Eur Heart J Imaging Methods Pract
September 2023
Aims: Impaired standardization of echocardiograms may increase inter-operator variability. This study aimed to determine whether the real-time guidance of experienced sonographers by deep learning (DL) could improve the standardization of apical recordings.
Methods And Results: Patients ( = 88) in sinus rhythm referred for echocardiography were included.
Aims: Apical foreshortening leads to an underestimation of left ventricular (LV) volumes and an overestimation of LV ejection fraction and global longitudinal strain. Real-time guiding using deep learning (DL) during echocardiography to reduce foreshortening could improve standardization and reduce variability. We aimed to study the effect of real-time DL guiding during echocardiography on measures of LV foreshortening and inter-observer variability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProg Community Health Partnersh
July 2024
Background: Aquí Entre Nos (Between Us) is a community-based participatory research project to engage rural, ethno-racially diverse hotel housekeepers in a right to work state during a time of national anti-immigrant policy, wildfires and emergence of a global pandemic.
Objectives: We aimed to (1) build trust and social support with the hotel housekeeping community, (2) learn about the occupational health, safety, and workers' rights challenges, strategies, and solutions held by workers, and (3) develop a workforce-driven research and action agenda to improve labor and health conditions.
Methods: Participatory mixed methods rooted in popular education are described to form an advisory board and engage the workforce.
Epidemiological models-which help us understand and forecast the spread of infectious disease-can be valuable tools for public health. However, barriers exist that can make it difficult to employ epidemiological models routinely within the repertoire of public health planning. These barriers include technical challenges associated with constructing the models, challenges in obtaining appropriate data for model parameterization, and problems with clear communication of modeling outputs and uncertainty.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSevere infection represents a leading reason for admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) while nosocomial infection can arise as a complication of care in the ICU. The mortality and morbidity of such infections are substantial. These processes also put economic strain on the healthcare system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: This study focuses on medical students from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and has three objectives. First, it evaluates the opinions of medical students regarding their previous training as well as their needs for future training in the field of digital health. Second, it assesses their attitudes regarding digital health and their intention to use digital tools as physicians.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTribally employed, Community Health Representatives (CHRs) serving Indigenous and American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) peoples are culturally and linguistically embedded community leaders, with the unique ability to serve as the link and intermediary between community members and systems. Unique to the CHR workforce scope of practice is the expectation for high level integration within the medical and social service care team. This explicit role outlined in the scope of work sets an expectation for both CHR and care teams to deliver integrated patient, family, and systems level care coordination and case management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continued to progress into 2021, appeals were made to take a stronger focus on the perceptions and practices of youth and young adults (YYAs) regarding COVID-19 mitigation, as well as the impact of mitigation strategies on the overall wellbeing of YYAs. In this paper, we describe our efforts to increase YYA engagement in Arizona's COVID-19 response by pairing embedded values from youth participatory action research (YPAR) with a crowdsourcing challenge contest design. The research protocol and implementation are described, followed by a thematic analysis of YYA-led messaging portrayed in 23 contest submissions and reflections formed by 223 community voters after viewing contest submissions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Indigenous and American Indian Alaskan Native (AI/AN) community members are systematically underrepresented in clinical trial research. This paper focuses on exploratory steps to partner with Native Nations of Arizona to engage Community Health Representatives (CHR) as a trusted source for building COVID-19 clinical trial research, including vaccine trials awareness. CHRs are frontline public health workers who apply a unique understanding of the experience, language, and culture of the population served.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has both highlighted and worsened existing health inequities among communities of color and structurally vulnerable populations. Community Health Workers, inclusive of Community Health Representatives (CHW/Rs) have entered the spotlight as essential to COVID-19 prevention and control. To learn about community experiences and perspectives related to COVID-19 and inform CHW/R workforce capacity building efforts, a series of focus groups were conducted with CHW/Rs throughout Arizona at two time points in 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF-related neurodevelopmental disorder is a rare disease caused by mutations in the gene, which encodes the GluN2B subunit of NMDA receptors. Most individuals with -related neurodevelopmental disorder present with intellectual disability and developmental delay. Motor impairments, autism spectrum disorder, and epilepsy are also common.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
December 2022
The goal of this study was to establish effective, culturally appropriate strategies to enhance participation of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities in prevention and treatment of COVID-19, including vaccine uptake. Thirteen Community Health Representatives (CHRs) from three Arizona Native nations tailored education materials to each community. CHRs delivered the intervention to over 160 community members and administered a pre-posttest to assess trusted sources of information, knowledge, and self-efficacy and intention regarding COVID-19 vaccines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUltrasound Med Biol
January 2023
Measurements of cardiac function such as left ventricular ejection fraction and myocardial strain are typically based on 2-D ultrasound imaging. The reliability of these measurements depends on the correct pose of the transducer such that the 2-D imaging plane properly aligns with the heart for standard measurement views and is thus dependent on the operator's skills. We propose a deep learning tool that suggests transducer movements to help users navigate toward the required standard views while scanning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Social and structural barriers drive disparities in prenatal care utilization among minoritized women in the United States. This study examined the impact of Arizona's Health Start Program, a community health worker (CHW) home visiting intervention, on prenatal care utilization among an ethno-racially and geographically diverse cohort of women.
Methods: We used Health Start administrative and state birth certificate data to identify women enrolled in the program during 2006-2016 (n = 7,117).
Background: Arizona's Health Start Program is a statewide community health worker (CHW) maternal and child health home visiting intervention. The objective of this study was to test if participation in Health Start during 2006-2016 improved early childhood vaccination completion rates.
Methods: This retrospective study used 11 years of administrative, birth certificate, and immunization records.
Background: Multisectoral and public-private partnerships are critical in building the necessary infrastructure, policy, and political will to ameliorate health inequity. A focus on health equity by researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers prioritizes action to address the systematic, avoidable, and unjust differences in health status across population groups sustained over time and generations that are beyond the control of individuals. Health equity requires a collective process in shaping the health and wellbeing of the communities in which we live, learn, work, play, and grow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe state of Arizona has experienced one of the highest novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positivity test rates in the United States with disproportionally higher case rates and deaths among African-American/Black (AA/B), American Indian/Alaska Native (Native), and Hispanic/Latinx (HLX) individuals. To reduce disparities and promote health equity, researchers from Arizona State University, Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona formed a partnership with community organizations to conduct state-wide community-engaged research and outreach. This report describes results from 34 virtually-held focus groups and supplemental survey responses conducted with 153 AA/B, HLX, and Native community members across Arizona to understand factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and confidence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHomeless opioid treatment clients who transition into housing generally demonstrate better outcomes, but housing environments vary widely and may not benefit racial/ethnic minority populations equally. We sought to identify how race/ethnicity moderates the association between positive opioid treatment response and moving into dependent or independent living environments. We used the Treatment Episode Dataset-Discharges (2018-2019) to identify outpatient treatment clients who were homeless at admission and indicated heroin or other opioids as their primary drug of choice ( 20,021).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The purpose of this study was to culturally enhance a diabetes education program for Diné (Navajo) community members with Type 2 diabetes. Though the recommendation to culturally adapt health education curricula was meant to improve health education for American Indians and Alaskan Natives (AIANs), it has inadvertently created a "one size fits all" approach. This approach does not properly address the need for tribe-specific cultural health messaging, defined as incorporating cultural elements deemed relevant to the population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMutations in , which encodes the GluN2B subunit of NMDA receptors, lead to autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but the pathophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. Recently, we showed that a GluN2B variant that is associated with severe ASD (GluN2B) impairs dendrite morphogenesis. To determine which aspects of dendrite growth are affected by GluN2B, we investigated the dynamics of dendrite growth and branching in rat neocortical neurons using time-lapse imaging.
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