Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Colombians: A Scan of Needs of Recent Latin American Immigrants to the Boston Area

The 2000 U.S. Census brought confirmation of the increase of the Latino population and of the growing diversity of Latino national groups that now make this region their home. Latinos now number 428,729, a 55% increase over their numbers in 1990. In 30 years, the Latino population has increased six-fold, and from its initial concentrations in Springfield, Holyoke, and Boston its presence is now a fact across the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Latinos are also showing increasing diversity, matching that of the Northeast region and exceeding that of the nation. At the national level, Mexicans have a dominance that dwarfs all other groups: 59% of all Latinos in the US counted by the Census are Mexican. Puerto Ricans and Cubans, the next two largest groups, are many numerical steps behind. In the Northeast region, Puerto Ricans dominate but not in such an overwhelming way. They account for 40% of the region’s Latinos; there is also a salient representation of Dominicans, Salvadorans, and Colombians. In Massachusetts, Puerto Ricans compose the largest group, accounting for 46% of the Latino population, followed by Dominicans, Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Colombians. The diversity of the Latino population in Massachusetts began to be visible during the 1980’s and took frank hold in the 1990’s. Puerto Ricans arrived in the region in large numbers after World War II and settled in Springfield, Boston, Holyoke, and Lawrence. Until 2000, Puerto Ricans made up the majority of the Latino population of the state. In fact, they continue to exhibit a healthy rate of growth: 36.4% in the last 10 years. But in this period, groups of other Latin American origin have experienced even greater growth. Dominicans, Mexicans, and Central and South Americans have experienced rates of growth in the range of 60 to 70% in the last 10 years. Dominicans are the second largest group in the region, accounting for 11.6% of the Latino population. The growth of the Mexican population has also been significant, making this group the third largest in the region today

Obesity Management: Clinical Review and Update of the Pharmacologic Treatment Options

The toolbox of medications available for medical weight management is more robust than ever and includes a wide variety of mechanisms of actions and options for patients

SGLT2 Inhibitors for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Treatment

SGLT2 inhibitors are plausible second-line drugs that provide powerful additional A1c-lowering effects while inducing weight loss without hypoglycemia

Practices and Pedagogies: A Qualitative Study of LGBTQ+ Representation in Physical Therapy

Introduction U.S. LGBTQ+ community represents 4.5% of the total population.1 MN LGBTQ+ community represents ~4% of total population.2 Unclear what percentage of LGBTQ+ are represented in PT/PTA professions. APTA/MNPTA are attempting efforts to improve diversity in PT/PTA professions.3 Objective Aim to understand the successes, barriers, and shared experiences of under-represented who established careers as PTs or PTAs. Methods Subjects PT/PTA clinicians and students from the LGBTQ+ community Four Focus Groups Recruitment through flyers and PT/PTA programs in MN Virtual 90-minute focus groups 2-4 participants with 2 PIs and 2 trained students Data Analysis Audio recorded, transcribed and de-identified using Temi.com Coding and analysis using NVIVO12 Major Themes Major Theme 1: Belonging A sense of being approved of and accepted by society in general.4 Major Theme 2: Insufficiencies Something that is insufficient or falls short of expectations.4 Major Theme 3: Microaggressions Actions that often unconsciously expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a marginalized group.4 Major Theme 4: Potential Solutions Something that is used or done to deal with and end a problem.4 Conclusion Lacking feeling of belonging/support Invisible minority “Insufficiencies” All types of diversity “Solutions” Clinical Relevance Need to address microaggressions in the class/clinic Promoting LGBTQ+ acceptance and visibility in PT/PTA education Improve representation and understanding in the clinic to increase comfort and safety of LGBTQ+ clinicians, students and patients Use of preferred pronouns Multiple options for gender and sexual identity in forms Education for clinicians regarding LGBTQ+ issues Welcoming pamphlets and signag

Vitamin D Levels are Associated with Liver Disease Severity in Patients with Cirrhosis

Vitamin D deficiency is common in advanced liver disease but its clinical significance remains controversial. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation of 25-hydryoxyvitamin D levels with liver disease severity and calcium levels in adults with cirrhosis. This cross-sectional study included 180 adults with cirrhosis enrolled in a clinical cohort study at a single university hospital. The mean age was 58.8 (±9.2) years, and cirrhosis was attributed to alcohol use in 27.2%, hepatitis C in 35.0%, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in 27.2%, and both alcohol and hepatitis C in 10.6%. The median model for end-stage liver disease-sodium (MELD-Na) score was 12.0 (interquartile range 9.0–16.0), and mean serum albumin levels were 3.4 (±0.7) gm/dl. Median serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were 28.0 (interquartile range 20–38) ng/mL, with 16 patients (8.9%) having levels <12 ng/ml and 43 (23.9%) with 25(OH)D levels <20 ng/ml. No correlation was noted between levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and albumin-corrected calcium in the total group and in groups stratified by vitamin D supplementation. In contrast, both serum albumin (r = 0.32; P < 0.001) and MELD-Na scores were significantly correlated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (r = –0.29; P < 0.001). Correlations between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and serum albumin (r = −0.39; P < 0.001) and MELD-Na scores did not change substantially after excluding 67 patients receiving vitamin D supplementation (r = −0.33; P = 0.009). In conclusion, total 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels correlate inversely with liver disease severity in adults with cirrhosis

Models of natural pest control : Towards predictions across agricultural landscapes

Natural control of invertebrate crop pests has the potential to complement or replace conventional insecticide based practices, but its mainstream application is hampered by predictive unreliability across agroecosystems. Inconsistent responses of natural pest control to changes in landscape characteristics have been attributed to ecological complexity and system-specific conditions. Here, we review agroecological models and their potential to provide predictions of natural pest control across agricultural landscapes. Existing models have used a multitude of techniques to represent specific crop-pest-enemy systems at various spatiotemporal scales, but less wealthy regions of the world are underrepresented. A realistic representation of natural pest control across systems appears to be hindered by a practical trade-off between generality and realism. Nonetheless, observations of context-sensitive, trait-mediated responses of natural pest control to land-use gradients indicate the potential of ecological models that explicitly represent the underlying mechanisms. We conclude that modelling natural pest control across agroecosystems should exploit existing mechanistic techniques towards a framework of contextually bound generalizations. Observed similarities in causal relationships can inform the functional grouping of diverse agroecosystems worldwide and the development of the respective models based on general, but context-sensitive, ecological mechanisms. The combined use of qualitative and quantitative techniques should allow the flexible integration of empirical evidence and ecological theory for robust predictions of natural pest control across a wide range of agroecological contexts and levels of knowledge availability. We highlight challenges and promising directions towards developing such a general modelling framework.Peer reviewe

Doctoral Recital

List of performers and performances

Effects of Smoking and Cessation on Subclinical Arterial Disease: A Substudy of a Randomized Controlled Trial

The mechanisms by which smoking cessation reduces cardiovascular disease risk are unclear. We evaluated longitudinal changes in carotid intima-media thickness among current smokers enrolled in a prospective, randomized smoking cessation clinical trial.Subjects were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 5 smoking cessation pharmacotherapies and underwent carotid ultrasonography with carotid intima-media thickness measurement. Subjects were classified as continuously abstinent (biochemically confirmed abstinence at 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years post-quit attempt), intermittently abstinent (reported smoking at one of the three time points), or smoked continuously (reported smoking at all three time points). The primary endpoint was the absolute change (mm) in carotid intima-media thickness (ΔCIMT(max)) before randomization and 3 years after the target quit date. Pearson correlations were calculated and multivariable regression models (controlling for baseline CIMT(max) and research site) were analyzed. Among 795 subjects (45.2 ± 10.6 years old, 58.5% female), 189 (23.8%) were continuously abstinent, 373 (46.9%) smoked continuously, and 233 (29.3%) were abstinent intermittently. There was a greater increase in carotid intima-media thickness among subjects who were continuously abstinent than among those who smoked continuously (p = 0.020), but not intermittently (p = 0.310). Antihypertensive medication use (p = 0.001) and research site (p<0.001) independently predicted ΔCIMTmax--not smoking status. The greatest increase in carotid intima-media thickness among continuous abstainers was related to increases in body-mass index (p = 0.043).Smoking status did not independently predict ΔCIMT(max); increasing body-mass index and antihypertensive medication use were the most important independent predictors. The rapid reduction in cardiovascular disease events observed with smoking cessation is unlikely to be mediated by changes in subclinical atherosclerosis burden.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00332644

Crop Pests and Predators Exhibit Inconsistent Responses to Surrounding Landscape Composition

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies