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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Examining Parental And Neighborhood Factors As Moderators In A Youth Violence Prevention Pilot Study, Kendra Piper
Examining Parental And Neighborhood Factors As Moderators In A Youth Violence Prevention Pilot Study, Kendra Piper
All ETDs from UAB
Youth violence is a significant and prevalent public health concern in the United States. Adolescents and young adults have the highest rates of violent crime perpetration and victimization. Youth violence is a complex problem involving multiple levels of influence that interact to diminish or increase risk and protective factors in high risk communities. Family and neighborhood factors have emerged as prominent influences on the risk of violent and delinquent behavior. Approaches to reducing risk behaviors in adolescence have moved beyond traditional risk-factor reduction to emphasize the importance of enhancing protective factors. Positive youth development programs have been found to be …
Some Contributions To Bayesian Regularization Methods With Applications To Genetics And Clinical Trials, Himel Mallick
Some Contributions To Bayesian Regularization Methods With Applications To Genetics And Clinical Trials, Himel Mallick
All ETDs from UAB
Variable selection refers to the class of problems where one tries to find an optimal subset of relevant variables, which can be used to accurately predict the outcome of a certain response variable. Typically, a large number of variables are often collected; however, all but a few important variables are relevant for the prediction of the outcome, so the underlying representation is sparse. To this end, variable selection is fundamental in high-dimensional data analysis, playing a crucial role in important scientific discovery and decision-making, and has received enormous attention in the literature. Regularization method is one attractive approach that has …
An Examination Of Farm-To-Consumer Retail Outlet Usage Among Participants Of The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants, And Children (Wic) In Birmingham, Al, Chelsea Renee Singleton
An Examination Of Farm-To-Consumer Retail Outlet Usage Among Participants Of The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants, And Children (Wic) In Birmingham, Al, Chelsea Renee Singleton
All ETDs from UAB
Disparities in the neighborhood retail food environment have been hypothesized to be associated with poor diet quality and adverse health outcomes such as obesity. Studies have found that lower income communities often have reduced access to affordable healthy foods. In 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proposed direct farm-to-consumer (FTC) retail outlets (i.e. farmers markets, farm/roadside stands, community gardens and community supported agriculture programs) as a potential strategy to alleviate retail food environment disparities in communities with limited resources. Information on the behavioral and health implications of FTC outlet usage by lower income individuals is limited. This research …
The Influence Of Personal, Interpersonal, And Community Factors On The Parenting Self-Efficacy Of First-Time Mothers, Tamika L. Smith
The Influence Of Personal, Interpersonal, And Community Factors On The Parenting Self-Efficacy Of First-Time Mothers, Tamika L. Smith
All ETDs from UAB
The Social Ecological Model (SEM) allows for examining human behavior and the factors that influence behavior change in totality. In addition, the model offers guidance in identifying the factors that may lead to a change in or explanation of behavior. This study utilizes SEM to identify factors at the personal, interpersonal, and community level in order to determine the relationship between specific ecological factors and parenting self-efficacy. Furthermore, the study examines the predictive quality of the ecological factors on parenting self-efficacy. Data collected from the Parenting for the First-time Project (PFT) was used. PFT is a multi-site longitudinal study of …
Spatial Analysis Of Hypertension Prevalence Using A Large Us Cohort, Matthew Loop
Spatial Analysis Of Hypertension Prevalence Using A Large Us Cohort, Matthew Loop
All ETDs from UAB
Stroke mortality rates are highest in the Southeast US, and the cause for this "Stroke Belt" is not well understood. We investigate the spatial distribution of hypertension, an important risk factor for stroke. This investigation explores statistical issues in performing spatial analysis in a large cohort (over 30,000 participants), relating to type 1 error rate control and geocoding error. Recommendations for handling these statistical issues are made. In an applied analysis, we find that hypertension prevalence varies across the continental US, and is highest in northeast Louisiana, southeast Arkansas, west Mississippi, and east Michigan. These areas are not concordant with …
Non-Compliance In Clinical Trials: The Perils Of Statistical Methods, Peter Drew Merrill
Non-Compliance In Clinical Trials: The Perils Of Statistical Methods, Peter Drew Merrill
All ETDs from UAB
All clinical trials must deal with protocol deviations that occur during the course of the study. One of the most important deviations is non-compliance to treatment assignment. Intention to treat (ITT) is the most commonly employed method to deal with non-compliance in a clinical trial; however, it provides biased estimates of the effect of receiving the treatment. Other methods such as per protocol (PP) and as treated (AT) provide alternatives to ITT. PP and AT, assume an all-or-nothing compliance situation. However, the possibility of being partially compliant to a treatment is common. We investigate possible approaches to incorporating partial compliance …
The Investigation Of Quality Of Life, Perceived Disease Severity, And Adherence In Patients With The G551d Mutation Receiving Ivacaftor Therapy, Heather Young Hathorne
The Investigation Of Quality Of Life, Perceived Disease Severity, And Adherence In Patients With The G551d Mutation Receiving Ivacaftor Therapy, Heather Young Hathorne
All ETDs from UAB
Cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder, is a chronic life threatening illness that affects 30,000 adults and children in the United States and 70,000 worldwide. Treatment for CF is complex and consuming, consisting of multiple time intensive regimens. The therapy regimen has been descried as extraordinary when compared even to therapy regimens for other chronic illnesses. Oral and nebulized medication therapy, airway clearance therapy, pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy and vitamin /nutritional supplements are all required for the multiorgan treatment regimen for CF. Daily prescribed therapy can include as many as 40-50 pills, breathing treatments lasting up to tow hours a …
Evaluation Of Sample Size Re-Estimation Procedures For Non-Inferiority Designs With Time-To-Event Outcomes, Hwasoon Kim
Evaluation Of Sample Size Re-Estimation Procedures For Non-Inferiority Designs With Time-To-Event Outcomes, Hwasoon Kim
All ETDs from UAB
Study designs that allow sample size review may potentially save a study by identifying misspecified assumptions, modifying the planned sample size, and reinforcing the study’s power. Most sample size re-estimation (SSR) methods in non-inferiority trials have been developed for continuous or binary outcomes. In many medical domains studying cancer, heart failure, and other chronic diseases, most phase III trials use censored endpoints (e.g. survival or event-free survival). Non-inferiority designs have inherent complexity by the introduction of the non-inferiority margin and therefore understanding of strategies in these methods is essential. In our first paper, we detail the issues related to misspecification …
Obesity And Mortality In Us-Residing Hispanic Adults, Carrie Howell
Obesity And Mortality In Us-Residing Hispanic Adults, Carrie Howell
All ETDs from UAB
Previous epidemiological studies observed the lack of an association between increased body mass index (BMI: kg/m2) and all-cause mortality in US-residing Hispanic adults. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the validity of three hypothesized explanations for the absence of significant associations. Using data on Hispanic participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) [1988-1994 and 1999-2004] and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), this dissertation examined whether: (1) BMI was associated with cause-specific mortality; (2) measures of body composition was associated with all-cause mortality; and (3) the BMI-all-cause mortality association differed as a function of Hispanic …
Prevalence And Determinants Of High Risk Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Among Wives Of Migrant Workers - A Study In Far - West Nepal, Derek Johnson
Prevalence And Determinants Of High Risk Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Among Wives Of Migrant Workers - A Study In Far - West Nepal, Derek Johnson
All ETDs from UAB
This dissertation research focuses on the risk factors associated with high-risk HPV infection (HR-HPV) and abnormal cervical cytology in Nepali women residing in Nepal’s Far-West district of Achham. The first part of this dissertation assesses the HR-HPV test concordance of self-collected vs. clinician-collected cervico-vaginal specimens. Of 261 women with both clinician- and self-collected cervical samples, 25 tested positive for HR-HPV, resulting in an overall HR-HPV prevalence of 9.6% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 6.3 – 13.8). The overall Kappa value for clinician- and self-collected tests was 0.64 (95% CI: 0.48 – 0.84), indicating a “good” level of agreement. The second part …
Exploring Body Image And The Association Between Body Image Dissatisfaction And Waist Circumference Among Overweight And Obese Rural African American Women Participating In A Weight Loss Program, Erica Rayshelle Johnson
Exploring Body Image And The Association Between Body Image Dissatisfaction And Waist Circumference Among Overweight And Obese Rural African American Women Participating In A Weight Loss Program, Erica Rayshelle Johnson
All ETDs from UAB
African American (AA) women are disproportionately burdened by obesity, an epidemic with implications that reach beyond physiological consequences. Given that perceptions of body image may impact health-promoting behaviors and weight management efforts, we sought to evaluate the presence and magnitude of body image dissatisfaction (BID) and explore its relationship with waist circumference (WC), independent of weight among overweight and obese treatment-seeking rural AA women. Participants referred to images from the Pulvers Figure Rating Scale that included nine body silhouettes to answer: “How I think I look now” (i.e., current body image) and “How I would like to look” (i.e., desired …
Statistical Methodology To Improve The Understanding Of Dna Methylation Data, Lindsay Leigh Waite Jones
Statistical Methodology To Improve The Understanding Of Dna Methylation Data, Lindsay Leigh Waite Jones
All ETDs from UAB
The study of epigenetics involves the investigation of genomic elements that do not directly affect DNA sequence but are stable and preserved during cell division. One of the most commonly studied epigenetic elements is DNA methylation, which occurs when a methyl group is added to a cytosine residue in the DNA sequence. The advancement of technology to quantify DNA methylation, including bisulfite sequencing and bisulfite microarrays, has led to a large amount of available data. However, many questions still remain as to how to statistically analyze this data. This dissertation addresses some statistical concerns related to the analysis of DNA …
Association Between Physical Activity And Learning, Pain Coping Strategies, Perceived Stress, And Depression Among Adults With Diabetes And Chronic Pain, Susan J. Andreae
Association Between Physical Activity And Learning, Pain Coping Strategies, Perceived Stress, And Depression Among Adults With Diabetes And Chronic Pain, Susan J. Andreae
All ETDs from UAB
In addition to the role of physical activity (PA) in the prevention of chronic disease and premature death, PA may have psychosocial benefits. We examined the association between four different domains of PA and three outcomes that may contribute to the emotional and mental well being of individuals. This is a secondary analysis of community dwelling adults with diabetes and chronic pain in which we examined the association between four domains of PA and learning (measured using diabetes knowledge, self efficacy in diabetes and pain management), pain coping strategies, perceived stress, and depression. Regression models were used to model changes …
Characteristics And Behaviors Based On Introduction To Opioids Among Adults In Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment, Angela R. Gallien
Characteristics And Behaviors Based On Introduction To Opioids Among Adults In Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment, Angela R. Gallien
All ETDs from UAB
Buprenorphine/naloxone (BNT) is a pharmacological treatment for opioid use disorders and is available by prescription in an office-based setting from physicians with specialized training. The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics and behaviors among adults on BNT with the intent to identify the linear combination of variables that account for the differences based on the origins of opioid use. Four opioid user groups were identified a priori: recreational users (RU); self-treaters (ST); medical users misusing (MUM); and medical users not misusing (MU). The dependent variables were mental health and mood, pain and medical problems, internal or external …
Practical Extensions Of The Continual Reassessment Method, Amber Salter
Practical Extensions Of The Continual Reassessment Method, Amber Salter
All ETDs from UAB
This dissertation considers the presence of patient heterogeneity in dose finding studies using the likelihood-based time to event continual reassessment method (TITE-CRM). First, assuming group membership is known and the groups share some information regarding their maximum tolerated dose (MTD), we extend the two-group two-parameter CRM to the TITE-CRM. We examine the performance of the two-group two-parameter TITE-CRM for various scenarios where the true MTD for each group is different. We also consider the situation where the groups are truly homogeneous but a heterogeneous model is employed. Our simulations show that the method has some loss in accuracy compared to …
Count Models With Multiple Inflations, Arvind Tripathi
Count Models With Multiple Inflations, Arvind Tripathi
All ETDs from UAB
The goal of this research is to develop new statistical models for the analysis of count data even if data exhibit over dispersion or under dispersion and has multiple inflated counts. Although many statistical models are available for the analysis of count data, there is no available statistical model that can address the presence of more than expected multiple counts together with over/under dispersion. In our first paper, we develop a multiple-inflation negative binomial (MINB) model and use the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm along with a numerical optimization to obtain maximum likelihood estimates. We applied the one step smoothly clipped …