Digital Commons Network^™

Improved Depression Symptoms Among Low-Income Mexican Americans Participating In A Community-Clinical Diabetes Intervention, Minjae Lee, Joseph H Conroy, Zihan Yang, Sein Lee, Paul G Yeh, Juliana Z Lopez, Natalia I Heredia, Lisa A Mitchell-Bennett, Maribel Sifuentes, Belinda M Reininger

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and comorbid depression face complex disease management. Salud y Vida, a diabetes management intervention for Mexican Americans in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, may mitigate depression through social support and community-clinic referrals.

Methods: In a cohort study, 292 Salud y Vida participants completed the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) at baseline, month 6, and month 12. A PHQ-9 score of ≥5 indicated mild depression and activated a mental health referral. Using SAS 9.4 with significance set at < .05, we conducted multivariable longitudinal negative binomial regression to assess changes in depression level.

Results: The proportion of participants with a PHQ-9 ≥5 decreased from 36% at baseline to 18% …

A Comparison Of The Effect Of Remimazolam And Midazolam On Recovery And Preserved Memory Function For Patients With Dental Extraction Anxiety, Quan Jing, Weijia Wang, Limeng Wu, Lejunzi Wang, Boru Yuan, Yan Wang, Chengbin Wang, Lin Liu, Lei Guan, Riyue Yu, Yuelun Zhang, Daniel I Sessler, Yuguang Huang, Kuo Wan, Lijian Pei

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Remimazolam is an ultrashort-acting benzodiazepine, which has been indicated to be effective in endoscopic surgery and general anaesthesia. Research on its use in outpatient dental procedures remains limited. This triple-blinded randomized clinical trial was designed to determine whether the quality of postoperative recovery is better with continuous intravenous remimazolam administration compared with midazolam administration for impacted wisdom tooth extraction in patients with dental anxiety.

Patients and methods: This study was a randomized, parallel triple-blinded, superiority trial conducted between 30 April 2022 and 24 June 2024. Participants aged ≥18 years who exhibited dental anxiety and who were eligible for impacted …

Navigating The Nexus Of Food Insecurity, Anxiety, And Depression In The Face Of Climate Change: A Longitudinal Study In Rural Kenya, Michael Goodman, Lauren Raimer-Goodman, Heidi M Hagen Mcpherson, Dawit Woldu, Shreela Sharma, Ryan Ramphul, Fridah Mukiri, Agnes Maigallo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: This study aims to address critical gaps in understanding the bidirectional relationships between food insecurity, anxiety, and depression in Meru County, Kenya. By employing a cross-lagged panel analysis, we seek to clarify these temporal dynamics, contributing to the design of targeted interventions that integrate food security and mental health in the context of climate change.

Methods: A cross-lagged panel analysis was conducted using data from 362 adult participants in a community-based empowerment program (2023) in Meru County, Kenya. Participants completed self-report measures of food insecurity, anxiety, and depression at two time points, 11 weeks apart.

Results: Food insecurity (T1) …

Prediction Of Preterm Birth Among Infants With Orofacial Cleft Defects, Katherine L Ludorf, Renata H Benjamin, Mark A Canfield, Michael D Swartz, A J Agopian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: To develop risk prediction models for preterm birth among infants with orofacial clefts.

Design: Data from the Texas Birth Defects Registry for infants with orofacial clefts born between 1999-2014 were used to develop preterm birth predictive models. Logistic regression was used to consider maternal and infant characteristics, and internal validation of the final model was performed using bootstrapping methods. The area under the curve (AUC) statistic was generated to assess model performance, and separate predictive models were built and validated for infants with cleft lip and cleft palate alone. Several secondary analyses were conducted among subgroups of interest.

Setting: …

Corrigendum: Phenotypic Variation In Disease Severity Among Hospitalized Pediatric Patients With Covid-19: Assessing The Impact Of Covid-19 In The Epico Study, María Camila Sossa-Alarcón, Mónica Paola Gutiérrez, Natalia Becerra, Luz Yessenia Ortegon, María Camila David, Melisa Naranjo Vanegas, Gabriela Friedrich, Pablo Vásquez-Hoyos, María Lucía Mesa-Rubio, Luis Miguel Navarro-Ramirez, Sergio Moreno-Lopez, Olga Lucía Baquero, Luz Marina Mejía, Juan Gabriel Piñeros, Sonia Restrepo-Gualteros, Carlos Álvarez-Moreno, Alejandro Díaz-Díaz, Iván Gutierrez-Tobar, Andrés Camilo Mesa, William Ricardo Bachiller Tuta, Clara Esperanza Galvis Diaz, Martha Africano, José Manuel Nieto, Paola Marsela Pérez Camacho, Claudia Beltrán-Arroyave, Rosalba Vivas Trochez, Irati Gastesi, Cinta Moraleda, Alfredo Tagarro García, Blanca Herrero, Lourdes Calleja, Carlos Grasa, Paula Rodriguez, Susana Melendo, Antoni Soriano-Arandes, Irene Gómez Pastrana, Sonsoles García García, Victoria Fumado, Andrea Ramírez Varela

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This corrects the article "Phenotypic Variation in Disease Severity Among Hospitalized Pediatric Patients With COVID-19: Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 in the EPICO Study", 1607246.

Perspectives On Smoking Cessation In The Oncology Environment: Insights From Brazilian Patients And Healthcare Providers, Raquel Descie Veraldi Leite, Ricardo Ribeiro Gama, Fabiana De Lima Vazquez, Gabriela Beltrami Massarão, Raiany Carvalho, Renan De Jesus Teixeira, Vinicius De Lima Vazquez, Irene Tami-Maury

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to smoking cessation among Brazilian cancer patients, considering the perspectives of both patients and healthcare professionals at a leading oncology center in the country.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, collecting smoking-related data from two groups: cancer patients and healthcare professionals at the Barretos Cancer Hospital (BCH) between 2019 and 2021. The questionnaire for healthcare professionals was adapted from the 2012 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and the Global Adult Tobacco Survey. For the cancer patient group, sociodemographic and clinical data were collected, along with …

Pragmatic Recruitment Strategies For A Text-Based Smoking Cessation Intervention For Sexual And Gender Minority Groups, Samuel Tundealao, Marie Compaore Oubda, Rebecca Klaff, Belinda Reininger, Lorna Mcneill, Irene Tamí-Maury

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: SmokefreeSGM is a text-based smoking cessation intervention developed to support sexual and gender minorities (SGM) with their quitting efforts. We implemented a pragmatic recruitment strategy to enroll a study sample representative for SmokefreeSGM's feasibility trial. This study outlines the strategies employed to recruit SGM smokers in SmokefreeSGM's feasibility trial and provides a framework for researchers interested in working with this population.

Methods: This study recruited SGM smokers using ResearchMatch, social media/internet advertising, and field recruitment in the United States from January to June 2023, using convenience sampling. We evaluated enrollment rates across recruitment methods and various demographic characteristics such …

A Systematic Review Of Trauma-Informed Sexual Health Education Interventions For Adolescents And Young Adults Within The United States And Canada, Gabrielle S Evans-Mitchell, Lea Sacca, Christine Markham, Katie Schultz, Sheryl Mccurdy, Lauren Tingey, Melissa F Peskin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

nterventions developed for adolescents and young adults and describe how they integrate key principles of a trauma-informed approach.

Methods: Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) principles, and Khan et al.'s review methodology, we reviewed sexual health intervention studies described as trauma-informed published between 2014 and 2023 within the United States and Canada.

Results: The review found three interventions integrated five to six aspects of a trauma-informed approach relative to Kahn's definition and SAMHSA's principles.

Conclusions: Based on the limited number of trauma-informed interventions being identified, …

Optimizing Community-Based Hepatitis B And C Care For Engaging Housing-Insecure Individuals, Vanessa Schick, Abigail Grace, F Tiffany Quan, Cathy Troisi, Jack Tsai

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction

Hepatitis B and C (HBV/HCV) are bloodborne infections, with individuals who have histories of substance use and homelessness bearing a disproportionate risk. Long-standing difficulties in engaging these populations have made testing and treatment challenging. This retrospective observational study describes a community-based approach to HBV/HCV prevention and treatment, comparing the effectiveness of different engagement site types in reaching and engaging this high-need population.

Methods

GRASSROOTS HEALTH was launched in 2018 to improve HBV/HCV care by providing on-site testing, HBV vaccination, treatment navigation, and adherence support across various housing and drop-in centers. Outcomes were tracked through REDCap and analyzed by engagement …

Slaying The Embodiment Of Lust: A Painting Of A Martyr-Monk Vanquishing A Female Demon, Agnieszka E. Szymańska

Art and Art History Faculty Publications

The seventh-century painting of Sisinnios and Alabasdria from the Monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit, Egypt, depicts an equestrian saint spearing a female demon. Previous scholarship has established connections between the mural’s iconography and the imagery of holy rider amulets. This article expands on those discussions and probes the painting’s function as a talisman that bolstered its monastic beholders’ defenses against demonic assaults. In a departure from earlier scholarly treatments of the mural, I explore how, to male monastic practitioners, the image of Alabasdria did not merely represent a demonic murderer of babies but also embodied lust. According to textual …

Hit Me, Baby, One More Time: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Celebrity Gossip Magazine Shaming Of Britney Spears, Anna Drabik

Comm-entary

Britney Spears is an American pop star who rose to fame in the late 1990s at the age of 17 with her music, performances, and fashion. Spears was a prominent figure.

in celebrity gossip magazines, a genre which grew to prominence alongside and, in many ways, because of Spears. The distinct aesthetic and style of celebrity gossip magazines involved stories, blurbs, and images which wielded praise and shame—directly and indirectly—as tools to enforce norms and expectations for both female celebrities and female readers. Through a critical discourse analysis of 378 People and Us articles throughout the first ten years of …

Protective Effects Of Psychiatric Medications Against Covid-19 Mortality Before Vaccines, Rodrigo Machado-Vieira, Trudy M Krause, Gregory Jones, Antonio L Teixeira, Lokesh R Shahani, Scott D Lane, Jair C Soares, Chau N Truong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The coronavirus disease pandemic caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which emerged in the United States in late 2019 to early 2020 and quickly escalated into a national public health crisis. Research has identified psychiatric conditions as possible risk factors associated with COVID-19 infection and symptom severity. This study aims to determine whether specific classes of psychiatric medications could reduce the likelihood of infection and alleviate the severity of the disease. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between neuropsychiatric medication usage and COVID-19 outcomes before the widespread utilization of COVID-19 vaccines. This cross-sectional study used Optum's de-identified …

Cardiovascular Risk Factors And Genetic Risk In Transthyretin V142i Carriers, Naman S Shetty, Mokshad Gaonkar, Akhil Pampana, Nirav Patel, Alanna C Morrison, Alexander P Reiner, April P Carson, Bing Yu, Bruce M Psaty, Charles Kooperberg, Diane Fatkin, Eric Boerwinkle, Jerome I Rotter, Kent D Taylor, Lifang Hou, Marguerite R Irvin, Michael E Hall, Mathew Maurer, Myriam Fornage, Nicole D Armstrong, Nicole Bart, Parag Goyal, Stephen S Rich, Ramachandran S Vasan, Peng Li, Garima Arora, Pankaj Arora

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Nearly 3% to 4% of Black individuals in the United States carry the transthyretin V142I variant, which increases their risk of heart failure. However, the role of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (RFs) in influencing the risk of clinical outcomes among V142I variant carriers is unknown.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the impact of CV RFs on the risk of heart failure in V142I carriers.

Methods: This study included self-identified Black individuals without prevalent heart failure from 6 TOPMed (Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine) cohorts, the REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke) study, and the All of …

Recovery Housing And On-The-Ground Research Priorities: A Scoping Study Through The Lens Of Community Based Participatory Research, Patrick F Hibbard, Cameron W Tice, Jodie M Dewey, Kathryn R Gallardo, James Tompkins, Justin S Bell, Jasleen Sandhu, Michelle A Cruz, Kathryn Babbitt, Amy A Mericle, Ashli J Sheidow

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Though communities have featured recovery housing (RH) for several decades, the base of evidence for best practices continues to grow - especially evidence needed by, and known to, those who operate and receive these services. The Initiative for Justice and Emerging Adult Populations (JEAP) engaged with three community boards (CBs) - consisting of young adults with experience in recovery from substance use issues, people who have a history of criminal legal system involvement and recovery, and payers and provider of substance use services and harm reduction - to understand on-the-ground priorities for research into recovery support services.

Methods: JEAP …

Hydroxychloroquine-Induced Cardiomyopathy: A Case Report, Ahmed Hussein, Aya Salih, Tebyan Mohammedali, Yousif Mohamed, L Maximilian Buja

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is an immunomodulatory medication used for decades. HCQ is a weak base accumulating in acidic cytoplasmic vesicles, such as lysosomes. This accumulation raises the pH and interferes with the functions of the lysosomal enzymes, including α-galactosidase A, resulting in a unique clinical and pathologic feature. We present a case with severe HCQ-induced cardiomyopathy to show the pattern of cardiac involvement and available imaging and pathologic modalities. The case involves a 76-year-old woman with a history of Sjögren's disease who had been treated with HCQ for 13 years and presented with symptoms of heart failure. An echocardiogram showed thick …

Impact Of Tobacco Control Policies On Socioeconomic Inequalities In Smoking Prevalence And Quit Ratios: An Ecological Study In The European Union (2009–2020), Ariadna Feliu, Esteve Fernandez, Irene Tamí-Maury, Cristina Martinez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Tobacco control efforts have succeeded in reducing smoking prevalence and increasing smoking cessation rates in the European Union Member States (EU27). However, the impact of these policies has been unequal across different income groups.

Methods: Ecological study with the country as unit of analysis. We used the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS) in EU27 in 2010 and the prevalence of smoking and quit ratios from the Eurobarometer surveys (2009, n=27 788; and 2020, n=28 288). We analysed the relationship between the TCS scores (2010) and smoking indicators and their relative changes (between 2009 and 2020) using scatter plots and multiple …

Community-Involved Economic Evaluation And Development Of A Cost-Effectiveness Calculator For Two Peer-Driven Substance Use Interventions, Sierra Castedo De Martell, Margaret B Moore, Hannah Wang, Lori Holleran Steiker, J Michael Wilkerson, Sheryl A Mccurdy, Nalini Ranjit, H Shelton Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: While peer-driven substance use interventions have proliferated across the U.S., economic evaluations of these interventions have lagged behind. A key characteristic of these interventions is the centrality of the "nothing about us without us" ethos, which should extend into economic evaluation research. To that end, this study sought to take a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to conducting a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of peer recovery support services (PRSS) and turning that CEA and a CEA of bystander naloxone distribution (BND) into components of a free, web-based calculator for use by recovery community centers (RCCs).

Methods: We engaged staff and …

Development, Delivery, And Evaluation Of The Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute Infection Control Module Program 200 Series, Kayla E Ruch, Anabel Rodríguez, Janelle Rios

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute (TEPHI) aims to safeguard public health and the Texas economy by preparing for infectious disease outbreaks. The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Webinar series was created to offer free educational resources and continuing education for public health and healthcare personnel responsible for IPC programs in rural regions of Texas. The IPC 200 Series succeeds the founding IPC 100 Series established by the TEPHI Small Rural Healthcare Preparedness.

Methods: IPC registration and attendance data were collected through WebEx® and Microsoft Teams®, which also served as the platforms for module delivery. Learning assessments and post-module …

What We Know About The Peer Workforce And Economic Evaluation For Peer Recovery Support Services: A Systematic Review, Sierra Castedo De Martell, J Michael Wilkerson, Nalini Ranjit, Lori Holleran Steiker, Sheryl A Mccurdy, H Shelton Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Peer recovery support services (PRSS) for substance use disorder (SUD) have expanded in the past 2 decades to be formally certified and reimbursed under Medicaid in almost every US state. This rapid expansion has been followed by a growth in research, but 2 persistent gaps remain: a lack of research on the peer workforce, and a lack of economic evaluation research. This systematic review examines the current literature on PRSS to summarize what is currently known about the SUD peer workforce and collect potential PRSS economic evaluation parameters, and clearly identify the current gaps in each category.

Methods: PRISMA …

Diversity In United States Dementia Prevention Trials: An Updated Systematic Review Of Eligibility Criteria And Recruitment Strategies, Najoua Lazaar, Sabine E Van Beek, Awaale F Rirash, Janne M Papma, Jaime Perales-Puchalt, Ashley R Shaw, Eric D Vidoni, Sanne Franzen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Given the elevated dementia risk in underrepresented demographic groups in the USA - particularly in Latino and Non-Latino Black individuals compared to Non-Latino White individuals - it is vital that these groups are well-represented in dementia prevention research. Eligibility criteria and recruitment strategies may play a key role in promoting participant diversity. The aim of this review was to examine eligibility criteria and recruitment strategies in US dementia prevention trials in light of participant diversity.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted using Medline (including PubMed), Embase, Cochrane Library, and CINAHL. We explored the percent White participants for trials using …

Use Of Digital Health Interventions For Cancer Prevention Among People Living With Disabilities In The United States: A Scoping Review, Chinenye Lynette Ejezie, Lea Sacca, Sylvia Ayieko, Sara Burgoa, Yasmine Zerrouki, Diana Lobaina, Goodness Okwaraji, Christine Markham

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The use of digital health strategies for cancer care increased dramatically in the United States over the past 4 years. However, a dearth of knowledge remains about the use of digital health for cancer prevention for some populations with heath disparities. Therefore, the purpose of the present scoping review was to identify digital health interventions for cancer prevention designed for people with disabilities.

METHODS: This scoping review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews and the Arksey and O'Malley methodological framework. The Embase, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and CINAHL/EBSCO databases were …

On Wings Of Hope, Volume 29, No. 1, 2025, Phadp, Esther Brown, Anthony Boyd, Marcus Williams, Bart Johnson, Tony Barksdale, Earl J. Mcgahee, Jeffery Lee, Mike Mitchell

On Wings of Hope

January–March issue, featuring:

• Anthony Boyd on the extradition of Demetrius Frazier and the commutation of Rocky Myers's sentence to life without parole
• Esther Brown's open letter to Kay Ivey expressing gratitude for Myers's commutation
• Poetry from Marcus Williams
• Bart Johnson, Tony Barksdale, Earl J. McGahee, Jeffery Lee and Mike Mitchell in A Christian Perspective

Characterization Of The Solid-State Bonding For Simulated Charge And Seam Welds In The Porthole Die Extrusion Process, Randall L. Bowers

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The isothermal (ISO-T) compression configuration is ideal for utilizing as a material input of flow stress at temperature and strain rate in models of the porthole die extrusion process due to the isothermal nature of the test. Micro-tensile testing was conducted to validate the solid-state welding integrity of the ISO-T samples at various temperatures and strain rates. Results of the mechanical testing were correlated with fractography and microstructural evaluations of the welds to confirm bonding behavior. Both clean interface conditions and oxidation and lubrication layers were evaluated to simulate the difference of seam and charge welds in the process. Results …

Artificial Intellectual Property, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The year is 2031. You just got up. Your smartwatch has registered the movement, and the coffee maker is on. After your shower, you pick up your phone or read the latest news on the New York Times app on your VR goggles or palm. Except for a few remaining columnists, the news is all written by AI machines. At work, you are responsible for a report on a new product for your company, and you use Al to design the product and prepare the pitch, including the visuals and text of your presentation to the C-suite. The Al system …

Integrating Research And Writing: When Librarians Work With Faculty To Reimagine First-Year Writing, Dominic Ashby, Dana Kendrick

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Writing instructors and librarians redesigned a research and writing course, ENG 102. Interweaving information literacy and composition practices, they use a flipped model to transform classroom instruction and library lessons into authentic learning experiences that help students synthesize research into multigenre projects, meeting WPA and ACRL learning outcomes for research.

Frandship Ended With Anti-Suit Injunctions? U.S. And European Responses To Chinese Anti-Suit Injunctions In Standard-Essential Patent Litigation, Richard Li

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Josef Bohatec: The First Historian Of The Calvinist Reformation Of Rights, John Witte Jr., Thomas Jared Farmer

Emory International Law Review

This Article analyzes the pioneering work of the first great historian of Calvinist rights talk, Josef Bohatec (1876–1954), a Moravian-born and Vienna-based church historian. Bohatec built on the earlier efforts of several German scholars who were excavating pre-Enlightenment sources of human rights going back to antiquity. But Bohatec placed strong new emphasis on the original rights contributions of sixteenth-century Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) and his followers. Bohatec showed how Calvin’s legal training shaped the many new statutes and rights ordinances that he crafted for Geneva. He also showed how Calvin’s theological training shaped his highly innovative Protestant legal and …

Accessible Mental Health Chicago, Guadalupe Cuevas

Selected Social Change Portfolios in Prevention, Intervention, and Consultation

Goal Statement: My prevention-focused goal statement for Accessible Mental Health Chicago is to create a program that focuses on providing mental health resources for all in all areas of Chicago. This is by having community based low-cost or no-cost mental health services throughout the city, in the local languages that are of that community.

Significant Findings: While there are some limited resources in the areas with the highest calls for mental health crisis, they are not accessible for most of the city. While there are mental health centers throughout the city there aren’t many low or no cost resources. This …

Toward A Decolonial Archive: A Reflection On The Operationalization Process Of Critical Transborder Documentary Production Practice, Ramón Resendiz, Rosalva Resendiz

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Understanding Social Biases In Large Language Models, Ojasvi Gupta, Stefano Marrone, Francesco Gargiulo, Rajesh Jaiswal, Lidia Marassi

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Background/Objectives: Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, LLAMA, and Mistral are widely used for automating tasks such as content creation and data analysis. However, due to their training on publicly available internet data, they may inherit social biases. We aimed to investigate the social biases (i.e., ethnic, gender, and disability biases) in these models and evaluate how different model versions handle them. Methods: We instruction-tuned popular models (like Mistral, LLAMA, and Gemma), and for this we curated a dataset constructed by collecting and modifying diverse data from various public datasets. Prompts were run through a controlled pipeline, and responses were …