Epidemiology Commons^™

Association Of Prescription Opioids With Oral Health, Holly Yue

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

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

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

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

Performance Of A Sars-Cov-2 Rt-Pcr Assay With Non-Traditional Specimen Types, Subathra Marimuthu, Holly Aliesky, Heather Ness, Daniya Sheikh, Sathya Rashmit, Dawn Balcom, Leslie A. Wolf

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

During the first two years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, nasopharyngeal (NP) specimens were the gold standard for clinical diagnostic testing. As information about the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing the pandemic continued to be shared, it was clear that the virus could be detected in other specimen types during an active infection. The University of Louisville Infectious Diseases Laboratory accepted non-traditional specimen types, most without a paired, positive NP result, for research purposes only to support local epidemiology efforts. A real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay originally validated for NP specimens was used …

Mortality And Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events In Hospitalized Patients With Atrial Fibrillation With Covid-19, Lucas Wang, Lawrence Hoang, Kristopher Aten, Mujahed Abualfoul, Victor Canela, Sri Prathivada, Michael Vu, Yi Zhao, Manavjot Sidhu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

COVID-19 results in increased incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation (AF). However, little is known about the combined effect of AF and COVID-19 on patient outcomes. This study aimed to determine if AF, specifically new-onset AF (NOAF), is associated with increased risk of mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. This multicenter retrospective analysis identified 2,732 patients with COVID-19 admitted between March and December 2020. Data points were manually reviewed in the patients' electronic health records. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess if AF was associated with death or MACE. Patients with AF …

What? Now A Respiratory Syncytial Virus Epidemic, Aya Allam, Steven B Lippmann

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

Risk Factors For Ebola Virus Persistence In Semen Of Survivors In Liberia, Jonathan Dyal, Aaron Kofman, Jomah Z Kollie, John Fankhauser, Romeo Orone, Moses J Soka, Uriah Glaybo, Armah Kiawu, Edna Freeman, Giovanni Giah, Henry D Tony, Mylene Faikai, Mary Jawara, Kuku Kamara, Samuel Kamara, Benjamin Flowers, Mohammed L Kromah, Rodel Desamu-Thorpe, James Graziano, Shelley Brown, Maria E Morales-Betoulle, Deborah L Cannon, Kaihong Su, Susanne L Linderman, Mateusz Plucinski, Eric Rogier, Richard S Bradbury, W Evan Secor, Katherine E Bowden, Christi Phillips, Mary N Carrington, Yeon-Hwa Park, Maureen P Martin, Maria Del Pilar Aguinaga, Robert Mushi, Dana L Haberling, Elizabeth D Ervin, John D Klena, Moses Massaquoi, Tolbert Nyenswah, Stuart T Nichol, David E Chiriboga, Desmond E Williams, Steven H Hinrichs, Rafi Ahmed, Benjamin T Vonhm, Pierre E Rollin, Lawrence J Purpura, Mary J Choi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Long-term persistence of Ebola virus (EBOV) in immunologically privileged sites has been implicated in recent outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This study was designed to understand how the acute course of EVD, convalescence, and host immune and genetic factors may play a role in prolonged viral persistence in semen.

METHODS: A cohort of 131 male EVD survivors in Liberia were enrolled in a case-case study. "Early clearers" were defined as those with 2 consecutive negative EBOV semen test results by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) ≥2 weeks apart within …

An Epithelial-Immune Circuit Amplifies Inflammasome And Il-6 Responses To Sars-Cov-2, Katherine C Barnett, Yuying Xie, Takanori Asakura, Dingka Song, Kaixin Liang, Sharon A Taft-Benz, Haitao Guo, Shuangshuang Yang, Kenichi Okuda, Rodney C Gilmore, Jennifer F Loome, Thomas H Oguin Iii, Gregory D Sempowski, Scott H Randell, Mark T Heise, Yu Leo Lei, Richard C Boucher, Jenny P-Y Ting

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Elevated levels of cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 are associated with severe COVID-19. Investigating the underlying mechanisms, we find that while primary human airway epithelia (HAE) have functional inflammasomes and support SARS-CoV-2 replication, they are not the source of IL-1β released upon infection. In leukocytes, the SARS-CoV-2 E protein upregulates inflammasome gene transcription via TLR2 to prime, but not activate, inflammasomes. SARS-CoV-2-infected HAE supply a second signal, which includes genomic and mitochondrial DNA, to stimulate leukocyte IL-1β release. Nuclease treatment, STING, and caspase-1 inhibition but not NLRP3 inhibition blocked leukocyte IL-1β release. After release, IL-1β stimulates IL-6 secretion from HAE. Therefore, …

Patterns Of Cannabis- And Substance-Related Congenital General Anomalies In Europe: A Geospatiotemporal And Causal Inferential Study, Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Kenneth Hulse

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction:

Recent series of congenital anomaly (CA) rates (CARs) have showed the close and epidemiologically causal relationship of cannabis exposure to many CARs. We investigated these trends in Europe where similar trends have occurred.

Methods:

CARs from EUROCAT. Drug use from European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Income data from World Bank. Results: CARs were higher in countries with increasing daily use overall (p = 9.99 × 10⁻¹⁴, minimum E-value (mEV) = 2.09) and especially for maternal infections, situs inversus, teratogenic syndromes and VACTERL syndrome (p = 1.49 × 10⁻¹⁵, mEV = 3.04). In …

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, Andrew N. Rowan, Kathleen Rowan

WellBeing News

The avian flu virus was the agent that caused the devastating worldwide influenza pandemic in 2018 that killed an estimated 50-100 million people, and health authorities continue to pay close attention to periodic outbreaks of avian flu. Currently, an H5N1 influenza virus is leading to millions of wild birds and domestic poultry deaths. Recently, this virus spread in a mink farm in Spain, raising the stakes that it might be able to spread among humans. While the current avian flu pandemic is a major economic problem for global farms and a major animal welfare concern for domestic poultry and wild …

Covid-Dynamic: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study Of Socioemotional And Behavioral Change Across The Pandemic, Tessa Rusch, Yanting Han, Dehua Liang, Amber R. Hopkins, Carolyn V. Lawrence, Uri Maoz, Lynn K. Paul, Damian A. Stanley, The Covid-Dynamic Team

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous societal upheaval globally. In the US, beyond the devastating toll on life and health, it triggered an economic shock unseen since the great depression and laid bare preexisting societal inequities. The full impacts of these personal, social, economic, and public-health challenges will not be known for years. To minimize societal costs and ensure future preparedness, it is critical to record the psychological and social experiences of individuals during such periods of high societal volatility. Here, we introduce, describe, and assess the COVID-Dynamic dataset, a within-participant longitudinal study conducted from April 2020 through January 2021, …

Racial Differences In Time To Blood Pressure Control Of Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Patients: A Single-Institution Study, Xiaofei Zhou, Adam Hwan Bates, Uma V. Mahajan, Ansh Desai, Jeffrey Butke, Yifei Duan, Christopher Burant, Kaylee Sarna, Martha Sajatovic, Dhimant Dani, S. Alan Hoffer

Faculty Scholarship

Background and purpose Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage occurs in approximately 30,000 patients annually in the United States. Uncontrolled blood pressure is a major risk factor for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Clinical guidelines recommend maintaining blood pressure control until definitive aneurysm securement occurs. It is unknown whether racial differences exist regarding blood pressure control and outcomes (HLOS, discharge disposition) in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Here, we aim to assess whether racial differences exist in 1) presentation, 2) clinical course, and 3) outcomes, including time to blood pressure stabilization, for aSAH patients at a large tertiary care medical center. Methods We conducted a retrospective review …

How Much Did It Cost To Develop And Implement An Ehealth Intervention For A Minority Children Population That Overlapped With The Covid-19 Pandemic?, Alexandra Monashefsky, Dar Alon, Tom Baranowski, Tiago V Barreira, Kelly A Chiu, Amy Fleischman, Melanie C Green, Shirley Huang, Ronald C Samuels, Caio Victor Sousa, Debbe Thompson, Amy S Lu

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: eHealth interventions using active video games (AVGs) offer an alternative method to help children exercise, especially during a pandemic where options are limited. There is limited data on costs associated with developing and implementing such interventions.

Objectives: We quantified the costs of delivering an eHealth RCT intervention among minority children during COVID-19.

Methods: We categorized the total trial cost into five subcategories: intervention material development, advertising and recruitment, intervention delivery, personnel salaries, and COVID-19-related equipment costs.

Results: The total RCT cost was $1,927,807 (Direct: $1,227,903; Indirect: $699,904) with three visits required for each participant. The average cost per participant …

How Much Did It Cost To Develop And Implement An Ehealth Intervention For A Minority Children Population That Overlapped With The Covid-19 Pandemic?, Alexandra Monashefsky, Dar Alon, Tom Baranowski, Tiago V Barreira, Kelly A Chiu, Amy Fleischman, Melanie C Green, Shirley Huang, Ronald C Samuels, Caio Victor Sousa, Debbe Thompson, Amy S Lu

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: eHealth interventions using active video games (AVGs) offer an alternative method to help children exercise, especially during a pandemic where options are limited. There is limited data on costs associated with developing and implementing such interventions.

Objectives: We quantified the costs of delivering an eHealth RCT intervention among minority children during COVID-19.

Methods: We categorized the total trial cost into five subcategories: intervention material development, advertising and recruitment, intervention delivery, personnel salaries, and COVID-19-related equipment costs.

Results: The total RCT cost was $1,927,807 (Direct: $1,227,903; Indirect: $699,904) with three visits required for each participant. The average cost per participant …

Conducting Clinical Genomics Research During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned From The Cser Consortium Experience, Stephanie A Kraft, Heidi Russell, Jeannette T Bensen, Katherine E Bonini, Jill O Robinson, Nuriye Sahin-Hodoglugil, Kathleen Renna, Lucia A Hindorff, Dave Kaufman, Carol R Horowitz, Margaret Waltz, Jamilyn M Zepp, Sara J Knight

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Clinical research studies have navigated many changes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to describe the pandemic's impact on research operations in the context of a clinical genomics research consortium that aimed to enroll a majority of participants from underrepresented populations. We interviewed (July to November 2020) and surveyed (May to August 2021) representatives of six projects in the Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research (CSER) consortium, which studies the implementation of genome sequencing in the clinical care of patients from populations that are underrepresented in genomics research or are medically underserved. Questions focused on COVID's impact on participant recruitment, enrollment, and …

Public Health Measures And Sars-Cov-2 Cases In The Juvenile Justice System: Implications For Pandemic Response In The Detention Setting, Asha Davidson, Shelley Aggarwal, Mona Eissa, Laura Benjamins, John Will, Rebecca Beyda

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 case positivity in juvenile justice facilities of two different states alongside institutional, local, and state public health policies during the first 6 months of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

METHODS: This retrospective chart review examined two large, urban juvenile justice centers in California and Texas. Positive intake or day 12 tests were considered suggestive of community-acquired severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 infection. Researchers examined state and county restrictions, closings, and openings. The study included all of the youths 10 to 18 years residing in the facilities between March …

Clinical Epigenomic Explanation Of The Epidemiology Of Cannabinoid Genotoxicity Manifesting As Transgenerational Teratogenesis, Cancerogenesis And Aging Acceleration, Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Kenneth Hulse

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

As global interest in the therapeutic potential of cannabis and its’ derivatives for the management of selected diseases increases, it is increasingly imperative that the toxic profile of cannabinoids be thoroughly understood in order to correctly assess the balance between the therapeutic risks and benefits. Modern studies across a number of jurisdictions, including Canada, Australia, the US and Europe have confirmed that some of the most worrying and severe historical reports of both congenital anomalies and cancer induction following cannabis exposure actually underestimate the multisystem thousand megabase-scale transgenerational genetic damage. These findings from teratogenic and carcinogenic literature are supported by …

Risks Of Mortality And Severe Coronavirus Disease 19 (Covid-19) Outcomes In Patients With Or Without Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Sebastian Bruera, Xiudong Lei, Hui Zhao, Jinoos Yazdany, Mariana Chavez-Macgregor, Sharon H Giordano, Maria E Suarez-Almazor

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: We compared the outcomes of patients with or without systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who were diagnosed with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) and evaluated factors within patients with SLE associated with severe outcomes.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used the deidentified Optum COVID-19 electronic health record dataset to identify patients with COVID-19 from 1/1/2020 to 31/12/2020. Cases with SLE were matched with general controls at a ratio of 1:10 by age, sex, race and ethnicity and COVID-19 diagnosis date. Outcomes included 30-day mortality, mechanical ventilation, hospitalisation and intensive care unit admission. We evaluated the relationship between COVID-19-related outcomes and SLE …

Geospatiotemporal And Causal Inferential Study Of European Epidemiological Patterns Of Cannabis- And Substance-Related Congenital Orofacial Anomalies, Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Kenneth Hulse

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction:

Since high rates of congenital anomalies (CAs), including facial CAs (FCAs), causally attributed to antenatal and community cannabis use have been reported in several recent series, it was of interest to examine this subject in detail in Europe.

Methods:

CA data were taken from the EUROCAT database. Drug exposure data were downloaded from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Income was taken from the World Bank’s online sources.

Results:

On the bivariate maps of both orofacial clefts and holoprosencephaly against resin, the Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration rates of both covariates increased together in France, Bulgaria, and the …

An Integrated Multi-Omics Analysis Of Sleep-Disordered Breathing Traits Implicates P2xr4 Purinergic Signaling, Nuzulul Kurniansyah, Danielle A Wallace, Ying Zhang, Bing Yu, Brian Cade, Heming Wang, Heather M Ochs-Balcom, Alexander P Reiner, Alberto R Ramos, Joshua D Smith, Jianwen Cai, Martha Daviglus, Phyllis C Zee, Robert Kaplan, Charles Kooperberg, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Sina A Gharib, Susan Redline, Tamar Sofer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) is a common disease associated with increased risk for cardiometabolic, cardiovascular, and cognitive diseases. How SDB affects the molecular environment is still poorly understood. We study the association of three SDB measures with gene expression measured using RNA-seq in multiple blood tissues from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. We develop genetic instrumental variables for the associated transcripts as polygenic risk scores (tPRS), then generalize and validate the tPRS in the Women's Health Initiative. We measure the associations of the validated tPRS with SDB and serum metabolites in Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Here we find …

A Delicate Balance Between Antibody Evasion And Ace2 Affinity For Omicron Ba275, Jiandong Huo, Aiste Dijokaite-Guraliuc, Chang Liu, Daming Zhou, Helen M Ginn, Raksha Das, Piyada Supasa, Muneeswaran Selvaraj, Rungtiwa Nutalai, Aekkachai Tuekprakhon, Helen M E Duyvesteyn, Alexander J Mentzer, Donal Skelly, Thomas G Ritter, Ali Amini, Sagida Bibi, Sandra Adele, Sile Ann Johnson, Neil G Paterson, Mark A Williams, David R Hall, Megan Plowright, Thomas A H Newman, Hailey Hornsby, Thushan I De Silva, Nigel Temperton, Paul Klenerman, Eleanor Barnes, Susanna J Dunachie, Andrew J Pollard, Teresa Lambe, Philip Goulder, Optic Consortium, Isaric4c Consortium, Elizabeth E Fry, Juthathip Mongkolsapaya, Jingshan Ren, David I Stuart, Gavin R Screaton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have caused successive global waves of infection. These variants, with multiple mutations in the spike protein, are thought to facilitate escape from natural and vaccine-induced immunity and often increase in affinity for ACE2. The latest variant to cause concern is BA.2.75, identified in India where it is now the dominant strain, with evidence of wider dissemination. BA.2.75 is derived from BA.2 and contains four additional mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD). Here, we perform an antigenic and biophysical characterization of BA.2.75, revealing an interesting balance between humoral evasion and ACE2 receptor …