Public Health Commons^™

Measuring The Impact Of A Delay In Care On Pediatric Otolaryngologic Surgery Completion, Geethanjeli N Mahendran, Ching Siong Tey, Mary Frances Musso, Grace Shebha Anand, Jeffrey Larson, Mitesh Mehta, Lara Reichert, Kara Prickett, Nikhila Pinnapureddy Raol

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: To determine if postponement of elective pediatric otorhinolaryngology surgeries results in a change in overall healthcare utilization and if there is any commensurate impact on disease progression.

Methods: We identified patients ≤18 years of age whose surgeries were postponed at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdown. We then tracked patients' rate of and patterns of rescheduling surgery. Surveys were also sent to caregivers to better characterize his/her decision regarding moving forward with his/her child's surgery during COVID-19.

Results: A total of 1915 pediatric patients had elective surgeries canceled, of which 992 (51.8%) were rescheduled within 4 months. No …

Molecular Maestro In The Lung: The Sphingolipid Rheostat, Joselyn Rojas-Quintero, Francesca Polverino

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

A Simple, Interpretable Machine Learning Model Based On Clinical Factors Accurately Predicts Incident Dysplasia Or Malignancy In Barrett's Esophagus, Ashwin Rao, Jasmine Haydel, Samuel Ma, Aaron P Thrift, Theresa Nguyen-Wenker, Hashem B El-Serag

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose: Identifying patients likely to develop dysplasia or malignancy is critical for effective surveillance in patients with Barrett's Esophagus (BE). However, current predictive models are limited. We evaluated the performance of machine learning (ML) models in predicting incident dysplasia or malignancy in a cohort of veteran patients with BE.

Methods: We analyzed data from 598 patients newly diagnosed with non-dysplastic BE (NDBE), BE indefinite for dysplasia (BE-IND), and BE with non-persistent low-grade dysplasia (LGD) at the Michael DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center from November 1990 to January 2019 with follow-up through January 2024. Progressors were patients who developed persistent LGD, …

Developing Culturally Centered Outreach Materials For Rural Native Veterans, Alexandra B Caloudas, Kelley Arredondo, Gail Beauchamp, Sharon Anastas, Kathy Marchant-Miros, Kristen Frosio, Giselle Day, Katherine Bay, Stephanie Day, Jan Lindsay, Jay Shore

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Native Americans serve in the U.S. military at the highest rate per capita of any ethnoracial group and have elevated rates of mental health (MH) difficulties compared to other ethnoracial groups, including posttraumatic stress disorder, alcohol use disorders, and suicide. Almost half of Native Veterans live in rural areas; rurality is associated with significant barriers to MH services. Engaging in outreach with Native Veterans is an important pathway for connecting them with MH care, but the outreach process and educational materials must be culturally aligned to be more effective. We collaborated with partners at a rural Department of Veterans Affairs …

Hemorrhagic Gastropathy From Paclitaxel-Carboplatin Combination Chemotherapy, Kristeen Onyirioha, Maya Balakrishnan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A 58-year-old woman with endometrial cancer started on paclitaxel in combination with carboplatin chemotherapy, presented to the hospital with severe anemia and melena. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy with biopsies revealed diffuse gastric antrum hemorrhagic gastropathy without inflammatory changes. She had recurrent admissions with similar presentations during her chemotherapy. Her management included frequent blood transfusions, endoscopic Argon plasma coagulation to hemorrhagic lesions, and a prolonged course of proton pump inhibition to facilitate post-Argon plasma coagulation mucosal healing. Weeks after completing chemotherapy, her hemoglobin improved and recurrent upper gastrointestinal bleeding resolved. In this case, we identify a rare paclitaxel, in combination with carboplatin, associated …

Racial And Ethnic Disparity For Cancer Mortality In General And Single-Payer Healthcare Systems In The United States, Rock Bum Kim, Emily Zhou, Kaitlin N Swinnerton, Jennifer La, Shengling Ma, Mrinal Ranjan, Nhan V Do, Mary T Brophy, Nathanael R Fillmore, Ang Li

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: It remains unclear what factors significantly drive racial disparity in cancer survival in the United States (US). We compared adjusted mortality outcomes in cancer patients from different racial and ethnic groups on a population level in the US and a single-payer healthcare system.

Patients and methods: We selected adult patients with incident solid and hematologic malignancies from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 2011-2020 and Veteran Affairs national healthcare system (VA) 2011-2021. We classified the self-reported NIH race and ethnicity into non-Hispanic White (NHW), non-Hispanic Black (NHB), non-Hispanic Asian Pacific Islander (API), and Hispanic. Cox regression models for …

Incidence Of And Risk Factors For Hospital-Acquired Bleeding In People With Cancer: A Systematic Review, Mansour Gergi, Jinah Kim, Amalia Dolan, Laura Haines, Ang Li, Neil A Zakai

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Hospital-acquired (HA) bleeding (bleeding occurring during hospitalization) in cancer patients is poorly characterized, potentially increasing morbidity and mortality due to under- or overprescription of low-dose anticoagulation for venous thromboembolism prevention.

Objectives: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis (as appropriate) to identify the incidence of and risk factors for HA bleeding in people with cancer.

Methods: A systematic English-language search was conducted using Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library. Keywords and controlled vocabulary related to bleeding risk in hospitalized cancer patients were iteratively refined. Studies assessing HA bleeding as a primary or coprimary endpoint were included, …

The Resilience Of The Human Lungs: Evolution, Smoke, And Disease, Joan B Soriano, Francesca Polverino

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Low-Dose Metformin Requires Brain Rap1 For Its Antidiabetic Action, Hsiao-Yun Lin, Weisheng Lu, Yanlin He, Yukiko Fu, Kentaro Kaneko, Peimeng Huang, Ana B De La Puente-Gomez, Chunmei Wang, Yongjie Yang, Feng Li, Yong Xu, Makoto Fukuda

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Metformin is the most commonly prescribed antidiabetes drug, yet its precise mechanism of action remains controversial. Previous studies have suggested that metformin acts peripherally by reducing hepatic glucose output and altering gut functions. Here, we report a neural mechanism via the small guanosine triphosphatase Ras-related protein 1 (Rap1). Mice with forebrain-specific Rap1 knockout exhibited resistance to the antidiabetic effects of low-dose metformin while remaining sensitive to other antidiabetic agents. Centrally administered metformin inhibited brain Rap1 and reduced hyperglycemia. Conversely, forced activation of brain Rap1 increased glycemia and abolished the glycemic effect of metformin. Metformin activated a specific subset of neurons …

Nerve-To-Cancer Transfer Of Mitochondria During Cancer Metastasis, Gregory Hoover, Shila Gilbert, Olivia Curley, Clémence Obellianne, Mike T Lin, William Hixson, Terry W Pierce, Joel F Andrews, Mikhail F Alexeyev, Yi Ding, Ping Bu, Fariba Behbod, Daniel Medina, Jeffrey T Chang, Gustavo Ayala, Simon Grelet

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The nervous system has a pivotal role in cancer biology, and pathological investigations have linked intratumoural nerve density to metastasis1. However, the precise impact of cancer-associated neurons and the communication channels at the nerve–cancer interface remain poorly understood. Previous cancer denervation models in rodents and humans have highlighted robust cancer dependency on nerves, but the underlying mechanisms that drive nerve-mediated cancer aggressivity remain unknown2,3. Here we show that cancer-associated neurons enhance cancer metabolic plasticity by transferring mitochondria to cancer cells. Breast cancer denervation and nerve–cancer coculture models confirmed that neurons significantly improve tumour energetics. …

Effect Of Social Drivers Of Health On Screening For Type 2 Diabetes In Individuals With Gestational Diabetes During Delivery Hospitalization And 4-12 Weeks Postpartum, Ingmar N Bastian, Manisha Gandhi, Mark A Turrentine

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: To prospectively evaluate postpartum diabetes screening rates among individuals with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) offered testing during the delivery hospitalization or at 4-12 weeks postpartum compared with historic outpatient-only screening and to assess the role of social and structural drivers of health.

Methods: This retrospective study compared patients with GDM who delivered between January 1 and December 31, 2023 (retrospective cohort), and underwent outpatient screening at 4-12 weeks postpartum with a 75-g 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with a prospective cohort (June 24-November 5, 2024) of the first 100 patients who underwent screening in the immediate postpartum delivery …

Plasminogen Mutation-Associated Thrombotic Microangiopathy And Role Of Anticoagulation: A Single Institution Case Series, Shreya Agarwal, Nicola Pozzi, Senthil Sukumar, Camila Masias, Anuja Java, Spero Cataland

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Knowledge gaps exist regarding the role of coagulation pathway mutations such as those in the plasminogen (PLG) gene in the pathogenesis of thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) and treatment outcomes.

Objectives: This study aims to describe the unique phenotypic features of patients with PLG mutations and perform structural mapping of the variants to enhance variant interpretation.

Methods: This was a single-center retrospective study of patients with TMA in whom genetic testing was performed between 2011 and 2023. Data were collected regarding demographics, clinical features at their first presentation, renal outcomes, genetic mutations, and recurrence for those who were found …

Stool-Based Molecular Tuberculosis Treatment Monitoring: A Faster Means For Detecting Persistent Mycobacteria Compared To Phenotypic Culture, Clement Gascua Adu Gyamfi, Abigail Seeger, Durbbin Mulengwa, Anca Vasiliu, Lucia Carratala-Castro, Bariki Mtafya, Nontobeko Maphalala, Shilzia Munguambe, Belen Saavedra, Tara Ness, Gugu Maphalala, Sozinho Acacio, Edson Mambuque, Joanna Ehrlich, Rojelio Mejia, Mangaliso Ziyane, H Lester Kirchner, Christoph Lange, Alexander Kay, Alberto L Garcia-Basteiro, Anna Mandalakas, Andrew R Dinardo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) treatment monitoring is hindered by the lack of a rapidly measured biomarker that accurately predicts clinically relevant outcomes. Symptom screening poorly correlates with bacillary burden. Although culture is a direct measure of viable bacillary burden, the long turnaround time makes it clinically irrelevant.

Methods: The TB treatment monitoring potential of stool-based, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was prospectively assessed among 231 participants of all ages from Eswatini, Tanzania, and Mozambique with microbiologically confirmed TB. Stool qPCR results were compared to sputum culture, persistent symptoms, drug resistance, and World Health Organization TB outcomes.

Results: Quantitative bacillary burden measured …

Single-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Biomarker Heterogeneity Linked To Cdk4/6 Inhibitor Resistance In Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Ilenia Migliaccio, Martina Bonechi, Dario Romagnoli, Giulia Boccalini, Francesca Galardi, Cristina Guarducci, Agostina Nardone, Rachel Schiff, Laura Biganzoli, Luca Malorni, Matteo Benelli

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cyclin dependent kinases 4 and 6 inhibitors have brought great improvements in the treatment of luminal breast cancer, but resistance is a major clinical hurdle. Multiple biomarkers of resistance have been proposed, but none is currently utilized in clinical practice. By performing single-cell RNA sequencing of seven palbociclib-naïve luminal breast cancer cell lines and palbociclib-resistant derivatives, we show that established biomarkers and pathways related to CDK4/6i resistance present marked intra- and inter- cell-line heterogeneity. Transcriptional features of resistance could be already observed in naïve cells correlating with levels of sensitivity (IC50) to palbociclib. Resistant derivatives showed transcriptional clusters that significantly …

Role And Use Of Race In Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning Models Related To Health, Martin C Were, Ang Li, Bradley A Malin, Zhijun Yin, Joseph R Coco, Benjamin X Collins, Ellen Wright Clayton, Laurie L Novak, Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup, Abiodun O Oluyomi, Shilo Anders, Chao Yan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The role and use of race within health-related artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models have sparked increasing attention and controversy. Despite the complexity and breadth of related issues, a robust and holistic framework to guide stakeholders in their examination and resolution remains lacking. This perspective provides a broad-based, systematic, and crosscutting landscape analysis of race-related challenges, structured around the AI and ML life cycle and framed through "points to consider" to support inquiry and decision-making.

Integrating Circulating Tumor Dna Into Clinical Management Of Colorectal Cancer: Practical Implications And Therapeutic Challenges, Nikhil Vojjala, Viktoriya Gibatova, Raj N Shah, Sakshi Singal, Rishab Prabhu, Geetha Krishnamoorthy, Karen Riggins, Nagaishwarya Moka

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The American Cancer Society estimates that over 152,000 new cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) were diagnosed in 2024, with more than 105,000 cases affecting the colon and 46,000 involving the rectum. CRC remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with an estimated 53,010 deaths in 2024. In the era of precision medicine, which incorporates molecular and environmental information into clinical decision-making, identifying patients harboring a deficiency in Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair allowed for targeted immunotherapies and significantly reduced CRC-related mortality. A significant advancement in this domain is the application of liquid biopsy, which has emerged …

Phosphoglycerate Mutase Regulates Treg Differentiation Through Control Of Serine Synthesis And One-Carbon Metabolism, Wesley H Godfrey, Judy J Lee, Shruthi Shanmukha, Kaho Cho, Xiaojing Deng, Chandra Shekar R Ambati, Vasanta Putluri, Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, Paul M Kim, Nagireddy Putluri, Michael D Kornberg

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The differentiation and suppressive functions of regulatory CD4 T cells (Tregs) are supported by a broad array of metabolic changes, providing potential therapeutic targets for immune modulation. In this study, we focused on the regulatory role of glycolytic enzymes in Tregs and identified phosphoglycerate mutase (PGAM) as being differentially overexpressed in Tregs and associated with a highly suppressive phenotype. Pharmacologic or genetic inhibition of PGAM reduced Treg differentiation and suppressive function while reciprocally inducing markers of a pro-inflammatory, T helper 17 (Th17)-like state. The regulatory role of PGAM was dependent on the contribution of 3-phosphoglycerate (3 PG), the PGAM substrate, …

Dietary Lipids Induce Ppard And Bcl6 To Repress Macrophage Il-23 Induction After Intestinal Injury And Lps Exposure, Ashleigh M Gil, Daniel F Zegarra-Ruiz, Wan-Jung Wu, Kendra Norwood, Adrien Assie, Buck S Samuel, Angela M Major, Gretchen E Diehl, Andrea A Hill Mcalester

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Unresolved tissue damage is a common feature of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) that facilitates disease progression. Here, we showed that high animal fat diets (HFD), an environmental risk factor associated with IBD pathogenesis, suppress intestinal macrophage production of critical tissue repair responses after damage. This includes reduced IL-23 production, which drives downstream production of IL-22, which is needed for barrier repair. Indicating that dietary lipids interfere with responses to microbial molecules needed to induce barrier protective functions, we found oleic acid could directly suppress macrophage Il23a induction after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment. Deleting the lipid transporter CD36 on macrophages restored the …

A Multi-Modal Pelvic Mri Dataset For Deep Learning-Based Pelvic Organ Segmentation In Endometriosis, Xiaomin Liang, Linda A Alpuing Radilla, Kamand Khalaj, Haaniya Dawoodally, Chinmay Mokashi, Xiaoming Guan, Kirk E Roberts, Sunil A Sheth, Varaha S Tammisetti, Luca Giancardo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Endometriosis affects approximately 190 million females of reproductive age worldwide. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been recommended as the primary non-invasive diagnostic method for endometriosis. This study presents new female pelvic MRI multicenter datasets for endometriosis and shows the baseline segmentation performance of two auto-segmentation pipelines: the self-configuring nnU-Net and RAovSeg, a custom network. The multi-sequence endometriosis MRI scans from two clinical institutions were collected. A multicenter dataset of 51 subjects with manual labels for multiple pelvic structures from three raters was used to assess interrater agreement. A second single-center dataset of 81 subjects with labels for multiple pelvic structures …

No Evidence Of Pitavastatin Effect On Muscle Area Or Density Among People With Hiv, Kristine M Erlandson, Triin Umbleja, Heather J Ribaudo, Michael T Lu, Jana Taron, Marissa R Diggs, Pamela S Douglas, Kathleen V Fitch, Carl J Fichtenbaum, Markella V Zanni, Judith A Aberg, Maria C Rodriguez-Barradas, Katharine Breaux, Rosalba Gomez Morones, Craig A Sponseller, Judith S Currier, Gerald S Bloomfield, Sarah M Chu, Alex B Lu, Carlos D Malvestutto, Steven K Grinspoon, Todd T Brown

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Skeletal muscle area (MA) and muscle density (MD) are key determinants of physical function and typically decline with increasing age. Statins have well-known musculoskeletal effects but whether statins impact MA or MD is not well established, especially in the setting of randomized treatment.

Methods: REPRIEVE is a double-blind randomized trial evaluating the effect of pitavastatin for primary prevention of major adverse cardiovascular events in people with HIV (PWH). Thoracic paraspinal, pectoralis, and infraspinatus MA and MD were assessed among Mechanistic Substudy participants with CT at baseline and month 24.

Results: Of 804 substudy participants, 510 remained on study treatment …

No Evidence Of Pitavastatin Effect On Muscle Area Or Density Among People With Hiv, Kristine M Erlandson, Triin Umbleja, Heather J Ribaudo, Michael T Lu, Jana Taron, Marissa R Diggs, Pamela S Douglas, Kathleen V Fitch, Carl J Fichtenbaum, Markella V Zanni, Judith A Aberg, Maria C Rodriguez-Barradas, Katharine Breaux, Rosalba Gomez Morones, Craig A Sponseller, Judith S Currier, Gerald S Bloomfield, Sarah M Chu, Alex B Lu, Carlos D Malvestutto, Steven K Grinspoon, Todd T Brown

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Skeletal muscle area (MA) and muscle density (MD) are key determinants of physical function and typically decline with increasing age. Statins have well-known musculoskeletal effects but whether statins impact MA or MD is not well established, especially in the setting of randomized treatment.

Methods: REPRIEVE is a double-blind randomized trial evaluating the effect of pitavastatin for primary prevention of major adverse cardiovascular events in people with HIV (PWH). Thoracic paraspinal, pectoralis, and infraspinatus MA and MD were assessed among Mechanistic Substudy participants with CT at baseline and month 24.

Results: Of 804 substudy participants, 510 remained on study treatment …

No Evidence Of Pitavastatin Effect On Muscle Area Or Density Among People With Hiv, Kristine M Erlandson, Triin Umbleja, Heather J Ribaudo, Michael T Lu, Jana Taron, Marissa R Diggs, Pamela S Douglas, Kathleen V Fitch, Carl J Fichtenbaum, Markella V Zanni, Judith A Aberg, Maria C Rodriguez-Barradas, Katharine Breaux, Rosalba Gomez Morones, Craig A Sponseller, Judith S Currier, Gerald S Bloomfield, Sarah M Chu, Alex B Lu, Carlos D Malvestutto, Steven K Grinspoon, Todd T Brown

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy (Rapid ART) is a key strategy for the Ending the HIV Epidemic inititative. In Harris County, Texas, a priority Ending the HIV Epidemic jurisdiction, 57% of persons with HIV receive care at 1 of 5 public agencies that receive funding from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, and HIV/AIDS Bureau. This program administers grants to clinics and local/state programs to deliver medical and support services (Part A) for low-income persons with HIV. In 2019, …

Mouse Metastable Epialleles Are Extremely Rare, Chathura J Gunasekara, Uditha Maduranga, Taylor Zhang, Jonathan N Wells, Maria S Baker, Eleonora Laritsky, Yumei Li, Cristian Coarfa, Yi Zhu, Robert A Waterland

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Metastable epialleles (MEs) are genomic loci at which epigenetic marks are established stochastically during early embryonic development and maintained during subsequent differentiation and throughout life, leading to stable epigenetic and phenotypic variation among genetically identical individuals. Although MEs were first described in mice over 20 years ago, the extent of epigenetic metastability in the mouse genome remains unknown. We present the first unbiased genome-wide screen for MEs in mice. Using deep whole-genome bisulfite sequencing across tissues derived from the three embryonic germ layers in isogenic C57BL/6J mice, we identified only 29 MEs, precisely localizing them and documenting their rarity. Consistent …

Machine Learning Assisted Immune Profiling Of Copd Identifies A Unique Emphysema Subtype Independent Of Gold Stage, Natalie Bordag, Katharina Jandl, Ayu Hutami Syarif, Jürgen Gindlhuber, Diana Schnoegl, Ayse Ceren Mutgan, Vasile Foris, Konrad Hoetzenecker, Panja Maria Boehm, Robab Breyer-Kohansal, Katarina Zeder, Gregor Gorkiewicz, Francesca Polverino, Slaven Crnkovic, Grazyna Kwapiszewska, Leigh Matthew Marsh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a severe, progressive, and heterogeneous disease with a poor outcome. Inflammation plays a central role in disease pathogenesis; however, the interplay between immune changes and disease heterogeneity has been difficult to unravel. We performed a multilevel immunoinflammatory characterization of patients with COPD using flow cytometry, cytokine profiling, single-cell, or spatial transcriptomics in combination with machine learning algorithms. Our cross-cohort analysis demonstrated shared skewing of immune profiles in COPD lungs toward adaptive immune cells. We furthermore identified a subgroup of patients with COPD with a distinct immune profile, characterized by increased antigen-presenting cells, mast cells, …

Sensing The Stiffness: Cellular Mechano-Sensing At The Implant Interface, Patricia S Pardo, Delia Danila, Raja Devesh Kumar Misra, Aladin M Boriek

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this perspective, we highlight the relevance of the FA-Hippo signaling pathway and its regulation of the Yes-associated protein (YAP) and the transcriptional coactivator with a PDZ-binding domain (TAZ) as main players in the process of implants integration. The modulation and responses of YAP/TAZ triggered by substrate and ECM stiffness are of particular interest in the construction of materials used for medical implants. YAP/TAZ nuclear localization and activity respond to the substrate stiffness by several mechanisms that involve the canonical and non-canonical Hippo signaling and independently of the Hippo cascade. YAP/TAZ regulate the expression of genes involved in several mechanisms …

Development And Validation Of Risk Models For Hospital-Acquired Bleeding In Medical Inpatients: The Medical Inpatients Thrombosis And Hemostasis (Mith) Study, Neil A Zakai, Katherine Wilkinson, Andrew D Sparks, Ryan T Packer, Nicholas S Roetker, Allen B Repp, Mansour Gergi, Chris Holmes, Mary Cushman, Timothy B Plante, Hanny Al-Samkari, Allyson M Pishko, William A Wood, Camila Masias, Radhika Gangaraju, Ang Li, David Garcia, Kerri L Wiggins, Jordan K Schaefer, Nicholas L Smith, Augusto Ferraris, Karlyn A Martin, Deirdra R Terrell, Leslie A Mcclure

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Hospital-acquired (HA) bleeding in medical inpatients is a serious complication with limited tools to predict risk.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop and validate risk assessment models (RAMs) for anatomic location-specific HA bleeding in medical inpatients using objective and routinely available risk factors.

Methods: Patients aged ≥18 years admitted to medical hospital services from 6 health systems and 15 hospitals in the United States between 2016 and 2020 for at least 1 midnight and without bleeding at admission were eligible for inclusion. Two health systems (10 hospitals) formed the development cohort, and 4 systems (5 hospitals) constituted the validation …

Altered Patterning Of Neural Activity In A Neuropathology, Clarissa Hoffman, Jingheng Cheng, Rodrigo Morales, Daoyun Ji, Yuri Dabaghian

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The dynamics of neural circuits and their role in mediating cellular and organismal phenomena remain poorly understood, despite numerous efforts to dissect these processes through precise instantaneous measurements or longer-time averages and approximations. We use an alternative approach: we investigate these dynamics at the system's mesoscale by analyzing spike trains and waveforms. These extended activity patterns carry robust, tractable information, are highly responsive to physiological specifics, and enable detailed tracking of circuit behavior. In particular, this methodology allows for characterizing the functionality of tau-pathology-afflicted hippocampal circuits and identifying circuit-level abnormalities that are missed by through traditional analyses. In healthy mice, …

Exogenous Arginine Differentially Regulates Inflammatory Cytokine And Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression In Macrophages, Kelsey Stayer, Saliha Pathan, Aalekhya Biswas, Huiqiao Li, Yi Zhu, Fong Wilson Lam, Juan Marini, Sundararajah Thevananther

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Immune dysfunction and late mortality from multiorgan failure are hallmarks of severe sepsis. Arginine, a semi-essential amino acid important for protein synthesis, immune response, and circulatory regulation, is deficient in sepsis. However, arginine supplementation in sepsis remains controversial due to the potential to upregulate inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)-mediated excessive nitric oxide (NO) generation in macrophages, leading to vasodilation and hemodynamic catastrophe. Citrulline supplementation has been considered an alternative to replenishing arginine via de novo synthesis, orchestrated by argininosuccinate synthase 1 (ASS1) and argininosuccinate lyase (ASL). However, the functional relevance of the ASS1-ASL pathway in macrophages after endotoxin stimulation is …

Spatial Proximity Of Immune Cell Pairs To Cancer Cells In The Tumor Microenvironment As Biomarkers For Patient Stratification, Jian-Rong Li, Xingxin Pan, Yupei Lin, Yanding Zhao, Yanhong Liu, Yong Li, Christopher I Amos, Chao Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background/objectives: The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a critical role in cancer progression by shaping immune responses and influencing patient outcomes. We hypothesized that the relative proximity of specific immune cell pairs to cancer cells within the TME could help predict their pro- or anti-tumor functions and reflect clinically relevant immune dynamics.

Methods: We analyzed imaging mass cytometry (IMC) data from lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cohorts. For each immune cell pair, we calculated a relative distance (RD) score, which quantifies the spatial difference in proximity to cancer cells. We assessed the prognostic and predictive significance of these …

Impact Of Sanitation System Types On Residential And Environmental Presence Of Human Waste And Parasites In Alabama, Brandon Hunter, Catherine Coleman Flowers, Rojelio Mejia, Marc Arnold Deshusses

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Lowndes County is a predominantly Black rural county in Alabama, in the United States, which has a historical and current legacy of racial discrimination, creating inequitable infrastructure access and adverse health impacts. Over 80% rely on on-site sanitation infrastructure and most are failing. A community assessment of exposure to untreated sewage was conducted using samples from residential drinking water, surface swabs, and soil combined with environmental water and soil samples using culture-based and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) methods. Testing varied slightly across samples, due to difficulty of access or availability. Of 43 households, 68% and 55% of houses had …