Lily Xia

All Publications

• Sex Differences in Long-Term Overall and Cause-Specific Mortality in Patients With Cirrhosis. JAMA network open Su, X., Xia, L., Huang, R., Mao, X., Yan, T., Fan, H., Cheung, R., Nguyen, M. H. 2026; 9 (7): e2622711

  Abstract

  Evidence on sex differences in the natural history of cirrhosis and cause-specific mortality remains limited.To compare long-term all-cause and cause-specific mortality between male and female patients with cirrhosis.This population-based retrospective cohort study included hospitalized adults with cirrhosis identified from the California Department of Healthcare Access and Information database from January 2005 to December 2019. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance baseline characteristics between male and female patients. Data were analyzed from August to December 2025.Sex (females compared with males).Ten-year all-cause and cause-specific (liver-related [hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and non-HCC], non-liver-related [cardiovascular and other]) mortality were assessed. Hazard ratios (HRs) of all-cause death were estimated using Cox models, and subdistribution hazard ratios (sHRs) of cause-specific death and receipt of liver transplantation (LT) were estimated using Fine-Gray competing risk models, stratified by age, race, ethnicity, social deprivation level, cirrhosis cause, and cirrhosis severity.Among 316 957 patients with cirrhosis (124 228 females [39.2%]; mean [SD] age, 61.4 [14.4] years; 192 729 males [60.8%]; mean [SD] age, 58.8 [13.1] years), PSM yielded 110 044 male-female pairs with balanced characteristics. Compared with males, females had lower estimated 10-year cumulative all-cause mortality (51 703 patients [58.2%] vs 53 310 patients [59.8%]), cardiovascular mortality (9215 patients [10.5%] vs 10 531 patients [11.9%]), and HCC-related mortality (3255 patients [3.6%] vs 4745 patients [5.4%]), but higher non-HCC liver-related mortality (18 572 patients [20.9%] vs 16 993 patients [19.0%]). In Cox models, females had a lower hazard of all-cause death (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.93-0.96). In Fine-Gray models, females had lower hazards of cardiovascular-related (sHR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.84-0.89) and HCC-related (sHR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.65-0.71) death, but a higher hazard of non-HCC liver-related death (sHR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.07-1.12). Stratified analyses suggested that females younger than 50 years (sHR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.02-1.11) and those with alcohol-associated cirrhosis (sHR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.08-1.17) had higher hazard of liver-related mortality, and females were less likely to undergo LT (sHR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.66-0.89).In this cohort study of patients with cirrhosis, males had slightly higher all-cause mortality largely due to higher cardiovascular and HCC-related mortality, while females had higher non-HCC liver-related mortality; females younger than 50 years and those with alcohol-associated cirrhosis had higher liver-related mortality but lower rates of LT. These sex disparities warrant specific consideration in future guidelines for disease monitoring and transplant allocation.

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.22711

  View details for PubMedID 42424078

• A MUC1-overexpressing epithelial population is associated with CDH1 loss-of-function gastric adenocarcinoma. Guo, C., Reveron-Thornton, R. F., Li, X., Agolia, J. P., Korah, M., Xie, P., Goncalves, A., Tabora, A., Xia, L., Barakat, N., Poultsides, G., Lee, B., Kirane, A. R., Foster, D., Longaker, M. T., Charville, G. W., Delitto, D. AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH. 2026

  View details for DOI 10.1158/1538-7445.AM2026-2270

  View details for Web of Science ID 001734175500036

• Rectal Neuroendocrine Tumor Presenting as Refractory Chronic Pruritus Ani: A Case Report. Case reports in gastroenterology Tran, T. M., Doan, R., Seok, H. J., Xia, L., Robinson, M., Matabele, M., Ghodsian, M. 2026; 20 (1): 132-137

  Abstract

  Primary neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) of the rectum are rare and often present with nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms, making early diagnosis challenging.We report the case of a 42-year-old male with persistent pruritus ani and mild rectal bleeding refractory to conventional treatment, ultimately diagnosed with a well-differentiated grade 1 rectal NET.This case underscores the importance of maintaining clinical suspicion for rare malignancies when evaluating persistent anorectal symptoms and highlights the critical role of endoscopic evaluation in achieving early diagnosis and favorable outcomes.

  View details for DOI 10.1159/000551349

  View details for PubMedID 42256648

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC13241082

• Non-Invasive Hybrid Ultrasound Stimulation of Visual Cortex In Vivo. Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) Gong, C., Li, R., Lu, G., Ji, J., Zeng, Y., Chen, J., Chang, C., Zhang, J., Xia, L., Nair, D. S., Thomas, B. B., Song, B. J., Humayun, M. S., Zhou, Q. 2023; 10 (5)

  Abstract

  The optic nerve is the second cranial nerve (CN II) that connects and transmits visual information between the retina and the brain. Severe damage to the optic nerve often leads to distorted vision, vision loss, and even blindness. Such damage can be caused by various types of degenerative diseases, such as glaucoma and traumatic optic neuropathy, and result in an impaired visual pathway. To date, researchers have not found a viable therapeutic method to restore the impaired visual pathway; however, in this paper, a newly synthesized model is proposed to bypass the damaged portion of the visual pathway and set up a direct connection between a stimulated visual input and the visual cortex (VC) using Low-frequency Ring-transducer Ultrasound Stimulation (LRUS). In this study, by utilizing and integrating various advanced ultrasonic and neurological technologies, the following advantages are achieved by the proposed LRUS model: 1. This is a non-invasive procedure that uses enhanced sound field intensity to overcome the loss of ultrasound signal due to the blockage of the skull. 2. The simulated visual signal generated by LRUS in the visual-cortex-elicited neuronal response in the visual cortex is comparable to light stimulation of the retina. The result was confirmed by a combination of real-time electrophysiology and fiber photometry. 3. VC showed a faster response rate under LRUS than light stimulation through the retina. These results suggest a potential non-invasive therapeutic method for restoring vision in optic-nerve-impaired patients using ultrasound stimulation (US).

  View details for DOI 10.3390/bioengineering10050577

  View details for PubMedID 37237647

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10215307

• Genome Sequences of Mycobacterium smegmatis Phages Fefferhead and ShamWow. Microbiology resource announcements Dao, V. L., Xia, L., Bancroft, C. T. 2021; 10 (47): e0097321

  Abstract

  Fefferhead and ShamWow are temperate mycobacteriophages in the K6 and E clusters, respectively. The length of the Fefferhead genome is 61,366 bp, with 98 predicted genes. The ShamWow genome has a length of 75,933 bp, with 143 predicted genes, 3 of which are duplicates.

  View details for DOI 10.1128/MRA.00973-21

  View details for PubMedID 34817212

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8612077