When people donate biospecimens—blood, fluid, or tissue samples—it gives researchers the opportunity to better understand, treat, and prevent conditions from cancer to Alzheimer’s. So why don't Latinos donate? Find the answers at UT Health San Antonio's Zoom webinar — “The Importance of Diverse Biospecimens and How Can Latinos Donate” — at 10 a.m. CT on April 5, 2023. The webinar features experts from UT Health San Antonio, Genentech, and leaders and participants in the All of Us Research Program discussing how to increase diverse biospecimen donation and point to donation opportunities. This is a part of a webinar of a series, “Let’s Address Health Equity Together.” The series is a collaboration of the Salud America! program at the Institute for Health ...
Water is used a lot in healthcare, and in a lot of different ways. For example, water is used in sinks, faucets, ice machines, drains, toilets, and therapy pools. While water is needed in healthcare settings, certain germs, especially some bacteria, can grow on wet surfaces. If you get harmful germs from water and wet surfaces on your hands, they can spread to other surfaces, devices, and people that you touch. These germs can cause illness in some people, like in patients with weakened immune systems. Additionally, if medical instruments and equipment, like devices or central lines, get wet, they can start growing bacteria. That bacteria can then get into a patient’s blood, or other parts of their body, and make them sick.
Why Do Germs Grow on Wet Surfaces?
Although tap ...
Researchers from UT Health San Antonio have tied obesity to with 21 Alzheimer’s disease-related genes. In analyzing 74 Alzheimer’s-related genes from the Framingham Heart Study, researchers found that 21 of them were either under-expressed or over-expressed in obesity. “Several of the genes were more strongly related to obesity in midlife versus in late life, and also to obesity in women versus men,” said Dr. Claudia Satizabal, study lead author and assistant professor of population health sciences at UT Health San Antonio.
Alzheimer’s Genes Linked to Obesity
The UT Health San Antonio study also found 13 Alzheimer’s-related genes were associated with body mass index (BMI) and eight genes associated with a second metric of obesity called waist-to-hip ratio. “Those ...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Project Firstline has expanded its Spanish translation of infection control resources. This content follows the prior Spanish release of Project Firstline’s Facilitator Toolkit with training session plans and accompanying PowerPoint slides, designed to help healthcare workers with different learning styles and busy schedules facilitate infection control trainings.
What’s Included in The New Spanish-Language Resources?
Spanish-speaking healthcare professionals can now access a variety of educational materials on infection control, including additional training toolkits on several topics: Introduction to Reservoirs: Where Microbes Live
Risk Identification Using Reservoirs Printable materials and job aids on ...
The pandemic revealed long-standing gaps in infection control knowledge and understanding among the frontline healthcare workforce. This is why CDC launched Project Firstline, a training and education collaborative designed to ensure all healthcare workers, no matter their role or educational background, have the infection control knowledge and understanding they need and deserve to protect themselves, their patients, and their coworkers. Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, in partnership with the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) and CDC Project Firstline, brings you a three-part episode podcast series, “Behind the Mask,” to explore infection control through three specific and diverse healthcare lenses: patient navigators/health screeners/community health ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of UT Health San Antonio is launching the new "Avanzando Equidad de Salud: Latino Cancer Health Equity Research Center" thanks to a 4-year, $4.08-million grant from the American Cancer Society. The Avanzando Equidad de Salud Center, which will begin in February 2023, is a response to the severe cancer burden facing Latinos in South Texas. The center will unite South Texas research scholars and the community to reduce health disparities across the cancer care continuum by targeting social determinants of health that prevent Latinos from obtaining equitable care. "Our new center will conduct a unique combination of community-engaged research, training, patient assessment, and advocacy to address the social determinants of health — such as access to ...
COVID-19 certainly hurt the health of many, including Latinos. But the pandemic is also threatening the education of children, amid three years of school shutdowns, isolation, and continuing waves of cases. Many students are falling behind in reading, especially. In 2022, the average reading score at both 4th and 8th grade decreased by 3 points compared to 2019, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The National Assessment for Education Progress (NEAP), further highlights that while average 4th grade reading scores in 2022 were higher for Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Latino, and White students, Latino and Black students still had lower reading average scores than White students. Let’s examine the literacy issues children face, the factors that ...
Dr. Patricia Chalela of UT Health San Antonio has received a new five-year, $2 million research grant to test the impact of Quitxt, a bilingual text messaging program that helps Latino young adults in South Texas to quit smoking. The grant is among $90 million for new cancer prevention and research projects from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). For the grant, Dr. Chalela and her team will recruit 1,200 Latino smokers ages 18-29 who agree to try to quit smoking. Half will receive Quitxt, a free texting service with culturally appropriate visual, video, and audio content fueled with evidence-based techniques to prompt and sustain smoking cessation. The other half will get abbreviated text messages and referral to the "Yes Quit" smoking cessation ...
Latino and Black patients on dialysis have higher rates of staph bloodstream infections, according to a new CDC report. Dialysis is a treatment for people whose kidneys are failing. “More than half of people in the U.S. receiving dialysis belong to a racial or ethnic minority group—about 1 in every 3 people receiving dialysis is Black and 1 in every 5 is Hispanic,” according to the CDC. Latino dialysis patients alone had a 40% higher risk of staph bloodstream infections than White patients on dialysis between 2017 and 2020. Let’s further explore the health disparities that impact dialysis patients.
Risks of Dialysis Treatment
While dialysis treatments are necessary and could ultimately save the life of patients with end-stage kidney disease, it does come with ...
