By 2030, 40% of Alzheimer’s patients in the U.S. will be Latino or Black. However, Latinos make up less than 1% of participants in National Institutes of Health clinical trials. Clinical trials are studies that help researchers learn more to help slow, manage, and treat Alzheimer’s and cancer for current and future family members. Without Latino volunteers for clinical trials, the benefits may miss this group. With Compadre CART at the Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio participants have the opportunity to help an underrepresented, high-risk group maintain independence with aging. To participate, contact Luis Serranorubio of the research team at 210-450-8447.
Compadre CART Study Goals
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Mexican-American and Dominican-American children are found to be at a higher risk of experiencing depression and somatization due to authoritarian parenting, according to a new research from The University of Texas at Austin’s School of Social Work. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, examined the prevalence of anxiety and depression and somatization (when a person has physical symptoms, but no physical cause can be found) in children aged 4-6 from Mexican and Dominican descent. According to the study Latino children experienced higher levels of anxiety, depression and somatization than the general population. According to the researchers 50 percent of Latino youth are at risk of anxiety and 10 percent are at risk for depression and ...
Although Latinos tend to live longer than other ethnic groups, they also spend a high proportion of their later years with disability, according to a new study, Health Canal reports. In fact, Latinos ages 65 and older spend half their remaining years with serious physical impairments. The study, which followed a cohort of several thousand Mexican Americans for 18 years, evaluated physical performance—balance, standing, walking, grip strength, and the ability to get out of a chair. Respondents with less education and lower financial stability were more likely to experience functional decline than those with higher levels of education and financial stability, and older women who were born in Mexico suffered longer periods of disability, according to Health Canal. This means ...
A new study shows lighting up a cigarette changes a person's gene activity across the body, a possible clue as to why smoking affects overall health—from heart disease to combating infections, LiveScience reports. A research team from Australia and San Antonio, Texas, analyzed white blood cell samples of 1,240 mainly Mexican-American people, ages 16-94, who were participating in the San Antonio Family Heart Study. They found that the 297 self-identified smokers in the group were more likely to have unusual patterns of "gene expression" related to tumor development, inflammation, virus elimination, cell death and more. A gene is expressed when it codes for a protein that then instructs, or kick-starts, a process in the body. The study found cigarette smoke could alter the level ...
