Digital Commons Network^™

Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Novel Ethnic-Specific Associations With Body Mass Index, Yasmmyn D. Salinas

Public Health Theses

Background. Obesity affects over one-third of the US population, and is a risk factor for various chronic conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. The disease results from a combination of behavioral and environmental risk factors and genetic predisposition. To date, over 50 genetic polymorphisms have been associated with increased body mass index (BMI), but these associations explain only a small percentage of the heritable risk of obesity. Moreover, the majority of these associations have been identified in populations of European ancestry. We sought to identify novel associations with BMI and to evaluate their generalizability across ethnic groups, …

Modeling The Zoonotic Transmission Dynamics Of Nipah Virus: Implications For Outbreak Control And Model-Guided Fieldwork, Natasha Wenzel

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Nipah virus is considered a biosafety level-4 pathogen that is endemic to bats of the genus Pteropus. Infection in humans presents clinically as febrile encephalitis with an extremely high case-fatality rate (78.2%). Outbreaks of Nipah virus infection have occurred in Bangladesh and India almost annually since 2001, most recently in January 2013.

Methods: To elucidate Nipah virus persistence at the endemic host and human population level we developed a Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered dynamic model and parameterized it from published epidemiological case data and serological bats surveys on the Nipah Virus-Bangladesh variant. We conducted a Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation to estimate …

Stress, Discrimination And Repeat Pregnancy In Adolescent Parents, Meghan Angley

Public Health Theses

Objective

Adolescent mothers are at high risk of repeat pregnancy and repeat birth with short birth intervals. Perceived stress is known to affect young women's use of contraception, and therefore risk of unintended pregnancy. The primary aim of the study was to examine how stress, stressful life events, discrimination and economic hardship affect adolescent mothers' risk for repeat pregnancy. Secondary aims included examining if the association between stress and repeat pregnancy was mediated by contraception use, if the stress experienced by the mother's partner was associated with risk of pregnancy and if the association between stress and repeat pregnancy was …

Epidemiology, Risk Factors, And Effectiveness Of Treatment Of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever In Turkey, 2007-2012, Eda Akyar

Public Health Theses

Objective: Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is caused by a Nairovirus of the Bunyaviridae family. It was first reported in Turkey in 2002. Infections commonly result from bites from ticks of Hyalomma marginatum marginatum or Rhipicephalus bursa species. Nosocomial infections also occur. CCHF infection occurs in over 30 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. No vaccine exists and the effectiveness of ribavirin treatment remains controversial. This study's objective was to identify significant epidemiological, environmental, and clinical risk factors associated with disease and death caused by CCHF in Turkey. This study also evaluated the effectiveness of ribavirin as treatment for patients …

Hpv Vaccine Effectiveness In New Haven County, Connecticut Women Age 18-39, 2008-2012, Jennifer Lynn Berry

Public Health Theses

Background: HPV vaccines have demonstrated high efficacy in clinical trials against cervical lesions and infections by HPV vaccine types 16 and 18. Together these two types are responsible for approximately 70% of cervical cancer. Data on HPV vaccine effectiveness in general populations is limited.

Methods: Surveillance data monitoring high-grade cervical lesions in Connecticut was used. Medical records were reviewed and patients were interviewed to ascertain HPV vaccine history. Patients' biopsy specimens were typed to determine the presence of vaccine or non-vaccine type HPV. Odds ratios were determined using logistic regression, adjusting for age at diagnosis, grade of cervical lesion, race/ethnicity, …

Risk Factors For Q Fever Seroconversion In A Cohort Of Veterinary Students: A Comparative Analysis, Jessica Bonthius

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) is an extremely infectious, environmentally persistent intracellular bacterium and the causative agent of the zoonosis Q fever. An unprecedented epidemic in the Netherlands between 2007 and 2010 revealed its public health importance. Recent investigations have focused on C. burnetii seroprevalence among livestock workers. The burden of disease in veterinary students, a group with arguably similar exposures, has been insufficiently characterized.

Methods: Students beginning veterinary study at Utrecht University's Veterinary Medical School in 2006 were invited to participate. Questionnaires and serum samples for the detection of IgM and IgG antibodies against C. burnetii were collected at …

Minority Stress And Daily Affect Among Gay And Bisexual Men, Adam Ismail Eldahan

Public Health Theses

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to examine the possible time-variant relationship between daily minority stress and same-day affect among gay and bisexual men. Additionally, this study sought to determine whether a lagged association exists between daily minority stress and next-day affect. Lastly, this study examined trajectories of minority stress and affect during the course of the study period. Methods: 371 gay and bisexual men in New York City completed a 30-day daily diary, recording daily experiences of minority stress and daily measures of positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and anxious arousal (AA) (n = 8,415 diary …

Household Food Insecurity And Iron Deficiency Anemia In Mexican Women Of Reproductive Age, Nils Clement Fischer

Public Health Theses

Objective: To investigate the association of household food insecurity (HFI) with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in a nationally representative cross-sectional sample from Mexico of women of reproductive age (12-49 years old).

Material and Methods: We tested the association between HFI and IDA among 16,944 women of reproductive age using multiple logistic regression. HFI was measured using the Latin America and the Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA). IDA was measured with capillary hemoglobin using HemoCue photometer and defined using the WHO standards.

Results: Multivariate analyses showed that adjusted odds for IDA were 33% and 36% higher among living in moderately and …

Dengue Epidemiology In An Urban Slum Community In Salvador, Brazil, Kristine Gauthier

Public Health Theses

Brazil has experienced a major increase in the incidence of dengue fever and severe dengue since the mid-1990s. Due to incomplete vector-control and transmission prevention efforts, all four serotypes of the dengue virus now circulate in Brazil. Communities such as Pau da Lima, an urban slum in the city of Salvador, Brazil, face a high burden of disease. Beginning in 2009 enhanced surveillance for dengue fever and other acute febrile illnesses has been conducted at the São Marcos Emergency Center (CESM), the only public urgent care health center in Pau da Lima. This sentinel surveillance site serves as a model …

Analysis Of The Gut-Specific Microbiome Of Field-Captured Tsetse Flies, And Its Potential Relevance To Host Trypanosome Vector Competence, Bridget Catherine Hamilton Griffith

Public Health Theses

The tsetse fly (Glossinasp.) gut is colonized by maternally transmitted and environmentally acquired bacteria. Maternally transmitted symbionts are well characterized, but little is known about the origin and function of environmentally acquired bacteria inhabiting the tsetse midgut. To address this shortcoming, culture dependent and independent methods were used to characterize and quantify bacterial communities that reside within the midgut of tsetse flies collected at five geographically isolated locations in Kenya and Uganda. Bacteria were isolated from 83.33% of flies using culture dependent methods. In total, 38 strains were isolated. To increase the depth of this analysis, Illumina-based deep-sequencing of the …

An Assessment Of Hookworm Infection And Albendazole Treatment Failure Among Children Ages 7-12 In Kintampo North Municipality, Ghana, Erin Leah Jaske

Public Health Theses

Background

Hookworm is a soil-transmitted nematode (STN) infection associated with rural poverty that infects 576-740 million people worldwide, 200 million of which reside in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2001, the WHO passed a resolution that recommended annual deworming for school-aged children where the prevalence of STNs is higher than 20%. Since this time, albendazole has been widely used across sub-Saharan Africa to treat hookworm infection. Given the widespread use of albendazole as a treatment for hookworms and other STNs in humans, it becomes pertinent to ensure that resistance is monitored at the local level, and detected as it emerges. Previous research …

Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces) And Their Influence On Social Connectedness, Tammie Kwong

Public Health Theses

Emerging evidence suggests that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are prevalent within the population and are linked to various negative long-term health and social consequences. The effect childhood maltreatment has on an individual's ability to maintain social connectedness may be a potential pathway as to how early adversity increases the likelihood of future negative health consequences. Using the 2011/12 National Survey of Children's Health, this thesis will explore the influence ACEs has on three areas of social connectedness: bonding, bridging, and linking. Results from the multivariate logistic regression model show that there was a significant association between ACEs and bonding as …

The Oncogenic Role Of Piwi Proteins In Breast Carcinogenesis, Donghai Liang

Public Health Theses

As the leading source of cancer death among women worldwide, breast cancer has experienced a steady increase in prevalence in recently years, a trend that is most evident in industrialized nations. One possible explanation for this epidemic phenomenon is the exposure to light at night through shiftwork, which has been linked to both aberrant DNA methylation and increased risk of breast cancer development. Based on a whole-genome methylation analysis on a selected sample of the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health prospective cohort, we observed statistically significant hypomethylation in the PIWIL1 gene, a member of the PIWI protein family, among night …

Data Workflow In Large Scale Simulations Of Blood Flow In Aneurysms, Paolo Di Achille, Jay D. Humphrey

Yale Day of Data

Aneurysms are responsibile for significant morbidity and mortality, and there is a need for an increased understanding of all the aspects of the natural history of these lesions. We are currently working to extend our analyses with the goal of creating models of aneurysmal progression that are able to predict rupture risk through the description of the evolving geometry, structure, properties, and loads.

Realization of patient specific models of the blood circulation necessitates a complex computationally and data intensive procedure that starts from the collection of medical images in a clinical setting and encompasses several stages of data processing on …

Barefoot And Footloose Doctors: Optimal Resource Allocation In Developing Countries With Medical Migration, John E. Roemer, Pedro Rosa Dias

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

In light of the shortage of healthcare professionals, many developing countries operate a defacto two-tiered system of healthcare provision, in which Community Health Workers (CHWs) supplement service provision by fully qualified physicians. CHWs are relatively inexpensive to train but can treat only a limited range of medical conditions. This paper explicitly models a two-tiered structure of healthcare provision and characterizes the optimal allocation of resources between training doctors and CHWs, and implications for population health outcomes. We analyze how medical migration alters resource allocation and population health outcomes, shifting resources towards training CHWs. In the model, migration stimulates health care …

Equality Of Opportunity, John E. Roemer, Alain Trannoy

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This forthcoming chapter in the Handbook of Income Distribution (eds., A. Atkinson and F. Bourguignon) summarizes the literature on equality of opportunity. We begin by reviewing the philosophical debate concerning equality since Rawls (sections 1 and 2), present economic algorithms for computing policies which equalize opportunities, or, more generally, ways of ordering social policies with respect to their efficacy in opportunity equalization (sections 3, 4 and 5), apply the approach to the conceptualization of economic development (section 6), discuss dynamic issues (section 7), give a preamble to a discussion of empirical work (section 8), provide evidence of population views from …

Incorporating Satellite Derived Cloud Climatologies To Improve High Resolution Interpolation Of Daily Precipitation., Adam M. Wilson, Benoit Parmentier, Brian Mcgill, Rob Guralnick, Walter Jetz

Yale Day of Data

Conservation of biodiversity demands comprehension of evolutionary and ecological patterns and processes that occur over vast spatial and temporal scales. A central goal of ecology is to understand the factors that control the spatial distribution of species and this has become even more important in the face of climate change. However, at global scales there can be enormous uncertainty in environmental data used to model species distributions. Even ‘simple’ metrics such as mean annual precipitation are difficult to estimate in areas with few weather stations and available data sets do not quantify uncertainty in these surfaces. We are developing a …

Detecting Modules In Multiplex Networks – An Application For Integrating Expression Profiles Across Multiple Species, Koon-Kiu Yan, Daifeng Wang, Joel Rozowsky, Henry Zheng, Baikang Pei, Mark Gerstein

Yale Day of Data

Multiplex network, a set of networks linked through interconnected layers, is a useful mathematical framework for data integration. Here, we present a general method to detect modules in multiplex networks and apply it in a specific biological context: to simultaneously cluster the genome-wide expression profiles of C. elegans and D. melanogaster generated by the ENOCDE and modENCODE consortia. The method revealed modules that are fundamentally cross-species and can either be conserved or species-specific. In general, the method could be applied in various contexts like the integration of different social networks.

Printable Schedule Of Events, Yale University

Yale Day of Data

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of ‘Theory Of Mind’: Theory And Experiments, Erik O. Kimbrough, Nikolaus Robalino, Arthur Robson

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper investigates the evolutionary foundation for our capacity to attribute preferences to others. This ability is intrinsic to game theory, and is a key component of “Theory of Mind,” perhaps the capstone of social cognition. We argue here that this component of theory of mind allows organisms to efficiently modify their behavior in strategic environments with a persistent element of novelty. Our notion of “Theory of Mind” ’ (ToM) yields a sharp, unambiguous advantage over less sophisticated approaches to strategic interaction because agents with ToM extrapolate to novel circumstances information about opponents’ preferences that was learned previously. We then …

Problems Of Sample-Selection Bias In The Historical Heights Literature: A Theoretical And Econometric Analysis, Howard Bodenhorn, Timothy Guinnane, Thomas A. Mroz

Discussion Papers

No abstract provided.

Biology And The Arguments Of Utility, Luis Rayo, Arthur Robson

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Why did evolution not give us a utility function that is offspring alone? Why do we care intrinsically about other outcomes, food, for example, and what determines the intensity of such preferences? A common view is that such other outcomes enhance fitness and the intensity of our preference for a given outcome is proportional to its contribution to fitness. We argue that this view is inaccurate. Specifically, we show that in the presence of informational imperfections, the evolved preference for a given outcome is determined by the individual’s degree of ignorance regarding its significance. Our model sheds light on imitation …

Biology And The Arguments Of Utility, Luis Rayo, Arthur Robson

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Why did evolution not give us a utility function that is offspring alone? Why do we care intrinsically about other outcomes, such as food, and what determines the intensity of such preferences? A common view is that such other outcomes enhance fitness and the intensity of our preference for a given outcome is proportional to its contribution to fitness. We argue that this view is incomplete. Specifically, we show that in the presence of informational asymmetries, the evolutionarily most desirable preference for a given outcome is determined not only by the significance of the outcome, but by the Agent’s degree …

The Quantifying, Predicting, And Exploiting Uncertainty Program: Exploring Oceanographic Processes In A Complex Bathymetric Shelf/Slope Environment Affected By The Kuroshio, Glen Gawarkiewicz, Sen Jan

Journal of Marine Research

We will describe the multi-disciplinary international program, Quantifying, Predicting and Exploiting Uncertainty, which consisted of observations, modeling and remote sensing studies focused on a region northeast of Taiwan in the East China Sea. We focus on results on the physical oceanographic and biogeochemical processes. Concurrent observations of acoustic propagation also occurred during the intensive observation period. This program was a joint Taiwan-U.S. effort involving four different ships sampling the continental shelf and slope during August-September, 2009. Primary goals of the program included 1) studying the structure and variability of the Cold Dome, a cool cyclonic feature frequently present in summer …

Phytoplankton Abundance And Size-Fractionated Structure In Three Contrasting Periods In The Pear River Estuary, Xia Zhang, Zhen Shi, Xiaoping Huang, Feng Ye, Qingxia Liu

Journal of Marine Research

Phytoplankton abundance, composition and size-fractionated chlorophyll a (micro-, nano- and pico-chl. a) in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), South China were assessed in three surveys (Aug. 2010, Jan. 2011 and Aug. 2011) to identify key environmental indicators that shape their distribution patterns. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) showed that the PRE formed three regional clusters that were characterized by a transition from dominant freshwater species to estuarine diatoms in normal summer flow conditions (Aug. 2010). With a reduced river flow in winter (Jan. 2011), the inner estuary was categorized as one group marked by the predominance of the nanoflagellate, Plagioselmis …

Observations Of A Freshwater Pulse Induced By Typhoon Morakot Off The Northern Coast Of Taiwan In August 2009, Sen Jan, Joe Wang, Yiing Jiang Yang, Chin-Chang Hung, Ching-Sheng Chern, Glen Gawarkiewicz, Ren-Chieh Lien, Luca Centurioni, Jia-Yu Kuo, Bee Wang

Journal of Marine Research

In this paper we describe large-scale impacts from a typhoon on the circulation over the continental shelf and slope north of Taiwan. Typhoon Morakot was a category 2 tropical storm that landed in central Taiwan, but caused destruction primarily in southern Taiwan from Aug. 8–10, 2009. The typhoon brought record-breaking rainfall; approximately 3 m accumulated over four days in southern Taiwan. River discharge on the west coast of Taiwan increased rapidly from Aug. 6–7 and peaked on Aug. 8, yielding a total volume 27.2 km³ of freshwater discharged off the west coast of Taiwan over five days (Aug. 6–10). …

Linear Dynamics Of A Stably-Neutrally Stratified Ocean, Gregory M. Reznik

Journal of Marine Research

Linear dynamics of stably-neutrally stratified fluid consisting of the stably stratified upper layer and the homogeneous lower layer is studied with and without rotation. The density and other fields are continuous at the interface between the layers. A special feature of this configuration is existence of the wave mode related to the homogeneous layer. In non-rotating fluid this is the homogeneous layer vortex mode characterized by a stationary three-dimensional velocity field confined to the lower layer. In the presence of rotation, the mode turns into the gyroscopic waves. Besides the mode, the wave spectrum contains internal waves and the zero …

Internal Tides On The East China Sea Continental Slope, Ren-Chieh Lien, Thomas B. Sanford, Sen Jan, Ming-Huei Chang, Barry B. Ma

Journal of Marine Research

Strong semidiurnal internal tides are observed on the continental slope of the East China Sea (ECS) using an array of subsurface moorings and EM-APEX floats. A Princeton Ocean Model (POM) is used to simulate the effects of stratification profiles on the generation and propagation of M₂ internal tides; model simulations are compared with observations. On the ECS continental slope northeast of Taiwan, the semidiurnal barotropic tidal current flows nearly perpendicular to the shelf break and continental slope, favoring the generation of internal tides. Both the critical slope analysis and numerical model results suggest multiple generation sites on the continental …

Influence Of Bottom Topography On Large-Scale Decadal Basin Modes, Dhouha Ferjani, Thierry Huck, Alain Colin De Verdière

Journal of Marine Research

The influence of bottom topography on the generic properties of the baroclinic basin modes is investigated through linear stability analysis of a two-layer shallow water ocean model. Various idealized bottom profiles imitating a mid-ocean ridge and continental slopes are analyzed in an extratropical β-plane closed basin. Only large-scale features are examined, the eddy effects being parametrized as turbulent eddy viscosity that allows the selection of large-scale eigenmodes. At coarse resolution, the largest-scale lowest-frequency baroclinic modes appear as the least damped modes. For scales much larger than the internal deformation radius, the damping rate is relatively independent of dissipation, the mode …

Significant Internal Waves And Internal Tides Measured Northeast Of Taiwan, Timothy F. Duda, Arthur E. Newhall, Glen Gawarkiewicz, Michael J. Caruso, Hans C. Graber, Yiing Jang Yang, Sen Jan

Journal of Marine Research

Internal gravity waves in an area northeast of Taiwan are characterized using data from multiple sensor types. The data set includes intermittent information collected from a ship and short time series from moorings. Modeled nonlinear waves are fitted to observed nonlinear waves to provide self-consistent estimates of multiple wave parameters. A nonlinear internal wave of over 50 m amplitude, observed in deep water, is examined in detail. This wave was moving northward from the southern Okinawa Trough toward the continental shelf, and presumably formed from internal tides propagating northward from the Ilan Ridge area. A possible scenario for the formation …