Digital Commons Network^™

Comparing Survival Rates And Mortality In Operative Versus Nonoperative Treatment For Femoral Neck Fractures Among Alzheimer's Disease Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Hongyu Miao, David R Lairson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Addressing femoral neck fractures resulting from ground-level falls in older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) involves a personalized treatment plan. There is considerable ongoing debate concerning the relative advantages and disadvantages of surgical treatment (internal fixation or arthroplasty) vs nonoperative treatment for femoral neck fractures in older persons with AD.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study compared the mortality, hazard ratio, and survival rate between operative and nonoperative treatments, controlling for patients' demographic information and baseline health status. The study population consisted of Optum beneficiaries diagnosed with AD who experienced an initial femoral neck fracture claim between January 1, 2012, …

The Effects Of Loneliness And Suicidal Ideation On U.S. Veterans, Sean Donnelly

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Effectiveness Of Education Through Web-Based Seminar In Increasing Knowledge About The Early Detection And Reporting Of Occupational Diseases, Keyne Christa Monintja, Dewi Sumaryani Soemarko, Dewi Yunia Fitriani, Herqutanto Herqutanto, Suryo Wibowo

Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal of Indonesia

Background: In 2022, the Indonesian Occupational Medicine Association (IOMA) collaborated with oil and gas companies and conducted a web-based seminar (webinar) to enable participants to recognize occupational disease earlier and enhance reporting in companies. We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the webinar in increasing the intended knowledge.

Method: The webinar was separated into three batches, with different participants per batch. Using a one-group pretest-posttest design, we utilized secondary data from IOMA. The effectiveness of the webinar was determined by participants' satisfaction and knowledge as measured by pre-test and post-test. After performing item analysis, we removed poor discriminating items in …

Analysis Of Knowledge Of Hospital Manager About Occupational Tuberculosis And Associated Factors, Aditya Agung Prasetyo, Suryo Wibowo, Muhammad Ilyas, Ahmad Fuady, Feni Fitriani Taufik

Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal of Indonesia

Introduction.Knowledge of hospital managers about occupational tuberculosis can affect occupational tuberculosis services in the hospital. This study aims was to identify associated factors with knowledge of hospital manager about occupational tuberculosis in order to improve occupational tuberculosis services in hospitals as seen in the four management functions.

Method.Concurrent embedded mixed approaches are used in this cross-sectional study. Focus group discussions (FGD) are used in qualitative research, whereas questionnaires are used in quantitative research. The questionnaire was evaluated using the difficulty level and discriminating index tests. The ten questions were examined both univariate and bivariate. Thematic analysis was used …

Psychosocial Factors In The Workplace, Suryo Wibowo

Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal of Indonesia

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Recommendations From People Who Use Drugs In Philadelphia, Pa About Structuring Point-Of-Care Drug Checking, Megan K. Reed, Elias Borne, Tracy Esteves Camacho, Morgan Kelly, Kristin L. Rising

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

Background

Adulterants, such as fentanyl and xylazine, among others, are present in a high percentage of the illicit drug supply, increasing the risk for overdose and other adverse health events among people who use drugs (PWUD). Point-of-care drug checking identifes components of a drug sample and delivers results consumers. To successfully meet the diverse needs of PWUD, more information is needed about the utility of drug checking, motivations for using services contextualized in broader comments on the drug supply, hypothesized actions to be taken after receiving drug checking results, and the ideal structure of a program.

Methods

In December 2021, …

Association Between Regulatory T Cells And Ischemic Heart Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Study, Basel Abdelazeem, Zhenya Shen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: An imbalance of innate and acquired immune responses is significantly involved in the pathophysiology of coronary atherosclerosis and the occurrence of ischemic heart disease (IHD). Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an essential regulatory role in atherosclerotic plaque formation and maintenance; therefore, dysfunction of Tregs triggers the formation of atherosclerotic plaques and accelerates their progression. However, due to the inherent limitations of observational research, clinical evidence is limited concerning the relationship between the variation in peripheral Tregs and the risk of IHD, and the cause-and-effect relationship between these factors is unclear. Mendelian randomization (MR) uses genetic variation as a proxy …

Development Of A Culinary Medicine Toolkit To Improve Implementation Of Virtual Cooking Classes For Low-Income Adults With Type 2 Diabetes, Shreela V Sharma, John Wesley Mcwhorter

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Culinary medicine (CM) addresses diseases through nutrition and culinary education. To promote access to educational material for people with diabetes and engagement in virtual classes, we created a virtual culinary medicine toolkit (VCMT) sensitive to literacy levels and language preferences. The VCMT was developed to accompany existing virtual CM programs and help improve participant interaction and retention, offering educational materials for providers and participants. The provider VCMT offers level-setting education to reduce mixed nutrition messaging, including educational resources discussing inclusive nutrition and mindful eating topics. Each handout has a QR code and link to engaging, animated videos that provide further …

“It’S Not That We Care Less”: Insights Into Health Care Utilization For Comorbid Diabetes And Depression Among Latinos, Sharon Borja, Miriam G. Valdovinos, Kenia M. Rivera, Natalia Giraldo-Santiago, Robin Gearing, Luis R. Torres-Hostos

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Despite robust knowledge regarding the socio-economic and cultural factors affecting Latino* access to healthcare, limited research has explored service utilization in the context of comorbid conditions like diabetes and depression. This qualitative study, embedded in a larger mixed-methods project, aimed to investigate perceptions held by Latinos and their social support systems (i.e., family members) regarding comorbid diabetes and depression and to identify barriers and facilitators to their help-seeking behaviors and treatment engagement. Bilingual and bicultural researchers conducted eight focus groups with 94 participants in a large U.S. metropolitan area and were primarily conducted in Spanish. The participants either had a …

Social And Psychosocial Determinants Of Racial And Ethnic Differences In Cardiovascular Health: The Masala And Mesa Studies, Nilay S. Shah, Xiaoning Huang, Lucia C. Petito, Michael P. Bancks, Alka M. Kanaya, Sameera Talegawkar, Saaniya Farhan, Mercedes R. Carnethon, Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, Norrina B. Allen, Namratha R. Kandula, Sadiya S. Khan

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

BACKGROUND: Social and psychosocial determinants are associated with cardiovascular health (CVH).

OBJECTIVES: To quantify the contributions of social and psychosocial factors to racial/ethnic differences in CVH.

METHODS: In the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America cohorts, Kitagawa-Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition quantified the contributions of social and psychosocial factors to differences in mean CVH score (range 0-14) in Black, Chinese, Hispanic, or South Asian compared with White participants.

RESULTS: Among 7,978 adults (mean age 61 [SD 10] years, 52 % female), there were 1,892 Black (mean CVH score for decomposition analysis 7.96 [SD 2.1]), 804 …

Tetravalent Sars-Cov-2 S1 Subunit Protein Vaccination Elicits Robust Humoral And Cellular Immune Responses In Siv-Infected Rhesus Macaque Controllers, Rachel C Vanderkruik, Craig Ferguson, Lauren A Kobylski, Joseph J Locascio, Gabriella E Hamlett, Parker C Killenberg, Robert Lewis, Noah Jones, Ella T Rossa, Hannah Dineen, Rosalind Picard, Lee S Cohen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Depression during pregnancy is increasingly recognized as a worldwide public health problem. If untreated, there can be detrimental outcomes for the mother and child. Anxiety is also often comorbid with depression. Although effective treatments exist, most women do not receive treatment. Technology is a mechanism to increase access to and engagement in mental health services.

OBJECTIVE: The Guardians is a mobile app, grounded in behavioral activation principles, which seeks to leverage mobile game mechanics and in-game rewards to encourage user engagement. This study seeks to assess app satisfaction and engagement and to explore changes in clinical symptoms of depression …

Effect Of Russian Current Expert Modes On Quadriceps Muscle Torque In Healthy Adults: A Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial, Ansam Hasan, Ibrahim Moustafa, Tamer Shousha

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Russian current (RC), a well-known neuromuscular electrical stimulation operating at 2500 Hz, has demonstrated significant strength improvement over traditional exercises due to its high tolerance and low pain provocation. Despite extensive NMES parameter research, the specific effects of expert modes, particularly ON2 and Rest, remain unexplored. This study investigates the direct effect of these expert modes on quadriceps muscle strength in healthy adults.

METHODS: This is a single-blind, randomization-controlled trial. Forty-eight healthy university students (31 females, 17 males) were assigned in two randomized experimental groups either the ON2 or Rest mode for a 15-minute electrical stimulation session. Quadriceps maximum …

Prevention And Potential Treatment Strategies For Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Bo-Wen Sun, Peng-Peng Zhang, Zong-Hao Wang, Xia Yao, Meng-Lan He, Rui-Ting Bai, Hao Che, Jing Lin, Tian Xie, Zi Hui, Xiang-Yang Ye, Li-Wei Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a significant viral pathogen that causes respiratory infections in infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. RSV-related illnesses impose a substantial economic burden worldwide annually. The molecular structure, function, and in vivo interaction mechanisms of RSV have received more comprehensive attention in recent times, and significant progress has been made in developing inhibitors targeting various stages of the RSV replication cycle. These include fusion inhibitors, RSV polymerase inhibitors, and nucleoprotein inhibitors, as well as FDA-approved RSV prophylactic drugs palivizumab and nirsevimab. The research community is hopeful that these developments might provide easier access to knowledge and …

Association Between Marital Status, Family Size, And Diabetes Among Asian-American Women, Rhea Ann Reyes Mcbride

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Correlates For Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use Among Young Adults, Uchenna Sam Chinweuba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Of Hospitalized Patients Diagnosed With Covid-19, Tracy Nicole Grady

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure And Its Influence On Pediatric Epigenetic Clocks And Epigenetic Scores In Humans, Thiago Wendt Viola, Christina Danzer, Victor Mardini, Claudia Szobot, João Henrique Chrusciel, Laura Stertz, Joy M Schmitz, Consuelo Walss-Bass, Gabriel R Fries, Rodrigo Grassi-Oliveira

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The investigation of the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) on offspring has been inconsistent, with few studies investigating biological outcomes in humans. We profiled genome-wide DNA methylation (DNAm) of umbilical cord blood (UCB) from newborns with (n = 35) and without (n = 47) PCE. We used DNAm data to (1) assess pediatric epigenetic clocks at birth and (2) to estimate epigenetic scores (ES) for lifetime disorders. We generated gestational epigenetic age estimates (DNAmGA) based on Knight and Bohlin epigenetic clocks. We also investigated the association between DNAmGA and UCB serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Considering the large-scale …

Early Immersion In Team-Based Event Review: Experiential Patient Safety Education For Pgy 1 Internal Medicine Residents, Michelle Perkons, Alexis Wickersham, Sonia Bharel, Timothy Kuchera, Rebecca Jaffe

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, there has been a national push to incorporate high-fidelity quality improvement and patient safety (QIPS) education into physician training programs. In fact, integration of robust patient safety education became an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Common Program Requirement for residency programs in 2017. We developed a curriculum to not only fulfill the ACGME's requirement but also provide PGY 1 internal medicine residents with the skills needed to become active participants in ongoing patient safety work throughout their training and careers.

METHODS: Our patient safety curriculum was woven into residents' existing protected educational time and …

Relationship Between Religiosity And Hpv Vaccine Initiation And Intention In Urban Black And Hispanic Parents

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Religion is believed to be an important sociocultural influence in the U.S., but little is known about how religiosity shapes the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine decision in racial/ethnic minorities. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between religiosity and HPV vaccine initiation and intention among urban, racial/ethnic minority parents of adolescents 11-14 years old.

DESIGN: This study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional design using baseline data from Black and Hispanic parents (N = 175 and 285, respectively) recruited from medically underserved communities. Chi-square tests for independence and independent-samples t-tests were run to assess sociodemographic differences in vaccine …

Human Whole-Exome Genotype Data For Alzheimer's Disease, Michael Schmidt, Honghuang Lin, Prabhakaran Gangadharan, Liming Qu, Kaylyn Clark, Amanda B Kuzma, Wan-Ping Lee, Laura Cantwell, Heather Nicaretta, Jonathan Haines, Lindsay Farrer, Sudha Seshadri, Zoran Brkanac, Carlos Cruchaga, Margaret Pericak-Vance, Richard P Mayeux, William S Bush, Anita Destefano, Gerard D Schellenberg, Li-San Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The heterogeneity of the whole-exome sequencing (WES) data generation methods present a challenge to a joint analysis. Here we present a bioinformatics strategy for joint-calling 20,504 WES samples collected across nine studies and sequenced using ten capture kits in fourteen sequencing centers in the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project. The joint-genotype called variant-called format (VCF) file contains only positions within the union of capture kits. The VCF was then processed specifically to account for the batch effects arising from the use of different capture kits from different studies. We identified 8.2 million autosomal variants. 96.82% of the variants are high-quality, and …

Epha2- And Hdac-Targeted Combination Therapy In Endometrial Cancer, Robiya Joseph, Santosh K Dasari, Sujanitha Umamaheswaran, Lingegowda S Mangala, Emine Bayraktar, Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo, Yutuan Wu, Nghi Nguyen, Reid T Powell, Mary Sobieski, Yuan Liu, Mark Seungwook Kim, Sara Corvigno, Katherine Foster, Pahul Hanjra, Thanh Chung Vu, Mamur A Chowdhury, Paola Amero, Clifford Stephan, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, Shannon N Westin, Anil K Sood

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Endometrial cancer is the most frequent malignant tumor of the female reproductive tract but lacks effective therapy. EphA2, a receptor tyrosine kinase, is overexpressed by various cancers including endometrial cancer and is associated with poor clinical outcomes. In preclinical models, EphA2-targeted drugs had modest efficacy. To discover potential synergistic partners for EphA2-targeted drugs, we performed a high-throughput drug screen and identified panobinostat, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, as a candidate. We hypothesized that combination therapy with an EphA2 inhibitor and panobinostat leads to synergistic cell death. Indeed, we found that the combination enhanced DNA damage, increased apoptosis, and decreased clonogenic survival …

Integrating Health Equity Into Implementation Science To Advance Chronic Disease Prevention And Control, Callie Walsh-Bailey

Brown School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Marginalized populations are inequitably burdened by chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer. The goal of health equity work is to ensure all people have a fair and just opportunity to achieve optimal health. Implementation science has made health equity a greater focus and priority in recent years. There has been a proliferation of guidance on what implementation science needs to do to advance equity. However, the field currently lacks specific, actionable guidance on how to integrate equity. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to synthesize conceptual and theoretical underpinnings regarding health equity and bring them …

Major Stressful Life Events And The Risk Of Pancreatic, Head And Neck Cancers: A Case-Control Study, Amirali Tahanan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Major stressful life events have been shown to be associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, breast cancer and the development of various chronic illnesses. The stress response generated by our body results in a variety of physiological and metabolic changes which can affect the immune system and have been shown to be associated with tumor progression. In this study, we aim to determine if major stressful life events are associated with the incidence of head and neck or pancreatic cancer (HNPC).

METHODS: This is a matched case-control study. Cases (CAs) were HNPC patients diagnosed within the previous …

Exploration Of Programmed Cell Death-Associated Characteristics And Immune Infiltration In Neonatal Sepsis: New Insights From Bioinformatics Analysis And Machine Learning, Shiqi Ma, Yunlei Bao, Feng Jiang, Jin Shu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Neonatal sepsis, a perilous medical situation, is typified by the malfunction of organs and serves as the primary reason for neonatal mortality. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying newborn sepsis remain ambiguous. Programmed cell death (PCD) has a connection with numerous infectious illnesses and holds a significant function in newborn sepsis, potentially serving as a marker for diagnosing the condition.

METHODS: From the GEO public repository, we selected two groups, which we referred to as the training and validation sets, for our analysis of neonatal sepsis. We obtained PCD-related genes from 12 different patterns, including databases and published literature. We first …

Multi-Omics And Pathway Analyses Of Genome-Wide Associations Implicate Regulation And Immunity In Verbal Declarative Memory Performance, Joshua C Bis, Charley Xia, Vilmundur Gudnason, Qiong Yang, Jari Lahti, Jennifer A Smith, Mirna Kirin, Philip De Jager, Nicola J Armstrong, Mohsen Ghanbari, Ivana Kolcic, Christopher Moran, Alexander Teumer, Murali Sargurupremraj, Shamsed Mahmud, Myriam Fornage, Wei Zhao, Claudia L Satizabal, Katri Räikkönen, David C Liewald, Georg Homuth, Michele Callisaya, Karen A Mather, B Gwen Windham, Tatijana Zemunik, Aarno Palotie, Alison Pattie, Sandra Van Der Auwera, Anbupalam Thalamuthu, David S Knopman, Igor Rudan, John M Starr, Katharina Wittfeld, Nicole A Kochan, Michael E Griswold, Veronique Vitart, Henry Brodaty, Rebecca Gottesman, Simon R Cox, Bruce M Psaty, Eric Boerwinkle, Daniel I Chasman, Francine Grodstein, Perminder S Sachdev, Velandai Srikanth, Caroline Hayward, James F Wilson, Johan G Eriksson, Sharon L R Kardia, Hans J Grabe, David A Bennett, M Arfan Ikram, Ian J Deary, Cornelia M Van Duijn, Lenore Launer, Annette L Fitzpatrick, Sudha Seshadri, Jan Bressler, Stephanie Debette, Thomas H Mosley

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Uncovering the functional relevance underlying verbal declarative memory (VDM) genome-wide association study (GWAS) results may facilitate the development of interventions to reduce age-related memory decline and dementia.

METHODS: We performed multi-omics and pathway enrichment analyses of paragraph (PAR-dr) and word list (WL-dr) delayed recall GWAS from 29,076 older non-demented individuals of European descent. We assessed the relationship between single-variant associations and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in 44 tissues and methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs) in the hippocampus. We determined the relationship between gene associations and transcript levels in 53 tissues, annotation as immune genes, and regulation by transcription …

Reducing Risk For Chronic Disease: Evaluation Of A Collective Community Approach To Sustainable Evidence-Based Health Programming, Katherine Treiman, Karen Basen-Engquist, Trina Rodriguez, Catherine Chennisi, Amber Macneish, Alise Neff, Mike Pomeroy, Faiyaz A Bhojani, Ernest Hawk

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Community initiatives can shape health behaviors, such as physical activity and dietary habits, across a population and help reduce the risk of developing chronic disease. to achieve this goal and impact health outcomes, Pasadena Vibrant Community aimed to engage communities in an ongoing dialogue about the importance of healthy behaviors, implement and advance community-based strategies to promote health, and improve diet and physical activity behaviors. The initiative was centered around a collaboration between a backbone organization, steering committee, and 7 collaborating organizations funded to implement multicomponent, evidence-based programs.. The common agenda was detailed in a community action plan, which …

Performance Of Automated Machine Learning In Predicting Outcomes Of Pneumatic Retinopexy, Arina Nisanova, Arefeh Yavary, Jordan Deaner, Ferhina Ali, Priyanka Gogte, Richard Kaplan, Kevin Chen, Eric Nudleman, Dilraj Grewal, Meenakashi Gupta, Jeremy Wolfe, Michael Klufas, Glenn Yiu, Iman Soltani, Parisa Emami-Naeini

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

PURPOSE: Automated machine learning (AutoML) has emerged as a novel tool for medical professionals lacking coding experience, enabling them to develop predictive models for treatment outcomes. This study evaluated the performance of AutoML tools in developing models predicting the success of pneumatic retinopexy (PR) in treatment of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). These models were then compared with custom models created by machine learning (ML) experts.

DESIGN: Retrospective multicenter study.

PARTICIPANTS: Five hundred and thirty nine consecutive patients with primary RRD that underwent PR by a vitreoretinal fellow at 6 training hospitals between 2002 and 2022.

METHODS: We used 2 AutoML …

The Hiv/Aids Epidemic In Miami: Perspectives Of Stakeholders And Frontline Providers, Tracy Pugh, Carrigan L. Parish, Pedro C. Castellon, Allan Rodriguez, Michael A. Kolber, Lisa R. Metsch

Florida Public Health Review

Background: Miami, Florida persists as an epicenter of HIV/AIDS nationally and has been more delayed than other areas with high HIV burden in implementing public health measures that mitigate transmission risk. These issues among other social and structural-level determinants have complicated progress in addressing HIV/AIDS in Miami.

Purpose: The stagnated progress in improving HIV outcomes in Miami necessitated a more comprehensive understanding of the experiences and insights of stakeholders within the system. We used a stakeholder analysis approach to understand the complexity of driving factors and key challenges facing this HIV epidemic.

Methods: A stakeholder analysis was conducted …

Trends In The Utilization Of Metabolic And Bariatric Surgery (Mbs) Procedures By Race And Ethnicity In Florida (2006-2017), Siyao Liu, Sarah E. Messiah, Denise C. Vidot, Preesha Malladi, Wayway M. Hlaing

Florida Public Health Review

Abstract

Metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) is an increasingly common treatment option for individuals with severe obesity, but utilization disparities remain with race and ethnic minority groups completing the procedure less frequently than non-Hispanic Whites. We examined the trends in MBS procedure types and prevalence of utilization by race and ethnicity among Florida inpatients.

Discharge records with any MBS using the International Classification of Diseases 9th or 10th edition Procedure Coding System (ICD-PCS), were extracted from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) inpatients’ data (2006 to 2017). Those who completed either Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB), Sleeve Gastrectomy …

Pilot Implementation Of A Nutrition-Focused Community-Health-Worker Intervention Among Formerly Chronically Homeless Adults In Permanent Supportive Housing, Farrah Hmaidan, Clara Smith, Eva Thibaudeau-Graczyk, Shreela V Sharma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Food insecurity is a known health equity threat for formerly chronically homeless populations even after they transition into permanent housing. This project utilized a human-centered design methodology to plan and implement a nutrition-focused community-health-worker (CHW) intervention in permanent supportive housing (PSH). The project aimed to increase access to healthy foods, improve nutritional literacy, healthy cooking/eating practices, and build community/social connectedness among 140 PSH residents. Validated food-security screening conducted by CHWs identified low or very low food security among 64% of 83 residents who completed the baseline survey, which is similar to rates found in a previous study among formerly homeless …