Supporting Holistic Health and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Risk Reduction Among Young Native Females Prior to Pregnancy: A Qualitative Exploration.

AI/AN communities are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Decreasing the risk of GDM can interrupt the intergenerational cycle of diabetes in AI/AN families, and can decrease diabetes-related health disparities. The goal of this study was to explore ways of supporting holistic health and reducing the risk of GDM among young American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) females prior to pregnancy.

Cellular plasticity and non-small cell lung cancer: role of T and NK cell immune evasion and acquisition of resistance to immunotherapies.

Lung cancer is a leading global cause of mortality, with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounting for a significant portion of cases. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have transformed NSCLC treatment; however, many patients remain unresponsive. ICI resistance in NSCLC and its association with cellular plasticity, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), enhanced adaptability, invasiveness, and resistance is largely influenced by epigenetic changes, signaling pathways, tumor microenvironment, and associated immune cells, fibroblasts, and cytokines.

E-Cigarette Use and Depression Among American Indian Adults Who Smoke.

Objective: This study examined the association of e-cigarette use status and history of depression among American Indian (AI) adults who smoke.

Method: We conducted a secondary data analysis using survey data from 375 AI adult smokers collected in 2016 at a tribally operated healthcare facility in northeast Oklahoma. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the association between e-cigarette use and self-reported history of depression while adjusting for potential confounders.

Defining Hyperphagia for Improved Diagnosis and Management of MC4R Pathway-Associated Disease: A Roundtable Summary.

Purpose Of Review: Hyperphagia is a condition associated with rare obesity-related diseases, presenting as a pathologic, insatiable hunger accompanied by abnormal food-seeking behaviors. In October 2023, a group of researchers and clinicians with expert knowledge on hyperphagia convened at the annual ObesityWeek meeting to discuss the need for a unified definition of hyperphagia and key items necessary to improve the identification, assessment, and treatment of hyperphagia in patients with melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) pathway-associated diseases.

Recent Findings: The definition of hyperphagia proposed by this group is a pathologic, insatiable hunger accompanied by abnormal food-seeking behaviors.

Genomic interrogation of commercial infant probiotic products for label accuracy.

Objective: To evaluate the label accuracy of commercial infant probiotic products and identify potential microbial contamination.

Methods: DNA was extracted from seventeen infant probiotic products purchased from a large online vendor. Samples underwent 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing, QIIME analysis, and bacterial taxonomic classification.

Perioperative Supportive Care Interventions to Enhance Surgical Outcomes for Older Adults With Cancer: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: Older adults with cancer have unique needs, which likely influence surgical outcomes in the geriatric oncology population. We conducted a systematic review to describe the literature focused on perioperative supportive care interventions for older adults with cancer undergoing surgery.

Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we performed a comprehensive search using the Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Embase databases for literature published from January 2010 to October 2023.

Ketogenic Diet-Associated Worsening of Osteoarthritis Histologic Secerity, Increased Pain Sensitivity and Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis in Mice.

Objectives: Dietary interventions are a potentially powerful treatment option for knee osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of this study was to evaluate a well-formulated ketogenic diet (KD) in the context of knee OA histology and pain using the destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) mouse model and correlate with gut microbiome and systemic cytokine levels.

Methods: Adult male mice underwent unilateral DMM or sham surgery and were then fed eight weeks of KD or chow.

Relations between Distress Tolerance and Psychosocial Variables in Adults Experiencing Homelessness.

Background: Distress Tolerance (DT) is a transdiagnostic factor that may help better understand vulnerability to mental health problems. This study explores DT among recently incarcerated adults experiencing homelessness (RIHAs).

Methods: Participants (298) were recruited from an ongoing clinical trial at a homeless shelter in Texas.

Heterogeneity of the Treatment Effect with PARP Inhibitors in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer: A Living Interactive Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background And Objective: Selection of patients harboring mutations in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes for treatment with a PARP inhibitor (PARPi) is challenging in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). To gain further insight, we quantitatively assessed the differential efficacy of PARPi therapy among patients with mCRPC and different HRR gene mutations.

Methods: This living meta-analysis (LMA) was conducted using the Living Interactive Evidence synthesis framework.

Embracing the Future of Clinical Trials in Radiotherapy: An NRG Oncology CIRO Technology Retreat Whitepaper on Pioneering Technologies and AI-Driven Solutions.

This white paper examines the potential of pioneering technologies and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solutions in advancing clinical trials involving radiotherapy. As the field of radiotherapy evolves, the integration of cutting-edge approaches such as radiopharmaceutical dosimetry, FLASH radiotherapy, image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), and AI promises to improve treatment planning, patient care, and outcomes. Additionally, recent advancements in quantum science, linear energy transfer/relative biological effect (LET/RBE), and the combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy create new avenues for innovation in clinical trials.

Risk of carcinomas among children and adolescents with birth defects.

Background: Birth defects are associated with childhood cancer, but little is known regarding pediatric carcinomas, a group of especially rare tumors.

Methods: We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) for any carcinoma, as well as thyroid, hepatocellular, and renal carcinoma specifically, up to 18 years of age among children with major, non-syndromic anomalies or chromosomal/genetic syndromes, relative to unaffected children.

Results: Our registry-linkage study included nine states and 21,933,476 children between 1990 and 2018: 641,827 with non-syndromic anomalies, and 49,619 with syndromes.

Cardiovascular Disease-Specific Responses to Autonomic Denervation.

Background: Calcium-mediated autonomic denervation has been shown to suppress postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate whether similar autonomic denervation can prevent POAF after mitral or aortic valve surgeries.

Methods: This research consisted of 2 single-center, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trials: CAP-AF2 (Calcium Autonomic Denervation Prevents Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Undergoing Isolated Mitral Valve Surgery for Mitral Regurgitation) for mitral valve (MV) surgery and CAP-AF3 (Calcium Autonomic Denervation Prevents Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Undergoing Isolated Aortic Valve Surgery) for aortic valve surgery.

Leveraging AI to improve disease screening among American Indians: insights from the Strong Heart Study.

Screening tests for disease have their performance measured through sensitivity and specificity, which inform how well the test can discriminate between those with and without the condition. Typically, high values for sensitivity and specificity are desired. These two measures of performance are unaffected by the outcome prevalence of the disease in the population.

Practice Elements Used in Child Mass Trauma Interventions: A Systematic Review.

Purpose Of Review: The goals of this analysis were to identify practice elements frequently used in child mass trauma interventions and to determine if these elements differed across interventions with respect to type of event addressed.

Recent Findings: The most frequent elements used were psychoeducation for the child, affect modulation, relaxation, cognitive techniques, exposure, support networking, and narrative. The most frequently used elements were similar for political violence and natural disaster interventions but differed for COVID-19 interventions.

Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups.

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset-with data collected between 2020 and 2022 -to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions.

Silymarin: a promising modulator of apoptosis and survival signaling in cancer.

Cancer, one of the deadliest diseases, has remained the epicenter of biological research for more than seven decades. Yet all the efforts for a perfect therapeutic cure come with certain limitations. The use of medicinal plants and their phytochemicals as therapeutics has received much attention in recent years.

An introduction to propensity score analysis in acute care surgery research: Methodology and pitfalls.

Observational studies assessing causal effects of interventions are subject to indication (selection) bias, which may be difficult to eliminate using traditional multivariable techniques. When properly specified, propensity score-adjusted analysis may offer an advantage traditional regression by ensuring that investigators explicitly assess comparability of baseline prognostic factors between the treated and untreated. However, it is important to note that the effectiveness of a propensity score-adjusted analysis depends on the variables selected for the model and the analytic approach.

Hypercoagulable states in young adults with ischemic stroke in a Stroke Belt state: a retrospective study.

We theorize that the southeastern United States has a higher stroke mortality rate and higher recurrent ischemic stroke rate than the rest of the United States due to (1) an increased prevalence of hypercoagulable states among young adults in the region, (2) failure to diagnose hypercoagulable states as the cause of ischemic stroke in young adults, and (3) underutilization of anticoagulation for ischemic stroke secondary prevention in young adults with hypercoagulable states. In an attempt to investigate this hypothesis, we conducted a retrospective chart review of 311 inpatients with first-ever ischemic stroke from age 18 to 55 years at an Oklahoma academic medical center from 1 July 2011 to 30 April 2017. Using Chi-squared test, we compared the stroke etiologic diagnosis of the attending neurologist at discharge-when hypercoagulable profile results were rarely available-to the diagnosis of a vascular neurologist postdischarge who had access to all available etiologic test results.

Dynamic retinal vessel analysis: flickering a light into the brain.

Introduction: Growing aging populations pose new challenges to public health as the number of people living with dementia grows in tandem. To alleviate the burden of dementia, prodromal signs of cognitive impairment must be recognized and risk factors reduced. In this context, non-invasive techniques may be used to identify early changes and monitor disease progression.

EPISeg: Automated segmentation of the spinal cord on echo planar images using open-access multi-center data.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the spinal cord is relevant for studying sensation, movement, and autonomic function. Preprocessing of spinal cord fMRI data involves segmentation of the spinal cord on gradient-echo echo planar imaging (EPI) images. Current automated segmentation methods do not work well on these data, due to the low spatial resolution, susceptibility artifacts causing distortions and signal drop-out, ghosting, and motion-related artifacts.

Exercise induces dynamic changes in intra-articular metabolism and inflammation associated with remodeling of the infrapatellar fat pad in mice.

We hypothesized that daily exercise promotes joint health by upregulating anti-inflammatory mediators via adaptive molecular and metabolic changes in the infrapatellar fat pad (IFP). We tested this hypothesis by conducting time-resolved analyses between 1 and 14 days of voluntary wheel running exercise in C57BL/6J mice. IFP structure and cellularity were evaluated by histomorphology, picrosirius red collagen staining, and flow cytometry analysis of stromal vascular fraction cells.

International Expert-Based Consensus Definition, Classification Criteria, and Minimum Data Elements for Osteoradionecrosis of the Jaw: An Inter-Disciplinary Modified Delphi Study.

Purpose: Osteoradionecrosis of the jaw (ORNJ) is a severe iatrogenic disease characterized by bone death after radiation therapy (RT) to the head and neck. With over 9 published definitions and at least 16 classification systems, the true incidence and severity of ORNJ are obscured by lack of a standard for disease definition and severity assessment, leading to inaccurate estimation of incidence, reporting ambiguity, and likely under-diagnosis worldwide. This study aimed to achieve consensus on an explicit definition and phenotype of ORNJ and related precursor states through data standardization to facilitate effective diagnosis, monitoring, and multidisciplinary management of ORNJ.