Identifying Health Needs in Peru Through Use of a Community Survey.

Students and faculty from a Midwestern college conducted a neighborhood community needs assessment in an impoverished area of a Peruvian city to identify health needs of residents. Students interviewed residents in their homes, asking about the need for medical, dental, and ophthalmic care and screening for chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and tuberculosis. The survey provided necessary information to medical mission workers and allowed students to directly observe family living conditions while assessing psychosocial needs of the families interviewed. The challenges of this survey included differing expectations, language barriers, recruiting neighborhood volunteers, safety risks to students, and mistrust by neighborhood residents.

Are We There Yet? Reflections on Life During a Pandemic.

Public health practitioners and scientists in the United States have been attempting to limit the damage from a perfect storm caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic and resulting economic downturn, increasing racial tensions as a result of the witnessed public murder of a Black man at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, and increasing gun violence. Many citizens of the United States have become distrustful of government, and political tensions remain high following the contested presidential election in the fall of 2020. Therefore, public health recommendations to limit social gatherings, wear masks, and limit travel have been met with both support and resistance throughout the nation. If the COVID-19 virus can be effectively managed, it will require the public to adhere to public health recommendations. The health of all of us depends on the health of each of us.

Finding abundance in a world of scarcity.

We can choose to approach life with an attitude of abundance instead of an attitude of scarcity. Abundance is a conscious choice that can promote happiness and lead to more positive outcomes.

Stereotypes and social injustice.

A group presentation by nursing students created an opportunity for their classmates to experience firsthand the effects of stereotyping and its impact on the delivery of health care and social services.

Rainbows in the clouds.

On October 14, 2007 master storyteller, scholar, and poet Maya Angelou launched the second Summit of Sages, hosted by the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. This event was a forum for people with a common interest in examining social justice--to become informed, engaged, and committed to action. Presented below are our separate, yet complementary, thoughts about the impact of her words.

BTNL2, a butyrophilin/B7-like molecule, is a negative costimulatory molecule modulated in intestinal inflammation.

Butyrophilin-like 2 (BTNL2) is a butyrophilin family member with homology to the B7 costimulatory molecules, polymorphisms of which have been recently associated through genetic analyses to sporadic inclusion body myositis and sarcoidosis. We have characterized the full structure, expression, and function of BTNL2. Structural analysis of BTNL2 shows a molecule with an extracellular region containing two sets of two Ig domains, a transmembrane region, and a previously unreported cytoplasmic tail. Unlike most other butyrophilin members, BTNL2 lacks the prototypical B30.2 ring domain. TaqMan and Northern blot analysis indicate BTNL2 is predominantly expressed in digestive tract tissues, in particular small intestine and Peyer's patches. Immunohistochemistry with BTNL2-specific Abs further localizes BTNL2 to epithelial and dendritic cells within these tissues. Despite its homology to the B7 family, BTNL2 does not bind any of the known B7 family receptors such as CD28, CTLA-4, PD-1, ICOS, or B and T lymphocyte attenuator. Because of its localization in the gut and potential role in the immune system, BTNL2 expression was analyzed in a mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease. BTNL2 is overexpressed during both the asymptomatic and symptomatic phase of the Mdr1a knockout model of spontaneous colitis. In functional assays, soluble BTNL2-Fc protein inhibits the proliferation of murine CD4(+) T cells from the spleen, mesenteric lymph node, and Peyer's patch. In addition, BTNL2-Fc reduces proliferation and cytokine production from T cells activated by anti-CD3 and B7-related protein 1. These data suggest a role for BTNL2 as a negative costimulatory molecule with implications for inflammatory disease.