The Genomic Landscape of a Restricted ALL Cohort from Patients Residing on the U.S./Mexico Border.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Grant AH
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8307122 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundRates of alcohol-related outcomes are sensitive to policy differences in politically distinct, adjacent territories. Factors that shape these cross-border effects, particularly when the policy differences are longstanding, remain poorly understood. We compared the ability of 2 classes of variables with theoretical relevance to the U.S.-Mexico border context-bar attendance and alcohol-related social-cognitive variables-to explain elevated drinking on the U.S. side of the border relative to other areas of the United States.MethodsData were collected from multistage cluster samples of adult Mexican Americans on and off the U.S.-Mexico border (current drinker N = 1,351). Structural equation models were used to test drinking context (frequency of bar attendance) and 6 different social-cognitive variables (including alcohol-related attitudes, norms, motives, and beliefs) as mediators of border effects on a composite drinking index.ResultsThe border effect on drinking varied by age (with younger adults showing a stronger effect), consistent with previous findings and known risk factors in the region. Contrary to theoretical expectations, 6 different social-cognitive variables-despite relating strongly with drinking-were comparable in border and nonborder areas (within and across age) and played no role in elevated drinking on the border. Conversely, elevated drinking among border youth was mediated by bar attendance. This mediated moderation effect held after adjusting for potential sociodemographic and neighborhood-level confounders.ConclusionsIncreased drinking among U.S.-Mexico border youth is explained by patterns of bar attendance, but not by more permissive alcohol-related social-cognitive variables in border areas: Border youth attend bars and drink more than their nonborder counterparts, despite having comparable alcohol-related beliefs, attitudes, norms, and motives for use. Alcohol's heightened availability and visibility on both sides of the border may create opportunities for border youth to drink that otherwise would not be considered.
| S-EPMC4245391 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionWhile a growing body of research examines individual factors affecting the prevalence and management of hypertension among Latinos, less is known about how socioecological factors operate to determine health and affect implementation of interventions in rural communities.MethodWe conducted eight focus groups to assess perceived risks and protective factors associated with managing hypertension among Latino adults and their family members living in two rural/frontier counties in the U.S.-Mexico border region. This analysis is part of a larger study, Corazon por la Vida (Heart for Life), which involved multiple data collection strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of a primary care and a promotora de salud intervention to manage hypertension.ResultsOf the 49 focus group participants, 70% were female and 30% were male, 39% were Spanish-only speakers, and 84% had hypertension. Participants' ages ranged between 18 and 75 years, and 63% reported annual incomes below $30,000. Drawing from a social-ecological framework to analyze focus group data, four major themes and subthemes emerged as factors facilitating or inhibiting disease management: (1) individual (emotional burdens, coping mechanisms), (2) social relationships (family as a source of support, family as a source of stress), (3) health system (trust/mistrust, patient-provider communication), and (4) environment (lack of access to safe exercise environment, lack of affordable food).ConclusionOur findings are relevant to public health practitioners, researchers, and policymakers seeking to shift from individual level or single interventions aimed at improving treatment-modality adherence to multilevel or multiple interventions for rural Latino communities.
| S-EPMC9197226 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:There is limited information on physical activity in marginalized older populations like that on the U.S.-Mexico border. This study aims to understand physical activity engagement among older Hispanics residing in two U.S.-Mexico Border counties. METHODS:The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to measure physical activity in El Paso and Cameron County, Texas. Physical activity levels were reported for vigorous, moderate, and walking met/mins. Adjusted and unadjusted modeling was conducted to determine county differences and sociodemographic covariates. RESULTS:There were 784 participants and 92.9% were less than 65 years of age. El Paso participants reported a significantly greater natural log met/mins of vigorous (? = 1.34, p = 0.000) and walking (? = 0.331, p = 0.006). Significant sociodemographic covariates in El Paso for vigorous met/mins were gender (females ? = -1.20, p = 0.003), having a regular doctor (? = -0.779, p = 0.029), and acculturation (? = 0.513, p = 0.019). Significant associations in Cameron County were having a regular doctor (? = -1.03, p = 0.000) and fair/poor health status (? = -0.475, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION:Level of physical activity may differ in older Hispanics by urban context on the U.S.-Mexico border. Future physical activity programs to promote physical activity should take context into consideration.
| S-EPMC6163189 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Transboundary zoonotic diseases, several of which are vector borne, can maintain a dynamic focus and have pathogens circulating in geographic regions encircling multiple geopolitical boundaries. Global change is intensifying transboundary problems, including the spatial variation of the risk and incidence of zoonotic diseases. The complexity of these challenges can be greater in areas where rivers delineate international boundaries and encompass transitions between ecozones. The Rio Grande serves as a natural border between the US State of Texas and the Mexican States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. Not only do millions of people live in this transboundary region, but also a substantial amount of goods and people pass through it everyday. Moreover, it occurs over a region that functions as a corridor for animal migrations, and thus links the Neotropic and Nearctic biogeographic zones, with the latter being a known foci of zoonotic diseases. However, the pathogenic landscape of important zoonotic diseases in the south Texas-Mexico transboundary region remains to be fully understood. An international perspective on the interplay between disease systems, ecosystem processes, land use, and human behaviors is applied here to analyze landscape and spatial features of Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Hantavirus disease, Lyme Borreliosis, Leptospirosis, Bartonellosis, Chagas disease, human Babesiosis, and Leishmaniasis. Surveillance systems following the One Health approach with a regional perspective will help identifying opportunities to mitigate the health burden of those diseases on human and animal populations. It is proposed that the Mexico-US border along the Rio Grande region be viewed as a continuum landscape where zoonotic pathogens circulate regardless of national borders.
| S-EPMC4233934 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundConcerns regarding the health impact of urban air pollution on asthmatic children are pronounced along the U.S.-Mexico border because of rapid population growth near busy border highways and roads.ObjectivesWe conducted the first binational study of the impacts of air pollution on asthmatic children in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, USA, and compared different exposure metrics to assess acute respiratory response.MethodsWe recruited 58 asthmatic children from two schools in Ciudad Juarez and two schools in El Paso. A marker of airway inflammation [exhaled nitric oxide (eNO)], respiratory symptom surveys, and pollutant measurements (indoor and outdoor 48-hr size-fractionated particulate matter, 48-hr black carbon, and 96-hr nitrogen dioxide) were collected at each school for 16 weeks. We examined associations between the pollutants and respiratory response using generalized linear mixed models.ResultsWe observed small but consistent associations between eNO and numerous pollutant metrics, with estimated increases in eNO ranging from 1% to 3% per interquartile range increase in pollutant concentrations. Effect estimates from models using school-based concentrations were generally stronger than corresponding estimates based on concentrations from ambient air monitors. Both traffic-related and non-traffic-related particles were typically more robust predictors of eNO than was nitrogen dioxide, for which associations were highly sensitive to model specification. Associations differed significantly across the four school-based cohorts, consistent with heterogeneity in pollutant concentrations and cohort characteristics. Models examining respiratory symptoms were consistent with the null.ConclusionsThe results indicate adverse effects of air pollution on the subclinical respiratory health of asthmatic children in this region and provide preliminary support for the use of air pollution monitors close to schools to track exposure and potential health risk in this population.
| S-EPMC3295334 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents health care challenges to asylum seekers living in congregate encampments, including those along the U.S.-Mexico border. It is necessary to understand the impact of the pandemic among this population to address health care needs, reduce transmission, and diminish COVID-19-related morbidity. Methods: Thirty interviews were conducted with asylum seekers and health care professionals in a temporary camp in Matamoros, Mexico to determine challenges, perceptions, and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were coded in NVivo12 by using a team-based approach. Results: The pandemic caused significant mental health burdens but no perceived adverse physical effects, with the U.S. border closure and health care access barriers as more pressing concerns. Participants reported access to information about COVID-19 but had varied levels of knowledge and adherence to disease reduction strategies due to camp conditions. Most participants believed that they had special protection from COVID-19, including strong immune systems or from God. The nongovernmental organizations providing health care and sanitation faced multiple challenges to implement new policies to manage COVID-19. The institution of required temperature checks and quarantine of COVID-19 positive patients led to distrust, decreased seeking of health care services among asylum seekers, and possible underreporting of COVID-19 cases. Conclusion: Our findings among asylum seekers in a Matamoros camp highlight the challenges to implementing disease reduction policies in low-resource congregate camps. Policies to address disease outbreaks focusing on the social determinants of health, health care access barriers, and community engagement may be more acceptable to asylum seekers, suggesting the need for effective strategies to provide prevention information that complements such measures.
| S-EPMC8080921 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A total of 1,090 residents of the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, on the Mexico-U.S. border presented at hospitals and clinics of the Secretariat of Health, Mexico, in 2015 with symptoms characteristic of dengue. Dengue virus (DENV) antigen was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in acute sera from 134 (12.3%) patients. Sera from select patients (N = 34) were also tested for chikungunya virus (CHIKV) RNA by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Thirteen (38.2%) patients, including five DENV antigen-positive patients, were positive. Sera from three CHIKV RNA-positive patients were further assayed by virus isolation in cell culture and CHIKV was recovered on each occasion. The genome of one isolate and structural genes of the other two isolates were sequenced. In conclusion, we present evidence of CHIKV and DENV coinfections in patients who live near the Mexico-U.S. border and provide the first genome sequence of a CHIKV isolate from northern Mexico.
| S-EPMC6085774 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeReceipt of alcohol-related care for alcohol use is particularly low among those residing in the U.S.-Mexico border region. One reason for this disparity may be limited treatment accessibility, making it difficult for those who need it to access needed treatment. The current study assesses whether differences in treatment utilization are mediated by differences in treatment accessibility in cities within and outside of the border region.MethodsWe used data from the U.S.-Mexico Study of Alcohol and Related Conditions involving a probability sample of Mexican-origin adults surveyed in three cities in Texas (2011-2013). We included only participants with a lifetime history of alcohol use disorder (AUD) (n = 792). We examined two lifetime measures of self-reported alcohol treatment utilization: considering getting help for an alcohol problem and receipt of treatment. We geocoded locations of facilities listed in the SAMHSA National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Facilities. We considered three types of facilities: any outpatient treatment, programs offering fee assistance, and programs offering Spanish-language services. We measured treatment accessibility by density of treatment (i.e., number of facilities within a 20-mile radius of participant's residence) and proximity to treatment (i.e., travel time to nearest facility). We assessed direct and indirect effects of two cities in the border region (versus one nonborder city) on the outcomes through treatment accessibility using generalized structural equation models that accounted for clustering of respondents in cities and in neighborhoods, weighted for sampling and nonresponse and adjusted for covariates.ResultsOf 792 respondents with lifetime AUD, 22% had considered getting help and 11% had received treatment, with consideration of getting help being less likely in cities in the border region. We observed no significant differences in treatment receipt across cities. Reduced densities of all three types of treatment programs were significant mediators for the effect of residing in a border region on considering getting help. Time to nearest Spanish-language program also mediated the effect of residing in a border region on considering getting help for one city.ConclusionsBorder cities had lower density of treatment and because treatment density was positively associated with considering getting help, residence in a city in the border region was associated with lower odds of considering getting help, regardless of type of treatment. These findings suggest increasing the number of treatment locations available within cities along the U.S.-Mexico border may encourage those with AUD to consider getting help.
| S-EPMC8459699 | biostudies-literature
Project description:There is increasing evidence that depression may affect diet. However, little is known about the association between depression and diet quality among foreign-born Latinas. We hypothesized that depressive symptoms would be associated with poorer diet quality in foreign-born Latinas. Furthermore, we believed that physical activity (PA) would have a protective effect on diet quality for individuals experiencing depressive symptoms. Our study evaluated the diet (Healthy Eating Index) and PA (Actigraph GT3X activity monitors) of 534 foreign-born Latinas with and without depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale). A series of logistic regression models were estimated to examine our hypotheses. As predicted, Latinas who were depressed had significantly lower odds of having a high-quality diet than non-depressed Latinas. Unexpectedly, among Latinas who met PA guidelines, depressed Latinas had a significantly lower probability of having higher-quality diets than their non-depressed counterparts. Our findings support current research stating that depressive symptoms are associated with lower Healthy Eating Index scores. More research is necessary to elucidate the relationship between PA and dietary quality of depressed Latinas. Innovative approaches to address mental health and the stressors that can compound its severity are needed to improve diet quality among foreign-born Latina women.
| S-EPMC6627936 | biostudies-literature
Project description:HIV prevalence is increasing among high-risk populations in the Mexican-U.S. border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez. In 2005, the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 was studied among injecting drug users (IDU) and female sex workers (FSW) in these cities, which are corridors for over two-thirds of the migrant flow between Mexico and the United States. Eleven samples (eight IDU and three FSW) were successfully amplified, sequenced, and analyzed. The results revealed that all 11 samples were subtype B. There was no phylogenetic clustering or separation of the strains between IDU and FSW or between Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez nor was the Mexican strain phylogenetically distinct from other subtype B strains. Two of three drug naive FSWs had low-level HIV-1 resistance mutations. This community-based study demonstrated that HIV-positive IDUs and FSWs in Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana were predominantly infected with subtype B. Further prevalence studies on HIV-1 resistance mutations among FSWs in these border cities are warranted.
| S-EPMC2734975 | biostudies-literature