Clifford Qualls

University of New Mexico | UNM · Clinical & Translational Science Center

Growth differentiation factor (GDF15) has been considered a biomarker and recently a hormonal driver for diseases in different populations. However, the role of GDF15 as a biomarker of health outcomes in obese men from different racial/ethnic background has not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to investigate the racial/ethnic differe...

Grape seed procyanidin extract (GSE) is widely used to promote cardiovascular health and has purported anti-inflammatory properties. Chronic inflammation in the lungs caused by environmental toxins such as tobacco smoking plays a pivotal role in lung cancer development. In a modified phase I lung cancer chemoprevention study conducted in heavy acti...

Background Whether testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) conveys additional cardiometabolic benefit to an intensive lifestyle therapy (LT) in older men with obesity and hypogonadism remains unclear. Objective To determine whether TRT augments the effect of LT on metabolic outcomes in older men with obesity and hypogonadism. Design Secondary anal...

Here we show that naked mole rats (NMRs) have an extraordinary survival advantage. We base this statement on a spectral analysis of the time series of measured intervals in the teeth of 3 species (NMRs, Killer Whales, and Modern Humans). We used Fourier decomposition to analyze the variability of these intervals. We find these animals go through th...

Objectives To test the hypothesis that depressive symptoms vary with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), among older adults with obesity. Methods This was a cross-sectional, secondary analysis of baseline data from two related lifestyle intervention trials. The study sample comprises 148 consecutively recruited, community-dwelling older...

Background The expanding population of older adults with obesity is a public health challenge, in part, because of the increased risk of fractures despite normal or high bone mineral density. Potential factors predisposing to fractures in this group include sarcopenia associated with obesity and impaired bone quality. We aimed to determine the cont...

Aims: Grape seed procyanidin extract (GSE), and milk thistle silymarin extract (MTE) contain structurally distinct polyphenols, and each agent has been shown to exert antineoplastic effects against lung cancer. We hypothesize that combinations of GSE and MTE will additively enhance their anticancer effects against lung cancer. Materials and metho...

Background An emerging field of research concerns the deleterious effects of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on bone. Our group has previously reported a hemoglobin A1c (A1c) threshold of 7% where bone impairment occurs as reflected by reduction in bone turnover markers and deterioration in bone microarchitecture and strength. However, whether poor...

Context Male hypogonadism adversely affects body composition, bone mineral density (BMD), and metabolic health. A previous report showed that pre-treatment testosterone (T) levels of <200 ng/dL is associated with greater improvement in spine BMD with T therapy. However, to date, there is no study investigating whether baseline T levels also influen...

Precis: " Presence of baseline 10-2 VF loss was the strongest predictor of future rate of 24-2 VF loss and development of new 24-2 progression events, suggesting a role for 10-2 VF testing in baseline glaucoma risk analysis. Purpose: To examine the relationship between baseline 10-2 VF loss and future 24-2 VF loss. Patients and methods: Subjec...

Introduction Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is well-known to be associated with normal bone density but, concurrently, low bone turnover and increased risk for fracture. One of the proposed mechanisms is possible derangement in bone precursor cells, which could be represented by deficiencies in circulating osteogenic progenitor (COP) cells and ost...

Introduction Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with normal or slightly elevated bone mineral density (BMD) but paradoxically increased fracture risk. Although multiple mechanisms have been proposed to explain this observation, one thing is clear from prior studies, T2DM is associated with poor bone quality rather than a defect in bone q...

OBJECTIVE Lifestyle intervention is recommended as first-line treatment of diabetes at all ages; however, little is known about the efficacy of lifestyle intervention in older adults with diabetes. We aimed to determine whether lifestyle intervention would improve glycemic control and age-relevant outcomes in older adults with diabetes and comorbid...

Context Male hypogonadism adversely affects body composition, bone mineral density (BMD), and metabolic health. A previous report showed that pre-treatment testosterone (T) levels of <200 ng/dl is associated with greater improvement in spine BMD with T therapy. However, to date, there is no study that investigates whether baseline T levels also inf...

Objective: Risk for asthma in the overweight/obese may be mediated by adiponectin and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor pathways, and may be reduced by the use of oral drugs impacting these pathways, such as angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I), thiazolidinediones (TZD) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB). Our study object...

Background Emerging data suggest that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is associated with an increased risk for fractures despite relatively normal or increased bone mineral density (BMD). Although the mechanism for bone fragility in T2D patients is multifactorial, whether glycemic control is important in generating this impairment in bone metabolism...

Background Both obesity and hypogonadism are common in older men which could additively exacerbate age-related declines in cognitive function. However, little is known about the effects of lifestyle intervention plus testosterone replacement therapy in this population. Objectives In this secondary analysis of the LITROS (Lifestyle Intervention and...

Background: The increasing number of older adults with obesity is a growing public health problem because of increased risk of fractures especially at the ankle and upper leg despite normal or high bone mineral density. Among the contributory factors for fracture risk in this population may be aging- and obesity- associated physical frailty and imp...

Background: Emerging data suggest that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with increased risk for fractures despite relatively normal or increased bone mineral density (BMD). Furthermore, it is now known that decreased bone turnover mainly due to reduced bone formation is the hallmark for bone disease in T2DM. Whether glucose control is...

Background Obesity exacerbates age-related effects on body composition, physical and metabolic function. Which exercise mode is most effective in mitigating these deleterious changes in dieting obese older adults is unknown. Methods In a randomized controlled trial, we performed a head-to-head comparison of aerobic (AEX), resistance (REX), or comb...

Context Male hypogonadism is associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fragility fracture risk. Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) have relatively higher BMD, but greater fracture risk. Objective Evaluate the skeletal response to testosterone therapy in hypogonadal men with T2D compared to hypogonadal men without T2D. Design,...

Grape seed procyanidin extract (GSE) has been shown to exert antineoplastic properties in preclinical studies. Recently, we reported findings from a modified phase I, open-label, dose escalation clinical study conducted to evaluate the safety, tolerability, MTD, and potential chemopreventive effects of leucoselect phytosome, a standardized GSE comp...

Introduction: Obesity and type 2 Diabetes (T2D) are both associated with greater bone mineral density (BMD) but increased risk of fractures. The effect of the combination of both conditions on bone metabolism, microarchitecture and strength in the obese population remains unknown. Methods: Data from 112 obese men were collected. Bone turnover an...

Context Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is often accompanied by male hypogonadism and both conditions are associated with increased risk for fractures. Testosterone (T) has been shown to improve the bone health of hypogonadal men but has not been tested in patients who also have T2D in addition to low T. To date, there is no treatment that is specif...

Background Obesity and hypogonadism additively contribute to frailty in older men; however, appropriate treatment remains controversial. Objective Determine whether testosterone replacement augments the effect of lifestyle therapy on physical function in older men with obesity and hypogonadism. Design Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled...

Objective: In obese men, the increased expression of the aromatase enzyme in adipose tissue leads to high conversion of androgens to estrogens contributing to hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HHG). Our objective is to evaluate efficacy and safety of weight loss (WL) plus aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy in severely obese men with HHG. We hypothesize...

Background Both hypogonadism and obesity are common in older men which additively exacerbate their age-related decline in physical function resulting in frailty. However, the appropriate treatment approach for frail, older men with hypogonadism and obesity is still controversial. Methods In this randomized, comparative efficacy, double-blinded, pla...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine if a perineorrhaphy at the time of apical pelvic organ prolapse surgery positively affects women's body image. Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial of women undergoing apical suspension procedures in which women (GH ≥2 cm to ≤6 cm) received either perineorrhaphy or no perineorrhaphy. T...

Physical frailty and cognitive frailty share biological mechanisms, but sex-specific biomarkers associated with transitions in gait speed and cognition during ageing are poorly understood.Gait speed, cognition (3MSE), body composition (DXA) and serological biomarkers were assessed annually over 9 years in 216 males (72.7 + 8.07 years) and 384 femal...

Weight loss therapy of older adults with obesity is limited by weight loss–induced decrease in bone mineral density (BMD), which could exacerbate ongoing age‐related bone loss and increase the risk for fractures. Therefore, it is recommended that weight loss therapy of older adults with obesity should include an intervention such as regular exercis...

Purpose To evaluate the influence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CYP19A1 on the response and susceptibility to side effects from testosterone therapy. This is a prospective, single-arm study of men with low-morning serum testosterone (<10.68 nmol/l) administered testosterone cypionate 200 mg intramuscularly every 2 weeks for 18 months...

Introduction To explore the effect of prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain on postpartum weight retention in nulliparous women and weight‐for‐length percentiles of offspring to 2 years following birth. Methods A retrospective secondary analysis of a large, prospective longitudinal study of women conducted during pregnancy...

Anabolic resistance and impaired myocellular qualitycontribute to age-related sarcopenia, which exacer-bates with obesity. Diet-induced muscle mass lossis attenuated by resistance or aerobic plus resis-tance exercise compared to aerobic exercise inobese elderly. We assessed chronic effects of weightloss plus different exercise modalities on musclep...

The progression of atherosclerosis versus arterial stiffness with age within and between arteries has not been defined. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a human model of accelerated arterial disease that may permit this determination. 76 SLE patients (69 women, age 37 ± 12 years) and 26 age-and-sex-matched controls (22 women, age 34 ± 11 years...

Grape seed procyanidin extract (GSE) had been reported to exert antineoplastic properties in preclinical studies. A modified phase I, open-label, dose-escalation clinical study was conducted to evaluate the safety, tolerability, MTD, and potential chemopreventive effects of leucoselect phytosome (LP), a standardized GSE complexed with soy phospholi...

Introduction: The prevalence of hypogonadism among males is influenced by aging and obesity. The increased expression of the aromatase enzyme in the adipose tissue of obese men leads to a high conversion of androgens to estrogen, exerting a negative feedback on the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis contributing to hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. O...

Background Glutamine plus glutamate (Glx), as well as N-acetylaspartate compounds, (NAAc), a marker of neuronal viability, are quantified with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) and have been reported altered in psychotic disorders. However, few studies have compared these neurometabolites in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Method...

Films are useful for medical education and introduce Science fiction movies or historic documentaries and pioneering scientists who developed the field of infectious disease research. Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, expert talents such as von Behring, Koch, and Ehrlich were present at the Charité Hospital. These individua...

We analyzed conodonts and rocks using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) using statistical methods to compare the tipping points for arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) in conodonts and contemporaneous human tissues. We found that ancient seas contained high levels of As which also occurred in conodont teeth and which was lea...

Estradiol (E2), mainly produced from Testosterone (T) in men, promotes visceral lipolysis. However, high visceral fat and hyperestrogenemia are features of obese hypogonadal (HG) men. Our study objectives are to evaluate relationships between circulating E2 and: (1) fat mass; (2) Estrogen Receptor α (ESR1) expression in subcutaneous adipose tissue;...

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate protein expression of PD-L1 and CD20 as prognostic biomarkers of patient outcome in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) samples. Methods: PD-L1 and CD20 protein expression was measured by immunohistochemistry in 221 pretreatment IBC biopsies. PD-L1 was assessed in tumor cells (PD-L1+ tumor cells) an...

Objectives: This research investigated the prevalence of opioid analgesic use in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: This 5-year prospective cohort study of 275 SLE patients focused on prescription opioid use and 5-year outcome. Associations were determined with univariable regression analysis and then multivariable models we...

Background/Objective Non-adherence to recommended medical therapy has been associated with poorer outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The present research investigated the association of medical non-adherence and cannabis use on renal outcomes of SLE. Methods This was a prospective 5-year longitudinal outcome study of 276 female SLE pa...

Neurocognitive dysfunction and brain injury on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. However, brain MRI is expensive, is restricted by payers, and requires high expertise. Neurocognitive assessment is an easily available, safe, and i...

Objective Sarcopenia and obesity are reported risk factors for falls, although the data are not consistent and most studies do not make sex comparisons. We investigated whether falls were associated with balance, gait, and body composition, and whether these relationships are sex-specific. Design Secondary analysis of 4-year follow-up data from of...

Understanding how unmet basic needs impact health care in patients with complex conditions is vital to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs. The purpose of this observational study was to explore the association between health care and socioeconomic needs and health care utilization and disease management among patients with chronic...

Objective Estradiol (E2) regulates adipose tissue resulting in increased fat mass (FM) with declining E2. However, increased visceral fat and hyperestrogenemia are features of obese individuals. It is possible that adipocytes in obese individuals are less sensitive to E2 resulting in higher FM. Our objective is to identify the range of serum E2 for...

Background: Investigators have hypothesized that omega-3 fatty acid supplementation may modulate the immune response. However, available evidence is conflicting. We performed this study to investigate the effect of prenatal eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)- and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich fish oil supplementation on maternal and fetal cytokine prod...

We analyzed conodonts and rocks using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) using statistical methods to compare the tipping points for arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) in conodonts and contemporaneous human tissues. We found that ancient seas contained high levels of As which also occurred in conodont teeth and which was lea...

Introduction Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) affects an estimated 30% of women Veterans. Previous research shows high rates of narcotic abuse in the women Veteran population. Narcotics are not recommended for the treatment of CPP. Understanding how CPP impacts narcotic prescribing in the women Veteran population is critical to addressing the public healt...

The structures of the human hands and feet are shaped by evolution and its effects on the brain, skeleton and other structures, and on behavior. We used measurements obtained of hands and feet from living humans in Europe, the Americas (South and North) and Australia and images of hands and feet in cave art, paintings, and photographs obtained from...

MiR-106b is an oncomir and a potential target for anti-cancer therapy. We hypothesize that grape seed procyanidin extract (GSE) exerts antineoplastic effects on lung cancer through modulations of miR-106b and its downstream target. We found that GSE significantly down-regulated miR-106b in a variety of lung neoplastic cells and increased cyclin-dep...

Objectives: A previous randomized placebo-controlled trial in military veterans posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) found that quetiapine improved global PTSD symptoms severity, depression and anxiety as well as the re-experiencing and hypearousal clusters. However, it is not known if individual symptoms had a preferential response to this medica...

Objective: To determine whether participation in a multidisciplinary telementorship model of healthcare delivery improves primary care provider (PCP) and community health worker (CHW) confidence in managing patients with complex diabetes in medically underserved regions. Methods: We applied a well-established healthcare delivery model, Project E...

Although hypogonadism is a risk factor for bone loss and fractures, the different etiopathophysiology and hormonal profile of classical and obesity-induced hypogonadism may lead to differences in musculoskeletal profile. This is a cross-sectional study of hypogonadal men between 40 and 74 years old. Our outcomes include: areal bone mineral density...

Rationale Adiposity is associated with low lung function, but the longitudinal relationship between lung function and adiposity is inadequately studied. Objective To examine the bidirectional longitudinal associations between rapid decline in lung function and adiposity phenotypes in healthy adults. Methods This secondary analysis used a 25-year...

AIM To test whether muscle mass evaluated by creatinine excretion (EXCr) is maintained in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) treated by peritoneal dialysis (PD), we evaluated repeated measurements of EXCr in a PD population. METHODS One hundred and sixty-six PD patients (94 male, 72 female) receiving the same PD dose for the duration of...

Introduction Chronic lung disease, often characterised by rapid decline in lung function, is associated with vascular endothelial dysfunction (characterised by moderate to severe excess urinary albumin excretion (eUAE) but their longitudinal relationship is inadequately studied. In a bidirectional longitudinal examination of healthy adults, we anal...

Background The proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) signals from glutamate (or the combined glutamate and glutamine signal—Glx) have been found to be greater in various brain regions in people with schizophrenia. Recently, the Psychiatric Genetics Consortium reported that several common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in glutamate...

Context In secondary adrenal insufficiency (SAI), chronic deficiency of ACTH is believed to result in secondary changes in adrenocortical function, resulting in altered dose-response relationship between ACTH concentration and cortisol secretion rate (CSR). Objective We sought to characterize maximal cortisol secretion rate (CSRmax) and free corti...