Development of Prediction Models for Severe Pain and Urinary Symptoms After Ureteroscopy With Ureteral Stent Placement: Results From the STENTS Study and Initial Validation of Pain Interference.

Purpose: We developed prediction models for severe pain and urinary symptoms after ureteroscopy with ureteral stent placement.

Materials And Methods: The development cohort included 424 adults and adolescents enrolled in the multicenter STENTS prospective cohort study who underwent ureteroscopy with stent placement for urinary stones. The validation cohort was an independent prospective cohort of 115 adults.

Design and pilot test of an implicit bias mitigation curriculum for clinicians.

Introduction: Clinician implicit racial bias (IB) may lead to lower quality care and adverse health outcomes for Black patients. Educational efforts to train clinicians to mitigate IB vary widely and have insufficient evidence of impact. We developed and pilot-tested an evidence-based clinician IB curriculum, "REACHing Equity.

Role of autophagy in skin photoaging: A narrative review.

As the largest organ of the human body, the skin serves as the primary barrier against external damage. The continuous increase in human activities and environmental pollution has resulted in the ongoing depletion of the ozone layer. Excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation enhances the impact of external factors on the skin, leading to photoaging.

Mobile Application-Based Communication Facilitation Platform for Family Members of Critically Ill Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Unmet and racially disparate palliative care needs are common in intensive care unit (ICU) settings.

Objective: To test the effect of a primary palliative care intervention vs usual care control both overall and by family member race.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cluster randomized clinical trial was conducted at 6 adult medical and surgical ICUs in 2 academic and community hospitals in North Carolina between April 2019 and May 2022 with physician-level randomization and sequential clusters of 2 Black patient-family member dyads and 2 White patient-family member dyads enrolled under each physician.

Using latent profile analyses to classify subjects with anhedonia based on reward-related measures obtained in the FAST-MAS study.

Background: Growing evidence indicates that anhedonia is a multifaceted construct. This study examined the possibility of identifying subgroups of people with anhedonia using multiple reward-related measures to provide greater understanding the Research Domain Criteria's Positive Valence Systems Domain and pathways for developing treatments.

Methods: Latent profile analysis of baseline data from a study that examined the effects of a novel kappa opioid receptor (KOR) antagonist drug on measures and biomarkers associated with anhedonia was used to identify subgroups.

Effect of a Coaching Intervention to Improve Cardiologist Communication: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Communication between cardiologists and patients can significantly affect patient comprehension, adherence, and satisfaction. To our knowledge, a coaching intervention to improve cardiologist communication has not been tested.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a communication coaching intervention to teach evidence-based communication skills to cardiologists.

Risk Factors for Increased Stent-associated Symptoms Following Ureteroscopy for Urinary Stones: Results From STENTS.

Purpose: The STudy to Enhance uNderstanding of sTent-associated Symptoms sought to identify risk factors for pain and urinary symptoms, as well as how these symptoms interfere with daily activities after ureteroscopy for stone treatment.

Materials And Methods: This prospective observational cohort study enrolled patients aged ≥12 years undergoing ureteroscopy with ureteral stent for stone treatment at 4 clinical centers. Participants reported symptoms at baseline; on postoperative days 1, 3, 5; at stent removal; and day 30 post-stent removal.

Licorice zinc suppresses melanogenesis via inhibiting the activation of P38MAPK and JNK signaling pathway in C57BL/6J mice skin.

Purpose: The active melanocytes in the skin were affected by hormones and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Licorice zinc has a whitening effect, which may have a prominent potential in the treatment of pigmented skin disease.

Methods: Modeling chloasma C57BL/6J mice by daily progesterone injection (15 mg/kg) and ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation (λ = 312 nm, 2 h/day) for 30 days.

Characteristics Associated with Burnout among Cardiologists in an Academic Medical Setting: Baseline Survey Results from a Communication Coaching RCT.

Objectives: Clinician burnout poses risks not just to clinicians but also to patients and the health system. Cardiologists might be especially prone to burnout due to performing high-risk procedures, having to discuss serious news, and treating diseases that incur significant morbidity and mortality. Few have attempted to examine which cardiologists might be at higher risk of burnout.

Examining the relationship between clinician communication and patient participatory behaviors in cardiology encounters.

Objectives: Examine the association of coder ratings of cardiologist behaviors and global scores of cardiologist communication style with patient participation in clinic encounters.

Methods: We coded transcripts of clinic encounters for patient participatory behaviors: asking questions, assertive statements, and expressing negative emotions; clinician behavior counts: reflective statements, open-ended questions, empathic statements, and eliciting questions. We used general linear regression models to examine associations of mean number of patient participatory behaviors with clinician behaviors.

SOX9 in Keratinocytes Regulates Claudin 2 Transcription during Skin Aging.

In order to prove that SOX9 in keratinocytes regulates claudin 2 transcription during skin aging, the skin of 8-week-old and 24-month-old mice is sequenced to obtain a differentially expressed gene SOX9. The gene is mainly expressed in keratinocytes, and it increases first and then decreases from newborn to aging. Six core sequences of SOX9 and claudin 2 are predicted from Jaspar.

Highly Specialized Carbohydrate Metabolism Capability in Strains Associated with Intestinal Barrier Maturation in Early Preterm Infants.

"Leaky gut," or high intestinal barrier permeability, is common in preterm newborns. The role of the microbiota in this process remains largely uncharacterized. We employed both short- and long-read sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and metagenomes to characterize the intestinal microbiome of a longitudinal cohort of 113 preterm infants born between 24 and 32 weeks of gestation.

Insight into the ecology of vaginal bacteria through integrative analyses of metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data.

Background: Vaginal bacterial communities dominated by Lactobacillus species are associated with a reduced risk of various adverse health outcomes. However, somewhat unexpectedly, many healthy women have microbiota that are not dominated by lactobacilli. To determine the factors that drive vaginal community composition we characterized the genetic composition and transcriptional activities of vaginal microbiota in healthy women.

The Patient's Point of View: Characterizing Patient-Level Factors Associated with Perceptions of Health Care.

We explored the association between perception of care, as measured by the Interpersonal Processes of Care (IPC) survey, and patient-level factors, including (1) Trust in physicians; (2) Perceived empathy; (3) Stereotype threat; (4) Perceived everyday discrimination; and (5) Self-Reported Health. Fifty participants from diverse racial backgrounds and education levels were surveyed. We examined the associations between the five patient-level factors and each subdomain of the IPC using multiple linear regression.

Communication Coaching in Cardiology (CCC): A study protocol and methodological challenges and solutions of a randomized controlled trial in outpatient cardiology clinics.

Given the role of effective communication in improving patient adherence and satisfaction, high quality patient-clinician communication is critical. Building on previous communication interventions in oncology and pediatrics, we developed a tailored communication coaching intervention to improve empathic communication quality and patient-centered care. In this randomized controlled trial, cardiologists record their patient encounters for review by a communication coach who provides tailored feedback.

Improving racial disparities in unmet palliative care needs among intensive care unit family members with a needs-targeted app intervention: The ICUconnect randomized clinical trial.

Introduction: The technologies used to treat the millions who receive care in intensive care unit (ICUs) each year have steadily advanced. However, the quality of ICU-based communication has remained suboptimal, particularly concerning for Black patients and their family members. Therefore we developed a mobile app intervention for ICU clinicians and family members called ICUconnect that assists with delivering need-based care.

Polygoni Multiflori Radix Preparat Delays Skin Aging by Inducing Mitophagy.

Background: As the skin is the largest organ of the human body, it is aging inevitably and produces cosmetic and psychological problems, and even disease. Therefore, the molecular mechanisms related to the prevention of skin aging need to be further explored.

Methods: Aging models were constructed by D-galactose.

A randomized proof-of-mechanism trial applying the 'fast-fail' approach to evaluating κ-opioid antagonism as a treatment for anhedonia.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) 'fast-fail' approach seeks to improve too-often-misleading early-phase drug development methods by incorporating biomarker-based proof-of-mechanism (POM) testing in phase 2a. This first comprehensive application of the fast-fail approach evaluated the potential of κ-opioid receptor (KOR) antagonism for treating anhedonia with a POM study determining whether robust target engagement favorably impacts the brain circuitry hypothesized to mediate clinical effects. Here we report the results from a multicenter, 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial in patients with anhedonia and a mood or anxiety disorder (selective KOR antagonist (JNJ-67953964, 10 mg; n = 45) and placebo (n = 44)).

Ultrahigh-Throughput Multiplexing and Sequencing of >500-Base-Pair Amplicon Regions on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 Platform.

Amplification, sequencing, and analysis of the 16S rRNA gene affords characterization of microbial community composition. As this tool has become more popular and amplicon-sequencing applications have grown in the total number of samples, growth in sample multiplexing is becoming necessary while maintaining high sequence quality and sequencing depth. Here, modifications to the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform are described which produce greater multiplexing capabilities and 300-bp paired-end reads of higher quality than those produced by the current Illumina MiSeq platform.

Microbial Biomarkers of Intestinal Barrier Maturation in Preterm Infants.

Intestinal barrier immaturity, or "leaky gut," is the proximate cause of susceptibility to necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm neonates. However, the impact of intestinal microbiota development on intestinal mucosal barrier maturation has not been evaluated in this population. In this study, we investigated a longitudinally sampled cohort of 38 preterm infants < 33 weeks gestation monitored for intestinal permeability (IP) and fecal microbiota during the first 2 weeks of life.

Effect of Natriuretic Peptide-Guided Therapy on Hospitalization or Cardiovascular Mortality in High-Risk Patients With Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The natriuretic peptides are biochemical markers of heart failure (HF) severity and predictors of adverse outcomes. Smaller studies have evaluated adjusting HF therapy based on natriuretic peptide levels ("guided therapy") with inconsistent results.

Objective: To determine whether an amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)-guided treatment strategy improves clinical outcomes vs usual care in high-risk patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).