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Using Mobile Phones To Improve Community Health Workers Performance In Low-And-Middle-Income Countries, Anam Shahil Feroz, Rawshan Jabeen, Sarah Saleem

Community Health Sciences

Background: In low-and-middle-income countries community health workers are the core component of the PHC system as they act as a liaison between the communities and the healthcare facilities. Evidence suggests that the services offered by these workers have helped in the decline of maternal and child morbidity and mortality rates and the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. However, the coverage and the overall progress towards achieving the SDG targets is very sluggish. The recent consensus concerning this current pace of progress, is that it relates to financial and human resources constraints. CHWs are overburdened as they are expected to …

A Novel Histological Index For Evaluation Of Environmental Enteric Dysfunction Identifies Geographic-Specific Features Of Enteropathy Among Children With Suboptimal Growth, Ta-Chiang Liu, Kelley Vanbuskirk, Syed Asad Ali, M. Paul Kelly, Lori R. Holtz, Omer H. Yilmaz, Kamran Sadiq, Najeeha Talat Iqbal, Beatrice Amadi, Sana Syed

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: A major limitation to understanding the etiopathogenesis of environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is the lack of a comprehensive, reproducible histologic framework for characterizing the small bowel lesions. We hypothesized that the development of such a system will identify unique histology features for EED, and that some features might correlate with clinical severity.
Methods: Duodenal endoscopic biopsies from two cohorts where EED is prevalent (Pakistan, Zambia) and North American children with and without gluten sensitive enteropathy (GSE) were processed for routine hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) staining, and scanned to produce whole slide images (WSIs) which we shared among study pathologists …

Older Adults Hospitalized For Pneumonia In The United States: Incidence, Epidemiology, And Outcomes., Forest W. Arnold, Andrea Reyes-Vega, Vidyulata Salunkhe, Stephen P. Furmanek, Christian Furman, Laura Morton, Anna Johan Faul, Pam Yankeelov, Julio A. Ramirez

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

OBJECTIVES: To define the current incidence, epidemiology, and mortality of older adult patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in Louisville, KY and thus estimate the burden of CAP in the older adult population of the United States. To define risk factors associated with early and late outcomes. DESIGN: This was a secondary analysis of older adults (aged ≥65 years) from the University of Louisville Pneumonia Study, a prospective population-based cohort study of all hospitalized adults with CAP between June 1, 2014, and May 31, 2016. SETTING: The study took place in all nine acute care hospitals for adults in Louisville, …

Prenatal Choline Supplementation During High-Fat Feeding Improves Long-Term Blood Glucose Control In Male Mouse Offspring, Hunter W. Korsmo, Kaydine Edwards, Bhoomi Dave, Chauntelle Jack-Roberts, Huanling Yu, Anjana Saxena, Marie Salvador, Moshe Dembitzer, Jaskomal Phagoora, Xinyin Jiang

Publications and Research

Maternal obesity increases the risk of metabolic dysregulation in rodent offspring, especially when offspring are exposed to a high-fat (HF), obesogenic diet later in life. We previously demonstrated that maternal choline supplementation (MCS) in HF-fed mouse dams during gestation prevents fetal overgrowth and excess adiposity. In this study, we examined the long-term metabolic influence of MCS. C57BL/6J mice were fed a HF diet with or without choline supplementation prior to and during gestation. After weaning, their pups were exposed to either a HF or control diet for 6 weeks before measurements. Prenatal and post-weaning dietary treatments led to sexually dimorphic …

Leveraging The Power Of Mutual Aid, Coalitions, Leadership, And Advocacy During Covid-19, Daniela Domínguez, Dellanira García, David A. Martínez, Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga

Psychology

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the norms, patterns, and power structures in the United States that privilege certain groups of people over others. This manuscript describes COVID-19 as an unprecedented catalyst for social transformation that underscores the need for multi-level and cross-sectoral solutions to address systemic changes to improve health equity for all. The authors propose that the American Psychological Association and its membership can initiate systemic change, in part, by: (a) supporting mutual aid organizations that prioritize the needs of vulnerable communities; (b) leveraging the efforts and strides APA psychologists have already made within the association, in …

Utilization Of Dental Services Among Medicaid Enrolled Pregnant Women In Virginia, Shillpa Naavaal, Tegwyn Brickhouse, Jonathan W. Yu, Joann Wells

Philips Institute for Oral Health Research Publications

The study evaluated the impact of the Virginia Medicaid dental benefit on dental services utilization among pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid. Data from a total of 10,395 women who had at least one dental claim during the 2015-2017 period were included in the study. The number of dental visits and dental services utilized per person grew from an average of 2.2 visits and 7 services in 2015 to 3.1 visits and 10.5 services in 2017, respectively. In 2017, of all dental services used, 6% were for preventive services and 59% were for treatment services. Continued efforts and targeted interventions are …

Insulin Resistance And Cancer-Specific And All-Cause Mortality In Postmenopausal Women: The Women's Health Initiative, K. Pan, R. A. Nelson, J. Wactawski-Wende, D. J. Lee, J. A. Manson, A. K. Aragaki, J. E. Mortimer, L. S. Phillips, G. Y. Ho, R. T. Chlebowski, +6 Additional Authors

Journal Articles

© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected]. BACKGROUND: Insulin resistance has been proposed as a mediator of the increased cancer incidence and mortality associated with obesity. However, prior studies included limited cancer deaths and had inconsistent findings. Therefore, we evaluated insulin resistance and cancer-specific and all-cause mortality in postmenopausal women participating in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). METHODS: Eligible were a subsample of 22 837 WHI participants aged 50-79 years enrolled at 40 US clinical centers from 1993 to 1998 who had baseline fasting glucose and insulin levels. Baseline insulin …

Survival Of A Serotype 4b Strain And A Serotype 1/2a Strain Of Listeria T Monocytogenes, Isolated From A Stone Fruit Outbreak Investigation, On Whole Stone Fruit At 4 °C, Antonio J. De Jesus, Ishani Sheth, Hee Jin Kwon, Zhujun Gao, Jessica Palmer, Minji Hur, Thomas S. Hammack, Dumitru Macarisin, Yi Chen

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

In the summer of 2014, a multistate outbreak of listeriosis associated with contaminated stone fruit (peach and nectarine) was reported. A serotype 4b variant Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) strain of singleton Sequence Type (ST) 382 was isolated from clinical samples and stone fruit associated with the outbreak. A serotype 1/2b Lm strain of ST5, Clonal Complex 5 was isolated only from outbreak-associated stone fruit, not from clinical samples. Here we investigated the fate of the serotype 4b and 1/2b strains, at two inoculation levels (high level at 3.7 logCFU/fruit and low level at 2.7 logCFU/fruit), on the surfaces of white peach, …

Adult Perceptions Of The Relative Harm Of Tobacco Products And Subsequent T Tobacco Product Use: Longitudinal Findings From Waves 1 And 2 Of The Population Assessment Of Tobacco And Health (Path) Study, Tara Elton-Marshall, Pete Driezen, Geoffrey T. Fong, K. Michael Cummings, Alexander Persoskie, Olivia Wackowski, Kelvin Choi, Annette Kaufman, David Strong, Shannon Gravely, Kristie Kristie, Jonathan Kwan, Maansi Bansal-Travers, Mark Travers, Andrew Hyland

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

Objectives: To examine: (1) How perceptions of harm for seven non-cigarette tobacco products predict sub- sequent use; (2) How change in use is associated with changes in perceptions of product harm; (3) Whether sociodemographic variables moderate the association between perceptions and use.

Methods: Data are from the adult sample (18+) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, a nationally representative longitudinal cohort survey conducted September 2013-December 2014 (Wave 1 (W1) n = 32,320) and October 2014-October 2015 (Wave 2 (W2) n = 28,362).

Results: Wave 1 users and non-users of e-cigarettes, filtered cigars, cigarillos, and pipes, who …

An Evaluation Of The Usda's Policy To Reduce Listeria Illnesses In Ready‐To‐Eat Meat And Poultry Products, Travis Minor, Matt Parrett

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

Using 1998–2008 data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on foodborne illnesses and outbreaks, we examine the economic impact of the United States Department of Agriculture's proposed and final rules to reduce the incidence of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in ready‐to‐ eat meat and poultry products. Using a difference‐in‐ differences approach, we find that these rules together reduced meat‐related Lm illnesses by about 60 per year, which we attribute to reductions in both the number and average size of meat‐related Lm outbreaks. We then monetize this illness reduction using an underreporting and underdiagnosis multiplier of 2.3 and an …

Genomics-Based Re-Examination Of The Taxonomy And Phylogeny Of Human And Simian Mastadenoviruses: An Evolving Whole Genomes Approach, Revealing Putative Zoonosis, Anthroponosis, And Amphizoonosis, June Kang, Ashrafali Mohamed Ismail, Shoaleh Dehghan, Jaya Rajaiya, Marc W. Allard, Haw Chuan Lim, David W. Dyer, James Chodosh, Donald Seto

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

With the advent of high-resolution and cost-effective genomics and bioinformatics tools and methods contributing to a large database of both human (HAdV) and simian (SAdV) adenoviruses, a genomics-based re-evaluation of their taxonomy is warranted. Interest in these particular adenoviruses is growing in part due to the applications of both in gene transfer protocols, including gene therapy and vaccines, as well in oncolytic protocols. In particular, the re-evaluation of SAdVs as appropriate vectors in humans is important as zoonosis precludes the assumption that human immune system may be na€ıve to these vectors. Additionally, as impor- tant pathogens, adenoviruses are a model …

The Impact Of The Abuse-Deterrent Reformulation Of Extended-Release T Oxycontin On Prescription Pain Reliever Misuse And Heroin Initiation, Carolyn Wolff, William N. Dowd, Mir M. Ali, Chandler Mcclellan, Angelica Meinhofer, Lukas Glos, Ryan Mutter, Matthew Rosenberg, Andreas Schikc

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

The introduction of abuse-deterrent OxyContin in 2010 was intended to reduce its misuse by making it more tamper resistant. However, some studies have suggested that this reformulation might have had unintended consequences, such as increases in heroin-related deaths. We used the 2005–2014 cross-sectional U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health to explore the impact of this reformulation on intermediate outcomes that precede heroin-related deaths for individuals with a history of OxyContin misuse. Our study sample consisted of adults who misused any prescription pain reliever prior to the reformulation of OxyContin (n = 81,400). Those who misused OxyContin prior to …

Development Of A Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Nachr Α7 Binding Activity Prediction Model, Sugunadevi Sakkiah, Carmine Leggett, Bohu Pan, Wenjing Guo, Luis G. Valerio Jr., Huixiao Hong

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

Despite the well-known adverse health effects associated with tobacco use, addiction to nicotine found in tobacco products causes difficulty in quitting among users. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are the physiological targets of nicotine and facilitate addiction to tobacco products. The nAChR-α7 subtype plays an important role in addiction; therefore, predicting the binding activity of tobacco constituents to nAChR-α7 is an important component for assessing addictive potential of tobacco constituents. We developed an α7 binding activity prediction model based on a large training data set of 843 chemicals with human α7 binding activity data extracted from PubChem and ChEMBL. The model …

Full Issue-- Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020, Issue 1 Volume 3

Pursue: Undergraduate Research Journal

PURSUE: Undergraduate Research Journal

Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020

Article 1 - Harvesting Electrical Energy Produced by Electrogenic Bacteria in Microbial Fuel Cells

Article 2 – The Effects of Fertilizer Rate on the Growth of Egyptian Spinach in a Greenhouse

Article 3 – Exploring the Association Between Nutrition and Mental Health in Adolescence: A Systematic Literature Review

Article 4— Biological Pathways Associated with Wild and Domestic Animals

Association Between Sports Participation And Levels Of Physical Fitness, Jordan Italiano

Scholarship in Medicine - All Papers

Objective: Physical activity is a major component of overall health, especially in children. Increased physical activity in children provides many health benefits, and organized sports provide a great opportunity to meet the physical activity recommendations. In fact, participation in organized sports provides further health advantages, such as lower BMIs, compared to those who engaged in self organized physical activity and has shown to promote continued healthy habits throughout life. However, there has not been research looking at which sports are associated with the greatest level of fitness and provide the greatest health benefit for participants. In this study, we examine …

Covid-19’S Effects On New York City’S Food System: Lessons For Public Health Responses, Nevin Cohen, Nicholas Freudenberg

Publications and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted food availability and affordability and changed the daily food practices of New Yorkers. Eleven surveys of samples of 1,000 New York City adults from March 13 through June 28 illustrate three effects on food access and food insecurity: (1) closing restaurants, schools, and other sources of prepared foods reduced access and changed shopping patterns, food expenditures, and diets; (2) economic disruption exacerbated food insecurity and increased demand for food assistance; and (3) altered food practices affected diets and health. These impacts were disproportionately borne by vulnerable populations. This paper reports survey responses illustrating the effects of …

Long-Term Negative Emotional Outcomes Of Warzone Tbi, Jennifer J. Vasterling, Mihaela Aslan, Susan P. Proctor, John Ko, Xenia Leviyah, John Concato

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

Objective: Many veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have experienced traumatic brain injury (TBI). Although prior work has examined associations between TBI and development of psychi- atric syndromes, less is known about associations between TBI and component emotions constituting these syndromes, especially in the long term. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term emotional consequences of deployment-related TBI.

Methods: As part of VA Cooperative Studies Program #566, we assessed a sample of n1⁄4456US Army soldiers prior to an index deployment to Iraq, and again an average of 8.3 years (SD1⁄42.4years) after their deployment for a long-term …

Vitamin D Levels In Relation To Low Back Pain During Adolescence, Abdullah Al-Taiar, Abdur Rahman, Lemia Shaban, Anwar H. Albaloul, Sean Banaee, Muge Akpinar-Elci

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

This study aimed to investigate the association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) level and low back pain (LBP) among adolescents while adjusting for potential confounders pertinent to this age group including the weight of school bags, BMI and physical activity. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 760 randomly selected adolescents in middle schools. Data on LBP and the risk factors for LBP were collected from parents by a self-administered questionnaire and from adolescents by face-to-face interview. Blood samples were tested in an accredited laboratory; and 25(OH)D was measured using liquid chromatography-tandem MS. The lifetime prevalence and the 6-month prevalence of LBP …

Prenatal Perception Of Wic Breastfeeding Recommendation Affects First Month Postpartum Breastfeeding Outcomes, Qi Zhang, Lamichhane Rajan, Joanne Guthrie

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Association Between Usage Of An App To Redeem Prescribed Food Benefits And Redemption Behaviors Among The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants, And Children Participants: Cross-Sectional Study, Qi Zhang, Junzhou Zhang, Kayoung Park, Chuanyi Tang

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is one of the most important food assistance programs in the United States, serving 6.4 million low-income, eligible women, infants, and children under 5 years of age in 2019. In the program, participants are prescribed a list of food benefits, which can be redeemed in WIC-authorized stores. However, there are multiple behavioral barriers in the program and the stores that prevent participants from redeeming the benefits fully.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the relationship between the use of a widely used mobile phone app, WICShopper, and the …

Evaluation Of Global Health Capacity Building Initiatives In Low-And Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review, Hady Naal, Maria El Koussa, Melissa El Hamouch, Layal Hneiny, Shadi Saeh

Faculty Publications

Background Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are in dire need to improve their health outcomes. Although Global Health Capacity Building (GHCB) initiatives are recommended approaches, they risk being ineffective in the absence of standardized evaluation methods. This study systematically reviews evaluation approaches for GHCB initiatives in LMICs. Methods We searched the Medline (OVID), PubMed, Scopus, and Embase.com databases for studies reporting evaluation of a GHCB initiative in a LMIC from January 1, 2009 until August 15, 2019. To differentiate them from intervention, prevention, and awareness initiatives, included articles reported at least one approach to evaluate their learning modality. We excluded …

The Relationship Between Upstream Variables And Diabetes In Ohio, Brenna Lammers

Scholarship in Medicine - All Papers

Chronic illness is a significant contributor to disease burden in the US. Among these chronic conditions, diabetes is one of the most prevalent. Knowing the relationships between various factors and the prevalence of diabetes would be beneficial to creating targeted approaches to address this major public health problem. Therefore, the objective of this project was to elucidate the relationship between social determinants of health (unemployment, food environment index, and access to exercise opportunities) and access to care variables (ratio of population to primary care physicians and percent uninsured) with prevalence of diabetes by county in Ohio. This was done through …

Ua12/4 Student Affairs Health Services, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by Health Services.

Formative Work To Design A Digital Learning Self-Assessment And Feedback Tool To Prevent Weight Gain Among College Students, M.A Napolitano, S.B. Lynch, M.N. Mavredes, B.D. Shambon, L. Posey

Health Sciences Education Research

Objective: While colleges have implemented brief, tailored interventions for health-risk areas such as alcohol prevention, theoretically-guided digital learning offerings for weight gain prevention have lagged behind in programming and implementation. Thus, the objective was to design and usability test a weight gain prevention digital learning platform for college students with modules targeting key nutrition and physical activity behaviors. Methods: Development occurred in iterative phases: formative research, descriptive normative data collection, prototype development, and usability testing. Formative research consisted of background work and survey administration to incoming and current freshmen. Prototype development was guided by theories of behavior change and cognitive …

Nutrition And Health Status Of Hemodialysis Patients In Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tanjina Rahman

Wayne State University Dissertations

Methods to identify patients at risk for End stage renal disease (ESRD) are a high priority in Bangladesh, where kidney transplants/dialysis options are limited and costly. Every year, 35,000 to 40,000 people reach ESRD in Bangladesh, but currently available facilities can hardly accommodate only 9000 to 10,000 new patients with twice weekly dialysis and the remaining 66% have no access to any kind of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the form of dialysis or transplantation. Nutrition is an important factor in maintaining good health of hemodialysis patients. However, data on nutritional status of Bangladeshi dialysis patients is limited and is …

Medical Utilization In The Context Of Culture: Analyzing The Concepts, Benefits And Drawbacks Of Sri Lankan Biomedical And Ayurvedic Healthcare, Miriah Rajaguru

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Sri Lanka is an island inhabited by a culture more than 5,000 years old. The primary medicine utilized by this culture in precolonial times is known as Ayurveda. During colonization, Sri Lanka was introduced to biomedicine and forced to negate Ayurvedic medicine. Throughout the years, rather than abandoning their indigenous medical practice, Sri Lanka incorporated biomedicine and Ayurvedic medicine into their medically plural society. Today, Sri Lankans utilized both medicines for different ailments, concerns and conditions. Utilizing a variety of anthropological methods and theories, this study gathered qualitative information from 39 Sri Lankan informants. These informants were recruited to find …

A Rural Mother's Guide To Breastfeeding, Haley Tillett

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Breastfeeding is considered as the gold standard of infant health (CDC, n.d.). The benefits provided to both the baby and mother by breastfeeding are unmatched when compared to formula feeding. Recent studies have shown a disparity in rates of breastfeeding, primarily in rural areas. This may be due, in part, to the fact that mothers in rural areas may not have equal access to resources and support they need to successfully breastfeed due to geographic isolation. This guide will provide an overview of breastfeeding resources in rural communities with a focus on Kittitas Valley, Washington. Resources include but are not …

Mother-Child Dyadic Influences Of Affect On Everyday Movement Behaviors: Evidence From An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study, Chih-Hsiang Yang, Jimi Huh, Tyler B. Mason, Britni R. Belcher, Martina Kanning, Genevieve F. Dunton

Faculty Publications

Background

Research has shown that affect is associated with everyday movement behaviors in children and adults. However, limited work to date has investigated dyadic influences of momentary affect on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time among children and their mothers using ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

Methods

Mothers and their children (eight to 12-years-old at baseline) from the Los Angeles metropolitan area participated in a longitudinal study with six semi-annual measurement waves across three years. During each measurement wave, mothers and children reported momentary negative and positive affect via a custom smartphone-based EMA application across seven days (randomly sampled up …

Pestilence And Poverty: The Great Influenza Pandemic And Underdevelopment In The New South, 1918-1919, Andrew Kishuni

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines the "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 in the U.S. South, using case-studies of Jacksonville, Savannah, New Orleans, and Nashville to sculpt a "Southern flu" more identical to the Global South and the developing world than the rest of the U.S. I examine poverty and political and economic paralysis in the years between the end of Reconstruction and 1918, and the poor results of political indifference on public health and disease control. I also analyze the social and institutional racism against persons of color that defined high infectious disease mortality in Southern cities.

I argue that Southerners faced …

Prophylaxis Of Food Allergen Sensitivity, Dustin Gottfeld

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Authored Articles

Food allergies can have a severe and drastic effect on a person’s lifestyle, while prevention of allergic disease can help to ensure others do not have to live with this burden. There are a variety of differing hypotheses that offer explanations for the early development of food allergies, particularly peanut allergies. Two of the foremost hypotheses are the Hygiene Hypothesis and the Dual-Allergen Hypothesis. The Hygiene Hypothesis claims that the diversity of a child’s microbiota creates a beneficial balance of microorganisms which can help prevent the development of allergic disease. Alternatively, the Dual-Allergen Hypothesis states that early environmental exposure to …