Publications by authors named "M-J Wu"
Predictors of healthy days at home: Benchmarking long-term outcomes in geriatric trauma.
J Trauma Acute Care Surg
December 2024
Article Synopsis
- Quality benchmarking in geriatric trauma care has shifted from short-term outcomes like morbidity and mortality to long-term metrics, with healthy days at home (HDAH) emerging as a useful measure of patient functional status.
- A study of 772,109 Medicare patients showed that factors such as age, race, and level of care significantly impacted the number of HDAH following trauma.
- The findings indicate that higher level trauma centers lead to better outcomes in terms of HDAH, suggesting a need for future research on quality of life metrics post-discharge.
Background: Safety in cardiac surgical procedures is predicated on effective team dynamics. This study associated operative team familiarity (ie, the extent of clinical collaboration among surgical team members) with procedural efficiency and Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) adjudicated patient outcomes.
Methods: Institutional STS adult cardiac surgery registry and electronic health record data from 2014 to 2021 were evaluated across 3 quaternary hospitals.
The use of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) as donors for homology-directed repair (HDR)-mediated genome engineering is limited by safety issues, manufacturing constraints and restricted packaging limits. Non-viral targeted genetic knock-ins rely primarily on double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and linear single-stranded DNA (lssDNA) donors. dsDNA is known to have low efficiency and high cytotoxicity, while lssDNA is challenging for scaled manufacture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Lack of a dedicated thrombectomy device for cerebral venous thrombosis hinders the recanalization ability of endovascular treatment (EVT). Novel NiTi-braided stent retriever (Venous-TD) is a dedicated venous sinus thrombectomy device. This study aims to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of Venous-TD.
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- * A multi-ethnic meta-analysis revealed 22 risk loci linked to NTG, with 17 of these not previously identified, including significant new associations with BMP4 and TBKBP1.
- * Findings suggest there’s a genetic overlap in risk factors between NTG and HTG, but NTG shows a generally lower risk effect, pointing to the potential for immunomodulatory treatments as neuroprotective options for glaucoma.
Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death from an infectious disease, and is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb). More than 1 billion people worldwide are thought to harbor an M.
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- Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of cancer treatment, can cause serious side effects, including immune-related myocarditis (irMyocarditis), which can be fatal.
- Researchers studied immune responses in the heart, tumor, and blood of 28 patients with irMyocarditis using advanced techniques like single-cell RNA sequencing and T-cell receptor (TCR) sequencing.
- Their findings showed an increase in certain immune cells in the heart tissue of irMyocarditis patients and identified specific TCR clones associated with severe cases, shedding light on the disease's biology and potential biomarkers.
Association of Homelessness and Unstable Housing With Cardiovascular Care Utilization Among Veterans.
Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes
November 2024
Background: Veterans are disproportionately more likely to experience homelessness and unstable housing (HUH) compared with the general population. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among Veterans experiencing HUH. We aimed to understand whether HUH status among Veterans with preexisting cardiovascular disease was associated with disparities in cardiovascular care access and utilization.
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- Chemotherapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is used to boost immunotherapy effectiveness, but certain tumors, especially triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), often remain unresponsive.
- The study identifies IRE1α, an ER stress sensor, as a key factor that limits the immune-boosting effects of taxane chemotherapy in these tumors by silencing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and preventing a type of inflammatory cell death called pyroptosis.
- Inhibiting IRE1α allows taxane to produce more dsRNA, which activates immune responses, transforming PD-L1-negative TNBC tumors into ones that are sensitive to immunotherapy.
Article Synopsis
- Zorifertinib is an experimental cancer drug that targets mutations in the EGFR gene and has shown effectiveness in patients with lung cancer that has spread to the brain.
- A phase 3 trial compared zorifertinib to standard treatments and found that it significantly extended the time patients lived without the disease worsening (progression-free survival).
- Results indicate that zorifertinib may be a better first-line treatment option for non-small cell lung cancer due to its ability to improve survival and manage side effects effectively.
Article Synopsis
- An error grid is a tool that helps compare glucose levels measured by devices to see if they are correct and to identify any risks.
- Experts created a new error grid called the DTS Error Grid that works for both blood glucose monitors (BGMs) and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), organizing accuracy into five risk zones.
- The results showed that the DTS Error Grid provides a clearer picture of how accurate these devices are and includes a separate matrix to evaluate how well CGMs track glucose trends over time.
Acquired hemophilia A (AHA) is an autoimmune bleeding disorder that is caused by factor VIII (FVIII) autoantibodies with high morbidity and mortality due to bleeding and complications from immunosuppression (IST). To address the real-world implications of the FVIII mimetic antibody, emicizumab, and the role of IST, we retrospectively collected de-identified data on 62 patients with AHA who were treated off-label with emicizumab for a median of 10 weeks at 12 US-based hemophilia treatment centers. Most patients (95.
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- AI models for medical imaging need large and diverse datasets, which are hard to obtain due to privacy concerns and data sharing issues.
- Synthetic medical imaging data, generated by AI, can help address these shortages while allowing for new applications and professional training.
- However, using synthetic data raises challenges related to realism, evaluation of model performance, high costs, and the need for updated regulations to ensure ethical use, highlighting the importance of collaboration between regulatory bodies, physicians, and AI developers.
Background: The primary purpose was to compare ketorolac to oxycodone-acetaminophen with respect to pain and opioid consumption after arthroscopic meniscus surgery. The secondary purpose was to compare short-term functional outcomes between the 2 protocols.
Methods: A power analysis demonstrated that 43 patients were required.
Sneezing and coughing are primary symptoms of many respiratory viral infections and allergies. It is generally assumed that sneezing and coughing involve common sensory receptors and molecular neurotransmission mechanisms. Here, we show that the nasal mucosa is innervated by several discrete populations of sensory neurons, but only one population (MrgprC11MrgprA3) mediates sneezing responses to a multitude of nasal irritants, allergens, and viruses.
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- Scientists wanted to understand brain tissues in newborns by measuring myelin and iron using a new method called quantitative susceptibility mapping.
- They had 69 healthy newborns get MRI scans to see how these materials showed up in different parts of the brain.
- The results showed differences in brain signals: myelin had a lower signal in some areas while iron had a higher signal in others, helping to reveal how these substances are distributed in newborn brains.
Objective: We integrate a new approach to chemosensitivity data for clinically-relevant regimen matching, and demonstrate the relationship with clinical outcomes in a large PDO biobank.
Summary Background Data: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) usually recurs following potentially curative resection. Prior studies related patient-derived organoid (PDO) chemosensitivity with clinical responses.
Background: Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is known to impact prognosis, but its determinants in coronary artery disease are poorly understood. Stress cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has been used to assess ischemia and infarction in relation to the left ventricle (LV); the impact of myocardial tissue properties on RV function is unknown.
Methods: Vasodilator stress CMR was performed in patients with known coronary artery disease at 7 sites between May 2005 and October 2018.
This study introduces a new imaging, spatial transcriptomics (ST), and single-cell RNA-sequencing integration pipeline to characterize neoplastic cell state transitions during tumorigenesis. We applied a semi-supervised analysis pipeline to examine premalignant pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias (PanINs) that can develop into pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Their strict diagnosis on formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples limited the single-cell characterization of human PanINs within their microenvironment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a human genetic disorder caused by variants in the NF1 gene. Plexiform neurofibromas, one of many NF1 manifestations, are benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors occurring in up to 50% of NF1 patients. A substantial fraction of NF1 pathogenetic variants are nonsense mutations, which result in the synthesis of truncated non-functional NF1 protein (neurofibromin).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine whether industry payments to physicians are associated with a difference in assisted reproductive technology practices and outcomes.
Design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Assisted reproductive technology centers.
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) with increased transmissibility and partial resistance to neutralization by antibodies has been observed globally. There is an urgent need for an effective vaccine to combat these variants. Our study demonstrated that the B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Many older adults with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) have a relapse despite having a measurable residual disease (MRD)-negative complete remission with combination chemotherapy. The addition of blinatumomab, a bispecific T-cell engager molecule that is approved for the treatment of relapsed, refractory, and MRD-positive BCP-ALL, may have efficacy in patients with MRD-negative remission.
Methods: In a phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned patients 30 to 70 years of age with -negative BCP-ALL (with :: indicating fusion) who had MRD-negative remission (defined as <0.
Article Synopsis
- - CDD is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder linked to mutations in the CDKL5 gene, leading to symptoms like epilepsy, muscle weakness, and developmental delays.
- - Researchers created a gene therapy vector, AAV9.Syn.hCDKL5, to deliver the CDKL5 gene to the brain, using a specific promoter to enhance gene expression.
- - Studies in mice showed that injecting the vector directly into the cerebrospinal fluid improved distribution and resulted in biological activity, with successful functional improvements observed at higher doses.
Purpose: To longitudinally investigate the changes in intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMAs) over time, employing swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography in eyes with diabetic retinopathy.
Methods: In this retrospective, longitudinal study, we evaluated 12 × 12-mm swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography centered on the macula at baseline and last available follow-up visit for (1) IRMA changes during follow-up, defined as (a) stable, (b) regressed, (c) obliterated, and (d) progressed; and the (2) development of new neovascularization (NV) and their origins. Competing-risk survival analysis was used to assess the factors associated with these changes.