Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Development Of A Safe Neutralization Assay For Sars-Cov And Characterization Of S-Glycoprotein, Dong P. Han, Hyung G. Kim, Young B. Kim, Michael W. Cho

Faculty Scholarship

The etiological agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been identified as a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV. Similar to other coronaviruses, spike (S)-glycoprotein of the virus interacts with a cellular receptor and mediates membrane fusion to allow viral entry into susceptible target cells. Accordingly, S-protein plays an important role in virus infection cycle and is the primary target of neutralizing antibodies. To begin to understand its biochemical and immunological properties, we expressed both full-length and ectodomain of the protein in various primate cells. Our results show that the protein has an electrophoretic mobility of about 160–170 kDa. The protein is …

Quality Of Life In The Chronically Mentally Ill: Impact Of Demographics, Symptomatology, And Coping Styles, Dawn Castner

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder are often persistent and disabling conditions that require a wide range ofbiopsychosocial treatments. In recent decades, treatment has largely focused on assisting persons to maintain community tenure, while little attention has been devoted to quality of life. For many, these illnesses have a negative impact on life satisfaction due to their chronic and variable nature, lack of completely efficacious treatments, and social stigma. Some have speculated that various demographic, symptom, or treatment variables influence quality of life, but the nature and amount of influence is uncertain. 111 The purpose of this study was to investigate the …

Episodic Heavy Drinking And Marijuana Use Among Undergraduate Students At Western Kentucky University, Ariel L. Sarmiento

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research has documented that Episodic Heavy Drinking (EHD), defined as consuming four or more and five or more alcoholic drinks per drinking episode among females and males, respectively, is a prevalent risk behavior among undergraduate college students throughout the United States. Moreover, studies have shown that EHD is the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality among college students as unintentional injuries, sexual assaults, and unsafe sexual behaviors among this population have been linked to this risk behavior.

Illicit substance use, although often portrayed as a separate risk behavior, is also associated with EHD. Nationally, the most frequently used illicit …

Homicides In The Workplace, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Kentucky Haz Alerts--Other

To prevent workplace violence:

• Assessment for workplace violence risks should be done in all workplaces.
• Workplaces should have policies that clearly delineate that violence is not appropriate during any workplace interaction and violence policies should mirror other workplace policies in terms of strategies for reporting and investigation of incidents, and progressive discipline.
• A clear and consistent reporting system for workplace violence should be in place and every worker should understand how it works.
• Safety training should be attended by employers, supervisors, and employees.
• Policy, training, and employee assistance for domestic violence should be implemented in collaboration with community service providers.

Homicidios En El Lugar De Trabajo, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Kentucky Haz Alerts--Other

Para prevenir la violencia ocupacional:

Una valoración de los riesgos de violencia ocupacional deberá ser llevada a cabo en todos los lugares de trabajo.

Los lugares de trabajo deben implementar políticas que aclaren que la violencia no es apropiada durante ninguna interacción laboral; de igual forma las políticas sobre violencia deberán reflejar los procedimientos del lugar de trabajo en términos de estrategias para reportar e investigar los casos y la progresión de la disciplina.

Un sistema de reporte de la violencia laboral claro y consistente deberá ser implementado en el lugar de trabajo, y cada trabajador deberá comprender como funciona. …

Will Knowledge Of Green Tea Benefits Influence Coffee Consumption?, I-Fang Wang

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many recent studies have focused on the health benefits of green tea consumption. Although there is conflicting evidence, there is a strong trend showing positive effects of green tea to human health. This current study was done to explore whether the knowledge of such green tea benefits will influence the willingness of coffee drinkers to consider switching to green tea consumption. The survey study included a convenience sample of 132 adults who considered themselves regular coffee drinkers. From the statistical analyses of the collected data, results were obtained primarily through frequency distributions and phi coefficients. Data analysis suggested a significant …

Frequency Of Mental Health Service Use In School-Based Health Centers: School Performance And Family Characteristics, James William Depetro

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public schools and community health organizations have created partnerships to provide mental health services to children. One such collaboration has led to the development of School-Based Health Centers (SBHC). SBHC provide mental health services in an attempt to enhance students' development and performance. The research findings regarding SBHC impact on school performance are mixed (Gall, Pagano, Desmond, Perrin, & Murphy, 2000; McCord, Klein, Foy, & Fothergill, 1993; Weist, Proescher, Freedman, Paskewitz, & Flaherty, 1995; Wolk & Kaplan, 1993 ). The purpose of this research study was to determine if the frequency of use of mental health services at SBHC are …

Body Image, Emotional Regulation, And Binge Eating In Obese Females, Courtney D. Stahl

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with binge eating disorder (BED) tend to endorse significant overconcerns with weight and shape and a greater propensity to eat in response to negative mood states. The primary aim of this study was to examine the impact of body image disturbance on the self-regulation of affect in female obese non-binge (n=46) and binge eaters (n=l09). Groups were similar in age (M=46.3) and race (84% Caucasian). Obese non-binge eaters were significantly less obese (BMI=35.50) than their binge eating counterparts (BMI=38.60). On the Multidimensional Body Self-Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), obese binge eaters endorsed significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction, greater feelings of …

Determination Of The Efficacy Of Two Building Decontamination Strategies By Surface Sampling With Culture And Quantitative Pcr Analysis, Mark P. Buttner, Patrica Cruz, Linda Stetzenbach, Amy Klima-Comba

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

The efficacy of currently available decontamination strategies for the treatment of indoor furnishings contaminated with bioterrorism agents is poorly understood. Efficacy testing of decontamination products in a controlled environment is needed to ensure that effective methods are used to decontaminate domestic and workplace settings. An experimental room supplied with materials used in office furnishings (i.e., wood laminate, painted metal, and vinyl tile) was used with controlled dry aerosol releases of endospores of Bacillus atrophaeus (“Bacillus subtilis subsp. niger,” also referred to as BG), a Bacillus anthracis surrogate. Studies were performed using two test products, a foam decontaminant and chlorine dioxide …

The Promise And The Reality Of Long-Term Care Insurance, Randy Desonia

National Health Policy Forum

The aging of the nation’s population will create a surge in the need for long-term care services, putting pressure on existing funding sources and fueling demand for more. This paper examines one financing option—private long-term care insurance—and summarizes its brief history and the several critical precedents that have influenced the products as currently sold. Other topics discussed include the challenges to encouraging sales growth as well as increasing the role of this type of insurance in paying for long-term care.

Non-Parametric Estimation Of Roc Curves In The Absence Of A Gold Standard, Xiao-Hua Zhou, Pete Castelluccio, Chuan Zhou

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

In evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of tests, a gold standard on the disease status is required. However, in many complex diseases, it is impossible or unethical to obtain such the gold standard. If an imperfect standard is used as if it were a gold standard, the estimated accuracy of the tests would be biased. This type of bias is called imperfect gold standard bias. In this paper we develop a maximum likelihood (ML) method for estimating ROC curves and their areas of ordinal-scale tests in the absence of a gold standard. Our simulation study shows the proposed estimates for the …

Health Care In Canada: Provinces Versus The Federal Government, Vivian Mcalister

Data and Test Instruments

Transcript: Listen to today's Commentary Introduction: Who speaks best for health care: Paul Martin or the provincial premiers? Vivian McAlister is a transplant surgeon and a professor of surgery in London, Ontario. On Commentary, he says move over Ottawa..the provinces should take the lead in improving medicare. Vivian McAlister: During last month's election campaign Paul Martin set himself up as the saviour of medicare. He was reinforcing an old theme: that Ottawa must keep a close eye on the provinces lest they experiment - looking for different ways to provide health care. The prime minister conveniently ignored the fact that …

Ozone And Mortality: A Meta-Analysis Of Time-Series Studies And Comparison To A Multi-City Study (The National Morbidity, Mortality, And Air Pollution Study), Michelle L. Bell, Jonathan M. Samet, Francesca Dominici

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

While many time-series studies of ozone and daily mortality identified positive associations,others yielded null or inconclusive results. We performed a meta-analysis of 144 effect estimates from 39 time-series studies, and estimated pooled effects by lags, age groups,cause-specific mortality, and concentration metrics. We compared results to estimates from the National Morbidity, Mortality, and Air Pollution Study (NMMAPS), a time-series study of 95 large U.S. cities from 1987 to 2000. Both meta-analysis and NMMAPS results provided strong evidence of a short-term association between ozone and mortality, with larger effects for cardiovascular and respiratory mortality, the elderly, and current day ozone exposure as …

Social Support Protects Against The Negative Effects Of Partner Violence On Mental Health, Ann L. Coker, Paige H. Smith, Martie P. Thompson, Robert E. Mckeown, Lesa Bethea, Keith E. Davis

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Objectives: Social support for abused women may reduce the impact of abuse on mental health, yet few studies have addressed this issue. We wish to determine associations between intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental health outcomes and to assess the protective role of abuse disclosure and support on mental health among abused women.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 1152 women, ages 18–65, recruited from family practice clinics from 1997 through 1999. They were screened for IPV during a brief in-clinic interview, and physical and mental health status was assessed in a follow-up interview.

Results: IPV, defined as sexual, …

Health Education’S New Frontier In Addressing Corporate Influences On Health: An Interview With Nicholas Freudenberg, Nicholas Freudenberg, Ellen Jones, Lori Dorfman

Publications and Research

Nick Freudenberg is Distinguished Professor of Public Health at Hunter College, City University of New York. For the past 25 years, he has worked with community organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate community interventions to improve the well-being of low-income urban communities. He has also worked for many years in the New York City jail, running programs to improve the transition from jail to the community, and advocating for policy changes related to jail conditions and postrelease drug treatment, health care, and housing. More recently, he has turned his attention to the role of corporate policies and practices on the …

Living Well And Medicaid: Better Health For Consumers -- Lower Costs For States, Craig Ravesloot Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute

Health and Wellness

The United States has the world’s most expensive healthcare system. In 2002, health spending rose to nearly 15 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Healthcare policymakers charged with balancing cost containment with quality healthcare for consumers are desperate for solutions (Levit, Smith, Cowan, Sensenig, and Catlin, 2004).

Defining Accelerometer Thresholds For Activity Intensities In Adolescent Girls, Margarita S. Treuth, Kathryn H. Schmitz, Diane J. Catellier, Robert G. Mcmurray, David M. Murray, Maria João C. A. Almeida, Scott Going, James E. Norman, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

Purpose - To derive a regression equation that estimates metabolic equivalent (MET) from accelerometer counts, and to define thresholds of accelerometer counts that can be used to delineate sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous activity.

Methods - Seventy-four healthy 8th grade girls, age 13-14 yr, were recruited from urban areas of Baltimore, MD, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, and Columbia, SC, to participate in the study. Accelerometer and oxygen consumption (VO₂) data for 10 activities that varied in intensity from sedentary (e.g., TV watching) to vigorous (e.g., running) were collected. While performing these activities, the girls wore two accelerometers, a heart …

Research In Home-Care Telemedicine: Challenges In Patient Recruitment, Usha Subramanian, Faith Hopp, Julie Lowery, Peter Woodbridge, David Smith

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study reports challenges in recruiting patients for a randomized controHed trial of home-care telemedicinae. Descriptive statistics on patient eligibility for home-care telemedidne services and patient refusals for participation are provided. Frequency counts of reasons for study exclusion and participant refusal and Chi-square tests to compare race and age-related differences are given. Of 302 home-care patients reviewed, 197 (65.2%) did not meet inclusion criteria. The most common reasons for study exclusion were patients either needing <2 visits per month (n = 59, 30%) or >3 skilled nurse visits per week (n = 46, 23.4%). Of the eligible patients (n = 105), 79 …

Jefferson Medical College Annual Report, 2004, Thomas J. Nasca

Jefferson Medical College Administrative Documents and Reports

No abstract provided.

Annual Report To The Nation On The Status Of Cancer, 1975–2001, With A Special Feature Regarding Survival, Ahmedin Jemal, Limin X. Clegg, Elizabeth Ward, Lynn A. G. Ries, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Patricia Jamison, Phyllis A. Wingo, Holly L. Howe, Robert N. Anderson, Brenda K. Edwards

United States Public Health Resources

BACKGROUND. The American Cancer Society (ACS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) collaborate annually to provide updated information regarding cancer occurrence and trends in the U.S. This year’s report features a special section on cancer survival.

METHODS. Information concerning cancer cases was obtained from the NCI, CDC, and NAACCR and information concerning recorded cancer deaths was obtained from the CDC. The authors evaluated trends in age-adjusted cancer incidence and death rates by regression models and described and compared survival rates over …

Comparison Of Medical Subject Headings And Text-Word Searches In Medline To Retrieve Studies On Sleep In Healthy Individuals, Elizabeth Sergeevna Jenuwine, Judith A. Floyd

Nursing Faculty Research Publications

Objective: The objective was to investigate the performance of two search strategies in the retrieval of primary research papers containing descriptive information on the sleep of healthy people from MEDLINE.

Methodology: Two search strategies - one based on the use of only Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), the second based on text-word searching - were evaluated as to their specificity and sensitivity in retrieving a set of relevant research papers published in the journal Sleep from 1996 to 2001 that were preselected by a hand search.

Results: The subject search provided higher specificity than the text- word search …

Cancer Esophagus Karachi 1995-2002:Epidemiology, Risk Factors And Trends, Y. Bhurgri, N. Faridi, L. A.G. Kazi, S. K. Ali, H. Bhurgri, A. Usman, J. Malik, A. Bhurgri, R. Ahmed, S. Muzaffar, N. Kayani, Shahid Pervez, S. H. Hasan

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Objective: To study the trends of cancer esophagus in Karachi South during 1995-2002 and identify risk factors.

Methods: Incident esophageal cancer cases recorded at the Karachi Cancer Registry for Karachi South, during 1st January 1995 to 31st December 2003 were reviewed. For maximum completion of data, incident cases registered from 1st January 1995 to 31st December 2002 were included for final analyses.

Results: The Age Standardized Incidence Rates (ASIRs) of cancer esophagus in Karachi South for males were 6.5/100,000 (1995-1997) and 6.4/100,000 (1998-2002). In females the observed rates were 7.0/100,000 (1995-1997) and 8.6/100,000 (1998-2002).

Conclusion: In the moderately high incidence, …

Universal Coverage And The American Health Care System Crisis (Again), Rick Mayes

Political Science Faculty Publications

Ten years after President Clinton’s ambitious attempt at comprehensive health care reform died, several old and new issues with the health care system have emerged. First, the number of uninsured Americans rose to 43.6 million in 2002—and the numbers have since increased. Also, the costs for those who do not have insurance are rapidly increasing. In addition health care related problems are one of the leading causes of personal bankruptcy in the United States. Finally, the government’s two primary health insurance programs—Medicare and Medicaid—are experiencing considerable financial strain. Dr. Mayes examines these problems in depth before and revisits President Clinton’s …

Accuracy Of Msi Testing In Predicting Germline Mutations Of Msh2 And Mlh1: A Case Study In Bayesian Meta-Analysis Of Diagnostic Tests Without A Gold Standard, Sining Chen, Patrice Watson, Giovanni Parmigiani

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Microsatellite instability (MSI) testing is a common screening procedure used to identify families that may harbor mutations of a mismatch repair gene and therefore may be at high risk for hereditary colorectal cancer. A reliable estimate of sensitivity and specificity of MSI for detecting germline mutations of mismatch repair genes is critical in genetic counseling and colorectal cancer prevention. Several studies published results of both MSI and mutation analysis on the same subjects. In this article we perform a meta-analysis of these studies and obtain estimates that can be directly used in counseling and screening. In particular we estimate the …

Racial Discrepancies In The Association Between Paternal Vs. Maternal Educational Level And Risk Of Low Birthweight In Washington State, Christina Nicolaidis, Cynthia W. Ko, Somnath Saha, Thomas D. Koepsell

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The role of paternal factors in determining the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes has received less attention than maternal factors. Similarly, the interaction between the effects of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on pregnancy outcomes is not well known. Our objective was to assess the relative importance of paternal vs. maternal education in relation to risk of low birth weight (LBW) across different racial groups.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study using Washington state birth certificate data from 1992 to 1996 (n = 264,789). We assessed the associations between maternal or paternal education and LBW, adjusting for …

Anemia And Blood Transfusion In The Critically Ill Patient: Role Of Erythropoietin, Howard L. Corwin

Dartmouth Scholarship

Critically ill patients receive an extraordinarily large number of blood transfusions. Between 40% and 50% of all patients admitted to intensive care units receive at least 1 red blood cell (RBC) unit during their stay, and the average is close to 5 RBC units. RBC transfusion is not risk free. There is little evidence that 'routine' transfusion of stored allogeneic RBCs is beneficial to critically ill patients. The efficacy of perioperative recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) has been n demonstrated in a variety of elective surgical settings. Similarly, in critically ill patients with multiple organ failure, rHuEPO therapy will also stimulate …

Multiple Testing Methods For Chip-Chip High Density Oligonucleotide Array Data, Sunduz Keles, Mark J. Van Der Laan, Sandrine Dudoit, Simon E. Cawley

U.C. Berkeley Division of Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Cawley et al. (2004) have recently mapped the locations of binding sites for three transcription factors along human chromosomes 21 and 22 using ChIP-Chip experiments. ChIP-Chip experiments are a new approach to the genome-wide identification of transcription factor binding sites and consist of chromatin (Ch) immunoprecipitation (IP) of transcription factor-bound genomic DNA followed by high density oligonucleotide hybridization (Chip) of the IP-enriched DNA. We investigate the ChIP-Chip data structure and propose methods for inferring the location of transcription factor binding sites from these data. The proposed methods involve testing for each probe whether it is part of a bound sequence …

Combining Predictors For Classification Using The Area Under The Roc Curve, Margaret S. Pepe, Tianxi Cai, Zheng Zhang

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

We compare simple logistic regression with an alternative robust procedure for constructing linear predictors to be used for the two state classification task. Theoritical advantages of the robust procedure over logistic regression are: (i) although it assumes a generalized linear model for the dichotomous outcome variable, it does not require specification of the link function; (ii) it accommodates case-control designs even when the model is not logistic; and (iii) it yields sensible results even when the generalized linear model assumption fails to hold. Surprisingly, we find that the linear predictor derived from the logistic regression likelihood is very robust in …

Medicaid Prescription Drug Spending And Use, Brian Bruen, Arunabh Ghosh

Health Policy and Management Issue Briefs

No abstract provided.

Effects Of A Tailored Follow-Up Intervention On Health Behaviors, Beliefs, And Attitudes, Alissa D. Jacobs, Alice S. Ammerman, Susan T. Ennett, Marci K. Campbell, Katherine W. Tawney, Semra Aytur, Stephen W. Marshall, Julie C. Will, Wayne D. Rosamond

Health Management & Policy

Background: The high rates of relapse that tend to occur after short-term behavioral interventions indicate the need for maintenance programs that promote long-term adherence to new behavior patterns. Computer-tailored health messages that are mailed to participants or given in brief telephone calls offer an innovative and time-efficient alternative to ongoing face-to-face contact with healthcare providers.

Methods: Following a 1-year behavior change program, 22 North Carolina health departments were randomly assigned to a follow-up intervention or control condition. Data were collected from 1999 to 2001 by telephone-administered surveys at preintervention and postintervention for 511 low-income, midlife adult women enrolled …