Community-Based Organizations Leading Research Efforts: Preliminary Findings from the Chicagoland CEAL Program's COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Intention Survey.

BACKGROUND: To foster community engaged research in the communities most impacted by COVID-19, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) formed 21 teams of Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (CEAL). The national CEAL initiative developed a Common Survey to investigate attitudes and behaviors to the COVID-19 vaccine and clinical trials. This article describes survey implementation at the Chicagoland CEAL Program (CCP). METHODS: This community-based participatory research project was the result of a strong collaboration between academic institutions, and a community-based non-profit health equity-focused partner organization. The survey implementation was developed and refined with strong input from CHWs, participants, and staff in the partner organizations and institutions. Survey data were collected with Qualtrics, a web-based survey tool. RESULTS: Survey implementation resulted in data collection for 852 participants during the period 12/18/2021-02/18/2023. Excluding participants on the basis of missing data resulted in a sample of 690, 601 of which (87.10%) indicated that they had received at least one dose or intended to get vaccinated. Overall, 54 (7.83%) respondents reported that they had not received the vaccine and were not planning to. CONCLUSION: Hard to reach populations present two unique challenges in emerging infectious disease events. Reaching populations vulnerable to poor outcomes with vaccines was essential to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, learning about barriers and hesitancy toward vaccine uptake is difficult in these communities. CCP's partnership of five academic institutions, a community research center, and a community-based non-profit health equity-focused organization shows what is possible when traditional models of research and inquiry are reconsidered for community-based participatory research. Results shown here are drawn from a collaboratively designed and implemented survey, collected in person, with over 90% completion.

What Chicago community organizations needed to implement COVID-19 interventions: lessons learned in 2021.

Introduction: As the COVID-19 pandemic placed a spotlight on the health inequities in the United States, this study aimed to determine the local programmatic needs of community organizations (CO) delivering COVID-19 interventions across Chicago. Methods: In the summer of 2021, the Chicagoland CEAL Program interviewed 34 COs that were providing education, testing, and/or vaccinations in communities experiencing poor COVID-19 outcomes. The interviews were analyzed thematically and organized around logistical challenges and funding/resource needs. Results: The COs routinely offered testing (50%) or vaccinations (74%), with most (56%) employing some programmatic evaluation. Programs utilizing trusted-messenger systems were deemed most effective, but resource-intensive. CO specific needs clustered around sustaining effective outreach strategies, better CO coordination, wanting comprehensive trainings, improving program evaluation, and promoting services and programs. Conclusion: The COs reached populations with low-vaccine confidence using trusted messengers to overcome mistrust. However, replenishment of the resources needed to sustain such strategies should be prioritized. Leveraging the Chicagoland CEAL Program to help negotiate community organizations' interorganizational coordination, create training programs, and provide evaluation expertise are deliverable supports that may bolster COVID-19 prevention. Policy implications: Achieving health justice requires that all institutions of power participate in meaningful community engagement, help build community capacity, and infuse health equity throughout all aspects of the research and program evaluation processes.

The role of facility and patient mix factors on recovery of screening and diagnostic mammography volumes following the initial COVID-19 pandemic wave.

INTRODUCTION: The goal of this study was to understand the extent to which mammography facilities were able to recover monthly screening and diagnostic mammography volumes to their prepandemic levels and to determine what facility and patient mix factors were associated with recovery. METHOD: Facilities, located in and adjacent to Cook County, Illinois, were eligible. In all, 58 screening and 30 diagnostic mammogram facilities submitted mammogram volumes by month with a cross-listing of patient ZIP codes by screening volumes. Monthly screening and diagnostic volumes for the 6-month immediate postpandemic period (July-December 2020) and for the subsequent postpandemic period (January-June 2021) were compared with the same months in 2019. ZIP code distributions were used to define patient mix characteristics related to disadvantage. RESULTS: Compared with the prepandemic period, Breast Imaging Centers of Excellence conducted roughly 50 fewer monthly screening mammograms (95% CI: -91, -9) but 50 more diagnostic mammograms (95% CI: 24, 82) on average in the immediate postpandemic period. Facilities serving a predominantly Black population conducted roughly 50 fewer monthly screens (95% CI: -93, -13) without any increase in monthly diagnostics. CONCLUSION: Highly accredited (and typically higher volume) facilities appeared to actively triage diagnostics, whereas lower resource facilities appeared to struggle to recover to prepandemic volumes without triage to diagnostics. The pandemic disproportionally impacted minority populations already affected by differential access to and utilization of high-quality mammography. Potential explanations are discussed. Policies should be strengthened to facilitate triaging of services during times of stress to the healthcare system.

Aurora kinase A is a possible target of OSU­03012 to destabilize MYC family proteins.

OSU-03012, a 3-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1) inhibitor, destabilizes MYCN and MYC proteins in neuroblastoma cells. However, AKT phosphorylation is barely detectable in neuroblastoma cells under normal culture conditions whether treated with OSU-03012 or not. This observation suggests that PDK1 is not the main target of OSU-03012 to destabilize MYC and MYCN in neuroblastoma cells. In the present study, we explored one of the possible mechanisms by which OSU-03012 destabilizes MYC and MYCN. Since Aurora kinase A is reported to phosphorylate GSK3ß, leading to its inactivation, we hypothesized that one of the targets of OSU-03012 is Aurora kinase A. Comparative analysis of OSU-03012 and VX-680, a potent and specific inhibitor of Aurora kinases, showed that both inhibitors destabilized MYC and MYCN and were significantly growth suppressive to neuroblastoma cell lines. In silico molecular docking analysis further showed that the calculated interaction energy between Aurora kinase A and OSU-03012 was -109.901 kcal/mol, which was lower than that (-89.273 kcal/mol) between Aurora kinase A and FXG, an Aurora kinase-specific inhibitor. Finally, an in vitro Aurora kinase A inhibition assay using a recombinant Aurora kinase A showed that OSU-03012 significantly inhibited Aurora kinase A, although it was weaker in potency than that of VX-680. Thus, OSU-03012 has a likelihood of binding to and inhibiting Aurora kinase A in vivo. These results suggest that OSU-03012 affects multiple cellular targets, including Aurora kinase A, to exhibit its growth suppressive and MYC and MYCN-destabilizing effects on neuroblastoma and other cancer cells.

Destabilization of MYC/MYCN by the mitochondrial inhibitors, metaiodobenzylguanidine, metformin and phenformin.

In the present study, we investigated the anticancer effects of the mitochondrial inhibitors, metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), metformin and phenformin. 131I-MIBG has been used for scintigraphic detection and the targeted radiotherapy of neuroblastoma (NB), a pediatric malignancy. Non-radiolabeled MIBG has been reported to be cytotoxic to NB cells in vitro and in vivo. However, the mechanisms behind its growth suppressive effects have not yet been fully elucidated. Metformin and phenformin are diabetes medications that are being considered in anticancer therapeutics. We investigated the anticancer mechanisms of action of MIBG and metformin in NB. Our data revealed that both drugs suppressed NB cell growth and that the combination drug treatment was more potent. MIBG reduced MYCN and MYC expression in MYCN-amplified and non-MYCN-amplified NB cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Metformin was less effective than MIBG in destabilizing MYC/MYCN. The treatment of NB cells with metformin or MIBG resulted in an increased expression of genes encoding biomarkers for favorable outcome in NB [(ephrin (EFN)B2, EFNB3, EPH receptor B6 (EPHB6), neurotrophic tyrosine kinase, receptor, type 1 (NTRK1), CD44 and Myc-interacting zinc finger protein (MIZ-1)] and tumor suppressor genes [(early growth response 1 (EGR1), EPH receptor A2 (EPHA2), growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible, beta (GADD45B), neuregulin 1 (NRG1), TP53 apoptosis effector (PERP) and sel-1 suppressor of lin-12-like (C. elegans) (SEL1L)]. Accordingly, metformin and MIBG augmented histone H3 acetylation in these cells. Phenformin also exhibited histone modification and was more effective than metformin in destabilizing MYC/MYCN in NB cells. Our data suggest that the destabilization of MYC/MYCN by MIBG, metformin and phenformin and their effects on histone modification are important mechanisms underlying their anticancer effects.