Possibilities For the Urban Grower: Finding Sites in the City of Atlanta using Geographic Information Systems

Urban agriculture and the local food movement have taken main stage both in academic discourse and public and political media. Socio-environmental downfalls of our current industrial food systems have been highlighted, compelling the public and political spheres to engage in activities that support the integration of local, urban food-growing systems. This thesis aims to contribute to that integration by examining possibilities for urban agriculture within the city limits of Atlanta. Through geospatial analysis methods and consultation of city and county property records, possible future sites were ascertained using socioeconomic and ecological factors, with 21 key neighborhoods found to have the greatest potential and need to transform existing land use for agricultural purposes. This research contributes to the larger goal of systemic integration of urban and local food systems into our current economic, political and social landscape, and the study is framed using social theoretical insights from urban geography. While further examination of these urban agricultural food systems is vital, this thesis contributes to broader discussions about urban environmental sustainability and supports the roots of the local food movement by identifying possible sites for food cultivation and food markets

Impact of Pandemic Induced Stress on Health Behaviors Related to COVID-19 Susceptibility

The COVID-19 pandemic has encompassed not only a public health crisis due to the range of symptoms and rapid spread associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but it has also resulted in daily life changes due to public health mandates implemented to reduce the spread of the disease. The current study (N = 148) tested two hypotheses: that individuals experiencing increased stress due to the pandemic would be more likely to engage in protective behaviors that would limit exposure to the virus (e.g., limiting in-person contact) and that individuals experiencing increased stress would also engage in behaviors that may increase their risk for other health concerns (e.g., increased screen time increasing sedentary lifestyles). Using an online survey design with data collected from a college student sample, correlational analyses found that individuals reporting greater levels of stress were more likely to report reduced in-person contact and to identify COVID-19 as a public health threat. Stress did not relate to adherence to safety guidelines, however, considering COVID-19 as a public health threat did. Stress also correlated with increased screen time and caffeine consumption, but not alcohol or nicotine use. The results of the study highlight the importance of assessing both protective and maladaptive health behaviors when researching the relationship between public health concerns and stress

Incidence and prognostic significance of hypoxemia in fibrotic interstitial lung disease: an international cohort study.

BACKGROUND Hypoxemia is a cardinal feature of fibrotic interstitial lung disease (ILD). The incidence, progression, and prognostic significance of hypoxemia in patients with fibrotic ILD is currently unknown. RESEARCH QUESTION What are the epidemiology of hypoxemia and its additive prognostic value in current risk prediction model in fibrotic ILD? METHODS We identified 848 patients with fibrotic ILD (258 with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)) in five prospective ILD registries from Australia, Canada, and Switzerland. Cumulative incidence of exertional and resting hypoxemia from the time of diagnosis was estimated at 1-year intervals in patients with baseline 6-minute walk tests, adjusted for competing risks of death and lung transplantation. Likelihood ratio tests were used to determine the prognostic significance of exertional and resting hypoxemia for 1-year mortality/transplantation when added to the ILD-GAP model. The cohort was divided into derivation and validation subsets to evaluate performance characteristics of the extended model (the "ILD-GAP-O2" model), which included oxygenation status as a predictor. RESULTS The 1-, 2-, and 5-year overall cumulative incidence was 6.1%, 17.3%, and 40.1% for exertional hypoxemia, and 2.4%, 5.6%, and 16.5% for resting hypoxemia, which were significantly higher in IPF patients compared to non-IPF patients (p<0.001 for both). Addition of exertional or resting hypoxemia to the ILD-GAP model improved 1-year mortality/transplantation prediction (p<0.001 for both). The ILD-GAP-O2 model had improved discrimination (C-index of 0.80 vs 0.75) and model fit (Akaike information criteria of 400 vs 422) in the validation cohort, with comparable calibration. INTERPRETATION IPF patients have higher cumulative incidence of exertional and resting hypoxemia than non-IPF patients. The extended ILD-GAP-O2 model provides additional risk stratification for 1-year prognosis in fibrotic ILD

Molecular Characterization of Organosulfates in Organic Aerosols from Shanghai and Los Angeles Urban Areas by Nanospray-Desorption Electrospray Ionization High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Fine aerosol particles in the urban areas of Shanghai and Los Angeles were collected on days that were characterized by their stagnant air and high organic aerosol concentrations. They were analyzed by nanospray-desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with high mass resolution (m/Δm = 100,000). Solvent mixtures of acetonitrile and water and acetonitrile and toluene were used to extract and ionize polar and nonpolar compounds, respectively. A diverse mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons, organosulfates, organonitrates, and organics with reduced nitrogen were detected in the Los Angeles sample. A majority of the organics in the Shanghai sample were detected as organosulfates. The dominant organosulfates that were detected at two locations have distinctly different molecular characteristics. Specifically, the organosulfates in the Los Angeles sample were dominated by biogenic products, while the organosulfates of a yet unknown origin found in the Shanghai sample had distinctive characteristics of long aliphatic carbon chains and low degrees of oxidation and unsaturation. The use of the acetonitrile and toluene solvent facilitated the observation of this type of organosulfates, which suggests that they could have been missed in previous studies that relied on sample extraction using common polar solvents. The high molecular weight and low degree of unsaturation and oxidization of the uncommon organosulfates suggest that they may act as surfactants and plausibly affect the surface tension and hygroscopicity of atmospheric particles. We propose that direct esterification of carbonyl or hydroxyl compounds by sulfates or sulfuric acid in the liquid phase could be the formation pathway of these special organosulfates. Long-chain alkanes from vehicle emissions might be their precursors

Neurocognitive characteristics of youth with noncomorbid and comorbid forms of conduct disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Studies investigating neurocognitive deficits in youth with conduct disorder (CD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are often confounded by the high rates of comorbidity between the two.; Neurocognitive functioning was examined in three diagnostic groups (ADHD only, CD only, comorbid ADHD and CD) matched by age, sex, IQ, and medication status (n=28-32 per group).; No significant differences emerged between the diagnostic groups on measures of risk-taking or response inhibition. Children with CD performed better on a measure of spatial planning than those with comorbid ADHD and CD, and dimensional analyses in the full sample (n=265) revealed a small association between ADHD symptoms and poorer spatial planning.; These results suggest that deficits in spatial planning may be more pronounced in individuals with ADHD, but that the neurocognitive functioning of youth with noncomorbid and comorbid CD and ADHD are largely similar

Mapping EQ5D utilities from forced vital capacity and diffusing capacity in fibrotic interstitial lung disease.

ObjectivesFibrotic interstitial lung disease (ILD) includes a large group of conditions that lead to scarring of the lungs. The lack of available 5-level EuroQol 5D (EQ5D) data has limited the ability to conduct economic evaluations in ILD. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a mapping algorithm that predicts EQ5D utilities from commonly collected pulmonary function measurements (forced vital capacity [FVC] and diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide [DLCO]) in fibrotic ILDs.MethodsEQ5D utility and pulmonary function measurements from the Canadian Registry for Pulmonary Fibrosis were included. Ordinary least squares (OLS), beta regression, two-part, and tobit models were used to map EQ5D utilities from FVC or DLCO. Model performance was assessed by comparing the predicted and observed utilities. Subgroup analyses were also conducted to test how well models performed across different patient characteristics. The models were then externally validated in the Australian Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Registry.ResultsThe OLS model performed as well as other more complex models (root mean squared error: 0.17 for FVC and 0.16 for DLCO). As with the other models, the OLS algorithm performed well across the different subgroups (except for EQ5D utilities ConclusionWe developed a mapping algorithm that predicts EQ5D utilities from FVC and DLCO, with the intent that this algorithm can be applied to clinical trial populations and real-world cohorts that have not prioritized collection of health-related utilities. The mapping algorithm can be used in future economic evaluations of potential ILD therapies