Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Covid-19 Pandemic Impact On Essential Public Health Services And Online Health Communication—Appalachian Kentucky, March–December 2020, Margaret A. Riggs, Kenny Ortiz-Jurado, Keith Klein

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges for local health departments (LHDs). This study examines how stay-at-home orders impacted the provision of essential public health services and subsequent increased use of online health communication by LHDs for rural populations in Appalachian Kentucky during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A survey to gather information about provision of essential public health services was administered to five LHDs representing 13 counties between June 2020 and December 2020. Additionally, demographic and health-outcome data from LHD, state health department, and CDC websites were reviewed, alongside health communications posted on LHD social media …

An Il1rl1 Genetic Variant Lowers Soluble St2 Levels And The Risk Effects Of Apoe-Ε4 In Female Patients With Alzheimer’S Disease, Yuanbing Jiang, Xiaopu Zhou, Hui Yi Wong, Li Ouyang, Fanny C. F. Ip, Vicky M. N. Chau, Shun-Fat Lau, Wei Wu, Daniel Y. K. Wong, Heukjin Seo, Wing-Yu Fu, Nicole C. H. Lai, Yuewen Chen, Alzheimer’S Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Charles D. Smith, Gregory A. Jicha, Peter A. Hardy, Partha Sinha, Elizabeth Oates, Gary Conrad

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Changes in the levels of circulating proteins are associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), whereas their pathogenic roles in AD are unclear. Here, we identified soluble ST2 (sST2), a decoy receptor of interleukin-33–ST2 signaling, as a new disease-causing factor in AD. Increased circulating sST2 level is associated with more severe pathological changes in female individuals with AD. Genome-wide association analysis and CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing identified rs1921622, a genetic variant in an enhancer element of IL1RL1, which downregulates gene and protein levels of sST2. Mendelian randomization analysis using genetic variants, including rs1921622, demonstrated that decreased sST2 levels lower AD …

Exogenous Short Chain Fatty Acid Effects In App/Ps1 Mice, Diana J. Zajac, Benjamin C. Shaw, David J. Braun, Stefan J. Green, Joshua M. Morganti, Steven Estus

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Elucidating the impact of the gut microbiome on Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is an area of intense interest. Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are major microbiota metabolites that have been implicated as a mediator of gut microbiome effects in the brain. Here, we tested the effects of SCFA-treated water vs. saline-treated water on APPswe/PSEN1dE9 mice maintained under standard laboratory conditions. Mice were treated with SCFAs from five months of age until ten months of age, when they were evaluated for microbiome profile, impaired spatial memory as evaluated with the radial arm water maze, astrocyte activation as measured by Gfap expression and …

Increased Rates Of Death From Unintentional Injury Among Non-Hispanic White, American Indian/Alaska Native, And Non-Metropolitan Communities, Lindsey R. Hammerslag, Jeffery Talbert, Tyrone F. Borders

Rural & Underserved Health Research Center Publications

Overview of Key Findings

• Living in a nonmetropolitan area is associated with an increase in the age-adjusted death rate from unintentional injuries, from 46.2 in metropolitan areas to 59.2 in nonmetropolitan areas in 2018, with all races/ethnicity groups affected except for non-Hispanic Black.
• The ratio of unintentional injury deaths in nonmetropolitan areas, compared to metropolitan areas, was 1.28 overall, ranging from 1.05 to 1.56 depending on race and ethnicity.
• American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest rate of living in nonmetropolitan areas (39.5%), and this group has the greatest increase in death from unintentional injury associated with living in …

Moral Distress During Covid-19: The Importance Of Perceived Organizational Support For Hospital Nurses, Abigail Latimer, Melanie D. Otis, Gia Mudd-Martin, Debra K. Moser

UK CARES Faculty Publications

Moral distress, or the inability to act congruent with moral beliefs, has been of concern for healthcare professionals especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospital nurses are particularly affected in their roles with mounting administrative pressures and demands. We examined whether general and COVID- specific support in employing healthcare organizations predicted moral distress in a sample of inpatient hospital nurses. A total of 248 nurses completed the Measure of Moral Distress for Healthcare Professionals, Survey of Perceived Organizational Support, COVID Organizational Support survey, and the Hospital Ethical Climate Scale. We found that general and COVID-related organizational support were predictors of moral …

Enlarged Perivascular Spaces Are Negatively Associated With Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scores In Older Adults, Timothy J. Libecap, Valentinos Zachariou, Christopher E. Bauer, Donna M. Wilcock, Gregory A. Jicha, Flavius D. Raslau, Brian T. Gold

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Emerging evidence suggests that enlarged perivascular spaces (ePVS) may be a clinically significant neuroimaging marker of global cognitive function related to cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD). We tested this possibility by assessing the relationship between ePVS and both a standardized measure of global cognitive function, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and an established marker of cSVD, white matter hyperintensity volume (WMH) volume. One hundred and eleven community-dwelling older adults (56–86) underwent neuroimaging and MoCA testing. Quantification of region-specific ePVS burden was performed using a previously validated visual rating method and WMH volumes were computed using the standard ADNI pipeline. Separate …

Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Daily Life, Mood, And Behavior Of Adults With Down Syndrome, Sigan L. Hartley, Victoria Fleming, Brianna Piro-Gambetti, Annie Cohen, Beau M. Ances, Michael A. Yassa, Adam M. Brickman, Benjamin L. Handen, Elizabeth Head, Mark Mapstone, Bradley T. Christian, Ira T. Lott, Eric Doran, Shahid Zaman, Sharon Krinsky-Mchale, Frederick A. Schmitt, Christy L. Hom, Nicole Schupf

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Background: The Down syndrome population has been disproportionately affected by Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in terms of experiencing severe illness and death. Societal efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 may also have taken a heavy toll on the daily lives of individuals with Down syndrome.

Objective/hypothesis: The goal of the study was to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered daily life (including residence, employment, and participation in adult disability day programs) and influenced the mood and behavior of adults with Down syndrome.

Methods: Between September 2020 and February 2021, caregivers of 171 adults with Down syndrome (aged …

Effect Of Pitching Restrictions And Mound Distance On Youth Baseball Pitch Counts., Hailey Mair, Nicholas A Kenney, Timothy L Uhl, L Robert Ullery, Robert G Hosey

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that higher pitch counts are directly related to a greater incidence of elbow and shoulder pain among youth baseball pitchers.

PURPOSE/HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of different pitching restriction rules on the number of pitches thrown in youth baseball leagues. We hypothesized that more pitches would be thrown in leagues with inning restrictions versus leagues with pitch count restrictions as well as in leagues with a longer mound distance (from pitching mound to home plate).

STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2.

METHODS: Pitch count data were collected for …

Sex Differences In The Genetic Architecture Of Cognitive Resilience To Alzheimer’S Disease, Jaclyn M. Eissman, Logan Dumitrescu, Emily R. Mahoney, Alexandra N. Smith, Shubhabrata Mukherjee, Michael L. Lee, Phoebe Scollard, Seo Eun Choi, William S. Bush, Corinne D. Engelman, Qiongshi Lu, David W. Fardo, Emily H. Trittschuh, Jesse Mez, Catherine C. Kaczorowski, Hector Hernandez Saucedo, Keith F. Widaman, Rachel F. Buckley, Michael J. Properzi, Elizabeth C. Mormino, Hyun Sik Yang, Theresa M. Harrison, Trey Hedden, Kwangsik Nho, Shea J. Andrews, Douglas Tommet, Niran Hadad, R. Elizabeth Sanders, Douglas M. Ruderfer, Katherine A. Gifford, Xiaoyuan Zhong, Neha S. Raghavan, Badri Vardarajan, Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, Lindsay A. Farrer, Li San Wang, Carlos Cruchaga, Gerard D. Schellenberg, Nancy J. Cox, Jonathan L. Haines, C. Dirk Keene, Andrew J. Saykin, Eric B. Larson, Reisa A. Sperling, Richard Mayeux, Michael L. Cuccaro, David A. Bennett, Julie A. Schneider, Paul K. Crane, Angela L. Jefferson, Timothy J. Hohman

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Approximately 30% of elderly adults are cognitively unimpaired at time of death despite the presence of Alzheimer's disease neuropathology at autopsy. Studying individuals who are resilient to the cognitive consequences of Alzheimer's disease neuropathology may uncover novel therapeutic targets to treat Alzheimer's disease. It is well established that there are sex differences in response to Alzheimer's disease pathology, and growing evidence suggests that genetic factors may contribute to these differences. Taken together, we sought to elucidate sex-specific genetic drivers of resilience.

We extended our recent large scale genomic analysis of resilience in which we harmonized cognitive data across four cohorts …

A Simplified Model For The Intermediate Structure Of Strong Fire Whirls, Forman A. Williams

Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal

A model is described for the overall structure of intense fire whirls, based on a spatially evolving vortex, with circulation enhancement driven by the axial acceleration of low-density gas in the core through the axial pressure gradient. The axial acceleration increases the entrainment rate into the core which, through mass conservation, increases the circulation if the angle between the tangential and radial velocity components remains fixed. The two-zone model employs general balance equations for regions inside and outside a cylinder of fixed radius, each inviscid, the inside region being presumed to have a constant density small compared with the (constant) …

Reduced-Scale Experiments And Numerical Simulations Of Informal Settlement Dwelling Fires, Vigneshwaran Narayanan, Antonio Cicicone, Ayden D. Botha, Richard Shaun Walls

Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal

Informal settlement dwellings (ISDs) house approximately one billion people in the developing world and this number is expected to double by the year 2030. Contemporary research on ISD fires has focused on understanding the fire dynamics within individual dwellings (micro-scale) and fire spread in settlements consisting of multiple dwellings (macro-scale). This paper aims to do two primary things: investigate if scaling methods that were derived for compartments with thermally thick boundaries can be applied to ISDs (compartments with thermally thin boundaries), and if they can adequately represent the most important phenomena associated with full-scale ISD fires; and demonstrate Fire Dynamics …

Non-Metropolitan And Metropolitan Trends In Mental Health Treatment Availability In Community Health And Community Mental Health Centers, Tyrone F. Borders, Timothy Williams, Katherine Youngen, Julia Cecil

Rural & Underserved Health Research Center Publications

Key Findings

The supply of community mental health centers (CMHCs) decreased substantially from 2000 to 2019 and became nearly non-existent in non-metropolitan counties.

• The number of CMHCs in non-metropolitan counties declined from 182 to 15.
• The number of CMHCs in metropolitan counties declined from 582 to 104.

The supply of community health centers (CHCs) offering mental health services increased substantially over the same time period, or from 2000 to 2019.

• The number of CHCs in non-metropolitan counties increased from 184 to 573.
• The number of CHCs in metropolitan counties increased from 126 to 797.

Ethanol Exposure Up-Regulates Pd-L1/Pd-1 Immune Checkpoint Pathway And Promotes Mammary Tumor Development, Wenhua Xu, Linqing Wu, Mei Xu, Jia Luo, Gang Chen

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Alcohol consumption in women enhances breast cancer incidence and ethanol is the main causal factor. Compromised host immunity through immunosuppression facilitates the development of many types of cancer, including breast cancer. Immune cells in breast tissues, particularly tumor-infiltrating CD8 cytotoxic T cells, play a critical role in the host anti-tumor immunity against breast tumorigenesis. These cytotoxic T cells are the major immune cells to carry out anti-tumor immunity through their cytotoxic effector function, which can be regulated by immune checkpoint pathways. The PD-1/PD-L1 pathway (the interaction between programmed death-1, PD-1, and its ligand, programmed deathligand 1, PD-L1) is the best …

The Racial And Ethnic Diversity Of The Family Physician Workforce In Non-Metropolitan And Metropolitan Counties, Lars E. Peterson, Zachary J. Morgan

Rural & Underserved Health Research Center Publications

Overview of Key Findings

• The family physician workforce is becoming more racially diverse; however, non-metropolitan family physicians are not.
• Using data from over 24,000 family physicians who either registered to continue their American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) certification or completed the graduate survey from 2017 to 2019, we found that early career family physicians are more diverse than later career physicians (66.9% vs. 72.8% White; 58.3% vs. 44.0% female) but, in both groups, the percentage of White non-metropolitan family physicians was even higher (82.7% to 90.5%).
• Minority non-metropolitan family physicians, particularly Black and Native American/Alaska Native physicians, are more …

Exploring Extension Agent Capacity And Readiness To Adopt Policy, Systems And Environmental Change Approaches, Lisa T. Washburn, Heather Norman-Burgdolf, Natalie Jones, Lauren E. Kennedy, Soghra Jarvandi

Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications

Introduction: Enhanced Extension outreach strategies combine traditional direct education programs with public health approaches like policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change. However, the Cooperative Extension system and county-based Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension agents have historically prioritized direct education programming and diffusion of enhanced outreach strategies has varied. Extension personnel may lack capacity and readiness for successful PSE change implementation. This study explored perceived acceptability, capacity, and readiness for PSE change work among FCS Extension agents in two states.

Method: A survey was developed framed by selected domains from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research: Intervention Characteristics, Inner Setting, …

Bedside Nurses' Perceptions Of Effective Nurse-Physician Communication In General Medical Units: A Qualitative Study, Hirotaka Kato, Jessica M. Clouser, Preetham Talari, Nikita Vundi, Akosua Adu, Kishore Karri, Kathy B Isaacs, Mark V Williams, Romil Chadha, Jing Li

Center for Health Services Research Faculty Publications

Background

There is a dearth of research on successful interventions to improve nurse-physician communication (NPC). An important step is identifying what matters to bedside nurses and their perceptions of effective NPC communications and actions.

Methods

We conducted three focus groups with a total of 19 medical unit nurses across two hospitals in one academic medical center in the United States. Using a convenience sampling strategy, five to eight nurses voluntarily participated in each focus group. The recording was transcribed verbatim and two independent coders performed coding and resolved any discrepancies in codes. Qualitative content analysis was pursued to identify themes …

A Multi-Institutional Study Evaluating And Describing Atypical Parathyroid Tumors Discovered After Parathyroidectomy, Alice L. Tang, Benjamin Aunins, Katherine Chang, James C. Wang, Matthew Hagen, Lan Jiang, Cortney Y. Lee, Reese W. Randle, Jeffery J. Houlton, David A. Sloan, David L. Steward

Surgery Faculty Publications

Objective: To describe common intraoperative and pathologic findings of atypical parathyroid tumors (APTs) and evaluate clinical outcomes in patients undergoing parathyroidectomy.

Methods: In this multi-institutional retrospective case series, data were collected from patients who underwent parathyroidectomy from 2000 to 2018 from three tertiary care institutions. APTs were defined according to the AJCC eighth edition guidelines and retrospective chart review was performed to evaluate the incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, recurrence of disease, and disease-specific mortality.

Results: Twenty-eight patients were identified with a histopathologic diagnosis of atypical tumor. Mean age was 56 years (range, 23–83) and 68% …

Cerium Dioxide, A Jekyll And Hyde Nanomaterial, Can Increase Basal And Decrease Elevated Inflammation And Oxidative Stress, Robert Yokel, Marsha L. Ensor, Hemendra J. Vekaria, Patrick G. Sullivan, David J. Feola, Arnold Stromberg, Michael T. Tseng, Douglas A. Harrison

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

It was hypothesized that the catalyst nanoceria can increase oxidative

stress/inflammation from the basal state and reduce it from the elevated state .

Nanoceria are cleared by macrophages. To test the hypothesis, M0 (non-polarized),

M1- (classically activated, pro-inflammatory), and M2-like (alternatively activated,

regulatory phenotype) RAW 264.7 macrophages were nanoceria exposed. Responses

were quantified by arginase activity, IL-1ß level, cell oxygen consumption rate (OCR),

the glycolysis stress test (GST), morphology determined by light microscopy,

macrophage phenotype marker expression and morphology using a novel three

dimensional immunohistochemical method, and RT-qPCR. Nanoceria blocked

arginase and IL-1ß effects, increased M0 cell OCR and GST …

Sporadic Worldwide “Clusters” Of Feed Driven Zilpaterol Identifications In Racing Horses: A Review And Analysis, Jacob Machin, Kimberly Brewer, Abelardo Morales Briceno, Clara Fenger, George Maylin, Thomas Tobin

Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center Faculty Publications

Zilpaterol is a β2-adrenergic agonist medication approved in certain countries as a cattle feed additive to improve carcass quality. Trace amounts of Zilpaterol can transfer to horse feed, yielding equine urinary “identifications” of Zilpaterol. These “identifications” occur because Zilpaterol is highly bioavailable in horses, resistant to biotransformation and excreted as unchanged Zilpaterol in urine, where it has a 5 day or so terminal half-life.

In horses, urinary steady-state concentrations are reached 25 days (5 half-lives) after exposure to contaminated feed. Zilpaterol readily presents in horse urine, yielding clusters of feed related Zilpaterol identifications in racehorses. The first cluster, April …

Evaluation Of Anemia In Communities Served By Shoulder To Shoulder Global: A Cross-Sectional Study In Santo Domingo, Ecuador, Kevin J. Mercer, Daniela Claudia Moga, Steven Fleming, Cristian Carrión, Melody Ryan

Pharmacy Practice and Science Faculty Publications

Background Shoulder to Shoulder Global (STSG) recognizes anemia as a cause of morbidity among patients in Santo Domingo, Ecuador. Little research has been done to assess targetable anemia risk factors to serve as a foundation for future pharmacotherapeutic interventions. This study sought to characterize anemia in this population to lay the foundation for future preventive intervention.

Methods Cross-sectional data obtained from existing clinic records from 2010 to 2016 included hemoglobin/hematocrit, age, sex, pregnancy status, and respective community. Chi-square compared means to examine risk factors associated with anemia. Logistic regression and odds ratios (OR) were used to estimate risk factors associated …

Extracellular Vesicles Released After Cranial Radiation: An Insight Into An Early Mechanism Of Brain Injury., Suriyan Sukati, Jenni Ho, Luksana Chaiswing, Pradoldej Sompol, Harshul Pandit, Wendy Wei, Tadahide Izumi, Quan Chen, Heidi Weiss, Teresa Noel, Subbarao Bondada, D Allan Butterfield, Daret K St Clair

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Cranial radiation is important for treating both primary brain tumors and brain metastases. A potential delayed side effect of cranial radiation is neurocognitive function decline. Early detection of CNS injury might prevent further neuronal damage. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a potential diagnostic tool because of their unique membranous characteristics and cargos. We investigated whether EVs can be an early indicator of CNS injury by giving C57BJ/6 mice 10 Gy cranial IR. EVs were isolated from sera to quantify: 1) number of EVs using nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA); 2) Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an astrocyte marker; and 3) …

Extracellular Vesicles Released After Cranial Radiation: An Insight Into An Early Mechanism Of Brain Injury, Suriyan Sukati, Jenni Ho, Luksana Chaiswing, Pradoldej Sompol, Harshul Shreekant Pandit, Wendy Wei, Tadahide Izumi, Quan Chen, Heidi Weiss, Teresa Noel, Subbarao Bondada, D. Allan Butterfield, Daret K. St. Clair

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Cranial radiation is important for treating both primary brain tumors and brain metastases. A potential delayed side effect of cranial radiation is neurocognitive function decline. Early detection of CNS injury might prevent further neuronal damage. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a potential diagnostic tool because of their unique membranous characteristics and cargos. We investigated whether EVs can be an early indicator of CNS injury by giving C57BJ/6 mice 10 Gy cranial IR. EVs were isolated from sera to quantify: 1) number of EVs using nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA); 2) Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an astrocyte marker; and 3) …

Adipocyte-Derived Serum Amyloid A Promotes Angiotensin Ii–Induced Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms In Obese C57bl/6j Mice, Preetha Shridas, Ailing Ji, Andrea C. Trumbauer, Victoria P. Noffsinger, Steve W. Leung, Adam J. Dugan, Sean E. Thatcher, Lisa A. Cassis, Frederick C. De Beer, Nancy R. Webb, Lisa R. Tannock

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: Obesity increases the risk for human abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) and enhances Ang II (angiotensin II)-induced AAA formation in C57BL/6J mice. Obesity is also associated with increases in perivascular fat that expresses proinflammatory markers including SAA (serum amyloid A). We previously reported that deficiency of SAA significantly reduces Ang II-induced inflammation and AAA in hyperlipidemic apoE-deficient mice. In this study. we investigated whether adipose tissue-derived SAA plays a role in Ang II-induced AAA in obese C57BL/6J mice.

Methods: The development of AAA was compared between male C57BL/6J mice (wild type), C57BL/6J mice lacking SAA1.1, SAA2.1, and SAA3 …

A Novel Nonparametric Test For Heterogeneity Detection And Assessment Of Fluid Removal Among Crrt Patients In Icu, Shaowli Kabir

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Over the past decade acute kidney injury (AKI) has been occurring among 20%-50% of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in United States. Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) has become a popular treatment method among these critically ill patients. But there are multiple complications in implementing this treatment, including discrepancies in practiced and prescribed fluid removal, possibly related to the heterogeneity among these patients. With mixture modeling there have been several techniques in detecting heterogeneity with their specific limitations. In this dissertation a novel nonparametric ‘d test’ will be used to detect heterogeneity among CRRT patients in ICU. …

Examining The Perspectives And Experiences Of Nutrition Educators Working With Clients In Substance Use Recovery Settings, Cora Teets, Paula Plonski, Omolola Adedokun, Heather Norman-Burgdolf

Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications

Substance use disorder (SUD) is one of the most detrimental health, social, and economic problems in the United States. Limited studies suggest providing tailored nutrition education during SUD treatment correlates with positive recovery outcomes. The University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program conducted two focus group sessions to explore and determine educators’ instructional and programmatic needs who deliver nutrition education to clients in substance use recovery throughout Kentucky. The study team identified four emerging themes and several subthemes related to Nutrition Education Program educators working with clientele in recovery. The four emerging themes included: (1) current experiences working with the audience, …

Unifying Multi-State Efforts Through A Nationally Coordinated Extension Diabetes Program, Laura Balis, Shari Gallup, Heather Norman-Burgdolf, Julie Buck, Pam Daniels, Dan Remley, Lisa Graves, Margaret Jenkins, Gayle Price

Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications

The Cooperative Extension System translates research to practice and “brings the University to the people” throughout the U.S. However, the system suffers from program duplication and is challenged to scale-out effective programs. One program, Dining with Diabetes (DWD), stands out for its dissemination to multiple states. DWD is a community-based program aimed at improving diabetes management, nutrition, and physical activity behaviors. DWD was coordinated through a national working group and implemented by state Extension systems. A pragmatic, quasi-experimental study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the national coordination model and the overall impact of DWD. Four states reported data …

Communities Helping The Hearing Of Infants By Reaching Parents (Chhirp) Through Patient Navigation: A Hybrid Implementation Effectiveness Stepped Wedge Trial Protocol, Matthew Bush, Miranda Hatfield, Marissa Schuh, Beverly K. Balasuriya, Anthony Mahairas, Julie Jacobs, Christina R. Studts, Philip M. Westgate, Nancy E. Schoenberg, Jennifer Shinn, Liza Creel

Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery Faculty Publications

Introduction As the most common neonatal sensory disorder in the USA, infant hearing loss has an incidence of 1.7 per 1000 births. The consequences of delayed diagnosis and failure to obtain timely intervention include significant communication impairment and negative socioeconomic effects. Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) national standards dictate that all infants should be screened and diagnosed by 3 months of age and there is a need for interventions that promote adherence to timely diagnosis. Patient navigation (PN) has been shown to be efficacious to decrease non-adherence with infant hearing diagnostic care; however, PN has yet to be tested …

Potential Benefits Of Combined Statin And Metformin Therapy On Resistance Training Response In Older Individuals, Douglas E. Long, Kate Kosmac, Cory M. Dungan, Marcas M. Bamman, Charlotte A. Peterson, Phillip A. Kern

Clinical and Translational Science Faculty Publications

Metformin and statins are currently the focus of large clinical trials testing their ability to counter age-associated declines in health, but recent reports suggest that both may negatively affect skeletal muscle response to exercise. However, it has also been suggested that metformin may act as a possible protectant of statin-related muscle symptoms. The potential impact of combined drug use on the hypertrophic response to resistance exercise in healthy older adults has not been described. We present secondary statin analyses of data from the MASTERS trial where metformin blunted the hypertrophy response in healthy participants (>65 years) following 14 weeks …

Association Between Concussions And Suicidality In High School Students In The United States, Grant L. Iverson, Justin E. Karr

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Importance: Prior research has shown a statistically significant association between sustaining a concussion and suicidality in adolescents, but this prior research controlled for relatively few variables predictive of suicidality.

Objective: To examine whether sustaining a concussion remained a significant predictor of suicidality after controlling for relevant covariates (e.g., sexual abuse/assault, bullying, substance use, depression), hypothesizing that the relationship between concussion and suicidality would become non-significant after controlling for these variables.

Design: This study involved secondary data analysis of the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) System, a national cross-sectional study of adolescents. Analyses were stratified by gender. …

Manifestations Of Alzheimer’S Disease Genetic Risk In The Blood Are Evident In A Multiomic Analysis In Healthy Adults Aged 18 To 90, Laura Heath, John C. Earls, Andrew T. Magis, Sergey A. Kornilov, Jennifer C. Lovejoy, Cory C. Funk, Noa Rappaport, Benjamin A. Logsdon, Lara M. Mangravite, Brian W. Kunkle, Eden R. Martin, Adam C. Naj, Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner, Todd E. Golde, Leroy Hood, Nathan D. Price, Erin Abner, David W. Fardo, Linda J. Van Eldik, Alzheimer’S Disease Genetics Consortium

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Genetics play an important role in late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) etiology and dozens of genetic variants have been implicated in AD risk through large-scale GWAS meta-analyses. However, the precise mechanistic effects of most of these variants have yet to be determined. Deeply phenotyped cohort data can reveal physiological changes associated with genetic risk for AD across an age spectrum that may provide clues to the biology of the disease. We utilized over 2000 high-quality quantitative measurements obtained from blood of 2831 cognitively normal adult clients of a consumer-based scientific wellness company, each with CLIA-certified whole-genome sequencing data. Measurements included: clinical …