Lipid-lowering pharmacotherapy and socioeconomic status: atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) surveillance study

BACKGROUND: Lipid-reduction pharmacotherapy is often employed to reduce morbidity and mortality risk for patients with dyslipidemia or established cardiovascular disease. Associations between socioeconomic factors and the prescribing and use of lipid-lowering agents have been reported in several developed countries. METHODS: We evaluated the association of census tract-level neighborhood household income (nINC) and lipid-lowering medications received during hospitalization or at discharge among 3,546 (5,335 weighted) myocardial infarction (MI) events in the United States (US) Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) surveillance study (1999–2002). Models included neighborhood household income, race, gender, age, study community, year of MI, hospital type (teaching vs. nonteaching), current or past history of hypertension, diabetes or heart failure, and presence of cardiac pain. RESULTS: About fifty-nine percent of patients received lipid-lowering pharmacotherapy during hospitalization or at discharge. Low nINC was associated with a lower likelihood (prevalence ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval: 0.79, 1.01) of receiving lipid-lowering pharmacotherapy compared to high neighborhood household income, and no significant change in this association resulted when adjusted for the above-mentioned covariates. CONCLUSION: Patient’s socioeconomic status appeared to influence whether they were prescribed a lipid-lowering pharmacotherapy after hospitalization for myocardial infarction in the US ARIC surveillance study (1999–2002)

Binge [Fantasy reality]

[My appreciation for mainstream pop culture is genuine, but I am not a passive consumer.] [Drawing from embodied experience and contemporary feminist theory, I design as a participant, cultural surveyor, and critic.] [From these vantage points, I binge-watch to discern the tropes of media such as reality TV romance and dead girl shows.] [My data bingeing leads to a process of archiving, de/recoding, and making visible the algorithm structuring pop culture.] [“Fantasy” is derived from the Greek phantazein, meaning “to make visible.”] [In this thesis, I demonstrate that the reality-fantasy relationship is not an either/or.] [Reality TV challenges this notion directly: it is more fantasy than reality.] [The line between reality and fantasy is further blurred when real women play fantasy dead girls;] [The plotline may be fictional but the violence against women is a reality.] [Like binge-watching, Binge fully immerses you in my pop culture world through both critique and celebration.

Evidence-Based Practices : The Hidden Treasure to a More Inclusive Catholic Classroom

Response to Smith, Cheatham, and Mosher (this issue) Evidence-Based Practices to Promote Inclusion in Catholic School

Influence of post-mortem aging time and method on flavor and tenderness of beef, and comparison of retail cutting yields, times, and value in thirteen beef subprimals from beef and Holstein cattle

2018 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.The objective of this study was to identify flavor and tenderness differences in beef aged for different lengths of time and using different methods. Strip loin sections from commodity, USDA Choice beef carcasses (n = 38) were randomly assigned to 1 of 8 aging treatments: 1) 3 d wet-aged; 2) 14 d wet-aged; 3) 28 d wet-aged; 4) 35 d wet-aged; 5) 49 d wet-aged; 6) 63 d wet-aged, 7) 21 d dry-aged; and 8) 14 d wet-aged followed by 21 d dry-aged (combination). Trained sensory panelists rated the cooked product for flavor and textural attributes, and samples were evaluated for Warner-Bratzler and slice shear force, fatty acid composition, amino acid composition, and volatile flavor compounds. Wet-aging of beef up to 35 d caused no changes (P > 0.05) in flavor notes. However, beef wet-aged for 49 d or longer was rated lowest (P 0.05) were identified between wet-aging, dry-aging, or the combination of both for any flavor attributes. Fatty acid profiles did not differ (P > 0.05) by aging length of time or method. Concentrations of amino acids and volatile flavor compounds increased (P 0.05) were noted. Results suggested that wet-aging to extreme lengths of time may have a dramatic effect on flavor profile of beef, without necessarily improving tenderness. Additionally, eating quality characteristics do not necessarily differ between wet- and dry-aged beef. Holsteins comprise approximately 20% of the U.S. fed beef slaughter, and the carcass characteristics of Holsteins tend to differ (on average) from those of traditional beef breeds. Retail cutting yields, cutting times, and resulting value were evaluated in thirteen subprimal cuts from carcasses of fed Holstein (n = 398) and beef-breed (n = 404) origin. Generally, subprimals from carcasses of beef-breeds were heavier (P 0.05) between cattle types. Only the amount of time taken to cut center-cut top sirloin butts derived from beef-breeds were faster (P < 0.01) than those for cuts from carcasses of Holsteins; in all other instances, times for cutting subprimals derived from Holstein carcasses were either faster (P < 0.05) or not different (P ≥ 0.05). Retail prices among cuts from differing breed types were minimal, but true differences (P < 0.05) in cutting yields for ribeye rolls and short loins from carcasses of Holsteins may generate greater values to a steak cutter or retailer. Such advantages could be attributed to smaller, more manageable, and leaner cuts produced from carcasses of Holsteins. Therefore, further research regarding retail cutting differences between cattle types may provide insight for operations seeking maximum retail yields and profit

Trajectories of self-rated health in people with diabetes: Associations with functioning in a prospective community sample

© 2013 Schmitz et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Self-rated health (SRH) is a single-item measure that is one of the most widely used measures of general health in population health research. Relatively little is known about changes and the trajectories of SRH in people with chronic medical conditions. The aims of the present study were to identify and describe longitudinal trajectories of self-rated health (SRH) status in people with diabetes. Methods: A prospective community study was carried out between 2008 and 2011. SRH was assessed at baseline and yearly at follow-ups (n=1288). Analysis was carried out through trajectory modeling. The trajectory groups were subsequently compared at 4 years follow-up with respect to functioning. Results: Four distinct trajectories of SRH were identified: 1) 72.2% of the participants were assigned to a persistently good SRH trajectory; 2) 10.1% were assigned to a persistently poor SRH trajectory; 3) mean SRH scores changed from good to poor for one group (7.3%); while 4) mean SRH scores changed from poor to medium/good for another group (10.4%). Those with a persistently poor perception of health status were at higher risk for poor functioning at 4 years follow-up than those whose SRH scores decreased from good to poor. Conclusions: SRH is an important predictor for poor functioning in diabetes, but the trajectory of SRH seems to be even more important. Health professionals should pay attention to not only SRH per se, but also changes in SRH over time.This work was supported by Operating Grant MOP-84574 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). GG was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the CIHR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

A Socio-Spatial Analysis of Rural Poverty in East Tennessee

The incidence of poverty in rural areas is actually higher than that in urban places. This study fills a gap in geographic research by examining poverty in rural and small town communities in east Tennessee using the 1990 census. A cluster analysis of high poverty block groups identifies different categories of poor. Just as “who is poor?” varies across the United States, “who is poor?” in east Tennessee varies. The identity of the poor in rural east Tennessee is found to be contrary to popular images of povery in Appalachia. The massive reorganization of rural economies in recent decades is reshaping rural places and communities. Economic restructuring and social re-composition have directly affected employment and wage opportunities in rural areas, and have indirectly affected access to services such as affordable housing. The impact of the larger process of economic restructuring on urban environments and on urban neighborhood residents has been examined. There remains a need to examine the impact of these macro-level changes on rural communities and residents. Within the context of rural economic and social change, this study provides a detailed examination of the characteristics and composition of the poor in rural east Tennessee. Case-study analyses of a sample of high poverty rural block groups sheds light on the effects of restructuring on the residents of small communities and rural places. With increased knowledge of the characteristics of the poor in rural east Tennessee, comes the opportunity to improve poverty alleviation policy

Enhancement and suppression effects resulting from information structuring in sentences

Information structuring through the use of cleft sentences increases the processing efficiency of references to elements within the scope of focus. Furthermore, there is evidence that putting certain types of emphasis on individual words not only enhances their subsequent processing, but also protects these words from becoming suppressed in the wake of subsequent information, suggesting mechanisms of enhancement and suppression. In Experiment 1, we showed that clefted constructions facilitate the integration of subsequent sentences that make reference to elements within the scope of focus, and that they decrease the efficiency with reference to elements outside of the scope of focus. In Experiment 2, using an auditory text-change-detection paradigm, we showed that focus has similar effects on the strength of memory representations. These results add to the evidence for enhancement and suppression as mechanisms of sentence processing and clarify that the effects occur within sentences having a marked focus structure

(UN)HIDDEN WHITENESS: A CRITICAL POLICY ANALYSIS ON RACE-RELATED EDUCATION POLICIES

Over the last three years (2020-2023), many state legislatures responded to grassroots campaigns for social justice by enrolling legislation that explicitly and implicitly bans Critical Race Theory (CRT) and controls race-related instruction and training. This study examines race-related educational policies enacted by Iowa, Texas, and Florida legislation as leading examples of these efforts. The research question guiding this study was how educational school policies related to CRT in Texas, Florida, and Iowa are framed in state documents. The legislative frame includes the process and language that is utilized in crafting these bills to reveal the policies origins and goals. Three findings were identified using critical policy analysis (CPA) and Tema Okun’s (2021) white supremacy culture framework. The findings included (1) the development of this legislation revealing the policy goals of the context of control, (2) the naming of racism, and (3) the delivery of race-related content. By highlighting the policy context, framing, and text of the race-related bills, this study advances scholarship on K-12 educational policy around race and racism

Socioeconomic status and the progression of heart failure

This dissertation explores the relationship between socioeconomic status and the progression of heart failure following an incident heart failure hospitalization, defined in three domains: rehospitalization, mortality and self-rated health. Hospital admissions for heart failure are on the rise in the United States, and mortality remains high among heart failure patients. Meanwhile, self-rated health is a potent predictor of future health, and its trajectory among heart failure patients is unknown. The first aim was to estimate the effect of neighborhood socioeconomic and Medicaid status on the time to first rehospitalization and the rehospitalization rate. Participants who lived in low neighborhood socioeconomic areas at baseline who had multiple comorbidities during the incident heart failure hospitalization were rehospitalized faster and more often compared to participants living in high socioeconomic neighborhoods at baseline with multiple comorbidities. Meanwhile, Medicaid recipients with a low level of comorbidity were rehospitalized faster and more often compared to non-Medicaid recipients. The second aim was to estimate the effect of neighborhood socioeconomic and Medicaid status on the time to and risk of mortality. Participants who lived in low neighborhood socioeconomic areas at baseline who had multiple comorbidities during the index heartfailure hospitalization experienced a shorter time to death compared to participants living in high socioeconomic neighborhoods at baseline with multiple comorbidities. A comparison of the trajectory of self-rated health across time was examined among participants as part of the third aim. Predictors of a decline in self-rated health across time were assessed, and factors shown to contribute to poorer self-rated health regardless of incident disease status included advanced age, low educational attainment, current smoking and obesity. This dissertation brings to attention several areas for future research in cardiovascular disease epidemiology. The first is a need to better understand the relationship of socioeconomic status and the progression of heart failure in terms of its out-of-hospital management. The second is to explore the mechanisms underlying the relationship between poor socioeconomic status and increased mortality. Lastly, interventions can be tested to help understand how to improve self-rated health, and the resulting health outcomes, among aging adults