Publications by authors named "Jason M Collins"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the relationship between home radon exposure and stroke risk in middle-aged and older women in the U.S., using data from the Women's Health Initiative cohort of postmenopausal women.
  • - Results show that women exposed to radon levels of 2-4 pCi/L and over 4 pCi/L had increased risks of stroke compared to those with lower exposures, with specific risks associated with different types of strokes.
  • - The findings suggest that even radon levels below the EPA's mitigation threshold can pose a health risk, highlighting the need for further evaluation of radon exposure and its potential effects on stroke.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the potential link between radon exposure and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), which may increase the risk of blood cancers and heart diseases.
  • Researchers analyzed data from nearly 11,000 participants to assess the relationship between indoor radon levels and the presence of CHIP, noting varying risks based on radon concentration zones.
  • Results showed that higher radon exposure (in Zones 1 and 2) is associated with an increased risk of CHIP in individuals who have had ischemic strokes, whereas no significant risks were found in those with hemorrhagic strokes or those without stroke histories.
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  • Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) can lead to increased risks of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and mortality among individuals, particularly affecting postmenopausal women.
  • The study assessed the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) at both individual and neighborhood levels on the prevalence of CHIP, incorporating factors like education, income, and personal resources.
  • Results indicate that better neighborhood SES correlates with a slight increase in CHIP risk, but high levels of optimism among women appear to reduce this risk, suggesting that positive psychological factors may mitigate the effects of socio-economic disadvantage on health.
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Background: Studies of the association between aircraft noise and hypertension are complicated by inadequate control for potential confounders and a lack of longitudinal assessments, and existing evidence is inconclusive.

Objectives: We evaluated the association between long-term aircraft noise exposure and risk of hypertension among post-menopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trials, an ongoing prospective U.S.

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Advances in technologies to measure a broad set of exposures have led to a range of exposome research efforts. Yet, these efforts have insufficiently integrated methods that incorporate genetic data to strengthen causal inference, despite evidence that many exposome-associated phenotypes are heritable. Objective: We demonstrate how integration of methods and study designs that incorporate genetic data can strengthen causal inference in exposomics research by helping address six challenges: reverse causation and unmeasured confounding, comprehensive examination of phenotypic effects, low efficiency, replication, multilevel data integration, and characterization of tissue-specific effects.

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Article Synopsis
  • Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is a new risk factor linked to higher chances of stroke, especially ischemic and hemorrhagic types, emphasizing its importance in understanding cardiovascular health.* -
  • This study analyzed data from over 78,000 individuals to explore the connection between CHIP and stroke, finding significant associations even after accounting for age, sex, and race.* -
  • The results indicated that certain mutated genes within CHIP were more strongly associated with different stroke types, suggesting that further research is necessary to understand these relationships better.*
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Importance: Describing potential mortality risk reduction associated with weight loss between early adulthood and midlife is important for informing primary and secondary prevention efforts for obesity.

Objective: To examine the risk of all-cause mortality among adults who lost weight between early adulthood and midlife compared with adults who were persistently obese over the same period.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Combined repeated cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (1988-1994) and continuous waves collected in 2-year cycles between 1999 and 2014.

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Objective: To examine the association between weight change from young adulthood to midlife and the risk of incident arthritis.

Methods: Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we categorized participants into weight-change categories based on their recalled weight during young adulthood and midlife. We estimated the association of weight change and developing an arthritis condition over 10 years using adjusted Cox models.

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The prevalence of obesity has grown rapidly over the past several decades and has been accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of chronic pain and prescription opioid use. Obesity, through its association with pain, may represent an important contributor to opioid use. This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between obesity and prescription opioid use among adults aged 35 to 79 years using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 2003-2016).

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Background: Characterizing electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use patterns is important for guiding tobacco regulatory policy and projecting the future burden of tobacco-related diseases. Few studies have examined patterns of e-cigarette use in individuals with cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods And Results: We examined e-cigarette use in adults aged 18 to 89 years with a history of CVD, using data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey.

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Objective: Medical management of obesity can result in significant weight loss and reduce the burden of obesity-related complications. This report employs a new conceptual model to quantify engagement with obesity care and associated determinants in the US adult population.

Methods: Engagement with obesity care was conceptualized as a cascade comprising 5 successive steps: perceiving oneself as overweight, desiring to lose weight, attempting weight loss, seeking care from a health care professional for obesity, and seeking care from a physician specifically.

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Background: The role of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in product transitions has been debated.

Methods: We used nationally representative data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study waves 1 (2013-2014) and 2 (2014-2015) to investigate the associations between e-cigarette initiation and cigarette cessation/reduction in the USA. We limited the sample to current cigarette smokers aged 25+ years who were not current e-cigarette users at wave 1.

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Objective: Understanding how changes in weight over the life course shape risk for diabetes is critical for the prevention of diabetes. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), we investigated the association between self-reported weight change from young adulthood to midlife and incident diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: We categorized individuals into four weight-change groups: those who remained nonobese (stable nonobese), those who moved from an obese BMI to a nonobese BMI (losing), those who moved from a nonobese BMI to an obese BMI (gaining), and those who remained obese (stable obese).

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Proteasome inhibitors, a novel class of chemotherapeutic agents, enhance the antitumor efficacy of anthracyclines in vitro and in vivo. We therefore sought to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and dose-limiting toxicities of bortezomib and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PegLD). Bortezomib was given on days 1, 4, 8, and 11 from 0.

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