Preventive Medicine Commons^™

Characteristics And Outcomes Of Adults Hospitalized With Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Brian S. Shaw, Cara Slaton, Ian P. Murphy, Michael Mcalister, Daniel Egan, Kwabena Ayesu

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a negative sense single-stranded RNA virus (ssRNA) that primarily causes respiratory infections in both children and older adults. We examined clinical characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized adult patients who tested positive for RSV.

Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective, descriptive study that examined adult patients admitted with a positive RSV test over two years across eight hospitals in Orlando, Florida.

Results: A total of 120 patients were included, of which 88 (73%) were 60 years old and older. Overall, patients with RSV infection were caucasian (62%) with a median age of 70 years and …

Use Of Electronic Health Record Reminders To Improve Primary Care Providers’ Colorectal Cancer Screening Recommendations., Terra Renee Schrembs

Doctor of Nursing Practice Papers

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common worldwide cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. CRC mortality is preventable through regular screening. Electronic health record (EHR) reminders for providers can increase providers’ CRC screening recommendations and lead to earlier CRC diagnosis. According to the National Cancer Institute’s Screening and Risk Factors Report for Kentucky by County 2008-2010, 62.7% of adults in a rural Kentucky county aged 50-75 had completed a home based FOBT in the past two years or have ever had a colorectal endoscopy.

Purpose: The purpose of this DNP project was to implement and evaluate an …

No Difference In Clinical Outcomes For African American And White Patients Hospitalized With Sars-Cov-2 Pneumonia In Louisville, Kentucky, Julio A. Ramirez, Stephen P. Furmanek, Thomas Chandler, Stephen S. Hanson, Dawn Balcom, Subathra Marimuthu, Sathya Krishnasamy, Jose Bordon, Rodrigo Cavallazzi, Amr Aboelnasr, Mahder A. Tella, William A. Mattingly, Ashley M. Wilde, Daisy Sangroula, Demetra Antimisiaris, Donghoon Chung, Guillermo Cabral, Gabino R Fernandez-Botran, Jiapeng Huang, Martin Gnoni, Ozan Akca, Paul Schulz, Phillip F. Bressoud, Priya Krishnan, Sally Suliman, William P. Mckinney, Bryan Moffett, Leslie A Wolf, Mark Burns, Alex Glynn, Ruth Carrico, Forest W. Arnold

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Current literature indicates that African American individuals are at increased risk of becoming infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and suffer higher SARS-CoV-2-related mortality rates. However, there is a lack of consensus as to how the clinical outcomes of African American patients differ from those of other groups. The objective of this study was to define the clinical outcomes of African American and White hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in Louisville, Kentucky.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 CAP at eight hospitals in Louisville, Kentucky. Severity of CAP at time of hospitalization …

Medical Schools Ignore The Nature Of Consciousness At Great Cost, Anoop Kumar

Journal of Wellness

The essential question of the relationship between consciousness and matter is ignored in medical school curricula, leading to a machine-like view of the human being that contributes to physician burnout and intellectual dissatisfaction. The evidence suggesting that the brain may not be the seat of consciousness is generally ignored to preserve the worldview of the primacy of matter. By investigating new frameworks detailing the nature of consciousness at different levels of hierarchy, we can bring intellectual rigor to a once opaque subject that supports a fundamental reality about our experience: We are human beings, not only human bodies.

Novel Inference Methods For Generalized Linear Models Using Shrinkage Priors And Data Augmentation., Arinjita Bhattacharyya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Generalized linear models have broad applications in biostatistics and sociology. In a regression setup, the main target is to find a relevant set of predictors out of a large collection of covariates. Sparsity is the assumption that only a few of these covariates in a regression setup have a meaningful correlation with an outcome variate of interest. Sparsity is incorporated by regularizing the irrelevant slopes towards zero without changing the relevant predictors and keeping the resulting inferences intact. Frequentist variable selection and sparsity are addressed by popular techniques like Lasso, Elastic Net. Bayesian penalized regression can tackle the curse of …

The Effects Of Nicotine And Cigarette Smoking On Cardiac Electrophysiology., Affan B. Irfan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable disease and premature death worldwide. The adverse effects of cigarette smoking, including proarrhythmia, are related to the mixture of chemicals, including nicotine (which sustains tobacco addiction). However, it remains unclear which individual tobacco smoke constituents and biological pathways mediate this increased risk. The purpose of this research was to explore the chronic effects of cigarette smoking, as well as compare the acute effects of nicotine and cigarette smoking, and the possible role of β-adrenoreceptors, on human cardiac electrophysiology. Chapter 1 is a comprehensive literature review of (a) the ex vivo and in …

Multipurpose Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate Electrospun Fibers For The Prevention Of Hiv-1 And Hsv-2 Infections., Kevin Tyo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexually transmitted infections affect hundreds of millions of worldwide. Both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1 and -2) and herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) remain incurable, urging the development of new prevention strategies. While current prophylactic technologies are dependent on strict user adherence to achieve efficacy, there is a dearth of delivery vehicles that provide discreet and convenient administration, combined with prolonged-delivery of active agents. To address these needs, we created electrospun fibers (EFs) comprised of FDA-approved polymers, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and poly(DL-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL), to provide sustained-release and in vitro protection against HIV-1 and HSV-2. PLGA and PLCL EFs, incorporating the antiretroviral, tenofovir …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Sense Of Coherence, Engagement In Health Behaviors, And Individual Coping Style., Dean Todd Misener 1973-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stress is a pervasive issue among traditional college students; affecting their choice in health behaviors, and overall academic performance. What is not clear is why some students, despite the pervasiveness of stressors are able to do well in school and maintain/improve their health, while other students struggle to maintain their health and do poorly in school. Aaron Antonovsky theorized that when confronted with a stressor a person with a high sense of coherence (SOC) will be motivated to cope, believe the challenge is understood and that the necessary resources to cope with the stressor are available. Overall, Antonovsky theorized that …