Publications by authors named "Sims K"

Article Synopsis
  • The World Health Organization and CDC have set goals for eliminating hepatitis C virus (HCV) by 2030, but the U.S. is falling short due to various barriers such as lack of awareness, misinformation, and treatment accessibility issues.
  • The objective of the study was to create a high-quality educational app aimed at improving knowledge about HCV testing and treatment among patients and healthcare workers, featuring five interactive learning modules.
  • The app was tested with 561 users, with over a third engaging with the training modules, where many spent significant time learning about HCV, indicating an interest in improving knowledge on the disease and its treatment process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

HBV capsid assembly modulators (CAMs) target the core protein and inhibit pregenomic RNA encapsidation and viral replication. HBV CAMs also interfere with cccDNA formation during de novo infection, which in turn suppresses transcription and production of HBV antigens. In this report, we describe the antiviral activities of AB-836, a potent and highly selective HBV CAM.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: Colorectal cancer (CRC) polygenic risk scores (PRS) may help personalize CRC prevention strategies. We investigated whether an existing PRS was associated with advanced neoplasia (AN) in a population undergoing screening and follow-up colonoscopy.

Methods: We evaluated 10-year outcomes in the Cooperative Studies Program #380 screening colonoscopy cohort, which includes a biorepository of selected individuals with baseline AN (defined as CRC or adenoma ≥10 mm or villous histology, or high-grade dysplasia) and matched individuals without AN.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Measuring age-specific, contextual exposures is crucial for lifecourse epidemiology research. Longitudinal residential data offers a "golden ticket" to cumulative exposure metrics and can enhance our understanding of health disparities. Residential history can be linked to myriad spatiotemporal databases to characterize environmental, socioeconomic, and policy contexts that a person experienced throughout life.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Gulf War veterans are facing various health issues, with many reporting a chronic condition known as Gulf War illness (GWI) as they reach middle age and older adulthood.
  • The study aims to analyze the accumulation of health deficits among veterans with Severe GWI (SGWI+) compared to those without (SGWI-), seeking to understand the connection between unexplained illnesses and aging.
  • Results indicate that veterans with SGWI+ tend to experience significantly more years with severe health deficits, highlighting a 13-fold increase in the likelihood of accumulating substantial health issues, particularly among middle-aged veterans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The objective of this study is to explore the questions commonly asked online about biologic therapies for use in treatment of chronic sinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) and the quality of the available content. Most common search terms were identified via Google Trends. People Also Ask (PAA) questions were identified and extracted with their associated website using an online data-scraping program [Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Minion, Keywords Everywhere].

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The 2017 guidelines from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association identified 31 million US adults with stage 1 hypertension and recommended lifestyle counseling for low-risk patients.
  • A simulation study found that controlling systolic blood pressure in 8.8 million low-risk individuals could significantly reduce cardiovascular events, save lives, and cut healthcare costs over ten years.
  • Despite potential benefits, only half of men and three-quarters of women regularly engage with healthcare providers for counseling, indicating a need for improved public health policies promoting nonpharmacologic interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Excess rates of Gulf War illness (GWI) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), two chronic multisymptom illnesses, have long been documented among nearly 700,000 veterans who served in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War. We sought to report the prevalence, characteristics, and association of GWI and IBS decades after the war in a clinical cohort of deployed Gulf War veterans (GWVs) who were evaluated at the Department of Veterans Affairs' War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) for unexplained chronic symptoms.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed data gathered from clinical intake questionnaires of deployed GWVs who were evaluated at WRIISC clinics between 2008 and 2020.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite the substantial transition assistance available for honorably separating servicemembers, 75% of US veterans report difficulties with the transition to civilian life. For the 16% of veterans who separate with less-than-honorable discharges, these difficulties are compounded by the lack of structural support from the US military. Social stigma, limited transition programming, and loss of benefits create a perfect storm of barriers for these discharged servicemembers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Prior research has established that parents who are in a relationship, yet unmarried at the time of their child's birth, are at an increased risk of relationship instability. However, the processes that may lead to the dissolution of these unmarried parents' couple relationships are less clear. Guided by the vulnerability-stress-adaptation model, the present study examined data from a sample of 1,575 mother and father dyads who participated in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study over a 9-year period.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Older adults racialized as Black experience higher rates of dementia than those racialized as White. Structural racism produces socioeconomic challenges, described by artist Marvin Gaye as "hang ups, let downs, bad breaks, setbacks" that likely contribute to dementia disparities. Robust dementia literature suggests socioeconomic factors may also be key resiliencies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To examine whether severe Gulf War illness (SGWI) case status was associated with longitudinal multimorbidity patterns. Participants were users of the Veteran Health Administration Health Care System drawn from the Gulf War Era Cohort and Biorepository ( = 840). Longitudinal measures of multimorbidity were constructed using (1) electronic health records (Charlson Comorbidity Index; Elixhauser; and Veterans Affairs Frailty Index) from 10/1/1999 to 6/30/2023 and (2) self-reported medical conditions (Deficit Accumulation Index) since the war until the survey date.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Depressive symptoms are associated with higher risk of dementia, but how they impact cognition in diverse populations is unclear.

Methods: Asian, Black, Latino, or White participants (n = 2227) in the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences (age 65+) and the Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans (age 50+) underwent up to three waves of cognitive assessments over 4 years. Multilevel models stratified by race/ethnicity were used to examine whether depressive symptoms were associated with cognition or cognitive decline and whether associations differed by race/ethnicity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Most neuroimaging studies linking regional brain volumes with cognition correct for total intracranial volume (ICV), but methods used for this correction differ across studies. It is unknown whether different ICV correction methods yield consistent results. Using a brain-wide association approach in the MRI substudy of UK Biobank (N = 41,964; mean age = 64.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objectives: Rapid developments in Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarker research suggest that predictive testing may become widely available. To ensure equal access to AD predictive testing, it is important to understand factors that affect testing interest. Discrimination may influence attitudes toward AD testing, particularly among racially and ethnically minoritized populations, because of structural racism in health care systems.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Recent guidelines (including a special series in ) have emphasised a minimal role for imaging when assessing low back pain in adults, as the majority of patients will have non-specific findings on imaging that do not correlate well with pain.

Objective: To assess whether the diagnosis of lumbar bone stress injuries in young athletes should be considered an exception to the recommendation to avoid imaging for low back pain in adults.

Method: Narrative review.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The 2017 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines newly classified 31 million US adults as having stage 1 hypertension. The ACC/AHA guidelines recommend behavioral change without pharmacology for the low-risk portion of this group. However, the nationwide reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and associated healthcare expenditures achievable by evidence-based dietary improvements, sustained weight loss, adequate physical activity, and alcohol moderation remain unquantified.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Safe and secure housing is a pressing concern for survivors of domestic violence (DV). Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) is a policy that serves DV survivors' needs by removing barriers to housing stability via flexible financial assistance, mobile advocacy, trauma-informed practice, and partnerships with community housing providers. In this paper, we outline a study protocol developed to evaluate the efficacy of the Wisconsin Domestic Violence Housing First Pilot Program (WI-DVHF).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Gulf War illness (GWI) is a sickness that affects veterans who served in the Gulf War and is believed to be caused by harmful substances they were exposed to during their deployment.
  • Many veterans also experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which may influence the symptoms of GWI.
  • A study showed that veterans with both GWI and PTSD reported more military exposures compared to those without PTSD, highlighting how both GWI and PTSD can be connected to their experiences during the war.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Over the last several decades, Brazil has become both the world's leading soy producer and the world's leading consumer of hazardous pesticides. Despite identified links between pesticide exposure and carcinogenesis, there has been little population-level research on the effects of pesticide intensification on broader human health in Brazil. We estimate the relationship between expanded soy production-and related community exposure to pesticides-on childhood cancer incidence using 15 y of data on disease mortality.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Cancer survivors are less likely than comparably aged individuals without a cancer history to develop Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD).

Methods: In the UK Biobank, we investigated associations between cancer history and five structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers for ADRD risk, using linear mixed-effects models to assess differences in mean values and quantile regression to examine whether associations varied across the distribution of MRI markers.

Results: Cancer history was associated with smaller mean hippocampal volume (b = -19 mm , 95% CI = -36, -1) and lower mean cortical thickness in the Alzheimer's disease signature region (b = -0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Approximately 30% of the 700 000 Gulf War veterans report a chronic symptom-based illness of varying severity referred to as Gulf War illness (GWI). Toxic deployment-related exposures have been implicated in the cause of GWI, some of which contribute to metabolic dysregulation and lipid abnormalities. As this cohort ages, the relationship between GWI and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is a growing concern.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: The Canadian Integrated and Comprehensive Care Standards for Inherited Bleeding Disorders were adopted in June 2020. In early 2023, a self-assessment of each of the 26 Canadian inherited bleeding disorder treatment centre's (IBDTCs) capacity to meet the Standards was conducted. The goal was to validate the standards by assessing appropriateness and adherence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF