Knowledge to action: a pilot quality improvement intervention on breast cancer specimen handling in operating rooms in Southern Ethiopia.

Background: Appropriate handling of surgical specimens is critical to the accurate diagnosis and treatment of Breast cancer (BC) and is urgently needed in sub-Saharan Africa. This study piloted a quality improvement training program in southern Ethiopia.

Methods: A train-the-trainer implementation strategy was used.

Population attributable risk of a competing-risk model for breast cancer and non-breast cancer death among women ≥ 65 years.

Purpose: To inform decision making around mammography-screening frequency and cessation, we previously used Fine-Gray competing-risk regression to develop and validate a model to estimate older women's 10-year risk of breast cancer and their competing risk of non-breast cancer (non-BC) death. Here, we aimed to understand the amount of incident breast cancer and non-BC death risk explained by our model among women ≥ 65y.

Methods: We included women ≥ 65y who completed the 2004 Nurses' Health Study questionnaire (NHS, n = 59,662) or who participated in the Women's Health Initiative-Extension Study (WHI-ES, n = 82,528).

Forb diversity globally is harmed by nutrient enrichment but can be rescued by large mammalian herbivory.

Forbs ("wildflowers") are important contributors to grassland biodiversity but are vulnerable to environmental changes. In a factorial experiment at 94 sites on 6 continents, we test the global generality of several broad predictions: (1) Forb cover and richness decline under nutrient enrichment, particularly nitrogen enrichment. (2) Forb cover and richness increase under herbivory by large mammals.

Feasibility of a cancer screening program using multicancer early detection testing and whole-body magnetic resonance imaging in a high-risk population.

Background: The authors assessed the feasibility, acceptability, and impact on cancer worry of a cancer screening program using multicancer early detection (MCED) tests and whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WBM) in individuals at high cancer risk because of family history or germline variants in cancer-susceptibility genes.

Methods: This prospective trial enrolled participants aged 50 years and older who had a significant family history of cancer or a cancer-susceptibility gene variant. Participants underwent noncontrast WBM and MCED testing.

Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT) and long-term breast cancer mortality in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: While the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT) predicts breast cancer incidence, the model's performance, re-purposed to predict breast cancer mortality, is uncertain. Therefore, we examined whether the BCRAT model predicts breast cancer mortality in postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).

Methods: BCRAT 5-year breast cancer incidence risk estimates were calculated for 145,408 women (aged 50-79 years) enrolled in the WHI at 40 US clinical centers to examine associations of BCRAT risk groups (< 1%, 1-< 3%, ≥ 3%) with breast cancer mortality using Cox proportional regression modeling in all participants and in those with incident breast cancer.

Ductal carcinoma in situ and cause-specific mortality among younger and older postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Whether DCIS is associated with higher breast cancer-specific and all-cause mortality is unclear with few studies in older women. Therefore, we examined DCIS and breast cancer-specific, cardiovascular (CVD)-specific, and all-cause mortality among Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Clinical Trial participants overall and by age (< 70 versus ≥ 70 years).

Methods: Of 68,132 WHI participants, included were 781 postmenopausal women with incident DCIS and 781 matched controls.

Randomized trials of estrogen-alone and breast cancer incidence: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: In the Women's Health initiative (WHI) randomized clinical trial, conjugated equine estrogen (CEE)-alone significantly reduced breast cancer incidence (P = 0.005). As cohort studies had opposite findings, other randomized clinical trials were identified to conduct a meta-analysis of estrogen-alone influence on breast cancer incidence.

Explainable Machine Learning Model to Preoperatively Predict Postoperative Complications in Inpatients With Cancer Undergoing Major Operations.

Purpose: Preoperative prediction of postoperative complications (PCs) in inpatients with cancer is challenging. We developed an explainable machine learning (ML) model to predict PCs in a heterogenous population of inpatients with cancer undergoing same-hospitalization major operations.

Methods: Consecutive inpatients who underwent same-hospitalization operations from December 2017 to June 2021 at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed.

Dietary Intervention Favorably Influences Physical Functioning: The Women's Health Initiative Randomized Dietary Modification Trial.

Background: In the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification randomized trial, the dietary intervention reduced breast cancer mortality by 21% (P = .02) and increased physical activity as well.

Objective: Therefore, the aim was to examine whether or not these lifestyle changes attenuated age-related physical functioning decline.

The role of intra-guild indirect interactions in assembling plant-pollinator networks.

Understanding the assembly of plant-pollinator communities has become critical to their conservation given the rise of species invasions, extirpations, and species' range shifts. Over the course of assembly, colonizer establishment produces core interaction patterns, called motifs, which shape the trajectory of assembling network structure. Dynamic assembly models can advance our understanding of this process by linking the transient dynamics of colonizer establishment to long-term network development.

Validating a model for predicting breast cancer and nonbreast cancer death in women aged 55 years and older.

Background: To support mammography screening decision making, we developed a competing-risk model to estimate 5-year breast cancer risk and 10-year nonbreast cancer death for women aged 55 years and older using Nurses' Health Study data and examined model performance in the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS). Here, we examine model performance in predicting 10-year outcomes in the BWHS, Women's Health Initiative-Extension Study (WHI-ES), and Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) and compare model performance to existing breast cancer prediction models.

Methods: We used competing-risk regression and Royston and Altman methods for validating survival models to calculate our model's calibration and discrimination (C index) in BWHS (n = 17 380), WHI-ES (n = 106 894), and MEC (n = 49 668).

Bilateral Oophorectomy and Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: The few cohort studies examining oophorectomy and colorectal cancer risk provide mixed results. Therefore, we examined this issue in Women's Health Initiative Observational Study participants.

Methods: A total of 71,312 postmenopausal women were followed for 22.

Predicting All-Cause Mortality in Women With and Without Breast Cancer Using the Schonberg Index: A Women's Health Initiative Study.

Background: When treating older women with breast cancer, life expectancy is an important consideration. ASCO recommends calculating 10-year mortality probabilities to inform treatment decisions. One useful tool is the Schonberg index, which predicts risk-based all-cause 10-year mortality.

Critical thermal limits and temperature-dependent walking speed may mediate coexistence between the native winter ant (Prenolepis imparis) and the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithemahumile).

Comparing the thermal tolerance and performance of native and invasive species from varying climatic origins may explain why some native and invasive species can coexist. We compared the thermal niches of an invasive and native ant species. The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) is an invasive species that has spread to Mediterranean climates worldwide, where it is associated with losses in native arthropod biodiversity.

Cardiometabolic risk factors, physical activity, and postmenopausal breast cancer mortality: results from the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Higher physical activity levels are associated with lower breast cancer-specific mortality. In addition, the metabolic syndrome is associated with higher breast cancer-specific mortality. Whether the physical activity association with breast cancer mortality is modified by number of metabolic syndrome components (cardiometabolic risk factors) in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer remains unknown.

Sidedness determines clinical characteristics and survival outcomes in medullary adenocarcinoma of the colon.

Colon medullary adenocarcinoma (MAC) is a rare histologic subtype. Clinical presentation and cancer outcomes of MAC, compared to colon adenocarcinoma (AC), remain incompletely described. Annual age-adjusted incidence rates were computed using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (2002-2017).

Subungual Melanoma: A Single Institution Experience.

Despite the changing paradigms of melanoma treatment in recent years, there remains a relative paucity of data regarding subungual melanoma in the literature. From 2002-2018, 25 patients with subungual melanoma were surgically treated at our facility. A retrospective chart review was conducted to collect relevant demographic, clinical, pathologic, and outcomes data.

Metabolic syndrome risk components and mortality after triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis in postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a high recurrence risk and poor clinical outcomes. Associations between metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk components and mortality in postmenopausal women with TNBC were examined in the Women's Health Initiative.

Methods: Five hundred forty-four postmenopausal women were diagnosed with nonmetastatic TNBC.

African Ancestry and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background:: Breast cancer mortality is substantially higher in Black compared to White women due in part to higher rates of poor prognosis triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in Black women. The influence of African ancestry on this disparity has not been adequately examined.

Methods:: Using the Women’s Health Initiative cohort of 161,808 postmenopausal women, we examined risk of TNBC in 6,166 Black participants with information on African ancestry, of whom 374 had incident localized breast cancers.

Insulin resistance and breast cancer incidence and mortality in postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Insulin resistance is associated with higher all-cause and cancer-specific mortality in postmenopausal women. However, to the authors' knowledge, information regarding insulin resistance and breast cancer mortality risk is limited. Therefore, the authors examined associations between insulin resistance and breast cancer incidence and mortality in a subsample of Women's Health Initiative participants.

Online Health Information-Seeking Among Older Women With Chronic Illness: Analysis of the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Understanding how older patients with chronic illnesses use the internet to obtain health information is relevant for the design of digital interventions aimed at improving the health and well-being of adults aged 65 years and older; this cohort represents the sickest, most expensive, and fastest-growing segment of the US population.

Objective: The objective of our study was to describe online health information-seeking behavior among older patients with chronic illnesses and to compare the characteristics of patients who report using the internet to obtain health information with those who do not.

Methods: The study population included 72,806 women aged 65 years and older enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a national cohort study, who completed a 2014 supplemental questionnaire assessing everyday technology use and internet use for researching health conditions.

Time to Adjuvant Radiotherapy in Breast Cancer Affects Survival: Implications for the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer Quality Metrics.

Background: To optimize breast cancer care, the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer developed quality measures regarding receipt and timing of adjuvant radiotherapy (RT). Nationwide compliance with these measures and its impact on overall survival (OS) are evaluated herein.

Patients And Methods: Patients (n = 285,291) diagnosed with invasive breast cancer from 2004 to 2012 were identified from the National Cancer Database.

Insurance Status Predicts Survival in Women with Breast Cancer: Results of Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program in California.

Background And Purpose: The Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program (BCCTP) Act, passed by Congress in 2000, provides time-limited coverage to uninsured breast or cervical cancer patients. We examine survival differences between BCCTP cases and insured controls.

Methods: Stage I-III breast cancer patients, covered under California's BCCTP from 2005 to 2009 (N = 6343), were 1:1 matched with California Cancer Registry controls on age, race/ethnicity, and cancer stage.

Insulin Resistance and Cancer-Specific and All-Cause Mortality in Postmenopausal Women: The Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Insulin resistance has been proposed as a mediator of the increased cancer incidence and mortality associated with obesity. However, prior studies included limited cancer deaths and had inconsistent findings. Therefore, we evaluated insulin resistance and cancer-specific and all-cause mortality in postmenopausal women participating in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).