State of Health Equity Movement, 2011 Update Part B: Catalog of Activities DRA Project Report No. 11-02

State of Health Equity Movement, 2011 Update Part B: Catalog of Activities DRA Project Report No. 11-0

State of Health Equity Movement, 2011 Update Part C: Compendium of Recommendations DRA Project Report No. 11-03

State of Health Equity Movement, 2011 Update Part C: Compendium of Recommendations DRA Project Report No. 11-0

State of Health Equity Movement, 2011 Update: DRA Project Report No. 11-01

State of Health Equity Movement, 2011 Update Part A: Overview DRA Project Report No. 11-0

Repurposing BT-11 to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease: Exploring the Glutathione-s-transferase LANCL2 as a Target

Approximately 99.6% of potential Alzheimer’s drugs fail, thus developing successful drugs is a high priority. The failure at developing successful drugs relates to the complex nature of the disease itself. Many components act together to trigger a cascade that ultimately results in neurodegeneration and cognitive dysfunction associated with the disease. In building a multiplex model of Alzheimer’s it is important to understand its specific biological mechanisms. One of these key pathological mechanisms is neuroinflammation. Understanding the pathways involved in neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s is an urgent need, as it poses a promising avenue for future effective therapeutics. Specifically, as many investigational and FDA approved drugs targeting inflammation already exist, repurposing drugs is a useful approach, and this avenue provides for a less expensive and quicker process than developing new pharmaceuticals. One of such drugs is BT-11, which is an orally active lanthionine synthetase C-like 2 (LANCL2) binding compound, shown to reduce inflammation in the gut and improve cognitive function. Additionally, LANCL2 was identified as a glutathione-s-transferase, suggesting a role in removing toxins and reducing oxidative stress. BT-11 was predicted to have potential to treat Alzheimer’s, based on in silico studies for drug repurposing. The overall GOAL of my studies was to explore the potential of the investigational drug BT-11 and its mechanisms to treat Alzheimer’s. My central hypothesis was that activation of the LANCL2 pathway with BT-11 prevents or diminishes the progression of Alzheimer’s. The RATIONALE of my studies was that understanding the effects and mechanisms by which BT-11 potentially prevents or diminishes disease progression, will advance the development of novel therapeutics and their target, LANCL2, to treat Alzheimer’s. The results of my studies to test the central hypothesis are addressed in the following chapters: 1. BT-11 treatment alleviates cognitive deficits and pathology in a sex-specific manner in a rat Alzheimer’s model (chapter 2) I showed that long-term treatment with BT-11 reduced hippocampal-dependent spatial memory deficits, as well as Aβ plaque load and neuronal loss in the dorsal hippocampus of TgF344-AD male rats compared to WT rats. While these effects were not observed in female TgF344-AD rats, BT-11 treatment mitigated microglia numbers in the dorsal hippocampus of TgF344-AD female rats compared to WT rats. 2. Potential mechanisms mediating the effects of the LANCL2 activator BT-11 in a rat Alzheimer’s model (chapter 3) I showed that BT-11 potentially crosses the blood brain barrier. Moreover, through RNAseq analyses, I determined that treatment with BT-11 leads to changes in the signaling receptor and G-protein signaling receptor pathways, pointing to probable mechanisms mediating BT-11 action. I also found that, in the dorsal hippocampus, LANCL2 is present in the intracellular nuclear and cytoplasmic fractions with different post-translational modifications, suggesting distinct functions based on subcellular location. Interestingly, I established that LANCL2 is present in dorsal hippocampal oligodendrocytes. The study of the role of oligodendrocytes in Alzheimer’s is ongoing and my finding suggests that the LANCL2 pathway could play a role. To my knowledge, these last findings are novel as they have not been previously reported. Overall, my data suggest that targeting LANCL2 with BT-11 can improve cognition and reduce pathological hallmarks by modulating G-protein signaling and potentially oligodendrocyte function in Alzheimer’s. My study provides a significant contribution to the field of novel immunomodulatory targets for Alzheimer’s therapeutics and merits further research on the role of LANCL2 in the disease

Regional Medical Campuses: Leveraging our Structure

The focus of this session presentation at the 2020 IU School of Medicine Education Day is on how the School is leveraging its regional campus model. The School is the nation’s largest by enrollment, with nine campuses, eight of which are considered regional campuses. After a review of various regional campus models, an example of scholarship that reports on how IU School of Medicine regional campus students perform in the Match compared to main (Indianapolis) campus students is shared. The session presentation also examines the unique way IU School of Medicine is leveraging a Scholarly Concentrations Program for educational enhancement, reputational focus for regional campuses, deeper community engagement, and increased student and faculty scholarship

The RD Parent Empowerment Program Creates Measurable Change in the Behaviors of Low-Income Families and Children: An Intervention Description and Evaluation

Dietary and physical activity habits are developed early in life and are influenced by family environments. We describe and evaluate an intervention for low-income families to encourage healthy habits. The RD Parent Empowerment Program (http://www.eatright.org/programs/kidseatright/activities/content.aspx?id=6442477891) consists of four workshops centered on the 8 Habits of Healthy Children and Families (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation). Registered dietitian nutritionists conduct the workshops in school and community settings using a structured leader guide and tailor the communication and interactive activities to the audience. Participants are parents of young children. Our goals were to use a phenomenologic approach to elicit participant feedback, determine whether participants in the RD Parent Empowerment Program made healthier choices for their families after attending the workshops, and identify which elements of the program participants believed contributed most to its success. The evaluation design used a pragmatic, mixed-methods approach utilizing postintervention focus groups and pre–post-intervention scores on the Family Nutrition and Physical Activity (FNPA) survey. All workshop attendees aged 18 years or older were eligible to participate in the evaluation. One hundred twenty-three parents participated in the intervention across seven sites. Focus group results were analyzed using thematic analysis methods to match themes to the main intervention goals. t-Tests were used to compare pre-and post-intervention FNPA scores and demographic characteristics pooled across sites. FNPA scores significantly improved from pre- to postintervention by a mean of 4.3 FNPA points (6.5%; P\u3c0.01). Focus group participants reported behavior changes as a result of the program and identified the site leaders as integral to the program’s success, triangulating the results. The RD Parent Empowerment Program generates meaningful self-reported behavior change in parents. The long-term sustainability of the changes must be investigated

The RD Parent Empowerment Program Creates Measurable Change in the Behaviors of Low-Income Families and Children: An Intervention Description and Evaluation

Dietary and physical activity habits are developed early in life and are influenced by family environments. We describe and evaluate an intervention for low-income families to encourage healthy habits. The RD Parent Empowerment Program (http://www.eatright.org/programs/kidseatright/activities/content.aspx?id=6442477891) consists of four workshops centered on the 8 Habits of Healthy Children and Families (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation). Registered dietitian nutritionists conduct the workshops in school and community settings using a structured leader guide and tailor the communication and interactive activities to the audience. Participants are parents of young children. Our goals were to use a phenomenologic approach to elicit participant feedback, determine whether participants in the RD Parent Empowerment Program made healthier choices for their families after attending the workshops, and identify which elements of the program participants believed contributed most to its success. The evaluation design used a pragmatic, mixed-methods approach utilizing postintervention focus groups and pre–post-intervention scores on the Family Nutrition and Physical Activity (FNPA) survey. All workshop attendees aged 18 years or older were eligible to participate in the evaluation. One hundred twenty-three parents participated in the intervention across seven sites. Focus group results were analyzed using thematic analysis methods to match themes to the main intervention goals. t-Tests were used to compare pre- and postintervention FNPA scores and demographic characteristics pooled across sites. FNPA scores significantly improved from pre- to postintervention by a mean of 4.3 FNPA points (6.5%; P\u3c0.01). Focus group participants reported behavior changes as a result of the program and identified the site leaders as integral to the program’s success, triangulating the results. The RD Parent Empowerment Program generates meaningful self-reported behavior change in parents. The long-term sustainability of the changes must be investigated

Dancing to the Partisan Beat: A First Analysis of Political Communication on TikTok

TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service, whose popularity is increasing rapidly. It was the world's second-most downloaded app in 2019. Although the platform is known for having users posting videos of themselves dancing, lip-syncing, or showcasing other talents, user-videos expressing political views have seen a recent spurt. This study aims to perform a primary evaluation of political communication on TikTok. We collect a set of US partisan Republican and Democratic videos to investigate how users communicated with each other about political issues. With the help of computer vision, natural language processing, and statistical tools, we illustrate that political communication on TikTok is much more interactive in comparison to other social media platforms, with users combining multiple information channels to spread their messages. We show that political communication takes place in the form of communication trees since users generate branches of responses to existing content. In terms of user demographics, we find that users belonging to both the US parties are young and behave similarly on the platform. However, Republican users generated more political content and their videos received more responses; on the other hand, Democratic users engaged significantly more in cross-partisan discussions.Comment: Accepted as a full paper at the 12th International ACM Web Science Conference (WebSci 2020). Please cite the WebSci version; Second version includes corrected typo

Serum Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE) Levels Are Higher in Children (2–5 Years of Age) than in Infants and Adults

Background: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used as flame retardants in many products and have been detected in human samples worldwide. Limited data show that concentrations are elevated in young children. Objectives: We investigated the association between PBDEs and age with an emphasis on young children from Australia in 2006–2007. Methods: We collected human blood serum samples (n = 2,420), which we stratified by age and sex and pooled for analysis of PBDEs. Results: The sum of BDE-47, -99, -100, and -153 concentrations (Σ4PBDE) increased from 0–0.5 years (mean ± SD, 14 ± 3.4 ng/g lipid) to peak at 2.6–3 years (51 ± 36 ng/g lipid; p 60 years (p = 0.894). The mean Σ4PBDE concentration in cord blood (24 ± 14 ng/g lipid) did not differ significantly from that in adult serum at ages 15–30 (p = 0.198) or 31–45 years (p = 0.140). We found no temporal trend when we compared the present results with Australian PBDE data from 2002–2005. PBDE concentrations were higher in males than in females; however, this difference reached statistical significance only for BDE-153 (p = 0.05). Conclusions: The observed peak concentration at 2.6–3 years of age is later than the period when breast-feeding is typically ceased. This suggests that in addition to the exposure via human milk, young children have higher exposure to these chemicals and/or a lower capacity to eliminate them. Key words: Australia, children, cord blood, human blood serum, PBDEs, polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Environ Health Perspect 117:1461–1465 (2009). doi:10.1289/ehp.090059

Machine learning uncovers the most robust self-report predictors of relationship quality across 43 longitudinal couples studies

Given the powerful implications of relationship quality for health and well-being, a central mission of relationship science is explaining why some romantic relationships thrive more than others. This large-scale project used machine learning (i.e., Random Forests) to 1) quantify the extent to which relationship quality is predictable and 2) identify which constructs reliably predict relationship quality. Across 43 dyadic longitudinal datasets from 29 laboratories, the top relationship-specific predictors of relationship quality were perceived-partner commitment, appreciation, sexual satisfaction, perceived-partner satisfaction, and conflict. The top individual-difference predictors were life satisfaction, negative affect, depression, attachment avoidance, and attachment anxiety. Overall, relationship-specific variables predicted up to 45% of variance at baseline, and up to 18% of variance at the end of each study. Individual differences also performed well (21% and 12%, respectively). Actor-reported variables (i.e., own relationship-specific and individual-difference variables) predicted two to four times more variance than partner-reported variables (i.e., the partner’s ratings on those variables). Importantly, individual differences and partner reports had no predictive effects beyond actor-reported relationship-specific variables alone. These findings imply that the sum of all individual differences and partner experiences exert their influence on relationship quality via a person’s own relationship-specific experiences, and effects due to moderation by individual differences and moderation by partner-reports may be quite small. Finally, relationship-quality change (i.e., increases or decreases in relationship quality over the course of a study) was largely unpredictable from any combination of self-report variables. This collective effort should guide future models of relationships