(Generalized estimating equation) or GEE

PURPOSE: Cigarette smoking is the most common risk factor for the development of bladder cancer (BC), yet there is a paucity of data characterizing the relationship between smoking status and longitudinal Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) outcomes in patients with BC. We examined the association between smoking status and HRQoL among patients with BC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data was sourced from a prospective, longitudinal study open between 2014 and 2017, which examined HRQoL in patients aged ≥ 18 years diagnosed with BC across North Carolina...

Memory effects emerge as a fundamental consequence of dimensionality reduction when low-dimensional observables are used to describe the dynamics of complex many-body systems. In the context of molecular dynamics (MD) data analysis, accounting for memory effects using the framework of the generalized Langevin equation (GLE) has proven efficient, accurate, and insightful, particularly when working with high-resolution time series data. However, in experimental systems, high-resolution data are often unavailable, raising questions about the impact of the data resolution on the estimated GLE parameters...

IMPORTANCE: Empathy is an aspect of the patient-physician relationship that may be particularly important in patients with chronic pain. OBJECTIVE: To measure the association of physician empathy with pain, function, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among patients with chronic low back pain. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study included adult enrollees from the Pain Registry for Epidemiological, Clinical, and Interventional Studies and Innovation national pain research registry...

BACKGROUND: Work stress is considered as a risk factor for coronary heart disease, but its link with heart rate variability (HRV) among heart attack survivors is unknown yet. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between baseline work stress and the changes of HRV over one-year after onset of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHODS: Hundred and twenty-two patients with regular paid work before their first ACS episode were recruited into this hospital-based longitudinal cohort study...

Various factors influence marginal bone loss following implant placement. This study explored the association between marginal bone loss and posterior implants positioned at different bone levels. Computer records and radiographs of patients with at least two adjacent implants were retrieved. Cases were categorized into non-splinted prosthesis and splinted prosthesis groups. Radiographic measurements were conducted at the time of abutment placement (T0), 1-3 years follow-up (T1), and the last visit (T2), measuring the vertical distance between adjacent implants...

PURPOSE: There is an unclear relationship between estradiol levels and fresh embryo transfer (ET) outcomes. We determined the relationship between estradiol on the day of trigger, in fresh ET cycles without premature progesterone elevation, and good birth outcomes (GBO). METHODS: We identified autologous fresh ET cycles from 2015 to 2021 at multiple clinics in the USA. Patients with recurrent pregnancy loss, uterine factor, and elevated progesterone on the day of trigger (progesterone > 2 ng/mL or 3-day area under the curve > 4...

Lipid droplets (LDs) are organelles that are necessary for eukaryotic and prokaryotic metabolism and energy storage. They have a unique structure consisting of a spherical phospholipid monolayer encasing neutral lipids such as triacylglycerol (TAG). LDs have garnered increased interest for their implications in disease and for drug delivery applications. Consequently, there is an increased need for tools to study their structure, composition, and dynamics in biological contexts. In this work, we utilize CHARMM-GUI Membrane Builder to simulate and analyze LDs with and without a plant LD protein, oleosin...

BACKGROUND: Cholesterol plays a vital role in fetal growth and development during pregnancy. There remains controversial over whether pregnant women should limit their cholesterol intake. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between maternal dietary cholesterol intake during pregnancy and infant birth weight in a Chinese prospective cohort study. METHODS: A total of 4,146 mother-child pairs were included based on the Jiangsu Birth Cohort (JBC) study...

Objectives. To describe longitudinal trends in the prevalence of mental distress across the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020‒April 2021) among US women at the intersection of sexual orientation and racialized group. Methods. Participants included 49 805 cisgender women and female-identified people from the COVID-19 Sub-Study, a cohort of US adults embedded within the Nurses' Health Studies 2 and 3 and the Growing Up Today Study. We fit generalized estimating equation Poisson models to estimate trends in depressive and anxiety symptoms by sexual orientation (gay or lesbian, bisexual, mostly heterosexual, completely heterosexual); subsequent models explored further differences by racialized group (Asian, Black, Latine, White, other or unlisted)...

INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer screening (LCS) can reduce lung cancer mortality; however, poor understanding of results may impact patient experience and follow-up. We sought to determine whether an informational handout accompanying LCS results can improve patient-reported outcomes and adherence to follow-up. STUDY DESIGN: This was a prospective alternating intervention pilot trial of a handout to accompany LCS results delivery. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Patients undergoing LCS in a multisite program over a 6-month period received a mailing containing either: 1) a standardized form letter of LCS results (control) or 2) the LCS results letter and the handout (intervention)...

BACKGROUND: Despite the many supply- and demand-side interventions aimed at increasing uptake of maternal health service utilizations, the maternal and new-born health service utilizations remains low. Religious leaders have the power to inhibit or facilitate effective adoption of maternal health service utilizations to promote maternal health. However, evidence on the roles of religious leaders in promoting maternal health in developing world is not fully known. Therefore this cluster-randomized trial is designed to evaluate the effects of trained religious leaders' engagement in maternal health education in improving maternal health service utilization and knowledge of obstetric danger signs...

IMPORTANCE: Equity-driven citywide park redesign and renovation, such as the Community Parks Initiative (CPI), has the potential to increase park use and opportunities for physical activity in underserved communities. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate changes in patterns of park use following park redesign and renovation in low-income New York City (NYC) neighborhoods. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces study was a prospective quality improvement preintervention-postintervention study design with matched control parks...

IMPORTANCE: Evidence suggests that living near green space supports mental health, but studies examining the association of green space with early mental health symptoms among children are rare. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between residential green space and early internalizing (eg, anxiety and depression) and externalizing (eg, aggression and rule-breaking) symptoms. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Data for this cohort study were drawn from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes cohort; analysis was conducted from July to October 2023...

AIM: This study aimed to understand the association between feeding method, specifically breastfeeding versus non-breastfeeding, at 6 and 12 months and infant sleep over the first 3 years of life. METHODS: A sample of 444 mother-infant dyads from the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment cohort were analysed. Based on retrospective maternal reports between 3-24 months, infants' breastfeeding status was determined at 6 and 12 months...

Regression component analysis (RCA) replaces the factors in a factor analysis model with weighted composites of the model's observed variables. The weight matrix may be calculated from the factor model's parameter estimates. Thus, RCA parameter estimates can be obtained using factor model software, but RCA composites have determinate scores, rather than the indeterminate scores of factors. Analytically, RCA equates to modeling with "regression method" factor scores, except that, while those scores will be inconsistent with the original factor model, they are strictly consistent with the RCA model...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic posed substantial challenges to healthcare systems. Understanding the responses of pediatric health services is crucial for future pandemic planning and preparedness, yet such data remains limited. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed data from administrative databases developed by Japan Medical Data Center and DeSC Healthcare Inc. The dataset comprised records of 2,612,511 children, totaling 60,224,888 person-months, from January 2020 to May 2022...

Designed clinical studies often assess outcomes at pre-planned time points. In most situations, standard statistical models, such as generalized linear mixed models and generalized additive models, are sufficient to depict the temporal trends of the outcome and produce valid inference. Complicating factors, however, do exist in practical data analyses. One complication arises when the outcome and observational processes are interdependent, that is, the observational process is informative; another challenge is patient characteristics may influence the longitudinally observed outcomes in non-additive ways, for example, by multiplicative factors...

BACKGROUND: Numerous prior opinion papers, administrative electronic health record data studies, and cross-sectional surveys of telehealth during the pandemic have been published, but none have combined assessments of video visit success monitoring with longitudinal assessments of perceived challenges to the rapid adoption of video visits during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to quantify (1) the use of video visits (compared with in-person and telephone visits) over time during the pandemic, (2) video visit successful connection rates, and (3) changes in perceived video visit challenges...

Eremurus zoae Vved. 1971 is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Asphodelaceae and an endemic species of the Kyrgyz Republic; however, its complete chloroplast genome sequence has not been reported. Here, we investigated the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of E. zoae using next-generation sequencing. The cp genome was 153,744 bp long, with a large single copy (84,020 bp), a small single copy (16,766 bp), and a pair of inverted repeats (26,479 bp). The genome encodes 132 genes, including 86 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes...

Postural instability is a common observation after concussions, with balance assessments playing a crucial role in clinical evaluations. Widely used post-concussion balance tests focus primarily on static and dynamic balance, excluding the critical aspect of reactive balance. This study investigated the acute and longitudinal effects of concussion on reactive balance in collegiate athletes. The assessments were conducted at pre-season baseline and 4 post-concussion timepoints: acute, pre-return-to-play, post-return-to-play, and six months post-concussion...