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On David Koplow's Smallpox: The Fight To Eradicate A Global Scourge, Lisa Donovan, David Alan Sapp

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The world is free from the variola virus, more commonly known to us as the virus responsible for smallpox -- or at least it is almost free from it. Since the World Health Organization's (WHO) successful eradication campaign ended officially on December 9, 1979, smallpox no longer exists in its natural state, yet it does remain in securely isolated freezers in two locations: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facility in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Russian State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology near Novosibirsk. In Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge, David Koplow …

Sibling Death In Childhood: An Evaluation Of The Literature Regarding Inclusion Of Minority Cultures, 1990–2002, Joyce Kay L. Cherry

Community & Environmental Health Theses & Dissertations

This evaluation seeks to determine the extent to which the professional literature concerning bereaved children in the United States includes African American, Hispanic American, and Asian American children whose siblings have died in childhood.

A literature search identifies 58 articles, published between 1990 and 2002, concerning children under age 19 living in the United States whose siblings have died. Articles are sorted by time frame and classified by type. There are 31 descriptive articles consisting of five literature reviews, five commentaries, five case studies, and 16 narratives; there are 27 research articles. Analysis determines the extent to which race, culture, …

Breast Cancer - Preventive Care And Screening Patterns Among Hispanic Women In The Rio Grande Valley, Sreelatha Gobburu

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Although breast cancer rates are lower among Hispanic women than among white women, Hispanics are more likely to die from this disease. This may be related to the fact that Hispanic women are less likely to practice preventive care methods such as Breast Self Exam (BSE) and Mammography. Cultural beliefs and attitudes about diseases play a significant role in Hispanic health behavior. Access to and availability of medical services, affective reactions towards cancer screening and treatment methods, and socioeconomic and demographic factors are stronger determinants of health care practices of Hispanic women. This study examines screening patterns of Hispanic women …

Exercise And Physical Activity In The Prevention And Treatment Of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: A Statement From The Council On Clinical Cardiology (Subcommittee On Exercise, Rehabilitation, And Prevention) And The Council On Nutrition, Physical Activity, And Metabolism (Subcommittee On Physical Activity), Paul D. Thompson, David Buchner, Ileana L. Piña, Gary J. Balady, Mark A. Williams, Bess H. Marcus, Kathy Berra, Steven N. Blair, Fernando Costa, Barry Franklin, Gerald F. Fletcher, Neil F. Gordon, Russell R. Pate, Beatriz L. Rodriguez, Antronette K. Yancey, Nanette K. Wenger

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

41 Year-Old Male Dies After Being Struck In The Head With An Auger, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

On October 23, 2002, a 41 year-old male (decedent) died after he was hit in the head with the handle of an auger. He was part of a four-member work crew tying water lines of private residences into a municipal water line. He was injured while backing the auger out of the hole and the handle became tangled with the rotating auger bit which caused the handle to flip up and strike him in the head, twice. After being struck, with co-workers following him trying to convince him to sit down, he walked away from the site until emergency rescue …

21 Year-Old Male Dies When Struck In The Head With A Track Hoe Bucket, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

On November 22, 2002, a 21-year-old male laborer died after being hit in the head with the bucket of a track hoe. He was wearing a safety helmet at the time of the incident. There were six to seven workers at the job site when the incident occurred. The work crew was pouring the footing for a retaining wall as part of a bridge for a private runway being built. The concrete form collapsed, trapping one worker and almost trapping two others. The decedent had left to retrieve a shovel to help free the trapped co-worker. As he retrieved the …

Temporal Stability And Geographic Variation In Cumulative Case Fatality Rates And Average Doubling Times Of Sars Epidemics, Alison P. Galvani, Xiudong Lei, Nicholas P. Jewell

U.C. Berkeley Division of Biostatistics Working Paper Series

We analyze temporal stability and geographic trends in cumulative case fatality rates and average doubling times of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). In part, we account for correlations between case fatality rates and doubling times through differences in control measures. We discuss factors that may alter future estimates of case fatality rates. We also discuss reasons for heterogeneity in doubling times among countries and the implications for the control of SARS in different countries and parameterization of epidemic models.

Filling The Gaps In Physician Communication. The Role Of The Internet Among Primary Care Patients, Chris N. Sciamanna, Melissa Clark, Joseph Diaz, Stephanie Newton

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND:

Millions of people use the Internet as a source for health information yet little is understood about how the use of the Internet for health information is related to the doctor-patient relationship.

OBJECTIVE:

We conducted the present study to understand the association between one’s interest in using the Internet for general and quality-oriented health information and attitudes about one’s communications with health care provider(s).

DESIGN:

Cross-sectional survey.

SETTING:

Four community-based primary care practices in Rhode Island.

MEASUREMENTS:

A single self-administered survey included items to measure: interest in using the Internet to look for general and quality-oriented information and a …

Hispanic Worker Dies In Tractor Rollover, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

On May 31, 2002, a 25 year-old Hispanic worker (decedent) died when the gasoline-powered tractor he was operating overturned. The incident occurred when the decedent mowed a steep embankment along a rural roadside which caused the tractor to flip over a 3-strand, barbed wire fence, pinning the operator under the seat and tire. A passing motorist noticed the overturned tractor and notified 911, emergency services. Local police and fire departments arrived at the scene, as did a local ambulance. The coroner arrived and declared the tractor operator dead due to asphyxiation and crushing injuries to the chest.

• Tractors should be …

A New Confidence Interval For The Difference Between Two Binomial Proportions Of Paired Data, Xiao-Hua Zhou, Gengsheng Qin

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Motivated by a study on comparing sensitivities and specificities of two diagnostic tests in a paired design when the sample size is small, we first derived an Edgeworth expansion for the studentized difference between two binomial proportions of paired data. The Edgeworth expansion can help us understand why the usual Wald interval for the difference has poor coverage performance in the small sample size. Based on the Edgeworth expansion, we then derived a transformation based confidence interval for the difference. The new interval removes the skewness in the Edgeworth expansion; the new interval is easy to compute, and its coverage …

Commencement Program 2003, Loma Linda University

Commencement Programs

CONTENTS

2 | 2003 Events of Commencement

3 | The Academic Procession

4 | Significance of Academic Regalia

5 | The Speakers

12 | The University Honorees

21 | The School Honorees

29 | The Programs

• School of Medicine, 30
• School of Dentistry, 37
• Graduate School, 45
• School of Nursing, 55
• School of Allied Health Professions - Physical Therapy, 60
• School of Allied Health Professions, 68
• School of Public Health, 77

Long-Term Care: Informed By Research, Francis G. Caro

Gerontology Institute Publications

Health services research has contributed to health policy and service developments that have led to major improvements in the quality of long-term care in the United States. This policy brief highlights a few areas in which publicly and privately funded research has informed the long-term care field.

Cancer In Louisiana: 1996-2000, Volume 17, Louisiana Tumor Registry, Catherine N. Correa, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Patricia A. Andrews, Mei-Chin Hsieh, Vivien W. Chen

Policy & Position Papers

Mission:

To collect and report complete, high-quality, and timely population-based cancer data in Louisiana to support cancer research, control, and prevention.

Vision:

To reduce suffering and death from cancer using information collected by the Louisiana Tumor Registry.

History:

Cancer registration in Louisiana began in 1947 at the Charity Hospital Tumor Registry in New Orleans. In 1974, as part of its Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program, the National Cancer Institute provided funds for a population-based cancer incidence and survival registry covering Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard parishes. Five years later, the Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) was transferred to the …

United Power For Action And Justice: Breaking The Cycle Of Homelessness Reports - Policy Brief, Center For Urban Research And Learning, Christine George, Chiara Sabina, Aparna Sharma

Center for Urban Research and Learning: Publications and Other Works

This is a story of two groups of determined people with intersecting interests. Group one: a dozen leaders within United Power for Action and Justice who set out to prove their conviction, that homelessness is one symptom of a complex of issues that destabilizes individuals and communities. Group two: persons who are homeless and struggle daily to “fit in” to a landscape that is, more and more, structured to shut them out. In 2000, a cluster of leaders within United Power organized member institutions in the north and northwest suburbs of Chicago, and initiated a relationship with Congressman John Porter …

The Role Of Health Promotion In Physical Therapy, Brenda L. Rea

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate physical therapy practice patterns in four focus areas of Healthy People 2010 (focus area #6, disability and secondary conditions by looking at psychological well-being; focus area #19, nutrition and overweight; focus area #22, physical fitness and activity; focus area #27, tobacco use) and identify self-efficacy and outcome expectations related to those practice patterns across California, New York and Tennessee using Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory as a framework. It was hypothesized that physical therapists’ self-efficacy and outcome expectations in the four focus areas of Healthy People 2010 would be significantly associated with …

Care Management For Persistent Pain: An Introduction, Christine W. Hartmann, Neil I. Goldfarb, Susan S. Kim, Bhaskar R. Nuthulaganti, Raafat Seifeldin

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

Persistent pain is a frequently occurring condition with significant economic, clinical, and humanistic implications, for both individuals and society. Current literature, however, points to unresolved issues with regard to its identification, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment, and a number of suggestions have been made for improving the quality of care for pain sufferers. Because persistent pain shares many of the salient features of other chronic conditions such as diabetes and congestive heart failure, it is reasonable to believe that the adoption of a coordinated approach to care management could substantially improve the quality of care. Several strategiesincluding identification, appropriate referral, education, …

Residency Program At Michael E Debakey Department Of Surgery, Baylor College Of Medicine, F Charles Brunicardi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Doing It Rite: Exploring A Decade Of Health Coverage Innovation (Rhode Island), Jennifer Ryan, Ginger P. Parra

National Health Policy Forum

This site visit to the state of Rhode Island provided an opportunity to experience and understand the decade of health coverage innovation that has resulted in near universal coverage for children. Site visitors had the opportunity to interact with health care providers, state officials, and consumer advocates, as well as other leaders in health care community. The group also visited the Thundermist Health Center in Woonsocket; a school based health clinic at Woonsocket High School; the HELP Lead Safe Center in South Providence; and a local provider, St. Joseph’s Hospital for Specialty Care, that houses several preventive care clinics and …

Identifying Target Populations For Screening Or Not Screening Using Logic Regression, Holly Janes, Margaret S. Pepe, Charles Kooperberg, Polly Newcomb

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Colorectal cancer remains a significant public health concern despite the fact that effective screening procedures exist and that the disease is treatable when detected at early stages. Numerous risk factors for colon cancer have been identified, but none are very predictive alone. We sought to determine whether there are certain combinations of risk factors that distinguish well between cases and controls, and that could be used to identify subjects at particularly high or low risk of the disease to target screening. Using data from the Seattle site of the Colorectal Cancer Family Registry (C-CFR), we fit logic regression models to …

Improved Confidence Intervals For The Sensitivity At A Fixed Level Of Specificity Of A Continuous-Scale Diagnostic Test, Xiao-Hua Zhou, Gengsheng Qin

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

For a continuous-scale test, it is an interest to construct a confidence interval for the sensitivity of the diagnostic test at the cut-off that yields a predetermined level of its specificity (eg. 80%, 90%, or 95%). IN this paper we proposed two new intervals for the sensitivity of a continuous-scale diagnostic test at a fixed level of specificity. We then conducted simulation studies to compare the relative performance of these two intervals with the best existing BCa bootstrap interval, proposed by Platt et al. (2000). Our simulation results showed that the newly proposed intervals are better than the BCa bootstrap …

Bootstrap Confidence Intervals For Medical Costs With Censored Observations, Hongyu Jiang, Xiao-Hua Zhou

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Medical costs data with administratively censored observations often arise in cost-effectiveness studies of treatments for life threatening diseases. Mean of medical costs incurred from the start of a treatment till death or certain timepoint after the implementation of treatment is frequently of interest. In many situations, due to the skewed nature of the cost distribution and non-uniform rate of cost accumulation over time, the currently available normal approximation confidence interval has poor coverage accuracy. In this paper, we proposed a bootstrap confidence interval for the mean of medical costs with censored observations. In simulation studies, we showed that the proposed …

Disease Management To Population-Based Health: Steps In The Right Direction?, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief reviews the evolution of the disease management model and the ways it relates to care coordination and case management approaches. It also looks at examples of population-based disease management programs operating in both the private and public sectors and reviews the evidence of their success. Finally, the paper considers the policy implications of adapting this model to a Medicare fee-for-service population.

A Bootstrap Confidence Interval Procedure For The Treatment Effect Using Propensity Score Subclassification, Wanzhu Tu, Xiao-Hua Zhou

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

In the analysis of observational studies, propensity score subclassification has been shown to be a powerful method for adjusting unbalanced covariates for the purpose of causal inferences. One practical difficulty in carrying out such an analysis is to obtain a correct variance estimate for such inferences, while reducing bias in the estimate of the treatment effect due to an imbalance in the measured covariates. In this paper, we propose a bootstrap procedure for the inferences concerning the average treatment effect; our bootstrap method is based on an extension of Efron’s bias-corrected accelerated (BCa) bootstrap confidence interval to a two-sample problem. …

Development Of Dose Coefficients For Radionuclides Produced In Spallation Neutron Sources, Phillip W. Patton

Transmutation Sciences Physics (TRP)

A research consortium comprised of representatives from several universities and national laboratories has been established as part of this on-going project to generate internal and external dose conversion coefficients for radionuclides produced in spallation neutron sources. Information obtained from this multi-year study will be used to support the siting and licensing of future accelerator-driven nuclear initiatives within the U.S. Department of Energy complex, including the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) Projects. Determination of these coefficients will also fill data gaps for several hundred radionuclides that exist in Federal Guide Report No. 11 and in …

Medicaid Prescription Drug Coverage: State Efforts To Control Costs, Dawn Gencarelli

National Health Policy Forum

This paper provides a brief summary of the Medicaid prescription drug benefit. It explains the mechanisms being used by states to control their prescription drug spending within the Medicaid program. The paper also highlights some of the concerns that have been expressed with these mechanisms and the litigation that has been initiated in several states as a result of these efforts. It takes a closer look at three states with cost containment strategies that have been the focus of increased scrutiny.

Patterns Of Cocaine Consumption: A Sub-Analysis Of The Drugnet Survey, Nivedita Seerpi

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The myths and misconceptions that surround cocaine use lead to the over-estimation of the prevalence of cocaine addiction in society. Health education curricula and drug policy do not differentiate between cocaine use and abuse. This study describes the cocaine consumption patterns in a nonclinical, non-incarcerated sample of cocaine users. The resulting patterns are compared to those found by Cohen (1989) and Cohen and Sas (1993, 1994, 1995). DRUGNET is an online survey of recreational drug use by nondeviant adults via the WWW. Self-selected subjects completed a survey over the Internet between February and October 1997 (N= 701). This sample was …

The Ignored Disease: The Aids Epidemic 1981–1987, Heather L. Graff, Heather Graff Bloom

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Less than six months after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States, the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reported pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, in five gay men. In the United States, AIDS was first diagnosed among gay men in New York City and San Francisco. There were several media trends for AIDS coverage in the 1980s. In the early 1980s, AIDS was mainly thought of as a gay-related disease. In the mid- l 980s, AIDS cases were found in hemophiliacs, intravenous drug users and "celebrities." Coverage in the late 1980s focused on heterosexuals and …

Association Of Borrelia Garinii And B. Valaisiana With Songbirds In Slovakia, Klara Hanincova, Veronika Taragelova, Juraj Koci, Stefanie M. Schafer, Rosie Hails, Amy J. Ullmann, Joseph Piesman, Milan Labuda, Klaus Kurtenbach

United States Public Health Resources

In Europe, 6 of the 11 genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato are prevalent in questing Ixodes ricinus ticks. In most parts of Central Europe, B. afzelii, B. garinii, and B. valaisiana are the most frequent species, whereas B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, B. bissettii, and B. lusitaniae are rare. Previously, it has been shown that B. afzelii is associated with European rodents. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify reservoir hosts of B. garinii and B. valaisiana in Slovakia. Songbirds were captured in a woodland near Bratislava and investigated for engorged ticks. Questing I. ricinus ticks …

Nevada "Nurselessness": An Acute Or Chronic Condition? An Examination Of The Etiology And Possible Treatment Alternatives, Jeanine Warren-Newmon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Data released by the Department of Health and Human Services in February, 2001, revealed that Nevada has the lowest number of registered nurses per 100,000 population in the nation. The state’s population is growing faster than the nursing programs are currently able to produce new graduates. Current predictions are that the existing nursing shortage will become more severe and have a longer duration than has ever before been experienced. While there may not be one single identifiable causative factor, the aging nursing workforce, low unemployment, and the universal nature of the shortage magnify the problem. This paper focuses on the …

Co-Operation In Health And Safety: A Game Theory Analysis, Sylvie Nadeau

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Health and safety managers face complex challenges in today’s production environments. They are confronted with increasingly flexible, autonomous and polyvalent contexts. Asymmetry of information on the workplace is widespread because various intervening parties rely on information lacking conformity. Social partners generate and use information which supports or benefits their pursuit of differing goals. Ascertaining and controlling this information can prove both difficult and costly. When addressing health and safety issues, one intervening partner alters or changes behavior in response to changes introduced by the other side. Strategic behaviors result, based on post-contract opportunism (moral hazard) and alliances with partners …