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Examining the Relationship Between Teen Pregnancy and Educational Outcomes in Ohio
Get PDFObjective: The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between educational outcomes,school funding, and teen birth rates in Ohio counties between 2020 and 2024. Methods: Usingdata from County Health Rankings, we performed regression, correlation, and paired t-testanalyses through the SPSS software. Results: The results of our tests showed significantnegative correlations between markers of educational success, including high school graduationrates math and reading standardized test scores, and teen birth rates in both 2020 and 2024.Between 2020 and 2024, the teen birth rate decreased in the state of Ohio, and in 2024, publicschool funding was able to predict 14.8% of the variance in the Ohio teen birth rate
An Analysis of Comprehensive Sex Education as a Means of Reducing Teenage Pregnancy Rates
Get PDFTeenage pregnancy rates have been declining since the 1990s, yet teenage pregnancy remains a pressing public health concern given its associated negative maternal and infant complications. Many experts and advocates have placed an increasing emphasis on school programs that provide teenagers with comprehensive education on healthy sexual functioning, safe sex practices, and effective contraceptive use, pointing to them as a means of reducing unplanned teen pregnancies. However, there is still some debate regarding the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education compared to more limited programs that focus primarily on promoting abstinence. Using data from County Health Rankings and SIECUS, we compared the rates of teen pregnancy and its associated complications between states with more abstinence-focused programs and those with more comprehensive programs. We found that states with more comprehensive sex education programs had, on average, lower teen birth rates and better maternal and infant health outcomes. This study provided a broad overview of trends across all states to show comprehensive sex education is the superior means to reduce teenage birth rates
Awake and Affected: Cultural and Socioeconomic Impacts on Sleep Insufficiency in Modern-Day Ohio
Get PDFBackground: Previous literature explores factors such as urban environments, screen use and stress negatively impact sleep quality in American adults. However, there is a lack of demographic focus on non-white, low-income populations specifically related to sleep. There is a growing need for targeted interventions to address increasingly prevalent disparities. Objective: Our study aims to look deeper into race, age, and socioeconomic status and other demographic factors that may affect sleep health.Results: Our analysis revealed a strong positive correlation between insufficient sleep and selfreported poor or fair health (r = .728) and a moderate positive correlation with unemployment (r = .549). Insufficient sleep rates were also found to have increased significantly from 35.76% in 2016 to 37.35% in 2023. Age-specific analyses showed no correlations in groups under 18 and over 65. Racial disparities were evident, Hispanic and Asian populations exhibiting negative correlations with insufficient sleep. However, Black and White populations showed very weak or no associations. These findings highlight complex interactions between sleep, socioeconomic status, and demographic factors
Addressing Deaths of Despair: The Impact of Loneliness on Excessive Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Involved Driving Deaths in Ohio
Get PDFAlcohol-related driving deaths and excessive alcohol consumption continue to rise across the United States. These trends have had a large impact on historically disadvantaged populations, such as Appalachia, being disproportionately affected. Previous literature suggests factors such as loneliness, mental distress, segregation, and immigration status amongst others may contribute to this increase in drinking. Although delineating a clear role of the nature of the impact at a community level still remains unclear. Our objective was to explore these very factors as well as to identify social and economic predictors to explain alcohol-related driving deaths and excessive drinking in Ohio between 2016 to 2023. In order to test these variables, we collected data from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps (CHR), the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the American Community Survey. Our analyses expanded to all Ohio counties and covered variables such as mental distress, income inequality, social isolation. We then analyzed the relationship between excessive drinking and alcohol-related driving deaths. Statistical tests such as paired t-tests, ANOVA, Spearman correlations and stepwise regression were used to compare variables. We found that the percentage of driving deaths related to alcohol consumption in Ohio increased from 17.355 % in 2016 to 19.001% in 2023. We found that there was no significant difference in excessive drinking between rural, partially rural, urban and Appalachian counties. We found there was no significant correlation between the segregation index and excessive drinking
Residential Segregation and Mental Health Outcomes in Ohio in 2023
Get PDFBackground: This paper explores causational and correlational relationships between residential segregation and mental health outcomes for 88 counties within Ohio. Alongside mental health outcomes, additional variables evaluated include access to mental health and primary care.Objective: To determine relationships between residential segregation index and mental health outcomes in Ohio between 2016-2023.Methods: Data will be obtained from County Health Rankings and Roadmap. Inclusion criteria specify counties within Ohio with data obtained from 2016 and 2023. All data points provided within the selected variables located in County Health Rankings and Roadmap will be included. Variables included are residential segregation, mental health providers, primary care physicians, percentage of the population under 65 who are uninsured, poor mental health days, and frequent mental distress. Linear and multiple regression tests, ANOVA tests, paired T-tests, and Pearson correlation tests will be used to analyze the relationships between various variables to evaluate the relationship between residential segregation and mental health outcomes
Mechanisms Underlying the Distinct K+ Dependencies of Periodic Paralysis
No full textPatients with periodic paralysis have attacks of weakness precipitated by depolarization of muscle. Each form of periodic paralysis is associated with unique changes in serum K+ during attacks of weakness. In hypokalemic periodic paralysis (hypoKPP), the mutation-induced gating pore current causes weakness associated with low serum K+. In hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (hyperKPP), mutations increase a non-inactivating Na+ current (Na persistent or NaP), which causes weakness associated with elevation of extracellular K+. In Andersen-Tawil syndrome, mutations causing loss of Kir channel function cause weakness associated with either low or high K+. We developed a computer model to address two questions: (1) What mechanisms are responsible for the distinct K+ dependencies of muscle depolarization-induced weakness in the three forms of periodic paralysis? (2) Why does extracellular K+ become elevated during attacks of weakness in hyperKPP, reduced in hypoKPP, and both elevated and reduced in Andersen-Tawil syndrome? We experimentally tested the model assumptions about resting potential in normal K+ solution in hyperKPP and hypoKPP. Recreating the distinct K+ dependence of all three forms of periodic paralysis required including the K+ and voltage dependence of current through Kir channels, the extracellular K+ and intracellular Na+ dependence of the Na/K ATPase activity, and the distinct voltage dependencies of the gating pore current and NaP. A key factor determining whether muscle would depolarize was the direction of small net K+ and net Na+ fluxes, which altered ion concentrations over hours. Our findings may aid in development of novel therapy for diseases with dysregulation of muscle excitability
Altruistic and Egoistic Behaviors on Enterprise Social Network Platforms
No full textEnterprise social network platforms (ESNPs) are thriving in workplaces. Past studies have provided two competitive explanations − employees engage in egoistic behaviors to facilitate knowledge hiding and personal enjoyment or altruistic behaviors to facilitate knowledge sharing and offering assistance. However, these perspectives have generally not been synthesized into a unified model. We adopt an integrated perspective to reconcile the two paradoxical behaviors, using PLS-SEM and fsQCA from 174 employees. The results of PLS-SEM show that social and utilitarian motivation facilitate altruistic use, while social motivation reduces egoistic use, and utilitarian motivation and egoistic use have an inverted U-shaped relationship. Institutional deterrence positively moderates the relationship between egoistic use and work performance. Altruistic use mediates the relationship between three motivations and work performance. The fsQCA reveals causal configurations that portray the recipes of how different modes promote altruistic use, egoistic use, and work performance, which are complementary to the findings of PLS-SEM
Bioaerosol Characterization with Vibrational Spectroscopy: Overcoming Fluorescence with Photothermal Infrared (PTIR) Spectroscopy
No full textAerosols containing biological material (i.e., bioaerosols) impact public health by transporting toxins, allergens, and diseases and impact the climate by nucleating ice crystals and cloud droplets. Single particle characterization of primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs) is essential, as individual particle physicochemical properties determine their impacts. Vibrational spectroscopies, such as infrared (IR) or Raman spectroscopy, provide detailed information about the biological components within atmospheric aerosols but these techniques have traditionally been limited due to the diffraction limit of IR radiation (particles \u3e10 μm) and fluorescence of bioaerosol components overwhelming the Raman signal. Herein, we use photothermal infrared spectroscopy (PTIR) to overcome these limitations and characterize individual PBAPs down to 0.18 μm. Both optical-PTIR (O-PTIR) and atomic force microscopy-PTIR (AFM-PTIR) were used to characterize bioaerosol particles generated from a cyanobacterial harmful algal bloom (cHAB) dominated by Planktothrix agardhii. PTIR spectra contained modes consistent with traditional Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra for biological species, including amide I (1630–1700 cm–1) and amide II (1530–1560 cm–1). The fractions of particles containing biological materials were greater in supermicron particles (1.8–3.2 μm) than in submicron particles (0.18–0.32 and 0.56–1.0 μm) for aerosolized cHAB water. These results demonstrate the potential of both O-PTIR and AFM-PTIR for studying a range of bioaerosols with vibrational spectroscopy
Comparison of Four Vaginal Antiseptic Preparation to Reduce Bacteria Colony Counts in Patients Undergoing Vaginal Surgery: A Randomized Trial
Get PDFIntroduction: Surgical site infections (SSI) remain a prominent complication of gynecologic procedures. The only FDA approved compound for preoperative vaginal preparation is povidone-iodine. Direct comparison of commonly used agents is needed to inform appropriate standards of care. The objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of 10% povidone-iodine (PI), 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG), baby shampoo (BS), and 3% para-chloro-meta-xylenol (PCMX) preparations for reducing bacterial and fungal colony counts and minimizing postoperative irritation after vaginal surgery. Materials and Methods: This is a single-blind, RCT conducted between 2018 and 2023 in patients 18 years or older who were undergoing surgeries requiring vaginal preparation. Patients were assigned to one of four vaginal preparation solutions on the day of surgery. Bacterial/fungal colony counts were assessed by performing pre-scrub, post-scrub, and postprocedural vaginal swabs using a standardized procedure. The primary outcome was the percentage of cases with positive cultures (bacterial count ≥ 5000 CFU/mL) for each preparation. Secondary outcomes were vaginal irritation rating by patients up to 4 weeks post-procedure and signs of infection noted by physicians. Results: Thirty-one patients completed the study. Groups were similar for percent of positive cultures at pre-scrub (PI=100%, BS=75%, CHG=100%, PCMX=83%). Baby Shampoo had higher percent of anaerobic positive cultures compared to PI at post-scrub (PI=11% vs BS=63%; p=.05), while CHG and PCMX were not different from iodine (PI=11%, CHG=50%, PCMX=0%). Groups did not differ at post-procedure (PI=20%, BS=50%, CHG=13%, PCMX=0%). There were no differences for vaginal irritation or infection scores at two days, two weeks, or one month post-procedure. Conclusions: Only BS was higher for positive cultures at the post-swab collection, although this finding should be interpreted with caution due to our small sample size. This study lends some support for the use of CHG and PCMX for the preparation of the vagina and perineum, showing reduction in colony counts and low rates of irritation and signs of infection. Further research is needed with larger sample sizes to support these findings and to determine absolute risks of vaginal cuff cellulitis and other postoperative infection complications
A Computational Approach to the Marxian Circuit of Capital Model
No full textThe paper reconstructs the Marxian circuit of capital model to identify distinctive dynamics of the growth and reproduction of the total capital stock. The growth of the financial, productive, and commercial capital stock and the reproduction of the capital-labor relation in this model is primarily induced by the change in both the three capital flows that link the three capital stocks and time-lags tied to the accumulation of each capital stock. The paper develops a representative Marxian circuit of capital model in a single sector and conducts a series of comparative dynamic analyses through simulations. The simulation result shows that there exist nonlinear interactions among the three capital stocks that generate divergent growth patterns of the total capital stock, and these dynamic interactions are induced by the change in both three capital flows and time-lags required for the reproduction of the system. The simulation approach to the model also sheds light into the nature and effect of financialization and the realization crisis on the growth pattern of the three capital stocks, in which delays in either mobilizing financial capital outlay or in sales of final products alters the composition of the total capital stock, thereby pointing to the potential presence of distinct and divergent “growth regimes” of capital accumulation