KERNEL-PENALIZED REGRESSION FOR ANALYSIS OF MICROBIOME DATA.

The analysis of human microbiome data is often based on dimension-reduced graphical displays and clusterings derived from vectors of microbial abundances in each sample. Common to these ordination methods is the use of biologically motivated definitions of similarity. Principal coordinate analysis, in particular, is often performed using ecologically defined distances, allowing analyses to incorporate context-dependent, non-Euclidean structure.

Stress Among Latinos: Does it Vary by Occupation and Agricultural Season?

Objective: Stress is pervasive among Latino immigrants. We identified seasonal and occupational patterns in stress among rural Latino immigrants.

Methods: During three agricultural periods, farmworker and non-farmworker participants responded to a 24-item stress questionnaire (Snipes et al, 2007).

Nightshift work, chronotype, and genome-wide DNA methylation in blood.

Molecular mechanisms underlying the negative health effects of shift work are poorly understood, which remains a barrier to developing intervention strategies to protect the long-term health of shift workers. We evaluated genome-wide differences in DNA methylation (measured in blood) between 111 actively employed female nightshift and 86 actively employed female dayshift workers from the Seattle metropolitan area. We also explored the effect of chronotype (i.

The impact of medical tourism on colorectal screening among Korean Americans: A community-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Korean Americans (KAs) in part due to low screening rates. Recent studies suggest that some KA patients engage in medical tourism and receive medical care in their home country. The impact of medical tourism on CRC screening is unknown.

Single-arm trial of the second version of an acceptance & commitment therapy smartphone application for smoking cessation.

Background: The first randomized trial of a smartphone application (app) for adult smoking cessation (SmartQuit 1.0) revealed key features that predict cessation. These findings guided the revision of this Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based application (SmartQuit 2.

A Brief Community-Based Nutrition Education Intervention Combined With Food Baskets Can Increase Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Low-Income Latinos.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an 8-week community-based nutrition education program combined with food baskets on fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC) among Latinos.

Design: Pre-post intervention study assessing perceived barriers, knowledge, food efficacy, food outcomes, and FVC, using mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative).

Setting: Participants' recruitment and data collection took place in the Seattle Metropolitan area from September 2012 to July 2013.

Get with the program: Adherence to a smartphone app for smoking cessation.

Introduction: Although engagement is generally predictive of positive outcomes in technology-based behavioral change interventions, engagement measures remain largely atheoretical and lack treatment-specificity. This study examines the extent to which adherence measures based on the underlying behavioral change theory of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) app for smoking cessation predict smoking outcomes, and user characteristics associated with adherence.

Methods: Study sample was adult daily smokers in a single arm pilot study (n=84).

Enhancing Biospecimen Knowledge Among Health Care Providers and Representatives From Community Organizations.

In a personalized medicine environment, it is necessary to have access to a range of biospecimens to establish optimal plans for disease diagnosis and treatment for individual patients. Cancer research is especially dependent on biospecimens for determining ideal personalized treatment for patients. Unfortunately, the vast majority of biospecimens are collected from non-Hispanic White individuals; thus, minority representation is lacking.

Enterolignan-producing phenotypes are associated with increased gut microbial diversity and altered composition in premenopausal women in the United States.

Background: Lignans in plant foods are metabolized by gut bacteria to the enterolignans, enterodiol (END) and enterolactone (ENL). Enterolignans have biologic activities important to the prevention of cancer and chronic diseases. We examined the composition of the gut microbial community (GMC) as a contributor to human enterolignan exposure.

An innovative strategy to reach the underserved for colorectal cancer screening.

Hispanics are an underserved population in terms of colorectal cancer (CRC). CRC is the second leading cause of cancer incidence among Hispanic men and women, and Hispanics have lower screening rates than non-Hispanic whites. The overall purpose of this project was to provide CRC information, education, and fecal occult blood test (FOBT) kits to Hispanics in a rural three-county region of Washington State.

Increasing cervical cancer screening in the United States-Mexico border region.

Purpose: Hispanic women living on the United States-México border experience health disparities, are less likely to access cervical cancer screening services, and have a higher rate of cervical cancer incidence compared to women living in nonborder areas. Here we investigate the effects of an intervention delivered by community health workers (CHWs, known as lay health educators or Promotores de Salud in Spanish) on rates of cervical cancer screening in Hispanic women who were out of compliance with recommended screening guidelines.

Methods: Hispanic women out of compliance with screening guidelines, attending clinics in southern New Mexico, were identified using medical record review.

Diabetes prevention in Hispanics: report from a randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Hispanics are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle interventions are effective in preventing diabetes and restoring glucose regulation.

Methods: We recruited Hispanic men and women (N = 320) who were residents of the Lower Yakima Valley, Washington, aged 18 years or older with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels higher than 6% to a parallel 2-arm randomized-controlled trial conducted from 2008 through 2012.

Association between body mass index and cardiovascular disease mortality in east Asians and south Asians: pooled analysis of prospective data from the Asia Cohort Consortium.

Objective: To evaluate the association between body mass index and mortality from overall cardiovascular disease and specific subtypes of cardiovascular disease in east and south Asians.

Design: Pooled analyses of 20 prospective cohorts in Asia, including data from 835,082 east Asians and 289,815 south Asians. Cohorts were identified through a systematic search of the literature in early 2008, followed by a survey that was sent to each cohort to assess data availability.

Premenopausal vasomotor symptoms in an ethnically diverse population.

Objective: The prevalence of vasomotor symptoms (VMS) among women aged 45 years or older who report regular menses has not been described well. Variability by race/ethnicity is expected.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of Group Health enrollees was performed among women ages 45-56 y with regular and no skipped menses, and not taking hormones.

mcaGUI: microbial community analysis R-Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Unlabelled: Microbial communities have an important role in natural ecosystems and have an impact on animal and human health. Intuitive graphic and analytical tools that can facilitate the study of these communities are in short supply. This article introduces Microbial Community Analysis GUI, a graphical user interface (GUI) for the R-programming language (R Development Core Team, 2010).