Environmental Public Health Commons^™

Myths About Menstrual Personal Hygiene Among Female Adolescents, Tyas Diah Palupi, Terry Y.R. Pristya, Randy Novirsa

Kesmas

Poor personal hygiene during menstruation among adolescents can lead to urinary tract infection, reproductive tract infection, and skin irritation. This studyaimed to determine the relationship between belief in myths and personal hygiene during menstruation. Cross-sectional quantitative study was conductedusing a sample of 119 10th grade female students from Tangerang 13 State Senior High School selected through purposive sampling. Logistic regressionanalysis was used in this study to determine the relationship between myths and personal hygiene after age of menarche, attitude, socioeconomic status,information, and maternal education were controlled. In the bivariate selection, modeling was completed by entering confounding and interaction variablesthen reducing …

Adaptation And Validation Of The Tamil (Sri Lanka) Version Ofthe Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Pethirupillai Amal Dinesh Coonghe, Pushpa Fonseka, Sampasivamoorthy Sivayogan, Ajantha Keshavaraj, Rahul Malhotra, Truls Ostbye

Kesmas

The study aimed to develop the Tamil (Sri Lanka) version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and investigate its reliability and validity as a briefscreening tool for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan elderly with normal cognition and MCI were recruited from a neurology clinic.Adaptation of the English MoCA to the Tamil (Sri Lanka) involved context-specific content modification and translation. The content validity, reliability, sensitivity,and specificity of the tool were evaluated. Study participants were 184 older adults, comprising 85 with normal cognition and 99 neurologist-diagnosed MCI.The tool had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83). Receiver operating characteristic curve …

Adverse Effect Of Aerosol Pesticide On Lung Dysfunction Amongpaddy Farmers In Purworejo, Central Java, Indonesia, Fajaria Nurcandra, Renti Mahkota, Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono

Kesmas

The World Health Organization estimated that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will be the highest non-communicable disease worldwide by2030, and pesticide exposure is one of major risk factors. This study aimed to determine effect of pesticide exposure on lung dysfunction among paddyfarmers. A case-control study was performed on April - May 2016 in Purworejo. The case group comprised 66 farmers suffering from lung dysfunction during2015 based on medical records, while the control group comprised 59 neighboring farmers showing normal lung function. Both case and control groups weretested using a spirometer and COPD assessment test (CAT) questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis of …

Correlation Of Knowledge And Beliefs To Adherence With Antibiotic Use In Adult Patients At A Private Hospital In Sidoarjo, Muhammad Hasan Wattiheluw, Fauna Herawati, Setiasih Setiasih, Rika Yulia

Kesmas

Infectious diseases are one of the top ten causes of death in the world. Antibiotic therapy is administered for infectious diseases, but if bacteria are exposed to antibiotics continuously, then the bacteria are able to adapt to the medication, thereby resulting in antibiotic resistance. This condition results in an increase in mortality, long hospitalization period, and increased cost of antibiotic therapy and health services. Adherence to using antibiotics may be influenced by knowledge and beliefs about them. This study aimed to understand correlation between knowledge and belief with adherence to antibiotic use at a private hospital in Sidoarjo. This cross-sectional …

A Call For Consistency In The Official Naming Of The Disease Caused By Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 In Non-English Languages, Lu Dong, Zhe Li, Isaac Fung

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

We investigated the adoption of World Health Organization (WHO) naming of COVID-19 into the respective languages among the Group of Twenty (G20) countries, and the variation of COVID-19 naming in the Chinese language across different health authorities. On May 7, 2020, we identified the websites of the national health authorities of the G20 countries to identify naming of COVID-19 in their respective languages, and the websites of the health authorities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore and identify their Chinese name for COVID-19. Among the G20 nations, Argentina, China, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Turkey do …

Doubling Time Of The Covid-19 Epidemic By Province, China, Kamalich Muniz-Rodriguez, Gerardo Chowell, Chi-Hin Cheung, Dongyu Jia, Po-Ying Lai, Yiseul Lee, Manyun Liu, Sylvia Ofori, Kimberlyn M. Roosa, Lone Simonsen, Cecile Viboud, Isaac Fung

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

In China, the doubling time of the coronavirus disease epidemic by province increased during January 20–February 9, 2020. Doubling time estimates ranged from 1.4 (95% CI 1.2–2.0) days for Hunan Province to 3.1 (95% CI 2.1–4.8) days for Xinjiang Province. The estimate for Hubei Province was 2.5 (95% CI 2.4–2.6) days.

Auspicious Symbols Of Rank And Status, Byron Breedlove, Isaac Fung

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Work published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Limited Early Warnings And Public Attention To Coronavirus Disease 2019 In China, January–February, 2020: A Longitudinal Cohort Of Randomly Sampled Weibo Users, Yuner Zhu, King-Wa Fu, Karen A. Grépin, Hai Liang, Isaac Fung

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Objective:

Awareness and attentiveness have implications for the acceptance and adoption of disease prevention and control measures. Social media posts provide a record of the public’s attention to an outbreak. To measure the attention of Chinese netizens to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a pre-established nationally representative cohort of Weibo users was searched for COVID-19-related key words in their posts.

Methods:

COVID-19-related posts (N = 1101) were retrieved from a longitudinal cohort of 52 268 randomly sampled Weibo accounts (December 31, 2019–February 12, 2020).

Results:

Attention to COVID-19 was limited prior to China openly acknowledging human-to-human transmission on …

A Public Health Perspective On Gen X Contamination In Drinking Water, Allison Stevens

Honors Capstone Enhancement Presentations

No abstract provided.

Impactos En La Salud Pública Y Desigualdades Frente Al Cambio Climático En América Latina: Una Aproximación Hacia Las Consecuencias Diferenciales De Las Inundaciones Y Olas De Calor En La Cuenca Matanza Riachuelo. / Public Health Impacts And Inequalities In The Face Of Climate Change In Latin America: An Approach Towards The Differential Consequences Of Floods And Heat Waves In The Matanza Riachuelo Watershed., Julia Mettler-Grove

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La relación entre el cambio climático y la salud pública es un tema emergente y crítico para estudiar en la escala local, concretamente en lo que refiere a analizar los efectos producidos por las olas de calor y las inundaciones. Si bien existe un campo de investigación creciente sobre el tema, son pocos los trabajos que ahondan en la conexión con la salud pública, un elemento central para pensar en la gestión del cambio climático en las ciudades. Esto es precisamente lo que se propone hacer la presente investigación, tomando como caso de estudio la cuenca más urbanizada e industrializada …

Effects Of Diabetes On The Output Of Farmer And Its Policy Implications, Syed Asif Ali Naqvi, Bilal Hussain, Syed Ale Raza Shah, Muhammad Sohail Amjad Makhdum

Kesmas

This study investigated the impact of diabetes on work performance of different farming communities from Punjab, Pakistan. This study was based on cross-sectional data. A representative sample of 374 farmers was collected from five selected districts. Three types of respondents were analyzed in the study e.g.,laborer, small and large growers. Poisson and logistic regression techniques were used for the sake of analysis. According to the investigated results for thelabor category, respondents with more age, less qualification, low earning per month (Rupees), and having positive record of family diabetes, would havemore leave per month. In the same way, findings for small …

Qualitative Exploration Of Experiences And Consequences Of Health-Related Stigma Among Indonesians With Hiv, Leprosy, Schizophrenia And Diabetes, Sarju Sing Rai, Irwanto Irwanto, Ruth M.H. Peters, Elena V. Syurina, Annisa Ika Putri, Altana Mikhakhanova, Denise Naniche, Marjolein B.M. Zweekhorst

Kesmas

Health-related stigma causes a negative impact on the lives of affected people and undermines the effectiveness of public health programs. This study aimedto explore experiences and consequences of stigma among people affected by four health conditions relevant in Indonesia– HIV (Human ImmunodeficiencyVirus), leprosy, schizophrenia and diabetes. In this qualitative study 40 people affected by the four health conditions in Jakarta and West Java, Indonesia–,were interviewed between March and June 2018. Data were analyzed thematically by following an integrative inductive-deductive approach. The experiencesand consequences of people with stigma were similar, but such experience were more severe among people affected by HIV, …

Health Risk Behaviors: Smoking, Alcohol, Drugs, And Dating Among Youths In Rural Central Java, Zahroh Shaluhiyah, Syamsulhuda Budi Musthofa, Ratih Indraswari, Aditya Kusumawati

Kesmas

Adolescents are more likely to adopt risky health behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol use, and sexual activity. This study examined the links betweensmoking, alcohol use, and risky dating behavior and analyzed how these factors influenced risky dating and other behaviors. It is expected that this studywould be used as a foundation for developing appropriate integrated intervention for multiple risk behaviors among youths. This study was an explanatory research study with a cross-sectional approach. It involved 160 youths aged 15-24 years randomly selected from purposive villages. Participants completedself-administrated questionnaires with an enumerator present. Data were analyzed using univariate, chi-square, and multiple …

Evaluation Of Program For Overcoming Intestinal Worm Infections Among Children, Henny Febriyanti, Haerawati Idris

Kesmas

Prevalence of intestinal worm infection in generall is extremely high in Indonesia among the poor population with poor sanitation. One of the government programs to address this problem is the distribution of medicines to prevent intestinal worm infections. However, the coverage of the achievement for this program is still low in several areas of public health centers in Palembang. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the national program for preventing intestinal worm infections. The qualitative research design used evaluation model approach Context, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) model. This study was conducted in one of health …

Entomological Index And Home Environment Contribution­ ­To Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever In Mataram City, Indonesia, Tri Baskoro Tunggul Satoto, Nur Alvira Pascawati, Tri Wibawa, Roger Frutos, Sylvie Maguin, I Kadek Mulyawan, Ali Wardana

Kesmas

Indonesia is a member of Southeast Asia Regional Office (SEARO) ranked the first in dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) problem based on incidence rate (IR) and case fatality rate (CFR). Several provinces in Indonesia experience an outbreak, one of which is the Mataram City in West Nusa Tenggara Province. Mataram City is an endemic area of DHF because the DHF cases are always found in three consecutive years with the number of cases that fluctuate and tend to increase. This study aimed to obtain factors that could be used to improve early warning systems in controlling DHF. This study used a …

Utilization Of Family Planning Contraceptives Among Women Inthe Coastal Area Of South Buru District, Maluku, 2017, Christiana Rialine Titaley, Ninik Sallatalohy

Kesmas

Maluku Province is one among provinces in Indonesia with a contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) lower than the national average. This study aimed toexamine factors associated with the utilization of family planning contraceptives among women of reproductive age living in the coastal area of South BuruDistrict, Maluku, Indonesia. Data were derived from a household health survey conducted in five subdistricts in South Buru, e.g., Namrole, Leksula, Waesama,Kapala Madan and Ambalau Subdistricts on November 2017 by the Faculty of Medicine, Pattimura University in Ambon. Information on contraceptive usewere collected from 390 married women aged 20 - 49 years. Bivariate and multivariate logistic …

Determinants Of Stunted Children In Indonesia: A Multilevel Analysis At The Individual, Household, And Community Levels, Febri Wicaksono, Titik Harsanti

Kesmas

This study aimed to examine the risk factors of childhood undernutrition in Indonesia. Determinants of childhood stunting were examined by using the 2013 Indonesia Basic Health Research Survey dataset. A total of 76,165 children aged under 5 years were included in this study. The analysis used multivariate multilevel logistic regression to determine adjusted odds ratios (aORs). The prevalence of stunting in the sample population was 36.7%. The odds of stunting increased significantly among the under-five boys, children living in slum area, and the increase of household member (aOR = 1.11, 95 %CI: 1.06–1.15; 1.09, 95%CI: 1.04–1.15; and 1.03, 95%CI: 1.02–1.04 …

Appalachian Environmental Health Literacy: Building Knowledge And Skills To Protect Health, Anna G. Hoover, Annie Koempel, W. Jay Christian, Kimberly I. Tumlin, Kelly G. Pennell, Steven Evans, Malissa Mcalister, Lindell E. Ormsbee, Dawn Brewer

Journal of Appalachian Health

Environmental health literacy (EHL) is an emerging, multidisciplinary field that promotes understanding of how environmental exposures can affect human health. After discussing the regional relevance of environmental health knowledge and skills, this article describes three ongoing Appalachian projects that are focused on measuring and building EHL.

Contaminants Of Emerging Concern: Reconsidering Our Paradigm Of Water Pollution, Jonathan Gunasti

Pomona Senior Theses

In this senior thesis, I explore contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and discuss the ways in which these novel contaminants defy traditional notions of pollution. I discuss the history and “emergence” of CECs and EDCs in scientific and public spheres and outline ongoing challenges to recognizing, prioritizing, and understanding the action of these contaminants. I position EDCs within the framework of environmental injustice and health disparities and suggest that these compounds could reinforce multigenerational health inequities. Finally, I perform a pilot analysis of the EDC bisphenol A (BPA) in Mt. Baldy Creek, the Los Angeles …

Short-Term Effects Of Ambient Ozone, Pm2. 5, And Meteorological Factors On Covid-19 Confirmed Cases And Deaths In Queens, New York., Atin Adhikari, Jingjing Yin

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, has been rapidly increasing in the United States. Boroughs of New York City, including Queens county, turn out to be the epicenters of this infection. According to the data provided by the New York State Department of Health, most of the cases of new COVID-19 infections in New York City have been found in the Queens county where 42,023 people have tested positive, and 3221 people have died as of 20 April 2020. Person-to-person transmission and travels were implicated in the initial spread of the outbreaks, but factors …

Molecular Typing Of Rickettsia Akari, Marina E. Eremeeva

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Rickettsia akari is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes smallpox rickettsia. Rickettsia akari is an atypical member of the rickettsia spotted fever (SFG) group because it circulates in gamasid mites; however, only limited data are available regarding the degree of genetic diversity of R. akari isolates. We examined 13 isolates of R. akari isolated from humans, rodents, and ticks in the United States, the countries of the former USSR, and the former Yugoslavia for the period from 1946 to 2003 for diversity in the composition of tandem repeats (TR) and intergenic regions (IGR). Using the Tandem Repeat Finder software (http://tandem.bu.edu) …

Accounting For The Uncertainty Due To Chemicals Below The Detection Limit In Mixture Analysis, Paul M. Hargarten

Theses and Dissertations

Humans are exposed to multiple chemicals every day. Epidemiological studies have shown that chemical mixtures are associated with cancers, allergies, neurodevelopmental disorders, and other adverse health effects. To assess these associations, investigators are increasingly using chemical mixture approaches like weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression. In these studies, the research objectives are to determine whether a mixture of correlated chemicals is associated with an adverse health outcome and to identify the important chemicals. However, as experimental equipment measures each exposure to a chemical-specific detection limit, the exposures are unknown between zero and the detection limit. Indeed, the number of exposures below …

A Geostatistical Study Of Socioeconomic Status (Ses), Rurality, Seasonality And Index Test Results As Drivers Of Free Private Groundwater Testing In Southern Ontario, 2012–2016, Shahryar Qayyum, Paul Hynds, Harriet Richardson, Kevin Mcdermott, Anna Majury

Articles

Approximately 12% of the Canadian population uses private wells for daily water consumption; however, well water testing rates are on the decline, resulting in an increased risk of waterborne acute gastrointestinal illness. To date, limited research has explored the determinants influencing well testing practices. Accordingly, the current study sought to investigate the drivers of “one-off” and repeat well water testing in southern Ontario during the 5-year period 2012–2016, using the worlds largest private groundwater testing data-frame. Data from >400,000 wells were geospatially integrated with all tests conducted by the provincial laboratory in southern Ontario. The Ontario Marginalization Index (ON-Marg) was …

Rickettsialpox – A Rare But Not Extinct Disease: A Review Of The Literature And New Directions, Marina Eremeeva, Kamalich Muniz-Rodriguez

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Smallpox rickettsia is an urban zoonosis caused by Rickettsia akari. To date, R. akari is the only characterized representative of the group of spotted fevers transmitted by the gamasid mite Liponyssoides sanguineus, which is common among peridomic rodents. This disease was first described in New York in 1946, and a few years later a similar outbreak occurred in the Ukrainian SSR. Numerous serological studies and diagnostics of sporadic cases of smallpox rickettsiosis suggest its widespread occurrence on the planet; however, the current geography and incidence of smallpox rickettsiosis is unknown. Smallpox rickettsiosis is characterized by the classic clinical triad of …

Knowledge And Behavioural Interventions To Reduce Human Health Risk From Private Groundwater Systems: A Global Review And Pooled Analysis Based On Development Status, S. Mooney, C. P. Mcdowell, J. O'Dwyer, P. D. Hynds

Articles

Groundwater contamination constitutes a significant health risk for private well users residing in rural areas. As the responsibility to safeguard rural private domestic groundwater typically rests with non-expert homeowners, interventions promoting risk mitigation and awareness represent the most viable means of preventing supply contamination. However, no global review or pooled analyses of these interventions has been undertaken to date. The current study sought to identify and quantify the performance of private well interventions from 1990 to 2018 via a global systematised review and pooled analysis. The PICO (Population-Intervention-Comparison-Outcome) approach was employed for literature identification. Relevant studies were statistically analysed across …

Urban Food Sovereignty: Urgent Need For Agroecology And Systems Thinking In A Post-Covid-19 Future, Ali Loker, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to challenges associated with our dominant industrial food system in the U.S. The general public now has more appreciation for farm workers and meatpacking employees, as well as those in grocery stores and in food transportation who are suddenly recognized as essential frontline workers. It apparently takes a crisis for us to focus clearly on the fragility of this system and the lives of people on whom we depend. In this commentary we discuss the definition of food sovereignty, how it manifests in urban areas, and how the COVID-19 pandemic can trigger viable …

Distribution Of Human Exposure To Ozone During Commuting Hours In Connecticut Using The Cellular Device Network, Owais Gilani, Simon Urbanek, Michael J. Kane

Faculty Journal Articles

Epidemiologic studies have established associations between various air pollutants and adverse health outcomes for adults and children. Due to high costs of monitoring air pollutant concentrations for subjects enrolled in a study, statisticians predict exposure concentrations from spatial models that are developed using concentrations monitored at a few sites. In the absence of detailed information on when and where subjects move during the study window, researchers typically assume that the subjects spend their entire day at home, school, or work. This assumption can potentially lead to large exposure assignment bias. In this study, we aim to determine the distribution of …

Social Ecological Factors Affecting Substance Abuse In Ghana (West Africa) Using Photovoice, Ahmed Kabore, Evans Afriyie-Gyawu, James Awuah, Andrew R. Hansen, Ashley Walker, Melissa Hester, Moussa Aziz Wonadé Sié, Dhruv Medarametla, Nicolas Meda

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Introduction: substance abuse is an important public health issue affecting West Africa; however, there is currently a dearth of literature on the actions needed to address it. The aim of this study was to assess the risks and protective factors of substance abuse in Ghana, West Africa, using the photovoice method.

Methods: this study recruited and trained 10 participants in recovery from substance abuse and undergoing treatment in the greater Accra region of Ghana on the photovoice methodology. Each participant received a disposable camera to take pictures that represented the risk and protective factors pertinent to substance abuse …

Evaluation Of Relationship Between Lead-Dust Loading, Lead-Dust Concentration, And Total Dust Loading Metrics Across Multiple Data Sets, Charles Bevington

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Lead-dust monitoring studies report values as either lead-dust loadings µg/ft² or as lead-dust concentrations µg/g. It is rare for studies to report both metrics. When only lead-dust loading values are present, professionals require an approach to estimate lead-dust concentration values. A literature search identified five studies that contained raw data for both lead-dust loading and lead-dust concentration. An additional thirty-two studies had summary-statistics available for both lead-dust loading and lead-dust concentration. Studies with raw-data were used to develop an empirically-based loading to concentration statistical relationship. Raw data sets were critically evaluated to determine whether elimination or …

Maternal Knowledge, Attitude, And Practices About Traditional Food Feeding With Stunting And Wasting Of Toddlers In Farmer Families, Betty Yosephin Simanjuntak, Miratul Haya, Desri Suryani, Ali Khomsan, Che An Ahmad

Kesmas

Traditional foods are foods consumed by a certain ethnic group in a specific region. The habit of consuming traditional foods is usually inherited by the family members, including toddlers, of a respective generation. The study aimed to determine relationship of maternal knowledge, attitude, and practices in traditional food feeding with stunting and wasting of toddlers in the farmer families of the Central Bengkulu District. This study employed a cross-sectional design with a sample of mothers with children aged 12–59 months. The sample included a total of 115 farmer families. Data on nutritional knowledge, attitude, practices about traditional food, sex of …