Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Crisisready's Novel Framework For Transdisciplinary Translation: Case-Studies In Wildfire And Hurricane Response, Andrew Schroeder, Caleb Dresser, Akash Yadav, Jennifer Chan, Shenyue Jia, Caroline Buckee, Satchit Balsari

Institute for ECHO Articles and Research

Extreme weather events including wildfires and hurricanes are becoming increasingly hazardous due to climate change, and often result in transient or permanent population displacements. Disaster-related disruptions in infrastructure, workforce, wages, and social networks can combine with population displacements to result in interruptions in health care access and prolonged impacts on morbidity and mortality. The data needed to make health systems and emergency management approaches more resilient to these hazards, and more responsive to the needs of affected populations, are sequestered in silos across private corporations and public agencies. In two case studies, we describe how our research team at CrisisReady …

The U.S. Travel Health Pharmacists’ Role In A Post-Covid-19 Pandemic Era, Keri Hurley-Kim, Karina Babish, Eva Chen, Alexis Diaz, Nathan Hahn, Derek Evans, Sheila M. Seed, Karl Hess

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Many countries have enforced strict regulations on travel since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in December 2019. However, with the development of several vaccines and tests to help identify it, international travel has mostly resumed in the United States (US). Community pharmacists have long been highly accessible to the public and are capable of providing travel health services and are in an optimal position to provide COVID-19 patient care services to those who are now starting to travel again. Objectives: (1) To discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the practice of travel health and …

The Social Determinants Of Ideal Cardiovascular Health: A Global Systematic Review, Farah Qureshi, Kelb Bousquet-Santos, Sakurako S. Okuzono, Elaine Tsao, Scott Delaney, Anne-Josie Guimond, Julia K. Boehm, Laura D. Kubzansky

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This systematic review synthesizes research published from January 2010-July 2022 on the social determinants of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) carried out around the world and compares trends in high-income countries (HICs) to those in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). 41 studies met inclusion criteria (n = 28 HICs, n = 13 LMICs). Most were from the United States (n = 22) and cross-sectional (n = 33), and nearly all evaluated associations among adults. Among studies conducted in LMICs, nearly all were from middle-income countries and only one was carried out in low-income country. Education (n = …

In The Eyes Of The Beholder: Race, Place And Health, Alfredo J. Velasquez, Jason A. Douglas, Fangqi Guo, Jennifer W. Robinette

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Racial and ethnic health disparities are fundamentally connected to neighborhood quality. For example, as a result of historical systemic inequities, racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in neighborhoods with signs of physical disorder (e.g., graffiti, vandalism), and physically disordered environments have been noted to associate with increased risk for chronic illness. Degree of exposure to neighborhood disorder may alter peoples' perception of their neighborhoods, however, with those most exposed (e.g., historically marginalized racial/ethnic groups) perhaps perceiving less threat from signs of neighborhood disorder. The purpose of the present study was to examine the complex interrelationships between people …

Sexual Behaviours And Sexual Health Among Middle-Aged And Older Adults In Britain, Junead Khan, Emily Greaves, Clare Tanton, Hannah Kuper, Thomas Shakespeare, Eneyi Kpokiri, Yun Wang, Jason J. Ong, Suzanne Day, Stephen W. Pan, Weiming Tan, Bingyi Wang, Xin Peng, Bowen Liang, Huachun Zou, Joseph D. Tucker, Dan Wu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives Population-representative studies of the sexual health of middle-aged and older adults are lacking in ageing societies. This study aimed to identify latent patterns of sexual behaviours and health of people aged 45–74 years.

Methods We conducted a latent class analysis of the National Attitudes and Sexual Lifestyles Survey (Natsal-3), a nationally representative survey conducted in Britain in 2011.

Results Of the 5260 respondents aged 45–74 years, 48.86% of men and 44.91% of women belonged to the Content Caseys class who reported good sexual health. The Infrequent Indigos (30.94% of men, 44.38% of women) were characterised by a lack of …

Men’S Stories: An Account Of Translating Vaccine Decision Narratives From Young Men In The U.S. Into A Targeted Public Health Intervention, Michelle Miller-Day, Erin S. Craw, Diana Harris, Michael L. Hecht

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Effective interventions to promote human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination are needed for all young adults across the globe. Yet, most public health efforts focus on HPV-related risks for females. Unfortunately, HPV-related cancers in men are also a concern, as is the potential for men to spread HPV to their partners. The HPV vaccine is highly effective in reducing risks related to these cancers. Yet, vaccination rates among young males are low and their vaccination concerns are not well understood. This project conducted 15 in-depth qualitative interviews with U.S. males aged 18–22 to hear their vaccine decision stories. Themes of HPV vaccination …

The Impact Of Hpv Vaccine Narratives On Social Media: Testing Narrative Engagement Theory With A Diverse Sample Of Young Adults, Amy E. Leader, Michelle Miller-Day, Rikishi T. Rey, Preethi Selvan, Anne E. Pezalla, Michael L. Hecht

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection are highest in young adults, who can be vaccinated against HPV if they were not vaccinated as adolescents. Since young adults increasingly access health information on social media, we tested the impact of a social media campaign with narrative-based health information on intentions related to HPV vaccination. We also aimed to understand which ads resonated most with young adults and led to higher survey completion rates. We created social media posts featuring videos promoting HPV vaccination. We launched a sponsored ad campaign on Facebook to reach young women, ages 18–26, across the country. Participants …

Total Prevention: A History Of Schistosomiasis In Japan, Alexander Bay

History Faculty Articles and Research

In Japan, schistosomiasis was endemic in Yamanashi Prefecture and a few other hotspot areas where the Miya’iri snail lived. The parasite’s lifecycle relied on the intermediary Miya’iri snail as well as the human host. Parasite eggs passed into the agrarian environment through untreated night soil used as fertiliser or through the culture of open defecation in rural Japan. Manmade rice fields and irrigation ditches, night soil covered paddies and highly refined growing seasons put people in flooded rice paddies to intensively work the land in the spring and summer. The disease was equally dependent on human intervention in the natural …

Time-To-Event Modeling For Hospital Length Of Stay Prediction For Covid-19 Patients, Yuxin Wen, Md. Fashiar Rahman, Yan Zhuang, Michael Pokojovy, Honglun Xu, Peter Mccaffrey, Alexander Vo, Eric Walser, Scott Moen, Tzu-Liang Bill Tseng

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Providing timely patient care while maintaining optimal resource utilization is one of the central operational challenges hospitals have been facing throughout the pandemic. Hospital length of stay (LOS) is an important indicator of hospital efficiency, quality of patient care, and operational resilience. Numerous researchers have developed regression or classification models to predict LOS. However, conventional models suffer from the lack of capability to make use of typically censored clinical data. We propose to use time-to-event modeling techniques, also known as survival analysis, to predict the LOS for patients based on individualized information collected from multiple sources. The performance of six …

Financial Hardship From Purchasing Prescription Drugs Among Older Adults In The United States Before, During, And After The Medicare Part D “Donut Hole”: Findings From 1998, 2001, 2015, And 2021, Anthony W. Olson, Jon C. Schommer, David A. Mott, Olajide Adekunle, Lawrence M. Brown

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND: Cost-related nonadherence compromises successful and effective management of chronic disease. The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) aimed to increase the affordability of outpatient prescription drugs for older adults (older than age 64 years). The Medicare Part D prescription drug insurance coverage gap (“donut hole”) created by the MMA was fully closed in 2020 by the ACA.

OBJECTIVES: To (1) describe prescription drug coverage and financial hardship from purchasing prescription drugs among older American adults for 2021, (2) compare these results with findings from data collected before the MMA …

Citizenship Matters: Non-Citizen Covid-19 Mortality Disparities In New York And Los Angeles, Jason A. Douglas, Georgiana Bostean, Angel Miles Nash, Emmanuel B. John, Lawrence M. Brown, Andrew M. Subica

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

U.S. non-citizen residents are burdened by inequitable access to socioeconomic resources, potentially placing them at heightened risk of COVID-19-related disparities. However, COVID-19 impacts on non-citizens are not well understood. Accordingly, the current study investigated COVID-19 mortality disparities within New York (NYC) and Los Angeles (LAC) to test our hypothesis that areas with large proportions of non-citizens will have disproportionately high COVID-19 mortality rates. We examined ecological associations between March 2020–January 2021 COVID-19 mortality rates (per 100,000 residents) and percent non-citizens (using ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTA) for NYC and City/Community units of analysis for LAC) while controlling for sociodemographic factors. …

Obesogenic Environments And Cardiovascular Disease: A Path Analysis Using Us Nationally Representative Data, Fangqi Guo, Georgiana Bostean, Vincent Berardi, Alfredo J. Velasquez, Jennifer W. Robinette

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction

People living in obesogenic environments, with limited access to healthful food outlets and exercise facilities, generally have poor health. Previous research suggests that behavioral risk factors and indicators of physiological functioning may mediate this link; however, no studies to date have had the requisite data to investigate multi-level behavioral and physiological risk factors simultaneously. The present study conducted serial and parallel mediation analyses to examine behavioral and physiological pathways explaining the association between environmental obesogenicity and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods

This cross-sectional observational study used data from the 2012–2016 Health and Retirement Study, a representative survey of US older …

Structural And Computational Studies Of The Sars-Cov-2 Spike Protein Binding Mechanisms With Nanobodies: From Structure And Dynamics To Avidity-Driven Nanobody Engineering, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Nanobodies provide important advantages over traditional antibodies, including their smaller size and robust biochemical properties such as high thermal stability, high solubility, and the ability to be bioengineered into novel multivalent, multi-specific, and high-affinity molecules, making them a class of emerging powerful therapies against SARS-CoV-2. Recent research efforts on the design, protein engineering, and structure-functional characterization of nanobodies and their binding with SARS-CoV-2 S proteins reflected a growing realization that nanobody combinations can exploit distinct binding epitopes and leverage the intrinsic plasticity of the conformational landscape for the SARS-CoV-2 S protein to produce efficient neutralizing and mutation resistant characteristics. Structural …

Development Of A Men’S Health Course For First-Year Undergraduates Using Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies, Ania A. Majewska, Johnasha D. Stuart, Kelsey M. Gray, Pearl V. Ryder, Ethell Vereen

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

A novel first-year experience course was developed using culturally responsive teaching strategies at an undergraduate liberal arts college in the southeastern USA to promote health advocacy and to provide students with an overview of male health. The course focuses on the biological, sociocultural, economic and gender influences that shape men's health beliefs and practices. It also emphasizes health disparities in the USA among Black/African American men compared to other racial groups and intervention strategies to improve health outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The lecture and laboratory components of the course were designed as a blended learning environment with a modified flipped class …

The Use Of Advanced Spectral Imaging To Reveal Nanoparticle Identity In Biological Samples, Qamar A. Alshammari, Rajasekharreddy Pala, Ayan K. Barui, Saud O. Alshammari, Andromeda M. Nauli, Nir Katzir, Ashraf M. Mohieldin, Surya M. Nauli

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Nanoparticles (NPs) have been used in drug delivery therapies, medical diagnostic strategies, and as current Covid-19 vaccine carriers. Many microscope-based imaging systems have been introduced to facilitate detection and visualization of NPs. Unfortunately, none can differentiate the core and the shell of NPs. Spectral imaging has been used to distinguish a drug molecule and its metabolite. We have recently integrated this technology to a resolution of 9 nm by using artificial intelligence-driven analyses. Such a resolution allowed us to collect many robust datapoints for each pixel of an image. Our analyses could recognize 45 spectral points within a pixel to …