July 2022 Member Publications

  1. Boakye E, Osuji N, Erhabor J, Obisesan O, Osei AD, Mirbolouk M, Stokes AC, Dzaye O, El Shahawy O, Hirsch GA, Benjamin EJ, DeFilippis AP, Robertson RM, Bhatnagar A, Blaha MJ. Assessment of Patterns in e-Cigarette Use Among Adults in the US, 2017-2020. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Jul 1;5(7):e2223266. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.23266. PMID: 35867060.
    Impact Statement: In this study, a slight decrease in the prevalence of current e-cigarette use was found between 2018 and 2020; this decrease was mainly observed among young adults aged 18 to 20 years. In contrast, daily e-cigarette use consistently increased, particularly among young adults aged 21 to 24 years. This increase in daily use suggests greater nicotine dependence among those who use e-cigarettes, warranting continued surveillance.
  2. Mirbolouk M, Boakye E, Obisesan O, Osei AD, Dzaye O, Osuji N, Erhabor J, Stokes AC, El-Shahawy O, Rodriguez CJ, Hirsch GA, Benjamin EJ, DeFilippis AP, Marie Robertson R, Bhatnagar A, Blaha MJ. E-cigarette use among high school students in the United States prior to the COVID-19 pandemic: Trends, correlates, and sources of acquisition. Prev Med Rep. 2022 Jul 22;29:101925. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101925. PMID: 35911577; PMCID: PMC9326337.
    Impact Statement: Youth e-cigarette use remains a significant public health problem with a concerning emerging pattern of more frequent use. Also, with the increasing proportion of youth tobacco users making quit attempts, age-appropriate cessation programs need to be assessed and made available to aid cessation efforts. Finally, the sources of e-cigarettes among youth are changing; continued surveillance is therefore required to inform effective and timely policies.
  3. Poudel R, Daniels LB, DeFilippis AP, Hamburg NM, Khan Y, Keith RJ, Kumar RS, Strokes AC, Robertson RM, Bhatnagar A. Smoking is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events, disease severity, and mortality among patients hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 infections. PLoS One. 2022 Jul 15;17(7):e0270763. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270763. PMID: 35839264; PMCID: PMC9286231.
    Impact Statement: Among a large population of patients admitted for COVID-19, smoking was associated with a higher risk of severe COVID-19, including death or mechanical ventilation, independent of sociodemographic characteristics and medical history.
  4. Kuehl PJ, McDonald JD, Weber DT, Khlystov A, Nystoriak MA, Conklin DJ. Composition of aerosols from thermal degradation of flavors used in ENDS and tobacco products. Inhal Toxicol. 2022 Aug 1:1-10. doi: 10.1080/08958378.2022.2103602. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35913821.
    Impact Statement: Because flavors are important components of electronic cigarettes that enhance the appeal of electronic cigarettes to youth, we investigated the effects of thermal degradation on common flavors used in electronic cigarettes. Unsurprisingly, thermal degradation at low and high temperatures led to a variety of degradation products that included harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs). The toxicity of inhaled flavor-derived degradation products needs greater study to protect public health.
  5. Liu W, Luo T, Wang F, Zhang D, Liu T, Huang J, Xu S. Effect of Preoperative Thoracic Paravertebral Blocks on Emergence Agitation During Tracheal Extubation: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Front Med (Lausanne). 2022 Jun 22;9:902908. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.902908. PMID: 35814746; PMCID: PMC9257130.
    Impact Statement: Preoperative thoracic paravertebral block was associated with less Emergence Agitation during tracheal extubation when compared with ICNB in patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy.
  6. Sangroula D, Maggard B, Abdelhaleem A, Furmanek S, Clemons V, Marsili B, Stikes R, Hill M, Sigdel A, Clifford SP, Huang J, Akca O, Logsdon MC. Hemodynamic changes associated with neuraxial anesthesia in pregnant women with covid 19 disease: a retrospective case-control study. BMC Anesthesiol. 2022 Jun 9;22(1):179. doi: 10.1186/s12871-022-01719-0. PMID: 35681119; PMCID: PMC9178224.
    Impact Statement: : Incidence and severity of hypotension after neuraxial blocks were similar between COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative parturients.
  7. Nyenhuis S, Cramer E, Grande M, Huntington-Moskos L, Krueger K, Bimbi O, Polivka B, Eldeirawi K. Utilizing Real-time Technology to Assess the Impact of Home Environmental Exposures on Asthma Symptoms: Protocol for an Observational Pilot Study. JMIR Res Protoc. 2022 Aug 2;11(8):e39887. doi: 10.2196/39887. PMID: 35916686.
    Impact Statement: It is estimated that over 60% of adults with asthma have uncontrolled symptoms, representing a substantial health and economic impact. Findings from this feasibility study will support a powered study to address the impact of home environmental exposures on asthma symptoms and develop tailored, home-based asthma interventions that are responsive to the changing home environment and home routines.
  8. Ghosh S, Singh R, Vanwinkle ZM, Guo H, Vemula PK, Goel A, Haribabu B, Jala VR. Microbial metabolite restricts 5-fluorouracil-resistant colonic tumor progression by sensitizing drug transporters via regulation of FOXO3-FOXM1 axis. Theranostics. 2022 Jul 18;12(12):5574-5595. doi: 10.7150/thno.70754. PMID: 35910798; PMCID: PMC9330515.
    Impact Statement: This research has shown that a metabolite produced by gut microbes from a component found in pomegranates and berries can help improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy used to treat colorectal cancer.
  9. Tracy EP, Rowe G, LeBlanc AJ. Cell therapy-induced recovery of dysfunctional microvasculature. Aging (Albany NY). 2022 Jul 13;14(13):5296-5298. doi: 10.18632/aging.204183. Epub 2022 Jul 13. PMID: 35832022; PMCID: PMC9320541.
    Impact Statement: The objective of this editorial was to address additional points of consideration in understanding the intricate mechanistic underpinnings surrounding the use of cell therapy in treating microvascular dysfunction. Additionally, the authors provide a summary graphic of these potential contributing mechanisms and also suggest new avenues worth investigating.
  10. El-Kersh K, Danielle Hopkins C, Wu X, Rai SN, Cai L, Huang J. Plasma level of antimony correlates with pulmonary arterial hypertension severity. Curr Res Toxicol. 2022 Jun 27;3:100080. doi: 10.1016/j.crtox.2022.100080. PMID: 35800661; PMCID: PMC9254336.
    Impact Statement:  In our pilot study, significantly higher antimony levels in blood and plasma of pulmonary hypertension patients when compared to controls. We also found a Significant correlation between plasma antimony level and all the prognostic hemodynamic parameters of PAH.
  11. Jagadapillai R, Qiu X, Ojha K, Li Z, El-Baz A, Zou S, Gozal E, Barnes GN. Potential Cross Talk between Autism Risk Genes and Neurovascular Molecules: A Pilot Study on Impact of Blood Brain Barrier Integrity. Cells. 2022 Jul 15;11(14):2211. doi: 10.3390/cells11142211. PMID: 35883654; PMCID: PMC9315816.
    Impact Statement: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a common pediatric neurobiological disorder with up to 80% of genetic etiologies. Systems biology approaches may make it possible to test novel therapeutic strategies targeting molecular pathways to alleviate ASD symptoms. Although our research is preliminary, our data demonstrate the potential for developing novel therapeutic strategies based on clinically derived data, genomics, cognitive neuroscience, and basic neuroscience methods.
  12. Nilima N, Mani K, Kaushik S, Rai SN. Cervical Cancer Screening and Associated Barriers among Women in India: A Generalized Structural Equation Modeling Approach. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Jun 23;14(13):3076. doi: 10.3390/cancers14133076. PMID: 35804848; PMCID: PMC9264854.
    Impact Statement: Exploring the barriers and facilitators of cervical cancer screening is essential to reduce the incidence and mortality, particularly in India. There is a paucity of studies presenting the mediation effects of known barriers and facilitators. The study investigates individual-level social barriers, facilitators, and the factors that mediate the relationships between suspected factors and cervical cancer screening. Understanding the mediation analysis and the effect of mediators will help us acquire a profound understanding of the mechanism of action, which will facilitate in devising strategies keeping the most important factor and their mediators in mind.
  13. Das S, Rai A, Rai SN. Differential Expression Analysis of Single-Cell RNA-Seq Data: Current Statistical Approaches and Outstanding Challenges. Entropy (Basel). 2022 Jul 18;24(7):995. doi: 10.3390/e24070995. PMID: 35885218; PMCID: PMC9315519.
    Impact Statement: With the advent of single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), it is possible to measure the expression dynamics of genes at the single-cell level. We critically discuss the underlying statistical principles of the approaches and distinctly divide them into six major classes, i.e., generalized linear, generalized additive, Hurdle, mixture models, two-class parametric, and non-parametric approaches. This study will serve as a guide to genome researchers and experimental biologists to objectively select options for their analysis.
  14. Petri BJ, Piell KM, Wahlang B, Head KZ, Andreeva K, Rouchka EC, Pan J, Rai SN, Cave MC, Klinge CM. Multiomics analysis of the impact of polychlorinated biphenyls on environmental liver disease in a mouse model. Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 2022 Jul 6;94:103928. doi: 10.1016/j.etap.2022.103928. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35803474.
    Impact Statement: Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been implicated in a variety of metabolic diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The combined insult of this toxicant exposure and a high-fat, western diet causes an accumulation of lipids in the liver than can progress to fibrosis and cirrhosis. This study employed a multi-omics approach to address the miRNA-mRNA-protein network dysregulated in NAFLD. Results show that exposure of mice to PCBs and high fat diet drastically altered the mRNA and miRNA transcriptomes in liver and identified unique inverse relationships between altered miRNA and selected mRNA targets that may play a role in reprogramming the liver during NAFLD progression.
  15. Yuan J, Mo L, Mo Y, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Zhang Q. A protective role of autophagy in fine airborne particulate matter-induced apoptosis in LN-229 cells. Toxicology. 2022 Jul 22;477:153271. doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2022.153271. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35872226.
    Impact Statement: This study demonstrated that exposure of LN-229 cells to PM2.5 caused autophagy and apoptosis through PM2.5-induced ROS generation, mainly by mitochondria, and JNK activation. Autophagy may have a transient protective role in PM2.5-induced apoptosis. Our findings have important implications for understanding the potential neurotoxicity of PM2.5.