Health Vulnerability Model for Latinx Sexual and Gender Minorities: Typologies with Socioeconomic Stability, Health Care Access, and Social Characteristics Indicators

Vulnerability can undermine positive health outcomes and challenge healthcare services access. However, to date, vulnerable populations research has been limited by overly broad definitions, lack of clear indicators, and failure to explore subtypes of vulnerability. Informed by literature and theory, this analysis used a specific operationalization of health vulnerability to identify typologies among a sample of Latinx sexual and gender minorities. We analyzed baseline data from Latinx sexual and gender minorities (N = 186) recruited for a community-based HIV intervention. We performed latent class analysis to operationalize vulnerability using eight socioeconomic stability, health care access, and social characteristics indicators. We identified three typologies of vulnerability from our sample: Low Education and High Social Support (63.4% of sample), High Education and Year-round Employment (18.8%), and High Education and High Discrimination (17.7%). Using specific indicators produced more nuanced vulnerability typologies which, after further testing, can assist in informing tailored health promotion interventions

Barriers to HIV Testing Within a Sample of Spanish-speaking Latinx Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men: Implications for HIV Prevention and Care

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) have higher rates of HIV infection compared to the general population in the United States, and the infection rate is growing among Latinx GBMSM, compared to a decline in most other demographic subgroups. Uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a biomedical strategy designed to reduce HIV transmission, is very low among Latinx GBMSM. HIV testing is a critical first step in the HIV prevention and care continua. We analyzed data from a community-based sample of Latinx GBMSM in the southeastern United States to identify the most common HIV testing barriers and the factors associated with barriers. The five most commonly reported HIV testing barriers included not knowing where to get tested, not having health insurance, fear of being HIV positive, practicing safer sex and perceiving not needing to be tested, and not being recommended to get tested. Using multivariable logistic regression modeling, speaking only Spanish, being unemployed, and adhering to traditional notions of masculinity were associated with increased barriers to HIV testing. We recommend that interventions to increase HIV testing among Latinx GBMSM be provided in Spanish and use culturally congruent messaging, be accessible to those who are unemployed, and incorporate positive risk-reducing aspects of masculinity

Promoting Community and Population Health in Public Health and Medicine: A Stepwise Guide to Initiating and Conducting Community-engaged Research

Various methods, approaches, and strategies designed to understand and reduce health disparities, increase health equity, and promote community and population health have emerged within public health and medicine. One such approach is community-engaged research. While the literature describing the theory, principles, and rationale underlying community engagement is broad, few models or frameworks exist to guide its implementation. We abstracted, analyzed, and interpreted data from existing project documentation including proposal documents, project-specific logic models, research team and partnership meeting notes, and other materials from 24 funded community-engaged research projects conducted over the past 17 years. We developed a 15-step process designed to guide the community-engaged research process. The process includes steps such as: networking and partnership establishment and expansion; building and maintaining trust; identifying health priorities; conducting background research, prioritizing “what to take on”; building consensus, identifying research goals, and developing research questions; developing a conceptual model; formulating a study design; developing an analysis plan; implementing the study; collecting and analyzing data; reviewing and interpreting results; and disseminating and translating findings broadly through multiple channels. Here, we outline and describe each of these steps

Image resampling and discretization effect on the estimate of myocardial radiomic features from T1 and T2 mapping in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Radiomics is emerging as a promising and useful tool in cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging applications. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investigate, for the first time, the effect of image resampling/discretization and filtering on radiomic features estimation from quantitative CMR T1 and T2 mapping. Specifically, T1 and T2 maps of 26 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) were used to estimate 98 radiomic features for 7 different resampling voxel sizes (at fixed bin width), 9 different bin widths (at fixed resampling voxel size), and 7 different spatial filters (at fixed resampling voxel size/bin width). While we found a remarkable dependence of myocardial radiomic features from T1 and T2 mapping on image filters, many radiomic features showed a limited sensitivity to resampling voxel size/bin width, in terms of intraclass correlation coefficient (> 0.75) and coefficient of variation (< 30%). The estimate of most textural radiomic features showed a linear significant (p < 0.05) correlation with resampling voxel size/bin width. Overall, radiomic features from T2 maps have proven to be less sensitive to image preprocessing than those from T1 maps, especially when varying bin width. Our results might corroborate the potential of radiomics from T1/T2 mapping in HCM and hopefully in other myocardial diseases

Low energy radioactive ion beams at SPES for nuclear physics and medical applications

Over the past decades many accelerator facilities have been built in order to produce radioactive nuclei. Among the falcility under construction, SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) is the Italian ISOL (Isotope Separation On Line) facility in the installation phase in these years in the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro. The innovative aspect of this facility is that the radioactive beam produced by fission induced by the proton beam, produced by a high power cyclotron, interact with a multi-disks uranium carbide target. The formed RIB will be sent directly to the low energy experimental area and, afterwards, to the post-acceleration complex. Currently the installation program concerning the SPES RIB source provides the set-up of the apparatus around the production bunker. The main objective of SPES project is to provide, in the next years, the first low-energy radioactive beams for beta decay experiments using the b-DS (beta Decay Station) set-up and for radiopharmaceutical applications by means of the IRIS (ISOLPHARM Radioactive Implantation Station) apparatus. In this work, all the specific issues related to the SPES RIB and the Low Energy beam lines will be reported. The main RIB systems, such as ion source systems, target-handling devices and the installation of low energy transport line, will be presented in detail

Predictors of Heavy Episodic Drinking and Weekly Drunkenness Among Immigrant Latinos in North Carolina

Few studies have examined correlates of heavy drinking among rural immigrant Latino men. This analysis identified correlates of typical week drunkenness and past 30-day heavy episodic drinking, within a sample of immigrant Latino men in rural North Carolina (n = 258). In the bivariate analyses, Mexican birth, entering the United States as an adult, and year-round employment were associated with increased odds of typical week drunkenness, and higher acculturation and affiliation with a religion with strict prohibitions against drinking alcohol were associated with lower odds of typical week drunkenness. Being older, Mexican birth, and entering the United States as an adult were associated with increased odds of heavy episodic drinking, and affiliation with a religion with strict prohibitions against drinking alcohol was associated with decreased odds of heavy episodic drinking. In multivariable modeling, only religious affiliation was associated with typical week drunkenness. Mexican birth, entering the United States as an adult and were associated with increased odds of heavy episodic drinking, and affiliation with a religion with strict prohibitions against drinking alcohol and completing high school was associated with lower odds of heavy episodic drinking. The health of minority men in the United States has been neglected, and immigrant Latino men comprise a particularly vulnerable population. This analysis provides initial data on some factors associated with heavy drinking within a population about whom little is known. Future studies should examine moderating or mediating factors between age, acculturation, religiosity, and heavy drinking that might be targets for behavioral interventions

RAP80 Targets BRCA1 to Specific Ubiquitin Structures at DNA Damage Sites

Mutations affecting the BRCT domains of the breast cancer–associated tumor suppressor BRCA1 disrupt the recruitment of this protein to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). The molecular structures at DSBs recognized by BRCA1 are presently unknown. We report the interaction of the BRCA1 BRCT domain with RAP80, a ubiquitin-binding protein. RAP80 targets a complex containing the BRCA1-BARD1 (BRCA1-associated ring domain protein 1) E3 ligase and the deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) BRCC36 to MDC1-γH2AX–dependent lysine6 - and lysine63-linked ubiquitin polymers at DSBs. These events are required for cell cycle checkpoint and repair responses to ionizing radiation, implicating ubiquitin chain recognition and turnover in the BRCA1-mediated repair of DSBs

Knee complaints and consequences on work status; a 10-year follow-up survey among floor layers and graphic designers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of the study was to examine if knee complaints among floor layers predict exclusion from the trade.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 1994/95 self-reported data were obtained from a cohort of floor layers and graphic designers with and without knee straining work activities, respectively. At follow-up in 2005 the questionnaire survey was repeated. The study population consisted of 81 floor layers and 173 graphic designers who were presently working in their trades at baseline (1995). All participants were men aged 36–70 years in 2005.</p> <p>We computed the risk of losing gainful employment in the trade according to occurrence of knee complaints at baseline, using Cox proportional hazard regression adjusted for a number of potential confounding variables. Moreover, the crude and adjusted odds risk ratio for knee complaints according to status of employment in the trade were computed, using graphic designers as reference.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A positive but non-significant association between knee complaints lasting more than 30 days the past 12 months and exclusion from the trade was found among floor layers (Hazard Ratio = 1.4, 95% CI = 0.6–3.5).</p> <p>The frequency of self-reported knee complaints was lower among floor layers presently at work in the trade in year 2005 (26.3%) compared with baseline in 1995 (41.1%), while the opposite tendency was seen among graphic designers (20.7% vs. 10.7%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The study suggests that knee complaints are a risk factor for premature exclusion from a knee demanding trade. However, low power of the study precludes strong conclusions. The study also indicates a healthy worker effect among floor layers and a survivor effect among graphic designers.</p