We Are the First to Applaud You Regarding Your Efforts in COVID-19: A Message from the African Diaspora to Our Brothers and Sisters of Africa.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Laurencin CT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7272109 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
We Are the First to Applaud You Regarding Your Efforts in COVID-19: A Message from the African Diaspora to Our Brothers and Sisters of Africa.
Laurencin Cato T CT McClinton Aneesah A
Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities 20200604 4
As African countries address the COVID-19 pandemic, we applaud the continent and its efforts in the crisis, and offer a message that includes lessons learned from the American experience. ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Brothers' and sisters' experiences providing care to a parent with dementia differ, but little is known about how mixed-gender siblings share their caregiving responsibilities or how sharing affects their relationship. This study aimed to explore mixed-gender siblings processes for distributing caregiving tasks when caring for a parent with dementia and the impact of sharing care on their relationship. This descriptive qualitative study recruited fourteen English-speaking mixed-gender sibling pairs caring for a parent with dementia. Online open-ended surveys and individual semi-structured interviews were completed. Interviews and surveys explored division of caregiving responsibilities, conflict resolution, and the effects of sharing care on sibling relationships. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Five themes were identified: goal of shared caregiving is to meet parents' needs, sisters often take the lead, practical issues affect sharing of caregiving activities, personal resources or skills affect division of responsibilities, and shared caregiving influences relationship quality. Understanding how siblings share caregiving responsibilities can inform the practices of healthcare professionals who care for people with dementia and their family caregivers.
| S-EPMC8996302 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The trans-Atlantic slave trade brought millions of Africans to the New World. Advances in genomics are providing novel insights into the history and health of Africans and the diasporan populations. Recent examples reviewed here include the unraveling of substantial hunter-gatherer and 'Eurasian' admixtures across sub-Saharan Africa, expanding our understanding of ancestral African genetics; the global ubiquity of mixed ancestry; the revealing of African ancestry in Latin Americans that likely derived from the slave trade; and understanding of the ancestral backgrounds of APOL1 and LPL found to influence kidney disease and lipid levels, respectively, providing specific insights into disease etiology and health disparities.
| S-EPMC5318189 | biostudies-literature
Project description:There is a paucity of literature describing traditional health practices and beliefs of African women. The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic review of the use of traditional medicine (TM) to address maternal and reproductive health complaints and wellbeing by African women in Africa and the diaspora.A literature search of published articles, grey literature and unpublished studies was conducted using eight medical and social science databases (CINAHL, EMBASE, Infomit, Ovid Medline, ProQuest, PsychINFO, PubMed and SCOPUS) from the inception of each database until 31 December 2016. Critical appraisal was conducted using a quality assessment tool (QAT).A total of 20 studies conducted in 12 African countries representing 11,858 women were included. No literature was found on African women in the diaspora related to maternal use of TM or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The prevalence of TM use among the African women was as high as 80%. The most common TM used was herbal medicine for reasons related to treatment of pregnancy related symptoms. Frequent TM users were pregnant women with no formal education, low income, and living far from public health facilities. Lack of access to the mainstream maternity care was the major determining factor for use of TM.TM is widely used by African women for maternal and reproductive health issues due to lack of access to the mainstream maternity care. Further research is required to examine the various types of traditional and cultural health practices (other than herbal medicine), the beliefs towards TM, and the health seeking behaviors of African women in Africa and the diaspora.
| S-EPMC5541739 | biostudies-other
Project description:A primary goal of The Consortium on Asthma among African-ancestry Populations in the Americas (CAAPA) is to develop an 'African Diaspora Power Chip' (ADPC), a genotyping array consisting of tagging SNPs, useful in comprehensively identifying African specific genetic variation. This array is designed based on the novel variation identified in 642 CAAPA samples of African ancestry with high coverage whole genome sequence data (~30× depth). This novel variation extends the pattern of variation catalogued in the 1000 Genomes and Exome Sequencing Projects to a spectrum of populations representing the wide range of West African genomic diversity. These individuals from CAAPA also comprise a large swath of the African Diaspora population and incorporate historical genetic diversity covering nearly the entire Atlantic coast of the Americas. Here we show the results of designing and producing such a microchip array. This novel array covers African specific variation far better than other commercially available arrays, and will enable better GWAS analyses for researchers with individuals of African descent in their study populations. A recent study cataloging variation in continental African populations suggests this type of African-specific genotyping array is both necessary and valuable for facilitating large-scale GWAS in populations of African ancestry.
| S-EPMC5399604 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by oculocutaneous albinism, a bleeding disorder, and, in some patients, granulomatous colitis and/or a fatal pulmonary fibrosis. There are eight different subtypes of HPS, each due to mutations in one of eight different genes, whose functions are thought to involve intracellular vesicle formation and trafficking. HPS has been identified in patients of nearly all ethnic groups, though it has primarily been associated with patients of Puerto Rican, Northern European, Japanese and Israeli descent. We report on the diagnosis of HPS type 1 in two African-American patients. Both brothers carried compound heterozygous mutations in HPS1: previously reported p.M325WfsX6 (c.972delC) and a novel silent mutation p.E169E (c.507G > A), which resulted in a splice defect. HPS may be under-diagnosed in African-American patients and other ethnic groups. A history of easy bruising or evidence of a bleeding disorder, combined with some degree of hypopigmentation, should prompt investigation into the diagnosis of HPS.
| S-EPMC2788939 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundChildhood cancer confront the whole family with a traumatic event. Because brothers and sisters may encounter emotional problems that can remain for a long time and that only few studies have assessed their long-term outcome, our present objectives were to describe the long-term quality of life (QoL) of childhood leukemia survivors' siblings and to explore its determinant.MethodsBrothers and sisters (from 8-year-old) of survivors included in the French LEA Cohort completed a QoL questionnaire (according to their age). Scores were compared with those reported by age- and gender-matched French general population and by survivors. Using a clustering method, siblings were categorized into 3 groups depending on their level of QoL's scores and factors likely to be linked with these clusters were explored with multivariate analyses.ResultsWe included 689 brothers and sisters (313 minors, 376 adults) and the mean time from diagnosis was 13.2 ± 6.6 years. Minor siblings reported higher QoL scores than general population (p < 0.001), but a lower score for relationship with family than survivors (p < 0.001). In adult siblings, Mental Component Summary score was lower than general population (p < 0.001). Level of siblings' QoL was linked with female gender, but no association was found with cancer-related factors.ConclusionBrothers and sisters expressed a divergent perception of their long-term QoL depending on their age. To minimize the impact from childhood to adulthood, long-term attention should also be paid to siblings, often referred as "forgotten children".
| S-EPMC10028038 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveOvarian cancer in Black women is common in many West African countries but is relatively rare in North America. Black women have worse survival outcomes when compared to White women. Ovarian cancer histotype, diagnosis, and age at presentation are known prognostic factors for outcome. We sought to conduct a preliminary comparative assessment of these factors across the African diaspora.MethodsPatients diagnosed with ovarian cancer (all histologies) between June 2016-December 2019 in Departments of Pathology at 25 participating sites in Nigeria were identified. Comparative population-based data, inclusive of Caribbean-born Blacks (CBB) and US-born Blacks (USB), were additionally captured from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and Florida Cancer Data Systems. Histology, country of birth, and age at diagnosis data were collected and evaluated across the three subgroups: USB, CBB and Nigerians. Statistical analyses were done using chi-square and student's t-test with significance set at p<0.05.ResultsNigerians had the highest proportion of germ cell tumor (GCT, 11.5%) and sex-cord stromal (SCST, 16.2%) ovarian cancers relative to CBB and USB (p=0.001). CBB (79.4%) and USB (77.3%) women were diagnosed with a larger proportion of serous ovarian cancer than Nigerians (60.4%) (p<0.0001). Nigerians were diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancers at the youngest age (51.7± 12.8 years) relative to USB (58.9 ± 15.0) and CBB (59.0± 13.0,p<0.001). Black women [CBB (25.2 ± 15.0), Nigerians (29.5 ± 15.1), and USB (33.9 ± 17.9)] were diagnosed with GCT younger than White women (35.4 ± 20.5, p=0.011). Black women [Nigerians (47.5 ± 15.9), USB (50.9 ± 18.3) and CBB (50.9 ± 18.3)] were also diagnosed with SCST younger than White women (55.6 ± 16.5, p<0.01).ConclusionThere is significant variation in age of diagnosis and distribution of ovarian cancer histotype/diagnosis across the African diaspora. The etiology of these findings requires further investigation.
| S-EPMC8662547 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Meiosis is a crucial process of sexual reproduction by forming haploid gametes from diploid precursor cells. It involves 2 subsequent divisions (meiosis I and meiosis II) after one initial round of DNA replication. Homologous monocentric chromosomes are separated during the first and sister chromatids during the second meiotic division. The faithful segregation of monocentric chromosomes is realized by mono-orientation of fused sister kinetochores at metaphase I and by bi-orientation of sister kinetochores at metaphase II. Conventionally this depends on a 2-step loss of cohesion, along chromosome arms during meiosis I and at sister centromeres during meiosis II.
| S-EPMC4613655 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundThe Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) program matches vulnerable young people with a trained, supervised adult volunteer as mentor. The young people are typically seriously disadvantaged, with multiple psychosocial problems.MethodsThreshold analysis was undertaken to determine whether investment in the program was a worthwhile use of limited public funds. The potential cost savings were based on US estimates of life-time costs associated with high-risk youth who drop out-of-school and become adult criminals. The intervention was modelled for children aged 10-14 years residing in Melbourne in 2004.ResultsIf the program serviced 2,208 of the most vulnerable young people, it would cost AUD 39.5 M. Assuming 50% were high-risk, the associated costs of their adult criminality would be AUD 3.3 billion. To break even, the program would need to avert high-risk behaviours in only 1.3% (14/1,104) of participants.ConclusionThis indicative evaluation suggests that the BBBS program represents excellent 'value for money'.
| S-EPMC2640473 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The effects of sibship size and structure on delinquency are well established. Specifically, having a large family and many brothers has been shown to predict offending. However, despite strong links between delinquency and alcohol use, the contribution of sibship factors to drinking behaviors remains largely unexplored. The current study investigated the impact of sibship size and composition on younger brothers' and sisters' ages of drinking and intoxication onset.We employed a sample of 4,281 same-sex twins from the Australian Twin Register to examine whether (i) large sibship size facilitates earlier age at first drink (AFD) and age at first intoxication (AFI) in males and females, (ii) having many older brothers predicts earlier ages of AFD and AFI in males, and (iii) having many older brothers results in later AFD and AFI in females. We tested whether effects were moderated by parental divorce and alcohol misuse and mediated by familial religion.Sibling effects were minimal before accounting for family context. However, when parental divorce and excessive parental drinking were included as moderators, sibling effects were significantly amplified among individuals from homes of divorce, and effects were strongest when siblings were close in age.Strong close in age older sibling effects indicate that proximal sibling attitudes and behaviors about alcohol likely interact with structural factors to influence younger siblings' drinking. Sibship factors were much more influential in one population (individuals from homes of divorce) than another (respondents with a parental history of excessive drinking), suggesting that sibling effects vary depending on the type of co-occurring familial risk. Prevention efforts performed at the family level, and introduced before first use of alcohol, are likely to delay drinking initiation and help prevent future alcohol problems.
| S-EPMC3631572 | biostudies-literature