Publications by authors named "Sarah Wang"

Introduction: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is more prevalent in populations with obesity. Obesity-related vitamin D deficiency may affect rates of multigland parathyroid disease, but this relationship is less clear. We aimed to assess the relationship between obesity and the rate of multigland disease in patients with PHPT.

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While deep brain stimulation (DBS) remains an effective therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD), sources of variance in patient outcomes are still not fully understood, underscoring a need for better prognostic criteria. Here we leveraged routinely collected T1-weighted (T1-w) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to derive patient-specific measures of brain structure and evaluate their usefulness in predicting changes in PD medications in response to DBS. Preoperative T1-w MRI data from 231 patients with PD were used to extract regional measures of fractal dimension (FD), sensitive to the structural complexities of cortical and subcortical areas.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have revolutionized cancer therapy, but their use is limited by the development of autoimmunity in healthy tissues as a side effect of treatment. Such immune-related adverse events (IrAE) contribute to hospitalizations, cancer treatment interruption and even premature death. ICI-induced autoimmune diabetes mellitus (ICI-T1DM) is a life-threatening IrAE that presents with rapid pancreatic beta-islet cell destruction leading to hyperglycemia and life-long insulin dependence.

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Background: Adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) dynamically adjusts stimulation parameters according to patient needs. We recently showed that chronic aDBS utilizing invasive neural signals for feedback control is superior to conventional DBS (cDBS) during normal daily life in a 2-month trial. The stability of aDBS over longer periods remains unclear.

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Viral mimicry refers to the activation of innate anti-viral immune responses due to the induction of endogenous retroelement (RE) expression. Viral mimicry has been previously described to augment anti-tumor immune responses and sensitize solid tumors to immunotherapy including colorectal cancer, melanoma, and clear renal cell carcinoma. Here, we found that targeting a novel, master epigenetic regulator, Zinc Finger Protein 638 (ZNF638), induces viral mimicry in glioblastoma (GBM) preclinical models and potentiates immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI).

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Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common and disabling in Parkinson's disease (PD), with troublesome anxiety occurring in one-third of patients. Management of anxiety in PD is challenging, hampered by insufficient insight into underlying mechanisms, lack of objective anxiety measurements, and largely ineffective treatments. In this study, we assessed the intracranial neurophysiological correlates of anxiety in PD patients treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the laboratory and at home.

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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a widely used therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD) but lacks dynamic responsiveness to changing clinical and neural states. Feedback control might improve therapeutic effectiveness, but the optimal control strategy and additional benefits of 'adaptive' neurostimulation are unclear. Here we present the results of a blinded randomized cross-over pilot trial aimed at determining the neural correlates of specific motor signs in individuals with PD and the feasibility of using these signals to drive adaptive DBS.

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Choosing whether to exert effort to obtain rewards is fundamental to human motivated behavior. However, the neural dynamics underlying the evaluation of reward and effort in humans is poorly understood. Here, we report an exploratory investigation into this with chronic intracranial recordings from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and basal ganglia (BG; subthalamic nuclei and globus pallidus) in people with Parkinson's disease performing a decision-making task with offers that varied in levels of reward and physical effort required.

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The percent total body surface area burned is a critical determinant of the required level of care, initial management, and prognosis in burn patients. The current gold standard for estimating this measurement, the Lund-Browder chart, requires familiarity with its construction and may not be practical for use by first responders in the field. In this study, we present a novel burn surface area calculator mobile application developed for first responders and validate its accuracy.

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Article Synopsis
  • Robotic surgery (RDN) for kidney donation results in less tissue manipulation and faster recovery compared to open mini-incision surgery (ODN).
  • A study comparing 141 RDN cases to 191 ODN cases found that RDN led to significantly less blood loss and a shorter hospital stay.
  • Overall complication rates were low for both methods, indicating that RDN offers advantages without increasing risks.
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Despite the growing incidence of burn injuries globally and the advancements in physical recovery, the psychological aspect of burn trauma recovery remains inadequately addressed. This review aims to consolidate existing literature on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in adult burn survivors, recognizing the need for a holistic approach to burn recovery that encompasses both physical and mental health. The comprehensive analysis of 156 studies revealed significant variations in methodological approaches, leading to challenges in creating standardized protocols for mental health assessment in burn care.

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Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common and disabling in Parkinson's disease (PD), with troublesome anxiety occurring in one-third of patients. Management of anxiety in PD is challenging, hampered by insufficient insight into underlying mechanisms, lack of objective anxiety measurements, and largely ineffective treatments.In this study, we assessed the intracranial neurophysiological correlates of anxiety in PD patients treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the laboratory and at home.

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Objectives: Participation is essential to DBS research, yet circumstances that affect diverse participation remain unclear. Here we evaluate factors impacting participation in an adaptive DBS study of Parkinson's disease (PD) and dystonia.

Methods: Twenty participants were implanted with a sensing-enabled DBS device (Medtronic Summit RC+S) that allows neural data streaming in naturalistic settings and encouraged to stream as much as possible for the first five months after surgery.

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Background: Selection of central venous catheter (CVC) lock solution impacts catheter mechanical complications and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) in pediatric patients with intestinal failure. Disadvantages of the current clinical standards, heparin and ethanol lock therapy (ELT), led to the discovery of new lock solutions. High-risk pediatric patients with intestinal failure who lost access to ELT during a recent shortage were offered enrollment in a compassionate use trial with 4% tetrasodium EDTA (T-EDTA), a lock solution with antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and antithrombotic properties.

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Background: Cyanide poisoning poses a significant threat to burn patients exposed to smoke in residential or workplace fires, leading to central nervous system dysfunction, hemodynamic instability, cardiovascular collapse, and death. Prompt administration of an effective antidote is critical. Hydroxocobalamin, a form of vitamin B12, is the gold standard treatment for cyanide toxicity, by binding to cyanide molecules and converting them into non-toxic cyanocobalamin that is eliminated by the kidneys.

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The Plan-Do-Study Act (PDSA) ramp is a framework that uses initial small changes to build consensus and momentum for subsequent, iterative process improvement. Our aim was to study its impact on endoscopy unit efficiency and throughput. Following a granular time-and-motion analysis to evaluate baseline performance (phase 1) we instituted successive interventions and measured their impact on core efficiency metrics including procedure volume and turnover time (phases 2-3).

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Objective: To assess the effects of demographic shifts, changes in contemporaneous clinical practices, and technologic innovation on assisted reproductive technology (ART) success rates by conducting an analysis of cumulative live-birth rates across different time periods, age groups, and infertility diagnoses.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of autologous linked cycles comparing cumulative live-birth rates over successive cycles from patients undergoing their first retrieval between 2014 and 2019 in the SART CORS (Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System) database. All cycles reported for these individuals up to 2020 were included for analysis.

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Background: Movement and tone disorders in children and young adults with cerebral palsy are a great source of disability. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of basal ganglia targets has a major role in the treatment of isolated dystonias, but its efficacy in dyskinetic cerebral palsy (DCP) is lower, due to structural basal ganglia and thalamic damage and lack of improvement of comorbid choreoathetosis and spasticity. The cerebellum is an attractive target for DBS in DCP since it is frequently spared from hypoxic ischemic damage, it has a significant role in dystonia network models, and small studies have shown promise of dentate stimulation in improving CP-related movement and tone disorders.

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Background: The landscape of assisted reproductive technology (ART) has seen a significant shift towards frozen-thawed embryo transfers (FET) over fresh transfers, driven by technological advancements and clinical considerations. This study aimed to compare live birth outcomes between primary FET and fresh transfers, focusing on cycles without preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), using United States national data from the SART CORS database spanning from 2014 to 2020.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of autologous first ART cycles without PGT comparing primary embryo transfer (frozen thaw vs.

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Article Synopsis
  • In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), researchers found that DNA methylation, rather than specific mutations, plays a key role in disease progression and metastasis.
  • The study used whole-genome bisulfite sequencing to discover thousands of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) that correlate with the different stages and molecular subtypes of PDAC.
  • Results showed that specific DMRs are linked to critical biological processes, with significant patterns of DNA methylation that could help in diagnosing and predicting the disease's course.
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Fat malabsorption is central to the pathophysiology of short bowel syndrome (SBS). It occurs in patients with insufficient intestinal surface area and/or function to maintain metabolic and growth demands. Rapid intestinal transit and impaired bile acid recycling further contribute to fat malabsorption.

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Background: We investigated if anatomic patterns of abnormal parathyroid glands have ch anged for primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) as atypical biochemical presentation (normohormonal and normocalcemic) has increased.

Methods: Retrospective review of patients with pHPT who underwent routine bilateral neck exploration.

Results: 2762 patients were included.

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Background: Melanoma brain metastases (MBM) continue to be a significant clinical problem with limited treatment options. Highly invasive melanoma cells migrate along the vasculature and perivascular cells may contribute to residual disease and recurrence. PTEN loss and hyperactivation of AKT occur in MBM; however, a role for PTEN/AKT in perivascular invasion has not been described.

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  • Neonates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) often need cardiopulmonary bypass and anticoagulation therapy, but previous studies showed that even low doses of heparin can hinder lung growth and function.
  • In an experiment on mice, heparin alone reduced lung endothelial cell proliferation and increased cell death, but the negative effects on proliferation could be mitigated with direct thrombin inhibitors (DTIs) like bivalirudin and argatroban.
  • Despite these promising findings in vitro, the study concluded that DTIs did not sufficiently counteract the decreased lung growth associated with low-dose heparin in vivo, highlighting the need for clinical research on the combined effects of heparin and DTIs in
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Choosing whether to exert effort to obtain rewards is fundamental to human motivated behavior. However, the neural dynamics underlying the evaluation of reward and effort in humans is poorly understood. Here, we investigate this with chronic intracranial recordings from prefrontal cortex (PFC) and basal ganglia (BG; subthalamic nuclei and globus pallidus) in people with Parkinson's disease performing a decision-making task with offers that varied in levels of reward and physical effort required.

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