The Lunchbox: A Program of Community CORE

Community CORE, a nonprofit organization out of Soldier, Kansas, works to mitigate childhood hunger in the community through “The Lunchbox,” a summer food program for students on free-and reduced-lunch

Spatial variability in levels of benzene, formaldehyde, and total benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes in New York City: a land-use regression study

Background Hazardous air pollutant exposures are common in urban areas contributing to increased risk of cancer and other adverse health outcomes. While recent analyses indicate that New York City residents experience significantly higher cancer risks attributable to hazardous air pollutant exposures than the United States as a whole, limited data exist to assess intra-urban variability in air toxics exposures. Methods To assess intra-urban spatial variability in exposures to common hazardous air pollutants, street-level air sampling for volatile organic compounds and aldehydes was conducted at 70 sites throughout New York City during the spring of 2011. Land-use regression models were developed using a subset of 59 sites and validated against the remaining 11 sites to describe the relationship between concentrations of benzene, total BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) and formaldehyde to indicators of local sources, adjusting for temporal variation. Results Total BTEX levels exhibited the most spatial variability, followed by benzene and formaldehyde (coefficient of variation of temporally adjusted measurements of 0.57, 0.35, 0.22, respectively). Total roadway length within 100 m, traffic signal density within 400 m of monitoring sites, and an indicator of temporal variation explained 65% of the total variability in benzene while 70% of the total variability in BTEX was accounted for by traffic signal density within 450 m, density of permitted solvent-use industries within 500 m, and an indicator of temporal variation. Measures of temporal variation, traffic signal density within 400 m, road length within 100 m, and interior building area within 100 m (indicator of heating fuel combustion) predicted 83% of the total variability of formaldehyde. The models built with the modeling subset were found to predict concentrations well, predicting 62% to 68% of monitored values at validation sites. Conclusions Traffic and point source emissions cause substantial variation in street-level exposures to common toxic volatile organic compounds in New York City. Land-use regression models were successfully developed for benzene, formaldehyde, and total BTEX using spatial indicators of on-road vehicle emissions and emissions from stationary sources. These estimates will improve the understanding of health effects of individual pollutants in complex urban pollutant mixtures and inform local air quality improvement efforts that reduce disparities in exposure

Fine Particulate Matter Constituents Associated with Cardiovascular Hospitalizations and Mortality in New York City

Bac k g r o u n d: Recent time-series studies have indicated that both cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and hospitalizations are associated with particulate matter (PM). However, seasonal patterns of PM associations with these outcomes are not consistent, and PM components responsible for these associations have not been determined. We investigated this issue in New York City (NYC), where PM originates from regional and local combustion sources. Obj e c t i v e: In this study, we examined the role of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5) and its key chemical components on both CVD hospitalizations and on mortality in NYC. Met h o d s: We analyzed daily deaths and emergency hospitalizations for CVDs among persons ≥ 40 years of age for associations with PM2.5, its chemical components, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide for the years 2000–2006 using a Poisson time-series model adjusting for temporal and seasonal trends, temperature effects, and day of the week. We estimated excess risks per interquartile-range increases at lags 0 through 3 days for warm (April through September) and cold (October through March) seasons. Re s u l t s: The CVD mortality series exhibit strong seasonal trends, whereas the CVD hospitalization series show a strong day-of-week pattern. These outcome series were not correlated with each othe

Public Housing Relocations and Relationships of Changes in Neighborhood Disadvantage and Transportation Access to Unmet Need for Medical Care

Cross-sectional research suggests that neighborhood characteristics and transportation access shape unmet need for medical care. This longitudinal analysis explores relationships of changes in neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and transportation access to unmet need for medical care

Public Housing Relocations and Partnership Dynamics in Areas With High Prevalences of Sexually Transmitted Infections

We investigated the implications of one structural intervention—public housing relocations—for partnership dynamics among individuals living areas with high sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence. High-prevalence areas fuel STI endemicity and are perpetuated by spatially assortative partnerships

A Hybrid Approach to Estimating National Scale Spatiotemporal Variability of PM 2.5 in the Contiguous United States

Airborne fine particulate matter exhibits spatiotemporal variability at multiple scales, which presents challenges to estimating exposures for health effects assessment. Here we created an model to predict ambient particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) across the contiguous United States to be applied to health effects modeling. We developed a hybrid approach combining a land use regression model (LUR) selected with a machine learning method, and Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) interpolation of the LUR space-time residuals. The PM2.5 dataset included 104,172 monthly observations at 1,464 monitoring locations with approximately 10% of locations reserved for cross-validation. LUR models were based on remote sensing estimates of PM2.5, land use and traffic indicators. Normalized cross-validated R2 values for LUR were 0.63 and 0.11 with and without remote sensing, respectively, suggesting remote sensing is a strong predictor of ground-level concentrations. In the models including the BME interpolation of the residuals, cross-validated R2 were 0.79 for both configurations; the model without remotely sensed data described more fine-scale variation than the model including remote sensing. Our results suggest that our modeling framework can predict ground-level concentrations of PM2.5 at multiple scales over the contiguous U.S

Impact of Public Housing Relocations: Are Changes in Neighborhood Conditions Related to STIs Among Relocaters?

Cross-sectional and ecologic studies suggest that place characteristics influence sexual behaviors and sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). Using data from a predominately substance-misusing cohort of African-American adults relocating from US public housing complexes, this multilevel longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that participants who experienced greater post-relocation improvements in neighborhood conditions (i.e., socioeconomic disadvantage, social disorder, STI prevalence, male:female sex ratios) would have reduced odds of testing positive for an STI over time

Changes in Exposure to Neighborhood Characteristics are Associated with Sexual Network Characteristics in a Cohort of Adults Relocating from Public Housing

Ecologic and cross-sectional multilevel analyses suggest that characteristics of the places where people live influence their vulnerability to HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). Using data from a predominately substance-misusing cohort of African-American adults relocating from US public housing complexes, this multilevel longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that participants who experienced greater post-relocation improvements in economic disadvantage, violent crime, and male:female sex ratios would experience greater reductions in perceived partner risk and in the odds of having a partner who had another partner (i.e., indirect concurrency). Baseline data were collected from 172 public housing residents before relocations occurred; three waves of post-relocation data were collected every nine months. Participants who experienced greater improvements in community violence and in economic conditions experienced greater reductions in partner risk. Reduced community violence was associated with reduced indirect concurrency. Structural interventions that decrease exposure to violence and economic disadvantage may reduce vulnerability to HIV/STIs