Digital Commons Network^™

The Steal In The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Explained, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Protection Levels Of N95-Level Respirator Substitutes Proposed During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Safety Concerns And Quantitative Evaluation Procedures, David Ballard, Alex Scott, Broc Burke, Jason Morris, Connie Gan, Jesse Hu, Udayabhanu Jammalamadaka, Sena Sayood, Stephen Liang, Bruno Maranhao, J. Tyler Bertroche, Nirah Shomer, Pamela Woodard, Kathleen Meacham, Et Al

Open Access Publications

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated widespread shortages of filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) and the creation and sharing of proposed substitutes (novel designs, repurposed materials) with limited testing against regulatory standards. We aimed to categorically test the efficacy and fit of potential N95 respirator substitutes using protocols that can be replicated in university laboratories.

SETTING: Academic medical centre with occupational health-supervised fit testing along with laboratory studies.

PARTICIPANTS: Seven adult volunteers who passed quantitative fit testing for small-sized (n=2) and regular-sized (n=5) commercial N95 respirators.

METHODS: Five open-source potential N95 respirator substitutes were evaluated and compared with commercial National Institute …

It's Time To Reform The U.S. Vulnerabilities Equities Process, Amy Gaudion

Faculty Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Examining Associations Between Knowledge And Vaccine Uptake Using The Human Papillomavirus Knowledge Questionnaire (Hpv-Kq), Sayward Harrison, Valerie Yelverton, Yunfei Wang, Jan Ostermann, Laura J. Fish, Charnetta L. Williams, Lavanya Vasudevan, Emmanuel B. Walter

Faculty Publications

Objectives: Understanding the relationship between human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge and vaccination behavior is important to inform public health interventions, yet few validated HPV knowledge scales exist. This study describes development of the Human Papillomavirus Knowledge Questionnaire (HPV-KQ) and its validation with parents residing in the southern United States (US). Methods: Drawing on previously published measures, we developed the 13-item HPV-KQ and administered the scale via Web-based survey to parents (N=1105) of adolescents ages 9 to 17 years. Dimensionality, internal consistency, model fit, and predictive validity were assessed. Results: The scale was bidimensional. One factor captured general HPV knowledge, and the …

Examining Associations Between Knowledge And Vaccine Uptake Using The Human Papillomavirus Knowledge Questionnaire (Hpv-Kq), Sayward Harrison, Valerie Yelverton, Jan Ostermann Ph.D., Laura J. Fish, Charnetta L. Williams, Lavanya Vasudevan, Emmanuel B. Walter

Faculty Publications

Objectives: Understanding the relationship between human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge and vaccination behavior is important to inform public health interventions, yet few validated HPV knowledge scales exist. This study describes development of the Human Papillomavirus Knowledge Questionnaire (HPV-KQ) and its validation with parents residing in the southern United States (US). Methods: Drawing on previously published measures, we developed the 13-item HPV-KQ and administered the scale via Web-based survey to parents (N=1105) of adolescents ages 9 to 17 years. Dimensionality, internal consistency, model fit, and predictive validity were assessed. Results: The scale was bidimensional. One factor captured general HPV knowledge, and the …

American Society Of Transplantation And Cellular Therapy, Center Of International Blood And Marrow Transplant Research, And European Society For Blood And Marrow Transplantation Clinical Practice Recommendations For Transplantation And Cellular Therapies In Mantle Cell Lymphoma, Pashna N Munshi, Brad Kahl, Amanda F Cashen, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Autologous (auto-) and allogeneic (allo-) hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) are accepted treatment modalities in contemporary treatment algorithms for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy recently received approval for MCL; however, its exact place and sequence in relation to HCT remain unclear. The American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Center of International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, and the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation jointly convened an expert panel to formulate consensus recommendations for role, timing, and sequencing of auto-HCT, allo-HCT, and CAR T cell therapy for patients with newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory …

Exploring Barriers And Enablers Of Service Provision For Survivors Of Human Trafficking In The Bay Area: An Action Research Study, Pooja Sripad

Reproductive Health

Despite increasing recognition of public health and rights issues associated with human trafficking globally and in the United States following the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, there has been limited research on how to systematically strengthen service access for survivors of sex and labor trafficking. The experience of service providers may provide insight into how trafficking survivor responses and service networks function in California’s Bay Area. This study explores provider perspectives on existing service networks and collaboration dynamics, including the barriers to and enablers of long-term service provision and survivor follow-up. A participatory research design included qualitative interviews with …

Assessing China’S Environmental Ngo Public Interest Litigation Against The U.S. Citizen Suit Model, Huishihan Wang

Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation introduces the U.S. and China’s environmental governance evolution, the background of their private enforcement provisions, including each country’s environmental legislative, administrative, and judicial development before establishing private enforcement. After the introduction, the second section examines the U.S. environmental citizen suits’ origin, environmental movements during the 1960s and 1970s, and pioneer ENGOs’ legal experiences. Statutory provisions are reviewed in various aspects in order to fully present this significant U.S. private enforcement measure. The third section analyzes the trajectory of Chinese ENGO EPIL development, including the provisions and typical actions according to several scattered provisions. Section four compares the theoretical …

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, Elizabeth Caviness, Asani Sarkar, Ankur Goyal, Woojung Park

Documents

No abstract provided.

The Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Antoine Martin, Susan Mclaughlin

Documents

No abstract provided.

Updated: Statement Of Policy Governing The Acquisition And Management Of Financial Assets For The Bank Of Canada's Balance Sheet ( Effective: September 01, 2021), Bank Of Canada/Central Bank Of Canada/La Banque Du Canada

Documents

No abstract provided.

Uptake Of Co-Testing With Hpv And Cytology For Cervical Screening: A Population-Based Evaluation In The United States, Jack Cuzick, Ruofei Du, Rachael Adcock, Walter Kinney, Nancy Joste, Ruth M. Mcdonald, Kevin English, Salina M. Torres, Debbie Saslow, Cosette M. Wheeler

Pathology Research and Scholarship

OBJECTIVES: Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing for cervical screening has been shown to increase the yield of precancerous disease and reduce the incidence of cervical cancer more than cytology alone. Here we document the state-wide uptake of co-testing with HPV and cytology in women aged 30-64 years as recommended by national and international bodies.

METHODS: Registry-based study of all screening cytology and HPV tests in New Mexico from 2008 to 2019 among women aged 21-64 years, with a focus on cytology negative tests to distinguish co-testing from reflex HPV testing to triage equivocal or mildly abnormal cytology.

RESULTS: A total of …

The Sixteenth Report Of The Congressional Oversight Commission, United States: Congressional Oversight Commission

Documents

No abstract provided.

Section 14. Borrowing Authority, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Fdic)

Documents

No abstract provided.

Whole-Genome Association Analyses Of Sleep-Disordered Breathing Phenotypes In The Nhlbi Topmed Program, Man Zhang, Daniel J Gottlieb, Xiuqing Guo, Jacqueline M Lane, Jingjing Liang, Xihong Lin, Hao Mei, Sanjay R Patel, Shaun M Purcell, Richa Saxena, Neomi A Shah, Daniel S Evans, Craig L Hanis, David R Hillman, Sutapa Mukherjee, Lyle J Palmer, Katie L Stone, Gregory J Tranah, Eric A Boerwinkle, Adolfo Correa, L Adrienne Cupples, Robert C Kaplan, Deborah A Nickerson, Kari E North, Bruce M Psaty, Jerome I Rotter, Stephen S Rich, Russell P Tracy, Ramachandran S Vasan, James G Wilson, Xiaofeng Zhu, Susan Redline

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Sleep-disordered breathing is a common disorder associated with significant morbidity. The genetic architecture of sleep-disordered breathing remains poorly understood. Through the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program, we performed the first whole-genome sequence analysis of sleep-disordered breathing.

METHODS: The study sample was comprised of 7988 individuals of diverse ancestry. Common-variant and pathway analyses included an additional 13,257 individuals. We examined five complementary traits describing different aspects of sleep-disordered breathing: the apnea-hypopnea index, average oxyhemoglobin desaturation per event, average and minimum oxyhemoglobin saturation across the sleep episode, and the percentage of sleep with oxyhemoglobin saturation < 90%. We adjusted for age, sex, BMI, study, and family structure using MMSKAT and EMMAX mixed linear model approaches. Additional bioinformatics analyses were performed with MetaXcan, GIGSEA, and ReMap.

RESULTS: We identified a …

On Estimating Personality Traits Of Us Supreme Court Justices, Ryan C. Black, Ryan J. Owens, Justin Wedeking, Patrick C. Wohlfarth

Political Science Faculty Publications

Psychological scholarship on personality is uniting with political science to redefine existing theories. This is clearly the case with research on judicial behavior and the US Supreme Court. But if this new approach is to survive and thrive, it must employ measures equal to the task. We show that Supreme Court Individual Personality Estimates, which seek to estimate justices’ personalities by examining their concurring opinions, suffer from a number of important methodological deficits that critically limit their usefulness. We briefly discuss what kinds of improved personality measures scholars should use instead and offer an improved set of estimates for one …

Questions And Answers On Special Drawing Rights, International Monetary Fund (Imf)

Documents

No abstract provided.

An Upstander Is A Person In Your Neighborhood: Children, Sesame Street, And Race In 2020, Gemma Yoo

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Educational children’s media, such as the program Sesame Street, may be the most accessible format for teaching young children about race and racism in the United States. Throughout its history, Sesame Street has attempted to confront racism through its diverse cast and, in the summer of 2020, by directly addressing the topic with children and families. However, both its passive representation and active discussion fall short of what is needed to confront systemic racism. This paper addresses Sesame Street’s past and present role as a leader in children’s educational media, and advocates that the program employ Critical Race Theory to …

Art As Protest: How Creative Activism Shaped “Black Lives Matter” In Richmond, Virginia, Anaheed Mobaraki

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Unrest spurred by the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States has flowed throughout the city of Richmond, Virginia. Unique forms of protest have proliferated across the city, encompassing several artistic tactics such as graffiti art, oral storytelling, graphic design, and movement art. This paper will explore the effectiveness of art as protest by analyzing its impacts on several foundational aspects of social movements. Combining my personal observations, scholarly literature, and research on other social movements, I have developed my own findings regarding the use of art in Richmond’s Black Lives Matter movement. I posit that …

Barriers To The Diagnosis Of Dyslexia In Children, Maria Cunningham

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Dyslexia is a learning disability that impairs reading, writing, and spelling and is estimated to affect 5-20% of people (Shaywitz, 1998; Shaywitz, 2003). Although dyslexia is a life-long disability that has no cure, evidence-based treatments are available for struggling students (Shaywitz, 2003). The earlier these interventions are implemented, the better the student outcomes (Alexander & Slinger-Constant, 2004). However, despite the very high prevalence of dyslexia and time-sensitive need for treatment, many affected individuals slip through the cracks and go undiagnosed until adolescence or adulthood – most never get diagnosed at all (Shaywitz, 2003). This paper addresses potential barriers that contribute …

A Silent Injustice: Air Pollution As A Contributing Factor Of Covid-19 Health Disparities, Spencer Johnson

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 has had a disproportionate impact on Black communities throughout the United States. This paper suggests that air pollution may be a factor for why Black individuals experience markedly poorer health outcomes after contracting COVID-19. It establishes that not only are Black Americans exposed to disproportionate amounts of air pollution, but also that many air pollution-related ailments are the exact ones that have been clinically proven to make COVID-19 more fatal. AV Whe UniWed SWaWeV diVcXVVeV ZhaW a ³neZ noUmal´ entails for healthcare practice and public health policy, this paper makes the case for why …

Operationalizing Culture: Refugees, Migration, And Mental Health In The Wake Of The Vietnam War, Helena Bui

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

!e end of the Vietnam War led to the migration of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees to the United States a"er political and economic upheaval. As another result, the refugees’ years of warfare, trauma, death, and injury began to manifest as unprecedented mental health issues that American physicians and researchers sought to understand. In this paper, I argue that American medical professionals— in good faith—operationalized [Vietnamese] culture to help themselves and their colleagues understand the mental health issues of Vietnamese refugees. Yet this operationalization acted as a double-edged sword. Viewing Western mental health discourse through the lens of Vietnamese …

Doj’S Refusal To Defend Mo Brooks Was Wrong; Prosecuting Trump Would Be Worse, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Favorable Outcomes With Reduced Steroid Use In Juvenile Dermatomyositis, Amir B Orandi, Lampros Fotis, Jamie Lai, Hallie Morris, Andrew J White, Anthony R French, Kevin W Baszis

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: High-intensity glucocorticoid regimens are commonly used to induce and maintain remission in Juvenile Dermatomyositis but are associated with several adverse side-effects. Evidence-based treatment guidelines from North American and European pediatric rheumatology research societies both advocate induction with intravenous pulse steroids followed by high dose oral steroids (2 mg/kg/day), which are then tapered. This study reports the time to disease control with reduced glucocorticoid dosing.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records at a single tertiary-care children's hospital of patients diagnosed with Juvenile Dermatomyositis between 2000 and 2014 who had a minimum of 2 years of follow-up. The primary outcome measure …

Rheumatic Heart Disease In The United States: Forgotten But Not Gone: Results Of A 10 Year Multicenter Review., Sarah R. De Loizaga, Lindsay Arthur, Bhawna Arya, Brian Beckman, Wubishet Belay, Cole Brokamp, Nak Hyun Choi, Sean Connolly, Soham Dasgupta, Tavenner Dibert, Marylou M. Dryer, Lakshmi R. Gokanapudy Hahn, Elizabeth Anne Greene, Daphney Kernizan, Omar Khalid, Jennifer Klein, Ryan Kobayashi, Subhrajit Lahiri, Raymond P. Lorenzoni, Andrea Otero Luna, Jennifer A. Marshall, Theodore Millette, Lily Moore, Babu Muhamed, Meghna Murali, Kinjal Parikh, Amy Sanyahumbi, Divya Shakti, Elizabeth Stein, Sanket Shah, Hannah Wilkins, Mcallister Windom, Scott Wirth, Meghan Zimmerman, Andrew F. Beck, Nicholas Ollberding, Craig Sable, Andrea Beaton

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background Recent evaluation of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) mortality demonstrates disproportionate disease burden within the United States. However, there are few contemporary data on US children living with acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and RHD. Methods and Results Twenty-two US pediatric institutions participated in a 10-year review (2008-2018) of electronic medical records and echocardiographic databases of children 4 to 17 years diagnosed with ARF/RHD to determine demographics, diagnosis, and management. Geocoding was used to determine a census tract-based socioeconomic deprivation index. Descriptive statistics of patient characteristics and regression analysis of RHD classification, disease severity, and initial antibiotic prescription according to community …

Rheumatic Heart Disease In The United States: Forgotten But Not Gone: Results Of A 10 Year Multicenter Review., Sarah R De Loizaga, Lindsay Arthur, Bhawna Arya, Brian Beckman, Wubishet Belay, Cole Brokamp, Nak Hyun Choi, Sean Connolly, Soham Dasgupta, Tavenner Dibert, Marylou M Dryer, Lakshmi R Gokanapudy Hahn, Elizabeth Anne Greene, Daphney Kernizan, Omar Khalid, Jennifer Klein, Ryan Kobayashi, Subhrajit Lahiri, Raymond P Lorenzoni, Andrea Otero Luna, Jennifer Marshall, Theodore Millette, Lily Moore, Babu Muhamed, Meghna Murali, Kinjal Parikh, Amy Sanyahumbi, Divya Shakti, Elizabeth Stein, Sanket Shah, Hannah Wilkins, Mcallister Windom, Scott Wirth, Meghan Zimmerman, Andrew F Beck, Nicholas Ollberding, Craig Sable, Andrea Beaton

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

Background Recent evaluation of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) mortality demonstrates disproportionate disease burden within the United States. However, there are few contemporary data on US children living with acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and RHD. Methods and Results Twenty-two US pediatric institutions participated in a 10-year review (2008-2018) of electronic medical records and echocardiographic databases of children 4 to 17 years diagnosed with ARF/RHD to determine demographics, diagnosis, and management. Geocoding was used to determine a census tract-based socioeconomic deprivation index. Descriptive statistics of patient characteristics and regression analysis of RHD classification, disease severity, and initial antibiotic prescription according to community …

Temporal Trends Of Covid-19 Mortality And Hospitalisation Rates: An Observational Cohort Study From The Us Department Of Veterans Affairs, Miao Cai, Benjamin Bowe, Yan Xie, Ziyad Al-Aly

Open Access Publications

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the temporal trends of 30-day mortality and hospitalisation in US Veterans with COVID-19 and 30-day mortality in hospitalised veterans with COVID-19 and to decompose the contribution of changes in the underlying characteristics of affected populations to these temporal changes.

DESIGN: Observational cohort study.

SETTING: US Department of Veterans Affairs.

PARTICIPANTS: 49 238 US veterans with a positive COVID-19 test between 20 March 2020 and 19 September 2020; and 9428 US veterans hospitalised with a positive COVID-19 test during the same period.

OUTCOME MEASURES: 30-day mortality rate and hospitalisation rate.

RESULTS: Between 20 March 2020 and 19 September …

Chagas Disease In Hiv-Infected Patients: It’S Time To Consider The Diagnosis, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph, Natasha S. Hochberg

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Do Americans Perceive Diverse Judges As Inherently Biased, Yoshikuni Ono, Michael A. Zilis

Political Science Faculty Publications

Although women and minorities hold an increasing share of judgships in the United States, they remain underrepresented. We explore Americans’ perceptions of the bias of women and minority judges – one of the possible challenges to creating a diverse bench. We argue that prejudice against these groups manifests in a subtle way, in the belief that diverse judges cannot fairly adjudicate controversies that involve their ingroup. To test our theory, we use a list experiment specifically developed to minimize social desirability effects. We find that many respondents rate female and Hispanic judges to be biased decision makers. Our results highlight …

Digital Equity Is An Environmental Justice Issue, Courtney B. Cooper

Master's Projects and Capstones

Digital equity has evolved into a more critical area of focus due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the existing digital divide, or the divide that exists between those who have access to the internet and those that do not, by moving many important services and resources online to reduce the spread of the virus. This shift has created more challenges for communities who either lack or have inadequate access to the internet. Furthermore, it is likely that internet utilization will only increase as we continue to recognize its capabilities. A lack of or inadequate access …