Hyattsville Community Development Corporation

Abstract Vibrios are important aquatic human pathogens, causing gastroenteritis, wound infections, and cholera. Vibriosis (non-cholera infection) has been increasing in temperate climates due to correlation between Vibrio abundance and water temperature. However, how warming oceans differentially influence various Vibrio species, and whether incidence is higher in tropical regions, remains understudied. We assembled the first comprehensive dataset of culture-confirmed vibriosis cases outside a temperate climate from equatorial Singapore. Comparison to cases from the detailed United States (US) CDC COVIS system revealed that vibriosis incidence is over two times higher in Singapore than the United States. Causative species also differ markedly, with Vibrio fluvialis and non-toxigenic Vibrio cholerae dominating in Singapore (>40%) but are much less prominent in the United States (<15%). Singapore cases have remained stable in the last decade, while US incidence is rising rapidly, especially for V. fluvialis and V. cholerae (13% and 17% per year). Differences in causative species in Singapore and the United States suggest ecological factors may shape infection dynamics, with some species benefitting more from warming oceans, raising their equatorial prominence. Incidence is stable in Singapore, likely due to slower warming of waters near the equator. In contrast, vibriosis in the United States will likely continue to increase steadily, with changing species composition, likely becoming tropicalized.

Central America is an understudied global hotspot of plant biodiversity and harbors Acrocomia aculeata (Coyol or Macaúba), a neotropical palm with significant potential for oil and biofuel production. Historically, the region has functioned as a biogeographic land bridge, an isthmus, connecting North and South American biota. Here, we investigate how genomic diversity and potential distribution patterns of A. aculeata are shaped across Central America. A total of 259 samples were collected from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, covering the full extent of the Central American isthmus. Using a double-digest genotyping-by-sequencing (ddGBS) approach and ecological niche modeling, we assessed variation at 1,523 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and evaluated environmental suitability across the region. Our analyses reveal three major genomic clusters: Mesoamerican, Costa Rican, and Panamanian, each comprising subpopulations with distinct levels of genetic diversity. The Mesoamerican group (Guatemala, Honduras, and northern Nicaragua) exhibited the highest diversity and unique genetic signatures, likely reflecting historical migrations and acting as a biodiversity cradle during periods when southern portions of the isthmus were submerged. Biogeographic features such as the Nicaraguan Depression and the Talamanca Cordillera contributed to regional genetic differentiation. Ecological niche models identified Central American pacific lowlands, forested areas, rangelands, and agroecosystems as suitable habitats for A. aculeata. Our combined results reflect the evolutionary history and population structure of A. aculeata in Central America, highlighting the influence of South American source populations and regional barriers. These findings provide a critical foundation for conservation and breeding programs aiming to preserve the genetic diversity and adaptive potential of A. aculeata in a rapidly changing and neglected biodiversity hotspot.

Reviewers: M C Lee (Sanger Institute) | 📘📘📘📘📘 • N Lucchi (CDC) | 📗📗📗📗◻️ • J Raman (University of Witwatersrand) | 📒📒📒◻️◻️ • M Oboh (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine) | 📘📘📘📘📘

Objective:Recent scientific attention has focused on the therapeutic effectiveness of cannabis use on a variety of physical and mental ailments. The present study uses smartphone technology to assess self-reported experiences of Florida cannabis users to understand how cannabis may impact anxiety and depression symptomatology.Method:Several hundred Releaf App™ users from the state of Florida provided anonymous, real-time reports of their symptoms of anxiety and/or depression immediately before and after cannabis use sessions. Linear mixed-effects modeling was used to analyze the data at the symptom and user level.Results:Results showed that for the majority of users, cannabis use was associated with a significant decrease in depression and anxiety symptomatology. While symptom type, doses per session, consumption method, and CBD levels were significant predictors of relief change, their effect sizes were small and should be interpreted with caution. At the user level, those who had positive relief outcomes in anxiety reported more doses and sessions, and those in the depression group reported more sessions.Conclusions:Our results generally support the therapeutic effectiveness of cannabis against depression/anxiety symptomatology. Future work should include standardized statistics and effect size estimates for a better understanding of each variable's practical contribution to this area of study.

Introduction: Real-world data (RWD), such as electronic health records (EHRs), have potential to augment critical care research through use of causal inference methods. Trial emulation is one such method where design features from randomized controlled trials (RCT) are incorporated to reduce systematic biases encountered in observational studies. This methodology is a good fit for critical care where clinician judgment is often a determinant of treatment received. The CURE Drug Repurposing Collaboratory, in collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders, developed a collection of openly available projects, the Edge Tool Suite, to convert proprietary EHR data into a common data model and facilitate observational research across multiple healthcare systems. We used data extracted through the Edge Tool Suite to compare the results of an observational trial emulation to the results of the RECOVERY trial of dexamethasone for treatment of COVID-19. Methods: We recreated trial features within the observational data obtained from over 10,000 records of patients hospitalized with acute COVID-19 from the Edge Tool pilot site. Propensity score matching was used to match patients 2:1 without and with any recorded administration of dexamethasone. Covariates included demographic, comorbidity, and disease severity variables. Our primary outcome measure was 28-day mortality, with secondary outcome measure of hospital length of stay. Results: In our trial emulation, use of dexamethasone was associated with significantly lower 28-day mortality among both those receiving oxygen alone (HR: 0.29, CI: 0.23-0.36, p < 0.001) and those on mechanical ventilation (HR: 0.26, CI: 0.20-0.34, p < 0.001), compared to those receiving no respiratory support. This finding aligns with the conclusions drawn from the RECOVERY trial. Conclusions: This analysis suggests that EHR data can be used to emulate trails to the effectiveness of treatments within an RCT. Trial emulation can be a powerful tool to evaluate whether the results of RCT are present in real world treatment and may provide information on post-hoc analysis of treatment effectiveness within patient groups, or in hypotheses generation for future trials.

Objective:This study sought to explain results of the Water Up!@Home randomised controlled trial where low-income parents were randomised to receive an educational intervention +a low-cost water filter pitcher or only the filter. Parents in both groups had reported statistically significant reductions in sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and increases in water intake post-intervention.Design:Qualitative explanatory in-depth interviews analysed thematically and deductively.Setting:Washington, DC metropolitan area, USA.Participants:Low-income Latino parents of infants/toddlers who had participated in the Water Up! @Home randomised controlled trial.Results:The filter-stimulated water consumption in both groups by (1) increasing parents’ perception of water safety; (2) acting as a cue to action to drink water; (3) improving the flavour of water (which was linked to perceptions of safety) and (4) increasing the perception that this option was more economical than purchasing bottled water. Safe and palatable drinking water was more accessible and freely available in their homes; participants felt they did not need to ration their water consumption as before. Only intervention participants were able to describe a reduction in SSB intake and described strategies, skills and knowledge gained to reduce SSB intake. Among the comparison group, there was no thematic consensus about changes in SSB or any strategies or skills to reduce SSB intake.Conclusions:A low-cost water filter facilitated water consumption, which actively (or passively for comparison group) displaced SSB consumption. The findings have implications for understanding and addressing the role of water security on SSB consumption.

Integrating pregnancy and HIV prevention services would make reproductive health care settings an optimal venue for the promotion and delivery of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to cisgender women. However, these settings have been slow to adopt PrEP. Planned parenthood clinicians and leaders possess critical insight that can help accelerate PrEP implementation in reproductive health care settings and elements of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (i.e., relative priority of the intervention to staff, implementation climate, available resources to implement the intervention, and staff access to knowledge and information about the intervention) can shed light on elements of Planned Parenthood's inner setting that can facilitate PrEP implementation. In this study, individual 60-min interviews were conducted with clinical care team members (n = 10), leadership team members (n = 6), and center managers (n = 2) to explore their perspectives on PrEP implementation and associated training needs. Transcripts were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. Despite having variable PrEP knowledge, participants (100% women, 61% non-Hispanic White) expressed positive attitudes toward implementing PrEP. Barriers and facilitators toward providing PrEP were reported at the structural, provider, and patient levels. Participants desired PrEP training that incorporated culturally competent patient-provider communication. Although participants identified ways that Planned Parenthood uniquely enabled PrEP implementation, barriers must be overcome to optimize promotion and delivery of PrEP to cisgender women.

The Europan Molecular Indicators of Life Investigation (EMILI) is an instrument concept being developed for the Europa Lander mission currently under study. EMILI will meet and exceed the scientific and technical/resource requirements of the organic composition analyzer identified as a core instrument on the Lander. EMILI tightly couples two complementary analytical techniques, based on 1) liquid extraction and processing with capillary electrophoresis and 2) thermal and chemical extraction with gas chromatography, to robustly detect, structurally characterize, and quantify the broadest range of organics and other Europan chemicals over widely-varying concentrations. Dual processing and analysis paths enable EMILI to perform a thorough characterization of potential molecular biosignatures and contextual compounds in collected surface samples. Here we present a summary of the requirements, design, and development status of EMILI with projected scientific opportunities on the Europa Lander as well as on other potential life detection missions seeking potential molecular biosignatures in situ.