Public Health Commons^™

Liability For Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Medicine, W. Nicholson Price, Sara Gerke, I. Glenn Cohen

Law & Economics Working Papers

While artificial intelligence has substantial potential to improve medical practice, errors will certainly occur, sometimes resulting in injury. Who will be liable? Questions of liability for AI-related injury raise not only immediate concerns for potentially liable parties, but also broader systemic questions about how AI will be developed and adopted. The landscape of liability is complex, involving health-care providers and institutions and the developers of AI systems. In this chapter, we consider these three principal loci of liability: individual health-care providers, focused on physicians; institutions, focused on hospitals; and developers.

Root Phenotyping Of Peptide-Treated Glycine Max, Salem Jackson, Fiona Goggin

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Plant elicitor peptides (Peps) – endogenous chains of amino acids involved in natural plant defense – have been shown to decrease damage from herbivores and pathogens by inducing an immune response, increasing the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCS), transcripts, and metabolites. Exogenous treatment of soybean seeds with plant elicitor peptide GmPep3 has been shown to induce these broad-spectrum defenses and offers a new method for increasing crop yield. However, the effects of GmPep3 on indicators of soybean health – root characteristics, growth stages, etc. – have not been fully realized. Using the root-phenotyping platform RhizoVision Explorer, several root traits …

Regenerating Agroecosystems By Overcoming Human Exceptionalism In Designing For Increased Equity Of Benefits From Ecoservices, Ali Loker, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Our commentary explores three critical issues related to ecosystem services. First is how ecoservices are currently designed and implemented primarily for human benefit without concern for how these impact other species. We conclude that awareness of this imbalance is the first step toward meaningful change. Second we observe that human exceptionalism guides most decisions, and ask whether we can overcome this mind-set to embrace ecoregeneration and design of resilient and mutually beneficial agroecosystems. Our attitude toward the challenge and moving toward greater humility about human roles that guide management decisions in the ecosystem is a requisite for change. Third we …

Studying Spread Patterns Of Covid-19 Based On Spatiotemporal Data, Beiyu Lin, Xiaowei Jia, Zhiqian Chen

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The current COVID-19 epidemic have transformed every aspect of our lives, especially our behavior and routines. These changes have been drastically impacting the economy in each region, such as local restaurants and transportation systems. With massive amounts of ambient data being collected everywhere, we now can develop innovative algorithms to have a much greater understanding of epidemic spread patterns of COVID-19 based on spatiotemporal data. The findings will open up the possibility to design adaptive planning or scheduling systems that will help preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

In this tutorial, we will review the trending state-of-theart …

An Odd-Protocol For Agent-Based Model For The Spread Of Covid-19 In Ireland, Elizabeth Hunter, John D. Kelleher

Reports

No abstract provided.

Trace Elements In Nails And Anemia In Children Living Along The Interoceanic Highway, Madre De Dios, Peru / Narrative Competence And Cognitive Mapping As A Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy In The Education Of Emergent Bilinguals, Tia Marks

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Anthropogenic changes in the Peruvian Amazon, including deforestation, highway development, agriculture, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), have increased community concern about potential exposures toxic trace elements (TTE) including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb). Such exposures can lead to detrimental health effects in children, such as developmental delays and anemia. The overarching goal of my dissertation was to understand exposure to both toxic and essential (manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn)) trace elements, anemia prevalence, and the associations between hemoglobin (Hb) levels and trace elements. To do this, I leveraged existing data from a …

Can Environmental Law Solve The "Forever Chemical" Problem?, Mark P. Nevitt, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Articles

Although federal environmental law purports to provide the public with comprehensive protection against chemical risks, the U.S. chemical industry is characterized by self­ regulation. This self-regulation is exemplified by the dangers posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (''PFAS'')­ broad classes of persistent toxic substances that have now entered nearly every American's bloodstream and hundreds of public drinking water systems. Despite data linking exposure to these "forever chemicals" to cancer, infertility, and a host of other public health harms, environmental law has failed to safeguard the American people from PFAS' toxic legacy. How did this occur? And what should be done …

A Game Theoretical Model Of Radiological Terrorism Defense, Shraddha Rane, Jason Timothy Harris

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Radiological dispersal devices (RDD) pose a threat to the United States. Healthcare facilities housing high-risk radioactive materials and devices are potentially easy targets for unauthorized access and are vulnerable to malevolent acts of theft or sabotage. The three most attractive candidates for use in RDD considered in this study are: ⁶⁰Co (radiosurgery devices), ¹³⁷Cs (blood irradiators) and ¹⁹²Ir (brachytherapy high dose radiation device). The threat posed by RDDs has led to evaluating the security risk of radioactive materials and defending against attacks. The concepts of risk analysis used in conjunction with game theory lay the foundations of …

Addressing Ascertainment Bias In The Study Of Cardiovascular Disease Burden In Opioid Use Disorders - Application Of Natural Language Processing Of Electronic Health Records, Jade Huang Singleton

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

In the United States, the prevalence of long-term exposure to opioid drugs, for both medically and nonmedically indicated purposes, has increased considerably since the mid-1990’s. Concerns have emerged about the potential health effects of opioid use. There is also growing interest in other possible connections with opioid use including cardiovascular disease. Electronic health records (EHR) contain information about patient care in the form of structured codes and unstructured notes. Natural language processing (NLP) provides a tool for processing unstructured textual data in EHR clinical notes and extracts useful information for research with structured formats. The purpose of this dissertation was …

Opioid Use Disorder Treatment With Buprenorphine: Analysis Of Treatment Utilization And Associated Outcomes In Kentucky, Feitong Lei

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is chronic opioid use that results in clinically significant suffering, impairment, or even death. The opioid epidemic in the United States has become a public health and economic crisis, affecting patients' well-being and the nation's overall health and welfare. Eastern Kentucky was among the first regions affected by the opioid crisis, and Kentucky has historically ranked among the top five states for age-adjusted drug overdose mortality rate.

There are three medications (buprenorphine, methadone, naltrexone) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat OUD. As a partial opioid agonist, buprenorphine is a safe medication for …

Investigating The Uncertainties In Ct Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Radiomics, Gary Ge

Theses and Dissertations--Radiation Medicine

Radiomics is a technique that extracts quantitative features, termed radiomic features, from medical images using data-characterization algorithms. These radiomic features can be used to identify tissue characteristics and radiologic phenotyping that are not observable by clinicians in a non-invasive, low-cost manner, potentially generating image biomarkers for clinical decision. To date, there are still many uncertainties involved in radiomics which limit its clinical implementation. Herein, we propose to explore the impact of each component in the radiomics pipeline on predicting clinical outcomes. In Chapter II, we conduct a thorough review of CT lung cancer radiomics studies to examine the typical feature …

Development Of A New Spe Uplc–Ms/Ms Method For Extraction And Quantitation Of Toluene Diamine On Gloves Following Toluene Diisocyanate Exposure, Asma Daoud, Pierre-Luc Cloutier, Sébastien Gagné, Livain Breau, Jacques Lesage

Études primaires

Rationale

Toluene diisocyanate (TDI) is a highly reactive isocyanate commonly used as a mixture of 2,4- and 2,6- isomers in the production of flexible foams. Exposure to TDI occurs primarily through vapour inhalation in workplaces where TDI is produced or used, but dermal exposure is also possible during some tasks. To ensure workplace safety, accurate monitoring of TDI and toluene diamine (TDA) levels is required. Methods of quantifying field effectiveness of gloves in preventing dermal exposure have not been established. Therefore, there is a need to develop a new practical method for assessing glove effectiveness for TDI/TDA.

Method

A new …

Perception Of Health Care Access In Rural Georgia: Findings From A Community Health Needs Assessment Survey, Elisa M. Childs, Tiffany R. Washington

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: Limited access to health care services has been cited as a barrier to care for individuals who live in rural areas, contributing to significant health disparities in this population. While perception of services has been cited as a determinant of utilization of health services, it is unknown how perception of services influences health care access in rural areas. The paucity of studies specific to areas in the United States that are medically underserved, necessitated this study and its quantification of the issues that are relevant to individuals living in rural Georgia.

Methods: This study examined the perception of health …

Effects Of Indoor Air Pollutants On Childhood Asthma: African American Parents’ Perspective, Marcia Maureen Haughton Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractIndoor air pollution has been implicated in many chronic health conditions, including childhood asthma, which is more prevalent among African American children. Children are more susceptible than adults to the effects of exposure to indoor air pollution; however, many parents may not be aware of the polluting impacts of products in their homes and are inadvertently placing their families at risk for adverse health outcomes. Understanding parents’ perceptions and experiences is essential for planning and developing educational programs and interventions for improving indoor environment management as part of asthma management in children. This descriptive phenomenological study aimed to explore parents’ …

Environmental Racism In Baltimore: A Geographical Study Into The Connections Between Environmental Toxins And Public Health, Genevieve Block

Honors Theses

An investigation into the relationship between environmental toxins and environmental racism in Baltimore City, Maryland.

The Online Ordering Behaviors Among Participants In The Oklahoma Women, Infants, And Children Program: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Qi Zhang, Kayoung Park, Junzhou Zhang, Chuanyi Tang

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a nutrition assistance program in the United States (U.S.). Participants in the program redeem their prescribed food benefits in WIC-authorized grocery stores. Online ordering is an innovative method being pilot-tested in some stores to facilitate WIC participants' food benefit redemption, which has become especially important in the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research aimed to examine the online ordering (OO) behaviors among 726 WIC households who adopted WIC OO in a grocery chain, XYZ (anonymous) store, in Oklahoma (OK). These households represented approximately 5% of WIC households who redeemed …

Covid-19 Collaborative Modelling For Policy Response In The Philippines, Malaysia And Vietnam, Angus Hughes, Romain Ragonnet, Pavithra Jayasundara, Hoang-Anh Ngo, Elvira P. De Lara-Tuprio, Ma. Regina Justina Estuar, Timothy Robin Y. Teng, Law Kian Boon, Kalaiarasu M. Peariasamy, Zhuo-Lin Chong, Izzuna Mudla M. Ghazali, Greg J. Fox, Thu-Anh Nguyen, Linh-Vi Le, Milinda Abayawardana B. Eng, David Shipman, Emma S. Mcbryde, Michael T. Meehan, Jamie M. Caldwell, James M. Trauer

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Mathematical models that capture COVID-19 dynamics have supported public health responses and policy development since the beginning of the pandemic, yet there is limited discourse to describe features of an optimal modelling platform to support policy decisions or how modellers and policy makers have engaged with each other. Here, we outline how we used a modelling software platform to support public health decision making for the COVID-19 response in the Western Pacific Region (WPR) countries of the Philippines, Malaysia and Viet Nam. This perspective describes an approach to support evidence-based public health decisions and policy, which may help inform other …

Morphologic Clustering Of Earcanals Using Deep Learning Algorithm To Design Artificial Ears Dedicated To Earplugs Attenuation Measurement, Bastien Poissenot-Arrigoni, Chun Hong Law, Djamal Berbiche, Franck Sgard, Olivier Doutres

Études primaires

Designing earplugs adapted for the widest number of earcanals requires acoustical test fixtures (ATFs) geometrically representative of the population. Most existing ATFs are equipped with unique sized straight cylindrical earcanals, considered representative of average human morphology, and are therefore unable to assess how earplugs can fit different earcanal morphologies. In this study, a methodology to cluster earcanals as a function of their morphologies with the objective of designing artificial ears dedicated to sound attenuation measurement is developed and applied to a sample of Canadian workers’ earcanals. The earcanal morphologic indicators that correlate with the attenuations of six models of commercial …

Application Of Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning For Hiv Prevention Interventions, Yang Xiang, Jingcheng Du, Kayo Fujimoto, Fang Li, John Schneider, Cui Tao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In 2019, the US Government announced its goal to end the HIV epidemic within 10 years, mirroring the initiatives set forth by UNAIDS. Public health prevention interventions are a crucial part of this ambitious goal. However, numerous challenges to this goal exist, including improving HIV awareness, increasing early HIV infection detection, ensuring rapid treatment, optimising resource distribution, and providing efficient prevention services for vulnerable populations. Artificial intelligence has had a pivotal role in revolutionising health care and has shown great potential in developing effective HIV prevention intervention strategies. Although artificial intelligence has been used in a few HIV prevention intervention …

Voices Of The Often Unheard: The Environmental Impacts Of Catastrophic Wildfire Events On Individuals With Developmental Disabilities, Mary Madison Mckenzie

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Thomas Fire for a time was the largest wildfire in California history, burning 281,893 acres and destroying 1,063 structures. Within three years, the August Complex Fire, at 1,032,649 acres, almost quadrupled that record. Climate related disasters such as these have impelled social science researchers to heed calls for a paradigm shift in understanding the risks climate change poses to the social world, in particular, disaster risks for vulnerable groups. Existing research tends to focus on disasters such as hurricanes, featuring risks for vulnerable populations by race, class, and/or individuals with disabilities in general, but not for individuals with developmental …

Stigma And Discrimination’S Effect On Hiv Testing Of Pregnant Women In Nigeria, Charles Echezona Nzelu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The utilization of HIV testing services among pregnant women in Nigeria has not been optimal. Although much is known about the determinants of HIV testing among pregnant women, there is a gap in knowledge on determinants for pregnant women infected with the virus, specifically whether stigma and discrimination are barriers. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of stigmatizing attitudes and personal knowledge of discriminatory practices towards persons living with HIV/AIDS on the decision by pregnant Nigerian women aged 15-49 years to test for HIV during antenatal visits or childbirth. The health belief model served as the …

Length Of Stay In A Homeless Shelter And Mitigating Homelessness, Uwemedimo S. Etteyit

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractHomelessness is a major public health issue in the United States. Every night, thousands of people have no residence to call their own. Most homeless persons turn to homeless shelters for help. Despite the homeless shelters, the problem of homelessness persists. This study examined the concept that the length of time spent at a homeless shelter is related to the homeless persons mitigating their homelessness through home placement, jobs, and healthcare access. Homelessness was examined using the socioecological model with its attendant levels of influence. On the intrapersonal level, socioeconomic status, education, old age, veteran status, and disability were factors. …

It Permeated Everything: A Lived Experience Of Slow Violence And Toxicological Disaster, Tara Jo Holmberg

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Impacts of disasters on individuals are dependent on numerous factors: local to international political dynamics, socioeconomics, geography, educational background, and outside support among others. Currently, much of disaster research focuses on those of natural origin, acute and large-scale environmental events, emergency management, and the ability of individuals, communities, and societies to prepare for, and recover from, likely known disasters in their region. However, there is a lack of data about individual experiences through ‘invisible’ anthropogenic disasters, especially those that fall under the umbrella of slow environmental violence (Davies, 2019; Rice, 2016). Through critical phenomenological autoethnography, I examine an individual experience …

Frequent Mental Distress Among Adults In The United States And Its Association With Socio-Demographic Characteristics, Unhealthy Lifestyle, And Chronic Physical Health Status, Mamunur Rashid, M. Mazharul Islam, Aiping Li, Naima Shifa

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Frequent mental distress (FMD) is a measure of poor mental health days for at least 14 days out of 30 days. It is one of the important dimensions of the health-related quality of life. The underlying causes of FMD are diverse. However, the issue has not been explored extensively due to the lack of reliable data on mental health. The aim of this study was to examine the level and trends of FMD among the adults of the United States (US) and identify the socio-demographic, lifestyles, and chronic health outcomes related correlates of FMD. The data for the study was …

Estimating Weighted Panel Sizes For Primary Care Providers: An Assessment Of Clustering And Novel Methods Of Panel Size Estimation On Electronic Medical Records, Martin A. Lavallee

Theses and Dissertations

Primary Care is on the frontlines of healthcare, thus they see the most diverse set of patients. In order to achieve high functioning primary care, a practice must establish empanelment, the pairing of patients to providers. Enumeration of empanelment, or estimating panel sizes, helps ensure that the demands of the patients demand the supply of providers and optimize the balance of primary care resources to improve quality of care. Further we can adjust panel sizes by using patient-level data on healthcare utilization and complexity extracted from the electronic medial record to determine the amount of care or burden of work …

Mathematical Models Of Infection Prevention Programs In Hospital Settings, Kelly A. Reagan

Theses and Dissertations

Hospitals play a vital role in providing for the healthcare needs of a community. Patients can develop hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) during their hospitalization due to exposure to foreign bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Infection prevention programs target and reduce HAIs, but implementing the infection prevention programs often comes with a cost. The goal of my research is to use mathematical models to quantify the impact of infection prevention programs on cases of HAIs and total healthcare costs. First, I use a Markov chain model to quantify how one infection prevention program reduces general HAIs in the hospital. Then, I calculate the …

Behavioral Screening And Chiral Bioanalysis Of Emerging Stimulant-Type Drugs In Rats, Tyson R. Baird

Theses and Dissertations

The epidemic of drug use in the United States and elsewhere in the world has resulted in tragic loss of life and substantial economic costs. Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are one of the contributors to this problem, and the lack of information about many of these drugs compounds their risk. This dissertation proposes a strategy to use intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) as a behavioral screening tool to assess emerging drugs of abuse for their abuse potential in order to generate a proactive threat assessment. A series of stimulant-type drugs including methcathinone, α-pyrrolidinohexanophenone (α-PHP), cocaine, and the phenyltropane analogs of cocaine WIN35428 …

Review Of Analytical Techniques For Arsenic Detection And Determination In Drinking Water, Abhijnan Bhat, Tony O'Hara, Furong Tian, Baljit Singh Dr.

Articles

Arsenic occurs in the natural environment in four oxidation states: As(V), As(III), As(0) and As(−III). The behavior of arsenic species changes depending on the biotic or abiotic conditions in water. In groundwater, arsenic is predominantly present as As(III) and As(V), with a minor amount of methyl and dimethyl arsenic compounds being reported. Global intake of As(III) and As(V) via drinking water and food has dramatically increased in recent years. The commonly used term inorganic arsenic includes both As(III) and As(V) species and constitutes the highest toxicological risk associated with arsenic in water compared to the organic arsenic species. Inorganic arsenic …

A Participatory Group Process To Collect And Disseminate Covid-19 Needs Assessment Data, Areebah Ahmed

Undergraduate Research Posters

The Richmond, VA COVID-19 Needs Assessment Survey (RVA CoNA) was created in March 2020 to identify behaviors and needs related to COVID-19 in Richmond area adults ages 18 and over. Results are being used to inform support, strategic efforts, and educational outreach of local community organizations. The purpose of this study is to (1) summarize the process used to develop the RVA CoNA, (2) summarize preliminary survey results from a second phase of data collection as well as initial feedback from community partners, and (3) summarize initial conclusions and results dissemination strategies.Community partners and researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University jointly …

Mitigating The Spread Of Measles Under Constrained Health Care Resources In Tanzania Using Social Contact Network Models, Herieth Rwezaura, Seán Mcgarraghy

Tanzania Journal of Science

Tanzania revaccinates individuals during measles outbreaks, despite having scant healthcare resources. We construct epidemiological models of measles spread by employing a hybrid of existing social contact networks models to develop SEIR simulation model. Using demographic and measles surveillance data from three rural villages in Tanzania, we simulate the spread of measles and examine which vaccination strategies can effectively control outbreaks. Results strongly indicate the spread of measles largely depends on contact rates among infected individuals within a population. Findings indicate a need for targeted vaccination for children of 6 months to 15 years of age, but equally for unvaccinated older …