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Patient information materials often tend to be written at a reading level that is too advanced for patients. In this proof-of-concept study, we used ChatGPT and Google Bard to reduce the reading level of three selected patient information sections from scientific journals. ChatGPT successfully improved readability. However, it could not achieve the recommended 6th-grade reading level. Bard reached the reading level of 6th graders but oversimplified the texts by omitting up to 83% of the content. Despite the present limitations, developers of patient information are encouraged to employ large language models, preferably ChatGPT, to optimize their materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on gun ownership and the culture of violence in the U.S. He traces the culture of violence in the U.S. to its history of slavery, lynchings, racism, poverty, marginalization, antisemitism and mass incarceration. He emphasizes the need to combat gun violence focusing on mental health and well-being in addressing individual struggles and community pain and the need for gun laws that protect children and adults threatened by intimate partner violence.

The article discusses the role of clinician scientists (CSs) in the integration of healthcare and social care services. Topics discussed include the engagement of CSs in both clinical practice and research, the history of the CS role in the field of medicine and the relevance of CSs to health social work. Also discussed are challenges facing CSs in other health disciplines and the role of health social work in the delivery of healthcare services.

Throughout its serial run, Charles Dickens's Pickwick Papers (1836–7), was repurposed hundreds of times by the provincial press. From acting as innocuous filler material to making strategic political statements, provincial newspaper editors evoked, excerpted and adapted Pickwick as quickly as Dickens was penning the instalments, showing a keen responsiveness to political topicalities relevant to their reading communities. This article contends that these types of journalistic re-use benefit from being read collectively as a form of remediation, defined by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin as 'the formal logic by which new media refashion prior media forms'. It argues that these remediations are vital to understanding the politics of the provincial press because they became one method through which provincial newspapers articulated a localised response to the national political debates that raged following the 1832 Reform Act. As well as reflecting the political priorities of specific communities, these remediations nuance our understanding of Pickwick 's popularity by drawing attention to aspects of its construction that lent themselves to re-use. While explicit engagement with party politics is conspicuously absent from Pickwick , provincial editors capitalised upon this generality and imbued their re-workings of the serial with a partisanship that Dickens himself avoided, while using his name to substantiate and authorise their own pieces. In this respect, these remediations invite us to place Pickwick at the heart of political debate in the papers, by foregrounding the close relationship between newspaper politics, serial literature, and provincial identity in the 1830s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes peer-reviewed English-language social work scholarship on Islam and Muslims published between 2011 and 2021. Of these 127 articles, 70 journal venues are represented, and first authors are primarily American (44 percent), followed by British (15 percent) and Canadian (11 percent). A total of 70 journals published studies analyzing data related to Muslims/Islam and social work, with 46 consisting of only one publication between 2011 and 2021. A total of 13 of these journals had a SCImago Journal Rank indicator of over 0.5, and three with rankings over 1.0. The volume of publications was high in 2015 and 2020, in particular. Major themes include faith-aligned and strengths-based approaches, the importance of mosques in the lives of Muslims, the relevance of the hijab in the lives of Muslim women, and the prevalence and impact of sociopolitical stereotypes. The conclusion calls for still greater culturally respectful approaches to the profession that include Islam and Muslim individuals/communities and ensuring that ethics and practice/research continue to evolve in ways that are culturally relevant to diverse communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The goals of this study were to evaluate the extent that physical therapist journals support open science research practices by adhering to the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines and to assess the relationship between journal scores and their respective journal impact factor (JIF). Methods Scimago, mapping studies, the National Library of Medicine, and journal author guidelines were searched to identify physical therapist journals for inclusion. Journals were graded on 10 standards (29 available total points) related to transparency with data, code, research materials, study design and analysis, preregistration of studies and statistical analyses, replication, and open science badges. The relationship between journal transparency and openness scores and their JIF was determined. Results Thirty-five journals' author guidelines were assigned transparency and openness factor scores. The median score (interquartile range) across journals was 3.00 out of 29 (3.00) points (for all journals the scores ranged from 0 to 8). The 2 standards with the highest degree of implementation were design and analysis transparency (reporting guidelines) and study preregistration. No journals reported on code transparency, materials transparency, replication, and open science badges. TOP factor scores were a significant predictor of JIF scores. Conclusion There is low implementation of the TOP standards by physical therapist journals. TOP factor scores demonstrated predictive abilities for JIF scores. Policies from journals must improve to make open science practices the standard in research. Journals are in an influential position to guide practices that can improve the rigor of publication which, ultimately, enhances the evidence-based information used by physical therapists. Impact Transparent, open, and reproducible research will move the profession forward by improving the quality of research and increasing the confidence in results for implementation in clinical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to articles in the issue is presented on topics including the conceptualization and implementation of out-of-school time (OST) that centers the voice of youth, a qualitative study on Pittsburgh's Justice Scholars Institute, and the potential of community and youth participation in OST.

The authors comment on a study which advocated for greater use of zoledronate as first-line antiosteoporosis treatment after a hip fracture. Cited are the things that make zoledronate an attractive therapeutic option, the six recommendations put forth by the study to address some of the clinical uncertainties that act as barrier to zoledronate's use, and the strengths and limitations of the study.

An editorial is presented on the performance and trends of the Annals of Work Exposures and Health in 2023, highlighting submission rates, hazard distribution in published articles, and authorship demographics. Topics include analysis of submission patterns and publication rates, journal impact factors and editorial board updates, and future considerations for the journal's publishing model.

The perverseness of racial and ethnic inequities in the United States continues to implore the investigation of their causes. While there have been improvements in the health of the US population, these improvements have not been equally distributed. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the American Journal of Epidemiology , in this commentary, we aim to highlight the Journal 's contributions to: 1) the definition and use of race and ethnicity in research, and 2) understanding racial and ethnic inequities, both empirically and methodologically, over the past decade. We commend the Journal for its contributions and for spearheading many of the challenges related to measuring and interpreting racial and ethnic data for the past 20 years. We identify 3 additional areas in which the Journal could make further impact to address racial and ethnic inequities: 1) devote a section in every issue of the Journal to scientific papers that make substantive epidemiologic or methodological contributions to racial and ethnic inequities in health; 2) update the Journal 's guidelines for authors to include justifying the use of race and ethnicity; and 3) diversify the field of epidemiology by bringing a new cadre of scholars from minoritized racial and ethnic groups who represent the most affected communities into the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological developments in laboratory and epidemiologic methods, combined with increasing computing power, have synergistically increased our understanding of the epidemiology of infectious disease. Using historical examples from the first 100 years of the American Journal of Epidemiology , we illustrate how these developments provided the foundation for the rapid detection of the agent causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), from its transmission efficiency and modalities, risk factors, and natural history to the evaluation of new vaccines and treatments to control its spread and impact. Comparisons with timelines for elucidation of the epidemiology, natural history, and control of other infectious diseases, including viral hepatitis, humbly remind us of how much past discoveries have paved the way for more rapid discovery of and response to new pathogens. We close with some comments on a potential future role of the Journal in infectious disease epidemiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary focuses on research that has long been at the core of environmental epidemiology: studies of the health effects of air pollution. It highlights publications in the American Journal of Epidemiology going back more than 50 years that have contributed to the debate about the validity of this research and its meaning for public policy. Technological advances have greatly expanded the toolbox of environmental epidemiologists in terms of measuring and analyzing complex exposures in large populations. Yet, discussions about biases in estimating air pollution health effects have always been and remain intense. Epidemiologists have brought new methodologies and concepts to this research, alleviating some but not all concerns. Here, the focus is on seminal epidemiologic work that established valid links between air pollution exposures and health outcomes and generated data for environmental policies and prevention. With this commentary, I hope to inspire epidemiologists to address many more of the burning environmental health questions—wildfires included—with a similar scientific doggedness. The rapidly changing conditions of our planet are challenging us to innovate and offer solutions, albeit perhaps a little bit faster this time around. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Journal of Epidemiology has been a platform for findings from the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS) that are relevant to health disparities. Topics addressed have included methods of follow-up of a large cohort of Black women, disparities in health-care delivery, modifiable risk factors for health conditions that disproportionately affect Black women, associations with exposures that are highly prevalent in Black women, and methods for genetic research. BWHS papers have also highlighted the importance of considering social context, including perceived experiences of racism, in understanding health disparities. In the future, BWHS investigators will contribute to documentation of the role that structural racism plays in health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on the Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), an artificial intelligence (AI) language model by OpenAI, which could be useful in cardiovascular clinics and research. It reports that ChatGPT can assist cardiovascular nurses in patient education, medication management, research tasks, and patient translation. it highlights concerns about potential misuse by students and calls for regulations in educational settings.

The article focuses on trends in statistical methods used in occupational hygiene, particularly in the Annals of Work Exposures and Health. Topics include the use of increasingly sophisticated statistics in analyzing occupational hygiene data, addressing features such as autocorrelation and lognormal distribution, and exposure measurements below the limit of detection.

The article highlights the journal impact factor and academic standing of the magazine. It discusses the reputation of the journal as a platform for school social work research dedicated to enhancing the well-being of children, families and communities. Focus is given on the commitment of the journal to research-social work practice scholarship and leadership in responding to social issues. The editor looks forward to the continuing progress and excellence in the journal's scholarly pursuit.

The article comments on a study by H. W. Kim and colleagues on the risk of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs for atrial fibrillation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Topics mentioned include the link of rheumatoid arthritis with increased mortality rate and the incidence of cardiac arrhythmia, the possible mechanisms of toxicity from leflunomide and methotreaxate on cardiac conduction pathways, and some limitations of the study.

The authors reflect on the journey 20 years after publishing an eponyms article in "The Lancet" which was referred to as "Wegener's granulomatosis." They discuss the recommendation by several professional bodies for granulomatosis with polyangiitis as the new name for the disease in 2011, the main reason for renaming the U.S.-based Wegener's Granulomatosis Support Group as the Vasculitis Foundation, and other eponyms in rheumatology that researchers should be investigating.

The author offers perspectives on the paradoxical truths of social work practice. It points out the inadequacy of social safety net programs for low-income individuals and families, racial inequities, discriminatory policies and lower investment in public services. It also refers to food insecurity and delayed Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program benefits as possible consequences of a government shutdown. Emphasis is given on the focus of social work on humanity and work toward peace.

The article presents the discussion on climate change and biodiversity loss are one indivisible crisis. Topics include research communities that provide the evidence for the two COPs are unfortunately largely separate; and effects on health as a result of the disruption of social and economic systems—shortages of land, shelter, food, and water, exacerbating poverty.

Hearing conditions such as hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis are highly prevalent in the population and can severely impact communication and quality of life. Hearing is affected by multiple factors, including heredity, noise exposure, age, sex, ear disorders and lifestyle factors. Globally, hearing loss affects over 80% of adults aged 80 years and older, is often experienced in combination with other long-term health conditions and is a mid-life risk factor for dementia. To form a themed collection , we searched Age and Ageing for articles on hearing conditions published from 2000 onwards. This resulted in 22 articles included within the collection. They examined a range of important topics related to hearing healthcare and research, including noise-induced hearing loss, health service quality and safety, psychological and psychosocial consequences of hearing loss and co-morbidities of hearing loss. All articles reported on hearing loss; there were no published articles with a primary focus on other hearing conditions such as tinnitus or hyperacusis, on the health of older people from the Deaf community or on users of Cochlear implants, suggesting key gaps in knowledge and targets for future research. This New Horizons article highlights novel directions in research and practice and takes a forward look at how research into hearing conditions may develop in years to come. It highlights opportunities for the growth of patient-centred research and hearing healthcare supported by the better integration of health and care services as well as cross-speciality working to include common co-morbid health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the health implications of social isolation and loneliness garnered global attention due in part to a widely cited meta-analysis that benchmarked associations between cigarette smoking and mortality with associations between several social-relationship measures and mortality. Leaders in health systems, research, government, and popular media have since claimed that the harms of social isolation and loneliness are comparable to that of cigarette smoking. Our commentary examines the basis of this comparison. We suggest that comparisons between social isolation, loneliness, and smoking have been helpful for raising awareness of robust evidence linking social relationships and health. However, the analogy often oversimplifies the evidence and may overemphasize treating social isolation or loneliness at the individual level without sufficient attention on population-level prevention. As communities, governments, and health and social sector practitioners navigate opportunities for change, we believe now is time to focus greater attention on the structures and environments that promote and constrain healthy relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the leading professional organization for social work that established the Code of Ethics and sets the policy agenda for the profession. Guided by the Code of Ethics and the Grand Challenges for Social Work goal to "build healthy relationships to end violence," the NASW Social Work Speaks policy compendium should reassert its statement against the physical punishment of children. This recommendation aligns with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and children's right to protection from violence; the rigorous empirical research base, which demonstrates that physical punishment has detrimental consequences to child well-being; and similar policy statements issued by allied professional organizations. The NASW policies can advocate for ending violence against children by providing guidance on disciplinary practices that are based on principles of nonviolence and that respect children's human rights. Practitioners can support caregivers through interventions that provide alternatives to physical punishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer-reviewed journals provide an invaluable but inadequate vehicle for scientific communication. Preprints are now an essential complement to peer-reviewed publications. Eschewing preprints will slow scientific progress and reduce the public health impact of epidemiologic research. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted long-standing limitations of the peer-review process. Preprint servers, such as bioRxiv and medRxiv, served as crucial venues to rapidly disseminate research and provide detailed backup to sound-bite science that is often communicated through the popular press or social media. The major criticisms of preprints arise from an unjustified optimism about peer review. Peer review provides highly imperfect sorting and curation of research and only modest improvements in research conduct or presentation for most individual papers. The advantages of peer review come at the expense of months to years of delay in sharing research methods or results. For time-sensitive evidence, these delays can lead to important missteps and ill-advised policies. Even with research that is not intrinsically urgent, preprints expedite debate, expand engagement, and accelerate progress. The risk that poor-quality papers will have undue influence because they are posted on a preprint server is low. If epidemiology aims to deliver evidence relevant for public health, we need to embrace strategic uses of preprint servers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author seeks to dispel some of the biases and pseudoscientific approaches of Big Public Health in its ideological anti-bazooka crusade. Topics include negative focus on and regulation of bazookas when most harms are associated with a core of irresponsible bazooka users who engage in problem bazookaing, the pernicious issue of problem bazookaing, and low-risk alternatives and harm reduction.

The article discusses risk/benefit trade-offs relating to the use of drugs for rheumatoid arthritis. Topics discussed include the market withdrawal of rofecoxib due to increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), the ORAL Surveillance trial which compared tofacitinib with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, and the Medical Device and Innovation Consortium's (MDIC) framework which proposes that a drug should be approved if the benefits-risks balance favors the intervention.

An editorial is presented on the importance of advocacy in cardiovascular nursing and allied professions, and it emphasizes its historical context, categories, and activities. It mentions the need for empathy, honesty, and collaboration in effective advocacy. It reports that the Association of Cardiovascular Nurses and Allied Professions Advocacy Committee is highlighting efforts to define and promote advocacy.

An editorial is presented on the evolution and challenges of Open Access publishing, and it discusses the establishment of coalition S and its Plan S initiative to transform research accessibility. It reports that major European funding agencies and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the perspectives of journals, funders, and universities on the benefits and challenges of this publishing model.

Historically, the American Journal of Epidemiology (AJE) has played an important role in the development of social epidemiology as a field. To mark the centennial of the Journal , we invited commentaries from 3 sets of authors in which we asked them to reflect on the role of the AJE in advancing our understanding of the social determinants of population health and health disparities. Drs. Lisa Berkman, Mauricio Avendano, and Emilie Courtin discuss the promises and pitfalls of using experimental data (from both randomized trials and natural policy experiments) to interrogate the causal connection between social determinants and population health outcomes. Drs. Julie Palmer, Yvette Crozier, and Lynn Rosenberg look back on the first 25 years of the Black Women's Health Study and the contributions of that study to our understanding of racial disparities in health. Drs. Luisa Borrell and Natalie Crawford review the AJE 's contributions to the definition and use of race and ethnicity in epidemiologic research and make recommendations for strengthening diversity and inclusion in the profession. A common thread that emerges across the invited essays is the AJE 's commitment to publishing articles that engage in critical self-reflection of the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this brief Commentary, Neal Nathanson recounts his memories of the metamorphosis of the American Journal of Hygiene into the American Journal of Epidemiology , and his subsequent service as the Editor-in-Chief from 1964 to 1979. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to articles in the issue is presented on topics including achieving and sustaining behavior change for older adults, a review of existing research on age-friendly universities, and everyday interactions of people living with dementia in social settings.

The article shares insight on social work advocacy in times of political turmoil and toward achieving justice. It describes the cultural war strategy of conservatives such as attacks against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer + (LGBTQ+) community, racial politics and fear campaigns on diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory. It discusses the world impact of prejudicial policies and actions and the role of social work research in examining social justice issues.

Neoliberalism, as an ideology and policy model that favors free market logic, operates across multiple levels of social work practice. Although there is growing interest in the topic, there is a lack of knowledge about the nature of this scholarship. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide a synthesis and summary of the extent, variety, and characteristics of the peer-reviewed literature on the effects of neoliberalism on social work practice in the United States. A total of 132 articles were examined according to the requirements of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews (or PRISMA-ScR). Findings suggest that research interest on neoliberalism and social services across disciplines has increased over the last four decades. Social work scholars and journals published at similar rates as non–social work scholars with notable exceptions of policy design and service users. However, there is a lack of research across the literature on the effects of neoliberalism on the supervisor level and the effects of neoliberalism on diverse populations and on key social work services, such as substance use treatment, health services, schools, corrections, and mental health services. Further research is needed in these areas to advance our understanding of the impact of neoliberalism on social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses a study by Latham Mintus and colleagues which reported a significant association of incarceration histories with worse physical and mental health among older adults. Topics include the enormity of this incarceration issue in the U.S., national trend and the state of women in correctional facilities, and implications for research on age and the life course.

The author summarizes some of the findings and revelations from the articles published in the journal. Topics include a neglected perspective on the current and future market of transportation for older persons, empirical association of subjective memory decline and incident cognitive impairment in the Health and Retirement Study, and key issues facing LGBT adults.

Current and persistent racialized inequalities in the United States raise important research questions investigating the social structures and systems that underlie racist outcomes. Consequently, social workers are called to centralize race and racism in their research agendas and utilize critical race theories and methodologies to examine institutional racism. This study investigates the extent to which critical race frameworks are utilized in mainstream social work research. The researchers conducted a content analysis of three top-ranked mainstream social work research journals (N = 407) to determine the extent to which critical race theories and methodologies are utilized for the investigation of institutional racism. Findings demonstrate a dearth of critical investigation into issues of race and racism in mainstream social work research as well as the underutilization of critical race frameworks. In conclusion, researchers argue for a critical shift in mainstream social work research through utilizing critical race theoretical frameworks and methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors offer observation on structural violence and how the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the impact of structural violence in the U.S. Topics discussed include three components of structural violence associated with health inequities that must be considered and addressed to mitigate its impact on students, school policies that can address structural racism's impact, and intergenerational consequences of structural violence in schools.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the guest editors discuss the growing use of implementation science (IS), or of strategies to adopt and integrate evidence-based health interventions into routine practice, in gerontology and geriatric research as of 2023.

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses articles within the issue on topics including the ethical context of balancing social justice principles with conflicting client positions, strengths and limitations of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, and political disagreement in social work and ethical guidance.

The author reflects on the work of pharmacists when it comes to health considerations in sexual and gender minorities. He discusses the 21 words from the Oath of a Pharmacist about the core responsibilities of pharmacists, the editorials he has written since assuming the role of editor in chief of the journal in January 2015, and significance of the articles published in the issue of the journal to pharmacy.

The authors comment on a study which examined a standalone older people's same day emergency care (SDEC) setting for attenders' subsequent health service use. Cited are how emergency and unscheduled care is adapting to the needs of older people, the development of SDEC as one alternative to ED attendance, and the need of an honest dialogue about the expectations and realities of admission avoidance.