bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investigation of Caucasian rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility loci in African patients with the same disease
Authors: Viatte Sebastien , Flynn Edward , Lunt Mark , Barnes Joanne , Singwe-Ngandeu Madeleine , Bas Sylvette , Barton Anne , Gabay Cem
Published: November 2012

Introduction

The largest genetic risk to develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA) arises from a group of alleles of the HLA DRB1 locus ('shared epitope', SE). Over 30 non-HLA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) predisposing to disease have been identified in Caucasians, but they have never been investigated in West/Central Africa. We previously reported a lower prevalence of the SE in RA patients in Cameroon compared to European patients and aimed in the present study to investigate the contribution of Caucasian non-HLA RA SNPs to disease susceptibility in Black Africans.

Methods

RA cases and controls from Cameroon were genotyped for Caucasian RA susceptibility SNPs using Sequenom MassArray technology. Genotype data were also available for 5024 UK cases and 4281 UK controls and for 119 Yoruba individuals in Ibadan, Nigeria (YRI, HapMap). A Caucasian aggregate genetic-risk score (GRS) was calculated as the sum of the weighted risk-allele counts.

Results

After genotyping quality control procedures were performed, data on 28 Caucasian non-HLA susceptibility SNPs were available in 43 Cameroonian RA cases and 44 controls. The minor allele frequencies (MAF) were tightly correlated between Cameroonian controls and YRI individuals (correlation coefficient 93.8%, p = 1.7E-13), and they were pooled together. There was no correlation between MAF of UK and African controls; 13 markers differed by more than 20%. The MAF for markers at PTPN22, IL2RA, FCGR2A and IL2/IL21 was below 2% in Africans. The GRS showed a strong association with RA in the UK. However, the GRS did not predict RA in Africans (OR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.29 - 1.74, p = 0.456). Random sampling from the UK cohort showed that this difference in association is unlikely to be explained by small sample size or chance, but is statistically significant with p<0.001.

Conclusions

The MAFs of non-HLA Caucasian RA susceptibility SNPs are different between Caucasians and Africans, and several polymorphisms are barely detectable in West/Central Africa. The genetic risk of developing RA conferred by a set of 28 Caucasian susceptibility SNPs is significantly different between the UK and Africa with p<0.001. Taken together, these observations strengthen the hypothesis that the genetic architecture of RA susceptibility is different in different ethnic backgrounds.
Stem cell factor contributes to tumorigenesis of mast cells via an autocrine/paracrine mechanism
Authors: Amagai Y , Tanaka A , Matsuda A , Jung K , Ohmori K , Matsuda H
Published: November 2012

Contribution of SCF auto-production to neoplastic growth of mast cells.

Mastocytosis is a disease accompanied by the abnormal expansion and accumulation of mast cells. Although the D816V mutation is detected in most cases of systemic mastocytosis, the mutation is rarely observed in other forms of mastocytosis, such as cutaneous mastocytosis and mast cell leukemia/sarcoma, for which the mechanism of tumorigenesis remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrated a novel mechanism of mast cell tumorigenesis via SCF autocrine/paracrine release. SCF was highly expressed in a WT KIT-expressing HRMC line, contributing to the phosphorylation of KIT. Neutralization of external SCF using a neutralizing antibody or suppression of SCF production by RNA interference inhibited the growth of HRMC cells, indicating the essential role of SCF in cell proliferation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to determine the significant contribution of SCF autoproduction to neoplastic proliferation of mast cells. These results indicate the possibility that targeting SCF production may become a novel treatment for mast cell malignancies.
Integrin subtype-dependent CD18 cleavage under shear and its influence on leukocyte-platelet binding
Authors: Zhang Xiaoyan , Zhan Dongying , Shin Hainsworth Y
Published: November 2012

Fluid shear stress induces differential cleavage of CD18 integrins on leukocyte subpopulations with involvement of cell typespecific proteases and potential effects on platelet binding.

Previous studies showed that exposure of neutrophils to shear stress induces cysteine protease-mediated shedding of surface CD18 integrins involved in leukocyte-platelet interactions. Based on this, we hypothesized that, under noninflamed conditions, shear-induced CD18 cleavage is a control mechanism to minimize spontaneous leukocyte-platelet binding. For this purpose, we characterized the influence of shear on CD18 surface expression and platelet binding by the different leukocyte subsets. Shear stress elicited magnitude- (between 0 and 5 dyn/cm2) and time-dependent reductions in CD18 surface expression. This response was integrin- and cell type-specific, with neutrophils and monocytes exhibiting Mac-1 proteolysis but lymphocytes displaying LFA-1 shedding. Correspondingly, platelet binding, through CD18-fibrinogen interactions, was also influenced by shear exposure in a leukocyte-dependent manner. After treatment with cysteine protease inhibitor E64, neutrophils, but neither monocytes nor lymphocytes, exhibited significantly (P<0.05) enhanced platelet binding and CD18 surface expression under shear. Furthermore, shear exposure significantly (P<0.05) inhibited binding of naïve but not E64-treated neutrophils to fibrinogen. Combined, we provide first evidence that the CD18-cleavage responses of neutrophils to shear interfere with fibrinogen binding and platelet adhesion. These findings have implications as it relates to the efficiency of leukocyte passage through the microcirculation.
Wnt/β-catenin signaling cell-autonomously converts non-hepatic endodermal cells to a liver fate
Authors: So Juhoon , Martin Benjamin L. , Kimelman David , Shin Donghun
Published: November 2012

Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays multiple roles in liver development including hepatoblast proliferation and differentiation, hepatocyte differentiation, and liver zonation. A positive role for Wnt/β-catenin signaling in liver specification was recently identified in zebrafish; however, its underlying cellular mechanisms are unknown. Here, we present two cellular mechanisms by which Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates liver specification. First, using lineage tracing we show that ectopic hepatoblasts, which form in the endoderm posterior to the liver upon activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, are derived from the direct conversion of non-hepatic endodermal cells, but not from the posterior migration of hepatoblasts. We found that endodermal cells at the 4–6th somite levels, which normally give rise to the intestinal bulb or intestine, gave rise to hepatoblasts in Wnt8a-overexpressing embryos, and that the distribution of traced endodermal cells in Wnt8a-overexpressing embryos was similar to that in controls. Second, by using an endoderm-restricted cell-transplantation technique and mosaic analysis with transgenic lines that cell-autonomously suppress or activate Wnt/β-catenin signaling upon heat-shock, we show that Wnt/β-catenin signaling acts cell-autonomously in endodermal cells to induce hepatic conversion. Altogether, these data demonstrate that Wnt/β-catenin signaling can induce the fate-change of non-hepatic endodermal cells into a liver fate in a cell-autonomous manner. These findings have potential application to hepatocyte differentiation protocols for the generation of mature hepatocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells, supplying a sufficient amount of hepatocytes for cell-based therapies to treat patients with severe liver diseases.
The Spalt transcription factors regulate cell proliferation, survival and epithelial integrity downstream of the Decapentaplegic signalling pathway
Authors: Organista María F. , De Celis Jose F.
Published: November 2012

The expression of the spalt genes is regulated by the Decapentaplegic signalling pathway in the Drosophila wing. These genes participate in the patterning of the longitudinal wing veins by regulating the expression of vein-specific genes, and in the establishment of cellular affinities in the central region of the wing blade epithelium. The Spalt proteins act as transcription factors, most likely regulating gene expression by repression, but the identity of their target genes in the wing is still unknown. As a preliminary step to unravel the genetic hierarchy controlled by the Spalt proteins, we have analysed their requirements during wing development, and addressed to what extent they mediate all the functions of the Decapentaplegic pathway in this developmental system. We identify additional functions for Spalt in cell division, survival, and maintenance of epithelial integrity. Thus, Spalt activity is required to promote cell proliferation, acting in the G2/M transition of the cell cycle. The contribution of Spalt to cell division is limited to the central region of the wing blade, as they do not mediate the extra growth triggered by Decapentaplegic signalling in the peripheral regions of the wing disc. In addition, Spalt function is required to maintain cell viability in cells exposed to high levels of Decapentaplegic signalling. This aspect of Spalt function is related to the repression of JNK signalling in the spalt domain of expression. Finally, we further characterise the requirements of Spalt to maintain epithelial integrity by regulating cellular affinities between cells located in the central wing region. Our results indicate that Spalt function mediates most of the requirements identified for Decapentaplegic signalling, contributing to establish the cellular qualities that differentiate central versus peripheral territories in the wing blade.
Non-invasive vascular imaging in perforator flap surgery
Authors: Saba Luca , Atzeni Matteo , Rozen Warren Matthew , Alonso-Burgos Alberto , Bura Raffaella , Piga Mario , Ribuffo Diego
Published: November 2012

Preoperative imaging using a range of imaging modalities has become increasingly popular for preoperative planning in plastic surgery, in particular in perforator flap surgery. Modalities in this role include ultrasound (US), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and computed tomographic angiography (CTA). The evidence for the use of these techniques has been reported in only a handful of studies. In this paper we conducted a non-systematic review of the literature to establish the role for each of these modalities. The role of state-of-the-art vascular imaging as an application in perforator flap surgery is thus offered.
Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and effect of contrast medium on thyroid metabolism in cardiac patients undergoing coronary angiography
Authors: Marraccini Paolo , Bianchi Massimiliano , Bottoni Antonio , Mazzarisi Alessandro , Coceani Michele , Molinaro Sabrina , Lorenzoni Valentina , Landi Patrizia , Iervasi Giorgio
Published: November 2012

Background

Iodinated contrast media (CM) may influence thyroid function. Precautions are generally taken in patients with hyperthyroidism, even if subclinical, whereas the risks in patients with hypothyroidism or low triiodothyronine (T3) syndrome are not considered as appreciable.

Purpose

To assess the presence and type of thyroid dysfunction in patients admitted for coronary angiography (CA), to assess the concentration of free-iodide in five non-ionic CM, and to evaluate changes in thyroid function after CA in patients with low T3 syndrome.

Material and Methods

We measured free T3, free thyroxine (T4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in 1752 consecutive patients prior to CA and free-iodide in five non-ionic CM. Urinary free-iodide before and 24 h after CA, and thyroid hormone profile 48 h after CA were also made in 17 patients with low T3 syndrome. Patients were followed up for an average duration of 63.5 months.

Results

The patients were divided into four groups: euthyroidism (60%), low T3 syndrome (28%), hypothyroidism (10%), and hyperthyroidism (2%). The free-iodide resulted far below the recommended limit of 50 μg/mL in all tested CM. In low T3 syndrome, 24-h free-iodide increased after CA from 99.9± 63 ug to 12276±9285 ug (P< 0.0001). A reduction in TSH (4.97±1.1 vs. 4.17±1.1 mUI/mL, P < 0.01) and free T3 (1.44±0.2 vs. 1.25±0.3 pg/mL, P < 0.01), with an increase in free T4 (11.3±2.9 vs. 12.5±3.4 pg/dL, P < 0.001), was found. Patients with functional thyroid disease in the follow-up had a significant lower rate survival compared to euthyroid patients (90.7 vs. 82.2%, P < 0.00001).

Conclusion

Thyroid dysfunction is frequent in patients who perform a CA, and low T3 syndrome is the predominant feature. The administration of contrast medium may further compromise the thyroid function.
Three-dimensional Look-Locker MRI for evaluation of postcontrast myocardial and blood T1 values: Comparison with two-dimensional Look-Locker and late gadolinium enhancement MRI
Authors: Amano Yasuo , Tachi Masaki , Kumita Shinichiro
Published: November 2012

Background

Two-dimensional (2D) Look-Locker MRI technique can identify myocardial fibrosis, but cannot cover the whole left ventricle during a single scan.

Purpose

To develop breath-hold three-dimensional (3D) Look-Locker MRI for the evaluation of postcontrast myocardial and blood T1 values and myocardial scarring in the left ventricle.

Material and Methods

A phantom and 24 patients with myocardial diseases underwent gadolinium-enhanced 2D and 3D Look-Locker MRI using a 1.5-T unit. We compared the T1 value of the phantom and the values of the myocardium and blood in the patients between the two Look-Locker MRI sequences. In the patient study, the scan ordering of the two Look-Locker MRI was selected randomly. We also assessed the ability of the 3D imaging to detect myocardial scarring that was confirmed by late gadolinium enhancement MRI.

Results

The phantom study showed a good agreement for the T1 value between 2D and 3D Look-Locker MRI. There were no significant differences in the myocardial T1 values after contrast between 2D and 3D Look-Locker MRI or in the T1 values between the two imaging slices on the 3D Look-Locker MRI (P > 0.10). A better agreement for the myocardial T1 values was found when the 3D Look-Locker imaging was performed first. The T1 values for blood were affected by the scan order (P < 0.05). The 3D Look-Locker MRI showed myocardial scarring with a shorter T1 value (290.4 ± 62.7 ms) than those for unscarred myocardium (360.8±30.3 ms).

Conclusion

Three-dimensional Look-Locker MRI may precisely estimate the postcontrast myocardial and blood T1 values for the entire left ventricle during a single scan.
In The Name of Transparency: Gender, Terrorism, and Masonic Conspiracies in Italy
Authors: Mahmud Lilith
Published: November 2012

In 1993 Italian newspapers published the membership lists of all major Masonic Orders in the country. The lists were part of an ongoing campaign waged in the name of transparency against the secrecy of Freemasons, long suspected of political conspiracies. The lists, however, omitted women’s names, thus reifying Freemasonry as a brotherhood of men. Drawing on 18 months of fieldwork among Freemason men and women in Italy, I examine historically and ethnographically the significance of women’s absence from the lists, the aftermath of those publications for Masonic experiences in Italy, and the paradoxes of transparency as a gendered discourse.
Re-Enchantment Cosmologies: Mastery and Obsolescence in an Intelligent Universe
Authors: Farman Abou
Published: November 2012

Following modernity’s founding dream of human mastery over the natural world, scientific discoveries produced a picture of an infinite, random, and indifferent universe, thus paradoxically revealing the utter insignificance of the “master/dreamer.” Recently, the convergence of a number of extreme technoscientific projects—AI, Nanotechnology, Life Extension—has activated science-based cosmological visions in which humans and their “intelligence” are given a central purpose in the unfolding of the universe. The movement formed around the event-horizon of the Singularity is the most well-known version of these re-enchantment cosmologies. Yet this re-enchantment only serves as a prelude to an obsolescence: humans are here to give rise to other, better minds, a prospect that makes Singularitarians restless with both fear and exhilaration.
Coming in at an Unusual Angle: Exo-Surprise and the Fieldworking Cosmonaut
Authors: Battaglia Debbora
Published: November 2012

Valentin Lebedev is a pioneer of space and earth science in Russia. He is also the first ethnographic diarist of outer space. In 1982, while “on orbit” for 211 days as a fieldworking cosmonaut, Lebedev produced a thickly descriptive account of the intimate sociality and technoculture of the Soviet space complex Salyut 7. Crafted to defamiliarize (ostranenie) a spaceworld that publics saw as flawlessly engineered and managed, the diary is an argument for the value of exospheric (exo-) surprise in human experience. But on another level, we learn that the surprise is on humans who would claim to conquer “space-as-itself”—a “zero gravity” environment of force fields both extremely inhospitable to life as we know it and also generative of life in all its expressions.
Filth and Lucre: The Dirty Money Complex as a Taxation Regime
Authors: Peebles Gustav
Published: November 2012

This review essay takes a synoptic view of the ethnographic record concerning the long-standing and cross-cultural associations between money and dirt. In questioning why this association crops up as often as it does, I turn to the anthropological literature on the study of metaphor and metonym. By doing so, I offer a reinterpretation of the money form, pointing out that dirt—as a transgressive mediator between discrete realms—is itself a cross-cultural trope that is often intimately tied to ideas and rituals of social reproduction and fertility. I suggest that the widespread denigration of money as dirty may serve as a sort of economic regulatory mechanism, which aims to reinvigorate money’s potential fertility when this latter has become sterile due to alleged acts of anti-social exchange or non-exchange.
The End of Ends
Authors: Masco Joseph
Published: November 2012

This paper assesses the conceptual and technological negotiation of an absolute end. The idea of a total ending is sublime: it is located outside of language and powerful precisely because of its sheer incomprehensibility. Yet, through the 20th century the United States built large-scale technological systems capable of achieving an absolute end to civilization. This paper engages both the idea of an end, and the means to an end, informing US nuclear strategy. It begins with an assessment of Cold War nuclear war plans that, if enacted, would certainly have eliminated most, if not all, life on Earth. I then examine how this expert fixation on nuclear crisis was itself circumscribed by new technological systems—notably secret space satellites that provided images of Earth in its totality as well as a vital check on the American projections of Soviet power. The exploration of outer space was thus a crucial means of checking American fantasies of an imminent and total danger, establishing a new limit on thought while opening up the possibility of an “end of ends” in the nuclear age.
Extraterrestrial Relativism
Authors: Helmreich Stefan
Published: November 2012

This paper suggests that today’s twin scientific interests in the extreme and extraterrestrial ground a novel kind of relativism, which I call extraterrestrial relativism, a relativism about “nature” over culture—and, more, about Earthly, even cosmic, nature. I develop the concept of extraterrestrial relativism using ethnographic work I conducted among astrobiologists and I suggest that this genre of relativism can be brought into a newly inaugurated conversation on “comparative relativisms” in anthropology.
Extreme: Limits and Horizons in the Once and Future Cosmos
Authors: Valentine David , Olson Valerie A. , Battaglia Debbora
Published: November 2012

This paper introduces a special collection of Anthropological Quarterly for examining “the extreme” in contemporary modernity. Drawing upon sites of political, scientific, and economic engagement that source specifically to the extraterrestrial, we argue that the figure of the extreme shapes an analytic of limits and ever-opening horizons—epistemological and physical—provoking new understandings of humanness, environment, temporality, and of inter-species life as we think we understand it, here on Earth. It follows that this framework is not restricted to the environment of outer space: the analytic of the extreme, which is broadly salient in contemporary imagination and social practice, opens to examination of how all modern subjects are capable of upending modernity’s everyday spaces and timelines. The assembled papers cohere around this commitment. Coming in from very different angles, each seriously considers the possibility of outcomes not anticipated by analytic or vernacular explanatory frameworks, while refusing to commit anthropologists to the dangers of prognostication.
Astronomers at the Observatory: Place, Visual Practice, Traces
Authors: Hoeppe Götz
Published: November 2012

Focusing ethnographically on astronomers engaged in “look back studies” of cosmic evolution, this essay considers how they make telescopic observations at an optical observatory in the context of their epistemic work at other sites. Foucault’s notion of a heterotopia captures key aspects of how the observatory is set apart from astronomers’ work with digital data elsewhere. However, visual practices of interpreting telescopic exposures in the observatory’s control room do reach across this divide and inform later epistemic work, such as when scientists use these exposures retrospectively as windows into the functioning of telescopes and detectors. Visiting astronomers remark that witnessing the emergence of exposures in the control room asserts to them the reality of the cosmic objects they study. I interpret this as being grounded in their understanding of semiosis.
Political Ecology in the Extreme: Asteroid Activism and the Making of an Environmental Solar System
Authors: Olson Valerie A.
Published: November 2012

This case study examines how, in a post-Cold War context, aerospace and astronautics practices and policies are becoming more comprehensively attached to national and international environmental politics. This is evident in the emergence of a dual identity for Near Earth Objects (asteroids and comets with orbits that bring them close to the Earth); they are astronomical as well as environmental objects that are considered to be threats as well as exploitable natural resources. The paper investigates two results of this dual categorization: 1) activist efforts to extend environmental governance beyond the terrestrial and 2) new technoscientific perceptions of the solar system as a heliospheric ecology.
Cumulative Causation Unbounded: Network Expansion in Rural and Urban Migration Centers
Authors: Wilson Tamar Diana
Published: November 2012

There is a tendency in the migration literature to see rural communities that send many migrants to the United States as closed communities. The theory of cumulative causation rests on the assumption of bounded communities and posits a saturation point at which no more migration from the community occurs. The implication that eventually there will be no further migration from a given community ignores the existence of networks that bind people from nearby or even distant communities which can be tapped by a potential migrant and the phenomenon of internal migration to dynamic rural centers. Migration networks also expand in urban centers through marriages of a family’s offspring that bring people without established ties in the US into intimate contact with people who do have these ties.
Exit Strategy: Profit, Cosmology, and the Future of Humans in Space
Authors: Valentine David
Published: November 2012

Commercial NewSpace industries are increasingly significant players in outer space. The temptation is to see NewSpace as merely the next step in neoliberal capitalism’s search for new profits and markets. However, finance capitalism’s emphasis on short-term investor “exit strategies” is actually hostile to both the cosmological vision and entrepreneurial practice of NewSpacers, who seek a different “exit strategy”: to escape Earth’s gravity and establish space settlements which they see as essential to long-term human survival and evolution. At the same time, critical theorists are hostile to, or ignore, the idea of space as a site for human sociality. I argue that the context of outer space—and what it promises—challenges a progressive perspective on human futures to take seriously the cosmological visions of powerful social actors whose goals naturalize capitalist relations, even as these goals are re-imagined in reference to powerful cultural and economic historical tropes.
Mobile Endings: Screen Death, Early Narrative, and the Films of D. W. Griffith
Authors: Combs Scott
Published: November 2012

This article looks at D. W. Griffith's early narrative films at Biograph Studios to trace the emergence of the death scene in American cinema, arguing that figures, objects, and vistas provide "registration," or confirmation on screen that dying has concluded. These human and nonhuman witnesses, in effect, represent death multiple times, indeed in multiple places, as a way to compensate for an encounter between the cinema camera and the dying body that is both incomplete and excessive.
Nacer Khemir and the Subject of Beauty in Bab'Aziz : The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul
Authors: Papan-Matin Firoozeh
Published: November 2012

Nacer Khemir is an acclaimed Franco-Arab filmmaker whose trilogy on Islamic culture and heritage was completed with the 2005 release of Bab'Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul , a film centered on the achievements of Islamic heritage and its diverse folkloric and elite cultures.
Cinematic Destiny: Marvel Studios and the Trade Stories of Industrial Convergence
Authors: Johnson Derek
Published: November 2012

Between 2005 and 2009, Marvel Studios' independent film production diverted creative and economic power from major studios once licensed to use its comic book properties. Marvel negotiated and legitimated this changed relationship through self-reflexive trade stories that positioned comic book managers as inevitably integral to a reimagined film production culture.
From Irony to Narrative Crisis: Reconsidering the Femme Fatale in the Films of David Lynch
Authors: Beckman Frida
Published: November 2012

This article argues that the figure of the femme fatale, associated by feminist film critics with the epistemological drive of causal and patriarchal narrative, attains a progressive potential when portrayed through the complex narrative temporalities of David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Lost Highway , and Mulholland Drive .
Postclassical Nonfiction: Narration in the Contemporary Documentary
Authors: Cagle Chris
Published: November 2012

This article examines contemporary mainstream documentaries for the patterns through which they create meaning and argument. Rather than exhibiting hybridity, these films rely on postclassical narration in their combination of traditional formal documentary form with direct cinema's open argumentation.
Zombie Media: Transmission, Reproduction, and the Digital Dead
Authors: Cameron Allan
Published: November 2012

In zombie films, bodily phenomena of death, decay, and dismemberment are often closely aligned with the contingent traces of mediation, including film grain, distortion, and digital pixelation. Merging the technological and the physical in the frame of "zombie media," these films explore the breakdown of bodies, images, and meaning.
Four Ways Geographic Information Systems Can Help to Enhance Health Service Planning and Delivery for Infectious Diseases in Low-Income Countries
Authors: Brijnath Bianca , Ansariadi Ansariadi , de Souza Dziedzom K.
Published: November 2012

Focusing specifically on infectious diseases in low-income countries, this paper discusses four ways Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can facilitate health service planning and delivery: (1) deeper insight into where health care services should be located; (2) improved health surveillance and real-time planning for disease control and population health; (3) stronger accountability and evidence-informed dialogue between funders and the service providers and; (4) greater opportunities to translate complex data into more accessible formats which policymakers can quickly interpret and act on. Taking its use beyond just a research instrument, GIS is a way to undertake multidisciplinary work and improve health service planning and delivery.
Race/Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Sex Differences in the Relationship between Parental Social Support and Children’s Overweight and Obesity
Authors: Watt Toni Terling , Martinez-Ramos Gloria , Majumdar Debarun
Published: November 2012

In the present study we use the 2007 National Survey of Child Health to examine whether parental social support is associated with children’s overweight/obesity and if this relationship is moderated by race/ethnicity, acculturation, and/or parent’s sex. Results reveal that Hispanics (English and Spanish-speaking) and African Americans have considerably higher rates of child overweight/obesity and are less likely to have social support with parenting than Whites. Social support emerged as a significant predictor of overweight/obesity only for English-speaking Hispanic fathers. However, the magnitude of this effect was substantial. English-speaking Hispanic fathers were more than twice as likely as White fathers to have an overweight/obese child, but with social support, the odds declined by 80%. Findings suggest a need to understand better how race/ethnicity and acculturative stress shape fathers’ parenting practices and how social support serves to buffer these strains.
Sociodemographic Differences in Fears and Mistrust Contributing to Unwillingness to Participate in Cancer Screenings
Authors: Davis Jenna L. , Bynum Shalanda A. , Katz Ralph V. , Buchanan Kyrel , Green B. Lee
Published: November 2012

Effective provider-patient relationships are vital for positive patient health outcomes. This analysis assessed sociodemographic differences in fears and mistrust related to the provider-patient relationship, which may contribute to unwillingness to participate in cancer screenings (CSs). The data are from a stratified, random-digit dial telephone questionnaire of non-institutionalized households in New York, Maryland, and Puerto Rico. Statistically significant results indicate that Hispanics, compared with Whites, were nearly two times more likely to report that fear of being a “guinea pig” and lacking trust in medical people would make them unwilling to participate in CSs. Additionally, those with less education were over two times more likely to indicate a fear of being embarrassed during the screening would make them unwilling to participate in CSs. These results highlight areas where health professionals can improve interactions with their patients and be attentive to their fears and/or mistrusts to promote CSs utilization.
Physician Demography and Policy Implications
Authors: He Xiaoxing
Published: November 2012

This 28-year retrospective analysis of 1980–2008 U.S. Census data found increases in Ohio’s physicians, minority physicians, ages, work hours, and a consistent shortage of physicians in rural underserved areas. Ohio was below the national ratios of physicians per 100,000 people, with less than 6% of physicians in non-metropolitan areas. In 1980, only 13% of physicians were females. By 2008, about 31% of physicians were females. In 1980, less than 21% of physicians were members of an ethnic minority group, and this figure rose to 29% in 2008. The proportion of African American physicians approximately doubled, from less than 3% in 1980 to about 6% in 2008. To ensure the adequate capacity of the future physician workforce, physician demography should approximate the population served. Long-term investment in the rural practice environment is recommended for attracting and retaining rural practice physicians. Increasing the hiring of physician assistants can support the development of an integrated rural primary care workforce.
Refinement of an Educational Toolkit to Promote Cervical Cancer Screening among Hispanic Immigrant Women in Rural Southern Georgia
Authors: Watson-Johnson Lisa C. , Bhagatwala Jigar , Reyes-Garcia Claudia , Hinojosa Andrea , Mason Mondi , Meade Cathy D. , Luque John S.
Published: November 2012

Cervical cancer incidence and mortality continue to affect Hispanic women in the U.S. disproportionately. Our project sought to refine a cervical cancer intervention designed for use by community health workers, or promotoras , in rural southern Georgia. We collaborated with Hispanic promotoras to refine a Spanish language educational flipchart featuring cervical cancer topic areas for use in screening promotion.
Developing the HIV Workforce: A Case Study of a Training Model for Inexperienced HIV Providers
Authors: Jacobson Kathleen R. , Wong Annie , Espinoza Lilia , Ryu Jenica , Chacko Ron , Fisher Dixie , Gates Jerry D.
Published: November 2012

HIV patients in a rural California community were inconsistently receiving optimum HIV care. A local primary care physician assumed the care of these patients and contacted an experienced HIV provider for assistance. This report describes a three-step onsite training program that was implemented and the ensuing successful patient outcomes.
Electronic Health Record Implementation in Outpatient Safety-Net Settings in California
Authors: López Andrea , Patterson Andie Martinez , John Vanesscia , Sarkar Urmimala
Published: November 2012

Health information technology (HIT) is a cornerstone of health care reform, is critical for transformation of current outpatient practices to patient-centered health homes (PCHHs), and has potential to improve health outcomes. To determine the current level of electronic health record (EHR) implementation in California’s outpatient safety-net, we conducted a web-based survey of the California Primary Care Association’s member clinics (response rate 127/181 (70%)). Seventy-two (59%) clinics had not implemented electronic health records (EHR), 26 (21%) were all electronic, 23 (19%) were both paper and electronic, and two (2%) had no plans to implement EHR; the remaining four responses are missing. The majority of clinics allotted less than 6% of their budget to health information technology and 64% of those planning on implementing an EHR reported needing additional staff. California’s safety net systems are likely to need additional support to successfully benefit from health care reform incentives.
A Model for Bidirectional Community-Academic Engagement (CAE): Overview of Partnered Research, Capacity Enhancement, Systems Transformation, and Public Trust in Research
Authors: Baquet Claudia R.
Published: November 2012

The University of Maryland’s Office of Policy and Planning in collaboration with urban and rural community partners, planned and implemented a model for community-academic engagement (CAE) in partnered research and programs. The model addressed health disparities, cancer and tobacco-related diseases, and public trust in research. Environments have flourished that resulted in bidirectional community-academic interactions, and led to transformation of the academic environment and community capacity to identify and address health issues. This collaborative model produced:
•   
enhanced public trust in research; and
•   
enhanced community and Academic Health Center (AHC) capacity to address community health needs as partners.
A unique feature of this model is AHC’s shared grant funding with community partners serving diverse and medically underserved communities for predetermined roles in research, policy and educational programs. Over $18 million in grant funding was provided to community organizations. This paper presents an overview of this model as a case study.
Community Health Workers Support Community-based Participatory Research Ethics: Lessons Learned along the Research-to-Practice-to-Community Continuum
Authors: Smith Selina A. , Blumenthal Daniel S.
Published: November 2012

Ethical principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR)— specifically, community engagement, mutual learning, action-reflection, and commitment to sustainability—stem from the work of Kurt Lewin and Paulo Freire. These are particularly relevant in cancer disparities research because vulnerable populations are often construed to be powerless, supposedly benefiting from programs over which they have no control. The long history of exploiting minority individuals and communities for research purposes (the U.S. Public Health Service Tuskegee Syphilis Study being the most notorious) has left a legacy of mistrust of research and researchers. The purpose of this article is to examine experiences and lessons learned from community health workers (CHWs) in the 10-year translation of an educational intervention in the research-to-practice-to-community continuum. We conclude that the central role played by CHWs enabled the community to gain some degree of control over the intervention and its delivery, thus operationalizing the ethical principles of CBPR.
Patient Activation and Disparate Health Care Outcomes in a Racially Diverse Sample of Chronically Ill Older Adults
Authors: Ryvicker Miriam , Peng Timothy R. , Feldman Penny Hollander
Published: November 2012

The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) assesses people’s ability to self-manage their health. Variations in PAM score have been linked with health behaviors, outcomes, and potential disparities. This study assessed the relative impacts of activation, socio-demographic and clinical factors on health care outcomes in a racially diverse sample of chronically ill, elderly homecare patients. Using survey and administrative data from 249 predominantly non-White patients, logistic regression was conducted to examine the effects of activation level and patient characteristics on the likelihood of subsequent hospitalization and emergency department (ED) use. Activation was not a significant predictor of hospitalization or ED use in adjusted models. Non-Whites were more likely than Whites to have a hospitalization or ED visit. Obesity was a strong predictor of both outcomes. Further research should examine potential sources of disadvantage among chronically ill homecare patients to design effective interventions to reduce health disparities in this population.
Creating a Patient Navigation Model to Address Cervical Cancer Disparities in a Rural Hispanic Farmworker Community
Authors: Wells Kristen J. , Rivera Maria I. , Proctor Sister Sara K. , Arroyo Gloria , Bynum Shalanda A. , Quinn Gwendolyn P. , Luque John S. , Rivera Marlene , Martinez-Tyson Dinorah , Meade Cathy D.
Published: November 2012

This report describes the implementation of a pilot patient navigation (PN) program created to address cervical cancer disparities in a predominantly Hispanic agricultural community. Since November 2009, a patient navigator has provided services to patients of Catholic Mobile Medical Services (CMMS). The PN program has resulted in the need for additional clinic sessions to accommodate the demand for preventive care at CMMS.
Institutionalization of Community Partnerships: The Challenge for Academic Health Centers
Authors: Magwood Gayenell S. , Andrews Jeannette O. , Zapka Jane , Cox Melissa J. , Newman Susan , Stuart Gail W.
Published: November 2012

Current public health priorities emphasize the elimination of health disparities, translational research, and transdisciplinary and community alliances. The Center for Community Health Partnerships is a proactive initiative to address new paradigms and priorities in health care through institutionalization of community-university partnerships. This report highlights innovative strategies and lessons learned.
Addressing Tobacco Use in Homeless Populations: A Survey of Health Care Professionals
Authors: Baggett Travis P. , Anderson Robert , Freyder Paul J. , Jarvie Jill A. , Maryman Kristi , Porter Janet , Rigotti Nancy A.
Published: November 2012

Cigarette smoking is common among homeless individuals, but little is known about health care providers’ practices and attitudes in addressing tobacco use in this vulnerable population. We surveyed members of the Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians’ Network, a nationwide multidisciplinary organization, to assess their tobacco screening practices, attitudes toward addressing tobacco use, and experience providing tobacco products to homeless individuals. Of 231 clinicians who completed the survey, 86.5% reported routinely screening for tobacco use. Although 74.4% of respondents viewed tobacco use as one of the most important health issues among homeless people, rates of agreement with this and other attitudes toward tobacco use in the setting of homelessness varied significantly by clinical discipline. Overall, 15.3% of respondents reported having ever given patients tobacco to build trust or promote adherence to care. Addressing providers’ attitudinal variations and tobacco distribution practices may foster a more consistent anti-smoking message for this population.
Head and Neck Cancer Disparity in Underserved Communities: Probable Causes and the Ethics Involved
Authors: Moore Charles E. , Warren Rueben , Maclin Sandy D.
Published: November 2012

Head and neck cancers are a cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the United States. For low-income, African American men they are one of the leading causes of excess cancer deaths: although all racial/ethnic groups suffer from these cancers, African American men disproportionately suffer and die from them. Low-income communities have increased risks for many adverse health conditions because of environmental factors and existing social determinants of health. These social determinants often lead to unhealthy life circumstances and ineffective coping behaviors. Early detection enhances effective treatment options, but such services are limited among African Americans, particularly African American men in underserved areas. Not addressing oral cancer because of these social conditions reflects unjust and unethical behavior by health care professionals. In Atlanta, one high-density, limited-resource area has the highest incidence of oral cavity cancers. Health Education, Assessment and Leadership (HEAL) was created to address the oral cancer incidence and prevalence, an example of a preventable health disparity between this underserved region and surrounding communities.
Initial Evaluation of a Student-Run Fruit and Vegetable Business in Urban High Schools
Authors: Sikic Nicholas I. , Erbstein Nancy , Welch Kearnan , Grundberg Ethan , Miller Elizabeth
Published: November 2012

Introduction . This study examined the acceptability and feasibility of Fresh Producers , a student-run fruit and vegetable distribution program at three urban high schools located in low-income neighborhoods, and its potential impact on the nutrition and professional development of participating students. Methods . Thirteen focus groups conducted with 72 students explored the program’s impact on their dietary habits and professional skill development, and discussed program challenges. Responses were coded for common themes by multiple investigators. Results . Participants reported increased fruit and vegetable consumption, and improved interpersonal, team-building, and organizational skills. Challenges included integration into the school schedule and environment and limited faculty support for business activities. Conclusion . This program is acceptable and feasible for secondary school students in a variety of school settings. Students reported positive changes in professional skills and nutrition. Training and support for students and faculty, including strategies to improve program integration into the school context, could increase participation.
A Long Way from Home: Comparing Mental Health Measures between Foreign and U.S.-born Latinos in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
Authors: Casillas Alejandra , Leng Mei , Liu Kiang , Hernandez Alexandra , Shrager Sandi , Kanaya Alka
Published: November 2012

Background . Studies exploring the relationship between foreign-born status and mental health among Latinos in the United States have varied in their conclusions. We examined 2000–2002 MESA data on Latinos and compared responses between immigrants and non-immigrants on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and the Spielberger anxiety and anger scales. Methods . We used logistic and linear regression to examine whether immigrant status was associated with these psychological outcomes in Latinos-overall, Mexicans-only and Other-Latinos (non-Mexicans). Results . Compared with U.S.-born Latinos, foreign-born Latinos had significantly higher odds of meeting CES-D caseness- a score above 16, classifying depressive symptoms (p≤.05), higher anger scores (p≤.001) and a trend towards higher anxiety. These associations were similar within the Mexicans-only subgroup. Discussion . When examining self-reported distress symptoms as outcomes, our findings do not coincide with the paradoxical effect of immigration on mental health. Furthermore, associations between immigrant status and psychological outcomes differed among the Latino subgroups.
Tuskegee University Experience Challenges Conventional Wisdom: Is Integrative Bioethics Practice the New Ethics for the Public’s Health?
Authors: Sodeke Stephen Olufemi
Published: November 2012

The Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care was established in 1999 in partial response to the Presidential Apology for the United States Public Health Service’s Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male conducted in Macon County, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972. The Center’s mission of promoting equity and justice in health and health care for African Americans and other underserved populations employs an integrative bioethics approach informed by moral vision. Etymological and historical analyses are used to delineate the meaning and evolution of bioethics and to provide a basis for Tuskegee’s integrative bioethics niche. Unlike mainstream bioethics, integrative bioethics practice is holistic in orientation, and more robust for understanding the epistemic realities of minority life, health disparities, and population health. The conclusion is that integrative bioethics is relevant to the survival of all people, not just a privileged few; it could be the new ethics for the public’s health.
Sustaining CBPR Partnerships to Address Health Disparities in Times of Economic Instability
Authors: Weiss Elisa S. , Stevenson Alexis J. , Erb-Downward Jennifer , Combs Sarah , Sabino Eilleen E. , Michel Tamara A. , Kemeny M. Margaret , Ackley-Kazdal Tameron , O’Connor Maureen , Rapkin Bruce
Published: November 2012

In unstable economic environments, CBPR partnerships in underserved communities may face unanticipated obstacles that threaten success and sustainability. This report describes challenges experienced by HealthLink, a CBPR partnership to address cancer disparities in Queens, N.Y., and how HealthLink adapted. Recommendations for designing CBPR partnerships to overcome unexpected challenges are provided.