Publications by authors named "Merritt M"

The framework presented in the World Bank report Open and Inclusive: Fair processes for Financing Universal Health Coverage effectively connects proposed decision-making principles with practical examples that country governments can use to pursue greater fairness. In this commentary, we consider the suggestion that international development partners might use the report's criteria to examine their own processes. We consider what the report's primary Fair Process principles - equality, impartiality and consistency - imply for development partners.

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Background: There are scarce data on risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in Asian populations. Our goal was to advance knowledge on reproductive -related risk factors for EOC in a large population of Asian women.

Methods: This study used pooled individual data from baseline questionnaires in 11 prospective cohorts (baseline years, 1958-2015) in the Asia Cohort Consortium.

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  • * Researchers found that the average age girls start their periods is about 14 years, but it has been getting younger over the past 100 years.
  • * Different countries showed different trends, with some like China having ups and downs, while others like Japan and Singapore had a steady decline in the average age.
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  • High-crystal-quality nanoferrites with short ligands, like oleic acid, have been found to improve sensitivity and spatial resolution in magnetic particle imaging (MPI) due to their ability to form uniaxial assemblies.
  • A one-pot thermal decomposition method was developed to create magnetic nano-objects (MNOs) that show strong magnetic interactions and reproducibility, with sizes ranging from 12 to 27 nm, affecting their response and chain formation capabilities.
  • The study revealed that these ferrite MNOs significantly enhance signal and spatial resolution compared to existing MPI tracers, with results indicating the importance of optimizing the frequency and field amplitude for effective imaging and thermal performance.
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Background: The 2022 mpox outbreak disproportionately affected gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). Mpox cases continue to be reported nationally. Vaccination is a tool to prevent the spread of and serious disease from mpox.

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Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) prevalence is increasing annually and affects over a third of US adults. MASLD can progress to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), characterized by severe hepatocyte injury, inflammation, and eventual advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis. MASH is predicted to become the primary cause of liver transplant by 2030.

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  • The study examined risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) among women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, including Asian, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and White participants.
  • Findings indicated that oral contraceptive (OC) use and childbirth (parity) were generally associated with lower EOC risk across all groups, especially in Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Asian women.
  • Significant differences in EOC risk factors were detected among the ethnic groups, suggesting that including more diverse populations in research could improve prevention strategies for ovarian cancer.
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Impaired metabolism is recognized as an important contributor to pathogenicity of T cells in (SLE). Over the last two decades, we have acquired significant knowledge about the signaling and transcriptomic programs related to metabolic rewiring in healthy and SLE T cells. However, our understanding of metabolic network activity derives largely from studying metabolic pathways in isolation.

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Obesity is a growing epidemic affecting millions of people worldwide and a major risk factor for a multitude of chronic diseases and premature mortality. Accumulating evidence suggests that mitochondria have a profound role in diet-induced obesity and the associated metabolic changes, but the molecular mechanisms linking mitochondria to obesity remain poorly understood. Our studies have identified a new function for mitochondrial MUL1 E3 ubiquitin ligase, a protein known to regulate mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy, in the control of energy metabolism and lipogenesis.

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Introduction: The differential expression of emotional reactivity from early to late adulthood may involve maturation of prefrontal cortical responses to negative valence stimuli. In mice, age-related changes in affective behaviors have been reported, but the functional neural circuitry warrants further investigation.

Methods: We assessed age variations in affective behaviors and functional connectivity in male and female C57BL6/J mice.

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The female predominance of gallbladder cancer (GBC) has led to a hypothesis regarding the hormone-related aetiology of GBC. We aimed to investigate the association between female reproductive factors and GBC risk, considering birth cohorts of Asian women. We conducted a pooled analysis of 331,323 women from 12 cohorts across 4 countries (China, Japan, Korea, and Singapore) in the Asia Cohort Consortium.

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Background: Movement screenings are commonly used to detect unfavorable movement patterns. Markerless motion capture systems have been developed to track 3-dimensional motion.

Purpose: To determine the reliability of movement screenings assessed using a markerless motion capture system when comparing the results of multiple systems and multiple collection periods.

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  • - The study analyzed lung cancer risk related to reproductive factors among 308,949 Asian women across four countries, finding inconsistent results in previous research.
  • - Parous women (those who have given birth) were found to have a significantly lower risk of lung cancer incidence and mortality compared to nulliparous women, especially among smokers.
  • - Higher ages at first childbirth were associated with decreased lung cancer risk, while hormone replacement therapy users showed a greater likelihood of developing non-small cell lung cancer. Future research is needed to explore these findings further.
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Background: There are established links between the accumulation of body fat as visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and the risk of developing obesity-associated metabolic disease. Previous studies have suggested that levels of intake of specific foods and nutrients are associated with VAT accumulation after accounting for total energy intake.

Objective: This study assessed associations between a priori selected dietary factors on VAT quantified using abdominal magnetic resonance imaging.

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  • The study investigates how different birth cohorts influence the relationship between reproductive and lifestyle factors and breast cancer risk.
  • It uses pooled data from 12 cohort studies and employs Cox proportional hazard regression to analyze factors like age at menarche, menopause, parity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
  • Results indicate that parity reduces breast cancer risk in older cohorts, while lifestyle factors like smoking and alcohol show stronger associations in those born in the 1950s compared to earlier cohorts.
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Background: Integrated vaccine delivery - the linkage of routine vaccination with provision of other essential health services - is a hallmark of robust primary care systems that has been linked to equitable improvements in population health outcomes.

Methods: We gathered longitudinal data relating to routine immunization coverage and vaccination equity in 78 low- and middle-income countries that have ever received support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, using multiple imputation to handle missing values. We then estimated several group-based trajectory models to describe the relationship between integrated vaccine delivery and vaccination equity in these countries.

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  • This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of combined genomic screening for high-risk conditions in young adults in Australia, comparing it to existing clinical testing methods.
  • The intervention could prevent significant morbidity and mortality, estimating around 31,094 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained by identifying and managing risks for various cancers and coronary heart disease.
  • While the upfront cost of implementing the screening for 50% of the population is AU$832 million, the potential health benefits suggest that this approach could be a valuable investment for the public healthcare system.
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High-resolution spatial imaging is transforming our understanding of foundational biology. Spatial metabolomics is an emerging field that enables the dissection of the complex metabolic landscape and heterogeneity from a thin tissue section. Currently, spatial metabolism highlights the remarkable complexity in two-dimensional space and is poised to be extended into the three-dimensional world of biology.

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Background: Previous studies in the general population observed that compared with non-Hispanic White women, Pacific Islander and Black women have higher age-adjusted mortality rates from epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), while Asian American patients have lower mortality. We investigated whether race and ethnicity is associated with differences in EOC survival in a United States Military population where patients have equal access to healthcare.

Methods: This retrospective study included women diagnosed with EOC between 2001 and 2018 among Department of Defense beneficiaries.

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The differential expression of emotional reactivity from early to late adulthood may involve maturation of prefrontal cortical responses to negative valence stimuli. In mice, age-related changes in affective behaviors have been reported, but the functional neural circuitry warrants further investigation. We assessed age variations in affective behaviors and functional connectivity in male and female C57BL6/J mice.

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Human asparagine synthetase (ASNS) catalyzes the conversion of aspartate to asparagine in an ATP-dependent reaction that utilizes glutamine as a nitrogen source while generating glutamate, AMP, and pyrophosphate as additional products. Asparagine Synthetase Deficiency (ASNSD) is an inborn error of metabolism in which children present with homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in the gene. These mutations result in ASNS variant protein expression.

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Large-scale epidemics in resource-constrained settings disrupt delivery of core health services, such as routine immunization. Rebuilding and strengthening routine immunization programs following epidemics is an essential step toward improving vaccine equity and averting future outbreaks. We performed a comparative case study analysis of routine immunization program recovery in Liberia and Haiti following the 2014-16 West Africa Ebola epidemic and 2010s cholera epidemic, respectively.

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  • A study analyzed data from 7,207 endometrial cancer cases and 22,027 controls to investigate the impact of night shift work and sleep duration on endometrial cancer risk among postmenopausal women.
  • The findings indicated a non-significant inverse relationship between night shift work and endometrial cancer, meaning it did not appear to increase risk significantly.
  • Additionally, the duration of sleep (short or long) did not correlate with an increased risk of endometrial cancer, although an inverse association was noted specifically for obese women.
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Importance: Despite evidence of an association between reproductive factors and endometrial cancer risk, prospective studies have been conducted mainly in non-Asian countries.

Objective: To assess the association between reproductive factors, such as number of deliveries, age at menarche, or menopause, and endometrial cancer risk.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used pooled individual data from 13 prospective cohort studies conducted between 1963 and 2014 in the Asia Cohort Consortium.

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  • Stable isotopes help assess metabolism, and the new MS method can identify all isotopomers of aspartate and glutamate using less than 1% of the sample required for NMR.
  • This method improves the specificity in distinguishing between metabolic pathways that yield the same count of carbon labels in these amino acids.
  • The approach reveals metabolic differences in human tumors and the role of fumarate hydratase deficiency in renal cancers, enhancing in vivo isotope-labeling studies.
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