Shaping the future rural healthcare landscape: perspectives of young healthcare professionals.

Introduction: Rural communities continue to struggle to access quality healthcare services. Even in countries where the majority of the population live in rural and remote areas, resources are concentrated in big cities, and this is continuing. As a result, countries with the highest proportion of rural residents correlate with the poorest access, which has negative implications for the health and wellbeing of people.

Specific types of male infertility are correlated with T cell exhaustion or senescence signatures.

The association between male infertility and health status has yet to be unraveled. Here, by combining multiparameter phenotyping and scRNA-seq, we delineate the immune status of infertile men both at the semen and systemic levels. We first observe that young infertile men have a pro-inflammatory milieu with increased frequency of myeloid cells and inflammatory mediators in the seminal fluid and the peripheral blood, which are immune alterations typically observed in healthy elderly men.

Food Insecurity in Pregnancy, Receipt of Food Assistance, and Perinatal Complications.

Importance: Food insecurity is a growing public health concern, but its association with perinatal complications remains unclear.

Objective: To examine whether food insecurity in pregnancy was associated with the risk of perinatal complications and determine whether these potential associations differed by receipt of food assistance.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used data from a pregnancy survey conducted between June 22, 2020, and September 9, 2022, at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, an integrated health care system serving a diverse population of 4.

CD4FOXP3Exon2 regulatory T cell frequency predicts breast cancer prognosis and survival.

CD4FOXP3 regulatory T cells (T) suppress immune responses to tumors, and their accumulation in the tumor microenvironment (TME) correlates with poor clinical outcome in several cancers, including breast cancer (BC). However, the properties of intratumoral T remain largely unknown. Here, we found that a functionally distinct subpopulation of T, expressing the FOXP3 Exon2 splicing variants, is prominent in patients with hormone receptor-positive BC with poor prognosis.

Children's executive functioning and health behaviors across pediatric life stages and ecological contexts.

Executive functioning (EF) has been linked to chronic disease risk in children. Health behaviors are thought to partially explain this association. The current cross-sectional study evaluated specific domains of EF and varied health behaviors in three pediatric life stages.

The valorization of grape pomace from Montepulciano winemaking: A new source of functional ingredients for sustainable food industry.

The winemaking process generates huge amounts of waste every year. Fermented grape pomace, the major by-waste product, holds significant value due to its chemical composition and technological properties. In this study a multi-omics approach was employed for the detailed molecular characterization of fermented grape pomace from Montepulciano grape, a widely used Italian red grape variety.

Demographic Correlates of Autism: How Do Associations Compare Between Diagnosis and a Quantitative Trait Measure?

Prevalence of autism diagnosis has historically differed by demographic factors. Using data from 8224 participants drawn from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, we examined relationships between demographic factors and parent-reported autism-related traits as captured by the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS; T score > 65) and compared these to relations with parent-reported clinician diagnosis of ASD, in generalized linear mixed effects regression analyses. Results suggested lower odds of autism diagnosis, but not of SRS T > 65, for non-Hispanic Black children (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.

A comparison of gambling behaviors and beliefs in rural and urban populations in Pennsylvania.

Introduction: Little is known about the differences between rural and urban gamblers and potential vulnerabilities that may be unique to either population. This exploratory study aimed to evaluate differences between rural and urban Pennsylvanians' gambling behaviors and beliefs.

Methods: A dual-frame random digit dial survey was conducted in the US state of Pennsylvania.

Protocol of an adaptive mobile health intervention for the management of gestational weight gain: The LEAP cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: More than half of pregnant patients with overweight or obesity exceed national gestational weight gain (GWG) guidelines, increasing their risk of adverse outcomes. There is an urgent need to develop effective and scalable interventions to improve GWG.

Objective: To describe the protocol of Lifestyle, Eating, and Activity in Pregnancy (LEAP), a cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating a mobile health (mHealth) intervention promoting appropriate GWG in an integrated healthcare system.

Explainable brain age prediction: a comparative evaluation of morphometric and deep learning pipelines.

Brain age, a biomarker reflecting brain health relative to chronological age, is increasingly used in neuroimaging to detect early signs of neurodegenerative diseases and support personalized treatment plans. Two primary approaches for brain age prediction have emerged: morphometric feature extraction from MRI scans and deep learning (DL) applied to raw MRI data. However, a systematic comparison of these methods regarding performance, interpretability, and clinical utility has been limited.

Prenatal exposure to environmental bisphenols over time and their association with childhood asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis in the ECHO consortium.

Concerns persist about the potential impact of prenatal exposure to bisphenols (BP) and their replacement analogues on childhood asthma and allergies. Previous studies on single and small cohorts had limited statistical power, few investigated analogues BPF and BPS, and even fewer examined atopic outcomes. Our objective was to assess whether prenatal exposures to individual environmental bisphenols (BPA, BPF, BPS) influence risk of childhood asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis.

Gestational exposure to organophosphate ester flame retardants and risk of childhood obesity in the environmental influences on child health outcomes consortium.

Introduction: Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are increasing in use as flame retardants and plasticizers and concerns have been raised given their endocrine-disrupting activities and possible obesogenic consequences. However, longitudinal studies on gestational OPE exposure and childhood obesity are scarce. This study examined whether OPE levels in maternal urine during pregnancy were associated with the risk of childhood obesity.

Microalgae Flocculation: Assessment of Extraction Yields and Biological Activity.

Downstream costs represent one of the main obstacles to enabling microalgae to become widespread. The development of an economical, easily scaled-up strategy could reduce the overall process costs. Here, different flocculants were tested on different microalgae strains and a cyanobacterium.

Subthreshold micropulse laser treatment for autosomal recessive bestrophinopathy complicated by macular neovascularization.

Purpose: To present a case of autosomal recessive bestrophinopathy (ARB) complicated by intraretinal fluid and subretinal fluid, successfully managed with navigated subthreshold micropulse laser (SML) treatment.

Obervations: A 25-year-old female was referred to our clinic by her ophthalmologist due to a diagnosis of reduced vision in both eyes. The patient presented with a visual acuity of 0.

Theoretical Behavior Substitutions during the 24-h Day in Pregnancy and Infant Growth Outcomes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess associations of theoretically reallocating time from sleep, sedentary behavior, or light-intensity physical activity (LPA) to moderate/vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) during pregnancy with infant growth outcomes.

Methods: We used data from a cohort of pregnant individuals with overweight or obesity ( n = 116). At 9 to 15 and 30 to 36 wk of gestation, waking movement was measured using wrist-worn accelerometers and sleep duration was self-reported.

Neighborhood Food Access in Early Life and Trajectories of Child Body Mass Index and Obesity.

Importance: Limited access to healthy foods, resulting from residence in neighborhoods with low food access, is a public health concern. The contribution of this exposure in early life to child obesity remains uncertain.

Objective: To examine associations of neighborhood food access during pregnancy or early childhood with child body mass index (BMI) and obesity risk.

Innate Immune Cells in Melanoma: Implications for Immunotherapy.

The innate immune system, composed of neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), mast cells (MCs), and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), is the first line of defense. Growing evidence demonstrates the crucial role of innate immunity in tumor initiation and progression. Several studies support the idea that innate immunity, through the release of pro- and/or anti-inflammatory cytokines and tumor growth factors, plays a significant role in the pathogenesis, progression, and prognosis of cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM).

Association of maternal fish consumption and ω-3 supplement use during pregnancy with child autism-related outcomes: results from a cohort consortium analysis.

Background: Prenatal fish intake is a key source of omega-3 (ω-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids needed for brain development, yet intake is generally low, and studies addressing associations with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related traits are lacking.

Objective: This study aimed to examine associations of prenatal fish intake and ω-3 supplement use with both autism diagnosis and broader autism-related traits.

Methods: Participants were drawn from 32 cohorts in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort Consortium.

Optimizing remote heart failure management: First experiences with the HeartInsight score for implanted defibrillators.

We explored the results of two tests of the novel HeartInsight algorithm for heart failure (HF) prediction, reconstructing trends from historical cases. Results suggest potential extension of HeartInsight to implantable cardioverter defibrillators patients without history of HF and illustrate the importance of the baseline clinical profile in enhancing algorithm specificity.