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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (56 results)

  • Article
LBL Publications (1980)
    Cover page: BOUNDS ON THF MASSES OF NEUTRAL GENERATION-CHANGING GAUGE BOSONS
    • Thesis
    • Peer Reviewed
    UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2013)

    Objective: To determine if increasing body mass index (BMI) is associated with more aggressive disease and adverse surgical outcomes in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC).

    Design: Retrospective review of a prospective database.

    Setting: Single academic tertiary care center.

    Patients: A total of 443 patients over age 18 who underwent total thyroidectomy for PTC from January 1, 2004 to March 31, 2011 were included in the analysis. Patients were organized into four BMI groups: normal (18.5-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (25-29.9 kg/m2), obese (30-39.9 kg/m2), and morbidly obese (¡Ý40 kg/m2).

    Main Outcome Measures: Disease stage at presentation; histological subtype; duration of anesthetic induction and extubation; duration of surgery; surgical complications; length of hospital stay, and American Society of Anesthesiology Classification (ASA).

    Results: Ages ranged from 18-89. Greater BMI was associated with more advanced disease stage at presentation (p<0.0001) and with more aggressive PTC histopathology (p=0.027). Morbidly obese patients presented more frequently with stage III or stage IV disease (OR 3.67, p<0.0001). Greater BMI was also associated with longer duration of anesthetic induction (p<0.01), increased length of stay (p<0.001), and higher ASA classification (p<0.001). Duration of surgery was not associated with BMI. There was a trend towards larger tumors with increasing BMI (p=0.06). Obese BMI was associated with more preoperative vocal cord paralysis due to local invasion (OR 9.21, p=0.001).

    Conclusions: Obese patients present with more advanced stage and more aggressive forms of papillary thyroid cancer. This suggests that obese patients should be screened for thyroid cancer.

      Cover page: Risk of Advanced Papillary Thyroid Cancer in Obese Patients
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Riverside Previously Published Works (2021)

      Rationale

      Quantitative health disparities research has increasingly employed intersectionality as a theoretical tool to investigate how social characteristics intersect to generate health inequality. Yet, intersectionality was not designed to quantify, predict, or identify health disparities, and, as a result, multiple criticisms against its misapplication in health disparities research have been made. As such, there is an emerging need to evaluate the growing body of quantitative research that aims to investigate health disparities through an intersectional lens.

      Methods

      We conducted a systematic review from earliest records to January 2020 to (i) describe the scope of limitations when applying intersectionality to quantitative health disparities research, and (ii) identify recommendations to improve the future integration of intersectionality with this scholarship. We identified relevant publications with electronic searches in PubMed and CA Web of Science. Studies eligible for inclusion were English-language publications that used quantitative methodologies to investigate health disparities among adults in the U.S. while explicitly claiming to adopt an intersectional perspective. Out of 1279 articles reviewed, 65 were eligible for inclusion.

      Results

      Our review found that, while the value of intersectionality to the study of health disparities is evident, the existing research struggles with meeting intersectionality's fundamental assumptions. In particular, four limitations were found to be widespread: narrowing the measurements of intersectionality, intersectional groups, and health outcomes; placing primacy on the study of certain intersectional groups to the neglect of others; overlooking underlying explanatory mechanisms that contribute to the health disparities experienced by intersectional groups; and, lacking in the use of life-course perspectives to show how health disparities vary across different life stages.

      Conclusion

      If the goal of health equality is to be achieved among diverse intersectional groups, future research must be assisted by the collection and examination of data that overcomes these limitations.
        Cover page: Intersectionality in quantitative health disparities research: A systematic review of challenges and limitations in empirical studies
        • Thesis
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2018)

        Although many clinicians believe serious mental illnesses are incurable, research shows that individuals with these diagnoses undergo a complex and multidimensional recovery that often encompasses a change in self-concept and identity. Drawing on this recovery-oriented approach, some individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness undergo mental illness identity deflection (MIID)—a process whereby the label of “mentally ill” or “mental patient” is relegated to a position of lower importance in one’s overall identity (e.g., the disorder is “only part of me—it doesn’t define who I really am”). Such a process has been conceptualized as a cognitive form of resistance to the stigma attached to mental illness. I show how particular sociocultural resources one can draw upon during recovery allow MIID to become possible for individuals with serious mental illness, and what consequences it has for their overall recovery. In this qualitative study, I draw on interviews (N = 15) with individuals formally diagnosed with serious mental illness to examine which sociocultural resources enhance one’s recovery through the initiation and maintenance of MIID, and what effect this may have for one’s recovery from serious mental illness. The findings show that the majority of interviewees engage in MIID, and the sociocultural resources that make MIID possible have positive consequences for recovery.

          Cover page: “It’s Part of Who I Am, But Not Really Who I Am”: Mental Illness Identity Deflection Among Those With Serious Mental IllnessCreative Commons 'BY-NC-ND' version 4.0 license
          • Article
          Berkeley Scientific Journal, Volume 23, Issue 2 (2019)
            Cover page: Insights from the JGI User Meeting: Using Genomics to Tackle Environmental Problems
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Riverside Previously Published Works (2020)

            Background

            Little is known about life-course factors that explain why some individuals continue smoking despite having smoking-related diseases.

            Purpose

            We examined (a) the extent to which early-life adversities are associated with the risk of recalcitrant smoking, (b) psychosocial factors that mediate the association, and (c) gender differences in the associations.

            Methods

            Data were from 4,932 respondents (53% women) who participated in the first and follow-up waves of the Midlife Development in the U.S. National Survey. Early-life adversities include low socioeconomic status (SES), abuse, and family instability. Potential mediators include education, financial strain, purpose in life, mood disorder, family problems/support, and marital status. We used sequential logistic regression models to estimate the effect of early-life adversities on the risk of each of the three stages on the path to recalcitrant smoking (ever-smoking, smoking-related illness, and recalcitrant smoking).

            Results

            For women, low SES (odds ratio [OR] = 1.29; 1.06-1.55) and family instability (OR = 1.73; 1.14-2.62) are associated with an elevated risk of recalcitrant smoking. Education significantly reduces the effect of childhood SES, yet the effect of family instability remains significant even after accounting for life-course mediators. For men, the effect of low SES on recalcitrant smoking is robust (OR = 1.48; 1.10-2.00) even after controlling for potential mediators. There are noteworthy life-course factors that independently affect recalcitrant smoking: for both genders, not living with a partner; for women, education; and for men, family problems.

            Conclusions

            The findings can help shape intervention programs that address the underlying factors of recalcitrant smoking.
              Cover page: Early-Life Adversities and Recalcitrant Smoking in Midlife: An Examination of Gender and Life-Course Pathways
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Volume 35 (2013)
                Cover page: Learning to perceive coherent objects
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UCLA Previously Published Works (2014)

                Background

                Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare but lethal tumor. Predictors of survival include earlier stage at presentation and complete operative resection. We assessed effect of treatment and demographic variables on survival.

                Methods

                ACC cases were abstracted from the California Cancer Registry and Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (1999-2008). Predictors included patient demographics, comorbidities, tumor size, stage, and treatment (none, surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation [CRT], and surgery plus CRT).

                Results

                We studied 367 patients with median tumor size of 10 cm. At presentation, 37% had localized, 17% had regional, and 46% had metastatic disease. Median survival was 1.7 years (7.4 years local, 2.6 years regional, and 0.3 years metastatic, P < .0001). One-year and 5-year survival was: 92%/62% (local); 73%/39% (regional); and 24%/7% (metastatic). Increased age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.16) and Cushing's syndrome (HR 1.66) worsened survival (P < .05). Low socioeconomic status worsened survival in local and regional disease (P < .05). In multivariable regression, both surgery (regional HR 0.13; metastatic HR 0.52) and surgery plus CRT (regional HR 0.15; metastatic HR 0.31) improved survival compared with no treatment (P < .02).

                Conclusion

                In ACC, surgery is associated with improved survival, even in metastatic disease. Surgery should be considered for select patients as part of multimodality treatment.
                  Cover page: Surgery is associated with improved survival for adrenocortical cancer, even in metastatic disease.
                  • Article
                  Berkeley Scientific Journal, Volume 23, Issue 2 (2019)
                    Cover page: Biological Insights into Single-Molecule Imaging
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Volume 37 (2015)
                    We describe a computational model of humans' ability to provide a detailed interpretation of a scene’s components. Humans can identify in an image meaningful components almost everywhere, and identifying these components is an essential part of the visual process, and of understanding the surrounding scene and its potential meaning to the viewer. Detailed interpretation is beyond the scope of current models of visual recognition. Our model suggests that this is a fundamental limitation, related to the fact that existing models rely on feed-forward but limited top-down processing. In our model, a first recognition stage leads to the initial activation of class candidates, which is incomplete and with limited accuracy. This stage then triggers the application of class-specific interpretation and validation processes, which recover richer and more accurate interpretation of the visible scene. We discuss implications of the model for visual interpretation by humans and by computer vision models
                      Cover page: A model for full local image interpretation
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