Publications by authors named "Lucas An"

Background And Purpose: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a potentially treatable neurodegenerative disorder that remains underdiagnosed due to its clinical overlap with other conditions and the labor-intensive nature of manual imaging analyses. Imaging biomarkers, such as the callosal angle (CA), Evans Index (EI), and Disproportionately Enlarged Subarachnoid Space Hydrocephalus (DESH), play a crucial role in NPH diagnosis but are often limited by subjective interpretations. To address these challenges, we developed a fully automated and robust deep learning framework for measuring the CA directly from raw T1 MPRAGE and non-MPRAGE MRI scans.

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Large language models (LLMs) possess a range of capabilities which may be applied to the clinical domain, including text summarization. As ambient artificial intelligence scribes and other LLM-based tools begin to be deployed within healthcare settings, rigorous evaluations of the accuracy of these technologies are urgently needed. In this cross-sectional study of 100 randomly sampled adult Emergency Department (ED) visits from 2012 to 2023 at the University of California, San Francisco ED, we sought to investigate the performance of GPT-4 and GPT-3.

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  • The study examines the impact of illicit substance use during pregnancy, noting a 4-fold increase over two decades and its negative effects on mothers and fetuses.
  • A multicenter retrospective analysis from 2016 to 2021 included 852 pregnant trauma patients (PTPs), with 9.8% testing positive for substances, primarily THC and methamphetamine.
  • Findings showed that PTPs with positive urine toxicology had higher rates of blunt head injuries, extremity injuries, domestic violence incidents, and uterine contractions, but similar maternal complication rates compared to those who tested negative.
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  • The study focuses on early detection of peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNST) associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) using a cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentomic approach, which can improve clinical decision-making and treatment outcomes.
  • Researchers isolated cfDNA from plasma samples of 101 NF1 patients and 21 healthy controls, employing whole-genome sequencing and analyzing various fragmentomic signatures to differentiate between benign, premalignant, and malignant tumors.
  • Results showed that fragmentomic methods successfully distinguished atypical neurofibromas (premalignant) from benign forms and malignant PNST, offering potential for non-invasive diagnostics and better management of NF1-related tumors.*
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Importance: Large language models (LLMs) possess a range of capabilities which may be applied to the clinical domain, including text summarization. As ambient artificial intelligence scribes and other LLM-based tools begin to be deployed within healthcare settings, rigorous evaluations of the accuracy of these technologies are urgently needed.

Objective: To investigate the performance of GPT-4 and GPT-3.

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  • Almost 10% of pregnant women experience serious injuries, but how serious injuries affect them and their babies isn’t well understood.
  • A study looked at 950 pregnant women with injuries and found that about 3.4% had severe injuries, which led to more complications and higher risks for both the mother and baby.
  • Severely injured women had more surgeries and a higher chance of losing their baby, so doctors need to be very careful when taking care of them.
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  • Early detection of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) associated tumors can improve clinical decision-making and potentially reduce severe outcomes.
  • A new study employed a cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentomic method, successfully differentiating between benign, pre-malignant, and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNST) in NF1 patients.
  • This innovative approach allows non-invasive diagnosis and could significantly enhance the management of NF1-associated tumors, helping to differentiate conditions like atypical neurofibromas from more severe malignancies.
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  • Doctors often use CT scans to check for injuries after car accidents, but for pregnant women, these scans can be risky for the baby.
  • A study looked at how often pregnant women involved in car crashes got CT scans at 12 different hospitals from 2016 to 2021.
  • The results showed a big difference in the number of scans given at each hospital, suggesting there should be clearer rules to keep both moms and babies safe while still finding any injuries.
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Background: Pregnant trauma patients (PTPs) undergo observation and fetal monitoring following trauma due to possible fetal delivery (FD) or adverse outcome. There is a paucity of data on PTP outcomes, especially related to risk factors for FD. We aimed to identify predictors of posttraumatic FD in potentially viable pregnancies.

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  • The study looked at the effects of pregnancy in older moms (35 years and older) who had trauma and compared them to younger pregnant moms.
  • It found that older moms had more injuries to certain organs like the pancreas and stomach, but there was no difference in the chance of delivering the baby after trauma.
  • Because of this, they decided that older moms don’t need extra monitoring compared to younger moms after a trauma.
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Background: Lymphomatoid granulomatosis is a rare Epstein-Barr virus-associated B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder with a median overall survival of less than 2 years. In this study, we hypothesised that low-grade lymphomatoid granulomatosis is immune-dependent and high-grade lymphomatoid granulomatosis is immune-independent. On the basis of this hypothesis, we investigated the activity and safety of new treatment with immunotherapy in patients with low-grade disease and standard chemotherapy in patients with high-grade disease.

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Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is biologically and clinically heterogeneous and would benefit from prognostic biomarkers to guide management. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a novel prognostic biomarker in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that may have applicability in MCL. We analyzed ctDNA dynamics in previously untreated patients with MCL who received induction therapy with bortezomib and DA-EPOCH-R for 6 cycles followed by random assignment to observation or bortezomib maintenance in responding patients in a prospective phase 2 study.

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Aim: To evaluate visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) screening for cervical cancer among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients in an East African community.

Methods: During a July 2018 cervical cancer screen-and-treat in Mwanza, Tanzania, participants were offered free cervical VIA screening, cryotherapy when indicated, and HIV testing. Acetowhite lesions and/or abnormal vascularity were designated VIA positive in accordance with current guidelines.

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Pseudoexfoliation syndrome is more frequent in people aged >50 yeears, and its prevalence increases with age. Few reports have described cases in younger patients, all with a history of ocular surgery, especially iris resection. Herein, we describe the case of a 27-year old man with bilateral advanced glaucoma and pseudoexfoliation material in OS.

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Background: Because the global disease burden of cervical cancer is greatest in Africa, the World Health Organization has endorsed visual inspection with acetic acid screening with cryotherapy triage for the screen-and-treat approach. With the lowest doctor-to-patient ratio worldwide (1:50,000), Tanzania has nearly 10,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 7000 deaths annually.

Objective: We report on the feasibility of visual inspection with acetic acid in the severely resource-limited Mwanza district and on the impact of intervening education on baseline human papillomavirus and cervical cancer knowledge.

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Purpose: Burkitt lymphoma is an aggressive B-cell lymphoma curable with dose-intensive chemotherapy derived from pediatric leukemia regimens. Treatment is acutely toxic with late sequelae. We hypothesized that dose-adjusted etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone, and rituximab (DA-EPOCH-R) may obviate the need for highly dose-intensive chemotherapy in adults with Burkitt lymphoma.

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Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in Tanzania. After excluding human immunodeficiency virus, lower respiratory infections, malaria, diarrheal diseases, and tuberculosis, cervical cancer kills more women than any other form of illness in the country. Unfortunately, Tanzania has a low doctor-to-patient ratio (1:50,000) and nearly 7000 women die each year from this disease.

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We report the case of a 46-year-old female patient who presented with bilateral acute angle closure during the course of dengue infection. Dengue diagnosis was confirmed by serological tests. The patient had plateau iris configuration identified by ultrasound biomicroscopy.

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In many health care settings, nurses are challenged with higher acuity patients in technical and evolving environments. Practicing nurses are expected to adapt by independently acquiring new clinical knowledge through experience and independent study. However, health care institutions have struggled with providing quality patient care and supporting nurses' learning through experience at the same time.

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Foods and complementary medicines contain phytoestrogenic isoflavones such as genistein, which undergo hepatic glucuronidation and excretion into bile and can potentially interfere with the hepatic elimination of other compounds. To investigate this potential, livers from Sprague-Dawley rats were perfused in single-pass mode with preformed gemfibrozil 1-O-acyl glucuronide (GG) (1 microM, n = 12) for 60 min followed by a 30-min washout phase, or with gemfibrozil (1 microM, n = 10) for 120 min. Half of each group of livers were co-perfused with genistein (10 microM) throughout the experiment.

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This study examines the potential for the phytoestrogenic isoflavones, a type of complementary medicine, to be involved in pharmacokinetic interactions in the liver. Rat livers were isolated and perfused to steady state, in single-pass mode, with either 5 microM paracetamol (n = 6), or 5 microM paracetamol with a 50:50 molar mixture of genistein and biochanin A or daidzein and formononetin, at a total isoflavone concentration of 1 and 10 microM (n = 6 for each mixture at each concentration). At 1 microM, neither isoflavone mixture had any effect, while at 10 microM both mixtures decreased the clearance of paracetamol and the formation clearance to paracetamol sulfate.

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Objective: To compare physiologic and analgesic effects of morphine when given by IV constant-rate infusion or by IM injection to dogs undergoing laparotomy and to determine pharmacokinetics of morphine in dogs following IV constant-rate infusion.

Design: Prospective randomized controlled trial.

Animals: 20 dogs.

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