Clinical Epidemiology Commons^™

Hpv Vaccination In Africa In The Covid-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Survey Of Healthcare Providers' Knowledge, Training, And Recommendation Practices, Joel Fokom Domgue, Issimouha Dille, Sharon Kapambwe, Robert Yu, Freddy Gnangnon, Lameck Chinula, Gad Murenzi, Nomonde Mbatani, Mala Pande, Fatoumata Sidibe, Joseph Kamgno, Bangaly Traore, Hicham El Fazazi, Mamadou Diop, Pierre-Marie Tebeu, Mohenou Isidore Diomande, Fabrice Lecuru, Isaac Adewole, Marie Plante, Partha Basu, Jean-Marie Dangou, Sanjay Shete

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Although the burden of cervical cancer in Africa is highest, HPV vaccination coverage remains alarmingly low in this region. Providers' knowledge and recommendation are key drivers of HPV vaccination uptake. Yet, evidence about providers' knowledge and recommendation practices about the HPV vaccine against a backdrop of emerging vaccine hesitancy fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic is lacking in Africa.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021-2022 among healthcare providers involved in cervical cancer prevention activities in Africa. They were invited to report prior training, the availability of the HPV vaccine in their practice, whether they recommended the HPV vaccine, …

Post-Covid-19 Cognitive Symptoms In Patients Assisted By A Teleassistance Service: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Lívia Paula Freire Bonfim, Thais Rotsen Correa, Bruno Cabaleiro Cortizo Freire, Thais Marques Pedroso, Daniella Nunes Pereira, Thalita Baptisteli Fernandes, Luciane Kopittke, Clara Rodrigues Alves De Oliveira, Antonio Lucio Teixeira, Milena Soriano Marcolino

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the frequency of long-term post-COVID-19 cognitive symptoms is a matter of concern given the impact it may have on the work and quality of life of affected people.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence of post-acute COVID-19 cognitive symptoms, as well as the associated risk factors.

METHODS: Retrospective cohort, including outpatients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and who were assisted by a public telehealth service provided by the Telehealth Network of Minas Gerais (TNMG), during the acute phase of the disease, between December/2020 and March/2022. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire, applied …

Simvastatin In Critically Ill Patients With Covid-19, Thomas E Hills, Elizabeth Lorenzi, Lindsay R Berry, Murali Shyamsundar, Farah Al-Beidh, Djillali Annane, Yaseen Arabi, Diptesh Aryal, Carly Au, Abigail Beane, Zahra Bhimani, Marc Bonten, Charlotte A Bradbury, Frank M Brunkhorst, Aidan Burrell, Meredith Buxton, Carolyn S Calfee, Maurizio Cecconi, Allen C Cheng, Matthew E Cove, Michelle A Detry, Lise J Estcourt, Mark Fitzgerald, Ewan C Goligher, Herman Goossens, Cameron Green, Rashan Haniffa, David A Harrison, Madiha Hashmi, Alisa M Higgins, Christopher Horvat, David T Huang, Nao Ichihara, Deva Jayakumar, Peter S Kruger, François Lamontagne, Lamprini Lampro, Patrick R Lawler, John C Marshall, Alexina J Mason, Anna Mcglothlin, Shay Mcguinness, Zoe K Mcquilten, Bryan J Mcverry, Paul R Mouncey, Srinivas Murthy, Matthew D Neal, Alistair D Nichol, Cecilia M O'Kane, Rachael L Parke, Jane C Parker, Ebenezer Rabindrarajan, Luis F Reyes, Kathryn M Rowan, Hiroki Saito, Marlene Santos, Christina T Saunders, Christopher W Seymour, Manu Shankar-Hari, Pratik Sinha, B Taylor Thompson, Alexis F Turgeon, Anne M Turner, Frank Van De Veerdonk, Sebastian Weis, Ian S Young, Ryan Zarychanski, Roger J Lewis, Colin J Mcarthur, Derek C Angus, Scott M Berry, Lennie P G Derde, Steve A Webb, Anthony C Gordon, Daniel F Mcauley

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of simvastatin in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is unclear.

METHODS: In an ongoing international, multifactorial, adaptive platform, randomized, controlled trial, we evaluated simvastatin (80 mg daily) as compared with no statin (control) in critically ill patients with Covid-19 who were not receiving statins at baseline. The primary outcome was respiratory and cardiovascular organ support-free days, assessed on an ordinal scale combining in-hospital death (assigned a value of -1) and days free of organ support through day 21 in survivors; the analyis used a Bayesian hierarchical ordinal model. The adaptive design included prespecified statistical …

Influenza Viral Infection Is A Risk Factor For Severe Illness In Covid-19 Patients: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study, Jeong-Hwan Hwang, Yeon Seok You, Sang Woo Yeom, Min Gyu Lee, Jong-Hwan Lee, Min Gul Kim, Jong Seung Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In order to prepare for the twindemic of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infection, we investigated the association between influenza infection and subsequent severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. A population-based nationwide cohort study was performed using data from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) in the Republic of Korea. This study included 274,126 individuals who underwent SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing between 20 January 2020 and 1 October 2020. Among these patients, 28,338 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and 4,003 of these individuals had a history of influenza. The control group was selected through 1:1 propensity score matching. In the group of 4,003 COVID-19-positive individuals with …

The Implications Of Ferroptosis In Antibiotic Resistance, Marysol Hohl

Senior Honors Theses

Bacterial infections in the United States are becoming increasingly resistant to existing antibiotic treatments. Due to projected increases in resistance and the recent decrease in novel antibacterials, experts have determined that the United States is in the “post-antibiotic era.” The scientific community has failed to resolve resistance despite the continual discovery of new antibiotic compounds. In the past decade, a novel form of cell death called ferroptosis has been implicated in antibiotic treatment by employing the use of nanotechnology. This literature review will describe the problem of bacterial resistance and demonstrate how current research is pioneering a new age of …

Rapid, High Throughput, Automated Detection Of Sars-Cov-2 Neutralizing Antibodies Against Wuhan-Wt, Delta And Omicron Ba1, Ba2 Spike Trimers, Narayanaiah Cheedarla, Hans P Verkerke, Sindhu Potlapalli, Kaleb Benjamin Mclendon, Anamika Patel, Filipp Frank, William Henry O'Sick, Suneethamma Cheedarla, Tyler Jon Baugh, Gregory L Damhorst, Huixia Wu, Daniel Graciaa, Fuad Hudaib, David N Alter, Janetta Bryksin, Eric A Ortlund, Jeanette Guarner, Sara Auld, Sarita Shah, Wilbur Lam, Dawn Mattoon, Joseph M Johnson, David H Wilson, Madhav V Dhodapkar, Sean R Stowell, Andrew S Neish, John D Roback

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Traditional cellular and live-virus methods for detection of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) are labor- and time-intensive, and thus not suited for routine use in the clinical lab to predict vaccine efficacy and natural immune protection. Here, we report the development and validation of a rapid, high throughput method for measuring SARS-CoV-2 nAbs against native-like trimeric spike proteins. This assay uses a blockade of human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (hACE-2) binding (BoAb) approach in an automated digital immunoassay on the Quanterix HD-X platform. BoAb assays using Wuhan-WT (vaccine strain), delta (B.1.167.2), omicron BA1 and BA2 variant viral strains showed strong correlation …

Intravenous Aviptadil And Remdesivir For Treatment Of Covid-19-Associated Hypoxaemic Respiratory Failure In The Usa (Tesico): A Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Trial, Samuel M Brown, Christina E Barkauskas, Birgit Grund, Shweta Sharma, Andrew N Phillips, Lindsay Leither, Ithan D Peltan, Michael Lanspa, Daniel L Gilstrap, Ahmad Mourad, Kathleen Lane, Jeremy R Beitler, Alexis L Serra, Ivan Garcia, Eyad Almasri, Mohamed Fayed, Kinsley Hubel, Estelle S Harris, Elizabeth A Middleton, Macy A G Barrios, Kusum S Mathews, Neha N Goel, Samuel Acquah, Jarrod Mosier, Cameron Hypes, Elizabeth Salvagio Campbell, Akram Khan, Catherine L Hough, Jennifer G Wilson, Joseph E Levitt, Abhijit Duggal, Siddharth Dugar, Andrew J Goodwin, Charles Terry, Peter Chen, Sam Torbati, Nithya Iyer, Uriel S Sandkovsky, Nicholas J Johnson, Bryce R H Robinson, Michael A Matthay, Neil R Aggarwal, Ivor S Douglas, Jonathan D Casey, Manuel Hache-Marliere, J Georges Youssef, William Nkemdirim, Brad Leshnower, Omar Awan, Sonal Pannu, Darragh Shane O'Mahony, Prasad Manian, J W Awori Hayanga, Glenn W Wortmann, Bruno M Tomazini, Robert F Miller, Jens-Ulrik Jensen, Daniel D Murray, Nina A Bickell, Jigna Zatakia, Sarah Burris, Elizabeth S Higgs, Ven Natarajan, Robin L Dewar, Adam Schechner, Nayon Kang, Alejandro Arenas-Pinto, Fleur Hudson, Adit A Ginde, Wesley H Self, Angela J Rogers, Cathryn F Oldmixon, Haley Morin, Adriana Sanchez, Amy C Weintrob, Alexandre Biasi Cavalcanti, Anne Davis-Karim, Nicole Engen, Eileen Denning, B Taylor Thompson, Annetine C Gelijns, Virginia Kan, Victoria J Davey, Jens D Lundgren, Abdel G Babiker, James D Neaton, H Clifford Lane

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: There is a clinical need for therapeutics for COVID-19 patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure whose 60-day mortality remains at 30-50%. Aviptadil, a lung-protective neuropeptide, and remdesivir, a nucleotide prodrug of an adenosine analog, were compared with placebo among patients with COVID-19 acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure.

METHODS: TESICO was a randomised trial of aviptadil and remdesivir versus placebo at 28 sites in the USA. Hospitalised adult patients were eligible for the study if they had acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure due to confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and were within 4 days of the onset of respiratory failure. Participants could be randomly …

An Observational Study To Develop A Predictive Model For Bacterial Pneumonia Diagnosis In Severe Covid-19 Patients-C19-Pneumoscore, Eloisa Sofia Tanzarella, Joel Vargas, Marco Menghini, Stefania Postorino, Francesca Pozzana, Maria Sole Vallecoccia, Francesco Lorenzo De Matteis, Federico Franchi, Amato Infante, Luigi Larosa, Maria Antonietta Mazzei, Salvatore Lucio Cutuli, Domenico Luca Grieco, Alessandra Bisanti, Simone Carelli, Gianmarco Lombardi, Edoardo Piervincenzi, Gabriele Pintaudi, Tommaso Pirronti, Mario Tumbarello, Massimo Antonelli, Gennaro De Pascale

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In COVID-19 patients, antibiotics overuse is still an issue. A predictive scoring model for the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia at intensive care unit (ICU) admission would be a useful stewardship tool. We performed a multicenter observational study including 331 COVID-19 patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation at ICU admission; 179 patients with bacterial pneumonia; and 152 displaying negative lower-respiratory samplings. A multivariable logistic regression model was built to identify predictors of pulmonary co-infections, and a composite risk score was developed using β-coefficients. We identified seven variables as predictors of bacterial pneumonia: vaccination status (OR 7.01; 95% CI, 1.73-28.39); chronic kidney disease …

Facilitators And Barriers To Effective Scale-Up Of Evidence-Based Nonprofit-Level Hiv Prevention And Treatment Interventions Among Black Men Who Have Sex With Men (Msm), Ugochukwu C. Uzoeghelu

Master's Projects and Capstones

Since the scale-up of HIV/AIDS prevention evidence-based interventions (EBIs) has not been simple in nonprofit settings, it is crucial to examine processes that occur in the translation of the EBIs into practice that affect successful implementation through the lens of nonprofit principles and practices. This paper examines the facilitators and barriers to effective scale-up of evidence-based HIV prevention and treatment services for nonprofit health organizations that serve Black men who have sex with men (MSM). I interviewed nonprofit health organizations (n = 4) engaged in the global response to end the HIV epidemic, specifically those who provide HIV prevention and …

Clinically Stable Covid-19 Patients Presenting To Acute Unscheduled Episodic Care Venues Have Increased Risk Of Hospitalization: Secondary Analysis Of A Randomized Control Trial, Joseph Bledsoe, Scott C Woller, Maria Brooks, Frank C Sciurba, Jerry A Krishnan, Deborah Martin, Peter Hou, Janet Y Lin, Andrei Kindzelski, Eileen Handberg, Bridget-Anne Kirwan, Elaine Zaharris, Lauren Castro, Nancy L Shapiro, Carl J Pepine, Sarah Majercik, Zhuxuan Fu, Yongqi Zhong, Vidya Venugopal, Yu-Hsuan Lai, Paul M Ridker, Jean M Connors

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Assessment for risks associated with acute stable COVID-19 is important to optimize clinical trial enrollment and target patients for scarce therapeutics. To assess whether healthcare system engagement location is an independent predictor of outcomes we performed a secondary analysis of the ACTIV-4B Outpatient Thrombosis Prevention trial.

METHODS: A secondary analysis of the ACTIV-4B trial that was conducted at 52 US sites between September 2020 and August 2021. Participants were enrolled through acute unscheduled episodic care (AUEC) enrollment location (emergency department, or urgent care clinic visit) compared to minimal contact (MC) enrollment (electronic contact from test center lists of positive …

Diagnosis Of Urinary Tract Infections And Rapid Molecular Characterization Of Antibiotic Resistance, Mohammed Harris

All Dissertations

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infectious clinical entities in both community and hospital settings. They have a broad range of clinical severity yet inflict large epidemiological burden of morbidity and mortality on patients and the healthcare system with billions of dollars in cost of treatment. Understanding what methods are optimal for diagnosing UTIs are critical to mitigate the marked impact and cost of these infections.

Chapter 1 and 2 in this work surveys the broad array of diagnostic modalities for UTIs and highlights their advantages and limitations in the context of the current standard of …

Covid-19 And Employee Job Performance Trajectories: The Moderating Effect Of Different Sources Of Status, Xin Liu, Xiaoming Zheng, Byron Y Lee, Yu Yu, Mengyi Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employee job performance trajectories, and further examines the moderating effects of different sources of status. Drawing from event system theory (EST), we propose that employee job performance decreases upon COVID-19 onset, but gradually increases during the postonset period. Furthermore, we argue that status from society, occupation, and workplace functions to moderate such performance trajectories. We test our hypotheses with a unique dataset of 708 employees that combines survey responses and job performance archival data over 21 consecutive months (10,808 observations) spanning the preonset, onset, and postonset periods of the initial …

The Top 50 Most Cited Articles On The Medial Patellofemoral Ligament (Mpfl): A Bibliometric Analysis, Varag Abed, Alex Duvall, Jonathan D. Rexroth, Alyssa Goodwin, Joseph Liu, Austin Stone

Medical Student Research Symposium

Objectives: To determine which original articles on the topic of the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) have been cited the most in the literature utilizing a bibliometric approach. Secondarily, to determine temporal trends between article types.

Methods: Articles on the topic of the MPFL were identified by utilizing the Web of Science Database. The search yielded 1,596 results and the top 50 cited original articles were collected for further analysis. The following information was gathered for all included articles: title, first author's name, journal name, year of publication, impact factor of the journal in 2021, total number of citations of the …

Impact Of High Neutrophil-To-Lymphocyte Ratio On Survival In Hospitalized Cancer Patients With Covid-19, Fernando A Díaz-Couselo, Santiago Flagel, Carla Nicolini, Sebastián Halac, Natalia Manzano, Marina Aguirre, Juan Rébora, Sandra Valle, Laura Noro, Chirayu Mohindroo, Florencia Mcallister, Marcelo Zylberman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been studied as a prognostic factor for mortality in COVID-19 patients. Our study aimed to evaluate the association between NLR at COVID-19 diagnosis and survival during the following 90 days in hospitalized patients with solid cancer. Between May 2020 and June 2021, 120 patients were included in a retrospective cohort study. Univariable analysis showed patients with an NLR > 8.3 were associated with an increased risk of death (HR: 4.34; 95% CI: 1.74-10.84) compared to patients with NLR < 3.82 and with NLR ≥3.82 and ≤8.30 (HR: 2.89; 95% CI: 1.32-6.36). Furthermore, on multivariable analysis, NLR > 8.30 independently correlated with increased mortality. In patients with solid malignancies with COVID-19, an NLR > 8.3 is associated with …

Identification Of And Mechanistic Insights Into Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease Non-Covalent Inhibitors: An In-Silico Study, Jian-Xin Shen, Wen-Wen Du, Yuan-Ling Xia, Zhi-Bi Zhang, Ze-Fen Yu, Yun-Xin Fu, Shu-Qun Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The indispensable role of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) in the viral replication cycle and its dissimilarity to human proteases make Mpro a promising drug target. In order to identify the non-covalent Mpro inhibitors, we performed a comprehensive study using a combined computational strategy. We first screened the ZINC purchasable compound database using the pharmacophore model generated from the reference crystal structure of Mpro complexed with the inhibitor ML188. The hit compounds were then filtered by molecular docking and predicted parameters of drug-likeness and pharmacokinetics. The final molecular dynamics (MD) simulations identified three effective candidate inhibitors (ECIs) capable of maintaining …

The Orf7a Protein Of Sars-Cov-2 Initiates Autophagy And Limits Autophagosome-Lysosome Fusion Via Degradation Of Snap29 To Promote Virus Replication, Peili Hou, Xuefeng Wang, Hongmei Wang, Tiecheng Wang, Zhangping Yu, Chunqing Xu, Yudong Zhao, Wenqi Wang, Yong Zhao, Fengyun Chu, Huasong Chang, Hongchao Zhu, Jiahui Lu, Fuzhen Zhang, Xue Liang, Xingyu Li, Song Wang, Yuwei Gao, Hongbin He

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is closely related to various cellular aspects associated with autophagy. However, how SARS-CoV-2 mediates the subversion of the macroautophagy/autophagy pathway remains largely unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that overexpression of the SARS-CoV-2 ORF7a protein activates LC3-II and leads to the accumulation of autophagosomes in multiple cell lines, while knockdown of the viral ORF7a gene via shRNAs targeting ORF7a sgRNA during SARS-CoV-2 infection decreased autophagy levels. Mechanistically, the ORF7a protein initiates autophagy via the AKT-MTOR-ULK1-mediated pathway, but ORF7a limits the progression of autophagic flux by activating CASP3 (caspase 3) to cleave the …

Hyaluronan In The Pathogenesis Of Acute And Post-Acute Covid-19 Infection, Henry W Barnes, Sally Demirdjian, Naomi L Haddock, Gernot Kaber, Hunter A Martinez, Nadine Nagy, Harry Karmouty-Quintana, Paul L Bollyky

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) recently emerged as the cause of a global pandemic. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 can result in COVID-19 with both acute and chronic disease manifestations that continue to impact many patients long after the resolution of viral replication. There is therefore great interest in understanding the host factors that contribute to COVID-19 pathogenesis. In this review, we address the role of hyaluronan (HA), an extracellular matrix polymer with roles in inflammation and cellular metabolism, in COVID-19 and critically evaluate the hypothesis that HA promotes COVID-19 pathogenesis. We first provide a brief overview of COVID-19 infection. …

Association Between Covid-19 And Postoperative Neurological Complications And Antipsychotic Medication Use After Cancer Surgery: A Retrospective Study, Juan P Cata, Jian Hu, Lei Feng, Caroline Chung, Scott E Woodman, Larissa A Meyer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Millions of Americans infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) need oncologic surgery. Patients with acute or resolved COVID-19 illness complain of neuropsychiatric symptoms. How surgery affects postoperative neuropsychiatric outcomes such as delirium is unknown. We hypothesize that patients with a history of COVID-19 could have an exaggerated risk of developing postoperative delirium after undergoing major elective oncologic surgery.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to determine the association between COVID-19 status and antipsychotic drugs during postsurgical hospitalization as a surrogate of delirium. Secondary outcomes included 30 days of postoperative complications, length of stay, and mortality. Patients …

Parental Instincts: The Neurological And Biological Factors Associated With Parenthood, Jared Reeder

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The following project involves a systematic review of the scientific literature on neural and biological changes of mothers and fathers in parenthood. Until very recently, little scientific research was devoted to studying how bearing children affects a man or woman’s long-term biology. Over the last twenty years, studies of neuroplastic changes in new mothers show specific neural mechanisms responsible for altering the behaviors of mothers during and after pregnancy. These changes in neuroplasticity alter behavior in such a way that led to mothers requiring less sleep and being more prone to hearing the cries of their children. In addition to …

Enhancing Reciprocity, Equity And Quality Of Ethics Review For Multisite Research During Public Health Crises: The Experience Of The Covid-19 Clinical Research Coalition Ethics Working Group, Vasiliki Rahimzadeh, Jennyfer Ambe, Jantina De Vries

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

In this paper we report findings from a commissioned report to the COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition on approaches to streamline multinational REC review/approval during public health emergencies. As currently envisioned in the literature, a system of REC mutual recognition is theoretically possible based on shared procedural REC standards, but raises numerous concerns about perceived inequities and mistrust.

Support Their Sleep: Enhancing Nurses' Knowledge And Implementation Of Non-Pharmacological Sleep Protocols To Improve Patient Rest, Recovery, And Reduce Cognitive Impairment., David C. Barry

Master's Theses and Capstones

Background: Sleep and rest play an influential role in promoting recovery and healing in humans. Hospitalized patients are at risk for altered sleep from hospitalization, illness, and stimulation from a hospital environment. Non-pharmacologic interventions preformed by nurses can help to improve sleep and sleep environment for patients.

Local problem: There was no protocol or available information regarding patient sleep promotion for nurses to references when caring for patients.

Methods: Nurses in the microsystem (n=8) were administered a pre/post questionnaire containing Likert scales and a short quiz containing knowledge-based questions. Questionnaires were distributed to nurses prior to and after …

The Effect Of An Educational Handout On Knowledge, Awareness And Attitudes Of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) Among Participants At A Needle And Syringe Exchange Site, Mckenzie Buckel

DNP Projects

Background: In 2018, the total number of HIV cases in the United States was 1.2 million. Almost 186,500 of these cases were attributed to intravenous drug use. With the adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) there is approximately a 49% decrease in the rates of HIV among people who inject drugs and the most significant barrier to PrEP among this population is a lack of awareness and knowledge.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine participants’ of a needle and syringe exchange site knowledge, awareness and attitudes of PrEP after reviewing an educational handout about PrEP.

Methods: A quasi …

Trem-1, Trem-2 And Their Association With Disease Severity In Patients With Covid-19, Ruyue Fan, Zuowang Cheng, Zhisheng Huang, Ying Yang, Na Sun, Bin Hu, Peibin Hou, Bo Liu, Chuanjun Huang, Shuai Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment caused by limited biomarkers are associated with the outcomes of COVID-19 patients. It is necessary to identify other promising biomarkers and candidate targets for defining dysregulated inflammatory states.

METHODS: The triggering receptors expressed on myeloid cell (TREM)-1 and TREM-2 expression from hospitalized COVID-19 patients were characterized using ELISA and flow cytometry, respectively. Their correlation with disease severity and contrast with the main clinical indicators were evaluated.

RESULTS: Increased expression of soluble TREM-1 and TREM-2 in the plasma of COVID-19 patients was found compared to the control group. Moreover, membrane-bound TREM-1 and TREM-2 expression was …

Public Mental Health During And After The Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic: Opportunities For Intervention, Melissa M Karnaze, Brent M Kious, Lindsay Z Feuerman, Sarah Classen, Jill O Robinson, Cinnamon S Bloss, Amy L Mcguire

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Importance: During the pandemic, the number of United States adults reporting clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression sky-rocketed, up from 11% in 2020 to more than 40% in 2021. Our current mental healthcare system cannot adequately accommodate the current crisis; it is therefore important to identify opportunities for public mental health interventions.

Objective: Assess whether modifiable emotional factors may offer a point of intervention for the mental health crisis.

Design setting and participants: From January 13 to 15, 2022, adults living in the United States were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk to complete an anonymous survey.

Main outcomes and …

The Challenges And Opportunities Of Scrna-Seq In Covid-19 Research And Clinical Translation, Wendao Liu, Xiaohua Ye, Zhiqiang An, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The application of single-cell RNA sequencing in COVID-19 research has greatly improved our understanding of COVID-19 pathogenesis and immunological characteristics. In this commentary, we discuss the current challenges, limitations, and perspectives in harnessing the power of single-cell RNA sequencing to accelerate both basic research and therapeutic development for COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases.

Infrastructure Development For Personalized Risk Prediction To Reduce Cardiovascular Disease In Childhood Cancer Survivors, Suman Shrestha

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Although childhood cancer survivors have lengthy life expectancies, they run the risk of experiencing long-term health issues as a result of their treatment. The most frequent non-cancerous cause of morbidity and mortality for these survivors is cardiac disease. Radiation therapy (RT) has been linked in numerous cohort studies to a higher chance of developing a late cardiac disease in these survivors, and this risk rises with higher mean heart doses and increased RT exposure to larger cardiac volumes. Since, the heart is a heterogeneous organ made up of several distinct substructures, RT dose received by the entire heart does not …

Sars-Cov-2 Incubation Period According To Vaccination Status During The Fifth Covid-19 Wave In A Tertiary-Care Center In Spain: A Cohort Study, Jordi Cortés Martínez, Daewoo Pak, Gabriela Abelenda-Alonso, Klaus Langohr, Jing Ning, Alexander Rombauts, Mireia Colom, Yu Shen, Guadalupe Gómez Melis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The incubation period of an infectious disease is defined as the elapsed time between the exposure to the pathogen and the onset of symptoms. Although both the mRNA-based and the adenoviral vector-based vaccines have shown to be effective, there have been raising concerns regarding possible decreases in vaccine effectiveness for new variants and variations in the incubation period.

Methods: We conducted a unicentric observational study at the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, using a structured telephone survey performed by trained interviewers to estimate the incubation period of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in a cohort of Spanish hospitalized patients. The …

Cardiovascular Outcomes In Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease And Covid-19: A Multi-Regional Data-Linkage Study, Emilie J Lambourg, Peter J Gallacher, Robert W Hunter, Moneeza Siddiqui, Eve Miller-Hodges, James D Chalmers, Dan Pugh, Neeraj Dhaun, Samira Bell

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Data describing cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are lacking. We compared cardiovascular outcomes of patients with and without COVID-19, stratified by CKD status.

METHODS: This retrospective, multi-regional data-linkage study utilised individual patient-level data from two Scottish cohorts. All patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Cohort 1 between 1 February 2020 and 31 March 2021 and in Cohort 2 between 28 February 2020 and 8 February 2021 were included.

RESULTS: Overall, 86 964 patients were tested for SARS-CoV-2. There were 36 904 patients (mean±sd age 61±21 …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Uv-C Dose For Photoinactivation Of Sars-Cov-2 In Contaminated N95 Respirator, Surgical And Cotton Fabric Masks, Patrícia Metolina, Lilian Gomes De Oliveira, Bruno Ramos, Yan De Souza Angelo, Paola Minoprio, Antonio Carlos Silva Costa Teixeira

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

As part of efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and decrease the high transmissibility of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, effective inactivation strategies, such as UV-C decontamination technologies, can be reliably disseminated and well-studied. The present study investigated the susceptibility of a high viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in filtering facepiece respirators (FFR) N95, surgical mask, cotton fabric mask and N95 straps under three different doses of UV-C, applying both real-time PCR (qPCR) and plaque formation assays to quantify viral load reduction and virus infectivity, respectively. The results show that more than 95% of the amount of SARS-CoV-2 RNA could be reduced …

Should Health Systems Share Genetic Findings With At-Risk Relatives When The Proband Is Deceased? Interviews With Individuals Diagnosed With Lynch Syndrome, Jessica Ezzell Hunter, Jennifer L. Schneider, Alison J. Firemark, James V. Davis, Sara Gille, Pamala A. Pawloski, Su-Ying Liang, Victoria Schlieder, Alanna Kulchak Rahm

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: Genetic information has health implications for patients and their biological relatives. Death of a patient before sharing a genetic diagnosis with at-risk relatives is a missed opportunity to provide important information that could guide interventions to minimize cancer-related morbidity and mortality in relatives.

Methods: We performed semi-structured interviews with individuals diagnosed with Lynch syndrome at 1 of 4 health systems to explore their perspectives on whether health systems should share genetic risk information with relatives following a patient’s death. An inductive, open-coding approach was used to analyze audio-recorded content, with software-generated code reports undergoing iterative comparative analysis by a …