Academic medicine continues to characterize the experiences of Black and other minoritized faculty in medicine to enhance their careers and promote their advancement. An issue of discussion is tenure and its role in the advancement and retention of this group. Tenure is a sign of national presence, command of an area of study, and can demonstrate support from the institution in terms of permanent employment, eligibility to apply for awards, sit or vote on certain committees or qualify for certain leadership opportunities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Community health center (CHC) patients experience a disproportionately high prevalence of chronic conditions and barriers to accessing technologies that might support the management of these conditions. One such technology includes tools used for remote patient monitoring (RPM), the use of which surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess how a CHC implemented an RPM program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background: Studies assessing equity in the prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) for Latinos living in the USA collectively yield mixed results. Latino persons are diverse in many ways that may influence cardiovascular health. The intersection of Latino nativity and ASCVD prevention is understudied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Metformin treatment is a recommended first-line medication for patients with type 2 diabetes. Latino patients are subject to factors that may modify their level of diabetes care, including medication prescription. We evaluated the odds of and times to metformin prescription among non-Latino whites, English-preferring Latinos, and Spanish-preferring Latinos with diabetes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neighbourhood walkability can benefit cardiovascular health. Latino patients are more likely than non-Hispanic White patients to have diabetes, and evidence has shown better diabetes-related outcomes for patients living in neighbourhoods conducive to physical activity. Our objective was to determine whether neighbourhood walkability was associated with haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels among English- and Spanish-preferring Latino patients compared to non-Hispanic White patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Studies analyzing blood pressure (BP) management using the hypertension control cascade have consistently shown disparities in hypertension awareness, treatment, and BP control between Latino patients and non-Latino White patients. We analyze this cascade using electronic health record data from a multistate network of community health centers.
Methods And Results: Data from 790 clinics in 23 US states from 2012 to 2020, including 1 270 174 patients, were analyzed to compare BP documentation in the electronic health record, clinician acknowledgment (diagnosis or treatment) of incident hypertension (BP ≥140/90), medication prescription, and BP control between non-Latino White patients, English-preferring Latino patients, and Spanish-preferring Latino patients, adjusted for patient-level covariates, and clustered on patients' primary clinics.
Objectives: Understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic affected cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk monitoring in primary care may inform new approaches for addressing modifiable CVD risks. This study examined how pandemic-driven changes in primary care delivery affected CVD risk management processes.
Study Design: This retrospective study used electronic health record data from patients at 70 primary care community clinics with scheduled appointments from September 1, 2018, to September 30, 2021.
Objectives: Limited research has assessed how virtual care (VC) affects cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk management, especially in community clinic settings. This study assessed change in community clinic patients' CVD risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic and CVD risk factor control among patients who had primarily in-person or primarily VC visits.
Study Design: Retrospective interrupted time-series analysis.
Purpose: To assess the impact of a clinical decision support (CDS) system's recommendations on prescribing patterns targeting cardiovascular disease (CVD) when the recommendations are prioritized in order from greatest to least benefit toward overall CVD risk reduction.
Methods: Secondary analysis of trial data from September 20, 2018, to March 15, 2020, where 70 community health center clinics were cluster-randomized to the CDS intervention (42 clinics; 8 organizations) or control group (28 clinics; 7 organizations). Included patients were medication-naïve and aged 40 to 75 years with ≥1 uncontrolled cardiovascular disease risk factor, with known diabetes or cardiovascular disease, or ≥10% 10-year reversible CVD risk.
Introduction: Country of birth/nativity information may be crucial to understanding health equity in Latino populations and is routinely called for in health services literature assessing cardiovascular disease and risk, but is not thought to co-occur with longitudinal, objective health information such as that found in electronic health records (EHRs).
Methods: We used a multistate network of community health centres to describe the extent to which country of birth is recorded in EHRs in Latinos, and to describe demographic features and cardiovascular risk profiles by country of birth. We compared geographical/demographic/clinical characteristics, from 2012 to 2020 (9 years of data), of 914 495 Latinos recorded as US-born, non-US-born and without a country of birth recorded.
Background: It is uncertain if the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) 2013 guidelines for the use of HMGCoA reductase inhibitors (statins) were associated with increased statin eligibility and prescribing across underserved groups.
Objective: To analyze, by race, ethnicity, and preferred language, patients with indications for and presence of a statin prescription before and after the guideline change.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Objective: Electronic health record (EHR)-based shared decision-making (SDM) and clinical decision support (CDS) systems can improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) care quality and risk factor management. Use of the CV Wizard system showed a beneficial effect on high-risk community health center (CHC) patients' CVD risk within an effectiveness trial, but system adoption was low overall. We assessed which multi-level characteristics were associated with system use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) disproportionally affects racial and ethnic minority populations. Statin prescribing guidelines changed in 2013 to improve ASCVD prevention. It is unknown whether risk screening for statin eligibility differed across race and ethnicity over this guideline change.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in socioeconomically vulnerable patients is suboptimal; better risk factor control could improve CVD outcomes.
Objective: To evaluate the impact of a clinical decision support system (CDSS) targeting CVD risk in community health centers (CHCs).
Design, Setting, And Participants: This cluster randomized clinical trial included 70 CHC clinics randomized to an intervention group (42 clinics; 8 organizations) or a control group that received no intervention (28 clinics; 7 organizations) from September 20, 2018, to March 15, 2020.
Marijuana, dried and ground Cannabis, is the most consumed illicit drug in the world. Many undesirable and risky effects to human health are caused by its use. The medicinal use or legal recreational use of Cannabis has also been rising in many countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA combined experimental and theoretical investigation aims to elucidate the necessary roles of oxygen in photoredox catalysis of radical cation based Diels-Alder cycloadditions mediated by the first-row transition metal complex [Cr(Ph2phen)3](3+), where Ph2phen = bathophenanthroline. We employ a diverse array of techniques, including catalysis screening, electrochemistry, time-resolved spectroscopy, and computational analyses of reaction thermodynamics. Our key finding is that oxygen acts as a renewable energy and electron shuttle following photoexcitation of the Cr(III) catalyst.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFour derivatives of the laminate acceptor ligand dipyrido-[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine (dppz) and their corresponding ruthenium complexes, [Ru(phen)2 (dppzX2 )](2+) , were prepared and characterized by NMR spectroscopy, ESI-MS, and elemental analysis. The new ligands, generically denoted dppzX2 , were symmetrically disubstituted on the distal benzene ring to give 10,13-dibromodppz (dppz-p-Br), 11,12-dibromodppz (dppz-o-Br), 10,13-dicyanodppz (dppz-p-CN), 11,12-dicyanodppz (dppz-o-CN). Solvated ground state MO calculations of the ruthenium complexes reveal that these electron-withdrawing substituents not only lower the LUMO of the dppz ligand (dppz(CN)2
Purpose: To assess the physical effects of explorer probing on non-cavitated smooth-surface enamel carious lesions.
Methods: Extracted teeth with white enamel decalcification (ICDAS 2) were used. Indentations were made in decalcified and non-decalcified regions with a #23 explorer using "scratch" or "poke" application and 100g, 300g or 600g force.
J Esthet Restor Dent
January 2017
Purpose: The objective of this preliminary laboratory study was to explore whether bioactive dental cements have the ability to seal marginal gaps as compared with other classes of dental cements.
Materials And Methods: Tooth discs (dentin/enamel) were positioned adjacent to a second disc of one of five possible dental cements (two bioactive and three conventional) and separated by a 50-μm Mylar film, creating a controlled gap between the two discs. The edges of the tooth segments were abraded to expose dentin such that the dentin interface was positioned opposite the cement.
Chronic stroke is the phase of brain recovery and repair generally beginning 3 months after stroke onset. No pharmaceutical approach is currently available to enhance brain repair in chronic stroke. We have previously determined the therapeutic effects of stem cell factor (SCF) and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) alone or in combination (SCF+G-CSF) in an animal model of chronic stroke and demonstrated that only SCF+G-CSF induces long-term functional recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompend Contin Educ Dent
September 2014
Unlabelled: New dental cement formulations require testing to determine physical and mechanical laboratory properties.
Objectives: To test an experimental calcium aluminate/glass-ionomer cement, Ceramir C and B (CC and B), regarding compressive strength (CS), film thickness (FT), net setting time (ST) and Vickers hardness. An additional test to evaluate potential dimensional change/expansion properties of this cement was also conducted.
Photochemical catalytic CO2 reduction to formate and methanol has been demonstrated in an aqueous homogeneous system at pH 5.0 comprising ruthenium(II) trisphenanthroline as the chromophore, pyridine as the CO2 reduction catalyst, KCl, and ascorbic acid as a sacrificial reductant, using visible light irradiation at 470 ± 20 nm. Isotopic labeling with (13)CO2 yields the six-electron-reduced product (13)CH3OH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompend Contin Educ Dent
February 2013
A clinical validation study was conducted to determine the performance of a new bioactive dental cement (Ceramir C&B, Doxa Dental AB) for permanent cementation. The cement is a new formulation class, which is a hybrid material comprised of calcium aluminate and glass-ionomer components. A total of 38 crowns and bridges were cemented in 17 patients; 31 of the abutment teeth were vital and seven were non-vital.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: A pilot study was conducted to determine the 2-year clinical performance of a new bioactive dental cement (Ceramir C&B, formerly XeraCem) for permanent cementation.
Materials And Methods: The cement used in this study is a new formulation class, a hybrid material comprising calcium aluminate and glass ionomer. Thirty-eight crowns and fixed partial denture (FPD) abutments were cemented in 17 patients.