Five Dimensions of Needs for Help: The Efficacy of a Technology-Based Intervention Among Asian American Breast Cancer Survivors.

Cancer survivors including Asian American breast cancer survivors have reported their high needs for help during their survivorship process. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessity of technology-based programs to address their needs for help without face-to-face interactions has been highlighted. The purpose of this randomized intervention study was to determine the efficacy of a technology-based program in reducing various types of needs for help among this specific population.

A randomized controlled trial testing a virtual program for Asian American women breast cancer survivors.

A culturally tailored virtual program could meet the survivorship needs of Asian American women breast cancer survivors (AABC). This study aims to determine the efficacy of a culturally tailored virtual information and coaching/support program (TICAA) in improving AABC's survivorship experience. A randomized clinical trial (NCT02803593) was conducted from January 2017 to June 2020 among 199 AABC.

Evaluation of Comprehensive COVID-19 Testing Program Outcomes in a US Dental Clinical Care Academic Setting.

Importance: Although many academic institutions have implemented infection control and prevention protocols, including regular asymptomatic self-testing, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the outcomes of mandatory surveillance testing programs at academic dental institutions that offer direct patient-facing clinical care has not yet been reported.

Objective: To report the findings of a comprehensive surveillance COVID-19 testing program at an academic dental institution by assessing SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates and the potential association of test positivity with individual-level characteristics such as age, sex, and role.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using SARS-CoV-2 self-testing data from a mandatory surveillance program at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Containing the spread of mumps on college campuses.

College campuses are vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks, and there is an urgent need to develop better strategies to mitigate their size and duration, particularly as educational institutions around the world adapt to in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Towards addressing this need, we applied a stochastic compartmental model to quantify the impact of university-level responses to contain a mumps outbreak at Harvard University in 2016. We used our model to determine which containment interventions were most effective and study alternative scenarios without and with earlier interventions.

A Review of the Evidence and Recommendations on Communication Skills and the Patient-Provider Relationship: A Rome Foundation Working Team Report.

Background & Aims: Over several decades, changes in health care have negatively impacted meaningful communication between the patient and provider and adversely affected their relationship. Under increasing time pressure, physicians rely more on technology than face-to-face time gathering data to make clinical decisions. As a result, they find it more challenging to understand the illness context and fully address patient needs.

Amplicon residues in research laboratories masquerade as COVID-19 in surveillance tests.

Asymptomatic surveillance testing together with COVID-19-related research can lead to positive SARS-CoV-2 tests resulting not from true infections, but non-infectious, non-hazardous by-products of research (amplicons). Amplicons can be widespread and persistent in lab environments and can be difficult to distinguish for true infections. We discuss prevention and mitigation strategies.

Association of Changes in Primary Care Spending and Use With Participation in the US Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Marketplaces.

This cross-sectional study examined whether the US Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace was associated with changes in primary care spending and use.

Combining genomics and epidemiology to track mumps virus transmission in the United States.

Unusually large outbreaks of mumps across the United States in 2016 and 2017 raised questions about the extent of mumps circulation and the relationship between these and prior outbreaks. We paired epidemiological data from public health investigations with analysis of mumps virus whole genome sequences from 201 infected individuals, focusing on Massachusetts university communities. Our analysis suggests continuous, undetected circulation of mumps locally and nationally, including multiple independent introductions into Massachusetts and into individual communities.

Myocardial Adaptations to Competitive Swim Training.

Purpose: Swim training is performed in the prone or supine position and obligates water immersion, factors that may augment cardiac volume loading more than other endurance sports. At present, prospective data defining the cardiac responses to swim training are lacking. We therefore studied myocardial adaptations among competitive swimmers to establish a causal relationship between swim training and left ventricular (LV) remodeling.

Exercise and emotion dynamics: An experience sampling study.

Though it has been widely demonstrated that regular exercise is associated with better emotional wellbeing, the nature of this association remains unclear. The present study explored the relationship between voluntary exercise and the temporal dynamics of daily emotions, and thus how voluntary exercise could be impacting emotional reactivity and recovery in naturalistic contexts. Seventy-six young adults participated simultaneously in this ecological momentary assessment study, and received 75 prompts over the course of 15 days.

BMI Trajectories from Birth to Young Adulthood.

Objective: This study aimed to compare BMI trajectories from childhood to early adulthood in those with overweight and/or obesity versus severe obesity.

Methods: Longitudinal BMI values (2,542 measurements) were calculated from measured heights and weights for 103 children, adolescents, or young adults with overweight, obesity, or severe obesity. Segmented regression with splines was used to model BMI trajectories.

Community health workers on a college campus: Effects on influenza vaccination.

Objective: To assess the impact of a campus community health worker program (HealthPALs) on student influenza vaccination.

Participants: Undergraduate students at a northeastern US university (enrollment 6650), influenza seasons 2011-2012 through 2015-2016.

Methods: Study design: Difference-in-differences analysis of student vaccination at campus dormitory influenza clinics during intervention vs.

Middle Ear Function and Pathophysiology in Andean Children Living at High Altitudes.

Counter, S. Allen, Leo H. Buchanan, Fernando Ortega, Anthony B.

Blood Pressure and LV Remodeling Among American-Style Football Players.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the relationships among American-style football (ASF) participation, acquired left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, and LV systolic function as assessed using contemporary echocardiographic parameters.

Background: Participation in ASF has been associated with development of hypertension and LV hypertrophy. To what degree these processes impact LV function is unknown.

Assessment of the Brainstem-Mediated Stapedius Muscle Reflex in Andean Children Living at High Altitudes.

Counter, S. Allen, Leo H. Buchanan, Fernando Ortega, Anthony B.

Exercise-Induced Left Ventricular Remodeling Among Competitive Athletes: A Phasic Phenomenon.

Background: Contemporary understanding of exercise-induced cardiac remodeling is based on cross-sectional data and relatively short duration longitudinal studies. Temporal progression of exercise-induced cardiac remodeling remains incompletely understood.

Methods And Results: A longitudinal repeated-measures study design using 2-dimensional and speckle-tracking echocardiography was used to examine acute augmentation phase (AAP; 90 days) and more extended chronic maintenance phase (39 months) left ventricular (LV) structural and functional adaptations to endurance exercise training among competitive male rowers (n=12; age 18.

Endurance Exercise-Induced Cardiac Remodeling: Not All Sports Are Created Equal.

Background: The term endurance sport (ES) is broadly used to characterize any exercise that requires maintenance of high cardiac output over extended time. However, the relative amount of isotonic (volume) versus isometric (pressure) cardiac stress varies across ES disciplines. To what degree ES-mediated cardiac remodeling varies, as a function of superimposed isometric stress, is uncertain.

Past, Present, and Future Research Avenues for Metformin: A Literature Review.

To review why metformin is considered first-line therapy for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and review newer avenues of research currently being evaluated. The Cochrane Library and Medline (to January 2014) were searched for case-control and cohort studies, clinical trials, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses involving metformin for any indication. The literature search found 5 major avenues of research for metformin: reduction in mortality, delayed-onset or prevention of T2DM in the presence of prediabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and decreased cancer risk.

ECG findings in competitive rowers: normative data and the prevalence of abnormalities using contemporary screening recommendations.

Background/aim: The international governing body for competitive rowing recently mandated the inclusion of 12-lead ECG during preparticipation screening. We therefore sought to describe normative ECG characteristics and to examine the prevalence of abnormal ECG findings as defined by contemporary athlete ECG interpretation criteria among competitive rowers.

Methods: Competitive rowers (n=330, 56% male) underwent standard 12-lead ECG at the time of collegiate preparticipation screening.