Healthy Parks, Healthy Person App

Final Project for INST490: Integrated Capstone for Information Science (Spring 2021). University of Maryland, College Park.Through its Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George’s County is looking for ways to improve community health by developing a mobile application to aid in physical and mental wellness. This application will be used as a tool to promote and track the use of parks, trails, and open space and the reported impacts on health outcomes. With the stress induced by the events of the past year (including but not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic), physical and emotional health concerns have become increasingly prevalent issues that the County’s Department of Parks and Recreation could help address. This project’s objective is to track the impact and performance of methods like ParkRx, which could prescribe the use of parks to citizens to increase healthy lifestyles in Prince George’s County. This will be accomplished by designing a mobile application that connects residents with available county parks, trails, facilities, and programs. The app will include a reward system that incentivizes engagement with these offerings, as well as track use metrics such as age, gender, and basic demographic information to help the county understand who is using what facilities and how often. The data collected through the app will be used by the Department of Parks and Recreation to assess the usage of its parks, facilities, and programs, to gauge where to focus its efforts in creating a physically and mentally healthier environment for Prince George’s County’s residents. The people involved in this project included teams from Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation. Katrina Williams, Edeline Dormevil, Edith Michel, Thomas Paolucci, Lynell Poyner, Michael Wigglesworth, and Bonnie Man were involved in developing the wireframes for this project.Prince George’s Count

A Rare Germline HOXB13 Variant Contributes to Risk of Prostate Cancer in Men of African Ancestry

International audienceA rare African ancestry-specific germline deletion variant in HOXB13 (X285K, rs77179853) was recently reported in Martinican men with early-onset prostate cancer. Given the role of HOXB13 germline variation in prostate cancer, we investigated the association between HOXB13 X285K and prostate cancer risk in a large sample of 22 361 African ancestry men, including 11 688 prostate cancer cases. The risk allele was present only in men of West African ancestry, with an allele frequency in men that ranged from 0.40% in Ghana and 0.31% in Nigeria to 0% in Uganda and South Africa, with a range of frequencies in men with admixed African ancestry from North America and Europe (0-0.26%). HOXB13 X285K was associated with 2.4-fold increased odds of prostate cancer (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.5-3.9, p = 2 × 10-4), with greater risk observed for more aggressive and advanced disease (Gleason ≥8: odds ratio [OR] = 4.7, 95% CI = 2.3-9.5, p = 2 × 10-5; stage T3/T4: OR = 4.5, 95% CI = 2.0-10.0, p = 2 × 10-4; metastatic disease: OR = 5.1, 95% CI = 1.9-13.7, p = 0.001). We estimated that the allele arose in West Africa 1500-4600 yr ago. Further analysis is needed to understand how the HOXB13 X285K variant impacts the HOXB13 protein and function in the prostate. Understanding who carries this mutation may inform prostate cancer screening in men of West African ancestry. PATIENT SUMMARY: A rare African ancestry-specific germline deletion in HOXB13, found only in men of West African ancestry, was reported to be associated with an increased risk of overall and advanced prostate cancer. Understanding who carries this mutation may help inform screening for prostate cancer in men of West African ancestry