After Surgically Induced Remission, Ileal and Colonic Mucosa-Associated Microbiota Predicts Crohn's Disease Recurrence.

Background & Aims: Investigating the tissue-associated microbiota after surgically induced remission may help to understand the mechanisms initiating intestinal inflammation in Crohn's disease.

Methods: Patients with Crohn's disease undergoing ileocolic resection were prospectively recruited in 6 academic centers. Biopsy samples from the neoterminal ileum, colon, and rectosigmoid were obtained from colonoscopies performed after surgery.

Comprehensive Association Analyses of Extraintestinal Manifestations in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background & Aims: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) frequently develop extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) that contribute substantially to morbidity. We assembled the largest multicohort data set to date to investigate the clinical, serologic, and genetic factors associated with EIM complications in IBD.

Methods: Data were available in 12,083 unrelated European ancestry IBD cases with presence or absence of EIMs (eg, ankylosing spondylitis [ankylosing spondylitis and sacroiliitis], primary sclerosing cholangitis [PSC], peripheral arthritis, and skin and ocular manifestations) across 4 cohorts (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases IBD Genetics Consortium, Sinai Helmsley Alliance for Research Excellence Consortium, and Risk Stratification and Identification of Immunogenetic and Microbial Markers of Rapid Disease Progression in Children with Crohn's Disease cohort).

Clinical Predictors of Early and Late Endoscopic Recurrence Following Ileocolonic Resection in Crohn's Disease.

Background And Aims: Multiple factors are suggested to place Crohn's disease patients at risk of recurrence after ileocolic resection with conflicting associations. We aimed to identify clinical predictors of recurrence at first [early] and further [late] postoperative colonoscopy.

Methods: Crohn's disease patients undergoing ileocolic resection were prospectively recruited at six North American centres.

Breast sensorisexual function: a novel patient-reported outcome measure of sexual sensory functions of the breast.

Background: A validated measure assessing sexual sensory functions of the breast is needed to optimize sexual and other health outcomes after breast procedures.

Aim: To describe the development of a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) to assess breast sensorisexual function (BSF).

Methods: We applied the PROMIS standards (Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) for measure development and evaluation of validity.

Serum Lipidomic Screen Identifies Key Metabolites, Pathways, and Disease Classifiers in Crohn's Disease.

Background: There is an unmet medical need for biomarkers that capture host and environmental contributions in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). This study aimed at testing the potential of circulating lipids as disease classifiers given their major roles in inflammation.

Methods: We applied a previously validated comprehensive high-resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based untargeted lipidomic workflow covering 25 lipid subclasses to serum samples from 100 Crohn's disease (CD) patients and 100 matched control subjects.

Short-interval pregnancy in the Illinois Medicaid population following delivery in Catholic vs non-Catholic hospitals.

Objective: Catholic hospitals restrict access to comprehensive reproductive health services that could impact patient outcomes. We sought to determine whether delivery at a Catholic hospital is associated with shorter pregnancy intervals among patients insured by Medicaid in Illinois.

Study Design: We used Illinois Medicaid data files to conduct a retrospective cohort study.

A Role for CXCR3 Ligands as Biomarkers of Post-Operative Crohn's Disease Recurrence.

Background And Aims: Crohn's disease [CD] recurrence following ileocolic resection [ICR] is common. We sought to identify blood-based biomarkers associated with CD recurrence.

Methods: CD patients undergoing ICR were recruited across six centres.

Socio-Structural and Neighborhood Predictors of Incident Criminal Justice Involvement in a Population-Based Cohort of Young Black MSM and Transgender Women.

Black men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women are disproportionately affected by criminal justice involvement (CJI) and HIV. This study recruited 618 young Black MSM and transgender women in Chicago, IL, using respondent-driven sampling between 2013 and 2014. Random effects logistic regression evaluated predictors of incident CJI over 18 months of follow-up.

Neighbourhoods, networks and pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness: a multilevel analysis of a sample of young black men who have sex with men.

Objective: Young black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) in the USA represent a subgroup that has the highest HIV incidence among the overall population. In the USA, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective prevention intervention to prevent HIV acquisition when taken regularly. Neighbourhood and network factors may relate to PrEP awareness, but have not been studied in YBMSM.

PrEP Chicago: A randomized controlled peer change agent intervention to promote the adoption of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention among young Black men who have sex with men.

Background/aims: Advances in biomedical prevention strategies such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) represent a new opportunity for reducing HIV incidence among young Black men who have sex with men, for whom the number of new HIV infections continues to rise. However, studies have documented low rates of PrEP uptake in this community. Research suggests that the peer networks of young Black men who have sex with men play important roles in their sexual health decisions.

Facebook network structure and awareness of preexposure prophylaxis among young men who have sex with men.

Background: Young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) are the only population in the United States who have experienced rising human immunodeficiency virus incidence over the past decade. Consistent pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use can substantially reduce the risk of human immunodeficiency virus acquisition. What differentiates those who become aware of PrEP, and those who do not, remains largely unknown.

Criminal justice involvement history is associated with better HIV care continuum metrics among a population-based sample of young black MSM.

Objective: To examine how history of criminal justice involvement (CJI) is related to HIV care continuum metrics among young black MSM 16-29 years of age.

Design: Population-based survey.

Methods: From 2013 to 2014, a representative sample of young black MSM was generated using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) in Chicago (n = 618).

Appendectomy does not decrease the risk of future colectomy in UC: results from a large cohort and meta-analysis.

Objectives: Early appendectomy is inversely associated with the development of UC. However, the impact of appendectomy on the clinical course of UC is controversial, generally favouring a milder disease course. We aim to describe the effect appendectomy has on the disease course of UC with focus on the timing of appendectomy in relation to UC diagnosis.

Network Characteristics of People Who Inject Drugs Within a New HIV Epidemic Following Austerity in Athens, Greece.

Background: Greece experienced an unprecedented increase in HIV cases among drug injectors in 2011 after economic crisis. Network-level factors are increasingly understood to drive HIV transmission in emerging epidemics.

Methods: We examined the relationship between networks, risk behaviors, and HIV serostatus among 1404 people who inject drugs in Athens, Greece.

A digital network approach to infer sex behavior in emerging HIV epidemics.

Purpose: Improve the ability to infer sex behaviors more accurately using network data.

Methods: A hybrid network analytic approach was utilized to integrate: (1) the plurality of reports from others tied to individual(s) of interest; and (2) structural features of the network generated from those ties. Network data was generated from digitally extracted cell-phone contact lists of a purposeful sample of 241 high-risk men in India.

Network mixing and network influences most linked to HIV infection and risk behavior in the HIV epidemic among black men who have sex with men.

Objectives: We evaluated network mixing and influences by network members upon Black men who have sex with men.

Methods: We conducted separate social and sexual network mixing analyses to determine the degree of mixing on risk behaviors (e.g.

The influence of stress, depression, and anxiety on PSA screening rates in a nationally representative sample.

Background: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing for prostate cancer is controversial, with concerning rates of both overscreening and underscreening. The reasons for the observed rates of screening are unknown, and few studies have examined the relationship of psychological health to PSA screening rates. Understanding this relationship can help guide interventions to improve informed decision-making for screening.

Deep resequencing of GWAS loci identifies independent rare variants associated with inflammatory bowel disease.

More than 1,000 susceptibility loci have been identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of common variants; however, the specific genes and full allelic spectrum of causal variants underlying these findings have not yet been defined. Here we used pooled next-generation sequencing to study 56 genes from regions associated with Crohn's disease in 350 cases and 350 controls. Through follow-up genotyping of 70 rare and low-frequency protein-altering variants in nine independent case-control series (16,054 Crohn's disease cases, 12,153 ulcerative colitis cases and 17,575 healthy controls), we identified four additional independent risk factors in NOD2, two additional protective variants in IL23R, a highly significant association with a protective splice variant in CARD9 (P < 1 × 10(-16), odds ratio ≈ 0.

Use of prescription and over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements among older adults in the United States.

Context: Despite concerns about drug safety, current information on older adults' use of prescription and over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements is limited.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence and patterns of medication use among older adults (including concurrent use), and potential major drug-drug interactions.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Three thousand five community-residing individuals, aged 57 through 85 years, were drawn from a cross-sectional, nationally representative probability sample of the United States.

Phenotype-stratified genetic linkage study demonstrates that IBD2 is an extensive ulcerative colitis locus.

Objectives: The complete elucidation of genetic variants that contribute to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) will likely include variants that increase risk to both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis as well as variants that increase risk for particular phenotypic subsets. The purpose of this study was to assess phenotypic subsets that contribute to the major IBD susceptibility loci.

Methods: This linkage study encompassed 904 affected relative pairs, representing the largest combined phenotyped cohort to date, and allowing for meaningful subset analyses.

The effect of reconstruction algorithm on conspicuity of polyps in CT colonography.

Objective: CT colonography studies to date have used a standard CT algorithm. To determine whether nonstandard algorithms may result in better performance of CT colonography, we conducted a prospective, blinded-observer study of the effect of the reconstruction algorithm on the conspicuity of colonic polyps and folds.

Subjects And Methods: CT colonography of patients with proven polyps, masses, or polypoid folds was performed on an MDCT scanner, and the images were reconstructed using the standard, soft, lung, and detail algorithms.

Molecular-cytogenetic analysis of HER-2/neu gene in BRCA1-associated breast cancers.

The BRCA1 tumor suppressor gene and the HER-2/neu oncogene are located in close proximity on the long arm of chromosome 17 (17q11-21). Absence of BRCA1 or functional overexpression of the HER-2/neu gene presumably contributes to the somatic phenotype of breast cancer in premenopausal women, characterized by unfavorable prognostic features such as high tumor grade, hormone receptor negativity, and high proliferation rate. To examine whether amplification of HER-2/neu contributes to the aggressive biology of BRCA1-associated tumors, we have performed fluorescence in situ hybridization on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded breast tumor tissue sections from 53 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 41 randomly selected, age-matched sporadic breast cancer cases.