Publications by authors named "Qinlian Zhou"

Background: People in Connecticut are now more likely to die of a drug-related overdose than a traffic accident. While Connecticut has had some success in slowing the rise in overdose death rates, substantial additional progress is necessary.

Methods: We developed, verified, and calibrated a mechanistic simulation of alternative overdose prevention policy options, including scaling up naloxone (NLX) distribution in the community and medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) among people who are incarcerated (MOUD-INC) and in the community (MOUD-COM) in a simulated cohort of people with OUD in Connecticut.

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We used results from an optimization randomized controlled trial which tested five behavioral intervention components to support HIV antiretroviral adherence/HIV viral suppression, grounded in the multiphase optimization strategy and using a fractional factorial design to identify intervention components with cost-effectiveness sufficiently favorable for scalability. Results were incorporated into a validated HIV computer simulation to simulate longer-term effects of combinations of components on health and costs. We simulated the 32 corresponding long-term trajectories for viral load suppression, health related quality of life (HRQoL), and costs.

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Background: Alcohol use, tobacco use, and other substance use often co-occur with depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, forming a constellation of alcohol, substance, and mood-related (CASM) conditions that disproportionately affects people with HIV in the USA. We used a microsimulation model to evaluate how alternative screening strategies accounting for CASM interdependence could affect life expectancy in people with HIV in the USA.

Methods: We augmented a microsimulation model previously validated to predict US adult life expectancy, including in people with HIV.

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Reference life expectancies inform frequently used health metrics, which play an integral role in determining resource allocation and health policy decision making. Existing reference life expectancies are not able to account for variation in geographies, populations, and disease states. Using a computer simulation, we developed a reference life expectancy estimation that considers competing causes of mortality, and is tailored to population characteristics.

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In integrated health care systems, techniques that identify successes and opportunities for targeted improvement are needed. The authors propose a new method for estimating population health that provides a more accurate and dynamic assessment of performance and priority setting. Member data from a large integrated health system (n = 96,246, 73.

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Multilevel interventions combine individual component interventions, and their design can be informed by decision analysis. Our objective was to identify the optimal combination of interventions for alcohol-using HIV+ individuals on antiretroviral drug therapy in Maharashtra, India, explicitly considering stakeholder constraints. Using an HIV simulation, we evaluated the expected net monetary benefit (ENMB), the probability of lying on the efficiency frontier (PEF), and annual program costs of 5,836 unique combinations of 15 single-focused HIV risk-reduction interventions.

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Introduction: Link4Health, a cluster-RCT, demonstrated the effectiveness of a combination strategy targeting barriers at various HIV continuum steps on linkage to and retention in care; showing effectiveness in achieving linkage to HIV care within 1 month plus retention in care at 12 months after HIV testing for people living with HIV (RR 1.48, 95% CI 1.19-1.

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Introduction: We used a computer simulation of HIV progression and transmission to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a scale-up of 3 strategies to seek out and test individuals with undiagnosed HIV in New York City (NYC).

Setting: Hypothetical NYC population.

Methods: We incorporated the observed effects and costs of the 3 "seek and test" strategies in a computer simulation of HIV in NYC, comparing a scenario in which the strategies were scaled up with a 1-year implementation or a long-term implementation with a counterfactual scenario with no scale-up.

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Objective: To inform the design of a combination intervention strategy targeting HIV-infected unhealthy alcohol users in Maharashtra, India, that could be tested in future randomized control trials.

Methods: Using probabilistic compartmental simulation modeling we compared intervention strategies targeting HIV-infected unhealthy alcohol users on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Maharashtra, India. We tested interventions targeting four behaviors (unhealthy alcohol consumption, risky sexual behavior, depression and antiretroviral adherence), in three formats (individual, group based, community) and two durations (shorter versus longer).

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Background: An increasing proportion of prostate cancer is being managed conservatively. However, there are no randomized trials or consensus regarding the optimal follow-up strategy.

Objective: To compare life expectancy and quality of life between watchful waiting (WW) versus different strategies of active surveillance (AS).

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Background: A surge in mobile phone availability has fueled low cost short messaging service (SMS) adherence interventions. Multiple systematic reviews have concluded that some SMS-based interventions are effective at improving antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, and they are hypothesized to improve retention in care. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of SMS-based adherence interventions and explore the added value of retention benefits.

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Background: Human-induced pluripotent stem cell (h-iPSC)-derived cardiac myocytes are a unique model in which human myocyte function and dysfunction are studied, especially those from patients with genetic disorders. They are also considered a major advance for drug safety testing. However, these cells have considerable unexplored potential limitations when applied to quantitative action potential (AP) analysis.

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Several voltage-gated channels share a proline-valine-proline (proline hinge) sequence motif at the intracellular side of S6. We studied the proline hinge in Kv1.4 channels, which inactivate via two mechanisms: N- and C-type.

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The fast component of the cardiac transient outward current, I(Ktof), is blocked by a number of drugs. The major molecular bases of I(Ktof) are Kv4.2/Kv4.

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HERG (Kv11.1, KCNH2) is a voltage-gated potassium channel with unique gating characteristics. HERG has fast voltage-dependent inactivation, relatively slow deactivation, and fast recovery from inactivation.

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A continuum model was introduced to analyze the pressure-flow relationship for steady flow in human pulmonary circulation. The continuum approach was based on the principles of continuum mechanics in conjunction with detailed measurement of vascular geometry, vascular elasticity and blood rheology. The pulmonary arteries and veins were considered as elastic tubes and the "fifth-power law" was used to describe the pressure-flow relationship.

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Kv1.4 channels are Shaker-related voltage-gated potassium channels with two distinct inactivation mechanisms. Fast N-type inactivation operates by a ball-and-chain mechanism.

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Human ether-à-go-go-related gene (HERG, Kv11.1, KCNH2) voltage-gated K(+) channels dominate cardiac action potential repolarization. In addition, HERG channels play a role in neuronal and smooth cell excitability as well as cancer pathology.

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Determining the effect of a compound on I (Kr) is a standard screen for drug safety. Often the effect is described using a single IC(50) value, which is unable to capture complex effects of a drug. Using verapamil as an example, we present a method for using recordings from native myocytes at several drug doses along with qualitative features of I (Kr) from published studies of HERG current to estimate parameters in a mathematical model of the drug effect on I (Kr).

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Electrophysiological studies often seek to relate changes in ion current properties caused by a chemical modifier to changes in cellular properties. Therefore, quantifying concentration-dependent effects of modifiers on ion currents is a topic of importance. In this paper, we sought a mathematical method for using ion current data to predict the effect of several theoretical ion current modifiers on cellular and tissue properties that is computationally efficient without compromising predictive power.

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Vascular impedance is determined by morphometry and mechanical properties of the vascular system, as well as the rheology of the blood. The interactions between all these factors are complicated and difficult to investigate solely by experiments. A mathematical model representing the entire system of human pulmonary circulation was constructed based on experimentally measured morphometric and elasticity data of the vessels.

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