Self-reported diagnoses of dietary allergens and fecundability in a North American cohort.

Study Question: To what extent are self-reported diagnoses of food allergies associated with fecundability, the per-cycle probability of conception?

Summary Answer: Fecundability was not appreciably associated with self-reported food allergy diagnoses, number of food allergies, age at first diagnosis, or time since last allergic reaction.

What Is Known Already: Food allergies are atopic diseases that are characterized by an inappropriate immune response to a normally harmless dietary substance. While some studies have observed associations between atopic disorders and infertility, no study has examined the association between food allergies and fecundability, the per-cycle probability of conception.

Concomitant epidural and longitudinal anterior spinal artery contrast spread in a lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI).

A 78-year-old female with a remote history of L3-4 decompression and fusion presented with several months of low back and radicular leg pain. MRI revealed moderate L2-L3 spinal canal stenosis, ligamentum flavum infolding, moderate bilateral foraminal stenosis, and a grade I retrolisthesis. A right sided L2-L3 TFESI was performed using multiplanar fluoroscopic imaging with a subpedicular supraneural approach.

A prospective study of male physical activity and fecundability.

Study Question: To what extent is male physical activity (PA) associated with fecundability (per-cycle probability of conception)?

Summary Answer: Preconception levels of vigorous, moderate, or total PA were not consistently associated with fecundability across Danish and North American cohorts, but there was suggestive evidence that bicycling with a 'soft, comfort seat' was associated with reduced fecundability in both cohorts, especially among males with greater BMI.

What Is Known Already: Among males, some studies indicate that moderate PA might improve fertility, whereas vigorous PA, especially bicycling, might be detrimental.

Study Design, Size, Duration: We assessed the association between male PA and fecundability among couples participating in two preconception cohort studies: SnartForaeldre.

Refugees' Experiences Accessing and Receiving Health care in the Southwestern U.S.

Resettled refugees face physical and mental health challenges including the violence and trauma of their displacement. Once resettled in the U.S.

Electroconvulsive Therapy in a Left Ventricular Assist Device Recipient With Treatment-Resistant Depression.

Depression and heart failure are highly comorbid, with up to 35% of heart failure patients suffering from comorbid depression. Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) serve as a major lifeline for patients with heart failure; however, despite the drastic improvement in cardiac function following LVAD implantation, up to 24% of LVAD recipients suffer from depression. Depression management in LVAD recipients is often complicated by the recipient's increased risk for antidepressant side effects, adverse drug reactions, and inability to safely receive certain interventional psychiatry therapies, as the LVAD is either a relative or absolute contraindication.

A p62-dependent rheostat dictates micronuclei catastrophe and chromosome rearrangements.

Chromosomal instability (CIN) generates micronuclei-aberrant extranuclear structures that catalyze the acquisition of complex chromosomal rearrangements present in cancer. Micronuclei are characterized by persistent DNA damage and catastrophic nuclear envelope collapse, which exposes DNA to the cytoplasm. We found that the autophagic receptor p62/SQSTM1 modulates micronuclear stability, influencing chromosome fragmentation and rearrangements.

The association between the use of fertility indicators and fecundability in a Danish preconception cohort.

Background: The use of fertility indicators to predict ovulation has largely been studied for contraceptive purposes, while less so as fertility-promoting tools.

Objective: To investigate the association between fertility indicators and fecundability in Danish women trying to conceive.

Methods: Web-based preconception cohort study.

Benign and Malignant Outcomes in the Offspring of Females Exposed In Utero to Diethylstilbestrol (DES): An Update from the NCI Third Generation Study.

Background: Females exposed prenatally to diethylstilbestrol (DES) have an elevated risk of cervical dysplasia, breast cancer, and clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCA) of the cervix/vagina. Testicular cancer risk is increased in prenatally exposed males. Epigenetic changes may mediate the transmission of DES effects to the next ("third") generation of offspring.

Agreement Between the National Cancer Institute's diet history questionnaire II and III in a preconception cohort.

Food frequency questionnaires require updating over time, due to population changes in diet, posing analytical challenges in consistently measuring diet in prospective studies. We compared reliability and agreement between nutrients in two versions of the National Cancer Institute's web-based Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ, III vs. II) in an ongoing North American preconception study.

Residential Proximity to Oil and Gas Development and Mental Health in a North American Preconception Cohort Study: 2013-2023.

To evaluate associations between oil and gas development (OGD) and mental health using cross-sectional data from a preconception cohort study, Pregnancy Study Online. We analyzed baseline data from a prospective cohort of US and Canadian women aged 21 to 45 years who were attempting conception without fertility treatment (2013-2023). We developed residential proximity measures for active OGD during preconception, including distance from nearest site.

Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and fecundability: a prospective cohort study.

Study Question: Is cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) associated with reduced fecundability, defined as the probability of conceiving per menstrual cycle?

Summary Answer: Overall, we observed no meaningful association between CIN and fecundability, regardless of surgical status, although a recent diagnosis of moderate or severe CIN might be associated with slightly reduced fecundability for 2 years after diagnosis.

What Is Known Already: About 15% of couples experience infertility. Few studies have examined the influence of CIN on fertility, and the results have been inconsistent.

Exposure to residential greenness, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms in a North American preconception cohort.

Background: Studies suggest that greater exposure to natural vegetation (i.e., greenness) is associated with better mental health.

Childhood adversity and time to pregnancy in a preconception cohort.

We examined the association between childhood adversity and fecundability (the per-cycle probability of conception), and the extent to which childhood social support modified this association. We used data from 6318 female participants aged 21-45 years in Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), a North American prospective preconception cohort study (2013-2022). Participants completed a baseline questionnaire, bimonthly follow-up questionnaires (until pregnancy or a censoring event), and a supplemental questionnaire on experiences across the life course including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and social support (using the modified Berkman-Syme Social Network Index [SNI]).

Small spaces, big problems: The abnormal nucleoplasm of micronuclei and its consequences.

Micronuclei (MN) form from missegregated chromatin that recruits its own nuclear envelope during mitotic exit and are a common consequence of chromosomal instability. MN are unstable due to errors in nuclear envelope organization and frequently rupture, leading to loss of compartmentalization, loss of nuclear functions, and major changes in genome stability and gene expression. However, recent work found that, even prior to rupture, nuclear processes can be severely defective in MN, which may contribute to rupture-associated defects and have lasting consequences for chromatin structure and function.

Predictive models of miscarriage on the basis of data from a preconception cohort study.

Objective: To use self-reported preconception data to derive models that predict the risk of miscarriage.

Design: Prospective preconception cohort study.

Setting: Not applicable.

A high-content screen reveals new regulators of nuclear membrane stability.

Nuclear membrane rupture is a physiological response to multiple in vivo processes, such as cell migration, that can cause extensive genome instability and upregulate invasive and inflammatory pathways. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of rupture are unclear and few regulators have been identified. In this study, we developed a reporter that is size excluded from re-compartmentalization following nuclear rupture events.

A preconception cohort study of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and semen quality.

Background: Dietary factors, including high sugar intake, may have adverse effects on male reproduction. Studies of the association between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake and semen quality have reported inconsistent results.

Objective: We estimated the effects of SSB consumption on semen quality in a North American preconception cohort study.

An Update on Prenatal Diethylstilbestrol Exposure and High-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions of the Lower Genital Tract.

Women with prenatal diethylstilbestrol exposure are excluded from less frequent cervical cancer screening because of their increased neoplasia risk. We report the results of a prospective follow-up study of prenatal diethylstilbestrol exposure and lower genital tract high-grade (grade 2 or higher) squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL). The age-adjusted risk of HSIL among diethylstilbestrol-exposed women (n=4,062) was higher than among the diethylstilbestrol unexposed (n=1,837) through age 44 years (hazard ratio 2.

Ambient air pollution and rate of spontaneous abortion.

Spontaneous abortion (SAB), defined as a pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of gestation, affects up to 30% of conceptions, yet few modifiable risk factors have been identified. We estimated the effect of ambient air pollution exposure on SAB incidence in Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), a preconception cohort study of North American couples who were trying to conceive. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline, every 8 weeks during preconception follow-up, and in early and late pregnancy.

Preconception sleep duration, non-daytime work schedules, and incidence of spontaneous abortion: a prospective cohort study.

Study Question: To what extent do self-reported sleep duration and non-daytime work schedules in either partner affect the rate of spontaneous abortion (SAB)?

Summary Answer: Incidence of SAB had little association with female sleep duration and a modest positive association with male short sleep duration, female work at night, and discrepant work schedules among partners.

What Is Known Already: Several studies have reported an association between short sleep duration in either partner and reproductive health outcomes, including fecundability. Moreover, certain types of female occupational exposures during pregnancy have been associated with an increased risk of SAB.