BMJ Open
January 2025
Objectives: Health research that significantly impacts global clinical practice and policy is often published in high-impact factor (IF) medical journals. These outlets play a pivotal role in the worldwide dissemination of novel medical knowledge. However, researchers identifying as women and those affiliated with institutions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been largely under-represented in high-IF journals across multiple fields of medicine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMaternal exposures are known to influence the risk of isolated cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) - a common and highly heritable birth defect with a multifactorial etiology. To identify new CL/P risk loci, we conducted a genome-wide gene-environment interaction (GEI) analysis of CL/P on a sample of 540 cases and 260 controls recruited from the Philippines, incorporating the interaction effects of genetic variants with maternal smoking and vitamin use. As GEI analyses are typically low in power and the results can be difficult to interpret, we used multiple testing frameworks to evaluate potential GEI effects: 1 degree-of-freedom (1df) GxE test, the 3df joint test, and the two-step EDGE approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Public Health
January 2025
Introduction: The maternal mortality crisis in the United States disproportionately affects women who are Black, especially those living in the Gulf South. These disparities result from a confluence of healthcare, policy, and social factors that systematically place Black women at greater risk of maternal morbidities and mortality. This study protocol describes the Southern Center for Maternal Health Equity (SCMHE), a research center funded by the National Institutes of Health in 2023 to reduce preventable causes of maternal morbidity and mortality while improving health equity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe make absolute frequency measurements of Cs Rydberg transitions, |6S_{1/2},F=3⟩→|nS_{1/2}(n=23-90)⟩ and |nD_{3/2,5/2}(n=21-90)⟩, with an accuracy of less than 72 kHz. The quantum defect parameters for the measured Rydberg series are the most precise obtained to date. The quantum defect series is terminated at δ_{4}, showing that prior fits requiring higher order quantum defects reflect uncertainties in the observations.
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