{"title":"You Are What You Drink: A Project Summary of Water Quality in Tuskegee, Alabama.","authors":"Kelsey R Snell, Chinyere A Knight","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Daily mineral intake is a critical topic within health communities, especially regarding deficiencies and the need for appropriate supplementation. Minerals, essential for numerous bodily functions, are micronutrients obtained through diet. The mineral and electrolyte content in drinking water plays a significant role in maintaining hydration and overall human health. This relationship extends to the environment and the importance of considering the environmental, animal, and human connections within Tuskegee, Alabama and the surrounding areas. Bioethical practices, such as the proper disposal of agricultural and industrial waste, are crucial for preserving community health and the integrity of natural resources. This study determined the concentration of selected minerals in tap and groundwater sources located in Tuskegee. To accomplish this goal, tap water samples were collected from various locations on the Tuskegee University campus and from different areas within the city. Additionally, residential groundwater samples were gathered from Star Mindingall Water Authority. The Direct Reading Titrator method measured the concentrations of calcium, magnesium, nitrate, phosphate, dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, and trace elements. Preliminary results indicated noticeable variations in mineral content between the tap and groundwater sources, such as the heightened levels of nitrate and phosphate and calcium carbonate (hard water). These findings underscore the importance of understanding the mineral composition of drinking water to make informed decisions regarding water consumption. Looking forward, it is essential to continue safeguarding public health through vigilant water quality management and effective environmental practices. Implementing and maintaining robust water management strategies in Tuskegee, Alabama is vital for ensuring the health and safety of its residents.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"15 1","pages":"105-119"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13101420/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147791254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shahnjayla K Connors, Wendell C Taylor, Chuong Bui, Raheem J Paxton
{"title":"Sedentary Behavior Affects the Ratings of Workplace Physical Activity Sessions.","authors":"Shahnjayla K Connors, Wendell C Taylor, Chuong Bui, Raheem J Paxton","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It is not known how individuals with various levels of sedentary behavior rate their experiences with physical activity. The absence of these data diminishes the ability to tailor programs and interventions for those with different sedentary behavior patterns. We hypothesize that those who engage in greater levels of sedentary behavior will rate their experiences of workplace physical activity sessions less favorably than those who engage in lower levels of sedentary behavior. The study was a within subject, repeated-measures design. Sixty participants completed six distinct workplace physical activity sessions (i.e., 360 data points) and rated each session immediately after with self-report measures of social cognitive constructs (e.g., benefit, confidence, enjoyment, and likability). Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze the data. Those who sat more than 6 hours/day on non-workdays rated sessions more favorably on enjoyment and likability constructs, but less favorably on confidence. Those who sat 10 hours/day on workdays rated physical activity sessions less favorably on the constructs of enjoyment and likability. Furthermore, sedentary behaviors had no effect on ratings of perceived benefits. Interventions designed to promote physical activity should assess sedentary behavior patterns (both workday and non-workday) and evaluate the effects on social cognitive perceptions of physical activity.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"15 1","pages":"191-206"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13101424/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147791276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Race and Poverty: A Theoretical Discussion and Example from a Sociological Field Research in Forested Black Belt Counties of Alabama.","authors":"Andrew A Zekeri","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Results are supportive of previous studies as poverty was found to be significantly prevalent in Black Belt counties compared to the White Belt counties. The composite portrayal of rural poor Black Belt County is poorly educated females who tend to be head of a household, large number of welfare recipients, large number of children in single parent families and large number of children who are under 18 years old. As expected, the limited analysis indicates that blacks that have historically experienced social structural shortcomings such as prejudice, discrimination and exploitation are disproportionately below the poverty threshold, regardless of how it is defined.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"15 1","pages":"74-89"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13101419/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147791287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Black Bioethics in Epidemiology: Key Factors Influencing Trust and Gynecological Health Among Black Women.","authors":"David Augustin Hodge, Atiya Shahid","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper examines the role of Black bioethics in addressing the significant health disparities that affect Black women, who lead the nation in preventable deaths. Rooted in historical violations and racial disparities, these challenges are exacerbated by distrust in the healthcare system. By applying Black bioethics and virtue ethics, the paper advocates for a healthcare system that prioritizes justice, empathy, and care for Black women. It emphasizes the importance of \"trust conversations\" to rebuild relationships between Black women and healthcare providers, ultimately seeking to reduce health disparities and ensure equitable treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"15 1","pages":"56-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13101418/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147791320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"White Reprieves and Black Rage: The Augmentation of Educational Policy and Racial Protests in the Era of COVID-19.","authors":"Brandon Isome","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>COVID-19 imploded the notion of educational equity, as school closures forced educational institutions to grapple with the equity of specific policies, subsequently reigniting a national and international discourse on systemic racism. Because of the uncertainty and debilitating impact of COVID-19 on schools, testing facilities, students, and the American economy, educational institutions temporarily suspended, staunch rules and institutional norms. Entry and exit exams that would otherwise serve as systemic barricades, historically precluding Black Americans from gaining entrance into the bastions of white privilege, became subject to white reprieves.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"14 1","pages":"98-108"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12416245/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145030751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparative Analysis of COVID-19 Gene Target Dropout/Failure Results using Thermofisher TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Kit and Nextstrain CoVariants Genomic Databases.","authors":"Cheryl Davis, Shushawna DeOliveira, Adiebonye Jumbo","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>COVID-19 variants continue to infect thousands of people even though the end of the pandemic was announced on May 11, 2023. Nextstrain CoVariants (CoVariants) genomic databases provide detailed information about more than 31 variants of COVID-19 viruses that have been identified through genomic sequencing, showing the mutations they carry. Mutated viruses may yield a negative result for a gene target using a PCR test that has a positive COVID-19 test result. This negative gene target result is known as gene target dropout/failure, not a negative COVID-19 test result. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and CoVariants utilize gene target dropout/failure as a Variant of Concern (VOC) screening method until the genomic sequencing is performed. The Thermofisher TaqPath COVID-19 Combo kit (TaqPath), a real-time RT-PCR test, detects COVID-19 nucleic acids in respiratory specimens. TaqPath PCR COVID-19 target profile data was retrieved from the Tuskegee Health Disparities Diagnostic Center COVID-19 clinical laboratory. The results revealed an association between the TaqPath results date tested and CoVariants tracking announced and end dates for S gene target dropout/failure (SGTF). This study highlights the usefulness of TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Kit gene target profiles in monitoring and mitigating the spread of emerging COVID-19 variants, without genomic sequencing.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"14 1","pages":"62-72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12416243/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145031213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Local Responses to COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Community-based Organizations in Majority-Black Neighborhoods and Immigrant Enclaves, A Case Study of Atlanta, Georgia.","authors":"Davis Schultz","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper will present a case study of local responses to the epidemic in immigrant enclaves and majority-black neighborhoods in Atlanta, Georgia. The COVID-19 health crisis presents an unprecedented challenge for many black and brown communities in the United States which may be particularly vulnerable to the contagion because of higher rates of certain pre-existing conditions like heart disease, lack of access to adequate healthcare services, and financial pressures to continue working despite increasingly risky conditions. In the American South where burgeoning ethnic enclaves, well-establish majority-black neighborhoods, and affluent suburbs exist side by side with vastly different healthcare concerns, disorganized governmental responses to the COVID-19 epidemic highlight the importance of efforts by CBOs (i.e. advocacy groups, neighborhood associations) to address the localized impacts of the virus. As an emerging immigrant gateway with a history of racial tension and inequality, Atlanta is a prime location to analyze the mediating role of community-based organizations in addressing health crises in communities of color in the New South. This study will examine CBOs in two prominent immigrant enclaves, Clarkston and the Buford Highway Corridor, as well as two majority-black localities, Stone Mountain and the city of Atlanta's West Side. My analysis of Atlanta CBOs' responses to the COVID crisis will focus on their efforts to disseminate public health information, provide resources and services addressing COVID externalities, and utilize social media platforms to engage with community members online.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"14 1","pages":"126-136"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12416241/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145031273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
David Augustin Hodge, Linda S Behar-Horenstein, Chu Chu Onwuachi-Saunders, Bianca Alcena, Terrilyn Lynum-Williams
{"title":"Developing an Ethical/Social Justice Surveillance System (ESJSS): A Methodological Framework.","authors":"David Augustin Hodge, Linda S Behar-Horenstein, Chu Chu Onwuachi-Saunders, Bianca Alcena, Terrilyn Lynum-Williams","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Efforts to reduce the unequal impacts and generations of systemic disadvantage and inequality in healthcare for black and brown communities became amplified and were made more urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, public health surveillance systems have been challenged to address the vulnerabilities that residents within these environments and experiences. This paper describes the methodology used to develop a public health ethics and bioethics surveillance system grounded in empathy and care ethics. This surveillance system was designed to assess the prevalence of ethical and social justice violations relative to the COVID-19 vaccines administration. The authors describe the methods used to establish content validity of the questionnaire, evaluate the data, and compare three ethical theories (i.e., deontology, utilitarianism, and care ethics) that would best undergird public health ethics to increase health equity.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"14 1","pages":"193-211"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12416231/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145031234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethics of Empathy and Care in Post-COVID Vision Loss: The Case of Dr. Ebony Michelle Collins.","authors":"David Augustin Hodge, Ebony Michelle Collins","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 2022, Dr. Ebony Michelle Collins-a scholar, author, and vision-health advocate-suffered sudden bilateral retinal detachment and blindness following a COVID-19 infection, despite no prior history of ocular disease. Her story reveals a largely overlooked consequence of the pandemic: the potential for serious neurological and ocular complications. This paper uses narrative ethics, supported by virtue ethics, to explore the personal and ethical dimensions of COVID-19-induced neurological impairment. Narrative ethics centers patient stories to humanize clinical data, while virtue ethics emphasizes empathy and compassion in care. Dr. Collins' experience underscores the urgent need for greater awareness and research into the neurological and ocular effects of COVID-19, particularly retinal conditions such as hemorrhaging, vascular occlusion, and detachment. Her case calls for an ethically grounded, patient-centered approach in both research and clinical practice to better address the long-term consequences of the pandemic.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"14 1","pages":"212-219"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12416250/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145031208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"COVID-19 and the moral failure to protect the most vulnerable.","authors":"Dennis R Cooley","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The USA's COVID-19 pandemic experience is an example of privileged thinking that what generally works for those in power ought to be the standard for what makes medical interventions, research, treatments, and policy ethical. As a result of not focusing on doing whatever was required for vulnerable or susceptible populations or their members to achieve their health and flourishing, there are a disproportionate numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Black, Hispanic, and indigenous communities. Future studies will likely show even more harm and larger health failure than known of now. Instead of using the language of privilege and power in their thinking, public health organizations should focus far more on the language of diversity and meaningful inclusion. If we truly are interested in the vulnerable and susceptible communities flourishing as individuals and populations within our society, as well as the society's flourishing, then those terms have to be defined in the language of the vulnerable and susceptible. It is only by using this approach that we can make pragmatic plans that work to the advantage of those who are vulnerable or susceptible.</p>","PeriodicalId":73773,"journal":{"name":"Journal of healthcare, science and the humanities","volume":"14 1","pages":"137-148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12416242/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145031284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}