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Tag: Race and ethnicity

  • Mailed testing kits double cervical cancer screening

    Mailed testing kits double cervical cancer screening

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    Newswise — CHAPEL HILL, NC — Researchers at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center found mailing human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection tests and offering assistance to book in-clinic screening appointments to under-screened, low-income women improved cervical cancer screening nearly two-fold compared to scheduling assistance alone. Scheduling assistance primarily consisted of helping to book an appointment for in-person screening at a clinic, regardless of whether an at-home test was offered or returned, or whether the HPV test was negative or positive.

    The findings from the randomized trial appeared May 11, 2023, in Lancet Public Health.

    “My hope going into this study was that mailing kits for home-based collection might increase cervical cancer screening, but we were thrilled to find a nearly two-fold increase in screening uptake,” said UNC Lineberger’s Jennifer S. Smith, PhD, MPH, professor of epidemiology at UNC’s Gillings and corresponding author of this study. “Many hadn’t engaged in the screening system for a while and getting the kit to their homes helped break down a fundamental barrier.”

    An estimated 14,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in the United States this year, according to the National Cancer Institute, and the cancer will lead to more than 4,300 deaths. Cervical cancer disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic women, with Hispanic women having the highest incidence rates, and Black women having the highest mortality rates for the disease in North Carolina and in the United States. Most cervical cancers occur among under-screened women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate 22% of eligible adults in the U.S. are overdue for screening.

    The My Body, My Test-3 study recruited 665 women, ages 25 to 64, who were uninsured or enrolled in Medicaid or Medicare, from 22 counties across North Carolina. The women had low incomes and most of them lived in urban areas. None had a pap test in four years or a high-risk HPV test in six years, making them overdue for screening.

    Two-thirds of the women received mailed HPV self-collection kits followed by assistance with scheduling a screening appointment at a clinic. The other third received screening scheduling assistance alone. The primary outcome was attending an in-clinic screening appointment or testing HPV-negative with self-collected samples within six months of enrollment in the trial.

    Screening uptake was 72% among women who received mailed HPV kits compared to 37% for the other group of women. The investigators found that the effect of self-collection outreach on screening uptake didn’t vary across age, race/ethnicity, time since last screening, Medicaid or Medicare insurance coverage, or education.

    “Home screening for cervical cancer puts women in control. Most can avoid having to go to a doctor’s appointment. These at-home kits can better reach people without access to screening, who are embarrassed by a cervical exam, or whose religious beliefs include modesty,” said study co-author Noel T. Brewer, PhD, Gillings Distinguished Professor in Public Health and UNC Lineberger member.

    “We believe our results are applicable to low-income, under-screened women across the United States,” Smith said. “We’re now working with clinical partners to identify women who might be overdue for screening through electronic medical records. We hope to provide the option of either mailing them a self-collection kit to use at-home to mail back to us or hand a kit directly to them when they come into clinics for other services with the vision to eventually make self-collection a regular clinical provision.” 

    The UNC researchers also hope their findings, together with previous research findings, will spur the Food and Drug Administration to consider approving HPV self-collection as a primary screening test for cervical cancer in the U.S.

    Authors and Disclosures

    In addition to Smith and Brewer, the other authors are Peyton K. Pretsch, MPH, Lisa P. Spees, PhD, Michael G. Hudgens, PhD, Busola Sanusi, MA, Eliane Rohner, PhD, Elyse Miller, MPH, Sarah L. Jackson, MPH, and Stephanie B. Wheeler, PhD, MPH, UNC; Lynn Barclay, American Sexual Health Association, Research Triangle Park, NC; and Alicia Carter, MD, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Burlington, NC.

    The My Body My Test-3 trial was funded by the R01CA183891 grant from the National Cancer Institute. HPV testing reagents, media for self-collected sample preservation and liquid-based cytology media and cervical sample collection brushes were donated by Hologic, Inc. Self-collection brushes were donated by Rovers Medical Devices.

    Smith has received research grants, supply donations and consultancies for Hologic, Inc., BD Diagnostics and Rovers Medical Devices in the past five years. Barclay works for the American Sexual Health Association which receives funding from Hologic. Neither Hologic, BD nor Rovers had input into the research design, analysis or interpretation of results. Wheeler receives grant support from Pfizer for unrelated projects. The other authors declared no conflicts of interest.

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    UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

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  • Immigration experts on Title 42, analysis of immigration policies, and other migrant news in the Immigration Channel

    Immigration experts on Title 42, analysis of immigration policies, and other migrant news in the Immigration Channel

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    Title 42, the United States pandemic rule that had been used to immediately deport hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed the border illegally over the last three years, has expired. Those migrants will have the opportunity to apply for asylum. President Biden’s new rules to replace Title 42 are facing legal challenges. The US Homeland Security Department announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, to qualify for asylum. Border crossings have already risen sharply, as many migrants attempted to cross before the measure expired on Thursday night. Some have said they worry about tighter controls and uncertainty ahead. Immigration is once again a major focus of the media as we examine the humanitarian, political, and public health issues migrants must face. 

    Below are some of the latest headlines in the Immigration channel on Newswise.

    Expert Commentary

    Experts Available on Ending of Title 42

    George Washington University Experts on End of Title 42

    ‘No one wins when immigrants cannot readily access healthcare’

    URI professor discusses worsening child labor in the United States

    Biden ‘between a rock and a hard place’ on immigration

    University of Notre Dame Expert Available to Comment on House Bill Regarding Immigration Legislation, Border Safety and Security Act

    American University Experts Available to Discuss President Biden’s Visit to U.S.-Mexico Border

    Title 42 termination ‘overdue’, not ‘effective’ to manage migration

    Research and Features

    Study: Survey Methodology Should Be Calibrated to Account for Negative Attitudes About Immigrants and Asylum-Seekers

    A study analyses racial discrimination in job recruitment in Europe

    DACA has not had a negative impact on the U.S. job market

    ASBMB cautions against drastic immigration fee increases

    Study compares NGO communication around migration

    Collaboration, support structures needed to address ‘polycrisis’ in the Americas

    TTUHSC El Paso Faculty Teach Students While Caring for Migrants

    Immigrants Report Declining Alcohol Use during First Two Years after Arriving in U.S.

    How asylum seeker credibility is assessed by authorities

    Speeding up and simplifying immigration claims urgently needed to help with dire situation for migrants experiencing homelessness

    Training Individuals to Work in their Communities to Reduce Health Disparities

    ‘Regulation by reputation’: Rating program can help combat migrant abuse in the Gulf

    Migration of academics: Economic development does not necessarily lead to brain drain

    How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected immigration?

    Immigrants with Darker Skin Tones Perceive More Discrimination

     

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    Newswise

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  • For Buffalo shooting victims’ kin, Mother’s Day is a reminder of loss, a lesson in navigating grief

    For Buffalo shooting victims’ kin, Mother’s Day is a reminder of loss, a lesson in navigating grief

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tirzah Patterson will dedicate this Mother’s Day to the hardest part of a mother’s job, trying to help her child make sense of tragedy.

    Patterson and her husband had divorced but remained close for the sake of their son. Then Heyward Patterson was gunned down along with nine people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket a year ago Sunday.

    Tirzah and 13-year-old Jaques “Jake” Patterson recently opened up about coping with immense grief after a mass shooting, an unceasing story across the nation.

    Jake’s compass through grief, his mother has told him, should be his faith and prayer. That guidance would serve so many mothers and fathers as the death toll from gun violence in America climbs and spreads, she said.

    A beloved church deacon known for offering rides home from the supermarket for people without cars, Heyward Patterson made a heartfelt call to his ex-wife last Mother’s Day, telling his ex-wife what a great mother she was and how happy he was about how she was raising his son.

    “He poured his heart out to me and, a week later, he left,” Patterson said. “He gave me closure.”

    “He probably didn’t know why he was doing it,” she said. “God knows.”

    The May 14 assault-rifle attack on Tops Friendly Market was one of the most brazen race-motivated atrocities in modern U.S. history.

    “What I’ve been doing with Jake is constantly reinforcing and reiterating that this is a healing process,” Tirzah said while seated next to her son in their East Buffalo home.

    “You will never forget (your dad). He may not be here physically, but he will always be in your heart.”

    Heyward Patterson, 67, had two adult daughters. Jake, his youngest child, was his only son.

    “He used to call him, ‘Boy.’ He never called him by his name,” Tirzah recalled as a wide grin spread across her son’s face.

    “I would say, ‘You’re going to make that boy think his name is Boy!’”

    “He’s truly missed,” she added.

    Heyward was at the Tops Friendly Market assisting a shopper with groceries when he was shot and killed by an assault-rifle-toting white supremacist. The nine others killed, all Black, ranged in age from 32 to 86. The attacker, Payton Gendron, was 18 when he drove more than 200 miles from his home in rural New York, looking for Black people to kill in Buffalo’s largely minority and working-class East side.

    In February, Gendron was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to murder and other charges brought by local prosecutors. A federal criminal hate crimes case is still pending, as U.S. Justice Department officials weigh whether to seek the death penalty if Gendron is convicted.

    The city of Buffalo will pause Sunday to mark the passing of one year since the attack. Events include a moment of silence and the chiming of church bells. Tirzah said she and Jake hadn’t planned on participating in events locally.

    She hasn’t burdened Jake with details of the criminal cases. Tirzah is much more focused on her son’s mental health.

    “Right now, he’s being very fearful, very low key. He doesn’t really like to go out,” she said. “So I’m trying to teach him that that one incident doesn’t mean it’s going to happen all the time, or if you go out, something’s going to happen.

    “I want him to grow up and be the best he can, because he’s very smart, very gifted.”

    Nearly a year ago, during a press conference with the Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights attorney Ben Crump and other shooting victims’ families, a grief-stricken Tirzah wondered whether she was cut out to raise Jake without her ex-husband’s help.

    “His heart is broken, he half eats, he half sleeps,” she tearfully told reporters, with Jake, then 12, at her side, his face covered with his hands.

    “As a mother, what am I supposed to do to help him get through this? I need a village to help me raise and be here for my son,” she pleaded.

    In the AP interview, Jake said his appetite is much improved. His go-to McDonald’s order includes a crispy McChicken sandwich, a large fries and a large Coke.

    He’s an avid gamer. On the weekends, his older brother, Tirzah’s son from another relationship, takes Jake to kickboxing lessons. And the teen is interested in becoming a musician.

    Heyward Patterson had a talent for singing in church. His son still cries when he hears certain songs during Sunday service. But other memories bring smiles and laughs.

    Heyward was not a talented cook, Jake said laughing, recalling how his father once badly burned Spam, the canned meat. Jake’s trips to the movies with Dad and Mom were always funny, because Heyward would spill so much theater popcorn around his seat that you’d be forgiven for thinking children had been sitting there.

    Still, there are moments where grief and sadness hit Jake unexpectedly. As an adolescent, he copes the best way he can and has advice for others his age grappling with the same feelings.

    “I would just say, don’t really think about it too much. If you feel like it’s about to come, if you feel you’re about to cry or something, play (a game) or listen to some music to escape. Get your mind to escape from it.”

    Jake paused and then added, “Just keep moving on.”

    At Tirzah and Jake’s home, an apartment located just a few blocks northeast of Tops Friendly Market, several award plaques honoring Heyward lean against a TV stand. A large picture of the church deacon, displayed on an easel, overlooks the kitchen. The placement of these reminders of him are all deliberate, Tirzah said.

    One memento that Jake cherishes more than others is a large woven blanket that bears an image of him and his father: a smiling Heyward sporting a black skull cap, a pair of tinted glasses, a salt-and-pepper goatee, a tan colored check patterned suit with pink necktie and handkerchief.

    An inscription woven next to Jake and his dad reads, in part, “My Father taught me everything I know except how to live without him.”

    “I haven’t slept with this cover yet, Mom,” Jake said, holding the blanket up for display. “It’s just on the bed.”

    This Mother’s Day, the 13-year-old has a glowing review, or rather a score, for his mom. Nine thousand points out of a possible 10,000, he said.

    Tirzah grinned.

    “What keeps us going is the joy, the memories, the good memories we have, the laughter,” she said. “So, anybody that experiences this: Pray, keep God first and just take one day at a time. Because after a while, it’ll get better.”

    ___

    Aaron Morrison is a New York-based member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison

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  • Free speech, racial equity battles play out on Wisconsin campuses

    Free speech, racial equity battles play out on Wisconsin campuses

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    MADISON, Wis. — MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The fight over racial equity and free speech on Wisconsin college campuses is intensifying, mirroring a national battle as Republicans work to close campus diversity offices and demand students and faculty treat conservative speakers with respect.

    In just the past two weeks, the state’s top Republican announced a push to defund the University of Wisconsin System’s diversity efforts — a move the Democratic governor lambasted as ridiculous. A student from UW-Madison posted racial slurs online, triggering bitter protests but no announced discipline. And a state medical college canceled a diversity symposium featuring Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson out of concerns the discussion would be too disruptive, resulting in cries of bias from conservatives.

    Amid that backdrop, Republican legislative leaders are set to hold a hearing Thursday with only invited speakers to discuss “how the lack of free speech and intellectual diversity on college campuses affects the quality of higher education.” The speakers include John Sailer, policy director at the National Association of Scholars, a conservative group that advocates against diversity policies, and Tim Higgins, a former UW regent appointed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

    “I think people are talking about viewpoint diversity as being as important or more important than other types of diversity,” said Republican Rep. David Murphy, chairman of the state Assembly’s colleges committee, who will preside over the hearing. “And I think (diversity efforts aren’t) showing any benefits.”

    Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, said it’s disheartening to see a hearing on free speech with only invited speakers. She said the GOP is trying to paint diversity offices as giving minorities an unfair advantage when they’re only trying to help everyone understand a broad range of perspectives.

    “Contrary to those opposed to these offices, our work includes protecting free speech,” she said.

    Republicans argue that diversity offices, designed to help minorities navigate academia, only heighten racial tensions. And the GOP has maintained for years that colleges don’t give conservative presenters the same opportunities as liberals to speak on campus.

    A survey released in February by the UW System, which includes 13 four-year schools, found almost half of the students who responded at least somewhat agree that administrators should bar controversial speakers if some students find the message offensive.

    The issues have bubbled to the forefront this month, starting with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ announcement last week that he wants to defund campus diversity offices. He called the offices a waste of taxpayer dollars and said they exacerbate the racial divide.

    Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has called Vos’ proposal “ridiculous,” but Vos’ plan tracks with a national GOP push to dismantle campus diversity offices.

    Republican lawmakers in at least a dozen states have proposed more than 30 diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using the bill-tracking software Plural. Some proposals would ban DEI offices or any funding for them. Others would forbid administrators from considering diversity as part of the hiring or admissions process.

    Around the same time as Vos’ announcement, a white UW-Madison student posted a racist screed online in which she said she wants to see some Black people enslaved so she can abuse them. The post triggered two days of protests on Wisconsin’s flagship campus with students demanding the student be expelled. University officials condemned the posting but said they can’t take action against legal free speech.

    Meanwhile, officials at the Medical College of Wisconsin decided to cancel Friday’s campus symposium focusing on “the uses and abuses” of government-sponsored diversity programming on college campuses and in medical, science and tech education.

    The college’s president, John Raymond Sr., sent a message May 4 to students and staff saying he canceled the symposium because discussions about the event have become “unacceptably disruptive.” Raymond issued the message on the same day as one of the UW-Madison protests.

    Johnson was slated to take part in the symposium along with Sailer, who posted a copy of a letter that faculty sent to Raymond on April 30 saying they opposed the “pseudo-academic and potentially harmful meeting.”

    “Discourse that is politically motivated and not rooted in evidence adds nothing to the MCW learning community and makes our learners feel unsafe,” the letter said.

    Sailer tweeted that the letter was a “textbook hecklers veto.” Johnson’s office said the symposium will now be held online but the senator said in a statement that he hopes to meet with medical college leaders to discuss why they felt they couldn’t host the event.

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  • Havasupai Tribe in Arizona marks a spiritual homecoming: ‘We are still the Grand Canyon’

    Havasupai Tribe in Arizona marks a spiritual homecoming: ‘We are still the Grand Canyon’

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    GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — Carletta Tilousi hit the trail as the sun rose, the light revealing a grouping of cottonwood and ash trees deep in the Grand Canyon.

    Birds soared above and reptiles scampered across the rocks as the canyon walls grew taller and taller behind her. This was home, yet she rarely had been there over the years.

    “I can’t believe how far I’ve come, it’s amazing,” she said about halfway through the 4.5-mile hike over steep, rocky terrain. “I can’t believe my ancestors used to do this all the time.”

    The journey was both emotional and celebratory. She remembered the words of her uncle, the late Rex Tilousi, who told stories of Havasupai people being forced out of what’s now Grand Canyon National Park. But that day she was hiking with joy at a pivotal moment in the tribe’s relationship with the National Park Service — headed toward a private ceremony rededicating a popular campground as Havasupai Gardens or “Ha’a Gyoh” in the Havasupai language.

    The name change from Indian Garden came in November after the tribe lobbied for years to reclaim a part of its heritage and force a historical reckoning over the treatment of the Havasupai people, the last of whom the park service removed in 1928 from their onetime farmlands.

    Descendants of the last Havasupai man to leave, Captain Burro, recall how he carried watermelon in a basket to sell to tourists and how his heart broke when he was ordered to leave. Some family members later changed the name Burro, Spanish for “donkey,” to Tilousi, or “storyteller.”

    Park Superintendent Ed Keable acknowledged the removal and sometimes violent injustices over decades on the part of the federal government. Speaking after the ceremony at Havasupai Gardens last Friday, he said the renaming marked a new era of collaboration with Havasupai and other Native American tribes associated with the canyon.

    “That took some time to build some trust because of the history of how this land was established as a national park, against the will of the people who have lived here since time immemorial,” Keable said.

    The Havasupai Tribe was landless for a time after the removal until the federal government set aside a plot in the depths of the Grand Canyon for tribal members. It was slashed to less than a square mile (2.6 square kilometers) and, nearly a century later, enlarged substantially in 1975 in what was one of the biggest land transfers to a tribe.

    Today about 500 of the nearly 770 tribal members live in Supai Village on the reservation adjacent to the Grand Canyon, so remote it can be reached only by foot, mule or helicopter.

    It’s known for the towering waterfalls that give the Havasupai, or Havasu ‘Baaja, their name — “people of the blue-green waters.” Thousands of tourists from around the world visit annually, providing the tribe’s largest source of income.

    Events marking the rededication of Havasupai Gardens began last Thursday, when dozens of tribal members and others gathered for a public event at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Dancers from the Guardians of the Grand Canyon, a traditional and multigenerational group, performed, with men wearing ram horns representing the bighorn sheep that roam the canyon, and women carrying woven baskets. Bells on their feet jingled as they moved in a circle.

    Many had their faces marked with red ochre, a pigment from the walls of the Grand Canyon that by tradition is tied to everything from a child’s birth and its first steps to protection and as an expression of beauty.

    “No matter where we go, where we are, we are still the Grand Canyon,” said Rochelle Tilousi, a great, great, great granddaughter of Burro and a cousin of Carletta Tilousi.

    “It is our home, it is our land and it is our well-being,” said another cousin, tribal Vice Chairman Edmond Tilousi.

    That evening and the following morning, a smaller group traveled below the rim for the private ceremony, descending 3,000 feet (900 meters) on a hike that typically takes two to four hours. Some went by foot, while others took a quick ride on a helicopter.

    Carletta Tilousi trekked steadily along the rocky switchbacks, stopping occasionally to rest and talk to fellow hikers. One said the Havasupai Gardens name would be hard to get used to.

    She arrived at Ha’a Gyoh just as the helicopter landed, smiling broadly as a handful of Havasupai got off. She and Ophelia Watahomigie-Corliss introduced themselves to the canyon, greeted the ancient beings in prayer next to a creek and joined others in letting the canyon know it was never forgotten despite the displacement of their people.

    “We have always maintained our connection to this place, not by showing or by boasting. It’s just that we came here and we did our prayers, we did our songs on the rim,” said Dianna Sue Uqualla, an elder who participated in the blessing at a small amphitheater off Bright Angel Trail. “Through that, I think the spirits heard and awoke and said, ‘Yes, you are still here.’”

    Her brother, Uqualla — who goes by a single name — sat with a drum before a fire pit and next to a set of antlers holding a water-filled gourd, preparing to conduct the ceremony.

    He encouraged those present to set aside their egos, to see the canyon as a source of medicine and hear it, feel it. And also to connect to the elements that Havasupai view as relatives — trees, rocks, birds, clouds, wind.

    “When your heart is open, it’s a master receiver of everything,” said Uqualla, who had been making monthly pilgrimages to the canyon at each full moon. “What is coming through is the speak of all that is down here.”

    A few hikers wandered into the amphitheater, and he assured them that anyone who was there was meant to be.

    Kris Siyuja, 14, took seriously his duties over the two days of events, which included untying bundles of sage, carrying a staff and tapping a drum that he said would amplify Havasupai voices.

    “One day the grandparents, the parents and some of the family members might pass away, and they’ll just have to carry on that tradition … wearing the headdress, the regalia, and just walking in their footsteps,” Siyuja said of his generation.

    As the sage was lit, Uqualla placed red ochre and corn pollen in the fire. Tribal members guided the smoke using a bundle of feathers onto themselves as a blessing. They prayed and sang in Havasupai and in English. Before leaving, they placed a staff on a hillside to honor the spirits.

    Some signs nearby already bore the Havasupai Gardens name among the lush landscape that includes a campground and cabins, one of which Keable recently set aside for Havasupai members to use. More signs and programming is planned with history as told by the tribe, according to park officials.

    It parallels a broader trend in which the park has been working with nearly a dozen Native American tribes with ties to the Grand Canyon on exhibits, cultural demonstrations and first-person audio and video. The work has gained the attention of other national park units such as the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore in California, plus the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association, said Jan Balsom, Grand Canyon’s chief of communications, partnerships and external affairs.

    “The more of this we have provided, the more the visiting public is interested,” Balsom said.

    Carletta Tilousi wants to see more Havasupai involved in shaping how the Grand Canyon and its resources are managed, something that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet-level official, has pushed for within federal agencies.

    At Ha’a Gyoh, Tilousi imagines a return to traditional farming with apricot trees, melons, corn and sunflowers. She has also pushed for the Havasupai language to be on maps, posters and ranger badges.

    The day after her emotional trek, she awoke with a sense of calmness knowing she and others had returned home and the canyon recognized their voices, songs and prayers.

    “It was a very growing experience that I’ll probably hold dear to my heart for a long time, and I’d like to return sooner than later,” Tilousi said. “I want to take full advantage of getting to know the trail more, feeling the animals, the air, enjoying the environment.”

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  • New mammogram guidelines are a move in the right direction but not perfect, according to leading breast cancer radiologist

    New mammogram guidelines are a move in the right direction but not perfect, according to leading breast cancer radiologist

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    Linda Hovanessian Larsen, MD, a breast cancer radiologist with Keck Medicine of USC and the director of the Division of Breast Imaging at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is available to talk about the new guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommending mammography starting at age 40 rather than 50. 

    According to Larsen:

    “The new guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommending mammography starting at age 40 rather than 50 are a significant benefit to patients and physicians that will help better address the disparities in breast cancer screening and treatment among Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American and Alaskan Native women.  

    “However, as a breast cancer radiologist, I strongly believe, in accordance with the American College of Radiology, that mammography should be performed annually rather than every other year in women of average risk to detect breast cancer earlier. 

    “In addition, breast imaging physicians with Keck Medicine often provide supplemental screenings using ultrasounds or MRIs in addition to mammograms for women with dense breasts because they are at a higher risk for developing cancer. 

    “Nevertheless, these new guidelines are moving in the right direction.”

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    Keck Medicine of USC

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  • Fighting Racial Bias in Next-Gen Breast Cancer Screening #ASA184

    Fighting Racial Bias in Next-Gen Breast Cancer Screening #ASA184

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    Newswise — CHICAGO, May 9, 2023 – Breast cancer is one of the most common and deadly types of cancer, and the best outcomes stem from early detection. But some screening techniques may be less effective for people with darker skin.

    Seonyeong Park of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will discuss experiments to measure this bias in her talk, “Virtual imaging trials to investigate impact of skin color on three-dimensional optoacoustic tomography of the breast.” The presentation will take place Tuesday, May 9, at 6:15 p.m. Eastern U.S. in room Chicago F/G, as part of the 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America running May 8-12 at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile Hotel.

    Current standard screening for breast cancer is done with X-ray mammography, which can be uncomfortable and is less effective on dense breast tissue. An alternative, optoacoustic tomography, uses laser light to induce sound vibrations in breast tissue. The vibrations can be measured and analyzed to spot tumors. This method is safe and effective and does not require compression during imaging.

    The technology that underlies OAT imaging is not new; it has been used in pulse oximetry for decades. Concerns about its interaction with darker skin have existed for almost as long.

    “In 1990, a study found that pulse oximetry was about 2.5 times less accurate in patients with dark skin,” said Park. “Recently, an article suggested that unreliable measurements from pulse oximeters may have contributed to increased mortality rates in Black patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

    With OAT emerging as an effective breast cancer screening method, Park and her team, led by professors Mark Anastasio at UIUC and Umberto Villa at the University of Texas at Austin, collaborating with professor Alexander Oraevsky of TomoWave Laboratories, Inc. in Houston, wanted to determine if this same bias was present. Rather than navigate the cost and ethics issues surrounding human test subjects, the team instead simulated a range of skin colors and tumor locations.

    “By using an ensemble of realistic numerical breast phantoms, i.e., digital breasts, the evaluation can be conducted rapidly and cost-effectively,” said Park.

    The results confirmed that tumors could be harder to locate in individuals with darker skin depending on the design of the OAT imager and the location of the tumor. Fortunately, a virtual framework developed by Park allows for more comprehensive investigations and can serve as a tool for evaluating and optimizing new OAT imaging systems in their early stages of development.

    “To improve detectability in dark skin, the laser power should be increased,” said Park. “It is recommended that skin color-dependent detectability should be evaluated when designing new OAT breast imagers. Our team is actively conducting in-depth investigations utilizing our virtual framework to propose effective strategies for designing imaging systems that can help mitigate racial bias in OAT breast imaging.”

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    ———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————–

    Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/ 
    Technical program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASASPRING23&proof=true   

    ASA PRESS ROOM

    In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/. 

    LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS

    ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are summaries (300-500 words) of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

    PRESS REGISTRATION

    ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at [email protected].  For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

    ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

    The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

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  • Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Representation and Salary among Academic Cardiothoracic Surgeons

    Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Representation and Salary among Academic Cardiothoracic Surgeons

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    Newswise — The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. A wealth of data has shown that diversity in the physician workforce improves patient care, safety, physician well-being, and innovation; and fair compensation is essential to culturing a diverse workforce.

    To learn more about how race and ethnicity are related to compensation, diverse group of academic cardiothoracic surgeons led by Cherie P. Erkmen, MD, of Temple University, looked at the racial and ethnic representation among academic cardiothoracic surgeons. The group also analyzed salaries of cardiothoracic surgeons based on race/ethnicity. 

    Dr. Erkmen and her team looked at cross-sectional data collected by Association of American Medical Colleges Faculty Data for U.S. Medical Schools, which reported academic rank, race/ethnicity, and mean and median compensation. Their analysis reveals low diversity in the cardiothoracic workforce, especially at the advanced academic rank of professor. Black/African American cardiothoracic surgeons had lower salary than their colleagues, a difference that persisted at all academic ranks. Hispanic/LatinX and Asian cardiothoracic surgeons at lower academic ranks also experienced salary disparity, but equal or greater salaries compared with their colleagues when achieving the academic ranks of associate professor or professor. According to Dr. Erkmen, “These data demonstrate that the relationship between race/ethnicity and compensation is complex. Future studies are needed to understand mechanisms of salary disparity.” Dr. Erkmen concluded, “Our profession and our patients will benefit from a diverse workforce. Hopefully our work will someday lead to the development of best practices for equitable compensation that will support all cardiothoracic surgeons.”

    Dr. Erkmen will present this study on Saturday, May 6, at the AATS 103rd Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

     

    Ethnicitya                          Overall             Professors               Salary comparison b

    White                                  65%                  78%

    Asian                                  25.2%                15%                        71-102%

    Hispanic/Latino                    4.0%                  3%                         86-130%

    Black/African American        3.3%                  2%                         76-85%

    a1.5% were multiple/other race and 0.4% were American Indian/Alaskan Indian.

    bPercentage of the mean and median salary earned by White cardiothoracic surgeons.

     

    ###

    Attribution to the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) 103rd Annual Meeting is requested in all coverage.

     

    ABOUT AATS

    The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) is an international organization that encourages, promotes, and stimulates the scientific investigation of cardiothoracic surgery. Founded in 1917 by a respected group of the earliest pioneers in the field, its original mission was to “foster the evolution of an interest in surgery of the Thorax.” Today, the AATS is the premier association for cardiothoracic surgeons in the world and works to continually enhance the ability of cardiothoracic surgeons to provide the highest quality of patient care. Its more than 1,500 members have a proven record of distinction within the specialty and have made significant contributions to the care and treatment of cardiothoracic disease. Visit aats.org to learn more.

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  • Wealthy white homeowners more likely to see financial benefits from land conservation, study shows

    Wealthy white homeowners more likely to see financial benefits from land conservation, study shows

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    Newswise — KINGSTON, R.I. – April 25, 2023 – Land conservation projects do more than preserve open space and natural ecosystems. They can also boost property values for homeowners living nearby. But a new study finds that those financial benefits are unequally distributed among demographic groups in the U.S.

    The study, by researchers from the University of Rhode Island and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, found that new housing wealth associated with land conservation goes disproportionately to people who are wealthy and white. In the state of Massachusetts, for example, white households in the top wealth quartile received 43% of the roughly $63 million housing wealth generated by new conservation from 1998 to 2016. That’s 140% more than would be expected under an equal demographic distribution, the researchers found. The trends found in Massachusetts hold generally over the rest of the U.S., the study showed.    

    “There’s a lot of economic inequality in the U.S. and we show that, unfortunately, conservation is adding to that,” said Corey Lang, a professor of environmental and natural resource economics at URI and a study coauthor. “That’s not to say that conservation is bad, or that we shouldn’t do it. Our primary purpose with this study was to document these disparities, and hopefully spark some debate about it.”

    The findings are published in the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences.

    The U.S. Forest Service estimates that about 6,000 acres of open space in the U.S. are cleared for development each day. But across the nation, organizations like municipal land trusts are working to set aside land, protecting it from future development in perpetuity. Over the past 35 years, over $80 billion in conservation funding have been approved by municipal referenda across the U.S., the researcher say.

    Those conservation efforts produce amenities that are attractive to homeowners. Conserved land provides peace and quiet, beautiful views, and recreation opportunities that are guaranteed for the foreseeable future. The value of those amenities is reflected in higher property values for people living in the vicinity.

    “Economists have studied this for a long time as a means of understanding how people value land conservation efforts, which can be fed into a cost-benefit analysis to see if new conservation efforts are justified,” Lang said. “We take a different approach in that we look at which homeowners are more likely to receive that bump in equity.”

    To do that, the researchers looked at detailed conservation records and anonymized demographic data for homeowners in Massachusetts. The team used an econometric model to estimate the extent to which land conserved between 1998 to 2016 added to the value of properties within a quarter mile of conservation areas. They found that each acre of conserved land increases the value of nearby homes by 0.018%. That means that a median-priced Massachusetts home located near 10 acres of conserved land gets a bump in value of around $659. That translates into roughly $62 million in conservation-related property wealth gains over the study period.

    Looking at the demographic breakdown of the homeowners who received that new wealth, the researchers found that 91% went to white homeowners, and 40% went to households in the highest wealth quartile. Roughly 43% went to households that were both white and in the highest wealth category—140% more than would be expected under an equal demographic distribution. In stark contrast, Black and Hispanic households in the lowest wealth quartile received only 6% of the benefits that would be expected under an equal distribution.

    The results aren’t necessarily attributable to any active or implicit discrimination on the part of conservation groups, the researchers say. The results can be shaped, for example, by several factors that yield patterns in where people live—with Black, Hispanic, and Asian households being less likely to own homes near conservation areas. Those patterns can emerge from racial and ethnic patterns of urban versus rural living in the state, and a paucity of conservable land in urban areas. There are also longstanding racial gaps in overall home ownership.

    Though the highly detailed data available for Massachusetts simply isn’t available for the rest of the U.S., the team performed an additional study to see if the Massachusetts trends likely hold across the country. They found that of the $9.8 billion in property wealth generated by conservation from 2001 to 2009 nationwide, 89% went to white households, 9% to Black and Hispanic households and 2% to Asian households.

    “Economists have done a lot to document disparities in exposure to pollution, but we know much less about equity in the distribution of the benefits from investments in valuable nature conservation,” said Amy Ando, a study coauthor who is a professor of environmental and natural resource economics at UIUC and University Fellow at the non-profit Resources for the Future. “These findings make clear there can be large environmental justice issues in who gains from the environmental goods we provide and protect, and may serve as a call for more research identifying other such inequities.”  

    Taken together, the researchers say, the results show that land conservation plays a role in maintaining wealth disparities across the U.S. While the researchers say they firmly advocate for land conservation efforts to continue, they don’t advocate any particular policy interventions to address the resulting inequity. They hope that the findings will broaden the conversation about land preservation to include issues related to distributional concerns.

    “I think more can be done to bring different groups to the table when decisions are made,” Lang said. “Making sure there’s a diversity of voices involved in these decisions is at least a start in addressing the problem that we’ve been able to document in this study.”

    The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (2018-67024-27695).

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  • Achieving Prevention and Health, Rather Than More Healthcare

    Achieving Prevention and Health, Rather Than More Healthcare

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    Newswise — If more people have access to health insurance, we have to be sure the death rates of those with certain chronic conditions are decreasing.

    This is one of the statements Gregory Peck, an acute care surgeon and associate professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, will be researching on behalf of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health.

    Funded by NIH grants totaling more than $1 million through a recent two-year award from the New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science (NJ ACTS), a Rutgers hub of the National Center for Advancing Translation Science, and now a four-year award from the NIDDK, Peck is on average one of just two critical care surgeons funded nationally annually creating new models of health for NIH consideration.

    Peck recently published two studies investigating death rates for gallstone disease, a disease of the abdomen that causes right-sided belly pain after eating, which share risk factors with other deadly diseases. His study, published in Gastro Hep Advances, found that between 2009 and 2018 the number of deaths of people in New Jersey with diagnosed gallstone disease (1,580) remained steady and did not improve, and that deaths in Latinos ages 65 and older potentially increased.

    His study in the Journal of Surgical Research found that after Medicaid expansion in 2014 as compared to before, the amount of emergency surgery to remove the gallbladders for gallstone disease decreased in the state overall, but increased in people with Medicaid. While fatality from gallbladder removal surgery decreased for those 65 or older, there was increased death from surgery in the younger population and a trend of more death in the population with Medicaid. Further, the relatively decreased amount of gallbladder removal surgery occurring in ambulatory outpatient care centers did not necessarily help this.

    Peck discusses the implications of the findings on a new shift in healthcare to prevention model.

    Why did you focus on gallstone disease?

    As a metabolic disease, gallstone disease is also linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. In fact, heart disease, which is the No. 1 killer in America, and gallstone disease, which is the No. 1 digestive disease requiring surgery in America, share the risk factors of high levels of bad cholesterol type and obesity.

    How do these studies inform public policy?

    The amount of people dying with gallstone disease – most of whom require surgery – over the past decade has not gotten better. That’s 160 people a year who still are dying from a preventable death such as gallstone disease. Making progress is what this type of epidemiologic study focuses on, and concerningly, we might not have made good progress.

    If Medicaid expansion didn’t positively affect the death rate of people with gallstone disease and we see it increase specifically in older Latino populations, we need to be asking if we are helping people of color and those who live in communities with lower socioeconomic status improve health or treating them sooner to prevent emergency surgery and especially decreasing death from emergency surgery. Insurance expansion is certainly needed, but we have to ensure the action specific pieces of policy impact the population requiring surgery in a patient-centered way.

    The real goal is preventing the disease from even occurring. When we pass public health policy, we need to advocate for preventive care that reaches people through their community. Right now, the findings show that we might just be providing people with insurance cards who find themselves still needing to use the emergency department. Instead, that insurance should help them visit their primary care doctor, who can help them make changes like decreasing their bad cholesterol levels, which contribute to gallstone disease, and help them access care in ambulatory surgery centers sooner.

    We need to cultivate preventive healthcare rather than ballooning the investment in emergency healthcare, which does not solve current inequities.

    What other steps to improve access to care should be taken?

    We propose a novel population health approach that shifts from the reactive treatments of emergency disease to proactive prevention. One place to start is increasing access to appropriate outpatient elective healthcare for underrepresented groups with barriers to preventive care, such as by increasing health insurance that incentivizes the behaviors toward improved health. A first step for my research group is to focus on diseases that currently require as much emergency as elective care, such as gallstone disease, and understand this by understanding who presents to the hospital, as to dial this back into the community level, to decrease hospital care.

    In addition, in primary care, laboratory, radiology or ambulatory care settings we need to improve communication with people with low English proficiency – especially how well prevention is explained in a patient’s primary language. Language barriers might also prevent them from understanding the importance of cholesterol or blood pressure control over the one, two and three decades of life, or how they find access to diagnostic tests or treatment needed earlier.

    How is Rutgers working to increase primary care knowledge in underserved communities?

    Shawna Hudson, the co-director of community engagement for NJ ACTS, and my research mentor, is researching how representatives rooted in the community can help healthcare providers and researchers better understand how we can use community engagement to involve people in a communities’ preventive care as to decrease risk factors for chronic disease before they need hospital-based care and, more importantly, emergency surgery.

    One initiative is the Community Engagement Virtual Salons, which help researchers and health care providers at NJ ACTS engage with patients and community members about how biomedical and clinical research leads to action through understanding disease and then enacting policy. In these sessions, the public serves as experts to provide feedback from a community perspective. This allows the medical profession to build relationships with community partners and increase the culturally sensitive participation of hard-to-reach populations.

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    Rutgers University-New Brunswick

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  • New Study at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Shows Patient/Clinician Identity Differences Are Factor in Cancer Care

    New Study at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Shows Patient/Clinician Identity Differences Are Factor in Cancer Care

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    Newswise — A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in collaboration with Dell Medical School, University of Minnesota, and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, using a national data sample from the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program, revealed that a small but statistically significant proportion of patients with cancer, especially younger and lower-income minorities, disproportionately reported delaying care because of patient/clinician racial, gender and cultural differences.

    The study, led by student doctor and first author Vishal Patel from Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin and senior author S. M. Qasim Hussaini, M.D., Chief Medical Oncology Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, was published March 30 in the journal JAMA Oncology.

    The All of Us Research Program data is housed at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

    Hussaini, along with program leadership, led recent efforts focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the hematology-oncology fellowship program at Johns Hopkins with a dedicated program focused on curricular development, recruitment and retention, minority engagement, and health systems research.

    The current work addresses the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s recently announced strategic action plans to improve workforce diversity and clinician preparedness, says Hussaini. The findings, he notes, directly inform policies to increase uptake of educational priorities and workforce diversification within oncology.

    “Our article provides important evidence that a lack of physician diversity may be contributing to disparities in care delivery for patients with cancer and can be harmful to patients,” says Patel.

    “This represents the kind of important research that needs to be done if we are to get optimal care to all Americans.  The greatest reason for racial health disparities in cancer outcomes is racial disparities in receipt of quality care,” says Otis W. Brawley, M.D., Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Oncology and Epidemiology.

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  • Report finds democracy for Black Americans is under attack

    Report finds democracy for Black Americans is under attack

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    WASHINGTON — Extreme views adopted by some local, state and federal political leaders who try to limit what history can be taught in schools and seek to undermine how Black officials perform their jobs are among the top threats to democracy for Black Americans, the National Urban League says.

    Marc Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who leads the civil rights and urban advocacy organization, cited the most recent example: the vote this month by the Republican-controlled Tennessee House to oust two Black representatives for violating a legislative rule. The pair had participated in a gun control protest inside the chamber after the shooting that killed three students and three staff members at a Nashville school.

    “We have censorship and Black history suppression, and now this,” Morial said in an interview. “It’s another piece of fruit of the same poisonous tree, the effort to suppress and contain.”

    Both Tennessee lawmakers were quickly reinstated by leaders in their districts and were back at work in the House after an uproar that spread well beyond the state.

    The Urban League’s annual State of Black America report released Saturday draws on data and surveys from a number of organizations, including the UCLA Law School, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. The collective findings reveal an increase in recent years in hate crimes and efforts to change classroom curriculums, attempts to make voting more difficult and extremist views being normalized in politics, the military and law enforcement.

    One of the most prominent areas examined is so-called critical race theory. Scholars developed it as an academic framework during the 1970s and 1980s in response to what they viewed as a lack of racial progress following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. The theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

    Director Taifha Alexander said the Forward Tracking Project, part of the UCLA Law School, began in response to the backlash that followed the protests of the George Floyd killing in 2020 and an executive order that year from then-President Donald Trump restricting diversity training.

    The project’s website shows that 209 local, state and federal government entities have introduced more than 670 bills, resolutions, executive orders, opinion letters, statements and other measures against critical race theory since September 2020.

    Anti-critical race theory is “a living organism in and of itself. It’s always evolving. There are always new targets of attack,” Alexander said.

    She said the expanded scope of some of those laws, which are having a chilling effect on teaching certain aspects of the country’s racial conflicts, will lead to major gaps in understanding history and social justice.

    “This anti-CRT campaign is going to frustrate our ability to reach our full potential as a multiracial democracy” because future leaders will be missing information they could use to tackle problems, Alexander said.

    She said one example is the rewriting of Florida elementary school material about civil rights figure Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat to a white rider on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus in 1955 — an incident that sparked the bus boycott there. Mention of race was omitted entirely in one revision, a change first reported by The New York Times.

    Florida has been the epicenter of many of the steps, including opposing AP African American studies, but it’s not alone.

    “The things that have been happening in Florida have been replicated, or governors in similarly situated states have claimed they will do the same thing,” Alexander said.

    In Alabama, a proposal to ban “divisive” concepts passed out of legislative committee this past week. Last year, the administration of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, rescinded a series of policies, memos and other resources related to diversity, equity and inclusion that it characterized as “discriminatory and divisive concepts” in the state’s public education system.

    Oklahoma public school teachers are prohibited from teaching certain concepts of race and racism under a bill Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law in 2021.

    On Thursday, the Llano County Commissioners Court in Texas held a special meeting to consider shutting down the entire public library system rather than follow a federal judge’s order to return a slate of books to the shelves on topics ranging from teenage sexuality to bigotry.

    After listening to public comments in favor and against the shutdown, the commissioners decided to remove the item from the agenda.

    “We will suppress your books. We will suppress the conversation about race and racism, and we will suppress your history, your AP course,” Morial said. “It is singular in its effort to suppress Blacks.”

    Other issues in his group’s report address extremism in the military and law enforcement, energy and climate change, and how current attitudes can affect public policy. Predominantly white legislatures in Missouri and Mississippi have proposals that would shift certain government authority from some majority Black cities to the states.

    In many ways, the report mirrors concerns evident in recent years in a country deeply divided over everything from how much K-12 students should be taught about racism and sexuality to the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

    Forty percent of voters in last year’s elections said their local K-12 public schools were not teaching enough about racism in the United States, while 34% said it already was too much, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of the American electorate. Twenty-three percent said the current curriculum was about right.

    About two-thirds of Black voters said more should be taught on the subject, compared with about half of Latino voters and about one-third of white voters.

    Violence is one of the major areas of concern covered in the Urban League report, especially in light of the 2022 mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The accused shooter left a manifesto raising the “great replacement theory ” as a motive in the killings.

    Data released this year by the FBI indicated that hate crimes rose between 2020 and 2021. African Americans were disproportionately represented, accounting for 30% of the incidents in which the bias was known.

    By comparison, the second largest racial group targeted in the single incident category was white victims, who made up 10%.

    Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director of research with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, said when all the activities are tabulated, including hate crimes, rhetoric, incidents of discrimination and online disinformation, “we see a very clear and concerning threat to America and a disproportionate impact on Black Americans.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Julie Wright in Kansas City, Missouri, and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Report finds democracy for Black Americans is under attack

    Report finds democracy for Black Americans is under attack

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    WASHINGTON — Extreme views adopted by some local, state and federal political leaders who try to limit what history can be taught in schools and seek to undermine how Black officials perform their jobs are among the top threats to democracy for Black Americans, the National Urban League says.

    Marc Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who leads the civil rights and urban advocacy organization, cited the most recent example: the vote this month by the Republican-controlled Tennessee House to oust two Black representatives for violating a legislative rule. The pair had participated in a gun control protest inside the chamber after the shooting that killed three students and three staff members at a Nashville school.

    “We have censorship and Black history suppression, and now this,” Morial said in an interview. “It’s another piece of fruit of the same poisonous tree, the effort to suppress and contain.”

    Both Tennessee lawmakers were quickly reinstated by leaders in their districts and were back at work in the House after an uproar that spread well beyond the state.

    The Urban League’s annual State of Black America report released Saturday draws on data and surveys from a number of organizations, including the UCLA Law School, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. The collective findings reveal an increase in recent years in hate crimes and efforts to change classroom curriculums, attempts to make voting more difficult and extremist views being normalized in politics, the military and law enforcement.

    One of the most prominent areas examined is so-called critical race theory. Scholars developed it as an academic framework during the 1970s and 1980s in response to what they viewed as a lack of racial progress following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. The theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

    Director Taifha Alexander said the Forward Tracking Project, part of the UCLA Law School, began in response to the backlash that followed the protests of the George Floyd killing in 2020 and an executive order that year from then-President Donald Trump restricting diversity training.

    The project’s website shows that 209 local, state and federal government entities have introduced more than 670 bills, resolutions, executive orders, opinion letters, statements and other measures against critical race theory since September 2020.

    Anti-critical race theory is “a living organism in and of itself. It’s always evolving. There are always new targets of attack,” Alexander said.

    She said the expanded scope of some of those laws, which are having a chilling effect on teaching certain aspects of the country’s racial conflicts, will lead to major gaps in understanding history and social justice.

    “This anti-CRT campaign is going to frustrate our ability to reach our full potential as a multiracial democracy” because future leaders will be missing information they could use to tackle problems, Alexander said.

    She said one example is the rewriting of Florida elementary school material about civil rights figure Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat to a white rider on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus in 1955 — an incident that sparked the bus boycott there. Mention of race was omitted entirely in one revision, a change first reported by The New York Times.

    Florida has been the epicenter of many of the steps, including opposing AP African American studies, but it’s not alone.

    “The things that have been happening in Florida have been replicated, or governors in similarly situated states have claimed they will do the same thing,” Alexander said.

    In Alabama, a proposal to ban “divisive” concepts passed out of legislative committee this past week. Last year, the administration of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, rescinded a series of policies, memos and other resources related to diversity, equity and inclusion that it characterized as “discriminatory and divisive concepts” in the state’s public education system.

    Oklahoma public school teachers are prohibited from teaching certain concepts of race and racism under a bill Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law in 2021.

    On Thursday, the Llano County Commissioners Court in Texas held a special meeting to consider shutting down the entire public library system rather than follow a federal judge’s order to return a slate of books to the shelves on topics ranging from teenage sexuality to bigotry.

    After listening to public comments in favor and against the shutdown, the commissioners decided to remove the item from the agenda.

    “We will suppress your books. We will suppress the conversation about race and racism, and we will suppress your history, your AP course,” Morial said. “It is singular in its effort to suppress Blacks.”

    Other issues in his group’s report address extremism in the military and law enforcement, energy and climate change, and how current attitudes can affect public policy. Predominantly white legislatures in Missouri and Mississippi have proposals that would shift certain government authority from some majority Black cities to the states.

    In many ways, the report mirrors concerns evident in recent years in a country deeply divided over everything from how much K-12 students should be taught about racism and sexuality to the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

    Forty percent of voters in last year’s elections said their local K-12 public schools were not teaching enough about racism in the United States, while 34% said it already was too much, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of the American electorate. Twenty-three percent said the current curriculum was about right.

    About two-thirds of Black voters said more should be taught on the subject, compared with about half of Latino voters and about one-third of white voters.

    Violence is one of the major areas of concern covered in the Urban League report, especially in light of the 2022 mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The accused shooter left a manifesto raising the “great replacement theory ” as a motive in the killings.

    Data released this year by the FBI indicated that hate crimes rose between 2020 and 2021. African Americans were disproportionately represented, accounting for 30% of the incidents in which the bias was known.

    By comparison, the second largest racial group targeted in the single incident category was white victims, who made up 10%.

    Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director of research with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, said when all the activities are tabulated, including hate crimes, rhetoric, incidents of discrimination and online disinformation, “we see a very clear and concerning threat to America and a disproportionate impact on Black Americans.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Julie Wright in Kansas City, Missouri, and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Is the Language You Speak Tied to Outcome After Stroke?

    Is the Language You Speak Tied to Outcome After Stroke?

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    EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023

    Newswise — MINNEAPOLIS – Studies have shown that Mexican Americans have worse outcomes after a stroke than non-Hispanic white Americans. A new study looks at whether the language Mexican American people speak is linked to how well they recover after a stroke. The study is published in the April 12, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

    “Our study found that Mexican American people who spoke only Spanish had worse neurologic outcomes three months after having a stroke than Mexican American people who spoke only English or were bilingual,” said study author Lewis B. Morgenstern, MD, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “More research is needed into what factors and barriers may influence these worse outcomes.”

    The study involved 1,096 Mexican American people in Corpus Christi, Texas, who had a stroke over a 10-year period. Researchers looked at results three months after the stroke in three areas: neurologic, functional and thinking and memory skills. Neurologic results cover areas such as muscle strength and coordination and problems with speech or vision. Functional results look at how well people can complete their daily activities such as showering and preparing meals.

    The 170 people who spoke Spanish only were compared to the 926 people who spoke English only or were bilingual. Those who spoke Spanish only were older, had received less education and had worse neurologic scores at the time of the stroke than those in the other group.

    Three months after the stroke, the Spanish-only speakers had average neurologic scores of seven, where scores of five to 14 indicate moderate effects from a stroke. The English-only and bilingual speakers had average scores of four, where scores of one to four indicate mild effects. The results remained after researchers adjusted for the differences between the two groups and other factors that could affect stroke risk, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

    The study found no difference between the two groups in how well they recovered their ability to complete their daily activities or in their thinking and memory skills.

    “We conducted an earlier study in this same community finding that the language people spoke was not associated with any delay in their getting to the hospital or using emergency medical services after an ischemic stroke, so we definitely need more information to determine what is driving the differences in outcomes between these two groups,” Morgenstern said.

    A limitation of the study was that there was a low number of Spanish-only speakers. Also, the majority of Mexican Americans in Corpus Christi are born in the United States, so these results may not be applicable to areas with a larger population of people born outside the United States.

    The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the TRANSCENDS (Training in Research for Academic Neurologists to Sustain Careers and Enhance the Numbers of Diverse Scholars) program funded by the National Institutes of Health.  

    Learn more about stroke at BrainandLife.org, home of the American Academy of Neurology’s free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life® on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

    When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the hashtags #Neurology and #AANscience.

    The American Academy of Neurology is the world’s largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with over 40,000 members. The AAN is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.

    For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit AAN.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

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    American Academy of Neurology (AAN)

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  • Bringing Cancer Education to American Indian Communities

    Bringing Cancer Education to American Indian Communities

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    Newswise — Phyllis Nassi, MSW, associate director of research and science, special populations, directs the American Indian program at Huntsman Cancer Institute and recently received the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Distinguished Public Service Award for Exceptional Leadership in Cancer Advocacy. ­

    “My favorite part of what I do is being boots on the ground in the community,” says Nassi. “I’ve spent a lot of time helping to change the course of what research means in the area we serve and beyond at Huntsman Cancer Institute. We’ve been able to build a reputation of trust and I have permission from Tribal Leaders to bring education about clinical trials to the reservation.”

    Nassi, an enrolled member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and member of the Cherokee Nation, focuses on bringing cancer education to the frontier and rural locations across the Mountain West. She started at Huntsman Cancer Institute in 2001 as a manager of special populations and has served on many committees and advisory boards.

    “Nassi has shown relentless commitment and cultural humility to serve as an advocate for American Indian communities across Utah and 17 other states, including Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Arizona, and Alaska,” says Neli Ulrich, PhD, MS, executive director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute. “She improves cancer awareness and survival through promotion of early detection practices, communication about the benefits of cancer research, and clinical trial enrollment. Her passion and efforts to reduce disparities and bring health equity to underserved populations makes her highly deserving of the prestigious AACR Public Service award.”

    Huntsman Cancer Institute founder Jon M. Huntsman, Sr., former National Cancer Institute Director Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, and former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, are just some of the previous honorees.

    “It’s amazing and humbling to be part of this group, I could not have done what I do and what I love without the support of my son, Enrico, his partner, and my late husband Walter.”

     

    ###

    About Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah

    Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah is the official cancer center of Utah and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Mountain West. The campus includes a state-of-the-art cancer specialty hospital and two buildings dedicated to cancer research. Huntsman Cancer Institute provides patient care, cancer screening, and education at community clinics and affiliate hospitals throughout the Mountain West. It is consistently recognized among the best cancer hospitals in the country by U.S. News and World Report. The region’s first proton therapy center opened in 2021 and a major hospital expansion is underway. Huntsman Cancer Institute is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment for staff, students, patients, and communities. Advancing cancer research discoveries and treatments to meet the needs of patients who live far away from a major medical center is a unique focus. More genes for inherited cancers have been discovered at Huntsman Cancer Institute than at any other cancer center, including genes responsible for breast, ovarian, colon, head and neck cancers, and melanoma. Huntsman Cancer Institute was founded by Jon M. and Karen Huntsman.

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  • Fred Hutch at AACR: New targets for cancer therapies, experts available in diversity and cancer screening tests — and Fred Hutch’s Philip Greenberg becomes AACR president

    Fred Hutch at AACR: New targets for cancer therapies, experts available in diversity and cancer screening tests — and Fred Hutch’s Philip Greenberg becomes AACR president

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    Newswise — SEATTLE — April 6, 2023 — Experts from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center will present their latest findings on targets in RIT1-driven cancers, ROR1 CAR T-cell immunotherapy, interplay of the microbiome and genetics in colorectal cancer and more at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, to be held April 14-19 in Orlando, Florida. 

    Other meeting highlights include:

    Philip Greenberg, M.D. of Fred Hutch will become AACR president.

    Public health researcher and biostatistician Ruth Etizioni, Ph.D. will discuss new and emerging tests for early detection of cancer.

    Christopher Li, M.D., MPH, a national leader in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at cancer centers, will best practices and strategies to enhance diversity. 

    Below are highlights of work to be presented, and you can follow Fred Hutch’s AACR updates on Twitter #AACR23.

    For media requests during AACR, please contact . 

    AACR news

    Meet and Greet: Meet the editors-in-chief of Cancer Immunology Research Monday, April 17, 2023, 9:30-10:30 a.m. 

    Meeting: Meet the 2023-2024 AACR President, Philip Greenberg Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

    Fred Hutch’s Philip Greenberg, M.D., one of two editors-in-chief of AACR’s Cancer Immunology Research, will participate in an April 17 discussion of the scope and types of research manuscripts they’re looking to publish. Greenberg, currently president-elect of AACR, will become AACR president during the meeting and be at the April 18 “Meet the 2023-2024 AACR President” session. He leads the Program in Immunology at Fred Hutch and holds the Rona Jaffe Foundation Endowed Chair.  

    Early detection and screening

    Educational session: How can we realize the promise of novel technologies for early cancer detection? Presentation: Developing realistic expectations for new cancer screening tests Friday, April 14, 2023, 3:01-3:21 p.m. Presenter: Ruth Etzioni, Ph.D.

    Public health researcher and biostatistician Ruth Etzioni, Ph.D. will join an educational session to talk about novel cancer screening tests based on liquid biopsies, with a particular focus on multi-cancer early detection testing. She said that while there are some studies that show how well the tests detect different cancers, the extent to which this will translate into lives saved is still unclear. Etzioni, who holds the Rosalie and Harold Rea Brown Endowed Chair at Fred Hutch and received a $7.4 million National Cancer Institute grant to study cancer diagnostics, will discuss the process by which population screening leads to reduction in cancer deaths, why some past cancer screening trials have led to disappointing results and what needs to be done now to generate convincing evidence that population screening using the new tests will reduce cancer deaths. 

    Precision oncology

    Educational session: Tumor heterogeneity: Rapid autopsy to longitudinal biopsies Presentation: Intra and inter-tumor heterogeneity across cancer metastases: A reality check for targeted therapeutics and the utility of non-invasive biomarkers Saturday, April 15, 2023, 3:16-3:33 p.m. Presenter: Peter Nelson, M.D.

    In a session on the use of rapid autopsies to understand cancer metastasis, Peter Nelson, M.D. will discuss the impact of tumor heterogeneity on treatment resistance. Nelson, who is a prostate cancer expert and is the vice president of Precision Oncology at Fred Hutch, will also explain how studies of metastatic tumors improve our understanding of molecular imaging such as PET scans as well as minimally-invasive diagnostic methods including circulating tumor DNA. Nelson directs the Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute at Fred Hutch and holds an endowed chair with the same name.  

    Session: Small cell lung cancer: Moving biology to the clinic Presentation: Measuring and modulating SCLC transcriptional heterogeneity from murine models to clinical trials Monday, April 17, 2023, 1:00-1:20 p.m. Presenter: Joseph Hiatt, M.D., Ph.D. (On Twitter and LinkedIn)

    Physician-scientist Joseph Hiatt, M.D., Ph.D. will give an update on Fred Hutch preclinical research that has identified a molecular pathway that could make more cases of small cell lung cancer responsive to checkpoint inhibition. The approach is now being studied in a clinical trial. Hiatt, who is a research fellow in the MacPherson lab at Fred Hutch, will also present a new liquid biopsy method to predict subtypes of small cell lung cancer using cell-free DNA. This could be used to link patients’ subtypes to their treatment outcomes to help personalize clinical trial enrollment. The work is part of the Fred Hutch Lung Specialized Project of Research Excellence (SPORE), a five-year $13 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to expedite lung cancer research from the lab to the clinic. 

    Session: Ras-related signaling Poster: Protein-level regulation of wild-type and mutant RIT1 by the deubiquitinase USP9X Monday, April 17, 2023, 1:30-5 p.m. Presenter: Amanda Riley (On LinkedIn)

    Mutations in the gene RIT1 account for about 13,500 cases of non-small cell lung cancer diagnoses each year, with limited treatment options. Graduate student Amanda Riley, working in the Fred Hutch lab of Alice Berger, Ph.D., will give an update on their work to find targeted therapies for RIT1-driven cancers. They’ve identified a regulator of RIT1, a protein called USP9X. Using mouse models and existing inhibitors of USP9X, the researchers are evaluating this potential drug target. The project is part of Berger’s 7-year NIH MERIT award to pursue targeted therapies for mutations in lung cancer. Berger holds the Innovators Network Endowed Chair at Fred Hutch, follow her on Twitter. 

    Cancer biology

    Major symposium: Targeting RNA splicing in cancer and the immune system Presentation: From splicing to polyadenylation in tumor immunity Sunday, April 16, 2023, 1:55-2:15 p.m. Presenter: Robert Bradley, Ph.D. (On Twitter)

    Computational biologist and biophysicist Robert Bradley, Ph.D. will present new work on a biological process that’s growing in attention for its role in controlling cancer growth. Alternative polyadenylation is part of making mRNA and it’s disrupted in many cancers, though it’s not clear how the dysregulation contributes to tumors. Bradley, who holds the McIlwain Family Endowed Chair in Data Science at Fred Hutch, will discuss a CRISPR-Cas9-based screen to test the functional importance of alternative polyadenylation to tumor growth. 

    Cellular immunotherapy

    Minisymposium: Genetically engineered anticancer T cells Presentation: NKTR-255, a polymer-conjugated IL-15, dramatically improves ROR1 CAR-T cell persistence and anti-tumor efficacy in an autochthonous model of ROR1+ lung cancer Sunday, April 16, 2023, 4:10-4:25 p.m. Presenter: Sam Nutt

    Using a mouse model of lung cancer that closely resembles human disease, graduate student Sam Nutt in the Fred Hutch lab of Shivani Srivastava, Ph.D. (on Twitter) will present a study on whether NKTR-255, a drug that stimulates the immune system to fight cancer, can improve the anticancer effects of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. The Fred Hutch team is using a CAR-T cell targeting the tumor antigen ROR1, which is a marker on many breast and lung cancer patients. Their findings suggest that NKTR-255 treatment improves the persistence and function of ROR1 CAR T cells, and that these two therapies work together to boost immune function in the tumor microenvironment, resulting in significantly improved tumor control. The team is continuing to evaluate the combined approach for treatment of solid tumors. Read more about the lab’s work to develop cellular therapies for solid tumors.

    Colorectal cancer risk and prevention

    Session: Biological and behavioral factors in cancer surveillance, prevention and survivorship Poster: Evaluation of intra-tumoral pks+ E. coli, enterotoxigenic B. fragilis and Fusobacterium nucleatum and in early onset disease, in colorectal cancer cases Monday, April 17, 2023, 1:30-5:00 p.m. Presenter: Meredith Hullar, Ph.D. 

    Meredith Hullar, Ph.D., a principal staff scientist at Fred Hutch, studies the gut microbiome and its interplay with diet and cancer risk. She will present a new study that revealed different patterns of microbes in colorectal cancer tumors that are present in patients with early onset colorectal cancer, which has increased in incidence in people who are 50 years old and younger. Since some microbes can help tumors grow, understanding the microbiome may help predict which colorectal cancer patients will have increased odds of lower survival and may support targeted intervention strategies to improve survivorship. Learn more about her work in a Fred Hutch news story.

    Session: Aging, immune factors and metabolomics Poster: Association between HLA-KIR allele interaction combinations and density of T-cell subsets in colorectal cancer Monday, April 17, 2023, 1:30-5:00 p.m. Presenter: Claire E. Thomas, Ph.D., MPH (On Twitter)

    Session: Diet, alcohol, tobacco use, and other lifestyle factors Poster: Lifestyle and environmental factors in relation to colorectal cancer risk and survival by colibactin tumor mutational signature status Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Presenter: Claire E. Thomas, Ph.D., MPH (On Twitter)

    Claire E. Thomas, Ph.D., MPH, a post-doctoral researcher at Fred Hutch, will present two posters looking at genetic and molecular risks underlying colorectal cancer. In the first poster, she examines whether immune function gene combinations are related to T-cell density within colorectal cancer tumors. The findings could help determine how an individual’s genetic background is related to T-cells and immune response to fight cancer. 

    In a second poster, Thomas will present a study examining whether lifestyle and environmental factors are differentially associated with colorectal cancer risk and survival for cases with and without the mutational signature SBS88. SBS88 is present in some colorectal cancer tumors and is related to production of the genotoxin colbactin from exposure to some strains of Escherichia coli. The findings show that among cases with the SBS88 signature, higher BMI category was associated with worse colorectal cancer outcomes. 

    Thomas works with Fred Hutch’s Ulrike Peters, Ph.D., MPH, who is a molecular and genetic epidemiologist and holds the Fred Hutch 40th Anniversary Endowed Chair, and with Amanda Phipps, Ph.D., MPH, an epidemiologist. The research team aims to understand underlying genetic risks in cancer and how to intervene. A recent Nature Genetics study from the Peters team identified 100 new genetic risk variants in colorectal cancer.

    Diversity, equity and inclusion

    Meet-the-expert session: Plan to enhance diversity: Opportunities, challenges, best practices and innovative strategies to advance a culture of inclusive excellence at cancer centers Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 7:00-7:45 a.m. Presenter: Christopher Li, M.D., Ph.D. (On LinkedIn)

    Christopher Li, M.D., Ph.D., vice president of Faculty Affairs and Diversity at Fred Hutch, is a nationally recognized leader in efforts to ensure that cancer research benefits all people. At AACR, he will insights from his efforts to help build and maintain a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce at Fred Hutch and to collaborate with leaders at other cancer centers. Li, who holds the Helen G. Edson Endowed Chair for Breast Cancer Research, is also an epidemiologist who studies breast cancer risk factors, breast cancer recurrence and cancer health disparities.

    Clinical trials

    Major symposium: Sex hormones and cancer Presentation: Sex differences in severe adverse events in patients receiving immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or chemotherapy in Cancer clinical trials: An evidentiary perspective Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 1:25-1:45 p.m. Presenter: Joseph Unger, Ph.D. (On Twitter)

    Biostatistician and health services researcher Joseph Unger, Ph.D. will insights based on findings he published in Journal of Clinical Oncology in how women experience greater adverse effects from cancer treatment, whether it’s chemotherapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy. The data came from more than 23,000 people participating in 202 clinical trials as part of the SWOG Cancer Research Network, which described the study in a blog post. Unger uses big data to understand treatment outcomes and disparities in cancer, with the aim of revealing problems in cancer care that then allow for ways to predict and prevent the issues before they impede patients.  

    Late-breaking poster session: Clinical research 3 Poster: Biomarker analysis from AMPECT correlating response to nab-sirolimus with TSC1 and TSC2 inactivating alterations Wednesday, April 19, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Presenter: Lee Cranmer, M.D., Ph.D.

    Lee Cranmer, M.D., Ph.D. leads the Bob and Eileen Gilman Family Sarcoma Research Program at Fred Hutch. A recent Fred Hutch news story featured a patient Cranmer treated for a type of cartilage cancer, called chondrosarcoma.

    Note: Fred Hutch and its scientists who contributed to these discoveries may stand to benefit from their commercialization. See links above to AACR abstracts for more details on individual researchers’ disclosures.

    The clinical trials referenced above involve investigational products and/or therapies that have not been approved for commercial marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other regulatory authority. Results may vary, and encouraging results from early-stage clinical trials may not be supported in later-stage clinical trials. No conclusions should be drawn from the information in this report about the safety, efficacy or likelihood of regulatory approval of these investigational products and/or therapies.

    # # #

    Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center unites individualized care and advanced research to provide the latest cancer treatment options and accelerate discoveries that prevent, treat and cure cancer and infectious diseases worldwide.

    Based in Seattle, Fred Hutch is an independent, nonprofit organization and the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Washington. We have earned a global reputation for our track record of discoveries in cancer, infectious disease and basic research, including important advances in bone marrow transplantation, immunotherapy, HIV/AIDS prevention, and COVID-19 vaccines. Fred Hutch operates eight clinical care sites that provide medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton therapy and related services and has network affiliations with hospitals in four states. Fred Hutch also serves as UW Medicine’s cancer program.

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  • Use of racially concordant educational video did not affect acceptance of heart implant devices among Black patients

    Use of racially concordant educational video did not affect acceptance of heart implant devices among Black patients

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    Newswise — DALLAS – April 03, 2023 – Multiple studies have demonstrated that Black patients are significantly less likely than white patients to undergo invasive cardiovascular procedures. Prior research also has demonstrated substantial racial disparities in the use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) that can be lifesaving for those at high risk for sudden cardiac death.

    Agreeing to have an ICD, though, relies on patients having a clear understanding of the potential benefits of the procedure as well as trust in their care team. Cardiologists at Duke University, including Eric Peterson, M.D., M.P.H., who served at Duke before joining UT Southwestern Medical Center in 2020, investigated whether an educational video that used both white and Black physicians and patients might increase patients’ willingness to consider an ICD.

    “Racial health disparities are often complex and multifactorial. Yet empowering patients to better understand their disease and potential treatment options is one way to help overcome this,” said Dr. Peterson, Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research at UTSW and the study’s lead author.

    The findings, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, examined two separate facets. First, it looked to see whether the video would affect patients’ decision-making process. The study found that rates of ICD implantation were not different among those randomized to the video versus not, about 60% in each. However, the researchers did find that patients seeing the video felt they understood their options better and had to spend less time with their physicians to reach a decision. 

    Second, the researchers examined whether the video’s impact was altered by whether the race of the characters in the video matched that of the patient. Interestingly, racial concordance or discordance had no impact on the video’s effectiveness.

    The researchers concluded that better educational tools could engage more patients and give them confidence in their treatment decisions. However, education alone will not fully rectify complex differences in procedural use by race. Since a high percentage of Black patients in both arms were willing to undergo the procedure, Dr. Peterson concluded that the major underlying causes for ICD disparities may lie more with who is offered the costly device rather than on who agrees to the procedure.    

    Dr. Peterson holds the Adelyn and Edmund M. Hoffman Distinguished Chair in Medical Science.

    The study was supported by a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Program Award (AD-1503-29746).

    About UT Southwestern Medical Center

    UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 24 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 18 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,900 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 100,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 4 million outpatient visits a year.

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  • NFL hits highs in diverse executives, lacks in head coaches

    NFL hits highs in diverse executives, lacks in head coaches

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    PHOENIX (AP) — The NFL took another step at the owners meetings to increase diversity throughout the league while continuing to face criticism and a lawsuit for lack of representation among head coaches.

    Each team is now required to have a person in charge of diversity, equity and inclusion. Currently, 15 clubs have a DEI head and two others have someone leading that department and another one.

    “They actually have to have specific roles and deliverables that are in their job description so that is a big thing,” NFL executive Jonathan Beane said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The reason why that’s so important is we have to have a single point of accountability at the clubs where they are focused on driving it throughout their organization, in football operations and coaching, in business operations, engaging with ownership to make sure that this is a priority throughout the whole ecosystem of a club.”

    The league has reached milestone points in diverse hirings in the front office, but critics point to the sidelines where there are only three Black head coaches in a sport that had 56.4% Black players in 2022.

    The NFL now has seven minority team presidents, including five who are Black and three women, and nine general managers, including eight Black men.

    But there are six minority head coaches overall. Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers), Todd Bowles (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and DeMeco Ryans (Houston Texans) give the league three Black head coaches entering a season for the fifth year in a row.

    “While increased diversity in executive roles could lead to increased diversity on the sidelines, progress on this front has remained stagnant for years,” said Devan Rawlings, the author of Revelio Labs’ NFL report. “The NFL has a significant disparity between the diversity of its players and that of its coaching staff — the largest among men’s major leagues — and this has not changed despite a large pool of diverse former players that could meet a demand for coaching talent.”

    Brian Flores, the former Miami Dolphins head coach, sued the league and three teams last year, saying the NFL was “rife with racism,” particularly in its hiring and promotion of Black coaches. Flores was an assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers last season and is the new defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.

    “I will acknowledge our representation of diverse head coaches, in particular Black head coaches, is certainly below our expectation and is not where anyone wants it to be or knows it needs to be,” said Beane, the senior vice president, chief diversity and inclusion officer for the NFL.

    “We have way too much talent out there to have the representation among the head coaches that we have. However, I think it’s really, really important to look at other areas that are CEO-type positions, that are critical positions to the success or failure.”

    The number of minority presidents and GMs are the most in NFL history. The league didn’t even have its first Black president until the Washington Commanders hired Jason Wright in August 2020. Kevin Warren (Chicago Bears), Sashi Brown (Baltimore Ravens), Sandra Douglass Morgan (Las Vegas Raiders) and Damani Leech (Denver Broncos) have joined him in the past two years.

    Just four years ago, Miami’s Chris Grier was the only Black GM in the NFL. Kwesi Adolfo-Mensah (Minnesota Vikings), Ryan Poles (Chicago Bears), Andrew Berry (Cleveland Browns), Martin Mayhew (Washington Commanders), Brad Holmes (Detroit Lions), Terry Fontenot (Atlanta Falcons) and Ran Carthon (Tennessee Titans) have joined him.

    “And we know we still can do better,” Beane said. “Those are roles that are extremely vital. There is no role that is less important than the other. Head coach is vital, but GM is just as important. President is just as important. They all drive to the success of the organization and you need all three of those thriving in order to be successful. And so when we look at whether we’re making progress, we have to look at all of the roles in an organization, especially in senior roles. So it’s not just head coach. All of these other roles are vital and determine the success and failure of a club.”

    NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell agrees there’s room for improvement.

    “We still feel like there’s better work and more work ahead of us,” Goodell said last month. “There’s progress, and we’re pleased to see progress, but it’s never enough. We always look to sort of say, ‘How can we do better?’”

    ___

    AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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  • Anatomy of a political takeover at Florida public college

    Anatomy of a political takeover at Florida public college

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    SARASOTA, Fla. — Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has targeted a tiny, public liberal arts college on the shores of Sarasota Bay, as a staging ground for his war on “woke.”

    The governor and his allies say the New College of Florida, known as a progressive school with a prominent LGBTQ+ community, is indoctrinating students with leftist ideology and should be remade into a more conservative institution.

    A top-down restructuring is under way at New College, where DeSantis’ allies are carrying out what students and faculty call a “hostile takeover” and a political attack on their academic freedom.

    Here is the anatomy of the takeover, so far, at New College:

    Jan. 6 Gov. Ron DeSantis appoints six new members to 13-member Board of Trustees at New College, packing the board with Republican allies and insiders: -Christopher Rufo, conservative activist, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and architect of right-wing outrage over critical race theory -Jason “Eddie” Speir, co-founder and superintendent of a Christian school in Bradenton, Florida -Matthew Spalding, a professor and dean at conservative Hillsdale College; senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank -Charles Kesler, senior fellow at the Claremont Institute and a professor at Claremont McKenna College -Mark Bauerlein, retired English professor at Emory University and vocal opponent of diversity, equity and inclusion programs -Debra Jenks, an attorney in Palm Beach and the only new trustee who attended New College

    Jan 26 Florida’s Board of Governors appoints seventh new trustee, Ryan Anderson, president of Ethic and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank.

    Jan. 31 -At first meeting with new trustees, the board votes to fire New College president Patricia Okker. -Board announces plans to name new interim President Richard Corcoran, a former Republican speaker of the Florida State House and DeSantis’ first Commissioner of Education. They approve a base salary of $699,000 for Corcoran, more than double Okker’s salary. -Board also announces plans to hire new general counsel, Bill Galvano, an attorney and former GOP Florida Senate president.

    Feb. 28 Second meeting of new trustees. Board votes to eliminate New College’s Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, as part of plans to abolish spending on diversity and equity programs. New trustee Rufo tells the meeting that DEI programs “restrict academic freedom and degrade the rigor of scholarship” because they treat “people differently based on their skin color or other inborn identities.”

    March 3 New president Corcoran’s first personnel move is to fire chief diversity officer, Yoleidy Rosario-Hernandez, who identifies as a transgender person of color.

    March 23 New College announces Provost Suzanne Sherman, who had publicly clashed with new trustees, has “stepped down” and will be replaced by an interim provost.

    Sydney Gruters, a former GOP congressional aide, named as executive director of the New College of Florida Foundation. She is married to State Sen. Joe Gruters, former chair of Florida Republican Party.

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  • Montana senator wants to block mandatory diversity training

    Montana senator wants to block mandatory diversity training

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    HELENA, Mont. — A Republican lawmaker in Montana wants to prohibit mandatory diversity training for state employees with a bill whose language matches a Florida law that is temporarily blocked by the courts.

    The proposed “Montana Individual Freedom Act,” would prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion training as a condition of state employment if the training is aimed at having the employee believe that a group of people are responsible for “and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress,” for historical injustices.

    A House committee heard testimony Monday after the Senate passed the bill on party lines.

    “I find it interesting and confusing that we’re trying to legislate emotional responses,” the executive director of the Montana Human Rights Network, Angelina Gonzalez-Aller, said Monday when she testified in opposition to the bill before a House committee.

    “I have no doubts that this is little more than a censorship attempt rooted in a coordinated national effort to roll back progress on racial and social justice,” Gonzalez-Aller had said last month when the bill was heard by a Senate committee.

    The sponsor, state Sen. Jeremy Trebas, said that nationally, diversity training is getting too political. He did not suggest that what he considered politically slanted training was taking place in Montana, but that his bill seeks to preempt it.

    “I think we need to work on definitions, then talk about what’s appropriate to train and to whom we should be training on these topics,” Trebas said.

    The House committee has not yet voted on it.

    “This bill is a gross mischaracterization of what is conventionally called DEI, or diversity equity and inclusion workshops,” said Chris Young-Greer with the Montana Racial Equity Project.

    “We focus on lifting up what all of us bring to the table with regard to our very different and important backgrounds,” she said Monday. “Diversity is no more than acknowledging differences. Equity means that we all get what we need to be successful. And inclusion means that each of us, no matter our differences, are included, welcomed and accepted.”

    Opponents argued the bill’s language is word-for-word in some places like Florida’s challenged Stop WOKE Act passed in 2022.

    Trebas’ original bill was amended to make it clear the discussion of critical race theory as part of academic instruction was allowed — eliminating one of the reasons Florida’s law was blocked. Critical race theory is a way of looking at American history through the lens of race.

    Montana’s administrative rules require the Department of Administration to ensure all new employees receive diversity and inclusion, equal opportunity and harassment prevention training within 90 days of being hired. Employees must participate in refresher training every three years.

    Attorney Don Harris said the department supports the bill.

    The attempt to regulate diversity training appears to have its roots in executive orders issued by then-President Donald Trump in September 2020, after a summer of protests over racial injustice in policing.

    The first order banned taxpayer dollars from being spent on diversity training for federal employees if the training implies that anyone is racist or sexist based on their race, sex and/or national origin. He later expanded the prohibition to training for the military, government contractors and other federal grantees.

    Opponents argued the order prevented workplaces from addressing the concepts of white privilege, systemic racism and unconscious bias.

    Trump’s order cited examples of such training, including a presentation by the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African American History & Culture that said, in part: “If you identify as white, acknowledging your white racial identity and its privileges is a crucial step to help end racism. Facing your whiteness is hard and can result in feelings of guilt, sadness, confusion, defensiveness, or fear.”

    President Joe Biden revoked Trump’s second executive order on his first full day in office. The U.S. Department of Labor had already suspended the order as it related to federal employees after a federal court in California granted a preliminary injunction against the order.

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