Ethics & Human Research, July-August 2023

Antiracist intervention at an IRB

2023-07-10

(Press-News.org) Antiracist Structural Intervention at the Emory University Institutional Review Board

Francois Rollin, Vanessa Van Doren, Jessica Alvarez, Rebecca Rousselle, Jada Bussey-Jones

Although racial and ethnic categories are social constructs without inherent biologic or genetic meaning, race and ethnicity impact health outcomes through racism. The use of racial categories in biomedical research often misattributes the cause of health inequities to genetic and inherent biological differences rather than to racism. Improving research practices around race and ethnicity is an urgent priority and requires education as well as structural change. We describe an evidence-based intervention for an institutional review board (IRB). Our IRB now requires all biomedical study protocols to define racial and ethnic classifications they plan to use, to state whether they are describing or explaining differences between groups, and to provide justification for any use of racial or ethnic group variables as covariates. This antiracist IRB intervention is an example of how research institutions can help ensure the scientific validity of studies and avoid the unscientific reification of race and ethnicity as inherently biological or genetic concepts.

Also in this issue:

The Essential Need for Trust When Transmission Risk Cannot Be Eliminated in HIV‐Remission Trials

Stuart Rennie, Gail Henderson, Nittaya Phanuphak, Kristine Kuczynski, Donn Colby, Nuchanart Ormsby, Eugene Kroon, Denise Hsu, Udom Likhitwonnawut, Sandhya Vasan, Carlo Sacdalan, Thidarat Jupimai, Oratai Butterworth, Holly Peay

Factors Associated with IRB Review Time in a Non‐Federally Funded Study Using an sIRB of Record

Erin Lamers-Johnson, Vanessa K. Will, Julie M. Long, Lindsay Woodcock, Kathryn Kelley, Alison L. Steiber, Elizabeth Yakes Jimenez

Translational Bioethics and Public Input

John H. Evans

Table of Contents • Trust and HIV‐transmission trials • Translational science and public input: Ethics & Human Research: Vol 45, No 4 (wiley.com)

For more information, contact:

Susan Gilbert

Director of Communications

The Hastings Center

845-424-4040 x244

gilberts@thehastingscenter.org.

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Unhealthy beverage consumption highest among economically-vulnerable households that rely on multiple food assistance programs

2023-07-10

Philadelphia, July 10, 2023 – A long-standing and contentiously debated question is the extent to which US federal food assistance programs contribute to or deter healthy beverage intake. Findings of a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, show that while beverage intake patterns rarely differed between mothers and young children who participated only in the Supplementation Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), only the Supplemental ...

Tumor monocyte content predicts immunochemotherapy outcomes for esophageal cancer

2023-07-10

JULY 10, 2023, NEW YORK – A Ludwig Cancer Research study has discovered that the presence of relatively high numbers of immune cells known as monocytes in tumors is linked to better outcomes in esophageal cancer patients treated with a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, or immunochemotherapy. Esophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, and the incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma has been climbing at a relatively swift clip over the past 40 years. Survival times for inoperable or metastatic forms of the cancer range from 6 to 12 months. Led by Ludwig Oxford Director Xin Lu and ...

Game-playing automaton acts like an ‘irrational’ human

2023-07-10

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Humans make lots of irrational decisions in predictable ways, but what if we’re all just doing our best within the limits of our abilities? Researchers were able to simulate human behaviors using a probabilistic finite automaton, a well-known model of limited computational power. They programmed the automatons to compete against each other in a wildlife poaching game, as either a rhino poacher or a ranger trying to stop the poaching. When the automatons could remember everything, they settled into an optimal game strategy. But when researchers limited their memories, they took some decision-making shortcuts – the same ...

Nearly two thirds of youth would stop vaping without added sweet flavors, menthol, synthetic cooling agents

2023-07-10

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Major progress could be made in fighting the youth vaping epidemic with a complete restriction on sweet flavorings and cooling agents in both cartridge and disposable e-cigarette devices, according to a new study from the Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. The current U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) flavor ban only applies to cartridge electronic cigarette devices. A new study published in the Journal of Studies on Addiction and Drugs by researchers ...

Girls Deliver: building an integrated, feminist ecosystem to support adolescent girls at the Women Deliver 2023 Conference

2023-07-10

July 10, 2023 — The Population Council’s GIRL Center, and co-hosts AFIDEP, AMPLIFY Girls, Baobab Research Programme Consortium, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Coalition for Adolescent Girls, Exemplars in Global Health, FP2030, Girl Effect, Girls First Fund, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Plan International, PMNCH, Purposeful, Together for Girls, UNICEF, Women Deliver, and The World Bank Africa Gender Innovation Lab, are proud to host the “Girls Deliver: Pre-Conference on Adolescent Girls,” on July 16. This one-day global convening ...

Light-activated molecular machines get cells ‘talking’

2023-07-10

HOUSTON – (July 10, 2023) – One of the main ways cells “talk” to each other to coordinate essential biological activities such as muscle contraction, hormone release, neuronal firing, digestion and immune activation is through calcium signaling. Rice University scientists have used light-activated molecular machines to trigger intercellular calcium wave signals, revealing a powerful new strategy for controlling cellular activity, according to a new study published in Nature Nanotechnology. This technology could lead to improved treatments ...

Biomarkers may hold key to precision mental health diagnosis, care

2023-07-10

The study of biomarkers in the brain—powered by cutting-edge machine learning techniques—could redefine the way mental health conditions are categorized and diagnosed and lead to more effective, personalized treatments. That’s the goal of Yu Zhang, an assistant professor of bioengineering and electrical and computer engineering in Lehigh University’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science who recently landed major support from the National ...

Navigating the future of underwater geolocalization: how polarization patterns enable new technology

2023-07-10

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a novel method for underwater geolocalization using deep neural networks that have been trained on 10 million polarization-sensitive images collected from locations around the world. This new study, led by electrical and computer engineering professor Viktor Gruev, along with computer science professor David Forsyth, enables underwater geolocalization using only optical data while providing a tool for tethered-free underwater navigation. These findings were recently published in the journal eLight. “We are showing for the first time, you can geolocate yourself, or a camera, in a number of different ...

Anastasopoulos receives funding for EAGER: building language technologies by machine reading grammars

2023-07-10

Antonios Anastasopoulos, Assistant Professor Computer Science, received $99,294 from the National Science Foundation for: "EAGER: Building Language Technologies by Machine Reading Grammars." This funding began in June 2023 and will end in late May 2024. Anastasopoulos said, "This project aims to explore the feasibility of building language technologies while bypassing the need for exorbitant amounts of data, instead turning to already-codified linguistic knowledge. This is of particular importance for bridging the language technology gap for underserved communities: ...

Ungvari & Nichols securing core support for International Global Change Research

2023-07-10

Judit Ungvari, Research and Innovation Officer, Institute for a Sustainable Earth, and Leah Nichols, Executive Director, Institute for a Sustainable Earth, Research and Innovation Initiatives, received $277,602 from the National Science Foundation for: "Collaborative Research: Core Support for Future Earth International Global Change Research." The grant will provide salary to support Ungvari’s work, travel funds, and support costs for participants to attend annual Sustainability Research and Innovation congresses where the Future Earth assembly occurs. This funding began in May 2023 and will end ...

Ethics & Human Research, July-August 2023

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