Conceptualizing, Understanding, and Assessing Research Literacy in a Diverse Population: A Dissertation

Background: Racial and ethnic minorities are under-represented participants in health-related research. Comprehension and understanding of the research process are a barrier to research participation. A potential approach to engaging underserved populations in research is through improving research literacy, which we define as “the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic information needed to make informed decisions about research participation.” Methods: Through primary data collection and mixed-methods approaches, this doctoral thesis seeks to: 1) define and conceptualize the domains, determinants, and impacts of research literacy through the development of a multi-component comprehensive framework, 2) operationalize research literacy by developing and psychometrically testing the Research Literacy Scale, and 3) quantify differences in research literacy, measured by the Research Literacy Scale, by race/ethnicity, race-related factors, and other socio-demographic factors. Results: We created a framework outlining eight domains of research literacy and multi-faceted influences of societal, community, researcher, and participant factors that may influence an individual’s level of research literacy. The Research Literacy Scale created is comprised of 16 items, with a KR-20 estimate of 0.81 and test-retest reliability of 0.84. We found differences in mean scale scores by race/ethnicity, age, education, income, and health literacy (all p \u3c 0.01). African-Americans and Latinos have lower research literacy scores, as compared to non-Latino Whites. Race-consciousness was associated with research literacy score. Conclusions: This study is the first to define, assess, and quantify factors associated with research literacy in a diverse community sample and may provide insights on approaches to enhance minority engagement in health-related research

The Associations Between Overweight/Obesity Among Children and Select Social and Economic Predictors

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades, contributing to poor health outcomes and larger societal impacts. Overweight in children is defined as having a BMI at the 85th to 95th percentiles, and obesity is defined as being at or above the 95th percentile. Children who are overweight or obese are significantly more likely to experience comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension, as well as profound psychosocial effects. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has been shown to differ based on certain factors like race, income, and nutrition. The purpose of this study is to explore the association between certain social and economic factors and childhood obesity and overweight. Analyzing this relationship could help to shape more effective and targeted interventions for at-risk children. AIM: This study aims to assess: • The prevalence of overweight/obesity among children based on social and economic status • The odds of overweight/obesity among children based on specific predictors of youth overweight/obesity like race, income, fast-food exposure, and enrollment in free/reduced lunch programs METHODS: This cross-sectional study will evaluate the associations between certain social (race, gender, age) and economic (income, lunch program enrollment, fast food exposure) factors and childhood obesity using the 2017-2020 NHANES datasets. Only those aged 4-19 years old with values for the following variables: age, race/ethnicity, BMI category, lunch price, fast food consumption, and family income were eligible for this study. 2,006 individuals met all the criteria and were included in the analysis. ANALYSIS: Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were conducted to determine the association between youth weight status and several risk factors. Multivariate logistic regression model includes race, family income to poverty ratio, gender, age, lunch price, fast-food consumption, the interaction between race and lunch price, and the interaction between race and fast-food consumption. Results are presented using both tables and figures. I considered p-values less than .05 as statistically significant. RESULTS: The study sample consisted of 2,066 participants (822 overweight/obese children and 1,184 who were neither). The mean age of overweight/obese children was 11 (sd=3.6), the majority (81.2%) of whom were under the age of 15. The mean age of children who were not overweight/obese was 10.44 (sd=3.9), most (80.7%) of whom were under the age of 15. In studying the marginal association by logistic regression models, Mexican children had a significantly increased odds of overweight and obesity (OR=1.8) compared to White. Differences in odds for other races were not significant. There was no significant difference in odds of overweight/obesity between females vs males, or based on age to income. Lowest and middle income were associated with 25% and 39% increased odds of overweight/obesity compared to the highest income group, respectively. However, these associations were not statistically significant. Children in the free lunch price program and in the reduced program had 53% increased odds of overweight/obesity compared to the reference group, full price (OR = 1.53, OR=1.67, respectively) and this difference was significant. However, neither fast food association was statistically significant. The final multivariate model included the following predictors: age, sex, income, race, lunch status, fast-food exposure, race*lunch price, and race*fast-food exposure. Free and reduced lunch status was associated with a significant 68% and 140% increased odds of overweight or obesity for non-Hispanic white after controlling for all other predictors (OR=1.68, CI: 1.168-2.425; OR=2.4, CI: 1.199-4.823). No significant associations between weight and predictors race, age, sex, income, or fast food were found after controlling for other predictors. The two interaction variables were present in the final model (race*lunch price and race*fast-food exposure) reached significance, with both having a p-value of \u3c.0001. CONCLUSION: Overall, the findings of this study showed that low-income children are more likely to be overweight/obese, and certain neighborhood-level risk factors are also associated with overweight/obesity, though the associations were not significant. In the absence of a truly experimental study, which is unethical, it is difficult to make conclusions about causation, and when certain factors are highly associated with each other, even correlation can be muddled. Addressing risk factors disproportionately impacting families with lower socioeconomic status is crucial in the fight against childhood overweight and obesity. Current interventions mostly target individual behaviors, like increasing exercise for overweight children using step counters, or logging food to share with practitioners for weight loss. However, overweight and obesity in childhood are clearly contextual, associated with social and economic environments, and prevention is ideal, even as the intricacies are difficult to tease out. This study reinforces the need for childhood interventions aimed at obesity and overweight to target these contextual factors. Since the predictors of childhood overweight and obesity are tightly intertwined, and often not well understood, this capstone can help to inform further research into this field. This study proposes bigger programs targeting health disparities at the neighborhood level, not at the child or family level

The evolution of brain size and structure in primates

The pressures and constraints influencing the wide variation in primate brain size and composition are hotly contested. Comparative biologists have proposed many alternative hypotheses with no consensus yet emerging. This thesis uses phylogenetic comparative techniques and new data to explore the core issues in primate brain evolution; examining how behavioural ecology is associated with brain size and structure variation and what life history correlates reveal about possible developmental mechanisms producing this variation. The thesis raises a number of important issues for the field. Firstly, evidence of selection at the level of individual structures independently of overall brain size further challenges the utility of whole brain size as a meaningful measure in comparative enquiry. Secondly, by analysing multiple datasets, I demonstrate that fluctuations in data quality are a major cause of inconsistency in results. Finally, the pursuit of explanatory frameworks based on single niche dimensions appears to yield unclear results; contributing to the lack of consensus in the literature. The concept of adaptive syndromes of correlates, while more difficult to operationalise, is likely more meaningful in terms of selection on function. The findings demonstrate different patterns of covariation of structures across orders and varying correlates of individual structures within primates. This suggests that primate brain evolution has been characterised by the mosaic evolution of individual structures in response to ecological, social and developmental factors, and that selection on function is the primary cause of the observed phenotypic variation. Life history traits were also associated with structure size in a manner predicted from their developmental trajectories, suggesting that selection induces variation in brain composition by modifying the duration of specific life history phases to adjust the relative growth of individual structures

Concealed Motives: Rethinking Fourteenth Amendment and Voting Rights Challenges to Felon Disenfranchisement

Felon disenfranchisement provisions are justified by many Americans under the principle that voting is a privilege to be enjoyed only by upstanding citizens. The provisions are intimately tied, however, to the country’s legacy of racism and systemic disenfranchisement and are at odds with the values of American democracy. In virtually every state, felon disenfranchisement provisions affect the poor and communities of color on a grossly disproportionate scale. Yet to date, most challenges to the provisions under the Equal Protection Clause and Voting Rights Act have been unsuccessful, frustrating proponents of re-enfranchisement and the disenfranchised alike. In light of those failures, is felon disenfranchisement here to stay? This Note contemplates that question, beginning with a comprehensive analysis of the history of felon disenfranchisement provisions in America, tracing their roots to the largescale effort to disenfranchise African Americans during Reconstruction, and identifying ways in which the racism of the past reverberates through practices of disenfranchisement in the present day. Applying this knowledge to understandings of prior case law and recent voting rights litigation, a path forward begins to emerge

Distinguishing between automatic positive and negative higher-order restrictive and repetitive behavior

One of the main diagnostic features of autism spectrum disorder is the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs). These behaviors can include repetitive motions, repetitive speech, and engaging in rituals. These behaviors can often present a variety of challenges for the child and those around them. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate if higher-order RRBs are maintained by automatic positive or automatic negative reinforcement. Results demonstrated that Truman's ritual was maintained by automatic positive reinforcement, and Jaspers ritual was maintained by automatic negative reinforcement. The function of the participants' behavior will influence which treatment packages will be most effective in treating problem behavior associated with the interruption of their rituals

Bridging the Gap: A Joint Negotiation Project Crossing Legal Disciplines

This article discusses the creation and implementation of a cross-discipline negotiation simulation project designed by two law professors at Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit College of Law. The project bridged the gap between podium classes and clinical experience, exposing two separate groups of students to new subject areas. Professors Lauren E. Bartlett and Karen Powell brought together two distinct law classes, one doctrinal tax class and one pretrial litigation skills class, to exercise legal skills, and learn substantive and procedural law from their classmates, while acting as an attorney or a client in a simulated negotiation

How should you manage children born to hepatitis C-positive women?

for starters, don't be overly concerned with the mode of delivery; it doesn't influence the rate of transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV), except in women who are also infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (strength of recommendation [SOR]: B, consistent retrospective cohort studies)