Environmental exposures and health outcomes in dogs differ according to geographic region in the United States among Dog Aging Project participants.

Objective: To determine which environmental exposures, lifestyle variables, and prevalences of health conditions within the Dog Aging Project population differed by geographic region.

Methods: For this cross-sectional descriptive study, owner-reported environmental and lifestyle factors from 47,444 individuals enrolled in the Dog Aging Project cohort from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2023, were examined across census regions, and 95% CIs were computed for each individual factor across the regions.

Results: Analyses indicated high variation in the characteristics of dogs' environments across the US regions, including both inside and outside of the home.

Rationale and design of the Dog Aging Project precision cohort: a multi-omic resource for longitudinal research in geroscience.

A significant challenge in multi-omic geroscience research is the collection of high quality, fit-for-purpose biospecimens from a diverse and well-characterized study population with sufficient sample size to detect age-related changes in physiological biomarkers. The Dog Aging Project designed the precision cohort to study the mechanisms underlying age-related change in the metabolome, microbiome, and epigenome in companion dogs, an emerging model system for translational geroscience research. One thousand dog-owner pairs were recruited into cohort strata based on life stage, sex, size, and geography.

Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs (TRIAD): study design and rationale for a prospective, parallel-group, double-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial of rapamycin in healthy middle-aged dogs from the Dog Aging Project.

Companion dogs are a powerful model for aging research given their morphologic and genetic variability, risk for age-related disease, and habitation of the human environment. In addition, the shorter life expectancy of dogs compared to human beings provides a unique opportunity for an accelerated timeline to test interventions that might extend healthy lifespan. The Test of Rapamycin In Aging Dogs (TRIAD) randomized clinical trial is a parallel-group, double-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial that will test the ability of rapamycin to prolong lifespan and improve several healthspan metrics in healthy, middle-aged dogs recruited from Dog Aging Project participants.

Protein catabolites as blood-based biomarkers of aging physiology: Findings from the Dog Aging Project.

Our understanding of age-related physiology and metabolism has grown through the study of systems biology, including transcriptomics, single-cell analysis, proteomics and metabolomics. Studies in lab organisms in controlled environments, while powerful and complex, fall short of capturing the breadth of genetic and environmental variation in nature. Thus, there is now a major effort in geroscience to identify aging biomarkers and to develop aging interventions that might be applied across the diversity of humans and other free-living species.

Silicone tags as an effective method of monitoring environmental contaminant exposures in a geographically diverse sample of dogs from the Dog Aging Project.

Introduction: Companion animals offer a unique opportunity to investigate risk factors and exposures in our shared environment. Passive sampling techniques have proven effective in capturing environmental exposures in dogs and humans.

Methods: In a pilot study, we deployed silicone monitoring devices (tags) on the collars of a sample of 15 dogs from the Dog Aging Project Pack cohort for a period of 120 h (5 days).

Social determinants of health and disease in companion dogs: a cohort study from the Dog Aging Project.

Exposure to social environmental adversity is associated with health and survival across many social species, including humans. However, little is known about how these health and mortality effects vary across the lifespan and may be differentially impacted by various components of the environment. Here, we leveraged a relatively new and powerful model for human aging, the companion dog, to investigate which components of the social environment are associated with dog health and how these associations vary across the lifespan.

Associations between Neighborhood Disadvantage and Dog Walking among Participants in the Dog Aging Project.

Although neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is negatively related to overall physical activity, prior studies reveal a complex relationship between disadvantage and particular walking behaviors. While disadvantage is associated with reduced recreational walking through a hypothesized "fear-of-crime" mechanism, the built environment in disadvantaged neighborhoods may encourage utilitarian walking. To date, no study has assessed how disadvantage relates to dog walking, a distinct walking behavior that is neither strictly recreational nor utilitarian but represents a key mechanism through which pet ownership may affect human health.

Characteristics associated with HIV and hepatitis C seroprevalence among sexual and injecting partners of HIV positive persons who inject drugs in Nairobi and coastal Kenya.

Background: Persons who inject drugs (PWID) have higher HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroprevalence than the general population in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The seroprevalences of HIV and HCV are also higher in coastal Kenya than in Nairobi. Understanding drivers of regional HIV and HCV variation among PWID in Kenya may inform population-specific prevention interventions.

Veterinary Big Data: When Data Goes to the Dogs.

Dogs provide an ideal model for study as they have the most phenotypic diversity and known naturally occurring diseases of all non-human land mammals. Thus, data related to dog health present many opportunities to discover insights into health and disease outcomes. Here, we describe several sources of veterinary medical big data that can be used in research.

Peer-mediated HIV assisted partner services to identify and link to care HIV-positive and HCV-positive people who inject drugs: a cohort study protocol.

Introduction: Targeted, tailored interventions to test high-risk individuals for HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are vital to achieving HIV control and HCV microelimination in Africa. Compared with the general population, people who inject drugs (PWID) are at increased risk of HIV and HCV and are less likely to be tested or successfully treated. Assisted partner services (APS) increases HIV testing among partners of people living with HIV and improves case finding and linkage to care.

Cardiffians' perceptions of English in the UK.

This Perceptual Dialectology (PD) study asked residents of Cardiff, Wales, about their perceptions of English in the United Kingdom (UK). In addition, because face to face exposure to dialect variation has rarely been included as a variable in PD studies, participants were asked about their travel experience to ascertain whether this might influence their responses to a PD map task. Participants' responses to the map task were analyzed using ArcGIS to create composite maps.

Predictors of First-Time and Repeat HIV Testing Among HIV-Positive Individuals in Kenya.

Background: Despite a doubling of HIV testing coverage in Kenya over the past decade, approximately 2 in 10 people with HIV remained unaware of their infection in 2018. HIV testing is most effective in identifying people with undiagnosed HIV through frequent and strategic testing in populations at high risk. An assessment of testing frequency and predictors of first-time and repeat testing is critical for monitoring effectiveness of testing strategies.

Improving Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Knowledge and Skills to Develop Health Research Capacity in Kenya.

Objectives Information and communication technology (ICT) tools are increasingly important for clinical care and international research. Many technologies would be particularly useful for healthcare workers in resource-limited settings; however, these individuals are the least likely to utilize ICT tools due tolack of knowledge and skills necessary to use them. Our program aimed to train researchers in low-resource settings on using ICT tools and to understand how different didactic modalities build knowledge and skills in this area.

Feasibility and acceptability of an iris biometric system for unique patient identification in routine HIV services in Kenya.

Background: Use of routine HIV programme data for surveillance is often limited due to inaccuracies associated with patient misclassification which can be addressed by unique patient identification.We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of integrating an iris recognition biometric identification system into routine HIV care services at 4 sites in Kenya.

Methods: Patients who had recently tested HIV-positive or were engaged in care were enrolled.

Index participant characteristics and HIV assisted partner services efficacy in Kenya: results of a cluster randomized trial.

Introduction: We have previously demonstrated that assisted partner services (aPS) increases HIV testing and case finding among partners of persons living with HIV (PLHIV) in a cluster randomized trial in Kenya. However, the efficacy of aPS may vary across populations. In this analysis, we explore differences in aPS efficacy by characteristics of index participants.

Dental therapists linked to improved dental outcomes for Alaska Native communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Objectives: Dental Health Aide Therapists (DHATs) have been part of the dental workforce in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta since 2006. They are trained to provide preventive and restorative care such as filling and extractions. In this study, we evaluated community-level dental outcomes associated with DHATs.

Weather-Related Hazards and Population Change: A Study of Hurricanes and Tropical Storms in the United States, 1980-2012.

Environmental determinists predict that people move away from places experiencing frequent weather hazards, yet some of these areas have rapidly growing populations. This analysis examines the relationship between weather events and population change in all U.S.

Measures of Human Mobility Using Mobile Phone Records Enhanced with GIS Data.

In the past decade, large scale mobile phone data have become available for the study of human movement patterns. These data hold an immense promise for understanding human behavior on a vast scale, and with a precision and accuracy never before possible with censuses, surveys or other existing data collection techniques. There is already a significant body of literature that has made key inroads into understanding human mobility using this exciting new data source, and there have been several different measures of mobility used.

Local health department food safety and sanitation expenditures and reductions in enteric disease, 2000-2010.

Objectives: In collaboration with Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks, we investigated relationships between local health department (LHD) food safety and sanitation expenditures and reported enteric disease rates.

Methods: We combined annual infection rates for the common notifiable enteric diseases with uniquely detailed, LHD-level food safety and sanitation annual expenditure data obtained from Washington and New York state health departments. We used a multivariate panel time-series design to examine ecologic relationships between 2000-2010 local food safety and sanitation expenditures and enteric diseases.

Classifying local health departments on the basis of the constellation of services they provide.

Objectives: We explored service variation among local health departments (LHDs) nationally to allow systematic characterization of LHDs by patterns in the constellation of services they deliver.

Methods: We conducted latent class analysis by using categorical variables derived from LHD service data collected in 2008 for the National Profile of Local Health Departments Survey and before service changes resulting from the national financial crisis.

Results: A 3-class solution produced the best fit for this data set of 2294 LHDs.

Targeted health department expenditures benefit birth outcomes at the county level.

Background: Public health leaders lack evidence for making decisions about the optimal allocation of resources across local health department (LHD) services, even as limited funding has forced cuts to public health services while local needs grow. A lack of data has also limited examination of the outcomes of targeted LHD investments in specific service areas.

Purpose: This study used unique, detailed LHD expenditure data gathered from state health departments to examine the influence of maternal and child health (MCH) service investments by LHDs on health outcomes.

Local health departments and specific maternal and child health expenditures: relationships between spending and need.

Objective: As a part of the Public Health Activities and Service Tracking study and in collaboration with partners in 2 Public Health Practice-Based Research Network states, we examined relationships between local health department (LHD) maternal and child health (MCH) expenditures and local needs.

Design: We used a multivariate pooled time-series design to estimate ecologic associations between expenditures in 3 MCH-specific service areas and related measures of need from 2005 to 2010 while controlling for other factors.

Measures: Retrospective expenditure data from LHDs and for 3 MCH services represented annual investments in (1) Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), (2) family planning, and (3) a composite of Maternal, Infant, Child, and Adolescent (MICA) service.

Local Health Department Provision of WIC Services Relative to Local "Need"- Examining 3 States and 5 Years.

Great variation exists in the nature of LHD service delivery and it varies, in part, relative to jurisdiction population size. Larger LHD jurisdictions may achieve an economy of scale in WIC service delivery that is not matched in smaller areas. Overall, we found that WIC service provision appears relatively consistent across study states and in the presence of increasing need, with greater responsiveness to need in urban areas.

Validation of the normalized difference vegetation index as a measure of neighborhood greenness.

Purpose: To assess the validity of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) measure, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), as a measure of neighborhood greenness for epidemiologic research.

Methods: Using remote-sensing spectral data, NDVI was calculated for a 100-m radial distance around 124 residences in greater Seattle. The criterion standard was rating of greenness for corresponding residential areas by 3 environmental psychologists.