December 2022 Member Publications

  1. Berlowitz JB, Xie W, Harlow AF, Blaha MJ, Bhatnagar A, Benjamin EJ, Stokes AC. Cigarette‒E-cigarette Transitions and Respiratory Symptom Development. Am J Prev Med. 2022 Dec 2:S0749-3797(22)00509-8. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2022.10.006. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36470837.
    Impact Statement: E-cigarette initiation among nonusers is associated with increased respiratory morbidity. Further research should assess the risks and benefits of E-cigarette‒assisted cigarette cessation given the reduction in symptom development rates among dual use to E-cigarette switchers.
  2. Richardson A, Krivokhizhina T, Lorkiewicz P, D'Souza S, Bhatnagar A, Srivastava S, Conklin DJ. Effects of electronic cigarette flavorants on human platelet aggregation ex vivo. Toxicol Rep. 2022 Apr 8;9:814-820. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2022.04.003. PMID: 36518374; PMCID: PMC9742839.
    Impact Statement: This study investigated the direct effects of 15 unaltered, common flavorants used in electronic cigarette liquids on human platelet aggregation. Although most flavorants did not alter ADP-induced aggregation, our study did not test other agonists of aggregation or flavorants as modified by heated conditions present in electronic cigarettes, which is recommended in order to protect public health.
  3. Oladipupo I, Ali T, Hein DW, Pagidas K, Bohler H, Doll MA, Mann ML, Gentry A, Chiang JL, Pierson RC, Torres S, Reece E, Taylor KC. Association between cigarette smoking and ovarian reserve among women seeking fertility care. PLoS One. 2022 Dec 13;17(12):e0278998. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278998. PMID: 36512605; PMCID: PMC9746951.
    Impact Statement: This cross-sectional epidemiologic study evaluated the effect of smoking on ovarian reserve among women seeking fertility counseling. The study suggests that long-term and/or heavy smoking may increase the risk of diminished ovarian reserve. This study was unique in that It stratified the study population by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) status; this is important because the measure used to determine ovarian reserve (anti-Mullerian hormone levels) is impacted by PCOS.
  4. Winrich E, Belur AD, Shine A, Jophlin LL. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy following liver transplantation and COVID-19 infection. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2022 Aug 23;36(1):99-100. doi: 10.1080/08998280.2022.2114069. PMID: 36578602; PMCID: PMC9762796.
    Impact Statement: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy involves transient systolic dysfunction of the left ventricle thought to be caused by a physiologic stress response and associated catecholamine release. We present a previously undocumented cause of this stress response involving a 53-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma and alcohol-associated cirrhosis who initially presented for liver transplantation. Shortly after successful transplantation, the patient developed a COVID-19 infection and takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
  5. He L, Vatsalya V, Ma X, Klinge CM, Cave MC, Feng W, McClain CJ, Zhang X. Metabolic Analysis of Nucleosides/Bases in the Urine and Serum of Patients with Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease. Metabolites. 2022 Nov 28;12(12):1187. doi: 10.3390/metabo12121187. PMID: 36557225; PMCID: PMC9783452.
    Impact Statement: This paper identified 12 RNA modifications that were significantly altered in human urine and serum samples from patients with alcohol-associated liver disease.
  6. Lindsey ML, Carter JR, Ripplinger CM, Kassiri Z, Hansell Keehan K, Brunt KR, Kirk JA, Kleinbongard P, LeBlanc AJ. Sex still matters in cardiovascular research. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2023 Jan 1;324(1):H79-H81. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00643.2022. Epub 2022 Dec 9. PMID: 36487186.
    Impact Statement: This editorial is a reminder to the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology readership that beginning in January of 2023, authors must include both sexes in original research articles submitted to the journal unless a strong scientific justification can be made as to why one sex is excluded. This decision helps increase our scientific understanding of physiology and disease in both sexes instead of the predominant male only studies in the past.
  7. Xu R, He L, Vatsalya V, Ma X, Kim S, Mueller EG, Feng W, McClain CJ, Zhang X. Metabolomics analysis of urine from patients with alcohol-associated liver disease reveals dysregulated caffeine metabolism. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2022 Dec 13. doi: 10.1152/ajpgi.00228.2022. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36513601.
    Impact Statement: Excess alcohol intake causes millions of deaths annually worldwide. Asymptomatic early-stage alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is easily overlooked, and ALD is usually only diagnosed in more advanced stages. We explored the possibility of using polar urine metabolites as biomarkers of ALD for early-stage diagnosis and functional assessment of disease severity.
  8. Hardesty JE, Warner JB, Song YL, Rouchka EC, McClain CJ, Warner DR, Kirpich IA. Resolvin D1 attenuated liver injury caused by chronic ethanol and acute LPS challenge in mice. FASEB J. 2023 Jan;37(1):e22705. doi: 10.1096/fj.202200778R. PMID: 36520060.
    Impact Statement: Alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) is a subset of severe Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) with a high rate of mortality due to infection, severe inflammation, and ultimately multi-organ failure. There is an urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches to alleviate the human suffering associated with this condition. Our data demonstrated that Resolvin D1 (RvD1) treatment provided beneficial effects against liver injury and inflammation in an experimental animal model recapitulating features of severe AH in humans. Our results suggest that RvD1 may be a novel adjunct strategy to traditional therapeutic options for AH patients.
  9. Koo HY, Kim MA, Min H, Hwang JY, Prajapati-DiNubila M, Kim KS, Matzuk MM, Park JW, Doetzlhofer A, Kim UK, Bok J. Follistatin regulates the specification of the apical cochlea responsible for low-frequency hearing in mammals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Jan 3;120(1):e2213099120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2213099120. Epub 2022 Dec 28. PMID: 36577057.
    Impact Statement: Using mouse genomics, this study found that follistatin (FST) is required for the maintenance of apical cochlear identity, but dispensable for its initial induction. This study will provide valuable information to study tonotopic map changes related to hearing loss.
  10. Rai SN, Das S, Pan J, Mishra DC, Fu XA. Multigroup prediction in lung cancer patients and comparative controls using signature of volatile organic compounds in breath samples. PLoS One. 2022 Nov 30;17(11):e0277431. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277431. PMID: 36449484.
    Impact Statement: Early detection of lung cancer is a crucial factor for increasing its survival rates among the detected patients. The paper reports the quantification of carbonyl VOC profiles from breath samples and identification of crucial VOCs related to lung cancer which paves the way forward for non-invasive detection of lung cancer in early stages.
  11. Amraotkar AR, Owolabi US, Malovichko MV, Majid S, Weisbrod RM, Benjamin EJ, Fetterman JL, Hirsch GA, Srivastava S, Poudel R, Robertson RM, Bhatnagar A, Hamburg NM, Keith RJ. Association of electronic cigarette use with circulating angiogenic cell levels in healthy young adults: Evidence for chronic systemic injury. Vasc Med. 2022 Dec 11:1358863X221126205. doi: 10.1177/1358863X221126205. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36503365.
    Impact Statement: Dual use of e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes was associated with higher levels of endothelial origin circulating angiogenic cells (CACs), indicative of vascular injury. Sole use of e-cigarettes was associated with higher endothelial and inflammatory CACs, suggesting ongoing systemic injury. Distinct patterns of changes in CAC subpopulations suggest that CACs may be informative biomarkers of changes in vascular health due to tobacco product use.
  12. Hart JL, Yeager RA, Riggs DW, Fleischer D, Owolabi U, Walker KL, Bhatnagar A, Keith RJ. The Relationship between Perceptions and Objective Measures of Greenness. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 6;19(23):16317. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192316317. PMID: 36498387; PMCID: PMC9736070.
    Impact Statement: Exposure to greenness has been studied through objective measures of remote visualization of greenspace; however, the link to how individuals interpret spaces as green is missing. This publication highlights the need for research to understand the complexity of green metrics and careful interpretation of data based on the use of subjective or objective measures of greenness.