction For Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients Allows Acquisition Of Pretreatment Genomic Data And Enrollment On Investigational Clinical Trials, Kunhwa Kim, Marina Konopleva, Courtney D Dinardo, Gautam Borthakur, Sanam Loghavi, Guilin Tang, Naval Daver, Naveen Pemmaraju, Elias Jabbour, Caitlin R Rausch, Musa Yilmaz, Koji Sasaki, Nicholas J Short, Nitin Jain, Mark Brandt, Sherry Pierce, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Farhad Ravandi, Hagop Kantarjian, Tapan M Kadia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia is often deemed a medical emergency, requiring urgent treatment. This is in contradiction with the need for accurate cytogenetic and molecular data, which is not immediately available, to select optimal therapy. We hypothesized that cytoreduction with hydroxyurea or cytarabine would enable urgent disease control and provide a bridge to clinical trial enrollment. We analyzed three prospective frontline clinical trials that allowed the use of cytoreduction before treatment initiation. Among 274 patients with a median age of 62 (range, 18-89), there was no significant difference in short- and long-term outcome and safety among patients who did …

Prediction Of Survival With Intensive Chemotherapy In Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Koji Sasaki, Farhad Ravandi, Tapan Kadia, Courtney Dinardo, Gautam Borthakur, Nicholas Short, Nitin Jain, Naval Daver, Elias Jabbour, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Joseph Khoury, Sergej Konoplev, Sanam Loghavi, Keyur Patel, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Lucia Masarova, Marina Konopleva, Hagop Kantarjian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Progress with intensive chemotherapy and supportive care measures has improved survival in newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Predicting outcome helps in treatment decision making. We analyzed survival as the treatment endpoint in 3728 patients with newly diagnosed AML treated with intensive chemotherapy from 1980 to 2021. We divided the total study group (3:1 basis) into a training (n = 2790) and a validation group (n = 938). The associations between survival and 27 characteristics were investigated. In the training cohort, the multivariate analysis identified 12 consistent adverse prognostic variables independently associated with worse survival: older age, therapy-related myeloid neoplasm, …

Treatment-Free Remission In Patients With Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Following The Discontinuation Of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors, Fadi G Haddad, Koji Sasaki, Ghayas C Issa, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Farhad Ravandi, Tapan Kadia, Jorge Cortes, Marina Konopleva, Naveen Pemmaraju, Yesid Alvarado, Musa Yilmaz, Gautam Borthakur, Courtney Dinardo, Nitin Jain, Naval Daver, Nicholas J Short, Elias Jabbour, Hagop Kantarjian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) discontinuation in patients with Philadelphia-chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph-positive CML) is increasingly considered. We aim to evaluate the outcome of patients with CML who discontinued TKIs, and determine the factors associated with differences in the success rates of treatment-free remission (TFR). Patients with Ph-positive CML treated between October 1999 and February 2017 who discontinued therapy were analyzed. A major molecular response (MMR) was defined as BCR-ABL1/ABL1 ratio on the International Scale ≤0.1%. TFR failure was defined as the loss of MMR on any single test. We analyzed TFR rates according to duration and depth of response, …

Stalled Replication Fork Protection Limits Cgas-Sting And P-Body-Dependent Innate Immune Signalling, Ahmed Emam, Xiao Wu, Shengfeng Xu, Longqiang Wang, Shichang Liu, Bin Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Protection of stalled replication forks is crucial for cells to respond to replication stress and maintain genome stability. Genome instability and replication stress have been linked to immune activation. Here we show that Abro1 and FANCD2 protect replication forks, which is linked with the restriction of innate immune responses. We reveal that stalled replication fork degradation induced by Abro1 or FANCD2 deficiency leads to accumulation of cytosolic single-stranded DNA and activation of a cGAS-STING-dependent innate immune response that is dependent on DNA2 nuclease. We further show that the increased cytosolic single-stranded DNA contains ribosomal DNA that can bind to cGAS. …

Redirecting Host Preexisting Influenza A Virus Immunity For Cancer Immunotherapy, Bharat K R Chaganty, Songbo Qiu, Yang Lu, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, Bulent Ozpolat, Zhen Fan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We tested the concept that host preexisting influenza A virus immunity can be redirected to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis through systemic administration of influenza A virus-related peptides to targeted tumors. Mice infected with influenza A virus strain A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (PR8) were used as a model of a host with preexisting viral immunity. The extent to which preexisting influenza A immunity in PR8-immunized mice can be redirected to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis was first examined by ectopic expression of influenza A nucleoprotein (NP) and hemagglutinin (HA) in syngeneic mammary tumor cells via lentiviral transduction. Then, the feasibility of implementing …

Haploidentical Versus Matched Unrelated Versus Matched Sibling Donor Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation With Post-Transplantation Cyclophosphamide, Rohtesh S Mehta, Rima M Saliba, Sassine Ghanem, Amin M Alousi, Gabriela Rondon, Paolo Anderlini, Gheath Al-Atrash, Qaiser Bashir, Chitra M Hosing, Jin S Im, Partow Kebriaei, Issa Khouri, David Marin, Yago Nieto, Amanda Olson, Betul Oran, Uday R Popat, Muzaffar H Qazilbash, Jeremy Ramdial, Neeraj Saini, Samer A Srour, Richard E Champlin, Katayoun Rezvani, Elizabeth J Shpall

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

With the use of post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy), the outcomes of mismatched related donor hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) are now approaching those of matched donor HCT. Here we compared haploidentical donor HCT versus HLA-matched unrelated donor (MUD) HCT and HLA-identical sibling donor (MSD) HCT in a cohort in which all patients received PTCy for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. We included 661 patients (275 haploidentical, 246 MUD, and 140 MSD HCT). The most common diagnoses were acute myelogenous leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. In multivariate analysis, the haploidentical group was found to have significantly higher nonrelapse mortality (NRM) (hazard ratio [HR], 3.2; 95% …

Molecular Characterization And Prospective Evaluation Of Pathologic Response And Outcomes With Neoadjuvant Therapy In Metaplastic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Clinton Yam, Nour Abuhadra, Ryan Sun, Beatriz E Adrada, Qing-Qing Ding, Jason B White, Elizabeth E Ravenberg, Alyson R Clayborn, Vicente Valero, Debu Tripathy, Senthilkumar Damodaran, Banu K Arun, Jennifer K Litton, Naoto T Ueno, Rashmi K Murthy, Bora Lim, Luis Baez, Xiaoxian Li, Aman U Buzdar, Gabriel N Hortobagyi, Alistair M Thompson, Elizabeth A Mittendorf, Gaiane M Rauch, Rosalind P Candelaria, Lei Huo, Stacy L Moulder, Jeffrey T Chang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Metaplastic breast cancer (MpBC) is a rare subtype of breast cancer that is commonly triple-negative and poorly responsive to neoadjuvant therapy in retrospective studies.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: To better define clinical outcomes and correlates of response, we analyzed the rate of pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant therapy, survival outcomes, and genomic and transcriptomic profiles of the pretreatment tumors in a prospective clinical trial (NCT02276443). A total of 211 patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), including 39 with MpBC, received doxorubicin-cyclophosphamide-based neoadjuvant therapy.

RESULTS: Although not meeting the threshold for statistical significance, patients with MpBCs were less likely to experience …

Hap40 Is A Conserved Central Regulator Of Huntingtin And A Potential Modulator Of Huntington’S Disease Pathogenesis, Shiyu Xu, Gang Li, Xin Ye, Dongsheng Chen, Zhihua Chen, Zhen Xu, Moretti Daniele, Sara Tambone, Alessandra Ceccacci, Licia Tomei, Lili Ye, Yue Yu, Amanda Solbach, Stephen M Farmer, Erin Furr Stimming, George Mcallister, Deanna M Marchionini, Sheng Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Perturbation of huntingtin (HTT)'s physiological function is one postulated pathogenic factor in Huntington's disease (HD). However, little is known how HTT is regulated in vivo. In a proteomic study, we isolated a novel ~40kDa protein as a strong binding partner of Drosophila HTT and demonstrated it was the functional ortholog of HAP40, an HTT associated protein shown recently to modulate HTT's conformation but with unclear physiological and pathologic roles. We showed that in both flies and human cells, HAP40 maintained conserved physical and functional interactions with HTT. Additionally, loss of HAP40 resulted in similar phenotypes as HTT knockout. More strikingly, …

Efficacy Of Niraparib By Time Of Surgery And Postoperative Residual Disease Status: A Post Hoc Analysis Of Patients In The Prima/Engot-Ov26/Gog-3012 Study, Roisin E O'Cearbhaill, Jose-Alejandro Pérez-Fidalgo, Bradley J Monk, Ignacio Tusquets, Colleen Mccormick, Jose Fuentes, Richard G Moore, Christof Vulsteke, Mark S Shahin, Frédéric Forget, William H Bradley, Sakari Hietanen, David M O'Malley, Anne Dørum, Brian M Slomovitz, Klaus Baumann, Frédéric Selle, Paula M Calvert, Grazia Artioli, Tally Levy, Aalok Kumar, Izabela A Malinowska, Yong Li, Divya Gupta, Antonio González-Martín

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between surgical timing and postoperative residual disease status on the efficacy of niraparib first-line maintenance therapy in patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer at high risk of recurrence.

METHODS: Post hoc analysis of the phase 3 PRIMA/ENGOT-OV26/GOG-3012 (NCT02655016) study of niraparib in patients with newly diagnosed primary advanced ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer with a complete/partial response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. Progression-free survival (PFS) was assessed by surgical status (primary debulking surgery [PDS] vs neoadjuvant chemotherapy/interval debulking surgery [NACT/IDS]) and postoperative residual disease status (no visible residual disease [NVRD] vs visible residual …

Skin Cancer Education Interventions For Primary Care Providers: A Scoping Review, Ashley E Brown, Maleka Najmi, Taylor Duke, Daniel A Grabell, Misha V Koshelev, Kelly C Nelson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Primary care physicians (PCPs) are often the first line of defense against skin cancers. Despite this, many PCPs do not receive a comprehensive training in skin conditions. Educational interventions aimed at skin cancer screening instruction for PCPs offer an opportunity to detect skin cancer at earlier stages and subsequent improved morbidity and mortality. A scoping review was conducted to collect data about previously reported skin cancer screening interventions for PCPs. A structured literature search found 51 studies describing 37 unique educational interventions. Curriculum elements utilized by the interventions were divided into categories that would facilitate comparison including curriculum components, delivery …

Impact Of Gap Distance Between Fenestration And Aortic Wall On Target Artery Instability Following Fenestrated-Branched Endovascular Aortic Repair, Jesse Chait, Emanuel R Tenorio, Bernardo C Mendes, Guilherme B Barbosa Lima, Giulianna B Marcondes, Joshua Wong, Thanila A Macedo, Randall R De Martino, Gustavo S Oderich

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Target artery (TA) instability has been the most frequent indication for secondary intervention after fenestrated and branched endovascular aortic repair (FB-EVAR) of pararenal and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the gap distance between the endograft reinforced fenestration and TA origin at the aortic wall (fenestration gap [FG]) on target-related outcomes after FB-EVAR.

Methods: The clinical data and imaging studies of 430 patients enrolled in a prospective, nonrandomized study to evaluate FB-EVAR using manufactured stent grafts were reviewed. Of the 430 patients, 340 (79%) had had more than one …

Respiratory Effects Of Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone And Its Analogue Taltirelin On Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression, Marijke H Algera, Joseph F Cotten, Monique Van Velzen, Marieke Niesters, Martijn Boon, Daniel S Shoham, Kaye E Dandrea, Rutger Van Der Schrier, Albert Dahan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Lenalidomide Enhances Cd23car T Cell Therapy In Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Sarah Tettamanti, Maria Caterina Rotiroti, Greta Maria Paola Giordano Attianese, Silvia Arcangeli, Ronghua Zhang, Priyanka Banerjee, Giovanni Galletti, Sheighlah Mcmanus, Massimiliano Mazza, Fabio Nicolini, Giovanni Martinelli, Cristina Ivan, Tania Veliz Rodriguez, Federica Barbaglio, Lydia Scarfò, Maurilio Ponzoni, William Wierda, Varsha Gandhi, Michael Keating, Andrea Biondi, Federico Caligaris-Cappio, Ettore Biagi, Paolo Ghia, Maria Teresa Sabrina Bertilaccio

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Chimeric antigen receptors (CAR)-modified T cells are an emerging therapeutic tool for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, in patients with CLL, well-known T-cell defects and the inhibitory properties of the tumor microenvironment (TME) hinder the efficacy of CAR T cells. We explored a novel approach combining CARs with lenalidomide, an immunomodulatory drug that tempers the immunosuppressive activity of the CLL TME. T cells from patients with CLL were engineered to express a CAR specific for CD23, a promising target antigen. Lenalidomide maintained the in vitro effector functions of CD23.CAR+ T cells effector functions in terms of antigen-specific cytotoxicity, cytokine release …

Guidelines On Models Of Diabetic Heart Disease, Lisa C Heather, Anne D Hafstad, Ganesh V Halade, Romain Harmancey, Kimberley M Mellor, Paras K Mishra, Erin E Mulvihill, Miranda Nabben, Michinari Nakamura, Oliver J Rider, Matthieu Ruiz, Adam R Wende, John R Ussher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Diabetes is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, including diabetic cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. As cardiovascular disease represents the number one cause of death in people with diabetes, there has been a major emphasis on understanding the mechanisms by which diabetes promotes cardiovascular disease, and how antidiabetic therapies impact diabetic heart disease. With a wide array of models to study diabetes (both type 1 and type 2), the field has made major progress in answering these questions. However, each model has its own inherent limitations. Therefore, the purpose of this guidelines document is to provide the …

Adding Customized Electron Energy Beams To Truebeam Linear Accelerators, Song Gao, Manickam Muruganandham, Weiliang Du, Jared Ohrt, Rajat J Kudchadker, Peter A Balter

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: To better meet clinical needs and facilitate optimal treatment planning, we added two new electron energy beams (7 and 11 MeV) to two Varian TrueBeam linacs.

Methods: We worked with the vendor to create two additional customized electron energies without hardware modifications. For each beam, we set the bending magnet current and then optimized other beam-specific parameters to achieve depths of 50% ionization (I50 ) of 2.9 cm for 7 MeV and 4.2 cm for the 11 MeV beam with the 15 × 15 cm2 cone at 100 cm source-to-surface distance (SSD) by using an ionization chamber profiler (ICP) …

Reshaping The Tumor Microenvironment With Oncolytic Viruses, Positive Regulation Of The Immune Synapse, And Blockade Of The Immunosuppressive Oncometabolic Circuitry, Teresa T Nguyen, Dong Ho Shin, Sagar Sohoni, Sanjay K Singh, Yisel Rivera-Molina, Hong Jiang, Xuejun Fan, Joy Gumin, Frederick F Lang, Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge, Filipa Godoy-Vitorino, Lisha Zhu, W Jim Zheng, Lijie Zhai, Erik Ladomersky, Kristen L Lauing, Marta M Alonso, Derek A Wainwright, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Juan Fueyo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Oncolytic viruses are considered part of immunotherapy and have shown promise in preclinical experiments and clinical trials. Results from these studies have suggested that tumor microenvironment remodeling is required to achieve an effective response in solid tumors. Here, we assess the extent to which targeting specific mechanisms underlying the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment optimizes viroimmunotherapy.

Methods: We used RNA-seq analyses to analyze the transcriptome, and validated the results using Q-PCR, flow cytometry, and immunofluorescence. Viral activity was analyzed by replication assays and viral titration. Kyn and Trp metabolite levels were quantified using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activation …