Publications by authors named "Soucy A"

Objective: To examine awareness, information-seeking, and use of MyPlate among US adults with young children.

Design: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the 2015-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Participants: US adults aged 18-45 years with children ≤5 years.

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Recovery from respiratory pneumococcal infections generates lung-localized protection against heterotypic bacteria, mediated by resident memory lymphocytes. Optimal protection in mice requires re-exposure to pneumococcus within days of initial infection. Serial surface marker phenotyping of B cell populations in a model of pneumococcal heterotypic immunity revealed that bacterial re-exposure stimulates the immediate accumulation of dynamic and heterogeneous populations of B cells in the lung, and is essential for the establishment of lung resident memory B (B) cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • Loss of RAB27A affects cardiovascular function and metabolism, as evidenced by changes in body weight, glucose handling, and vasoreactivity in mice.
  • Male mice lacking RAB27A experienced more pronounced cardiovascular issues, including increased vasoconstriction and age-related cardiomyopathy, compared to their wild-type counterparts.
  • Proteomic analysis indicated significant differences in the tissue signatures of male null mice related to cardiovascular and metabolic phenotypes, highlighting a gender-related impact of RAB27A loss.
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This study presents an integrated approach to understanding fluid dynamics in Microfluidic Paper-Based Analytical Devices (µPADs), combining empirical investigations with advanced numerical modeling. Paper-based devices are recognized for their low cost, portability, and simplicity and are increasingly applied in health, environmental monitoring, and food quality analysis. However, challenges such as lack of flow control and the need for advanced detection methods have limited their widespread adoption.

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Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common etiology of bacterial pneumonia, one of the leading causes of death in children and the elderly worldwide. During non-lethal infections with S. pneumoniae, lymphocytes accumulate in the lungs and protect against reinfection with serotype-mismatched strains.

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Splice-switching antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) could be used to treat a subset of individuals with genetic diseases, but the systematic identification of such individuals remains a challenge. Here we performed whole-genome sequencing analyses to characterize genetic variation in 235 individuals (from 209 families) with ataxia-telangiectasia, a severely debilitating and life-threatening recessive genetic disorder, yielding a complete molecular diagnosis in almost all individuals. We developed a predictive taxonomy to assess the amenability of each individual to splice-switching ASO intervention; 9% and 6% of the individuals had variants that were 'probably' or 'possibly' amenable to ASO splice modulation, respectively.

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Purpose: Postzygotic (somatic) variants in the mTOR pathway genes cause a spectrum of distinct developmental abnormalities. Accurate classification of somatic variants in this group of disorders is crucial for affected individuals and their families.

Methods: The ClinGen Brain Malformation Variant Curation Expert Panel was formed to curate somatic variants associated with developmental brain malformations.

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Quantification of adipocyte size and number is routinely performed for white adipose tissues using existing image analysis software. However, thermogenic adipose tissue has multilocular adipocytes, making it difficult to distinguish adipocyte cell borders and to analyze lipid proportion using existing methods. We developed a simple, standardized method to quantify lipid content of mouse thermogenic adipose tissue.

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Barrier tissues are populated by functionally plastic CD4 resident memory T (T) cells. Whether the barrier epithelium regulates CD4 T cell locations, plasticity and activities remains unclear. Here we report that lung epithelial cells, including distinct surfactant protein C (SPC)MHC epithelial cells, function as anatomically-segregated and temporally-dynamic antigen presenting cells.

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Prenatal exposure to Zika virus (ZIKV) can result in microencephaly and congenital Zika syndrome, although some brain cells and structures are spared by the virus for unknown reasons. Here, a novel murine model of fetal ZIKV infection incorporating intraventricular infection and cell type-specific electroporation (IUE) was used to identify the time course of ZIKV infection and to determine the identity of cells that are initially infected or spared during neocortical neurogenesis. time course studies revealed the presence of ZIKV in apical radial glial cells (aRGCs) at early time points following virus exposure, while basal intermediate progenitor cells (bIPCs) became maximally (ZIKV) after 3 d of virus exposure.

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Irradiation therapy causes bone deterioration and increased risk for skeletal-related events. Irradiation interferes with trabecular architecture through increased osteoclastic activity, decreased osteoblastic activity, and increased adipocyte expansion in the bone marrow (BM), which further compounds bone-related disease. Neutralizing antibodies to sclerostin (Scl-Ab) increase bone mass and strength by increasing bone formation and reducing bone resorption.

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Purpose: We describe a novel neurobehavioral phenotype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability, and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with de novo or inherited deleterious variants in members of the RFX family of genes. RFX genes are evolutionarily conserved transcription factors that act as master regulators of central nervous system development and ciliogenesis.

Methods: We assembled a cohort of 38 individuals (from 33 unrelated families) with de novo variants in RFX3, RFX4, and RFX7.

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Background: Lassa fever is endemic in several west African countries. Case-fatality rates ranging from 21% to 69% have been reported. The pathophysiology of the disease in humans and determinants of mortality remain poorly understood.

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Article Synopsis
  • Genome sequencing plays a critical role in diagnosing rare diseases, even when effective treatments are not available.
  • The development of milasen, a customized drug for a specific patient, stemmed from the molecular diagnosis of a fatal neurodegenerative disease, leading to quick testing within a year.
  • The study demonstrated that milasen was safe and effective, showing a reduction in seizures, and sets an example for creating personalized treatments rapidly for other patients.
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects up to 1 in 59 individuals. Genome-wide association and large-scale sequencing studies strongly implicate both common variants and rare de novo variants in ASD. Recessive mutations have also been implicated but their contribution remains less well defined.

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JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) establishes a persistent, lifelong, asymptomatic infection within the kidney of the majority of the human population. Under conditions of severe immunosuppression or immune modulation, JCPyV can reactivate in the central nervous system (CNS) and cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a fatal demyelinating disease. Initiation of infection is mediated through viral attachment to α2,6-sialic acid-containing lactoseries tetrasaccharide c (LSTc) on the surface of host cells.

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Disease tolerance can preserve host homeostasis and limit the negative impact of infections. We report that vaccinated mice survived pulmonary challenge with the extremely virulent SchuS4 strain of Francisella tularensis for at least 100 days, despite the persistence of large numbers (~104) of organisms. Transfer of 100 of these resident bacteria to naive animals caused 100% lethality, demonstrating that virulence was maintained.

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Canine cutaneous and subcutaneous soft tissue sarcomas (STS) account for 20.3% of malignant neoplasms of the skin. This article makes recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up in dogs with STS, using evidence-based medicine concepts.

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Our objective was to identify the top MD-office, inpatient and outpatient diagnoses, procedures, drug classes, comorbidities, and cost of health care for people with epilepsy. We examined health insurance claims for 8388 persons with epilepsy (females = 52%, males = 48%; average age = 35 years; privately insured = 78%, and Medicaid-insured = 22%) from eight health insurance plans for the year 2012. All of the top three diagnoses for MD-office place of service were either for other convulsions (780.

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The objectives of this observational study were to determine the prevalence of the most common comorbidities in women and men with epilepsy and to demonstrate the relationship of these comorbidities to health plan paid costs. Data for 6621 members with epilepsy (52% women, 48% men) from eight commercial health plans were analyzed. The presence of comorbidities in people with epilepsy was identified by searching health insurance claims for 29 prespecified comorbidity-specific diagnosis codes.

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Our objectives were to estimate the health plan paid cost of epilepsy and to show major cost driver(s) of these costs. The health insurance claims and membership data from six U.S.

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Introduction: In this study we estimated the costs paid by U.S. health plans for treating myasthenia gravis (MG) in 2009 and determined the major cost drivers.

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A quick and simple method was developed for determination of formaldehyde in maple syrup. In this method, formaldehyde reacts with Fluoral P to form a complex which is chemically extracted by isobutanol and determined by spectrofluorimetry. Performance, as gauged by the limits of detection (0.

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