Using increased trust in medical researchers to increase minority recruitment: The RECRUIT cluster randomized clinical trial.

While extensive literature exists on barriers and strategies to increase minority participation in clinical trials, progress is limited. Few strategies were evaluated in randomized trials. We studied the impact of RECRUIT, a trust-based, cluster randomized minority recruitment trial layered on top of four traditional NIH-funded parent trials (BMT CTN, CABANA, PACES, STEADY-PD III; fifty specialty sites).

Use of Electronic Health Record Patient Portal Accounts Among Patients With Smartphone-Only Internet Access.

This cross-sectional study assesses data from the 2017-2020 Health Information National Trends Survey to examine whether smartphone-only internet access is associated with patient portal use.

Assessing professionalism in health profession degree programs: A scoping review.

Background: To identify and classify methods for assessing professionalism across health profession degree programs and identify gaps in the literature regarding types of assessments.

Methods: The authors conducted a scoping review of articles published from database inception through 24 January 2020. Included articles described an assessment approach for professionalism in health profession degree programs available in full-text in the English language.

Opportunities, barriers, and recommendations in down syndrome research.

Background: Recent advances in medical care have increased life expectancy and improved the quality of life for people with Down syndrome (DS). These advances are the result of both pre-clinical and clinical research but much about DS is still poorly understood. In 2020, the NIH announced their plan to update their DS research plan and requested input from the scientific and advocacy community.

Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM®): Victor McKusick's magnum opus.

Victor McKusick's many contributions to medicine are legendary, but his magnum opus is Mendelian Inheritance in Man (MIM), his catalog of Mendelian phenotypes and their associated genes. The catalog, originally published in 1966 in book form, became available on the internet as Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM®) in 1987. The first of 12 editions of MIM included 1486 entries; this number has increased to over 25,000 entries in OMIM as of April 2021, which demonstrates the growth of knowledge about Mendelian phenotypes and their genes through the years.

Feasibility/acceptability of an acceptance-based therapy intervention for diverse adolescent girls with overweight/obesity.

Background: Behavioral obesity interventions using an acceptance-based therapy (ABT) approach have demonstrated efficacy for adults, yet feasibility and acceptability of tailoring an ABT intervention for adolescents remains unknown.

Objective: This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of an ABT healthy lifestyle intervention among diverse adolescent cisgender girls with overweight/obesity (OW/OB).

Methods: Adolescent cisgender girls aged 14-19 with a BMI of ≥85th percentile-for-sex-and-age were recruited for participation in a single-arm feasibility study.

The influence of selection bias on identifying an association between allergy medication use and SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Background: Medications to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infection are needed to complement emerging vaccinations. Recent in vitro and electronic health record (EHR) studies suggested that certain allergy medications could prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. We sought to carefully examine the potential selection bias associated with utilizing EHRs in these settings.

Function-related Indicators and Outcomes of Screening Mammography in Older Women: Evidence from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium Cohort.

Background: Previous reports suggested risk of death and breast cancer varied by comorbidity and age in older women undergoing mammography. However, impacts of functional limitations remain unclear.

Methods: We used data from 238,849 women in the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium-Medicare linked database (1999-2015) who had screening mammogram at ages 66-94 years.

Lipid and lipoprotein predictors of functional outcomes and long-term mortality after surgical sepsis.

Rationale: Sepsis is a life-threatening, dysregulated response to infection. Lipid biomarkers including cholesterol are dynamically regulated during sepsis and predict short-term outcomes. In this study, we investigated the predictive ability of lipid biomarkers for physical function and long-term mortality after sepsis.

Prevalence of HIV-related stigma in adults living with HIV & disability in Florida, 2015-2016.

Using data collected from the Florida Medical Monitoring Project, we sought to compare the prevalence of overall HIV-related stigma, including its subdimensions among persons with HIV and disability(s) and persons with HIV without disability in Florida. Disability was classified as having difficulty in one or more areas: activity limitations, participation restrictions, and functional or sensory activities. HIV-related stigma was assessed using the HIV Stigma Scale, which measures (1) overall stigma (2) negative self-image, (3) personalized, and (4) anticipated stigma.

Perceptions of Using Multiple Mobile Health Devices to Support Self-Management Among Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Qualitative Descriptive Study.

Purpose: This study identified facilitators and barriers pertaining to the use of multiple mobile health (mHealth) devices (Fitbit Alta® fitness tracker, iHealth® glucometer, BodyTrace® scale) that support self-management behaviors in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Design: This qualitative descriptive study presents study participants' perceptions of using multiple mobile devices to support T2DM self-management. Additionally, this study assessed whether participants found visualizations, generated from each participant's health data as obtained from the three separate devices, useful and easy to interpret.

Stratified care to prevent chronic low back pain in high-risk patients: The TARGET trial. A multi-site pragmatic cluster randomized trial.

Background: Many patients with acute low back pain (LBP) first seek care from primary care physicians. Evidence is lacking for interventions to prevent transition to chronic LBP in this setting. We aimed to test if implementation of a risk-stratified approach to care would result in lower rates of chronic LBP and improved self-reported disability.

A form of muscular dystrophy associated with pathogenic variants in JAG2.

JAG2 encodes the Notch ligand Jagged2. The conserved Notch signaling pathway contributes to the development and homeostasis of multiple tissues, including skeletal muscle. We studied an international cohort of 23 individuals with genetically unsolved muscular dystrophy from 13 unrelated families.

Immunotherapy Utilization Among Patients With Metastatic NSCLC: Impact of Comorbidities.

In patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC), the extent to which immunotherapy utilization rate varies by comorbidities is unclear. Using the National Cancer Database from 2015 to 2016, we assessed the association between levels of comorbidity and immunotherapy utilization among mNSCLC patients. Burden of comorbidities was ascertained based on the modified Charlson-Deyo score and categorized as an ordinal variable (0, 1, and ≥2).

Risk Factors Associated With Transition From Acute to Chronic Low Back Pain in US Patients Seeking Primary Care.

Importance: Acute low back pain (LBP) is highly prevalent, with a presumed favorable prognosis; however, once chronic, LBP becomes a disabling and expensive condition. Acute to chronic LBP transition rates vary widely owing to absence of standardized operational definitions, and it is unknown whether a standardized prognostic tool (ie, Subgroups for Targeted Treatment Back tool [SBT]) can estimate this transition or whether early non-guideline concordant treatment is associated with the transition to chronic LBP.

Objective: To assess the associations between the transition from acute to chronic LBP with SBT risk strata; demographic, clinical, and practice characteristics; and guideline nonconcordant processes of care.