Quantification of race/ethnicity representation in Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging research in the USA: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic minoritized groups are disproportionately at risk for Alzheimer's Disease (AD), but are not sufficiently recruited in AD neuroimaging research in the United States. This is important as sample composition impacts generalizability of findings, biomarker cutoffs, and treatment effects. No studies have quantified the breadth of race/ethnicity representation in the AD literature. METHODS: This review identified median race/ethnicity composition of AD neuroimaging US-based research samples available as free full-text articles on PubMed. Two types of published studies were analyzed: studies that directly report race/ethnicity data (i.e., direct studies), and studies that do not report race/ethnicity but used data from a cohort study/database that does report this information (i.e., indirect studies). RESULTS: Direct studies (n = 719) have median representation of 88.9% white or 87.4% Non-Hispanic white, 7.3% Black/African American, and 3.4% Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, with 0% Asian American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native, Multiracial, and Other Race participants. Cohort studies/databases (n = 44) from which indirect studies (n = 1745) derived are more diverse, with median representation of 84.2% white, 83.7% Non-Hispanic white, 11.6% Black/African American, 4.7% Hispanic/Latino, and 1.75% Asian American participants. Notably, 94% of indirect studies derive from just 10 cohort studies/databases. Comparisons of two time periods using a median split for publication year, 1994-2017 and 2018-2022, indicate that sample diversity has improved recently, particularly for Black/African American participants (3.39% from 1994-2017 and 8.29% from 2018-2022). CONCLUSIONS: There is still underrepresentation of all minoritized groups relative to Census data, especially for Hispanic/Latino and Asian American individuals. The AD neuroimaging literature will benefit from increased representative recruitment of ethnic/racial minorities. More transparent reporting of race/ethnicity data is needed.

Members of some racial and ethnic minority groups in the USA are more likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease than white people. However, they are often not included in research studies of Alzheimer's Disease. We looked at the race/ethnicity composition of people evaluated in papers published describing Alzheimer's Disease research studies based in the USA that used images of the brain. We found that all racial/ethnic minority groups were underrepresented in Alzheimer's Disease research studies, especially Hispanic/Latino and Asian American individuals. It is important that studies include representatives of all populations both for the health of those populations and improved understanding of Alzheimer's Disease in all people. Such studies should also improve efforts to understand and address racial/ethnic disparities in Alzheimer's Disease diagnosis and treatment.

Street Harassment Interpretations: An Exploration of the Intersection of Gender and Race/Ethnicity, and Mediator Variables.

How does the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity influence street harassment interpretations? What roles do attitudes and past experience play in these relationships? We examined these questions through an exploratory study of 163 Californian respondents and four hypothetical scenarios: being told to smile, being called "sexy," hearing kissing noises, and being followed. Our findings revealed Black, Latina, and White women were more critical of these behaviors than men in their race/ethnic group. Women across all race/ethnicities interpreted the scenarios similarly with minor nuances. Street harassment views were strongly associated with prior experiences instigating street harassment and support for harassment myths.

Doing that thing that scientists do: A discovery-driven module on protein purification and characterization for the undergraduate biochemistry laboratory classroom.

In traditional introductory biochemistry laboratory classes students learn techniques for protein purification and analysis by following provided, established, step-by-step procedures. Students are exposed to a variety of biochemical techniques but are often not developing procedures or collecting new, original data. In this laboratory module, students develop research skills through work on an original research project and gain confidence in their ability to design and execute an experiment while faculty can enhance their scholarly pursuits through the acquisition of original data in the classroom laboratory. Students are prepared for a 6-8 week discovery-driven project on the purification of the Escherichia coli cytidylate kinase (CMP kinase) through in class problems and other laboratory exercises on bioinformatics and protein structure analysis. After a minimal amount of guidance on how to perform the CMP kinase in vitro enzyme assay, SDS-PAGE, and the basics of protein purification, students, working in groups of three to four, develop a protein purification protocol based on the scientific literature and investigate some aspect of CMP kinase that interests them. Through this process, students learn how to implement a new but perhaps previously worked out procedure to answer their research question. In addition, they learn the importance of keeping a clear and thorough laboratory notebook and how to interpret their data and use that data to inform the next set of experiments. Following this module, students had increased confidence in their ability to do basic biochemistry techniques and reported that the "self-directed" nature of this lab increased their engagement in the project.

Innovative tools help counselors discuss childhood obesity with parents.

BACKGROUND: Childhood overweight and obesity pose potential health risks for many children under the age of 5 years. Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutritionists are in a unique position to help reduce this problem because of their frequent counseling contacts with clients during certification visits. Therefore, four new tools to facilitate nutritional counseling of parents of overweight children during certifications were developed and systematically evaluated. METHODS: The Nutrition and Activity Self-History (NASH) form, Report Card/Action Plan (ReCAP), Talking Tips, and Healthy Weight Poster were evaluated by WIC nutritionists via an online survey. Anchors on the Likert scale were 0 for Strongly Disagree to 6 for Strongly Agree. Four regional focus groups were also conducted. Data were analyzed descriptively. RESULTS: The response rate on the survey was 83% (n=63). Focus groups were comprised of staff that volunteered to participate (n=34). The NASH form, which replaces a food frequency questionnaire for identifying nutrition risk, had a mean rating of 5.20 as "Helpful when counseling about weight." The ReCAP, Talking Tips, and Healthy Weight Poster achieved mean ratings of 5.70, 4.75, and 5.30, respectively, in this category. Focus group responses were very positive about the usefulness of the ReCAP and Healthy Weight Poster to visually convey the concept of BMI percentile for age using a green, yellow, and red color-coded "traffic light" approach to showing healthy versus unhealthy BMI values. CONCLUSIONS: WIC programs and other pediatric health care settings may want to consider adopting these innovative tools to better serve their clients and address pediatric overweight in the populations they serve.

Caracterización del consumo deficitario de los grupos básicos de alimentos en el estudiante de cuarto año en la escuela de medicina “Dr. Witremundo Torrealba”. Maracay, Venezuela / Characterization of deficient intake of basic nourishing foods in fourth year medical school students “Dr. Witremundo Torrealba”, medical school. Maracay, Venezuela.

Un inadecuado consumo de alimentos parece estar presente en la población estudiantil universitaria. La aplicación de la guía educativa: “Tres Grupos Básicos de Alimentos” , elaborada en 1969 por el Instituto Nacional de Nutrición (INN) puede constituir un buen marco para caracterizar la ingesta de alimentos, en este caso entre médicos en formación. El presente estudio se realizó sobre una muestra de estudiantes de 4º Año de Medicina, tendiente a indagar la estructuración del consumo deficitario de grupos básicos de alimentos en razón de sexo, comidas, días de la semana y platos más frecuentes. Se diseñó y aplicó un estudio descriptivo de campo, de tipo transversal. Se evaluaron 2541 comidas correspondientes al consumo semanal de 121 estudiantes durante el año lectivo 2004-2005. Se individuó el déficit al menos uno de los grupos en 1540 comidas, aplicando un instrumento validado. Una encuesta permitió además de determinar al sesgo de memoria en la información recolectada diariamente, se categorizó la comida deficitaria consumida. El resultado asoma un sub consumo marcado en vegetales y frutas, mayor en desayuno y cena. Omisión de comidas menor en el almuerzo. El sexo masculino reporta menos consumo de vegetales y frutas en almuerzo y cena y el sexo femenino en el desayuno. No hay diferencia entre los días mientras la omisión en desayuno y cena afecta a ambos sexos por igual, hacia el fin de semana. Los platos más frecuentes fueron: sandwiches de jamón y queso y gaseosas; arepas con rellenos preferidos y gaseosas; hamburguesas con gaseosas; pizza; pastelitos y gaseosas; en menos proporción pasta con carnes y gaseosas, yogurt con cereal; lasañas; cachapas; arroz con pollo; perro caliente y gaseosa; empanadas y gaseosas; sopa y gaseosas; bistec con arroz y té.

A non proper nourishing intake seems to be a problem in our university student population. Putting into effect the educational guide: “Three Basic groups of foods” elaborate by the “Nacional Nutrition Institute” (INN), in 1969, could be an adequate frame as to characterize, the food intake, in this case, concerning medical school students. The present survey studied a sample of 4th year medical school students, in order to investigate the structure of nourishing lack of “Basic groups of food”, and its distribution according to sex, meals, days of the week and most common dishes, through a discriptive, cross - sectional field study. 2541 meals were evaluated, which correspond to the weekly intake of 121 students during the academic year 2004-2005. The lack of at least one of the groups was assessed in 1540 meals, applyine a validate instrument. The survey allowed also the determination of a “memory biass” in the information collected daily: and the lacking consumed meal was categorized. Results show a clear shortage in the intake of vegetables and fruits mainly in breakfast and dinner. Minor omission of meal in lunch. Male students eat less vegetables and fruits at lunch and dinner while females do so at breakfast. No difference was appreciated within different days, whilst omission affects both sexes in the days toward the weekend. Must frecuent dishes consumed were: ham and cheese sándwiches and light beverages; arepa (corn bread elaborated with preecooked flour and roasted)with proteic stuffing and light beverages; hamburger and light beverage; pizza or pastry with filling and light beverages “pasta” with meat sauce and light beverages; yoghour tand cereal; lassagne; cachapa (soft tortilla roasted and stuffed with cheese); rice and chicken; hotdog and light beverages; soup and light beverages; beefsteak with rice and tea.

The VOICES/VOCES success story: effective strategies for training, technical assistance and community-based organization implementation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) project successfully disseminated VOICES/VOCES, a brief video-based HIV risk reduction intervention targeting African American and Latino heterosexual men and women at risk for HIV infection. Elements of the dissemination strategy included a comprehensive and user-friendly intervention kit, comprising (a) an implementationmanual and othermaterials necessary for conducting the intervention (b) a Training of Facilitators (TOF) curriculum used to teach agency staff how to implement the EBI in their setting, (c) a network of expert trainers who attend a training institute to become adept at using the TOF curriculum to train facilitators, (d) a comprehensive training coordination center to plan and deliver TOF trainings, (e) proactive technical assistance to trainers, and (f) post-TOF technical assistance for local implementers. This article reports on those strategies and a local CBO's successful participation in DEBI, resulting implementation of VOICES/VOCES, with unique approaches to adaptation and tailoring.