Publications by authors named "Toor A"

Ammonium (NH ) concentration is critical to both nutrient availability and nitrogen (N) loss in soil ecosystems but can be highly variable across spatial and temporal scales. For this reason, effectively informing agricultural practices such as fertilizer management and understanding of mechanisms of soil N loss require sensor technologies to monitor ammonium concentrations in real time. Our work investigates the performance of fully printed ammonium ion-selective sensors used in diverse soil environments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To explore different anesthesia techniques for medialization thyroplasty and determine how these anesthesia techniques may influence patient safety, patient experience, and surgical outcomes during medialization thyroplasty in adult patients.

Data Sources: A comprehensive librarian-designed strategy was used to search EMBASE, MEDLINE, and Web of Science for English language studies from database inception to July 2023. The study was registered on Open Science Framework (10.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A Phase II clinical trial examined the effects of intravenous vitamin C on patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplants to reduce nonrelapse mortality (NRM).
  • Patients (55 total) were given IV vitamin C for 14 days, which corrected their initial vitamin C deficiency and showed a trend towards lower NRM (11%) compared to historical controls (25%).
  • The study suggests that vitamin C repletion is safe and may improve survival rates (82% vs. 62%), but further randomized trials are necessary to validate these findings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The optimal timing of vaccination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines after cellular therapy is incompletely understood. The objectives of this study are to determine whether humoral and cellular responses after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination differ if initiated <4 months versus 4-12 months after cellular therapy.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter, prospective, observational study at 30 cancer centers in the United States.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The application of perovskite lanthanum ferrite (LaFeO) as a photocatalyst has shown significant potential in the removal of persistent organic and inorganic contaminants. In the present research, LaFeO and various composites consisting of LaFeO and TiO were prepared. The photocatalytic efficiency of the produced catalysts was assessed by measuring their effectiveness in degrading thiamethoxam, a pesticide belonging to the second generation of neonicotinoids.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT-CTN) was established in 2001 to conduct large multi-institutional clinical trials addressing important issues towards improving the outcomes of HCT and other cellular therapies. Trials conducted by the network investigating new advances in HCT and cellular therapy not only assess efficacy but require careful capturing and severity assessment of adverse events and toxicities. Adverse infectious events in cancer clinical trials are typically graded according to the National Cancer Institute's Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) and KIR-ligand (KIRL) interactions play an important role in natural killer cell-mediated effects after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT). Previous work has shown that accounting for known KIR-KIRL interactions may identify donors with optimal NK cell-mediated alloreactivity in the adult transplant setting. Paediatric acute leukaemia patients were retrospectively analysed, and KIR-KIRL combinations and maximal inhibitory KIR ligand (IM-KIR) scores were determined.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The optimal timing of vaccination with SARS-CoV-2 vaccines after cellular therapy is incompletely understood.

Objective: To describe humoral and cellular responses after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination initiated <4 months versus 4-12 months after cellular therapy.

Design: Multicenter prospective observational study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Patients with chronic vestibular hypofunction typically suffer from dizziness, imbalance and oscillopsia (blurred vision); symptoms that pose challenges to everyday life. Currently, advice on how to deal with such challenges is mainly provided by health care professionals (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Preschool-aged children with mild community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) routinely receive antibiotics even though most infections are viral. We sought to identify barriers to the implementation of a "no antibiotic" strategy for mild CAP in young children.

Methods: Qualitative study using semistructured interviews conducted in a large pediatric hospital in the United States from January 2021 to July 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lignin was functionalised by crosslinking with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) through the heterogenous reaction in the solvent dimethyl sulfoxide for preferential improvement in the mechanical properties of composites. The successful synthesis of lignin modified with HDI was confirmed by the instrumental analyses, e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the interactions between donor KIR and recipient HLA may affect the effectiveness of stem cell transplants, but findings on their impact have been inconsistent, particularly in matched unrelated donor scenarios.
  • A study involving 2025 AML patients found specific KIR/HLA pairs, notably donor-2DL2+/recipient-HLA-C1+, associated with lower relapse rates, while certain KIR genotypes showed a mix of benefits and risks related to relapse.
  • Ultimately, the research did not yield conclusive evidence to support KIR-based strategies for selecting donors in AML, as results were not validated in a separate patient cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: Intravenous (IV) vitamin C improves organ function and reduces inflammation in sepsis, an inflammatory state like the post-hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) milieu. The safety and efficacy of parenteral vitamin C after allogeneic HCT were evaluated in a phase I/II trial. Clinical outcomes were compared with a propensity score - matched historical control.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: Intravenous (IV) vitamin C improves organ function and reduces inflammation in sepsis, an inflammatory state like the post-hematopoietic stem cell transplant (SCT) milieu. The safety and efficacy of parenteral vitamin C after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) were evaluated in a phase I/II trial and clinical outcomes compared with a propensity score - matched historical control.

Methods: Patients with advanced hematologic malignancies were enrolled in a phase 2 clinical trial, receiving IV vitamin C, 50mg/kg/d, divided into 3 doses given on days 1-14 after HSCT, followed by 500 mg bid oral from day 15 until 6 months post-SCT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Huntington's disease is linked to a toxic increase in the HTT gene's function, prompting the development of therapies targeting HTT reduction in the liver.
  • Chronic loss of HTT in mouse liver cells leads to significant physiological changes, such as increased bile acids, cholesterol, and altered liver gene expression patterns.
  • Interestingly, the absence of HTT in liver cells also shows resistance to acetaminophen toxicity, suggesting HTT plays a critical role in liver zonation and possibly relates to impaired liver function mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Immune recovery following haematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) functions as a dynamical system. Reducing the duration of intense immune suppression and augmenting antigen presentation has the potential to optimise T-cell reconstitution, potentially influencing long-term outcomes.

Methods: Based on donor-derived T-cell recovery, 26 patients were adaptively randomised between mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) administered for 30-day post-transplant with filgrastim for cytokine support (MMF30 arm,  = 11), or MMF given for 15 days with sargramostim (MMF15 arm,  = 15).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Huntington's disease arises from a toxic gain of function in the ( ) gene. As a result, many HTT-lowering therapies are being pursued in clinical studies, including those that reduce HTT RNA and protein expression in the liver. To investigate potential impacts, we characterized molecular, cellular, and metabolic impacts of chronic HTT lowering in mouse hepatocytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death globally. Both lung cancer patients and family caregivers (FCGs) have unmet quality of life (QOL) needs. An understudied topic in lung cancer research is the role of social determinants of health (SDOH) on QOL outcomes for this population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The optimal timing for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines within the first year after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) is poorly understood.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, multicentre, observational study of allogeneic HCT recipients who initiated SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations within 12 months of HCT. Participants were enrolled at 22 academic cancer centers across the United States.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cell-free next-generation sequencing (cfNGS) may have a unique role in the diagnosis of infectious complications in immunocompromised hosts. The rapid turnaround time and non-invasive nature make it a promising supplement to standard of care.

Methods: This retrospective, observational single-center study at a tertiary care medical center in Virginia investigated the use of cfNGS in clinical practice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Owing to the tremendous increase of chemicals for agricultural practices, the quality of water has degraded significantly and requires inevitable attention. With this in mind, present work aims at treating Paraquat (PQ) contaminated water using Fe containing industrial waste as a catalyst via photo-Fenton treatment. Utilizing the industrially generated Fe rich waste by-products i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Blood cancers may be potentially cured with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT); however, standard pre-assessments for transplant eligibility do not capture all contributing factors for transplant outcomes. Epigenetic biomarkers predict outcomes in various diseases. This pilot study aims to explore epigenetic changes (epigenetic age and differentially methylated genes) in patients before and after autologous HCT, that can serve as potential biomarkers to better predict HCT outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Engraftment syndrome (ES) is associated with neutrophil recovery after stem cell transplantation (SCT). It is associated with autologous and allogeneic SCT. However, a literature review has shown that allogeneic SCT (allo-SCT) is associated with ES without conclusive data on risk factors or effects on outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite increased sophistication in DNA methylation (DNAm) measurement and methods, conducting studies in specific populations such as the hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) population, presents unique challenges and study design considerations. In this article, we explain the motivation for investigating DNAm in the HCT population, highlighting important study design features and key findings in a longitudinal prospective pilot study of DNAm in 32 patients undergoing autologous HCT in Central Virginia, USA. We also discuss limitations and challenges to generating robust results.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF