Bishop

Researchers are evaluating a culturally informed patient navigation program called Community-Focused Patient Navigation CFPN to reduce delays between diagnosis and treatment in American Indian and Alaska Native AIAN cancer patients living in rural California. AIAN communities face significant cancer disparities, including higher death rates and later-stage diagnoses, potentially due to barriers like rural isolation and lack of trust in mainstream healthcare. The study aims to co-design, implement, and assess this culturally tailored program to address these challenges. The study has two main objectives. The first involves participants contributing to the co-design of the CFPN program through serving on a Community Advisory Board, participating in focus groups, or completing key informant interviews. The second objective engages patients with the CFPN navigator who provides a personalized treatment plan based on individual needs, goals, and barriers. Patients also receive opioid misuse education and care coordination as part of the program. Participants involvement varies by group advisory board members guide the program design, focus group participants share insights in 1-2 hour sessions, and key informants provide interviews lasting about 30 minutes. Patients in the CFPN program receive ongoing navigation support tailored to their cancer treatment stage. Researchers evaluate qualitative and quantitative effectiveness, implementation, and participant attrition over up to two years, using community-informed and Indigenous evaluation methods.

Researchers are studying how acute ingestion of ketone monoester affects brain blood flow and ventilatory threshold during maximal exercise tests at both low and high altitudes. The trial focuses on healthy adults aged 18 to 35 and aims to understand the bodys responses to exercise under different altitude conditions while using this dietary supplement. Participants receive either a ketone monoester supplement dosed at 0.6 grams per kilogram of body weight or a taste-matched placebo. The study includes two experimental settings one at high altitude 3800 meters at Barcroft Research Station and another at low altitude 334 meters at the University of Guelph. The intervention is randomized and double-blind to compare the effects in these two environments. During the study, participants undergo maximal exercise tests with continuous monitoring of cerebral blood velocity, cardiac output, blood pressure, ventilation, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, blood lactate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate levels. These measurements are taken over a 3-hour period to evaluate physiological responses. The trial lasts for the duration of the exercise test sessions, and safety is monitored throughout.