University Undergraduate Population Research Articles

A simple model for control of COVID-19 infections on an urban campus

A customized susceptible, exposed, infected, and recovered compartmental model is presented for describing the control of asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 infections on a residential, urban college campus embedded in a large urban community by using public health protocols, founded on surveillance testing, contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine. Analysis in the limit of low infection rates-a necessary condition for successful operation of the campus-yields expressions for controlling the infection and understanding the dynamics of infection spread. The number of expected cases on campus is proportional to the exogenous infection rate in the community and is decreased by more frequent testing and effective contact tracing. Simple expressions are presented for the dynamics of superspreader events and the impact of partial vaccination. The model results compare well with residential data from Boston University's undergraduate population for fall 2020.

Micro-nutrient related malnutrition and obesity in a university undergraduate population and implications for non-communicable diseases

Background Micronutrient deficiency and obesity are increasing globally. This study determined the prevalence of micronutrient-related malnutrition, patterns of obesity using different methods of assessment, and the predictors of obesity among the university undergraduate population in Lagos State, Nigeria. Methods A multistage sampling technique was adopted to select 506 students from the three universities in Lagos State. A pre-tested, semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-demographic and economic characteristics. Nutrient intakes were estimated from 24-hour dietary recalls, obesity was assessed through anthropometric measurements and Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis, following standard procedures. Associations between variables were tested using Chi-square, Fischer’s exact tests, and logistic regression analyses. Twenty-four-hour diet recall was analyzed using the Total Diet Assessment soft-ware. Anthropometric indices were compared with World Health Organization (WHO) standards and classified. Results Mean daily intake of almost all micronutrients was low except sodium which was in excess compared to the recommended dietary allowances. The prevalence of underweight was 6.6%, overweight (16.4%), and obesity (3.2%) based on body mass index (BMI). Abdominal obesity was higher than general obesity. Obesity assessed using the percentage body fat had the highest yield of 54.4% in males and 37.1% in females. Conclusions Micronutrient-related malnutrition and central obesity were higher than reported in previous studies. Male gender, inconsistent income, and increased amount of folate were significant predictors of obesity. The students will benefit from nutrition education that emphasize the consumption of micronutrient dense foods and different methods of weight management.

Evaluation and Revision of an Instrument Measuring Attitudes toward the Amish.

The attitudes non-members hold toward the Amish-or any ethnic, racial, and religious group-has consequences for that population, from criminal victimization to an ability to exercise human rights. Given the rapid growth and expansion of the Amish in North America, an effective tool is needed to measure public attitudes toward the Amish. William McGuigan (2007; 2014) recently led the development of an Attitudes Toward the Amish (ATA) instrument, which was tested in northwestern Pennsylvania. In using the ATA in northeastern Missouri, we encountered problems with the instrument's operational validity: no significant differences were found in the responses between a university undergraduate population of largely urban/suburban origin and the local rural population when we would otherwise expect differences. We revised the instrument and administered it to the same populations. Of the 16 items in the revised version, 14 were significantly different at the p<.05 level. A factor analysis revealed four components with face validity. Based on these results, we offer the Revised ATA (RATA) as an improved instrument and make recommendations for designing instruments intended to measure attitudes toward out-groups.

Dietary habits and metabolic risk factors for non-communicable diseases in a university undergraduate population

BackgroundUnhealthy dietary patterns are associated with metabolic changes and increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), but these associations have not been investigated in representative populations of university undergraduates in low-to-middle income countries (LMICs).MethodsThis study was conducted in the three universities in Lagos State, Nigeria to assess the dietary pattern and metabolic risk factors of NCDs among university undergraduate population. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 506 undergraduates from the universities. Pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-demographic characteristics and dietary patterns. Body mass index and metabolic risk factors (abdominal obesity, dyslipidemias, high blood pressure and hyperglycemia) were assessed following standard procedures. SPSS (version 20) was used for data entry and analysis. Association between variables was determined using chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests.ResultsThe mean age was 20.3 ± 3.5 years; 54.7% of them were female. More than one third (37.6%) had no consistent source of income or received less than N10, 000 ($31.7) per month. Less than one third (31.0%) ate three daily meals, 23.0% ate breakfast regularly, and only 2% consumed the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables. Almost half (44.0%) ate pastry snacks daily. Refined rice was the commonest cereal (28.2%) consumed while meat was more commonly consumed daily (32.0%) than milk (14.0%) and fish (10.0%). Twenty-nine (29.0%) and 6.2% of the population daily consumed carbonated soft drinks and alcohol, respectively. Prevalence of abdominal obesity (based on waist circumference) was 5% (1.3% in males and 8.4% in females), dyslipidemias (57.3%), pre-hypertension (8.2%), hypertension (2.8%), and pre-diabetes (1.0%). Obesity was positively associated with consumption of alcohol (χ2 = 13.299,p < 0.001).ConclusionUnhealthy diets and metabolic risk factors of non-communicable diseases are prevalent in the undergraduate population studied. Well-recognized recommendations regarding adequate consumption of fruits, vegetables, fish, and whole grains should be emphasized in a targeted manner in this population. Carbonated soft drinks and alcohol consumption should be discouraged to stem a rising tide of metabolic risk factors for non-communicable diseases among undergraduate students.

Dyslexia and Substance Use in a University Undergraduate Population

ABSTRACTBackground: A number of cognitive deficits are associated with dyslexia. However, only a limited amount of research has been performed exploring a putative link between dyslexia and substance use. As substance use is thought to involve a cognitive component, it is possible that the pattern of substance use would be different for dyslexic participants, when compared to nondyslexic controls. During the current study, a guiding hypothesis was that people with dyslexia would demonstrate less substance use than nondyslexic controls. Theories of memory activation, automaticity, and attentional bias in substance use suggest that cognitive components of substance use are important in the development and maintenance of continued substance use and it is thought that, at least some of these components, would be impaired in a dyslexic population. Objectives: If the cognitive deficits displayed by dyslexics somehow impair the development of cognitive components of substance use, substance use for dyslexic participants may be less pronounced. This paper therefore examines this hypothesis by comparing substance use within dyslexic and nondyslexic participants, from an undergraduate population. Methods: This was an exploratory questionnaire-based study. Dyslexic participants (n = 35) were compared to control participants (n = 62) on a series of questions designed to measure their substance use history. Results: The results provided preliminary evidence of a difference between dyslexic and nondyslexic substance use. Dyslexics reported a substance use history that was significantly lower than nondyslexic controls. Conclusions/Importance: These results are interpreted in terms of cognitive deficits within dyslexia and with reference to the cognitive model of substance use.

Prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibody among undergraduates in ogbomoso, southwestern Nigeria.

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV), among a healthy university undergraduate population in south-western Nigeria. Relevant medical information of students who underwent the post-admission screening exercise for the year 2012, at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Health Center, Ogbomoso were extracted from the laboratory log book. All tests were done using rapid anti-HCV test kit by Health - Chem diagnostics, USA. A total of 1,572 students were included in the study. The mean age was 19.61 (± 2.75) years while the age range was 15-50 years. A total of 821 (52.20%), of the subjects were males while 751 (47.80%) were females. More than ninety nine percent (99.90%) of the subjects were aged 15-30 years, whereas those aged ≥31 years were comparatively few (0.60%). Of the 1572 students, 6 tested positive, giving an overall prevalence of 0.40%. Three (0.37%) of the 821 male subjects tested positive while 3(0.40%) also of the 751 female subjects tested positive. Age-group 21-30 years had the highest prevalence of anti -HCV (0.50%), followed by age-groups ≤ 20 years with 0.30% prevalence. None of the subjects in age-groups 31-40 and ≥ 41 years tested positive. These observed differences were not statistically significant. The prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus is low among the young healthy undergraduate population in the south - western region of Nigeria.

Self‐assessed performance improves statistical fusion of image labels

Expert manual labeling is the gold standard for image segmentation, but this process is difficult, time-consuming, and prone to inter-individual differences. While fully automated methods have successfully targeted many anatomies, automated methods have not yet been developed for numerous essential structures (e.g., the internal structure of the spinal cord as seen on magnetic resonance imaging). Collaborative labeling is a new paradigm that offers a robust alternative that may realize both the throughput of automation and the guidance of experts. Yet, distributing manual labeling expertise across individuals and sites introduces potential human factors concerns (e.g., training, software usability) and statistical considerations (e.g., fusion of information, assessment of confidence, bias) that must be further explored. During the labeling process, it is simple to ask raters to self-assess the confidence of their labels, but this is rarely done and has not been previously quantitatively studied. Herein, the authors explore the utility of self-assessment in relation to automated assessment of rater performance in the context of statistical fusion. The authors conducted a study of 66 volumes manually labeled by 75 minimally trained human raters recruited from the university undergraduate population. Raters were given 15 min of training during which they were shown examples of correct segmentation, and the online segmentation tool was demonstrated. The volumes were labeled 2D slice-wise, and the slices were unordered. A self-assessed quality metric was produced by raters for each slice by marking a confidence bar superimposed on the slice. Volumes produced by both voting and statistical fusion algorithms were compared against a set of expert segmentations of the same volumes. Labels for 8825 distinct slices were obtained. Simple majority voting resulted in statistically poorer performance than voting weighted by self-assessed performance. Statistical fusion resulted in statistically indistinguishable performance from self-assessed weighted voting. The authors developed a new theoretical basis for using self-assessed performance in the framework of statistical fusion and demonstrated that the combined sources of information (both statistical assessment and self-assessment) yielded statistically significant improvement over the methods considered separately. The authors present the first systematic characterization of self-assessed performance in manual labeling. The authors demonstrate that self-assessment and statistical fusion yield similar, but complementary, benefits for label fusion. Finally, the authors present a new theoretical basis for combining self-assessments with statistical label fusion.

Epidemiological, clinical and pharmacological aspects of headache in a university undergraduate population in Palestine

Headache is one of the most common complaints in clinical practice. Few studies regarding headache in university students have been conducted in the Middle East. The objective of this study was to explore the prevalence, clinical characteristics, triggering factors and treatment options of headaches in university undergraduate students in Palestine/Middle East. Data were collected by interviewing a sample of 1900 students. The Headache Assessment Quiz was used to measure quality and severity of headache and to collect data on triggering factors and symptom management. A total of 1808 (95.2%) reported having at least one headache episode in the previous year. A positive family history of headache was found in 40% of students. The prevalence rate of frequent headache (tow or more episodes/month) was found in 1096 (60.9%) students; 613 women (55.9%). Of those having frequent headaches, 228 (20.8%) experienced moderate to severe episodes, 341 (31.2%) had pulsating, throbbing and pounding pain, and 274 (25%) had unilateral pain. The most common triggering factors among students with frequent headaches were: tension/stress (78.2%) and sleep deprivation (75.4%). Less than 5% of students sought medical assistance during headache episodes. Most students (79.1%) reported self-therapy with a single analgesic (53.4%), herbs (10.2%) or combination (15.5%), while 20.9% reported using no medication of any type to decrease pain. Paracetamol (48.5%) followed by ibuprofen (4.9%) were the most commonly used non-prescription analgesic drugs. Headache is a prevalent symptom in the college age population. Further research is needed to determine the prevalence of specific types of headaches. Healthcare providers are required to educate this population as well as to assist students in properly diagnosing and treating headache types.

Prevalence and management of headache in a university undergraduate population

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the incidence, morbidity, and management of headaches in university undergraduate students. The authors also explored choice of reliever medications for headaches in an effort to assess potential needs for patient education concerning effective headache management. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 104 students. The Headache Assessment Quiz was used to measure type and severity of headache and to collect data on symptom management. A majority of students surveyed reported experiencing headaches of moderate to severe intensity. Sixty percent of respondents indicated that headaches interfered with their usual activities while 92.5% reported use of nonprescription relievers only for headache management. Knowledge of headache prevention and treatment is lacking in this age group. Headaches are a common symptom in the college age population. Further research is needed to determine the incidence of specific types of headaches. Primary care providers are challenged to address patient education in this population as well as to assist patients in properly diagnosing headache types.

Perceptual reactance and criminal risk-taking

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differential perception of criminal risk by individuals identified as Reducers, Augmenters and Moderates according to their tendency to subjectively alter perceived size. Serious young offenders of both sexes have been found to be overly represented by Reducers. One possible explanation for this is that Reducers, who have a greater tolerance for pain, are less aware of the experiencing of pain by others, rendering them likely to perceive potentially criminal situations as less risky than do Augmenters. The Behavior Prediction Scale and Petrie's kinesthetic aftereffect measure of perceptual reactance were administered to 46 Ss drawn from a university undergraduate population. Reducers were found most willing to take criminal risks. Moderates unwilling to, and Augmenters least willing to. This was not due to differences in sensitivity to the experiencing of pain by others, however, contrary to expectations. The implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.