Appalachian Research Day: Come Sit on the Porch [2019]

Rural Appalachian communities in eastern Kentucky suffer from some of the Nation’s most concerning health disparities. Community-based research can be an effective way to address health disparities by identifying problems and sharing workable solutions. However, challenges exist in recruiting and retaining research participants in rural populations that can often be difficult to reach. Partnerships between researchers and communities are essential to the success of the research process, particularly translation of findings back into the community

Appalachian Research Day: Come Sit on the Porch [2016]

Rural Appalachian communities in eastern Kentucky suffer from some of the Nation’s most concerning health disparities. Community-based research can be an effective way to address health disparities by identifying problems and sharing innovative solutions. However, challenges exist in recruiting and retaining research participants in rural populations that can often be difficult to reach. Partnerships between researchers and communities are essential to the success of the research process, particularly translation of findings back into the community

Appalachian Research Day: Come Sit on the Porch

Rural Appalachian communities in eastern Kentucky suffer from some of the Nation’s most concerning health disparities. Community-based research can be an effective way to address health disparities by identifying problems and sharing innovative solutions. However, challenges exist in recruiting and retaining research participants in rural populations that can often be difficult to reach. Partnerships between researchers and communities are essential to the success of the research process, particularly translation of findings back into the communit

Healthalachia: Rural Appalachian Youth Creating Solutions for Our Future

Kentucky’s Appalachian youth experience high rates of adverse childhood experiences. Opioid abuse, poverty and unemployment dominate our news headlines. Youth are suffering negative impacts of these issues and experiencing disproportionate rates of depression, suicidal thoughts, food insecurities, obesity and lack of physical activity. Overdose deaths and incarceration rates among parents with substance abuse disorders negatively impact family units and contribute to increased homelessness, foster care and kinship care among our youth population. Healthalachia was developed and piloted as a student-based, youth empowerment initiative that provides competitive mini-grants and research mentors to groups of high schoolers who aim to identify a health concern at their school and implement a student led improvement plan. This student-based research pilot engaged students from three rural high schools in Kentucky to identify and strategically address a specific health or social problem. Each team was required to have students, school staff and community members who agreed to actively participate in the project. The initiative was a partnership between University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health (UK CERH) and the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC). Student teams were provided with funding for their project and technical support as they implemented their projects

Operation Change Comes to Rural Appalachia

Operation Change Model Target Population: Underserved females age 45 and older who are experiencing obesity, joint pain, and limited mobility An 18-week community-based behavioral health program that integrates: structured physical activity culturally tailored education motivational interviewer-led discussions to identify and address barriers to positive chang

Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky

The Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky(CLIK) aims to improve community research capacity to address health disparities in communities, particularly Appalachia. Established in 2014, through a partnership of the UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health, the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science Community Engagement Program, and the Kentucky Office of Rural Health, the intensive four-week training provides: Training in research and leadership Funding for community research projects Technical support for up to one year as participants implement community research projects Up to 12 slots are available annually, with priority given to leaders from Appalachian Kentucky and to projects related to key areas of research interest, including: Cancer prevention (e.g., nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation) Reducing obesity and sedentary lifestyle Prevention and management of chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes and cardiovascular disease) Prevention and treatment of substance abus

BEPCP: Media Campaign to Promote Smoke-Free Facilities

Kentucky continues to have the highest lung cancer rate in the nation and is in the top 10 states for heart disease. Despite progress in local smoke-free policies, rural populations remain disproportionately affected by secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. Due to the longstanding cultural heritage of tobacco, many rural residents think of SHS as a nuisance rather than a serious health hazard

Engaging Key Stakeholders to Assess and Improve the Professional Preparation of MPH Health Educators

Objectives. We described the process of engaging key stakeholders in a systematic review of requirements for a master of public health (MPH) degree within the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, and summarized resulting changes. Methods. A benchmarking study of 11 peer institutions was completed. Key stakeholders (i.e., current students, alumni, faculty, staff, employers, and practicum preceptors) received online or print surveys. A faculty retreat was convened to process results and reach consensus on program revisions. Results. MPH program changes included (1) improved advising and mentoring program, (2) elimination of research and practice track options, (3) increased elective and decreased required credit hours, (4) replacement of master’s paper requirement with ‘‘deliverables’’ (written products such as reports, documents, and forms) produced as part of the required ‘‘Capstone’’ course, (5) extended community field experience to 2 semesters and moved it to year 2 of the program, and (6) allowed practica of either 200, 300, or 400 hours. Conclusions. Engaging key stakeholders in the program review process yielded important changes to the MPH degree program requirements. Others may consider this approach when undertaking curriculum reviews

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics utilizing unbound target tissue exposure as part of a disposition-based rationale for lead optimization of benzoxaboroles in the treatment of Stage 2 Human African Trypanosomiasis

This review presents a progression strategy for the discovery of new anti-parasitic drugs that uses in vitro susceptibility, time-kill and reversibility measures to define the therapeutically relevant exposure required in target tissues of animal infection models. The strategy is exemplified by the discovery of SCYX-7158 as a potential oral treatment for stage 2 (CNS) Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT). A critique of current treatments for stage 2 HAT is included to provide context for the challenges of achieving target tissue disposition and the need for establishing pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) measures early in the discovery paradigm. The strategy comprises 3 stages. Initially, compounds demonstrating promising in vitro activity and selectivity for the target organism over mammalian cells are advanced to in vitro metabolic stability, barrier permeability and tissue binding assays to establish that they will likely achieve and maintain therapeutic concentrations during in-life efficacy studies. Secondly, in vitro time-kill and reversibility kinetics are employed to correlate exposure (based on unbound concentrations) with in vitro activity, and to identify pharmacodynamic measures that would best predict efficacy. Lastly, this information is used to design dosing regimens for pivotal pharmacokinetic-pharmacodyamic studies in animal infection model