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Differential Abundance And Clustering Analysis With Empirical Bayes Shrinkage Estimation Of Variance (Dasev) For Proteomics And Metabolomics Data, Zhengyan Huang

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Mass spectrometry (MS) is widely used for proteomic and metabolomic profiling of biological samples. Data obtained by MS are often zero-inflated. Those zero values are called point mass values (PMVs). Zero values can be further grouped into biological PMVs and technical PMVs. The former type is caused by the absence of components and the latter type is caused by detection limit. There is no simple solution to separate those two types of PMVs. Mixture models were developed to separate the two types of zeros apart and to perform the differential abundance analysis. However, we notice that the mixture model can …

Harm Reduction Policy : Biopower, Race & Stigma At The Heart Of The 'Opioid Crisis', Cole Charles Melby

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Across the U.S., concerns regarding substance abuse, addiction, and treatment are coming to the forefront of public discourse, due to increased media coverage of the popularly dubbed ‘opioid crisis.’ As overdose rates increase, particularly in rural and suburban white communities, so have debates about the ethics and efficacy of harm reduction services. Through a review of existing literature and reflections on interviews from key informants at New York State Department of Health, grassroots harm reduction organizations, and a ‘mainstream’ addiction clinic, this thesis will critically examine the history of drug user stigmatization in the U.S. and how it has influenced …

Environmental Influences On Rates Of Osteo- And Rheumatoid Arthritis, Azad Abdulrahman Mohammed

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

Epidemiology Of Self-Reported Maternal Depression During Pregnancy And Association With Adverse Birth Outcomes In New York State, 2012-2017, Solita Julianna Jones

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background

The Aids Volcano : Narratives Of Hiv/Aids In The Iranian Public Sphere, Elham Pourtaher

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Broadly construed, this thesis will examine the transformations in the socio-cultural construction of HIV/AIDS in Iran from the joint perspectives of media and medical sociology. Until recently, official public narratives in Iran primarily regarded AIDS to be a drug-related disease. However, beginning from the early 2010s, a new narrative frame (often called as “the third wave”) introduces a significant “alarming” collective shift in the transmissions modes of the disease toward sexual pathways. Having observed the rather rapid transformation of the public AIDS framing, this research began with an empirical question: considering the fact that the shift implied the prevalence of …

Climate Change And Salmonella, New York State, Kevin Taylor Welch

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A study of climate change and Salmonella was conducted, serving as the evidence-based results for action to mitigate adverse Salmonella outcomes for the population of New York State (NYS), and to facilitate dissemination of findings in regard to validated approaches for broader use to mitigate climate change and adverse communicable disease outcomes in a variety of other settings. This study bolsters understanding of dynamic exposures and outcomes for improved and targeted public health approaches to localized climate change and communicable disease outcomes. The approach was developed and refined through continuously validated and calibrated methodology for the enhancement of disease control …

Pregnant Women's Knowledge And Use Of Evidence-Based Practices During Labor And Childbirth After Participating In A Health Education Intervention : Senses Of Birth, Luisa Da Matta Machado Fernandes

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Senses of Birth (SoB) is a health education intervention in Brazil that addresses reproductive rights, the benefits and risks of normal birth and cesarean, and use of evidence-based practices (EBP) during labor and childbirth, aiming to reduce unnecessary cesareans in the country. This mixed-method study had three objectives: 1) evaluate the impact of the SoB intervention on pregnant women’s perceived knowledge about normal birth, cesarean, and use of EBP in childbirth; 2) identify socio-demographic factors, obstetric characteristics, and aspects of women’s perceived knowledge that influence women’s use of EBP; and 3) analyze the outcomes, barriers and facilitators/strategies to use …

Examining The Association Between Toxocara Infection And Lung Function In A Nationally Representative Sample Of U.S. Adults Aged 18-79 Years, Tejaswini Chakravarthy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Introduction:

Descriptive And Risk Factor Analysis Of Infantile Cataracts, Marine Nalbandyan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Infantile cataract is a lens opacity diagnosed by 12 months of age. It is a major cause of childhood blindness, with about 200,000 children worldwide being blind because of bilateral cataracts. Blindness has a negative impact on the quality of a child’s life and is associated with increased healthcare costs. While reduction/elimination of childhood blindness is a priority issue in public health, risk factors remain unknown for about two-thirds of infantile cataract cases. The primary aims of this dissertation were to (1) identify, evaluate, and summarize observational studies investigating non-genetic risk factors for infantile cataracts, (2) estimate birth prevalence and …

Association Of Serum Pcsk9 With Carotid Artery Thickness And Carotid Lesions In Women With Hiv And Hepatitis C Virus, Michael Patrick Searles

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Increase in risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) is a well-documented for HIV-infected (HIV+) populations. A precursor of cardiovascular events in HIV+ populations are non-calcified plaque (lesion) formations and can be associated with arterial inflammation, monocyte aggregation and dendritic cell activation. PCSK9 a known modulator of LDL cholesterol, has also been shown to contribute to inflammation, dendritic cell activation, monocyte aggregation and potentially plaque formations.

The Clinical Laboratory Workforce In New York State : A Study Of Supply And Demand, Stephanie H. Shulman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

The Effect Of Anthropogenic Environmental Modifications On Malaria Vectors In Amazonian Peru And Brazil, Catharine Prussing

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Malaria is the most deadly vector borne disease, causing substantial morbidity and hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year. In the Americas, the incidence of malaria has increased steadily since 2014. The factors driving continued malaria transmission are complex and highly variable across endemic areas. These factors include inadequate access and financial commitment to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, and a failure to target interventions to heterogeneous malaria transmission patterns and vector populations. Nyssorhynchus darlingi (formerly Anopheles darlingi), the predominant malaria vector in Latin America, is known for behavioral, phenotypic, and genetic variability across its range, which allow it to …

The Effect Of Maternal Dietary Habits During Pregnancy On Neonate Leptin Methylation Patterns And Gestational Age, Sean Fitzpatrick

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The health of a newborn baby is inextricably linked to the health status of its mother and in turn the mother’s diet during pregnancy. Leptin (LEP) is an adipokine hormone involved in metabolism regulation and has been linked fetal development through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). Prior work suggests that gestational epigenetic alterations the LEP gene may be sensitive to adverse exposures during pregnancy, which in turn could explain variation in neonate outcomes. However, no prior work has examined this possibility explicitly. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between dietary patterns of mothers during pregnancy and their …

Behavioral And Socio-Ecological Determinants Of Depression At Different Stages Of The Life Course, Xiao Cong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background:

Assessing The Sustainability Of Collaborations Between Local Health Departments And Nonprofit Hospitals For Population Health, Christopher Mierow Maylahn

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In 2008, New York’s health commissioner asked LHDs and nonprofit hospitals to collaborate with community partners to conduct community health needs assessments, identify two or three health priorities to focus on, and implement evidence-based strategies to address them. The actions taken as part of the New York State Prevention Agenda mirrored the IRS rules and PHAB recommendations that followed. The dearth of published studies on public health-hospital collaborations and the momentum to understand how communities in New York have responded to the IRS rules and PHAB standards are the impetus for this research.

Risk Factors For Gestational Diabetes In Upstate New York Women & Implications For Practice, Margaret Versteegen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a form of diabetes, or abnormal blood glucose (sugar) metabolism, diagnosed during pregnancy. Pregnant, non-diabetic women who are initially noted to experience high blood glucose levels during their pregnancy are considered to have GDM (ADA, 2016b). GDM has significant implications for infant and maternal morbidity and mortality, with adverse pregnancy outcomes such as infant macrosomia, difficult birth requiring cesarean section, and postpartum hemorrhage (Kamana, Shakya, & Zhang, 2015). In the majority of cases, GDM goes away once the baby is born, but around 5-10% of women with GDM go on to have type 2 diabetes …

Response To "From A Polemic Paradox To A Proper Perspective Of Job Burnout And Job Satisfaction, Eric Laurent, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Renzo Bianchi

Publications and Research

Juárez García and colleagues considered that “part of the conceptual and empirical problem of burnout is that many researchers force it into a biomedical disease model despite its being a psychosocial one.” Problematically, these authors’ scholastic argument a priori excludes biological or bodily factors from psychological conceptualizations. Scientists usually face considerable difficulties when trying to describe complex processes. If the understanding of biological processes sheds light on the complex processes that bear on burnout, then there is no reason to exclude research on those processes.

Evaluating The Impacts Of Antidepressant Use On The Risk Of Dementia, Ran Duan

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Dementia is a clinical syndrome caused by neurodegeneration or cerebrovascular injury. Patients with dementia suffer from deterioration in memory, thinking, behavior and the ability to perform everyday activities. Since there are no cures or disease-modifying therapies for dementia, there is much interest in identifying modifiable risk factors that may help prevent or slow the progression of cognitive decline. Medications are a common focus of this type of research.

Importantly, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 19.1% of the population aged 60 and over report taking antidepressants during 2011-2014, and this number tends to …

Comparing Methods For Clinical Investigator Site Inspection Selection: A Comparison Of Site Selection Methods Of Investigators In Clinical Trials, Nicholas Hein, Elena Rantou, Paul Schuette

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

Background During the past two decades, the number and complexity of clinical trials have risen dramatically increasing the difficulty of choosing sites for inspection. FDA’s resources are limited and so sites should be chosen with care.

Purpose To determine if data mining techniques and/or unsupervised statistical monitoring can assist with the process of identifying potential clinical sites for inspection.

Methods Five summary-level clinical site datasets from four new drug applications (NDA) and one biologics license application (BLA), where the FDA had performed or had planned site inspections, were used. The num- ber of sites inspected and the results of the …

Thymic Expression Of Il-4 And Il-15 After Systemic Inflammatory Or Infectious Th1 Disease Processes Induce The Acquisition Of"Innate" Characteristics During Cd8 + T Cell Development, Natalia S. Baez, Fabio Cerbán, Constanza Savid-Frontera, Deborah L. Hodge, Jimena Tosello, Eva Acosta-Rodriguez, Laura Almada, Adriana Gruppi, Maria Estefania Viano, Howard A. Young, Maria Cecilia Rodriguez-Galan

United States Public Health Resources

Innate CD8 + T cells express a memory-like phenotype and demonstrate a strong cytotoxic capacity that is critical during the early phase of the host response to certain bacterial and viral infections. These cells arise in the thymus and depend on IL-4 and IL-15 for their development. Even though innate CD8 + T cells exist in the thymus of WT mice in low numbers, they are highly enriched in KO mice that lack certain kinases, leading to an increase in IL-4 production by thymic NKT cells. Our work describes that in C57BL/6 WT mice undergoing a Th1 biased infectious disease, …

Implementation Of A Transcultural Nursing Education Program To Improve Nurses' Cultural Competence, Ann Marie Elizabeth Edwards

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The exponential growth of culturally diverse populations in the United States has led to a multicultural patient population while the nursing workforce remains predominantly White. At the project site, managers identified that staff nurses struggled to deliver culturally competent care. The purpose of this project was to improve the cultural competence of registered nurses (RNs) through a transcultural nursing education program. Leininger's transcultural nursing theory guided the project. Sources of evidence used to develop a face-to-face educational program included peer-reviewed journals, credible websites, and the Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence Among Healthcare Professionals-R tool. Aggregate pretest and …

Public Health And Personal Choice: The Ethics Of Vaccine Mandates And Parental Refusal In The United States, Rebecca Horan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Lived Experiences With Social Networking Technology To Improve Physical Activity, Paula Nobles Eubanks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research suggests that Black women living in the United States are not engaging in sufficient physical activity, which is a major factor negatively impacting their health outcomes. Black Girls Run (BGR) is a targeted national health movement using the capacity of social networking technology as a tool to interact with and inspire Black women to live healthy through running. Literature lacked the voice and perspective of Black women who were embracing the innovation of technology to positively improve their health behaviors. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to gain a better understanding of the composite experiences of women …

Beliefs And Opinions Of Low-Income Residents Living In A Food Desert In A Gulf Coast State, Kimberly Lakeidra Willis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was an investigation of the access problem to fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables and how limited access influenced the beliefs and opinions of residents of a food desert as designated by United States Department of Agriculture. Many researchers have documented that price, availability, and transportation are barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption, particularly among low-income individuals. Researchers in other studies have concluded that these barriers are further exacerbated by an individual's distance from a supermarket or grocery store. However, much less information is available regarding the beliefs and opinions about life in a food desert and how …

Preventing Obesity And Type 2 Diabetes In Immigrant Populations, Maxwell K. Chikuta

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity-related diseases have been increasing in African immigrants throughout the United States. Although research has been done to identify risk factors associated with many ethnic groups in the United States, only a few studies exist that explore obesity and type 2 diabetes diseases among Central African immigrants. The conceptual framework for this qualitative case study was social constructivism and the health belief model. The primary research question addressed the potential underlying causes for an increase in obesity and type 2 diabetes among Central African Immigrants. The secondary research questions explored how culture, illiteracy, and religion contribute to the problem of …

Family Predictive Factors Of Rural Malaria Prevalence In Nsukka, Eastern Nigeria, Gabriel Ugwuja Ugwu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Children in early childhood are still suffering from burdens of malaria-related morbidity and mortality. There have been insufficient studies on how family-level factors may predict the prevalence of malaria (PoM), and negatively impact the control of malaria in rural areas, especially among children. In this study, potential family factors were explored to address the challenges associated with the increase in PoM among the children in rural areas of Nsukka. Socioecological framework guided this study at the interpersonal level. The quantitative cross-sectional study used secondary data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of 2015 in Nsukka rural communities. Data were analyzed …

Globalization Of Clinical Research And Assessment Of Global Access To Treatments Approved Between 2006-2015, Rafael Duncan Escandon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Globalization in clinical research and development has increased since the 1990s. Products approved in the United States (U.S.) and European Union (EU) include increasing numbers of research participants from low- and middle-income countries. The purposes of this quantitative correlational study were to investigate the lag time, or drug lag, between U.S. approval and the approval of selected drugs in all countries that hosted their pivotal clinical trials. The study population was limited to products approved first in the U.S. between 2006 and 2015. The health capability model and research for health justice framework were the theoretical frameworks for the study. …

Connecticut Primary Care Physicians And Chronic Lyme Disease, Yvette P. Ghannam

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The prevalence of chronic Lyme disease (CLD) remains relatively unknown in Connecticut because there is not an agreement on what CLD is and how it should be diagnosed in addition to which pathological agent causes CLD. The aim of this quantitative study was to assess whether there were significant differences between two groups of primary care physicians (PCP) working in Connecticut from two different points in time regarding their knowledge in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of CLD. A knowledge, attitude, and practice model was used as the underlying theoretical framework for this study. A random cross-sectional survey was mailed …

Parental Perception Of Physician Cultural Sensitivity And Adherence To Asthma Treatment, Narue Jaynelle Wright-Jegede

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, asthma remains a major cause of frequent urgent care visits, hospitalizations, and preventable deaths among children. Nationwide, the chronic disease continues to fall disproportionately on minorities, mostly residing in urban localities. When a child is diagnosed with asthma, the parents are typically tasked with managing the child's condition. Establishing a collaborative partnership between parents and their child's primary physician is significant for improving asthma self-management among youth. Using the theory of reasoned action as a theoretical framework, this mixed-methods study examined whether a relationship exists between parental perceptions of physician cultural sensitivity and parental care in …

Deputizing Family: Loved Ones As A Regulatory Tool In The “Drug War” And Beyond, Matthew B. Lawrence

Faculty Articles

Many laws use family members as a regulatory tool to influence the decisions or behavior of their loved ones, i.e., they deputize family. Involuntary treatment laws for substance use disorder are a clear example; such laws empower family members to use information shared by their loved ones to petition to force their loved ones into treatment without consent. Whether such deputization is helpful or harmful for a patient’s health is a crucial and dubious question discussed in existing literature, but use of family members as a regulatory tool implicates important considerations beyond direct medical impacts that have not been as …