Determinants of Racial and Ethnic Differences in Maternal Cardiovascular Health in Early Pregnancy.

Background: Suboptimal cardiovascular health (CVH) in pregnancy is associated with adverse maternal and offspring outcomes. To guide public health efforts to reduce disparities in maternal CVH, we determined the contribution of individual- and neighborhood-level factors to racial and ethnic differences in early pregnancy CVH.

Methods: We included nulliparous individuals with singleton pregnancies who self-identified as Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black (NHB), or non-Hispanic White (NHW) and participated in the nuMoM2b cohort study (Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-Be).

Radon Exposure and Gestational Diabetes.

Importance: Understanding environmental risk factors for gestational diabetes (GD) is crucial for developing preventive strategies and improving pregnancy outcomes.

Objective: To examine the association of county-level radon exposure with GD risk in pregnant individuals.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This multicenter, population-based cohort study used data from the Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-Be (nuMoM2b) cohort, which recruited nulliparous pregnant participants from 8 US clinical centers between October 2010 and September 2013.

Urinary Acetaminophen Metabolites and Clinical Outcomes in Extremely Premature Infants.

Objective: Extremely premature infants are treated with acetaminophen (APAP) for pain and patent ductus arteriosus. High doses of APAP in adults are toxic, and a recent study found an association between APAP metabolite levels in mothers' breast milk and both bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in their premature infants. In this study, we determined levels of APAP metabolites in urine of infants at high risk for BPD and ROP.

Digital health interventions in adult intensive care and recovery after critical illness to promote survivorship care.

Digital health refers to the field of using and developing technology to improve health outcomes. Digital health and digital health interventions (DHIs) within the area of intensive care and critical illness survivorship are rapidly evolving. Digital health interventions refer to technologies in clinical interventional format.

Audit and feedback is an effective implementation strategy to increase fidelity to a multi-component labor induction protocol designed to reduce obstetric inequities.

Background: Studies have demonstrated that standardizing labor induction (IOL), often with the use of protocols, may reduce racial inequities in obstetrics. IOL protocols are complex, multi-component interventions. To target identified implementation barriers, audit and feedback (A&F) was selected as an implementation strategy.

Standardized protocol for labor induction: a type I hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial.

Background: Cesarean delivery remains the most common obstetrical procedure with more than 250,000 patients in the US undergoing cesarean following labor induction annually. Here, we evaluated the impact of prospectively implementing a standardized labor induction protocol on cesarean delivery rates.

Methods: This multi-site type I hybrid effectiveness-implementation study compared 2 years before (PRE) and 2 years after (POST) implementation of a standardized labor induction protocol at two hospitals within the University of Pennsylvania Health System (2018-2022).

Iodinated contrast dye-diluent combination exhibits longer time to full dye saturation compared to lidocaine, bupivacaine, and water in porcine cadaveric nervous tissue.

Objective: Dye-diluent combinations have different nerve-staining behavior, making locoregional cadaveric dye study findings difficult to compare. The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of 4 diluents on nerve color saturation when used in combination with commercial food dye.

Methods: 48 unpreserved brachial plexus nerves were randomized into 4 diluent groups.

Home-Based Exercise and Self-Management After Lung Cancer Resection: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Patients with lung cancer have poor physical functioning and quality of life. Despite promising outcomes for those who undertake exercise programs, implementation into practice of previously tested hospital-based programs is rare.

Objective: To evaluate a home-based exercise and self-management program for patients after lung resection.

The Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination and Reported Nutrient Intake Among Pregnant Individuals of Minoritized Racial and Ethnic Groups.

Background: Implications of lifelong, perceived discrimination on nutrient intake during the preconception period are unclear.

Objective: The objective was to identify associations between perceived discrimination and consumption of specific nutrients associated with risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Design: This is a secondary data analysis of the prospective Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-Be cohort.

Fecal Immunochemical Test Positivity Thresholds: An International Survey of Population-Based Screening Programs.

Background: The fecal immunochemical test for hemoglobin (FIT) is now a widely used non-invasive test in population-based organized screening programs for colorectal neoplasia. The positivity thresholds of tests currently in use are based on the fecal hemoglobin concentration (f-Hb), but the rationale for the adopted thresholds are not well documented. To understand current global usage of FIT in screening programs we conducted an international survey of the brands of FIT used, the f-Hb positivity threshold applied and the rationale for the choice.

Dissociation between liver fat content and fasting metabolic markers of selective hepatic insulin resistance in humans.

Objective: Fasting hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia are characteristic of insulin resistance (IR) and rodent work has suggested this may be due to selective hepatic IR, defined by increased hepatic gluconeogenesis and de novo lipogenesis (DNL), but this has not been shown in humans.

Design: Cross-sectional study in men and women across a range of adiposity.

Methods: Medication-free participants (n = 177) were classified as normoinsulinemic (NI) or hyperinsulinemic (HI) and as having low (LF) or high (HF) liver fat content measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Greater oxidation of dietary linoleate compared to palmitate in humans following an acute high-carbohydrate diet.

Background: We have previously demonstrated that dietary saturated fatty acids (SFA), when compared to polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), are preferentially partitioned into oxidation pathways. However, it remains unclear if this preferential handling is maintained when hepatocellular metabolism is shifted toward fatty acid (FA) esterification and away from oxidation, such as when hepatic de novo lipogenesis (DNL) is upregulated.

Aim: To investigate whether an acute upregulation of hepatic DNL influences dietary FA partitioning into oxidation pathways.

Cryoneurolysis of the saphenous nerve in the pig: A proof-of-principle investigation.

Objective: To determine if in vivo cryoneurolysis inhibits ex vivo compound action potential (CAP) conduction in the porcine saphenous nerve and if this occurs rapidly enough to justify performing the technique before stifle surgery.

Study Design: Blinded, controlled, randomized, preclinical study.

Animals: A group of eight healthy, 8 weeks old, intact, female pigs anesthetized for an unrelated terminal study.

Pregnancy Outcomes in Patients With Hepatitis C Virus Infection.

Objective: To evaluate the risks of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with pregnancies complicated by hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a multicenter prospective cohort study of HCV infection in pregnancy. Participants were screened for HCV infection with serum antibody tests, and each participant with a positive HCV result (case group) was matched with up to two individuals with negative HCV results (control group) prospectively by gestational age (±2 weeks) at enrollment.

Application of blood parameters for the early diagnosis of natural ascending placentitis in pregnant mares.

Placental infection is an important cause of late-term pregnancy loss and neonatal diseases in horses. Detection of changes in blood parameters especially during early placentitis could improve the diagnostic accuracy, treatment decision, and potential outcomes. The objectives of this 2-part study were to identify differences in circulating immunological, inflammatory, and hormonal parameters between mares with natural ascending placentitis and control mares; evaluate each and combination of parameters as predictors of placentitis; and determine how these parameters indicate severity of placentitis.

Post-Acute Sequelae of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) After Infection During Pregnancy.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of post-acute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (PASC) after infection with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy and to characterize associated risk factors.

Methods: In a multicenter cohort study (NIH RECOVER [Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery]-Pregnancy Cohort), individuals who were pregnant during their first SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled across the United States from December 2021 to September 2023, either within 30 days of their infection or at differential time points thereafter. The primary outcome was PASC , defined as score of 12 or higher based on symptoms and severity as previously published by the NIH RECOVER-Adult Cohort, at the first study visit at least 6 months after the participant's first SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Protocol for a national, multicentre study of post-endoscopy colorectal and upper gastrointestinal cancers: The POET study.

Aim: The primary aim of the study is to define the post-colonoscopy colorectal cancer (PCCRC) three-year rate and the post-endoscopy upper gastrointestinal cancer (PEUGIC) three-year rate across public hospitals in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Method: This retrospective cohort study will be conducted via the trainee-led STRATA Collaborative network. All public hospitals in Aotearoa New Zealand will be eligible to participate.

Diet quality, community food access, and glycemic control among nulliparous individuals with diabetes.

Better diet quality regardless of community food access was associated with a higher likelihood of glycemic control in early pregnancy among nulliparous individuals with pregestational diabetes. These findings highlight the need for interventions that address nutrition insecurity for pregnant individuals living with diabetes.