Advertisements Effects on Childhood Obesity

Junk food advertisers spend billions of dollars every year on advertising aimed at children. These foods are known to be major contributors to the obesity epidemic, a growing problem around the world. Food advertising should be regulated to exclude advertisements that appeal to those under twelve as these children do not have fully developed cognitive defenses. This paper investigates the effects of cartoon characters, packaging, and branding in television advertisements on childhood obesity by analyzing various pieces of literature related to obesity, cognitive defenses, home environments, and advertisements. Advertising and branding overcome children’s cognitive defenses and thus negatively influence childhood obesity and the adiposity levels of children. There are many factors that determine the cognitive defense level of the children including the food environment created by the family, family situation, and modeled behavior. Children respond to advertisements differently than adults and are more susceptible to food branding and advertisements due to their low level of cognitive defense. Children’s cognitive defenses are not fully developed, even at the ages of seven or eight, and thus they cannot evaluate advertisements like adults can. Children create food brand bonds at incredibly early ages and are drawn in for life, creating a cycle of bonding that is hard to break. Various factors influence children’s defenses and response to advertisements including the effects of food environments created by parents on food behaviors. Overweight children may also have lower cognitive defenses than children at a healthy weight level and are thus more vulnerable to the advertising and branding targeted at them. Parents may not be aware of the effects their behaviors have on their children’s eating habits and often do not discuss critical thinking with their children. Advertisements aimed at children take advantage of these low levels of cognitive defense and the factors that lead to these low levels of cognitive defenses and should thus be regulated.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1114/thumbnail.jp

Oral Minimal Model for Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes is one of the most common issues that a pregnant woman encounters that could result in harm to both the woman and child. Due to this issue, the woman’s glucose and insulin levels should be carefully monitored throughout her pregnancy to assess the need for prescribed diabetic medication to help regulate those levels. In this research, the objectives is to develop a MATLAB computer program of the Oral Minimal Model, which is a model that can be used to estimate a person’s insulin sensitivity from an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) where plasma glucose and insulin levels are determined from blood samples collected from subjects at seven different time instants of 0, 10, 20, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. As of this moment, the program has been completed, tested, and then applied to patient data collected by Dr. Katie Ingram’s research team, producing some promising results on estimating their individual glucose effectiveness (Sg), insulin sensitivity (Si), and rate constant (k3) characteristics

Oral Interview with Marta*

This oral history project was very beneficial and I feel like I learned a lot. I met Marta when I volunteered at Education Matters. She goes there to learn and practice English so that she can eventually apply for a job in Cincinnati. Marta is from Mexico, but she came to the United States because her husband was offered a job here. He is fluent in English and can offer the company what they were looking for in Cincinnati. At first, Marta was not sure if she wanted to leave Mexico because all of her family lives there, but the opportunities in the United States were what she was hoping and looking for. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to interview Marta about her history because she helped me to learn more about the community in Mexico and how it compares to the community that we have here in the United States. She is a very loving and positive person who looks at her life as opportunities and she can really see the love in the world

Government and Social Media: A Case Study of 31 Informational World Cities

Social media platforms are increasingly being used by governments to foster user interaction. Particularly in cities with enhanced ICT infrastructures (i.e., Informational World Cities) and high internet penetration rates, social media platforms are valuable tools for reaching high numbers of citizens. This empirical investigation of 31 Informational World Cities will provide an overview of social media services used for governmental purposes, of their popularity among governments, and of their usage intensity in broadcasting information online.Comment: In Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 1715-1724). IEEE Computer Society, 201

Reading Regina: Revisiting the Education of Upper-Class Women In the Middle Ages

UMKC Honors Colleg

Alternative Method for Posterior Lumbar Discectomy and Development of Associated Bench Top Test

A discectomy is a common surgical procedure performed to remove the fibrous disc material between adjacent vertebrae in the spine, known as vertebral disc. Current methods and tools used in discectomies are time consuming and potentially dangerous, with opportunity for human error. There is a need for a new method of disc removal that can improve clinical results by reducing surgical times, preventing damage to surrounding anatomy, and more thoroughly removing the vertebral disc. A reduction in surgery times and increase of effective disc removal will help to increase success, recovery, and spinal fusion rates. This project aims to provide a prototype instrument and associated bench top test focused on providing a more streamlined and successful discectomy procedure from the posterior approach while mitigating the risks associated with human error. Collaboration with industry experts resulted in the modification of commonly-used pituitary rongeurs to include in-line aspiration through surgical tubing. This development improves upon the current surgical technique by eliminating the need to remove the instrument from the patient, thus reducing time requirements and preventing the need for additional training. Current discectomy methods require up to three hours for a full disc removal under optimal conditions. This method aims to reduce that requirement by approximately half. In addition, research into synthetic disc material, coupled with available 3D printing technology, has yielded a bench top test that can be used in regulatory validation and proof of concept. This test aims to recreate disc anatomy without requiring access to expensive and single-use cadavers.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1195/thumbnail.jp

Bald heads & blue stars: a theory, model and impact of verbatim theatre practice

The aim of this practice-led research is to investigate the creative practice of a verbatim theatre process. Verbatim theatre involves interviewing a community about a topic or event, recording these conversations and using the resulting stories as stimulus for the creative development of performance. I have made a significant contribution to theatre-making knowledge by articulating a theory and model of practice and investigating the impact of verbatim theatre practice on a community of storytellers. I engaged in a rigorous Reflective Practitioner Case Study to write and perform in bald heads & blue stars, through interviewing 15 women from the Queensland Alopecia community and translating their stories into performance. Across this process I facilitated a triangulated documentation of practice, to induce rich data sets that were integral to articulating a key outcome for the research: the Engaged Verbatim Theatre Praxis model and theory of practice. Current research has focused primarily on debates around truth and authenticity, leaving a distinct absence of engagement with the artistic practice of verbatim theatre. Within the framework of the Engaged Verbatim Theatre Praxis model I name and define key creative practices within the verbatim theatre process, such as Community Immersion, Listening for Aesthetics and Voicing Stories. Analysing and naming these practices provides a new and considered language around the artistic process of verbatim theatre, contributes to the knowledge and understanding of theatre making and is a step towards understanding the impact of creative practice on the storytelling community

Enhancing community weight loss groups in a low socioeconomic status area: Application of the COM-B model and Behaviour Change Wheel

Background Obesity rates are higher among people of lower socioeconomic status. While numerous health behaviour interventions targeting obesity exist, they are more successful at engaging higher socioeconomic status populations, leaving those in less affluent circumstances with poorer outcomes. This highlights a need for more tailored interventions. The aim of this study was to enhance an existing weight loss course for adults living in low socioeconomic communities. Methods The Behaviour Change Wheel approach was followed to design an add-on intervention to an existing local authority-run weight loss group, informed by mixed-methods research and stakeholder engagement. Results The COM-B analysis of qualitative data revealed that changes were required to psychological capability, physical and social opportunity and reflective motivation to enable dietary goal-setting behaviours. The resulting SMART-C booklet included 6 weeks of dietary goal setting, with weekly behavioural contract and review. Conclusion This paper details the development of the theory- and evidence-informed SMART-C intervention. This is the first report of the Behaviour Change Wheel being used to design an add-on tool to enhance existing weight loss services. The process benefitted from a further checking stage with stakeholders

Using Hospital Discharge Data to Assess Trends of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in Rhode Island

In 2017, Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) will become a reportable infectious disease in Rhode Island. To prepare for this updated regulation, the Center for Acute Infectious Disease Epidemiology (CAIDE) analyzed Rhode Island Hospital Discharge Data (HDD), internal epidemiologic line lists, as well as antibiograms from local laboratories to gauge past incidence of CRE in Rhode Island healthcare facilities. CAIDE used the HDD for a retrospective assessment of statewide CRE incidence in acute care hospitals from 2011-2015 using SAS 9.3 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Epidemiologists compiled lists of ICD-9/ICD-10 diagnosis codes that when combined indicate CRE. Codes included specific infections, antimicrobial resistance, and different specified sites (e.g. blood, urinary tract, lungs). The results of HDD inpatient population data analysis included annual counts of potential CRE diagnoses, which were used to calculate corresponding annual inpatient rates of CRE. The results from this research inform CAIDE’s development strategy for both a statewide surveillance system and registry for CRE. Moreover, CAIDE has an enhanced understanding of annual trends to predict more accurately the potential burden of the mandatory CRE reporting on the Rhode Island Department of Health