Preference for and impact of telehealth vs in-person asthma visits among Black and Latinx adults.

Background: Black and Latinx adults experience disproportionate asthma-related morbidity and limited specialty care access. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic expanded telehealth use.

Objective: To evaluate visit type (telehealth [TH] vs in-person [IP]) preferences and the impact of visit type on asthma outcomes among Black and Latinx adults with moderate-to-severe asthma.

Socioeconomic status associates with worse asthma morbidity among Black and Latinx adults.

Background: Asthma disproportionately affects African American/Black (AA/B) and Hispanic/Latinx (H/L) patients and individuals with low socioeconomic status (SES), but the relationship between SES and asthma morbidity within these racial/ethnic groups is inadequately understood.

Objective: To determine the relationship between SES and asthma morbidity among AA/B and H/L adults with moderate to severe asthma using multidomain SES frameworks and mediation analyses.

Methods: We analyzed enrollment data from the PeRson EmPowered Asthma RElief randomized trial, evaluating inhaled corticosteroid supplementation to rescue therapy.

Socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 and willingness to be vaccinated in African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx adults.

Purpose: To describe the socioeconomic and healthcare-related effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and willingness to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine, among African American/Black (AA/B) and Hispanic/Latinx (H/L) adults with asthma currently enrolled in a large trial.

Methods: The present analysis is a sub-study of the PeRson EmPowered Asthma RElief (PREPARE) study, a pragmatic study of 1201 AA/B and H/L adults with asthma. A monthly questionnaire was completed by a subset of PREPARE participants (n = 325) during May-August, 2020.

Nebulizer Use by Black and Latinx Adults with Moderate to Severe Asthma.

Background: Generally, a short-acting beta-2 agonist (SABA) delivered via metered-dose inhaler (MDI) is recommended for quick relief of asthma symptoms. However, in the PeRson EmPowered Asthma RElief (PREPARE) pragmatic trial, 67% of patients reported having used a nebulizer for SABA administration.

Objective: To understand preferences, experiences, and decision making regarding the use of nebulizers in Black and Latinx adults with uncontrolled asthma.

A randomized, open-label, pragmatic study to assess reliever-triggered inhaled corticosteroid in African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx adults with asthma: Design and methods of the PREPARE trial.

Asthma prevalence, morbidity, and mortality disproportionately impact African American/Black (AA/B) and Hispanic/Latinx (H/L) communities. Adherence to daily inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), recommended by asthma guidelines in all but the mildest cases of asthma, is generally poor. As-needed ICS has shown promise as a patient-empowering asthma management strategy, but it has not been rigorously studied in AA/B or H/L patients or in a real-world setting.

Adherence to adding inhaled corticosteroids to rescue therapy in a pragmatic trial with adults with asthma: A pilot study.

Background: Underuse of guideline-recommended inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) controller therapy is a risk factor for greater asthma burden. ICS concomitantly used with rescue inhalers (Patient-Activated Reliever-Triggered ICS ['PARTICS']) reduced asthma exacerbations in efficacy trials, but whether PARTICS is effective in pragmatic trials is unknown.

Objective: We conducted this pilot to determine the feasibility of executing a large-scale pragmatic PARTICS trial and to improve study protocols.

Sex Differences in Veterans' Cardiovascular Health.

In the U.S. civilian population, sex differences have been identified in cardiovascular health; these differences have been used to inform care.

Anti-superoxide dismutase antibodies are associated with survival in patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Our objective was to test the hypothesis that aberrantly modified forms of superoxide dismutase (SOD1) influence the disease course for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SALS). We probed for anti-SOD1 antibodies (IgM and IgG) against both the normal and aberrantly oxidized-SOD1 (SODox) antigens in sera from patients with SALS, subjects diagnosed with other neurological disorders and healthy individuals, and correlated the levels of these antibodies to disease duration and/or severity. Anti-SOD1 antibodies were detected in all cohorts; however, a subset of ∼5-10% of SALS cases exhibited elevated levels of anti-SOD1 antibodies.

Association of SNCA with Parkinson: replication in the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center Biomarker Study.

Background: Mutations in the α-synuclein gene (SNCA) cause autosomal dominant forms of Parkinson's disease, but the substantial risk conferred by this locus to the common sporadic disease has only recently emerged from genome-wide association studies.

Methods: We genotyped a prioritized noncoding variant in SNCA intron 4 in 344 patients with Parkinson's disease and 275 controls from the longitudinal Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center Biomarker Study.

Results: The common minor allele of rs2736990 was associated with elevated disease susceptibility (odds ratio, 1.

Low-dose aspirin in the primary prevention of rheumatoid arthritis: the Women's Health Study.

Objective: Low-dose aspirin may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) through its effect on cyclooxygenase activity and its antioxidant pathways. Previous randomized trial data have demonstrated a beneficial effect of low-dose aspirin in reducing other inflammatory diseases, such as asthma and colorectal adenomas, but no trial has evaluated the role of aspirin in RA prevention.

Methods: The Women's Health Study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between 1992 and 2004 designed to evaluate the risks and benefits of low-dose aspirin (100 mg every other day) and vitamin E in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer among 39,876 female health care professionals age > or =45 years throughout the US.

Hand bone mineral density is associated with both total hip and lumbar spine bone mineral density in post-menopausal women with RA.

Objective: RA is associated with localized bone loss in the hands, as well as generalized osteoporosis. We evaluated the relationship between hand digital X-ray radiogrammetry BMD (DXR-BMD) and total hip and lumbar spine BMD.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 138 post-menopausal women with RA.

Adults with cerebral palsy: a workshop to define the challenges of treating and preventing secondary musculoskeletal and neuromuscular complications in this rapidly growing population.

Although the neurological injury associated with cerebral palsy (CP) is non-progressive, adults with the disorder often develop musculoskeletal and neurological symptoms, such as severe pain, chronic fatigue, and a premature decline in mobility and function, as they age. Little is known about how to manage, much less prevent, these symptoms. This paper summarizes the findings of a multi-disciplinary workshop, sponsored by the Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation, the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, and Reaching for the Stars, convened to review current knowledge and begin to develop a blueprint for future research.

Behavioral and attitudes survey about Lyme disease among a Brazilian population in the endemic area of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Disease prevention models have shown individuals are more likely to engage in precautionary behavior if they have confidence in their ability to identify disease symptoms and understand health risks. In immigrant populations, communicating the risks poses greater challenges since linguistic and cultural barriers may impede acceptance of the new behavior. The Brazilian population on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, is at high risk for Lyme disease (LD), the most common vector-borne illness in the United States largely preventable by limiting tick exposure.

Predictors of discontinuation of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) inhibitors have transformed management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, many patients discontinue TNF inhibitors. Our goal was to determine the discontinuation rate of TNF inhibitors and identify predictors associated with discontinuation.

Methods: Enrollees in the Brigham RA Sequential Study (BRASS) formed the eligible cohort.

Two independent alleles at 6q23 associated with risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

To identify susceptibility alleles associated with rheumatoid arthritis, we genotyped 397 individuals with rheumatoid arthritis for 116,204 SNPs and carried out an association analysis in comparison to publicly available genotype data for 1,211 related individuals from the Framingham Heart Study. After evaluating and adjusting for technical and population biases, we identified a SNP at 6q23 (rs10499194, approximately 150 kb from TNFAIP3 and OLIG3) that was reproducibly associated with rheumatoid arthritis both in the genome-wide association (GWA) scan and in 5,541 additional case-control samples (P = 10(-3), GWA scan; P < 10(-6), replication; P = 10(-9), combined). In a concurrent study, the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) has reported strong association of rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility to a different SNP located 3.

Agreement between patient report and medical record review for medications used for rheumatoid arthritis: the accuracy of self-reported medication information in patient registries.

Objective: With the growth in patient registries in rheumatic disease research, it is important to validate the collected information. We examined the convergent validity of self-reported medication use for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: In the setting of the Brigham Rheumatoid Arthritis Sequential Study (BRASS), a large registry of patients with RA, we examined the agreement between patients' self-report of current and past RA medication use and information from medical records.

C-reactive protein in the prediction of rheumatoid arthritis in women.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine whether levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a sensitive marker of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), are associated with increased risk of subsequent RA.

Methods: Eligible subjects were 39 876 healthy women from the Women's Health Study, a completed randomized trial of aspirin and vitamin E in cardiovascular disease and cancer prevention, begun in 1992. We included 27 939 women who provided blood samples at baseline that could be assayed for CRP.