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.

Capturing Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy Dose Among Breast Cancer Patients With the Utah All-Payer Claims Database Compared With Gold-Standard Abstraction.

Objective: To evaluate the validity of the Utah statewide All-Payer Claims Database (APCD), we compared breast cancer-specific treatments and dosages with gold-standard abstraction of medical records.

Study Design: In this pilot study, breast cancer treatments were abstracted by a certified tumor registrar at the Utah Cancer Registry (UCR) for patients diagnosed in 2013 with breast cancer. The abstraction of medical records was the gold standard for comparison with treatments identified in the APCD.

Risk of cardiovascular disease among head and neck cancer survivors: A population-based matched cohort study.

Background: In the United States, approximately 63,000 Americans develop head and neck cancer (HNC) annually. Our study aims were to investigate cardiovascular complications and risk factors for development of CVD among HNC survivors.

Methods: Utilizing the Utah Populations Database, a total of 1,901 HNC patients diagnosed and 7,796 birth year, sex, and birth state matched individuals from the general population were identified.

Arsenic in Drinking Water and Diabetes.

Arsenic is ubiquitous in soil and water environments and is consistently at the top of the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry (ATSDR) substance priority list. It has been shown to induce toxicity even at low levels of exposure. One of the major routes of exposure to arsenic is through drinking water.

The untapped potential of targeting NRF2 in neurodegenerative disease.

Since its initial discovery almost three decades ago, the transcription factor nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) has been shown to regulate a host of downstream transcriptional responses and play a critical role in preventing or promoting disease progression depending on the context. Critically, while the importance of proper nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 function has been demonstrated across a variety of pathological settings, the ability to progress NRF2-targeted therapeutics to clinic has remained frustratingly elusive. This is particularly true in the case of age-related pathologies, where nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 is a well-established mitigator of many of the observed pathogenic effects, yet options to target this pathway remain limited.

Relationships of organizational behavior/mission congruence with burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction among nurses.

Objective: The current study focuses on organizational culture as a determinant of well-being among nurses.

Background: Nurse well-being is an increasing concern for organizational operations and patient care quality. There are limited studies on the aspects of organizational culture, such as leadership and perception of organizational mission, that relate to clinician well-being.

The NRF2-p97-NRF2 negative feedback loop.

p97 is a ubiquitin-targeted ATP-dependent segregase that regulates proteostasis, in addition to a variety of other cellular functions. Previously, we demonstrated that p97 negatively regulates NRF2 by extracting ubiquitylated NRF2 from the KEAP1-CUL3-RBX1 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, facilitating proteasomal destruction. In the current study, we identified p97 as an NRF2-target gene that contains a functional ARE, indicating the presence of an NRF2-p97-NRF2 negative feedback loop that maintains redox homeostasis.

Adverse Health Outcomes among Rural and Urban Breast Cancer Survivors: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background: Limited population-based studies have focused on breast cancer survivors in rural populations. We sought to evaluate the risk of adverse health outcomes among rural and urban breast cancer survivors and to evaluate potential predictors for the highest risk outcomes.

Methods: A population-based cohort of rural and urban breast cancer survivors diagnosed between 1997 and 2017 was identified in the Utah Cancer Registry (UCR).

Triggering Weight Management Using Digital Avatars: Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: There is evidence that showing motivated people with a less-than-ideal BMI (>25 kg/m) digital and personalized images of their future selves with reduced body weight will likely trigger them to achieve that new body weight.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess whether digital avatars can trigger weight management action and identify some of the measurable factors that distinguish those who may be triggered.

Methods: A prospective cohort study followed participants for 12 weeks through 5 recorded interviews.

Breast cancer survivorship and sexual dysfunction: a population-based cohort study.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in women and an increasing number of people are living as breast cancer survivors. While the prognosis of breast cancer continues to improve, the rates of sexual dysfunction and the risk related to cancer treatments have not been well characterized in a population-based study.

Methods: We identified a cohort of 19,709 breast cancer survivors diagnosed between 1997 and 2017 from the Utah Cancer Registry, and 93,389 cancer-free women who were matched by age and birth state from the Utah Population Database.

Decreased Complication Rate Using Partially Threaded Compared With Fully Threaded Compression Screws in 4 Corner Arthrodesis: A Retrospective Study.

Background: Scapho-lunate advanced collapse (SLAC) and scaphoid nonunion advanced collapse (SNAC) of the wrist are the most common types of wrist arthritis. We compared the union rate and complication profile of patients with SLAC and SNAC wrist undergoing 4 corner arthrodesis with partially threaded or fully threaded headless compression screws.

Methods: A single-center retrospective review was conducted to identify all patients treated for SLAC and SNAC with 4 corner fusion using headless compression screws from 2016 to 2021.

Anti-Ferroptotic Effects of Nrf2: Beyond the Antioxidant Response.

The transcription factor Nrf2 was originally identified as a master regulator of redox homeostasis, as it governs the expression of a battery of genes involved in mitigating oxidative and electrophilic stress. However, the central role of Nrf2 in dictating multiple facets of the cellular stress response has defined the Nrf2 pathway as a general mediator of cell survival. Recent studies have indicated that Nrf2 regulates the expression of genes controlling ferroptosis, an ironand lipid peroxidation-dependent form of cell death.

The dark side of NRF2 in arsenic carcinogenesis.

Arsenic is an environmental toxicant that significantly enhances the risk of developing disease, including several cancers. While the epidemiological evidence supporting increased cancer risk due to chronic arsenic exposure is strong, therapies tailored to treat exposed populations are lacking. This can be accredited in large part to the chronic nature and pleiotropic pathological effects associated with prolonged arsenic exposure.

NRF2 controls iron homeostasis and ferroptosis through HERC2 and VAMP8.

Enhancing the intracellular labile iron pool (LIP) represents a powerful, yet untapped strategy for driving ferroptotic death of cancer cells. Here, we show that NRF2 maintains iron homeostasis by controlling HERC2 (E3 ubiquitin ligase for NCOA4 and FBXL5) and VAMP8 (mediates autophagosome-lysosome fusion). knockout cells have low expression, leading to a simultaneous increase in ferritin and NCOA4 and recruitment of apoferritin into the autophagosome.

Sexual dysfunction among gynecologic cancer survivors in a population-based cohort study.

Treatment for gynecologic cancer is associated with sexual dysfunction, which may present during and/or after treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of sexual dysfunction among gynecologic cancer survivors compared to cancer-free women in a population-based cohort study. We identified a cohort of 4863 endometrial, ovarian, and cervical cancer survivors diagnosed between 1997 and 2012 in the Utah Cancer Registry.

Analysis of family histories suggests shared genetic risk for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and venous thromboembolism.

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) and acute pulmonary embolism (PE) are related phenotypes, however, previous reports have suggested that genetic risk factors for CTEPH and PE differ. Here we report that a family history of VTE is equally frequent in individuals with CTEPH and PE, suggesting that shared genetic variants may influence risk of both phenotypes. We also provide the first estimate of the frequency of familial CTEPH, which we identified in 2.

Decreased autophagosome biogenesis, reduced NRF2, and enhanced ferroptotic cell death are underlying molecular mechanisms of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background And Aims: Caloric excess and sedentary lifestyles have led to an epidemic of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying high fat diet (HFD)-induced NAFLD, and to explore NRF2 activation as a strategy to alleviate NAFLD.

Approach And Results: Herein, we demonstrated that high fat diet (HFD) induced lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis, both of which could be alleviated by NRF2 upregulation.

NRF2 and Diabetes: The Good, the Bad, and the Complex.

Despite decades of scientific effort, diabetes continues to represent an incredibly complex and difficult disease to treat. This is due in large part to the multifactorial nature of disease onset and progression and the multiple organ systems affected. An increasing body of scientific evidence indicates that a key mediator of diabetes progression is NRF2, a critical transcription factor that regulates redox, protein, and metabolic homeostasis.