Margaret K. Bradley, J. Hudson, Merceditas Villanueva, David M. Livingston,
Incubation of the simian virus 40 (SV40) large tumor antigen (T) from either transformed or lytically infected cells with adenosine [8-3H]-, [alpha-32P]-, or [alpha-[35S]thio]-triphosphate in the presence of Mg2+ resulted in its labeling as defined by the appearance of an intact, appropriately immunoreactive band in NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gels. Radioactivity remained associated with the protein after boiling in buffer containing 3% NaDodSO4, and 2-mercaptoethanol as well as after heating in 0.1 M HCl, ...
Tópico(s): Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
1984 - National Academy of Sciences | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Merceditas Villanueva, Suzanne Williams, Charles B. Beard, F F Richards, Serap Aksoy,
A new member of a family of site-specific retrotransposons is described in the New World trypanosome Trypanosoma cruzi. This element, CZAR (cruzi-associated retrotransposon), resembles two previously described retrotransposons found in the African trypanosome T. brucei gambiense and the mosquito trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata in specifically inserting between nucleotides 11 and 12 of the highly conserved 39-mer of the spliced leader RNA (SL-RNA) gene. CZAR is similar in overall organization ...
Tópico(s): Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
1991 - Taylor & Francis | Molecular and Cellular Biology
Merceditas Villanueva, Suzanne Williams, Charles B. Beard, Frank F. Richards, Serap Aksoy,
A new member of a family of site-specific retrotransposons is described in the New World trypanosome Trypanosoma cruzi. This element, CZAR (cruzi-associated retrotransposon), resembles two previously described retrotransposons found in the African trypanosome T. brucei gambiense and the mosquito trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata in specifically inserting between nucleotides 11 and 12 of the highly conserved 39-mer of the spliced leader RNA (SL-RNA) gene. CZAR is similar in overall organization ...
Tópico(s): Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
1991 - Taylor & Francis | Molecular and Cellular Biology
Merceditas Villanueva, Philip Fischer, Kevin Feen, Eric G. Pamer,
Tópico(s): T-cell and B-cell Immunology
1994 - Cell Press | Immunity
Merceditas Villanueva, C J Beckers, Eric G. Pamer,
Listeria monocytogenes is a facultative intracellular bacterium that causes severe disease in neonates and immunocompromised adults. Although entry, multiplication, and locomotion of Listeria in the cytosol of infected cells are well described, the impact of such infection on the host cell is unknown. In this report, we investigate the effect of L. monocytogenes infection on MHC class I synthesis, processing, and intracellular trafficking. We show that L. monocytogenes infection interferes with ...
Tópico(s): Escherichia coli research studies
1994 - Rockefeller University Press | The Journal of Experimental Medicine
American (Chagas' disease) and African (sleeping sickness) trypanosomiasis are diseases that are endemic in parts of Latin American and Africa, respectively. Physicians in developed countries may occasionally see cases because of extensive travel and immigration from endemic countries. In addition, in American trypanosomiasis, transmission via contaminated blood transfusions poses significant risks of causing acute Chagas' disease in immunocompromised patients. Both forms of trypanosomiasis have neurologic ...
Tópico(s): Mosquito-borne diseases and control
1993 - Thieme Medical Publishers (Germany) | Seminars in Neurology
Alice J.A.M. Sijts, Merceditas Villanueva, Eric G. Pamer,
Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogenic intracellular bacterium that secretes proteins into the cytosol of host cells. A major secreted protein, p60, is processed by the host cell into the nonamer peptides p60 217-225 and p60 449-457, which are presented to CTL by H-2Kd MHC class I molecules. Herein, we use two membrane permeable peptide aldehyde protease inhibitors, LLnL and Z-LLF, to inhibit cytosolic proteolysis in L. monocytogenes-infected cells. These inhibitors, which have been shown to inhibit ...
Tópico(s): Glycosylation and Glycoproteins Research
1996 - American Association of Immunologists | The Journal of Immunology
Merceditas Villanueva, Alice J.A.M. Sijts, Eric G. Pamer,
Listeria monocytogenes is an intracellular pathogen that enters the cytoplasm of infected cells by secreting listeriolysin (LLO), a protein that destroys the phagosomal membrane. In infected mice, LLO is a major Ag detected by protective, MHC class I-restricted CTLs. Although the role of LLO in pathogenesis and host immunity is well established, its rate of intracellular synthesis has yet to be determined. Herein we show that cytosolic L. monocytogenes secrete LLO at a relatively low rate of approximately ...
Tópico(s): Vibrio bacteria research studies
1995 - American Association of Immunologists | The Journal of Immunology
Atsuko Yamahiro, K. H. Vincent Lau, David R. Peaper, Merceditas Villanueva,
Tópico(s): Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia detection and treatment
2016 - Springer Science+Business Media | Mycopathologia
Marwan M. Azar, Maricar Malinis, J. Moss, Richard N. Formica, Merceditas Villanueva,
In the era of antiretroviral therapy, people living with HIV/AIDS live longer and are subject to co-morbidities that affect the general population, such as chronic kidney disease. An increasing number of people living with HIV/AIDS with end-stage renal disease are candidates for renal transplantation. Prior experience demonstrated that HIV-positive renal transplant recipients had acceptable survival but graft survival was decreased and rejection rates were increased, possibly due to suboptimal management ...
Tópico(s): Renal Transplantation Outcomes and Treatments
2016 - SAGE Publishing | International Journal of STD & AIDS
Eric G. Pamer, Alice J.A.M. Sijts, Merceditas Villanueva, Dirk H. Busch, Sujata Vijh,
Summary: Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) secretes proteins associated with its virulence into the cytosol of infected cells. These secreted proteins are degraded by host cell proteasomes and processed into peptides that are bound by MHC class I molecules in the endoplasmic reticulum. We have found that the MHC class I antigen‐processing pathway is very efficient at generating the epitopes that are presented to cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL). Depending on which antigen is investigated, from ...
Tópico(s): T-cell and B-cell Immunology
1997 - Wiley | Immunological Reviews
Kenneth A. Litwin, Farid Jadbabaie, Merceditas Villanueva,
Tópico(s): Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis and Management
1999 - Oxford University Press | Clinical Infectious Diseases
Benjamin J. Oldfield, N. Muñoz, Nicholas Boshnack, Robert Leavitt, Mark P. McGovern, Merceditas Villanueva, Jeanette M. Tetrault, E. Jennifer Edelman,
IntroductionIntegration of HIV- and opioid use disorder (OUD)-related care is associated with improved patient outcomes. Our goal was to develop a novel instrument for measuring quality of integration of HIV and OUD-related care that would be applicable across diverse care settings.MethodsGrounded in community-based participatory research principles, we conducted a qualitative study from August through November 2017 to inform modification of the Behavioral Health Integration in Medical Care (BHIMC) ...
Tópico(s): Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
2018 - Elsevier BV | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
Benjamin J. Oldfield, Nicolás Muñoz, Mark P. McGovern, Melissa Funaro, Merceditas Villanueva, Jeanette M. Tetrault, E. Jennifer Edelman,
Objective: We sought to identify optimal strategies for integrating HIV- and opioid use disorder-(OUD) screening and treatment in diverse settings. Design: Systematic review. Methods: We searched Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO and preidentified websites. Studies were included if they were published in English on or after 2002 through May 2017, and evaluated interventions that integrated, at an organizational level, screening and/or treatment for HIV and OUD in any care setting in any country. ...
Tópico(s): Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects
2018 - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins | AIDS
Lamia Haque, Merceditas Villanueva, Armand Russo, Youzhong Yuan, Eun‐Ju Lee, Jeffrey Topal, Nikolai A. Podoltsev,
A young, healthy traveler returning to the United States presented with fever, night sweats, splenomegaly, and pancytopenia. Bone marrow biopsy revealed leishmaniasis (Leishmania infantum), likely acquired in southern France. Although many cases of endemic visceral leishmaniasis (VL) have been reported in Europe, this is a rare case of imported VL in a healthy traveler returning from Europe to the US. Despite successful initial treatment with liposomal amphotericin B (LamB), relapse occurred. Treatments ...
Tópico(s): Parasites and Host Interactions
2018 - Public Library of Science | PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Christina Rizk, Janet Miceli, Bethel Shiferaw, Maricar Malinis, Lydia Barakat, Onyema Ogbuagu, Merceditas Villanueva,
Abstract Background Among the 1.2 million people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the United States, 25% are coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). The availability of effective direct acting antivirals (DAAs) makes the goal of HCV elimination feasible, but implementation requires improvements to the HCV treatment cascade, especially linkage to and initiation of treatment in underserved populations. Methods In this retrospective review, a cohort of patients receiving care at a hospital- ...
Tópico(s): HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
2019 - Oxford University Press | Open Forum Infectious Diseases
E. Jennifer Edelman, Lydia Barakat, Merceditas Villanueva, Gerald Friedland,
The novel coronavirus 2019 illness (COVID-19) has completely transformed and uprooted lives across the globe. While different diseases, there are critical observations and lessons to be learned from the ongoing HIV epidemic to inform our response to COVID-19. We reflect on how this relates to (1) testing, including contact tracing; (2) health system redesign; (3) telehealth; (4) health disparities; (5) political denial, with inadequate and uncoordinated governmental response; (6) occupational exposure; ...
Tópico(s): Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
2020 - Springer Science+Business Media | AIDS and Behavior
Christina Price, Frederick L. Altice, Yu Shyr, Alan Koff, Lauren Pischel, George Goshua, Marwan M. Azar, Dayna McManus, Sheau‐Chiann Chen, Shana E. Gleeson, Clemente J. Britto, Veronica Azmy, Kelsey Kaman, David C. Gaston, Matthew W. Davis, Trisha Burrello, Z.M. Harris, Merceditas Villanueva, Lydia Barakat, Insoo Kang, Stuart Seropian, Geoffrey Chupp, Richard Bucala, Naftali Kaminski, Alfred Ian Lee, Patricia LoRusso, Jeffrey Topal, Charles S. Dela Cruz, Maricar Malinis,
Tocilizumab, an IL-6 receptor antagonist, can be used to treat cytokine release syndrome (CRS), with observed improvements in a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case series.The goal of this study was to determine if tocilizumab benefits patients hospitalized with COVID-19.This observational study of consecutive COVID-19 patients hospitalized between March 10, 2020, and March 31, 2020, and followed up through April 21, 2020, was conducted by chart review. Patients were treated with tocilizumab using ...
Tópico(s): Muscle and Compartmental Disorders
2020 - Elsevier BV | CHEST Journal
Jacob McPadden, Frederick Warner, H. P. Young, Nathan C. Hurley, Rebecca Pulk, Avinainder Singh, Thomas J S Durant, Guannan Gong, Nihar R. Desai, Adrian D. Haimovich, Richard A. Taylor, Murat Günel, Charles S. Dela Cruz, Shelli Farhadian, Jonathan Siner, Merceditas Villanueva, Keith Churchwell, Allen Hsiao, Charles J Torre, Eric J. Velazquez, Roy S. Herbst, Akiko Iwasaki, Albert I. Ko, Bobak J. Mortazavi, Harlan M. Krumholz, Wade L. Schulz,
Severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people worldwide. Our goal was to identify risk factors associated with admission and disease severity in patients with SARS-CoV-2.
Tópico(s): COVID-19 and healthcare impacts
2021 - Public Library of Science | PLoS ONE
Anishaa Sivakumar, Lynn M. Madden, Elizabeth DiDomizio, Anthony Eller, Merceditas Villanueva, Frederick L. Altice,
Healthcare delivery was disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring minimized in-person contact between patients and clinicians. During the pandemic, people with opioid use disorder (OUD) were not only at elevated risk for COVID-19, but had markedly reduced access to treatment for OUD, Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV due to recommended decreased in-person visits.From March 15-June 15, 2020 at the syringe services program (SSP) in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, a differentiated care model evolved ...
Tópico(s): COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
2021 - Elsevier BV | International Journal of Drug Policy
William A. Werbel, Diane Brown, Oyinkansola Kusemiju, Brianna Doby, Shanti Seaman, Andrew D. Redd, Yolanda Eby, Reinaldo E. Fernández, Niraj M. Desai, J. R. Miller, Gilad A. Bismut, Charles Kirby, H Schmidt, William Clarke, Michael Seisa, Christos J. Petropoulos, Thomas C. Quinn, Sander Florman, Shirish Huprikar, Meenakshi Rana, Rachel Friedman‐Moraco, Aneesh K. Mehta, Peter G. Stock, Jennifer C. Price, Valentina Stosor, Shikha Mehta, Alexander Gilbert, Nahel Elias, Michele I. Morris, Sameer Mehta, Catherine B. Small, Ghady Haidar, Maricar Malinis, Jennifer Husson, Marcus R. Pereira, Gaurav Gupta, Jonathan Hand, Varvara A. Kirchner, Avinash Kumar Ágarwal, Saima Aslam, Emily A. Blumberg, Cameron R. Wolfe, Kevin Myer, Robert Wood, Nikole Neidlinger, Sara Strell, Marion Shuck, Harry Wilkins, Matthew Wadsworth, Jennifer D. Motter, Jonah Odim, Dorry L. Segev, Christine M. Durand, Aaron A.R. Tobian, Dominque Piquant, Katherine Link, Marion Hemmersbach‐Miller, Thomas C. Pearson, Nicole A. Turgeon, G. Marshall Lyon, William H. Kitchens, Jeryl Huckaby, A Francie Lasseter, Rivka Elbein, April Roberson, Elizabeth Ferry, Ethan Klock, Willa Cochran, Michelle Morrison, Sarah E. Van Pilsum Rasmussen, Juli Bollinger, Jeremy Sugarman, Angela R. Smith, Margaret Thomas, Margaret Coakley, Joseph Timpone, Alyssa Stucke, Brandy Haydel, Rebecca Dieter, Elizabeth J. Klein, Henry Neumann, Lorenzo Gallon, Leah Goudy, Michelle Callegari, Ilise Marrazzo, Towanda Jackson, Timothy L. Pruett, Mary Farnsworth, Jayme E. Locke, Darnell Mompoint-Williams, Katherine Basinger, Kristin L. Mekeel, Phirum Nguyen, Joanne Kwan, Tab Srisengfa, Peter Chin‐Hong, Rodney Rogers, Jacques Simkins, Carlos Muñoz, Ty B. Dunn, Dierdre Sawinski, Fernanda Silveira, Kailey Hughes, Diana L. Pakstis, Jamie Nagy, Mary Baldecchi, Thangamani Muthukumar, Melissa D Eddie, Katharine Robb, Elizabeth Salsgiver, Britta Witting, Marwan M. Azar, Merceditas Villanueva, Richard N. Formica, Ricarda Tomlin,
Abstract Background Organ transplantation from donors with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to recipients with HIV (HIV D+/R+) presents risks of donor-derived infections. Understanding clinical, immunologic, and virologic characteristics of HIV-positive donors is critical for safety. Methods We performed a prospective study of donors with HIV-positive and HIV false-positive (FP) test results within the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act in Action studies of HIV D+/R+ transplantation (ClinicalTrials. ...
Tópico(s): HIV Research and Treatment
2021 - Oxford University Press | Clinical Infectious Diseases
Robyn Neblett Fanfair, George Khalil, Tiffany Williams, Kathleen A. Brady, Alfred DeMaria, Merceditas Villanueva, Liisa M. Randall, Heidi Jenkins, Frederick L. Altice, Nasima M. Camp, Crystal Lucas, Marianne Buchelli, Taraz Samandari, Paul J. Weidle,
Persons with HIV (PWH), aware of their HIV infection but not in care account for an estimated 42.6% of HIV transmissions in the United States. Health departments and clinics implemented a collaborative data-to-care strategy to identify persons newly out-of-care with the objective of increasing re-engagement, retention in medical care, and viral load suppression.A multi-site, prospective randomised trial was conducted to identify newly out-of-care PWH using surveillance and clinic data in Connecticut ( ...
Tópico(s): HIV Research and Treatment
2021 - Elsevier BV | The Lancet Regional Health - Americas
Dini Harsono, Yanhong Deng, Sangyun Chung, Lydia Barakat, Gerald Friedland, Jaimie P. Meyer, Elizabeth Porter, Merceditas Villanueva, Michael S. Wolf, Jessica E. Yager, E. Jennifer Edelman,
To characterize perspectives and experiences with telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a mixed-methods study in two HIV clinics in the US Northeast. Among surveyed patients with HIV (PWH) who had a telemedicine appointment (n = 205), 42.4% perceived telemedicine visits as useful during the pandemic. PWH and clinical staff identified benefits of telemedicine: (1) ability to engage and re-engage patients in care; (2) perceived patient-centeredness and flexibility; (3) opportunity to engage ...
Tópico(s): HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
2022 - Springer Science+Business Media | AIDS and Behavior
Paul C. Adamson, Janet Miceli, Bethel Shiferaw, Merceditas Villanueva, Joseph Canterino,
There is an urgent need to increase patient access to treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We developed a colocalized HCV clinic integrated within a primary care practice. We report the prevalence of HCV and evaluate the impact of the integrated clinic on the HCV cascade of care.We performed a retrospective study of patients with chronic HCV infection from 2 clinic practices, an integrated clinic practice and a similar nonintegrated clinic practice, between July 2015 and July 2016. ...
Tópico(s): Hepatitis B Virus Studies
2020 - Elsevier BV | The American Journal of Medicine
Onyema Ogbuagu, Merceditas Villanueva,
One of the complications of the use of anti-retroviral therapy (ART), immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), is particularly problematic in the management of cryptococcal meningitis. We present the case of a 35- year-old male with acquired immune deficiency syndrome diagnosed with extensive central nervous system (CNS) cryptococcal disease, including meningitis and multiple intracranial cysts, diagnosed eight weeks after the initiation of ART. The patient experienced a relapsing and remitting ...
Tópico(s): Nail Diseases and Treatments
2014 - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute | Infectious Disease Reports
Sarah Brothers, Elizabeth DiDomizio, Lisa Nichols, Ralph Brooks, Merceditas Villanueva,
In the United States, approximately 25% of people with HIV (PWH) are co-infected with hepatitis C (HCV). Since 2014, highly effective and well-tolerated direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have revolutionized HCV treatment. Uptake of DAAs by people with HIV/HCV co-infection has improved but remains suboptimal due to system, provider, and patient-level barriers. To explore patient-level issues by better understanding their attitudes towards DAA treatment, we conducted qualitative interviews with 21 persons ...
Tópico(s): HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
2022 - Springer Science+Business Media | AIDS and Behavior
A. Maughan, Katrin S. Sadigh, Veronica C. Angulo-Diaz, Charisse Mandimika, Merceditas Villanueva, Joseph K. Lim, Onyema Ogbuagu,
Treatments for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have vastly improved over the past few decades with current regimens now offering pangenotypic activity with excellent cure rates reported in clinical trials, including in the HIV-HCV coinfected population. However, there is some concern that stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria in the trials may lead to results that are not achievable in real-world populations. Our study evaluated a real-world HIV-HCV coinfected population and compared them ...
Tópico(s): Diabetes Treatment and Management
2019 - BioMed Central | BMC Infectious Diseases
Merceditas Villanueva, Janet Miceli, Suzanne Speers, Lisa Nichols, Constance M. Carroll, Heidi Jenkins, Frederick L. Altice,
Background UN AIDS has set ambitious 95-95-95 HIV care continuum targets for global HIV elimination by 2030. The U.S. HIV Care Continuum in 2018 showed that 65% of persons with HIV(PWH) are virally suppressed and 58% retained in care. Incomplete care-engagement not only affects individual health but drives ongoing HIV transmission. Data to Care (D2C) is a strategy using public health surveillance data to identify and re-engage out-of-care (OOC) PWH. Optimization of this strategy is needed. Setting ...
Tópico(s): HIV Research and Treatment
2022 - Public Library of Science | PLoS ONE
Robyn Neblett Fanfair, Ram K. Shrestha, Liisa M. Randall, Crystal Lucas, Lisa Nichols, Nasima M. Camp, Kathleen A. Brady, Heidi Jenkins, F. L. Altice, Merceditas Villanueva, Alfred DeMaria,
The Cooperative Re-Engagement Controlled Trial (CoRECT) is a randomized controlled trial that uses a combined health department-provider data to care (D2C) model to identify out-of-care HIV-infected persons. We present cost data for programmatic aspects of the trial during the start-up period (first 30 days of the study).We used microcosting methods to estimate health department start-up costs. We collected start-up cost data between September 2016 and December 2016; 3 health departments completed ...
Tópico(s): Healthcare Systems and Reforms
2019 - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins | JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
Ralph Brooks, Maximilian Wegener, Suzanne Speers, Lisa Nichols, Robert Sideleau, Tequetta Valeriano, Marianne Buchelli, Merceditas Villanueva,
Highly effective direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatments for hepatitis C have led to strategic goals promoting hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure particularly in focus populations including persons with HIV/HCV coinfection. Implementing treatment more broadly requires both clinic-level and public health approaches such as those inherent in Data to Care (D2C) originally developed to improve the treatment cascade for persons with HIV (PWH). We used D2C methods to characterize and improve HCV treatment for ...
Tópico(s): HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
2023 - SAGE Publishing | Health Promotion Practice