Digital Commons Network^™

Using Gis In Conjunction With Binary Logistic Regression: Mapping The Adequacy Of Prenatal Care Access In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Stephen Borders, Gustavo Rotondaro, Ryan Bosscher

Michigan Journal of Public Health

Background: Early prenatal care is often a prerequisite to a healthy baby. The relationship between adequate prenatal care and improved birthing outcomes is well known. Yet access to adequate prenatal care is complicated by a number of socioeconomic factors related to the mother. These factors include education, ethnicity, insurance type, and the age of the mother. When examining a number of these access measures related to prenatal care access and birthing outcomes, Michigan ranks poorly when compared to other states. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, some of these problems are particularly acute. Grand Rapids exceeds the statewide rates in infant mortality, …

The Influence Of Age On Knowledge And Medication Usage By Persons Attending Rural North Florida Clinics

Florida Public Health Review

Medication therapy is an important component of the comprehensive treatment plan designed to maintain or improve health. If patients do not take prescribed medications correctly or are non-adherent, less successful therapy occurs. Reasons given for noncompliance include cost, misunderstanding the therapy, side effects, forgetfulness, or a belief that the medication is not effective or necessary. This study had two goals, the first was to evaluate medication use while simultaneously assessing knowledge, compliance, tolerance, and perceived efficacy. Drug-related problems, if any, were also identified. The second goal was to develop methods to improve patient outcomes based upon identified problems. For eight …

Sisters In Science: Conversations With Black Women Scientists On Race, Gender, And Their Passion For Science, Diann Jordan

Purdue University Press Books

Author Diann Jordan took a journey to find out what inspired and daunted black women in their desire to become scientists in America. Letting 18 prominent black women scientists talk for themselves, Sisters in Science becomes an oral history stretching across decades and disciplines and desires. From Yvonne Clark, the first black woman to be awarded a B.S. in mechanical engineering to Georgia Dunston, a microbiologist who is researching the genetic code for her race, to Shirley Jackson, whose aspiration led to the presidency of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Jordan has created a significant record of women who persevered to become …

The Qingdao Twin Registry: A Focus On Chronic Disease Research, C. Anderson Johnson, Zengchang Pang, Feng Ning, Jennifer B. Unger, Shaojie Wang, Qian Guo, Weihua Cao, Liming Lee

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

With the changing patterns of morbidity and mortality in China, noncommunicable chronic diseases have become the major threats to the health of the Chinese population. The causes of chronic diseases include genetic factors and behavioral risk factors such as the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, unhealthy dietary behaviors, and lack of physical activity. Twin studies offer a unique opportunity to disentangle the genetic and environmental risk and protective factors for chronic disease. The Qingdao Twin Registry (QTR) was initiated in 1998 as part of the National Chinese Twin Registry. Over 11,000 pairs of twins and multiples of all …

Nineteenth Century Review Of Mental Health Care For African Americans: A Legacy Of Service And Policy Barriers, Tony B. Lowe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The need to focus on service and policy barriers to mental health service delivery for African Americans remains critical. The purpose of this article is to review nineteenth century care as a method for understanding contemporary service and policy barriers. A case study strategy is used to compare the efforts of Pennsylvania and South Carolina using primary and secondary sources to document these developments through a political economy perspective. These findings suggest that the prevailing social, political and economic realities have created mental health disparities along racial lines. Existing barriers are likely rooted in this same reality.

Health Information Technology In The United States: The Information Base For Progress, David Blumenthal, Catherine M. Desroches, Karen Donelan, Sara J. Rosenbaum, Timothy Ferris

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Health information technology (HIT) has the potential to advance health care quality by helping patients with acute and chronic conditions receive recommended care, diminishing disparities in treatment and reducing medical errors. Nevertheless, HIT dissemination has not occurred rapidly, due in part to the high costs of electronic health record (EHR) systems for providers of care—including the upfront capital investment, ongoing maintenance and short-term productivity loss. Also, many observers are concerned that, if HIT follows patterns observed with other new medical technologies, HIT and EHRs may diffuse in ways that systematically disadvantage vulnerable patient populations, thus increasing or maintaining existing disparities …

Dai Medicine: Preservation Of And Changes In Ancient Healing Practices, Geoffroy Fauchet

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This independent study project discusses the general concept and theories of Dai medicine and focuses on the conservation of and transformation that both, the traditional and modern Dai medical system have undergone over time.

Environmental Equity Is Child's Play: Mapping Public Provision Of Recreation Opportunities In Urban Neighbourhoods, Jason Gilliland, Martin Holmes, Jennifer D. Irwin, Patricia Tucker

Geography & Environment Publications

This paper examines the spatial distribution of recreational opportunities for children and youth in a mid-sized Canadian city (London, Ontario), in relation to the socioeconomic status of neighbourhoods and estimated local need for publicly provided recreation spaces. Public recreation facilities (N = 537) throughout the city were identified, mapped and analysed in a geographic information system. To explore potential socio-environmental inequities, neighbourhoods (N = 22) were characterized by socioeconomic and environmental variables, an index of neighbourhood social distress, a neighbourhood play space needs index, and measures of the prevalence and density of recreational opportunities. The results of the …

Annual Report To The Nation On The Status Of Cancer, 1975–2003, Featuring Cancer Among U.S. Hispanic/ Latino Populations, Holly L. Howe, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Lynn A. G. Ries, Vilma Cokkinides, Faruque Ahmed, Ahmedin Jemal, Barry A. Miller, Melanie Williams, Elizabeth Ward, Phyllis A. Wingo, Amelie Ramirez, Brenda K. Edwards

United States Public Health Resources

BACKGROUND. The American Cancer Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute, and North American Association of Central Cancer Registries collaborate annually to provide U.S. cancer information, this year featuring the first comprehensive compilation of cancer information for U.S. Latinos.

METHODS. Cancer incidence was obtained from 90% of the Hispanic/Latino and 82% of the U.S. populations. Cancer deaths were obtained for the entire U.S. population. Cancer screening, risk factor, incidence, and mortality data were compiled for Latino and non-Latino adults and children (incidence only). Long-term (1975– 2003) and fixed-interval (1995–2003) trends and comparative analyses by disease …

Time To Renal Disease And End-Stage Renal Disease In Profile: A Multiethnic Lupus Cohort, Graciela S. Alarcón, Gerald Mcgwin, Michelle Petri, Rosalind Ramsey-Goldman, Barri J. Fessler, Luis M. Vilá, Jeffrey C. Edberg, John D. Reveille, Robert P. Kimberly

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Renal involvement is a serious manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); it may portend a poor prognosis as it may lead to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The purpose of this study was to determine the factors predicting the development of renal involvement and its progression to ESRD in a multi-ethnic SLE cohort (PROFILE).

METHODS AND FINDINGS: PROFILE includes SLE patients from five different United States institutions. We examined at baseline the socioeconomic-demographic, clinical, and genetic variables associated with the development of renal involvement and its progression to ESRD by univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analyses. Analyses of …

Retrospective Assessment Of Childhood Sexual And Physical Abuse: A Comparison Of Scaled And Behaviorally Specific Approaches, David Dilillo, Michelle A. Fortier, Sarah A. Hayes, Emily Trask, Andrea R. Perry, Terri Messman-Moore, Angèle Fauchier, Cindy Nash

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study compared retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse as assessed by two measures: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), which uses a Likert-type scaling approach, and the Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory (CAMI), which employs a behaviorally specific means of assessment. Participants included 1,195 undergraduate students recruited from three geographically diverse universities. Agreement was high across the two measures in the classification of victim status (92% and 80% for sexual and physical abuse, respectively). However, the CTQ classified more participants as sexually abused than did the CAMI, whereas the opposite trend was found for physical abuse. For child physical …

Housing And Service Options For Older Adults In Maine, Julie T. Fralich Mba, Kate Maggioncalda

Disability & Aging

Older adults want to live at home and in their community as independently as possible for as long as possible (Bayer & Harper L, 2000). The housing and service needs of older adults vary greatly by age, by condition, by setting, by geographic region, and over time. Some older adults do not require any supportive services; others need services that may range from assistance with shopping to extensive need for nursing care. Needs also fluctuate in response to acute events (often requiring hospitalizations), or other temporary changes in health status. The challenge is to have a mix of private and …

Geographic Data On Health Inequities: Understanding Policy Implications, Gregory Pappas

Community Health Sciences

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Health Disparities On African American Clients, Sonia L. Mcclinton

MSN Research Projects

The concept of health disparities have moved to the forefront of the nation’s healthcare agenda in the 2T* century due to the overwhelming disproportionate numbers of health care problems noted in African American populations as opposed to their counter parts. Despite the advances that have been made in biotechnology, improvement in medical procedures, and the eradication o f certain infectious diseases, African Americans continue to have poorer health status than other Americans. The literature extensively described several contributing factors for disparities in health such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and geographical location. Many of the differences in health occur because …

Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Words For Speech Reception Threshold Testing In Arabic, Elisha Rose Ratcliff

Theses and Dissertations

The use of speech audiometry is essential in audiological testing. One of the most important elements of speech audiometry is speech reception threshold. To provide services for the growing population of non-English speaking people, audiologists need speech audiometry materials in a variety of languages. The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and equate Arabic bisyllabic words for use in testing speech reception threshold. Ninety frequently used bisyllabic words were digitally recorded by a male talker of standard Arabic. These words were presented to 20 normally hearing subjects in 2 dB increments at intensity levels ranging from …

Nurse Practitioner Adoption Of Clinical Innovations, Rhoberta Jones Haley Phd

Dissertations

Adoption of clinical innovations by Nurse Practitioners (NP) is a complex phenomenon, rooted in personal values and influenced by challenges within health care environments. When clinical innovations are adopted or rejected by NPs, this decision has meaning for patients, NPs, health care agencies, and society. The decision controls the opportunity for patients to access a clinical innovation that could reduce morbidity and mortality, save money, and provide satisfaction related to the health care encounter. The purpose of the study was to increase knowledge about NP adoption of clinical innovations, particularly emotionally-laden clinical innovations. The lines of inquiry focused on what …

L’Imagination Du Corps Greffé : Filtres Bilingues, Mireille Rosello

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Contemporary narratives featuring organ transplants speak of a painful but also life-saving contact when the “donor” body is African and the receiving body is European. At this point the surgical operation and that of the imagination assume a whole other dimension, as the inequality and interdependence of these two bodies invite the reader to re-imagine the links between the concept of the “body,” on the one hand, and culture and language, on the other. This article looks at the transplanted body as an imagining machine capable of articulating a vision of itself different from the one that words impose upon …

Disease Mapping And Spatial Regression With Count Data, Jon Wakefield

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

In this paper we provide critical reviews of methods suggested for the analysis of aggregate count data in the context of disease mapping and spatial regression. We introduce a new method for picking prior distributions, and propose a number of refinements of previously-used models. We also consider ecological bias, mutual standardization, and choice of both spatial model and prior specification. We analyze male lip cancer incidence data collected in Scotland over the period 1975–1980, and outline a number of problems with previous analyses of these data. A number of recommendations are provided. In disease mapping studies, hierarchical models can provide …

A Healthcare-Delivery System For The Next Generation

RCHE Publications

On May 2-3, 2006, Purdue University, BlueCross BlueShield Association, and WellPoint, Inc. hosted 24 CEO-level healthcare executives representing a diverse cross section of the healthcare supply chain to design the U.S. healthcare-delivery system for the next generation. Participants were challenged to envision the ideal system for the future, without regard to the constraints of today’s technologies, infrastructure, or financial systems. The Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering at Purdue University was tasked to present the summit discussion in the form of a white paper that represents the view of the summit participants.

Ms In Asian Countries, M Wasay, I A. Khatri, B Khealani, M Sheerani

Section of Neurology

This paper reviews all available English language literature on MS from Asian countries published between 1970 and 2005. Although limited data are available, the review reveals that western Asia--including the Middle East--has the highest prevalence of MS across the continent, and that MS in Asia largely resembles conventional MS in western countries. Opticospinal MS (a distinct clinical entity from conventional MS) is more common in eastern Asian regions. Larger epidemiological and genetic studies, with more complete ascertainment in various Asian populations, are needed so that we can understand the diversity of Asian MS.

Semiparametric Latent Variable Regression Models For Spatio-Temporal Modeling Of Mobile Source Particles In The Greater Boston Area, Alexandros Gryparis, Brent A. Coull, Joel Schwartz, Helen H. Suh

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Traffic particle concentrations show considerable spatial variability within a metropolitan area. We consider latent variable semiparametric regression models for modeling the spatial and temporal variability of black carbon and elemental carbon concentrations in the greater Boston area. Measurements of these pollutants, which are markers of traffic particles, were obtained from several individual exposure studies conducted at specific household locations as well as 15 ambient monitoring sites in the city. The models allow for both flexible, nonlinear effects of covariates and for unexplained spatial and temporal variability in exposure. In addition, the different individual exposure studies recorded different surrogates of traffic …

Simple Records Matching Method For Diagnostic And Clinical Datasets Of Patient’S Records, Salvo Reina, Vito M. Reina, Eugenio A. Debbia

COBRA Preprint Series

Several statistical packages, either commercials or open-source, provide many methods for multi-factorial and discriminant analysis; such a software is poorly used by physicians. Appropriate models and tests have to be used pending on the kind of experiment scheme, adequate distribution assumption are needed for variables and parameters and proper data validation have to be verified for historical records. These are but a few of many critical aspects for a robust and trustable data interpretation needed in the Evidence Based Medicine era. Clinicians always wish to be able to quickly interpreter diagnostic records to discriminate, or alternatively correlate, coherent groups of …

2006 - The Eleventh Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Eleventh Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 7, 2006. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Malaria Prevention And Treatment In The Province Of Toliara, Madagascar: A Socioeconomic And Cultural Perspective Of Supermoustiquaire Use And Healing, Lily Conover

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

To preface my intentions, I never find myself viewing this place passively; I cannot help but be constantly attuned to the small struggles, conflicts, and successes that take place on a minute by minute basis as I roll through a village in a taxi-brousse or fly over the countryside in an airplane. I chose to study malaria in south-eastern Madagascar not only because it may have chosen me first, but because it is one of those continual struggles that is taking place between a plasmodium and red blood cells, families, communities, cultures, ethnicities, economic sectors, governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations …

Geographic Factors Contributing To A High Seroprevalence Of West Nile Virus-Specific Antibodies In Humans Following An Epidemic, Beth K. Schweitzer, Wayne L. Kramer, Anthony R. Sambol, Jane L. Meza, Steven H. Hinrichs, Peter C. Iwen

United States Public Health Resources

Sera of 624 blood donors were evaluated to determine seroprevalence of West Nile virus (WNV) antibodies following the 2003 WNV epidemic in Nebraska. Geographic factors contributing to differences in WNV seropositivity were evaluated. The overall prevalence of WNV in Nebraska was higher than reported previously in other U.S. locations (9.5% WNV immunoglobulin G seroprevalence rate), with the highest prevalence identified in the western part of the state (19.7%), followed by the central (13.8%) and the eastern (4.2%) parts. Regions of the state with the highest WNV-positive mosquito rates correlated with the highest human WNV seroprevalence rates. The results showed that …

Community Participation In Tribal Diabetes Programs, Carolyn Smith-Morris

Anthropology Research

No abstract provided.

Social Psychology, Calamities, And Sports Law, Michael Mccann

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the role of situational pressures, fundamental attribution errors, and legal frameworks in how professional sports actors respond to the threat and occurrence of calamities. Both natural and manmade threats to American health are likely to rise over the next decade. Such threats may include catastrophic weather, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and communicable disease pandemics. In response to these threats, professional sports leagues, professional athletes, fans, and media might engage in unprecedented behavior. Consider, for instance, increasingly-devastating weather patterns, and how they might animate leagues to relocate franchises to cities with more favorable forecasts. The same outcome might …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 48 Number 3, Winter 2006, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

8 - WELCOME HOME, STEVE By Steven Boyd Saum. Basketball superstar Steve Nash '96 comes home to Santa Clara for a unique honor: a ceremony retiring his Bronco jersey. In a convocation address, he tells how Santa Clara changed his life. Now he wants the University to take its mission global.

12 - THE SCHOOL OF HOPE By Martha Ellen Stortz. Scholar and teacher Bill Spohn earned deep affection and the respect of the Santa Clara community in his years directing the Bannan Center for Jesuit Education. When he was stricken with cancer, he and his wife, Marty Stortz, looked …

College Of Pharmacy Entry Level Program Overview, Nova Southeastern University

Health Professions Divisions Course Catalogs and Course Descriptions

No abstract provided.

Alpha-Gliadin Genes From The A, B, And D Genomes Of Wheat Contain Different Sets Of Celiac Disease Epitopes, Teun Wjm Van Herpen, Svetlana V. Goryunova, Johanna Van Der Schoot, Makedonka Mitreva, Elma Salentijn, Oscar Vorst, Martijn F. Schenk, Peter A. Van Veelen, Frits Koning, Loek Jm Van Soest, Ben Vosman, Dirk Bosch, Rob J. Hamer, Luud Jwj Gilissen, Marinus Jm Smulders

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.