Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Statistical Analysis Based On Adaptive Progressive Hybrid Censored Data From Lomax Distribution, Amal Helu, Hani Samawi

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

In this article, we consider statistical inferences about the unknown parameters of the Lomax distribution basedon the Adaptive Type-II Progressive Hybrid censoring scheme, this scheme can save both the total test time and the cost induced by the failure of the units and increases the efficiency of statistical analysis. The estimation of the parameters is derived using the maximum likelihood (MLE) and the Bayesian procedures. The Bayesian estimators are obtained based on the symmetric and asymmetric loss functions. There are no explicit forms for the Bayesian estimators, therefore, we propose Lindley’s approximation method to compute the Bayesian estimators. A comparison …

Aggregating Twitter Text Through Generalized Linear Regression Models For Tweet Popularity Prediction And Automatic Topic Classification, Chen Mo, Jingjing Yin, Isaac Chun-Hai Fung, Zion Tse

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Social media platforms have become accessible resources for health data analysis. However, the advanced computational techniques involved in big data text mining and analysis are challenging for public health data analysts to apply. This study proposes and explores the feasibility of a novel yet straightforward method by regressing the outcome of interest on the aggregated influence scores for association and/or classification analyses based on generalized linear models. The method reduces the document term matrix by transforming text data into a continuous summary score, thereby reducing the data dimension substantially and easing the data sparsity issue of the term matrix. To …

Class Imbalance In Out-Of-Distribution Datasets: Improving The Robustness Of The Textcnn For The Classification Of Rare Cancer Types, Kevin De Angeli, Shang Gao, Ioana Danciu, Eric B. Durbin, Xiao Cheng Wu, Antoinette Stroup, Jennifer Doherty, Stephen Schwartz, Charles Wiggins, Mark Damesyn, Linda Coyle, Lynne Penberthy, Georgia D. Tourassi, Hong Jun Yoon

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

In the last decade, the widespread adoption of electronic health record documentation has created huge opportunities for information mining. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques using machine and deep learning are becoming increasingly widespread for information extraction tasks from unstructured clinical notes. Disparities in performance when deploying machine learning models in the real world have recently received considerable attention. In the clinical NLP domain, the robustness of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for classifying cancer pathology reports under natural distribution shifts remains understudied. In this research, we aim to quantify and improve the performance of the CNN for text classification on out-of-distribution …

Unmet Healthcare Need Due To Cost Concerns Among U.S. Transgender And Gender-Expansive Adults: Results From A National Survey, Luisa Kcomt, Kevin M. Gorey, Betty Jo Barrett, Dana S. Levin, Jill Grant, Sean Esteban Mccabe

Social Work Publications

This study examines past-year unmet healthcare need due to cost experienced by transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) adults in the United States in the context of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). It also aims to estimate the importance of having health insurance among TGE Americans (transgender men, transgender women, nonbinary/genderqueer people, and cross-dressers). Data were from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (N ¼ 19,157 adults, aged 25 to 64 years). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine the adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95 percent confidence intervals (CI) of TGE individuals’ past-year unmet healthcare need due to …

The Acute And Persisting Impact Of Covid-19 On Trajectories Of Adolescent Depression: Sex Differences And Social Connectedness, Sabrina R. Liu, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Anton M. Palma, Curt A. Sandman, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

The COVID-19 era is a time of unprecedented stress, and there is widespread concern regarding its short- and long-term mental health impact. Adolescence is a sensitive period for the emergence of latent psychopathology vulnerabilities, often activated by environmental stressors. The present study examined COVID-19′s impact on adolescent depression and possible influences of different domains of social connectedness (loneliness, social media use, social video game time, degree of social activity participation).

Methods

A community sample of 175 adolescents (51% boys, mean age = 16.01 years) completed questionnaires once before and twice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Piecewise growth modeling examined the …

A 6-Cpg Validated Methylation Risk Score Model For Metabolic Syndrome: The Hypergen And Goldn Studies, Bertha A. Hidalgo, Bre Minniefield, Amit Patki, Rikki Tanner, Minoo Bagheri, Hemant K. Tiwari, Donna K. Arnett, Marguerite Ryan Irvin

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

There has been great interest in genetic risk prediction using risk scores in recent years, however, the utility of scores developed in European populations and later applied to non-European populations has not been successful. The goal of this study was to create a methylation risk score (MRS) for metabolic syndrome (MetS), demonstrating the utility of MRS across race groups using cross-sectional data from the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN, N = 614 African Americans (AA)) and the Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network (GOLDN, N = 995 European Americans (EA)). To demonstrate this, we first selected cytosine-guanine dinucleotides …

Model-Based Evaluation Of The Implementation Of Sti Screening Among Men Who Have Sex With Men In Tokyo, Nao Yamamoto

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Machine Learning-Based Risk Factor Analysis And Prevalence Prediction Of Intestinal Parasitic Infections, Ahmet Ay

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Estimation Analysis For The Seir Model With Stochastic Perturbation For The Covid-19 Outbreak In Bogotá, Viswanathan Arunachalam, Andres Rios-Gutierrez

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Statistical Modeling Of Sars-Cov-2 Mutation In The U.S., Yuru Jing, Angela Antonou

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Sociocultural Factors Associated With Hpv Vaccine Uptake Among Hispanic Female Emerging Adults, Tanjila Taskin

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States (U.S.). College students are at high risk of developing HPV-related diseases and play key roles in transmitting the infection. Fortunately, HPV-related cancers can be prevented through HPV vaccination.

A cross-sectional study was designed to collect data from convenience samples of Hispanic emerging adults from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, and the University of Houston (UH) in Houston, Texas. Participants who were 18-26 years old, self-identified as Hispanic or Latino/a, able to read English, and enrolled in FIU or UH were included in the …

Genomics Of Postprandial Lipidomics In The Genetics Of Lipid-Lowering Drugs And Diet Network Study, Marguerite R. Irvin, May E. Montasser, Tobias Kind, Sili Fan, Dinesh K. Barupal, Amit Patki, Rikki M. Tanner, Nicole D. Armstrong, Kathleen A. Ryan, Steven A. Claas, Jeffrey R. O’Connell, Hemant K. Tiwari, Donna K. Arnett

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Postprandial lipemia (PPL) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Inter-individual variation in the dietary response to a meal is known to be influenced by genetic factors, yet genes that dictate variation in postprandial lipids are not completely characterized. Genetic studies of the plasma lipidome can help to better understand postprandial metabolism by isolating lipid molecular species which are more closely related to the genome. We measured the plasma lipidome at fasting and 6 h after a standardized high-fat meal in 668 participants from the Genetics of Lipid-Lowering Drugs and Diet Network study (GOLDN) using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled …

Childbirth Educators’ Role Regarding Pregnant Women And Cervical Cancer Prevention, Olufunmiso Oyetunde Asamu, Hadi Danawi

Journal of Excellence in Nursing and Healthcare Practice

Childbirth educators play an important role in educating pregnant women regarding their health. They bridge the gap between pregnant women and healthcare providers. A paucity of information exists on the benefits that pregnant women derive from interactions with childbirth educators regarding early cervical cancer detection. The purpose of our cross-sectional study was to investigate the association among education during early pregnancy offered by the childbirth educators, access to childbirth educators, availability of childbirth educators in the United States and survival from cervical cancer. Secondary data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) on 520,153 women were analyzed using logistic …

Responding To The Pandemic: A Multicountry Study On Social-Political Factors And Health Outcomes Of Covid-19, Lan Yao

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a major global threat to human beings, which has caused devastating consequences of population health, political, and economic crises in many countries. This dissertation was composed of three research activities to study the following aims: (1) review the existing literature focusing on political factors and health outcomes of COVID-19; (2) assess the relationship between democracy and case fatality rate of COVID-19 by controlling for the effect of age, comorbidity, health expenditure, healthcare workforce, and population density; and (3) identify the trajectory pattern cases peak days, deaths peak days, and peak periods.

Methods. We accessed …

Anal Human Papillomavirus Infection Among Men Who Have Sex With Men And Transgender Women Living With And Without Hiv In Pakistan: Findings From A Cross-Sectional Study, Muslima Ejaz, Soren Andersson, Salma Batool, Tazeen Saeed Ali, Anna Mia Ekström

Community Health Sciences

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of infection, genotypes and risk factors for human papillomavirus (HPV) among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women living with and without HIV in Pakistan. Anal infection with HPV is very common worldwide among MSM, particularly among MSM living with HIV. The high prevalence of HIV among MSM and male-to-female transgendered individuals in Pakistan is a significant health concern since access to screening and health-seeking is often delayed in this stigmatised key population.
Design: This cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2016 and November 2017.
Participants, …

Health Care Utilization By Immigrants With Multimorbidity: A Population Based Cross-Sectional Study Of The 2015-2016 Canadian Community Health Survey (Cchs), Chinmoy Talukder

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Immigrants face unique healthcare barriers, which can negatively impact their health and health service use. Those with multimorbidity face a particular challenge as multimorbidity is associated with increased need for healthcare. The purpose of this study was to compare healthcare utilization, as measured by number of visits to family physicians and specialists, between immigrants and Canadian-born populations with multimorbidity, stratified by sex and for specific chronic diseases. A cross-sectional analysis using 2015-2016 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) was conducted. After adjusting for relevant covariates, no statistically significant differences in visits to family physicians or specialists were observed between immigrants and …

A Research Framework For Evaluating Next Generation Sequencing In Community-Acquired Pneumonia, Ashley M. Wilde, Elena Swingler, Sarah E. Moore Pharmd, Brian C. Bohn Pharmd, Matthew Song Pharmd, Bcidp, Ruth Carrico, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

Iron Homeostasis And Manganese Exposure Occupational Cross-Sectional Study Of A Welder Population, Meredith Robbins

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Manganese exposure is a serious occupational health hazard for many welders, smelters, and miners. Manganese exposure may result in Parkinson-like symptoms. It has been hypothesized that altered iron concentrations in the brain could also lead to neurological symptoms similar to what appears in those with chronic exposer to manganese. Therefore, the goal of this project is to explore the relationship between manganese and hepcidin as an indicator of altered iron homeostasis. Population demographics were collected from semi-trailer factory workers in a cross-sectional study via a questionnaire. Demographic information includes age, race, and weight. Toenail clippings and questionnaires were collected on …

Racial And Ethnic Data Reported For Peanut Allergy Epidemiology Do Little To Advance Its Cause, Treatment, Or Prevention, Nigel Mark Thomas

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Applied Infectious Disease Forecasting For Public Health, Graham Gibson

Doctoral Dissertations

Infectious disease modeling has emerged as a powerful data driven tool for monitoring outbreaks, assessing intervention strategies, and allocating public health resources. This thesis addresses a variety of challenges faced in real-world infectious disease forecasting. We first present methods for aggregating forecasts made at different spatial scales, where explicitly modeling the spatial dependency would be computationally prohibitive. We then extend the mechanistic model framework to create an operational forecasting model capable of handling real-world COVID-19 surveillance system issues. Finally, we propose a new framework for merging mechanistic and statistical approaches to infectious disease forecasting. This framework allows modelers to construct …

Accelerometer-Determined Physical Behavior Metrics And Their Associations With Sarcopenia Among Oldest-Old Adults, Eric M. Eberl

Masters Theses

INTRODUCTION: Sarcopenia is a loss of muscle function and muscle mass which frequently occurs among the oldest-old adult population (aged 85+ years). The analysis of accelerometer-determined physical behavior volumes and patterns of oldest-old adults might provide novel insights into the associations with sarcopenia and its components. METHODS: A total of 145 participants in the primary sample and 87 participants in the subsample with a mean age of 88.2 (2.5) years from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study cohort provided cross-sectional data of handgrip strength, appendicular lean mass, gait speed, and accelerometry. Probable, confirmed, and severe sarcopenia were assessed based …

High-Dimensional Feature Selection And Multi-Level Causal Mediation Analysis With Applications To Human Aging And Cluster-Based Intervention Studies, Hachem Saddiki

Doctoral Dissertations

Many questions in public health and medicine are fundamentally causal in that our objective is to learn the effect of some exposure, randomized or not, on an outcome of interest. As a result, causal inference frameworks and methodologies have gained interest as a promising tool to reliably answer scientific questions. However, the tasks of identifying and efficiently estimating causal effects from observed data still pose significant challenges under complex data generating scenarios. We focus on (1) high-dimensional settings where the number of variables is orders of magnitude higher than the number of observations; and (2) multi-level settings, where study participants …

Sleep, Reproduction, And Pregnancy, Joshua R. Freeman

Doctoral Dissertations

Sleep, and particularly sleep timing, prior to conception may be important for reproductive and pregnancy health. Evidence of a biological mechanism relating sleep to reproductive health from laboratory studies suggests that sleep may influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis. The role of sleep in the HPO axis may also impact many reproductive outcomes including reproductive hormones, ovulation, pregnancy, live birth, pregnancy loss, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, epidemiological evidence for associations between sleep, especially sleep timing, and these reproductive health endpoints is limited with most studies typically assessing shift work, and not sleep patterns directly. To address these gaps, we evaluated …

Mental Health And Adiposity: The Effects Of Racial Discrimination And Social Relationships, Nicole D. Fields

Doctoral Dissertations

Excess adiposity is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and premature mortality. It is well-documented that Black women are disproportionately affected by excess adiposity. Research has focused on lifestyle factors, such as diet and physical activity, to explain the higher prevalence of obesity among Black women compared to white women; however, there is much less research on the association between psychological distress and adiposity, which may be important for understanding racial disparities. To date, no studies have examined the social context by which mental health and physical health are related. Black women in U.S. society live …

Policing And Health: Police Encounters As A Fundamental Cause Of Racial Health Disparities, Richard S. Carbonaro

Doctoral Dissertations

Structural racism has taken many forms throughout American history and to this day continues to drive social, economic, and health inequalities. Mass incarceration is a modern tool of social marginalization with well documented and deep-rooted racial inequalities. Research has continually shown that mass incarceration negatively impacts the health of disadvantaged communities. Even police stops, the most common and mundane form of criminal justice contact has been linked with deleterious health outcomes at the individual and community level. In this dissertation, I identify specific social and biological mechanisms connecting encounters with the police and health outcomes. In the first chapter, I …

Covid-19-Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis: A Case Report From The Covid-19 Surveillance Program., Mohamad Belal Aldaas, Dylan Goldsmith, Forest W. Arnold

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

A 72-year-old male was brought to the hospital following a motorcycle crash and was admitted for multiple trauma management. His initial course of hospitalization was complicated by mild hypoxemia and altered mental status. Respiratory workup and imaging were consistent with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. He completed a five-day course of remdesivir and a ten-day course of dexamethasone. Twenty days later, he developed a low-grade fever. His chest computerized tomography (CT) showed gas and fluid containing parenchymal collection in the anteromedial right middle lobe measuring up to 4.8 cm, most consistent with a pulmonary abscess. Antimicrobial treatment was started.

The patient became hypoxic …

Mitigating The Externality Of Diseases Of Poverty Through Health Aid, Kamal Jnawali, Michael G. Tyshenko, Tamer Oraby

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Externality exists in healthcare when an individual benefits from others being healthy as it reduces the probability of getting sick from illness. Healthy workers are considered to be the more productive labourers leading to a country’s positive economic growth over time. Several research studies have modelled disease transmission and its economic impact on a single country in isolation. We developed a two-country diseaseeconomy model that explores disease transmission and crossborder infection of disease for its impacts. The model includes aspects of a worsening and rapid transmission of disease juxtaposed by positive impacts to the economy from tourism. We found that …

University Of Louisville International Travel Clinic: Pivoting During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Dawn Balcom, Subathra Marimuthu, Leslie A Wolf, Luanne Didelot, Sarah Tan, Daniel Hall, Ruth Carrico

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Indoor Arenas Through An Anonymous Survey, Staci Mcgill, Morgan D. Hayes, Kimberly I. Tumlin, Robert Coleman

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Equine farms are building both stables for the horses to live in and additional facilities to train and work horses (Kidd et al., 1997). For many of these farms, an outdoor arena that has an all-weather footing is the first working facility built. During inclement weather the ability to train in the outdoor arenas is inhibited, which in turn means the trainers, riders, and farms lose income as money is only made when horses are working, training, and competing. Indoor arenas allow for horses to continue to be worked no matter the weather conditions. The equine industry contributes a total …

Social Networks And Barriers To Art Adherence Among Young Adults (18–24 Years) Living With Hiv At Selected Primary Health Facilities Of South-Western Uganda: A Qualitative Study, Noble Ajuna, Brian Tumusiime, Joseph Amanya, Sharon Awori, Godfrey Z. Rukundo, John Baptist Asiimwe

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Background

Young adults living with HIV (YALWH) struggle to maintain high levels of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) because of numerous barriers. This study describes the social networks of YALWH (18–24 years), their barriers to ART adherence, and the perceived role of social networks in overcoming those barriers.

Methods

This study used a qualitative descriptive research design. Twenty-three (23) YALWH who were on ART for a period of greater than one (1) month and had consented to participate in the study were purposively selected from two primary health care facilities in southwestern Uganda. We held four (4) focus group discussions …