LabCorp (United States)

Patient adherence limits the effectiveness of preventive pharmacologic therapy (PPT) for urinary stone disease (USD), highlighting the need for accurate adherence monitoring. We assessed associations between potassium citrate adherence measures, changes in 24-hour urine parameters, and the risk of recurrent stone events. In this retrospective cohort study, we identified adults enrolled in Medicare with USD, a baseline 24-hour urine collection (2010-2019), hypocitraturia or low urine pH, a prescription for potassium citrate monotherapy, and a follow-up urine collection. We defined two adherence measures: (1) percentage of days covered (PDC) using pharmacy claims and (2) change in urinary potassium between baseline and follow-up divided by medication dose (ΔK/dose). We assessed the association of these measures with changes in urinary citrate and pH using analysis of covariance, and the association between adherence and recurrent stone events using Cox models. Among 793 patients meeting study criteria, 504 (63.6%) were adherent based on pharmacy claims (PDC≥80%) and 389 (49.1%) based on ΔK/dose≥0.5. Compared to PDC≥80%, ΔK/dose≥0.5 had a stronger association with change in urinary citrate (p<0.001) and pH (p<0.001). Compared to PDC≥80%, patients with PDC<80% had a higher risk of recurrent stone events (hazard ratio [HR] 1.431; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.049-1.952), whereas ΔK/dose was not statistically significantly associated with recurrent stone events (HR 1.032; 95% CI, 0.740-1.439). There are clinically meaningful differences in potassium citrate adherence measures. ΔK/dose was more strongly associated with the change in urinary citrate and pH. However, only PDC was significantly associated with recurrent stone events.

Social risk screening is a significant expansion of clinical care that raises a complexity of challenges for healthcare providers and patients alike. To understand the experience of responding to social risk screens among patients with mental health needs, how they prioritize health-related social needs when seeking care, and the impact of social risk screening on the patient-health system relationship. Qualitative study; one-on-one key informant interviews. Primary care patients at an academic urban safety-net hospital in Boston, MA. Primary data were collected via qualitative interviews with patients who presented at primary care with a mental health concern (e.g., depression, anxiety) in the past 1-3months and completed a social risk screening from December 2020 to August 2021. Interviews were held via Zoom in English, audio-recorded and transcribed. Interviews focused on patients' experience of being screened for social risks and needs, their conceptualizations of social risk domains (e.g., housing, food, transportation, etc.), and the importance of these needs relative to medical care access. A deductive analysis using the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model was applied to identify themes. A total of 148 individuals were approached with 30 participating in semi-structured interviews (20.3% recruitment rate): 19 (63%) participants self-identified as female and 14 (47%) as Black/African American. Data revealed that asking patients about their social needs further emphasizes their already vulnerable position when seeking medical care, particularly when addressing mental health concerns. Patients stated that they were reluctant to disclose future health-related social needs when prior reported needs were not supported or addressed. When patients reported prior instances of sharing health-related social needs where those needs went unaddressed, instances of "double loss" occurred, leading to potential distrust in the medical system. It is important that health systems implement effective referral processes and have adequate resources to address patient disclosed needs, especially for at-risk patient populations.

Proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) and degraders have been developed against the hRpn13 fragment hRpn13Pru that is present in various cancer types. Testing the performance of these hRpn13Pru-targeting compounds in pharmacokinetic and efficacy studies has been stymied, however, by their poor solubility. Here, we develop a rapid and cost-effective platform to Screen and Characterize small molecule Nanosuspensions (SCaN). We discovered that the hRpn13Pru degrader XL44 adopts a crystalline state, preventing its bioavailability. The first phase of SCaN screens vehicles to identify lead XL44 nanosuspension formulations based on particle size consistency, including in biorelevant media, while the second phase evaluates stability over time. The lead nanosuspensions are then advanced to the third phase of SCaN to assess their physical and colloidal stability. This pipeline allows the formulation of poorly soluble compounds for single-dose pharmacokinetic and pilot multidose tumor mouse studies. We additionally analyzed our XL44 formulation morphologically by atomic force microscopy to find that the XL44 nanoparticles are predominantly globular, with a small population of rod-like particles. Using the optimal nanosuspension determined by SCaN, XL44 slowed tumor growth in a myeloma xenograft model at 35% inhibition with a 48-72 mg/kg treatment regimen. This case study is the first in vivo demonstration that hRpn13Pru-targeting degraders can inhibit tumor growth, and the efficacy shown here motivates the development of more potent hRpn13Pru degraders. Broadly, our SCaN platform is designed for poorly soluble drug candidates to allow for pilot in vivo testing.

BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines were approved in 2023 and recommended for adults over the age of 75 and adults aged 60 – 74 at high risk of severe RSV infection. In this study, we investigated nationwide RSV vaccine administration and the efficacy of RSV vaccines in adults aged over 60.Figure 1.Monthly RSV vaccinations and testing volumes in adults 60 - 74 years of age and in adults 75+ from September 2022 to December 2024. Gray bars and the left y-axis indicate RSV testing volumes. Orange bars and right y-axis indicate RSV vaccination volumes.Figure 2.RSV testing volumes normalized to all respiratory panel testing volumes in December of 2022 – 2024 in adults 60 – 74 years of age and in adults 75+MethodsWe conducted an observational analysis of two nationwide, deidentified crossover datasets of 107,035 RSV vaccination events from September 2023 to December 2024 and 6,660 RSV diagnostic testing from September 2022 to December 2024 in adults over the age of 60 who were administered seasonal vaccinations. Time-to-event analysis was conducted for 110 adults over age 60 with RSV diagnostic testing performed at Labcorp within one year of vaccination.Figure 3.Monthly RSV positivity rates and vaccination volumes in adults 60 – 74 years of age and in adults 75+ from September 2022 to December 2024. Line plot indicates RSV positivity rates. Orange bars and right y-axis indicate RSV vaccination volumes. Shapes indicate the number of diagnostic tests performed per month.Figure 4.RSV diagnostic testing results within one year of RSV vaccination in 57 adults o60 – 74 years of age and in 53 adults 75+. Bars are colored by when each patient received the RSV vaccine.ResultsPeak uptake of RSV vaccines occurred in November 2023 in the 2023 – 2024 RSV vaccination season and in October 2024 in the 2024 – 2025 RSV vaccination season in adults aged 60 – 74. For adults 75+, peak vaccine uptake occurred in November 2023 and October 2024 (Fig 1). Peak RSV testing in adults aged 60 – 74 occurred in December. Peak RSV testing in adults 75+ occurred in December 2022 and in January and December 2024. Peak uptake of RSV vaccines occurred 1 – 2 months prior to the peak RSV testing months. Testing volumes in peak testing month of December decreased by 43.8% in adults aged 60 – 74 and by 42.5% in adults 75+ 2024 from 2023 (Fig 2). Peak RSV positivity rates in 2023 – 2024 RSV vaccination season occurred in December in adults aged 60 – 74 (9.3%) and adults aged 75+ (7.4%; Fig 3). Vaccine uptake peaked 1 – 2 months prior to peak RSV positive months. There were no breakthrough RSV infections in 57 adults aged 60 – 74 or in 53 adults aged 75+ with RSV diagnostic testing within one year of vaccination (Fig 4).ConclusionOur data demonstrate a potential correlation between the introduction of RSV vaccines and a reduction in RSV diagnostic testing in older adults. Furthermore, our data suggests that RSV vaccination is highly protective for RSV infection with zero breakthrough infections in a limited dataset. Further longitudinal study is warranted.DisclosuresKathryn Lang, MD, PhD, VaxCare: Advisor/Consultant David Alfego, PhD, Labcorp: Employee|Labcorp: Employee|Labcorp: Stocks/Bonds (Public Company) Min Kyung Lee, PhD, Labcorp: Employee|Labcorp: Stocks/Bonds (Public Company) Laura Gillim, PhD, Labcorp: Stocks/Bonds (Public Company) Charles M. Walworth, MD, Labcorp: Employee|Labcorp: Stocks/Bonds (Public Company)|Labcorp: Stocks/Bonds (Public Company) Suzanne Dale, PhD, Labcorp: Stocks/Bonds (Public Company) Colm Smart, MBA, VaXcare: Stocks/Bonds (Private Company) Ruth Carrico, PhD, DNP, APRN, VaxCare: Advisor/Consultant Payman Ghasemi, PhD, VaxCare: Grant/Research Support

Human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection increases cervical cancer screening uptake among women underscreened for cervical cancer, particularly those from marginalized low-income and racial and ethnic backgrounds. Underscreened women are also at high risk for other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that can be similarly screened via self-collection. To evaluate an intervention streamlining testing for other STIs alongside HPV self-collected samples among low-income women. This is a secondary analysis of the My Body, My Test-3 study, a randomized clinical trial testing a mailed self-collection intervention to improve cervical cancer screening. The My Body, My Test-3 study was conducted from April 2016 to December 2019 in 22 counties in North Carolina among low-income women overdue for cervical cancer screening. This analysis included participants randomized to the trial intervention group with valid STI and HPV results. Data analysis occurred from October 2024 to February 2025. The intervention included a mailed self-collection kit and instructions to self-collect a cervicovaginal sample. Samples were tested for other STIs and HPV using the Aptima assay. The primary outcome was a positive test result for other STIs (including chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis). A risk factor analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with testing positive for other STIs. Secondary outcomes included rate of follow-up care and perceptions of self-collection among participants with positive STI results. Among 327 participants (median [IQR] age, 42 [25-63] years; 38 [8.6%] Hispanic, 146 [44.7%] non-Hispanic Black, and 133 [40.7%] non-Hispanic White), 51 (15.6%) tested positive for other STIs and 51 (15.6%) tested positive for HPV; 7 (2.1%) tested positive for both. Risk factors for other STIs included non-Hispanic Black race and ethnicity compared with non-Hispanic White race and ethnicity (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 4.1; 95% CI, 1.5-11.6), having 2 or more sexual partners in the last year compared with having none (aOR, 5.7; 95% CI, 1.0-31.4), single marital status compared with married or partnered status (aOR, 5.6; 95% CI, 1.1-27.9), and current smoking compared with none (aOR, 4.1; 95% CI, 1.7-10.4). Among participants who tested positive for other STIs, 34 (66.7%) received follow-up care. Most participants (130 [84.4%]) preferred testing for both HPV and other STIs in the future. In this secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial of 327 participants, nearly 1 in 6 tested positive for other STIs via streamlined testing in a mailed HPV self-collection intervention. Self-collection may improve both cervical cancer and STI screening for women from marginalized backgrounds. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02651883.

Proving ground testing is a critical and resource-intensive aspect of vehicle durability qualification. The development of test schedules is traditionally based on customer usage patterns, which vary significantly across different markets, often requiring multiple and costly data acquisition efforts. This study presents a machine learning approach to streamline this process. By collecting comprehensive data on diverse road and load conditions, we trained an AI model to predict proving ground (PG) schedules for new customer usage profiles without needing new data acquisition and simulations. The trained model, a Support Vector Machine (SVM), successfully predicted test schedules with a maximum error of 7.0% when validated against unseen data. The primary advantage of this method is the rapid and cost-effective generation of proving ground test schedules for new markets that share similar road types but have different usage distributions, eliminating repetitive data collection and lengthy simulations. Keywords: Two-wheeler, Durability, ground testing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Vehicle RLDA, Track Optimization, RapidMiner, Deep Learning, Support Vector Machine (SVM)

I am pleased to rise in the House today in support of this historic legislation to implement the modernization of the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. This is an incredibly important agreement for both Canada and Ukraine, and I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate what this legislation would accomplish.

The identification of therapeutic strategies to induce sustained antiretroviral therapy (ART)-free control of HIV infection is a major priority1. Combination immunotherapy including HIV vaccination, immune stimulation,latency reversal and passive transfer of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) has shown promise in non-human primate models2-6, but few studies have translated such approaches into people. Here we performed a single-arm, proof-of-concept study in ten people livingwith HIV on ART, combining the following three approaches: (1) therapeutic vaccination with an HIVGag conservedelement-targeted DNA + IL-12 prime/modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) boost regimen followed by (2) administration of two bNAbs (10-1074, VRC07-523LS) and a toll-like receptor 9 agonist (lefitolimod) during ART suppression, followed by (3) repeat bNAb administration at the time of ART interruption (Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04357821 ). Seven out of the ten participants exhibited post-intervention control after pausingART, independent of residual bNAb plasma levels. Robust expansion of activated CD8+ T cells early in response to rebounding virus correlated with a lower median viral load after peak viraemia off ART. These data suggest that combination immunotherapy approaches might prove effective in inducing sustained control of HIV by slowing rebound and improving CD8+ T cell responses, and that these approaches should continue to be optimized.