Publications by authors named "Wilson Melissa"

Background: Total shoulder arthroplasty frequently is performed in patients with a history of shoulder surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical outcomes after primary shoulder arthroplasty in patients with a history of nonarthroplasty shoulder surgery, and whether certain modifiable risk factors (MRFs) were negatively associated with final outcome measures. The secondary purpose was to determine if costs or complications were higher in patients with prior shoulder surgery.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: sFLT-1 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of HDP. We aimed to examine the role of maternal and fetal polymorphisms in risk of HDP and severe-spectrum disease.

Methods: Cases of HDP (143) and controls (169) from mother-baby dyads were recruited at the Los Angeles County Women's and Children's Hospital (WCH).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The sex chromosomes contain complex, important genes impacting medical phenotypes, but differ from the autosomes in their ploidy and large repetitive regions. To enable technology developers along with research and clinical laboratories to evaluate variant detection on male sex chromosomes X and Y, we create a small variant benchmark set with 111,725 variants for the Genome in a Bottle HG002 reference material. We develop an active evaluation approach to demonstrate the benchmark set reliably identifies errors in challenging genomic regions and across short and long read callsets.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many cellular processes and organismal behaviours are time-dependent, and asynchrony of these phenomena can facilitate speciation through reinforcement mechanisms. The Mojave and Sonoran desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii and G. morafkai respectively) reside in adjoining deserts with distinct seasonal rainfall patterns and they exhibit asynchronous winter brumation and reproductive behaviours.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • With improved antiretroviral therapies, people with HIV are living longer but face higher rates of chronic diseases and physical impairments, making regular exercise important for reducing health issues.
  • Older adults with HIV often encounter specific challenges to exercising, and measuring their exercise self-efficacy (ESE) can help identify these barriers.
  • A study comparing ESE between older adults with HIV and those without found significant differences before exercise intervention; however, ESE did not change after 12 weeks, suggesting future interventions should focus on enhancing motivation through support and rewards.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and a large proportion is attributable to viral causes, including hepatitis B (HBV) and C viruses (HCV). The pathogenesis of viral-mediated HCC can differ between HBV and HCV, but it is unclear how much these differences influence the tumors' final molecular and immune profiles. Additionally, there are known sex differences in the molecular etiology of HCC, but sex differences have not been explored in the context of viral-mediated HCC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • COVID-19 patients hospitalized face an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) even with standard anticoagulant treatment, necessitating a revised protocol for dosage adjustments.
  • The study examined the effectiveness of a dynamic anticoagulation dosing guideline based on D-dimer levels, aiming to improve patient outcomes by allowing dose adjustments based on individual VTE risk.
  • Results indicated that patients whose anticoagulation was adjusted had a higher in-hospital survival rate (80.2%) compared to those on fixed doses (51.3%), though there was an increased rate of bleeding events in the adjusted group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The Maduo Study investigated the impact of antenatal screening for STIs in pregnant women in Botswana, comparing intervention and standard care groups.
  • The study found a significant reduction in the prevalence of STIs post-delivery among women who received regular screening and treatment during pregnancy.
  • Results indicated that a substantial number of infants born to women with untreated infections still tested positive, highlighting the importance of antenatal STI screening to prevent vertical transmission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates the range of skin conditions in patients with germline SUFU pathogenic variants (PVs), focusing on their clinical and histopathologic features.* -
  • Conducted across U.S. dermatology and genetics clinics over eight years, the study analyzed skin biopsy samples from five female patients aged 31-68, identifying several types of skin tumors.* -
  • Findings reveal that alongside typical basal cell carcinomas, these patients exhibit various indolent skin lesions, indicating a broader range of cutaneous manifestations associated with SUFU PVs.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As genomics technologies advance, there is a growing demand for computational biologists trained for genomics analysis but instructors face significant hurdles in providing formal training in computer programming, statistics, and genomics to biology students. Fully online learners represent a significant and growing community that can contribute to meet this need, but they are frequently excluded from valuable research opportunities which mostly do not offer the flexibility they need. To address these opportunity gaps, we developed an asynchronous course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) for computational genomics specifically for fully online biology students.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly being used in schools to improve students' mental, emotional, and behavioral development. Although many mindfulness programs exist, the types of programs that are effective for specific age groups remain unclear. In this systematic review, the authors used established rating criteria to describe the level of evidence for school-based mindfulness interventions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy cause significant neonatal complications. Disease severity is often used to predict neonatal outcomes, however gestational age (GA) at delivery may be a better predictor. We aimed to assess whether disease severity or GA was more predictive of adverse neonatal outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and a large proportion of HCC is attributable to viral causes including hepatitis B (HBV) and C virus (HCV). The pathogenesis of viral-mediated HCC can differ between HBV and HCV, but it is unclear how much these differences influence the tumors' final molecular and immune profiles. Additionally, there are known sex differences in the molecular etiology of HCC, but sex differences have not been explored in the context of viral-mediated HCC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • There are noticeable sex differences in how often certain neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders occur in humans, prompting research in other species to understand these differences better.
  • In a study using female and male rhesus macaques, researchers created a large dataset to analyze gene expression patterns related to sex biases, revealing similarities to human conditions like autism.
  • The study found that genes with sex biases show higher genetic variability and specific expression in different tissues, suggesting these genes could evolve quickly. This research supports using rhesus macaques as a model to study sex differences in neurological diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Weight gain has been well-described with integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF). Doravirine (DOR) has been identified as a relatively "weight-neutral" drug; however, there is little data describing its effect on weight change in routine clinical practice.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of weight change among people with HIV changing from an INSTI- to a non-INSTI regimen with DOR.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Incidental findings are unrelated to a patient's complaint, found on diagnostic imaging, such as point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). Incidental findings represent potential harms to patients and may lead to increased patient anxiety and health care costs related to downstream testing and surveillance.

Study Objectives: In this study, we aimed to calculate the rate of incidental renal cysts found by POCUS.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Apes have two sex chromosomes: the essential Y chromosome for male reproduction and the X chromosome necessary for both reproduction and cognition, with differences in mating patterns affecting their function.
  • Studying these chromosomes is challenging due to their repetitive structures, but researchers created gapless assemblies for five great apes and one lesser ape to explore their evolutionary complexities.
  • The Y chromosomes are highly variable and undergo significant changes compared to the more stable X chromosomes, and this research can provide insights into human evolution and aid in the conservation of endangered ape species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: People with HIV (PWH) have lower exercise capacity than peers without HIV, which may be explained by chronotropic incompetence, the inability to increase heart rate during exercise.

Methods: The Exercise for Healthy Aging Study included adults aged 50 to 75 years with and without HIV. Participants completed 12 weeks of moderate-intensity exercise, before randomization to moderate or high intensity for 12 additional weeks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Single-cell sequencing technologies enhance our understanding of cellular dynamics throughout pregnancy. We outlined the workflow of single-cell sequencing techniques and reviewed single-cell studies in maternal and child health. We conducted a literature review of single cell studies on maternal and child health using PubMed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Treatment of vestibular schwannoma (VS) has been extensively studied, but a gap in knowledge exists demonstrating how racial and socioeconomic status influence VS presentation. Our institution has a unique setting with a public safety net hospital (PSNH) and tertiary academic medical center (TAMC) in the same zip code, which we study to evaluate initial VS presentation disparities in patient populations presenting to these hospital settings.

Methods: Retrospective chart review was performed of all adult patients (n = 531) presenting 2010 to 2020 for initial VS evaluation at TAMC (n = 462) and PSNH (n = 69).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Challenges in identifying tumor-rejecting neoantigens limit the efficacy of neoantigen vaccines to treat cancers, including cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). A minority of human cSCC tumors shared neoantigens, supporting the need for personalized vaccines. Using a UV-induced mouse cSCC model which recapitulated the mutational signature and driver mutations found in human disease, we found that CD8 T cells constrain cSCC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To evaluate the impact of screening and treating asymptomatic pregnant women for Chlamydia (C.) trachomatis and Neisseria (N.) gonorrhoeae infections on the frequency of preterm birth or low birthweight infants in Botswana.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Reptiles exhibit a variety of modes of sex determination, including both temperature-dependent and genetic mechanisms. Among those species with genetic sex determination, sex chromosomes of varying heterogamety (XX/XY and ZZ/ZW) have been observed with different degrees of differentiation. Karyotype studies have demonstrated that Gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum) have ZZ/ZW sex determination and this system is likely homologous to the ZZ/ZW system in the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), but little else is known about their sex chromosomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Healthcare clinicians are often at risk of psychological distress due to the nature of their occupation. Military healthcare providers are at risk for additional psychological suffering related to unique moral and ethical situations encountered in military service. This scoping review identifies key characteristics of moral distress and moral injury and how these concepts relate to the military healthcare clinician who is both a care provider and service member.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF