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Natural Spaces, a Social Determinant of Health, and Self-Rated Health Among Medical Students
Get PDFBackground and Purpose: Natural spaces are areas which have a majority of natural ground cover such as vegetation or water. These spaces have positive effects on both physical and mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether medical students who have greater accessibility and use of natural spaces have better self-rated health.
Methods: M2-M4 students from Wayne State University School of Medicine received an email link to the Qualtrics-based study. Variables evaluated included: sociodemographics, residence zip code, natural spaces access frequency, distance, and transportation method. Self-rated physical and mental health was measured using the Healthy Days measure and SF-20. Data were analyzed using SPSS, and statistical significance was assigned at P\u3c0.05.
Results: 51 medical students participated, mean age 25.6 years, BMI 24.3, essentially M2 (56.9%), Female (74.5%), White-European (51.0%), living in 48201 Zip Code (56.9%) and exercised at least twice-weekly (80.4%). 52.9% used natural spaces, whereas 47.1% rarely did. Natural spaces use was inversely associated (P=0.002) with travel time. No differences (P\u3e0.05) were identified in evaluation of physical and mental health among those students who used natural spaces and those who did not.
Conclusion: The study results demonstrate that use of natural spaces may not play a significant role in the health of medical students, likely mediated by prevailing good health and youth. Nevertheless, our findings are interesting, not previously reported, and indicate the limited impact of natural spaces – a social determinant of health – on the wellness and health of medical students
CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS WITH LOW HEPATITIS C TREATMENT RATES IN URBAN MEDICAL CENTER CLINICS
Get PDFThe objective of this study was to determine whether there were different characteristics between HCV patients who were treated and those not treated after their first visit to a Gastroenterology (GI) or Infectious Disease (ID) clinic. This information might identify potential targets for remedial actions that could be performed to increase the number of treated patients.
Data was collected from 2019 HCV patient EMR charts including patient demographics, treatment history, and laboratory studies. We defined success as receiving treatment by July 2020 (6-18 months after the first visit).
We found that of 587 patients with HCV who were seen at least once in the Wayne Health system, 441 patients (441/587=75%) were not treated and only 189 (189/441= 43%) were treated by July 2020. Treated and not treated patients were similar with respect to race, gender, age, and median income defined by zip code. They were also not different with respect to the clinic seen (ID vs GI), the type of insurance, or the degree of fibrosis. However, patients with an average of 4 visits were more likely to be treated than those having 2 visits. Having 1 visit was the most dramatic factor in the lack of treatment (42% vs 8% p\u3c0.0001). PCR available at first visit was an important factor with respect to treatment (treated 38% vs not treated 25% p\u3c0.02)
The Effects of Curcumin on ERα, p53, and p21 in the MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell Line
Get PDFCurcumin is a golden-yellow flavonoid compound derived from the turmeric plant root that has been used in Chinese and Indian medicine for centuries. Curcumin has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and because of this, has been gaining traction in the field of cancer research. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, and is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, next to lung cancer. Because of the prevalence and mortality of breast cancer, possible therapeutics must be investigated. Due to the beneficial properties of curcumin and pervasiveness of breast cancer, we have decided to investigate their relationship. Our study examines the effects of curcumin, alone and in combination with hormones and anti-hormones, on ERα, p53, and p21 expression in the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. We utilized western blot analyses, cellular viability assays, and confocal microscopy to gather our data. In order to deplete any endogenous steroids or effectors, breast cancer cells were cultured in a medium containing 5% charcoal-stripped fetal bovine serum for six days before treatment. Western blot analysis revealed significant downregulation of ERα in a concentration-dependent manner when cells were treated with increasing concentrations of curcumin (5μM-100μM). In the hormone studies, when curcumin (40μM) is combined with estradiol, it significantly downregulates ERα, even more so than when either compound is used on its own. This demonstrates the additive effects of curcumin, and that it is able to compete with the estrogen and anti-estrogens for receptor binding. The effects of curcumin on p53 are also promising. In the concentration studies, western blotting revealed a significant concentration-dependent increase in p53 levels with increasing concentrations of curcumin (5μM-100μM). Lastly, the effects of curcumin on p21 show a significant concentration-dependent increase in p21 levels with increasing concentrations of curcumin (5μM-100μM). Cellular viability studies show a significant decrease in cellular proliferation after treatment with curcumin, similar to the levels seen with antiestrogens ICI and tamoxifen. Overall, the effects of curcumin on the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line show significant downregulation of ERα, significant upregulation of p53 and p21, and a significant decrease in breast cancer proliferation. This constellation of findings is promising, and our studies provide a groundwork for further investigation of this compound as it relates to breast cancer progression clinically
The Origin and Dispersal of Austroasiatic Languages from the Perspectives of Linguistics, Archeology and Genetics
Get PDFThe Austroasiatic (AA) languages are a large language family in Mainland Southeast and South Asia. Theoretical, methodological, and material constraints have limited research on the origin and dispersal of AA-speaking populations within historical-comparative linguistics. With the deepening of archaeological and genetic studies, interdisciplinary collaboration has become the key to solving this problem. Based on the latest achievements of linguistics, archaeology and molecular anthropology, we review the hypotheses and propose insights on the origin and dispersal of AA languages. The ancestors of the AA-speaking populations were suggested to be the rice farmers living in the Neolithic Age in southern China. During 3000–4500 BP, some of these ancestors who spoke Proto-AA migrated from southern China to northern Vietnam together with shouldered stone tools and domesticated rice. They mixed with local hunter-gatherers and expanded to the south of Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA), giving rise to the Mon-Khmer, Aslian, and Nicobarese populations. They also spread to the Preprint version. Visit http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/ after publication to acquire the final version. northeast of India to form the Munda-speaking populations. Another group arrived near Dian Lake in Yunnan about 2500 BP, where they created the Bronze Drum culture with the Proto-Tai-Kadai (TK)-speaking populations and later spread eastward to northern Vietnam via Guangxi. Finally, the Proto-AA-speaking people who remained in southern China mixed with the Proto-TK-speaking groups from Fujian and Guangdong, leading to a language shift, which we hypothesized was one of the main reasons for the “disappearance” of the AA in southern China
Reclaiming Identity: The Cinematic Activist Journey of Afro-Argentinian Director Wisny Dorce and His Film Production Company “Black Existencia Films”: Interview with Wisny Dorce
Get PDFDwoskin: Disability, Diaspora, Dysphoria
No full textIn this article, I argue that looking and staring, which are typical aspects of Stephen Dwoskin’s experimental, highly personal approach to cinema, contribute to a broader sensory inquiry into conditions of diasporic and disabled (gender) dysphoria. I explore the intersecting relationships between these four “d’s”—Dwoskin, disability, diaspora, and dysphoria—understanding how in recent years the fields of transgender (trans) studies, diaspora studies, and disability studies have demonstrated collective interest in conditions of dysphoria as strategies that negotiate complex embodiment and ethnicity. In doing so, I adopt a hybrid approach to aesthetic modes of self-estrangement and radical interruptions of normative embodiment in Dwoskin’s late films. Adopting what Elliot Evans has described via Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Paul B. Preciado as a “universalizing” orientation of cutting-edge trans theory,1 and earlier work by historians of disability and masculinity such as David Serlin,2 I read across these concepts to suggest that the formal and aesthetic structures and contexts of Dwoskin’s late films agitate the boundaries between embodied conceptualizations of diaspora, disability, and dysphoria. This has consequences for Dwoskin’s positioning in wider discourses of experimental filmmaking, both within and beyond Britain where he spent the majority of his adult life, and helps to connect the relationships between his diasporic Jewishness and disability. Thinking expansively, this article examines how expressions of dysphoria, discussed in trans, disabled, and diasporic communities, have the potential to offer, not recuperation or rehabilitation of Dwoskin’s work, but a space to think from that is resistant to the binarist, normative, and exclusionary logics prevailing in British culture at this moment in the twenty-first century
A Review of the Efficacy of Popular Eye Cream Ingredients
Get PDFEvery year, there are new products on the market advertised to preserve a youthful appearance and reduce the signs of aging. One classic example is eye cream. Due to the periorbital region’s high susceptibility to damage from external factors, along with its tendency to demonstrate early signs of aging, periorbital skin is a common target for anti-aging therapy. While some of these ingredients have proven efficacious in clinical trials, others have not shown to be clinically significant. Various products contain different combinations, formulations, and doses of these ingredients. This review evaluates the efficacy of popular topical ingredients found in common eye creams, including retinoids, vitamin C, vitamin E, peptides, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, caffeine, and niacinamide
Bending Time: Remembrance, Bereavement, and (Missing) Personal Photographs
No full textVisual and linguistic embellishments—such as storytelling, physical additions of tactile components, juxtapositions, and recontextualizations—enact transformations upon important photographs. The resulting photography-based objects tell a fuller story not only of the individuals shown, but also of those who cared for them. This article considers the narrative dynamics at play in remembrance and bereavement processes associated with personal photographs—from physical prints to contemporary digital images—giving focused attention to the ways absence is mediated through visual media in contexts of loss and the complex and imaginative temporalities embedded in these mediation processes
You’re Such a Girl: Children’s Reasoning about Gendered Interactions
No full textChildren ages 6–7 and 9–10 and emerging adults (n = 115) judged whether a character should approach a group of peers when they had a gender-neutral, gender-norm-consistent, or gender-norm-inconsistent activity. They also provided justifications and judgments about whether the character would be teased. Approaching peers with a gender-norm-inconsistent activity was judged as unacceptable, and participants also anticipated the protagonist would be teased. Justifications indicated that all ages tended to consider gender norms when activities were gendered, but personal preference when activities were gender neutral. Participants anticipated that friends would be less likely to tease than strangers. Girls/women and the youngest age groups (6–7) were most likely to indicate that being teased would prevent the character from engaging in the activity in the future