Community Profiles: An Evaluation and Planning Tool for Neighborhood Systems and Environmental Change Efforts

Purpose: Latinos in the US experience health disparities in obesity and related disease outcomes. There is national recognition that modifiable risk factors are influenced by the places that people work, live and play. Latinos are more likely to live in areas with limited access to affordable healthy food and recreational facilities. Design: This paper describes the development and use of neighborhood profiles as a tool for (1) assessing neighborhood built environments and (2) planning for neighborhood-based efforts focused on systems and environmental change. Our neighborhood profiles united four diverse data sources: secondary data, observational assessments, neighborhood connector interviews and resident surveys. Subjects: Twelve mostly urban, largely Latino neighborhoods of high economic disparity in Pima County, Arizona were included. Analysis: Secondary data was analyzed to describe sociodemographic characteristics of neighborhoods, while observational assessments were used to quantify and qualify aspects of the built environment. Neighborhood surveys and connector interviews were analyzed using frequency distributions and content analysis. Results: Neighborhoods varied in healthy food availability and physical activity infrastructure. Overall, residents indicated that community gardens and healthy food options in local stores are priorities. Conclusion: Neighborhood profiles demonstrated potential as an evaluation and community-planning tool to assist communities to create healthy environments

Distribution of cardiovascular health by individual- and neighborhood-level socioeconomic status: Findings from the Jackson Heart Study

BACKGROUND: Data demonstrate a positive relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and cardiovascular health (CVH). OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between individual- and neighborhood-level SES and CVH among participants of the JHS (Jackson Heart Study), a community-based cohort of African Americans in Jackson, Mississippi. METHODS: We included all JHS participants with complete SES and CVH information at the baseline study visit (n = 3,667). We characterized individual- and neighborhood-level SES according to income (primary analysis) and education (secondary analysis), respectively. The outcome of interest for these analyses was a CVH score, based on 7 modifiable behaviors and factors, summed to a total of 0 (worst) to 14 (best) points. We utilized generalized estimating equations to account for the clustering of participants within the same residential areas to estimate the linear association between SES and CVH. RESULTS: The median age of the participants was 55 years, and 64% were women. Nearly one-third of eligible participants had individual incomes \u3c$20,000 and close to 40$25,480). Adjusted for age, sex, and neighborhood SES, there was an average increase in CVH score of 0.31 points associated with each 1-category increase in individual income. Similarly, each 1-category increase in neighborhood SES was associated with a 0.19-point increase in CVH score. These patterns held for our secondary analyses, which used educational attainment in place of income. These data did not suggest a synergistic effect of individual- and neighborhood-level SES on CVH. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest a potential causal pathway for disparities in CVH among vulnerable populations. These data can be useful to the JHS community to empower public health and clinical interventions and policies for the improvement of CVH

Exploring young people's and youth workers' experiences of spaces for ‘youth development’: creating cultures of participation

The paper focuses on the emergence of ‘positive youth development’ and its impact on older, more established practices of working with young people, such as youth work. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in England between 2004 and 2006, in particular young people's and youth workers' accounts of participating in youth work, the analysis engages with the social spaces in which youth work takes place and asks key questions about why young people might participate in youth spaces, what they get out of participating and how such spaces can promote cultures of participation. The analysis shows that such spaces provide young people and their communities with biographical continuity and time becomes a key component for sustaining such spaces. The argument is made for a more nuanced understanding of what young people get out of their participation in youth spaces, and for an epistemological approach to youth praxis that embraces the messiness and inequalities of lived experience

Small-angle scattering interferometry with neutron orbital angular momentum states

Access to the neutron orbital degree of freedom has been enabled by the recent actualization of methods to prepare and characterize neutron helical waves carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) at small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) facilities. This provides new avenues of exploration in fundamental science experiments as well as in material characterization applications. However, it remains a challenge to recover phase profiles from SANS measurements. We introduce and demonstrate a novel neutron interferometry technique for extracting phase information that is typically lost in SANS measurements. An array of reference beams, with complementary structured phase profiles, are put into a coherent superposition with the array of object beams, thereby manifesting the phase information in the far-field intensity profile. We demonstrate this by resolving petal-structure signatures of helical wave interference for the first time: an implementation of the long-sought recovery of phase information from small-angle scattering measurements

Barium and Carbon fluxes in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Seasonal and spatial variability of dissolved Barium (Ba) in Amundsen Gulf, southeastern Beaufort Sea, was monitored over a full year from September 2007 to September 2008. Dissolved Ba displays a nutrient-type behavior: the maximum water column concentration is located below the surface layer. Highest Ba concentrations are typically observed at river mouths, the lowest concentrations are found in water masses of Atlantic origin. Barium concentrations decrease eastward through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Barite (BaSO4) saturation is reached at the maximum concentrations of dissolved Ba in the subsurface layer, whereas the remaining water column is undersaturated. A three end-member mixing model comprising freshwater from sea-ice melt and rivers, as well as upper halocline water, was used to establish their relative contributions to the Ba concentrations in the upper water column of the Amundsen Gulf. Based on water column and riverine Ba contributions, we assess the depletion of dissolved Ba by formation and concomitant sinking of biologically bound Ba (bio-Ba), from which we derive an estimate of the carbon export production. In the upper 50 m of the water column of Amundsen Gulf, riverine Ba accounts for up to 15% of the available dissolved Ba inventory, of which up to 20% is depleted by bio-Ba formation and export. Since riverine inputs and Ba export occur concurrently, the seasonal variability of dissolved Ba in the upper water column is moderate. Assuming a fixed organic carbon to bio-Ba flux ratio, carbon export out of the surface layer is estimated at 1.8{plus minus}0.45 mol C m‑2 yr‑1. We propose a climatological carbon budget for the Amundsen Gulf

Examining whether and how instructional coordination occurs within introductory undergraduate STEM courses

Instructors’ interactions can foster knowledge sharing around teaching and the use of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS). Coordinated teaching presents an impetus for instructors’ interactions and creates opportunities for instructional improvement but also potentially limits an instructor’s autonomy. In this study, we sought to characterize the extent of coordination present in introductory undergraduate courses and to understand how departments and instructors implement and experience course coordination. We examined survey data from 3,641 chemistry, mathematics, and physics instructors at three institution types and conducted follow-up interviews with a subset of 24 survey respondents to determine what types of coordination existed, what factors led to coordination, how coordination constrained instruction, and how instructors maintained autonomy within coordinated contexts. We classified three approaches to coordination at both the overall course and course component levels: independent (i.e., not coordinated), collaborative (decision-making by instructor and others), controlled (decision-making by others, not instructor). Two course components, content coverage and textbooks, were highly coordinated. These curricular components were often decided through formal or informal committees, but these decisions were seldom revisited. This limited the ability for instructors to participate in the decision-making process, the level of interactions between instructors, and the pedagogical growth that could have occurred through these conversations. Decision-making around the other two course components, instructional methods and exams, was more likely to be independently determined by the instructors, who valued this autonomy. Participants in the study identified various ways in which collaborative coordination of courses can promote but also inhibit pedagogical growth. Our findings indicate that the benefits of collaborative course coordination can be realized when departments develop coordinated approaches that value each instructor’s autonomy, incorporate shared and ongoing decision-making, and facilitate collaborative interactions and knowledge sharing among instructors

Caesarean section in four South East Asian countries: reasons for, rates, associated care practices and health outcomes

Background: Caesarean section is a commonly performed operation on women that is globally increasing in prevalence each year. There is a large variation in the rates of caesarean, both in high and low income countries, as well as between different institutions within these countries. This audit aimed to report rates and reasons for caesarean and associated clinical care practices amongst nine hospitals in the four South East Asian countries participating in the South East Asia-Optimising Reproductive and Child Health in Developing countries (SEA-ORCHID) project. Methods: Data on caesarean rates, care practices and health outcomes were collected from the medical records of the 9550 women and their 9665 infants admitted to the nine participating hospitals across South East Asia between January and December 2005. Results: Overall 27% of women had a caesarean section, with rates varying from 19% to 35% between countries and 12% to 39% between hospitals within countries. The most common indications for caesarean were previous caesarean (7.0%), cephalopelvic disproportion (6.3%), malpresentation (4.7%) and fetal distress (3.3%). Neonatal resuscitation rates ranged from 7% to 60% between countries. Prophylactic antibiotics were almost universally given but variations in timing occurred between countries and between hospitals within countries. Conclusion: Rates and reasons for caesarean section and associated clinical care practices and health outcomes varied widely between the four South East Asian countries.Mario R Festin, Malinee Laopaiboon, Porjai Pattanittum, Melissa R Ewens, David J Henderson-Smart and Caroline A Crowther for The SEA-ORCHID Study Grou

Association of Prediagnosis Obesity and Postdiagnosis Aspirin With Survival From Stage IV Colorectal Cancer

IMPORTANCE: The potential relationship between obesity and colorectal cancer (CRC) outcome is poorly understood in patients with late-stage disease. Increased body mass index may negate aspirin use for cancer prevention, but its role as a factor on the effectiveness of postdiagnosis aspirin use is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how prediagnosis obesity and postdiagnosis aspirin use may be associated with overall survival in patients with late-stage colorectal cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study used self-reported data from patients with metastatic or treatment-refractory disease who consented to a clinical protocol at MD Anderson Cancer Center, a large US cancer treatment center. Patients were enrolled between 2010 and 2018 and followed up for mortality through July 2020. Analyses were conducted through March 2022. EXPOSURES: Body mass index in the decade prior to initial diagnosis and regular aspirin use at survey completion. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Overall survival was measured from stage IV diagnosis until death or last follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models were constructed to estimate associations of prediagnosis obesity and postdiagnosis aspirin use with overall survival. RESULTS: Of 656 patients included in this analysis, 280 (42.7%) were women, 135 (20.6%) were diagnosed with CRC before age 45 years, 414 (63.1%) were diagnosed between ages 45 and 65 years, and 107 (16.3%) were diagnosed at 65 years or older; 105 patients (16.0%) were Black or Hispanic, and 501 (76.4%) were non-Hispanic White. Controlling for age, sex, race, stage at initial diagnosis, and weight change between prediagnosis and survey date, patients with obesity in the decade prior to CRC diagnosis had significantly higher likelihood of death (hazard ratio, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.11-1.91) compared with those with normal prediagnosis body mass index. Furthermore, only patients with normal prediagnosis body mass index experienced significant survival benefit with postdiagnosis aspirin use (hazard ratio, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.39-0.90). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cross-sectional study, our findings suggest potentially differential tumor development in the long-term physiologic host environment of obesity. Confirmation and further evaluation are needed to determine whether prediagnosis body mass index may be used to estimate the benefit from postdiagnosis aspirin use