Virginia Community Research Articles

Arthropod diversity in shallow subterranean habitats of the Appalachian Mountains

Subterranean arthropods are important components of soils and contribute essential food-web functions and other ecosystem services, however, their diversity and community composition has scarcely been assessed. Subterranean pitfall traps are a commonly used method for sampling soil habitats in Europe but have never been widely implemented in the Americas. We used subterranean pitfall traps to sample previously unsurveyed arthropod communities in southwestern Virginia, U.S. Traps were placed in shallow subterranean habitats (SSHs), underground habitats close to the surface where light does not penetrate, and more specifically at the interface between the soil and underlying “milieu souterrain superficiel”—a microhabitat consisting of the air-filled interstitial spaces between rocks (abbreviated MSS). In total, 2,260 arthropod specimens were collected constituting 345 morphospecies from 8 classes, 33 orders, and 94 families. A region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was amplified and sequenced, and objective sequence clustering of 3% was used to establish molecular operational taxonomic units (mOTUs) to infer observed species richness. In all, 272 COI barcodes representing 256 mOTUs were documented for rare soil-dwelling arthropod taxa and are published to build a molecular library for future research in this system. This work is the first taxonomically extensive survey of North American soil-dwelling arthropods greater than 10 cm below the soil surface.

Identifying the Determinants of Hookah Smoking Among the Youth; A Mixed-Methods Study.

Hookahs have been rising in popularity in the United States (U.S.) especially among the youth yet not much research has been carried out to understand the various predictors of hookah use among youth. We have thus conducted a cross-sectional study with a mixed-methods triangulation design to identify the hookah use determinants at different levels of the Social Ecological Model among youth. Participants between the ages of 18-24 years were sampled purposively, between April to November 2023, following a snowballing technique from various communities in Virginia and California, United States. Data were collected via a survey, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups. The study had a total sample size of 20. We found that participants smoked for a median of 5 times in the past 30 days. The main determinants of hookah smoking included the limited knowledge of health effects and addiction, positive attitude, family and peer influence, use as a means to socially connect with others, culture, social acceptability, lack of education at school and work place, access to hookah bars and smoke shops, and lack of strict enforcement of laws to ban smoking of youth. Educational interventions should be implemented by public health authorities to target the youth, their social and communities to provide education on hookah harm and addictiveness and to restrict access to- and the production, distribution, marketing and sales of hookahs.

Implementation of a North Dakota opioid misuse and overdose prevention program in West Virginia

BackgroundPharmacy has an important role in combating the opioid epidemic. However, there is a need for more consistency of programs and evidence-based practices across the country. ObjectivesTo describe how an evidence-based opioid misuse and overdose prevention program that originated in North Dakota was implemented in West Virginia and to compare program results between the two states including pharmacist interventions and patient screening for opioid misuse and overdose. Practice descriptionThis advancement in practice took place in participating North Dakota and West Virginia community pharmacies. Practice innovationAn evidence-based program that originated in North Dakota was implemented in West Virginia. The details of this collaboration are outlined in this manuscript. Evaluation methodsProgram screening and pharmacist intervention data were collected using DocStation, an online pharmacy patient management platform. ResultsThirty-four pharmacies in West Virginia implemented the program. Between April 2022 and September 2023, a total of 34 West Virginia pharmacies conducted 449 documented screenings compared to 12,105 screenings by 81 pharmacies in North Dakota over the same time. There were differences between the states with regard to the proportion of individuals screened as high-risk for opioid use disorder and individuals at risk of accidental opioid overdose likely attributable to different demographics. ConclusionAn opioid misuse and prevention program was successfully implemented in two states, which can serve as a model to implement similar programs in other pharmacies across the United States.

Patient and Community Perspectives on Antibiotics and Antimicrobial Resistance: Fertile Grounds for Antimicrobial Stewardship

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a serious public health threat. Overuse of antibiotics leads to the development and spread of antibiotic resistant pathogens. Antibiotics are also responsible for a high percentage of emergency department visits for adverse drug events. Despite this, ambulatory and urgent care providers often cite patient expectations as a reason for inappropriate antibiotic prescribing practices. We investigated patient and community understanding of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance to inform how they can be engaged as partners in combating antimicrobial resistance in our southwestern Virginia community. Methods: From July to September 2023, we conducted an online survey of patients and community members within the footprint of a large healthcare system in Southwest Virginia. Electronic medical records were used to randomly select and directly email the survey link to a representative sample of ambulatory patients who met criteria. Respondents were also recruited through the health system’s social media channels and through posters with quick response (QR) codes in outpatient offices. The survey used Likert scales and multiple-choice questions to understand experiences with and perceptions about antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance. We conducted a descriptive analysis of survey responses. Results: In total, 2,021 individuals completed the survey. Nearly 16% of respondents agreed with the statement “antibiotics can kill viruses” and almost 12% more were unsure. Thirty percent of respondents either agreed with or were unsure about the statement “antibiotics work on most coughs and colds”. When asked more directly about antimicrobial resistance, almost a quarter (25%) of respondents agreed with or were unsure about the statement “there is no connection between taking antibiotics and the development of resistant bacteria”. Responding to questions about possible negative effects of antibiotics, over 9% disagreed with the statement “antibiotics can kill the 'good' bacteria that normally live on the skin and in the gut” and another 19% were unsure. Similarly, over 20% disagreed with or were unsure about the statement “bacteria that do not respond to antibiotics could infect me or my family”. Reflecting on their own providers, nearly 83% of respondents trusted their doctor’s or nurse’s advice about antibiotic necessity. Conclusions: There are opportunities for patient and community engagement around antibiotic effectiveness for common viral illnesses and about the negative effects of overuse of antibiotics. Our data suggests most patients trust their providers as it relates to antibiotic prescribing and may be receptive to discussions and strategies that promote antimicrobial stewardship.

Factors Associated with Public Water Supply Unreliability

Public water supply unreliability is a problem that causes human hardships and remains common in the United States. In this paper, we attempt to examine the factors associated with public water supply unreliability. We measure public water service unreliability by the issuance of boil water notices (BWNs). By using a Negative Binomial regression model and data from West Virginia community water systems in 2020, we find that water systems that purchase their water from other water systems, have more educated and experienced operators, and serve high-income areas and a higher percentage of Native residents are expected to issue more BWNs. On the other hand, water systems that are small and serve a higher percentage of rural, educated, employed residents are expected to issue fewer BWNs. The findings emphasize the need to move beyond simplistic assumptions about water system reliability and consider the combined influence of technical, socio-economic, and demographic factors.

Restored Wetland Size and Age Influence Small Mammal Communities in West Virginia, USA

Small mammals are important, albeit often overlooked, fauna in wetland restoration projects. However, it is essential to evaluate factors that influence small mammal community metrics in restored wetlands to maximize wetland restoration effectiveness. Previous studies found that vegetation differed as restored wetlands aged and that wetland age may play a role in the presence of amphibians and birds. Therefore, we assessed whether wetland age influenced small mammals. We also evaluated 17 environmental factors in restored wetlands that could influence small mammal communities in these wetlands. To assess and evaluate the effects of age and environmental factors on the small mammal community, we appraised 14 restored wetlands in West Virginia, USA, in the summers of 2020 and 2021 for small mammal community metrics, specifically relative abundance, diversity, richness, and evenness. We captured six species of small mammals: deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus), meadow jumping mice (Zapus hudsonius), northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda), and eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). We found that the relative abundance of deer mice, white-footed mice, and meadow voles decreased with wetland age. However, both species diversity and evenness increased with wetland age. Wetland size influenced the relative abundance of white-footed mice, meadow jumping mice, and all small mammals combined. Although the relative abundance of white-footed mice and total small mammals decreased with wetland size, the relative abundance of meadow jumping mice increased with wetland size. Wetland managers should consider wetland age and size when designing wetlands to facilitate small mammal communities.

Crossing the Finish Line but Losing the Race? Socioeconomic Inequalities in the Labor Market Trajectories of Community College Graduates

Abstract Despite decades and hundreds of billions of dollars of federal and state investment in policies to promote postsecondary educational attainment as a key lever for increasing the economic mobility of lower income populations, research continues to show large and meaningful differences in the mid-career earnings of students from families in the bottom and top income quintiles. Prior research has not disentangled whether these disparities are due to differential sorting into colleges and majors, or due to barriers that lower socioeconomic status (SES) graduates encounter during the college-to-career transition. Using linked individual-level higher education and Unemployment Insurance records for nearly a decade of students from the Virginia Community College System, we compare the labor market outcomes of higher and lower SES community college graduates within the same college, program, and academic performance level. Our analyses show that, conditional on employment, lower SES graduates earn nearly $500/quarter less than their higher SES peers one year after graduation, relative to higher SES graduate average of $10,846/quarter. The magnitude of this disparity persists through at least three years after graduation. Disparities are concentrated among non-nursing programs, in which gaps persist seven years from graduation. Our results highlight the importance of greater focus on the college-to-career transition.

People With Disabilities and Violent Victimization in the Heartland: Results from the First Phase of the West Virginia Community Quality of Life Survey

Studies of violent victimization in rural and remote parts of the U.S. are in short supply and the bulk of those done so far focus mainly on man-to-woman violence in intimate relationships among people without disabilities. There is, indeed, a major need to broaden the focus of rural victimological research to include violence against people with disabilities, which is the main objective of this article. Relying on original exploratory data generated by the first phase of the West Virginia Community Quality of Life Survey (WVCQLS), population estimates of four types of violent victimization are presented: stalking, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and hate and bias assaults. The results show that a large number of rural West Virginia residents with disabilities experience these forms of victimization. Directions for further empirical and theoretical work are discussed.

Abstract 7664: Early detection of racial disparity and treatment resistance in triple negative breast cancer

Abstract Introduction: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype that disproportionately affects BRCA1 mutation carriers and young Black/African American (AA) women. Black/AA patients have the highest mortality and the shortest survival of any racial/ethnic group in the US. With the approval of pembrolizumab, the addition of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) has become the standard of care (SOC) for high-risk early-stage TNBC. The pathologic complete response (pCR) is a reliable prognostic marker that correlates with tumor remission and good outcome, whereas pathologic incomplete response (pIR) with high residual cancer burden (RCB) is often associated with early relapse, treatment resistance, and poor survival. Many similarly-treated patients with identical TNM and RCB classifications still experience racial disparity, different relapse rates, and disparate survival. Current methods fall short in predicting tumor recurrence/chemo-resistance/patient survival with high accuracy in the clinic. Methods: We detected a major racial disparity in our large regional cohorts of TNBC patients (> 1,000 patients), of which 48% patients are Black/AA and 48% patients are white patients, at the Sentara Cancer Network and VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, that have historically provided excellent healthcare and quality cancer care to the social-economically-disadvantaged, medically underserved, and underinsured racial/ethnic minorities in low income communities in Virginia. Despite Sentara/VCU’s best efforts, Black/AA breast cancer patients still suffer 70-100% higher MBC mortality, and the worst survival compared to their white counterparts, based on our clinical studies and the SEER/CDC databases. Result: We showed that persistent EGFR/RAS/SIAH pathway activation is a major driving force of TNBC malignancy. The most downstream and evolutionarily conserved signaling gatekeeper, SIAH, is an RING domain E3 ligase that is a high-resolution prognostic biomarker for patient risk stratification and racial disparity prediction in TNBC. High SIAH expression in residual tumors reflects ineffective NACT/IO therapy and persistent EGFR/K-RAS/SIAH pathway activation (ON) that drives tumor relapse, resistance, and reduced survival. Low SIAH expression in residual tumors reflects effective NACT/IO therapy and EGFR/K-RAS/SIAH pathway inactivation (OFF) that predicts tumor remission, good outcome, and prolonged survival. We found that SIAH expression is 2.0-fold higher in Black/AA patients’ residual tumors than in the white patients’ residual tumors, mirroring a 1.8-2.0-fold higher death rates in the Black/AA patients than the white patients. Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrate the prognostic power of SIAH for patient risk stratification, therapy quantification, and relationship to cancer racial disparity in TNBC. Citation Format: Amy H. Tang, Richard A. Hoefer, Mary L. Guye, Billur Samli, Janet S. Winston, Jennifer Koblinski, Valentina Robila, Michael O. Idowu, Rick J. Jansen, Harry D. Bear. Early detection of racial disparity and treatment resistance in triple negative breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 7664.

Novel Outreach: A Report of Public Library Engagement within Virginia Communities

This study seeks to showcase how Virginia Public Libraries have harnessed the power of innovative outreach to service populations traditionally resistant to library adoption. It examines concepts such as community partnerships, the library as a Third Place (Thiele & Klagge, 2020), and the increasing function of social services in the public libraries sphere. It highlights the evolution of modern public libraries from mere book repositories to thriving community centers for education and personal growth. Mining current website data, this study explores each of the 94 public library systems in Virginia websites, determining their reach throughout their communities to show what populations receive the most services across Virginia and what methods are employed to reach them. The purpose of this webometric content analysis is to provide a current state of the union for Virginia Public Libraries’ outreach efforts to discover common outreach methods, less commonly used, but novel ways of engaging communities, and to determine how effectively marginalized populations are serviced across the state.

Considering collaborative incident management: A study of the COVID-19 response and initial recovery in a rural West Virginia community.

Hierarchical command-style structures are commonplace in the management of disasters, though researchers have begun to recommend the exploration of networked approaches to incident management. Furthermore, few studies are explicitly looking at the rural context of disaster management. This study seeks to contribute to both topics by examining the motivations for emergent collaboration in the direction of the response and initial recovery to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in a rural West Virginia community. Between March 2020 and March 2022, the primary investigator moderated regular briefings of a community task force convened to coordinate the pandemic response and recovery. As regular operations concluded, members completed a survey, and 10 randomly selected members participated in semistructured interviews regarding their experiences in the task force. Survey responses suggest that common motivations for collaboration in nondisaster contexts (as they appear in the scholarly literature) and potential benefits of networked approaches highlighted in the incident management literature could also serve as motivators within the disaster context. Qualitative interview data extend that discussion and identify the need to gain clear information regarding the concerned authorities and specific local information to better inform the expenditure of limited resources as two additional motivators for collaboration.

Writing-skill Development of Graduate Students Through a Google Jamboard Platform: A Study of Graduate Students from a Public University in Bangkok

Background and Aim: The purposes of this research were to develop writing skills through a Google Jamboard platform and determine Jamboard acceptance in graduate students from a public university in Bangkok. This quasi-experimental research made use of a pretest and a posttest. Material and Methods: The sample was 50 graduate students at the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The research instruments used in data collection were a writing rubric from Northeastern Illinois University (adapted from Univ. of Washington, Barbara Walvoord, Winthrop Univ., Virginia Community College System) and a seven-point Likert scale questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics of arithmetic mean and standard deviation, and a paired-sample t-test. Research hypotheses were tested using a pair-sample t-test. Results: The results of the hypotheses testing showed that the students obtained better scores on writing. The result was statistically significant at 0.05. Conclusion: The students performed better in writing, and this difference is significant at the 0.05 level of significance. This implies that there is strong evidence to support the idea that there is a genuine improvement in the writing skills of the students under investigation.

Mapping the tidal marshes of coastal Virginia: a hierarchical transfer learning approach

ABSTRACT Coastal wetlands, especially tidal marshes, play a crucial role in supporting ecosystems and slowing shoreline erosion. Accurate and cost-effective identification and classification of various marsh types, such as high and low marshes, are important for effective coastal management and conservation endeavors. However, mapping tidal marshes is challenging due to heterogeneous coastal vegetation and dynamic tidal influences. In this study, we employ a deep learning segmentation model to automate the identification and classification of tidal marsh communities in coastal Virginia, USA, using seasonal, publicly available satellite and aerial images. This study leverages the combined capabilities of Sentinel-2 and National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery and a UNet architecture to accurately classify tidal marsh communities. We illustrate that by leveraging features learned from data abundant regions and small quantities of high-quality training data collected from the target region, an accuracy as high as 88% can be achieved in the classification of marsh types, specifically high marsh and low marsh, at a spatial resolution of 0.6 m. This study contributes to the field of marsh mapping by highlighting the potential of combining multispectral satellite imagery and deep learning for accurate and efficient marsh type classification.

Abstract C027: Persistent activation of this tumor-driving EGFR/RAS/RAF/MEK/MAPK/SIAH Pathway is highly prognostic in patient risk stratification, cancer disparity detection, and resistant/relapse/survival prediction at the 1st-line neoadjuvant settings

Abstract Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype that disproportionately affects BRCA1 mutation carriers and young Black/African American (AA) women. Black/AA patients have the highest mortality and the shortest survival of any racial/ethnic group in the US. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is the standard-of-care (SOC) treatment for high-risk TNBC. With the approval of pembrolizumab, the addition of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) to NACT has become the new SOC for high-risk early-stage TNBC. The pathologic complete response (pCR) is a reliable prognostic marker that indicates tumor remission and good prognosis, whereas pathologic incomplete response (pIR) with high residual cancer burden (RCB) is associated with early relapse, therapy-resistance, and reduced survival. However, clinical uncertainties remain, since many similarly-treated patients with identical TNM and RCB classifications often experience cancer disparity, health inequality, disparate outcome, and distinct survival. Current tools fall short in accurately detecting cancer disparity and forecasting tumor recurrence in real time. We detected a major racial disparity in our large local cohorts of TNBC patients (> 1,000 patients), of which 48% patients are Black/AA and 48% patients are white/Caucasian patients, at the Sentara Cancer Network and VCU Massey Cancer Center, that have provided excellent healthcare and quality cancer care to the social-economically-disadvantaged, medically underserved and underinsured racial/ethnic minorities, and historically Black/AA communities in Virginia. Despite the Sentara/VCU’s best effort, Black/AA cancer patients still suffer 70-100% higher cancer mortality, and the worst survival compared to their white counterparts, based on our clinical studies and the SEER/CDC databases. Supported by ample evidence in developmental, evolutionary, and cancer biology, we propose that persistent EGFR/RAS/SIAH pathway activation is a major driving force in breast cancer. The most downstream and evolutionarily conserved signaling gatekeeper, SIAH, is an RING domain E3 ligase that is a tumor-specific, therapy-responsive, and prognostic biomarker for patient risk stratification and cancer disparity prediction in breast cancer. High SIAH expression in residual tumors reflects ineffective treatment and tumor-driving EGFR/K-RAS/SIAH pathway activation (ON) that predict tumor relapse, treatment-resistance, poor outcome, and worst survival. Low SIAH expression in residual tumors reflects effective treatment and EGFR/K-RAS/SIAH pathway inactivation (OFF) that predicts tumor remission, treatment-sensitivity, and good outcome, and prolonged survival. We found that SIAH expression is 2.0-fold higher in Black/AA residual tumors than of the white residual tumors, mirroring a 1.8-2.0-fold higher death rates reported in the Black/AA patients than their white counterparts. We aim to demonstrate the high precision and prognostic power of SIAH for relapse/resistance/survival prediction in NACT/NST-treated residual tumors in breast cancer. Citation Format: Amy H. Tang, Richard A. Hoefer, Mary L. Guye, Billur Samli, Janet S. Winston, Jennifer Koblinski, Valentina Robila, Michael O. Idowu, Rick J. Jansen, Harry D. Bear. Persistent activation of this tumor-driving EGFR/RAS/RAF/MEK/MAPK/SIAH Pathway is highly prognostic in patient risk stratification, cancer disparity detection, and resistant/relapse/survival prediction at the 1st-line neoadjuvant settings [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2023 Sep 29-Oct 2;Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(12 Suppl):Abstract nr C027.

The Roots of Social Trauma: Collective, Cultural Pain and Its Consequences

Since Kai Erikson’s landmark study of the devastation of five communities in West Virginia, sociology has leveraged the concept of trauma to describe certain social phenomena. Collective trauma came to refer to the destruction of social infrastructure and the ensuing negative mental health outcomes, while cultural trauma has come to describe the imposition of historical and ongoing attacks by a dominant group on the culture (broadly defined) of a group of people sharing a collective identity. The following article sketches out a theory of social trauma designed to bring these two types of sociological trauma together, highlight their similarities and differences, and unite them by grounding them in the neuroscience of (social) pain. The term trauma, borrowed from medical and psychological study, implies pain, but the sociological version of trauma is best understood as the collectivization and enculturation of social pain, or the evolved negative affective response to separation, rejection, exclusion, and isolation from cherished social objects including statuses. The article concludes by modeling the process by which an event transforms individual social pain into collective social trauma as well as the pathways through which social trauma becomes enculturated in a collective identity. Implications for the sociology of mental health follow.

Get skilled, get a job, give back: Virginia's tuition‐free program for high‐demand jobs

AbstractG3: Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back is Virginia's new initiative that provides tuition‐free community college to low and middle‐income students pursuing careers in high‐demand fields. Signed into law on March 29, 2021, this new program allocates $36 million to cover tuition, fees, and books for qualified students in high‐need workforce areas: healthcare, information technology, manufacturing and skilled trades, early childhood education and public safety. This commentary aims to describe an overview of the Virginia Community College System's G3 initiative while also describing the G3 at four different colleges representing urban, suburban and rural service areas. Recommendations for policy and practice are offered.

Levonorgestrel Emergency Contraception Information Accuracy From West Virginia Community Pharmacies: A Mystery Caller Approach.

To ensure access to effective levonorgestrel (LNG) emergency contraception (EC), pharmacies must keep medication in stock or available for quick delivery, and pharmacists must be knowledgeable about sales restrictions and the therapeutic window for EC. We conducted a mystery caller study to assess LNG EC availability and information accuracy provided by staff in West Virginia community pharmacies. A female research team member posed as a 16-year-old caller to ask pharmacy staff questions about whether LNG EC was in stock, the requirements for purchase, and when it should be taken for effectiveness. Data were analyzed with SPSS using the Pearson's χ2 test to determine if there was a relationship between pharmacy type and response accuracy to our questions about point-of-sale requirements and timing for effectiveness for LNG EC. Of the 506 pharmacies in the sample, 275 (54.3%) were chain pharmacies and 231 (45.7%) were independent. Overall, chain pharmacies provided significantly more accurate answers than independent pharmacies on all point-of-sale requirements. Regarding timing for effectiveness, 49.2% of all pharmacies provided an accurate response (62.9% for chain pharmacies vs. 32.9% for independent pharmacies). Overall, availability and accuracy regarding LNG EC were poor in West Virginia pharmacies. Pharmacists, particularly those at independent pharmacies serving rural communities, are in a critical and powerful position to influence community health by providing accurate and timely information and access to all contraceptive options, including LNG EC.

Impact of Facebook, TikTokand Instagram advertising onthe Arlington VA community

This paper is a product of the research about “Advertisement impact in Facebook, Tik Tok and Instagram in Arlington Virginia community” developed in the Francisco Jose de Caldas University in 2022. Introduction: Over time, generations have been changing and developing new consumer trends. In the same way, companies have been evolving to be able to adapt to the different trends to reach the target audience using diverse ways of advertising. Method: This paper makes use of databases such as Scopus, Google Scholar, Index-K as sources of information to guide the research of social media use. Using statistics and articles we determine the main aspects that guide the behavior and the use of the different social media platforms in the different age groups. Results: This Paper shows that depending on the age group the use of social media is different; the youngest users prefer platforms where they can share videos or images. Conclusions: As people grow, people are more attracted by platforms like Facebook where they can find social interaction, information and they can share different type of content. Limitation: This paper is focused on people that live in Arlington a small city in the state of Virginia. The information found can be a basis for analyzing users' behaviors on different platforms.

Casting a Wide Multidisciplinary Net: Two-Year Colleges as Human Services Contributors in Their Communities

The need among human services professionals for interdisciplinary approaches to meeting population needs, especially in the current COVID-19 and Black Lives Matters (BLM) contexts, is unprecedented. This conceptual article reviews the current research and practice literature in order to discuss two-year colleges as often-overlooked partners in meeting community needs. We present the argument that American two-year colleges, by design, can be human services partners when addressing the inequities, economic and other deficiencies, and marginalization based on racial and ethnic discrimination or similar dynamics found in our communities. Specifically, we demonstrate the relationships between human services, on one hand, and the work of community colleges in their roles as economic engines intended to generate socio-economic security, as academic success centers intended to mitigate obstacles to learning outcomes, as mechanisms for social justice intended to produce life improvements among marginalized populations, and as mental health and wellness supports intended to reduce barriers to achievement. We rely on our own experiences in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) as illustrations, and we use the work of one sample institution to provide a start-to-finish example of the overlap between human services goals and community colleges.

Rising Racial Disparities in Opioid Mortality and Undertreatment of Opioid Use Disorder and Mental Health Comorbidities in Virginia

There were more than 100,000 fatal drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2021 alone. In recent years, there has been a shift in opioid mortality from predominantly White rural communities to Black urban communities. This study aimed to identify the Virginia communities disproportionately affected by the overdose crisis and to better understand the systemic factors contributing to disparities in opioid mortality. Using the state all-payer claims database, state mortality records, and census data, we created a multivariate model to examine the community-level factors contributing to racial disparities in opioid mortality. We used generalized linear mixed models to examine the associations between socioecologic factors and fatal opioid overdoses, opioid use disorder diagnoses, opioid-related emergency department visits, and mental health diagnoses. Between 2015 and 2020, racial disparities in mortality widened. In 2020, Black males were 1.5 times more likely to die of an opioid overdose than White males (47.3 vs 31.6 per 100,000; p<0.001). The rate of mental health disorders strongly correlated with mortality (β=0.53, p<0.001). Black individuals are not more likely to be diagnosed with opioid use disorder (β=0.01, p=0.002) or with mental health disorders (β= -0.12, p<0.001), despite higher fatal opioid overdoses. There are widening racial disparities in opioid mortality. Untreated mental health disorders are a major risk factor for opioid mortality. Findings show pathways to address inequities, including early linkage to care for mental health and opioid use disorders. This analysis shows the use of comprehensive socioecologic data to identify the precursors to fatal overdoses, which could allow earlier intervention and reallocation of resources in high-risk communities.