The link Between traumatic experiences and health in late life: challenges and opportunities for US-based longitudinal aging cohorts.

Trauma, defined as exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence, is a pervasive, major public health challenge that disproportionately burdens socially disadvantaged groups and has known consequences for health outcomes in early and midlife. Despite plausible mechanisms by which trauma may also be a critically important risk factor for health outcomes in late life, there is presently a lack of literature evaluating the consequences of trauma on aging related health outcomes and inequities, such as dementia. In this commentary, we (a) discuss drivers of the paucity of epidemiological evidence on trauma and health outcomes in late life, namely a lack of available data, supported by detailed review of trauma measures, including interpersonal violence-a particularly common form of trauma-in seven established longitudinal aging cohort studies in the United States (US); (b) address four common concerns about the inclusion of trauma measures in cohort studies; and (c) suggest ways forward, including specific assessment tools to measure interpersonal violence after a structured review of the PhenX Toolkit, to facilitate critical research to understand the impact of trauma on outcomes in late life.

Trends in Adjuvant External Beam Radiation Therapy for Nonanaplastic Thyroid Cancer in California, 2003-2017.

Background: External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is rarely used to treat patients with differentiated or medullary thyroid cancer. Although EBRT is generally administered to patients with high-risk or unresectable diseases, neither its indications for the use nor the associated outcomes are well-defined. We used a statewide cohort to assess the trends in EBRT use and postradiation outcomes in California.

Introducing Dietary Self-Monitoring to Undergraduate Women via a Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Strong positive relationships between dietary self-monitoring and eating disorder risk are seen in population-based, observational studies. However, current evidence cannot establish causality. Furthermore, little is known about other mental and behavioral health consequences of dietary self-monitoring among college women, a population vulnerable to eating disorders.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Young Adulthood and Midlife Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Late-life Cognitive Domains: The Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences (KHANDLE) Study.

Background: Midlife cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) increase dementia risk. Less is known about whether CVRF identified before midlife impact late-life cognition in diverse populations.

Methods: Linear regression models examined hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and overweight/obesity at ages 30 to 59 with late-life executive function, semantic memory, verbal episodic memory, and global cognition in a cohort of Asians, blacks, Latinos, and whites (n=1127; mean age=75.

Relationships between patterns of technology-based weight-related self-monitoring and eating disorder behaviors among first year university students.

Objective: To identify patterns of technology-based weight-related self-monitoring (WRSM) and assess associations between identified patterns and eating disorder behaviors among first year university students.

Methods: First year university students (n = 647) completed a web-based survey to assess their use of technology-based WRSM and eating disorder behaviors. The cross-sectional data were analyzed using gender-stratified latent class analysis to identify patterns of WRSM, followed by logistic regression to calculate the predicted probability of eating disorder behaviors for each pattern of WRSM.

Lifecourse socioeconomic changes and late-life cognition in a cohort of U.S.-born and U.S. immigrants: findings from the KHANDLE study.

Background: Low socioeconomic status (SES) in early and late life has been associated with lower late-life cognition. Less is known about how changes in SES from childhood to late life are associated with late-life cognition, especially among diverse populations of older adults.

Methods: In a multi-ethnic sample (n = 1353) of older adults, we used linear regression to test associations of change in comprehensive measures of SES (financial, cultural, and social domains) from childhood to late life with semantic memory, episodic memory, and executive function.

Relationships between patterns of weight-related self-monitoring and eating disorder symptomology among undergraduate and graduate students.

Objective: To characterize patterns of weight-related self-monitoring (WRSM) among US undergraduate and graduate students and examine associations between identified patterns of WRSM and eating disorder symptomology.

Method: Undergraduate and graduate students from 12 US colleges and universities (N = 10,010) reported the frequency with which they use WRSM, including self-weighing and dietary self-monitoring. Eating disorder symptomology was assessed using the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire.

The relationship between body-mass index and overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer by sex, smoking status, and race: A pooled analysis of 20,937 International lung Cancer consortium (ILCCO) patients.

Introduction: The relationship between Body-Mass-Index (BMI) and lung cancer prognosis is heterogeneous. We evaluated the impact of sex, smoking and race on the relationship between BMI and overall survival (OS) in non-small-cell-lung-cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Data from 16 individual ILCCO studies were pooled to assess interactions between BMI and the following factors on OS: self-reported race, smoking status and sex, using Cox models (adjusted hazard ratios; aHR) with interaction terms and adjusted penalized smoothing spline plots in stratified analyses.

Provider Perspectives of Battlefield Acupuncture: Advantages, Disadvantages and Its Potential Role in Reducing Opioid Use for Pain.

Objectives: Nonpharmacological options to treat pain are in demand, in part to address the opioid crisis. One such option is acupuncture. Battlefield acupuncture (BFA) is an auricular needling protocol currently used to treat pain in the Veterans Health Administration.

Properties of beta oscillations in Dup15q syndrome.

Background: Duplications of 15q11.2-q13.1 (Dup15q syndrome) are highly penetrant for autism, intellectual disability, hypotonia, and epilepsy.

Colorectal Cancer Care Among Young Adult Patients After the Dependent Coverage Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act.

The effect of the Dependent Coverage Expansion (DCE) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on receipt of colorectal cancer treatment has yet to be determined. We identified newly diagnosed DCE-eligible (aged 19-25 years, n = 1924) and DCE-ineligible (aged 27-34 years, n = 8313) colorectal cancer patients from the National Cancer Database from 2007 to 2013. All statistical tests were two-sided.

Body Mass Index (BMI), BMI Change, and Overall Survival in Patients With SCLC and NSCLC: A Pooled Analysis of the International Lung Cancer Consortium.

Introduction: The relationships between morbid obesity, changes in body mass index (BMI) before cancer diagnosis, and lung cancer outcomes by histology (SCLC and NSCLC) have not been well studied.

Methods: Individual level data analysis was performed on 25,430 patients with NSCLC and 2787 patients with SCLC from 16 studies of the International Lung Cancer Consortium evaluating the association between various BMI variables and lung cancer overall survival, reported as adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) from Cox proportional hazards models and adjusted penalized smoothing spline plots.

Results: Overall survival of NSCLC had putative U-shaped hazard ratio relationships with BMI based on spline plots: being underweight (BMI < 18.

Challenges and Strategies for Implementing Battlefield Acupuncture in the Veterans Administration: A Qualitative Study of Provider Perspectives.

Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) is an auricular needling protocol for pain. More than 1300 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) clinicians have been trained in BFA delivery. However, little is known about how well BFA has been implemented at the VHA.

Impact of lung-function measures on cardiovascular disease events in older adults with metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

Background: Individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and diabetes (DM) are more likely to have decreased lung function and are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Hypothesis: Lung-function measures can predict CVD events in older persons with MetS, DM, and neither condition.

Methods: We followed 4114 participants age ≥ 65 years with and without MetS or DM in the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Long-term kidney function, proteinuria, and associated risks among HIV-infected and uninfected men.

Background: Factors affecting kidney function and proteinuria among HIV-positive (HIV+) and HIV-negative (HIV-) persons need better characterization.

Methods: We evaluated estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, ml/min per 1.73 m) changes, proteinuria prevalence (a urine protein-to-creatinine ratio of ≥0.

Deficient prepulse inhibition in schizophrenia in a multi-site cohort: Internal replication and extension.

Background: The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) collected case-control endophenotype and genetic information from 2457 patients and healthy subjects (HS) across 5 test sites over 3.5 years. Analysis of the first "wave" (W1) of 1400 subjects identified prepulse inhibition (PPI) deficits in patients vs.

Association Between Number of Endoscopic Resections and Utilization of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Therapy for Patients With High-Grade, Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Background: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the reference standard treatment for patients with high-grade, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). We previously described noncompliance with guidelines for BCG use in patients with high-risk disease. In the current study, we sought to characterize how the number of endoscopic resections of bladder tumors affects BCG utilization using population-level data.

Genetic assessment of additional endophenotypes from the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia Family Study.

The Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia Family Study (COGS-1) has previously reported our efforts to characterize the genetic architecture of 12 primary endophenotypes for schizophrenia. We now report the characterization of 13 additional measures derived from the same endophenotype test paradigms in the COGS-1 families. Nine of the measures were found to discriminate between schizophrenia patients and controls, were significantly heritable (31 to 62%), and were sufficiently independent of previously assessed endophenotypes, demonstrating utility as additional endophenotypes.

Assessing the impact of academic-practice partnerships on nursing staff.

Background: The 'spillover effect' of academic-practice partnerships on hospital nursing staff has received limited attention. In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) created the VA Nursing Academy (VANA) to fund fifteen partnerships between schools of nursing and local VA healthcare facilities. In this paper, we examine the experiences of the VA staff nurses who worked on the units used for VANA clinical training.

California Verbal Learning Test-II performance in schizophrenia as a function of ascertainment strategy: comparing the first and second phases of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS).

The first phase of the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS-1) showed performance deficits in learning and memory on the California Verbal Learning Test, Second Edition (CVLT-II) in individuals with schizophrenia (SZ), compared to healthy comparison subjects (HCS). A question is whether the COGS-1 study, which used a family study design (i.e.

Validation of mismatch negativity and P3a for use in multi-site studies of schizophrenia: characterization of demographic, clinical, cognitive, and functional correlates in COGS-2.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a are auditory event-related potential (ERP) components that show robust deficits in schizophrenia (SZ) patients and exhibit qualities of endophenotypes, including substantial heritability, test-retest reliability, and trait-like stability. These measures also fulfill criteria for use as cognition and function-linked biomarkers in outcome studies, but have not yet been validated for use in large-scale multi-site clinical studies. This study tested the feasibility of adding MMN and P3a to the ongoing Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS) study.

The utility of P300 as a schizophrenia endophenotype and predictive biomarker: clinical and socio-demographic modulators in COGS-2.

Reduced auditory P300 amplitude is a robust schizophrenia deficit exhibiting the qualities of a viable genetic endophenotype. These include heritability, test-retest reliability, and trait-like stability. Recent evidence suggests that P300 may also serve as a predictive biomarker for transition to psychosis during the schizophrenia prodrome.

Deep sequencing reveals low incidence of endogenous LINE-1 retrotransposition in human induced pluripotent stem cells.

Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1 or L1) retrotransposition induces insertional mutations that can result in diseases. It was recently shown that the copy number of L1 and other retroelements is stable in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). However, by using an engineered reporter construct over-expressing L1, another study suggests that reprogramming activates L1 mobility in iPSCs.