Reinfection and resistance associated substitutions following a minimal monitoring approach for HCV treatment in MINMON trial.

Background: Simplified approaches to HCV treatment delivery are needed to meet elimination goals. However, the impact of low-touch strategies on individuals at higher risk due to treatment failure or reinfection is unknown. We estimated HCV reinfection rates, and the impact of resistance associated substitutions (RASs) on response in the ACTG A5360 (MINMON) trial.

A-SIMA/A-MAP: a comprehensive toolkit for NMR-based metabolomics analysis.

Introduction: Metabolomics is the comprehensive study of small molecules in biological systems. It has recently garnered attention for its wide variety of applications such as diseases, drug treatments, agriculture, and more. As the interest in metabolomics grow, meeting the demands of cutting-edge research requires software tools that not only advance analytical capabilities, but also prioritize user-friendly features.

Survival outcomes of apalutamide as a starting treatment: impact in real-world patients with metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer (OASIS).

Background: Androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (apalutamide [APA], enzalutamide [ENZ], abiraterone acetate plus prednisone [AAP]) combined with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) are effective life-prolonging treatment options for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). We evaluated the impact of upfront therapy for mHSPC on outcomes in real-world clinical practice in the United States.

Methods: This retrospective, observational cohort study used electronic healthcare records from the ConcertAI RWD 360 Prostate Cancer Dataset.

Rumination induction task in fMRI: Effects of rumination focused cognitive behavioral therapy and stability in youth.

Background: Rumination is implicated in the onset and maintenance of major depressive disorder (MDD). Rumination-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (RF-CBT) effectively targets rumination and may change resting-state brain connectivity and change in activation during a rumination induction task (RIT) post-intervention predicts depressive symptoms two years later. We examined brain activation changes during an RIT in adolescents with remitted MDD following RF-CBT and evaluated RIT reliability (or stability) during treatment as usual (TAU).

Treatment of food allergy: Immunotherapy, omalizumab, or both.

Food allergy is a common disease which has substantial impacts on the quality of life of patients and their families, and all reactions have the potential for causing life-threatening anaphylaxis. Food allergic individuals currently have 2 FDA approved therapeutic options available to them aside from life-long allergen avoidance: oral immunotherapy (OIT), and omalizumab. OIT for food allergy has been extensively studied in clinical trials and currently provides the greatest level of protection, however it also has a high burden of treatment.

The textures of sarcoidosis: quantifying lung disease through variograms.

Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease affecting the lungs in over 90\% of patients. Qualitative assessment of chest CT by radiologists is standard clinical practice and reliable quantification of disease from CT would support ongoing efforts to identify sarcoidosis phenotypes. Standard imaging feature engineering techniques such as radiomics suffer from extreme sensitivity to image acquisition and processing, potentially impeding generalizability of research to clinical populations.

Caregiver worry about COVID-19 as a predictor of social mitigation behaviours and SARS-CoV-2 infection in a 12-city U.S. surveillance study of households with children.

Objective: Understanding compliance with COVID-19 mitigation recommendations is critical for informing efforts to contain future infectious disease outbreaks. This study tested the hypothesis that higher levels of worry about COVID-19 illness among household caregivers would predict lower (a) levels of overall and discretionary social exposure activities and (b) rates of household SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Methods: Data were drawn from a surveillance study of households with children ( = 1913) recruited from 12 U.

Covered Stent Correction for Sinus Venosus Atrial Septal Defects, an Emerging Alternative to Surgical Repair: Results of an International Registry.

Background: Covered stent correction for a sinus venosus atrial septal defect (SVASD) was first performed in 2009. This innovative approach was initially viewed as experimental and was reserved for highly selected patients with unusual anatomic variants. In 2016, increasing numbers of procedures began to be performed, and in several centers, it is now offered as a standard of care option alongside surgical repair.

Computational deconvolution of cell type-specific gene expression in COPD and IPF lungs reveals disease severity associations.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are debilitating diseases associated with divergent histopathological changes in the lungs. At present, due to cost and technical limitations, profiling cell types is not practical in large epidemiology cohorts (n > 1000). Here, we used computational deconvolution to identify cell types in COPD and IPF lungs whose abundances and cell type-specific gene expression are associated with disease diagnosis and severity.

Comparing Medical Record Abstraction (MRA) error rates in an observational study to pooled rates identified in the data quality literature.

Background: Medical record abstraction (MRA) is a commonly used method for data collection in clinical research, but is prone to error, and the influence of quality control (QC) measures is seldom and inconsistently assessed during the course of a study. We employed a novel, standardized MRA-QC framework as part of an ongoing observational study in an effort to control MRA error rates. In order to assess the effectiveness of our framework, we compared our error rates against traditional MRA studies that had not reported using formalized MRA-QC methods.

Primate Phenotypes: A Multi-Institution Collection of 3D Morphological Data Housed in MorphoSource.

The field of phenomics is experiencing unprecedented advances thanks to the rapid growth of morphological quantification based on three-dimensional (3D) imaging, online data repositories, team-oriented collaborations, and open data-sharing policies. In line with these progressions, we present an extensive primate phenotypic dataset comprising >6,000 3D scans (media) representing skeletal morphologies of 386 individual specimens covering all hominoid genera (except humans) and other selected primates. The digitized specimens are housed in physical collections at the American Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of Natural History, the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Belgium), the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Stony Brook University.

Optimizing prone CT use for suspected interstitial lung abnormalities.

Objectives: We investigated whether supine chest CT alone suffices for diagnosing ILAs, thereby reducing the need for prone chest CT.

Materials And Methods: Patients who underwent prone chest CT for suspected ILAs from January 2021 to July 2023, with matching supine CT within 1 year, were retrospectively evaluated. Five multinational thoracic radiologists independently rated ILA suspicion and fibrosis scores (1 to 5-point) and ILA extent (1-100%) using supine CT first, then combined supine-prone CT after a 1-month washout.

Validating a Universal Measurement Scale and Standardized, Reproducible Unit for Gross Motor Development.

Objective: To validate a universal measurement scale and unit for gross motor development across multiple instruments.

Design: Retrospective cohorts.

Setting: Community and clinic.

Nbeal2 Knockout Mice Are Not Protected Against Hypoxia-Induced Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling and Pulmonary Hypertension.

Inflammation drives the initiation and progression of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Platelets, increasingly recognized as immune cells, are activated and increased in the lungs of patients with PH. Platelet activation leads to the release of α-granule chemokines, many of which are implicated in PH.

Terrestrial evidence for volcanogenic sulfate-driven cooling event ~30 kyr before the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction.

Alongside the Chicxulub meteorite impact, Deccan volcanism is considered a primary trigger for the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction. Models suggest that volcanic outgassing of carbon and sulfur-potent environmental stressors-drove global temperature change, but the relative timing, duration, and magnitude of such change remains uncertain. Here, we use the organic paleothermometer MBT' and the carbon-isotope composition of two K-Pg-spanning lignites from the western Unites States, to test models of volcanogenic air temperature change in the ~100 kyr before the mass extinction.

Proteomic analysis of the sponge Aggregation Factor implicates an ancient toolkit for allorecognition and adhesion in animals.

The discovery that sponges (Porifera) can fully regenerate from aggregates of dissociated cells launched them as one of the earliest experimental models to study the evolution of cell adhesion and allorecognition in animals. This process depends on an extracellular glycoprotein complex called the Aggregation Factor (AF), which is composed of proteins thought to be unique to sponges. We used quantitative proteomics to identify additional AF components and interacting proteins in the classical model, , and compared them to proteins involved in cell interactions in Bilateria.

Transforming Growth Factor-Beta is Increased in Sputum from Individuals with Rheumatoid Arthritis-Associated Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Background: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) develops in 5-10% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality, particularly in those with a fibrotic phenotype. Yet, biomarkers to reliably identify RA patients with underlying pulmonary fibrosis are inadequate. Herein, we used sputum to identify lung-based biomarkers that distinguish RA patients with underlying pulmonary fibrosis and may better inform underlying pathogenesis in RA-ILD.

Novel non-opioid analgesics in pain management.

Effective pain management has long been hindered by the limitations and risks associated with opioid analgesics, necessitating the exploration of novel, non-opioid alternatives. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar during October and November 2024 to identify studies on emerging non-opioid pain management therapeutics. This review evaluates three promising classes of mechanism-specific therapeutics: nerve growth factor (NGF) monoclonal antibodies, transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) antagonists, and selective sodium channel blockers.

How Women and Men with Parkinson's Disease Approach Decision-Making for Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery.

Background: Women make up only 23% to 30% of recipients for deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery for Parkinson's disease (PD), a discrepancy that is not accounted for by differences in disease incidence. One of the many factors that may contribute to this gap includes gender differences in decision-making.

Objective: The aim was to explore how women and men approach the decision for DBS in terms of informational needs, weighing risks and benefits, and decision-making.

Back to the Bottle: Comparison of Palatoplasty Outcomes Before and After Systematic Changes to Postoperative Precaution Protocols.

Main Objective: To analyze postoperative palatoplasty outcomes before and after systemic protocol changes to preferred bottle and arm immobilizer use after surgery.

Design: Retrospective, cohort study.

Setting: Urban, academic, tertiary medical center in New York City, NY.

Preserved Ratio Impaired Spirometry in US Primary Care Patients Diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Background: Preserved ratio impaired spirometry (PRISm) represents a population with spirometry results that do not meet standardized COPD obstruction criteria, yet present with high respiratory symptom burden and might benefit from respiratory management and treatment. We aimed to determine prevalence of PRISm in US primary care patients diagnosed with COPD, describe their demographic, clinical, and CT scan characteristics.

Methods: An observational registry study utilizing the US APEX COPD registry, composed of patients diagnosed with COPD aged 35+ years.

Clarifying causality and information flows between time series: Particulate air pollution, temperature, and elderly mortality.

Exposure-response associations between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and mortality have been extensively studied but potential confounding by daily minimum and maximum temperatures in the weeks preceding death has not been carefully investigated. This paper seeks to close that gap by using lagged partial dependence plots (PDPs), sorted by importance, to quantify how mortality risk depends on lagged values of PM2.

The Missing Link: Hepatitis C Linkage to Care through a Public Sexual Health Clinic.

This study evaluates hepatitis C testing and referral for treatment among patients attending a public sexual health clinic. In patients with hepatitis C infection, progression from linkage to care to sustained virologic response was low. Innovative approaches are needed to optimally integrate hepatitis C care in sexual health clinics.