Publications by authors named "Justin Williams"

Article Synopsis
  • ARFID is a newly recognized eating disorder characterized by a lack of interest in food, with limited research on its neurobiological aspects.
  • A study involving 1,977 ten-year-olds used the ARFID Index to compare children with ARFID symptoms to those without, analyzing their brain structures through MRI scans.
  • Results showed that children with ARFID symptoms had significantly thicker frontal cortical areas, indicating that executive function may play a role in the disorder's development.
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Scientists' limited understanding of tropical plant communities obscures the true extent of species loss caused by habitat destruction. The Centinelan extinction hypothesis posits an extreme but widely referenced scenario wherein forest clearing causes the immediate extinction of species known only from a single geographic location. It remains unclear, however, whether the disappearance of such microendemics reflects their global extinction or insufficient collection effort at larger scales.

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Microvesicles (MVs) are membrane-enclosed, plasma membrane-derived particles released by cells from all branches of life. MVs have utility as disease biomarkers and may participate in intercellular communication; however, physiological processes that induce their secretion are not known. Here, we isolate and characterize annexin-containing MVs and show that these vesicles are secreted in response to the calcium influx caused by membrane damage.

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JCO .Although the CNS activity of selpercatinib in patients with fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been previously described, the ability of potent RET inhibition to prevent new CNS metastases from developing has been challenging to measure without randomized data. Serial CNS scans were studied from LIBRETTO-431, a randomized phase III trial of selpercatinib versus platinum/pemetrexed ± pembrolizumab whose primary results have been previously disclosed.

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  • - The study investigates the use of human serum albumin-based Drug-Free Macromolecular Therapeutics (DFMT) as a new treatment strategy for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) by targeting CD20 and CD38 receptors on B cells without using conventional drugs.
  • - DFMT involves a two-step process to trigger apoptosis in malignant cells, utilizing bispecific engagers made from Fab' fragments of two antibodies and a multivalent effector molecule, showing promise in 56 patient samples.
  • - Results showed dual-targeting (both CD20 and CD38) was more effective than single-target approaches, with higher receptor expressions leading to better treatment outcomes and potential for personalized therapy, although further research is needed.
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  • A boot camp at Thomas Jefferson University helped medical students learn about neurosurgery subinternships, which are important for getting into neurosurgery residency programs.
  • The program included surveys before and after the camp to see if students felt more confident and knowledgeable about what to expect during their subinternships.
  • Results showed that after attending the camp, students from different backgrounds felt they understood the requirements better and were more confident in their skills.
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Objective: How we express and describe emotion is shaped by sociocultural norms. These sociocultural norms may also affect emotional self-awareness, i.e.

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  • The study investigates the genetic and epigenetic factors that contribute to synchronous bilateral Wilms tumor in 68 patients through various sequencing and analysis techniques.
  • Key findings indicate that predisposition can stem from pre-zygotic germline genetic variants found in blood DNA and post-zygotic epigenetic changes, particularly hypermethylation at the 11p15.5 region.
  • Among the tumors analyzed, a significant proportion exhibited either normal imprinting, loss of heterozygosity, or epigenetic hypermethylation, highlighting the complexity of the tumor's genetic background.
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Exosomes are a subpopulation of the heterogenous pool of extracellular vesicles that are secreted to the extracellular space. Exosomes have been purported to play a role in intercellular communication and have demonstrated utility as biomarkers for a variety of diseases. Despite broad interest in exosome biology, the conditions that regulate their secretion are incompletely understood.

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Background: This report details how one large medical center in the Metropolitan New York area re-purposed a drive-through COVID-19 vaccination structure to handle a surge in Mpox cases in July 2022.Methods/Results: Simultaneous to on-going COVID -19 vaccination and testing, Mpox vaccination was rolled out in the same drive through structure. More than 1,820 Jynneos (Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccine, Live, Non-replicating) vaccine dosages were delivered subcutaneously and then intradermally to 1,123 individuals through the open window of their vehicles, averaging 8-10 patients an hour.

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  • Theoretical perspectives in the affective sciences have increased in variety rather than converging due to differing beliefs about the nature and function of human emotions.
  • A teleological principle is proposed to create a unified approach by viewing human affective phenomena as algorithms that adapt to comfort or monitor these adaptations.
  • This framework aims to organize existing theories and inspire new research in the field, leading to a more integrated understanding of human affectivity through the concept of the Human Affectome.
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Ischemic stroke causes acute CNS injury and long-term disability, with limited treatment options such as surgical clot removal or clot-busting drugs. Neuroprotective therapies are needed to protect vulnerable brain regions. The purinergic receptor P2X4 is activated during stroke and exacerbates post-stroke damage.

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Objective: Dysregulated appetite control is characteristic of anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and obesity (OB). Studies using a broad range of methods suggest the cerebellum plays an important role in aspects of weight and appetite control, and is implicated in both AN and OB by reports of aberrant gray matter volume (GMV) compared to nonclinical populations. As functions of the cerebellum are anatomically segregated, specific localization of aberrant anatomy may indicate the mechanisms of its relationship with weight and appetite in different states.

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Landmark-based geometric morphometrics (LGM) is most often used in archaeology to characterize and differentiate groups of artifacts, but it can be used for much more. We demonstrate LGM's power to uncover new insights by exploring stone-tool allometry, modularity, and integration using a sample of 100 western North American Clovis points. Here, allometry concerns how stone tools change in shape as their size changes through their use-lives, and modularity and integration concern how the constituent parts of a tool work together.

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Objective: Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a relatively new feeding and eating disorder category in characterized by extreme food avoidance/restriction. Much is unknown about ARFID, with limited understanding of its prevalence and comorbidities in general pediatric populations. This study aimed to classify ARFID prevalence and characteristics in children within the Generation R Study, a population-based Dutch cohort (N = 2,862).

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Exosomes are an extracellular vesicle (EV) subtype that is secreted upon the fusion of multivesicular bodies (MVBs) with the plasma membrane. Exosomes may participate in intercellular communication and have utility as disease biomarkers; however, little is known regarding the physiological stimuli that induce their secretion. Ca influx promotes exosome secretion, raising the possibility that exosomes are secreted during the Ca-dependent plasma membrane repair of tissues damaged by mechanical stress in vivo.

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Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type-2B/2R is caused by mutations in the gene ( ). This disease has two known pathogenic missense mutations that occur within dysferlin's C2A domain, namely C2A and C2A . Yet, the etiological rationale to explain the disease linkage for these two mutations is still unclear.

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Background: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a FDA approved therapy regularly used to treat a variety of neurological disorders that impact the central nervous system (CNS) including epilepsy and stroke. Putatively, the therapeutic efficacy of VNS results from its action on neuromodulatory centers via projections of the vagus nerve to the solitary tract nucleus. Currently, there is not an established large animal model that facilitates detailed mechanistic studies exploring how VNS impacts the function of the CNS, especially during complex behaviors requiring motor action and decision making.

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Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (ATRTs) represent a rare, but aggressive pediatric brain tumor entity. They are genetically defined by alterations in the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex members SMARCB1 or SMARCA4. ATRTs can be further classified in different molecular subgroups based on their epigenetic profiles.

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This study comprehensively evaluated the landscape of genetic and epigenetic events that predispose to synchronous bilateral Wilms tumor (BWT). We performed whole exome or whole genome sequencing, total-strand RNA-seq, and DNA methylation analysis using germline and/or tumor samples from 68 patients with BWT from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Children's Oncology Group.

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small, lipid-bilayer-bound particles released by cells that can contain important bioactive molecules, including lipids, RNAs, and proteins. Once released in the extracellular environment, EVs can act as messengers locally as well as to distant tissues to coordinate tissue homeostasis and systemic responses. There is a growing interest in not only understanding the physiology of EVs as signaling particles but also leveraging them as minimally invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers (e.

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Calcium/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 (CaMKK2) regulates bone remodeling through its effects on osteoblasts and osteoclasts. However, its role in osteocytes, the most abundant bone cell type and the master regulator of bone remodeling, remains unknown. Here we report that the conditional deletion of CaMKK2 from osteocytes using Dentine matrix protein 1 ()-8kb- mice led to enhanced bone mass only in female mice owing to a suppression of osteoclasts.

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Purpose: Despite significant advances in epileptology, there are still many uncertainties about the role of the insula in epilepsy. Until recently, most insular onset seizures were wrongly attributed to the temporal lobe. Further, there are no standardised approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of insular onset seizures.

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Genome-wide DNA methylomes have contributed greatly to tumor detection and subclassification. However, interpreting the biological impact of the DNA methylome at the individual gene level remains a challenge. MethylationToActivity (M2A) is a pipeline that uses convolutional neural networks to infer H3K4me3 and H3K27ac enrichment from DNA methylomes and thus infer promoter activity.

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Background: CTCF is a well-established chromatin architectural protein that also plays various roles in transcriptional regulation. While CTCF biology has been extensively studied, how the domains of CTCF function to regulate transcription remains unknown. Additionally, the original auxin-inducible degron 1 (AID1) system has limitations in investigating the function of CTCF.

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