Publications by authors named "I J Alexander"

Background: Despite that globally the percent of women and men who tested positive for COVID-19 appears equal and that men with COVID-19 were 60% more likely than women to be severely ill and to die from complications (Rozenberg et al., 2020), studies of sex differences show that women compared with men are more likely to manifest persistent post-COVID-19 syndrome (PPCS).

Purpose: In this paper, we address some of the extant evidence for impact of the PPCS on women's health and well-being to underpin our suggestions for research and policy considerations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

When people must flee their homes due to persecution or conflict, they embark on a journey from loss toward safety that is a global concern and the resettlement country's responsibility. Refugees experience stressors as they secure basic needs such as adequate nutrition, healthcare, transportation, housing, education, and income-generating activities. For refugee women, these stressors are further exacerbated by gender-related roles and experiences.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Gene therapies using recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have shown significant success in treating genetic disorders, and newer improved vectors could enhance these therapies even further by optimizing their characteristics.
  • - Directed evolution helps identify beneficial variants in AAV capsid libraries, but traditional characterizations have relied on low-throughput Sanger sequencing, which can be slow and limiting.
  • - The use of advanced long-read sequencing technologies, specifically Oxford Nanopore Technologies, combined with a new bioinformatic tool called AAVolve, enables more efficient and comprehensive analysis of AAV capsid libraries, ultimately leading to better gene therapy outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Conventional adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors, while highly effective in quiescent cells such as hepatocytes in the adult liver, confer less durable transgene expression in proliferating cells owing to episome loss. Sustained therapeutic success is therefore less likely in liver disorders requiring early intervention. We have previously developed a hybrid, dual virion approach, recombinant AAV (rAAV)/piggyBac transposon system capable of achieving stable gene transfer in proliferating hepatocytes at levels many fold above conventional AAV vectors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To date, 3,900 gene therapy clinical trials have been completed, are ongoing or have been approved worldwide. Our database brings together global information on gene therapy clinical activity from trial databases, official agency sources, published literature, conference presentations and posters kindly provided to us by individual investigators or trial sponsors. This review presents our analysis of clinical trials that, to the best of our knowledge, have been or are being performed worldwide.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF