Is it time to retire preoperative radiation for localized esophageal and gastro-esophageal adenocarcinoma?

Whether preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) or perioperative chemotherapy is superior for localized esophageal or gastro-esophageal junction (GEJ) cancers has been a topic of long-standing debate. For years, standard of care in the United States for localized esophageal or GEJ adenocarcinoma (EAC) has been physician's choice between the 2 strategies. More recently, adjuvant immunotherapy has also been introduced into the treatment approach for those who received neoadjuvant CRT.

Pathophysiological Features of Remodeling in Vascular Diseases: Impact of Inhibitor of DNA-Binding/Differentiation-3 and Estrogenic Endocrine Disruptors.

Vascular diseases, such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, cerebrovascular, and peripheral arterial diseases, present major clinical and public health challenges, largely due to their common underlying process: vascular remodeling. This process involves structural alterations in blood vessels, driven by a variety of molecular mechanisms. The inhibitor of DNA-binding/differentiation-3 (), a crucial member of ID family of transcriptional regulators, has been identified as a key player in vascular biology, significantly impacting the progression of these diseases.

Assessing Variability in Children's Exposure to Contaminants in Food: A Longitudinal Non-Targeted Analysis Study in Miami, Florida.

Food is essential for human survival; however, food can be an important route of exposure to contaminants. This study investigated the presence and distribution of anthropogenic contaminants in food consumed by families with small children in South Florida, United States, evaluating seasonal and socio-economic variabilities in chemical composition. QuEChERS protocols, followed by non-targeted analysis (NTA) using an LC-Orbitrap HRMS system, were used for the comprehensive screening of organic contaminants.

Comprehensive Assessment of the Risk of Symptomatic Embolism in Patients With Infective Endocarditis.

Background: Echocardiographic evaluation of vegetations is crucial in infective endocarditis (IE). Although several studies have noted a link between larger vegetations and an increased risk of embolization, a more comprehensive evaluation of vegetation characteristics in a contemporary cohort has not been conducted. Our study aimed to define the short-term risk of symptomatic embolization in patients with IE.

Financial toxicity and firearm injury: exploring financial needs of participants in a hospital-based violence intervention program.

Background: Financial toxicity refers to financial hardship experienced because of illness or injury. Poverty is a known driver of community violence, but financial toxicity has not been studied in firearm violence survivors. The objective of our study was to explore the financial needs of firearm violence survivors enrolled in a hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP).

Drp1-associated genes implicated in sepsis survival.

Sepsis is a severe and life-threatening medical syndrome that can lead to organ failure and death. Despite advances in medical treatment, current therapies are often inadequate, with high septic mortality rates. Therefore, there is a critical need for reliable prognostic markers to be used in clinical settings to improve the management and outcomes of patients with sepsis.

Interpreting Lung Cancer Health Disparity between African American Males and European American Males.

Lung cancer remains a predominant cause of cancer-related deaths, with notable disparities in incidence and outcomes across racial and gender groups. This study addresses these disparities by developing a computational framework leveraging explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to identify both patient- and cohort-specific biomarker genes in lung cancer. Specifically, we focus on two lung cancer subtypes, Lung Adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma (LUSC), examining distinct racial and sex-specific cohorts: African American males (AAMs) and European American males (EAMs).

Surgical risks and care trends: A cross sectional study of people experiencing homelessness presenting at a free clinic care in Miami-Dade County.

Background: The effects of housing insecurity on surgical care are under researched and largely unknown. Thus far, studies on surgery outcomes of people experiencing homelessness either focus on shelter-based patients or do not differentiate whether patients are sheltered or unsheltered, despite significant differences in care needs and health risks. Herein we provide the first report on surgical care trends of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

Urethra-sparing prostate cancer radiotherapy: Current practices and future insights from an international survey.

Purpose: In prostate cancer patients, high radiation doses to the urethra have been associated with an increased risk of severe genitourinary toxicity following dose-escalated radiotherapy. Urethra-sparing techniques have emerged as a promising approach to reduce urinary toxicity. This international survey aims to evaluate current global practices in urethra-sparing and explore future directions for the implementation of this technique in external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for prostate cancer.

Outcomes of the Paul Glaucoma Implant in Refractory Secondary Glaucoma.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the Paul Glaucoma Implant (PGI) surgery in patients with secondary glaucomas.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective chart review of adult patients with medically recalcitrant secondary glaucoma who underwent PGI implantation at a single tertiary center between August 2022 and June 2023. The primary outcome measure was surgical success.

The Call to Increase Adoption of Family-Based Interventions in Global Mental Health Programming.

Family-based intervention approaches hold tremendous promise for improving mental health in scalable and relevant ways that address social determinants of health, yet family-focused prevention and care interventions are underused in global mental health. This article provides a brief overview of the evidence and types of programs. It then outlines five future directions for family-focused global mental health interventions: integrating implementation science into family-focused programs, expanding research on family-focused work to other populations and different modalities, encouraging transdisciplinary learning from other fields, understanding what works for whom and where, and disseminating family interventions grounded in locally derived theoretical frameworks.

Genetic diversity leads to differential inflammatory responses to cigarette smoke in mice.

The use of genetically diverse mouse models offers a more accurate reflection of human genetic variability, improving the translatability of findings to heterogeneous human populations. This approach is particularly valuable in understanding diverse immune responses to disease by environmental exposures. This study investigates the inflammatory responses to acute exposures to mainstream cigarette smoke (CS) and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in two genetically diverse mouse strains, CC002/UncJ (UNC) & Diversity Outbred (J:DO).

Use of alternative payment models for substance use disorder prevention in the United States: development of a conceptual framework.

Background: Alternative payment models (APMs) are methods through which insurers reimburse health care providers and are widely used to improve the quality and value of health care. While there is a growing movement to utilize APMs for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services, they have rarely included SUD prevention strategies. Challenges to using APMs for SUD prevention include underdeveloped program outcome measures, inadequate SUD prevention funding, and lack of clarity regarding what prevention strategies might fit within the scope of APMs.

A comprehensive survey of scoring functions for protein docking models.

Background: While protein-protein docking is fundamental to our understanding of how proteins interact, scoring protein-protein complex conformations is a critical component of successful docking programs. Without accurate and efficient scoring functions to differentiate between native and non-native binding complexes, the accuracy of current docking tools cannot be guaranteed. Although many innovative scoring functions have been proposed, a good scoring function for docking remains elusive.

RELMβ sets the threshold for microbiome-dependent oral tolerance.

Tolerance to dietary antigens is critical for avoiding deleterious type 2 immune responses resulting in food allergy (FA) and anaphylaxis. However, the mechanisms resulting in both the maintenance and failure of tolerance to food antigens are poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that the goblet-cell-derived resistin-like molecule β (RELMβ) is a critical regulator of oral tolerance.

Validating the RISE Communication Play Protocol as a Diagnostic Tool for Autism in Early Childhood: A Pilot Study.

There are few validated remote tools that can be used to assess for autism and to capture subtle changes in children's social communication over time. Recently, user-centered design principles were applied to develop a parent-mediated remote assessment, the Reciprocal Imitation and Social Engagement Child Play Protocol (RISE CPP) to enable researchers to capture micro-level behaviors in children, while promoting useability for researchers and families, reducing caregiver burden, and maintaining reliability. This paper describes a pilot study to validate the RISE CPP as a tool to support clinician diagnosis of autism.

Cohort profile: the BangladEsh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular and nonvascular Events (BELIEVE) cohort study.

Purpose: Bangladesh has experienced a rapid epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in recent decades. There is, however, limited evidence about multidimensional determinants of NCDs in this population. The BangladEsh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular and nonvascular Events (BELIEVE) study is a household-based prospective cohort study established to investigate biological, behavioural, environmental and broader determinants of NCDs.

Macular Atrophy in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Topic: Macular atrophy incidence in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients undergoing anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment.

Clinical Relevance: Macular atrophy is a significant event that may occur in eyes with neovascular AMD treated with anti-VEGF therapy.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis following PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO, CRD42024474924).

Structural Determinants of School Discipline: Examining State-Level Racial Bias and Neighborhood Opportunity.

Objective: Addressing the disproportionate use of school detentions and suspensions among Black youth is crucial for reducing educational and health disparities across the lifespan. Yet, few studies have explored external factors beyond school or individual characteristics as potential contributors to school discipline disparities, such as state-level racial bias and neighborhood opportunity.

Method: A subsample from the larger Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study® was used (M age at baseline = 9.

Ethnicity and race as modifiers of the association between patient sex and stage at diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Background: With over 80,000 projected new diagnoses in 2024, bladder cancer remains a significant public health concern. Given the absence of routine screening protocols, identifying high-risk populations becomes crucial for early detection and intervention. This study aimed to investigate whether race and ethnicity modify the association between sex and stage at diagnosis in adults with primary bladder cancer.

Disparities in Rehabilitation Services for Victims of Violence.

Introduction: Access to rehabilitation services after a traumatic injury improves functional outcomes. No study has examined the association between injury intent, violent versus nonviolent, and receipt of rehabilitation services after injury.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of injured adult patients admitted to our level I trauma center from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2021.

Drusen Regression Following Macular Hole Surgery: A Case Report.

Purpose: To report a case of drusen regression following pars plana vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peel (ILMP) in a patient with a full-thickness macular hole and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: A 67-year-old gentleman presented in April 2024 with a full-thickness macular hole in OS and intermediate dry AMD OU. The patient underwent pars plana vitrectomy, ILMP, and an injection of sulfur hexafluoride gas for macular hole repair in OS.

Expanding the Genetic Etiology of Multiple Morphological Abnormalities of the Sperm Flagella: A Case Report of Two Novel DNAH1 Variants.

Background: The following case report details the genetic evaluation and treatment of a 30-year-old male with a history of asthenoteratospermia and notable abnormalities of the sperm flagella.

Methods: Genetic evaluation was performed via a multi-gene panel of genes associated with primary ciliary dyskinesia and multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella (MMAF) prior to the couple's in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle.

Results: Genetic evaluation was performed via a multi-gene panel of genes associated with primary ciliary dyskinesia and multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella (MMAF) prior to the couple's in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle.

Reliability of artificial intelligence-driven markerless motion capture in gait analyses of healthy adults.

The KinaTrax markerless motion capture system, used extensively in the analysis of baseball pitching and hitting, is currently being adapted for use in clinical biomechanics. In clinical and laboratory environments, repeatability is inherent to the quality of any diagnostic tool. The KinaTrax system was assessed on within- and between-session reliability for gait kinematic and spatiotemporal parameters in healthy adults.