Social, Behavioral, and Clinical Risk Factors Are Associated with Clonal Hematopoiesis.

Background: Risk factors including smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity (PA), and sleep patterns have been associated with cancer risk. Clonal hematopoiesis (CH), including mosaic chromosomal alterations and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential, is linked to increased hematopoietic cancer risk and could be used as common preclinical intermediates for the better understanding of associations of risk factors with rare hematologic malignancies.

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 478,513 UK Biobank participants without hematologic malignancies using multivariable-adjusted analyses to assess the associations between lifestyle factors and CH types.

Absolute lung cancer risk increases among individuals with >15 quit-years: Analyses to inform the update of the American Cancer Society lung cancer screening guidelines.

Background: This report quantifies counteracting effects of quit-years and concomitant aging on lung cancer risk, especially on exceeding 15 quit-years, when the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends curtailing lung-cancer screening.

Methods: Cox models were fitted to estimate absolute lung cancer risk among Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) and National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) participants who ever smoked. Absolute lung cancer risk and gainable years of life from screening for individuals aged 50 to 80 in the US-representative National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2015-2018 who ever smoked were projected.

Methods for Using Race and Ethnicity in Prediction Models for Lung Cancer Screening Eligibility.

Importance: Using race and ethnicity in clinical prediction models can reduce or inadvertently increase racial and ethnic disparities in medical decisions.

Objective: To compare eligibility for lung cancer screening in a contemporary representative US population by refitting the life-years gained from screening-computed tomography (LYFS-CT) model to exclude race and ethnicity vs a counterfactual eligibility approach that recalculates life expectancy for racial and ethnic minority individuals using the same covariates but substitutes White race and uses the higher predicted life expectancy, ensuring that historically underserved groups are not penalized.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The 2 submodels composing LYFS-CT NoRace were refit and externally validated without race and ethnicity: the lung cancer death submodel in participants of a large clinical trial (recruited 1993-2001; followed up until December 31, 2009) who ever smoked (n = 39 180) and the all-cause mortality submodel in the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 1997-2001 participants aged 40 to 80 years who ever smoked (n = 74 842, followed up until December 31, 2006).

Comparing the Effectiveness and Image Quality of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound of First-Year Medical Students After Training by Student Tutors Versus Ultrasound Instructors: A Pilot Study.

Background Ultrasound is a vital part in many medical schools' curriculum. Although there is strong support for the use of student tutors (STs), there is a lack in gauging their effectiveness with more difficult organ systems such as the musculoskeletal (MSK) system. We aim to determine the effectiveness of using STs versus expert ultrasound instructors (UIs) when teaching MSK ultrasound.

Identification of Gene Co-Expression Networks Associated with Consensus Molecular Subtype-1 of Colorectal Cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is driven in part by dysregulated Wnt, Ras-Raf-MAPK, TGF-β, and PI3K-Akt signaling. The progression of CRC is also promoted by molecular alterations and heterogeneous-yet interconnected-gene mutations, chromosomal instability, transcriptomic subtypes, and immune signatures. Genomic alterations of CRC progression lead to changes in RNA expression, which support CRC metastasis.

Multivariate transcriptome analysis identifies networks and key drivers of chronic lymphocytic leukemia relapse risk and patient survival.

Background: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an indolent heme malignancy characterized by the accumulation of CD5 CD19 B cells and episodes of relapse. The biological signaling that influence episodes of relapse in CLL are not fully described. Here, we identify gene networks associated with CLL relapse and survival risk.

Using Prediction Models to Reduce Persistent Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Draft 2020 USPSTF Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines.

We examined whether draft 2020 United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lung cancer screening recommendations "partially ameliorate racial disparities in screening eligibility" compared with the 2013 guidelines, as claimed. Using data from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey, USPSTF-2020 increased eligibility by similar proportions for minorities (97.1%) and Whites (78.

Confidence Level and Ability of Medical Students to Identify Abdominal Structures After Integrated Ultrasound Sessions.

Purpose: Determine the confidence level and ability of first year medical students to identify abdominal structures using a wireless portable ultrasound scanner.

Methods: The students were assessed for their confidence and ability to perform abdominal ultrasound. The 5-point Likert survey included questions on their perception about ultrasound as a resource for learning anatomy, physical examination skills, and the quality of the pre-session instructions.

The Salmonella type III effector SpvC triggers the reverse transmigration of infected cells into the bloodstream.

Salmonella can appear in the bloodstream within CD18 expressing phagocytes following oral ingestion in as little as 15 minutes. Here, we provide evidence that the process underlying this phenomenon is reverse transmigration. Reverse transmigration is a normal host process in which dendritic cells can reenter the bloodstream by traversing endothelium in the basal to apical direction.

P311, a novel intrinsically disordered protein, regulates adipocyte development.

Adipocyte development and adipose tissue expansion have many implications for human diseases, including obesity. Obesity is a debilitating disorder and a risk factor for metabolic disorders including insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, due in part to an overabundance of adipocytes and adipocyte dysfunction. In recent years, obesity has become a global pandemic with approximately one-third of US adults classified as obese.

Concurrent validity of four clinical tests used to measure hamstring flexibility.

The purpose of this study was to examine the concurrent validity of 4 clinical tests used to measure hamstring muscle length. A pilot study (N = 10) was conducted to determine the intratester reliability of 4 hamstring length measures: knee extension angle (KEA), sacral angle (SA), straight leg raise (SLR), and sit and reach (SR). The pilot investigation revealed good to excellent intratester reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.

Improvement in early symptoms of shock by delayed intestinal protease inhibition.

Hypothesis: Recent findings indicate that intraintestinal pancreatic protease inhibition before superior mesentery artery occlusion (SMAO) attenuates inflammation and symptoms of shock. Herein we examine the effectiveness of delayed intestinal protease inhibition during reperfusion after SMAO.

Subjects: Three groups of male Wistar rats were studied: a nonshock sham group and 2 groups exposed to SMAO for 100 minutes and treated by delayed intestinal lavage starting 40 minutes after reperfusion with buffer (delayed-lavage group) or with the digestive protease inhibitor gabexate mesilate (FOY) (delayed FOY-lavage group).

Pancreatic enzymes sustain systemic inflammation after an initial endotoxin challenge.

Background: Sepsis is accompanied by severe inflammation whose mechanism remains uncertain. We recently demonstrated that pancreatic proteases in the ischemic intestine have the ability to generate powerful inflammatory mediators that can be detected in the portal vein and in the general circulation. This study was designed to examine several circulatory and inflammatory indices during experimental endotoxemia and intraintestinal pancreatic protease inhibition.

Early capillary no-reflow during low-flow reperfusion after hind limb ischemia in the rat.

Reduction of arterial inflow after ischemia (low-flow reperfusion) is associated with capillary no-reflow and an increase in flap necrosis. The development of these complications may be strongly flow-dependent. The authors wanted to examine the difference between normal-flow and low-flow reperfusion by assessing the gracilis microcirculation with intravital microscopy after 2 hours of hind limb ischemia in the rat.

Pancreatic protease inhibition during shock attenuates cell activation and peripheral inflammation.

Intestinal ischemia contributes to shock-induced multiple organ failure. Our recent evidence suggests that pancreatic proteases may be involved in the formation of inflammatory activators within an ischemic intestine. These inflammatory mediators are released early into the circulation and may contribute to the severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) during shock.