Tubal Sterilization And Vasectomy Increased Among US Young Adults After The Supreme Court Decision In 2022.

Young adults' access to contraception is shifting after the June 2022 United States Supreme Court decision. This concurrent mixed-methods study measured young adults' use of and perceptions about tubal sterilization and vasectomy after the leaked opinion in May 2022. Using national-level medical claims data from IQVIA, we conducted difference-in-differences analyses of tubal sterilizations and vasectomies by age and state policy; using open-text survey responses from national MyVoice surveys in 2022 and 2023, we thematically analyzed young adults' perspectives.

Lower obstetrician and gynecologist (OBGYN) supply in abortion-ban states, despite minimal state-level changes in the 2 years post-.

Since the Supreme Court decision in June 2022, emerging reports suggest that the obstetrician and gynecologist (OBGYN) workforce is moving into states without abortion bans. Using a large national administrative database, we identified OBGYNs enrolling in new states from July 2017 through June 2024. We used difference-in-differences (DID) analyses to estimate the effect of on enrollments by state abortion policy (ban vs no ban).

Complement activation by IgG subclasses is governed by their ability to oligomerize upon antigen binding.

Complement activation through antibody-antigen complexes is crucial in various pathophysiological processes and utilized in immunotherapies to eliminate infectious agents, regulatory immune cells, or cancer cells. The tertiary structures of the four IgG antibody subclasses are largely comparable, with the most prominent difference being the hinge regions connecting the Fab and Fc domains, providing them with unique structural flexibility. Complement recruitment and activation depend strongly on IgG subclass, which is commonly rationalized by differences in hinge flexibility and the respective affinities for C1, the first component of the classical complement pathway.

Lessons learned from the Health Resources and Services Administration health workforce well-being grantees.

Introduction: Burnout and moral injury are among the most pressing issues facing healthcare and public safety today. In 2021, Congress provided $120 million through the American Rescue Plan Act for 44 Health Resources and Services Administration grants to implement evidence-informed strategies to address burnout and improve mental health among the health workforce. This article examines facilitators and barriers to implementation and reported impact of grantees' interventions.

Higher-order structure and proteoforms of co-occurring C4b-binding protein assemblies in human serum.

The complement is a conserved cascade that plays a central role in the innate immune system. To maintain a delicate equilibrium preventing excessive complement activation, complement inhibitors are essential. One of the major fluid-phase complement inhibitors is C4b-binding protein (C4BP).

Initiation of oral hepatitis C virus treatment: Which barriers are pertinent for ambulatory individuals with a history of illicit substance use? A qualitative interview study.

Background And Aims: The World Health Organization has set a goal to eradicate hepatitis C virus (HCV) by the year 2030. Nonadherence to HCV treatment has substantial economic implications due to high treatment costs, among others. Barriers to start HCV treatment may be critical.

A disanalogy with RCTs and its implications for second-generation causal knowledge.

We are less optimistic than Madole & Harden that family-based genome-wide association studies (GWASs) will lead to significant second-generation causal knowledge. Despite bearing some similarities, family-based GWASs and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are not identical. Most RCTs assess a relatively homogenous causal stimulus as a treatment, whereas GWASs assess highly heterogeneous causal stimuli.

Training in Residency and Provision of Reproductive Health Services Among Family Medicine Physicians.

Importance: Contraception and abortion services are essential health care, and family medicine (FM) physicians are an important part of the workforce providing this care. Residency could inform the reproductive health services FM physicians provide.

Objective: To determine which residency training factors are associated with FM physicians' provision of reproductive health services to Medicaid beneficiaries.

Benzodiazepine use, quality of life and psychiatric symptom burden in oral and injectable opioid agonist treatment: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Use of benzodiazepines (BZD) in patients receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is common and associated with a variety of negative health and social outcomes. This cross-sectional study investigates the impact of BZD use in OAT patients on their quality of life (QoL).

Methods: A convenience sample of patients receiving oral OAT or heroin-assisted treatment in two outpatient centres in Basel, Switzerland was investigated.

How Governor Directives Changed Health Workforce Flexibility in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: In times of heightened population health needs, the health workforce must respond quickly and efficiently, especially at the state level. We examined state governors' executive orders related to 2 key health workforce flexibility issues, scope of practice (SOP) and licensing, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We conducted an in-depth document review of state governors' executive orders introduced in 2020 in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Association of Primary Care Physicians' Individual- and Community-Level Characteristics With Contraceptive Service Provision to Medicaid Beneficiaries.

Importance: Little is known about primary care physicians who provide contraceptive services to Medicaid beneficiaries. Evaluating this workforce may help explain barriers to accessing these services since contraceptive care access is critical for Medicaid beneficiaries' health.

Objective: To describe the primary care physician workforce that provides contraceptive services to Medicaid beneficiaries and explore the factors associated with their Medicaid contraceptive service provision.

Feasibility, safety, and acceptability of intranasal heroin-assisted treatment in Switzerland: protocol for a prospective multicentre observational cohort study.

Background: Heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) is a proven effective treatment option for individuals with severe opioid use disorder (OUD). In Switzerland, pharmaceutical heroin (diacetylmorphine, DAM) is available in tablet form or as injectable liquid. This creates a large barrier for individuals who require the rapid onset of effect but are either unable or do not want to inject, or who primarily snort opioids.

Safety and feasibility of intranasal heroin-assisted treatment: 4-week preliminary findings from a Swiss multicentre observational study.

Background: Heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) is effective for individuals with severe opioid use disorder (OUD) who do not respond sufficiently to other opioid agonist treatments. It is mostly offered with injectable diacetylmorphine (DAM) or DAM tablets creating a barrier for individuals who need the rapid onset of action but are either unable or unwilling to inject, or primarily snort opioids. To explore another route of administration, we evaluated the safety and feasibility of intranasal (IN) DAM.

Ethanol Electrooxidation at 1-2 nm AuPd Nanoparticles.

We report a systematic study of the electrocatalytic properties and stability of a series of 1-2 nm Au, Pd, and AuPd alloy nanoparticles (NPs) for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). Following EOR electrocatalysis, NP sizes and compositions were characterized using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (ac-STEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Two main findings emerge from this study.

Smoking and Radiation-induced Skin Injury: Analysis of a Multiracial, Multiethnic Prospective Clinical Trial.

Introduction: Smoking during breast radiotherapy (RT) may be associated with radiation-induced skin injury (RISI). We aimed to determine if a urinary biomarker of tobacco smoke exposure is associated with increased rates of RISI during and after breast RT.

Patients And Methods: Women with Stage 0-IIIA breast cancer treated with breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy followed by RT to the breast or chest wall with or without regional nodal irradiation were prospectively enrolled on a multicenter study assessing acute/late RISI.

Wavelength Selective Multi-Material 3D Printing of Soft Active Devices Using Orthogonal Photoreactions.

Orthogonal photoreactions provide a unique way to locally and independently control (thermo)mechanical properties and functionality of polymer networks simply by choice of the wavelength. Herein, a library of acrylate functional coumarin monomers is synthesized, which are cured by sequence-dependent wavelength orthogonality. In the presence of a long wavelength absorbing photoinitiator, the monomers undergo rapid curing by visible light induced radical chain growth polymerization.

Paper Biosensor for the Detection of NT-proBNP Using Silver Nanodisks as Electrochemical Labels.

We report on the use of silver nanodisks (AgNDs), having a diameter of 50 ± 8 nm and a thickness of 8 ± 2 nm, as electrochemical labels for the detection of a model metalloimmunoassay for the heart failure biomarker NT-proBNP. The detection method is based on an electrochemically activated galvanic exchange (GE) followed by the detection of Ag using anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). The AgNDs labels are superior to Ag nanocubes and Ag nanospheres in terms of the dynamic range for both the model and NT-proBNP metalloimmunoassays.

Single atoms and small clusters of atoms may accompany Au and Pd dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles.

We report the presence of small clusters of atoms (<1 nm) (SCs) and single atoms (SAs) in solutions containing 1-2 nm dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles (DENs). Au and Pd DENs were imaged using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (ac-STEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was used to identify and quantify the SAs/SCs. Two main findings have emerged from this work.

Nasal administration of diacetylmorphine improved the adherence in a patient receiving heroin-assisted treatment.

Background: Traditional heroin-assisted treatment in Switzerland consists of oral and injectable diacetylmorphine (pharmaceutical heroin) administration. To date, no suitable treatment option is available for patients who crave rapid onset ("rush") but are either unable to inject or primarily sniff or inhale illicit heroin. We present a patient who successfully switched to intranasal heroin-assisted treatment following several unsuccessful treatment attempts.

Effect of Electronic Symptom Monitoring on Patient-Reported Outcomes Among Patients With Metastatic Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Electronic systems that facilitate patient-reported outcome (PRO) surveys for patients with cancer may detect symptoms early and prompt clinicians to intervene.

Objective: To evaluate whether electronic symptom monitoring during cancer treatment confers benefits on quality-of-life outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Report of secondary outcomes from the PRO-TECT (Alliance AFT-39) cluster randomized trial in 52 US community oncology practices randomized to electronic symptom monitoring with PRO surveys or usual care.

Characterization of caspase-2 inhibitors based on specific sites of caspase-2-mediated proteolysis.

Since the discovery of the caspase-2 (Casp2)-mediated ∆tau314 cleavage product and its associated impact on tauopathies such as Alzheimer's disease, the design of selective Casp2 inhibitors has become a focus in medicinal chemistry research. In the search for new lead structures with respect to Casp2 selectivity and drug-likeness, we have taken an approach by looking more closely at the specific sites of Casp2-mediated proteolysis. Using seven selected protein cleavage sequences, we synthesized a peptide series of 53 novel molecules and studied them using in vitro pharmacology, molecular modeling, and crystallography.