Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Risk Of Childhood Cancers Associated With Residence In Agriculturally Intense Areas In The United States, Susan E. Carozza, Bo Li, Kai Elgethun, Ryan Whitworth

Public and Population Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The potential for widespread exposure to agricultural pesticides through drift during application raises concerns about possible health effects to exposed children living in areas of high agricultural activity.

Objectives: We evaluated whether residence in a county with greater agricultural activity was associated with risk of developing cancer in children < 15 years of age.

Methods: Incidence data for U.S. children 0–14 years of age diagnosed with cancer between 1995 and 2001 were provided by member registries of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. We determined percent cropland for each county using agricultural census data, and used the overall study distribution to classify …

Sex Education In Amsterdam: What They Do And Why They Choose To Do It., Coral E. Hackler

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sex education in the Netherlands has been regarded by many as exemplary. Around the world the phrase “Double Dutch” is known as the term of using both the condom and the pill. The actual effectiveness of sexuality education in the Netherlands has rarely been studied. The teachers themselves must decide what they believe will be the most effective methods of sexuality education. This begs one to question why a teacher chooses the methods they have chosen and what makes them believe that these methods are effective. Because there is no research on how sexuality education is directly influencing students, teachers …

¨En Este País No Se Habla Con La Verdad¨: Investigando La Falta De Educación Sexual En El Ecuador¨, Laney Rupp

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

The Complexity Of Re-Evaluating Antiretroviral Therapy Eligibility Guidelines For Hiv/Aids Patients In Uganda, Jennifer Klein

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

When I first learned that the eligibility criteria for Antiretroviral Drugs (ARVs) in Uganda is to have a CD4 cell count of 200 or below, I was shocked. Actually, I think my exact response was, “So patients must have full-blown AIDS, severely weakened immune systems, and may be on their deathbeds before they can receive the drugs?” I knew little of the subject, other than that in the United States HIV-positive patients who are on drugs may avoid many of the opportunistic infections and complications that come from delaying treatment until the CD4 count is low. My initial confusion over …

Como Mujer…Yo Decido: El Derecho De Salud Sexual Y Reproductiva En Mujeres Aymara De Putre, Chile, Alice Manos

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The human right to sexual and reproductive health, as defined at the International United Nations Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), continues to be a pending issue in Chile. The sexual and reproductive health of indigenous women emerges as a crucial issue within this field due to Chile’s history of cultural ignorance and a dictatorial healthcare system. Studies of women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare within indigenous communities in Chile have focused on the Cosmo vision and traditional medicine of the Aymara due to their distinct concepts of reproduction, gender roles, and family planning. Studies conducted by Maria Soledad Pérez …

Give Life Without Losing Life: The Casa Materna Of Matagalpa And The Struggle To Prevent Maternal Death, Lily Emiko Friedman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Maternal mortality has a face. It is the health indicator with the greatest disparity between the developed and developing worlds, disproportionately affecting poor women with low levels of education, high levels of fertility, and inadequate access to health services. It is the health inequality that most clearly shows how poor health outcomes continue to be directly linked to poverty and socioeconomic disadvantage, while the right to safe pregnancy and motherhood comes with economic privilege. As it occupies such a critical position in community health, maternal mortality has been widely studied and the target of countless health interventions aimed at its …

Systems Biology: The Solution To Understanding Alcohol-Induced Disorders?, National Institute On Alcohol Abuse And Alcoholism

United States Public Health Resources

With the decoding of the human genome, researchers gained access to extensive information about the molecules in the body, how they function in the healthy organism, and how they may contribute to certain diseases. However, despite this wealth of information, many questions remain about the ways in which these molecules interact to control more complex phenomena, including the development of many common disorders. Systems biology offers scientists a promising tool with which to deal with such complexities and may revolutionize the prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment of alcohol use disorders and other multifaceted disorders. These new approaches provide researchers with new …

Cervical Screening And General Physical Examination Behaviors Of Women Exposed In Utero To Diethylstilbestrol, Elizabeth A. Camp, Ann L. Coker, Rebecca Troisi, Stanley J. Robboy, Kenneth L. Noeller, Karen J. Goodman, Linda T. Titus-Ernstoff, Elizabeth E. Hatch, Arthur L. Herbst, Raymond H. Kaufman, Ervin Adam

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Objective. To estimate whether women exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol (DES) report receiving more cervical and general physical examinations compared to unexposed women.

Materials and Methods. 1994 Diethylstilbestrol Adenosis cohort data are used to assess the degree of recommended compliance of cervical screenings found in 3,140 DES-exposed and 826 unexposed women. Participants were enrolled at 4 sites: Houston, Boston, Rochester, and Los Angeles. Logistic regression modeling was used to analyze mailed questionnaire data, which included reported frequency over the preceding 5 years (1990-1994) of Papanicolaou smears and general physical examinations.

Results. Diethylstilbestrol-exposed women exceeded the recommended frequency of Papanicolaou smear …

A Program To Change The Approach To Care Of Children With Asthma In The Primary Care Setting Did Not Reduce Rates Of Hospital Admissions: Lessons Learned From A Descriptive Study, Sheniz Moonie, Robert C. Strunk, Mario Castro

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Asthma is a critical global health issue. It affects people of all ages in countries throughout the world. The prevalence of asthma is increasing in most countries among young children who also represent the greatest proportion of health care utilization. Outpatient asthma-treatment programs managed by chest physicians or allergists have reduced hospitalizations, yet programs in pediatric offices have not successfully impacted hospitalizations. The Community Asthma Program (CAP) was designed to support pediatrician use of clinical guidelines in their everyday office practice. The goal was to reduce asthma hospitalizations by 15 percent from selected pediatric practices. A study was done in …

Health Compromising Behaviors By Gender Among Florida Adolescents

Florida Public Health Review

No abstract provided.

Preventing Cardiovascular Disease In Kentucky: Epidemiology, Trends, And Strategies For The Future, Sarah Sartini Rugg, Alison L. Bailey, Steven R. Browning

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States despite dramatic improvements in the treatment of heart disease in recent years. Kentucky leads the nation in the prevalence of several individual risk factors for cardiovascular disease, the prevalence of multiple risk factors, and in cardiovascular mortality. While trends in the prevalence of some of these cardiac risk factors have shown improvement, others have remained unchanged or have worsened. The increased prevalence of obesity and diabetes, especially among young persons, is one of the most worrisome trends. The prevalence of smoking in Kentucky remains high, and has …

Faisabilité De L’Étude Sur Les Gaz De Fermentation Et Sur La Ventilation En Silo À Échelle Réduite, Ali Bahloul, Brigitte Roberge, Rodrigue Gravel

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les silos utilisés en milieu agricole sont réputés être des espaces clos selon le Règlement sur la santé et la sécurité du travail (RSST). Ils ont été le site d’accidents graves et souvent mortels. Afin de tenir compte des dangers et des risques dans des silos à fourrage à tour conventionnelle, l’utilisation de silos à échelle réduite a été envisagée pour la réalisation d’une étude sur les silos. Dans la présente étude préliminaire, un silo à l’échelle réduite a été conçu en laboratoire afin d’estimer la faisabilité de les utiliser et de les modifier, s’il y a lieu. Le …

The Impact Of Corporate Practices On Health: Implications For Health Policy, Nicholas Freudenberg, Sandro Galea

Publications and Research

Although corporate practices play a substantial role in shaping health and health behavior, public health researchers have rarely systematically studied these practices as a social determinant of health. We consider case studies of three products - trans fat, a food additive and a preservative; Vioxx, a pain killer; and sports utility vehicles - to illustrate the role of corporate policies and practices in the production of health and disease and the implications for health policy. In recent years, public health advocates, researchers, and lawyers have used strategies to reduce the adverse health impact of corporate practices. Systematic analysis of these …

Taming The Mind: Current Mental Health Treatments And Obstacles To Expanding The Western-Model In A Tibetan Exile Community, Dylan Brock

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Download Entire Pdf Prescriptions For Excellence In Health Care-Spring 2008, Issue 3.

Prescriptions for Excellence in Health Care Newsletter Supplement

No abstract provided.

Application Of The Asset Mapping Model To Church Based Hiv/Aids Prevention And Control In Aba, Abia State, Nigeria, Godwin Nwadibia Aja

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study examined whether HIV/AIDS activities were more frequent among churches with needs and assets for HIV/AIDS prevention and control in Aba, Nigeria and whether this connection was mediated by collective efficacy. A cross-sectional design was used to obtain data in two phases. First, a three-step forum focus group discussion (FFGD) method was used to obtain data from 32 representatives of five denominations. Second, a quantitative survey questionnaire was constructed based on the result of the FFGD and the collective efficacy model. This questionnaire was administered to 830 members aged 18 years and above from 83 churches that had operated …

Optimism And Smoking Cessation : The Effect Of Positive Expectations On Participation And Success In Interventions To Promote Smoking Cessation, Chelsea Mao

Public Health Theses

Optimism has been shown to predict both positive health outcomes and positive health behavior. This study aimed to determine whether optimism could predict greater success in smoking cessation and intervention adherence among smokers enrolled in a randomized control trial comparing two six-week smoking interventions. Optimism was measured prior to intervention initiation using a measure of dispositional optimism (LOT-R), and a measure of situational optimism designed by the author. Objective measures of expired carbon monoxide and intervention attendance data were used to evaluate three outcomes: smoking cessation, smoking reduction, and intervention adherence. Linear and logistic regression models were used to assess …

South Africa’S Unsung “She-Roes”: A Practicum Study Of Npo Grandmothers Against Poverty And Aids, Khayelitsha Township, Cape Town, Rachel Pryzby

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Across Africa, the AIDS pandemic has forced HIV+ individuals and orphaned children into the care of elderly women. Though this has occurred in millions of families, little support has been offered for the grandmothers supporting children and grandchildren on a limited income. This study reports on a practicum study at Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS (GAPA), the first African organization to recognize the important role played by grandmothers in light of HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted in April 2008 at the GAPA center in Khayelitsha Township, Cape Town. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the organization’s origin, …

Pediatric Safety And Quality, Susan R. Lacey, Janis B. Smith, Karen Cox

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Excerpt

Pediatric care is complex due to developmental and dependency issues associated with children. How these factors impact the specific processes of care is an area of science in which little is known. We are only beginning to understand the relationship between nurse staffing and adverse events in hospitalized children; effects that may be compounded by inadequate numbers of pediatric nurses. Throughout health care providing safe and high quality patient care continues to provide significant challenges. Efforts to improve the safety and quality of care are resource intensive and take continued commitment not only by those who deliver care, but …

Tetanus And Rabies Eradication In Pakistan; A Mission Not Impossible, Mohammad Wasay, Ismail A. Khatri, Naseem Salahuddin

Department of Medicine

No abstract provided.

Prenatal Exposure To Wood Fuel Smoke And Low Birth Weight, Amna R. Siddiqui, Ellen B. Gold, Xiaowei Yang, Kiyoung Lee, Kenneth H. Brown, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Maternal exposure to wood fuel smoke may lead to impaired fetal growth due to hypoxia and or oxidative stress from smoke constituents such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter. Objectives: We studied the risk of low birth weight (LBW) and reduced mean birth weight in relation to reported use of wood for cooking during the prenatal period, compared with natural gas (NG).
Methods: We studied a historical cohort of women who had a singleton live birth in the years 2000-2002, from a semirural area of Pakistan. Infant's birth weight was obtained from records, and prenatal records had data for …

An Overview Of Observational Sleep Research With Application To Sleep Stage Transitioning, Brian S. Caffo, B. Swihart, A. Laffan, C. Crainiceanu, N. Punjabi

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

In this manuscript we give an overview of observational sleep research with a particular emphasis on sleep stage transitions. Sleep states represent a categorization of sleep electroencephalogram behavior over the night. We postulate that the rate of transitioning between sleep states is an important predictor of health. This claim is evaluated by comparing subjects with sleep disordered breathing to matched controls.

Improving The Provision Of Reproductive Health Services To Incarcerated Women

Florida Public Health Review

Many researchers in social science and criminal justice fields have shown that reproductive health services for women in prisons, jails, and other correctional facilities, including preventive screening, prenatal services, and treatment, is severely lacking. As the rates of incarcerated women continue to soar, for a multitude of political, economic, and structural reasons, it has become increasingly more critical that women’s health issues, including reproductive health, are adequately addressed in the prison health setting. Correctional and health care programs differ strongly in their purpose (punishment or care), primary client served (society or individual), means employed to achieve their purpose (deprivation or …

Wanted -- Focused Leadership Theory And Application In Public Health Professional Preparation

Florida Public Health Review

Many faculty and administrators in academic public health believe that professional preparation culminating in the awarding of the MPH degree is necessarily coupled with the development of leadership skills and dynamic leaders. This assumption may indeed be a false one. Integrating specific leadership paradigms into public health professional preparation and applying leadership theory to specific public health problems may assist the leadership development process and increase the possibility that professional preparation and the acquisition of leadership knowledge and skills are more intimately entwined.

Changing School Leadership Philosophies To Reverse Childhood Obesity Trends

Florida Public Health Review

Childhood obesity is a public health crisis in the United States. By the year 2015 an estimated 24 percent of all children will be obese. Children who are obese miss on average 20 percent more school than their healthy-weight classmates. Additionally, there is a higher risk of developing diabetes and having high blood pressure, and for being overweight as an adult. Childhood obesity is not caused by one factor but is instead caused by a multitude of social factors, the increased consumption of fast foods, video games replacing outdoor activities and unhealthy food options in schools, just to name a …

Abstracts In High Profile Journals Often Fail To Report Harm, Enrique Bernal-Delgado, Elliot S. Fisher

Dartmouth Scholarship

To describe how frequently harm is reported in the abstract of high impact factor medical journals. We carried out a blinded structured review of a random sample of 363 Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) carried out on human beings, and published in high impact factor medical journals in 2003. Main endpoint: 1) Proportion of articles reporting harm in the abstract; and 2) Proportion of articles that reported harm in the abstract when harm was reported in the main body of the article. Analysis: Corrected Prevalence Ratio (cPR) and its exact confidence interval were calculated. Non-conditional logistic regression was used.

Semi-Tractor Trailer Driver Hauling Chicken Dies After Striking A Rock Wall, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Motor Vehicle

On a sunny fall day in 2007, a 50-year old semi truck driver hauling processed frozen chicken in a refrigerated trailer, died when his semi crashed into a rock wall. The driver was north bound on an interstate highway when witnesses saw the semi in the left lane contact the concrete median barrier then veer over to the right across one traffic lane and the shoulder, then strike a rock wall. The impact caused the cab to overturn onto the driver’s door while the refrigerated trailer remained standing upright. An exhaust pipe located on the back of the cab was …

Targeted Methods For Biomarker Discovery, The Search For A Standard, Catherine Tuglus, Mark J. Van Der Laan

U.C. Berkeley Division of Biostatistics Working Paper Series

More often than not biomarker studies analyze large quantities of variables with complicated and generally unknown correlation structure. There are numerous statistical methods which attempt to unravel these variables and determine the underlying mechanism through identification of causally related biomarkers. Results from these methods are generally difficult to interpret and nearly impossible to compare across studies. The FDA has currently called for a standardization of methods and protocol for biomarker detection. In response, we propose targeted variable importance (tVIM) as a standardized method for biomarker discovery. Through the use of targeted Maximum Likelihood, tVIM provides double robust estimates of variable …

Semi Owner-Operator Dies In Rollover After Speeding Through A Curve, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Motor Vehicle

On a Fall day in 2005 at 3:00 PM, a 46 year-old male semi-tractor trailer owner-operator was hauling logs when he rounded a curve, drove off the right side of a two lane state highway, struck a tree and rolled over. Emergency medical services were called to the scene. When they arrived, they found the driver without vital signs and contacted the local coroner. Kentucky State Police arrived and called Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement to the scene. The driver had not been wearing his seatbelt. Toxicology detected methamphetamine and doxylamine in his system at the time of the crash.

To prevent …

Health Policy Newsletter December 2007 Vol.20, No.4, Department Of Health Policy

Population Health Matters (Formerly Health Policy Newsletter)

No abstract provided.