Publications by authors named "Brandon Brown"

Introduction: Black, Latine, and Caribbean (BLC) sexual and gender minorities (SGM) face structural HIV inequities. Sociocentric interventions may address these barriers, but it is unclear if respondent-driven sampling (RDS) can recruit existing BLC SGM friendship groups or if sociocentric HIV prevention interventions are feasible.

Methods: Using an exploratory mixed-methods design (August/2022-January/2024, New York, NY), we recruited participants into a sociocentric RDS group (sRDS) or an individual-level peer referral (PR) group, with qualitative interviews drawn from quantitative participants.

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Accumulating evidence has supported diverse regulatory functions of astrocytes in different neural circuits as well as various aspects of complex behaviors. However, little is known about how astrocytes regulate different neuronal subpopulations that are linked to specific behavioral aspects within a single brain region. Here, we show that astrocytes in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) encode anxiogenic environmental cues in freely behaving mice.

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The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines (NCCN Guidelines) for Wilms Tumor (WT; nephroblastoma) cover strategies for the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of WT, which is the most frequent primary kidney tumor in children. WT can generally be separated into 2 histology types: favorable histology WT and anaplastic WT. Five-year survival is high for children with favorable histology WT who receive appropriate treatment; however, survival rates are much lower for patients who present with higher stage diffuse anaplastic WT.

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Background: Ofatumumab (OMB) is an FDA-approved CD20-directed monoclonal antibody with demonstrated efficacy in reducing incidence of relapse in multiple sclerosis (MS). Real-world data are needed to ascertain OMB's effectiveness in reducing relapse in a broader MS population and to assess whether clinical benefits of OMB translate into decreased healthcare resource utilization (HCRU). The current study utilized a large US administrative claims database to compare relapse and MS-related HCRU before and after initiation of OMB therapy in a real-world sample of people with MS.

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Background: People with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (PwRMS) treated with ofatumumab, a fully human anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, can experience local/systemic injection-related reactions (IRRs). However, data on the occurrence and management of local/systemic IRRs in real-world clinical settings are limited.

Objective: This study aimed to better understand clinicians' perspectives regarding occurrence and management of local/systemic IRRs among PwRMS treated with ofatumumab in clinical practice.

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mutations confer treatment resistance across multiple cancers. Mechanisms of therapy resistance, beyond affecting transactivation of BCL-2 family genes, remain a mystery. Here, we report that mutated AML, triple negative breast cancer, and colorectal cancer escape therapy-induced apoptosis due to inability to activate caspase-3/7, despite having normal mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) induction.

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Background: Managing omphaloceles poses challenges in prenatal consultation and perinatal care. We hypothesized that specific fetal MRI findings could predict morbidity and mortality in these patients.

Methods: We analyzed fetal MRI studies demonstrating omphaloceles from 2006 to 2022 and conducted a retrospective review of medical records.

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Sleep disorders are prevalent in shift workers but are commonly undiagnosed and unmanaged. This poses considerable safety, productivity, and health risks. There is limited education or early intervention to encourage awareness of, and treatment for, sleep disorders in young adults who will transition into careers requiring shift work.

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Gene therapy development, re-engineering, and application to patients hold promise to revolutionize medicine, including therapies for disorders of the brain. Advances in delivery modalities, expression regulation, and improving safety profiles are of critical importance. Additionally, each inherited disorder has its own unique characteristics as to regions and cell types impacted and the temporal dynamics of that impact that are essential for the design of therapeutic design strategies.

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HPV-FASTER is an innovative public health intervention combining HPV vaccination and HPV-based screening in adult women at the same visit. FASTER-Tlalpan adapted the combined HPV-FASTER strategy in Tlalpan, Mexico City for women aged 25-45 years. To understand the barriers and facilitators to participation in a combined strategy, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 FASTER-Tlalpan participants.

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Objective: Seizure detection in epilepsy monitoring units (EMUs) is essential for the clinical assessment of drug-resistant epilepsy. Automated video analysis using machine learning provides a promising aid for seizure detection, with resultant reduction in the resources required for diagnostic monitoring. We employ a three-dimensional (3D) convolutional neural network with fully fine-tuned backbone layers to identify seizures from EMU videos.

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Aims: To describe the 12-month effectiveness, persistence, tolerability, and safety of ofatumumab (OMB), a highly effective disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), in a real-world MS population.

Patients & Methods: Electronic medical records of patients starting OMB from October 2020 to August 2022 at two comprehensive MS centers were reviewed. Demographics and disease characteristics and 6- and 12-month clinical, patient-reported, and radiologic outcome measures were analyzed.

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Cellular stressors inhibit general protein synthesis while upregulating stress response transcripts and/or proteins. Phosphorylation of the translation factor eIF2α by one of the several stress-activated kinases is a trigger for such signaling, known as the integrated stress response (ISR). The ISR regulates cell survival and function under stress.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study evaluates how well patients stick to their prescribed treatments (persistence and adherence) for the multiple sclerosis medication Ofatumumab (OMB) compared to oral and other self-injectable disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) in a real-world setting from August 2020 to November 2021.
  • - Researchers used a retrospective cohort design involving over 11,000 patients, analyzing treatment adherence through measures like the proportion of days covered (PDC) and persistence defined as the time until treatment discontinuation or switch.
  • - Results identified two specific patient groups: one using OMB and the other using oral DMTs, enabling a comparison of treatment persistence and adherence between the different therapy types within the study's defined cohorts
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Unlabelled: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive hematologic malignancy that continues to have poor prognosis despite recent therapeutic advances. Venetoclax (Ven), a BCL2-inhibitor has shown a high response rate in AML; however, relapse is invariable due to mitochondrial dysregulation that includes upregulation of the antiapoptotic protein MCL1, a central mechanism of Ven resistance (Ven-res). We have previously demonstrated that the transcription factor STAT3 is upregulated in AML hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and can be effectively targeted to induce apoptosis of these aberrant cells.

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Sleep disorders are common, and largely undiagnosed in early-career workers. The combination of sleep disorders and shift work has implications for mental health, workplace safety, and productivity. Early identification and management of sleep disorders is likely to be beneficial to workers, employers and the community more broadly.

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Many older adults living with HIV face unique challenges, including comorbidities, loneliness, and isolation. This community-academic partnered study elicited viewpoints from older adults living with HIV about the characteristics of a digital environment ("Virtual Village") to combat against loneliness and isolation. We utilized Choice-Based Conjoint Analyses to determine preferred attributes of a Virtual Village.

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Prenatal hydrocolpos is characterized by fluid distension of the vagina. Hydrocolpos can be caused by multiple underlying etiologies and often demonstrates overlapping imaging features compared to other cystic abdominal and pelvic lesions. The purpose of the current pictorial essay is to provide a systematic prenatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach to differentiating the primary etiologies leading to hydrocolpos.

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Asparaginase-based therapy is a cornerstone in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treatment, capitalizing on the methylation status of the asparagine synthetase (ASNS) gene, which renders ALL cells reliant on extracellular asparagine. Contrastingly, ASNS expression in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has not been thoroughly investigated, despite studies suggesting that AML with chromosome 7/7q deletions might have reduced ASNS levels. Here, we leverage reverse phase protein arrays to measure ASNS expression in 810 AML patients and assess its impact on outcomes.

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Article Synopsis
  • Paramedics often struggle with sleep issues and mental health symptoms, which can affect their performance and well-being.
  • In a study of paramedicine students, those with sleep disorders reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression compared to those without.
  • Addressing sleep disorder risks and enhancing perceived control over sleep may help improve mental health outcomes for paramedic students before they begin shift work.
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After spinal cord injury (SCI), re-establishing cellular homeostasis is critical to optimize functional recovery. Central to that response is PERK signaling, which ultimately initiates a pro-apoptotic response if cellular homeostasis cannot be restored. Oligodendrocyte (OL) loss and white matter damage drive functional consequences and determine recovery potential after thoracic contusive SCI.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers found that a combination of special drugs (VH) helps treat a type of blood cancer called Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), but not everyone gets better with it.
  • They created a way to choose the best treatment for patients by studying 411 proteins in their blood, identifying 109 important ones that can guide therapy.
  • Their method could change treatment for 30% of patients, potentially saving about 2,600 lives each year in the U.S. from this disease.
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