Publications by authors named "Merrill C"

Objectives: Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) now joins the ranks of CT and MRI for noninvasive diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). CEUS LI-RADS provides greater than 95% specificity for diagnosis within LR-5. Unlike CT/MRI, CEUS is nodule based.

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Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a lifelong chronic disease affecting any part of the gastrointestinal tract with a predilection for the terminal ileum. IBD patients require repeat imaging throughout the course of their disease, necessitating a safe, noninvasive, available, and repeatable method. Imaging is required at diagnosis, routine surveillance, and acute exacerbation of disease.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of acute nitrate (NO)-rich beetroot juice ingestion on explosive and high-intensity exercise performance, oral microbiota composition, and cognitive flexibility (i.e., function), before and after maximal intermittent running exercise.

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Background And Purpose: CT imaging exposes patients to ionizing radiation. MR imaging is radiation free but previously has not been able to produce diagnostic-quality images of bone on a timeline suitable for clinical use. We developed automated motion correction and use deep learning to generate pseudo-CT images from MR images.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tolerance to a substance requires increasing amounts of it over time to achieve the same effects, but the mechanisms behind this process are not fully understood.
  • Researchers are using Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) to study tolerance, as they share genetic similarities with humans that are relevant to alcohol responses and disorders.
  • The study reveals an inverse relationship between initial resistance to ethanol and tolerance development, suggesting that some mutants may display 'secondary' tolerance due to their initial sensitivity, and it proposes a new method for evaluating tolerance that takes this relationship into account.
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  • The brain has a vast diversity of cell types, and existing transgenic models often target multiple cell types rather than specific neurons.
  • An iterative ATAC approach was developed to enhance the specificity of transgene expression by identifying open chromatin regions in neurons, leading to more refined targeting of neuronal subsets.
  • This method not only helps in studying neurons linked to specific behaviors, like sleep, but is also versatile for use in other cell types and organisms.
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Background: Though traumatic digital amputations are common, outcomes data are scarce. The FRANCHISE study clarified functional outcomes after digital amputation, but little information is available regarding mental health outcomes. The aims of this study were to document patient-reported mental health outcomes after traumatic digital amputation, elucidate the relationship between mental health and functional outcomes, and determine which patient/injury attributes conferred risk of unfavorable mental health outcomes.

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Objectives: Reporting contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for focal liver masses in at risk patients is a challenging task. Traditionally used prose reporting (PR) is inconsistent and lacks standardization. We propose synoptic reporting (SR), encompassing algorithmic interpretation and liver imaging and reporting data system (LI-RADS) categorization.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tolerance requires increased substance amounts after initial exposure to achieve the same effects.
  • Researchers have studied model organisms, like fruit flies, to understand tolerance due to their relevance to human alcohol responses and overlapping genetic factors.
  • This study reveals an inverse relationship between initial resistance to alcohol and tolerance, suggesting that measuring tolerance should focus on relative change in sedation time, and offers a method to evaluate potential tolerance mutants using linear regression analysis.
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Objective: To assess the ability of a cleft-specific multi-site learning health network registry to describe variations in cleft outcomes by cleft phenotypes, ages, and treatment centers. Observed variations were assessed for coherence with prior study findings.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of prospectively collected data from 2019-2022.

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Purpose: We have long noted unique portal venous phase (PVP) imaging discordance of focal liver masses between CEUS, showing rapid marked washout, and MRI, showing progressive or sustained enhancement. We postulate association of this unique discordance with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and causal relationship to different contrast agent behavior. We investigate this unique discordance, propose its clinical significance for ICC diagnosis, and confirm further histologic associations.

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Objective: Several studies have compared perioperative parameters and early postoperative morphology between endoscope-assisted strip craniectomy with orthotic therapy (endoscopic repair) and cranial vault remodeling (open repair). To extend these results, the authors evaluated school-age anthropometric outcomes after these techniques across three institutions.

Methods: School-aged children (age range 4-18 years) with previously corrected isolated sagittal craniosynostosis were enrolled.

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Objectives: In high-BMI patients with and without fatty liver, we evaluate performance of a commercially available specially designed ultrasound probe (SDP) for scanning at depth. Greyscale and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) capability of SDP for parenchymal assessment and liver mass characterization, emphasizing HCC, is compared with standard curvilinear probes.

Methods: This retrospective study included 60 patients.

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Sleep disruptions are a common occurrence during the peripartum period. While physical and environmental factors associated with pregnancy and newborn care account for some sleep disruptions, there is evidence that peripartum fluctuations in estrogens may independently impact sleep. However, the impact of these large fluctuations in estrogens on peripartum sleep is unclear because it is difficult to tease apart the effects of estrogens on sleep from effects associated with the growth and development of the fetus or parental care.

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Introduction: Faculty are increasingly expected to teach about the impact of racism on health and to model the principles of health equity. However, they often feel ill-equipped to do so, and there is limited literature on faculty development on these topics. We developed a curriculum for faculty education on racism and actions to advance racial health equity.

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Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between mental health and financial burden among caregivers of children with medical complexity (CMC) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey on the mental health and financial burden of caregivers of CMC from April 2020 to April 2021. The study sample included 70 caregivers.

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Endoscopic gluteus medius repair is indicated after failed conservative management for debilitating peritrochanteric hip pain. In our experience, most of these surgeries are performed on women, 45 to 75 years old. Often for undersurface high-grade partial-thickness tears and some small full-thickness tears, a single-row repair technique is performed.

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Introduction: The teach-back method is a communication tool that can improve patient safety and shared decision-making. Its utility in patient care has been studied extensively in many areas of clinical medicine. However, the literature on teach-back in surgical patient education and informed consent is limited, and few studies have been conducted to test its impact on perioperative patient interactions.

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Despite its well-established benefits and a powerful body of scientific literature supporting the efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), it has faced challenges in being fully adopted as a diagnostic and problem-solving tool within the USA. This effort, written by experts in performance of and interpretation of CEUS, acts as a roadmap, for those interested in expanding CEUS within their facility. CEUS benefits from a Champion who is knowledgeable and passionate about its performance and who is capable of transferring evidence-based enthusiasm to others.

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COVID-19 caused a dramatic increase in the scope and utilization of telemedicine. However, the sustainability of the permanent integration of telemedicine in the management of chronic disease beyond the pandemic is still enigmatic. The purpose of this retrospective chart review was to analyze the effect of advanced training in telemedicine on clinical outcomes in type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the United States.

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Purpose: CT is routinely used to detect cranial abnormalities in pediatric patients with head trauma or craniosynostosis. This study aimed to develop a deep learning method to synthesize pseudo-CT (pCT) images for MR high-resolution pediatric cranial bone imaging to eliminating ionizing radiation from CT.

Methods: 3D golden-angle stack-of-stars MRI were obtained from 44 pediatric participants.

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Article Synopsis
  • Gene regulation is essential for cellular function, with ATAC-seq emerging as a key method to study the epigenome and transcription mechanisms.
  • The study explored insulin signaling in Drosophila S2 cells, finding correlations between chromatin accessibility and gene expression changes.
  • The results indicate that insulin-induced chromatin modifications identified by ATAC-seq can be linked to specific enhancer regions that promote reporter gene expression.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignancy of the liver with a high incidence worldwide and a high associated mortality. Well-recognized risk factors that cause a predisposition to the development of HCC include chronic infection with the hepatitis B or C virus, alcohol-related and non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease, and cirrhosis. In these chronically diseased livers, benign regenerative nodules can increase in size and develop cellular atypia that progress into dysplastic nodules and ultimately HCC.

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Objective: Head trauma is the most common indication for a CT scan. In this pilot study, the authors assess the feasibility of a 5-minute high-resolution 3D golden-angle (GA) stack-of-stars radial volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) MRI sequence (GA-VIBE) to obtain clinically acceptable cranial bone images and identify cranial vault fractures compared to CT.

Methods: Patients younger than 18 years of age presenting after head trauma were eligible for the study.

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Article Synopsis
  • ATAC-seq is a technique that analyzes chromatin to study gene regulation, praised for its low input needs, quick process, and untargeted genome-wide insights.
  • While ATAC-seq is commonly applied to mammalian tissues, its application in Drosophila (fruit flies) is limited despite their favorable genetic tools for research.
  • The authors developed a tailored ATAC-seq workflow for Drosophila, optimizing steps for nuclei isolation and library construction, ultimately creating high-quality libraries for extensive chromatin research in these flies.
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