UW Neurological Surgery Recent PubMed Publications

In contrast to living organisms, viruses were long thought to lack protein synthesis machinery and instead depend on host factors to translate viral transcripts. Here, we discover that giant DNA viruses encode a distinct and functional IF4F translation initiation complex to drive protein synthesis, thereby blurring the line between cellular and acellular biology. During infection, eukaryotic IF4F on host ribosomes is replaced by an essential viral IF4F that regulates viral translation, virion...

Acute traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) often results in devastating neurological dysfunction for affected individuals and imposes a substantial financial burden on society worldwide. Current treatment approaches have limited ability to counteract secondary injury expansion and additional cell death. The extent of secondary damage is a result of posttraumatic tissue swelling, edema, vascular damage, and hematoma and these factors contribute to pathological intraspinal pressure (ISP) elevations...

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We have developed a low-cost (30 USD), simple do-it-yourself (DIY) potentiostat with cyclic voltammetry (CV), open circuit potential (OCP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) capability. The HunStat2 potentiostat is based on Analog Devices' AD5941 Analog Front End chip, which significantly simplifies the construction of potentiostats for both direct and alternating current (DC and AC, respectively) techniques. Interested readers are provided with circuit diagrams and a bill of...

Tractometry of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) non-invasively quantifies tissue properties of brain connections. It is widely used in aging studies but could be less reliable in aging brains due to increased white matter free water. We demonstrate that computational free water elimination (FWE) and multi-shell multi-tissue (MSMT) modeling both increase the reliability and accuracy of tractometry in a large (n = 396) cohort of older adults (65-103 y.o.). We found substantial...

Meta-analysis of gene-based tests using single-variant summary statistics is a powerful strategy for genetic association studies. However, current approaches require sharing the covariance matrix between variants for each study and trait of interest. For large-scale studies with many phenotypes, these matrices can be cumbersome to calculate, store and share. Here, to address this challenge, we present REMETA-an efficient tool for meta-analysis of gene-based tests. REMETA uses a single sparse...

Insomnia and depression are common co-morbidities associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Data from Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in TBI, a longitudinal cohort study of TBI and orthopedic controls (OTC), were used to examine insomnia trajectories and the temporal relationship between insomnia and depressive symptoms during recovery. mTBI (n = 1,557) and OTC (n = 226) adult patients with no psychiatric or sleep disorder history were assessed at 2 weeks and 3, 6, and 12...

CONCLUSION: This Delphi study specifically addresses the gap in clinical guidance for danazol management in HAE patients. The resulting consensus document provides a valuable tool to aid the standardization of danazol discontinuation protocols and ensures that patients can access the safest and most effective treatment options available.

CONCLUSIONS: Despite varying levels of formal knowledge of pain management, individuals with TBI reported utilizing a wide array of strategies to self-manage pain - often informed by "trial-and-error." Guided self-management training may enhance the effectiveness of their approach as well as possibly increase the efficiency in which they develop an effective approach and make subsequent adjustments.

Mpox re-emerged globally in 2022 with atypical clinical features and efficient human-to-human transmission, which underscores the need to better understand host immune responses. We conducted an integrative transcriptomic analysis of mpox virus (MPXV) infection in nonhuman primates by leveraging RNA-Seq datasets from whole-blood and skin. We applied the Generalized Linear Model with Quasi-Likelihood F-test and Magnitude-Altitude Score (GLMQL-MAS), a method that combines rigorous statistical...

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this economic evaluation of the Daraja intervention, Daraja was more costly than standard care from both the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and societal perspectives; however, it was associated with improvements in DALYs. These findings suggest that Daraja has a high probability of being considered cost-effective from both economic perspectives.

BACKGROUND: The conventional clinical approach to characterising traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) as mild, moderate, or severe using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) total score has well-known limitations, prompting calls for more sophisticated strategies.

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Objective: To examine the interaction between early cognition and motor functioning when predicting functional independence, community participation, homeboundness, and return-to-work 1 year after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method: Data from 101 adults (M age = 39.6 years) across two TBI Model Systems sites. Cognitive performance (Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone) and motor functioning (FIM-Motor score/Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation) were collected at inpatient...

BACKGROUND: Disordered eating behaviours are prevalent in men, though men have traditionally been understudied in the field of eating disorders. While a thin body ideal is an established risk factor of eating disorders in women, a mesomorphic body ideal with increased muscles and decreased fat may be more relevant in understanding eating disorders in men. Based on the interpersonal model and existing literature, the current study examined the association between interpersonal functioning and...

Asian American (AsAm) youth experience persistent disparities in mental health service use, but quantitative data are lacking in existing investigations of barriers in this population. Here, we sought to characterize key barriers to youth mental health services across multiple domains (i.e., structural, perceptual, cultural, trauma-specific) and explore associations between barriers, youth symptoms, and service use. AsAm caregivers (N = 149, M(age) = 39.23, 55% female) completed the study...

CONCLUSION: This quality improvement evaluation of social care integration using the CRS illustrates a potential pathway for activating social support and healthcare relationships in primary care, but more rigorous designs and longer-term follow up are needed to explore if this pathway leads to improvements in patient or population health and healthcare utilization.

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