Epidemiology Commons^™

Decentralized Clinical Trials For Medications To Reduce The Risk Of Dementia: Consensus Report And Guidance, Leanne Howard, Carla Abdelnour, Erin Abner, Ricardo F. Allegri, Hiroko H. Dodge, Serge Gauthier, Camilla M. Hoyos, Gregory Jicha, Patrick G. Kehoe, Catherine J. Mummery, Adesola Ogunniyi, Nikolaos Scarmeas, Xiaoying Chen, Jodie R. Titiner, Christopher R. Weber, Ruth Peters

Neurology Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Recent growth in the functionality and use of technology has prompted an increased interest in the potential for remote or decentralized clinical trials in dementia. There are many potential benefits associated with decentralized medication trials, but we currently lack specific recommendations for their delivery in the dementia field.

METHODS: A modified Delphi method engaged an expert panel to develop recommendations for the conduct of decentralized medication trials in dementia prevention. A working group of researchers and clinicians with expertise in dementia trials further refined the recommendations.

RESULTS: Overall, the recommendations support the delivery of decentralized trials in dementia prevention …

Impact Of Rural Location On Receipt Of Standard Of Care Treatment And Survival For Locally Advanced Bladder Cancer In Louisiana, Megan Escott, Yong Yi, Ashley Foret, Ting Ting Li, Mei Chin Hsieh, Scott E. Delacroix, Xiao Cheng Wu, Mary E. Westerman

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Objective: We aim to determine the effect of region of residence (urban vs. rural) on the odds of receiving standard of care treatment for locally advanced BCa in Louisiana and its impact on survival outcomes. Methods: Using the Louisiana Tumor Registry, we identified American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage II or III, BCa diagnoses in Louisiana residents between 2010 and 2020. Treatment received was classified as standard or non-standard of care according to American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines and location of residence was determined using Rural Urban Commuting Area-Tract-level 2010 (RUCA). Multivariable logistic regression analyses and multivariate cox proportional …

The Impact Of Childhood Adversity On Life Course Alcohol Use Patterns And Health Status Among People Living With Hiv, Rayna E. Gasik, Aubrey Spriggs Madkour, Simone J. Skeen, Gretchen Clum, Tishawn Francis, Erica Felker-Kantor, Tekeda Ferguson, David A. Welsh, Patricia E. Molina, Katherine P. Theall

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and financial hardship are associated with increased likelihood of heavier alcohol use and health challenges in adulthood among persons living with HIV (PWH). We examined whether retrospectively captured lifetime drinking trajectories are a pathway through which childhood hardships affect current health in a sample of 365 adult PWH. Childhood economic hardship and ACEs were used as main predictors. Measures of alcohol use included age at first drink and lifetime drinking trajectories. Health indicators included health-related quality of life, frailty, number of comorbidities, and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Structural equation modeling (SEM) …

The Joint Effects Of Sleep And Pain, And Moderations By Work Characteristics, Christina Xuong Mu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reactivity describes interindividual differences in the physiological or emotional responses following an antecedent stressor. For instance, higher stressor reactivity to shorter sleep (i.e., those who report greater stressor severity following shorter-than-usual sleep) and higher negative affective reactivity to stressors (i.e., those who report more negative affect following a stressful event) have worse mental and physical health. Pain reactivity to shorter sleep is a novel concept that describes differences in pain responses following a night of shorter-than-usual sleep. Higher pain reactivity to shorter sleep means that individuals report more pain locations or higher pain severity following shorter-than-usual sleep the previous night, …

Client Perspectives On The Development Of A Rapid Prep Initiative At A Sexual Health Center In New Orleans, Louisiana, Aish Lovett, Rose Luder, Rebecca Lillis, Isolde Butler, Julia Siren, Samuel Gomez, Kevin Kamis, Oluyomi Obafemi, Sarah E. Rowan, Stefan Baral, Meredith E. Clement

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Uptake of PrEP remains suboptimal, especially in the Southern United States. Same-day or “Rapid PrEP Initiatives” (RPIs) in sexual health centers (SHCs) could facilitate access and overcome barriers to PrEP. We studied the adaptation of an RPI from Denver, Colorado to an SHC in New Orleans, Louisiana. Through focus group discussions (FGDs) with local SHC staff and PrEP providers, we developed a preliminary RPI model. In 5 FGDs with SHC clients referred for or taking PrEP, we gathered adaptation recommendations and feedback on model acceptability, feasibility, and utility. Providers and clients voiced unanimous support for the RPI. Clients favored the …

Access To Prostate-Specific Antigen Testing And Mortality Among Men With Prostate Cancer, Hari S. Iyer, Benjamin V. Stone, Charlotte Roscoe, Mei Chin Hsieh, Antoinette M. Stroup, Charles L. Wiggins, Fredrick R. Schumacher, Scarlett L. Gomez, Timothy R. Rebbeck, Quoc Dien Trinh

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Importance: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer is controversial but may be associated with benefit for certain high-risk groups. Objectives: To evaluate associations of county-level PSA screening prevalence with prostate cancer outcomes, as well as variation by sociodemographic and clinical factors. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used data from cancer registries based in 8 US states on Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White men aged 40 to 99 years who received a diagnosis of prostate cancer between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2015. Participants were followed up until death or censored after 10 years or December …

Smoking Cessation By Cancer Treatment Status Among Cervical Cancer Survivors, Cherell Cottrell-Daniels, Charles E. Hoogland, Bethany Shorey Fennell, Vani N. Simmons, Damon J. Vidrine, Jennifer I. Vidrine

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Introduction: Continued smoking following a cancer diagnosis is associated with poorer cancer treatment outcomes and survival times. Little is known about how cancer treatment status at the time of tobacco treatment enrollment impacts long-term smoking cessation outcomes. Using data from a smoking cessation RCT, this study compared long-term cessation outcomes of women undergoing active treatment for cervical cancer at trial enrollment (n=40) to outcomes of women with a history of cervical cancer or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) who were not undergo- ing active cancer treatment at enrollment (n=154)

Methods: Participants (n=194) were randomized to Standard Treatment (ST) or ST plus …

Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence, Concerns, And Uptake In Children Aged 5 And Older In Calgary, Alberta: A Longitudinal Cohort Study, Emily J Doucette, Leah Ricketson, Tarannum Tarannum, Isabella Alatorre, Joslyn Gray, Cora Constantinescu, Susan Kuhn, Jessica K E Dunn, James D Kellner

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: Beginning early in the pandemic, there was a worldwide effort to develop effective vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Before and after the approval and implementation of vaccines, there were concerns about their need as well as their safety and rapid development. We explored child demographic characteristics and parental concerns to identify factors associated with the decision to vaccinate.

METHODS: A cohort of 1035 children from Calgary was assembled in 2020 to participate in 5 visits every 6 months for survey completion and blood sampling for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Visits 1 to 2 occurred before approval of vaccines for children; Visits …

Increased Incidence Of Vestibular Disorders In Patients With Sars-Cov-2, Lawrance Lee, Evan French, Daniel H Coelho, Nauman F Manzoor, Adam B Wilcox, Adam M Lee, Alexis Graves, Alfred Anzalone, Amin Manna, Amit Saha, Amy Olex, Andrea Zhou, Andrew E Williams, Andrew Southerland, Andrew T Girvin, Anita Walden, Anjali A Sharathkumar, Benjamin Amor, Benjamin Bates, Brian Hendricks, Brijesh Patel, Caleb Alexander, Carolyn Bramante, Cavin Ward-Caviness, Charisse Madlock-Brown, Christine Suver, Christopher Chute, Christopher Dillon, Chunlei Wu, Clare Schmitt, Cliff Takemoto, Dan Housman, Davera Gabriel, David A Eichmann, Diego Mazzotti, Don Brown, Eilis Boudreau, Elaine Hill, Elizabeth Zampino, Emily Carlson Marti, Emily R Pfaff, Evan French, Farrukh M Koraishy, Federico Mariona, Fred Prior, George Sokos, Greg Martin, Harold Lehmann, Heidi Spratt, Hemalkumar Mehta, Hongfang Liu, Hythem Sidky, J W Awori Hayanga, Jami Pincavitch, Jaylyn Clark, Jeremy Richard Harper, Jessica Islam, Jin Ge, Joel Gagnier, Joel H Saltz, Joel Saltz, Johanna Loomba, John Buse, Jomol Mathew, Joni L Rutter, Julie A Mcmurry, Justin Guinney, Justin Starren, Karen Crowley, Katie Rebecca Bradwell, Kellie M Walters, Ken Wilkins, Kenneth R Gersing, Kenrick Dwain Cato, Kimberly Murray, Kristin Kostka, Lavance Northington, Lee Allan Pyles, Leonie Misquitta, Lesley Cottrell, Lili Portilla, Mariam Deacy, Mark M Bissell, Marshall Clark, Mary Emmett, Mary Morrison Saltz, Matvey B Palchuk, Melissa A Haendel, Meredith Adams, Meredith Temple-O'Connor, Michael G Kurilla, Michele Morris, Nabeel Qureshi, Nasia Safdar, Nicole Garbarini, Noha Sharafeldin, Ofer Sadan, Patricia A Francis, Penny Wung Burgoon, Peter Robinson, Philip R O Payne, Rafael Fuentes, Randeep Jawa, Rebecca Erwin-Cohen, Rena Patel, Richard A Moffitt, Richard L Zhu, Rishi Kamaleswaran, Robert Hurley, Robert T Miller, Saiju Pyarajan, Sam G Michael, Samuel Bozzette, Sandeep Mallipattu, Satyanarayana Vedula, Scott Chapman, Shawn T O'Neil, Soko Setoguchi, Stephanie S Hong, Steve Johnson, Tellen D Bennett, Tiffany Callahan, Umit Topaloglu, Usman Sheikh, Valery Gordon, Vignesh Subbian, Warren A Kibbe, Wenndy Hernandez, Will Beasley, Will Cooper, William Hillegass, Xiaohan Tanner Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Determine the incidence of vestibular disorders in patients with SARS-CoV-2 compared to the control population.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective.

SETTING: Clinical data in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative database (N3C).

METHODS: Deidentified patient data from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative database (N3C) were queried based on variant peak prevalence (untyped, alpha, delta, omicron 21K, and omicron 23A) from covariants.org to retrospectively analyze the incidence of vestibular disorders in patients with SARS-CoV-2 compared to control population, consisting of patients without documented evidence of COVID infection during the same period.

RESULTS: Patients testing positive for COVID-19 were significantly more likely to have …

Life-Space Mobility And Cognitive Function: The Reasons For Geographic And Racial Differences In Stroke (Regards) Study, Emiri Matsuda, Michael Crowe, Virginia J. Howard, Cynthia J. Brown, Madeline R. Sterling, Emily B. Levitan

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Knowledge And Attitude Of Lebanese Adults Towards Asthma In Beirut, Lebanon, Farah Hatem Haidar, Doaa Issa, Maha Aboul Ela, Karim Raafat

BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing

Asthma, a serious global health problem, has been an area of interest due to its increasing prevalence, expanding treatment costs, and rising burden on patients and the community. Since asthma cannot be cured, clinical episodes can be prevented and controlled by adequate management and sufficient knowledge of the disease. Appropriate treatment may relieve asthma symptoms and improve quality of life. However, poor knowledge of asthma disease and medication use, misdiagnoses, misuse of inhalers and inadequate self-management of disease symptoms may have a greater impact on the disease process. Therefore, assessment of the population’s knowledge and attitude toward asthma is essential. …

Case Report: Monkeypox Diagnosed In The Ed, Richard M. Baluyot, Joseph Pagano, James A. Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Rashes are one of the most common chief complaints we see as emergency medicine physicians on a day-to-day basis. Most of them tend to be self-limited and require very little workup and can be discharged home; however, it is our job to try to identify rashes that may require isolation in order to prevent an outbreak in our communities. Here we present a case of one such rash that has gained major media attention as of late, Monkeypox.

A Case Of Hhv-6 Viral Meningitis, Mohammad A. Rattu, Wayne Tamaska

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges and associated with abnormal cell count in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The lack of bacterial growth in cultures, most commonly referred to as aseptic meningitis, is frequently caused by viruses [2]. Viruses have become more common as the prevalence of bacterial meningitis has decreased secondary to vaccination use, with viral meningitis being the most common form among countries. Viral meningitis will present with fever, headache, photophobia, neck stiffness and nausea and vomiting. Younger children however may not show any signs of meningeal irritation. Viral meningitis is usually self-limiting and with good prognosis; however, …

Influence Of Medication Assisted Treatment Weaning On Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome And Outcomes Among Infants Born To Women With Opioid Use Disorder, Rakesh Adelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a drug withdrawal syndrome exhibited by infants born to mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD). The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other professional societies endorse opioid agonist pharmacotherapy (MATs) as the optimal treatment for OUD during pregnancy. This study focuses on impact of weaning of MAT drugs on the incidence of NAS and neonatal birth outcomes among babies born to women with opioid exposure.

The study population included eighty-six pregnant women with OUD, divided in to weaning and non-weaning groups based on their choice to wean the MATs during pregnancy. Univariate analysis was …

Willingness And Preferences For Long-Acting Injectable Prep Among Us Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Discrete Choice Experiment, Sam Wilson Cole, Jennifer L. Glick, Nicola B. Campoamor, Travis H. Sanchez, Supriya Sarkar, Vani Vannappagari, Alex Rinehart, Keith Rawlings, Patrick S. Sullivan, John F.P. Bridges

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Introduction Cabotegravir long-acting injectable HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (LA-PrEP) was shown to be safe and effective in multiple clinical trials. Increasing uptake and persistence among populations with elevated risk for HIV acquisition, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM), is critical to HIV prevention. Objective This analysis aims to understand potential users' preferences for LA-PrEP, with audience segmentation. Design Willingness to use and preferences for LA-PrEP were measured in HIV-negative, sexually active MSM in the 2020 American Men's Internet Survey. Respondents answered a discrete choice experiment with paired profiles of hypothetical LA-PrEP characteristics with an opt-out option (no LA-PrEP). …

Emerging Variants Develop Total Escape From Potent Monoclonal Antibodies Induced By Ba4/5 Infection, Chang Liu, Raksha Das, Aiste Dijokaite-Guraliuc, Daming Zhou, Alexander J Mentzer, Piyada Supasa, Muneeswaran Selvaraj, Helen M E Duyvesteyn, Thomas G Ritter, Nigel Temperton, Paul Klenerman, Susanna J Dunachie, Neil G Paterson, Mark A Williams, David R Hall, Elizabeth E Fry, Juthathip Mongkolsapaya, Jingshan Ren, David I Stuart, Gavin R Screaton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 is driven in part by a need to evade the antibody response in the face of high levels of immunity. Here, we isolate spike (S) binding monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from vaccinees who suffered vaccine break-through infections with Omicron sub lineages BA.4 or BA.5. Twenty eight potent antibodies are isolated and characterised functionally, and in some cases structurally. Since the emergence of BA.4/5, SARS-CoV-2 has continued to accrue mutations in the S protein, to understand this we characterize neutralization of a large panel of variants and demonstrate a steady attrition of neutralization by the panel of …

‘Joining The Dots: Linking Prenatal Drug Exposure To Childhood And Adolescence’ – Research Protocol Of A Population Cohort Study, Kate Lawler, Mithilesh Dronavalli, Andrew Page, Evelyn Lee, Hannah Uebel, Barbara Bajuk, Lucinda Burns, Michelle Dickson, Charles Green, Lauren Dicair, John Eastwood, Ju Lee Oei

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Prenatal drug exposure (PDE) is one of the most important causes of child harm, but comprehensive information about the long-term outcomes of the families is difficult to ascertain. The

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Information from routinely collected administrative databases was linked for all births registered in New South Wales (NSW), Australia between 1 July 2001 and 31 December 2020 (n=1 834 550). Outcomes for seven mutually exclusive groups of children with varying prenatal exposure to maternal substances of addiction, including smoking, alcohol, prescription/illicit drugs and neonatal abstinence syndrome will be assessed. Key exposure measures include maternal drug use type, maternal …

Modeling An Infection Outbreak With Quarantine: The Sibkr Model, Mikenna Dew, Amanda Langosch, Theadora Baker-Wallerstein

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

Influenza is a respiratory infection that places a substantial burden in the world population each year. In this project, we study and interpret a data set from a flu outbreak in a British boarding school in 1978 with mathematical modeling. First, we propose a generalization of the SIR model based on the quarantine measure in place and establish the long-time behavior of the model. By analyzing the model mathematically, we determine the analytic formulas of the basic reproduction number, the long-time limit of solutions, and the maximum number of infection population. Moreover, we estimate the parameters of the model based …

Decoding Implant-Related Sickness: Unraveling The Complexities Of Breast Implant Illness, Madison M. Stewart

Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the phenomenon of breast implant illness (BII), examining its potential correlation with individual factors such as obesity and poor lifestyle habits. BII, characterized by nonspecific symptoms, is often self-diagnosed by patients influenced by social media and internet sources, leading to requests for implant removal. Conducting a comprehensive meta-analysis, the study scrutinizes existing literature to evaluate the association between BII, obesity, and lifestyle choices. Employing inclusion criteria, peer-reviewed publications are analyzed through systematic review methodology to offer insights into the interplay between BII and adiposity, exploring inflammatory mechanisms and patient behaviors like exercise and smoking. The research aims …

Pre-Covid-19 Hospital Quality And Hospital Response To Covid-19: Examining Associations Between Risk-Adjusted Mortality For Patients Hospitalised With Covid-19 And Pre-Covid-19 Hospital Quality, Doris Peter, Shu-Xia Li, Yongfei Wang, Jing Zhang, Jacqueline Grady, Kerry Mcdowell, Erica Norton, Zhenqiu Lin, Susannah Bernheim, Arjun K Venkatesh, Lee A Fleisher, Michelle Schreiber, Lisa G Suter, Elizabeth W Triche

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: The extent to which care quality influenced outcomes for patients hospitalised with COVID-19 is unknown. Our objective was to determine if prepandemic hospital quality is associated with mortality among Medicare patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

DESIGN: This is a retrospective observational study. We calculated hospital-level risk-standardised in-hospital and 30-day mortality rates (risk-standardised mortality rates, RSMRs) for patients hospitalised with COVID-19, and correlation coefficients between RSMRs and pre-COVID-19 hospital quality, overall and stratified by hospital characteristics.

SETTING: Short-term acute care hospitals and critical access hospitals in the USA.

PARTICIPANTS: Hospitalised Medicare beneficiaries (Fee-For-Service and Medicare Advantage) age 65 and older hospitalised …

Posteriormedial Ankle Impingement In A Male Division I Ice Hockey Player: A Case Report, Bethany Thompson

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The purpose of this case report is to present the case of a 21 year old male Division I collegiate hockey player’s injury during their season, resulting in posteriormedial ankle impingement of the deep posterior tibiotalar ligament, osteochondral lesion of the talus, and tenosynovitis of the tibialis posterior. The patient’s injury did not require surgery; however, they did complete a rehabilitation plan with a physical therapist and receive a cortisone injection. The patient had a positive outcome due to the athletic trainer sending the patient for immediate diagnostic imaging after initial consultation. The patient was able to continue participation in …

Changes In Real-World Dispensing Of Adhd Stimulants In Youth From 2019 To 2021 In California, Anika Patel, Rishikesh Chavan, Cyril Rakovski, Richard C. Beuttler, Sun Yang

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common pediatric neurobehavioral disorders in the U.S. Stimulants, classified as controlled substances, are commonly used for ADHD management. We conducted an analysis of real-world stimulants dispensing data to evaluate the pandemic’s impact on young patients (≤ 26 years) in California.

Methods: Annual prevalence of patients on stimulants per capita across various California counties from 2019 and 2021 were analyzed and further compared across different years, sexes, and age groups. New patients initiating simulants therapy were also examined. A case study was conducted to determine the impact of socioeconomic status on patient …

Efficacy Of A Primary Care Ehealth Obesity Treatment Pilot Intervention Developed For Vulnerable Pediatric Patients, Joshua S Yudkin, Marlyn A Allicock, Folefac D Atem, Carol A Galeener, Sarah E Messiah, Sarah E Barlow

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background:

Challenges to treat excess weight in primary care settings include time constraints during encounters and barriers to multiple visits for patient families, especially those from vulnerable backgrounds. Dynamo Kids! (DK), a bilingual (English/Spanish) e-health intervention, was created to address these system-level challenges. This pilot study assessed the effect of DK use on parent-reported healthy habits and child BMI.

Methods:

In this 3-month, quasi-experimental cohort design, DK was offered to parents with children aged 6–12 years with BMI ≥85th percentile in three public primary care sites in Dallas, Texas. DK included three educational modules, one tracking tool, recipes, and links …

Lung Cancer In Ever- And Never-Smokers: Findings From Multi-Population Gwas Studies, Yafang Li, Xiangjun Xiao, Jianrong Li, Younghun Han, Chao Cheng, Gail F Fernandes, Shannon E Slewitzke, Susan M Rosenberg, Meng Zhu, Jinyoung Byun, Yohan Bossé, James D Mckay, Demetrios Albanes, Stephen Lam, Adonina Tardon, Chu Chen, Stig E Bojesen, Maria T Landi, Mattias Johansson, Angela Risch, Heike Bickeböller, H-Erich Wichmann, David C Christiani, Gad Rennert, Susanne M Arnold, Gary E Goodman, John K Field, Michael P A Davies, Sanjay Shete, Loïc Le Marchand, Geoffrey Liu, Rayjean J Hung, Angeline S Andrew, Lambertus A Kiemeney, Ryan Sun, Shanbeh Zienolddiny, Kjell Grankvist, Mikael Johansson, Neil E Caporaso, Angela Cox, Yun-Chul Hong, Philip Lazarus, Matthew B Schabath, Melinda C Aldrich, Ann G Schwartz, Ivan Gorlov, Kristen S Purrington, Ping Yang, Yanhong Liu, Joan E Bailey-Wilson, Susan M Pinney, Diptasri Mandal, James C Willey, Colette Gaba, Paul Brennan, Jun Xia, Hongbing Shen, Christopher I Amos

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Clinical, molecular, and genetic epidemiology studies displayed remarkable differences between ever- and never-smoking lung cancer.

METHODS: We conducted a stratified multi-population (European, East Asian, and African descent) association study on 44,823 ever-smokers and 20,074 never-smokers to identify novel variants that were missed in the non-stratified analysis. Functional analysis including expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) colocalization and DNA damage assays, and annotation studies were conducted to evaluate the functional roles of the variants. We further evaluated the impact of smoking quantity on lung cancer risk for the variants associated with ever-smoking lung cancer.

RESULTS: Five novel independent loci, GABRA4, intergenic …

The Lymphoma Epidemiology Of Outcomes Cohort Study: Design, Baseline Characteristics, And Early Outcomes, James R Cerhan, Matthew J Maurer, Brian K Link, Andrew L Feldman, Thomas M Habermann, David L Jaye, W Richard Burack, Timothy J Mcdonnell, Francisco Vega, Jennifer R Chapman, Sergei Syrbu, Kiran R Vij, Giorgio Inghirami, John P Leonard, Leon Bernal-Mizrachi, Umar Farooq, Thomas E Witzig, George J Weiner, Yucai Wang, Juan P Alderuccio, Susan L Slager, Melissa C Larson, Shaun M Riska, Brianna J Gysbers, Julianne J Lunde, Tanner W Reicks, Amy A Ayers, Colin B O'Leary, Kathleen J Yost, Hongfang Liu, Grzegorz S Nowakowski, Jia Ruan, Dai Chihara, Jean L Koff, Carla Casulo, Carrie A Thompson, Jonathon B Cohen, Brad S Kahl, Loretta J Nastoupil, Izidore S Lossos, Jonathan W Friedberg, Peter Martin, Christopher R Flowers

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

To address the current and long-term unmet health needs of the growing population of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients, we established the Lymphoma Epidemiology of Outcomes (LEO) cohort study (NCT02736357; https://leocohort.org/). A total of 7735 newly diagnosed patients aged 18 years and older with NHL were prospectively enrolled from 7/1/2015 to 5/31/2020 at 8 academic centers in the United States. The median age at diagnosis was 62 years (range, 18-99). Participants came from 49 US states and included 538 Black/African-Americans (AA), 822 Hispanics (regardless of race), 3386 women, 716 age <40 >years, and 1513 rural residents. At study baseline, we abstracted clinical, …

Path-Bigbird: An Ai-Driven Transformer Approach To Classification Of Cancer Pathology Reports, Mayanka Chandrashekar, Isaac Lyngaas, Heidi A. Hanson, Shang Gao, Xiao Cheng Wu, John Gounley

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

PURPOSE: Surgical pathology reports are critical for cancer diagnosis and management. To accurately extract information about tumor characteristics from pathology reports in near real time, we explore the impact of using domain-specific transformer models that understand cancer pathology reports. METHODS: We built a pathology transformer model, Path-BigBird, by using 2.7 million pathology reports from six SEER cancer registries. We then compare different variations of Path-BigBird with two less computationally intensive methods: Hierarchical Self-Attention Network (HiSAN) classification model and an off-the-shelf clinical transformer model (Clinical BigBird). We use five pathology information extraction tasks for evaluation: site, subsite, laterality, histology, and behavior. …

Description Of Cryptococcosis Following Sars-Cov-2 Infection: A Disease Survey Through The Mycosis Study Group Education And Research Consortium (Msg-19), Jeremey Walker, Todd Mccarty, Gerald Mcgwin, Eloy E Ordaya, Paschalis Vergidis, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Mehriban Mammadova, Andrej Spec, Adriana M Rauseo, John Perfect, Julia Messina, Gabriel Vilchez, Rachel Mcmullen, Carolynn T Jones, Peter G Pappas

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Invasive fungal infections have been described throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Cryptococcal disease after infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been reported in several isolated case reports and 1 larger case series. We sought to describe cryptococcal infections following SARS-CoV-2 through establishing a database to investigate underlying risk factors, disease manifestations, and outcomes.

METHODS: We created a crowdsourced call for cases solicited through the Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Emerging Infectious Diseases Network, and infectious diseases Twitter groups. Data were collected in a web-based and secure REDCap …

Backfilling Patients In Phase I Dose-Escalation Trials Using Bayesian Optimal Interval Design (Boin), Yixuan Zhao, Ying Yuan, Edward L Korn, Boris Freidlin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In recent years, there has been increased interest in incorporation of backfilling into dose-escalation clinical trials, which involves concurrently assigning patients to doses that have been previously cleared for safety by the dose-escalation design. Backfilling generates additional information on safety, tolerability, and preliminary activity on a range of doses below the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), which is relevant for selection of the recommended phase II dose and dose optimization. However, in practice, backfilling may not be rigorously defined in trial protocols and implemented consistently. Furthermore, backfilling designs require careful planning to minimize the probability of treating additional patients with potentially …

Covid-19 Hospital Mortality Among Patients With Invasive Mechanical Ventilation: A Comparison Between Public And Private Healthcare Services In San Luis Potosí 2020–2022, María E. Torres-Acosta, Rocío M. Cubos-Moncada, Alan Y. Martínez-Castellanos

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: During 2019, México’s total public spending on health was 5.43% of the national gross domestic product, making it one of the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that invested the least in developing public health systems. This study analyzes hospital mortality among intubated patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 according to type of institution in San Luis Potosí, México, from March 18, 2020, to April 7, 2022.

Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of publicly available information about mortality among intubated patients with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 with respect to the type of hospitalization institution.

Results: …

Most Deprived Louisiana Census Tracts Have Higher Hepatocellular Carcinoma Incidence And Worse Survival, Kendra L. Ratnapradipa, Tingting Li, Mei Chin Hsieh, Laura Tenner, Edward S. Peters

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: Liver cancer incidence increased in the US from 1975 through 2015 with heterogeneous rates across subpopulations. Upstream or distal area-level factors impact liver cancer risks. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the association between area-level deprivation and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence and survival. We also explored the association between area deprivation and treatment modalities. Methods: Louisiana Tumor Registry identified 4,151 adult patients diagnosed with malignant HCC from 2011 to 2020 and linked residential address to census tract (CT)-level Area Deprivation Index (ADI) categorized into quartiles (Q1 = least deprived). ANOVA examined the association between ADI quartile …