Digital Commons Network^™

Sustained Sensitizing Effects Of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha On Sensory Nerves In Lung And Airways, Ruei-Lung Lin, Qihai Gu, Mehdi Khosravi, Lu-Yuan Lee

Physiology Faculty Publications

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of airway inflammatory diseases. Inhalation of aerosolized TNFα induced airway hyperresponsiveness accompanied by airway inflammation in healthy human subjects, but the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. We recently reported a series of studies aimed to investigate if TNFα elevates the sensitivity of vagal bronchopulmonary sensory nerves in a mouse model; these studies are summarized in this mini-review. Our results showed that intratracheal instillation of TNFα induced pronounced airway inflammation 24 hours later, as illustrated by infiltration of eosinophils and neutrophils and the release of inflammatory mediators and …

Bioresorbable Scaffolds In Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection: Long-Term Follow-Up In 4 Patients, Santiago Jesús Camacho Freire, Antonio Enrique Gómez Menchero, Jessica Roa Garrido, Javier León Jiménez, Rosa Cardenal Piris, José Francisco Díaz Fernández

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare condition, and diagnosis and treatment are challenging among patients who present with acute coronary syndrome. Typically, the condition affects young females who have no underlying atherosclerotic disease. To date, few cases of bioresorbable scaffold implantation for the treatment of spontaneous coronary artery dissection have been reported. Therefore, we describe the cases of 4 patients whom we treated with scaffolds. We evaluated the long-term results by using intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomographic scanning.

Recurrent Biatrial Myxoma In A 41-Year-Old Woman After Left Atrial Myxoma Resection, Xiaoming Jia, Anjali Kohli, Jane Jarjour, Chung-Jiah Justin Chen, Brendan Gilmore, Rashed Tabbaa, Edward Lee Poythress

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Bilateral recurrence of atrial myxoma has been reported only a few times. We describe the case of a 41-year-old woman who had undergone left atrial myxoma resection and presented 9 years later with myxomas in both atria. The patient underwent successful resection of both masses with resolution of symptoms. We discuss the phenomenon of recurrent biatrial myxoma.

Multimodal Imaging Of Anomalous Left Coronary Artery From The Pulmonary Artery In A 75-Year-Old Woman, Margaret M Fuchs, Rachel J Le, Michael W Cullen, Joseph J Maleszewski, Naser M Ammash

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery is rare and typically results in mitral regurgitation, ventricular arrhythmias, heart failure, and sudden death. The condition most often manifests itself in early childhood, but some individuals are diagnosed much later. We describe the case of a 75-year-old woman with heart failure in whom stepwise multimodal imaging revealed anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery.

A Blueprint For Life And Love, Marilyn Todd

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Serum Microrna-27b As A Screening Biomarker For Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, Yan Wang, Shuyan Chen, Yanhong Gao, Song Zhang

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

MicroRNA-27b (miR-27b) is frequently upregulated in pressure-overloaded hypertrophic hearts. The clinical implications of aberrant circulating miR-27b in the diagnosis and management of left ventricular hypertrophy warrant study. We investigated whether serum miR-27b is a biomarker for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).

We used stem-loop reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction techniques to analyze serum miR-27b levels in 200 hypertensive patients with LVH, 100 hypertensive patients without LVH, and 100 healthy volunteers. We found that serum miR-27b levels were significantly higher in the hypertensive patients with LVH than in the hypertensive patients without LVH and in the healthy volunteers. Upon receiver operating characteristic …

Medicaid Managed Care And The Health Care Utilization Of Foster Children, Makayla Palmer, James Marton, Aaron Yelowitz, Jeffery Talbert

Economics Faculty Publications

A recent trend in state Medicaid programs is the transition of vulnerable populations into Medicaid managed care (MMC) who were initially carved out of such coverage, such as foster children or those with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the impact of the transition of foster children from fee-for-service Medicaid coverage to MMC coverage on outpatient health care utilization. There is very little empirical evidence on the impact of managed care on the health care utilization of foster children because of the recent timing of these transitions as well as challenges associated with finding data sets large …

Buspirone Maintenance Does Not Alter The Reinforcing, Subjective, And Cardiovascular Effects Of Intranasal Methamphetamine, Anna R. Reynolds, Justin Charles Strickland, William W. Stoops, Joshua A. Lile, Craig R. Rush

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background—Medications development efforts for methamphetamine-use disorder have targeted central monoamines because these systems are directly involved in the effects of methamphetamine. Buspirone is a dopamine autoreceptor and D3 receptor antagonist and partial agonist at serotonin 1A receptors, making it a logical candidate medication for methamphetamine-use disorder. Buspirone effects on abuse-related behaviors of methamphetamine have been mixed in clinical and preclinical studies. Experimental research using maintenance dosing, which models therapeutic use, is limited. This study evaluated the influence of buspirone maintenance on the reinforcing effects of methamphetamine using a self-administration procedure, which has predictive validity for clinical efficacy. The impact …

Influence Of Dietary Salt Knowledge, Perceptions, And Beliefs On Consumption Choices After Stroke In Uganda, Martin N. Kaddumukasa, Elly Katabira, Martha Sajatovic, Svetlana Pundik, Mark Kaddumukasa, Larry B. Goldstein

Neurology Faculty Publications

Background

Previous research on Uganda's poststroke population revealed that their level of dietary salt knowledge did not lead to healthier consumption choices.

Purpose

Identify barriers and motivators for healthy dietary behaviors and evaluate the understanding of widely accepted salt regulation mechanisms among poststroke patients in Uganda.

Methods

Convergent parallel mixed methods triangulation design comprised a cross-sectional survey (n = 81) and 8 focus group discussions with 7-10 poststroke participants in each group. We assessed participant characteristics and obtained insights into their salt consumption attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge. Qualitative responses were analyzed using an inductive approach with thematic analytic procedures. Relationships …

Surgical Approaches To Adenocarcinoma Of The Gastroesophageal Junction: The Siewert Ii Conundrum., Andrew M. Brown, Danica N. Giugliano, Adam C. Berger, Michael J. Pucci, Francesco Palazzo

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The Siewert classification system for gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma has provided morphological and topographical information to help guide surgical decision-making. Evidence has shown that Siewert I and III tumors are distinct entities with differing epidemiologic and histologic characteristics and distinct patterns of disease progression, requiring different treatment. Siewert II tumors share some of the characteristics of type I and III lesions, and the surgical approach is not universally agreed upon. Appropriate surgical options include transthoracic esophagogastrectomy, transhiatal esophagectomy, and transabdominal extended total gastrectomy.

PURPOSE: A review of the available evidence of the surgical management of Siewert II tumors is presented. …

Combination Of Carmustine And Selenite Inhibits Egfr Mediated Growth Signaling In Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer Cells., Vijayalakshmi Thamilselvan, Mani Menon, Gary S. Stein, Frederick A. Valeriote, Sivagnanam Thamilselvan

Urology Articles

Although aberrant androgen receptor (AR) signaling is a central mechanism for castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) progression, AR-independent growth signaling is also present in CRPC. The current therapeutic options for patients with CRPC are limited and new drugs are desperately needed to eliminate these crucial growth signaling pathways. We have previously shown that combination of carmustine and selenite effectively induces apoptosis and growth inhibition by targeting AR and AR-variants in CRPC cells. High levels of EGFR expression present in the CRPC cells mediates the cell proliferation via AR-independent growth signaling mechanisms. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether the combination …

The Effect Of Medicaid On Medication Use Among Poor Adults: Evidence From Oregon., Katherine Baicker, Heidi L Allen, Bill J. Wright, Amy N Finkelstein

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Oregon's 2008 Medicaid expansion significantly increased the use of prescription medications in 2009-10.

The Human Plasma Proteome Draft Of 2017: Building On The Human Plasma Peptideatlas From Mass Spectrometry And Complementary Assays., Jochen M Schwenk, Gilbert S Omenn, Zhi Sun, David S Campbell, Mark S Baker, Christopher M Overall, Ruedi Aebersold, Robert L Moritz, Eric W Deutsch

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Human blood plasma provides a highly accessible window to the proteome of any individual in health and disease. Since its inception in 2002, the Human Proteome Organization's Human Plasma Proteome Project (HPPP) has been promoting advances in the study and understanding of the full protein complement of human plasma and on determining the abundance and modifications of its components. In 2017, we review the history of the HPPP and the advances of human plasma proteomics in general, including several recent achievements. We then present the latest 2017-04 build of Human Plasma PeptideAtlas, which yields ∼43 million peptide-spectrum matches and 122,730 …

Cognitive Trajectory Changes Over 20 Years Before Dementia Diagnosis: A Large Cohort Study., Ge Li, Eric B Larson, Jane B Shofer, Paul K Crane, Laura E Gibbons, Wayne Mccormick, J D Bowen, Mary Lou Thompson

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Longitudinal studies have shown an increase in cognitive decline many years before clinical diagnosis of dementia. We sought to estimate changes, relative to "normal" aging, in the trajectory of scores on a global cognitive function test-the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI).

DESIGN: A prospective cohort study.

SETTING: Community-dwelling members of a U.S. health maintenance organization.

PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 65 and older who had no dementia diagnosis at baseline and had at least two visits with valid CASI test score (N = 4,315).

MEASUREMENTS: Average longitudinal trajectories, including changes in trajectory before clinical diagnosis in those who would be diagnosed …

How Should Clinicians Weigh The Benefits And Harms Of Discussing Politicized Topics That Influence Their Individual Patients' Health?, Diana Alame, Robert D. Truog

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Health implications of politically charged phenomena are particularly difficult for physicians to discuss with their patients and communities. Addressing climate change and its associated health effects involves trade-offs between health and economic prosperity, necessitating that physicians weigh the potential benefits and risks of discussing climate change health effects. We argue that the potential benefits of physician communication and advocacy ultimately outweigh the potential risks. Therefore, physicians should be supported in their efforts to educate their patients and communities about climate change health effects. Furthermore, democratic deliberation could prove helpful in addressing disagreements among physicians within a practice about such politicized …

Incidence Of Cognitively Defined Late-Onset Alzheimer's Dementia Subgroups From A Prospective Cohort Study., Paul K Crane, Emily Trittschuh, Shubhabrata Mukherjee, Andrew J Saykin, R Elizabeth Sanders, Eric B Larson, Susan M Mccurry, Wayne Mccormick, J D Bowen, Thomas Grabowski, Mackenzie Moore, Julianna Bauman, Alden L Gross, C Dirk Keene, Thomas D Bird, Laura E Gibbons, Jesse Mez

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

INTRODUCTION: There may be biologically relevant heterogeneity within typical late-onset Alzheimer's dementia.

METHODS: We analyzed cognitive data from people with incident late-onset Alzheimer's dementia from a prospective cohort study. We determined individual averages across memory, visuospatial functioning, language, and executive functioning. We identified domains with substantial impairments relative to that average. We compared demographic, neuropathology, and genetic findings across groups defined by relative impairments.

RESULTS: During 32,286 person-years of follow-up, 869 people developed Alzheimer's dementia. There were 393 (48%) with no domain with substantial relative impairments. Some participants had isolated relative impairments in memory (148, 18%), visuospatial functioning (117, 14%), …

Progress On The Hupo Draft Human Proteome: 2017 Metrics Of The Human Proteome Project., Gilbert S Omenn, Lydie Lane, Emma K Lundberg, Christopher M Overall, Eric W Deutsch

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

The Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) Human Proteome Project (HPP) continues to make progress on its two overall goals: (1) completing the protein parts list, with an annual update of the HUPO draft human proteome, and (2) making proteomics an integrated complement to genomics and transcriptomics throughout biomedical and life sciences research. neXtProt version 2017-01-23 has 17 008 confident protein identifications (Protein Existence [PE] level 1) that are compliant with the HPP Guidelines v2.1 ( https://hupo.org/Guidelines ), up from 13 664 in 2012-12 and 16 518 in 2016-04. Remaining to be found by mass spectrometry and other methods are 2579 "missing …

Automated Ecological Assessment Of Physical Activity: Advancing Direct Observation., Jordan A. Carlson, Bo Liu, James F. Sallis, Jacqueline Kerr, J Aaron Hipp, Vincent S. Staggs, Amy Papa, Kelsey Dean, Nuno M. Vasconcelos

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Technological advances provide opportunities for automating direct observations of physical activity, which allow for continuous monitoring and feedback. This pilot study evaluated the initial validity of computer vision algorithms for ecological assessment of physical activity. The sample comprised 6630 seconds per camera (three cameras in total) of video capturing up to nine participants engaged in sitting, standing, walking, and jogging in an open outdoor space while wearing accelerometers. Computer vision algorithms were developed to assess the number and proportion of people in sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous activity, and group-based metabolic equivalents of tasks (MET)-minutes. Means and standard deviations (SD) …

Successful Reversal Of Furosemide-Induced Secondary Hyperparathyroidism With Cinacalcet., Tarak Srivastava, Shahryar Jafri, William E. Truog, Judith Sebestyen Vansickle, Winston M. Manimtim, Uri S. Alon

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is a rare complication of furosemide therapy that can occur in patients treated with the loop diuretic for a long period of time. We report a 6-month-old 28-weeks premature infant treated chronically with furosemide for his bronchopulmonary dysplasia, who developed hypocalcemia and severe SHPT, adversely affecting his bones. Discontinuation of the loop diuretic and the addition of supplemental calcium and calcitriol only partially reversed the SHPT, bringing serum parathyroid hormone level down from 553 to 238 pg/mL. After introduction of the calcimimetic Cinacalcet, we observed a sustained normalization of parathyroid hormone concentration at 27 to 63 pg/mL …

Proteomics Standards Initiative: Fifteen Years Of Progress And Future Work., Eric W Deutsch, Sandra Orchard, Pierre-Alain Binz, Wout Bittremieux, Martin Eisenacher, Henning Hermjakob, Shin Kawano, Henry Lam, Gerhard Mayer, Gerben Menschaert, Yasset Perez-Riverol, Reza M Salek, David L Tabb, Stefan Tenzer, Juan Antonio Vizcaíno, Mathias Walzer, Andrew R Jones

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

The Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) of the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) has now been developing and promoting open community standards and software tools in the field of proteomics for 15 years. Under the guidance of the chair, cochairs, and other leadership positions, the PSI working groups are tasked with the development and maintenance of community standards via special workshops and ongoing work. Among the existing ratified standards, the PSI working groups continue to update PSI-MI XML, MITAB, mzML, mzIdentML, mzQuantML, mzTab, and the MIAPE (Minimum Information About a Proteomics Experiment) guidelines with the advance of new technologies and techniques. Furthermore, …

Nadph Oxidase 5 (Nox5)-Induced Reactive Oxygen Signaling Modulates Normoxic Hif-1Α And P27, Smitha Antony, Guojian Jiang, Yongzhong Wu, Jennifer L Meitzler, Hala R Makhlouf, Diana C Haines, Donna Butcher, Dave S B Hoon, Jiuping Ji, Yiping Zhang, Agnes Juhasz, Jiamo Lu, Han Liu, Iris Dahan, Mariam Konate, Krishnendu K Roy, James H Doroshow

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

NADPH oxidase 5 (NOX5) generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in signaling cascades that regulate cancer cell proliferation. To evaluate and validate NOX5 expression in human tumors, we screened a broad range of tissue microarrays (TMAs), and report substantial overexpression of NOX5 in malignant melanoma and cancers of the prostate, breast, and ovary. In human UACC-257 melanoma cells that possesses high levels of functional endogenous NOX5, overexpression of NOX5 resulted in enhanced cell growth, increased numbers of BrdU positive cells, and increased γ-H2AX levels. Additionally, NOX5-overexpressing (stable and inducible) UACC-257 cells demonstrated increased normoxic HIF-1α expression and decreased …

National Estimates Of Genetic Testing In Women With A History Of Breast Or Ovarian Cancer., Christopher P Childers, Kimberly K Childers, Melinda Maggard-Gibbons, James Macinko

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Purpose In the United States, 3.8 million women have a history of breast (BC) or ovarian cancer (OC). Up to 15% of cases are attributable to heritable mutations, which, if identified, provide critical knowledge for treatment and preventive care. It is unknown how many patients who are at high risk for these mutations have not been tested and how rates vary by risk criteria. Methods We used pooled cross-sectional data from three Cancer Control Modules (2005, 2010, 2015) of the National Health Interview Survey, a national in-person household interview survey. Eligible patients were adult females with a history of BC …

Srnanalyzer-A Flexible And Customizable Small Rna Sequencing Data Analysis Pipeline., Xiaogang Wu, Taek-Kyun Kim, David Baxter, Kelsey Scherler, Aaron Gordon, Olivia Fong, Alton Etheridge, David J Galas, Kai Wang

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Although many tools have been developed to analyze small RNA sequencing (sRNA-Seq) data, it remains challenging to accurately analyze the small RNA population, mainly due to multiple sequence ID assignment caused by short read length. Additional issues in small RNA analysis include low consistency of microRNA (miRNA) measurement results across different platforms, miRNA mapping associated with miRNA sequence variation (isomiR) and RNA editing, and the origin of those unmapped reads after screening against all endogenous reference sequence databases. To address these issues, we built a comprehensive and customizable sRNA-Seq data analysis pipeline-sRNAnalyzer, which enables: (i) comprehensive miRNA profiling strategies to …

Fremanezumab For The Preventive Treatment Of Chronic Migraine., Stephen D. Silberstein, David W. Dodick, Marcelo E. Bigal, Paul P. Yeung, Peter J. Goadsby, Tricia Blankenbiller, Melissa Grozinski-Wolff, Ronghua Yang, Yuju Ma, Ernesto Aycardi

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Fremanezumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), is being investigated as a preventive treatment for migraine. We compared two fremanezumab dose regimens with placebo for the prevention of chronic migraine.

METHODS: In this phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned patients with chronic migraine (defined as headache of any duration or severity on ≥15 days per month and migraine on ≥8 days per month) in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive fremanezumab quarterly (a single dose of 675 mg at baseline and placebo at weeks 4 and 8), fremanezumab monthly (675 mg at baseline and 225 mg at …

Linkage, Whole Genome Sequence, And Biological Data Implicate Variants In Rab10 In Alzheimer's Disease Resilience., Perry G Ridge, Celeste M Karch, Simon Hsu, Ivan Arano, Craig C Teerlink, Mark T W Ebbert, Josue D Gonzalez Murcia, James M Farnham, Anna R Damato, Mariet Allen, Xue Wang, Oscar Harari, Victoria M Fernandez, Rita Guerreiro, Jose Bras, John Hardy, Ronald Munger, Maria Norton, Celeste Sassi, Andrew Singleton, Steven G Younkin, Dennis W Dickson, Todd E Golde, Nathan D Price, Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner, Carlos Cruchaga, Alison M Goate, Christopher Corcoran, Joann Tschanz, Lisa A Cannon-Albright, John S K Kauwe

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: While age and the APOE ε4 allele are major risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD), a small percentage of individuals with these risk factors exhibit AD resilience by living well beyond 75 years of age without any clinical symptoms of cognitive decline.

METHODS: We used over 200 "AD resilient" individuals and an innovative, pedigree-based approach to identify genetic variants that segregate with AD resilience. First, we performed linkage analyses in pedigrees with resilient individuals and a statistical excess of AD deaths. Second, we used whole genome sequences to identify candidate SNPs in significant linkage regions. Third, we replicated SNPs …

Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Of Amyloid Β At Neuronal Spines., Mohammadali Tabatabaei, Fabiana A Caetano, Farshid Pashee, Stephen S G Ferguson, François Lagugné-Labarthet

Chemistry Publications

The early stages of Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis are thought to occur at the synapse level, since synapse loss can be directly correlated with memory dysfunction. Considerable evidence has suggested that amyloid beta (Aβ), a secreted proteolytic derivative of amyloid precursor protein, appears to be a critical factor in the early 'synaptic failure' that is observed in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. The identification of Aβ at neuronal spines with high spatial resolution and high surface specificity would facilitate unraveling the intricate effect of Aβ on synapse loss and its effect on neighboring neuronal connections. Here, tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was used to map …

Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Of Amyloid Β At Neuronal Spines., Mohammadali Tabatabaei, Fabiana A Caetano, Farshid Pashee, Stephen S G Ferguson, François Lagugné-Labarthet

Chemistry Publications

The early stages of Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis are thought to occur at the synapse level, since synapse loss can be directly correlated with memory dysfunction. Considerable evidence has suggested that amyloid beta (Aβ), a secreted proteolytic derivative of amyloid precursor protein, appears to be a critical factor in the early 'synaptic failure' that is observed in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. The identification of Aβ at neuronal spines with high spatial resolution and high surface specificity would facilitate unraveling the intricate effect of Aβ on synapse loss and its effect on neighboring neuronal connections. Here, tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was used to map …

Mechanism Of Transcription Anti-Termination In Human Mitochondria., Hauke S Hillen, Andrey V Parshin, Karen Agaronyan, Yaroslav I Morozov, James J Graber, Aleksandar Chernev, Kathrin Schwinghammer, Henning Urlaub, Michael Anikin, Patrick Cramer, Dmitry Temiakov

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

In human mitochondria, transcription termination events at a G-quadruplex region near the replication origin are thought to drive replication of mtDNA by generation of an RNA primer. This process is suppressed by a key regulator of mtDNA-the transcription factor TEFM. We determined the structure of an anti-termination complex in which TEFM is bound to transcribing mtRNAP. The structure reveals interactions of the dimeric pseudonuclease core of TEFM with mobile structural elements in mtRNAP and the nucleic acid components of the elongation complex (EC). Binding of TEFM to the DNA forms a downstream "sliding clamp," providing high processivity to the EC. …

Advancing Stroke Genomic Research In The Age Of Trans-Omics Big Data Science: Emerging Priorities And Opportunities, Mayowa Owolabi, Emmanuel Peprah, Huichun Xu, Rufus Akinyemi, Hemant K. Tiwari, Marguerite R. Irvin, Kolawole Wasiu Wahab, Donna K. Arnett, Bruce Ovbiagele

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Background—We systematically reviewed the genetic variants associated with stroke in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and examined the emerging priorities and opportunities for rapidly advancing stroke research in the era of Trans-Omics science.

Methods—Using the PRISMA guideline, we searched PubMed and NHGRI- EBI GWAS catalog for stroke studies from 2007 till May 2017.

Results—We included 31 studies. The major challenge is that the few validated variants could not account for the full genetic risk of stroke and have not been translated for clinical use. None of the studies included continental Africans. Genomic study of stroke among Africans presents …

Unconditional Cash Transfers For Reducing Poverty And Vulnerabilities: Effect On Use Of Health Services And Health Outcomes In Low-And Middle-Income Countries, Frank Pega, Sze Yan Liu, Stefan Walter, Roman Pabayo, Ruhi Saith, S L. Lhachimi

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background

Unconditional cash transfers (UCTs; provided without obligation) for reducing poverty and vulnerabilities (e.g. orphanhood, old age or HIV infection) are a type of social protection intervention that addresses a key social determinant of health (income) in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). The relative effectiveness of UCTs compared with conditional cash transfers (CCTs; provided so long as the recipient engages in prescribed behaviours such as using a health service or attending school) is unknown.

Objectives

To assess the effects of UCTs for improving health services use and health outcomes in vulnerable children and adults in LMICs. Secondary objectives are to …