Publications by authors named "Audrey Chang"

To what extent does concept formation require language? Here, we exploit color to address this question and ask whether macaque monkeys have color concepts evident as categories. Macaques have similar cone photoreceptors and central visual circuits to humans, yet they lack language. Whether Old World monkeys such as macaques have consensus color categories is unresolved, but if they do, then language cannot be required.

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Soluble, circulating Klotho (sKlotho) is essential for normal health and renal function. sKlotho is shed from the renal distal convoluted tubule (DCT), its primary source, via enzymatic cleavage. However, the physiologic mechanisms that control sKlotho production, trafficking, and shedding are not fully defined.

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Cognitive impairment is a common but poorly understood non-motor aspect of Parkinson's disease, negatively affecting patient's functional capacity and quality of life. The mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease are still elusive, limiting treatment and prevention strategies. This study investigates the molecular and cellular basis of cognitive impairment associated with heterozygous mutations in GBA1, the strongest risk gene for Parkinson's disease that encodes glucocerebrosidase (GCase), a lysosome enzyme that degrades the glycosphingolipid glucosylceramide into glucose and ceramide.

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a complex of neurological and developmental disabilities characterized by clinical and genetic heterogeneity. While the causes of ASD are still unknown, many ASD risk factors are found to converge on intracellular quality control mechanisms that are essential for cellular homeostasis, including the autophagy-lysosomal degradation pathway. Studies have reported impaired autophagy in ASD human brain and ASD-like synapse pathology and behaviors in mouse models of brain autophagy deficiency, highlighting an essential role for defective autophagy in ASD pathogenesis.

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Objectives: To understand the early stages if Alport nephropathy, we characterize the structural, functional, and biophysical properties of glomerular capillaries and podocytes in mice, analyze kidney cortex transcriptional profiles at three time points, and investigate the effects of the ER stress mitigation by TUDCA on these parameters. We use human FSGS associated genes to identify molecular pathways rescued by TUDCA.

Findings: We define a disease progression timeline in mice.

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Objectives: To investigate the impact of demographic and socioeconomic factors on the management of isolated meniscus tears in young patients and to identify trends in surgical management of meniscus tears based on surgeon volume.

Methods: Data from a large healthcare system on patients aged 14-44 years who underwent isolated meniscus surgery between 2016 and 2022 were analysed. Patient demographics, socioeconomic factors and surgeon volume were recorded.

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Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical relevance, usefulness, and financial implications of intraoperative radiograph interpretation by radiologists in spine surgery.

Summary Of Background Data: Due to rising health care costs, spine surgery is under scrutiny to maximize value-based care.

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The physiological importance of cardiac myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) phosphorylation by its dedicated cardiac myosin light chain kinase has been established in both humans and mice. Constitutive RLC-phosphorylation, regulated by the balanced activities of cardiac myosin light chain kinase and myosin light chain phosphatase (MLCP), is fundamental to the biochemical and physiological properties of myofilaments. However, limited information is available on cardiac MLCP.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study examines how genetic variations in specific genes (ABCG2, NR1I2, UGT1A1) affect the pharmacokinetics (PK) of the antiretroviral drug dolutegravir in children, focusing on plasma concentrations and other PK parameters.
  • In a cohort of 59 children, results showed that certain genetic variants were linked to lower or higher concentrations of dolutegravir in the blood, indicating that genetics can significantly influence how the drug is metabolized.
  • The variations in dolutegravir exposure, ranging from -25% to +33% based on genetic makeup, may explain the inconsistent PK profiles observed in pediatric patients, suggesting a need
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  • The study aimed to compare outcomes of two different ACL reconstruction methods (BPTB vs. QT autograft) specifically in female soccer players after ACL injuries.
  • Data was collected from 23 players with BPTB autograft and 14 with QT autograft; both groups had similar return to soccer rates (76%) and revision rates (5.4%), with no major differences in functional scores.
  • The QT group showed less change in Tegner activity scores post-surgery compared to the BPTB group, but overall, both methods yielded comparable functional outcomes for this population.
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Background: While there is extensive literature on the use of allograft versus autograft in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, there is limited clinical evidence to guide the surgeon in choice of allograft tissue type.

Purpose: To assess the revision rate after primary ACL reconstruction with allograft and to compare revision rates based on allograft tissue type and characteristics.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

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Sleep restriction is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, which is more pronounced in female than male persons. We reported recently first causal evidence that mild, prolonged sleep restriction mimicking "real-life" conditions impairs endothelial function, a key step in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease, in healthy female persons. However, the underlying mechanisms are unclear.

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Purpose: To determine whether surgeon volume affects revision rate following primary anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) with allograft and to determine whether surgeon volume impacts allograft tissue type used.

Methods: All patients aged 14 years or older who underwent primary allograft ACLR at a large hospital system between January 2015 to December 2019 with minimum 2-year follow-up were included. Patients with double-bundle ACLR, multiligament reconstruction, and absent allograft type data were excluded.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates infection rates associated with different graft types (quadriceps tendon, hamstring tendon, bone-patellar tendon-bone, and allograft) used in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).
  • Data was gathered from 6,652 patients who underwent ACLR between 2000 and 2022, focusing on septic arthritis occurrences post-surgery.
  • The results showed that the overall rate of septic arthritis post-ACLR was low (0.34%), with the lowest rates observed for quadriceps tendon grafts, although a significant difference in infection rates among graft types was noted.
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The solute carrier 17 family transports diverse organic anions using two distinct modes of coupling to a source of energy. Transporters that package glutamate and nucleotide into secretory vesicles for regulated release by exocytosis are driven by membrane potential but subject to allosteric regulation by H and Cl. Other solute carrier 17 members including the lysosomal sialic acid exporter couple the flux of organic anion to cotransport of H.

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Factors shaping the distribution and abundance of species include life-history traits, population structure, and stochastic colonization-extinction dynamics. Field studies of model species groups help reveal the roles of these factors. Species of nematodes are highly divergent at the sequence level but exhibit highly conserved morphology, and many of these species live in sympatry on microbe-rich patches of rotten material.

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Cardiac muscle myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) is constitutively phosphorylated at ∼0.4 mol phosphate/mol RLC in normal hearts, and phosphorylation is maintained by balanced activities of dedicated cardiac muscle-specific myosin light chain kinase and myosin light chain phosphatase (MLCP). Previously, the identity of the cardiac-MLCP was biochemically shown to be similar to the smooth muscle MLCP, which is a well-characterized trimeric protein comprising the regulatory subunit (MYPT1), catalytic subunit PP1cβ, and accessory subunit M20.

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Background: Rural residence is commonly thought to be a risk factor for poor cancer outcomes. However, a number of studies have reported seemingly conflicting information regarding cancer outcome disparities with respect to rural residence, with some suggesting that the disparity is not present and others providing inconsistent evidence that either urban or rural residence is associated with poorer outcomes. We suggest a simple explanation for these seeming contradictions: namely that rural cancer outcome disparities are related to factors that occur differentially at a local level, such as environmental exposures, lack of access to care or screening, and socioeconomic factors, which differ by type of cancer.

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Background: The kidney is the source of sKlotho and kidney-specific loss of Klotho leads to a phenotype resembling the premature multiorgan failure phenotype in Klotho-hypomorphic mice ( kl/kl mice). Klotho and the Ca-sensing receptor (CaSR) are highly expressed in the distal convoluted tubule (DCT). The physiologic mechanisms that regulate sKlotho levels are unknown.

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Cytoskeletal structure and its regulation are essential for maintenance of the differentiated state of specific types of cells and their adaptation to physiologic and pathophysiologic conditions. Renal glomerular capillaries, composed of podocytes, endothelial cells, and the glomerular basement membrane, have distinct structural and biophysical properties and are the site of injury in many glomerular diseases. Calcineurin inhibitors, immunosuppressant drugs used for organ transplantation and auto-immune diseases, can protect podocytes and glomerular capillaries from injury by preserving podocyte cytoskeletal structure.

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What role does color play in the neural representation of complex shapes? We approached the question by measuring color responses of face-selective neurons, using fMRI-guided microelectrode recording of the middle and anterior face patches of inferior temporal cortex (IT) in rhesus macaques. Face-selective cells responded weakly to pure color (equiluminant) photographs of faces. But many of the cells nonetheless showed a bias for warm colors when assessed using images that preserved the luminance contrast relationships of the original photographs.

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Introduction: Determinants of bone health and injury are important to identify in athletes. Bone mineral density (BMD) is commonly measured in athletes with Female Athlete Triad (Triad) risk factors; the trabecular bone score (TBS) has been proposed to predict fracture risk independent of BMD. Evaluation of TBS and spine BMD in relation bone stress injury (BSI) risk has not been studied in female collegiate athletes.

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Early life exposures have been associated with pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), but it is unknown if a similar association is present in adults. We aimed to assess the association between early life risk factors and development of EoE in adulthood. To do this, we conducted a case-control study which was nested within a prospective cohort study of adults undergoing outpatient endoscopy.

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