Impact of an enhanced sobriety checkpoints programme and publicity campaign on motor vehicle collisions, injuries and deaths in Leon, MX: a synthetic control study.

Objective: Drunk driving is a major cause of road traffic injuries and deaths in Latin America. We evaluated the impact of a drunk driving intervention in Leon, Mexico on road traffic safety.

Methods: The intervention included increased drunk driving penalties, enhanced sobriety checkpoints and a young adult-focused mass media campaign, beginning 19 December 2018.

Speed limits and their effect on air pollution in Mexico City: A quasi-experimental study.

Speed limits are an evidence-based intervention to prevent traffic collisions and deaths, yet their impact on air pollution in cities is understudied. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between lower speed limits and air pollution. We leverage the introduction of a new road safety policy in Mexico City in December 2015 which lowered speed limits, increased fines, and installed speed radars to enforce compliance.

Short-term associations between fine particulate air pollution and cardiovascular and respiratory mortality in 337 cities in Latin America.

Ambient air pollution is a health concern in Latin America given its large urban population exposed to levels above recommended guidelines. Yet no studies have examined the mortality impact of air pollutants in the region across a wide range of cities. We assessed whether short-term levels of fine particulate matter (PM) from modeled estimates, are associated with cardiovascular and respiratory mortality among adults in 337 cities from 9 Latin American countries.

Effects of an urban cable car intervention on physical activity: the TrUST natural experiment in Bogotá, Colombia.

Background: Cable cars are part of the transport system in several cities in Latin America, but no evaluations of their effects on physical activity are available. TransMiCable is the first cable car in Bogotá, Colombia, and the wider intervention includes renovated parks and playgrounds. We assessed the effects of TransMiCable and the wider intervention on physical activity.

The nonalcoholic steatohepatitis extended hepatocyte ballooning score: histologic classification and clinical significance.

Background And Aims: The NAFLD activity score was developed to measure histologic changes in NAFLD during therapeutic trials. Hepatocyte ballooning (HB) is the most specific feature in steatohepatitis diagnosis, yet the impact of variations in HB has not been incorporated.

Approach And Results: Liver biopsies from patients enrolled in the NASH Clinical Research Network with an initial diagnosis of NASH or NAFL (n=1688) were evaluated to distinguish classic hepatocyte ballooning (cHB) from smaller, nonclassic hepatocyte ballooning (nHB), and also to designate severe ballooning and assign an extended hepatocyte ballooning (eB) score [0 points, no ballooning (NB); 1 point, few or many nHB; 2 points, few cHB; 3 points, many cHB; 4 points, severe cHB] to the biopsy assessment.

Modification of temperature-related human mortality by area-level socioeconomic and demographic characteristics in Latin American cities.

Background: In Latin America, where climate change and rapid urbanization converge, non-optimal ambient temperatures contribute to excess mortality. However, little is known about area-level characteristics that confer vulnerability to temperature-related mortality.

Objectives: Explore city-level socioeconomic and demographic characteristics associated with temperature-related mortality in Latin American cities.

Are Women's Empowerment and Income Inequality Associated with Excess Weight in Latin American Cities?

While income gradients and gender inequalities in excess weight have been noted elsewhere, data from Latin American cities is lacking. We analyzed gender-specific associations between city-level women's empowerment and income inequality with individual-level overweight/obesity, assessing how these associations vary by individual education or living conditions within cities in Latin America. Data came from national surveys and censuses, and was compiled by the SALURBAL project (Urban Health in Latin America).

Cesarean sections and social inequalities in 305 cities of Latin America.

Background: Cesarean section (CS) is a surgical procedure that, when medically justified, can help reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Worldwide CS rates (CSR) have been increasing; Latin America has rates that are among the highest in the world.

Aim: Describe the variability of CSR across cities in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru and examine the relationship of individual-level, sub-city, and city-level socioeconomic status (SES) with CSR.

Aging and self-reported health in 114 Latin American cities: gender and socio-economic inequalities.

Background: Understanding how urban environments influence people's health, especially as individuals age, can help identify ways to improve health in the rapidly urbanizing and rapidly aging populations.

Objectives: To investigate the association between age and self-reported health (SRH) in adults living in Latin-American cities and whether gender and city-level socioeconomic characteristics modify this association.

Methods: Cross-sectional analyses of 71,541 adults aged 25-97 years, from 114 cities in 6 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, and Guatemala), as part of the Salud Urbana en America Latina (SALURBAL) Project.

Racial Inequities in Self-Rated Health Across Brazilian Cities: Does Residential Segregation Play a Role?

Racial health inequities may be partially explained by area-level factors such as residential segregation. In this cross-sectional study, using a large, multiracial, representative sample of Brazilian adults (n = 37,009 individuals in the 27 state capitals; National Health Survey (Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde), 2013), we investigated 1) whether individual-level self-rated health (SRH) (fair or poor vs. good or better) varies by race (self-declared White, Brown, or Black) and 2) whether city-level economic or racial residential segregation (using dissimilarity index values in tertiles: low, medium, and high) interacts with race, increasing racial inequities in SRH.

Effect of Domperidone Therapy on Gastroparesis Symptoms: Results of a Dynamic Cohort Study by NIDDK Gastroparesis Consortium.

Background & Aims: The use of domperidone (DOM) for gastroparesis (GP) remains controversial and limited. We aimed to present outcomes of DOM therapy for treatment of patients participating in the multicenter National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Gastroparesis Clinical Research Consortium (GpCRC) Registries (GpR).

Methods: The GpCRC cohort consisted of patients with GP (75%) and with GP-like symptoms but with normal gastric emptying (25%).

Body weight in patients with idiopathic gastroparesis.

Background: The classic clinical picture of gastroparesis is a symptomatic patient losing weight. In addition, a number of patients with delayed gastric emptying are obese and/or gaining weight. Our aim was to investigate the factors impacting body weight in patients with idiopathic gastroparesis.

Obesity prediction by modelling BMI distributions: application to national survey data from Mexico, Colombia and Peru, 1988-2014.

Background: The prediction of future obesity patterns is crucial for effective strategic planning. However, disproportionally changing body mass index (BMI) distributions pose particular challenges. Flexible modelling of the shape of BMI distributions may improve prediction performance.

Effectiveness of gastric electrical stimulation in gastroparesis: Results from a large prospectively collected database of national gastroparesis registries.

Background: Gastric electrical stimulation (GES) for treating gastroparesis symptoms is controversial.

Methods: We studied 319 idiopathic or diabetic gastroparesis symptom patients from the Gastroparesis Clinical Research Consortium (GpCRC) observational studies: 238 without GES and 81 with GES. We assessed the effects of GES using change in GCSI total score and nausea/vomiting subscales between baseline and 48 weeks.

Differences in magnitude and rates of change in BMI distributions by socioeconomic and geographic factors in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru, 2005-2010.

Background/objectives: Previous studies about obesity and its associated factors in low- and middle-income countries have been based mostly on women of reproductive age. Furthermore, disproportionally changing BMI distributions have been a challenge for its appropriate modeling. In this context, we assessed the magnitude and rate of change in BMI distribution by socioeconomic and geographic factors in both sexes in Latin American countries, modeling the shape of BMI distributions.

One size does not fit all: Examining ethnicity in gestational weight gain guidelines.

Pregnancy-related metrics vary by race/ethnicity, yet most gestational weight gain (GWG) guidelines are ethnicity-blind. We estimated small-for-gestational age (SGA) risk in a Japanese population, examining GWG adequacy categorized by Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Japanese guidelines in male (  = 192) and female ( = 191) full-term singleton infants. For predicting SGA, IOM guidelines had high sensitivity ( ≥ 0.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Noninvasive Fibrosis Models to Detect Change in Fibrosis Stage.

Background & Aims: Noninvasive methods are needed to determine disease stage in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We evaluated the diagnostic performance of several widely available fibrosis models for the assessment of hepatic fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of data from individuals enrolled in the NIDDK NASH Clinical Research Network, from 2004 through 2018.

Ethnic, Racial, and Sex Differences in Etiology, Symptoms, Treatment, and Symptom Outcomes of Patients With Gastroparesis.

Background & Aims: Gastroparesis is a chronic disorder of the stomach characterized by nausea, vomiting, early satiety, postprandial fullness, and abdominal pain. There is limited information on gastroparesis in minority populations. We assessed ethnic, racial, and sex variations in the etiology, symptoms, quality of life, gastric emptying, treatments, and symptom outcomes of patients with gastroparesis.

Differences in magnitude and rate of change in adult obesity distribution by age and sex in Mexico, Colombia and Peru, 2005-2010.

Objective: Unequal obesity distributions among adult populations have been reported in low- and middle-income countries, but mainly based on data of women of reproductive age. Moreover, incorporation of ever-changing skewed BMI distributions in analyses has been a challenge. Our study aimed to assess magnitude and rates of change in BMI distributions by age and sex.

Inadequate gestational weight gain increases risk of small-for-gestational-age term birth in girls in Japan: A population-based cohort study.

Objectives: Babies born small for gestational age (SGA) have a higher risk of neonatal morbidity and mortality as well as later life chronic disease. The objectives of this study were to examine the extent to which prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) influenced risk of SGA among Japanese, and to evaluate physician response to, and potential effects on, GWG.

Methods: We examined SGA risk as a function of maternal BMI and GWG using logistic regression with data from maternal child health handbooks obtained from women in Japan (N = 383).

Sclerotia of Typhula ishikariensis biotype B (Typhulaceae) from archaeological sites (4000 to 400 BP) in Hokkaido, northern Japan.

Despite their close association with human activities, plant pathogenic fungi have rarely been found in archaeological excavations. We report here that a fungus was closely associated with human activities even in prehistoric times. Sclerotium-like objects were found at historical sites (4000 to 400 BP) on the island of Hokkaido, northern Japan.