Modeling of drinking and driving behaviors among adolescents and young adults in the United States: Complexities and Intervention outcomes.

Alcohol-impaired driving is a formidable public health problem in the United States, claiming the lives of 37 individuals daily in alcohol-related crashes. Alcohol-impaired driving is affected by a multitude of interconnected factors, coupled with long delays between stakeholders' actions and their impacts, which not only complicate policy-making but also increase the likelihood of unintended consequences. We developed a system dynamics simulation model of drinking and driving behaviors among adolescents and young adults.

Comparative analysis of machine learning versus traditional method for early detection of parental depression symptoms in the NICU.

Introduction: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission is a stressful experience for parents. NICU parents are twice at risk of depression symptoms compared to the general birthing population. Parental mental health problems have harmful long-term effects on both parents and infants.

Systems mapping of multilevel factors contributing to dental caries in adolescents.

Unlabelled: Dental caries is a prevalent chronic disease among adolescents. Caries activity increases significantly during adolescence due to an increase in susceptible tooth surfaces, immature permanent tooth enamel, independence in pursuing self-care, and a tendency toward poor diet and oral hygiene. Dental caries in permanent teeth is more prevalent among adolescents in low-income families and racial/ethnic minority groups, and these disparities in adolescent dental caries experience have persisted for decades.

Exploring personalized psychotherapy for depression: A system dynamics approach.

Depressive disorders are the leading contributor to medical disability, yet only 22% of depressed patients receive adequate treatment in a given year. Response to treatment varies widely among individuals with depression, and poor response to one treatment does not signal poor response to others. In fact, half of patients who do not recover from a first-line psychotherapy will recover from a second option.

What determines the success of states in reducing alcohol related crash fatalities? A longitudinal analysis of alcohol related crashes in the U.S. from 1985 to 2019.

In the United States, nearly 28 people die in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes every day (1 fatality every 52 min). Over decades, states have enacted multiple laws to reduce such fatalities. From 1982 to 2019, the proportion of drivers in fatal crashes with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) above 0.

Trajectories and Outcomes of Adolescents that Ride With an Impaired Driver/Drive While Impaired.

Introduction: For young drivers, independent transportation has been noted to offer them opportunities that can be beneficial as they enter early adulthood. However, those that choose to engage in riding with an impaired driver (RWI) and drive while impaired (DWI) over time can face negative consequences reducing such opportunities. This study examined the prospective association of identified longitudinal trajectory classes among adolescents that RWI and DWI with their later health, education, and employment in emerging adulthood.

Mapping the complex causal mechanisms of drinking and driving behaviors among adolescents and young adults.

Background: The proportion of motor vehicle crash fatalities involving alcohol-impaired drivers declined substantially between 1982 and 1997, but progress stopped after 1997. The systemic complexity of alcohol-impaired driving contributes to the persistence of this problem. This study aims to identify and map key feedback mechanisms that affect alcohol-impaired driving among adolescents and young adults in the U.

Riding with an impaired driver and driving while impaired among adolescents: Longitudinal trajectories and their characteristics.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize trajectory classes of adolescents who ride with an impaired driver (RWI) and drive while impaired (DWI).

Methods: We analyzed all 7 annual assessments (Waves W1-W7) of the NEXT Generation Health Study, a nationally representative longitudinal study starting with 10th grade (2009-2010 school year). Using all 7 waves, latent class analysis was used to identify trajectory classes with dichotomized RWI (last 12 months) and DWI (last 30 days; once or more = 1 vs.

Machine Learning-Enabled 30-Day Readmission Model for Stroke Patients.

Hospital readmissions impose a substantial burden on the healthcare system. Reducing readmissions after stroke could lead to improved quality of care especially since stroke is associated with a high rate of readmission. The goal of this study is to enhance our understanding of the predictors of 30-day readmission after ischemic stroke and develop models to identify high-risk individuals for targeted interventions.

Understanding State-Level Variations in the US Infant Mortality: 2000 to 2015.

Objective: To exploit state variations in infant mortality, identify diagnoses that contributed to reduction of the infant mortality rate (IMR), and examine factors associated with preterm-related mortality rate (PMR).

Study Design: Using linked birth-infant deaths files, we examined patterns in the leading causes of IMR. We compared these rates at both national and state levels to find reduction trends.

Modeling and estimating the feedback mechanisms among depression, rumination, and stressors in adolescents.

The systemic interactions among depressive symptoms, rumination, and stress are important to understanding depression but have not yet been quantified. In this article, we present a system dynamics simulation model of depression that captures the reciprocal relationships among stressors, rumination, and depression. Building on the response styles theory, this model formalizes three interdependent mechanisms: 1) Rumination contributes to 'keeping stressors alive'; 2) Rumination has a direct impact on depressive symptoms; and 3) Both 'stressors kept alive' and current depressive symptoms contribute to rumination.

Embracing Causal Complexity in Health Disparities: Metabolic Syndemics and Structural Prevention in Rural Minority Communities.

Chronic discrimination and associated socioeconomic inequalities have shaped the health and well-being of Black Americans. As a consequence of the intersection of these factors with rural deprivation, rural Black Americans live and work in particularly pathogenic environments that generate disproportionate and interacting chronic comorbidities (syndemics) compared to their White and/or urban counterparts. Traditional prevention research has been unable to fully capture the underlying complexity of rural minority health and has generated mostly low-leverage interventions that have failed to reverse adverse metabolic outcomes among rural Black Americans.

Novel Screening Tool for Stroke Using Artificial Neural Network.

Background And Purpose: The timely diagnosis of stroke at the initial examination is extremely important given the disease morbidity and narrow time window for intervention. The goal of this study was to develop a supervised learning method to recognize acute cerebral ischemia (ACI) and differentiate that from stroke mimics in an emergency setting.

Methods: Consecutive patients presenting to the emergency department with stroke-like symptoms, within 4.

Modeling the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis: A review and extension.

Multiple models of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have been developed to characterize the oscillations seen in the hormone concentrations and to examine HPA axis dysfunction. We reviewed the existing models, then replicated and compared five of them by finding their correspondence to a dataset consisting of ACTH and cortisol concentrations of 17 healthy individuals. We found that existing models use different feedback mechanisms, vary in the level of details and complexities, and offer inconsistent conclusions.