Publications by authors named "Alexandra Garcia"

Introduction And Hypothesis: Challenges to providing care to Spanish-speaking Latinas with pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) are well studied. Limited data exist on patient and provider perspectives on the unique challenges in providing language-discordant care. Our study was aimed at highlighting these challenges and providing evidence-based recommendations on how to optimize the care of these women.

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Objectives: We evaluated fetal growth and birthweight in pregnancies with placenta previa with and without placenta accreta spectrum (PAS).

Methods: We retrospectively studied pregnant patients with placenta previa with or without PAS diagnosed at 20-37 weeks' gestation. Estimated fetal weight (EFW) percentile and fetal growth rate were calculated based on ultrasound at two timepoints: 20-24 and 30-34-weeks' gestation.

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Introduction And Hypothesis: Few data exist on the impact of immunosuppression on perioperative outcomes in women undergoing sacrocolpopexy. The objective of this study was to compare differences in 30-day perioperative morbidity in immunocompromised versus non-immunocompromised women undergoing sacrocolpopexy (SCP). We hypothesize that compared with the non-immunocompromised group, immunocompromised women undergoing SCP experience worse composite 30-day postoperative outcomes.

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The purpose of this article is to describe a model of chronic disease self-management that incorporates the complexity of social and environmental interactions experienced by people who self-manage chronic conditions. This study combines quantitative data from a large national research cohort and qualitative interviews to test and refine a self-management model. The self-management within a syndemic model depicts the contextual, psychological, and social factors that predict self-management behaviors and clinical and long-term outcomes.

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Background: In healthcare, family engagement has been recognized as critical to improved nursing care and outcomes. However, the practice of family engagement in corrections is unknown, despite the large amount of nursing care delivered there.

Purpose: The study's aim was to describe correctional nurses' perceptions of family engagement and the extent to which it is practiced.

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Background: Health disparities in osteoarthritis (OA) outcomes exist both in the occurrence and treatment of functional limitation and disability for Mexican Americans. Although the effect of self-management of chronic illness is well established, studies demonstrate little attention to self-management of function or disability, despite the strong potential effect on both and, consequently, on patients' lives.

Objective: The purpose of this study pilot was to develop and test key variable relationships for a measure of disability self-management among Mexican Americans.

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Article Synopsis
  • A pilot study investigated the gut and oral microbiota in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and found significant bacterial alterations compared to healthy volunteers (HV).
  • The analysis revealed decreased diversity and specific bacteria depletion in MS patients, along with enrichment of inflammation-associated bacteria and altered microbial pathways.
  • A distinctive oral metabolite signature was identified in MS patients, which has high specificity for discriminating them from HV and patients with rheumatoid arthritis, suggesting the potential for future research on oral microbiota in autoimmune diseases.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of using text messaging to help prevent diabetes in rural Mexican American communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Participants included primarily Spanish-speaking women, who were divided into groups based on their prior involvement in in-person diabetes prevention sessions, with one group receiving additional support via text messages.
  • Results showed no major differences in health outcomes among groups, but the text messaging group had better weight management and lower diabetes conversion rates, indicating that combining text and in-person methods could effectively broaden diabetes prevention access.
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Objective: Diabetes knowledge is associated with health, including lower A1C levels. The Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ-24), developed 30 years ago for Mexican Americans with type 2 diabetes and since used with diverse samples in many countries, contains outdated items that no longer accurately assess current knowledge needed for diabetes self-management. We revised the DKQ-24 and tested psychometric properties of the DKQ-Revised (DKQ-R) with a diverse sample.

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Purpose: The purposes of this study were to (1) examine the relationships between fatigue, its influencing factors, and diabetes self-management and (2) test the mediation effects of fatigue on the link between the influencing factors and diabetes self-management in adults with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: This cross-sectional, correlational study was guided by the theory of unpleasant symptoms. Data were collected using structured questionnaires.

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Background: Worldwide, an estimated 4·4 million newborn deaths and stillbirths occurred in 2020, and 98% of these deaths occurred in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We aimed to analyse new research grants for newborns and stillbirth awarded by major funders in 2019-20, and all research funding allocated to LMIC-based institutions in 2011-20.

Methods: For this systematic analysis, we searched Dimensions, the world's largest research funding database, for grants relevant to neonatal and stillbirth research.

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Aims: To identify the barriers and facilitators to healthcare for people without documentation status.

Design: We conducted a systematic integrative literature review following the Whittemore and Knafl methodology.

Methods: Literature search was conducted to identify studies addressing barriers or facilitators to healthcare for people without documentation status in the United States between 2012 and 2022.

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Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Yet, the autoimmune targets are still undefined. The extracellular e1 sequence of KCNJ10, the inwardly rectifying potassium channel 4.

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Background And Objectives: Ocrelizumab (OCR), a humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, is highly efficient in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS). We assessed early cellular immune profiles and their association with disease activity at treatment start and under therapy, which may provide new clues on the mechanisms of action of OCR and on the disease pathophysiology.

Methods: A first group of 42 patients with an early RR-MS, never exposed to disease-modifying therapy, was included in 11 centers participating to an ancillary study of the ENSEMBLE trial (NCT03085810) to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of OCR.

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Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the influences of sex and acculturation on dietary behaviors, macronutrient intake, and dietary quality in participants enrolled in a diabetes prevention initiative in Starr County, Texas.

Methods: Baseline data from the Starr County diabetes prevention study (N = 300) were analyzed-acculturation (country of origin, years in Starr County, language and food preferences), depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), healthy eating self-efficacy (Weight Efficacy Lifestyle Questionnaire-Short Form), diet quality (USDA Healthy Eating Index), fat avoidance (Fat Avoidance Scale, Spanish version), and macronutrients. Descriptive statistics and univariate analysis of covariance were used to examine differences based on acculturation, controlling for sex.

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Objective: Since 2010, more than 527,000 refugees have resettled in the United States (US), most from Asia, fleeing war, violence, and persecution. However, there is little research that integrates findings about health among Southeast Asian refugees (SEAR).

Design: We conducted an integrative review of studies that examined health status, risk factors, and barriers to healthcare access among SEAR in the US.

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Background: The mechanisms regulating CD8 T cell migration to nonlymphoid tissue during inflammation have not been fully elucidated, and the migratory properties of effector memory CD8 T cells that re-express CD45RA (TEMRA CD8 T cells) remain unclear, despite their roles in autoimmune diseases and allotransplant rejection.

Methods: We used single-cell proteomic profiling and functional testing of CD8 T cell subsets to characterize their effector functions and migratory properties in healthy volunteers and kidney transplant recipients with stable or humoral rejection.

Results: We showed that humoral rejection of a kidney allograft is associated with an accumulation of cytolytic TEMRA CD8 T cells in blood and kidney graft biopsies.

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Background And Objectives: Tertiary lymphoid structures and aggregates are reported in the meninges of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), especially at the progressive stage, and are strongly associated with cortical lesions and disability. Besides B cells, these structures comprise follicular helper T (Tfh) cells that are crucial to support B-cell differentiation. Tfh cells play a pivotal role in amplifying autoreactive B cells and promoting autoantibody production in several autoimmune diseases, but very few are known in MS.

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Background And Objectives: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the CNS. Studies of immune dysfunction in MS have mostly focused on CD4 Tregs, but the role of CD8 Tregs remains largely unexplored. We previously evidenced the suppressive properties of rat and human CD8CD45RC Tregs from healthy individuals, expressing Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) and acting through interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ), and interleukin-34 (IL-34).

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Background: A medical school, Federally Qualified Health Center, and community-based organizations wanted to improve social determinants of health and health outcomes in an urban area with economic and health inequities.

Objective: To describe the development of the partnership called the Neighborhood Health Initiative (NHI).

Methods: Community-engaged strategy with multidisciplinary partnerships used an established framework to develop trust, assess needs, and respond.

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Even before increased social isolation associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, 43% of adults aged 60 and older reported experiencing loneliness. Depression and loneliness often co-exist and are significant issues faced by middle-aged as well as older adults because each condition is likely to worsen health outcomes. This study of middle-aged and older adults examined how depression and loneliness affect diabetes (DM) control (A1C levels).

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Latinos' type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and concurrent depression significantly lower quality of life (QoL). Patients' beliefs about their diabetes, called illness perceptions (IP), may account for the impact of depression on QoL. Using secondary data, we explored predictive and mediation relationships among IP, depression, and QoL among Mexican American adults with T2DM using hierarchical multiple regression and mediation analyses.

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Background: In comparison with the general population, adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are at higher risk for morbidity and mortality. However, limited evidence is available about this condition's underlying metabolic profile in adolescents with JIA relative to healthy controls. In this untargeted, cross-sectional metabolomics study, we explore the plasma metabolites in this population.

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The purpose of this qualitative secondary analysis research was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-management behaviors and practices for people living with the dual diagnoses of HIV/AIDS and type 2 diabetes mellitus and to identify early pandemic-specific disruptions or changes to their self-management practices. In-depth interviews conducted in May-June 2020 with 9 participants, and analyzed using content analysis, revealed 5 themes: adjusting to living with HIV/AIDS and diabetes impacts beliefs about COVID-19 risks; COVID-19 information seeking and accuracy; trade-offs in self-managing multiple chronic conditions; balance between safety, relationships, and the society at large; and discordant perceptions and actions. Some participants were resilient from previous experiences.

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