Johns Hopkins University

Evaluating a smartphone intervention to improve HIV prevention and care outcomes: results from the HealthMPowerment national randomized controlled trial

HealthMPowerment (HMP) is a digital intervention designed to improve HIV-related outcomes among young Black and Latinx men who have sex with men (YBLMSM) and transgender women (TW). We conducted a 12-month randomized controlled trial to evaluate HMP’s impact on routine HIV testin...

Robust, randomized preconditioning for kernel ridge regression

Abstract We investigate preconditioned conjugate gradient methods for kernel ridge regression (KRR) problems with a moderate to large number of data points ( $$10^4 \le N \le 10^7$$ 10 4 ≤ N ≤ 10 7 ). We develop and analyze two randomized preconditioners with complementary guaran...

Validating and creating a short-form of the persisting effects questionnaire: A measure of positive and negative outcomes from psychedelic experiences

BACKGROUND: The persisting effects questionnaire (PEQ) is a measure of self-reported positive and negative effects from psychedelic and other experiences. While this measure has been used in many studies on psychedelic substances, the scale has not been formally validated. The PE...

Frontline healthcare worker barriers impacting tuberculosis service demand and access in high burden settings: a scoping review

Background: Extensive literature exists on health-seeking behaviour and barriers related to the uptake of tuberculosis (TB)-related services in high TB burden settings. However, prior reviews have focused on patient- and health facility/systems-level barriers to TB-related care....

Plain language review: non-invasive screening for metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH) in primary care

Plain Language SummaryWhat is this summary about?Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, and its severe form, metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, impose significant global burdens on patients and healthcare systems. It is importa...

Insights into the Datasets, Tools, and Training Needs of the AnVIL Community: 2024

Background The NHGRI Genomic Data Science Analysis, Visualization, and Informatics Lab-space (AnVIL) provides a secure cloud-based environment where research and education communities can analyze genomic and biomedical data. The platform supports a wide range of data analysis as...

Mexican illicit cigarette market in 2023: a follow-up study

Background Over the past decade, research on illicit tobacco trade in low- and middle-income countries has expanded considerably. In Latin America, independent studies have been conducted in at least seven countries, including Mexico, where the illicit cigarette market was estima...

Artificial Intelligence-Based Hypernasality Diagnosis Using CAPS-A-AM Rated Speech Samples in Pediatric Velopharyngeal Dysfunction

ObjectivePerceptual evaluation by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) is essential for initial evaluation of velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD). Machine learning (ML) offers a promising avenue for developing accessible speech assessment tools when SLP expertise is limited. We aimed...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances levels other than PFOS, PFOA, or PFHxS and liver cancer risk: a nested case-control analysis

Abstract Epidemiologic studies of PFAS and liver cancer risk have produced conflicting results with no strong or clear associations for pre-diagnostic perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), and perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS). We now report analyses of nine...

Lessons in Implementing Complex Interventions in a Public Health Emergency: A Process Evaluation of the California Contact Tracing Support Initiative

Abstract Background Emerging in January 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic quickly exposed the limitations of traditional contact tracing and overwhelmed the contact tracing efforts of US health departments. In response, Kaiser Permanente partnered with the Public Health Institute to...

Significance of perinatal trauma screening and care coordination to improve infant health outcomes

This commentary addresses the need for trauma-informed screening and coordinated mental health care across obstetric (OB) and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) settings. Perinatal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related mental health conditions are common yet under-re...

Optical Diffraction Tomography and Interpretable Machine Learning Reveal Biophysical Signatures of Gametocyte-Stage Malaria in Red Blood Cells

Abstract Accurate, stage-specific diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum infection is critical for clinical management and transmission control of malaria. Current diagnostic tools, including Giemsa-stained microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), are constrained by their relian...

Removing barriers to college credits: Where and for whom AP exam fee waivers work

We study the effects of North Carolina’s Advanced Placement (AP) exam fee-waiver policy on exam participation and potential college-credit attainment conditional on AP enrollment. Using student-course level administrative data, we first exploit within-student variation among stud...

Flying through the plasmasphere to optimize low-energy ion measurements

The Juice flyby of Earth in August 2024 gave us the first chance to evaluate the performance of the Jovian Plasma Dynamics and Composition analyzer (JDC) in environments similar to those expected at Jupiter. JDC is one of the sensors belonging to the Particle Environment Package...

Prevalence and disclosure of AI and non-AI online child sexual victimisation: Findings from a national study of Australian adolescents

Background Rapid technological evolution has made online sexual victimisation of children an important societal concern. However, empirical evidence on prevalence, and the use of artificial intelligence in online victimisation, remains scarce. Objective To determine the prevalenc...

Angiopoietin-Like 4 Induces Upregulation of VEGF and sVCAM1 Through JNK/c-Jun and JAK2/STAT5 Signaling Pathways

Purpose: Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) is a multifunctional cytokine regulating angiogenesis, vascular permeability, and inflammation that is elevated, along with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in multiple ocular neovascular disorders, including ischemic retin...

Dry Eye Disease Therapies at a Crossroads—A Call for Reform

This Viewpoint discusses current approval pathways for dry eye disease medications and the need to advance the standard of evidence for these medications.

Assessing the impacts of sufficient and reliable electricity in low-resource healthcare facilities

Health systems across sub-Saharan Africa often lack the electricity needed for lighting, medical, diagnostic, and sterilization equipment, and refrigeration. More than one billion people globally rely on facilities with no electricity or a highly unreliable supply. Using survey d...

Client-Level Effects of States’ Mental Health Agency Expenditures and Mental Health Parity Legislation

OBJECTIVE: Despite federal parity legislation, gaps in access to behavioral health care persist across the United States. Stronger parity implementation has been associated with an improved system-level mental health infrastructure. The authors determined whether parity and highe...

Anterior Cervical Approaches for 2-Level Radiculopathy

Study Design: Anonymous, survey-based study. Objective: The primary objective of this study is to understand and assess the factors influencing the choice of cervical fusion, disc arthroplasty, and hybrid procedures for radiculopathy in the setting of 2-level cervical degenerativ...