Impacts of a puberty and period education intervention among 9- to 12-year-old girls in the New York metropolitan area: a randomized trial.

Objectives: To evaluate the immediate impacts of an illustrated book on puberty and periods for girls in the United States (US).

Methods: We conducted a randomized educational intervention between February-May 2023 among girls ages 9-12 years in after-school programs in the New York metropolitan area (n = 123). Girls were assigned to read a book on puberty and periods or an alternative book on healthy eating.

Aberrant splicing in Huntington's disease accompanies disrupted TDP-43 activity and altered m6A RNA modification.

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the HTT gene, leading to altered gene expression. However, the mechanisms leading to disrupted RNA processing in HD remain unclear. Here we identify TDP-43 and the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) writer protein METTL3 to be upstream regulators of exon skipping in multiple HD systems.

A multiplex method for rapidly identifying viral protease inhibitors.

With current treatments addressing only a fraction of pathogens and new viral threats constantly evolving, there is a critical need to expand our existing therapeutic arsenal. To speed the rate of discovery and better prepare against future threats, we establish a high-throughput platform capable of screening compounds against 40 diverse viral proteases simultaneously. This multiplex approach is enabled by using cellular biosensors of viral protease activity combined with DNA-barcoding technology, as well as several design innovations that increase assay sensitivity and correct for plate-to-plate variation.

Co-occurring Psychopathology in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Differences by Sex in the ECHO Cohorts.

Purpose: Our goals were to: 1) examine the occurrence of behavioral and emotional symptoms in children on the autism spectrum in a large national sample, stratifying by sex, and 2) evaluate whether children with increased autism-related social communication deficits also experience more behavioral and emotional problems.

Methods:  Participants (n = 7,998) were from 37 cohorts from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. Cross-sectional information on demographic factors, parent-report of an ASD diagnosis by clinician, Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores, and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores were obtained for children aged 2.

Impact of extended-course oral nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in established Long COVID: a case series.

Background: Prior case series suggest that a 5-day course of oral Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir) benefits some people with Long COVID, within and/or outside of the context of an acute reinfection. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no prior case series of people with Long COVID who have attempted longer courses of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir.

Methods: We documented a case series of 13 individuals with Long COVID who initiated extended courses (>5 days; range: 7.

Complete transition from laparoscopic to robotic liver surgery achieves superior outcomes in difficult hepatectomies: a seven-year retrospective study.

Background: Minimally invasive liver surgery (MILS) is superior to open surgery when considering decreased blood loss, fewer complications, shorter hospital stay, and similar or improved oncologic outcomes. However, operative limitations in laparoscopic hepatectomy have curved its applicability and momentum of complex minimally invasive liver surgery. Transitioning to robotic hepatectomy may bridge this complexity gap.

Immunotherapy for advanced-stage squamous cell lung cancer: the state of the art and outstanding questions.

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have transformed the treatment paradigm for advanced-stage squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (LUSC), a histological subtype associated with inferior outcomes compared with lung adenocarcinoma. However, only a subset of patients derive durable clinical benefit. In the first-line setting, multiple ICI regimens are available, including anti-PD-(L)1 antibodies as monotherapy, in combination with chemotherapy, or with an anti-CTLA4 antibody with or without chemotherapy.

The relationship between electric field strength induced by electroconvulsive therapy and cognitive and antidepressant outcomes.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for depression but is often associated with cognitive side effects. In patients, ECT-induced electric field (E-field) strength across brain regions varies significantly due to anatomical differences, which may explain individual differences in cognitive side effects. We examined the relationship between regional E-field strength and change in verbal fluency score (i.

The effects of war-related experiences on mental health symptoms of individuals living in conflict zones: a longitudinal study.

On October 7, 2023, a large-scale attack in southern Israel and the subsequent war resulted in extensive loss of life and injuries, with many individuals experiencing traumatic losses, such as family members or close friends being killed or kidnapped. This study aims to longitudinally examine its effects on mental health, specifically, clinical symptoms of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We anticipated greater symptom severity among individuals who experienced traumatic loss, were forcibly displaced, or suffered income loss, as well as among women and members of ethnic minorities.

Prediction of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy efficacy for cancer using routine blood tests and clinical data.

Predicting whether a patient with cancer will benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) without resorting to advanced genomic or immunologic assays is an important clinical need. To address this, we developed and evaluated SCORPIO, a machine learning system that utilizes routine blood tests (complete blood count and comprehensive metabolic profile) alongside clinical characteristics from 9,745 ICI-treated patients across 21 cancer types. SCORPIO was trained on data from 1,628 patients across 17 cancer types from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Autogene cevumeran with or without atezolizumab in advanced solid tumors: a phase 1 trial.

Effective targeting of somatic cancer mutations to enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy requires an individualized approach. Autogene cevumeran is a uridine messenger RNA lipoplex-based individualized neoantigen-specific immunotherapy designed from tumor-specific somatic mutation data obtained from tumor tissue of each individual patient to stimulate T cell responses against up to 20 neoantigens. This ongoing phase 1 study evaluated autogene cevumeran as monotherapy (n = 30) and in combination with atezolizumab (n = 183) in pretreated patients with advanced solid tumors.

Use of inpatient palliative care in metastatic testicular cancer patients undergoing critical care therapy: insights from the national inpatient sample.

To test for rates of inpatient palliative care (IPC) in metastatic testicular cancer patients receiving critical care therapy (CCT). Within the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database (2008-2019), we tabulated IPC rates in metastatic testicular cancer patients receiving CCT, namely invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube (PEG), dialysis for acute kidney failure (AKF), total parenteral nutrition (TPN) or tracheostomy. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models addressing IPC were fitted.

The association between the healthy lifestyle index and MRI-derived body composition measurements in the UK Biobank study.

A high healthy lifestyle index (HLI) score, which reflects an adequate amount of sleep, no alcohol consumption, no smoking, a moderate to high physical activity level, a high quality diet, and a normal body mass index (BMI), has been associated with reduced risk of morbidity and mortality. We examined the relationship between the HLI and measurements of adipose and lean tissue volumes measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We studied 33,002 participants in the UK Biobank study, aged 40-69 years at enrolment.

MAT2A inhibitor AG-270/S095033 in patients with advanced malignancies: a phase I trial.

Homozygous MTAP deletion occurs in ~15% of cancers, making them vulnerable to decreases in the concentration of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM). AG-270/S095033 is an oral, potent, reversible inhibitor of methionine adenosyltransferase 2 A (MAT2A), the enzyme primarily responsible for the synthesis of SAM. We report results from the first-in-human, phase 1 trial of AG-270/S095033 as monotherapy in patients with advanced malignancies (ClinicalTrials.

Parasitic structure defect blights sustainability of cobalt-free single crystalline cathodes.

Recent efforts to reduce battery costs and enhance sustainability have focused on eliminating Cobalt (Co) from cathode materials. While Co-free designs have shown notable success in polycrystalline cathodes, their impact on single crystalline (SC) cathodes remains less understood due to the significantly extended lithium diffusion pathways and the higher-temperature synthesis involved. Here, we reveal that removing Co from SC cathodes is structurally and electrochemically unfavorable, exhibiting unusual voltage fade behavior.

Lebrikizumab is associated with improvements in patient-reported symptoms and quality-of-life measures across Eczema Area and Severity Index response categories: pooled results from phase-3 randomized ADvocate1 and ADvocate2 studies in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis.

Background: Lebrikizumab monotherapy significantly improved signs and symptoms in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) in phase 3 Advocate1 and ADvocate2 studies.

Objective: To evaluate improvements in patient-reported symptoms and quality-of-life (QoL) measures by Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) response categories using pooled Advocate1 and ADvocate2 data (post hoc analysis).

Methods: In the 52-week (W) (16-W induction + 36-W maintenance) double-blind, placebo-controlled ADvocate1 and ADvocate2 studies, patients were randomized (2:1) to receive subcutaneous lebrikizumab 250 mg or placebo every 2 weeks.

qPRF: A system to accelerate population receptive field modeling.

BOLD response can be fitted using the population receptive field (PRF) model to reveal how visual input is represented on the cortex (Dumoulin and Wandell, 2008). Fitting the PRF model costs considerable time, often requiring days to analyze BOLD signals for a small cohort of subjects. We introduce the qPRF ("quick PRF"), a system for accelerated PRF modeling that reduced the computation time by a factor ¿1,000 without losing goodness-of-fit when compared to another widely available PRF modeling package (Kay et al.

Proton Beam Therapy for Pancreatic Tumors: A Consensus Statement from the Particle Therapy Cooperative Group Gastrointestinal Subcommittee.

Objectives: Radiotherapy manages pancreatic cancer in various settings; however, the proximity of gastrointestinal (GI) luminal organs-at-risk (OAR) poses challenges to conventional radiotherapy. Proton beam therapy (PBT) may reduce toxicities compared to photon therapy. This consensus statement summarizes PBT's safe and optimal delivery for pancreatic tumors.

A Survey of Forensic Pathologists Regarding Medicolegal Investigation of Perinatal and Stillborn Deaths.

Stillborn and perinatal deaths may be referred to medical examiners and coroners for investigation and determination of cause and/or manner of death. One of the key questions is determining a live birth from a stillbirth. We surveyed 147 forensic pathologists to assess their investigative practices for these deaths and for their ability to diagnose a live birth and a stillbirth.

Executive Summary of the American Radium Society Appropriate Use Criteria: Regional Nodal Irradiation for Breast Cancer.

Objectives: Recent literature has provided additional data to further individualize treatment recommendations on regional nodal irradiation (RNI) patient selection and delivery techniques, but controversies surrounding optimal RNI utilization remain, including radiation technique, modality selection, and internal mammary lymph node (IMN) inclusion. The American Radium Society (ARS) Breast Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) Committee performed a systematic review and developed a consensus guideline to summarize recent data and provide evidence-based recommendations.

Methods: A multidisciplinary panel comprised of 15 members representing radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, and surgical oncologists specializing in the treatment of breast cancer conducted an analysis of the medical literature from January 1, 2011 to April 1, 2024.

Talazoparib for the Treatment of Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer: A Narrative Review.

Breast and prostate cancer are among the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide. Recent advances in tumor sequencing and gene studies have led to a paradigm shift from treatment centered on the type of tumor to therapy more focused on specific immune phenotype markers and molecular alterations. In this review, we discuss the utility and function of talazoparib concerning prostate cancer treatment and summarize recent and planned clinical trials on talazoparib.

Optimum diagnostic pathway and pathologic confirmation rate of early stage lung cancer: Results from the VIOLET randomised controlled trial.

Background: Pathologic confirmation of lung cancer influences treatment selection for suspected early-stage lung cancer. High pre-treatment tissue confirmation rates are recommended. We sought to define management and outcomes of patients undergoing surgery for primary lung cancer in a UK multi-centre clinical trial.