Associations Between Food Insufficiency and Health Conditions Among New York City Adults, 2017-2018.

Food insecurity, a critical social determinant of health, has been measured nationwide in the United States for years. This analysis focuses on food insufficiency, a more severe form of food insecurity, in New York City (NYC) and its association with self-reported physical and mental health conditions. Data from the 2017-2018 NYC Community Health Survey were used to estimate the prevalence of food insufficiency citywide, by neighborhood, and across selected socioeconomic characteristics.

Facilitators and barriers to accessing hepatitis B care in the postpartum period among foreign-born New Yorkers: a qualitative analysis of case notes.

Background: Approximately 241,000 people are living with hepatitis B in New York City. Among those living with hepatitis B, pregnant people are particularly at risk for elevated viral load due to changes in immune response and require prompt linkage to health care. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Viral Hepatitis Program implemented a telephone-based patient navigation intervention for people living with hepatitis B in the postpartum period to connect them with hepatitis B care.

Data on location and retail price of a standard food basket in supermarkets across New York City.

Previous work has suggested that the price of food sold at supermarkets may vary according to the socioeconomic characteristics of a neighborhood. Given the importance of food prices in securing access to food, understanding how food prices vary across neighborhoods is crucial to assessing affordability. To study food pricing in New York City (NYC) a defined standard food basket (SFB) was collected in supermarkets across NYC neighborhoods.

First detection of Leptospira santarosai in the reproductive track of a boar: A potential threat to swine production and public health.

Background: Leptospirosis causes significant economic losses and is an occupational risk in the swine industry, especially in developing tropical regions where social and geoclimatic conditions are favorable for the transmission of this disease. Although vaccination can reduce infection risk, efficacy is diminished if local genetic and antigenic variants of the pathogen are not accounted for in the vaccine. Identifying and characterizing strains hosts, and potential mechanisms of transmission is therefore critical for public health mitigation practices.

Data for Equity: Creating an Antiracist, Intersectional Approach to Data in a Local Health Department.

Objective: To develop recommendations to embed equity into data work at a local health department and a framework for antiracist data praxis.

Design: A working group comprised staff from across the agency whose positions involved data collection, analysis, interpretation, or communication met during April-July 2018 to identify and discuss successes and challenges experienced by staff and to generate recommendations for achieving equitable data practices.

Setting: Local health department in New York City.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19-Like Illness and Impacts of Social Distancing and Working from Home.

Objectives: To examine racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19-like illness (CLI) during March - August 2020 in New York City, and to test effect modification by age, nativity, and working from home vs outside the home, and mediation via social distancing behavior.

Design: Analysis of the monthly Community Health Survey datasets.

Setting: New York City.

Associations between Experiences of Police Contact and Discrimination by the Police and Courts and Health Outcomes in a Representative Sample of Adults in New York City.

Communities marginalized because of racism, heterosexism, and other systems of oppression have a history of being aggressively policed, and in those contexts, researchers have observed associations between a range of negative experiences with police and poor physical, mental, and behavioral health outcomes. However, past studies have been limited in that experiences of police contacts were aggregated at the neighborhood level and, if police contacts were self-reported, the sample was not representative. To address these limitations, we employed NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 2017 Social Determinants of Health Survey (n = 2335) data to examine the associations of self-reported police contacts and discrimination by police and the courts with measures of physical (poor physical health), mental (poor mental health, serious psychological distress), and behavioral health (binge drinking).

Dynamic residential movement and depression among the World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees.

Purpose: Residential instability is associated with poor mental health, but its causal inference is challenging due to time-varying exposure and confounding, and the role of changing social environments. We tested the association between frequent residential moving and depression risk among adults exposed to the 9/11 disaster.

Methods: We used four waves of survey data from the World Trade Center Health Registry.

HIF-Overexpression and Pro-Inflammatory Priming in Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Improves the Healing Properties of Extracellular Vesicles in Experimental Crohn's Disease.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have therapeutic potential in the treatment of several immune disorders, including ulcerative colitis, owing to their regenerative and immunosuppressive properties. We recently showed that MSCs engineered to overexpress hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha and telomerase (MSC-T-HIF) and conditioned with pro-inflammatory stimuli release EVs (EV) with potent immunomodulatory activity. We tested the efficacy of EV to repolarize M1 macrophages (Mφ1) to M2-like macrophages (Mφ2-like) by analyzing surface markers and cytokines and performing functional assays in co-culture, including efferocytosis and T-cell proliferation.

Machine Learning Study in Caries Markers in Oral Microbiota from Monozygotic Twin Children.

In recent years, the etiology of caries has evolved from a simplistic infectious perspective based on and/or activity, to a multifactorial disease involving a complex oral microbiota, the human genetic background and the environment. The aim of this work was to identify bacterial markers associated with early caries using massive 16S rDNA. To minimize the other factors, the composition of the oral microbiota of twins in which only one of them had caries was compared with their healthy sibling.

HIF-1α and Pro-Inflammatory Signaling Improves the Immunomodulatory Activity of MSC-Derived Extracellular Vesicles.

Despite the strong evidence for the immunomodulatory activity of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), clinical trials have so far failed to clearly show benefit, likely reflecting methodological shortcomings and lack of standardization. MSC-mediated tissue repair is commonly believed to occur in a paracrine manner, and it has been stated that extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by MSCs (EVMSC) are able to recapitulate the immunosuppressive properties of parental cells. As a next step, clinical trials to corroborate preclinical studies should be performed.

Health Behaviors and Outcomes Associated With Personal and Family History of Criminal Justice System Involvement, New York City, 2017.

To quantify the association between personal and family history of criminal justice system (CJS) involvement (PHJI and FHJI, respectively), health outcomes, and health-related behaviors. We examined 2017 New York City Community Health Survey data (n = 10 005) with multivariable logistic regression. We defined PHJI as ever incarcerated or under probation or parole.

Occurrence, genotypes and antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella collected from the broiler production chain within an integrated poultry company.

Salmonella is a common foodborne pathogen in the poultry production systems. Its presence in this food industry is determined by the fact that it can survive and pass throughout the different steps in the poultry production. In this study we aimed to study the occurrence, genotypes and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella collected from the broiler production chain within an integrated poultry company.

PCR-Based Analysis of ColE1 Plasmids in Clinical Isolates and Metagenomic Samples Reveals Their Importance as Gene Capture Platforms.

ColE1 plasmids are important vehicles for the spread of antibiotic resistance in the Enterobacteriaceae and Pasteurellaceae families of bacteria. Their monitoring is essential, as they harbor important resistant determinants in humans, animals and the environment. In this work, we have analyzed ColE1 replicons using bioinformatic and experimental approaches.

Parental Race/Ethnicity and Adverse Birth Outcomes in New York City: 2000-2010.

Objectives: To examine the association of maternal race/ethnicity only and parental race/ethnicity jointly with adverse birth outcomes (low birth weight, small for gestational age, preterm birth, and infant mortality) among New York City women.

Methods: We used Bureau of Vital Statistics, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene birth- and death-linked data from 2000 to 2010 (n = 984 807) to quantify the association of maternal race/ethnicity and parental race/ethnicity concordance or discordance with each outcome.

Results: By maternal race/ethnicity, infants of non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and Asian women had risks of adverse birth outcomes between 10% and 210% greater than infants of non-Hispanic White women.

DIRAS3 regulates the autophagosome initiation complex in dormant ovarian cancer cells.

DIRAS3 is an imprinted tumor suppressor gene that is downregulated in 60% of human ovarian cancers. Re-expression of DIRAS3 at physiological levels inhibits proliferation, decreases motility, induces autophagy, and regulates tumor dormancy. Functional inhibition of autophagy with choroquine in dormant xenografts that express DIRAS3 significantly delays tumor regrowth after DIRAS3 levels are reduced, suggesting that autophagy sustains dormant ovarian cancer cells.

Stathmin expression and its relationship to microtubule-associated protein tau and outcome in breast cancer.

Background: Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) endogenously regulate microtubule stability. Here, the prognostic value of stathmin, a destabilizing protein, was assessed in combination with MAP-tau, a stabilizing protein, in order to evaluate microtubule stabilization as a potential biomarker.

Methods: Stathmin and MAP-tau expression levels were measured in a breast cancer cohort (n = 651) using the tissue microarray format and quantitative immunofluorescence (AQUA) technology, then correlated with clinical and pathological characteristics and disease-free survival.

Evaluation of prognostic and predictive value of microtubule associated protein tau in two independent cohorts.

Introduction: Microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) endogenously regulate microtubule stabilization and have been reported as prognostic and predictive markers for taxane response. The microtubule stabilizer, MAP-tau, has shown conflicting results. We quantitatively assessed MAP-tau expression in two independent breast cancer cohorts to determine prognostic and predictive value of this biomarker.

Optimal tumor sampling for immunostaining of biomarkers in breast carcinoma.

Introduction: Biomarkers, such as Estrogen Receptor, are used to determine therapy and prognosis in breast carcinoma. Immunostaining assays of biomarker expression have a high rate of inaccuracy; for example, estimates are as high as 20% for Estrogen Receptor. Biomarkers have been shown to be heterogeneously expressed in breast tumors and this heterogeneity may contribute to the inaccuracy of immunostaining assays.

Self-rated general and oral health in New York City adults: assessing the effect of individual and neighborhood social factors.

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Objective: This study investigates the independent and joint effects of individual and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics on self-rated general and oral health before and after controlling for selected characteristics in adults aged 18 years and older in New York City.

Methods: Data for 1168 individuals who participated in the 2004 Social Indicators Survey were linked to neighborhood data from the 2000 US Census. Log-binomial regression models fitted using generalized estimating equations were used to calculate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Antibody validation.

Antibodies are among the most frequently used tools in basic science research and in clinical assays, but there are no universally accepted guidelines or standardized methods for determining the validity of these reagents. Furthermore, for commercially available antibodies, it is clear that what is on the label does not necessarily correspond to what is in the tube. To validate an antibody, it must be shown to be specific, selective, and reproducible in the context for which it is to be used.

Polymorphic mutation frequencies of clinical and environmental Stenotrophomonas maltophilia populations.

Mutation frequencies were studied in 174 Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolates from clinical and nonclinical environments by detecting spontaneous rifampin-resistant mutants in otherwise-susceptible populations. The distribution of mutation frequencies followed a pattern similar to that found for other bacterial species, with a modal value of 1 x 10(-8). Nevertheless, the proportion of isolates showing mutation frequencies below the modal value (hypomutators) was significantly higher for S.

Rapid changes in rotaviral genotypes in Ecuador.

Previous studies suggest that the emerging G9P[8] genotype was the most prevalent rotavirus genotype in Ecuador during 2005. This present study provides a temporal analysis of the distribution of rotavirus genotypes in two locations within Ecuador by adding additional years (2006 - early 2008) to the originally reported 2005 data. Data were collected in a rural (northern coastal Ecuador) and urban (Quito) area.

Self-reported diabetes in Hispanic subgroup, non-Hispanic black, and non-Hispanic white populations: National Health Interview Survey, 1997-2005.

Objectives: We estimated the prevalence of self-reported diabetes in Hispanic subgroup (Puerto Rican, Mexican, Mexican American, Cuban, Dominican, Central and South American, and other Hispanic), non-Hispanic black, and non-Hispanic white populations aged 20 years and older.

Methods: Using the National Health Interview Survey 1997-2005, we limited these analyses to 272,041 records of adults aged 20 years and older, including 46,749 records for Hispanic respondents. We used logistic regression to assess the strength of the association between race/ethnicity and self-reported diabetes before and after adjusting for selected characteristics.

Vaginal hygiene practices and perceptions among women in the urban Northeast.

To inform development of an intervention to decrease vaginal douching among Latinas, we conducted a survey of 335 women aged 16-45 years in primary care offices in the urban Northeast, including many Hispanic women (59.7%). About a third (30.