Impact of postmenopause on bipolar depression: Insights from a prospective study.

Background: Existing research on menopause and Bipolar Disorder indicates a general exacerbation in depressive symptoms but lacks clear distinctions between menopausal stages, despite their specific hormonal and symptomatic profiles. This study assesses how postmenopause versus the reproductive phase impacts the progression and antidepressant responsiveness of bipolar depression in women with Bipolar I Disorder.

Methods: This prospective cohort study included 364 women with moderate to severe depressive episodes.

Disparities in Antidiabetic Medication Discontinuation Between Non-Hispanic White and Black Beneficiaries in Medicare Across Diabetes Belt and Surrounding Area.

Objective: To assess racial and geographic disparities in antidiabetic medication discontinuation among Medicare beneficiaries with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in or around Diabetes Belt (DB) areas, with a specific focus on differences between non-Hispanic (NH) white and NH Black individuals.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted on Medicare beneficiaries who initiated metformin and used antidiabetic medications during 2011-2015, including metformin, sulfonylureas, insulin, DPP-4 inhibitors, GLP-1 receptor agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors, and thiazolidinediones. Medication discontinuation was defined as a gap of 90 days or more without any antidiabetic medications.

Trends in Plan Offerings, Enrollment, and Premiums in Medicare Advantage and Medigap.

Objective: Examine trends in Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medigap plan offerings, enrollment, and premiums across state regulatory regimes.

Study Setting And Design: We used national data between 2014 and 2021 on MA and Medigap plan offerings, enrollment, and premiums. Data on Medigap plan offerings and premiums were acquired from Weiss Ratings and matched with county-level data on the Medicare population from 2014 to 2021 Medicare Regional Variation and MA Landscape files.

Comparative inpatient care of cancer vs. non-cancer patients in Switzerland during the national COVID-19 lockdown: a nationwide interrupted time series analysis.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic exerted unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems worldwide, leading governments and hospitals to postpone elective procedures to prioritize care for COVID-19 patients. Cancer patients, who often require frequent interactions with hospital services, may have been disproportionately affected by these disuptions in healthcare delivery. This study aimed to analyze and compare hospital care provided to cancer and non-cancer inpatients during the lockdown and post-lockdown periods in Switzerland.

Molecular aspects of heat stress sensing in land plants.

Heat stress impacts all aspects of life, from evolution to global food security. Therefore, it becomes essential to understand how plants respond to heat stress, especially in the context of climate change. The heat stress response (HSR) involves three main components: sensing, signal transduction, and cellular reprogramming.

Expansion of 340B Disproportionate Share Hospitals in the United States From 2010 to 2022.

Objective: To evaluate how the communities of newly registered 340B Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSHs), child sites, and contract pharmacies have changed over time on key socioeconomic measures.

Study Setting/design: Serial cross-sectional analysis from 2010 to 2022 examining yearly change in Social Deprivation Index (SDI).

Data Sources/analytic Sample: 340B DSHs, child sites, and contract pharmacies were identified in the Office of Pharmacy Affairs and Information System and linked to socioeconomic measures by ZIP code.

Annual variant-targeted vaccination to prevent severe COVID-19 disease in cohorts with vaccine-derived and hybrid immunity.

Background: Current U.S. COVID-19 vaccine recommendations provide guidance for adults to receive at least annual variant-targeted vaccination.

Enrollee, Plan, and State Characteristics Associated With Experience of Care Among Adults in Medicaid Managed Care.

Objective: To examine five enrollee-reported experience of care metrics and assess enrollee, plan, and state characteristics associated with higher care ratings.

Study Setting And Design: We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using multivariable linear probability models and predictors that captured various enrollee, plan, and state characteristics. We evaluated five enrollee-reported experience of care measures: being "always or usually" easy to get needed care (yes/no), having a personal doctor (yes/no), having timely access to a checkup or routine care (yes/no), having timely access to specialty care (yes/no), and healthcare rating (0-10).

Early Effects of Pathways to Success on Utilization in Traditional Medicare.

Objective: To evaluate the early effects of Pathways to Success implementation on utilization, as measured by quarterly price-standardized Medicare spending per beneficiary.

Study Setting And Design: This study was a nationwide retrospective cohort analysis of Traditional Medicare beneficiaries. The primary outcome was overall utilization, as measured by adjusted quarterly price standardized spending per beneficiary.

Understanding the Effect of Race on Medicare Advantage Enrollment.

Objective: To understand why Medicare Advantage (MA) has a relatively larger market share among racial minorities than traditional Medicare (TM).

Study Setting And Design: We estimate Probit models for the choice of the MA sector versus TM by Black and Hispanic beneficiaries, as compared with White beneficiaries. We use a non-linear version of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to decompose differences in the probability of MA enrollment by race into differences in explanatory variable values versus differences in the coefficients on those variables, which we identify as "preferences" for MA.

Sex hormone-related factors and the risk of PIRA in women with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Sex-related differences affect multiple sclerosis (MS), but the impact of sex hormones on disease progression remains unclear. We investigated whether sex hormone-related factors influence progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA) in women with MS over a long-term follow-up.

Methods: The study analysed 1210 female MS patients from the San Raffaele MS Center using data from an environmental survey (2019-2023).

Tumor-infiltrating and circulating B cells mediate local and systemic immunomodulatory mechanisms in Glioblastoma.

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) demonstrates extensive immunomodulatory mechanisms that challenge effective therapeutic interventions. These phenomena extend well beyond the tumor microenvironment (TME) and are reflected in the circulating immunophenotype. B lymphocytes (B cells) have received limited attention in GBM studies despite their emerging importance in mediating both local and systemic immune responses.

Identification of Submergence Tolerance Loci in Dongxiang Wild Rice (DXWR) by Genetic Linkage and Transcriptome Analyses.

The submergence tolerance of rice is a key factor in promoting rice direct seeding technology and resisting flood disasters. Dongxiang wild rice (DXWR) has strong submergence tolerance, but its genetic basis is still unclear. Here, we report quantitative trait loci (QTLs) analysis for hypoxic germination rate (HGR), hypoxic seedling rate (HSR), budlet submergence survival rate (BSSR) and seedling submergence survival rate (SSSR) using a linkage map in the backcross recombinant inbred lines (BRILs) that were derived from a cross of DXWR, and an indica cultivar, GZX49.

How Would We Treat Our Own Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstruction in Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement?

This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the current knowledge on the prevention and treatment of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) associated with transcatheter mitral valve replacement-a novel and evolving treatment alternative for mitral regurgitation-encompassing both surgical and pharmacological interventions. LVOTO is a potentially catastrophic complication of transcatheter mitral valve replacement. Therefore, identifying patients at high risk for LVOTO and implementing a carefully tailored medical and surgical strategy are essential for optimizing perioperative management and improving patient outcomes.

Cerebral asymmetries in schizophrenia.

Historically, the first observations of a lower prevalence of right-handed patients among subjects with schizophrenia led to the hypothesis that brain asymmetry could play a significant role in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. Over the last decades, a growing number of findings obtained through many different techniques such as EEG, MEG, MRI, and fMRI, consistently reported reduction/loss of brain asymmetries as a core feature of schizophrenia, further suggesting such alterations to play a cardinal role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Moreover, several cognitive and psychopathologic dimensions have shown significant correlations with the reduced degree of asymmetry.

Leveraging near-real-time patient and population data to incorporate fluctuating risk of severe COVID-19: development and prospective validation of a personalised risk prediction tool.

Background: Novel strategies that account for population-level changes in dominant variants, immunity, testing practices and changes in individual risk profiles are needed to identify patients who remain at high risk of severe COVID-19. The aim of this study was to develop and prospectively validate a tool to predict absolute risk of severe COVID-19 incorporating dynamic parameters at the patient and population levels that could be used to inform clinical care.

Methods: A retrospective cohort of vaccinated US Veterans with SARS-CoV-2 from July 1, 2021, through August 25, 2023 was created.

Disruption and adaptation: infant gut microbiota's dynamic response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Background: The responses of the infant gut microbiota to infection significantly disrupt the natural intrahost evolutionary processes of the microbiome. Here, we collected a 16-month longitudinal cohort of infant gut microbiomes affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Then, we developed a multicriteria approach to identify core interaction network driving community dynamics under environmental disturbances, which we termed the Conserved Variated Interaction Group (CVIgroup).

Heat-shock protein 70 reduces apoptosis in the gills and hepatopancreas of Marsupenaeus japonicus under low-temperature stress.

The heat shock response (HSR) has important functions in a cell's reaction to stresses. The HSR is regulated and effected by heat shock proteins (HSPs) and heat shock factors (HSFs). Herein, the full-length cDNA of Marsupenaeus japonicus heat shock protein 70 (MjHSP70) was isolated and sequenced.

[Urge urinary incontinence in women between 40 and 65 years: prevalence, quality of life, social impact, and costs].

Background: urge urinary incontinence (UUI) is the involuntary loss of urine accompanied or immediately preceded by a sudden and strong desire to urinate that cannot be delayed or that is difficult to postpone. Data claim that UUI increases significantly from 40 to 65 years, which is why this specific age group, which has been little studied in the literature, deserves to be investigated. Moreover, they are socially active and working women who represent a social and economic resource for the country: therefore, their malaise is not only a personal problem, but also a problem for the society.