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Challenges And Best Practices In Real-Time Prediction Of Infectious Disease: A Case Study Of Dengue In Thailand, Nicholas Reich, Stephen Lauer, Krzysztof Sakrejda, Sopon Iamsirithaworn, Soawapak Hinjoy, Paphanij Suangtho, Suthanun Suthachana, Hannah Clapham, Henrik Salje, Derek Cummings, Justin Lessler

Nicholas G Reich

Epidemics of communicable diseases place a huge burden on public health infrastructures across the world. Producing accurate and actionable forecasts of infectious disease incidence at short and long time scales will improve public health response to outbreaks. However, scientists and public health officials face many obstacles in trying to create accurate and actionable real-time forecasts of infectious disease incidence. Dengue is a mosquito-borne virus that annually infects over 400 million people worldwide. We developed a real-time forecasting model for dengue hemorrhagic fever in the 77 provinces of Thailand. We created an operational and computational infrastructure that generated multi-step predictions of …

Acceptance Of Wife Beating And Its Association With Physical Violence Towards Women In Nepal: A Cross-Sectional Study Using Couple's Data, Kayoko Yoshikawa, Tara M. Shakya, Krishna C. Poudel, Masamine Jimba

Krishna C. Poudel

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious global public health issue. Acceptance of wife beating is known to be associated with IPV, but few studies have analysed the acceptance of wife beating from both women and men’s points of view. The objective of this study was to examine whether acceptance of wife beating among couples is associated with lifetime and past one-year physical IPV perpetration towards wives in Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from August to September 2011, with 717 randomly selected couples with wives aged 18 to 49 years old from the Kirtipur municipality and Bhaktapur …

Perceived Family Support, Depression, And Suicidal Ideation Among People Living With Hiv/Aids: A Cross- Sectional Study In The Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, Rachel M. Amiya, Krishna C. Poudel, Kalpana Poude-Tandukar, Basu D. Pandey, Masamine Jimba

Krishna C. Poudel

Background: Depression and suicidal thinking occur frequently alongside HIV/AIDS, triggering profound detrimental impacts on quality of life, treatment adherence, disease progression, and mortality. Yet the psychosocial factors contributing to these psychiatric comorbidities remain underexplored, particularly in the developing country context. This study thus examined different dimensions of perceived family support in relation to depression and suicidal ideation among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 322 adult PLWHA residing in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal was conducted. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regressions for correlates of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-Ia-defined depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation …

Preventing Hiv Among Black Men In College Using A Cbpr Approach, Louis Graham, Robert Aronson, Regina Pulliam, L Mann, Scott Rhodes

Louis Graham

No abstract provided.

Malaria-Related Knowledge And Prevention Practices In Four Neighbourhoods In And Around Mumbai, India: A Cross-Sectional Study, Gaurav Dhawan, Nidhin Joseph, Penelope S. Pekow, Christine A. Rogers, Krishna C. Poudel, Maria T. Bulzacchelli

Krishna C. Poudel

Background: India accounts for the highest number of malaria cases outside of Africa. Eighty per cent of India’s population lives in malaria-risk areas, with cases increasing in urban areas. Mumbai, India, one of the most populous cities in the world, has experienced such an increase. To be successful, many malaria control efforts require community participation, which in turn depends on individuals’ knowledge and awareness of the disease. This study assessed the knowledge and prevention practices regarding malaria in residents of four different areas of Mumbai, India, around the time of a malaria outbreak and the start of a widespread awareness …

Risk Factors For Persistent Mrsa Colonization In Children With Multiple Intensive Care Unit Admissions, Victor Popoola, Pranita Tamma, Nicholas Reich, Trish Perl, Aaron Milstone

Nicholas G Reich

We studied methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-colonized children with multiple intensive care unit (ICU) admissions to assess the persistence of MRSA colonization. Our data found that children with more than 1 year between ICU admissions had a higher prevalence of MRSA colonization than the overall ICU population, which supports empirical contact precautions for children with previous MRSA colonization.

Addressing Economic Devastation And Built Environment Degradation To Prevent Violence: A Photovoice Project Of Detroit Youth Passages, Louis Graham, Armando Reyes, William Lopez, Alana Gracey, Rachel Snow, Mark Padilla

Louis Graham

This project increased awareness about issues of violence to youth, their communities, and policy makers through the technique of photovoice and its translation into photo exhibitions and other community events. Youth participants learned photography skills, engaged in critical communal discussions about important issues affecting their health, wrote reflective stories about their photos, and engaged in policy change efforts. Their photos depict the need to address economic devastation and built environment degradation to prevent violence in their communities. Youth presented policy makers and community leaders with an “insider’s perspective” of the issues facing their communities, with the hope of promoting policy …

Better Learning In Schools To Improve Attitudes Toward Abstinence And Intentions For Safer Sex Among Adolescents In Urban Nepal, Rachana Manandhar Shrestha, Keiko Otsuka, Krishna C. Poudel, Junko Yasuoka, Medin Lamichhane, Masamine Jimba

Krishna C. Poudel

Background: School-based sex education is an effective medium to convey health information and skills about preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancies among adolescents. However, research on school-based sex education is limited in many developing countries, including Nepal. This study thus had two main objectives: (1) to assess students’ evaluation of school-based sex education, and (2) to examine the associations between students’ evaluations of school-based sex education and their (a) attitudes toward abstinence and (b) intentions for safer sex. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 634 students from six schools in the Kathmandu Valley during May–June 2010. We …

Interactions Between Serotypes Of Dengue Highlight Epidemiological Impact Of Cross-Immunity, Nicholas Reich, Sourya Shrestha, Aaron King, Pejman Rohani, Justin Lessler, Siripen Kalayanarooj, In-Kyu Yoon, Robert Gibbons, Donald Burke, Derek Cummings

Nicholas G Reich

Dengue, a mosquito-borne virus of humans, infects over 50 million people annually. Infection with any of the four dengue serotypes induces protective immunity to that serotype, but does not confer long-term protection against infection by other serotypes. The immunological interactions between sero- types are of central importance in understanding epidemiological dynamics and anticipating the impact of dengue vaccines. We analysed a 38-year time series with 12 197 serotyped dengue infections from a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Using novel mechanistic models to represent different hypothesized immune interactions between serotypes, we found strong evidence that infec- tion with dengue provides substantial short-term …

Dietary Patterns Of Pakistani Adults And Their Associations With Sociodemographic, Anthropometric And Life-Style Factors, Nilofer Safdar, Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, Lorraine Cordero, Tazeen Jafar, Nancy Cohen

Elizabeth R. Bertone-Johnson

Dietary pattern analysis is an epidemiological method designed to consider the complexity of food preferences and diet patterns of populations. Few studies from South Asia have used this methodology to describe population food intake. Our objective was to identify dietary patterns and understand their associations with sociodemographic, anthropometric and life-style factors among low-income Pakistani urban adults. Dietary information was collected by a thirty-three-item FFQ and dietary patterns were derived by principal component analyses in 5491 subjects enrolled in the Control of Blood Pressure and Risk Attenuation (COBRA) study. Three dietary patterns were identified: a fat and sweet pattern characterised by …

Historical Foundations Of Wound Healing And Its Potential, Edward Calabrese

Edward Calabrese

ABSTRACT This paper provides a detailed historical assessment of the origin and developmental progress of the concept of wound healing and its attempted acceleration from its start in the beginning of the 20th century to approximately 1960. Emphasis is placed on the development of cell culture in the assessment of wound healing and in attempts to validate experimental findings via clinical research. Of particular interest were the observations that wound healing could be accelerated in the 30–50% range with the dose response displaying biphasic characteristics consistent with the hormesis doseresponse model. Such findings set the stage for the hormetic dose-response …

Improved Quality Of Life After Surgery For Pelvic Organ Prolapse In Nepalese Women, Rolina Dhital, Keiko Otsuka, Krishna C. Poudel, Junko Yasuoka, Ganesh Dangal, Masamine Jimba

Krishna C. Poudel

Background: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common gynecological condition that can affect quality of life (QOL) in women. In Nepal, the prevalence of POP is high, but many affected women are still deprived of treatment. Vaginal hysterectomy with pelvic floor repair is one of the common treatment options for advanced POP. However, QOL outcomes after surgery have not been reported in low-income countries. Thus, we aimed to examine changes in QOL among Nepalese women with POP after such surgery. Methods: This longitudinal study was conducted in the selected central and peripheral hospitals in Nepal where vaginal hysterectomy was being …

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels And C-Reactive Protein In Persons With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection, Kalpana Poudel-Tandukar, Krishna C. Poudel, Masamine Jimba, Jun Kobayashi, C. Anderson Johnson, Paula H. Palmer

Krishna C. Poudel

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has frequently been associated with vitamin D deficiency as well as chronic inflammatory response. We tested the hypothesis of an independent relationship between serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) in a cohort of HIV-positive people. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 316 HIV-positive people (181 men and 135 women) aged 16 to 60 years residing in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Serum high-sensitivity CRP concentrations and serum 25(OH)D levels were measured by the latex agglutination nephelometry method and the competitive protein-binding assay, respectively. The relationship between serum CRP concentrations and 25(OH)D …

Dried Whole Plant Artemisia Annua As An Antimalarial Therapy, Mostafa Elfawal, Melissa Towler, Nicholas Reich, Douglas Golenbock, Pamela Weathers, Stephen Rich

Nicholas G Reich

Drugs are primary weapons for reducing malaria in human populations. However emergence of resistant parasites has repeatedly curtailed the lifespan of each drug that is developed and deployed. Currently the most effective anti-malarial is artemisinin, which is extracted from the leaves of Artemisia annua. Due to poor pharmacokinetic properties and prudent efforts to curtail resistance to monotherapies, artemisinin is prescribed only in combination with other anti-malarials composing an Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT). Low yield in the plant, and the added cost of secondary anti-malarials in the ACT, make artemisinin costly for the developing world. As an alternative, we compared the …

Ready To Use Therapeutic Foods (Rutf) Improves Undernutrition Among Art-Treated, Hiv-Positive Children In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Bruno Sunguya, Krishna C. Poudel, Linda B. Mlunde, Keiko Otsuka, Junko Yasuoka, David P. Urassa, Namala P. Mkopi

Krishna C. Poudel

Background: HIV/AIDS is associated with an increased burden of undernutrition among children even under antiretroviral therapy (ART). To treat undernutrition, WHO endorsed the use of Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) that can reduce case fatality and undernutrition among ART-naïve HIV-positive children. However, its effects are not studied among ART-treated, HIV-positive children. Therefore, we examined the association between RUTF use with underweight, wasting, and stunting statuses among ART-treated HIV-positive children in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from September-October 2010. The target population was 219 ART-treated, HIV-positive children and the same number of their caregivers. We …

Caregiving Associated With Selected Cancer Risk Behaviors And Screening Utilization Among Women: Cross-Sectional Results Of The 2009 Brfss, Katherine Reeves, Kathryn Bacon, Lisa Fredman

Katherine Reeves

Background Informal caregiving is increasingly common as the U.S. population ages, and there is concern that caregivers are less likely than non-caregivers to practice health-promoting behaviors, including cancer screening. We examined caregiving effects on cancer risk behaviors and breast and cervical cancer screening in the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Methods Women age ≥41 with data on breast and cervical cancer screening were included (weighted frequency 3,478,000 women). Cancer screening was classified according to American Cancer Society guidelines. We evaluated the association of caregiving with cancer risk behaviors (obesity, physical activity, alcohol intake, smoking status, and fruit/vegetable consumption) and …

Genetic Variability In Igf-1 And Igfbp-3 And Body Size In Early Life, Elizabeth Poole, Shelley Tworoger, Susan Hankinson, Heather Baer

Susan E. Hankinson

Background Early life body size and circulating levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 have been linked to increased risks of breast and other cancers, but it is unclear whether these exposures act through a common mechanism. Previous studies have examined the role of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 genetic variation in relation to adult height and body size, but few studies have examined associations with birthweight and childhood size. Methods We examined whether htSNPs in IGF-1 and the IGFBP-1/IGFBP-3 gene region are associated with the self-reported outcomes of birthweight, body fatness at ages 5 and 10, and body mass index (BMI) at age …

Uptake Of Interventions For Preventing Mother-To-Child Hiv Transmission In 11 Operational Districts In Cambodia, Krishna C. Poudel

Krishna C. Poudel

INTRODUCTION: To achieve the global goal of eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, retention of HIV-positive women and their babies throughout the cascade of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services is necessary. Little evidence has been published on coverage of the cascade in resource-limited settings. Along with PMTCT service expansion in Cambodia, a national routine reporting system was developed. This study examines coverage of six PMTCT interventions to improve our understanding of retention throughout the cascade. METHOD: WE DEVELOPED INDICATORS TO MONITOR COVERAGE OF THE SIX KEY INTERVENTIONS: (1) maternal antiretroviral treatment or prophylaxis; (2) delivery in a health …

Influence Of Prenatal Arsenic Exposure And Newborn Sex On Global Methylation Of Cord Blood Dna, Richard Pilsner, Megan Hall, Xinhua Liu, Vesna Ilievski, Vesna Slavkovich, Diane Levy, Pam Factor-Litvak, Mahammad Yunus, Mahfuzar Rahman, Joseph Graziano, Mary Gamble

J. Richard Pilsner

Background

An emerging body of evidence indicates that early-life arsenic (As) exposure may influence the trajectory of health outcomes later in life. However, the mechanisms underlying these observations are unknown.

Objective

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of prenatal As exposure on global methylation of cord blood DNA in a study of mother/newborn pairs in Matlab, Bangladesh.

Design

Maternal and cord blood DNA were available from a convenience sample of 101 mother/newborn pairs. Measures of As exposure included maternal urinary As (uAs), maternal blood As (mbAs) and cord blood As (cbAs). Several measures of global DNA …

Empirical Power And Sample Size Calculations For Cluster-Randomized And Cluster-Randomized Crossover Studies, Nicholas Reich, Jessica Myers, Daniel Obeng, Aaron Milstone, Trish Perl

Nicholas G Reich

In recent years, the number of studies using a cluster-randomized design has grown dramatically. In addition, the cluster-randomized crossover design has been touted as a methodological advance that can increase efficiency of cluster-randomized studies in certain situations. While the cluster-randomized crossover trial has become a popular tool, standards of design, analysis, reporting and implementation have not been established for this emergent design. We address one particular aspect of cluster-randomized and cluster-randomized crossover trial design: estimating statistical power. We present a general framework for estimating power via simulation in cluster-randomized studies with or without one or more crossover periods. We have …

Hormones And Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Low-Dose Effects And Nonmonotonic Dose Responses, Laura Vandenberg, Theo Colborn, Tyrone Hayes, Jerrold Heindel, David Jacobs Jr., Duk-Hee Lee, Toshi Shioda, Ana Soto, Frederick Vom Saal, Wade Welshons, R. Zoeller, John Myers

Laura Vandenberg

For decades, studies of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have challenged traditional concepts in toxicology, in particular the dogma of “the dose makes the poison,” because EDCs can have effects at low doses that are not predicted by effects at higher doses. Here, we review two major concepts in EDC studies: low dose and nonmonotonicity. Low-dose effects were defined by the National Toxicology Program as those that occur in the range of human exposures or effects observed at doses below those used for traditional toxicological studies. We review the mechanistic data for low-dose effects and use a weight-of-evidence approach to analyze five …

Learning To Align From Scratch, Gary Huang, Marwan Mattar, Honglak Lee, Erik Learned-Miller

Erik G Learned-Miller

Unsupervised joint alignment of images has been demonstrated to improve performance on recognition tasks such as face verification. Such alignment reduces undesired variability due to factors such as pose, while only requiring weak supervision in the form of poorly aligned examples. However, prior work on unsupervised alignment of complex, real-world images has required the careful selection of feature representation based on hand-crafted image descriptors, in order to achieve an appropriate, smooth optimization landscape. In this paper, we instead propose a novel combination of unsupervised joint alignment with unsupervised feature learning. Specifically, we incorporate deep learning into the congealing alignment framework. …

Distribution Fields For Tracking, Erik Learned-Miller, Laura Lara

Erik G Learned-Miller

Visual tracking of general objects often relies on the assumption that gradient descent of the alignment function will reach the global optimum. A common technique to smooth the objective function is to blur the image. However, blurring the image destroys image information, which can cause the target to be lost. To address this problem we introduce a method for building an image descriptor using distribution fields (DFs), a representation that allows smoothing the objective function without destroying information about pixel values. We present experimental evidence on the superiority of the width of the basin of attraction around the global optimum …

Topic Models For Taxonomies, Anton Bakalov, Andrew Mccallum, Hanna Wallach, David Minmo

Hanna M. Wallach

Concept taxonomies such as MeSH, the ACM Computing Classification System, and the NY Times Subject Headings are frequently used to help organize data. They typically consist of a set of concept names organized in a hierarchy. However, these names and structure are often not sufficient to fully capture the intended meaning of a taxonomy node, and particularly non-experts may have difficulty navigating and placing data into the taxonomy. This paper introduces two semi-supervised topic models that automatically augment a given taxonomy with many additional keywords by leveraging a corpus of multi-labeled documents. Our experiments show that users find the topics …

A Gpu-Based Approximate Svd Algorithm, Blake Foster, Sridhar Mahadevan, Rui Wang

Rui Wang

Approximation of matrices using the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) plays a central role in many science and engineering applications. However, the computation cost of an exact SVD is prohibitively high for very large matrices. In this paper, we describe a GPU-based approximate SVD algorithm for large matrices. Our method is based on the QUIC-SVD introduced by [6], which exploits a tree-based structure to efficiently discover a subset of rows that spans the matrix space. We describe how to map QUIC-SVD onto the GPU, and improve its speed and stability using a blocked Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization method. Using a simple matrix partitioning …

Topic-Partitioned Multinetwork Embeddings, Peter Krafft, Juston Moore, Bruce Desmarais, Hanna Wallach

Hanna M. Wallach

We introduce a joint model of network content and context designed for exploratory analysis of email networks via visualization of topic-specific communication patterns. Our model is based on a novel extension of the latent space network model to the mixed-membership framework, and it uses latent Dirichlet allocation to model the text attributes of our data. To perform inference in this model, we use an approximate stochastic expectation-maximization algorithm. We validate the appropriateness of our model using a simulation study and a prediction task, and demonstrate its capabilities by investigating the communication patterns within a new government email dataset, the New …

A Call For Parental Monitoring To Improve Condom Use Among Secondary School Students In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Linda B. Mlunde, Krishna C. Poudel, Bruno F. Sunguya, Jessie K. K. Mbwambo, Junko Yasuoka, Keiko Otsuka, Omary Ubuguyu, Masamine Jimba

Krishna C. Poudel

Background: The number of people newly infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been decreasing in sub-Saharan Africa, but prevalence of the infection remains unacceptably high among young people. Despite the alarming pervasiveness of the virus, young people in this region continue to engage in risky sexual behaviors including unprotected sexual intercourse. In developed countries, parents can play important roles in protecting young people from such behaviors, but evidence regarding the impact of parental involvement is still limited in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, we conducted this study to examine the magnitude of risky sexual behaviors and the association of parental monitoring …

Hormesis And The Salk Polio Vaccine, Edward Calabrese

Edward Calabrese

The production of the Salk vaccine polio virus by monkey kidney cells was generated using the synthetic tissue culture medium, Mixture 199. In this paper’s retrospective assessment of this process, it was discovered that Mixture 199 was modified by the addition of ethanol to optimize animal cell survival based on experimentation that revealed a hormetic-like biphasic response relationship. This hormesis-based optimization procedure was then applied to all uses of Mixture 199 and modifications of it, including its application to the Salk polio vaccine during preliminary testing and in its subsequent major societal treatment programs.

Weight Gain Prevention Among Black Women In The Rural Community Health Center Setting: The Shape Program, Perry Foley, Erica Levine, Sandy Askew, Elaine Puleo, Jessica Whiteley, Bryan Batch, Daniel Heil, Daniel Dix, Veronica Lett, Michele Lanpher, Jade Miller, Karen Emmons, Gary Bennett

Elaine M. Puleo

Background: Nearly 60% of black women are obese. Despite their increased risk of obesity and associated chronic diseases, black women have been underrepresented in clinical trials of weight loss interventions, particularly those conducted in the primary care setting. Further, existing obesity treatments are less effective for this population. The promotion of weight maintenance can be achieved at lower treatment intensity than can weight loss and holds promise in reducing obesity-associated chronic disease risk. Weight gain prevention may also be more consistent with the obesity-related sociocultural perspectives of black women than are traditional weight loss approaches.

Methods/Design: We conducted an 18-month …

The Combined Influence Of Multiple Sex And Growth Hormones On Risk Of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer: A Nested Case-Control Study, Shelley Tworoger, Bernard Rosner, Walter Willett, Susan Hankinson

Susan E. Hankinson

Introduction Sex and growth hormones are positively associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk. However, few studies have evaluated the influence of multiple hormones simultaneously. Methods We considered the roles of estrone, estradiol, estrone sulfate, testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), DHEA sulfate and prolactin and, secondarily, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and c-peptide in postmenopausal breast cancer risk among 265 cases and 541 controls in the prospective Nurses' Health Study. We created several hormone scores, including ranking women by the number of hormones above the age- and batch-adjusted geometric mean and weighting hormone values by their individual associations with breast cancer risk. …