OLD FASHIONED CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Corruption in Chicago before, during prohibition varied based on time, position, context

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY

Corruption occurs when individuals criminally leverage their positions of power for financial gain. A new study examined how corruption varied by position of power and within criminal contexts by measuring the actions of corrupt players in Chicago before and during Prohibition. The study found that corruption by politicians, law enforcement, and others in organized crime varied by timeline (i.e., before and during Prohibition); the context of the crime; and individuals’ position and depth of involvement.

The study, by researchers at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) and the University of Toronto (UofT), appears in Criminology, a publication of the American Society of Criminology.

“We found that everyday corruption was more frequent but less deeply embedded in corruption when criminal contexts were only moderately profitable,” explains Jared Joseph, a Ph.D. candidate in the sociology department at UC Davis, who coauthored the study. “However, as criminal contexts increased in profitability during Prohibition, corruption moved up the political ladder to include fewer people who were more deeply involved.”

The connection between corruption and organized crime is well established in criminology, but studies on the topic have focused on the biggest players, with less attention to involvement by people in smaller roles. In this study, researchers compared Chicago’s organized crime network before Prohibition (1900-1919) to during Prohibition (1920-1933) to examine how the composition of corruption and the depth of individuals’ involvement changed when organized crime grew in size and centralized in power.

Data for the study came from the Capone Database, which includes archival material from the Chicago Crime Commission and other historical entities. The database is among the largest and most detailed relational databases on organized crime in Chicago; this study—the first to use the database to examine how embedded corruption was—measured organized crime as the largest component of criminal relationships before and during Prohibition.

In the pre-Prohibition period, Chicago’s organized crime network consisted of 267 individuals with 789 criminal relationships among them. During Prohibition, the network grew considerably, totaling 937 individuals with 3,250 criminal relationships among them, according to the study.

The researchers found that before Prohibition, more police were involved in organized crime than politicians, but the small group of politicians who were involved were more deeply embedded. During Prohibition, as the content, structure, and profitability of corruption changed, members of law enforcement engaging in crime decreased in proportion, dropping from 14 percent to 2.6 percent; they also became less embedded in organized crime and their positions were more randomly distributed. In contrast, politicians maintained their proportion (5 percent) in the organized crime network and also remained deeply embedded.

The study concluded that the larger and more profitable the criminal organization, the more likely corruption would involve fewer people who were more deeply embedded, and include individuals higher on the ladder of political influence.

One limitation of the study, the authors note, is that the Capone Database includes only known, recorded, preserved incidents of Chicago organized crime activity, and as such, may include inaccuracies and misinformation.

“Using public positions for personal gain is not a new phenomenon, but it is usually kept in the shadows of backroom deals and unexplained campaign contributions,” notes Chris M. Smith, assistant professor of sociology at the UofT, the study’s coauthor. “A fuller understanding of the mechanisms that allow illegal enterprises to flourish has implications for combating organized crime, corruption, and their overlap.”

The study was supported by the National Science Foundation as well as the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

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JOURNAL

Criminology

ARTICLE TITLE

The Ties That Bribe: Corruption’s Embeddedness in Chicago Organized Crime

NATIONALISM IS FASCISM 

National parochialism is widespread around the world

Study with respondents from 42 very different countries shows that fellow citizens are generally preferred

THE INTERNATIONALE PROLETARIAT WILL BE THE HUMAN RACE

THE SOLUTION IS THE METROPOLE

THE GRAND COLLECTION OF HUMANS

AS COSMOPOLE 

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHA

 

IMAGE: TENDENCY TOWARD ISOLATION: NOT ONLY IN THE USA, BUT AROUND THE GLOBE, PEOPLE PREFER TO COOPERATE WITH PEOPLE FROM THEIR OWN NATION RATHER THAN WITH FOREIGNERS. THIS WAS THE RESULT OF A SCIENTIFIC STUDY WITH PARTICIPANTS FROM 42 NATIONS FROM ALL CONTINENTS. view more 

CREDIT: EISENHANS/ADOBE STOCK

In our globalized world, cooperation between citizens of different countries should actually be a matter of course. But around the world, people prefer to cooperate with their own fellow citizens rather than with foreigners. This was the result of a study by an international team of researchers led by Angelo Romano and Matthias Sutter from the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.

Under the "America first" banner, Donald Trump was able to conquer the White House as the President in 2017. Two thirds of US citizens supported his approach which forced national interests into the political foreground. But Americans are not the only ones to be focused on their own country. In a large-scale study involving more than 18,400 participants from 42 nations, an international team of researchers investigated whether and to what extent people in a cooperative game prefer to collaborate with their own fellow citizens. The countries involved ranged from Sweden, Pakistan and South Korea through to Bolivia, Nigeria and New Zealand.

The results were clear: In 39 of the countries examined, most participants significantly preferred to collaborate with fellow citizens rather than with people from other countries. In the remaining three countries (Poland, Peru and Hong Kong), there was also a visible link between the willingness to cooperate and having the same nationality. The tendency to prefer fellow citizens didn’t depend on whether the participants were able to decide anonymously or whether their behaviour would be made public. The nationality of the game partner and the cultural differences were also irrelevant.

Differences within individual nations

However, the researchers also identified differences between the individual test subjects. For example, the willingness to cooperate with foreigners varied significantly more within individual nations than between the averages of different countries. It was greater among women than men, and among more educated participants compared to those with lower levels of education.

Conversely, religious affiliation, certain environmental conditions which could lead to increased national cohesion or the quality of state institutions made no difference. According to the research findings, the behaviour was motivated less by general xenophobia than by what scientists call in-group bias. This means that people tend to show greater solidarity towards others if they perceive them to be part of the same group, in this case citizens of the same country.

Cooperation with unknown others

During the investigation, researchers put participants through a variant of the so-called prisoners' dilemma, a standard experiment in game theory: Participants worked together in pairs. Both were provided with a small amount of money and asked to decide how much of this they would keep and how much they would hand over to the unknown fellow player – without knowing what the other would do. In the process, the amount handed over was doubled, in other words, participants benefitted twice from a generous partner.

The best result for both can be achieved if they cooperate and hand over all of their money. Solo players, however, achieve the best result by acting egoistically and keeping their money, while the other player hands over all of their money to the solo player. The worst result for both occurs if neither hands over any money at all. Whether and how much money is handed over to the unknown fellow player is therefore a matter of trust and cohesion. Obviously, both is clearly more pronounced within individual countries than across different nations.

In light of global challenges like climate change or the coronavirus pandemic, this global distribution of national parochialism is bad news. After all, mankind must cooperate across borders in order to come lastingly to grips with these problems. "While high levels of cooperation within states is desirable, in future we must focus even more strongly on the question of how we can promote cooperation between strangers, independently of their nationality," says Matthias Sutter. He also identifies a high demand for more research in this area.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-021-24787-1

ARTICLE TITLE

National parochialism is ubiquitous across 42 nations around the world

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

21-Jul-2021

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M BUSINESS AS USUAL

The downside of loyalty: Study reveals why some organizational cover-ups go unchecked

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

A cover-up, or an attempt to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error or unethical actions, can prove harmful and costly for an organization. Often starting small, a cover-up can turn into a scandal that forever tarnishes the reputation of an institution.

However, some cover-ups may actually be viewed favorably by employees. New research from the University of Notre Dame identifies two common types of cover-ups and reveals why some are allowed to continue unchecked.

“Understanding When and Why Cover-Ups Are Punished Less Severely” is forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal from Timothy Kundro, assistant professor of management and organization at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Kundro, along with Samir Nurmohamed from the University of Pennsylvania, reviewed organizational cover-ups over the past 100 years and surveyed 400 full-time employees across a range of occupations and organizations, asking them to recall either a personal or a relational cover-up either within or outside their organizations. The vast majority (98 percent) were able to recall specific instances of cover-ups within their organizations.

“Our research revealed that cover-ups are more common than we may assume, which means finding ways to reduce them is critical for organizations,” said Kundro, whose research examines when and why employees engage in dysfunctional behavior, specifically looking at ethics, discrimination and impression management. 

The researchers discovered two broad types of cover-ups. In some cases, transgressors hid their own misdeeds (personal), and in other instances, they covered up those of others in their group (relational).

“Our studies show that one reason cover-ups may continue unchecked and are so pervasive within organizations is because members of a group (or ‘ingroup’ members) have a problematic tendency to show leniency toward transgressors who cover up for others. We found this is because they view these cover-ups as acts of loyalty,” Kundro said. “Ingroup members, unlike those outside the group (‘outgroup’), recognized and appreciated the self-sacrifice and benefits that relational cover-ups provide to their own team.”

However, ingroup members are not lenient in all types of cover-ups. They are quick to denounce and punish those who cover up for themselves. For example, ingroup members might denounce those who cover up their own fraud, but not those who cover up fraud committed by another organizational member.

“In the case of personal cover-ups, both ingroup and outgroup members punished, reprimanded and verbally berated those who committed the cover-up,” Kundro said. “It’s really only with relational cover-ups — where a transgressor covers up for someone else — where we see leniency emerge. This is particularly problematic, since it means cover-ups can grow within organizations as more individuals become involved. They can become hard to contain.”

Prior research shows individuals are more willing to permit unethical behavior committed by members of their own group or tribe, while other research suggests ingroup members take a strong stance against unethical behavior in their own group because it threatens their standing and survival.

This study adds context by showing that ingroup punishment is dependent on the type of cover-up. It also reveals the dangers of highlighting loyalty as a moral virtue. While loyalty has organizational benefits, such as increased commitment and perseverance, the study shows how it can be a double-edged sword leading individuals to condone or even encourage problematic behavior. 

“Ingroup members are the first line of defense when it comes to cover-ups,” Kundro said. “While they are best positioned to stop and report cover-ups and often truly believe they would do so, our results show they actually are the least likely to halt relational cover-ups. Recognizing this bias is important. Managers should encourage employees to recognize they may have this systematic bias and tendency — encouraging employees to recognize the potential costs of all forms of cover-ups.

“From the outside, we always wonder how these scandals could possibly happen,” he said. “However, from the inside, our research shows that the lines are blurrier — in large part because of the power of loyalty.”

To learn more, visit the Academy of Management Journal website at
https://journals.aom.org/doi/epub/10.5465/amj.2018.1396.

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JOURNAL

Academy of Management Journal

Can gender-disposed personality traits explain who initiates salary negotiations?

Study reveals women’s politeness doesn’t help

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

 

IMAGE: DENISE L. REYES, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY AT UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, HAS PUBLISHED A STUDY THAT FINDS ASSERTIVENESS WAS POSITIVELY RELATED TO INITIATING NEGOTIATIONS FOR A PAY RAISE, AND MORE MEN ARE LIKELY TO BE ASSERTIVE. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

A University of Houston psychology researcher is reporting that the salary gap between men and women may be due to certain personality traits, specifically – assertiveness. 

“We found that women are higher in politeness and compassion than men, but neither of these personality traits were related to the propensity to initiate a negotiation,” reports Denise L. Reyes, assistant professor of psychology in the journal Group Decision and Negotiation. “Rather, assertiveness was positively related to initiating negotiations.”  
The study extends the literature on individual differences and negotiation by testing how the “Big Five” personality traits may contribute to salary negotiation initiation. Those traits include agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism. Her study included 246 full-time employees as participants. 

Reyes also found gender differences in initiating a negotiation depending on the gender of the negotiation counterpart.  

“We found that the gender difference in initiating negotiations (men are more likely to initiate than women) is larger when interacting with a male boss. However, rather than women initiating like men when they interacted with a female boss, it turned out that men initiated less when interacting with a female boss,” said Reyes.  

In other words, women were unlikely to initiate a negotiation in either condition, but men differed based on the gender of the boss. Female bosses may be perceived as violating gender norms by holding a more agentic role as opposed to a more communal one. 

“This incongruence with gender norms may, in turn, decrease men’s comfort to negotiate with a woman supervisor,” said Reyes.  

Despite the ever-present opportunity to negotiate wages in the professional world, there remains an obvious gender wage gap. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics compared the median earnings of full-time wage and salary workers and found that, on average, women earned 83% of their male counterparts’ compensation in 2014. Additionally, starting wages have been found to be higher for men than women. 

“An extensive body of work has identified the role of gender differences in initiating negotiation, however, there is scant research on individual differences that can explain who initiates and successfully performs negotiations,” said Reyes. “In other words, although there is stark evidence of gender differences in initiating negotiations, there may also be interesting individual differences in the women who do initiate negotiations and the men who do not.” 

 

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JOURNAL

Group Decision and Negotiation

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Can Gender-Disposed Personality Traits Explain Who Initiates Negotiations?

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Jun-2021

$ PAY THEM

Women underrepresented in CV clinical trials despite inclusivity requirements

Lack of inclusion detrimental to determining optimal cardiovascular treatments specific to women   DUH OH

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY

Women remain underrepresented in cardiovascular clinical trials despite guidelines and legal requirements developed almost 30 years ago to ensure broader inclusivity, according to a report from the American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Disease in Women Committee published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. This lack of representation can limit availability of treatment data on the number one killer of women worldwide—cardiovascular disease.

“Historically, drug therapies for women were determined based on male data that was extrapolated to women,” said Leslie Cho, MD, FACC, lead author of the study, a member of the ACC Cardiovascular Disease in Women Committee, and director of the Women’s Cardiovascular Center and section head of preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation at Cleveland Clinic. “However, research has shown that women respond differently than men and may even be harmed or experience side effects from some drugs when taken at the same dosage as men. Sex-specific data is essential to optimal care.”

The committee issued this report to better understand the current barriers to enrollment and retention of women in clinical trials, as well as to offer novel strategies to help increase participation of women and, more specifically, underrepresented minority women, while also looking at women of childbearing age and pregnant women.

The authors present eight potential barriers to optimal enrollment of women and underrepresented minority women, including:

• Differential Care – Low rates of referral to cardiologists and specialty programs for more aggressive care leads to fewer women being treated by specialists recruiting for clinical trials.
   
• Ageism – Older patients are disproportionately represented in clinical trials overall, which is further compounded in women as cardiovascular disease is very prevalent in older women.
   
• Lack of Awareness, Trust and Logistical Barriers – Previous surveys and studies have shown that women are more reluctant than men to participate in clinical trials.
   
• Lack of Diversity in Clinical Trial Leadership – Women are underrepresented in clinical trial leadership, and research has shown that trials led by women tend to recruit more women participants.
   
• Underrepresented Minority Women in Cardiovascular Clinical Trials – Clinical trials that enrolled predominantly racial/ethnic minority groups have proven that it is possible to have representation of underrepresented groups in clinical trial leadership, enrollment and retention; however, rates of minority representation in the majority of major cardiovascular trials remains low.
   
• Special Consideration for Pregnant Women and Women of Childbearing Age –   Pregnant women and women of “child-bearing potential” are frequently excluded from clinical research as a vulnerable population, resulting in not only reduced numbers of eligible women, but a lack of data on how certain drugs impact pregnant patients.
   
• Sex Differences in Disease – Women have a higher risk of developing certain types of heart disease and/or present with different symptoms than men when experiencing heart disease, potentially leading to lower numbers of women in clinical trials studying less prevalent types of heart disease.
   
• Study Retention – Little is known about potential sex differences in study drug discontinuation and patient follow up once patients are successfully enrolled since reasons for study drug discontinuation and withdrawal of consent are not routinely captured in clinical trial case reports.

Recommendations for breaking down each barrier were presented in the report, as well.

“To address barriers to recruitment and retention of women in cardiovascular clinical

trials, a comprehensive and targeted approach that involves partnership with all stakeholders—patients, referring clinicians, research teams (investigators and coordinators), health care systems,

the FDA, payers, sponsors, professional and community organizations—is essential,” Cho said. “We owe it to our patients to increase representation of women and underrepresented minorities in cardiovascular disease trials.”

The American College of Cardiology envisions a world where innovation and knowledge optimize cardiovascular care and outcomes. As the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team, the mission of the College and its 54,000 members is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC bestows credentials upon cardiovascular professionals who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College also provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research through its world-renowned JACC Journals, operates national registries to measure and improve care, and offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions. For more, visit acc.org.

The ACC’s family of JACC Journals rank among the top cardiovascular journals in the world for scientific impact. The flagship journal, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) — and family of specialty journals consisting of JACC: Advances, JACC: Asia, JACC: Basic to Translational Science, JACC: CardioOncology, JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, JACC: Case Reports, JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology and JACC: Heart Failure — pride themselves on publishing the top peer-reviewed research on all aspects of cardiovascular disease. Learn more at JACC.org.

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JOURNAL

Journal of the American College of Cardiology

#MEDICAREFORALL    #SINGLEPAYERNOW

Medicaid expansion of dental care can increase access

Research uncovered provider growth in low-income and high-population counties

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

TROY, N.Y. —  When public health insurance like Medicaid expands its dental coverage, by increasing the types of procedures it covers and the total amount a dentist can spend on an individual patient, more dentists will locate to the expansion areas, therefore increasing access. This finding comes from research recently published in the Journal of Public Economics by Jason Huh, an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Huh found that Medicaid-induced financial incentives influence where providers choose to practice, potentially expanding access into previously underserved areas.

“This paper provides the first empirical evidence that Medicaid expansion can affect the location choices of providers,” Huh said. “Policy makers can use this information to devise alternate policies that can address provider shortage and geographic distribution imbalances which have plagued the American health care system for decades.”

Using a universal database of all dentists in America from 2006 to 2013, Huh found that expanding adult Medicaid dental benefits increased the number of dentists per capita in low-income counties by 13%. The increase was larger in counties where the expansions generated greater financial incentives for dentists; for example, high-population density areas.

The study further revealed that the increase in dentist supply was primarily driven by those in private practice.

“One of the goals of public health services is to encourage the private health care sector to provide services to low-income populations rather than relying on community health centers or public clinics,” Huh said. “By showing that private dentists responded to the financial incentives of expanded coverage by altering their practice locations, there is evidence that Medicaid expansion achieved one of its stated goals.”

Future research for Huh will expand this line of research into the impact of Medicaid expansion on physicians and where they locate their practice.

About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1824, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is America’s first technological research university. Rensselaer encompasses five schools, 32 research centers, more than 145 academic programs, and a dynamic community made up of more than 7,600 students and over 100,000 living alumni. Rensselaer faculty and alumni include more than 145 National Academy members, six members of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, six National Medal of Technology winners, five National Medal of Science winners, and a Nobel Prize winner in Physics. With nearly 200 years of experience advancing scientific and technological knowledge, Rensselaer remains focused on addressing global challenges with a spirit of ingenuity and collaboration. To learn more, please visit www.rpi.edu.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Public Economics

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104430

ARTICLE TITLE

Medicaid and provider supply

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Aug-2021

#PRAXIS

Study finds recent change in EMS transport policy could improve stroke outcomes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICAL CENTER

Patients with a suspected acute ischemic stroke who are taken by emergency medical services (EMS) directly to comprehensive stroke centers rather than the nearest stroke center for care are more likely to receive endovascular therapy, according to research led by investigators at the University of Chicago Medicine, in collaboration with local healthcare and emergency response groups.

The study underscores the importance of a regional policy that has guided EMS response in Chicago to a suspected stroke since 2018 — which the researchers say will lead to improved outcomes for patients. The results were published on August 9 in JAMA Neurology.

“Regional policies for stroke care are still in their nascence compared to cardiac or trauma care, where there is more experience in directing people to the right hospital based on their needed level of care,” said Shyam Prabhakaran, MD, Professor and Chair of Neurology at UChicago Medicine, and the study’s senior author. “We are one of the first regions in the United States to implement this kind of tiered policy for stroke.”

Several years ago, the American Heart Association issued a recommendation that patients suspected by EMS to have a large vessel occlusion be transported to the nearest comprehensive stroke center, as long as it was within a reasonable distance. Evidence has shown that comprehensive stroke centers provide critical treatments that improve outcomes for patients with large vessel occlusions, or blocked arteries, which account for most of the disabling strokes.

Following this recommendation, hospitals and emergency services in the city of Chicago worked together to develop a new regional policy to guide the EMS response to a suspected stroke.

The UChicago Medicine-led team of researchers decided to use implementation of the policy in 2018 to better understand how the policy change affected stroke care. The team included a variety of collaborators from the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the Chicago EMS system, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, the Cook County Health Department of Emergency Medicine, and the American Heart Association. 

“It is really tragic when an ischemic stroke patient gets delayed care. Time is brain: the minutes and hours that are lost when a patient has to be transferred from one hospital to another can’t be regained, which often leads to worse outcomes,” said Prabhakaran. “Systems of care like ours in Chicago have developed protocols to identify stroke patients based on stroke severity in the field and move them to the right hospital. Now, we’re one of the first to have implemented such a system and studied its effect.”

The policy provides a set of guidelines for EMS to rapidly evaluate potential stroke patients and, depending on the results and the location of the call, the response team can choose to transport the patient directly to a comprehensive stroke center, rather than a primary stroke center. This is important because certain treatments for acute ischemic strokes — such as endovascular therapy, an important treatment for large vessel occlusion — are only available at comprehensive stroke centers.

Endovascular therapy (EVT) involves threading tiny catheters through blood vessels in the groin or the wrist to the location of the blood clot causing the large vessel occlusion. The blood clot can then be removed using devices such as stents or aspiration catheters, in a procedure known as a thrombectomy, or dissolved using medications in a process called thrombolysis.

In the study, the researchers found that when EMS used a three-item stroke scale to quickly evaluate patients and direct those with a suspected large vessel occlusion directly to comprehensive stroke centers, there was a rapid increase in the number of patients who received EVT. Importantly, nearly three times as many patients received EVT after the new protocol was implemented compared to before. While the study did not look directly at patient outcomes, the investigators say that these results are promising.

“We know that the ischemic brain ages physiologically several years every hour treatment is delayed and that providing EVT reduces disability and death in patients by almost 20%,” said lead author Tareq Kass-Hout, MD, Assistant Professor and director of Endovascular Neurology at UChicago Medicine. “Since this treatment improves outcomes and policy changes such as ours increases the delivery of this powerful treatment, it is imperative that other regions also consider ways to implement routing policies to direct stroke patients to the appropriate stroke center. By doing this, there will be a major public health impact, because we know that the more EVT is used in a population, the more people are saved from disability and death.”

Prabhakaran hopes the study will inspire other regions to develop similar policies — and help Chicago patients understand that they can trust the response by EMS and need to react quickly when experiencing a stroke.

“Many people don’t realize that a stroke is an emergency that needs to be taken care of immediately,” said Prabhakaran. “The time lost in the first few hours can never come back. We need to teach our community that timely care is extremely important, and that patients shouldn’t need to figure out the right places to go on their own. Calling 9-1-1 should be enough to get patients the right level of care for their needs. We need to overcome the fears and doubts that people may feel about calling EMS and explain that we have policies in place that help people of all backgrounds get the emergency medical care they need. Based on these results, people should feel really confident that as a city, we’re able to provide the highest quality of stroke care possible.”

The study, “Effects of Implementation of a Policy for Prehospital Comprehensive Stroke Center Triage on Endovascular Therapy in a Large Urban Area,” was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R18HS025359). Additional authors include Scott Mendelson of UChicago, Jungwha Lee of Northwestern University, Katie Tataris of UChicago and the Chicago EMS System, Christopher T. Richards of the University of Cincinnati, Eddie Markul of the Chicago EMS System and Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital, Joseph Weber of the Chicago EMS System and Cook County Health, and Kathleen O’Neill and Renee M. Sednew of the American Heart Association.

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About the University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences

The University of Chicago Medicine, with a history dating back to 1927, is one of the nation’s leading academic health systems. It unites the missions of the University of Chicago Medical Center, Pritzker School of Medicine and the Biological Sciences Division. Twelve Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine have been affiliated with the University of Chicago Medicine. Its main Hyde Park campus is home to the Center for Care and Discovery, Bernard Mitchell Hospital, Comer Children’s Hospital and the Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine. It also has ambulatory facilities in Orland Park, South Loop and River East as well as affiliations and partnerships that create a regional network of care. UChicago Medicine offers a full range of specialty-care services for adults and children through more than 40 institutes and centers including an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Together with Harvey-based Ingalls Memorial, UChicago Medicine has 1,296 licensed beds, nearly 1,300 attending physicians, over 2,800 nurses and about 970 residents and fellows.

Visit UChicago Medicine’s health and science news blog at www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront.

Twitter @UChicagoMed
Facebook.com/UChicagoMed

Facebook.com/UChicagoMedComer

 

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JOURNAL

JAMA Neurology

DOI

10.1001/jamaneurol.2021.2485

ARTICLE TITLE

Effects of Implementation of a Policy for Prehospital Comprehensive Stroke Center Triage on Endovascular Therapy in a Large Urban Area

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

9-Aug-2021

 

UBCO technology paves way towards personalized antibiotic therapy

New sensor provides quick test to measure antibiotic resistance

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA OKANAGAN CAMPUS

 

IMAGE: USING MICROWAVE SENSING TECHNOLOGY, UBCO RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED A LOW-COST, CONTACTLESS, PORTABLE AND REUSABLE MICROWAVE SENSOR THAT ACTS AS A FAST AND RELIABLE EVALUATION TOOL FOR MEASURING ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE. view more 

CREDIT: UBC OKANAGAN

UBC researchers have developed a method for monitoring bacterial responses to antibiotics in health-care settings that opens the door to personalized antibiotic therapy for patients.

Using microwave sensing technology, UBC Okanagan Assistant Professor Mohammad Zarifi and his team at the Okanagan Microelectronics and Gigahertz Applications (OMEGA) Lab have developed a low-cost, contactless, portable and reusable microwave sensor that acts as a fast and reliable evaluation tool for measuring antibiotic resistance.

According to the World Health Organization, over-prescription of antibiotics has led to growing resistance of bacteria towards drug treatments. As a result, the newly evolved “superbugs” have put a large strain on health-care systems globally, says Zarifi.

This newly developed sensor aims to combat the drawbacks of the current Antibiotic Susceptibility Test (AST), as it reduces the time and cost taken to conduct the test, while increasing the portability for AST to be used in remote regions.

“Many types of bacteria are continuously evolving to develop resistance to antibiotics. This is a pressing issue for hospitals around the globe, while sensor and diagnosis technology has been slow to adapt,” explains Zarifi, who teaches at the School of Engineering.

Existing AST practices are expensive and can take up to 48 hours to process results.

“Longer wait times can significantly delay the treatments patients receive, which can lead to further medical complications or even fatalities. This method showcases the requirement for a reliable, rapid and cost-effective detection tool,’’ he says.

The new sensor, developed by the UBC team, can differentiate bacterial growth variations before any visible cues are evident. Therefore, the dosage or type of antibiotics can be fine-tuned to combat the specific bacterial infection.

In the next phase of development, the OMEGA lab aims to integrate artificial intelligence algorithms with this sensing device to develop smart sensors, which would be a big leap towards personalized antibiotic therapy. 

“Our ultimate goal is to reduce inappropriate usage of antibiotics and enhance quality of care for the patients,” says Zarifi. “The more quality tools like this that health-care practitioners have at their disposal, the greater their ability to combat bacteria and viruses.”

This research has been published in Nature Scientific Reports with financial and instrumental support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and CMC Microsystems.

 

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

ARTICLE TITLE

Rapid and real-time monitoring of bacterial growth against antibiotics in solid growth medium using a contactless planar microwave resonator sensor

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Jul-2021

PETITE MIRICALE CRISPR CRITTER 

New CRISPR/Cas9 technique corrects cystic fibrosis in cultured human stem cells

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HUBRECHT INSTITUTE

 

IMAGE: SWELLING RESPONSE OF PATIENT DERIVED MINI-GUTS. COLLAPSED ORGANOIDS (LEFT) SHOW ACTIVE SWELLING RESPONSE THAT IS MEDIATED BY THE CFTR ION CHANNEL AFTER ONE HOUR INCUBATION WITH FORSKOLIN (RIGHT). GREEN STAINING SHOWS COMPLETE CELLS (CALCEIN GREEN) AND DNA IS SHOWN IN BLUE. view more 

CREDIT: EYLEEN DE POEL, (C) UMC UTRECHT

Researchers from the group of Hans Clevers (Hubrecht Institute) corrected mutations that cause cystic fibrosis in cultured human stem cells. In collaboration with the UMC Utrecht and Oncode Institute, they used a technique called prime editing to replace the ‘faulty’ piece of DNA with a healthy piece. The study, published in Life Science Alliance on August 9th, shows that prime editing is safer than the conventional CRISPR/Cas9 technique. “We have for the first time demonstrated that this technique really works and can be safely applied in human stem cells to correct cystic fibrosis.”

 

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most prevalent genetic diseases worldwide and has grave consequences for the patient. The mucus in the lungs, throat and intestines is sticky and thick, which causes blockages in organs. Although treatments are available to dilute the mucus and prevent inflammations, CF is not yet curable. However, a new study from the group of Hans Clevers (Hubrecht Institute) in collaboration with the UMC Utrecht and Oncode Institute offers new hope.

 

Correcting CF mutations

The researchers succeeded in correcting the mutations that cause CF in human intestinal organoids. These organoids, also called mini-organs, are tiny 3D structures that mimic the intestinal function of patients with CF. They were previously developed by the same research group from stem cells of patients with CF and stored in a biobank in Utrecht. For the study, published in Life Science Alliance, a technique named prime editing was used to replace the piece of mutated DNA that causes CF with a healthy piece of DNA in these organoids.

 

Safer than CRISPR/Cas9

Prime editing is a newer version of the better-known gene editing technique CRISPR/Cas9. CRISPR/Cas9 cuts the DNA before correcting it. Although this corrects the mutated piece of DNA, it also causes damage in other regions in the genome. “In our study, prime editing proves to be a safer technique than the conventional CRISPR/Cas9. It can build in a new piece of DNA without causing damage elsewhere in the DNA. That makes the technique promising for application in patients,” says Maarten Geurts, first author on the publication.

 

Swelling

The mutations that cause CF are localized in the CFTR channel, which is present in the cells of various organs including the lungs. Due to the mutations, the channel does not function properly, leaving the layer of mucus that covers the cells with too little water: the mucus becomes sticky. The addition of a substance called forskolin causes healthy organoids to swell, but this does not happen in organoids with mutations in the CFTR channel. “We applied prime editing to the mutations, after which the treated organoids demonstrated the same response as the healthy organoids: they became swollen. That provided us with proof that our technique worked and replaced the mutated DNA,” Geurts explains.

 

Curing genetic diseases

Now that the researchers showed that the mutations that cause CF can be safely corrected, applications in the clinic come one step closer. “New variants of CRISPR/Cas9, such as prime editing, can safely correct mutations without causing damage in other regions of the DNA. This will hopefully enable us to cure or even prevent genetic diseases in the future.” But before that, some challenges still lie ahead for the researchers. The technique for example still needs to be adapted for safe use in humans. “But this is a great step towards successfully applying prime editing in the clinic,” Geurts concludes.

CAPTION

Cystic Fibrosis patient derived organoids do not show a swelling response. The swelling response is regained after prime-editing mediated repair of the CFTR channel.

CREDIT

Eyleen de Poel and Maarten Geurts, (c) UMC Utrecht and Hubrecht Institute

Publication

"Evaluating CRISPR-based Prime Editing for cancer modeling and CFTR repair in organoids". Maarten Geurts, Eyleen de Poel, Cayetano Pleguezuelos-Manzano, Rurika Oka, Léo Carrillo, Amanda Andersson-Rolf, Matteo Boretto, Jesse Brunsveld, Ruben van Boxtel, Jeffrey Beekman, and Hans Clevers, Life Science Alliance (2021).

 

Hans Clevers is group leader at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research and at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. He is also University Professor at the Utrecht University and Oncode Investigator.

 

About the Hubrecht Institute

The Hubrecht Institute is a research institute focused on developmental and stem cell biology. It encompasses 21 research groups that perform fundamental and multidisciplinary research, both in healthy systems and disease models. The Hubrecht Institute is a research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), situated on Utrecht Science Park. Since 2008, the institute is affiliated with the UMC Utrecht, advancing the translation of research to the clinic. The Hubrecht Institute has a partnership with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). For more information, visit http://www.hubrecht.eu.

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JOURNAL

Life Science Alliance

DOI

https://doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202000940

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Human tissue samples

ARTICLE TITLE

Evaluating CRISPR-based Prime Editing for cancer modeling and CFTR repair in organoids

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Aug-2021