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Social Risk Prevalence in AYAs With and Without a History of Cancer

About one-third of adolescents and young adults, with or without Cancer, reported at least one social risk such as financial hardship or food insecurity, highlighting the need for routine screening.

This cross-sectional study used data from KPNW, an integrated health care system serving more than 620 000 members in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington, representing approximately 16% of the region’s population. The KPNW Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review and informed consent under category 4 of the Common Rule, meaning that this research was determined to be low risk as it involves the use of secondary data. The study followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline for cross-sectional studies.

Members of KPNW are demographically similar to the surrounding community, with a broad age distribution (approximately 23% aged 18–35 years and 40% aged 36–64 years), a nearly equal sex distribution (52% female), and a racial and ethnic composition comparable to that of the regional population. Approximately 18% of members live below 200% of the federal poverty level, and approximately 80% receive coverage through employer-sponsored plans, contributing to high annual retention rates (approximately 88%). In early 2020, KPNW implemented a social risk screening tool via the EPIC-based (Epic Systems Corp) HealthConnect system. Full details of the screening process have been previously described.22,23

We included KPNW members aged 15 to 40 years who received care at KPNW; completed the social determinants of health screener between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2024 (the first screening was defined as the index date); and had at least 6 months of follow-up data (eFigure 1 in Supplement 1).

Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Smoking, Obesity, Psoriasis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Systemic Sclerosis

Higher BMI and inflammatory bowel disease were causally linked to increased risk of HidradenitisSuppurativa, while the association with smoking was inconclusive after sensitivity analyses.

Question Is there an effect of body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) and/or smoking on the risk of developing hidradenitis suppurativa (HS)?

Findings This mendelian randomization study including 3 592 596 patients found an effect of BMI on HS risk. Although initially a similar risk of smoking on HS was found, sensitivity analyses revealed inconclusive results potentially due to lack of power.

Meaning The findings of this study support a causal effect of increased BMI on the risk of developing HS; this information may help physicians better inform patients about disease risk contributed by modifiable lifestyle behaviors, knowledge that can be beneficial for planning subsequent lifestyle interventions.

Growing up with solid cooking fuels linked to long-term brain health risks

Exposure to indoor air pollution during childhood tends to be linked to poorer cognitive health in older adulthood. This suggests that access to clean energy early in life might help protect the brain as it ages. These findings come from a recent study published in Social Science & Medicine, which provides evidence that growing up in homes using solid fuels for cooking can set off a chain of disadvantages that affect memory and thinking skills decades later.

Xu Zong conducted the new study to explore a gap in our understanding of how early environmental exposures shape aging. While many scientists have established that breathing polluted air during adulthood increases the risk of cognitive decline, the long-term impact of breathing indoor air pollution during childhood remained mostly unexplored. Around the world, billions of people still rely on solid fuels like coal and wood for daily cooking and heating. This practice fills homes with toxic pollutants.

“I am interested in understanding how early-life living conditions, specifically indoor air pollution, may have long-term consequences for cognitive health. Air pollution has been highlighted by The Lancet as one of the modifiable risk factors for dementia. While much research has focused on adult exposures or urban outdoor pollution, there was a gap in linking childhood indoor environments to cognitive outcomes later in life,” said Zong, a researcher at the Max Planck – University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health.

Abstract: The changing landscape of urothelial carcinoma: on the edge of paradigm shift

In this Review Joshua J. Meeks discusses advancements in biomarkers and novel therapeutics that are likely to dramatically improve survival of patients with Bladder Cancer.

1Departments of Urology and.

2Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

3Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Address correspondence to: Joshua J. Meeks, Department of Urology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Phone: 312.695.8146; Email: [email protected].

All-in-Focus Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy via 3D Implicit Neural Representation

Microscopy has long been essential to biomedical research, enabling detailed analyses of complex samples. Fourier ptychographic microscopy (FPM), a computational imaging technique, provides high-resolution, wide-field images without requiring extensive hardware modifications. However, current FPM algorithms struggle with samples exhibiting depth variations, such as tilted or 3-dimensional (3D) objects. The limited depth of field (DoF) leads to images with only focal-plane areas in sharp focus, while regions outside appear blurred. To address this limitation, we propose an all-in-focus FPM algorithm using physics-informed 3D neural representations to reconstruct sharp, wide-field images of 3D objects under limited DoF. Unlike previous methods, our approach samples the full depth range to create a 3D feature volume that incorporates spatial and depth information.

Novel prosthetic design combines AI and 3D printing to improve fit

A new, fully customizable 3D printed socket design is set to transform the prosthetics industry. The reimagined limb socket interface combines highly personalized pressure mapping with AI software and a lighter infill, creating a highly customized prosthetic that’s more comfortable to wear, for much longer, say researchers at Simon Fraser University.

Porcine IRF2 suppresses the cGAS-STING-mediated antiviral IFN signaling by competing IRF3 for binding to the IFN promoter

Sen Jiang et al. identify porcine IRF2 as a potent inhibitor of innate immune cGAS-STING-IRF3-IFN antiviral signaling pathway via systemic screenings, and they further dissected the mechanism of action by porcine IRF2 for negative regulation. This research unveiled a distinct function of IRF2 and provides justification for intervention of porcine viral diseases.

Consciousness Creates the Universe Says Roger Penrose

Read “” by James P. Kowall on Medium.

Watch this very interesting video in which Roger Penrose argues that Consciousness is fundamental and came first before it created the universe through a process of observation that turns potentiality into actuality:

For 400 years, we’ve believed that mindless matter eventually evolved into conscious minds. But what if we have the causation completely backwards? What if consciousness is the precondition for the universe?

In this video, we dive deep into the quantum paradox, wave function collapse, and the radical scientific theory that consciousness isn’t an accident of evolution — it’s the fundamental building block of reality itself. From the Copenhagen interpretation to the mysteries of the biological brain, we explore how quantum mechanics suggests the physical world is simply what appears when consciousness observes itself.

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