Publications by authors named "Angela Kelley"
Article Synopsis
- Health care claims often miss noncovered services, making it hard to study changes in insurance coverage, such as IVF, where researchers previously analyzed effects after coverage was added.
- The Adjunct Services Approach was developed to identify patterns of covered services that occur with IVF, using claims data to predict IVF use before coverage started, validated through a primary chart review.
- The algorithm demonstrated high accuracy with a sensitivity of 93% and specificity above 99.9%, and can be adapted to research other medical services as they undergo coverage changes.
Article Synopsis
- Herpes zoster, also known as shingles, arises from the reactivation of the chickenpox virus and is particularly prevalent in older adults, though it can affect any age group.
- A thorough patient history is essential for diagnosing shingles to ensure proper outbreak management and to prevent serious complications like virus spread to the central nervous system.
- The article outlines recent updates in diagnostic testing, treatment options, prevention strategies, and guidelines for clinicians in evaluating and managing herpes zoster patients, focusing on risk assessment for complications.
Article Synopsis
- Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a serious but rare complication of fertility treatments, and while efforts have been made to reduce its incidence, it remains unclear if these efforts have changed how often patients seek emergency treatment.
- A study over ten years (2006-2016) found that although the number of ovarian stimulation cycles increased, the rate of OHSS-related emergency department visits stayed stable, while admission rates for severe cases decreased significantly.
- The cost of treating OHSS in emergency departments nearly doubled during the same period, indicating a possible change in how OHSS is managed or its overall severity among patients.
Article Synopsis
- Steroids are crucial for fetal development, and exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) during pregnancy can alter steroid levels and affect pregnancy outcomes, making steroids potential biomarkers for these impacts.
- The study analyzed 121 mother-infant dyads to explore how maternal and neonatal steroid levels relate to pregnancy outcomes and how first trimester EDC levels correlate with these steroids, considering factors like maternal age and BMI.
- Results showed varied associations between steroids and pregnancy measures based on EDC exposure, with different effects observed depending on whether EDCs were considered individually or in mixtures, highlighting the influence of maternal and fetal characteristics on these outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- Asherman syndrome is a reproductive disorder marked by intrauterine adhesions, resulting in symptoms like amenorrhea, infertility, and pregnancy complications.
- Treatment typically involves a surgical procedure called hysteroscopic lysis of adhesions.
- Post-surgery, methods like hormone therapy and barrier gels are used to reduce the risk of adhesions returning, but there's a lack of strong evidence to back their effectiveness, indicating a need for further research.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines IVF rate changes among individuals with health insurance from 2012 to 2017.
- It focuses on the impact of a major employer, the University of Michigan, which began covering IVF expenses in 2015.
- The research aims to understand how this new coverage influenced the use of IVF services among employees.
Article Synopsis
- - Millions of women struggle with both type 1 diabetes mellitus and endometriosis, which can complicate diagnosis and treatment due to the asymptomatic nature of these conditions in their early stages.
- - There is a growing understanding of the causes of both diseases, but their co-existence has not been widely explored, leading to gaps in medical awareness and care.
- - The review highlights the potential benefits of integrating knowledge about co-morbidity into treatment plans, aiming to improve therapies and reduce complications for affected women.
Article Synopsis
- Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects many women of reproductive age and a sheep model was used to study how excess testosterone (T) impacts placental development during pregnancy.
- Pregnant ewes received T treatments at different gestational days, and researchers analyzed various genes related to inflammation, antioxidant activity, and blood vessel growth in the placenta.
- Findings showed that T treatment led to increased lipid buildup and collagen in the placenta at early gestation, alongside significant changes in specific gene expressions linked to hypoxia and inflammation as pregnancy progressed, suggesting these changes might contribute to placental insufficiency.
Article Synopsis
- - Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common disorder among women of reproductive age, leading to higher risks of pregnancy complications like miscarriage and gestational diabetes, which can also affect the long-term health of their children.
- - A thorough search of existing literature indicates that there is insufficient research focused on how PCOS affects the placenta during pregnancy, despite its potential link to maternal and fetal health issues.
- - Key characteristics of PCOS, such as high androgen levels and insulin resistance, may disrupt placental function, contributing to increased complications in pregnancies, highlighting the need for further investigation to improve outcomes for affected women and their babies.
Article Synopsis
- - The study aimed to investigate infertility rates and access to infertility care among women aged 20 to 44 in the U.S., using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2013 to 2016.
- - The findings showed a 12.5% infertility rate, with higher rates linked to older age and higher body mass index, while factors like race, education, and citizenship showed no significant differences in infertility rates.
- - Important disparities in accessing infertility care were noted, particularly among women with lower education, income, being non-U.S. citizens, and those without insurance, emphasizing the need for improved access to care.
Article Synopsis
- This study investigates the views of reproductive endocrinology and maternal-fetal medicine specialists on the need for BMI cutoffs in fertility treatments.
- A survey involving 398 MFMs and 201 REIs revealed that most specialists agree on upper BMI limits, with REIs more likely to support lower BMI restrictions.
- Respondents overwhelmingly called for an official guideline from a national organization to ensure consistent and fair treatment recommendations for women with varying BMI in fertility care.
Article Synopsis
- Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can negatively impact the maternal immune system during pregnancy, potentially leading to poor outcomes for both mothers and newborns.
- Research focused on various EDC mixtures, rather than single compounds, revealed unique associations with changes in inflammatory markers in mothers and their babies.
- Findings suggest that specific EDC mixtures could influence maternal health and neonate development, highlighting the need for public health awareness among women of childbearing age.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the impact of postmenopausal hormone treatment on verbal cognitive outcomes, exploring differences based on prior and current hormone usage.
- Researchers evaluated 57 women, including long-term hormone users and never-users, using verbal function tests and fMRI scans.
- Results showed similar verbal function scores across groups, but hormone-treated women exhibited different brain activation patterns and performed slightly worse on verbal tasks, indicating complex effects of hormone treatment on cognition.
Outpatient Narcotic Use After Minimally Invasive Urogynecologic Surgery.
Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg
December 2017
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to assess outpatient narcotic use in women following minimally invasive urogynecologic surgery by surveying patients two weeks post-surgery.
- Results showed that, on average, women used only about one-third of the narcotics prescribed, with a median use of 13 tablets out of 40 prescribed.
- Chronic pain and prior narcotic use were significant factors associated with higher narcotic consumption, suggesting that prescription guidelines could be optimized based on these findings.
Article Synopsis
- * Changes in estrogen receptor-alpha (ERα) and estrogen receptor-beta (ERβ) are observed when normal endometrial cells transform into these ectopic lesions.
- * Recent research suggests that ERβ is linked to the disruption of apoptotic and inflammatory networks in endometriosis, indicating the importance of understanding these nongenomic actions in order to identify key regulatory pathways involved in the disease's development and advancement.
Structure of triosephosphate isomerase from Cryptosporidium parvum.
Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun
September 2011
Article Synopsis
- - Cryptosporidium parvum is a parasite that causes cryptosporidiosis, a diarrheal illness transmitted through contaminated water via the fecal-oral route.
- - Triosephosphate isomerase is an essential enzyme in glycolysis that helps convert dihydroxyacetone phosphate into glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, crucial for maximizing ATP production.
- - The paper discusses a crystal structure of triosephosphate isomerase from C. parvum at 1.55 Å resolution, revealing an unidentified electron density at its active site.
Structure of thymidylate kinase from Ehrlichia chaffeensis.
Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun
September 2011
The enzyme thymidylate kinase phosphorylates the substrate thymidine 5'-phosphate (dTMP) to form thymidine 5'-diphosphate (dTDP), which is further phosphorylated to dTTP for incorporation into DNA. Ehrlichia chaffeensis is the etiologic agent of human monocytotropic erlichiosis (HME), a potentially life-threatening tick-borne infection. HME is endemic in the United States from the southern states up to the eastern seaboard.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStructure of a cyclin-dependent kinase from Giardia lamblia.
Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun
September 2011
Giardia lamblia is the etiologic agent of giardiasis, a water-borne infection that is prevalent throughout the world. The need for new therapeutics for the treatment of giardiasis is of paramount importance. Owing to the ubiquitous nature of kinases and their vital importance in organisms, they are potential drug targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh-throughput protein production and purification at the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease.
Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun
September 2011
Article Synopsis
- The SSGCID Protein Purification Group at the University of Washington has developed an efficient protein-purification pipeline, capable of processing 400 proteins annually, utilizing advanced chromatography equipment.
- The method yields an average of 53 mg of highly purified protein within five days and employs a successful 3C protease treatment to remove tags from proteins, enhancing the structure output.
- This approach has demonstrated a 2.9% increase in structural yield, potentially raising the total structure output from 260 to 318, proving its effectiveness for protein purification in structural genomic research.
Expression of proteins in Escherichia coli as fusions with maltose-binding protein to rescue non-expressed targets in a high-throughput protein-expression and purification pipeline.
Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun
September 2011
Article Synopsis
- This study explores the use of maltose-binding protein (MBP) fusion to enhance the expression of proteins in E. coli, particularly for crystallization purposes.
- Out of 95 clones tested, 72% showed detectable expression, and 62% exhibited soluble expression when fused with MBP, indicating the potential of this strategy.
- However, most proteins lost solubility after removing the MBP tag, suggesting that while MBP fusion is promising, further improvements are needed for better outcomes in crystallographic research.
Immobilized metal-affinity chromatography protein-recovery screening is predictive of crystallographic structure success.
Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun
September 2011
The recombinant expression of soluble proteins in Escherichia coli continues to be a major bottleneck in structural genomics. The establishment of reliable protocols for the performance of small-scale expression and solubility testing is an essential component of structural genomic pipelines. The SSGCID Protein Production Group at the University of Washington (UW-PPG) has developed a high-throughput screening (HTS) protocol for the measurement of protein recovery from immobilized metal-affinity chromatography (IMAC) which predicts successful purification of hexahistidine-tagged proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUltrafiltration provides a generic method to discover ligands for protein drug targets with millimolar to micromolar K(d), the typical range of fragment-based drug discovery. This method was tailored to a 96-well format, and cocktails of fragment-sized molecules, with molecular masses between 150 and 300 Da, were screened against medical structural genomics target proteins. The validity of the method was confirmed through competitive binding assays in the presence of ligands known to bind the target proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - Human African trypanosomiasis remains a significant health issue in sub-Saharan Africa, with current treatment options being limited by toxicity and inefficacy.
- - Researchers identified aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, particularly the methionyl-tRNA synthetases (MetRS), as potential drug targets due to noticeable differences between trypanosomes and human versions, which can allow for selective drug development.
- - Newly synthesized small molecules effectively inhibited T. brucei MetRS and showed minimal impact on mammalian cells, achieving excellent results in lab tests and murine models, suggesting a promising avenue for treating this disease.