Cancer in an Historic Washington DC African American Population and Its Geospatial Distribution.

Cancer continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the African American community but insights into the types and incidence of cancer 85 years ago have been virtually non-existent and little is known of its geospatial distribution. Historical information on cancer can shed light on current health disparities, particularly among African Americans. The aims of this study were to: (1) assess the frequencies of the cancer types present among Cobb Collection individuals; (2) compare these data with current research on cancer in African Americans; and (3) evaluate the pattern of cancer expression, including its geospatial distributions, as a cause of death between 1931 and 1969 in an historic African American subgroup and compare this pattern with the historic and contemporary patterns of cancer etiology and incidence.

Genome Sequence of Mycobacteriophage ErnieJ.

ErnieJ, a cluster C mycobacteriophage that infects Mycobacterium smegmatis mc155, was recovered from soil in Washington, DC. Its genome is 153,243 bp in size and encodes 227 predicted proteins, 30 tRNAs, and one transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA). Ten percent of the predicted proteins have homologs in phages that infect nonmycobacterial Actinobacteria.