Gloucester County Research Articles

Memorials to Dr WG Grace - general practitioner and cricketing legend.

Dr WG Grace was a general practitioner in Bristol, in the late nineteenth century, but is better remembered as 'the father of cricket'. He showed early promise as a skilled cricket player and was already playing for Gloucester County, by the age of fifteen. However, coming from a well-established medical family, his father wanted him to become a doctor. He trained in Bristol and after qualifying he set up his own practice in the same environs. By this time, he was a superb cricketer with a glittering county and England career, combined with his clinical duties. He has several memorials where he lived and practised in Bristol, which are described and illustrated in this review. These include commemorative plaques in the local church, and near his later residence in Clifton, as well as a large mural at a train station and another at a shopping centre. These are all tributes to one of the most famous sons of Bristol. He is also celebrated at Lord's Cricket Ground, the home of cricket, with eponymous memorial gates and a full-size statue inside the ground. A fine example of a doctor who also had other talents, these memorials reflect his widespread appeal and his long-lasting legacy.

Abstract A082: Factors associated with willingness to participate in future clinical trials

Abstract Background: Biannually, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia, PA their catchment area to identify and describe the population. Since less than 6.3% of cancer patients nationally are involved in clinical trials, the most recent survey included questions related to willingness to participate in clinical trials (CTs) and reasons for or against participation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among adult residents in Philadelphia, Delaware, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania as well as Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey from July to August 2022 and included 2,744 respondents. Survey questions included reasons for or against willingness to participate in CTs, lifestyle behaviors, cancer screening frequencies, cancer attitudes or beliefs, health literacy, and numeracy. Frequency counts were weighted against population totals from the American Community Survey. The survey was fielded in English, Spanish, and Chinese. The univariate associations of covariates with the outcome were evaluated with a ꭓ2 test. Logistic regression using weighted survey procedures were used to calculate the odds ratios (ORs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and p-values of trial participation controlling for covariates. Results: The weighted sample represented the 3,889,048 residents of the catchment area. Survey respondents completed the survey in English (80.1%), Spanish (13.2%), and Chinese (6.7%) and self-identified as Hispanic (9.3%), non-Hispanic (NH) White (57.8%), NH Black (19.0%), and NH Other (14.0%). The catchment population was willing to participate in CTs (69.8%). Respondents answering in Chinese were 40% less likely than those answering in English to indicate future CT participation (OR 0.60, p=0.04). Both Hispanic and NH Black respondents were over 30% less likely to participate compared to NH Whites (OR 0.67, p=0.03 and 0.68 p=0.02, respectively). While some respondents view CTs as “experiments” (17.0%), the most common reason given not to participate in a CT was side effects (25.6%). Respondents reporting a high level of discrimination were 48% more likely to participate in a CT than low discrimination respondents (p=0.02). The population reporting the highest level of discrimination also reported wanting to participate to “learn more about their health and medical condition” (66.3%) and a desire to “help my community” (54.5%). Conclusions: Clinical trials offer a segment of the population access to care not normally available and a way to serve their community. However, fear of experimentation remains a strong reason not to participate. The findings highlight the importance of catchment assessment when designing recruitment methods and future endeavors involving education on the trial safety of trials may improve participation. While education may assuage fears, it will not dispel mistrust. Proactively engaging the community in study design may help repair the relationship between science and the people it serves. Citation Format: Amy L. Shaver, Nikita Nikita, Joshua Banks, Christiane El Khoury, Rebecca J. Melillo, Yawei Song, Grace Lu-Yao, Amy E. Leader. Factors associated with willingness to participate in future clinical trials [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 A082.

“The Rosa Parks of the trans bathroom debate”: Gavin Grimm and the racialization of transgender civil rights

ABSTRACT Gavin Grimm, a white transgender boy from Virginia, successfully sued his school board in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board and helped secure the right for trans and gender nonconforming students to use public school bathrooms that correspond to their gender identities. His 2021 victory was the culmination of a long legal battle that began in 2014, when the Gloucester County School Board (GCSB) passed a resolution that segregated bathrooms on the basis of “biological gender.” This essay considers the two GCSB meetings at which this resolution was debated as instances of “ordinary democracy,” where local practices of deliberation not only set policy but also sustain community and produce shared opinion. Drawing on Black trans scholarship that proposes the transitivity of Blackness and demonstrates how Blackness is made present in the service of whiteness, I examine how the discussions at the GCSB meetings strategically mobilized civil rights rhetoric and histories of racial segregation to debate Gavin’s entitlement to public space. Blackness, I argue, is invoked and disavowed as a condition of possibility for modern white trans identities and a resource for vernacular articulations of the scope of trans rights.

Abstract A017: Identifying priority neighborhoods for mobile cancer screening using georeferenced data

Abstract Background: Mobile screening units (MSUs) are an evidence-based approach known to reduce barriers and increase access to preventive services such as cancer screening. Less is known about how to plan and prioritize where MSUs are deployed to maximize impact and reduce the burden of disease. We used a geographic-based approach to create an index to identify which census tracts were of greatest priority for cancer screening, thereby creating a priority scoring metric for deploying the MSU across our 7-county cancer center catchment area. Methods: We assessed publicly available data reported at the census tract level for cancer relevance, choosing those data that were most likely to be associated with disparities in cancer screening or outcomes. This included data from the Social Vulnerability Index (socioeconomic status, percent of residents without health insurance, percent of residents reporting minority race or ethnicity, percent renting their housing, and percent with no transportation) as well as data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Places on the percent screened for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colon cancer. Data was transformed from CDC Places to be percentage in need of breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colon screening rather than percentage screened. To construct the index, each of the variables was ranked from highest to lowest across all census tracts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with a non-zero population (n=1,184). A percentile rank was then calculated for each census tract over each of these variables. Finally, an overall percentile rank for each tract was calculated. Index scores could range from 0.000000 (low priority for cancer screening) to 1.000000 (high priority for cancer screening). Results: There are 1,184 census tracts within our cancer center catchment area. Gloucester County NJ has the fewest census tracts (n=63) while Philadelphia County PA has the most census tracts (n=384). The mean index score across all census tracts was 0.400593 (SD = .198556) with a range of 0.000000 to 0.938343. Philadelphia County had the highest mean index score (0.400953) while Bucks County PA had the lowest mean index score (0.281576). In Philadelphia County, 76% of census tracts are above the mean index score, indicating high need for cancer screening, while in Bucks County, only 22% of census tracts are above the mean index score. A catchment area map by census tract visualizes the index score across the counties. Conclusion: A cancer screening index for census tracts in a cancer center catchment area can be used to prioritize resources such as a MSU in an evidenced-based manner. Next steps involve validating the index score against cancer disparities data in our catchment area and creating disease specific index scores to use with cancer specific screening initiatives. Citation Format: Krista Mar, Yawei Song, Khaldoun Hamade, Maria Katerina Alfaro, Alex Wrem, Christopher McNair, Amy Leader. Identifying priority neighborhoods for mobile cancer screening using georeferenced data [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr A017.

An unusual theropod specimen from the late Maastrichtian of New Jersey.

A set of fragmentary bones excavated from the Inversand Company Pit at Sewell, Gloucester County, NJ, contains portions of broken hollow femur bone that display unusual interior structure. Two hypotheses are considered; (1) the lumina represents the distinctive physical features of medullary bone as described by M. Schweitzer in a series of papers; or (2) the interior bone growth is a pathology. The specimen is attributed to the Theropoda on the basis of the possession of a pneumatic foramen in one of the bones. This specimen is from the upper part of the New Egypt Formation, just below the K/T boundary in the base of the overlying Hornerstown Formation. This stratigraphic horizon is the same as the type specimen of Dryptosaurus aquiluguis which was excavated from a marl pit nearby.

Jesus and the Bulldozer: Religion, Suburbanization, and Urban Renewal in a New Jersey Camp Meeting Community

The history of suburbanization in New Jersey is a well-established topic in the scholarly literature. Since the middle decades of the nineteenth century, the state’s northeastern and southwestern areas have become dense with suburban communities tied, culturally and economically, to New York City or Philadelphia. By the early twentieth century, these areas were a mix of middle-class white enclaves, Black towns, immigrant and working-class communities, agricultural hamlets, and industrial suburbs. However, in the late nineteenth century, some suburbs emerged as religious retreats. This article explores how suburbanization and, by the 1960s, urban renewal, transformed the Gloucester County borough of Pitman’s landscape. Founded in 1871 as a Methodist camp meeting resort, the history of Pitman demonstrates ways that religion complemented suburbanization, and suburbanization, amid religious decline and secularization, reshaped the religious landscape of one South Jersey community.

Public School Policies for Transgender Students

In Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board , 972 F.3d 586 (4th Cir. 2020), the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether the school board was in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. § 1681(a) (1986

Encouraging Living Shorelines over Shoreline Armoring: Insights from Property Owners Choices in the Chesapeake Bay

This study uses data from shoreline modification permit applications in Gloucester County, Virginia to provide insights into how coastal managers can encourage the use of living shorelines over shoreline armoring. The data show that shorelines are more likely to be modified on properties with high neighboring property values and properties threatened by hurricane storm surge and high wave energy, while modifications are less likely in conservation areas and areas with high percentages of natural cover and agricultural use. Compared to armoring, living shorelines are more likely in FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas and following recent flooding experiences but are less likely to be installed following an FEMA disaster declaration. Property owners are also significantly more likely to install a specific modification if their neighbors have already installed that modification. Based on these results, coastal managers may be able to increase the effectiveness of interventions to reduce shoreline modification by targeting unmodified high value properties in residential areas with high wave energy. To encourage property owners to install living shorelines over armoring, the results suggest that coastal managers should target properties with armored neighbors or properties in business zones and should develop interventions directly following significant storm events.

What Drives Property Owners to Modify Their Shorelines? A Case Study of Gloucester County, Virginia

This analysis uses data from a survey of shoreline property owners combined with data on shoreline modification permits to examine whether and how property owners modify their estuarine shorelines. We find that shoreline armoring is very popular among property owners that choose to modify their shoreline. While living shorelines are less common, applications for them are increasing both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of all shoreline modification requests. A number of different issues factor into the shoreline modification decision including effectiveness, cost, aesthetics, and property values. More valuable parcels are more likely to be modified, as are parcels that have been owned longer. Parcels with a high percentage of natural cover or agricultural use are less likely to be modified. Parcels with primary structures that are closer to the shoreline are more likely to have some sort of armoring. Regardless of their choice of shoreline modification, almost all survey respondents believe that their choices have had a neutral or positive impact on erosion and the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

OCR finds in favor of college, concludes college didn't retaliate

Case name: Letter to: Rowan College at Gloucester County, No. 02‐17‐2412 (OCR 11/08/17).

OCR finds in favor of college, concludes college didn't retaliate

Case name: Letter to: Rowan College at Gloucester County, No. 02‐17‐2412 (OCR 11/08/17).

Judge rules school and district could be liable for misconduct

Case name: Doe 3 v. The Board of Education of the Vocational‐Technical School District in the County of Gloucester, et al., No. 17‐13793 (D. N.J. 07/02/18).

Judge rules school and district could be liable for misconduct

Case name: Doe 3 v. The Board of Education of the Vocational‐Technical School District in the County of Gloucester, et al., No. 17‐13793 (D. N.J. 07/02/18).

Evaluation of Exposure to Perfluoronated Chemicals (PFCs) due to Contamination of Drinking Water in Gloucester County, New Jersey

Introduction: Perfluoronated chemicals (PFCs) are used in manufacturing stain resistant and water repellent consumer products and in firefighting foams at airports and military sites. They have been released into the environment inadvertently and when sprayed during firefighting scenarios and simulations. Due to their slow environmental degradation they have contaminated water supplies in multiple counties in the US potentially exposing more that 5 million people nationwide. The ground water in several communities in Gloucester County, NJ, particularly the municipal water in Paulsboro, was contaminated with perfluoro-n-nonanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctoanic acid (PFOA). Since 2014, the water supplies have been filtered with activated charcoal. To assess the effectiveness of the water intervention program on reducing exposure to these PFCs, a convenience sample of 120 adult residents in the area have been recruited and twelve PFCs were measured in serum, household tap water, and household dust and a questionnaire administered as part of a CDC Biomonitoring grant.Results: The first visits have been completed and two more visits to each subject are planned approximately a year apart. Nine of the PFCs were routinely above the detection limits in the serum. The analyses of approximately half of the subjects have been completed, with the serum PFNA levels of the residents (5.9±9.5, median 3.3, maximum 60 µg/L) often exceeded the 95th% reported in the 2009-2010 NHANES levels for adults over 20 (3.94 (CI: 2.38-8.36)). The distribution of other PFCs serum levels were similar to that reported in NHANES. Water levels were below detection for all PFCs, indicative that the water intervention has effectively reduced the PFCs exposure through that route. PFCs were found in dust reflecting their use in consumer products. It is expected that the serum levels of PFNA will decline over the next few years if the drinking water was the main exposure source.

Boys, Girls, or Unisex? An Analysis of the Title IX Arguments in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes the arguments presented in recent federal court appeals concerning the rights of transgender students in America's public schools. Specifically, the applicability of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution to the rights of transgender students is examined.

The Alert Collector: Transgender Culture and Resources

In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of transgender culture, issues, and experiences. In popular culture, trans celebrities such as Laverne Cox, Chaz Bono, and Janet Mock have been a part of this shift, often acting as celebrity spokespeople to increase understanding of trans issues. Even with the greater visibility of trans lives in popular culture, ongoing court battles like G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board (a US case centered on trans students’ rights to use communal bathrooms congruent with their gender) demonstrate the need for greater understanding and acceptance.As co-authors, we have had the privilege of working with materials on loan from the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria (Canada), the largest transgender archive in the world. This experience, which included collecting comments from library patrons who viewed the collection materials, highlighted for us the role that libraries and archives play in laying the groundwork for increased diversity, awareness, and inclusion related to trans lives, culture, and community. It is not only a matter of meeting the information needs of those who are coming out as transgender, but the wider community of family (spouses, children, parents, etc.), friends, and allies. And, alongside the value of providing information with direct practical application, patrons’ comments underscored how the inclusion of trans resources at the library enriches our cultural imaginary, and creates the space for imagining and living what they have sometimes felt to be “impossible lives.”

How’s the Weather? Severe Weather Classifications in Syndromic Surveillance

ObjectiveTo report the results of the application of New Jersey’s SevereWeather Classifier in New Jersey’s syndromic surveillance systemduring two extreme weather events.IntroductionHurricane ‘Superstorm’ Sandy struck New Jersey on October 29,2012, causing harm to the health of New Jersey residents and billionsof dollars of damage to businesses, transportation, and infrastructure.Monitoring health outcomes for increased illness and injury due toa severe weather event is important in measuring the severity ofconditions and the efficacy of state response, as well as in emergencyresponse preparations for future severe weather events. Followingthe experience with Hurricane Sandy, NJDOH initiated a projectto develop a suite of 19 indicators, known as the Severe WeatherClassifier (SWC) in EpiCenter, an online system which collectsemergency department chief complaint data in real-time, to performsyndromic surveillance of extreme weather–related conditions.NJDOH has since used these classifiers in more recent events tomonitor for weather-related visits to storm-affected area emergencydepartments (ED’s).In June, 2015, a squall line of damaging thunderstorms, known asa “bow echo,” caused downed wires and multi-day power outagesin Camden and Gloucester counties in southern New Jersey. Almostexactly seven months later, in January, 2016, Winter Storm Jonasdropped more than a foot of snow over New Jersey. These eventsprovided an opportunity to assess the indicators within SWC.MethodsThe impact of these storms on ED visits was assessed in EpiCenterby using the SWC sub-classifications for disrupted outpatientmedical care (dialysis and oxygen needs, and medication refills).Rates per 1,000 ED visits were calculated on two weeks of EDvisits by classification for each storm. For the June 2015 bow echostorm, this assessment focused on Gloucester and Camden counties,the two hardest hit by the storm. For Winter Storm Jonas, rates per1,000 ED visits were calculated statewide since all counties wereimpacted.ResultsAfter the June, 2015 bow echo storm, both Camden and Gloucestercounty ED’s experienced increases in disrupted medical care, themost notable being for oxygen needs (Figures 1 and 2). Duringand after Winter Storm Jonas, ED visits for oxygen assistance andmedicine refills were the most impacted (Figure 3). It is speculatedthat ED visits for dialysis were not noticeably higher since the stormoccurred over a weekend when, generally, treatments take placeduring weekdays.ConclusionsWhile not every classification in the suite that makes up theSWC would be relevant in every extreme weather event, having the19 various elements available provides tools for state and local usersto monitor storm impacts both locally and at the state level.

Brief of Amici Curiae GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders et al. in Support of Respondent in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., SJC 16-273

Amici brief written by Jennifer L. Levi, of the GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Shannon P. Minter, of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Dean Richlin, Amanda Hainsworth, Rachel Hutchinson, and Emily J. Nash, of Foley Hoag, LLP., to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., by His Next Friend and Mother, Deirdre Grimm. The brief argues that the Court should reject the school board’s claim that privacy interests justify its discriminatory policy for three reasons. First, there is no basis for the creation of a new privacy right that justifies excluding transgender students from shared restrooms. Second, nothing in Title IX or its regulations supports the School Board’s claim that Congress created an unwritten privacy exception to Title IX. Finally, although not required by Title IX or its regulations, schools that wish to enhance students’ privacy in restrooms can use readily available non-discriminatory means to do so that do not violate Title IX.

Brief of Gail Heriot and Peter N. Kirsanow, Members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Their Capacities as Private Citizens as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner in Gloucester County School Bd. v. G.G. (Merits Stage)

This amicus curiae brief was submitted in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. -- the case concerning the U.S. Department of Education's transgender locker room policy. It argues that (1) Under Gonzales v. Oregon, the Department of Education is not entitled to Auer v. Robbins deference, since interpreting its rule necessarily interprets Title IX itself; (2) No matter what level of deference is employed, the Department of Education's interpretation of Title IX and its rule is implausible; (3) Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins and Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. are inapplicable to cases in which separation by sex is explicitly authorized by regulation; (4) This is not a matter of allowing the Department of Education to clarify who is male and who is female; (5) The Department of Education's one-size-fits-all diktat ties the hands of school administrators who otherwise would have options in ensuring that transgender students as well as other students are treated fairly and compassionately; (6) If the Department of Education's policy accurately reflect the law, its implications will extend very far; (7) This case has captured the public's attention as a symbol of the rule of law's decline; vindicating the rule of law is thus important to the health of our legal system.

Toilets, Transgenders, and the Supreme Court

Various state legislatures have passed a law that prohibits transgender individuals from using certain public toilets. The legislation has been controversial. The Supreme Court has agreed to place this issue on its docket (Gloucester County School Board vs. G.G.). This article summarizes that case and examines the issue of the use of public toilets by transgenders and applies logic and ethical theory to arrive at a resolution of the problem that does not involve the violation of anyone’s rights.