Associations between land bank ownership and stewardship of vacant properties and crime, violence, and youth victimization in Flint, MI.

Land banks across the United States are managing expanding vacant property inventories. By maintaining vacant properties and engaging residents in the process, land banks facilitate processes integral to building safe neighborhoods and may play a role in violence prevention. Using generalized additive mixed model regression, adjusted for spatial and temporal dependencies, we examined whether land bank ownership and stewardship of vacant properties in Flint, Michigan were associated with trends in serious, violent, and firearm-involved crime, between 2015 and 2018.

"We adjusted for race": now what? A systematic review of utilization and reporting of race in American Journal of Epidemiology and Epidemiology, 2020-2021.

Race is a social construct, commonly used in epidemiologic research to adjust for confounding. However, adjustment of race may mask racial disparities, thereby perpetuating structural racism. We conducted a systematic review of articles published in Epidemiology and American Journal of Epidemiology between 2020 and 2021 to (1) understand how race, ethnicity, and similar social constructs were operationalized, used, and reported; and (2) characterize good and poor practices of utilization and reporting of race data on the basis of the extent to which they reveal or mask systemic racism.

Community identified characteristics related to illegal dumping; a mixed methods study to inform prevention.

Illegal dumping is a public health burden for communities suffering from historical disinvestment. We conducted a mixed methods study to answer: 1) What are stakeholder perspectives on social/environmental determinants of illegal dumping? and 2) Do these or other characteristics predict known locations of illegal dumping? We employed an exploratory sequential design in which we collected and analyzed in-depth interviews (n=12) with service providers and residents and subsequently collected and analyzed data from multiple secondary sources. Stakeholders endorsed nine determinants of illegal dumping: Economic Decline, Scale of Vacancy, Lack of Monitoring, Poor Visibility, Physical Disorder, Illegal Activity, Norms, Accessibility, and Seclusion.

Lessons learned from local vacant land management organizations for engaging youth in greening.

Youth living in areas with high concentrations of vacant properties may be at particular risk for poor health outcomes given the associations between deteriorated vacant properties, poor mental health, and community violence. Vacant lot greening has emerged as a key strategy to mitigate the harms of deteriorated properties. Youth engagement in greening has documented benefits for youth, yet few organizations responsible for managing vacant properties currently engage youth.

A Child with an Esophageal Web Treated with Functional Lumen Imaging Probe.

A 14-month-old male presented to the emergency department with a 4-day history of vomiting after the intake of liquids or solids. During the admission, imaging studies revealed an esophageal web, a form of congenital esophageal stenosis. He was treated with a combination of Endoluminal Functional Lumen Imaging Probe (EndoFLIP) and controlled radial expansion (CRE) balloon dilation, followed by EndoFLIP and EsoFLIP dilation 1 month later.

Esophageal dilation with EsoFLIP is faster than CRE balloon dilation combined with EndoFLIP in children.

Background: Controlled radial expansion (CRE) balloon dilators are traditionally used to dilate esophageal strictures during an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). EndoFLIP is a diagnostic tool used during an EGD to measure important parameters of the gastrointestinal lumen, capable of assessing treatment before and after dilation. EsoFLIP is a related device that combines a balloon dilator with high-resolution impedance planimetry to provide some of the luminal parameters in real time during dilation.

Exploring risks for firearm death.

Context:: Firearm violence is a rising cause of death in the US. More than 38,000 individuals die annually from firearm violence. The estimated annual cost of firearm injuries were $174.

Gender Differences in Impacts of Place-Based Neighborhood Greening Interventions on Fear of Violence Based on a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.

Maintained green space in underserved urban neighborhoods may be an important environmental pathway to improving community health and safety, though effects may vary across population subgroups and by time of day. We examined survey responses from 442 participants (178 men and 264 women), living near vacant lots in a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a cleaning and greening intervention, on perceived safety during the day and at night. At the intervention sites after the intervention, only men reported feeling less unsafe during the day.

Community Greening, Fear of Crime, and Mental Health Outcomes.

Unmaintained vacant land in urban areas is associated with a number of negative outcomes for residents of urban areas, including mental and physical health, safety, and quality of life. Community programs which promote land parcel maintenance in urban neighborhoods have been found to reverse some of the effects that unmaintained land has on nearby residents. We explored how land parcel maintenance is associated with mental health outcomes using data collected in Flint, MI in 2017-2018.

Cell-type-specific nicotinic input disinhibits mouse barrel cortex during active sensing.

Fast synaptic transmission relies upon the activation of ionotropic receptors by neurotransmitter release to evoke postsynaptic potentials. Glutamate and GABA play dominant roles in driving highly dynamic activity in synaptically connected neuronal circuits, but ionotropic receptors for other neurotransmitters are also expressed in the neocortex, including nicotinic receptors, which are non-selective cation channels gated by acetylcholine. To study the function of non-glutamatergic excitation in neocortex, we used two-photon microscopy to target whole-cell membrane potential recordings to different types of genetically defined neurons in layer 2/3 of primary somatosensory barrel cortex in awake head-restrained mice combined with pharmacological and optogenetic manipulations.

Identifying participants for inclusion in hospital-based violence intervention: An analysis of 18 years of urban firearm recidivism.

Background: Identifying individuals at highest risk maximizes efficacy of prevention programs in decreasing recidivist gunshot wound (GSW) injury. Characteristics of GSW recidivists may identify this population. Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) are one effective strategy; however, programs are expensive, therefore, when possible, epidemiologic data should guide inclusion criteria.

Creating Safe And Healthy Neighborhoods With Place-Based Violence Interventions.

Violence is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States and abroad, with far-reaching consequences for individuals and communities. Interventions that address environmental and social contexts have the potential for greater populationwide effects, yet research has been slow to identify and rigorously evaluate these types of interventions to reduce violence. Several urban communities across the US are conducting experimental and quasi-experimental community-based research to examine the effect of place-based interventions on violence.

Collective Efficacy as a Key Context in Neighborhood Support for Urban Youth.

Neighborhood context, including the physical and social environment, has been implicated as important contributors to positive youth development. A transactional approach to neighborhood asserts that place and people are mutually constitutive; negative perceptions of place are intrinsically bound with negative portrayals of stigmatized groups, including youth. Adult perceptions of neighborhood youth may contribute to an increased sense of alienation and youth antisocial behavior.

Effect of Greening Vacant Land on Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Adults: A Cluster Randomized Trial.

Importance: Neighborhood physical conditions have been associated with mental illness and may partially explain persistent socioeconomic disparities in the prevalence of poor mental health.

Objective: To evaluate whether interventions to green vacant urban land can improve self-reported mental health.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This citywide cluster randomized trial examined 442 community-dwelling sampled adults living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, within 110 vacant lot clusters randomly assigned to 3 study groups.

Perceived neighborhood disorder, racial-ethnic discrimination and leading risk factors for chronic disease among women: California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2013.

Social environmental factors are theoretically identified as influential drivers of health behaviors - tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity - related to chronic disease disparities. Empirical studies investigating relationships involving social environmental factors have found that either greater interpersonal racial-ethnic discrimination or perceived neighborhood disorder were associated with adverse health behaviors, with potentially larger effects among women. We simultaneously tested whether measures of perceived racial-ethnic discrimination and perceived neighborhood disorder were associated with physical activity, alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking; lifestyle risk factors of major chronic disease among women.

Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear.

Vacant and blighted urban land is a widespread and potentially risky environmental condition encountered by millions of people on a daily basis. About 15% of the land in US cities is deemed vacant or abandoned, an area roughly the size of Switzerland. In a citywide cluster randomized controlled trial, we investigated the effects of standardized, reproducible interventions that restore vacant land on the commission of violence, crime, and the perceptions of fear and safety.

Effects of greening and community reuse of vacant lots on crime.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation initiated a 'Lots of Green' programme to reuse vacant land in 2010. We performed a difference-in-differences analysis of the effects of this programme on crime in and around newly treated lots, in comparison to crimes in and around randomly selected and matched, untreated vacant lot controls. The effects of two types of vacant lot treatments on crime were tested: a cleaning and greening 'stabilisation' treatment and a 'community reuse' treatment mostly involving community gardens.

Relationships between social isolation, neighborhood poverty, and cancer mortality in a population-based study of US adults.

Background: Social isolation is an important determinant of all-cause mortality, with evidence suggesting an association with cancer-specific mortality as well. In this study, we examined the associations between social isolation and neighborhood poverty (independently and jointly) on cancer mortality in a population-based sample of US adults.

Methods: Using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III; 1988-1994), NHANES III Linked Mortality File (through 2011) and 1990 Census, we estimated the relationship between social isolation and high neighborhood poverty and time-to-cancer death using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models.

Ten-Year Secular Trends in Youth Violence: Results From the Philadelphia Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2003-2013.

Background: Youth violence reduction is a public health priority, yet few studies have examined secular trends in violence among urban youth, who may be particularly vulnerable to numerous forms of violence. This study examines 10-year secular trends in the prevalence of violence-related behaviors among Philadelphia high school students.

Methods: Repeated cross-sectional data were analyzed from 5 waves of the Philadelphia Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) from 2003 to 2013.

Association of Drug and Alcohol Use With Adolescent Firearm Homicide at Individual, Family, and Neighborhood Levels.

Importance: Homicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents in the United States and the leading cause of death for adolescents who are African American. Large cities have disproportionate homicide rates.

Objective: To determine the relationships between exposures to drugs and alcohol at the individual, family, and neighborhood levels and adolescent firearm homicide and to inform new approaches to preventing firearm violence.