Introduction: Our objective was to determine the proportion of patients in our emergency department (ED) who are unhoused or marginally housed and when they typically present to the ED. Methods: We surveyed patients in an urban, safety-net ED from June-August 2018, using a sampling strategy that met them at all times of day, every day of the week. Patients used two social needs screening tools with additional questions on housing during sampling shifts representing two full weeks. Housing status was determined using items validated for housing stability, including PRAPARE, the Accountable Health Communities Survey, and items from the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Propensity scores estimated differences among respondents and non-respondents. Results: Of those surveyed, 35% (95% confidence interval [CI], 31-38) identified as homeless and 28% (95% CI, 25-31) as unstably housed. Respondents and non-respondents were similar by propensity score. The average cumulative number of homeless and unstably housed patients arriving per daily 8-hour window peaks at 7 AM, with 46% (95% CI, 29-64) of the daily aggregate of those reporting homelessness and 44% (95% CI, 24-64) with unstable housing presenting over the next eight hours. Conclusion: The ED represents a low-barrier contact point for reaching individuals experiencing housing challenges, who may interact rarely with other institutions. The current prevalence of homelessness and housing instability among urban ED patients may be substantially higher than reported in historical and national-level statistics. Housing services offered within normal business hours would reach a meaningful number of those who are unhoused or marginally housed [West J Emerg Med. 2021;22(2)204-212.] significantly elevated rates of chronic disease, disability, and infection, making homelessness an issue of profound concern in public health and for health systems. 2-4 From a health systems standpoint, individuals experiencing homelessness have higher rates of emergency department (ED) utilization compared to those who are housed. 5-7 Previous data suggest that

Background: Prenatal immune development may play an important role in the etiology of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods: Seven cytokines, IL1β, IL4, IL6, IL8, GM-CSF, TNFα, and VEGF, were analyzed in blood spots collected at birth from 1,020 ALL cases and 1,003 controls participating in the California Childhood Leukemia Study. ORs and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) associated with an interquartile range increment in cytokine levels were calculated using logistic regression, adjusting for sociodemographic and birth characteristics. Results: We found that patients with ALL were born with higher levels of a group of correlated cytokines than controls [IL1β: OR of 1.18 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03–1.35); IL8: 1.19 (1.03–1.38); TNFα: 1.15 (1.01–1.30); VEGF: 1.16 (1.01–1.33)], especially among children of Latina mothers (ORs from 1.31 to 1.40) and for ALL with high hyperdiploidy (ORs as high as 1.27). We found that neonatal cytokine levels were correlated with neonatal levels of endogenous metabolites which had been previously associated with ALL risk; however, there was no evidence that the cytokines were mediating the relationship between these metabolites and ALL risk. Conclusions: We posit that children born with altered cytokine levels are set on a trajectory towards an increased risk for subsequent aberrant immune reactions that can initiate ALL. Impact: This is the first study to evaluate the interplay between levels of immunomodulatory cytokines at birth, prenatal exposures, and the risk of childhood ALL.

We previously developed an adductomics pipeline that employed nanoflow liquid chromatography and highresolution tandem mass spectrometry (nLC−HR-MS/MS) plus informatics to perform an untargeted detection of modifications to Cys34 in the tryptic T3 peptide of human serum albumin (HSA) ( 21 ALVLIAFAQYLQQC 34 PFEDHVK 41 ). In order to detect these peptide modifications without targeting specific masses, the pipeline interrogates MS2 ions that are signatures of the T3 peptide. The pipeline had been pilot-tested with archived plasma from healthy human subjects, and several of the 43 Cys34 adducts were highly associated with the smoking status. In the current investigation, we adapted the pipeline to include modifications to the ε-amino group of Lys525a major glycation site in HSA and thereby extend the coverage to products of Schiff bases that cannot be produced at Cys34. Because trypsin is generally unable to digest proteins at modified lysines, our pipeline detects miscleaved tryptic peptides with the sequence 525 KQTALVELVK 534 . Adducts of both Lys525 and Cys34 are measured in a single nLC−HR-MS/MS run by increasing the mass range of precursor ions in MS1 scans and including both triply and doubly charged precursor ions for collision-induced dissociation fragmentation. For proof of principle, we applied the Cys34/Lys525 pipeline to archived plasma specimens from a subset of the same volunteer subjects used in the original investigation. Twelve modified Lys525 peptides were detected, including products of glycation (fructosyl-lysine plus advanced-glycated-end products), acetylation, and elimination of ammonia and water. Surprisingly, the carbamylated and glycated adducts were present at significantly lower levels in smoking subjects. By including a larger class of in vivo nucleophilic substitution reactions, the Cys34/Lys525 adductomics pipeline expands exposomic investigations of unknown human exposure to reactive electrophiles derived from both exogenous and endogenous sources.

Leukemia is the most common cancer in children in industrialized countries, and its initiation often occurs prenatally. Folic acid is a key vitamin in the production and modification of DNA, and prenatal folic acid intake is known to reduce the risk of childhood leukemia. We characterized the one-carbon (folate) metabolism nutrients that may influence risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) among 122 cases diagnosed at age 0–14 years during 1988–2011 and 122 controls matched on sex, age, and race/ethnicity. Using hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) applied to neonatal dried blood spots, we evaluated 11 folate pathway metabolites, overall and by sex, race/ethnicity, and age at diagnosis. To conduct the prediction analyses, the 244 samples were separated into learning (75%) and test (25%) sets, maintaining the matched pairings. The learning set was used to train classification methods which were evaluated on the test set. High classification error rates indicate that the folate pathway metabolites measured have little predictive capacity for pediatric ALL. In conclusion, the one-carbon metabolism nutrients measured at birth were unable to predict subsequent leukemia in children. These negative findings are reflective of the last weeks of pregnancy and our study does not address the impact of these nutrients at the time of conception or during the first trimester of pregnancy that are critical for the embryo’s DNA methylation programming.

Introduction: People experiencing homelessness have high rates of social needs when presenting for emergency department (ED) services, but less is known about patients with housing instability who do not meet the established definitions of homelessness. Methods: We surveyed patients in an urban, safety-net ED from June–August 2018. Patients completed two social needs screening tools and responded to additional questions on housing. Housing status was determined using validated questions about housing stability. Results: Of the 1,263 eligible patients, 758 (60.0%) completed the survey. Among respondents, 40% identified as Latinx, 39% Black, 15% White, 5% Asian, and 8% other race/ethnicities. The median age was 42 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 29-57). and 54% were male. Of the 758 patients who completed the survey, 281 (37.1%) were housed, 213 (28.1%) were unstably housed, and 264 (34.8%) were homeless. A disproportionate number of patients experiencing homelessness were male (63.3%) and Black (54.2%), P <0.001, and a disproportionate number of unstably housed patients were Latinx (56.8%) or were primarily Spanish speaking (49.3%), P <0.001. Social needs increased across the spectrum of housing from housed to unstably housed and homeless, even when controlling for demographic characteristics. Conclusion: Over one in three ED patients experience homelessness, and nearly one in three are unstably housed. Notable disparities exist by housing status, and there is a clear increase of social needs across the housing spectrum. Emergency departments should consider integrating social screening tools for patients with unstable housing.