The Racial Disparities in Maternal Mortality and Impact of Structural Racism and Implicit Racial Bias on Pregnant Black Women: A Review of the Literature.

Background: The maternal mortality rate (MMR) in the United States (USA) continues to increase despite medical advances and is exacerbated by stark racial disparities. Black women are disproportionately affected and are three times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death (PRD) compared to Non-Hispanic White (NHW) women.

Methods: A literature review was conducted to examine the racial disparities in the United States' MMR, specifically among pregnant Black women.

Association of Area Deprivation Index With Severity of COVID-19 in Pediatric Patients: A Multisite Study of Racially and Ethnically Diverse Children.

Area deprivation index (ADI) is associated with the risk of severe COVID-19 in adults. However, this association has not been established in children. Information on ADI, demographics, clinical features, disease severity, and outcomes was analyzed for 3434 children with COVID-19.

Defining and Measuring Child and Youth Thriving: A Scoping Review.

Background And Objectives: Promoting positive child and youth health and development requires clear definitions and comprehensive measures of child and youth thriving. The study's objectives were to identify the scope, range, and gaps in definitions and measures of thriving for children or youth (birth through young adult).

Methods: Systematic searches of Pubmed, PsycInfo, Health and Psychosocial Instruments, Education Resources Information Center, and Scopus were conducted for articles that included definitions, conceptual frameworks, or measures of child and youth thriving.

The Pittsburgh Study: Learning with Communities About Child Health and Thriving.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted structural inequities that are barriers to thriving for children in neighborhoods with concentrated disadvantage. Health systems are increasingly addressing health-related social needs. The "Pittsburgh Study" is a longitudinal, community-partnered study focused on child and adolescent thriving and racial equity.

Working mothers during COVID-19: a cross-sectional study on mental health status and associations with the receipt of employment benefits.

Background: Beyond the sweeping physiological effects of COVID-19 infections in 2020 and 2021, the psychosocial impacts of lockdowns, social distancing, and the associated disruptions to daily life have brought on a simultaneous mental health crisis, particularly among many working mothers who are disproportionately balancing childcare, virtual schooling, and employment vulnerability. The aim of this study was to measure the mental health status of working mothers in the United States and associations with the provision of family-friendly employment benefits one year into the pandemic.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from a sample of working mothers in the U.

THRIVE Conceptual Framework and Study Protocol: A Community-Partnered Longitudinal Multi-Cohort Study to Promote Child and Youth Thriving, Health Equity, and Community Strength.

Background: Given the profound inequities in maternal and child health along racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines, strength-based, community-partnered research is required to foster thriving children, families, and communities, where thriving is defined as optimal development across physical, mental, cognitive, and social domains. The Pittsburgh Study (TPS) is a community-partnered, multi-cohort study designed to understand and promote child and youth thriving, build health equity, and strengthen communities by integrating community partners in study design, implementation, and dissemination. TPS launched the Tracking Health, Relationships, Identity, EnVironment, and Equity (THRIVE) Study to evaluate children's developmental stages and contexts from birth through completion of high school and to inform a child health data hub accessible to advocates, community members, educators, health professionals, and policymakers.

What is the association between income loss during the COVID-19 pandemic and children's dental care?

Background: The degree to which children experience unmet need for dental care during the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with pandemic-related household job or income loss are unknown.

Methods: The authors performed a cross-sectional household survey of 348 families in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from June 25 through July 2, 2020. Unmet need for child dental care and pandemic-related household job or income loss were assessed using caregiver self-report.

Pediatric Primary Care and Partnerships Across Sectors to Promote Early Child Development.

Poverty remains a critical predictor of children's school readiness, health and longer term outcomes. Early relational health (ERH) (ie, parenting practices and relationship quality) mediates the impact of poverty on child development, and thus has been the focus of many parenting interventions. Despite the documented efficacy of parenting interventions at reducing poverty-related disparities in child health and development, several key barriers prevent achieving population-level reach to families with young children.

Rapid-Cycle Community Assessment of Health-Related Social Needs of Children and Families During Coronavirus Disease 2019.

Objective: To identify unmet health and social resource needs during a county-wide coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) stay-at-home order and phased re-opening in Western Pennsylvania.

Methods: With public health, social service, and community partners connected through an ongoing academic-community collaborative, we developed and fielded a weekly repeated cross-sectional electronic survey assessing usage of and unmet need for health and social service resources. Using 10 weeks of surveys (April 3-June 11, 2020) by Allegheny County residents, we examined variation in responses by week and by sociodemographic characteristics using chi-square tests.

A Community Partnered Approach for Defining Child and Youth Thriving.

Objective: To develop a community-informed definition of child and youth thriving and identify community priorities for child/youth thriving.

Methods: Through concept mapping, a mixed-methods community-based participatory research method, this study examined community and health professionals' conceptualizations of child and youth thriving. We conducted brainstorming, sorting and rating, and interpretation sessions in 3 geographically distinct neighborhoods with concentrated disadvantage; simultaneously, researchers and health professionals participated in online sessions.

Children's family experiences: development of the PROMIS pediatric family relationships measures.

Purpose: To describe the development of pediatric family relationships measures, with versions for child self-report (8-17 years) and parent-report for children 5-17 years old. Measures were created for integration into the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).

Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 10 experts, 24 children, and 8 parents were conducted to elicit and clarify essential elements of family relationships.

Low-Income Urban Mothers' Experiences with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Background: Food insecurity remains a public health concern in the United States, particularly among low-income urban ethnically diverse families, even with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Limited phenomenologic data exist to capture how programmatic changes to SNAP address the needs of users and why a gap in SNAP use may exist.

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to examine the experiences of low-income, Baltimore, MD, mothers in applying for and maintaining access to SNAP.

Early maternal depressive symptoms and child growth trajectories: a longitudinal analysis of a nationally representative US birth cohort.

Background: Maternal depressive symptoms are negatively associated with early child growth in developing countries; however, few studies have examined this relation in developed countries or used a longitudinal design with data past the second year of the child's life. We investigated if and when early maternal depressive symptoms affect average growth in young children up to age 6 in a nationally representative sample of US children.

Methods: Using data from 6,550 singleton births from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), we fit growth trajectory models with random effects to examine the relation between maternal depressive symptoms at 9 months based on the twelve-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and child height and body mass index (BMI) to age 6 years.

Impact of maternal depressive symptoms on growth of preschool- and school-aged children.

Objective: The aim of our study was to examine whether maternal depressive symptoms at 9 months postpartum adversely affect growth in preschool- and school-aged children.

Methods: We used data from the US nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort. We fit multivariable logistic regression models to study maternal depressive symptoms at 9 months postpartum (using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) in relation to child growth outcomes, ≤ 10% height-for-age, ≤ 10% weight-for-height, and ≤ 10% weight-for-age at 4 and 5 years.

Preparation of cryoprecipitate from riboflavin and UV light-treated plasma.

Background And Objectives: The Mirasol® pathogen reduction technology system for plasma is based on a riboflavin and UV light treatment process resulting in pathogen inactivation due to irreversible, photochemically induced damage of nucleic acids. This study was undertaken to evaluate the possibility of making pathogen reduced cryoprecipitate from riboflavin and UV light- treated plasma that meets the quality requirements specified by UK and European guidelines for untreated cryoprecipitate.

Materials And Methods: Cryoprecipitate was made from riboflavin and UV light-treated plasma.

Quality of proteins in riboflavin and UV light-treated FFP during 1 year of storage at -18°C.

Background: The Mirasol® Pathogen Reduction Technology (PRT) System for plasma combines riboflavin (vitamin B(2)) and UV light energy to reduce pathogens in plasma products. This study evaluated protein quality of apheresis derived plasma products treated with riboflavin and UV light and stored at -18°C for up to 1 year. Comparisons were made to paired, untreated controls after 6 months and 1 year of storage.

Prenatal depression predicts postpartum maternal attachment in low-income Latina mothers with infants.

Although maternal attachment is an important predictor of infant attachment security and other developmental outcomes, little is known about the formation of maternal attachment in the first few months of the infant's life, particularly among ethnic minority mothers. The current study examined the predictors of postpartum maternal attachment in a sample of 217 Latina women enrolled in a perinatal depression prevention trial. Mothers' attachment to their infants was measured at 6-8 weeks postpartum using the Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale.

Protein stability of previously frozen plasma, riboflavin and UV light-treated, refrozen and stored for up to 2 years at -30 °C.

Background: The Mirasol pathogen reduction technology system for plasma is based on a riboflavin and UV light treatment process resulting in pathogen inactivation due to irreversible, photochemically induced damage of nucleic acids. The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro protein quality of previously frozen FFP, thawed, Mirasol-treated and refrozen for a final storage period of up to 2 years at -30 °C.

Materials And Methods: All plasma products were held at 4 ± 2 °C, and frozen within 8h after the start of collection.

An optical thin film assay incorporating rhinovirus protease inhibitors as detector reagents.

Human rhinoviruses (HRV) are the main cause of the common cold. Viral replication utilizes the activity of the HRV3C protease (3CP) enzyme [Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.

In-process monitoring of protein purification with thin film silicon sensor technology.

We have developed a rapid and sensitive thin film assay for in-process monitoring of target protein purification. This novel biosensor method provides rapid (5-min) visual evaluation of column purification fractions. The method can be used to monitor the efficiency of purification and potential loss of protein if the column binding capacity is exceeded.