Publications by authors named "M W Kramer"

Objectives: To understand place-based drivers of racial disparities in stroke mortality in the United States by investigating the relationship between county-level measures of structural racism and racial disparities in stroke mortality.

Methods: We constructed an additive structural racism score from census-based indicators of racial disproportionality (income, poverty, unemployment, home ownership, education, health insurance) and residential segregation (evenness, isolation), as well as county-level jail incarceration data from the Vera Institute of Justice. We utilized age-standardized, spatially smoothed stroke death rates in 2021 for Black and White adults aged 35-64 years in the United States.

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Background And Purpose: In proton therapy, a relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of 1.1 is used to convert proton dose into an equivalent photon dose. However, RBE varies with tissue type, fraction dose, and beam quality parameters beyond dose such as linear energy transfer (LET) raising concerns about increased local effectiveness and potential toxicity.

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A Pt(II) aqua complex supported by mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN)-immobilized sulfonated CNN pincer ligand featuring a rigid SiO tether was prepared. This hybrid material was tested as a catalyst in H/D exchange reactions of C(sp)-H bonds of selected aromatic substrates and DO-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol- (TFE-) mixtures or CDCOD acting as a source of exchangeable deuterium. The catalyst immobilization served as a means to not only enable the catalyst's recyclability but also minimize the coordination of sulfonate groups and the metal centers originating from different catalyst's moieties that would preserve reactive Pt(OH) fragments needed for catalytic C-H bond activation.

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Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a rare chronic inflammatory liver disease characterized by the presence of autoantibodies, including those targeting O-phosphoseryl-tRNA:selenocysteine-tRNA synthase (SepSecS), also known as soluble liver antigen (SLA). Anti-SepSecS antibodies have been associated with a more severe phenotype, suggesting a key role for the SepSecS autoantigen in AIH. To analyze the immune response to SepSecS in patients with AIH at the clonal level, we combined sensitive high-throughput screening assays with the isolation of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and T cell clones.

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A balanced activity of cGMP signaling contributes to the maintenance of cardiovascular homeostasis. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) can generate cGMP via three ligand-activated guanylyl cyclases, the NO-sensitive guanylyl cyclase, the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP)-activated GC-A, and the C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP)-stimulated GC-B. Here, we study natriuretic peptide signaling in murine VSMCs and atherosclerotic lesions.

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