Recent ucla_postprints items

Estimating Lung Cancer Screening Eligibility in the Veterans Health Administration Using Patient-Reported Smoking Histories

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) serves a population at increased risk for lung cancer, but lung cancer screening (LCS) rates historically have been low. Understanding the size and characteristics of the screening-eligible population can provide insights for improving screening rates. Many screening eligibility recommendations rely on smoking intensity quantified in "pack-years," which historically has been challenging to obtain at scale from the medical record. Recent introduction of structured smoking data as part of VHA LCS efforts now allows for more robust identification and estimation of the screening-eligible population using a large body of patient-reported smoking histories.

Objective

To estimate the magnitude and characteristics of the LCS-eligible population served by the VHA nationwide based on United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and American Cancer Society (ACS) recommendations.

Design

We performed a retrospective,...

Assessing mpox knowledge and sexual behaviours within high-risk populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background

Historically, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has faced the greatest public health burden from mpox, including more than 70 000 probable cases from 1 January 2024 to 2 February 2025. However, there has been a relative paucity of investigation focused on mpox community engagement in DRC, including assessments of disease knowledge and risk perception.

Methods

Given the ongoing Clade I mpox public health emergency of international concern, and the linkage between sustained human-to-human transmission and dense sexual networks, we sought to investigate mpox knowledge and sexual behaviours among key populations. Between 20 March 2024 and 25 August 2024, we recruited 2794 participants distributed across Kinshasa, Kwango and North Kivu provinces, with a focus in urban centres where mpox risk was considered high.

Results

Most participants were considered other at-risk populations (948; 33.9%), followed by men who have sex with men (MSM, 828;...

Drp1 regulates mitochondrial health and controls skeletal muscle mass through the Erk1/2-Nur77 pathway

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The maintenance of skeletal muscle mass relies on mitochondrial quality control, including balanced dynamics and mitophagy. Dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), a central mediator of mitochondrial fission, is essential for these processes, yet its role in muscle mass regulation remains incompletely defined. Here, we show that acute Drp1 deletion in the skeletal muscle increases Parkin-mediated mitochondrial degradation, reduces mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content, and leads to severe muscle atrophy. Although dual deletion of Drp1 and Parkin restores mtDNA content, muscle loss persists. Mechanistically, Drp1 loss impairs mitochondrial respiratory chain activity, suppressing extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (Erk1/2) signaling and down-regulating the nuclear receptor subfamily 4 group A member 1 (Nur77). Pharmacologic β2-adrenergic receptor activation with clenbuterol reactivated Erk1/2, restored Nur77 expression, and rescued muscle atrophy. These findings define a Drp1-Erk1/2-Nur77...

Bioorthogonal Click Chemistry-Enabled Enrichment of Extracellular Vesicles for Integrated Molecular and Functional Liquid Biopsy§.

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ConspectusExtracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer-enclosed nanoparticles released by virtually all cells, carrying protected lipids, nucleic acids, proteins, and active enzymes that faithfully reflect the physiological and pathological states of their cellular origins. Tumor- and neuron-derived EVs are abundantly present in peripheral blood, even at early disease stages, and thus represent highly attractive substrates for liquid biopsy. However, the clinical translation of EV-based diagnostics has been constrained by a central challenge: the inability to selectively enrich disease-relevant EVs from a vast background of normal EVs with sufficient specificity, efficiency, and compatibility for seamless integration with downstream molecular and functional analyses. Conventional physical isolation approaches generate heterogeneous EV mixtures that dilute disease-specific signals, whereas traditional immunoaffinity capture often suffers from nonspecific interactions and low...

A Self-Guided App-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Individuals Who Experience Discrimination-Related Mental Health Symptoms: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background: Racially and ethnically minoritized individuals (REMs) who experience discrimination are at risk of developing stress, anxiety, and depression, and digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) can make evidence-based treatments such as mindfulness available to these groups. However, REMs are significantly underrepresented in the overall DMHI and mindfulness-based DMHI literature, limiting our understanding of the effectiveness and feasibility of these digital tools to advance mental health equity for these populations. Objective: This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of a 4-week self-guided app-based mindfulness DMHI versus treatment as usual (TAU) in reducing discrimination-related stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among REMs, while assessing feasibility metrics, including uptake, engagement, dropout, and program satisfaction. Methods: A total of 155 participants (mean age 27.28, SD 9.6 years) were randomized to either receive the DMHI...

Charging ahead unfairly: An examination of temporal Shifts in electric vehicle supply equipment accessibility across California's communities

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Charging ahead unfairly: An examination of temporal Shifts in electric vehicle supply equipment accessibility across California's communities

Moving beyond linguistic bordering: Utopian designs for new futures

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We examine learning as movement as a utopian methodological approach that reorients how we shape and understand literacy learning ecologies with youth who are racialized as non-white. Understanding linguistic practice as integral to learning, and to common beliefs of what it means to be human, we consider how static notions of language are deployed as border-marking tools within settler coloniality, supporting a logic that justifies pernicious racial subordination. Within education, these ideologies frame certain learners as illegitimate and deviant, with particular implications for literacy learning. The learning sciences are uniquely positioned to re-signify what it means to be a literate body and to design learning ecologies in which youth move across these borders. Aligning ourselves with decolonial scholars, we argue that utopian methodology with a learning as movement frame allows us to forefront expansive learning design as we work alongside youth from otherized backgrounds...

Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Weight Loss in 16 972 Participants With COPD Reveals Novel Risk Loci in DRAIC and RFX3

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with musculoskeletal comorbidities, including cachexia. Weight loss (WL) is the major criterion for cachexia and increases risk for mortality in COPD. Risk factors for WL in COPD are incompletely understood. We performed this whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis to identify genetic risk variants for WL in COPD. METHODS: We studied 16 972 participants from the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Initiative and All of Us Research Program. COPD was diagnosed using spirometry in TOPMed, while diagnosis codes were used in All of Us. WL was defined as WL ≥ 5% or a final body mass index (BMI) < 20 kg/m². WGS data came from white blood cells in all cohorts. Single-variant testing was conducted on both race- and study-stratified cohorts and in a cosmopolitan, ancestry-independent manner using GENESIS in TOPMed and SAIGE in All of Us. SAIGE-GENE+ gene-based analyses were performed on race-stratified...

When Learning as Movement meets Learning on the Move

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Considering the special issue on learning-on-the move in light of earlier work on learning as movement, this commentary reflects on how the articles in the special issue expand the field’s theoretical matrix of the sociohistorical, cognitive, sociopolitical, sociocultural, relational, and spatial. Taken together, they tease out new subject-object, subject-subject, and culture-nature relations, and explore the significance of the movement of people and tools across and within tasks, place, everyday events, and interactions in terms of learning and development, human agency, and dignity.

It's Okay to Not Be Okay

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It's Okay to Not Be Okay

Rapid Development of Propofol Infusion Syndrome After Short-Term Exposure.

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We describe a 34-year-old man with well-controlled epilepsy and severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD) complicated by self-injurious behaviors who developed green urine, hypertriglyceridemia, and metabolic acidosis concerning for propofol-related infusion syndrome (PRIS) in less than 48 hours of sedation with propofol following left-eye scleral buckle surgery. The patient required multimodal and continuous sedation to prevent postoperative trauma to the surgical site. The patient required a dexmedetomidine infusion at 1.5 mcg/kg/hour and a fentanyl infusion maintained between 50 and 100 mcg/hr in addition to propofol maintained at 70-100 mcg/kg/min. Approximately 24-30 hours after the initiation of a propofol infusion at 80-100 mcg/kg/min, he developed green urine without evidence of infection. Laboratory evaluation showed a rise in serum triglycerides from 305 mg/dL to 569 mg/dL overnight. Despite no initial acidosis, reduction of the propofol dose was followed by the onset of...

New age of Lupus Nephritis: Updates in guidelines, biomarkers, and therapies.

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Lupus nephritis (LN) is the most common visceral organ manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It affects approximately 50% of SLE patients, accounting for significant morbidity and mortality especially in ethnic minorities. Building on decades of landmark trials, the field has continued to evolve. The 2024 American College Rheumatology (ACR) Lupus Nephritis guideline represents an important shift toward earlier triple therapy. The guideline also recommends routine proteinuria screening and reaffirms kidney biopsy as the diagnostic gold standard. In parallel, urinary biomarkers are emerging as potential tools to better track infrarenal pathology. Furthermore, the therapeutic pipeline continues to expand with emerging strategies targeting B-cells, cytokine receptors, and co-stimulatory mechanisms. In this article, we review updates from the ACR guideline, the emerging data on urinary biomarkers, and highlight novel targeted therapies in LN.

Youth as historical actors in the production of possible futures

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this paper, we expand the concept of historical actors to elaborate on how transformative agency has been addressed in our work with youth from nondominant communities, particularly as they leverage digital tools. First, we revisit our work with migrant students, from which the concept arose. Next, we expand this theory by proposing four indicia of the transformative nature of becoming historical actors, and offer three empirical examples to elucidate them. In our first vignette, we document how, when youth glitch during video game play, they collectively experiment with the rules, regulations, and boundaries of game design, finding ways to circumvent normative video game play and co-author their experiences. In the second vignette, we focus on siblings who take over research video cameras as their family is being filmed. We illustrate how they reshape their relation to the cameras, reorganizing participation structures through their agentive and transgressive actions. Finally,...

Civics on the Move: The Politics of Latinx Civic Integration

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Throughout the U.S., Latinx communities represent a growing and critical segment of local, regional, and national electorates, but they are underrepresented at the polls. Their political disengagement stems from their historical sociopolitical marginalization and a lack of investment in their political integration. To foster more civic engagement among Latinx students, we propose recognizing their communities’ past and present “lived civics,” which are the actions that address community concerns but are often forgotten or not considered as political. The conception of lived civics that we propose provides a road map for fostering Latinx agency and political efficacy, and our “civics on the move” framework aims to strengthen democratic institutions, ensuring that they represent the needs of this critical segment of the U.S. population.

When Learning Is Made Consequential: A Methodological Note on Repertoires

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This chapter focuses on the utopian methodological approach taken up by social design-based experiments, their conceptual underpinnings, and commitments. The methods are drawn from Gutiérrez’s empirical work and detail ways of seeing and capturing human learning activity crucial to envisioning and enacting new social futures with radical possibilities for those from historically nondominant communities. It elaborates methodological commitments to seeking complexity in human learning activity as it centers equity understood as worldmaking. A review of a range of methodological tools employed across Gutierrez’s studies is presented—from an analytical focus on ensembles and the multiplicity of social spaces in learning ecologies to attending to how people’s repertoires of practices are constituted through participation in everyday activity, as they move in and across the ecologies of everyday life.

The Incident Management Measurement Tool (IMMT): A Tool for Measuring Public Health Incident Management During and After Emergencies.

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Objectives

Risks and priorities change during the management of public health incidents. Here we describe a new tool, the Incident Management Measurement Tool (IMMT), that can be used to inform midcourse corrections during public health emergencies and realistic exercises.

Methods

We developed the IMMT through a literature review and subject matter expert interviews. We field tested the tool in 23 incidents ranging in size, duration, and complexity, making changes based on user feedback.

Results

The IMMT consists of 2 modular data collection methods, a survey of the incident management team and a protocol for a peer assessor. Pilot testing suggested that the tool is valid, reliable, feasible, and useful.

Conclusions

Measurement of public health incident management is feasible and may be useful for improving response times and outcomes. Moreover, a limited set of standard measures is relevant to a wide range of incident response contexts.

Culture and everyday learning across contexts: learning with Luis Moll / Cultura y aprendizaje cotidiano entre distintos contextos: aprendiendo con Luis Moll

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper brings three bodies of work that share an intellectual and social history into conversation to engage several key ideas in cultural historical theories of learning and development. Anchoring the discussion around the contributions of Luis Moll, the paper highlights the intersections and shared theoretical and methodological commitments across the work of Kris Gutiérrez, Barbara Rogoff and Luis Moll. We discuss how each of us has contributed to understanding the importance of context and everyday practices in youth and children and youths’ learning, attending especially to building on the strengths of Latine children and families in learning activities. We show the relationship between Luis’ concept of households’ Funds of Knowledge and Gutiérrez and Rogoff’s concept of repertoires of practice, Rogoff’s perspective on mutually constituting processes, and Gutiérrez’s contribution focusing on how people develop repertoires of practice and Funds of Knowledge in their movement...

Running rich: how excess fatty acid oxidation drains the cardiac engine.

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) provides the healthy heart with 60%-90% of its ATP, with the remainder coming from metabolism of glucose. Metabolic flexibility is key to heart function, ensuring an uninterrupted source of fuel. In heart failure, a shift from FAO to glucose-dependent metabolism occurs as disease progresses, supporting the widely held notion that fat is the optimal substrate in the heart. In this issue of the JCI, Kim et al. challenge this assumption. In studies of acetyl-CoA carboxylase-deficient (ACC-deficient) mice, they found that unregulated use of fat as a substrate led to cardiac damage. ACC-deficient mice developed cardiolipin deficiency as a result of excessive FAO depleting stores of linoleic acid, which is used as a substrate for cardiolipin maturation. The resulting mitochondrial dysfunction was associated with dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure in these mice. The findings highlight potential for development of therapeutic strategies that balance energy...

No Pinching: Topological Constraints on Polar Cap Patch Formation

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

No Pinching: Topological Constraints on Polar Cap Patch Formation

Sleep Duration and Prostate Cancer Risk in the Southern Community Cohort Study

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION: The relationship between insufficient sleep and prostate cancer incidence is unclear. Our goal was to investigate the association of sleep duration, restless sleep, and prostate cancer incidence and aggressiveness, and whether race influences any sleep-prostate cancer association. METHODS: The Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS) recruited study participants from 12 Southeastern states from 2002 to 2009. The cohort included nearly 35,000 males, predominantly African American (AA, 67%). Sleep exposures were measured via a baseline questionnaire at enrollment, which captured weekday and weekend sleep duration, weighted average sleep duration, and restless sleep. We used Cox proportional hazards models and multinomial logistic regression models to estimate associations between sleep and prostate cancer incidence and aggressiveness. RESULTS: During follow-up (median 10.9 years), 1345 men developed prostate cancer. Shorter sleep duration (< 6 h), in comparison to...

Short-term outcomes following treatment of recalcitrant cystoid macular edema secondary to radiation maculopathy using intravitreal brolucizumab.

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose

To assess the efficacy of intravitreal brolucizumab (Beovu®, Novartis Pharmaceuticals) in a case of recalcitrant cystoid macular edema associated with radiation maculopathy secondary to retinoblastoma which was suboptimally responsive to other intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapies.

Observations

A 42-year old patient with a history of radiation maculopathy complicated by cystoid macular edema after chemoreduction treatment and radiation therapy for retinoblastoma was treated with intravitreal brolucizumab. Best-corrected visual acuity and central macular thickness assessed by optical coherence tomography were used to assess the clinical outcomes. The treated eye was also assessed for evidence of intraocular inflammation following injection. Cystoid macular edema showed marked reduction and near resolution two weeks after injection and improvement in best-corrected visual acuity which was maintained for 2 months of follow-up....

Metabolite biomarkers in lung cancer: unlocking the potential of body fluid analysis for early detection and prognosis-a narrative review.

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background and objective

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, due to delayed diagnosis and the complexity of selecting the optimal treatment method, given the genetic diversity and heterogeneity of the disease. Traditional invasive techniques, such as tissue biopsy, carry risks of severe complications and are often costly. Therefore, there is increasing interest in non-invasive alternatives, particularly liquid biopsy. This review aims to propose promising circulating metabolite biomarkers for lung cancer and their clinical applications.

Methods

A PubMed search [2014-2024] was conducted, focusing on fluid-based, non-invasive samples such as blood, urine, pleural effusion, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Only English-language articles relevant to lung cancer metabolomics were included.

Key content and findings

Analysis of altered metabolites in lung cancer patients revealed significant metabolic pathway enrichments. Upregulated pathways...

RSV Provider Knowledge, Screening Confidence and Acceptance Rates in Pediatric Primary Care

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose: To assess provider knowledge and confidence in screening children less than 8 months of age for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) prophylaxis and assess acceptance rates pre- and post-multilevel provider educational intervention in a pediatric primary care clinic. Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) occurs in 90% of children less than 2 years of age and is the leading cause of hospitalizations in children under 1 year of age (50,000-100,000 per year). RSV is a common respiratory virus, with Infants and young children < 8 months of age at greatest risk for severe illness. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) created new RSV prophylaxis guidelines in 2022 to include either maternal vaccination or infant prophylaxis with early data showing it is 80-90% effective in preventing RSV hospitalization. There is still a significant gap in RSV acceptance rates nationally with only 35% of pregnancy women and 40% of infants having received it. This gap can be improved...

Passing the Baton: Structured Handoff from Operating Room to Pediatric Cardiovascular ICU

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose: To develop and implement a Structured Handoff from the operating room (OR) to pediatric cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) to improve interdisciplinary team participation, completeness and timeliness of handoff information, and team satisfaction at a Southern California Children’s Hospital. Background: Ineffective handoffs have been identified as the 3rd most common cause of medical error and posing a significant threat to patient safety. Hand-offs from the OR to the pediatric CVICU represent one of the most demanding care transfers and, if inadequate, may result in loss or unreliable information and adverse events. Despite the Joint Commission recognition as an important patient safety goal, some centers have not incorporated handoff standards among their interdisciplinary teams. Methods: An Evidence Based Practice (EBP) methodology guided development of the handoff tool using current literature and unit-specific workflows. The tool was refined through staff...

Improving Bystander Willingness to Assist during a Cardiac Arrest in a Parish Setting

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Survival-to-hospital discharge rates remain low for outside-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the U.S. largely due to delays in activating the American Heart Association (AHA)’s chain of survival for adult OHCAs. There is a growing need to equip non-medical volunteers in parish communities to respond effectively to medical emergencies during worship services. Literature indicates that bystander-initiated CPR achieves outcomes comparable to physician-initiated CPR. Chest-compression only CPR for bystanders has been shown to yield similar survival rates to conventional CPR with ventilation, making it a viable alternative for bystanders. The project was guided by the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model/Framework. The project occurred at a local non-denominational church in Southern California. Sixteen volunteers included adult and adolescent (12+) Parish volunteers. The intervention included a 2-hour in-person didactic and hands-on practice session provided by a registered...

Bird community composition across a land use gradient in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cocoa agroforestry expansion is widespread in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, posing a significant threat to the integrity of protected areas. Despite this threat, the impact of this expansion on forest bird communities remains largely unexamined. This study investigated bird community composition in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (OWR) and surrounding agroforestry areas using a combination of mist netting and passive acoustic monitoring. Specifically, it examined species richness, diversity, evenness, feeding guild abundance and habitat-specific indicator species across 19 sites. A total of 95 bird species were documented, with acoustic monitoring accounting for 73% and mist netting 43% of the recorded species. Significant differences in species richness, diversity and evenness were observed across habitat types. While cocoa farms exhibited higher species richness than primary forest sites or annual cultures, primary forests had the highest diversity indices, followed by cocoa...

Socioemotional dysfunction and the greater good: a case study

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Moral cognition has largely been studied via dilemmas in which making a utilitarian choice causes instrumental harm (negative dimension). Studies of utilitarianism link this behavior with socioemotional unresponsiveness. However, there is a positive dimension of utilitarianism in which one sacrifices the good of oneself or close others for the overall welfare. We measured utilitarian choices multidimensionally in a patient with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), incorporating dilemmas accounting for negative and positive dimensions. Despite socioemotional deficits our patient was highly utilitarian in the positive, dimension of utilitarianism. This case study challenges the tendency to automatically associate bvFTD with antisocial tendencies.

Perceptions about dementia clinical trials among underrepresented populations: a nationally representative survey of U.S. dementia caregivers

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BackgroundThe research community has historically failed to enroll diverse groups of participants in dementia clinical trials. A unique aspect of dementia care research is the requirement of a study partner, who can attest to the care recipient’s clinical and functional capacity. The aim of this study is to assess racial and ethnic differences and the importance of various trial considerations among dementia caregivers, in their decision to participate in clinical research as study partners.MethodWe embedded a vignette about a hypothetical dementia clinical trial in a nationally representative survey of U.S. dementia caregivers, oversampling non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic caregivers. Dementia caregivers were asked about their willingness to participate in the trial with their care recipient and rated the importance of nine considerations in hypothetical decisions to participate. Caregiver demographic characteristics were analyzed as predictors of trial participation in a base...

PFKM governs metabolic shifts throughout skeletal muscle differentiation

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Metabolism is known to influence cell identity, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we reveal spatiotemporal dynamics of phosphofructokinase 1 (PFK1), a key glycolytic enzyme, within the skeletal muscle lineage. The expression of PFKM (the muscle isoform of PFK1) is low in muscle stem cells and increases during differentiation. Mechanistically, Wnt signalling rapidly induces lysosomal degradation of PFKM through a methyl arginine degron motif, which gets selectively methylated by the protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT1) and delivered to lysosomes through microautophagy. PFKM degradation shifts glucose metabolism from glycolysis to the pentose phosphate pathway. PFKM overexpression increases glycolysis and promotes differentiation into terminally differentiated myofibres. On the other hand, PFKM knockdown blunts differentiation, which can be rescued by supplementation with the downstream glycolytic intermediate 3-phosphoglycerate. In sum, our findings highlight...

Care Ecosystem Collaborative Model and Health Care Costs in Medicare Beneficiaries With Dementia

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Importance: Collaborative dementia care programs are effective in addressing the needs of patients with dementia and their caregivers. However, attempts to consider effects on health care spending have been limited, leaving a critical gap in the conversation around value-based dementia care. Objective: To determine the effect of participation in collaborative dementia care on total Medicare reimbursement costs compared with usual care. Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a prespecified secondary analysis of the Care Ecosystem trial, a 12-month, single-blind, parallel-group randomized clinical trial conducted from March 2015 to March 2018 at 2 academic medical centers in California and Nebraska. Participants were patients with dementia who were living in the community, aged 45 years or older, and had a primary caregiver and Medicare fee-for-service coverage for the duration of the trial. Intervention: Telehealth dementia care program that entailed assignment to an unlicensed...

Additive effect of patient anosognosia and theory of mind deficit on dementia caregiver distress

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

Caregiver distress in dementia is multifactorial. The contribution of disease specific factors including anosognosia (poor awareness of cognitive/behavioral deficits) and theory of mind (ToM) deficit (difficulty with understanding other’s perspective) requires further investigation.

Method

Cross sectional secondary analysis was performed on a dataset of 205 research participants (age = 64.2 ± 9.46): 57 Alzheimer’s disease, 38 behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, 12 non-fluent primary progressive aphasia (PPA), 24 semantic variant PPA, 18 progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome, 14 corticobasal syndrome, and 42 cognitively normal controls (NC). Anosognosia was measured using the Patient Competency Rating Scale (PCRS-self minus PCRS-caregiver; clinically meaningful anosognosia >20 points difference), ToM deficit was evaluated using The Awareness of Social Inference Test: Social Inference-Enriched (TASIT-SIE), and caregiver distress was measured using...

The Long‐Term Effects of the Care Ecosystem Dementia Care Management Program on Quality of Life and Caregiver Well‐being

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

AbstractBackground

Dementia care management programs, including the Care Ecosystem, have been shown to improve patient and caregiver outcomes, reduce unnecessary healthcare expenditures, and are the focus of Medicare’s new GUIDE payment model. Until now, prior research has focused on evaluating the effectiveness of participating for a short (eg, 12‐month) time frame. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the Care Ecosystem when delivered for up to 5 years or end of life.

Methods

Of the 804 PLWD‐caregiver dyads enrolled in the previously reported single‐blind 12‐month RCT of the Care Ecosystem (NCT02213458), 456 reported high baseline caregiver burden and were included in this extension trial (NCT04287738). Telephone‐based dementia care management was delivered by a trained care team navigator, with a team of dementia specialists. Primary outcome: PLWD quality of life (QoL‐AD); Secondary: caregiver depression (PHQ‐9), self‐efficacy (Care Ecosystem Self‐Efficacy...

Continuity and Change: Bedouin Expressive Culture in the North Badia, Jordan

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article is a summary of a project that examined the effects of lifestyle changes on the music and cultural production of the Bedouin communities of northern Jordan. The goal of this project was to record a performative tradition (including music, poetry, dance) that is rapidly disappearing as formerly nomadic tribes settle in villages where they are influenced by globalization, Western culture, and tourism, and to analyze it to determine the extent of retention, loss, or change. My co-author on this project was Dr. Mohammad Al‐Oun, a Bedouin from this area.

The Effect of the Care Ecosystem Collaborative Care Model on End-of-Life Outcomes for People With Dementia and Their Caregivers.

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ContextCollaborative care models that feature care navigation have been found to have a range of benefit for people with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers, but their effect on end-of-life (EOL) outcomes has not been robustly evaluated.ObjectivesOur primary objective was to evaluate the effect of the Care Ecosystem-a telephone-based collaborative care model for dementia with care navigation-on EOL outcomes for PWD and their caregivers. Our secondary objective was to use qualitative feedback from participants to identify supports and services that would be helpful at end of life, including how the Care Ecosystem and other EOL supports could be improved.MethodsMixed-methods analysis of the Care Ecosystem trial conducted 2015-2022. Pre-mortem and post-mortem surveys included close-ended validated measures (eg, satisfaction with end-of-life care, caregiver self-efficacy) and open-ended questions about EOL care.ResultsThere were 138/124 dyads randomized to Care Ecosystem and 76/65...

62 Moral Reasoning Through the Eyes of Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Objective: Persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) have been shown to exhibit altered morality, manifested as atypical utilitarian tendencies towards sacrificial moral dilemmas. This takes the form of endorsing harmful actions towards single individuals, including vulnerable or relationally close individuals (e.g. children, loved ones), in order to promote the greater good for the community or society as a whole. The dual process model of moral cognition interprets such tendencies as deriving from a lack of emotional engagement, whereas moral emotion theory views them as selective impairment in prosocial sentiments. We hypothesized that both the widespread neuropsychological practice of using sacrificial moral dilemmas to evaluate moral reasoning, and these tests' overreliance on quantitative results, inadequately represent how persons with bvFTD reason and feel while responding to moral dilemmas. To evaluate this hypothesis, we applied a mixed-methods...

“Signifying in Nineteenth-Century African American Religious Music.”

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This essay concerns the role of religious music in nineteenth-century African American culture. Just as religion has received much study in African and African-derived cultures, so too has musicking in religion because both phenomena — music and religion — are central to African peoples. As music scholar J. H. Kwabena Nketia writes, “The most compelling reason for music making in Africa derives from religious experience, for it is generally believed that the spiritual world is responsive to music and deeply affected by it. . . . Hence worship always finds its most intense expression in music making.” When practiced in African-derived traditional (roots) cultures, religion and music are not placed on a shelf to be observed, gazed on, or used only on special occasions, but are integrated fully into the everyday lives of the people. And for many Africans, life would be meaningless without these phenomena.

Although few scholars have used signifying as a basis for analyzing...

PERCEL: A Re-Writable NVM CIM Incorporating a CTT-Based Per-Cell DAC

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Compute in memory (CiM) accelerators perform matrix vector multiplications (MVMs) directly inside memory arrays, reducing data movement and improving both energy efficiency and throughput for AI workloads. To reduce the number of conversions, recent designs use multi-bit compute cells. Nevertheless, practical multi-bit CiM still faces a tension between accuracy, efficiency, and re-writeability, since multi-level NVM based designs suffer from nonlinearity and poor re-writeability, while multi-level activation based DRAM / SRAM macros are limited by mismatch and low accuracy. This work introduces a per-cell DAC based CiM macro that combines the density of multi-level NVM with fully re-writable DRAM weights to break the trade-off. Each bit cell embeds a compact 6-bit CTT based current mode DAC, calibrated in-situ through a write verify write loop, together with a 1T(1C) embedded DRAM. Post-layout simulations of a 576×256 macro in 22nm FDSOI project 49.9 8b-TOPS/W, and 8.96 8b-TOPS/mm2,...

Comparing age-friendly city and community policies from China and the world: a systematic review

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction: Population aging is a growing global policy and health challenge. The World Health Organization's Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCCs) framework has guided efforts to create supportive environments for older adults. Methods: This study conducts a systematic review of AFCC literature and policies in China and global contexts. The goal is to examine how China-a developing country with the world's largest older population and unique challenges from rapid urbanization-compares to other global contexts in its response to aging. Results and discussion: The review reveals key differences of AFCC policies between China and other global regions, which include varying priorities in mobility, employment, and education policies; divergent implementation approaches; broad visions versus specific standards. Some of the differences in context-specific issues are tied to different urbanization phases. On the other hand, shared challenges include financial issues that constrain...

Disaster recovery for whom? insurance, zoning, and the exclusionary geographies of wildfire resilience

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Disaster recovery after wildfires is often framed as rebuilding to restore communities to their pre-disaster condition. We argue that recovery following a disaster can also function as a mechanism of spatial governance that produces exclusionary development by shaping who is able to return. Focusing on recovery after the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, we combine 35 semi-structured interviews with residential insurance data and neighborhood-level changes in housing and labor characteristics. We show that post-fire rebuilding is increasingly structured by the interaction of fire-adaptive regulations, building codes, and insurance market behavior, which together raise the financial thresholds for reconstruction. As recovery proceeds, informal, low-cost, and ad-hoc housing is displaced by formal, risk-managed, and insurable development, reshaping both the physical geography and the social composition of wildfire-affected neighborhoods. In the context of increasingly catastrophic...

How urban environments structure running behaviour in Beijing during winter, spring, and summer 2024: spatiotemporal patterns and configuration-specific interactions from running trajectory data

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BackgroundUnderstanding how urban environments stimulate routine physical activity is a central issue in public health. Running, as a low-threshold and widely accessible exercise, serves as a sensitive indicator of environmental influence. Yet, few studies have used methods capable of capturing the non-linear and context-dependent interactions through which multiple built-environment factors jointly shape running. This study investigates the spatiotemporal patterns of running and identifies how combinations of environmental features across different urban scenarios affect behavioural activation.MethodsWe analysed 83,302 GPS-tracked running trajectories from Beijing. Built-environment indicators were integrated across five dimensions and examined using Light Gradient Boosting Machine with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP). To enhance behavioural interpretability, variables were grouped into scenario-informed contexts representing commuting, restorative, and training environments....

Encampment geographies: Refuge, return, and refusal

Fri, 8 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Thinking from Los Angeles, amid the expanding criminalization of homelessness, we advance a conceptual framework of encampment geographies. We argue that the homeless encampment must be understood in relation to state power, specifically the state as landlord. As residents of state spaces—sidewalks, shelters, interim housing—encampment dwellers are institutionalized. This includes interpellation in humanitarian exchange, notably through forms of mutual aid that emerge in the interstices of state violence. Drawing on ethnographic research and movement histories at Aetna Street, we present three encampment geographies: return, refuge, and refusal. We conceptualize the encampment as a site of enforced return and a space of refuge whose residents are akin to refugees. In doing so, we situate the homeless encampment in a global geography of camps, drawing on literatures that are attentive to expulsion, containment, and asylum. Yet encampment residents refuse enclosure, in particular,...

Barriers and enablers to reduced meat intake and perceptions of sustainable diets, among Los Angeles County adults with low incomes: a qualitative interview study