Homelessness among immigrants in the United States: rates, correlates, and differences compared with native-born adults

OBJECTIVES

This study examines rates of lifetime adult homelessness among foreign-born adults in the United States and how they differ from native-born adults.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional data from a nationally representative US sample were analyzed.

METHODS

A sample of 29,896 native-born (weighted 84.1%) and 6404 foreign-born (weighted 16.0%) US adults participating in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III were compared on rates of homelessness, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, mental and substance-use disorders, health insurance, and use of welfare.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in rates of lifetime adult homelessness between foreign-born adults and native-born adults (1.0% vs 1.7%). Foreign-born participants were less likely to have various mental and substance-use disorders, less likely to receive welfare, and less likely to have any lifetime incarceration. The number of years foreign-born adults lived in the United States was significantly associated with risk for homelessness.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest the 'healthy immigrant effect' applies to the mental health and social functioning of US immigrants but may not necessarily apply to homelessness. Long-standing immigration procedures requiring mental health and psychosocial evaluations may contribute to selection effects.

[Analysis on the spatial-temporal characteristics of hand-foot-mouth disease in Shaanxi province, 2009-2013]

Objective: To study the spatial-temporal dynamical features of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in Shaanxi Province, so as to provide evidence for the development of relative prevention and control programs on HFMD. Methods: Surveillance data of HFMD was collected from the China Information System for Diseases Control and Prevention from 2009 to 2013. Related data on population and gross domestic product (GDP) was obtained from Shaanxi Statistical Yearbook. Statistical tools as R3.4.1, ArcGIS 10.2 and SaTScan 9.2 software were used to describe the spatial-temporal distribution of the disease. Power-law method on spatial-temporal-multicomponent model was used to analyze the spatial-temporal evolution of the HFMD epidemics in Shaanxi Province. Results: A total of 229 904 cases of HFMD were reported in Shaanxi Province from 2009 to 2013, with an average annual incidence as 122.50 per 100 000. Obvious seasonal characteristics were noticed, with 71.71% of the total cases identified between April and July. Counties with high incidence were mainly distributed in the mid-and east parts of Guanzhong area. Through temporal and spatial scan statistics, we identified that ClassⅠ clustering area was fixed to the central and southeast regions of Shaanxi province which were around Xi'an City between 2009 and 2013, with the relative risk (RR) as 2.24, ranging from 2.18 to 3.08. Results from Power-law analysis showed that the continuous follow-up impact from the previous HFMD epidemics appeared strong in Tongguan, Pucheng districts of Weinan City and Weiyang district of Xi'an, with autoregressive components as 1.14, 0.97 and 0.89, respectively. The risk of HFMD seemed high in Huayin city, Changan and Yanta districts and with the endemic components as 5.08, 4.12 and 4.08, respectively. Impact of the epidemics on nearby districts was largely seen in Lianhu district of Xi'an, Wugong district of Xianyang and Gaoling district of Xi'an with epidemic components as 2.12, 2.08 and 1.77, respectively. The etiological constituents of HFMD were mainly Enterovirus 71 between 2009 and 2012, while HFMD was mainly caused by other entero-viruses, in 2013. Conclusion: Significant spatial-temporal heterogeneity of HFMD was seen in Shaanxi province, which called for specific strategies to be developed in the highly endemic areas.

Hypergravity-assisted chemical liquid deposition of nano-granular film on the inner surface of a quartz tube

Transparent tubes with functions of heating and temperature measurement are badly required in the visualization investigation of two-phase flows and flow-boiling heat transfer. In order to prepare such a tube, we introduced a cost-effective and energy-efficient procedure of hypergravity-assisted chemical liquid deposition (HACLD) to produce transparent and conductive silver (Ag) films on the inner surfaces of quartz tubes, typically 50 mm in length and 8 mm in inner diameter with a set-up that was designed and built for this purpose. Precursors of organometallic Ag precursor solutions were prepared by dissolving silver citrate and 1,2-diaminopropane in 2-methoxyethanol with required concentration for the chemical liquid deposition process. Semitransparent and conductive Ag films formed inside the required quartz tubes under specific heating process in hypergravity. One of the films was about 47 nm in thickness, 23 Ω per square sheet resistance, and 30% optical transmittance. This attempt may pave a way for the understanding of the film forming mechanism in hypergravity, and the development of a film preparation technology of HACLD.

Genetic inhibition of neurotransmission reveals role of glutamatergic input to dopamine neurons in high-effort behavior

Midbrain dopamine neurons are crucial for many behavioral and cognitive functions. As the major excitatory input, glutamatergic afferents are important for control of the activity and plasticity of dopamine neurons. However, the role of glutamatergic input as a whole onto dopamine neurons remains unclear. Here we developed a mouse line in which glutamatergic inputs onto dopamine neurons are specifically impaired, and utilized this genetic model to directly test the role of glutamatergic inputs in dopamine-related functions. We found that while motor coordination and reward learning were largely unchanged, these animals showed prominent deficits in effort-related behavioral tasks. These results provide genetic evidence that glutamatergic transmission onto dopaminergic neurons underlies incentive motivation, a willingness to exert high levels of effort to obtain reinforcers, and have important implications for understanding the normal function of the midbrain dopamine system.

Abstract P6-07-02: Bisphenol A treatment induces hyperplasia in primary and stem cell-generated mammary glands from pregnant mice

Breast cancer is a commonly diagnosed cancer of pregnancy. However, how endogenous and exogenous endocrine factors may contribute to the development of pregnancy-associated mammary tumorigenesis is not clear. There is growing evidence that mammary stem cells (MaSCs) may initiate neoplastic transformation when dysregulated in mouse models. We investigated the effect of the environmental endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) on mouse mammary gland morphology, epithelial cell composition, pre-neoplastic lesions, and the regenerative function of MaSCs. Pregnant FVB mice with GFP transgene on Day E8.5 were implanted with osmotic pumps that constantly release BPA at 0, 25 or 250 ng/kg/day for 28 days and the mice were euthanized one month after weaning. In agreement with the literature, we observed an abnormality of the morphology of the mammary gland after BPA treatment characterized by higher duct density and abnormal secondary and tertiary branching. Quantification of percent hyperplastic mammary ducts in H&E-stained tissue slides revealed a significant increase of ducts with hyperplastic lesions after BPA treatment, particularly with the low dose. To investigate the effects of BPA treatment on MaSCs, we used enzyme digestion to isolate the CD24hi/CD49f+ luminal epithelial cells (also termed as colony forming cell or CFC) and the CD24+/CD49fhi basal epithelial cells (also termed as mammary repopulating unit or MRU) from mammary gland tissues by FACS and found no significant difference in percent of luminal or basal cell population after BPA treatment. Because the basal cells are enriched with MaSCs that can form mammospheres in suspension culture and subsequently form solid 3D organoids when cultured in Matrigel, we transplanted the solid 3D organoids into cleared mammary fat pads of syngeneic FVB mice and immune-compromised nude mice to examine how BPA treatment might alter MaSC function. Significantly, similar to the results from the primary mammary glands, the regenerated mammary glands by MaSCs from mice treated with the low dose of BPA showed increased duct density, secondary and tertiary branching, and a significantly greater number of hyperplastic lesions. Taken together, our study demonstrated that BPA exposure at very low dose could induce pre-neoplastic lesions in the mammary gland of pregnant mice, apparently by directly targeting MaSCs and implicates BPA as an exogenous endocrine factor that may promote pregnancy-associated mammary tumorigenesis.

Citation Format: Bouamar H, Zhang F, Gu X, Dong Q, Sun L. Bisphenol A treatment induces hyperplasia in primary and stem cell-generated mammary glands from pregnant mice [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-07-02.

Abstract P5-04-03: Aggressiveness of epithelial cancers is independent of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

Background: Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT)is postulated to be an important step in cancer progression and controlled by multiple mechanisms including EMT transcription factors (EMT-TFs) and splicing factors such as Epithelial Splicing Regulatory Proteins (ESRP1 and ESRP2). We previously have shown that the expression of ESRP1 and ESRP2 have significantly elevated in cases with high Oncotype DX scores and in ERα-positive cells with acquired endocrine resistance (SABCS 2013). This study seeks to identify the role of EMT-TFs and ESRP1s in the determination of outcomes of patients with ER+ breast cancer.

Patients and Methods: The expression of EMT-TFs and ESRP1 was analyzed in the Affymetrix microarray and TCGA BRCA databases. Next, we generated genetically engineered knockdown models of ESRP1 to understand its functional role in endocrine resistance. We performed RNA-seq and MATS analysis to identify alternative splicing events (ASEs) between ESRP1 knockdown and control cell lines [(2C3 vs 2-control (LCC2 set) and 9C2 vs 9-control(LCC9 set)]. Validation of the ASEs was performed using a probe-based platform [Human Transcriptome Array 2.0 (HTA)] and TCGA SpliceSeq from breast tumors.

Results: High levels of ESRP1 mRNA, but not EMT-TFs, are associated with poor prognosis in human ER+ breast tumors (Affymetrix; P=2.8e-07 and TCGA; P=0.00011). Knockdown of ESRP1 in ER+ endocrine resistant breast cancer induced glandular differentiation, rather than mesenchymal features. This was associated with significant reduction in cell and tumor growth in mammary fat pad orthotopic xenograft mice models of LCC2 and LCC9. No alterations in EMT-TFs were observed in these cells. Transcriptome profiling of ESRP1 knockdown cells further revealed altered ASEs in EMT splicing gene signature, but not at the gene level. These alterations (SE-skipped exon) were further validated for ARHGEF11, ENAH, FNIP1, SCRIB, and SLK using probe based HTA platform for ESRP1 knockdown cells and TCGA-SpliceSeq ER+ BRCA tumors in ER+ ESRP1low versus ESRP1high breast tumors.

Conclusions: Our data demonstrates for the first time that high ESRP1 is associated with poor prognosis in ER+ breast cancer. Despite its involvement in regulation of EMT splicing signature, low levels (or knockdown) of ESRP1 were not associated with EMT phenotype in tumors or in endocrine-resistant ER+ cells. Taken together, our findings indicate that EMT is not important in determining prognosis in ER+ breast cancer and that ESRP1 exerts a different role in aggressive ER+ breast cancers.

Citation Format: Badve SS, Neelamraju Y, Goswami CP, Gu X, Nallamothu G, Gu Y, Vieth E, Janga SC, Ryan M, Gokmen-Polar Y. Aggressiveness of epithelial cancers is independent of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-04-03.

Correction: Genetic inhibition of neurotransmission reveals role of glutamatergic input to dopamine neurons in high-effort behavior

In Figure 1e and f, "F4 control" should be "Cre/tdTomato" and "F4Cre KO" should be "F4Cre/tdTomato". In addition, in the Figure1f legend, the first sentence should end with "(Cre/tdTomato: n = 10, F4Cre/tdTomato: n = 14)".In the 'Materials and Methods' section, under 'Electrophysiology,' the n values for evoked action potential recordings were omitted. The sentence 'For high-frequency stimulus-induced action potentials, the stimulus electrode was placed in the rostral part of VTA and a train of 100 Hz stimuli (1 s) was applied' should end with '(Cre/tdTomato: n=10, F4Cre/tdTomato: n=14).'Later in the same paragraph, in 'For recording evoked EPSCs (Cre/tdTomato, n=13, F4Cre/tdTomato, n=15; AMPA EPSCs were recorded at -70  mV and NMDA EPSCs were recorded at +40 mV)', the phrase 'Cre/tdTomato, n=13, F4Cre/tdTomato, n=15' should be deleted; those n values should have appeared at the end of the later sentence beginning 'Miniature ESPCs...'. The complete, corrected sentence is 'Miniature EPSCs (mEPSCs) were acquired in the presence of 0.5-1 μM TTX and 100 μM picrotoxin and semiautomatically detected by offline analysis using in-house software in Igor Pro (Wavemetrics, Portland, OR, USA) (Cre/tdTomato, n=13, F4Cre/tdTomato, n=15).'Finally, in the 'Materials and Methods' section, third sentence under 'Immunohistochemistry,' information for one TH antibody was omitted. The list of antibodies should end with 'or Millipore MAB5280, 1:1000-1:2000.'

[The role of temporal fine structure in tone recognition and music perception]

The sound signal can be decomposed into temporal envelope and temporal fine structure information. The temporal envelope information is crucial for speech perception in quiet environment, and the temporal fine structure information plays an important role in speech perception in noise, Mandarin tone recognition and music perception, especially the pitch and melody perception.

Large-scale study of clinical and biochemical characteristics of Chinese patients diagnosed with Krabbe disease

Krabbe disease (KD) is a rare disease caused by the deficiency of β-galactocerebrosidase. This study investigated 22 unrelated Chinese patients, including their clinical presentations, plasma psychosine levels and β-galactocerebrosidase gene mutations. We found the late-onset form of KD present in 82% of the patients in our study, which was more prevalent than in patients from other populations. Plasma psychosine levels were elevated in KD, which were correlated with the severity of clinical presentations. Sanger sequencing identified 8 novel mutations, including 7 missense mutations, p.H253Y, p.S259L, p.P318L, p.F350V, p.T428A, p.L530P, p.G586D, and 1 splicing mutation, c.1251+1G>A. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification identified a novel exon 12 and 14 deletion, separately. Next generation sequencing, applied at the final step, revealed 2 missense mutant alleles missed using Sanger sequencing. The most common mutation in Chinese population is p.P154H, which accounts for 20.5% of alleles. Consistent with the higher prevalence of the late-onset form of KD, missense mutations predominated in our study, different with the common mutation types in Europe and Japan. This work was the first large-scale study of Chinese KD patients describing their clinical, biochemical and genetic characteristics, which furthered our understanding of this classical neurological lysosomal storage disease.