An Intercategorical Ecology of Lead Exposure: Complex Environmental Health Vulnerabilities in the Flint Water Crisis.

In 2014, city and state officials channeled toxic water into Flint, Michigan and its unevenly distributed and corroding lead service lines (LSLs). The resulting Flint water crisis is a tragic example of environmental racism against a majority Black city and enduring racial and spatial disparities in environmental lead exposures in the United States. Important questions remain about how race intersected with other established environmental health vulnerabilities of gender and single-parent family structure to create unequal toxic exposures within Flint. We address this question with (1) an "intercategorical ecology" framework that extends the "racial ecology" lens into the complex spatial and demographic dimensions of environmental health vulnerabilities and (2) a multivariate analysis using block-level data from the 2010 U.S. decennial census and a key dataset estimating the LSL connections for 56,038 land parcels in Flint. We found that blocks exposed to LSLs had, on average, higher concentrations of single-parent white, Black, and Latinx families. However, logistic regression results indicate that the likelihood of block exposure to LSLs was most consistently and positively associated with the percentage of single-father Black and single-mother Latina families, net of other racialized and gendered single-parent family structures, socioeconomic status, and the spatial concentration of LSL exposure.

Prisoners' Personal Networks in the Months Preceding Prison: A Descriptive Portrayal.

This study examined personal networks of adult male prisoners ( N = 250) during a high-risk period prior to their incarceration. We present a descriptive portrait of network size, density, and relational type, and we then document the nature of ties within that network, focusing specifically on alters' criminal involvement, criminal opportunity, and reinforcement of criminal behavior. We found that prisoners' networks were large and dense, and that they were composed primarily of family and romantic partners. Most prisoners are not embedded in a personal network saturated with criminal influence before coming to prison. Yet, a small proportion are exposed to exceptionally negative influence, which, it is argued, may increase the risk of negative outcomes upon release if not addressed by evidence-based programs.

Disparate foundations of scientists' policy positions on contentious biomedical research.

What drives scientists' position taking on matters where empirical answers are unavailable or contradictory? We examined the contentious debate on whether to limit experiments involving the creation of potentially pandemic pathogens. Hundreds of scientists, including Nobel laureates, have signed petitions on the debate, providing unique insights into how scientists take a public stand on important scientific policies. Using 19,257 papers published by participants, we reconstructed their collaboration networks and research specializations. Although we found significant peer associations overall, those opposing "gain-of-function" research are more sensitive to peers than are proponents. Conversely, specializing in fields directly related to gain-of-function research (immunology, virology) predicts public support better than specializing in fields related to potential pathogenic risks (such as public health) predicts opposition. These findings suggest that different social processes might drive support compared with opposition. Supporters are embedded in a tight-knit scholarly community that is likely both more familiar with and trusting of the relevant risk mitigation practices. Opponents, on the other hand, are embedded in a looser federation of widely varying academic specializations with cognate knowledge of disease and epidemics that seems to draw more heavily on peers. Understanding how scientists' social embeddedness shapes the policy actions they take is important for helping sides interpret each other's position accurately, avoiding echo-chamber effects, and protecting the role of scientific expertise in social policy.

Scientific consensus, the law, and same sex parenting outcomes.

While the US Supreme Court was considering two related cases involving the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, one major question informing that decision was whether scientific research had achieved consensus regarding how children of same-sex couples fare. Determining the extent of consensus has become a key aspect of how social science evidence and testimony is accepted by the courts. Here, we show how a method of analyzing temporal patterns in citation networks can be used to assess the state of social scientific literature as a means to inform just such a question. Patterns of clustering within these citation networks reveal whether and when consensus arises within a scientific field. We find that the literature on outcomes for children of same-sex parents is marked by scientific consensus that they experience "no differences" compared to children from other parental configurations.

Like strangers we trust: identity and generic affiliation networks.

Sociological research on collective behavior provides strong evidence for the sources of collective action and shared attitudes based on overlapping experience. We know, for example, that members of social movement organizations are likely to share similar beliefs. However, a significant portion of the prior research on shared behaviors or attitudes analyzes individuals who do not know one another. This research using large surveys often infers overlapping experience based on generic connections: People in unions generally or church groups generally are likely to hold similar beliefs or engage in similar behaviors as if they were in the same unions or church groups. In this paper, I challenge this simple inference by arguing that the generic affiliations we hold contribute to our identity. Specifically, our identities can, in part, be seen as a network of overlapping roles based on generic affiliations. Findings indicate the importance of considering generic affiliation networks when modeling trust and political partisanship. Individuals who share multiple affiliations often appear to be similar to one another along a number of socio-demographic dimensions and report similar attitudes. Conclusions highlight the promise and challenge of relational approaches to social life.

Mapping interdisciplinary fields: efficiencies, gaps and redundancies in HIV/AIDS research.

While interdisciplinarity continues to increase in popularity among funders and other scientific organizations, its potential to promote scientific advances remains under-examined. For HIV/AIDS research, we examine the dynamics of disciplinary integration (or lack thereof) providing insight into a field's knowledge base and those questions that remain unresolved. Drawing on the complete histories of two interdisciplinary journals, we construct bibliographic coupling networks based on overlapping citations to identify segregation into research clusters and estimate topic models of research content. We then compare how readily those bibliographic coupling clusters account for the structuring of topics covered within the field as it evolves over two decades. These comparisons challenge one-dimensional and/or cross-sectional approaches to interdisciplinarity. Some topics are increasingly coordinated across disciplinary boundaries (e.g., vaccine development); others remain relatively segmented into disconnected disciplinary domains for the full period (e.g., drug resistance). This divergence indicates heterogeneity in interdisciplinarity and emphasizes the need for critical approaches to studying the organization of science.

Reliability and Validity of Prisoner Self-Reports Gathered Using the Life Event Calendar Method.

Data collection using the life event calendar method is growing, but reliability is not well established. We examine test-retest reliability of monthly self-reports of criminal behavior collected using a life event calendar from a random sample of minimum and medium security prisoners. Tabular analysis indicates substantial agreement between self-reports of drug dealing, property, and violent crime during a baseline interview (test) and a follow-up (retest) approximately three weeks later. Hierarchical analysis reveals that criminal activity reported during the initial test is strongly associated with responses given in the retest, and that the relationship varies only by the lag in days between the initial interview and the retest. Analysis of validity reveals that self-reported incarceration history is strongly predictive of official incarceration history although we were unable to address whether subjects could correctly identify the months they were incarcerated. African Americans and older subjects provide more valid responses but in practical terms the differences in validity are not large.

Subintimal angioplasty: Our experience in the treatment of 506 infrainguinal arterial occlusions.

OBJECTIVE: The treatment of patients with chronic arterial occlusions involving the superficial femoral artery has changed significantly with the incorporation of subintimal angioplasty (SIA) into vascular surgery practice. To more clearly define technical feasibility, patency, and clinical outcomes of SIA, we reviewed our cumulative experience. METHODS: A retrospective review of all patients who underwent SIA of arterial occlusions originating in the superficial femoral artery was performed. Patient history, demographics, procedural details, and follow-up information were collected and analyzed. Patency, limb salvage, sustained improvement in claudication, freedom from surgical bypass, and survival were determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: From December, 2002, through July, 2006, 506 infrainguinal SIA procedures were performed in 472 patients with chronic arterial occlusion involving the superficial femoral artery. The mean age of patients treated was 69.4 +/- 11.9 years and the indication for intervention was critical limb ischemia in 63% of limbs (n = 317) and disabling claudication in 37% (n = 189). Forty-seven percent of limbs (n = 237) had isolated SFA occlusions, 40% (n = 205) had femoropopliteal occlusions, and 13% of limbs had occlusions beginning in the SFA and extending into the tibial arteries (n = 64). Technical success was achieved in 87% of procedures. Following successful SIA, the mean ankle-brachial index increased by 54%, from 0.50 +/- 0.16 to 0.77 +/- 0.23 (P < .0001). Median follow-up was 12.4 months (0-48 months) and 30-day mortality was 0.8%. Primary patency at 12 and 36 months was 45% (SE 3.0%) and 25% (SE 3.6%) respectively. Secondary patency was 76% (SE 2.6%) and 50% (SE 4.8%) at 12 and 36 months. Factors associated with reduced primary patency included femorotibial occlusions (HR 1.57, CI 1.05-2.36) and the presence of critical limb ischemia (HR 1.39, CI 1.02-1.89). Limb salvage in patients with critical limb ischemia was 75% (SE 5.9%) at 36 months. Freedom from surgical bypass in patients with either critical limb ischemia or disabling claudication was 77% (SE 4.1%) at 36 months. CONCLUSION: SIA is an effective percutaneous technique for the revascularization of patients with lower extremity chronic arterial occlusions involving the superficial femoral artery. The procedure is successfully performed in all segments of the lower extremity with minimal morbidity or mortality. Rates of limb salvage and improvement in claudication are similar to those achieved by open surgical bypass, while modest reductions in limb salvage and primary patency are experienced in limbs with femorotibial occlusions.

Subintimal angioplasty for the treatment of claudication and critical limb ischemia: 3-year results.

OBJECTIVE: Subintimal angioplasty (SIA) is an increasingly used method of lower extremity revascularization for patients with chronic arterial occlusions. To assess the technical feasibility, safety, and 3-year outcomes of patients treated with SIA, we performed a retrospective review of our early experience. METHODS: Patient information-including demographics, indications, procedures, noninvasive arterial studies, and postprocedural events-was recorded in a database. Outcomes were determined on an intention-to-treat basis, as well as by technical success, by using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Continuous data were compared by using the Student t test, and survival curves were compared by log-rank testing. RESULTS: From December 2002 through December 2003, 104 patients (105 limbs) underwent SIA of 159 occlusive lesions involving the iliac (n = 10), superficial femoral (n = 85), popliteal (n = 48), or tibial (n = 16) arteries. Sixty-six (62.9%) patients were treated for critical limb ischemia, and 39 patients (37.1%) were treated for disabling claudication. Technical success was achieved in 91 procedures (86.7%) and resulted in a mean increase in ankle-brachial index of 0.36 +/- 0.16. The mean follow-up was 23.4 months (range, 0-46 months). During this period, 18 patients (17.0%) died, and 15 amputations (14.3%) were performed, 6 of which were performed for patients on whom SIA had been unsuccessful. In patients undergoing successful SIA, the primary patency was 55%, 43%, and 35% at 12, 24, and 36 months, respectively. Twenty-one patients underwent a total of 23 percutaneous procedures to maintain or restore patency of the SIA during the study period. This resulted in secondary patency rates of 71%, 63%, and 51% at 12, 24, and 36 months, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed critical limb ischemia to be the only predictor of reduced primary patency. Fifteen patients with inoperable critical limb ischemia underwent successful SIA. Limb salvage in this group was 54% and 43% at 12 and 36 months, respectively. Limb salvage in operative candidates was 100% and 88% at the same intervals. In patients with disabling claudication, 94% experienced improvement in symptoms 3 months after the procedure, and 68% of patients reported sustained improvement at 36 months. In all operative candidates successfully treated with SIA, freedom from surgical bypass was 83% and 73% at 12 and 36 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: SIA for the treatment of lower extremity chronic arterial occlusions is technically feasible, results in minimal morbidity, and provides satisfactory revascularization without surgical bypass. Secondary patency is comparable to that of autologous vein bypass and is achieved with a low rate of reintervention. When used as first-line therapy, SIA provides most patients with limb salvage and freedom from surgical bypass at 3 years.