Kagingo Munilu
National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Organic Chemistry, Department Member
Research Interests: Cancer, Adolescent, Humans, Female, Male, and 8 moreYoung Adult, Mesothelioma, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Sex Factors, Case Control Studies, and lung neoplasms
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ABSTRACT With the recent increase in data volumes and algorithm complexity, clinical researchers are increasingly facing problems associated with information tracking, analysis reproducibility and the verification of scientific outputs.... more
ABSTRACT With the recent increase in data volumes and algorithm complexity, clinical researchers are increasingly facing problems associated with information tracking, analysis reproducibility and the verification of scientific outputs. Systems are required that provide provenance data capture and management as support for analyses. This paper presents a provenance enabled system that is used in the N4U project, which aims to provide detailed trace ability to support research analysis processes in the study of biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease. To facilitate the orchestration of complex, large-scale analyses in this project we have adapted CRISTAL, a workflow and provenance tracking solution. The use of CRISTAL has provided a rich environment for neuroscientists to track the evolution of both data and workflows in N4U.
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To determine the effect on survival after transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Longitudinal cohort study. Radiology Department, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Stadium... more
To determine the effect on survival after transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Longitudinal cohort study. Radiology Department, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Stadium Road, Karachi, from December 1997 to September 2005. Patients undergoing TACE procedure for HCC were prospectively followed. Fortythree patients were enrolled from December 1997 to March 2003 in the study and subjected to chemoembolization therapy. Eight out of 43 patients were excluded from the study, who lost to follow-up. All the patients were followed till their death. Median and mean survival were calculated. The median survival of these 35 patients was 410 days (13.6 months), with 95% confidence interval (236 days lower bound and 536 days upper bound). Mean survival time was 603 days (20.1 months) with 95% confidence interval (394 days lower bound and 812 days upper bound). There was significant difference in mean survival time (in days) by Child ...
Research Interests: Palliative Care, Pakistan, Developing Countries, Treatment Outcome, Risk assessment, and 15 moreProbability, Humans, Female, Male, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Follow-up studies, Aged, Middle Aged, Longitudinal Studies, Adult, Time Factors, Survival Rate, Risk Assessment, Cohort Studies, and Liver neoplasms
The optimal degree of heparin anticoagulation for peripheral vascular interventions (PVIs) has not been defined. We sought to correlate total heparin dose and peak procedural activated clotting time (ACT) with postprocedural outcomes in... more
The optimal degree of heparin anticoagulation for peripheral vascular interventions (PVIs) has not been defined. We sought to correlate total heparin dose and peak procedural activated clotting time (ACT) with postprocedural outcomes in patients undergoing PVI. We studied 4743 patients who received heparin during PVIs in a regional, multicenter registry. From those, 1246 had recorded peak procedural ACT with the same point-of-care device. Periprocedural and in-hospital outcomes were compared between patients who received a total heparin dose <60 U/kg (n=2161) and ≥60 U/kg (n=2582). Similarly, outcomes were evaluated between groups with a peak procedural ACT <250 seconds (n=855) and ≥250 seconds (n=391). Technical and procedural success as well as intraprocedural thrombotic events did not differ between groups. Patients with heparin dose ≥60 U/kg had a higher rate of postprocedural hemoglobin drop ≥3 g/dL (7.09% versus 5.09%, respectively, P=0.004) and a higher transfusion rate...
Research Interests: Prospective studies, Humans, Heparin, Female, Male, and 5 moreAnticoagulants, Registries, Aged, Middle Aged, and Circulation
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Abstract neu GRID is an EC-funded project driven by the needs of the Alzheimer&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;s disease research community that aims to facilitate the collection and archiving of large amounts of... more
Abstract neu GRID is an EC-funded project driven by the needs of the Alzheimer&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;s disease research community that aims to facilitate the collection and archiving of large amounts of imaging data coupled with a set of generalized services and algorithms. By taking Alzheimer&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;s disease as an exemplar, the neu GRID project has developed a set of generic analysis services and a Grid infrastructure that enables the European neuroscience community to carry out research required for the study of degenerative brain diseases. ...
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Abstract An increased amount of large scale, collaborative biomedical research has recently been conducted on e-Science infrastructures. Such research typically involves conducting comparative analysis on large amounts of data to search... more
Abstract An increased amount of large scale, collaborative biomedical research has recently been conducted on e-Science infrastructures. Such research typically involves conducting comparative analysis on large amounts of data to search for biomarkers for diseases. Running these analysis manually can often be quite cumbersome, labour-intensive and error-prone. Significant work has been invested into automating such analysis with appropriately configured workflows. It is also important for biomedical researchers to ...
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Research Interests: Knowledge Management, Evidence Based Medicine, Health Care, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Ideas, and 10 moreData Modelling, Case Study, Knowledge Based Systems, Requirements elicitation, Knowledge base, Software Requirement Specification, Data Integrity, Medical Records, User Requirements, and Biomedical Application
Research Interests: Immune response, Survival Analysis, Veterinary, Animals, Statistical Significance, and 15 morePOULTRY DISEASES, Chickens, Survival Rate, Newcastle disease, Body Weight, Veterinary Sciences, Newcastle Disease Virus, Cyclophosphamide, Lymphoid Tissue, Organ Weight, Random Allocation, Broiler Chicken, Immunosuppressive Agents, Antibody Response, and Tissue distribution
The effects of dietary supplement of arginine on protective humoral and cell-mediated immune responses of broiler chicks vaccinated and challenged against hydropericardium syndrome virus (HPSV) were investigated and compared with those of... more
The effects of dietary supplement of arginine on protective humoral and cell-mediated immune responses of broiler chicks vaccinated and challenged against hydropericardium syndrome virus (HPSV) were investigated and compared with those of 2 reference drugs (cyclophosphamide and cyclosporine). Percentage ratios of lymphoid organs (bursa, spleen, and thymus) to BW, postvaccination and challenge serum antibody responses to HPSV, cutaneous basophil hypersensitivity reaction, peripheral lymphoproliferation, postchallenge detection of HPSV in the tissues of infected birds, and ability of chicks to resist virulent HPSV challenge were the parameters utilized to determine the effects of arginine on protective immune responses of chicks. A total of 600 chicks were used in this study. Arginine-supplemented chicks showed significant (P &amp;amp;lt; 0.05) stimulation of lymphoproliferation and cutaneous basophil hypersensitivity reactions compared with untreated control chicks. Similarly, significantly higher body and lymphoid organ weights were (P &amp;amp;lt; 0.05) recorded in arginine-supplemented chicks compared with untreated control chicks. The highest survival rate was recorded in arginine-supplemented HPS-vaccinated chicks compared with immune-suppressed (cyclophosphamide- and cyclosporine-treated and HPS-vaccinated chicks) and untreated unvaccinated control chicks after virulent HPSV challenges. Postchallenge tissue samples from arginine-supplemented and HPS-vaccinated chicks yielded negligible HPSV detections by virus isolation in cell culture or PCR method, or both, compared with untreated control chicks. Thus, it was concluded that dietary supplementation of arginine had beneficial effects on humoral and cell-mediated immune responses of broiler chicks against HPSV.
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The effects of salinomycin (SAL) on protective cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses of vaccinated and challenged broiler chicks against hydropericardium syndrome virus (HPSV) and Newcastle disease (NDV) were investigated while comparing 3... more
The effects of salinomycin (SAL) on protective cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses of vaccinated and challenged broiler chicks against hydropericardium syndrome virus (HPSV) and Newcastle disease (NDV) were investigated while comparing 3 reference drugs [levamisole, cyclophosphamide (CYP), and cyclosporine (CYS)]. Peripheral lymphoproliferation, skin hypersensitivity reactions, and the ability of chicks to resist virulent HPSV and virulent NDV challenges were used to determine the effects of drugs on CMI responses in chicks. Salinomycin-medicated chicks showed significant (P &lt; 0.05) stimulation of lymphoproliferation and nonsignificant (P &gt; 0.05) stimulation of skin hypersensitivity reactions compared with untreated control chicks. However, skin thickness and lymphoproliferation of SAL-medicated chicks were significantly greater (P &lt; 0.05) than those of CYP- and CYS-treated chicks. The greatest survival rate was recorded in SAL-medicated chicks compared with immune-suppressed (CYP- and CYS-treated) and untreated control chicks after virulent NDV and virulent HPSV challenges. Thus, it was concluded that SAL had beneficial effects on the CMI responses of broiler chicks against HPSV and NDV.
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To estimate the associations between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses and service use, caregiver time, and cost outcomes. We used national data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey linked to the National Health Interview... more
To estimate the associations between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses and service use, caregiver time, and cost outcomes. We used national data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey linked to the National Health Interview Survey and a study-specific survey to estimate the annual utilization and costs for health care, school, ASD-related therapy, family-coordinated services, as well as caregiver time in children aged 3 to 17 years, with and without parent-reported ASD. Regression analyses estimated the association between ASD diagnosis and cost, controlling for child gender, age, race/ethnicity, insurance status, household income, country region and urban/rural classification, and non-ASD-related illnesses. Children with parent-reported ASD had higher levels of health care office visits and prescription drug use compared with children without ASD (P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; .05). A greater proportion of children in the ASD group used special educational services (76% vs. 7% in the control group, P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; .05). After adjusting for child demographic characteristics and non-ASD-associated illnesses, ASD was associated with $3020 (95% confidence interval [CI]: $1017-$4259) higher health care costs and $14,061 (95% CI: $4390-$24,302) higher aggregate non-health care costs, including $8610 (95% CI: $6595-$10,421) higher school costs. In adjusted analyses, parents who reported that their child had ASD did not have significantly higher out-of-pocket costs or spend more time on caregiving activities compared with control parents. The economic burden associated with ASD is substantial and can be measured across multiple sectors of our society. Previous analyses that focused on health care underestimated this economic burden, particularly for school systems.
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Research Interests: Epidemiology, Autism, Risk, Brain development, Pregnancy, and 14 moreHumans, Female, Male, Risk factors, Natural experiment, Stressful Life Events, Environmental Stress, Risk Factors, Parent‐child Relations, Autistic disorder, Prenatal Exposure, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Genetic factors, and Medical and Health Sciences
This study sought to examine sex-related differences in outcomes related to peripheral vascular intervention (PVI) procedures. Percutaneous PVI is frequently performed for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). However,... more
This study sought to examine sex-related differences in outcomes related to peripheral vascular intervention (PVI) procedures. Percutaneous PVI is frequently performed for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). However, little is known about sex-related differences related to PVI procedures. We assessed the impact of sex among 12,379 patients (41% female) who underwent lower extremity (LE)-PVI from 2004 to 2009 at 16 hospitals participating in the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium PVI registry. Multivariate propensity-matched analyses were performed to adjust for differences in baseline characteristics, procedural indications, and comorbidities on the basis of sex. Compared with men, women were older and have multilevel disease and critical limb ischemia. In a propensity-matched analysis, female sex was associated with a higher rate of vascular complications, transfusions, and embolism. No differences were observed for in-hospital death, myocardial infarction, or stroke or transient ischemic attack. Technical success was more commonly achieved in women (91.2% vs. 89.1%, p = 0.014), but because of a higher complication rate, the overall procedural success rates were similar in men and women (79.7% vs. 81.6%, p = 0.08). Women represent a significant proportion of patients undergoing LE-PVI, have a more severe and complex disease process, and are at increased risk for adverse outcomes. Despite higher complications rates, women had similar procedural success compared with men, making PVI an effective treatment strategy among women with LE-PAD.