Publications by authors named "Michael Heckman"

Modern tennis forehand grip style and ball contact points have evolved to enhance power and topspin. Different grip styles and ball contacts are recommended; however, little data are available to support one over another. Through a quantitative experimental study, we sought to determine which grip style and ball contact point produced the greatest forces at static contact.

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Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of neurofibrillary tangles made of hyperphosphorylated tau and senile plaques composed of beta-amyloid. These pathognomonic deposits have been implicated in the pathogenesis, although the molecular mechanisms and consequences remain undetermined. UFM1 is an important, but understudied ubiquitin-like protein that is covalently attached to substrates.

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Introduction: Emergency department (ED) clinicians utilize the guaiac fecal occult blood test (gFOBT) in their assessment of suspected gastrointestinal bleeding or unexplained anemia despite supporting evidence. ED clinicians' ability to predict the gFOBT results and how the gFOBT results could affect ED patient disposition has not been previously studied.  Methods: From October 16, 2019, through September 15, 2020, we conducted a single-site survey of ED clinicians before and after performing gFOBTs during routine clinical care.

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Objective: We sought to examine possible differences in BCC characteristics and treatment patterns between two matched cohorts of Hispanic White and non-Hispanic White individuals.

Methods: In this single institution, retrospective matched cohort study, data from patients with biopsy proven BCC from June 2005 to May 2022 was collected. Demographic, BCC, and treatment characteristics were compared between Hispanic White and non-Hispanic White individuals using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test, for continuous and ordinal variables, and Fisher's exact test, for categorical variables.

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Intensive chemotherapy (IC) combination with second- or third-generation TKI improves survival compared to non-IC with first-generation TKI. Allo-HCT was suggestive of improving RFS/OS after propensity score matching and multivariable analysis.

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While the impact of spirituality as it relates to quality of life post-liver transplant (LT) has been studied, there are limited data showing how religious affiliation impacts objective measures such as survival. The aim of the study is to investigate whether LT recipients who identified as having a religious affiliation had better clinical outcomes when compared to LT recipients who did not. Religious affiliation is obtained as part of general demographic information for patients within our institution (options of "choose not to disclose" and "no religious affiliation" are available).

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Mitochondrial health is an integral factor in aging, with mitochondrial dysfunction known to increase with age and contribute to the development of age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Additionally, the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) has been shown to acquire potentially damaging somatic variation as part of the aging process, while mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) have been shown to be both protective and detrimental for various neurodegenerative diseases. Yet, little is known about the involvement of mtDNA variation in longevity and successful neurological aging.

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Virtual interviews may limit an applicant's ability to ascertain the culture of a training program. No-stakes campus visits (NSCVs) have been offered but their value is unknown. The purpose of our study was to determine factors that influence applicants' rank lists and determine barriers to and perceptions of NSCVs and their impact on applicants' final rank lists.

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Introduction: African Americans (AA) are widely underrepresented in plasma biomarker studies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and current diagnostic biomarker candidates do not reflect the heterogeneity of AD.

Methods: Untargeted proteome measurements were obtained using the SomaScan 7k platform to identify novel plasma biomarkers for AD in a cohort of AA clinically diagnosed as AD dementia (n=183) or cognitively unimpaired (CU, n=145). Machine learning approaches were implemented to identify the set of plasma proteins that yields the best classification accuracy.

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Background: Flap repair provides unique advantages in facial reconstruction but still carries the potential for undesirable postoperative cosmetic changes.

Objective: The aims of this study were to describe postoperative vascular outcomes of patients undergoing flap repairs after Mohs micrographic surgery on facial tumors and to assess associations of baseline characteristics with outcomes.

Materials And Methods: In this study, 7 dermatologists and 1 physician assistant in dermatology assessed preoperative and postoperative photographs of 57 patients who underwent facial Mohs micrographic surgery, evaluating vascular and pigment outcomes and number of telangiectasias.

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Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of neurofibrillary tangles made of hyperphosphorylated tau and senile plaques composed of beta-amyloid. These pathognomonic deposits have been implicated in the pathogenesis, although the molecular mechanisms and consequences remain undetermined. UFM1 is an important, but understudied ubiquitin-like protein that is covalently attached to substrates.

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To uncover molecular changes underlying blood-brain-barrier dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease, we performed single nucleus RNA sequencing in 24 Alzheimer's disease and control brains and focused on vascular and astrocyte clusters as main cell types of blood-brain-barrier gliovascular-unit. The majority of the vascular transcriptional changes were in pericytes. Of the vascular molecular targets predicted to interact with astrocytic ligands, SMAD3, upregulated in Alzheimer's disease pericytes, has the highest number of ligands including VEGFA, downregulated in Alzheimer's disease astrocytes.

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Background: The regenerative properties of platelet growth factors make platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) an attractive modality for treatment of aging skin. The main objective of this study was to determine efficacy and safety of PRP injections and microneedling compared with saline injections in women with aging skin of the face.

Methods: In this prospective, randomized clinical trial, 18 women with facial aging were randomized to receive either PRP injections to the unilateral face and saline injections to the contralateral side, or vice versa.

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Background: Hospital-at-home has become a more recognized way to care for patients requiring inpatient hospitalization. At times, these patients may require escalation of care (transfer from home back to the brick-and-mortar (BAM) hospital for ongoing hospitalization care needs), a process that has not been extensively studied.

Objective: To evaluate what patient factors contribute to escalations of care in the hospital-at-home delivery model.

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Article Synopsis
  • Pick's disease is a rare form of frontotemporal dementia characterized by Pick bodies in the brain, which are linked to the MAPT gene and its haplotypes, H1 and H2.
  • The study aimed to investigate how the MAPT H2 haplotype influences the risk, age of onset, and duration of Pick's disease.
  • Data was collected from 338 individuals with confirmed Pick's disease across multiple sites, and associations of MAPT variants with the disease were analyzed using statistical models.
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Introduction: Orthopedic surgeons are the third highest prescribers of narcotics. Previous work demonstrated that surgeons prescribe three times the narcotics required, and most patients do not properly dispose of leftover medication following surgery. This has prompted the creation of multimodal pain regimens to reduce reliance on narcotics.

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The immune system substantially influences age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression, affected by genetic and environmental factors. In a Mayo Clinic Study of Aging cohort, we examined how risk factors like APOE genotype, age, and sex affect inflammatory molecules and AD biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Among cognitively unimpaired individuals over 65 ( = 298), we measured 365 CSF inflammatory molecules, finding age, sex, and diabetes status predominantly influencing their levels.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigated the relationship between GBA gene variants and neuropathological features in cases of Lewy body disease (LBD), finding that both rare and common GBA variants are linked to conditions like Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.
  • - Out of 943 LBD cases, researchers identified 42 different GBA variants; the presence of minor alleles for these variants was associated with higher odds of likely dementia and lower stages of key neuropathological markers like Braak neurofibrillary tangles and Thal amyloid levels.
  • - GBA variants were especially prevalent in cases of transitional/diffuse LBD with low Alzheimer's disease-related pathology, suggesting that these genetic factors could influence the severity and
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Article Synopsis
  • - Alzheimer's disease (AD) and argyrophilic grain disease (AGD) may overlap in terms of tau pathology, but the effects of the APOE4 gene on AGD risk remain unclear despite its known role in AD development.
  • - A study of postmortem brain samples revealed that while APOE4 increases the risk of AD-related tau lesions, it does not impact the risk of AGD tau lesions, and other pathologies can influence amyloid-beta and tau levels.
  • - The presence of AD tau lesions (AD-tau) is linked to cognitive decline, whereas AGD tau lesions (AGD-tau) are not, suggesting that different mechanisms underlie the accumulation of amyloid and tau in these diseases,
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Loss-of-function mutations in the genes encoding PINK1 and PRKN result in early-onset Parkinson disease (EOPD). Together the encoded enzymes direct a neuroprotective pathway that ensures the elimination of damaged mitochondria via autophagy. We performed a genome-wide high content imaging miRNA screen for inhibitors of the PINK1-PRKN pathway and identified all three members of the miRNA family 29 (miR-29).

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Article Synopsis
  • Alzheimer's disease (AD) has a complex genetic makeup, and traditional polygenic risk scores (PRS) derived from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) show limited effectiveness in predicting AD risk.
  • Researchers hypothesized that machine learning (ML) models would provide a better approach (ML-PRS) to assess genetic risk for AD compared to standard regression methods.
  • The study found that ML-PRS significantly outperformed traditional PRS in predicting amyloid PET burden and positivity, indicating greater accuracy in identifying individuals at risk for clinical AD.
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Purpose: Loneliness may compromise health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes and the immunological impacts of loneliness via neuroendocrinological mechanisms likely have consequences for patients who have undergone a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).

Research Approach And Measures: Loneliness (pre-transplant), immunological recovery (Day 30, Day 100, 1-year post-transplant), and HRQOL (Day 100, 1 year) were measured in a sample of 205 patients completing a HSCT (127 autologous, 78 allogenic).

Results: Greater levels of pre-transplant loneliness predicted poorer HRQOL at Day 100 and 1-year follow-up.

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Aim: The aim of study was to investigate whether depression and anxiety symptoms and illness perception prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) predict health related quality of life (HRQOL) at Day 100 and 1 year following HSCT.

Methods: A total of 205 patients who underwent HSCT (N = 127 autologous transplants, N = 78 allogeneic transplants) were included in this prospective study. Baseline assessment was assessed prior to transplantation and post HSCT data were collected at Day 100 and 1 year.

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