Digital Commons Network^™

A Novel Behavioral Model In Initiation And Sustenance Of Toothbrushing Behavior Among Dental And Medical Students In India: An Exploratory Analysis, Dhiraj Panjwani, Mithun Pai, Shweta Yellapurkar, Aayush Poddar, Gururaghavendran Rajesh, Manoj Sharma

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Purpose: Toothbrushing holds key importance in practical, competent, and efficacious design to limit the formation of dental plaque on the dental tissues, in turn, leading to a decrease in dental diseases. The recent addition to this growing knowledge in health behavior research is the multi-Theory model (MTM) which addresses two crucial modules of health behavior: initiation and sustenance. In spite of reinforcing the habit of brushing twice daily, a lack of sustenance is found among young adults; hence, the objectives were to explore the substratal structure of MTM and to test the fit of MTM questionnaire in dental and medical …

Influence Of The Request And Purchase Of Television Advertised Foods On Dietary Intake And Obesity Among Children In China, Jinli Xian, Mao Zeng, Zhengjie Cai, Changxiao Xie, Yuqian Xie, Manoj Sharma, Yong Zhao, Zumin Shi

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Background: This study aims to examine the effects of the request and purchase of Television (TV) advertised foods on children’s dietary intake, overweight and obesity in China. Methods: Data from 1417 children (aged 6–17 years) in the 2011 China Health and Nutrition Survey were analysed. The request and purchase of TV advertised foods were assessed through the frequency of children’s requests to purchase TV advertised foods and the frequency of parents’ purchases of these advertised foods, as well as the frequency of children’s purchases of TV advertised foods. The height and weight of children were measured. Logistic regression models were …

Explaining Handwashing Behavior In A Sample Of College Students During Covid-19 Pandemic Using The Multi-Theory Model (Mtm) Of Health Behavior Change: A Single Institutional Cross-Sectional Survey, Manoj Sharma, Kavita Batra, Robert E. Davis, Amanda H. Wilkerson

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, handwashing offers a simple and effective hygienic measure for disease prevention. Reportedly, a significant proportion of college students did not follow handwashing recommendations provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the pre-COVID era. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore and explain the handwashing behavior among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic using a contemporary fourth-generation multi-theory model (MTM) of health behavior change. Data were collected from 713 college students at a large public university in the Southern U.S. in October 2020 using a validated 36-item survey. Statistical analyses included …

Investigating The Psychological Impact Of Covid-19 Among Healthcare Workers: A Meta-Analysis, Kavita Batra, Tejinder Pal Singh, Manoj Sharma, Ravi Batra, Nena Schvaneveldt

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Previous meta-analyses were conducted during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, which utilized a smaller pool of data. The current meta-analysis aims to provide additional (and updated) evidence related to the psychological impact among healthcare workers. The search strategy was developed by a medical librarian and bibliographical databases, including Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus were searched for studies examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health of healthcare workers. Articles were screened by three reviewers. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed by I2 statistic. The random-effects model …

Development Of A New Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay For The Rapid Detection Of The Oral Pathogenic Bacterium, Selenomonas Noxia, Patrica Cruz-Perez, Arthuro Mehretu, Mark P. Buttner, Katherine M. Howard, Theresa Trice

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Background

In recent studies, periodontal health has been linked to being overweight and/or obese. Among common oral bacteria, Selenomonas noxia has been implicated in converting periodontal health to disease, and Selenomonas species have also been found in gastric ulcers. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay for the specific and rapid detection of S. noxia.

Methods

Two oligonucleotide primer pairs and one probe were designed and tested to determine optimal amplification signal with three strains of S. noxia. The PCR assay was tested against fourteen non-target organisms, including …

Accommodations For Patients With Disabilities In Primary Care: A Mixed Methods Study Of Practice Administrators, Jennifer Renee Pharr

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Structural barriers that limit access to health care services for people with disabilities have been identified through qualitative studies; however, little is known about how patients with disabilities are accommodated in the clinical setting when a structural barrier is encountered. The purpose of this study was to identify how primary care medical practices in the United States accommodated people with disabilities when a barrier to service is encountered. Primary care practice administrators from the medical management organization were identified through the organization’s website. Sixty-three administrators from across the US participated in this study. Practice administrators reported that patients were examined …

Awareness And Beliefs Regarding Intimate Partner Violence Among First-Year Dental Students, Rhonda J. Everett, Karl Kingsley, Christina A. Demopoulos, Edward E. Herschaft, Christine Lamun, Sheniz Moonie, Timothy J. Bungum, Michelle Chino

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Intimate partner violence (IPV) may affect one to four million individuals per year in the United States, with women accounting for the majority of both reported and unreported cases. Dental professionals are in a unique position to identify many types of IPV because injuries to the head and neck may be indicators or predictors of IPV abuse. Fewer than half of dental programs surveyed have reported having IPV-specific curricula, and most dental students surveyed have reported having little experience or training to recognize IPV. Based on this information, this pilot study sought to assess the awareness and beliefs regarding IPV …

Health Disparities Experienced By People With Disabilities In The Us: A Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Study, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Timothy J. Bungum

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

The Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990; since then research has shown that people with disabilities continue to experience barriers to health care. The purpose of this study was to compare utilization of preventive services, chronic disease rates, and engagement in health risk behaviors of participants with differing severities of disabilities to those without disabilities. This study was a secondary analysis of 2010 data collected in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System national survey in the United States. Rao Chi square test and logistic regression were employed. Participants with disabilities had significantly higher adjusted odds ratios for all …

High-Risk Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Screening And Detection In Normal, Healthy Patient Saliva Samples: A Pilot Cluster Randomized Study, Deirdre O. Turner, Shelley J. Williams-Cocks, Ryan Bullen, Jeremy Catmull, Jesse Falk, Daniel Martin, Jerom Mauer, Annabel E. Barber, Robert C. Wang, Shawn Gerstenberger, Karl Kingsley

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Background: The human papillomaviruses (HPV) are a large family of non-enveloped DNA viruses, mainly associated with cervical cancers. Recent epidemiologic evidence has suggested that HPV may be an independent risk factor for oropharyngeal cancers. Evidence now suggests HPV may modulate the malignancy process in some tobacco- and alcohol-induced oropharynx tumors, but might also be the primary oncogenic factor for inducing carcinogenesis among some non-smokers. More evidence, however, is needed regarding oral HPV prevalence among healthy adults to estimate risk. The goal of this study was to perform an HPV screening of normal healthy adults to assess oral HPV prevalence.

Methods: …