Digital Commons Network^™

Elder Abuse: A Policy Analysis, Cortni Davis

Undergraduate Research Conference

Elder abuse is a growing social problem in the United States. It takes on many forms, and is prevalent throughout various cultures. Elder Abuse Reporting Laws have been enacted throughout various states to prevent and intervene in elder abuse cases. California’s Financial Abuse Reporting Act of 2005 is one among many laws in the United States which was formed to help ensure social justice for the elderly citizens of America.

Nonparametric Incidence Estimation From Prevalent Cohort Survival Data, Marco Carone, Masoud Asgharian, Mei-Cheng Wang

COBRA Preprint Series

Incidence is an important epidemiologic concept particularly useful in assessing an intervention, quantifying disease risk, and planning health resources. Incident cohort studies constitute the gold-standard in estimating disease incidence. However, due to material constraints, data are often collected from prevalent cohort studies whereby diseased individuals are recruited through a cross-sectional survey and followed forward in time. We discuss the identifiability of measures of incidence in the context of prevalent cohort survival studies and derive nonparametric maximum likelihood estimators and their asymptotic properties. The proposed methodology accounts for calendar-time and age-at-onset variation in disease incidence while also addressing common complications arising …

What Do Young Adults Know About The Hiv/Aids Epidemic? Findings From A Population Based Study In Karachi, Pakistan., Syed Farid-Ul-Hasnain, Eva Johansson, Gunilla Krantz

Community Health Sciences

Background: HIVAIDS is spreading globally, hitting the younger generations. In Pakistan, the prevalence of HIV in high-risk subpopulations is five per cent or higher. This poses a serious threat of a generalised epidemic especially among the younger population. In the wake of HIVAIDS epidemic this is worrying as a well informed younger generation is crucial in restricting the spread of this epidemic. This study investigated Pakistani young adults' (male and female) knowledge and awareness of the HIV/AIDS disease. Methods: A population-based, cross-sectional study of 1,650 male and female adults aged 17-21 years living in Karachi was conducted using a structured …

The Importance Of Scale For Spatial-Confounding Bias And Precision Of Spatial Regression Estimators, Christopher J. Paciorek

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Increasingly, regression models are used when residuals are spatially correlated. Prominent examples include studies in environmental epidemiology to understand the chronic health effects of pollutants. I consider the effects of residual spatial structure on the bias and precision of regression coefficients, developing a simple framework in which to understand the key issues and derive informative analytic results. When the spatial residual is induced by an unmeasured confounder, regression models with spatial random effects and closely-related models such as kriging and penalized splines are biased, even when the residual variance components are known. Analytic and simulation results show how the bias …

Smoking Enhances Risk For New External Genital Warts In Men, Dorothy J. Wiley, David Elashoff, Emmanuel V. Masongsong, Diane M. Harper

Dartmouth Scholarship

Repeat episodes of HPV-related external genital warts reflect recurring or new infections. No study before has been sufficiently powered to delineate how tobacco use, prior history of EGWs and HIV infection affect the risk for new EGWs. Behavioral, laboratory and examination data for 2,835 Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study participants examined at 21,519 semi-annual visits were evaluated. Fourteen percent (391/2835) of men reported or were diagnosed with EGWs at 3% (675/21,519) of study visits. Multivariate analyses showed smoking, prior episodes of EGWs, HIV infection and CD4+ T-lymphocyte count among the infected, each differentially influenced the risk for new EGWs.

Shelter-In-Place: Indoor Exposure Assessment During An Airborne Chemical, Biological, Radiological, And Nuclear (Cbrn) Event, Robert D. Schmidtgoessling

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of Shelter-In-Place (SIP) is to reduce human exposure to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents in the event of an accidental or intentional airborne release into the outdoor environment. The Air Force Bioenvironmental Engineering (BE) career field is responsible for providing hazard identification, evaluation, and control capabilities as well as executing health risk assessments to recommend appropriate courses of action to commanders pre-, trans-, and post-incident. Specifically, BE is responsible for providing sampling, identification, and quantification input to hazard prediction models and supporting evacuation plan development to provide risk-based control recommendations. This also includes providing exposure and …

Field Evaluation Of A Novel Exposure Assessment Strategy Using Respirable Coal Dust Exposures During Heat Plant Coal Receiving Operations, Timothy W. Batten

Theses and Dissertations

An exposure assessment strategy (EAS) determines the number of samples required to characterize an occupational health exposure’s acceptability. A novel EAS (AFIT-EAS) was developed with the objective of maximizing the sensitivity for detecting unacceptable exposures, while minimizing the total number of samples needed. The purpose of this field evaluation was to use data from a comprehensive sampling campaign (SC) to compare the AFIT-EAS with two commonly used EASs: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA-EAS) and the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA-EAS). 10 randomly sampled replicates were selected from the SC. The number of samples selected per replicate was in …

Patterns Of Mortality In Indigenous Adults In The Northern Territory, 1998–2003: Are People Living In More Remote Areas Worse Off?, Karen Andreasyan, Wendy E. Hoy

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective: ToquantifyIndigenousmortalityintheNorthernTerritorybyremotenessof residence.

Design, setting and participants: Australian Bureau of Statistics mortality data were used to compare rates of death from chronic disease in the NT Indigenous population with rates in the general Australian population over the period 1998–2003. Rates were evaluated by categories of remoteness based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia: outer regional areas (ORAs), remote areas (RAs) and very remote areas (VRAs). Main outcome measures: Mortality from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and renal disease; standardised mortality ratios (SMRs); percentage change in annual death rates; changes in mortality between 1998–2000 and 2001–2003.

Results: In 1998–2000, SMRs for all-cause mortality …

Health Care-Associated Infections: Is There An End In Sight?, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

Health care–associated infections (HAIs) have emerged as a significant concern in policy as well as clinical circles. An HAI is an infection acquired during treatment for another condition. Some of the HAI-causing bacteria have become drug-resistant; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a familiar example. Tied to perhaps 100,000 deaths and $20 billion in health care costs each year, HAIs have given rise to state laws, legislative proposals at the federal level, public-private initiatives, and work at the hospital system and individual hospital level. However, much remains to be done. This issue brief reviews the prevalence of HAIs and the …

Analysis Of Randomized Comparative Clinical Trial Data For Personalized Treatment Selections, Tianxi Cai, Lu Tian, Peggy H. Wong, L. J. Wei

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Validation D’Une Méthode D’Analyse Exploratoire De La Population Mycologique Par Utilisation De Trappes À Spores, Geneviève Marchand, Yves Cloutier, Carole Pépin, Daniel Drolet

Rapports de recherche scientifique

No abstract provided.

Controlling Hazardous Noise And Dust Within The Industrial Workforce Using A Simple Barrier, Daniel D. Sweeney

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force (USAF) has experienced a dramatic increase in hearing loss claims since 2001. Additionally, many operations within the USAF expose personnel to hazardous dust levels. Likewise, the US mining industry has difficulties controlling hazardous noise and dust exposures in underground mining. Specifically, studies have shown that coal mine longwall shearer operators are routinely exposed to noise levels at 151 percent of the allowable dose and approximately 20 percent exceed regulatory dust levels. An above ground full scale model of the underground shearing operation was developed to test the feasibility of mounting a permanent partial barrier on …

Religion And Hiv In Tanzania: Influence Of Religious Beliefs On Hiv Stigma, Disclosure, And Treatment Attitudes, James Zou, Yvonne Yamanaka, Muze John, Melissa Watt, Jan Ostermann, Nathan Thielman

Faculty Publications

Background

Religion shapes everyday beliefs and activities, but few studies have examined its associations with attitudes about HIV. This exploratory study in Tanzania probed associations between religious beliefs and HIV stigma, disclosure, and attitudes toward antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

Methods

A self-administered survey was distributed to a convenience sample of parishioners (n = 438) attending Catholic, Lutheran, and Pentecostal churches in both urban and rural areas. The survey included questions about religious beliefs, opinions about HIV, and knowledge and attitudes about ARVs. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess how religion was associated with perceptions about HIV, HIV treatment, and …

Impact Of Pedometer Use And Self-Regulation Strategies On Junior High School Physical Education Students' Daily Step Counts, Jane Shimon, Linda M. Petlichkoff

Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of pedometer use and self-regulation strategies on adolescents’ daily physical activity.

Methods: Junior high school students (n = 113) enrolled in seventh- and eighth-grade physical education classes (52 girls, 61 boys) volunteered to participate in a 5-week study to assess daily step counts. Ten physical education classes were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: (a) self-regulation, (b) open, and (c) control.

Results: A repeated-measures, mixed-model analysis of variance revealed a significant 3 × 4 (Group by Time) interaction effect, F_6,290 = 2.64, P < .02. Followup analyses indicated participants in the self-regulation group took 2071 to 4141 more steps/d than the control. No other significant differences emerged among groups on step counts.

Conclusions: It appears that …

Fate Of Libby Amphibole Fibers When Burning Contaminated Firewood, Tony Ward, Julie Faroni Hart, Terry M. Spear, Brienne J. Meyer, James S. Webber

Public and Community Health Sciences Faculty Publications

In Libby, Montana, over 70 years of mining amphibole-contaminated vermiculite has led to amphibole contamination in areas surrounding the abandoned mine and in other areas throughout the town. In addition to contaminated soils, tree bark has also been found to be contaminated with amphibole fibers throughout the Libby area. As residential woodstoves are the main source of home heating in Libby, the purpose of this study was to determine if amphibole fibers become liberated into the ambient air when amphibole-contaminated firewood is combusted.

Amphibole-contaminated firewood was combusted in new, EPA-certified stoves during three trials. The results of these trials showed …

Closing The Food Gap In Adams County: A Proposal For Comprehensive Solutions Through Community Action, Vickie Corbett, Rayna Cooper, Kim Davidson, Kathy Gaskin, Kathy Glahn, Aimee S. George, Audrey Hess, Gretchen Natter, Christine Nemetz, Megan Shreve, Sara W. Tower

Center for Public Service Research

Today, in Adams County, we have two food systems. The 20% who live in poverty survive on food stamps, the food pantry, church donations, and trips to discount food vendors. Those with more financial stability could choose from an abundance of healthy, sustainably produced, local and international foods. We have come to accept these two food systems as the norm without critically analyzing how it is affecting individuals and the health of our communities.

In addition to reducing the disparity and closing the food gap, this initiative is focused on building our local economy and educating our community about nutrition …

The Influence Of The Physical Environment And Sociodemographic Characteristics On Children's Mode Of Travel To And From School, Kristian Larsen, Jason Gilliland, Peter Hess, Patricia Tucker, Jennifer Irwin, Meizi He

Geography & Environment Publications

Objectives: We examined whether certain characteristics of the social and physical environment influence a child's mode of travel between home and school.

Methods: Students aged 11 to 13 years from 21 schools throughout London, Ontario, answered questions from a travel behavior survey. A geographic information system linked survey responses for 614 students who lived within 1 mile of school to data on social and physical characteristics of environments around the home and school. Logistic regression analysis was used to test the influence of environmental factors on mode of travel (motorized vs "active") to and from school.

Results: Over 62% of …

Electronic Media Exposure And Its Association With Activity-Related Outcomes In Female Adolescents: Cross-Sectional And Longitudinal Analyses, Felipe Lobelo, Marsha Dowda, Karin A. Pfeiffer, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

Background: Few investigations have assessed in adolescent girls the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between elevated exposure to electronic media (EM) and activity-related outcomes such as compliance with physical activity (PA) standards or cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Methods: Four-hundred thirty-seven white and African American girls were assessed at the 8th, 9th, and 12th grades. PA and EM (TV/video watching, electronic games, Internet use) were self-reported, and CRF was estimated using a cycle-ergometer test. Hi EM exposure was defined as ≥ four 30-minute blocks/d. Results: 8th-, 9th-, and 12th-grade girls in the Hi EM group showed lower compliance with PA standards and had …

Age-Related Change In Physical Activity In Adolescent Girls, Russell R. Pate, June Stevens, Larry S. Webber, Marsha Dowda, David M. Murray, Deborah R. Young, Scott Going

Faculty Publications

Purpose - To determine the annual rate at which physical activity changes in girls during middle school using both objective and self-report measures of physical activity.

Methods - Participants were 6^th and 8^th grade girls from the control schools in the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG). Random cross-sectional samples initially were drawn from 6^th grade girls (n=786) and two years later from 8^th grade girls (n=1545). A cohort of 501 girls was in both the 6^th and 8^th grade samples. The girls wore an accelerometer for six days and completed the 3-Day …

Ethnic Differences In Trajectories Of Depressive Symptoms: Disadvantage In Family Background, High School Experiences, And Adult Characteristics, Katrina M. Walsemann, Gilbert C. Gee, Arline T. Geronimus

Faculty Publications

Although research investigating ethnic differences in mental health has increased in recent years, we know relatively little about how mental health trajectories vary across ethnic groups. Do these differences occur at certain ages, but not others? We investigate variations in trajectories of depressive symptoms, and examine the extent to which disadvantages in family background, high school experiences, and adult characteristics explain these differences. Employing random-coefficient modeling using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that blacks and Hispanics experience higher symptom levels in early adulthood in comparison to whites, but equivalent levels by middle-age. Ethnic differences remained in early …

Physical And Social Contexts Of Physical Activities Among Adolescent Girls, Joanne Kuo, Kathryn H. Schmitz, Kelly R. Evenson, Thomas L. Mckenzie, Jared B. Jobe, Ariane L. Rung, Joel Gittelsohn, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

Background: With limited opportunities for physical activity during school hours, it is important to understand the contexts of physical activities done outside of school time. Given the importance of physical and social aspects of environments, the purpose of this study was to describe where and with whom girls participate in physical activities outside of school. Methods: Participants were 1925 sixth-grade girls in the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG). At baseline, they completed a 3-day physical activity recall (3DPAR), reporting the main activity performed during 30-minute intervals and the physical and social contexts of physical activities. Results: The most …

Advancing The Fiscal Health Of Low-Income Families: A Public And Community Health Approach, Doreen Treacy

Center for Social Policy Publications

For decades, health researchers have documented the links between individual and household income/wealth and clinical health outcomes. The research and literature consistently point to both income inequality (i.e. individual household income/wealth as compared to other households in the same state) and individual household income as predictors of diminished health and morbidity. And yet the current framework for providing financial education, disseminating asset building information, and overall responding to the financial health of individuals and households takes no cues from public health and community health best practices. Further, the documented links between financial stress and compromised physical health are compelling enough …

Environmental Tobacco Smoke Avoidance Among Pregnant African-American Nonsmokers, Susan M. Blake, Kennan D. Murray, M. Nabil El-Khorazaty, Marie G. Gantz, Michele Kiely, Dana Best, Jill G. Joseph, Ayman El-Mohandes

Publications and Research

Background—Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure during pregnancy contributes to adverse infant health outcomes. Limited previous research has focused on identifying correlates of ETS avoidance. This study sought to identify proximal and more distal correlates of ETS avoidance early in pregnancy among African-American women. Methods—From a sample of low-income, black women (n=1044) recruited in six urban, prenatal care clinics (July 2001–October 2003), cotinine-confirmed nonsmokers with partners, household/ family members, or friends who smoked (n=450) were identified and divided into two groups: any past-7-day ETS exposure and cotinine-confirmed ETS avoidance. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses identified factors associated with ETS …

The Prevalence And Determinants Of Health Risk Behaviors Among High School Students In Mexico, Nellie León

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that despite health promotion efforts, adolescents continue to engage in behaviors that put them at risk for morbidity and mortality. Alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, smoking, and risky sexual behaviors are among the behaviors that contribute to leading causes of morbidity and mortality in youth; these four behaviors were explored in this study. An observational cross-sectional design was utilized. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was utilized to assess the prevalence of the four risk behaviors among high school students in Jalisco, Mexico. Items constructed …

Elders With Diabetes: Implications For Depression Screening, Cynthia Clinkingbeard

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Diabetes has been concluded to be a global epidemic (Wild, Sicree, Roger, King & Green, 2004). By the year 2030, it is predicted that depression will become the second leading cause of disability worldwide (World Health Organization [WHO], 2007). The relationship between diabetes and depression is likely not casual.

Those with diabetes are twice as likely to develop depression (Eaton, Armenian, Gallo, Pratt & Ford, 1996; Kawakami, Shimizu, Takatsuka, & Ishibashi, 1999). Conversely, diabetes doubles the likelihood of comorbid depression (Anderson, Clouse, Freedland & Lustman, 2001). The intersection of these two devastating diseases is far from benign. Black, Markides and …

Argument Structure Effects In Action Verb Naming In Static And Dynamic Conditions, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Steve Fix, Todd B. Parrish, Cynthia K. Thompson

Faculty Publications

Argument structure, as in the participant roles entailed within the lexical representation of verbs, affects verb processing. Recent neuroimaging studies show that when verbs are heard or read, the posterior temporoparietal region shows increased activation for verbs with greater versus lesser argument structure complexity, usually bilaterally. In addition, patients with agrammatic aphasia show verb production deficits, graded based on argument structure complexity. In the present study, we used fMRI to examine the neural correlates of verb production in overt action naming conditions. In addition, we tested the differential effects of naming when verbs were presented dynamically in video segments versus …

Cross-System Profile Of Maine's Long Term Support System: A New View Of Maine's Long Term Services And Supports And The People Served, Eileen Griffin Jd, Julie T. Fralich Mba, Catherine Mcguire Bs, Louise Olsen, Stuart Bratesman Mpp, Kathy Bubar, Romaine Turyn

Disability & Aging

This document provides a new way of looking at Maine's long term services and supports, with an emphasis on developing a common approach for describing and analyzing long term services and supports across programs. A conscious effort was made to organize this profile around the populations served rather than the programs serving them. For that reason, the profile captures information on all of the services accessed by each population group, not only those services administered by a particular program. This broader view provides important information about the full range of service utilization for each population group.

Educating And Informing Patients Receiving Psychopharmacological Medications: Are Family Physicians In Pakistan Up To The Task?, Hammad Ashraf Ganatra, Hadi Bhurgri, Roomasa Channa, Fauzia Ahmad Bawany, Syed Nabeel Zafar, Rafia Ishfaq Chaudhry, Syeda Hina Batool, Abdul Basit, Mehmood Asghar, Sarah Saleem, Haider Naqvi

Community Health Sciences

Introduction: Studies have shown a high prevalence of psychiatric illnesses among Patients in primary health care settings. Family physicians have a fundamental role in managing psychiatric illness with psychopharmacological medications. Providing information about the disease, its management and the potential adverse effects of the medications is an important part of the management of mental illnesses. Our objective was to determine if Patients who were prescribed psychopharmacological drugs by family physicians at a community health center in Karachi, Pakistan were provided adequate education about their disease and its management.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Community Health Centre (CHC), …

Pemberian Asi Segera Pada Bayi Baru Lahir, Linda Amalia

Kesmas

Angka Kematian Bayi (AKB) Indonesia masih yang tertinggi di ASEAN dengan penyebab utama kematian adalah penyakit infeksi saluran nafas dan diare yang dapat dicegah. Pencegahan dilakukan antara lain dengan pemberian ASI secara benar, termasuk inisiasi pemberian ASI dalam 30 menit pertama setelah lahir. Pemberian ASI segera dapat mempertahankan kadar hormon prolaktin dan mencegah pemberian makanan pralakteal. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui gambaran dan determinan pemberian ASI segera pada bayi baru lahir di Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah Kabupaten Cianjur tahun 2007. Desain penelitian adalah potong lintang. Pengumpulan Sampel 92 orang ibu post partum yang melahirkan di RSUD Kabupaten Cianjur yang dipilih dengan …

Manajemen Penyakit Berbasis Wilayah, Umar Fahmi Achmadi

Kesmas

Secara universal, kejadian penyakit merupakan inti permasalahan kesehatan masyarakat yang harus dicegah guna menampilkan wilayah yang sehat dan negara yang kuat. Kejadian penyakit merupakan fenomena yang bersandar pada basis wilayah yang mencakup ekosistem dalam dimensi ruang dan waktu Tulisan ini membahas kepentingan, makna, lokasi dan metoda manajemen penyakit berbasis wilayah. Asumsi dasar yang dianut adalah bahwa keberhasilan mengendalikan faktor risiko dan kejadian penyakit akan mampu meningkatkan dan memelihara kualitas kehidup masyarakat. Pembangunan kesehatan Wilayah dapat dilakukan dengan merujuk konsep MPBW dan rancangan SKK setiap wilayah pemerintahan otonom. Secara lebih terperinci, perlu disusun suatu pedoman MPBW kabupaten dan kota yang dapat …