Spatial modelling to identify high-risk zones for the transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis in hyperendemic urban environments: A case study of Mashhad, Iran.

Spatial modelling was employed to identify high-risk zones for the transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis in hyperendemic urban environments, focusing on Mashhad, Iran. Data analysis from 3033 CL patients (2016-2020) integrated socio-demographic, environmental, and geological factors using negative binomial regression and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) model. Findings indicate that 42.

REsource Support To Optimize REcovery (RESTORE) scoping review: Evaluating aftercare resources for burn survivors.

Background: Burn survivors report limited resources as they transition to their communities after initial hospitalization. The aim of this project is to review literature that identifies resources provided to burn survivors and their supporters after discharge to their communities.

Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used to examine the following literature databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and CINAHL.

Framing diagnostic error: an epidemiological perspective.

Diagnostic errors burden the United States healthcare system. Depending on how they are defined, between 40,000 and 4 million cases occur annually. Despite this striking statistic, and the potential benefits epidemiological approaches offer in identifying risk factors for sub-optimal diagnoses, diagnostic error remains an underprioritized epidemiolocal research topic.

Self-reported diagnoses of dietary allergens and fecundability in a North American cohort.

Study Question: To what extent are self-reported diagnoses of food allergies associated with fecundability, the per-cycle probability of conception?

Summary Answer: Fecundability was not appreciably associated with self-reported food allergy diagnoses, number of food allergies, age at first diagnosis, or time since last allergic reaction.

What Is Known Already: Food allergies are atopic diseases that are characterized by an inappropriate immune response to a normally harmless dietary substance. While some studies have observed associations between atopic disorders and infertility, no study has examined the association between food allergies and fecundability, the per-cycle probability of conception.

State-level actions targeting unethical substance use disorder treatment practices: A qualitative study.

Introduction: There has been increasing recognition of unethical practices occurring in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, such as patient brokering and deceptive marketing. We conducted a qualitative study with key informants to characterize state actions that have been undertaken to target unethical practices and the context surrounding state-level actions, including barriers and facilitators to their implementation.

Methods: We recruited key informants at the state-level, as well as those from national organizations engaged in improving SUD treatment quality, who could provide perspectives on the scope of unethical practices in the field and ways in which states have sought to prevent unethical practices and improve the quality of SUD treatment.

Associations between health-related social needs and postpartum linkage to care.

Introduction: Ongoing care after pregnancy is recommended. Health-related social needs (HRSNs) are recognized barriers to care, yet their pregnancy-related prevalence and associations with care are unknown. Researchers sought to assess (1) the prevalence of HRSNs during pregnancy-based care, and (2) their associations with ongoing care after pregnancy.

Coffee and tea consumption and the risk of head and neck cancer: An updated pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium.

Introduction: The relations between coffee and tea consumption and head and neck cancer (HNC) incidence are unclear. With increasing global HNC burden, this study aims to examine the association between coffee, tea, and HNC.

Methods: A pooled analysis of 9548 HNC cases and 15,783 controls from 14 individual-level case-control studies was conducted from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium.

Social disconnectedness, subsequent medical conditions, and, the role of pre-existing mental disorders: a population-based cohort study.

Aims: Individuals with diminished social connections are at higher risk of mental disorders, dementia, circulatory conditions and musculoskeletal conditions. However, evidence is limited by a disease-specific focus and no systematic examination of sex differences or the role of pre-existing mental disorders.

Methods: We conducted a cohort study using data on social disconnectedness (loneliness, social isolation, low social support and a composite measure) from the 2013 and 2017 Danish National Health Survey linked with register data on 11 broad categories of medical conditions through 2021.

Detecting Mild Traumatic Brain Injury after Combat Deployment: Agreement Between Veterans Health Administration Clinical System and LIMBIC-CENC Research Protocol.

Identifying historical mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is important for many clinical care reasons; however, diagnosing mild TBI is inherently challenging and utility of screening is unknown. This study compares a standardized research process to an established clinical process for screening and diagnosis of historical mild TBI during combat deployment in a military/Veteran cohort. Using validated instruments, the Long-term Impact of Military-relevant Brain Injury Consortium-Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (LIMBIC-CENC) prospective longitudinal study (PLS) screens for all potential concussive events (PCEs) and conducts structured concussion diagnostic interviews for each PCE.

Induction of Fc-dependent functional antibodies against different variants of SARS-CoV-2 varies by vaccine type and prior infection.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 transmission and COVID-19 disease severity is influenced by immunity from natural infection and/or vaccination. Population-level immunity is complicated by the emergence of viral variants. Antibody Fc-dependent effector functions are as important mediators in immunity.

Evidence on trends in uptake of childhood vaccines and association with COVID-19 vaccination rates.

Importance: Childhood vaccination rates have declined in recent years; there is also concern that resistance to COVID-19 vaccines could spill over to childhood vaccines.

Objectives: To use local-level data to study trends in childhood vaccination rates and heterogeneity in local rates; including how many areas are below herd-immunity thresholds, and assess the association between COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and childhood vaccination.

Design: We report, for 11 states with available data, vaccination rates for measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), and diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccines, including percentage of schools/counties with rates ≥95 %, 90-95 %, 80-90 %, and < 80 %.

Pediatrics leading the way: co-enrollment as the next step in health-related social needs screening and referral.

Purpose Of Review: To contextualize how pediatrics led the field in developing and implementing tools to screen for social determinants of health in clinical care as well as in creating innovative interventions to mitigate them, and to summarize where the evidence points as the next frontier.

Recent Findings: The evidence showed that health-related social needs (HRSN), like food insecurity, energy insecurity, and housing instability, continue to drive poor health outcomes across the lifespan; patients and healthcare providers are open to discussing HRSN in clinical settings, though some providers feel ill-equipped to do so; to mitigate HRSN, healthcare plays a unique role in ensuring patients' HRSN are understood, referring to effective resources through building strong, lasting relationships with community partners, embedding services in the healthcare setting across all departments, and empowering patient families to participate in programs and services; and administrative burden hinders families from getting all the benefits to which they are entitled, which streamlined co-enrollment processes can address.

Summary: Pediatric providers can add a unique and credible voice to seeking changes to the safety-net, including co-enrollment, that could reduce administrative burden, address patients' HRSN, and improve health starting in the prenatal period through later adulthood.

Prevalence and progression of chronic kidney disease among adults undergoing creatinine testing in South African public healthcare facilities: a study leveraging data from South Africa's National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS).

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has emerged as a substantial global health challenge, with a marked rise in associated mortality. However, it often goes undetected until advanced stages, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries such as South Africa. We investigated the prevalence and progression of CKD in South Africa, utilising a subset of data from the National Health Laboratory Services Multi-morbidity Cohort.

Inequities in Access to Mental Health Services Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Medicaid Enrollees.

Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) people are often aggregated into a monolithic group, but when they are disaggregated into ethnic groups (e.g., Chinese), inequities can be identified.

Grayken Lessons: a patient who developed opioid use disorder after traumatic brain injury.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common in people with substance use disorders (SUDs). TBI often results in cognitive deficits which can affect the clinical course of SUD.

Case Presentation: Here we present the case of a 34-year-old Spanish-speaking man with severe opioid use disorder and two prior TBIs affecting his cognitive abilities.

Defining the transition from new to normal: a qualitative investigation of the clinical change process.

Background: Understanding how and when a new evidence-based clinical intervention becomes standard practice is crucial to ensure that healthcare is delivered in alignment with the most up-to-date knowledge. However, rigorous methods are needed to determine when a new clinical practice becomes normalized to the standard of care. To address this gap, this study qualitatively explores how, when, and why a clinical practice change becomes normalized within healthcare organizations.

Curation and validation of electronic medical record-based dementia diagnoses in the VA Million Veteran Program.

Background: The age distribution and diversity of the VA Million Veteran Program (MVP) cohort make it a valuable resource for studying the genetics of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD).

Objective: We present and evaluate the performance of several International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code-based classification algorithms for AD, ADRD, and dementia for use in MVP genetic studies and other studies using VA electronic medical record (EMR) data. These were benchmarked relative to existing ICD algorithms and AD-medication-identified cases.

Protecting historically marginalized groups or targeted marketing? A computational analysis of individuals engaging with public and protected cigar-branded tweets.

Introduction: Swisher Sweets, a leading brand of little cigars and cigarillos in the United States, switched its Twitter account to protected status, limiting access to its tweets. This study examines how the protected status of Swisher Sweets tweets influences post engagement, aiming to inform regulatory strategies for branded tobacco promotions on social media.

Method: Using natural language processing, we predicted the demographics of individuals replying to Swisher Sweets' public and protected tweets.

Harms from others' drinking among college students: Prevalence and risk factors, 2022.

Introduction: Alcohol's harms to others (AHTO) refers to the negative effects experienced by individuals other than the drinker. This study investigates the prevalence and risk factors of AHTOs among US college students (sophomores/juniors), based on the first national probability-based survey conducted in 20 years.

Methods: We assessed AHTOs in the fall of 2021 from 1918 participants across 46 US schools, weighting the data to reflect the US undergraduate sophomore/junior population.

Global amyloid burden enhances network efficiency of tau propagation in the brain.

Background: Amyloid-β (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated tau are crucial biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, interacting synergistically to accelerate disease progression. While Aβ initiates cascades leading to tau hyperphosphorylation and neurofibrillary tangles, PET imaging studies suggest a sequential progression from amyloidosis to tauopathy, closely linked with neurocognitive symptoms.

Objective: To analyze the complex interactions between Aβ and tau in AD using probabilistic graphical models, assessing how regional tau accumulation is influenced by Aβ burden.

Associations Between Retinal Vascular Occlusions and Dementia.

Background/objectives: Retinal vascular occlusions, such as retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and retinal artery occlusion (RAO), are associated with cognitive impairment, including dementia. Our objective was to examine the odds of dementia among patients with retinal vascular occlusion.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 474 patients with retinal vascular occlusion and 948 patients without retinal vascular occlusion (comparison group).

Tai Chi and Wellness Interventions for Veterans with Gulf War Illness: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial.

Background: Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom illness that affects up to one-third of the 700,000 American military personnel deployed to the Persian Gulf region in 1990 and 1991. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine feasibility and the relative efficacy of two 12-week in-person group treatments (Tai Chi and Wellness) to address GWI symptoms of chronic pain, fatigue, and changes in mood and cognitive functioning.

Method: Male and female veterans were randomly assigned to Tai Chi (n = 27) or Wellness (n = 26) group interventions and assessed at four time points: baseline, post-treatment, 3-, and 9-month follow-up.