Personal care product use and risk of adult-onset asthma: findings from the Sister Study.

Background: Personal care products (PCPs) contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) linked to hormonally-sensitive diseases. Population studies have found associations between prenatal EDC exposure and childhood asthma; however, few have investigated adult-onset asthma.

Objectives: We investigated the associations between commonly used PCPs and the risk of adult-onset asthma in a prospective cohort study of U.

Associations Between Mosaic Loss of Sex Chromosomes and Incident Hospitalization for Atrial Fibrillation in the United Kingdom.

Background: Mosaic loss of chromosome Y (mLOY) in leukocytes of men reflects genomic instability from aging, smoking, and environmental exposures. A similar mosaic loss of chromosome X (mLOX) occurs among women. However, the associations between mLOY, mLOX, and risk of incident heart diseases are unclear.

Serum Erythritol and Risk of Overall and Cause-Specific Mortality in a Cohort of Men.

Erythritol occurs naturally in some fruits and fermented foods, and has also been used as an artificial sweetener since the 1990s. Although there have been questions and some studies regarding its potential adverse health effects, the association between serum erythritol and long-term mortality has not been evaluated. To examine the association between serum erythritol's biochemical status and risk of overall and cause-specific mortality, a prospective cohort analysis was conducted using participants in the ATBC Study (1985-1993) previously selected for metabolomic sub-studies.

Associations between mosaic loss of sex chromosomes and incident hospitalization for atrial fibrillation in the United Kingdom.

Background: Mosaic loss of chromosome Y (mLOY) in leukocytes of men reflects genomic instability from aging, smoking, and environmental exposures. A similar mosaic loss of chromosome X (mLOX) occurs among women. However, the associations between mLOY, mLOX, and risk of incident heart diseases are unclear.

Do expressive writing interventions have positive effects on Koreans?: a meta-analysis.

Introduction: Expressive Writing (EW) is an intervention that focuses on individuals' writing down their thoughts and feelings about trauma or stressful events. Meta-analyses on EW studies have confirmed that EW has a positive effect. However, the heterogeneity of studies is high, so many studies have investigated boundary conditions and moderators.

Engineering choroid plexus-on-a-chip with oscillatory flow for modeling brain metastasis.

The human brain choroid plexus (ChP) is a highly organized secretory tissue with a complex vascular system and epithelial layers in the ventricles of the brain. The ChP is the body's principal source of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); it also functions as a barrier to separate the blood from CSF, because the movement of CSF through the body is pulsatile in nature. Thus far, it has been challenging to recreate the specialized features and dynamics of the ChP in a physiologically relevant microenvironment.

Metabolomic Analysis of Vitamin E Supplement Use in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.

The effects of vitamin E supplementation on cancer and other chronic diseases are not clear. We compared the serum metabolomic profile of differing vitamin E dosages in order to re-examine the previously observed changes in a novel C lactone sulfate compound, androgenic steroids, and other metabolites. A total of 3409 women and men previously selected for metabolomics studies in the PLCO Cancer Screening Trial were included in this investigation.

Serum metabolomic profile of hair dye use.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer reported that some chemicals in hair dyes are probably carcinogenic to those exposed to them occupationally. Biological mechanisms through which hair dye use may be related to human metabolism and cancer risk are not well-established. We conducted the first serum metabolomic examination comparing hair dye users and nonusers in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study.

Metabolomic analysis of serum alpha-tocopherol among men in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study.

Background/objectives: The role of vitamin E in chronic disease risk remains incompletely understood, particularly in an un-supplemented state, and evidence is sparse regarding the biological actions and pathways involved in its influence on health outcomes. Identifying vitamin-E-associated metabolites through agnostic metabolomics analyses can contribute to elucidating the specific associations and disease etiology. This study aims to investigate the association between circulating metabolites and serum α-tocopherol concentration in an un-supplemented state.

Assessment of the feasibility of developing a clinical pathway using a clinical order log.

A clinical pathway (CP) is a tool for effectively managing a care process. There are several research efforts on developing clinical pathways (CPs) in the process mining domain. However, the nature of the data affects data analysis results, and patient clinical variability makes it challenging to develop CPs.

A 28-year prospective analysis of serum vitamin E, vitamin E-related genetic variation and risk of prostate cancer.

Objective: Investigate the relationship between serum α-tocopherol concentration and long-term risk of prostate cancer, and evaluate the interaction with vitamin E-related genetic variants and their polygenic risk score (PRS).

Methods: We conducted a biochemical analysis of 29,102 male Finnish smokers in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study. Serum α-tocopherol was measured at baseline using high-performance liquid chromatography, and 2724 prostate cancer cases were identified during 28 years of follow-up.

Hair dye use and prostate cancer risk: A prospective analysis in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study cohort.

Background: According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, some hair dye chemicals are considered mutagenic and carcinogenic in humans. One hospital-based study reported a positive association between hair dye use and prostate cancer risk, but no prospective analyses have been conducted.

Methods: This study investigated the association between hair dye use and prostate cancer risk in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study cohort, a large, well-characterized cohort of 29,133 male Finnish smokers.

Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells play a role as a vascular pericyte in the reconstruction of human BBB on the angiogenesis microfluidic chip.

A blood-brain barrier (BBB) on a chip similar to the in vivo BBB is important for evaluating the efficacy of reparative cell therapeutics for ischemic stroke in vitro. In this study, we established human BBB-like microvasculature on an angiogenesis microfluidic chip and analyzed the role of human pericytes (hPCs) and human astrocytes (hACs) on the architecture of human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMEC)-derived microvasculature on a chip. We found that human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) play a role as perivascular pericytes in tight BBB reformation with a better vessel-constrictive capacity than that of hPCs, providing evidence of reparative stem cells on BBB repair rather than a paracrine effect.

Multivitamin Use and Overall and Site-Specific Cancer Risks in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.

Background: Multivitamins are among the most commonly used supplements in the United States, but their effectiveness in preventing cancer remains unclear.

Objectives: We prospectively examined the association between multivitamin use and risks of overall and site-specific cancer in a large, well-characterized cohort to ascertain potential preventive or harmful relationships.

Methods: We examined 489,640 participants ages 50-71 in the NIH-American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Diet and Health Study who were enrolled from 1995 to 1998.

Microvascularized tumor organoids-on-chips: advancing preclinical drug screening with pathophysiological relevance.

Recent developments of organoids engineering and organ-on-a-chip microfluidic technologies have enabled the recapitulation of the major functions and architectures of microscale human tissue, including tumor pathophysiology. Nevertheless, there remain challenges in recapitulating the complexity and heterogeneity of tumor microenvironment. The integration of these engineering technologies suggests a potential strategy to overcome the limitations in reconstituting the perfusable microvascular system of large-scale tumors conserving their key functional features.

Self-detachable UV-curable polymers for open-access microfluidic platforms.

This study presents an ultraviolet (UV)-curable polymer which is applicable to open-access microfluidic platforms. The UV-curable polymer was prepared by mixing trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA), 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA), polyethylene glycol-diacrylate (PEG-DA), and Irgacure 184. The polymer resin is optically transparent before and after UV-assisted curing and showed good biocompatibility when culturing multiple types of cells on the nanopatterned polymer substrate.

Urinary bisphenol A, phthalate metabolites, and obesity: do gender and menopausal status matter?

Previous studies of urinary bisphenol A (BPA), phthalate metabolites, and obesity risk have shown inconsistent results. Menopausal status is one of the main factors that affect hormone secretion change in women. In this study, we examined whether urinary BPA and phthalate metabolite levels are associated with obesity and whether the associations differ by sex and menopausal status in a sample of Korean adult populations.

Developing data-driven clinical pathways using electronic health records: The cases of total laparoscopic hysterectomy and rotator cuff tears.

Objective: A clinical pathway is one of the tools used to support clinical decision making that provides a standardized care process in a specific context. The objective of this research was to develop a method for building data-driven clinical pathways using electronic health record data.

Materials And Methods: We proposed a matching rate-based clinical pathway mining algorithm that produces the optimal set of clinical orders for each clinical stage by employing matching rates.

Effects of Combined Upper Limb Robotic Therapy in Patients With Tetraplegic Spinal Cord Injury.

Objective: To confirm the effects of combined upper limb robotic therapy (RT) as compared to conventional occupational therapy (OT) in tetraplegic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients and to suggest the optimized treatment guidelines of combined upper limb RT.

Methods: After subject recruitment and screening for eligibility, the baseline evaluation for outcome measures were performed. We evaluated the Graded and Redefined Assessment of Strength, Sensibility, and Prehension (GRASSP), the American Spinal Injury Association upper extremity motor score, grip and pinch strength, and the Spinal Cord Independence Measurement III (SCIM-III).

3D Microfluidic Bone Tumor Microenvironment Comprised of Hydroxyapatite/Fibrin Composite.

Bone is one of the most common sites of cancer metastasis, as its fertile microenvironment attracts tumor cells. The unique mechanical properties of bone extracellular matrix (ECM), mainly composed of hydroxyapatite (HA) affect a number of cellular responses in the tumor microenvironment (TME) such as proliferation, migration, viability, and morphology, as well as angiogenic activity, which is related to bone metastasis. In this study, we engineered a bone-mimetic microenvironment to investigate the interactions between the TME and HA using a microfluidic platform designed for culturing tumor cells in 3D bone-mimetic composite of HA and fibrin.

Design rules for a tunable merged-tip microneedle.

This publication proposes the use of an elasto-capillarity-driven self-assembly for fabricating a microscale merged-tip structure out of a variety of biocompatible UV-curable polymers for use as a microneedle platform. In addition, the novel merged-tip microstructure constitutes a new class of microneedles, which incorporates the convergence of biocompatible polymer micropillars, leading to the formation of a sharp tip and an open cavity capable of both liquid trapping and volume control. When combined with biocompatible photopolymer micropillar arrays fabricated with photolithography, elasto-capillarity-driven self-assembly provides a means for producing a complex microneedle-like structure without the use of micromolding or micromachining.

Engineering tumor vasculature on an injection-molded plastic array 3D culture (IMPACT) platform.

Recent advances in microfluidic organ-on-a-chip technology have enabled the growth of 3D microphysiological systems for diverse biological studies. Fabrication and usage limitations inherent to conventional soft lithographic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based microfluidic platforms drive demands for more accessible, standardized, and mass producible platforms for wider applications. Here, we introduce a novel injection-molded plastic array 3D culture (IMPACT) platform, a microfluidic system designed for easy and diverse patterning of 3D cellular hydrogel.