Public Health Commons^™

Treatment Planning Automation For Rectal Cancer Radiotherapy, Kai Huang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Background

Rectal cancer is a common type of cancer. There is an acute health disparity across the globe where a significant population of the world lack adequate access to radiotherapy treatments which is a part of the standard of care for rectal cancers. Safe radiotherapy treatments require specialized planning expertise and are time-consuming and labor-intensive to produce.

Purpose:

To alleviate the health disparity and promote the safe and quality use of radiotherapy in treating rectal cancers, the entire treatment planning process needs to be automated. The purpose of this project is to develop automated solutions for the treatment planning process …

Online Dashboards For Sars-Cov-2 Wastewater Data Need Standard Best Practices: An Environmental Health Communication Agenda., Colleen C. Naughton, Rochelle H. Holm, Nancy J. Lin, Brooklyn P. James, Ted Smith

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the benefits of wastewater surveillance to supplement clinical data. Numerous online information dashboards have been rapidly, and typically independently, developed to communicate environmental surveillance data to public health officials and the public. In this study, we review dashboards presenting SARS-CoV-2 wastewater data and propose a path toward harmonization and improved risk communication. A list of 127 dashboards representing 27 countries was compiled. The variability was high and encompassed aspects including the graphics used for data presentation (e.g., line/bar graphs, maps, and tables), log versus linear scale, and 96 separate ways of labeling SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations. …

Inaugural Artificial Intelligence For Public Health Practice (Ai4php) Retreat: Ontario, Canada, Jacqueline K. Kueper, Laura C. Rosella, Richard G. Booth, Brent D. Davis, Sarah Nayani, Maxwell J. Smith, Dan Lizotte

Computer Science Publications

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Public Health Practice Retreat was a hybrid event held in October 2022 in London, Ontario to achieve three main goals: 1) Identify both the goals of public health practitioners and the tasks that they undertake as part of their practice to achieve those goals that could be supported by AI, 2) Learn from existing examples and the experience of others about facilitators and barriers to AI for public health, and 3) Support new and strengthen existing connections between public health practitioners and AI researchers. The retreat included a keynote presentation, group brainstorming exercises, breakout group …

On Cox Proportional Hazards Model Performance Under Different Sampling Schemes, Hani Samawi, Lili Yu, Jingjing Yin

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Cox’s proportional hazards model (PH) is an acceptable model for survival data analysis. This work investigates PH models’ performance under different efficient sampling schemes for analyzing time to event data (survival data). We will compare a modified Extreme, and Double Extreme Ranked Set Sampling (ERSS, and DERSS) schemes with a simple random sampling scheme. Observations are assumed to be selected based on an easy-to-evaluate baseline available variable associated with the survival time. Through intensive simulations, we show that these modified approaches (ERSS and DERSS) provide more powerful testing procedures and more efficient estimates of hazard ratio than those based on …

Employee Attrition: Analyzing Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction Of Ibm Data Scientists, Graham Nash

Symposium of Student Scholars

Employee attrition is a relevant issue that every business employer must consider when gauging the effectiveness of their employees. Whether or not an employee chooses to leave their job can come from a multitude of factors. As a result, employers need to develop methods in which they can measure attrition by calculating the several qualities of their employees. Factors like their age, years with the company, which department they work in, their level of education, their job role, and even their marital status are all considered by employers to assist in predicting employee attrition. This project will be analyzing a …

A Pharmacoepidemiological Study Of Myocarditis And Pericarditis Following The First Dose Of Mrna Covid-19 Vaccine In Europe, Joana Tome, Logan Cowan, Isaac Fung

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

This study assessed the myocarditis and pericarditis reporting rate of the first dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in Europe. Myocarditis and pericarditis data pertinent to mRNA COVID19 vaccines (1 January 2021–11 February 2022) from EudraVigilance database were combined with European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)’s vaccination tracker data. The reporting rate was expressed as events (occurring within 28 days of the first dose) per 1 million individuals vaccinated. An observed-to-expected (OE) analysis quantified excess risk for myocarditis or pericarditis following the first mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. The reporting rate of myocarditis per 1 million individuals vaccinated was 17.27 (95% …

Open Data Indicates That Collegedale Could Be A Bluezone, Tristan Deschamps, Alva Johnson

Campus Research Month

A blue zone is an indicator of exceptional health in a community. Adventists have a blue zone community in Loma Linda, but there has been little research into other Adventist populated areas that could be blue zones. Therefore, our goal is to show that open data suggests that a blue zone may exist near Southern Adventist University, specifically in Collegedale. This data has been gathered from different federal sources, including, the CDC, the US Census Bureau, the Tennessee Department of Health, official state records, and federal documents that are available to the public.

The Compound Risk Of Heat And Covid-19 In New York City: Riskscapes, Physical And Social Factors, And Interventions, Janelle Knox-Hayes, Juan Camilo Osorio, Natasha Stamler, Maria Dombrov, Rose Winer, Mary Hannah Smith, Reginald Blake, Cynthia Rosenzweig

Publications and Research

Climate change is disrupting the fundamental conditions of human life and exacerbating existing inequity by placing further burdens on communities that are already vulnerable. Risk exposure varies by where people live and work. In this article, we examine the spatial overlap of the compound risks of COVID-19 and extreme heat in New York City. We assess the relationship between socio-demographic and natural, built and social environmental characteristics, and the spatial correspondence of COVID-19 daily case rates across three pandemic waves. We use these data to create a compound risk index combining heat, COVID-19, density and social vulnerability. Our findings demonstrate …

Knowledge, Attitude, And Behavioral Intention About Oral Cancer Among Public Health Students In Southeast Georgia, Ravneet Kaur, Gulzar H. Shah

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Oral cancer (OC) is a significant public health problem; however, the degree to which the future public health workforce is aware of this issue is not well researched. The purpose of this study is to explore the level of knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions about OC among public health students.
Materials and Methods: A sequential exploratory mixed-method research design was employed for this study. Using quantitative and qualitative measures, a survey was administered to 129 public health students. Subsequently, to understand the quantitative findings, two follow-up focus groups were conducted with survey participants.
Results: We found …

Coarse-Grained Molecular Simulations And Ensemble-Based Mutational Profiling Of Protein Stability In The Different Functional Forms Of The Sars-Cov-2 Spike Trimers: Balancing Stability And Adaptability In Ba.1, Ba.2 And Ba.2.75 Variants, Gennady M. Verkhivker, Mohammed Alshahrani, Grace Gupta

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Evolutionary and functional studies have suggested that the emergence of Omicron variants can be determined by multiple fitness tradeoffs including immune escape, binding affinity, conformational plasticity, protein stability, and allosteric modulation. In this study, we embarked on a systematic comparative analysis of the conformational dynamics, electrostatics, protein stability, and allostery in the different functional states of spike trimers for BA.1, BA.2, and BA.2.75 variants. Using efficient and accurate coarse-grained simulations and atomistic reconstruction of the ensembles, we examined the conformational dynamics of the spike trimers that agree with the recent functional studies, suggesting that BA.2.75 trimers are the most stable …

Prevalence Of Sars-Cov-2 Antibodies In Liberty University Student Population, Emily Bonus

Senior Honors Theses

In 2020, the virus SARS-CoV-2 gained attention as it spread around the world. Its antibodies are poorly understood, and little research focuses on those with few COVID-19 complications yet large numbers of close contacts: university students. This longitudinal study recorded SARS-CoV-2 antibody presence in 107 undergraduate Liberty University students twice during early 2021. After extensive data cleaning and the application of various statistical tests and ANOVAs, the data seems to show that in the case of COVID-19 infections, SARS-CoV-2 IgM antibodies are immediately produced, and then IgG antibodies follow later. However, the COVID-19 vaccine causes the production of both IgM …

Wernicke's Encephalopathy: Mapping The Risk Factors Throughout The State Of South Carolina, Shannon M. Rychener

Senior Theses

Wernicke’s Encephalopathy is a consistently underrecognized neurodegenerative brain disorder resulting from prolonged thiamine deficiency. Clinical presentation of the disease results from brain lesions attributable to thiamine deficiency. Because these lesions occur in various locations in the cerebral cortex, symptoms can vary significantly. Varied presentation of symptoms, in addition to the lack of a widely accepted biomarker for the disorder cause challenges to clinicians when identifying and diagnosing the disorder. Due to these challenges, healthcare providers must heavily rely on patient history and risk factor prevalence when multiple symptoms of the disorder are present. By mapping the prevalence of the four …

Air Pollution In South Texas: A Short Communication Of Health Risks And Implications, Sai Deepak Pinakana, Esmeralda Mendez, Ismaila Ibrahim, Md. Salahuddin Majumder, Amit U. Raysoni

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Air pollution is a major public health concern. The region of South Texas in the United States has experienced high levels of air pollution in recent years due to an increase in population, cross-border trade between the U.S.A. and Mexico, and high vehicular activity. This review assesses the relationships between human health and air pollution in South Texas. A thorough scientific search was performed using PubMed, Science Direct, and ProQuest, with most of the literature focusing on the source apportionment of particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or less in width (PM2.5), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), Black Carbon …

Virtual And In Vitro Screening Of Natural Products Identifies Indole And Benzene Derivatives As Inhibitors Of Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease (MPro), Dony Ang, Riley Kendall, Hagop S. Atamian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulted in serious health, social, and economic consequences. While the development of effective vaccines substantially reduced the severity of symptoms and the associated deaths, we still urgently need effective drugs to further reduce the number of casualties associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections. Machine learning methods both improved and sped up all the different stages of the drug discovery processes by performing complex analyses with enormous datasets. Natural products (NPs) have been used for treating diseases and infections for thousands of years and represent a valuable resource for drug discovery when combined with …

Pva-Sansevieria Trifasciata Fraction Films As Absorbers Of Electromagnetic And Thermal Radiation On Smartphones, Nabiila Rahmani, Gustini Syahbirin, Akhiruddin Maddu, Purwantiningsih Sugita, Auliya Ilmiawati

Makara Journal of Science

Technological developments have prompted the production of highly advanced smartphones. However, various advanced features cause smartphones to heat up quickly and emit more electromagnetic radiation, which harms human health. Smartphone protection is needed to solve these issues. This study aims to create a film from the S. trifasciata plant based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to reduce electromagnetic and thermal radiation on smartphones. S. trifasciata plants were macerated with acetone and partitioned with n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and water. The films were made by mixing PVA with the four fractions. Among the four layers of film, the PVA + water …

Global Scientific Trends On Healthy Eating From 2002 To 2021: A Bibliometric And Visualized Analysis, Te Fang, Hongyi Cao, Yue Wang, Yang Gong, Zhongqing Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Diet has been recognized as a vital risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), climate changes, and increasing population, which has been reflected by a rapidly growing body of the literature related to healthy eating. To reveal a panorama of the topics related to healthy eating, this study aimed to characterize and visualize the knowledge structure, hotspots, and trends in this field over the past two decades through bibliometric analyses. Publications related to healthy eating between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2021 were retrieved and extracted from the Web of Science database. The characteristics of articles including publication years, journals, …

A Scoping Review Of Digital Health Interventions For Combating Covid-19 Misinformation And Disinformation, Katarzyna Czerniak, Raji Pillai, Abhi Parmar, Kavita Ramnath, Joseph Krocker, Sahiti Myneni

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: We provide a scoping review of Digital Health Interventions (DHIs) that mitigate COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation seeding and spread.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We applied our search protocol to PubMed, PsychINFO, and Web of Science to screen 1666 articles. The 17 articles included in this paper are experimental and interventional studies that developed and tested public consumer-facing DHIs. We examined these DHIs to understand digital features, incorporation of theory, the role of healthcare professionals, end-user experience, and implementation issues.

RESULTS: The majority of studies (n = 11) used social media in DHIs, but there was a lack of platform-agnostic generalizability. …

Sustainable Management Of Facemask Waste Generated From Covid-19 Pandemic In Bhutan, Tshering Yangdon, Twisuk Punpeng, Sirima Mongkolosomit, Kampol Nanthapong, Kinzang Yangden

Journal of Health Research

Background: The rise in facemask waste with the uncertainty of deposition data and all its concomitant pressure on management has resulted in new risks and challenges for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). The purpose of this mixed methods study was to estimate facemask waste generation and examine management in Bhutan since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: One thousand five hundred and twenty-seventh (1,527) consenting members of the public from Class A Thromdes (self-governing municipalities) were surveyed online from February to April 2022, to estimate mask waste using descriptive statistics. This was supported by the waste characterization conducted in Memelhakha, the biggest …

Patient And Physician Factors Associated With First Diagnosis Of Non-Affective Psychotic Disorder In Primary Care, Joshua C. Wiener, Rebecca Rodrigues, Jennifer N S Reid, Suzanne Archie, Richard G Booth, Chiachen Cheng, Saadia Hameed Jan, Paul Kurdyak, Arlene G Macdougall, Lena Palaniyappan, Bridget L Ryan, Kelly K. Anderson

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

Primary care physicians play a central role in pathways to care for first-episode psychosis, and their increased involvement in early detection could improve service-related outcomes. The aim of this study was to estimate the proportion of psychosis first diagnosed in primary care, and identify associated patient and physician factors. We used linked health administrative data to construct a retrospective cohort of people aged 14-35 years with a first diagnosis of non-affective psychosis in Ontario, Canada between 2005-2015. We restricted the sample to patients with help-seeking contacts for mental health reasons in primary care in the six months prior to first …

Evaluating The Feasibility And Potential Impacts Of A Recovery-Oriented Psychosocial Rehabilitation Toolkit In A Health Care Setting In Kenya: A Mixed-Methods Study, Regina Casey, Joshua C. Wiener, Terry Krupa, Rosemary Lysaght, Marlene Janzen Le Ber, Ruth Ruhara, Elizabeth Price, Romaisa Pervez, Sean Kidd, Victoria Mutiso, David M Ndetei, Arlene G Macdougall

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

OBJECTIVES: This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and potential impacts of delivering the Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) Toolkit for people with serious mental illness within a health care setting in Kenya.

METHOD: This study used a convergent mixed-methods design. Participants were people with serious mental illness (n = 23), each with an accompanying family member, who were outpatients of a hospital or satellite clinic in semirural Kenya. The intervention consisted of 14 weekly group sessions of PSR cofacilitated by health care professionals and peers with mental illness. Quantitative data were collected from patients and family members using validated outcome measures before …

Modeling Radiation Exposure On Flight Missions To Analyze Aircrew Risk, Camila V. Quintero Hilsaca

Theses and Dissertations

GCR and SPE comprise the majority of the ionizing radiation experienced in the upper atmosphere within flight-altitude environments. Although previous studies have analyzed radiation doses from single sources on civilian flight operations, there is a lack of research focused on dose received by military personnel during flight from both sources simultaneously. In-flight radiation environments are modeled through the MCNP6 for two separate aircraft, an Air Force A-10 and a Boeing 737. Particle fluence values for galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events for four separate flight paths are determined using the CARI-7A software and the SIRE2 toolkit, respectively. MCNP6 code …

Presidential Vote Share And Covid-19 Vaccination Rate In Indonesia: A District-Level Cross-Sectional Ecological Study, Gede Benny Setia Wirawan, Ni Luh Zallila Gustina, Ivy Cerelia Valerie, I Gusti Ayu Indah Pradnyani Rs, Muchamad Zaenal Arifin, Pande Putu Januraga

Kesmas

Political affiliation has been reported as a determinant of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in some countries, although few studies have examined the Asian context. This study aims to fill this gap by employing an ecological study design using Indonesian regions as data points. Political affiliation was represented by incumbent President Jokowi’s vote share in the 2019 presidential election. Potential confounders included population density, human development index, availability of hospitals and primary health care, 2019–2020 economic growth, COVID-19 mortality rate, and proportion of Muslims in the population. The final analysis included 201 out of 501 districts and cities in Indonesia. Controlling for …

Oxidative Stress Levels Of Fine Particulate Matter (Pm2.5) And Urinary Glutathione Of Microbus Drivers, Purnama Sidebang, Agustin Kusumayati, Budi Haryanto

Kesmas

Urinary glutathione levels are known to be an early indicator of oxidative stress in travelers. This study analyzed the association between particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure on the road and urine glutathione levels in Jakarta’s microbus drivers. This cross-sectional study involved 96 microbuses (one of Jakarta’s public transportations) drivers of nine routes in Kampung Melayu Bus Station, Jakarta, Indonesia. An anthropometric assessment and a structured questionnaire were employed. Along with the participants driving on the road, real-time personal equipment measuring PM2.5 exposure concentrations was used. Total glutathione levels were measured using a colorimetric method. A correlation test and linear regression analysis …

Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skill In Diabetes Self-Management Using Structural Equation Modeling Analysis, Dien Kurtanty, Adang Bachtiar, Cicilya Candi, Alya Pramesti, Almira Fanny Rahmasari

Kesmas

Diabetes is the “mother” of various diseases increasing the risk of morbidity and mortality. Diabetes self-management, an effort made by patients to control blood sugar levels, is an important part of the management strategy. Therefore, this study analyzed information, motivation, and behavioral skills associated with diabetes self-management. Data were collected in the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, with 277 diabetic patients selected using a questionnaire by a systematic random sampling method. The analyzed variables were information (with indicator variables of information on physical activity, nutritional intake, drug consumption, and blood sugar monitoring); sociodemographic (age, sex, occupation, education level, and duration …

Job Satisfaction Model Of Primary Health Care Midwives Based On Indonesian Workforce Research In The Health Sector, Mieska Despitasari, Adang Bachtiar, Harimat Hendarwan, Besral Besral, Yuyun Yuniar

Kesmas

Promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative efforts that are comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable are employed to enhance the health state of the global population. Within this context, however, the quality of primary health care depends on job satisfaction, which leads to the happiness of human resources in the health sector. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze and formulate a job satisfaction model among primary health care midwives in Indonesia. This study was an advanced secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional study conducted in 2017 by the National Institute of Health Research and Development, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia. …

The Effect Of Covid-19-Related Occupational Stress And Burnout In Referral Hospital Nurses, Yulastri Arif, Masyithah Fadhani

Kesmas

Nurses' continuous contribution to patient health makes them prone to occupational stress, which has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Occupational stress that lasts for a long time and is not resolved may cause burnout. Burnout experienced by nurses can impact patients, hospital services, and themselves. This study aimed to determine the effect of occupational stress on the incidence of nurse burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. It used a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional design. The study sample was 235 nurses in six COVID-19 referral hospitals in West Sumatra from a proportional random sampling technique. Data were collected using a …

Developing A New Tool For Early Detection Of The Nutritional And Health Risk Factors Of Urban Workers’ Productivity, Hildagardis Meliyani Erista Nai, Arimbi Karunia Estri, Christina Ririn Widianti

Kesmas

Nutrition and health play vital roles in work productivity. This study aimed to develop a risk self-assessment tool called Early Detection of the Nutritional and Health Risk Factors on the productivity of urban workers. This study was conducted in two stages: 1) the development of the tool to determine the nutritional and health risk factors that affect productivity based on literature reviews and scoring systems and 2) the testing of validity and reliability. Finally, the tool contained 63 items, including 28 items on nutritional risk factors and 35 on health risk factors. The validity of the tool was assessed using …

Obesity And Asthma Risk In Indonesian Adults: Findings From The 2018 Indonesia Basic Health Research, Hoirun Nisa

Kesmas

Obesity and asthma are both global public health challenges. Mounting evidence suggests that obesity may increase asthma risk in adults; however, the association by sex remains uncertain. This study examined the association of obesity with asthma risk in Indonesian adult men and women. Data were obtained from the 2018 Indonesia Basic Health Research. The analysis included 299,837 men and 333,218 women aged ≥18 years. Asthma was identified by the self-report of a doctor’s diagnosis. Obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥30 kg/m2. A logistic regression was used for data analysis. Asthma prevalence was 2.7% (2.5% in men and …

Maternal And Child Health Handbook Utilization, Quantity And Quality Of Antenatal Services, And Maternal Emergency Rates In Padang City In 2022, Rena Afri Ningsih, Yusrawati Yusrawati, Joserizal Serudji

Kesmas

This study analyzed the relationship between the utilization of the Indonesian Ministry of Health’s Maternal and Child Health Handbook and the quantity and quality of antenatal care to maternal emergency levels. This study applied mixed methods with a consecutive sampling technique and included 108 mothers undergoing maternal emergencies at a central general hospital (quantitative) and eight mothers, seven midwives, and five cadres at primary health cares (qualitative) as informants. The result showed a relationship between the utilization of the Maternal and Child Health Care Handbook (p-value = 0.043), the quantity of antenatal care (p-value

The Determinants Of Stunting In The Under-Five In Three Municipalities In The Special Capital Region Of Jakarta, Tria Astika Endah Permatasari, Chairunnisa Chairunnisa, Hernani Djarir, Lily Herlina, Munaya Fauziah, Andriyani Andriyani, Yudi Chadirin

Kesmas

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global decline in public health status. This study aimed to analyze the determinants of stunting in the under-five in three municipalities in the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. A cross-sectional study was conducted in August-December 2020 with 460 pairs of mothers and children selected by simple random sampling. Stunting was measured using a conventional anthropometric index (length/height-for-age), and anthropometric failure was measured using the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure. The prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting was 41.5%,35%, and 19.8%, respectively, and 62% of the under-five experienced anthropometric failure. The dominant factor associated …