Intersectionality

OBJECTIVE: While Black adolescent girls use drugs at much lower rates than White and Hispanic girls, Black adolescent girls often have worse health outcomes due to drug use. This study seeks to highlight the voices of Black adolescent girls in order to understand their unique risk factors for substance use and misuse. METHODS: Utilizing the intersectionality and ecological systems theoretical frameworks, the research team conducted twelve focus groups among a sample of Black adolescent girls ( N  = 62) between the ages of 13-18 ( M  = 15...

Since European settlement, the United States has controlled the reproduction of communities of color through tactics ranging from forced pregnancies, sterilizations, and abortions to immigration policies and policies that separate children from their families. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning), asexual, intersex, and gender diverse people (LGBTQIA+) have been persecuted for sexual behavior and gender expression, and also restricted from having children. In response, women of color and LGBTQIA+ communities have organized for Reproductive Justice (RJ) and liberation...

PURPOSE: This study examines correlates of experiences of hunger among adolescents in the United States (U.S) by the intersectionality of race/ethnicity with sociodemographic characteristics (gender, sexual identity, and adolescent/parent job loss) with the aim of identifying subgroups most at risk for hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This cross-sectional study uses nationally representative data from the Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES) collected from January to June 2021...

Studies investigating language commonly isolate one modality or process, focusing on comprehension or production. Here, we present a framework for a paradigm that combines both: the Concise Language Paradigm (CLaP), tapping into comprehension and production within one trial. The trial structure is identical across conditions, presenting a sentence followed by a picture to be named. We tested 21 healthy speakers with EEG to examine three time periods during a trial (sentence, pre-picture interval, picture onset), yielding contrasts of sentence comprehension, contextually and visually guided word retrieval, object recognition, and naming...

Stereodynamics is a field that studies the influence of the alignment or orientation of colliding partners on the results of collisions. At present, the intersection of nonadiabatic effects and stereodynamics remains to be explored. In this study, we theoretically demonstrate significant stereodynamical effects in the D + HD (v = 1, j = 2) → D2 + H reaction within the collision energy range of 0.01-2.99 eV by using the time-dependent wave packet method. It is found that the stereodynamical control not only facilitates the reaction but also allows precise control of the products over a range of different scattering angles...

The connectivity of urban river networks plays an important role in cities in many aspects, such as urban water safety, water quality (WQ), and aquatic ecological balance. This study focuses on the river network and the Majiawan Wetland in the Chaoyang District of Beijing by establishing a two-dimensional hydrological WQ model employing various water allocation schemes between the river network and the wetland. Water circulation and WQ are the main indexes, and the effects of different scenarios on improving water circulation and WQ are simulated and compared...

We explore the application of an extrapolative method that yields very accurate total and relative energies from variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (VMC and DMC) results. For a trial wave function consisting of a small configuration interaction (CI) wave function obtained from full CI quantum Monte Carlo and reoptimized in the presence of a Jastrow factor and an optional backflow transformation, we find that the VMC and DMC energies are smooth functions of the sum of the squared coefficients of the initial CI wave function and that quadratic extrapolations of the non-backflow VMC and backflow DMC energies intersect within uncertainty of the exact total energy...

BACKGROUND: Modern slavery is a largely hidden crime disproportionately affecting women and girls, with 71% of the world's enslaved people being female and approximately one third estimated to be pregnant. Healthcare professionals experience difficulties in caring for mothers affected by modern slavery, including asking appropriate questions and initiating discussions, making safe referrals, being uncertain about entitlements, and facing obstacles in accessing language support and specialist mental health services...

BACKGROUND: Previous research demonstrated that the numerical Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS) identifies large vessel occlusion (LVO) at similar rates compared to a limited number of stroke severity screening tools. We aimed to compare numerical CPSS to additional stroke scales using a national EMS database. METHODS: Using the ESO Data Collaborative, the largest EMS database with hospital linked data, we retrospectively analyzed prehospital patient records for the year 2022...

Self-determination plays an important role in outcomes in autism and shows intersectional disparities. Yet, little is known about the role of individual differences or social drivers of health in the development of self-determination. Understanding these factors is key for developing effective supports. This mixed-methods convergent study examined self-determination in racially and ethnically minoritized autistic individuals and caregivers. Participants ages 13 to 30 ( N = 73) varying widely in language and cognitive ability and caregivers ( n =52) completed the Self-Determination Inventory...

Friedreich's Ataxia (FRDA) is a neuromuscular degenerative disorder caused by trinucleotide expansions in the first intron of the frataxin (FXN) gene, resulting in insufficient levels of functional FNX protein. Deficits in FXN involve mitochondrial disruptions including iron-sulfur cluster synthesis and impaired energetics. These studies were to identify unique protein-protein interactions with FXN to better understand its function and design therapeutics. Two complementary approaches were employed, BioID and Co-IP, to identify protein interactions with FXN at the direct binding, indirect binding, and non-proximal levels...

Background Missouri is one of seven priority states identified by the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative, and St. Louis contains almost half of the people living with HIV (PLWH) in Missouri. As St. Louis has a marked history of structural racism and economic inequities, we utilized the Intersectionality Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) framework to guide a participatory needs assessment for planning and program development. Methods The planning team included researchers, the lead implementer from our community partner, and two community representatives, and had biweekly 60-90 minute meetings for 18 months...

INTRODUCTION: Screening for health-related social needs (HRSNs) within health systems is a widely accepted recommendation, however challenging to implement. Aggregate area-level metrics of social determinants of health (SDoH) are easily accessible and have been used as proxies in the interim. However, gaps remain in our understanding of the relationships between these measurement methodologies. This study assesses the relationships between three area-level SDoH measures, Area Deprivation Index (ADI), Social Deprivation Index (SDI) and Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), and individual HRSNs among patients within one large urban health system...

Psoriasis, a prevalent chronic inflammatory skin disorder affecting 2-3% of the global population, has transcended its dermatological confines, revealing a profound association with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This comprehensive review explores the intricate interplay between psoriasis and cardiovascular system, delving into genetic links, immune pathways, and adipose tissue dysfunction beyond conventional CVD risk factors. The pathophysiological connections unveil unique signatures, distinct from other inflammatory skin conditions, in particular psoriasis-specific genetic polymorphisms in IL-23 and TNF-α have consistently been linked to CVD...

High-impact genetic variants associated with neurodevelopmental disorders provide biologically-defined entry points for mechanistic investigation. The 3q29 deletion (3q29Del) is one such variant, conferring a 40-100-fold increased risk for schizophrenia, as well as high risk for autism and intellectual disability. However, the mechanisms leading to neurodevelopmental disability remain largely unknown. Here, we report the first in vivo quantitative neuroimaging study in individuals with 3q29Del (N = 24) and neurotypical controls (N = 1608) using structural MRI...

To investigate the ability of an auxiliary diagnostic model based on the YOLO-v7-based model in the classification of cervical lymphadenopathy images and compare its performance against qualitative visual evaluation by experienced radiologists. Three types of lymph nodes were sampled randomly but not uniformly. The dataset was randomly divided into for training, validation, and testing. The model was constructed with PyTorch. It was trained and weighting parameters were tuned on the validation set. Diagnostic performance was compared with that of the radiologists on the testing set...

In pursuit of sustainable protein sources, the agricultural sector and emerging edible insect industry intersect in the valorization of agricultural by-products. Establishing a mutually beneficial relationship involves utilizing agricultural by-products as feeding substrates for insect farming, potentially enhancing the sustainability of both sectors. In the present study, by-products from beer, rice, oat, maize, sunflower, and lucerne, as well as mill residues and spent mushroom substrate from the regions of Thessaly and Central Macedonia (Greece) were investigated as nutritional sources for the larvae of the yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor)...

OBJECTIVE: To characterize and analyze violence committed against Venezuelan immigrant female sex workers, from the perspective of an intersectional look at social class, gender and race-ethnicity. METHOD: Exploratory study with a qualitative approach. Data sources: interviews with 15 Venezuelan immigrant women sex workers and 37 Brazilian online media reports that addressed the topic. Data were submitted to thematic content analysis, with the support of Qualitative Data Analysis (WebQDA) software...

BACKGROUND: Transgender and non-binary (TGNB) people tend to report worse health than cis people, however, despite an increased need for care, they face several barriers when trying to access healthcare. These barriers might be exacerbated when young age intersects with a trans identity, and so there is a need for studies highlighting the experiences of TGNB youth. AIMS: To explore and compare how TGNB youth (15-26 years old) in Sweden and Spain experienced their access to healthcare, in order to shed light on the strengths and limitations of different kinds of healthcare systems and improve healthcare provision and policy development...

Diverse types of inhibitory interneurons (INs) impart computational power and flexibility to neocortical circuits. Whereas markers for different IN types in cortical layers 2-6 (L2-L6) have been instrumental for generating a wealth of functional insights, only the recent identification of a selective marker (neuron-derived neurotrophic factor [NDNF]) has opened comparable opportunities for INs in L1 (L1INs). However, at present we know very little about the connectivity of NDNF L1INs with other IN types, their input-output conversion, and the existence of potential NDNF L1IN subtypes...