Association between trajectories of adherence to endocrine therapy and risk of treated breast cancer recurrence among US nonmetastatic breast cancer survivors.

BACKGROUND: Endocrine therapy is the mainstay treatment for breast cancer (BC) to reduce BC recurrence risk. During the first year of endocrine therapy use, nearly 30% of BC survivors are nonadherent, which may increase BC recurrence risk. This study is to examine the association between endocrine therapy adherence trajectories and BC recurrence risk in nonmetastatic BC survivors. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included Medicare beneficiaries in the United States (US) with incident nonmetastatic BC followed by endocrine therapy initiation in 2010-2019 US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results linked Medicare data. We calculated monthly fill-based proportion of days covered in the first year of endocrine therapy. We applied group-based trajectory models to identify distinct endocrine therapy adherence patterns. After the end of the first-year endocrine therapy trajectory measurement period, we estimated the risk of time to first treated BC recurrence within 4 years using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: We identified 5 trajectories of adherence to endocrine therapy in BC Stages 0-I subgroup (n = 28,042) and in Stages II-III subgroup (n = 7781). A trajectory of discontinuation before 6 months accounted for 7.0% in Stages 0-I and 5.8% in Stages II-III subgroups, and this trajectory was associated with an increased treated BC recurrence risk compared to nearly perfect adherence (Stages 0-I: adjusted hazard [aHR] = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.46-2.33; Stages II-III: aHR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.07-1.77). CONCLUSIONS: Nearly 7% of BC survivors who discontinued before completing 6 months of treatment was associated with an increased treated BC recurrence risk compared to those with nearly perfect adherence among Medicare nonmetastatic BC survivors.

Association between trajectories of prescription opioid use and risk of opioid use disorder and overdose among US nonmetastatic breast cancer survivors.

PURPOSE: To examine the association between prescription opioid use trajectories and risk of opioid use disorder (OUD) or overdose among nonmetastatic breast cancer survivors by treatment type. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included female nonmetastatic breast cancer survivors with at least 1 opioid prescription fill in 2010-2019 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results linked Medicare data. Opioid mean daily morphine milligram equivalents (MME) calculated within 1.5 years after initiating active breast cancer therapy. Group-based trajectory models identified distinct opioid use trajectory patterns. Risk of time to first OUD/overdose event within 1 year after the trajectory period was calculated for distinct trajectory groups using Cox proportional hazards models. Analyses were stratified by treatment type. RESULTS: Four opioid use trajectories were identified for each treatment group. For 38,030 survivors with systemic endocrine therapy, 3 trajectories were associated with increased OUD/overdose risk compared with early discontinuation: minimal dose (< 5 MME; adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 1.73 [95% CI 1.43-2.09]), very low dose (5-25 MME; 2.67 [2.05-3.48]), and moderate dose (51-90 MME; 6.20 [4.69-8.19]). For 9477 survivors with adjuvant chemotherapy, low-dose opioid use was associated with higher OUD/overdose risk (aHR = 7.33 [95% CI 2.52-21.31]) compared with early discontinuation. For 3513 survivors with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the differences in OUD/OD risks across the 4 trajectories were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Among Medicare nonmetastatic breast cancer survivors receiving systemic endocrine therapy or adjuvant chemotherapy, compared with early discontinuation, low-dose or moderate-dose opioid use were associated with six- to sevenfold higher OUD/overdose risk. Breast cancer survivors at high-risk of OUD/overdose may benefit from targeted interventions (e.g., pain clinic referral).

Identifying social determinants of health from clinical narratives: A study of performance, documentation ratio, and potential bias.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a natural language processing (NLP) package to extract social determinants of health (SDoH) from clinical narratives, examine the bias among race and gender groups, test the generalizability of extracting SDoH for different disease groups, and examine population-level extraction ratio. METHODS: We developed SDoH corpora using clinical notes identified at the University of Florida (UF) Health. We systematically compared 7 transformer-based large language models (LLMs) and developed an open-source package - SODA (i.e., SOcial DeterminAnts) to facilitate SDoH extraction from clinical narratives. We examined the performance and potential bias of SODA for different race and gender groups, tested the generalizability of SODA using two disease domains including cancer and opioid use, and explored strategies for improvement. We applied SODA to extract 19 categories of SDoH from the breast (n = 7,971), lung (n = 11,804), and colorectal cancer (n = 6,240) cohorts to assess patient-level extraction ratio and examine the differences among race and gender groups. RESULTS: We developed an SDoH corpus using 629 clinical notes of cancer patients with annotations of 13,193 SDoH concepts/attributes from 19 categories of SDoH, and another cross-disease validation corpus using 200 notes from opioid use patients with 4,342 SDoH concepts/attributes. We compared 7 transformer models and the GatorTron model achieved the best mean average strict/lenient F1 scores of 0.9122 and 0.9367 for SDoH concept extraction and 0.9584 and 0.9593 for linking attributes to SDoH concepts. There is a small performance gap (∼4%) between Males and Females, but a large performance gap (>16 %) among race groups. The performance dropped when we applied the cancer SDoH model to the opioid cohort; fine-tuning using a smaller opioid SDoH corpus improved the performance. The extraction ratio varied in the three cancer cohorts, in which 10 SDoH could be extracted from over 70 % of cancer patients, but 9 SDoH could be extracted from less than 70 % of cancer patients. Individuals from the White and Black groups have a higher extraction ratio than other minority race groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our SODA package achieved good performance in extracting 19 categories of SDoH from clinical narratives. The SODA package with pre-trained transformer models is available at https://github.com/uf-hobi-informatics-lab/SODA_Docker.

Disparities in Access to Hepatitis C Treatment Among Arizona Medicaid Beneficiaries With Chronic Hepatitis C.

BACKGROUND: High costs of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have led to their restricted access for patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV). OBJECTIVE: The aim was to assess how HCV treatment access and predictors of HCV treatment changed in the post-DAA period compared with pre-DAA period. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study using Arizona Medicaid data was conducted for patients with HCV to compare treatment initiation rates between pre-DAA (January 2008-October 2013) and post-DAA (November 2013-December 2018) periods. Multivariable logistic regression was used, controlling for demographic and clinical variables. RESULTS: Twenty-four thousand and ninety and 28,756 patients during the pre-DAA and post-DAA periods were identified. Overall, 12.6% were treated in the post-DAA period compared with 7.8% in the pre-DAA period ( P <0.001). The relative increase in the HCV treatment initiation rate from the pre-DAA to the post-DAA period was significant greater for Black beneficiaries compared with White beneficiaries ( P =0.002). Hispanic beneficiaries were less likely to be treated in the post-DAA period [adjusted odds ratios (aOR): 0.88; CI: 0.79-0.98] compared with White beneficiaries. Those with mental illness (aOR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.63-0.80) and substance use disorders (aOR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.58-0.68) were less likely to be treated in the post-DAA period. CONCLUSIONS: Although treatment initiation increased and disparities for Black beneficiaries compared with White beneficiaries attenuated in the post-DAA period, only 13% of Arizona Medicaid patients with HCV received DAA treatment. Disparities in DAA access remained among Hispanic patients and those with mental illness and substance use disorders.

Impact of Direct-acting Antivirals on Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Mortality Among Medicaid Beneficiaries With Hepatitis C.

OBJECTIVE: The effects of all-oral direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver-related and all-cause mortality were assessed among Medicaid beneficiaries with hepatitis C virus (HCV). SUBJECTS: This cohort study used 2013-2019 Arizona Medicaid data from beneficiaries with HCV aged 18-64 years. METHODS: Risks of HCC and liver-related and all-cause mortality were compared between patients with or without DAA treatment, stratified by liver disease severity, using inverse probability of treatment weighted multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models. RESULTS: Of 29,289 patients, 13.3% received DAAs. Among patients with compensated cirrhosis (CC), DAA treatment was associated with a lower risk of HCC [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 0.57; 95% CI, 0.37-0.88] compared with untreated patients although this association was not statistically significant for patients without cirrhosis or with decompensated cirrhosis (DCC). Compared with untreated patients, DAA treatment was associated with decreased risk of liver-related mortality for patients without cirrhosis (aHR: 0.02; 95% CI: 0.004-0.11), with CC (aHR: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.06-0.13), or with DCC (aHR: 0.20; 95% CI: 0.14-0.27). Similarly, compared with untreated patients, DAA treatment was associated with lower all-cause mortality for patients without cirrhosis (aHR: 0.10; 95% CI: 0.08-0.14), with CC (aHR: 0.07; 95% CI: 0.05-0.10), or with DCC (aHR: 0.15; 95% CI: 0.11-0.20). CONCLUSIONS: Among Arizona Medicaid beneficiaries with HCV, DAA treatment was associated with decreased risk of HCC for patients with CC but not for patients without cirrhosis or with DCC. However, DAA treatment was associated with decreased risk of liver-related and all-cause mortality.

Survey of the triple-mentoring program for students at a religious medical school.

BACKGROUND: Tzu Chi University in Taiwan offers a unique mentoring program. This program differs from others as it comprises triple mentorship, namely, faculty mentors, Tzu Cheng/Yi De (TC/YD; senior volunteers), and school counselors. This study aimed to survey the role functions of the mentors from the perspective of medical students. METHODS: The Role Functions of the Mentoring Program Scale (RFMPS) was developed on the basis of literature reviews and focus groups and it underwent exploratory factor analysis for internal consistency and reliability. RFMPS comprises four role functions, namely, mental, educational, career, and humanistic/moral guidance counseling. The survey was distributed to 171 medical students via an online network with two-month intervals and was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 64% (116/171). The mean scores of the four role functions in descending order belonged to faculty mentors, TC/YD, and school counselors. For humanistic/moral guidance, students had an equal preference for the faculty mentors and TC/YD over school counselors. As for educational, career, and mental guidance counseling, students preferred faculty mentors over TC/YD and school counselors. Faculty mentors provided students with the required guidance counseling for all the four role functions, especially educational guidance; TC/YD in particular offered prominent humanistic/moral guidance and career counseling; school counselors were less preferred but guided students in need. CONCLUSIONS: Medical students value different role functions provided by faculty mentors, TC/YD, and school counselors. A diversified focus could be provided by the faculty mentors, particularly in educational, career, mental, and humanistic/moral counseling; TC/YD specialized in humanistic/moral guidance; and the school counselors carried out their role function only when needed. Humanistic/moral guidance is equally preferred to other types of guidance, which can be equally valuable in future mentoring programs.

Real-Time Evaluation of the Mechanical Performance and Residual Life of a Notching Mold using Embedded PVDF Sensors and SVM Criteria.

The geometric tolerance of notching machines used in the fabrication of components for induction motor stators and rotators is less than 50 µm. The blunt edges of worn molds can cause the edge of the sheet metal to form a burr, which can seriously impede assembly and reduce the efficiency of the resulting motor. The overuse of molds without sufficient maintenance leads to wasted sheet material, whereas excessive maintenance shortens the life of the punch/die plate. Diagnosing the mechanical performance of die molds requires extensive experience and fine-grained sensor data. In this study, we embedded polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films within the mechanical mold of a notching machine to obtain direct measurements of the reaction forces imposed by the punch. We also developed an automated diagnosis program based on a support vector machine (SVM) to characterize the performance of the mechanical mold. The proposed cyber-physical system (CPS) facilitated the real-time monitoring of machinery for preventative maintenance as well as the implementation of early warning alarms. The cloud server used to gather mold-related data also generated data logs for managers. The hyperplane of the CPS-PVDF was calibrated using a variety of parameters pertaining to the edge characteristics of punches. Stereo-microscopy analysis of the punched workpiece verified that the accuracy of the fault classification was 97.6%.

In Situ Diagnosis of Industrial Motors by Using Vision-Based Smart Sensing Technology.

This study uses machine vision, feature extraction, and support vector machine (SVM) to compose a vibration monitoring system (VMS) for an in situ evaluation of the performance of industrial motors. The vision-based system respectively offers a spatial and temporal resolution of 1.4 µm and 16.6 ms after the image calibration and the benchmark of a laser displacement sensor (LDS). The embedded program of machine vision has used zero-mean normalized correlation (ZNCC) and peak finding (PF) for tracking the registered characteristics on the object surface. The calibrated VMS provides time-displacement curves related to both horizontal and vertical directions, promising remote inspections of selected points without attaching additional markers or sensors. The experimental setup of the VMS is cost-effective and uncomplicated, supporting universal combinations between the imaging system and computational devices. The procedures of the proposed scheme are (1) setting up a digital camera, (2) calibrating the imaging system, (3) retrieving the data of image streaming, (4) executing the ZNCC criteria, and providing the time-displacement results of selected points. The experiment setup of the proposed VMS is straightforward and can cooperate with surveillances in industrial environments. The embedded program upgrades the functionality of the camera system from the events monitoring to remote measurement without the additional cost of attaching sensors on motors or targets. Edge nodes equipped with the image-tracking program serve as the physical layer and upload the extracted features to a cloud server via the wireless sensor network (WSN). The VMS can provide customized services under the architecture of the cyber-physical system (CPS), and this research offers an early warning alarm of the mechanical system before unexpected downtime. Based on the smart sensing technology, the in situ diagnosis of industrial motors given from the VMS enables preventative maintenance and contributes to the precision measurement of intelligent automation.

Decomposition and Mineralization of Dimethyl Phthalate in an Aqueous Solution by Wet Oxidation.

Dimethyl phthalate (DMP) was treated via wet oxygen oxidation process (WOP). The decomposition efficiency η DMP of DMP and mineralization efficiency η TOC of total organic carbons were measured to evaluate the effects of operation parameters on the performance of WOP. The results revealed that reaction temperature T is the most affecting factor, with a higher T offering higher η DMP and η TOC as expected. The η DMP increases as rotating speed increases from 300 to 500 rpm with stirring enhancement of gas liquid mass transfer. However, it exhibits reduction effect at 700 rpm due to purging of dissolved oxygen by overstirring. Regarding the effects of pressure P T, a higher P T provides more oxygen for the forward reaction with DMP, while overhigh P T increases the absorption of gaseous products such as CO2 and decomposes short-chain hydrocarbon fragments back into the solution thus hindering the forward reaction. For the tested P T of 2.41 to 3.45 MPa, the results indicated that 2.41 MPa is appropriate. A longer reaction time of course gives better performance. At 500 rpm, 483 K, 2.41 MPa, and 180 min, the η DMP and η TOC are 93 and 36%, respectively.

Adsorption Removal of Environmental Hormones of Dimethyl Phthalate Using Novel Magnetic Adsorbent.

Magnetic polyvinyl alcohol adsorbent M-PVAL was employed to remove and concentrate dimethyl phthalate DMP. The M-PVAL was prepared after sequential syntheses of magnetic Fe3O4 (M) and polyvinyl acetate (M-PVAC). The saturated magnetizations of M, M-PVAC, and M-PVAL are 57.2, 26.0, and 43.2 emu g(-1) with superparamagnetism, respectively. The average size of M-PVAL by number is 0.75 µm in micro size. Adsorption experiments include three cases: (1) adjustment of initial pH (pH0) of solution to 5, (2) no adjustment of pH0 with value in 6.04-6.64, and (3) adjusted pH0 = 7. The corresponding saturated amounts of adsorption of unimolecular layer of Langmuir isotherm are 4.01, 5.21, and 4.22 mg g(-1), respectively. Values of heterogeneity factor of Freundlich isotherm are 2.59, 2.19, and 2.59 which are greater than 1, revealing the favorable adsorption of DMP/M-PVAL system. Values of adsorption activation energy per mole of Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm are, respectively, of low values of 7.04, 6.48, and 7.19 kJ mol(-1), indicating the natural occurring of the adsorption process studied. The tiny size of adsorbent makes the adsorption take place easily while its superparamagnetism is beneficial for the separation and recovery of micro adsorbent from liquid by applying magnetic field after completion of adsorption.

The effects of Chinese five-element music therapy on nursing students with depressed mood.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Chinese five-element music therapy on nursing students with depressed mood. We randomly assigned 71 nursing students from Taiwan with depressed mood to the music and control groups. The music group (n = 31) received Chinese five-element music therapy, whereas the participants in the control group (n = 40) maintained their routine lifestyles with no music therapy. All of the participants were assessed using the Depression Mood Self-Report Inventory for Adolescence, and their salivary cortisol levels were measured. The study found that there was a significant reduction in depression between the pre- and posttherapy test scores and in salivary cortisol levels over time in the music group. After receiving the music therapy, the nursing students' depression levels were significantly reduced (P = 0.038) compared with the control group (P < 0.001). These results indicate that the Chinese five-element music therapy has the potential to reduce the level of depression in nursing students with depressed mood.

Catalytic destruction of vinyl chloride over an alumina-supported platinum catalyst.

In this study, vinyl chloride (VC), the primary material for manufacturing polyvinyl chloride (PVC), is decomposed via catalytic oxidation (C-OX) using Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. The effects of related major factors such as reaction temperature (T) and gas hourly space velocity on the conversion of VC (X) were examined. The values of T for achieving conversions of 50% and 90% are 504 and 580 K with C-OX, respectively, whereas those without Pt/γ-Al2O3 (i.e., thermal oxidation, T-OX) are 900 and 983 K, respectively, thus indicating that C-OX significantly reduces T for effective oxidation of VC to form CO2, HCl, and Cl2 when compared with T-OX. The mineralizations of carbon in VC to form CO2 are 75.5% and 38% for C-OX and T-OX, respectively, at 90% X. The conversions of chlorine atom in 1,2-dichloroenane (DCEA) to Cl in HCl and Cl2 are approximately 42% and 50.8% for C-OX and T-OX, respectively, at 90% X. These results indicate that the Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalyst exhibits remarkable performance for the mineralizations to form CO2 even though a proportion of chlorine atoms are adsorbed on the Pt surface. The Eley-Rideal model can be used to describe the experimental results, thus yielding activation energy and frequency factor values of 49.0 kJ mol(-1) and 1.77 × 10(6) s(-1), respectively. The obtained information and kinetic parameters are useful for the rational design and operation of C-OX process for the abatement of VC.

Photocatalytic characteristic and photodegradation kinetics of toluene using N-doped TiO2 modified by radio frequency plasma.

This study investigates the feasibility of applications of the plasma surface modification of photocatalysts and the removal of toluene from indoor environments. N-doped TiO2 is prepared by precipitation methods and calcined using a muffle furnace (MF) and modified by radio frequency plasma (RF) at different temperatures with light sources from a visible light lamp (VLL), a white light-emitting diode (WLED) and an ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UVLED). The operation parameters and influential factors are addressed and prepared for characteristic analysis and photo-decomposition examination. Furthermore, related kinetic models are established and used to simulate the experimental data. The characteristic analysis results show that the RF plasma-calcination method enhanced the Brunauer Emmett Teller surface area of the modified photocatalysts effectively. For the elemental analysis, the mass percentages of N for the RF-modified photocatalyst are larger than those of MF by six times. The aerodynamic diameters of the RF-modifiedphotocatalyst are all smaller than those of MF. Photocatalytic decompositions of toluene are elucidated according to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. Decomposition efficiencies (eta) of toluene for RF-calcined methods are all higher than those of commercial TiO2 (P25). Reaction kinetics ofphoto-decomposition reactions using RF-calcined methods with WLED are proposed. A comparison of the simulation results with experimental data is also made and indicates good agreement. All the results provide useful information and design specifications. Thus, this study shows the feasibility and potential use of plasma modification via LED in photocatalysis.

Rapid inspection method for measuring interior tilt and decenter in singlet lens.

The objective of this study was to present a high-speed, on-line means of measuring interior tilt and decentration in a singlet lens. We propose a noncontact method based on polarized optics, which provides inspection functions for the practical measurement of lenses. The proposed system was used to measure a tilted and decentered lens, and the results of which showed strong agreement with those obtained in theoretical predictions and CodeV simulations. The proposed method provides a wide field of inspection applicable to lenses with a diameter up to 70 mm. Measurement accuracy is of 0.14 deg/pixel in tilt, and 33 µm/pixel in decentration. Inspection time is only 0.78 s.

A novel sensor platform matching the improved version of IPMVP option C for measuring energy savings.

It is easy to measure energy consumption with a power meter. However, energy savings cannot be directly computed by the powers measured using existing power meter technologies, since the power consumption only reflects parts of the real energy flows. The International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP) was proposed by the Efficiency Valuation Organization (EVO) to quantify energy savings using four different methodologies of A, B, C and D. Although energy savings can be estimated following the IPMVP, there are limitations on its practical implementation. Moreover, the data processing methods of the four IPMVP alternatives use multiple sensors (thermometer, hygrometer, Occupant information) and power meter readings to simulate all facilities, in order to determine an energy usage benchmark and the energy savings. This study proposes a simple sensor platform to measure energy savings. Using usually the Electronic Product Code (EPC) global standard, an architecture framework for an information system is constructed that integrates sensors data, power meter readings and occupancy conditions. The proposed sensor platform is used to monitor a building with a newly built vertical garden system (VGS). A VGS shields solar radiation and saves on energy that would be expended on air-conditioning. With this platform, the amount of energy saved in the whole facility is measured and reported in real-time. The data are compared with those obtained from detailed measurement and verification (M&V) processes. The discrepancy is less than 1.565%. Using measurements from the proposed sensor platform, the energy savings for the entire facility are quantified, with a resolution of ±1.2%. The VGS gives an 8.483% daily electricity saving for the building. Thus, the results show that the simple sensor platform proposed by this study is more widely applicable than the four complicated IPMVP alternatives and the VGS is an effective tool in reducing the carbon footprint of a building.

The development and psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the Maternal Attachment Inventory.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To develop the Maternal Attachment Inventory (MAI) into Chinese and assess its psychometric properties. BACKGROUND: The MAI measures of maternal affectionate attachment. This scale displays the most appropriate indicators associated with attachment and has been widely adopted in different fields for measuring maternal-infant attachment. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey design. METHODS: The study was carried out in two clinics. From the accessible population of 507 samples, a simple random sampling method of selection was used to randomly choose 200 names of mothers at 4-8 months after delivery using a computer. One hundred and eighty-one mothers agreed to participate in the study. The Chinese version of the MAI (CMAI) was developed in five stages: translation, review, back-translation, a review by a panel of specialists and a pilot test. Regarding the reliability of the CMAI, a test of correlations between the subscales and the entire scale was performed consecutively. With respect to the validity of the MAI, exploratory factor analyses, a test of relationships between items and subscales, and an analysis of concurrent criterion-related validity were conducted. RESULTS: The CMAI contains four factors in its structure. The CMAI and its subscales possess good internal consistency; the Cronbach's α coefficient was 0·94. In addition, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient between the CMAI and the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Inventory (MFAI) and between the CMAI and the Maternal-Infant Attachment Inventory (MIAI) was 0·38 and 0·5, respectively. This suggests significant medium and high respective correlations between the CMAI and these two scales. One major limitation of this study is that participants were recruited from two clinics located in central Taiwan. CONCLUSIONS: The CMAI possesses acceptable reliability and validity for use in measuring the levels of attachment and affectional ties between mothers and their infants. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The CMAI provides further evidence of the applicability of the CMAI in clinical maternity care services.

Optimizing treatment of benzoic acid by ozone process with recyclable catalyst of magnetism.

This study is to optimize the multi-quality performance of magnetic catalyst/ozone process by combining a technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) with the Taguchi method, which simultaneously has the best decomposition rate constant of benzoic acid and removal rate constant of total organic carbon (TOC). The optimal experimental parameters were pH of 7, initial concentration of 75 ppm and catalyst loading of 0.05 g/L. More than 93% of the magnetic catalyst was easily separated and redispersed for reuse by the magnetic force due to the paramagnetic behaviours of the prepared SiO2/Fe3O4. It is believed that through the joint efforts improvement, design and manufacturing, new separation and recycling technologies will be available and more easily recyclable magnetic catalysts will be developed in the future.

L-DOPA induces iron accumulation in roots of Ipomoea aquatica and Arabidopsis thaliana in a pH-dependent manner.

BACKGROUND: Iron deficiency is the leading cause of anemia worldwide, particularly in countries with predominant plant-based diets. Plants constitute the main source of dietary iron. Increasing their iron concentration could reduce the occurrence of anemia. The water spinach Ipomoea aquatica is consumed as a vegetable throughout Asia and tolerates high iron concentrations making it an attractive candidate for iron biofortification. L-DOPA is an allelopathic molecule secreted by some legumes. L-DOPA can trigger the expression of Fe deficiency-inducible genes, and could potentially be used as a biostimulant to increase Fe concentration. RESULTS: L-DOPA significantly affected root growth of water spinach, and triggered a massive accumulation of Fe in roots. Both effects were exacerbated when L-DOPA was dissolved in KOH, which is surprising given that L-DOPA is less stable at high pH. To check whether a higher pH could indeed increase the bioactivity of L-DOPA, we used Arabidopsis thaliana, which grows at lower pH than water spinach, and subjected the plants to L-DOPA treatments at pH 5.5 and pH 6.0, which are both within the optimal range for Arabidopsis nutrition. At pH 6.0, the root growth of Arabidopsis was more strongly inhibited than at pH 5.5. We found that at higher pH, L-DOPA oxidizes to form a melanin precipitate. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the oxidation of L-DOPA that we observed upon solubilization in KOH, or in nutrient solutions at slightly higher pH produces melanin-related molecules that are more potent than L-DOPA itself to trigger the primary root growth inhibition, Fe uptake and root Fe accumulation in water spinach and Arabidopsis.

Trends, characteristics, race, and ethnicity associated with nonadherence to antidepressants among breast cancer survivors with depression.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in the United States, and half of breast cancer survivors experience major depressive disorders (hereafter depression). Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) quality measures evaluating depression treatment practices recommend uninterrupted antidepressant treatment for 3 months in the acute phase and 3 months in the continuation phase for the general population. However, little is known about the extent of and trends in antidepressant nonadherence among breast cancer survivors with depression, which may impact adherence to breast cancer treatment, potentially leading to breast cancer recurrence and other adverse outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To examine the trends and characteristics associated with antidepressant nonadherence among breast cancer survivors with depression in the United States. METHODS: We conducted cross-sectional analyses of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results linked with Medicare data (2010-2019) for women with breast cancer and depression who newly initiated antidepressant use. Using HEDIS measures of nonadherence (ie, antidepressant prescription coverage ≤84 days of the 114-day acute phase or ≤180 days of the 231-day continuation phase), we calculated the annual crude prevalence of antidepressant nonadherence and examined trends using unadjusted logistic regression. Multivariable logistic regression identified characteristics associated with antidepressant nonadherence. RESULTS: Among 9,452 eligible breast cancer survivors with depression (aged ≥65 years = 84% and White race = 82%), the crude prevalence of antidepressant nonadherence decreased from 2010 to 2019 for both the acute (49% to 40%; Ptrend<0.001) and continuation (67% to 57%; Ptrend<0.001) phases. Factors significantly associated with higher odds of antidepressant nonadherence in both the acute and continuation phases included Black race (odds ratios [ORs] [95% CI] for the acute/continuation phases: 2.0 [1.7-2.4]/2.0 [1.7-2.3]) and Hispanic ethnicity (1.5 [1.1-1.9]/2.2 [1.6-2.9]) compared with White race; receiving the first antidepressant from an oncologist vs a psychiatrist (1.4 [1.1-1.8]/1.6 [1.2-2.0]); and using antidepressants not recommended for older adults by the Beers criteria (2.2 [1.6-2.9]/2.0 [1.4-2.7]). Factors associated with lower odds of antidepressant nonadherence in both phases included receiving lymph node dissection (0.7 [0.5-0.9]/0.7 [0.5-0.9]), receiving endocrine therapy (0.9 [0.8-0.9]/0.8 [0.7-0.9]), having a higher National Cancer Institute comorbid index (0.8 [0.7-0.8]/0.9 [0.8-0.9]), having a follow-up visit with a psychiatrist (0.9 [0.8-0.9]/0.9 [0.8-0.9]), and switching to different antidepressants (0.7 [0.6-0.8]/0.7 [0.7-0.8]). CONCLUSIONS: Despite antidepressant nonadherence prevalence decreasing from 2010 to 2019, over half of breast cancer survivors with depression and Medicare were nonadherent in the continuation phase. Patients with identified nonadherence risk factors may benefit from close monitoring and targeted interventions. DISCLOSURES: Wei-Hsuan Lo-Ciganic reported grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA044985 and R01DA050676), the National Institute on Aging (R21AG060308), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH121907), Merck Sharp & Dohme, Bristol Myers Squibb, the Richard King Mellon Foundation at the University of Pittsburgh, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of the University of Florida, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Foundation, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs outside the submitted work; in addition, Wei-Hsuan Lo-Ciganic has a patent pending for U1195.70174US00. Haesuk Park reported grants from Bristol Myers Squibb/Pfizer Alliance American Thrombosis Investigator Initiated Research Program (ARISTA-USA) outside the submitted work. Juan M. Hincapie-Castillo reported grants from Merck outside the submitted work. Debbie Wilson reported grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Aging, Merck Sharp & Dohme, and Bristol Myers Squibb outside the submitted work; and serving as an editorial board member for the Journal of Pharmacy Technology. Ching-Yuan Chang's contributions to this manuscript were made while at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Ching-Yuan Chang is currently employed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Vertex did not fund or have any involvement in this study or publication. Vakaramoko Diaby is currently employed by Otsuka, Inc. Otsuka did not fund or have any involvement in this study or publication. No other disclosures were reported.

High-resolution electronic interferometry for the measurement of in-plane vibration.

This study proposes an algorithm based on the standard deviation in the temporal domain to remove influences from background noise and ambient disturbance and enhance the quality of images obtained using interferometric technology. From measurements of the first ten in-plane resonant frequencies and mode shapes of vibrating zirconate titanate (PZT) laminates, we investigated the resonant characteristics in both the U and V directions. The resulting interference fringes were used to quantify the vibration amplitude of PZT plates on a submicron scale. The resonant frequencies obtained using the proposed method are in excellent agreement with those obtained using the finite element method and an impedance analyzer.