Labeling in a Latinx Community: Public Health Implications for Youth and Role in Community Narratives.

Background: Youth of color are disproportionately subjected to negative formal and informal labels by parents, peers, and teachers. This study examined the consequences of such labels on health-protective behaviors, wellbeing, peer networks and school engagement. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 39 adolescents and 20 mothers from a predominantly Latinx and immigrant agricultural community in California. Teams of coders completed iterative rounds of thematic coding to identify and refine key themes. Results: Dichotomous labeling of "good" and "bad" was pervasive. Youth labeled as "bad" experienced limited educational opportunities, exclusion from peers, and community disengagement. Additionally, preservation of "good kid" labels compromised health protective-behaviors including foregoing contraception. Participants pushed back on negative labeling when it was applied to close family or community acquaintances. Discussion: Targeted interventions that foster social belonging and connection rather than exclusion may facilitate health protective behaviors and have positive implications for future trajectories among youth.

Latina mothers' perspectives on adverse experiences and protection of Latinx youth in an agricultural community.

BACKGROUND: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are a measure of childhood toxic stress that have a dose-dependent relationship with many adult health outcomes. While ACEs have been validated across diverse populations to measure neglect, abuse, and family dysfunction, they do not specifically assess trauma related to racism/xenophobia and immigration. 54% of Latinx youth in the United States are immigrants or children of immigrants and a large group with potentially unmeasured trauma. This study looks beyond ACEs to identify adverse and protective factors for healthy development among Latinx youth in an agricultural community through the perspectives of their mothers. METHODS: Twenty mothers of adolescent participants in A Crecer: the Salinas Teen Health Study (a prospective cohort study of 599 adolescents) completed semi-structured interviews in Spanish. Interviews focused on mothers' perspectives on community resources, parenting strategies, parenting support systems, and their future aspirations for their children. Four coders completed iterative rounds of thematic coding drawing from published ACEs frameworks (original ACEs, community ACEs) and immigrant specific adverse events arising from the data. RESULTS: Mothers in this study reported adverse experiences captured within community-level ACEs but also distinct experiences related to intergenerational trauma and immigrant-related adversities. The most cited community-level ACEs were housing instability and community violence. Immigrant related adversities included experiences of systemic racism with loss of resources, political instability limiting structural resources, and language-limited accessibility. These were exacerbated by the loss of family supports due to immigration related family-child separation including deportations and staggered parent-child migration. Having experienced intergenerational trauma and systemic oppression, mothers discussed their strategies for building family unity, instilling resilience in their children, and improving socioeconomic opportunities for their family. CONCLUSIONS: Latina mothers shared the impacts of immigrant-related experiences on systemic inequities in the United States which are currently missing from the ACEs framework. Immigrant specific adverse events include language-limited accessibility, or family-child separations, and policies impacting structural resources for immigrant families. Mothers highlighted their capacity to build resilience in their children and buffer impacts of systemic racism. Community-tailored interventions can build on this foundation to reduce health disparities and promote health equity in this population.

High-resolution transcriptomics informs glial pathology in human temporal lobe epilepsy.

The pathophysiology of epilepsy underlies a complex network dysfunction between neurons and glia, the molecular cell type-specific contributions of which remain poorly defined in the human disease. In this study, we validated a method that simultaneously isolates neuronal (NEUN +), astrocyte (PAX6 + NEUN-), and oligodendroglial progenitor (OPC) (OLIG2 + NEUN-) enriched nuclei populations from non-diseased, fresh-frozen human neocortex and then applied it to characterize the distinct transcriptomes of such populations isolated from electrode-mapped temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) surgical samples. Nuclear RNA-seq confirmed cell type specificity and informed both common and distinct pathways associated with TLE in astrocytes, OPCs, and neurons. Compared to postmortem control, the transcriptome of epilepsy astrocytes showed downregulation of mature astrocyte functions and upregulation of development-related genes. To gain further insight into glial heterogeneity in TLE, we performed single cell transcriptomics (scRNA-seq) on four additional human TLE samples. Analysis of the integrated TLE dataset uncovered a prominent subpopulation of glia that express a hybrid signature of both reactive astrocyte and OPC markers, including many cells with a mixed GFAP + OLIG2 + phenotype. A further integrated analysis of this TLE scRNA-seq dataset and a previously published normal human temporal lobe scRNA-seq dataset confirmed the unique presence of hybrid glia only in TLE. Pseudotime analysis revealed cell transition trajectories stemming from this hybrid population towards both OPCs and reactive astrocytes. Immunofluorescence studies in human TLE samples confirmed the rare presence of GFAP + OLIG2 + glia, including some cells with proliferative activity, and functional analysis of cells isolated directly from these samples disclosed abnormal neurosphere formation in vitro. Overall, cell type-specific isolation of glia from surgical epilepsy samples combined with transcriptomic analyses uncovered abnormal glial subpopulations with de-differentiated phenotype, motivating further studies into the dysfunctional role of reactive glia in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Impact of Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric on Latinx Families' Perceptions of Child Safety and Health Care Access.

BACKGROUND: Political rhetoric from the former U.S. president influences Latinx adults' feelings of safety and their decisions to seek care in the emergency department (ED). OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to examine the impact of political rhetoric on feelings of safety and health care access in the pediatric population. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of undocumented Latinx families (ULF), Latinx U.S. citizen families (LCF), and non-Latinx U.S. citizen families (NLF) conducted from November 2018 through February 2020 by means of interviewing a convenience sample of parents and guardians who brought their child to a pediatric clinic and two EDs in California. RESULTS: Of 705 parents approached, 449 (63.7%) agreed to participate: 138 ULF, 150 LCF, and 158 NLF. Most ULF (95%), LCF (88%), and NLF (78%) parents and guardians had heard anti-immigrant statements from the former U.S. president and most (94% ULF, 90% LCF, 86% NLF) believed these measures against immigrants were being enacted or will be enacted. More ULF (75%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 67-81%) reported that these statements made them concerned about their child's safety in the United States compared with 36% (95% CI 28-45%) and 34% (95% CI 26-43%) of LCF and NLF, respectively. More ULF 17% (95% CI 11-24%) said that these statements made them afraid to bring their child for medical care, compared with 5% (95% CI 2-10%) and 3% (95% CI 1-7%) of LCF and NLF, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Most parents heard statements against undocumented immigrants by the former U.S. president and most believed measures were being enacted. This rhetoric had a substantial negative impact on ULF parents in terms of safety concerns for their child and fear of accessing health care.