Washington & Jefferson College

Semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) has surged in popularity for its weight loss effects. Its widespread media coverage may have an outsized impact on adolescents and young adults due to their higher engagement in social media and their vulnerability to unintended consequences of weight-related discourse (e.g., body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, weight stigma). This study aimed to determine youth familiarity with and opinions about use of medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy for weight loss.

Five open-ended questions were asked to 753 youth participants (14-24 years) in the MyVoice nationwide text message poll in March 2024. Responses were analyzed using content analysis and coding differences resolved by consensus. Differences by demographic characteristics were explored using chi-square tests.

Overall, 547 (73%) youth responded; average age was 20.4 ± 2.5 years, with 50.3% identifying as female. Nearly three-quarters (73.6%) had heard of medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, but the majority (57.5%) stated that these medications should not be used by youth. Three primary concerns arose: (1) safety; (2) inappropriate use; and (3) role of personal responsibility for healthy lifestyle (a belief that was more common among males than females or other gender).

Awareness about semaglutide was high, but perceptions of use were generally negative or hesitant, particularly among males, who emphasized the importance of healthy lifestyle behaviors. Hesitancy due to safety concerns and the role of weight stigma should be explored to determine the potential impact on users of such medications when medically indicated.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic allergic inflammatory disease of the esophagus that exerts a significant clinical and financial burden in developed countries. Despite an emerging interest in this disease, the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving EoE pathogenesis remain elusive. Addressing this knowledge gap is critical to guide the development of novel approaches for diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy in patients with EoE. As EoE is an allergic inflammatory disorder that results in esophageal inflammation and tissue remodeling, in vivo studies are critical to develop a better understanding of this disease. Here, we provide a review of murine models of EoE, highlighting the mechanistic and translational insights into EoE pathogenesis and therapeutic approaches that studies using these models have uncovered. We further discuss the strengths and limitations of EoE mouse models, as well as opportunities for future in vivo approaches to study EoE. Overall, this article reviews the progress, challenges, unmet needs, and opportunities in murine modeling of EoE.

We describe the synthesis of a novel complex of the anticancer "active pharmaceutical ingredient erlotinib (ERL) via heterogeneous nucleation on polished zinc tiles. The resulting product, ERL ₂ ·ZnCl ₂ , is characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, multinuclear solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Also characterized are the hydrochloride salt (ERL·HCl) and monohydrate free base (ERL·H ₂ O) forms of erlotinib. ¹³C ssNMR spectroscopy is useful for site-by-site assignment and rapid fingerprinting, while also providing preliminary structural interpretations, such as the number of molecules in the asymmetric unit. ³⁵Cl ssNMR can readily differentiate between the chloride ions in ERL·HCl and the covalently bonded chlorine in ERL ₂ ·ZnCl ₂ . ¹⁵N ssNMR proves to be critical here because of the large isotropic chemical shift differences between ERL·H ₂ O, ERL·HCl, and ERL ₂ ·ZnCl ₂ . The ¹⁵N chemical shift tensors are linked directly to differences in structure and bonding with the aid of DFT calculations. Together, these results demonstrate the utility of multinuclear NMR crystallography for the characterization of solid forms of APIs, especially when other analytical techniques face significant challenges.