Vision zero in disease eradication

Road safety has come a long way in our lifetimes, and there are steps in this progress that mark their place in history. Many of these were technical innovations, such as seat belts, electronic stability control, and geofencing for vehicle speed control. Also important, though perhaps fewer in number, were innovations in strategies to achieve change. These include the public health model of Dr. William Haddon, the introduction of Vision Zero, the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention from WHO and the World Bank, and more recently, the Decade of Action 2011-2020. I am sure that the work and recommendations presented in this report will deserve their place in a "Hall of Fame" for strategic innovation in saving lives across the globe

Investigating climate change-related environmental and structural determinants of health: A mixed methods pilot study with first-generation migrants from Latin America to metro-Atlanta

Background: Migration from Latin America to the US has been increasing over the past few decades. Migrants may experience structural and environmental vulnerabilities that increase their risk for negative impacts of climate change upon resettlement. This pilot study examined these determinants of health for Latin American immigrants in Atlanta. Methods: Between May and December 2021, Latin American immigrants were recruited to complete a questionnaire, with a subset completing an in-depth interview. Questionnaire results were analyzed descriptively, and interview responses were analyzed using grounded theory analysis. Results: Fifty-four participants from 11 countries were enrolled and were majority female (87 %), ranging in age from 20 to 72. Length of time in the US varied with 48 % living here for over 15 years. Challenges with structural and environmental determinants of health included running out of medication (54 % of those on daily medication) or food (37 %), household pests (40 %), trouble paying utility bills (31 %), mold (17 %), and no air conditioning (10 %). Only 33 % stated they could easily satisfy their material needs. Fifty-four percent had an emergency plan, while 65 % knew how to find out about emergency alerts. Qualitative analysis identified language barriers, access to healthcare, and poor mental health as common challenges. Social support was a potential factor of resilience. Conclusion: Our findings underscore the influence of social and environmental determinants of health on climate resilience in Atlanta-area immigrants and may inform migrant-focused organizations in providing resources to this community and supporting climate adaptation to safeguard health in this at-risk population

Antibiotic That Inhibits the ATPase Activity of an ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter by Binding to a Remote Extracellular Site

Antibiotic-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus pose a major threat to human health and there is an ongoing need for new antibiotics to treat resistant infections. In a high throughput screen (HTS) of 230 000 small molecules designed to identify bioactive wall teichoic acid (WTA) inhibitors, we identified one hit, which was expanded through chemical synthesis into a small panel of potent compounds. We showed that these compounds target TarG, the transmembrane component of the two-component ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter TarGH, which exports WTA precursors to the cell surface for attachment to peptidoglycan. We purified, for the first time, a WTA transporter and have reconstituted ATPase activity in proteoliposomes. We showed that this new compound series inhibits TarH-catalyzed ATP hydrolysis even though the binding site maps to TarG near the opposite side of the membrane. These are the first ABC transporter inhibitors shown to block ATPase activity by binding to the transmembrane domain. The compounds have potential as therapeutic agents to treat S. aureus infections, and purification of the transmembrane transporter will enable further development

Metadata record for: HIT-COVID, a global database tracking public health interventions to COVID-19

This dataset contains key characteristics about the data described in the Data Descriptor HIT-COVID, a global database tracking public health interventions to COVID-19. Contents: 1. human readable metadata summary table in CSV format 2. machine readable metadata file in JSON forma