UNC Libraries

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with few effective targeted therapies. Taxanes and other microtubule-targeting agents (MTAs) are frontline chemotherapies for TNBC; however, the molecular pathways that cause TNBC taxane sensitivity are largely unknown, preventing selection of taxane-responsive patients and development of more selective therapeutic str…

Epidemiologists increasingly use causal inference methods that rely on machine learning, as these approaches can relax unnecessary model specification assumptions. While deriving and studying asymptotic properties of such estimators is a task usually associated with statisticians, it is useful for epidemiologists to understand the steps involved, as epidemiologists are often at the forefront of d…

Importance: Sex differences may contribute to disparities in dementia outcomes. Objective: To understand the association between sex and mortality and health care services use after dementia diagnosis. Design, Setting, and Participants: This nationwide cohort study used Medicare enrollment data and took place from 2014 to 2021 with up to 8 years of follow-up. Analysis was performed from April 202…

Although episodic memory is typically impaired in older adults (OAs) compared to young adults (YAs), this deficit is attenuated when OAs can leverage their rich semantic knowledge, such as their knowledge of schemas. Memory is better for items consistent with pre-existing schemas and this effect is larger in OAs. Neuroimaging studies have associated schema use with the ventromedial prefrontal cor…

Optimal individualized treatment decision-making has improved health outcomes in recent years. The value function is commonly used to evaluate the goodness of an individualized treatment decision rule. Despite recent advances, comparing value functions between different treatment decision rules or constructing confidence intervals around value functions remains difficult. We propose a t-test base…

There is growing interest in the role of oxylipins in the pathophysiology of several diseases. This is accompanied by a limited but evolving evidence base describing augmented oxylipin concentrations in a range of complications including cardiovascular disease, obesity, liver disease and neurological disorders. Despite this, literature describing oxylipin profiles in blood and multiple organs is …

BACKGROUND: Engaging patients and family members in healthcare quality improvement (QI) is essential to meet the needs of those who receive care. The objective of this study was to describe the experience of patient/family partners (PFPs) in a national QI collaborative and to develop recommendations for best practices for patient engagement. METHODS: We conducted focus groups with PFPs in a natio…

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Evidence-based concussion practices have been codified into legislation, yet implementation has been narrowly evaluated. We examined implementation of concussion practices in Massachusetts high schools and adopted a disproportionality lens to assess the relationship between school sociodemographic and policy implementation and examine whether differences in policy imple…

IMPORTANCE: Access to healthy and affordable foods may play a role in reducing inflammation and in healthy pulmonary immune system development. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between residing in a low-income and low-food-access (LILA) neighbourhood and risk of childhood asthma. A positive association was hypothesised. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This prospective cohort study cons…

<em>Chlamydia trachomatis</em> (CT) infection can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and other reproductive sequelae when it ascends to the upper genital tract. Factors including chlamydial burden, coinfection with other sexually transmitted bacterial pathogens, and oral contraceptive use influence risk for upper genital tract spread. Cervicovaginal microbiome composition influence…

Over the past 30 years, a distinct pathotype of hypervirulent <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae</em> (hvKp) has emerged, characterized by its ability to cause severe tissue-invasive infections, including liver abscesses in otherwise healthy individuals. <em>Klebsiella</em> liver abscesses (KLA) are most prevalent in East and Southeast Asia; however, their global incidence is rising, with hvKp now recogni…

Although the overall incidence is low, penetrating neck trauma can result in devastating injuries. The traditional zonal approach is being increasingly abandoned in favor of selective approaches, especially as mandatory exploration can result in non-therapeutic interventions and associated complications. Additionally, the trajectory of the missile cannot be accurately assessed based on external w…

Due to their self-renewal and differentiation capabilities, pluripotent stem cells hold immense potential for advancing our understanding of human disease and developing cell-based or pharmacological interventions. Realizing this potential, however, requires a thorough understanding of the basal cellular mechanisms which occur during differentiation. Lipids are critical molecules that define the …

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of preoperative serum lipid profiles, particularly high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), in gastric cancer (GC) patients undergoing gastrectomy. DESIGN: A hospital-based retrospective cohort study. SETTING: A tertiary hospital in Eastern China. PARTICIPANTS: 771 consecutive GC patients who underwent gastrectomy between 2…

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the association between neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation and outcomes reflecting comprehensive diabetes care (CDC). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study SETTING: US Medicare Advantage (MA) data, 2015-2020. PARTICIPANTS: National sample of MA enrollees with diabetes. OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcomes included six indicators of CDC from the Healthcare Effe…

BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with advanced epigenetic age cross-sectionally, but the association between these variables over time is unclear. This study conducted meta-analyses to test whether new-onset PTSD diagnosis and changes in PTSD symptom severity over time were associated with changes in two metrics of epigenetic aging over two time points. METHODS…

First‐line treatment for advanced‐stage or recurrent endometrial cancer consists of platinum‐ and taxane‐based chemotherapy, to which many patients will develop resistance. Determining the factors that contribute to platinum resistance and developing alternate treatment options for patients with advanced‐stage gynecologic malignancies is critical to improving survival outcomes. Recently, we publi…

"Biological aging clocks"-composite molecular markers thought to capture an individual's biological age-have been traditionally developed through bulk-level analyses of mixed cells and tissues. However, recent evidence highlights the importance of gaining single-cell-level insights into the aging process. Microglia are key immune cells in the brain shown to adapt functionally in aging and disease…