Women's Health Commons^™

The Application Of An Extracellular Vesicle-Based Biosensor In Early Diagnosis And Prediction Of Chemoresponsiveness In Ovarian Cancer, Meshach Asare-Werehene, Robert A Hunter, Emma Gerber, Arkadiy Reunov, Isaiah Brine, Chia-Yu Chang, Chia-Ching Chang, Dar-Bin Shieh, Dylan Burger, Hanan Anis, Benjamin K Tsang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer (OVCA) is the most fatal gynecological cancer with late diagnosis and plasma gelsolin (pGSN)-mediated chemoresistance representing the main obstacles to treatment success. Since there is no reliable approach to diagnosing patients at an early stage as well as predicting chemoresponsiveness, there is an urgent need to develop a diagnostic platform for such purposes. Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are attractive biomarkers given their potential accuracy for targeting tumor sites.

METHODS: We have developed a novel biosensor which utilizes cysteine-functionalized gold nanoparticles that simultaneously bind to cisplatin (CDDP) and plasma/cell-derived EVs, affording us the advantage of predicting OVCA chemoresponsiveness, …

Anthracycline-Containing And Taxane-Containing Chemotherapy For Early-Stage Operable Breast Cancer: A Patient-Level Meta-Analysis Of 100 000 Women From 86 Randomised Trials, Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (Ebctcg)

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Anthracycline-taxane chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer substantially improves survival compared with no chemotherapy. However, concerns about short-term and long-term side-effects of anthracyclines have led to increased use of taxane chemotherapy without anthracycline, which could compromise efficacy. We aimed to better characterise the benefits and risks of including anthracycline, and the comparative benefits of different anthracycline-taxane regimens.

METHODS: We did an individual patient-level meta-analysis of randomised trials comparing taxane regimens with versus without anthracycline, and updated our previous meta-analysis of anthracycline regimens with versus without taxane, as well as analysing 44 trials in six related comparisons. We searched databases, including …

Combatting Abortion Misinformation And Disinformation In Medical Education, Jaya Prakash, Deborah Bartz

Feminist Pedagogy

Abstract Introduction: Although abortion has historically been federally legal, functional access to abortion care has been thwarted by inflammatory political discourse. Abortion misinformation and disinformation have been deliberately intertwined into political agendas and ideologies, widening the gap between the lay public’s perception of and patients’ lived experience with abortion care. The politicization of abortion care has adverse effects on its provision and training along lines of inequity and marginalization established by preexisting systems of oppression and structural violence. Critical feminist pedagogy—an examination of class, gender, and sexuality on patriarchal misrepresentations of abortion information—can guide medical students to recognize and combat …

Reproductive Justice Teaching In Undergraduate Medical Education: An Opportunity To Partner With Communities Beyond Traditional Medicine To Influence Health, Tiwadeye I. Lawal, Miriam R. Singer, Deborah Bartz

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Comparative Medicaid Policy Analysis Related To Maternal And Infant Birth Outcomes In South Carolina, Cassidy L. Lena

Senior Theses

The United States despite being one of the most industrialized and wealthiest nations in the world, has the worst maternal and child health outcomes of any industrialized nation. The rates of maternal morbidity, mortality, and infant mortality have been increasing within the past decade, when many causes of death for this population are preventable. This study conducted a literature review on Medicaid policies and associated programs between three states (South Carolina, North Carolina, and California) in order to gain background information. Secondly, a comparative Medicaid policy analysis was completed using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] framework, which …

Validation Of A Brief Measure For Complicated Grief Specific To Reproductive Loss, Cara Buskmiller, Kathryn R Grauerholz, Jennifer Bute, Maria Brann, Michaelene Fredenburg, Jerrie S Refuerzo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective

Complicated grief reactions follow some pregnancy outcomes, like miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, infant death, selective reduction, or termination of pregnancy. Stigma can delay treatment and worsen outcomes. Screening tools such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale detect complicated grief poorly, and specific tools for prolonged or complicated grief after a reproductive loss are cumbersome. In this study, a five-item questionnaire to detect complicated grief after reproductive loss of any type was designed and preliminary validated.

Methods

A questionnaire patterned after the extensively validated Brief Grief Questionnaire (BGQ) was created by a group of physicians and lay advocates to employ …

Conflicting Socio-Cultural Attitudes And Community Factors Resulting In Backstreet Abortion In Cato Manor, Kwazulu Natal, Chloe Sachs

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Abortion in South Africa is a complex topic, rife with augmenting and limiting political, social, religious, and cultural factors. In South Africa, abortion has been legal since 1996; however, abortions have been performed for centuries in the region. Although abortion is legal, many factors influence a woman’s choice and ability to terminate a pregnancy. Religious and cultural norms within morally conservative societies contribute to negative abortion sentiments and hesitation to seek formal medical abortions. This study explored multiple age groups within Cato Manor and whether the attitudes towards abortion and factors impacting the choice of where and whether to receive …

Fear Of Recurrence, Emotional Well-Being And Quality Of Life Among Long-Term Advanced Ovarian Cancer Survivors, Kathryn Osann, Lari Wenzel, Chelsea Mckinney, Lynne Wagner, David Cella, Giulia Fulci, Mary J Scroggins, Heather A Lankes, Victoria Wang, Kenneth P Nephew, George L Maxwell, Samuel C Mok, Thomas P Conrads, Austin Miller, Michael Birrer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Although advanced stage epithelial ovarian cancer is widely considered life-threatening, 17% of women with advanced disease will survive long-term. Little is known about the health-related quality of life (QOL) of long-term ovarian cancer survivors, or how fear of recurrence might affect QOL.

METHODS: 58 long-term survivors with advanced disease participated in the study. Participants completed standardized questionnaires to capture cancer history, QOL, and fear of recurrent disease (FOR). Statistical analyses included multivariable linear models.

RESULTS: Participants averaged 52.8 years at diagnosis and had survived >8 years (mean:13.5); 64% had recurrent disease. Mean FACT-G, FACT-O, and FACT-O-TOI (TOI) scores were …

Short-Term Neonatal Outcomes Of Pregnancies Complicated By Maternal Obesity, Mara J Dinsmoor, Lynda G Ugwu, Jennifer L Bailit, Uma M Reddy, Ronald J Wapner, Michael W Varner, John M Thorp, Steve N Caritis, Mona Prasad, Alan T N Tita, George R Saade, Yoram Sorokin, Dwight J Rouse, Sean C Blackwell, Jorge E Tolosa, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units (Mfmu) Network

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Maternal obesity complicates a high number of pregnancies. The degree to which neonatal outcomes are adversely affected is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate neonatal outcomes of pregnancies complicated by maternal obesity.

STUDY DESIGN: This study was a secondary analysis of a cohort of deliveries occurring on randomly selected days at 25 hospitals from 2008 to 2011. Data were collected by certified abstractors. This analysis included singleton deliveries between 24 and 42 weeks of gestation. Body mass index was calculated on the basis of maternal height and most recent weight before delivery. Normal and overweight (reference group; body …

The Association Of Smoking And Coffee Consumption With Occurrence Of Upper Gastrointestinal Symptoms In Patients With Active Helicobacter Pylori Infection In Jazan City: A Cross-Sectional Study, Anna Palatnik, Paula Mcgee, Jennifer L Bailit, Ronald J Wapner, Michael W Varner, John M Thorp, Steve N Caritis, Mona Prasad, Alan T N Tita, George R Saade, Dwight J Rouse, Sean C Blackwell, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units (Mfmu) Networ

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective:

To examine whether there are racial disparities in severe maternal morbidity in patients with hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP).

Study Design:

Secondary analysis of an observational study of 115,502 patients who had a live birth at ≥ 20 weeks in 25 hospitals in the US from 2008 to 2011. Only patients with HDP were included in this analysis. Race and ethnicity were categorized as non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic and were abstracted from the medical charts. Patients of other races and ethnicities were excluded. Associations were estimated between race and ethnicity and the primary outcome of severe maternal …

The Brief Case: A New Feature In Journal Of Clinical Microbiology, Makayla M Bavis, Allison M Nicholas, Alexandria J Tobin, Sherri L Christian, Robert J Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The energy demand of breast cancers is in part met through the β-oxidation of exogenous fatty acids. Fatty acids may also be used to aid in cell signaling and toward the construction of new membranes for rapidly proliferating tumor cells. A significant quantity of fatty acids comes from the hydrolysis of lipoprotein triacylglycerols and phospholipids by lipoprotein lipase (LPL). The lipid obtained via LPL in the breast tumor microenvironment may thus promote breast tumor growth and development. In this hypothesis article, we introduce LPL, provide a meta-analysis of RNAseq data showing that LPL is associated with poor prognosis, and explain …

Long-Term Maternal Metabolic And Cardiovascular Phenotypes After A Pregnancy Complicated By Mild Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Or Obesity, Ashley N Battarbee, Lisa Mele, Mark B Landon, Michael W Varner, Brian M Casey, Uma M Reddy, Ronald J Wapner, Dwight J Rouse, John M Thorp, Edward K Chien, George Saade, Beth A Plunkett, Sean C Blackwell

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective:

To evaluate the association of mild gestational diabetes (GDM) and obesity with metabolic and cardiovascular markers 5-10 years after pregnancy.

Study Design:

This was a secondary analysis of 5-10 year follow-up study of a mild GDM treatment trial and concurrent observational cohort of participants ineligible for the trial with abnormal 1-hour glucose challenge test only. Participants with 2-hour glucose tolerance test at follow-up were included. The primary exposures were mild GDM and obesity. The outcomes were insulinogenic index (IGI), 1/HOMA-IR, and cardiovascular markers VEGF, VCAM-1, CD40L, GDF-15, and ST-2. Multivariable linear regression estimated the association of GDM and obesity …

Prospective, Early Longitudinal Assessment Of Lymphedema-Related Quality Of Life Among Patients With Locally Advanced Breast Cancer: The Foundation For Building A Patient-Centered Screening Program, Anusha Gandhi, Tianlin Xu, Sarah M Desnyder, Grace L Smith, Ruitao Lin, Carlos H Barcenas, Michael C Stauder, Karen E Hoffman, Eric A Strom, Susan Ferguson, Benjamin D Smith, Wendy A Woodward, George H Perkins, Melissa P Mitchell, Desmond Garner, Chelain R Goodman, Melissa Aldrich, Marigold Travis, Susan Lilly, Isabelle Bedrosian, Simona F Shaitelman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: We examined how breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) affects health-related quality of life (HRQOL), productivity, and compliance with therapeutic interventions to guide structuring BCRL screening programs.

METHODS: We prospectively followed consecutive breast cancer patients who underwent axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) with arm volume screening and measures assessing patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and perceptions of BCRL care. Comparisons by BCRL status were made with Mann-Whitney U, Chi-square, Fisher's exact, or t tests. Trends over time from ALND were assessed with linear mixed-effects models.

RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 8 months in 247 patients, 46% self-reported ever having …

Cervicovaginal Microbiota Profiles In Precancerous Lesions And Cervical Cancer Among Ethiopian Women, Brhanu Teka, Kyoko Yoshida-Court, Ededia Firdawoke, Zewditu Chanyalew, Muluken Gizaw, Adamu Addissie, Adane Mihret, Lauren E Colbert, Tatiana Cisneros Napravnik, Molly B El Alam, Erica J Lynn, Melissa Mezzari, Jhingran Anuja, Eva Johanna Kantelhardt, Andreas M Kaufmann, Ann H Klopp, Tamrat Abebe

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although high-risk human papillomavirus infection is a well-established risk factor for cervical cancer, other co-factors within the local microenvironment may play an important role in the development of cervical cancer. The current study aimed to characterize the cervicovaginal microbiota in women with premalignant dysplasia or invasive cervical cancer compared with that of healthy women. The study comprised 120 Ethiopian women (60 cervical cancer patients who had not received any treatment, 25 patients with premalignant dysplasia, and 35 healthy women). Cervicovaginal specimens were collected using either an Isohelix DNA buccal swab or an Evalyn brush, and ribosomal RNA sequencing was used …

Evaluation Of A Portable Gynecological Examination Table On Increasing Access To Cervical Cancer Screenings, Brennan Burrows, Giuliana Motta, Vibhasri Davuluri, Urvee Deo, Aman Tahir, Brindha Rajakumar, Jacob Blumenstein, Eliza Steinberg, Mariam Tobia, Asmita Tuladhar, Abigail Ahn

Medical Student Research Symposium

Introduction: Cervical cancer is a preventable disease affecting millions of women worldwide, with higher prevalence and mortality in developing countries. One explanation of this disparity is due to reduced access to screenings, especially in rural communities where mobile health clinics are limited by what medical equipment they can bring. To address these barriers, an engineering team called Project MESA (Making Examinations Safe and Accessible) designed a gynecological examination table that is portable, lightweight, and easily sanitizable.

Objective: This study aims to (1) evaluate whether the implementation of this device improves the clinician’s ability to perform pap smears as opposed to …

Patient Perspectives On Noninvasive Prenatal Testing Among Black Women In The United States: A Scoping Review, Shameka P. Thomas, Madison A. Keller, Tiara Ranson, Rachele E. Willard

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Advances in reproductive health technologies such as noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) are changing the landscape of prenatal care and maternal health. NIPT, made clinically available in the United States (US) in 2011, is a screening test that utilizes cell-free DNA (cfDNA) to detect for aneuploidies and genetic characteristics in fetal DNA. In September 2020, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommended NIPT for all pregnant patients regardless of age or risk factors. We examined peer-reviewed, empirical studies published from January 2011 to February 2022, assessing NIPT studies with patient perspectives in the US and what is known about …

Transabdominal Cerclage During Pregnancy: A Retrospective Single Operator Series Over A Quarter Century, David R Hall, Mari Van De Vyver

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: To describe the pregnancy outcomes and complications observed in a series of cases of transabdominal cerclage (TAC), which is reserved for highly selected women with recurrent mid-trimester pregnancy loss, due to cervical insufficiency.

METHODS: A retrospective audit covering 25 years (January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2021) was performed at the Obstetric Special Care division, Tygerberg Academic Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. All 118 pregnancies from 94 procedures, operated and managed by the principal author were included for descriptive analysis.

RESULTS: Eighty-four (91.3%) of the 92 first pregnancies after first insertion had successful outcomes. All second and third …

Long-Term Safety And Efficacy Of Non-Absorbable Abdominal Mesh For Apical Prolapse Surgery: A 10-Year Experience At Tertiary Care Hospital, Samia Aijaz, Novera G. Chughtai, Urooj Kashif, Summera Malik

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Objectives: To evaluate the complications of apical prolapse correction with abdominally placed mesh and to assess the long-term efficacy of Sacrohysteropexy and Sacrocolpopexy.
Method: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Aga Khan University Hospital. All women who underwent apical prolapse surgery using abdominal mesh from January 2010 to December 2019 at AKUH were included. Patients with missing routine follow up visits and incomplete data up to one year post op were excluded. Patient notes were reviewed, and subjective and objective success and complications were analyzed. Safety was measured by incidence of intra, early …

Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Acute Care Utilization Among Patients With Glomerular Disease, Jill R Krissberg, Michelle M O'Shaughnessy, Abigail R Smith, Margaret E Helmuth, Salem Almaani, Diego H Aviles, Kaye E Brathwaite, Yi Cai, Daniel Cattran, Rasheed Gbadegesin, Dorey A Glenn, Larry A Greenbaum, Sandra Iragorri, Koyal Jain, Myda Khalid, Jason Kidd, Jeffrey Kopp, Richard Lafayette, Jerome C Lane, Francesca Lugani, Jordan G Nestor, Rulan S Parekh, Kimberly Reidy, David T Selewski, Christine B Sethna, C John Sperati, Katherine Tuttle, Katherine Twombley, Tetyana L Vasylyeva, Donald J Weaver, Scott E Wenderfer, Keisha Gibson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: The effects of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and disease severity on acute care utilization in patients with glomerular disease are unknown.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.

SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: 1,456 adults and 768 children with biopsy-proven glomerular disease enrolled in the Cure Glomerulonephropathy (CureGN) cohort.

EXPOSURE: Race and ethnicity as a participant-reported social factor.

OUTCOME: Acute care utilization defined as hospitalizations or emergency department visits.

ANALYTICAL APPROACH: Multivariable recurrent event proportional rate models were used to estimate associations between race and ethnicity and acute care utilization.

RESULTS: Black or Hispanic participants had lower SES and more …

Combination Of Epha2- And Wee1-Targeted Therapies In Endometrial Cancer, Santosh K Dasari, Robiya Joseph, Sujanitha Umamaheswaran, Lingegowda S Mangala, Emine Bayraktar, Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo, Yutuan Wu, Nghi Nguyen, Reid T Powell, Mary Sobieski, Yuan Liu, Mamur A Chowdhury, Paola Amero, Clifford Stephan, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, Shannon N Westin, Anil K Sood

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

EphA2 tyrosine kinase is upregulated in many cancers and correlated with poor survival of patients, including those with endometrial cancer. EphA2-targeted drugs have shown modest clinical benefit. To improve the therapeutic response to such drugs, we performed a high-throughput chemical screen to discover novel synergistic partners for EphA2-targeted therapeutics. Our screen identified the Wee1 kinase inhibitor, MK1775, as a synergistic partner to EphA2, and this finding was confirmed using both in vitro and in vivo experiments. We hypothesized that Wee1 inhibition would sensitize cells to EphA2-targeted therapy. Combination treatment decreased cell viability, induced apoptosis, and reduced clonogenic potential in endometrial …

Glucose 6-P Dehydrogenase Overexpression Improves Aging-Induced Endothelial Dysfunction In Aorta From Mice: Role Of Arginase Ii, Eva Serna, Maria D Mauricio, Teresa San-Miguel, Sol Guerra-Ojeda, David Verdú, Alicia Valls, Coralie Arc-Chagnaud, Adrián De La Rosa, José Viña

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The increase of vascular arginase activity during aging causes endothelial dysfunction. This enzyme competes with the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) for L-arginine substrate. Our hypothesis is that glucose 6-P dehydrogenase (G6PD) overexpression could improve the endothelial function modulating the arginase pathway in aorta from mice. For this study, three groups of male mice were used: young wild type (WT) (6-9 months), old WT (21-22 months) and old G6PD-Tg (21-22 months) mice. Vascular reactivity results showed a reduced acetylcholine-dependent relaxation in the old WT but not old G6PD-Tg group. Endothelial dysfunction was reverted by nor-NOHA, an arginase inhibitor. Mice overexpressing …

First- Or Second-Trimester Sars-Cov-2 Infection And Subsequent Pregnancy Outcomes, Brenna L Hughes, Grecio J Sandoval, Torri D Metz, Rebecca G Clifton, William A Grobman, George R Saade, Tracy A Manuck, Monica Longo, Amber Sowles, Kelly Clark, Hyagriv N Simhan, Dwight J Rouse, Hector Mendez-Figueroa, Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, Jennifer Bailit, Maged M Costantine, Harish M Sehdev, Alan T N Tita, George A Macones

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including fetal death and preterm birth. It is not known whether that risk occurs only during the time of acute infection or whether the risk persists later in pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate whether the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy persists after an acute maternal illness.

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study of pregnant patients with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection delivering at 17 hospitals in the United States between March 2020 and December 2020. Patients experiencing a SARS-CoV-2-positive test at or before 28 weeks of gestation …

Substrate Electronics Dominate The Rate Of Reductive Dehalogenation Promoted By The Flavin-Dependent Iodotyrosine Deiodinase, Jeffrey M Carlson, Ayzsa Tannis, Kate R Woodworth, Megan R Reynolds, Neha Shinde, Breanne Anderson, Keivon Hobeheidar, Aisha Praag, Kristen Campbell, Cynthia Carpentieri, Teri Willabus, Elizabeth Burkhardt, Elizabeth Torrone, Kevin P O'Callaghan, Kathryn Miele, Dana Meaney-Delman, Suzanne M Gilboa, Emily O'Malley Olsen, Van T Tong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite universal prenatal syphilis screening recommendations and availability of effective antibiotic treatment, syphilis prevalence during pregnancy and the incidence of congenital syphilis have continued to increase in the United States (1,2). Concurrent increases in methamphetamine, injection drug, and heroin use have been described in women with syphilis (3). CDC used data on births that occurred during January 1, 2018-December 31, 2021, from two states (Arizona and Georgia) that participate in the Surveillance for Emerging Threats to Pregnant People and Infants Network (SET-NET) to describe the prevalence of substance use among pregnant persons with syphilis by congenital syphilis pregnancy outcome (defined …

Predictors Of Success In Establishing Orthotopic Patient-Derived Xenograft Models Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Gloria V Echeverria, Shirong Cai, Yizheng Tu, Jiansu Shao, Emily Powell, Abena B Redwood, Yan Jiang, Aaron Mccoy, Amanda L Rinkenbaugh, Rosanna Lau, Alexander J Trevarton, Chunxiao Fu, Rebekah Gould, Elizabeth E Ravenberg, Lei Huo, Rosalind Candelaria, Lumarie Santiago, Beatriz E Adrada, Deanna L Lane, Gaiane M Rauch, Wei T Yang, Jason B White, Jeffrey T Chang, Stacy L Moulder, W Fraser Symmans, Susan G Hilsenbeck, Helen Piwnica-Worms

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of breast cancer are an effective discovery platform and tool for preclinical pharmacologic testing and biomarker identification. We established orthotopic PDX models of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) from the primary breast tumors of patients prior to and following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) while they were enrolled in the ARTEMIS trial (NCT02276443). Serial biopsies were obtained from patients prior to treatment (pre-NACT), from poorly responsive disease after four cycles of Adriamycin and cyclophosphamide (AC, mid-NACT), and in cases of AC-resistance, after a 3-month course of different experimental therapies and/or additional chemotherapy (post-NACT). Our study cohort includes a …

Metabolomics Of A Neonatal Cohort From The Alliance For Maternal And Newborn Health Improvement Biorepository: Effect Of Preanalytical Variables On Reference Intervals, Lena Jafri, Aysha Habib Khan, Muhammad Ilyas, Muhammad Imran Nisar, Javairia Khalid, Hafsa Majid, Aneeta Hotwani, Fyezah Jehan

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Background: The study was conducted to determine reference interval (RI) and evaluate the effect of preanalytical variables on Dried blood spot (DBS)-amino acids, acylcarnitines and succinylacetone of neonates.
Methodology: DBS samples were collected within 48-72 hours of life. Samples were analyzed for biochemical markers on tandem mass spectrometer at the University of Iowa. Comparison of RI across various categorical variables were performed.
Results: A total of 610 reference samples were selected based on exclusion criteria; 53.2% being females. Mean gestational age (GA) of mothers at the time of delivery was 38.7±1.6 weeks; 24.5% neonates were of low birth weight and …

Immune Environment And Antigen Specificity Of The T Cell Receptor Repertoire Of Malignant Ascites In Ovarian Cancer, Kyoko Yoshida-Court, Tatiana V Karpinets, Aparna Mitra, Travis N Solley, Stephanie Dorta-Estremera, Travis T Sims, Andrea Y Delgado Medrano, Molly B El Alam, Mustapha Ahmed-Kaddar, Erica J Lynn, K Jagannadha Sastry, Jianhua Zhang, Andrew Futreal, Alpa Nick, Karen Lu, Lauren E Colbert, Ann H Klopp

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We evaluated the association of disease outcome with T cell immune-related characteristics and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire in malignant ascites from patients with high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer. Ascitic fluid samples were collected from 47 high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer patients and analyzed using flow cytometry and TCR sequencing to characterize the complementarity determining region 3 TCR β-chain. TCR functions were analyzed using the McPAS-TCR and VDJ databases. TCR clustering was implemented using Grouping of Lymphocyte Interactions by Paratope Hotspots software. Patients with poor prognosis had ascites characterized by an increased ratio of CD8+ T cells to regulatory T cells, which …

Phase I Dose Escalation Study Of Topical Bexarotene In Women At High Risk For Breast Cancer, Parijatham S Thomas, Anisha B Patel, J Jack Lee, Diane D Liu, Mike Hernandez, Miguel Muzzio, Alejandro Contreras, Valerie Sepeda, Carrie Mays, Diane Weber, Lana A Vornik, Seema A Khan, Eileen Dimond, Brandy M Heckman-Stoddard, Marjorie Perloff, Powel H Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Bexarotene is a rexinoid that has been shown to prevent mammary tumors in mouse models but oral dosing has toxicities. This phase I study evaluates topical bexarotene, as a potential chemoprevention agent, for safety and toxicity in high-risk women for breast cancer.

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 …

Empowering Choices: Patient Education For Contraceptive Confidence, Maria Anns Abraham

Nursing | Student Research Posters

The complexity of birth control options significantly impacts women's lives, with hormonal contraceptives being commonly used but often misunderstood. These contraceptives, which contain estrogen and progestin or progestin only, come in various forms such as pills, implants, IUDs, injections, the vaginal ring, and skin patches, offering benefits such as reduced menstrual cramps and ectopic pregnancy risk. However, they can also lead to adverse effects including increased blood pressure, nausea, headaches, breakthrough bleeding, and heightened risk of blood clots, with research indicating a potential link between their use and a decline in mental health. Given the prevalence of depression, particularly in …

Cervical Cancer Prevention In The Philippines, Kate Isabel Juanillo

Nursing | Student Research Posters

Although cervical cancer is preventable, it continues to pose a significant health concern in the Philippines as evidenced by high cervical cancer diagnosis rates. The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate low cervical cancer screening rates and the effectiveness of educational interventions in increasing awareness and screening rates. A literature review will examine topics such as low cervical cancer screening rates, cervical cancer screening methods, and barriers. This research proposal involves a quasi-experimental study that investigates education as an intervention for increasing cervical cancer awareness and cervical cancer screening rates. Fifty Filipino women will be randomly assigned to …