Assessing potential benefits of visits to neighborhoods with higher tree canopy coverage using mobility data: Associations with cardiovascular health outcomes in twenty US metropolitan areas.

Background: Research on health benefits due to exposure to green space, such as tree canopy coverage, has predominantly focused on canopy coverage in home neighborhoods. Yet exposures to tree canopy coverage in other spaces visited during the week or on weekends outside the home neighborhoods remains largely unexplored.

Objectives: We examined whether differences in coverage levels of tree canopy in neighborhoods visited compared to home neighborhoods was associated with lower prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, adjusting for exposure to home canopy coverage.

Understanding the Accumulation of Health-Related Inequities Over the Life Course Using the Mean Cumulative Count.

Understanding how health inequities develop over time is necessary to inform interventions, but methods for doing so are underutilized. We provide an example of the accumulation of stressful life events using the mean cumulative count (MCC), which estimates the expected number of events per person as a function of time, allowing for censoring and competing events. Data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, a nationally representative data set.

Identifying and estimating effects of sustained interventions under parallel trends assumptions.

Many research questions in public health and medicine concern sustained interventions in populations defined by substantive priorities. Existing methods to answer such questions typically require a measured covariate set sufficient to control confounding, which can be questionable in observational studies. Differences-in-differences rely instead on the parallel trends assumption, allowing for some types of time-invariant unmeasured confounding.

Inequities in life course criminal legal system sanctions: measuring cumulative involvement.

Purpose: The impact of incarceration on health is well known. Yet, most studies measure incarceration alone and miss additional exposure to the criminal legal system over time. We evaluated adult criminal legal sanctions - inclusive of arrests, charges, probation, incarceration - from ages 18-35 and inequities by juvenile sanctions and race.

Does histologic subtype impact overall survival in observed T1a kidney cancers compared with competing risks? Implications for biopsy as a risk stratification tool.

Objectives: We sought to assess if adding a biopsy proven histologic subtype to a model that predicts overall survival that includes variables representing competing risks in observed, biopsy proven, T1a renal cell carcinomas, enhances the model's performance.

Methods: The National Cancer Database was assessed (years 2004-2015) for patients with observed T1a renal cell carcinoma who had undergone renal mass biopsy. Kaplan-Meier curves were utilized to estimate overall survival stratified by histologic subtype.

Interventions on Socioeconomic and Racial Inequities in Respiratory Pandemics: a Rapid Systematic Review.

Purpose Of Review: Racial and socioeconomic inequities in respiratory pandemics have been consistently documented, but little official guidance exists on effective action to prevent these. We systematically reviewed quantitative evaluations of (real or simulated) interventions targeting racial and socioeconomic inequities in respiratory pandemic outcomes.

Recent Findings: Our systematic search returned 10,208 records, of which 5 met inclusion criteria, including observational ( = 1), randomized trial ( = 1), and simulation ( = 3) studies.

Reporting guidelines for human microbiome research: the STORMS checklist.

The particularly interdisciplinary nature of human microbiome research makes the organization and reporting of results spanning epidemiology, biology, bioinformatics, translational medicine and statistics a challenge. Commonly used reporting guidelines for observational or genetic epidemiology studies lack key features specific to microbiome studies. Therefore, a multidisciplinary group of microbiome epidemiology researchers adapted guidelines for observational and genetic studies to culture-independent human microbiome studies, and also developed new reporting elements for laboratory, bioinformatics and statistical analyses tailored to microbiome studies.

Gut bacterial taxonomic abundances vary with cognition, personality, and mood in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

Animal studies have shown that the gut microbiome can influence memory, social behavior, and anxiety-like behavior. Several human studies show similar results where variation in the gut microbiome is associated with dementia, depression, and personality traits, though most of these studies are limited by small sample size and other biases. Here, we analyzed fecal samples from 313 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a randomly selected population-based cohort of older adults, with measured psycho-cognitive dimensions (cognition, mood, and personality) and key confounders.

Overall Survival of Biopsy-confirmed T1B and T2A Kidney Cancers Managed With Observation: Prognostic Value of Tumor Histology.

Introduction: The natural history of T1b (4-7 cm) or T2a (> 7-10 cm) kidney cancers managed with observation is not well-understood. The aim of our study was to determine if the addition of histologic subtype to a predictive model of overall survival (OS) that includes covariates for competing risks in observed, biopsy-proven, T1b and T2a renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) improves the model's performance.

Materials And Methods: We queried the National Cancer Database for patients with biopsy-proven stage T1b or T2a RCC and managed nonoperatively between 2004 and 2015.

Early Signs of Gut Microbiome Aging: Biomarkers of Inflammation, Metabolism, and Macromolecular Damage in Young Adulthood.

Emerging links between gut microbiota and diseases of aging point to possible shared immune, metabolic, and cellular damage mechanisms, operating long before diseases manifest. We conducted 16S rRNA sequencing of fecal samples collected from a subsample (n = 668) of Add Health Wave V, a nationally representative longitudinal study of adults aged 32-42. An overlapping subsample (n = 345) included whole-blood RNA-seq.

Social Media- and Internet-Based Disease Surveillance for Public Health.

Disease surveillance systems are a cornerstone of public health tracking and prevention. This review addresses the use, promise, perils, and ethics of social media- and Internet-based data collection for public health surveillance. Our review highlights untapped opportunities for integrating digital surveillance in public health and current applications that could be improved through better integration, validation, and clarity on rules surrounding ethical considerations.

Prognostic Value of Histologic Subtype and Treatment Modality for T1a Kidney Cancers.

Introduction: To evaluate overall survival (OS) of T1a kidney cancers stratified by histologic subtype and curative treatment including partial nephrectomy (PN), percutaneous ablation (PA), and radical nephrectomy (RN).

Materials And Methods: We queried the National Cancer Data Base (2004-2015) for patients with T1a kidney cancers who were treated surgically. OS was estimated by Kaplan-Meier curves based on histologic subtype and management.

Teaching yourself about structural racism will improve your machine learning.

In this commentary, we put forth the following argument: Anyone conducting machine learning in a health-related domain should educate themselves about structural racism. We argue that structural racism is a critical body of knowledge needed for generalizability in almost all domains of health research.

Sick Individuals and Sick (Microbial) Populations: Challenges in Epidemiology and the Microbiome.

The human microbiome represents a new frontier in understanding the biology of human health. While epidemiology in this area is still in its infancy, its scope will likely expand dramatically over the coming years. To rise to the challenge, we argue that epidemiology should capitalize on its population perspective as a critical complement to molecular microbiome research, allowing for the illumination of contextual mechanisms that may vary more across populations rather than among individuals.

Different models for prediction of radical cystectomy postoperative complications and care pathways.

Background: Radical cystectomy for bladder cancer has one of the highest rates of morbidity among urologic surgery, but the ability to predict postoperative complications remains poor. Our study objective was to create machine learning models to predict complications and factors leading to extended length of hospital stay and discharge to a higher level of care after radical cystectomy.

Methods: Using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, peri-operative adverse outcome variables for patients undergoing elective radical cystectomy for bladder cancer from 2005 to 2016 were extracted.

Optimizing the Number of Cores Targeted During Prostate Magnetic Resonance Imaging Fusion Target Biopsy.

Background: The number of prostate biopsy cores that need to be taken from each magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) region of interest (ROI) to optimize sampling while minimizing overdetection has not yet been clearly elucidated.

Objective: To characterize the incremental value of additional MRI-ultrasound (US) fusion targeted biopsy cores in defining the optimal number when planning biopsy and to predict men who might benefit from more than two targeted cores.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a retrospective cohort study of MRI-US fusion targeted biopsies between 2015 and 2017.

Sociodemographic variation in the oral microbiome.

Purpose: Variations in the oral microbiome are potentially implicated in social inequalities in oral disease, cancers, and metabolic disease. We describe sociodemographic variation of oral microbiomes in a diverse sample.

Methods: We performed 16S rRNA sequencing on mouthwash specimens in a subsample (n = 282) of the 2013-2014 population-based New York City Health and Nutrition Examination Study.

Tobacco exposure associated with oral microbiota oxygen utilization in the New York City Health and Nutrition Examination Study.

Purpose: The effect of tobacco exposure on the oral microbiome has not been established.

Methods: We performed amplicon sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene V4 variable region to estimate bacterial community characteristics in 259 oral rinse samples, selected based on self-reported smoking and serum cotinine levels, from the 2013-2014 New York City Health and Nutrition Examination Study. We identified differentially abundant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) by primary and secondhand tobacco exposure, and used "microbe set enrichment analysis" to assess shifts in microbial oxygen utilization.

Interfacility Transfer is Associated With Lower Mortality in Undertriaged Gunshot Wound Patients.

Background: Treatment at a Level I trauma center yields better outcomes for patients with moderate-to-severe injury as compared with treatment in nontrauma centers. We examined the association between interfacility transfer to a level I or II trauma center and mortality for gunshot wound patients, among patients initially transported to a lower level or undesignated facility.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all patients from the National Trauma Data Bank (2010-2015) with firearm as the external cause of injury, who met CDC criteria for emergency medical services triage to a higher level (American College of Surgeons [ACS] Level II or above) trauma center.

The Charlson Index Is Insufficient to Control for Comorbidities in a National Trauma Registry.

Background: The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) is frequently used to control for confounding by comorbidities in observational studies, but its performance as such has not been studied. We evaluated the performance of CCI and an alternative summary method, logistic principal component analysis (LPCA), to adjust for comorbidities, using as an example the association between insurance and mortality.

Materials And Methods: Using all admissions in the National Trauma Data Bank 2010-2015, we extracted mortality, payment method, and 36 International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision-derived comorbidities.

"Under the Skin" and into the Gut: Social Epidemiology of the Microbiome.

Purpose Of The Review: As the science of the microbiome advances, social epidemiologists can contribute to understanding how the broader social environment shapes the microbiome over the life course. This review summarizes current research and describes potential mechanisms of the social epidemiology of the microbiome.

Recent Findings: Most existing literature linking the social environment and the microbiome comes from animal models, focused on the impact of social interactions and psychosocial stress.

Perceptions of dietary factors promoting and preventing nephrolithiasis: a cross-sectional survey.

Objective: To assess knowledge of both promoting and preventive dietary factors on nephrolithiasis in a diverse patient population. Precipitating factors of kidney stone disease include diet, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity. However, patient awareness of these influences is poorly described.