University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Integrating mental health support into care for placenta accreta spectrum: a qualitative analysis of patient perspectives

Abstract Background Patients with high-risk pregnancies due to placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) are at high risk of morbidity and mortality, which may increase risk for childbirth related mental health sequelae including postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma...

Patient-centered approaches in psoriasis management: lessons from the past and future directions

INTRODUCTION: Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated disease with physical and psychosocial burden that is not fully captured by measures of skin lesion characteristics. Advances in therapies, including multiple biologic treatments, have improved disease control, but gaps remain...

Acceptability and Feasibility of a Primary Care Hypoglycemia Prevention Program: A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE Hypoglycemia, a major cause of morbidity for people with diabetes, is underrecognized in primary care, leading to underuse of risk mitigation strategies. This study reports the development and acceptability/feasibility testing of the Hypoglycemia Prevention Program (HPP...

Stereoselectivity inLiquid Aerosols through Acid-MediatedEpoxide Ring-Opening Reactions

Abstract Stereoisomers in aqueous atmospheric aerosols are assumed to be present in equal concentrations, as aerosols are most commonly mixtures of simple inorganic salts with a range of organic species that lack obvious pathways to induce stereoselectivity. Further, since submic...

Alpha-Gal Syndrome Is More than Meats the IgE: A Patient Survey of Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Burdens

Background/Objectives: Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) is an allergic condition that results in delayed symptoms in response to exposure to mammalian products. There is limited research on which healthcare professionals (HCPs) are diagnosing AGS, types of symptoms, time to reactions, an...

Commensal bacteria inhibit viral infections via a tryptophan metabolite

Clinical outcomes following viral exposures exhibit substantial interindividual variability. Although developing evidence suggests commensal bacteria modulate viral infections, the specific bacteria and mechanisms remain underexplored. Here, we define a pathway by which viral inf...

Disseminated Ganciclovir-Resistant Cytomegalovirus in a Nontransplant Pediatric ALL Patient: A Case Report

Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is an underrecognized complication in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). While CMV disease is well documented in transplant recipients, its clinical course in nontransplant settings remains poorly defined. Disseminated ga...

ICD ‐10‐ CM ‐Based Algorithms to Identify Bacteremia Incorporating Pathogen‐Specific Codes: A Validation Study

ABSTRACT Purpose Studying patients with bacteremia in real‐world data often requires using microbiologic data to confirm bacterial growth and species. When microbiologic data are unavailable, pathogen‐specific diagnostic codes may be used to classify the bacteremia type. We devel...

Emergency care use in early pregnancy and adverse maternal events at birth and up to 42 days postpartum among North Carolina Medicaid beneficiaries

Abstract Objective Emergency care (EC) utilization can indicate unmet medical or social needs. In pregnancy, EC use may identify individuals at risk for adverse outcomes and highlight opportunities for intervention. This study examined the association between EC use in early preg...

Safer sex self-efficacy and condom use among adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Inconsistent condom use puts adolescents at risk for HIV/STIs and unintended pregnancy. A recent meta-analysis identified safer sex self-efficacy as one of the strongest correlates of U.S. adolescent condom use ( r avg = .22), but with significant heterogeneity in effect sizes. T...

Evidence of dengue transmission and a diverse Aedes mosquito virome on the Congo’s Angola border

Abstract Aedes mosquitoes are widely distributed across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and are major vectors of dengue (DENV), Zika, chikungunya (CHIKV), and yellow fever (YFV) viruses. While the high burden of malaria in the DRC receives considerable attention, arboviru...

Infective Endocarditis Hospitalizations in Kentucky, 2008-2018: Spatial and Temporal Trends

Introduction: Infective endocarditis (IE) hospitalization rates have increased significantly in the last decade, primarily due to the opioid epidemic. In 2016, Kentucky (KY) ranked among the top ten states for opioid-related overdose deaths, but limited data exist on IE trends in...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa-derived volatile organic compounds modulate AhR signaling to dysregulate airway mucus homeostasis

Pseudomonas aeruginosa frequently infects chronically diseased lungs and exacerbates airway mucus hypersecretion and failure in clearance. P. aeruginosa is metabolically versatile and secretes multiple volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which have been scrutinized as potential bi...

Mapping System Vulnerabilities in Anaesthesia Safety: A Role‐Based Inquiry in Response to Fatal Fungal Meningitis Outbreaks in Mexico

ABSTRACT Objectives Unsafe anaesthesia practices in Mexico have contributed to repeated outbreaks of fatal fungal meningitis, exposing broader health system vulnerabilities. This study aimed to analyse how structural weaknesses in perioperative care, spanning governance, workforc...

Right hippocampal volume and attenuated psychotic symptoms distinguish subgroups of youth with common patterns of temporoparietal effective connectivity

Abstract Associations between patterns of brain connectivity and brain structural features have transdiagnostic relevance to psychopathology. There is considerable evidence for disruptions to the hippocampus and temporoparietal brain systems in psychotic disorders. The present st...

Management of Infantile Epileptic Spasms Syndrome: A survey of US pediatric hospitals

Abstract Objective To evaluate the management practices of Infantile Epileptic Spasms Syndrome (IESS) across tertiary pediatric hospitals in the United States using a survey‐based approach. Methods A 21‐question survey focused on management setting, work‐up, follow‐up and treatme...

Spatial patterns and factors associated with vaccination uptake at follow-up among previously identified zero-dose children in Mchinji District, Malawi

Globally, more than 14 million infants remained zero-dose in 2024, having not received the first dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP1). In Malawi, national immunisation estimates may mask sub-district inequities, limiting the ability to identify and reach...

A compendium of next-generation patient-derived models for diverse cancers

Abstract The development of new therapeutics and the validation of pathogenetic cancer mechanisms require representative laboratory models 1,2 . However, existing collections represent only a fraction of the diversity observed in human cancer 2–4 . Recent technologies have enable...

Designing clinical AI for patient-centered support beyond the visit: the PACT framework for health systems

Clinical AI has advanced rapidly for bounded in-visit tasks such as prediction, documentation, and message generation, yet many costly failures in care occur outside the encounter when follow-up, handoffs, and communication break down. We argue that the next challenge for clinica...

Integrative Transcriptional and Chromatin Analyses Reveal Enhancer-Mediated Regulatory Programs Driving Breast Cancer Metastasis

Abstract Breast cancer metastasis remains the leading cause of disease-related mortality, yet the regulatory mechanisms enabling tumor cells to adapt to distant tissue environments remain poorly defined. Here, we generated a multi-omic resource integrating transcriptomic (RNA-seq...