Methodological standards for comparative effectiveness research: considerations for evidentiary review for medicare drug price negotiation.

Introduction: The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is expected to result in lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries in the United States (US). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the most recent draft guidance for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation (DPN) program in May 2024.

Areas Covered: In August 2023, the list of 10 drugs selected for the DPN were published and the first round of negotiations are now complete.

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease and anemia in Hirakud Command Area, Odisha, India: unveiling the role of environmental toxicants.

Background: The present community-based study assessed the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD)/chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu) as well as anemia in some intense agricultural zones under Hirakud Command Area and evaluated their association with pesticides and heavy metal exposure.

Methods: Random cluster sampling method was used to assess the prevalence of CKD and anemia. Hematological analysis was carried out using autoanalyzer.

Assessing the risk of heart failure in type 2 diabetes: a prediction algorithm to sustain the evaluation of NT-proBNP in primary care.

Purpose: Heart failure (HF) is a disease that leads to approximately 300,000 fatalities annually in Europe and 250,000 deaths each year in the United States. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a significant risk factor for HF, and testing for N-terminal (NT)-pro hormone BNP (NT-proBNP) can aid in early detection of HF in T2DM patients. We therefore developed and validated the HFriskT2DM-HScore, an algorithm to predict the risk of HF in T2DM patients, so guiding NT-proBNP investigation in a primary care setting.

Association between extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1) gene polymorphisms (rs3834087 and rs3754217) and Hepatitis B Virus evolution in an African cohort.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a significant cause of liver disease and cancer worldwide. Understanding the genetic factors influencing HBV evolution is crucial for developing effective prevention and treatment strategies. Host genetic and environmental factors particularly influence the evolution of this infection.

Variants of the ABCG2 gene in Mexican mestizo patients with prostate cancer.

ABCG2 transporter protein is one of several markers of prostate cancer stem cells (PCSCs). Gene variants of ABCG2 could affect protein expression, function, or both. The aim of this study was to identify the genetic variability of the ABCG2 gene in Mexican patients with prostate cancer.

Preliminary Evidence for Perturbation-Based tACS-EEG Biomarkers of Gamma Activity in Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by impaired inhibitory circuitry and GABAergic dysfunction, which is associated with reduced fast brain oscillations in the gamma band (γ, 30-90 Hz) in several animal models. Investigating such activity in human patients could lead to the identification of novel biomarkers of diagnostic and prognostic value. The current study aimed to test a multimodal "Perturbation-based" transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation-Electroencephalography (tACS)-EEG protocol to detect how responses to tACS in AD patients correlate with patients' clinical phenotype.

High-Frequency Ultrasound for Detecting Periodontal Inflammation: A Preclinical Diagnostic Accuracy Study.

Aim: Ultrasonography (US) has shown accuracy in imaging healthy periodontium. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of US for estimating dimensions of inflamed periodontium induced by ligature and bacteria.

Methods: Periodontal tissues of maxillary as well as mandibular premolars and molars in six female mini pigs were treated with ligature and three strains of bacteria for 4-10 weeks.

5-FU Weakens Defensive Functions of the Junctional Epithelium.

Aim: To investigate additional factors contributing to the pathophysiology of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis and periodontitis beyond the systemic immune suppression caused by the chemotherapeutic agent 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU).

Methods: 5-Fluorouracil was topically delivered to the non-keratinized, rapidly proliferating junctional epithelium (JE) surrounding the dentition, and acts as an immunologic and functional barrier to bacterial ingression. Various techniques, including EdU incorporation, quantitative immunohistochemistry (qIHC), histology, enzymatic activity assays, and micro-computed tomographic (μCT) imaging, were employed to analyze the JE at multiple time points following topical 5-FU treatment.

Multiclass Steroid Profiling in Short-Finned Pilot Whale Blubber Using Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Rationale: Wildlife scientists are quantifying steroid hormones in a growing number of tissues and employing novel methods that must undergo validation before application. This study tested the accuracy and precision of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods for use on blubber samples from short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus). We expanded upon a method for corticosteroid quantification by adding analytes and optimizing internal standard (IS) application.

Measuring the impact of a catchment area surveillance tool on cancer center adopters.

Background: The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center developed the data gathering and visualization platform Cancer InFocus (CIF) as a solution for cancer center catchment area surveillance. CIF was released in June 2022 and made available for use to other institutions through a no-cost licensing agreement. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact CIF has had on cancer centers since its release.

The association between lipid-related obesity indicators and severe headache or migraine: a nationwide cross sectional study from NHANES 1999 to 2004.

Background: The connection between lipid-related obesity indices and severe headache or migraine in young and middle-aged people aged 20-60 remains ambiguous, and there are gaps in the discriminative ability of different indicators for severe headaches or migraines. Consequently, we set out to look into this association utilizing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1999 to 2004.

Methods: After the values of waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), body-mass index (BMI), body roundness index (BRI), visceral adiposity index (VAI), lipid accumulation product (LAP), triglyceride glucose index (TyG), cardiac metabolism index (CMI), waist triglyceride Index (WTI), conicity index (CI) and weight-adjusted waist index (WWI) were estimated, with minimal sufficient adjustment for confounders determined by directed acyclic graph (DAG), weighted univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were carried out to ascertain the relationship between them and migraine.

Cannabis use characteristics and associations with problematic use outcomes, quitting-related factors, and mental health among US young adults.

Objective: Given the changes in trends of cannabis use (e.g., product types), this study examined latent classes of young adult use and associations with use-related outcomes.

Clinician perspectives on designing and implementing a hereditary cancer transition clinic.

Early identification of hereditary cancer predisposition in adolescents and young adults represents a unique opportunity to target cancer prevention and improve survival in a population at risk for adverse health outcomes. However, adolescents and young adults face challenges unique to their stage of life that can undermine their transition from pediatric to adult healthcare and lead to interruptions in preventative care. The purpose of this study was to understand expert perspectives on factors relevant to designing and implementing a transition clinic for adolescents and young adults with hereditary cancer predisposition.

Association between four anthropometric indices with age-related Macular Degeneration from NHANES 2005-2008.

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) decrease vision and presents considerable challenges for both public health and clinical management strategies. Obesity is usually implicated with increased AMD, and body mass index (BMI) does not reflect body fat distribution. An array of studies has indicated a robust relationship between body fat distribution and obesity.

Young, Empowered & strong (YES): a study protocol paper for a randomized controlled trial of an mHealth symptom monitoring and self-management intervention for adolescent and young adult (AYA) breast cancer survivors.

Background: Compared to older adults with breast cancer (BC), adolescents and young adults (AYAs) develop more aggressive disease necessitating more intensive therapy with curative intent, which is disruptive to planned life trajectories. The burden of unmet needs among AYA BC survivors exists in two domains: (1) symptoms (e.g.

Associations of daily step count with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in hypertensive US adults: a cohort study from NHANES 2005-2006.

Background: The health benefits of physical activity, including walking, are well-established, but the relationship between daily step count and mortality in hypertensive populations remains underexplored. This study investigates the association between daily step count and both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in hypertensive American adults.

Methods: We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006, including 1,629 hypertensive participants with accelerometer-measured step counts.

A multilevel social network approach to studying multiple disease-prevention behaviors.

The effective prevention of many infectious and non-infectious diseases relies on people concurrently adopting multiple prevention behaviors. Individual characteristics, opinion leaders, and social networks have been found to explain why people take up specific prevention behaviors. However, it remains challenging to understand how these factors shape multiple interdependent behaviors.

Comparison of the performances between ChatGPT and Gemini in answering questions on viral hepatitis.

This is the first study to evaluate the adequacy and reliability of the ChatGPT and Gemini chatbots on viral hepatitis. A total of 176 questions were composed from three different categories. The first group includes "questions and answers (Q&As) for the public" determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Identification of cardiac wall motion abnormalities in diverse populations by deep learning of the electrocardiogram.

Cardiac wall motion abnormalities (WMA) are strong predictors of mortality, but current screening methods using Q waves from electrocardiograms (ECGs) have limited accuracy and vary across racial and ethnic groups. This study aimed to identify novel ECG features using deep learning to enhance WMA detection, referencing echocardiography as the gold standard. We collected ECG and echocardiogram data from 35,210 patients in California and labeled WMA using unstructured language parsing of echocardiographic reports.

Erwinia phage Asesino is a nucleus-forming phage that lacks PhuZ.

As nucleus-forming phages become better characterized, understanding their unifying similarities and unique differences will help us understand how they occupy varied niches and infect diverse hosts. All identified nucleus-forming phages fall within the Chimalliviridae family and share a core genome of 68 unique genes including chimallin, the major nuclear shell protein. A well-studied but non-essential protein encoded by many nucleus-forming phages is PhuZ, a tubulin homolog which aids in capsid migration, nucleus rotation, and nucleus positioning.

No evidence for active viral infection in unicentric and idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease by Viral-Track analysis.

Castleman disease (CD) is a rare hematologic disorder characterized by pathologic lymph node changes and a range of symptoms due to excessive cytokine production. While uncontrolled infection with human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) is responsible for the cytokine storm in a portion of multicentric CD (HHV-8-associated MCD) cases, the etiology of unicentric CD (UCD) and HHV-8-negative/idiopathic MCD (iMCD) is unknown. Several hypotheses have been proposed regarding the pathogenesis of UCD and iMCD, including occult infection given the precedent established by HHV-8 infection.

A sensory neuroprosthesis enhances recovery from treadmill-induced stumbles for individuals with lower limb loss.

Over 50% of individuals with lower limb loss report a fear of falling and avoiding daily activities partly due to a lack of plantar sensation. Providing direct somatosensory feedback via neural stimulation holds promise for addressing this issue. In this study, three individuals with lower limb loss received a sensory neuroprosthesis (SNP) that provided plantar somatosensory feedback corresponding to prosthesis-floor interactions perceived as arising from the missing foot generated by electrically activating the peripheral nerves in the residuum.

Novel oral adjuvant to enhance cytotoxic memory like NK cell responses in HIV vaccine platform.

Natural killer (NK) cell-driven effector mechanisms, such as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, emerged as a secondary correlate of protection in the RV144 HIV vaccine clinical trial, the only vaccine thus far demonstrating some efficacy in human trials. Therefore, leveraging NK cells with enhanced cytotoxic effector responses may bolster vaccine-induced protection against HIV. Here, we investigated the effect of orally administering indole-3-carbinol (I3C), an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) agonist, as an adjuvant to an RV144-like vaccine platform in a mouse model.

BOston Neonatal Brain Injury Data for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (BONBID-HIE): I. MRI and Lesion Labeling.

Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a brain injury that occurs in 1 ~ 5/1000 term neonates. Accurate identification and segmentation of HIE-related lesions in neonatal brain magnetic resonance images (MRIs) is the first step toward identifying high-risk patients, understanding neurological symptoms, evaluating treatment effects, and predicting outcomes. We release the first public dataset containing neonatal brain diffusion MRI and expert annotation of lesions from 133 patients diagnosed with HIE.

The North American Repository for Archaeological Isotopes.

Here, we present the North American Repository for Archaeological Isotopes (NARIA), the largest open-access compilation of previously reported isotopic measurements (n = 28,374) from bioarchaeological samples in North America (i.e., Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and the United States of America) covering a time-frame of more than 12,000 years.