Alyssa Brown

Alyssa Brown
Mayo Clinic - Rochester · Department of Biomedical Engineering

Bachelor of Science

About

33
Publications
2,988
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134
Citations
Introduction
I am a PhD graduate from Mayo Clinic and fourth year medical student at University of Louisville School of Medicine and Mayo Clinic School of Biomedical Sciences (Biomedical Engineering and Physiology Track) under Dr. Gary Sieck. I do research on mitochondrial morphology and function in diaphragm muscle fibers.

Publications

Publications (33)
Article
Full-text available
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate misinformation surrounding infertility and the COVID-19 vaccine on X (formerly known as Twitter) by analyzing the prevalence and content of this misinformation across a sample of posts on X. Methods: This study is a retrospective review of posts on X (formerly known as tweets) from the COVID-19-TweetIDs da...
Article
Full-text available
Importance Physicians and medical students who desire to build families face significant barriers due to the structure and culture of medicine. Objective To understand the barriers and facilitators to family building for all people in medicine—not only individuals who can become pregnant—through an open-ended, qualitative analysis of survey respon...
Article
This survey study uses responses from physicians and medical students to assess psychosocial burdens of family building in the physician workforce.
Article
Full-text available
PurposeBreast cancer risk is elevated in pathogenic germline BRCA 1/2 mutation carriers due to compromised DNA quality control. We hypothesized that if immunosurveillance promotes tumor suppression, then normal/benign breast lobules from BRCA carriers may demonstrate higher immune cell densities.Methods We assessed immune cell composition in normal...
Chapter
The mammalian neuromuscular junction (NMJ) comprises a presynaptic terminal, a postsynaptic receptor region on the muscle fiber (endplate), and the perisynaptic (terminal) Schwann cell. As with any synapse, the purpose of the NMJ is to transmit signals from the nervous system to muscle fibers. This neural control of muscle fibers is organized as mo...
Article
Full-text available
Type I and IIa diaphragm muscle (DIAm) fibers comprise slow and fast fatigue-resistant motor units that are recruited to accomplish breathing, and have a high duty cycle. In contrast, type IIx/IIb fibers comprise fatigable fast motor units that are infrequently recruited for airway protective and straining behaviors. We hypothesize that mitochondri...
Preprint
Full-text available
Purpose Breast cancer risk is elevated in pathogenic germline BRCA 1/2 mutation carriers due to compromised DNA quality control and elevated mutagenic load. We hypothesized that if immunosurveillance promotes tumor suppression, then normal breast lobules from BRCA carriers may demonstrate higher immune cell densities. Methods We assessed immune ce...
Article
Diaphragm muscle (DIAm) sarcopenia involves selective atrophy of type IIx/IIb DIAm fibers. In addition, there is an age-related decrease in the maximum velocity of the succinate dehydrogenase reaction (SDHmax ) in type IIx/IIb fibers. SDH is a key enzyme of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle as well as complex II of the electron transport chain (ET...
Article
Type I and IIa diaphragm muscle (DIAm) fibers comprise fatigue resistant slow and fast motor units that are recruited to accomplish breathing. In contrast, type IIx/IIb fibers comprise more fatigable fast motor units that are infrequently recruited only during airway protective and straining behaviors. The activity and energetic demand for type I a...
Article
The diaphragm (DIAm) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles comprise both fatigue resistant (type I and IIa) and fatigable (type IIx/IIb) muscle fibers. Type I and IIa fibers in the DIAm are very frequently recruited for breathing, whereas in the TA, type I and IIa fibers are recruited for balance and locomotion. More fatigable type IIx/IIb fibers are...
Article
Full-text available
Sarcopenia is characterized by muscle fiber atrophy and weakness, which may be associated with mitochondrial fragmentation and dysfunction. Mitochondrial remodeling and biogenesis in muscle fibers occurs in response to exercise and increased muscle activity. However, the adaptability mitochondria may decrease with age. The diaphragm muscle (DIAm) s...
Article
In diaphragm muscle (DIAm), type I and IIa fibers are recruited to accomplish breathing, while type IIx/IIb fibers are recruited only during expulsive/straining behaviors. Thus, type I and IIa DIAm fibers are much more active (duty cycle of ∼40%) than type IIx/IIb fibers (duty cycle of <1%), which we hypothesized underlies intrinsic differences in...
Article
Diseases or conditions where diaphragm muscle (DIAm) function is impaired, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cachexia, asthma and aging are associated withincreased risks of pulmonary symptoms, longer duration of hospitalizations and increasing requirements for mechanical ventilation. Vitamin-D deficiency is associated with proximal...
Article
Full-text available
Swallow is a complex behavior that consists of three coordinated phases: oral, pharyngeal, and esophageal. Esophageal distension (EDist) has been shown to elicit pharyngeal swallow, but the physiologic characteristics of EDist-induced pharyngeal swallow have not been specifically described. We examined the effect of rapid EDist on oropharyngeal swa...
Poster
Full-text available
Background Social media is a novel platform for conference engagement and can serve as a powerful tool for membership recruitment. However, it is often underutilized and uncoordinated. We hypothesized that coordinated efforts to cover a virtual conference using social media would help to engage members in all divisions of our organization. Method...
Article
Full-text available
Women physicians have a long history of advocacy, dating to the 19th century women’s suffrage movement. As history recounts the work of the suffragists, many women physicians bear mention. Some were leaders on the national scene, and others led suffrage efforts in their own state. In this article, we provide a snapshot of 7 prominent suffragists wh...
Article
Background : There is a lack of contemporary data about pediatric gastrointestinal ulcer disease. We hypothesized that ulcers found in immunosuppressed children were more likely to require surgical intervention. Methods : All children <21 years (n=129) diagnosed with ulcers at a quaternary hospital from 1990 to 2019 were retrospectively reviewed....
Article
Full-text available
Advanced age and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are both associated with a loss of motor neurons resulting in muscle fiber atrophy and muscle weakness. Aging associated muscle fiber atrophy and weakening is termed sarcopenia, but the association with motor neuron loss is not as clearly established as in ALS, probably related to the prolonged t...
Article
Phrenic motor neuron (PhMN) development in early onset hypertonia is poorly understood. Respiratory disorders are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in individuals with early onset hypertonia, such as cerebral palsy (CP) but are largely overshadowed by a focus on physical function in this condition. Furthermore, while the brain is...
Poster
Inflammation triggers a homeostatic response that is mediated by pro‐inflammatory cytokines such as TNFα. We hypothesize that in a motor neuron‐like cell line, NSC‐34, TNFα decreases mitochondrial function, specifically succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity, which is a key enzyme in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle as well as complex II in the e...
Poster
Neuroinflammation triggers a homeostatic response that is mediated by pro‐inflammatory cytokines such as TNFα. We hypothesize that in a motor neuron‐like cell line, NSC‐34, TNFα decreases mitochondrial O 2 consumption. NSC‐34 cells were differentiated by serum depletion (~24 h) until neurite structures (>50 μm) were observed. The cells were then ex...
Poster
Pro‐inflammatory cytokines, like TNFα, mediate a cellular stress response to inflammation that may target mitochondria. In the present study, we hypothesize that in motor neuron‐like NSC‐34 cells, TNFα induces mitochondrial fragmentation and biogenesis in order to maintain overall O 2 consumption of these cells. NSC‐34 cells were differentiated by...
Poster
Full-text available
Background: The year 2020 marks the centennial of women’s suffrage, a movement that had its beginnings in the 19th century. This same time period marked the formal entrance of women into the medical profession. In the years that followed, as more women entered medicine, many would also join the growing suffrage movement. The American Medical Women’...
Article
The ecological consequences of impoundment construction on riparian systems throughout the U.S. Southwest has profoundly affected a variety of organisms, including many amphibians. To better understand the current extent of hybridization and changes in genetic composition over time in Bufo (Anaxyrus) woodhousii and Bufo microscaphus, we used micros...
Article
Mitochondrial dysfunction and fragmentation precede neuronal death in many neurodegenerative disorders, including those involving motor neurons. In other cell types, pro‐inflammatory agents such as TNF‐α cause marked mitochondrial fragmentation. These inflammatory insults may underlie the vulnerability of specific neurons during age‐associated cond...
Article
Full-text available
Rehabilitation of cough is now moving under the purview of speech-language pathology as our understanding of the relationship between disorders of cough and swallow increases. The purpose of this review is to provide a guide in understanding the mechanisms of weak or disordered cough in Parkinson's disease, and mechanisms for why expiratory muscle...

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