Search

Objectives: Understanding mechanistic pathways linking airborne particle exposure to cardiovascular health is important for causal inference and setting environmental standards. We evaluated whether urinary albumin excretion, a subclinical marker of microvascular function which predicts cardiovascular events, was associated with ambient particle exposure.Methods: Urinary albumin and creatinine were measured among members of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis at three visits during 2000-2004. Exposure to PM(2.5) and PM(10) (microg/m(3)) was estimated from ambient monitors for 1 month, 2 months and two decades before visit one. We regressed recent and chronic (20 year) particulate matter (PM) exposure on urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR, mg/g) and microalbuminuria at first examination, controlling for age, race/ethnicity, sex, smoking, second-hand smoke exposure, body mass index and dietary protein (n = 3901). We also evaluated UACR changes and development of microalbuminuria between the first, and second and third visits which took place at 1.5- to 2-year intervals in relation to chronic PM exposure prior to baseline using mixed models.Results: Chronic and recent particle exposures were not associated with current UACR or microalbuminuria (per 10 microg/m(3) increment of chronic PM(10) exposure, mean difference in log UACR = -0.02 (95% CI -0.07 to 0.03) and relative probability of having microalbuminuria = 0.92 (95% CI 0.77 to 1.08)) We found only weak evidence that albuminuria was accelerated among those chronically exposed to particles: each 10 microg/m(3) increment in chronic PM(10) exposure was associated with a 1.14 relative probability of developing microalbuminuria over 3-4 years, although 95% confidence intervals included the null (95% CI 0.96 to 1.36).Conclusions: UACR is not a strong mechanistic marker for the possible influence of air pollution on cardiovascular health in this sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major focus of recent work on the spatial patterning of health has been the study of how features of residential environments or neighborhoods may affect health. Place effects on health emerge from complex interdependent processes in which individuals interact with each other and their environment and in which both individuals and environments adapt and change over time. Traditional epidemiologic study designs and statistical regression approaches are unable to examine these dynamic processes. These limitations have constrained the types of questions asked, the answers received, and the hypotheses and theoretical explanations that are developed. Agent-based models and other systems-dynamics models may help to address some of these challenges. Agent-based models are computer representations of systems consisting of heterogeneous microentities that can interact and change/adapt over time in response to other agents and features of the environment. Using these models, one can observe how macroscale dynamics emerge from microscale interactions and adaptations. A number of challenges and limitations exist for agent-based modeling. Nevertheless, use of these dynamic models may complement traditional epidemiologic analyses and yield additional insights into the processes involved and the interventions that may be most useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Blood pressure (BP) may be implicated in associations observed between ambient particulate matter and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This study examined crosssectional associations between short-term ambient fine particles (particulate matter <= 2.5 [mu]m in aerodynamic diameter; PM2.5) and BP: systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), mean arterial (MAP), and pulse pressure (PP). METHODS: The study sample included 5,112 persons 45-84 years of age, free of cardiovascular disease at the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis baseline examination (2000-2002). Data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitors were used to estimate ambient PM2.5 exposures for the preceding 1, 2, 7, 30, and 60 days. Roadway data were used to estimate local exposures to traffic-related particles. RESULTS: Results from linear regression found PP and SBP positively associated with PM2.5 For example, a 10-[mu]g/m(3) increase in PM2.5 30-day mean was associated with 1.12 mmHg higher pulse pressure [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.28-1.97] and 0.99 mmHg higher systolic BP (95% CI, -0.15 to 2.13), adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education, body mass index, diabetes, cigarette smoking and environmental tobacco smoke, alcohol use, physical activity, medications, atmospheric pressure, and temperature. Results were much weaker and not statistically significant for MAP and DBP. Although traffic-related variables were not themselves associated with BP, the association between PM2.5 and BP was stronger in the presence of higher traffic exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Higher SBP and PP were associated with ambient levels of PM2.5 and the association was stronger in the presence of roadway traffic, suggesting that impairment of blood pressure regulation may play a role in response to air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether foreign birthplace and residence were associated with an increased risk of childhood lead poisoning. METHODS: We conducted a matched case-control study among New York City children (mean age=3 years) tested for lead poisoning in 2002 (n=203 pairs). Children were matched on age, date of test, and residential area. Blood lead and housing data were supplemented by a telephone survey administered to parents or guardians. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship of lead poisoning status to foreign birthplace and time elapsed since most recent foreign residence after adjustment for housing and behavioral risk factors. RESULTS: Both foreign birthplace and time since most recent foreign residence had strong adjusted associations with lead poisoning status, with children who had lived in a foreign country less than 6 months before their blood test showing a particularly elevated risk of lead poisoning relative to US-born children with no foreign residential history before their blood test (odds ratio [OR]=10.9; 95% confidence interval [CI]=3.3, 36.5). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate an increased risk of lead poisoning among immigrant children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about environmental determinants of type 2 diabetes. The authors hypothesized that insulin resistance is positively related to distance to a wealthy area and to local neighborhood poverty. Data were derived from The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a study of adults aged 45-84 years in six US locales, and the 2000 US Census. The homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index was used to measure insulin resistance. Linear regression was used to estimate associations between area characteristics and insulin resistance after adjustment for age, sex, income, education, and race/ethnicity and for the potential mediators diet, physical activity, and body mass index (n = 4,821). Among persons not treated for diabetes, distance to a wealthy area was associated with HOMA independent of local poverty and person-level covariates: per 4.4-km change, the relative increase in HOMA was 13% (95% confidence interval: 7%, 19%), similar to the effect of a body mass index increase of 1.7 kg/m(2) on HOMA. This association was reduced after adjustment for physical activity, diet, and body mass index (relative increase = 9%, 95% confidence interval: 3%, 15%). Local neighborhood poverty was also positively, but more weakly associated with insulin resistance, with no association after adjustment for race/ethnicity. This study shows that proximity to resources in high-income areas is related to insulin resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issues detainer requests to local law enforcement agencies to hold detainees suspected of being undocumented immigrants until they can be transferred into ICE custody. We examined the association between area-level detainer requests and self-rated health among Latine adults. We linked health data from Latine adults included in the 2017-2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 69,386) to detainer requests per 1,000 non-citizens in core-based statistical areas, (n = 152 across 49 states). We fit logistic regression models of self-rated fair/poor health on detainer requests, adjusted for individual- and area-level confounders. In adjusted analyses, we found that Latine adults living in areas with the highest quartile of requests had 24% higher odds of fair/poor health (OR 1.24, 95% CI = 1.05,1.47) relative to those in the lowest quartile. Local law enforcement agencies should limit cooperation with federal immigrant agencies to protect the health of Latine communities., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Legislative policies that criminalize immigrants have a "chilling effect" on public program participation among eligible immigrants. However, little is known about the effect of local enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In this study, we linked county-level data on the number of detainer requests (or immigration holds) issued by ICE to individual-level data from the 2011, 2016, and 2019 American Community Surveys. We fit adjusted logistic regression models to assess the association between detainer requests and enrollment in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) among those likely eligible for each program in US-born versus immigrant households. A higher volume of detainer requests was associated with lower enrollment in both Medicaid and SNAP, particularly among adults in households with at least one immigrant relative to US-born households. We observed the most pronounced effects in 2011 and 2019.

Respiratory virus infections are related to over 80% of childhood asthma exacerbations. They enhance pro-inflammatory mediator release, especially for sensitized individuals exposed to pollens/molds. Using a time-series study design, we investigated possible effect modification by respiratory virus infections of the associations between aeroallergens/PM 2.5 and asthma exacerbation rates. Outpatient, emergency department (ED), and inpatient visits for asthma exacerbation among children with asthma (28,540/24,444 [warm/cold season]), as well as viral infection counts were obtained from electronic health records of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia from 2011 to 2016. Rate ratios (RRs, 90th percentile vs. 0) for late-season grass pollen were 1.00 (0.85-1.17), 1.04 (0.95-1.15), and 1.12 (0.96-1.32), respectively, for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) counts within each tertile. However, similar trends were not observed for weed pollens/molds or PM 2.5 . Overall, our study provides little evidence supporting effect modification by respiratory viral infections.

Built environments have the potential to favorably support cognitive function. Despite growing work on this topic, most of the work has ignored variation in the spatial scale of the effect. The issue with spatial scale effects is that the size and shape of the areal unit within which built environment characteristics are measured naturally influence the built environment exposure metric and thus the estimated associations with health. We used spatial distributed lag modeling (DLM) to estimate how associations between built environment exposures (walkable destinations [WD], social destinations [SD]) and change in cognition varied across distance of these destinations from participants' residences. Cognition was assessed as maintained/improved processing speed (PS) and global cognition (GC). Person-level data from Exam 5 (2010-2012) and Exam 6 (2016-2018) of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis was used (N = 1380, mean age 67). Built environment data were derived from the National Establishment Time Series. Higher availability of walkable and social destinations at closer distance from participants' residence was associated with maintained/improved PS. The adjusted associations between maintained/improved PS and destinations waned with increasing distance from the residence; associations were evident until approximately 1.9-km for WD and 1.5-km for SD. Associations were most apparent for participants living in areas with high population density. We found little evidence for associations between change in GC and built environment at any distance. These results highlight the importance of identifying appropriate spatial scale to understand the mechanisms for built environment-cognition associations., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Low-income immigrants who are eligible to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participate at lower rates compared to non-immigrants. Immigrant households may be more likely to participate in SNAP if they live in areas with policies that integrate them into society and protect them from deportation., Methods: Data on low-income immigrant households came from the 2019 American Community Survey ( N = 87,678). The outcome was whether any household member received SNAP in the previous 12 months. Immigrant policy exposures came from two sources: the State Immigration Policy Resource, which includes 18 immigrant criminalizing and integrating policies, and a database that identified 'sanctuary policies' (SP), which we summarized at the county level. Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for person/household-level and area-level confounders., Results: Living in a jurisdiction with a SP was associated with 21% higher odds of enrolling in SNAP compared to living in a jurisdiction without a SP (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.21, 95% CI=1.11,1.31). Relative to the least immigrant friendly states, living in the most immigrant-friendly states was associated with 16% higher odds of SNAP enrollment (aOR=1.16, 95%CI=1.06-1.28). When SP and state-level immigrant friendly policy environment were cross-classified, SNAP participation was 23% and 26% higher for those living in jurisdictions with one- and both- exposures, respectively, relative to those with neither (aOR 1.23; CI 1.12,1.36; aOR 1.26; CI 1.15,1.37)., Conclusions: Many at high risk of food insecurity - including immigrants and citizens in households with immigrants - are eligible for SNAP but under-enroll. Policies that welcome and safeguard immigrants could reduce under enrollment., Competing Interests: The authors declare they have no financial interests., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Objective: Retrospective exposure to a higher number and prolonged duration of climate-related disasters could be positively associated with adolescent mental distress., Methods: Person-level data came from 38,616 high-school students residing in 22 urban public-school districts in 14 states (U.S. Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2019). Each district's federally declared climate-related catastrophes (severe storms, floods, wildfire, etc.) came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Logistic regression models estimated the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) of adolescent mental distress (MD, using survey responses feeling prolonged sadness/ hopelessness and short sleep duration) according to disaster events and days during three exposure periods (past 2-, 5-, 10-years); adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, socio-economic disadvantage, feeling unsafe at school, district area size, district poverty, and region., Results: Over 10 years, the median number of disaster events was 3 and total disaster days was 64. Adolescents experiencing the highest number of disaster days (top quartile vs. less) had 25% higher odds of MD when exposed within the past 2-years (aOR 1.25 [95% CI 1.14, 1.38]), and 20% higher odds of MD when exposed within the past 5-years (aOR 1.20 95% CI 1.07, 1.35). The odds of MD were not statistically associated with exposure periods that extended to 10 years, nor disaster events (instead of disaster days, all p-values > 0.1)., Conclusions: Severe weather will become more frequent and last longer with human-induced climate warming. More studies like this are needed to understand the broad range of adverse effects and enhance planning and preparedness including preparing for worsening mental health among adolescents., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and aeroallergens (i.e., pollen, molds) are known triggers of asthma exacerbation. Despite mechanistic evidence suggesting synergistic effects between PM 2.5 and asthma exacerbation, little epidemiologic work has been performed in children, which has exhibited inconsistency. We conducted a time-series study to explore their interactions using electronic health records (EHR) data in Philadelphia, PA, for asthma diagnoses in outpatient, emergency department [ED], and inpatient settings. Daily asthma exacerbation cases (28,540 asthma exacerbation case encounters) were linked to daily ambient PM 2.5 and daily aeroallergen levels during the aeroallergen season of a six-year period (mid-March to October 2011-2016). Asthma exacerbation counts were modeled using quasi-Poisson regression, where PM 2.5 and aeroallergens were fitted with distributed lag non-linear functions (lagged from 0 to 14-days), respectively, when modeled as the primary exposure variables. Regression models were adjusted for mean daily temperature/relative humidity, long-term and seasonal trends, day-of-week, and major U.S. holidays. Increasing gradient of RR estimates were observed for only a few primary exposure risk factors [PM 2.5 (90th vs. 5th percentile)/aeroallergens (90th percentile vs. 0)], across different levels of effect modifiers. For example, RRs for the association between late-season grass pollen (lag1) and asthma exacerbation were higher at higher levels of PM 2.5 , 5-days preceding the exacerbation event (low PM 2.5 : RR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.93-1.09; medium PM 2.5 : 1.04, 95% CI: 0.96-1.12; high PM 2.5 : 1.09, 95% CI: 1.01-1.19). However, most of the highest RRs for aeroallergens were instead observed for days with low- or medium- PM 2.5 levels; likewise, when PM 2.5 was modeled as the primary exposure with aeroallergens as the effect modifier. Most of the RR estimates did not exhibit gradients that suggested synergism, and were of relatively high imprecision. Overall, our study suggested no evidence for interactions between PM 2.5 and aeroallergens in their relationships with childhood asthma exacerbation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between county- and state-level immigrant criminalizing and integrating policies and Latino household participation in the largest safety net program against food insecurity in the U.S., the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Our outcome, county-level proportion of SNAP-participating Latino households, and county-level covariates were obtained from the American Community Survey 1-year county files (N = 675 counties) for 13 years (2007-2019). Our exposures were county-level presence of sanctuary policies and a state-level immigrant friendliness score, created based on 19 immigrant criminalizing and integrating state-level policies obtained from the Urban Institute's State Immigration Policies Resource. We classified every county in the sample as 1) sanctuary policy + immigrant friendly state, 2) sanctuary policy + immigrant unfriendly state, 3) no sanctuary policy + immigrant friendly state, and 4) no sanctuary policy + immigrant unfriendly state. Using multivariable generalized linear models that adjusted for poverty levels and other social composition characteristics of counties, we found that county-level SNAP participation among Latino households was 1.1 percentage-point higher in counties with sanctuary policies (B = 1.12, 95%CI = 0.26-1.98), compared to counties with no sanctuary policies, and 1.6 percentage-point higher in counties with sanctuary policies in immigrant friendly states (B = 1.59, 95%CI = 0.33-2.84), compared to counties with no sanctuary policy in immigrant unfriendly states. Local and state immigration policy, even when unrelated to SNAP eligibility, may influence SNAP participation among Latino households. Jurisdictions which lack sanctuary policies or have more criminalizing and less integrating policies should consider adopting targeted outreach strategies to increase SNAP enrollment among Latino households., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study examined the cross-sectional relationships between neighborhood social composition and gentrification, and acculturation stressors., Methods: Person-level data came from first-generation Chinese immigrants enrolled in the Immigrant Enclaves Study (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, baseline 2018-2020, N = 512). A validated scale was used to assess 22 stressors associated with migration or acculturation. Neighborhood characteristics from the American Community Survey 2015-2019 and 2008-2012 included: tract proportion of foreign born Chinese, neighborhood wealth, and past decade gentrification. Most neighborhood exposures were modeled as continuous as well as binary variables (intended to represent highest level of neighborhood exposure). Multivariable negative binomial regression adjusted for age, gender, income, education, employment, language, years in the U.S., and neighborhood variables (proportion co-ethnic, and neighborhood per capita income)., Results: The majority of participants spoke Mandarin (68% vs Cantonese 32%), mean participant age was 52.7 years old, years in the US was 18, and nearly one-half of the sample had less than 8 years of education. Mean number of stressors was 5.9 with nearly 20% of participants reporting 11 or more stressors. Multivariable results found the number of acculturation stressors was 18% lower for residents in the highest co-ethnic density neighborhoods and 13% lower for residents in the highest wealth areas, compared to other areas (expβ 0.82, 95% CI [CI] 0.69, 0.98; expβ 0.87, CI 0.75, 1.01, respectively). Stressors were no different whether participants lived in gentrified areas or not., Conclusions: Among middle-aged Chinese immigrants, acculturation stress was lower for residents in neighborhoods with higher proportion of Chinese immigrants and for residents in neighborhoods with higher wealth, whereas gentrification had no influence on acculturation stress. More work on this topic is needed with vulnerable populations such as this one, informed by local context., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Obesity is rapidly increasing in Mexican children and adolescents, while food environments are rapidly changing. We evaluated the association between changes in retail food stores and change in body mass index (BMI) in Mexican children and adolescents., Methods: Data on 7507 participants aged 5-19 years old came from the Mexican Family Life Survey 2002-2012. Density of food stores at the municipal-level (number of food stores/area in km 2 ) came from the Economic Censuses of 1999, 2004 and 2009. We categorized food stores as small food retail (small neighborhood stores, tiendas de abarrotes in Mexico), specialty foods, fruit/vegetables, convenience foods, and supermarkets. Associations between change in food stores and change in BMI were estimated using five longitudinal linear fixed-effects regression models (one per type of food store) adjusted for age, parental education, municipal-level socioeconomic deprivation and population density. Density of each food store type was operationalized as quartiles. Analyses were stratified by urbanization., Results: There was an inverse dose-response association between increases in fruit/vegetable store density and BMI (β = -0.455 kg/m 2 , β = -0.733 kg/m 2 , and β = -0.838 kg/m 2 in the second, third, and fourth quartile). In non-urban areas, children living in municipalities with the highest density of small food retail stores experienced a reduction in BMI (β = -0.840 kg/m 2 ). In urban areas, there was an inverse association between specialty food stores with BMI (β = -0.789 kg/m 2 in third quartile, and β = -1.204 kg/m 2 in fourth quartile). We observed dynamic associations with age; results suggested stronger associations in adolescents., Conclusions: The availability of fruit/vegetable stores may influence a reduction in children and adolescents BMI. These results indicate that policy approaches could be tailored by type of food store - with some consideration for level of urbanization and children's age., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: There are hundreds of bikeshare programs worldwide, yet few health-related evaluations have been conducted. We enrolled a cohort of new bikeshare members in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA) to assess whether within-person moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) increased with higher use of the program and whether effects differed for vulnerable sub-groups., Methods: During 2015-2018, 1031 new members completed baseline and one-year follow-up online surveys regarding their personal characteristics and past 7-day MVPA minutes per week (minutes per week with- and without walking). Participants were linked to their bikeshare trips to objectively assess program use. Negative binomial (for continuous outcomes) and multinomial (for categorical outcomes) regression adjusted for person characteristics (socio-demographics, health), weather, biking-infrastructure, and baseline biking., Results: Participant median age was 30, 25% were of Black or Latino race/ethnicity, and 30% were socioeconomically disadvantaged. By follow-up, personal bike ownership increased and 75% used bikeshare, although most used it infrequently. Per 10 day change in past year (PY) bikeshare use, non-walking MVPA min/wk increased 3% (roughly 6 min/wk, P < 0.014). More days of bikeshare was also associated with change from inactive to more active (odds ratio for ≥ 15 days in PY vs. no bikeshare use 1.80, CI 1.05-3.09, P < 0.03). Results were consistent across vulnerable sub-groups. In general, impacts on MVPA were similar when exposure was personal bike or bikeshare., Conclusions: Bikeshare facilitated increases in cycling, slightly increased non-walking MVPA, and showed potential for activating inactive adults; however, for larger program impact, members will need to use it more frequently., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Transport walking has drawn growing interest due to its potential to increase levels of physical activities and reduce reliance on vehicles. While existing studies have compared built environment-health associations between Euclidean buffers and network buffers, no studies have systematically quantified the extent of bias in health effect estimates when exposures are measured in different buffers. Further, prior studies have done the comparisons focusing on only one or two geographic regions, limiting generalizability and restricting ability to test whether direction or magnitude of bias are different by context. This study aimed to quantify the degree of bias in associations between built environment exposures and transport walking when exposures were operationalized using Euclidean buffers rather than network buffers in diverse contexts., Methods: We performed a simulations study to systematically evaluate the degree of bias in associations between built environment exposures in Euclidean buffers and network buffers and transport walking, assuming network buffers more accurately captured true exposures. Additionally, we used empirical data from a multi-ethnic, multi-site cohort to compare associations between built environment amenities and walking for transport where built environment exposures were derived using Euclidean buffers versus network buffers., Results: Simulation results found that the bias induced by using Euclidean buffer models was consistently negative across the six study sites (ranging from -80% to -20%), suggesting built environment exposures measured using Euclidean buffers underestimate health effects on transport walking. Percent bias was uniformly smaller for the larger 5 km scale than the 1 km and 0.25 km spatial scales, independent of site or built environment categories. Empirical findings aligned with the simulation results: built environment-health associations were stronger for built environment exposures operationalized using network buffers than using Euclidean buffers., Conclusion: This study is the first to quantify the extent of bias in the magnitude of the associations between built environment exposures and transport walking when the former are measured in Euclidean buffers vs. network buffers, informing future research to carefully conceptualize appropriate distance-based buffer metrics in order to better approximate real geographic contexts. It also helps contextualize existing research in the field that used Euclidean buffers when that were the only option. Further, this study provides an example of the uncertain geographic context problem., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background/objective: Investigating trends in life expectancy and lifespan variation can highlight disproportionate mortality burdens among population subgroups. We examined inequalities in life expectancy and lifespan variation by race/ethnicity and by urbanicity in the US from 1990 to 2019., Methods: Using vital registration data for 322.0 million people in 3,141 counties from the National Center for Health Statistics, we obtained life expectancy at birth and lifespan variation for 16 race/ethnicity-gender-urbanicity combinations in six 5-year periods (1990-1994 to 2015-2019). Race/ethnicity was categorized as Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White, Black, and Asian/Pacific Islander. Urbanicity was categorized as metropolitan vs nonmetropolitan areas, or in six further detailed categorizations. Life expectancy and lifespan variation (coefficient of variation) were computed using life tables., Results: In 2015-2019, residents in metropolitan areas had higher life expectancies than their nonmetropolitan counterparts (79.6 years compared to 77.0 years). The widest inequality in life expectancy occurred between Asian/Pacific Islander women and Black men, with a 17.7-year gap for residents in metropolitan areas and a 16.9-year gap for residents in nonmetropolitan areas. Nonmetropolitan areas had greater dispersion around average age at death. Black individuals had the highest lifespan variations in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Until the mid-2010s, life expectancy increased while lifespan variation decreased; however, recent trends show stagnation in life expectancy and increases in lifespan variation. Metropolitan-nonmetropolitan inequalities in both life expectancy and lifespan variation widened over time., Conclusion: Despite previous improvements in longevity, life expectancy is now stagnating while lifespan variation is increasing. Our results highlight that early-life deaths (i.e., young- and middle-age mortality) disproportionately affect Black individuals, who not only live the shortest lifespans but also have the most variability with respect to age at death., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Authors.)

We aimed to analyze the change in the retail food environment of Mexican municipalities from 2010 to 2020, and to assess if these trends were modified by socioeconomic deprivation. We used data from the National Statistical Directory of Economic Units. Changes in the food store count were estimated using fixed-effects Poisson regression models, including coefficients for time, socioeconomic deprivation, and their interaction. We found a rapid growth in convenience stores, seed-grain stores, and supermarkets while small food retail stores declined. Urban areas had a higher count of all types of food stores; however, the steepest increases in food stores were observed in non-urban areas. The increase in convenience stores, supermarkets, specialty food stores, fruit-vegetable stores, and seed-grain stores was greater in the most deprived areas, compared to the least deprived areas. There has been a substantial expansion and rapid change in Mexico's food environment, mainly driven by increases in convenience stores and supermarkets in more deprived and less urbanized areas., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To develop a simulation framework for assessing how combinations of taxes, nutrition warning labels and advertising levels could affect purchasing of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in Latin American countries and to understand whether policies reinforce or reduce pre-existing social disparities in UPF consumption., Design: We developed an agent-based simulation model using international evidence regarding the effect of price, nutrition warning labels and advertising on UPF purchasing., Setting: We estimated policy effects in scenarios representing two stages of the 'social transition' in UPF purchasing: (1) a pre-transition scenario, where UPF purchasing is higher among high-income households, similar to patterns in Mexico; and (2) a post-transition scenario where UPF purchasing is highest among low-income households, similar to patterns in Chile., Participants: A population of 1000 individual agents with levels of age, income, educational attainment and UPF purchasing similar to adult women in Mexico., Results: A 20 % tax would decrease purchasing by 24 % relative to baseline in both the pre- and post-transition scenarios, an effect that is similar in magnitude to that of a nutrition warning label policy. A 50 % advertising increase or decrease had a comparatively small effect. Nutrition warning labels were most effective among those with higher levels of educational attainment. Labelling reduced inequities in the pre-transition scenario (i.e. highest UPF purchasing among the highest socio-economic group) but widened inequities in the post-transition scenario., Conclusions: Effective policy levers are available to reduce UPF purchasing, but policymakers should anticipate that equity impacts will differ depending on existing social patterns in UPF purchasing.

SwissBioPics (www.swissbiopics.org) is a freely available resource of interactive, high-resolution cell images designed for the visualization of subcellular location data. SwissBioPics provides images describing cell types from all kingdoms of life-from the specialized muscle, neuronal and epithelial cells of animals, to the rods, cocci, clubs and spirals of prokaryotes. All cell images in SwissBioPics are drawn in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), with each subcellular location tagged with a unique identifier from the controlled vocabulary of subcellular locations and organelles of UniProt (https://www.uniprot.org/locations/). Users can search and explore SwissBioPics cell images through our website, which provides a platform for users to learn more about how cells are organized. A web component allows developers to embed SwissBioPics images in their own websites, using the associated JavaScript and a styling template, and to highlight subcellular locations and organelles by simply providing the web component with the appropriate identifier(s) from the UniProt-controlled vocabulary or the 'Cellular Component' branch of the Gene Ontology (www.geneontology.org), as well as an organism identifier from the National Center for Biotechnology Information taxonomy (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/taxonomy). The UniProt website now uses SwissBioPics to visualize the subcellular locations and organelles where proteins function. SwissBioPics is freely available for anyone to use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license., Database Url: www.swissbiopics.org., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Background: To examine whether changes in density of neighborhood alcohol outlets affected changes in alcohol consumption 1-year after regulatory changes increased alcohol availability., Methods: Person-level data came from a population-based cohort (aged 21-64) residing in/around the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania metropolitan area (2016-2018, N = 772). Fifty-eight percent lived in a state that began implementing new regulations (Pennsylvania) and the remainder lived in states without major regulatory changes (Delaware and New Jersey). Alcohol consumption was assessed as days per week (pw), drinks pw, high consumption (≥8 drinks pw), and binge drinking. Availability of off-premise alcohol outlets was assessed using 1-mile density and distance. Regression models adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, education, health status, state and population density., Results: Cross-sectional analyses found that higher outlet density was associated with more alcohol consumption (days, drinks, high consumption; all p < 0.03) and residing farther from an outlet was associated with less alcohol consumption (days and drinks; all p < 0.04). In longitudinal analyses, relative to no change in outlets, exposure to more outlets was associated with 64% higher odds of drinking on more days pw (p < 0.049) and 55% higher odds of consuming more drinks pw (p < 0.081). However, the longitudinal association between changes in outlets and changes in consumption did not differ for residents in Pennsylvania vs. nearby states. In cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, outlets were not related to binge drinking., Conclusion: Off-premise outlets were associated with alcohol consumption consistently in cross-sectional analysis and in some longitudinal analyses. Results can inform future studies that wish to evaluate longer-term changes in increased alcohol availability and effects on consumption., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Research examining the influence of neighborhood healthy food environment on diet has been mostly cross-sectional and has lacked robust characterization of the food environment. We examined longitudinal associations between features of the local food environment and healthy diet, and whether associations were modified by race/ethnicity., Methods: Data on 3634 adults aged 45-84 followed for 10 years were obtained from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Diet quality was assessed using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index at Exam 1 (2000-2002) and Exam 5 (2010-2012). We assessed four measures of the local food environment using survey-based measures (e.g. perceptions of healthier food availability) and geographic information system (GIS)-based measures (e.g. distance to and density of healthier food stores) at Exam 1 and Exam 5. Random effects models adjusted for age, sex, education, moving status, per capita adjusted income, and neighborhood socioeconomic status, and used interaction terms to assess effect measure modification by race/ethnicity., Results: Net of confounders, one standard z-score higher average composite local food environment was associated with higher average AHEI diet score (β=1.39, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.73) over the follow-up period from Exam 1 to 5. This pattern of association was consistent across both GIS-based and survey-based measures of local food environment and was more pronounced among minoritized racial/ethnic groups. There was no association between changes in neighborhood environment and change in AHEI score, or effect measure modification by race/ethnicity., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that neighborhood-level food environment is associated with better diet quality, especially among racially/ethnically minoritized populations., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

We employed a longitudinal distributed lag modeling approach to systematically estimate how associations between built environment features and transport walking decayed with the increase of distance from home to built environment destinations. Data came from a cohort recruited from six U.S. cities (follow-up 2000-2010, N = 3913, baseline mean age 60). Built environment features included all walkable destinations, consisting of common and popular destinations for daily life. We also included two subsets frequent social destinations and food stores to examine if the spatial scale effects differed by varying density for different types of built environment destinations. Adjusted results found that increases in transport walking diminished when built environment destinations were farther, although distance thresholds varied across different types of built environment destinations. Higher availability of walking destinations within 2-km and frequent social destinations within 1.6-km were associated with transport walking. Food stores were not associated with transport walking. This new information will help policymakers and urban designers understand at what distances each type of built environment destinations influences transport walking, in turn informing the development of interventions and/or the placement of amenities within neighborhoods to promote transport walking. The findings that spatial scales depend on specific built environment features also highlight the need for methods that can more flexibly estimate associations between outcomes and different built environment features across varying contexts, in order to improve our understanding of the spatial mechanisms involved in said associations., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The built and social neighborhood environment where a child lives has been increasingly studied as an exposure that may affect child weight long term. We conducted a systematic review of primary research articles published in 2011 through 2019 that reported results from longitudinal analyses of associations between neighborhood environment characteristics and child obesity or weight. Neighborhood environment measures included proximity to food stores, parks, and recreational facilities, walkability, crime, perceived safety, and social cohesion. Information on study population, exposure and outcome measures, and main results were extracted from 39 studies and results were presented for full cohorts and stratified by sex. Most studies were prospective cohorts (90%) with a median follow-up time of six years. Studies analyzing changes in the neighborhood versus changes in weight were less common than approaches analyzing baseline measures of the neighborhood environment in relation to obesity incidence or weight trajectories. Associations varied by sex, race/ethnicity, and age group. Within the food environment domain, the strongest evidence of adverse impact was for fast food restaurants but the effect was only apparent among girls. Results suggested green space, parks, and recreational facilities may have a beneficial effect on weight. Increased crime and low perceived safety may be risk factors for increased weight although not all studies were consistent. Standardization of measures across studies, investigation of multiple social and physical environment measures simultaneously, effect modification by demographic characteristics, and change in the environment vs change in weight analyses are needed to strengthen conclusions., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the recent letter to the editor regarding our paper "Sugar-Sweetened and Diet Beverage Consumption in Philadelphia One Year after the Beverage Tax" [...].

Objective: To examine whether the density of neighbourhood restaurants affected the frequency of eating restaurant meals and subsequently affected diet quality., Design: Cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Structural equation models assessed the indirect relationship between restaurant density (≤3 miles (4·8 km) of participant addresses) and dietary quality (Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI)) via the frequency of eating restaurant meals, after adjustment for sociodemographics, select health conditions, region, residence duration and area-level income., Setting: Urbanised areas in multiple regions of the USA, years 2000-2002 and 2010-2012., Participants: Participants aged 45-84 years were followed for 10 years (n 3567)., Results: Median HEI (out of 100) was fifty-nine at baseline and sixty-two at follow-up. The cross-sectional analysis found that residing in areas with a high density of restaurants (highest-ranked quartile) was associated with 52 % higher odds of frequently eating restaurant meals (≥3 times/week, OR: 1·52, 95 % CI 1·18, 1·98) and 3 % higher odds of having lower dietary quality (HEI lowest quartile < 54, OR: 1·03, 95 % CI 1·01, 1·06); associations were not sustained in longitudinal analyses. The cross-sectional analysis found 34 % higher odds of having lower dietary quality for those who frequently ate at restaurants (OR: 1·34, 95 % CI 1·12, 1·61), and more restaurant meals (over time increase ≥ 1 time/week) were associated with higher odds of having worse dietary quality at follow-up (OR: 1·21, 95 % CI 1·00, 1·46)., Conclusions: Restaurant density was associated with frequently eating out in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses but was associated with the lower dietary quality only in cross-sectional analyses. Frequent restaurant meals were negatively related to dietary quality. Interventions that encourage less frequent eating out may improve population dietary quality.

Introduction: It has been posited that policies to promote child health and prevent obesity should target neighborhood environments but evidence on the impact of neighborhoods on child weight is conflicting and longitudinal studies (which have benefits for causal inference) are scarce., Methods: We used electronic health records (2007-2016) from an urban, pediatric integrated delivery system and linked children (N = 51,873, ages 6-19 years, 77% African American) to neighborhood-level data to investigate how changes in neighborhood environments relate to changes in body mass index (BMI). Measures of neighborhood environment were resources for healthy foods and physical activity ('resources'), greenness, violent crime rate, perceived safety and social cohesion. Fixed effects models estimated associations between changes in neighborhood environment exposures and changes in BMI z-score and whether effects differed by sex, baseline age, neighborhood socioeconomic status and population density., Results: Approximately 22% of the cohort was obese (BMI z-score ≥ 95th percentile). In adjusted models, increases in neighborhood greenness and perceived safety were associated with decreases in BMI z-score (mean change in BMI z-score for 1-SD increase for both: -0.012; 95% CI= (-0.018, -0.007)). Increases in neighborhood safety had a stronger effect in children ages 6-10 years than in older children. Increases in social cohesion were associated with increases in BMI z-score (mean change: 0.005 95% CI = (0.003, 0.008)) especially in boys. Increases in food and physical activity resources were not associated with changes in BMI., Conclusions: This study suggests that increasing neighborhood greenness and safety are potential approaches to reduce children's BMI., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Using newly harmonised individual-level data on health and socio-economic environments in Latin American cities (from the Salud Urbana en América Latina (SALURBAL) study), we assessed the association between obesity and education levels and explored potential effect modification of this association by city-level socio-economic development., Design: This cross-sectional study used survey data collected between 2002 and 2017. Absolute and relative educational inequalities in obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2, derived from measured weight and height) were calculated first. Then, a two-level mixed-effects logistic regression was run to test for effect modification of the education-obesity association by city-level socio-economic development. All analyses were stratified by sex., Setting: One hundred seventy-six Latin American cities within eight countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru)., Participants: 53 186 adults aged >18 years old., Results: Among women, 25 % were living with obesity and obesity was negatively associated with educational level (higher education-lower obesity) and this pattern was consistent across city-level socio-economic development. Among men, 18 % were living with obesity and there was a positive association between education and obesity (higher education-higher obesity) for men living in cities with lower levels of development, whereas for those living in cities with higher levels of development, the pattern was inverted and university education was protective of obesity., Conclusions: Among women, education was protective of obesity regardless, whereas among men, it was only protective in cities with higher levels of development. These divergent results suggest the need for sex- and city-specific interventions to reduce obesity prevalence and inequalities.

Background and Objectives: Neighborhood environments may play a role in the development of child obesity by providing or limiting opportunities for children to be physically active and access healthy food near the home. This study quantifies associations between the neighborhood built and social environment and age- and sex- standardized body mass index (BMI) z-scores in a predominantly African American urban sample. Methods: Electronic health record data from a pediatric integrated delivery system ( N  = 26,460 children, 6 to 19 years old in Philadelphia in 2014) were linked to eight built and social neighborhood environment characteristics. Generalized estimating equations were used to obtain adjusted associations between neighborhood features and age- and sex-adjusted BMI Z-score. Interactions between built and social exposures were examined, as well as effect modification by age, sex, neighborhood socioeconomic status, and population density. Results: Of 26,460 children, 17% were overweight and 21% were obese. After adjustment for individual- and neighborhood-level confounders, higher neighborhood greenness and higher walkability were associated with lower BMI z-score [mean difference per standard deviation (SD): -0.069 (95% confidence interval: [-0.108 to -0.031] and -0.051 [-0.085, -0.017], respectively)]. Higher levels of neighborhood food and physical activity resources were associated with higher BMI z-score [mean difference per SD 0.031 (0.012 and 0.050)]. We observed no interaction between the built and social neighborhood measures. Conclusion: Policies to promote walkability and greening of urban neighborhoods may contribute to preventing obesity in children.

Background: Price promotions on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are commonly used by retailers to provide economic incentives for purchasing. Surprisingly, there is a lack of high-quality articles that examine the frequency and magnitude of sugary beverage discounting and consumer responses to discounts. The objective of this study is to quantify the association between exposure to price discounts and SSB purchases., Methods: This cross-sectional study linked 2016 SSB consumption data from a U.S. household consumer panel (analytic sample N = 11,299 households) and weekly prices at stores where they shopped. We derived percent of the time SSBs were discounted (annual promotion frequency) and the amount of the discount (annual promotion magnitude) and assessed their association with household annual per capita SSB purchase ounces. Linear regression models adjusted for household size, income per capita, age, education, presence of children, race, occupation, region, and urbanicity. We also evaluated whether the association between promotion and purchase varied by socioeconomic status and race subgroups. Data were analyzed in 2019-2020., Results: On average, households were exposed to SSBs price promotions 44% of the time. A 10-percentage point increase in annual SSB promotion frequency was associated with 13.7% increase in annual per capita purchasing (P < 0.0001), and a 1-percentage point increase in annual SSB promotion magnitude was associated with 15.3% increase in annual per capita purchasing (P < 0.0001). These associations did no vary significantly across socioeconomic status and race subgroups (Interaction P > 0.2)., Conclusions: More frequent and deeper price promotion was associated with higher annual per capita SSB purchases. Restricting SSB price promotions may be effective at reducing SSB consumption.

Motivation: The number of protein records in the UniProt Knowledgebase (UniProtKB: https://www.uniprot.org) continues to grow rapidly as a result of genome sequencing and the prediction of protein-coding genes. Providing functional annotation for these proteins presents a significant and continuing challenge., Results: In response to this challenge, UniProt has developed a method of annotation, known as UniRule, based on expertly curated rules, which integrates related systems (RuleBase, HAMAP, PIRSR, PIRNR) developed by the members of the UniProt consortium. UniRule uses protein family signatures from InterPro, combined with taxonomic and other constraints, to select sets of reviewed proteins which have common functional properties supported by experimental evidence. This annotation is propagated to unreviewed records in UniProtKB that meet the same selection criteria, most of which do not have (and are never likely to have) experimentally verified functional annotation. Release 2020&#95;01 of UniProtKB contains 6496 UniRule rules which provide annotation for 53 million proteins, accounting for 30% of the 178 million records in UniProtKB. UniRule provides scalable enrichment of annotation in UniProtKB., Availability and Implementation: UniRule rules are integrated into UniProtKB and can be viewed at https://www.uniprot.org/unirule/. UniRule rules and the code required to run the rules, are publicly available for researchers who wish to annotate their own sequences. The implementation used to run the rules is known as UniFIRE and is available at https://gitlab.ebi.ac.uk/uniprot-public/unifire., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press.)

The retail food environment is a potential population-level determinant of diet and nutrition-related chronic diseases, yet little is known about its composition and association with diabetes in low- and middle-income countries. Our objectives were: (1) to describe changes in the composition of the retail food environment in Mexican neighborhoods from 2010 to 2016 and (2) to examine the association between these changes and diabetes cases diagnosed over the same period. Individual level data came from the 2016 Mexican Health and Nutrition Survey (N = 2808 adults). Neighborhood level retail food environment data for 2010 and 2016 came from the National Directory of Economic Units of Mexico. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the adjusted association between changes in the neighborhood density per km 2 of fruit and vegetable stores, chain convenience stores and supermarkets with diabetes. Small store formats still predominate in Mexico's food environment, however there is evidence of fast increase in chain convenience stores and supermarkets. Adults living in neighborhoods that saw a decline in fruit and vegetable store density and a simultaneous increase in chain convenience store density experienced higher odds of diabetes, compared to adults who lived in neighborhoods where fruit and vegetable and convenience stores did not change (OR 3.90, 95% CI 1.61, 9.48). Considering the complex interplay between store types, understanding the mechanisms and confirming the causal implications of these findings could inform policies that improve the quality of food environments in cities., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Our objective was to describe the prevalence and changes in tobacco use and tobacco control policies in Latin American countries and cities before and after ratification of the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Country-level tobacco policy data came from reports on the global tobacco epidemic (World Health Organization, 2007-2014). Global Youth Tobacco Survey data, 2000-2011, came from six countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru), 31 cities and 132,065 students. Pre- and post-FCTC prevalence and relative changes were estimated. All countries showed improvements in tobacco control policies but Mexico and Peru showed the smallest improvements. In general, adolescents reduced their tobacco use, reported less exposure to smoking at home, more tobacco education, and more retailer refusals to sell them cigarettes. Adolescents reported smaller reductions in secondhand smoke exposure outside the home and no change in exposure to tobacco media/promotions. Pre-FCTC prevalence and relative changes during the post-FCTC period were more heterogeneous across cities than across countries. Despite overall improvements in tobacco policies and the decline in exposure to tobacco, policies related to media/promotions and secondhand smoke need strengthening. There was wide variation in adolescent exposure to tobacco between cities (within countries), which suggested major heterogeneity of policy implementation at the local level.

In studies of neighborhood effects on transport walking, residential preferences along with other personal characteristics (walking attitude, factors that affect decision to walk for transport) are important factors to consider. However, few studies have examined relationships between neighborhood characteristics and transport walking accounting for a complex suite of personal factors. This study employed a structural equation modeling approach to examine associations between neighborhood characteristics and transport walking behaviors by accounting for residential preferences, self-assessed factors that affect decision to walk for transportation, and socio-demographics; and to examine whether neighborhood effects were modified by walking attitude and residential preferences. Based on a cross-sectional phone and mail survey of 2,848 residents of New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Paul, and Winston Salem in 2011-12, we found neighborhood characteristics had significant independent associations with transport walking, even after adjusting for residential preferences and other personal factors. Neighborhood effects on transport walking did not differ significantly by walking attitude or residential preferences. Our findings highlight the importance of neighborhood effects in promoting transport walking, and suggest that while residential preferences are important factors, they do not obviate the neighborhood effects on transport walking., Competing Interests: Declaration of interest: none

In January 2017, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) implemented an excise tax ($ 0.015/ounce) on sugar-sweetened and diet beverages. This study is a general population-based study to report on the longer-term impacts of the tax on within-person changes in consumption 12 months after implementation. A quasi-experimental difference-in-difference design was used to contrast Philadelphia vs. nearby comparison cities (Trenton, New Jersey; Camden, New Jersey; and Wilmington, Delaware) at baseline (December 2016-January 2017) vs. 12-month follow-up (December 2017-February 2018). A random-digit-dialing phone survey was administered to a population-based cohort. Analyses assessed changes in 30-day consumption frequency and ounces of sugar-sweetened and diet beverages (and a substitution beverage, bottled water) in the analytic sample (N = 515). After 12 months, relative to the comparison group, Philadelphians were slightly more likely to decrease their frequency of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (39.2% vs. 33.5%), and slightly less likely to increase their frequency of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (38.9% vs. 43.0%). The effects of the tax estimated in the adjusted difference-in-difference analysis were very small (for example, changes in monthly sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in Philadelphia relative to comparison cities was -3.03 times or -51.65 ounces) and confidence intervals were very wide. Results suggested that, one year after implementation, there was no major overall impact of the tax on general population-level consumption of sugar-sweetened or diet beverages, or bottled water. Future studies should test whether the tax's effect differs in vulnerable sub-populations.

Background: Genome and proteome annotation pipelines are generally custom built and not easily reusable by other groups. This leads to duplication of effort, increased costs, and suboptimal annotation quality. One way to address these issues is to encourage the adoption of annotation standards and technological solutions that enable the sharing of biological knowledge and tools for genome and proteome annotation., Results: Here we demonstrate one approach to generate portable genome and proteome annotation pipelines that users can run without recourse to custom software. This proof of concept uses our own rule-based annotation pipeline HAMAP, which provides functional annotation for protein sequences to the same depth and quality as UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards Resource Description Framework (RDF) and SPARQL (a recursive acronym for the SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language). We translate complex HAMAP rules into the W3C standard SPARQL 1.1 syntax, and then apply them to protein sequences in RDF format using freely available SPARQL engines. This approach supports the generation of annotation that is identical to that generated by our own in-house pipeline, using standard, off-the-shelf solutions, and is applicable to any genome or proteome annotation pipeline., Conclusions: HAMAP SPARQL rules are freely available for download from the HAMAP FTP site, ftp://ftp.expasy.org/databases/hamap/sparql/, under the CC-BY-ND 4.0 license. The annotations generated by the rules are under the CC-BY 4.0 license. A tutorial and supplementary code to use HAMAP as SPARQL are available on GitHub at https://github.com/sib-swiss/HAMAP-SPARQL, and general documentation about HAMAP can be found on the HAMAP website at https://hamap.expasy.org., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press.)

We explored associations between residential preferences and sociodemographic characteristics, the concordance between current neighborhood characteristics and residential preferences, and heterogeneity in concordance by income and race/ethnicity. Data came from a cross-sectional phone and mail survey of 3668 residents of New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Paul, and Winston Salem in 2011-12. Scales characterized residential preferences and neighborhood characteristics. Stronger preferences were associated with being older, female, non-White/non-Hispanic, and lower education. There was significant positive but weak concordance between current neighborhood characteristics and residential preferences (after controlling sociodemographic characteristics). Concordance was stronger for persons with higher income and for Whites, suggesting that residential self-selection effects are strongest for populations that are more advantaged.

Objective: Food environments may be contributing to the rapid increase in obesity occurring in most Latin American (LA) countries. The present study reviews literature from LA that (i) describes the food environment and policies targeting the food environment (FEP); and (ii) analytic studies that investigate associations between the FEP and dietary behaviours, overweight/obesity and obesity related chronic diseases. We focus on six dimensions of the FEP: food retail, provision, labelling, marketing, price and composition., Design: Systematic literature review. Three databases (Web of Science, SciELO, LILACS) were searched, from 1 January 1999 up to July 2017. Two authors independently selected the studies. A narrative synthesis was used to summarize, integrate and interpret findings., Setting: Studies conducted in LA countries., Participants: The search yielded 2695 articles of which eighty-four met inclusion criteria., Results: Most studies were descriptive and came from Brazil (61 %), followed by Mexico (18 %) and Guatemala (6 %). Studies were focused primarily on retail/provision (n 27), marketing (n 16) and labelling (n 15). Consistent associations between availability of fruit and vegetable markets and higher consumption of fruits and vegetables were found in cross-sectional studies. Health claims in food packaging were prevalent and mostly misleading. There was widespread use of marketing strategies for unhealthy foods aimed at children. Food prices were lower for processed relative to fresh foods. Some studies documented high sodium in industrially processed foods., Conclusions: Gaps in knowledge remain regarding policy evaluations, longitudinal food retail studies, impacts of food price on diet and effects of digital marketing on diet/health.

Few studies have evaluated physical activity changes in response to active transportation investments in low-income disadvantaged communities. This quasi-experimental pre-post paired location design assessed physical activity responses to a 1.5-mile urban greenway constructed in 2013 along arterial streets in a poor, high-crime, predominantly African-American neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pre-construction (2011) and post-construction (fall 2014), systematic observations (N = 8783) and environmental audit data were collected at the greenway and a comparison area. Post-construction intercept surveys were collected at the greenway (N = 175). Secondary data sources included census 2010-2014 and crime rates. Post-construction, there were notable improvements in street and sidewalk design, however, conditions remained sub-optimal and crime remained high. Most greenway users resided in the neighborhood and were daily users. Systematic observations at the greenway found slight increases in non-walking MVPA after construction (running or bicycling rose from 4% to 9%) and MVPA that included walking-fast (rose from 16% to 18%). However, the magnitude of the increase was similar to the increase in MVPA observed at the comparison site, which suggested that intensity of physical activity did not change as a result of the greenway (p-value > 0.15 for adjusted interaction between pre-post and location). Greenways, absent comprehensive improvements to the built and social environment, may be insufficient to promote MVPA in very disadvantaged high-crime urban communities., Competing Interests: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Background: Air pollution exposures are hypothesized to impact blood pressure, yet few longitudinal studies exist, their findings are inconsistent, and different adjustments have been made for potentially distinct confounding by calendar time and age., Objective: We aimed to investigate the associations of long- and short-term [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] concentrations with systolic and diastolic blood pressures and incident hypertension while also accounting for potential confounding by age and time., Methods: Between 2000 and 2012, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis participants were measured for systolic and diastolic blood pressure at five exams. We estimated annual average and daily [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] concentrations for 6,569 participants using spatiotemporal models and measurements, respectively. Associations of exposures with blood pressure corrected for medication were studied using mixed-effects models. Incident hypertension was examined with Cox regression. We adjusted all models for sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, smoking, physical activity, diet, season, and site. We compared associations from models adjusting for time-varying age with those that adjusted for both time-varying age and calendar time., Results: We observed decreases in pollution and blood pressures (adjusted for age and medication) over time. Strong, positive associations of long- and short-term exposures with blood pressure were found only in models with adjustment for time-varying age but not adjustment for both time-varying age and calendar time. For example, [Formula: see text] higher annual average [Formula: see text] concentrations were associated with 2.7 (95% CI: 1.5, 4.0) and [Formula: see text] (95% CI: [Formula: see text] 1.0) mmHg in systolic blood pressure with and without additional adjustment for time, respectively. Associations with incident hypertension were similarly weakened by additional adjustment for time. Sensitivity analyses indicated that air pollution did not likely cause the temporal trends in blood pressure., Conclusions: In contrast to experimental evidence, we found no associations between long- or short-term exposures to air pollution and blood pressure after accounting for both time-varying age and calendar time. This research suggests that careful consideration of both age and time is needed in longitudinal studies with trending exposures. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP2966.

Purpose of Review: The objective of this review is to highlight the evidence on the association between contextual characteristics of residential environments and type 2 diabetes, to provide an overview of the methodological challenges and to outline potential topics for future research in this field., Recent Findings: The link between neighborhood socioeconomic status or deprivation and diabetes prevalence, incidence, and control is robust and has been replicated in numerous settings, including in experimental and quasi-experimental studies. The association between characteristics of the built environment that affect physical activity, other aspects of the built environment, and diabetes risk is robust. There is also evidence for an association between food environments and diabetes risk, but some conflicting results have emerged in this area. While the evidence base on the association of neighborhood socioeconomic status and built and physical environments and diabetes is large and robust, challenges remain related to confounding due to neighborhood selection. Moreover, we also outline five paths forward for future research on the role of neighborhood environments on diabetes.

Purpose: We conducted a systematic review of literature published on January 2000-May 2017 that spatially linked electronic health record (EHR) data with environmental information for population health research., Methods: We abstracted information on the environmental and health outcome variables and the methods and data sources used., Results: The automated search yielded 669 articles; 128 articles are included in the full review. The number of articles increased by publication year; the majority (80%) were from the United States, and the mean sample size was approximately 160,000. Most articles used cross-sectional (44%) or longitudinal (40%) designs. Common outcomes were health care utilization (32%), cardiometabolic conditions/obesity (23%), and asthma/respiratory conditions (10%). Common environmental variables were sociodemographic measures (42%), proximity to medical facilities (15%), and built environment and land use (13%). The most common spatial identifiers were administrative units (59%), such as census tracts. Residential addresses were also commonly used to assign point locations, or to calculate distances or buffer areas., Conclusions: Future research should include more detailed descriptions of methods used to geocode addresses, focus on a broader array of health outcomes, and describe linkage methods. Studies should also explore using longitudinal residential address histories to evaluate associations between time-varying environmental variables and health outcomes., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: On January 1, 2017, Philadelphia implemented a beverage tax of $0.015/ounce on sugar ("regular") and sugar-substitute ("diet") beverages. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immediate impact of the tax on residents' consumption of soda, fruit drinks, energy drinks, and bottled water., Methods: A repeat cross-sectional study design used data from a random-digit-dialing phone survey during a no-tax period (December 6-31, 2016) and a tax period (January 15-February 31, 2017) among 899 respondents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 878 respondents in three nearby comparison cities. Survey questions included frequency and volume of bottled water and beverages. Outcomes were daily consumption, and 30-day consumption frequency and volume. Propensity score-weighted difference-in-differences regression was used to control for secular time trend and confounding. Covariates were sociodemographics, BMI, health status, smoking, and alcohol use. Analyses were conducted in 2017., Results: Within the first 2 months of tax implementation, relative to the comparison cities, in Philadelphia the odds of daily consumption of regular soda was 40% lower (OR=0.6, 95% CI=0.37, 0.97); energy drink was 64% lower (OR=0.36, 95% CI=0.17, 0.76); bottled water was 58% higher (OR=1.58, 95% CI=1.13, 2.20); and the 30-day regular soda consumption frequency was 38% lower (ratio of consumption frequency=0.62, 95% CI=0.40, 0.98)., Conclusions: Early results suggest that the tax influenced daily consumption of regular soda, energy drinks, and bottled water. Future studies are needed to evaluate longer-term impact of the tax on sugared beverage consumption and substitutions., (Copyright © 2018 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Indoor smoking bans have often been associated with reductions in smoking prevalence. However, few studies have evaluated their association with within-person changes in smoking behaviors. We linked longitudinal data from 5,105 adults aged 18-30 years at baseline from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study (1985-2011) to state, county, and local policies mandating 100% smoke-free bars and restaurants by census tract. We used fixed-effects models to examine the association of smoking bans with within-person change in current smoking risk, smoking intensity (smoking ≥10 cigarettes/day on average vs. <10 cigarettes/day), and quitting attempts, using both linear and nonlinear adjustment for secular trends. In models assuming a linear secular trend, smoking bans were associated with a decline in current smoking risk and smoking intensity and an increased likelihood of a quitting attempt. The association with current smoking was greatest among participants with a bachelor's degree or higher. In models with a nonlinear secular trend, pooled results were attenuated (confidence intervals included the null), but effect modification results were largely unchanged. Findings suggest that smoking ban associations may be difficult to disentangle from other tobacco control interventions and emphasize the importance of evaluating equity throughout policy implementation.

This study examined the association between the price of healthier food relative to unhealthy food and type 2 diabetes prevalence, incidence and insulin resistance (IR). Data came from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis exam 5 administered 2010-2012 (exam 4, five years prior, was used only for diabetes incidence) and supermarket food/beverage prices derived from Information Resources Inc. For each individual, average price of a selection of healthier foods, unhealthy foods and their ratio was computed for supermarkets within 3miles of the person's residential address. Diabetes status was confirmed at each exam and IR was assessed via the homeostasis model assessment index. Multivariable-adjusted logistic, modified Poisson and linear regression models were used to model diabetes prevalence, incidence and IR, respectively as a function of price and covariates; 2353 to 3408 participants were included in analyses (depending on the outcome). A higher ratio of healthy-to-unhealthy neighborhood food price was associated with greater IR (4.8% higher HOMA-IR score for each standard deviation higher price ratio [95% CI -0.2% to 10.1%]) after adjusting for region, age, gender, race/ethnicity, family history of diabetes, income/wealth index, education, smoking status, physical activity, and neighborhood socioeconomic status. No association with diabetes incidence (relative risk=1.11, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.44) or prevalence (odds ratio=0.95, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.11) was observed. Higher neighborhood prices of healthier food relative to unhealthy food were positively associated with IR, but not with either diabetes outcome. This study provides new insight into the relationship between food prices with IR and diabetes., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Longitudinal associations between neighborhood characteristics and body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)2) were assessed from 2000 to 2011 among 5,919 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. The perceived availability of healthy food and walking environment were assessed via surveys, and 1-mile (1.6-km) densities of supermarkets, fruit-and-vegetable stores, and recreational facilities were obtained through a commercial database. Econometric fixed-effects models were used to estimate the association between within-person changes in neighborhood characteristics and within-person change in BMI. In fully adjusted models, a 1-standard-deviation increase in the healthy food environment index was associated with a 0.16-kg/m2 decrease in BMI (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.27, -0.06) among participants with obesity at baseline. A 1-standard-deviation increase in the physical activity environment index was associated with 0.13-kg/m2 (95% CI: -0.24, -0.02) and 0.14-kg/m2 (95% CI: -0.27, -0.01) decreases in BMI for participants who were overweight and obese at baseline, respectively. Paradoxically, increases in the physical activity index were associated with BMI increases in persons who were normal-weight at baseline. This study provides preliminary longitudinal evidence that favorable changes in neighborhood physical environments are related to BMI reductions in obese persons, who comprise a substantial proportion of the US population., (© The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)