When Black and White Turns Gray: Navigating the Ethical Challenges of Implementing Shared Infant Feeding Decisions for Persons Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus in the United States.

In 2023, US guidelines for feeding perinatally human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-exposed infants were revised to encourage collaborative decision-making in lieu of categorical proscription of breastfeeding. This change advances autonomy and health equity for persons living with HIV in the United States, for the first time supporting those who prioritize the maternal and infant benefits of breastfeeding in the setting of effective, well-established HIV risk mitigation. The authors review key moral dilemmas facing clinicians and patients who must navigate the reversal of longstanding dogma against breastfeeding and provide recommendations for implementation of a new ethical paradigm.

The Relationship Between Directly Observed Therapy for Chlamydia Infections and Retesting Rates in an Adolescent Population.

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common reportable sexually transmitted infection in the United States, with >60% of reported cases occurring in individuals aged 15 to 24 years. US practice guidelines recommend directly observed therapy (DOT) for the treatment of chlamydia in adolescents, but almost no research has been done to evaluate whether DOT results in improved outcomes.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adolescents who sought care at 1 of 3 clinics within a large academic pediatric health system for a chlamydia infection.

Profiling Clinical Research Activity at an Academic Medical Center by Using Institutional Databases: Content Analysis.

Background: It is important to monitor the scope of clinical research of all types, to involve participants of all ages and subgroups in studies that are appropriate to their condition, and to ensure equal access and broad validity of the findings.

Objective: We conducted a review of clinical research performed at New York University with the following objectives: (1) to determine the utility of institutional administrative data to characterize clinical research activity; (2) to assess the inclusion of special populations; and (3) to determine if the type, initiation, and completion of the study differed by age.

Methods: Data for all studies that were institutional review board-approved between January 1, 2014, and November 2, 2016, were obtained from the research navigator system, which was launched in November 2013.

Changes in abundance of oral microbiota associated with oral cancer.

Individual bacteria and shifts in the composition of the microbiome have been associated with human diseases including cancer. To investigate changes in the microbiome associated with oral cancers, we profiled cancers and anatomically matched contralateral normal tissue from the same patient by sequencing 16S rDNA hypervariable region amplicons. In cancer samples from both a discovery and a subsequent confirmation cohort, abundance of Firmicutes (especially Streptococcus) and Actinobacteria (especially Rothia) was significantly decreased relative to contralateral normal samples from the same patient.