179 results match your criteria: "George E. Wahlen Veterans Affairs Medical Center[Affiliation]"

Introduction: Current guidelines recommend electrophysiological study (EPS) and ablation for primary treatment of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), but there is little information to guide patient selection for the procedure. The purpose of this study was to identify preoperative features that would predict whether patients with signs or symptoms of tachycardia were likely to have SVT induced and ablated at EPS.

Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 1089 patients referred for EPS and ablation of SVT at 2 high volume centers.

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Importance: Blast-related mild traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), the "signature injury" of post-9/11 conflicts, are associated with clinically relevant, long-term cognitive, psychological, and behavioral dysfunction and disability; however, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear.

Objective: To investigate associations between a history of remote blast-related mild TBI and regional brain volume in a sample of US veterans and active duty service members.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Prospective cohort study of US veterans and active duty service members from the Long-Term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium-Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (LIMBIC-CENC), which enrolled more than 1500 participants at 5 sites used in this analysis between 2014 and 2023.

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Objective: To describe patient clinical characteristics associated with matched oligoclonal bands (OCB).

Methods: A retrospective review at the University of Utah examined patients with matched OCB from 2015 to 2020. Clinical data, diagnosis, and outcomes were collected.

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Article Synopsis
  • Neuroscience researchers are leveraging Big Data to improve the reliability of findings by increasing sample sizes and addressing replication issues.
  • A study analyzed data from 53 studies with over 10,500 participants to connect scores from various auditory verbal learning tasks (AVLTs) while controlling for site-related effects.
  • The research successfully reduced score variance by 37% and developed an online tool to help researchers and clinicians convert memory scores across different tests, highlighting the benefit of global data harmonization in behavioral sciences.
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Introduction: The C9orf72 mutation can manifest in diverse clinical ways, including rapid cognitive decline, parkinsonism, or late-life neuropsychiatric symptoms, sometimes mimicking autoimmune encephalitis.

Case Report: A 64-year-old female presented to the autoimmune neurology clinic with rapidly progressive dementia (RPD) associated with episodes of headache, confusion, auditory hallucinations, and abnormal electroencephalogram. She was treated empirically at an outside hospital for possible autoimmune encephalitis with intravenous methylprednisolone, but there was no improvement, and rapid cognitive decline continued.

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Objective: Police officers are at heightened risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to frequent exposure to traumatic stressors. Early identification of PTSD symptoms is crucial for timely intervention. However, stigma and low utilization of mental health services create barriers to accessing care, which can be improved through the use of accessible, brief, and efficient screening instruments.

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Electronic health record (EHR) documentation serves multiple functions, including recording patient health status, enabling interprofessional communication, supporting billing, and providing data to support the quality infrastructure of a Learning Healthcare System. There is no definition and standardized method to assess documentation quality in EHRs. Using a human-centered design (HCD) approach, we define and describe a method to measure documentation quality.

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Deficits in memory performance have been linked to a wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. While many studies have assessed the memory impacts of individual conditions, this study considers a broader perspective by evaluating how memory recall is differentially associated with nine common neuropsychiatric conditions using data drawn from 55 international studies, aggregating 15,883 unique participants aged 15-90. The effects of dementia, mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder on immediate, short-, and long-delay verbal learning and memory (VLM) scores were estimated relative to matched healthy individuals.

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Background: Antibiotic use is a major risk factor for recurrent infection (CDI) due to the associated disruption in gut microbiota. Fecal microbiota, live-jslm (REBYOTA®; RBL, previously RBX2660), is the first microbiota-based live biotherapeutic approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent recurrent CDI in adults following standard-of-care antibiotic treatment. To investigate the impact of non-CDI antibiotics on the durability of RBL, a subgroup analysis was conducted on PUNCH™ Open-Label study participants who received non-CDI antibiotics during the period between RBL administration and up to 2 years after.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study explores the connection between white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), age, and cognitive performance in a group of combat-exposed Veterans and Service Members.
  • The research involved 1,011 participants, revealing that both groups had similar rates of WMHs; however, older individuals with mTBI showed a higher count of WMHs compared to those without.
  • Significant relationships were found linking increased WMHs with cognitive impairments in memory and processing speed, suggesting the need for further investigation on the long-term effects of WMHs in mTBI cases.
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Prospective, international, multisite comparison of platelet isolation techniques for genome-wide transcriptomics: communication from the SSC of the ISTH.

J Thromb Haemost

October 2024

University of Utah Molecular Medicine Program, Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; George E. Wahlen Veterans Affairs Medical Center & Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Electronic address:

Genome-wide platelet transcriptomics is increasingly used to uncover new aspects of platelet biology and as a diagnostic and prognostic tool. Nevertheless, platelet isolation methods for transcriptomic studies are not standardized, introducing challenges for cross-study comparisons, data integration, and replication. In this prospective multicenter study, called "Standardizing Platelet Transcriptomics for Discovery, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics in the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Community (STRIDE)" by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Scientific and Standardization Committees, we assessed how 3 of the most commonly used platelet isolation protocols influence metrics from next-generation bulk RNA sequencing and functional assays.

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Conotoxins Targeting Voltage-Gated Sodium Ion Channels.

Pharmacol Rev

August 2024

Guangxi Key Laboratory of Special Biomedicine, School of Medicine, Guangxi University, Nanning, China (S.P., N.W., Z.M., D.Z., X.Z., S.L.); Key Laboratory of Tropical Biological Resources of Ministry of Education, Hainan University, Haikou, China (D.Z., S.L.); Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (D.J.C.); Departments of Biology and Psychiatry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (J.M.M.); and George E. Wahlen Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (J.M.M.)

Voltage-gated sodium (Na) channels are intimately involved in the generation and transmission of action potentials, and dysfunction of these channels may contribute to nervous system diseases, such as epilepsy, neuropathic pain, psychosis, autism, and cardiac arrhythmia. Many venom peptides selectively act on Na channels. These include conotoxins, which are neurotoxins secreted by cone snails for prey capture or self-defense but which are also valuable pharmacological tools for the identification and/or treatment of human diseases.

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Liquid biopsy demonstrates excellent potential in patient management by providing a minimally invasive and cost-effective approach to detecting and monitoring cancer, even at its early stages. Due to the complexity of liquid biopsy data, machine-learning techniques are increasingly gaining attention in sample analysis, especially for multidimensional data such as RNA expression profiles. Yet, there is no agreement in the community on which methods are the most effective or how to process the data.

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Aspartic acid mutagenesis of αO-Conotoxin GeXIVA isomers reveals arginine residues crucial for inhibition of the α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

Int J Biol Macromol

June 2024

Key Laboratory of Tropical Biological Resources of Ministry of Education, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Special Biomedicine, School of Medicine, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China. Electronic address:

The two most active disulfide bond isomers of the analgesic αO-conotoxin GeXIVA, namely GeXIVA[1, 2] and GeXIVA[1, 4], were subjected to Asp-scanning mutagenesis to determine the key amino acid residues for activity at the rat α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). These studies revealed the key role of arginine residues for the activity of GeXIVA isomers towards the α9α10 nAChR. Based on these results, additional analogues with 2-4 mutations were designed and tested.

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Objective: We sought to identify (1) what types of information US adults with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) perceive as most important to know about their disease, and (2) what functions they would use in an RMD-specific smartphone app.

Methods: Nominal groups with patients with RMD were conducted using online tools to generate a list of needed educational topics. Based on nominal group results, a survey with final educational items was administered online, along with questions about desired functions of a smartphone app for RMD and wearable use, to patients within a large community rheumatology practice-based research network and the PatientSpot registry.

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Iboga alkaloids, also known as coronaridine congeners, have shown promise in the treatment of alcohol and opioid use disorders. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of catharanthine and 18-methoxycoronaridine (18-MC) on dopamine (DA) transmission and cholinergic interneurons in the mesolimbic DA system, nicotine-induced locomotor activity, and nicotine-taking behavior. Utilizing fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) in the nucleus accumbens core of male mice, we found that catharanthine or 18-MC differentially inhibited evoked DA release.

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Some clinicians suspect that patients with do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders receive less aggressive care. Extrapolation from code status to goals of care could cause significant harm. This study asked the question: Do DNR orders in the intensive care unit (ICU) lead to a decrease in invasive interventions? This was a retrospective cohort study of ICU patients from three teaching hospitals.

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The low 1-year patency rate of mature arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) remains a significant clinical problem. Although vessel properties and biomechanics have been suggested to affect AVF function, understanding their roles in AVF patency failure is challenging owing to the heterogeneity within the patient population, including demographics and comorbid conditions. In this study, we present a case of a patient with 2 upper-arm AVFs with different 1-year patency outcomes and investigate whether they had different histologic features before the AVF creation surgery and biomechanics at 1 day and 6 weeks after the AVF creation surgery using magnetic resonance imaging-based fluid structure interaction simulations.

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SET domain containing 2 promotes megakaryocyte polyploidization and platelet generation through methylation of α-tubulin.

J Thromb Haemost

June 2024

Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address:

Background: Megakaryocytes (MKs) are polyploid cells responsible for producing ∼10 platelets daily in humans. Unraveling the mechanisms regulating megakaryopoiesis holds the promise for the production of clinical-grade platelets from stem cells, overcoming significant current limitations in platelet transfusion medicine. Previous work identified that loss of the epigenetic regulator SET domain containing 2 (SETD2) was associated with an increased platelet count in mice.

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ENIGMA's simple seven: Recommendations to enhance the reproducibility of resting-state fMRI in traumatic brain injury.

Neuroimage Clin

June 2024

Department of Psychology, Penn State University, State College, PA, USA; Department of Neurology, Hershey Medical Center, PA, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) is a valuable tool for studying brain connectivity, particularly in relation to neurological disorders like traumatic brain injury (TBI), but there is a lack of standardization in how it is used across different research groups.
  • This narrative review aims to tackle key methodological challenges in rsfMRI research for TBI by providing recommendations for data acquisition, processing, and analysis to enhance the reliability and comparability of study results.
  • The review consists of a literature search on current rsfMRI studies, a set of seven recommendations for improving research practices, and a discussion of future research directions to promote rigorous methods and transparency in the TBI research community.
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Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a dose-limiting painful neuropathy that occurs commonly during cancer management, which often leads to the discontinuation of medication. Previous studies suggest that the α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR)-specific antagonist αO-conotoxin GeXIVA[1,2] is effective in CIPN models; however, the related mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we analyzed the preventive effect of GeXIVA[1,2] on neuropathic pain in the long-term oxaliplatin injection-induced CIPN model.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores the lesser-known role of the cerebellum in PTSD by analyzing cerebellar volume differences in a large sample of 4,215 adults, with 1,642 diagnosed with PTSD and 2,573 as healthy controls.
  • Using advanced deep-learning techniques, researchers assessed the total cerebellum volume and 28 subregions, revealing significant reductions in both gray and white matter in individuals with PTSD, especially in specific posterior lobe and vermis areas.
  • The results suggest that changes in cerebellar structure are linked to cognitive and emotional dysfunctions in PTSD, highlighting the cerebellum's importance beyond its traditional role in motor control.
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This study was undertaken to identify and characterize the first ligands capable of selectively identifying nicotinic acetylcholine receptors containing α7 and β2 subunits (α7β2-nAChR subtype). Basal forebrain cholinergic neurons express α7β2-nAChR. Here, they appear to mediate neuronal dysfunction induced by the elevated levels of oligomeric amyloid-β associated with early Alzheimer's disease.

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