Public Health Commons^™

Analysis Of Risk Factors Associated With Asymptomatic Colonization Of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (Mrsa) Among Community College Students, Marilynn Kish-Molina

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus has been an important human ailment for centuries, and with the overuse of antibiotics, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has emerged as a deadly, costly pathogen worldwide. Healthy carriers can become sick or can spread MRSA without symptoms. The amount of asymptomatic colonization among healthy college students and risk factors for colonization by MRSA are not well understood. According to the epidemiologic triangle model, the host (students who take antibiotics or have a history of skin infections), the infectious agent (MRSA) and the environment (direct contact with people, animals, or objects that may harbor MRSA) all …

Association Between Fast Food Consumption And Obesity And High Blood Pressure Among Office Workers, Kifle Mihrete

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fast food consumption among office workers is a common phenomenon. Frequent consumption of fast food is linked to cardiovascular risk factors. The pervasiveness of these risk factors has debilitated the office workers' health and contributed to low performance and absenteeism. However, there remains a significant gap in the current literature regarding the health impacts of frequent fast food consumption behavior of office workers. Consuming large portions of fast food has been associated with obesity. The purpose of this correlation study was to investigate the relationship between fast food consumption and obesity and hypertension among office workers. The theoretical foundations for …

Perceptions Of Recent Male Nursing Graduates Regarding Gender Bias And Gender-Based Educational Barriers, Nancy Spahr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite decades of important contributions by male nurses, nursing is still viewed as a feminine profession. Moreover, male nursing students continue to experience gender bias and gender-based educational barriers within schools of nursing. This has led to failure and drop-out rates much higher than those experienced by their female counterparts. The purposes of this quantitative survey study were to (a) explore the relationship between perceived gender bias, gender-based educational barriers within nursing education, and resiliency in recent male nursing graduates; and (b) to identify those gender-based barriers that were considered to be most prevalent and most important. A view of …

Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Infant Sleep-Related Deaths, Catherine M. Hogan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Racial disparity is present in deaths attributed to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and unintentional suffocation. The Back to Sleep Campaign that began in 1994 caused an overall decrease in SIDS rates, but the racial disparity has continued to increase. Researchers have analyzed and described various socio-demographic characteristics of SIDS and infant deaths by unintentional suffocation in urban areas yet have not simultaneously controlled for multiple risk factors that may contribute to racial disparity such as race, poverty, maternal education, and number of children born to each mother (parity). The purpose of this study was to determine if there is …

Drills And Exercises As Interventions To Improve Public Health Emergency Response, Donna Beth Knutson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center and the subsequent anthrax attacks highlighted the inability of an antiquated public health system in the United States to respond effectively to emergencies. Little documentation exists to define how public health agencies can improve performance. The overarching research question was the extent to which drills and exercises improve performance in public health emergencies. Adult learning theory and deliberate practice theory were explored in this context. The research data were from 50 state public health departments, which were required to report performance information to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The …

A Test Of An Evolutionary Theory Of Adiposity Gain Induced By Long Sleep In Descendants Of European Hunter-Gatherers, Oleksiy Chadyuk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have identified inadequate sleep duration as one of the factors contributing to global obesity. The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesis deduced from a new sleep-duration-based evolutionary theory claiming that sleep extension in response to lengthening night duration in early fall evolved into a behavioral marker of an approaching winter; this adaptive trait was theorized to produce adiposity gain in White men in response to sleep extension. The hypothesis was that White Americans would show a greater increase in the age-adjusted fat mass index per unit of sleep duration compared to that of Black Americans. Data …

Impact Of Nutrition Education On Student Learning, Lydia Singura

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A goal of schools is to provide students with practical nutritional information that will foster healthy lifelong behaviors. Unfortunately, students at one school were found to have difficulty grasping basic nutritional information and practical health-related skills. There remains an important gap in current literature regarding strategies to improve students' understanding of nutrition education material. The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits of a 4-week nutrition intervention unit in the Foods I classes consisting of 82 male and female students in Grades 9-12. Constructivist teaching methods were implemented to provide students with both information and valuable skills, which …

Learning Style Needs And Effectiveness Of Adult Health Literacy Education, Leah A. Grebner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low health literacy impacts an individual's ability to comprehend communication from healthcare providers, reduces access to healthcare, and contributes to increased mortality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of learning style on adult health literacy education. The health belief model, protection motivation theory, the transtheoretical model, and social cognitive theory were used to analyze the data in this study, and to further develop effective health literacy education. The research questions addressed the effectiveness of educational intervention adjusted to their appropriate learning style in comparison to a standardized health literacy intervention and potential difference, according to type …

An Examination Of Awareness Of Over-The-Counter Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs And Adverse Events, Michelle Popa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The elderly population is among the fastest growing populations in the United States. Finding and consuming medications safely and effectively are challenging endeavors for this population. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a widely consumed class of medications among the elderly population, with 70% of individuals consuming over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs once a week and 34% using them daily. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether (a) patients are aware of the risks associated with the consumption of NSAIDs, and (b) there are differences in awareness based upon specific demographic characteristics and levels of patient-physician communication. The health belief …

Factors Influencing U.S. Army Personnel Meeting Body Mass Index Standards, Salma Theus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

U.S. Army Regulations require soldiers to be fit, as excessive weight negatively impacts their readiness, health, and morale. A quantitative study examined if personal, behavioral, and/or environmental factors predict a soldier's self-efficacy and body mass index. Data were obtained from 117 soldiers on 6 scales: the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, the Army Physical Fitness Test, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Stress Management Questionnaire, the Lifestyle Assessment Inventory, and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine if personal (intellectual capabilities and physical fitness), behavioral (lifestyle and stress management), and/or environmental (supervisor leadership) factors predict self-efficacy and …

Discrete Trial Instruction: Comparing The Abbreviated Performance Feedback And Lecture Test Models, Tammy J. Dobbs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Growing media attention and a high diagnosis rate of autism places significant demand on the service industry to provide qualified staff to work with individuals who have autism. Discrete trial instruction (DTI) is one of the most sought-after treatment approaches for those individuals. However, there is a gap in research regarding the efficacy of training methods for those who train direct staff to implement DTI. This quantitative study used an applied behavior analysis basis, deriving from foundations of behavior theory, to compare the abbreviated feedback form (AFF) to the lecture test model (LTM) to understand which will improve direct staff's …

Higher Micronutrient Intake Is Associated With Human Papillomavirus-Positive Head And Neck Cancer: A Case-Only Analysis, Anna E. Arthur, Sonia A. Duffy, Gloria I. Sanchez, Stephen B. Gruber, Jeffrey E. Terrell, James R. Hébert, Emily Light, Carol R. Bradford, Nisha J. D'Silva, Thomas E. Carey, Gregory T. Wolf, Karen E. Peterson, Laura S. Rozek

Faculty Publications

No studies have investigated dietary differences between head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive tumors and patients with HPV-negative tumors. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between diet and HPV status in HNSCC patients. Cases of HNSCC were recruited from 2 clinical centers participating in the University of Michigan Head and Neck Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE). HPV tissue genotyping was performed, and epidemiological and dietary data collected. Multivariable logistic regression tested whether pretreatment consumption of 12 selected micronutrients was significantly associated with HPV-positive status in 143 patients newly diagnosed with cancer …

Adjusting Wheal Size Measures To Correct Atopy Misclassification, Hongmei Zhang, Wilfried J. Karmaus, Jianjun Gan, Weichao Bao, Yan D. Zhao, Dewi Rahardja, John W. Holloway, Martha Scott, Syed Hasan Arshad

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Skin prick testing (SPT) is fundamental to the practice of clinical allergy identifying relevant allergens and predicting the clinical expression of disease. Wheal sizes on SPT are used to identify atopic cases, and the cut-off value for a positive test is commonly set at 3 mm. However, the measured wheal sizes do not solely reflect the magnitude of skin reaction to allergens, but also skin reactivity (reflected in the size of histamine reaction) and other random or non-random factors. We sought to estimate wheal sizes exclusively due to skin response to allergens and propose gender-specific cutoff points of atopy. …

Fitness And Adiposity As Predictors Of Functional Limitation In Adults, Andréa L. Maslow, Anna E. Price, Xuemei Sui, Duck-Chul Lee, Ilkka Vuori, Steven N. Blair

Faculty Publications

Background: This study examined the associations of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with incident functional limitation (IFL) in adults.

Methods: Patients (n = 2400), 30+ years [mean age, 45.2 (SD, 8.3); 12% women], completed a baseline health examination during 1979 to 1995. CRF was quantified by age- and sex-specific thirds for maximal treadmill exercise test duration. Adiposity was assessed by BMI and WC (grouped for analysis according to clinical guidelines). Incident IFL was identified from mail-back surveys during 1995, 1999, and 2004.

Results: After adjusting for potential confounders and either BMI or WC, CRF …

Prostate Cancer Incidence Rates In Africa, Lisa W. Chu, Jamie Ritchey, Susan S. Devesa, Sabah M. Quraishi, Hongmei Zhang, Ann W. Hsing

Faculty Publications

African American men have among the highest prostate cancer incidence rates in the world yet rates among their African counterparts are unclear. In this paper, we compare reported rates among black men of Sub-Saharan African descent using data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program from 1973-2007. Although population-based data in Africa are quite limited, the available data from IARC showed that rates among blacks were highest in the East (10.7-38.1 per 100,000 man-years, age-adjusted world standard) and lowest in the West (4.7-19.8). These rates were considerably …

Groundwater Uranium And Cancer Incidence In South Carolina, Sara E. Wagner, James B. Burch, Matteo Bottai, Robin C. Puett, Dwayne E. Porter, Susan Bolick-Aldrich, Tom Temples, Rebecca C. Wilkerson, John E. Vena, James R. Hébert

Faculty Publications

Objective

This ecologic study tested the hypothesis that census tracts with elevated groundwater uranium and more frequent groundwater use have increased cancer incidence.

Methods

Data sources included: incident total, leukemia, prostate, breast, colorectal, lung, kidney, and bladder cancers (1996–2005, SC Central Cancer Registry); demographic and groundwater use (1990 US Census); and groundwater uranium concentrations (n = 4,600, from existing federal and state databases). Kriging was used to predict average uranium concentrations within tracts. The relationship between uranium and standardized cancer incidence ratios was modeled among tracts with substantial groundwater use via linear or semiparametric regression, with and without stratification …

Alcohol Consumption And Risk Of All-Cause And Cardiovascular Disease Mortality In Men, Erin K. Howie, Xuemei Sui, Duck-Chul Lee, Steven P. Hooker, James R. Hébert, Steven N. Blair

Faculty Publications

This study examined the association between consumption of alcoholic beverages and all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in a cohort of men (n = 31,367). In the Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for age, year of examination, body mass index (BMI), smoking, family history of CVD, and aerobic fitness, there were no significant differences in risk of all-cause mortality across alcohol intake groups. Risk of CVD mortality was reduced 29% in quartile 1 (HR = 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53, 0.95) and 25% in quartile 2 (HR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.58, 0.98). The amount of alcohol consumed …

Association Between Depression And C-Reactive Protein, Yunsheng Ma, David E. Chiriboga, Sherry L. Pagoto, Milagros C. Rosal, Wenjun Li, Philip A. Merriam, James R. Hébert, Matthew C. Whited, Ira S. Ockene

Faculty Publications

Objective. Depression has been associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk, and a depression-related elevation of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) has been proposed as a possible mechanism. The objective of this paper is to examine association between depression and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Methods. Subjects consisted of 508 healthy adults (mean age 48.5 years; 49% women, 88% white) residing in central Massachusetts. Data were collected at baseline and at quarterly intervals over a one-year period per individual. Multivariable linear mixed models were used to assess the association for the entire sample and by gender. Results. The …

Self-Rated Health Status And Cardiorespiratory Fitness As Predictors Of Mortality In Men, Jennifer Gander, Duck-Chul Lee, Xuemei Sui, James R. Hébert, Steven P. Hooker, Steven N. Blair

Faculty Publications

Self-rated health (SRH) and cardiorespiratory fitness (fitness) are independent risk factors for all-cause mortality. The purpose of this report is to examine the single and joint effects of these exposures on mortality risk. The study included 18 488 men who completed a health survey, clinical examination and a maximal exercise treadmill test during 1987–2003. Cox regression analysis was used to quantify the associations of SRH and fitness with all-cause mortality. There were 262 deaths during 17 years of follow-up. There was a significant inverse trend (p_trend <0.05) for mortality across SRH categories after adjustment for age, examination year, body mass index, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, abnormal ECG, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Adjustment for fitness attenuated the association (p value =0.09). The authors also observed an inverse association between fitness and mortality after controlling for the same covariates and SRH (p_trend = 0.006). The combined analysis of SRH and fitness showed that fit …

The Sun Safety Attitudes Of Parents And The Effects On Their Children, Matthew Welch

Theses : Honours

Parents are seen as the most important role models in the development of health practice behaviours, including sun safety for their children. The aim of the current study is to explore the experiences and sun protection knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of a parent of a child who has seen a UV photograph of both themselves and their child. By utilising UV flash photography, parents were able to see the damage done to their face and their child’s face caused by overexposure to the sun. The study was conducted through a qualitative, phenomenological approach, with the data analysed through the process …

Local Public Health System Partnerships: A Mixed Methods Multi-State Study, Priscilla A. Barnes

Dissertations

The purpose of this three-paper dissertation was to conduct a mixed methods multi-state examination of specific partnership-related activities among local public health systems (LPHSs) as well as to explore perceptions of LPHS practitioners regarding partnership practices.

In the first paper, secondary data analysis of questions from the National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP, n = 110) was used to determine the frequency that partnership activities were conducted optimally (> 75% of the time) and whether any associations existed between three different partnership capacities. Activities were matched with relational, organizational, and programmatic capacities from the Collaborative Capacity Framework. Overall, 86% …

Dr. Youtube Is Ready To See You Now! Health Benefits Of Medical Videos On Youtube, Jordan A. Rosenberg

CMC Senior Theses

Chapter 1 will cover who is uploading the videos and how individuals navigate from professional to amateur videos and visa versa. The discussion will be in context of YouTube as a public sharing space that can contain personal information. A central advantage of YouTube as a space for health information is health communication. Chapter 2 will focus on social networking and the comments section, where patients voluntarily share their voice in an online medical community.

Spicing Up School Lunch: A Look At One School District's Attempts To Remedy America's Convoluted School Lunch Policies, Case Study Analysis Of Claremont Unified School District, Allison Mcelwee

CMC Senior Theses

The United States possesses a well intentioned but misguided lunch program, leaving children overfed but malnourished. Currently, a revolution is under way to transform programs around the country by incorporating locally grown and fresh ingredients, as well as integrating hands-on educational experiences with gardening and nutrition. The Claremont Unified School District (CUSD) makes up a group of schools that once heavily relied on unhealthy processed foods for providing lunch. Through a series of modifications in the past three years, CUSD’s program has been remodeled to feature more local produce and fresh ingredients, independent of USDA commodities or large scale agriculture. …

Preventing Mother-To-Child Transmission Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (Hiv-1): Effects Of Intrapartum And Neonatal Single-Dose Nevirapine Prophylaxis And Subsequent Hiv-1 Drug Resistance At Antiretroviral Treatment Initiation, Amanda L. Harmon

CMC Senior Theses

The prevention of mother-to-child transmission is one of the most powerful tools in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) prevention and has huge potential to improve both maternal and child health. In the absence of any preventative measures, infants born to and breastfed by their HIV-positive mothers have roughly a one-in-three chance of acquiring the infection themselves. HIV can be passed on from mother-to-child during pregnancy, during labor and delivery, and even after during breastfeeding.

Intrapartum and neonatal single-dose nevirapine (sd-NVP) is the foundation of preventing mother-to-child transmission in lower resource settings where it has been used alone or as …

Front Matter

Michigan Journal of Public Health

No abstract provided.

Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies 12 New Susceptibility Loci For Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, George Mells, James Floyd, Katherine Morley, Heather Cordell, Christopher Franklin, So-Youn Shin, Michael Heneghan, James Neuberger, Peter Donaldson, Darren Day, Samantha Ducker, Agnes Muriithi, Elizabeth Wheater, Christopher Hammond, Muhammad Dawwas, Uk-Pbc Consortium, David Jones, Leena Peltonen, Graeme Alexander, Richard Sandford, Carl Anderson

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

In addition to the HLA locus, six genetic risk factors for primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) have been identified in recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS). To identify additional loci, we carried out a GWAS using 1,840 cases from the UK PBC Consortium and 5,163 UK population controls as part of the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 3 (WTCCC3). We followed up 28 loci in an additional UK cohort of 620 PBC cases and 2,514 population controls. We identified 12 new susceptibility loci (at a genome-wide significance level of P < 5 × 10⁻⁸) and replicated all previously associated loci. We identified three further new loci in a meta-analysis of data from our study and previously published GWAS results. New candidate genes include STAT4, DENND1B, CD80, IL7R, CXCR5, TNFRSF1A, CLEC16A and NFKB1. This study has considerably expanded our knowledge of the genetic architecture of PBC

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Year One Outcome Evaluation Report For The Southern Nevada Health District, Nevada Institute For Children’S Research And Policy, Southern Nevada Health District, Tara Phebus, Samantha Dawn Beecher, Alyson Baker, Taylor Oliver, Denise Tanata Ashby

Nevada Institute for Children's Research and Policy Reports

In the fall of 2010 the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) was awarded funding from the Federal Office of Adolescent Health to implement an evidence based teen pregnancy prevention curriculum. They have partnered with the Department of Juvenile Justice Services and the Clark County Department of Family Services to offer this curriculum to the youth in juvenile detention, probation, and life skills classes for youth aging out of the foster care system. The Nevada Institute for Children’s Research and Policy (NICRP) has been contracted to complete the outcome evaluation for this program and is collecting data to help measure the …

Promoting The Translational Relationship Between Public Health Practice And Research, Julie Gleason-Comstock

Michigan Journal of Public Health

No abstract provided.

Norovirus Epidemiology And Duration Of Shedding In Michigan, 2007-2008, Nodira A. Abdujamilova, David Dixon, Laura Mosher, Patricia Somsel, Anthony Muyombwe, Patricia A. Clark, Jeffrey Massey, Brenda Brennan, Paul C. Bartlett

Michigan Journal of Public Health

Background: In the United States, an estimated 23 million cases of norovirus (NoV) are reported each year, and although mortality is low, the morbidity and economic impact are substantial. Methods: RT-PCR and sequencing were used for identification of NoV genotypes obtained from outbreak and sporadic cases. RT Quant PCR was used to determine the viral load in fecal specimens. In order to rule out bacterial infection as the cause for acute gastroenteritis (AGE), bacterial culture for Salmonella, E.coli O157, Shigella, Campylobacter and Clostridium difficile was performed by standard laboratory procedures. The duration of NV shedding was investigated with longitudinal sampling …

Could A Mid-Level Dental Provider Increase Access To Oral Health Care In Michigan?, H. Luke Shaefer, Renee Tetrick, Elizabeth Phillips

Michigan Journal of Public Health

According to a 2000 Surgeon General’s report, the United States faces an epidemic of unmet oral health needs, the result of both the high cost of care and geographic maldistribution of providers. This article assesses the extent of this unmet health care needs in Michigan, and examines one possible solution: the introduction of a mid-level dental provider (MDP) who could provide preventive and basic restorative care, under the supervision of a Michigan dentist. MDPs in various forms currently practice in over 50 countries including Canada and the U.K. The evidence suggests that a large and rigorous pilot of mid-level dental …