Publications by authors named "Sears C"

Background: Invasive bacterial biofilms are implicated in colorectal cancer. However, their prevalence on histologically normal tissues and polyps is not well established, and risk factors of biofilms have not been previously investigated. Here we evaluated potential procedural and demographic risk factors associated with biofilm status using a cross-sectional observational cohort.

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The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Lung Cancer Screening provide criteria for selecting individuals for screening and offer recommendations for evaluating and managing lung nodules detected during initial and subsequent annual screening. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines for Lung Cancer Screening.

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is an oral bacterium known to colonize colorectal tumors, where it is thought to play an important role in cancer progression. Recent advances in sequencing and phenotyping of have revealed important differences at the subspecies level, but whether these differences impact the overall tumor ecology, and tumorigenesis itself, remain poorly understood. In this study, we sought to characterize in the tumor microbiome of a cohort of individuals with CRC through a combination of molecular, spatial, and microbiologic analyses.

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Background: Maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States are higher than peer countries. These adverse events disproportionally affect Black women.

Local Problem: Rates of maternal morbidity and mortality among Black childbearing women in West Louisville, Kentucky are higher than rates in Kentucky and the United States.

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Background: The evidence-based Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) psychotherapeutic intervention was designed to address the complex needs of those with advanced cancer. Ample evidence supports the efficacy of CALM therapy; less is known about the patient-specific factors that influence initiation and continuation of CALM sessions.

Aims: To gain understanding of patient-specific factors and referral routes that influence initiation and continuation of CALM.

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Objective: To validate a universal measurement scale and unit for gross motor development across multiple instruments.

Design: Retrospective cohorts.

Setting: Community and clinic.

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The Green Heart Project is a controlled, community-based clinical trial to evaluate the effects of increasing greenery on community health. The study was initiated in 2018 in a low-to-middle-income residential area of nearly 30,000 racially diverse residents in Louisville, KY. Community engagement was maintained throughout the project, with feedback integrated into its design and implementation.

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Rumination is a key feature of depression and contributes to its onset, maintenance, and recurrence. Researchers have proposed that biases in the attentional processing of emotional information may underlie rumination, and particularly, the brooding component. This investigation evaluated associations between attentional biases for emotional images and rumination, including both brooding and reflection, in currently and never depressed participants.

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Recent preclinical and clinical research has established that the microbiome affects response to immunotherapy, and other work has shown that our diet has strong and rapid effects on the microbiome. Together, these findings have generated strong enthusiasm for the development of therapeutic approaches to exploit these effects. However, inconsistencies in sample collection and data analyses have made it challenging to evaluate the true impact of these interventions.

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: Preclinical and clinical data indicate that chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in combination with checkpoint inhibitors may prime an anti-tumor immunological response in esophageal cancer. However, responses to neoadjuvant therapy can vary widely and the key biomarkers to determine response remain poorly understood. The fecal microbiome is a novel and potentially modifiable biomarker of immunotherapy response, and both fecal and tumor microbes have been found to associate with outcomes in esophageal cancer.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluates how effectively artificial intelligence (AI) can identify cancers that were missed by radiologists in routine screening mammograms.
  • Utilizing a collection of data from 2010 to 2019, the research found that AI detected a significant portion of false negative cancers, identifying 54% in full-field digital mammography (FFDM) and 40% in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT).
  • The findings suggest AI identified these missed cancers much earlier than radiologists, indicating a need for further research on combining AI with radiologist expertise in real-world breast cancer screening.
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Objective: Uptake of evidence-informed health care transition processes among pediatric rheumatologists is low despite poor outcomes of transition from pediatric to adult care. We piloted a learning collaborative model to implement transition guides. We dually assessed implementation outcomes and changes in reported patient-care team discussions about transition.

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Although Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) is effective in controlling prostate cancer (PCa) and increasing survival, it is associated with a myriad of side effects that cause significant morbidity. Previous research has shown that PCa patients starting on ADT are neither fully informed nor well-equipped to manage the breadth of ADT's side effects. The ADT Educational Program (a 1.

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Purpose: The phase 3 Veterans Affairs Lung Cancer Surgery Or Stereotactic Radiotherapy study implemented centralized quality assurance (QA) to mitigate risks of protocol deviations. This report summarizes the quality and compliance of the first 100 participants treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in this study.

Methods And Materials: A centralized QA program was developed to credential and monitor study sites to ensure standard-of-care lung SBRT treatments are delivered to participants.

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Background & Aims: Epidemiologic evidence for dietary influence on colorectal cancer (CRC) risk through the gut microbiome remains limited.

Methods: Leveraging 307 men and 212 women with stool metagenomes and dietary data, we characterized and validated a sex-specific dietary pattern associated with the CRC-related gut microbial signature (CRC Microbial Dietary Score [CMDS]). We evaluated the associations of CMDS with CRC risk according to Fusobacterium nucleatum, pksEscherichia coli, and enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis status in tumor tissue using Cox proportional hazards regression in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2018), Nurses' Health Study (1984-2020), and Nurses' Health Study II (1991-2019).

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Article Synopsis
  • Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths globally, highlighting the need for better understanding of its early development stages to enable timely interventions.
  • An international team of scientists identified knowledge gaps in how premalignant lung lesions progress to lung cancer and developed research questions to fill these gaps and guide future investigations.
  • Addressing these gaps is crucial for improving screening and early detection methods, which could lead to innovative strategies that effectively reduce lung cancer incidence and enhance patient outcomes.
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Diet is known to impact cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, but evidence for the essential minerals of magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), and potassium (K) is inconsistent. We conducted a case-cohort study within a non-smoking subgroup of the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort, a prospective study of 50-64-year-olds recruited between 1993-1997. We identified incident heart failure (HF), acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke cases through 2015 with an 1135-member subcohort.

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Exposing C-section infants to the maternal vaginal microbiome, coined "vaginal seeding", partially restores microbial colonization. However, whether vaginal seeding decreases metabolic disease risk is unknown. Therefore, we assessed the effect of vaginal seeding of human infants on adiposity in a murine model.

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The risk of colorectal cancer [CRC] is increased in patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD], particularly in extensive ulcerative colitis [UC] and Crohn's colitis. Gut microbiota have been implicated in the pathogenesis of CRC via multiple mechanisms, including the release of reactive oxygen species and genotoxins, and induction of inflammation, as well as activation of the immune response. Gut microbiota can enhance their carcinogenic and proinflammatory properties by organising into biofilms, potentially making them more resistant to the host's immune system and to antibiotics.

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