“It was so hard to believe that was real, making these heart cells and seeing them beating in a dish, and I’m still making them 15 years later. I tell everyone on my lab team, I don't ever forget the feeling of making these special cells for the first time,” said Sharma, who recently became the Ben Winters Chair in Regenerative Medicine at Cedars-Sinai.

Sharma also has a fascination with space and its potential to advance research, and he is director of Cedars-Sinai’s Center for Space Medicine Research. He said the support provided through the chair will allow him to push his research—on Earth and in space—in new directions.

“Receiving this chair is a tremendous honor,” Sharma said. “Ben Winters and his wife, Elaine, were longtime benefactors of Cedars-Sinai, supporting the merger of Cedars of Lebanon and Mount Sinai and the institution’s research. Their children, John and Sherry, have carried on their legacy.”

Sharma’s lab specializes in turning induced pluripotent stem cells, which can be transformed into virtually any cell type, into cardiomyocytes, the muscle cells that make the heart beat. He uses these cardiomyocytes to create tiny clumps of cells called cardiac organoids, which mimic many of the heart’s functions.

Using heart muscle cells made from stem cells, Sharma has helped advance research aimed at making chemotherapy safer for the heart. He’s also been sending stem cells and cardiac organoids into space for more than a decade, bringing two of his passions together.

Sharma grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, known as “Rocket City” because it played a vital role in the development of the U.S. space program. His father, a recently retired physics professor at Alabama A&M University, nurtured his love of science.

“One of my earliest memories is waking up to the sound of rocket engines being tested,” Sharma said. “I guess that’s where I first fell in love with space.”

Sharma was inspired to pair cardiac biology with stem cell biology when he learned as an undergraduate at Duke University that the human heart has very limited capacity to regenerate when it is damaged.

“Maybe one day we can use the cardiomyocytes and organoids we create to repair the heart,” Sharma said.

Sharma earned his PhD from Stanford University, where he led the first long-duration cell culture experiment to take place on the International Space Station.

When Sharma’s wife, a cardiologist, matched to Cedars-Sinai for her cardiology fellowship training, Sharma was excited to follow her, completing his postdoctoral training with Clive Svendsen, PhD, executive director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute. Sharma also participated in the Cardiovascular Postdoctoral Training Program with Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, and Joshua Goldhaber, MD, in the Smidt Heart Institute.

A Career Development Award from the American Heart Association allowed Sharma to establish his own laboratory at Cedars-Sinai. And Svendsen encouraged him to apply for grants from NASA that have helped fund six missions to the International Space Station thus far.

“Arun is a tour de force with a phenomenal ability to conduct research and communicate science,” Svendsen said. “His passion for space resulted in the launch of our Center for Space Medicine Research, and his ability to engage and train young scientists fuels a vibrant and successful laboratory environment. This chair reflects Arun’s commitment to leading-edge science on Earth and in space.”

Sharma’s major research goals are to advance the development of organoids to faithfully represent the human heart and other organs, and to manufacture those organoids in space.

“Organoid technology is improving rapidly, but there are ways to make them even more advanced,” Sharma said. “Organoids grow best when they are floating, and in space, everything floats. So my goals intersect.”

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

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Faculty Publications

Biomedical Sciences

Bending the Curve: Revealing Population Risk With Quantitative Atherosclerotic Plaque. Shaw, Leslee J., Ron Blankstein, Damini Dey, and Thomias H. Marwick. JACC. Cardiovascular Imaging, October, S1936-878X(26)00490-0.

Multiple Motor Proteins Regulate TDP-43 Anterograde Axonal Transport. Feole, Monica, Victorio M. Pozo Devoto, Neda Dragišić, Maria Čarna, Katja Klosterman, Clara Limbaek-Stokin, Giancarlo Forte, Kenneth L. Moya, Richard A. Smith, Clive N. Svendsen, and Gorazd B. Stokin. Acta Neuropathologica 152 (1): 47.

Cardiac Surgery

Ex Vivo Therapeutics in Cardiac Xenotransplantation: A Scoping Review. Giao, Duc M., Pedro A. Catarino, Dominic Emerson, Kambiz Ghafourian, Jon Kobashigawa, Fardad Esmailian, Joanna Chikwe, and Laura DiChiacchio. Xenotransplantation 33 (5): e70173.

The Impact of Composite Allocation Score Implementation on Waitlist Outcomes and Post-Transplant Survival in Lung Re-Transplantation. Krishna, Vikram, Allen A. Razavi, Brian Lim, Zachary Brennan, Qiudong Chen, Laura Dichiacchio, Dominick Megna, Joanna Chikwe, Michael E. Bowdish, and Pedro Catarino. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, October, S0003-4975(26)01013-1.

Cardiology

A Multiview Video-Text Model Detects Obstructive Coronary Stenosis and Predicts 1-Year Cardiovascular Events From Angiography. Harrabi, Sarra, Yichen Wu, Omar Majwal, Gabriel Asslo, George Azar, Geoffrey H. Tison, Minhaj Ansari, Milos Vukadinovic, David Ouyang, Joshua P. Barrios, Jacques Delfrate, and Robert Avram. Nature Cardiovascular Research, October.

Associations of Mild or Trace Valvular Abnormalities With Cardiac Remodeling in Older Adults: The ARIC Study. Gao, Yumin, Jonathan Rubin, Susan Cheng, Lena Mathews, Ajay J. Kirtane, Ron C. Hoogeveen, Christie M. Ballantyne, Elizabeth Selvin, Martin B. Leon, Josef Coresh, Scott D. Solomon, Amil M. Shah, and Kunihiro Matsushita. Journal of the American Heart Association, October, e049301.

Health Behavior Profiles in Early Pregnancy Are Associated With Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Maternal Blood Pressure 2-7 Years After Delivery. Kozai, Andrea C., Bethany Barone Gibbs, Lisa D. Levine, Abbi D. Lane, Mitali Ray, William Grobman, Philip Greenland, Matthew K. Hoffman, C. Noel Bairey Merz, Phyllis C. Zee, Lisa Mims, Natalie A. Cameron, George Saade, Robert M. Silver, Natalie A. Bello, Eliza C. Miller, Uma M. Reddy, Judith H. Chung, Kara M. Whitaker, and Janet M. Catov. American Journal of Preventive Cardiology 29 (October): 101489.

Modeling Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) Likelihood Among Women With Suspected Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction (CMD). Allison, Zev, Sachini Ranasinghe, Jenna Maughan, Okezi Obrutu, Galen Cook-Wiens, Ana Iribarren, Alan Kwan, Michael Nelson, Debiao Li, Martha Gulati, C. Noel Bairey Merz, and Janet Wei. American Heart Journal Plus: Cardiology Research and Practice 71 (November): 100925.

Nutritional Interventions’ Impacts on Human Milk: Three Trials in Low-Resource Settings. Dailey-Chwalibóg, Trenton, Andrew Mertens, Kelsey Fehr, Chi-Hung Shu, April Jauhal, Melissa B. Manus, Lishi Deng, Laeticia Celine Toe, Ameer Muhammed, Aneela Pasha, Yasir Shafiq, Naveed Iqbal, Waqasuddin Khan, Muhammad Imran Nisar, Jo-Anna B. Baxter, Megan R. Beggs, Niveda Sundararaman, Jennifer E. Van Eyk, Lars Bode, Alan Hubbard, Kim A. Lagerborg, Mohit Jain, Daniela Hampel, Setareh Shahab-Ferdows, Lindsay H. Allen, Carl Lachat, Mark D. DeBoer, Fyezah Jehan, Nima Aghaeepour, Liat Shenhav, Joann M. McDermid, and Meghan B. Azad. Science, October.

Shared Patterns of Human Milk Composition Link Mammary Gland Function to Infant Growth. Jauhal, April, Bianca Cordazzo-Vargas, Daniel Sunko, Pratima Niroula, Lishi Deng, Laeticia Celine Toe, Ameer Muhammad, Aneela Pasha, Yasir Shafiq, Naveed Iqbal, Waqasuddin Khan, Andrew Mertens, Kelsey Fehr, Joann M. McDermid, Melissa B. Manus, Chi-Hung Shu, Daniela Hampel, Setareh Shahab-Ferdows, Megan R. Beggs, Kim A. Lagerborg, Mohit Jain, Carl Lachat, Mark D. DeBoer, Jennifer Van Eyk, Natalie Rodriguez, Theo J. Moraes, Padmaja Subbarao, Alan Hubbard, Muhammad Imran Nisar, Lars Bode, Lindsay Allen, Donna Geddes, Michelle Kay McGuire, Nima Aghaeepour, Trenton Dailey-Chwalibóg, Fyezah Jehan, Meghan B. Azad, and Liat Shenhav. Science, October, eaee7240.

The Quo Vadis for COVADIS Diagnostic Criteria. Beltrame, John F., Peter Ong, Colin Berry, Paolo G. Camici, Filippo Crea, Javier Escaned, Juan Carlos Kaski, Carl J. Pepine, Udo Sechtem, Hiroaki Shimokawa, Tim P. van de Hoef, Satoshi Yasuda, Christopher J. Zeitz, C. Noel Bairey Merz, and Coronary Vasomotor Disorders International Study Group (COVADIS). Heart, Lung & Circulation, October, S1443-9506(26)00502-0.

Transseptal Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement for Mitral Annular Calcification: ENCIRCLE MAC Registry 1-Year Outcomes. Guerrero, Mayra E., David V. Daniels, Brian Whisenant, Raj R. Makkar, Pradeep Yadav, Vinod Thourani, Amar Krishnaswamy, Kamran I. Muhammad, Michael Morse, Evelio Rodriguez, Adam B. Greenbaum, Charanjit Rihal, Christine Chung, Alejandro Vasquez, Nicolas van Mieghem, Paul Sorajja, Philip Gideon, Thom G. Dahle, Jason Foerst, J. Bradley Oldemeyer, Neil Fam, Curtiss Stinis, Matthew J. Price, Oluseun Alli, Daniel Pu, Brian P. O’Neill, Dale Murdoch, John Wang, Philipp Blanke, Michael Pham, Federico M. Asch, John Webb, and ENCIRCLE Trial Study Investigators. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, September, S0735-1097(26)07442-5.

Use of Myocardial Perfusion Imaging to Guide Prognosis and Management in Older Adults: Is There an Age Limit? Patel, Krishna K., Robert J. H. Miller, Mark Lemley, Aakash Shanbhag, Giselle Ramirez, Joanna X. Liang, Wanda Acampa, Timothy M. Bateman, Sharmila Dorbala, Andrew J. Einstein, M. Timothy Hauser, Philipp A. Kaufmann, Attila Feher, Edward J. Miller, Terrence D. Ruddy, Tali Sharir, Julian Halcox, Monica Martins, Panithaya Chareonthaitawee, Samuel Wopperer, Thomas L. Rosamond, Rene R. S. Packard, Mouaz Al-Mallah, Isabel Carvajal-Juarez, Erick Alexanderson, Stacey Knight, Ronny R. Buechel, Leandro Slipczuk, Damini Dey, Daniel S. Berman, Marcelo Di Carli, and Piotr J. Slomka. Circulation. Cardiovascular Imaging, October, e019932.

Medicine

CEBPB Integrates OSM Signaling and eIF4G2-Mediated Alternative Translation to Configure Enhancer Landscape and Sustain Oncogenic CHI3L1 in Glioblastoma. Liu, Jiyang, Ying Zhang, Xiaoping Yi, Long Xie, Xingze Huang, Zhipeng Zhu, Zhongyuan Zhang, Jing Wang, Suya Zheng, Yongjie Wang, Hangzhe Xu, Yue Yu, Zeming Tan, Tuan Zea Tan, H. Phillip Koeffler, Ye Chen, and Liang Xu. Neuro-Oncology, October, noag246.

Challenges and Opportunities Facing Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a Contextually Relevant Research and Practice Agenda. Cooper, Sara, Gill Watermeyer, Dion Levin, Zozibini Mhlaba, Karin Davidson, Charles Bernstein, Dermot P. B. McGOvern, and David Epstein. Journal of Crohn’s & Colitis 20 (10): jjag135.

Characterisation of a Portuguese Origin Founder Missense Variant in MSH6. Melvill, Kenzie, Leora Witkowski, Céline Domecq, Nancy Hamel, Justin Mayers, Sofia Maia, Manuel R. Teixeira, Carla Pinto, Inês Francisco, Cristina Albuquerque, Léa Guerrini-Rousseau, Olivia C. Tan, Kevin McDonnell, Alexandra Capasso, George Chong, Victoria Marcus, and William D. Foulkes. European Journal of Human Genetics: EJHG, October.

Differential Impact of Tumor-Derived ESR1 Mutations on Elacestrant Benefit in Metastatic Breast Cancer. Sledge, George W., Joanne Xiu, Suzanne Fuqua, Jennifer R. Ribeiro, Heather McArthur, Matthew J. Oberley, Milan Radovich, David Spetzler, and Virginia Kaklamani. Clinical Cancer Research, October.

Etrasimod Reduces Circulating and Mucosal Inflammatory Lymphocyte Populations and Alters Innate Immune and Non-Immune Cell Signatures in Intestinal Mucosa: ELEVATE UC Phase 3 Clinical Data. Siegmund, Britta, Catherine M. Crosby, Rathi D. Ryan, Justin Smith, Maria T. Abreu, Séverine Vermeire, Iris Dotan, Keren M. Rabinowitz, H. Kiyomi Komori, Martina Goetsch, Karolina Wosik, John C. Woolcott, and Silvio Danese. Journal of Crohn’s & Colitis 20 (10): jjag159.

Exploration of the Genetic Architecture of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis. Byun, Jinyoung, Vikram R. Shaw, Catherine Zhu, Younghun Han, Ryan Sun, Zhihui Zhang, Xiangjun Xiao, Benjamin D. Pinder, Jinyi Zhang, Yohannes Tadesse, Thomas R. Riley, Sharon Chung, David Cuthbertson, Paul F. Dellaripa, Anisha B. Dua, Ora Gewurz-Singer, Lindsy J. Forbess, Carol A. Langford, Nader Khalidi, Curry Koening, Alfred D. Mahr, Carol McAlear, Paul A. Monach, Larry Moreland, Christian Pagnoux, E. Philip Seo, Ulrich Specks, Robert F. Spiera, Antoine Sreih, Jason M. Springer, E. William St Clair, Kenneth J. Warrington, Steven R. Ytterberg, Jeffrey C. Edberg, Peter C. Grayson, David Jayne, Rona Smith, Michael Walsh, Peter A. Merkel, Katherine A. Siminovitch, Christopher I. Amos, and Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium. EBioMedicine 133 (October): 106502.

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Induced Cardiovascular Disease: The Role of Accelerated Senescence in Vascular Dysfunction. Casso-Chapa, Bernardo, Angelica Paniagua-Bojorges, Nicolas L. Palaskas, Kevin T. Nead, Venkata S. K. Samanthapudi, Jonghae Lee, Gilbert Mejia, Oanh Hoang, Jung Hyun Kim, Steven H. Lin, Anita Deswal, Joerg Herrmann, Guangyu Wang, James L. Kirkland, Sunil Krishnan, Ying H. Shen, Syed Wamique Yusuf, Cezar A. Iliescu, Abhishek Jain, Norma Alicia Vazquez González, Keila Carolina Ostos Mendoza, Nordin M. J. Hanssen, Menno P. J. de Winther, Laurent Yvan-Charvet, Roza I. Nurieva, Keri Schadler, Efstratios Koutroumpakis, John P. Cooke, Sivareddy Kotla, Nhat-Tu Le, and Jun-Ichi Abe. Antioxidants & Redox Signaling 45 (16–18): 821–39.

Paracrine Bone-Derived Senescent Secretome Is Associated With Spatially Patterned ECM Remodeling and Altered Biomechanics in Human Brain Organoids. Kim, Chanul, Luke Daniel Ofria, Hossein Shaygani, Anannya Kshirsagar, Sai Kulkarni, Alan Y. Liu, James L. Kirkland, Annie Kathuria, and Maryam Tilton. Stem Cells, October, sxag057.

Phase 2 Trial of Icotrokinra for Patients With Ulcerative Colitis. Abreu, Maria T., Britta Siegmund, Lindsey Surace, Ngozi Erondu, Minhu Chen, Karen Chachu, Edouard Louis, Katsuyoshi Matsuoka, Jimmy Limdi, Edmund Arthur, Nicole Houck, Colleen Marano, Marion L. Vetter, Bin Zou, Joyce Zhan, Mary Ellen Frustaci, Arun K. Kannan, Grazyna Rydzewska, Edward V. Loftus, Vipul Jairath, and ANTHEM-UC Study Group. The New England Journal of Medicine 395 (15): 1495–1504.

Second- and Third-Line Outcomes After Selective RET Inhibitor Failure in RET Fusion-Positive Metastatic Lung Cancer: A Real-World Analysis From the RET-MAP Registry. Miliziano, Daniela, Julia K. Rotow, Meghanne Lomibao, Arianna Marinello, Helena Bote-de Cabo, Fabrizio Citarella, Lorenza Landi, Massimiliano Cani, Mariana Brandão, Jamie Feng, Sophie Cousin, Andrea De Giglio, Marco Tagliamento, Philippe Rochigneux, Florian Guisier, Lea Ruge, Annarita Avanzo, Francesca Colamartini, Francesco Cortiula, Vladmir Cordeiro de Lima, Antonio Calles, Patricia Iranzo, Barliz Waissengrin, Clarisse Audigier-Valette, Frank Aboubakar, Noemie Simon-Tillaux, Vinicius Ernani, Jordi Remon, Alessio Cortellini, David Planchard, Biagio Ricciuti, Benjamin Besse, Petros Christopoulos, Alexander Drilon, and Mihaela Aldea. Clinical Cancer Research, October.

Self-Reported Obesity Medicine Competence, Knowledge, and Attitudes Among US Medical Students: An Eight-School Pre- vs. Post-Intervention Study. Pasarica, Magdalena, Robert F. Kushner, Angelina V. Leary, Amber Mirando, Ricardo Correa, Monica Agarwal, Eduardo Grunvald, Sadie Trammell Velasquez, Virginia Uhley, Jonathan Q. Purnell, Dee-Ann Carpenter, Amanda Velazquez, Gabriel Smolarz, FORWARDQI group, Colleen Croniger, Mark S. Johnson, Julie Loza, Andrew Mock, and Kim Pfotenhauer. Journal of General Internal Medicine, October.

Severity-Associated Endothelial Dysfunction in Post-COVID-19 Patients: Flow-Mediated Dilation and Vasoactive Biomarkers. Palii, Svitlana M., Boryslav Selskyy, Svyatoslav Kostiv, Anastasia Voitovych, Kateryna Kozak, Oksana Shevchuk, Mykhaylo Korda, and Sandor G. Vari. Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis, October.

Neurology

Activating Systemic Inflammation With Lipopolysaccharide Drives Microglia-Mediated Degradation of Perineuronal Nets After Cervical Spinal Cord Injury in Female Rats. Cucarian, Jaison, Ram Rakheja, Kale R. Scatterty, Edward Armstrong, Sydney Storvold, Antoinette T. Nguyen, Keith Fenrich, Joshua E. Burda, Steve Lacroix, and Karim Fouad. Experimental Neurology, October, 116068.

Combining the Central Vein Sign and Paramagnetic Rim Lesions in the Evaluation of Multiple Sclerosis Misdiagnosis. Lee, Joshua D., Brian Renner, Elaina Luskin, Brooke L. Guerrero, Andrew J. Solomon, Nancy L. Sicotte, Pascal Sati, and Marwa Kaisey. Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders 115 (October): 107960.

Financial Burden, Non-Medical Drivers of Health, and Early Caregiving Role Formation After Stroke: A Scoping Review. Okpala, Munachi, Mariel Flake-Rojas, Edwin Akomaning, Shelby Woodall, Alexis Simpkins, Okechukwu Chukwuekezie, Layomi Oladunjoye, and Anjail Z. Sharrief. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, October, 1–11.

Neurosurgery

Advanced Practice Providers in Spinal CSF Leak Programs: A Multi-Institutional Study of Current Roles and Perceived Impact on Patient Care. Madhavan, Ajay A., Michelle L. Kodet, Peter G. Kranz, Timothy J. Amrhein, Mark D. Mamlouk, Andrew Callen, Gayle Salama, J. Levi Chazen, Vinil Shah, Wouter I. Schievink, Rachelle Tache, Ian T. Mark, Anousheh Sayah, Miriam E. Peckam, Lubdha Shah, Amish H. Doshi, Ian Carroll, and E. Hope Weant. AJNR. American Journal of Neuroradiology, October, ajnr.A9679.

Safety and Efficacy of Repeat Surgery for Recurrent Craniopharyngiomas: A RAPID Consortium Collaboration. Shih, Ryan M., Maya Harary, Marvin Bergsneider, Marilene Wang, Anthony P. Heaney, Kyle C. Wu, Daniel M. Prevedello, James J. Evans, Michael R. Chicoine, Albert H. Kim, Julie M. Silverstein, Michael Karsy, Jamie J. Van Gompel, Sandhya Palit, Donato R. Pacione, Paul Gardner, Stephanie Cheok, Nathan Zwagerman, Varun R. Kshettry, Robert C. Rennert, William T. Couldwell, Garni Barkhoudarian, Juan C. Fernandez-Miranda, Gabriel Zada, Carolina G. Benjamin, Michael P. Catalino, Adam Mamelak, Daniel Gomez, Georgios Zenonos, Michelle Magaña Mendoza, Andrew S. Little, and Won Kim. Neurosurgery, October.

OBGYN

Optimizing Longitudinal Follow-up After Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: A Quality Improvement Initiative. Fabricant, Sonya, Matthew Cervantes, Glenda Marshall, Ojiugo Onwumere, Natalie A. Bello, Emily Seet, Mariam Naqvi, and Sarah Kilpatrick. Pregnancy 2 (6): e70480.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Circulating Oligodendrocyte-Derived Extracellular Vesicle Surface Markers in Athletes Exposed to Repetitive Head Impacts: An Exploratory Study. Mitsuhashi, Masato, Haiping Sun, Li Xing, Akihiro Hirata, Yuko Oguma, Hiroyuki Ishida, Keisuke Kawata, Viviana Jimenez, and Vernon B. Williams. Frontiers in Neurology 17: 1915481.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

From ISO 9001:2015 to ISO 20387:2018: A Proposed Implementation Roadmap for Biobanks. Zuniga, Michael, Denis Marino, Gabriele Hartl, Berthold Huppertz, Zisis Kozlakidis, and Karine Sargsyan. Frontiers in Genetics 17: 1953941.

Modern Approaches to Cancer Biobanking: Quality Assurance, Methodological Innovation, Equity, and Collaborative Infrastructure. Michalska-Falkowska, Anna, Denis Marino, and Karine Sargsyan. Biopreservation and Biobanking, October, 19475535261497228.

Quinolinic Acid Contributes to Maladaptive Kidney Injury and Acute Kidney Injury-to-Chronic Kidney Disease Transition. Saade, Marie Christelle, Afaf Saliba, Amanda J. Clark, Subrata Debnath, Shiqi Zhang, Nagarjunachary Ragi, Valerie Etzrodt, Rahil Al-Humaidi, Kyle Vu, Yu Tao, Esmeralda Trevino, Alejandra L. Lorenzen, Guanshi Zhang, Anders H. Berg, Jason C. O’Connor, Samir M. Parikh, and Kumar Sharma. Science Translational Medicine 18 (871): eaec9689.

Pediatrics

Paediatric Therapeutic Development Workshop on Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumours. Baxter, Joseph S., Jan J. Molenaar, Arushi Agrawal, Ana Teresa Amaral, Patricia Blanc, Nikki Bowdidge, Richard Bowdidge, Bernadette Brennan, Michela Casanova, David da Silva Moura, Sam Daems, Laura Danielson, Cancer Grand Challenge Protect team, et al. British Journal of Cancer, October.

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

Social Drivers of Health and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Stafford, Cleo, Arpit Arora, Edmond Benedetti, Priya Chandan, Prateek Grover, Serena Satcher, Scott Laker, Devon McFedries, and Melanie Dolak. PM & R: The Journal of Injury, Function, and Rehabilitation, October.

Radiation Oncology

A Syngeneic Murine Glioma Model Recapitulates Key Molecular, Immunologic, and Functional Features of Human Glioblastoma to Enable Therapeutic Development. Grausam, Katie B., Marissa S. Pioso, Julio C. Sanchez, Marissa Li, David Rincon Fernandez Pacheco, Emily A. Hatanaka, Gilbert Herrera, Thomas J. Lai, Eddie Lu, Paul W. Linesch, Naomi Kobritz, Trinh L. Phan, Sophie Ashley, Ariel A. Andrade, Lauren Markus, Jingwen Yao, Xuemo Fan, Bohyeon Yu, Aaron A. Diaz, Linda M. Liau, Moise Danielpour, David A. Nathanson, Robert M. Prins, Joshua J. Breunig, and Stephen L. Shiao. Cancer Research, October.

Surgery

Clinical Practice Guideline: Tinnitus Update. Adams, Meredith E., John D. Cramer, David E. Tunkel, Victoria S. Lee, James A. Bourgeois, Adrien A. Eshraghi, Marc A. Fagelson, Kayla B. White, Amy F. Juliano, Helen Kim, Brianna Kuzbyt, Patrick A. Lynch, Mia Miller, Kathryn Y. Noonan, Pamela C. Roehm, Scott R. Schaffer, LaGuinn P. Sherlock, Kristen K. Steenerson, Margaret Wallhagen, Tara L. Zaugg, and Zarah Akrami. Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, 175 Suppl 1 (October): S1–62.

Executive Summary of the Clinical Practice Guideline on Tinnitus Update. Adams, Meredith E., John D. Cramer, David E. Tunkel, Victoria S. Lee, James A. Bourgeois, Adrien A. Eshraghi, Marc A. Fagelson, Kayla B. White, Amy F. Juliano, Helen Kim, Brianna Kuzbyt, Patrick A. Lynch, Mia Miller, Kathryn Y. Noonan, Pamela C. Roehm, Scott R. Schaffer, LaGuinn P. Sherlock, Kristen K. Steenerson, Margaret Wallhagen, Tara L. Zaugg, and Zarah Akrami. Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, 175 (4): 739–56.

Has the Use of Enhanced Recovery Protocols in IBD Surgery Increased Postoperative Bleeding Complications? Aviran, Eyal, Dan Assaf, Karen Zaghiyan, and Phillip Fleshner. American Journal of Surgery 262 (October): 117281.

Orbital Abscess Complicating Allergic Fungal Rhinosinusitis Due to Streptococcus Halichoeri: A Rare Zoonotic Sinonasal Infection. Bashiri, Sowgand, Shazia Lutfeali, Jonathan Grein, Dennis M. Tang, and Arthur W. Wu. The Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology, October, 34894261497528.

Pushing the Envelope With a Single Cut. Brownlee, Andrew R., and Harmik J. Soukiasian. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, October, S0003-4975(26)01030-1.

Vitamin D Deficiency, Supplementation, and Aging-Related Morbidity and Mortality Across Two Longitudinal Population Cohorts. Israel, Ariel, Abraham Weizman, Sarah Israel, Shai Ashkenazi, Eytan Ruppin, Eli Magen, Eugene Merzon, and Shlomo Vinker. Aging Cell 25 (10): e70752.

Urology

Cribriform and Intraductal Carcinoma in Prostate Cancer - Implications for Risk Stratification and Therapeutic Decision-Making. Bernardino, Rui M., João Lobo, Zeyad Schwen, Theodorus van der Kwast, Adam B. Weiner, Robert E. Reiter, Jane K. Nguyen, Estevão Lima, Robert Stein, Nicolas Soputro, Rashed Ghandour, Alp Tuna Beksac, Karim Daher, Ricardo Leão, Mark L. Gonzalgo, Roderick van den Bergh, Juan Garisto, Giancarlo Marra, Jennifer Le Guévelou Kammerer, Sara M. Falzarano, Cristina Magi-Galuzzi, Cosimo De Nunzio, Susan Prendeville, Neil Fleshner, Jihad Kaouk, and Riccardo Autorino. Nature Reviews. Urology, October.

Real-World Overall Survival With Abiraterone Acetate and Enzalutamide in Patients With Chemotherapy-Naïve Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer From the Flatiron Electronic Health Records Database. George, Daniel J., Jasmina I. Ivanova, Maëlys Touya, Betty Thompson, Jonathan Assayag, Benjamin Li, Nikolaos Kountouris, Gordon Siu, and Stephen J. Freedland. Cancer Medicine 15 (10): e72356.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

“Our findings provide a strong mechanistic rationale for studying GLP-1 medicines as potential treatments for heart failure,” said David Lefer, PhD, director of Translational Research in the Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai and co-senior author of the study.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, investigated the drugs’ effects on heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. The incurable disorder, in which the heart pumps out blood normally but is too stiff to fill properly, accounts for more than half of the roughly 6.7 million heart failure cases in the U.S. each year, according to the American College of Cardiology.

Investigators administered low doses of semaglutide, a GLP-1 drug, to laboratory rats and minipigs with a condition that mimics a subtype of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction that is associated with obesity. They found that while the drug didn’t reduce overall body weight, it significantly reduced the heart’s stiffness. The drug also reduced heart enlargement and tissue scarring. The researchers were encouraged to observe that the drug also cleared damaging fat around the heart and liver.

“This opens the door to potentially prescribing GLP-1s at low doses to achieve major cardiovascular protection while minimizing common side effects,” said Traci Goodchild, PhD, professor of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute and co-senior author of the study.

The authors emphasized that the study’s findings do not diminish the well-established benefits of weight loss for the heart. Instead, the results indicate that GLP-1 therapy may provide additional, direct cardiovascular benefits independent of weight loss.

“These data suggest that low-dose semaglutide has powerful protective effects on the heart independent of its impact on weight loss,” said Mahmoud Elbatreek, PhD, a project scientist in the Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute and lead author of the study.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Zhen Li, Xiaoman Yu, Miguel Huerta, Xinheng Zhang, Hsin-Jung R. Yang and Michael E. Bowdish.

Additional authors include Natalie D. Gehred, Tatiana Gromova, Jingshu Chen, Naoto Muraoka, Martin Borch Jensen, Vinay Kartha, Chris Carrico, Timothy D. Allerton, Sanjiv J. Shah, Kathleen C. Woulfe, Timothy A. McKinsey, Edwin Yoo, David J. Polhemus and Thomas M. Vondriska.

Funding: This study was supported by NIH HL181016 (D.J.L.), NIH HL105699 (T.M.V.), NIH HL174996 (T.M.V. and D.J.L.), NIH HL159428 (T.T.G.). D.J.L. was supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM, PDEV-19141). N.D.G. was supported by the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship PRE1026591. T.A.M. was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants R01HL171711 and HL181226 and an American Heart Association Collaborative Sciences Award (24CSA1255857). H.-J.R.Y. was supported by National Institutes of Health grants 1R01HL165211 and1R01HL181091. D.J.P. was supported by a (NIH) Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Training Grant (5T32HL007227).

Disclosure of interest: J.C., N.M., M.B.J., V.K., and C.C. work for Gordian Biotechnology. S.J.S. is a consultant for Abbott, Alleviant, Amgen, Aria CV, AstraZeneca, Axon Therapies, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Corvia, Cyclerion, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eidos, Eli Lilly, Imara, Impulse Dynamics, Intellia, Ionis, Merck, MyoKardia, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regeneron, Rivus, Shifamed, Tenax, Tenaya, and Ultromics. T.A.M. is a co- founder of Myracle Therapeutics, is on the scientific advisory boards of Eikonizo Therapeutics and Revier Therapeutics and is a consultant for Augustine Therapeutics. All other authors declare no disclosure of interest for this contribution.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Ahead of accepting the honor, Wyle shared his connection to Cedars-Sinai. “As an Angeleno, I’ve got a lot of ties to Cedars-Sinai, my first child was born there,” he said. “A lot of our background nurses and experts come from the Cedars staff, so we owe them a debt of gratitude that we're just paying back a small percentage of tonight, by trying to raise money.”

The Schwartzberg family received the Philanthropic Leadership Award in recognition of their decades of meaningful service, mentorship and transformative support of Cedars-Sinai’s mission and the wellbeing of the broader Los Angeles community.

Jaime Schwartzberg said Cedars-Sinai has played an instrumental role in her family’s health. “Andrew and I are incredibly honored to receive the Philanthropic Leadership Award from an institution that has meant so much to our family,” she shared. “Our relationship with Cedars began at one of the most frightening times in our lives, when our youngest daughter, Kate, had serious medical complications and ended up at Cedars in an induced coma. When you're a parent in that situation your entire world becomes very small. We will never forget the extraordinary doctors and nurses at Cedars-Sinai, who cared for Kate and our family during that time.”

Attendees raised more than $3.1 million to support the Board of Governors Innovation to Impact campaign, a $60 million fundraising initiative focused on advancing early-stage research across five critical areas: children’s health, cancer, neurosciences, autoimmune diseases and metabolic diseases, and aging. Scientific discoveries in single-cell technology are central to the initiative, empowering investigators to study diseased cells at the individual level to uncover root causes of complex medical conditions and develop new care options for patients.

“With deep appreciation, I recognize the Board of Governors for extraordinary generosity and commitment to advancing discovery,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai and the David and Meredith Kaplan Presidential Chair. “The Board of Governors’ work empowers Cedars-Sinai investigators to pursue bold ideas, translate breakthroughs into care and create new hope for patients and families.”

Actress Katherine LaNasa, who also stars in “The Pitt,” presented The Hollywood Leadership Award to Wyle, Wells and Gemmill. The award recognized the series’ authentic portrayal of life in the emergency department and its commitment to depicting the realities of emergency medicine with accuracy and heart.

“Fate and HBO brought these remarkable men together to bring ‘The Pitt’ into being,” LaNasa said. “John creates a culture of respect in which artists can do their best work. Scott protects the show’s vision, truth and authenticity, and Noah sets the standard for our ensemble with his generosity and humility.”

LaNasa also paid tribute to the dedicated healthcare professionals at Cedars-Sinai. “Dana, the character I play, is a love letter to the nurses whose skill, strength and kindness have meant so much in my own life,” she added. “Dr. Sam Torbati, chair of Cedars-Sinai’s Department of Emergency Medicine, and the exceptional team of caregivers in the ED meet people in their most difficult moments with a remarkable presence of mind.”

The historic Warner Bros. Studios lot—home to the sound stage where “The Pitt” is filmed—was transformed into an immersive Hollywood experience centered on purpose and celebration. Attendees—including event co-chairs Casey Bloys, chair of the Board of Governors and co-chair and chief creative officer of Skydance Direct to Consumer, and Richard Weitz, co-chair of the WME Group—joined celebrities Fiona Dourif, Grant Show, Scott Budnick and Katie Wincor Hacker on the red carpet.

A live auction featured a luxury vacation to Los Cabos, Mexico, tickets to the global premiere of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” and an exclusive opportunity to travel aboard the Los Angeles Rams’ team charter for an unforgettable, away-game weekend against the San Francisco 49ers. Award-winning musician Andy Grammer closed the evening with a special performance of songs including “Love Showed Up” from his sixth studio album, “Big Stupid Heart,” set for release on October 16 (S-Curve Records/Hollywood Records).

Event sponsors included Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Television, HBO Max, City National Bank, Douglas Emmett, Smidt Foundation, Adi & Jerry Greenberg, and acclaimed Beverly Hills steakhouse, Steak 48, which provided a signature pop-up dining experience. In-kind partners included A3 visual, Aero, Amazon Web Services, Chameleon Beverage, EZPZ, FabFitFun, Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane, Los Angeles Rams, Sōgo, Sweetgreen, Levain, Pink’s Hot Dogs and Van Leeuwen.

Media Contact

Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis | cedarssinaigala@ssmandl.com

The therapeutic nanoparticle, called HerDox2.0, was developed by Lali Medina-Kauwe, PhD, professor of Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai and associate director of Basic Research at Cedars-Sinai Cancer.

“Acceptance into the elite Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory program will provide thorough testing of HerDox2.0 by top experts in the field, moving us toward our goal of submitting it to the Food and Drug Administration as an Investigational New Drug,” Medina-Kauwe said.

The particle works like a cancer “smart bomb,” connecting with a protein called HER3, which helps it cross the protective blood-brain barrier and target and penetrate tumor cells. Medina-Kauwe has been working on the particle for decades and most recently described it in a 2025 paper in Nature Nanotechnology.

“We’ve put a huge amount of preclinical work into this, so I knew the technology was ready. Having the program help move it to the next stage is a huge jump for us,” Medina-Kauwe said. “The program will provide advanced-level analysis that otherwise would have required hiring a third party at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory analysis will help determine the physical and chemical properties of the formulation, evaluate the particle’s compatibility with and stability in human blood, assess potential immune responses the particle might elicit, and evaluate general toxicity of the formulation. Testing will also evaluate whether the particle can be manufactured consistently and in larger-scale batches for clinical use.

The Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory, operated at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, was founded in 2004 in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to expedite the development of promising nanotech therapies and diagnostics. To date, the laboratory has tested more than 1,000 nanomaterials and worked with more than 250 academic researchers and companies.

“We are happy to welcome Dr. Medina-Kauwe’s team to the NCL’s Assay Cascade Characterization Program,” said Marina Dobrovolskaia, PhD, NCL co-director and director of Operations.

Acceptance into the program required a written application describing key features of the particle, followed by a live presentation to a panel of nanotechnology, pharmacological and pharmaceutical experts regarding the particle’s possible path to clinical use.

“Even as we are offering patients leading-edge therapies, we are looking to new treatments on the horizon,” said Robert Figlin, MD, associate dean of Cedars-Sinai Cancer Care. “Acceptance of HerDox2.0 into this prestigious program highlights the level of translational work Dr. Medina-Kauwe and her team are doing to bring novel therapies to our patients.”

Medina-Kauwe said HerDox2.0 has advantages over currently available therapies, as well as some in development. And while it has potential against several cancer types, breast cancer that has spread to the brain will be the team’s first target if the therapy makes it to clinical trials.

“The best treatment currently available for brain metastatic breast cancer is systemic chemotherapy, which can be hard on the body,” Medina-Kauwe said. “And metastatic tumors are generally resistant to chemotherapy. Our work so far has shown that our particle penetrates tumor cells but spares healthy tissue. We’re focusing on these tumors first because we believe we can make a big difference for patients.”

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Andrew J. Hung, MD, a urologist and minimally invasive robotic surgery specialist in the Cedars-Sinai Department of Urology, will serve as co-director of the new center. Partnering with Hung as co-director is Michael C. Yip, PhD, who joins Cedars-Sinai from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and holds a joint faculty appointment in Urology and Computational Biomedicine.

At UCSD, Yip directed the Advanced Robotics and Controls Laboratory and developed expertise in surgical robotics, machine learning and autonomous systems. Together, Hung and Yip form a surgeon-scientist partnership designed to bridge the gap between the operating room and the engineering lab.

“For too long, the development of surgical robots has happened at a distance from the operating room, but the Center for Autonomous Robotic Surgery changes that,” said Hung, an internationally recognized leader in the integration of AI and machine learning into robotic surgery. “As surgeons, we know what good surgery looks like. By embedding clinical expertise directly into the engineering process, we can build autonomous systems that surgeons will trust and patients will benefit from. This is where the future of robotic surgery will be built.”

Hung’s experience in robotic surgery and research into AI-driven surgical performance metrics will help guide how autonomous systems function in the operating room. Yip’s engineering science innovation will make the vision possible.

Together, they plan to develop the next generation of surgical robots and surgeon-driven autonomous systems designed to augment a surgeon’s clinical judgment rather than replace it, making it possible to treat more complex diseases and reach more patients. The goal is to make surgery safer, more precise and more available.

“Surgical robotics has reached a turning point,” Yip said. “We now have the tools, from machine learning to advanced sensing, to build systems that genuinely understand the surgical environment and be able to autonomously support the surgical team in real time. Co-creating this center at Cedars-Sinai gives me the opportunity to bring the leading edge in surgical robot intelligence into clinical practice, working directly with physicians who are treating patients every day to make sure it is translated responsibly and effectively.”

As the co-directors embark on this new initiative for Cedars-Sinai, Hung and Yip are recruiting clinicians, engineers and data scientists to join the center’s multidisciplinary team building the future of robotic surgery.

“The launch of the Center for Autonomous Robotic Surgery marks a pivotal moment for surgical innovation at Cedars-Sinai,” said Jeffrey A. Golden, MD, executive vice dean of Research and Education and director of the Burns and Allen Research Institute. “Dr. Hung and Dr. Yip represent exactly the kind of partnership we need to move this field forward. Their respective leadership will give the Center for Autonomous Robotic Surgery a rare ability to develop autonomous systems that are both scientifically rigorous and grounded in real patient care.”

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights: How AI Is Turning Medical Intuition Into Evidence

Cedars-Sinai in the News

Screen Time and Kids: Setting Healthy Digital Boundaries | WebMD Health Discovered Podcast
Jane Tavyev Asher, MD

Pros and Cons of At-Home A1C Testing for Type 2 Diabetes | Everyday Health
Ruchi Mathur, MD

Burps and Farts: Why the Body Is Such a Gas | Science News Explores
Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS

The Drug Trends Worrying Behavioral Health Leaders Most | Becker’s Behavioral Health
Itai Danovitch, MD

Can the BPC-157 ‘Wolverine’ Peptide Really Help With Pain and Recovery? | Healthline
Bert Mandelbaum, MD

What It’s Like To Care for a Partner With Alzheimer’s | Everyday Health
Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH

Building a Scalable Obesity Care Team: Dr. Amanda Velazquez | American Journal of Managed Care Online
Amanda Velazquez, MD

GLP-1s Could Offer Unexpected Relief From Back and Knee Pain, But Doctors Urge Caution | Morningstar
Andrew Bach, DO

Does Drinking Coffee Prevent Cancer? | Cancer Therapy Advisor
Hyunseok Kim, MD, MPH, PhD

Faculty Publications

Biomedical Sciences

Improved Plaque Composition From Intensive Medical Treatment in Women With Angina and Non-Obstructive Coronary Disease. Lenell, Joel, Guadalupe Flores Tomasino, Donghee Han, Rafal Wolny, Caroline Park, Kajetan Grodecki, Jacek Kwiecinski, Emily Xing, Nipun Manral, Folahanmi Asebiomo, Divyani Goyal, Vinicius F. Calsavara, Osama Dasa, Daniel S. Berman, Piotr J. Slomka, Matthew Budoff, Eileen Handberg, Colin Berry, Carl J. Pepine, Janet Wei, Leslee Shaw, Martha Gulati, Noel Bairey Merz, Balaji Tamarappoo, and Damini Dey. Cardiovascular Research, October, cvag174.

Multiomic Analysis of Malignant Ascites Defines RORC-Expressing Dendritic Cells at Sites of Metastasis. Blum, Steven M., Thomas L. Chan, Neal P. Smith, Courtney Ambrose, Katherine H. Xu, Alice Tirard, Nandini Samanta, Sidney Martin, Roya Best, Elizabeth Tuttle, Christopher T. Stueber, Yuhui Song, Vaishnavi R. Yalala, Haley Barnes, Sean T. Bannon, Chloe Simms, Benjamin Y. Arnold, Mushriq Al-Jazrawe, Joseph J. Zhao, Kamil Slowikowski, Jessica Tantivit, Kasidet Manakongtreecheep, Lukas M. Altenburger, Simon Knott, Matthew R. Strickland, Michael G. Drage, Linda T. Nieman, Jesse S. Boehm, Raghav Sundar, Gary Reynolds, Samuel J. Klempner, and Alexandra-Chloé Villani. Science Immunology 11 (124): eaeb9068.

Non-Rigid Motion-Compensated MR Multitasking for Free-Breathing Low-Dose Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI in the Abdomen. Ma, Lingceng, Chaowei Wu, Lixia Wang, Hsu-Lei Lee, Junzhou Chen, Zheyuan Hu, Yibin Xie, Stephen J. Pandol, Srinivas Gaddam, Debiao Li, and Anthony G. Christodoulou. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, October.

Performance of the PREVENT Heart Failure Risk Score and Correlation With Microvascular Dysfunction and Coronary Plaque Burden in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis. Usiskin, Ilana M., Katherine Zhong, Ying Qi, Lauren Rusnak, Andrew Cagan, Yumeko Kawano, Gregory C. McDermott, Tianrun Cai, Sara M. Sweet, Vidul Panickan, Alexandra A. Josephson, Tianxi Cai, Damini Dey, Marcelo Di Carli, Daniel H. Solomon, Jennifer E. Ho, Brittany Weber, and Katherine P. Liao. American Journal of Preventive Cardiology 30 (December): 101734.

Ras Protein Activator-like 3 Is a Key Ras GTPase-Activating Protein That Protects the Survival and Anti-Tumor Activity of CD8+ T Cells. Peng, Zhenzi, Xinyi Zhou, Alato Okuno, Derick Okwan-Duodu, and Suguru Saito. Frontiers in Immunology 17: 1893111.

Cardiac Surgery

Benign Emergence of Pathological Q Waves Following Minimally Invasive Direct Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: A Case Series. Liu, Hailei, Laura DiChiacchio, Michael Shehata, Ashkan Ehdaie, Tarun Chakravarty, Raj R. Makkar, Mamoo Nakamura, Xunzhang Wang, Sumeet S. Chugh, Joanna Chikwe, and Dominic Emerson. Journal of Surgical Case Reports 2026 (10): rjag873.

Semaglutide, Independent of Weight Loss, Attenuates Cardiac and Hepatic Remodelling in Experimental Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction. Elbatreek, Mahmoud H., Zhen Li, Xiaoman Yu, Natalie D. Gehred, Tatiana Gromova, Jingshu Chen, Miguel Huerta, Naoto Muraoka, Martin Borch Jensen, Vinay Kartha, Chris Carrico, Timothy D. Allerton, Xinheng Zhang, Hsin-Jung R. Yang, Michael E. Bowdish, Sanjiv J. Shah, Kathleen C. Woulfe, Timothy A. McKinsey, Edwin Yoo, David J. Polhemus, Thomas M. Vondriska, David J. Lefer, and Traci T. Goodchild. European Heart Journal, October, ehag732.

The Pros and Cons of National Databases. Kim, Richard W. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, October, S0003-4975(26)01004-0.

Cardiology

Agatston-2.0: A Next-Generation AI-Based Coronary Calcium Quantification Approach to Improve Risk Stratification Among Individuals With Zero Agatston Scores - Part I: An AI-CVD Study Within the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Framingham Heart Study. Naghavi, Morteza, Amir Azimi, Kyle Atlas, Anthony P. Reeves, Chenyu Zhang, Seyed Reza Mirjalili, Mohammadhossein Mozafarybazargany, Amir Ghaffari Jolfayi, Ali Hashemi, Thomas Atlas, Jakob Wasserthal, Rozemarijn Vliegenthart, Claudia I. Henschke, David F. Yankelevitz, Andrea D. Branch, Sion K. Roy, Jamal S. Rana, Zahi A. Fayad, Oren Mechanic, Koen Nieman, Jagat Narula, Roxana Mehran, Prediman K. Shah, John A. Rumberger, Kim A. Williams Sr, Paolo Raggi, David J. Maron, Michael V. McConnell, Robert A. Kloner, Matthew J. Budoff, Nathan D. Wong, and Arthur S. Agatston. American Journal of Preventive Cardiology 30 (December): 101698.

Bioactive Lipids of Cardiorespiratory Fitness Insights From Exercise Models in Humans, Mice, and Burmese Pythons. Guseh, J. Sawalla, Athar Roshandelpoor, Mona Alotaibi, Shahrooz Zarbafian, Emily S. Lau, Alexandra Kuznetsov, Anthony Rosenzweig, Nima Saeidi, Amit Choudhary, Mohit Jain, Susan Cheng, Gregory D. Lewis, and Jennifer E. Ho. Circulation. Genomic and Precision Medicine, October, e005720.

Cardiovascular Emergency Action Planning in the United States Military. Dean, John-Henry L., Matthew A. Soderstrom, Andrea N. Keithler, M. Alaric Franzos, Mark Haigney, Eli M. Friedman, Caroline E. Murphy, and Bradley J. Petek. Military Medicine, October, usag460.

Comprehensive Aortic Stenosis Characterization Using Multiview Deep Learning. Ieki, Hirotaka, Yuki Sahashi, Miloš Vukadinovic, Meenal Rawlani, Christina Binder, Neal Yuan, Andrew P. Ambrosy, Alan S. Go, Wansu Chen, Ming-Sum Lee, Bryan He, Paul Cheng, and David Ouyang. JACC. Cardiovascular Imaging 19 (10): 1186–1200.

Empagliflozin Improves Angina and Endothelial Dysfunction Indices in Angina and No Obstructive Coronary Arteries (ANOCA). Tapp, Danielle N., Sukhleen Kaur, Olga Toleva, Paxson Tipler, Namrita Ashokprabhu, Pooja Acharya, Christian W. Schmidt, Leslie Korbee, Michelle Hamstra, Michael Tranter, Andreas Tzoumas, Ayushi Mohan, Shesh N. Rai, Dirk J. Duncker, John Beltrame, Steve Miner, C. Noel Bairey Merz, Timothy D. Henry, A. Phillip Owens, and Odayme Quesada. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, October.

Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhea Phenotype and Cardiovascular Disease Risk. Shufelt, Chrisandra L., Jennifer J. Stuart, Jana Karam, Xiaoyu Che, JoAnn E. Manson, Karen K. Miller, Kathy Rexrode, Stephanie Faubion, Sarah Berga, C. Noel Bairey Merz, and Janet W. Rich-Edwards. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, October, dgag405.

Computational Biomedicine

Enriching Public Pathogen Genomic Records With Patient Metadata: Quantitative Study and Exploratory Case Analysis. Pavia, Michael J., Karen O’Connor, Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez, and Matthew Scotch. JMIR Bioinformatics and Biotechnology 7 (October): e92529.

Omics Data DiscOvery Agents: Agent-Supported Retrieval, Reanalysis, and Synthesis of Published Omics Data. Hutton, Alexandre, and Jesse G. Meyer. PLoS Computational Biology 22 (10): e1014822.

Pediatric Developmental Safety Assessment and New Approach Methodologies: US FDA/Triangle CERSI Workshop Report. Burckart, Gilbert J., Gelareh Abulwerdi, Christin L. Daniels, Calib Choi, Rebecca Racz, Jean-Pierre Valentin, Kristin Ardlie, Nicholas Tatonetti, Susan Laffan, Marjory Moreau, Will Redfern, Lang Li, James J. Hickman, Rajanikanth Madabushi, Bhagwat Prasad, Lynne Yao, and Paul B. Watkins. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, October.

Medicine

ACG Clinical Guideline: Preventive Care for Patients With Cirrhosis. Tapper, Elliot B., Ani Kardashian, Jose Debes, Janet GripshOver, Andrew M. Moon, John J. Kim, and Jennifer C. Lai. The American Journal of Gastroenterology, October.

Belimumab Prevention Against Organ Damage Over 8 Years and Safety up to 13 Years: Three Pooled Open-Label, Long-Term Extension SLE Studies. Touma, Zahi, Cristina Arriens, Maria G. Tektonidou, Ricard Cervera, Roger A. Levy, Anne Hammer, and Daniel J. Wallace. Lupus Science & Medicine 13 (2): e002199.

Dynamic Prediction of the Development of Extrahepatic Organ Failures in ICU Patients With Decompensated Cirrhosis. Yeo, Yee Hui, Linjie Que, Mengyi Zhang, Jian Zu, Yuankai Wu, Dian-Jung Chiang, Tao Chen, Yu Shi, Yingli He, Fengping Wu, Feng Han, Qing-Lei Zeng, Yu-Chen Fan, Hirsh D. Trivedi, Xiaogang Xiang, Yadong Wang, Yu Chen, Ju Dong Yang, Jun Li, Rajiv Jalan, and Fanpu Ji. eGastroenterology 4 (3): e100463.

Early-Life Microbiota Direct an Epithelial S100 Program Required for Neonatal Immunity. Negi, Shikha, Seika Hashimoto-Hill, Amanda Waddell, Laura Engleman, Maggie Lutz, Taylor Rice, Lee A. Denson, Bruce A. Vallance, Nurit P. Azouz, Philippe A. Tessier, Sergei I. Grivennikov, Hitesh Deshmukh, and Theresa Alenghat. Science Translational Medicine 18 (870): eadx6147.

Endotrophin Is a Circulating Fibroinflammatory Biomarker Associated With Treatment Response in Human Metastatic ER+ Breast Cancer. Santos, Bethania, Dawei Bu, Megan Virostek, Ethan Johnson, Cheryl Lewis, Lavanya Vumma, Sunati Sahoo, Yan Peng, Ningyan Zhang, Zhiqiang An, Heather McArthur, Philipp E. Scherer, and Joshua J. Gruber. Clinical Cancer Research, October.

HIV and Antiretroviral Therapy Influence Tumor Microenvironment Architecture, Subclonal Evolution, and Immune Evasion Strategies in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Coelho, Jenny, Sophia M. Roush, Samantha Beck, Albert Wielgus, Alexander M. Xu, Amon Chirwa, Marriam Mponda, Edwards Kasonkanji, Maurice Mulenga, Tamiwe Tomoka, Satish Gopal, Akil Merchant, Matthew S. Painschab, and Yuri Fedoriw. Cancer Research Communications, October.

Mechanical Thrombectomy Versus Anticoagulation Alone in Intermediate-High Risk PE: Improved Functional 90-Day Outcomes in STORM-PE RCT. Rosovsky, Rachel P., Stavros V. Konstantinides, Ido Weinberg, Suhail Y. Dohad, Zachary Rosol, Jakub Stępniewski, John M. Moriarty, Sahil A. Parikh, Andrew Holden, Richard N. Channick, Braedon McDonald, Khanjan H. Nagarsheth, Yuri Matusov, Robert A. Lookstein, and STORM-PE Trial Investigators and Collaborators. JACC. Cardiovascular Interventions, October, S1936-8798(26)02391-5.

Nuclear Prohibitin 1 Depletion Drives Alcohol-Associated Liver Injury and Sensitization to Colon Cancer Liver Metastasis. Chhimwal, Jyoti, Sonal Sinha, Jina Kim, Mario Alba, Lucía Barbier-Torres, Jiaohong Wang, Heping Yang, Youngyi Lim, Ramachandran Murali, Maria Lauda Tomasi, Sungyong You, José M. Mato, and Shelly C. Lu. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, October, e206235.

Reply: Referent Choice and Dose - Response Modeling Behind Moderate, Unsweetened Coffee. Celtik, Derin, Hyun-Seok Kim, and co-authors. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, October, S1542-3565(26)00741-X.

Senolytics Dasatinib and Quercetin in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis: A Proof-of-Principle Randomized, Controlled Trial. Koning, Mijra, Artemiy Kovynev, Marcos F. Fondevila, Eliza J. M. Ruhe, Michiel C. Mommersteeg, Christian Ramakers, Barbara A. Hutten, Bart Verwer, Marije Vlug, Teaco Kuiper, Maarten van den Berg, Anne Vrieze, Maurice Bizino, Annewieke van den Beld, Luuk Berk, Thomas Boerlage, Quinten J. J. Augustijn, Willem Pieter Brouwer, Weena J. Chen, Djuna Cahen, Robert Verdonk, Wouter J. de Jonge, Sandjai Ramsoekh, Michail Doukas, Sanne M. M. Vermorgen, Joanne Verheij, Ulrich Beuers, R. B. Takkenberg, Jacques J. G. Bergman, Geert R. A. M. D’Haens, Joost P. H. Drenth, Tamar Tchkonia, Bernd Schnabl, James L. Kirkland, and Abraham S. Meijnikman. Nature Metabolism, October.

Sex-Specific Cardiovascular Responses in Cerulein-Induced Acute Pancreatitis Models. Du, Aolin, Jiahui Zhao, Yu Henry Huo, Junmeng Zhang, Debiao Zhao, Ahmed U. Fayyaz, Bin Wang, Jiale Wang, Yan Bi, S. Jeson Sangaralingham, Aurelia Lugea, Richard T. Waldron, Stephen J. Pandol, Margaret M. Redfield, Baoan Ji, and Ying Wang. American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology, October.

Survival Outcomes After Liver Transplantation in Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure: A Prospective Study. Gustot, Thierry, William Bernal, Javier Fernández, Eva Usón-Raposo, Juan Manuel Díaz, Alberto Queiroz Farias, Ashwin Rammohan, Sebastián Marciano, Alexander Kuo, Giovanni Perricone, Rebecca Bateman, Luis Bagulho, Investigators of the CHANCE study group, et al. Journal of Hepatology, September, S0168-8278(26)02908-9.

Neurology

Histopathological Investigation in Glycine Receptor Antibody Positive Progressive Encephalomyelitis With Rigidity and Myoclonus (PERM): A Case Report. Guzman, Samuel, Ann-Charlotte Granholm, Mary Benson-Gallanis, Ashley Denney, Henric Ek Olofsson, Marcella Raust, Jeremiah Phares, Samuel Aragon, Candace Bretsch, Aaron M. Carlson, Xiaoli Yu, and Amanda L. Piquet. Journal of Neuroimmunology 422 (October): 579107.

Neurosurgery

A Hypertensive Response to Irrigation: Endoscopic Repair of a Ventral Spinal CSF Leak. Garcia, Catherine M., Shane Shahrestani, Sohrab Gollogly, Wouter I. Schievink, and Corey T. Walker. Neurosurgical Focus 61 (4): E20.

Intraosseous Access in Neurological Emergencies: A Critical Narrative Review and Research Framework. Al Matairi, Alzahra’a, Ahmad E Saeed, Bara M Hammadeh, Leen A Alkuttob, Zainab I Bahdar, Bassel Alrabadi, Areen A Melhem, Mohi Alddin Moustafa Mahouk, and Tariq D Al-Saadi. Future Science OA 12 (1): 2743713.

OBGYN

RE-AIMing for Better Maternal Health: Nurse Leader Experiences With Quality Care Collaborative Toolkits Across 10 States. Bhandarkar, Mallika, Gabriela Alvarado, Dana Schultz, Priya Batra, Sarah J. Kilpatrick, Sujeong Park, Megan Andrew, Rachel K. Landis, and Chloe E. Bird. Women’s Health Issues, October, S1049-3867(26)00139-8.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Diffuse Serous Atrophy of Bone Marrow in the Ankle and Hindfoot With Focal Acute Lateral Malleolar Osteomyelitis: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Case Report. Elhaddad, Moamen, Elizabeth Frame, and Tanya L. Tivorsak. Foot & Ankle Specialist, October, 19386400261491427.

When Legal Reasoning Contradicts Sports Orthopaedic Evidence. Kennedy, John G., Samuel Adams, Jorge Batista, Steve Bayer, Thomas Clanton, Pieter D’Hooghe, Jari Dahmen, Christopher DiGiovanni, Mark Drakos, Robin R. Elliot, Richard Ferkel, Paloma Gauthier, Arianna Gianakos, Eric Giza, Mark Glazebrook, Laszlo Hangody, Daniel Haverkamp, MaCalus Hogan, Jonathan Houghton, Jon Karlsson, Stephen Kearns, Gino Kerkhoffs, Sameh Labib, Jin Woo Lee, Alberto Marangon, Graham McCollum, Christopher Murawski, Stefan Nehrer, James Nunley, Martin O’Malley, Jochen Paul, Helder Pereira, Marcelo Prado, Jared Rubin, Ian Savage-Elliott, Lew Schon, Pietro Spennacchio, James Stone, Alexander Tham, Hajo Thermann, David Thordarson, Victor Valderrabano, Niek van Dijk, Francesca Vannini, Markus Walther, Youichi Yasui, and Alastair Younger. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, October.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Donor-Derived Bladder Cancer Following Kidney Transplantation. Engels, Eric A., Sandra Burkett, V. Krishnan Ramanujan, Kelly J. Yu, Petra Lenz, Aaron M. Rozeboom, and Gabriel J. Starrett. Urology Case Reports 69 (November): 103618.

Pediatrics

Rapid Whole Genome Sequencing Enhances Pediatric Cancer Diagnosis. Vedi, Aditi, Jamie Trotman, Joao M. L. Dias, Martina Mijuskovic, Sera Choi, Laura Kingham, Rachel A. Moore, Sarah M. Leiter, Rowena Guermech, Amanda Semerene, Aviva Grisby, Sophie Wool, Victoria Joslin, Arunthethy Mahendrayogam, Jonathan Abrams, Michael Gattens, Esther Blanco, Emmy L. Dickens, Charlotte Burns, Matthew J. Murray, John A. Tadross, Claire Trayers, Catherine E. Hook, Jennifer Becq, Taksina Newington, Ivana Armogida, Zoya Kingsbury, Pascal Grobecker, Ines Vitoriano, Mitchell A. Bekritsky, Jacqueline Weir, Louise J. Fraser, Mark Ross, David Bentley, Matthew Cullen, Sam Behjati, Jack Bartram, Sean J. Humphray, Patrick Tarpey, and David Rowitch. Nature Communications 17 (1): 10078.

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

Patient-Reported Outcomes in Cancer Rehabilitation. Smith, Sean R., and Philip Chang. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America 37 (4): 747–59.

Surgery

American Rhinologic Society Expert Practice Statement: Indications and Recommendations for Posterior Nasal Nerve Ablation. Adams, Dara R., Meha G. Fox, Peter H. Hwang, Christopher R. Roxbury, Mas Takashima, Arthur W. Wu, David M. Yen, and Omar G. Ahmed. International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, October.

ASO Author Reflections: Predicting Axillary Pathologic Complete Response After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer. Fleshner, Katherine, and Marissa K. Boyle. Annals of Surgical Oncology, October.

ASO Visual Abstract: Lack of Utility of Ki-67 in Axillary Surgical Planning and Prognostication After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Node-Positive Breast Cancer. Fleshner, Katherine, Farin Amersi, Alice Chung, James Mirocha, Armando E. Giuliano, and Marissa K. Boyle. Annals of Surgical Oncology, October.

Lack of Utility of Ki-67 in Axillary Surgical Planning and Prognostication after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Node-Positive Breast Cancer. Fleshner, Katherine, Farin Amersi, Alice Chung, James Mirocha, Armando E. Giuliano, and Marissa K. Boyle. Annals of Surgical Oncology, October.

Summary Report of the Fifth International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association Summit on Stem Cell-Derived Islets. Odorico, Jon S., Antonio Citro, Eelco J. P. de Koning, Thomas H. Kay, Esther Latres, Jeffrey R. Millman, Maria Cristina Nostro, Lorenzo Piemonti, Michael R. Rickels, Holger A. Russ, Kevin Alessandri, Joana Almaça, Juan R. Alvarez-Dominguez, Diego Balboa, Jessie M. Barra, Thomas Bollenbach, Michael Brehm, Remi J. Creusot, Jacques Galipeau, Alessandro Grattoni, Matthias Hebrok, Nathaniel Hogrebe, Christian Honore, Danwei Huangfu, Eddie A. James, Norma S. Kenyon, Minglin Ma, Marjana Marinac, Maki Nakayama, Audrey V. Parent, Edward A. Phelps, Alvin C. Powers, Joseph Sushil Rao, Trevor Reichman, Bart O. Roep, Sonja Schrepfer, Peter Stock, Piotr Witkowski, and James F. Markmann. Transplantation, October.

Surgeons, Time to Step Up! Building Quality Surgical Evidence in Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors. Meloche-Dumas, Léamarie, Stefano Partelli, Alexandra Gangi, and Julie Hallet. Annals of Surgical Oncology, October.

The Robotic PIANO: A Critical Narrative Review of Surgeon-Controlled Operative Polyphony, Human Factors, and Robotic Training. Marano, Luigi, Mirko Barone, Mehmet Mahir Özmen, Bojan Jovanovic, Francesco Paolo Prete, Silvia Malerba, Edmundo Inga-Zapata, Panagiotis Lainas, Elena Ruiz-Úcar, Miguel Angel Cáceres Yap, Vikas Jain, Beniamino Pascotto, Juan Santiago Azagra, Salaam Sadi, Ruslan Duka, Robert Molchanov, Adolfo Perez-Bonet, Nicolas Zucchini, Luis Osvaldo Suárez Carreón, Jaroslaw Skokowski, Adébusola Adenike Owokole, Archil Aladashvili, Miljana Vladimirov, Mahmoud Al-Balas, Cesar Santiago, Sharona Ross, Sharique Nazir, Yogesh Vashist, Adel Abou-Mrad, Mario Testini, Ludovico Docimo, David Albala, and Rodolfo J. Oviedo. Journal of Robotic Surgery 20 (1): 1067.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

“We look forward to the continued contributions of Dr. Figlin and Dr. Hendifar,” said Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, executive vice president, chief physician executive and dean of the Medical Faculty at Cedars-Sinai. “We are confident their talent and leadership will continue to spur the growth and vision of Cedars-Sinai Cancer as one of the nation’s leading destinations for cancer care, research and education.”

As associate dean, Figlin, formerly interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer, will serve as a senior adviser and institutional leader. Drawing on his experience, he will guide the advancement of strategic and clinical cancer priorities across Cedars-Sinai Health System and assist with key physician and leadership recruitment efforts and national outreach.

“I look forward to building on the work we have done to promote research excellence that translates into leading-edge therapies for cancer patients,” Figlin said. “To support such work, strategic direction is key.”

Under Figlin’s leadership as interim director, Cedars-Sinai Cancer increased clinical volumes, expanded access to clinical trials and advanced the integration of cancer services across health system hospitals. He was instrumental in establishing the Investigator Initiated Trials Program in Cedars-Sinai Cancer and offering oversight for the Investigator Initiated Trials Incubator.

Through his work in clinical trials, Figlin shifted the treatment landscape for renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer. His pioneering work in immunotherapy testing proved that the immune system could eradicate kidney cancer and achieve long-term survival. He has also been a principal investigator on pivotal trials of targeted therapies that block enzymes responsible for driving cancer cells to multiply, and in trials establishing combination therapies as a preferred first-line treatment.

Figlin is the Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology Oncology and a professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He formerly served as chair and associate director of the Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research as well as associate director for Clinical Research at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also held an endowed chair in urologic oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

A member of multiple national professional organizations, Figlin has also published more than 430 peer-reviewed articles in major medical journals and authored and edited multiple textbooks on kidney cancer.

He currently serves as the editor of Oncology News Central and the Kidney Cancer Journal.

As interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer, Hendifar will continue building the academic cancer program based on excellence in clinical care, research and teaching. He will deepen the integration of cancer services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Network and health system affiliates.

“I look forward to supporting the physicians, scientists and clinical care specialists who make up Cedars-Sinai Cancer,” Hendifar said. “By continuing to advance scientific discovery, precision medicine and patient-centered and community-informed approaches, we can redefine cancer care.”

Hendifar brings extensive clinical, research and management experience to this interim leadership role.

He has been a principal investigator on Phase III clinical trials and published in the highest-impact journals, including a Phase III study in The New England Journal of Medicine in May about an experimental treatment that nearly doubled survival time for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Hendifar has led key studies on integrating artificial intelligence into pancreatic cancer care, and he is a principal investigator on multiple trials focusing on novel therapeutic strategies and targeting cancer wasting syndrome.

He currently serves as a professor of Medicine, medical director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office and medical director of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Disease Research Group at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer institute.

Hendifar began his career at Cedars-Sinai in 2012, was a founding director of the Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Program and has served on several Cedars-Sinai committees, including those for the Internal Review Board, Pharmacy and Therapeutics, and Medical Oncology/Cancer Center leadership, as well as the Medical Executive Committee. 

In addition to his medical and research accomplishments, Hendifar has executive managerial experience as chief medical officer for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and holds a master’s degree in health systems management from Tulane University, where he earned his medical degree. He has served as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Neuroendocrine Tumor Task Force and on the steering committee for the Precision Promise Consortium.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Investigators will share the results of studies that examine whether AI and virtual reality could be used to improve clinical care, predict public health trends and ease symptoms of disease.  

In a featured plenary session, Maria T. Abreu, MD, executive director of the F. Widjaja Inflammatory Bowel Disease Institute, will present findings from a Phase II clinical trial of an oral medication for ulcerative colitis. The treatment targets an immune system protein that causes gut inflammation.

“Despite major advances in treatment, many patients with ulcerative colitis still do not have their disease adequately controlled,” Abreu said. “This study evaluates a new approach that could expand the treatment options available to patients.”

Abreu can also discuss an analysis of potential risks to the developing fetus following maternal or paternal exposure to an etrasimod, an oral medication used to treat ulcerative colitis.

Other Cedars-Sinai digestive and liver disease experts are available to discuss a wide variety of additional research, including these presentations.

AI, Virtual Reality and Medicine

Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, director of Health Services Research, has been selected as the 2026 ACG Trailblazer Lecturer. His lecture, “Why Doctors Will Not Be Replaced: The Future of Humanistic Medicine in an AI-Driven World,” will explore how AI could transform medicine, what will remain uniquely human, and how the technology could enhance patient care

Spiegel, a professor of Medicine, also is available to discuss two poster presentations during the conference exploring uses of virtual reality and AI in patient care. One examines a virtual reality program designed to help clinicians better understand the physical, emotional and social challenges experienced by patients with IBS. The other evaluates a self-guided, AI-powered virtual reality tool to provide behavioral health and weight-management support for patients who regain weight after bariatric surgery.

Christopher Almario, MD, MSHPM, co-director, Cedars-Sinai Center for Virtual Medicine and Health System Innovation, is also available to discuss a study of a home-based virtual reality program designed to make cognitive behavioral therapy more accessible to people with IBS.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Mark Pimentel, MD, executive director of the Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) Program, can discuss new research on bloating, one of the symptoms that matters most to patients who have IBS with constipation. The analysis suggests current patient evaluations fail to properly track bloating relief.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Gil Melmed, MD, director of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Research, will present findings from a study that found many patients with IBD did not begin newly prescribed therapies within the recommended two-week window.

Disorders of the Esophagus

Amrit Kamboj, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, is available to discuss an investigation exploring how search data could offer an economical way to help track seasonal and geographic patterns in swallowing problems and eosinophilic esophagitis, a chronic inflammatory disease.

Dana Gornick, MD, an internal medicine resident physician, will present research that found that severe abnormalities visible on a barium esophagram (a specialized swallowing X-ray) were often associated with significant swallowing disorders.

Media Contact

To schedule an interview with a Cedars-Sinai expert, contact Laura Coverson at Laura.Coverson@cshs.org or 310-562-1112.

Buchman joins Cedars-Sinai from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, where he spent 18 years in a variety of investment roles, including leadership positions for the last decade. He served since 2021 as vice president and chief investment officer managing the foundation’s $8.3 billion investment portfolio.

At the Hilton foundation, he reported directly to the CEO and worked closely with the investment committee and board of directors to successfully craft investment strategy, including asset allocation, risk management, manager selection and operations.

“I am excited to join Cedars-Sinai and look forward to continue stewarding and growing its investment portfolio in service of its mission,” Buchman said. “Investing Cedars-Sinai’s assets by partnering with outstanding investment managers will generate returns that enable us to enhance health and healthcare in Los Angeles and beyond.”

In his new role, Buchman will oversee Cedars-Sinai’s investment strategy, objectives and policies as established by the board of director’s investment committee, and he will advise on investment portfolio risk and exposure while further developing the investment team.

Earlier in his career, Buchman held positions in finance, real estate and law at Citigroup Global Investment Bank and real estate asset-management firm Broadway Partners. He also worked at the law firms Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

Buchman earned his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an MBA and bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

“Michael is the ideal leader to strategically grow our investment portfolio and enable us to better serve all those who need Cedars-Sinai,” said David Wrigley, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Cedars-Sinai Health System.

For Buchman, joining Cedars-Sinai on Dec. 1 marks a homecoming of sorts. He was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, as were each of his three children.

“As a native Angeleno, I have seen firsthand the impact Cedars-Sinai has across the city,” he said. “I am thrilled to play my part in ensuring a vibrant Cedars-Sinai for years to come.

More from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights: Inspiring Community Health by Meeting Patients' Needs

Coleman joined Cedars-Sinai in 1987 as a clinical nurse specialist in cardiac surgery. Her research spans bench to bedside to community—with work on genomic transplant disparities, family caregivers and church-based preventive blood pressure education. She earned a master’s degree from the Yale University School of Nursing and a doctorate from the UCLA School of Nursing.

“Dr. Coleman’s induction as a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine is a well-deserved recognition of her impact on nursing, patient care and the advancement of health,” said David Marshall, JD, DNP, RN. “Her leadership, clinical expertise, research and commitment to mentoring others exemplify the kind of influence that strengthens both our profession and the communities we serve. We are proud to celebrate this important achievement and the example she continues to set for colleagues and future generations.”

Founded in 1847, the New York Academy of Medicine is committed to helping all people live healthier, longer lives through innovative research and collaboration. With more than 1,700 distinguished fellows and members, the academy brings together leading experts to translate ideas into policy and real-world impact.

The Cedars-Sinai Newsroom spoke with Coleman about the significance of the fellowship, her commitment to advancing nursing science and the leadership lessons she hopes to pass on to others.

What does becoming a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine mean to you personally and professionally?

It is a tremendous honor. Personally, I am deeply grateful to be welcomed into a community with such a long history of advancing health through science, evidence, innovation and service.

Professionally, it is especially meaningful because the academy brings together leaders from many disciplines who share a commitment to improving health and addressing some of the most complex healthcare challenges affecting people in the United States. I see the fellowship not simply as recognition, but as an opportunity to contribute.

How did you react when you learned you had been selected?

I was surprised, humbled and very grateful. As your career progresses, you don’t necessarily stop to think about individual recognition because you are usually focused on the next patient, the next research question, the next grant or helping someone else move their work forward. So this caused me to reflect for a moment on the journey and all the people who have been part of it. It was very special.

What aspects of your experience or work contributed to this recognition?

My career has really been driven by curiosity and built at the intersection of clinical practice, research and leadership.

Much of my scholarship has grown directly from questions I encountered caring for patients after cardiac surgery or heart transplantation and patients experiencing mechanical circulatory support. That has led to work in transplant outcomes and genomics, caregiver support, health disparities and, more recently, the responsible use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.

Another important part of my work has been strengthening nursing science itself—mentoring nurses, developing research infrastructure, advancing the role of clinically based nurse scientists, and helping nurses translate important clinical questions into evidence that can improve care.

What inspired you to enter your field?

I began as a licensed practical nurse and advanced to an acute care nurse practitioner. Clinical practice has always been the foundation of my work.

My involvement in heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support exposed me to extraordinarily complex patients and families and to questions that we simply could not answer with the evidence available at the time.

That curiosity led me toward research. I wanted to understand the biological bases for why some patients experienced different outcomes, how biology and genetics might contribute, how we could better support families, and how nurses could generate the evidence needed to improve care.

Over time, my career evolved from asking those questions at the bedside to building research programs and helping other nurses ask and answer their own important clinical questions.

Which accomplishments or experiences have been most meaningful to you?

The most meaningful accomplishments are those where I can see that the work has opened a door for someone else or has the potential to change care.

My research in heart transplantation and genomics has been important to me because it grew directly from a brother-in-law who died after his heart transplant, and clinical questions about differences in patient outcomes.

My work supporting caregivers of patients living with mechanical circulatory support is equally meaningful because these families assume enormous responsibilities that healthcare systems do not always adequately recognize.

I am also very proud of the work we have done to advance clinically based nurse scientists and to create opportunities for nurses to conduct, present and publish their work. Helping create national Nurse Scientist Day, which launched in June 2026, was especially meaningful because it celebrates an entire profession of scientists across the United States whose contributions deserve greater visibility.

How does your current role connect with the mission of the New York Academy of Medicine?

There is a very natural connection. The academy emphasizes using evidence, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation to improve population health and help people live healthier, longer lives.

In my current role, I am trying to do those same things within a healthcare system—identify important clinical problems, generate evidence, translate that evidence into practice, develop the next generation of nurse scientists through supporting PhD nurses at Cedars-Sinai in a research fellowship, and bring disciplines together around problems that cannot be solved by one profession alone.

Whether the issue is health disparities, transplantation, genomics, caregiver wellbeing or artificial intelligence, the ultimate question is always: How can this work improve health and healthcare?

What impact do you hope your work will have?

Ultimately, I hope my work demonstrates that research can be both scientifically rigorous and immediately relevant to the people we care for.

For patients and families, I hope it leads to more individualized, equitable and supportive care. For Cedars-Sinai, I hope it strengthens a culture in which clinical questions become opportunities for inquiry and improvement.

And for nursing, I want nurses and nurse scientists to recognize that their perspective is essential and valuable in solving some of healthcare’s most difficult problems and that they should have a seat at every table where those solutions are being developed.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Dr. Shin will lead the continued development of an integrated congenital heart program spanning fetal diagnosis through childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Shin working across the Smidt Heart Institute, Guerin Children’s and our multidisciplinary programs,” said Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, executive director of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai.

Susan Cheng, MD, MMSc, MPH, chair of the Department of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, said Dr. Shin will “advance clinical excellence, programmatic growth, research and education while strengthening the connections and continuum of care for all our patients affected by fetal, pediatric or adult congenital heart disease.”

Dr. Shin joins Cedars-Sinai from Stanford University, where he is clinical professor of Pediatrics. As a Stanford faculty member, he spent nearly two decades building programs at the intersection of pediatric and adult congenital heart care. Dr. Shin served as executive medical director for Innovations and Clinical Effectiveness, medical director for Quality and Outcomes in the Moore Children’s Heart Center, and medical director of Systems Utilization Research.

“Dr. Shin is widely respected by colleagues across the field not only for his academic and clinical accomplishments but also for his generous and thoughtful mentorship of students, medical trainees and faculty,” said Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, executive director of Guerin Children’s and executive vice dean of Children’s Health. “We are eager for him to lead the next chapter of our growth and impact in congenital heart care.”

Beyond his prominent roles at Stanford, Dr. Shin also is recognized nationally for his leadership as an investigator, educator and innovator in congenital heart disease.

He has led a multicenter consortium of hospitals across North America investigating interventions aimed at reducing variation in hospital length of stay. His scholarship has addressed outcomes following congenital heart surgery, pediatric cardiac critical care, clinical decision support, and the use of mathematical modeling and systems engineering to address complex challenges in healthcare delivery.

Dr. Shin earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and completed his pediatrics residency, chief residency and fellowship training in pediatric cardiology and pediatric critical care medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

“I look forward to partnering with Cedars-Sinai leadership to develop a vanguard integrated, lifespan model of congenital heart care,” Dr. Shin said.

Dr. Shin said the Cedars-Sinai program will accelerate the translation of innovation into better patient outcomes by integrating exceptional clinical care with data science, advanced analytics and emerging technologies.

The program will draw on the broader capabilities of the Smidt Heart Institute, Guerin Children’s and Cedars-Sinai to create a comprehensive approach to congenital cardiovascular disease across the lifespan.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Cedars-Sinai in the News

Professional Dancer Shares Story of Surviving Sudden Cardiac Arrest | KTLA 5
Pedro Catarino, MD 

Walking Faster May Help Reverse Frailty | TIME
Sara Espinoza, MD 

Scientists Discover Women Who Engage in Harder Workouts Also Have This One Trait in Common | Women's Health
Bert Mandelbaum, MD 

Ultra–Low-Dose Radiation Therapy May Relieve Bone Pain From Multiple Myeloma | The ASCO Post
Leslie Ballas, MD 

Jayden Daniels Not Expected To Have Surgery or Go on IR, Will Be ‘Week to Week’ | The New York Times: The Athletic
Carlos Uquillas, MD 

Vibe Coding Moves Beyond the Proteomics Prototype | The Analytical Scientist
Jesse Meyer, PhD 

Oral L-Glutamine Could Be Pancreatic Cancer's Most Accessible Treatment Advance: Q&A With Dr. Jun Gong | Pharmaceutical Executive
Jun Gong, MD

Enzalutamide Plus Salvage Radiotherapy Associated With Improved PFS in High-Risk BCR | Urology Times
Edwin Posadas, MD

Faculty Publications

Biomedical Sciences

At-Home Point-of-Care Urine Tenofovir Testing for Adherence Monitoring: Feasibility and Comparison With Adherence Metrics in Dried Blood Spots. Buccheri, Renata, Matthew A. Spinelli, Parya Saberi, Torsten B. Neilands, Stefany Coxe, David V. Glidden, Monica Gandhi, and Judy Y. Tan. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, September.

Epicardial Adipose Tissue Attenuation as an Independent Marker of Cardiovascular Outcomes in de Novo Heart Failure (RECOVER-EAT). Khanna, Shaun, Nicholas McLellan, Sheran Vasanthakumar, Cheng Hwee Soh, Aditya Bhat, Andrew Lin, Damini Dey, Sriram Rao, Stephen J. Nicholls, Thomas H. Marwick, Clare Arnott, and Nitesh Nerlekar. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, September, S0033-0620(26)00103-9.

EZH2-Dependent Phenotypic Plasticity Reveals TTP-Associated and mTORC1 Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in Lethal Prostate Cancer. German, Beatriz, Katherine L. Morel, Teia Noel, Nadia Boufaied, Deborah L. Burkhart, Sujun Chen, Felipe Dezem, Xintao Qiu, Henry W. Long, Kun-Lin Ho, Stefan DiFazio, Sylvan Baca, Ayesha A. Shafi, Matthew L. Freedman, Himisha Beltran, Christopher J. Sweeney, Housheng Hansen He, Myles Brown, Jasmine T. Plummer, Simon R. V. Knott, David P. Labbé, and Leigh Ellis. Cell Reports. Medicine, September, 103083.

Long-Term Reprogramming of Classical Monocytes With Altered Ontogeny Mediates Enhanced Lung Injury in Sepsis Survivors. Denstaedt, Scott J., Breanna McBean, Alan P. Boyle, Brett C. Arenberg, Matthias Mack, Bethany B. Moore, Michael W. Newstead, Yamei Deng, Alexey I. Nesvizhskii, Benjamin H. Singer, Jennifer Cano, Hallie C. Prescott, Helen S. Goodridge, and Rachel L. Zemans. JCI Insight, September, e198551.

Proximal Tubule ACE2 Mediates Early Responses to Hypertension by Regulating Intrarenal RAS and Sodium Homeostasis. Emathinger, Jacqueline M., Zhidan Xiang, Jonathan W. Nelson, Matthew W. Hagen, Nakyung Kim, David I. Ortiz-Melo, Natalie Mattocks, Jorge F. Giani, Dexter L. Lee, Hannah Hartman-Houstman, Donna L. Ralph, Alicia A. McDonough, Brianna Chen, Stan G. Louie, Thomas M. Coffman, and Susan B. Gurley. JCI Insight 11 (18): e179960.

Temporal Trends in Absolute Iron Deficiency Among US Adults. Tawfik, Yahya Mk, Iman Af Aboelsaad, Michael D. Nelson, Hsin-Jun Yang, and Leo F. Buckley. The American Journal of Medicine, September, S0002-9343(26)00688-1.

Cardiac Surgery

Baseline Lung Allograft Dysfunction: Definition, Timing, and Implications for Outcomes-Perspective on the ISHLT Consensus Document. Gottlieb, Jens, Tereza Martinu, Merel Hellemons, David R. Darley, Laurie Snyder, Laura DiChiacchio, Miranda Paraskeva, Christian Benden, Berta Saez-Gimenez, Anoop Mohandas, Letizia Corinna Morlacchi, Joshua M. Diamond, Saskia Bos, Erika D. Lease, Geert Verleden, Allan Glanville, and Kieran Halloran. The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, 45 (10): 1529–31.

Cardiology

Adipocyte Gata3 Is a Diet-Inducible Driver of Pathological Adipose Remodeling and Systemic Metabolic Disease. Qin, Minghui, Fuqiang Li, Mingjie Yang, Lai Wang, Behrooz G. Sharifi, and Prediman K. Shah. Cells 15 (18): 1644.

Cross the Road Early: More Intensive Lipid-Lowering Earlier Along the Atherosclerotic Disease Continuum in VESALIUS-CV. Peng, Allison W., Anum S. Minhas, Alexander C. Razavi, Sanjay Kaul, and Roger S. Blumenthal. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, September, S0735-1097(26)07647-3.

Educating Patients at Discharge: Perceived Responsibilities Among Nurses and Residents at an Academic Medical Center. Yang, Annie W., Rongzi Shan, Hunter Launer, Jiwen Li, Eve Emmanouilidou, Dhwani Krishnan, Anna Dermenchyan, Linda Czypinski, and Wendy Simon. Patient Education and Counseling 154 (September): 109871.

Evaluating Intracoronary Imaging-Guided PCI: Balancing Evidence Synthesis and Exploration of Heterogeneity. Tanboga, Ibrahim Halil, and Sanjay Kaul. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, September, S0735-1097(26)07639-4.

From Task-Specific AI to Cardiovascular Foundation Models: A New Era of Multimodal Interpretation. Ieki, Hirotaka, Paul Cheng, Andrew P. Ambrosy, Alan C. Kwan, Bryan He, Themistocles L. Assimes, James Y. Zou, and David Ouyang. Heart, September, heartjnl-2026-328835.

Hemodynamic Flow Signatures: A Novel Paradigm for the Evaluation of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Performance. Maznyczka, Annette, Ole De Backer, Vinayak N. Bapat, Charanjit S. Rihal, Amar Krishnaswamy, Hasan Jilaihawi, Imran Rashid, Alexander M. K. Rothman, Arif A. Khokhar, Niels Vejlstrup, Bernard Prendergast, Stephan Windecker, Guilherme F. Attizzani, João L. Cavalcante, and Pankaj Garg. Circulation. Cardiovascular Interventions, September, e017313.

Post-Heart Transplantation Immunosuppression and Rejection: What the General Cardiologist Needs to Know. Jain, Rashmi, and Michelle M. Kittleson. Heart, September, heartjnl-2026-328009.

Procedural and Functional Outcomes After Computer Assisted Vacuum Thrombectomy With the 16F Catheter System for Treatment of Pulmonary Embolism: A Subanalysis of the STRIKE-PE Study. Moriarty, John M., Brian J. Schiro, Ido Weinberg, Suhail Y. Dohad, Hugh C. Davis, David M. Shavelle, George S. Chrysant, Paul E. Perkowski, Patrick E. Muck, Vivian L. Bishay, Andrew Holden, Frances M. West, Matthew J. Scheidt, Sanjum S. Sethi, W. Brent Keeling, and Aleksander Araszkiewicz. Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology: JVIR, September, 109100.

Role of Inflammatory Markers in the Progression of Arterial Stiffness and Mortality: A Multicenter Longitudinal Cohort Study. Kim, Kyung An, Hae-Ok Jung, So-Young Lee, Dong-Hyeon Lee, Donghee Han, Su-Yeon Choi, Jidong Sung, Eun Ju Chun, and Hyuk-Jae Chang. Journal of the American Heart Association, September, e049194.

Computational Biomedicine

A Pre-Train and Fine-Tune Framework for Adaptive Boosting of Pre-Trained Polygenic Risk Scores. Hu, Jie, Raelynn Chen, Maxwell Salvatore, Olivia Wu, Okan Bilge Ozdemir, Yiwen Lu, Shawn N. Murphy, Elizabeth W. Karlson, Atlas Khan, Krzysztof Kiryluk, Iftikhar J. Kullo, Johanna L. Smith, Eimear E. Kenny, Yuan Luo, Zaldy S. Tan, William G. La Cava, Marylyn D. Ritchie, Yong Chen, and Ruowang Li. Nature Communications 17 (1): 10327.

Balancing Benefits, Costs, and Harms: Policy Implications of Expanding Cancer Susceptibility Testing From Genetics Clinics to the General Population. Turnbull, Clare, Sandra Perdomo, Susan Domchek, William D. Foulkes, Paul Pharoah, Patricia Ashton-Prolla, Bhawna Sirohi, Joaquin Mateo, Hilary A. Robbins, Richard Sullivan, Mark Lawler, and Raffaella Casolino. The Lancet. Oncology 27 (10): e508–18.

Evaluating Student Use, Access, and Perceptions of a Campus Sexual Health Vending Machine. Sheng, Grace, and Lisa Gualtieri. Frontiers in Public Health 14: 1916539.

Germline Homologous Recombination Deficiency Influences TP53-Mutant Clonal Hematopoiesis Fitness During Platinum and PARP Inhibitor Treatment. Baeten, Jeremy T., Irenaeus C. C. Chan, Lea Moukarzel, Giulia E. M. Petrone, Jie Liu, Duc Tran, Jacob Tabs, Imene Tabet, Sumedha Agashe, Elaheh Nasrollahzadeh, Ankush Vasireddy, Amber Carter, Minal Patel, Konrad H. Stopsack, Philip W. Kantoff, Weiyin Zhou, Armel L. Batchi-Bouyou, J. Scott Beeler, Griffen Mustion, Paul Pharoah, James Brenton, Kenneth Offit, Ethan Barnett, Bob Li, Wassim Abida, Alison M. Schram, Britta Weigelt, David Mutch, Alessandro Vindigni, Mary Mullen, Carlos Cruchaga, Howard Scher, Ross Levine, Elli Papaemmanuil, Mitchell J. Machiela, Karen Cadoo, Daniel C. Link, and Kelly L. Bolton. Nature Genetics, September.

Recurrent Deletions and Regulatory Disruption of the Y Chromosome in Cancer. Nguyen, Trini, Aditi Kuchi, Hongyu Liu, Nicholas Tatonetti, and Dan Theodorescu. Communications Biology 9 (1): 1226.

Imaging

Spine MRI in Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension: A Survey of Current State of Practice. Mark, Ian T., Timothy J. Amrhein, Andrew Callen, Peter G. Kranz, Ajay A. Madhavan, Ananth J. Madhuranthakam, Mark D. Mamlouk, Marcel M. Maya, Gayle Salama, Kimberly Seifert, Vinil Shah, and Miriam E. Peckham. AJNR. American Journal of Neuroradiology, September, ajnr.A9648.

Uniform Quantification of Hepatic Fat Fraction Across Body Sizes Using Photon-Counting CT. Li, Xinhua, Cindy Kallman, Di Zhang, Chao Guo, and Yifang Zhou. European Journal of Radiology 205 (September): 113245.

Medicine

A Scoping Review and Meta-Analysis of Proportions of Central Nervous System Manifestations Reported in Patients With Sjögren’s Disease. Varadhachary, Arun, Ghaith Noaiseh, Julie Frantsve-Hawley, Frederick B. Vivino, Jennifer A. McCombe, Shamik Bhattacharyya, E. Sherwood Brown, Andrew R. Carey, Robert Fox, Thomas Grader-Beck, Janet E. Lewis, Stephen Maitz, Steven Mandel, Astrid Rasmussen, George Sarka, R. Hal Scofield, Daniel J. Wallace, Rochelle Zak, Kristie Cox, Katherine M. Hammitt, Steven Carsons, and Nancy Carteron. Arthritis Care & Research, September.

Dietary α-Ketoglutarate Modulates Lung Adenocarcinoma Growth and Epigenetic Remodeling in a Sex-Dependent Fashion. Alcaraz, Martín, Aparamita Pandey, Mia Santiago, Camelia Dumitras, Leilani Pradis, Estefany Gomez, Adriana Soto, Pasquale Saggese, Abigail S. Krall, Bin Liu, Heather R. Christofk, Steven M. Dubinett, Xue Li, and Claudio Scafoglio. Cell Reports 45 (10): 118052.

Disease Modification Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes: A Modified Delphi. Khunti, Kamlesh, Mark P. Funnell, Patrick J. Highton, Ashkon Ardavani, Javed Butler, Jon Campbell, Melanie J. Davies, Rachel Evley, Jose C. Florez, Jason Gaglia, Rohit N. Kulkarni, Nicolas Musi, Leigh Perreault, Bryce B. Reeve, Sylvia E. Rosas, Ash Routen, Zobair Younossi, and Nuha El Sayed. The Lancet. Diabetes & Endocrinology, September, S2213-8587(26)00243-3.

Global Paid and Unpaid Productivity Losses Due to Gastrointestinal Cancer Mortality. Danpanichkul, Pojsakorn, Yanfang Pang, Krittameth Rakwong, Nut Chotkijnanthakul, Donghee Kim, Matheus Souza, Ahmad Anouti, Andrea Ortiz Maldonado, Nikki Duong, Rashid N. Lui, Tarek Sawas, Suthat Liangpunsakul, Michael B. Wallace, Ju Dong Yang, and Amit G. Singal. The American Journal of Gastroenterology, September.

Longitudinal Study on the Influence of Physical Activity in Managing Fatigue in Patients With Colorectal Cancer. Liu, Louisa, Elham Kazemian, Nicole C. Loroña, Celina Shirazipour, Jun Gong, Sylvia L. Crowder, Nathalie Nguyen, Victoria Damerell, Kathi Mooney, Mary C. Playdon, Cornelia M. Ulrich, Christopher I. Li, David Shibata, Adetunji T. Toriola, Jennifer Ose, Anita R. Peoples, Sheetal Hardikar, Erin M. Siegel, Julienne E. Bower, Biljana Gigic, Aasha I. Hoogland, Xiaoyin Li, Brent J. Small, Howard Kaufman, Heather S. L. Jim, and Jane C. Figueiredo. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network: JNCCN, September, 1–8.

Multidimensional Aging Trajectories Preceding Cardiovascular Events. Phyo, Aung Zaw Zaw, Zimu Wu, Andrew M. Tonkin, Swarna Vishwanath, Sara E. Espinoza, Rory Wolfe, Suzanne G. Orchard, Robyn L. Woods, David Gonzalez-Chica, Nigel Stocks, and Joanne Ryan. JAMA Cardiology, September, e263597.

Multi-Target Blood Test for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Early Detection: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Prospective ALTUS Study. John, Binu V., Mark Camardo, Amit G. Singal, Neehar D. Parikh, Ju Dong Yang, Lewis R. Roberts, Alvin C. Silva, Naga Chalasani, Reena Salgia, John B. Kisiel, Kyle Porter, Paul Z. Elias, Elle Kielar-Grevstad, Janelle J. Bruinsma, Marilyn C. Olson, Jorge Garces, and Paul J. Limburg. Journal of Hepatology, September, S0168-8278(26)02904-1.

Overcoming Cellular Barriers With Cell-Penetrating Peptides: Functional Roles of Individual Amino Acids. Akinsola, Rasaq Olajide, and Kumaran Narayanan. Journal of Drug Targeting, September, 1–22.

Pharmacy-Led Transition of Care Services With Positive Readmissions Impact in an Acute Care Hospital. Shane, Rita, Jackie Ho, Donna Leang, Sarah Stephens, Joshua Pevnick, Hai Tran, Vipul Patel, and Steven M. Simons. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy: AJHP, September, zxag291.

Pituitary Society Delphi Consensus on the Role of Radiotherapy for Pituitary Adenomas. Castinetti, Frederic, Cecilia Piazzola, John Ayuk, Michael Kosmin, Marco Losa, Hani J. Marcus, Alberto M. Pereira, Shlomo Melmed, Maria Fleseriu, and Pituitary Society Radiation Therapy for Pituitary Adenomas Delphi Consortium. Pituitary 29 (5): 158.

Rosacea in Patients With Skin of Color: Diagnosis and Management. Lohani, Devina, Justin W. Marson, and Hilary E. Baldwin. American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, September.

Surgery and Tile-Based Radiation Therapy Versus Surgery and Stereotactic Radiation for Newly Diagnosed Brain Metastases (ROADS): A Randomized, Open-Label, Phase 3 Trial. Weinberg, Jeffrey S., Brandon S. Imber, Vincent DiNapoli, Nelson S. Moss, Kimberly B. Hoang, Fen Wang, Imran Mohiuddin, Akshitkumar M. Mistry, Michael A. Garcia, Hussein Tawbi, Nitesh V. Patel, Huong Pham, Robert Ryan, John Wanebo, Kris Smith, Clark C. Chen, Alexandra Paul, Lindsey Sloan, Matthew J. Shepard, Ken Tatebe, Colette J. Shen, David G. Brachman, Angela M. Richardson, Linton T. Evans, Gregory B. Biedermann, Adam Robin, Toral R. Patel, Aristotelis Filippidis, Heather Lin, Lola B. Chambless, John Dombrowski, Akash J. Patel, Sajeel Chowdhary, K. Stuart Lee, M. Sean Peach, Adam Nowlan, David J. McCracken, John Floyd, Fen Xia, Jeremy Rudnick, Jing Li, Debra Nana Yeboa, Frederick F. Lang, Rajat J. Kudchadker, Mary Frances McAleer, Jeffrey Wefel, Sherise Desiree Ferguson, Ying Yuan, Simon Hanft, and Thomas H. Beckham. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 101200JCO2601894.

Valorization of Sardinian Grapevine Leaves as a Sustainable Source of Flavonols With Anticancer Potential. Spissu, Ylenia, Maria Lauda Tomasi, Carla Cossu, Andrea Floris, Emanuela Azara, Gavina Rita Serra, Irene Marchesi, Francesco Paolo Fiorentino, Gaia Rocchitta, Riccarda Zappino, and Antonio Barberis. Antioxidants 15 (9): 1153.

Neurology

DNL343 and Disease Progression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Paganoni, Sabrina, Lori B. Chibnik, Melanie Quintana, Eric A. Macklin, Michelle A. Detry, Matteo Vestrucci, Giorgio Paulon, Anna McGlothlin, Jianing Wang, David Walk, Lauren Elman, Marianne Chase, HEALEY ALS Platform Trial Study Group, et al. JAMA Network Open 9 (9): e2634809.

Experimental Model of Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury Induces Proteomic Signatures of Neurodegeneration in the Hippocampus. Winzey, Kevin D., Samuel Guzman, Edward Yang, Debbie Moreira, Xingyu Wang, Xuesong Gu, Simon T. Dillon, E. Wesley Ely, S. Ananth Karumanchi, Towia A. Libermann, and Shouri Lahiri. Intensive Care Medicine Experimental 14 (1): 128.

Reduced Paramagnetic Rim Visibility Signals Lesion Aging and Tissue Degeneration in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: Impact on Clinical Trials. Sacco, Simone, Haojun Zhao, Shuiting Cheng, Amit Vijay Akula, Elaina Luskin, Jiuyi Zhang, Olga Manouvakhova, Tiffany P. Cooper, William Stern, Valerie J. Block, Akash Virupakshaiah, Refujia Gomez, Adam Santaniello, Pascal Sati, Nico Papinutto, Riley Bove, Jeffrey M. Gelfand, Douglas S. Goodin, Ari J. Green, Jorge Oksenberg, Emmanuelle Waubant, Michael R. Wilson, Scott S. Zamvil, as the University of California, San Francisco MS-EPIC Team, Bruce A. C. Cree, Stephen L. Hauser, and Roland G. Henry. Neurology(R) Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation 13 (6): e200655.

Neurosurgery

Neurosurgical Management of Achondroplasia: A Systematic Review. Tatit, Rafael T., Caroline P. Tatit, Nir Shimony, Moise Danielpour, and George I. Jallo. Journal of Neurosurgery. Pediatrics, September, 1–13.

Tozuleristide Fluorescence-Guided Resection of Gliomas: Results of a Phase II Investigator-Initiated Study. Fox, Rachel C., Xuemo Fan, Adam N. Mamelak, Daniel Gomez, Chirag Patil, Ray M. Chu, Jeremy Rudnick, Jethro Hu, Elliott M. Sina, Keith L. Black, Kristi Harrington, and John S. Yu. Operative Neurosurgery, September.

OBGYN

Repeat Administration of Magnesium for an Exacerbation of Postpartum Preeclampsia: A National Survey. Dellapiana, Gabriela, Keona Thompson, and Kimberly D. Gregory. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians 39 (1): 2738315.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Best Practice Guidelines for the Execution of Intraoperative Neuromonitoring in Spine Deformity Surgery. Anari, Jason B., Alexander M. Park, Michael W. Brown, Mehdi M. Elfilali, Katerina M. Kourpas, Benjamin B. Bruins, Alier Franco, Anil Mendiratta, Teeda Pinyavat, Jonathan Umina, Samuel Strantzas, Rajiv Sethi, Stephen Lewis, Rajiv R. Iyer, Richard Menger, Daniel J. Sucato, Kenneth D. Illingworth, Amer F. Samdani, Lawrence G. Lenke, and Michael G. Vitale. Spine Deformity, September.

Clinical and Radiographic Outcomes of Robotic-Assisted Direct Pars Repairs for Spondylolysis. Snyder, Samantha, Vivien Chan, James Caruso, Elaine Butterworth, Paal Nilssen, Kenneth D. Illingworth, Corey T. Walker, and David L. Skaggs. Spine Deformity, September.

CORR Insights®: Radial Head Fractures Cluster in the Anterolateral and Anteromedial Quadrants and Do Not Correlate With Coronoid Fracture Types. Itamura, John M. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, September.

Evaluating Reasoning-Tuned Large Language Models for Clinical Decision-Making in Spine Surgery. Lam, Chuck H., Conor T. Boylan, Adit Ravishankar, Alex Bulloso, George McKay, David L. Skaggs, and Morgan Jones. Spine Deformity, September.

Osteochondral Fragment Fixation: Proceedings of the International Congress on Cartilage Repair of the Ankle. Tham, Alexander, Jared Rubin, James J. Butler, Paloma Gauthier, John G. Kennedy, Samuel B. Adams, Carol L. Andrews, Chayanin Angthong, Jorge P. Batista, Onno L. Baur, Steven Bayer, Christoph Becher, Zijun Zhang, et al. Foot & Ankle Specialist, October, 19386400261485740.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Carbamylation as a Novel Marker of Coronary Artery Calcification in People With CKD: Findings From a Phenome-Wide Association Study in CRIC. Awwad, Aya, Pranav Garimella, Eugene P. Rhee, Joachim Janowski, S. Ananth Karumanchi, Sagar Nigwekar, Andrew S. Allegretti, Anders H. Berg, James P. Lash, Alba Gutiérrez-Sacristán, Mengyao Tang, and Sahir Kalim. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, September, S0272-6386(26)01120-0.

Challenges in Establishing Epidemiological Cut-off Values for the Burkholderia Cepacia Complex. Huse, Holly K., Carmila Manuel, Tracy McLemore, Romney M. Humphries, Anna Clara Milesi Galdino, Diana Celedonio, John J. LiPuma, Daniel A. Green, James E. A. Zlosnik, Maria Traczewski, Audrey Schuetz, John Turnidge, Mandy Wootton, Darcie Carpenter, Michael Huband, Chris Pillar, Marguerite L. Monogue, and Peter A. Jorth. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September, e0073026.

Individual Income and Blood Pressure Control After Antihypertensive Treatment Initiation Accounting for Regional Variation: A Japanese Nationwide Study. Satoh, Michihiro, Yutaro Iwabe, Kosuke Inoue, Hiroki Nobayashi, Seiya Izumi, Takahisa Murakami, Maya Toyama, Yuya Suzuki, Tomoko Muroya, Shingo Nakayama, Takayoshi Ohkubo, and Hirohito Metoki. Hypertension Research, September.

Inter-Organelle Membrane Contact Sites as Physiological Regulatory Hubs in the Brain: From Neurons to Glial Cells. Wu, Yuchen, Ginam Cho, and Youngshin Lim. Biomolecules 16 (9): 1257.

Landscape of Approaches for Streamlining Pre-Analytical and Early Analytical Variables for Solid Tumor Next-Generation Sequencing: A Genomics Organization for Academic Laboratories Consortium Report. David, Marjorie P., Jennifer J. D. Morrissette, Noah Brown, Georgios Deftereos, Fei Dong, Karin E. Finberg, Yulong Fu, Jeffrey Gagan, Christopher D. Gocke, Audrey N. Jajosky, Eric Konnick, Thomas D. Lee, David B. Lieberman, Deqin Ma, Laura MacConaill, Christopher Mignogna, Andrew C. Nelson, Erik Nohr, Megan Parilla, Adam D. Pfefferle, Somak Roy, Pamela Snyder, Eric Vail, Peng Wang, Liqiang Xi, Daniel Jones, and Dara L. Aisner. Academic Pathology 13 (4): 100299.

Pediatrics

LLM and CQL Computable Phenotypes for Myocarditis Adverse Event Feature and Outcome Determinations Using Patient FHIR Data: A Feasibility Study. Gaspar, Fraser W., Seth B. Roberts, Francis X. Campion, Lynda Hoeksema, Jessica Kasirsky, Raymond Duncan, Matthew Sonesen, Renier Estiandan, Khyzer B. Aziz, Julie A. Riddler, Jessica Zhou, and Hussein Ezzeldin. Frontiers in Digital Health 8: 1903755.

Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences

Approved Medications for Substance Use Disorders: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Completed Phase 3 Randomized Controlled Trials. Danovitch, Itai, Kyla Truman, Haze Brown, Macie Miller, Shaishav Shah, Jayant Totlani, Daniel N. Kaidbay, Kaleab K. Tessema, Zholi Minasyan, Waguih William IsHak, Samuel Miles, and Robert N. Pechnick. CNS Drugs, September.

Radiation Oncology

A Technology-Specific Risk Analysis of Surface Guided Radiation Therapy. Bry, Victoria, Angelia Tran, Tamara Egan, Eric Ford, and Juergen Meyer. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics 27 (10): e70837.

More for Some, Less for Others: Refining Treatment for Anorectal Cancers. Ashman, Jonathan B., Luca Boldrini, Eric D. Miller, Krishan R. Jethwa, Katelyn Atkins, Aisling Barry, Randa Tao, and Michael D. Chuong. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics 126 (3): 607–15.

Surgery

A Machine Learning Framework Enables Supervised Treatment Response Prediction From Tumor Transcriptomics Across Cancer Types. Pal, Lipika R., E. Michael Gertz, Nishanth Ulhas Nair, Sumit Mukherjee, Sumeet Patiyal, Thomas Cantore, Emma M. Campagnolo, Tian-Gen Chang, Saugato Rahman Dhruba, Yewon Kim, Eldad D. Shulman, Padma Sheila Rajagopal, Danh-Tai Hoang, Sridhar Hannenhalli, Alejandro A. Schäffer, and Eytan Ruppin. Cancer Research, September.

Automated Assessment of Aesthetic Outcomes Following Combined Facial Aesthetic Surgery – a Pilot Study. Sherwani, Khalil, Leonard Knoedler, Thomas Schaschinger, Tobias Niederegger, Jakob Fenske, Kevin Sadati, Max Heiland, Rainer Pooth, Theodore Brown, Curtis L. Cetrulo, Raffaele Aguglia, and Alexandre G. Lellouch. BMC Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2 (1): 27.

Delayed Lymphatic Reconstruction for Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema. Monzy, Judith, Jocelyn Lu, Ara A. Salibian, Philip S. Brazio, and Ketan M. Patel. Cancers 18 (18): 2934.

Dual Effects of β-TrCP2 Deletion in Bone Homeostasis: Suppression of Osteoclastogenesis and Enhancement of Osteoblast Activity. Kim, Woo Jung, Sora Han, Hye In Ka, Sun Young Lee, Jiwon Kim, Hyunjeong Joo, Sujung Soh, Gaeun Oh, Kyung Hyun Yoo, Seung Hyun Han, Yeongkag Kwon, Choogon Lee, Kyung-Hyun Park-Min, Se Hwan Mun, and Young Yang. Arthritis & Rheumatology, September.

Engagement of Social Support Systems in Patients Being Considered for and Following Advanced Heart and Lung Surgical Therapies: An ISHLT Expert Consensus Statement. McIlvennan, Colleen K., Samantha J. Anthony, Fabienne Dobbels, Cassie C. Kennedy, Michael Petty, null Melissa Sanchez, Martha Abshire Saylor, Nancy Blumenthal, Khadijah Breathett, Malachy Clancy, Bernice Coleman, Melissa K. Cousino, Kavita Dave, Hilary DuBrock, Nathalie Duerinckx, Meg Fregoso, Kathleen L. Grady, Brittany Koons, Christiane Kugler, Angela Lorts, Federica Meloni, Desiree Robson, Thomas Schlöglhofer, Andrew Morley Smith, Manu Varma, Angela Velleca, Andrew Woods, and Jo Wray. The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, September, S1053-2498(26)02037-1.

Expanding the Donor Pool: Successful Single Lung Transplant of a Hepatitis C Seropositive Donor to a Recipient With HIV and Pulmonary Fibrosis. Whiteson, Harris Z., Sangita Goel, Melissa Lesko, Bonnie E. Lonze, and Sapna A. Mehta. Transplant Infectious Disease, September, e70327.

Factors Associated With Surgical Faculty’s Desire to Leave or Stay at Their Jobs. Sarkissyan, Marianna, Christian de Virgilio, Farin Amersi, Sarah L. Blair, Lisa A. Cunningham, Henry R. Govekar, Maheswari Senthil, Saad Shebrain, Anaar Siletz, Brian T. Valerian, Steven D. Wexner, and Alexander C. Schwed. JAMA Surgery, September, e264382.

Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Before Kidney Transplantation: Referral Considerations, Access Outcomes, Procedure Choice, Safety, and Evidence Gaps—A Systematic Review and Exploratory Meta-Analysis. Argaman, Moshe, Chen Klechevski, Aviad Gravetz, Yael Ben Avraham, Nadav Vaknin, Rotem Horowitz, Ali Safadi, Ali Mousa Saida, Murtaja Satea, Alexandre G. Lellouch, Mordechai Shimonov, Eviatar Nesher, and Fahim Kanani. Gastrointestinal Disorders 8 (3): 57.

Propensity Score-Matched Comparison of Normothermic Machine Perfusion and Normothermic Regional Perfusion in Donation After Circulatory Death Liver Transplant. Wisel, Steven A., Tiffany Y. Lim, Michael Luu, Georgios Voidonikolas, Todd V. Brennan, Kambiz Kosari, Tsuyoshi Todo, Nicholas N. Nissen, David C. H. Kwon, Irene K. Kim, and Justin A. Steggerda. Transplantation, September.

Satisfaction With Anaplastology and Willingness for Face Transplantation in Patients With Facial Epitheses: A Pretest Study. Mansoor, Mohammad, Thomas Schaschinger, Tobias Niederegger, Raffaele Aguglia, Kerstin Menzel, Yvonne Motzkus, Jakob Fenske, Max Heiland, Alexandre G. Lellouch, Rainer Schliermann, Steffen Koerdt, and Leonard Knoedler. The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, September.

The EnDuring Purpose of Women in Thoracic Surgery. Antonoff, Mara B. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, September, S0003-4975(26)00964-1.

Urology

Language as a Powerful ‘Influencer’ in Prostate Cancer. Weiner, Adam B., Jessica Rett, and Scott E. Eggener. The Journal of Urology, September, 101097JU0000000000005330.

Variation in Quality of Physician Communication in Prostate Cancer Consultations. Friedrich, Nadine A., Michael Luu, Renning Zheng, Alexander Hernandez-Tirado, Stephen J. Freedland, Brennan Spiegel, Paul Kokorowski, and Timothy J. Daskivich. Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, September.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Radiation Therapy Dose Linked to High Blood Pressure in the Lungs

Lung cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment may be at higher risk for developing pulmonary hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that affects the arteries that carry blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. Over time, that heightened pressure can lead to right-sided heart failure.

The study evaluated how exposure of the heart and lungs to radiation—such as during treatment for lung cancer—contributes to the development of pulmonary hypertension. The research was published in Thorax and led by investigators from Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University.

“Our findings represent the first clinical evidence linking cardiopulmonary radiation dose to pulmonary hypertension in humans,” said Katelyn Atkins, MD, PhD, interim chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai and corresponding author of the study.  “We found that pulmonary hypertension was associated with radiation dose to the pulmonary artery, but not other areas of the heart or lungs.”

Investigators looked at data on patients from Cedars-Sinai, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute receiving radiation therapy to the chest for lung cancer.

The study found that 12% of these patients experienced pulmonary hypertension, which can cause heart strain and shortness of breath.

Atkins said these findings highlight pulmonary hypertension as a potentially under-recognized outcome after cardiopulmonary radiation therapy, and that they support the need for increased awareness, new guidelines for assessing at-risk patients, and further study.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Samuel C Zhang, Katrina D Silos, Olivia Peony, Maria Oorloff, Asneh Singh, Cody Ramin, and Andriana P Nikolova.

Other authors include Christopher E Kehayias, Christian Guthier, Andrew Warrington, Mina Bakhtiar, Cosmin Ciausu, John He, David E Kozono, David C Christiani, Anju Nohria, Aaron B Waxman, and Raymond H Mak.

Funding: This study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award number 2U01CA209414-07 (JH, RM, DCC) and the Cedars-Sinai Garber Award for Cancer Research (no award/grant number).

Cedars-Sinai Analysis Links Prior Stroke to Sudden Cardiac Death

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University investigators have identified evidence showing that having a stroke could increase a person’s risk for sudden cardiac death, an electrical malfunction that causes the heart to stop beating. Their study was published in Nature Cardiovascular Research.

“A growing body of data suggests that a stroke may predispose patients to sudden cardiac death, which can occur well after they are hospitalized for the stroke,” said Sumeet Chugh, MD, director of the Center for Cardiac Arrest Prevention in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai and corresponding author of the study.

Based on their own prior research as well as studies published by others, investigators found evidence linking strokes to development of lethal rhythms in the heart’s pumping chambers, a leading cause of sudden cardiac deaths. The data also associated strokes with abnormal electrocardiograms and disruptions of the autonomic nervous system, which controls functioning of the heart and other organs.

The review also pointed to elevated risk for takotsubo syndrome, which weakens the heart’s left pumping chamber, among stroke survivors.

Investigators said rigorous research is needed to confirm the link between strokes and sudden cardiac deaths and to determine whether interventions might prevent these fatalities.

The first author of this study is Vishnu Kadiyala and Kyndaron Reinier is a co-author.

Funding: This work was funded by an American Heart Association Rapid Impact Research Award to Dr. Reinier. Chugh holds the Pauline and Harold Price Chair in Cardiac Electrophysiology at Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

pediatric specialists will join child-health experts from across the country at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2026 National Conference and Exhibition Oct. 2–6 in San Diego.

“The pediatric physicians, scientists and caregivers of Guerin Children’s are committed to transforming children’s health,” said Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, executive director of Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s and executive vice dean of Children’s Health. “By combining outstanding multidisciplinary care with leading-edge research and education, we are building new approaches to some of the most complex challenges in pediatric medicine.”

A Guerin Children’s booth in the exhibit hall—Booth 2330—will showcase the institution’s research, pediatric and specialty care, medical education programs, and clinical innovations. Cedars-Sinai pediatric experts attending the conference are available to comment on emerging children’s health issues and new research findings.

Guerin Children’s Experts Available for Interviews

Pooja Nawathe, MD, assistant director of Healthcare Simulation at Guerin Children’s, is the incoming chair of the AAP Section on Critical Care Quality Improvement Committee. She is part of conference sessions on “Simulation is a Mindset” for the AAP Section on Critical Care and Simulation and Innovative Learning Methods and can discuss the ways simulation enhances patient safety and serves as a valuable tool for clinical training and medical education.

Rangasamy Ramanathan, MD, MBBS, director of Neonatology at Guerin Children’s, can discuss Cedars-Sinai’s launch of the first Neuro Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Los Angeles. He can also comment on the upcoming NICU fellowship at Guerin Children’s and other advances in neonatology.

Kurlen Payton, MD, assistant director of Quality and Safety at Guerin Children’s, will present research on a quality improvement study in a high-volume delivery center.

Theodora Stavroudis, MD, neonatologist, and Allison Henry, MD, director of newborn care, will present research on neonatal resuscitations that require additional team members. Henry can also discuss the importance of vitamin K shots for newborns and the potential downsides of refusing them.

Scheduling Interviews

To arrange an interview with a Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s expert, contact Shishira Sreenivas at Shishira.sreenivas@cshs.org or 202-297-0220.

Cedars-Sinai and the Los Angeles Rams will bring their S.T.E.A.M. Squad program to King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science for an immersive day of hands-on learning and career exploration. The event is presented as part of the Rams and Hollywood Park S.T.E.A.M. education program, presented by Cedars-Sinai.

Approximately 600 students will participate in interactive experiences led by professionals from Cedars-Sinai, the Rams and Hollywood Park. Rams safety and captain Quentin Lake also will be in attendance. 

The immersive experience will show students how science, technology, engineering, art and math connect to careers in healthcare, sports and entertainment.

Students will rotate through interactive stations including:

• S.T.E.A.M. career panel featuring Cedars-Sinai, Rams and Hollywood Park professionals, who will discuss their career paths and how they use S.T.E.A.M. in their work
• Cedars-Sinai ambulance simulation and walk-through featuring emergency-care equipment
• Stop the Bleed workshop where students will practice lifesaving bleeding-control skills
• Hands-on activities exploring DNA extraction and microscopy, healthcare technology, and the role of movement and physical skills in sports
• A public health simulation, using data and epidemiology to investigate a fictional disease outbreak

In addition, ALL students will be invited to a Rams S.T.E.A.M. activation with interactive tables, giveaways and a DJ.

WHEN

Tuesday, Sept. 29
11:45 a.m.–2:30 p.m. PDT

WHERE

King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science
1601 E. 120th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90059

MEDIA RSVP

Melissa Vizcarra, Cedars-Sinai, 719-502-5001 | melissa.vizcarra@cshs.org
Mara Powner, Los Angeles Rams, mpowner@rams.nfl.com

Cedars-Sinai in the News

71-Year-Old Is Thankful for Cedars-Sinai HIV-Positive Organ Transplant Program | CBS Los Angeles
Irene Kim, MD

Misplaced Glasses, Forgotten Names. How To Know When To Worry, and How To Thrive | Los Angeles Times
Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH 

Smoke From Wildfires Is a Growing Health Threat to Both People and Birds | Audubon Magazine
Susan Cheng, MD, MPH

We Asked 3 Cardiologists What They Eat Every Day for Better Heart Health | Verywell Health
Eli Friedman, MD

Map of Brain ‘Microproteins’ Could Offer New Clues to Alzheimer’s Disease | Nature
Bahareh Ajami, PhD 

4 Endocrinologists Share the Fruits They Eat Regularly for Better Blood Sugar | Verywell Health
Ruchi Mathur, MD 

ASTRO Issues Its First Clinical Guideline on Radiation Therapy for Bladder Cancer | The ASCO Post
Leslie Ballas, MD 

Extensively Drug-Resistant Shigella Emerges in US, Mostly Among Men | Healio Infectious Disease News
Ali Rezaie, MD

We Asked a Doctor When You Should Get Your First Bone Density Scan | Verywell Health
Natasha Trentacosta, MD 

Plant-Based Diet Linked to Lower Risk of Prostate Cancer Progression on Active Surveillance | The ASCO Post
Adam Weiner, MD 

What Low Vaccination Rates Could Mean for Flu Season 2026 | The San Fernando Valley Sun
Michael Ben-Aderet, MD

Faculty Publications

Biomedical Sciences

Artificial Intelligence-Derived Splenic Response in Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography Is Associated With Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events: A Multi-Site Study. Ramirez, Giselle, Naga L. Dharmavaram, Aakash Shanbhag, Robert J. H. Miller, Paul B. Kavanagh, Jirong Yi, Mark Lemley, Valerie Builoff, Anna Marcinkiewicz, Damini Dey, Jon Hainer, Samuel Wopperer, Stacey Knight, Viet T. Le, Steve Mason, Erick Alexanderson, Isabel Carvajal-Juarez, René R. S. Packard, Thomas L. Rosamond, Mouaz H. Al-Mallah, Leandro Slipczuk, Mark I. Travin, Wanda Acampa, Andrew J. Einstein, Panithaya Chareonthaitawee, Daniel S. Berman, Marcelo F. Di Carli, and Piotr J. Slomka. Cardiovascular Research, September, cvag184.

Beyond the Field of View: Radiomics and Artificial Intelligence for Organ-Specific and Systemic Disease Prediction From Localized Medical Imaging. Wang, Lixia, Yu Shi, Zengtian Deng, Yufeng Wang, Dante Rigo De Righi, Sehrish Javed, Touseef Ahmad Qureshi, Ju Dong Yang, Yibin Xie, Stephen J. Pandol, and Debiao Li. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 182 (September): 103535.

Cardiac Surgery

Combination of Genetic eNOS Deficiency and High-Fat Diet Induces Reproducible Cardiometabolic HFpEF. Elbatreek, Mahmoud H., Vinayak Khodade, Darshan Amin, Miguel Huerta, Timothy D. Allerton, David J. Polhemus, Sanjiv J. Shah, Thomas M. Vondriska, Traci T. Goodchild, and David J. Lefer. Redox Biology 97 (September): 104394.

Plasma Angiotensin Levels and Postoperative Hypotension in Patients With and Without Chronic Heart Failure Undergoing Cardiac Surgery. DiChiacchio, Laura, Rana Hamouche, Eleni Maneta, Forest Riekhof, Stavros G. Drakos, Craig H. Selzman, and Thomas C. Hanff. ASAIO Journal, September.

Towards Individual Risk Stratification in ECMO-Bridged Heart Transplantation. Nammalwar, Shruthi, Robert Schultz, and Laura DiChiacchio. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, September, S0003-4975(26)00930-6.

Cardiology

Author Response to ‘Persistent Proteomic Signatures in Takotsubo Syndrome: Methodological Considerations Regarding Reference Cohort Selection and Confounding.’ Marano, Paul, Jennifer E. Van Eyk, and C. Noel Bairey Merz. Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research 19 (1): 117.

Avoid It or Reach It? The Cardiac Conduction Axis as a Common yet Divergent Determinant of Patient Outcomes in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement and Conduction-System Pacing. Jilaihawi, Hasan, Kenneth A. Ellenbogen, Pugazhendhi Vijayaraman, and Raj R. Makkar. Heart Rhythm, September, S1547-5271(26)02774-8.

Deep Learning-Enabled Screening of Chronic Kidney Disease From Echocardiography. Yuan, Victoria, Hirotaka Ieki, Alexander Sandhu, Long H. Nguyen, Paul P. Cheng, Stephanie T. Chang, Andrew P. Ambrosy, Alan C. Kwan, Alan S. Go, Susan Cheng, and David Ouyang. Med, September, 101296.

Influence of Chronic Kidney Disease on Outcomes After Paclitaxel-Coated Balloon Angioplasty for Coronary In-Stent Restenosis. Tehrani, Behnam N., Ilan Vavilin, Richard Shlofmitz, Jeffrey Moses, William Bachinsky, Suhail Dohad, Steven Rudick, Robert Stoler, Brian K. Jefferson, William Nicholson, John Altman, Cinthia Bateman, Jennifer A. Tremmel, J. Dawn Abbott, Wayne Batchelor, Rafael Cavalcante, Robert W. Yeh, and Ajay J. Kirtane. Circulation. Cardiovascular Interventions, September, e016978.

Left Atrial Appendage Closure or Anticoagulation for Atrial Fibrillation. Reply. Doshi, Shephal K., and Saibal Kar. The New England Journal of Medicine 395 (11): 1140.

Lost in CLARIFY-Cation: The Sex Gap That Refuses to Close. Gulati, Martha, and C. Noel Bairey-Merz. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, September, zwag488.

Mitral Valve Lithotripsy With SmartCrack Balloon for Severe Calcified Mitral Stenosis: First-in-Human Experience. So, Kent Chak-Yu, Kevin Ka-Ho Kam, Ling Na Geri Wong, Wang Hei Anselm Hui, Ching-Wei Lee, Tawai Ngernsritrakul, Leo Kar Lok Lai, Simon Chow, Shing Fung Chui, Michael Lee, Albert K. M. Chan, Randolph Wong, Thomas Modine, Hasan Jilaihawi, Yat-Yin Lam, Dee Dee Wang, Bryan Yan, and Alex Pui-Wai Lee. Journal of the American Heart Association, September, e050755.

Prognostic Implications of Functional Significance, High-Risk Plaque and Vessel Characteristics in Patients With Diabetes Mellitus. Song, Jin-Eun, Seokhun Yang, Masahiro Hoshino, Taishi Yonetsu, Jinlong Zhang, Eun-Seok Shin, Joon-Hyung Doh, Chang-Wook Nam, Jianan Wang, Shaoliang Chen, Nobuhiro Tanaka, Hitoshi Matsuo, Takashi Kubo, Hyuk-Jae Chang, Tsunekazu Kakuta, and Bon-Kwon Koo. The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine 41 (5): 873–83.

Computational Biomedicine

A FAIR Gold-Standard Benchmark for Geographic Entity Recognition in Cancer Genomics Literature for Biomedical NLP. Kann, Maricel G., Karen O’Connor, Petra Tembei, Samuel Rosner, and Graciela Gonzalez Hernandez. Bioinformatics Advances 6 (1): vbag225.

Ambient Air Pollutant Mixtures in Relation to Sonographic Endometrial Receptivity Parameters During the Peri-Implantation Window: A Clinic-Based Observational Study. Xu, Heze, Zhijiao Wang, Huixin Zhan, Yijia Liu, Shanwei Xing, Zekai Bai, Jingshuang Zhou, Hang Zhen, Jiapo Li, and Chong Qiao. Environmental Research, September, 125682.

Type 1 Interferon Perturbates Clonal Competition by Reshaping Human Blood Development. Lama, Chhiring, Danielle Isakov, Shira Rosenberg, Miguel Quijada-Álamo, Mirca S. Saurty-Seerunghen, Sara Moein, Mathis Nozais, Tsega-Ab Abera, Olivia Sakaguchi, Mansi Totwani, Grace Freed, Leila Zaydon, Chi-Lam Poon, Neelang Parghi, Andrea Kubas-Meyer, Amy X. Xie, Mohamed Omar, Daniel Choi, Franco Castillo-Tokumori, Ghaith Abu-Zeinah, Alicia Dillard, Saravanan Ganesan, Nathaniel D. Omans, Neville Dusaj, Paulina Chamely, Eleni Mimitou, Peter Smibert, Heidi E. Kosiorek, Amylou C. Dueck, Rona Weinberg, Ronan Chaligne, Bridget Marcellino, Luigi Marchionni, Sanjay Patel, Paul Simonson, Dan A. Landau, Elvin Wagenblast, Ronald Hoffman, and Anna S. Nam. Nature Genetics, September.

Medicine

Balancing Lipid Synthesis and Oxidation Promotes B Cell Response to Vaccination During Immunosuppression. Thompson, Elizabeth A., Alexis Figueroa, Katerina Roznik, Nicole E. Skinner, Santosh Dhakal, Shuai Li, Luca Biavati, Laura A. Sena, Laila Stoddart, Karli Redinger, Samuel B. Warner, Sabra L. Klein, Nadine Rouphael, Joel N. Blankson, Yolanda Eby, Robert D. Leone, Peter S. Heeger, Mark A. Robien, Christian P. Larsen, Erika L. Pearce, Edward J. Pearce, Hongkai Ji, Andrew H. Karaba, Dorry L. Segev, Aaron Ar Tobian, William A. Werbel, Andrea L. Cox, and Justin R. Bailey. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, September, e205170.

Clinical Scenarios of Suboptimal Response to Rituximab in Relapsing ANCA-Associated Vasculitis. Prieto-González, Sergio, Ellen Romich, Peter A. Merkel, David R. W. Jayne, Rona M. Smith, RITAZAREM investigators, and RITAZAREM investigators. Frontiers in Medicine 13: 1874867.

Global Disparities in Access to Randomized Controlled Trials for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Khan, Dilawar, and Yuri Matusov. Respiratory Medicine, September, 109165.

Proportional Limb Strengths Signal an Adaptive Shift in Arboreality in Early Human Evolution. Carlson, Kristian J., Christopher B. Ruff, M. Loring Burgess, Adam D. Sylvester, Tea Jashashvili, Jason L. Heaton, Travis R. Pickering, Lauren Sarringhaus, Timothy M. Ryan, Amélie Beaudet, Robin H. Crompton, A. J. Heile, Dominic Stratford, Kathleen Kuman, David Lordkipanidze, and Ronald J. Clarke. Science Advances 12 (38): eaeh1752.

Specific Targeting of Cancer Cell Mitochondria With a Malaria Drug Improves Pancreatic Cancer Outcome. Ou, Yan, Adrian Lim, Ruoxiang Wang, Nora Mir, Vinicius F. Calsavara, Qiang Wang, Yi Zhang, Stephen J. Pandol, and Mouad Edderkaoui. Scientific Reports 16 (1): 28708.

Taking a Spiritual History in the Oral Oncology Setting. Santos-Silva, Alan Roger, Marco Magalhaes, Camila Barcellos Calderipe, Marcio Ajudarte Lopes, Eric V. Ávila-Pires, and Joel B. Epstein. Supportive Care in Cancer: Official Journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer 34 (10): 989.

Neurology

Kit-Based Remote Collection and Isolation of Human Reprogrammable Somatic Cells for Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Cerebral Organoids. Cheng, Iris Q., Juan F. Ruiz, Evan K. Casalino, Ce Zhang, and Angeliki Louvi. Nature Protocols, September.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Advancements in Managing Bone Defects With Limb Length Discrepancies With a Motorized Intramedullary Combined Transport and Lengthening Nail. Collins, Angela C., and Geoffrey S. Marecek. Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma 40 (10S): S7–12.

Clinical Outcomes and Complications of the Posterior Dynamic Distraction Device in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Lam, Chuck H., Alma Sato, Halil Ibrahim Bulut, Jonathan Gibson, Conor T. Boylan, Jwalant S. Mehta, and Morgan Jones. European Spine Journal: Official Publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, September.

History, Physical Examination, and Terminology of Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus: Proceedings of the International Congress on Cartilage Repair of the Ankle. Tham, Alexander, James J. Butler, Jared Rubin, Christiaan J. A. van Bergen, Onno L. Baur, Christopher D. Murawski, Pietro Spennacchio, Dominic Carreira, Stephen R. Kearns, Adam W. Mitchell, Helder Pereira, Christopher Pearce, Members of International Consensus Group on Cartilage Repair of the Ankle 2017*, et al. Foot & Ankle Specialist, September, 19386400261485355.

Scheuermann’s Kyphosis Carries Higher Perioperative Risk Than Idiopathic Scoliosis in Adolescent Patients Undergoing Posterior Spinal Fusion. Chan, Vivien, Justin L. Reyes, Monerah Annaim, Mehdi Elfilali, Michael G. Vitale, David L. Skaggs, and Zeeshan M. Sardar. Spine Deformity, September.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Advancing Digital Health in Low-Middle-Income Countries: Experiences From Armenia’s Health System Digital Transformations. Sargsyan, Tsaghkanush, Anna Artsruni, Sergey Sargsyan, Ruzanna MoVsesyan, Arpine Muradyan, Avet Manukyan, and Karine Sargsyan. Frontiers in Public Health 14: 1827775.

Pediatrics

Circulating Tumor DNA Profiling Defines Risk Classification in Patients With Ewing Sarcoma: A Report From the Children’s Oncology Group and the LEOPARD Study. Shulman, David S., Kelly Klega, Nan Chen, Allen Buxton, Elliot Gohn, Sarah Sexton, Catherine Clinton, Mohammad Tanhaemami, Carrie Cibulskis, Edwin Choy, Thomas Cash, Kris Ann P. Schultz, Leo Mascarenhas, Rochelle Bagatell, Christopher Kuo, Brian K. Turpin, Bhuvana A. Setty, Bradley D. DeNardo, Douglas S. Hawkins, Michael W. Bishop, Avanthi Tayi Shah, Luke D. Maese, Julia L. Glade Bender, Damon Reed, Mark D. Krailo, Natalie DelRocco, Wendy B. London, Katherine A. Janeway, Steven G. DuBois, and Brian D. Crompton. Journal of Clinical Oncology: Official Journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, September, JCO2600285.

Development of CRISPR_SCD001, an Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Gene Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease After CRISPR-Cas9 Mediated Correction. DeWitt, Mark, Beatriz Campo-Fernandez, Sohini Roy, Alissa L. W. Kleinhenz, Alejandra Davila, Mallory Lennon, Jonnathan T. Vu, Netravathi Krishnappa, Suzanne Said, Chin-Hong Tseng, So Hyun Park, Gang Bao, Wendy Magis, David I. K. Martin, Dario Boffelli, Stacia K. Wyman, Donald B. Kohn, Mark C. Walters, and Zulema Romero. Molecular Therapy: The Journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy, September, S1525-0016(26)00790-2.

Diagnosis Through Whole Genome Sequencing and Care Utilization in Children With Severe Illness. Dias, Joao M. L., Ravi P. More, Duncan Butler, Julian Brown, Courtney E. French, Helen Dolling, F. Lucy Raymond, David H. Rowitch, and Catherine E. Aiken. JAMA Network Open 9 (9): e2634372.

Use of Purified Cannabidiol in Treatment-Resistant Pediatric Epilepsy: Beyond Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, Dravet Syndrome, and Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. Kahan, Madeline D., Tiffany Lin, Sucheta M. Joshi, Elizabeth Hagopian, My H. Vu, Michele Van Hirtum-Das, Latanya D. Agurs, and Deborah L. Holder. Pediatric Neurology 184 (August): 101–5.

Radiation Oncology

Radiation Therapy for Bladder Cancer: An ASTRO Clinical Practice Guideline. Ballas, Leslie K., Abhishek A. Solanki, Brian C. Baumann, Piet Dirix, Comron Hassanzadeh, Nicholas G. Zaorsky, Andrea B. Apolo, Ananya Choudhury, Peter W. Chung, Jeffrey M. Holzbeierlein, Monika Joshi, Michele M. Kim, Cheryl T. Lee, William Moroney, Chad R. Ritch, Hina Saeed, Rituraj Upadhyay, Antoine G. van der Heijden, Lisa Bradfield, Amanda R. Helms, and Jason A. Efstathiou. Practical Radiation Oncology, September, S1879-8500(26)00273-0.

Surgery

Acute Cholecystitis in High-Risk Patients: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Practice Management Guideline From the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST). Ratnasekera, Asanthi, Rishi Rattan, Bishwajit Bhattacharya, Zugui Zhang, Madison Harris, Sirivan S. Seng, Connor Magura, Christopher A. Butts, Judy Rabinowitz, Jordan Michael Kirsch, Ida Molavi, Haytham Kaafarani, Tejal S. Brahmbhatt, Michael W. Cripps, Nikolay Bugaev, and John J. Como. Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open 11 (3): e002191.

Beyond the First Cancer: Secondary Malignancies Associated With Soft Tissue Sarcomas. Nguyen-Thai, Allison, Farin Amersi, Alexandra Gangi, and Allan W. Silberman. The American Surgeon, September, 31348261472869.

Dual Acellular Subnormothermic Machine Perfusion for Enhanced Uterus Preservation in a Swine Model. Cabanel, Lucile, Haïzam Oubari, Bradley W. Ellis, Ludivine Dion, Vincent Lavoué, Carla Sousa, Loïc Van Dieren, Olivier Morel, Mark A. Randolph, Curtis L. Cetrulo, Korkut Uygun, Alexandre G. Lellouch, Yanis Berkane, and Basak E. Uygun. Acta Obstetricia Et Gynecologica Scandinavica, September.

Is There a Difference in the Outcomes of Long-Term Seton Placement for Complex Anal Fistula in Patients With and Without Crohn’s Disease? Aviran, Eyal, Dan Assaf, Karen Zaghiyan, and Phillip Fleshner. American Journal of Surgery 262 (September): 117248.

Long-Term Surveillance After EVAR and TEVAR: Are Patients Truly Lost to Follow-Up? Schwieger, Lara, Steven Scarlett, Mohyee Ayouty, Marvin Lu, Donna Bahroloomi, Cassra Arbabi, Navyash Gupta, Donald Baril, Ali Azizzadeh, and Elizabeth L. Chou. Annals of Vascular Surgery, September, S0890-5096(26)00654-0.

Resource Utilization and Outcomes of Inpatient Eyelid Reconstruction in Facial Palsy Patients: A 20-Year HCUP-NIS Study. Hoch, Cosima C., Tobias Niederegger, Emre Karakas, Douglas Henderson, Thomas Schaschinger, Dilan Gucuk, Christian Festbaum, Jakob Fenske, Alexandre G. Lellouch, Leonard Knoedler, and Andreas Kehrer. JPRAS Open 52 (November): 415–24.

Urology

ATP-Dependent Chromatin Remodelers in Prostate Cancer Progression and Therapeutic Resistance. Torres, Lillian M., Clayton Yates, Charlotte L. Bevan, Michael R. Freeman, and Moray J. Campbell. Endocrinology, September, bqag103.

Is Gleason Pattern 3 Cancer? Molecular Features Do Not Distinguish Pattern 3 From Benign Tissue. Leni, Riccardo, Scott E. Eggener, Matthew R. Cooperberg, Simpa S. Salami, Adam B. Weiner, Ming Zhou, Hasan Al-Sattar, Alastair D. Lamb, and Andrew J. Vickers. BJU International, September.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

The 2026 IBD & Women’s Health Conference is a one-day symposium designed specifically for women at every stage of life who are navigating Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

The morning portion of the conference is for healthcare professionals only and includes presentations about clinical research. The afternoon program is open to the public and will bring together patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and researchers to share the latest clinical insights and foster meaningful community dialogue. Attendees will learn how medical therapies combine with lifestyle strategies, nutrition, and mental well-being to support long-term health.

Women living with inflammatory bowel disease face unique clinical and biological challenges—including hormonal fluctuations and pregnancy—yet specialized resources tailored to their specific needs are rarely central to medical programming. This conference is designed to bridge that gap by delivering the latest on treatment advances and resources directly to the community.

WHEN

Sunday, Sept. 27

• 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. (Morning Session): Presentations and clinical research discussions for healthcare professionals and scientists only.
• 1–5p.m. (Afternoon Session): Interactive sessions with healthcare experts open to patients and caregivers.
  

WHERE

Cedars-Sinai
South Tower, Harvey Morse Auditorium
8700 Gracie Allen Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90048

CONTACT

Members of the news media are welcome to cover the conference. Interviews with gastroenterology experts, researchers, and patient advocates can be arranged.

Please contact:
Laura Coverson
310-562-1112
Laura.Coverson@cshs.org

An estimated 100 million people in the U.S. have metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, according to the American Liver Foundation. About 20% to 25% will progress to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a more aggressive form of the disease in which excess fat buildup in the liver leads to inflammation, cell damage and scarring.

Treatments focus on lifestyle changes and protecting the liver from further damage. Medications are available, but effective options remain limited and there is no cure for MASH.

Previous research pointed to damaged mitochondria, which power cells, as a driver of MASH. In the new multicenter study, Cedars-Sinai investigators found that levels of the UBE2N enzyme in liver cells decrease as liver disease progresses.

“The UBE2N enzyme appears to protect the liver from the inflammation and damage associated with MASH by helping remove damaged mitochondria and supporting the breakdown of fat,” said Ekihiro Seki, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai and co-corresponding author of the study. “When levels of the enzyme fell, we saw more damaged cells and injury to the liver.”

When investigators restored the UBE2N enzyme to normal levels in the livers of laboratory mice, fat buildup, scarring and inflammation were reduced. The findings suggest that the enzyme could be a promising target for preventing MASLD from progressing to MASH.

“The identification of this enzyme’s role in regulating mitochondria in the liver is an important advance in understanding steatotic liver disease,” said Shelly Lu, MD, the Women’s Guild Chair in Gastroenterology and director of the Karsh Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Cedars-Sinai. “Future studies can test whether enhancing this protective pathway can complement existing treatments, identify patients most likely to benefit and lead to new therapeutic approaches for preventing advanced disease.”

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Michitaka Matsuda, So Yeon Kim, Takashi Tsuchiya and Yoon Seok Roh.

Additional authors include: Feng Wang, Jin Lee, Jeong-Su Park, Meizhou Huang, Hwan Ma, Guoyan Sui, Zixiong Zhou, Xufeng Wu, Haram Lee, Soohwan Oh, Hanseul Park, Key-Hwan Lim, Chun-Woong Park, Sang-Bae Han, Jin Tae Hong and Michael Karin.

Funding: This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (grant nos. RS-2025-02273102 and RS-2025-02603096), Regional Innovation System & Education (RISE) programme of Chungbuk (grant no. 2025-RISE-11-014-03), the Pinnacle Research Award of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD, to J.L.), the San Diego Digestive Diseases Research Center (SDDRC) Pilot/Feasibility Grant (NIDDK P30 DK120515, to J.L.), the National Institutes of Health (grant nos. R01DK085252, R01DK138591 and R01CA301632) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 82404726).

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

“Our team will be presenting research and clinical trial results, moderating scientific discussions and presenting clinical insights,” said Katelyn Atkins, MD, PhD, interim chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer.

Atkins will present research on how the health of the thymus—a small gland in the chest that helps regulate the immune system—affects the risk of heart damage in patients receiving radiation therapy for lung cancer. She also is available to discuss a range of radiation oncology topics.

Additional Cedars-Sinai experts presenting at the conference are available to discuss news coming out of the meeting.

Cedars-Sinai Experts

Leslie Ballas, MD, professor of Radiation Oncology, will present findings from a Phase II multi-institutional study examining whether very low doses of radiation—adjusted based on how each patient responds—can treat bone metastases caused by multiple myeloma. She will also join a panel discussion of radiation therapy guidelines for bladder cancer and localized prostate cancer.

Nikhil Chakravarty, MPH, will discuss whether the timing of GLP-1 inhibitor treatment affects the risk of sudden and serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attack or stroke, in men receiving hormone therapy for prostate cancer.

Indrin Chetty, PhD, director of the Division of Medical Physics, will explain how using AI and other software can improve patient safety and outcomes. Chetty also will moderate a workshop on decision-making surrounding re-irradiation and present in a session on using algorithms and optimization to maximize radiation doses to tumors while sparing healthy tissue.

Tai Dou, PhD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology, will moderate a discussion of AI-powered planning, delivery and analysis of radiotherapy treatments.

Mitchell Kamrava, MD, is a professor of Radiation Oncology and director of Brachytherapy, in which a radiation source is placed inside the body. He will discuss techniques and outcomes for microboosting—delivering a higher, targeted radiation dose to the most aggressive area of a tumor—in men with prostate cancer.

Anthony Nguyen, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Sciences, will moderate a discussion and present research about biomarkers in prostate radiotherapy. At the Radiation Research Society annual meeting the following week in Hawaii, he will present an invited lecture on how radiation modifies the immune system.

Stephen Shiao, MD, PhD, professor of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Sciences and co-leader of the Cancer Therapeutics Program, will present on the microbiome’s regulation of tumor response to low-dose radiation.

Zachary Zumsteg, MD, associate professor of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Sciences, will give an oral presentation reporting results from a Phase II prospective clinical trial investigating deintensified chemoradiotherapy following transoral robotic surgery in HPV-associated head and neck cancer.

Media Contact

To schedule an interview with a Cedars-Sinai expert, contact Christina Elston at christina.elston@cshs.org or 626-298-0702.

Cedars-Sinai in the News

How Food Poisoning Can Lead to Chronic IBS: Scientists Investigate the Link | National Geographic
Mark Pimentel, MD 

Dietary Supplement Glutamine Plus Standard Therapy Improved Outcomes in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer, Cedars-Sinai Investigators Find | The Cancer Letter
Jun Gong, MD, Neil Bhowmick, PhD, and Robert Figlin, MD 

Foundayo vs. the Wegovy Pill: What Doctors Want You to Know | Prevention
Amanda Velazquez, MD 

Smartwatches Overestimate Calories Burned by Up to 25%, Study Suggests | Prevention
Amanda Velazquez, MD 

Cedars-Sinai Earns Top Emergency Accreditation | Beverly Press/Park Labrea News
Sam Torbati, MD 

Flu Season Could Be Tougher if Vaccination Rates Stay Low, Experts Say | ConsumerAffairs
Michael Ben-Aderet, MD

Advanced Dementia: A Guide to Care, Comfort and Hospice | Being Patient
Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH

FDA Approves Apitegromab for Spinal Muscular Atrophy | Neurology Live
Michelle Allen-Sharpley, MD, PhD

Hyaluronic Acid Could Cut Cancer Risk, if We Can Get Around to Its Cons | American Chemical Society
Ekihiro Seki, MD, PhD

Faculty Publications

Cardiac Surgery

Bundles for Decreasing Sternal Wound Infections: Science or Ritual? Cohen, Robbin G. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, September, S0003-4975(26)00917-3.

Five-Year Follow-Up of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement With Self-Expanding Intra-Annular Versus Commercially Available Valves. Makkar, Raj R., Wen Cheng, Ron Waksman, Tarun Chakravarty, Lowell F. Satler, Mark Groh, William Abernethy, Mark J. Russo, David Heimansohn, James Hermiller, Stephen Worthley, Bassem M. Chehab, Ray Matthews, Ravi K. Ramana, Gerald Yong, Chunguang Chen, Federico M. Asch, Mamoo Nakamura, Hasan Jilaihawi, Rahul Sharma, Dhairya Patel, Samir Kapadia, Michael J. Reardon, Deepak L. Bhatt, and Gregory P. Fontana. JACC. Cardiovascular Interventions, September, S1936-8798(26)01963-1.

Cardiology

Digital Health Use and Interest in Virtual Cardiac Rehabilitation Among Cardiac Inpatients: Cross-Sectional Study. Patel, Hamza G., Jie Ding, Xinyi Zhang, Abel Cherian, Pauline Hyunh, Apurva Sharma, Vennela Avula, Rongzi Shan, Katherine A. Ornstein, Shireen R. Khoury, Francoise A. Marvel, Lena M. Mathews, Seth S. Martin, and Erin M. Spaulding. JMIR Cardio 10 (September): e91767.

Fatty Acid and Oxylipin Metabolism Differentiate Isolated Postcapillary From Combined Pre- and Postcapillary Pulmonary Hypertension. Alotaibi, Mona, Amber Tang, Nancy Sun, Ian Gurholt, Emma Yuguchi, Kari Roberts, Ioana Preston, Rod Warburton, Jason X.-J. Yuan, Nick H. Kim, Stephen Y. Chan, Mohit Jain, Susan Cheng, and Nicholas S. Hill. Circulation. Heart Failure, September, e014073.

Impact of Tricuspid Regurgitation on Outcomes After Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair for Primary Mitral Regurgitation: The PRIME-MR Registry. Scotti, Andrea, Sebastian Ludwig, Daniel Feldman, Benedikt Koell, Jessica Weimann, Philipp von Stein, Alejandro Araujo Adams, Adrian Heinze, Dhairya Patel, Lukas Stolz, Robin Le Ruz, Tetsu Tanaka, PRIME-MR Investigators, et al. Circulation. Cardiovascular Interventions, September, e016634.

Long-Term Outcomes of Contemporary Balloon-Expandable TAVR in Bicuspid Aortic Valve: A Propensity-Matched Comparison to Tricuspid. Suruga, Kazuki, Vivek Patel, Hidemasa Shitan, Guo Yuchao, Takashi Nagasaka, Daniel Ng, Jaideep Menda, Adishwar Singh, Ayush Goyal, Elijah Buss, Andjela Kremenovic, Emily Dermand, Harsh Jain, Dhairya Patel, Aakriti Gupta, Tarun Chakravarty, Wen Cheng, Yuito Okada, Hasan Jilaihawi, Mamoo Nakamura, and Raj R. Makkar. JACC. Cardiovascular Interventions 19 (17): 2383–96.

Prepregnancy Diet Quality Index and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes. Bharmal, Ummayhany, George Saade, Philip Greenland, Brenda J. Smith, Andrea C. Kozai, Stephanie A. Fisher, Lauren Theilen, William Grobman, C. Noel Bairey Merz, Uma Reddy, Tetsuya Kawakita, and null Ms. JAMA Network Open 9 (9): e2633245.

Quantitative Coronary Artery and Aortic Valve Calcification by Virtual Non-Contrast Images From Dual-Energy Delayed CT Scans in Patients With Severe Aortic Stenosis. Fujito, Hidesato, Kaveh Rezaei Bookani, Bashaer Gheyath, Sunam Lee, Sung Woo Cho, Balaji Tamarappoo, Alan C. Kwan, Raj Makkar, Damini Dey, Piotr Slomka, Daniel S. Berman, John Friedman, and Donghee Han. The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging, September.

Too Much, Too Soon? The Argument Against Initial Combination Therapy in Stage I Hypertension. McClintick, Daniel J., Hilary C. Bowman, and Joseph E. Ebinger. Journal of Human Hypertension, September.

Computational Biomedicine

Integrated Signatures Define Mutational Processes in Prostate Cancer. Gruber, Andreas J., André V. Olsen, Barbara Hernando, Kevin C. L. Cheng, Clarissa Gerhäuser, Marina Torres, Francesco Favero, Daria Kiriy, Ángel Fernández-Sanromán, Juan Maria Roldan-Romero, Lucy Barton, Diogo Pellegrina, Joachim Weischenfeldt, et al. Nature, September.

Recurrent Mechanisms of Biallelic Epigenetic Inactivation Reveal New Putative Tumour Suppressor Genes in Prostate Cancer. Kiriy, Daria, Francesco Favero, Clarissa Gerhäuser, Jessica Heilmann, Pavlo Lutsik, Francisco German Rodriguez Gonzalez, Alessio Locallo, Jakob Schmidt Jespersen, Andreas J. Gruber, Andre V. Olsen, Barbara Hernando, Kevin Cl Cheng, Joachim Weischenfeldt, et al. Nature Communications 17 (1): 9646.

Imaging

Radiology Preparedness for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games: Lessons From Previous Major Sporting Events. Lee, Jonathan, Eric D. Cyphers, Jihoon Lim, Harris Liou, and Ali Gholamrezanezhad. Journal of the American College of Radiology: JACR 23 (9): 1861–63.

Medicine

Blocking PD-L2 Prevents Senescent Cell Accumulation and Age-Related Dysfunction. Chaib, Selim, Larissa G. P. Langhi Prata, Masayoshi Suda, Andres Sola, Thomas J. Mitchell, Zacharias P. Anastasiadis, Hawley E. Kunz, Jia Nie, Stella G. Victorelli, Ricardo Lozano Flores, Moritz Weigl, Shimpei Kawamoto, Ken Uemura, Hyungsoo Kim, Binsheng Wang, Christina L. Inman, Tamar Pirtskhalava, Nino Giorgadze, Ailing Xue, Kurt O. Johnson, Jair M. Espindola-Netto, Sonja Suvakov, Jennet Hatamova, Erik S. Parker, Davyn Benitto Hartono, Vagisha Kulshreshtha, Jose Alberto Lopez-Dominguez, Aaron M. Deisinger, Allyson K. Palmer, Yi Zhu, Megan M. Weivoda, Anne Gingery, Robert Hromas, Vesna D. Garovic, João F. Passos, David B. Allison, Eiji Hara, Michael D. Jensen, Nicolas Musi, Stefan G. Tullius, Ze’ev A. Ronai, Manuel Serrano, Ming Xu, Ian R. Lanza, Yuji Ikeno, Tamara Tchkonia, and James L. Kirkland. Cell Metabolism, September, S1550-4131(26)00339-6.

Examining the Interchangeability of Two Different Patient-Reported Global Assessment Measures in an Observational Axial Spondyloarthritis Cohort. Vershel, Connor, Seokhun Kim, Lianne S. Gensler, Matthew A. Brown, Michael H. Weisman, Mariko L. Ishimori, Michael Ward, John D. Reveille, and Mark C. Hwang. Arthritis Care & Research, September.

Maternal and Fetal HLA Heterozygosity in Preeclampsia: Insights From a Large Multi-Ancestry Pregnancy Cohort. Cao, Chang, Matthew Maher, Jie Hu, Brendan J. Keating, Richard M. Burwick, S. Ananth Karumanchi, G. Larry Maxwell, Camille E. Powe, Thomas F. McElrath, David E. Cantonwine, Norma Serrano, Claudia Colmenares, Juan P. Casas, Richa Saxena, and Kathryn J. Gray. HLA 108 (3): e70970.

Performance of the iBox Prognostication System in African American Kidney Transplant Recipients. Truchot, Agathe, Yannis Lombardi, Marc Raynaud, Olivier Aubert, Gillian Divard, Thibaut Thalamas, Brad Astor, Didier Mandelbrot, Sandesh Parajuli, Kenneth A. Newell, Christian P. Larsen, Geeta Karadkhele, Babak Orandi, John J. Friedewald, Gaurav Gupta, Enver Akalin, Stanley C. Jordan, Arthur J. Matas, Miklos Z. Molnar, Junji Yamauchi, Katalin Fornadi, Andrew J. Bentall, Mark D. Stegall, Roslyn B. Mannon, Dorry L. Segev, Edmund Huang, William E. Fitzsimmons, and Alexandre Loupy. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology: JASN, September.

Prevalence of Fatty Liver and Diabetes Mellitus in Patients With Fatty Pancreas Disorder (FPD): A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review. Du, Yanhong, Xiaoyuan Wang, Xiaoyu Li, Qiaoling Liu, Yufei Xia, Jie Yang, Xijun Wang, Liang Qi, Stephen J. Pandol, and Ling Li. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, September, 113563.

Severe Pancolitis Presenting With Sacroiliitis: A Case Report Highlighting the Gut-Joint Axis in Ulcerative Colitis. Hajijama, Sameera, Abdullatif Sheikh Ibrahim, Hawa Ali Jama, Hamza Shikh, Nagoud Ali, Abdulrahman Rafat A Samman, Abdulahi M. Aden, Melmed Y. Gil, and Nezar Y. Albar. Case Reports in Gastroenterology 20 (1): 353–60.

Urinary Metabolomics May Improve Prediction of Overall Survival Beyond Tumor Stage in Colorectal Cancer: Results From the ColoCare Study. Lin, Tengda, Boyi Guo, Victoria M. Bandera, David B. Liesenfeld, Jincheng Shen, Benjamin Haaland, Paul A. Stewart, Kenneth M. Boucher, Patricia A. Erickson, Sheetal Hardikar, Victoria Damerell, Doratha A. Byrd, Jane C. Figueiredo, Adetunji T. Toriola, David Shibata, Erin M. Siegel, Christopher I. Li, Alexis B. Ulrich, Christoph Kahlert, Daniel O. Scharfstein, Biljana Gigic, Cornelia M. Ulrich, and Jennifer Ose. Metabolomics, 22 (5): 150.

Vorasidenib-Induced Acute Liver Injury. Lau, Emily A., David R. Braxton, Didier Autran, Fengming Chen, Aurelie M. Haffner, Jethro Hu, Katherine B. Peters, and Tse-Ling Fong. Digestive Diseases and Sciences, September.

Neurology

Characteristics of Patients With Bibrachial Amyotrophy Due to Spontaneous Spinal CSF Leaks. Schievink, Wouter I., Marcel Maya, Angelique Sao-Mai S. Tay, Rachelle B. Tache, Ray Chu, Franklin G. Moser, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Miriam A. Nuno, and Richard A. Lewis. Neurology 107 (7): e218492.

EXPRESS: Rapamycin Increases Cerebral Blood Flow and Modulates Metabolic, Inflammatory, and Microbiome Profiles in Healthy Middle-Aged APOE4 Carriers: A Pilot Single-Arm Trial. Aware, Chetan, Caitlin Maria Neher, Carter Woods, Oleksandr Khegai, Alok Kumar Dwivedi, Maalavika Govindarajan, Kira Ivanich, Mehmet Kurt, David Beversdorf, Jianlin Cheng, Nathan Bresette, Taixing Cui, Priti Balchandani, Mitzi M. Gonzales, Aaron C. Ericsson, Talissa Altes, and Ai-Ling Lin. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, September, 271678X261490342.

OBGYN

Effect of Intravenous Fluid Restriction on Nulliparous, Term, Singleton, Vertex Cesarean Delivery Rates. Tavakoli, Amin, Catriona Lewis, Naomi Greene, and Gabriela Dellapiana. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM, September, 102115.

Perinatal Outcomes in Individuals With Co-Occurring Anxiety and/or Depression and Substance Use in Pregnancy. Hayer, Sarena, Erin C. Nacev, Bharti Garg, Kelly M. Abshire, Aaron B. Caughey, and Jamie O. Lo. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM, September, 102116.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Epidemiology, Mechanisms, and Treatments of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Beach Volleyball. Trikha, Rishi, Luis Ornelas, Christian L. Blough, Mia McCarthy, Orr Limpisvasti, and Michael B. Banffy. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine 14 (9): 23259671261479044.

Radiation Oncology

Core Competencies in Brachytherapy Training. Shah, Chirag, and Mitchell Kamrava. Brachytherapy, September, S1538-4721(26)00273-4.

Surgery

Actual Five-Year Survival After Neoadjuvant Therapy and Resection for Localized Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. De Stefano, Federico, Giulio Belfiori, Nathaniel F. Wu, Jill N. Allen, Laura Cerri Crn, Jeffrey W. Clark, Paolo Giorgio Arcidiacono, Cristina Ferrone, Theodore S. Hong, Domenico Tamburrino, Stefano Partelli, Motaz Qadan, Michele Reni, David P. Ryan, Marco Schiavo Lena, Gabriele Capurso, Colin D. Weekes, Jennifer Y. Wo, Keith D. Lillemoe, Stefano Crippa, Massimo Falconi, and Carlos Fernández-Del Castillo. Annals of Surgery, September.

Beating the Odds: Finding Fulfillment and Success as an International Medical Graduate in Cardiothoracic Surgery. Brownlee, Andrew R. Annals of Thoracic Surgery Short Reports 4 (3): 1092.

Effects of End-Ischemic Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion on 1-y Graft Function in Kidney Transplantation: A Real-World, Single-Center Analysis From the United States. Steggerda, Justin A., Tiffany Lim, Irene K. Kim, Tsuyoshi Todo, Edmund Huang, Todd V. Brennan, Georgios Voidonikolas, Alice Peng, Reiad Najjar, Jun Shoji, Stanley Jordan, Sindhu Chandran, Emma Crichton, Benjamin Ferrel, Jose Reyes-Perez, Manaf Alsudaney, Peter S. Heeger, and Steven A. Wisel. Transplantation Direct 12 (10): e2005.

Molecular Pathways Linking the Gut Microbiome to Antitumor Immunity. Diaz-Olea, Ximena, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Jonathan E. Cohen, Andrei Osterman, and Zeev A. Ronai. Trends in Microbiology, September, S0966-842X(26)00245-3.

Predicting Recurrence in Stage IA Lung Adenocarcinoma Using Preoperative PET Scan. Moonsamy, Philicia. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, September, S0003-4975(26)00918-5.

Pregnancy Within the Surgical Work System: Persistent Demands With Limited Adaptation. Cohen, Tara N., Aleeque Marselian, Liam Brennan, Falisha F. Kanji, Joseph R. Keebler, Deborah DiazGranados, Shawn M. Doherty, Elizabeth H. Lazzara, and Monica Jain. American Journal of Surgery 262 (September): 117233.

Real-World Data on Aortic Endografts: Gore Together Aortic Registry Protocol. Yamanouchi, Dai, Manar Khashram, Dennis Gable, Ross Milner, Kak Khee Yeung, Timothy A. Resch, Dittmar Böckler, Chris Delaney, Ali Azizzadeh, Kazuo Shimamura, Raffi Qasabian, Sukgu Han, Yuri Feito, and Santi Trimarchi. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine 13: 1803528.

Technical Considerations for Robotic Pediatric Lobectomy. Krishna, Vikram, Claire Perez, Drew Bolster, Kellie Knabe, Raffaele Rocco, Philicia Moonsamy, Eugene S. Kim, Harmik J. Soukiasian, and Andrew R. Brownlee. Annals of Thoracic Surgery Short Reports 4 (3): 938–41.

Thirty-Day Perioperative Safety Following Surgical Intervention for Unilateral and Bilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis: A Multicenter ACS-NSQIP Analysis. Schaschinger, Thomas, Cosima C. Hoch, Leonard Knoedler, Tobias Niederegger, William José Dyhr, Gabriel Hundeshagen, Alexandre G. Lellouch, Linda J. Voss, and Jan O. Voss. BMC Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2 (1): 26.

Urology

Poverty-Modulated Tree Equity Shapes Health Burdens Across U.S. Cities. Lee, Min-Ki, Chang-Bae Lee, Sungyong You, Stephen J. Freedland, and Michael R. Freeman. Environmental Science and Ecotechnology 33 (September): 100758.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Cedars-Sinai in the News

‘The Pitt’ To Be Honored by Cedars-Sinai | Variety
Peter L. Slavin, MD 

Probing the Proteome at Cellular Scale | Nature
Jennifer Van Eyk, PhD

8 Weird Signs You’re Having a Stroke | Everyday Health
Alexis Simpkins, MD, PhD

Female Cardiologists Swear by These Easy Heart Health Habits | MSN.com
C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD

Long-Term Trial Supports Selective Use of Extended Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection in High-Grade Prostate Cancer | The ASCO Post
Adam B. Weiner, MD

Declining Flu Vaccination Rates Could Increase Severity of 2026 Influenza Season | Respiratory Therapy
Michael Ben-Aderet, MD

Faculty Publications

Biomedical Sciences

Epicardial Adipose Tissue Attenuation and Persistent Left Ventricular Dysfunction in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction (RECOVER-EAT). Khanna, Shaun, Nicholas McLellan, Sheran Vasanthakumar, Cheng Hwee Soh, Aditya Bhat, Andrew Lin, Damini Dey, Sriram Rao, Stephen J. Nicholls, Clare Arnott, and Nitesh Nerlekar. Journal of Cardiac Failure, September, S1071-9164(26)00515-4.

Cardiology

Emerging Longer-Term Evidence on Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation for Severe Aortic Stenosis in Low-Risk Patients: A Call for Caution. Sousa Uva, Miguel, Milan Milojevic, Mateo Marin-Cuartas, Sanjay Kaul, Raffaele De Caterina, Rita Redberg, Samuel Heuts, Torsten Doenst, Victor Dayan, Matthias Siepe, Vinay Badhwar, Volkmar Falk, Michael A. Borger, Patrick O. Myers, and Rafael Sadaba. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, September, S0003-4975(26)00894-5.

Heart Transplantation in 2076: Precision, Prevention, and Regeneration. Stern, Lily K., Kelly Perkins, and Jon A. Kobashigawa. Journal of Cardiac Failure 32 (9): 1652–55.

Maternal Hyperoxygenation for Prenatal Risk Stratification of Pulmonary Venous Obstruction in Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return. Mathevosian, Michelle, Shuo Wang, Arpine Davtyan, Jon Detterich, Jodie Votava-Smith, and Jay Pruetz. Pediatric Cardiology, September.

Noncoding RNA TY1 Reverses Fibrosis in Systemic Sclerosis by Attenuating the cGAS/STING Pathway. Jones, Xaviar M., Salwa Soussi, Alessandra Ciullo, Kara Tsi, Weixin Liu, Liang Li, Mario Fournier, Thassio Mesquita, Alberto M. Marchevsky, Nunzio Bottini, Francesco Boin, Ahmed Ge Ibrahim, and Eduardo Marbán. JCI Insight 11 (17): e197716.

Transcatheter vs Surgical Replacement of Degenerated Bioprosthetic Aortic Valve: A Meta-Analysis of Propensity-Score-Matched Studies. Ebrahimi, Pouya, Maryam Taheri, Mehrdad Mahalleh, Hamidreza Soleimani, Homa Taheri, Ali Moradi, Babak Sattartabar, Morvarid Taebi, Iman Bhia, Reza Pirdehghan, Mohsen Anafje, Mohamad Alkhouli, Masih Tajdini, Amr Mohsen, Islam Elgendy, Robert J. Siegel, Mohammad Hossein Mandegar, and Kaveh Hosseini. Heart, Lung & Circulation, September, S1443-9506(26)00192-7.

Computational Biomedicine

A Framework for Cognitive Personality Priors in Agentic AI: The Role of Personas in Autonomous Team Science. Nawaz, Asma J., Jake R. Patock, Itzel Valencia, Binglan Li, Jacob S. Berkowitz, Stefany Coxe, Itai Danovitch, Nicholas P. Tatonetti, and Jason H. Moore. BioData Mining 19 (1): 75.

Discovering Repurposable Drugs for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: Target Trial Emulation Using Decentralised Real-World Data. Wu, Qiong, Lu Li, Yuqing Lei, Ting Zhou, Huilin Tang, Bingyu Zhang, Yiwen Lu, Maxwell Salvatore, Dazheng Zhang, Jiayi Tong, Tingyin Wang, Siqi Chen, Haoyang Li, Zhenxing Xu, Yu Huang, Yu Hu, Na Hong, Yujia Zhou, Fongci Lin, Kyra S. O’Brien, Yong Chen, Ruowang Li, Hua Xu, Fei Wang, Jiang Bian, David A. Wolk, and Yong Chen. EBioMedicine 132 (September): 106466.

Secondary Pharmacology Targets for Pediatric Developmental Safety Assessment of New Drugs: Clinical Pharmacology Considerations. Burckart, Gilbert J., Sherbet Samuels, Susan M. Abdel-Rahman, Gelareh Abulwerdi, Elimika Fletcher, Mohamed A. Mohamoud, Apoorva Srinivasan, Nicholas Tatonetti, and Rebecca Racz. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, September.

Nonparametric D-Test for Homogeneity With Flexible Null and Alternative Hypotheses. Kabir, Shaowli, Derek S. Young, Javier A. Neyra, and Richard J. Charnigo. Statistical Methods & Applications, August.

Privacy-Preserving Multi-Agent Systems for Human-Centred Inclusive Healthcare AI. Mahmud, Mufti, Noushath Shaffi, M Shamim Kaiser, M Arifur Rahman, M Mostafizur Rahman, Vimbi Viswan, Tamanna Sharmeen, Sweta Bhattacharya, Neelu Jyoti Ahuja, Ayse Ulgen, Imran Khan Niazi, Kanad Ray, Amir Hussain, David J Brown, and Jason H. Moore. AI Magazine 47 (3): e70087.

Imaging

Imaging Intraosseous Hemangiomas: Typical and Atypical Features Across Modalities. Bonzell, Casey, Jonathan Lee, Michelle R. Santoso, Michelle Chen, Adam Miller, and Ali Gholamrezanezhad. Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, September, S0001-2998(26)00163-7.

Medicine

Advances and Challenges to Colonoscopy Quality. Khan, Haidar, Ramya Vasireddy, Mahnoor Khan, and Rashmi Advani. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Clinics of North America 36 (4): 703–18.

Discontinuation of Statins by Patient and Physician Sex: An Observational Study. Watanabe, Atsuyuki, Yoshihisa Miyamoto, Hiroki A. Ueyama, Hiroshi Gotanda, Leandro Slipczuk, Kosuke Inoue, Eric Secemsky, Roger Laham, Deepak L. Bhatt, Yusuke Tsugawa, and Toshiki Kuno. Journal of Cardiology 88 (2): 116–22.

Do Multi-Omics Approaches Improve the Diagnosis of Microbial Overgrowth Syndromes? Freitas Germano, Juliana de, Gabriela Leite, and Mark Pimentel. Current Gastroenterology Reports 28 (1): 29.

Esophageal Epidermoid Metaplasia in a Patient With Dysphagia and Severe Esophageal Stenosis. Gornick, Dana J., Michael Kozak, and Amrit K. Kamboj. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, September, S0016-5107(26)07023-9.

Fludarabine and Total Body Irradiation 800 cGy or 1125 cGy for Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Using Graft Versus Host Disease Prophylaxis With Post-Transplant Cyclophosphamide and Tacrolimus, Without Mycophenolate Mofetil (OmitMMF Trial). Paquette, Ronald, Haein Kim, Vinicius F. Calsavara, Noah Merin, John Chute, Justin Darrah, Hannah Lee, David Oveisi, Josh Sasine, Robert Vescio, Vanshika Chauhan, Joseph Lownik, and Akil Merchant. Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, September, S2666-6367(26)00715-3.

Longitudinal Repeated Protein Measurements in a Multiethnic Cohort Identify Novel Diabetes Biomarkers That Reveal Unique Disease Pathways. Chen, Zsu-Zsu, Michael Y. Mi, Jacob Barber, Gaurav Tiwari, Charleen D. Adams, Shuliang Deng, Christopher Y. Shin, Laurie Farrell, Prashant Rao, Daniel E. Cruz, James G. Wilson, Magdalena Sevilla-Gonzalez, Yii-Der Ida Chen, Xiuqing Guo, Mark O. Goodarzi, Kent D. Taylor, Usman A. Tahir, Stephen S. Rich, Alexis C. Wood, Robert E. Gerszten, and Jerome I. Rotter. Diabetes, September, db260148.

New Developments in the Treatment of Hepatitis B Virus Infection. Sandhu, Sunny, Paul Martin, and Ira M. Jacobson. Gastroenterology & Hepatology 22 (7): 350–61.

Operationalizing Patient Flow in High-Complexity Service Lines: A Health System Perspective Using Oncology Care. Figlin, Robert, Kate O’Shaughnessy, Setu Shah, Chad Giese, Jamie Bachman, Matthew Bednar, Jennifer Scalise, and Aleksandar Zafirovski. Frontiers in Health Services 6: 1859412.

Outcomes of Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement With Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Versus Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement With Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Dulal, Dharmindra, Ahmed Maraey, Vahid Yazdi, Juan Carlo Avalon, Cezar Iliescu, Mehmet Cilingiroglu, Konstantinos Marmagkiolis, and Konstantinos Dean Boudoulas. Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine: Including Molecular Interventions, September, S1553-8389(26)00378-7.

Patients’ Real-World Experiences With Pharmacologic Therapies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome With Constipation: A Mixed-Methods Analysis and Classification of Social Media and E-Forum Posts. Khalil, Carine, Karisma K. Suchak, Ivan Flores Amaro, Zoe Krut, Jordy O’Campo, Karen O’Connor, Allistair Clark, David P. Rosenbaum, Sharon Funk, Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez, Brennan M. R. Spiegel, and Christopher V. Almario. Neurogastroenterology and Motility 38 (9): e70432.

PET, Proteomics, and Immunophenotyping of Arterial Inflammation and Checkpoint Inhibition. Rankin, Stephen, Neil MacRitchie, Moustafa I. Morsy, Alastair J. Gemmell, Alasdair Henderson, Claire Glen, Katriona Brooksbank, Piotr Slomka, Kieran F. Docherty, Marc R. Dweck, John McClure, Elaine Butler, Paul Welsh, Sarah Slater, Manreet Randhawa, Ashita Waterston, Kun Yang, Ahmad Alsaeed, Pavlina Spiliopoulou, Robert Jones, Greg Naylor, Thomas R. Jeffry Evans, Balaji Venugopal, Alexander Small, Dave Colville, Mark C. Petrie, Pasquale Maffia, and Ninian N. Lang. JAMA Cardiology, September.

Pre-Treatment T Cell Features and Immune-Milieu Characteristics Shape Treatment-Induced Exhaustion and Resistance to Blinatumomab in B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Corrado, Francesco, Viktoria Blumenberg, Maryam Kazerani, Jan Wulf, Tobias Straub, Nora Philipp, Daniel Nixdorf, Amelie Muth, Giulia Rappa, Agnese Petrera, Michaela Scheurer, Chang-Feng Chu, Giulia Magno, Christina E. Zielinski, Michael von Bergwelt-Baildon, Marion Subklewe, and Veit Bücklein. Frontiers in Immunology 17: 1895742.

Reddit for Redness: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the r/Rosacea Forum. Kotlyar, Joshua, Robert Adler, Ugwumsinachi Nwaubani, William Mark Richardson, and Justin W. Marson. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology: JDD 25 (8): e71–72.

The Evolution of Immunotherapy Revolution in Lung Cancer: A 20-Year Perspective. Waissengrin, Barliz, Marco Tagliamento, Kamya Sankar, and Karen L. Reckamp. Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 21 (9): 103957.

UBE2N Deficiency Contributes to MASH Development via P62-Regulated Mitophagy and PANoptosis. Wang, Feng, Jin Lee, Jeong-Su Park, Meizhou Huang, Hwan Ma, Guoyan Sui, Zixiong Zhou, Michitaka Matsuda, So Yeon Kim, Takashi Tsuchiya, Xuefeng Wu, Haram Lee, Soohwan Oh, Hanseul Park, Key-Hwan Lim, Chun-Woong Park, Sang-Bae Han, Jin Tae Hong, Michael Karin, Yoon Seok Roh, and Ekihiro Seki. Nature Metabolism, September.

Young Women With Pancreatic Cancer: A High-Risk Group for Demoralization. Levi, Abrahm, Aryan Nasr, Yujie Cui, Anser A. Abbas, Tara T. Arouchian, Andrew L. Coveler, Tracey L. Pierce, Brian T. Anderson, Eric Collisson, John Davelaar, Simon K. Lo, Srinivas Gaddam, Jun Gong, Arsen Osipov, and Andrew E. Hendifar. Psycho-Oncology 35 (9): e70601.

Neurology

Imaging Characterization and Vascular Topography of Vertebral Body Infarctions in Spinal Cord Stroke. Barreras, Paula, David Acero-Garces, Lydia Gregg, Hao Wen Chen, Karissa Arthur, Philippe Gailloud, Doris D. M. Lin, and Carlos A. Pardo. European Journal of Radiology 205 (August): 113182.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Clinical Work-up, Diagnostic Imaging, and Radiographic Classification Systems for Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus: Proceedings of the International Consensus Meetings on Cartilage Repair of the Ankle. Tham, Alexander, Jared Rubin, James J. Butler, Paloma Gauthier, John G. Kennedy, Samuel B. Adams, Carol L. Andrews, Chayanin Angthong, Jorge P. Batista, Onno L. Baur, Steven Bayer, Christoph Becher, Zijun Zhang, et al. Foot & Ankle Specialist, September, 19386400261478702.

Overcoming Space and System Limitations: A Novel Lamina Spreader Technique for Optimal Reduction via External Fixation. Meltzer, Jourdan H., and Carol Lin. Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics 11 (3): 24730114261481810.

Survival Prognostication in Spinal Metastasis: From Clinical Intuition to Data-Driven Decision Making. Striano, Brendan M., Matthew T. Kim, Joseph H. Schwab, Andrew J. Schoenfeld, and Daniel G. Tobert. Spine, September.

Transverse Tibial Transport for Limb Salvage in Ischemic Lower Extremity Disease: Technique, Mechanisms, and Clinical Outcomes-A Systematic Review. Raszka, Samuel, Max Michalski, and Charles Moon. The Orthopedic Clinics of North America 57 (4): 339–48.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Comparative Efficacy of Oral Antibiotics against Intracellular Populations of Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli and Bladder Cell Inflammatory Response. Kalu, Michelle, Peter Jorth, and Annie Wong-Beringer. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, September.

Digitalization of Medical and Healthcare Education in a Low- and Middle-Income Country: A Mixed-Method Case Study of Institutional Transformation at Yerevan State Medical University. Sargsyan, Karine, Tamara Sarkisian, Hasmik Tumanyan, Sergey Sargsyan, Khachatur Margaryan, Konstantin Yenkoyan, Larisa Avetisyan, Garnik Avetisyan, and Armen Muradyan. Frontiers in Digital Health 8: 1901577.

Human Y Chromosome Pan-Organ Mapping Reveals Progressive Mosaic Loss From Normal to Cancer. Gertych, Arkadiusz, Huihui Ye, Xingyu Chen, Eric Vail, V. Krishnan Ramanujan, Lauren Brady, Lawrence D. True, Peter S. Nelson, Peter R. Carroll, and Dan Theodorescu. JCI Insight 11 (17): e201996.

Pediatrics

Accelerated Desensitization Enables HLA-Incompatible Deceased Donor Kidney Transplant in a Highly Sensitized Pediatric Recipient. Pande, Nivedita, Muneera Alabdulqader, Marie-Michèle Gaudreault-Tremblay, Myriam Carlos, Bethany J. Foster, Jean Tchervenkov, Claude Daniel, Dechu Puliyanda, Indra R. Gupta, and Mallory L. Downie. Human Immunology 87 (11): 112065.

Building and Regenerating Intestines by Manipulating Intestinal Stem Cells. Kuo, Calvin J., Sarah Blutt, Mark Donowitz, Mary K. Estes, Chandan Guha, Ophir D. Klein, Linheng Li, Joyce C. Niland, António J. M. Santos, Ramesh A. Shivdasani, Jason R. Spence, Carol J. Swanson, Timothy C. Wang, Kelley S. Yan, Nicholas C. Zachos, and Michael A. Helmrath. Nature Reviews. Gastroenterology & Hepatology, September.

Hospitalization Costs of Kidney Transplantation Associated With Induction Therapy Among Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients: A North American Pediatric Renal Trials and Collaborative Studies and Pediatric Health Information System Collaborative Study. Rodig, Nancy M., Daniella Levy Erez, Helen P. Pizzo, Troy Richardson, and Michael J. Somers. Pediatric Transplantation 30 (9): e70441.

Radiation Oncology

Making Scents Out of the Best ‘Smell’ Tests in the Age of Clinical Artificial Intelligence. Chetty, Indrin J., and Sue S. Yom. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics 126 (2): 289.

Surgery

Aberrant Left Vertebral and Aberrant Right Subclavian Arteries in Blunt Thoracic Aortic Injury Patients: A Multicenter Registry Study. Rodriguez, Sean, Chase Caswell, Benjamin W. Starnes, Elina Quiroga, Joseph DuBose, Charles C. Miller, David McGreevy, Ali Azizzadeh, Peter J. Rossi, and Aortic Trauma Foundation Collaborators. Annals of Vascular Surgery, September, S0890-5096(26)00641-2.

Actual Five-Year Survival After Neoadjuvant Therapy and Resection for Localized Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. De Stefano, Federico, Giulio Belfiori, Nathaniel F. Wu, Jill N. Allen, Laura Cerri Crn, Jeffrey W. Clark, Paolo Giorgio Arcidiacono, Cristina Ferrone, Theodore S. Hong, Domenico Tamburrino, Stefano Partelli, Motaz Qadan, Michele Reni, David P. Ryan, Marco Schiavo Lena, Gabriele Capurso, Colin D. Weekes, Jennifer Y. Wo, Keith D. Lillemoe, Stefano Crippa, Massimo Falconi, and Carlos Fernández-Del Castillo. Annals of Surgery, September.

Complete Disruption of gD Binding to HVEM Alters Virus Replication and Host Receptor Homeostasis. Arya, Deepak, Kati Tormanen, Jay J. Oh, Shaohui Wang, and Homayon Ghiasi. PLoS Pathogens 22 (9): e1014566.

Efficacy and Safety of Local Tranexamic Acid in Rhytidectomy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Mokhtar, Jonathan, Marwa Hadi, Lucas Kreutz-Rodrigues, Kevin Sadati, Krishna S. Vyas, Curtis L. Cetrulo, and Alexandre G. Lellouch. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Global Open 14 (9): e8083.

Epigenetic Profiling Reveals M1 Macrophages as the Primary Drivers of Trained Immunity in HSV-1 Latently Infected Mice. Jaggi, Ujjaldeep, Shaohui Wang, and Homayon Ghiasi. PLoS Pathogens 22 (9): e1014598.

High-Frequency High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HF-HIFU) for Ablation of Benign, Premalignant, and Malignant Cutaneous Lesions: A Systematic Review. Aguglia, Raffaele, Tobias Niederegger, Murtaja Satea, Leonard Knoedler, Moshé Assouline, Curtis L. Cetrulo, Michael Atlan, and Alexandre G. Lellouch. European Journal of Dermatology: EJD 36 (4): 312–23.

Hospital-Level Determinants of Mortality After Pancreas Surgery: A Global Infrastructure Analysis. Hidalgo Salinas, Camila, Pascale Tinguely, Dimitri A. Raptis, Sterre van Herwijnen, Ammar A. Javed, Rafael Perera, Cristina R. Ferrone, Christopher L. Wolfgang, Giuseppe K. Fusai, and PancreasGroup.org Collaborative. Annals of Surgery, September.

Hybrid Robotic TransVersus Abdominis Release (hrTAR) for Complex Ventral Hernias: A Systematic Review and Preliminary Synthesis. Satea, Murtaja, Luis Osvaldo Suárez Carreón, José Maria Zepeda Torres, Mor Rittblat, Morgan L. Hennessy, Haïzam Oubari, Alexandre G. Lellouch, and Rodolfo J. Oviedo. Journal of Robotic Surgery 20 (1): 957.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

The findings, published in Cell Metabolism, suggest that the protein, called PD-L2, could serve as a target for treatments designed to remove harmful aging cells or as a blood marker that helps researchers track them.

“Our findings suggest that PD-L2 may help aging cells stay in the body when they would normally be removed by the immune system,” said Selim Chaib, PhD, research assistant professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai and first and co-corresponding author of the study.

These harmful aging cells, called senescent cells, become damaged and stop dividing but do not die. The cells remain in tissues and release substances that promote inflammation and interfere with the function of nearby cells. Their buildup has been linked to age-related health problems.

Investigators found that in laboratory mice, removing or blocking PD-L2 reduced the number of aging cells and levels of the inflammatory substances they produce. The mice were better able to process sugar and could grip objects with greater strength.

Investigators also found that human aging cells produced more PD-L2 than younger cells, and levels of the protein increased in some human tissues with age.

“If we can find a way to block this protein, we may be able to help the immune system get rid of these cells and potentially improve health problems linked with aging,” said James Kirkland, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Advanced Gerotherapeutics and senior author of the study.

Future research will explore whether blocking PD-L2 can safely produce health benefits in human patients and help researchers better understand its role in age-related diseases.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Larissa Langhi Prata, Masayoshi Suda, Andres Sola, Jia Nie, Hyungsoo Kim, Tamar Pirtskhalava, Nino Giorgadze, Nicolas Musi, Ze’ev Ronai, and Tamara Tchkonia.

Other authors include Thomas Mitchell, Zacharias Anastasiadis, Hawley Kunz, Stella Victorelli, Ricardo Lozano Flores, Moritz Weigl, Shimpei Kawamoto, Ken Uemura, Binsheng Wang, Christina Inman, Ailing Xue, Kurt Johnson, Jair Espindola-Netto, Sonja Suvakov, Jennet Hatamova, Erik Parker, Davyn Benitto Hartono, Vagisha Kulshreshtha, Jose Alberto Lopez-Dominguez, Aaron Deisinger, Allyson Palmer, Yi Zhu, Megan Weivoda, Anne Gingery, Robert Hromas, Vesna Garovic, João Passos, David Allison, Eiji Hara, Michael Jensen, Stefan Tullius, Manuel Serrano, Ming Xu, Ian Lanza, and Yuji Ikeno.

Funding: Work in the J.L.K. laboratory was supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH; grants R37AG013925, R33AG061456, and P01AG062413), the Connor Fund, Robert J. and Theresa W. Ryan, the Hevolution Foundation, and the Noaber Foundation. Y.I. was supported by the San Antonio Nathan Shock Center Pathology Core (NIH Grant P30AG13319), San Antonio Claude D. 445 Pepper Center (NIH P30 AG044271), and NIH grants R01AG070034 and R56AG057785. M.D.J.’s studies were supported by NIH grants DK-45343 and DK-40484. H.E.K. was supported by an NIH musculoskeletal research training grant (T32AR56950) and NIH grant K01DK134765. S.K. was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) JPMJFR2308 and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) JP23K06481. L.G.P.L.P was supported by NIH grant 1K01AG090692. The clinical trial (NCT03350906) was supported by grants UL1TR002377 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and NIH R01AG054454. Y.Z. was supported by the Hevolution Foundation. J.F.P. was supported by NIH grants R01AG068048, R01AG82708, and UG3CA268103 and the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research. S.V.G. is supported by a Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging Career Development Award and a c-SiG Pilot and Feasibility Award. A.G. was supported by NIH grant R01AR076347. M.X. is supported by a Hevolution/AFAR New Investigator Award in Biology and Geroscience Research. This work was supported in part by NIH P30AG050886.

Disclosures: S.C. holds patents or pending patents on PD-L2 at Mayo Clinic and Spanish National Cancer Research Center, some of which had been licensed to Rejuveron Senescence Therapeutics. M.S. is a shareholder of Senolytic Therapeutics, Life Biosciences, Rejuveron Senescence Therapeutics, and Altos Labs. T.T., Y.Z., A.K.P., T.P., N.G., and J.L.K. have a financial interest related to this research, including patents and pending patents covering senolytic drugs and their uses that are held by Mayo Clinic.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Systemic sclerosis, also called scleroderma, is a chronic, life-threatening condition that scars the skin, lungs, heart and other organs. Because there is no cure or known cause for the disease, which affects about 100,000 people in the U.S., treatments focus on relieving symptoms.

“That’s why we are so excited about our findings,” said Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, executive director of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai and corresponding author of the study. “The basic immune system pathway driving systemic sclerosis is blocked by this new drug, making it a potential future therapy.”

Investigators tested the experimental drug, called TY1, on immune cells collected from patients with systemic sclerosis. They found that the drug reduced inflammation and DNA damage in those cells. When they administered TY1 to laboratory mice with a condition that mimics systemic sclerosis, investigators found that heart function and physical activity improved, and scar formation in organs was reduced.

TY1, which was developed at Cedars-Sinai, is a synthetic version of a type of noncoding ribonucleic acid (RNA), a molecule that regulates cellular processes. After using TY1 to reduce tissue damage in laboratory experiments addressing heart attacks, as reported last year, investigators sought to determine if TY1 might have a similar effect on autoimmune disorders.

“We chose to test TY1 in systemic sclerosis because the science of how the drug works makes sense and also because it is such a devastating disease,” said Ahmed Ibrahim, PhD, MPH, associate professor of Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai and a co-investigator of the study.

Investigators are currently preparing an investigational new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the first step toward obtaining approval for studying TY1 in people with systemic sclerosis.

"This innovative study illustrates how doing careful research on one disease can lead to key discoveries on another — in this case, from conditions that can stiffen the heart to scleroderma, a rare disease that hardens the skin and internal organs in patients who have waited decades for better treatment options,” said Susan Cheng, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Salwa Soussi, Alessandra Ciullo, Kara Tsi, Weixin Liu, Liang Li, Mario Fournier, Thassio Mesquita, Alberto Marchevsky, Nunzio Bottini and Francesco Boin.

Xaviar Jones, MD, is the first author of the paper and is currently completing his residency training at Yale University.

Funding: This work is the result of National Institutes of Health funding, in whole or in part, and is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy. Through acceptance of this federal funding, the NIH has been given a right to make the work publicly available in PubMed Central. Supported funding for this study include grants NIH (R01HL164588 to EM, and T32HL116273 to EM, which supported XMJ), and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (TRAN1-15317 to AGI).

Disclosures: EM owns founder’s equity in Capricor. AI owns stock in Capricor. Capricor has no relationship with this project, nor any licensing rights to the discoveries reported here. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Cedars-Sinai in the News

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Medical Experts Say Young Athletes Are More at Risk of Heat-Related Illnesses | CBS Los Angeles
Carlos Uquillas, MD 

What Are Compounded Medications? 8 Things Older Adults Should Know | AARP
Steven Simons, MD

Smart Toilets Are Scanning Poop and Urine for Health Clues. Should You Trust Them? | Miami Herald
Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS

What You Can Do To Slow Hearing Loss as You Age, According to Experts | Health
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How Modern Sports Medicine Is Prolonging Careers of Professional Athletes | CBS Los Angeles
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Lindsay Clancy Trial: A Closer Look at Postpartum Disorders | ABC 7 Los Angeles
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Faculty Publications

Anesthesiology

Obesity and Age Increase Hypoxia Risk During Esophagogastroduodenoscopy Under Monitored Anesthesia Care: Risk Stratification and Evaluation of a Procedural Oxygen Mask. Bonge, Sam, Maaz Majid, James M. Mirocha, Theodore Stein, Deena Midani, Derek Cheng, David Padua, Joshua Levy, and Megumi Nakamura. BMC Anesthesiology 26 (1): 534.

Biomedical Sciences

All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in Chronic Pancreatitis: A Systematic Review. Jiang, Yi, Esther A. Adeniran, Wenmo Hu, Yanna Cai, Drew Fletcher, Zijin Lin, Yuan Li, Ali Badaoui, Jianing Li, Judy Tan, and Stephen J. Pandol. Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology 19: 17562848261483780.

Beyond Stenosis: Imaging Phenotyping and Risk Stratification in Nonobstructive Coronary Artery Disease. Piña, Pamela, Annalisa Filtz, Daniel Lorenzatti, Ankur Srivastava, Jaideep Singh Bhalla, Piotr J. Slomka, Daniel S. Berman, Damini Dey, and Leandro Slipczuk. Current Opinion in Cardiology, September.

Vitamin K2 and D3 Supplementation in Patients With Severe Coronary Artery Calcification: The DANCODE Trial. Hasific, Selma, Kristian Altern Øvrehus, Anna Mejldal, Susanne Hosbond, Jess Lambrechtsen, Preman Kumarathurai, Damini Dey, Emil Johannes Ravn, Lars Melholt Rasmussen, Oke Gerke, Hans Mickley, and Axel Diederichsen. Circulation, August.

Cardiac Surgery

Challenges of Using Fitness Trackers in Critical Care. Kazerouni, Stephanie, Xiaoyu Liu, Tao Shen, Michael Nurok, Abirami Kumaresan, Anahat Dhillon, and Jill Yaung. AACN Advanced Critical Care 37 (3): 287–91.

Cardiology

Aficamten for Symptomatic Nonobstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Masri, Ahmad, Martin S. Maron, Ankit Bhatia, Maria Luisa Peña-Peña, Mark V. Sherrid, Estevao Lanna Figueiredo, Michael Arad, Roberto Barriales-Villa, Lubna Choudhury, Brian L. Claggett, Caroline J. Coats, Edileide de Barros Correia, Juan Pablo Costabel, Perry M. Elliott, Jorge E. Silva Enciso, Pablo Garcia-Pavia, Junbo Ge, Sheila M. Hegde, Gregory D. Lewis, Renato D. Lopes, Matthew W. Martinez, Mathew S. Maurer, Zi Michael Miao, Michelle Michels, Sumeet S. Mitter, Jesus E. Pino Moreno, Iacopo Olivotto, Anjali T. Owens, Steen H. Poulsen, Florian Rader, Ethan J. Rowin, P. Christian Schulze, Robert Sepp, Nikhil Sikand, Scott D. Solomon, John A. Spertus, Charles Teale, Xiaoyan Zhao, Punag H. Divanji, Stephen B. Heitner, Daniel L. Jacoby, Stuart Kupfer, Fady I. Malik, Joel Salazar-Mendiguchía, Amy Wohltman, Shu Zhuo, Carolyn Y. Ho, and ACACIA-HCM Investigators. The New England Journal of Medicine, August.

Association of Eicosanoids and Eicosanoid-Related Metabolites With Obesity and Cardiometabolic Traits. Chitsazan, Mandana, Juhi K. Parekh, Amanda L. Grundmann, Emily S. Lau, Mona Alotaibi, Bing Yu, Casey M. Rebholz, Elizabeth Selvin, Norrina B. Allen, Matthew A. Allison, Mohit Jain, Susan Cheng, and Jennifer E. Ho. Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, September.

Beyond Lactate: Proteomic Prediction of Primary Graft Dysfunction in DCD Donor Hearts. Khush, Kiran K., and Jon A. Kobashigawa. JACC. Heart Failure, August, 103320.

Care Models for the Genetic Evaluation of Dilated Cardiomyopathy at Sites of the DCM Consortium. Jordan, Elizabeth, Tia Moscarello, Hibatallah Khafagy, Patricia Parker, Phoenix Grover, Simone Weinmann, Joseph Liu, Alberta Nomo, Naomi Barker, Emily E. Brown, Akos Berthold, Jessica Chowns, Ray E. Hershberger, et al. Circulation. Heart Failure, September, e014544.

Completeness of Revascularization in Coronary Three-Vessel Disease and Outcomes in the FAME 3 Trial. Otsuki, Hisao, Kuniaki Takahashi, Yuhei Kobayashi, Frederik M. Zimmermann, Mohamed El Farissi, Lennert Minten, Tatsunori Takahashi, Oskar Angerås, Steve E. S. Miner, Jaydeep Sarma, Evald H. Christiansen, Rana Sayeed, Kreton Mavromatis, Filip Casselman, Alan C. Yeung, Nico H. J. Pijls, Bernard De Bruyne, William F. Fearon, and FAME 3 Trial Investigators. European Heart Journal, August, ehag630.

Effect of Aficamten on Cardiac Structure and Function in Patients With Symptomatic Nonobstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Hegde, Sheila M., Xiaowen Wang, Ankit Bhatia, Maria Luisa Peña-Peña, Mark V. Sherrid, Estevao Lanna Figueiredo, Michael Arad, Roberto Barriales-Villa, Lubna Choudhury, Brian L. Claggett, Caroline J. Coats, Edileide de Barros Correia, Juan Pablo Costabel, Perry M. Elliott, Jorge E. Silva Enciso, Pablo Garcia-Pavia, Junbo Ge, Carolyn Y. Ho, Neal K. Lakdawala, Gregory D. Lewis, Martin S. Maron, Matthew W. Martinez, Ahmad Masri, Mathew S. Maurer, Michelle Michels, Sumeet S. Mitter, Jesus E. Pino Moreno, Viktória Nagy, Iacopo Olivotto, Anjali T. Owens, Steen H. Poulsen, Florian Rader, Ethan J. Rowin, Maria Ruda, P. Christian Schulze, Nikhil Sikand, John A. Spertus, Xiaoyan Zhao, Punag H. Divanji, Stephen B. Heitner, Daniel L. Jacoby, Stuart Kupfer, Fady I. Malik, Joel Salazar-Mendiguchía, Amy Wohltman, Shu Zhuo, Scott D. Solomon, and ACACIA-HCM Investigators. Circulation, August.

Eplontersen for Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy. Fontana, Marianna, Ahmad Masri, Scott D. Solomon, Francesco Cappelli, Margot K. Davis, Pablo García-Pavía, Julian D. Gillmore, Mazen Hanna, Laura Obici, Brett W. Sperry, Nobuhiro Tahara, Márcia Waddington-Cruz, Olga Azevedo, Thibaud Damy, Edileide de Barros Correia, Michel G. Khouri, Andriana P. Nikolova, Stefan Störk, Tom Conrad, Qingqing Yang, Brian L. Claggett, Jersey Chen, Gary T. Brice, Sotirios Tsimikas, Mathew S. Maurer, and CARDIO-TTRansform Investigators. The New England Journal of Medicine, August.

Global Efficacy of Aficamten in Nonobstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Results From ACACIA-HCM. Maron, Martin S., Ahmad Masri, Ankit Bhatia, Maria Luisa Peña-Peña, Mark V. Sherrid, Estevao Lanna Figueiredo, Michael Arad, Lubna Choudhury, Brian L. Claggett, Caroline J. Coats, Edileide de Barros Correia, Juan Pablo Costabel, Perry M. Elliott, Jorge E. Silva Enciso, Junbo Ge, Carolyn Y. Ho, Ian Kulac, Gregory D. Lewis, Matthew W. Martinez, Mathew S. Maurer, Michelle Michels, Sumeet S. Mitter, Jesus E. Pino Moreno, Iacopo Olivotto, Anjali T. Owens, Steen H. Poulsen, Florian Rader, Ethan J. Rowin, P. Christian Schulze, Robert Sepp, Nikhil Sikand, Scott D. Solomon, John A. Spertus, Xiaoyan Zhao, Punag H. Divanji, Stephen B. Heitner, Daniel L. Jacoby, Stuart Kupfer, Fady I. Malik, Joel Salazar-Mendiguchía, Amy Wohltman, Shu Zhuo, Roberto Barriales-Villa, and ACACIA-HCM Investigators. Circulation, August.

Long-Term Effects of Acoramidis on Mortality in Variant Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy, Including p.Val142Ile: Findings From the Open-Label Extension of ATTRibute-CM. Ruberg, Frederick L., Margot K. Davis, Sarah A. M. Cuddy, Lily K. Stern, Olakunle Akinboboye, Keyur Shah, Nitasha Sarswat, Michel G. Khouri, Daniel P. Judge, Jan M. Griffin, Justin L. Grodin, Souhiela Fawaz, Bret Zeldow, Jean-François Tamby, Adam Castaño, Uma Sinha, Marianna Fontana, Julian Gillmore, and Kevin M. Alexander. European Journal of Heart Failure, August, xuag258.

Noninvasive Thrombus Imaging in Patients With Ischemic Stroke. Whittington, Beth, Craig Balmforth, Alessandro Giaj Levra, Laura Clark, Neil Craig, Audrey White, Krithika Loganath, Evangelos Tzolos, Allison Winarski, Rachael O. Forsythe, Michael McDermott, Tariq Ramtoola, Phyo H. Khaing, Sphamandla Ntshangase, Mark G. Macaskill, Stefan Veizades, Mairi Brittan, Tim Clark, Michelle Rooney, Christophe Lucatelli, Piotr J. Slomka, Norman Koglin, Andrew W. Stephens, Iris Hardewig, Edwin J. R. van Beek, Marc R. Dweck, Joanna Wardlaw, Michelle C. Williams, William N. Whiteley, and David E. Newby. Circulation, September.

Percutaneous Epicardial Entry With a Novel Videoscope-Guided Epicardial Access Device: Initial Multicenter Experience. Ehdaie, Ashkan, Henry D. Huang, Jackson J. Liang, Ammar M. Killu, Alan Sugrue, Eric D. Braunstein, and Michael Shehata. JACC. Clinical Electrophysiology, August, S2405-500X(26)00743-7.

Platelet Activation and Thrombosis in Microvascular Obstruction. Balmforth, Craig, Alessandro Giaj Levra, Beth Whittington, Aidan Morgan, Mark G. Macaskill, Evangelos Tzolos, Alex J. Jordan, Tariq Ramtoola, Tim Clark, Michelle Rooney, Christophe Lucatelli, Edwin J. R. van Beek, Piotr J. Slomka, Stephanie L. Sellers, Norman Koglin, Andrew W. Stephens, Iris Hardewig, David E. Newby, Michelle C. Williams, and Marc R. Dweck. European Heart Journal. Cardiovascular Imaging, August, jeag225.

Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Temperature and Sudden Cardiac Death in a Cohort of US Women. Borchert, William, Rachel C. Nethery, Christine M. Albert, Jochem O. Klompmaker, Charlotte Roscoe, Grete E. Wilt, Francine Laden, and Jaime E. Hart. Journal of the American Heart Association, August, e033829.

The Return of Thallium-201 for American Patients: History, Radiopharmaceutical Features, and Current Applications. Einstein, Andrew J., Daniel S. Berman, Yosef A. Cohen, Richard Green, Joshua Mailman, and Vasken Dilsizian. Current Cardiology Reports 28 (1): 86.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement for Severe Bicuspid Aortic Valve Stenosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Kumar, Sant, Jung-Min Ahn, Euihong Ko, Gossadi Mohammed, Kentaro Hayashida, Wei-Hsian Yin, Hasan Jilaihawi, Raj Makkar, Won-Keun Kim, Tullio Palmerini, Christine J. Chung, David Elison, Soo Yeon An, Ju Hyeon Kim, Do-Yoon Kang, Joon Bum Kim, David J. Cohen, Davide Capodanno, Duk-Woo Park, and Seung-Jung Park. JACC. Advances 5 (8): 103052.

Computational Biomedicine

Audience-Customized Translation of Rule-Based Evidence With Large Language Models Across Multiplexer Benchmarks. Bandhey, Harsh, Gabriel Lipschutz-Villa, Khoi Dinh, Malek Kamoun, and Ryan J. Urbanowicz. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference: [Proceedings]. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2026 (Companion): 1175–83.

Phase-Alternation and Tree-Initialization to Facilitate Interpretable Rule-Based Machine Learning. Lipschutz-Villa, Gabriel, Harsh Bandhey, Khoi Dinh, Michael Heider, Malek Kamoun, and Ryan J. Urbanowicz. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference: [Proceedings]. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2026: 300–309.

ScaleBarOn and Muad’Data: Simple Python Tools for Elemental Imaging Data Visualization and Comparative Scaling. Punshon, Tracy, Brian P. Jackson, and Joshua Levy. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, August.

Survival-LCS: Rule-Based Survival Analysis Without Proportional Hazard Assumptions. Woodward, Alexa A., Harsh Bandhey, Jason H. Moore, and Ryan J. Urbanowicz. ACM Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization 6 (2): 13.

Medicine

Advancing Equity and Patient Partnership in Clinical Trials for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Model for Inclusive Trial Design. Rubin, David T., Andres Yarur, Renika Wood, Brian Po-Han Chen, Lisa E. Young, Megan Gower, and Vijay Yajnik. Clinical and Experimental Gastroenterology 19: 603005.

Black Race Predicts Poor Compliance and Higher Prostate Cancer Risk in a Multinational Repeat Biopsy Cohort: Secondary Analysis From the Reduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer Events (REDUCE) Clinical Trial. Freedland, Alexis R., Daniel M. Moriera, Jun Gong, and Stephen J. Freedland. The Prostate, August.

Comparative Efficacy of Herbal Products on Metabolic Parameters in Metabolic-Dysfunction Associated Liver Disease: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis. Sairaj, Revathi Thirumushi, Alejandro Chen Liang, Yeison Cruz Castillo, Mariela Denise Fermin Madera, Jose Medina, Tatiana Alexandra Moreno Díaz, Gabriela Flores Monar, Supritha Chintamaneni, Camila Sanchez Cruz, Rashmi Advani, Sushovan Guha, and Ernesto Calderón-Martinez. Gastro Hep Advances 5 (10): 101040.

Driver Genomic Lesions in MDM2, CDK4, and JUN Co-Opt Targetable Super-Enhancer Networks to Impose Liposarcomagenic Core Regulatory Circuitry. Chen, Ye, Ying Zhang, Long Xie, Xiaorui Fan, Jiyang Liu, Tuan Zea Tan, Zhengming Yang, Pushkar Dakle, Suya Zheng, Nan Li, Chenying Wang, Victor Kwanmin Lee, Lingwen Ding, Qiaoyang Sun, Wen Yi, H. Phillip Koeffler, and Liang Xu. Journal of Advanced Research, August, S2090-1232(26)00687-9.

L-Glutamine in Combination With First-Line Gemcitabine and Nab-Paclitaxel in Advanced Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: An Open-Label, Single-Arm, Phase 1 GlutaPanc Trial. Gong, Jun, Hayato Muranaka, So Yung Choi, Mourad Tighiouart, Shrikant Bhute, Ezinne R. Aja, Jonathan P. Jacobs, Aleksandr Stotland, Jennifer Van Eyk, Omer H. M. Elmadbouh, Mouad Edderkaoui, Sunao Tanaka, Hideki Furuya, Arsen Osipov, Jeremy Lorber, Sandrine Billet, Alexzandra Morris, Johanna Ten Hoeve-Scott, Thomas Graeber, Stephen J. Pandol, Andrew Hendifar, and Neil A. Bhowmick. Nature Cancer, August.

Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir Targeting Viral Persistence in Post-COVID-19 Condition (Long COVID) in the USA (RECOVER-VITAL): A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Phase 2 Trial. Baden, Lindsey R., Nirav S. Shah, Sean T. H. Liu, Jonathan Cohen, James Moy, Andre Kumar, Grace A. McComsey, Peter Chen, Michelle Floris-Moore, Nora G. Singer, Inti Fernandez, Alex J. Slandzicki, RECOVER-VITAL Clinical Trial Group, et al. The Lancet. Infectious Diseases, August, S1473-3099(26)00406-8.

Noninvasive Positive Airway Pressure for Hypoxemia Prevention During Sedated Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in Adults With Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Pérez, Jariel Abreu, Valeria Esther Acosta Casana, Carlos Josue Alfaro Lazo, Valentina Alonzo, Carla Daniela Calizaya Baldellon, Alejandro Chen Liang, Macarena Chalbaud, Edgar Lozano, Suleen Daniela Barrera Mosquera, Alejandra Anez Gonzalez, Alexander Vega, Rashmi Advani, and Ernesto Calderón Martínez. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, September, S0016-5107(26)07018-5.

Remission Rates of Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis in a Tertiary Care Center. Kluempers, Franziska, Imke Redeker, Abin P. Puravath, Omar Javier Calixto, Styliani Tsiami, David Kiefer, Xenofon Baraliakos, and Uta Kiltz. The Journal of Rheumatology, September, jrheum.2025-1143.

The Cognitive Effects of Creatine Supplementation in Older Adults and Preclinical Models of Dementia: A Scoping Review. Whitford, Tobias, Christian Donlon, Aidan Pech, Chase Goldberg, Harris Whiteson, and Mill Etienne. Ageing Research Reviews, August, 103317.

Waist-to-Height Ratio as a Practical Indicator for Screening Pediatric Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease in Diverse Populations and Genetic Backgrounds. Liu, Yun-Fei, You-Xin Wang, Li Li, Di Shi, Maike Wolters, Ping-Ping Zhang, Jia-Jia Dang, Shan Cai, Tian-Yu Huang, Ya-Qi Wang, Jie-Yu Liu, Ming-Yue Wang, Yu-Ying Wu, Enkar Nur, Wen-Jia Lian, Li-Po Guo, Yuan-Yuan Li, Jie-Yun Song, Jing Li, Yan-Hui Dong, Yan-Chun Cui, Antje Hebestreit, Yee Hui Yeo, Susan M. Sawyer, Hui Wang, and Yi Song. World Journal of Pediatrics: WJP, August.

Neurology

No Evidence for Modulation of the Readiness Potential by Respiratory Phase During Natural Breathing. Jeay-Bizot, Lucas, Raniyah Chishti, Uri Maoz, and Aaron Schurger. PLoS Biology 24 (9): e3003982.

Priorities for Advancing Palliative Care for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Consensus Report From a Palliative Care for ALS Working Group in the United States. Bischoff, Kara E., Yaowaree L. Leavell, Jessica M. Besbris, Christi Lero, Kelsey Noble, Astrid Grouls, Jerome Kurent, Benzi M. Kluger, Steven Z. Pantilat, Ambereen K. Mehta, and International Neuropalliative Care Society’s Palliative Care for ALS Working Group. Muscle & Nerve, August.

Neurosurgery

Early Retinal UCHL1 Dysregulation Coupled With Synaptic Loss Reflects Alzheimer’s Disease Severity. Rentsendorj, Altan, Jean-Philippe Vit, Alexandre Hutton, Yosef Koronyo, Saba Shahin, Edward Robinson, Ernesto Barron, Anthony Rodriguez, Ousman Jallow, Julia Sheyn, Bhakta Prasad Gaire, Lalita Subedi, Miyah R. Davis, Barathan Gnanabharathi, Alexander V. Ljubimov, Stuart L. Graham, Vivek K. Gupta, Mehdi Mirzaei, Debra Hawes, Katlin Silm, Keith L. Black, Lon S. Schneider, Alfredo A. Sadun, Jesse G. Meyer, Dieu-Trang Fuchs, and Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui. Advanced Science, August, e00020.

Predicting Craniospinal Surgery in Pediatric Achondroplasia: Benchmarking Statistical Inference and Explainable AI Under Rare-Disease Constraints. Gholampour, Seifollah, Jesse Huang, Dylan Keusch, Carolina Lopes, Aseel Masarwy, James Obayashi, Marcella Ruppert-Gomez, Christina M. Sayama, Lissa C. Baird, Moise Danielpour, and David F. Bauer. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, September.

Refining the Posterior Compartment of the Cavernous Sinus: A Detailed Reappraisal of Surgical Anatomy and Techniques for Invasive Pituitary Adenoma Resection. Xu, Yuanzhi, Tatsuya Uchida, Erik Burgos-Sosa, Ana Sofia Alvarez, Mariano Rinaldi, Taishi Nakase, Matei Alexandru Banu, Ludovico Agostini, Limin Xiao, Vera Vigo, Peyton L. Nisson, Simon A. Menaker, Aaron A. Cohen-Gadol, and Juan C. Fernandez-Miranda. Journal of Neurosurgery, August, 1–13.

Nursing

Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Nursing Leadership: From Innovation to Stewardship. Marshall, David, and Nancye R. Feistritzer. Nursing Administration Quarterly 50 (4): 177–78.

Critical Care Nurses in Organ Donation and Transplantation, Part 2. Coleman, Bernice, and Linda Ohler. AACN Advanced Critical Care 37 (3): 293–94.

System-Level AI Governance in Nursing: A Practical Framework for Safe and Scalable Adoption. Wang, Jing, Yijiong Yang, David Marshall, Patricia Shucoski, Tera Gross, Ryannon Frederick, and Sharon Pappas. Nursing Administration Quarterly 50 (4): 208–13.

OBGYN

Seeing But Not Foreseeing: O-RADS Stratification and Surgical Outcomes in Benign Ovarian Cysts Engel, O., M. Weiss, R. Meyer, M. Tenne, N. Paul, O. Markovitch, Y. Dykan, Z. Klein, R. Schonman, and Y. Yagur. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology 68 Suppl 1 (September): 99.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Decompression and Dynamic Sagittal Tether Stabilization for Degenerative Spondylolisthesis: Primary Outcomes of a Multicenter FDA IDE Trial. Sasso, Rick C., Hyun Bae, Ivan Cheng, Jeffrey L. Gum, Alan T. Villavicencio, Mick Perez-Cruet, S. Tim Yoon, William F. Lavelle, Kee D. Kim, Michael Y. Wang, Ravinder S. Bains, Calvin C. Kuo, Harvinder S. Sandhu, Michael P. Stauff, Dennis G. Crandall, Sigurd H. Berven, Harel Deutsch, Jeffrey S. Fischgrund, Adam L. Shimer, Khalid Sethi, Wilson Z. Ray, Matthew J. Mermer, Reginald J. Davis, Elizabeth Yu, Todd F. Alamin, Louis C. Fielding, Jens R. Chapman, Richard D. Guyer, and William C. Welch. Spine, August.

Trends in the Distribution of Skeletal Compensation Based on Severity and Correction in Adult Spinal Deformity Patients. Onafowokan, Oluwatobi O., Mohammad Daher, Renaud Lafage, Virginie Lafage, Justin S. Smith, D. Kojo Hamilton, Max R. Fisher, Bassel G. Diebo, Alan H. Daniels, Robert Eastlack, Gregory Mundis, Breton G. Line, Pierce Nunley, Neel Anand, Themistocles Protopsaltis, David O. Okonkwo, Khaled M. Kebaish, Justin K. Scheer, Praveen V. Mummaneni, Dean Chou, Han Jo Kim, Richard Hostin, Munish Gupta, Douglas Burton, Christopher P. Ames, Frank Schwab, Christopher I. Shaffrey, Shay Bess, Lawrence Lenke, and Peter G. Passias. Journal of Neurosurgery. Spine, August, 1–8.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Examining Inflammatory Effects of Reticulocyte Erythrophagocytosis in Human Macrophage Cultures. Hernández-Armengol, Rosario, Kausik Paul, Che-Yu Chang, June Young Lee, Krystalyn E. Hudson, and David R. Gibb. Methods in Molecular Biology 3053: 641–58.

Lessons Learned From the Validation of a Machine Learning-Based Colorectal Carcinoma Screening Pipeline in Sub-Saharan Africa. Githuka, Alfred, Ulysses G. J. Balis, Ye Chan Kim, Eileen M. Weinheimer-Haus, Christopher L. Williams, Jerome Y. Cheng, Kelou Yao, John Blau, Jessica A. Baker, Priscilla Njenga, Winny Chepkemoi, Robert K. Parker, Akbar K. Waljee, Shahin Sayed, and Mansoor N. Saleh. Journal of Pathology Informatics 22 (August): 100691.

Pediatrics

Analysis of Neonatal Resuscitation Debriefings: Mixed-Methods Results From a Multicenter Pilot Study. Dadiz, Rita, Louis P. Halamek, Julie E. Riccio, Daniel Chiou, Michelle Olech Smith, Len Y. Tanaka, Debra L. Weiner, American Academy of Pediatrics WHiCED Task Force, and Theodora A. Stavroudis. Journal of Perinatology, August.

Mechanistic Characterization and Inhibition of PAD4-Dependent NETosis Following Experimental Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury. Bremer, Anna-Sophie, Maria Eugenia Bernis, Hannah Burkard, Elke Maes, Aimee S. Wilson, Zhaoyang Xu, David H. Rowitch, Waqar Hanif, Riki Kawaguchi, Thomas Ulas, and Hemmen Sabir. Experimental Neurology 406 (August): 115994.

Randomized Controlled Trials Evaluating Exercise Interventions for Plantar Fasciopathy Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Gonçalves, Irenilde F., Thacyana T. Carvalho, Kamila Grandolfi, Juliano Casonatto, and Sergio M. Borghi. Musculoskeletal Science & Practice 86 (August): 103644.

Sequential Patterning of Photoresponsive Hydrogels Directs Crypt Fission and Reveals the Role of Epithelial Curvature on Fission Symmetry. McNally, Delaney L., Kaustav Bera, Nolan R. Petrich, Alex Khang, Marilyne Coulombe, David Castillo-Azofeifa, Ophir D. Klein, Peter J. Dempsey, and Kristi S. Anseth. Advanced Science, August, e77397.

Surgery

AI-Based Tools for Predicting and Early Diagnosis of Graft Rejection in Solid Organ Transplantation - a Systematic Review. Henderson, Douglas, Tobias Niederegger, Robert Munzinger, Emre Karakas, Jonas Hildinger, Jasper Iske, Max Heiland, Curtis L. Cetrulo, Alexandre G. Lellouch, and Leonard Knoedler. Transplantation Reviews 40 (4): 101054.

Efficacy and Safety of Local Tranexamic Acid in... : Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open. Mokhtar, Jonathan, Marwa Hadi, Kreutz-Rodrigues Lucas, Kevin Sadati, Krishna S Vyas, Curtis L Cetrulo, and Alexandre G Lellouch. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open, August.

Generative AI and Clinicians Show Comparable Prognostic Reasoning From Clinical Narratives in Biologic-Treated CRSwNP. Hack, Sholem, Chase Kahn, Ainhoa Garcia-Lliberos, Cristina Rodriguez-Prado, Ameen Biadsee, Maxime Fieux, Mark Liu, Eran Glikson, Masayoshi Takashima, Omar G. Ahmed, Raj Sindwani, Dennis M. Tang, and Christopher R. Roxbury. World Journal of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, August.

HSV-1 LAT Promotes Ocular Diseases in the Absence of Type I IFN Responses in Sensory Neurons. Wang, Shaohui, Ujjaldeep Jaggi, Jay J. Oh, Deepak Arya, and Homayon Ghiasi. Journal of Virology, August, e0096026.

Mapping Structural Aging Across Human Tissues Reveals Tissue-Specific Trajectories and Coordinated Deterioration. Yadav, Anamika, Kyle Alvarez, Anna Chechenina, Kevin Y. Yip, Eytan Ruppin, Alexandre Colas, Jacqueline C. Yano Maher, Veronica Gomez-Lobo, Caroline Kumsta, and Sanju Sinha. Nature Aging, August.

Precision Oncology in Pediatric Cancer Surgery. Lee, William G., and Eugene S. Kim. Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America 40 (5): 895–931.

Primary Resection and Metastasectomy for Well-Differentiated Grade 3 Gastro-Entero-Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: A National Cancer Database Analysis. Sutton, Thomas L., Marco Ventin, Teodora Dumitra, Shahrzad Arya, Lara Schwieger, Cristina R. Ferrone, Andrew E. Hendifar, and Alexandra Gangi. Annals of Surgical Oncology, August.

Real-World Use of Normothermic Machine Perfusion in Liver Transplantation: A Multi-Institutional Experience From the National Organ Perfusion Registry. Cortez, Alexander R., Wei San Loh, Sarah Sheskey, Hillary J. Braun, Aashna Mehta, Christopher Connelly, Austin Schenk, Musab Alebrahim, Raj Patel, Lori A. McLamb, Andrew Barbas, Steven A. Wisel, Garrett R. Roll, and Kyle H. Sheetz. Clinical Transplantation 40 (9): e70664.

Reconstructing the Anterior Skull Base After Oncologic Resection: A Comprehensive Systematic Review of Open Techniques and Outcomes. Cardoso, Leonardo Januário Campos, Márcio Yuri Ferreira, Murtaja Satea, Paulo Vitor Marques Xavier, Lidia Cheidde, Benjamin Marc Daniels, Danil Ratnikov, Felix Schumacher, Gustavo Vieira Rennó, Anderson Matheus Pereira da Silva, Haizam Oubari, Alexandre G. Lellouch, and Netanel Ben-Shalom. The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, August.

Urology

Robotic Versus Open Post-Chemotherapy Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection: A Propensity Score Matched Study Across 11 Academic Medical Centers. Chavarriaga, Julian, Alireza Ghoreifi, Eshetu G. Atenafu, Ahmad Mousa, Lynn Anson-Cartwright, Sanchit Kaushal, Farshad Sheybaee Moghaddam, Anirban P. Mitra, Ashish Khanna, Amitabh Singh, Sol C. Moon, Ahmed Saeed Goolam, Ryan Chuang, Jordan Rich, Fady Baky, Mathew Ho, Jacob Roberts, Inderbir S. Gill, Reza Mehrazin, John Sfakianos, James Porter, Soroush Rais-Bahrami, Aditya Bagrodia, Nariman Ahmadi, Scott Eggener, Jacob Tallman, Sudhir Rawal, John F. Ward, Michael Jewett, Hooman Djaladat, and Robert J. Hamilton. World Journal of Urology 44 (1): 612.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

A new study led by Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University investigators found that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in the blood, which are used to track the effectiveness of prostate cancer treatment, need to be 10 times lower than most physicians generally target for the best patient outcomes.

The study, published in Cancer, could help doctors better manage treatment of prostate cancer patients, maximizing patients’ chances of survival.

“PSA levels drop dramatically when patients receive hormone therapy,” said Stephen Freedland, MD, professor of Urology and director of the Center for Integrated Research in Lifestyle and Cancer at Cedars-Sinai, and first author of the study. “Our study found that the optimal PSA level was less than 0.2 nanograms per milliliter of blood. However, fewer than half of patients given hormone therapy alone reached that optimal level for overall survival.”

Investigators reviewed Veterans Health Administration data on 4,090 prostate cancer patients. They found that even if PSA dropped 90%, if it did not get below 0.2 nanograms per milliliter of blood, outcomes were not good.

Importantly, the study found that if doctors added drugs called androgen receptor pathway inhibitors to their hormone therapy, patients were much more likely to reach PSA levels below 0.2 nanograms per milliliter of blood.

“Many physicians don’t offer patients additional treatment because hormone therapy alone lowers their PSA levels below 2 nanograms per milliliter, which we previously showed was many physicians’ target level,” Freedland said. “We hope these data will change that practice.”

Additional authors include Wei Gao, PhD; Maëlys Touya, PharmD, MSc; Hongbo Yang, PhD; David Russell, MD, FACS; Jingyi Chen, MS; Grace Chen, MS; and Jasmina I. Ivanova, MA.

Funding: Sponsored by Pfizer Inc. and Astellas Pharma Inc.

Disclosures: Stephen J. Freedland reports consulting or advisory roles with Astellas Pharma Inc., AstraZeneca, Bayer, Candel, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (formerly Janssen), Merck, Novartis, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi, Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. (formerly Myovant Sciences), and Tolmar.

New Tool Measures Thyroid Cancer Patients’ Anxiety

A new tool created by Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University investigators is the first to measure anxiety in patients with thyroid cancer. Described in Thyroid, the Thyroid Cancer Modified Anxiety Scale (TC-MAX) could help doctors clarify patients’ expectations, better match their treatment to their needs, and improve patient outcomes.

“A patient’s distress greatly influences which thyroid cancer treatment the patient prefers and what their doctor recommends,” said Allen Ho, MD, professor of Surgery, co-director of the Thyroid Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Cancer and senior author of the study. “We found that our tool effectively assesses patient concerns to help doctors better determine the best course of treatment. This is especially important when the treatment options have similar likely outcomes but patient preferences vary widely.”

The tool includes 18 questions that measure a patient’s general cancer-related anxiety, their anxiety around ultrasound testing, which is used to monitor thyroid cancer progression, and their fear about whether their cancer will progress or come back. Investigators created TC-MAX in collaboration with Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, the world’s largest thyroid cancer patient consortium. They relied on medical literature, physician expertise and the perspectives of more than 1,000 thyroid cancer patients.

The study showed that the extent of each patient’s anxiety mirrored the extent of surgery they chose, Ho said. When active surveillance, partial thyroid removal and total thyroid removal were all options, patients with the highest TC-MAX anxiety scores chose to have their entire thyroid removed, while those with lower average TC-MAX scores generally selected partial thyroid removal. Patients with the lowest scores chose active surveillance.

Ho said that the tool is now ready for use in clinical trials and patient care.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Amanda J. Bastien MD, Sungjin Kim MS, Cynthia Zalt, Iris Cong PhD, Jewel Ng, Caroline Marshall, Christopher V. Almario MD MSHPM, Omer Liran MD, Brennan M.R. Spiegel MD, MSHS, Jon Mallen-St. Clair MD, PhD, Evan Walgama MD, Kevin S. Scher MD, Julie K. Jang MD, Yufei Chen MD, Samuel Zhang MD, Linnea Peterson MD, Wendy L. Sacks MD, and Zachary S. Zumsteg MD.

Other authors include Gary Bloom and Michelle M. Chen MD.

Funding: AAOHNS CORE Grant; Cedars-Sinai Jim and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery Research Award.

Reducing Unnecessary Fluid Testing Could Lower Cancer Care Costs

Doctors might be able to safely reduce healthcare costs by skipping unnecessary laboratory tests for patients with advanced gynecologic cancers, according to a Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University study. The paper, published in JAMA Network Open, examined testing on fluid drained from the abdomen or around the lungs.

Patients with advanced gynecologic cancer often experience fluid buildup in these areas. Draining the fluid helps relieve pain, pressure and other symptoms, but the investigators found that laboratory testing of the fluid is frequently unnecessary.

Cedars-Sinai gynecologic oncology fellow Yingao Zhang, MD, and obstetrics and gynecology resident Olivia Foy, MD, are co-first authors of the study.

“We undertook this study to determine how often unnecessary tests may be safely skipped, and to estimate how much this would help reduce healthcare costs,” Zhang said.

Investigators reviewed 976 fluid-draining procedures performed on gynecologic cancer patients at one hospital over 10 years. Laboratory testing was ordered in 40% of cases, a common practice done to rule out infection, check for the presence of cancer cells, and determine the cause of fluid buildup.

Nearly 80% of those orders included at least one test the researchers determined was likely unnecessary—either because a cancer diagnosis had already been confirmed or a patient had no symptoms that would prompt further fluid testing. The estimated cost of these tests was roughly $1million over 10 years.

The investigators found that unnecessary tests were more likely to be ordered in the emergency department or for hospitalized patients than in outpatient clinics. They also found that non-oncology care providers were more likely to order unneeded fluid tests than oncologists.

“Avoiding automatic lab testing on fluid from patients with known cancer diagnoses represents a low-risk opportunity to reduce healthcare costs,” Foy said.

The investigators identified clinician education as a way to reduce unnecessary testing and related costs, and suggested that similar analyses in other cancer types and other institutions could uncover additional cost-reducing opportunities.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Grace Pipes, MD; and Margaret I. Liang, MD, MSHPM.

Funding: The Cedars-Sinai Honest Enterprise Research Broker (HERB) Committee, which assisted with cohort building, is supported by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) UCLA CTSI Grant Number UL1TR001881.

Disclosures: Dr. Liang reported grants from Merck, grants from Foundation for Women’s Cancer, and personal fees from Association of Cancer Care Centers outside the submitted work.

How Your Brain Stays Focused on a Goal

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University investigators have discovered how the brain maintains focus when a person is working toward a goal. The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, sheds light on how a person’s brain actively maintains task goals in working memory while that person responds to changes in their environment.

“Our findings show that the brain maintains memories of task goals by keeping certain neurons persistently active over minutes,” said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, professor of Neurosurgery, at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. “The two different brain regions we studied maintained such memories in two different formats, thereby giving people the flexibility to adapt while continuing to pursue the same goal.”

The study concentrated on two brain regions: the medial frontal cortex, which supports planning, decision-making and long-term goal achievement, and the hippocampus, which plays an important role in learning and memory.

Investigators recorded the activity of individual brain cells while study participants completed tasks designed to test how the brain remembers goals over many minutes without reminders.

By analyzing activity patterns in different brain regions, investigators found that task goals are stably and persistently represented by brain cells in the medial frontal cortex many minutes after instructions were given to the participants. In contrast, the hippocampus continuously updated task goal information as circumstances changed on the timescale of seconds. This allows a person to adapt quickly to change without losing sight of a desired long-term outcome.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Hristos Courellis, Michael Kyzar, Juri Minxha and Adam Mamelak.

Other authors include Araceli R. Cardenas, Taufik Valiante and Ralph Adolphs.

Funding: This work was supported by the BRAIN Initiative through the NIH Office of the Director (U01NS117839 to U.R.), the Simons Foundation Collaboration on the Global Brain (to U.R. and R.A.), and by a merit scholarship from the Josephine De Karman Fellowship Trust (to H.S.C.).

Small Bowel Microbiome Offers Clues to Women’s Health        

A new study by investigators at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University has identified differences in the makeup and organization of the small bowel microbiome between women and men. The findings, published in iScience, could offer new insights into why some conditions are more prevalent in women.

The small bowel microbiome comprises a community of microorganisms that coexist in this part of the digestive tract and play vital roles in immune function, metabolism and hormonal regulation.

“One intriguing finding was a bacterial community containing Granulicatella, which we found only in women,” said Ruchi Mathur, MD, director of Clinical Research and Clinical Operations for the Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) Program at Cedars-Sinai and corresponding author of the study. “Bacteria in this community appear at increased levels in women with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome.”

Investigators also found sex differences related to how small bowel microbes produce fructans, complex carbohydrates known for triggering digestive symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a condition far more common in women than men.

“Our findings show that biological sex is a critical variable in the small bowel microbiome,” said Mathur, also a professor of Medicine. “We must consider it as we move toward more personalized approaches to understanding and treating disease.”

Other Cedars-Sinai authors include Mohamad Rashid, Gabriela Leite, Gillian M. Barlow, Ava Hosseini, Daniel Brimberry, Dilara Flor, Gonzalo Parodi, Maritza Sanchez, Ignacio Rivera, Angel Trujillo, Maria Jesus Villanueva-Millan, Walter Morales, Stacy Weitsman and Mark Pimentel.

Funding: This study was supported by the Monica Lester Charitable Trust and the Elias, Genevieve and Georgianna Atol Charitable Trust in support of Ruchi Mathur’s research, and the National Philanthropic Trust in support of Mark Pimentel’s research.

Boosting the Accuracy of Disease Risk Prediction From Genetic Data

Investigators at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University have developed a new computational framework for improving how genetic data is used to estimate the inherited risk that an individual will develop conditions like Alzheimer's disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and breast cancer.

The framework, called Adaptive Boosting of Pre-trained Polygenic Risk Scores (AB-PRS) and described in Nature Communications, builds on existing polygenic risk scores, tools that estimate disease risk based on many genetic variants across the genome, and identifies additional genetic signals that may not be fully captured by current scoring methods.

"As more people undergo genetic testing, it's becoming increasingly important to make the best use of that information," said Ruowang Li, PhD, co-corresponding author of the study and assistant professor of Computational Biomedicine at Cedars-Sinai. "Our findings aim to improve the accuracy of genetic risk prediction, allowing us to better predict disease risk and guide more personalized care."

Polygenic risk scores are increasingly used in research and clinical settings to estimate genetic susceptibility to common diseases, but their accuracy varies across diseases, datasets and populations. Investigators trained AB-PRS to identify genetic signals that existing risk scores may miss. They tested the approach using genetic data from the UK Biobank and validated the findings in three independent biobanks. The method consistently matched or outperformed existing polygenic risk scores across multiple diseases. The researchers say additional validation, particularly in more diverse populations, will be needed before the approach can be widely used in clinical care.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Raelynn Chen, Olivia Wu, Okan Bilge Ozdemir, Zaldy Tan.

Other authors include Jie Hu, Maxwell Salvatore, Yiwen Lu, Shawn Murphy, Elizabeth Karlson, Atlas Khan, Krzysztof Kiryluk, Iftikhar Kullo, Johanna Smith, Eimear Kenny, Yuan Luo, William G. La Cava, Marylyn D. Ritchie and Yong Chen.

Funding: J.H. and Y.C.’s efforts were supported in part by National Institutes of Health

(U01TR003709, RF1AG077820, R01AG073435, R01DK128237). R.L. is supported

by the National Institutes of Health grants R01 AG094962, P30 AG094848 and U01 AG066833 and in part by Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurology/Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s & Memory Disorders. R.C. and O.B.O. are supported by the Department of Computational Biomedicine, Cedars-Sinai.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Cedars-Sinai in the News

GLP-1 Health Benefits May Go ‘Far Beyond’ Weight Loss. Here’s What’s Exciting Doctors | TODAY
Nicolas Musi, MD 

STI Rates Fall by Two Thirds After Implementation of DoxyPEP Prescribing at Southern US Clinic | Medscape
Christopher Foltz, MD 

Cases of ‘Scromiting’ Condition Tied to Cannabis Use Spike Among Teens, Young Adults: New Study | The Hill
Sam Torbati, MD 

The Lifesaving Case for CPR Dummies With Breasts | Vox
Pooja Nawathe, MD

Managing IBD Patients With Few Options Left | Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News
Gil Melmed, MD 

Cedars-Sinai Study Links Daily Coffee to Reduced Liver Scarring | Los Angeles Times
Hyunseok Kim, MD, MPH, PhD, and Shelly Lu, MD 

Are Fermented Foods More Than a Wellness Trend? | The Advisory Board
Suzanne Devkota, PhD

AI System Links Surgical Gestures With Postoperative Outcomes | Urology Times
Andrew J. Hung, MD

Faculty Publications

Biomedical Sciences

PTEN-AKT2 Regulates Mixed Lineage Liver Cancer Development and Sensitizes Cancer Cells to TGFβ Treatment. Tang, Qi, Ielyzaveta Slarve, Jingyu Chen, Ni Zeng, Yiwei Gu, Lina He, Shunan Hu, Diala Alhousari, Zifei Xu, Brittney Hua, Guo Zhang, Phillip Nguyen, Mario Alba, Ajay Bharadwaj, Jihyeon Lee, Simion Kreimer, Jian Xu, Baoan Ji, Shelly C. Lu, Jennifer Van Eyk, Shefali Chopra, Gary Kanel, Liyun Yuan, and Bangyan L. Stiles. Oncogene, August.

Cardiac Surgery

The Impact of Preoperative Mechanical Support on Long-Term Survival Following Early Lung Re-Transplantation for Graft Failure. Krishna, Vikram, Allen A. Razavi, Brian Lim, Zachary Brennan, Qiudong Chen, Joanna Chikwe, Michael E. Bowdish, Laura DiChiacchio, Reinaldo Rampolla, Dominick Megna, and Pedro Catarino. JHLT Open 14 (November): 100626.

Cardiology

Artificial Intelligence-Derived Fractional Flow Reserve in Routine Clinical Practice: An International Multicenter Retrospective Study. Ben-Assa, Eyal, Bruce A. Samuels, Ehtisham Mahmud, Carlos Cafri, Ariel Roguin, Yair Feld, Eli Lev, Emanuel Harari, Tali Ben-Yehuda, Hector M. Garcia-Garcia, and Gregg W. Stone. Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions 5 (8): 105451.

Associations Between Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety With Left Ventricular Hypertrophy Among Hispanic and Latino Participants of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Andrade-Bucknor, Sharon N., Robert A. Mesa, Christina Cordero, Neil Schneiderman, Alvin Mathew, Barry E. Hurwitz, Carlos J. Rodriguez, Linda C. Gallo, Carlos E. Rosas, Sara Gonzalez, Scott D. Solomon, Susan Cheng, Martha Daviglus, Mayank M. Kansal, Krista M. Perreira, Frank J. Penedo, and Tali Elfassy. Journal of the American Heart Association, August, e048867.

Conduction Disturbances and Pacing After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Mechanisms, Risk Stratification, and Management. AlBadri, Ahmed, Stephanie Wang, Cesar Egoavil, and Hasan Jilaihawi. Interventional Cardiology Clinics 15 (4): 623–35.

Device Shifting and Embolization of a New Generation Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Occluding Device. Novel Insights on Watchman FLX PRO. Bahbah, Ali, Ehab Aboelsoud, Mai Badr, Kerollos Abdelsayed, John Ambrose, Chandra K. Katikireddy, Robert Hauser, and Michael Shehata. Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine: Including Molecular Interventions, August, S1553-8389(26)00370-2.

Early Multicenter Outcomes of Dedicated Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement for Left Ventricular Assist Device-Associated Pure Aortic Regurgitation. Hinkov, Hristian, Sara Yousefzada, Isabell A. Just, Christoph Klein, Evgenij Potapov, Santiago Garcia, Dhairya Patel, Lauren S. Ranard, Arseniy Goncharov, Dean J. Kereiakes, Raj R. Makkar, Torsten P. Vahl, Tanja K. Rudolph, and Axel Unbehaun. Artificial Organs, August.

Health Status Relationship to Ischemia and Coronary Artery Disease Severity in the ISCHEMIA Trial. Phillips, Lawrence M., Philip G. Jones, Leslee J. Shaw, Daniel B. Mark, Daniel S. Berman, Raymond Y. Kwong, Michael H. Picard, Bernard R. Chaitman, James K. Min, Jelena Celutkiene, Gregg W. Stone, Joao Vitola, Nagaraja Moorthy, Philippe Gabriel Steg, Peter Ong, Whady A. Hueb, Paulo C. Rezende, Judith S. Hochman, David J. Maron, Harmony R. Reynolds, John A. Spertus, and ISCHEMIA Research Group. American Heart Journal, August, 107586.

Impaired CD4+ T Cell Response to Apolipoprotein B-100 Peptide P210 in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Is Reversed by P210-Conjugated Nanoparticles. Dimayuga, Paul C., Jianchang Zhou, Xiaoning Zhao, Janet Wei, Noah Trac, Karla Lambaren, Eun Ji Chung, Bojan Cercek, Prediman K. Shah, and Kuang-Yuh Chyu. American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology, August.

Mitral Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair in Younger Adults. Guo, Yuchao, Vivek Patel, Jair Basantes de la Calle, Takashi Nagasaka, Kazuki Suruga, Hidemasa Shitan, Dhairya Patel, Tarun Chakravarty, Mamoo Nakamura, Aakriti Gupta, Moody Makar, Sabah Skaf, Mitch Gheorghiu, Wen Cheng, Hasan Jilaihawi, and Raj Makkar. Journal of the American Heart Association, August, e043262.

Prenatal Diagnosis of Aorto-Left Ventricular Tunnel. Le, Tuyen Kim, Truong Huy Hoang, and Mark S. Sklansky. CASE 10 (8): 342–45.

Pulmonary Primary Oxysterol and Bile Acid Synthesis as a Predictor of Outcomes in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Alotaibi, Mona, Lloyd D. Harvey, William C. Nichols, Anna Hemnes, Wei Sun, Arjana Begzati, Tao Long, Aki S. Havulinna, Teemu J. Niiranen, Ankit A. Desai, Susan Cheng, Mohit Jain, and Stephen Y. Chan. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, August, aamag383.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Dietary Intake and Metabolic Profiles Among Adults With Heart Failure, Type 2 Diabetes, and Overweight or Obesity: A Secondary Analysis of the Pro-HEART Trial. Evangelista, Lorraine S., Angelina P. Nguyen, Jennifer Kawi, Rebecca Meraz, Kelly L. Wierenga, Alona D. Angosta, Michele A. Hamilton, and Gregg C. Fonarow. Nutrients 18 (16): 2737.

Redo-TAVR With Evolut: The Second Valve Is Only Half the Story. Chakravarty, Tarun, Christopher Rajkumar, and Raj R. Makkar. JACC. Cardiovascular Interventions 19 (16): 2217–19.

Sleep Deprivation as a Modulator of Thyroid Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Jain, Sharon Philip, Laurentia Fidella Averina Setia Santoso, Niharika Ikkurthy, Shervinchris Philip Jain, and Gilda Silven. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, August.

Stability of Compounded Intracoronary Acetylcholine and Implications for Beyond-Use Dating. Takahashi, Tatsunori, Janet Wei, Allen Ahn, Heidi Hagena, C. Noel Bairey Merz, and Bruce A. Samuels. Circulation. Cardiovascular Interventions, August, e017021.

Statins and Frailty in Older Adults: From Cardioprotection to Geroprotection. Ji, Hongwei, Elaine Luterstein, and Susan Cheng. European Heart Journal, August, ehag640.

The Neglected Role of Lethal Arrhythmia in the Sudden Death of Stroke Survivors. Kadiyala, Vishnu, Kyndaron Reinier, and Sumeet S. Chugh. Nature Cardiovascular Research, August.

Computational Biomedicine

A Novel Approach for Analyzing Non-Proportional Hazards With Long-Term Survivors: The Defective Yang-Prentice Model. Calsavara, Vinicius F. Biometrical Journal. Biometrische Zeitschrift 68 (5): e70158.

Emergency Medicine

VenoArterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Cardiac Arrest Suspected Due to Massive Pulmonary Embolism: A Case Report. Chopra, Tananshi, Lea Dahlke, Nancy Salinas, Moizza Shabbir, Tyler Gunn, and Sam Torbati. Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine 10 (3): 358–62.

Medicine

A Dosimetric Reappraisal of the Photobiomodulation Literature Assessing Animal Safety and Phototoxicity Evidence for Photobiomodulation in Oncology: Phantom Dangers. Cronshaw, Mark, Steven Parker, James D. Carroll, Joel B. Epstein, Kinga Grzech-Leśniak, and Michael R. Hamblin. Biomedicines 14 (8): 1859.

A Single Question on Quality-of-Life Improvement Identifies Treatment Satisfaction in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Clark, Allistair, Rongsen Li, Brennan M. R. Spiegel, and Christopher V. Almario. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, August, S1542-3565(26)00629-4.

Anakinra Prophylaxis for Recurrent Severe ICANS Associated With Tarlatamab in Small Cell Lung Cancer: Case Report. Shia, David W., Suwicha Limvorasak, Karen L. Reckamp, and Kamya Sankar. JTO Clinical and Research Reports 7 (9): 101025.

Beyond ADCs: Antibody-Encapsulated Drug for Targeted Cancer Therapy. Li, Linrong, Armando Giuliano, Qiang Sun, Xiaojiang Cui, and Yuan Yuan. Cell Investigation 2 (3): 100087.

Cross-Cultural Validation of the 11-Item Frommelt Attitude Toward the Care of the Dying Scale Among U.S. Preclinical Medical Students. Miniotti, Marco, Barbara Loera, Giorgia Molinengo, Michael Lee, Amy Hayton, Julio Silvestre, and Paolo Leombruni. Journal of Cancer Education, August.

Elacestrant in Combination With Everolimus for Estrogen Receptor-Positive, HER2-Negative Previously Treated Advanced Breast Cancer: Results From ELEVATE. Rugo, Hope S., Sara M. Tolaney, Nancy Chan, Giuliano Borges, Rinat Yerushalmi, Marina N. Sharifi, Wassim McHayleh, Thaddeus Beck, Neelima Vidula, Erika Hamilton, Kristine J. Rinn, Joyce O’Shaughnessy, Giuseppe Curigliano, Javier Cortés, Isabel Garcia-Fructuoso, Philippe Aftimos, Begoña Bermejo de Las Heras, Pablo Tolosa, Yuan Yuan, Vicente Valero, Marla Lipsyc-Sharf, Paula Muñoz Romero, Faten Koraichi Auriol, Alessandro Paoli, Jennifer A. Crozier, Tomer Wasserman, and Virginia Kaklamani. Clinical Cancer Research, August.

Epigenetic Aging of Colorectal Mucosa in Cancer Development. Hardikar, Sheetal, Biljana Gigic, Jacob K. Kresovich, Victoria Damerell, Caroline Himbert, Jennifer Ose, Adetunji T. Toriola, David Shibata, Christopher I. Li, Jane C. Figueiredo, Doratha A. Byrd, Erin M. Siegel, Christoph Kahlert, Alexander Brobeil, Peter Schirmacher, Cornelia M. Ulrich, and Timothy M. Barrow. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, August, djag297.

Genetic Testing in Pituitary Adenomas: A Pituitary Society International Consensus Statement. De Sousa, Sunita M. C., Cynthia L. Andoniadou, Adrian F. Daly, Mônica Gadelha, Federico Gatto, Peter Kamenický, Pedro Marques, Martin Reincke, Frederique Ruf-Zamojski, Roberto Salvatori, Yutaka Takahashi, Christina Tatsi, Takako Araki, Sabrina Chiloiro, Laura Dichtel, Adriana G. Ioachimescu, Susana Mallea-Gil, Dan A. Niculescu, Alberto M. Pereira, Ilan Shimon, John Wass, Gabriel Zada, Maria Fleseriu, and Shlomo Melmed. Nature Reviews. Endocrinology, August.

Insights on Supplement Use During Cancer Care From Online Reddit Conversations. Waissengrin, Barliz, Karen O’Connor, Celina H. Shirazipour, Flores Amaro Ivan, Karen L. Reckamp, Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez, and Jane C. Figueiredo. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 26 (1): 256.

Pain Prescription Trends and Opioid Disorder Risk in Chronic Pancreatitis: A Real-World Data Analysis From 2015 to 2024. Cai, Yanna, Jianing Li, Niwen Kong, Walter G. Park, Yan Bi, Stephen Pandol, and Yi Jiang. Pancreatology, August, S1424-3903(26)00896-3.

Reply: The Simplest Hepatoprotective Intervention? Coffee in the Era of Precision Hepatology. Celtik, Derin, Hyun-Seok Kim, and co-authors. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, August, S1542-3565(26)00632-4.

The International Chinese Young Scholars Alliance for the Study of the Liver: Facilitating Global Collaboration. Li, Wenhao, Zhujun Cao, Yee Hui Yeo, Ying Shang, Kaina Chen, and Xiaolong Qi. Nature Reviews. Gastroenterology & Hepatology, August.

Timing-Dependent Clearance of P16-Positive Cells Mitigates Radiation-Induced Accelerated Aging. Valdivieso, Karla, Melanie Weigand, Daniela G. Costa, Gung Lee, Nick Pirius, Helene Martini, Shivangi Oberai, Christina Inman, Yi Zhu, Thomas von Zglinicki, Sundeep Khosla, Nathan LeBrasseur, João F. Passos, Tamara Tchkonia, James L. Kirkland, and Diana Jurk. Aging Cell 25 (9): e70693.

Neurosurgery

Disruption of Hippocampal Upstream Regulators of mTOR and Insulin Pathways in Down Syndrome With Alzheimer’s Disease Neuropathology: Preliminary Observations. Nordbeck, Abigail J., Mitchell Martá-Ariza, Henric Ek Olofsson, Evgeny Kanshin, Beatrix Ueberheide, Ken Jones, Bridget Sanford, Eric D. Hamlett, Elizabeth Head, Elliott J. Mufson, Sylvia E. Perez, Thomas Wisniewski, Samuel Guzman, and Ann-Charlotte Granholm. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association 22 (8): e71776.

Socioeconomic and Sociodemographic Factors and Utilization of Revascularization Surgery in Moyamoya Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Wijaya, Jeremiah Hilkiah, Miguel David Quintero Consuegra, Daniela A. Perez-Chadid, Aafreen Azmi, Juan Pablo Avila Madrigal, Abdelrahman Ramadan Elashry, Mohamed Lemine Sidi, Kerry A. Vaughan, Shane Shahrestani, Anil Nanda, and Nestor Gonzalez. Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases, August, 108735.

The Impact of Testosterone Replacement Therapy on Clinical Outcomes After Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion: A Propensity-Matched Cohort Study. Ferdon, Robert J., Jacob Peller, Sohaib Z. Hashmi, J. Patrick Johnson, Robert A. Ravinsky, Charles A. Reitman, and Jason Silvestre. European Spine Journal, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, August.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Charcot-Marie-Tooth Cavovarus Foot: Current Concepts and Emerging Strategies for Deformity Correction. Moon, Sung Jun, Young Ki Min, Glenn B. Pfeffer, Byung Ki Cho, Chan Kang, Yea Eun Kang, Woo Jin Shin, and Jae Hwang Song. Journal of Clinical Medicine 15 (16): 6474.

Clavicle Length and Scapulothoracic Angle in Young Children With Internal Rotation Contracture Secondary to Brachial Plexus Birth Palsy: A Bilateral MRI Study. Meltzer, Jourdan H., and Michael L. Pearl. JSES Reviews, Reports, and Techniques 6 (4): 100823.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Improving the Histologic Classification of Advanced Diabetic Nephropathy Based on the Transformative Research in Diabetic Nephropathy (TRIDENT) Findings. Mohandes, Samer, Cynthia C. Nast, Amy Mottl, Julia Scialla, Salem Almaani, Randy Luciano, Tamara Isakova, Carla Ellis, Shweta Bansal, Christos Argyropoulos, J. Charles Jennette, Adil Gasim, Isaac E. Stillman, Kirk N. Campbell, Amin Abedini, Gaia Coppock, TRIDENT Consortium, Katalin Susztak, and Matthew B. Palmer. Kidney International, August, S0085-2538(26)00716-7.

Pediatrics

Advancing Neonatal Drug Development Through Industry-Academic Collaboration. Ramanathan, Rangasamy, Jacob V. Aranda, Daniele De Luca, and Victoria Niklas. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 66 (8): e70273.

Breastfeeding and Viral Infections in Preterm Infants: A Multicenter Cohort Study. Kamiya, Yusaku, Akihito Takeuchi, Kazue Nakamura, Takahiro Namba, Kei Tamai, Makoto Nakamura, Misao Kageyama, Takashi Yorifuji, and Noriko Sugino. Pediatric Research, August.

Development and Validation of Temperature Trajectory-Based Phenotypes in Pediatric Sepsis: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study, 2012-2018. Brown, Stephanie R., L. Nelson Sanchez-Pinto, Jocelyn R. Grunwell, Xiao Hu, Craig M. Coopersmith, Mihir R. Atreya, Colin M. Rogerson, Alon Geva, Tellen D. Bennett, Grace Chong, Sareen S. Shah, Mark W. Hall, and Sivasubramanium V. Bhavani. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine: A Journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies, August.

Shared Genetic Basis and Structure of Syndromic and Normal Facial Variation. Aponte, J. David, Cassidy Da Silva, Hanne Hoskens, Seppe Goovaerts, Michiel Vanneste, Jay Devine, Katherine Caine, Alexander Buchner Beaudet, H. Artee Luchman, Seth M. Weinberg, Hilde Peeters, Ophir D. Klein, Ralph S. Marcucio, A. Micheil Innes, Peter Claes, Richard A. Spritz, Francois P. Bernier, and Benedikt Hallgrímsson. American Journal of Human Genetics, August, S0002-9297(26)00280-6.

Radiation Oncology

Association of Pulmonary Artery Radiation With Pulmonary Hypertension After Lung Cancer Radiotherapy. Atkins, Katelyn M., Samuel C. Zhang, Christopher E. Kehayias, Christian Guthier, Katrina D. Silos, Olivia Peony, Andrew Warrington, Mina Bakhtiar, Maria Oorloff, Cosmin Ciausu, Asneh Singh, John He, David E. Kozono, David C. Christiani, Cody Ramin, Anju Nohria, Andriana P. Nikolova, Aaron B. Waxman, and Raymond H. Mak. Thorax, August, thorax-2025-224178.

Thymic Radiation Is Associated With Worse Outcomes in Patients With NSCLC. Prudente, V., S. Bernatz, S. Pai, K. M. Atkins, F. Pecci, E. Garbo, K. Bressem, C. V. Guthier, A. Warrington, M. Tonneau, C. Ciausu, S. Yu, L. Thompson, E. Mannarino, A. K. Attermann, L. Nuernberg, C. E. Kehayias, C. Abbosh, C. Swanton, M. Jamal-Hanjani, B. Ricciuti, N. J. Birkbak, R. H. Mak, and H. J. W. L. Aerts. Annals of Oncology, December, S0923-7534(26)00997-X.

Surgery

Cellularized Skin Substitute Bioengineering for Regenerative Medicine: Cell Sources, Culture Strategies, and Transition Toward Defined, Xeno-Free Culture Systems. Lemaître, Gilles, Marina Trouillas, Tatiana Vinasco-Sandoval, Cécile Giordano, Alexandre G. Lellouch, Walid Rachidi, Jean-Jacques Lataillade, and Nicolas O. Fortunel. Advanced Healthcare Materials, August, e71630.

Development and Reliability Testing of the Sinonasal Assessment of Reepithelialization, a Novel Wound Healing Scale to Assess Postoperative Healing. Bellary, Rohan, Zakaria Dairi, Niraj Rama, Jennifer Kreinik, Thomas S. Higgins, Taylor Carle, Arthur W. Wu, Dilpreet Mann, Jennifer K. Mulligan, Brian Lobo, Christopher Ito, Elisa A. Illing, Satyan B. Sreenath, Martin J. Citardi, Christopher Roxbury, Raj Sindwani, Edward McCoul, Jeffrey Suh, Daniel Beswick, Philip G. Chen, and Dennis M. Tang. International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, August.

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy With or Without Radiotherapy in Resected Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. De Stefano, Federico, Nathaniel F. Wu, Giulio Belfiori, Hannah J. Roberts, Cristina Ferrone, Francesca Aleotti, Jill N. Allen, Gianpaolo Balzano, Lawrence S. Blaszkowsky, Jeffrey W. Clark, Francesco De Cobelli, Peter J. Fagenholz, Giulia Gasparini, Jon M. Harrison, Theodore S. Hong, Nicole A. Lester, Diego Palumbo, Priyadarshini S. Pathak, Nicolò Pecorelli, Marco Schiavo Lena, Rebecca Tang, Domenico Tamburrino, Colin D. Weekes, Motaz Qadan, Stefano Partelli, Keith D. Lillemoe, David P. Ryan, Jennifer Y. Wo, Stefano Crippa, Massimo Falconi, and Carlos Fernández-Del Castillo. JAMA Surgery, August.

Physical Activity Changes Following Sinus Surgery: A Multi-Center Apple Health Wearable Technology Pilot Study. Varghese, Justina R., Aakash Agarwal, Akshay R. Prabhakar, Cameron Keehn, Corinne Negvesky, Raffaello Cutri, Linda Liu, Stephanie Camey, Roger Neuberger, Renjie Hu, Ron L. Moses, Masayoshi Takashima, Arthur Wu, Dennis Tang, and Omar G. Ahmed. International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, August.

Practice Patterns in the Surgical Management of Hinchey III and IV Diverticulitis: Results of a National Survey. Cripps, Michael W., Patricia Sylla, Robert Lim, Mark Whiteford, Mike Truitt, Marylise Boutros, Sara Hennessy, Dale Butler, Matthew Bloom, Shane Urban, and Caroline Reinke. Surgical Endoscopy, August.

Resolution of Painful Refractory Soft Palate Mucoceles Following Post-Surgical Onset of Satellite Lesions: A Rare Three-Year Course. Ellis, Collin L., Ankona Ghosh, and Joel B. Epstein. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology 19 (7): 346–51.

The Value of Multidisciplinary Aerodigestive Evaluation in Pediatric Vascular Ring and Sling Management: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Risbud, Adwight, Ethan D. Frank, Heather Y. Sun, Aparna Rao, Z. Jason Qian, Matthew T. Brigger, Soma Kumar, Virginia Floco, Elizabeth E. LaSalle, Kimberly Morris, Lisa Horvay, and Tzyynong L. Friesen. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 209 (August): 112990.

Urology

Insulin-like Growth Factor Signaling Promotes Corneal Myofibroblast Survival and Sustains Corneal Fibrosis. Hwang, Yunjeong, Kyung-No Son, Manoj Chaudhary, Eunbee Lee, Minhyung Kim, Sungyong You, Terry J. Smith, Vinay Kumar Aakalu, and Kyu-Yeon Han. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 27 (16): 7320.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Danovitch and Murphy can discuss:

• How social media engages the brain and whether compulsive use shares characteristics with substance-related and other addictive disorders
• What research shows about the relationship between social media use and mental health, self-esteem and self-worth
• Why children and adolescents may be more vulnerable than adults to the potential harms of social media
• How performing for a constant online audience can influence identity development during adolescence
• How frequent social media use may affect young people’s ability to sustain attention, tolerate boredom and focus on tasks that require deep concentration
• Practical steps parents can take to encourage healthier social media habits and protect young users
   

Media Contact

To schedule an interview with a Cedars-Sinai behavioral health expert, contact Kristin Reynolds at marykristin.reynolds@cshs.org or 424-241-8108.

Cedars-Sinai in the News

Doctor and Survivor Discuss how CPR Saved the Dancer’s Life After Cardiac Arrest | CBS News LA
Laura Dichiacchio, MD, PhD 

Q&A: Expert Consensus Pathway Outlines ‘Explosion of Therapies’ now Available for HFpEF | Healio Cardiology Today
Michelle Kittleson, MD, PhD 

Beta-Blockers for Anxiety: What Older Adults Should Know | AARP
Nathalie Murphy, MD 

HCM Care Is Evolving Thanks to Better Data, New Treatments | Cardiovascular Business
Florian Rader, MD 

The Impact of AI on Clinical Practice and Care—Insights From Dr. Melissa Wong | Clinical Pain Advisor
Melissa Wong, MD 

Shigella Growing ‘More Resistant’ to Antibiotics as Adult Men Shoulder Burden of New Cases | Healio Gastroenterology Today
Ali Rezaie, MD  

Patient Warning: Bariatric Surgery Can Get Them Drunk Faster | Medscape
Albert Abayev, RD 

New Research Explores the Earliest Stages of Coronary Plaque Inflammation | Cardiovascular Business
Sarah Parker, PhD 

Mass Spec Roundup: Protein Landscapes and Adaptive Analysis | The Analytical Scientist
Katlin Silm, PhD 

AI-Powered Opportunistic Screening Could Help Find Patients With Undetected Aortic Stenosis | Cardiovascular Business
Ofir Koren, MD

Faculty Publications

Biomedical Sciences

Assessment of Coronary Plaque Burden Using Non-Contrast T1-Weighted Cardiovascular MR: Comparison With Coronary CT Angiography. Pedersen, Alexandra Amalie Uglebjerg, Gregory Wood, Andreas Kabel, Damini Dey, Erik Thorlund Parner, Jesper Møller Jensen, Martin Bødtker Mortensen, Karl P. Kunze, Claudia Prieto, René M. Botnar, Bjarne Linde Nørgaard, and Won Yong Kim. Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, August, 102788.

Retrieval-Augmented Claude Opus 4.7 and GPT-5.5 Surpass Human Performance on the Nuclear Cardiology Board Preparation Exam (and Claude Drafts a Paper About It). Killekar, Aditya, Aakash Shanbhag, Robert J. H. Miller, Damini Dey, Paul B. Kavanagh, Jamieson M. Bourque, Lawrence M. Phillips, Panithaya Chareonthaitawee, and Piotr J. Slomka. Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, August, 102946.

South Asian Cardiovascular Risk: Role of Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring and Computed Tomography Angiography. Kalra, Dinesh K., Deepak Vedamurthy, Nisha Hosadurg, Abhinav Goyal, Milan Gupta, Neha Pagidipati, Leandro Slipczuk, Damini Dey, Anurag Mehta, Parag Joshi, Lohendran Baskaran, Nathan Wong, and Salim S. Virani. JACC. Asia 6 (8 Pt 2): 1657–77.

Cardiac Surgery

Outcomes After Lung Retransplantation for Restrictive Allograft Syndrome Have Not Improved Over 2 Decades. Krishna, Vikram, Allen A. Razavi, Brian Lim, Zachary Brennan, Qiudong Chen, Laura DiChiacchio, Dominick Megna, Joanna Chikwe, Michael E. Bowdish, and Pedro Catarino. JTCVS Open 32 (August): 101862.

Cardiology

A National Institute on Aging Workshop on Sex Differences in Health Across the Lifespan. Pea, Jeffrey, Siobhan Addie, Fabrisia Ambrosio, Rozalyn M. Anderson, C. Noel Bairey Merz, Elizabeth Barr, Stacy Carrington-Lawrence, Rafael de Cabo, Patrice Desvigne-Nickens, Dena B. Dubal, Chelsea Haakenson, Passley Hargove-Grimes, Emily G. Jacobs, Mihoko Kai, Maja Maric, Sunila G. Nair, Kristy Nicks, Jennifer L. Pluznick, Kimberlee Potter, Mercy R. Prabhudas, Marta Rodriguez-Garcia, Michael B. Stout, Barbara E. Stranger, Susan Taymans, Dan Theodorescu, John P. Williams, Fei Wang, Xin Yuan, Viviana I. Perez, and Francesca E. Duncan. Nature Aging, August.

Bone Mineral Density in Women With Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhea Compared to Eumenorrheic Controls and Recently Menopausal Women. Safwan, Nancy, Regina Castaneda, Erin R. Uddenberg, Maria D. Hurtado Andrade, Jenna Maughan, Mariam Saadedine, Stephanie S. Faubion, Sarah L. Berga, Margareta D. Pisarska, C. Noel Bairey Merz, and Chrisandra L. Shufelt. Frontiers in Endocrinology 17: 1897514.

Game-Changers: Using Simulation Gaming to Strengthen Charge Nurse Leadership Development. Rodriguez, Krystal, Lucía Floríndez-Cox, Byunghyun Kim, Marisela Rosales, and Margo Minissian. Nurse Leader 0 (0).

Is Menopause a Driver of Cardiovascular Disease? Bairey Merz, C. Noel. Circulation. Population Health and Outcomes, August, e013944.

Pharmacokinetics of Oral Bromocriptine in Postpartum Patients. Sinkey, Rachel, Yuanfan Ye, Kevin J. Ryan, Jeff M. Szychowski, Natalie A. Bello, Karen Sliwa, Edward P. Acosta, and Alan Tn Tita. Pregnancy 2 (1): e70199.

Physics-Informed Reconstruction of Transmural Myocardial Deformation From 3D Echocardiography: Validation Against Cardiac MRI. Pradhan, Satya Prakash, Arash Yavari, Issac D. Lindley, Nader Binesh, Yuri P. Matusov, Kambiz Ghafourian, Gianni Pedrizzetti, and Arash Kheradvar. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, August.

Prophylactic Implantation of Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator for the Primary Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death After Myocardial Infarction: Protocol for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials. Amarasekera, Anjalee Thanuja, Anoja W. Gunaratne, Joshua G. Kovoor, Aravinda Thiagalingam, Clara Chow, Sarah Zaman, Gopal Sivagangabalan, Matthew Kuang Yu Tung, Martin Stiles, Ian Crozier, Keng Tat Koh, Christian Sticherling, Tobias Reichlin, Jerzy Krzysztof Wranicz, Dimitrios Avramides, Konstantinos Tsioufis, Oliver Ritter, Kerstin Bode, Oholi Tovia-Brodie, Karin Chia, Robert E. Park, Karin Nentwich, Yoav Michowitz, Martin Svetlosak, Robert Hatala, Markus Zabel, Vivien Klaudia Nagy, Béla Merkely, Andrew Taylor, Laurent Billot, Pramesh Kovoor, and PROTECT-ICD Study Investigators. BMJ Open 16 (8): e107134.

Short-Interval Coronary Plaque Remodeling Assessed by Serial AI-Quantified Coronary CTA During Intensive Plaque-Directed Therapy. Karlsberg, Ronald P., Abhinav R. Thummala, Francisco X. Elisarraras, Ilana S. Golub, and Geoffrey W. Cho. Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, August, S1934-5925(26)00427-2.

The Opportunities and Challenges in AI Opportunistic Disease Detection in General Populations. Sahashi, Yuki, Jacob Mishell, and David Ouyang. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 88 (7): 765–67.

What Makes a Meta-Analysis Believable? Lee, Matthew M. Y., Sanjay Kaul, Harlan M. Krumholz, Stuart J. Pocock, Carolyn S. P. Lam, and Faiez Zannad. Lancet, August, S0140-6736(26)01087-1.

Computational Biomedicine

Characterizing Primary Care in Breast Cancer Survivors After Completion of Cancer Therapy. Kay, Kendall, Yancen Pan, Jessica Li, Lan Zhang, Vanessa N. Torres, Yelba Castellon-Lopez, Meng-Han Tsai, Geetanjali D. Datta, Jennifer Henry, and Cody Ramin. Cancer Causes & Control: CCC 37 (9): 146.

Emergency Medicine

Time to Inpatient Management for Boarding Emergency Department Patients. Janke, Alexander T., Adrian D. Haimovich, Meaghan Cussen, Christopher M. Fung, Margaret E. Samuels-Kalow, DaMarcus E. Baymon, Yosef Berlyand, Laura G. Burke, Brian W. Patterson, Daniel J. Hekman, Martin S. Copenhaver, Joshua D. Niforatos, Amber K. Sabbatini, M. Kennedy Hall, Ula Hwang, Natalia Sifnugel, Rohit B. Sangal, Arjun K. Venkatesh, George Glass, Richard Andrew Taylor, Rachel M. Skains, Russell L. Griffin, Peter S. Antkowiak, Seth Gemme, Michael Gottlieb, Eric Moyer, Carl T. Berdahl, Sam S. Torbati, Larry A. Nathanson, Evan L. Leventhal, Molly M. Jeffery, Brendan M. Carr, Tehreem Rehman, Samuel E. Sondheim, Kenneth M. Lee, Theodore J. Iwashyna, and Ari B. Friedman. JAMA, August, e2613302.

Medicine

A Deep Learning Approach for Noise Suppression in Cardiac-Gated SPECT Studies. Zhang, Xirang, Yongyi Yang, Jovan G. Brankov, Janusz K. Kikut, Piotr J. Slomka, and Michael A. King. Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, August, 102944.

Cryptogenic Steatotic Liver Disease Reveals Hidden Liver Risk in Metabolically Silent Lean Individuals. Danpanichkul, Pojsakorn, and Ju Dong Yang. Gut, August, gutjnl-2026-339978.

Diagnostic Performance of the Nine-Item ARFID Screen in Patients With Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction. Wang, Yingxin, Adeline Answine, Michigan Medicine ARFID Working Group, William D. Chey, Jessica P. Naftaly, Allen Lee, and Prashant Singh. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, August, S1542-3565(26)00592-6.

Endpoint Discordance in IBS-C: Bloating as a Partially Uncaptured Therapeutic Signal. Busam, Jonathan A., and Mark Pimentel. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, August, S1542-3565(26)00591-4.

Primary Care Referrals and Abdominal Imaging in People With New-Onset Diabetes and Weight Loss: Cohort Study Using the English National Sentinel Network Database. Lemanska, Agnieszka, Hugh Claridge, Claire A. Price, Jessica Abell, Eithne Costello, Georgina Evans-Lilley, Stephen Pandol, Poppy Richards, Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, and Simon de Lusignan. BMJ Open 16 (8): e119662.

Protocol for the CLOCKS Study: A 4-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the Independent and Combined Effects of 2 Chronotherapies-Early Time-Restricted Eating and Daytime Bright Light Therapy-in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes. Steger, Felicia L., Sarah-Jeanne Salvy, T. Brooks Vaughan, Catherine Lowry, Joshua S. Richman, Karen L. Gamble, W. Timothy Garvey, Frank A. J. L. Scheer, and Courtney M. Peterson. Nutrition Research 153 (July): 142–59.

Safety and Efficacy of Intratumoral MEDI1191, an IL-12 mRNA Lipid Nanoparticle, Plus Intravenous Durvalumab in Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors: A First-in-Human Study. Carneiro, Benedito A., Thomas Marron, Dmitriy Zamarin, Eduardo Castañón, Sandip Pravin Patel, Vivek Subbiah, Inderjit Mehmi, Anthony El-Khoueiry, Arjun Oberoi, Michael Abadier, Emily C. Jennings, Vincent Dubois, Zhongying Chen, Xiaoru Chen, Nairouz Elgeioushi, Nicholas M. Durham, Benjamin Ridgway, Paula G. Fraenkel, Analia Azaro, and Omid Hamid. Clinical Cancer Research, August.

September 2026 Issue First Authors. Akinsola, Rasaq, Sofia Nasini, Hanyuan Zheng, and Andrea Villatore. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, August, S0165-6147(26)00200-2.

The Role of Glucagon-like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonists in the Management of Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Beniwal-Patel, Poonam, Sami Samaan, Maria T. Abreu, Parakkal Deepak, and Andres J. Yarur. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, August, izag151.

Neurology

Generative Artificial Intelligence in Manuscript Writing and Peer Review for the Journal of Neuroimmunology. Wu, Gregory F., Robyn S. Klein, Ashutosh K. Mangalam, Kristen E. Funk, Hanane Touil, Qiang Liu, Ralf Gold, and Laura Piccio. Journal of Neuroimmunology, July, 579042.

Neurosurgery

Neural Dynamics Underlying Minute-Timescale Persistent Behaviour in the Human Brain. Courellis, Hristos S., Michael Kyzar, Juri Minxha, Araceli R. Cardenas, Taufik A. Valiante, Adam N. Mamelak, Ralph Adolphs, and Ueli Rutishauser. Nature Human Behaviour, August.

OBGYN

Cost-Effectiveness of Implementing a Multidisciplinary Team Approach in the Management of Placenta Accreta Spectrum. Luu, Binh T., Megha Arora, Ava D. Mandelbaum, Andrew H. Chon, Tania F. Esakoff, Deirdre J. Lyell, and Aaron B. Caughey. Pregnancy 2 (4): e70323.

Hypertension-Related Morbidity After Delivery Discharge: A Comparison of Nifedipine Versus Labetalol. Fabricant, Sonya, Matthew Cervantes, Glenda Marshall, Natalie Bello, Emily Seet, Sarah Kilpatrick, and Mariam Naqvi. Pregnancy 2 (4): e70357.

Impact of a Substance Use Screening Program on Racial Disparities in Urine Toxicology Testing. Naqvi, Mariam, Amin Tavakoli, Camelita S. Thrift, Allison Henry, Jennifer Astasio, Farnaaz Kia, Naomi Greene, and Sarah J. Kilpatrick. Pregnancy 2 (2): e70247.

Interdisciplinary Management of a Viable Term Abdominal Ectopic Pregnancy. Hayer, Sarena, Natasha Q. McGlaun, Katerina A. Furman, Michael R. Manuel, Gouri B. Sadananda, Daniel Manzoor, Swati Bhardwaj, Tanu Patel, Sara Dayanim, and John A. Ozimek. Pregnancy 2 (4): e70336.

Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS)/Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): Current and Future Trends. Chan, Jessica L., Irene Masini, and Margareta D. Pisarska. The Journal of Clinical Investigation 136 (12): e202824.

Uterine Weight and Postoperative Outcomes by Surgical Route in Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy. Yagur, Yael, Kacey M. Hamilton, Ogechukwu Ezike, Maya Shats, Connie Liao, Katharine Ciesielski, Rebecca Schneyer, Yair Daykan, Gabriel Levin, Matthew T. Siedhoff, Kelly N. Wright, and Raanan Meyer. Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology, August, S1553-4650(26)00442-5.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Administration of Preoperative Cryoneurolysis Is Associated With Continued and Persistent Opioid Reduction and Improved Outcomes in Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty. Ng, Mitchell K., Jennifer H. Lin, Andrew I. Spitzer, Vinod Dasa, Adam Rivadeneyra, David Rogenmoser, Andrew L. Concoff, Paul G. Mastrokostas, Mary DiGiorgi, Joshua Urban, William M. Mihalko, and Michael A. Mont. The Journal of Arthroplasty, August, S0883-5403(26)00871-5.

Age-Related Differences in Radiologic and Clinical Presentation of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Foot Deformity: Insights From WBCT and PROMIS Analysis. Song, Jae Hwang, Max P. Michalski, Giselle Moriah Porter, Andy Tong, and Glenn B. Pfeffer. Foot and Ankle Surgery, August, S1268-7731(26)00212-2.

Injectable Thermoresponsive Microgels Encapsulate and Precondition Nucleus Pulposus Cells for Intervertebral Disc Regeneration. Jiang, Wensen, Namdev More, Melissa Chavez, Jacob T. Wechsler, Sarah Mohyeddinipour, Tiffany Lee, Wei Huang, Giselle Kaneda, Lei Mou, Thomas Spaeter, Julia Sheyn, Changlu Xu, Victoria Yu, Chloe Castaneda, Ethan Ha, Wafa Tawackoli, Linda Ea Kanim, Oksana Shelest, Hyun W. Bae, Samad Ahadian, Mehmet R. Dokmeci, Ali Khademhosseini, Dror Seliktar, and Dmitriy Sheyn. ACS Applied Bio Materials 9 (16): 7398–7408.

Quantifying Influence: The Orthopaedic PAC’s Impact Explored Through Analysis of FEC Data. Nadarajah, Vidushan, Miranda Barnes, Jonathan Belding, Basilia O. Nwankwo, Susan E. Stephens, A. Bobby Chhabra, and Matthew J. Deasey. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global Research & Reviews 10 (8): e26.00257.

Representation of Hispanic and Latino Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees and Attendings in the United States: A Demographical Analysis. Brito, Emmanuel, Nathan Sherman, and Guy Paiement. JB & JS Open Access 11 (3): e25.00349.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Fatal Outcome of Widespread Cranial Basal Cell Carcinoma Due to Intraparenchymal Brain Extension in a Setting of Local Recurrences. Gant, Tayler, Serguei Bannykh, and David Frishberg. Cureus 18 (7): e112885.

Longitudinal Associations Between Albuminuria and Renal Function and Annual Brain Volume Changes: The Ohasama Study. Nakayama, Shingo, Michihiro Satoh, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Ayana Saito, Hiroki Nobayashi, Megumi Tsubota-Utsugi, Yukako Tatsumi, Takahisa Murakami, Takahito Yagihashi, Maya Toyama, Takuo Hirose, Azusa Hara, Takefumi Mori, Kei Asayama, Naoko Mori, Masahiro Kikuya, Kyoko Nomura, Hirohito Metoki, and Takayoshi Ohkubo. Clinical and Experimental Nephrology, August.

Scalable, Modular Whole-Slide Imaging Pipelines for Low-Resource Settings: A Practical Framework and Open Notebook Implementation. Githuka, Alfred, Ulysses G. J. Balis, Ye Chan Kim, Eileen M. Weinheimer-Haus, Christopher L. Williams, Jerome I. Cheng, Kelou Yao, John Blau, Jessica A. Baker, Priscilla Njenga, Winny Chepkemoi, Robert K. Parker, Akbar K. Waljee, Shahin Sayed, and Mansoor N. Saleh. Journal of Pathology Informatics 22 (August): 100692.

Pediatrics

Cancer Control After Pausing Treatment With Larotrectinib in Responding Children With Sarcoma and a TRK Fusion: A Plain Language Summary. Mascarenhas, Leo, Christopher Ollis, Yuvraj Singh, Linet Menachery, Domnita-Ileana Burcoveanu, Esther De La Cuesta, Cornelis M. van Tilburg, and Theodore W. Laetsch. Future Oncology, August, 1–10.

Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA in Stable Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients: Influence of Donor Obesity and Recipient Size. Steinke, Julia, Lyndsay Harshman, Kelly Kirshner, Arundhati Kale, Erica Winnicki, Daniel Ranch, Jayanthi Chandar, Helen Pizzo, Arshdeep Kaur, Paul Hanson, Zunqiu Chen, Ling Shen, and Dechu Puliyanda. Pediatric Transplantation 30 (8): e70416.

Radiation Oncology

Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy vs Moderately Hypofractionated IMRT for Localized Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Ellis, Rodney J., Stephanie L. Pugh, James B. Yu, Felix Y. Feng, Andre A. Konski, Robert L. Grubb, Robert E. Wallace, David J. Gladstone, Cynthia Ménard, Joseph A. Miccio, Arthur J. Frazier, J. Daniel Pennington, Jeff M. Michalski, Daniel E. Spratt, Alvaro Martinez, Scott C. Morgan, Alina Mihai, Abhishek Ashok Solanki, Asim Amjad, Michael W. Straza, Guila Delouya, Thomas M. Schroeder, David T. Marshall, Nirav Kapadia, Akshar N. Patel, Terrence P. Cescon, Ali El-Gayed, Harold A. Yoon, Rebecca Paulus, Howard M. Sandler, and NRG-GU005 Collaborative Authors. JAMA, August, e2612627.

Surgery

Clustering and Predicting VCA Patient Populations - a Machine Learning Approach Into Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation. Knoedler, Leonard, Tobias Niederegger, Thomas Schaschinger, Carsten Stahl, Jule Brandt, Curtis L. Cetrulo, Max Heiland, Gabriel Hundeshagen, Jan O. Voss, and Alexandre G. Lellouch. Frontiers in Immunology 17 (August).

Comparative Clinical Effectiveness and Operating Efficiency of Different Ultrasonic Devices for Performance of Sleeve Gastrectomy. Monali, Misra, I.-Wen Pan, Zasim Azar Siddqui, Frank Bisceglie, and Matthew Kroh. Obesity Surgery, August.

Development of Cecal Volvulus After Redo Pancreas Transplantation. Voidonikolas, Georgios, Nicolas Melo, Steven A. Wisel, Justin A. Steggerda, Manaf Alsudaney, Tsuyoshi Todo, Irene K. Kim, and Todd V. Brennan. Journal of Surgical Case Reports 2026 (8): rjag703.

Early vs Late Surgical Intervention for Morel-Lavallée Injuries: A Pacific Coast Surgical Association Prospective Multicenter Study. Smith, Maren B., Areg Grigorian, Jarrett E. Santorelli, Joshua C. Dilday, Daniel J. Stephens, Karen G. Minoza, Walter L. Biffl, Raul Coimbra, Areti Tillou, Jeffry Nahmias, and Morel Lavallée Study Group. Journal of the American College of Surgeons 243 (3): 651–59.

Facial Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation: Mapping Global Research Trends and Scientific Impact. Alves, André S., Tobias Niederegger, Leonard Knoedler, Curtis L. Cetrulo, and Alexandre G. Lellouch. JPRAS Open 0 (0).

Performance of Large Language Models in Answering Otolaryngology Clinical Questions in Non-English Languages. Oh, Eugene, Arthur W. Wu, Laura Garcia-Rodriguez, Zhen-Xiao Huang, Wei-Chung Hsu, Jeongkyou Kim, Young Chul Kim, Yi-Tsen Lin, Hae Chan Park, Hector Andres Perez, Juan San Juan, Gene Liu, Matthew Lee, and Dennis M. Tang. World Journal of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, August.

Survival and Outcomes After Nonoperative Management of Operable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Rocco, Raffaele, Ralf Martz Sulague, Vikram Krishna, Clark B. Fuller, Philicia Moonsamy, Andrew R. Brownlee, and Harmik J. Soukiasian. JTCVS Open 32 (August): 101920.

The Regenerative Potential of GHK-Cu in Aesthetic Medicine. Mokhtar, Jonathan, Basel Mohamad, Jewel Haddad, Alma Said, Arya Menon, Lucas Kreutz-Rodrigues, Krishna S. Vyas, Curtis L. Cetrulo, and Alexandre G. Lellouch. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, August, sjag169.

The Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System Versus Deep Plane Facelift Debate in the Instagram and TikTok Era. Lu, Richard, and Babak Azizzadeh. Facial Plastic Surgery & Aesthetic Medicine, August, 26893614261479874.

Urology

Evaluation of AI Chatbot Responses to Pediatric Urology Frequently Asked Questions. Mazhari, Najva, Andrew Freedman, Nadine Friedrich, Timothy Daskivich, and Paul Kokorowski. Urology, August, S0090-4295(26)00517-0.

Prospective Multicenter Validation of a Urine-Based Multiplex Assay for Risk Stratification of Patients Presenting With Gross Hematuria. Lotan, Yair, Amit Gupta, Makito Miyake, Satoshi Anai, Michael Luu, Michael Ahdoot, Edward Messing, Garry Peers, Arnold I. Chin, Menghan Liu, Sergei Tikhonekov, Toru Sakatani, Takuto Shimizu, Ian Pagano, Yingye Zheng, Zhen Zhang, Howard Kim, David Josephson, Hideki Furuya, and Charles J. Rosser. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, August, djag282.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

The promotions of Jennifer Blaha, MBA; Clare Lee, MBA; Lisa Maqueira; and Alen Voskanian, MD, MBA, represent an intentional investment in leadership capacity to meet Cedars-Sinai’s core mission of delivering the highest-quality care to patients in Los Angeles and beyond.

“These four leaders exemplify the operational excellence and strategic acumen required to deliver on our care vision,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Health System. “Collectively, these promotions expand the portfolio of responsibilities held by leaders who have shown, time and again, that operational excellence and exceptional patient care are complementary priorities.”

Blaha, senior vice president of Surgical Services, joined Cedars-Sinai 17 years ago from GE Healthcare, where she served as a senior consultant, and has since risen through senior operational roles across the institution before being named vice president of Operations in 2018.

In her new role, she will oversee the service lines of Neurosurgery, Neurology, Orthopaedics, Surgery, Transplant and Urology, along with Peri-Procedural Services, including Anesthesia and OR Operations.

Blaha has built a strong record of improving clinical quality, patient satisfaction and operational efficiency across the surgical service lines she now leads. She was one of 22 healthcare leaders selected nationally for the Carol Emmott Fellowship, a competitive program advancing women in healthcare leadership.

Lee, senior vice president of Medical Services, brings 34 years of healthcare experience, including 21 years at the executive level, to her new role. She joined Cedars-Sinai in 2018 as vice president of Operations. Prior to Cedars-Sinai, Lee was chief operating officer at Dignity Health Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento and vice president of Operations at Houston Methodist.

In her new role, she will oversee the service lines of Medicine, OB/GYN, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, along with Imaging, Lab and Pathology, and Emergency Services. Over her career, she has transformed clinical operations within the service lines under her purview, cultivating strong leaders and driving significant improvements across clinical and operational areas.

Maqueira, senior vice president of Finance and chief revenue cycle officer, joined Cedars-Sinai in 2011 as director of Professional Billing and Revenue Cycle Services, leading the transformation of professional billing operations. She was promoted to vice president of Revenue Cycle and Managed Care Operations in 2016, taking on expanded responsibility for managed care operations and contracting, professional compliance, government incentives, and centralized scheduling for Cedars-Sinai Medical Network.

Maqueira was named vice president of Finance and chief revenue cycle officer in 2022, leading the organization’s integrated revenue cycle strategy across hospitals and physician networks. With 33 years of revenue cycle experience, she has consistently delivered stronger collections, improved charge capture and greater operational efficiency. In her new role, she is accountable for setting and executing a strategic vision to advance exceptional patient and provider experience while strengthening financial performance.

Voskanian, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Ambulatory Clinics, joined Cedars-Sinai in 2018 from VITAS Healthcare, where he was regional medical director. He served as medical director of Cedars-Sinai Medical Group and later as vice president and chief operating officer of Cedars-Sinai Medical Network.

A practicing physician who continues to care for patients, Voskanian has helped lead ambulatory strategy and the growth and integration of specialty practices, contributing to substantial growth in weekly patient volumes during his tenure as chief operating officer. Working closely with clinical and administrative leaders, he has also advanced a dyad leadership model that strengthens collaboration, improves operational performance and supports physicians and staff in delivering high-quality care.

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights: New Cedars-Sinai CEO Shares Vision for Growth and Priorities

Cedars-Sinai in the News

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Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS 

Los Angeles Schools Limit Classroom Screen Time Amid Concerns About Child Development | Consumer Affairs
Jane Tavyev Asher, MD 

How Will the Commanders Replace Laremy Tunsil—and Could He Return This Season? | The New York Times
Brian Lee, MD 

Warning Symptoms, Clinical History Can Predict Sudden Cardiac Arrest | HealthDay
Sumeet Chugh, MD 

Inconclusive BRCA Results Linked to Higher Breast Cancer Risk | Medscape
Fahima Dossa, MD, PhD

How Urinary Tract Infections Trigger Delirium in People With Dementia | Being Patient
Shouri Lahiri, MD

Faculty Publications

Biomedical Sciences

Let Distortion-Guided Restoration: A Physics-Informed Learning Framework to Correct Prostate Diffusion MRI Artifacts. Long, Ziyang, Nader Binesh, Lixia Wang, Archana Vadiraj Malaji, Chia-Chi Yang, Haoran Sun, Rola Saouaf, Timothy Daskivich, Hyung Kim, Yibin Xie, Debiao Li, and Hsin-Jung Yang. Radiology Advances 3 (4): umag031.

Metabolic Reprogramming of Brain Microglia: Implications for Aging and Aging-Associated Neurodegenerative Diseases. Kang, Seokjo, and Helen S. Goodridge. Aging Cell 25 (8): e70660.

Nepal’s Vulnerability to Nipah Virus Transmission: An Urgent Call for Preparedness. Lama, Bhupendra, Uday Narayan Yadav, Gopiram Syangtan, Alaka Bhandari, Binod Gc, Mukesh Rai, Martyn D. Kirk, and Binod Rayamajhee. Sustainable Microbiology 3 (2): qvag015.

Cardiac Surgery

A New Era for the Surgical Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation: Evolving Surgical Techniques and Clinical Considerations. Kiankhooy, Armin, Adam Eqbal, Richard P. Whitlock, T. Jared Bunch, Ali J. Khiabani, Ralph J. Damiano, Graham Peigh, Rod S. Passman, Patrick M. McCarthy, J. Hunter Mehaffey, and Arnar Ingason. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, August, S0003-4975(26)00817-9.

Baseline Lung Allograft Dysfunction: Definition, Timing, and Implications for Outcomes-an ISHLT Consensus Document. Gottlieb, Jens, Tereza Martinu, Merel Hellemons, David R. Darley, Laurie Snyder, Laura DiChiacchio, Miranda Paraskeva, Christian Benden, Berta Saez-Gimenez, Anoop Mohandas, Letizia Corinna Morlacchi, Joshua M. Diamond, Saskia Bos, Erika D. Lease, Geert Verleden, Allan Glanville, and Kieran Halloran. The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, June, S1053-2498(26)01945-5.

Donor Diabetes Status Impacts Long-Term Survival in Diabetic Heart Transplant Recipients. Lim, Brian, Allen A. Razavi, Aminah Sallam, Vikram Krishna, Federico Sertic, Dominic Emerson, Dominick Megna, Pedro Catarino, Michael E. Bowdish, Lawrence Czer, Jon Kobashigawa, Fardad Esmailian, Joanna Chikwe, and Laura DiChiacchio. JHLT Open 14 (November): 100631.

Cardiology

Aspirin-Free P2Y12 Inhibitor Monotherapy Post-Stenting in Acute Coronary Syndromes. Kaul, Sanjay, and James M. Brophy. European Heart Journal, August, ehag620.

Dual Inhibition of SGLT 1 and 2 by Sotagliflozin Alleviates Intracellular Sodium Overload and Improves Cardiometabolic Remodelling in Uraemic Cardiomyopathy. Young, Megan, Anja Karlstaedt, Sanushi Dambure, Jack J. J. J. Miller, Tong Guo, Xin Zhou, Zenouska Ramchunder, Jair Gonzalez Marques Junior, Muriel Nobles, Andrew Tinker, Kyuongmin Kim, Amanda R. Purcell, Sarah J. Glastras, Fenn Cullen, Thomas R. Eykyn, Alex Von Kriegsheim, Blanca Rodriguez, Michelangelo Campanella, Michael J. Shattock, Nay Aung, Claudia P. Cabrera, Magdi M. Yaqoob, and Dunja Aksentijevic. Cardiovascular Research, August, cvag167.

Prediction of Left Main Coronary Artery Disease by ECG Exercise Stress Testing: Ready for Clinical Implementation? Bairey Merz, C. Noel. European Heart Journal, August, ehag605.

Predictors of Target Lesion Failure in Patients With In-Stent Restenosis: Insights From the AGENT IDE Trial. Abbott, J. Dawn, Nicholas Kassis, Azeem Latib, Richard A. Shlofmitz, Jeffrey W. Moses, William B. Bachinsky, Suhail Dohad, Steven G. Rudick, Robert C. Stoler, Brian K. Jefferson, William J. Nicholson, John D. Altman, Cinthia T. Bateman, Amar Krishnaswamy, Rafael Cavalcante, Robert W. Yeh, and Ajay J. Kirtane. Circulation. Cardiovascular Interventions, August, e016289.

The Current and Future in Transcatheter Treatment of Aortic Stenosis: From the ‘Beyond the Guidelines’ Session at Cardiovascular Research Technologies. Ha, Edward T., Holger Thiele, Michael Joner, Howard C. Herrmann, Hasanian A. Jilaihawi, Gilbert H. L. Tang, Isaac George, Thomas E. MacGillivray, and Ron Waksman. Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine: Including Molecular Interventions, July, S1553-8389(26)00326-X.

Computational Biomedicine

Impact of Surveillance Colonoscopy on Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality in Lynch Syndrome: A National Observational Cohort Study of Patients in the English NHS 2010-2022. Huntley, Catherine, Lucy Loong, Corinne Mallinson, Tameera Rahman, Beth Torr, Sophie Allen, Isaac Allen, Hend Hassan, Yvonne Walburga Joko Fru, Daniela Tataru, Lizz Paley, Sally Vernon, Richard S. Houlston, David Muller, Fiona Lalloo, Adam C. Shaw, John Burn, Eva J. A. Morris, Marc Tischkowitz, Antonis C. Antoniou, Paul D. P. Pharoah, Kevin Monahan, Steven Hardy, and Clare Turnbull. Gut, August, gutjnl-2025-337379.

Emergency Medicine

Conversational Artificial Intelligence and Neuropsychiatric Risk: A Narrative Review and Case-Based Synthesis Proposing a Delusional Feedback Loop. Abesadze, Nino, Abigale Fernandes, and Elizabeth Rubin. Cureus 18 (7): e112306.

Small Doses, Big Problems: Antidote Shortages. Laub, Daniel Ascher, Maryann Mazer-Amirshahi, Michelle Burns, and Erin R. Fox. The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics: JPPT, 31 (4): 574–76.

Imaging

Coronary Plaque Phenotype in Ischemic Stroke Survivors: A Quantitative Coronary CT Angiography Comparison With Acute Myocardial Infarction and Stable Chest Pain. Muthalaly, Rahul G., Julian Giovannucci, Andrew Lin, Sean Tan, Nitesh Nerlekar, Adam J. Nelson, Damini Dey, Thanh Phan, Henry Ma, and Stephen J. Nicholls. Radiology. Cardiothoracic Imaging 8 (4): e260039.

Medicine

Association Between Diabetic Control and Progression of Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance to Multiple Myeloma. Liu, Lawrence, Byron Sigel, Mei Wang, Nikhil Grandhi, Martin W. Schoen, Kristen M. Sanfilippo, Kenneth R. Carson, Murali Janakiram, Tzeyu L. Michaud, Graham A. Colditz, Theodore S. Thomas, and Su-Hsin Chang. Blood Cancer Journal 16 (1): 135.

Association of High Birth Weight With Risk of Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer. Mukherjee, Amrita, Lanfang Xu, Darios Getahun, Jessica Chubak, Jane C. Figueiredo, Kimberly L. Cannavale, Alec D. Gilfillan, Bechien U. Wu, and Chun R. Chao. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention: A Publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, Cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology, August.

Belzutifan Plus Lenvatinib Versus Cabozantinib in Patients With Previously Treated Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma (LITESPARK-011): An Open-Label, Randomized, Controlled, Phase 3 Trial. Motzer, Robert J., Ray McDermott, Se Hoon Park, Mauricio Burotto, Roberto Iacovelli, Elena Verzoni, Cristina Suárez, Masatoshi Eto, Hernan J. Cutuli, Camillo Porta, Ray Manneh Kopp, Sylvie Rottey, Guillermo de Velasco, Begoña P. Valderrama, Arun A. Azad, Ugo De Giorgi, Michel Pavic, Piotr Tomczak, Robert Figlin, Hans M. Westgeest, Annalisa Guida, Andrea Necchi, Fabio A. Schutz, Britt B. M. Suelmann, John B. A. G. Haanen, Sammy Shuai Yuan, Rodolfo F. Perini, Ding Wang, Daniel Y. C. Heng, Manuela Schmidinger, and LITESPARK-011 Investigators. Lancet, August, S0140-6736(26)01089-5.

Beyond Calprotectin: Where Leucine-Rich Α2-Glycoprotein May Fit in Small Bowel Crohn Disease Monitoring. Anand, Rajsavi, and Andres J. Yarur. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, August, izag165.

Early Consideration of Automated Insulin Delivery in Type 2 Diabetes: A Critical Review. Tariq, Zunera, Grazia Aleppo, Anders L. Carlson, David Kayne, Davida F. Kruger, Yogish C. Kudva, Eden Miller, Katelyn O’Brien, Sean M. Oser, Ruth S. Weinstock, and Viral N. Shah. Endocrine Practice, August, S1530-891X(26)01105-5.

Fstl1 Determines Luminal Size of Mouse Trachea Through Negative Regulation of BMP4 Signaling. Jin, Yueyue, Yue Zhang, Yingying Liu, Maolin Yao, Chenjie Zhang, Shuzi Li, Yibo Ding, Zhuan Niu, Yue Han, Yan Geng, Lian Li, Xue Liu, and Wen Ning. iScience 29 (8): 116972.

Liver Transplantation at the Extreme: Analysis of Outcomes and Predictors of Futility in Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure Grade 3 Patients on Maximal Life Support. Melehy, Andrew, Asara Thepbunchonchai, Benjamin V. Tran, Ruben Hernaez, Dominic Amara, Samer Ebaid, Daniela Markovic, Fady M. Kaldas, Igor Barjaktarevic, Victor Xia, Constantine J. Karvellas, Saro Khemichian, Lance L. Stein, Kirti Shetty, Christina C. Lindenmeyer, Justin R. Boike, Douglas A. Simonetto, Robert S. Rahimi, Prasun K. Jalal, Manhal Izzy, Michael S. Kriss, Gene Y. Im, Ming V. Lin, Janice H. Jou, Brett E. Fortune, George Cholankeril, Alexander Kuo, Vinay Sundaram, Multi-Organ Dysfunction and Evaluation for Liver Transplantation (MODEL) Consortium, Ronald W. Busuttil, Douglas G. Farmer, and Vatche G. Agopian. JHEP Reports: Innovation in Hepatology, August, 101959.

Novel Topical Treatment for Dysgeusia/Ageusia: A Case Series Report. Epstein, Joel B., Arezou Petrie, Geena L. Epstein, and Andrei Barasch. Supportive Care in Cancer, 34 (9): 845.

STAT3 Signaling Inhibitors for Cancer Treatment. Akinsola, Rasaq, Jing Xian, and James Turkson. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, August, S0165-6147(26)00173-2.

Neurosurgery

Cross-Region Neuron Co-Firing Mediated by Ripple Oscillations Supports Distributed Working Memory Representations. Verzhbinsky, Ilya A., Jonathan Daume, Sophia Cheng, Ueli Rutishauser, and Eric Halgren. Nature Neuroscience, August.

Dorsal Spinal CSF Leaks in Patients With Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension: A Radiologic-Anatomic Study. Schievink, Wouter I., Marcel M. Maya, Kim T. Giang, Rachelle B. Taché, Ravi S. Prasad, and Vikram Wadhwa. AJNR. American Journal of Neuroradiology, August, ajnr.A9572.

Inferring Brain-Wide Interactions Using Data-Constrained Recurrent Neural Network Models. Perich, Matthew G., Charlotte Arlt, Sofia Soares, Siyan Zhou, Manuel Beiran, Aaron S. Andalman, Tyler Benster, Megan E. Young, Clayton P. Mosher, Juri Minxha, Eugene Carter, Ueli Rutishauser, Peter H. Rudebeck, Christopher D. Harvey, Karl Deisseroth, and Kanaka Rajan. Neuron, August, S0896-6273(26)00571-4.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Achilles Tendon Injuries in Major League Soccer: A 10-Year Analysis of Injury Rate, Return to Play, and Performance Metrics. Forsythe, Brian, Catherine Hand, Francis Hand, Henry Eilen, Matthew Varano, Jared Sasaki, Camden Bohn, Anne Timmermann, Lauren Fertig, Eric Giza, Robert H. Brophy, Bert Mandelbaum, and Kirk McCullough. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine 14 (8): 23259671261449641.

Smart Implantable Device Use Is Associated With Decreased Post-Discharge Hospital Utilization in Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients Who Have Metabolic Syndrome: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis. Nakla, Andrew, Patrick M. Aubin, Samuel Ademisoye, Rebecca G. Burr, Sean S. Rajaee, and Mark Wu. The Journal of Arthroplasty, August, S0883-5403(26)00843-0.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Reproductive Factors and Brain Volume in Community-Dwelling Individuals: The Ohasama Study. Saito, Ayana, Kyoko Nomura, Michihiro Satoh, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Azusa Hara, Melanie Griffith-Quintyne, Hiroaki Shimizu, Shingo Nakayama, Megumi Tsubota-Utsugi, Takahisa Murakami, Yukako Tatsumi, Takuo Hirose, Tomoko Totsune, Naoko Mori, Kei Asayama, Masahiro Kikuya, Hirohito Metoki, Atsushi Hozawa, and Takayoshi Ohkubo. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine 31: 52.

Unmasking Additional Mutations: A Single Institution Study in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. Tizro, Parastou, Eric Vail, Manoj Sapkota, Matthew G. Gayhart, and Celeste C. Eno. Cancers 18 (15): 2458.

Pediatrics

Alemtuzumab Induction via Intravenous vs. Subcutaneous Administration in Pediatric Kidney Transplantation. Pizzo, H., A. Barbera, K. Westreich, M. E. Seifert, J. Mirocha, K. Kirshner, and D. Puliyanda. Pediatric Transplantation 30 (8): e70424.

Whole Genome Sequencing in Cerebral Palsy: A UK Paediatric Pilot Study. Ratnaike, Thiloka E., Heather H. Pierce, Alison J. Coffey, Joao M. L. Dias, Iain R. L. Kean, Emily Li, Ravi P. More, Dulika S. Sumathipala, Maya Bajracharya, Zoya Kingsbury, Taksina Newington, Anthony S. Rogers, Isabelle Delon, Kate Downes, Yasmin de Alwis, Anna P. Basu, Manal Issa, Catherine Kearney, Amjad H. Khan, Benjamin P. Marlow, Alison Sansome, JooWook Ahn, A. Yee Than, Tracy Lau, David R. Bentley, Sarah Bowdin, Evan Reid, Henry Houlden, Sean Humphray, and David H. Rowitch. The Lancet Regional Health. Europe 68 (September): 101786.

Surgery

‘I Don’t like Fitting a Box, Except the Box I Am’: Genderqueer and Nonbinary (GQNB) Patient Strategies for Navigating Healthcare. Sidhu, Shanaya, Jennifer T. Anger, Victor Trasvina, Falisha Kanji, Kyle Okamuro, Sunny Mangiameli, Alan J. Card, Tara Cohen, Hanna J. Barton, and TRANS-SAFE Author Group. International Journal for Equity in Health 25 (1): 194.

Incidental Mass Found on Screening Colonoscopy. Amedi, Alan, Serhat Suzer, Jesse Zuckerman, and Eiman Firoozmand. Journal of Surgical Case Reports 2026 (8): rjag684.

Prediction of Blunt Trauma Outcomes With Pulmonary Contusion Quantification. Jain, Ashwin, Erik DiGiacomo, Pedro V. Staziaki, Matthew Diamond, Donghoon Shin, Celina L. Duran, Oam Bhate, Myoung Jin Kim, Stephan W. Anderson, Tejal S. Brahmbhatt, and Christina A. LeBedis. Emergency Radiology, August.

Predictive Models for Toxicities after CAR T-Cell Therapy: Challenges and Opportunities. Ma, Julie, August Culbert, Tian-Gen Chang, Mark L. Solter, Eytan Ruppin, Kai Rejeski, and Nirali N. Shah. Blood Cancer Discovery, August, OF1–23.

Reply to: When Guidelines Meet Reality: Implementing the 2025 ATA Recommendations for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in Limited-Resource Settings. Ho, Allen S., Matthew D. Ringel, Julie Ann Sosa, Julie H. Johnson, and Ellen Marqusee. Thyroid, August, 10507256261478396.

Surviving the Nucleus Pulposus Desert: Next-Generation Strategies for Intervertebral Disc Cell Therapy. Hamidouche, Tynhinane, Namdev More, Tiffany Lee, Mia Orr, Anne Camus, Devina Purmessur, Sarah E. Gulbrand, Nadeen O. Chahine, Lara Silverman, and Dmitriy Sheyn. JOR Spine 9 (3): e70207.

The Thyroid Cancer Modified Anxiety Scale (TC-MAX): Development and External Validation of a Thyroid Cancer Distress Instrument. Bastien, Amanda J., Sungjin Kim, Cynthia Zalt, Iris Cong, Jewel Ng, Caroline Marshall, Christopher V. Almario, Omer Liran, Brennan M. R. Spiegel, Jon Mallen-St Clair, Evan S. Walgama, Kevin S. Scher, Julie K. Jang, Yufei Chen, Samuel Zhang, Gary Bloom, Michelle M. Chen, K. Linnea Peterson, Wendy L. Sacks, Zachary S. Zumsteg, and Allen S. Ho. Thyroid, August, 10507256261475819.

Urology

How Low Do You Need to Go? Association Between Various Prostate-Specific Antigen Response Measures and Clinical Outcomes in Metastatic Castration-Sensitive Prostate Cancer in the Veterans Health Administration Data. Freedland, Stephen J., Wei Gao, Maëlys Touya, Hongbo Yang, David Russell, Jingyi Chen, Grace Chen, and Jasmina I. Ivanova. Cancer 132 (16): e70494.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Cedars-Sinai is urging eligible Angelenos to donate blood this month amid a national blood supply crisis. Blood donation expert Armando Romero is available for interviews to discuss the current shortage, why summer is a challenging time for maintaining the blood supply and how donating blood saves lives.  

WHO

Armando Romero, associate director of Transfusion Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, can discuss why blood donations are especially critical this summer, how the donation process works and who is eligible to donate.

WHY

Earlier this summer, the American Red Cross reported a four-year summer low and the second-ever national blood supply crisis. Because students are a significant percentage of the donor base and schools are not in session, summer is traditionally a time when blood donations decline. At the same time, it’s a busy travel season and extreme heat can discourage participation in community blood drives. Hospitals depend on blood supplies to save lives, and blood donations are especially critical during the summer, when traumatic injuries increase. Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. At Cedars-Sinai, a Level 1 trauma center, patients need more than 60,000 units of blood each year.

WHEN

Armando Romero is available for immediate interviews.

WHERE

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. Interviews also are available via Zoom.

TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW

Kristin Reynolds | 424-241-8108 | marykristin.reynolds@cshs.org

TO DONATE BLOOD

The public is invited to donate blood at Cedars-Sinai. Call 310-423-5346 to schedule an appointment or select a time here.

The mobile clinics provide school-required immunizations, including Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) and MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), at no cost. The program is aimed at helping families in underserved communities, where families can face barriers to preventive care.

“Preparing for a successful school year starts with protecting children’s health,” said Arthur Cho, MD, medical director of COACH for Kids. “Our Back-to-School immunization campaign brings recommended vaccines directly into the communities we serve, making it easier for families to get their children ready for the classroom.”

COACH for Kids delivers free medical services to children from birth through age 18 in underserved communities throughout Los Angeles.

COACH for Kids Mobile Medical Unit August Calendar

All clinics run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are closed from noon to 1 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 11
Charles Drew Middle School
8511 Compton Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90001

Wednesday, Aug. 12
Edison Middle School
6500 Hooper Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90001

Thursday, Aug. 13
Audubon Middle School
4120 11th Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90008

Monday, Aug. 17
Gompers Middle School
234 E. 112th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90061

Tuesday, Aug. 18
Miramonte Elementary School
1400 E. 68th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90001

Wednesday, Aug. 19
Parmelee Avenue Elementary School
1338 E. 76th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90001

Thursday, Aug. 20
Alliance Virgil Roberts Leadership Academy & Alliance Renee and Meyer Luskin Academy High School
2941 W. 70th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90043

Monday, Aug. 24
74^th Street Elementary School
2112 W. 74th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90047

Tuesday, Aug. 25
93rd Street Elementary School
330 E. 93rd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90003

Wednesday, Aug. 26
Raymond Avenue Elementary School
7511 Raymond Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90044

Thursday, Aug. 27
99th Street Elementary School
9900 Wadsworth Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90002

Monday, Aug. 31
Nevin Avenue Elementary School
1569 E. 32nd St.
Los Angeles, 90011

MEDIA CONTACT

Media interested in attending a COACH for Kids clinic must coordinate in advance with Cedars-Sinai External Communications. Please contact: Melissa Vizcarra | melissa.vizcarra@cshs.org | 719-502-5001

Cedars-Sinai in the News

Why Hospitals Must Avoid ‘Pilot Purgatory’ | Chief Healthcare Executive
Peter L. Slavin, MD

Why Are More Young Women Developing Heart Disease? | The New York Times
C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD 

Woman Goes to Have 22-lb. Ovarian Tumor Removed. Then Doctors Discover a Full-Term Baby Hiding Behind It: ‘Miraculous’ | People
John Ozimek, DO 

Doctors Explain the Differences Between Alzheimer's Disease and Other Types of Dementia | Prevention
Zaldy S. Tan, MD, MPH 

How 7 Systems Divert Behavioral Health Patients From the ED | Becker’s Hospital Review
Itai Danovitch, MD 

Can Humans Live Forever? Study Puts a Cap on Life Span at 194 Years | Healthline
Bert Mandelbaum, MD

Data. Data. Data. How Can Wearables Really Help Us? | Forbes
Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS 

Women in Wellness: Natasha Trentacosta of Cedars-Sinai on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing | Medium/Authority Magazine
Natasha Trentacosta, MD 

Experts Weigh in on the Challenges of Managing Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome | Medscape
Sam Torbati, MD

4 Endocrinologists Share the Fruits They Eat Regularly for Better Blood Sugar | Verywell Health
Ruchi Mathur, MD 

Hidden Ways IBD Affects You Over a Lifetime | Podfollow/About IBD
Puja Khanna, MD

American Heart Association Now Recommends Blood Pressure Treatment to Reduce Dementia Risk | Forbes
Joseph Ebinger, MD

Faculty Publications

Cardiology

Arrhythmia Occurrence After Balloon-Expandable and Self-Expanding Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve Replacement. McCanta, Anthony C., Natalie A. Bello, Patrick Conley, Marissa Petralia, Maulin B. Shah, Evan M. Zahn, and Rose O. Tompkins. JACC. Clinical Electrophysiology 12 (3): 462–71.

Decoding Cardiovascular Disease Through Spatial Proteomics. Ma, Min, Yingyi Lian, Erfei Shang, Chao Xue, Maosheng Wei, Ming Zhang, Niveda Sundararaman, Sarah J. Parker, Jennifer E. Van Eyk, and Jun Qu. Circulation Research 139 (4): e327475.

Fast Skeletal Myosin Binding Protein-C Expression Exacerbates Dysfunction in Heart Failure. McNamara, James W., Taejeong Song, Perwez Alam, Akhil Baby, Aleksandra Binek, Kalyani Ananthamohan, Rohit R. Singh, Michelle L. Nieman, Marloes van den Berg, Brent M. Cernyar, Sheryl E. Koch, Malina J. Ivey, Thomas L. Lynch, James T. Pearson, Jack Rubinstein, J.-P. Jin, John N. Lorenz, Jennifer E. Van Eyk, Onur Kanisicak, and Sakthivel Sadayappan. Basic Research in Cardiology, August.

Modeling Individual Patient Outcomes After Interatrial Shunt Treatment in Heart Failure With Reduced and Preserved Ejection Fraction: The RELIEVE-HF Trial. Stone, Gregg W., JoAnn Lindenfeld, Michael R. Zile, Stefan D. Anker, Josep Rodés-Cabau, Clayton Snyder, Saibal Kar, Michael P. Pfeiffer, Antoni Bayes-Genis, Jeroen J. Bax, Alan J. Bank, Julio Núñez, Elizabeth C. Lee, Michal Laufer-Perl, Gil Moravsky, Sheldon E. Litwin, Richard Holcomb, Neal L. Eigler, William T. Abraham, and RELIEVE-HF Investigators. Circulation. Heart Failure, August, e014100.

National Impact of Optimal Implementation of Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction. Keykhaei, Mohammad, Alexander T. Sandhu, Priscilla Y. Hsue, Stephen J. Greene, Boback Ziaeian, Michelle Kittleson, MaryAnn Villarreal-Gonzalez, Shahin Hallaj, Mattheus Ramsis, Manyoo A. Agarwal, and Gregg C. Fonarow. JACC. Heart Failure, August, 103295.

Percutaneous Atrial Delivery of TBX18 Creates a Stable Supraventricular Biological Pacemaker in Porcine Sick Sinus Syndrome. Dawkins, James F., Thassio Mesquita, Kevin Holm, Takeshi Ijichi, Peter Kilfoil, Ralf Sulague, Lizbeth Sanchez, Asma Nawaz, Juan Cardenas, Jackelyn Valle, Eduardo Marbán, and Eugenio Cingolani. JACC. Clinical Electrophysiology, July, S2405-500X(26)00577-3.

Prolonged PPI-TCL in the Presence of a Slowly Conducting Retrograde Accessory Pathway: What Is the Mechanism? Sun, Yuanjun, Ashkan Ehdaie, Eugenio Cingolani, Eric Braunstein, Xunzhang Wang, Archana Ramireddy, and Michael Shehata. JACC. Clinical Electrophysiology, July, S2405-500X(26)00571-2.

Single Cell Proteomics to Spatial Multiomics in Cardiovascular Disease: Foundations, Technologies, and Biological Insights. Binek, Aleksandra, and Peggi M. Angel. Circulation Research 139 (4): e327684.

The Song Remains the Same: Genetic Testing in Advanced Heart Failure. Kransdorf, Evan P., and Luke Masha. JACC. Advances 5 (9): 103090.

Computational Biomedicine

Pre-Trained Knowledge Transfer With Application in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome Subphenotyping in Children. Liu, Xiaokang, Naimin Jing, Yiwen Lu, Jason H. Moore, Christopher B. Forrest, James Zou, and Yong Chen. Npj Health Systems 3 (1): 69.

Medicine

Bridging Evidence and Practice: International Multidisciplinary Consensus on Non-Metastatic NSCLC. Meyer, May-Lucie, Solange Peters, Hossein Borghaei, Tina Cascone, Sanja Dacic, Corinne Faivre-Finn, Natasha Leighl, Luis Paz-Ares, Joachim Aerts, Charu Aggarwal, Myung-Ju Ahn, Maria E. Arcila, Federico Cappuzzo, et al. Journal of Thoracic Oncology, July, 104111.

Defining Actionable Cell States in Cardiovascular Disease Through Single-Cell and Spatial Technologies. Parker, Sarah J., and Jennifer E. Van Eyk. Circulation Research 139 (4): e329382.

Delayed Hypersensitivity to Iodinated Contrast: A Rare Case of Iododerma and Successful Strategy for Readministration. Truong, Tiffany, Monica Tsai, Terrie S. Ahn, and Lorraine Anderson. Cureus 18 (7): e112105.

Determining the Minimal Important Change in Patient Reported Outcomes for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Harris, Alex H. S., Kristen Davis-Lopez, Andrea K. Finlay, Eric M. Schmidt, Catherine M. Curtin, Erika D. Sears, Ryu Yoshida, Donna Lashgari, Robin N. Kamal, and Teryl K. Nuckols. PM & R: The Journal of Injury, Function, and Rehabilitation, July.

Early-Onset Pancreatic Cancer Is Associated With Better Survival: A SEER Population-Based Analysis. Liengswangwong, Kaewkwan, and Stephen J. Pandol. Pancreas, July.

Inhaled LTI-03 for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Randomized Dose Escalation Study. Molyneaux, Philip L., Nikhil A. Hirani, Collin C. K. Chia, Tejaswini Kulkarni, Tanzira Zaman, Robert J. Kaner, Ana Lucia Coelho, Yago Amigo Pinho Jannini-Sa, Brian Windsor, Sydney Kruger, Dale J. Christensen, Steven A. Shoemaker, Cory M. Hogaboam, BreAnne MacKenzie, and Andreas Günther. Nature Communications 17 (1): 7620.

IOIBD: The International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Dotan, Iris, Marla C. Dubinsky, Corey A. Siegel, James Lindsay, Dermot McGovern, Matthieu Allez, Pär Myrelid, James Lewis, Bruce E. Sands, Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet, Silvio Danese, Vineet Ahuja, Gilaad G. Kaplan, Marischka Konings, Richard Gearry, Siew C. Ng, Vipul Jairath, Fernando Magro, Mark S. Silverberg, Dan Turner, Maria T. Abreu, Ailsa Hart, Axel Dignass, David T. Rubin, and International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IOIBD). Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology 19: 17562848261470923.

Large Language Model-Based Extraction of Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Disease Activity Index From Clinical Notes. Weisberg, Reid, Ruoqi Yang, Iram Kamdar, Justin Chestang, Joan Bathon, Jon T. Giles, Chunhua Weng, and Elizabeth Park. JAMIA Open 9 (4): ooag152.

Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Reprograms the Hepatic Metastatic Niche. Karabicici, Mustafa, and Ekihiro Seki. Seminars in Liver Disease, August.

Novel Explantation Protocol for Cardiac Recovery and Device Weaning Post-Left Ventricular Assist Device Therapy: A Single-Center Experience. Kumar, Aarti, Ashley J. Mitchell, Negeen Shahandeh, Darko Vucicevic, Murray H. Kwon, Pratyaksh K. Srivastava, Ali Nsair, and Megan Y. Kamath. ASAIO Journal, August.

Phase 1/2 Study of INCAGN01876, an Anti-GITR Agonist Monoclonal Antibody, Plus Immunotherapy for Advanced Cancers. Hamid, Omid, Frederic Forget, Melissa Johnson, Thomas J. George, Nawel Bourayou, Sonia Ioannidis, Feng Zhou, Hong Yang, Zhiwan Dong, and Martin E. Gutierrez. The Oncologist, July, oyag257.

Risk of HCC in Elderly Patients With MASLD: Proposal of an Effective Surveillance Strategy. Chon, Young Eun, Kyung-Do Han, Ju Dong Yang, Ju-Yeong Park, Hyun-Seok Kim, Hyung Woong Lee, Tae Seop Lim, and Beom Kyung Kim. Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, August.

The Cost-Effectiveness of Biosimilar Denosumab in Postmenopausal Osteoporosis: Implications of Baseline Fracture Risk and Drug Price. Li, Edward, Fatemeh Mirzayeh Fashami, Sarah Kane, Rebecca McTavish, Marion Schauf, and Stuart Silverman. Osteoporosis International: A Journal Established as Result of Cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA, July.

Therapeutic Application of Feeding Strategies in Chronic Pancreatitis: The Potential for Jejunal Feeding and Elemental Diet to Modulate Pancreatic Secretion to Alleviate Painful Symptoms. Cai, Mei, Niwen Kong, Baraa Abdelghne, Anna Evans Phillips, Sohail Z. Husain, Stephen J. Pandol, and Yi Jiang. Frontiers in Physiology 17: 1828606.

Neurosurgery

Effect of Time to Palliative Epilepsy Surgery on Outcomes. Crutcher, Robert M., David E. Horvat, Avery R. Caraway, Kristen H. Arredondo, Taylor J. Abel, Nitin Agarwal, Allyson L. Alexander, Dallas Michael Armstrong, Kurtis I. Auguste, Danilo Bernardo, Jeffrey Bolton, David Bonda, Dewi Frances Depositario-Cabacar, Krista Eschbach, William D. Gaillard, Aran Groves, Jason S. Hauptman, Pradeep K. Javarayee, Cemal Karakas, Andrew T. Knox, Jenny J. Lin, Patricia E. McGoldrick, Derryl J. Miller, Edward John Novotny, Adam P. Ostendorf, Pilar D. Pichon, Shilpa B. Reddy, Debopam Samanta, Rani K. Singh, Janelle L. Wagner, Steven M. Wolf, Lily C. Wong-Kisiel, Fernando N. Galan, M. Scott Perry, and Michael A. Ciliberto. Epilepsia, August.

Pediatric Neurosurgery Procedural Coding: Current Lay of the Land. Vessell, Meena, Ryan S. Chung, Randaline Barnett, Kristin Zieles, David Bonda, Benjamin Best, and Virendra R. Desai. Neurosurgery Practice 7 (4): e000254.

Response to Request for Modification of the 2026 AHA/ASA Acute Ischemic Stroke Guidelines: Endovascular Thrombectomy Imaging Selection in the 6- to 24-Hour Window. Gonzalez, Nestor R., Shyam Prabhakaran, Kori S. Zachrison, Enrique C. Leira, Mona Bahouth, Joe Broderick, and 2026 AHA/ASA Acute Ischemic Stroke Guideline Writing Group. Stroke, July.

Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Frailty and Surgical Invasiveness Are Independently Associated With Complications in Pediatric Spinal Deformity Surgery. Chan, Vivien, Andrea Simmonds, Luke Maclean, David Parsons, Michael G. Vitale, and David L. Skaggs. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume, August.

Osteochondral Lesions of the Tibial Plafond (OLTPs): Proceedings of the International Consensus Meeting on Cartilage Repair of the Ankle. Rubin, Jared, Alexander Tham, James J. Butler, Paloma Gauthier, Davis Hedbany, John G. Kennedy, Jorge P. Batista, Stephen Bayer, Gregory C. Berlet, Roberto Buda, James D. F. Calder, Jari Dahmen, Alastair S. E. Younger, et al. Foot & Ankle Specialist, July, 19386400261471631.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Sporadic Sarcoma Arising From a Previously Resected Benign Vestibular Schwannoma Without Neurofibromatosis or Radiosurgery: Illustrative Case. Menaker, Simon A., Michelot Michel, Catherine M. Garcia, Edward Robinson, Xuemo Fan, Gregory P. Lekovic, and John S. Yu. Journal of Neurosurgery. Case Lessons 12 (5): CASE251003.

Pediatrics

Ventricular Arrhythmias After Self-Expanding Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve Replacement: A Report From the SERVE Registry. Armstrong, Aimee K., Bryan H. Goldstein, Jamil Aboulhosn, David Balzer, Oliver M. Barry, Darren P. Berman, Brian A. Boe, Martin L. Bocks, Allison K. Cabalka, Hannah Fraint, Joshua Kanter, Britton Keeshan, Luke Lamers, R. Allen Ligon, Nicola Maschietto, William S. McMahon, Athar M. Qureshi, Shabana Shahanavaz, Ada C. Stefanescu Schmidt, Patcharapong Suntharos, Wendy Whiteside, Jenny E. Zablah, Evan Zahn, Jeffrey D. Zampi, Thomas Zellers, Julia Eazer, Victoria Shay, Chance Alvarado, V. Vivian Dimas, and Anna N. Kamp. JACC. Clinical Electrophysiology 12 (3): 446–58.

Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences

Psychotherapy vs Antidepressants in Heart Failure: Impact of Adherence. IsHak, Waguih William, Michele A. Hamilton, Marcio A. Diniz, James Mirocha, Robert Chernoff, Rebecca Hedrick, Harriet Aronow, Tarneem Darwish, Gabrielle Messineo, Mia Pasini, Linda Olanisa, Ella Tetrault, Ankith Arun, Kaleab K. Tessema, John Gordon Harold, Michael K. Ong, Brennan Spiegel, Kenneth Wells, and Itai Danovitch. Journal of Affective Disorders, July, 122318.

Radiation Oncology

Patient-Provider Communication and Treatment Decision-Making Among Latino Men With Prostate Cancer: A Qualitative Study. Rodriguez, Victoria E., Briseyda Mendoza-Aguayo, Janet Rodriguez, Carla M. Ramirez, Daniel Soto, Jennifer B. Unger, Andre Luis Abreu, Rojine Ariani, Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, Leslie Ballas, and Mariana C. Stern. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, July.

Surgery

A Social Media Quality Review of Popular Ankyloglossia Videos on TikTok. Bellary, Rohan, Niraj Rama, Jennifer Kreinik, Michael DeMarcantonio, Christopher Roxbury, Thomas Higgins, Arthur Wu, and Dennis Tang. Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, August.

Artificial Intelligence in Plastic Surgery: A Bibliometric and Visual Analysis of the 100 Most-Cited English-Language Publications. Mokhtar, Jonathan, Meera Hallak, Michel Gabriel Cazenave, Lucas Kreutz-Rodrigues, Krishna S. Vyas, Curtis L. Cetrulo, and Alexandre G. Lellouch. Aesthetic Surgery Journal. Open Forum 8: ojag148.

Breast and Ovarian Cancer Among Individuals Undergoing BRCA1 and BRCA2 Testing. Dossa, Fahima, Kelly Metcalfe, Zharmaine Ante, Ning Liu, Jordan Lerner-Ellis, Andrea Eisen, and Nancy N. Baxter. JAMA Network Open 9 (7): e2626334.

Faculty and Resident Perceptions of Learning Activities During Surgery Residency. Rosenberg, David M., Cooper Nagaki, Christian de Virgilio, Farin F. Amersi, Lisa A. Cunningham, Karen J. Dickinson, E. Shields Frey, Henry R. Govekar, Jukes P. Namm, V. Prasad Poola, Edgardo S. Salcedo, Saad A. Shebrain, Anaar E. Siletz, Brian R. Smith, Brian T. Valerian, Steven D. Wexner, James X. Wu, and Alexander C. Schwed. JAMA Surgery, August.

How I Approach Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS) and Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome (SMAS). Spiritos, Zachary, Daniel Shouhed, and Alexis Cutchins. The American Journal of Gastroenterology, August.

Management of Gastrointestinal Oncologic Emergencies for the Acute Care Surgeon: What You Need to Know. Huang, Raymond, and Galinos Barmparas. The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, August.

Same-Surgeon Versus Separate-Surgeon Prophylactic Ureteral Catheterization in Colectomy and Proctectomy: A National Retrospective Cohort Study. Wu, George L., Matthew Zeller, Joseph Wetherell, Jessica Felton, Yosef Nasseri, and Joshua H. Wolf. Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, July, 102537.

The Multilevel Facial Anatomic Classification System: A Comprehensive Framework for Contemporary Facelift and Neck Rejuvenation Surgery. Azizzadeh, Babak, and Neal Deot. Facial Plastic Surgery & Aesthetic Medicine, July, 26893614261453792.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Brain cells that release dopamine—a messenger chemical that drives motor control— package it into tiny membrane-bound sacs called synaptic vesicles. And these vesicles differ from vesicles used by brain cells that release other messenger chemicals, a study led by Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University investigators shows.

The study, published in Science Advances, could lead to better understanding of Parkinson’s disease, a movement disorder that causes dopamine-releasing brain cells to progressively die. The death of these cells leads to the movement problems that characterize the disease.

“Our research sheds light on the different ways brain cells release chemical messengers, which the cells use to communicate with each other,” said Katlin Silm, PhD, assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences and Neurology and senior author of the study. “We identified key differences between brain cells that release dopamine and those that release other brain chemicals.”

Synaptic vesicles help brain cells to communicate by fusing with the cell membrane and releasing their contents into the space between cells. In the brains of laboratory mice, investigators found that dopamine-containing synaptic vesicles carry a distinct set of proteins compared to those containing other messenger chemicals.

“Our findings show that a vesicle’s composition is critical to determining how brain messenger chemicals are released,” said Silm, also a research scientist in the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute. “The differences we identified help explain the unique properties of dopamine release and lay the groundwork to explore how this affects the long-term stability of dopamine-producing brain cells.”

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Hrach Asmerian, Alexia J. Diaz, Jacob Alberts, Barathan Gnanabharathi, Anna M. Sanetra, and Noah Carr.

Other authors include Hongfei Xu, Juan A. Oses-Prieto, Poulomi Das, Alma L. Burlingame, and Robert H. Edwards.

Funding: This work was supported by The Larry L. Hillblom Foundation grant 2022-A-004-SUP (KS), Brain and Behavior Research Foundation grant 29845 (KS), National Institutes of Health grant R01NS138465 (KS), National Institutes of Health grant R01NS103938 (RHE), National Institutes of Health grant R01NS129803 (RHE). Mass spectrometry was performed at the Mass Spectrometry Resource at UCSF, which is supported by the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation (JAO-P & ALB).

New Method Could Boost Blood Tests’ Colon Cancer Monitoring Value

Blood tests could become a more powerful tool for monitoring colon cancer progression and treatment response, based on a study led by Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University investigators. Their findings, published in Experimental Hematology & Oncology, used single-cell profiling to analyze circulating tumor cells and noncancerous cells in patients’ blood.

“Our method looks beyond the tumor to also understand the patient’s response to the cancer,” said Jun Gong, MD, medical director of Colorectal Cancer at Cedars-Sinai and an author of the study. “It could help guide more personalized treatment decisions based on tumor behavior and patient condition.”

Investigators analyzed blood samples from patients with advanced colorectal cancer, looking at 10 different cellular characteristics and using single-cell analysis to refine their findings.

The method reveals important changes, such as tumor cells taking action to evade the immune system or normal cells showing inflammation. These changes would be missed with existing tests, Gong said.

If these findings are validated in larger studies, Gong said, this method would complement existing tools for cancer monitoring, including imaging and standard laboratory tests.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Francesca Aguirre, MD; Lisa Zhou, BS; Aaron Denmark, BS; Rocio Alvarez, MsC; and Daniel M. Kim, MD.

Other authors include Gabriela Felix, PhD; and Megan P. Hitchins, PhD.

Funding: This study was funded in part by NCI grant R01CA252042 (MH), Cedars-Sinai Cancer Developmental Fund (MH) and the ASCO Conquer Cancer Career Development Award (JG).

Disclosures: J.G. reports receiving consulting fees and honoraria from the following companies: EMD Serono, Exelixis, Natera, Eisai, Janssen, Pfizer, Bayer, Taiho, Agenus, Seagen, and Caper Labs. G.F., J.G. and M.H. have a provisional patent application (Application No.: 64/039,184) related to the work described in this manuscript.

Hydrogen Sulfide Gas Linked to More Severe IBS Damage

Investigators at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University have identified how excess hydrogen sulfide gas produced by certain gut microbes alters gene activity in the small intestine. Their findings, published in mSystems, offer new insight into conditions associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders.

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), intestinal methanogen overgrowth (IMO) and intestinal sulfide overproduction (ISO) are conditions in which gas-producing microbes over-multiply in the small intestine. The disorders are often connected to IBS. 

"Our results show that ISO, IMO and SIBO are biologically distinct conditions that will require different treatment approaches," said Mark Pimentel, MD, executive director of the Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) Program at Cedars-Sinai and corresponding author of the study. "The genes altered in these conditions are linked to a variety of symptoms and understanding these mechanisms will help us develop better therapies for patients."

Investigators analyzed small bowel tissues samples from patients and laboratory animals. They found the most extensive changes in gene activity in samples from patients with ISO, and more limited changes in SIBO and IMO samples.

The genetic changes affected immune activity, fluid absorption, movement of nutrients through the gut, antioxidant defenses and cellular energy production. These findings may help explain why hydrogen sulfide overproduction has been associated with diarrhea, abdominal pain and other severe gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with diarrhea-predominant IBS.

Pimentel said larger studies integrating breath testing and microbiome profiling are needed to further validate these findings and identify how they might inform new therapies.

Other Cedars-Sinai authors include Juliana de Freitas Germano, Gabriela Leite, Maria Jesus Villanueva-Millan, Daniel Brimberry, Mohamad Rashid, Ava Hosseini, Dilara Flora, Said Bogatyrev, Walter Morales, Stacy Weitsman, Maritza Sanchez, Ignacio Rivera, Cristina Moreno Fajardo, Victoria Murray, Gonzalo Parodi, Margie Parra, Gillian M. Barlow, Ali Rezaie and Ruchi Mathur.

Other authors include Zhe Lyu.

Funding: This study was primarily supported by the Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, and funded in part through private donations to the MAST Program.

Disclosures: Drs. Pimentel, Mathur and Rezaie report equity in APQ Health and have received licensing or consulting fees related to diagnostic breath-testing technologies from Gemelli Biotech and Brio-Medical. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

The designation from the condition’s oldest patient organization is awarded to programs with the infrastructure and experience needed to provide high-quality care to people with pulmonary hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that occurs in arteries of the lungs.

Pulmonary hypertension can make it difficult for blood to circulate through the lungs, forcing the heart to work harder. In severe cases, the condition can lead to heart failure. People with pulmonary hypertension often need care from several specialists.

The Cedars-Sinai Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic includes six physicians and one nurse practitioner. The pulmonary hypertension program combines cardiology and pulmonology, which allows patients to access multidisciplinary care from experts in the disease. Providers care for more than 250 patients each year and address multiple aspects of the disease, including diagnosis, medication management, symptom control and disease progression.

“At Cedars-Sinai, pulmonary hypertension specialists collaborate with colleagues in rheumatology, congenital heart disease, critical care medicine, lung transplantation and other specialties to create treatment plans tailored to patients,” said Yuri Matusov, MD, assistant professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. “We are proud to care for an extraordinarily diverse patient population, some of whom come from very far away for their care.”

The association noted several outstanding aspects of the Cedars-Sinai Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic including:

• A team that collaborates and provides timely evaluation and management of people who are hospitalized and continues to provide consistent care when they leave the hospital.
• Monthly conferences with specialists in the Southern California region that allow for the review of complex pulmonary hypertension cases, knowledge-sharing and regional care coordination.
• For people with advanced disease, access to top-notch heart, lung and thoracic transplant programs.
• A research program led by doctors investigating potential treatments.

“We are honored for our clinic to have received this designation, the highest recognition available to pulmonary hypertension programs in the United States,” said Dael Geft, MD, assistant professor of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai. “Ultimately, the greatest reward is helping our patients live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Unique Cell-Based Approach for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Shown to Be Safe

تم إدراج Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ضمن قائمة الشرف للعام الحادي عشر على التوالي في تصنيف "Best Hospitals 2026-27" السنوي الصادر عن U.S. News & World Report .

تستند تصنيفات مجلة U.S. News، الصادرة يوم الثلاثاء، إلى نتائج المرضى، وتجاربهم، والقدرة على التعامل مع الحالات الطبية المعقدة ومجموعة متنوعة من التدابير الأخرى المتعلقة بالصحة.

تشير التصنيفات للمرضى الدوليين إلى أن Cedars-Sinai يلبي معايير صارمة للتميز السريري والبحث والابتكار، مما يوفر مزيدًا من الضمان بأن المرضى سيحصلون على رعاية عالمية المستوى من مؤسسة موثوقة ومعترف بها عالميًا.

وقال الدكتور Heitham Hassoun، الرئيس التنفيذي لـ Cedars-Sinai International: "إن تصنيفنا ضمن أفضل المستشفيات في الولايات المتحدة لمدة 11 عامًا متتالية يعكس التزامنا المستمر بتقديم رعاية سريرية متميزة للمرضى، وإتاحة الوصول إلى أبحاث تُحدث تحولاً حقيقيًا في مجال الرعاية الصحية. وسنواصل تقديم ابتكارات Cedars-Sinai ورعايته الطبية المصنفة ضمن الأفضل إلى مرضانا أينما كانوا حول العالم.".

تختار مجلة U.S. News المستشفيات الأفضل أداءً لقائمة الشرف بناءً على تصنيفاتها العالية وتصنيفاتها في تخصصات وإجراءات سريرية وحالات متعددة.

وقد أُدرجت عشرة تخصصات في Cedars-Sinai ضمن أفضل البرامج السريرية في الولايات المتحدة، وجاءت ثلاثة منها ضمن المراكز الخمسة الأولى:

طب أمراض القلب وجراحة القلب والأوعية الدموية •

طب أمراض وجراحة الجهاز الهضمي •

جراحة العظام •

وشملت التخصصات الأخرى المصنفة ضمن الأفضل في الولايات المتحدة ما يلي: السرطان؛ داء السكري والغدد الصماء؛ طب الشيخوخة؛ طب الأعصاب وجراحة الأعصاب؛ أمراض النساء والتوليد؛ أمراض الرئة وجراحة الرئة؛ والمسالك البولية.

وقال Peter L. Slavin, MD، رئيس ومدير عام Cedars-Sinai Medical Center وCedars-Sinai Health System ، "تُعد هذه النتائج المتميزة ثمرةً لجهود اختصاصيي الرعاية الصحية والموظفين المتفانين الذين يعملون يوميًا على تحقيق رسالتنا المتمثلة في العلاج، والاكتشاف، والتعليم، وخدمة المجتمع. ويقودنا التزام راسخ بتحسين صحة المرضى في لوس أنجلوس وفي مختلف أنحاء العالم."