Public Health Commons^™

Monkeypox: A Contemporary Review For Healthcare Professionals, Boghuma K Titanji, Bryan Tegomoh, Saman Nematollahi, Michael Konomos, Prathit A Kulkarni

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The ongoing 2022 multicountry outbreak of monkeypox is the largest in history to occur outside of Africa. Monkeypox is an emerging zoonotic disease that for decades has been viewed as an infectious disease with significant epidemic potential because of the increasing occurrence of human outbreaks in recent years. As public health entities work to contain the current outbreak, healthcare professionals globally are aiming to become familiar with the various clinical presentations and management of this infection. We present in this review an updated overview of monkeypox for healthcare professionals in the context of the ongoing outbreaks around the world.

Detection Accuracy Of The Cobas Hpv Assay For High-Risk Hpv In Head And Neck Fna Biopsy Specimens, Ming Guo, Abha Khanna, Agata A Tinnirello, Jessica Hwang, Ping Zhang, Li Xu, Guojun Li, Kristina R Dahlstrom, Erich M Sturgis, John Stewart

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the detection accuracy of the Cobas human papillomavirus (HPV) assay for high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) and HPV-16 in head and neck fine-needle aspiration (FNA) specimens with squamous cell carcinoma.

METHODS: Head and neck FNA biopsy specimens from 2012 to 2020 were retrospectively collected. Cobas HPV testing was performed on 90 FNA specimens with valid Cervista HPV testing results. Results of Cobas HPV and Cervista HPV assays were compared. A Linear Array or SPF10-LiPA25 HPV genotyping assay resolved cases with discrepant results. The κ value and accuracy of Cobas HPV testing were calculated. The accuracy of the …

Pilot Phase Results Of A Prospective, Randomized Controlled Trial Of Narrowband Ultraviolet B Phototherapy In Hospitalized Covid-19 Patients, Frank H Lau, Catherine E Powell, Giacomo Adonecchi, Denise M Danos, Andrew R Dinardo, Robert J Chugden, Peter Wolf, Carmen F Castilla

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

COVID-19 morbidity and mortality are driven by poor immune regulation. Narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) phototherapy is standard of care in a number of immune-dysregulated diseases. To assess the efficacy of NB-UVB phototherapy for improving COVID-19 outcomes in high-risk, hospitalized, we developed the Adaptive Photo-Protection Trial. This is a multi-center, prospective, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The pilot phase results are reported here. Consecutive patients admitted with a positive COVID-19 PCR were screened for eligibility. Enrolled subjects were computer randomized 1:1 to NB-UVB or placebo phototherapy. Subjects were treated daily with escalating doses on 27% of their body surface area for up …

Translating Electronic Health Record-Based Patient Safety Algorithms From Research To Clinical Practice At Multiple Sites, Andrew J Zimolzak, Hardeep Singh, Daniel R Murphy, Li Wei, Sahar A Memon, Divvy K Upadhyay, Saritha Korukonda, Lisa Zubkoff, Dean F Sittig

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Researchers are increasingly developing algorithms that impact patient care, but algorithms must also be implemented in practice to improve quality and safety.

OBJECTIVE: We worked with clinical operations personnel at two US health systems to implement algorithms to proactively identify patients without timely follow-up of abnormal test results that warrant diagnostic evaluation for colorectal or lung cancer. We summarise the steps involved and lessons learned.

METHODS: Twelve sites were involved across two health systems. Implementation involved extensive software documentation, frequent communication with sites and local validation of results. Additionally, we used automated edits of existing code to adapt it …

Impact Of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Restrictions On Retinal Detachment: A Multicenter Experience, Jesse J Jung, Jonathan S Chang, Patrick R Oellers, Mohsin H Ali, Brian K Do, Joseph J Tseng, Roberto Roizenblatt, Rajeev H Muni, Christina Y Weng, Zackery B Oakey, Sean W Tsao, Soraya Rofagha, Xavier Chan, Quan V Hoang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this retrospective, multicenter study of 261 eyes (259 patients), patients who underwent rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) post-lockdown period experienced an additional 22-day delay, leading to significantly more epiretinal membrane and proliferative vitreoretinopathy and lower single-surgery anatomic success rates. During lockdown, perfluoropropane gas was used more commonly, and pneumatic retinopexy was used more commonly in COVID-19-positive patients.

Breast Cancer Diagnosis And Treatment During The Covid-19 Pandemic In A Nationwide, Insured Population, Jennifer L Caswell-Jin, Maryam N Shafaee, Lan Xiao, Mina Liu, Esther M John, Melissa L Bondy, Allison W Kurian

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Purpose: The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic led to reduced cancer screenings and delayed cancer surgeries. We used insurance claims data to understand how breast cancer incidence and treatment after diagnosis changed nationwide over the course of the pandemic.

Methods: Using the Optum Research Database from January 2017 to March 2021, including approximately 19 million US adults with commercial health insurance, we identified new breast cancer diagnoses and first treatment after diagnosis. We compared breast cancer incidence and proportion of newly diagnosed patients receiving pre-operative systemic therapy pre-COVID, in the first 2 months of the COVID pandemic and in …

Gene-Mapping Study Of Extremes Of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Reveals Trim47 As A Strong Candidate, Aniket Mishra, Cécile Duplaà, Dina Vojinovic, Hideaki Suzuki, Muralidharan Sargurupremraj, Nuno R Zilhão, Shuo Li, Traci M Bartz, Xueqiu Jian, Wei Zhao, Edith Hofer, Katharina Wittfeld, Sarah E Harris, Sandra Van Der Auwera-Palitschka, Michelle Luciano, Joshua C Bis, Hieab H H Adams, Claudia L Satizabal, Rebecca F Gottesman, Piyush G Gampawar, Robin Bülow, Stefan Weiss, Miao Yu, Mark E Bastin, Oscar L Lopez, Meike W Vernooij, Alexa S Beiser, Uwe Völker, Tim Kacprowski, Aicha Soumare, Jennifer A Smith, David S Knopman, Zoe Morris, Yicheng Zhu, Jerome I Rotter, Carole Dufouil, Maria Valdés Hernández, Susana Muñoz Maniega, Mark Lathrop, Erik Boerwinkle, Reinhold Schmidt, Masafumi Ihara, Bernard Mazoyer, Qiong Yang, Anne Joutel, Elizabeth Tournier-Lasserve, Lenore J Launer, Ian J Deary, Thomas H Mosley, Philippe Amouyel, Charles S Decarli, Bruce M Psaty, Christophe Tzourio, Sharon L R Kardia, Hans J Grabe, Alexander Teumer, Cornelia M Van Duijn, Helena Schmidt, Joanna M Wardlaw, M Arfan Ikram, Myriam Fornage, Vilmundur Gudnason, Sudha Seshadri, Paul M Matthews, William T Longstreth, Thierry Couffinhal, Stephanie Debette

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cerebral small vessel disease is a leading cause of stroke and a major contributor to cognitive decline and dementia, but our understanding of specific genes underlying the cause of sporadic cerebral small vessel disease is limited. We report a genome-wide association study and a whole-exome association study on a composite extreme phenotype of cerebral small vessel disease derived from its most common MRI features: white matter hyperintensities and lacunes. Seventeen population-based cohorts of older persons with MRI measurements and genome-wide genotyping (n = 41 326), whole-exome sequencing (n = 15 965), or exome chip (n = 5249) data contributed 13 …

Worsening Glycemia Increases The Odds Of Intermittent But Not Persistent Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriage In Two Cohorts Of Mexican American Adults, Heather T Essigmann, Craig L Hanis, Stacia M Desantis, William B Perkison, David A Aguilar, Goo Jun, D Ashley Robinson, Eric L Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Numerous host and environmental factors contribute to persistent and intermittent nasal Staphylococcus aureus carriage in humans. The effects of worsening glycemia on the odds of S. aureus intermittent and persistent nasal carriage was established in two cohorts from an adult Mexican American population living in Starr County, Texas. The anterior nares were sampled at two time points and the presence of S. aureus determined by laboratory culture and

Validation Of A High Flow Rate Puff Topography System Designed For Measurement Of Sub-Ohm, Third Generation Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, Evan Floyd, Toluwanimi Oni, Changjie Cai, Bilal Rehman, Jooyeon Hwang, Tyler Watson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

There are few known puff topography devices designed solely for gathering electronic cigarette puff topography information, and none made for high-powered sub-ohm devices. Ten replicate Bernoulli flow cells were designed and 3D printed. The relationship between square root of pressure difference and flow rate was determined across 0−70 L/min. One representative flow cell was used to estimate puff volume and flow rate under six simulated puffing regimes (0.710 L, 2.000 L and 3.000 L, at low and high flow rates) to determine the system’s accuracy and utility of using dual pressure sensors for flow measurement. The relationship between flow rate …

An Epidemic Model With Time-Distributed Recovery And Death Rates, Samiran Ghosh, Vitaly Volpert, Malay Banerjee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A compartmental epidemiological model with distributed recovery and death rates is proposed. In some particular cases, the model can be reduced to the conventional SIR model. However, in general, the dynamics of epidemic progression in this model is different. Distributed recovery and death rates are evaluated from COVID-19 data. The model is validated by the epidemiological data for different countries, and it shows better agreement with the data than the SIR model. The time-dependent disease transmission rate is estimated.

Expanding Anti-Cd38 Immunotherapy For Lymphoid Malignancies, Xu Wang, Xinfang Yu, Wei Li, Praveen Neeli, Ming Liu, Ling Li, Mingzhi Zhang, Xiaosheng Fang, Ken H Young, Yong Li

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Lymphoid neoplasms, including multiple myeloma (MM), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and NK/T cell neoplasms, are a major cause of blood cancer morbidity and mortality. CD38 (cyclic ADP ribose hydrolase) is a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed on the surface of plasma cells and MM cells. The high expression of CD38 across MM and other lymphoid malignancies and its restricted expression in normal tissues make CD38 an attractive target for immunotherapy. CD38-targeting antibodies, like daratumumab, have been approved for the treatment of MM and tested against lymphoma and leukemia in multiple clinical trials.

METHODS: We generated chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting …

Gain-Of-Signal Assays For Probing Inhibition Of Sars-Cov-2 Mpro/3clpro In Living Cells, Seyed Arad Moghadasi, Morgan A Esler, Yuka Otsuka, Jordan T Becker, Sofia N Moraes, Constance B Anderson, Srinivas Chamakuri, Christopher Belica, Chloe Wick, Daniel A Harki, Damian W Young, Louis Scampavia, Timothy P Spicer, Ke Shi, Hideki Aihara, William L Brown, Reuben S Harris

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The main protease, Mpro, of SARS-CoV-2 is required to cleave the viral polyprotein into precise functional units for virus replication and pathogenesis. Here, we report quantitative reporters for Mpro function in living cells in which protease inhibition by genetic or chemical methods results in robust signal readouts by fluorescence (enhanced green fluorescent protein [eGFP]) or bioluminescence (firefly luciferase). These gain-of-signal systems are scalable to high-throughput platforms for quantitative discrimination between Mpro mutants and/or inhibitor potencies as evidenced by validation of several reported inhibitors. Additional utility is shown by single Mpro amino acid variants and structural information combining to demonstrate that …

Biochemical, Biophysical, And Immunological Characterization Of Respiratory Secretions In Severe Sars-Cov-2 Infections, Michael J Kratochvil, Gernot Kaber, Sally Demirdjian, Pamela C Cai, Elizabeth B Burgener, Nadine Nagy, Graham L Barlow, Medeea Popescu, Mark R Nicolls, Michael G Ozawa, Donald P Regula, Ana E Pacheco-Navarro, Samuel Yang, Vinicio A De Jesus Perez, Harry Karmouty-Quintana, Andrew M Peters, Bihong Zhao, Maximilian L Buja, Pamela Y Johnson, Robert B Vernon, Thomas N Wight, Carlos E Milla, Angela J Rogers, Andrew J Spakowitz, Sarah C Heilshorn, Paul L Bollyky

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Thick, viscous respiratory secretions are a major pathogenic feature of COVID-19, but the composition and physical properties of these secretions are poorly understood. We characterized the composition and rheological properties (i.e., resistance to flow) of respiratory secretions collected from intubated COVID-19 patients. We found the percentages of solids and protein content were greatly elevated in COVID-19 compared with heathy control samples and closely resembled levels seen in cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease known for thick, tenacious respiratory secretions. DNA and hyaluronan (HA) were major components of respiratory secretions in COVID-19 and were likewise abundant in cadaveric lung tissues from these …

A Multi-Ethnic Polygenic Risk Score Is Associated With Hypertension Prevalence And Progression Throughout Adulthood, Nuzulul Kurniansyah, Matthew O Goodman, Tanika N Kelly, Tali Elfassy, Kerri L Wiggins, Joshua C Bis, Xiuqing Guo, Walter Palmas, Kent D Taylor, Henry J Lin, Jeffrey Haessler, Yan Gao, Daichi Shimbo, Jennifer A Smith, Bing Yu, Elena V Feofanova, Roelof A J Smit, Zhe Wang, Shih-Jen Hwang, Simin Liu, Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Joann E Manson, Donald M Lloyd-Jones, Stephen S Rich, Ruth J F Loos, Susan Redline, Adolfo Correa, Charles Kooperberg, Myriam Fornage, Robert C Kaplan, Bruce M Psaty, Jerome I Rotter, Donna K Arnett, Alanna C Morrison, Nora Franceschini, Daniel Levy, Tamar Sofer, Nhlbi Trans-Omics In Precision Medicine (Topmed) Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In a multi-stage analysis of 52,436 individuals aged 17-90 across diverse cohorts and biobanks, we train, test, and evaluate a polygenic risk score (PRS) for hypertension risk and progression. The PRS is trained using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for systolic, diastolic blood pressure, and hypertension, respectively. For each trait, PRS is selected by optimizing the coefficient of variation (CV) across estimated effect sizes from multiple potential PRS using the same GWAS, after which the 3 trait-specific PRSs are combined via an unweighted sum called "PRSsum", forming the HTN-PRS. The HTN-PRS is associated with both prevalent and incident hypertension at 4-6 …

Promoting Cancer Health Equity: A Qualitative Study Of Mentee And Mentor Perspectives Of A Training Program For Underrepresented Scholars In Cancer Health Disparities, Anastasia Rogova, Isabel Martinez Leal, Maggie Britton, Shine Chang, Kamisha H Escoto, Kayce D Solari Williams, Crystal Roberson, Lorna H Mcneill, Lorraine R Reitzel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Racial and ethnic minorities, and women, experience stark disparities in cancer risk behaviors and mortality rates, yet often remain underrepresented in scientific research positions. We conducted an exploratory, qualitative study to examine the value of mentored research experience as part of an NCI-funded research training program designed to increase the representation of minority and women scientists in cancer disparities research. Using individual interviews, we explored 16 mentees' and 7 mentors' program experiences and perspectives to identify the most effective strategies to build strong mentoring relationships that could ultimately contribute to increased representation in health disparities research. Two expert analysts employed …

Case Report: Successful Treatment Of A Child With Covid-19 Reinfection-Induced Fulminant Myocarditis By Cytokine-Adsorbing Oxiris® Hemofilter Continuous Veno-Venous Hemofiltration And Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, Phuc H Phan, Dung T Nguyen, Nam H Dao, Ha T T Nguyen, An V Vu, Son T Hoang, Lam V Nguyen, Tung V Cao, Dien M Tran

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Indirect cardiomyocyte damage-related hyperinflammatory response is one of the key mechanisms in COVID-19-induced fulminant myocarditis. In addition to the clinical benefit of using cytokines absorption hemofiltration, the effectiveness of instituting veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) support for cardiac compromise has been reported. However, current literature enunciates a paucity of available data on the effectiveness of these novel modalities.

CASE PRESENTATION: We reported a 9-year-old boy with recurrent COVID-19 infection-causing fulminant myocarditis, who was treated successfully by using novel modalities of

CONCLUSION: We conclude that the novel highly-absorptive hemofilter CVVH and VA-ECMO may be effective treatment modalities in managing SARS-CoV-2-induced …

Exploring School Staff Perceptions Relating To Animals And Their Involvement In Interventions To Support Mental Health, Rhoda A Leos, Paula M Cuccaro, John R Herbold, Belinda F Hernandez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Given the growing awareness of the health benefits of human-animal interactions, the use of animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) in educational settings has increased over the years. While many school districts are now considering or utilizing AAIs, the literature investigating AAI-related perceptions among school stakeholders is limited with previous studies focusing on evaluating specific programs. to address this gap, a qualitative exploratory study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with school staff in the San Antonio, TX community. A total of 11 interviews were completed with staff serving preschool and elementary school age children. Data collected from interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. …

Challenges Created By The Covid-19 Pandemic: Pediatric Emergency Medicine And Disaster Management Perspectives, Thomas E Tanner, Nichole R Davis, Brent D Kaziny, Erin E Endom, Esther M Sampayo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has presented unique challenges to pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) departments. The purpose of this study was to identify these challenges and ascertain how centers overcame barriers in creating solutions to continue to provide high-quality care and keep their workforce safe during the early pandemic.

METHODS: This is a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with physicians in leadership positions who have disaster or emergency management experience. Participants were identified through purposive sampling. Interviews were recorded and transcribed electronically. Themes and codes were extracted from the transcripts by 2 independent coders. Constant comparison analysis was …

Unpacking Misinfodemic During A Global Health Crisis: A Qualitative Inquiry Of Psychosocial Characteristics In Social Media Interactions, Sofia M Olivares, Sahiti Myneni

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The pervasiveness of health information in social media has led to a modern misinformation crisis, also known as a misinfodemic. Misinfodemics have upended public health activities as clearly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study is to characterize social media content and information sources using theory-driven health behavior and psychology constructs to better understand the motifs of misinformation and their role in the dissemination of health (mis)information in Twitter posts. We analyzed 1,400 randomly selected tweets related to COVID-19 to ascertain four important variables, what is the tweet about (content), how is it structured (linguistic features), who …

Latent Linguistic Motifs In Social Media Postings Resisting Covid-19 Misinformation, Tavleen Singh, Sofia Olivares, Sahiti Myneni

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Social media has become a predominant source of information for many health care consumers. However, false and misleading information is a pervasive problem in this context. Specifically, health-related misinformation has become a significant public health challenge, impeding the effectiveness of public health awareness campaigns and resulting in suboptimal responsiveness to the communication of legitimate risk-related information. Little is known about the mechanisms driving the seeding and spreading of such information. In this paper, we specifically examine COVID-19 tweets which attempt to correct misinformation. We employ a mixed-methods approach comprising qualitative coding, deep learning classification, and computerized text analysis to understand …

Top-Ld: A Tool To Explore Linkage Disequilibrium With Topmed Whole-Genome Sequence Data, Le Huang, Jonathan D Rosen, Quan Sun, Jiawen Chen, Marsha M Wheeler, Ying Zhou, Yuan-I Min, Charles Kooperberg, Matthew P Conomos, Adrienne M Stilp, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Ani Manichaikul, Ruth J F Loos, Eimear E Kenny, Thomas W Blackwell, Albert V Smith, Goo Jun, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Ginger Metcalf, Eric Boerwinkle, Laura M Raffield, Alex P Reiner, Paul L Auer, Yun Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Current publicly available tools that allow rapid exploration of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between markers (e.g., HaploReg and LDlink) are based on whole-genome sequence (WGS) data from 2,504 individuals in the 1000 Genomes Project. Here, we present toP-LD, an online tool to explore LD inferred with high-coverage (∼30×) WGS data from 15,578 individuals in the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. toP-LD provides a significant upgrade compared to current LD tools, as the toPMed WGS data provide a more comprehensive representation of genetic variation than the 1000 Genomes data, particularly for rare variants and in the specific populations that we …

Predictive Performance Of Different Ntcp Techniques For Radiation-Induced Esophagitis In Nsclc Patients Receiving Proton Radiotherapy, Mei Chen, Zeming Wang, Shengpeng Jiang, Jian Sun, Li Wang, Narayan Sahoo, G Brandon Gunn, Steven J Frank, Cheng Xu, Jiayi Chen, Quynh-Nhu Nguyen, Joe Y Chang, Zhongxing Liao, X Ronald Zhu, Xiaodong Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study aimed to compare the predictive performance of different modeling methods in developing normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models for predicting radiation-induced esophagitis (RE) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving proton radiotherapy. The dataset was composed of 328 NSCLC patients receiving passive-scattering proton therapy and 41.6% of the patients experienced ≥ grade 2 RE. Five modeling methods were used to build NTCP models: standard Lyman-Kutcher-Burman (sLKB), generalized LKB (gLKB), multivariable logistic regression using two variable selection procedures-stepwise forward selection (Stepwise-MLR), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO-MLR), and support vector machines (SVM). Predictive performance was internally …

A Multi-Task Gaussian Process Self-Attention Neural Network For Real-Time Prediction Of The Need For Mechanical Ventilators In Covid-19 Patients, Kai Zhang, Siddharth Karanth, Bela Patel, Robert Murphy, Xiaoqian Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has overwhelmed the capacity of healthcare resources and posed a challenge for worldwide hospitals. The ability to distinguish potentially deteriorating patients from the rest helps facilitate reasonable allocation of medical resources, such as ventilators, hospital beds, and human resources. The real-time accurate prediction of a patient's risk scores could also help physicians to provide earlier respiratory support for the patient and reduce the risk of mortality.

METHODS: We propose a robust real-time prediction model for the in-hospital COVID-19 patients' probability of requiring mechanical ventilation (MV). The end-to-end neural network model incorporates the Multi-task …

Association Of Alcohol Use And Physical Activity With Body Mass Index In Mexican-Origin Adults, Natalia I Heredia, Qiong Dong, Shine Chang, Lorna H Mcneill

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Studies across racial/ethnic groups indicate that physical activity (PA) and alcohol consumption are positively associated, and that alcohol consumption is negatively associated with body mass index (BMI), but this relationship is less often evaluated in Hispanics. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between alcohol consumption, PA, and BMI in Hispanic adults.

METHODS: In this secondary data analysis of a Mexican-American cohort, we collected self-reported PA, alcohol consumption, and demographics, and measured height and weight. Linear regression assessed the association between PA and alcohol consumption with BMI, controlling for covariates. Total sample for analyses was n …

External Validation Of A Model Determining Risk Of Neoplastic Progression Of Barrett’S Esophagus In A Cohort Of Us Veterans, Theresa H Nguyen, Aaron P Thrift, Gyanprakash A Ketwaroo, Xianglin L Du, Luis Leon Novelo, Rollin George, Daniel G Rosen, Hashem B El-Serag

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) in those with Barrett's esophagus (BE) is 11-fold greater than the general population. It remains unclear which BE patients are at highest risk of progression to EAC. We aimed to validate a predictive model risk-stratifying BE patients.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at the Houston Veteran Affairs Medical Center of consecutive patients with a new diagnosis of BE from November 1990 to January 2019. Study follow-up was through February 2020. Patients were excluded if they had no follow-up EGD with esophageal biopsy sampling after the initial BE-diagnosing EGD or evidence …

Assessing The Established Competency Categories Of The Biosafety, Infection Prevention, And Public Health Professions: A Guide For Addressing Needed Professional Development Training For The Current And Next Pandemic, Robert J Emery, Scott J Patlovich, Kristin G King, John M Lowe, Janelle Rios

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A recent series of widespread infectious disease outbreaks has highlighted commonalities and differences between three key professions that operate on the front lines of response in support of research and/or direct healthcare providers: biosafety, infection prevention, and public health. This assessment, which builds upon previous study by the authors, examines the stated professional competency categories for these three areas, highlighting similarities and differences. This assessment is important as these professions are being drawn together in an operational environment driven by the current pandemic and inevitably future disease outbreaks. Cross-training opportunities for the various professions are proposed.

Responding To Natural And Industrial Disasters: Partnerships And Lessons Learned, Elaine Symanski, Heyreoun An Han, Inkyu Han, Michelle Mcdaniel, Kristina W Whitworth, Sheryl Mccurdy, William Brett Perkison, Amal Rammah, P Grace Tee Lewis, George L Delclos, Elena Craft, Melissa Bondy, Cheryl Lyn Walker, Loren Hopkins, José Guillermo Cedeño Laurent, Daisy James

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to provide insights learned from disaster research response (DR2) efforts following Hurricane Harvey in 2017 to launch DR2 activities following the Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) fire in Deer Park, Texas, in 2019.

METHODS: A multidisciplinary group of academic, community, and government partners launched a myriad of DR2 activities.

RESULTS: The DR2 response to Hurricane Harvey focused on enhancing environmental health literacy around clean-up efforts, measuring environmental contaminants in soil and water in impacted neighborhoods, and launching studies to evaluate the health impact of the disaster. The lessons learned after Harvey enabled rapid DR2 …

External Validation Of A Model Determining Risk Of Neoplastic Progression Of Barrett's Esophagus In A Cohort Of Us Veterans, Theresa H Nguyen, Aaron P Thrift, Gyanprakash A Ketwaroo, Xianglin L Du, Luis Leon Novelo, Rollin George, Daniel G Rosen, Hashem B El-Serag

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) in those with Barrett's esophagus (BE) is 11-fold greater than the general population. It remains unclear which BE patients are at highest risk of progression to EAC. We aimed to validate a predictive model risk-stratifying BE patients.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at the Houston Veteran Affairs Medical Center of consecutive patients with a new diagnosis of BE from November 1990 to January 2019. Study follow-up was through February 2020. Patients were excluded if they had no follow-up EGD with esophageal biopsy sampling after the initial BE-diagnosing EGD or evidence …

Integrative Analysis Of Clinical And Epigenetic Biomarkers Of Mortality, Tianxiao Huan, Steve Nguyen, Elena Colicino, Carolina Ochoa-Rosales, W David Hill, Jennifer A Brody, Mette Soerensen, Yan Zhang, Antoine Baldassari, Mohamed Ahmed Elhadad, Tanaka Toshiko, Yinan Zheng, Arce Domingo-Relloso, Dong Heon Lee, Jiantao Ma, Chen Yao, Chunyu Liu, Shih-Jen Hwang, Roby Joehanes, Myriam Fornage, Jan Bressler, Joyce B J Van Meurs, Birgit Debrabant, Jonas Mengel-From, Jacob Hjelmborg, Kaare Christensen, Pantel Vokonas, Joel Schwartz, Sina A Gahrib, Nona Sotoodehnia, Colleen M Sitlani, Sonja Kunze, Christian Gieger, Annette Peters, Melanie Waldenberger, Ian J Deary, Luigi Ferrucci, Yishu Qu, Philip Greenland, Donald M Lloyd-Jones, Lifang Hou, Stefania Bandinelli, Trudy Voortman, Brenner Hermann, Andrea Baccarelli, Eric Whitsel, James S Pankow, Daniel Levy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DNA methylation (DNAm) has been reported to be associated with many diseases and with mortality. We hypothesized that the integration of DNAm with clinical risk factors would improve mortality prediction. We performed an epigenome-wide association study of whole blood DNAm in relation to mortality in 15 cohorts (n = 15,013). During a mean follow-up of 10 years, there were 4314 deaths from all causes including 1235 cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths and 868 cancer deaths. Ancestry-stratified meta-analysis of all-cause mortality identified 163 CpGs in European ancestry (EA) and 17 in African ancestry (AA) participants at p < 1 × 10

Regularized Regression On Compositional Trees With Application To Mri Analysis, Bingkai Wang, Brian S Caffo, Xi Luo, Chin-Fu Liu, Andreia V Faria, Michael I Miller, Yi Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A compositional tree refers to a tree structure on a set of random variables where each random variable is a node and composition occurs at each non-leaf node of the tree. As a generalization of compositional data, compositional trees handle more complex relationships among random variables and appear in many disciplines, such as brain imaging, genomics and finance. We consider the problem of sparse regression on data that are associated with a compositional tree and propose a transformation-free tree-based regularized regression method for component selection. The regularization penalty is designed based on the tree structure and encourages a sparse tree …