Digital Commons Network^™

Cease Or Persist? Gene Patents And The Clinical Diagnostics Dilemma, Christopher Lee

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Host Nutritional Status And Dietary Factors On The Treatment Efficacy Of Albendazole In School-Age Children Infected With Hookworm In The Kintampo North District Of Ghana, Sara Ann Nguyen

Public Health Theses

Background: In endemic settings unable to support economic growth, inexpensive anthelminthics, such as albendazole, are the cornerstone for hookworm infection treatment and control. However, the overall efficacy of albendazole against hookworm may be reduced after periodic chemotherapy. (Hotez et al., 2004) In addition, there are few studies exploring the role of nutritional status as a potential host factor influencing drug response and the constituents of diet has often been overlooked when determining anthelminthic efficacy, despite previous accounts of nutrient content of a meal or consumed food item affecting drug metabolism. Evaluating nutritional status as a potential host factor may partly …

Intimate Partner Violence And Breastfeeding Outcomes: An Examination Of The 2007 Zambia Demographic And Health Survey, Eunie Park

Public Health Theses

Objective: To assess associations of experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) and breastfeeding behaviors among a large, population-based sample of Zambian women using the 2007 Zambian Demographic and Health Survey (2007 ZDHS).

Methods: All women with a last-born infant aged under 2 years in Zambia who participated in the 2007 ZDHS Domestic Violence Module were included in the analysis. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the associations of experiences of lifetime IPV, type of IPV, current IPV, and IPV during any pregnancy to the following breastfeeding outcomes: early breastfeeding initiation, use of prelacteal feeds, any breastfeeding (N=1892), and exclusive …

Stress And The Diabetes Mind: Job Loss Predicts Cognitive Function In The Health And Retirement Study, Hutson Dempsey Olsen

Public Health Theses

Introduction

Diabetes is a proposed cause of dementia and age-related cognitive decline. While the effects of hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and hyperinsulinemia are well-known, scholarship tends to neglect distinct but related pathologies, such as chronic stress. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a common proxy- mid-life involuntary job loss- is associated with reduced cognitive function among a cohort of diabetics. A second objective was to determine if age of diabetes onset moderates this relationship.

Methods

This cross-sectional study gathered diabetes data from the 2003 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Mail Survey on Diabetes, while measures of cognitive function …

Hpv Type Distribution In New Haven County, Ct Among Women With Cin2+ Diagnoses From 2008-2010, Chelsea Anne Russ

Public Health Theses

Background

The human papillomavirus is a necessary cause of cervical cancer leading to >12,000 cervical cancer diagnoses and >4,000 deaths in the United States in 2007. In 2006, the first HPV vaccine was approved by the US FDA, which prevents the acquisition of high-risk types of HPV (16/18) that cause 70% cervical cancer cases in the US and 50% of precancerous lesions. Our objectives were to examine HPV type distribution among women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2/3 (CIN2+) by area-based measures of race, ethnicity, and poverty and individual level characteristics.

Methods

In 2008, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) …

Influence Of Quercetin-Rich Food Intake On Microrna Expression In Lung Cancer Tissues, Stephanie Shao

Public Health Theses

Background: Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and has the highest cancer-related mortality rate. Epidemiologic studies, including the Environment and Genetics in Lung Cancer Etiology (EAGLE) study, have reported that frequent consumption of quercetin-rich foods is inversely associated with lung cancer incidence. Although experimental studies suggest that quercetin intake might modulate microRNA (miR) expression, this mechanism has not been fully examined. We investigated this hypothesis in lung carcinogenesis using EAGLE lung cancer tissues.

Methods: miR expression data were measured by a custom-made array in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 264 lung cancer cases (144 adenocarcinomas and …

Acculturation And Cardiovascular Markers And Outcomes: A Systematic Review, Dorothy Sheu

Public Health Theses

Acculturation may help illuminate the context of atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke. This systematic review sought to examine the associations between acculturation and atherosclerosis, CHD, and stroke. A search of ten databases in addition to reference lists led to relevant articles. This research limited to quantitative studies conducted among Asian adults in North America, and further selected for those that included measurements of atherosclerosis, CHD, or stroke, to comprise this review. This review included articles of all languages, years published, and publication types. Twenty-nine articles were found that both fit the aforementioned criteria and measured acculturation. Among these …

Obesity As A Risk Factor For Hospital Acquired Infections In Pediatric Trauma Patients: A Pilot Study, Elyor Vidal

Public Health Theses

Context

The prevalence of obesity among young Americans in the 6 to 19 year old category has tripled since the 1960's. Today, 50% of individuals in this age group are either overweight or obese (Kimm, 2002). Studies have shown that increased percentage of body fat weakens the body's immune system (Falagas, 2009). Moreover, trauma can be an immuno-compromising condition. A study by Brown et al. in 2006 showed that obese pediatric trauma patients had more sepsis (15% vs 4%, P = .007) and wound infection (26% vs. 8%, p = .03), along with other clinical complications.

Objective

This project serves …

Medical And Family History And The Risk Of Endometrial Cancer, Xiaolu Bi

Public Health Theses

BACKGROUND: Women with a medical history of pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, diabetes, high blood pressure or other selected medical conditions, as well as a family history of cancer, are assumed to be at increased risk of endometrial cancer. This study was designed to test these assumptions, as evidence for them is lacking. METHODS: We carried out a population-based case-control study in Connecticut between 2004 and 2008, including 668 endometrial cancer cases and 674 controls from eligible residents matched with age. Medical histories and family history of cancers were reported and conditional logistic regression was used to estimate …

Moral Luck And The Ethics Of The Rising Cesarean Rate, Jessica Bolhack

Public Health Theses

One in three pregnant women delivering in the United States will undergo a cesarean section, at a rate of 32.8% and climbing. The cesarean section is associated with considerable excess risk of morbidity and mortality to infant and mother, including a four-fold risk of maternal death relative to vaginal birth. As the gatekeepers of surgical birth, obstetricians have an ethical and scientific imperative to minimize the number of non-indicated cesarean births. And yet, cesarean rates are responsive to fear of malpractice litigation, physician time-constraints, and patient payer-type. These findings, while ethically troublesome, point to a promising new direction for controlling …

Exhibiting Health: Museums As A Venue For Public Health Intervention, Jacqueline Katherine Bruleigh

Public Health Theses

Public health interventions are as broad as the field itself. Through this paper, I will highlight the missed opportunity that museums present as an intervention site for public health. I will then discuss the design, content, challenges, successes, and directions for growth of a specific exhibition (Big Food: Health, Culture, and the Evolution of Eating), as an example of successfully translating public health into the museum context, which could be used as a starting point for further interventions in this underutilized venue.

Neurotoxic Effects Of Childhood And Adolescent Blood Lead Levels, Fiona Farrar Fordyce

Public Health Theses

Background

Lead has long been established as a potent neurotoxin, childhood being a key period of exposure due to rapid development at that stage in life. While lead is known to cause harmful health effects in the entire population, it is known to particularly damage the developing nervous system in children and potentially interfere with behavioral development. In 2001 a small cohort of children were identified with elevated blood lead level in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Objectives

This study investigated whether 2001 blood lead levels (BLL's) or current (2011) BLL's have had an effect on the behavioral outcomes in this group of …

Determinants Of Dengue Transmission During Epidemic And Inter-Epidemic Periods In Two Colombian Cities, Yao Fu

Public Health Theses

Dengue fever is an urban disease that has a complex epidemiology consisting of alternating periods of intense epidemics and persistence in endemic locations. No studies have compared the patterns of geographic variation and determinants of dengue transmission in neighborhoods during epidemic and non-epidemic periods. Colombia's individual-based epidemiological surveillance system provides a unique opportunity to study this topic. The goal of this study was to better understand dengue epidemiology in two of the highest dengue fever reporting Colombian cities that vary in climate, Armenia (elevation 1320-1580 m, 21-23 C) and Barranquilla (elevation 5-134m . 27-30 C). We used a novel ecological …

A Pilot Project To Assess The Effect Of Tobacco Smoking On Multiple Sclerosis Susceptibility And Severity, Milena Anne Gianfrancesco

Public Health Theses

The field of multiple sclerosis (MS) is in need of a consistent method of measuring smoking to examine its role in disease risk and severity. A pilot study was conducted to examine the association between smoking and disease risk in MS cases (n=26) and controls (n=26). Disease severity within MS patients was assessed through clinical and radiological outcomes. These measures were confirmed within a larger dataset of MS patients (n=512) that additionally contained genotyping information. There were no significant differences in disease risk or severity in the pilot study. Within the larger dataset, clinical score trended toward significance (p=0.13). Stratification …

Meritocracy Voting: Measuring The Unmeasurable, Peter C.B. Phillips

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Learned societies commonly carry out selection processes to add new fellows to an existing fellowship. Criteria vary across societies but are typically based on subjective judgments concerning the merit of individuals who are nominated for fellowships. These subjective assessments may be made by existing fellows as they vote in elections to determine the new fellows or they may be decided by a selection committee of fellows and officers of the society who determine merit after reviewing nominations and written assessments. Human judgment inevitably plays a central role in these determinations and, notwithstanding its limitations, is usually regarded as being a …

Nota Bene; Volume Xxvi, Number Ii, Yale University Library

Nota Bene

Nota Bene is published during the academic year to acquaint the Yale community and others with the resources of the Yale Library.

Risky Curves: From Unobservable Utility To Observable Opportunity Sets, Daniel Friedman, Shyam Sunder

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Most theories of risky choice postulate that a decision maker maximizes the expectation of a Bernoulli (or utility or similar) function. We tour 60 years of empirical search and conclude that no such functions have yet been found that are useful for out-of-sample prediction. Nor do we find practical applications of Bernoulli functions in major risk-based industries such as finance, insurance and gambling. We sketch an alternative approach to modeling risky choice that focuses on potentially observable opportunities rather than on unobservable Bernoulli functions.

The Present And Future Of Game Theory, Martin Shubik

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

A broad nontechnical coverage of many of the developments in game theory since the 1950s is given together with some comments on important open problems and where some of the developments may take place. The nearly 90 references given serve only as a minimal guide to the many thousands of books and articles that have been written. The purpose here is to present a broad brush picture of the many areas of study and application that have come into being. The use of deep techniques flourishes best when it stays in touch with application. There is a vital symbiotic relationship …

Endowments And Investments Within The Household: Evidence From Iodine Supplementation In Tanzania, Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham

Discussion Papers

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Strategic Information Transmission, Mikhail Golosov, Vasiliki Skreta, Aleh Tsyvinski, Andrea Wilson

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper studies strategic information transmission in a dynamic environment where, each period, a privately informed expert sends a message and a decision maker takes an action. Our main result is that, in contrast to a static environment, full information revelation is possible. The gradual revelation of information and the eventual full revelation is supported by the dynamic rewards and punishments. The construction of a fully revealing equilibrium relies on two key features. The first feature is that the expert is incentivized, via appropriate actions, to join separable groups in which she initially pools with far-away types, then later reveals …

Yale Medicine : Alumni Bulletin Of The School Of Medicine, Spring 2011- Spring 2013, Yale University. School Of Medicine

Yale Medicine Magazine - alumni bulletin and magazine

This volume contains Yale Medicine: alumni bulletin of the School of Medicine, v.45 through v.47 (Spring 2011-Spring 2013). Prepared in cooperation with the alumni and development offices at the School of Medicine. Earlier volumes are called Yale School of Medicine alumni bulletins, dating from v.1 (1953) through v.13 (1965).

Digitized with funding from the Arcadia fund, 2017.

Optimizing Private Land Conservation And Public Land Use Planning/Regulation, Bradford S. Gentry, J. Daniel Oppenheimer, Randal A. Strobo

Yale School of the Environment Publications Series

Report of the 2010 Berkley Workshop

Held at the Pocantico Conference Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund - July 2010

Cost Innovation: Schumpeter And Equilibrium. Part 1. Robinson Crusoe, Martin Shubik, William D. Sudderth

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Modifying a parallel dynamic programming approach to a simple deterministic economy, we consider the effect of an innovation in the means of production. The success of the innovation is assumed to depend on the availability of financing, locus of financial control, the amount of resources invested, and on a random event. The relationship between money and physical assets is critical. In this first part stress is laid on the innovation behavior of Robinson Crusoe in a premonetary economy, then on his actions in a monetary economy in partial equilibrium. Part 2 considers the closed monetary economy with several differentiated agents.

Economists As Worldly Philosophers, Robert J. Shiller, Virginia M. Shiller

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

While leading figures in the early history of economics conceived of it as inseparable from philosophy and other humanities, there has been movement, especially in recent decades, towards its becoming an essentially technical field with narrowly specialized areas of inquiry. Certainly, specialization has allowed for great progress in economic science. However, recent events surrounding the financial crisis support the arguments of some that economics needs to develop forums for interdisciplinary interaction and to aspire to broader vision.

Developmental Dynamics Of Piriform Cortex, Amy Sarma

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

The piriform cortex (PCX) is a trilaminar paleocortex that is of interest for its role in odor coding and as a model for studying general principles of cortical sensory processing. While the structure of the mature PCX has been well characterized, its development is poorly understood. Notably, the kinetics as well as the cellular and morphological basis of the postnatal events that shape the PCX remain unknown. We followed the cellular fates of early- versus late-born cells in layer II of the anterior PCX, with a focus on the molecular maturation of pyramidal cells and the kinetics of their differentiation. …

Secondary Instability Of Salt Sheets, Satoshi Kimura, William Smyth

Journal of Marine Research

In the presence of a vertically varying horizontal current (background shear), the salt-fingering instability is supplanted by the salt-sheet instability. Previous direct numerical simulation (DNS) experiments on salt sheets revealed that flow becomes turbulent via secondary instabilities. We call these instabilities zig-zag and tip modes. Here, we investigate the physics of these modes using linear normal mode stability analysis. As the primary instability (salt-sheet instability) grows, the zig-zag mode emerges, which denotes undulation of growing salt sheets at the center of fingering regions. This mode is shown to be an extension of secondary instability of unsheared two-dimensional salt-fingering. The zig-zag …

Spin-Up And Adjustment Of The Antarctic Circumpolar Current And Global Pycnocline, Lesley C. Allison, Helen L. Johnson, David P. Marshall

Journal of Marine Research

A theory is presented for the adjustment of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and global pycnocline to a sudden and sustained change in wind forcing. The adjustment timescale is controlled by the mesoscale eddy diffusivity across the ACC, the mean width of the ACC, the surface area of the ocean basins to the north, and deep water formation in the North Atlantic. In particular, northern sinking may have the potential to shorten the timescale and reduce its sensitivity to Southern Ocean eddies, but the relative importance of northern sinking and Southern Ocean eddies cannot be determined precisely, largely due to …

Dispersion And Connectivity Estimates Along The U.S. West Coast From A Realistic Numerical Model, Patrick T. Drake, Christopher A. Edwards, John A. Barth

Journal of Marine Research

Near-surface particle dispersion, larval dispersal and connectivity along the U.S west coast were explored using a realistic numerical model of the California Current System. Seasonal model velocities were qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated using Global Drifter Program data. The model displayed a clear seasonal cycle of eddy energy near the coast with energy maxima southwest of major headlands. Eddy speeds were correlated with drifter-based estimates during summer and fall when compared spatially. Over six million passive, Lagrangian particles were released in the upper 20 m of the water column within 10 km of the California and Oregon coasts and tracked for …

Transport And Retention Of The Mitten Crab (Eriocheir Sinensis) In A Mid-Atlantic Estuary: Predictions From A Larval Transport Model, Charles E. Tilburg, Ana I. Dittel, Douglas C. Miller, Charles E. Epifanio

Journal of Marine Research

Invasive species cause extensive ecological damage in freshwater and marine habitats and are a threat to biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems world-wide. One such species, the Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis, has invasive populations in northern Europe and San Francisco Bay, and there are confirmed reports of breeding female crabs in both the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. Despite their threat to these ecosystems, there are still large gaps in the current understanding of this species' larval biology that are critical to predicting the potential for large populations to establish in East Coast bays and estuaries. We addressed these issues by using …

Vladimir Kamenkovich – Scientist And Teacher, V. O. Ivchenko, G. M. Reznik

Journal of Marine Research

This special collection of articles is dedicated to Vladimir Kamenkovich, on the occasion of his 80th birthday. We take this opportunity to celebrate his extraordinary career in science and education. Through his pioneering work, Vladimir Kamenkovich has made important contributions to the development of modern physical oceanography, being, in the words of Peter Rhines, “a great force in ocean dynamics,” and he has inspired many scientists worldwide. It is fair to say that the field of ocean dynamics would have been very different if Vladimir had chosen a different career path.