Clinical Epidemiology Commons^™

Sex-Dependent Effects Of Ho-1 Deletion From Adipocytes In Mice, Peter A. Hosick, Mary Frances Weeks, Michael W. Hankins, Kyle H. Moore, David E. Stec

Department of Exercise Science and Physical Education Scholarship and Creative Works

Induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been demonstrated to decrease body weight and improve insulin sensitivity in several models of obesity in rodents. To further study the role of HO-1 in adipose tissue, we created an adipose-specific HO-1 knockout mouse model. Male and female mice were fed either a control or a high-fat diet for 30 weeks. Body weights were measured weekly and body composition, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels were determined every six weeks. Adipocyte-specific knockout of HO-1 had no significant effect on body weight in mice fed a high-fat diet but increased body weight in female mice …

The Scoping Review Method: Mapping The Literature In “Structural Change” Public Health Interventions, Rosie Hanneke, Yuka Asada, Lisa D. Lieberman, Leah Christina Neubauer, Michael C. Fagan

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This case discusses how we used scoping review methodology to map the literature in an emergent area of research, “structural change” public health interventions. Scoping reviews are similar to systematic reviews in both scale and rigor; both of these literature review methodologies are comprehensive approaches to reviewing the literature on a topic. However, while a systematic review attempts to answer a specific, targeted research question, a scoping review is designed to map and categorize all of the literature on a broad topic. For this reason, it is an excellent method to employ in emergent research areas, in which researchers have …

Empowerment-Based Positive Youth Development: A New Understanding Of Healthy Development For African American Youth, Raphael Travis Jr., Tamara Leech

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

A shift occurred in research about adolescents in the general population. Research is moving away from deficits toward a resilience paradigm and understanding trajectories of positive youth development. This shift has been less consistent in research and practice with African American youth. A gap also exists in understanding whether individual youth development dimensions generate potential in other dimensions. This study presents an empowerment-based positive youth development model. It builds upon existing research to present a new vision of healthy development for African American youth that is strengths-based, developmental, culture-bound, and action-oriented. It emphasizes the relationship between person and environment, the …

Political Competition, Relative Deprivation, And Perceived Threat: A Research Note On Anti- Christian Violence In India, Chad Bauman, Tamara Leech

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

A preliminary subnational statistical analysis of violence against Christians in contemporary India, this article suggests that whereas the data provide very little support for simple, demographic explanations of this violence, they do more robustly support theories emphasizing the relative status of ethnic and religious minorities (vis-à-vis majorities) and the perception, among Hindus, that Christians (and other minorities) represent a threat to their numerical, political and economic strength.

Everything's Better In Moderation: Young Women's Gender Role Attitudes And Risky Sexual Behavior, Tamara Leech

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose This study examines the association between gender role attitudes and risky sexual behavior among young women. Previous studies have posed seemingly contradictory arguments: that either traditional attitudes or egalitarian attitudes are associated with riskier behavior. Methods Data are based on the children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, representing 520 sexually active 18–19-year-old women. Propensity radius matching was used to assess differences in rates of multiple sexual partners and sex outside of a committed relationship. Results Relative to moderate gender role attitudes, both egalitarian gender role attitudes and traditional gender role attitudes are associated with higher rates of …

Recently Arrested Adolescents Are At High Risk For Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Steven Belenko, Richard Dembo, Doris Weiland, Matthew Rollie, Christopher Salvatore, Alexandra Hanlon, Kristina Childs

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Adolescent offenders may be at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). With previous research and interventions focused on incarcerated adolescents, data are needed on STD prevalence and risk factors among newly arrested youth released to the community, a far larger subgroup.Participants were recruited from all arrested youth processed at the Hillsborough County, Florida Juvenile Assessment Center during the last half of 2006 (506 males, 442 females). Participants voluntarily providing urine samples for drug testing as part of standard protocol were also consented to having their specimens split and tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea, using an FDA-approved nucleic acid amplification …

A Cohort Study Of Reproductive And Hormonal Factors And Renal Cell Cancer Risk In Women, Gc Kabat, Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Ab Miller, Te Rohan

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

We examined the association of reproductive and hormonal factors with renal cell cancer risk in a cohort study of 89 835 Canadian women. Compared with nulliparous women, parous women were at increased risk (hazard ratio (HR) 1.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–3.09), and there was a significant gradient of risk with increasing levels of parity: relative to nulliparous women, women who had X5 pregnancies lasting 4 months or more had a 2.4-fold risk (HR 1⁄4 2.41, 95% CI 1⁄4 1.27–4.59, P for trend 0.01). Ever use of oral contraceptives was associated with a modest reduction in risk. No associations were …

Glycaemic Index, Glycaemic Load And Risk Of Endometrial Cancer: A Prospective Cohort Study, Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Thomas E. Rohan, Meera Jain, Paul D. Terry, Geoffrey R. Howe, Anthony B. Miller

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective

High-glycaemic-load diets may increase endometrial cancer risk by increasing circulating insulin levels and, as a consequence, circulating oestrogen levels. Given the paucity of epidemiological data regarding the relationship between the dietary glycaemic index and glycaemic load and endometrial cancer risk, we sought to examine these associations using data from a prospective cohort study.

Design, setting, and subjects

We examined the association between dietary glycaemic load and endometrial cancer risk in a cohort of 49 613 Canadian women aged between 40 and 59 years at baseline who completed self-administered food-frequency questionnaires between 1982 and 1985. Linkages to national mortality and …

Girls' Perception Of Physical Environmental Factors And Transportation: Reliability And Association With Physical Activity And Active Transport To School, Kelly R. Evenson, Amanda Birnbaum, Ariane L. Bedimo-Rung, James Sallis, Carolyn C. Voorhees, Kimberly Ring, John P. Elder

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Background

Preliminary evidence suggests that the physical environment and transportation are associated with youth physical activity levels. Only a few studies have examined the association of physical environmental factors on walking and bicycling to school. Therefore, the purpose of this study was (1) to examine the test-retest reliability of a survey designed for youth to assess perceptions of physical environmental factors (e.g. safety, aesthetics, facilities near the home) and transportation, and (2) to describe the associations of these perceptions with both physical activity and active transport to school.

Methods

Test and retest surveys, administered a median of 12 days later, …

Perceived Smoking Environment And Smoking Initiation Among Multi-Ethnic Urban Girls, Tracy R. Nichols, Amanda Birnbaum, Sara Birnel, Gilbert J. Botvin

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose

To examine associations between the perceived smoking environment and smoking initiation among urban multi-ethnic adolescent girls in New York City.

Methods

Self-report surveys completed in grades 7, 8, and 9 assessed girls’ (n = 858) smoking initiation, and perceived smoking environment (family smoking, friends’ smoking, smoking norms, and cigarette availability). Carbon monoxide breath samples were collected from girls using a variation of the bogus pipeline procedure.

Results

Differences were found in smoking prevalence with white girls reporting the highest prevalence of smoking at baseline and the greatest increase in smoking prevalence from seventh to eighth grade. Black girls reported …

Need For Cognition And Message Complexity In Motivating Fruit And Vegetable Intake Among Callers To The Cancer Information Service, Pamela Williams-Piehota, Judith Pizarro, Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Linda Mowad, Peter Salovey

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This field experiment examined the impact of an individual's need for cognition (NFC; the tendency to enjoy thinking deeply about issues), complex versus simple messages, and the interaction of NFC and message type on encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption. Callers to the Cancer Information Service of the National Cancer Institute (N = 517) were asked to participate in the experiment at the end of their call. Individual NFC was assessed, and participants were assigned randomly to receive a telephone message promoting fruit and vegetable consumption that was either complex and multifaceted or simple and straightforward. Similarly constructed brochures were mailed …

Decreasing Barriers For Teens: Evaluation Of A New Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Strategy In School-Based Clinics, Abbey C. Sidebottom, Amanda Birnbaum, Sarah S. Nafstad

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Sidebottom et al seek to evaluate the effects of the change in distribution systems on students' receipt of requested contraceptives and demand for contraceptive school-based clinics (SBC). The result of the study reveals that the average number of requests per student was higher under the voucher system, possibly as a consequence of expires vouchers resulting in repeated requests. The findings also suggest that SBCs could go a step further in reducing adolescents' barriers to accessing contraceptives by adopting an on-site direct delivery system..

Condom Availability In New York City Public High Schools: Relationships To Condom Use And Sexual Behavior, Sally Guttmacher, Lisa D. Lieberman, David Ward, Nick Freudenberg, Alice Radosh, Don Des Jarlais

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the impact of the condom availability program in New York City public high schools by comparing rates of sexual activity and condom use for New York students and similar students in Chicago. METHODS: A total of 7119 students from 12 randomly selected New York schools and 5738 students from 10 Chicago schools participated in a cross-sectional survey. RESULTS: New York students, compared with Chicago students, reported equal rates of sexual activity but higher rates of condom use at last intercourse (odds ratio [OR] = 1.36). For higher-risk students (those with three or more sexual partners in …