妊娠晚期孕妇抑郁情绪对新生儿神经行为发育的影响

目的探讨妊娠晚期孕妇抑郁情绪对新生儿神经行为发育的影响。方法选取2017年1月—2018年12月,收治本院的160例妊娠晚期孕妇抑郁情绪患者一般临床资料,妊娠周期28周以上,对孕妇抑郁情绪进行统计采用爱丁堡抑郁自评量表、负性认知加工偏向量表,对新生儿神经行为进行评估时按照婴儿神经国际量表。结果160例妊娠晚期孕妇抑郁情绪患者中,阳性30例、阴性130例,与阴性妊娠妇女相比,抑郁阳性妊娠妇女负性沉思偏向、负性解释偏向、负性记忆偏向、负性注意偏向均显著较高,差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。160例新生儿中,婴儿神经国际量表评分处于临界值为60例,正常值为100例,神经行为异常发生率为37.50%,负性沉思偏向、负性注意偏向与婴儿神经国际临界值呈负相关关系(P<0.05);与抑郁自评量表无明显相关性(P>0.05)。结论妊娠晚期孕妇具有较高抑郁发生率,其中负性认知加工偏向中负性沉思偏向、负性注意偏向与新生儿神经行为发育具有明显相关性。     

Brave Spaces in Discourse About Pregnant Persons’, Women’s,and Children’s Health

Discourse around implicit bias, intersectionality, and inequity in health care requires having conversations that may be uncomfortable. Within this space of discomfort, new understandings can occur. Reflecting on our own biases and assumptions is a moral obligation and a necessity to generate change. Health care settings may be a fitting forum to create and use brave spaces to have these conversations.     

The importance of how research participants think they are perceived: results from an electronic monitoring study of antiretroviral therapy in Uganda

Novel monitoring technologies in HIV research, such as electronic adherence monitors (EAMs), have changed the nature of researcher-participant interactions. Yet little is known about how EAMs and the resulting interaction between researchers and participants affect research participation and the data gathered. We interviewed participants and research assistants (RAs) in an observational cohort study involving EAMs for HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Uganda. We qualitatively explored interviewees’ views about ethical issues surrounding EAMs and assessed data with conventional and directed content analysis. Participants valued their relationships with RAs and were preoccupied with RAs’ perceptions of them. Participants were pleased when the EAM revealed regular adherence, and annoyed when it revealed non-adherence that contradicted self-reported pill-taking behavior. For many, the desire to maintain a good impression incentivized adherence. But some sought to creatively conceal non-adherence, or refused to use the EAM to avoid revealing non-adherence to RAs. These findings show that participants’ perceptions of the study staff's perceptions of them affected the experience of being monitored, study participation, and ultimately the data gathered in the study. Investigators in monitoring-based research should be aware that social interactions between participants and study staff could affect both the practical and ethical conduct of that research.     

Association between enrollment factors and incident cognitive impairment in Blacks and Whites: Data from the Alzheimer's Disease Center

IntroductionWe examined the influence of enrollment factors demonstrated to differ by race on incident mild cognitive impairment and dementia using Alzheimer's Disease Center data.MethodsDifferences in rates of incident impairment between non-Latino Whites and Blacks (n = 12,242) were examined with age-at-progression survival models. Models included race, sex, education, source of recruitment, health factors, and family history of dementia.ResultsNo significant race differences in progression were observed in cognitively unimpaired participants. In those with mild cognitive impairment at baseline, Whites evidenced greater risk for progression than Blacks. Enrollment factors, for example, referral source, were significantly related to progression.DiscussionThe finding that Blacks demonstrated lower rate of progression than Whites is contrary to the extant literature. Nested-regression analyses suggested that selection-related factors, differing by race, may account for these findings and influence our ability to accurately estimate risk for progression. It is potentially problematic to make racial comparisons using Alzheimer's Disease Center data sets.     

Empowering future physicians to advocate for health equity: A blueprint for a longitudinal thread in undergraduate medical education

Abstract

In light of a growing body of evidence demonstrating pervasive health disparities, medical schools are increasingly incorporating educational programs on social medicine in undergraduate and graduate medical curricula. In 2015, we significantly restructured the cultural competency instruction for medical students at our institution, focusing on achieving greater health equity through caring for vulnerable populations and acknowledging and addressing bias and stereotyping. In order to facilitate educational sustainability while students were immersed in clinical care, a key element of our approach included extending teaching into the clerkship year. The resulting longitudinal thread, Health Equity and Social Justice, empowers future physicians with the knowledge and skills to work towards greater health equity. This article discusses the lessons learned in the implementation of this novel educational program. Our approach can serve as a model for other institutions considering similar instructional reform.     

Understanding and adjusting for the selection bias from a proof-of-concept study to a more confirmatory study

It has long been noticed that the efficacy observed in small early phase studies is generally better than that observed in later larger studies. Historically, the inflation of the efficacy results from early proof-of-concept studies is either ignored, or adjusted empirically using a frequentist or Bayesian approach. In this article, we systematically explained the underlying reason for the inflation of efficacy results in small early phase studies from the perspectives of measurement error models and selection bias. A systematic method was built to adjust the early phase study results from both frequentist and Bayesian perspectives. A hierarchical model was proposed to estimate the distribution of the efficacy for a portfolio of compounds, which can serve as the prior distribution for the Bayesian approach. We showed through theory that the systematic adjustment provides an unbiased estimator for the true mean efficacy for a portfolio of compounds. The adjustment was applied to paired data for the efficacy in early small and later larger studies for a set of compounds in diabetes and immunology. After the adjustment, the bias in the early phase small studies seems to be diminished.     

Placing volunteered geographic health information: Socio-spatial bias in 311 bed bug report data for New York City

Health researchers and policy-makers increasingly use volunteered geographic information (VGI) to analyze spatial variation in health and wellbeing and to develop interventions. As socially constructed data, health VGI reflect the people who perceive issues and choose to report them, and the digital systems that structure the reporting process. We propose a conceptual framework that describes the interlocking effects of socioeconomic, behavioral, geographic, and technological processes on VGI accuracy and credibility. GIS and statistical methods are used to analyze social and geographical biases in health-related VGI through a case study of bed bug complaint data from New York City's 311 system. Reports of bed bug infestation from 311 are mapped and modeled to uncover associations with socioeconomic and built environment characteristics. Factors associated with bed bug report credibility are examined by comparing characteristics of confirmed reports with those for reports in which inspectors found no evidence of infestation (negative reports). A multilevel model of credibility incorporating report-, building-, and tract-level variables reveals strong geographical and socioeconomic biases, with negative reports generated more frequently from high-value residential buildings located in high-income neighborhoods with predominately white, non-Hispanic populations. Using 311 data for all bed bug reports, rather than confirmed reports, obscures the burden of these pests in high poverty neighborhoods and diminishes socioeconomic disparities. Mistaken reporting also has economic costs, as each report triggers an inspection by city inspectors that entails time, monetary, and opportunity costs.     

Posterior medial frontal cortex and threat-enhanced religious belief: a replication and extension

Research indicates that the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) functions as a ‘neural alarm’ complex broadly involved in registering threats and helping to muster relevant responses. Holbrook and colleagues investigated whether pMFC similarly mediates ideological threat responses, finding that downregulating pMFC via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) caused (i) less avowed religious belief despite being reminded of death and (ii) less group bias despite encountering a sharp critique of the national in-group. While suggestive, these findings were limited by the absence of a non-threat comparison condition and reliance on sham rather than control TMS. Here, in a pre-registered replication and extension, we downregulated pMFC or a control region (MT/V5) and then primed participants with either a reminder of death or a threat-neutral topic. As mentioned previously, participants reminded of death reported less religious belief when pMFC was downregulated. No such effect of pMFC downregulation was observed in the neutral condition, consistent with construing pMFC as monitoring for salient threats (e.g. death) and helping to recruit ideological responses (e.g. enhanced religious belief). However, no effect of downregulating pMFC on group bias was observed, possibly due to reliance on a collegiate in-group framing rather than a national framing as in the prior study.