Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling An Infection Outbreak With Quarantine: The Sibkr Model, Mikenna Dew, Amanda Langosch, Theadora Baker-Wallerstein

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

Influenza is a respiratory infection that places a substantial burden in the world population each year. In this project, we study and interpret a data set from a flu outbreak in a British boarding school in 1978 with mathematical modeling. First, we propose a generalization of the SIR model based on the quarantine measure in place and establish the long-time behavior of the model. By analyzing the model mathematically, we determine the analytic formulas of the basic reproduction number, the long-time limit of solutions, and the maximum number of infection population. Moreover, we estimate the parameters of the model based …

Exercise Is Medicine- On Campus, Ryssa Schlaefli

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Exercise is Medicine on Campus (EIM-OC) envisions a campus culture where all members, across various fields, embrace and implement its principles to transform chronic disease prevention and management. Exercise is Medicine-On Campus fosters collaborative relationships and leadership within the campus community by advertising a healthy lifestyle through fun activities to those studying other Majors/Concentrations. Through a series of events, EIM-OC addresses multiple aspects of health promotion. Events focus on promoting healthy nutrition, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, strength, and mental health. These initiatives are designed to tackle barriers to exercise such as time constraints, lack of knowledge, and lack of resources for …

Mir-574-5p Activates Human Tlr8 To Promote Autoimmune Signaling And Lupus, Tao Wang, Dan Song, Xuejuan Li, Yu Luo, Dianqiang Yang, Xiaoyan Liu, Xiaodan Kong, Yida Xing, Shulin Bi, Yan Zhang, Tao Hu, Yunyun Zhang, Shuang Dai, Zhiqiang Shao, Dahan Chen, Jinpao Hou, Esteban Ballestar, Jianchun Cai, Feng Zheng, James Y Yang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Endosomal single-stranded RNA-sensing Toll-like receptor-7/8 (TLR7/8) plays a pivotal role in inflammation and immune responses and autoimmune diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying the initiation of the TLR7/8-mediated autoimmune signaling remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that miR-574-5p is aberrantly upregulated in tissues of lupus prone mice and in the plasma of lupus patients, with its expression levels correlating with the disease activity. miR-574-5p binds to and activates human hTLR8 or its murine ortholog mTlr7 to elicit a series of MyD88-dependent immune and inflammatory responses. These responses include the overproduction of cytokines and interferons, the activation of STAT1 signaling …

Establishing The First Student-Run Clinic To Provide Free Health Care To A South Texas Colonia, John Nicholas Cauba, Andrew B. Callan, Joy Alvarado, Beatriz Tapia

School of Medicine Publications

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine (UTRGVSoM) opened its student-run clinic (SRC) in March 2018 to provide free health care for the residents of Pueblo de Palmas colonia in Hidalgo County. Located along the United States-Mexico border near some of the country's poorest and most medically underserved communities, UTRGVSoM has the unique opportunity to extend quality primary care to those who otherwise would go without. The physical location of the clinic was determined by a partnership with Proyecto Desarrollo Humano, a nonprofit organization within the Pueblo de Palmas colonia. The free clinic, located in the town’s …

Decreasing Influenza Vaccination Disparity Rates By Utilization Of Hotspot Deployments Of A Mobile Health Vehicle, Geneveve Deasis Tejada

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Influenza vaccination for Black/African American patients is historically lower than White patients across all healthcare organizations (Quinn, 2018). In the organization’s 2022 performance, only 13.98% of Black/African American patients ages 19 and older were vaccinated compared to 27.81% of White/Caucasian patients.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was for Black/African American patients ages 19 and older receiving care from primary care clinics in Southeast San Diego (P), what is the impact of adding access to influenza vaccinations through hotspot-driven MHV deployments (I) compared to usual vaccination delivery in the medical office building (MOB) (C) on influenza …

More Than Just A Number: Perspectives From Black Male Participants On Community-Based Interventions And Clinical Trials To Address Cardiovascular Health Disparities., Faith E Metlock, Sarah Addison, Alicia Mckoy, Yesol Yang, Aarhea Hope, Joshua J Joseph, Jing Zhang, Amaris Williams, Darrell M Gray, John Gregory, Timiya S Nolan

Ambulatory and Primary Care Articles

BACKGROUND: Black Americans remain significantly underrepresented and understudied in research. Community-based interventions have been increasingly recognized as an effective model for reckoning with clinical trial participation challenges amongst underrepresented groups, yet a paucity of studies implement this approach. The present study sought to gain insight into Black male participants' perception of clinical trials before and after participating in a community-based team lifestyle intervention in the United States.

METHODS: Black Impact, a 24-week community-based lifestyle intervention, applied the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 (LS7) framework to assess changes in the cardiovascular health of seventy-four Black male participants partaking in weekly …

Unlv Mental Health Initiatives: Unifying Through Innovation And Collaboration, The Lincy Institute, Unlv Practice, Behere Nv, Unlv Department Of Psychology

Lincy Institute Events

Nevada persistently ranks at or near the bottom in the country for overall access to mental health services despite the need (Mental Health America, 2015-2023). UNLV faculty are developing initiatives to change this unacceptable situation. The Lincy Institute, in partnership with UNLV PRACTICE, BeHERE Nevada, and researchers from the Department of Psychology, offered a community forum showcasing three mental health initiatives harnessing faculty collaboration and innovation to drive overdue changes in Nevada’s mental-health landscape. Following the presentations policymakers engaged in open discussion with UNLV presenters and the audience. The three main initiatives showcased in this forum …

Predictors Of Prep Uptake By Black Gay And Bisexual Men In Ohio, Ade Elisha

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Risk And Preventive Factors Of Asthma In Children In Texas, Yvonne A. Deen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Unsupervised Deep Representation Learning Enables Phenotype Discovery For Genetic Association Studies Of Brain Imaging, Khush Patel, Ziqian Xie, Hao Yuan, Sheikh Muhammad Saiful Islam, Yaochen Xie, Wei He, Wanheng Zhang, Assaf Gottlieb, Han Chen, Luca Giancardo, Alexander Knaack, Evan Fletcher, Myriam Fornage, Shuiwang Ji, Degui Zhi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Understanding the genetic architecture of brain structure is challenging, partly due to difficulties in designing robust, non-biased descriptors of brain morphology. Until recently, brain measures for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) consisted of traditionally expert-defined or software-derived image-derived phenotypes (IDPs) that are often based on theoretical preconceptions or computed from limited amounts of data. Here, we present an approach to derive brain imaging phenotypes using unsupervised deep representation learning. We train a 3-D convolutional autoencoder model with reconstruction loss on 6130 UK Biobank (UKBB) participants' T1 or T2-FLAIR (T2) brain MRIs to create a 128-dimensional representation known as Unsupervised Deep learning …

Knowledge Of Medicaid Expansion To Recent And Undocumented Immigrants Among Oregon Mexican-Origin Latinos: (Work In Progress), Nancy Ledezma, Grace Parra, Alejandra Nunez, Dr. Blair Darney

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

Background

Recent and undocumented immigrants are explicitly excluded from federal Medicaid and state insurance exchanges. The first phase of Healthier Oregon was implemented in July 2022 and expanded Medicaid (OHP) benefits to undocumented immigrants ages 19-25 or 55 and older. The second phase was implemented in July 2023 and extended benefits to everyone regardless of age. We assessed understanding of Healthier Oregon among Mexican-origin Latinos. We hypothesize that many potentially eligible people may not know about the program, if they qualify, or how to apply.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study in collaboration with the General Consulate of Mexico. Our …

Employer Voices: Insights On Bolstering Career Development For Graduate Students, Alexandria J. Ashraf Mph, Josh Hodsden Mba, Justin Howe Ba, Danielle Ross Ba, Dalton Wesemann Ba, Lisa K. Marriott Phd

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

Title: Employer voices: Insights on Bolstering Career Development for Graduate Students

Alexandria J. Ashraf, MPH; Josh Hodsden, MBA, CPH; Justin Howe, BA; Danielle Ross, BA, CPH; Dalton Wesemann, BA; Lisa K. Marriott, PhD

Background: The development of the public health workforce has become increasingly vital as our world faces current and future challenges. The workforce has gained considerable insight into job skills that enhance responses to emergent needs. Building the foundation for a larger scale study on public health workforce needs, this project established processes for engaging with professionals who have hired recent public health graduates.

Methods: Open-ended questions assessed …

Beyond The Classroom Walls: Stakeholder Experiences With Remote Instruction In Post Rn Baccalaureate Nursing Program During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Inquiry, Laila Akber Cassum, Arusa Mansoor, Saima Sachwani, Zeenar Salim, Ridah Feroz, Shanaz Cassum

School of Nursing & Midwifery

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of educational campuses and the suspension of conventional classroom teaching globally and locally, and many switched overnight to an online modality. The change was experienced differently by varied audiences, given the availability of resources. The study aimed to examine stakeholders' experiences of emergency remote instructions in the Post-RN Baccalaureate Nursing Program during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative descriptive exploratory design with a purposive sampling technique was used at a private nursing university in Karachi, Pakistan. Focus group discussions with students and faculty were conducted separately, while in-depth interviews with key informants were held …

U.S. Government Agency Podcasts, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Presents podcasts from U.S. Government agencies which can be discovered through the U.S. Government Publishing Office's Catalog of Government Publications. Agencies whose podcasts are presented include the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Peace Corps, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Government Accountability Office (GAO), National Park Service, Department of Justice, Federal Reserve System, and U.S. Naval War College.

How Covid-19 Changed Us: Compassion, Leadership, And Policy, The Lincy Institute

Lincy Institute Events

Nevada was one of the hardest hit states during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past three years, researchers at The Lincy Institute and other institutions collected interviews from 80 Nevada leaders across sectors including elected officials, leaders in education, community organizations, government agencies, and the business community. Four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our communities continue to build a resilient and healthy Nevada. This forum discusses how the crisis prompted us to rethink how we lead and how we can prepare for future challenges. Following a presentation of the project and its deliverables, leaders across sectors discuss …

Measuring The Impact Of Primary Care Team Composition On Patient Activation Utilizing Electronic Health Record Big Data Analytics, Kristen K. Will, Yue Liang, Chih-Lin Chi, Gerri Lamb, Michael Todd, Connie Delaney

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose

Team-based care has been linked to key outcomes associated with the Quadruple Aim and a key driver of high-value patient-centered care. Use of the electronic health record (EHR) and machine learning have significant potential to overcome previous barriers to studying the impact of teams, including delays in accessing data to improve teamwork and optimize patient outcomes.

Methods

This study utilized a large EHR dataset (n = 316,542) from an urban health system to explore the relationship between team composition and patient activation, a key driver of patient engagement. Teams were operationalized using consensus definitions of teamwork from the literature. …

Respiratory Therapists' Attitudes On Patient Safety And The Use Of Workarounds: A Phenomenological Study, Lee Wisdom

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Respiratory therapists (RTs) provide cardiopulmonary care and share the essential responsibility of keeping patients safe throughout their healthcare journey. RTs care for patients in various settings and manage mechanical ventilation (life-support), artificial airways, and attend emergencies such as cardiac arrests and other urgent clinical care matters (American Association for Respiratory Care [AARC], n.d.-b). As such, RTs may be exposed to opportunities in their day-to-day routines that influence patient safety. Currently, the literature is limited regarding RTs’ safety attitudes and the use of workarounds in respiratory care in the United States (U.S.). Both safety attitudes and the use of workarounds have …

Targeting Branched N-Glycans And Fucosylation Sensitizes Ovarian Tumors To Immune Checkpoint Blockade, Hao Nie, Pratima Saini, Taito Miyamoto, Liping Liao, Rafal J Zielinski, Heng Liu, Wei Zhou, Chen Wang, Brennah Murphy, Martina Towers, Tyler Yang, Yuan Qi, Toshitha Kannan, Andrew Kossenkov, Hiroaki Tateno, Daniel T Claiborne, Nan Zhang, Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Rugang Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Aberrant glycosylation is a crucial strategy employed by cancer cells to evade cellular immunity. However, it's unclear whether homologous recombination (HR) status-dependent glycosylation can be therapeutically explored. Here, we show that the inhibition of branched N-glycans sensitizes HR-proficient, but not HR-deficient, epithelial ovarian cancers (EOCs) to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). In contrast to fucosylation whose inhibition sensitizes EOCs to anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy regardless of HR-status, we observe an enrichment of branched N-glycans on HR-proficient compared to HR-deficient EOCs. Mechanistically, BRCA1/2 transcriptionally promotes the expression of MGAT5, the enzyme responsible for catalyzing branched N-glycans. The branched N-glycans on HR-proficient tumors augment their …

Impact Of Fads Genotype On Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Content In Human Milk Extracellular Vesicles: A Genetic Association Study, John J. Miklavcic, Natalie Paterson, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, Laura M. Glynn

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Extracellular vesicles in human milk are critical in supporting newborn growth and development. Bioavailability of dietary extracellular vesicles may depend on the composition of membrane lipids. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the fatty acid desaturase gene cluster impact the content of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in human milk phospholipids. This study investigated the relation between variation in FADS1 and FADS2 with the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in extracellular vesicles from human milk.

Methods

Milk was obtained from a cohort of mothers (N = 70) at 2–4 weeks of lactation. SNPs in the FADS gene locus were determined using …

Analysis Of User Satisfaction Of Telemedicine Services During Covid-19 Self-Isolation Among Fph Students At The Universitas Indonesia, Fathiya Nissa Mulyaningrum, Nadya Raihanny

Jurnal Biostatistik, Kependudukan, dan Informatika Kesehatan

Telemedicine has become a new paradigm in the world of health since its popular use to assist the Ministry of Health in monitoring self-isolating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to analyze service quality variables related to user satisfaction with telemedicine services during COVID-19 self-isolation among students in FPH UI. This research is quantitative research with a cross-sectional approach. The results show that the platform most widely used for telemedicine services during the COVID-19 pandemic was platform H by 25 people. The average satisfaction of telemedicine users during self-isolation tends to be high, namely 3.8 with the lowest …

Broken Promises: Prolonged Diminished Quality-Of-Life Among Liberian Ebola Survivors Half A Decade After The 2014-16 West African Outbreak, Jessi Hanson-Defusco, Decontee Davis, Meghana Bommareddy, Zainab Olaniyan

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak left thousands of Liberian survivors with severely diminished quality of life. Applying a social determinants framework, this mixed method study investigates to what extent Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors suffer long-haul psychosocial stress, diminished quality-of-life factors, and the impact of EVD-related service provisions on their ongoing healing. We present the results of a quantitative analysis survey of data collected from 19 Liberian EVD survivors in 2022 using snowball sampling. Additionally, a qualitative analysis of survivor statements helps triangulate key statistical findings and inform causal mechanisms. Survivors report experiencing 5.25 of a total of 7 ongoing stressors …

Voices, Stories And Experiences Of Black Women Phase Ii: Community Engagement Activity Report Informing The Establishment Of A Trenton-Based Maternal & Infant Health Innovation Center, John S. Watson Institute For Urban Policy And Research, Tirzah Spencer, Phd, Mph, Barbara George Johnson

Center for Urban Policy Research

As an extension of our 2022 study Voices, Stories and Experiences of Black Women (Phase 1), the John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research at Kean University’s Maternal and Child Health Equity Team was asked to share information about the planned Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center (MIHIC) with Trenton residents as a part of Nurture NJ’s community engagement efforts. The Team implemented the following community engagement activities: Communication: Community engagement through social media outreach and in-person outreach were used as approaches to inform Trenton residents about the MIHIC. Dissemination of Findings: Community cafés were designed to share …

The Impact Of Neurological Diseases In Kisumu, Kenya: Case Studies At Jootrh And Kcrh, Jack F. Dunham

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Introduction: The burden that neurological diseases put on health systems is high, and growing across the globe, especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) like Kenya. For this reason, our study sought out to study the burden and impact of neurological diseases at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) and Kisumu County Referral Hospital (KCRH), which are in Western Kenya.

Methods: Utilizing data from handwritten patient records spanning 23 months, our study collected said data and analyzed the prevalence, incidence, distribution, and outcomes of different neurological diseases as they impact the Kisumu community.

Results/Discussion: Comparing …

Columnas: The Honors Program Newsletter At Bentley University, Clara Williams, Micaela Corzo, Naeelah Desanges, Alyssa Galin, Isabella Ramirez

Honors Program

Page 1: WHY ARE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS SO HARD TO KEEP? By Sahil Raut ’27

Page 2: THE CAPITALIST INFLUENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION By Kevin Heintz ’26

Page 3: THE IMPORTANCE OF MENSTRUAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT By Sid Goel ’24

Page 4: CAN TECHNOLOGY SOLVE EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY? By Ariana Ramirez ’27

Page 5: DATA PORTABILITY CAN CHANGE THE DIGITAL WORLD By Kassidi Thompson ’27

Page 6: THE POWER OF VULNERABILITY By Peter Epp ’24

Page 7: THREADS OF BELIEF By Yudao Song ’26

Future Directions For Emergency Medical Services Development In Low- And Middle-Income Countries., Peter G. Delaney, Jon Moussally, Benjamin Wachira

Emergency Medicine, East Africa

The lack of prehospital care access in low- and middle-income countries is one of the greatest unmet needs and, therefore, one of the most urgent priorities in global health. Establishing emergency medical services in low- and middle-income countries poses significant challenges and complexities, requiring solutions tailored to prevailing conditions, informed by needs assessments, and adapted to meet local demands in a culturally appropriate and sustainable manner. In areas without existing emergency medical services, patients must rely on informal networks of untrained bystanders and community members to provide first aid and transport to definitive care. Since 2005, training lay first responders …

Exploring The Medicalization Of Menstruation: Analyzing Menstrual Hygiene Initiatives By Igos, Non-Profits And National Government In Switzerland, Victoria Wright

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Menstrual health serves as a critical indicator of reproductive health. It is pivotal in achieving various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to women's and girls' comfort, agency, participation, safety, well-being, and dignity (Loughnan et al., 2020). This research investigates the medicalization of menstruation in Switzerland through a mixed-methods approach examining the strategies and roles of key stakeholders such as the WHO, local government initiatives, and NGOs in shaping the landscape of menstrual medicalization.

The findings reveal that while medicalization has brought about progressive changes, including the introduction of menstrual leave policies, it has resulted in a complex regulatory landscape, increased …

Prevalence Of Frailty And Pain In Hospitalised Cancer Patients: Implications For Older Adult Care, Heather Lane, Rosemary Saunders, Kate Crookes, Seng G. M. Ang, Caroline Bulsara, Max K. Bulsara, Beverley Ewens, Olivia Gallagher, Karen Gullick, Sue Haydon, Jeff Hughes, Kim-Huong Nguyen, Karla Seaman, Christopher Etherton-Beer

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

A hospital-wide point prevalence study investigated frailty and pain in patients with a cancer-related admission. Modifiable factors associated with frailty in people with cancer were determined through logistic regression. Forty-eight patients (19%) with cancer-related admissions were 2.65 times more likely to be frail and 2.12 more likely to have moderate pain. Frailty and pain were highly prevalent among cancer-related admissions, reinforcing the need for frailty screening and importance of pain assessment for patients with cancer.

Covid-19 And Management Scholarship: Lessons For Conducting Impactful Research, Gerard George, Gokhan Ertug, Jonathan P. Doh, Johanna Mair, Ajnesh Prasad

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for management scholars to address large-scale and complex societal problems and strive for greater practical and policy impact. A brief overview of the most-cited work on COVID-19 reveals that, compared with their counterparts in other disciplines, leading management journals and professional associations lagged in providing a platform for high-impact research on COVID-19. To help management research play a more active role in responding to similar global challenges in the future, we propose an integrative framework that emphasizes a phenomenon’s impact, the conditions that the phenomenon creates at multiple levels, and the responses of actors …

Bridging The Gap: Strategies For Enhancing Wic Participation Rates In South Dakota, Melissa K. Wyum

Honors Thesis

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a national program administered by the USDA to State agencies for low-income women and nutritionally at-risk infants and children. South Dakota WIC provides services related to breastfeeding, healthcare referrals, and accessibility/knowledge of nutritious foods. Successes of WIC include improved birth outcomes, decreased healthcare costs, regular immunization rates, establishment of a primary care provider, and improved nutrition status. Although WIC has shown positive health outcomes for mothers and children, the relationship between the barriers of WIC access and resulting health outcomes in South Dakota is unknown. According to the …

Motivations Behind The Rise And Success Of Homeopathy In India, Kavya Patchipulusu

Senior Theses

Homeopathy is a form of medicine that is incredibly controversial and is often labeled as a fraudulent, placebo effect drug, that can have potentially dangerous side effects. This is the picture that is painted of homeopathy in the United States and many other countries in which these medicines are banned in distribution or highly unregulated. In contrast, India has popularized and well-integrated homeopathy into their medical systems with government backing and consistent funding towards accredited homeopathic institutions and funding hospital systems. This paper will explore the circumstances and health care dynamics of India that allowed homeopathy to gain the level …