Public Health Commons^™

Effects Of High Fruit Intake On Systematic Blood Pressure In African Americans, Leonard L. Gibbons

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This randomized dietary intervention trial examined the effects of a high fruit diet on systemic BP in African-Americans. Thirty-eight free-living subjects with systolic BPs between 130-159 mm Hg and diastolic BPs between 85-99 mm Hg, were enrolled for a six week period. The cases were given daily supplements of potassium rich foods: bananas, orange juice and raisins, while no dietary advice or food was given to the controls.

After six weeks, the means systolic BP was 5.79 mm Hg ( p=.009) lower in the cases than the controls. The mean diastolic BP at week six was 3.76 mm Hg (p=.047) …

Central Nervous System Lymphomas: A Histologic And Immunophenotypic Analysis, Suhail Muzaffar, M. Shahid Siddiqui, Irshad Nabi Soomro, Shahid Pervez, Naila Kayani Naila Kayani, Sheema H. Hasan Sheema H. Hasan Sheema H. Hasan, Lmran Siddiqui Lmran Siddiqui

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Objective: To observe the spectrum of non-Hodkin’s lymphomas involving the central nervous system including morphological subtypes and immunophenotypic status.

Setting: Retrospective analysis of eleven years (1986 to 1996) data from surgical pathology files of Department of Pathology.

Results: orty-three cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas were diagnosed during the period of eleven years (from 1986 to 1996), all of which were diffuse types. A total of 1177 Central Nervous CNS biopsies were examined, out of which 937 cases were diagnosed as CNS neoplasms, the remaining were non-neoplastic in nature. Among 937 CNS neoplasms, 43 cases (4.6%) were reported as non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. As …

Trends. Controlling Aids Through Control, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the concept of political control and public health in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Reinventing Medicaid: Hoosier Healthwise And Children's Health Insurance In Indiana, Judith D. Moore, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

This site visit explored the factors that have made Indiana so successful in enrolling children in its Medicaid and SCHIP plans under the brand name Hoosier Healthwise. Site visitors met with legislators and state officials to gain understanding of the genesis and development of Hoosier Healthwise and its aggressive outreach component. A panel of representatives from partner organizations engaged in enrolling children provided further insight into this process. The site visit participants traveled to observe enrollment and operations in both urban (Marion) and rural (Clay) county offices. They also met with health care executives at hospitals, clinics, and neighborhood health …

Dispelling The Myths And Stigma Of Mental Illness: The Surgeon General's Report On Mental Health, Richard Hegner

National Health Policy Forum

This paper summarizes the key findings of "Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General," which was released on December 13, 1999, by U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher. Topics include the significance of mental illness, the effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment, the widespread lack of treatment, access problems and their causes, the significance of stigma, and the prevention of mental illness.

Site Visit To Seattle — University Of Washington Academic Medical Center, Karen Matherlee

National Health Policy Forum

The event was part of a series of three site visits leading to an April 27–28, 2000, conference in Annapolis, Maryland, on hospital-based health care systems in transition after enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) and the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA). The site visit focused on the challenges the University of Washington (UW) faces in carrying out its three missions of delivery of health services (with emphasis on the safety net), health professions education, and health science and clinical research. It probed the effects of the BBA on these missions …

The Bulletin: Dayspring Aids Support Services (Spring /Summer 2000), Sharon Pree, Dayspring Aids Support Services

Bulletin / Dayspring AIDS Support Services (1999, 2000)

No abstract provided.

Applying Science To Public Policy: The Context Of The Surgeon General's Report On Mental Health, Richard Hegner

National Health Policy Forum

Intended to provide public policy context for the December 1999 Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, this background paper discusses the historic skepticism about the efficacy of treatment of mental illness in this country, insurance practices that have discriminated against mental illness and the reasons for them, the disproportionate share of mental health funding provided by government sources such as Medicaid and state general revenues, the role of state and local public government as providers of catastrophic coverage for mental illness, the cascading cost-shifting game in mental health finance, obstacles to needed treatment (including popular attitudes toward mental illness), the …

Drugs In The Heartland: Methamphetamine Use In Rural Nebraska, Denise C. Herz

United States Public Health Resources

A decade ago, methamphetamine was commonly believed to be limited to the West Coast and a few other, isolated areas. Recent evidence shows that substantial proportions of arrestees in several large urban areas of the West and Midwest are using the drug. Increasingly, the problem is coming to the attention of policymakers and law enforcement nationwide. (See “The Federal Government Responds.”)
Methamphetamine has generated concern because of its ready availability and the severity of its effects on the user. It is cheaper than cocaine, it is easy to manufacture, it produces a longer lasting “high,” and its short- and long-term …

Population-Based Survey Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Usage, Patient Satisfaction, And Physician Involvement, Robert Oldendick, Ann L. Coker, Darryl Wieland, James I. Raymond, Janice C. Probst, Bruce J. Schell, Carleen H. Stopskopf

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Background. With an increasing proportion of Americans using complementary or alternative medicine (CAM), physicians need to know which patients are using CAM to effectively manage care.

Methods. In this cross-sectional study, telephone interviews were conducted with 1,584 South Carolina adults (ages 18 and older); 66% responded to the survey of demographics, general health, frequency of CAM use, perceived CAM effectiveness, and physician knowledge of CAM use.

Results. A total of 44% had used a CAM during the past year. Increasing age and higher education were significantly associated with CAM use. More than 60% perceived CAM therapy as very effective, and …

Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Access To Health Insurance And Health Care, Ucla Center For Health Policy Research, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Native Health Database Full Text

Racial and ethnic groups in the United States continue to experience major differences in health status compared to the majority white population. Although many factors affect health status, the lack of health insurance and other barriers to obtaining health services markedly diminish minorities' use of both preventive services and medical treatments. This report, produced in collaboration with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, examines health insurance coverage and access to physician services among African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and American Indians and Alaska Natives. By pooling national survey data over two years, information about particular minority …

The Pediatric Breathing Survey, Linda J. Galloway

Health Services Research Dissertations

To ensure culturally-sensitive assessments, the researcher designed a Pediatric Breathing Survey (PBS) to measure quality of life for African-American children. The purpose of this study was to test whether the PBS is a reliable and valid instrument. Comparisons of group differences on race, income and parent's level of education based on parent responses to the questionnaires were conducted. More specifically, differences in Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) between Caucasian and African-American children were examined. The researcher-designed instrument was compared to Juniper's Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire. The sample consisted of parents of 84 school-aged children diagnosed with asthma. …

Explanatory Power Of The Behavior Model Of Utilization For Pediatric Asthma Health Care In An Urban Managed Care Setting, Kathie Marie Sawyer Zimbro

Health Services Research Dissertations

The Behavior Model of Utilization played a key role in explaining health services use for pediatric members with asthma in one urban, regional managed care company. The critical role the asthma management program played in promoting the health and well-being of enrolled members was elucidated. Information gleaned from this empirical study can be used to encourage appropriate resource utilization, formulate pediatric asthma health policy, and deliver cost-effective, quality health care. More importantly, managed care company administrators and clinicians can demonstrate the value of their efforts by achieving measurable improvements in the health and well-being of children in the communities they …

Providing Low-Cost Assistive Equipment Through Home Care Services: The Massachusetts Assistive Equipment Demonstration, Alison S. Gottlieb, Francis G. Caro

Gerontology Institute Publications

This report describes the Massachusetts Assistive Equipment Demonstration, a collaborative project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson’s Home Care Research Initiative and carried out collaboratively by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA). The purpose of the demonstration was to systematically encourage the use of low-cost assistive equipment among elderly clients through existing case management resources, thereby extending the effectiveness of the Massachusetts home care program by supplementing formal services with expanded use of assistive equipment.

Les Composantes Et Les Déterminants Organisationnels Des Interventions De Maintien Du Lien D'Emploi En Entreprises : Résumé, Raymond Baril, Diane Berthelette

Rapports de recherche scientifique

No abstract provided.

Contrôle De La Qualité De La Numération Des Fibres, Chantal Dion, Guy Perrault, Gabrielle Chamberland, Julie Mccabe

Rapports de recherche scientifique

No abstract provided.

Quantification De La Variabilité Dans L'Excrétion Urinaire Du Mercure, Ginette Truchon, Jules Brodeur, Daniel Drolet

Rapports de recherche scientifique

No abstract provided.

Nursing Homes To Medicare Waiver Programs In Vermont, Joseph Murray

New England Journal of Public Policy

This research examines the differences between nursing home residents and those who were able to leave nursing homes with the help of the Medicaid Waiver Program in Vermont. Ninety individuals who reentered the community with the aid of such waivers were compared with a random sample of nursing home residents through the use of the Nursing Home Minimum Data Set. The researchers found divergence in four key areas: cognition, continence, treatment categories, and desire to return to the community. Typically, those who left nursing homes for the community were cognitively intact, had moderate continence, received rehabilitative or clinically complex treatments, …

Site Visit To Detroit — Henry Ford Health System, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

This event was one in a series of three site visits leading to an April 27–28, 2000, conference in Annapolis, Maryland, on hospital-based health care systems in transition after the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) and the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA). The site visit explored the responses of a large integrated system, the Henry Ford Health System, to the BBA and how the BBA has interacted with other changes in the system's local market and state Medicaid program. Panel presentations highlighted financing and information systems, the integration of diversified services, …

Site Visit To Richmond And Hampton Roads — Bon Secours Health System, Inc., Nora Super

National Health Policy Forum

The first in a series of three site visits leading to an April 27–28, 2000, conference in Annapolis, Maryland, on hospital-based health care systems in transition after the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) and the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA). The site visit was designed to better understand how changing payment incentives — particularly the move to prospective payment systems for postacute services — has affected the ability to implement a continuum of care across delivery sites. It examined the Bon Secours Health System's operations in Virginia, which include four hospitals …

Improving Quality And Preventing Error In Medical Practice, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

Drawing on the Institute of Medicine's report To Err Is Human, this issue brief looks at quality-improvement and error-reduction efforts at the institutional, regional, and state levels and analyzes the roles of government and the private sector in bringing such efforts into national focus. Questions considered include whether error reporting should be mandatory or voluntary, who should perform error analysis, and the role of the individual in an institutional accountability model.

Pharmacotherapy Of Smoking Cessation, Kolawole S. Okuyemi, Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, Kari J. Harris

Public and Community Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable diseases in the United States. Smoking accounts for more than 400,000 deaths yearly and 30% of all cancer deaths. Primary care physicians have access to 70% of smokers, approximately 60% of whom are perceived to be in excellent health. Recent advances in the pharmacotherapy of nicotine addiction, including nicotine nasal spray, nicotine inhaler, bupropion hydrochloride, and over-the-counter transdermal nicotine patches, have increased the treatment options physicians can offer to smokers. Physicians, especially thosein primary care specialties, should familiarize themselves with these products to improve efforts to help their patients stop smoking. …

Rural Managed Care And Disability: A National Perspective, Colleen Murphy-Southwick Ph.D., Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute Rural Institute

Health and Wellness

Rural access to health care has historically been a concern in the United States. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, lower rural reimbursements for the same services provided in urban areas contributed to a substantial decline in the number of rural hospitals and health care providers. Rural Americans with and without disabilities experienced the negative consequences of those changes. The rapid introduction of managed care is producing explosive changes in the marginal, aging, rural medical care services sector. Managed care policies directly affect both access to medical services by people with disabilities and the economic infrastructure of small rural …

Rural Managed Care And Disability: Emerging Issues From Preliminary Interviews And Case Studies, Colleen Murphy-Southwick Ph.D., Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute Rural Institute

Health and Wellness

Since the 1980s, rural access to health care information, resources and services has become increasingly problematic. The shift toward managed care complicates the picture. While some argue that managed care will devastate rural health services due to sparsely populated areas’ high costs and low profit margins, others suggest that market forces will make the health care system more efficient and re-distribute resources now concentrated in urban areas toward rural areas. Managed care is penetrating public programs

Impact Of Violence Prevention Programs On The Attitudes Towards Guns And Violence Among Third Through Sixth Grade And Seventh Grade Students In The Bowling Green Independent School District, Michelyn Bhandari

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of violence prevention programs on the attitudes toward guns and violence among students in grades three through seven. This study represents an attempt to prove that third through sixth grade students who receive anger control training and seventh grade students who receive conflict resolution training will show a significantly lower attraction towards guns and violence than students receiving no such training. By understanding interrelation between adolescents' attitudes towards guns and violence and their psychosocial functioning, the public can seek out ways of preventing violence. To measure the impact and to …

Psychological Pathways To Minimizing Human Rights Violations Against Children, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article identifies several psychological pathways that governments and human rights organizations can employ to minimize human rights violations against children.

Physician Connectivity: Electronic Prescribing, Robin J. Strongin

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief focuses on physician connectivity — the electronic linking of physicians with online resources such as clinical databases and sophisticated formulary systems. As physician connectivity increasingly allows physicians to prescribe online via a handheld computer complete with formulary information as well as patient data and drug information, this issue brief examines the issues raised by this technological advance within the broader context of online prescribing.

A Mycobacterium Ulcerans Toxin, Mycolactone, Causes Apoptosis In Guinea Pig Ulcers And Tissue Culture Cells, Kathleen M. George, Lisa Pascopella, Diane M. Welty, P. L. C. Small

Public and Community Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, a tropical ulcerative skin disease. One of the most intriguing aspects of this disease is the presence of extensive tissue damage in the absence of an acute inflammatory response. We recently purified and characterized a macrolide toxin, mycolactone, from M. ulcerans. Injection of this molecule into guinea pig skin reproduced cell death and lack of acute inflammatory response similar to that seen following the injection of viable bacteria. We also showed that mycolactone causes a cytopathic effect on mouse fibroblast L929 cells that is characterized by cytoskeletal rearrangements and growth arrest …

Integronlike Structures In Campylobacter Spp. Of Human And Animal Origin, Brigid Lucey, D. Crowley, P. Moloney, B. Cryan, M. Daly, F. O'Halloran, E. J. Threlfall, S. Fanning

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Resistance to antimicrobial agents used to treat severe Campylobacter spp. gastroenteritis is increasing worldwide. We assessed the antimicrobial resistance patterns of Campylobacter spp. isolates of human and animal origin. More than half (n = 32) were resistant to sulphonamide, a feature known to be associated with the presence of integrons. Analysis of these integrons will further our understanding of Campylobacter spp. epidemiology.

Correlates Of Physical Activity In Male And Female Youth, Timothy Bungum, Marsha Dowda, Anne T. Weston, Stewart G. Trost, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

This study examined associations between psychosocial factors and physical activity in a group of youth (n=520). Students completed the Previous Day Physical Activity Recall and a survey of potential determinants of physical activity. Regression analyses of intentions to be physically active revealed that enjoyment and self-efficacy predicted intentions for both males and females. Attitudes predicted moderate to vigorous activity (MVPA), and enjoyment and self-efficacy predicted vigorous activity (VPA) for males. Self-efficacy predicted both MVPA and VPA for females. The findings suggest that intervention programs targeted at youth should include developmentally appropriate activities that are fun and promote physical …