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Exploring the Association of Vitamin B12 Deficiency and Dental Health in Older Adults
No full textBackground
Vitamin B12 plays a crucial role in overall health, yet its impact on dental health, particularly dental caries, remains underexplored. Older adults are at an increased risk of vitamin B12 deficiency and dental disease, but the relationship between these two factors is not well understood. This study examines the association between serum vitamin B12 levels and dental health in older adults using data from the NHANES 2011–2014 cycles.
Methods
A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using NHANES data from 1,907 participants aged 65 and older. Serum vitamin B12 levels were categorized as normal (\u3e221 pmol/L), marginal (148–221 pmol/L), and deficient (\u3c 148 pmol/L). Dental status was assessed using the Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index based on NHANES dental health examinations. Poisson regression models evaluated associations between vitamin B12 levels and DMFT scores, adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and income.
Results
Lower vitamin B12 levels were significantly associated with higher DMFT scores (p \u3c 0.05). Participants with marginal and deficient vitamin B12 levels exhibited increased DMFT scores compared to those with normal vitamin B12 levels, and these differences persisted after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors. The findings suggest that inadequate vitamin B12 status may contribute to a greater cumulative burden of dental disease in older adults
Conclusion
These findings suggest that vitamin B12 deficiency may contribute to a greater lifetime burden of dental disease in older adults. Further research is needed to explore causal mechanisms and assess whether vitamin B12 supplementation could be a preventive measure for maintaining dental health in aging populations
Heterospecific Coprophagy in the White-Tailed Deer Odocoileus Virginianus (zimmermann, 1780) in Costa Rica
No full textAnimals may engage in coprophagy, including heterospecific coprophagy, where they consume the feces of other species. The white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, primarily feeds on plant material, such as tender forbs and shrub shoots. This report documents a case of heterospecific coprophagy by the white-tailed deer in Costa Rica, where two individuals were observed consuming domestic horse feces. The reasons for heterospecific coprophagy in ruminants like the white-tailed deer are unclear. Nutritional supplementation, microbial transfer, or other ecological factors may play a role in this behavior. However, such a behavior also poses risks, including the transmission of diseases and parasites from other species
How Was Your Crossing Experience? Development of a Pedestrian Satisfaction with Unsignalized Crossings Scale
No full textUnsignalized pedestrian crossing accommodations can improve pedestrian safety, yet their quality of service for pedestrians remains understudied. The present study explored whether and how pedestrians’ satisfaction with crossing unsignalized crossings varied according to the type of crossing accommodation used, that is, the rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) with median island, median island alone, marked crosswalk, and unmarked crosswalk. The research team collected intercept survey and video observation data from 358 pedestrians across a total of 40 sites in two different cities. Structural equation models illustrated how pedestrians’ crossing-oriented satisfaction was shaped by their positive perceptions of safety and low levels of delay in the act of crossing the street. Crossing satisfaction also varied by unsignalized crossing accommodation type. Pedestrians perceived RRFBs with medians and median islands by themselves as comparably safer, more time efficient, and thus more satisfying than marked crosswalks without RRFBs or raised medians or at unmarked crosswalks. These findings could inform efforts to provide higher quality of service to pedestrians
Towards a Robust Hydrologic Data Assimilation System for Hurricane-Induced River Flow Forecasting
No full textThe Hybrid Ensemble and Variational Data Assimilation framework for Environmental Systems (HEAVEN) is a method developed to enhance hydrologic model predictions while accounting for different sources of uncertainties involved in various layers of model simulations. While the effectiveness of this data assimilation in forecasting streamflow has been proven in previous studies, its potential to improve flood forecasting during extreme events remains unexplored. This study aims to demonstrate this potential by employing HEAVEN to assimilate streamflow data from United States Geological Survey (USGS) stations into a conceptual hydrologic model to enhance its capability to forecast hurricane-induced floods across multiple locations within three watersheds in the southeastern United States. The Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting (SAC-SMA) hydrologic model is driven by two variables: precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET), collected from North American Land Data Assimilation System phase 2 (NLDAS-2) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data, respectively. We validated the probabilistic streamflow predictions during five instances of hurricane-induced flooding across three regions. The results show that this data assimilation approach significantly improves the hydrologic model\u27s ability to forecast extreme river flows. By accounting for different sources of uncertainty in model predictions – in particular model structural uncertainty (in addition to model parameter uncertainty) and atmospheric forcing data uncertainty – HEAVEN emerges as a powerful tool for enhancing flood prediction accuracy. The study found that data assimilation improved streamflow forecasting during Hurricane Harvey, enhancing the SAC-SMA model\u27s accuracy across most USGS stations on the peak flow day. However, data assimilation had little effect on streamflow forecasting for Hurricane Rita. In Rita, the streamflow surged dramatically in a single day (from 28 to 566 m3 s−1), causing the model to miss the high-flow event despite accurate initialization the day before. For hurricanes Ivan and Matthew, data assimilation improved peak flow forecasts by 21 % to 46 % in Mobile and 5 % to 46 % in Savanah, with improvements varying by station location
Cannabis Concentrate Vaping Chemistry
No full textBackground:
This review article addresses the vaping chemistry of manufactured cannabis concentrates—a topic that remains under-researched despite the widespread availability and growing popularity of these products. Given their current prevalence and the fact that many of the findings discussed herein are from early-stage investigations, further research is essential to fully assess the public health risks associated with concentrate use. The purpose of this article is to help begin to bridge this knowledge gap by outlining the technical challenges of studying cannabis concentrates and to present evidence-based data concerning toxicant exposures as a foundation for future investigations.
Methods:
A search of cannabis concentrate vaping within the date range of 2019-2025 on Google Scholar returned approximately 2,700 hits. A cannabis concentrate was defined as a sample containing at least 50% (w/w) cannabinoids. In addition to our group’s articles, the search results contained six manuscripts that described at least a partial focus on molecular emissions specifically derived from vaping or dabbing samples that included cannabis concentrates.FindingsStudying cannabis concentrate vaping poses distinct technical challenges that differ from those associated with electronic nicotine delivery systems. Emissions from vaping concentrates contain a substantial proportion of harmful aerosol toxicants, including isoprene, 3-methylcrotonaldehyde, 3-methyl-1-butene, and 2-methyl-2-butene. Moreover, some concentrate formulations have contained hazardous additives such as pine rosin and ketene precursors such as cannabinoid acetates. As with nicotine vaping, the presence of oxygen plays a critical role in driving the formation of many toxic chemical degradation products during vaping.
Conclusion:
Since the legalization of recreational cannabis, concentrates have become one of the most rapidly expanding segments of the U.S. cannabis market. However, research into the specific health risks of vaping these products has significantly lagged their widespread use. The studies presented in this review article highlight the potential for exposure to known toxicants during the vaping of cannabis concentrates
Book Review of, Participatory Engineering of Algorithmic Socialtechnologies: an Extended Book Review of David G. Robinson\u27s Voices Inthe Code
No full textDavid G. Robinson’s Voices in the Code, reviewed here, approaches the issue of governance and regulation of algorithmic social technologies with a case study orientation that offers a grounding in the details, illuminating the fundamentally sociological and processual nature of modern governance issues that are mostly missed or left implicit in academic, regulatory, and legislative discussions. This important book urges us to design adaptive, malleable, and evolvable participatory organizational structures instead. Accepting the author’s invitation to carry the torch forward, this review builds on and extends the book’s arguments by presenting broad and transferable insights on regulation and governance of the cybernetic artifacts that structure and steer our lives
Oregon State Rank Assessment for Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis)
No full textOregon state conservation status assessment for limber pine (Pinus flexilis) using NatureServe methodology, 2025
Feeling Underqualified and out of My League: Motivational and Affective Paths to Adaptive and Maladaptive Behaviors
No full textThis study explored the motivational and affective implications of perceived underqualification, specifically examining how it leads to increased levels of envy and help-seeking behaviors. We predicted that envy and help seeking behaviors would in turn indirectly relate to interpersonal deviance and task performance. We further hypothesized that two psychological resources, hope and self-efficacy, would moderate the relationships between perceived underqualification, envy, and help seeking. We tested our model with a sample of 149 medical school students who were undergoing a clinical rotation as well as their rotation coordinators at a university hospital located in northwestern Turkey. Data collection spanned four waves, from the first day of their rotation to the end of that one-month rotation. Results supported positive indirect effects between perceived underqualification and task performance via help seeking, and between perceived underqualification and interpersonal deviance via envy. Further, hope moderated the relationship between perceived underqualification and task performance via help seeking, and self-efficacy moderated the relationship between perceived underqualification and envy
Adolescent Preventive Care Outcomes Before and After COVID-19 Onset: What is the Role of Telehealth?
No full textAdolescents are a developmentally distinctive population with unique primary health care needs; they comprise about 10% of Oregon\u27s population and more than half are covered by the Oregon Health Plan (OHP). This dissertation investigated significant declines in preventive care utilization (well visits and HPV immunizations) among adolescents enrolled in OHP during the COVID-19 pandemic and the relationship between the decline in utilization and the rise in telehealth availability. The study focused specifically on the role of race/ethnicity, geography, and access to health systems in mitigating or exacerbating decreases in preventive care. A mixed methods approach was employed to understand not only how Oregon adolescents\u27 utilization changed from pre-COVID (2019) to post-COVID (2022), but also how this utilization may have been shaped by youth attitudes towards preventive care and telehealth use. The Andersen Model of Health Care Access was used to identify environmental, systemic, and demographic factors relevant to adolescent preventive care utilization and telehealth use.
This dissertation was designed to answer the following research question: How has the increase in telehealth availability during the COVID-19 pandemic affected primary care outcomes for Oregon Medicaid-enrolled adolescents overall, and what impact has it had on inequities for youth of color and rural youth? The research question was addressed through three aims: Assess youth perceptions of telehealth as a primary care access point, and how these perceptions relate to adolescents\u27 understanding of their own health; Describe the changes in select primary care outcomes between 2019 and 2022 among Oregon Medicaid-enrolled adolescents and assess differential impacts on youth of color and rural youth; and Investigate the relationship between telehealth primary care access and adolescent preventive care outcomes among OHP-enrolled adolescents in 2022, as well as the role of telehealth primary care access in observed declines in preventive care between 2019 and 2022.
Youth focus groups were used for Aim 1; results found that youth opinions and decisions on whether and how to access primary care focused on privacy, sense of connection, flexibility, and acuity of need. Aims 2 and 3 relied on comprehensive OHP claims data from 2019 and 2022; multivariate logistic regression, generalized estimating equations, and post-estimation marginal effects were utilized the analyses. Between 2019 and 2022, adjusted HPV immunization rates declined by 28% and well visit rates declined by 29%. Youth experienced very similar rates of decline in preventive care between 2019 and 2022 regardless of race/ethnicity. Results by geography varied by outcome. Youth in frontier areas experienced a much steeper decline in adjusted HPV immunizations between 2019 and 2022 compared to youth in urban and rural areas. However, while adjusted well visit rates declined by about 30% for youth in rural and urban areas between 2019 and 2022, they increased slightly among youth in frontier areas. Access to a School-Based Health Center was associated with a less steep decline in adjusted HPV immunization rates and an increased likelihood of receiving a well visit in both 2019 and 2022.
Of adolescents with a primary care visit in 2022, 13.7% used telehealth for at least one visit. Youth in urban areas were far more likely to utilize telehealth for primary care (16%) than those in rural (10%) and frontier (5%) areas. There was no meaningful relationship between telehealth intensity and either HPV immunizations or well visits in 2022.
Synthesized findings from across the three aims contribute to an overall picture of youth preventive care in Oregon and the role of telehealth that emerged in three themes. First, it was clear that the significant decline in adolescent preventive care rates caused by the pandemic has affected nearly all populations of OHP youth, across race, ethnicity, geography, and access to health systems. Secondly, emotional and physical disconnection from health care resources are important factors in why youth do not receive preventive care or utilize telehealth. And lastly, youth views on telehealth are nuanced and involve tradeoffs; telehealth may be part of a solution for improving access to care for youth but it cannot entirely address preventive care deficits.
The findings from this research highlight potential actions across health policy and practices that could improve the health of Oregon\u27s adolescents. Policy and practice recommendations focus on centering youth privacy, investing in accessible and adolescent-friendly health care resources, and more clearly supporting youth in the most sparsely populated parts of Oregon to improve preventive care utilization. Given the change in federal policy and political priorities after the 2024 election, it is imperative that the Oregon Health Authority and its partners consider ways to implement these recommendations to prevent further declines in adolescent preventive care
We\u27re Not Gonna Take It : The Parents\u27 Music Resource Center and Reformist Tendencies in American Society
No full textThe Parent\u27s Music Resource Center is a cultural curiosity that few historians have examined. Started by Tipper Gore and Susan Baker, the wives of prominent politicians, they advocated for a warning label on music with explicit lyrics and achieved their goal within only a few years of their creation. This thesis aims to contextualize the PMRC within a broader context of middle-to-upper class reformist movements. Many have argued that the PMRC falls on the conservative end of the political spectrum. Yet, a more complete story can be told by situating the organization within a reformist tendency in American history, thus giving us new ways to examine social movements. This thesis also explores the tension between government and private action. While the PMRC wanted a voluntary mechanism for regulating explicit music, legislators instead defaulted to the threat of government compulsion if the recording industry did not act. It shows a dichotomy between a progressive-populist suasion method versus a conservative suasion method