Publications by authors named "Kelly Hunt"
Article Synopsis
- This study analyzed trends in prepregnancy obesity and gestational weight gain in South Carolina, focusing on racial and ethnic differences during and before the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The research utilized hospital discharge codes and birth certificates from 306,344 full-term births, employing statistical models to assess weight gain adequacy and prepregnancy obesity risks.
- Findings showed an increase in inadequate weight gain across all groups before the pandemic, a stabilization during it, and a rise in prepregnancy obesity primarily among women of "other" races, with no overall changes for Hispanic, Black, and White women.
Introduction: Breast sarcomas are rare, heterogeneous malignancies often associated with prior radiation and require a multidisciplinary approach, including a comprehensive reconstruction plan. We analyzed reconstructive outcomes in a large cohort of patients with breast sarcomas and provide a contemporary treatment algorithm.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent breast reconstruction after surgical treatment for breast sarcoma at our institution between January 2010 and December 2023.
Article Synopsis
- Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) show altered DNA methylation patterns, suggesting these changes could be used as specific biomarkers for NF1 patient screening.
- Researchers conducted a study involving DNA methylation profiling from tumor and adjacent tissue samples of 13 MPNST patients, finding 73 candidate CpGs that could distinguish MPNSTs from neurofibromas.
- Five validated biomarkers demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in tissue detection, and higher methylation levels were observed in plasma tests, indicating potential for early detection of MPNST in NF1 patients.
Article Synopsis
- About one-third of pregnant individuals in the U.S. are affected by obesity, which can negatively impact their children’s health, prompting a study on urine metabolomics to identify differences in metabolites between kids exposed and unexposed to maternal obesity.
- Urine samples from 68 children aged 4-8 were analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, revealing significant differences in metabolite levels based on maternal obesity, particularly lower levels of certain compounds related to microbial metabolism.
- The study found that children exposed to maternal obesity had altered metabolites linked to tryptophan metabolism and steroid levels, with some differences related to the children’s own BMI status, underscoring potential health implications.
The purpose of this editorial is to illustrate how the Operative Standards for Cancer Surgery can be used as a tool to support education of surgical trainees. The three-volume text is a valuable resource not only for learning the scientific principles related to surgical oncology, but also as a technical guide for critical aspects of performing operations and a primer for quality assurance going forward in a surgical career.
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- This study investigated factors linked to positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in cT1-2N0 breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and how this data might differ from patients who didn't receive NACT.
- Out of 1,930 patients studied, 12.1% had positive SLNs, with specific tumor characteristics (like hormone receptor-positive status and lobular histology) significantly predicting this outcome.
- The findings suggested low axillary recurrence rates in patients with positive SLNs, indicating that certain tumor features and older age could help identify individuals at higher risk for further disease after treatment.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines the effectiveness of targeted axillary dissection (TAD) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer patients, focusing on the status of clipped nodes during axillary staging.
- Out of 680 patients analyzed, 90% had their clipped nodes identified as sentinel lymph nodes (SLN), while 10% were classified as non-SLN, with a significant proportion (60%) of non-SLNs showing metastasis.
- The findings suggest that when the clipped node is a non-SLN, it often serves as the sole positive node, highlighting the importance of clipping for accurate residual disease assessment and better informing adjuvant therapy decisions.
Article Synopsis
- Imlunestrant is a new pill for treating a type of breast cancer, and researchers looked at how well it works and its safety.
- In a study, women with a specific type of breast cancer took either 400mg or 800mg of the pill for two weeks before surgery, and more tests were done with a 200mg dose.
- The results showed that the 400mg dose worked well and had fewer side effects, making it the best choice for treating patients in this study.
In a recent 12-week smoking cessation trial, varenicline tartrate failed to show significant improvements in enhancing end-of-treatment abstinence when compared with placebo among adolescents and young adults. The original analysis aimed to assess the average effect across the entire population using timeline followback methods, which typically involve overdispersed binomial counts. We instead propose to investigate treatment effect heterogeneity among latent classes of participants using a Bayesian beta-binomial piecewise linear growth mixture model specifically designed to address longitudinal overdispersed binomial responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Technology-based Eye Care Services (TECS) is a tele-ophthalmology program operating in the Veterans' Health Administration since 2015. This study explores characteristics of the national TECS population, evaluates implementation and sustainability of TECS, and analyzes possible associations and effects of demographic characteristics and social determinants of health on being diagnosed with a vision-threatening (VT) disease.
Design: Implementation and sustainability of TECS from 2015 to 2022 were examined along with the sociodemographic characteristics of veterans served through TECS in 2021.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are tumor suppressor genes that have been linked to inherited susceptibility of breast cancer. Germline BRCA1/2 pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants (gBRCAm) are clinically relevant for treatment selection in breast cancer because they confer sensitivity to poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors. BRCA1/2 mutation status may also impact decisions on other systemic therapies, risk-reducing measures, and choice of surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The course of subclinical gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is variable. The management of small GISTs is not well-defined.
Methods: Records of patients presenting with small GISTs with documented follow-up appointment at our institution between 2016 and 2022 were identified and reviewed.
Background: Phthalates and their replacements have been implicated as developmental toxicants. Young children may be exposed to phthalates/replacements when using skin care products (SCPs).
Objectives: Our objective is to assess the associations between use of SCPs and children's urinary phthalate/replacement metabolite concentrations.
Increasing Prevalence of Diagnosed Gestational Diabetes in South Carolina: 2015-2021.
J Womens Health (Larchmt)
November 2024
To examine trends with a focus on racial and ethnic disparities in reported gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and related outcomes (macrosomia, large for gestational age infants) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Carolina (SC). A retrospective cohort study of pregnancies resulting in livebirths from 2015 through 2021 was conducted in SC. Statewide maternal hospital and emergency department discharge codes were linked to birth certificate data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Moderately hypofractionated, preoperative radiotherapy in patients with soft tissue sarcomas (HYPORT-STS; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03819985) investigated a radiobiologically equivalent, moderately hypofractionated course of preoperative radiotherapy (RT) 15 × 2.85 Gy in patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: HER2-positive breast cancer is traditionally treated with neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST), but optimal treatment sequencing is less clear in patients with small tumors. We investigated clinicopathologic and oncologic outcomes in early stage HER2-positive breast cancer.
Patients And Methods: An institutional database was queried to identify patients with cT1-2 (≤ 3 cm) N0M0, HER2-positive breast cancer treated from 2015 to 2020 and compared upfront surgery and NST cohorts.
Article Synopsis
- Cyclin E, particularly its low-molecular weight isoforms (LMW-E), plays a crucial role in cell cycle regulation and is frequently expressed in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), where it correlates with poor patient outcomes.
- The study reveals that LMW-E enhances the stability and expression of PKMYT1, which inhibits CDK1 and affects mitotic timing, making it a potential therapeutic target for TNBC.
- The selective inhibitor RP-6306 shows promise in treating LMW-E-expressing tumors by promoting tumor cell death and enhancing immune responses, suggesting that the LMW-E/PKMYT1/CDK1 pathway could be an effective target for therapy in aggressive breast cancers.
Article Synopsis
- Atypical intradermal smooth muscle neoplasm, or cutaneous leiomyosarcoma, is a rare skin tumor that grows slowly and usually isn't very aggressive.
- A study looked at 95 patients with this tumor from 2002 to 2021, mostly men around 58 years old, with most tumors appearing as painless lumps on the legs or arms.
- After treatment, the majority of patients (96%) stayed free of the disease for five years, showing that the outcomes were mostly good.
Background: Emerging data suggest that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) improve kidney outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Direct comparisons of the kidney and cardiovascular effectiveness of GLP-1 RA with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), a first-line therapy for this population, are needed.
Objectives: The authors compared kidney and cardiovascular outcomes for new users of SGLT2i and GLP-1 RAs with T2D.