Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship

Research & Scholarly Activities

Fellows in academic setting

Research activities within the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine have been strengthened by the establishment of strong ties with investigators of the Department of Internal Medicine, Occupational Health, Otolaryngology, Neurology, Physiology & Molecular Medicine, Radiation Therapy, Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, and Environmental Health. These ties have resulted in the establishment of interdisciplinary research grants which provide excellent opportunities for both research and training. Examples include the Center for Environmental Medicine, a $1.4 million Department of Defense Award for studying fundamental mechanisms of inhalation injury, a National Science Foundation Award ($0.5 Million) to study the aerodynamics of airway function; and NIH-RO1 and Program Project grants to investigate genetic alterations of bronchial epithelial cells in response to environmental exposures, and Industry supported projects to study beryllosis and occupational/chronic bronchitis.

A unique aspect of the Division relates to the interdisciplinary activities of the Biological Fluid Mechanics Unit; a combination of biological and bioengineering investigators researching various aspects of airway and pulmonary vascular biophysics at The University of Toledo and The Oak Ridge National Laboratory lead by UToledo faculty.

Other active basic science research within the Division relates to genetic predisposition to granulomatous lung diseases (sarcoidosis, TB, beryllosis) and mechanisms of airway inflammation.

Research & Activities

Current clinical research activities are focused toward the impact of COVID-19, use of diagnostic exercise testing, novel treatments for sepsis and ARDS, management of hypoxia and pulmonary hypertension with inhaled nitric oxide, liquid mechanical ventilation, and treatment of interstitial lung disease, pulmonary vascular disease in scleroderma, and asthma.

COVID-19

  • The association of low serum albumin level with severe COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis; Muhammad Aziz, Rawish Fatima, Wade Lee-Smith & Ragheb Assaly ; Critical Care volume 24, Article number: 255 (2020)  
  • Elevated interleukin‐6 and severe COVID‐19: A meta‐analysis; Muhammad Aziz , Rawish Fatima and Ragheb Assaly First published: 28 April 2020 Journal of Medical Virology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25948
  • Infer COVID Research, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Assaly%20CoVId%20

Animal Research lab : Hemorrhagic shock and Sepsis models

  • Assaly RA, Azizi M, Kennedy DJ, et al. Plasma expansion by polyethylene-glycol-modified albumin. Clinical Science 2004 Sep;107(3):263-272. 
  • Ragheb A. Assaly, Robert H. Habib, Mustafa Azizi, Joseph I. Shapiro, J. David Dignam; Use of multiple fluorophores for evaluating microvascular permeability in control rats and rats with sepsis. Clin Sci (Lond) 1 January 2008; 
  • Abdur Rahman Khan, MD, Muhammad Aziz, MBBS, Imel Robert, MD,  Mustafa Azizi, MBBS, Fadi Safi MD, Mohammad Taleb, MD, David Dignam, PhD, Joseph Shapiro, MD, Ragheb Assaly, MD. Polyethylene Glycol modified Albumin (PEG-Albumin) Improves Survival in a Rat Model of Lethal volume-controlled Hemorrhagic Shock. Submitted to Critical care July 17 2020 
  • Ragheb Assaly, Abdur Rahman Khan, Dan Olson.  Weight-Loss Effect on FVC in Nintedanib Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Trials? American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. See comment in PubMed Commons below Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 Oct 15; 192 (8):1020.

Ventilator Associated Events Research

Interventional Pulmonology Research

  • Omballi M, Jantz M, Mehta HJ. Surveillance Imaging After Curative Intent Therapy for Lung Cancer: review article. Seminars in Roentgenology 2019Oct.
  • Kheir F, Shawwa K, Alokla K, Omballi M, Alraiyes A. Tunneled Pleural Catheter for the Treatment of Malignant Pleural Effusion: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am JTher. 2016Nov/Dec;23(6):e1300-e1306.
  • O'Horo JC, Omballi M, Tran TK, Jordan JP, Baumgardner DJ, Gennis MA. J Grad MedEduc. 2012Mar;4(1):42-6.
  • Omballi M, Kheir F. Treatment of Recurrent nonmalignant pleural effusion in adults. Austin J Pulm Respir Med 2014;1(4): 1016.
  • Should EBUS be performed in all patients with suspected sarcoidosis. Omar Assasa ; Mohamed Omballi ; Fayez Kheir. Int J Respir Pulm Med 2014, 1:1 ISSN: 2378-3516.
  • Colonoscopic evaluation after acute diverticulitis, is there an association with colonic malignancy? Abstract ISSN 0016-5107
  • High Mortality in Cocaine Induced Ischemic Colitis: A Case-Control Study Abstract. ISSN 0016-5085 

Fellows Publications 

  • Burmeister C, Beran A, Mhanna M, Ghazaleh S, Tomcho JC, Maqsood A, Sajdeya O, Assaly R. Efficacy and Safety of Direct Oral Anticoagulants Versus Vitamin K Antagonists in the Treatment of Left Ventricular Thrombus: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Am J Ther. 2021 Apr 7;28(4):e411-e419. doi: 10.1097/MJT.0000000000001351. PMID: 33852473.
  • Tracheobronchial Dilation (Mounier-Kuhn-like Syndrome) Secondary to Fluoroquinolones. Awad MT, Iftikhar S, Spetz SL, Kattan A, Banifadel M, Arndt K, Sheikh T, Assaly R .Am J Ther. 2020 Jul 6. 
  • Safi FA, Alyosif MA, Imam S, Assaly RA. Arytenoid Prolapse in three Patients with Ehler-Danlos Syndrome Leading to Respiratory Compromise. Mayo Clin Proc. 2017 May; 92 (5):851-853. 
  • Michels K, Hagner M, El Zein M, Dasa O, Assaly R. Treating two Diseases with one Drug: PDE-4 Inhibitor for COPD and Psoriasis. Am J Ther. 2017 Jan/Feb; 24(1):103-104. 
  • Simo HT, Kubbara A, Varshney N, Fida M, Assaly R, Anandan V."Systemic Emboli Associated with Lung Cancer". Am J Med Sci. 2016 Jun; 351(6):637. 
  • Flora AS, Assaly R. Small-Particle Inhaled Corticosteroids Successfully Suppressing Resistant Chronic Cough Due to Sjogren's Related Airway Involvement. Am J Ther. 2016 Sep 5. PMID: 27574939
  • Mohammad Awad, Mujahed Alkhathlan, Samantha Spetz, Michael Conley, Ragheb Assaly. Intravenous Lipid Emulsion as Salvage Treatment for Haloperidol Toxicity.   Am J of Therapeutics- In Press Feb 2020

 

Conferences

  • American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Conference, 2019 New Orleans: Tamer Said, Ragheb Assaly: Efficacy and Safety of PPI use as stress ulcer prophylaxis in critically ill patients, a metanalysis of randomized controlled trials; Praful Tewari, Ragheb Assaly: Treatment of acute bupropion toxicity using lipid infusion and plasmapheresis, Type of presentation: Oral PowerPoint presentation “plasmapheresis to the rescue.”
  • American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Conference, 2018: Tamer Said, Ragheb Assaly: Predicting Laryngeal Edema and cuff leak vs Laryngeal Column width: Systematic review; Zubair Khan, Ragheb Assaly: The Impact of obesity on Mortality in Patients with Pulmonary Embolism: A 13-year national analysis.
  • World Congress of Gastroenterology, 2017: Simo H, Barnett W, Ammari Z, Tiwari A, Assaly R: “Regional Sociodemographic Determinants of Colon Cancer Incidence in the Unite
  • American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Conference, 2017: Simo H, Kubbara A, Barnett W, Alamoudi W, Almeshal N, Ramadugu A, Iqbal A, Khateeb F, Fida M, Ambati A, Marino C, Qin K, Safi F, Assaly R: “Endotracheal Tube Sizes and the Development of Ventilation Associated Events: Does Gender Play a Role?”;  Simo H, Barnett W, Ammari Z, Tiwari A, Assaly R: “Regional Sociodemographic Determinants of Lung Cancer Incidence in the United States”; Kubbara A, Alamoudi A, Alim H, Iqbal, A, Jenkins J, Mankarious M, Pak S, Qin K, Simo H, Khateeb, Barnett W,Safi F, Assaly R: “Central Venous Pressure Correlation to the Development of Ventilator Associated Events per CDC Surveillance Guidelines”
  • American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference, 2017: Kubbara A, Barnett W, Nakity R, Alamoudi W, Almaziad S, Altook R, Altarazi T, Safi F, Assaly R: “Is There a Correlation Between Endotracheal Tube Size and the Incidence of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia?”
  • American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Conference, 2016: Simo H, Kubbara, A, Barnett W, Altook R, Alamoudi W, Nakity R, Khateeb F, Tarazi T, Almeshal N, Safi F, Assaly R; “Distributions of Mechanically Ventilated Patients in Relation to Time & Incidence of VAEs”; Almeshal N, Tarazi T, Barnett W, Kubbara A, Alamoudi W, Altook R, Nakity R, Iqbal A, Ramadugu A, Rehman S, Safi F, Assaly RA: “Effects of Steroidal Therapy on the Incidence of Ventilator-associated Events in a Northwestern Ohio Hospital”
  • European Society for Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) Conference, 2016: Almazaid S, Kubbara ABarnett W, Nakity R, Alamoudi W, Altook R, Tarazi T, Fida M, Safi F, Assaly R. “Correlation between Antibiotic Class and the Incidence of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in an American Hospital”

Active IRB Approved Studies

  • Validation of Multi-Gene Test for Lung Cancer Risk (LCRT)
  • Inherited Genetic Risk Factors Common to Lung Cancer and COPD: (LC-COPD)
  • Gene Expression and Regulation of Normal Airway Epithelium
  • The Impact of the Implementation of a Pharmacist-Driven COPD Management Program
  • An Open-Label Extension Trial to Assess the Long Term Safety of Nintedanib in  Patients with Systemic Sclerosis Associated Interstitial Lung Disease (SSc-ILD)
  • Validation of Molecular Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Lunch Cancer in the setting of Indeterminate Pulmonary Nodules (Lung Team Project #2 - LTP2 Nodule)
  • "Neurological Disease Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Countywide Review"

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Last Updated: 6/27/22