Publications by authors named "Kim Alexander"

Objectives: Patients that survive acute aortic dissection (AD) remain at high risk of morbidity/mortality from structural changes of the aorta. Aortic surveillance is challenging, especially within a tertiary referral center. Our aim was to identify follow-up imaging and appointment rates, and factors associated with incomplete surveillance in patients with acute AD.

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This study aims to test the hypothesis that Pressure Enabled Drug Delivery (PEDD) with a TriNav device would increase delivery of Embospheres via hepatic artery infusion to liver tumors in an oncopig model when compared to a conventional endhole microcatheter. Embospheres (100-300um in size) were fluorescently labeled and infused into porcine liver tumors using conventional technique (n=8) or by PEDD (n=8). Liver tissue was harvested and we analyzed images with a custom Visiopharm Deep Learning algorithm (Visiopharm A/S) to quantitate signal intensity.

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Background: Symptomatic postoperative spinal epidural hematomas (PEDHs) are rare complications, with significant implications on patients' functional outcomes. Strategies for PEDH prevention are poorly understood. This study sought to evaluate preoperative and intraoperative variables predicting the risk of PEDH and patients' functional outcomes after PEDH evacuation.

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Introduction: Our goal was to compare outcomes of adrenalectomy performed by low-volume and high-volume academic urologists with extensive experience in renal surgery.

Methods: A single-center retrospective review identified patients undergoing adrenalectomy by urologists from 2009 to 2023. Data were gathered on demographics, tumor characteristics, surgeon volume, surgical outcomes including length of procedure, estimated blood loss, length of stay, and complications identified by the Clavien-Dindo complication classification system.

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Glioblastomas (GBMs) are the most malignant and intractable of all cancers, with an unfavorable clinical prognosis for affected patients. The objective was to analyze the sensitivity of GBM cells to the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) cathelicidin (LL-37) and protegrin-1 (PG-1), both alone and in combination with chemotherapy, to predict overall survival (OS) in the patients. The study was conducted on 27 GBM patients treated in the neurosurgical department of the Almazov Medical Research Centre (Saint Petersburg, Russia) from 2021 to 2024.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates treatment practices for venous thoracic outlet syndrome (vTOS), focusing on the effectiveness of thrombolysis followed by rib resection.
  • Data was gathered from the Nationwide Readmissions Database, involving 590 patients who underwent rib resection between 2018-2020 and categorized based on the timing of their treatments.
  • Results indicated that timing between thrombolysis and surgery did not lead to significant differences in bleeding complications, suggesting that both simultaneous and staged approaches can be safely performed.
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Chronic insertional Achilles tendinopathy (IAT) is a common cause of recalcitrant heel pain. Patients present with pain localized to the Achilles tendon insertion at the calcaneus and have tenderness to palpation in this area on physical exam. Conservative management often includes an exercise prescription focusing on eccentric loading with limited dorsiflexion.

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Pediatric hip pain can have orthopedic, infectious, inflammatory, neoplastic, or nonmusculoskeletal etiologies. Organizing the differential diagnosis by symptom chronicity and a determination of intraarticular versus extraarticular pain, as well as the age at pain onset, can be helpful to hone in on the cause. Clinicians should consider plain radiographs in cases of acute trauma, with concern for bony pathology, or in patients with unexplained limp or hip pain, with musculoskeletal ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging used as advanced imaging when indicated.

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Ubiquinone mimics known as quinone outside inhibitors (QoIs) are one of the most prominent fungicides used to protect crops in the agricultural industry. Due to chemotype similarities with known QoIs, peniciaculin A, a triaryl natural product, was proposed to exhibit similar broad spectrum antifungal activity against phytopathogens. Instability of the tertiary alcohol and phenol motif, however, prompted exploration of the antifungal properties of simplified analogues to probe possible overlap in mechanism of action between the natural product and QoIs.

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  • Cone dystrophy with supernormal rod response (CDSRR) is a rare genetic condition affecting the retina, characterized by weakened photoreceptor responses; the study looks at its clinical course and genetic mutations in children.* -
  • Genetic testing using next-generation sequencing and other methods confirmed mutations in a specific gene related to a protein (Kv8.2) that affects ion channels in the retina.* -
  • Clinical symptoms included hypermetropia and slight exotropia, with electroretinogram (ERG) tests showing distinctive patterns, such as increased b-wave latency, linked to the identified mutations.*
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Acute vascular injury provokes an inflammatory response, resulting in neointimal hyperplasia (NIH) and downstream pathologies. The resolution of inflammation is an active process in which specialized proresolving lipid mediators (SPM) and their receptors play a central role. We sought to examine the acute phase response of SPM and their receptors in both circulating blood and the arterial wall in a rat angioplasty model.

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Pathogenic variants in the KCNV2 gene can cause a rare retinal dystrophy that can be inherited recessively, known as cone dystrophy with supernormal rod response (CDSRR). CDSRR leads to specific changes in photoreceptors' electroretinogram response, especially in the rods, poor visual acuity, photophobia, and even maculopathy. The derived iPSC lines from patients with CDSRR may pave the way for apprehension of the pathogenetic mechanism and drug development using in vitro models.

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The mainstreaming of genomics across healthcare specialties necessitates that all nurses and midwives have a high literacy in genomics. We aimed to design, develop, implement and evaluate a genomics education workshop for nurses and midwives using action research principles. Registered nurses and midwives completed an online survey regarding genomics confidence and learning needs (n = 274).

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  • Membrane-associated 70 kDa heat shock protein (mHsp70) plays a crucial role in the migration and invasion of malignant brain tumor cells, as observed in patient samples.
  • Advanced techniques like inverted confocal microscopy and mass spectrometry showed that mHsp70 is prominently expressed on the surface of cancer cells, particularly in areas surrounding the tumors.
  • Inhibiting HSP70 with small molecules significantly reduced cancer cell invasiveness and delayed tumor progression in animal models, suggesting that targeting mHsp70 could be a promising strategy for developing new cancer therapies.
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Despite the potential of oral immunotherapy against food allergy, adverse reactions and loss of desensitization hinder its clinical uptake. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota is implicated in the increasing prevalence of food allergy, which will need to be regulated to enable for an effective oral immunotherapy against food allergy. Here we report an inulin gel formulated with an allergen that normalizes the dysregulated ileal microbiota and metabolites in allergic mice, establishes allergen-specific oral tolerance and achieves robust oral immunotherapy efficacy with sustained unresponsiveness in food allergy models.

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Purpose: To test the hypothesis that Pressure-Enabled Drug Delivery (PEDD) would improve the delivery of surrogate therapeutic glass microspheres (GMs) via hepatic artery infusion to liver tumors when compared with a conventional endhole microcatheter.

Materials And Methods: The study was conducted in transgenic pigs (Oncopigs) with induced liver tumors. Tumors were infused intra-arterially with fluorescently labeled GM.

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Protein biotherapeutics typically require expensive cold-chain storage to maintain their fold and function. Packaging proteins in the dry state via lyophilization can reduce these cold-chain requirements. However, formulating proteins for lyophilization often requires extensive optimization of excipients that both maintain the protein folded state during freezing and drying (i.

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  • The study compares outcomes of three surgical techniques for recurrent lumbar disc herniation (rLDH): repeat microdiscectomy (MD), discectomy with fusion (MD + TLIF), and endoscopic discectomy (TFED).
  • A classification system for rLDH is outlined based on patient characteristics such as facet resection and segmental instability, with TFED showing the lowest recurrence rates and best overall outcomes.
  • The findings suggest that in young patients without segmental instability, TFED is the preferred option due to its effectiveness and safety profile.
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Substantial evidence suggests a role for immunotherapy in treating Alzheimer's disease (AD). While the precise pathophysiology of AD is incompletely understood, clinical trials of antibodies targeting aggregated forms of β amyloid (Aβ) have shown that reducing amyloid plaques can mitigate cognitive decline in patients with early-stage AD. Here, we describe what we believe to be a novel approach to target and degrade amyloid plaques by genetically engineering macrophages to express an Aβ-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-Ms).

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Objective: To use a nationwide database of hospitalizations to investigate underweight status as a risk factor for postesophagectomy complications.

Methods: We identified all patients who underwent esophagectomy with a diagnosis of esophageal cancer and known body mass index in the 2018-2020 Nationwide Readmissions Database. All hospital visits for esophagectomy and within 30 days of initial discharge were analyzed for postoperative complications, including chylothorax.

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Objectives: Pressure-Enabled Drug Delivery (PEDD), a method using pressure to advance catheter-delivered drug distribution, can improve treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver metastases, but real-world evidence is limited. We compared baseline patient characteristics, clinical complexity, and post-procedure healthcare resource utilization (HRUs) and clinical complications for PEDD and non-PEDD procedures.

Methods: This study used a retrospective, longitudinal, cohort design of claims data from Clarivate's Real World Data Repository, which includes 98% of US payers with over 300 million unique patients from all US states.

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Objective: Secondary caries lesions adjacent to restorations, a leading cause of restoration failure, require accurate diagnostic methods to ensure an optimal treatment outcome. Traditional diagnostic strategies rely on visual inspection complemented by radiographs. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning, provide potential improvements in caries detection.

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Background: For recurrent lumbar disc herniation, many experts suggest a repeat discectomy without stabilization due to its minimal tissue manipulation, lower blood loss, shorter hospital stay, and lower cost, recent research on the role of instability in disc herniation has made fusion techniques popular among spinal surgeons. The authors compare the postoperative outcomes of posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) and repeat discectomy for same-level recurrent disc herniation.

Methods: The patients included had previously undergone discectomy and presented with a same-level recurrent lumbar disc herniation.

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