Public Health Commons^™

Weight Loss For Overweight And Obese Patients With Prostate Cancer: A Study Protocol Of A Randomised Trial Comparing Clinic-Based Versus Telehealth Delivered Exercise And Nutrition Intervention (The Telex Trial), Daniel A. Galvão, Dennis R. Taaffe, Dickon Hayne, Pedro Lopez, Philippa Lyons-Wall, Colin I. Tang, Suzanne K. Chambers, Amanda Devine, Nigel Spry, Emily Jeffery, Christine Kudiarasu, David Joseph, Robert U. Newton

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction Obese men with prostate cancer have an increased risk of biochemical recurrence, metastatic disease and mortality. For those undergoing androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), substantial increases in fat mass are observed in the first year of treatment. Recently, we showed that a targeted supervised clinic-based exercise and nutrition intervention can result in a substantial reduction in fat mass with muscle mass preserved in ADT-treated patients. However, the intervention needs to be accessible to all patients and not just those who can access a supervised clinic-based programme. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of telehealth delivered compared …

A Preliminary Study Of Proinflammatory Cytokines And Depression Following West Nile Virus Infection, Allison Lino, Timothy A. Erickson, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph, Kristy O. Murray, Shannon E. Ronca

Faculty Publications

West Nile virus (WNV) is a neurotropic flavivirus that can cause acute febrile illness leading to neuroinvasive disease. Depression is a well-described outcome following infection, but the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are unknown. Proinflammatory cytokines play important roles in WNV infection, but their role in depression post-WNV remains unstudied. This research aimed to retrospectively evaluate associations between proinflammatory cytokines and new onset depression in a WNV cohort. Participants with asymptomatic WNV infection were significantly less likely to report new onset depression when compared to those with symptomatic disease. Participants with encephalitis and obesity were significantly more likely to report new onset …

2022-06-03 Michiganoverview_Covidbedppe, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Hospital Data

Contains the tables Statewide Hospital Capacity Report for COVID-19, COVID-19 Metrics, Statewide Hospital Available PPE Tracking for COVID-19, as well as the tables PPE Days On Hand and Patient Census.

Radiation Isolation And The Impact Of Care: Nursing Knowledge And Perception Of Radiation Risks, Bae P. Chu

Dissertations and Theses

Background: The safety challenges encountered when employing ionizing radiation to treat patients and manage radiation exposure and contamination have been well established in previous research. However, little is known about nurses’ understanding of the risks associated with ionizing radiation and how they respond to their own perceptions of risk. Although a wealth of literature shows an association between radiation treatment and negative patient experiences, there remains a lack of understanding of the basis of these perceptions among nurses. Increased ionizing radiation diagnoses and treatment means that nurses are at a higher risk of radiation exposure today than thirty years ago. …

2022-06-02_Michiganoverview_Misc, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 MIS-C Data

The MIS-C Data page was obtained from Michigan's COVID-19 data page: https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/stats/mis-c-reporting.

This report is created by the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services from data self-reported by health care providers and local health departments. Data is updated on the first and third Thursdays of the month.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) is a condition in children and adolescents under 21 years of age where multiple organ systems become inflamed or dysfunctional which occurs in association with illness. Children with MIS-C may have a fever and various symptoms, including abdominal (gut) pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, …

Examination Of Sedentary Behavior And Stress Levels In Undergraduate Students At Western Michigan University, Samantha Putman

Honors Theses

The intention of this research project is to provide a snapshot of current sedentary behavior and stress levels of undergraduate students at Western Michigan University (WMU). This project investigates two variables of interest in current undergraduate students at WMU to understand how much sedentary behavior and stress students are experiencing whilst pursuing their undergraduate degree. Both sedentary behavior and stress are often seen as underlying causes of multiple health issues, which is why they are variables of interest. Understanding these two variables can help the university support aspects of an undergraduate’s life affected by increased stress and sedentary behavior while …

Assessment Of Spatial And Temporal Trends Of Exposure To Ambient Fine Particulate Matter And Ozone In New York/New Jersey Metropolitan Area, Subraham Singh

Dissertations and Theses

Background. Exposures to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5; particles with diameter less than 2.5 μm) and ozone (O₃) affect premature respiratory and cardiovascular mortality, morbidity and contribute to the development and progression of sub-clinical and clinical disease. Climate change affects air quality directly by modifying the thermodynamic properties of formation mechanisms and transport patterns, and indirectly, through increased emissions of PM_2.5 and O₃ precursors. The resultant changes in air quality influence human health outcomes through mechanisms of varying scale, timing, and complexity. PM_2.5 and O₃ levels have been declining due to the implementation …

Neighborhood Predictors Of E-Cigarette Retailer Density In New York City, Laena Orkin-Prol

Dissertations and Theses

Background: The rampant expansion of the e-cigarette market over the last decade in the U.S. is a threat to the health of the public—due to the e-cigarette’s appeal to young people, addictiveness, and harms of consumption. It is vital to study the distribution of e-cigarette retailers of different types in major urban centers, such as New York City (NYC), to identify if certain neighborhoods are overburdened with retailers and if intervention is required. The current research on the e-cigarette retailer environment is limited in its scope and methods used.

Objective: To investigate neighborhood attributes associated with e-cigarette retailer density in …

Development, Validity, And Cross-Context Equivalence Of The Child Food Insecurity Experiences Scale For Assessing Food Insecurity Of School-Age Children And Adolescents, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Maryah S. Fram, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Jennifer Bernal, Zeina Jamaluddine, Sharon I. Kirkpatrick, David Hammond, Elisabetta Aurino, Sharon Wolf, Sophie M. Goudet, Mara Nyawo, Chika Hayashi

Faculty Publications

Background: Children ages 6 to 17 years can accurately assess their own food insecurity, whereas parents are inaccurate reporters of their children's experiences of food insecurity. No globally applicable scale to assess the food insecurity of children has been developed and validated.

Objectives: We aimed to develop a globally applicable, experience-based measure of child and adolescent food insecurity and establish the validity and cross-contextual equivalence of the measure.

Methods: The 10-item Child Food Insecurity Experiences Scale (CFIES) was based on items previously validated from questionnaires from the United States, Venezuela, and Lebanon. Cognitive interviews were conducted to check understanding of …

Factors Related To Contraceptive Use And Family Planning Decision-Making In The South Asian Community Residing In New York City, Nandini Shroff

Dissertations and Theses

Introduction: Currently, there are approximately 5.4 million South Asians residing in the United States (U.S.). The limited literature illustrates that contraceptive use is underutilized among Asians and Asian sub-groups, including South Asian Americans, compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Using Los Angeles County Health survey data, one study found that 22% of Asian Americans reported always using condom in the past 12 months compared to 37% of African Americans, 27% of Whites, and 27% of Hispanics. A study among New Jersey women revealed that compared to non-South Asian women, South Asians (SAs) were less likely to have used ever …

Investigation Of The Association Of Exposures To Fire-Related Hazards With Pulmonary Function Of Firefighters, David G. Goldfarb

Dissertations and Theses

Background. Firefighters are habitually exposed to hazardous toxicants which place them at an elevated risk for numerous adverse health outcomes. An example of this is the associations observed in other works between inhalation of combustion byproducts from urban structural fires and both acute and chronic pulmonary dysfunction. To-date, the characterization of firefighters’ exposures to dangerous chemicals in smoke from non-wildfire incidents, both directly through personal monitoring and indirectly from work-related records is scarce. Prior works investigating the association between routine firefighting and pulmonary function have relied on crude metrics such as years of service and numbers of responses to …

Top-Ld: A Tool To Explore Linkage Disequilibrium With Topmed Whole-Genome Sequence Data, Le Huang, Jonathan D Rosen, Quan Sun, Jiawen Chen, Marsha M Wheeler, Ying Zhou, Yuan-I Min, Charles Kooperberg, Matthew P Conomos, Adrienne M Stilp, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Ani Manichaikul, Ruth J F Loos, Eimear E Kenny, Thomas W Blackwell, Albert V Smith, Goo Jun, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Ginger Metcalf, Eric Boerwinkle, Laura M Raffield, Alex P Reiner, Paul L Auer, Yun Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Current publicly available tools that allow rapid exploration of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between markers (e.g., HaploReg and LDlink) are based on whole-genome sequence (WGS) data from 2,504 individuals in the 1000 Genomes Project. Here, we present toP-LD, an online tool to explore LD inferred with high-coverage (∼30×) WGS data from 15,578 individuals in the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. toP-LD provides a significant upgrade compared to current LD tools, as the toPMed WGS data provide a more comprehensive representation of genetic variation than the 1000 Genomes data, particularly for rare variants and in the specific populations that we …

Predictive Performance Of Different Ntcp Techniques For Radiation-Induced Esophagitis In Nsclc Patients Receiving Proton Radiotherapy, Mei Chen, Zeming Wang, Shengpeng Jiang, Jian Sun, Li Wang, Narayan Sahoo, G Brandon Gunn, Steven J Frank, Cheng Xu, Jiayi Chen, Quynh-Nhu Nguyen, Joe Y Chang, Zhongxing Liao, X Ronald Zhu, Xiaodong Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study aimed to compare the predictive performance of different modeling methods in developing normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models for predicting radiation-induced esophagitis (RE) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving proton radiotherapy. The dataset was composed of 328 NSCLC patients receiving passive-scattering proton therapy and 41.6% of the patients experienced ≥ grade 2 RE. Five modeling methods were used to build NTCP models: standard Lyman-Kutcher-Burman (sLKB), generalized LKB (gLKB), multivariable logistic regression using two variable selection procedures-stepwise forward selection (Stepwise-MLR), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO-MLR), and support vector machines (SVM). Predictive performance was internally …

Micro-Rna Analysis Of Extracellular Vesicles Secreted By Alveolar Macrophages And Epithelial Cells In Response To Cadmium, Anisha Bhakta

Biotechnology Theses

Inhalation of cadmium (Cd) has been an environmental health concern with the increase in industrial activities and smoking. Cd exposure is known to affect several organs such as lungs, kidneys, and liver. In this study, we wanted to understand if Cd inhalation exposure can affect the lungs and other organs in the body. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles secreted by all living cells and are known to carry toxicants between organs. We investigated whether Cd exposure could affect exosome biogenesis and their composition. Cd exposure did not affect the viability of A549, a lung epithelial cell line and macrophages derived from …

2022-06-01 Michiganoverview_Covidbedppe, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Hospital Data

Contains the tables Statewide Hospital Capacity Report for COVID-19, COVID-19 Metrics, Statewide Hospital Available PPE Tracking for COVID-19, as well as the tables PPE Days On Hand and Patient Census.

2022-06-01_Michiganoverview_Covidstats, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Cumulative Michigan COVID-19 Data

The COVID Overview page was obtained from Michigan's main COVID-19 page: https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/stats.

The State of Michigan is working around the clock to test and treat COVID-19 patients. Below is the most recent data healthcare experts across the state have compiled. COVID case and testing data will be posted once a week on Wednesdays.

This report is provisional and subject to change. City of Detroit and Wayne County are reported separately. MDHHS began tracking probable cases April 5, 2020. FCI indicates federal correctional institute. MDOC indicates Michigan Department of Corrections. Diagnostic tests, including nucleic acid amplification/real-time polymerase chain reaction (NAAT/RT-PCR) …

2022-06-01_Michiganoverview_Covidcounts, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Confirmed Cases by Date of Onset Data

Data was downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet which appeared in the Public Use Datasets section under the Cumulative Data link of Michigan's Coronavirus webpage, under the url https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98163_98173---,00.html.

Cases are aggregated by the date of onset of COVID-19 symptoms, if known, otherwise by laboratory specimen date if known, otherwise by case referral date. Deaths are aggregated by the date of death if known, otherwise by the last date of a change to the case status.

Bringing People Back Into Public Health Data: Community Feedback On A Set Of Visualization Tools - Summary Report, Alejandro Cerón, Mia Glover, Quisi Rodriguez-Oregel, Dani Thompson, Tom Adams, Naomi Asakura, Kaela Belknap, Anna Block, Nicole Boehler, Hannah Boeve, Sarah Bomers, Sasha Borovok, Grace Bryan, Kate Buffington, Majesty Cain, Beth Carideo, Haley Chesno, Grace Connell, Jake Corbett, Camille Cruz, Chloe Dawkins, Anna Denniston, Lydia Dickens, Sophie Duplock, Samuel Dwinell, Avery Ess, Sam Ferman, Ellis Geis, Ethan Graupmann, Xander Hedrick, Angel Hernandez-Miramontes, Grant Huyghe, Sara Ibrahiem, Anna Jamieson, Ian Kang, Allie Kris, Erin Lawrence, Maddie Leake, Ryan Leary, Taylor Loh, Charlotte Monroe, Alexander Nguyen-Lopez, Henry O’Daffer, Cat Parish, Jaylee Recountre, Grace Rizzo, Noah Roseth, Grace Rothstein, Katie Sage, Marie Saltzmann, Stephen Shlain, Riley Shores, Mackenna Simson, Mark Teneza, Jack Weinmeister, Justin Weinzweig, Alison Wenman, Patch Whelan, Lea Zimmerman

Anthropology: Undergraduate Student Scholarship

This course-based study is a product of the University of Denver’s Spring 2022 The Social Determination of Health (ANTH 2424) class. The study aimed to understand how well a set of public health visualization tools tells the data stories about people in Colorado, and about important public health problems. For this, a team of almost sixty undergraduate students taking the class, coordinated by three graduate teaching assistants, and directed by the course instructor interviewed a total of fifty-six people from Colorado, qualitatively analyzed those interviews, and wrote reports that draw conclusions and recommendations.

The Impact Of Training On Self-Reported Performance In Reproductive, Maternal, And Newborn Health Service Delivery Among Healthcare Workers In Tanzania: A Baseline- And Endline-Survey, Tumbwene Mwansisya, Columba Mbekenga, Kahabi Isangula, Loveluck Mwasha, Stewart Mbelwa, Mary Lyimo, Lucy Kisaka, Victor Mathias, Eunice Pallangyo, Grace Edwards, Michaela Mantel, Sisawo Konteh, Thomas Rutachunzibwa, Marleen Temmerman

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Background: Delivery of quality reproductive health services has been documented to depend on the availability of healthcare workers who are adequately supported with appropriate training. However, unmet training needs among healthcare workers in reproductive, maternal, and newborn health (RMNH) in low-income countries remain disproportionately high. This study investigated the effectiveness of training with onsite clinical mentorship towards self-reported performance in RMNH among healthcare workers in Mwanza Region, Tanzania.

Methods: The study used a quasi-experimental design with pre-and post-intervention evaluation strategy. The baseline was compared with two endline groups: those with intervention (training and onsite mentorship) and those without. The differences …

Is The Phq-9 A Unidimensional Measure Of Depression? A 58,272-Participant Study, Renzo Bianchi, Jay Verkuilen, Sharon Toker, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Markus Gerber, Elmar Brähler, Kurt Kroenke

Publications and Research

The PHQ-9 has become a measure of reference in depression research and clinical practice. However, the issue of the PHQ-9’s unidimensionality has not been fully elucidated, and the usability of the PHQ-9’s total score requires clarification. In this study, we examined the dimensionality, scalability, and monotonicity properties of the PHQ-9 as well as the scale’s total-score reliability. We did so based on exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) bifactor analysis and Mokken scale analysis (MSA). We relied on a total of 58,272 participants (63% female; Mage = 43, SDage = 13) from 29 samples involving seven different countries (e.g., Germany, the …

Air Pollutant Levels And Asthma Emergency Room Visits In A Highly Populous Us Urban County During 2018-19, Osaremhen Ikhile, Jingjing Yin, Atin Adhikari

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Objective: Air pollutants are linked to asthma exacerbation. The study purpose was to demonstrate an association between air pollutants levels and asthma emergency room (ER) visit trends in a highly populated US urban county in Georgia during 2018-2019.

Methods: Time series analyses were conducted for the variations in daily numbers of children and adult asthma emergency room visits and changes in daily mean PM_2.5, daily mean PM₁₀ concentrations, daily max 1-hour SO₂ concentrations, daily max 1-hour NO₂ concentrations, daily max 8-hour ozone concentrations, and airborne pollen loads for 2018 to 2019 and potential trends were …

2022-06-01_Michiganoverview_Covidvaccinestats, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Vaccine Data

The COVID Vaccine Dashboard page was obtained from Michigan's main COVID-19 page: https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/resources/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-dashboard.

First-dose tracker above is for entire Michigan Population. Coverage maps below are for age 5+.

Previously reported numbers of administered vaccine doses may change as new data are received. A possible lag in reporting vaccine doses will result in increases in numbers previously reported.

This report is created by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Division of Immunization from data reported to the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR).

The dashboard contained the tabs Primary Series Doses Administered, Primary Series Doses by Vaccine, …

Vision And Hearing Loss Associated With Lifetime Drug Use: Nhanes 2013–2018, Amanda M. Hinson-Enslin, Ramzi W. Nahhas, Heather F. Mcclintock

Population and Public Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: One in four American adults has a disability. Individuals with disabilities are more likely to have mental health issues and use substances and are less likely to attend substance use rehabilitation compared to individuals without disabilities. However, most research about substance use and substance use rehabilitation does not focus specifically on sensory disabilities. Objective: The purpose was to test the association between vision and/or hearing loss, lifetime drug use, and lifetime drug rehabilitation. Methods: Data files from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles (2013–2014, 2015–2016, 2017–2018) were combined. Ordinal logistic regression was used to test the association between …

Non-Metropolitan And Metropolitan Trends In Mental Health Treatment Availability In Community Health And Community Mental Health Centers, Tyrone F. Borders, Timothy Williams, Katherine Youngen, Julia Cecil

Rural & Underserved Health Research Center Publications

Key Findings

The supply of community mental health centers (CMHCs) decreased substantially from 2000 to 2019 and became nearly non-existent in non-metropolitan counties.

• The number of CMHCs in non-metropolitan counties declined from 182 to 15.
• The number of CMHCs in metropolitan counties declined from 582 to 104.

The supply of community health centers (CHCs) offering mental health services increased substantially over the same time period, or from 2000 to 2019.

• The number of CHCs in non-metropolitan counties increased from 184 to 573.
• The number of CHCs in metropolitan counties increased from 126 to 797.

A Review Of The Standard Of Care Owed To Australian Firefighters From A Safety Perspective—The Differences Between Academic Theory And Legal Obligations, Greg Penney, Greg Smith, Simon Ridge, Marcus Cattani

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Working in high consequence yet low frequency, events Australian fire service Incident Controllers are required to make critical decisions with limited information in time-poor environments, whilst balancing competing priorities and pressures, to successfully solve dynamic large-scale disaster situations involving dozens of personnel within the Incident Management Team, including of front-line responders from multiple jurisdictions. They must also do this within the boundaries of public and political expectations, industrial agreements, and the legal requirement to maintain a safe workplace for all workers, inclusive of volunteers. In addition to these operational objectives, fire services must also provide realistic training to prepare frontline …

Effects Of A Workplace Exercise Intervention On Cardiometabolic Health: Randomized Controlled Trial, Ali Muneer Al Rahma

Dissertations

Brief Introduction: The worldwide rising levels of physical inactivity, especially in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Eastern Mediterranean region, are alarming. The UAE reports one of the highest rates of mortality due to non-communicable diseases, and insufficient physical activity is a major underlying cause. Therefore, action is required to reduce physical inactivity using evidence-based strategies.
/="/">Aims: To evaluate the effect of a 12-week workplace structured exercise intervention on cardiometabolic risk factors and to determine whether the workplace exercise intervention improves physical activity levels four weeks post-intervention.
/="/">Methods: This is a pragmatic parallel, randomized controlled trial with …

Prevalence Of Lost Time Injuries And Fatalities Among Construction Workers In Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (Uae), Ghuwaya Humaid Alnuaimi

Dissertations

Migrants account for more than 80% of the total population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Few population-based data were available about the burden of lost time injuries (LTIs) and fatalities among migrant workers employed in the construction industry. The proposed study aimed to estimate the prevalence of LTIs and associated factors, and fatalities among construction workers in Al Ain, of Abu Dhabi Emirate in the UAE. A cross-sectional study design was used to estimate the prevalence of LTIs resulting in one or more than a day of sick leave in a random sample (n=1,626) of male construction workers in …

Statement From Columbia Law School’S Center For Gender And Sexuality Law On The Supreme Court Decision Overruling The Constitutional Right To Abortion, Center For Gender And Sexuality Law

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization signals a major break with at least three generations of constitutional law. This opinion eliminates not only constitutional protections for abortion, but well-settled legal principles on which fundamental rights have rested for over 60 years. “Within a 24-hour period the Supreme Court ruled on the one hand that abortion rights are a local issue to be decided by each state independently, while on the other, states are barred from making local decisions about how to regulate guns,” said Katherine Franke, James L. Dohr Professor of Law and Director of …

Commencement Program 2022, Loma Linda University

Commencement Programs

CONTENTS

1 | Message from the President

3 | 2022 Events of Commencement

5 | The Academic Procession

6 | Institutional Administration

7 | Board of Trustees

8 | Significance of Academic Regalia

9 | University History Highlights

11 | Criteria for Institutional Awards

13 | Loma Linda University Health and Loma Linda University Honorees

27 | The Programs, The School Honorees, and The Speakers

• School of Medicine, 28
• School of Pharmacy, 52
• School of Dentistry, 67
• School of Public Health, 92
• School of Allied Health Professions - Allied Health Studies, Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Clinical Laboratory Science, Communication Sciences and Disorders, …

The Global Implementation Of Dolutegravir For Hiv Treatment, Matthew L. Romo

Dissertations and Theses

Background
Dolutegravir, an integrase strand transfer inhibitor, is now recommended by international guidelines as part of preferred antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens for people living with HIV. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), HIV treatment programs are transitioning from non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) to dolutegravir because of its superior efficacy and tolerability, and high genetic barrier to HIV drug resistance. Along with the optimism surrounding widespread dolutegravir use, key questions regarding its implementation have emerged. In this dissertation, I sought to achieve the following specific aims: Aim 1: Characterize dolutegravir uptake in LMICs and identify potential disparities related to sex …