Potential health literacy resources for health plans: a narrative review.

Objectives: Financial toxicity (FT) represents the impact of health care expenses on patients' financial well-being and access to care. Although existing literature has mostly looked at FT in the context of cancer and other medical conditions, we sought to identify risk factors for FT on a population-wide level.

Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study of the 2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Examining pathways between structural stigma and tobacco use: a comparison among young adults living in the United States by sexual orientation and gender identity.

Background: Sexual and gender minority young adult (SGM YA) populations use tobacco at higher rates than their non-SGM YA peers. Prior studies have identified significant correlations between interpersonal stigma and tobacco use, yet structural stigma may also influence tobacco use among SGM YA. This study aimed to assess the indirect effects of structural stigma on current tobacco use among SGM YA and non-SGM YA via depletion of economic resources, interpersonal discrimination, and perceived psychological stress.

'Bone Health-Across a Woman's Lifespan'.

Despite a high burden of osteoporosis and minimal trauma fractures worldwide, there is still a treatment gap in timely diagnosis and optimal treatment. There is also a lack of international consensus and guidelines on the management of bone fragility in premenopausal women. This review article provides an overview of the current understanding of factors impacting women's bone health across the adult lifespan, as well as dilemmas in the diagnosis, assessment and management of osteoporosis in premenopausal and postmenopausal women, premature ovarian insufficiency and bone health following breast cancer.

Prevalence of and risk factors for osteoporosis and fragility fracture in adults with cerebral palsy: A systematic review.

Aim: To systematically review the prevalence and incidence of osteoporosis, osteopenia, low bone mass, and fragility fracture in adults with cerebral palsy (CP), and identify the risk factors for osteoporosis and fracture.

Method: A systematic literature search was performed in the MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, AMED, Cochrane Reviews, EMBASE, and EBM database reviews from inception until May 2024. Search terms covered a combination of keywords for CP, fracture, osteoporosis, incidence and prevalence, and risk factors.

Using structural equation modeling to assess pathways between structural stigma and tobacco use among sexual and gender minority young adults living in the United States.

Background: Sexual and gender minority young adult (SGM YA) populations use tobacco at higher rates than their non-SGM YA peers. Prior studies have identified significant correlations between interpersonal stigma and tobacco use, yet structural stigma may also influence tobacco use among SGM YA. This study aimed to assess the indirect effects of structural stigma on current tobacco use among SGM YA and non-SGM YA via depletion of economic resources, interpersonal discrimination, and perceived psychological stress.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diagnosis using machine learning and multi-omic data integration.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a complex and rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by significant genetic, molecular, and clinical heterogeneity. Despite numerous endeavors to discover the genetic factors underlying ALS, a significant number of these factors remain unknown. This knowledge gap highlights the necessity for personalized medicine approaches that can provide more comprehensive information for the purposes of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of ALS.

Osteoporosis and fracture risk assessment in adults with ischaemic stroke.

Purpose: To study the prevalence of osteoporosis, falls and fractures in adults with ischaemic stroke.

Methods: Observational cohort study of adults aged ≥ 50 years admitted with ischaemic stroke over a 12-month period were invited to participate in a telephone interview one-year post-stroke to ascertain falls and fracture. A Fracture Risk After Ischaemic Stroke (FRAC-stroke) score was calculated.

A pilot study proposing an algorithm for pubertal induction in cerebral palsy.

Objectives: To explore delayed puberty in cerebral palsy (CP) and to test the acceptability of an interventional puberty induction algorithm.

Methods: A two phase cohort study in children and adolescents diagnosed with CP who have delayed puberty. Phase 1: Retrospective review of clinical records and interviews with patients who have been treated with sex-steroids and Phase 2: Prospective interventional trial of pubertal induction with a proposed algorithm of transdermal testosterone (males) or oestrogen (females).

Enhancing drug checking services for supply monitoring: perspectives on implementation in syringe service programs in the USA.

Background: Shifts in the US drug supply, including the proliferation of synthetic opioids and emergence of xylazine, have contributed to the worsening toll of the overdose epidemic. Drug checking services offer a critical intervention to promote agency among people who use drugs (PWUD) to reduce overdose risk. Current drug checking methods can be enhanced to contribute to supply-level monitoring in the USA, overcoming the selection bias associated with existing supply monitoring efforts and informing public health interventions.

Heterogeneity and transcriptional drivers of triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous disease with limited treatment options. To characterize TNBC heterogeneity, we defined transcriptional, epigenetic, and metabolic subtypes and subtype-driving super-enhancers and transcription factors by combining functional and molecular profiling with computational analyses. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed relative homogeneity of the major transcriptional subtypes (luminal, basal, and mesenchymal) within samples.

Patient Priorities, Decisional Comfort, and Satisfaction with Metformin versus Insulin for the Treatment of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.

Objective: We compared patient priorities, decisional comfort, and satisfaction with treating gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with metformin versus insulin among pregnant individuals with GDM requiring pharmacotherapy.

Study Design: We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients' perspectives about GDM pharmacotherapy in an integrated prenatal and diabetes care program from October 19, 2022, to August 24, 2023. The exposure was metformin versus insulin as the initial medication decision.

Evaluation of the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign in Latinx Communities in California, June 2021-May 2022.

Objectives: The 12-month vaccination campaign was launched to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates in Latinx populations in California by expanding community outreach. The objectives of this evaluation were to (1) determine predictors of vaccination rates and (2) identify barriers to vaccination and potential solutions.

Methods: Five community partners in California serving Latinx populations with high social vulnerability participated in the campaign.

Differential risks of syringe service program participants in Central Ohio: a latent class analysis.

Background: Significant heterogeneity exists among people who use drugs (PWUD). We identify distinct profiles of syringe service program (SSP) clients to (a) evaluate differential risk factors across subgroups and (b) inform harm reduction programming.

Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was applied to identify subgroups of participants (N = 3418) in a SSP in Columbus, Ohio, from 2019 to 2021.

Evaluation of the Community Health Worker Model for COVID-19 Response and Recovery.

Community health workers (CHWs), or promotores de salud, have long played a role in health promotion, but the COVID-19 pandemic has brought renewed attention to the functions, sustainability, and financing of CHW models. ¡Andale! ¿Que Esperas? was a 12-month (June 2021-May 2022) campaign that expanded the CHW workforce to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates in structurally vulnerable, Latinx communities across California. This mixed-methods evaluation aims to elucidate (1) the role of CHWs in COVID-19 response, recovery, and rebuilding and (2) the importance, needs, and perils of CHW models in the COVID-19 era and beyond.

JAK-STAT Signaling in Inflammatory Breast Cancer Enables Chemotherapy-Resistant Cell States.

Unlabelled: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a difficult-to-treat disease with poor clinical outcomes due to high risk of metastasis and resistance to treatment. In breast cancer, CD44+CD24- cells possess stem cell-like features and contribute to disease progression, and we previously described a CD44+CD24-pSTAT3+ breast cancer cell subpopulation that is dependent on JAK2/STAT3 signaling. Here we report that CD44+CD24- cells are the most frequent cell type in IBC and are commonly pSTAT3+.

Insights into Immune Escape During Tumor Evolution and Response to Immunotherapy Using a Rat Model of Breast Cancer.

Animal models are critical for the preclinical validation of cancer immunotherapies. Unfortunately, mouse breast cancer models do not faithfully reproduce the molecular subtypes and immune environment of the human disease. In particular, there are no good murine models of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, the predominant subtype in patients.

Serum-based measurements of stromal activation through ADAM12 associate with poor prognosis in colorectal cancer.

Background: Recently it has been recognized that stromal markers could be used as a clinically relevant biomarker for therapy response and prognosis. Here, we report on a serum marker for stromal activation, A Disintegrin and Metalloprotease 12 (ADAM12) in colorectal cancer (CRC).

Methods: Using gene expression databases we investigated ADAM12 expression in CRC and delineated the source of ADAM12 expression.

Antimetabolic cooperativity with the clinically approved l-asparaginase and tyrosine kinase inhibitors to eradicate CML stem cells.

Objective: Long-term treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) represents an effective cure for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients and discontinuation of TKI therapy is now proposed to patient with deep molecular responses. However, evidence demonstrating that TKI are unable to fully eradicate dormant leukemic stem cells (LSC) indicate that new therapeutic strategies are needed to control LSC and to prevent relapse. In this study we investigated the metabolic pathways responsible for CML surviving to imatinib exposure and its potential therapeutic utility to improve the efficacy of TKI against stem-like CML cells.

Molecular subtype-specific efficacy of anti-EGFR therapy in colorectal cancer is dependent on the chemotherapy backbone.

Background: Patient selection for addition of anti-EGFR therapy to chemotherapy for patients with RAS and BRAF wildtype metastatic colorectal cancer can still be optimised. Here we investigate the effect of anti-EGFR therapy on survival in different consensus molecular subtypes (CMSs) and stratified by primary tumour location.

Methods: Retrospective analyses, using the immunohistochemistry-based CMS classifier, were performed in the COIN (first-line oxaliplatin backbone with or without cetuximab) and PICCOLO trial (second-line irinotecan with or without panitumumab).

COVID-19 Surveillance for Local Decision Making : An Academic, School District, and Public Health Collaboration.

Objective: Data-informed decision making is valued among school districts, but challenges remain for local health departments to provide data, especially during a pandemic. We describe the rapid planning and deployment of a school-based COVID-19 surveillance system in a metropolitan US county.

Methods: In 2020, we used several data sources to construct disease- and school-based indicators for COVID-19 surveillance in Franklin County, an urban county in central Ohio.

The impact of tumor epithelial and microenvironmental heterogeneity on treatment responses in HER2+ breast cancer.

Despite the availability of multiple human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-targeted (HER2-targeted) treatments, therapeutic resistance in HER2+ breast cancer remains a clinical challenge. Intratumor heterogeneity for HER2 and resistance-conferring mutations in the PIK3CA gene (encoding PI3K catalytic subunit α) have been investigated in response and resistance to HER2-targeting agents, while the role of divergent cellular phenotypes and tumor epithelial-stromal cell interactions is less well understood. Here, we assessed the effect of intratumor cellular genetic heterogeneity for ERBB2 (encoding HER2) copy number and PIK3CA mutation on different types of neoadjuvant HER2-targeting therapies and clinical outcome in HER2+ breast cancer.

Genomic Alterations during the to Invasive Ductal Breast Carcinoma Transition Shaped by the Immune System.

The drivers of ductal carcinoma (DCIS) to invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) transition are poorly understood. Here, we conducted an integrated genomic, transcriptomic, and whole-slide image analysis to evaluate changes in copy-number profiles, mutational profiles, expression, neoantigen load, and topology in 6 cases of matched pure DCIS and recurrent IDC. We demonstrate through combined copy-number and mutational analysis that recurrent IDC can be genetically related to its pure DCIS despite long latency periods and therapeutic interventions.