Medical Specialties Commons^™

Neurotoxicity And Outcomes From Developmental Lead Exposure: Persistent Or Permanent?, Jay S. Schneider

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Background:

Childhood lead poisoning remains an important public health issue in the United States, as well as elsewhere in the world. Although primary prevention is a major goal and it is critically important to keep children from getting poisoned, it is also important to explore ways to reduce the neurotoxic effects of lead in those children already poisoned. Whether lead-induced neurotoxicity and its related adverse outcomes are viewed as “permanent” or “persistent” may influence the way in which potential remediation efforts are considered for improving outcomes from childhood lead poisoning.

Objectives:

The objective of this commentary was to discuss the …

Clinical Manifestation For Immunoglobulin A Deficiency: A Systematic Review And Metaanalysis, Ahmad Vosughimotlagh, Seyed Erfan Rasouli, Hosein Rafiemanesh, Molood Safarirad, Niusha Sharifinejad, Atossa Madanipour, Maria Marluce Dos Santos Vilela, Edyta Heropolitańska-Pliszka, Gholamreza Azizi

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES: Immunoglobulin A deficiency (IgAD) is a common disease with an unknown genetic defect, characterized by the decreased or absent IgA with other isotypes normal, normal subclasses, and specific antibodies. Patients with this disorder represent a spectrum of clinical manifestations including infections, autoimmune disorders, malignancy, and allergic diseases. The current study aimed to evaluate their prevalence and categorized them.

METHODS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases to find eligible studies from the earliest available date to January 2022 with standard keywords. Pooled estimates of clinical manifestations prevalence and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated using random-effects …

Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Prostate Cancer 5-Year Survival: The Role Of Health-Care Access And Disease Severity, Christiane J. El Khoury, Sean A.P. Clouston

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Introduction: Prostate cancer (PCa) exhibits one of the widest racial and socioeconomic disparities. PCa disparities have also been widely linked to location, as living in more deprived regions was associated with lower healthcare access and worse outcomes. This study aims to examine PCa survival across various USA counties in function of different socioeconomic profiles and discuss the role of potential intermediary factors. Methods: The SEER database linked to county-level SES was utilized. Five-year PCa-specific survival using the Kaplan–Meier method was performed for five racial/ethnic categories in function of SES quintiles. Multilevel Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to assess the …

Isolated Cerebral Mucormycosis And Aspergillosis Coinfection In An Immunocompromised Adult, George Sun, Allison Weiss, Joy Zhao, Mitchell Silver, Michael Demaio, Sara Dehbashi

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Opportunistic fungal infections are a major cause of mortality in immunosuppressed patients, with mucormycosis and aspergillosis as two of the most commonly identified fungal organisms. Coinfection with mucormycosis and aspergillosis is rare, but cases have been reported in literature, most commonly presenting as disseminated invasive fungal infection with cerebrorhino-orbital involvement in an immunocompromised patient. Infections are most commonly caused by direct implantation of spores with localised angioinvasion. Haematogenous spread is rare, with most cases secondary to haematological malignancies or intravenous drug use. Coinfection with mucormycosis and aspergillosis portends a poor prognosis, with a high mortality rate. Thus, prompt recognition and …

Early Identification And Management Of Heart Failure In Patients With Diabetes Mellitus In The United Arab Emirates: A Call To Action, Firas Al Badarin, Lina Yasine, Rabih Hijazi, Susan Abu Khalaf, Wael Al Mahmeed, Yosef Manla, Feras Bader

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Heart failure (HF) is a common and serious complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) that remains widely under-recognized. Multidisciplinary management protocols for patients with concurrent DM and HF are not widely utilized in the Middle East/ Gulf region, particularly in the United Arab Emirates. Since early identification of patients with DM and HF will likely lead to initiation of therapies known to prevent adverse cardiovascular events and subsequently improve patient prognosis, we aim to highlight the importance of early recognition of HF in diabetic patients. We will also describe existing management challenges in the region, especially the lack of multidisciplinary care …

Are We Focused On The Wrong Early Postoperative Quality Metrics? Optimal Realignment Outweighs Perioperative Risk In Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery, Peter G Passias, Tyler K Williamson, Jamshaid M Mir, Justin S Smith, Virginie Lafage, Renaud Lafage, Breton Line, Alan H Daniels, Jeffrey L Gum, Andrew J Schoenfeld, David Kojo Hamilton, Alex Soroceanu, Justin K Scheer, Robert Eastlack, Gregory M Mundis, Bassel Diebo, Khaled M Kebaish, Richard A Hostin, Munish C Gupta, Han Jo Kim, Eric O Klineberg, Christopher P Ames, Robert A Hart, Douglas C Burton, Frank J Schwab, Christopher I Shaffrey, Shay Bess, International Spine Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: While reimbursement is centered on 90-day outcomes, many patients may still achieve optimal, long-term outcomes following adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery despite transient short-term complications.

OBJECTIVE: Compare long-term clinical success and cost-utility between patients achieving optimal realignment and suboptimally aligned peers.

STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: Retrospective cohort study of a prospectively collected multicenter database.

METHODS: ASD patients with two-year (2Y) data included. Groups were propensity score matched (PSM) for age, frailty, body mass index (BMI), Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and baseline deformity. Optimal radiographic criteria are defined as meeting low deformity in all three (Scoliosis Research Society) SRS-Schwab parameters or being …

The Histone Chaperone Function Of Daxx Is Dispensable For Embryonic Development, Chang Sun, Yuan Qi, Natalie Fowlkes, Nina Lazic, Xiaoping Su, Guillermina Lozano, Amanda R Wasylishen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Daxx functions as a histone chaperone for the histone H3 variant, H3.3, and is essential for embryonic development. Daxx interacts with Atrx to form a protein complex that deposits H3.3 into heterochromatic regions of the genome, including centromeres, telomeres, and repeat loci. To advance our understanding of histone chaperone activity in vivo, we developed two Daxx mutant alleles in the mouse germline, which abolish the interactions between Daxx and Atrx (DaxxY130A), and Daxx and H3.3 (DaxxS226A). We found that the interaction between Daxx and Atrx is dispensable for viability; mice are born at the …

A Non-Coding Insertional Mutation Of Grhl2 Causes Gene Over-Expression And Multiple Structural Anomalies Including Cleft Palate, Spina Bifida And Encephalocele, Zoe Crane-Smith, Sandra C P De Castro, Evanthia Nikolopoulou, Paul Wolujewicz, Damian Smedley, Yunping Lei, Emma Mather, Chloe Santos, Mark Hopkinson, Andrew A Pitsillides, Richard H Finnell, M Elisabeth Ross, Andrew J Copp, Nicholas D E Greene

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Orofacial clefts, including cleft lip and palate (CL/P) and neural tube defects (NTDs) are among the most common congenital anomalies, but knowledge of the genetic basis of these conditions remains incomplete. The extent to which genetic risk factors are shared between CL/P, NTDs and related anomalies is also unclear. While identification of causative genes has largely focused on coding and loss of function mutations, it is hypothesized that regulatory mutations account for a portion of the unidentified heritability. We found that excess expression of Grainyhead-like 2 (Grhl2) causes not only spinal NTDs in Axial defects (Axd) mice but also multiple …

Targeting Breast Cancer: The Familiar, The Emerging, And The Uncharted Territories, Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi, Arthur Manda, Riya Sidgal, Co Chung

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Breast cancer became the most diagnosed cancer in the world in 2020. Chemotherapy is still the leading clinical strategy in breast cancer treatment, followed by hormone therapy (mostly used in hormone receptor-positive types). However, with our ever-expanding knowledge of signaling pathways in cancer biology, new molecular targets are identified for potential novel molecularly targeted drugs in breast cancer treatment. While this has resulted in the approval of a few molecularly targeted drugs by the FDA (including drugs targeting immune checkpoints), a wide array of signaling pathways seem to be still underexplored. Also, while combinatorial treatments have become common practice in …

Effects Of Velocity-Based Training And Resistance Training On Acute Recovery Based On Sport-Specific Performance In Soccer Players, Viorel Cristian Ravar Ladislau

Student Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine the effects of velocity-based training (VBT) and resistance training (RT) on acute recovery, as determined by sport-specific performance (SSP). Twenty experienced male soccer players completed five training sessions, including VBT and RT, with sport-specific training (SST) tests conducted after each session. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) in performance between VBT and RT for all six SST tests. VBT resulted in superior performance in the 30-meter dash (p < 0.0001), vertical jump (p < 0.0001), double leg bounds (p = 0.001), 505-agility drill (p < 0.0001), zigzag sprint and shuffle drill (p < 0.0001), and 5-10-15-meter shuttle run (p < 0.0001) tests. These findings support the hypothesis that VBT can lead to superior SSP outcomes compared to traditional RT in male soccer players. Results have practical implications for strength and conditioning professionals working with soccer players to improve recovery and performance outcomes.

Analyzing The Effects Of Body Mass Index In Total Hip Arthroplasty Cases. Does It Influence Patient Characteristics, Operative Planning, And Postoperative Outcomes?, Cesar A. Sevilla Jr, Vanessa Elena Lopez, Mauricio Burbano, Michael Sander

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

Background: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is one of the most performed orthopaedic procedures commonly used for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). There are several underlying factors that lead to the formation of this condition. Not only is obesity one of the main contributors, but it is also a modifiable risk factor and one of the leading causes of end-stage arthrosis of the hip. Though there have been advancements in agricultural and health technologies, rates of obesity continue to rise causing similar increases in the demands for hip replacement surgeries. Therefore, we sought to investigate the effects of BMI on …

Camkii: A Link Between Metabolic Disorders And Cardiac Arrhythmias, Marilen Federico, C.A. Valverde, L.A. Gonano, J. Palomeque, A. Matiazzi

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

The prevalence of metabolic diseases -such as obesity, prediabetes, metabolic syndrome or diabetes-has increased globally over the years. These diseases, mainly diabetes mellitus (DM), are among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide, with increased risk of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DC), cardiac arrhythmias, and heart failure (HF). In metabolic diseases several steps and proteins involved in excitation-contraction coupling (ECC) are compromised, precluding an efficient and rhythmic cardiac contraction; moreover, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) a kinase involved in ECC, is upregulated in several metabolic maladies and significantly contributes to cardiac remodeling and arrhythmias, among which are calcium (Ca2+)-triggered arrhythmias. CaMKII …

Intrinsic Disorder In Prame And Its Role In Uveal Melanoma, Michael Antonietti, David J. Taylor Gonzalez, Mak Djulbegovic, Guy W. Dayhoff, Vladimir N. Uversky, Carol L. Shields, Carol L. Karp

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Introduction

The PReferentially expressed Antigen in MElanoma (PRAME) protein has been shown to be an independent biomarker for increased risk of metastasis in Class 1 uveal melanomas (UM). Intrinsically disordered proteins and regions of proteins (IDPs/IDPRs) are proteins that do not have a well-defined three-dimensional structure and have been linked to neoplastic development. Our study aimed to evaluate the presence of intrinsic disorder in PRAME and the role these structureless regions have in PRAME( +) Class 1 UM.

Methods

A bioinformatics study to characterize PRAME’s propensity for the intrinsic disorder. We first used the AlphaFold tool to qualitatively assess the …

Metastatic Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Gone Wild, Khulood Talpur, Ambreen Soomro, Afrah Talpur

Abington Jefferson Health Papers

Thyroid cancers account for only 1.5% of all cancers in adults and 3% of all cancers in children. In females, however, thyroid cancers are the fifth most common cancer, comprising 4% of all cases. Of all thyroid cancers, 74-80% of cases are papillary cancer. The prevalence of thyroid cancer is rising worldwide. Although thyroid cancer has a favorable prognosis, up to 20% of patients experienced recurrent disease during the follow-up period. Extra-thyroidal extension occurs in 8% to 32% of cases. Local or regional recurrences occur in 5-15% of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Distant metastasis occurs in only 1% …

Smad8 Is Increased In Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy And Suppresses Mir-1, Mir-133a, And Mir-133b, Meghan L Royle, Eric J Connolly, Sara Nowakowski, Jeff R Temple

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: Studies are beginning to document an association between sleep duration and a range of adolescent delinquent behaviors, including weapon carrying. However, little is known about whether and to what extent sleep quality - another dimension of sleep for healthy adolescent functioning - is associated with weapon carrying. We address this gap in knowledge by evaluating the role of restless sleep and sleep duration in adolescent weapon carrying.

METHODS: We analyze data from a diverse sample of 994 adolescents from Texas, USA collected in 2010. Multivariate logistic regression models estimate the association of sleep duration and restless sleep on weapon …

Structures Of The Insecticidal Toxin Complex Subunit Xpta2 Highlight Roles For Flexible Domains, Cole L Martin, David W Chester, Christopher D Radka, Lurong Pan, Zhengrong Yang, Rachel C Hart, Elad M Binshtein, Zhao Wang, Lisa Nagy, Lawrence J Delucas, Stephen G Aller

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The Toxin Complex (Tc) superfamily consists of toxin translocases that contribute to the targeting, delivery, and cytotoxicity of certain pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria. Membrane receptor targeting is driven by the A-subunit (TcA), which comprises IgG-like receptor binding domains (RBDs) at the surface. To better understand XptA2, an insect specific TcA secreted by the symbiont

Ant-Dependent Mptp Underlies Necrotic Myofiber Death In Muscular Dystrophy, Michael J Bround, Julian R Havens, Allen J York, Michelle A Sargent, Jason Karch, Jeffery D Molkentin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) formation contributes to ischemia-reperfusion injury in the heart and several degenerative diseases, including muscular dystrophy (MD). MD is a family of genetic disorders characterized by progressive muscle necrosis and premature death. It has been proposed that the MPTP has two molecular components, the adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) family of proteins and an unknown component that requires the chaperone cyclophilin D (CypD) to activate. This model was examined in vivo by deleting the gene encoding ANT1 (Slc25a4) or CypD (Ppif) in a δ-sarcoglycan (Sgcd) gene–deleted mouse model of MD, revealing …

Leiomyosarcoma Of The Inferior Vena Cava Extending To The Right Atrium And Ventricle, Naif Saad Alghasab, Mohammad Alruwayeh, Abdulaziz A. Algharras, Amin Mulji

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Primary tumors originating from the inferior vena cava (IVC), namely leiomyosarcoma, present significant challenges due to their poor prognostic features, including extensive extension and a substantial tumor burden. In this case, we present a 55-year-old female patient complaining of abdominal discomfort and vague abdominal pain. Additionally, we provide a comprehensive summary encompassing key aspects related to symptomatology, diagnostic approaches, treatment, and prognostic indicators. We also discuss the complexities involved in managing primary tumors of the inferior vena cava, emphasizing the critical significance of adopting a multidisciplinary team-based approach.

Machine Learning-Based Classification Of Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury Using Hybrid Diffusion Imaging, Jennifer Muller, Ruixuan Wang, Devon Middleton, Mahdi Alizadeh, Kichang Kang, Ryan Hryczyk, George Zabrecky, Chloe Hriso, Emily Navarreto, Nancy Wintering, Anthony J. Bazzan, Chengyuan Wu, Daniel A. Monti, Xun Jiao, Qianhong Wu, Andrew B. Newberg, Feroze Mohamed

Marcus Institute of Integrative Health Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause progressive neuropathology that leads to chronic impairments, creating a need for biomarkers to detect and monitor this condition to improve outcomes. This study aimed to analyze the ability of data-driven analysis of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation dispersion imaging (NODDI) to develop biomarkers to infer symptom severity and determine whether they outperform conventional T1-weighted imaging.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A machine learning-based model was developed using a dataset of hybrid diffusion imaging of patients with chronic traumatic brain injury. We first extracted the useful features from the hybrid diffusion imaging …

Immunotherapy Targeting Different Immune Compartments In Combination With Radiation Therapy Induces Regression Of Resistant Tumors, Nils-Petter Rudqvist, Maud Charpentier, Claire Lhuillier, Erik Wennerberg, Sheila Spada, Caroline Sheridan, Xi Kathy Zhou, Tuo Zhang, Silvia C Formenti, Jennifer S Sims, Alicia Alonso, Sandra Demaria

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Radiation therapy (RT) increases tumor response to CTLA-4 inhibition (CTLA4i) in mice and in some patients, yet deep responses are rare. To identify rational combinations of immunotherapy to improve responses we use models of triple negative breast cancer highly resistant to immunotherapy in female mice. We find that CTLA4i promotes the expansion of CD4+ T helper cells, whereas RT enhances T cell clonality and enriches for CD8+ T cells with an exhausted phenotype. Combination therapy decreases regulatory CD4+ T cells and increases effector memory, early activation and precursor exhausted CD8+ T cells. A combined gene signature comprising these three CD8+ …

Sudden Vision Loss Heralding Covid-19-Associated Aspergillosis. Report Of 2 Cases, Tamara R. Vrabec, David R. Anderson, Priyal K. Shaw, Tatyana Milman

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Purpose

To describe clinical, radiographic, laboratory and cytopathologic findings in 2 patients who developed vision loss due to endogenous aspergillus endophthalmitis during hospitalization for COVID-19 pneumonia.

Observations

Two unvaccinated sexagenarian male smokers lost vision within one month of contracting COVID-19 pneumonia. Initially, both received high dose steroids, nasal cannula oxygen and remdesivir. Immunomodulators tocilizumab or baricitinib were added during week 2 in case 1 and 2 respectively. Upon presentation after discharge from a post-COVID rehabilitation unit, visual acuities were light perception and hand motion. In both cases, inpatient blood and ocular fluid cultures were negative, serum 1,3-beta-D-glucan was positive, and …

Identifying The Serious Clinical Outcomes Of Adverse Reactions To Drugs By A Multi-Task Deep Learning Framework, Haochen Zhao, Peng Ni, Qichang Zhao, Xiao Liang, Di Ai, Shannon Erhardt, Jun Wang, Yaohang Li, Jianxin Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) have a direct impact on human health. As continuous pharmacovigilance and drug monitoring prove to be costly and time-consuming, computational methods have emerged as promising alternatives. However, most existing computational methods primarily focus on predicting whether or not the drug is associated with an adverse reaction and do not consider the core issue of drug benefit-risk assessment-whether the treatment outcome is serious when adverse drug reactions occur. To this end, we categorize serious clinical outcomes caused by adverse reactions to drugs into seven distinct classes and present a deep learning framework, so-called GCAP, for predicting the …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Ticagrelor Plus Aspirin Versus Aspirin In Acute Ischaemic Stroke Or Transient Ischaemic Attack: An Economic Evaluation Of The Thales Trial, Amarjeet Tank, S Claiborne Johnston, Ritika Jain, Pierre Amarenco, Carl Mellström, Klas Rikner, Hans Denison, Per Ladenvall, Mikael Knutsson, Anders Himmelmann, Scott R Evans, Stefan James, Carlos A Molina, Yongjun Wang, Mario Ouwens

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: THALES demonstrated that ticagrelor plus aspirin reduced the risk of stroke or death but increased bleeding versus aspirin during the 30 days following a mild-to-moderate acute non-cardioembolic ischaemic stroke (AIS) or high-risk transient ischaemic attack (TIA). There are no cost-effectiveness analyses supporting this combination in Europe. To address this, a cost-effectiveness analysis was performed.

METHODS: Cost-effectiveness was evaluated using a decision tree and Markov model with a short-term and long-term (30-year) horizon. Stroke, mortality, bleeding and EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) data from THALES were used to estimate short-term outcomes. Model transitions were based on stroke severity (disabling stroke was defined …

Temporal Dynamics Of Genetically Heterogeneous Extended-Spectrum Cephalosporin-Resistant Escherichia Coli Bloodstream Infections, William C Shropshire, Benjamin Strope, Selvalakshmi Selvaraj Anand, Jordan Bremer, Patrick Mcdaneld, Micah M Bhatti, Anthony R Flores, Awdhesh Kalia, Samuel A Shelburne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli (ESC-R-Ec) is an urgent public health threat with sequence type clonal complex 131 (STc131), phylogroup B2 strains being particularly concerning as the dominant cause of ESC-R-Ec infections. To address the paucity of recent ESC-R-Ec molecular epidemiology data in the United States, we used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to fully characterize a large cohort of invasive ESC-R-Ec at a tertiary care cancer center in Houston, Texas, collected from 2016 to 2020. During the study time frame, there were 1,154 index E. coli bloodstream infections (BSIs) of which 389 (33.7%) were ESC-R-Ec. …

Effect Of Various Types Of Extracellular Dna On V Hyugaensis Biofilm Formation, Carmen Gu Liu, Anthony W Maresso

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Marine bacteria face a constant influx of new extracellular DNA (exDNA) due to the massive viral lysis that occurs in the ocean on a daily basis. Generally, biofilms have shown to be induced by self-secreted exDNA. However, the effect of various types of exDNA with varying lengths, self vs non-self, as well as guanine-cytosine content (GC) content on biofilm formation has not been explored, despite being a critical component of the extracellular polymeric substance. To test the effect of such exDNA on biofilms, a marine bioluminescent bacterium (Vibrio hyugaensis) was isolated from the Sippewissett Salt Marsh, USA, and …

Bioaccumulation Of Non-Essential Trace Elements Detected In Women's Follicular Fluid, Urine, And Plasma Is Associated With Poor Reproductive Outcomes Following Single Euploid Embryo Transfer: A Pilot Study, Andrea Palomar, Roberto Gonzalez-Martin, Alicia Quiñonero, Nuria Pellicer, Rocio Fernandez-Saavedra, Isabel Rucandio, Rodolfo Fernandez-Martinez, Estefania Conde-Vilda, Alberto J. Quejido, Caroline Zuckerman, Christine Whitehead, Richard T. Scott, Francisco Dominguez

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Papers

This study aims to determine the association of non-essential trace elements present in follicular fluid, plasma, and urine with reproductive outcomes of women undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies (PGT-A) and single frozen euploid embryo transfer (SET/FET). This single-center, prospective cohort study included sixty women undergoing ICSI with PGT-A and SET/FET between 2018 and 2019. Urine, plasma and follicular fluid samples were collected on the vaginal oocyte retrieval day to simultaneously quantify ten non-essential trace elements (i.e., Ba, Sr, Rb, Sn, Ti, Pb, Cd, Hg, Sb, and As). We found several associations between the levels of …

Effectiveness Of A Postpartum Breastfeeding Protocol For Avoiding Pregnancy Data, Mary Schneider, Richard Fehring, Thomas Paul Bouchard

Randomized Comparison of Two Internet-Supported Methods of Natural Family Planning

The uses of cervical mucus and basal body temperature as indicators of return to fertility postpartum have resulted in high unintended pregnancy rates. In 2013, a study found that when women used urine hormone signs in a postpartum/breastfeeding protocol this resulted in fewer pregnancies. To improve the original protocol's effectiveness, three revisions were made: (1) women were to increase the number of days tested with the Clearblue Fertility Monitor, (2) an optional second luteinizing hormone test could be done in the evening, and (3) instructions were given to manage the beginning of the fertile window for the first six cycles …

A Survey Of Microvascular Technique Preferences Among American Head Neck Society Members, Ramez Philips, Keisha A. Best, Aarti Agarwal, Hamad Sagheer, Yamil Selman, Larissa Sweeney, Mark Wax, Howard Krein, Ryan Heffelfinger, Adam Luginbuhl, Joseph Curry

Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: To identify practices in microvascular techniques in routine and challenging scenarios.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.

METHODS: A national survey addressing practices related to microvascular free flap reconstruction was distributed to AHNS members between October and November 2021.

RESULTS: The respondents encompassed 95 microvascular surgeons. Median years of practice was 6 (interquartile range, 2-13) and median flaps per year was 35 (22-50). Common practices in arterial anastomosis included limited cleaning of artery (84.2%), use of a double approximating clamp (64.2%), and use of interrupted suture (88.4%). Common practices in venous anastomosis included limited cleaning (89.5%), downsizing the coupler (53.7%), and …

Clinical And Prognostic Biomarker Value Of Blood-Circulating Inflammatory Cytokines In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Shadi Chamseddine, Yehia I Mohamed, Sunyoung S Lee, James C Yao, Zishuo Ian Hu, Hop S Tran Cao, Lianchun Xiao, Ryan Sun, Jeffrey S Morris, Rikita I Hatia, Manal Hassan, Dan G Duda, Maria Diab, Amr Mohamed, Ahmed Nassar, Saumil Datar, Hesham M Amin, Ahmed Omar Kaseb

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Circulating inflammatory cytokines play critical roles in tumor-associated inflammation and immune responses. Recent data have suggested that several interleukins (ILs) mediate carcinogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the predictive and prognostic value of circulating ILs is yet to be validated. Our study aimed to evaluate the association of the serum ILs with overall survival (OS) and clinicopathologic features in a large cohort of HCC patients.

METHODS: We prospectively collected data and serum samples from 767 HCC patients treated at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center between 2001 and 2014, with a median follow-up of 67.4 months (95% …

Integrative Bayesian Tensor Regression For Imaging Genetics Applications, Yajie Liu, Nilanjana Chakraborty, Zhaohui S Qin, Suprateek Kundu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Identifying biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease with a goal of early detection is a fundamental problem in clinical research. Both medical imaging and genetics have contributed informative biomarkers in literature. To further improve the performance, recently, there is an increasing interest in developing analytic approaches that combine data across modalities such as imaging and genetics. However, there are limited methods in literature that are able to systematically combine high-dimensional voxel-level imaging and genetic data for accurate prediction of clinical outcomes of interest. Existing prediction models that integrate imaging and genetic features often use region level imaging summaries, and they typically do …