Growing Up Gay and Latino

This dissertation examines the experiences of LGBT students attending high school in a predominantly Latino area to determine if their experiences are different in a Latino-inflected environment than those of students in a predominantly Anglo environment. Although the experiences of LGBT students are well documented in academic journals and popular press, this dissertation insinuates that those experiences are inflected by the Anglo setting in which students attend school. This study investigates the experiences using a multiple choice and open-ended survey and a personal interview with the investigator. Certain experiences appear to be common among LGBT students who attend Anglo-inflected high schools whether those students are Latino Black, Pacific Islander. The unique character of this school allows the investigator to make certain claims about culture and its impact on individuals who attend there. This phenomenological study approaches students after they have graduated from high school to see what impact their high school experiences of bullying and inclusion have had on their success in high school and higher education. This work contributes to the literature by demonstrating that the cultural atmosphere of a school and community produce differing results for the LGBT students who spend their teenage years in that environment. This study also insinuates that students in a Latino environment tend to make more mature decisions about how to deal with their interactions among their peers. Whether their experiences are influenced by personal resilience or grit, expectations of the community, religious or social norms is for other researchers to determine. I believe that the strength of the Latino family contributes to grittiness of these young people. The character traits expected by the family and the culture may also contribute to their tenacity. But the results of this research indicate that fewer instances of threats and bullying occur and that those LGBT students find other means of deflecting the damage to their ability to complete their educations and continue into adulthood relatively unscathed

Development and psychometric testing of a multi-dimensional instrument of perceived discrimination among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study

Objective Assessing the discrimination-health disparities hypothesis requires psychometrically sound, multidimensional measures of discrimination. Among the available discrimination measures, few are multidimensional and none have adequate psychometric testing in a large, African American sample. We report the development and psychometric testing of the multidimensional Jackson Heart Study Discrimination (JHSDIS) Instrument. Methods A multidimensional measure assessing the occurrence, frequency, attribution, and coping responses to perceived everyday and lifetime discrimination; lifetime burden of discrimination; and effect of skin color was developed and tested in the 5302-member cohort of the Jackson Heart Study. Internal consistency was calculated by using Cronbach α. coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis established the dimensions, and intercorrelation coefficients assessed the discriminant validity of the instrument. Setting Tri-county area of the Jackson, MS metropolitan statistical area. Results The JHSDIS was psychometrically sound (overall α=.78, .84 and .77, respectively, for the everyday and lifetime subscales). Confirmatory factor analysis yielded 11 factors, which confirmed the a priori dimensions represented. Conclusions The JHSDIS combined three scales into a single multidimensional instrument with good psychometric properties in a large sample of African Americans. This analysis lays the foundation for using this instrument in research that will examine the association between perceived discrimination and CVD among African Americans. Keywords: Discrimination, Racism, Jackson Heart Study, African American, Cardiovascular Diseas

Development and psychometric testing of a multi-dimensional instrument of perceived discrimination among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study

Objective Assessing the discrimination-health disparities hypothesis requires psychometrically sound, multidimensional measures of discrimination. Among the available discrimination measures, few are multidimensional and none have adequate psychometric testing in a large, African American sample. We report the development and psychometric testing of the multidimensional Jackson Heart Study Discrimination (JHSDIS) Instrument. Methods A multidimensional measure assessing the occurrence, frequency, attribution, and coping responses to perceived everyday and lifetime discrimination; lifetime burden of discrimination; and effect of skin color was developed and tested in the 5302-member cohort of the Jackson Heart Study. Internal consistency was calculated by using Cronbach α. coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis established the dimensions, and intercorrelation coefficients assessed the discriminant validity of the instrument. Setting Tri-county area of the Jackson, MS metropolitan statistical area. Results The JHSDIS was psychometrically sound (overall α=.78, .84 and .77, respectively, for the everyday and lifetime subscales). Confirmatory factor analysis yielded 11 factors, which confirmed the a priori dimensions represented. Conclusions The JHSDIS combined three scales into a single multidimensional instrument with good psychometric properties in a large sample of African Americans. This analysis lays the foundation for using this instrument in research that will examine the association between perceived discrimination and CVD among African Americans. Keywords: Discrimination, Racism, Jackson Heart Study, African American, Cardiovascular Diseas

Aspirational metrics: a guide for working towards citational justice

Is it possible to have a just politics of citation? Reflecting on their work to create a guide to fairer citation practices in academic writing, Aurélie Carlier, Hang Nguyen, Lidwien Hollanders, Nicole Basaraba, Sally Wyatt and Sharon Anyango* highlight challenges to changing citation practices and point to ways in which authors and readers can work towards equitable citations

Bile Acid-Mediated Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor 2 Signaling Promotes Neuroinflammation during Hepatic Encephalopathy in Mice

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a neuropsychiatric complication that occurs due to deteriorating hepatic function and this syndrome influences patient quality of life, clinical management strategies and survival. During acute liver failure, circulating bile acids increase due to a disruption of the enterohepatic circulation. We previously identified that bile acid-mediated signaling occurs in the brain during HE and contributes to cognitive impairment. However, the influences of bile acids and their downstream signaling pathways on HE-induced neuroinflammation have not been assessed. Conjugated bile acids, such as taurocholic acid (TCA), can activate sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2 (S1PR2), which has been shown to promote immune cell infiltration and inflammation in other models. The current study aimed to assess the role of bile-acid mediated S1PR2 signaling in neuroinflammation and disease progression during azoxymethane (AOM)-induced HE in mice. Our findings demonstrate a temporal increase of bile acids in the cortex during AOM-induced HE and identified that cortical bile acids were elevated as an early event in this model. In order to classify the specific bile acids that were elevated during HE, a metabolic screen was performed and this assay identified that TCA was increased in the serum and cortex during AOM-induced HE. To reduce bile acid concentrations in the brain, mice were fed a diet supplemented with cholestyramine, which alleviated neuroinflammation by reducing proinflammatory cytokine expression in the cortex compared to the control diet-fed AOM-treated mice. S1PR2 was expressed primarily in neurons and TCA treatment increased chemokine ligand 2 mRNA expression in these cells. The infusion of JTE-013, a S1PR2 antagonist, into the lateral ventricle prior to AOM injection protected against neurological decline and reduced neuroinflammation compared to DMSO-infused AOM-treated mice. Together, this identifies that reducing bile acid levels or S1PR2 signaling are potential therapeutic strategies for the management of HE

Employment Status, Coronary Heart Disease, and Stroke Among Women

To investigate the association of employment status with CHD and ischemic stroke among middle-aged women

The National Childrens Study: Recruitment Outcomes Using the Provider-Based Recruitment Approach

In 2009, the National Children’s Study (NCS) Vanguard Study tested the feasibility of household-based recruitment and participant enrollment using a birth-rate probability sample. In 2010, the NCS Program Office launched 3 additional recruitment approaches. We tested whether provider-based recruitment could improve recruitment outcomes compared with household-based recruitment

Thinking with care infrastructures: people, devices and the home in home blood pressure monitoring

The growing consumer market in health monitoring devices means that technologies that were once the preserve of the clinic are moving into spaces such as homes and workplaces. We consider how one such device, blood pressure monitors, comes to be integrated into everyday life. We pursue the concept of ‘care infrastructure’, drawing on recent scholarship in STS and medical sociology, to illuminate the work and range of people, things and spaces involved in selfmonitoring. Drawing on a UK study involving observations and interviews with 31 people who have used a consumer blood pressure monitor, we apply the concept beyond chronic illness, to practices involving consumer devices – and develop a critical account of its value. We conclude that the care infrastructure concept is useful to highlight the socio-material arrangements involved in selfmonitoring, showing that even for ostensibly personal devices, monitoring may be a shared practice that expresses care for self and for others. The concept also helps draw attention to links between different objects and spaces that are integral to the practice, beyond the device alone. Care infrastructure draws attention to the material, but ensures that analytic attention engages with both material and social elements of practice and their connections

Cumulative Socioeconomic Status across the Life Course and Subclinical Athersclerosis

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between individual-level and neighborhood-level socioeconomic status (SES) across the life course and subclinical atherosclerosis. Methods Participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (n = 12,332) were queried about individual-level SES and residential addresses across the life course. Individual-level measures were scored and summed to obtain a summary score (I-CumSES), whereas residential addresses were geocoded and linked to census data to obtain a summary neighborhood z score (N-CumSES) to evaluate the association of SES with intima-media thickness (IMT) and peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Results A 1-SD lower I-CumSES was associated with greater mean IMT in each race–sex group and greater odds of PAD in white men (odds ratio [OR], 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99–1.64), white women (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.02–1.36), and black women (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.00–1.76). Compared with the highest tertile of N-CumSES, the lowest tertile was associated with greater mean IMT among whites, but was not associated with PAD for whites or blacks. When I-CumSES and N-CumSES were considered simultaneously, associations remained for only I-CumSES and were attenuated after adjustment for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Conclusions Lower cumulative individual-level SES across the life course was associated with a greater burden of subclinical atherosclerosis, and this association was mediated in part by CVD risk factors.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57757/1/Cumulative Socioeconomic Status across the Life Course and Subclinical Atherosclerosis.pd