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The Addition of Chinese Herbal Medicines is Effective As a Prophylactic Treatment Against Dental Diseases for Sjögren’s Syndrome Patients: Insight from Real-World Database
No full textBackground and Objectives:
Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the salivary glands and increases the risk of developing dental diseases (DDs). Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) represent a promising alternative strategy for SS treatment; however, the association between CHMs and DD risk has not been confirmed. In this retrospective, cohort-based, nested case-control study, we explored whether or not combining CHMs with routine treatments for SS can reduce the chance of DDs.
Materials and Methods:
In the beginning, we recruited subjects aged 20–80 years with newly diagnosed SS who were free of DDs between 2001 and 2009 from a nationwide insurance database. We identified DD events that occurred after SS diagnosis until 31 December, 2013. Corresponding controls were randomly selected from the remaining enrollees using a pair-matched approach. We then exploited conditional logistic regression to explore the association between CHM use and subsequent risk of DD development.
Results:
Based on the recruited 586 DD cases and 586 non-DD controls, we noted that adding CHMs to routine SS treatment substantially correlated with a lower risk of developing DDs (adjusted odds ratio = 0.68; 95% confidence interval = 0.52–0.90). Notably, for those receiving CHM treatment for more than 365 days, CHM use greatly reduced DD susceptibility, by 44%.
Conclusions:
Embedding CHMs within routine SS care can prevent subsequent DDs incidence, implying the urgent need for interdisciplinary collaboration and careful treatment planning
Osa-Diff: an Origin Sampling Based Adversarial Attack Using Diffusion Models
No full textDiffusion models are becoming an increasingly popular emerging technology, however their use in adversarial attacks remains a scarcely explored topic. We show that diffusion models can be used to create end-to-end hidden adversarial perturbations with high rate of success, and propose a novel diffusion based adversarial attack that allows for substantially faster training time (through improved convergence on high quality images) and with substantially less computational overhead than typical diffusion model trainin
Estimating Historical Age-Sex Distributions of a Tribal Population: A Case Study of the Hopi, 1900 to 1940
No full textHistorical information on tribal populations in the United States is scattered and discontinuous. A significant part of the discontinuity is the gap between 1900 and 1970. This paper describes a process that may partially fill this gap by developing decennial age-sex data from 1900 to 1940. Where temporally consistent, we compare these estimates to those done by others. This work provides a point of departure for generating more demographic information about the Hopi from 1900 to 1940 and, ultimately, beyond 1970, a critical turning point regarding the increased availability of American Indian data from the U.S. Census Bureau. It also can serve as a starting point for a discussion that can lead to the refinement of our estimates and the generation of more demographic information for the Hopi and other tribal populations. The key to this work is the availability of (1) a tribal census for the tribe of interest in the 1930s or 1940s and (2) assembling for the tribe of interest the age-sex (and other) data collected by the then U.S. Bureau of the Census in the 1900 census. We conclude that such work would fill the demographic gap concerning the American Indian population between 1900 and 1970
Let\u27s Talk About Sex, Baby! Gender Roles in Parent-Child Sexual Communication
No full textParent-child sexual communication remains a fruitful avenue to increase safe sex behaviors, which are currently in decline by today\u27s adolescents. Historically, mothers have reported engaging in parent-child sexual communication more than fathers do. Previous scholarship suggests this difference could be due to traditional gender role beliefs or conflicts with traditionally masculine attributes. Using social cognitive theory and social role theory, this study conducted a cross-sectional survey on parents of children aged 9 through 16. Positive relationships existed between outcome expectations, self-efficacy, and level of detail in sexual and reproductive health conversations between parents and children. Though no statistical difference was found between mothers\u27 and fathers\u27 reported outcome expectations, self-efficacy, and level of detail, the study did find positive correlations between agency and communion and all factors. Inconclusive relationships existed between traditional gender role beliefs and factors of parent-child sexual communication. Implications for future research and practical applications are discussed
Who Puts the support in Supportive Housing? the Relationship Between Housing Staff Support and Resident Experiences, and the Potential Moderating Role of Self-Determination
No full textThe provision of residential and community‐based services for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) has become increasingly important following the deinstitutionalization movement. Much of the existing research on supportive housing focuses on housing outcomes rather than exploring how the program helps its residents thrive in the broader community. This study draws upon data collected from 176 people with SMI residing in 16 supportive housing locations in Portland, Oregon. Analyses explore how housing staff support relates to residents\u27 loneliness (interpersonal level), residential satisfaction (housing and neighborhood level), and sense of community (community level). Staff support was found to be related to lower levels of loneliness, higher residential satisfaction, and a higher sense of community. Self‐determination was considered as a moderator to understand the role of residents\u27 agency in the relationships between staff support and resident experiences. Self‐determination moderated the relationship between staff support and residential satisfaction for those with moderate to low self‐determination, but not for individuals with high self‐determination. In contrast, staff support was associated with decreased loneliness and increased sense of community regardless of self‐determination. This study has implications for policymakers, researchers, and interventionists, expanding upon the limited body of research on staff support and the experiences of residents in a supportive housing environment
Data-driven Optimization and Parameter Estimation for a Metric Graph Epidemic Model with applications to COVID-19 spread in Poland: A real-world example of optimization for a challenging Rosenbrock-type objective function
No full textIn this paper, we apply data-driven optimization to estimate key parameters in a metric graph-based epidemiological model, with the aim of analyzing the effect of road networks on the geographic spread of epidemics. As a case study, we fit our model to data from the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland during 2021. Our dataset integrates county-level daily case reports, national census information, and traffic flow studies. This framework allows us to examine the relative contribution of specific travel routes over time and infer unobserved transmission patterns in the presence of incomplete or unreliable case reporting. The optimization problem that arises from the model fitting yields an objective function resembling the Rosenbrock “banana” or “valley” function, a classical difficult benchmark for optimization algorithms. To our knowledge, this represents the first appearance of a Rosenbrock-type function in a real-world epidemiological context. We demonstrate that such a structure can emerge naturally from a simple uncoupled SIR model under specific conditions: a low initial incidence rate and a prolonged infectious period. This suggests that the Rosenbrock behavior is an intrinsic feature of fitting compartmental models to approximately Gaussian epidemiological data, providing a realistic yet simple scenario with which to test optimization algorithms. We explore optimization strategies suited to the Rosenbrock-type structure and identify a feasible parameter set for modeling the spread of COVID-19 in Poland. We use this set of parameters to identify discrepancies between the model and the data, explore how reducing traffic flow into urban areas can help flatten the infection curve, and identify some patterns in the distribution of intra- versus inter-city incidence rates. While recognizing the complex interplay of social and behavioral elements that cannot be fully captured in a high-level geographic model, our findings highlight the usefulness of metric graph-based models for understanding large-scale disease transmission in structured transportation networks
Improved FPT Approximation for Sum of Radii Clustering with Mergeable Constraints
No full textIn this work, we study k-min-sum-of-radii (k-MSR) clustering under mergeable constraints. k-MSR seeks to group data points using a set of up to k balls, such that the sum of the radii of the balls is minimized. A clustering constraint is called mergeable if merging two clusters satisfying the constraint, results in a cluster that also satisfies the constraint. Many popularly studied constraints are mergeable, including fairness constraints and lower bound constraints. In our work, we design a (4 + ϵ)-approximation for k-MSR under any given mergeable constraint with runtime 2 O( k ϵ ·log2 k ϵ )n 4 , i.e., fixed-parameter tractable in k for constant ϵ. Our result directly improves upon the FPT (6 + ϵ)-approximation by Carta et al. [10]. We also provide a hardness result that excludes the exact solvability of k-MSR under any given mergeable constraint in time f(k)n o(k) , assuming ETH is tru
\u3ci\u3e I know who I am \u3c/i\u3e: Draw-and-Tell Conversations with Gender-Creative Children
No full textA growing number of children identify in various gender-creative ways, likely due to broader social awareness and affirmation of transgenderism. Gender-creative children face higher risks for adverse social, academic, mental health, and healthcare outcomes compared to non-transgender peers. Support from loved ones along with guidance from pediatric providers can mitigate poor outcomes and ensure that gender-creative children live healthy and happy lives. Young gender-creative children\u27s perspectives about the aforementioned topics are markedly absent from the literature, which instead highlights adolescent and adult proxy perspectives.
In this participatory arts-based study anchored by a constructivist epistemology and informed by post-structuralist, queer, and transgender theories, I sought to hear directly from gender-creative children about their social supports and experiences with pediatric clinical care using the Draw-and-Tell Conversations (DTC) method. I wanted to know what would help gender-creative children feel safe to express thoughts, feelings, and experiences related to gender; who they go to when they want to talk about their health and/or gender, and why; and what it is like for them to attend pediatric health care visits. I recruited a United States-based bicoastal sample of 12 school-aged (5–10 years old; median age 6) gender-creative children. Participants were predominantly white (n=10/12; 83.3%) and from highly educated families (n=12/12; 100%).
Findings suggest that gender-creative children often rely on primary caregivers, trusted loved ones, and teachers for support. Children preferred not to talk to pediatric providers about gender and healthcare encounters were frequently described as uncomfortable. The study highlights the need for pediatric providers to continue adopting child-centered, gender-affirming practices, such as empowering children with agency in conversations and decision-making, using inclusive language, and incorporating tools like drawing to facilitate rapport and engagement
Collaborative Governance and Hydrosocial Territorialization: Reaching Consensus on Salmon Restoration Goals in the Columbia River Basin
No full textAcross the Cascadia bioregion, salmon and steelhead are ecological and cultural keystone species that contribute to and illustrate riverine health. Due to complex social, economic, and ecological relations over the past 150 years, many Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead populations are now listed as threatened or endangered in the United States. This research uses the 2017–2020 Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force as a case study to understand how this collaborative governance effort of sovereign entities and nonsovereign stakeholders navigated competing water claims to reach consensus on aspirational qualitative and quantitative goals for salmon and steelhead restoration. Using semistructured interviews and a review of meeting minutes, reports, and other documents produced by the group, we found that parts of the collaborative process, in particular the pairing of Indigenous knowledge and science with Western science for decision-making, unsettled long-standing territorial claims and changed the span and durability of hydrosocial networks in the Columbia River Basin
Power and Planning: a Critical Discourse Analysis of Tribal and Non-Tribal Oregon Wildfire Protection Plans
No full textBackground:
Since the late 1800s, the US government has largely removed Indigenous fire stewardship practices from the landscape by implementing a top-down fire suppression system that criminalized traditional fire practices and denaturalized the role of fire in forested environments. A century of routine fire suppression produced dense, homogenous forests capable of sustaining high-intensity wildfire that exceeds the suppression capabilities of land management organizations in many regions, spurring federal leaders to modify management approaches. As part of this change, numerous federal policies and plans have advocated for further involvement of Native American tribes and incorporation of Indigenous knowledge within management decisions. These initiatives represent opportunities to simultaneously expand tribal burning rights and reduce wildfire risk, but imbalanced power dynamics stemming from the historic and ongoing colonization of tribal nations continue to limit successful collaboration. The nature of these power imbalances is multifaceted, and this paper interrogates the ideological forces that uphold the settler-colonial relationship. We conduct a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze the discourses and frames used by tribal and non-tribal wildfire protection plans (WPPs), noting how different narratives are used to reinforce or contest common perceptions of wildfire and, more broadly, the legitimacy of a fire management system built on wildfire suppression and anti-Indigenous ideologies. Results Our analysis reveals notable differences in how tribal and non-tribal plans (1) contextualize wildfire risk, (2) characterize wildfire itself, and (3) encourage wildfire risk reduction strategies. Non-tribal plans deployed relatively ahistorical, depoliticized narratives, whereas tribal plans used narratives that contested the legitimacy of settler authority and emphasized the sociopolitical dimensions of wildfire risk. Conclusions We argue that wildfire planning is a site of discursive contention, where tribal and non-tribal plans compete to shape perceptions of wildfire history, contemporary risks, and more broadly, the legitimacy of the settler-colonial fire management system as a whole. Furthermore, we explain how the sampled plans converge with or diverge from dominant historic discourses that have substantially influenced environmental action and policy. We conclude by arguing that collaborative agreements involving tribes may present opportunities to reframe fire narratives and transfer authority to tribes seeking to exercise their sovereignty