Women and Philanthropy in the United States, 1790-1990

This document was part of the Multicultural Philanthropy Project, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. A series of fourteen guides examine the ways in which various gender, ethnic, cultural, religious and racial groups use their gifts of time, money, and talent. They reflect the ways giving and voluntarism are embedded in American life and challenge the notion that philanthropy is the exclusive province of elites. The guides include discussion topics, research questions, and literature overviews with annotated bibliographies. They were developed both to integrate the study of philanthropy into the curricula at colleges and universities, and to provide a tool to nonprofit professionals in the area of development and fundraising. Each volume provides background information on a selected community that will help practitioners work effectively with these groups. This guide provides an overview of the rich tradition of women?s giving and volunteering in the United States over the course of two centuries (between 1790 and 1990) and illustrates the ways that women have changed American society. The volume focuses on voluntary associations and describes the activities of various groups of women in different regions of the United States. It will be of particular use to those seeking to understand the ways that philanthropy has played an important role in enabling women of different religious, races, regions and economic backgrounds to shape American politics, professions and institutions. It also offers a context for nonprofit professionals and fundraisers who are looking to identify the best ways to tap into the enormous wealth held by women in the 21st century. This knowledge may then serve as a springboard for involving women today by reminding women of their ability to use giving and voluntarism to shape the future in directions they believe important

Reducing patients’ exposures to asthma and allergy triggers in their homes: an evaluation of effectiveness of grades of forced air ventilation filters

Objective: Many interventions to reduce allergen levels in the home are recommended to asthma and allergy patients. One that is readily available and can be highly effective is the use of high performing filters in forced air ventilation systems. Methods: We conducted a modeling analysis of the effectiveness of filter-based interventions in the home to reduce airborne asthma and allergy triggers. This work used “each pass removal efficiency” applied to health-relevant size fractions of particles to assess filter performance. We assessed effectiveness for key allergy and asthma triggers based on applicable particle sizes for cat allergen, indoor and outdoor sources of particles 70% for cat dander particles, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and respiratory virus can lower concentrations of those asthma triggers and allergens in indoor air of the home by >50%. Very high removal efficiency filters, such as those rated a 16 on the nationally recognized Minimum Efficiency Removal Value (MERV) rating system, tend to be only marginally more effective than MERV12 or 13 rated filters. Conclusions: The results of this analysis indicate that use of a MERV12 or higher performing air filter in home ventilation systems can effectively reduce indoor levels of these common asthma and allergy triggers. These reductions in airborne allergens in turn may help reduce allergy and asthma symptoms, especially if employed in conjunction with other environmental management measures recommended for allergy and asthma patients

Verbal autopsy-assigned causes of death among adults being investigated for TB in South Africa

Aaron S. Karat - ORCID 0000-0001-9643-664X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9643-664XBackground: Adults being investigated for TB in South Africa experience high mortality, yet causes of death (CoD) are not well defined. We determined CoD in this population using verbal autopsy (VA), and compared HIV- and TB-associated CoD using physician-certified verbal autopsy (PCVA) and InterVA-4 software.Methods: All contactable consenting caregivers of participants who died during a trial comparing Xpert MTB/ RIF to smear microscopy were interviewed using the WHO VA tool. CoD were assigned using PCVA and InterVA-4. Kappa statistic (K) and concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) were calculated for comparison.Results: Among 231 deaths, relatives of 137 deceased were interviewed. Of the 137 deceased 76 (55.4%) were males, median age 41 years (IQR 33–50). PCVA assigned 70 (51.1%) TB immediate CoD (44 [62.8%] pulmonary TB; 26 [37.1%] extra-pulmonary TB); 21 (15.3%) HIV/AIDS-related; and 46 (33.5%) other CoD. InterVA-4 assigned 48 (35.0%) TB deaths; 49 (35.7%) HIV/AIDS-related deaths; and 40 (29.1%) other CoD. Agreement between PCVA and InterVA-4 CoD was slight at individual level (K=0.20; 95% CI 0.10–0.30) and poor at population level (CCC 0.67; 95% CI 0.38–0.99).Conclusions: TB and HIV are leading CoD among adults being investigated for TB. PCVA and InterVA agreement at individual level was slight and poor at population level. VA methodology needs further development where TB and HIV are common.This work was supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [Grant Number: OPP1034523] for funding the study.https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/trw058110pubpub

Comparing motor-­vehicle crash risk of EU and US vehicles

This study examined the hypotheses that vehicles meeting EU safety standards perform similarly to US-­‐regulated vehicles in the US driving environment, and vice versa. The analyses used three statistical approaches to “triangulate” evidence regarding differences in crash and injury risk. Separate analyses assessed crash avoidance technologies, including headlamps and mirrors. The results suggest that when controlling for differences in environment and exposure, vehicles meeting EU standards offer reduced risk of serious injury in frontal/side crashes and have driver-­‐side mirrors that reduce risk in lane-­‐change crashes better, while vehicles meeting US standards provide a lower risk of injury in rollovers and have headlamps that make pedestrians more conspicuous.Alliance of Automobile Manufacturershttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112977/1/103199.pd

Performance of verbal autopsy methods in estimating HIV-associated mortality among adults in South Africa

Aaron S. Karat - ORCID 0000-0001-9643-664X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9643-664XIntroduction Verbal autopsy (VA) can be integrated into civil registration and vital statistics systems, but its accuracy in determining HIV-associated causes of death (CoD) is uncertain. We assessed the sensitivity and specificity of VA questions in determining HIV status and antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and compared HIV-associated mortality fractions assigned by different VA interpretation methods.Methods Using the WHO 2012 instrument with added ART questions, VA was conducted for deaths among adults with known HIV status (356 HIV positive and 103 HIV negative) in South Africa. CoD were assigned using physiciancertified VA (PCVA) and computer-coded VA (CCVA) methods and compared with documented HIV statusResults The sensitivity of VA questions in detecting HIV status and ART initiation was 84.3% (95% CI 80 to 88) and 91.0% (95% CI 86 to 95); 283/356 (79.5%) HIV-positive individuals were assigned HIV-associated CoD by PCVA, 166 (46.6%) by InterVA-4.03, 201 (56.5%) by InterVA-5, and 80 (22.5%) and 289 (81.2%) by SmartVA-Analyze V.1.1.1 and V.1.2.1. Agreement between PCVA and older CCVA methods was poor (chance-corrected concordance [CCC] <0; cause-specific mortality fraction [CSMF] accuracy ≤56%) but better between PCVA and updated methods (CCC 0.21–0.75; CSMF accuracy 65%–98%). All methods were specific (specificity 87% to 96%) in assigning HIV-associated CoD.Conclusion All CCVA interpretation methods underestimated the HIV-associated mortality fraction compared with PCVA; InterVA-5 and SmartVA-Analyze V.1.2.1 performed better than earlier versions. Changes to VA methods and classification systems are needed to track progress towards targets for reducing HIV-associated mortality,This study was funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1083118).http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2018-0008333pubpub

The Metabochip, a Custom Genotyping Array for Genetic Studies of Metabolic, Cardiovascular, and Anthropometric Traits

PMCID: PMC3410907This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Dry Climate Disconnected the Laurentian Great Lakes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94725/1/eost16649.pd

Comparing motor-vehicle crash risk of EU and US vehicles

Objective: This study examined the hypotheses that passenger vehicles meeting European Union (EU) safety standards have similar crashworthiness to United States (US) -regulated vehicles in the US driving environment, and vice versa. Methods: The first step involved identifying appropriate databases of US and EU crashes that include in-depth crash information, such as estimation of crash severity using Delta-V and injury outcome based on medical records. The next step was to harmonize variable definitions and sampling criteria so that the EU data could be combined and compared to the US data using the same or equivalent parameters. Logistic regression models of the risk of a Maximum injury according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale of 3 or greater, or fatality (MAIS3+F) in EU-regulated and US-regulated vehicles were constructed. The injury risk predictions of the EU model and the US model were each applied to both the US and EU standard crash populations. Frontal, near-side, and far-side crashes were analyzed together (termed “front/side crashes”) and a separate model was developed for rollover crashes. Results: For the front/side model applied to the US standard population, the mean estimated risk for the US-vehicle model is 0.035 (sd = 0.012), and the mean estimated risk for the EU-vehicle model is 0.023 (sd = 0.016). When applied to the EU front/side population, the US model predicted a 0.065 risk (sd = 0.027), and the EU model predicted a 0.052 risk (sd = 0.025). For the rollover model applied to the US standard population, the US model predicted a risk of 0.071 (sd = 0.024), and the EU model predicted 0.128 risk (sd = 0.057). When applied to the EU rollover standard population, the US model predicted a 0.067 risk (sd = 0.024), and the EU model predicted 0.103 risk (sd = 0.040). Conclusions: The results based on these methods indicate that EU vehicles most likely have a lower risk of MAIS3+F injury in front/side impacts, while US vehicles most likely have a lower risk of MAIS3+F injury in llroovers. These results should be interpreted with an understanding of the uncertainty of the estimates, the study limitations, and our recommendations for further study detailed in the report

Characterization of the Poly-T Variant in the TOMM40 Gene in Diverse Populations

We previously discovered that a polymorphic, deoxythymidine-homopolymer (poly-T, rs10524523) in intron 6 of the TOMM40 gene is associated with age-of-onset of Alzheimer's disease and with cognitive performance in elderly. Three allele groups were defined for rs10524523, hereafter ‘523’, based on the number of ‘T’-residues: ‘Short’ (S, T≤19), ‘Long’ (L, 20≤T≤29) and ‘Very Long’ (VL, T≥30). Homopolymers, particularly long homopolymers like ‘523’, are difficult to genotype because ‘slippage’ occurs during PCR-amplification. We initially genotyped this locus by PCR-amplification followed by Sanger-sequencing. However, we recognized the need to develop a higher-throughput genotyping method that is also accurate and reliable. Here we describe a new ‘523’ genotyping assay that is simple and inexpensive to perform in a standard molecular genetics laboratory. The assay is based on the detection of differences in PCR-fragment length using capillary electrophoresis. We discuss technical problems, solutions, and the steps taken for validation. We employed the novel assay to investigate the ‘523’ allele frequencies in different ethnicities. Whites and Hispanics have similar frequencies of S/L/VL alleles (0.45/0.11/0.44 and 0.43/0.09/0.48, respectively). In African-Americans, the frequency of the L-allele (0.10) is similar to Whites and Hispanics; however, the S-allele is more prevalent (0.65) and the VL-allele is concomitantly less frequent (0.25). The allele frequencies determined using the new methodology are compared to previous reports for Ghanaian, Japanese, Korean and Han Chinese cohorts. Finally, we studied the linkage pattern between TOMM40-‘523’ and APOE alleles. In Whites and Hispanics, consistent with previous reports, the L is primarily linked to ε4, while the majority of the VL and S are linked to ε3. Interestingly, in African-Americans, Ghanaians and Japanese, there is an increased frequency of the ‘523’S-APOEε4 haplotype. These data may be used as references for ‘523’ allele and ‘523’-APOE haplotype frequencies in diverse populations for the design of research studies and clinical trials

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes