Nursing with Eating, Activity, and Supportive Environment (EASE) : Effects of an Eight-week Mentoring Program

Each year, approximately 2.8 million adults die from complications related to obesity (World Health Organization, 2011). One in three adults aged 20 years or older is obese, and 6% are morbidly obese. This problem is increasing at an alarming rate in young adults, and 20.5% of college students are classified as being overweight based upon their body mass index (BMI) (Adderley-Kelly, 2007). The purpose of this study was to increase knowledge about evidence-based, effective interventions that will enable college-aged, pre-nursing students to attain physical and mental well-being. The participants (N=24) were freshman and sophomore pre-nursing majors who were randomized into two groups (control and intervention). The intervention group met once a week for an eight-week nutrition and physical activity mentoring program at Texas Woman’s University. The participants were educated about proper diet and exercise recommendations and kept physical activity, nutrition, and stress management logs. Measured outcomes, mean changes and standard deviations over the eight week period included body weight (-0.3 kg + 1.7), BMI (-0.12 kg/m2 + 0.68), waist circumference (-2.5 cm + 1.9), and perceived stress scale (0.0 + 3.6). One-way ANOVAs with a p value of 0.05 were used for statistical analysis. There were no significant differences in weight, BMI, waist circumference or stress between the groups. Body composition and mental stress are difficult to change in an eight-week mentoring program, although improved knowledge may set the stage for future behavior change. A longer term program may need to be used to observe changes in weight, BMI, waist circumference, and stress

Trans-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of prostate cancer identifies new susceptibility loci and informs genetic risk prediction.

Prostate cancer is a highly heritable disease with large disparities in incidence rates across ancestry populations. We conducted a multiancestry meta-analysis of prostate cancer genome-wide association studies (107,247 cases and 127,006 controls) and identified 86 new genetic risk variants independently associated with prostate cancer risk, bringing the total to 269 known risk variants. The top genetic risk score (GRS) decile was associated with odds ratios that ranged from 5.06 (95% confidence interval (CI), 4.84-5.29) for men of European ancestry to 3.74 (95% CI, 3.36-4.17) for men of African ancestry. Men of African ancestry were estimated to have a mean GRS that was 2.18-times higher (95% CI, 2.14-2.22), and men of East Asian ancestry 0.73-times lower (95% CI, 0.71-0.76), than men of European ancestry. These findings support the role of germline variation contributing to population differences in prostate cancer risk, with the GRS offering an approach for personalized risk prediction

Herpes simplex virus type 1 and Alzheimer's disease: link and potential impact on treatment

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia worldwide, is a multifactorial disease with a still unknown etiology. Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) has long been suspected to be one of the factors involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Areas covered: We review the literature focusing on viral characteristics of HSV-1, the mechanisms this virus uses to infect neural cells, its interaction with the host immune system and genetic background and summarizes results and research that support the hypothesis of an association between AD and HSV-1. The possible usefulness of virus-directed pharmaceutical approaches as potential treatments for AD will be discussed as well. Expert opinion: We highlight crucial aspects that must be addressed to clarify the possible role of HSV-1 in the pathogenesis of the disease, and to allow the design of new therapeutical approaches for AD

A case study of pediatric tetanus in Rural Zambia

Background: Health care professionals from industrialized nations often travel to work in developing countriesas volunteers during natural disasters, as part of short-term medical missions, or to work as members of armedforces and non-governmental organizations. When providing direct patient care, these clinicians are more likelyto encounter vaccine-preventable diseases that they may rarely observe in a developed country. In addition,many children who do not have adequate vaccine coverage enter developed nations through internationaladoption processes or as political refugees. Additionally, despite much debunking of immunization myths, thereis a sizable community of parents who choose to withhold immunizations from their children because of fear ofunproven side effects.Methods and Results: This case study highlights a case of a globally-common, vaccine-preventable disease(tetanus), which rarely occurs in developed nations but is more common in Africa and Asia. Diagnosis andmanagement of a 7-year old boy is presented with differential diagnoses and adaptation of optimal diseasemanagement within the context of an undeveloped nation. All cases of tetanus are diagnosed clinically, withlaboratory testing used to rule out other causes of neurological impairment. The management of acute tetanusinfection includes vaccination, antibiotics, immunoglobulin or antitoxin, and nutritional support. Even withoptimal treatment, tetanus infection has a high fatality rate and requires prompt recognition for best possibleoutcomes.Conclusion: Educating caregivers about the importance and safety of immunizations and maintaining theappropriate vaccination schedule is vital to control these preventable diseases

A New Way to Understand and Address Women's Health in the Context of Complex Systems: Self-organizing Criticality

This article examines how self-organizing criticality can assist in answering complex questions in health and health care systems

Publisher Correction: Trans-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of prostate cancer identifies new susceptibility loci and informs genetic risk prediction (Nature Genetics, (2021), 53, 1, (65-75), 10.1038/s41588-020-00748-0):Trans-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of prostate cancer identifies new susceptibility loci and informs genetic risk prediction (Nature Genetics, (2021), 53, 1, (65-75), 10.1038/s41588-020-00748-0)

Correction to: Nature Genetics https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-00748-0, published online 4 January 2021.In the version of this article originally published, the names of the equally contributing authors and jointly supervising authors were switched. The correct affiliations are: “These authors contributed equally: David V. Conti, Burcu F. Darst. These authors jointly supervised this work: David V. Conti, Rosalind A. Eeles, Zsofia Kote-Jarai, Christopher A. Haiman.” The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article

Characterizing prostate cancer risk through multi-ancestry genome-wide discovery of 187 novel risk variants.

The transferability and clinical value of genetic risk scores (GRSs) across populations remain limited due to an imbalance in genetic studies across ancestrally diverse populations. Here we conducted a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of 156,319 prostate cancer cases and 788,443 controls of European, African, Asian and Hispanic men, reflecting a 57% increase in the number of non-European cases over previous prostate cancer genome-wide association studies. We identified 187 novel risk variants for prostate cancer, increasing the total number of risk variants to 451. An externally replicated multi-ancestry GRS was associated with risk that ranged from 1.8 (per standard deviation) in African ancestry men to 2.2 in European ancestry men. The GRS was associated with a greater risk of aggressive versus non-aggressive disease in men of African ancestry (P = 0.03). Our study presents novel prostate cancer susceptibility loci and a GRS with effective risk stratification across ancestry groups