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Association Between Regional Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy And Reported Positive Covid-19 Cases In The Southern United States, Orielle Caudle
Association Between Regional Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy And Reported Positive Covid-19 Cases In The Southern United States, Orielle Caudle
All ETDs from UAB
The use of vaccinations has been shown to be beneficial in pandemics in the past, and in some cases, it has led to elimination of a particular disease (i.e. polio). The COVID-19 vaccination can also serve the same purpose, however, vaccine hesitancy within specific regions of the country may prevent and/or dilute the effectiveness of the vaccine. Vaccine hesitancy can be defined as a delay in acceptance, or refusal despite the availability of vaccine services. Southern regions have consistently had the lower vaccination rates compared to its other regional counterparts, even as the pandemic progressed and death rates increased over …
Racial Differences In The Association Of Insulin Resistance With Risk Of Incident Heart Failure In Participants Of Regards, Nirav Patel
All ETDs from UAB
Background: Insulin resistance is linked to the development of heart failure (HF). However, there is limited understanding of the racial differences in the association of insulin resistance with the risk of incident HF among individuals without diabetes. Objectives: In a US national cohort of Black and White participants, we sought to evaluate: 1) the relationship between insulin resistance with incident HF participants, and 2) whether there are racial differences in the association of insulin resistance with HF. Methods: We examined >16,000 participants without HF and diabetes at baseline from the REGARDS cohort. Cox regression modeling was used to assess the …
Access To The Kidney Transplant Waitlist For People Living With Hiv, Brittany A. Shelton
Access To The Kidney Transplant Waitlist For People Living With Hiv, Brittany A. Shelton
All ETDs from UAB
People living with HIV (PLWH) have experienced substantial increases in life expectancy, largely attributable to improvements in care such as antiretroviral therapy. As a result, there has been a concurrent increase in the development of aging-related comorbidities such as end-stage organ disease. One such comorbidity is kidney disease. Concerningly, PLWH are at disproportionately higher risk of chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) as compared to HIV-negative counterparts. Kidney transplantation is the ideal therapy for ESKD as it is both cost-effective and provides a significant survival benefit and yet, despite excellent transplant outcomes among PLWH, access to transplantation among …
Prolonged Prone Positioning For Covid-19-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Randomized Pilot Study, David Brian Page
Prolonged Prone Positioning For Covid-19-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Randomized Pilot Study, David Brian Page
All ETDs from UAB
ationale: Prone positioning is one of the few interventions shown in a robust, randomized, controlled clinical trial to reduce mortality in severe ARDS. Ideal duration of prone positioning is unknown. A 16-hour prone positioning period has been studied and is considered standard, although longer duration may be beneficial. Objectives: Determine if a prolonged prone positioning strategy for patients with COVID-19-induced ARDS is feasible and safe. Methods: We performed a pilot, randomized, parallel-arm feasibility study in patients with COVID-19-induced ARDS. Patients were randomized to either a prolonged 24-hour or a traditional 16-hour prone positioning strategy. Measurements & Main Results: 52 patients …
Filtration And Adsorption Performance Of Activated Carbon Fiber: Applications For Respiratory Protection, Margaret C. Summers
Filtration And Adsorption Performance Of Activated Carbon Fiber: Applications For Respiratory Protection, Margaret C. Summers
All ETDs from UAB
Activated Carbon Fiber (ACF) is an adsorbent material that can be used to re-move volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air. Unlike granular adsorbents that are currently used in organic vapor respirators, ACF is a self-supporting fiber structure that can be tailored into non-woven forms and can potentially be used to support particu-late filtration. While ACF-containing respirators first appear in patent literature in the 1980s, the use of ACF in respiratory protection has not been widely considered in the PPE market in the intervening years. To develop the concept of an ACF-containing N95 that offers particulate filtration in addition to …
Photothermal Desorption Of Volatile Organic Compounds From Buckypaper Sorbents, For Occupational Exposure Assessment, Jacob S. Shedd
Photothermal Desorption Of Volatile Organic Compounds From Buckypaper Sorbents, For Occupational Exposure Assessment, Jacob S. Shedd
All ETDs from UAB
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a common source of occupational exposures. To prevent adverse health effects in employees, industrial hygienists must regularly conduct occupational air sampling to ensure exposures remain below regulatory limits. As such, the need for sensitive and reliable exposure assessment methodologies becomes apparent. Currently, diffusive sampling is popular and well-established exposure assessment method amongst professionals. However, its reliance on diffusion-driven mass uptake and chemical extraction, results in limited analytical sensitivity. In response to this, a pre-analytical technology, known as photothermal desorption (PTD), has been in development over the past decade. PTD uses pulses of high-energy light to …
Non-Mean Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Parameters And Left Ventricular Hypertrophy: Analysis Of Pooled Population- And Community-Based Studies, Swati Sakhuja
All ETDs from UAB
High mean blood pressure (BP) on ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) is a strong risk factor for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), an early manifestation of hypertension-related cardiovascular disease (CVD). Typically, 48-72 systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP) readings are obtained on a 24-hour ABPM recording. The large number of readings from ABPM allows for the estimation of parameters beyond mean BP that capture level and fluctuation in BP over 24-hours, which may be useful for identifying individuals at high risk for CVD. The measures of BP level other than mean BP obtained from ABPM recording include BP load (percentage of …
Effects Of Covid-19 On Ventilator Associated Events (Vaes) Due To Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (Mdros), Jeffery Asiedu
Effects Of Covid-19 On Ventilator Associated Events (Vaes) Due To Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (Mdros), Jeffery Asiedu
All ETDs from UAB
The aim of this study was to assess the association between the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the odds of ventilator associated events (VAEs). Retrospective analysis on prospectively collected data from 11,307 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital between January 2018 and June 2022 was used. Outcomes considered were Any VAE, IVAC/PVAP, PVAP and MDRO PVAP. Crude and adjusted logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between COVID-19 and the outcome variables. When a patient has Prior COVID-19, the odds of getting any VAE during the delta period is …
The Association Between Metabolically Healthy Obesity And Coronary Heart Disease Among Regards Study Participants, Kiara N. Aaron
The Association Between Metabolically Healthy Obesity And Coronary Heart Disease Among Regards Study Participants, Kiara N. Aaron
All ETDs from UAB
A major obstacle to the advancement of our understanding of the metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) phenotype is the inconsistent definition of metabolic health and obesity among studies. A harmonized definition of MHO in adults has been proposed based on the diagnosis of obesity (BMI > 30 k/m2) and meeting the cardio-metabolic criteria for triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), no antihypertensive treatment, fasting blood glucose, and no drug treatment with glucose-lowering agents. In addition, waist circumference can be associated with increased disease risk when WC is >94 cm in men and >80 cm in …
Child Schooling And Other Factors Associated With Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Adults That Had Not Been Vaccinated In The Fall Of 2021, Ryan M. Fischer
Child Schooling And Other Factors Associated With Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Adults That Had Not Been Vaccinated In The Fall Of 2021, Ryan M. Fischer
All ETDs from UAB
Although COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy decreased noticeably over time during the first months of 2021, there was still a high degree of vaccine hesitancy in the United States at the time that the vaccine first became available to adolescents. Data from Phase 3.2 of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (July 21 – October 11th, 2021) was used to conduct an ecological study on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy that investigated associations between vaccine hesitancy and socio-demographic characteristics as well as child school type (public school, private school, homeschool). Subjects that had not received a vaccine at the time of survey data …
Adverse Childhood Experiences: Connecting The Dots Between Early Life Stress And Asthma Aming Children And Adolescents With Sickle Cell Disease, Brandi Mcclain Pernell
Adverse Childhood Experiences: Connecting The Dots Between Early Life Stress And Asthma Aming Children And Adolescents With Sickle Cell Disease, Brandi Mcclain Pernell
All ETDs from UAB
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell disorder plagued by increased morbidity and premature mortality. Asthma disproportionally affects individuals with SCD and is strongly associated with an increased incidence of pain, acute lung complications and death among this high-risk population. Psychological stress is a well-established contributor and trigger for asthma development and exacerbations. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are defined as traumatic experiences occurring before 18 years of age. ACEs occur at the individual, familial (Original-ACEs) and community level (Expanded-ACEs) and can accumulate with time. Chronic exposure to ACEs leads to toxic stress, widespread inflammation and risk for …
Characterizing Occupational Status History And Assessing Occupational Status As A Social Determinant Of Health In The Deceased Organ Donor Population, Nicole F. Pelletier
Characterizing Occupational Status History And Assessing Occupational Status As A Social Determinant Of Health In The Deceased Organ Donor Population, Nicole F. Pelletier
All ETDs from UAB
Transplant physicians review clinical data ranging from laboratory values to substance use history and use prediction models combining these factors, along with previous recipient outcomes, to evaluate deceased organ donors for organ suitability. Factors such as social determinants of health (SDOH) are not currently included in prediction models, despite evidence of relationships between SDOH and health outcomes in the general population. Occupational status is a SDOH routinely collected at the time of donation and stored in DonorNet, but not yet characterized in the deceased donor population. Despite well-documented relationships between occupational status and health outcomes in the general population, these …
Development Of A It-Matching App: Validation Of 3-D Scanning Applications, Jasna Rosser-Williams
Development Of A It-Matching App: Validation Of 3-D Scanning Applications, Jasna Rosser-Williams
All ETDs from UAB
According to the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH), each day nearly 2,000 workers sustain a job-related eye injury that requires medical treatment. It has been reported that the cause of these eye injuries is frequently due to workers not wearing eye protection because it does not fit properly on their faces. To improve the fit of eye protection, we are aiming to develop a fit matching application (app) which will identify the wearers’ better-fitting safety eyewear using 3D technology. We have successfully tested the feasibility of the use of commercially available 3D scanning apps using a mannequin …
Evaluation Of Ventilation Performance And Respirable Particles In Food Trucks, Dong Lee Yang
Evaluation Of Ventilation Performance And Respirable Particles In Food Trucks, Dong Lee Yang
All ETDs from UAB
Background: The food truck industry in the U.S. has rapidly expanded, with an average growth of 7.9 % from 2017 to 2022. Food truck workers are potentially exposed to harmful airborne contaminants such as particulate matter (PM) and aldehydes produced during cooking process. Kitchen exhaust hoods are designed to capture the cooking emissions, but it is not well understood whether the commercial kitchen exhaust hoods in food trucks are properly, efficiently operated to reduce the workers' exposure to such harmful contaminants. The purpose of the study was to evaluate food truck workers' exposure to respirable particulates generated from cooking process …
Early Detection Of Acute Kidney Injury In Neonates After Cardiopulmonary Bypass, Tennille N. Webb
Early Detection Of Acute Kidney Injury In Neonates After Cardiopulmonary Bypass, Tennille N. Webb
All ETDs from UAB
Prophylactic peritoneal dialysis (PD) in neonates undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has proven to be safe and improve outcomes. Understanding which neonates would most benefit from prophylactic PD is needed to optimize care. Objective: We sought to validate patient-specific characteristics associated with the need for PD in neonates requiring CPB. We hypothesized serum creatinine (SCr), pre-operative weight, or open chest post-operatively are associated with the need for PD. Methods: We evaluated neonates in the cardiac ICU requiring cardiac surgery with CPB from March 2019 through March 2021 with our new protocol for PD catheter placement. Neonates were classified …
Power And Sample Size Calculations For Linear Mixed Models Of Longitudinal Data Using The Kenward-Roger Adjusted Wald Test, Tarrant Oliver Mcpherson
Power And Sample Size Calculations For Linear Mixed Models Of Longitudinal Data Using The Kenward-Roger Adjusted Wald Test, Tarrant Oliver Mcpherson
All ETDs from UAB
The linear mixed model has become a popular technique for the analysis of longitudinal data, but Wald test statistics of fixed effects for these models frequently lack well defined distributions. A common approach to this problem uses the Kenward-Roger adjustment, which attempts to approximate the distribution of the Wald statistic by matching its moments obtained via Taylor expansion to those of an F distribution. However, this approach only matches moments obtained under the null hypothesis of no effect and cannot currently be used to approximate the distribution of the test statistic under some alternative hypothesis. This limitation prevents a straightforward …
History Of Allergy, Atopy, Infectious And Autoimmune Disease And Risk Of Multiple Myeloma, Tony B. Zbysinski Iii
History Of Allergy, Atopy, Infectious And Autoimmune Disease And Risk Of Multiple Myeloma, Tony B. Zbysinski Iii
All ETDs from UAB
Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell malignancy, which is defined in part by antibodies and complexes of immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy and light chains (IgH and IgL). Previous associations of immune-stimulating conditions such as allergic, autoimmune, and infectious conditions and the risk of multiple myeloma (MM) are inconsistent. However, these studies were conducted in populations of European ancestry, leaving the possibility that these conditions may contribute to the excess risk of plasma cell proliferative disorders observed among Black Americans. Therefore, we assessed MGUS, a precursor condition to myeloma, and MM risk related to a history of allergy, atopy, infections and …
Regional Variations In The Incidence Of Brain Glioma In Adults In Alabama, Mina Lobbous
Regional Variations In The Incidence Of Brain Glioma In Adults In Alabama, Mina Lobbous
All ETDs from UAB
Purpose: Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumor in adults in the US with an annual age-adjusted incidence rate of 4.67 to 5.73 per 100,000 persons. Exposure to ioniz-ing radiation is the only established risk factor for non-hereditary glioma risk. There are several sources of carcinogenic contaminants in northeast Alabama and western Georgia with the Coosa River serving as the region’s primary water source. In this study, we aimed to examine the incidence rate of glioma in northeast Alabama compared to the rest of the state as well as the association of possible environmental exposure on disease risk and …
The Association Between Paraquat Exposure And Parkinson's Disease Mortality: A County-Level Ecological Study In The United States, Alexander Kozuch
The Association Between Paraquat Exposure And Parkinson's Disease Mortality: A County-Level Ecological Study In The United States, Alexander Kozuch
All ETDs from UAB
Objectives: The current study reports the results of an ecological study regarding the association between PQ exposure and Parkinson’s disease mortality in the United States. Methods: The outcome of interest for this study was mortality due to Parkinson’s disease, obtained from CDC Wonder. The exposure of interest was PQ exposure at the county level which was obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Statistical analysis was done using the mortality data, grouped into ten-year age groups, and focused on data from 2015-2019 to account for the lag time between initial Paraquat exposure and Parkinson’s Disease mortality. A Negative Binomial …
Intracerebral Hemorrhage Hospitalizations And Outcomes: Comparisons Between Institutional And National Data, Zhuobin Huang
Intracerebral Hemorrhage Hospitalizations And Outcomes: Comparisons Between Institutional And National Data, Zhuobin Huang
All ETDs from UAB
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is associated with a high risk of in-hospital mortality therefore we decided to define the effect of procedures and other risk factors on in-hospital mortality among different regions in the US. South and UAB Hospital. We used 2 datasets, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital data and the National Inpatient Sample (NIS). We included 425 patients with a diagnosis of intracerebral hemorrhage over 18 years of age from the UAB Hospital stroke registry between 2016 to 2019; in NIS between 2016 to 2018, 68525 patients age 18 or above met inclusion criteria selected by International Classification …
Socioeconomic Status, Hbb, And Ttr Variants, And Cardiorenal Outcomes: The Regards Study, Onika E. Abrams
Socioeconomic Status, Hbb, And Ttr Variants, And Cardiorenal Outcomes: The Regards Study, Onika E. Abrams
All ETDs from UAB
Blacks are disproportionately affected by heart failure (HF) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). While poorer health outcomes in Blacks have been associated with social determinants of health, there are some biological differences worth noting, namely genetic risk variants for both TTR and HBB. These genetic risk variants are known to confer additional risk in the development of heart failure and end-stage renal disease, respectively. While we understand these genetic variants aren’t fully penetrant, and genetics and are not deterministic, we aimed to examine additional factors and mechanisms responsible for the increased risk in HF and ESRD in Blacks. Neighborhood socioeconomic …
Guided Exploration Of Military Servicewomen's Healthcare Experiences And Related Outcomes (Gems Hero), Princess Victoria Jane Nash
Guided Exploration Of Military Servicewomen's Healthcare Experiences And Related Outcomes (Gems Hero), Princess Victoria Jane Nash
All ETDs from UAB
Purpose: This study focuses on factors related to healthcare seeking behaviors and utilization of Veterans Affairs primary care services by female African American Veterans. The purpose of this mixed methods study is to assess what factors influence seeking care at VA healthcare facilities. Research Design: This study used a modified explanatory sequential mixed methods design to assess health services utilization and healthcare experiences of African American female Veterans. This research utilized items from the Health Belief model as a guiding framework to highlight factors that could impact VA healthcare utilization. Methodology: Health services utilization analysis used national data from the …
Analysis Of Excess Mortality At The County Level In Alabama By Socioeconomic Factors, Abigail Jo Tucker
Analysis Of Excess Mortality At The County Level In Alabama By Socioeconomic Factors, Abigail Jo Tucker
All ETDs from UAB
Objective: Analyze county level socioeconomic factors and their association with Covid-19 excess mortality in Alabama.Methods: Linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between potential risk factors assessed using the American Community survey (n = 40 counties and county clusters) and excess mortality in 2020 per 100,000 population. Excess mortality came from a previously published paper by Ackley et al. Results: Median household income (per 1,000 dollars); an average county median household income that 1,000 dollars higher was associated with 6 per 100,000 lower excess mortality (β= -5.953 p-value
Spike-And-Slab Additive Models And Scalable Algorithms For High Dimensional Data Analysis, Boyi Guo
Spike-And-Slab Additive Models And Scalable Algorithms For High Dimensional Data Analysis, Boyi Guo
All ETDs from UAB
There are proposals that extend classical additive models (AMs) to accommodate high-dimensional data (p >> n) using group sparse regularization. However, the sparse regularization may induce excess shrinkage when estimating smooth functions, damaging predictive performance. Moreover, most of these AMs consider an “all-in-allout” approach for functional selection, rendering them difficult to answer if nonlinear effects are necessary. While some Bayesian models can address these shortcomings, model fitting can create a new challenge, scalability. In this dissertation, we propose Bayesian hierarchical additive models to address the previous shortcomings: we consider the smoothing penalty for proper shrinkage of curve interpolation via reparameterization. A …