Mammography Among Women Residing in Urban Versus Rural Utah: Breast Cancer Survival.

Background: Annual or biennial breast cancer screenings are recommended for women 40 and older. Women residing in rural areas have worse breast cancer survival rates than urban women, but no study has focused on rural versus urban residence in Utah regarding breast cancer screening and mortality.

Methods: Cases (n = 14,516) were women aged > 39 diagnosed with a first primary invasive breast cancer between 1998 and 2017 in Utah.

Identifiable Historic and Observable Factors May Predict Progression to Exfoliation Glaucoma in Newly Diagnosed Exfoliation Patients.

Objective: To identify clinical factors associated with conversion to exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) in exfoliation syndrome (XFS) patients who are most at risk of progression to XFG within 3 years for increased surveillance and early preventive interventions.

Design: A retrospective patient cohort study design was employed.

Subjects: A source population of XFS patients ≥ 50 years was identified from electronic medical records in the Utah Population Database.

Assessing support for substance use policies among the general public and policy influencers in two Canadian provinces.

Background: Examining support for substance use policies, including those for harm reduction, among the general public and policy influencers is a fundamental step to map the current policy landscape and leverage policy opportunities. Yet, this is a knowledge gap in Canada. Our paper identifies the level of support for substance use policies in two provinces in Canada and describes how the level of support is associated with intrusiveness and sociodemographic variables.

Nutritional Health Risk (Food Security) in Thai Older Adults and Related Factors.

The older adult population in Thailand has been steadily increasing in recent years, and urbanization has resulted in many older adults living independently, leaving many at nutritional risk. The purpose of this research is to explore food security among Thai older adults using a simple screening tool, the DETERMINE tool, as well as from three surveys which reflect seniors' health and ultimately food security including the mini-mental state examination (MMSE), the self-efficacy for physical activity scale (SEPAS), and the health literacy questionnaire. The DETERMINE tool was used in Thailand for the first time in this study.

Interventions to improve equity in emergency departments for Indigenous people: A scoping review.

Background: Disparities in health outcomes, including increased chronic disease prevalence and decreased life expectancy for Indigenous people, have been shown across settings affected by white settler colonialism including Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Emergency departments (EDs) represent a unique setting in which urgent patient need and provider strain interact to amplify inequities within society. The aim of this scoping review was to map the ED-based interventions aimed at improving equity in care for Indigenous patients in EDs.

Nucleic Acid Target Sensing Using a Vibrating Sharp-Tip Capillary and Digital Droplet Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (ddLAMP).

Nucleic acid tests are key tools for the detection and diagnosis of many diseases. In many cases, the amplification of the nucleic acids is required to reach a detectable level. To make nucleic acid amplification tests more accessible to a point-of-care (POC) setting, isothermal amplification can be performed with a simple heating source.

Leaving emergency departments without completing treatment among First Nations and non-First Nations patients in Alberta: a mixed-methods study.

Background: Our previous research showed that, in Alberta, Canada, a higher proportion of visits to emergency departments and urgent care centres by First Nations patients ended in the patient leaving without being seen or against medical advice, compared with visits by non-First Nations patients. We sought to analyze whether these differences persisted after controlling for patient demographic and visit characteristics, and to explore reasons for leaving care.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study, including a population-based retrospective cohort study for the period of April 2012 to March 2017 using provincial administrative data.

Assessing support for mental health policies among policy influencers and the general public in Alberta and Manitoba, Canada.

Background: There is a need to improve mental health policy in Canada to address the growing population burden of mental illness. Understanding support for policy options is critical for advocacy efforts to improve mental health policy. Our purpose was to describe support for population-level healthy public policies to improve mental health among policy influencers and the general public in Alberta and Manitoba; and, identify associations between levels of support and sociodemographic variables and relative to the Nuffield Bioethics Intervention Ladder framework.

Microfluidic Continuous Flow DNA Fragmentation based on a Vibrating Sharp-tip.

Fragmentation of DNA into short fragments is of great importance for detecting and studying DNAs. Current microfluidic methods of DNA fragmentation are either inefficient for generating small fragments or rely on microbubbles. Here, we report a DNA fragmentation method in a 3D-printed microfluidic device, which allows efficient continuous flow fragmentation of genomic DNAs without the need for microbubbles.

Unlocking the potential of 3D printed microfluidics for mass spectrometry analysis using liquid infused surfaces.

Combining microfluidics with mass spectrometry (MS) analysis has great potential for enabling new analytical applications and simplifying existing MS workflows. The rapid development of 3D printing technology has enabled direct fabrication of microfluidic channels using consumer grade 3D printers, which holds great promise to facilitate the adoption of microfluidic devices by the MS community. However, photo polymerization-based 3D printed devices have an issue with chemical leeching, which can introduce contaminant molecules that may present as isobaric ions and/or severely suppress the ionization of target analytes when combined with MS analysis.

A 3D printed microfluidic device for scalable multiplexed CRISPR-cas12a biosensing.

Accurate, rapid, and multiplexed nucleic acid detection is critical for environmental and biomedical monitoring. In recent years, CRISPR-Cas12a has shown great potential in improving the performance of DNA biosensing. However, the nonspecific trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a complicates the multiplexing capability of Cas12a biosensing.

Neoadjuvant treatment for stage III and IV cutaneous melanoma.

Background: Cutaneous melanoma is amongst the most aggressive of all skin cancers. Neoadjuvant treatment is a form of induction therapy, given to shrink a cancerous tumour prior to the main treatment (usually surgery). The purpose is to improve survival and surgical outcomes.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm and exfoliation syndrome in Utah.

Purpose: A pilot study of electronic medical records (EMR) in Utah was undertaken to investigate exfoliation syndrome and exfoliation glaucoma (XFS/XFG) in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) patients. In a subsequent retrospective cohort study of Utah XFS/XFG patients and population controls, the risk of AAA was examined.

Methods: EMR of a statewide healthcare population were obtained from the Utah Population Database (UPDB) which links decades of medical records with Utah demographic and vital records data.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm and exfoliation syndrome: A literature review comparing single site findings.

Several studies have suggested a possible relationship between exfoliation syndrome (XFS) and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). A systematic literature review was undertaken to investigate this potential association. The systematic literature review was performed according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines.

Tobacco use increases the risk of chronic rhinosinusitis among patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery.

Background: Although it has been postulated that tobacco use, as well as other environmental exposures, may contribute to chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), the data remain limited. Here, we utilised a large state population database to assess the association between tobacco use and CRS prevalence among patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS).

Methods: Employing a case-control study design, the Utah Population Database was queried for patients age >18 with a diagnosis of CRS and tobacco use who underwent ESS between 1996 and 2018.

Recent Advances in Digital Biosensing Technology.

Digital biosensing assays demonstrate remarkable advantages over conventional biosensing systems because of their ability to achieve single-molecule detection and absolute quantification. Unlike traditional low-abundance biomarking screening, digital-based biosensing systems reduce sample volumes significantly to the fL-nL level, which vastly reduces overall reagent consumption, improves reaction time and throughput, and enables high sensitivity and single target detection. This review presents the current technology for compartmentalizing reactions and their applications in detecting proteins and nucleic acids.

Tobacco Use Increases the Adjusted Risk of Revision Endoscopic Sinus Surgery in Patients With Chronic Rhinosinusitis.

Background: Large epidemiologic studies have suggested that a history of tobacco use may be associated with an increased risk of developing chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). The impact of tobacco use on revision rates of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS), however, remains limited.

Objective: This study seeks to define the independent risk of tobacco use (active or prior) on revision rates of ESS among a large cohort of patients with CRS.

Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Survival Differences and Potential Geographic Determinants Among Men and Women in Utah.

By 2030, early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) is expected to become the leading cancer-related cause of death for people age 20 to 49. To improve understanding of this phenomenon, we analyzed the geographic determinants of EOCRC in Utah by examining county-level incidence and mortality. We linked data from the Utah Population Database to the Utah Cancer Registry to identify residents (age 18-49) diagnosed with EOCRC between 2000 and 2020, and we used spatial empirical Bayes smoothing to determine county-level hotspots.

Geographic disparities in access to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder across US census tracts based on treatment utilization behavior.

Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. with deaths from opioid overdose occurring at a higher rate in rural areas.

Body Mass Index and Mammographic Density in a Multiracial and Multiethnic Population-Based Study.

Background: Mammographic density (MD) is strongly associated with breast cancer risk. We examined whether body mass index (BMI) partially explains racial and ethnic variation in MD.

Methods: We used multivariable Poisson regression to estimate associations between BMI and binary MD [Breast Imaging Reporting and Database System (BI-RADS) A&B versus BI-RADS C&D] among 160,804 women in the Utah mammography cohort.