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49
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1,117
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Introduction
Current institution
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July 2012 - present
Publications
Publications (49)
Long COVID, previously known as Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), refers to prolonged symptoms or diagnosable conditions following COVID-19 infection. The neuropsychiatric profile of Long COVID patients remains ambiguous. This study aimed to assess neuropsychiatric symptoms in a retrospective cohort of Long COVID patients (N = 162) at a Reh...
Background:
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an age-related, chronic, irreversible fibrotic lung disease. IPF is associated with increased senescent cells burden, which may be alleviated with administration of senescent cell targeting drugs termed 'senolytics'. We previously conducted an open-label single-arm pilot study of the senolytic com...
Introduction: The morbidity and mortality of the COVID-19 pandemic have disproportionately burdened Hispanic populations in the United States. While health equity research is typically conducted in populations where Hispanics are the minority, this project analyzes COVID-19 racioethnic transmission trends over the first 6 months of the pandemic wit...
Background:
Asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infections may play a
significant role in the spread of COVID-19 but determining
prevalence of these infections in the general population is labor intensive.
Purpose:
This approach describes an innovative surveillance strategy
using teams of medical students and emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Me...
Background
A model was built that characterized effects of individual factors on five-year prostate cancer (PCa) risk in the Prostate, Lung, Colon, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) and the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). This model was validated in a third San Antonio Biomarkers of Risk (SABOR) screening cohort.
M...
Background
Mutations in several common hereditary cancer genes are associated with prostate cancer, but there is limited information on the prevalence of these mutations in Hispanic men.
Methods
We selected men at high risk for genetic mutations from 1,515 Hispanic men enrolled in the San Antonio Biomarkers of Risk for prostate cancer (SABOR) coho...
Elevated body mass index (BMI) is a global health problem, leading to enhanced mortality and the increased risk of several cancers including essential thrombocythemia (ET), a subtype of the Philadelphia-chromosome negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Furthermore, evidence states that BMI is associated with the severity of symptom burden amo...
Introduction
BMI increases the risk of Philadelphia-chromosome negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) development. Patients with MPN often suffer from a severe symptom burden reduced quality of life. The aim of this study was to examine the association between BMI and symptom burden.
Methods
A comprehensive analysis of data from two large cros...
Introduction:
As cancer center funds are allocated toward several resources, clinical trial offices and the clinical trial infrastructure is constantly scrutinized. It has been shown that 20% of clinical trials fail to achieve their accrual goal and in an institutional level several trials are open with poor accrual. We sought to identify factors...
Introduction
BMI increases the risk of Philadelphia-chromosome negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) development. Patients with MPN often suffer from a severe symptom burden reduced quality of life. The aim of this study was to examine the association between BMI and symptom burden.
Methods
A comprehensive analysis of data from two large cros...
To study the association of nutrient intake measured by baseline food frequency questionnaire and risk of subsequent prostate cancer (PCa) in the SABOR (San Antonio Biomarkers of Risk) cohort study.
After IRB approval, more than 1903 men enrolled in a prospective cohort from 2000 to 2010 as part of the SABOR clinical validation site for the Nationa...
Background
Finasteride, a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor may have effects on biomarkers such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) that could be leveraged to improve screening.
Objective
To determine the predictive characteristics of biomarkers for prostate cancer for cancer on biopsy following 3 months of finasteride use compared with placebo.
Design,...
CONSORT 2010 Checklist.
(DOC)
Finasteride challenge protocol developed in 2010 utilized in current study.
(DOC)
Developed from the finasteride challenge study.
(XLS)
Adverse events stratified by treatment.
A patient may have had a specific event more than once.
(DOCX)
Background:
Several studies have objectively quantified drinking through the use of Alcohol Monitoring System's (AMS) transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) device known as SCRAM CAM. Criteria that AMS uses to detect drinking are known to be conservative and only reliably detect heavy drinking equivalent to 5 or more standard drinks. Our group ha...
Background:
The fecal microbiome is associated with prostate cancer risk factors (obesity, inflammation) and can metabolize and produce various products that may influence cancer but have yet to be defined in prostate cancer.
Objective:
To investigate gut bacterial diversity, identify specific metabolic pathways associated with disease, and deve...
Efficiently producing transparent analyses may be difficult for beginners or tedious for the experienced. This implies a need for computing systems and environments that can efficiently satisfy reproducibility and accountability standards. To this end, we have developed a system, R package, and R Shiny application called adapr (Accountable Data Ana...
The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) is the most widely administered trait impulsiveness questionnaire. Recently a shorter, unidimensional version of the instrument was developed for adults (BIS-Brief). While psychometric characteristics of the BIS-Brief support its use among adults, it also may be more appropriate for youth samples than the co...
Background:
The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial Risk Calculator (PCPTRC) is a commonly used risk tool for predicting the outcome on biopsy based on the established risk factors.
Objective:
To determine whether incorporation of the novel urinary markers prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) and TMPRSS2:ERG (T2:ERG) into the PCPTRC improves its discri...
Introduction: The efficacy of extraventricular drain (EVD) alone was compared to EVD with intraventricular alteplase injection for the treatment of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in the Ethnic/Racial Variations of Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ERICH) cohort.
Methods: ERICH study subjects with IVH and EVD placement were dichotomized by alteplase admi...
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma affecting children and is often diagnosed with concurrent metastases. Unfortunately, few effective therapies have been discovered that improve the long-term survival rate for children with metastatic disease. Here we determined effectiveness of targeting the receptor tyrosine kinase, Eph...
In vitro effects of VasG3 treatment on various sarcomas as a single agent therapy.
Cell viability of various sarcoma cell lines treated with serial dilutions of VasG3 antibody compared to control isotype antibody. A. aRMS cell lines: Rh30, PCB380, and Rh5. B. Cell viability assays of Rh30 aRMS cells treated with a therapeutic combination of VasG3 a...
Expression of EphB4 and EphrinB2 in osteosarcoma and neuroblastoma.
A, B. Immunohistochemical staining for EphB4 and EphrinB2 expression was performed on tissue microarrays for human neuroblastoma (A) and osteosarcoma (B). Staining intensities are shown for EphB4 and EphrinB2 on a scale ranging from 0 (no staining) to 4 (high staining). C, D. Repre...
Objective:
To assess the effect of assisted hatching (AH) on live-birth rates in a retrospective cohort of patients undergoing first-cycle, autologous frozen embryo transfer (FET).
Design:
Longitudinal cohort using cycles reported to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcomes Reporting System between 2004 and 2013.
Setting...
The role of trabeculae carneae in modulating left ventricular (LV) diastolic compliance remains unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the contribution of trabeculae carneae to the LV diastolic compliance. LV pressure-volume compliance curves were measured in six human heart explants from patients with LV hypertrophy at baseline and...
Purpose:
Published anthropometric measurements of the Latino eyelid are limited. This study describes features spanning the morphologic range from non-Latino whites to East Asians in the spectrum of the Latino eyelid.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study of 68 people (32 Latinos, 18 non-Latino whites, and 18 East Asians, ages 18-39), approved by the...
Research service cores at academic health centers are important in driving translational advancements. Specifically, biostatistics and research design units provide services and training in data analytics, biostatistics, and study design. However, the increasing demand and complexity of assigning appropriate personnel to time-sensitive projects str...
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) enhances the anti-cancer activity of the histone deacetylase inhibitor, vorinostat (VOR), in pre-clinical models and early phase clinical studies of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Mechanisms could include autophagy inhibition, accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, and subsequent tumor cell apoptosis. There is growin...
Introduction:
The timely administration of intravenous (IV) tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) to acute ischemic stroke patients from the period of symptom presentation to treatment, door-to-needle (DTN) time, is an important focus for quality improvement and best clinical practice.
Methods:
A retrospective review of our Get With The Guidelines...
Objective. To examine risk factors for drug overdose by sex reflecting differing patterns of opioid and other drug use.
Design. National privately insured cohort.
Subjects. 206,869 subjects filling ≥2 opioid prescriptions from January 2009 through July 2012.
Methods. Sex-specific prediction models for future drug overdose developed and validated us...
Purpose:
To characterize the diagnostic properties of serial percent-free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in relation to PSA in a multi-ethnic, multi-racial cohort of healthy men.
Materials and methods:
6,982 percent-free PSA and PSA measures were obtained from participants in a 12 year+ Texas screening study comprising 1625 men who never underw...
670
Background:HCQ enhances the anti-cancer activity of the histone deacetylase inhibitor, VOR in pre-clinical CRC models. Our phase 1 dose escalation trial found that patients (pts) with mCRC obtained prolonged clinical benefit from VOR + HCQ. Thus, a single arm expansion cohort in refractory mCRC was done. Methods: Pts with refractory mCRC receiv...
p53 activation is a primary mechanism underlying pathological responses to DNA damaging agents such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Our recent animal studies showed that low dose arsenic (LDA)‐induced transient p53 inhibition selectively protected normal tissues from chemotherapy‐induced toxicity.
Study objectives were to: 1) define the lowest sa...
Background: P53 activation is a major pathway by which normal tissues respond to DNA damaging agents such as chemo and radiotherapy. We have shown that the use of very low dose arsenic (LDA) for 3 days before chemotherapy in animal models temporarily and reversibly suppresses p53 activation for about 5 days. LDA-mediated protection requires functio...
Background: P53 activation is a major pathway by which normal tissues respond to DNA damaging agents such as chemo and radiotherapy. We have shown that the use of very low dose arsenic (LDA) for 3 days before chemotherapy in animal models temporarily and reversibly suppresses p53 activation for about 5 days. LDA-mediated protection requires functio...
Lineage or cell of origin of cancers is often unknown and thus is not a consideration in therapeutic approaches. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (aRMS) is an aggressive childhood cancer for which the cell of origin remains debated. We used conditional genetic mouse models of aRMS to activate the pathognomonic Pax3:Foxo1 fusion oncogene and inactivate p53...
Lineage or cell of origin of cancers is often unknown and thus is not a consideration in therapeutic approaches. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (aRMS) is an aggressive childhood cancer for which the cell of origin remains debated. We used conditional genetic mouse models of aRMS to activate the pathognomonic Pax3:Foxo1 fusion oncogene and inactivate p53...
Elderly patients with cancer are under-represented in clinical trials, and there is especially scant data on their participation in early-phase trials. In an effort to provide more data, we reviewed our Phase I experience.
We conducted a retrospective analysis of 461 patients enrolled in Phase I clinical trials at the Cancer Therapy Research Center...
Introduction
To describe the basic demographics, analyze the response and survival experience of advanced renal cancer subjects treated in a Phase I trial.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective observational study in 70 renal cancer patients participating in 25 Phase I trials. Descriptive statistics, Kaplan Meier and multivariate Cox proportional h...
PURPOSE
To study the incidence and clinical significance of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in follow-up imaging after elective transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS).
METHOD AND MATERIALS
A retrospective review of medical records of patients that underwent elective TIPS was conducted. Contrast enhanced cross sectional images, obtained...
Liver biopsy is the only reliable way of diagnosing and staging NASH but its invasive nature limits its use. Plasma caspase-generated cytokeratin-18 fragments (CK-18) has been proposed as a non-invasive alternative. We studied its clinical value in a large multiethnic NAFLD population and examined its relationship to clinical/metabolic/histological...
Unlabelled:
Since the advent of tyrosine kinase inhibitors as targeted therapies in cancer, several receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) have been identified as operationally important for disease progression. Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a malignancy in need of new treatment options; therefore, better understanding of the heterogeneity of RTKs would adva...
