Racial disparity in mortality from tuberculosis in the US between states with and without a history of Jim-Crow laws: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) and risk factors study, 1990 to 2019.

Background: While TB-related mortality in the US declined four-fold from 1990 to 2019, country-level estimates of TB burden obscure within-state racial heterogeneity and changes in TB burden over time. In sixteen US Southern States and Washington DC, the effects of health inequities engendered by Jim-Crow laws enacted from the late 1800s to the 1960s have not been evaluated for TB-related mortality. We, therefore, sought to compare TB mortality rates and annualized rate of change (AROC) between 1990 and 2019 in former Jim-Crow vs.

Volumetric body composition analysis of the Cancer Genome Atlas reveals novel body composition traits and molecular markers Associated with Renal Carcinoma outcomes.

Clinically, the body mass index remains the most frequently used metric of overall obesity, although it is flawed by its inability to account for different adipose (i.e., visceral, subcutaneous, and inter/intramuscular) compartments, as well as muscle mass.

Causal Mediation Analysis of Factors Influencing Physical Activity and Community Access Among People With Mild-to-Moderate Parkinson Disease.

Objective: To examine how known causal factors (exercise self-efficacy, balance, walking capacity) affect outcomes (moderate-intensity physical activity, community access) in people with Parkinson disease (PD): through a direct pathway, indirectly through potential mediators (nonmotor impairments), or through combined direct and mediated paths.

Design: Causal mediation analyses using baseline and three-month data from pooled treatment groups in a randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Data were collected at 2 university clinical research centers.

Diabetic Cardiomyopathy: What Clinicians Should Know.

Diabetes has classically been associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. However, heart failure is now increasingly recognized as a prevalent and often first cardiovascular complication among patients with diabetes. Investigation of this epidemiological relationship has led to recognition of diabetic cardiomyopathy, or structural heart disease that develops in patients with diabetes and may lead to progressive heart failure independently of coronary artery disease or conventional cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension.

Stakeholder Perspectives on a Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction Polypill: A Multi-Center Mixed Methods Study.

Background: A polypill containing all 4 classes of guideline-directed medical therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) has been proposed to change the heart failure treatment paradigm. The acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of a HFrEF polypill-based strategy are unknown. The purpose of this study was to elicit patients' and providers' priorities in the design of HFrEF polypills.

Living between two cultures: stress in Korean American family caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Objectives: Korean-American primary family caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) may face unique stress, attributable to the distinctive characteristics of Korean-Americans, including their immigration history, culture, and language. Using narrative inquiry, we explored caregiving experiences, focusing on stress, and identified factors contributing to stress among Korean-American family caregivers providing in-home care to individuals with ADRD.

Method: We conducted one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with 15 Korean-American family caregivers of individuals with ADRD.

Multicenter validation of an RNA-based assay to predict anti-PD-1 disease control in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: the PREDAPT study.

Background: Despite advances in cancer care and detection, >65% of patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (HNSCC) will develop recurrent and/or metastatic disease. The prognosis for these patients is poor with a 5-year overall survival of 39%. Recent treatment advances in immunotherapy, including immune checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab and nivolumab, have resulted in clinical benefit in a subset of patients.

The E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Trip12 attenuates Wnt9a/Fzd9b signaling during hematopoietic stem cell development.

Wnt signaling is essential for both the development and homeostasis of diverse cellular lineages, including hematopoietic stem cells. Organism-wide, Wnt signals are tightly regulated, as overactivation of the pathway can lead to tumorigenesis. Although numerous Wnt ligands and Frizzled (Fzd) receptors exist, how particular Wnt/Fzd pairings are established and how their signals are regulated is poorly understood.

Documenting adaptations to an evidence-based intervention in 58 resource-variable pediatric oncology hospitals across implementation phases.

Background: Adaptation of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) often occurs when implemented in new local contexts and settings. It is unclear, however, during which phase of implementation adaptations are most frequently made and how these changes may impact the fidelity, effectiveness, and sustainability of the EBI. Pediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS) are EBIs for early identification of deterioration in hospitalized children with cancer.

Brain malformations and seizures by impaired chaperonin function of TRiC.

Malformations of the brain are common and vary in severity, from negligible to potentially fatal. Their causes have not been fully elucidated. Here, we report pathogenic variants in the core protein-folding machinery TRiC/CCT in individuals with brain malformations, intellectual disability, and seizures.

Predictors of Progressing Toward Lifestyle Change Among Participants of an Interprofessional Lifestyle Medicine Program.

Background: Therapeutic lifestyle change can be challenging, and not every attempt is successful.

Purpose: To identify predictors of making progress toward lifestyle change among patients who participate in a lifestyle medicine program.

Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study of 205 adults who enrolled in a goal-directed, individualized, interprofessional lifestyle medicine program.

Predictors of Patient Engagement With an Interprofessional Lifestyle Medicine Program.

Background: Changes in lifestyle habits can reduce morbidity and mortality, but not everyone who can benefit from lifestyle intervention is ready to do so.

Purpose: To describe characteristics of patients who did and did not engage with a lifestyle medicine program, and to identify predictors of engagement.

Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study of 276 adult patients who presented for consultation to a goal-directed, individualized, interprofessional lifestyle medicine program.

Family caregiver narratives of hospice death vigils.

Background: Often, family members and friends gather around a dying hospice patient to say goodbye in what is known as a death vigil. The purpose of this study is to explore the stories and experiences of family caregivers of hospice patients who participated in death vigils.

Methods: Qualitative analysis of interviews with 50 hospice family caregivers explored the experiences and memories affiliated with death vigils.

Higher amyloid is associated with greater loneliness among cognitively normal older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Loneliness has been associated with several consequences, including increased risk of developing Alzheimer disease (AD). Loneliness may arise during the preclinical phase of AD, but little is known about the relationship between loneliness and amyloid accumulation consistent with preclinical AD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between amyloid accumulation and subjective experiences of loneliness among cognitively normal older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Short-term neurologic outcomes in pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation are proportional to bleeding severity graded by a novel bleeding scale.

Introduction: This study aimed to characterize the severity of bleeding and its association with short-term neurologic outcomes in pediatric ECMO.

Methods: Multicenter retrospective cohort study of pediatric ECMO patients at 10 centers utilizing the Pediatric ECMO Outcomes Registry (PEDECOR) database from December 2013-February 2019. Subjects excluded were post-cardiac surgery patients and those with neonatal pathologies.

Application of the estimand framework for an emulated trial using reference based multiple imputation to investigate informative censoring.

Background: The ICH E9 (R1) addendum on Estimands and Sensitivity analysis in Clinical trials proposes a framework for the design and analysis of clinical trials aimed at improving clarity around the definition of the targeted treatment effect (the estimand) of a study.

Methods: We adopt the estimand framework in the context of a study using "trial emulation" to estimate the risk of pneumocystis pneumonia, an opportunistic disease contracted by people living with HIV and AIDS having a weakened immune system, when considering two antibiotic treatment regimes for stopping antibiotic prophylaxis treatment against this disease. A "while on treatment" strategy has been implemented for post-randomisation (intercurrent) events.

Utilization and Effectiveness of Pectoralis Minor Tenotomy in the Surgical Management of Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

Background: Uncertainty exists concerning the optimal utilization and effectiveness of pectoralis minor tenotomy (PMT) in neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (NTOS).

Methods: Between January 2020 and July 2023, 355 patients with NTOS underwent primary surgical treatment. Prospectively collected data were analyzed retrospectively.

HLA DQA1*05 and risk of anti-TNF treatment failure and anti-drug antibody development in children with Crohn's Disease: HLA DQA1*05 and Pediatric Crohn's Disease.

Objectives: HLA DQA1*05 has been associated with the development of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) to tumor necrosis factor antagonists (anti-TNF) and treatment failure among adults with Crohn's disease (CD). However, findings from other studies have been inconsistent with limited pediatric data.

Methods: We analyzed banked serum from patients with CD < 21 years of age enrolled in COMBINE, a multi-center, prospective randomized trial of anti-TNF monotherapy vs.

A scoping review of remote and unsupervised digital cognitive assessments in preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

Subtle cognitive changes in preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) are difficult to detect using traditional pen-and-paper neuropsychological assessments. Remote and unsupervised digital assessments can improve scalability, measurement reliability, and ecological validity, enabling the detection and monitoring of subtle cognitive change. Here, we evaluate such tools deployed in preclinical AD samples, defined as cognitively unimpaired individuals with abnormal levels of amyloid-β (Aβ), or Aβ and tau.

No one listens to us, we know this, so we participated: Qualitative evidence from menstruation research during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: We created a survey to assess menstrual side effects after COVID-19 vaccination when we noticed news stories that denied or discounted the experiences of tens of thousands of menstruating and formerly menstruating people who reported experiencing bleeding changes. This survey had an unprecedented response hundreds of times higher than we had anticipated ( = 101,824).

Objectives: We investigated what motivated our sample to participate without remuneration to understand both general motivations for survey participation as well as why this survey captured the interest of so many.