The effect of historic redlining on firearm violence.

Background: Firearm homicides disproportionately affect young Black men, which in turn have lasting impact of communities of color as a whole. Previous cross-sectional studies have highlighted the role of discriminatory housing policies on the incidence of urban firearm violence. We sought to estimate the effects of racist housing policies on firearm incidence.

History repeats itself: Impact of mental illness on violent reinjury and hospital reencounters among female victims of interpersonal violence.

Background: Violence-related reinjury impacts both patients and health care systems. Mental illness (MI) is prevalent among violently injured individuals. The relationship between preexisting MI and violent reinjury among women has not been fully characterized.

Association of Patient Belief About Success of Antibiotics for Appendicitis and Outcomes: A Secondary Analysis of the CODA Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: A patient's belief in the likely success of a treatment may influence outcomes, but this has been understudied in surgical trials.

Objective: To examine the association between patients' baseline beliefs about the likelihood of treatment success with outcomes of antibiotics for appendicitis in the Comparison of Outcomes of Antibiotic Drugs and Appendectomy (CODA) trial.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a secondary analysis of the CODA randomized clinical trial.

Historic redlining, social mobility, and firearm violence.

Background: Much of the recorded medical literature focuses on individual-level factors that contribute to firearm violence. Recently, studies have highlighted higher incidence of firearm violence in historically redlined and marginalized areas, but few have gone on to study the downstream associations causing these differences. This study aims to understand the effects of historic redlining and current income mobility on firearm violence.

Social Vulnerability and COVID-19: Changes in Trauma Activations at a Safety-Net Hospital.

Introduction: Following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were reports of decreased trauma hospitalizations, although violent crime persisted. COVID-19 has had the greatest impact on minoritized and vulnerable communities. Decreases in traumatic events may not extend to these communities, given pandemic-related socioeconomic and psychological burdens that increase the risk of exposure to trauma and violence.

Historic redlining, structural racism, and firearm violence: A structural equation modeling approach.

Background: Firearm homicides disproportionately affect Black communities. Redlining - discriminatory lending practices of the early 20 century - are associated with current increased rates of firearm violence. Poverty and concentrated disadvantage are also associated with firearm violence.

State firearm laws and nonfatal firearm injury-related inpatient hospitalizations: A nationwide panel study.

Background: Firearm injury remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Because of prior lack of comprehensive data sources, there is a paucity of literature on nonfatal firearm injury. Associations have previously been shown between state-level firearm laws and firearm fatalities, but few studies have examined the effects of these laws on nonfatal firearm hospitalization rates.

Amplifying inequity: The compounding impact of COVID-19 and violence.

While "stay-at-home" orders for COVID-19 were in effect, many American cities witnessed a rise in community and interpersonal violence. Our own institution, the largest regional trauma facility and Boston's safety net hospital, saw a paradoxical rise in penetrating violent trauma admissions despite decreases in other hospital admissions, leading to our most violent summer in five years. It has been established that minoritized and marginalized communities have faced the harshest impacts of the pandemic.

COVID-19 Pandemic and the Cholecystitis Experience at a Major Urban Safety-Net Hospital.

Background: Acute cholecystitis is a common reason for emergency general surgery admission. The declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in treatment delays and corresponding increases in severity of disease. This study compared cholecystitis admissions and disease severity pre- and postdeclaration of pandemic.

The descriptive epidemiology of brand-specific gun ownership in the US: results from the 2019 National Lawful Use of Guns Survey.

Background: No previous study has identified the specific brands of guns owned by gun owners. This study aimed to: (1) ascertain and describe patterns of brand- and model-specific gun ownership among US gun owners; and (2) investigate the relationship between gun owners' brand and model preferences and their attitudes towards common firearm violence prevention policies.

Methods: Using a national, pre-recruited internet panel of US adults in 2019, we surveyed gun owners (N = 2086) to ascertain their opinions regarding firearm violence prevention policies and to assess the brands and models of guns that they owned.

Forensic evaluation of alleged wrist restraint/handcuff injuries in survivors of torture utilizing the Istanbul Protocol.

Despite being a common form of abuse, there is a paucity of literature describing shackling and wrist restraint injuries among survivors of torture. Forensic evaluation of alleged wrist restraint/handcuff injuries in survivors of torture presents challenges to the evaluator, especially if the injuries are remote and do not leave lasting marks nor neurologic deficits. Thorough history-taking and physical examination are critical to effective forensic documentation.

Where did the patients go? Changes in acute appendicitis presentation and severity of illness during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic restricted movement of individuals and altered provision of health care, abruptly transforming health care-use behaviors. It serves as a natural experiment to explore changes in presentations for surgical diseases including acute appendicitis. The objective was to determine if the pandemic was associated with changes in incidence of acute appendicitis compared to a historical control and to determine if there were associated changes in disease severity.

Intersectional Disparities Among Hispanic Groups in COVID-19 Outcomes.

Previous geographically limited studies have shown differential impact of COVID-19 on Hispanic individuals. Data were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We performed multivariate Poisson regression assessing risk of hospitalization and death in Hispanic White (HW), Hispanic Black (HB), and Hispanic Multiracial/Other (HM) groups compared to non-Hispanic Whites (NHW).

Clinical diagnostic phenotypes in hospitalizations due to self-inflicted firearm injury.

Background: . Hospitalized self-inflicted firearm injuries have not been extensively studied, particularly regarding clinical diagnoses at the index admission. The objective of this study was to discover the diagnostic phenotypes (DPs) or clusters of hospitalized self-inflicted firearm injuries.

Utilization of mental health services in pediatric patients surviving penetrating trauma resulting from interpersonal violence.

Background: Violent trauma has lasting psychological impacts. Our institution's Community Violence Response Team (CVRT) offers mental health services to trauma victims. We characterized implementation and determined factors associated with utilization by pediatric survivors of interpersonal violence-related penetrating trauma.

Firearm Policy: Physician Organizations' Role in Political Action Committee Funds, 2018.

To compare donations to individual politicians from physician organization political action committees (PACs) and from the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund (NRA PVF) in 2018. We identified 7 organizations with published firearm injury prevention policy. We determined the difference in funds received from physician organization PACs and the NRA PVF for each congressmember.

The effect of patient code status on surgical resident decision making: A national survey of general surgery residents.

Background: Multiple studies have demonstrated that, compared with their full code counterparts, patients with do-not-resuscitate or do-not-intubate status have higher in-hospital and postdischarge mortality than predicted by clinical characteristics alone. We sought to determine whether patient code status affects surgical resident decision making.

Methods: We created an online survey that consisted of 4 vignettes, followed by 10 questions regarding decisions on possible diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

Dual array EEG-fMRI: An approach for motion artifact suppression in EEG recorded simultaneously with fMRI.

Objective: Although simultaneous recording of EEG and MRI has gained increasing popularity in recent years, the extent of its clinical use remains limited by various technical challenges. Motion interference is one of the major challenges in EEG-fMRI. Here we present an approach which reduces its impact with the aid of an MR compatible dual-array EEG (daEEG) in which the EEG itself is used both as a brain signal recorder and a motion sensor.

Multiplex families with epilepsy: Success of clinical and molecular genetic characterization.

Objective: To analyze the clinical syndromes and inheritance patterns of multiplex families with epilepsy toward the ultimate aim of uncovering the underlying molecular genetic basis.

Methods: Following the referral of families with 2 or more relatives with epilepsy, individuals were classified into epilepsy syndromes. Families were classified into syndromes where at least 2 family members had a specific diagnosis.

Probabilistic machine learning for the evaluation of presurgical language dominance.

OBJECTIVE Providing a reliable assessment of language lateralization is an important task to be performed prior to neurosurgery in patients with epilepsy. Over the last decade, functional MRI (fMRI) has emerged as a useful noninvasive tool for language lateralization, supplementing or replacing traditional invasive methods. In standard practice, fMRI-based language lateralization is assessed qualitatively by visual inspection of fMRI maps at a specific chosen activation threshold.

Early expression of aromatase and the membrane estrogen receptor GPER in neuromasts reveals a role for estrogens in the development of the frog lateral line system.

Estrogens and their receptors are present at very early stages of vertebrate embryogenesis before gonadal tissues are formed. However, the cellular source and the function of estrogens in embryogenesis remain major questions in developmental endocrinology. We demonstrate the presence of estrogen-synthesizing enzyme aromatase and G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) proteins throughout early embryogenesis in the model organism, Silurana tropicalis.