Public Health Commons^™

Analysis Of Relapse In Leukemia Patients With Missing Data Using An Extension Of The Em Algorithm, Braydon Schaible

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

Introduction: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are two types of acute leukemia. When complete remission of leukemia has not been achieved or the disease refracts to its stage in initial chemotherapy, relapse occurs. Leukemia has poor prognosis for patients with relapse. This sample included AML and ALL patients. The purpose of this study was to use and extension of the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm in order to find significant factors that affect the occurrence of relapse in leukemia patients with missing data.

Methods: The EM logistic model consists of three steps. First, the initial logistic regression intercept …

Airborne Bacterial Exposure At Workers' Breathing Height In An Organic Farm Of Rural Georgia, Tedd Gandy, Nabanita Mukherjee, Bushra Shah, Subhrajit K. Saha, Pratik Banerjee, Atin Adhikari

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

Organic farming has potentials to contribute substantially to future sustainable agricultural production by improving soil quality, pest control, and reduction of adverse environmental impacts in rural agricultural communities. On the other hand, application of natural farmyard manure may increase the microbial biomass in this environment and consequently microbial exposure levels among workers could be increased. To explore this possibility of excess exposure, particularly to airborne bacteria, we conducted air sampling at the vicinity of poultry and dairy sections of a large organic farm in a rural Georgia location. For air sampling, a Biostage viable cascade impactor was utilized, which comprises …

Effect Of Air Flow Rates In Versatrap Slit Impactor Cassettes On The Collection Of Atmospheric Mold Spores In A Rural Community, Bushra Shah, Tedd Gandy, Oreoluwa Adeyinka, Galela Shebani, Atin Adhikari

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

Exposure to mold allergens including mold spores and hyphal fragments are associated with allergic sensitization which is a risk factor for asthma in a community. Smaller aerodynamic size of spores (åµm) allows them to penetrate and settle in the lower airways and produce damaging byproducts (allergens, glucans, mycotoxins, and other immunomodulators). Usually mold spores in ambient atmosphere are collected by impactors in air monitoring stations and in most cases these impactors are operated in a single standard air flow rate. However, sampling efficiency of an impactor can change in different air flow rates and since spore aerodynamic sizes vary a …

Ebola And Social Media, Kathryn C. Finch

GS4 Student Scholars Symposium

We were interested in knowing the impact of social media during the 2014-2015 West Africa Ebola epidemic. The aim of this systematic review is to provide clinicians, public health practitioners and policy-makers with a comprehensive overview of the up-to-date literature on Ebola and social media. We critically appraised the quality and utility of these studies, and identified the gaps in our current understanding that invite further research efforts. In particular, we focused on the research questions and the methods of the studies: a) What were the research questions of a given study? b) What study design and research methods were …

Aging Converts Innate B1a Cells Into Potent Cd8+ T Cell Inducers, Catalina Lee-Chang, Monica Bodogai, Kanako Moritoh, Xin Chen, Robert Wersto, Ranjan Sen, Howard A. Young, Michael Croft, Luigi Ferrucci, Arya Biragyn

United States Public Health Resources

B cell dysregulation in aging is thought to mostly occur in conventional B2 cells without affecting innate B1 cells. Elderly humans and mice also accumulate 4-1BBL+ MHC class-IHi CD86Hi B cells of unknown origin. In this article, we report that these cells, termed 4BL cells, are activated murine and possibly human B1a cells. The activation is mediated by aging human monocytes and murine peritoneal macrophages. They induce expression and activation of 4-1BBL and IFN-gR1 on B1a cells to subsequently upregulate membrane TNF-α and CD86. As a result, activated B1a/4BL cells induce expression of granzyme B in CD8+ T cells by …

College Of Public Health News, Georgia Southern University

College of Public Health: News & Publications

• Health Care Supply Chain Management : Elements, Operations and Strategies
• Georgia Southern Compares efficiencies of Diagnostic Odds Ratio

Health Policy & Management News, Georgia Southern University

Health Policy & Community Health: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Health Care Supply Chain Management: Elements, Operations and Strategies

Adults With Autism: What Happens After 18?, Nicole A. Pacwa

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

Autism diagnoses have recently been on the rise, which eventually leads to young adults and their families having to figure out what to do for the future. Unfortunately, the services that these children grow up with will no longer are applicable once they turn 18. Families need to think about possible paths that would work best for their child. Some options would be a transitional school that could provide services and learning opportunities, group living communities that offer support while giving the individual a chance to live on his or her own while being supported, or vocational support that offers …

Are Healthcare Providers Prepared To Provide Care For The Lgbt Community?, Sam Dao

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

Current research generally questions that the healthcare system does not provide as adequate services for the LGBT community as there are for heterosexuals. Baumle’s research show that health care benefits were not equal for LGBT and provided health insurance percentages were lower for gays and lesbians than for heterosexuals (2014). Understanding and improving the factors that influence the health of LGBT people is limited due the the lack of population-based data (The Pride Study 2015). In order to begin improving the health and health care of the LGBT community, awareness and practice of providing appropriate care for this certain population …

Détection Des Microorganismes Par Fluorescence/Raman Uv Dans Des Aérosols, Des Suspensions Ou Sur Des Surfaces : Étude Exploratoire, Michaela Skulinova, Geneviève Marchand, Jean-François Gravel, Jacques Lavoie, Yves Cloutier

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les microorganismes et leurs sous-produits sont présents dans tous les milieux de travail. Ils se retrouvent en suspension dans l’air, dans un liquide ou déposés sur des surfaces. Ils peuvent avoir des impacts importants sur les entreprises et la santé des travailleurs. Leur détection, à l’aide d’approches classiques faisant appel au dénombrement sur milieux gélosés, exige du temps et des ressources considérables. Cette étude vise à explorer une approche alternative et novatrice soit l’utilisation des signaux de fluorescence émis à différentes longueurs d’onde pour la détection et la différenciation de microorganismes en milieu de travail.

Un système mobile de …

Is The United States Prepared For A Major Zika Virus Outbreak?, Lawrence O. Gostin, James G. Hodge Jr.

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Zika virus has emerged as a global public health crisis with active transmission in the Americas and Caribbean. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and recently WHO reported there is a scientific consensus that Zika is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). In the U.S. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activated its emergency operations center at its highest capacity. President Obama requested $1.86 billion in emergency funding. Shamefully, Congress has yet to appropriate the funding needed for Zika preparedness, and the President has had to reallocate Ebola …

A Comparative Analysis Of Attitudes Towards Women Physicians In Nineteenth Century Articles And Novels, Hannah White

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Résistance Des Matériaux De Protection Aux Agresseurs Mécaniques Multiples : Coupure Et Perforation Simultanées, Ennouri Triki, Phuong Nguyen-Tri, Meriam Azaiez, Toan Vu-Khanh, Chantal Gauvin

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les lacérations de type perforation et coupure représentent une part importante des blessures aux mains dans plusieurs milieux de travail. Les agresseurs mécaniques comme la pointe d’un couteau, des échardes de métal, des pièces mal ébavurées ou des éclats de verre peuvent être très diversifiés et constituer des risques multiples. Le port de gants de protection contribue à réduire ces risques. Cependant, les gants n’offrent pas toujours une résistance adéquate pour tous les types d’agresseurs. Puisqu’il n’y a pas de corrélation entre les résistances à la coupure, à la perforation et à la piqûre, par exemple, un matériau …

Développement D’Outils Et De Méthodes Pour Mieux Évaluer Et Améliorer La Protection Auditive Individuelle Des Travailleurs, Franck Sgard, Hugues Nélisse, Frédéric Laville

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Lorsque l’élimination à la source ne peut être envisagée, la protection individuelle demeure la solution la plus utilisée pour protéger les travailleurs exposés à des niveaux de bruit importants en raison de sa facilité et de sa rapidité d’implantation, ainsi que de son faible coût économique. Le port des protecteurs auditifs est néanmoins associé à plusieurs problématiques : (i) ils peuvent être un cofacteur de risque pour les accidents du travail, (ii) leur performance réelle est souvent très différente de celle affichée en laboratoire ce qui peut induire une sous-protection du travailleur, (iii) les méthodes normalisées de déplacement du seuil …

The Presence Of Stem Cells In Human Breast Milk And Research Implications, Melody (Brooke) Peterson

Senior Honors Theses

Stem cell therapy research is an expanding area of study as stem cell therapy is believed to have the potential to provide treatment options for numerous disease processes. Currently, embryonic stem cell research is the method of choice to evaluate the potential for stem cell therapy. The use of human embryos for stem cell research raises moral and ethical controversies. Stem cells are found in a variety of mediums, but until the recent discovery of stem cells in human breast milk, the most versatile stem cells have been those found in the human embryo. Human breast milk stem cells could …

Learning From Variation And Change: The 2016 Release Of The National Health Security Preparedness Index, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

The 2016 release of the National Health Security Preparedness Index uses an improved computational methodology and validated set of measures to more accurately track national and state progress in protecting the public from the health effects of disasters, outbreaks and other large-scale emergencies. This presentation provides a preview of the new methodology and results.

College Of Public Health News, Georgia Southern University

College of Public Health: News & Publications

• Georgia Southern Students assess characteristics for weight underestimation of children with obesity
• Georgia Southern Identified Social Marketing Concepts That inform Program adaptation

Epidemiology News, Georgia Southern University

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern students assess characteristics for weight underestimation of children with obesity

Tobacco, Alcohol, And Processed Food Industries – Why Do Public Health Practitioners View Them So Differently?, Katherine Smith, Lori Dorfman, Nicholas Freudenberg, Benjamin Hawkins, Shona Hilton, Oliver Razum, Heide Weishaar

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Mathematical Modeling In Designing And Evaluating Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs, Lester Caudill, Joanna R. Wares

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

Antimicrobial agent effectiveness continues to be threatened by the rise and spread of pathogen strains that exhibit drug resistance. This challenge is most acute in healthcare facilities where the well-established connection between resistance and sub-optimal antimicrobial use has prompted the creation of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs). Mathematical models offer tremendous potential for serving as an alternative to controlled human experimentation for assessing the effectiveness of ASPs. Models can simulate controlled randomized experiments between groups of virtual patients, some treated with the ASP measure under investigation, and some without. By removing the limitations inherent in human experimentation, including health risks, study …

The Role Of Mathematical Modeling In Designing And Evaluating Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs, Lester Caudill, Joanna R. Wares

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

Antimicrobial agent effectiveness continues to be threatened by the rise and spread of pathogen strains that exhibit drug resistance. This challenge is most acute in healthcare facilities where the well-established connection between resistance and suboptimal antimicrobial use has prompted the creation of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs). Mathematical models offer tremendous potential for serving as an alternative to controlled human experimentation for assessing the effectiveness of ASPs. Models can simulate controlled randomized experiments between groups of virtual patients, some treated with the ASP measure under investigation, and some without. By removing the limitations inherent in human experimentation, including health risks, study …

Community Health News, Georgia Southern University

Health Policy & Community Health: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Identified Social Marketing Concepts that Inform Program Adaptation

An Empirical Investigation Of Funding Trends In Global Health, Marie H. Martin, Megan E. Streams

Public Administration Faculty Research

Background Since 2005, funding for global health has increased, not only from donor OECD nations, but also from within low-income and middle-income countries via their own governmental health spending. However, there has been little analysis of budgetary trends in global health from a public finance angle. This study provides a quantitative analysis of the distribution of annual changes in country-level government expenditures for domestic health (1995–2012) using the theoretical lens of budgetary punctuated equilibrium theory (PET).

Methods We used health financing data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation to calculate country-level annual changes in government spending on domestic …

Understanding The Value Of Multi-Sector Partnerships To Improve Population Health, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

We review recent research concerning multi-sectoral partnerships aimed at improving health status on a population-wide basis, with a particular focus on implementation strategies and on health and economic impact. While still preliminary and emerging, research indicates that large health benefits are possible through collective actions that engage the medical, public health, and social sectors. Mechanisms for aligning incentives, dividing responsibilities equitably, and measuring progress regularly appear critical to success.

The Abcs Of Ebp: Opportunities And Challenges For Evidence-Based Practice Education In Developing Countries, Ramprasad Muthukrishnan, Tatjana Ille, Saravana Kumar

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

The importance of embedding evidence-based practice as part curricula and practice is now well recognised in health disciplines. However, despite this recognition there continues to be ongoing challenges. Nowhere are these challenges more evident than in developing countries where a tsunami of challenges confronts health care stakeholders. This commentary sheds some light on opportunities and challenges for evidence-based practice education in developing counties.

Measuring Comprehensive Public Health Delivery Systems And Their Contributions To Population Health, Glen P. Mays, Rick Ingram

Health Management and Policy Presentations

We review methods for measuring the structure of public health delivery systems using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Public Health Systems. A growing body of research using these measures demonstrates how multiple sectors contribute to core public health functions, and how these functions influence community health status over time. We end with a summary of how the Comprehensive Public Health System measure will be used in monitoring the impact of the 21st Century Public Health System initiative.

Evaluating The Decision Making Process Of Pediatricians' Recommendations For First Complementary Foods In Infants, Gretchen Schmoyer

Master of Public Health Capstone Presentations

The purpose of this research study was to document the feeding guidelines from medical associations, understand what pediatricians are recommending to new mothers, and to capture the response from mothers regarding their understanding and personal practices in feeding. Previous studies have found that mothers were not following feeding recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Furthermore, the role of infant rice cereal as an early first food is currently under debate. Qualitative research was conducted through interviews with five mothers of children under 2 years, five healthcare providers in pediatric settings, and three policy experts. The Theory of Reasoned …

Evaluation Of Pulmonary Function Among Workers Engaged In The Manufacture Of Hydraulic Fracking Ceramic Proppant, Humairat H. Rahman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Workers involved in hydraulic fracking processes are exposed to various types of chemicals and dusts in their workplaces, such as proppants, which hold open the fissures created in the fracking process. Recently, ceramic proppants have been developed that may be less hazardous to workers than traditional proppants. Pulmonary function testing of workers producing ceramic proppant was used to assess the potential inhalation hazards of ceramic proppant. Male workers (n = 100) from a producer of ceramic proppant were evaluated with pulmonary function test data collected and evaluated using The American Thoracic Society (ATS) acceptability criteria. A comparison group was selected …

Human Health Risk Characterization Of Petroleum Coke Calcining Facility Emissions, Davinderjit Singh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Calcined coke is a high quality carbon material produced by calcining green petroleum coke. Calcining is the process of heating green petroleum coke in a kiln to remove excess moisture, extract all remaining hydrocarbons, and modify the crystalline structure of the coke into a denser, electrically conductive product. The final product, calcined coke, is primarily used to make carbon anodes for the aluminum industry and recarburizing agent for industries such as the steel industry. If not appropriately controlled, the calcining process could lead to excess production of particulate emissions from either handling or storing of raw coke, or from the …

Nebraska Sex Trafficking Survivors Speak – A Qualitative Research Study, Shireen S. Rajaram, Sriyani Tidball

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

This exploratory, qualitative research study was conducted by researchers Dr. Shireen S. Rajaram in the College of Public Health at University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Ms. Sriyani Tidball in the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL), and was funded by the Women’s Fund of Omaha. The purpose of this study was to document the perspectives of adult women survivors of sex trafficking about the “3Ps” paradigm: to identify strategies to prevent sex trafficking, provide protection and support for survivors and prosecution of the perpetrators to reduce the demand for sex …