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“No reason for children to go hungry”: Rural U.S. caregivers’ perceptions of elected officials and their impacts on food policy
Get PDFIn the context of the increasingly polarized U.S. political environments of the 2016 and 2020 elections, how did rural caregivers think about food and health policies? To answer this question, researchers interviewed 50 low-income women living in two rural N.C. counties in 2016/7 and 2020 as part of a broader longitudinal qualitative study of family food environments. As participants reflected on elections and food assistance policies, caregivers focused on their experiences as mothers and described current or potential policies and programs in light of how they would impact their children. Caregivers also made recommendations for universal and inclusive policies that would improve their access to food. However, their responses were also racialized, with White caregivers more likely to use tropes of “deservingness” when discussing public benefits. To improve food security in rural areas, researchers should center rural low-income women’s perspectives when developing food policy, particularly given the important role mothers play in feeding their families and mitigating the impacts of food insecurity
The utility of experiential water insecurity measures for monitoring and evaluating WASH programs: Case studies from Nepal and Sierra Leone
Get PDFProgress toward safe water for all is predominantly tracked using directly observable, resource-based indicators, including primary water source and water collection travel time. There is growing interest in complementing these indicators with experiential data about water access, use, and reliability, but there is limited evidence about their value for evaluating water service interventions. We therefore compared findings from observable and experiential water measures that were used to evaluate the impact of two multilevel interventions among households in Nepal (n = 83) and Sierra Leone (n = 981). We used t-tests, chi-square tests, and multivariable models to determine whether drinking water services (classified using the Joint Monitoring Programme’s drinking water service ladder) and water insecurity experiences (measured using the Household Water Insecurity Experiences Scale) changed following intervention. Additionally, we assessed for potential differential impacts on water insecurity by sociodemographic characteristics to understand if any groups were being left behind. In both settings, access to at-least-basic drinking water services among sampled households increased, from 60.8% to 100% in Nepal and from 33.0% to 48.2% in Sierra Leone. The percentage of households experiencing moderate-to-high water insecurity declined from 18.3% to 1.4% in Nepal and from 66.3% to 24.8% in Sierra Leone. Affirmation and reported frequency of being unable to wash clothes due to water problems, worrying about water insufficiency, and feeling angry about one’s water situation decreased but remained salient issues in both sites. There were no observed differences in project impact on water insecurity by respondent gender or age. In Nepal, project impact varied by districts, suggesting opportunities to better tailor interventions to local needs. These findings provide empirical evidence that experiential data complement traditional resource-based indicators and offer actionable information to address water insecurity
Agile User-Centered Design of a Clinical Research Project Management System in a Pediatric Health Institute
Get PDFProject management is crucial in academic hospitals due to the intensive involvement in research and clinical trials. Designing an application in a user-centered and workflow-compatible manner can prevent issues arising from hospital's limited resources and various risks (e.g., financial risk and ethical misconduct). This study aimed to (1) develop a hybrid method combining user-centered design (UCD) and agile software development (ASD) principles, (2) apply the hybrid model to develop a Clinical Research Project Management System (CRPMS), (3) assess the usability of the CRPMS and iteratively refine the application. A CRPMS was developed following the UCD and ASD principles and supported by a research core in a pediatric heart institute. In Phase 0, semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand processes and bottlenecks. In Phase 1, the project management and budgeting sections of the CRPMS were simultaneously developed. In Phase 2, the Principal Investigator dashboard and the intake section of the CRPMS were developed. Usability evaluation metrics included the System Usability Scale (SUS), Single Ease Question, and severity scores. In Phase 1, the average SUS score was 88.65. There were 126 usability issues and 68 were considered high severity due to the SUS score cutoff (>1.5). In Phase 2, the average SUS score was 87.1. All of the 71 usability issues were addressed during the iterative refinements. A workflow-compatible and highly user-friendly CRPMS was developed by employing a hybrid Agile UCD model. Future work includes continuing development and expanding the CRPMS within and outside the institute
Use of presumptive recommendations and other strategies to encourage HPV vaccine uptake: Results from a national survey of primary care health professionals
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Primary care health professionals' (PCHPs') use of presumptive recommendations, which assume parents want to vaccinate, is associated with greater HPV vaccine uptake. We analyzed PCHP characteristics associated with using this and other strategies to encourage HPV vaccination to inform future communication interventions. METHODS: A national sample of 2,527 PCHPs (26% pediatricians, 22% family physicians, 24% advanced practitioners, 28% nursing staff) completed our survey in 2022. PCHPs reported which of six communication strategies, including presumptive recommendation, they used to encourage HPV vaccination. Multivariable regression models identified PCHP characteristics associated with use of each strategy. RESULTS: Overall, 58% of PCHPs used presumptive recommendations. Use of presumptive recommendations was more common among pediatricians (74%) than family physicians (57%), advanced practice providers (54%), or nursing staff (48%, all p < .05). Pediatricians were also more likely than nurses to use prepared talking points, patient stories, motivational interviewing, and offer vaccination another day to hesitant caregivers. PCHPs who had received training on how to introduce HPV vaccination and address parental hesitancy were more likely to use presumptive recommendations (65% vs. 55%, and 67% vs. 53%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that PCHPs, particularly non-pediatricians, could benefit from additional training on evidence-based HPV vaccination communication strategies
Measuring Coral Skeletal Protein Across Depth and Structures
Get PDFThis research project examines the skeletal protein content of the coral Oculina arbuscula. This data is then compared with a greater dataset containing information about density, porosity, and other measures of skeletal complexity. The results are then divided by the depth the coral samples were taken from (shallow vs. deep)
Exploring the Links Between Highway Development and Crime in the United States: A Case Study of Durham, NC
No full textThis is a short text file that includes a link to a published ArcGIS StoryMap. This analysis examines the connection between roadways, specifically the construction of the Interstate Highway System from the 1960s to the 1970s, and crime. It further explores how the destruction of marginalized communities during the construction phase of many highways and the breakdown of community cohesion may have led to the prevalence of crimes within specific areas. To investigate the relationship between interstate development and crime, this project focuses on the city of Durham, NC
From Prediction to Bioactivity: Exploring Plant Antimicrobial Peptides in C. arabica and L. aromatica
No full textThis short slideshow summarizes my work for the 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), where I investigated plant-derived antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). I used bioinformatics tools to predict candidate AMPs from a publicly available C. arabica reference proteome and applied mass spectrometry and bioactivity assays to evaluate peptide presence and the antimicrobial activity of protein extracts from L. aromatica and C. arabica. This project demonstrates how established analytical workflows can be applied to diverse plant species to uncover novel sources of antibiotic agents
Jinghan Li (Alex)_SURF2025_Evaluation of CRISPR/Cas9-Based Gene Fragment Deletion in Primary Human Chondrocytes using the Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein A (PAPPA) Gene as Target
No full textOsteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder, impacting more than 500 million people worldwide, and has become increasingly prominent in the past two decades. It can lead to serious health and economic burden, while there is currently no curative treatment for OA because its disease development is complex. Genetic factors are the top contributing factors of OA, and it is imperative to understand the genetic basis of OA. Pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPPA) is a novel gene identified to be involved in OA development with support of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), and high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) data. This study used primary human chondrocytes as the model system and employed ribonucleoprotein transfection-based CRISPR/Cas9 delivery to create two double-stranded breaks in the exon 2 of the PAPPA gene in these cells. Screening of the population following transfection showed that a significant number of cells have undergone a deletion in the exon 2 of PAPPA, which will putatively generate a knock-out (KO) of the PAPPA gene. Single colonies were then isolated and expanded from the transfected population, and multiple colonies of cells with homozygous deletion of a region in PAPPA exon 2 were identified. These colonies of cells are highly valuable for functional follow-up experiments on changes in gene expression and phenotypes of chondrocytes with PAPPA KO, which will be performed subsequently. In summary, this study further verified the feasibility of generating gene fragment deletions using CRISPR/Cas9 in chondrocytes and has laid the basis for the functional studies of PAPPA as a potential key mediator of OA.
Alleviating the Effects of Parkinson's Disease through Music Therapy and Dopamine Production
Get PDFSlidedeck showcasing the findings of Chloe Robinson's research for SARC 2025