Medical Specialties Commons^™

Implementation And Outcomes Of A Comprehensive Emergency Care Curriculum At A Low-Resource Referral Hospital In Liberia: A Novel Approach To Application Of The Who Basic Emergency Care Toolkit, Lane Epps, Anu Ramachandran, Sojung Yi, Alexander Mayah, Taylor Burkholder, Michael Jaung, Ahson Haider, Paul Wesseh, John Shakpeh, Corey Bills, Kayla Enriquez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Emergency care is vital in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) but many frontline healthcare workers in low-resource settings have no formal training in emergency care. To address this gap, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed Basic Emergency Care (BEC): Approach to the acutely ill and injured, a multi-day, open-source course for healthcare workers in low-resource settings. Building on the BEC foundation, this study uses an implementation science (IS) lens to develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive emergency care curriculum in a single emergency facility in Liberia.

METHODS: A six-month emergency care curriculum consisting of BEC content, standardized WHO clinical …

Enabling Human Space Exploration Missions Through Progressively Earth Independent Medical Operations (Eimo), Dana R Levin, Jon Steller, Arian Anderson, Jay Lemery, Benjamin Easter, David C Hilmers, Kris R Lehnhardt

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Goal: Current Space Medicine operations depend on terrestrial support to manage medical events. As astronauts travel to destinations such as the Moon, Mars, and beyond, distance will substantially limit this support and require increasing medical autonomy from the crew. This paper defines Earth Independent Medical Operations (EIMO) and identifies key elements of a conceptual EIMO system. Methods: The NASA Human Research Program Exploration Medical Capability Element held a 2-day conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX with NASA experts representing all aspects of Space Medicine. Results: EIMO will be a process enabling progressively resilient deep space exploration systems and …

Climate Change As A Social Determinant Of Health: An Interactive Case-Based Learning Activity, Arindam Sarkar, Nital P Appelbaum, Rathi Asaithambi, Connie Tran, Doris Lin, Anjali Aggarwal, Stephanie Nguyen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Despite consensus on climate change's impact on humans, medical schools have not widely adopted inclusion of environmental topics into their mandatory curriculum. This educational activity explicitly addresses climate change as one of the environmental determinants of health (EDH).

METHODS: We developed a required, 1-hour module for all first-year medical students. This interactive, case-based, small-group activity was incorporated into a curriculum within an advising program but could be run independently. Before and after the session, participants completed evaluations assessing knowledge gains and attitude shifts.

RESULTS: Of 183 first-year students, 155 completed both pre- and postmodule surveys. Participants' rating increased on …

Trends In Cigarette Smoking Among United States Adolescents, Maria C Mejia, Adedamola Adele, Robert S Levine, Charles H Hennekens, Panagiota Kitsantas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Cigarette smoking remains the leading avoidable cause of premature death in the United States, accounting for approximately 500,000, or 1 in 5, deaths annually. We explored trends in cigarette smoking among US adolescents.

Methods: We used data for adolescents in grades 9 through 12 from 1991 to 2021 from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We explored trends overall as well as by sex, race/ethnicity, and school grade.

Results: All cigarette use—assessed as ever, occasional, frequent, or daily—among adolescents declined markedly from 1991 to 2021. Specifically, ever use significantly decreased …

Advances In Prosthetic Technology: A Perspective On Ethical Considerations For Development And Clinical Translation, Hayden Gavette, Cody L Mcdonald, Kristin Kostick-Quenet, Ashley Mullen, Bijan Najafi, M G Finco

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Technological advancements of prostheses in recent years, such as haptic feedback, active power, and machine learning for prosthetic control, have opened new doors for improved functioning, satisfaction, and overall quality of life. However, little attention has been paid to ethical considerations surrounding the development and translation of prosthetic technologies into clinical practice. This article, based on current literature, presents perspectives surrounding ethical considerations from the authors' multidisciplinary views as prosthetists (HG, AM, CLM, MGF), as well as combined research experience working directly with people using prostheses (AM, CLM, MGF), wearable technologies for rehabilitation (MGF, BN), machine learning and artificial intelligence …

Open-Source, Highly Efficient, Post-Acquisition Synchronization For 4d Dual-Contrast Imaging Of The Mouse Embryonic Heart Over Development With Optical Coherence Tomography, Andre C Faubert, Irina V Larina, Shang Wang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Dynamic imaging of the beating embryonic heart in 3D is critical for understanding cardiac development and defects. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) plays an important role in embryonic heart imaging with its unique imaging scale and label-free contrasts. In particular, 4D (3D + time) OCT imaging enabled biomechanical analysis of the developing heart in various animal models. While ultrafast OCT systems allow for direct volumetric imaging of the beating heart, the imaging speed remains limited, leading to an image quality inferior to that produced by post-acquisition synchronization. As OCT systems become increasingly available to a wide range of biomedical researchers, a …

Optical Coherence Tomography For Dynamic Investigation Of Mammalian Reproductive Processes, Kohei Umezu, Irina V Larina

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The biological events associated with mammalian reproductive processes are highly dynamic and tightly regulated by molecular, genetic, and biomechanical factors. Implementation of live imaging in reproductive research is vital for the advancement of our understanding of normal reproductive physiology and for improving the management of reproductive disorders. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is emerging as a promising tool for dynamic volumetric imaging of various reproductive processes in mice and other animal models. In this review, we summarize recent studies employing OCT-based approaches toward the investigation of reproductive processes in both, males and females. We describe how OCT can be applied to …

Structural Basis Of Ferroportin Inhibition By Minihepcidin Pr73, Azaan Saalim Wilbon, Jiemin Shen, Piotr Ruchala, Ming Zhou, Yaping Pan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Ferroportin (Fpn) is the only known iron exporter in humans and is essential for maintaining iron homeostasis. Fpn activity is suppressed by hepcidin, an endogenous peptide hormone, which inhibits iron export and promotes endocytosis of Fpn. Hepcidin deficiency leads to hemochromatosis and iron-loading anemia. Previous studies have shown that small peptides that mimic the first few residues of hepcidin, i.e., minihepcidins, are more potent than hepcidin. However, the mechanism of enhanced inhibition by minihepcidins remains unclear. Here, we report the structure of human ferroportin in complex with a minihepcidin, PR73 that mimics the first 9 residues of hepcidin, at 2.7 …

Second Virtual International Symposium On Cellular And Organismal Stress Responses, September 8-9, 2022, Patricija Van Oosten-Hawle, Sarah J Backe, Anat Ben-Zvi, Dimitra Bourboulia, Mara Brancaccio, Jeff Brodsky, Melody Clark, Giorgio Colombo, Marc B Cox, Paolo De Los Rios, Frank Echtenkamp, Adrienne Edkins, Brian Freeman, Pierre Goloubinoff, Walid Houry, Jill Johnson, Paul Lapointe, Wei Li, Valerie Mezger, Len Neckers, Nadinath B Nillegoda, Veena Prahlad, Adam Reitzel, Ruth Scherz-Shouval, Lea Sistonen, Francis T F Tsai, Mark R Woodford, Mehdi Mollapour, Andrew W Truman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The Second International Symposium on Cellular and Organismal Stress Responses took place virtually on September 8-9, 2022. This meeting was supported by the Cell Stress Society International (CSSI) and organized by Patricija Van Oosten-Hawle and Andrew Truman (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA) and Mehdi Mollapour (SUNY Upstate Medical University, USA). The goal of this symposium was to continue the theme from the initial meeting in 2020 by providing a platform for established researchers, new investigators, postdoctoral fellows, and students to present and exchange ideas on various topics on cellular stress and chaperones. We will summarize the highlights of …

Targeting Hiv-1 Reservoirs In T Cell Subsets, Min Li, Marietta M Budai, Min Chen, Jin Wang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The HIV-1 reservoirs harbor the latent proviruses that are integrated into the host genome. It is a challenging task to eradicate the proviruses in order to achieve an HIV cure. We have described a strategy for the clearance of HIV-1 infection through selective elimination of host cells harboring replication-competent HIV (SECH), by inhibition of autophagy and promotion of apoptosis during viral re-activation. HIV-1 can infect various CD4+ T cell subsets, but it is not known whether the SECH approach is equally effective in targeting HIV-1 reservoirs in these different subsets in vivo. In a humanized mouse model, we found …

Quantitative Measurement Of Protac Intracellular Accumulation, Xin Yu, Jin Wang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In recent years, Proteolysis Targeting Chimera (PROTAC) technology has emerged as one of the most promising approaches to remove disease-associated proteins by utilizing cells' own destruction machinery. To achieve successful degradation of a protein of interest (POI), the heterobifunctional PROTAC molecules must penetrate into the cells first, followed by target engagement and formation of the POI-PROTAC-E3 ligase complex. Based on this understanding, the assessment of cell permeability and in cell target engagement are of great importance to evaluate the efficacy of PROTAC candidates. PROTAC molecules can be classified as non-covalent and covalent, and covalent PROTACs can be further divided into …

A Guide To Naming Eukaryotic Circular Rnas, Ling-Ling Chen, Albrecht Bindereif, Irene Bozzoni, Howard Y Chang, A Gregory Matera, Myriam Gorospe, Thomas B Hansen, Jørgen Kjems, Xu-Kai Ma, Jun Wei Pek, Nikolaus Rajewsky, Julia Salzman, Jeremy E Wilusz, Li Yang, Fangqing Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Alternative splicing of eukaryotic transcripts often leads to production of multiple mature RNAs from a single gene locus. In addition to encoding linear RNAs, genes can produce stable circular RNAs (circRNAs) that are often co-expressed with their cognate linear RNAs. Multiple distinct circRNAs are frequently generated from a gene locus via back-splicing, with each mature transcript having a potentially unique function due to its distinct combination of exons and sometimes retained introns. However, names currently given to circRNAs are often ambiguous and lack consistency across studies. Here, we call on the community to embrace standards for naming circRNAs so that …

How Do Necrotic Cells Expose Phosphatidylserine To Attract Their Predators-What’S Unique And What’S In Common With Apoptotic Cells, Yoshitaka Furuta, Zheng Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a lipid component of the plasma membrane. It is asymmetrically distributed to the inner leaflet in live cells. In cells undergoing apoptosis, phosphatidylserine is exposed to the outer surfaces. The exposed phosphatidylserine acts as an evolutionarily conserved “eat-me” signal that attracts neighboring engulfing cells in metazoan organisms, including the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and mammals. During apoptosis, the exposure of phosphatidylserine to the outer surface of a cell is driven by the membrane scramblases and flippases, the activities of which are regulated by caspases. Cells undergoing necrosis, a kind of cell …

Mortality Difference From Klebsiella Aerogenes Vs Enterobacter Cloacae Bloodstream Infections, Andrew Chou, Richard Sucgang, Richard J Hamill, Lynn Zechiedrich, Barbara W Trautner

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Members of the order Enterobacterales, including Escherichia coli , Klebsiella species and Enterobacter species, are important pathogens in healthcare-associated infections. Higher mortality has been reported from infections due to Klebsiella pneumoniae than from E. coli , but prior studies comparing Enterobacter aerogenes (recently renamed Klebsiella aerogenes ) bacteraemia and Enterobacter cloacae complex bacteraemia have yielded conflicting results regarding whether clinical outcomes differ. We found bacteraemia with K. aerogenes was independently associated with greater risk of 30-day mortality than bacteraemia with Enterobacter cloacae complex.

Oral Gauze For Bleeding Control In Perioral And Perinasal Dermatologic Surgery, Riyad N H Seervai, Jose A Cervantes, Ikue Shimizu, Ida F Orengo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The use of oral gauze is a quick, cheap, and effective method of preventing bleeding into the patient's mouth during dermatologic surgery. We recommend this technique combined with appropriate positioning for lesions in the perioral and perinasal regions. Similar approaches may be applied for the prevention of bleeding into the ear canal during facial/periauricular surgery.

Demographics Of Skin Cancer Knowledge Among Middle And High Schoolers In Texas, Dina H Zamil, Shangyi Fu, Zahra Majd, Emily Powell, Jenna H Zamil, Zeena Y Nawas, Ida F Orengo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Adolescents, an age group that can reduce sun exposure early, may benefit from school-based skin cancer education programs. Literature regarding the demographics of melanoma knowledge is sparse.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to evaluate melanoma knowledge among students in Texas viewing John Wayne Cancer Foundation Block the Blaze (JWCFBTB) presentations and identify group differences with regard to sociodemographic factors.

METHODS: Before JWCFBTB presentations delivered in Houston and Dallas by health professions students, a pre-presentation melanoma knowledge quiz was distributed. This survey was adapted from a 2000 study evaluating melanoma knowledge in middle and high schoolers in Houston and Dallas. Respondents …

Treatment Of Severe Covid-19 Infection With Remdesivir In Peritoneal Dialysis, Ryan Geffin, Shazia Raheem, Lavannya M Pandit, Andrew S Hunter, Michael W Holliday, Aditya V Rao, Maulin K Shah

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

End-stage kidney disease (ESKD) has been shown to be correlated with an increased risk of COVID-19 infection and mortality. Remdesivir is an effective non-EUA U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved antiviral agent for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized adult and pediatric patients, though a lack of data has prevented its use in patients with severe kidney disease including dialysis patients. Some observational studies report the use of remdesivir in hemodialysis patients, but there are no reports of patients treated with remdesivir on peritoneal dialysis. Dialysis modalities may affect drug pharmacokinetics, and safety and efficiency of remdesivir in peritoneal dialysis …

Trends And Outcomes In Patients With Coronary Artery Disease Undergoing Tavr: Insights From Va Cart, Khanjan B Shah, Colin O'Donnell, Dhruv Mahtta, Stephen W Waldo, Calvin Choi, Ki Park, Ali E Denktas, David Paniagua, Umair Khalid

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) is common in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. The management and impact of obstructive CAD in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) have not been fully evaluated. We aimed to determine the patient characteristics and clinical outcomes among veterans undergoing TAVR with and without obstructive CAD and to determine temporal trends and association of pre-TAVR percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with clinical outcomes.

METHODS: We identified all patients who underwent TAVR from 2012 to 2021 in the VA Health Care System. The sample population was divided into patients with and without obstructive CAD …

Stealing From The Heart: A Rare Case Of Chest Pain Post-Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting, Prasanti A Kotta, Joshua R Hirsch, Umair Khalid, Ali E Denktas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A 70-year-old veteran with prior triple vessel coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) presented with exertional chest pain. His work-up revealed > 40 mm Hg bilateral upper extremity blood pressure difference. Chest computed tomography and invasive angiography revealed severe stenosis at the ostium of the left subclavian artery, proximal to the origin of the left internal mammary artery to left anterior descending artery graft (LIMA-LAD). A diagnosis of coronary subclavian steal syndrome (CSSS) was made, and carotid-subclavian bypass was performed. This case outlines when to suspect CSSS, an approach to its diagnosis, and the importance of its timely management.

Is It Time To Switch To Bivalirudin For Ecmo Anticoagulation?, Amir Navaei, Vadim Kostousov, Jun Teruya

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

For decades, unfractionated heparin (hereafter, heparin) has been the primary anticoagulant used for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. More recently, however, bivalirudin, a direct thrombin inhibitor, has emerged as an alternative. This systematic review based on PRISMA guidelines, aims to summarize 16 comparative studies and 8 meta-analysis and review articles published from January, 2011 till May, 2023 which directly compares ECMO courses using heparin versus bivalirudin as the anticoagulant. While this comparison is complicated by the lack of a standardized definition of major bleeding or thrombosis, our overall findings suggest there is no statistical difference between heparin and bivalirudin in …

Cerebral Microdialysis And Glucopenia In Traumatic Brain Injury: A Review, Himanshu Sharma, John P Mcginnis, Katherine E Kabotyanski, Shankar P Gopinath, Jerry C Goodman, Claudia Robertson, Jovany Cruz Navarro

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Traditionally, intracranial pressure (ICP) and partial brain tissue oxygenation (PbtO2) have been the primary invasive intracranial measurements used to guide management in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). After injury however, the brain develops an increased metabolic demand which may require an increment in the oxidative metabolism of glucose. Simultaneously, metabolic, and electrical dysfunction can lead to an inability to meet these demands, even in the absence of ischemia or increased intracranial pressure. Cerebral microdialysis provides the ability to accurately measure local concentrations of various solutes including lactate, pyruvate, glycerol and glucose. Experimental and clinical data demonstrate that such …

The Pathway To The Natural Gas Industry: Financial Development, Coal Consumption, And Carbon Dioxide Emissions In Pr China, Teng Tong, Jaime Ortiz, Haibo Wang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This paper revisits the causal links between financial development, coal consumption, and CO2 emissions in P.R. China over the 1977–2017 period to validate the development of its natural gas industry. It uses a Bootstrap ARDL bound test with structural breaks to establish stationarity, short- and long-run dynamics, and causality of the series. The results show there are no long-run relationships among these three variables, but a Granger causality test does indicate the presence of both a two-way Granger causality between coal consumption and CO2 emissions, and a one-way Granger causality running from financial development to both coal consumption and CO2 …

Engineered Cd4 T Cells Expressing A Membrane Anchored Viral Inhibitor Restrict Hiv-1 Through Cis And Trans Mechanisms, Weiming Wang, Khanghy Truong, Chaobaihui Ye, Suman Sharma, Huan He, Lihong Liu, Michael Wen, Anisha Misra, Paul Zhou, Jason T Kimata

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

HIV-1 infection of target cells can occur through either cell-free virions or cell-cell transmission in a virological synapse, with the latter mechanism of infection reported to be 100- to 1,000-fold more efficient. Neutralizing antibodies and entry inhibitors effectively block cell-free HIV-1, but with few exceptions, they display much less inhibitory activity against cell-mediated HIV-1 transmission. Previously, we showed that engineering HIV-1 target cells by genetically linking single-chain variable fragments (scFvs) of antibodies to glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI) potently blocks infection by cell-free virions and cell-mediated infection by immature dendritic cell (iDC)-captured HIV-1. Expression of scFvs on CD4

Future Directions In Psychiatric Neurosurgery: Proceedings Of The 2022 American Society For Stereotactic And Functional Neurosurgery Meeting On Surgical Neuromodulation For Psychiatric Disorders, Frederick L Hitti, Alik S Widge, Patricio Riva-Posse, Donald A Malone, Michael S Okun, Maryam M Shanechi, Kelly D Foote, Sarah H Lisanby, Elizabeth Ankudowich, Srinivas Chivukula, Edward F Chang, Aysegul Gunduz, Clement Hamani, Ashley Feinsinger, Cynthia S Kubu, Winston Chiong, Jennifer A Chandler, Rafael Carbunaru, Binith Cheeran, Robert S Raike, Rachel A Davis, Casey H Halpern, Nora Vanegas-Arroyave, Dejan Markovic, Sarah K Bick, Cameron C Mcintyre, R Mark Richardson, Darin D Dougherty, Brian H Kopell, Jennifer A Sweet, Wayne K Goodman, Sameer A Sheth, Nader Pouratian

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: Despite advances in the treatment of psychiatric diseases, currently available therapies do not provide sufficient and durable relief for as many as 30-40% of patients. Neuromodulation, including deep brain stimulation (DBS), has emerged as a potential therapy for persistent disabling disease, however it has not yet gained widespread adoption. In 2016, the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (ASSFN) convened a meeting with leaders in the field to discuss a roadmap for the path forward. A follow-up meeting in 2022 aimed to review the current state of the field and to identify critical barriers and milestones for progress. …

Postsurgical Morbidity And Mortality Favorably Informs Deep Brain Stimulation For New Indications Including Schizophrenia And Schizoaffective Disorder, Judith M Gault, Patrick Hosokawa, Daniel Kramer, Elyn R Saks, Paul S Appelbaum, John A Thompson, Ann Olincy, Nicola Cascella, Akira Sawa, Wayne Goodman, Nidal Moukaddam, Sameer A Sheth, William S Anderson, Rachel A Davis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) shows promise for new indications like treatment-refractory schizophrenia in early clinical trials. In the first DBS clinical trial for treatment refractory schizophrenia, despite promising results in treating psychosis, one of the eight subjects experienced both a symptomatic hemorrhage and an infection requiring device removal. Now, ethical concerns about higher surgical risk in schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (SZ/SAD) are impacting clinical trial progress. However, insufficient cases preclude conclusions regarding DBS risk in SZ/SAD. Therefore, we directly compare adverse surgical outcomes for all surgical procedures between SZ/SAD and Parkinson's disease (PD) cases to infer relative surgical risk relevant to …

Photoplethysmography-New Applications For An Old Technology: A Sleep Technology Review, Scott Ryals, Ambrose Chiang, Sharon Schutte-Rodin, Arvind Chandrakantan, Nitun Verma, Steven Holfinger, Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, Anuja Bandyopadhyay, Kelly Baron, Sumit Bhargava, Ken He, Joseph Kern, Jennifer Miller, Ruchir Patel, Dulip Ratnasoma, Maryann C Deak

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Education is integral to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) mission. The AASM Emerging Technology Committee identified an important and evolving piece of technology that is present in many of the consumer and clinical technologies that we review on the AASM #SleepTechnology (https://aasm.org/consumer-clinical-sleep-technology/) resource—photoplethysmography. As more patients with sleep tracking devices ask clinicians to view their data, it is important for sleep providers to have a general understanding of the technology, its sensors, how it works, targeted users, evidence for the claimed uses, and its strengths and weaknesses. The focus in this review is photoplethysmography—a sensor type …

Selective Reprogramming Of Regulatory T Cells In Solid Tumors Can Strongly Enhance Or Inhibit Tumor Growth, Rami Alfar, John V Napoleon, Imrul Shahriar, Richard Finnell, Cole Walchle, Austin Johnson, Philip S Low

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Folate receptor delta (FRδ) has been used as a biomarker for regulatory T cells (Tregs), because its expression is limited to Tregs and ovum. Although FRδ is unable to bind folate, we have used molecular docking software to identify a folate congener that binds FRδ with high affinity and have exploited this FRδ-specific ligand to target attached drugs (imaging agents, immune activators, and immune suppressors) specifically to Tregs in murine tumor xenografts. Analysis of treated tumors demonstrates that targeting of a Toll-like receptor 7 agonist inhibits Treg expression of FOXP3, PD-1, CTLA4, and HELIOS, resulting in 40-80% reduction in tumor …

Cardiorespiratory And Metabolic Responses To Low-Intensity Blood-Flow Restricted Running, Violet E. Sullivan, Amanda P. Ares, Summer B. Cook Ph.D.

Honors Theses and Capstones

Low-intensity (LI) aerobic exercise with blood-flow restriction (BFR) increases heart rate (HR), oxygen consumption (VO₂), and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), sometimes to similar levels as high-intensity (HI) exercise. Distance runners may benefit from LI-BFR running in periods of reduced volume or intensity, possibly due to injury. PURPOSE: To compare HR, VO₂, blood lactate (BLa), and RPE during LI-BFR running and HI running without BFR. METHODS: Fifteen female distance runners (age 23+4yrs, height 1.67+0.50m, body mass 57.6+5.7kg, VO₂max 51.0+4.5mL•kg^-1•min^-1) completed three randomized 12-minute running conditions: LI control (40% VO_{2 …}

Adeno-Associated Virus 8 Delivers An Immunomodulatory Peptide To Mouse Liver More Efficiently Than To Rat Liver, Yuqing Wang, Ayrea Hurley, Marco De Giorgi, Mark R Tanner, Rong-Chi Hu, Michael W Pennington, William R Lagor, Christine Beeton

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Targeting the Kv1.3 potassium channel has proven effective in reducing obesity and the severity of animal models of autoimmune disease. Stichodactyla toxin (ShK), isolated from the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus, is a potent blocker of Kv1.3. Several of its analogs are some of the most potent and selective blockers of this channel. However, like most biologics, ShK and its analogs require injections for their delivery, and repeated injections reduce patient compliance during the treatment of chronic diseases. We hypothesized that inducing the expression of an ShK analog by hepatocytes would remove the requirement for frequent injections and lead to a …

Radiation-Induced Gastrointestinal (Gi) Syndrome As A Function Of Age, Hongyan Li, Herman C. Kucharavy, Carla Hajj, Liyang Zhao, Guoqiang Hua, Ryan Glass, Phillip B. Paty, Zvi Fuks, Richard Kolesnick, Karen Hubbard, Adriana Haimovitz-Friedman

Publications and Research

Previous studies show increased sensitivity of older mice (28–29 months) compared with young adult mice (3 months, possessing a mature immune system) to radiation-induced GI lethality. Age-dependent lethality was associated with higher levels of apoptotic stem cells in small intestinal crypts that correlated with sphingomyelinase activity, a source of pro-apoptotic ceramide. The objective of this study is to determine whether the cycling crypt base columnar cells (CBCs) in aging animals are specifically more sensitive to radiation effects than the CBCs in young adult mice, and to identify factors that contribute to increased radiosensitivity. Mortality induced by subtotal body radiation was …