Family Relationships, Household Strategies, and Hypertension Related Factors in Southeast Asian Refugees in the United States

"This literature review examines existing studies on the Southeast Asian refugee community and their health outcomes, specifically focusing on hypertension risks linked to family relationships, nutrition, and involuntary migration experiences. The reviewed studies found that poor family relationships, change in diet, and experiences of transnational relocation contributed to poorer health. Other factors such as past trauma experience, on-going alienation, day-to-day stressors such as poverty, cultural assimilation, and language barriers caused chronic stress among this group. Chronic stress is linked to hypertension, a risk factor for stroke, cardiovascular disease, and death. Cortisol is a hormone released in the body during times of stress. This biological marker for stress can be analyzed through saliva, blood, urine, as well as hair samples. Hair samples show measurements of long-term exposure to cortisol. Prolonged high levels of cortisol is associated with hypertension. Health beliefs and concepts in Western medicine also play important roles in hypertension risk and behaviors. Yet, the literature review revealed few, if any, studies designed to capture and explain the complexity of these factors and their role in pathways associated with chronic disease prevalence among Southeast Asian refugee newcomer communities. Furthermore, the national-level data available fails to adequately represent intra-group diversity when reporting prevalence for the group. These issues have important implications for planning and implementing culturally tailored health education and awareness outreach to the Southeast Asian population, and for more research aimed at alleviating persistent health and hypertension ethnic disparities.

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Assessing and Improving the Knowledge of Sexually Transmitted Infections among High School Adolescents

Background. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), half of the 20 million new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) occur annually in youth aged 15 to 24. It is critical for dermatologists to be able to provide young patients with accessible education about how to identify, prevent, and treat these conditions. Our pilot study sought to assess the impact of a live presentation about STIs in high school students and to evaluate students’ baseline and acquired knowledge about common STIs using a before and after survey. Methods. This survey study was conducted as part of the health education curriculum at a suburban high school. An interactive scenario-based presentation about STIs was given to participants. Identical, deidentified preintervention and postintervention surveys were completed by subjects to assess their baseline and acquired knowledge of STIs. Each question was worth 1 point, for a total of 8 points. Results. 74 high school students were surveyed. Overall, there was a mean improvement of 1.85 points in the posttest score in comparison to pretest score with a standard deviation of 1.58 (p<0.0001). Among all participants, the mean pretest score was 1.07 (SD = 0.75) and the mean posttest score was 2.92 (SD = 1.59). Conclusions. This study demonstrated that many young adults are unaware of the common types of STIs, symptoms, and potential complications. While our scenario-based presentation was effective at providing understandable content to help improve students’ knowledge regarding STIs, additional educational resources in varied formats could likely further these gains

Skin cancer discovery during total body skin examinations

Background: Patients presenting with a site-specific skin complaint may receive a total body skin examination (TBSE) or a more focused examination. A TBSE may be time-consuming but can potentially detect unsuspected or early stage skin cancers. The purpose of this study was to assess the detection of skin cancers associated with dermatologist-initiated TBSE performed immediately after a focused skin examination on the same patients. Methods: The dermatology records of patients with biopsy-proven melanoma, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) during a 2-year period were reviewed. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the odds of a lesion being identified by a dermatologist (rather than the patient or the patient\u27s primary health care provider). Results: A total 1563 biopsy-proven cutaneous malignancies were found on 1010 patients. Of these, 797 cancers (51%) were first identified by a dermatologist on TBSE and 764 (48.9%) by the patient or the referring provider. Among tumors first identified by dermatologists (n = 797), 553 (69%) were BCCs, 220 (28%) were SCCs, and 24 (3%) were melanomas. The mean Breslow depth was 0.53 mm (standard deviation: 0.31 mm) for melanomas found on TBSE versus 1.04 mm (standard deviation: 1.68 mm) if identified by patients or referring providers. BCCs were more likely to be identified by a dermatologist during a TBSE (n = 553 [56%] vs. n = 434 [44%]; odds ratio: 1.79; p \u3c .001). Tumors ultimately diagnosed as SCCs were more often identified by patients or patients\u27 primary care providers (n = 302 [58%]; odds ratio: 0.56; p \u3c .001). However, 220 otherwise undetected SCCs were found during dermatologist-performed TBSE. Conclusion: Dermatologist-performed TBSEs identified numerous cutaneous malignancies that might otherwise have remained undiagnosed. Early detection of melanoma or nonmelanoma skin cancer by TBSEs may spare patients significant morbidity and mortality

Surgical training tools for dermatology trainees: porcine vs. synthetic skin for excision and repair

Since dermatologists routinely perform surgery in an outpatient setting, ensuring that dermatology trainees are provided with opportunities to develop sufficient proficiency in excisional surgery and suture technique is paramount. The objectives of this study are to assess trainee preference for silicone-based synthetic skin compared with porcine skin as a surgical training medium and to assess the ability of trainees to successfully demonstrate basic surgical skills using the simulated skin model. Participants were a convenience sample of dermatology residents from the greater Chicago area, who were asked to perform an elliptical excision and bilayered repair on a silicone-based synthetic skin model. Residents were then surveyed regarding their satisfaction with the model. Four blinded dermatologist raters evaluated digital photographs obtained during the performance of the procedures and graded the execution of each maneuver using a surgical task checklist. Nineteen residents were enrolled. Residents were more likely to prefer pig skin to simulated skin for overall use (p = 0.040) and tissue repair (p = 0.018), but the nominal preference for tissue handling was nonsignificant (p = 0.086). There was no significant difference between satisfaction with pig skin versus synthetic skin with regard to excision experience (p = 0.82). The majority of residents (10/19) performed all surgical checklist tasks correctly. Of those residents who did not perform all steps correctly, many had difficulty obtaining adequate dermal eversion and wound approximation. Synthetic skin may be conveniently and safely utilized for hands-on surgical practice. Further refinement may be necessary to make synthetic skin comparable in feel and use to animal skin

Marine microfossil compilation up to 2021

This dataset includes a global compilation of new and published 14C measurements of benthic foraminifera and deep-sea corals (from 0-to 49872 years BP). We synthesized this new dataset into basin-average 14C ventilation age values over the 25,000 years, along density surfaces associated with the upper and lower cells of global ocean overturning circulation (27.5 and 28 kg m^-3, respectively). The published datasets are from all ocean basins, even those not utilized in our synthesis. We also provide the basin-average estimates for the Atlantic, Southern, and Pacific Oceans as produced by the Rafter et al. 2022 study

Cardiovascular Efficacy and Safety of Bococizumab in High-Risk Patients

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