The Modern Profile of Tuberculosis: Developing the TB Social Survey to understand contemporary social patterns in tuberculosis

Social disparities in tuberculosis have been documented for decades, yet to date there has not been a comprehensive study to examine the contemporary causes of these disparities. Local public health departments, and particularly public health nursing staff are charged with delivering directly observed therapy to individuals with tuberculosis disease. As a result of the frequency and duration of treatment, practitioners delivering therapy are often well‐acquainted with the lives and challenges of their constituents. Thus, through these practitioners there exists a deep repository of knowledge on the drivers of social disparities in tuberculosis disease. Partnering with local public health departments, we developed a survey instrument aimed at understanding the social profile of individuals with tuberculosis disease in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. We discuss the development and implementation of the survey instrument as well as challenges in developing partnerships between academic researchers and local public health practitioners. This study can serve as a framework for both academic researchers and public health practitioners interested in addressing social disparities in infectious disease.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141046/1/phn12372_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141046/2/phn12372-sup-0001-SupInfo.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141046/3/phn12372.pd

Synthesis and circularly polarised luminescence of helically chiral 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacenes (BODIPYs)

PhD ThesisII The differential emission of left- or right-handed circularly polarised light is termed circularly polarised luminescence (CPL).1,2 CPL emission has promising applications in a wide range of fields, such as the development of CPL microscopes.3,4 Commonly chiral lanthanide complexes are employed in CPL-related studies, due to their high luminescence dissymmetry factors (glum).5–7 However these systems are limited by their typically low fluorescence quantum yields (φF), leading to low overall CPL efficiencies (|glum|·φF). Therefore there is considerable interest in the development of small organic molecules capable of CPL emission (CPL-SOMs). The 4,4′-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) dyes are a class of organic fluorophores which have desirable photophysical properties, including typically high fluorescence quantum yields. Furthermore BODIPYs have highly tuneable absorption and emission bands which can be modulated through varied and robust synthetic transformations. In this work, we have focused on the development of helically chiral BODIPY dyes for use as CPL-SOMs. Herein we describe the synthesis and chiroptical characterisation of a novel, helically chiral N,N,O,C-BODIPY, which we have shown is capable of CPL emission upon irradiation in solution (glum = 3.7×10-3, figure A.1).8 Subsequent mechanistic investigation has allowed us to identify an improved synthetic route to the N,N,O,C-BODIPYs, and thus the expansion of the N,N,O,C-BODIPY series. Study of the chiroptical properties of the N,N,O,C-BODIPYs has revealed that this architecture is amenable to the addition of functional groups, without detriment to CPL-emission. This opens up the possibility of introducing more complex functionality to this architecture, whilst retaining the desired chiroptical activity.Furthermore our investigations into the fundamental molecular properties of the N,N,O,C-BODIPY system has given us insight into design strategies towards development of BODIPY CPL-SOMs with increased glum. We describe our attempts towards the synthesis of helically chiral BODIPYs containing sulfur atoms, and the synthesis of a π-extended helically chiral N,N,O,O-BODIPY system. Through these syntheses, we have made a preliminary assessment of the validity of these design strategie

Matroid Stratifications of Hypergraph Varieties, Their Realization Spaces, and Discrete Conditional Independence Models

We study varieties associated to hypergraphs from the point of view of projective geometry and matroid theory. We describe their decompositions into matroid varieties, which may be reducible and can have arbitrary singularities by the Mnëv–Sturmfels universality theorem. We focus on various families of hypergraph varieties for which we explicitly compute an irredundant irreducible decomposition. Our main findings in this direction are three-fold: (1) we describe minimal matroids of such hypergraphs; (2) we prove that the varieties of these matroids are irreducible and their union is the hypergraph variety; and (3) we show that every such matroid is realizable over real numbers. As corollaries, we give conceptual decompositions of various, previously studied, varieties associated with graphs, hypergraphs, and adjacent minors of generic matrices. In particular, our decomposition strategy gives immediate matroid interpretations of the irreducible components of multiple families of varieties associated to conditional independence models in statistical theory and unravels their symmetric structures which hugely simplifies the computations

Inadequacies of micronutrient intake in normal weight and overweight young adults aged 18-25 years: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: This study aims to assess adequacy in micronutrient intake in comparison with reference nutrient intakes (RNI) and to identify differences in intakes between normal weight and overweight individuals. Study design: A sample of 542 university students (18e25 years), normal weight (N ¼ 369) and overweight (N ¼ 173), was included in a cross-sectional study. Methods: A three-day diet diary was used to assess energy and nutrient intake. BMI and waist circumference were measured. Results: Mean dietary vitamin D intake was lower than RNI in both men (4.44 mg) and women (5.04 mg). Mean intakes of calcium (597.44 mg), iron (8.62 mg) and folate (171.29 mg) were also lower than recommendations in women. Weight status (normal weight versus overweight) was significantly associated with micronutrient intake, and a trend towards a decrease in vitamin and mineral intake with increasing weight was noted. Conclusions: Results suggest the need to increase the intake of some micronutrients to meet the RNI, to ensure optimal health. This study provides a helpful tool to reinforce recommendations and potential health promotion and intervention strategies in university settings and could influence manufacturers involved in new food product development targeted to this young population

Use of Q-Learning Approaches for Practical Medium Access Control in Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper studies the potential of a novel approach to ensure more efficient and intelligent assignment of capacity through medium access control (MAC) in practical wireless sensor networks. Q-Learning is employed as an intelligent transmission strategy. We review the existing MAC protocols in the context of Q-learning. A recently-proposed, ALOHA and Q-Learning based MAC scheme, ALOHA-Q, is considered which improves the channel performance significantly with a key benefit of simplicity. Practical implementation issues of ALOHA-Q are studied. We demonstrate the performance of the ALOHA-Q through extensive simulations and evaluations in various testbeds. A new exploration/exploitation method is proposed to strengthen the merits of the ALOHA-Q against dynamic the channel and environment conditions. © 2016 Elsevier Lt

Characteristics of medication advertisements found in US women’s fashion magazines

Background: Although prescriptions are dispensed at discretion of medical professionals, many pharmaceutical companies use direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising to increase sales. Over-the- counter (OTC) medications are similarly marketed. Methods: We examined the content of advertisements in 38 issues of 9 popular US women’s fashion magazines. We evaluated target audience, health condition, product availability, message appeal, target to females, and mention of potential side effects and benefits. Results: Sixty total medication advertisements were identified, 58.3% (95% CI: 45.8, 70.8) for prescription products. In magazines targeted to non-Hispanic Whites, \u3e65% of advertisements were for OTC medications whereas 80% (95% CI: 66.7, 94.5) of advertisements found in Black/Latina magazines were for prescription medications. The rational appeal was used most commonly in non-Hispanic White magazines (75.9%; 95% CI: 60.3, 91.5). Emotional appeal was featured more often in prescription advertisements magazines (60.0; 95% CI:43.8, 76.2) compared to OTC (8.0; 95% CI: -2.6, 18.6). Conclusion: Although emotional appeal may be effective for selling medication to women, it often does not completely inform consumers of potential risks

An Analysis of Weight Loss Articles and Advertisements in Mainstream Women’s Health and Fitness Magazines

Background: Magazines are a commonly used source for health and fitness information. Little is known about the nature and extent of weight loss strategies and products presented in mainstream women’s health and fitness magazines. Methods: This preliminary cross-sectional study evaluated the prevalence of articles and advertisements featuring weight loss content and products in mainstream US-based health and fitness magazines, as well as assessed weight loss themes presented. Thirty-one US health and fitness-focused magazine issues were coded. Prevalence of, product type, and themes related to weight loss in articles and advertisements were assessed. Results: Among the 31 issues of the five US-based women’s magazines examined, we identified 39 articles (4.8% [95% CI = 3.3% to 5.5%] of 819 articles) related to weight loss with 14 identified weight loss topics. The most prevalent article topics covered were exercising/workouts (32.0% [95% CI = 28.8% to 33.6%]) followed by dieting (18.6% [95% CI = 15.9% to 19.9%]). The most common product advertised was weight loss pills (46.0% [95% CI = 42.6% to 47.7%]). Fat burners were also frequently advertised (14.9% [95% CI = 12.5% to 16.1%]) followed by hunger reduction strategies (10.3% [95% CI = 8.2% to 11.3%]) and fat blockers (6.9% [95% CI = 5.2% to 7.8%]). Conclusion: Articles presented information about exercise and dieting whereas advertisements supported potentially harmful health beliefs and behaviors. As a well-utilized American media format, health and fitness-focused magazines have an opportunity to communicate frequent, accurate messaging about healthy weight reduction and limit advertisements that may include misleading claims