Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
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Housing is an important social determinant of physical and mental health. Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals (T/GNCI) face a unique constellation of discrimination and compromised social services, putting them at risk for housing insecurity, homelessness, and its associated public health concerns. This study explores housing insecurity among T/GNCI in New Orleans, LA, where the infrastructural landscape is marked by an underinvestment in housing stock and disaster capitalism. ⋯ Housing was intricately intertwined with employment and other structural issues; vulnerability in one realm was closely tied to insecurity in the others. Social support and queer family structures emerged as a key source of resilience, coping, and survival. The study supports an increase of resources for T/GNC housing access and interventions that address the cyclical discrimination, housing, and employment issues this population faces with a consideration of the historical and current structural barriers impeding their access to safe, stable, long-term housing.
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Urban tree cover can provide several ecological and public health benefits. Secondary datasets for Tampa, FL, including sociodemographic variables (e.g., race/ethnicity), health data, and interpolated values for features of tree cover (e.g., percent canopy and leaf area index) were analyzed using correlation and regression. Percent canopy cover and leaf area index were inversely correlated to respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes, yet only leaf area index displayed a significant association with respiratory conditions in the logistic regression model. ⋯ Block groups with a higher proportion of African Americans had a higher odds of displaying respiratory admissions above the median rate. Tree density and median income were also negatively associated with cardiovascular cases. Home ownership and tree condition were significantly positively associated with cardiovascular cases.
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Physical activity typically declines between childhood and adolescence. Despite urban parks being a great venue for physical activity, children change both the frequency of park use and their park use habits as they age into adolescence. However, little is known about how these differences vary by gender and how distinct race/ethnicity groups differentially change their park habits. ⋯ Dissimilarities were clearly gendered and race/ethnicity dependent. Asian and Latino females showed the greatest divergence between childhood and adolescence. African American boys were the only group to show a positive age contrast in park attendance and per capita energy expenditure.
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Guns that are used in crime and recovered by the police typically have changed hands often since first retail sale and are quite old. While there is an extensive literature on "time to crime" for guns, defined as the elapsed time from first retail sale to known use in a crime, there is little information available on the duration of the "last link"-the elapsed time from the transaction that actually provided the offender with the gun in question. In this article, we use data from the new Chicago Inmate Survey (CIS) to estimate the duration of the last link. ⋯ Many of the gun-involved respondents to the CIS (42%) did not have any gun 6 months prior to their arrest for the current crime. The CIS respondents were almost all barred from purchasing a gun from a gun store because of their prior criminal record-as a result, their guns were obtained by illegal transactions with friends, relatives, and the underground market. We conclude that more effective enforcement of the laws governing gun transactions may have a quick and pervasive effect on gun use in crime.
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Given the barriers to advance care planning (ACP) and low utilization of outpatient advance directives in hospital settings, it is unclear if ACP in primary care for adults who have experienced homelessness is effective and a valuable use of clinical time. As part of our ACP Project, we examined the feasibility and outcomes of ACP in primary care for patients who have experienced homelessness. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first case series showing how ACP for homeless adults in primary care has been utilized during hospital care. Based on our findings, we believe that outpatient ACP even for the most socially vulnerable patients is feasible, often impactful, and should be integrated into routine primary care.