This study examined the relationships between consumer demographic/VR service variables and employment outcomes/weekly earnings/level of education for 25,218 individuals ranging from 15 to 18 years old with learning disabilities from the Rehabilitation Services Administration data in 2012. To explore predictors of employment outcomes and the level of education, the participants were randomly split for cross-validation purposes into Sample 1 and Sample 2. A separate logistic regression was run for each sample, and variables (e.g. African American, job placement, college training, and occupational training) were statistically significant in predicting successful employment outcomes. In addition, service variables including African American status, college training, and occupational training were found to be statistically significantly to predict the level of education for transition-aged youth with learning disabilities. Weekly earnings for White males and females combined were statistically higher than African American males and females combined. Suggested hypotheses and implications for practice and future research are provided. / text

Introduction: Acute Care Surgery (ACS) is a new model of emergency general surgery care developed to provide prompt, comprehensive, and evidence-based care to acutely ill non-trauma surgical patients. Our objective was to determine the impact of implementing ACS on efficiency of care (EOC) and patient outcomes. Methods: A retrospective review was performed for patients with acute appendicitis (AA) and biliary tract disease (BTD). EOC measures and patient outcomes were compared over two time periods: pre-ACS (2007) and ACS (2011). Results: n=1,229 patients were included in this study; n=507 (pre-ACS), and n=722 (ACS). Surgical response times and acquisition of imaging were significantly faster with ACS. Time to OR and total LOS were similar between cohorts. Similar rates of daytime operating were present. With ACS and AA, there were more perforations, more ORs were performed at night and patients were readmitted more frequently. Conclusions: Increased volumes of patients were seen with ACS, but surgical assessments and imaging were significantly faster. Inpatient EOC measures were unchanged with ACS; outcomes for AA were worse. / October 2015

In developmental toxicity studies, multiple levels of correlation exist between multiple outcomes of interest, complicating the estimation of models and risk assessment for data collected from these studies. The first chapter describes these multiple layers of correlation, the problems that arise from them, and provides a detailed literature review of the statistical methodology developed in order to address these problems.

Factorial designs have been widely used in many scientific and industrial settings, where it is important to distinguish "active'' or real factorial effects from "inactive" or noise factorial effects used to estimate residual or "error" terms. We propose a new approach to screen for active factorial effects from such experiments that utilizes the potential outcomes framework and is based on sequential posterior predictive model checks. One advantage of the proposed method lies in its ability to broaden the standard definition of active effects and to link their definition to the population of interest. Another important aspect of this approach is its conceptual connection to Fisherian randomization tests. As in the literature in design of experiments, the unreplicated case receives special attention and extensive simulation studies demonstrate the superiority of the proposed Bayesian approach over existing methods. The unreplicated case is also thoroughly explored. Extensions to three level and fractional factorial designs are discussed and illustrated using a classical seat belt example for the former and part of a stem-cell research collaborative project for the latter. / Statistics

Within the last few decades there has been a push in the field of learning disabilities to identify students who have or who are at risk for learning disabilities as early as possible. Little to no research has been conducted on the long-term effects of age of first service provision for students with learning disabilities, however. Using multiple regression, this study will analyze data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS-2) to investigate the potential effects of age of first service provision on high school educational achievement and educational attainment in order to better understand the longer-term effects of the age of identification and age of intervention for students with learning disabilities. / text

The data gathered from disability service professionals in six different states through an on-line survey and follow up interviews was used to determine if there was a correlation between specific professional practices and the magnitude of the disparity in four-year college graduation and employment rates between individuals with visual impairments and the general population.. The frequency of use of an individual professional practice that addressed technology that could be aligned with the social model disability was associated with reduced disparities in rates of employment and post-secondary graduation, as was an aggregate variable that represented the average frequency of use of professional practices that addressed concerns related to the attitudes of others; social connections; and access to the environment, print, and technology that could be aligned with the social model of disability. In addition, the professional practice that addressed environmental access concerns that could be aligned with the political model of disability was associated with reduced disparities post-secondary graduation rates and the professional practice that addressed access to print concerns that could be aligned with the social model of disability was associated with reduced disparities in rates of employment. Overall, participants cited personal professional experience as the main source of influence for initiating practices regardless of the model of disability with which each practice could be aligned. At the same time, participant responses suggested that those practices that could be aligned with the medical model were more likely to be known to the participant and originate from personal professional experiences than practices that aligned with the social model and the political model. The results from this study suggested that of the external influences, laws and regulations may have been the most influential in initiating practices that could be aligned with the social model of disability and subsequently associated with positive educational and employment outcomes. The data generated through the interviews reinforced the survey findings but also revealed pragmatic perspectives on disability that informed practice, including the use of multiple models of disability at the same time in response to individual situations.

A Thesis submitted to The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine.

Electronic data capture technologies, such as interactive voice response (IVR) systems, are emerging as important alternatives for collecting self-reported data. The purpose of this research was to assess the measurement equivalence between the original paper-based versions and the adapted interactive voice response (IVR) versions of the EQ-5D and the QLQ-C30. Furthermore, we examined the test-retest reliability of two consecutive administrations of the IVR versions of the EQ-5D and the QLQ-C30. The comparison of the paper and IVR versions of the EQ-5D was conducted utilizing a crossover design with subjects randomly assigned to one of two assessment orders: 1) paper then IVR or 2) IVR then paper. A convenience sample of in-treatment outpatient cancer clinic patients (n=139) were asked to complete each assessment two days apart. For the test-retest component, outpatient cancer clinic patients (n=127) were asked to complete the IVR-based EQ-5D twice, two days apart. The analyses tested for mean differences (paired t-test) and test-retest reliability (ICC).In the crossover analysis, ten of the fifteen mean differences analyzed for the scales and items of the QLQ-C30 were within the equivalence interval set a priori. The ICCs for the scales and items of the QLQ-C30 ranged from 0.698 to 0.899. Two of the items, insomnia and appetite loss, did not meet our threshold of being statistically different from an ICC of 0.70. The EQ-5D index score means were equivalent between paper and IVR, however the EQ VAS score differences were not wholly contained in the equivalence interval. The ICCs were above 0.890 for the index and the EQ VAS. In the test-retest analysis, the ICCs for the nine multi-item scales for the QLQ-C30 were all above 0.69, ranging from 0.698 to 0.891. Ten of the fifteen mean differences analyzed were within the equivalence interval set a priori. For the EQ-5D, the mean differences were wholly contained within the equivalence intervals for both the index and the EQ VAS and the ICCs were significantly different from 0.70. Overall, the IVR version of the questionnaires provided psychometrically equivalent results to those obtained on the original paper version and showed good stability over time.

The objectives of the present study in rural Nepali pregnant women living in the terai were: 1) to identify the risk factors of severe anemia and investigate whether risk factors for anemia without iron deficiency, iron deficiency without anemia and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) were different; 2) to examine the effect of vitamin A supplementation, alone or combined with iron, on hemoglobin (Hb) and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR); and 3) to identify the risk factors of low birth weight (LBW) and preterm delivery, focusing on maternal Hb concentrations. The prevalence of severe anemia (Hb < 8.0 g/dl) in this population (n = 3531) was 4.2% and that of iron deficiency was 31%. Logistic regression analyses indicated that risk factors of severe anemia included hookworm infestation, impaired dark adaptation, lack of iron supplement intake, a diet low in heme iron and malnutrition manifested by thinness and short stature. These same factors differed among non-iron-deficient anemic, iron deficient non-anemic, and iron-deficient anemic pregnant women. We found a significant positive correlation between Hb and retinol concentrations (Pearson r = 0.212, P < 0.0001) and one fourth of our anemic subjects were also vitamin A deficient. There was no evidence that vitamin A alone significantly increased Hb and decreased the prevalence of anemia (n = 498). However, vitamin A, when given together with iron, had an added beneficial effect on Hb but not sTfR. In addition, women with initially compromised iron status benefited more from iron and vitamin A supplementation. The prevalence of LBW and preterm delivery was 22% and 20%, respectively (n = 915). There was an increased risk of LBW associated with short stature, thinness and impaired dark adaptation. The association between Hb measured during the second trimester and risk of LBW had a U-shaped distribution, with risk increasing significantly with Hb < 8.0 g/dl. Based on our findings, we recommend that Hb is evaluated during the second trimester as an indicator of increased LBW risk. While vitamin A supplementation to all pregnant women is recommended, routine supplementation of iron and deworming during pregnancy are essential.

There was limited information regarding the number of disability related impairments, length of case management, number of counselors who served an individual consumer, and counselor qualifications (including level of education, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, the length of employment in years, and assignment as a general/specialty caseload) and their impact on vocational rehabilitation outcomes. The purpose of this research was to investigate selected factors (described above) that might be associated with state-federal vocational rehabilitation outcomes. On this basis, there were four research questions developed.The study sample was 171 vocational rehabilitation counselors with Arizona Rehabilitation Services Administration and 215 most significant/significant disabled consumers. These 215 disabled consumers were either closed successful or unsuccessful from March 1, 2002 through February 28, 2003. The dependent variable was the vocational rehabilitation closure. There were two levels (1) successful employment closure in Status 26 and (2) unsuccessful closure, after an Individual Plan for Employment was implemented but not completed, in Status 28. Seven predictor variables were tested at an alpha level of .05. Each predictor variable was non-significant with an analysis of variance (ANOVA). Future research may help identify additional consumer and counselor factors that have an impact on vocational rehabilitation outcomes.