Publications by authors named "RYAN W"

Introduction: The heart team approach is now the standard of care for patients with complex coronary artery disease; however, the definition of a heart team is variable. We embarked on a project to create an extended, multidisciplinary heart team to evaluate patients we deemed high risk for coronary revascularization. In doing so, we created a new service, workflow, and paradigm.

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Objective: To determine the relationship between pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and 6-month progression-free survival (PFS)/2-year overall survival (OS) among patients with recurrent or metastatic (R/M) oral cavity cancer on pembrolizumab.

Study Design: This study was a retrospective, observational study performed at a tertiary care academic center.

Setting: Participants included patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) who began pembrolizumab treatment at the University of California, San Francisco between May 2016 and May 2022.

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The use of ketamine and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) for treatment of depression has grown dramatically, though much of these data are short term. The clinical profile of maintenance treatment remains poorly characterized. We assessed maintenance KAP for efficacy, tolerability, and reasons for dropout.

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Article Synopsis
  • Schizophrenia involves significant brain function changes, with insulin signaling pathways, especially AKT, playing a key role in its development.
  • This study found increased mRNA levels of AKT1-3 in neurons from schizophrenia patients, while total AKT protein levels remained unchanged or lower, indicating a potential disconnect between gene expression and protein presence.
  • The research also revealed sex-specific differences in AKT activity, additional changes in related signaling components, and heightened expression of the glucose metabolism regulator FOXO1, suggesting potential compensatory mechanisms in response to insulin signaling issues.
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Protein kinases are critical components of a myriad biological processes and strongly associated with various diseases. While kinase research has been a point of focus in biomedical research for several decades, a large portion of the kinome is still considered understudied or "dark," because prior research is targeted towards a subset of kinases with well-established roles in cellular processes. We present an empirical and in-silico hybrid workflow to extend the functional knowledge of understudied kinases.

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Salivary gland carcinoma is a rare form of head and neck carcinoma, but it comprises a variety of subsites and histologic subtypes that each present with unique clinical courses and management challenges. Preoperative work-up generally consists of fine-needle aspiration cytology and MRI. However, because of the large variety of subtypes, there are often challenges obtaining a histologic diagnosis before surgery.

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  • The study evaluated the effectiveness of three different isoxazoline-containing acaricides (sarolaner, afoxolaner, and lotilaner) in killing the tick Amblyomma americanum, with a focus on how quickly they work after being administered to beagle dogs.
  • Lotilaner showed a significant speed of kill within 12 hours of infestation, outperforming both sarolaner and afoxolaner at various time points through the study.
  • Over time, the efficacy of sarolaner and afoxolaner decreased, while lotilaner maintained higher effectiveness levels, suggesting it is the most reliable option among the three for reducing tick infestations.
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Background: Among patients with bicuspid aortic valves (BAV) who are potential candidates for valve-sparing root replacement (VSRR), the long-term durability of this technique is not well understood. This study aimed to compare the clinical and echocardiographic outcomes of VSRR in those with BAV and tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) morphology.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent VSRR between 2007 and 2021 at a single center.

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Environmental and genetic risk factors, and their interactions, contribute significantly to the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Recent epidemiology studies have implicated pyrethroid pesticides as an environmental risk factor for autism and developmental delay. Our previous research showed that low-dose developmental exposure to the pyrethroid pesticide deltamethrin in mice caused male-biased changes in the brain and in NDD-relevant behaviors in adulthood.

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Background: Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Epicardial injection of botulinum toxin may suppress POAF.

Objectives: This study sought to assess the safety and efficacy of AGN-151607 for the prevention of POAF after cardiac surgery.

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Reality is fleeting, and any moment can only be experienced once. Rewatching a video, however, allows people to repeatedly observe the exact same moment. We propose that people may fail to fully distinguish between merely observing behavior again (through replay) from that behavior being performed again in the exact same way.

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Objective: To define symptomatology and responses to treatment in chronic sialadenitis from sialolithiasis versus duct stenosis and establish a minimal clinically significant difference (MCID) in the validated Obstructive Salivary Problem Impact Test (SPIT).

Study Design: Prospective, cohort.

Setting: Tertiary-care center.

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People often decide whether to invest scarce resources-such as time, money, or energy-to improve their chances of a positive outcome. For example, a doctor might decide whether to utilize scarce medicine to improve a patient's chances of recovery, or a student might decide whether to study a few additional hours to increase their chances of passing an exam. We conducted 11 studies ( = 5,342 adults) and found evidence that people behave as if they focus on the relative reduction in bad outcomes caused by such improvements.

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Background: Overdose rates in rural areas have been increasing globally, with large increases in the United States. Few studies, however, have identified correlates of non-fatal overdose among rural people who use drugs (PWUD). The present analysis describes correlates of nonfatal overdose among a large multistate sample of rural PWUD.

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Schizophrenia is characterized by substantial alterations in brain function, and previous studies suggest insulin signaling pathways, particularly involving AKT, are implicated in the pathophysiology of the disorder. This study demonstrates elevated mRNA expression of AKT1-3 in neurons from schizophrenia subjects, contrary to unchanged or diminished total AKT protein expression reported in previous postmortem studies, suggesting a potential decoupling of transcript and protein levels. Sex-specific differential AKT activity was observed, indicating divergent roles in males and females with schizophrenia.

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Objectives: The rate of occult metastasis in lip cancer is poorly studied. Management of the regional nodal basin in lip cancer is thus controversial. This study sought to understand the true rate of micrometastasis in lip cancer.

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Background: The use of rapid-deployment valves (RDVs) has been shown to reduce the operative time for surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR). Long-term core laboratory-adjudicated data are scarce, however. Here we report final 7-year data on RDV use.

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Article Synopsis
  • Doctors studied patients who had heart surgery to see how many got a blood clot in their leg (DVT) after the procedure.
  • They found that none of the 211 patients developed DVT, which is good news!
  • There were a few other health problems like bleeding and a stroke, but the overall risk of DVT was very low for those patients getting proper care.
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Objectives: To describe the clinicopathologic presentation of buccal squamous cell carcinoma and identify risks factors for recurrence and overall survival.

Methods: This is a retrospective case-control study of patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) treated at a single tertiary care center between 2010 and 2022. All patients with buccal subsite OCSCC treated during this time frame were included and paired with a randomly selected age and gender matched patient with non-buccal OCSCC.

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Objectives: The Salivary Gland Committee of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery seeks to standardize terminology and technique for ultrasonograpy used in the evaluation and treatment of salivary gland disorders.

Methods: Development of expert opinion obtained through interaction with international practitioners representing multiple specialties. This committee work includes a comprehensive literature review with presentation of case examples to propose a standardized protocol for the language used in ultrasound salivary gland assessment.

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Objective: Studies have shown that requiring tracheostomy following cardiac surgery has significant implications on outcomes. This study proposes a risk stratification model to predict the likelihood of requiring a tracheostomy after cardiac surgery.

Methods: Patients who underwent cardiac surgery between January 2010 and December 2019 were analyzed.

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  • Olanzapine, a second-generation antipsychotic, may lead to metabolic issues and a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, especially affecting the hypothalamus, which regulates metabolism.
  • The study aimed to investigate the acute effects of olanzapine on gene expression and kinase activity in the hypothalamus of rats under controlled insulin and glucose levels.
  • Results showed that olanzapine activated inflammatory pathways while reducing the body's ability to manage stress and G protein-coupled receptor functions, highlighting potential areas for reducing diabetes risk in patients on antipsychotic medication.
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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the shortfalls in our understanding of how to treat coronavirus infections. With almost 7 million case fatalities of COVID-19 globally, the catalog of FDA-approved antiviral therapeutics is limited compared to other medications, such as antibiotics. All-trans retinoic acid (RA), or activated vitamin A, has been studied as a potential therapeutic against coronavirus infection because of its antiviral properties.

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Introduction: Periodontitis is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease affecting almost half of the adult population and is the leading cause of tooth loss in the United States. The role of extracellular nucleotide signaling including nucleotide metabolizing enzyme CD73 adds an important layer of interaction of purine mediators capable of orchestrating inflammatory outcomes. CD73 is able to catabolize 5'-adenosine monophosphate into adenosine at the extracellular level, playing a critical role in regulating many processes under physiological and pathological conditions.

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