08/27/2026
This summer, Amaira researched Paroxysmal Sympathetic Hyperactivity after a Traumatic Brain Injury in Dr. Cecilia Giulivi's lab.
"The project I worked on this summer explored the subcondition called Paroxysmal Sympathetic Hyperactivity (PSH) after a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). We examined previous literature that addressed these conditions in order to examine whether there were links between PSH and clinical outcomes. We used forest plots in order to examine that there was an insignificant correlation between the two, but also identify outliers that could have changed this. The second aspect of our project was a proteomic analysis that was conducted on CSF and plasma proteins using mass spectrometry to identify the proteins. The proteins examined data from three clinical patient profiles, each with three distinct patient profiles. JMP software was used to preform hierarchal clustering on the data and establish that outcomes determined proteins and biological pathways more than PSH presence. Plasma proteins were also analyzed to draw conclusions that more proteins were examined in patients with poor outcome and PSH. There was also overlap between biological pathways in this clinical outcome only. Overall, our study works towards an increase in PSH standardization and diagnosis."
