Publications by authors named "Rubinstein R"

Article Synopsis
  • PFAS, particularly PFOS, pose environmental and health risks due to their long-lasting presence, making their fate and transport in sedimentary aquifers complex.
  • The study examines how physical and geochemical differences in riparian floodplains affect the movement and concentration of PFOS during changes in river stages.
  • Findings highlight that sediment permeability is crucial for predicting PFOS behavior, emphasizing the need to accurately assess aquifer variability to understand PFAS dynamics effectively.
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Background: Giardia lamblia is an intestinal protozoan estimated to cause ~200 million symptomatic infections annually, mainly in children in low- and middle-income countries associated with intestinal damage, increased permeability, and malabsorption.

Methods And Results: We describe here the epidemiology, incidence, clinical characteristics, and risk factors of acute gastroenteritis episodes (AGE) with G. lamblia detection (GAGE) using a birth cohort of 443 Nicaraguan children followed weekly until 36 months of life.

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Background: Single-arm clinical trials (SAT) are common in drug and biologic submissions for rare or life-threatening conditions, especially when no therapeutic options exist. External control arms (ECAs) improve interpretation of SATs but pose methodological and regulatory challenges.

Objective: Through narrative reviews and expert input, we developed a framework for considerations that might influence regulatory use and likelihood of regulatory acceptance of an SAT, identifying non-oncology first indication approvals as an area of interest.

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Background: Astrovirus is a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in children worldwide. However, few prospective studies have analyzed astrovirus in community-dwelling pediatric populations in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: We assessed the incidence, risk factors, clinical characteristics, genotypes, viral coinfections, and time distribution of astrovirus gastroenteritis in 443 healthy Nicaraguan children born in 2017 to 2018 who were followed for 36 months.

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The pathogenic outcome of enteric virus infections is governed by a complex interplay between the virus, intestinal microbiota, and host immune factors, with metabolites serving as a key mediator. Noroviruses bind bile acid metabolites, which are produced by the host and then modified by commensal bacteria. Paradoxically, bile acids can have both proviral and antiviral roles during norovirus infections.

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Delivery of the returnees from captivity by the Red Cross to military mental and medical professionals until they transfer to the medical staff in the hospitals and meetings with their families is a decisive challenge for the returnees and the professionals. The absorption time places the returnees in an exposed and vulnerable situation, in an intermediate space between captivity and reintegration into reality. The feelings of terror, the helplessness, and the danger to life that accompanied the kidnapping and the stay in captivity may develop into situations related to survival and adaptation to the conditions of captivity, including life-saving strategies.

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Many adhesion proteins, evolutionarily related through gene duplication, exhibit distinct and precise interaction preferences and affinities crucial for cell patterning. Yet, the evolutionary paths by which these proteins acquire new specificities and prevent cross-interactions within their family members remain unknown. To bridge this gap, this study focuses on Drosophila Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule-1 (Dscam1) proteins, which are cell adhesion proteins that have undergone extensive gene duplication.

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In the developing human brain, only 53 stochastically expressed clustered protocadherin (cPcdh) isoforms enable neurites from individual neurons to recognize and self-avoid while simultaneously maintaining contact with neurites from other neurons. Cell assays have demonstrated that self-recognition occurs only when all cPcdh isoforms perfectly match across the cell boundary, with a single mismatch in the cPcdh expression profile interfering with recognition. It remains unclear, however, how a single mismatched isoform between neighboring cells is sufficient to block erroneous recognitions.

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Although the effects of counterstereotypic individuating information (i.e., information specific to individual members of stereotyped groups that disconfirms the group stereotype) on biases in explicit person perception are well-established, research shows mixed effects of such information on implicit person perception.

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Inborn errors of immunity lead to autoimmunity, inflammation, allergy, infection, and/or malignancy. Disease-causing JAK1 gain-of-function (GoF) mutations are considered exceedingly rare and have been identified in only four families. Here, we use forward and reverse genetics to identify 59 individuals harboring one of four heterozygous JAK1 variants.

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Article Synopsis
  • Neonatal unit admissions for premature infants can lead to significant mental health challenges for both parents, particularly with depression, anxiety, and stress, yet there is limited research on fathers' experiences compared to mothers.
  • The study aims to explore how increased father or partner engagement in family-integrated care (FICare) affects their mental health up to six weeks after discharge, along with assessing the impact on maternal mental health.
  • This two-phase study will collect data through interviews and questionnaires, focusing on enhancing father engagement through resources like support groups and educational materials, and will analyze results using various statistical methods and qualitative approaches.
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Article Synopsis
  • Astrovirus is a major cause of gastroenteritis in children, and this study investigated its prevalence and characteristics in 443 healthy kids in León, Nicaragua, over three years.
  • Out of 1,708 samples tested, 80 children (18%) had at least one episode of astrovirus, with a higher incidence during the rainy season and no evidence that previous infections offered future protection.
  • Key findings include that astrovirus-infected children were less likely to be breastfed for long periods, home toilets provided some protection against future infections, and specific astrovirus types were linked to more severe cases, underscoring the need for further research on the impact of different virus strains.
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Background: Feeling out of control during a traumatic event may evoke behavioral self-blame (BSB) to avoid feeling helpless following trauma by restoring one's sense of control. BSB is a common, persistent, and treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress symptom. The present study investigates the etiology and risk factors of BSB following a traumatic event and the reasons for its persistence over time.

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Objectives: In Syracuse, NY among 5998 births in a 3-year period (2017-2019), 24% were to foreign-born women, among whom nearly 5% were refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia. The impetus for the study was to identify potential risk factors and birth outcomes of refugee women, other foreign-born women, and US born women to inform care.

Methods: This study reviewed 3 years of births (2017-2019) in a secondary database of births in Syracuse, New York.

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Barriers continue to limit access to viral load (VL) monitoring across sub-Saharan Africa adversely impacting control of the HIV epidemic. The objective of this study was to determine whether the systems and processes required to realize the potential of rapid molecular technology are available at a prototypical lower-level (i.e.

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Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission frequently occurs within households, yet few studies describe which household contacts and household units are most likely to engage in transmission-interrupting behaviors.

Methods: We analyzed a COVID-19 prospective household transmission cohort in North Carolina (April to October 2020) to quantify changes in physical distancing behaviors among household contacts over 14 days. We evaluated which household contacts were most likely to ever mask at home and to ever share a bedroom with the index case between days 7-14.

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Background: SARS-CoV-2 transmission frequently occurs within households, yet few studies describe which household contacts and household units are most likely to engage in transmission-interrupting behaviors.

Methods: We analyzed a COVID-19 prospective household transmission cohort in North Carolina (April-Oct 2020) to quantify changes in physical distancing behaviors among household contacts over 14 days. We evaluated which household contacts were most likely to ever mask at home and to ever share a bedroom with the index case between Days 7-14.

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Objectives: Management of postoperative pain following percutaneous nephrolithotripsy (PCNL) is a significant goal. We sought to identify risk factors and clinical correlates of postoperative pain in order to improve perioperative management and patient satisfaction.

Materials And Methods: A single-center, retrospective analysis, from a prospectively maintained database, of all consecutive patients who underwent PCNL for renal calculi between January 2011 and August 2018.

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Crystal structures of many cell-cell adhesion receptors reveal the formation of linear "molecular zippers" comprising an ordered one-dimensional array of proteins that form both intercellular () and intracellular () interactions. The clustered protocadherins (cPcdhs) provide an exemplar of this phenomenon and use it as a basis of barcoding of vertebrate neurons. Here, we report both Metropolis and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of cPcdh zipper formation using simplified models of cPcdhs that nevertheless capture essential features of their three-dimensional structure.

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Machine-learning based risk prediction models have the potential to improve patient outcomes by assessing risk more accurately than clinicians. Significant additional value lies in these models providing feedback about the factors that amplify an individual patient's risk. Identification of risk factors enables more informed decisions on interventions to mitigate or ameliorate modifiable factors.

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Article Synopsis
  • The expression of clustered protocadherin (cPcdh) isoforms allows individual vertebrate neurons to develop unique identities and mechanisms for distinguishing self from nonself.
  • cPcdhs interact in a way that promotes the formation of diverse recognition units, where specific combinations of isoforms can grow together or be terminated based on their compatibility.
  • Recent experiments indicate that while cPcdh interactions are generally promiscuous, they show a preference for forming heterologous dimers and maintain precise homophilic interactions, with new structural data shedding light on these processes.
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Article Synopsis
  • SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Nicaragua was 28% within the first 6 months of the epidemic and increased to 35% after another 6 months.
  • Immune waning among the population was rare over this period.
  • People living with a seropositive household member were more than three times more likely to be seropositive themselves, highlighting the role of household transmission in the spread of the virus.
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