Publications by authors named "Jennifer Smith"

Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has made significant progress in reducing malaria in recent years. In the Greater Mekong Subregion, forest-going is often a risk factor contributing to continuing malaria transmission. This study assessed forest-going and other potential risk factors for malaria cases in Champasak Province, Lao PDR.

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Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) depend on genetic ancestry due to differences in allele frequencies between ancestral populations. This leads to implementation challenges in diverse populations. We propose a framework to calibrate PRS based on ancestral makeup.

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We report a case of a parturient with severe cardiac disease requiring elective termination of pregnancy. The patient underwent successfully monitored anesthesia care using remimazolam for dilation and curettage. The patient remained hemodynamically stable and appropriately sedated while achieving optimal procedural conditions.

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Background: Senegal has made significant progress in reducing the burden of malaria, but transmission remains highly heterogeneous, with specific population subgroups likely at higher risk. Consultations with the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) and a review of available data identified nomadic pastoralists, gold miners, and Koranic school students as potential high-risk populations (HRPs). This study aimed to evaluate whether these populations are at higher risk of malaria and better characterize their exposure patterns to inform the design of targeted intervention strategies.

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Background: Exposure to psychosocial stress is linked to a variety of negative health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease and its cardiometabolic risk factors. DNA methylation has been associated with both psychosocial stress and cardiometabolic disease; however, little is known about the mediating role of DNA methylation on the association between stress and cardiometabolic risk. Thus, using the high-dimensional mediation testing method, we conducted an epigenome-wide mediation analysis of the relationship between psychosocial stress and ten cardiometabolic risk factors in a multi-racial/ethnic population of older adults (n = 2668) from the Health and Retirement Study (mean age = 70.

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Objective: The effectiveness of behavioral interventions is typically evaluated relative to control conditions using null hypothesis significance testing (i.e., < .

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The relationship between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) heteroplasmy and nuclear DNA (nDNA) methylation (CpGs) remains to be studied. We conducted an epigenome-wide association analysis of heteroplasmy burden scores across 10,986 participants (mean age 77, 63% women, and 54% non-White races/ethnicities) from seven population-based observational cohorts. We identified 412 CpGs (FDR p < 0.

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This Letter to the Editor comments on and aims to clarify details regarding the case, 26 cm fall caught on video causing subdural hemorrhages and extensive retinal hemorrhages in an 8-month-old infant. The findings in this case are rarely reported in accidental injury events and are, therefore, important to understand.

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Objectives: To assess changes in trainees' knowledge and application of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) concepts after participating in a midwestern academic medical center Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program. LEND is a federally funded year-long program training individuals of various disciplines (e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • Sleep disturbances are common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are linked to the severity of their symptoms, especially memory issues.* -
  • In a study using a mouse model of ASD, researchers found that non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMs) was fragmented, which correlated with increased activity in certain brain neurons during sleep.* -
  • By inhibiting these neurons, the study showed that sleep could be stabilized and memory improved, highlighting the significant role of the locus coeruleus noradrenergic system in regulating both sleep and memory in ASD.*
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The red alga Asparagopsis taxiformis has recently been recognized for its unique ability to significantly reduce methane emissions from ruminant animals when fed in small quantities. The main obstacle in using this seaweed as a methane-mitigating feed supplement is the lack of commercially available biomass. Little is known about how best to grow this red alga on a commercial scale, as there are few published studies that have investigated the factors that influence growth, physiology, and overall performance.

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Ebola virus (EBOV) is one of three filovirus members of the genus that can cause severe Ebola disease (EBOD) in humans. Transmission predominantly occurs from spillover events from wildlife but has also happened between humans with infected bodily fluids. Specifically, the sexual route through infectious male survivors could be the origin of flare up events leading to the deaths of multiple women.

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Estimating emissions and removals from forest degradation is important, yet challenging, for many countries. This paper reports results from analysis of country reporting (to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and also to several climate finance initiatives) and key take-aways from a south-south exchange workshop among 17 countries with forest mitigation programmes. During the workshop discussions it became clear that, where forest degradation is a major source of emissions, governments want to include it when reporting on their mitigation efforts.

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Long-term monitoring of individual coral colonies is important for understanding variability between and within species over time in the context of thermal stress. Here, we analyze an 11-year time series of permanent benthic photoquadrats taken on Palmyra Atoll, central Pacific, from 2009 to 2019 to track the growth (i.e.

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Seaweeds, particularly the red seaweed , produce and sequester bromomethanes, which are known for mitigating methane emissions in ruminants when used as a feed supplement. Bromomethane synthesis requires hydrogen peroxide (H O ). We developed a staining assay utilizing 3,3'-diaminobenzidine (DAB) for identifying H O in three groups of seaweeds (red, brown, and green), including intensely pigmented species.

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Introduction: Fragility fractures are common and have an increased chance of refracture and mortality. A process improvement project was initiated including standardized orders to improve treatment of osteoporosis-related fractures. The primary objective was to determine the implementation and maintenance of this process over time.

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Background: Orthopaedic surgery regularly employs opioids for postoperative pain management. Multimodal pain protocols have been shown to reduce opioid prescriptions in orthopaedic surgery.

Purpose: To analyze the impact of a division-level multimodal pain protocol for orthopaedic sports medicine surgery on opioid prescription reduction and pain level postoperatively.

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Diabetes during pregnancy is associated with significant maternal and foetal health risks. Insulin requirements also change during pregnancy. This necessitates careful and effective management of diabetes.

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Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) are superconducting detectors capable of single-photon counting with energy resolution across the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) spectrum with microsecond timing precision. MKIDs are also multiplexable, providing a feasible way to create large-format, cryogenic arrays for sensitive imaging applications in biology, astronomy, and quantum information. Building large, cryogenic MKID arrays requires processing highly multiplexed, wideband readout signals in real time; this task has previously required large, heavy, and power-intensive custom electronics.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates the link between an epigenetic risk score (ERS) related to alcohol consumption and blood pressure traits, finding significant associations between higher ERS and increased blood pressure levels among participants.
  • In the analysis of 3,898 individuals from the Framingham Heart Study, each unit increase in the ERS correlated with a rise in systolic blood pressure (SBP) by almost 2 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by about 0.68 mm Hg.
  • The research suggests that the ERS could serve as a useful tool for assessing cardiovascular risks linked to alcohol consumption, especially in cases where self-reported data may be unreliable.
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Correlative species distribution modeling (SDM) is an important tool to predict distributions of invasive species. A unique challenge of implementing SDMs in aridland stream networks is identifying which streams are perennial and which of those offer suitable habitat for obligate aquatic species. Here, we map perennial streams and habitat suitability of invasive virile crayfish (Faxonius virilis) in the Lower Colorado River Basin (LCRB) in the southwestern USA, and quantify drivers of uncertainty in these projections.

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  • * Self-collection of vaginal samples for HPV testing is gaining attention as a method to improve screening participation by making it easier for individuals to take part.
  • * This review begins with a case study from the Netherlands and explores the self-collection practices in Europe, discussing implementation, test performance, and identifies evidence gaps for better policy-making in screening programs.
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Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of death for Hispanic/Latino populations in the United States. We evaluated polygenic risk scores (PRS) with incident myocardial infarction (MI) in a Hispanic/Latino study sample.

Methods: We leveraged data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) to assess four CHD-PRS from the PGS catalog, derived using multiple methods (LDpred, AnnoPred, stacked clumping and thresholding, and LDPred2).

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  • The study examines the impact of illicit substance use during pregnancy, noting a 4-fold increase over two decades and its negative effects on mothers and fetuses.
  • A multicenter retrospective analysis from 2016 to 2021 included 852 pregnant trauma patients (PTPs), with 9.8% testing positive for substances, primarily THC and methamphetamine.
  • Findings showed that PTPs with positive urine toxicology had higher rates of blunt head injuries, extremity injuries, domestic violence incidents, and uterine contractions, but similar maternal complication rates compared to those who tested negative.
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  • Whole genome sequencing (WGS) helps identify rare genetic variants that may explain the missing heritability of coronary artery disease (CAD) by analyzing 4,949 cases and 17,494 controls from the NHLBI TOPMed program.
  • The study estimates that the heritability of CAD is around 34.3%, with ultra-rare variants contributing about 50%, especially those with low linkage disequilibrium.
  • Functional annotations show significant enrichment of CAD heritability, highlighting the importance of ultra-rare variants and specific regulatory mechanisms in different cells as major factors influencing genetic risk for the disease.
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