Publications by authors named "Miller K"

Background: Heart failure is a major public health concern, affecting 6.7 million Americans. An estimated 16% of emergency department (ED) patients with acute heart failure (AHF) are discharged home.

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Each year, the Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech hosts an entomology-themed outreach event known as Hokie BugFest. This on-campus, festival-sized experience aims to educate the public about insects and other arthropods through hands-on activities, games, displays, and live arthropods. In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hokie BugFest and similar large public events were cancelled.

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Background: Rotavirus (RV) and Adenovirus (AdV) gastroenteritis affect children worldwide. The sensitivity and specificity of the AMP Rapid Test ROTA/ADENOVIRUS [AMP-RA] for the detection of RV and AdV were compared against qPCR Allplex™ GI-Virus Assay [Allplex-GI].

Methods: A cross-sectional hospital-based surveillance study was conducted using stool samples from 1,148 patients under the age of five years between July 2023 and May 2024 with gastroenteritis.

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Background: The PALLAS trial investigated the addition of palbociclib to standard adjuvant endocrine therapy to reduce breast cancer recurrence. This pre-specified analysis was conducted to determine whether adjuvant palbociclib benefited patients diagnosed with lower risk stage IIA disease compared to those with higher stage disease.

Methods: PALLAS was an international, multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase III trial, representing a public-private partnership between Pfizer, the Austrian Breast Cancer Study Group, and the U.

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Ion transport in solid polymer electrolytes is crucial for applications like energy conversion and storage, as well as carbon dioxide capture. However, most of the materials studied in this area are petroleum-based. Natural materials (biopolymers) have the potential to act as alternatives to petroleum-based products and, when derived with ionic liquid (IL) functionalities, present a sustainable alternative for conductive materials by offering tunable morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties.

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The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is a managed care program financed by capitated government payments that primarily serves adults aged 55 or older requiring nursing home level of care who are dual-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. While PACE programs have historically been nonprofit entities, in 2016, a regulation change allowed for-profit PACE programs to help expand the program. We describe PACE program growth from 2010 to 2022.

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Nociceptors contribute to the cardiovascular responses during a cold pressor test (CPT). While these responses are lower in females, data suggest that they perceive the CPT as more painful. Thus, we examined sex differences in associations between pain and cardiovascular responses to a CPT (Aim 1) as well as differences between females using (OC), and not using (NC), an oral contraceptive (Aim 2).

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Objectives: Research supports cognitive behavioral therapies for nightmares (CBT-N) in adults. However, the nuances of implementation and unstandardized nomenclature for treatment components has created confusion in the field. To provide clarification, an expert consensus panel convened to review treatment manual components and to develop guidelines for the standardized implementation and terminology of CBT-N.

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Background: Preventative medication (PM) uptake is low among patients at an elevated risk of breast cancer, largely due to fears of intolerance. This study aimed to investigate whether a new, surgical advanced practice provider (APP)-run clinic was effectively prescribing PM. We hypothesized equivalent rates of PM uptake compared to consultation with medical oncologists (MD).

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Background: Black individuals with cancer have a higher prevalence of comorbidities and a worse cancer prognosis than other racial groups in the US. As part of a quality improvement project, we aimed to demonstrate feasibility of self-monitoring and community health worker (CHW) support among managing comorbidities for Black individuals with breast or prostate cancer.

Methods: In a single arm, pre-post study, we enrolled patients with diabetes and/or hypertension who identified as Black and were diagnosed with 1) stage 0-IV breast cancer, or 2) prostate cancer and on long-term androgen-deprivation therapy.

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The objective was to determine the effects of injectable trace minerals (ITM, containing Se, Cu, Zn & Mn) administered at the time of primary intranasal (IN) modified-live virus (MLV) vaccination of young dairy calves on the serum neutralizing antibody (SNA) titers to Bovine herpes virus 1 (BHV1), Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), and Bovine Parainfluenza type 3 virus (BPIV); cytokine expression in peripheral white blood cells, and BHV1-specific IgA titers in nasal secretions following the vaccination. A total of 60 calves (1 month old) were administered an IN MLV vaccine containing BHV1, BRSV, BPIV (Inforce 3) and randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups: ITM (n = 30; Multimin90, containing Se, Cu, Zn, and Mn) or SAL (n = 30; sterile saline). There was a consistent decay in virus-specific SNA titers in both groups.

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Objective: The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) is a nonprofit organization that supports state and territorial chronic disease prevention and health promotion efforts through capacity building and technical assistance. Each year, NACDD surveys health department leaders who oversee chronic disease prevention and health promotion (hereafter, Chronic Disease Directors). We have previously used the annual survey results to inform strategic planning and resource allocation but have not historically published key findings in the peer-reviewed literature.

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DNA methyltransferase and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (DNMTis, PARPis) induce a stimulator of interferon genes (STING)-dependent pathogen mimicry response (PMR) in ovarian and other cancers. Here, we showed that combining DNMTis and PARPis upregulates expression of the nucleic-acid sensor NFX1-type zinc finger-containing 1 protein (ZNFX1). ZNFX1 mediated induction of PMR in mitochondria, serving as a gateway for STING-dependent interferon/inflammasome signaling.

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Introduction: Patients with suspected bacterial infection frequently receive empiric, broad-spectrum antibiotics prior to pathogen identification due to the time required for bacteria to grow in culture. Direct-from-blood diagnostics identifying the presence or absence of bacteria and/or resistance genes from whole blood samples within hours of collection could enable earlier antibiotic optimisation for patients suspected to have bacterial infections. However, few randomised trials have evaluated the effect of using direct-from-blood bacterial testing on antibiotic administration and clinical outcomes.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess how different routes of vaccine administration and the use of injectable trace minerals (ITM) affect immune responses in dairy calves infected with BVDV2 and BHV1.
  • A total of 60 calves were vaccinated and monitored for immune cell counts, revealing that unvaccinated calves showed significantly lower leukocyte levels compared to vaccinated ones.
  • Results indicated that calves receiving subcutaneous vaccinations had better immune response, particularly in CD4 T cells, and those in the ITM-IN group had the highest CD8 T cell counts, highlighting the importance of both the vaccination method and ITM usage in immune system effectiveness.
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Stereotactic systems have traditionally used Cartesian coordinate combined with linear algebraic mathematical models to navigate the brain. Previously, the development of a novel stereotactic system allowed for improved patient comfort, reduced size, and carried through a simplified interface for surgeons. The system was designed with a work envelope and trajectory range optimized for deep brain stimulation applications only.

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Pathogens play a key role in individual function and the dynamics of wild populations, but the link between pathogens and individual performance has rarely been investigated in the wild. Migrating salmonids offer an ideal study system to investigate how infection with pathogens affects performance given that climate change and fish farming portend increasing prevalence of pathogens in wild populations. To test for effects of pathogen burden on the performance of a migrating salmonid, we paired data from individual brown trout tagged with acoustic accelerometer transmitters and gill biopsies to investigate how pathogen infection affected whole animal activity during the spawning migration.

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Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is a potent NK cell-stimulating cytokine, but the presence of immunosuppressive myeloid cells such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) can inhibit IL 12-induced NK-cell cytotoxicity. Thus, we hypothesized that trabectedin, a myeloid cell-depleting agent, would improve the efficacy of IL-12 in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). In vitro treatment of healthy donor NK cells with trabectedin increased expression of the activation marker CD69 and mRNA expression of T BET (Tbx21), the cytotoxic ligands TRAIL (TNFSF10) and Fas ligand (FASLG) and the dendritic cell (DC)-recruiting chemokine lymphotactin (XCL1).

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In this study, we developed and validated an online analysis framework in MATLAB Simulink for recording and analysis of intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). This framework aims to detect interictal spikes in patients with epilepsy as the data is being recorded. An online spike detection was performed over 10-minute interictal iEEG data recorded with Brain Interchange CorTec in three human subjects.

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The valorization of potato peel side streams for food packaging applications, especially for the substitution of current petrochemical-based oxygen barrier solutions such as EVOH, is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, potato peel-based films and coatings (on PLA) were developed containing 10-50% (/ potato peel) citric acid (CA). To determine the impact of CA concentration on the structure and physicochemical properties of cast films and coatings, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, moisture adsorption isotherms, tensile properties, light transmittance, oxygen permeability, carbon dioxide transmission rate, and water vapor transmission rate measurements were performed.

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Introduction: Osimertinib is now a standard first-line (1L) therapy for EGFR-mutated (EGFRm) advanced NSCLC. We aimed to characterize patterns of therapy and longitudinal risk of brain and liver metastasis in a cohort of EGFRm NSCLC.

Methods: Patients with metastatic EGFRm NSCLC who received 1L systemic therapy at sites within the Academic Thoracic Medical Investigator's Consortium were included; demographic and clinical data including treatment patterns were described.

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Objectives: To examine factors impacting diagnostic evaluation of suspected deep vein thrombosis (DVT) by analyzing the test ordering patterns and provider decision-making within a universal health coverage system in Hungary.

Methods: We analyzed test orders for suspected DVT between 2007 and 2020, and the financial framework influencing diagnostic practices. An anonymous survey was also conducted among Emergency Department physicians to explore factors influencing diagnostic decision-making.

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People routinely use facial expressions to communicate successfully and to regulate other's behaviour, yet modelling the form and meaning of these facial behaviours has proven surprisingly complex. One reason for this difficulty may lie in an over-reliance on the assumptions inherent in existing theories of facial expression - specifically that (1) there is a putative set of facial expressions that signal an internal state of emotion, (2) patterns of facial movement have been empirically linked to the prototypical emotions in this set, and (3) static, non-social, posed images from convenience samples are adequate to validate the first two assumptions. These assumptions have guided the creation of datasets, which are then used to train unrepresentative computational models of facial expression.

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The potential risk posed by infectious agents (IAs) associated with netpen aquaculture to wild fishes is determined based on the "release" of IAs from netpens into the environment, the "exposure" of the wild fish to those released agents, and the "consequence" for wild fish experiencing infection by those agents. Information available to characterize these three factors is often lacking, and the occurrence of transmission from aquaculture to wild fish as well as potential consequences of such transmission are difficult to observe. In this study, we utilized environmental DNA (eDNA) to characterize the release of dozens of IAs from, and exposure of Pacific salmon to, Atlantic salmon aquaculture.

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Introduction: The Brisbane Burn Scar Impact Profile (BBSIP) and the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) are used in burn scar assessment to quantify patient health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). These questionnaires were developed using pen-and-paper delivery methods; however, there is a push towards electronic delivery of these questionnaires in both clinical practice and research. Equivalence testing is required to ensure that validity of these paper questionnaires is maintained electronically.

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