Readiness to implement contingency management to promote PrEP initiation and adherence among people who inject drugs: results from a multi-site implementation survey.

Background: Contingency management (CM), an incentive-based intervention to encourage target behaviors, effectively promotes medication adherence. However, efforts to extend CM to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have been lacking. As part of a randomized clinical trial to promote HIV Prevention among people who inject drugs (PWID), we examined the readiness of staff in community-based organizations serving PWID to implement CM for PrEP uptake and adherence in this population.

Integration in Mixed Methods Research With an Exemplar Explanatory Sequential Study.

Background: Integration-a hallmark of mixed methods research (MMR)-is crucial throughout the entire research process. Despite its importance, integration remains an elusive concept often inadequately addressed by researchers, with many publications focusing solely on the final stages of data analysis and interpretation.

Objectives: The authors aim to synthesize methodologic discussions of the mixed method research integration process and provide an illustration of integration across all phases of an exemplar explanatory sequential study.

Phenotypes of sleep health among adults with chronic heart failure in a randomized controlled trial of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

Background: Poor sleep contributes to adverse health in heart failure. However, studies are limited to isolated sleep characteristics.

Purposes: To evaluate changes in sleep health phenotypes after cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia or attention control and associations between sleep health phenotypes, symptoms, stress, functional performance, and emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

Development and feasibility of the peer and nurse-led HIV Self-Testing Education and Promotion (STEP) intervention among social networks of men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: application of the ADAPT-ITT model.

Background: According to the 2016-2017 Tanzania HIV Impact Survey, only 45% of men living with HIV (MLWH) were aware of their HIV status. In an effort to increase HIV testing in Tanzania, including among men, the Government of Tanzania passed a law in December 2019 allowing HIV self-testing (HIVST) to be included in the national testing strategies. The objective of this paper is to describe the development and pilot feasibility assessment of the Self-Testing Education and Promotion (STEP) intervention, which includes male peer education and demand creation for HIVST, and nurse-led distribution of HIVST kits in a community setting.

Clients' and providers' perspectives in informing a digital health intervention to improve linkage to care after Index HIV self-testing in Hai and Moshi Districts, Tanzania.

Background: Digital health interventions have the potential to improve linkage to care after HIV self-testing (HIVST). This study aimed to understand clients' and providers' perceptions of benefits, and barriers of a digital health intervention designed to improve linkage to care after HIV self-testing in Tanzania.

Methods: This exploratory qualitative research study was conducted in Hai and Moshi, districts in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania.

Point-based risk score for the risk stratification and prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma: a population-based random survival forest modeling study.

Background: The precise associations between common clinical biomarkers and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk remain unclear but hold valuable insights for HCC risk stratification and prediction.

Methods: We examined the linear and nonlinear associations between the baseline levels of 32 circulating biomarkers and HCC risk in the England cohort of UK Biobank (UKBB) (n = 397,702). The participants were enrolled between 2006 and 2010 and followed up to 31st October 2022.

Widespread hepatitis C virus transmission network among people who inject drugs in Kenya.

Objectives: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) disproportionately affects people who inject drugs (PWID) worldwide. Despite carrying a high HCV burden, little is known about transmission dynamics in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: We recruited PWID from Nairobi and coastal cities and towns of Mombasa, Kilifi, and Malindi in Kenya at needle and syringe programs.

Veterans' use of inpatient and outpatient palliative care: The national landscape.

Background: Palliative care improves the quality of life for people with life-limiting conditions, which are common among older adults. Despite the Veterans Health Administration (VA) outpatient palliative care expansion, most research has focused on inpatient palliative care. This study aimed to compare veteran characteristics and hospice use for palliative care users across care settings (inpatient vs.

Pre-diagnostic plasma inflammatory proteins and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in three population-based cohort studies from the United States and the United Kingdom.

Previous studies suggest a role for inflammation in hepatocarcinogenesis. However, no study has comprehensively evaluated associations between circulating inflammatory proteins and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among the general population. We conducted a nested case-control study in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) with 56 pairs of incident HCC cases and controls.

Personality Traits and eHealth Study Enrollment Among Racial and Sexual Minoritized Men Living with HIV.

Inequities in eHealth research enrollment persist among Black and Latinx sexual minoritized men (SMM) partly due to socio-ecological barriers. Less is known about how personality traits are associated with their study enrollment. We examined the role of personality traits among 1,285 U.

Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms, bioavailable 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and hepatocellular carcinoma survival.

Background: Little is known about the role of vitamin D receptor polymorphisms and their interaction with vitamin D status in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis.

Methods: We evaluated the association of TaqI, BsmI, Cdx-2, and ApaI polymorphisms, individually and in combination, with liver cancer-specific (LCSS) and overall survival (OS) among 967 patients with newly diagnosed HCC. Subsequently, we examined whether these polymorphisms modified the association between serum bioavailable 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) concentrations and survival.

Parenting experiences and outcomes among former adolescent mothers: A mixed methods study.

The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to examine parenting outcomes and experiences over time among marginalized adolescent mothers enrolled in randomized clinical trials (RCT) between 2002 and 2016 testing Minding the Baby® (MTB), an early home visiting program. The quantitative phase examined associations between measures of maternal experiences and parenting outcomes from 71 participants 2-8 years since RCT completion. MTB mothers reported less hostile parenting and fewer child behavior problems.

Brief Parent-Child Substance Use Education Intervention for Black Families in Urban Cities in New Jersey: Protocol for a Formative Study Design.

Background: Substance use continues to remain a public health issue for youths in the United States. Black youths living in urban communities are at a heightened risk of poor outcomes associated with substance use and misuse due to exposure to stressors in their neighborhoods, racial discrimination, and lack of prevention education programs specifically targeting Black youths. Many Black youths, especially those who live in urban communities, do not have access to culturally tailored interventions, leaving a critical gap in prevention.

Prediagnostic plasma proteomics profile for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: Proteomics may discover pathophysiological changes related to hepatocellular carcinoma, an aggressive and lethal type of cancer with low sensitivity for early stage diagnosis.

Design: We measured 1305 prediagnostic (median = 12.7 years) SomaScan proteins from 54 pairs of healthy individuals who subsequently developed hepatocellular carcinoma and matched non-hepatocellular carcinoma control individuals from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS).

IL-1 receptor 1 signaling shapes the development of viral antigen-specific CD4 T cell responses following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination.

Background: The innate immune cytokine interleukin (IL)-1 can affect T cell immunity, a critical factor in host defense. In a previous study, we identified a subset of human CD4 T cells which express IL-1 receptor 1 (IL-1R1). However, the expression of such receptor by viral antigen-specific CD4 T cells and its biological implication remain largely unexplored.

Patient-Defined Cultural Safety in Perinatal Interventions: A Qualitative Scoping Review.

Problem: Cultural safety is an approach to patient care designed to facilitate respect of patients' cultural needs and address inequities in care in culturally diverse situations.

Background: Much literature considers culturally safe care during the perinatal period, yet little is known about how patients experience and understand cultural safety. This is despite patient-defined care being one of the definitions of cultural safety.

Complex journeys of adolescents after induced abortion: A qualitative systematic review.

Problem: Adolescents face unique challenges in accessing sexual healthcare, particularly regarding induced abortion experiences. Prior research, often quantitative or biased towards young adults, overlooks this. This review aims to address adolescents' specific post-abortion experiences to inform comprehensive reproductive healthcare needs.