21794 research outputs found
Sort by
New Perspectives and Collaborations on the Ancestral Biology of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe
No full textIntroductio
Sex-Biased Differences in Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy at Síi Túupentak, an Ancestral Ohlone Village in Central California (ca. 540–145 cal. BP)
No full textSíi Túupentak (CA-SCA-565/H) is a late precontact ancestral Ohlone village and cemetery site in Central California (ca. 540–145 cal. BP). Integration of proteomic, genomic, and osteological analyses provided highly confident biological sex estimates for remains of most individuals at this site (65 of 76), spanning all age groups, from perinatal infants to aged adults. Based on these relatively comprehensive data, it was possible to generate sex-specific Kaplan-Meier survival curves for this burial population of sedentary hunter-gatherers. As was common among societies predating modern Western medicine and antibiotics, infant mortality was high for both males and females. However, male infants (from birth to 5 years of age) appear to have died at nearly twice the rate of female infants (10 of 33 males vs. 5 of 32 females) and had a mean age of survival at birth of only 19 years, compared to 30 years for females. The difference in male and female survival was statistically significant by log-rank test (p = 0.005). Compared to survival curves for other societies predating modern Western medicine and antibiotics, including American-era historical deaths recorded for a cemetery in San Francisco, this bias is larger than might be expected. We suspect the pattern of sex-biased infant mortality at Síi Túupentak could relate to an intrinsic survival advantage for female infants, combined with extrinsic factors such as environmental pathogens, nutritional stress, and gendered differences in weaning patterns detected through stable isotope analyses. Using isotopic data on weaning ages and ethnographic accounts of gendered foraging activities, we focus on the potential role of sex-biased differences in weaning patterns and highlight potential demographic and social implications. Broader application of proteomic and genomic sex estimation would allow sex-biased differences in nutrition and health, as well as social and cultural aspects of male and female life histories, to be compared across a wide range of archaeologically known hunter-gatherer societies
Alarming Literacy Rates in One of America’s Largest Cities: What Can Be Done in the City of Detroit?
Get PDFRegarded as a major cultural and industrial center, Detroit is known for its contributions to art, architecture, design, and music, which led to its Motown nickname, in addition to its ties to the birth of the auto industry, which brought it the nickname of Motor City. Despite hosting several higher learning institutions and a national research university, Detroit has been facing a continued decline of its adult literacy rates that amount to 47.00%, meaning that half of the City\u27s population are functionally illiterate. Low literacy skills can profoundly affect adults\u27 ability to fully participate in daily activities and contribute to the world around them. Based on statistical data corroborated with historical events and socio-economic factors, the paper discusses the root causes that have led to Detroit\u27s having one of the lowest literacy rates in the United States. Various efforts aimed to remedy this situation are highlighted along with the entities involved in this on-going endeavor
Examining causes and outcomes of migration patterns out of Southeast Michigan
Get PDFThis report describes a survey of U-Haul patrons regarding their experiences utilizing U-Haul to move out of the Southeast Michigan region.
Executive Summary
In the latest U-Haul Growth Index, the state of Michigan moved from ranking 48 out of 50 states up to 46. This represents a relatively small change that doesn’t relate to the documented population loss in the state.
The city of Detroit and Michigan are both at critical crossroads. Population declines are pushing local officials to come up with new and unique programs to attract new residents, new business investment, and new tax revenue.
The reasons that people leave a location can be many, but it is often a confluence of factors that include better opportunities and better amenities. Michigan is lagging in both categories with median wages stagnant and limited transportation options beyond a personal vehicle
Assessment of Breastfeeding Education in Medical Training
Get PDFIn 2019, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine issued a revised set of educational objectives for medical trainees at various stages of education. In this statement, objectives for medical school were broken down into preclinical and clinical training objectives. In this project, our goal is to assess the degree to which medical training at Wayne State University School of Medicine is addressing these aims.
The assessment of breastfeeding education is accomplished by surveying medical students at various stages of training (M1-M4) and eliciting their level of confidence in and understanding of the topics outlined in the objectives by the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. Our surveys also include some assessments of knowledge on this topic, background information of participants, and optional free response questions to generate qualitative feedback and suggestions for improvement. Participants are also given an option for providing feedback on the survey quality itself. Surveys are sent to students via email.
We will use cross-tabulation analysis, ANOVA testing, and t-scores to analyze the survey data. For our research, breastfeeding education is the independent variable, and medical students’ level of understanding of the breastfeeding guideline objectives is the dependent variable. Our hypothesis is that the breastfeeding objectives are not being met across all student populations surveyed. Our research is crucial in understanding the effectiveness of the current guidelines and in charting the course for potential curricular changes. This inturn will help medical students have a more well-rounded education and be better providers to a diverse patient base in the future.
Please Note: We anticipate completing our project by the presentation date, having received permission to submit this work-in-progress. Additional data and abstract updates can be readily provided as the session date approaches. Thank you for this opportunity.
Reference:
Meek, JY, The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. Educational Objectives and Skills for the Physician with Respect to Breastfeeding, Revised 2018. Breastfeed Med. 2019; 14(1):5-13
Maximizing Value in Total Knee Arthroplasty: Ambulatory Surgical Center or Hospital Outpatient Department?
Get PDFIntroduction: In the United States, healthcare costs have consistently ranked the highest among developed countries, leading to an urgent push towards decreasing spending. This study compared the cost of robot-assisted total knee arthroplasty (TKA) performed in a hospital outpatient department (HOPD) to an Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC). Methods and Materials: Costs were determined using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) methodology. All steps of a patient care pathway for robotic TKA performed in ASC and HOPD were organized into one process map. All personnel involved in patient care were included and the average time each allocated to patients was multiplied by their per-minute salary cost to determine direct variable costs. Results: Personnel costs of 11 HOPD TKAs were compared to 4 ASC TKAs. Average total costs for TKA in the ASC were 1,140.09 in the HOPD (p\u3c0.001). Average PA costs in the HOPD were significantly greater at 86.58 in the ASC (p=0.029). RN costs at the HOPD were 188.02 at the ASC (p=0.059). Anesthesia Attending costs were 26.15 at the ASC (p=0.253). Discussion: The significant difference in cost demonstrates that the ASC is less expensive regarding labor costs. With healthcare costs rising, value-based care plays a pivotal role in healthcare decisions and treatment options. As TKA volumes continue to increase, determining less expensive modalities can ameliorate the expected rise in healthcare costs. Future studies should include a cost-effectiveness analysis for TKA procedures, directly comparing cost and patient-reported outcomes, to better aid clinicians in decision-making
Age- And Alzheimer’s Disease Risk-Related Performance On Coordination, Magnitude, And Temporal Relational Framing Tasks
No full textRelational frame theory (RFT) provides a framework that accounts for how humans learn to relate objects or concepts that are and are not explicitly taught. For example, the spoken word dog (A) can be paired with the written word dog (B) and a photograph of a dog (C). In this case, only two relations were trained (AB and AC). Nevertheless, a person automatically derives four additional relations (BA, CA, BC, and CB) without those relations being explicitly taught. Several types of contextual frames can be used to establish these relations: coordination (e.g., A “is the same as” B), opposition (e.g., A “is the opposite of” B), magnitude (e.g., A “is bigger than” B), and temporal (e.g., A “comes before” B) in which A and B can represent any stimulus (Hayes et al., 1991). Developmentally, coordination framing emerges earliest, followed by opposition framing and then magnitude and temporal framing. However, whether these framing abilities are lost in reverse order in late life or in the presence of neuropathology is unknown. The proposed research will develop novel framing tasks to investigate the questions of whether there are developmental differences in the ability to use coordination, magnitude, and temporal framing in younger adults (YA) and older adults (OA) and whether family history (FH) risk for dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) could accelerate the loss of specific framing skills relative to OA without a FH AD. We contrasted response time (RT) and accuracy during tasks involving coordination, magnitude, and temporal framing for a group of YA and healthy OA. We compared the same performance measures for individuals with and without a first-degree family relative with AD within the OA group. We predicted that OA would show slower RT and lower accuracy than YA during tasks requiring higher-order magnitude and temporal framing relative to coordination framing. We also expected that OA with a first-degree FH of AD (FH AD+) would show slower RT and lower accuracy during magnitude and temporal framing tasks than coordination framing tasks relative to persons without a first-degree FH AD (FH AD-). OA were slower and less accurate than YA on the task, likely due to healthy OA having cognitive aging difficulties in the processing speed and complex attention abilities underlying the computer task. OA tended to show little to no learning across frame and relation types whereas YA demonstrated learning. Unexpectedly, OA were remarkably accurate even for the higher complexity relation and frame types. This result pattern may be due to the high education and verbal ability of our OA sample which acted as a compensatory effect for diminished attention and processing speed. FH AD+ were slower and less accurate than FH AD-. FH AD+ performing worse coincides with our expectations that OA with risk factors for AD, like family history in the current study, often show subtle reductions in memory performance long before any explicitly noticeable symptoms of AD appear (Bondi et al., 1996)