Bmc Med
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Tobacco smoking affects women's fertility and is associated with substantial risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes. This study explored trends by socioeconomic position in patterns of smoking, use of non-combustible nicotine products, and quitting activity among women of reproductive age in England. ⋯ Among women of reproductive age, there appears to have been a rise in smoking prevalence in the more advantaged social grades over the past decade. Across social grades, there have been substantial increases in the proportion of women of reproductive age who vape and shifts from use of manufactured to hand-rolled cigarettes among those who smoke. These changes have been more pronounced than those observed in the general adult population over the same period.
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The metabolic benefits of bariatric surgery that contribute to the alleviation of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) have been reported. However, the processes and mechanisms underlying the contribution of lipid metabolic reprogramming after bariatric surgery to attenuating MASLD remain elusive. ⋯ This study demonstrated that the rapid effect of SG on hepatic lipid metabolic reprogramming mediated by circulating Nrg4 alleviates MASLD.
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Defining healthcare facility catchment areas is a key step in predicting future healthcare demand in epidemic settings. Forecasts of hospitalisations can be informed by leading indicators measured at the community level. However, this relies on the definition of so-called catchment areas or the geographies whose populations make up the patients admitted to a given hospital, which are often not well-defined. Little work has been done to quantify the impact of hospital catchment area definitions on healthcare demand forecasting. ⋯ Using catchment area definitions derived from context-specific data can improve local-level hospital admission forecasts. Where context-specific data is not available, using catchment areas defined by carefully chosen heuristics is a sufficiently good substitute. There is clear value in understanding what drives local admissions patterns, and further research is needed to understand the impact of different catchment area definitions on forecast performance where case trends are more heterogeneous.
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The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in major inequalities in infection and disease burden between areas of varying socioeconomic deprivation in many countries, including England. Areas of higher deprivation tend to have a different population structure-generally younger-which can increase viral transmission due to higher contact rates in school-going children and working-age adults. Higher deprivation is also associated with a higher presence of chronic comorbidities, which were convincingly demonstrated to be risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease. These two major factors need to be combined to better understand and quantify their relative importance in the observed COVID-19 inequalities. ⋯ This study demonstrates that both clinical and demographic factors synergise to generate health inequalities in COVID-19, that improving the clinical health profile of populations would increase health equity, and that some interventions can increase health inequalities.
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To study the shared genetic structure between autoimmune diseases and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and identify the shared risk loci and genes and genetic mechanisms involved. ⋯ Our research proved shared genetic architecture between autoimmune disorders and B-ALL and shed light on the potential mechanism that might involve in.