Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) is one of the graduate schools of Boston University. Founded in 1976, the School offers master's- and doctoral-level programs in public health. It is located in the heart of Boston University's Medical Campus in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The school has more than 8,900 alumni, 267 faculty, and 227 staff; its students hail from more than 43 countries, and its total research portfolio is worth more than $180 million. BUSPH is fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health and ranked 8th among Public Health Graduate Schools by U.S. News & World Report. The current dean is Dr. Sandro Galea. Former dean Dr. Robert Meenan stepped down at the end of 2014 after serving in the role for 22 years.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health concern linked with adverse health consequences such as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Although substance use disorders (SUDs) have been associated with IPV, there is limited research on IPV screening and disclosure among health care patients with SUDs, particularly veterans. To examine the rates of IPV screening and disclosure among veterans with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and opioid use disorder (OUD) and to identify IPV subtypes and lethality risks, disaggregated by sex and SUD type. This study analyzed IPV screening and disclosure rates among veterans in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) diagnosed with AUD and/or OUD from January 2016 to December 2021. 790,384 veterans diagnosed with AUD, OUD, or both in VHA electronic health records. Data included rates of IPV screening, rates of positive IPV screens (IPV+), IPV subtypes (psychological, physical, sexual), and risk of IPV-related lethality (escalation, strangulation, belief of being killed). In our sample, 22.36
The United States has welcomed large numbers of forced migrants seeking safety from political conflict in recent years. According to an August 2025 report from the Pew Research Center, by mid-July 2023, those with humanitarian temporary protections from deportation totaled 1.35 million. Similarly, the number of individuals with pending asylum applications totaled 1.3 million and refugee admissions in FY 2023 totaled 60,050 refugees. The forced migration experience can potentially entail health risks, including to kidney health. These risks may vary by country of origin and migration history, including type of forced migration status such as: people with refugee status, people seeking asylum, and populations receiving temporary protection on humanitarian pathways. These legal and physical pathways can shape exposure to potential risk factors during forced migration, which include: (1) political violence-related injuries such as armed conflict and torture, (2) exposure to exertional injury, dehydration, and infection during transit and (3) climate change-related heat stress. Despite these risks, there is minimal research on kidney health impacts and—importantly, little work on strategies for mitigating them. To understand the risks and potential mitigation strategies, we call for more research, attention in guideline development and clinician consideration of risk factors and screening.
The thymus is essential for establishing T cell diversity early in life, but undergoes profound involution with age and has therefore traditionally been regarded as largely nonfunctional in adults1,2. Here we propose that preserving thymic functionality is integral to adult health and longevity. We developed a deep learning framework to quantify thymic health from routine radiographic images and evaluated its association with longevity and risk of major age-associated diseases in two large prospective cohorts of asymptomatic adults: the National Lung Screening Trial (n = 25,031) and the Framingham Heart Study (n = 2,581). In both cohorts, thymic health varied markedly across the population. In the National Lung Screening Trial, higher thymic health was consistently associated with lower all-cause mortality, reduced lung cancer incidence and lower cardiovascular mortality over 12 years of follow-up after adjustment for age, sex, smoking and comorbidities. In the independent Framingham Heart Study cohort, higher thymic health was significantly associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality, independent of age, sex and smoking. Thymic health was further linked to systemic inflammation and metabolic dysregulation, and associated with modifiable lifestyle factors including smoking, obesity and physical activity. Together, these findings reposition the thymus as a central regulator of immune-mediated ageing and disease susceptibility in adulthood, highlighting its potential as a target for preventive and regenerative strategies to promote healthy ageing and longevity.
BACKGROUND:Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) are widespread, but their effectiveness for violence prevention is unclear. OBJECTIVE:To determine the effects of Boston Medical Center's HVIP on future violence outcomes among violently injured young adults. DESIGN:Target trial emulation using observational data. SETTING:Boston, Massachusetts. PARTICIPANTS:Young adults aged 16 to 34 years who survived a shooting or stabbing. INTERVENTION:Target trials of 2 treatment strategies using the same eligibility criteria, time zero, and control group were emulated: 1) any treatment: engaging with the HVIP within 1 month of injury and 2) sustained treatment: initiating within 1 month and engaging more than 4 of the first 8 weeks. MEASUREMENTS:Combined measure of violent reinjury or violence perpetration at 1, 2, and 3 years, using hospital and police data. RESULTS:1328 patients met criteria; 565 (42.5%) initiated within 1 month. Of these, 58 (10.2%) sustained engagement. In the any-treatment analysis, estimated cumulative incidence was roughly equal between the treatment and control strategies at 1, 2, and 3 years. In the sustained engagement analysis, treatment was associated with considerably lower cumulative incidence (4.5% [95% CI, 1.1% to 9.3%] at 1 year; 5.1% [CI, 1.1% to 9.3%] at 2 years; 6.4% [CI, 1.4% to 12.9%] at 3 years) versus the control strategy (8.7% [CI, 6.6% to 10.0%] at 1 year; 12.3% [CI, 10.2% to 14.5%] at 2 years; 14.3% [CI, 11.8% to 16.6%] at 3 years), with corresponding risk reductions of 47.6% (CI, -19.8% to 86.7%), 58.5% (CI, 21.6% to 91.2%), and 55.3% (CI, 4.9% to 90.2%). Confidence intervals were wide. LIMITATION:Despite our target trial emulation approach, results could be confounded by unmeasured factors associated with program engagement. CONCLUSION:Although HVIPs can improve long-term violence outcomes, these effects seem to require intensive participant engagement. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE:Fund for a Safer Future.
OBJECTIVE:Subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) can precede cognitive decline and are associated with demographic, exposure, lifestyle, and psychological factors. Prevalences of SCC and their correlates in individuals with repetitive head impacts (RHI) are poorly understood. This study characterized SCC in former elite American football players by frequency, mood and behavioral correlates, concordance with informant reports, and associations with neuropsychological test performance, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of neurodegeneration. METHOD:Former American football players (n = 180) completed measures of global and domain-specific SCC, neuropsychiatric symptom questionnaires, neuropsychological testing, lumbar puncture, and MRI. Elastic net regression evaluated the relative importance of potential SCC correlates. Intraclass correlation coefficients measured concordance between self and informant reports. Multiple linear regressions tested associations between SCC and verbal memory and executive functioning scores. CSF Aβ1-42, p-tau181, t-tau, neurofilament light (NfL), hippocampal volume, and regional cortical thickness were examined for their potential associations with SCC. RESULTS:Rates of SCC ranged from 43 to 77% depending on the domain. Symptoms of depression, impulsivity, and anxiety were strongly associated with SCC. Self- and informant-reported SCC showed moderate inter-rater agreement. Adjusting for age, race, education, APOE ϵ4 carrier status, and depressive symptoms, SCC were associated with lower objective verbal memory and executive functioning performance. SCC were associated with lower parahippocampal cortical thickness but not with hippocampal volume or any of the measured CSF tests. CONCLUSIONS:SCC are strongly associated with neuropsychiatric factors in former American football players. SCC may also be a marker of cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.
