The promise of community-based participatory research for health equity: a conceptual model for bridging evidence with policy.

Insufficient attention has been paid to how research can be leveraged to promote health policy or how locality-based research strategies, in particular community-based participatory research (CBPR), influences health policy to eliminate racial and ethnic health inequities. To address this gap, we highlighted the efforts of 2 CBPR partnerships in California to explore how these initiatives made substantial contributions to policymaking for health equity. We presented a new conceptual model and 2 case studies to illustrate the connections among CBPR contexts and processes, policymaking processes and strategies, and outcomes. We extended the critical role of civic engagement by those communities that were most burdened by health inequities by focusing on their political participation as research brokers in bridging evidence and policymaking

COMBINATION EPIGENETIC THERAPY CAN SENSITIZE OVARIAN CANCER TO IMMUNE CHECKPOINT THERAPY

While immune checkpoint blockade is approved for other solid tumors, such as non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, and bladder cancer, it has not yet been successfully used in ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological malignancies in the United States, and new therapies are needed. To study the relationship between the tumor, immune system, and immunotherapy, it is necessary to use an immunocompetent model of ovarian cancer. Therefore, we characterized four related syngeneic epithelial ovarian cell lines, MOSEC, Roby-ID8-luc2, Roby-ID8-nonluc, and ID8-VEGF-defensin, that can form tumors in C57Bl/6 mice and optimized the methods of measuring tumor burden in order to determine drug efficacy. Using the ID8-VEGF-defensin cell line, which grew the most quickly in mice, we have shown that combination epigenetic therapy improves tumor response to immune checkpoint blockade, including decreasing tumor burden and extending the survival of the mice. One epigenetic drug used, the demethylating agent 5-azacytidine (AZA), triggers immune gene upregulation, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest in the tumor cells. AZA pre-treatment of tumor cells that are then injected into mice increases the number of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and decreases tumor burden. In contrast, a combination of AZA and a histone deacetylase inhibitor is only effective when the tumor and an intact immune system are treated together, indicating that the combination has specific effects on immune cells. These include an increase in the percentage of activated T and NK cells, and a decrease in the number of macrophages in the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, the combination therapy of AZA and the HDACi Givinostat sensitizes the tumors to immune checkpoint blockade (α-PD-1). Finally, the type I interferon signaling that is triggered in the tumor cells by AZA is important in the immune and tumor responses, because when the interferon-α receptor is blocked in vivo, the effects of AZA on tumor burden, survival, and some of the immune cells are rescued. In conclusion, combination epigenetic therapy affects both the tumor cells and the immune cells in the tumor microenvironment to sensitize ovarian cancer tumors to α-PD-1

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https://openspace.dmacc.edu/banner_news/1449/thumbnail.jp

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https://openspace.dmacc.edu/banner_news/1453/thumbnail.jp

Improved Imputation of Common and Uncommon Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) with a New Reference Set

Statistical imputation of genotype data is an important technique for analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS). We have built a reference dataset to improve imputation accuracy for studies of individuals of primarily European descent using genotype data from the Hap1, Omni1, and Omni2.5 human SNP arrays (Illumina). Our dataset contains 2.5-3.1 million variants for 930 European, 157 Asian, and 162 African/African-American individuals. Imputation accuracy of European data from Hap660 or OmniExpress array content, measured by the proportion of variants imputed with R^2^>0.8, improved by 34%, 23% and 12% for variants with MAF of 3%, 5% and 10%, respectively, compared to imputation using publicly available data from 1,000 Genomes and International HapMap projects. The improved accuracy with the use of the new dataset could increase the power for GWAS by as much as 8% relative to genotyping all variants. This reference dataset is available to the scientific community through the NCBI dbGaP portal. Future versions will include additional genotype data as well as non-European populations

Water Rights in Wilderness: The Influence of Reserved Rights Language on Protection of Wilderness Water in Arizona and Colorado

1 v. (various pagings) : ill. (some color), color maps ; 29 cm Executive summary -- Introduction -- Background and scope -- Compilation and analysis of water rights data -- Protection of wilderness water : federal agency response to statutory language -- Final observations -- Appendix A. Legislative history of Arizona and Colorado wilderness legislation -- Appendix B. State water law : Arizona and Colorado -- Appendix C. Study methods -- Appendix D. Agency policies.https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/books_reports_studies/1015/thumbnail.jp

Disappearance of plasmaspheric hiss following interplanetary shock

Abstract Plasmaspheric hiss is one of the important plasma waves controlling radiation belt dynamics. Its spatiotemporal distribution and generation mechanism are presently the object of active research. We here give the first report on the shock-induced disappearance of plasmaspheric hiss observed by the Van Allen Probes on 8 October 2013. This special event exhibits the dramatic variability of plasmaspheric hiss and provides a good opportunity to test its generation mechanisms. The origination of plasmaspheric hiss from plasmatrough chorus is suggested to be an appropriate prerequisite to explain this event. The shock increased the suprathermal electron fluxes, and then the enhanced Landau damping promptly prevented chorus waves from entering the plasmasphere. Subsequently, the shrinking magnetopause removed the source electrons for chorus, contributing significantly to the several-hours-long disappearance of plasmaspheric hiss

Australia’s COVID-19 pandemic housing policy responses

This research reviewed Australia’s COVID-19 housing policy responses to better understand their intervention approach, underlying logic, short and long term goals, target groups and level of success. It considered literature and policy from Australia and a small number of international comparator policies; conducted online surveys of landlords and of economists; and consulted key stake holders. Given Australia’s federated system of government, considerable differences quickly emerged between intervention approaches across states and territories. This was also driven by the extent to which different jurisdictions were impacted by the spread of the virus, the extent and frequency of lockdowns, and damage to state/local economies. The national and state policy measures implemented to support home ownership achieved the desired goal of providing short-term stimulus to the residential building sector and support to the broader economy. However, a range of anticipated and unforeseen consequences have precipitated as a result of concentrated demand-side subsidies, low interest rates and flexible lending conditions. The establishment of an agile infrastructure to support information sharing will support more effective and innovative housing policy development in the future. The state-to-state infrastructure and approaches that were developed rapidly and which supported jurisdictional responses to COVID-19 provide a template for a shelf-ready policy-sharing practice that warrants supported development across governments. This could usefully include local government as well as state and territory and national tiers of governance

Peat Bog Wildfire Smoke Exposure in Rural North Carolina Is Associated with Cardiopulmonary Emergency Department Visits Assessed through Syndromic Surveillance

Background: In June 2008, burning peat deposits produced haze and air pollution far in excess of National Ambient Air Quality Standards, encroaching on rural communities of eastern North Carolina. Although the association of mortality and morbidity with exposure to urban air pollution is well established, the health effects associated with exposure to wildfire emissions are less well understood. Objective: We investigated the effects of exposure on cardiorespiratory outcomes in the population affected by the fire. Methods: We performed a population-based study using emergency department (ED) visits reported through the syndromic surveillance program NC DETECT (North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool). We used aerosol optical depth measured by a satellite to determine a high-exposure window and distinguish counties most impacted by the dense smoke plume from surrounding referent counties. Poisson log-linear regression with a 5-day distributed lag was used to estimate changes in the cumulative relative risk (RR). Results: In the exposed counties, significant increases in cumulative RR for asthma [1.65 (95% confidence interval, 1.25–2.1)], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [1.73 (1.06–2.83)], and pneumonia and acute bronchitis [1.59 (1.07–2.34)] were observed. ED visits associated with cardiopulmonary symptoms [1.23 (1.06–1.43)] and heart failure [1.37 (1.01–1.85)] were also significantly increased. Conclusions: Satellite data and syndromic surveillance were combined to assess the health impacts of wildfire smoke in rural counties with sparse air-quality monitoring. This is the first study to demonstrate both respiratory and cardiac effects after brief exposure to peat wildfire smoke