The Effect of Measured Radiotherapy Dose on Intrathecal Drug Delivery System Function.

Objectives: Radiation therapy (RT) and intrathecal drug delivery systems (IDDS) are often used concurrently to optimize pain management in patients with cancer. Concern remains among clinicians regarding the potential for IDDS malfunction in the setting of RT. Here we assessed the frequency of IDDS malfunction in a large cohort of patients treated with RT.

Impact of numeracy preferences on information needs for genome sequencing results.

Objective: This study investigated how self-reported numeracy ability and preferences predict preferences for the amount and types of information provided about genome sequencing results among 1080 women diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 or younger.

Methods: Participants reported their level of interest in 14 topics related to genome sequencing results on a survey. We calculated a Participant Information Needs (PIN) value based on the number of topics for which a participant wanted "a lot" of information.

Impact of Pre-blood Collection Factors on Plasma Metabolomic Profiles.

Demographic, lifestyle and biospecimen-related factors at the time of blood collection can influence metabolite levels in epidemiological studies. Identifying the major influences on metabolite concentrations is critical to designing appropriate sample collection protocols and considering covariate adjustment in metabolomics analyses. We examined the association of age, sex, and other short-term pre-blood collection factors (time of day, season, fasting duration, physical activity, NSAID use, smoking and alcohol consumption in the days prior to collection) with 133 targeted plasma metabolites (acylcarnitines, amino acids, biogenic amines, sphingolipids, glycerophospholipids, and hexoses) among 108 individuals that reported exposures within 48 h before collection.