Evaluating Disparities in Colon Cancer Survival in American Indian/Alaskan Native Patients Using the National Cancer Database.

BACKGROUND: Studies demonstrate higher mortality rates from colon cancer in American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) patients compared to non-Hispanic White (nHW). We aim to identify factors that contribute to survival disparities. METHODS: We used the National Cancer Database to identify AI/AN (n = 2127) and nHW (n = 527,045) patients with stage I-IV colon cancer from 2004 to 2016. Overall survival among stage I-IV colon cancer patients was estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis; Cox proportional hazard ratios were used to identify independent predictors of survival. RESULTS: AI/AN patients with stage I-III disease had significantly shorter median survival than nHW (73 vs 77 months, respectively; p < 0.001); there were no differences in survival for stage IV. Adjusted analyses demonstrated that AI/AN race was an independent predictor of higher overall mortality compared to nHW (HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.01-1.33, p = 0.002). Importantly, compared to nHW, AI/AN were younger, had more comorbidities, had greater rurality, had more left-sided colon cancers, had higher stage but lower grade tumors, were less frequently treated at an academic facility, were more likely to experience a delay in initiation of chemotherapy, and were less likely to receive adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III disease. We found no differences in sex, receipt of surgery, or adequacy of lymph node dissection. CONCLUSION: We found patient, tumor, and treatment factors that potentially contribute to worse survival rates observed in AI/AN colon cancer patients. Limitations include the heterogeneity of AI/AN patients and the use of overall survival as an endpoint. Additional studies are needed to implement strategies to eliminate disparities.

Pluripotent stem cell-derived skeletal muscle fibers preferentially express myosin heavy-chain isoforms associated with slow and oxidative muscles.

BACKGROUND: Skeletal muscle function is essential for health, and it depends on the proper activity of myofibers and their innervating motor neurons. Each adult muscle is composed of different types of myofibers with distinct contractile and metabolic characteristics. The proper balance of myofiber types is disrupted in most muscle degenerative disorders, representing another factor compromising muscle function. One promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of these diseases is cell replacement based on the targeted differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) towards the myogenic lineage. We have previously shown that transient induction of Pax3 or Pax7 in PSCs allows for the generation of skeletal myogenic progenitors endowed with myogenic regenerative potential, but whether they contribute to different fiber types remains unknown. RESULTS: Here, we investigate the fiber type composition of mouse PSC-derived myofibers upon their transplantation into dystrophic and non-dystrophic mice. Our data reveal that PSC-derived myofibers express slow and oxidative myosin heavy-chain isoforms, along with developmental myosins, regardless of the recipient background. Furthermore, transplantation of the mononuclear cell fraction re-isolated from primary grafts into secondary recipients results in myofibers that maintain preferential expression of slow and oxidative myosin heavy-chain isoforms but no longer express developmental myosins, thus indicating postnatal composition. CONCLUSIONS: Considering oxidative fibers are commonly spared in the context of dystrophic pathogenesis, this feature of PSC-derived myofibers could be advantageous for therapeutic applications.

Normative Data of the Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, JR in a Healthy United States Population.

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) play a vital role in the care we provide our patients. To help understand the application of PROMs in arthroplasty, normative and benchmark data to serve as a comparison to patients presurgery and postsurgery would be extremely valuable. We collected normative data of the Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS), JR on a healthy population, greater than 17 years of age, in the United States devoid of hip injury and/or surgery. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study, where hard copy surveys were administered to 1140 patients, being seen for an orthopedic issue unrelated to their hip, and nonpatient visitors in July 2018 at an outpatient orthopedic clinic in a suburban metropolitan city. Participants were eligible if they self-reported a medical history negative for hip arthroplasty, current hip pain/disability, or hip procedure (surgery or injection) within the past year. Mean, standard deviation, 95% confidence intervals, and ranges on the HOOS, JR interval scores were calculated by sex, age decade, body mass index (BMI), reason for visit, history of orthopedic procedure, and medical history. RESULTS: We included 425 men and 575 women in the final study cohort. Women aged between 70+ years reported the lowest mean interval score (mean = 89.8). Overall women scored lower as well (93.3 vs 95.7, P = .001). There was not a statistical difference between the interval scores by tobacco consumption (93.5 vs 94.4, P = .49) and between patients versus nonpatient visitors (94.2 vs 94.5, P = .672). Lower scores were observed in participants with a past nonhip orthopedic procedure (92.6 vs 94.9, P = .016), with a medical history of a chronic illness (92.5 vs 95.9, P = <.001), and classified as obese (BMI > 30) (91.7 vs 95.2, P < .001). On regression analysis, there was a decrease of 0.3 and 0.1 in the interval score for each unit of BMI and age by year, respectively (P < .001). CONCLUSION: This study provides normative reference values for the HOOS, JR in a US population from a suburban metropolitan city for individuals greater than 17 years of age. These scores can facilitate physician-patient shared decision-making to help patients understand expectations after hip arthroplasty in respect to PROMs.