Publications by authors named "Nicole West"

Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is a rare inherited metabolic disorder caused by decreased activity of the enzyme porphobilinogen deaminase in the heme synthesis pathway. This leads to the accumulation of toxic porphyrin precursors, such as porphobilinogen and δ-aminolevulinic acid. Clinical manifestations typically include episodic bouts of severe neurovisceral pain and autonomic dysfunction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Patients with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO) are frequently misdiagnosed with congenital ptosis or ocular myasthenia gravis, often leading to unnecessary surgical procedures before receiving the correct diagnosis.
  • A study of 32 CPEO patients revealed an average diagnostic delay of about 25 years, with many having undergone multiple eyelid surgeries prior to CPEO confirmation.
  • Emphasizing the importance of early family history review and awareness of other CPEO symptoms could help reduce the rate of misdiagnosis and improve timely intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

RNA oxidation has been implicated in neurodegeneration, but the underlying mechanism for such effects is unclear. Extensive RNA oxidation occurs within the neurons in multiple sclerosis (MS) brains. Here, we identified selectively oxidized mRNAs in neuronal cells that pertained to neuropathological pathways.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Inhaled bronchodilators are frequently used among patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), although neither the effectiveness nor the prevalence of their use is known, due to the paucity of relevant studies.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry results, of patients with PCD from two centers. Correlations were examined of bronchodilator response, with asthma and atopy markers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Biologging tags are a key enabling tool for investigating cetacean behavior and locomotion in their natural habitat. Identifying and then parameterizing gait from movement sensor data is critical for these investigations, but how best to characterize gait from tag data remains an open question. Further, the location and orientation of a tag on an animal in the field are variable and can change multiple times during a deployment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a group of small noncoding RNA molecules that regulate the activity of transposons and control gene expression. The cellular concentration of RNAs is generally maintained by their rates of biogenesis and degradation. Although the biogenesis pathways of piRNAs have been well defined, their degradation mechanism is still unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Isolated pediatric lateral ankle injuries, including ankle sprain (AS) and nondisplaced Salter-Harris type 1 (SH-1) distal fibular fracture, are common orthopaedic sports-related injuries. Variability in treatment is suspected among pediatric orthopaedic surgeons. Complications from medical treatment or lack thereof have not been reported in this population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal abnormality and leads to intellectual disability, increased risk of cardiac defects, and an altered immune response. Individuals with DS have an extra full or partial copy of chromosome 21 (trisomy 21) and are more likely to develop early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) than the general population. Changes in expression of human chromosome 21 (Hsa21)-encoded genes, such as amyloid precursor protein (), play an important role in the pathogenesis of AD in DS (DS-AD).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objectives: Ischemic events, such as ischemic heart disease and stroke, are the number one cause of death globally. Ischemia prevents blood, carrying essential nutrients and oxygen, from reaching tissues, leading to cell and tissue death, and eventual organ failure. While humans are relatively intolerant to ischemic events, other species, such as marine mammals, have evolved a unique tolerance to chronic ischemia/reperfusion during apneic diving.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates the relationship between race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and COVID-19 hospitalization rates using data from the COVID-NET surveillance network during early 2020.
  • Findings show that a significant portion of COVID-19 hospitalizations occurred among racial and ethnic minorities, with the highest rates found in high-poverty areas, particularly among Black and Hispanic populations.
  • The conclusion emphasizes the need for targeted public health strategies and vaccination efforts to support racial and ethnic minorities and those in high-poverty communities effectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * BFCNs are crucial for cognitive functions like attention and memory, and their deterioration contributes to memory loss and language problems in both DS and AD.
  • * Research on BFCNs is limited, especially in imaging and therapeutic approaches, which hinders the understanding of their vulnerability and the design of effective treatments for those affected by DS and AD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Diversity has increased within youth sports. It is unknown whether these demographic or socioeconomic factors affect adolescent patients' and their guardians' preferences of sports medicine physicians and involvement in medial decision making. Demographic and socioeconomic factors may affect adolescent patient and guardian preferences for sports medicine physicians.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Research into the epigenome is of growing importance as a loss of epigenetic control has been implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Previous studies have implicated aberrant DNA and histone methylation in multiple sclerosis (MS) disease pathogenesis. We have previously reported that the methyl donor betaine is depleted in MS and is linked to changes in histone H3 trimethylation (H3K4me3) in neurons.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Trochlear dysplasia is a known risk factor for patellar dislocations yet normal trochlea development is not well described. This study will define the articular cartilage (AC) and subchondral trochlear morphology development in pediatric patients using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation.

Methods: A retrospective knee MRI review included patients aged 3 to 16 years with nonpatellofemoral-related diagnoses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Health care personnel (HCP) can be exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), both within and outside the workplace, increasing their risk for infection. Among 6,760 adults hospitalized during March 1-May 31, 2020, for whom HCP status was determined by the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET), 5.9% were HCP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pregnant women might be at increased risk for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1,2). The COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) (3) collects data on hospitalized pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19; to date, such data have been limited. During March 1-August 22, 2020, approximately one in four hospitalized women aged 15-49 years with COVID-19 was pregnant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Increased enrollment in government-based insurance plans has been reported. With youth sports injuries on the rise, increased ordering of advanced imaging such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has occurred. This study sought to report on the impact of insurance type on access to and results of knee MRI in pediatric sports medicine patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Most reported cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children aged <18 years appear to be asymptomatic or mild (1). Less is known about severe COVID-19 illness requiring hospitalization in children. During March 1-July 25, 2020, 576 pediatric COVID-19 cases were reported to the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET), a population-based surveillance system that collects data on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations in 14 states (2,3).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Since SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was first detected in December 2019 (1), approximately 1.3 million cases have been reported worldwide (2), including approximately 330,000 in the United States (3). To conduct population-based surveillance for laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations in the United States, the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) was created using the existing infrastructure of the Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) (4) and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RSV-NET).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Infectious disease forecasting aims to predict characteristics of both seasonal epidemics and future pandemics. Accurate and timely infectious disease forecasts could aid public health responses by informing key preparation and mitigation efforts.

Main Body: For forecasts to be fully integrated into public health decision-making, federal, state, and local officials must understand how forecasts were made, how to interpret forecasts, and how well the forecasts have performed in the past.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs, mostly 24-32 nucleotides in length. The piRNAs are not known to have any conserved secondary structure or sequence motifs. Using bioinformatics analysis, we discovered the presence of putative G-quadruplex (GQ) forming sequences in human piRNAs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The piwi interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that specifically bind to the PIWI proteins, a functional requirement. The piRNAs regulate germline development, transposons control, and gene expression. However, piRNA-mediated post-transcriptional gene regulation in human somatic cells is not well understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Amblyopia is a preventable, sight stealing disorder with a prevalence of approximately 2-4 percent in the U.S. pediatric population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF