Applying a two-stage generalized synthetic control approach to quantify the heterogeneous health effects of extreme weather events: A 2018 large wildfire in California event as a case study.

Extreme weather events, including wildfires, are becoming more intense, frequent, and expansive due to climate change, thus increasing negative health outcomes. However, such effects can vary across space, time, and population subgroups, requiring methods that can handle multiple exposed units, account for time-varying confounding, and capture heterogeneous treatment effects. In this article, we proposed an approach based on staggered generalized synthetic control methods to study heterogeneous health effects, using the 2018 California wildfire season as a case study.

Financial toxicity among pediatric oncology families during therapy and early survivorship: a qualitative analysis.

Purpose: Cancer treatment often results in adverse financial consequences-also termed financial toxicity. To build upon limited research in pediatric oncology, we conducted a qualitative study exploring families' lived experiences with financial toxicity and their perspectives on potential mitigation strategies.

Methods: We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of English- and Spanish-speaking family caregivers, 3-24 months following diagnosis.

Meta-Analysis: Prevalence of Frailty and Associated Adverse Events in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

Background: The number of adults aged over 60 years with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing. Frailty, rather than chronological age, may be a better predictor of adverse health outcomes.

Aims: To summarise current knowledge about frailty in adults with IBD including the prevalence and associations of frailty and IBD-related adverse outcomes.

Effects of Testosterone on Gene Expression Are Concordant between Sexes but Divergent across Species of Lizards.

AbstractHormones mediate sexual dimorphism by regulating sex-specific patterns of gene expression, but it is unclear how much of this regulation involves sex-specific hormone levels versus sex-specific transcriptomic responses to the same hormonal signal. Moreover, transcriptomic responses to hormones can evolve, but the extent to which hormonal pleiotropy in gene regulation is conserved across closely related species is not well understood. We addressed these issues by elevating testosterone levels in juvenile females and males of three lizard species before sexual divergence in circulating testosterone and then characterizing transcriptomic responses in the liver.

Evaluation of a probiotic blend on psychosocial health and biomarkers of inflammatory, immune and stress response in adults with subthreshold depression: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

This study examined the efficacy of a probiotic in reducing depressive symptom severity in people with subthreshold depression. In a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, a probiotic (1 × 10^9 live cells per strain: LF16 (DSM26956), LR06 (DSM21981), LP01 (LMG P-21021) and 04 (DSM23233)) or placebo was taken daily for 12 weeks. Data were collected at baseline, 6 and 12 weeks including psychological symptom severity (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI; Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ; Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, HADS; and Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, DASS).