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Objectives To determine whether the Child Opportunity Index (COI), a nationally-available measure of relative educational, health/environmental, and social/economic opportunity across census tracts within metropolitan areas, was associated with population- and patient-level asthma morbidity. Study design This population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted between 2011–2013 in 1 Southwest Ohio county. Participants included all children, 1–16 years, with hospitalizations or emergency department visits for asthma or wheezing at a major pediatric hospital. Patients were identified using discharge diagnosis codes and geocoded to their home census tract. The primary population-level outcome was census tract asthma hospitalization rate. The primary patient-level outcome was re-hospitalization within 12 months of index hospitalization. Census tract opportunity was characterized using the COI and its educational, health/environmental, and social/economic domains. Results Across 222 in-county census tracts, there were 2,539 geocoded hospitalizations. The median asthma-related hospitalization rate was 5.0 per 1,000 children per year (interquartile range: 1.9–8.9). Median hospitalization rates in very low, low, moderate, high, and very high opportunity tracts were 9.1, 7.6, 4.6, 2.1, and 1.8 per 1,000, respectively (P < .0001). The social/economic domain had the most variables significantly associated with the outcome at the population level. The adjusted patient-level analyses showed that the COI was not significantly associated with a patient’s risk of re-hospitalization within 12 months. Conclusions The Child Opportunity Index was associated with population-level asthma morbidity. The detail provided by the COI may inform interventions aimed at increasing opportunity and reducing morbidity across regions.

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Deployment of medical and social services at well-child visits promotes child health. A retrospective review of the electronic health record was conducted for infants presenting for their "newborn" visit over a 2-year period at an urban, academic primary care center. Primary outcomes were time to first emergency department (ED) visit, number of ED visits (emergent or nonemergent), and number of nonemergent ED visits by 2 years of life. Records from 212 consecutive newborns were evaluated-59.9% were black/African American and 84.4% publicly insured. A total of 72.6% visited the ED by 2 years of life. Sixty percent received ≥5 well-child visits by 14 months; 25.9% reported ≥1 social risk. There were no statistically significant associations between number of completed well-child visits, or reported social risks, and ED utilization. Renewed focus on preventive care delivery and content and its effect on ED utilization, and other patient outcomes, is warranted.

Students participating in the Students Modeling a Research Topic (SMART) team partnership program involving Lackey High School, University of Maryland Baltimore County and Milwaukee School of Engineering used 3‐D printing technology to create a physical model of T4 bacteriophage gene 32 protein and researched its role in denaturation and renaturation of DNA. Gene 32 protein is a single‐stranded binding protein (SSB) that has three domains: the core domain with an OB fold provides a structural trough for binding single stranded DNA (ssDNA); the B domain (amino acids 1–21) is responsible for cooperatively interacting with the core domains of other SSBs; and the A domain (C‐terminal 48 amino acids) binds to other proteins of the replication machinery and acts as a gate keeper by mimicking DNA thus controlling DNA binding. Gene 32 protein binds weakly to double stranded DNA (dsDNA). It is theorized that a region on the protein surface rich in lysine residues electrostatically interacts with the phosphates in the dsDNA major groove. dsDNA interaction might provide a means by which the protein could rapidly one‐dimensionally diffuse to transient single stranded regions on the DNA, thus facilitating its roles in DNA replication, recombination and repair. Supported by a grant from HHMI.