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Exploring the Relationship between Substance Use Disorder and Women’s Preventative Health Screenings
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Assessing the Utility of Using Signal-Averaged Electrocardiography as a Screening Tool for Fibrosis Detection in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging
No full textInvestigating Bacterial Vaginosis Pathogenesis Using Peptide Nucleic Acid-Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization With a Focus on the Roles of Gardnerella Species, Prevotella bivia, and Fannyhessea vaginae
No full textBackground. Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a vaginal dysbiosis characterized by polymicrobial communities of BV-associated bacteria (BVAB) adhered to the vaginal epithelium. Despite decades of research, its etiology remains unknown. We aimed to investigate BV biofilm formation over time among women who developed incident BV (iBV) using peptide nucleic acid-fluorescence in situ hybridization (PNA-FISH), focusing on 3 key BVAB (Gardnerella species, Prevotella bivia, and Fannyhessea vaginae). Methods. Heterosexual, nonpregnant women ages 18–45 with optimal vaginal microbiota were enrolled to self-collect twice-daily vaginal specimens for 60 days. iBV was defined as a Nugent score of 7–10 on ≥ 4 consecutive specimens. For women who developed iBV (cases), Gardnerella spp., P. bivia, and F. vaginae were visualized and quantified by PNA-FISH for up to 14 days prior to iBV, the day of iBV, and 3 days post-iBV. Cases were matched to women maintaining optimal vaginal microbiota (controls) based on age, race, and contraceptive method. Control specimens were matched to case specimens by day of menses. Results. Among 135 women enrolled, 18 developed iBV and were matched to 18 controls. Pooled median Gardnerella spp. counts significantly increased starting 5 days before iBV, while pooled median F. vaginae counts significantly increased on the day of iBV diagnosis. In contrast, pooled median P. bivia counts were not significantly different between groups. Conclusions. These data suggest that Gardnerella spp. are early colonizers of the BV biofilm while F. vaginae is a secondary colonizer. P. bivia was not found to be significantly different between iBV case and control specimens
BCG Vaccine-Induced Innate and Adaptive Pulmonary Immunity Correlating with Protective Efficacy Against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the Lungs
No full textBackground/Objectives: Effective prophylaxis for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) requires greater understanding of immune correlates of protection. With renewed interest in BCG as an Mtb vaccine, particularly via the intravenous (IV) route, our objective was to characterize both innate and adaptive immune correlates of vaccine-induced pulmonary immunity as potential biomarkers for protective efficacy in a murine model of Mtb infection. Methods: Mice were given BCG via different routes and some boosted with recombinant virus constructs encoding Mtb Ag85B. Responding innate lymphoid cell (ILC) populations, T cells and B cells were analyzed by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) for surface markers and by intracellular cytokine staining or antibody ELISPOT. Some immunized mice were challenged with aerosolized Mtb and monitored for bacterial growth in the lungs and spleen. Results: BCG given IV, but not intranasally or subcutaneously, resulted in marked increases in IFNγ expression at 72 h by pulmonary CD49+ NK cells, CD69+ ILC1, and two ILC3 populations, NCR-ILC3 and LTi cells, the latter also producing IL-22. Pulmonary ILC2 populations in these mice had significantly increased IL-13 expression at 24 h compared to the other routes. Interestingly, high levels of NK cells and ILC1 expressing IFNγ and/or TNFα were sustained at 8 wk, with sustained expression of IL-17A by pulmonary NCR-ILC3 and pronounced tissue-resident and effector memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses. Intranasal boosting with Ad-Ag85B enhanced these T cell responses and generated Mtb-specific pulmonary IgA and IgG B cells, correlating with significantly reduced bacterial loads following Mtb challenge. Conclusions: BCG given IV primed for both early and persistent pulmonary ILC1/ILC3 responses of a predominantly Th1/Th17-type profile along with local Mtb-specific memory T cell and B cell populations, correlating with enhanced protective efficacy. These are worthy of further study as compartmentalized biomarkers for effective vaccine-induced local immunity against Mtb
Deep learning-driven proteomics analysis for gene annotation in the renin-angiotensin system
No full textThe renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is central to cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and cardiomyopathy, yet the functions of many RAS genes remain unclear. This study developed a multi-label deep learning model to systematically annotate RAS gene functions and elucidate their roles in biological pathways. A total of 39,463 RAS-related publications from PubMed and PMC were processed into text format. Feature matrices were generated using TF-IDF and token processing, followed by dimensionality reduction via Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) was applied for multi-label classification, with performance evaluated using Precision, F1-Score, Ranking Loss, and ROC-AUC metrics. The model outperformed traditional methods (SVM, Random Forest), achieving a Precision of 0.7474 and ROC-AUC of 0.8697. Grouping into three major biological branches improved interpretability and performance (Precision: 0.8312; ROC-AUC: 0.9182). In silico predictions were validated using extracellular vesicle (EV) proteomics and capillary Western assays in DOCA-salt hypertensive mice. Key genes-AGTR2, IRAP (LNPEP), Ywhas (SFN), EDNRA, and ESR2—were identified as critical RAS components. Notably, IRAP was markedly upregulated in hypertension and showed regulatory interactions with 14-3-3 proteins, modulating Nedd4-2, ACE2, and AGTR1 signaling. To our knowledge, this is the first integration of multi-label AI modeling with EV proteomics for RAS pathway annotation. This framework captures complex gene-pathway relationships, advancing systems-level understanding of RAS biology and revealing a novel IRAP/Ywha(s)/Nedd4-2–ACE2 interaction axis as a potential therapeutic target
Richard DiCarlo Interview
No full textThis interview of Ricard DiCarlo was conducted by Chandler Smith on October 7, 2025. Interview transcribed by Sam Howat.https://digitalscholar.lsuhsc.edu/oral_hist/1021/thumbnail.jp
Diphenyleneiodonium alleviates retinal degeneration and cone vision impairment in mice lacking interphotoreceptor retinoidbinding protein (IRBP)
No full textAssociation for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, ARVO 2025, May 4-8, 2025, Salt Lake City, U