Statewide Intercity Passenger Transportation in Illinois

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of life in the United States. For travel, the changes have been vast, whether for private vehicle use or public transit use. For the intercity bus industry, the pandemic changed operations in meaningful ways that have yet to return to previous levels \u2013 whether on the service or the demand side. This study set out to measure both the supply and the demand for intercity routes; however, the fluctuations in supply levels made that virtually impossible to quantify. This study does, however, provide an overview of the history and current funding processes for intercity bus questions while performing modeling that shows where the greatest demand is for intercity bus services, both entirely within the State of Illinois and for routes that leave the state\u2019s borders. This study also provides considerable information about how feeder services improve connectivity to longer intercity bus routes, on a county-by-county level. This study also interviews other state DOTs to gain insight into their use of 5311(f) intercity bus funding that the Federal Transit Administration provides. The industry at the moment is plagued by increasing costs, shortages of staff, and funding levels that have not kept up with those increasing costs. Due to a perceived difficulty in procuring this funding from the State of Illinois, some providers have avoided attempting to utilize this funding in Illinois entirely, choosing to pursue providing service in other states, some of which provide additional services to intercity bus operators. Investments in intercity bus marketing could also assist efforts to move passengers around the state

Beliefs About Medication and Uptake of Preventive Therapy in Women at Increased Risk of Breast Cancer: Results From a Multicenter Prospective Study

Introduction Uptake of preventive therapies for breast cancer is low. We examined whether women at increased risk of breast cancer can be categorized into groups with similar medication beliefs, and whether belief group membership was prospectively associated with uptake of preventive therapy. Patients and Methods Women (n = 732) attending an appointment to discuss breast cancer risk were approached; 408 (55.7%) completed the Beliefs About Medicines and the Perceived Sensitivity to Medicines questionnaires. Uptake of tamoxifen at 3 months was reported in 258 (63.2%). The optimal number of belief groups were identified using latent profile analysis. Results Uptake of tamoxifen was 14.7% (38/258). One in 5 women (19.4%; 78/402) reported a strong need for tamoxifen. The model fit statistics supported a 2-group model. Both groups held weak beliefs about their need for tamoxifen for current and future health. Group 2 (38%; 154/406 of the sample) reported stronger concerns about tamoxifen and medicines in general, and stronger perceived sensitivity to the negative effects of medicines compared with group 1 (62%; 252/406). Women with low necessity and lower concerns (group 1) were more likely to initiate tamoxifen (18.3%; 33/180) than those with low necessity and higher concerns (group 2) (6.4%; 5/78). After adjusting for demographic and clinical factors, the odds ratio was 3.37 (95% confidence interval, 1.08-10.51; P = .036). Conclusion Uptake of breast cancer preventive therapy was low. A subgroup of women reported low need for preventive therapy and strong medication concerns. These women were less likely to initiate tamoxifen. Medication beliefs are targets for supporting informed decision-making