Publications by authors named "Lovett S"

Background: Early-life trauma (before age 18) is hypothesized to increase risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes through stress pathways, yet epidemiologic findings are mixed.

Methods: Sister Study participants (U.S.

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Caused by both eukaryotic dinoflagellates and prokaryotic cyanobacteria, harmful algal blooms are events of severe ecological, economic, and public health consequence, and their incidence has become more common of late. Despite coordinated research efforts to identify and characterize the genomes of harmful algal bloom-causing organisms, the genomic basis and evolutionary origins of paralytic shellfish toxins produced by harmful algal blooms remain at best incomplete. The paralytic shellfish toxin saxitoxin has an especially complex genomic architecture and enigmatic phylogenetic distribution, spanning dinoflagellates and multiple cyanobacterial genera.

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Psychologists are well-positioned to take on leadership roles in health care systems as a result of the broad-based skills included in doctoral level, professional training programs. These include knowledge of evidence-based practice, extensive training in applied research and clinical practice, emphasis on critical thinking in scientific methods and hypothesis testing, teaching, supervision, team consultation, and continuous learning (APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice, 2006; Korman, 1974; McFall, 2007). Formal opportunities to learn how to apply these skills in leadership and organizational management roles are, however, limited during graduate training.

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Objectives: While our understanding of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has evolved, uncertainty remains regarding utility of previously established pulmonary embolism (PE) screening guidelines in patients with COVID-19. Many studies have investigated the efficacy of D-dimer (DD) screenings for patients with COVID-19 admitted to inpatient services, but few have evaluated patients in the emergency department (ED). The purpose of this study was to investigate utility of DD threshold for PE screening in patients with COVID-19 presenting to the ED.

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In 1967, in this journal, Evelyn Witkin proposed the existence of a coordinated DNA damage response in , which later came to be called the "SOS response." We revisited this response using the replication inhibitor azidothymidine (AZT) and RNA-Seq analysis and identified several features. We confirm the induction of classic Save our ship (SOS) loci and identify several genes, including many of the pyrimidine pathway, that have not been previously demonstrated to be DNA damage-inducible.

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Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in commercial and consumer products.

Objective: We evaluated PFAS exposure in relation to incidence and growth of uterine leiomyomata (UL), hormone-dependent neoplasms that are associated with severe gynecologic morbidity.

Methods: We studied 1158 participants in the Study of Environment, Lifestyle, and Fibroids, a Detroit-based prospective cohort study of Black females aged 23-35 years at enrollment (2010-2012).

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A healthcare provider unknowingly treated a patient with mpox and subsequently developed ocular mpox without rash. She breastfed during illness; her infant was not infected. This report addresses 3 challenges in mpox management and control: diagnosis in the absence of rash, exposures in healthcare settings, and management of lactating patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the link between hair product use and exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), particularly in Black women who often use these products.
  • It used data from 425 Black females in the Detroit area, analyzing their reported hair product usage and measuring concentrations of various EDC biomarkers in their urine.
  • Results showed significant increases in EDC biomarker levels, particularly with recent use of hair products, indicating a potential health risk associated with these commonly used hair care items.
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  • Researchers studied the link between persistent endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and perceived stress in Black women, using data from 1,394 participants over five years.
  • They measured stress using the Perceived Stress Scale and analyzed the presence of various EDCs in plasma samples.
  • Results indicated that while the overall mixture of EDCs did not show a strong correlation with stress levels, certain individual EDCs were linked to higher or lower perceived stress scores, though findings varied over time.
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We examined the association between childhood adversity and fecundability (the per-cycle probability of conception), and the extent to which childhood social support modified this association. We used data from 6318 female participants aged 21-45 years in Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), a North American prospective preconception cohort study (2013-2022). Participants completed a baseline questionnaire, bimonthly follow-up questionnaires (until pregnancy or a censoring event), and a supplemental questionnaire on experiences across the life course including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and social support (using the modified Berkman-Syme Social Network Index [SNI]).

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  • The study investigated the characteristics of healthcare personnel (HCP) who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 from April 2020 to December 2021 to inform protective measures for this workforce.
  • Over 7,500 case-HCP were analyzed, revealing that a significant proportion of certified nursing assistants, medical assistants, and home healthcare workers identified as non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic, with many residing in areas of high social vulnerability.
  • Findings suggest that tailored infection prevention strategies should be developed according to HCP roles and social vulnerability to effectively reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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  • - Hospital patient-care workers have high injury rates, influenced by both physical hazards and social factors like unfair treatment at work.
  • - A study conducted with Boston hospital workers found that various types of unfair treatment, such as humiliation and being closely monitored, are linked to a higher incidence of injuries.
  • - Addressing and preventing unfair treatment in the workplace could help reduce injury rates among hospital staff, suggesting a need for supportive programs and policies.
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Although gene conversion (GC) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most error-free way to repair double-strand breaks (DSBs), the mutation rate during homologous recombination is 1,000 times greater than during replication. Many mutations involve dissociating a partially copied strand from its repair template and re-aligning with the same or another template, leading to -1 frameshifts in homonucleotide runs, quasipalindrome (QP)-associated mutations and microhomology-mediated interchromosomal template switches. We studied GC induced by HO endonuclease cleavage at MATα, repaired by an HMR::KI-URA3 donor.

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Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are endocrine-disrupting chemicals with neurotoxic properties. PFAS have been associated with depressive symptoms among women in some studies, but little research has evaluated the effects of PFAS mixtures. Further, no study has investigated interactions of PFAS-depression associations by perceived stress, which has been shown to modify the effects of PFAS on other health outcomes.

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Bioimpedance spectroscopy is a tissue classification technique with many clinical applications. Similarly to other data-driven methods, it requires large amounts of data to accurately distinguish similar classes of tissue. Classifiers trained on small datasets typically suffer from over-fitting and lack the ability to generalise to previously unseen data.

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  • * A case-control study involving 3,647 healthcare personnel showed that bivalent vaccine effectiveness (VE) was about 34.1%, with the highest effectiveness (54.8%) observed shortly after administration, declining as time passed.
  • * The study highlights that while bivalent doses initially provide substantial protection against COVID-19, their effectiveness significantly wanes after two months, suggesting the need for ongoing monitoring and potential updates to vaccination strategies.
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Practitioners of environmental water management (EWM) operate within complex social-ecological systems. We sought to better understand this complexity by investigating the management of environmental water for vegetation outcomes. We conducted an online survey to determine practitioners' perspectives on EWM for non-woody vegetation (NWV) in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia with regards to: i) desirable outcomes and benefits; ii) influencing factors and risks; iii) challenges of monitoring and evaluation, and iv) improving outcomes.

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How people value rivers, wetlands and floodplains influences their attitudes, beliefs and behaviours towards these ecosystems, and can shape policy and management interventions. Better understanding why people value rivers, wetlands and floodplains and their key ecosystem components, such as vegetation, helps to determine what factors underpin the social legitimacy required for effective management of these systems. This study sought to ascertain perspectives on the value of non-woody vegetation in river-floodplain systems via an online survey.

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Purpose: Emergency department (ED) pharmacists commonly perform positive culture follow-ups that result in optimized antibiotic prescribing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential positive impact on the outcome of antibiotic-free days through an ED pharmacist-driven protocol to contact patients with negative urine cultures and sexually transmitted infection (STI) test results who were discharged with antibiotics.

Methods: This was a single-center, prospective, observational, pre-post intervention study to determine antibiotic use in patients with negative urine cultures who were discharged from the Loyola Medical University Center ED with antibiotics prescribed.

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  • Protection against COVID-19 is crucial for healthcare workers, especially as vaccine effectiveness has decreased with the rise of the Omicron variant.
  • A study evaluated the effectiveness of a monovalent mRNA booster dose from October 2021 to June 2022, finding that its effectiveness dropped significantly from 86% during Delta prevalence to 65% during Omicron prevalence.
  • The results indicated that while a booster dose provides strong protection initially, its effectiveness wanes over time, dropping to 32% at least 120 days after vaccination, highlighting the importance of staying current with COVID-19 vaccinations.
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Objective: To characterize residential social vulnerability among healthcare personnel (HCP) and evaluate its association with severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: This study analyzed data collected in May-December 2020 through sentinel and population-based surveillance in healthcare facilities in Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, and Oregon.

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Theta oscillations in the primary visual cortex (VC) have been observed during running tasks, but the mechanism behind their generation is not well understood. Some studies have suggested that theta in the VC is locally generated, while others have proposed that it is volume conducted from the hippocampus. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between hippocampal and VC LFP dynamics.

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Background: Research on the effect of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on adult outcomes has typically relied on retrospective assessment of ACEs and cumulative scores. However, this approach raises methodological challenges that can limit the validity of findings.

Objective: The aims of this paper are 1) to present the value of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) to identify and mitigate potential problems related to confounding and selection bias, and 2) to question the meaning of a cumulative ACE score.

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  • Understanding cognitive health in older adults involves studying the neurobiology of age-related decline and how some individuals maintain cognitive abilities.
  • Aged humans and rodents tend to shift their learning strategies toward stimulus-response learning, suggesting an interaction between the caudate nucleus/dorsal striatum (DS) and hippocampus (HPC).
  • The recent study found that inactivating the DS did not improve visuospatial paired associate learning in aged rats, indicating that elevated DS activity may not directly cause cognitive decline in this specific type of memory task.
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We prospectively examined the association between COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual cycle characteristics in an internet-based prospective cohort study. We included a sample of 1,137 participants who enrolled in Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), a preconception cohort study of couples trying to conceive, during January 2021-August 2022. Eligible participants were aged 21-45 years, United States or Canadian residents, and trying to conceive without fertility treatment.

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