Digital Commons Network^™

Securing Information On A Web Application System To Facilitate Online Blood Donation Booking, Hrishitva Patel

Faculty Publications

Blood donation has saved many lives in the past. According to statistics presented by the American Red Cross, a patient is in need of a blood transfusion every two seconds. There are many benefits that arise from blood donation to both the donor and the blood recipients. With blood donation, cancer patients, people involved in accidents, or those battling diseases that require blood donation have access to enough blood to sustain their survival. There is a need to digitize the blood donation booking to facilitate blood donation across the United States, and ensure patients in need of blood, receive their …

Adolescent Transport And Unintentional Injuries: A Systematic Analysis Using The Global Burden Of Disease Study 2019, Amy E. Peden, Patricia Cullen, Kate Louise Francis, Holger Moeller, Margaret M. Peden, Ismaeel Yunusa Ph. D., Et Al.

Faculty Publications

Background Globally, transport and unintentional injuries persist as leading preventable causes of mortality and morbidity for adolescents. We sought to report comprehensive trends in injury-related mortality and morbidity for adolescents aged 10–24 years during the past three decades.

Methods Using the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2019 Study, we analysed mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributed to transport and unintentional injuries for adolescents in 204 countries. Burden is reported in absolute numbers and age-standardised rates per 100000 population by sex, age group (10–14, 15–19, and 20–24 years), and sociodemographic index (SDI) with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). We …

Optimising Predictive Models To Prioritise Viral Discovery In Zoonotic Reservoirs, Daniel J. Becker, Gregory F. Albery, Anna R. Sjodin, Timothée Poisot, Laura M. Bergner, Binqi Chen, Lily E. Cohen, Tad Dallas, Evan A. Eskew, Anna C. Fagre, Maxwell J. Farrell, Sarah Guth, Barbara A. Han, Nancy B. Simmons, Michiel Stock, Emma C. Teeling, Colin J. Carlson

Faculty Publications

Despite the global investment in One Health disease surveillance, it remains difficult and costly to identify and monitor the wildlife reservoirs of novel zoonotic viruses. Statistical models can guide sampling target prioritisation, but the predictions from any given model might be highly uncertain; moreover, systematic model validation is rare, and the drivers of model performance are consequently under-documented. Here, we use the bat hosts of betacoronaviruses as a case study for the data-driven process of comparing and validating predictive models of probable reservoir hosts. In early 2020, we generated an ensemble of eight statistical models that predicted host–virus associations and …

Quantile Differences In The Age-Related Decline In Cardiorespiratory Fitness Between Sexes In Adults Without Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus In The United States, Andrew Ortaglia, Melissa Stansbury, Michael David Wirth, Xuemei Sui, Matteo Bottai

Faculty Publications

Objective: To comprehensively assess the extent to which the decline in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with age differs between sexes. Participants and Methods: This study used data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, conducted between September 1974 and August 2006, consisting primarily of White adults from middle-to-upper socioeconomic strata restricted to adults without type 2 diabetes mellitus (33,742 men and 9,415 women). Quantile regression models were used to estimate the differences in age-associated changes in CRF between the sexes, estimated using a maximal treadmill test. Results: For adults aged up to 45 years, significant differences in slopes relating to age and …

Fall Conference 2022 Panel Presentation, Ellen Amatangelo

Faculty Publications

This presentation was part of a panel discussing ways in which work done by employees at the Brigham Young University Library focuses on Christ. Collections and articles in BYU's institutional repository that focus on religious topics are highlighted.

Optimization Of Solar-Coal Hybridization For Low Solar Augmentation, Aaron T. Bame, Joseph Furner, Ian Hoag, Kasra Mohammadi, Kody Powell, Brian D. Iverson

Faculty Publications

This work presents a process to determine the preliminary optimal configuration of a concentrating solar power-coal hybrid power plant with low solar augmentation, and is demonstrated on a regenerative steam Rankine cycle coal power plant in Castle Dale, UT, USA (average DNI of 542 W m⁻²). A representative plant model is developed and validated against published data for a coal power plant. The simplifications that lead to the representative model from a coal power plant model include combining multiple feedwater heaters, combining turbines, and using a mass-average calculation for extraction steam properties. Comparing net power generation and boiler …

Student Retention And Persistence In University Certificate-First Programs, Troy Martin, Randall Davies

Faculty Publications

While access to higher education has grown over the past few years, significant barriers exist for nontraditional students attempting to prepare for and complete postsecondary education. For these students, the traditional methods for acknowledging student achievement do not always work. This research explored the impact of earning professional certificates on nontraditional students’ confidence, motivation, and persistence. Specifically, this study evaluated the matriculation rates between two cohorts of students who participated in the online PathwayConnect program. The mixed-method study found that matriculation rates for students who were encouraged to earn a certificate increased compared to those who followed a traditional path. …

Piezoelectric Point-Of-Care Biosensor For The Detection Of Sars-Cov-2 (Covid-19) Antibodies, Debdyuti Mandal, Mustahseen M. Indaleeb, Alexandra Younan, Sourav Banerjee

Faculty Publications

It is always challenging to diagnose a disease using a biosensor reliably, and quickly with high sensitivity and selectivity, simultaneosuly. Recently the world experienced a global pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Although the vaccines are available, COVID-19 resulted a huge threat to the entire world with high mortality rates. Irrespective of a specific disease, there is a constant need for a cheaper and faster in-vitro, lab-on-a-chip sensor with high sensitivity and selectivity. Such sensors will not only facilitate the disease detection but will expedite and vaccine development process through detection of its corresponding antibodies when developed. In this …

Strengthening Causal Inference From Randomised Controlled Trials Of Complex Interventions, Jef L. Leroy, Edward A. Frongillo Jr. Ph.D., Bezawit E. Kase, Silvia Alonso, Mario Chen, Ian Dohoo, Lieven Huybregts, Suneetha Kadiyala, Naomi M. Saville

Faculty Publications

Researchers conducting randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of complex interventions face design and analytical challenges that are not fully addressed in existing guidelines. Further guidance is needed to help ensure that these trials of complex interventions are conducted to the highest scientific standards while maximising the evidence that can be extracted from each trial. The key challenge is how to manage the multiplicity of outcomes required for the trial while minimising false positive and false negative findings. To address this challenge, we formulate three principles to conduct RCTs: (1) outcomes chosen should be driven by the intent and programme theory of …

Isogeometric Reconstruction And Crash Analysis Of A 1996 Body-In-White Dodge Neon, Kendrick M. Shepherd

Faculty Publications

Isogeometric analysis (IGA) has attracted attention from academia and industry because of its high-fidelity results, ability to represent geometry exactly, and potential to streamline the engineering design-through-analysis process. However, one of the greatest challenges limiting the scope of IGA is the ability to rapidly convert CAD geometry into a set of splines suitable for engineering analysis¾particularly for a wide set of shapes of industrial relevance. In this presentation, we describe a new, mathematically rigorous, potentially automatable framework using Ricci flow and subsequent metric optimization through which surface geometries can be rebuilt as sets of watertight, analysis-suitable, boundary-conforming semistructured NURBS patches. …

Association Of Body Mass Index And Plant-Based Diet With Cognitive Impairment Among Older Chinese Adults: A Prospective, Nationwide Cohort Study, Fang Liang, Jialin Fu, Gabrielle Turner-Mcgrievy Ph.D., Rd, Yechuang Wang, Nan Qiu, Kai Ding, Jing Zeng, Justin B. Moore, Rui Li

Faculty Publications

To examine the association of body mass index (BMI) and a plant-based diet (PBD) with cognitive impairment in older adults, this cohort study used data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a national, community-based, longitudinal, prospective study in China. Cognitive function was evaluated via the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Diet was assessed using a simplified food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and PBD patterns were estimated using the overall plant-based diet index (PDI), the healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and the unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI). BMI was measured objectively during the physical examination. Cox proportional hazard models and restricted …

Comparing Standard Versus Enhanced Implementation Of An Evidence-Based Hiv Prevention Program Among Bahamian Sixth Grade Students: Findings From Nationwide Implementation Trials, Bo Wang, Lynette Deveaux, Carly Herbert, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Lesley Cottrell, Richard Adderley, Maxwell Poitier, Arvis Mortimer, Glenda Rolle, Sharon Marshall, Nikkiah Forbes, Bonita Stanton

Faculty Publications

Background Effective implementation strategies are needed to address the challenges encountered by teachers in implementation of evidence-based HV prevention programs in schools. The current study: 1) compares implementation fidelity of Focus on Youth in the Caribbean (FOYC) plus Caribbean Informed Parents and Children Together (CImPACT)intervention using enhanced implementation strategies (including biweekly monitoring/feedback and site-based mentoring) to those using more traditional approach (teacher training only); and 2) evaluates the impact of school coordinators’ and mentors’ performance on teachers’ implementation fidelity and student outcomes.

Methods

Data from an enhanced implementation trial in 2019–2020, involving 24 government primary schools, 79 teachers, and …

Using Narrative Cycles To Advance Teacher Educators’ Emotional Work And Practice In An Era Of Affective Polarization, Ramona Maile Cutri, Eric Ruiz Bybee, Erin Feinauer Whiting

Faculty Publications

‘Affective polarization’ refers to the amount of negativity that people feel for those who belong to a political party other than their own. This self-study reports on our particular use of a narrative cycle model and documents its validity as a tool for doing the emotional work of exploring contradictions in one’s practice without the pressure of engaging in public emotional discourses. We focused on the contra- diction between our intention to teach anti-oppressive teacher edu- cation and inadvertently silencing students who exhibited affective polarization. Our narrative inquiry analysis documented patterns of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that we assert …

Changes Overtime In Perinatal Management And Outcomes Of Extremely Preterm Infants In One Tertiary Care Romanian Center, Diana Ungureanu, Nansi Boghossian, Laura Mihaela Suciu

Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: Extremely preterm infants were at increased risk of mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this study was to: (1) examine changes over time in perinatal management, mortality, and major neonatal morbidities among infants born at 25⁰–28⁶ weeks’ gestational age and cared for at one Romanian tertiary care unit and (2) compare the differences with available international data. Material and Methods: This study consisted of infants born at 25⁰–28⁶ weeks in one tertiary neonatal academic center in Romania during two 4-year periods (2007–2010 and 2015–2018). Major morbidities were defined as any of …

Bias In Measurement Of Autism Symptoms By Spoken Language Level And Non-Verbal Mental Age In Minimally Verbal Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Shuting Zheng, Aaron Kaat, Cristan Farmer, Audrey Thurm, Catherine A. Burrows, Stephen Kanne, Stelios Georgiades, Amy Esler, Catherine Lord, Nicole Takashashi, Kerri P. Nowell, Elizabeth A. Will Ph.D., Jane E. Roberts, Somer L. Bishop

Faculty Publications

Increasing numbers of children with known genetic conditions and/or intellectual disability are referred for evaluation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), highlighting the need to refine autism symptom measures to facilitate differential diagnoses in children with cognitive and language impairments. Previous studies have reported decreased specificity of ASD screening and diagnostic measures in children with intellectual disability. However, little is known about how cognitive and language abilities impact the measurement of specific ASD symptoms in this group. We aggregated a large sample of young children (N = 1196; aged 31-119 months) to examine measurement invariance of ASD symptoms among minimally verbal …

Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses In Central America: The Research And Public Health Disparity Among Socioeconomic Lines, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Marvin S. Rodriguez Aquino, Stella C.W. Self, Mufaro Kanyangarara, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Tick-borne diseases including rickettsial diseases are increasing in incidence worldwide. Many rickettsial pathogens can cause disease which is commonly underdiagnosed and underreported; Rickettsia pathogens in the spotted fever group (SFGR) are thus classified as neglected bacterial pathogens. The Central American region shoulders a large proportion of the global neglected disease burden; however, little is known regarding SFGR disease here. Although development varies, four of the seven countries in this region have both the highest poverty rates and SFGR disease burdens (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua), compared to Belize, Panama, and Costa Rica. Utilizing the Human Development Index (HDI), we …

Social Life Of Females With Persistent Covid-19 Symptoms: A Qualitative Study, Atefeh Aghaei, Ran Zhang, Slone Taylor, Cheuk-Chi Tam, Chih-Hsiang Yang, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Shan Qiao Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Persistent COVID-19 symptoms (long COVID) may bring challenges to long haulers' social lives. Females may endure more profound impacts given their special social roles and existing structural inequality. This study explores the effects of long COVID on the social life of female long haulers. We conducted semi-structured interviews via Zoom between April and June 2021 with 15 female long haulers in the United States, purposely recruited from Facebook and Slack groups and organization websites related to long COVID. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with consent. The interview data were managed using MAXQDA and examined by thematic analysis. Long COVID …

Hair Zidovudine Concentrations Predict Virologic Outcomes Among People Living With Hiv/Aids In China, Yan Wu, Shuaifeng Liu, Liuxi Chu, Quan Zhang, Jin Yang, Shan Qiao, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Yuejiao Zhou, Huihua Deng, Zhiyong Shen

Faculty Publications

Background: Hair antiretroviral concentrations are an objective and non-invasive measure of adherence to long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART) and can further predict virologic outcomes among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH). Zidovudine, one of the mainstream antiretrovirals in China, has been verified to have high reliability in adherence assessment, especially for its hair concentrations. However, data are limited in its predicting virologic outcomes. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize whether hair zidovudine concentrations can predict virologic suppression among Chinese PLWH compared with hair lamivudine concentrations and two self-reported measures, the overall frequency of adherence behaviors and percentage adherence. Methods: This cross-sectional study …

Search For The Radiative Penguin Decays B0 → K 0 SK 0 S Γ In The Belle Experiment, H. B. Jeon, K. H. Kang, H. Park, I. Adachi, H. Aihara, S. Al Said, D. M. Asner, H. Atmacan, T. Aushev, R. Ayad, V. Babu, S. Bahinipati, P. Behera, K. Belous, J. Bennett, F. Bernlochner, M. Bessner, V. Bhardwaj, B. Bhuyan, Milind Purohit, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

We report results from the first search for the rare penguin-dominated decay mode B⁰→K ⁰ _S K ⁰ _Sγ, which can result from the production of tensor mesons f(1270) and f'(1525) in association with a photon. The search uses the full data sample of 772×10⁶  BB̅ pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e⁺e⁻ collider. No statistically significant signals are observed in the K ⁰ _S K ⁰ _S invariant mass range 1  GeV/c²K ⁰ _S K ⁰ _S/c², and the following upper …

Capturing The Pool Dilution Effect In Group Testing Regression: A Bayesian Approach, Stella Self Ph.D., Ms, Christopher Mcmahan, Stefani Mokalled

Faculty Publications

Group (pooled) testing is becoming a popular strategy for screening large populations for infectious diseases. This popularity is owed to the cost savings that can be realized through implementing group testing methods. These methods involve physically combining biomaterial (eg, saliva, blood, urine) collected on individuals into pooled specimens which are tested for an infection of interest. Through testing these pooled specimens, group testing methods reduce the cost of diagnosing all individuals under study by reducing the number of tests performed. Even though group testing offers substantial cost reductions, some practitioners are hesitant to adopt group testing methods due to the …

Effect Of Ultraviolet Light Treatment On Microbiological Safety And Quality Of Fresh Produce: An Overview, Veerachandra Yemmireddy, Achyut Adhikari, Juan Moreira

Faculty Publications

Fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables have been associated in several foodborne illness outbreaks. Although investigations from those outbreaks reported that the contamination with pathogenic microorganisms may occur at any point in the farm to fork continuum, effective control strategies are still being widely investigated. In that direction, the concept of hurdle technology involving a sequence of different interventions have been widely explored. Among those interventions, ultraviolet (UV) light alone or in combination with other treatments such as use of organic acids or sanitizer solutions, has found to be a promising approach to maintain the microbiological safety and quality of …

Mir-489 Confines Uncontrolled Estrogen Signaling Through A Negative Feedback Mechanism And Regulates Tamoxifen Resistance In Breast Cancer, Mithil Soni, Ozge Saatci, Gourab Gupta, Yogin Patel, Manikanda Raja Keerthi Raja, Jie Li, Xinfeng Liu, Peisheng Xu Ph.D., Hongjun Wang, Daping Fan, Ozgur Sahin, Hexin Chen

Faculty Publications

Approximately 75% of diagnosed breast cancer tumors are estrogen-receptor-positive tumors and are associated with a better prognosis due to response to hormonal therapies. However, around 40% of patients relapse after hormonal therapies. Genomic analysis of gene expression profiles in primary breast cancers and tamoxifen-resistant cell lines suggested the potential role of miR-489 in the regulation of estrogen signaling and development of tamoxifen resistance. Our in vitro analysis showed that loss of miR-489 expression promoted tamoxifen resistance, while overexpression of miR-489 in tamoxifen-resistant cells restored tamoxifen sensitivity. Mechanistically, we found that miR-489 is an estrogen-regulated miRNA that negatively regulates estrogen receptor …

Author Correction: In Situ Recording Of Mars Soundscape (Nature, (2022), 605, 7911, (653-658), 10.1038/S41586-022-04679-0), S. Maurice, B. Chide, N. Murdoch, R. D. Lorenz, D. Mimoun, R. C. Wiens, A. Stott, X. Jacob, T. Bertrand, F. Montmessin, N. L. Lanza, C. Alvarez-Llamas, S. M. Angel Ph.D., M. Aung, J. Balaram, O. Beyssac, A. Cousin, G. Delory, O. Forni, T. Fouchet, O. Gasnault, H. Grip, M. Hecht, J. Hoffman, J. Laserna, J. Lasue, J. Maki, J. Mcclean, P. Y. Meslin, S. Le Mouélic, S. Le Mouélic, A. Munguira

Faculty Publications

In the version of this article initially published, the Acknowledgements statement was missing the text “Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004),” which has now been inserted in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

Latent Class Analysis Of Polysubstance Use And Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Attending Sexual Health Clinics In Mexico City, Rosibel Rodríguez-Bolaños, Ricardo Baruch-Dominguez, Edna Aril, Elsa Yunes-Díaz, Leonor Rivera-Rivera, Lizeth Cruz-Jiménez, Jim F. Thrasher Ph.D., Ma, Ms, Alan G. Nyitray, Eduardo Lazcando-Ponce

Faculty Publications

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are more likely to use drugs and other substances compared to their heterosexual peers. No studies have evaluated patterns of substance use among MSM adults in Mexico. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify MSM subgroups with specific substance use patterns and their associations with sexual behaviors. Methods: Data from 1850 adult MSM were collected at HIV clinics in Mexico City between September 2018 and December 2019. The structural equation modeling approach was used to estimate a LC model to identify patterns of substance use by self-report of substance use (i.e., cigarette …

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained: A Meta-Analysis Of Ceo Overconfidence, Strategic Risk Taking, And Performance, Barbara Burkhard, Charlotta Sirén, Marc Van Essen, Dietmar Grichnik, Dean A. Shepherd

Faculty Publications

Although overconfidence is acknowledged as one of the most common managerial decision-making biases, much uncertainty remains about its implications for firm performance. To resolve this uncertainty, we investigate how and why CEO overconfidence is related to firm performance using meta-analytic techniques on a sample of 199 studies. In particular, relying on behavioral decision theory, we develop alternative hypotheses regarding the impact of CEO overconfidence on firm performance. Contrary to the conventional belief that CEO overconfidence is detrimental, this study reveals that CEO overconfidence is, on average, beneficial for firm performance. Drawing on recent refinements of upper echelons theory and theoretical …

Predicting Lattice Vibrational Frequencies Using Deep Graph Neural Networks, Nghia Nguyen, Steph-Yves V. Louis, Lai Wei, Kamal Choudhary, Ming Hu, Jianjun Hu

Faculty Publications

Lattice vibrational frequencies are related to many important materials properties such as thermal and electrical conductivity as well as superconductivity. However, computational calculation of vibrational frequencies using density functional theory methods is computationally too demanding for large number of samples in materials screening. Here we propose a deep graph neural network based algorithm for predicting crystal vibrational frequencies from crystal structures. Our algorithm addresses the variable dimension of vibrational frequency spectrum using the zero padding scheme. Benchmark studies on two data sets with 15,000 mixed-structure and 35,552 rhombohedra samples show that the aggregated R2 scores of the prediction reach …

School And Community Drivers Of Child Diets In Two Arab Cities: The Scale Protocol And Innovative Tools To Assess Children's Food Environments, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Zeina Jamaluddine, Aline Semaan, Nehmat El-Helou, Gloria Safadi, Tatiana Elghossain, Christelle Akl, Shady Elbassuoni, Ali Chalak, Jalila El Ati

Faculty Publications

Background

In the context of the rapid nutrition transition experienced by middle-income countries of the Arab region, children and adolescent's food choices and dietary behaviors are early risk factors for the development of non-communicable diseases. Assessment of factors influencing food choices among this age group is challenging and is usually based on self-reported data, which are prone to information and recall bias. As the popularity of technologies and video gaming platforms increases, opportunities arise to use these tools to collect data on variables that affect food choice, dietary intake, and associated outcomes. This protocol paper describes the SCALE study (School …

Covid-19-Related Stressful Experiences And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among College Students In China: A Moderated Mediation Model Of Perceived Control Over The Future And Empathy, Zhi Ye, Chengbo Zeng, Xueying Yang, Cheuk-Chi Tam, Yuyan Wang, Shan Qiao Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Danhu Lin

Faculty Publications

The current study aims to investigate the mediating effect of perceived control over the future and the moderating effect of empathy on the association between stressful experiences and PTSD symptoms among college students in China in response to COVID-19. A sample of 1,225 college students (70.69% were female, M age=20.22 years, SD=2.02) were recruited using web-based surveys at wave 1 (W1) and wave 2 (W2) longitudinally. Results showed that COVID-19-related stressful experiences were significantly associated with PTSD symptoms. Perceived control over the future partially mediated the relationship between these two variables (indirect effect size=0.09, p < 0.01). Empathy significantly moderated the path from perceived control over the future to PTSD symptoms, suggesting that the association was stronger for individuals with higher levels of empathy. Findings suggest a protective effect of perceived control over the future on college students’ PTSD symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such a protective effect was intensified by empathy. Future intervention to manage PTSD symptoms should be tailored to positive future expectations and empathy.

Controls On Surface Distributions Of Dissolved Organic Carbon And Nitrogen In The Southeast Pacific Ocean, Mariana B. Bif, Annie Bourbonnais, Dennis A. Hansell, Julie Granger, Holly Westbrook, Mark A. Altabet

Faculty Publications

Here we use data from three meridional survey cruises that took place in 1994, 2007/2008 and 2016/2017 in the southeast Pacific Ocean to investigate controls on surface distributions of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen (DOC and DON, respectively). While DOC and DON production occur simultaneously in the euphotic layer of the gyre margins, budgets that account for horizontal transport, production and consumption are not balanced across the region. Our results show that while DOC concentrations increase inside the gyre, DON remains at similar levels in comparison to margins. There is little interannual variability in DOC and DON trends, except near …

School And Community Drivers Of Child Diets In Two Arab Cities: The Scale Protocol And Innovative Tools To Assess Children’S Food Environments, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Zeina Jamaluddine, Aline Semaan, Nehmat El-Helou, Gloria Safadi, Tatiana Elghossain, Christelle Akl, Shady Elbassuoni, Ali Chalak, Jalila El Ati, The Scale Research Group

Faculty Publications

Background

In the context of the rapid nutrition transition experienced by middle-income countries of the Arab region, children and adolescent’s food choices and dietary behaviors are early risk factors for the development of non-communicable diseases. Assessment of factors influencing food choices among this age group is challenging and is usually based on self-reported data, which are prone to information and recall bias. As the popularity of technologies and video gaming platforms increases, opportunities arise to use these tools to collect data on variables that affect food choice, dietary intake, and associated outcomes. This protocol paper describes the SCALE study (School …