Background: Residential proximity to commercial pesticide application has been associated with increased odds of developing chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with in vitro studies demonstrating cytotoxic dose-dependent effects on sinonasal epithelia. This study's aim is to determine potential associations between residential proximity to commercial pesticide application sites and cytokine profiles in patients with and without CRS.
Methods: A total of 55 patients were included (35 CRS and 20 control) with an average age of 55 ± 15 years.
Transportation to transplant centers is a barrier to liver transplantation (LT). We analyzed the impact of travel metrics on LT waitlist outcomes in the United States. A total of 83 640 adult LT candidates in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database (2013-2021) were included.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tobacco retailer density might influence youth e-cigarette use due to increased access and exposure to point-of-sale marketing. There is a need for longitudinal investigations on the association of tobacco retailer density with youth e-cigarette use, with consideration of contextual factors such as neighbourhood walkability that could enhance retailer exposure.
Methods: Five semi-annual waves (Fall 2021-Fall 2023) of a Southern California school-based cohort of youth who never vaped at baseline (n=3401; mean baseline age=15 years [range=12-17]) were merged with spatial data on tobacco retailers corresponding to each school year.
Associations of pesticide exposures during preconception with stillbirth have not been well explored. We linked Arizona pesticide use records with birth certificates from 2006 to 2020 and estimated associations of living within 500 m of any pyrethroid, organophosphate (OP), or carbamate pesticide applications during a 90-day preconception window or the first trimester, with stillbirth. We considered a binary measure of exposure (any exposure), as well as log-pounds and log-acres applied within 500 m, in a negative control exposure framework with log-binomial regression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Organophosphorus pesticides (OP) have been associated with various human health conditions. Animal experiments and in-vitro models suggested that OP may also affect the gut microbiota. We examined associations between ambient chronic exposure to OP and gut microbial changes in humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Oncol
February 2024
Background: Acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) are among the commonest types of childhood cancer. Some previous studies suggested that elevated ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposures increase ALL risk; many more indicate NHL risk is reduced.
Methods: We assessed age<20 ALL/NHL incidence in Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results data using AVGLO-derived UVR irradiance/cumulative radiant exposure measures, using quasi-likelihood models accounting for underdispersion, adjusted for age, sex, racial/ethnic group and other county-level socioeconomic variables.
Background And Aims: To examine neighborhood-level disparities in waitlist mortality for adult liver transplantation (LT), we developed novel area-based social determinants of health (SDOH) index using a national transplant database.
Methods: ZIP Codes of individuals listed for or received LT in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database between June 18, 2013, and May 18, 2019, were linked to 36 American Community Survey (ACS) variables across 5 SDOH domains for index development. A step-wise principal component analysis was used to construct the Liver Outcomes and Equity (LOEq) index.
JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg
September 2023
Importance: Environmental and occupational toxicants have been shown to be associated with an increased prevalence of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). However, few to no studies have evaluated patients for CRS using objective testing and workup protocols that fulfill guidelines for CRS diagnostic criteria. Furthermore, no study, to our knowledge, has investigated the risks of CRS in the context of residential exposure through proximity to a commercial pesticide application site.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Natl Cancer Inst
July 2023
Introduction: Immigrants comprise a considerable proportion of those diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the United States. Nativity or birthplace affects incidence and risk factors for HCC, but little is known about its influence on survival after diagnosis.
Methods: We identified 51 533 adults with HCC with available birthplace in the California Cancer Registry between 1988 and 2017.
Background: Melanoma survival literature predominantly represents patients >65 years of age. Study of younger patients may reveal potential age-group-specific differences in survival outcome.
Objective: Identify factors associated with differences in melanoma survival in 2 age groups, adolescents and young adults (AYAs; ages 15-39) and older adults (ages 40-64).
Background: Skin cancer is the most common secondary malignancy among young adult childhood cancer survivors (YA-CCS). Skin examination to detect skin cancer early (including melanoma as well as basal or squamous cell skin cancers), both physician-based (PSE) and self-skin exam (SSE), is recommended, particularly for radiotherapy-exposed YA-CCS who are at high risk of developing skin cancer.
Methods: Awareness and prevalence of skin examination and demographic, clinical, and healthcare correlates were examined in a population-based sample of YA-CCS with diverse cancer types excluding melanoma.
Purpose: The majority of children with unilateral renal masses suspicious for malignancy undergo radical nephrectomy, while nephron-sparing surgery is reserved for select cases. We investigated the impact of tumor size on the probability of histology. We hypothesized that pediatric small renal masses are more likely benign or non-Wilms tumor, thus potentially appropriate for nephron-sparing surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Flavored non-tobacco oral nicotine products (eg, nicotine pouches and nontherapeutic nicotine gum, lozenges, tablets, gummies), are increasingly marketed in the United States. Prevalence of non-tobacco oral nicotine product use among adolescents is unknown.
Methods: We calculated prevalence of ever and past 6-month use of nicotine pouches, other non-tobacco oral nicotine products (ie, gum, lozenges, tablets, and/or gummies), e-cigarettes, cigarettes, hookah or waterpipe, cigars, cigarillos, and snus among high school students in Southern California between September and December 2021.
Objectives: Interventions to improve health care provider communication about HPV vaccination can increase vaccine acceptance. Our objectives were to (1) identify clinics in locations with high HPV-associated cancer and low HPV-vaccination rates that would potentially benefit from dissemination of a proposed HPV Provider Communication intervention and (2) use qualitative interviews and a dissemination and implementation framework to assess readiness for change and fit of the HPV Provider Communication intervention to the context of these clinics.
Methods: Local HPV-associated cancer and HPV vaccination rates were assigned to Practice-Based Research Network clinics using data from the Colorado Central Cancer Registry, the Colorado Immunization Information System, and the American Community Survey.
Cancer Causes Control
May 2022
Importance: As hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-associated mortality continues to rise in the United States, there is a crucial need for strategies to shift diagnoses from late to early stage in order to improve survival.
Objective: To describe a population-based geospatial approach to identifying areas with high late-stage HCC burden for intervention.
Design: Cross-sectional study between 2008 and 2017.
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol
May 2022
In the United States, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fastest growing cause of cancer-related deaths and was the 5th most common cause in 2020. One in 5 Americans lives in a rural area, yet little is known about temporal changes in HCC incidence by rural-urban residence. Area-specific data are critical to guide public health strategies and clinical interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis cross-sectional study examines associations between barriers and lack of physician-based skin examinations in a population-based sample of young melanoma survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChildren are a priority population for skin cancer prevention as excessive sun exposure in childhood increases the risk of melanoma in adulthood. The complexity of sun protective behaviors has posed measurement challenges for trials testing intervention efficacy. The current study evaluated a sun safety intervention for schoolchildren using latent transition analysis (LTA) to examine patterns of sun protection behaviors over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPesticides are widely used in the agricultural Central Valley region of California. Historically, this has included organophosphates (OPs), organochlorines (OCs), and pyrethroids (PYRs). This study aimed to identify perturbations of the serum metabolome in response to each class of pesticide and mutual associations between groups of metabolites and multiple pesticides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe evaluated whether Denver neighborhoods with elevated rates of adult hospitalizations for laboratory-confirmed influenza had lower adult coverage with influenza vaccine. Overall vaccine coverage was low. Hospitalization rates were associated with demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Hyg Environ Health
August 2020
Background: Pyrethroid pesticide use is increasing worldwide, although the full extent of associated health effects is unknown. An epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) with exploratory pathway analysis may help identify potential pyrethroid-related health effects.
Methods: We performed an exploratory EWAS of chronic ambient pyrethroid exposure using control participants' blood in the Parkinson's Environment and Genes Study in the Central Valley of California (N = 237).
The burden of influenza in rural areas is largely unstudied. Rural populations may be vulnerable yet isolated from circulating virus. Laboratory-confirmed influenza hospitalizations in rural Colorado census tracts over eight influenza seasons were inconsistently distributed across seasons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Melanoma is a common cancer among adolescents and young adults (AYAs), yet adherence to recommended surveillance and factors related to adherence are not well understood in this population. This study assessed the prevalence and correlates of physician-conducted skin examination (PSE) and skin self-examination (SSE) among AYA-aged long-term survivors of melanoma.
Procedures: Melanoma cases were identified from the Los Angeles County cancer registry and surveys were then completed by 128 respondents diagnosed between the ages 0 and 24, with stage 1 melanoma or higher, at least 5 years from diagnosis, and who were between the ages 18 and 39 at the time of survey.