Undergraduate Medical School Health Fair Hepatitis Screenings: Utilizing Non-Profit Community Organizations.

BACKGROUND: Undergraduate medical schools serve a critical role in providing screenings to medically underserved populations through the use of health fairs. Non-profit community organizations (NPCO) often participate by providing local credibility, administrative resources, and technical knowledge. Here we present a three-year narrative of hepatitis B and C screening efforts to highlight the challenges and benefits of undergraduate medical school and NPCO partnerships. METHODS: Hepatitis screenings were conducted at biannual health fairs in Harlem, New York from 2017 to 2019. Meeting minutes from post-event debriefings were analyzed to identify any overarching themes with NPCOs. RESULTS: NPCOs share a common goal in working with the community to advance their access to medical care and treatment. Communication and prompt follow-up are critical to maintaining expectations between NPCOs and health fair organizers. CONCLUSIONS: NPCOs can play an important role in encouraging, outreaching, and even managing hepatitis screening initiatives in conjunction with medical school health fairs.

Neonatal catch up growth increases diabetes susceptibility but improves behavioral and cardiovascular outcomes of low birth weight male mice.

Premature infants are at increased risk for persistent growth failure, neurodevelopmental impairment, hypertension, and diabetes. Rapid neonatal growth has been linked to the increasing prevalence of diabetes and obesity. Nutritional goals for the premature infant with incipient growth failure have thus become a source of controversy. We used isogenic mice with natural variation in perinatal growth to test the hypothesis that neonatal catch up growth improves the neurobehavioral and cardiovascular outcomes of low-birth weight mice, despite an increase in diabetes susceptibility. Adult mice that experienced prenatal and neonatal growth restriction had persistent growth failure, hypertension, and neurobehavioral alterations. When switched from standard rodent chow to a hypercaloric diet, growth restricted mice were protected from diet-induced obesity. Among low-birth weight male mice, neonatal catch up growth normalized neurobehavioral and cardiovascular phenotypes, but led to insulin resistance and high fat diet-induced diabetes. Among low-birth weight female mice, neonatal catch up growth did not prevent the development of adult hypertension and significantly increased measures of anxiety, including self-injury and the avoidance of open spaces. These studies support the importance of the perinatal environment in the resetting of adult disease susceptibility and suggest an earlier window of vulnerability among growth restricted female mice.