Publications by authors named "Medina H"

Article Synopsis
  • Black/African American women with breast cancer face a higher mortality risk than other racial groups, despite having lower overall incidence rates, with very low advance care planning and code status documentation.
  • The study analyzed data from over 7,500 women at the University of Chicago Medical Center between 2016 and 2021, using Cox regression to assess the impact of race on code status orders.
  • Results showed that only 7.2% had code status documentation, with Black/African American patients being significantly more likely to have code status orders compared to other racial groups, highlighting ongoing racial disparities in breast cancer care.
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Organisms require dietary macronutrients in specific ratios to maximize performance, and variation in macronutrient requirements plays a central role in niche determination. Although it is well recognized that development and body size can have strong and predictable effects on many aspects of organismal function, we lack a predictive understanding of ontogenetic or scaling effects on macronutrient intake. We determined protein and carbohydrate intake throughout development on lab populations of locusts and compared to late instars of field populations.

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  • The study demonstrated the ability of various crude plant peroxidases, particularly horseradish root (HRP) and pumpkin skin (PKS), to degrade mono- and polyfluorinated phenolic compounds effective for environmental cleanup.
  • HRP showed decreased activity with more fluorinated substrates due to steric hindrance, while PKS maintained higher degradation rates, suggesting its larger active site allows for better interaction with these compounds.
  • The successful library screening method identified high-activity samples, indicating its potential use for discovering new catalysts for the degradation of other fluorinated compounds in the quest for environmentally friendly biocatalytic solutions.
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  • Accurate diagnosis and treatment of complex cardiac tumors is challenging, especially for surgical resection, but 3D reconstruction and printing can enhance pre-operative planning and care.
  • The study reports two patients with rare cardiac conditions, one with cardiac angiosarcoma and the other with IgG4-related disease, where 3D models aided in surgical strategies.
  • Both patients experienced successful outcomes, with the angiosarcoma patient receiving chemotherapy and another surgery, while the IgG4 patient had complete tumor resection, demonstrating the utility of 3D printing in surgical planning.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States recently released the first-ever federal regulation on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) for drinking water. While this represents an important landmark, it also brings about compliance challenges to the stakeholders in the drinking water industry as well as concerns to the general public. In this work, we address some of the most important challenges associated with measuring low concentrations of PFASs in drinking water in the field in real drinking water matrices.

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  • This study investigates disparities in lung cancer staging among non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic populations in Florida, highlighting the need for early detection in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
  • Analysis from 2005 to 2018 revealed that nearly half of the 157,034 diagnosed NSCLC patients were at an advanced stage, with non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics showing higher odds of late-stage diagnosis compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
  • The results underscore the importance of targeted interventions for early cancer detection, particularly within specific Hispanic subgroups and regions, suggesting that sociocultural factors in multicultural areas like South Florida may aid in improving outcomes
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Background: Receiving a diagnosis of cancer is a profound and often very stressful experience. Few studies have prospectively recruited patients prior to receiving a new diagnosis of cancer and included spouses or partners.

Objective: The aim of the Couples Cope Study is to understand the impact of undergoing a diagnostic biopsy and receiving a new cancer diagnosis on quality of life (QoL) in both patients and their spouses or partners, as well as on the quality of their relationship.

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  • A study compared endometrial cancer (EC) survival rates among Black women in the US and Caribbean to determine if the survival disadvantage is specific to the US.
  • Analysis of data from over 28,000 EC cases showed that both US Black women and Caribbean Black women faced a higher risk of death compared to non-Hispanic White women in the US.
  • For non-endometrioid EC, Caribbean Black women had a significantly higher risk of death (40% more) than their US counterparts, indicating that lower survival rates among Black women with EC are not only a US issue but also a concern for African descent populations abroad.
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Objective: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for lung cancer (LC) treatment have a more favorable safety profile and improved patient reported outcomes (PROs) compared to chemotherapy, suggesting that ICIs are advantageous for older populations. The impact of ICIs on PROs, clinical outcomes, and age in LC patients remains to be established. We examined associations between age and PROs, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations in LC patients receiving ICIs.

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Background: Despite the increasing adoption of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) as a recommended alternative for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), population-based research on racial/ethnic disparities in curative-intent treatment accounting for SBRT remains limited. This study investigated trends and disparities in receiving curative-intent surgery and/or SBRT in a diverse, retrospective cohort.

Methods: Early-stage NSCLC cases (2005-2017) from the Florida cancer registry were linked to individual-level statewide discharge data containing comorbidities and specific treatment information.

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Introduction: Comparing cancer mortality and associated risk factors among immigrant populations in a host country to those in their country of origin reveals disparities in cancer risk, access to care, diagnosis, and disease management. This study compares cancer mortality between the German resident population and Germany-born individuals who migrated to the US.

Methods: Cancer mortality data from 2008-2018 were derived for Germans from the World Health Organization database and for Germany-born Americans resident in four states (California, Florida, Massachusetts, and New York) from respective Departments of Vital Statistics.

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Locusts are grasshoppers that migrate and devastate food security, yet little is known about the nutritional needs of marching bands in nature. While it has been hypothesized that protein limitation promotes locust marching behavior, migration is fueled by dietary carbohydrates. We studied South American Locust () bands at eight sites across Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

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Metarhizium spp. is used as a biocontrol agent but is limited because of low tolerance to abiotic stress. Metarhizium robertsii is an excellent study model of fungal pathogenesis in insects, and its tolerance to different stress conditions has been extensively investigated.

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to characterize the prevalence of cardiometabolic comorbidities (i.e., diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular disease) among Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors and examine the impact of cardiometabolic comorbidities on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), unmet supportive care needs, patient-provider communication self-efficacy, satisfaction with cancer care, and increases in healthy behaviors.

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Atomically-thin monolayer WS is a promising channel material for next-generation Moore's nanoelectronics owing to its high theoretical room temperature electron mobility and immunity to short channel effect. The high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield of the monolayer WS also makes it highly promising for future high-performance optoelectronics. However, the difficulty in strictly growing monolayer WS, due to its non-self-limiting growth mechanism, may hinder its industrial development because of the uncontrollable growth kinetics in attaining the high uniformity in thickness and property on the wafer-scale.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Our search identified 3617 studies, but only eight met the criteria for inclusion, revealing that EBTP can significantly improve exercise capacity (peak VO2) in CCC patients.
  • * Although some benefits for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and exercise capacity were noted, more research is needed to fully understand the effects of EBTP on mortality and other health outcomes in CCC patients.
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Background: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of the Mayo Clinic echocardiographic criteria for differentiating between constrictive pericarditis and restrictive cardiomyopathy.

Methods: We searched electronic databases for the date range from their inception to July 1, 2022. The index tests were the Mayo Clinic echocardiographic criteria.

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Background & Aims: The main causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) include chronic hepatitis C and B viral infections (HCV, HBV), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and alcohol-related disease (ALD). Etiology-specific HCC incidence rates and temporal trends on a population-basis are needed to improve HCC control and prevention.

Methods: All 14,420 HCC cases from the Florida statewide cancer registry were individually linked to data from the hospital discharge agency and the viral hepatitis department to determine the predominant etiology of each case diagnosed during 2010 to 2018.

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Soybean, corn, and cotton crops are afflicted by several noctuid pests and the development of bioinsecticides could help control these pests. The fungus Metarhizium rileyi has the greatest potential because its epizootics decimate caterpillar populations in the absence of insecticide applications. However, insect-pathogenic fungi when used for insect control in agriculture have low survival mainly due to the deleterious effects of ultraviolet radiation and heat from solar radiation.

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Objective: Prior studies have demonstrated survival differences between Black women with endometrial cancer (EC) born in the US and Caribbean. Our objective was to determine if country of birth influences EC overall survival (OS) in disaggregated subpopulations of Black women.

Methods: Using the Florida Cancer Data System, women with EC diagnosed from 1981 to 2017 were identified.

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Background: Endometrial cancer (EC) is the fourth most common cancer among Black women in the United States, a population disproportionately affected by aggressive nonendometrioid subtypes (e.g., serous, carcinosarcoma).

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Importance: Patients with cancer experience multiple supportive care needs (eg, coping and financial counseling) that, if not addressed, may result in poor clinical outcomes. Limited work has assessed the factors associated with unmet needs in large and diverse samples of ambulatory oncology patients.

Objective: To characterize the factors associated with unmet supportive care needs among ambulatory oncology patients and to assess whether such needs were associated with emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations.

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The acute toxicity and hypokinetic activity induced by menthofuran on the gastrointestinal tract of rodents were investigated in the present study. An absence of acute toxicity was observed. Menthofuran delayed gastric emptying at oral doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg in the experimental model of phenol red, as well as it reduced the intestinal transit at oral doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg.

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Background: Despite the importance of advance care planning (ACP), a process that optimizes future medical treatment and end-of-life care, for at-risk populations, rates of patient-provider ACP conversations are extremely low among Black women with breast cancer. Community health workers (CHWs) are well-positioned to support patients in engaging in ACP conversations with their providers; yet research on integrating CHWs to promote ACP is scant. The current study examined multilevel facilitators and barriers to successful ACP conversations among Black women from the perspective of providers and CHWs who serve this community.

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