PLoS medicine
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Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a heterogeneous disease for which (1) disease-causing pathways are incompletely understood and (2) subclassification may improve patient management. Unlike other biomarkers, germline genetic markers do not change with disease progression or treatment. In this paper, we test whether a germline genetic approach informed by physiology can be used to deconstruct T2D heterogeneity. First, we aimed to categorize genetic loci into groups representing likely disease mechanistic pathways. Second, we asked whether the novel clusters of genetic loci we identified have any broad clinical consequence, as assessed in four separate subsets of individuals with T2D. ⋯ Our approach identifies salient T2D genetically anchored and physiologically informed pathways, and supports the use of genetics to deconstruct T2D heterogeneity. Classification of patients by these genetic pathways may offer a step toward genetically informed T2D patient management.
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India has the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB). Although most patients with TB in India seek care from the private sector, there is limited evidence on quality of TB care or its correlates. Following our validation study on the standardized patient (SP) method for TB, we utilized SPs to examine quality of adult TB care among health providers with different qualifications in 2 Indian cities. ⋯ Quality of TB care is suboptimal and variable in urban India's private health sector. Addressing this is critical for India's plans to end TB by 2025. For the first time, we have rich measures on representative levels of care quality from 2 cities, which can inform private-sector TB interventions and quality-improvement efforts.
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Few studies have investigated the risk of adverse outcomes in older people with renal impairment presenting to primary care with a urinary tract infection (UTI). The aim of this study was to determine the risk of adverse outcomes in patients aged ≥65 years presenting to primary care with a UTI, by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and empirical prescription of nitrofurantoin versus trimethoprim. ⋯ Older patients with renal impairment presenting to primary care with a UTI had an increased risk of UTI-related hospitalisation and death, suggesting a need for interventions that reduce the risk of these adverse outcomes. Nitrofurantoin prescribing was not associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes in patients with an eGFR <60 mL/minute/1.73 m2 and could be used more widely in this population.
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Helping consumers make healthier food choices is a key issue for the prevention of cancer and other diseases. In many countries, political authorities are considering the implementation of a simplified labelling system to reflect the nutritional quality of food products. The Nutri-Score, a five-colour nutrition label, is derived from the Nutrient Profiling System of the British Food Standards Agency (modified version) (FSAm-NPS). How the consumption of foods with high/low FSAm-NPS relates to cancer risk has been studied in national/regional cohorts but has not been characterized in diverse European populations. ⋯ In this large multinational European cohort, the consumption of food products with a higher FSAm-NPS score (lower nutritional quality) was associated with a higher risk of cancer. This supports the relevance of the FSAm-NPS as underlying nutrient profiling system for front-of-pack nutrition labels, as well as for other public health nutritional measures.
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In a Perspective on the research article from Jacobson and colleagues, Amitabh Suthar and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discuss the importance of and considerations for developing real-time and large-scale reporting systems for tracking and controlling antimicrobial resistance.