Thoughtful data analysis.

The acceleration in the field of data science is well known [see, e.g., D.

Studies of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Registered on ClinicalTrials.gov: Cross-Sectional Study With Temporal Trends, 2010-2023.

Background: The rapid growth of research in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) continues. However, it is unclear whether this growth reflects an increase in desirable study attributes or merely perpetuates the same issues previously raised in the literature.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate temporal trends in AI/ML studies over time and identify variations that are not apparent from aggregated totals at a single point in time.

Forces to Be Reckoned with: Countervailing Powers and Physician Emotional Distress during COVID-19.

The "countervailing powers" framework conceptualizes health care as an arena for power contests among key stakeholders, drawing attention to the moves, countermoves, and alliances that have challenged physicians' dominance since the 1970s. Here, we focus on one of the lesser known micro-level consequences of such forces for physicians: emotional distress. We draw on 145 interviews with frontline physicians across four U.

Reading and conducting instrumental variable studies: guide, glossary, and checklist.

Instrumental variable analysis uses naturally occurring variation to estimate the causal effects of treatments, interventions, and risk factors on outcomes in the population from observational data. Under specific assumptions, instrumental variable methods can provide unbiased estimates of causal effects. This article explains these assumptions and the information and tests typically reported in instrumental variable studies, which can assess the credibility of the findings of instrumental variable studies.

Food Insecurity and Diabetes Insulin Adherence Among Older Adults.

Older adults in the United States continue to be impacted by food insecurity. Diabetes is on the rise in older adults and insulin therapy is often recommended as treatment. However, less is known about the relationship between food insecurity and insulin adherence among older adults.

Socioeconomic inequities in alcohol-attributable mortality by sex/gender and age in Canada: A 13-year population-representative cohort study.

Individuals with low socioeconomic position (SEP) experience greater rates of alcohol-attributable mortality, contributing to health inequities in mortality and life expectancy. We examined the association between SEP and alcohol-attributable mortality by sex/gender and age in Canada. Census records from the 2006 Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort (ages 12+; n=5,038,790) were linked to mortality data from 2006-2019.

Symptom bothersomeness and life interference support Rome clinical criteria as clinically relevant indicators of DGBI.

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia (FD) are common disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI). The Rome IV criteria are the gold standard for research when diagnosing DGBI. However, bothersomeness, or the degree to which symptoms are distressing or disruptive to a person's daily life, is a potential treatment-seeking motivator that is not assessed by the Rome criteria.

Racism in Pediatric Serious Illness and Palliative Care: A Scoping Review of Qualitative Research.

Context: Racial disparities in health outcomes have historically impacted Black and Native American children with serious illness, yet little is known about how racism shapes the healthcare experiences of these families. To improve care experiences for this population, we must understand the myriad of ways that racism may impact their experiences with serious illness.

Objectives: 1) To assess the extent to which the experiences of Black and Native American families have been captured in existing serious illness and palliative care literature and 2) explore how experiences of racism uniquely impact this population.

Effects of web-based interventions on quality of life among patients with breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: Patients with breast cancer experience decreased quality of life due to various physical and psychological challenges. Web-based interventions are accessible, cost-effective, and convenient for improving their quality of life. This study evaluated whether web-based interventions improve quality of life and included only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with clear evidence.

Spinoza, Liberation From Causation, and Community Health Promotion.

What sense does it make to say that a new program implemented in a community with roots as old as evolution caused an observed health benefit? Evaluation of community approaches has often sought to isolate the causal roles of interventions. Central to this is the assumption that there are causes to be proven and isolated. Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) dismissed the concept of cause, arguing that all things, "substances," are not caused but simply are.

Assessing generalizability of an AI-based visual test for cervical cancer screening.

A number of challenges hinder artificial intelligence (AI) models from effective clinical translation. Foremost among these challenges is the lack of generalizability, which is defined as the ability of a model to perform well on datasets that have different characteristics from the training data. We recently investigated the development of an AI pipeline on digital images of the cervix, utilizing a multi-heterogeneous dataset of 9,462 women (17,013 images) and a multi-stage model selection and optimization approach, to generate a diagnostic classifier able to classify images of the cervix into "normal", "indeterminate" and "precancer/cancer" (denoted as "precancer+") categories.

Sexually Transmitted Infections in Transgender and Gender-Diverse Individuals: Review of Screening and Treatment Recommendations.

Transgender and gender-diverse individuals experience disproportionately high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In this review, the authors discuss the epidemiology, screening recommendations, and treatment guidelines for STIs in transgender and gender-diverse people.

Abstinence from cocaine self-administration promotes microglia pruning of astrocytes which drives cocaine-seeking behavior.

Rodent drug self-administration leads to compromised ability of astrocytes to maintain glutamate homeostasis within the brain's reward circuitry, as well as reductions in surface area, volume, and synaptic colocalization of astrocyte membranes. However, the mechanisms driving astrocyte responses to cocaine are unknown. Here, we report that long-access cocaine self-administration followed by prolonged home cage abstinence results in decreased branching complexity of nucleus accumbens astrocytes, characterized by the loss of peripheral processes.

Dissemination of colorectal cancer information among Hispanic patients and their social network.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening decision aids can inform patients about CRC screening benefits, costs, and procedures. Patients who receive the decision aid report wanting to share the information with their families and friends. We evaluated a CRC screening decision aid on Hispanic patients' communication to their alters and whether patient-alter communication leads to alters' CRC screening intention.