PUBH 6541 - Biostatistics

This course examines statistics in public health and related sciences, including sampling, probability, basic discrete and continuous distributions, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, categorical data analysis, regression, and correlation. Emphasis will be on the development of critical thinking skills and health data analysis applications with computer software

PUBH-6541-01F - Biostatistics

This course examines statistics in public health and related sciences, including sampling, probability, basic discrete and continuous distributions, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, categorical data analysis, regression, and correlation. Emphasis will be on the development of critical thinking skills and health data analysis applications with computer software

BIOS 6531 - Categorical Data Analysis

(taken from 2020‑21 Course Catalog): This course introduces statistical methods for analyzing both univariate and multivariate categorical data and count in medical research and other health-related fields. The course will introduce how to distinguish among the different measurement scales, the commonly used statistical probability distribution and inference methods for categorical and count data. Emphasis will be placed on the application of the methodology and computational aspects rather than theory. The students will learn how to apply SAS procedures to data and interpret the results

PUBH 7132 – Scientific Basis of Public Health

This course explores the scientific basis of 21st century disease processes including a survey of the origins, natural history, factors influencing individual and community risk. Clinical symptoms of diseases impacting humans, both acute and chronic, as well as epidemiologic trends will be also be discussed. Students will obtain an understanding of scientific mechanisms associated with the disease processes with particular focus on using this information in health-related professions and public health decision-making. As such, emphasis will be placed on the understanding and application of proposing community-based solutions designed to break the cycle of disease

PUBH 7132 – Scientific Basis of Public Health

This course explores the scientific basis of 21st century disease processes including a survey of the origins, natural history, factors influencing individual and community risk. Clinical symptoms of diseases impacting humans, both acute and chronic, as well as epidemiologic trends will be also be discussed. Students will obtain an understanding of scientific mechanisms associated with the disease processes with particular focus on using this information in health-related professions and public health decision-making. As such, emphasis will be placed on the understanding and application of proposing community-based solutions designed to break the cycle of disease

Campus Recreation and Fitness Center Utilization During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has far reaching effects for college students\u27 health and physical activity behaviors. This analysis focuses on university student fitness center usage pre and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers hypothesized a reduction in fitness center utilization when comparing Fall 2019 to Fall 2020 utilization rates. Methods Patterns of the recreation center and fitness center utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic are compared to pre-pandemic patterns of a matched time period in the previous academic year in an observational study. Overall utilization was evaluated using secondary data from the university’s recreation center data system. Six weeks of utilization data were pulled for investigation across the two years of interest. Time periods evaluated included Fall semester 2019 (August 19, 2019 - September 29, 2019) and Fall semester 2020 (August 17, 2020 - September 27, 2020). Poisson regression analysis was used where statistical significance levels were set to 0.05. Results There was a statistically significant reduction in recreation center participation from 2019 to 2020 (Mean±SD: 1683.1 ± 888.6 to 726.4 ±339.9). Furthermore, student participation decreased in all areas of the fitness center usage from 2019 to 2020 (cardio deck, machine weights, and free weights Mean±SD: 12.5±8.9 to 5.4±4.2, 17.6±9.5 to 8.9±5.4, 27.7±13.1 to 17.9±8.4). While the overall participation decreased, the proportion of utilization increased in the free weights area (B = 0.2446; 95% CI 0.1604 – 0.3289; p Conclusions This study is one of the first to evaluate the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has on participation in a university recreation center. This study will help generate questions and guide future research analyzing trends of physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic

Model Parameters Estimation With Non-ignorable Missing Data Using Influential Exponential Tilting Resampling Approach

This paper proposes to extend [1] mean functional estimation method based on the influential exponential tilting resampling approach (ITRA) to address non-ignorable missing data in linear model parameters statistical inference. The ITRA approach assumes that the nonrespondents’ model corresponds to an exponential tilting of the respondents’ model. The tilted model\u27s specified function is the influential function of the function of interest (parameter). The other basis of the proposed approach is to use the importance resampling techniques to draw inferences about some linear model parameters. Simulation studies were conducted to investigate the performance of the proposed methods and their application to real data. Theoretical justifications are provided as well

Who\u27s the Man? Examining the Relationship Between Black Masculinity, Perceived Social Support, and Sexual Behavior in Black Male College Students

Background: Sexual health disparities in college-aged Black men remains a critical public health issue. Black men are likely to have an earlier sexual debut, acquire sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV at higher rates, and enter fatherhood at earlier ages than their White counterparts. Research demonstrates masculinity and perceived social support as predictors of sexual risk behavior for men in the U.S. However, these studies in Black male populations are few. The study purpose was to explore the relationship between Black masculinity, perceived social support, and risky sexual behaviors in Black male college students. Methodology: A sample of 175 Black male college students attending a PWI and HBCU completed the study survey. Measures included perceptions of Black masculinity, perceived social and institutional support, and sexual behavior. Logistic regression, ordinal regression, and moderation analyses were performed. Results: Black men who identified with traditional masculinity were positively associated (B=1.12, p= 0.023*) with alcohol/drug use prior to sexual activity, and those who were culturally influenced by Black masculinity were negatively associated (B= -1.47, p=0.016*) with sexual behavior. Having high levels of perceived and institutional social support also moderated the relationship between masculinity and risky sexual activity. Conclusion: The findings of this study illustrate importance of cultural competence and value of including Black men’s social networks when developing sexual health interventions. Interventions must consider how Black males perceive masculinity in order to effectively address stigmas related to sexual health behaviors that result in adverse health outcomes experienced by Black men

Measuring Diagnostic Accuracy and Selecting Optimal Cutpoints for K-class Diseases Based on Concordance and Discordance with Application

Presentation given at the ICSA Applied Statistics Symposium. Program An essential aspect of medical diagnostic testing using biomarkers is to find an optimal cut-point that categorizes a patient as diseased or healthy. This aspect can be extended to the diseases which can be classified into more than two classes. For diseases with general k (k\u3e2) classes, well-established measures include hypervolume under the manifold and the generalized Youden Index. Another two diagnostic accuracy measures, maximum absolute determinant (MADET) and Kullback-Leibler divergence measure (KL) are recently proposed.This research proposes a new measure of diagnostic accuracy based on concordance and discordance (CD) for diseases with k (k\u3e2) classes and uses it as a cut-points selection criterion. The CD measure utilizes all the classification information and provides more balanced class probabilities. Power studies and simulations show that the optimal cut-points selected with CD measure may be more accurate for early-stage detection in some scenarios compared with other available measures. As well, an example of an actual dataset from the medical field will be provided using the proposed CD measure