Publications by authors named "Sandra Lee"

Background: The All of Us Research Program (AoURP) is a prominent precision medicine research initiative committed to diverse participation. The program harnesses digital outreach as a key strategy for recruiting and retaining underrepresented populations, using language that sometimes invokes notions of solidarity. This targeted recruitment of underrepresented groups and potential use of solidaristic language raise concerns about how participation will manifest tangible benefits for these populations and whether institutions assume responsibility for addressing past and present research harms.

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: Weight loss following bariatric surgery can improve fertility. Current guidelines recommend delaying pregnancy for at least 12 months post-surgery for weight stabilization and to support healthy gestational weight gain (GWG). However, evidence supporting this recommendation is limited.

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Background: Preoperative depression is common among surgical patients and is associated with undesirable outcomes, such as pain and delirium in the immediate postoperative period. It is unclear whether depression also leads to longer postsurgical hospitalization. This review aimed to evaluate the association between preoperative depression and postoperative length of stay.

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People with disabilities are underrepresented in general (i.e., non-disability specific) precision medicine research (PMR), limiting access to its benefits.

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Purpose: Ipilimumab (IPI) improved outcomes for patients with high-risk melanoma compared with IFN-α2b in E1609, a phase III adjuvant trial. We hypothesized that combining candidate immune biomarkers in both tumor and circulating blood could generate a superior predictive biomarker signature.

Experimental Design: We conducted gene expression profiling on baseline tumors of patients treated with IPI and IFN.

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Introduction: The diversity gap in precision medicine research (PMR) participation has led to efforts to boost the inclusion of underrepresented populations. Yet our prior research shows that study teams need greater support to identify key decision-making issues that influence diversity and equity, weigh competing interests and tradeoffs, and make informed research choices. We therefore developed a Diversity Decision Map (DDM) to support the identification of and dialogue about study practices that impact diversity, inclusion, and equity.

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Background: The infant nasal microbiota closely mediates the risks of developing childhood respiratory diseases. However, the primary sources of these early residing bacteria remain largely unknown, preventing the development of microbiome strategies for disease prevention.

Objective: Our aim was to identify the primary maternal source of bacteria found in the early infant nasal microbiome.

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Purpose: Hypotension occurs frequently during neuraxial anesthesia and is associated with increased risks of perioperative complications. We sought to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that evaluated interventions intended to mitigate exposure to intraoperative hypotension and prevent complications following the administration of neuraxial anesthesia for major nonobstetric noncardiac surgery.

Source: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed®, and the Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials (database inception to 2 August 2023) for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated interventions intended to reduce hypotension during neuraxial anesthesia in major noncardiac nonobstetric surgery, without any restrictions on the comparator type.

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Social and behavioral scientists increasingly work with geneticists or adapt the methods of genetic research to investigate genomic variation in a wide variety of behavioral and social phenotypes. Using genome-wide association studies, these social and behavioral genomics (SBG) researchers generate polygenic indexes (PGIs)-weighted sums of the estimated effects of each genetic variant on an individual's phenotype. This review examines the ethical, conceptual, and social issues in SBG research and its downstream applications.

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Background: Substance use disorders are increasing in incidence yet may be underrecognized in the surgical population. Perioperatively, these substances and/or treatments for these disorders may be acutely stopped, increasing the risk of withdrawal symptoms and accidents, such as falls. However, there have been no studies evaluating the association between substance use disorders and postoperative falls in a broad surgical population.

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The National Cancer Institute-funded Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) breast cancer mathematical models have been increasingly utilized by policymakers to address breast cancer screening policy decisions and influence clinical practice. These well-established and validated models have a successful track record of use in collaborations spanning over 2 decades. While mathematical modeling is a valuable approach to translate short-term screening performance data into long-term breast cancer outcomes, it is inherently complex and requires numerous inputs to approximate the impacts of breast cancer screening.

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Importance: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is an acute illness that presents with cytopenia, infections, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Achieving remission has been shown to make a major difference in patient outcomes; however, early death rates in the first month have been as high as 30% due to acute presentation, comorbidities, the rarity of APL, and clinician inexperience.

Objective: To develop treatment strategies that would decrease estimated 1-month mortality from 30% to below 15%.

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Coral reefs face escalating threats from global and local stressors, and these challenges are exacerbated in the Caribbean. This study focuses on coral reef structure in Barbados, where a previous study documented reef degradation in the 1990s. As 30 years have passed, we examined the rate of change of reef structure and quantified associated substrate presence along the western reefs of Barbados.

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This study reports a comprehensive environmental scan of the generative AI (GenAI) infrastructure in the national network for clinical and translational science across 36 institutions supported by the CTSA Program led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at the United States. Key findings indicate a diverse range of institutional strategies, with most organizations in the experimental phase of GenAI deployment. The results underscore the need for a more coordinated approach to GenAI governance, emphasizing collaboration among senior leaders, clinicians, information technology staff, and researchers.

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Bariatric surgery is increasingly offered to women of childbearing age and significantly reduces food intake and nutrient absorption. During pregnancy, associated risks, including micronutrient deficiency, are accentuated. This study describes maternal dietary intake and adherence to dietary recommendations in pregnant women with a history of bariatric surgery.

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Objective: To explore the context, behaviors, strategies, and motivators of pregnant women who consume 5 servings of vegetables daily.

Methods: Positive deviance study involving Australian pregnant women (9 of 529) identified through a validated food frequency questionnaire. Semistructured interviews explored their strategies, behaviors, and motivators.

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The integration of genomics into public health and medicine is happening at a faster rate than the accrual of the capabilities necessary to ensure the equitable, global distribution of its clinical benefits. Uneven access to genetic testing and follow-up care, unequal distribution of the resources required to access and participate in research, and underrepresentation of some descent groups in genetic and clinical datasets (and thus uncertain genetic results for some patients) are just some of the reasons to center justice in genomics. A more just genomics is an imperative rooted in the ethical obligations incurred by a publicly funded science that is reliant on human data.

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Background: Functional capacity is critical to preoperative risk assessment, yet guidance on its measurement in clinical practice remains lacking.

Purpose: To identify functional capacity assessment tools studied before surgery and characterize the extent of evidence regarding performance, including in populations where assessment is confounded by noncardiopulmonary reasons.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and EBM Reviews (until July 2024).

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The production of large, shareable datasets is increasingly prioritized for a wide range of research purposes. In biomedicine, especially in the United States, calls to enhance representation of historically underrepresented populations in databases that integrate genomic, health history, demographic and lifestyle data have also increased in order to support the goals of precision medicine. Understanding the assumptions and values that shape the design of such datasets and the practices through which they are constructed are a pressing area of social inquiry.

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Background: Delirium is a common and potentially serious complication after major surgery. A previous history of depression is a known risk factor for experiencing delirium in patients admitted to the hospital, but the generalised risk has not been estimated in surgical patients.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies reporting the incidence or relative risk (or relative odds) of delirium in the immediate postoperative period for adults with pre-operative depression.

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Recent calls to address racism in bioethics reflect a sense of urgency to mitigate the lethal effects of a lack of action. While the field was catalyzed largely in response to pivotal events deeply rooted in racism and other structures of oppression embedded in research and health care, it has failed to center racial justice in its scholarship, pedagogy, advocacy, and practice, and neglected to integrate anti-racism as a central consideration. Academic bioethics programs play a key role in determining the field's norms and practices, including methodologies, funding priorities, and professional networks that bear on equity, inclusion, and epistemic justice.

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