August 2021 Member Publications

  1. El-Gamal FEA, Elmogy M, Mahmoud A, Shalaby A, Switala AE, Ghazal M, Soliman H, Atwan A, Alghamdi NS, Barnes GN, El-Baz A. A Personalized Computer-Aided Diagnosis System for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Using Structural MRI (sMRI). Sensors (Basel). 2021 Aug 11;21(16):5416. doi: 10.3390/s21165416. PMID: 34450858; PMCID: PMC8400990.
    Impact Statement: Several factors hinder the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease at an early stage, in particular, the divergence of 10-15 years between the onset of the underlying neuropathological changes and patients becoming symptomatic. This study surveyed patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), who were at risk of conversion to AD, with a local/regional-based computer-aided diagnosis system. The experimental results showed an encouraging performance of the proposed system when compared with related work.
  2. Pfeiffer JA, Hart JL, Wood LA, Bhatnagar A, Keith RJ, Yeager RA, Smith T, Tomlinson M, Gilkey D, Kerstiens S, Gao H, Srivastava S, Walker KL. The importance of urban planning: Views of greenness and open space is reversely associated with self-reported views and depressive symptoms. Popul Med. 2021 Jul;3:20. doi: 10.18332/popmed/139173. PMID: 34368779; PMCID: PMC8341459.
    Impact Statement: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between views of greenness and Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9) score. The findings suggest urban greening interventions that focus on greenness satisfaction may be a strategy to reduce depression.
  3. Haberzettl P, Jin L, Riggs DW, Zhao J, O'Toole TE, Conklin DJ. Fine particulate matter air pollution and aortic perivascular adipose tissue: Oxidative stress, leptin, and vascular dysfunction. Physiol Rep. 2021 Aug;9(15):e14980. doi: 10.14814/phy2.14980. PMID: 34327871; PMCID: PMC8322754.
    Impact Statement: Levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution are associated with chronic cardiovascular disease in humans; however, understanding of the early changes that foster chronic vascular disease is incomplete. Because perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) inflammation is implicated in chronic vascular diseases, we investigated early changes in aortic PVAT following short-term air pollution exposure in mice. We found that PM2.5-exposed mice had changes consistent with oxidative stress, vascular dysfunction and insulin resistance in aortic PVAT. The PM2.5-induced changes were absent in mice with overexpression of extracellular superoxide dismutase in the lungs implicating pulmonary oxidative stress as necessary in detrimental vascular changes in PM2.5-exposed mice. As our study connects inhaled PM2.5 and pulmonary oxidative stress with vascular derangement, we expect future research will test potential interventions that may protect public health from the deleterious cardiovascular effects of air pollution exposure.
  4. Sritapan Y, Feldmann J, Huang J, Sangroula D. A case of amniotic fluid embolism complicated by undiagnosed patent foramen ovale. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2021 Aug 9:S0301-2115(21)00404-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2021.08.004. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34462168.
    Impact Statement: Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a rare leading cause of unpredictable maternal death in industrialized countries We present the management and sudden hemodynamic collapse of a patient due to a suspected AFE complicated by an undiagnosed patent foramen ovale.
  5. Castner J, Huntington-Moskos L, May A. Generating Data Visualizations of Longitudinal Cohort Ambient Air Pollution Exposure: Report-Back Intervention Development in Participatory Action Research. Comput Inform Nurs. 2021 Aug 18. doi: 10.1097/CIN.0000000000000821. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34412083.
    Impact Statement: This work discusses the intentional use of data visualizations in the report back of research findings to community members. Open-source tools can be effectively used to create data visualizations, discuss environmental exposure findings, and promote science literacy.
  6. Biyik-Sit R, Kruer T, Dougherty S, Bradley JA, Wilkey DW, Merchant ML, Trent JO, Clem BF. Nuclear Pyruvate Kinase M2 (PKM2) Contributes to Phosphoserine Aminotransferase 1 (PSAT1)-Mediated Cell Migration in EGFR-Activated Lung Cancer Cells. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Aug 4;13(16):3938. doi: 10.3390/cancers13163938. PMID: 34439090; PMCID: PMC8391706.
    Impact Statement: Phosphoserine aminotransferase 1 (PSAT1) expression has been observed in multiple tumor types and is associated with poorer clinical outcomes. PSAT1’s role in cancer progression has not been fully characterized. Biochemical studies identified an interaction of PSAT1 with pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2). Further studies demonstrated in response to epidermal growth factor receptor activation, PSAT1 contributed to lung cancer cell migration, in part, by promoting nuclear PKM2 translocation.
  7. Das S, Rai SN. Statistical Approach of Gene Set Analysis with Quantitative Trait Loci for Crop Gene Expression Studies. Entropy (Basel). 2021 Jul 23;23(8):945. doi: 10.3390/e23080945. PMID: 34441085; PMCID: PMC8391627.
    Impact Statement: Most of the human diseases and plants traits are complex quantitative in nature and controlled by polygenes. Hence, the developed method, and the software tool will help the researchers to establish the link between the genotypes (e.g., gene sets) with the phenotypes (e.g., complex traits). This may have substantial application in molecular crop breeding and establishing the biological basis of diseases.
  8. Sears L, Myers JV, Sears CG, Brock GN, Zhang C, Zierold KM. Manganese body burden in children is associated with reduced visual motor and attention skills. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2021 Aug 21;88:107021. doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2021.107021. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34428495.
    Impact Statement: Manganese is an essential trace element however overexposure can lead to neurotoxicity. This study looked at children living near coal ash storage sites who may be at risk for manganese overexposure. Neuropsychological testing found that children with the highest Mn levels had poorer eye hand coordination and reduced ability to sustain attention compared to those with low Mn levels. Findings are in agreement with previous studies supporting the need to monitor child environmental exposures due to the potential for increased neurobehavioral problems.