Faculty Bibliography

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:There is a need to scale-up mental health service provision in primary health care. The current extent of integration of mental health in primary care is pertinent to promoting and augmenting mental health at this level. We describe a facility mapping exercise conducted in two low-income/primary health facilities in Kenya to identify existing barriers and facilitators in the delivery of mental health services in general and specifically for peripartum adolescents in primary health care as well as available service resources, cadres, and developmental partners on the ground. METHOD AND MEASURES/UNASSIGNED:This study utilized a qualitative evidence synthesis through mapping facility-level services and key-stakeholder interviews. Services-related data were collected from two facility in-charges using the Nairobi City County Human Resource Health Strategy record forms. Additionally, we conducted 10 key informant interviews (KIIs) with clinical officers (Clinicians at diploma level), Nurses, Community Health Assistants (CHAs), Prevention of Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV Mentor Mothers (PMTCTMs), around both general and adolescent mental health as well as psychosocial services they offered. Using the World Health Organization Assessments Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS) as a guideline for the interview, all KII questions were structured to identify the extent of mental health integration in primary health care services. Interview transcripts were then systematically analyzed for common themes and discussed by the first three authors to eliminate discrepancies. RESULTS:Our findings show that health care services centered around physical health were offered daily while the mental health services were still vertical, offered weekly through specialist services by the Ministry of Health directly or non-governmental partners. Despite health care workers being aware of the urgent need to integrate mental health services into routine care, they expressed limited knowledge about mental disorders and reported paucity of trained mental health personnel in these sites. Significantly, more funding and resources are needed to provide mental health services, as well as the need for training of general health care providers in the identification and treatment of mental disorders. Our stakeholders underscored the urgency of integrating mental health treatment, prevention, and well-being promotive activities targeting adolescents especially peripartum adolescent girls. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:There is a need for further refining of the integrated care model in mental health services and targeted capacity-building for health care providers to deliver quality services.

BACKGROUND:Early microbiota perturbations are associated with disorders that involve immunological underpinnings. Cesarean section (CS)-born babies show altered microbiota development in relation to babies born vaginally. Here we present the first statistically powered longitudinal study to determine the effect of restoring exposure to maternal vaginal fluids after CS birth. METHODS:Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we followed the microbial trajectories of multiple body sites in 177 babies over the first year of life; 98 were born vaginally, and 79 were born by CS, of whom 30 were swabbed with a maternal vaginal gauze right after birth. FINDINGS:Compositional tensor factorization analysis confirmed that microbiota trajectories of exposed CS-born babies aligned more closely with that of vaginally born babies. Interestingly, the majority of amplicon sequence variants from maternal vaginal microbiomes on the day of birth were shared with other maternal sites, in contrast to non-pregnant women from the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) study. CONCLUSIONS:The results of this observational study prompt urgent randomized clinical trials to test whether microbial restoration reduces the increased disease risk associated with CS birth and the underlying mechanisms. It also provides evidence of the pluripotential nature of maternal vaginal fluids to provide pioneer bacterial colonizers for the newborn body sites. This is the first study showing long-term naturalization of the microbiota of CS-born infants by restoring microbial exposure at birth. FUNDING:C&D, Emch Fund, CIFAR, Chilean CONICYT and SOCHIPE, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Emerald Foundation, NIH, National Institute of Justice, Janssen.

BACKGROUND:In contrast to the current broad dissemination of telemedicine across medical specialties, previous research focused on the effectiveness of telemedicine in special populations and for behavioral health encounters; demonstrating that both physician and patient factors impact the efficacious use of telemedicine. OBJECTIVE:We evaluated physician perceptions of the appropriateness of telemedicine for patients attending the primary care practices of a federally qualified health center in New York City. METHODS:Anonymous cross-sectional survey including closed and open-ended questions. We used chi-square to test whether providers from certain specialties were more likely to state they would use telemedicine in the future. We used t-test to compare age between those who would vs. would not use telemedicine. Then, we used logistic regression to test whether age and specialty were both correlated with desire to use telemedicine in the future. We used thematic content analysis to describe the reasons providers felt they would not want to use telemedicine in the future, and to describe the situations for which they felt telemedicine would be appropriate. RESULTS:Of 272 FHC providers who were sent the electronic survey, 159(58%) responded within the 2-week survey time frame. Mean age of providers was 45 years (range 28-75). Overall, 81% stated they would use telemedicine in the future. Compared to the Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Behavioral Health, Dental, and OB/GYN specialties, providers from Pediatrics, Med-Peds, Subspecialties and Surgery [Pro-telemedicine specialties] were more likely to believe telemedicine would be useful post pandemic (94% vs. 72%, p<0.05). Providers who reported they would use telemedicine in the future were younger [mean age 44(42-46) vs. 50(46-55), p<0.01). In regression analysis, both pro-telemedicine specialties and age were significantly associated with odds of reporting they would use telemedicine in the future [pro-specialties: 5.2(1.7-16.2); younger age: 1.05(1.01-1.08)]. Providers who did not want to use telemedicine in the future cited concerns about inadequate patient care, lack of physical patient interaction, technology issues, and lack of necessity. Providers who felt telemedicine would be useful cited the following situations: follow up visits, medication refills, urgent care, patient convenience, and specific conditions such has behavioral health, dermatology visits, and chronic care management. CONCLUSIONS:The majority of health providers in this resource poor setting in a federally qualified health center believed that telemedicine would be useful for providing care after the pandemic is over. CLINICALTRIAL/UNASSIGNED/:

Transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people, also referred to as gender minorities, have unique cancer prevention, treatment, and care needs and experience cancer health disparities compared to the cisgender population. We present four composite cases of the cancer care challenges experienced by gender minorities.

BACKGROUND:Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that has been neuropathologically diagnosed in brain donors exposed to repetitive head impacts, including boxers and American football, soccer, ice hockey, and rugby players. CTE cannot yet be diagnosed during life. In December 2015, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke awarded a seven-year grant (U01NS093334) to fund the "Diagnostics, Imaging, and Genetics Network for the Objective Study and Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (DIAGNOSE CTE) Research Project." The objectives of this multicenter project are to: develop in vivo fluid and neuroimaging biomarkers for CTE; characterize its clinical presentation; refine and validate clinical research diagnostic criteria (i.e., traumatic encephalopathy syndrome [TES]); examine repetitive head impact exposure, genetic, and other risk factors; and provide shared resources of anonymized data and biological samples to the research community. In this paper, we provide a detailed overview of the rationale, design, and methods for the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project. METHODS:The targeted sample and sample size was 240 male participants, ages 45-74, including 120 former professional football players, 60 former collegiate football players, and 60 asymptomatic participants without a history of head trauma or participation in organized contact sports. Participants were evaluated at one of four U.S. sites and underwent the following baseline procedures: neurological and neuropsychological examinations; tau and amyloid positron emission tomography; magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy; lumbar puncture; blood and saliva collection; and standardized self-report measures of neuropsychiatric, cognitive, and daily functioning. Study partners completed similar informant-report measures. Follow-up evaluations were intended to be in-person and at 3 years post-baseline. Multidisciplinary diagnostic consensus conferences are held, and the reliability and validity of TES diagnostic criteria are examined. RESULTS:Participant enrollment and all baseline evaluations were completed in February 2020. Three-year follow-up evaluations began in October 2019. However, in-person evaluation ceased with the COVID-19 pandemic, and resumed as remote, 4-year follow-up evaluations (including telephone-, online-, and videoconference-based cognitive, neuropsychiatric, and neurologic examinations, as well as in-home blood draw) in February 2021. CONCLUSIONS:Findings from the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project should facilitate detection and diagnosis of CTE during life, and thereby accelerate research on risk factors, mechanisms, epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of CTE. TRIAL REGISTRATION:NCT02798185.

OBJECTIVE:To test breastfeeding duration and responsive parenting as independent predictors of infant weight change from birth to 12 months, and to test the moderating effect of a tiered parenting intervention on relations between breastfeeding and responsive parenting in relation to infant weight change. METHODS:Mother-infant dyads (N = 403) were participants in the ongoing Smart Beginnings (SB) randomized controlled trial testing the impact of the tiered SB parenting model that incorporates two evidence-based interventions: Video Interaction Project (VIP) and Family Check-Up (FCU). The sample was low income and predominantly Black and Latinx. Responsive parenting variables (maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness) came from coded observations of mother-infant interactions when infants were 6 months. Continuous weight-for-age (WFA) z-score change and infant rapid weight gain (RWG) from 0 to 12 months were both assessed. RESULTS:Longer breastfeeding duration was significantly associated with less WFA z-score change. The relationship between breastfeeding duration and WFA z-score change was significant only for infants in the intervention group. Intrusive parenting behaviors were also associated with greater WFA z-score change after accounting for breastfeeding duration. CONCLUSIONS:This study is one of the first to test both breastfeeding and parenting in relation to infant weight gain in the first year. Findings may have implications for family-focused child obesity prevention programs.

OBJECTIVE:To review the contemporary issues of healthcare disparities in Headache Medicine with regard to race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and geography and propose solutions for addressing these disparities. METHODS:An internet and PubMed search was performed and literature was reviewed for key concepts underpinning disparities in Headache Medicine. Content was refined to areas most salient to our goal of informing the provision of equitable care in headache treatment through discussions with this group of 16 experts from a range of headache subspecialties. RESULTS:Taken together, a multitude of factors including racism, socioeconomic status and insurance status and geographical disparities contribute to the inequities that exist within the healthcare system when treating headache disorders. Interventions such as improving public education, advocacy, optimizing telemedicine, engaging in community outreach to educate primary care providers, training providers in cultural sensitivity and competence and implicit bias, addressing health literacy and developing recruitment strategies to increase representation of underserved groups within headache research are proposed as solutions to ameliorate disparities. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Neurologists have a responsibility to provide and deliver equitable care to all. It is important that disparities in the management of headache disorders are identified and addressed.

BACKGROUND:Kidney reabsorption of magnesium (Mg) is essential for homeostasis. OBJECTIVES:We developed and validated models with the kidney reabsorption-related magnesium depletion score (MDS) to predict states of magnesium deficiency and disease outcomes. METHODS:MDS was validated in predicting body magnesium status among 77 adults (aged 62 ± 8 y, 51% men) at high risk of magnesium deficiency in the Personalized Prevention of Colorectal Cancer Trial (PPCCT) (registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01105169) using the magnesium tolerance test (MTT). We then validated MDS for risk stratification and for associations with inflammation and mortality among >10,000 US adults (weighted: aged 48 ± 0.3 y, 47% men) in the NHANES, a nationally representative study. A proportional hazards regression model was used for associations between magnesium intake and the MDS with risks of total and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. RESULTS:In the PPCCT, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) for magnesium deficiency was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.50, 0.76) for the model incorporating the MDS with sex and age compared with 0.53 (95% CI: 0.40, 0.67) for the model with serum magnesium alone. In the NHANES, mean serum C-reactive protein significantly increased with increasing MDS (P-trend < 0.01) after adjusting for age and sex and other covariates, primarily among individuals with magnesium intake less than the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR; P-trend < 0.05). Further, we found that low magnesium intake was longitudinally associated with increased risks of total and CVD mortality only among those with magnesium deficiency predicted by MDS. MDS was associated with increased risks of total and CVD mortality in a dose-response manner only among those with magnesium intake less than the EAR. CONCLUSIONS:The MDS serves as a promising measure in identifying individuals with magnesium deficiency who may benefit from increased intake of magnesium to reduce risks of systemic inflammation and CVD mortality. This lays a foundation for precision-based nutritional interventions.

OBJECTIVE:Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) is frequently misdiagnosed as type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Correct diagnosis may result in a change in clinical treatment and impacts prediction of complications and familial risk. In this study, we aimed to assess the prevalence of MODY in multiethnic youth under age 20 years with a clinical diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS/METHODS:We evaluated whole-exome sequence data of youth with a clinical diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. We considered participants to have MODY if they carried a MODY gene variant classified as likely pathogenic (LP) or pathogenic (P) according to current guidelines. RESULTS:= 0.006). CONCLUSIONS:= 83) the specific diagnosis would have changed clinical management. No clinical criterion reliably separated the two groups. New tools are needed to find ideal criteria for selection of individuals for genetic testing.

Increasing evidence supports a link between maternal prenatal cannabis use and altered neural and physiological development of the child. However, whether cannabis use relates to altered human brain development prior to birth, and specifically, whether maternal prenatal cannabis use relates to connectivity of fetal functional brain systems, remains an open question. The major objective of this study was to identify whether maternal prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) is associated with variation in human brain hippocampal functional connectivity prior to birth. Prenatal drug toxicology and fetal fMRI data were available in a sample of 115 fetuses [43 % female; mean age 32.2 weeks (SD = 4.3)]. Voxelwise hippocampal connectivity analysis in a subset of age and sex-matched fetuses revealed that PCE was associated with alterations in fetal dorsolateral, medial and superior frontal, insula, anterior temporal, and posterior cingulate connectivity. Classification of group differences by age 5 outcomes suggest that compared to the non-PCE group, the PCE group is more likely to have increased connectivity to regions associated with less favorable outcomes and to have decreased connectivity to regions associated with more favorable outcomes. This is preliminary evidence that altered fetal neural connectome may contribute to neurobehavioral vulnerability observed in children exposed to cannabis in utero.