Digital Commons Network^™

Food Insufficiency, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) Status, And 9-Year Trajectory Of Cognitive Function In Older Adults: The Longitudinal National Health And Aging Trends Study, 2012–2020, Muzi Na, Nan Dou, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Lenis P. Chen-Edinboro, Loretta R. Anderson, Alexandra Wennberg

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How Perspectives On Food Safety Of Vendors And Consumers Translate Into Food-Choice Behaviors In 6 African And Asian Countries, Sejla Isanovic, Shilpa V. Constantinides, Edward A. Frongillo Ph.D., Shiva Bhandari, Sharraf Samin, Emma Kenney, Sigrid Wertheim-Heck, Stella Nordhagen, Michelle Holdsworth, Paula Dominguez-Salas, Ramya Ambikapathi, Amos Laar, Crystal L. Patil, Bharati Kulkarni, Salome A. Bukachi, Mariah Ngutu, Christine E. Blake Ph.D., Rd

Faculty Publications

Background: Consumption of unsafe foods increases morbidity and mortality and is currently an issue, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Policy actions to ensure food safety are dominated by mitigation of biological and chemical hazards through supply-side risk management, lessening the degree to which consumer perspectives of food safety are considered. Objectives: This study aimed to provide an in-depth understanding, from vendor and consumer perspectives, of how food-safety concerns of consumers translate into their subsequent food-choice behaviors in 6 diverse low- and middle-income countries. Methods: Six Drivers of Food Choice projects (2016–2022) provided transcripts from 17 focus group discussions and …

2023 Jan Term Course Catalog, Saint Mary's College Of California

Jan Term Course Catalog

No abstract provided.

How Has Entrepreneurship Opportunity Formation Amongst Immigrants Been Influenced By The Covid-19 Pandemic?, Osa-Godwin Osaghae, Thomas M. Cooney

Articles

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how entrepreneurship opportunity formation amongst immigrants has been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, given that environmental changes and irregularity can contribute to entrepreneurship opportunity formation in the immigrant set-up.

Effectiveness Of An Integrated Multilevel Early Child Development Intervention On Caregiver Knowledge And Behavior: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation Of The Malezi Program In Tanzania, Gretchen Antelman, Josephine Ferla, Michelle M. Gill, Heather J. Hoffman, Teopista Komba, Amina Abubakar, Pieter Remes, Ola Jahanpour, Martha Mariki, Mary A. Mang’Enya, Roland Van De Ven

Institute for Human Development, East Africa

Background The quality of caregiving and the parent-child relationship is critical for early child development (ECD) and has been shown to be modifiable. This study evaluated an ECD project in Tanzania, assessing the effectiveness of radio messaging (RM) alone and a combined radio messaging/video job aids/ECD (RMV-ECD) intervention.

Methods This two-arm pre-post evaluation study enrolled a cohort of caregivers of children 0–24 months in four districts of Tabora region, following them for 9 months. ECD radio messages were broadcast on popular stations at least 10 times/day reaching all study districts. In two districts, community health workers (CHW), trained in UNICEF’s …

ผลของการใช้กรดอะมิโนร่วมกับการออกกำลังกายแบบแรงต้านต่อองค์ประกอบของร่างกายและสมรรถภาพของกล้ามเนื้อในบุคคลสุขภาพดี, กสิวัฒน์ เจียรธนะกานนท์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาผลของการใช้กรดอะมิโนร่วมกับการออกกําลังกายแบบแรงต้าน ต่อองค์ประกอบของร่างกายและสมรรถภาพของกล้ามเนื้อในบุคคลสุขภาพดีวิธีการดําเนินงานวิจัย กลุ่มตัวอย่างคือบุคคลที่มีสุขภาพดีเพศชายและหญิงที่ไม่ได้ออกกําลังกายเป็นประจํา อายุเฉลี่ย27.33±3.45ปี จํานวน 24 คน แบ่งเป็น 2 กลุ่ม กลุ่มละ 12 คน ได้แก่ กลุ่มควบคุม (CON) ที่ได้รับการฝึกออกกําลังกายแบบแรงต้านเพียงอย่างเดียว และกลุ่มทดลอง (AA+RT) ที่ได้รับการเสริมกรดอะมิโนร่วมกับการฝึกออกกําลังกายแบบแรงต้าน เป็นเวลา 12 สัปดาห์ ผู้วิจัยทําการทดสอบตัวแปรด้านองค์ประกอบของร่างกาย ความแข็งแรงของกล้ามเนื้อ ขนาดของกล้ามเนื้อ ความหนาของกล้ามเนื้อก่อนการฝึก สัปดาห์ที่ 6 ของการฝึก และหลังการฝึก ครบ 12 สัปดาห์ แล้วนํามาเปรียบเทียบทางสถิติด้วยโปรแกรมสําเร็จรูป โดยใช้การทดสอบความแปรปรวนแบบผสม และใช้การทดสอบแบบรายคู่ด้วยสถิติ LSD ที่ระดับความมีนัยสําคัญทางสถิติ เมื่อ p< 0.05ผลการวิจัย หลังการจบโปรแกรม 12 สัปดาห์ พบว่ากลุ่มตัวอย่างที่ได้รับกรดอะมิโน ร่วมกับการฝึกด้วยแรงต้านมีปริมาณไขมันในร่างกาย มวลไขมัน ลดลงอย่างมีนัยสําคัญทางสถิติ (p0.05) อย่างไรก็ตามเมื่อเปรียบเทียบเปอร์เซ็นต์การเปลี่ยนแปลงของความแข็งแรงของกล้ามเนื้อที่ทดสอบด้วยน้ำหนักสูงสุดในออกแรงต้าน (1 Repetition Maximum; 1RM) และเปอร์เซ็นต์การเปลี่ยนแปลงความหนาของกล้ามเนื้อเปรียบเทียบกันระหว่างก่อนการทดลอง และหลังการฝึกสัปดาห์ที่ 12 พบว่ากลุ่มทอลองมีค่ามีกว่าอย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติ เมื่อเปรียบเทียบกับกุล่มควบคุมที่ได้รับการฝึกด้วยแรงต้านเพียงอย่างเดียวสรุปผลการวิจัย การใช้กรดอะมิโนร่วมกับการฝึกด้วยแรงต้านเป็นเวลา 12 สัปดาห์ สามารถลดปริมาณไขมันใต้ผิวหนังในร่างกาย เพิ่มความแข็งแรงของกล้ามเนื้อ และความหนาของกล้ามเนื้อในบุคคลสุขภาพดีได้

Effect Of Clostridium Butyricum Supplementation On Production Performance, Egg Quality, Gut Microflora, And Intestinal Morphology Of Laying Hens In The Late Phase Of Production, Phuong Truc Le Ho

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Clostridium butyricum supplementation on improvement of production performance and egg quality by stimulating the intestinal absorptive function and altering the cecal microbial composition. A total of 216 Hy-Line brown laying hens at 66 weeks of age were allocated randomly into 3 treatments with 6 replicates of 12 hens in a completely randomized design. The dietary treatments included a control group (CT) with a corn-soy basal diet, and the other treatments comprised basal diets supplemented with 250g/ton (CB1) and 500g/ton (CB2) of feed containing C. butyricum strain MIYAIRI 588. The concentration of …

The Development Of Adherence To Treatment Scale For Persons With Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Yunus Prasetyo

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a novel instrument called adherence to treatment for persons with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) scale. The process of instrument development consisted of seven steps, which are: 1) clarifying the concept of adherence to TB treatment by synthesizing existing literature and obtaining a Delphi Study, 2) generating an item pool through a literature analysis, 3) selecting the format of measurement by employing a 4-point Likert scale, 4) evaluating the items through content validity testing, 5) conducting a preliminary research, 6) evaluating the psychometric properties of the scale by …

การศึกษาเปรียบเทียบอายุการใช้งานของวงจรฟอกไตแบบต่อเนื่องระหว่างการเชื่อมต่อแบบรวมและแบบแยก ร่วมกับเครื่องพยุงการทำงานของหัวใจและปอด, ประสิทธิพร ตั้งจิตอารีย์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ที่มาและความสำคัญ อุบัติการณ์ของภาวะไตวายเฉียบพลันที่ต้องได้รับการบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่อง (Continuous renal replacement therapy: CRRT) ในผู้ป่วยที่ได้รับการรักษาด้วยเครื่องพยุงหัวใจและปอด (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: ECMO) พบประมาณ 50% ซึ่งในปัจจุบันการเชื่อมต่อวงจรการบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่องในผู้ป่วยที่ได้รับการรักษาด้วยเครื่องพยุงหัวใจและปอด ที่นิยมมีอยู่สองวิธีได้แก่ การเชื่อมต่อวงจรแบบรวม (integration) และการเชื่อมต่อแบบแยก (separation) โดยที่ยังไม่มีวิธีใดที่ถือว่าเป็นการเชื่อมต่อแบบมาตรฐาน วัตถุประสงค์ของการศึกษา เพื่อศึกษาเปรียบเทียบอายุการใช้งานของวงจรบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่อง ระหว่างการเชื่อมต่อแบบรวมและแบบแยกร่วมกับเครื่องพยุงการทำงานของหัวใจและปอด วิธีการศึกษา เป็นการศึกษาทดลองแบบสุ่มตัวอย่างแบบเปิด มีกลุ่มควบคุม และพหุสถาบัน ทำการศึกษาผู้ป่วยในหอผู้ป่วยวิกฤตที่ได้รับการรักษาด้วยเครื่องพยุงหัวใจและปอดที่มีภาวะไตวายเฉียบพลันและมีข้อบ่งชี้ได้รับการบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่อง โดยดำเนินการศึกษา ตั้งแต่ พฤษภาคม 2564 ถึง ธันวาคม 2566 โดยผลลัพธ์หลักคืออายุการทำงานของวงจรบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่อง ผลการศึกษา ผู้ป่วยเข้าร่วมการศึกษาที่ได้รับการสุ่มกลุ่มตัวอย่าง 60 คน แบ่งเป็นกลุ่มการเชื่อมต่อแบบรวม 31 คน และการเชื่อมต่อแบบแยก 29 คน พบว่าค่าเฉลี่ยของอายุวงจรบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่องไม่มีความแตกต่างกันอย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติ ระหว่างการเชื่อมต่อแบบรวมและแบบแยก (71 ± 31 และ 63 ± 26 ชั่วโมง, ค่าความแตกต่างค่าเฉลี่ย 7.3 ชั่วโมง, ความเชื่อมั่น 95% [-7.6, 22.3], p=0.33) อัตราการเสียชีวิตที่ 28 วันระหว่างทั้งสองกลุ่มก็ไม่มีความแตกต่างกัน(26% และ 31%, p=0.65) และไม่มีความแตกต่างกันของเหตุการณ์ไม่พึงประสงค์ชนิดร้ายแรงรวมถึงภาวะลมอุดกั้น ส่วนค่าแรงดันระหว่างเมมเบรนและค่าแจ้งเตือนของเครื่องบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่องก็ไม่มีความแตกต่างกันอย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติ สรุปผลการศึกษา การเชื่อมต่อวงจรบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่องระหว่างการเชื่อมต่อแบบรวมและแบบแยกในผู้ป่วยที่ได้รับการรักษาด้วยเครื่องพยุงหัวใจและปอด ไม่มีความแตกต่างกันอย่างมีนัยสำคัญของอายุการใช้งานของวงจรบำบัดทดแทนไตแบบต่อเนื่องและเหตุการณ์ไม่พึงประสงค์ชนิดร้ายแรง

How Sustainable Is Veganism?, Jack Molinaro

Student Work

No abstract provided.

The Sustainability Of Pesticide Use On Bee Populations, Daniella Dicarlo, Noé Stephens, Sophia Macaluso

Student Work

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Adults With Type 1 Diabetes About Diabetes Management And Exercise, Meera Swaminath

Public Health Theses

This study was conducted to understand participants’ experiences with diabetes management and relationships with exercise for a sample of adults (27-65 years old) with Type 1 diabetes living in the United States and identify potential technological features for a digital health tool supporting physical exercise and diabetes management. The sample consisted of 12 participants living across the nation. Participants were recruited online, through social media and healthcare system platforms. Participant data was collected in the form of surveys and interviews and analyzed using a constructivist framework and thematic analysis. Findings were collapsed into four major themes: 1) making exercise decisions …

A Deeper Dive Into Food Insecurity Among Women Involved In The Criminal Justice System, Jessica Robles

Public Health Theses

Background: The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate globally and a recent study found that 91% of formerly incarcerated individuals report being food insecure. Given that, women have become the fastest-growing segment in the incarceration system. Women who are involved in the criminal justice system (WICJ) are more at risk for experiencing food insecurity and chronic diseases. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to existing knowledge on the overall health of WICJ by assessing the prevalence of food insecurity and the social determinants of health (SDOH) that may contribute to food insecurity.Objective: To provide information on the overall health of …

“To Live In The Body Of A Survivor ”: Unique And Cumulative Disaster Exposure And Mental Health In A Sample Of Hurricane Katrina Survivors, Noelle Serino

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Fueled by the escalation of climate change, weather-related disasters are increasing in frequency and severity. Existing research has documented the extensive harm induced by such disasters, yet few studies have examined how individuals’ psychological well-being fares when exposed to multiple, diverse threats, including other weather-related and public health disasters (e.g., COVID-19). As such, the present study explores posttraumatic and psychological distress in the context of unique and cumulative disaster exposure.Methods: The data utilized for this study came from the Resilience in Survivors of Katrina (RISK) Project. The sample was comprised of 381 predominantly Non-Hispanic Black (84.5%) women who experienced …

What It Will Take For The Successful Implementation Of Produce Prescription Programs In Connecticut: A Qualitative Analysis, Olivia M. Rua

Public Health Theses

Abstract

Background: The Biden-Harris Administration National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, andHealth was released in September 2022, a result of the second-ever White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Produce prescription programs were included in this strategy and identified as a mechanism for preventing or managing diet-related diseases and addressing food security. Food security is a key social determinant promoting health. Food security allows for the adequate nutrition needed to promote health and prevent and treat diet-related diseases. This study aims to identify the key considerations for implementing and scaling up a state-wide produce prescription program in Connecticut to translate …

Food Environment Intervention And Dietary Impacts In Blue Zones Project Communities On The Island Of Hawai'i, Katherine Fuller

Public Health Theses

ABSTRACTBackground: High intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with many health benefits including a lower risk of incident hypertension, heart disease, stroke, obesity, Alzheimer’s, and dementia. Dietary choices are impacted by a variety of individual socio-psychological and environmental factors. For this reason, Blue Zones Project (BZP) hypothesized that a multilevel intervention combining psychological, social, and environmental factors would have the largest impact on eating behaviors compared to a single-level approach. We assessed the impact of a BZP food environment intervention on fruit and vegetable intake and food insecurity among adults on the island of Hawai’i (or the Big Island). …

Do Longitudinal Trends In Caloric Intake Vary By Income, Education, Or Race?, Daniel Davila

Public Health Theses

Background: The prevalence of obesity in the United States has increased over the last few decades. Reasons for the increases are abundant, but one factor consistently stands out, caloric intake. Cross-sectional data on differences in caloric intake by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status are common; however, few studies have evaluated the long-term trends in calorie intake by these factors. Methods: We evaluated trends in average calories consumed by adults in the United States by income decile, educational attainment level, and race/ethnicity from 1971 to 2018 using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which purposely assessed and recorded …

Estimating Urinary Nitrate Excretion In Rural Iowans From Dietary And Drinking Water Sources, Timothy Skalaban

Public Health Theses

Nitrate levels are increasing in our environment, and epidemiological studies have found evidence of adverse health risks from this exposure. Therefore, it is important to characterize the magnitude of nitrate exposure from food and drinking water sources. This study assesses the magnitude of nitrate exposure for 47 farmers from the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) in 2018-2019. The participants in our study use private wells as their main drinking water source and live in agricultural area of Iowa (10 counties) where ground water is vulnerable to nitrate contamination. The extent of nitrate exposure is determined by several factors, including the types …

“So We Create Happy Synergies” How An Overall Enabling Environment Helped Lao Pdr Legislate The Who Code On Breastmilk Substitutes: Lessons Learnt, Devina Buckshee

Public Health Theses

ABSTRACT

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding rates in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) remain at 44% against a global goal of at least 50%, partly due to a weak understanding of the multifactorial and multilevel determinants of breastfeeding (UNICEF, 2021). Therefore, evidence-based advocacy efforts call for a systems approach to improve the enabling environment around breastfeeding. Aim: This study aims to stitch together the comprehensive patchwork of actors and dynamic ‘gears’ in the socio-ecological environment that came together to develop a much more enabling environment to improve child nutrition through breastfeeding promotion and protection in Lao PDR. Further, it aims to …

Psychological Resilience In U.S. Military Veterans: Results From The 2019-2020 National Health And Resilience In Veterans Study, Michael Georgescu

Public Health Theses

Psychological resilience is the most common response following exposure to traumatic life events. To date, most research has focused on factors associated with adverse post-trauma mental health outcomes rather than understanding those associated with psychological resilience. In particular, little is known about factors associated with resilience in veterans, despite their high rates of trauma exposure, such as combat and military sexual trauma. To address this gap, we used a discrepancy-based psychiatric resilience (DBPR) analytic approach to operationalize resilience and to identify modifiable health and psychosocial factors associated with resilience in a nationally representative sample of U.S. veterans (N = 4,069). …

Prevention Of Mother-To-Child Transmission Of Hiv(Pmtct) Efforts In Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa: Lessons From Botswana, Jin Hee Kim

Public Health Theses

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to be an ongoing problem, scale up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services remains a priority. Between 2001 and 2012 globally, the 52% decline of new pediatric HIV infection was attributed to the expansion of PMTCT services. In December of 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Botswana was certified as having attained the silver-tier status in the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, because it had successfully reduced the MTCT rate to less than 5%, had provided antenatal care (ANC) and antiretroviral …

Association Between Parity And Bmi In A Suburban Nepalese Community, Dhulikhel, Se Ryung Lee

Public Health Theses

This study aims to examine the link between parity and BMI in women in a suburban Nepali community, Dhulikhel. This study is a secondary data analysis of the Dhulikhel Heart Study (DHS). The study sample included women aged 18-59 years. BMI was based on measured height and weight. The result shows that prevalence of obesity is very high in women with high parity. Furthermore, the result of the ordinal logistic regression show that higher parity is associated with higher odds of being in a higher BMI category (overweight/obese). The odds were the highest in women who gave birth to 3 …

The Genetic Generalizability Gap Of Colorectal Cancer: Assessment By Polygenic Risk Score, Lauren R. Lautermilch

Public Health Theses

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common incident cancers in developed countries. Though the majority of colorectal cancer cases do not arise in individuals with inherited pathogenic mutations or a family history of CRC, there is a substantial heritable component of colorectal cancer. Thus, there is a critical need to incorporate genetic risk factors into overall CRC risk assessment to ultimately improve the efficacy of current screening strategies and optimize precision medicine approaches.

Presented here is a polygenic risk score (PRS) utilizing 79 genetic variants for colorectal cancer. The PRS was generated using genome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms …

The Legacy Of Redlining: How Urban Policies Of The Past Shape The Contemporary Food Environment In Buffalo, Ny, Anna Lin-Schweitzer

Public Health Theses

In the 1930s, the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) graded urban neighborhoods based on their mortgage investment risk, designating whiter wealthier neighborhoods a grade A for “best” and lower-income non-white neighborhoods a grade D for “hazardous.” Despite the fact that this process was outlawed by the 1960s, formerly redlined neighborhoods continue to have less access to resources, including food. The central premise of this paper is that historical housing policies have shaped inequitable distribution of food destinations in the contemporary food environment, and may have implications for food system advocacy and policymaking. Using geospatial analysis and multiple linear regressions, this …

Identifying Aberrant Metabolism And Underlying Biology In Colorectal Cancer Tumors Between Early- And Later-Onset Samples, Allison Paige Janak

Public Health Theses

Early-onset colorectal cancer (EO-CRC) occurring in individuals under age 50 is rapidly increasing globally. In comparison, later-onset colorectal cancer (LO-CRC) incidence has decreased or remained stable over recent years. Despite these increases in EO-CRC incidence, the etiology of EO-CRC is largely unknown. This study aimed to compare the metabolomes of EO-CRC (N=53) and LO-CRC (N=314) patients from a cohort of 367 patients using patient matched samples of stages I-IV tumor and healthy colon tissue. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS) and reversed phase liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (RPLC-MS)-based untargeted metabolomics were applied to identify features present in the samples, …

The Fountain Of Youth?: Calorie Restriction And Its Relationship With Hand Grip Strength As A Marker Of Longevity And Aging, Arion Mete

Public Health Theses

Background and Purpose: Evidence supports a beneficial effect of calorie restriction on longevity within numerous animal models, while data for humans is limited to intermediate biomarkers of aging. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between calorie restriction in humans with respect to hand grip strength, a biomarker of aging and longevity, that has been understudied in relation to caloric restriction. Methods: We analyzed hand grip strength among 184 individuals enrolled in the Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE), a 2-year randomized trial of 25% calorie restriction vs. control. Peak hand grip …

Early Life Growth Patterns Among Infants Of Mothers With Diabetes, Hedy Ludwig

Public Health Theses

AbstractObjective: Exposure to diabetes during pregnancy increases the risk of insulin resistance, obesity, and cardiometabolic disease in offspring. Limited research exists regarding early postnatal growth patterns among moderate preterm and term infants. This study aims to evaluate growth patterns during the early postnatal period among term and moderate preterm infants of mothers with and without diabetes during pregnancy. Methods: In a prospective longitudinal analysis using data from Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), characteristics from term and moderate preterm infants were compared between diabetes exposure groups (n=148). Percent change in weight from birth to hospital discharge was compared between diabetes exposure …

Epidemiology Of Human Hookworm (Necator Americanus) Infection In Rural Ghana: Investigating Host-Parasite Factors That Mediate Infection, Savanna Randi

Public Health Theses

Abstract

Introduction: Hookworms are soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) that cause significant morbidity in high-risk populations, posing a global health concern in locations of rural poverty [1-5]. While there have been ventures by the World Health Organization to eliminate hookworms in Africa by 2030, there is variability in the effectiveness of current chemotherapy regimens. Studies have shown that benzimidazole anthelmintics have reduced effectiveness, and people living in endemic areas are quickly reinfected [6]. Critical gaps remain in understanding parasite-host interactions within communities, further challenging successful disease control. A study initiated in 2022 investigated the epidemiology of human hookworm infection in Beposo, Ghana. …

Missing The Forest For The Trees: The Causes Of The Obesity Epidemic, Acree Mcdowell Cook

Public Health Theses

Arguably the most pressing public health issue in the United States today is the obesity epidemic, which has affected children, adolescents, and adults alike. A lack of longitudinal research on distinct factors related to obesity in different groups has made addressing the epidemic difficult. Many lifestyle and environmental factors, including nutrition, sleep, stress, the gut microbiome, screen time, and marketing, are all related to obesity, but many of these factors are also related to each other. The current study investigates these systemic relationships, presents a hypothesis on the complementary causes of obesity, and contributes to contemporary longitudinal research by investigating …

Antibiotic Prophylaxis For Prevention Of Surgical Site Infections In Orthopedic Surgery, Edwin Ruiz Fuentes

Public Health Theses

Background: In the past decades, there has been an increase in the proportion of orthopedic surgical site infections (SSIs) caused by gram-negative bacilli in various healthcare settings. SSI prevention guidelines suggest that gentamicin can be added to prophylactic antibiotic treatment to target gram-negative bacilli. However, the effectiveness of this strategy remains to be confirmed in orthopedic surgery.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted to investigate the association between antibiotic prophylaxis with adjunctive gentamicin and SSI rates in orthopedic surgeries. 5,571 patients who underwent hip, knee, spine, and hip fracture surgeries between January 2019 and July 2021 at Yale-New Haven …