Adam Pickens

Texas A&M Health Science Center | TAMHSC · Department of Environmental and Occupational Health

Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) trainings are used by global industries to mitigate risks and are often provided in a lingua franca (often English). This research investigated a strategy for overcoming language barriers associated with performance, comprehension, and training effectiveness. Non-linguistic (e.g., EU's Napo animated trainings) a...

Background College students are leading an evolution of device use both in the type of device and the frequency of use. They have transitioned from desktop stations to laptops, tablets, and especially smartphones and use them throughout the day and into the night. Methods Using a 35-min online survey, we sought to understand how technology daily u...

Sedentary behavior has been recognized as a causal link to major health diseases such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and stroke. On average, working adults spend more than 90% of their time sedentary in their workplace which increases their susceptibility to these major disease processes. Interventions designed to illicit increased activity w...

Sit-to-stand workstations have been deployed in office environments to reduce sedentary behavior and improve worker's health. However, efforts to initiate and sustain long-term usage of sit-stand workstations has been a challenge, with primarily anecdotal evidence suggesting many employees cease using their sit-stand workstations once the newness d...

The objective use of table top adjustable sit–stand desks has yet to be determined, due to the lack of an effective digital evaluation method. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of computer prompt software on table top sit–stand desks to determine if there was a difference in the frequency of desk position changes. This five mon...

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of a computer-based intervention designed to increase sit-stand desk usage and help reverse workplace physical inactivity. Background: Sit-stand desks have been successful in reducing workplace sedentary behavior, but the challenge remains for an effective method to increase the usage in order to experienc...

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS Sit-stand desk interventions are deployed to reduce sedentary time and improve ergonomic adjustability in modern workplaces, with ultimate goals of improving health and productivity. Sit-stand desks, however, require workers to take an active role in changing the desk position, and usage compliance of the sit-stand functio...

Introduction With the need for hearing screenings increasing across multiple populations, a need for automated options has been identified. This research seeks to evaluate the hardware requirements for automated hearing screenings using a mobile application. Objective Evaluation of headphone hardware for use with an app-based mobile screening appli...

Background Identifying factors associated with recommended physical activity (PA) levels are critical in efforts to combat the obesity epidemic and related comorbidities. Methods We conducted cross-sectional analyses of college students (n = 490) enrolled in a large southern state university in October of 2014. Our aim was to identify sociodemogra...

Background : The purpose of this pilot study was to identify differences between sitting and standing time in high school students’ pre and post stand-biased desk intervention. Methods : ActivPal3™ activity monitors were affixed to 25 Bryan Collegiate High School students’ to monitor their standing time and activity levels. Data were collected at t...

Background:Many office employees are spending up to 90% of their workday seated, and employers are considering stand-capable desks as a way to increase physical activity throughout the day. When deciding on adoption of stand-capable workstations, a major concern for employers is that the benefits, over time, may not offset the initial cost of imple...

In order to assist staff in recognizing patients prone to violence and guide their clinical decision-making, this study summarizes mental health inpatient unit incidents over a one-year period. Results describe demographic and clinical information for patients, and evaluate risk assessment tools currently used to predict risk. A retrospective analy...

Background As the population of adults aged 65 and above is rapidly growing, it is crucial to identify physical and cognitive limitations pertaining to daily living. Cognitive fatigue has shown to adversely impact neuromuscular function in younger adults, however its impact on neuromuscular fatigue, and associated brain function changes, in older a...

Obesity in the workplace is associated with loss of productivity, high medical care expenses, and increased rates of work-related injuries and illness. Thus, effective, low-cost interventions are needed to accommodate the size of today's obese office worker while alleviating potential physical harm associated with musculoskeletal disorders. Utilizi...

The Safe Day Call provides unique insight into complex procedures and team dynamics, thereby improving implementation and, ultimately, improving patient safety. To date, the initiative has been implemented regionwide in all seven medical centers in Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 11. Each facility follows the basic structure but tailors...

As a department, we were tasked with completely revising a HF/E and safety curriculum that had not been thoroughly revised or updated for years. We were producing students that could recite the same information all HF/E professionals know by heart and is the basis for our profession, but were having trouble finding gainful employment upon graduatio...

Background: Research shows that students who are more active throughout the day have fewer reports of body part discomfort and greater energy expenditure needed to combat childhood obesity. Many factors may contribute to the overall health of the child, including the postures that are required to complete assigned tasks at their school workstations...

This study sought to investigate the prevalence of laparoscopic surgeon injury/illness symptoms and evaluate associations between symptoms and operating room ergonomics. Although laparoscopic procedures significantly benefit patients in terms of decreased recovery times and improved outcomes, they contribute to mental fatigue and musculoskeletal pr...

Increasing physical activity levels of children in school has become a primary method of combating the growing trend of childhood obesity. As part of a large field trial that is currently seeking to evaluate the impact of the stand-biased desk on children's energy expenditure in school, this study first evaluated the degree to which the SenseWear®...

Musculoskeletal injuries to the cervical region of the spine have historically been linked to many different injury mechanisms. These injury mechanisms range from acceleration injuries (whiplash) to injuries associated with lifting heavy loads (Hagberg, 1987; Herberts et al., 1981). Aaras and Ro (1997) found that frequently repeated lifts, as low a...

Human chromosome 12 contains more than 1,400 coding genes and 487 loci that have been directly implicated in human disease. The q arm of chromosome 12 contains one of the largest blocks of linkage disequilibrium found in the human genome. Here we present the finished sequence of human chromosome 12, which has been finished to high quality and spans...

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draf...