Vedolizumab Dose Escalation Improves Therapeutic Response in a Subset of Patients with Ulcerative Colitis.

Background: The Gemini trial failed to detect a significant difference in response rate for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) randomized to standard (every 8 week) vedolizumab dosing vs escalated (every 4 week) dosing. Subsequent real-world data imply the Gemini trial design may have obscured a benefit of escalated dosing.

Aims: We investigated outcomes after vedolizumab dose escalation for patients with UC.

Prisons and COVID-19: A Desperate Call for Gerontological Expertise in Correctional Health Care.

The large and continued growth of the older adult population within U.S. prisons affects not only criminal justice policy and correctional health practice, but also gerontology.

Sex Differences in Problem Alcohol Use in High School as a Function of Recent Sexual Violence Victimization or Perpetration.

To investigate sex differences in associations between sexual violence victimization (SVV), sexual violence perpetration (SVP), and binge drinking and/or alcohol problems among high school students. While SVV has been linked to problem alcohol use among young women, little research has addressed the unique associations of SVV and SVP on alcohol use/problems within both sexes. A cross-sectional analysis of 16,992 high school students' self-reports of past-year SVP and SVV was used where SVV/SVP was defined by three tactics (sexual coercion, drug/alcohol-facilitated or incapacitated sex, and physically forced sex).

Improving the Design of Future PCI Trials for Stable Coronary Artery Disease: JACC State-of-the-Art Review.

The role of percutaneous coronary interventions in addition to medical therapy for patients with stable coronary artery disease continues to be debated in routine clinical practice, despite more than 2 decades of randomized controlled trials. The residual uncertainty arises from particular challenges facing revascularization trials. Which endpoint do doctors care about, and which do patients care about? Which participants should be enrolled? What background medical therapy should we use? When is placebo control relevant? In this paper, we discuss how these questions can be approached and examine the merits and disadvantages of possible options.

Precision Health Analytics With Predictive Analytics and Implementation Research: JACC State-of-the-Art Review.

Emerging data science techniques of predictive analytics expand the quality and quantity of complex data relevant to human health and provide opportunities for understanding and control of conditions such as heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders. To realize these opportunities, the information sources, the data science tools that use the information, and the application of resulting analytics to health and health care issues will require implementation research methods to define benefits, harms, reach, and sustainability; and to understand related resource utilization implications to inform policymakers. This JACC State-of-the-Art Review is based on a workshop convened by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to explore predictive analytics in the context of implementation science.

Examining sex, adverse childhood experiences, and oxytocin on neuroendocrine reactivity in smokers.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are associated with greater neuroendocrine responses to social stress in substance users. The neuropeptide oxytocin might attenuate this relationship. Given sex differences in ACE exposure and neuroendocrine stress reactivity, it is unknown whether this association is similar for males and females.

Evaluating the Feasibility and Acceptability of Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Rural Women.

Insomnia, one of the most common sleep disorders among women in midlife, is associated with multiple negative health outcomes. Rural Appalachian women are disproportionately affected by insufficient sleep, but their barriers to care (, health care shortages, cultural norms) may prevent intervention. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of Sleep Healthy Using the Internet (SHUTi) an Internet-based version of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in Appalachian women ages 45+ years.

Acute methylphenidate administration reduces cocaine-cue attentional bias.

Mechanistic research on behavioral processes underlying substance use disorder might help identify novel targets for interventions development. Drug-related attentional bias and response inhibition deficits have received a great deal of consideration in substance use research, broadly, and cocaine use research, specifically. Studies investigating pharmacological mechanisms that may ameliorate, or further impair, these behaviors relevant to cocaine use are relatively lacking.

Exploring six-coordinate germanium(IV)-diketonate complexes as anticancer agents.

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide and despite several attempts using chemotherapy to combat the deadly disease, toxic side effects and drug resistance temper efficacy [1]. Thus, drugs with potentially new mechanisms and lower toxicity to normal cells are needed. Metalloids such as arsenic compounds have been clinically beneficial in fighting cancer, but germanium is yet to gain such prominence [2,3].

Critical consciousness of anti-Black racism: A practical model to prevent and resist racial trauma.

The negative impacts of racism, including experiences of racial trauma, are well documented (e.g., Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2006; Carter, 2007).

Attitudes toward deprescribing in a middle-aged health disparities population.

Background: Patients' attitudes toward deprescribing are crucial to understand before developing interventions, but no such data exists in the medically underserved, health disparities population of rural Appalachian United States.

Objective(s): Assess Appalachian women's openness to deprescribing medications and determine if polypharmacy influenced their attitudes toward deprescribing.

Methods: Before and after a cognitive behavioral therapy intervention, middle-aged Appalachian women self-reported medication use and completed the revised Patients' Attitudes Toward Deprescribing Questionnaire (rPATD).

Redundant visual signals reduce the intensity of alcohol impairment.

Background: Humans interact with multiple stimuli across several modalities each day. The "redundant signal effect" refers to the observation that individuals respond more quickly to stimuli when information is presented as multisensory, redundant stimuli (e.g.

Development and evaluation of a new short form of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI-30).

The Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI) has been an important tool in researching masculinity. With the original measure at 94 items (Mahalik et al., 2003), there have been several abbreviated forms developed from 11 to 55 items.

Inhibition of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes by select phytochemicals.

Current research indicates that changes in gut microbiota can impact the host, but it is not always clear how dietary and environmental factors alter gut microbiota. One potential factor is antimicrobial activity of compounds ingested by the host. The goal of this study was to determine the antimicrobial activity of common plant secondary metabolites against pure cultures of paired, structurally and phylogenetically distinct gastrointestinal bacteria of human or bovine origin: Prevotella bryantii B4, Bacteroides fragilis 25285, Acetoanaerobium (Clostridium) sticklandii SR and Clostridioides difficile 9689.

Use of >100,000 NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Consortium whole genome sequences improves imputation quality and detection of rare variant associations in admixed African and Hispanic/Latino populations.

Most genome-wide association and fine-mapping studies to date have been conducted in individuals of European descent, and genetic studies of populations of Hispanic/Latino and African ancestry are limited. In addition, these populations have more complex linkage disequilibrium structure. In order to better define the genetic architecture of these understudied populations, we leveraged >100,000 phased sequences available from deep-coverage whole genome sequencing through the multi-ethnic NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program to impute genotypes into admixed African and Hispanic/Latino samples with genome-wide genotyping array data.

Sensory signals mediating high blood pressure via sympathetic activation: role of adipose afferent reflex.

Blood pressure regulation in health and disease involves a balance between afferent and efferent signals from multiple organs and tissues. Although there are numerous reviews focused on the role of sympathetic nerves in different models of hypertension, few have revised the contribution of afferent nerves innervating adipose tissue and their role in the development of obesity-induced hypertension. Both clinical and basic research support the beneficial effects of bilateral renal denervation in lowering blood pressure.

Inhibitory-control training for cocaine use disorder and contingency management for clinic attendance: A randomized pilot study of feasibility, acceptability and initial efficacy.

Background: Cocaine abusers have impaired inhibitory Cocaine use is associated with impaired inhibitory control. This study determined the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of inhibitory-control training to cocaine or neutral images in cocaine use disorder patients.

Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to inhibitory-control training to cocaine (N = 20) or neutral (N = 20) images.

Relationship between herpesviruses and periodontal disease progression.

Aim: To investigate the role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and anaerobic bacteria in the progression of periodontitis.

Methods: Eighty-one adults with generalized moderate to severe periodontitis were randomly assigned to: oral hygiene or scaling and root planning ± placebo or polyunsaturated fatty acids fish oil. Subgingival plaque samples collected from three healthy and three disease sites at weeks 0, 16, and 28 and from sites demonstrating disease progression were analysed for EBV, CMV, P.

Evaluation of Patients with High National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale as Thrombectomy Candidates Using the Kentucky Appalachian Stroke Registry.

Introduction: Mechanical thrombectomy has become standard of care for emergent large vessel occlusive stroke. Estimates of incidence for thrombectomy eligibility vary significantly. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) of 10 or greater is highly predictive of large vessel occlusion.

Distorted Gold(I)-Phosphine Complexes as Antifungal Agents.

Fungi cause serious nosocomial infections including candidiasis and aspergillosis, some of which display reduced susceptibility to current antifungals. Inorganic compounds have been found to be beneficial against various medical ailments but have yet to be applied to fungal infections. Here, we explore the activity of linear and square-planar gold(I)-phosphine complexes against a panel of 28 fungal strains including spp.

Detecting Weak Signals by Combining Small P-Values in Genetic Association Studies.

We approach the problem of combining top-ranking association statistics or P-values from a new perspective which leads to a remarkably simple and powerful method. Statistical methods, such as the rank truncated product (RTP), have been developed for combining top-ranking associations, and this general strategy proved to be useful in applications for detecting combined effects of multiple disease components. To increase power, these methods aggregate signals across top ranking single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), while adjusting for their total number assessed in a study.

Utilizing content-knowledge questionnaires to assess study eligibility and detect deceptive responding.

: Deceptive responding during eligibility screening presents a significant concern for assessing inclusion/exclusion criteria. This problem is compounded in settings for which biomarkers or other objective verification (e.g.

The influence of gender and oxytocin on stress reactivity, cigarette craving, and smoking in a randomized, placebo-controlled laboratory relapse paradigm.

Rationale: Female cigarette smokers tend to show greater cessation failure compared with males. Variables that contribute to the maintenance of smoking, including stress and craving, may differentially impact male and female smokers. Novel pharmacotherapies, such as oxytocin, may attenuate stress reactivity and craving in smokers, but work in this area is limited.