Publications by authors named "JD West"

Objective: Assessing the quality of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination-related content on TikTok is crucial due to its popularity among adolescents. We assessed these videos while comparing the content and quality of videos with and without physician involvement.

Study Design: Cross-sectional cohort analysis.

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Objective: This study seeks to better understand unmet educational needs and treatment expectations in individuals with a tracheostomy.

Study Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional survey.

Methods: A survey was distributed to individuals who received a tracheostomy at a tertiary care center in the last five years as well as in Facebook support groups for tracheostomy and head and neck cancer patients.

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Oxidants produced through endogenous metabolism or encountered in the environment react directly with reactive sites in biological macromolecules. Many proteins, in particular, are susceptible to oxidative damage, which can lead to their altered structure and function. Such structural and functional changes trigger a cascade of events that influence key components of the proteostasis network.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to explore vaccination knowledge and barriers among minority adults, using a cross-sectional survey conducted in otolaryngology clinics and a cancer screening event.
  • Findings revealed low rates of HPV vaccination among both minority (17.67%) and their children (33.55%), with minorities displaying significantly lower knowledge about HPV and its link to cervical and head and neck cancers.
  • The primary reason minorities were not vaccinated was lack of knowledge about the HPV vaccine, suggesting that educational interventions could improve vaccination rates in this demographic.
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Cellular programming of naïve T cells can improve the efficacy of adoptive T-cell therapy. However, the current ex vivo engineering of T cells requires the pre-activation of T cells, which causes them to lose their naïve state. In this study, cationic-polymer-functionalized nanowires were used to pre-program the fate of primary naïve CD8 T cells to achieve a therapeutic response in vivo.

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Soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have a higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms than nondeployed military personnel and some have been shown to have a constellation of findings on lung biopsy termed post-deployment respiratory syndrome (PDRS). Since many of the subjects in this cohort reported exposure to sulfur dioxide (SO), we developed a model of repetitive exposure to SO in mice that phenocopies many aspects of PDRS, including adaptive immune activation, airway wall remodeling, and pulmonary vascular (PV) disease. Although abnormalities in small airways were not sufficient to alter lung mechanics, PV remodeling resulted in the development of pulmonary hypertension and reduced exercise tolerance in SO-exposed mice.

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Perceived experts (i.e. medical professionals and biomedical scientists) are trusted sources of medical information who are especially effective at encouraging vaccine uptake.

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Introduction: Gay and bisexual males and other LGBTQ+ communities are more frequently exposed to factors associated with an increased risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) acquisition. Vaccination is critical to protect against HPV+ head and neck cancer (HNC). We characterized the association of perceived level of risk of contraction with HPV knowledge, and vaccine decision-making.

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Ligands for the serotonin 2B receptor (5-HT) have shown potential to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension in preclinical models but cannot be used in humans because of predicted off-target neurological effects. The aim of this study was to develop novel systemically restricted compounds targeting 5-HT. Here, we show that mice treated with VU6047534 had decreased RVSP compared with control treatment in both the prevention and intervention studies using Sugen-hypoxia.

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Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a common and highly morbid syndrome, but mechanisms driving PH-HFpEF are poorly understood. We sought to determine whether a well-accepted murine model of HFpEF also displays features of PH, and we sought to identify pathways that might drive early remodeling of the pulmonary vasculature in HFpEF.

Methods: Eight-week-old male and female C57BL/6J mice received either N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester and high-fat diet or control water and diet for 2, 5, and 12 weeks.

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Reactivation and dysregulation of the mTOR signaling pathway are a hallmark of aging and chronic lung disease; however, the impact on microvascular progenitor cells (MVPCs), capillary angiostasis, and tissue homeostasis is unknown. While the existence of an adult lung vascular progenitor has long been hypothesized, these studies show that Abcg2 enriches for a population of angiogenic tissue-resident MVPCs present in both adult mouse and human lungs using functional, lineage, and transcriptomic analyses. These studies link human and mouse MVPC-specific mTORC1 activation to decreased stemness, angiogenic potential, and disruption of p53 and Wnt pathways, with consequent loss of alveolar-capillary structure and function.

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The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to study science communication and, in particular, the transmission of consensus. In this study, we show how "science communicators," writ large to include both mainstream science journalists and practiced conspiracy theorists, transform scientific evidence into two dueling consensuses using the effectiveness of masks as a case study. We do this by compiling one of the largest, hand-coded citation datasets of cross-medium science communication, derived from 5 million Twitter posts of people discussing masks.

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Article Synopsis
  • Minorities make up about 20% of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients, but their demographics are insufficiently studied, highlighting the need for more targeted research in specific populations.
  • The study aimed to analyze differences among Caucasian and minority groups regarding diagnosis age, treatment methods, and outcomes relating to HNC using a comprehensive database from Los Angeles County.
  • Results showed significant disparities: minorities tended to be younger, had different treatment preferences, experienced longer wait times for initial treatment, and faced variances in socioeconomic status and insurance coverage compared to Caucasian patients, indicating a need for tailored healthcare approaches.
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The role of perceived experts (i.e., medical professionals and biomedical scientists) as potential anti-vaccine influencers has not been characterized systematically.

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Background: Patients treated for hematologic malignancy often experience reduced exercise capacity and increased fatigue; however whether this reduction is related to cardiac dysfunction or impairment of skeletal muscle oxygen extraction during activity is unknown. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) coupled with stress cardiac magnetic resonance (ExeCMR), may provide a noninvasive method to identify the abnormalities of cardiac function or skeletal muscle oxygen extraction. This study was performed to determine the feasibility and reproducibility of a ExeCMR + CPET technique to measure the Fick components of peak oxygen consumption (VO) and pilot its discriminatory potential in hematologic cancer patients experiencing fatigue.

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Soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have a higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms than non-deployed military personnel and some have been shown to have a constellation of findings on lung biopsy termed post-deployment respiratory syndrome (PDRS). Since many of the deployers in this cohort reported exposure to sulfur dioxide (SO ), we developed a model of repetitive exposure to SO in mice that phenocopies many aspects of PDRS, including adaptive immune activation, airway wall remodeling, and pulmonary vascular disease (PVD). Although abnormalities in small airways were not sufficient to alter lung mechanics, PVD was associated with the development of pulmonary hypertension and reduced exercise tolerance in SO exposed mice.

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Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a common and highly morbid syndrome, but mechanisms driving PH-HFpEF are not well understood. We sought to determine whether a well-accepted murine model of HFpEF also displays features of PH in HFpEF, and we sought to identify pathways that might drive early remodeling of the pulmonary vasculature in HFpEF.

Methods: Eight week old male and female C57/BL6J mice were given either L-NAME and high fat diet (HFD) or control water/diet for 2,5, and 12 weeks.

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In this article, we investigate the role of gender in collaboration patterns by analyzing gender-based homophily-the tendency for researchers to co-author with individuals of the same gender. We develop and apply novel methodology to the corpus of JSTOR articles, a broad scholarly landscape, which we analyze at various levels of granularity. Most notably, for a precise analysis of gender homophily, we develop methodology which explicitly accounts for the fact that the data comprises heterogeneous intellectual communities and that not all authorships are exchangeable.

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Background: University faculty are considered trusted sources of information to disseminate accurate information to the public that abortion is a common, safe and necessary medical health care service. However, misinformation persists about abortion's alleged dangers, commonality, and medical necessity.

Methods: Systematic review of popular media articles related to abortion, gun control (an equally controversial topic), and cigarette use (a more neutral topic) published in top U.

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Objective: To compare the effect of virtual and in-person head and neck physical examination training events on medical student confidence in performing examination maneuvers and seeking mentorship from otolaryngology faculty and residents.

Methods: Training events were held with first-year medical student volunteers in 2020 (in-person) and 2021 (virtual). Participants in both cohorts were given didactics on head and neck cancer, trained to perform a head and neck physical examination, and demonstrated their clinical skills to otolaryngology faculty and residents.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Recent studies highlight the significant role of the () gene in respiratory diseases, linking its variants to congenital disorders that affect the respiratory and skeletal systems.
  • - The exact impact of the () gene on human development is still unclear, prompting a closer look at its developmental, tissue-specific, and pathological roles based on both human and animal research.
  • - The text calls for further research to better understand the () gene's functions and the consequences of its disruption on development and health.
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Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal vasculopathy that ultimately leads to elevated pulmonary pressure and death by right ventricular (RV) failure, which occurs in part due to decreased fatty acid oxidation and cytotoxic lipid accumulation. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that decreased fatty acid oxidation and increased lipid accumulation in the failing RV is driven, in part, by a relative carnitine deficiency. We then tested whether supplementation of l-carnitine can reverse lipotoxic RV failure through augmentation of fatty acid oxidation.

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Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) affects more than 500,000 individuals in the United States alone. In most cases, ADPKD is caused by a loss-of-function mutation in the gene, which encodes polycystin-1 (PC1). Previous studies reported that PC1 interacts with atypical protein kinase C (aPKC).

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Reversible oxidation of cysteine residues within proteins occurs naturally during normal cellular homeostasis and can increase during oxidative stress. Cysteine oxidation often leads to the formation of disulfide bonds, which can impact protein folding, stability, and function. Work in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic models over the past five decades has revealed several multiprotein systems that use thiol-dependent oxidoreductases to mediate disulfide bond reduction, formation, and/or rearrangement.

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