Rapidly measuring spatial accessibility of COVID-19 healthcare resources: a case study of Illinois, USA.

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, has infected millions of people and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. While COVID-19 has overwhelmed healthcare resources (e.g.

Sources of selection and information biases when using commercial database-derived residential histories for cancer research.

Purpose: This study examined potential sources of selection and information biases when using residence history information from a commercial database to construct residential histories for cancer research.

Methods: We searched the LexisNexis database for residence data on 3473 adults diagnosed with cancers of the prostate, colon/rectum, and female breast in a single health-care system between 2005 and 2016 using the name and address at diagnosis and the birth date. Residential histories were generated from the results using open-source statistical programs from the National Cancer Institute.

Predictive Risk Factors for Continued Smoking after the Diagnosis of a Genitourinary Malignancy.

Objective: To determine risk factors for continued smoking following a diagnosis of a genitourinary (GU) malignancy. Smoking is a well established risk factor in the development of cancers involving the GU tract. Unfortunately, a large percentage of patients continue to smoke or relapse after cancer diagnosis; by doing so, there is an increased risk of recurrence, poor survival rates, treatment complications, secondary primary cancers, and other chronic smoking related illnesses.

Spatial access to primary care providers and colorectal cancer-specific survival in Cook County, Illinois.

Background: Spatial access to primary care has been associated with late-stage and fatal breast cancer, but less is known about its relation to outcomes of other screening-preventable cancers such as colorectal cancer. This population-based retrospective cohort study examined whether spatial access to primary care providers associates with colorectal cancer-specific survival.

Methods: Approximately 26 600 incident colorectal cancers diagnosed between 2000 and 2008 in adults residing in Cook County, Illinois were identified through the state cancer registry and georeferenced to the census tract of residence at diagnosis.

Helping Men Find Their Way: Improving Prostate Cancer Clinic Attendance via Patient Navigation.

Navigation programs aim to help patients overcome barriers to cancer diagnosis and treatment. Missed clinic appointments have undesirable effects on the patient, health system, and society, and treatment delays have been shown to result in inferior surgical cure rates for men with prostate cancer (CaP). We sought to measure the impact of patient navigation on CaP clinic adherence.

Pre-diagnostic carbohydrate intake and treatment failure after radical prostatectomy for early-stage prostate cancer.

Purpose: An association between dietary carbohydrate intake and prostate cancer (PCa) prognosis is biologically plausible, but data are scarce. This prospective cohort study examined the relation between pre-diagnostic carbohydrate intake and treatment failure following radical prostatectomy for clinically early-stage PCa.

Methods: We identified 205 men awaiting radical prostatectomy and assessed their usual dietary intake of carbohydrates using the 110-item Block food frequency questionnaire.

Interaction of NKX3.1 and SELENOP genotype with prostate cancer recurrence.

Background: NKX3.1 is a tumor suppressor frequently lost in prostate cancer. Previous studies by others indicated that the risks associated with reduced NKX3.

Correlations of SELENOF and SELENOP genotypes with serum selenium levels and prostate cancer.

Background: Selenium status is inversely associated with the incidence of prostate cancer. However, supplementation trials have not indicated a benefit of selenium supplementation in reducing cancer risk. Polymorphisms in the gene encoding selenoprotein 15 (SELENOF) are associated with cancer incidence/mortality and present disproportionately in African Americans.

A geographic information system-based method for estimating cancer rates in non-census defined geographical areas.

Purpose: To address locally relevant cancer-related health issues, health departments frequently need data beyond that contained in standard census area-based statistics. We describe a geographic information system-based method for calculating age-standardized cancer incidence rates in non-census defined geographical areas using publically available data.

Methods: Aggregated records of cancer cases diagnosed from 2009 through 2013 in each of Chicago's 77 census-defined community areas were obtained from the Illinois State Cancer Registry.

Diet adherence dynamics and physiological responses to a tomato product whole-food intervention in African-American men.

Tomatoes may have beneficial effects on prostate health. Efficacy trials would require long-term adherence to high levels of tomato product (TP) consumption. Therefore, factors that affect adherence in men most at risk and whether increased consumption of TP negatively affects diet and health are important concerns.

Brief smoking cessation intervention: a prospective trial in the urology setting.

Purpose: Urologists have an important role in the treatment of tobacco related diseases, such as kidney and bladder cancer. Despite this role, urologists receive little training in promoting tobacco cessation. We prospectively evaluated a brief smoking cessation intervention offered by a urologist at an outpatient clinic.

Ethnicity and smoking status are associated with awareness of smoking related genitourinary diseases.

Purpose: Cigarette smoking is a recognized risk factor for kidney cancer, bladder cancer and erectile dysfunction. However, little is known regarding patient knowledge of these associations. We evaluated awareness of smoking as a risk factor for genitourinary disease and identified variables associated with awareness.

Spatial error in geocoding physician location data from the AMA Physician Masterfile: implications for spatial accessibility analysis.

The accuracy of geocoding hinges on the quality of address information that serves as input to the geocoding process; however errors associated with poor address quality are rarely studied. This paper examines spatial errors that arise due to incorrect address information with respect to physician location data in the United States. Studies of spatial accessibility to physicians in the U.

Vitamin C and A1c relationship in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2006.

Objective: The scope of the diabetes epidemic stresses the critical need for primary prevention. The consumption of foods high in vitamin C has been associated with lower risk of diabetes. The aim of this study was to analyze the relation between vitamin C concentration and glycemic control index in a large sample of U.

8q24 risk alleles in West African and Caribbean men.

Background: Multiple genetic studies have confirmed associations of 8q24 variants with susceptibility to prostate cancer (CaP). However, the magnitude of risk conferred in men living in West Africa is unknown.

Methods: Here we determine the prevalence of 8q24 risk alleles and test for association with CaP risk alleles in West African (WA) descent populations from rural Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Caribbean island of Jamaica.

Association of census tract-level socioeconomic status with disparities in prostate cancer-specific survival.

Background: Social determinants of prostate cancer survival and their relation to racial/ethnic disparities thereof are poorly understood. We analyzed whether census tract-level socioeconomic status (SES) at diagnosis is a prognostic factor in men with prostate cancer and helps explain racial/ethnic disparities in survival.

Methods: We used a retrospective cohort of 833 African American and white, non-Hispanic men diagnosed with prostate cancer at four Chicago area medical centers between 1986 and 1990.

Association of A1C levels with vitamin D status in U.S. adults: data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Objective: Data relating vitamin D status with indices of glucose homeostasis as manifested by A1C in the U.S. adult population are few.

The training of epidemiologists and diversity in epidemiology: findings from the 2006 Congress of Epidemiology survey.

Purpose: In the past decade, we have witnessed increasing numbers of individuals entering the field of epidemiology. With the increase also has come a diversity of training and paths by which individuals entered the field. The purpose of this survey was characterization of the epidemiology workforce, its job diversity, and continuing education needs.

The ratio of oleic-to-stearic acid in the prostate predicts biochemical failure after radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer.

Purpose: To identify lifestyle related factors that may influence the prognosis of clinically localized prostate cancer we evaluated the relative impact of obesity and prostatic fatty acid concentrations at diagnosis on the risk of biochemical failure following radical prostatectomy.

Materials And Methods: Height and weight were measured in 195 men scheduled for radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer. Fatty acids were measured in nonmalignant prostate tissue collected at surgery.

Prostatic fatty acids and cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy for early-stage prostate cancer.

Objective: Results from some observational studies suggest that diet and energy balance influence the clinical course of early-stage prostate cancer. To evaluate possible mechanisms, we prospectively examined the relation between prostatic concentrations of fatty acids at diagnosis and cancer recurrence following primary therapy.

Methods: Fatty acids were measured by capillary gas chromatography in fresh, non-cancerous prostate tissue collected from 184 men undergoing radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer.

E-cadherin polymorphisms and haplotypes influence risk for prostate cancer.

Background: The E-cadherin (CDH1) gene has been implicated in prostate cancer (PCA) risk, however, the exact mechanism is unknown. Several polymorphisms, such as the C/A variant -160 base pairs from the transcription start site, in the CDH1 gene promoter region have been associated with cancer risk, mainly in European descent populations.

Methods: We screened the entire coding region and 3.

Inverse association between prostatic polyunsaturated fatty acid and risk of locally advanced prostate carcinoma.

Background: An effect of fatty acids has been implicated in men with advanced-stage prostate carcinoma and in men who have died of the disease. To evaluate the influence of fatty acids in men with prostate carcinoma at earlier stages, the authors examined the relation between prostatic concentrations of fatty acids and locally advanced prostate carcinoma in men with clinically organ-confined disease.

Methods: Fatty acids were measured by capillary gas chromatography in fresh, nonmalignant prostate tissue specimens collected during surgery from 196 men undergoing radical prostatectomy for localized prostate carcinoma.

Gleason grading of prostate cancer: level of concordance between pathologists at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Our aim was to study the level of interobserver concordance in the Gleason scores of prostate needle biopsy specimens reported at 1 institution. A retrospective review of all prostate needle biopsy specimens in which a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma was made during the year 2000 was conducted. Parameters evaluated included the Gleason score, Gleason grades identified, the percentage of Gleason grades 4 and 5, and the percentage of tumor in the biopsy specimen.

Racial differences in survival among men with prostate cancer and comorbidity at time of diagnosis.

Objectives: This study evaluated the effect of comorbidity at diagnosis on racial differences in survival among men with prostate cancer.

Methods: Clinical and demographic data were abstracted from records of 864 patients diagnosed at 4 Chicago area hospitals between 1986 and 1990. Comorbidity was scored on the basis of clinical information in the Charlson index.