Prescription Opioid Dose Reductions and Potential Adverse Events: a Multi-site Observational Cohort Study in Diverse US Health Systems.

Background: In response to the opioid crisis in the United States, population-level prescribing of opioids has been decreasing; there are concerns, however, that dose reductions are related to potential adverse events.

Objective: Examine associations between opioid dose reductions and risk of 1-month potential adverse events (emergency department (ED) visits, opioid overdose, benzodiazepine prescription fill, all-cause mortality).

Design: This observational cohort study used electronic health record and claims data from eight United States health systems in a prescription opioid registry (Clinical Trials Network-0084).

Effect of PCSK9 inhibition on plasma levels of small dense low density lipoprotein-cholesterol and 7-ketocholesterol.

Background: Oxidized forms of cholesterol (oxysterols) are implicated in atherogenesis and can accumulate in the body via direct absorption from food or through oxidative reactions of endogenous cholesterol, inducing the formation of LDL particles loaded with oxidized cholesterol. It remains unknown whether drastic reductions in LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) are associated with changes in circulating oxysterols and whether small dense LDL (sdLDL) are more likely to carry these oxysterols and susceptible to the effects of PCSK9 inhibition (PCSK9i).

Objective: We investigate the effect of LDL-C reduction accomplished via PCSK9i on changes in plasma levels of sdLDL-cholesterol (sdLDL-C) and a common, stable oxysterol, 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC), among 134 patients referred to our Preventive Cardiology clinic.

An integrated gene-to-outcome multimodal database for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the commonest cause of chronic liver disease worldwide and represents an unmet precision medicine challenge. We established a retrospective national cohort of 940 histologically defined patients (55.4% men, 44.

A Joint Model for Disability, Self-Rated Health, and Mortality Among Medicare Beneficiaries-Differences by Chronic Disease and Race/Ethnicity.

Objectives: Quantifying interdependence in multiple patient-centered outcomes is important for understanding health declines among older adults.

Methods: Medicare-linked National Health and Aging Trends Study data (2011-2015) were used to estimate a joint longitudinal logistic regression model of disability in activities of daily living (ADL), fair/poor self-rated health (SRH), and mortality. We calculated personalized concurrent risk (PCR) and typical concurrent risk (TCR) using regression coefficients.

Usability and feasibility of a take-home methadone web-application for opioid treatment program patients: A Small Business Innovation Research mixed methods study.

Background: Most patients in opioid treatment programs (OTPs) attend daily for observed dosing. A Stage IA (create and adapt) and a Stage IB (feasibility and pilot) mixed method studies tested a web-application (app) designed to facilitate access to take-home methadone.

Methods: A Stage IA, intervention development study, used qualitative interviews to assess the usability (ease of use) and feasibility (ability to implement) of a take-home methadone app.

Practice-Level Documentation of Alcohol-Related Problems in Primary Care.

Importance: Rates of alcohol-associated deaths increased over the past 20 years, markedly between 2019 and 2020. The highest rates are among individuals aged 55 to 64 years, primarily attributable to alcoholic liver disease and psychiatric disorders due to use of alcohol. This study investigates potential geographic disparities in documentation of alcohol-related problems in primary care electronic health records, which could lead to undertreatment of alcohol use disorder.

Centering Communities of Color in the Modernization of a Public Health Survey System: Lessons from Oregon.

Context: Public health survey systems are tools for informing public health programming and policy at the national, state, and local levels. Among the challenges states face with these kinds of surveys include concerns about the representativeness of communities of color and lack of community engagement in survey design, analysis, and interpretation of results or dissemination, which raises questions about their integrity and relevance.

Approach: Using a data equity framework (rooted in antiracism and intersectionality), the purpose of this project was to describe a formative participatory assessment approach to address challenges in Oregon Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Student Health Survey (SHS) data system by centering community partnership and leadership in (1) understanding and interpreting data; (2) identifying strengths, gaps, and limitations of data and methodologies; (3) facilitating community-led data collection on community-identified gaps in the data; and (4) developing recommendations.

Addiction severity and re-employment in Sweden among adults with risky alcohol and drug use.

Background: The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) assesses respondents' biopsychosocial problems in seven addiction-related domains (mental health, family and social relations, employment, alcohol use, drug use, physical health, and legal problems). This study examined the association between the seven ASI composite scores and re-employment in a sample of Swedish adults screened for risky alcohol and drug use who were without employment at assessment.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of employment outcomes among 6502 unemployed adults living in Sweden who completed an ASI assessment for risky alcohol and drug use.

Awareness of the public charge, confidence in knowledge, and the use of public healthcare programs among Mexican-origin Oregon Latino/as.

Objective: We describe awareness about the modified "public charge" rule among Oregon's Mexican-origin Latino/a population and whether concerns about the rule influenced disenrollment from state-funded programs, which do not fall under the public charge.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of adults (ages 18-59) recruited at the Mexican consulate and living in the state of Oregon. Our outcomes were awareness (of the public charge, source of knowledge, and confidence in knowledge of the public charge) and disenrolling self or family members from state-funded public healthcare programs due to concerns about the rule.

Is gastroschisis associated with county-level socio-environmental quality during pregnancy?

Background: Gastroschisis prevalence more than doubled between 1995 and 2012. While there are individual-level risk factors (e.g.

Quality of care from the perspective of people obtaining abortion: a qualitative study in four countries.

Objective: This qualitative study aimed to identify person-centred domains that would contribute to the definition and measurement of abortion quality of care based on the perceptions, experiences and priorities of people seeking abortion.

Methods: We conducted interviews with people seeking abortion aged 15-41 who obtained care in Argentina, Bangladesh, Ethiopia or Nigeria. Participants were recruited from hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, call centres and accompaniment models.

Impact of Health Insurance Patterns on Chronic Health Conditions Among Older Patients.

Background: Patients have varying levels of chronic conditions and health insurance patterns as they become Medicare age-eligible. Understanding these dynamics will inform policies and reforms that direct capacity and resources for primary care clinics to care for these aging patients. This study 1) determined changes in chronic condition rates following Medicare age eligibility among patients with different insurance patterns and 2) estimated the number of chronically ill patients who remain inadequately insured post-Medicare eligibility among patients receiving care in community health centers.

Client-reported quality of facility-managed medication abortion compared with pharmacy-sourced self-managed abortion in Bangladesh.

Objective: We used the newly developed Abortion Care Quality Tool (ACQTool) to compare client-reported quality of medication abortion care by source (facility-managed vs pharmacy-sourced self-managed abortion (SMA)) in Bangladesh.

Methods: We leveraged exit and 30-day follow-up surveys collected to develop and validate the ACQTool collected at nongovernmental organisation (NGO)-supported or -operated facilities in the public and private sector and pharmacies from three districts in Bangladesh. We used bivariate statistics to compare 18 client-reported quality indicators grouped in six domains and eight abortion outcomes, by source (facility vs pharmacy).

p prediction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl acids in water using gas phase stretching vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities.

To successfully understand and model the environmental fate of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), it is necessary to know key physicochemical properties (PChPs) such as p; however, measured PChPs of PFAS are scarce and of uncertain reliability. In this study, quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) were developed by correlating calculated (M062-X/aug-cc-pVDZ) vibrational frequencies (VF) and corresponding infrared intensities (IR) to the p of carboxylic acids, sulfonic acids, phosphonic acids, sulfonamides, betaines, and alcohols. Antisymmetric stretching VF of the anionic species were used for all subclasses except for alcohols where the OH stretching VF performed better.

UCLMuevete: Increasing the amount of physical activity, work-ability, and cardiorespiratory fitness capacity in university workers through active breaks.

Background: Active break programs at the workplace are a promising initiative for increasing workers' physical activity (PA) levels, health, work-ability (WA), and social relationship.

Objective: To determine the impact of an Active Breaks workplace program based on Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) aligned with Behavior Change Techniques (BCT) on PA levels, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), WA, and social relationships among university workers.

Methods: #UCLMuévete is a quasi-experimental, 12-week intervention designed according to the TREND and TIDieR-PHP checklists.

Corporal Punishment in Schools.

The use of corporal punishment in schools is not an effective or ethical method for management of behavior concerns and causes harm to students. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that corporal punishment in all school settings be abolished in all states by law and replaced by alternative forms of student behavior management. Corporal punishment remains legal in many public and private schools in the United States and is disproportionately used among Black students and children with disabilities.

Melanoma literacy among the general population of three western US states.

Melanoma is a significant cause of cancer death, despite being detectable without specialized or invasive technologies. Understanding barriers to preventive behaviors such as skin self-examination (SSE) could help to define interventions for increasing the frequency of early detection. To determine melanoma knowledge and beliefs across three high-incidence US states, 15,000 surveys were sent to a population-representative sample.

Associations Among Menstrual Cycle Length, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and Vaccination.

Objective: To assess whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with menstrual cycle length changes and, if so, how that compares with those undergoing vaccination or no event (control).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis in which we analyzed prospectively tracked cycle-length data from users of a period tracker application who also responded to a survey regarding COVID-19 symptoms and vaccination. We restricted our sample to users aged 16-45 years, with normal cycle lengths (24-38 days) and regular tracking behavior during the five cycles around COVID-19 symptoms or vaccination or a similar time period for those experiencing no event (control group).

C-STIM: Protocol for a randomized, single-blind, crossover study of cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for postural instability in people with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Background: Methods for modulating the cerebellum with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are well established, and preliminary data from our group and others has shown evidence of transient improvements in balance after cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in progressive suprancuclear palsy (PSP). This study examines extensive posturography measures before and after 10 sessions of cerebellar rTMS and sham TMS in PSP.

Methods: Thirty subjects with PSP and postural instability will undergo cerebellar active and sham rTMS in a single-blind, crossover design with a randomized order of a 10-day intervention.

Contraceptive Method Switching and Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Removal in U.S. Safety Net Clinics, 2016-2021.

Objective: To describe patterns of contraceptive method switching and long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) removal in a large network of community health centers.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using individual-level electronic health record data from 489 clinics in 20 states from 2016 to 2021. We used logistic regression models, including individual-, clinic-, and state-level covariates, to calculate adjusted odds ratios and predicted probabilities of any observed contraceptive method switching and LARC removal among those with baseline incident LARC, both over 4-year time periods.

Population screening shows risk of inherited cancer and familial hypercholesterolemia in Oregon.

The Healthy Oregon Project (HOP) is a statewide effort that aims to build a large research repository and influence the health of Oregonians through providing no-cost genetic screening to participants for a next-generation sequencing 32-gene panel comprising genes related to inherited cancers and familial hypercholesterolemia. This type of unbiased population screening can detect at-risk individuals who may otherwise be missed by conventional medical approaches. However, challenges exist for this type of high-throughput testing in an academic setting, including developing a low-cost high-efficiency test and scaling up the clinical laboratory for processing large numbers of samples.