Background: We used a social network approach to identify influential community organizations within integrated public health networks in three regions in Texas, US: Houston/Harris County, Cameron County, and Northeast Texas. The study aimed to understand how network structures influence organizational performance in COVID-19 response.
Methods: In collaboration with community partners in each region, we administered a snowball sampling network data collection.
The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children, yet parental hesitancy towards vaccinating children against the virus persists. We conducted a telephone-administered weighted survey in Texas to examine parents' sociodemographic factors and medical conditions associated with COVID-19 vaccination intention for parents with unvaccinated children ages 5-17 years. We collected responses from 19,502 participants, of which 4879 were parents of children ages 5-17 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Vulvar cancer has an overall low incidence, accounting for approximately 3-5% of all gynecological malignancies.Case: We present a case of locally recurrent Stage IIIA squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva in a 51-year-old healthy African American female. She was initially treated with primary chemoradiation with cisplatin sensitization and boost to primary tumor up to 70 Gray.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFprotein A (SpA) is an IgG Fc-binding virulence factor that is widely used in antibody purification and as a scaffold to develop affinity molecules. A cyclized SpA Z domain could offer exopeptidase resistance, reduced chromatographic ligand leaching after single-site endopeptidase cleavage, and enhanced IgG binding properties by preorganization, potentially reducing conformational entropy loss upon binding. In this work, a Z domain trimer (Z3) was cyclized using protein intein splicing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a highly dynamic and individualized disease in terms of its patterns of symptomatic flare-ups and periods of remission. Patient-centered care (PCC) aligns patients' lifestyle goals with their preferences for managing symptoms and side effects through the selection of therapies appropriate for disease management. Mobile health (mHealth) apps have the potential to engage and activate patients in PCC.
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