PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Simple alternative criteria identify people with the most to gain from lung cancer screening

2024-08-19
(Press-News.org) Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 19 August 2024      
Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet       

@Annalsofim      
Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.      
----------------------------      

1. Simple alternative criteria identify people with the most to gain from lung cancer screening  

Suggested screening criteria may include groups disproportionately excluded by current guidelines 

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-3250   

URL goes live when the embargo lifts        

In the first study of its kind, researchers developed an alternative set of simple criteria using a prediction model to identify groups of people who would most benefit from lung cancer screening (LCS) but are disproportionately excluded by current eligibility criteria. The study found that these high-benefit groups include those who smoked for a long duration but at a lower intensity, people with heavy smoking who quit over 15 years ago, and high-benefit persons from racial and ethnic minority groups. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.  

  

Researchers used over 58 million smoking adults’ responses to the annual National Health Interview Survey, dated from 1997 to 2018, to study whether an alternative criteria would work to better identify high-benefit persons and whom this would include. They used Fast and Frugal Tree algorithms and the same information as is included in the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) criteria to develop an alternative set of simple criteria. They compared the alternative criteria to USPSTF criteria in their sensitivity, and specificity to identify high-benefit people. Researchers also determined where the selected populations overlapped and where the alternative criteria overcame USPSTF’s limitations. Results suggest that the alternative criteria has higher sensitivity and specificity in identifying high-benefit people and is substantially more sensitive in identifying high benefit people in racial and ethnic minority populations than the USPSTF criteria. Analysis confirmed the inequity in current USPSTF criteria, which has a poor sensitivity for identifying high-benefit Black people for LCS. The alternative criteria would produce more effective screening, lead to better support of ethical risk management, and substantially reduce racial disparities in LCS eligibility. The alternative criteria is easy to remember and represents a feasible way to improve current LCS eligibility criteria. Beyond the LCS context, this approach could also be useful for other cancer screening and prevention modalities.  

  

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Angela Collom at acollom@acponline.org. To speak with a corresponding author, please email Lauren Kearney, MD at lekearn@bu.edu or Tanner Caverly, MD at tcaverly@med.umich.edu.   

----------------------------      

2. Older adults who start dialysis trade modest gains in life expectancy for less time at home    

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-3028    

URL goes live when the embargo lifts        

An observational cohort study of adults with chronic kidney failure examined the benefits and risks of starting dialysis versus continuing medical management on survival, home time, and time in inpatient settings. The data showed that patients who continued medical management lived fewer days but spent more days at home than patients who started dialysis. Patients who were 80 years or older and those with more advanced kidney failure had larger survival benefits over a 3-year period from starting dialysis. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.   

   

Researchers from Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System studied over 20 thousand adults from Veterans Affairs to see whether patients who started dialysis lived longer, and how many days were spent at home instead of in a hospital or nursing facility. Participants were selected if they were 65 years or older, had chronic kidney failure, and were not on the waitlist or referred for a kidney transplant. Researchers split the population into two groups: patients who started dialysis and patients who continued medical management. They found that the group starting dialysis survived longer than the group continuing medical management yet spent more time receiving inpatient care at a medical facility. These findings shed light on the tradeoffs between survival and time spent in inpatient care that an intensive treatment like dialysis might entail. The tradeoff between survival and time at home was more favorable for adults aged 80 years or older and subgroups with more advanced kidney failure. According to the authors, results from this study have the potential to improve understanding about the benefits and risks of treatment for kidney failure, which could help patients make decisions that match their goals.   

  

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Angela Collom at acollom@acponline.org. To speak with corresponding author Manjula Kurella Tamura, MD, MPH, please email Lisa Kim at likim@stanfordhealthcare.org.  

---------------------------- 

 

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

For some older adults with kidney failure, dialysis may not be the best option

For some older adults with kidney failure, dialysis may not be the best option
2024-08-19
Whether dialysis is the best option for kidney failure and, if so, when to start, may deserve more careful consideration, according to a new study. For older adults who were not healthy enough for a kidney transplant, starting dialysis when their kidney function fell below a certain threshold — rather than waiting — afforded them roughly one more week of life, Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues found. More critically, perhaps, they spent an average of two more weeks in ...

UC Davis Health develops a real-time action plan to help patients with lung disease cope with wildfire smoke

2024-08-19
A multidisciplinary team of UC Davis Health experts are calling on health systems to create wildfire preparedness action plans to support patients with preexisting respiratory diseases. They are urging providers to proactively put in place interventions to mitigate the effects of poor air quality from smoke. Their article, published in the Journal of the COPD Foundation, identifies the needs of high-risk populations when affected by wildfire smoke. It outlines an action plan for health systems to help these groups with the burdens of poor air quality from wildfires. “Patients ...

MIT study explains why laws are written in an incomprehensible style

2024-08-19
Legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand, even for lawyers. This raises the question: Why are these documents written in a style that makes them so impenetrable? MIT cognitive scientists believe they have uncovered the answer to that question. Just as “magic spells” use special rhymes and archaic terms to signal their power, the convoluted language of legalese acts to convey a sense of authority, they conclude. In a study that will appear in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that even non-lawyers use this type of language when asked to write laws. “People seem to understand that there’s ...

Understanding of early life ecosystems highlighted in new publication

Understanding of early life ecosystems highlighted in new publication
2024-08-19
STARKVILLE, Miss.—With a new understanding of past life on the planet through fossils, a Mississippi State biological sciences faculty member is helping researchers better predict Earth’s future. In a new paper published in July in the esteemed peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Donald L. Hall Professor of Biology Matthew Brown unearths a specific area of under-studied fossils: microbial eukaryotes—more specifically, testate amoebae from 750 million ...

New research finds scalable mindfulness interventions delivered via telehealth improve pain and well-being for veterans with chronic pain

2024-08-19
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (08/19/2024) — Mindfulness-based interventions delivered via telehealth in a scalable format can improve pain and overall well-being among veterans with chronic pain, according to new research published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.  In a randomized clinical trial, researchers aimed to test the effectiveness of two eight-week telehealth mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) designed to be scalable and widely implemented in healthcare systems. MBIs help people pay attention non-judgmentally in the present moment and often involve practices like meditation, breathing exercises or gentle movement. “Although mindfulness interventions are evidence-based ...

Current HIV prevention medication users often stigmatize other PrEP users as ‘promiscuous’

2024-08-19
Novel findings attend to attitudes of the stigmatized, rather than stigmatizers Past research identified perception of promiscuity and assumptions that PrEP users are HIV-positive as key drivers of perceived stigma Perception of stigma is highest among those who believe their sexual behavior puts them at risk for HIV Knowing others who use PrEP does not influence one’s fear of potential discrimination CHICAGO --- Public health messaging that drives stigma around Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), a medication that can reduce HIV risk by up to 99%, appears to play a role in uptake of the medication. While the potential mismarketing of the drug is well-understood and ...

How "winner and loser effects" impact social rank in animals - and humans

2024-08-19
Research has shown that in many animals, the winners of a fight are more likely to win subsequent contests, while the losers tend to lose their following fights. In experiments where male stickleback fish were randomly introduced to another fish, 65% of the winning fish won the second match, while all losing fish lost the second contest. Such winner and loser effects can greatly influence individual behavior and fitness. This effect happens in humans as well. In "Winner and Loser Effects and Social Rank in Humans," recently published in The Quarterly Review of Biology, authors Noah M. T. Smith and Reuven ...

Research study examines Alzheimer’s disease drug on tissue samples from people with Down syndrome

2024-08-19
People with Down syndrome are likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease at a young age, with autopsy studies showing that by age 40 years, the brains of individuals with Down syndrome have amyloid plaques. Yet people with Down syndrome have been excluded from or underrepresented in clinical trials of new therapies for treating AD. Lecanemab, which has been shown to target and remove beta-amyloid plaques, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat AD early in the disease’s progression. ...

International Society of Biomechanics recommendations for wearables-based motion capture

2024-08-19
Dr. Reed Gurchiek, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University, and an Early-stage Investigator, was a co-first author of a recent publication in the Journal of Biomechanics titled “International Society of Biomechanics recommendations on the definition, estimation, and reporting of joint kinematics in human motion analysis applications using wearable inertial measurement technology”. A collaborative effort that incorporated feedback from the biomechanics community has produced recommendations in five categories: sensor characteristics ...

Rutgers researchers discover new way to control the sense of touch

2024-08-19
Rutgers researchers have found a new way to manage the receptors that control the sense of touch, which could lead to treating chronic pain more effectively. “Identifying a natural molecule that specifically reduces pain sensitivity offers hope for new therapeutic strategies in the management of pain,” said Tibor Rohacs, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a member of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute. “Our goal is to translate these findings into effective treatments that improve the quality of life for people suffering from chronic ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Reality check: making indoor smartphone-based augmented reality work

Overthinking what you said? It’s your ‘lizard brain’ talking to newer, advanced parts of your brain

Black men — including transit workers — are targets for aggression on public transportation, study shows

Troubling spike in severe pregnancy-related complications for all ages in Illinois

Alcohol use identified by UTHealth Houston researchers as most common predictor of escalated cannabis vaping among youths in Texas

Need a landing pad for helicopter parenting? Frame tasks as learning

New MUSC Hollings Cancer Center research shows how Golgi stress affects T-cells' tumor-fighting ability

#16to365: New resources for year-round activism to end gender-based violence and strengthen bodily autonomy for all

Earliest fish-trapping facility in Central America discovered in Maya lowlands

São Paulo to host School on Disordered Systems

New insights into sleep uncover key mechanisms related to cognitive function

USC announces strategic collaboration with Autobahn Labs to accelerate drug discovery

Detroit health professionals urge the community to act and address the dangers of antimicrobial resistance

3D-printing advance mitigates three defects simultaneously for failure-free metal parts 

Ancient hot water on Mars points to habitable past: Curtin study

In Patagonia, more snow could protect glaciers from melt — but only if we curb greenhouse gas emissions soon

Simplicity is key to understanding and achieving goals

Caste differentiation in ants

Nutrition that aligns with guidelines during pregnancy may be associated with better infant growth outcomes, NIH study finds

New technology points to unexpected uses for snoRNA

Racial and ethnic variation in survival in early-onset colorectal cancer

Disparities by race and urbanicity in online health care facility reviews

Exploring factors affecting workers' acquisition of exercise habits using machine learning approaches

Nano-patterned copper oxide sensor for ultra-low hydrogen detection

Maintaining bridge safer; Digital sensing-based monitoring system

A novel approach for the composition design of high-entropy fluorite oxides with low thermal conductivity

A groundbreaking new approach to treating chronic abdominal pain

ECOG-ACRIN appoints seven researchers to scientific committee leadership positions

New model of neuronal circuit provides insight on eye movement

Cooking up a breakthrough: Penn engineers refine lipid nanoparticles for better mRNA therapies

[Press-News.org] Simple alternative criteria identify people with the most to gain from lung cancer screening