Code Blue and Gold

The quarterly newsletter of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine

1 June 2025 – 1 September 2025

Aging Institute

Dion W, Tao Y, Chambers M, Zhao S, Arbuckle RK, Sun M, Kubra S, Schaich MA, Nie Y, Ye M, Jamal I, Larsen MB, Camarco D, Ickes E, Wang HH, DuPont C, Wang B, Liu S, Pi S, Van Houten B, Chen BB, Chen Y, Chen X, Zhu B. SON-dependent nuclear speckle rehabilitation alleviates proteinopathies. Nat Commun. 2025 Aug 5;16(1):7065. PMID: 40764481.
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Sun N, Barta H, Chaudhuri S, Chen K, Jin J, Luo H, Yang M, Krigman J, Zhang R, Sanghvi S, Sekine S, Sanders H, Kolonay D, Patel M, Baskin K, Singh H, Zhang P, Xin G, Finkel T. Mitophagy mitigates mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation deficient cardiomyopathy. Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 1;16(1):5465. PMID: 40593619.

Yang H, Xun J, Li Y, Mondal A, Lv B, Watkins SC, Shi L, Tan JX. LYVAC/PDZD8 is a lysosomal vacuolator. Science. 2025 Aug 21;389(6762):eadz0972. PMID: 40839735.
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Cardiology

Bugga P, Stoner MW, Manning JR, Mushala BAS, Bhattarai N, Sharifi-Sanjani M, Scott I. GCN5L1 Inhibits Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Phosphorylation During Cardiac Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury. FASEB Bioadv. 2025 Sep 12;7(9):e70049. PMID: 40950650.

Lee PJ, Jain SK, Bhonsale A, Voigt AH, Dhande M, Kancharla K, Singla V, Naniwadekar A, Estes NAM, Saba SF, Shalaby AA. Early experience with intracardiac echocardiography guidance for atrial leadless pacemaker implantation. Heart Rhythm. 2025 Jul 24:S1547-5271(25)02699-2. PMID: 40714331.

Ozbay B, Rearick C, Satyavolu BS, Soman P, Wong TC, Starr M, Pillai B, Zhu J, Azhar AZ, Katz WE, Sade LE. Primary Left Atrial Cardiopathy in Transthyretin Amyloidosis Cardiomyopathy by Multimodality Imaging: Implications for Thrombotic Events. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2025 Aug;18(8):867-881. PMID: 40608042.

Classical Hematology

Fanta A, Dosunmu-Ogunbi A, Ruesch A, Jonassaint J, Disu JDK, Xu JZ, Huppert T, Kainerstorfer JM, Novelli EM, Wood S. Assessment of cerebral autoregulation and cerebral perfusion in patients with sickle cell disease using frequency-domain near-infrared spectroscopy. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2025 Sep 1;139(3):638-649. PMID: 40701632.

Machin NC, Brooks MM, Vehec D, Ivanco D, Lawryk B, Seaman CD, Xavier F, Shiva S, Verdoni A, Ragni MV. Impact of Tranexamic Acid on Postpartum Hemorrhage in Type 1 von Willebrand Disease Treated with Recombinant VWF. Blood Adv. 2025 Sep 3:bloodadvances.2025017046. PMID: 40902088.

Oluwole OB, McGill LS, Gayle K, O’Brien JA, Abebe KZ, Jonassaint CR, Hamm M. Experiences With a Multicomponent Digital Behavioral Pain Management Intervention for Adults With Sickle Cell Disease: Qualitative Analysis of the CaRISMA Trial. JMIR Hum Factors. 2025 Aug 5;12:e73719. PMID: 40763347.

Endocrinology and Metabolism

Fazeli PK, Steinhauser ML. A critical assessment of fasting to promote metabolic health and longevity. Endocr Rev. 2025 Jul 23:bnaf021. PMID: 40700575.

Mooli RGR, Han Y, Fiorenza EJ, Balakrishnan K, Kanshana JS, Kumar S, Bello FM, Nallanagulagari AR, Karra S, Tao J, Delgado ER, Teng L, Kohan AB, Singhi AD, Jurczak M, Ramakrishnan SK. Hepatic Ketogenesis Regulates Lipid Homeostasis via ACSL1-mediated Fatty Acid Partitioning. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2025 Jul 19;19(11):101593. PMID: 40692014.

Toledo FGS, Li Y, Wang F, Bellin MD, Brand R, Cusi K, Fisher W, Kudva YC, Park WG, Saeed ZI, Yadav D, Considine RV, Graham SC, Andersen DK, Serrano J, Goodarzi MO, Hart PA; Consortium for the Study of Chronic Pancreatitis, Diabetes, and Pancreatic Cancer (CPDPC). Pancreatic cancer-related diabetes and type 2 diabetes differ in multiple aspects of glucose homeostasis. Diabetologia. 2025 Sep 24. PMID: 40991017.

Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

Al Ta’ani O, Mayrer BM, Luche NM, Siddique SM, Peslak SA, Anderson TS, Vajravelu RK. Diagnostic Serum Ferritin Thresholds and Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 Aug 25:e252311. PMID: 40853683.

Reardon CM, Damschroder LJ, Ashcraft LE, Kerins C, Bachrach RL, Nevedal AL, Domlyn AM, Dodge J, Chinman M, Rogal S. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) User Guide: a five-step guide for conducting implementation research using the framework. Implement Sci. 2025 Aug 16;20(1):39. PMID: 40819067.

Saloman JL, Jefferson B, Han S, Fisher WE, Fogel EL, Hart PA, Li L, Park WG, Vege SS, Yadav D, Topazian MD, Conwell DL; Consortium for the Study of Chronic Pancreatitis, Diabetes, and Pancreatic Cancer (CPDPC). Prostaglandin E2 as a Mechanistic Biomarker of Chronic Pancreatitis. Clin Transl Gastroenterol. 2025 Aug 4. PMID: 40758192.

General Internal Medicine

Arnold J, Acharya D, Boricha H, Chapagain H, Kainat A, Bradley A, Jeong JH, Townsend KA, Ateya MB, DeMicco DA, YousefAlish, Becich MJ, Chuang CH, Fernandez SA, Ford DE, Hwang W, Kirchner HL, Morgan R, Paranjape A, Thomas NA, Williams DA, RozelleHegeman-Dingle, McLeod E, Saccone PA, McTigue KM. Real-world prescribing in accordance to ACC/AHA guidelines for lipid-lowering therapy in high-risk primary and secondary prevention of ASCVD: Real-World Prescribing for Lipid-Lowering Therapy. Am J Prev Cardiol. 2025 Jul 23;23:101067. PMID: 40894319.

Bober T, Guhl EN, Rothenberger S, Jeong K, Abebe KZ, Holber J, Anderson AM, Magnani JW, Johnson AE, Rollman BL. Impact of Neighborhood Factors on Heart Failure Outcomes: Secondary Analysis From the Hopeful Heart Trial. JACC Adv. 2025 Sep 14;4(10 Pt 2):102146. PMID: 40953541.

Rak KJ, Indralingam R, Richardson A, Dhole N, Belin S, Cadavid MCL, Zhou Y, Booth G, Hammes B, Ferrell B, White DB, Arnold RM, Sudore RL, Crowley-Matoka M, Schenker Y. Factors influencing engagement with patient-directed and facilitated advance care planning interventions for patients with advanced cancer. Cancer. 2025 Aug 15;131(16):e70025. PMID: 40772524.

Geriatric Medicine

Jump RLP, Bej TA, Vivo A, Wilson BM, Kowal C, Song S, Abdelrahim S, Wilson G, Milner A, Nguyen A, Rodriguez KL, Beyer N, Michaels Z, Amundson C, Bajema KL, Beck A, Burnham JP, Crnich CJ, Drekonja DM, Epstein L, Ewers T, Livorsi DJ, Narayan M, Perez F, Pfeiffer CD, Sabzwari RW, Salti AM, Tate D, Walkner T, Webster AS, Evans CT. Dissemination and Implementation of a Telehealth-Enabled Program for Providing Infectious Disease Expertise in Rural Settings. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2025 Aug 11;12(8):ofaf485. PMID: 40860515.

O’Donnell AJ, Fortunato AT, Spitznogle BL, Reddy NM, Kerper SA, Handler SM. Implementation of Lecanemab for Alzheimer’s Disease Within the Veterans Health Administration: Facilitators and Barriers. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2025 Jun 11. PMID: 40497351.

Haeri NS, Perera S, Greenspan SL. Impact of denosumab on muscle health in older adults in long-term care. Bone. 2025 Sep;198:117552. PMID: 40460961.

Infectious Diseases

Hughes Kramer K, Marino CC, Driscoll E, Cheng S, Phillips K, Volpe PJ, Clancy CJ, Nguyen MH. Medical cannabis as the source of Cryptococcus neoformans infection. Clin Infect Dis. 2025 Aug 4:ciaf431. PMID: 40757614.

Li Y, Soto-Ramirez ZN, Roscher J, Medvec T, Alaoui-El-Azher M, Piazza P, Chen Y, Sluis-Cremer N, Rinaldo CR, Macatangay BJC. Senescence-related cytokine levels are associated with HIV-1 serostatus and persistence. AIDS. 2025 Jul 15;39(9):1120-1124. PMID: 40202938.

Ryan BE, Holmes CL, Stark DJ, Shepard GE, Mills EG, Khadka S, Van Tyne D, Bachman MA, Mike LA. Arginine regulates the mucoid phenotype of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae. Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 1;16(1):5875. PMID: 40595687.
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Malignant Hematology and Medical Oncology

Kairis E, Fedor J, Bartel C, Durica KC, Donovan HS, Thomas R, Low CA. Daily Patient-Reported Symptoms as Predictors of Unplanned Health Care Encounters During Chemotherapy: Longitudinal Observational Study. JCO Oncol Pract. 2025 Aug 7:OP2500177. PMID: 40773717.

Morder KM, Nguyen M, Wilfahrt DN, Dahmani ZL, Burr AB, Xie B, Morikone M, Nieves-Rosado H, Gunn WG, Hurd DE, Wang H, Mullett SJ, Bossong K, Gelhaus SL, Rajasundaram D, Kane LP, Delgoffe GM, Das J, Davar D, Overacre-Delgoffe AE. Sucralose consumption ablates cancer immunotherapy response through microbiome disruption. Cancer Discov. 2025 Jul 30. PMID: 40742298.
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Rugo HS, Layman RM, Lynce F, Liu X, Li B, McRoy L, Cohen AB, Estevez M, Curigliano G, Brufsky A. Real-world progression-free survival of CDK4/6 inhibitors plus an aromatase inhibitor in HR-positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer in United States routine clinical practice. ESMO Open. 2025 Sep 1;10(9):105570. PMID: 40896879.

Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Mayer-Hamblett N, Kerper NR, Clancy JP, Davies JC, Taylor-Cousar JL, Donaldson SH, Bell SC, Jain R, Simmonds NJ, Mall MA, Goss CH, Rayment JH, Setiawan L, Pilewski JM. Maximising opportunity for therapeutic success: sequential participation in cystic fibrosis nucleic acid-based therapy trials. Lancet Respir Med. 2025 Jul 30:S2213-2600(25)00206-1. PMID: 40752498.

Stapleton AL, Kimple A, Goralski JL, Beswick DM, Gupta A, Li DA, Branstetter BF, Nouraie SM, Shaffer AD, Senior B, Zemke AC. Elexacaftor-Tezacaftor-Ivacaftor Improves Sinonasal Outcomes in Young Children With Cystic Fibrosis. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. 2025 Jul;15(7):706-714. PMID: 40024881.

Wagner DE, Alsafadi HN, Mitash N, Justet A, Hu Q, Pineda R, Staab-Weijnitz C, Korfei M, Gvazava N, Wannemo K, Onwuka U, Mozurak M, Estrada-Bernal A, Cala-Garcia J, Mutze K, Costa R, Bölükbas D, Stegmayr J, Skronska-Wasek W, Klee S, Ota C, Baarsma HA, Wang J, Sembrat J, Hilgendorff A, Ding J, Günther A, Chambers R, Rosas I, de Langhe S, Kaminski N, Lehmann M, Eickelberg O, Königshoff M. Inhibition of epithelial cell YAP-TEAD/LOX signaling attenuates pulmonary fibrosis in preclinical models. Nat Commun. 2025 Aug 2;16(1):7099. PMID: 40753090.
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Renal-Electrolyte

Alghwiri AA, Weltman MR, Lavenburg LU, Han Z, Nolin TD, Chen YF, Yabes JG, Jhamb M. Using Machine Learning to Predict Medication Therapy Problems among Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease. Am J Nephrol. 2025 Jun 17:1-11. PMID: 40527301.

Nickerson AJ, Albalawy WN, Youm EB, Joseph NA, Szekely KG, Kleyman TR, Weisz OA, Kashlan OB. Canagliflozin Inhibits Electrogenic Na+ Transport in Mouse Cortical Collecting Duct Cells. Function (Oxf). 2025 Sep 15;6(5):zqaf039. PMID: 40828585.

Zhao D, Dai H, Macedo C, Sanders SM, Elias C, Friday AJ, Zaidan M, Williams AL, Elinoff BD, Oberbarnscheidt MH, Danska J, Zeevi A, Randhawa P, Tevar AD, Hariharan S, Rothstein DM, Abou-Daya KI, Senev A, Tambur AR, Metes D, Thaunat O, Lakkis FG, Cherukuri A. Donor-recipient mismatch at the SIRPA locus adversely affects kidney allograft outcomes. Sci Transl Med. 2025 Jul 16;17(807):eady1135. PMID: 40668892.
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Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology

Padilla CM, Lafyatis R, Gibson KF, Morse C, Valenzi E, Chen X, Li X, Zhao Y, Park Y, Ascherman D, Minden J, Domsic R, Zhang Y, Kass DJ. LOXHD1 and RHOB Expression by Monocytes Predicts Progressive Systemic Sclerosis associated Interstitial Lung Disease. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2025 Aug 7. PMID: 40771159.

Quinn DA, Sileanu FE, Procario GT, Mitchell S, Birru Talabi M. Severe Maternal Morbidity During and After Pregnancy Among Veterans With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or Rheumatoid Arthritis. ACR Open Rheumatol. 2025 Sep;7(9):e70100. PMID: 40891253.
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Yamaguchi K, Sullivan DI, Khushboo S, Saygin D, Laverde SM, Moghadam-Kia S, Ascherman DP, Oddis CV, Aggarwal R. Long-term clinical prognosis of anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase antibodies and interstitial lung disease. Clin Rheumatol. 2025 Aug;44(8):3341-3352. PMID: 40571884.

Vascular Medicine Institute

Dent MR, DeMartino AW, Xu Q, Chen X, Gandhi A, Hwang HS, Bocian KA, Correnti JE, Abdelghany Y, Alipour E, Ucer KB, Baker SR, Srimath Kandada AR, Bulbul A, Kim-Shapiro DB, Rose JJ, Tejero J, Gladwin MT. Engineering a highly selective, hemoprotein-based scavenger as a carbon monoxide poisoning antidote with no hypertensive effect. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Aug 12;122(32):e2501389122. PMID: 40763026.
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Pal S, Glennon MS, Nixon BR, Chetkof EJ, Shridhar P, Kathiresan CM, Glasser MB, Waldron CJ, Guo L, Clavere NG, Banerjee D, Kim JH, Becker JR. Targeting Cardiomyocyte PCNA and POLD1 Prevents Pathological Myocardial Hypertrophy. Circ Res. 2025 Sep 15. PMID: 40948130.

Sahay S, Hernandez NV, Al Aaraj Y, Argula RG, Bernardo RJ, Chavarria M, Ibecheozor C, Coons JC, Domsic RT, Fortin T, Goodrich-Harris A, Hickey G, Ho T, Kliner J, Machado RF, Rajagopal S, Risbano MG, Sese DG, Thenappan T, Chan SY. Pericardial Effusions And Sotatercept Therapy in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: A Multicenter Real-World Experience. Eur Respir J. 2025 Aug 7:2501040. PMID: 40774808.
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Internal Medicine Residency

Flores CV, Chan SY. Therapeutic targets for pulmonary arterial hypertension: insights into the emerging landscape. Expert Opin Ther Targets. 2025 Jun;29(6):327-343. PMID: 40368635.

Hopkins S, Gohel P, Gandhi S, Nasir M, Stallings W, Hamad E. Psoas Muscle Index Predicts Perioperative Mortality in Patients Undergoing LVAD Implantation. Muscles. 2025 Sep 22;4(3):41. PMID: 41003020.

Lin AJ, Bonifacino E, Rowan J, Ahmad S, Leong A, Ortega K, Yagobian S, Nikiforova T. Enhancing Interpreter Utilization among Telephone Schedulers Assisting Patients with Non-English-Language Preference. South Med J. 2025 Jun;118(6):319-323. PMID: 40456543.