BackgroundOsteoporosis heavily affects postmenopausal women and is influenced by environmental exposures. Determining the impact of criteria air pollutants and their mixtures on bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women is an urgent priority.MethodsWe conducted a prospective observational study using data from the ethnically diverse Women's Health Initiative Study (WHI) (enrollment, September 1994–December 1998; data analysis,… Continue reading Air pollution and decreased bone mineral density among Women’s Health Initiative participants
Category: Environment
Phthalates and Incident Diabetes in Midlife Women: The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN)
ContextPhthalates are hypothesized to contribute to diabetes, but longitudinal evidence in humans is limited.ObjectiveWe examined whether phthalate exposure was associated with a higher incidence of diabetes in a racially/ethnically diverse cohort of midlife women.MethodsIn the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation Multipollutant Study, we followed 1308 women without diabetes in 1999-2000 for 6 years.… Continue reading Phthalates and Incident Diabetes in Midlife Women: The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN)
Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses
...We included 11 new RCTs and cluster‐RCTs (610,872 participants) in this update, bringing the total number of RCTs to 78. Six of the new trials were conducted during the COVID‐19 pandemic; two from Mexico, and one each from Denmark, Bangladesh, England, and Norway. We identified four ongoing studies, of which one is completed, but unreported, evaluating masks… Continue reading Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses
Predicting physician departure with machine learning on EHR use patterns: A longitudinal cohort from a large multi-specialty ambulatory practice
Physician turnover places a heavy burden on the healthcare industry, patients, physicians, and their families. Having a mechanism in place to identify physicians at risk for departure could help target appropriate interventions that prevent departure. We have collected physician characteristics, electronic health record (EHR) use patterns, and clinical productivity data from a large ambulatory based… Continue reading Predicting physician departure with machine learning on EHR use patterns: A longitudinal cohort from a large multi-specialty ambulatory practice
Mask mandate and use efficacy for COVID-19 containment in US States
Background: COVID-19 pandemic mitigation requires evidence-based strategies. Because COVID-19 can spread via respired droplets, most US states mandated mask use in public settings. Randomized control trials have not clearly demonstrated mask efficacy against respiratory viruses, and observational studies conflict on whether mask use predicts lower infection rates. We hypothesized that statewide mask mandates and mask… Continue reading Mask mandate and use efficacy for COVID-19 containment in US States
Reported sleep duration reveals segmentation of the adult life-course into three phases
Classically the human life-course is characterized by youth, middle age and old age. A wide range of biological, health and cognitive functions vary across this life-course. Here, using reported sleep duration from 730,187 participants across 63 countries, we find three distinct phases in the adult human life-course: early adulthood (19-33yrs), mid-adulthood (34-53yrs), and late adulthood… Continue reading Reported sleep duration reveals segmentation of the adult life-course into three phases
Discriminatory Attitudes Against the Unvaccinated During a Global Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic sizeable groups of unvaccinated minorities persist even in countries with high vaccine access1. Consequently, vaccination became a controversial subject of debate and even protest2. Here, we assess whether people express discriminatory attitudes in the form of negative affect, stereotypes and exclusionary attitudes in family and political settings across groups defined by… Continue reading Discriminatory Attitudes Against the Unvaccinated During a Global Pandemic
An RCT study showing few weeks of music lessons enhance audio-visual temporal processing
Music involves different senses and is emotional in nature, and musicians show enhanced detection of audio-visual temporal discrepancies and emotion recognition compared to non-musicians. However, whether musical training produces these enhanced abilities or if they are innate within musicians remains unclear. Thirty-one adult participants were randomly assigned to a music training, music listening, or control… Continue reading An RCT study showing few weeks of music lessons enhance audio-visual temporal processing
Associations between air pollution and multimorbidity in the UK Biobank: A cross-sectional study
Background: Long-term exposure to air pollution concentrations is known to be adversely associated with a broad range of single non-communicable diseases, but its role in multimorbidity has not been investigated in the UK. We aimed to assess associations between long-term air pollution exposure and multimorbidity status, severity, and patterns using the UK Biobank cohort. Methods:… Continue reading Associations between air pollution and multimorbidity in the UK Biobank: A cross-sectional study
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