The Flame that Sparked Outrage: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Flame that Sparked Outrage The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, a tragic event in New York City, reflected the ignored demands by both foreign born and U.S born citizens. The unrelenting rioting and protesting marked a turning point in progressive American politics. The late 19th and early 20th century was a glorious time for new beginnings in America. The buzz about the opportunities in the States roamed the globe and sparked interest in every person encountered. The ships carrying Eastern European immigrants; Italians, Jews, and those of Polish descent, were migrating across seas to enter into the modern world of the United States. Contrary to the welcoming propaganda that is featured in their home countries, the opinions of some American born residents were less than enthusiastic about the incoming foreigners. The jobs that are available to the immigrants were meek at best, with intensive and frequent hazardous conditions for the men and women. This paper will uncover the array of problems factory owners caused their immigrant workers, in addition to the continuous strikes from the garment workers and a select few of the affluent class. Finally, the paper will close with the highly suspicious motives that came from both Triangle Factory owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. These theories include whether Blanck and Harris had a coincidental wrap sheet of unknown insurance collections, or the reasoning behind these unsafe working conditions, that led to multiple catastrophes, are part of a bigger sceam

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW): Bringing Awareness through the Power of Student Activism

Students are often an underutilized resource for advocacy and activism. Students have a unique positionality as members of academia who greatly understand the power and privilege higher education can bring- particularly when they have intersectional identities as women, minorities, and members of marginalized groups. This article tells the stories of two such Native American women who are using their power and privilege as it intersects with lived experience to bring awareness to the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). The article brings light to what drives them to promote social justice movements and how they work to institute positive change. Through their experiences, they share suggestions for how advanced professionals and professional organizations can aid students in engaging in social justice movements through empowerment, connection, and support. With students as the feet on the ground and the voice for the voiceless, we hope to promote awareness of MMIW and institute lasting change to protect our Native American women and girls

Significant Up-regulation of Mir-17 in an Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model

Previous work by our group has demonstrated a correlation between AD pathology and changes in epigenetic markers, including cytosine methylation of gene promoter regions. Several genes determined to have AD-related changes in methylation code for miRNA, which is known to regulate gene expression at a post-transcriptional level. Research suggests that miRNA play a key role in AD development by alteration of gene products and transcription factors, particularly in that of amyloid-ß (Aß) production and apoptosis of postmitotic neurons. This analysis shows a significant up-regulation of demonstrated epigenetically modified miR-17 in the hippocampi of transgenic AD mice when compared to that of non-AD mice. MiR-17 belongs to the polycistronic cluster miR-17-92 and is believed to be involved in normal neuronal cell proliferation and ultimately the regulation of Beclin-1, which has been shown to modulate amyloid beta accumulation in mice

Predictors of poor function in RA based on two prospective UK inception cohorts. Do comorbidities matter?

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)Objectives. Evidence suggests that factors beyond disease activity associate with functional disability in RA. The primary study objective was to explore associations between comorbidities, sociodemographic factors and functional outcomes at five and 10 years.  Methods. RA patients from two UK prospective cohorts were grouped into low (<1.5) and high (1.5) five- and 10-year health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) score. Clinical variables (e.g. disease activity, rheumatoid nodules, erosions) and sociodemographic factors (e.g. ethnicity, deprivation) were recorded at baseline and yearly thereafter. Comorbidity was measured using the Rheumatic Diseases Comorbidity Index (RDCI). Binary logistic regression models were fitted using multiple imputation.  Results. In total, 2701 RA patients were recruited (mean age 56.1 years, 66.9% female). A total of 1718 (63.4%) had five-year and 820 (30.4%) 10-year follow-up data. In multivariable analysis, no association was found between RDCI and HAQ 1.5 at five or 10 years. Sociodemographic factors (increased age at disease onset, female gender, minority ethnicity) were associated with higher odds of HAQ 1.5 at five and 10 years, with worse deprivation additionally associated with HAQ 1.5 at 10 years (OR 0.79, 95% CI: 0.69, 0.90).  Conclusion. Comorbidities at baseline have not been found to be associated with worse RA functional outcome in the long-term. On the other hand, sociodemographic factors, independently of disease measures, are associated with worse functional outcome in RA at five and 10 years, in models adjusting for comorbidity burden. Tailoring management interventions according to not only clinical disease parameters but also patient sociodemographic factors may improve long-term outcomes including functional disability.Peer reviewe

Personalised care packages for people with rheumatoid arthritis: a mixed-methods study

© 2024 The Author(s). . Published by BMJ. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Objectives Disease management in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) requires holistic assessment. We aimed to design personalised care packages suitable for people with RA. Methods This study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach and exploratory sequential design. Consensus workshops were held, involving people with RA and healthcare professionals (HCPs) treating them. Subsequently, an online survey sought views on future care packages for people with RA at relevant disease progression/stages, based on (1) results from previous quantitative data analyses (eg, socioeconomic/clinical factors), and (2) themes identified during workshops. Results Two conceptual care pathways were identified: (1) around the time of RA diagnosis, an early opportunity to influence the disease course; (2) for individuals with established RA, emphasising the importance of ‘the right MDT member at the right time’. Three care packages were suggested: (1) early care package (around RA diagnosis): introduction to MDT; (2) continuity of care package (established RA): primary/secondary providers; and (3) personalised holistic care package: integral to packages 1 and 2, implemented alongside allied health professionals. The survey received 41 responses; 82.9% agreed that people with RA need a consistent ‘early care package’ at diagnosis. 85.4% approved of additional care packages tailored to individuals’ clinical, psychological and social needs when moving to different stages of their long-term disease. Fleiss’ Kappa calculations demonstrated fair level of agreement among respondents. Conclusion Two care pathways, with three tailored care packages, were identified, with potential to improve management of people with RA. Future research will help to determine if such care packages can impact clinical (including patient-reported) outcomes.Peer reviewe

Prevalence of Sodium Glucose Cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) Inhibitor Prescribing in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Reduced Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate

Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors have demonstrated benefit in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), including slowing the progression of CKD and lowering the risk of kidney failure and death. Despite this evidence, literature suggests SGLT-2 inhibitors are underutilized in this population. To assess prescribing practices and identify potential variables predictive of SGLT-2 inhibitor prescribing, a non-interventional, retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted in patients with T2DM and reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). The primary outcome compared prevalence of SGLT-2 inhibitor prescribing in patients with T2DM and eGFR of 30-44 mL/min/1.73m2 to patients with T2DM and eGFR 45-59 mL/min/1.73m2. The secondary outcome described possible predictors of prescribing SGLT-2 inhibitors in this population. Of the 9,387 patients identified with T2DM and reduced eGFR, an SGLT-2 inhibitor was prescribed to 324 (12.2%) patients with eGFR of 30-44 mL/min/1.73m2 versus 799 (11.9%) patients with eGFR of 45-59 mL/min/1.73m2. Patients more likely to be prescribed SGLT-2 inhibitors were younger, male, had a higher body mass index (BMI), a higher hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), were on other antihyperglycemic medications, had concomitant cardiovascular disease, or had concomitant heart failure. This study found no significant difference in prevalence of SGLT-2 inhibitor prescribing between patients with T2DM and eGFR 30-44 mL/min/1.73m2 versus eGFR 45-59 mL/min/1.73m2 (p=0.70). Further exploration into the causes of low SGLT-2 inhibitor prescribing prevalence is warranted given the growing evidence supporting the use of these agents in patients with T2DM and reduced renal function

Capture Hi-C identifies a novel causal gene, IL20RA, in the pan-autoimmune genetic susceptibility region 6q23.

BACKGROUND: The identification of causal genes from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is the next important step for the translation of genetic findings into biologically meaningful mechanisms of disease and potential therapeutic targets. Using novel chromatin interaction detection techniques and allele specific assays in T and B cell lines, we provide compelling evidence that redefines causal genes at the 6q23 locus, one of the most important loci that confers autoimmunity risk. RESULTS: Although the function of disease-associated non-coding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at 6q23 is unknown, the association is generally assigned to TNFAIP3, the closest gene. However, the DNA fragment containing the associated SNPs interacts through chromatin looping not only with TNFAIP3, but also with IL20RA, located 680 kb upstream. The risk allele of the most likely causal SNP, rs6927172, is correlated with both a higher frequency of interactions and increased expression of IL20RA, along with a stronger binding of both the NFκB transcription factor and chromatin marks characteristic of active enhancers in T-cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight the importance of gene assignment for translating GWAS findings into biologically meaningful mechanisms of disease and potential therapeutic targets; indeed, monoclonal antibody therapy targeting IL-20 is effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, both with strong GWAS associations to this region

What's the Problem? Cultural Capability and Learning from Historical Performance

Contains the cis-eQTLs with P value < 5 % for T-cells obtained from early undifferentiated arthritis patients. (TXT 1162 kb

Evaluation of polygenic risk scores for breast and ovarian cancer risk prediction in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 94 common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with breast cancer (BC) risk and 18 associated with ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Several of these are also associated with risk of BC or OC for women who carry a pathogenic mutation in the high-risk BC and OC genes BRCA1 or BRCA2. The combined effects of these variants on BC or OC risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers have not yet been assessed while their clinical management could benefit from improved personalized risk estimates. Methods: We constructed polygenic risk scores (PRS) using BC and OC susceptibility SNPs identified through population-based GWAS: for BC (overall, estrogen receptor [ER]-positive, and ER-negative) and for OC. Using data from 15 252 female BRCA1 and 8211 BRCA2 carriers, the association of each PRS with BC or OC risk was evaluated using a weighted cohort approach, with time to diagnosis as the outcome and estimation of the hazard ratios (HRs) per standard deviation increase in the PRS. Results: The PRS for ER-negative BC displayed the strongest association with BC risk in BRCA1 carriers (HR = 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.23 to 1.31, P = 8.2 x 10(53)). In BRCA2 carriers, the strongest association with BC risk was seen for the overall BC PRS (HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.17 to 1.28, P = 7.2 x 10(-20)). The OC PRS was strongly associated with OC risk for both BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. These translate to differences in absolute risks (more than 10% in each case) between the top and bottom deciles of the PRS distribution; for example, the OC risk was 6% by age 80 years for BRCA2 carriers at the 10th percentile of the OC PRS compared with 19% risk for those at the 90th percentile of PRS. Conclusions: BC and OC PRS are predictive of cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. Incorporation of the PRS into risk prediction models has promise to better inform decisions on cancer risk management