Study protocol for transforming health equity research in integrated primary care: Antiracism as a disruptive innovation.

Among the consequences of systemic racism in health care are significant health disparities among Black/African American individuals with comorbid physical and mental health conditions. Despite decades of studies acknowledging health disparities based on race, significant change has not occurred. There are shockingly few evidence-based antiracism interventions.

Impact of a Large Fire and Subsequent Pollution Control Failure at a Coke Works on Acute Asthma Exacerbations in Nearby Adult Residents.

Clairton, Pennsylvania, is home to the largest coke works facility in the United States (US). On 24 December 2018, a large fire occurred at this facility and damaged pollution control equipment. Although repairs were not completed for several months, production continued at pre-fire capacity and daily emissions increased by 24 to 35 times, with multiple exceedances of monitored levels of outdoor air pollution (OAP).

A Generalized Additive Model Correlating Blacklegged Ticks With White-Tailed Deer Density, Temperature, and Humidity in Maine, USA, 1990-2013.

Geographical range expansions of blacklegged tick [Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae)] populations over time in the United States have been attributed to a mosaic of factors including 20th century reforestation followed by suburbanization, burgeoning populations of the white-tailed deer [Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman (Artiodactyla: Cervidae)], and, at the northern edge of I. scapularis' range, climate change. Maine, a high Lyme disease incidence state, has been experiencing warmer and shorter winter seasons, and relatively more so in its northern tier.

Ethnic Differences in Resting Total Peripheral Resistance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: Decades of research suggest that there may be important ethnic differences in the hemodynamic mechanisms that co-determine arterial blood pressure, the primary diagnostic index of hypertension. In general, studies have observed that, compared with European Americans (EAs), African Americans (AAs) exhibit higher total peripheral resistance (TPR), an important summative index of peripheral vascular constriction. In contrast, EAs have been reliably shown to exhibit greater cardiac output (CO), which is directly linked to left ventricle and overall cardiac blood flow.

Decoupling of Blacklegged Tick Abundance and Lyme Disease Incidence in Southern Maine, USA.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterial spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt, and Brenner (Spirocheatales: Spirochaetaceae) which is transmitted through the bite of an infected blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis Say (Ixodida: Ixodidae). Maine, USA, is a high Lyme disease incidence state, with rising incidence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses associated with increasing I. scapularis abundance and northward range expansion.

Twice-daily Radiation for Metastatic Malignant Melanoma: A Different Approach Resulting in a Significant Response.

The aim of this study was to discern an abscopal effect by modifying the delivery of radiation for metastatic malignant melanoma. The effect would be directly evident with visible/radiographic regression of the disease and indirectly shown with an overall extension in survival and potential cure. Patients with locally advanced, metastatic palpable, or radiographic visible metastatic malignant melanoma were treated with twice-daily radiation therapy using a dose range of 100-135 centigray (cGy) per fraction.

A look at the increasing demographic representation within behavioral medicine.

Meeting the behavioral medicine research and clinical needs of an increasingly diverse United States population is an issue of national concern. We examine the trends in the demographic representation of the behavioral medicine scientific workforce through an analysis of the training grants funded by National Institutes of Health for the field of behavioral medicine from 1980 to 2018. We report the topics of these training grants, and we depict the demographic representation of the training leaders.

Impact of Racial Discrimination and Hostility on Adrenergic Receptor Responsiveness in African American Adults.

Objective: Racial discrimination is increasingly recognized as a contributor to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among African Americans. Previous research has shown significant overlap between racial discrimination and hostility, an established predictor of CVD risk including alterations in adrenergic receptor functioning. The present study examined the associations of racial discrimination and hostility with adrenergic receptor responsiveness.

Influencing Patient Satisfaction Scores: Prospective One-Arm Study of a Novel Intravenous Catheter System With Retractable Coiled-Tip Guidewire Compared With Published Literature for Conventional Peripheral Intravenous Catheters.

With potential hospital reimbursement centered on patient satisfaction, limiting the number of invasive peripheral venipunctures may increase Press Ganey satisfaction scores. A prospective study compared published outcomes with conventional intravenous (IV) catheters against results using a newly designed IV catheter with a retractable, coiled-tip guidewire. The objectives were to determine whether successful first-attempt and IV complication rates might be altered using the new technology.

Understanding associations among race, socioeconomic status, and health: Patterns and prospects.

Race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) are social categories that capture differential exposure to conditions of life that have health consequences. Race/ethnicity and SES are linked to each other, but race matters for health even after SES is considered. This commentary considers the complex ways in which race combines with SES to affect health.

The National Institute on Aging Health Disparities Research Framework.

Objective: Development of a new framework for the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to assess progress and opportunities toward stimulating and supporting rigorous research to address health disparities.

Design: Portfolio review of NIA's health disparities research portfolio to evaluate NIA's progress in addressing priority health disparities areas.

Results: The NIA Health Disparities Research Framework highlights important factors for health disparities research related to aging, provides an organizing structure for tracking progress, stimulates opportunities to better delineate causal pathways and broadens the scope for malleable targets for intervention, aiding in our efforts to address health disparities in the aging population.

Statement of the American Psychological Association in response to the "joint principles: integrating behavioral health care into the patient-centered medical home".

Comments on the article "Joint principles: Integrating behavioral health care into the patient-centered medical home" (see record 2014-24217-011), presented by the Working Party Group on Integrated Behavioral Healthcare. The American Psychological Association (APA) shares concerns about the lack of reference to behavioral health care in the original 2007 Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home for which this new document is intended to supplement but not replace. The decision to support the supplemental Joint Principles was not an easy one for APA, as there is one area of significant concern.

The transmission of Fasciola spp. to cattle and contamination of grazing areas with Fasciola eggs in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam.

At four times during November 2010, cattle with infections of Fasciola spp., in two communes of northern Vietnam, were allocated to two equivalent groups. Cattle in one group were treated with triclabendazole.

A molecular diagnostic tool to replace larval culture in conventional faecal egg count reduction testing in sheep.

The accurate diagnosis of parasitic nematode infections in livestock (including sheep and goats) is central to their effective control and the detection of the anthelmintic resistance. Traditionally, the faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT), combined with the technique of larval culture (LC), has been used widely to assess drug-susceptibility/resistance in strongylid nematodes. However, this approach suffers from a lack of specificity, sensitivity and reliability, and is time-consuming and costly to conduct.

Pregnancy and childbirth during family medicine residency training.

Background And Objectives: Family medicine residency programs are training more women; pregnancy and childbirth during residency have become more common. The purpose of this study was to examine childbirth during residency from the perspectives of the new mother, her female colleagues who did not give birth during training, and program directors.

Methods: We surveyed female residents and program directors of 457 family medicine residency programs in the United States by mail.

Urbanicity affects blood pressure and heart rate reactivity to a speech stressor in Cameroon.

Objective: To examine the interactive influence of urbanicity on cardiovascular reactivity to speech stressors among 103 urban and 93 rural Cameroonians.

Method: Heart rate, systolic, and diastolic blood pressure (HR, SBP, and DBP) changes from baseline were assessed during a speech preparation period, speech stressor task, and post-speech recovery period.

Results: After adjusting for income, age, BMI, and sex, urban subjects showed greater diastolic reactivity to the pre-speech and speech conditions than to recovery.

Metagenomic analysis of RNA viruses in a fresh water lake.

Freshwater lakes and ponds present an ecological interface between humans and a variety of host organisms. They are a habitat for the larval stage of many insects and may serve as a medium for intraspecies and interspecies transmission of viruses such as avian influenza A virus. Furthermore, freshwater bodies are already known repositories for disease-causing viruses such as Norwalk Virus, Coxsackievirus, Echovirus, and Adenovirus.

Changes in fish diets and food web mercury bioaccumulation induced by an invasive planktivorous fish.

The invasion, boom, collapse, and reestablishment of a population of the planktivorous threadfin shad in Clear Lake, California, USA, were documented over a 20-year period, as were the effects of changing shad populations on diet and mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation in nearshore fishes. Threadfin shad competitively displaced other planktivorous fish in the lake, such as inland silversides, young-of-year (YOY) largemouth bass, and YOY bluegill, by reducing zooplankton abundance. As a result, all three species shifted from a diet that was dominated by zooplankton to one that was almost entirely zoobenthos.

Mercury trophic transfer in a eutrophic lake: the importance of habitat-specific foraging.

Mercury (Hg) trophic transfer and bioaccumulation in fish from a mine-impacted, eutrophic lake were examined in relation to foraging habitat, trophic position, and size. Diet analysis indicated that there were clear ontogenetic shifts in foraging habitats and trophic position. Pelagic diet decreased and benthic diet increased with increasing fish length in bluegill, black crappie, inland silverside, and largemouth bass, whereas there was no shift for prickly sculpin or threadfin shad.

Spatiotemporal trends in fish mercury from a mine-dominated ecosystem: Clear Lake, California.

Clear Lake, California, USA, receives acid mine drainage and mercury (Hg) from the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.

Mine-derived mercury: effects on lower trophic species in Clear Lake, California.

Considerable ecological research on mercury (Hg) has focused on higher trophic level species (e.g., fishes and birds), but less on lower trophic species.

A human proteome detection and quantitation project.

The lack of sensitive, specific, multiplexable assays for most human proteins is the major technical barrier impeding development of candidate biomarkers into clinically useful tests. Recent progress in mass spectrometry-based assays for proteotypic peptides, particularly those with specific affinity peptide enrichment, offers a systematic and economical path to comprehensive quantitative coverage of the human proteome. A complete suite of assays, e.

Viral genome sequencing by random priming methods.

Background: Most emerging health threats are of zoonotic origin. For the overwhelming majority, their causative agents are RNA viruses which include but are not limited to HIV, Influenza, SARS, Ebola, Dengue, and Hantavirus. Of increasing importance therefore is a better understanding of global viral diversity to enable better surveillance and prediction of pandemic threats; this will require rapid and flexible methods for complete viral genome sequencing.