Public Health Commons^™

Pm25 Metal Constituent Exposure And Stillbirth Risk In Harris County, Texas, Amal Rammah, Kristina W Whitworth, Inkyu Han, Wenyaw Chan, Elaine Symanski

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

There is limited evidence on the role of exposure to chemical constituents of fine particulate matter (PM

Vitamin D Status And Risk Of Incident Tuberculosis Disease: A Nested Case-Control Study, Systematic Review, And Individual-Participant Data Meta-Analysis, Omowunmi Aibana, Chuan-Chin Huang, Said Aboud, Alberto Arnedo-Pena, Mercedes C Becerra, Juan Bautista Bellido-Blasco, Ramesh Bhosale, Roger Calderon, Silvia Chiang, Carmen Contreras, Ganmaa Davaasambuu, Wafaie W Fawzi, Molly F Franke, Jerome T Galea, Daniel Garcia-Ferrer, Maria Gil-Fortuño, Barbará Gomila-Sard, Amita Gupta, Nikhil Gupte, Rabia Hussain, Jesus Iborra-Millet, Najeeha T Iqbal, Jose Vicente Juan-Cerdán, Aarti Kinikar, Leonid Lecca, Vidya Mave, Noemi Meseguer-Ferrer, Grace Montepiedra, Ferdinand M Mugusi, Olumuyiwa A Owolabi, Julie Parsonnet, Freddy Roach-Poblete, Maria Angeles Romeu-García, Stephen A Spector, Christopher R Sudfeld, Mark W Tenforde, Toyin O Togun, Rosa Yataco, Zibiao Zhang, Megan B Murray

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Few studies have evaluated the association between preexisting vitamin D deficiency and incident tuberculosis (TB). We assessed the impact of baseline vitamins D levels on TB disease risk.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We assessed the association between baseline vitamin D and incident TB in a prospective cohort of 6,751 HIV-negative household contacts of TB patients enrolled between September 1, 2009, and August 29, 2012, in Lima, Peru. We screened for TB disease at 2, 6, and 12 months after enrollment. We defined cases as household contacts who developed TB disease at least 15 days after enrollment of the index patient. …

Blood Leukocyte Dna Methylation Predicts Risk Of Future Myocardial Infarction And Coronary Heart Disease, Golareh Agha, Michael M Mendelson, Cavin K Ward-Caviness, Roby Joehanes, Tianxiao Huan, Rahul Gondalia, Elias Salfati, Jennifer A Brody, Giovanni Fiorito, Jan Bressler, Brian H Chen, Symen Ligthart, Simonetta Guarrera, Elena Colicino, Allan C Just, Simone Wahl, Christian Gieger, Amy R Vandiver, Toshiko Tanaka, Dena G Hernandez, Luke C Pilling, Andrew B Singleton, Carlotta Sacerdote, Vittorio Krogh, Salvatore Panico, Rosario Tumino, Yun Li, Guosheng Zhang, James D Stewart, James S Floyd, Kerri L Wiggins, Jerome I Rotter, Michael Multhaup, Kelly Bakulski, Steven Horvath, Philip S Tsao, Devin M Absher, Pantel Vokonas, Joel Hirschhorn, M Daniele Fallin, Chunyu Liu, Stefania Bandinelli, Eric Boerwinkle, Abbas Dehghan, Joel D Schwartz, Bruce M Psaty, Andrew P Feinberg, Lifang Hou, Luigi Ferrucci, Nona Sotoodehnia, Giuseppe Matullo, Annette Peters, Myriam Fornage, Themistocles L Assimes, Eric A Whitsel, Daniel Levy, Andrea A Baccarelli

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation is implicated in coronary heart disease (CHD), but current evidence is based on small, cross-sectional studies. We examined blood DNA methylation in relation to incident CHD across multiple prospective cohorts.

METHODS: Nine population-based cohorts from the United States and Europe profiled epigenome-wide blood leukocyte DNA methylation using the Illumina Infinium 450k microarray, and prospectively ascertained CHD events including coronary insufficiency/unstable angina, recognized myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, and coronary death. Cohorts conducted race-specific analyses adjusted for age, sex, smoking, education, body mass index, blood cell type proportions, and technical variables. We conducted fixed-effect meta-analyses across cohorts.

RESULTS: Among …

Designing High-Quality Implementation Research: Development, Application, Feasibility And Preliminary Evaluation Of The Implementation Science Research Development (Impres) Tool And Guide, Louise Hull, Lucy Goulding, Zarnie Khadjesari, Rachel E. Davis, Andy Healey, Ioannis Bakolis, Nick Sevdalis

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Designing implementation research can be a complex and daunting task, especially for applied health researchers who have not received specialist training in implementation science. We developed the Implementation Science Research Development (ImpRes) tool and supplementary guide to address this challenge and provide researchers with a systematic approach to designing implementation research. METHODS: A multi-method and multi-stage approach was employed. An international, multidisciplinary expert panel engaged in an iterative brainstorming and consensus-building process to generate core domains of the ImpRes tool, representing core implementation science principles and concepts that researchers should consider when designing implementation research. Simultaneously, an iterative process …

Information Diffusion And Social Norms Are Associated With Infant And Young Child Feeding Practices In Bangladesh, Phuong H. Nguyen, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Sunny S. Kim, Amanda A. Zongrone, Amir Jilani, Lan Mai Tran, Tina Sanghvi, Purnima Menon

Faculty Publications

Background

Interaction within mothers’ social networks can theoretically diffuse messages from interventions and campaigns into norms and practices for infant and young child feeding (IYCF).

Objectives

We hypothesized that mothers’ social networks, diffusion of information, and social norms differed in intensive [intensive interpersonal counseling (IPC), community mobilization (CM), and mass media (MM)] compared with nonintensive (standard IPC and less-intensive CM and MM) intervention areas, were associated with IYCF practices, and partly explained practice improvement.

Methods

We conducted household surveys at endline in 2014 and follow-up in 2016 (n = ∼2000 each round). We used multiple regression to test differences …

Effectiveness Of High-Intensity Interval Training For Fitness And Mobility Post Stroke: A Systematic Review., Joshua C. Wiener, Amanda Mcintyre, Scott Janssen, Jeffrey Ty Chow, Cristina Batey, Robert Teasell

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the evidence on the effectiveness of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in improving fitness and mobility post stroke. TYPE: Systematic review.

LITERATURE SURVEY: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus were searched for articles published in English up to January 2018.

METHODOLOGY: Studies were included if the sample was adult human participants with stroke, the sample size was ≥3, and participants received >1 session of HIIT. Study and participant characteristics, treatment protocols, and results were extracted.

SYNTHESIS: Six studies with a total of 140 participants met inclusion criteria: three randomized controlled trials and three pre-post studies. HIIT protocols ranged …

Behavior Change Interventions Delivered Through Interpersonal Communication, Agricultural Activities, Community Mobilization, And Mass Media Increase Complementary Feeding Practices And Reduce Child Stunting In Ethiopia, Sunny S. Kim, Phuong Hong Nguyen, Yisehac Yohannes, Yewelsew Abebe, Manisha Tharaney, Elizabeth Drummond, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Marie T. Ruel, Purnima Menon

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Appropriate infant and young child feeding practices are critical for optimal child growth and development, but in Ethiopia, complementary feeding (CF) practices are very poor. Alive & Thrive (A&T) provided intensive behavior change interventions through 4 platforms: interpersonal communication (IPC), nutrition-sensitive agricultural activities (AG), community mobilization (CM), and mass media (MM).

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of A&T intensive compared with nonintensive interventions (standard nutrition counseling and agricultural extension service and less intensive CM and MM) on CF practices and knowledge and child anthropometric outcomes.

METHODS: We used a cluster-randomized …

A Community-Wide Collaboration To Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk: The Hearts Of Sonoma County Initiative., Allen Cheadle, Michelle Rosaschi, Dolores Burden, Monica Ferguson, Bo Greaves, Lori Houston, Jennifer Mcclendon, Jerome Minkoff, Maggie Jones, Pam Schwartz, Jean Nudelman, Mary Maddux-Gonzalez

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES: Collaboration across multiple sectors is needed to bring about health system transformation, but creating effective and sustainable collaboratives is challenging. We describe outcomes and lessons learned from the Hearts of Sonoma County (HSC) initiative, a successful multi-sector collaborative effort to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in Sonoma County, California.

INTERVENTION APPROACH: HSC works in both clinical systems and communities to reduce CVD risk. The initiative grew out of a longer-term county-wide collaborative effort known as Health Action. The clinical component involves activating primary care providers around management of CVD risk factors; community activities include community health workers …

Hospital Readmission Of Adolescents And Young Adults With Complex Chronic Disease., Peter Dunbar, Matt Hall, James C. Gay, Clarissa Hoover, Jessica L. Markham, Jessica L. Bettenhausen, James M. Perrin, Karen A. Kuhlthau, Morgan Crossman, Brigid Garrity, Jay G. Berry

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Importance: Adolescents and young adults (AYA) who have complex chronic disease (CCD) are a growing population that requires hospitalization to treat severe, acute health problems. These patients may have increased risk of readmission as demands on their self-management increase and as they transfer care from pediatric to adult health care practitioners.

Objective: To assess variation across CCDs in the likelihood of readmission for AYA with increasing age.

Design, Setting, and Participants: Retrospective 1-year cross-sectional study of the 2014 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Nationwide Readmissions Database for all US hospitals. Participants were 215 580 hospitalized individuals aged 15 to …

Use Of The Who Access, Watch, And Reserve Classification To Define Patterns Of Hospital Antibiotic Use (Aware): An Analysis Of Paediatric Survey Data From 56 Countries., Yingfen Hsia, Brian R. Lee, Ann Versporten, Yonghong Yang, Julia Bielicki, Charlotte Jackson, Jason Newland, Herman Goossens, Nicola Magrini, Mike Sharland, Garpec And Global-Pps Networks

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Improving the quality of hospital antibiotic use is a major goal of WHO's global action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance. The WHO Essential Medicines List Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) classification could facilitate simple stewardship interventions that are widely applicable globally. We aimed to present data on patterns of paediatric AWaRe antibiotic use that could be used for local and national stewardship interventions.

METHODS: 1-day point prevalence survey antibiotic prescription data were combined from two independent global networks: the Global Antimicrobial Resistance, Prescribing, and Efficacy in Neonates and Children and the Global Point Prevalence Survey on Antimicrobial Consumption and …

Cost Effectiveness Of School-Located Influenza Vaccination Programs For Elementary And Secondary School Children., Byung-Kwang Yoo, Stanley J. Schaffer, Sharon Humiston, Cynthia M. Rand, Nicolas P N Goldstein, Christina S. Albertin, Cathleen Concannon, Peter G. Szilagyi

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Studies have noted variations in the cost-effectiveness of school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV), but little is known about how SLIV's cost-effectiveness may vary by targeted age group (e.g., elementary or secondary school students), or vaccine consent process (paper-based or web-based). Further, SLIV's cost-effectiveness may be impacted by its spillover effect on practice-based vaccination; prior studies have not addressed this issue.

METHODS: We performed a cost-effectiveness analysis on two SLIV programs in upstate New York in 2015-2016: (a) elementary school SLIV using a stepped wedge design with schools as clusters (24 suburban and 18 urban schools) and (b) secondary school SLIV …

Parenting Styles Are Associated With Overall Child Dietary Quality Within Low-Income And Food-Insecure Households, Michael P. Burke, Sonya J. Jones, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Christine E. Blake, Maryah S. Fram

Faculty Publications

Objective: To examine the association between parenting styles and overall child dietary quality within households that are low-income and food-insecure.

Design: Child dietary intake was measured via a 24 h dietary recall. Dietary quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005). Parenting styles were measured and scored using the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire. Linear regressions were used to test main and interaction associations between HEI-2005 scores and parenting styles.

Setting: Non-probability sample of low-income and food-insecure households in South Carolina, USA.

Participants: Parent–child dyads (n 171). Parents were ≥18 years old and children were …

An Integrative Cross-Omics Analysis Of Dna Methylation Sites Of Glucose And Insulin Homeostasis, Jun Liu, Elena Carnero-Montoro, Jenny Van Dongen, Samantha Lent, Ivana Nedeljkovic, Symen Ligthart, Pei-Chien Tsai, Tiphaine C. Martin, Pooja R. Mandaviya, Rick Jansen, Marjolein J. Peters, Liesbeth Duijts, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, Henning Tiemeier, Janine F. Felix, Gonneke Willemsen, Eco J. C. De Geus, Audrey Y. Chu, Daniel Levy, Shih-Jen Hwang, Jan Bressler, Rahul Gondalia, Elias L. Salfati, Christian Herder, Bertha A. Hidalgo, Toshiko Tanaka, Ann Zenobia Moore, Rozenn N. Lemaitre, Min A. Jhun, Jennifer A. Smith, Donna K. Arnett

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Despite existing reports on differential DNA methylation in type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity, our understanding of its functional relevance remains limited. Here we show the effect of differential methylation in the early phases of T2D pathology by a blood-based epigenome-wide association study of 4808 non-diabetic Europeans in the discovery phase and 11,750 individuals in the replication. We identify CpGs in LETM1, RBM20, IRS2, MAN2A2 and the 1q25.3 region associated with fasting insulin, and in FCRL6, SLAMF1, APOBEC3H and the 15q26.1 region with fasting glucose. In silico cross-omics analyses highlight the role of differential methylation …

Involuntary Hospitalization Among Young People With Early Psychosis: A Population-Based Study Using Health Administrative Data., Rebecca Rodrigues, Arlene G Macdougall, Guangyong Zou, Michael Lebenbaum, Paul Kurdyak, Lihua Li, Salimah Z Shariff, Kelly K Anderson

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Publications

OBJECTIVE: Early psychosis is an important window for establishing long-term trajectories. Involuntary hospitalization during this period may impact subsequent service engagement in people with newly diagnosed psychotic disorder. However, population-based studies of involuntary hospitalization in early psychosis are lacking. We sought to estimate the proportion of people aged 16 to 35 years with early psychosis in Ontario who are hospitalized involuntarily at first admission, and to identify the associated risk factors and outcomes.

METHODS: Using linked population-based health administrative data, we identified incident cases of non-affective psychosis over a five-year period (2009-2013) and followed cases for two years to ascertain …

Redesigning Systems To Improve Teamwork And Quality For Hospitalized Patients (Reset): Study Protocol Evaluating The Effect Of Mentored Implementation To Redesign Clinical Microsystems, Kevin J. O'Leary, Julie K. Johnson, Milisa Manojlovich, Jenna D. Goldstein, Jungwha Lee, Mark V. Williams

Center for Health Services Research Faculty Publications

Background: A number of challenges impede our ability to consistently provide high quality care to patients hospitalized with medical conditions. Teams are large, team membership continually evolves, and physicians are often spread across multiple units and floors. Moreover, patients and family members are generally poorly informed and lack opportunities to partner in decision making. Prior studies have tested interventions to redesign aspects of the care delivery system for hospitalized medical patients, but the majority have evaluated the effect of a single intervention. We believe these interventions represent complementary and mutually reinforcing components of a redesigned clinical microsystem. Our specific objective …

Comparison Of Methods Used To Estimate The Global Burden Of Disease Related To Undernutrition And Suboptimal Breastfeeding, Alexander C. Mclain, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Sonja Y. Hess, Ellen G. Piwoz

Faculty Publications

The Global Burden of Disease study (GBD) is an ambitious effort to estimate the disease burden attributable to various risk factors. The results from the GBD are used around the world to monitor the UN established Sustainable Development Goals, set health policies and research strategies, among others. The GBD along with other studies, such as those from the Maternal Child Epidemiology Estimation Group and the Lancet Breastfeeding Series Group, produce estimates of the nutrition-related global burden of disease that exhibit considerable differences. These differences are difficult to reconcile due to the estimation methods, which in recent years have substantially increased …

Perspective: Challenges In Use Of Adolescent Anthropometry For Understanding The Burden Of Malnutrition, Alison Tumilowicz, Ty Beal, Lynnette M. Neufeld, Edward A. Frongillo Jr.

Faculty Publications

Improving nutritional status during adolescence is an opportunity to improve the lives of this generation and the next. Estimating the burden of malnutrition at a population level is fundamental to targeting interventions and measuring progress over time, and for adolescents, we usually depend on survey data and the 2007 WHO Growth Reference to do so. There is substantial risk of misguided conclusions regarding adolescent prevalence estimates, however, when underlying methodological limitations of the indicators and reference are not adequately considered. We use national prevalence estimates among girls and young women 10-22 y of age from the 2014 State of Food …

Stimulation Of Heat Shock Protein 90 Chaperone Function Through Binding Of A Novobiocin Analog Ku-32, Bhaskar K. Chatterjee, Abhilash Jayaraj, Vinay Kumar, Brian Blagg, Rachel E. Davis, B Jayaram, Shashank Deep, Tapan K. Chaudhuri

Faculty Publications

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a eukaryotic chaperone responsible for the folding and functional activation of numerous client proteins, many of which are oncoproteins. Thus, Hsp90 inhibition has been intensely pursued, resulting in the development of many potential Hsp90 inhibitors, not all of which are well-characterized. Hsp90 inhibitors not only abrogate its chaperone functions, but also could help us gain insight into the structure-function relationship of this chaperone. Here, using biochemical and cell-based assays along with isothermal titration calorimetry, we investigate KU-32, a derivative of the Hsp90 inhibitor novobiocin (NB), for its ability to modulate Hsp90 chaperone function. Although …

Evaluation Of A Tennessee Statewide Initiative To Reduce Early Elective Deliveries Using Quasi-Experimental Methods, Michael P. Thompson, Ilana Graetz, Caitlin N. Mckillop, Peter H. Grubb, Teresa M. Waters

Health Management and Policy Faculty Publications

Background: Concerted quality improvement (QI) efforts have been taken to discourage the practice of early elective deliveries (EEDs), but few studies have robustly examined the impact of directed QI interventions in reducing EED practices. Using quasi-experimental methods, we sought to evaluate the impact of a statewide QI intervention to reduce the practice of EEDs.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of vital records data (2007 to 2013) for all singleton births occurring ≥36 weeks in 66 Tennessee hospitals grouped into three QI cohorts. We used interrupted-time series to estimate the effect of the QI intervention on the likelihood of an EED birth …

Factors Associated With Condom Use With Non-Commercial Partners Among Sexually-Active Transgender Women In Cambodia: Findings From A National Survey Using Respondent-Driven Sampling., Siyan Yi, Amelia Plant, Sovannary Tuot, Phalkun Mun, Srean Chhim, Navy Chann, Pheak Chhoun, Carinne M. Brody

BACKGROUND: Globally, the prevalence of HIV among transgender women is much higher than that of the general adult population. This can be explained by the persistently low rate of consistent condom use among this population. This study was therefore conducted to explore factors associated with consistent condom use among sexually-active transgender women in Cambodia, specifically with their non-commercial partners.

METHODS: Data used for this study were collected as part of the National Integrated Biological and Behavioral Survey 2016. Participants were recruited from the capital city of Phnom Penh and 12 other provinces with high burden of HIV using the Respondent-Driven …

Development And Validation Of The Policies, Opportunities, Initiatives And Notable Topics (Points) Audit For Campuses And Worksites., Tanya M Horacek, Marlei Simon, Elif Dede Yildirim, Adrienne A White, Karla P Shelnutt, Kristin Riggsbee, Melissa D. Olfert, Jesse Stabile Morrell, Anne E Mathews, Wenjun Zhou, Tandalayo Kidd, Kendra Kattelmann, Geoffrey Greene, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Sarah Colby, Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, Onikia Brown

Health and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Workplace or campus wellness/obesity-prevention policies and initiatives can improve health. Research tools to assess worksite or campus policies/initiatives are scarce. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop and validate the policies, opportunities, initiatives, and notable topics (POINTS) audit. Methods: POINTS was developed and refined via expert review, pilot-testing, and field testing. Trained researchers completed a web-based review from a student-focus or employee-focus regarding 34 health-promoting topics for colleges. Each topic was evaluated on a 0⁻2 scale: 0 = no policy/initiative, 1 = initiatives, 2 = written policy. When a written policy was detected, additional policy support questions …

Timely Linkage Of Individuals To Substance Use Disorder Treatment: Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Findhelpnowky.Org, Terry Lee Bunn, Dana Quesinberry, Tyler Jennings, Amber Kizewski, Heather Jackson, Sarah Mckee, Sarah Eustice

Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center Faculty Publications

Background: Substance use disorders (SUD) have steadily increased over the last two decades. Seeking SUD treatment involves searching SUD treatment facility types (inpatient, outpatient and intensive outpatient, residential and family residential, and detoxification facilities) that offer specialized SUD treatment depending on individual needs and preferences. Referrals to SUD treatment require innovative strategies that rapidly link individuals to SUD treatment when they are at the critical stage of readiness. The aim of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a user-friendly SUD treatment facility opening availability website called FindHelpNowKY.org. The objectives of the study were to 1) recruit SUD treatment …

Virus-Specific Memory T Cells Populate Tumors And Can Be Repurposed For Tumor Immunotherapy, Pamela C. Rosato, Sathi Wijeyesinghe, J Michael Stolley, Christine E. Nelson, Rachel Davis, Luke S. Manlove, Christopher A. Pennell, Bruce R. Blazar, Clark C. Chen, Melissa A. Geller, Vaiva Vezys, David Masopust

Faculty Publications

The immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment limits the success of current immunotherapies. The host retains memory T cells specific for previous infections throughout the entire body that are capable of executing potent and immediate immunostimulatory functions. Here we show that virus-specific memory T cells extend their surveillance to mouse and human tumors. Reactivating these antiviral T cells can arrest growth of checkpoint blockade-resistant and poorly immunogenic tumors in mice after injecting adjuvant-free non-replicating viral peptides into tumors. Peptide mimics a viral reinfection event to memory CD8+ T cells, triggering antigen presentation and cytotoxic pathways within the tumor, activating dendritic cells and natural …

Consequences Of Pathogen Lists: Why Some Diseases May Continue To Plague Us, David Brett-Major, Trina Racine, Gary P. Kobinger

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

The current strategy used by many funding agencies for determining how money is spent on research to help prevent infectious disease outbreaks is based on pathogen-specific priority lists. Listing disease threats provides focus for business and research planning conducive to specific goals of developing a drug, or a vaccine, or other particular product. But, this singular type of focus has consequences. This perspective explores the consequences of lists, and describes how parallel programming independent of disease lists that address what we need to do to prevent and mitigate emerging disease risks may provide benefits out of reach of a singular …

Effect Of Abo Blood Group On Asymptomatic, Uncomplicated And Placental Plasmodium Falciparum Infection: Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Abraham Degarege, Merhawi T. Gebrezgi, Consuelo M. Beck-Sague, Mats Wahlgren, Luiz Carlos De Mattos, Purnima Madhivanan

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

BACKGROUND: Malaria clinical outcomes vary by erythrocyte characteristics, including ABO blood group, but the effect of ABO blood group on asymptomatic, uncomplicated and placental Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) infection remains unclear. We explored effects of ABO blood group on asymptomatic, uncomplicated and placental falciparum infection in the published literature.

METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines. Articles in Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL and Cochrane Library published before February 04, 2017 were searched without restriction. Studies were included if they reported P. falciparum infection incidence or prevalence, …

The Impact Of Travel Time On Colorectal Cancer Stage At Diagnosis In A Privately Insured Population, Mesnad Alyabsi, Mary Charlton, Jane L. Meza, K. M. Monirul Islam, Amr Soliman, Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

BACKGROUND: Rural residents are less likely to receive screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) than urban residents. However, the mechanisms underlying this disparity, especially among people aged 50-64 years old with private health insurance, are not well understood. We examined the impact of travel time on stage at CRC diagnosis.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used data from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. Members of this private insurance company aged 50-64 years, diagnosed with CRC during the period 2012-2016, and continuously enrolled in the insurance plan for at least 6 months prior to CRC diagnosis, were selected for …

Evaluation Of Plan Quality And Treatment Efficiency For Single-Isocenter/Two-Lesion Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, Lana Sanford, Janelle A. Molloy, Sameera S. Kumar, Marcus Randall, Ronald C. Mcgarry, Damodar Pokhrel

Radiation Medicine Faculty Publications

Purpose/objectives: To evaluate the plan quality and treatment delivery efficiency of single‐isocenter/two‐lesions volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

Materials/methods: Eight consecutive patients with two peripherally located early stage nonsmall‐cell‐lung cancer (NSCLC) lung lesions underwent single‐isocenter highly conformal noncoplanar VMAT SBRT treatment in our institution. A single‐isocenter was placed between the two lesions. Doses were 54 or 50 Gy in 3 and 5 fractions respectively. Patients were treated every other day. Plans were calculated in Eclipse with AcurosXB algorithm and normalized to at least 95% of the planning target volume (PTV) receiving 100% of the prescribed …

Using "Outbreak Science" To Strengthen The Use Of Models During Epidemics., Caitlin Rivers, Jean-Paul Chretien, Steven Riley, Julie A. Pavlin, Alexandra Woodward, David Brett-Major, Irina Maljkovic Berry, Lindsay Morton, Richard G. Jarman, Matthew Biggerstaff, Michael A. Johansson, Nicholas G. Reich, Diane Meyer, Michael R. Snyder, Simon Pollett

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Infectious disease modeling has played a prominent role in recent outbreaks, yet integrating these analyses into public health decision-making has been challenging. We recommend establishing ‘outbreak science’ as an inter-disciplinary field to improve applied epidemic modeling.

New Filovirus Disease Classification And Nomenclature, Jens H. Kuhn, Takuya Adachi, Neill K.J. Adhikari, Jose R. Arribas, Ibrahima Elhadj Bah, Daniel G. Bausch, Nahid Bhadelia, Matthias Borchert, Arne Broch Brantsæter, David Brett-Major, Timothy H. Burgess, Daniel S. Chertow, Christopher G. Chute, Theodore J. Cieslak, Robert Colebunders, Ian Crozier, Richard T. Davey, Hilde De Clerck, Rafael Delgado, Laura Evans, Mosoka Fallah, William A. Fischer, Tom E. Fletcher, Robert A. Fowler, Thomas Grünewald, Andy Hall, Angela L. Hewlett, Andy I.M. Hoepelman, Catherine F. Houlihan, Giuseppe Ippolito, Shevin T. Jacob, Michael Jacobs, Robert Jakob, Frederique A. Jacquerioz, Laurent Kaiser, Andre C. Kalil, Rashidatu F. Kamara, Jimmy Kapetshi, Hans-Dieter Klenk, Gary Kobinger, Mark G. Kortepeter, Colleen S. Kraft, Thomas Kratz, Henry S. Kyobe Bosa, Marta Lado, François Lamontagne, H. Cliff Lane, Leslie Lobel, Julius Lutwama, G. Marshall Lyon, Moses B.F. Massaquoi, Thomas A. Massaquoi, Aneesh K. Mehta, Vital Mondonge Makuma, Srinivas Murthy, Tonny Seikikongo Musoke, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, Phiona Nakyeyune, Carolina Nanclares, Miriam Nanyunja, Justus Nsio-Mbeta, Tim O'Dempsey, Janusz T. Pawęska, Clarence J. Peters, Peter Piot, Christophe Rapp, Bertrand Renaud, Bruce Ribner, Pardis C. Sabeti, John S. Schieffelin, Werner Slenczka, Moses J. Soka, Armand Sprecher, James Strong, Robert Swanepoel, Timothy M. Uyeki, Michel Van Herp, Pauline Vetter, David A. Wohl, Timo Wolf, Anja Wolz, Alie H. Wurie, Zabulon Yoti

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

The recent large outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Western Africa resulted in greatly increased accumulation of human genotypic, phenotypic and clinical data, and improved our understanding of the spectrum of clinical manifestations. As a result, the WHO disease classification of EVD underwent major revision.

Improving Behavioral Health Workforce Supply And Needs Estimates Using Active Surveillance Data, Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, Li-Wu Chen, Kate Trout, David Palm, Marlene Deras, Zaeema Naveed

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

INTRODUCTION: Previous studies show that supply of behavioral health professionals in rural areas is inadequate to meet the need. Measuring shortage using licensure data on psychiatrists is a common approach. Although inexpensive, the licensure data have many limitations. An alternative is to implement an active surveillance system, which uses licensure data in addition to active data collection to obtain timely and detailed information.

METHODS: Nebraska Health Professions Tracking Service (HPTS) data were used to examine differences in workforce supply estimates between the passive (licensure data only) and active (HPTS data) surveillance systems. The impact of these differences on the designation …