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Introduction: South Asians have an earlier onset of and higher mortality from cardiovascular and ischemic heart disease compared to other ethnic groups in the US. There is a deficit in research regarding the genetic and environmental causes of cardiovascular health outcomes in South Asian communities in the US. Community health literacy on this issue can encourage lifestyle changes that reduce the likelihood of cardiovascular disease. Methods: An hour-long virtual presentation was conducted detailing cardiovascular health risk factors and recommendations to South Asians. The presentation was disseminated to participants over the age of 18 nationally. A pre-survey and post-survey assessing knowledge and attitude change from the presentation were administered. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Conclusions: Our respondents had significant knowledge about cardiovascular health and were quite healthy overall. We recommend increased educational awareness of heart disease amongst South Asians in the broader community by providing tailored diet and exercise recommendations.

The present research studies the application of three treatment components to tackle conduct and academic problems of disadvantaged children. The treatment components serve as the independent variables in this study. These are: Mindfulness (M), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Academic Training (AT). The components were applied individually, in combinations of two and all three components together, giving rise to seven treatment conditions: Mindfulness (Group 1); CBT (Group 2); Academic Training (Group 3). Three groups consisted of 2 treatment components-Mindfulness+CBT (Group 4); Mindfulness+Academic Training (Group 5); CBT+Academic Training (Group 6); and Mindfulness+CBT+Academic Training (Group 7). Screening and diagnosis were carried out using three standardized psychometric tests: Childhood Adolescent Mindfulness Measure, Childhood Psychopathology Measurement Scale, and Diagnostic Test of Learning Disability, along with direct observation and rating scales. A total of 35 children in the age group 10 to 13 were recruited from a number of potential candidates. All the children were studying in Government schools and suffered from conduct and academic problems. The subjects were randomly allotted into seven groups of five children each. The study used a single case A-B-A design with 3 sets of follow ups to test the seven treatment conditions. The results were analysed using descriptive analysis (Mean, SD and percentage change) and inferential statistical analysis (Mann Whitney U Test, and Kruskal Wallis H Test). The analyses demonstrate statistically significant differences in post treatment conduct and academic levels in all 7 groups. The descriptive and inferential analysis shows that treatment condition which combined all three treatment components i.e. Group 7 (M+CBT+AT), showed the highest efficacy and resulted in significant improvements in both conduct and academics. This study highlights the efficacy of multi-component treatments over single component treatments. The findings of this body of work suggest the pressing need for implementing multicomponent therapy to treat disadvantaged children suffering from conduct and academic problems. It also implies the urgent need for further research into multi-component interventions to develop even more effective therapeutic programs in future.

Osteosarcoma is the heterogeneous primary malignancy of bone which is most commonly found among children and adolescents. Recent data related to treatment of osteosarcoma indicates the lack information about the progression of the disease. Osteosarcoma has been a challenge for the oncologist because even after surgical removal of primary tumors many patients go on to develop pulmonary metastasis. Protein deubiquitination controls many intracellular processes, including cell cycle progression, transcriptional activation, and signal transduction. Ubiquitin specific peptidases (USPs) remove ubiquitin tags from target proteins to alter protein configuration and function. Recent studies have revealed that Ubiquitin specific peptidase 37 (UPS37) regulates replication stress by regulating important protein involved in several important cellular functions. Analysis of TCGA data indicated that overexpression of USP37 correlated with reduced progression free survival (PFS) in osteosarcoma patients. Next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis of osteosarcoma cells indicated that distinct set of genes were altered on overexpression or knockdown of USP37. Our data indicate that USP37 overexpression confers survival advantage while its depletion enhances sensitivity for cell killing in osteosarcoma cells due to replication stress. USP37 overexpressing cells were able to resolve DNA damage foci much more rapidly than the control cells or cells in which USP37 was depleted in response to genotoxic stress. USP37 depletion results in reduced resolution of γ H2AX and 53BP1 DNA damage foci and increase in number of collapsed replication fork which indicates the reduced ability of cells to carry out constitutive DNA replication. USP37 was found to interact with PCNA (Proliferative cell nuclear antigen). Interestingly docking studies indicated that USP37 and PCNA interacted with stronger affinity in presence of double stranded DNA through different residues. We further correlated our data with archived tissue blocks of osteosarcoma patients by analyzing if USP37 and PCNA expression colocalized. Present data suggests that USP37 is required for tolerance of replication stress as it interacts with PCNA which is required to dock additional replication factors and stabilize DNA replication fork. The current data provides new mechanistic details for the regulation of replication stress by USP37 which merits the development of targeting strategies to explore its therapeutic potential in osteosarcoma by inducing synthetic lethality. Citation Format: Ravi Chauhan, Lakshay Malhotra, Ashna Gupta, Ajaz Bhat, Gunjan Dagar, Tariq Masoodi, Muzafar A. Macha, Ethayathulla Abdul Samath, Atul Batra, Mehar Chand Sharma, Mohammad Haris, Ammira Al-Shabeeb Akil, Tej K. Pandita, Shahab Uddin, Mayank Singh. Ubiquitin Specific Peptidase 37promotes Osteosarcoma oncogenesis by interacting with PCNA and impacting constitutive replication fork movement. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 335.

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Purpose: Several factors influence medical students to choose a specialty branch for post-graduate training, and it is important to understand them so that strategies can be made to make it more attractive and hence the shortage in the workforce can be addressed. This study aimed to identify the factors that influenced under-graduate medical students to choose ophthalmology as their specialty for post-graduate training. Methods It was a descriptive, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study, carried out among medical students at a tertiary academic institute in eastern India. In this survey tool, 25 questions were divided into different sections: demographic data, factors influencing the choice and perceptions about ophthalmology as a career option, and the impact of rotatory internship posting on the choice of subject. The various factors were then scored and indexed appropriately. Results There were 515 participants. The median age was 23 years. The major influencing factor for choosing ophthalmology was “adequate time” (52.04%), and the discouraging factor was “steep learning curve” (58.64%). Age had an odds ratio of 0.781, showing that the lower the age, the higher the chances of being positively inclined toward ophthalmology as a career choice. Similarly, major deciding factors, perceptions, and experiences in ophthalmology had odds ratios of 1.841, 1.725, and 2.057, respectively, showing a positive inclination. Conclusion The study states that a steep learning curve, personal attitudes, and misconceptions may dissuade the students from taking this subject, but adequate clinical exposure and experience, as well as role models during the internship, can create a positive impact on career choice.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune connective tissue disorder associated with aberrant fibrosis of the skin and internal organs that can lead to organ failure and death in patients. With few treatment options many patients succumb to fibrosis of the lungs or kidneys, or due to vascular damage culminating in pulmonary disease; the 50 percent survival rate is only about 10 years. We collected PBMCs from 36 SSc patients that were not on immune-suppressants, along with 25 age-matched healthy controls. Using a 15 color flow cytometry panel our lab has observed increases in the inhibitory receptors PD-1, TIGIT, and Tim-3 on PBMCs from SSc patients. This increase in expression is cell type specific with PD-1 and TIGIT shown to be increased on defined T cell types including CD4+ T cells, both Treg and non-Treg subsets, as well as CD8+ T cells. Tim-3 was only statistically significantly increased on a mature subset of CD16+ CD56med natural killer cells. This increase was not seen for all inhibitory receptors. The expression of LAG-3 remained low across all cell types observed. This increase in inhibitory receptor expression was enhanced in patients with a high percent of Tregs within the CD4+ gate. In vitro blockade of these inhibitory receptors provided differential cytokine secretion in patients versus healthy subjects, suggesting a possible role in disease pathogenesis. The observation of increased inhibitory receptors in SSc as well as the ability to modulate cytokines by blocking the interaction of these receptors with their ligands could provide insights into possible immune modulation in patients.