Pearls of wisdom for aspiring physician-scientist residency applicants and program directors.

Postgraduate physician-scientist training programs (PSTPs) enhance the experiences of physician-scientist trainees following medical school graduation. PSTPs usually span residency and fellowship training, but this varies widely by institution. Applicant competitiveness for these programs would be enhanced, and unnecessary trainee anxiety relieved, by a clear understanding of what factors define a successful PSTP matriculant.

A Test-to-Stay Modified Quarantine Program for COVID-19 in Schools.

Background And Objectives: Mandatory quarantine upon exposure to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) results in a substantial number of lost days of school. We hypothesized that implementation of a state-wide test-to-stay (TTS) program would allow more students to participate in in-person learning, and not cause additional clusters of COVID-19 cases due to in-school transmission.

Methods: For the 2020-2021 academic year, Massachusetts implemented an opt-in TTS program, in which students exposed to COVID-19 in school are tested each school day with a rapid antigen test.

Determinants of indoor carbonaceous aerosols in homes in the Northeast United States.

Background: Little is known about sources of residential exposure to carbonaceous aerosols, which include black carbon (BC), the elemental carbon core of combustion particles, and organic compounds from biomass combustion (delta carbon).

Objective: Assess the impact of residential characteristics on indoor BC and delta carbon when known sources of combustion (e.g.

Geographic Region, Racial/Ethnic Disparities, and Late-Life Depression: Results From a Large US Cohort of Older Adults.

Objectives: To determine associations between geographic region and late-life depression (LLD) severity, item-level symptom burden, and treatment; to evaluate whether racial/ethnic disparities in LLD, previously observed in the overall sample, vary by region.

Methods: We included 25,502 VITAL (Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial) participants and administered the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 for depressive symptoms; participants also reported medication and/or counseling care for depression. Multivariable regression analyses were performed.

Objectively Measured Physical Activity as a COPD Clinical Trial Outcome.

Background: Reduced physical activity is common in COPD and is associated with poor outcomes. Physical activity is therefore a worthy target for intervention in clinical trials; however, trials evaluating physical activity have used heterogeneous methods.

Research Question: What is the available evidence on the efficacy and/or effectiveness of various interventions to enhance objectively measured physical activity in patients with COPD, taking into account the minimal preferred methodologic quality of physical activity assessment?

Study Design And Methods: In this narrative review, the COPD Biomarker Qualification Consortium (CBQC) task force searched three scientific databases for articles that reported the effect of an intervention on objectively measured physical activity in COPD.

Characterization of basal forebrain glutamate neurons suggests a role in control of arousal and avoidance behavior.

The basal forebrain (BF) is involved in arousal, attention, and reward processing but the role of individual BF neuronal subtypes is still being uncovered. Glutamatergic neurons are the least well-understood of the three main BF neurotransmitter phenotypes. Here we analyzed the distribution, size, calcium-binding protein content and projections of the major group of BF glutamatergic neurons expressing the vesicular glutamate transporter subtype 2 (vGluT2) and tested the functional effect of activating them.

Clinical outcomes of early gastric cardiac cancer treated with endoscopic submucosal dissection in patients with different indications.

Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been accepted as a standard treatment for early gastric cardiac cancer (EGCC). Here, we investigate the clinical outcomes of the EGCC patients who underwent ESD in different indications.

Methods: From January 2011 to October 2019, we enrolled 502 EGCC lesions from 495 patients which were resected by ESD at our center.

Commentary: COVID-19 and obesity pandemics converge into a syndemic requiring urgent and multidisciplinary action.

While substantial evidence points towards obesity and associated cardiometabolic disorders being a major factor for poor outcomes in SARS-CoV2 infections (COVID-19), the complexity of the interplay between these two pandemics is becoming apparent. Indeed, as previously defined, this interaction between obesity and COVID-19 represents a 'syndemic' that requires both current and ongoing attention. At a mechanistic level the chronic inflammatory environment of obesity predisposes to life threatening events such as cytokine storm and enhanced coagulopathy.

Telomere length and its relationships with lifestyle and behavioural factors: variations by sex and race/ethnicity.

Background: Adherence to healthy lifestyles/behaviours promotes healthy ageing. However, little is known about whether age, sex and/or race/ethnicity moderate associations of lifestyle/behavioural factors with relative telomere length (RTL), a potential biomarker of ageing.

Methods: We included 749 midlife to older non-Hispanic White (n = 254), Black (n = 248) and Hispanic (n = 247) US participants [mean (standard deviation) age = 69.

Predictive Factors and Long-Term Outcomes of Early Gastric Carcinomas in Patients with Non-Curative Resection by Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection.

Purpose: Non-curative resection (NCR) remains problematic in some cases of early gastric carcinomas (EGCs) treated by endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). The aim of this study was to identify predictors of NCR, especially of eCura C1 and eCura C2 resections, before ESD and study long-term outcomes of EGC patients with NCR.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective review of medical records was conducted over an 8-year period for EGCs undergoing ESD.

Suppression of estrogen receptor-beta promotes gastric cancer cell apoptosis with induction of autophagy.

Estrogen Receptor 2 (ESR2) is the protein-coding gene of estrogen receptor β (ERβ) and has been shown to be abundantly expressed in gastric carcinoma (GC), suggesting that it plays a role in GC pathogenesis. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains elusive. In the present study, GC cell growth was found to be estrogen-dependent, and the expression level of ERβ was higher than that of ERα.

Evaluating Bystander Intervention Training to Address Patient Harassment at the Veterans Health Administration.

Purpose: One in four women veteran patients report experiencing sexual and gender harassment when attending the Veterans Health Administration (VA) for health care. Bystander intervention-training community members how to intervene when witnessing inappropriate behaviors-is a common approach for addressing harassment in school and military settings. We evaluated implementation of a VA harassment awareness and bystander intervention training that teaches health care staff how to identify and intervene in the harassment of women veteran patients.

How to Quantify and Interpret Treatment Effects in Comparative Clinical Studies of COVID-19.

Clinical trials of treatments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) draw intense public attention. More than ever, valid, transparent, and intuitive summaries of the treatment effects, including efficacy and harm, are needed. In recently published and ongoing randomized comparative trials evaluating treatments for COVID-19, time to a positive outcome, such as recovery or improvement, has repeatedly been used as either the primary or key secondary end point.

Psychotherapy Tracks in US General Psychiatry Residency Programs: A Proxy for Trends in Psychotherapy Education?

Objective: The authors studied the goals and design of psychotherapy tracks in the US general psychiatry residency programs and the perceived barriers to psychotherapy tracks in programs without them.

Methods: The authors emailed 226 US general psychiatry residency program directors, asking them to complete an anonymous, online, Qualtrics survey about psychotherapy training and tracks in their program.

Results: Seventy-nine programs (35%) participated.

Correction: Plasma vitamin D, past chest illness, and risk of future chest illness in chronic spinal cord injury (SCI): a longitudinal observational study.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.