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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (9 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2016)

Background and Aims. Asian ethnic groups are accompanied by diverging migration histories, cultural values, and lived experiences, and these factors play a role in their children’s juvenile justice involvement. While immigrant groups initially settled in ethnic enclaves, they will relocate to ethnoburbs as they achieve higher socioeconomic status. Ethnic enclaves may protect ethnic minority youth against delinquency, but it is currently unknown if residing in an ethnoburb is related to offense type. First, this study determined whether these two ethnic neighborhoods can be differentiated for five Asian ethnic groups. Guided by the spatial assimilation model, I then explored the relationship between ethnicity, ethnic neighborhood, and offense type.

Methods. This study employed secondary data analysis of administrative data from the Los Angeles Probation Department and the American Community Survey collected by the United States Census Bureau. Primary individual interviews confirmed the locations of ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. The sample consisted of 980 youth nested within 183 zip codes. Multinomial regression models assessed key relationships; a multilevel approach was used for investigating neighborhood-level effects.

Results. Ethnic enclaves and ethnoburbs were classified with a categorical tree using percent ethnicity, percent poverty, and population density, and key informants confirmed these neighborhoods for their respective ethnicities. Koreans have the highest probability of being arrested for a violent crime, Chinese for weapons, Southeast Asian for property, and Japanese for substance and other types of offenses. Compared to living in non-ethnic neighborhoods, living in an ethnoburb was associated with higher risks of being arrested for weapons and substance offenses relative to violence. Finally, youth who live in ethnoburbs that match their ethnicity are at higher risk for being arrested for a weapons offense.

Conclusions. That there are ethnic differences in offense type speak to the cultural underpinnings that are associated with each group within the Asian racial category, thus challenging the model minority stereotype that Asians are free of social problems. Because living in an ethnoburb was related to offense type, and especially for youth whose ethnicity matches that of the neighborhood, future research should explore the mechanisms that may explain this association.

    Cover page: Behind the Model Minority: An Examination of Ethnicity, Place, and Arrests among Asian Youth in Los Angeles Neighborhoods
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2019)

    Background

    Gender inequality and cultures of binge drinking may increase the risk of second-hand harms from alcohol.

    Methods

    Using the 2014-2015 National Alcohol Survey and 2015 National Alcohol's Harm to Others Survey (N = 7792), we examine associations of state-level gender equality measures (contraceptive access, abortion rights, women's economic equality) and binge drinking cultures (rates of men's and women's binge drinking) with individual-level indicators of second-hand harms by drinking strangers and partners/spouses.

    Results

    In main effects models, only male binge drinking was associated with greater odds of harms from drinking strangers. There were significant interactions of gender equality with male binge drinking: High male binge drinking rates were more strongly associated with stranger-perpetrated harms in states low on contraceptive access or abortion rights compared to states high on these measures. Conversely, male binge drinking was more strongly associated with spouse/partner-perpetrated second-hand harms in states with more economic equality, compared to states lower on this measure.

    Conclusions

    Detrimental effects of high male binge drinking rates may be modified by gender equality. Targeted interventions may reduce alcohol-related harms experienced by women in states with high rates of male binge drinking. Restrictions in access to contraception and abortion may exacerbate harms due to men's drinking.
      Cover page: Gender Equality, Drinking Cultures and Second-Hand Harms from Alcohol in the 50 US States
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2017)
      Asian American children and adolescents are an under-investigated subpopulation in obesity research. Informed by a wide socioeconomic diversity among Asian American ethnic groups, this study explored ethnic-group socioeconomic status (SES) as an indicator of community-level disadvantage that may influence overweight/obesity in Asian American adolescents. We hypothesized that ethnic-group SES was inversely associated with overweight/obesity in Asian American adolescents. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted using a sample of 1525 Asian American adolescents ages 12-17 from pooled 2007-2012 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data. Age, gender, nativity, individual-level SES (income and education), and two lifestyle variables (fast food consumption and physical activity) were controlled for. We found that adolescents in high- or middle-level SES ethnic groups were far less likely to be overweight/obese than those in low-SES ethnic groups. Further, these relationships were more pronounced for foreign-born adolescents but not significant for U.S.-born adolescents. Ethnic-group SES may be a meaningful indicator of community-level socioeconomic disparities that influence the health of Asian Americans and, potentially, other populations with high proportions of immigrants of diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds.
        Cover page: Ethnic-group socioeconomic status as an indicator of community-level disadvantage: A study of overweight/obesity in Asian American adolescents
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UCLA Previously Published Works (2016)
        Transition age youth (TAY) from the child welfare and juvenile justice systems experience high rates of homelessness, but little is known about the neighborhoods to which they return after they exit these systems. This exploratory study investigates whether housing options are located in areas where TAY exit public systems and if the characteristics of areas surrounding these facilities support their transition to adulthood. Results show that housing is not related to areas where TAY exit public systems. Further, supportive housing and shelter density is related to low-income areas. Implications for practice and policy on housing locations for TAY are discussed.
          Cover page: Where are the Beds? Housing Locations for Transition Age Youth Exiting Public Systems
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2019)
          Arrested girls in the United States (US) are often diverted from detention through referrals to juvenile specialty courts (e.g., juvenile drug court), community-based diversion programs, or pre-adjudicated probation services. Limited research suggests that sexual and reproductive health needs for diverted, or court-involved, non-incarcerated (CINI) girls are similar to that of their detained counterparts. Despite the US justice system's emphasis on diverting youth from detention, research and programmatic efforts to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes has primarily focused on detained girls. Policy and programming for CINI girls is scant and thus warrants further attention. This report details the immediate sexual and reproductive health needs of CINI girls. We discuss implications of current health care policies and practices for this population and conclude with recommendations for research focused on improving access to sexual and reproductive health care.
            Cover page: Justice involvement and girls' sexual health: Directions for policy and practice
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2019)
            Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) comprise seven agreed-on serotypes, A through G. In 2014, a novel chimeric neurotoxin produced by clostridial strain IBCA10-7060 was reported as BoNT/H, with subsequent names of BoNT/FA or BoNT/HA based on sequence homology of the N-terminus to BoNT/F, the C-terminus to BoNT/A and neutralization studies. The purpose of this study was to define the immunologic identity of the novel BoNT. monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to the novel BoNT/H N-terminus were generated by antibody repertoire cloning and yeast display after immunization with BoNT/H LC-HN or BoNT/F LC-HN. 21 unique BoNT/H LC-HN mAbs were obtained; 15 from the BoNT/H LC-HN immunized library (KD 0.78 nM to 182 nM) and six from the BoNT/F-immunized libraries (KD 20.5 nM to 1490 nM). A total of 15 of 21 mAbs also bound catalytically inactive BoNT/H holotoxin. The mAbs bound nine non-overlapping epitopes on the BoNT/H LC-HN. None of the mAbs showed binding to BoNT serotypes A-G, nor any of the seven subtypes of BoNT/F, except for one mAb that weakly bound BoNT/F5. The results, combined with the chimeric structure and neutralization by anti-A, but not anti-F antitoxin indicate that immunologically the novel BoNT is BoNT/HA. This determination has significant implications for existing countermeasures and potential vulnerabilities.
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2018)
              Parasitic infections like amebiasis, trichomoniasis, and giardiasis are major health threats in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Metronidazole (MTZ) is the current drug of choice for amebiasis, giardiasis, and trichomoniasis but it has several adverse effects and potential resistance is a concern. In order to develop alternative antimicrobials, a library of 1H-1,2,3-triazole-tethered metronidazole-isatin conjugates was synthesized using Huisgens azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction and evaluated for their amebicidal, anti-trichomonal, and anti-giardial potential. Most of the synthesized conjugates exhibited activities against Trichomonas vaginalis, Tritrichomonas foetus, Entamoeba histolytica, and Giardia lamblia. While activities against T. vaginalis and T. foetus were comparable to that of the standard drug MTZ, better activities were observed against E. histolytica and G. lamblia. Conjugates 9d and 10a were found to be 2-3-folds more potent than MTZ against E. histolytica and 8-16-folds more potent than MTZ against G. lamblia. Further analysis of these compounds on fungi and bacteria did not show inhibitory activity, demonstrating their specific anti-protozoal properties.
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2017)
                A series of N-alkyl tethered C-5 functionalized bis-isatins were synthesized and evaluated for antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms. The preliminary evaluation studies revealed the compound 4t, with an optimal combination of bromo-substituent at the C-5 position of isatin ring along with propyl chain linker being most active among the synthesized series exhibiting an IC50 value of 3.72 μM against Trichomonas vaginalis while 4j exhibited an IC50 value of 14.8 μM against Naegleria fowleri, more effective than the standard drug Miltefosine. The compound 3f with an octyl spacer length was the most potent among the series against Giardia lamblia with an IC50 of 18.4 μM while 3d exhibited an IC50 of 23 μM against Entamoeba histolytica. This library was also screened against the fungal pathogen Aspergillus parasiticus. A number of the compounds demonstrated potency against this fungus, illustrating a possible broad-spectrum activity. Furthermore, an evaluation of these synthesized compounds against a panel of normal flora bacteria revealed them to be non-cytotoxic, demonstrating the selectivity of these compounds. This observation, in combination with previous studies that isatin is non-toxic to humans, presents a new possible scaffold for drug discovery against these important protozoal pathogens of humans and animals.
                  Cover page: Design, Synthesis and Preliminary Antimicrobial Evaluation of N-Alkyl Chain Tethered C-5 Functionalized Bis-Isatins.
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2023)
                  Equine-derived antitoxin (BAT®) is the only treatment for botulism from botulinum neurotoxin serotype G (BoNT/G). BAT® is a foreign protein with potentially severe adverse effects and is not renewable. To develop a safe, more potent, and renewable antitoxin, humanized monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were generated. Yeast displayed single chain Fv (scFv) libraries were prepared from mice immunized with BoNT/G and BoNT/G domains and screened with BoNT/G using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Fourteen scFv-binding BoNT/G were isolated with KD values ranging from 3.86 nM to 103 nM (median KD 20.9 nM). Five mAb-binding non-overlapping epitopes were humanized and affinity matured to create antibodies hu6G6.2, hu6G7.2, hu6G9.1, hu6G10, and hu6G11.2, with IgG KD values ranging from 51 pM to 8 pM. Three IgG combinations completely protected mice challenged with 10,000 LD50s of BoNT/G at a total mAb dose of 6.25 μg per mouse. The mAb combinations have the potential for use in the diagnosis and treatment of botulism due to serotype G and, along with antibody combinations to BoNT/A, B, C, D, E, and F, provide the basis for a fully recombinant heptavalent botulinum antitoxin to replace the legacy equine product.
                    Cover page: A Three-Monoclonal Antibody Combination Potently Neutralizes BoNT/G Toxin in Mice
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