Epidemiology Commons^™

Micrornas Are Enriched At Covid-19 Genomic Risk Regions, And Their Blood Levels Correlate With The Covid-19 Prognosis Of Cancer Patients Infected By Sars-Cov-2, Simone Anfossi, Faezeh Darbaniyan, Joseph Quinlan, Steliana Calin, Masayoshi Shimizu, Meng Chen, Paola Rausseo, Michael Winters, Elena Bogatenkova, Kim-Anh Do, Ivan Martinez, Ziyi Li, Loredana Antal, Tudor Rares Olariu, Ignacio Wistuba, George A Calin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Cancer patients are more susceptible to an aggressive course of COVID-19. Developing biomarkers identifying cancer patients at high risk of COVID-19-related death could help determine who needs early clinical intervention. The miRNAs hosted in the genomic regions associated with the risk of aggressive COVID-19 could represent potential biomarkers for clinical outcomes.

Patients and methods: Plasma samples were collected at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from cancer patients (N = 128) affected by COVID-19. Serum samples were collected from vaccinated healthy individuals (n = 23) at the Municipal Clinical Emergency Teaching Hospital in Timisoara, Romania. An in …

Sex Hormones And Risk Of Lung And Colorectal Cancers In Women: A Mendelian Randomization Study, Marion Denos, Yi-Qian Sun, Ben Michael Brumpton, Yafang Li, Demetrius Albanes, Andrea Burnett-Hartman, Peter T Campbell, Sébastien Küry, Christopher I Li, Emily White, Jewel N Samadder, Mark A Jenkins, Xiao-Mei Mai

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The roles of sex hormones such as estradiol, testosterone, and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in the etiology of lung and colorectal cancers in women, among the most common cancers after breast cancer, are unclear. This Mendelian randomization (MR) study evaluated such potential causal associations in women of European ancestry. We used summary statistics data from genome-wide association studies on sex hormones and from the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) and large consortia on cancers. There was suggestive evidence of 1-standard deviation increase in total testosterone levels being associated with a lower risk of lung non-adenocarcinoma (hazard ratio 0.60, 95% confidence interval …

Context-Aware Single-Cell Multiomics Approach Identifies Cell-Type-Specific Lung Cancer Susceptibility Genes, Erping Long, Jinhu Yin, Ju Hye Shin, Yuyan Li, Bolun Li, Alexander Kane, Harsh Patel, Xinti Sun, Cong Wang, Thong Luong, Jun Xia, Younghun Han, Jinyoung Byun, Tongwu Zhang, Wei Zhao, Maria Teresa Landi, Nathaniel Rothman, Qing Lan, Yoon Soo Chang, Fulong Yu, Christopher I Amos, Jianxin Shi, Jin Gu Lee, Eun Young Kim, Jiyeon Choi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified over fifty loci associated with lung cancer risk. However, underlying mechanisms and target genes are largely unknown, as most risk-associated variants might regulate gene expression in a context-specific manner. Here, we generate a barcode-shared transcriptome and chromatin accessibility map of 117,911 human lung cells from age/sex-matched ever- and never-smokers to profile context-specific gene regulation. Identified candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) are largely cell type-specific, with 37% detected in one cell type. Colocalization of lung cancer candidate causal variants (CCVs) with these cCREs combined with transcription factor footprinting prioritize the variants for 68% of the GWAS loci. …

Human Papillomavirus Vaccination And Human Papillomavirus-Related Cancer Rates, Victor Adekanmbi, Itunu Sokale, Fangjian Guo, Jessica Ngo, Thao N Hoang, Christine D Hsu, Abiodun Oluyomi, Abbey B Berenson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: To inform the design and implementation of targeted interventions to reduce the future burden of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers in Texas, it is necessary to examine the county and health service region (HSR) levels of (1) the proportion of children and teenagers aged 9 to 17 years who initiated and were up to date for HPV vaccination series and (2) HPV-related cancer incidence rates (IRs).

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate temporal trends and geospatial patterns of HPV vaccination initiation and up-to-date status as well as HPV-related cancer rates at county and HSR levels in Texas.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This population-based …

Pnpla3, Obesity, And Heavy Alcohol Use In Cirrhosis Patients May Exert A Synergistic Increase Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk, Aaron P Thrift, Fasiha Kanwal, Hyeyeun Lim, Hao Duong, Yanhong Liu, Amit G Singal, Saira Khaderi, Sumeet K Asrani, Christopher I Amos, Hashem B El-Serag

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND & AIMS: In patients with cirrhosis, continued heavy alcohol consumption and obesity may increase risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We examined whether germline susceptibility to hepatic steatosis not only independently predisposes to HCC but may also act synergistically with other risk factors.

METHODS: We analyzed data from 1911 patients in 2 multicenter prospective cohort studies in the United States. We classified patients according to alcohol consumption (current heavy vs not current heavy), obesity (body mass index ≥30 vs/m2), and PNPLA3 I148M variant status (carrier of at least one G risk allele vs noncarrier). We examined the independent and joint …

Sex Ratio At Birth Across 100 Years In Sweden And Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease And All-Cause Mortality – A National Register Study, Peter M Nilsson, Kristina Sundquist, Jan Sundquist, Casey Crump, Xinjun Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The human sex ratio at birth (SRB) undergoes temporary changes around a mean proportion of 0.51 male births. SRB has been well studied for historical, geographical, and secular trends, but until now not linked to health outcomes in the total population, e.g. for cardiovascular disease (CVD) or mortality during follow-up of birth cohorts. We used linkage analysis based on national registers in Sweden that cover all births from 1900 to 2016. SRB at birth was calculated by every 10-year birth cohort in all survivors living in 1997 for a follow-up analysis of risk of CVD and mortality with data from …

Adenovirus Vaccine Targeting Kinases Induces Potent Antitumor Immunity In Solid Tumors, Fei Zhu, Zheng Lu, Wenjing Tang, Guangya Zhao, Yingxiang Shao, Bowen Lu, Jiage Ding, Yanyan Zheng, Lin Fang, Huizhong Li, Gang Wang, Renjin Chen, Junnian Zheng, Dafei Chai

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Targeting kinases presents a potential strategy for treating solid tumors; however, the therapeutic potential of vaccines targeting kinases remains uncertain.

METHODS: Adenovirus (Ad) vaccines encoding Aurora kinase A (AURKA) or cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7) were developed, and their therapeutic potentials were investigated by various methods including western blot, flow cytometry, cytotoxic T lymphocyte assay, and enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot), in mouse and humanized solid tumor models.

RESULTS: Co-immunization with Ad-AURKA/CDK7 effectively prevented subcutaneous tumor growth in the Renca, RM-1, MC38, and Hepa1-6 tumor models. In therapeutic tumor models, Ad-AURKA/CDK7 treatment impeded tumor growth and increased immune cell infiltration. Administration of …

A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Young Women's Agency And Mental Health During Covid-19 In Low-Income Communities In Mumbai, India, Marie A Brault, Melissa F Peskin, Anastasia N Jones, Amrita Saikia, Rinchen O Bhutia, Sai Sammitha Cheruvu, Vaishali M Jagtap, Rajendra Singh, Poornima Nair, Rajesh Vedanthan, Sten H Vermund, Shubhada Maitra

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in India face additional health inequities compared to their male peers, as gender norms constrain agency for prevention and self-care. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns deepened health inequities and often worsened mental health, but the impacts on agency are unclear. This exploratory sequential mixed methods paper examined mental health and COVID-19 elements that exacerbated or mitigated adverse consequences for AGYW in low-income communities in Mumbai.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with AGYW (aged 15-25 years; N = 60) and adults (parents, healthcare providers, community-based organization representative; N = 30). …

Health Care Workers’ Comfort Ratings For Elastomeric Half-Mask Respirators Versus N95® Filtering Facepiece Respirators During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lisa Pompeii, Janelle Rios, Colleen S Kraft, Marie Kasbaum, Elisa Benavides, Scott J Patlovich, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Adam Hornbeck, Caitlin Mcclain, Rohan D Fernando, Margaret Sietsema, Morgan Lane

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Reusable elastomeric half-mask respirators (EHMR) are an alternative to address shortages of disposable respirators. While respirator discomfort has been noted as a barrier to adherence to wearing an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) among health care personnel (HCP), few have examined EHMR comfort while providing patient care, which was the purpose of this study.

METHOD: Among a cohort of 183 HCP, we prospectively examined how HCP rated EHMR tolerability using the Respirator Comfort, Wearing Experience, and Function Instrument (R-COMFI) questionnaire at Study Week 2 and Week 10. At the completion of the study (Week-12), HCP compared EHMR comfort with …

Viral And Host Factors Are Associated With Mortality In Hospitalized Patients With Covid-19, Neil R Aggarwal, Jacquie Nordwall, Dominique L Braun, Lucy Chung, Jordan Coslet, Tatyana Der, Nnakelu Eriobu, Adit A Ginde, Awori J Hayanga, Helene Highbarger, Mark Holodniy, Juan P Horcajada, Mamta K Jain, Kami Kim, Sylvain Laverdure, Jens Lundgren, Ven Natarajan, Hien H Nguyen, Sarah L Pett, Andrew Phillips, Garyphallia Poulakou, David A Price, Philip Robinson, Angela J Rogers, Uriel Sandkovsky, Katy Shaw-Saliba, Jeffrey M Sturek, Barbara W Trautner, Michael Waters, Cavan Reilly

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Persistent mortality in adults hospitalized due to acute COVID-19 justifies pursuit of disease mechanisms and potential therapies. The aim was to evaluate which virus and host response factors were associated with mortality risk among participants in Therapeutics for Inpatients with COVID-19 (TICO/ACTIV-3) trials.

METHODS: A secondary analysis of 2625 adults hospitalized for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection randomized to 1 of 5 antiviral products or matched placebo in 114 centers on 4 continents. Uniform, site-level collection of participant baseline clinical variables was performed. Research laboratories assayed baseline upper respiratory swabs for SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA and plasma for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid …

Patient- And System-Level Factors Associated With Racial/Ethnic Disparities In The Delivery Of Guideline-Concordant Therapy Among Us Patients With Gastric Cancer, Wilson L Da Costa, Mimi C Tan, E Ramsay Camp, Aaron P Thrift

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Disparities in gastric cancer (GC) outcomes show a higher disease burden among minorities. We aimed to evaluate the associations between sociodemographic and system-level factors and guideline-concordant treatment among GC patients.

Methods: Cohort study with GC patients in the National Cancer Data Base (2006-2018) treated with upfront resection or neoadjuvant therapy (NAT). We used logistic regression to identify associations between deviations from guideline-concordant therapy and patient- and system-level factors, and Cox regression models to assess risk of death.

Results: The cohort included 43 597 GC patients treated with endoscopic resection (8.9%), surgery only (47.1%), surgery and adjuvant therapy (20.6%), or …

A Phase 1/2 Study Of Pepinemab In Children, Adolescents, Or Young Adults With Recurrent Or Refractory Solid Tumors: A Children’S Oncology Group Consortium Report (Advl1614), Emily Greengard, Robin Williams, Branden Moriarity, Xiaowei Liu, Charles G Minard, Joel M Reid, Terrence Fisher, Elizabeth Evans, Desa Rae Pastore, Maurice Zauderer, Stephan Voss, Elizabeth Fox, Brenda J Weigel

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE: Pepinemab, a humanized IgG4 monoclonal antibody, targets the SEMA4D (CD100) antigen to inhibit binding to its high-affinity receptors (plexin B1/PLXNB1, plexin B2/PLXNB2) and low-affinity receptor (CD72). SEMA4D blockade leads to increased cytotoxic T-cell infiltration, delayed tumor growth, and durable tumor rejection in murine tumor models. Pepinemab was well tolerated and improved T cell infiltration in clinical studies in adults with refractory tumors. SEMA4D was identified as a strong candidate proto-oncogene in a model of osteosarcoma. Based on these preclinical and clinical data, we conducted a phase 1/2 study to determine the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D), pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and …

Kcnk1 Promotes Proliferation And Metastasis Of Breast Cancer Cells By Activating Lactate Dehydrogenase A (Ldha) And Up-Regulating H3k18 Lactylation, Xiangchan Hou, Jiawei Ouyang, Le Tang, Pan Wu, Xiangying Deng, Qijia Yan, Lei Shi, Songqing Fan, Chunmei Fan, Can Guo, Qianjin Liao, Yong Li, Wei Xiong, Guiyuan Li, Zhaoyang Zeng, Fuyan Wang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignancy and the most significant contributor to mortality in female oncology patients. Potassium Two Pore Domain Channel Subfamily K Member 1 (KCNK1) is differentially expressed in a variety of tumors, but the mechanism of its function in breast cancer is unknown. In this study, we found for the first time that KCNK1 was significantly up-regulated in human breast cancer and was correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. KCNK1 promoted breast cancer proliferation, invasion, and metastasis in vitro and vivo. Further studies unexpectedly revealed that KCNK1 increased the glycolysis and lactate production in …

Immune Cell Pair Ratio Captured By Imaging Mass Cytometry Has Superior Predictive Value For Prognosis Of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Than Cell Fraction And Density, Jian-Rong Li, Chao Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

‘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 …

Barriers To Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Among People Who Use Drugs In The Rural United States: A Qualitative, Multi-Site Study., T. J. Stopka, A. T. Estadt, G. Leichtling, J. C. Schleicher, L. S. Mixson, J. Bresett, E. Romo, P. Dowd, S. M. Walters, A. M. Young, W. Zule, P. D. Friedmann, V. F. Go, R. Baker, R. J. Fredericksen

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: In 2020, 2.8 million people required substance use disorder (SUD) treatment in nonmetropolitan or 'rural' areas in the U.S. Among this population, only 10% received SUD treatment from a specialty facility, and 1 in 500 received medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). We explored the context surrounding barriers to SUD treatment in the rural United States.

METHODS: We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews from 2018 to 2019 to assess barriers to SUD treatment among people who use drugs (PWUD) across seven rural U.S. study sites. Using the social-ecological model (SEM), we examined individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy factors contributing …

Maintaining Program Fidelity In A Changing World: National Implementation Of A School-Based Hiv Prevention Program, Elizabeth Schieber, Lynette Deveaux, Lesley Cotrell, Xiaoming Li, Stephenie C Lemon, Arlene S Ash, Karen Macdonell, Samiran Ghosh, Maxwell Poitier, Glenda Rolle, Sylvie Naar, Bo Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Large-scale, evidence-based interventions face challenges to program fidelity of implementation. We developed implementation strategies to support teachers implementing an evidence-based HIV prevention program in schools, Focus on Youth in The Caribbean (FOYC) and Caribbean Informed Parents and Children Together (CImPACT) in The Bahamas. We examined the effects of these implementation strategies on teachers' implementation in the subsequent year after the initial implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from 79 Grade 6 teachers in 24 government elementary schools. Teachers completed training workshops and a pre-implementation questionnaire to record their characteristics and perceptions that might affect their program fidelity. School …

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, …

Ever Use Of Telehealth In Nebraska By March 2021: Cross-Sectional Analysis, Lisa C. Smith, George Johnson, Snehal Jadhav, Josiane Kabayundo, Muskan Ahuja, Hongmei Wang, Kendra L. Ratnapradipa

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

BACKGROUND: Nationally, COVID-19 spurred the uptake of telehealth to facilitate patients' access to medical care, especially among individuals living in geographically isolated areas. Despite the potential benefits of telehealth to address health care access barriers and enhance health outcomes, there are still disparities in the accessibility and utilization of telehealth services. Hence, identifying facilitators and barriers to telehealth should be prioritized to ensure that disparities are mitigated rather than exacerbated.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify factors associated with ever use of telehealth in Nebraska, a primarily rural state with a significant portion of its population living in nonmetropolitan areas. …

Clinical Sensitivity And Time-To-Result Of A Cascaded Pooled Testing Approach For Assessing The Prevalence And Intensity Of Schistosoma Haematobium Infection, Abraham Degarege, Bruno Levecke, Yohannes Negash, Abebe Animut, Berhanu Erko

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

BACKGROUND: This study compared the clinical sensitivity and the time-to-result of an individual testing (IT) and a cascaded pooled testing approach (CPT; a positive test result in a pooled sample triggers examination of smaller-sized pools or individual samples) for assessing the prevalence and the intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infection. We also compared the sensitivity of the CPT in detecting S. haematobium infection when deploying urine filtration microscopy (UFM) vs. urine reagent strips (URS), and testing 10 mL vs. 15 mL of urine.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Between October 2021 and April 2022, S. haematobium eggs were counted in urine samples collected from …

Knowledge And Practices Of Parents Of School Age Children Towards Helminthiasis And Malaria In Northwestern Ethiopia, Abebe Animut, Berhanu Erko, Yohannes Negash, Abraham Degarege

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

BACKGROUND: Helminthiasis and malaria prevail in developing countries including Ethiopia, where they claim lives, retard physical and mental growth, reduce productivity and contain economic growth. Implementing helminthiasis and malaria control strategies require adequate knowledge and practices of the affected communities. Knowledge and practices of parents of school age children was assessed in relation to risk of child infection with Helminthiasis and malaria.

METHODS: A total of 398 parents of school age children attending Maksegnit Number Two Elementary School from September 2020 to June 2021 were interviewed regarding their sociodemography, knowledge and practice towards Helminthiasis and malaria. The risk of child …

Baseline Characteristics Of Sars-Cov-2 Vaccine Non-Responders In A Large Population-Based Sample, Ashraf Yaseen, Stacia M Desantis, Rachit Sabharwal, Yashar Talebi, Michael D Swartz, Shiming Zhang, Luis Leon Novelo, Cesar L Pinzon-Gomez, Sarah E Messiah, Melissa Valerio-Shewmaker, Harold W Kohl, Jessica Ross, David Lakey, Jennifer A Shuford, Stephen J Pont, Eric Boerwinkle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Studies indicate that individuals with chronic conditions and specific baseline characteristics may not mount a robust humoral antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. In this paper, we used data from the Texas Coronavirus Antibody REsponse Survey (Texas CARES), a longitudinal state-wide seroprevalence program that has enrolled more than 90,000 participants, to evaluate the role of chronic diseases as the potential risk factors of non-response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in a large epidemiologic cohort.

METHODS: A participant needed to complete an online survey and a blood draw to test for SARS-CoV-2 circulating plasma antibodies at four-time points spaced at least three months …

Exploring The Relationship Between Vaccine Hesitancy And Mothers’ Perspectives On Covid-19 Vaccines For Children Ages 5–11 Years During The Omicron Predominant Period 2021–2022: A Qualitative Study, Tiffany A Suragh, David Adzrago, Marlyn A Allicock, Paul G Yeh, Paula Cuccaro

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The United States Food and Drug Administration authorized COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5-11 years in October 2021 during the Omicron predominant period. Parental vaccine hesitancy was prevalent during this time, resulting in low childhood COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Most studies exploring factors influencing parental vaccine hesitancy have focused on racial and ethnic minorities and lower socioeconomic populations; however, there is little knowledge of the drive drivers of vaccine hesitancy among White parents with higher education and socioeconomic statuses.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with a sample of 15 White mothers of children ages 5-11 years in Atlanta, GA, between …

Work As A Social Determinant Of Maternal Health: A Qualitative Exploration Of College-Educated Black Women’S Experiences At Work During Pregnancy And Postpartum, Serwaa S Omowale, Laurenia C Mangum, Andrea Joseph-Mccatty, Cherell Cottrell-Daniels, Kaiya A Farris, Rashon King, Brittany C Slatton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Black women are disproportionately impacted by higher rates of maternal mortality in the United States (US). Limited research has focused on adverse maternal health outcomes among college-educated Black women, although research has found these outcomes persistent among this population.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to fill a critical gap in current research by elucidating the nuanced experiences of college-educated Black women in the workplace during pregnancy and postpartum. By exploring this under-researched area, our study contributes to the academic discourse on Black maternal health disparities within the scope of occupational health. It offers practical insights for enhancing workplace gender equity, …

Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Three Outreach Events To Improve Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among Racial And Ethnic Minority Communities In Houston, Texas, 2022, Carmin Munoz-Lavanderos, Abiodun Oluyomi, Omar Rosales, Norvin Hernandez, Nana Mensah-Bonsu, Hoda Badr

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: Lack of access to timely, accurate, and linguistically appropriate COVID-19 information has complicated the dissemination of evidence-based information and contributed to vaccine hesitancy among racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. We developed community events that provided outreach, education, and access to COVID-19 vaccination to overcome vaccine hesitancy in these communities.

METHODS: Using spatial analysis techniques, we identified 3 communities with low vaccine uptake in Houston, Texas, in fall 2021; engaged 20 stakeholders from these communities via 4 focus groups to understand barriers to vaccination; and developed and implemented 3 COVID-19 vaccine education and outreach events tailored …

Dna Mismatch Repair Defect And Intratumor Heterogeneous Deficiency Differently Impact Immune Responses In Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Zijun Y Xu-Monette, Cancan Luo, Li Yu, Yong Li, Govind Bhagat, Alexandar Tzankov, Carlo Visco, Xiangshan Fan, Karen Dybkaer, Ali Sakhdari, Nicholas T Wang, Alyssa F Yuan, April Chiu, Wayne Tam, Youli Zu, Eric D Hsi, Anamarija M Perry, Wenting Song, Dennis O'Malley, Qingyan Au, Harry Nunns, Heounjeong Go, Michael B Møller, Benjamin M Parsons, Santiago Montes-Moreno, Maurilio Ponzoni, Andrés J M Ferreri, Aliyah R Sohani, Jeremy S Abramson, Bing Xu, Ken H Young

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Deficient (d) DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is a biomarker predictive of better response to PD-1 blockade immunotherapy in solid tumors. dMMR can be caused by mutations in MMR genes or by protein inactivation, which can be detected by sequencing and immunohistochemistry, respectively. To investigate the role of dMMR in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), MMR gene mutations and expression of MSH6, MSH2, MLH1, and PMS2 proteins were evaluated by targeted next-generation sequencing and immunohistochemistry in a large cohort of DLBCL patients treated with standard chemoimmunotherapy, and correlated with the tumor immune microenvironment characteristics quantified by fluorescent multiplex immunohistochemistry and gene-expression …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Neuroblastoma Incidence, Survival, And Racial And Ethnic Disparities From 2001 To 2019, Kevin Campbell, David A Siegel, Puja J Umaretiya, Shifan Dai, Andras Heczey, Philip J Lupo, Jeremy M Schraw, Trevor D Thompson, Michael E Scheurer, Jennifer H Foster

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: We characterize the incidence and 5-year survival of children and adolescents with neuroblastoma stratified by demographic and clinical factors based on the comprehensive data from United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) and the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR).

METHODS: We analyzed the incidence of neuroblastoma from USCS (2003-2019) and survival data from NPCR (2001-2018) for patients less than 20 years old. Incidence trends were calculated by average annual percent change (AAPC) using joinpoint regression. Differences in relative survival were estimated comparing non-overlapping confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS: We identified 11,543 primary neuroblastoma cases in USCS. Age-adjusted incidence was 8.3 per …

Prevalence Of Congenital Anomalies According To Maternal Race And Ethnicity, Texas, 1999–2018, Jeremy M Schraw, Elwin Jaime, Charles J Shumate, Mark A Canfield, Philip J Lupo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Few studies of congenital anomalies provide prevalence estimates stratified by maternal race/ethnicity. We sought to determine whether the prevalence of a broad spectrum of anomalies varies among offspring of women from different race/ethnic groups.

METHODS: We obtained information on cases with anomalies from the population-based Texas Birth Defects Registry, and denominator data on livebirths among Texas residents during 1999-2018 from the Texas Center for Health Statistics. We estimated the prevalence ratio (PR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of N = 145 anomalies among offspring of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black relative to non-Hispanic White women using Poisson regression, adjusting for …

Association Of The Covid-19 Pandemic With Women, Infants, And Children (Wic) Receipt Among Pregnant Individuals: United States, 2016-2022, Savannah Busch, Jennifer A Andersen, Don E Willis, Pearl Anna Mcelfish, Sharon Reece, Dominique Dubois, Clare C Brown

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objectives. To evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) receipt among pregnant individuals overall and by race/ethnicity.

Methods. We measured changes in WIC receipt among Medicaid-covered births (n = 10 484 697) from the US National Center for Health Statistics Natality Files (2016–2022). Our interrupted time series logistic model included a continuous monthly variable, a binary post-COVID variable, and a continuous slope shift variable. We additionally fit separate models for each race/ethnicity relative to White individuals, using interaction terms between the time series variables and race/ethnicity.

Results. We found decreases in …

Ramipril For The Treatment Of Covid-19: Ramic, A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial, Daniel Q Huang, Veeral Ajmera, Christian Tomaszewski, Andrew Lafree, Ricki Bettencourt, Wesley K Thompson, Davey M Smith, Atul Malhotra, Ravindra L Mehta, Vaishal Tolia, Jeffrey Yin, Paul A Insel, Stone Leachman, Jinho Jung, Summer Collier, Lisa Richards, Kristin Woods, Maral Amangurbanova, Archana Bhatt, Xinlian Zhang, Oana M Penciu, Stuart Zarich, Tamrat Retta, Michelle S Harkins, J Pedro Teixeira, Brian Chinnock, Netanya S Utay, Jordan E Lake, Rohit Loomba

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Retrospective studies report that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) may reduce the severity of COVID-19, but prospective data on de novo treatment with ACEIs are limited. The RAMIC trial was a randomized, multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind, allocation-concealed clinical trial to examine the efficacy of de novo ramipril versus placebo for the treatment of COVID-19.

Methods: Eligible participants were aged 18 years and older with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, recruited from urgent care clinics, emergency departments, and hospital inpatient wards at eight sites in the USA. Participants were randomly assigned to daily ramipril 2.5 mg or placebo orally in a …