Anthony Mawson

• DrPH
• President at Chalfont Research Institute

While mass panic (and/or violence) and self-preservation are often assumed to be the natural response to physical danger and perceived entrapment, the literature indicates that expressions of mutual aid are common and often predominate, and collective flight may be so delayed that survival is threatened. In fact, the typical response to a variety o...

Human populations adapting to diverse aspects of their environment such as climate and pathogens leave signatures of genetic variation. This principle may apply to people of West Central African descent in the United States, who are at increased risk of certain chronic conditions and diseases compared to their European counterparts. Less well known...

Background: Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer and the fifth leading cause of death in men worldwide. In 2018 it was estimated that there were 1.3 million new cases of prostate cancer worldwide, with developing countries having higher prevalence rates. It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. About...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has a marked tropism for the biliary tract; it damages the bile ducts and hepatocytes and can lead to liver decompensation, cirrhosis, and sepsis. The pathogenesis of liver damage and its association with damage to the lung, heart, and brain and to the other protean manifestations of COVI...

A growing number of vaccines are administered at the same time or in close succession, increasing the complexity of assessing vaccine safety. Individual vaccines are assumed to have no other effect than protection against the targeted pathogen, but vaccines also have nonspecific and interactive effects, the outcomes of which can be beneficial or ha...

Preventive health screening behaviors are vital for preventing complications among diabetics. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which constructs of the social cognitive theory (SCT) predict preventive health care screenings in type 2 diabetics. Adults with type 2 diabetes (n=148) were recruited from medical clinics to complete...

Objective: This study aimed to determine HIV/AIDS knowledge level, attitudes toward individuals living with HIV/AIDS and to explore the relationship between HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes among African American undergraduates in Jackson, Mississippi. Methods: A cross-sectional method was used in this study. A total of 400 students were randomly s...

Aims: This study aimed to assess and compare risk behaviors for HIV Infection among undergraduate students by gender at a historically black university. Study Design: A cross-sectional survey. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted from January 10, 2016 to September 30, 2016. Participants were selected through convenience sampling am...

Rubella is a systemic virus infection that is usually mild. It can, however, cause severe birth defects known as the congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) when infection occurs early in pregnancy. As many as 8%–13% of children with CRS developed autism during the rubella epidemic of the 1960s compared to the background rate of about 1 new case per 5000...

Although rates have decreased 8% since 2014, teen pregnancy remains a substantial public health and social problem in Mississippi and elsewhere in the US. Evidence suggests that, among teenagers, the after-school hours from 3 to 6 pm are peak times of risky sexual activity. This paper reviews recent research and programs concerning sexual risk beha...

Objective: This study aimed to assess and compare attitudes toward HIV and AIDS among undergraduate students by gender at a historically black university. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 400 undergraduate students enrolled in Jackson State University. Data were collected using a validated self-administered standardized questio...

An estimated 25%–32% of veterans of the 1991 Gulf War continue to experience multiple unexplained health problems known as Gulf War Illness (GWI). GWI encompasses chronic pain, musculoskeletal weakness, headache, fatigue, cognitive deficits, alterations in mood, and numerous multi-system complaints. Most potential exposures implicated in GWI were n...

Objective: This study among 400 undergraduate students enrolled at Jackson State University (JSU) study aimed to assess knowledge about HIV and AIDS among African-American undergraduate students attending a historically black college and university. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Data were collected using a validated, self-administered, an...

Introduction: Depression is a major public health issue. One of the concerns in depression research and practice pertains to non-compliance to prescribed medications. The purpose of the study was to predict compliance with medication use for patients with depression using social cognitive theory (SCT). Based on this study it was envisaged that reco...

Intellectual disability (ID) is a global public health concern. Although developed countries have well-established systems for identifying persons with ID and providing services, this is not the case in many low and middle income (LAMI) countries, including India. In order to help the Indian government to plan for health care, education, employment...

Based on the observation that the parasite Onchocerca volvulus selectively absorbs vitamin A from the host, and the known toxicity of vitamin A in higher concentration, it was hypothesized that dying microfilariae (mf) release their stores of vitamin A (retinoids) into the host circulation in toxic concentrations, inducing the signs and symptoms o...

More than a billion people—one-sixth of the world’s population, mostly in developing countries—are infected with one or more of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Several national and international programs (e.g., the World Health Organization’s Global NTD Programs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global NTD Program, the Unite...

A geographical and causal connection has long been recognized between malaria, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), but the underlying mechanisms remain obscure. Potential clues are that the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum selectively absorbs vitamin A from the host and depends on it for its biological activities;...

Vaccinations have prevented millions of infectious illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths among U.S. children, yet the long-term health outcomes of the vaccination schedule remain uncertain. Studies have been recommended by the U.S. Institute of Medicine to address this question. This study aimed 1) to compare vaccinated and unvaccinated children o...

Suicide is a tragic and costly yet preventable issue in public health that affects people of all races, ethnicities, ages, genders, and sexual orientation in the United States (U.S.) and worldwide. Over the years, suicide has remained the third leading cause of death for youths between 15-24 years of age in the U.S [1]. Suicide and self-inflicting...

Background: The adverse effects of mefloquine and other quinoline antimalaria drugs can be severe and long-lasting. We believe that the trigger for these effects may be drug-induced hepatocellular damage that causes, firstly, a spillage of retinoids into the circulation (and hence a direct toxic effect on the brain and other target organs), and sec...

From about 8% to 27% of extremely preterm infants develop symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, but the causes are not well understood. Preterm infants receive the same doses of the recommended vaccines and on the same schedule as term infants. The possible role of vaccination in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) among premature infants is unknown...

Stuttering affects about 1% of the general population and from 8 to 11% of children. The onset of persistent developmental stuttering (PDS) typically occurs between 2 and 4 years of age. The etiology of stuttering is unknown and a unifying hypothesis is lacking as of now. Clues to the pathogenesis of stuttering include the following observations: P...

A strong causal association has become evident between Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy and the occurrence of fetal growth restriction, microcephaly and eye defects. Circumstantial evidence is presented in this paper in support of the hypothesis that these effects, as well as the Guillain-Barré syndrome, are due to an endogenous form of...

Neither the mechanisms of parturition nor the pathogenesis of preterm birth are well understood. Poor nutritional status has been suspected as a major causal factor, since vitamin A concentrations are low in preterm infants. However, even large enteral doses of vitamin A from birth fail to increase plasma concentrations of vitamin A or improve outc...

Abstract Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) are overlapping manifestations on a spectrum of acute drug-induced conditions associated with severe blistering, skin peeling, and multi-organ damage. TEN is an eruption resembling severe scalding, with ≥30% skin detachment. SJS is a mild form of TEN, characterized histologi...

A serum-based biomarker for diagnosing gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction (GDM-PREEC-FGR), based on retinoid profiling, and a method for diagnosing GDM-PREEC-FGR that specifically uses a blood sample to identify and measure the concentrations of retinol (vitamin A alcohol), retinyl esters and retinoic acid.

Casualties due to motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) include some 40,000 deaths each year in the United States and one million deaths worldwide. One strategy that has been recommended for improving automobile safety is to lower speed limits and enforce them with speed cameras. However, motor vehicles can be hazardous even at low speeds whereas properly p...

Background: Many factors have affected the rise of health expenditures, such as high-cost medical technologies, changes in disease patterns and increasing demand for health services. All countries allocate a significant portion of resources to the health sector. In 2008, the gross domestic product of Palestine was estimated to be at $6.108bn (curr...

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is the most significant mosquito-borne viral disease worldwide in terms of illness, mortality and economic cost, but the pathogenesis of DHF is not well understood and there is no specific treatment or vaccine. Based on evidence of liver involvement, it is proposed that dengue virus and retinoids interact to cause cho...

Reduced exposure to solar radiation, leading to a deficiency of vitamin D and hence impaired innate immunity, has been suggested as a trigger for influenza viral replication and as an explanation of seasonal influenza. Although this hypothesis accounts for many unexplained facts about the epidemiology of influenza, gaps remain in understanding the...

Mefloquine use has been linked to severe gastrointestinal and neuropsychiatric adverse effects, including cognitive disturbances, anxiety, depression, psychosis, and violence. The adverse effects of the drug are thought to result from the secondary consequences of hepatocellular injury; in fact, mefloquine is known to cause a transient, anicteric c...

Postpartum depression (PPD) is an international public health problem affecting at least 1 in 8 mothers. Known risk factors include: giving birth to a preterm or low birth weight infant, babies with greater symptoms of illness at age 4-6 weeks, formula feeding, younger maternal age, smoking, and fatigue. Prolonged breastfeeding is associated with a...

With 3·3 billion people at risk of infection, malaria remains one of the world's most significant health problems. Increasing resistance of the main causative parasite to currently available drugs has created an urgent need to elucidate the pathogenesis of the disease in order to develop new treatments. A possible clue to such an understanding is t...

Learning disorders are often associated with persistent hyperactivity and aggression and are part of a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders. A potential clue to understanding these linked phenomena is that physical exercise and passive forms of stimulation are calming, enhance cognitive functions and learning, and are recommended as complementa...

Primary brain tumors are among the top ten causes of cancer-related deaths in the US. Malignant gliomas account for approximately 70% of the 22,500 new cases of malignant primary brain tumors diagnosed in adults each year and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Despite optimal treatment, the prognosis for patients with gliomas remains...

Progressive renal fibrosis is a characteristic of all the diseases that cause renal failure and is invariably accompanied by a prominent leukocyte infiltration in the kidney. The goal of this study was to determine the association between the circulating specific leukocyte types and incident chronic kidney disease (CKD). In a cohort of 10,056 middl...

The eruption of Al-Aqsa Intifada created a war situation in Palestine, increasing the number of firearms injuries caused by occupying Israeli forces as well as disabling head injuries. No data were available to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and other health organizations on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Palestine. This study, therefore, soug...

Objectives: To promote weight reduction through Mall-Walk in Jackson Medical Mall, Jackson, MS with a 0.32-mile route on the periphery of the internal court. Methods: 260 overweight African-Americans study participants (BMI>=25) between ages 18 and 65 residing within 10 miles of Jackson Medical Mall were randomly assigned to one of three Mall-Wal...

The EXPORT Health Project at the Center for Minority Health, University of Pittsburgh, partnered with the Center of Excellence in Minority Health at Jackson State University to design and present a Summer Research Career Development Institute (SRCDI) in 2005 and 2006. The goal of the SRCDI was to enhance the early academic career survival skills of...

Although total white blood cell (WBC) count has been associated with hypertension, the association between specific WBC types and blood pressure (BP) levels has not been studied. In a cohort of 5746 middle-age African-American and white adults free of clinical cardiovascular disease and cancer and not taking hypertension or anti-inflammatory medica...

Lung cancer is the second leading deadly cancer in United States. In 2007, the United States reported 213,380 new lung cancer diagnoses and 160,390 deaths caused by lung cancer. Retinoic acid and retinyl esters are the oxidized and storage forms of vitamin A in the body. At low levels, they maintain many functions as hormones affecting vision, bone...

The accomplishments of John Snow (1813-1858), physician-epidemiologist, inventor and anaesthetist to Queen Victoria, are well documented, but the causes of his untimely death at age 45 remain conjectural. Snow suffered a paralysing stroke while working on his magnum opus, On Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics, and died a few days later on 16 June 18...

Low resting heart rate is a strong and consistent predictor of conduct disorder and chronic aggression. Explanations such as fearlessness and low arousal-induced stimulus-seeking have been offered, assuming a causal association between the phenomena, but the origin of low heart rate and its significance for understanding aggression and violence rem...

Misconceptions about disasters and their social and health consequences remain prevalent despite considerable research evidence to the contrary. Eight such myths and their factual counterparts were reviewed in a classic report on the public health impact of disasters by Claude de Ville de Goyet entitled, The Role of WHO in Disaster Management: Reli...

Symptoms of bone pain and skin rashes are not uncommon following a variety of infectious illnesses, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. The case of a 9-year-old boy with autism was recently described, who was hospitalized because of pain in the right hip, refusal to walk, fatigue, irritability, skin rash, and subsequent gingival...

The pathogenesis of HIV and the cause of the decline in CD4 T cells remain obscure. Several contradictory observations suggest a potential role for retinoids. For instance, some studies suggest that vitamin A supplementation is associated with disease improvement, others with disease worsening. HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) decreases...

How do humans behave when under threat of attack or disaster? How does the social context affect individual behavior? Anthony Mawson provides an illuminating examination of individual and collective behavior under conditions of stress and danger, in response to both natural and manmade threats and disasters. Opening with a question about the interp...

Injuries are currently classified as intentional or unintentional. Worldwide, intentional injury accounts for about 4400 deaths per day, and 1.6 million people were estimated to have died from violence in 2000. However, in epidemiologic studies of intentional injury, the injurer is typically unavailable or ignored in the data collection process, an...

While mass panic (and/or violence) and self-preservation are often assumed to be the natural response to physical danger and perceived entrapment, the literature indicates that expressions of mutual aid are common and often predominate, and collective flight may be so delayed that survival is threatened. In fact, the typical response to a variety o...

Question Does a policy of mandatory second opinion before caesarean section reduce the caesarean section rate in hospitals in Latin America? Study Design Cluster randomised controlled trial. Main results The mandatory second opinion policy significantly reduced the caesarean section rate compared with no intervention in hospitals in Latin America...

I propose that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) causes pre-eclampsia by a direct toxic effect on the liver in which the synthesis and secretion of retinol-binding proteins are impaired leading to the reduced serum retinol concentrations typically found in pre-eclampsia. Vitamin A would thus be expected to accumulate in the liver due to...

Tissue concentrations of vitamin A in Onchocerca volvulus are about 8 times higher than those of the host. About 100 000 microfilariae (mf) die every day in heavily infected persons. Onchocerciasis-associated morbidity may be due in part to the release of retinoids from dying mf and their gradual accumulation to toxic concentrations in affected tis...

A national consensus has emerged that cesarean delivery (CD) rates are excessive. To review the subject of CD delivery and to discuss options for reducing CD delivery rates in managed care organizations (MCOs) from the current rate of approximately 22% to a rate of 10% to 15% in 5 years, as proposed by the World Health Organization. Literature revi...

Violence-related behavior in schools has declined in recent years, but the perception of risk remains high. Disturbingly high percentages of students and teachers report staying home out of fear, and many students bring weapons to school for protection. Current proposals for preventing school violence include punishing the violence-prone, expulsion...

Violence-related behavior in schools has declined in recent years, but the perception of risk remains high. Disturbingly high percentages of students and teachers report staying home out of fear, and many students bring weapons to school for protection. Current proposals for preventing school violence include punishing the violence-prone, expulsion...

Modern epidemiology has been criticized as being fragmented and reductionist, lacking coherent theories, and contributing little to the understanding of disease. These criticisms assume that epidemiology is a system of knowledge about health and disease, based on observation. In fact, consensus on the definition of the field is surprisingly elusive...

Liver damage following hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may be due to the action of retinoids as modulators of viral replication. The reduced rate of survival of liver grafts in patients with HBV infection could also be due to the continued presence of the virus, stimulated by retinoids in the graft tissue. Subject to obtaining empirical support f...

Asthma has become a major public health problem, affecting about 17 million people in the United States, including 4.8 million children. A striking increase in asthma and other forms of atopy has occurred in children in the U.S. and other western countries during the past 30 years. Several studies have reported an inverse association between childh...

Liver damage following hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may be due to the action of retinoids as modulators of viral replication. The reduced rate of survival of liver grafts in patients with HBV infection could also be due to the continued presence of the virus, stimulated by retinoids in the graft tissue. Subject to ob- taining empirical support...

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic, cholestatic disease of unknown etiology commonly affecting women. It is characterized by progressive destruction of the small intrahepatic bile ducts and portal inflammation, leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis. The major signs and symptoms of PBC, which include pruritus, lethargy, the sicca syndrome, and...

The concept is proposed that cravings for specific substances are a manifestation of intense stimulation-seeking behavior. The model predicts that cravings could be ameliorated or diminished by providing affected persons with intense but nonharmful forms of stimulation to substitute for that derived in harmful or undesired ways by addictions. Indee...

Physical violence is widely considered to result from action carried out with the intention of causing injury; that is, from aggression. However, the "hypothesis" of aggression is inapplicable in all but a few instances as well as inappropriate for many destructive, rage-associated responses directed at inanimate objects. This paper outlines a new...

A retrospective case-control study was performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1985-1986 to test the hypotheses that 1) criminality is a risk factor for severe injury, and 2) the association between criminality and injury can be explained in terms of a common underlying factor--increased sensation-seeking tendencies. A total of 140 males with spina...

The wide variation in hysterectomy rates may reflect professional uncertainty as to the appropriateness of the procedure for managing benign uterine disease. This is thought to be due to diagnostic difficulties and especially to a lack of outcomes data. Many patients experience symptomatic relief after hysterectomy, but the long-term costs and bene...

Evidence is mounting that susceptibility to pressure ulcers in the spinal cord injured is due to the interactive effects of prolonged immobilization and injury-related autonomic dysfunction associated with reduced tissue perfusion. To determine whether tissue oxygenation at the sacrum is reduced in spinal cord injury, we compared transcutaneous oxy...

Pressure ulcers are notoriously common in spinal-cord-injured patients, in patients with other neurological deficits, in malnourished and severely debilitated patients, and in the frail elderly. Prolonged localized external pressure, coupled with insensitivity to ischemia resulting from neurologic injury, has long been considered the major causal f...

Evidence is mounting that spinal cord injured (SCI) persons may be at increased risk of pressure ulcers due to prolonged immobilization together with the injury-induced loss of sympathetic tone and decreased vascular resistance. With a view to developing a new method of preventing pressure ulcers, the objective of this study was to determine whethe...

A retrospective chart review was carried out on all spinal cord injured patients admitted to the Louisiana Rehabilitation Institute, Charity Hospital, between 1965 and 1984. In addition, former patients who could be contacted and who gave their informal consent were interviewed by telephone about the circumstances of their injury. The patients were...

Several lines of indirect evidence implicate vitamin A intoxication, associated mainly with impaired renal function, in the etiopathogenesis of gouty arthritis. The enzyme xanthine oxidase is involved not only in the conversion of xanthine to uric acid but also in that of retinol to its more toxic metabolite, retinoic acid. Retinoic acid should the...

A retrospective case-control study was carried out to determine whether sensation-seeking preferences were associated with spinal cord injury (SCI). One hundred forty male SCI patients were individually matched by age, race, gender, educational attainment at the time of SCI, and current zip code with 140 current Louisiana driver's license holders....

We carried out a prospective study to determine the association between immobilization in the immediate postinjury period and the development of pressure ulcers in spinal cord-injured patients following their admission to Charity Hospital, New Orleans. Of 39 patients consecutively admitted to the hospital, 23 (59%) developed a grade one ulcer withi...

Pressure sores are a frequent complication of spinal cord injury (SCI) and are assumed to result from insufficient rotation following admission to the acute care unit. The likelihood of pressure sores occurring before admission to the nursing unit is not usually recognized. This study attempts to determine whether pressure sores are associated with...

Although rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have certain features in common, the literature suggests that the two diseases are inversely related to each other in at least eight major respects, viz., age of onset in relation to reproductive fertility; psychosis; kidney disease; nutritional status; and the differential e...

Recent studies indicate that clinically-active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is uncommon in patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing long-term hemodialysis. Several lines of indirect evidence suggest that the dialysis procedure itself may be responsible for inducing remission; that SLE could reflect a toxicity reaction to excessive tis...

There are increasing reports of a wide variety of unexplained ill-effects associated with the occupational use of visual display terminals (VDTs); these include psychological complaints such as headache, irritability, and fatigue, musculoskeletal pains, dry or burning eyes, deteriorating eyesight, cataracts, facial dermatitis, and pregnancy abnorma...

To study the association between actual and claimed belt usage, to determine drivers' attitudes toward seatbelts, and to identify some of the factors associated with the use and nonuse of seatbelts, we administered a one-page questionnaire to 1,103 drivers attending their annual brake tag inspection in New Orleans, Louisiana. Actual belt use was un...

To study the association between actual and claimed belt usage, to determine drivers' attitudes toward seatbelts, and to identify some of the factors associated with the use and nonuse of seatbelts, we administered a one-page questionnaire to 1,103 drivers attending their annual brake tag inspection in New Orleans, Louisiana. Actual belt use was un...

A behavioral-biochemical hypothesis is presented to explain the attenuating effect of fighting on electric-shock induced gastric ulceration and hypertension in rats. It is suggested that shock-induced gastric lesions and hypertension result from undampened oscillations in central cholinergic and adrenergic activity, respectively, and that the senso...

The hypothesis is presented that whales become stranded inadvertently as a consequence of seeking stimulation. The animals enter shallow water in order to roll over, bask, and rub themselves in the sand, and are trapped by the receding tide. It suggested that stimulation-seeking behavior (and stranding) reflects a general sympathetic nervous system...

Countries above the median in corn consumption have significantly higher homicide rates than countries below the median in corn cornsumption. Research from a variety of sources suggests the hypothesis that populations consuming corn-based diets may have high homicide rates due to a reduction in brain tryptophan and/or serotonin.

Although the possible role of hypertension and/or blood pressure variability in the causation of juvenile delinquency has not been directly investigated hitherto, there is evidence to suggest (a) that an excess prevalence of blood pressure variability rather than hypertension is the aspect of cardiovascular functioning which characterizes adolescen...