Metal air pollution partnership solutions: building an academic-government-community-industry collaboration to improve air quality and health in environmental justice communities in Houston.

BACKGROUND: From 2006 to 2011, the City of Houston received nearly 200 community complaints about air pollution coming from some metal recycling facilities. The investigation by the Houston Health Department (HHD) found that while operating within legal limits, emissions from facilities that use torch cutting, a technique generating metal aerosols, may increase health risks for neighboring residents. Choosing to use collaborative problem solving over legislative rulemaking, HHD reached out to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) to further evaluate and develop plans to mitigate, if necessary, health risks associated with metal emissions from these facilities. METHODS: Utilizing a community-based participatory research approach, we constituted a research team from academia, HHD and an air quality advocacy group and a Community Advisory Board (CAB) to draw diverse stakeholders (i.e., frustrated and concerned residents and wary facility managers acting within their legal rights) into an equitable, trusting and respectful space to work together. Next, we investigated metal air pollution and inhalation health risks of adults living near metal recyclers and ascertained community views about environmental health using key informant interviews, focus groups and surveys. Finally, working collaboratively with the CAB, we developed neighborhood-specific public health action plans to address research findings. RESULTS: After overcoming challenges, the CAB evolved into an effective partnership with greater trust, goodwill, representation and power among members. Working together to translate and share health risk assessment results increased accessibility of the information. These results, coupled to community survey findings, set the groundwork for developing and implementing a stakeholder-informed action plan, which included a voluntary framework to reduce metal emissions in the scrap yard, improved lines of communication and environmental health leadership training. Tangible outcomes of enhanced capacity of our community and governmental partners included trained residents to conduct door-to-door surveys, adaptation of our field training protocol and survey by our community partner and development of a successful HHD program to engage residents to improve environmental health in their neighborhood. CONCLUSIONS: Academic-government-community-industry partnerships can reduce environmental health disparities in underserved neighborhoods near industrial facilities.

Melanoma exosomes promote mixed M1 and M2 macrophage polarization.

Macrophages are key participants in melanoma growth and survival. In general, macrophages can be classified as M1 or M2 activation phenotypes. Increasing evidence demonstrates that melanoma exosomes also facilitate tumor survival and metastasis. However, the role of melanoma exosomes in directly influencing macrophage function is poorly understood. Herein, we investigated the hypothesis that natural melanoma exosomes might directly influence macrophage polarization. To explore this hypothesis, ELISA, RT-qPCR, and macrophage functional studies were performed in vitro using an established source of melanoma exosomes (B16-F10). ELISA results for melanoma exosome induction of common M1 and M2 cytokines in RAW 264.7 macrophages, revealed that melanoma exosomes do not polarize macrophages exclusively in the M1 or M2 direction. Melanoma exosomes induced the M1 and M2 representative cytokines TNF-α and IL-10 respectively. Further assessment, using an RT-qPCR array with RAW 264.7 and primary macrophages, confirmed and extended the ELISA findings. Upregulation of markers common to both M1 and M2 polarization phenotypes included CCL22, IL-12B, IL-1ß, IL-6, i-NOS, and TNF-α. The M2 cytokine TGF-ß was upregulated in primary but not RAW 264.7 macrophages. Pro-tumor functions have been attributed to each of these markers. Macrophage functional assays demonstrated a trend toward increased i-NOS (M1) to arginase (M2) activity. Collectively, the results provide the first evidence that melanoma exosomes can induce a mixed M1 and M2 pro-tumor macrophage activation phenotype.

Data to Action: Community-Based Participatory Research to Address Concerns about Metal Air Pollution in Overburdened Neighborhoods near Metal Recycling Facilities in Houston.

BACKGROUND: Exposures to environmental contaminants can be influenced by social determinants of health. As a result, persons living in socially disadvantaged communities may experience disproportionate health risks from environmental exposures. Mixed methods research can be used to understand community-level and individual-level exposures to chemical and nonchemical stressors contributing to environmental health disparities. Furthermore, community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches can lead to more effective interventions. OBJECTIVES: We applied mixed methods to identify environmental health perceptions and needs among metal recyclers and residents living in disadvantaged neighborhoods near metal recycling facilities in Houston, Texas, in a CBPR study, Metal Air Pollution Partnership Solutions (MAPPS). Informed by what we learned and our previous findings from cancer and noncancer risk assessments of metal air pollution in these neighborhoods, we developed an action plan to lower metal aerosol emissions from metal recycling facilities and enhance community capacity to address environmental health risks. METHODS: Key informant interviews, focus groups, and community surveys were used to identify environmental health concerns of residents. A diverse group from academia, an environmental justice advocacy group, the community, the metal recycling industry, and the local health department collaborated and translated these findings, along with results from our prior risk assessments, to inform a multifaceted public health action plan. RESULTS: An evidence-based approach was used to develop and implement neighborhood-specific action plans. Plans included a voluntary framework of technical and administrative controls to reduce metal emissions in the metal recycling facilities, direct lines of communication among residents, metal recyclers, and local health department officials, and environmental health leadership training. DISCUSSION: Using a CBPR approach, health risk assessment findings based on outdoor air monitoring campaigns and community survey results informed a multipronged environmental health action plan to mitigate health risks associated with metal air pollution. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11405.

CURE in Antibiotic Discovery Using a Combination of In-Person, Hands-On Laboratory Activities and Remote, Mentor-Type Experiences during COVID-19.

Pedagogy designed to improve student engagement, like the course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), was given its hardest challenge yet during the COVID-19 pandemic: to find a way to exist and continue productive work in a remote environment. Faculty in STEM disciplines have worked to implement CURE programs into course curriculums, only to have had some of them disrupted during spring 2020. The demonstrated benefits of the CURE in improving student engagement and persistence in the sciences could be at risk if these courses continue to be disrupted. How do faculty make CUREs work when emergency remote learning continues to loom over our institutions? This teaching tip focuses on how one antibiotic discovery CURE used technology and individual meetings to continue the students' experience and research process. The instructor remained alone in the laboratory with the student samples and acted as the students' hands, in order to continue testing and characterizing samples collected earlier in the semester, while students watched and directed the process during the online meetings. The change in methodology helped to restore some of the individual and small group mentor-type activity provided in the principal investigator-student researcher relationship present in undergraduate research experiences that was lost with the development of CUREs and the move to remote learning.

Combined effects of Telehealth and Modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy for Individuals with Chronic Hemiparesis.

Telehealth use allows improved access to services and results in potential cost savings. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a combined modified Constrained Induced Movement Therapy (mCIMT) program using telehealth and in-person sessions, for participants with higher (Group 1) and lower (Group 2) functional ability of the hemiparetic upper extremity. Using a pre-experimental design with a 6-week intervention, 28 participants were assessed twice on use of upper extremity via subjective and objective measures. For the Motor Activity Log, the amount of use and quality of use were significant for Groups 1 and 2. Significant improvements were shown on the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), the Fugl-Meyer UE, and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) for both groups except for the strength subtest on the WMFT and the timed portion for Group 1. Percentages of attendance for telehealth and in-person sessions were also compared. Telehealth sessions had a higher attendance rate (84.5%) than in-person sessions (75.3%) (p=.004). The combined mCIMT program of telerehabilitation and in-person group sessions was effective in improving functional ability after a stroke.

Antibiotics taken for other illnesses and spontaneous clearance of Helicobacter pylori infection in children.

PURPOSE: Factors that determine persistence of untreated Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in childhood are not well understood. We estimated risk differences for the effect of incidental antibiotic exposure on the probability of a detected clearance at the next test after an initial detected H. pylori infection. METHODS: The Pasitos Cohort Study (1998-2005) investigated predictors of H. pylori infection in children from El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. Children were screened for infection at 6-month target intervals from 6 to 84 months of age, using the 13C-urea breath test corrected for body-size-dependent variation in CO2 production. Exposure was defined as courses of any systemic antibiotic (systemic) or those with anti-H. pylori action (HP-effective) reported for the interval between initial detected infection and next test. Binomial regression models included country of residence, mother's education, adequacy of prenatal care, age at infection, and interval between tests. RESULTS: Of 205 children with a test result and antibiotic data following a detected infection, the number of children who took > or =1 course in the interval between tests was 74 for systemic and 33 for HP-effective. The proportion testing negative at the next test was 66% for 0 courses, 72% for > or =1 systemic course, and 79% for > or =1 HP-effective course. Adjusted risk differences (95%CI) for apparent clearance, comparing > or =1 to 0 courses were 10% (1-20%) for systemic and 11% (0-21%) for HP-effective. CONCLUSIONS: Incidental antibiotic exposure appears to influence the duration of childhood H. pylori infection but seems to explain only a small portion of spontaneous clearance.

Lindane-induced generation of reactive oxygen species and depletion of glutathione do not result in necrosis in renal distal tubule cells.

Lindane is a chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide, currently used in prescription shampoos and lotions to treat scabies and lice infestations. Lindane is known to be nephrotoxic; however, the mechanism of action is not well understood. In other organ systems, lindane produces cellular damage by generation of free radicals and oxidative stress. Morphological changes were observed in lindane-treated Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells indicative of apoptosis. Lindane treatment induced time-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Onset of ROS generation correlated with an initial increase in total glutathione (GSH) levels above control values, with a subsequent decline in a time-dependent manner. This decline may be attributed to quenching of free radicals by GSH, thereby decreasing the cellular stores of this antioxidant. Necrotic injury was assessed by measuring lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage from the cell after lindane exposure. No significant LDH leakage was noted for all concentrations tested over time. Generation of ROS and alterations in cellular protective mechanisms did not result in necrotic injury in MDCK cells, which corresponds with our morphological findings of lindane-induced apoptotic changes as opposed to necrosis in MDCK cells. Thus, lindane exposure results in oxidative damage and alterations in antioxidant response in renal distal tubule cells, followed by cell death not attributed to necrotic injury.

Composition of a chemopreventive proanthocyanidin-rich fraction from cranberry fruits responsible for the inhibition of 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity.

Phenolics from the American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) were fractionated into a series of proanthocyanidins and other flavonoid compounds by vacuum chromatography on a hydrophilic, porous polyvinylic gel permeation polymer. Antioxidant activity was not restricted to a particular class of components in the extract but was found in a wide range of the fractions. Significant chemopreventive activity, as indicated by an ornithine decarboxylase assay, was localized in one particular proanthocyanidin-rich fraction from the initial fractionation procedure. Further fractionation of the active anticarcinogenic fraction revealed the following components: seven flavonoids, mainly quercetin, myricetin, the corresponding 3-O-glycosides, (-)-epicatechin, (+)-catechin, and dimers of both gallocatechin and epigallocatechin types, and a series of oligomeric proanthocyanidins.

Texas needs physicians trained in public health: a new 4-year integrated MD/MPH degree program.

Traditionally, medicine and public health have not worked as synergistic disciplines because they are based on fundamentally different models. However, a number of very recent imperatives emphasize the need for dual training in these fields to address major public health problems facing society as well as the documented and forecasted workforce shortages. In response to this need, two University of Texas institutions based in San Antonio, Texas, partnered in 2007 to offer a dual 4-year Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public health (MD/MPH) degree program, one of a handful in the nation. Approximately 65 students (or 10% of three consecutive medical school classes) are currently enrolled. The dual-degree program meets the requirements of both degree programs while giving shared MPH credit for relevant courses taken in the medical curriculum and medical school credit for some courses in the public health curriculum. However, 75% of the MPH coursework originates at the School of Public Health. Initial results from focus groups conducted after the first year showed a high degree of student satisfaction, with frequent comments that the program was broadening their perspective on medicine and influencing their career and life goals. A dual MD/MPH degree is an important option for all medical students as a means of addressing pressing health issues in our society through combined training in medicine and the broader areas of prevention and population health. The four-year MD/MPH program, while posing challenges for faculty and students, attracts community- and prevention-minded medical students, reduces training costs (housing/living costs and lost time and wages before entering residency), and allows students to progress with the rest of their class.