41 CFR 102-80.90 - Is the Fire Administration Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Is the Fire Administration Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire protection engineering? 102-80.90... Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire protection engineering? Yes, the Fire...

41 CFR 102-80.90 - Is the Fire Administration Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Is the Fire Administration Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire protection engineering? 102-80.90... Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire protection engineering? Yes, the Fire...

41 CFR 102-80.90 - Is the Fire Administration Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Is the Fire Administration Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire protection engineering? 102-80.90... Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-522) relevant to fire protection engineering? Yes, the Fire...

Epigenetics: relevance and implications for public health.

PubMed

Rozek, Laura S; Dolinoy, Dana C; Sartor, Maureen A; Omenn, Gilbert S

2014-01-01

Improved understanding of the multilayer regulation of the human genome has led to a greater appreciation of environmental, nutritional, and epigenetic risk factors for human disease. Chromatin remodeling, histone tail modifications, and DNA methylation are dynamic epigenetic changes responsive to external stimuli. Careful interpretation can provide insights for actionable public health through collaboration between population and basic scientists and through integration of multiple data sources. We review key findings in environmental epigenetics both in human population studies and in animal models, and discuss the implications of these results for risk assessment and public health protection. To ultimately succeed in identifying epigenetic mechanisms leading to complex phenotypes and disease, researchers must integrate the various animal models, human clinical approaches, and human population approaches while paying attention to life-stage sensitivity, to generate effective prescriptions for human health evaluation and disease prevention.

Identifying core competencies for public health epidemiologists.

PubMed

Bondy, Susan J; Johnson, Ian; Cole, Donald C; Bercovitz, Kim

2008-01-01

Public health authorities have prioritized the identification of competencies, yet little empirical data exist to support decisions on competency selection among particular disciplines. We sought perspectives on important competencies among epidemiologists familiar with or practicing in public health settings (local to national). Using a sequential, qualitative-quantitative mixed method design, we conducted key informant interviews with 12 public health practitioners familiar with front-line epidemiologists' practice, followed by a web-based survey of members of a provincial association of public health epidemiologists (90 respondents of 155 eligible) and a consensus workshop. Competency statements were drawn from existing core competency lists and those identified by key informants, and ranked by extent of agreement in importance for entry-level practitioners. Competencies in quantitative methods and analysis, critical appraisal of scientific evidence and knowledge transfer of scientific data to other members of the public health team were all regarded as very important for public health epidemiologists. Epidemiologist competencies focused on the provision, interpretation and 'translation' of evidence to inform decision-making by other public health professionals. Considerable tension existed around some potential competency items, particularly in the areas of more advanced database and data-analytic skills. Empirical data can inform discussions of discipline-specific competencies as one input to decisions about competencies appropriate for epidemiologists in the public health workforce.

Identifying biologically relevant differences between metagenomic communities.

PubMed

Parks, Donovan H; Beiko, Robert G

2010-03-15

Metagenomics is the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples. Taxonomic and functional differences between metagenomic samples can highlight the influence of ecological factors on patterns of microbial life in a wide range of habitats. Statistical hypothesis tests can help us distinguish ecological influences from sampling artifacts, but knowledge of only the P-value from a statistical hypothesis test is insufficient to make inferences about biological relevance. Current reporting practices for pairwise comparative metagenomics are inadequate, and better tools are needed for comparative metagenomic analysis. We have developed a new software package, STAMP, for comparative metagenomics that supports best practices in analysis and reporting. Examination of a pair of iron mine metagenomes demonstrates that deeper biological insights can be gained using statistical techniques available in our software. An analysis of the functional potential of 'Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis' in two enhanced biological phosphorus removal metagenomes identified several subsystems that differ between the A.phosphatis stains in these related communities, including phosphate metabolism, secretion and metal transport. Python source code and binaries are freely available from our website at http://kiwi.cs.dal.ca/Software/STAMP CONTACT: beiko@cs.dal.ca Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Public participation GIS: a method for identifying ecosystems services

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brown, Greg; Montag, Jessica; Lyon, Katie

2012-01-01

This study evaluated the use of an Internet-based public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) to identify ecosystem services in Grand County, Colorado. Specific research objectives were to examine the distribution of ecosystem services, identify the characteristics of participants in the study, explore potential relationships between ecosystem services and land use and land cover (LULC) classifications, and assess the methodological strengths and weakness of the PPGIS approach for identifying ecosystem services. Key findings include: (1) Cultural ecosystem service opportunities were easiest to identify while supporting and regulatory services most challenging, (2) participants were highly educated, knowledgeable about nature and science, and have a strong connection to the outdoors, (3) some LULC classifications were logically and spatially associated with ecosystem services, and (4) despite limitations, the PPGIS method demonstrates potential for identifying ecosystem services to augment expert judgment and to inform public or environmental policy decisions regarding land use trade-offs.

Cutting a long story short? The clinical relevance of asking parents, nurses, and young children themselves to identify children's mental health problems by one or two questions.

PubMed

Borg, Anne-Mari; Salmelin, Raili; Joukamaa, Matti; Tamminen, Tuula

2014-01-01

Assessing young children's mental health is a crucial and challenging task. The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical relevance of asking parents, nurses, and young children themselves to identify children's mental health problems by only one or two questions. In regular health check-ups of 4- to 9-year-old children (n = 2682), parents and public health nurses assessed by one question whether the child had any emotional or behavioral difficulties. The child completed a self-evaluation enquiry on his/her emotional well-being. A stratified proportion of the participating parents were invited to a diagnostic interview. Sensitivities were fairly good for the parents' (68%), nurses' (65%), and their combined (79%) one-question screens. Difficulties identified by parents and nurses were major risks (OR 10-14) for any child psychiatric disorders (P < 0.001). The child's self-evaluation was related to 2-fold to 3-fold risks (P < 0.05) for any psychiatric diagnosis, for any emotional diagnosis, and for negative situational factors. The one-question screen for parents and public health nurses together quite adequately identified the young children with mental health problems. The child's self-evaluation provided relevant and complementary information on his/her mental health and especially emotional problems.

Identifying marker genes in transcription profiling data using a mixture of feature relevance experts.

PubMed

Chow, M L; Moler, E J; Mian, I S

2001-03-08

Transcription profiling experiments permit the expression levels of many genes to be measured simultaneously. Given profiling data from two types of samples, genes that most distinguish the samples (marker genes) are good candidates for subsequent in-depth experimental studies and developing decision support systems for diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring. This work proposes a mixture of feature relevance experts as a method for identifying marker genes and illustrates the idea using published data from samples labeled as acute lymphoblastic and myeloid leukemia (ALL, AML). A feature relevance expert implements an algorithm that calculates how well a gene distinguishes samples, reorders genes according to this relevance measure, and uses a supervised learning method [here, support vector machines (SVMs)] to determine the generalization performances of different nested gene subsets. The mixture of three feature relevance experts examined implement two existing and one novel feature relevance measures. For each expert, a gene subset consisting of the top 50 genes distinguished ALL from AML samples as completely as all 7,070 genes. The 125 genes at the union of the top 50s are plausible markers for a prototype decision support system. Chromosomal aberration and other data support the prediction that the three genes at the intersection of the top 50s, cystatin C, azurocidin, and adipsin, are good targets for investigating the basic biology of ALL/AML. The same data were employed to identify markers that distinguish samples based on their labels of T cell/B cell, peripheral blood/bone marrow, and male/female. Selenoprotein W may discriminate T cells from B cells. Results from analysis of transcription profiling data from tumor/nontumor colon adenocarcinoma samples support the general utility of the aforementioned approach. Theoretical issues such as choosing SVM kernels and their parameters, training and evaluating feature relevance experts, and the impact of

Cultural Speak: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Experiential Learning in a Public Speaking Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colvin, Janet; Tobler, Nancy

2013-01-01

This study describes the efficacy of modifications made to a higher education Latina/o public speaking course to enhance student growth and understanding. The changes included the addition of a service-learning component and the incorporation of culturally relevant pedagogy. Selected research, particularly related to college students, on…

Identifying relevant data for a biological database: handcrafted rules versus machine learning.

PubMed

Sehgal, Aditya Kumar; Das, Sanmay; Noto, Keith; Saier, Milton H; Elkan, Charles

2011-01-01

With well over 1,000 specialized biological databases in use today, the task of automatically identifying novel, relevant data for such databases is increasingly important. In this paper, we describe practical machine learning approaches for identifying MEDLINE documents and Swiss-Prot/TrEMBL protein records, for incorporation into a specialized biological database of transport proteins named TCDB. We show that both learning approaches outperform rules created by hand by a human expert. As one of the first case studies involving two different approaches to updating a deployed database, both the methods compared and the results will be of interest to curators of many specialized databases.

Back to the basics: Identifying and addressing underlying challenges in achieving high quality and relevant health statistics for indigenous populations in Canada

PubMed Central

Smylie, Janet; Firestone, Michelle

2015-01-01

Canada is known internationally for excellence in both the quality and public policy relevance of its health and social statistics. There is a double standard however with respect to the relevance and quality of statistics for Indigenous populations in Canada. Indigenous specific health and social statistics gathering is informed by unique ethical, rights-based, policy and practice imperatives regarding the need for Indigenous participation and leadership in Indigenous data processes throughout the spectrum of indicator development, data collection, management, analysis and use. We demonstrate how current Indigenous data quality challenges including misclassification errors and non-response bias systematically contribute to a significant underestimate of inequities in health determinants, health status, and health care access between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. The major quality challenge underlying these errors and biases is the lack of Indigenous specific identifiers that are consistent and relevant in major health and social data sources. The recent removal of an Indigenous identity question from the Canadian census has resulted in further deterioration of an already suboptimal system. A revision of core health data sources to include relevant, consistent, and inclusive Indigenous self-identification is urgently required. These changes need to be carried out in partnership with Indigenous peoples and their representative and governing organizations. PMID:26793283

Do citations and readership identify seminal publications?

DOE PAGES

Herrmannova, Drahomira; Patton, Robert M.; Knoth, Petr; ...

2018-02-10

Here, this work presents a new approach for analysing the ability of existing research metrics to identify research which has strongly influenced future developments. More specifically, we focus on the ability of citation counts and Mendeley reader counts to distinguish between publications regarded as seminal and publications regarded as literature reviews by field experts. The main motivation behind our research is to gain a better understanding of whether and how well the existing research metrics relate to research quality. For this experiment we have created a new dataset which we call TrueImpactDataset and which contains two types of publications, seminalmore » papers and literature reviews. Using the dataset, we conduct a set of experiments to study how citation and reader counts perform in distinguishing these publication types, following the intuition that causing a change in a field signifies research quality. Finally, our research shows that citation counts work better than a random baseline (by a margin of 10%) in distinguishing important seminal research papers from literature reviews while Mendeley reader counts do not work better than the baseline.« less

Do citations and readership identify seminal publications?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Herrmannova, Drahomira; Patton, Robert M.; Knoth, Petr

Here, this work presents a new approach for analysing the ability of existing research metrics to identify research which has strongly influenced future developments. More specifically, we focus on the ability of citation counts and Mendeley reader counts to distinguish between publications regarded as seminal and publications regarded as literature reviews by field experts. The main motivation behind our research is to gain a better understanding of whether and how well the existing research metrics relate to research quality. For this experiment we have created a new dataset which we call TrueImpactDataset and which contains two types of publications, seminalmore » papers and literature reviews. Using the dataset, we conduct a set of experiments to study how citation and reader counts perform in distinguishing these publication types, following the intuition that causing a change in a field signifies research quality. Finally, our research shows that citation counts work better than a random baseline (by a margin of 10%) in distinguishing important seminal research papers from literature reviews while Mendeley reader counts do not work better than the baseline.« less

Facilitating access to pre-processed research evidence in public health

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Evidence-informed decision making is accepted in Canada and worldwide as necessary for the provision of effective health services. This process involves: 1) clearly articulating a practice-based issue; 2) searching for and accessing relevant evidence; 3) appraising methodological rigor and choosing the most synthesized evidence of the highest quality and relevance to the practice issue and setting that is available; and 4) extracting, interpreting, and translating knowledge, in light of the local context and resources, into practice, program and policy decisions. While the public health sector in Canada is working toward evidence-informed decision making, considerable barriers, including efficient access to synthesized resources, exist. Methods In this paper we map to a previously developed 6 level pyramid of pre-processed research evidence, relevant resources that include public health-related effectiveness evidence. The resources were identified through extensive searches of both the published and unpublished domains. Results Many resources with public health-related evidence were identified. While there were very few resources dedicated solely to public health evidence, many clinically focused resources include public health-related evidence, making tools such as the pyramid, that identify these resources, particularly helpful for public health decisions makers. A practical example illustrates the application of this model and highlights its potential to reduce the time and effort that would be required by public health decision makers to address their practice-based issues. Conclusions This paper describes an existing hierarchy of pre-processed evidence and its adaptation to the public health setting. A number of resources with public health-relevant content that are either freely accessible or requiring a subscription are identified. This will facilitate easier and faster access to pre-processed, public health-relevant evidence, with the intent of

The public health relevance of air pollution abatement.

PubMed

Künzli, N

2002-07-01

Assuming a causal relationship between current levels of air pollution and morbidity/mortality, it is crucial to estimate the public health relevance of the problem. The derivation of air pollution attributable cases faces inherent uncertainties and requires influential assumptions. Based on the results of the trinational impact assessment study of Austria, France, and Switzerland, where prudent estimates of the air pollution attributable cases (mortality, chronic bronchitis incidence, hospital admissions, acute bronchitis among children, restricted activity days, asthma attacks) have been made, influential uncertainties are quantified in this review. The public health impact of smoking, environmental tobacco smoke, and air pollution on the prevalence of chronic cough/phlegm are outlined. Despite all methodological caveats, impact assessment studies clearly suggest that public health largely benefits from better air quality. The studies are selective underestimates as they are strongly driven by mortality, but do not include full quantification of the impact on morbidity and their consequences on quality of life among the diseased and the caregivers. Air pollution abatement strategies are usually political in nature, targeting at polities, regulation and technology in mobile or stationary sources rather than at individuals. It is of note that key clean air strategies converge into abatement of climate change. In general, energy consumption is very closely related to both air pollution and greenhouse gases. The dominant causes of both problems are the excessive and inefficient combustion of fossil fuel. Thus, for many policy options, the benefit of air pollution abatement will go far beyond what prudent health-impact assessments may derive. From a climate change and air pollution perspective, improved energy efficiency and a strong and decisive departure from the "fossil fuel" combustion society is a science-based must. Health professionals must raise their voices

Identifying maternity services in public hospitals in rural and remote Australia.

PubMed

Longman, Jo; Pilcher, Jennifer M; Donoghue, Deborah A; Rolfe, Margaret; Kildea, Sue V; Kruske, Sue; Oats, Jeremy J N; Morgan, Geoffrey G; Barclay, Lesley M

2014-06-01

This paper articulates the importance of accurately identifying maternity services. It describes the process and challenges of identifying the number, level and networks of rural and remote maternity services in public hospitals serving communities of between 1000 and 25000 people across Australia, and presents the findings of this process. Health departments and the national government's websites, along with lists of public hospitals, were used to identify all rural and remote Australian public hospitals offering maternity services in small towns. State perinatal reports were reviewed to establish numbers of births by hospital. The level of maternity services and networks of hospitals within which services functioned were determined via discussion with senior jurisdictional representatives. In all, 198 rural and remote public hospitals offering maternity services were identified. There were challenges in sourcing information on maternity services to generate an accurate national picture. The nature of information about maternity services held centrally by jurisdictions varied, and different frameworks were used to describe minimum requirements for service levels. Service networks appeared to be based on a combination of individual links, geography and transport infrastructure. The lack of readily available centralised and comparable information on rural and remote maternity services has implications for policy review and development, equity, safety and quality, network development and planning. Accountability for services and capacity to identify problems is also compromised.

Research Ethics Review: Identifying Public Policy and Program Gaps

PubMed Central

Strosberg, Martin A.; Gefenas, Eugenijus; Famenka, Andrei

2014-01-01

We present an analytical frame-work for use by fellows of the Fogarty International Center–sponsored Advanced Certificate Program in Research Ethics for Central and Eastern Europe to identify gaps in the public policies establishing research ethics review systems that impede them from doing their job of protecting human research subjects. The framework, illustrated by examples from post-Communist countries, employs a logic model based on the public policy and public management literature. This paper is part of a collection of papers analyzing the Fogarty International Center’s International Research Ethics Education and Curriculum program. PMID:24782068

Completeness of reporting of patient-relevant clinical trial outcomes: comparison of unpublished clinical study reports with publicly available data.

PubMed

Wieseler, Beate; Wolfram, Natalia; McGauran, Natalie; Kerekes, Michaela F; Vervölgyi, Volker; Kohlepp, Petra; Kamphuis, Marloes; Grouven, Ulrich

2013-10-01

Access to unpublished clinical study reports (CSRs) is currently being discussed as a means to allow unbiased evaluation of clinical research. The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) routinely requests CSRs from manufacturers for its drug assessments. Our objective was to determine the information gain from CSRs compared to publicly available sources (journal publications and registry reports) for patient-relevant outcomes included in IQWiG health technology assessments (HTAs) of drugs. We used a sample of 101 trials with full CSRs received for 16 HTAs of drugs completed by IQWiG between 15 January 2006 and 14 February 2011, and analyzed the CSRs and the publicly available sources of these trials. For each document type we assessed the completeness of information on all patient-relevant outcomes included in the HTAs (benefit outcomes, e.g., mortality, symptoms, and health-related quality of life; harm outcomes, e.g., adverse events). We dichotomized the outcomes as "completely reported" or "incompletely reported." For each document type, we calculated the proportion of outcomes with complete information per outcome category and overall. We analyzed 101 trials with CSRs; 86 had at least one publicly available source, 65 at least one journal publication, and 50 a registry report. The trials included 1,080 patient-relevant outcomes. The CSRs provided complete information on a considerably higher proportion of outcomes (86%) than the combined publicly available sources (39%). With the exception of health-related quality of life (57%), CSRs provided complete information on 78% to 100% of the various benefit outcomes (combined publicly available sources: 20% to 53%). CSRs also provided considerably more information on harms. The differences in completeness of information for patient-relevant outcomes between CSRs and journal publications or registry reports (or a combination of both) were statistically significant for all types of outcomes. The

Completeness of Reporting of Patient-Relevant Clinical Trial Outcomes: Comparison of Unpublished Clinical Study Reports with Publicly Available Data

PubMed Central

Wieseler, Beate; Wolfram, Natalia; McGauran, Natalie; Kerekes, Michaela F.; Vervölgyi, Volker; Kohlepp, Petra; Kamphuis, Marloes; Grouven, Ulrich

2013-01-01

Background Access to unpublished clinical study reports (CSRs) is currently being discussed as a means to allow unbiased evaluation of clinical research. The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) routinely requests CSRs from manufacturers for its drug assessments. Our objective was to determine the information gain from CSRs compared to publicly available sources (journal publications and registry reports) for patient-relevant outcomes included in IQWiG health technology assessments (HTAs) of drugs. Methods and Findings We used a sample of 101 trials with full CSRs received for 16 HTAs of drugs completed by IQWiG between 15 January 2006 and 14 February 2011, and analyzed the CSRs and the publicly available sources of these trials. For each document type we assessed the completeness of information on all patient-relevant outcomes included in the HTAs (benefit outcomes, e.g., mortality, symptoms, and health-related quality of life; harm outcomes, e.g., adverse events). We dichotomized the outcomes as “completely reported” or “incompletely reported.” For each document type, we calculated the proportion of outcomes with complete information per outcome category and overall. We analyzed 101 trials with CSRs; 86 had at least one publicly available source, 65 at least one journal publication, and 50 a registry report. The trials included 1,080 patient-relevant outcomes. The CSRs provided complete information on a considerably higher proportion of outcomes (86%) than the combined publicly available sources (39%). With the exception of health-related quality of life (57%), CSRs provided complete information on 78% to 100% of the various benefit outcomes (combined publicly available sources: 20% to 53%). CSRs also provided considerably more information on harms. The differences in completeness of information for patient-relevant outcomes between CSRs and journal publications or registry reports (or a combination of both) were statistically

Rural relevant quality measures for critical access hospitals.

PubMed

Casey, Michelle M; Moscovice, Ira; Klingner, Jill; Prasad, Shailendra

2013-01-01

To identify current and future relevant quality measures for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Three criteria (patient volume, internal usefulness for quality improvement, and external usefulness for public reporting and payment reform) were used to analyze quality measures for their relevance for CAHs. A 6-member panel with expertise in rural hospital quality measurement and improvement provided input regarding the final measure selection. The relevant quality measures for CAHs include measures that are ready for reporting now and measures that need specifications to be finalized and/or a data reporting mechanism to be established. They include inpatient measures for specific medical conditions, global measures that address appropriate care across multiple medical conditions, and Emergency Department measures. All CAHs should publicly report on relevant quality measures. Acceptance of a single consolidated set of quality measures with common specifications for CAHs by all entities involved in regulation, accreditation, and payment; a phased process to implement the relevant measures; and the provision of technical assistance would help CAHs meet the challenge of reporting. © 2012 National Rural Health Association.

Publications in anesthesia journals: quality and clinical relevance.

PubMed

Lauritsen, Jakob; Moller, Ann M

2004-11-01

Clinicians performing evidence-based anesthesia rely on anesthesia journals for clinically relevant information. The objective of this study was to analyze the proportion of clinically relevant articles in five high impact anesthesia journals. We evaluated all articles published in Anesthesiology, Anesthesia & Analgesia, British Journal of Anesthesia, Anesthesia, and Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica from January to June, 2000. Articles were assessed and classified according to type, outcome, and design; 1379 articles consisting of 5468 pages were evaluated and categorized. The most common types of article were animal and laboratory research (31.2%) and randomized clinical trial (20.4%). A clinically relevant article was defined as an article that used a statistically valid method and had a clinically relevant end-point. Altogether 18.6% of the pages had as their subject matter clinically relevant trials. We compared the Journal Impact Factor (a measure of the number of citations per article in a journal) and the proportion of clinically relevant pages and found that they were inversely proportional to each other.

Identifying the relevant features of the National Digital Cadastral Database (NDCDB) for spatial analysis by using the Delphi Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halim, N. Z. A.; Sulaiman, S. A.; Talib, K.; Ng, E. G.

2018-02-01

This paper explains the process carried out in identifying the relevant features of the National Digital Cadastral Database (NDCDB) for spatial analysis. The research was initially a part of a larger research exercise to identify the significance of NDCDB from the legal, technical, role and land-based analysis perspectives. The research methodology of applying the Delphi technique is substantially discussed in this paper. A heterogeneous panel of 14 experts was created to determine the importance of NDCDB from the technical relevance standpoint. Three statements describing the relevant features of NDCDB for spatial analysis were established after three rounds of consensus building. It highlighted the NDCDB’s characteristics such as its spatial accuracy, functions, and criteria as a facilitating tool for spatial analysis. By recognising the relevant features of NDCDB for spatial analysis in this study, practical application of NDCDB for various analysis and purpose can be widely implemented.

75 FR 29560 - Identifying Unmet Public Health Needs and Facilitating Innovation in Medical Device Development...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-26

...] Identifying Unmet Public Health Needs and Facilitating Innovation in Medical Device Development; Notice of... entitled ``Identifying Unmet Public Health Needs and Facilitating Innovation in Medical Device Development... an initiative to proactively facilitate medical device innovation to address unmet public health...

Identifying biologically relevant putative mechanisms in a given phenotype comparison

PubMed Central

Hanoudi, Samer; Donato, Michele; Draghici, Sorin

2017-01-01

A major challenge in life science research is understanding the mechanism involved in a given phenotype. The ability to identify the correct mechanisms is needed in order to understand fundamental and very important phenomena such as mechanisms of disease, immune systems responses to various challenges, and mechanisms of drug action. The current data analysis methods focus on the identification of the differentially expressed (DE) genes using their fold change and/or p-values. Major shortcomings of this approach are that: i) it does not consider the interactions between genes; ii) its results are sensitive to the selection of the threshold(s) used, and iii) the set of genes produced by this approach is not always conducive to formulating mechanistic hypotheses. Here we present a method that can construct networks of genes that can be considered putative mechanisms. The putative mechanisms constructed by this approach are not limited to the set of DE genes, but also considers all known and relevant gene-gene interactions. We analyzed three real datasets for which both the causes of the phenotype, as well as the true mechanisms were known. We show that the method identified the correct mechanisms when applied on microarray datasets from mouse. We compared the results of our method with the results of the classical approach, showing that our method produces more meaningful biological insights. PMID:28486531

Our Solar System 2050: Advancing the Science, Technology, and Societal Relevance of Planetary Exploration Through Public Participation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaminski, A. P.; Bowman, C. D.; Buquo, L. E.; Conrad, P. G.; Davis, R. M.; Domagal-Goldman, S.; Pirtle, Z. T.; Skytland, N. G.; Tahu, G. J.; Thaller, M. L.; Viotti, M. A.

2017-02-01

We show how citizen science, crowdsourcing, prize competitions, and other modalities can expand public participation and prove valuable for enhancing the science, technology, and societal relevance of planetary exploration over the next few decades.

Communicable Diseases Prioritized According to Their Public Health Relevance, Sweden, 2013

PubMed Central

Dahl, Viktor; Tegnell, Anders; Wallensten, Anders

2015-01-01

To establish strategic priorities for the Public Health Agency of Sweden we prioritized pathogens according to their public health relevance in Sweden in order to guide resource allocation. We then compared the outcome to ongoing surveillance. We used a modified prioritization method developed at the Robert Koch Institute in Germany. In a Delphi process experts scored pathogens according to ten variables. We ranked the pathogens according to the total score and divided them into four priority groups. We then compared the priority groups to self-reported time spent on surveillance by epidemiologists and ongoing programmes for surveillance through mandatory and/or voluntary notifications and for surveillance of typing results. 106 pathogens were scored. The result of the prioritization process was similar to the outcome of the prioritization in Germany. Common pathogens such as calicivirus and Influenza virus as well as blood-borne pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and C virus, gastro-intestinal infections such as Campylobacter and Salmonella and vector-borne pathogens such as Borrelia were all in the highest priority group. 63% of time spent by epidemiologists on surveillance was spent on pathogens in the highest priority group and all pathogens in the highest priority group, except for Borrelia and varicella-zoster virus, were under surveillance through notifications. Ten pathogens in the highest priority group (Borrelia, calicivirus, Campylobacter, Echinococcus multilocularis, hepatitis C virus, HIV, respiratory syncytial virus, SARS- and MERS coronavirus, tick-borne encephalitis virus and varicella-zoster virus) did not have any surveillance of typing results. We will evaluate the possibilities of surveillance for the pathogens in the highest priority group where we currently do not have any ongoing surveillance and evaluate the need of surveillance for the pathogens from the low priority group where there is ongoing surveillance in

Identifying Methods for Monitoring Foodborne Illness: Review of Existing Public Health Surveillance Techniques.

PubMed

Oldroyd, Rachel A; Morris, Michelle A; Birkin, Mark

2018-06-06

Traditional methods of monitoring foodborne illness are associated with problems of untimeliness and underreporting. In recent years, alternative data sources such as social media data have been used to monitor the incidence of disease in the population (infodemiology and infoveillance). These data sources prove timelier than traditional general practitioner data, they can help to fill the gaps in the reporting process, and they often include additional metadata that is useful for supplementary research. The aim of the study was to identify and formally analyze research papers using consumer-generated data, such as social media data or restaurant reviews, to quantify a disease or public health ailment. Studies of this nature are scarce within the food safety domain, therefore identification and understanding of transferrable methods in other health-related fields are of particular interest. Structured scoping methods were used to identify and analyze primary research papers using consumer-generated data for disease or public health surveillance. The title, abstract, and keyword fields of 5 databases were searched using predetermined search terms. A total of 5239 papers matched the search criteria, of which 145 were taken to full-text review-62 papers were deemed relevant and were subjected to data characterization and thematic analysis. The majority of studies (40/62, 65%) focused on the surveillance of influenza-like illness. Only 10 studies (16%) used consumer-generated data to monitor outbreaks of foodborne illness. Twitter data (58/62, 94%) and Yelp reviews (3/62, 5%) were the most commonly used data sources. Studies reporting high correlations against baseline statistics used advanced statistical and computational approaches to calculate the incidence of disease. These include classification and regression approaches, clustering approaches, and lexicon-based approaches. Although they are computationally intensive due to the requirement of training data

Simple and efficient machine learning frameworks for identifying protein-protein interaction relevant articles and experimental methods used to study the interactions.

PubMed

Agarwal, Shashank; Liu, Feifan; Yu, Hong

2011-10-03

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) is an important biomedical phenomenon. Automatically detecting PPI-relevant articles and identifying methods that are used to study PPI are important text mining tasks. In this study, we have explored domain independent features to develop two open source machine learning frameworks. One performs binary classification to determine whether the given article is PPI relevant or not, named "Simple Classifier", and the other one maps the PPI relevant articles with corresponding interaction method nodes in a standardized PSI-MI (Proteomics Standards Initiative-Molecular Interactions) ontology, named "OntoNorm". We evaluated our system in the context of BioCreative challenge competition using the standardized data set. Our systems are amongst the top systems reported by the organizers, attaining 60.8% F1-score for identifying relevant documents, and 52.3% F1-score for mapping articles to interaction method ontology. Our results show that domain-independent machine learning frameworks can perform competitively well at the tasks of detecting PPI relevant articles and identifying the methods that were used to study the interaction in such articles. Simple Classifier is available at http://sourceforge.net/p/simpleclassify/home/ and OntoNorm at http://sourceforge.net/p/ontonorm/home/.

Identifying and prioritising systematic review topics with public health stakeholders: A protocol for a modified Delphi study in Switzerland to inform future research agendas

PubMed Central

Mütsch, Margot; Kien, Christina; Gerhardus, Ansgar; Lhachimi, Stefan K

2017-01-01

Introduction The Cochrane Collaboration aims to produce relevant and top priority evidence that responds to existing evidence gaps. Hence, research priority setting (RPS) is important to identify which potential research gaps are deemed most important. Moreover, RPS supports future health research to conform both health and health evidence needs. However, studies that are prioritising systematic review topics in public health are surprisingly rare. Therefore, to inform the research agenda of Cochrane Public Health Europe (CPHE), we introduce the protocol of a priority setting study on systematic review topics in several European countries, which is conceptualised as pilot. Methods and analysis We will conduct a two-round modified Delphi study in Switzerland, incorporating an anonymous web-based questionnaire, to assess which topics should be prioritised for systematic reviews in public health. In the first Delphi round public health stakeholders will suggest relevant assessment criteria and potential priority topics. In the second Delphi round the participants indicate their (dis)agreement to the aggregated results of the first round and rate the potential review topics with the predetermined criteria on a four-point Likert scale. As we invite a wide variety of stakeholders we will compare the results between the different stakeholder groups. Ethics and dissemination We have received ethical approval from the ethical board of the University of Bremen, Germany (principal investigation is conducted at the University of Bremen) and a certificate of non-objection from the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland (fieldwork will be conducted in Switzerland). The results of this study will be further disseminated through peer reviewed publication and will support systematic review author groups (i.a. CPHE) to improve the relevance of the groups´ future review work. Finally, the proposed priority setting study can be used as a framework by other systematic review groups when

Improving utility of evidence synthesis for healthy public policy: the three Rs (relevance, rigor, and readability [and resources]).

PubMed

Thomson, Hilary

2013-08-01

Systematic reviews have the potential to promote knowledge exchange between researchers and decision-makers. Review planning requires engagement with evidence users to ensure preparation of relevant reviews, and well-conducted reviews should provide accessible and reliable synthesis to support decision-making. Yet, systematic reviews are not routinely referred to by decision-makers, and innovative approaches to improve the utility of reviews is needed. Evidence synthesis for healthy public policy is typically complex and methodologically challenging. Although not lessening the value of reviews, these challenges can be overwhelming and threaten their utility. Using the interrelated principles of relevance, rigor, and readability, and in light of available resources, this article considers how utility of evidence synthesis for healthy public policy might be improved.

Improving Utility of Evidence Synthesis for Healthy Public Policy: the Three Rs (Relevance, Rigor, and Readability [and Resources])

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Systematic reviews have the potential to promote knowledge exchange between researchers and decision-makers. Review planning requires engagement with evidence users to ensure preparation of relevant reviews, and well-conducted reviews should provide accessible and reliable synthesis to support decision-making. Yet, systematic reviews are not routinely referred to by decision-makers, and innovative approaches to improve the utility of reviews is needed. Evidence synthesis for healthy public policy is typically complex and methodologically challenging. Although not lessening the value of reviews, these challenges can be overwhelming and threaten their utility. Using the interrelated principles of relevance, rigor, and readability, and in light of available resources, this article considers how utility of evidence synthesis for healthy public policy might be improved. PMID:23763400

Valerian: no evidence for clinically relevant interactions.

PubMed

Kelber, Olaf; Nieber, Karen; Kraft, Karin

2014-01-01

In recent popular publications as well as in widely used information websites directed to cancer patients, valerian is claimed to have a potential of adverse interactions with anticancer drugs. This questions its use as a safe replacement for, for example, benzodiazepines. A review on the interaction potential of preparations from valerian root (Valeriana officinalis L. root) was therefore conducted. A data base search and search in a clinical drug interaction data base were conducted. Thereafter, a systematic assessment of publications was performed. Seven in vitro studies on six CYP 450 isoenzymes, on p-glycoprotein, and on two UGT isoenzymes were identified. However, the methodological assessment of these studies did not support their suitability for the prediction of clinically relevant interactions. In addition, clinical studies on various valerian preparations did not reveal any relevant interaction potential concerning CYP 1A2, 2D6, 2E1, and 3A4. Available animal and human pharmacodynamic studies did not verify any interaction potential. The interaction potential of valerian preparations therefore seems to be low and thereby without clinical relevance. We conclude that there is no specific evidence questioning their safety, also in cancer patients.

Valerian: No Evidence for Clinically Relevant Interactions

PubMed Central

Nieber, Karen; Kraft, Karin

2014-01-01

In recent popular publications as well as in widely used information websites directed to cancer patients, valerian is claimed to have a potential of adverse interactions with anticancer drugs. This questions its use as a safe replacement for, for example, benzodiazepines. A review on the interaction potential of preparations from valerian root (Valeriana officinalis L. root) was therefore conducted. A data base search and search in a clinical drug interaction data base were conducted. Thereafter, a systematic assessment of publications was performed. Seven in vitro studies on six CYP 450 isoenzymes, on p-glycoprotein, and on two UGT isoenzymes were identified. However, the methodological assessment of these studies did not support their suitability for the prediction of clinically relevant interactions. In addition, clinical studies on various valerian preparations did not reveal any relevant interaction potential concerning CYP 1A2, 2D6, 2E1, and 3A4. Available animal and human pharmacodynamic studies did not verify any interaction potential. The interaction potential of valerian preparations therefore seems to be low and thereby without clinical relevance. We conclude that there is no specific evidence questioning their safety, also in cancer patients. PMID:25093031

Issue-Relevant Values and Opinions About Gay Rights: Beyond Equality and Morality.

PubMed

Rhodebeck, Laurie

2018-01-01

Although many studies have examined the role of values in shaping public opinion, the number of values that inform this research is limited. This article employs the concept of issue-relevant values as a means to explore the broader range of values associated with policy issues. After discussing the concept in general terms, the article explores issue-relevant values pertinent to public opinion about gay rights. Using the policy examples of employment nondiscrimination and same-sex couple adoption, the present study identifies, measures, and assesses several values that add to the very short list previously used to explain public opinion about gay rights issues. Content from interest-group Web sites and news media coverage of the two issues aided in identifying the values. Data from an original Internet survey yield valid measures of the values. Multivariate analyses indicate that the values behave in predictable ways: they are strongly influenced by partisanship, and they strongly affect opinions about the two issues. The performance of the values is consistent with findings from previous research on the partisan basis of values and the value-based nature of opinions. The article concludes with suggestions for further empirical and theoretical work that could apply and extend the concept of issue-relevant values.

[Twenty-year surveillance of insects relevant to public health during the construction of hydroelectric facilities in Antioquia, Colombia].

PubMed

Zuluaga, Walter Alonso; López, Yolanda Lucía; Osorio, Lisardo; Salazar, Luis Fernando; González, Marta Claudia; Ríos, Claudia María; Wolff, Marta Isabel; Escobar, José Pablo

2012-09-01

Entomological studies conducted in large hydroelectric infrastructure projects are a tool for the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases. These diseases emerge as a consequence of changes made to the terrain that often increase the natural and artificial mosquito larval habitats. Many of these insects are of public health importance and population increases result in an increased risk of disease transmission. The culicine (mosquito) and phlebotomine (sand fly) populations were characterized in the area of the Porce II and Porce III hydroelectric projects of Antioquia between 1990 to 2009. Periodical entomological samplings were made in the area of impact, in the workers camps, and construction sites. Adult specimens were captured with nets, Shannon light traps, CDC light traps, and protected human bait. Mosquito larvae of the following species were identified: Culex coronator, Culex nigripalpus, Culex corniger, Culex quinquefasciatus and Limatus durhami. The most frequently identifiers of larval habitats were low tanks, waste cans, tires, and aquatic plants. Aedes aegypti specimens were captured in only two rural locations from two municipalities within the area of influence. Specimens from the following mosquito genera were captured in forest areas: Aedes, Mansonia, Culex, Psorophora, Wyeomyia, Phonyomyia, Uranotaenia, Haemagogus and Sabethes. The most important mosquito found was Haemogogus janthinomis, an efficient yellow fever vector in Colombia. The area has been endemic for leishmaniasis and in the current study, 20 species of Lutzomyia sand flies, potential vectors, were identified. Among malaria vectors, the most important species found in the area were Anopheles nuneztovari and Anopheles pseudopunctipennis. A wide variety of vectors were discovered in the area of the Porce II and Porce III hydroelectric projects, and many of these were relevant for public health. Further monitoring will be necessary to minimize disease transmission risks among the

Public Health Workforce Self-Identified Training Needs by Jurisdiction and Job Type.

PubMed

Yeager, Valerie A; Wisniewski, Janna M; Chapple-McGruder, Theresa; Castrucci, Brian; Gould, Elizabeth

2018-06-21

Ensuring adequate and appropriate training of the workforce is a crucial priority for governmental public health. This is particularly important, given the diverse backgrounds of the public health workforce; the vast majority (approximately 83%) do not have formal training in public health, and those that do have formal training in public health have limited training in management and other essential organizational skills. The purpose of this article is to identify training needs among public health workers in specific job types and settings. This cross section study used 2014 data from the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey. Qualitative analyses were used to code open-ended responses to questions about training needs. Needs are stratified across job types and jurisdiction. Eight main themes or skill areas were identified with the largest proportion indicating a need for management/leadership skills (28.2%). The second most frequent need was communication skills (21.3%). Across the 9 job types examined, general management skills were either the first or second training need for 7 job types. Among individuals who already have leadership/management positions, budgeting was the most common training need. Findings from this study can inform targeted strategies to address training needs for specific types of employees. Such strategies can influence the efficiency and effectiveness of public health efforts and employee satisfaction. As new public health frameworks-like Public Health 3.0 and the Chief Health Strategist-are advanced nationally, it is necessary to ensure that the workforce has the skills and abilities to implement these frameworks.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission

Identifying Epigenetic Biomarkers using Maximal Relevance and Minimal Redundancy Based Feature Selection for Multi-Omics Data.

PubMed

Mallik, Saurav; Bhadra, Tapas; Maulik, Ujjwal

2017-01-01

Epigenetic Biomarker discovery is an important task in bioinformatics. In this article, we develop a new framework of identifying statistically significant epigenetic biomarkers using maximal-relevance and minimal-redundancy criterion based feature (gene) selection for multi-omics dataset. Firstly, we determine the genes that have both expression as well as methylation values, and follow normal distribution. Similarly, we identify the genes which consist of both expression and methylation values, but do not follow normal distribution. For each case, we utilize a gene-selection method that provides maximal-relevant, but variable-weighted minimum-redundant genes as top ranked genes. For statistical validation, we apply t-test on both the expression and methylation data consisting of only the normally distributed top ranked genes to determine how many of them are both differentially expressed andmethylated. Similarly, we utilize Limma package for performing non-parametric Empirical Bayes test on both expression and methylation data comprising only the non-normally distributed top ranked genes to identify how many of them are both differentially expressed and methylated. We finally report the top-ranking significant gene-markerswith biological validation. Moreover, our framework improves positive predictive rate and reduces false positive rate in marker identification. In addition, we provide a comparative analysis of our gene-selection method as well as othermethods based on classificationperformances obtained using several well-known classifiers.

Prisoner reentry: a public health or public safety issue for social work practice?

PubMed

Patterson, George T

2013-01-01

A significant literature identifies the policy, economic, health, and social challenges that confront released prisoners. This literature also describes the public health and public safety risks associated with prisoner reentry, provides recommendations for improving the reentry process, and describes the effectiveness of prison-based programs on recidivism rates. Public health and public safety risks are particularly significant in communities where large numbers of prisoners are released and few evidence-based services exist. The purpose of this article is to describe the public health and public safety risks that released prisoners experience when they reenter communities, and to discuss the social justice issues relevant for social work practice.

Beyond Freedom of Speech and the Public Interest: The Relevance of Critical Legal Studies to Communications Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Streeter, Thomas

1990-01-01

Explores the implications of critical legal studies (CLS)--a new current in contemporary legal theory--for general discussions of freedom of speech and public interest. Applies CLS concepts to the conflict between broadcasters' and citizens' free speech rights as expressed in the contemporary Fairness Doctrine. Explores CLS's relevance to several…

Identifying and prioritising systematic review topics with public health stakeholders: A protocol for a modified Delphi study in Switzerland to inform future research agendas.

PubMed

Hoekstra, Dyon; Mütsch, Margot; Kien, Christina; Gerhardus, Ansgar; Lhachimi, Stefan K

2017-08-04

The Cochrane Collaboration aims to produce relevant and top priority evidence that responds to existing evidence gaps. Hence, research priority setting (RPS) is important to identify which potential research gaps are deemed most important. Moreover, RPS supports future health research to conform both health and health evidence needs. However, studies that are prioritising systematic review topics in public health are surprisingly rare. Therefore, to inform the research agenda of Cochrane Public Health Europe (CPHE), we introduce the protocol of a priority setting study on systematic review topics in several European countries, which is conceptualised as pilot. We will conduct a two-round modified Delphi study in Switzerland, incorporating an anonymous web-based questionnaire, to assess which topics should be prioritised for systematic reviews in public health. In the first Delphi round public health stakeholders will suggest relevant assessment criteria and potential priority topics. In the second Delphi round the participants indicate their (dis)agreement to the aggregated results of the first round and rate the potential review topics with the predetermined criteria on a four-point Likert scale. As we invite a wide variety of stakeholders we will compare the results between the different stakeholder groups. We have received ethical approval from the ethical board of the University of Bremen, Germany (principal investigation is conducted at the University of Bremen) and a certificate of non-objection from the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland (fieldwork will be conducted in Switzerland). The results of this study will be further disseminated through peer reviewed publication and will support systematic review author groups (i.a. CPHE) to improve the relevance of the groups´ future review work. Finally, the proposed priority setting study can be used as a framework by other systematic review groups when conducting a priority setting study in a different context. �

Identifying and treating codeine dependence: a systematic review.

PubMed

Nielsen, Suzanne; MacDonald, Tim; Johnson, Jacinta L

2018-06-04

Codeine dependence is a significant public health problem, motivating the recent rescheduling of codeine in Australia (1 February 2018). To provide information for informing clinical responses, we undertook a systematic review of what is known about identifying and treating codeine dependence. Articles published in English that described people who were codeine-dependent or a clinical approach to treating people who were codeine-dependent, without restriction on year of publication, were reviewed. Articles not including empirical data were excluded. One researcher screened each abstract; two researchers independently reviewed full text articles. Study quality was assessed, and data were extracted with standardised tools. MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched for relevant publications on 22 November 2016. The reference lists of eligible studies were searched to identify further relevant publications. 2150 articles were initially identified, of which 41 were eligible for inclusion in our analysis. Studies consistently reported specific characteristics associated with codeine dependence, including mental health comorbidity and escalation of codeine use attributed to psychiatric problems. Case reports and series described codeine dependence masked by complications associated with overusing simple analgesics and delayed detection. Ten studies described the treatment of codeine dependence. Three reports identified a role for behavioural therapy; the efficacy of CYP inhibitors in a small open label trial was not confirmed in a randomised controlled trial; four case series/chart reviews described opioid agonist therapy and medicated inpatient withdrawal; two qualitative studies identified barriers related to perceptions of codeine-dependent people and treatment providers, and confirmed positive perceptions and treatment outcomes achieved with opioid agonist treatments. Strategies for identifying problematic codeine use are needed. Identifying codeine dependence in clinical

An aggregate analysis of personal care products in the environment: Identifying the distribution of environmentally-relevant concentrations.

PubMed

Hopkins, Zachary R; Blaney, Lee

2016-01-01

Over the past 3-4 decades, per capita consumption of personal care products (PCPs) has steadily risen, resulting in increased discharge of the active and inactive ingredients present in these products into wastewater collection systems. PCPs comprise a long list of compounds employed in toothpaste, sunscreen, lotions, soaps, body washes, and insect repellants, among others. While comprehensive toxicological studies are not yet available, an increasing body of literature has shown that PCPs of all classes can impact aquatic wildlife, bacteria, and/or mammalian cells at low concentrations. Ongoing research efforts have identified PCPs in a variety of environmental compartments, including raw wastewater, wastewater effluent, surface water, wastewater solids, sediment, groundwater, and drinking water. Here, an aggregate analysis of over 5000 reported detections was conducted to better understand the distribution of environmentally-relevant PCP concentrations in, and between, these compartments. The distributions were used to identify whether aggregated environmentally-relevant concentration ranges intersected with available toxicity data. For raw wastewater, wastewater effluent, and surface water, a clear overlap was present between the 25th-75th percentiles and identified toxicity levels. This analysis suggests that improved wastewater treatment of antimicrobials, UV filters, and polycyclic musks is required to prevent negative impacts on aquatic species. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Case Definitions for Conditions Identified by Newborn Screening Public Health Surveillance.

PubMed

Sontag, Marci K; Sarkar, Deboshree; Comeau, Anne M; Hassell, Kathryn; Botto, Lorenzo D; Parad, Richard; Rose, Susan R; Wintergerst, Kupper A; Smith-Whitley, Kim; Singh, Sikha; Yusuf, Careema; Ojodu, Jelili; Copeland, Sara; Hinton, Cynthia F

2018-01-01

Newborn screening (NBS) identifies infants with rare conditions to prevent death or the onset of irreversible morbidities. Conditions on the Health and Human Services Secretary's Recommended Uniform Screening Panel have been adopted by most state NBS programs, providing a consistent approach for identification of affected newborns across the United States. Screen-positive newborns are identified and referred for confirmatory diagnosis and follow-up. The designation of a clinically significant phenotype precursor to a clinical diagnosis may vary between clinical specialists, resulting in diagnostic variation. Determination of disease burden and birth prevalence of the screened conditions by public health tracking is made challenging by these variations. This report describes the development of a core group of new case definitions, along with implications, plans for their use, and links to the definitions that were developed by panels of clinical experts. These definitions have been developed through an iterative process and are piloted in NBS programs. Consensus public health surveillance case definitions for newborn screened disorders will allow for consistent categorization and tracking of short- and long-term follow-up of identified newborns at the local, regional, and national levels.

Case Definitions for Conditions Identified by Newborn Screening Public Health Surveillance

PubMed Central

Sontag, Marci K.; Sarkar, Deboshree; Comeau, Anne M.; Hassell, Kathryn; Botto, Lorenzo D.; Parad, Richard; Rose, Susan R.; Wintergerst, Kupper A.; Smith-Whitley, Kim; Singh, Sikha; Yusuf, Careema; Ojodu, Jelili; Copeland, Sara; Hinton, Cynthia F.

2018-01-01

Newborn screening (NBS) identifies infants with rare conditions to prevent death or the onset of irreversible morbidities. Conditions on the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Recommended Uniform Screening Panel have been adopted by most state NBS programs, providing a consistent approach for identification of affected newborns across the United States. Screen-positive newborns are identified and referred for confirmatory diagnosis and follow-up. The designation of a clinically significant phenotype precursor to a clinical diagnosis may vary between clinical specialists, resulting in diagnostic variation. Determination of disease burden and birth prevalence of the screened conditions by public health tracking is made challenging by these variations. This report describes the development of a core group of new case definitions, along with implications, plans for their use, and links to the definitions that were developed by panels of clinical experts. These definitions have been developed through an iterative process and are piloted in NBS programs. Consensus public health surveillance case definitions for newborn screened disorders will allow for consistent categorization and tracking of short- and long-term follow-up of identified newborns at the local, regional, and national levels.

Identifying clinically relevant drug resistance genes in drug-induced resistant cancer cell lines and post-chemotherapy tissues.

PubMed

Tong, Mengsha; Zheng, Weicheng; Lu, Xingrong; Ao, Lu; Li, Xiangyu; Guan, Qingzhou; Cai, Hao; Li, Mengyao; Yan, Haidan; Guo, You; Chi, Pan; Guo, Zheng

2015-12-01

Until recently, few molecular signatures of drug resistance identified in drug-induced resistant cancer cell models can be translated into clinical practice. Here, we defined differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between pre-chemotherapy colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue samples of non-responders and responders for 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin-based therapy as clinically relevant drug resistance genes (CRG5-FU/L-OHP). Taking CRG5-FU/L-OHP as reference, we evaluated the clinical relevance of several types of genes derived from HCT116 CRC cells with resistance to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin, respectively. The results revealed that DEGs between parental and resistant cells, when both were treated with the corresponding drug for a certain time, were significantly consistent with the CRG5-FU/L-OHP as well as the DEGs between the post-chemotherapy CRC specimens of responders and non-responders. This study suggests a novel strategy to extract clinically relevant drug resistance genes from both drug-induced resistant cell models and post-chemotherapy cancer tissue specimens.

Expert searching in public health

PubMed Central

Alpi, Kristine M.

2005-01-01

Objective: The article explores the characteristics of public health information needs and the resources available to address those needs that distinguish it as an area of searching requiring particular expertise. Methods: Public health searching activities from reference questions and literature search requests at a large, urban health department library were reviewed to identify the challenges in finding relevant public health information. Results: The terminology of the information request frequently differed from the vocabularies available in the databases. Searches required the use of multiple databases and/or Web resources with diverse interfaces. Issues of the scope and features of the databases relevant to the search questions were considered. Conclusion: Expert searching in public health differs from other types of expert searching in the subject breadth and technical demands of the databases to be searched, the fluidity and lack of standardization of the vocabulary, and the relative scarcity of high-quality investigations at the appropriate level of geographic specificity. Health sciences librarians require a broad exposure to databases, gray literature, and public health terminology to perform as expert searchers in public health. PMID:15685281

Identifying the science and technology dimensions of emerging public policy issues through horizon scanning.

PubMed

Parker, Miles; Acland, Andrew; Armstrong, Harry J; Bellingham, Jim R; Bland, Jessica; Bodmer, Helen C; Burall, Simon; Castell, Sarah; Chilvers, Jason; Cleevely, David D; Cope, David; Costanzo, Lucia; Dolan, James A; Doubleday, Robert; Feng, Wai Yi; Godfray, H Charles J; Good, David A; Grant, Jonathan; Green, Nick; Groen, Arnoud J; Guilliams, Tim T; Gupta, Sunjai; Hall, Amanda C; Heathfield, Adam; Hotopp, Ulrike; Kass, Gary; Leeder, Tim; Lickorish, Fiona A; Lueshi, Leila M; Magee, Chris; Mata, Tiago; McBride, Tony; McCarthy, Natasha; Mercer, Alan; Neilson, Ross; Ouchikh, Jackie; Oughton, Edward J; Oxenham, David; Pallett, Helen; Palmer, James; Patmore, Jeff; Petts, Judith; Pinkerton, Jan; Ploszek, Richard; Pratt, Alan; Rocks, Sophie A; Stansfield, Neil; Surkovic, Elizabeth; Tyler, Christopher P; Watkinson, Andrew R; Wentworth, Jonny; Willis, Rebecca; Wollner, Patrick K A; Worts, Kim; Sutherland, William J

2014-01-01

Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security.

Identifying the Science and Technology Dimensions of Emerging Public Policy Issues through Horizon Scanning

PubMed Central

Parker, Miles; Acland, Andrew; Armstrong, Harry J.; Bellingham, Jim R.; Bland, Jessica; Bodmer, Helen C.; Burall, Simon; Castell, Sarah; Chilvers, Jason; Cleevely, David D.; Cope, David; Costanzo, Lucia; Dolan, James A.; Doubleday, Robert; Feng, Wai Yi; Godfray, H. Charles J.; Good, David A.; Grant, Jonathan; Green, Nick; Groen, Arnoud J.; Guilliams, Tim T.; Gupta, Sunjai; Hall, Amanda C.; Heathfield, Adam; Hotopp, Ulrike; Kass, Gary; Leeder, Tim; Lickorish, Fiona A.; Lueshi, Leila M.; Magee, Chris; Mata, Tiago; McBride, Tony; McCarthy, Natasha; Mercer, Alan; Neilson, Ross; Ouchikh, Jackie; Oughton, Edward J.; Oxenham, David; Pallett, Helen; Palmer, James; Patmore, Jeff; Petts, Judith; Pinkerton, Jan; Ploszek, Richard; Pratt, Alan; Rocks, Sophie A.; Stansfield, Neil; Surkovic, Elizabeth; Tyler, Christopher P.; Watkinson, Andrew R.; Wentworth, Jonny; Willis, Rebecca; Wollner, Patrick K. A.; Worts, Kim; Sutherland, William J.

2014-01-01

Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security. PMID:24879444

Evaluation of food-relevant chemicals in the ToxCast high ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

There are thousands of chemicals that are directly added to or come in contact with food, many of which have undergone little to no toxicological evaluation. The ToxCast high-throughput screening (HTS) program has evaluated over 1,800 chemicals in concentration-response across ~820 assay endpoints and continues to grow; with all data completely available to the public, this resource serves as a unique opportunity to evaluate the bioactivity of chemicals in vitro. This study investigated the chemical landscape of the food-relevant chemical universe using cheminformatics analyses, and subsequently evaluated the bioactivity of food-relevant chemicals included in the ToxCast HTS program. Initially, a list of 9,437 food-relevant chemicals was compiled by comprehensively mining publicly available sources for direct food additives, food contact substances, indirect food additives, and pesticides. Of these food-relevant chemicals, 4,638 were associated with curated structure definition files amenable to defining physical/chemical features used to generate chemical fingerprints. Clustering was conducted based on the chemical fingerprints using a self-organizing map approach. This revealed that pesticides, food contact substances, and direct food additives generally clustered apart from one another, supporting that these categories reflect not only different uses but also distinct chemistries. Subsequently, 967 of the 9,437 food-relevant chemicals were identified in the T

Intercultural Interpretations: Making Public Relations Education Culturally Relevant

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chia, Joy

2009-01-01

Public relations educators delivering courses to international students find that each cohort of students interprets and understands public relations theory and its application to practice according to their respective cultures. The premise of this paper is to reflect on some of the interpretations and expectations of public relations students…

Corporate Image of Public Higher Education Institutions: Relevant Factors to Distance Learning Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

da Costa, Fabio R.; Pelissari, Anderson S.; Gonzalez, Inayara V. D. P.

2018-01-01

Technological advances are generating a significant increase in the supply of distance learning (DL) courses via the Internet, increasing the importance of this type of education for the university's structure. This article identifies factors associated with perceptions of the public higher education institutions' image from the perspective of DL…

Scientific Issues Relevant to Setting Regulatory Criteria to Identify Endocrine-Disrupting Substances in the European Union.

PubMed

Slama, Rémy; Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre; Demeneix, Barbara; Ivell, Richard; Panzica, Giancarlo; Kortenkamp, Andreas; Zoeller, R Thomas

2016-10-01

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as exogenous compounds or mixtures that alter function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently cause adverse effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub)populations. European regulations on pesticides, biocides, cosmetics, and industrial chemicals require the European Commission to establish scientific criteria to define EDs. We address the scientific relevance of four options for the identification of EDs proposed by the European Commission. Option 1, which does not define EDs and leads to using interim criteria unrelated to the WHO definition of EDs, is not relevant. Options 2 and 3 rely on the WHO definition of EDs, which is widely accepted by the scientific community, with option 3 introducing additional categories based on the strength of evidence (suspected EDs and endocrine-active substances). Option 4 adds potency to the WHO definition, as a decision criterion. We argue that potency is dependent on the adverse effect considered and is scientifically ambiguous, and note that potency is not used as a criterion to define other particularly hazardous substances such as carcinogens and reproductive toxicants. The use of potency requires a context that goes beyond hazard identification and corresponds to risk characterization, in which potency (or, more relevantly, the dose-response function) is combined with exposure levels. There is scientific agreement regarding the adequacy of the WHO definition of EDs. The potency concept is not relevant to the identification of particularly serious hazards such as EDs. As is common practice for carcinogens, mutagens, and reproductive toxicants, a multi-level classification of ED based on the WHO definition, and not considering potency, would be relevant (corresponding to option 3 proposed by the European Commission). Slama R, Bourguignon JP, Demeneix B, Ivell R, Panzica G, Kortenkamp A, Zoeller RT. 2016. Scientific issues relevant

Scientific Issues Relevant to Setting Regulatory Criteria to Identify Endocrine-Disrupting Substances in the European Union

PubMed Central

Slama, Rémy; Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre; Demeneix, Barbara; Ivell, Richard; Panzica, Giancarlo; Kortenkamp, Andreas; Zoeller, R. Thomas

2016-01-01

, Kortenkamp A, Zoeller RT. 2016. Scientific issues relevant to setting regulatory criteria to identify endocrine disrupting substances in the European Union. Environ Health Perspect 124:1497–1503; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP217 PMID:27108591

Genomics and infectious disease: a call to identify the ethical, legal and social implications for public health and clinical practice.

PubMed

Geller, Gail; Dvoskin, Rachel; Thio, Chloe L; Duggal, Priya; Lewis, Michelle H; Bailey, Theodore C; Sutherland, Andrea; Salmon, Daniel A; Kahn, Jeffrey P

2014-01-01

Advances in genomics are contributing to the development of more effective, personalized approaches to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Genetic sequencing technologies are furthering our understanding of how human and pathogen genomic factors - and their interactions - contribute to individual differences in immunologic responses to vaccines, infections and drug therapies. Such understanding will influence future policies and procedures for infectious disease management. With the potential for tailored interventions for particular individuals, populations or subpopulations, ethical, legal and social implications (ELSIs) may arise for public health and clinical practice. Potential considerations include balancing health-related benefits and harms between individuals and the larger community, minimizing threats to individual privacy and autonomy, and ensuring just distribution of scarce resources. In this Opinion, we consider the potential application of pathogen and host genomic information to particular viral infections that have large-scale public health consequences but differ in ELSI-relevant characteristics such as ease of transmission, chronicity, severity, preventability and treatability. We argue for the importance of anticipating these ELSI issues in advance of new scientific discoveries, and call for the development of strategies for identifying and exploring ethical questions that should be considered as clinical, public health and policy decisions are made.

Identifying clinically relevant drug resistance genes in drug-induced resistant cancer cell lines and post- chemotherapy tissues

PubMed Central

Tong, Mengsha; Zheng, Weicheng; Lu, Xingrong; Ao, Lu; Li, Xiangyu; Guan, Qingzhou; Cai, Hao; Li, Mengyao; Yan, Haidan; Guo, You; Chi, Pan; Guo, Zheng

2015-01-01

Until recently, few molecular signatures of drug resistance identified in drug-induced resistant cancer cell models can be translated into clinical practice. Here, we defined differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between pre-chemotherapy colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue samples of non-responders and responders for 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin-based therapy as clinically relevant drug resistance genes (CRG5-FU/L-OHP). Taking CRG5-FU/L-OHP as reference, we evaluated the clinical relevance of several types of genes derived from HCT116 CRC cells with resistance to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin, respectively. The results revealed that DEGs between parental and resistant cells, when both were treated with the corresponding drug for a certain time, were significantly consistent with the CRG5-FU/L-OHP as well as the DEGs between the post-chemotherapy CRC specimens of responders and non-responders. This study suggests a novel strategy to extract clinically relevant drug resistance genes from both drug-induced resistant cell models and post-chemotherapy cancer tissue specimens. PMID:26515599

Using language models to identify relevant new information in inpatient clinical notes.

PubMed

Zhang, Rui; Pakhomov, Serguei V; Lee, Janet T; Melton, Genevieve B

2014-01-01

Redundant information in clinical notes within electronic health record (EHR) systems is ubiquitous and may negatively impact the use of these notes by clinicians, and, potentially, the efficiency of patient care delivery. Automated methods to identify redundant versus relevant new information may provide a valuable tool for clinicians to better synthesize patient information and navigate to clinically important details. In this study, we investigated the use of language models for identification of new information in inpatient notes, and evaluated our methods using expert-derived reference standards. The best method achieved precision of 0.743, recall of 0.832 and F1-measure of 0.784. The average proportion of redundant information was similar between inpatient and outpatient progress notes (76.6% (SD=17.3%) and 76.7% (SD=14.0%), respectively). Advanced practice providers tended to have higher rates of redundancy in their notes compared to physicians. Future investigation includes the addition of semantic components and visualization of new information.

Using Language Models to Identify Relevant New Information in Inpatient Clinical Notes

PubMed Central

Zhang, Rui; Pakhomov, Serguei V.; Lee, Janet T.; Melton, Genevieve B.

2014-01-01

Redundant information in clinical notes within electronic health record (EHR) systems is ubiquitous and may negatively impact the use of these notes by clinicians, and, potentially, the efficiency of patient care delivery. Automated methods to identify redundant versus relevant new information may provide a valuable tool for clinicians to better synthesize patient information and navigate to clinically important details. In this study, we investigated the use of language models for identification of new information in inpatient notes, and evaluated our methods using expert-derived reference standards. The best method achieved precision of 0.743, recall of 0.832 and F1-measure of 0.784. The average proportion of redundant information was similar between inpatient and outpatient progress notes (76.6% (SD=17.3%) and 76.7% (SD=14.0%), respectively). Advanced practice providers tended to have higher rates of redundancy in their notes compared to physicians. Future investigation includes the addition of semantic components and visualization of new information. PMID:25954438

Prioritisation of allergenic foods with respect to public health relevance: Report from an ILSI Europe Food Allergy Task Force Expert Group.

PubMed

Houben, Geert; Burney, Peter; Chan, Chun-Han; Crevel, René; Dubois, Anthony; Faludi, Roland; Klein Entink, Rinke; Knulst, André; Taylor, Steve; Ronsmans, Stefan

2016-03-01

Regulators and risk managers in general need to decide whether an allergenic food or ingredient is of such public health importance that it needs to be actively managed. There is therefore a need to scale the relative allergenicity of foods and ingredients according to the hazards they pose. Objective criteria increase transparency and trust in this decision-making process and its conclusions. This paper proposes a framework that allows categorisation and prioritisation of allergenic foods according to their public health importance. The challenge is to find a basis on which the allergenicity of foods can best be described and a method to combine the relevant measures of allergenicity into a scoring system that prioritises allergenic foods on the basis of their public health relevance. The framework is designed in accordance with the generic risk analysis principles used in food safety and can be used by regulators to decide whether or not a specific allergenic food or ingredient is of sufficient public health importance that it warrants regulation (i.e. mandatory labelling) when used in the production of food products. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Surgeon Reported Outcome Measure for Spine Trauma: An International Expert Survey Identifying Parameters Relevant for the Outcome of Subaxial Cervical Spine Injuries.

PubMed

Sadiqi, Said; Verlaan, Jorrit-Jan; Lehr, A Mechteld; Dvorak, Marcel F; Kandziora, Frank; Rajasekaran, S; Schnake, Klaus J; Vaccaro, Alexander R; Oner, F Cumhur

2016-12-15

International web-based survey. To identify clinical and radiological parameters that spine surgeons consider most relevant when evaluating clinical and functional outcomes of subaxial cervical spine trauma patients. Although an outcome instrument that reflects the patients' perspective is imperative, there is also a need for a surgeon reported outcome measure to reflect the clinicians' perspective adequately. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among a selected number of spine surgeons from all five AOSpine International world regions. They were asked to indicate the relevance of a compilation of 21 parameters, both for the short term (3 mo-2 yr) and long term (≥2 yr), on a five-point scale. The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, and Kruskal-Wallis test. Of the 279 AOSpine International and International Spinal Cord Society members who received the survey, 108 (38.7%) participated in the study. Ten parameters were identified as relevant both for short term and long term by at least 70% of the participants. Neurological status, implant failure within 3 months, and patient satisfaction were most relevant. Bony fusion was the only parameter for the long term, whereas five parameters were identified for the short term. The remaining six parameters were not deemed relevant. Minor differences were observed when analyzing the responses according to each world region, or spine surgeons' degree of experience. The perspective of an international sample of highly experienced spine surgeons was explored on the most relevant parameters to evaluate and predict outcomes of subaxial cervical spine trauma patients. These results form the basis for the development of a disease-specific surgeon reported outcome measure, which will be a helpful tool in research and clinical practice. 4.

Using environmental public health tracking to identify community targets for public health actions in childhood lead poisoning in Wisconsin.

PubMed

Berney, Dawn; Camponeschi, Jenny; Coons, Marjorie; Creswell, Paul D; Schirmer, Joe; Walsh, Reghan

2015-01-01

In an effort to improve the ability of local public health departments to target resources to the highest need regions, the Wisconsin Environmental Public Health Tracking (WI EPHT) Program worked to enhance its public portal to benefit the Wisconsin Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (WCLPPP) and other programs. The WI EPHT Program conducted this enhancement in collaboration with WCLPPP. The WI EPHT enhanced public portal is the next phase of Wisconsin's ongoing efforts in environmental public health tracking. As part of this process, this new mapping application includes mapping capacity that provides information on childhood lead testing and results at county and census tract levels in Wisconsin. The WI EPHT Program will update its public portal to have the capability to map data at a subcounty level (ie, census tract or zip code) for some data topics when such data are available. This tool is available to local public health departments and other public health organizations throughout Wisconsin as a resource to identify communities most affected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new guidelines with regard to childhood lead poisoning. The collaboration between WI EPHT and WCLPPP on updating and enhancing the portal exemplifies the power of environmental health data to inform a more accurate understanding of public health problems.

Consensus-validation study identifies relevant nursing diagnoses, nursing interventions, and health outcomes for people with traumatic brain injuries.

PubMed

Lunney, Margaret; McGuire, Maria; Endozo, Nancy; McIntosh-Waddy, Dorothy

2010-01-01

A consensus-validation study used action research methods to identify relevant nursing diagnoses, nursing interventions, and patient outcomes for a population of adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in long-term care. In meetings totaling 159 hours to reach 100% consensus through group discussions, the three classifications of NANDA International's (NANDA-I's) approved nursing diagnoses, the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC), and the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) were used as the basis for three nurses experienced in working with adults with TBI to select the elements of nursing care. Among almost 200 NANDA-I nursing diagnoses, 29 were identified as relevant for comprehensive nursing care of this population. Each nursing diagnosis was associated with 3-11 of the more than 500 NIC interventions and 1-13 of more than 300 NOC outcomes. The nurses became aware of the complexity and the need for critical thinking. The findings were used to refine the facility's nursing standards of care, which were to be combined with the interdisciplinary plan of care and included in future electronic health records.

THE FUKUSHIMA RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCY AND CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED FOR FUTURE PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSES

PubMed Central

Miller, Charles W.

2015-01-01

On 11 March 2011, northern Japan was rocked by first a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the eastern coast and then an ensuing tsunami. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex was hit by these twin disasters, and a cascade of events was initiated that led to radionuclide releases causing widespread radioactive contamination of residential areas, agricultural land, and coastal waters. Radioactive material from Japan was subsequently transmitted to locations around the globe, including the U.S. The levels of radioactive material that arrived in the U.S. were never large enough to be a concern for health effects, but the presence of this material in the environment was enough to create a public health emergency in the U.S. The radiation safety and public health communities in the U.S. are identifying challenges they faced in responding to this incident. This paper discusses three of those challenges: (1) The growing shortage of trained radiation subject matter experts in the field of environmental transport and dosimetry of radionuclides; (2) the need to begin expressing all radiation-related quantities in terms of the International System of Units; and (3) the need to define when a radiation dose is or is not one of “public health concern.” This list represents only a small subset of the list of challenges being identified by public health agencies that responded to the Fukushima incident. However, these three challenges are fundamental to any radiological emergency response. Addressing them will have a significant positive impact on how the U.S. responds to the next radiological emergency. PMID:22469934

The Fukushima radiological emergency and challenges identified for future public health responses.

PubMed

Miller, Charles W

2012-05-01

On 11 March 2011, northern Japan was rocked by first a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the eastern coast and then an ensuing tsunami. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex was hit by these twin disasters, and a cascade of events was initiated that led to radionuclide releases causing widespread radioactive contamination of residential areas, agricultural land, and coastal waters. Radioactive material from Japan was subsequently transmitted to locations around the globe, including the U.S. The levels of radioactive material that arrived in the U.S. were never large enough to be a concern for health effects, but the presence of this material in the environment was enough to create a public health emergency in the U.S. The radiation safety and public health communities in the U.S. are identifying challenges they faced in responding to this incident. This paper discusses three of those challenges: (1) The growing shortage of trained radiation subject matter experts in the field of environmental transport and dosimetry of radionuclides; (2) the need to begin expressing all radiation-related quantities in terms of the International System of Units; and (3) the need to define when a radiation dose is or is not one of "public health concern." This list represents only a small subset of the list of challenges being identified by public health agencies that responded to the Fukushima incident. However, these three challenges are fundamental to any radiological emergency response. Addressing them will have a significant positive impact on how the U.S. responds to the next radiological emergency.

[Does the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) identify a clinically relevant subgroup among young offenders?].

PubMed

Mingers, Daniel; Köhler, Denis; Huchzermeier, Christian; Hinrichs, Günter

2017-01-01

Does the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory identify one or more high-risk subgroups among young offenders? Which recommendations for possible courses of action can be derived for individual clinical or forensic cases? Method: Model-based cluster analysis (Raftery, 1995) was conducted on a sample of young offenders (N = 445, age 14–22 years, M = 18.5, SD = 1.65). The resulting model was then tested for differences between clusters with relevant context variables of psychopathy. The variables included measures of intelligence, social competence, drug use, and antisocial behavior. Results: Three clusters were found (Low Trait, Impulsive/Irresponsible, Psychopathy) that differ highly significantly concerning YPI scores and the variables mentioned above. The YPI Scores Δ Low = 4.28 (Low Trait – Impulsive/Irresponsible) and Δ High = 6.86 (Impulsive/Irresponsible – Psychopathy) were determined to be thresholds between the clusters. The allocation of a person to be assessed within the calculated clusters allows for an orientation of consequent tests beyond the diagnosis of psychopathy. We conclude that the YPI is a valuable instrument for the assessment of young offenders, as it yields clinically and forensically relevant information concerning the cause and expected development of psychopathological behavior.

Coordination between veterinary services and other relevant authorities: a key component of good public governance.

PubMed

Bellemain, V

2012-08-01

Coordination between Veterinary Services and other relevant authorities is a key component of good public governance, especially for effective action and optimal management of available resources. The importance of good coordination is reflected in the World Organisation for Animal Health'Tool forthe Evaluation of Performance of Veterinary Services', which includes a critical competency on coordination. Many partners from technical, administrative and legal fields are involved. The degree of formalisation of coordination tends to depend on a country's level of organisation and development. Contingency plans against avian influenza led to breakthroughs in many countries in the mid-2000s. While interpersonal relationships remain vital, not everything should hinge on them. Organisation and management are critical to operational efficiency. The distribution of responsibilities needs to be defined clearly, avoiding duplication and areas of conflict. Lead authorities should be designated according to subject (Veterinary Services in animal health areas) and endowed with the necessary legitimacy. Lead authorities will be responsible for coordinating the drafting and updating of the relevant documents: agreements between authorities, contingency plans, standard operating procedures, etc.

Expanding Persuasion Research: Using More Personally Relevant Issues and Exploring Relevance Perceived from Message Content.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dewis, Robert; Lee, Wen-Shu

A study explored the impact on junior high school females of "don't smoke" public service announcements (PSAs) created by two groups of high school females. The study extended the research on relevance and persuasion by utilizing intimate issues, and by exploring the potential for increasing message relevance by using persuasive messages…

Identifying and Prioritizing Information Needs and Research Priorities of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Practitioners.

PubMed

Siegfried, Alexa L; Carbone, Eric G; Meit, Michael B; Kennedy, Mallory J; Yusuf, Hussain; Kahn, Emily B

2017-10-01

This study describes findings from an assessment conducted to identify perceived knowledge gaps, information needs, and research priorities among state, territorial, and local public health preparedness directors and coordinators related to public health emergency preparedness and response (PHPR). The goal of the study was to gather information that would be useful for ensuring that future funding for research and evaluation targets areas most critical for advancing public health practice. We implemented a mixed-methods approach to identify and prioritize PHPR research questions. A web survey was sent to all state, city, and territorial health agencies funded through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Cooperative Agreement program and a sample of local health departments (LHDs). Three focus groups of state and local practitioners and subject matter experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were subsequently conducted, followed by 3 meetings of an expert panel of PHPR practitioners and CDC experts to prioritize and refine the research questions. We identified a final list of 44 research questions that were deemed by study participants as priority topics where future research can inform PHPR programs and practice. We identified differences in perceived research priorities between PHEP awardees and LHD survey respondents; the number of research questions rated as important was greater among LHDs than among PHEP awardees (75%, n=33, compared to 24%, n=15). The research questions identified provide insight into public health practitioners' perceived knowledge gaps and the types of information that would be most useful for informing and advancing PHPR practice. The study also points to a higher level of information need among LHDs than among PHEP awardees. These findings are important for CDC and the PHPR research community to ensure that future research studies are responsive to practitioners' needs and provide the information

Nanoparticle–Cell Interactions: Relevance for Public Health

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Nanoparticles, especially metal oxide nanoparticles, are used in a wide range of commercial and industrial applications that result in direct human contact, such as titanium dioxide nanoparticles in paints, food colorings, and cosmetics, or indirectly through release of nanoparticle-containing materials into the environment. Workers who process nanoparticles for downstream applications are exposed to especially high concentrations of nanoparticles. For physical chemists, nanoparticles present an interesting area of study as the small size of nanoparticles changes the properties from that of the bulk material, leading to novel properties and reactivity. For the public health community, this reduction in particle size means that exposure limits and outcomes that were determined from bulk material properties are not necessarily valid. Informed determination of exposure limits requires a fundamental understanding of how nanoparticles interact with cells. This Feature Article highlights the areas of intersection between physical chemistry and public health in understanding nanoparticle–cell interactions, with a focus on titanium dioxide nanoparticles. It provides an overview of recent research examining the interaction of titanium dioxide nanoparticles with cells in the absence of UV light and provides recommendations for additional nanoparticle–cell research in which physical chemistry expertise could help to inform the public health community. PMID:29111728

Nanoparticle-Cell Interactions: Relevance for Public Health.

PubMed

Runa, Sabiha; Hussey, Michael; Payne, Christine K

2018-01-25

Nanoparticles, especially metal oxide nanoparticles, are used in a wide range of commercial and industrial applications that result in direct human contact, such as titanium dioxide nanoparticles in paints, food colorings, and cosmetics, or indirectly through release of nanoparticle-containing materials into the environment. Workers who process nanoparticles for downstream applications are exposed to especially high concentrations of nanoparticles. For physical chemists, nanoparticles present an interesting area of study as the small size of nanoparticles changes the properties from that of the bulk material, leading to novel properties and reactivity. For the public health community, this reduction in particle size means that exposure limits and outcomes that were determined from bulk material properties are not necessarily valid. Informed determination of exposure limits requires a fundamental understanding of how nanoparticles interact with cells. This Feature Article highlights the areas of intersection between physical chemistry and public health in understanding nanoparticle-cell interactions, with a focus on titanium dioxide nanoparticles. It provides an overview of recent research examining the interaction of titanium dioxide nanoparticles with cells in the absence of UV light and provides recommendations for additional nanoparticle-cell research in which physical chemistry expertise could help to inform the public health community.

Review: To be or not to be an identifiable model. Is this a relevant question in animal science modelling?

PubMed

Muñoz-Tamayo, R; Puillet, L; Daniel, J B; Sauvant, D; Martin, O; Taghipoor, M; Blavy, P

2018-04-01

What is a good (useful) mathematical model in animal science? For models constructed for prediction purposes, the question of model adequacy (usefulness) has been traditionally tackled by statistical analysis applied to observed experimental data relative to model-predicted variables. However, little attention has been paid to analytic tools that exploit the mathematical properties of the model equations. For example, in the context of model calibration, before attempting a numerical estimation of the model parameters, we might want to know if we have any chance of success in estimating a unique best value of the model parameters from available measurements. This question of uniqueness is referred to as structural identifiability; a mathematical property that is defined on the sole basis of the model structure within a hypothetical ideal experiment determined by a setting of model inputs (stimuli) and observable variables (measurements). Structural identifiability analysis applied to dynamic models described by ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is a common practice in control engineering and system identification. This analysis demands mathematical technicalities that are beyond the academic background of animal science, which might explain the lack of pervasiveness of identifiability analysis in animal science modelling. To fill this gap, in this paper we address the analysis of structural identifiability from a practitioner perspective by capitalizing on the use of dedicated software tools. Our objectives are (i) to provide a comprehensive explanation of the structural identifiability notion for the community of animal science modelling, (ii) to assess the relevance of identifiability analysis in animal science modelling and (iii) to motivate the community to use identifiability analysis in the modelling practice (when the identifiability question is relevant). We focus our study on ODE models. By using illustrative examples that include published

Pathway-GPS and SIGORA: identifying relevant pathways based on the over-representation of their gene-pair signatures

PubMed Central

Foroushani, Amir B.K.; Brinkman, Fiona S.L.

2013-01-01

Motivation. Predominant pathway analysis approaches treat pathways as collections of individual genes and consider all pathway members as equally informative. As a result, at times spurious and misleading pathways are inappropriately identified as statistically significant, solely due to components that they share with the more relevant pathways. Results. We introduce the concept of Pathway Gene-Pair Signatures (Pathway-GPS) as pairs of genes that, as a combination, are specific to a single pathway. We devised and implemented a novel approach to pathway analysis, Signature Over-representation Analysis (SIGORA), which focuses on the statistically significant enrichment of Pathway-GPS in a user-specified gene list of interest. In a comparative evaluation of several published datasets, SIGORA outperformed traditional methods by delivering biologically more plausible and relevant results. Availability. An efficient implementation of SIGORA, as an R package with precompiled GPS data for several human and mouse pathway repositories is available for download from http://sigora.googlecode.com/svn/. PMID:24432194

WORKER INHALATION DOSE COEFFICIENTS FOR RADIONUCLIDES NOT PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED IN ICRP PUBLICATION 68

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McLaughlin, David A; Schwahn, Scott O

2011-01-01

While inhalation dose coefficients are provided for about 800 radionuclides in International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 68, many radionuclides of practical dosimetric interest for facilities such as high-energy proton accelerators are not specifically addressed, nor are organ-specific dose coefficients tabulated. The ICRP Publication 68 methodology is used, along with updated radiological decay data and metabolic data, to identify committed equivalent dose coefficients [hT(50)] and committed effective dose coefficients [e(50)] for radionuclides produced at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory s Spallation Neutron Source.

The SADI Personal Health Lens: A Web Browser-Based System for Identifying Personally Relevant Drug Interactions.

PubMed

Vandervalk, Ben; McCarthy, E Luke; Cruz-Toledo, José; Klein, Artjom; Baker, Christopher J O; Dumontier, Michel; Wilkinson, Mark D

2013-04-05

The Web provides widespread access to vast quantities of health-related information that can improve quality-of-life through better understanding of personal symptoms, medical conditions, and available treatments. Unfortunately, identifying a credible and personally relevant subset of information can be a time-consuming and challenging task for users without a medical background. The objective of the Personal Health Lens system is to aid users when reading health-related webpages by providing warnings about personally relevant drug interactions. More broadly, we wish to present a prototype for a novel, generalizable approach to facilitating interactions between a patient, their practitioner(s), and the Web. We utilized a distributed, Semantic Web-based architecture for recognizing personally dangerous drugs consisting of: (1) a private, local triple store of personal health information, (2) Semantic Web services, following the Semantic Automated Discovery and Integration (SADI) design pattern, for text mining and identifying substance interactions, (3) a bookmarklet to trigger analysis of a webpage and annotate it with personalized warnings, and (4) a semantic query that acts as an abstract template of the analytical workflow to be enacted by the system. A prototype implementation of the system is provided in the form of a Java standalone executable JAR file. The JAR file bundles all components of the system: the personal health database, locally-running versions of the SADI services, and a javascript bookmarklet that triggers analysis of a webpage. In addition, the demonstration includes a hypothetical personal health profile, allowing the system to be used immediately without configuration. Usage instructions are provided. The main strength of the Personal Health Lens system is its ability to organize medical information and to present it to the user in a personalized and contextually relevant manner. While this prototype was limited to a single knowledge domain

The SADI Personal Health Lens: A Web Browser-Based System for Identifying Personally Relevant Drug Interactions

PubMed Central

Vandervalk, Ben; McCarthy, E Luke; Cruz-Toledo, José; Klein, Artjom; Baker, Christopher J O; Dumontier, Michel

2013-01-01

Background The Web provides widespread access to vast quantities of health-related information that can improve quality-of-life through better understanding of personal symptoms, medical conditions, and available treatments. Unfortunately, identifying a credible and personally relevant subset of information can be a time-consuming and challenging task for users without a medical background. Objective The objective of the Personal Health Lens system is to aid users when reading health-related webpages by providing warnings about personally relevant drug interactions. More broadly, we wish to present a prototype for a novel, generalizable approach to facilitating interactions between a patient, their practitioner(s), and the Web. Methods We utilized a distributed, Semantic Web-based architecture for recognizing personally dangerous drugs consisting of: (1) a private, local triple store of personal health information, (2) Semantic Web services, following the Semantic Automated Discovery and Integration (SADI) design pattern, for text mining and identifying substance interactions, (3) a bookmarklet to trigger analysis of a webpage and annotate it with personalized warnings, and (4) a semantic query that acts as an abstract template of the analytical workflow to be enacted by the system. Results A prototype implementation of the system is provided in the form of a Java standalone executable JAR file. The JAR file bundles all components of the system: the personal health database, locally-running versions of the SADI services, and a javascript bookmarklet that triggers analysis of a webpage. In addition, the demonstration includes a hypothetical personal health profile, allowing the system to be used immediately without configuration. Usage instructions are provided. Conclusions The main strength of the Personal Health Lens system is its ability to organize medical information and to present it to the user in a personalized and contextually relevant manner. While this

Alarming Prevalence of Emergency Hypertension Levels in the General Public Identified by a Hypertension Awareness Campaign.

PubMed

Caligiuri, Stephanie P B; Austria, Jose Alejandro; Pierce, Grant N

2017-03-01

Hypertension is a major cause of mortality and morbidity today. The "silent" nature of hypertension makes it critical to determine its prevalence and its severity in the general public and to identify strategies to identify people unaware of its presence. A mobile hypertension awareness campaign was created to: (i) determine the prevalence and types of hypertension in an urban North American center, (ii) increase hypertension awareness, and (iii) identify reasons for lack of therapy adherence. Mobile clinics were provided at shopping malls, workplaces, hospitals, and community centres to measure blood pressure in the public. Blood pressure recordings were done on a voluntary basis. Of 1097 participants, 50% presented with high blood pressure which was higher than expected. Of particular clinical significance, an unexpectedly large number of participants (2%) exhibited a hypertensive urgency/emergency. Most of these people were not adherent to medications (if their hypertension was detected previously), were unaware of their hypertensive state, and/or unwilling to acknowledge or ignored the clinical significance of the extremely high blood pressure readings. Reasons for lack of adherence included: denial, being unaware of health consequences, and proper management of hypertension. A relatively large segment of an urban population lives unaware of severe emergency levels of hypertension. A public mobile hypertension clinic provides a valuable strategy for identifying hypertension in the general public and for knowledge translation of hypertension management. © American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd 2017. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Evaluation of food-relevant chemicals in the ToxCast high-throughput screening program

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Thousands of chemicals are directly added to or come in contact with food, many of which have undergone little to no toxicological evaluation. The landscape of the food-relevant chemical universe was evaluated using cheminformatics, and subsequently the bioactivity of food-relevant chemicals across the publicly available ToxCast highthroughput screening program was assessed. In total, 8659 food-relevant chemicals were compiled including direct food additives, food contact substances, and pesticides. Of these food-relevant chemicals, 4719 had curated structure definition files amenable to defining chemical fingerprints, which were used to cluster chemicals using a selforganizing map approach. Pesticides, and direct food additives clustered apart from one another with food contact substances generally in between, supporting that these categories not only reflect different uses but also distinct chemistries. Subsequently, 1530 food-relevant chemicals were identified in ToxCast comprising 616 direct food additives, 371 food contact substances, and 543 pesticides. Bioactivity across ToxCast was filtered for cytotoxicity to identify selective chemical effects. Initiating analyses from strictly chemical-based methodology or bioactivity/cytotoxicity-driven evaluation presents unbiased approaches for prioritizing chemicals. Although bioactivity in vitro is not necessarily predictive of adverse effects in vivo, these data provide insight into chemical properties and cellu

Identifying relevant group of miRNAs in cancer using fuzzy mutual information.

PubMed

Pal, Jayanta Kumar; Ray, Shubhra Sankar; Pal, Sankar K

2016-04-01

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as a major biomarker of cancer. All miRNAs in human body are not equally important for cancer identification. We propose a methodology, called FMIMS, which automatically selects the most relevant miRNAs for a particular type of cancer. In FMIMS, miRNAs are initially grouped by using a SVM-based algorithm; then the group with highest relevance is determined and the miRNAs in that group are finally ranked for selection according to their redundancy. Fuzzy mutual information is used in computing the relevance of a group and the redundancy of miRNAs within it. Superiority of the most relevant group to all others, in deciding normal or cancer, is demonstrated on breast, renal, colorectal, lung, melanoma and prostate data. The merit of FMIMS as compared to several existing methods is established. While 12 out of 15 selected miRNAs by FMIMS corroborate with those of biological investigations, three of them viz., "hsa-miR-519," "hsa-miR-431" and "hsa-miR-320c" are possible novel predictions for renal cancer, lung cancer and melanoma, respectively. The selected miRNAs are found to be involved in disease-specific pathways by targeting various genes. The method is also able to detect the responsible miRNAs even at the primary stage of cancer. The related code is available at http://www.jayanta.droppages.com/FMIMS.html .

Public education and media relations in psychology.

PubMed

Wedding, Danny

2017-11-01

This article reviews psychology's attempts to influence public attitudes about both the science and the profession of psychology. The early history of the profession is reviewed, and the efforts of the American Psychological Association (APA) to shape the public's perception of psychology are discussed. The rise of social media is reviewed, and important social media outlets relevant to psychology are identified. The activities of the Society for Media Psychology and Technology (APA Division 46) are illustrated, and the presidents of the Division are identified. The work of those psychologists who are noted public intellectuals or who have received Nobel prizes or National Medal of Science awards for their research is briefly reviewed, and the public notoriety of 4 prominent media celebrities (Joy Browne, Joyce Brothers, Laura Schlessinger, and Phil McGraw) is discussed. Several controversies in the field of psychology that have influenced the public and their attitudes about psychology are also briefly reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Identifying Barriers to Collaboration Between Primary Care and Public Health: Experiences at the Local Level.

PubMed

Pratt, Rebekah; Gyllstrom, Beth; Gearin, Kim; Lange, Carol; Hahn, David; Baldwin, Laura-Mae; VanRaemdonck, Lisa; Nease, Don; Zahner, Susan

Interest is increasing in collaborations between public health and primary care to address the health of a community. Although the understanding of how these collaborations work is growing, little is known about the barriers facing these partners at the local level. The objective of this study was to identify barriers to collaboration between primary care and public health at the local level in 4 states. The study team, which comprised 12 representatives of Practice-Based Research Networks (networks of practitioners interested in conducting research in practice-based settings), identified 40 key informants from the public health and primary care fields in Colorado, Minnesota, Washington State, and Wisconsin. The key informants participated in standardized, semistructured telephone interviews with 8 study team members in 2014 and 2015. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. We analyzed key themes and subthemes by drawing on grounded theory. Primary care and public health participants identified similar barriers to collaboration. Barriers at the institutional level included the challenges of the primary care environment, in which providers feel overwhelmed and resources are tight; the need for systems change; a lack of partnership; and geographic challenges. Barriers to collaboration included mutual awareness, communication, data sharing, capacity, lack of resources, and prioritization of resources. Some barriers to collaboration (eg, changes to health care billing, demands on provider time) require systems change to overcome, whereas others (eg, a lack of shared priorities and mutual awareness) could be addressed through educational approaches, without adding resources or making a systemic change. Overcoming these common barriers may lead to more effective collaboration.

Quantitative Analysis of Technological Innovation in Knee Arthroplasty: Using Patent and Publication Metrics to Identify Developments and Trends.

PubMed

Dalton, David M; Burke, Thomas P; Kelly, Enda G; Curtin, Paul D

2016-06-01

Surgery is in a constant continuum of innovation with refinement of technique and instrumentation. Arthroplasty surgery potentially represents an area with highly innovative process. This study highlights key area of innovation in knee arthroplasty over the past 35 years using patent and publication metrics. Growth rates and patterns are analyzed. Patents are correlated to publications as a measure of scientific support. Electronic patent and publication databases were searched over the interval 1980-2014 for "knee arthroplasty" OR "knee replacement." The resulting patent codes were allocated into technology clusters. Citation analysis was performed to identify any important developments missed on initial analysis. The technology clusters identified were further analyzed, individual repeat searches performed, and growth curves plotted. The initial search revealed 3574 patents and 16,552 publications. The largest technology clusters identified were Unicompartmental, Patient-Specific Instrumentation (PSI), Navigation, and Robotic knee arthroplasties. The growth in patent activity correlated strongly with publication activity (Pearson correlation value 0.892, P < .01), but was growing at a faster rate suggesting a decline in vigilance. PSI, objectively the fastest growing technology in the last 5 years, is currently in a period of exponential growth that began a decade ago. Established technologies in the study have double s-shaped patent curves. Identifying trends in emerging technologies is possible using patent metrics and is useful information for training and regulatory bodies. The decline in ratio of publications to patents and the uninterrupted growth of PSI are developments that may warrant further investigation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Public health financial management competencies.

PubMed

Honoré, Peggy A; Costich, Julia F

2009-01-01

The absence of appropriate financial management competencies has impeded progress in advancing the field of public health finance. It also inhibits the ability to professionalize this sector of the workforce. Financial managers should play a critical role by providing information relevant to decision making. The lack of fundamental financial management knowledge and skills is a barrier to fulfilling this role. A national expert committee was convened to examine this issue. The committee reviewed standards related to financial and business management practices within public health and closely related areas. Alignments were made with national standards such as those established for government chief financial officers. On the basis of this analysis, a comprehensive set of public health financial management competencies was identified and examined further by a review panel. At a minimum, the competencies can be used to define job descriptions, assess job performance, identify critical gaps in financial analysis, create career paths, and design educational programs.

Enhancing Public Access to Relevant and Valued Medical Information: Fresh Directions for RadiologyInfo.org.

PubMed

Rubin, Geoffrey D; Krishnaraj, Arun; Mahesh, Mahadevappa; Rajendran, Ramji R; Fishman, Elliot K

2017-05-01

RadiologyInfo.org is a public information portal designed to support patient care and broaden public awareness of the essential role radiology plays in overall patient health care. Over the past 14 years, RadiologyInfo.org has evolved considerably to provide access to more than 220 mixed-media descriptions of tests, treatments, and diseases through a spectrum of mobile and desktop platforms, social media, and downloadable documents in both English and Spanish. In 2014, the RSNA-ACR Public Information Website Committee, which stewards RadiologyInfo.org, developed 3- to 5-year strategic and implementation plans for the website. The process was informed by RadiologyInfo.org user surveys, formal stakeholder interviews, focus groups, and usability testing. Metrics were established as key performance indicators to assess progress toward the stated goals of (1) optimizing content to enhance patient-centeredness, (2) enhancing reach and engagement, and (3) maintaining sustainability. Major changes resulting from this process include a complete redesign of the website, the replacement of text-rich PowerPoint presentations with conversational videos, and the development of an affiliate network. Over the past year, visits to RadiologyInfo.org have increased by 60.27% to 1,424,523 in August 2016 from 235 countries and territories. Twenty-two organizations have affiliated with RadiologyInfo.org with new organizations being added on a monthly basis. RadiologyInfo provides a tangible demonstration of how radiologists can engage directly with the global public to educate them on the value of radiology in their health care and to allay concerns and dispel misconceptions. Regular self-assessment and responsive planning will ensure its continued growth and relevance. Copyright © 2016 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Identifying pneumonia outbreaks of public health importance: can emergency department data assist in earlier identification?

PubMed

Hope, Kirsty; Durrheim, David N; Muscatello, David; Merritt, Tony; Zheng, Wei; Massey, Peter; Cashman, Patrick; Eastwood, Keith

2008-08-01

To retrospectively review the performance of a near real-time Emergency Department (ED) Syndromic Surveillance System operating in New South Wales for identifying pneumonia outbreaks of public health importance. Retrospective data was obtained from the NSW Emergency Department data collection for a rural hospital that has experienced a cluster of pneumonia diagnoses among teenage males in August 2006. ED standard reports were examined for signals in the overall count for each respiratory syndrome, and for elevated counts in individual subgroups including; age, sex and admission to hospital status. Using the current thresholds, the ED syndromic surveillance system would have trigged a signal for pneumonia syndrome in children aged 5-16 years four days earlier than the notification by a paediatrician and this signal was maintained for 14 days. If the ED syndromic surveillance system had been operating it could have identified the outbreak earlier than the paediatrician's notification. This may have permitted an earlier public health response. By understanding the behaviour of syndromes during outbreaks of public health importance, response protocols could be developed to facilitate earlier implementation of control measures.

Validity and Reliability of a Systematic Database Search Strategy to Identify Publications Resulting From Pharmacy Residency Research Projects.

PubMed

Kwak, Namhee; Swan, Joshua T; Thompson-Moore, Nathaniel; Liebl, Michael G

2016-08-01

This study aims to develop a systematic search strategy and test its validity and reliability in terms of identifying projects published in peer-reviewed journals as reported by residency graduates through an online survey. This study was a prospective blind comparison to a reference standard. Pharmacy residency projects conducted at the study institution between 2001 and 2012 were included. A step-wise, systematic procedure containing up to 8 search strategies in PubMed and EMBASE for each project was created using the names of authors and abstract keywords. In order to further maximize sensitivity, complex phrases with multiple variations were truncated to the root word. Validity was assessed by obtaining information on publications from an online survey deployed to residency graduates. The search strategy identified 13 publications (93% sensitivity, 100% specificity, and 99% accuracy). Both methods identified a similar proportion achieving publication (19.7% search strategy vs 21.2% survey, P = 1.00). Reliability of the search strategy was affirmed by the perfect agreement between 2 investigators (k = 1.00). This systematic search strategy demonstrated a high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for identifying publications resulting from pharmacy residency projects using information available in residency conference abstracts. © The Author(s) 2015.

Evaluation of food-relevant chemicals in the ToxCast high-throughput screening program.

PubMed

Karmaus, Agnes L; Filer, Dayne L; Martin, Matthew T; Houck, Keith A

2016-06-01

Thousands of chemicals are directly added to or come in contact with food, many of which have undergone little to no toxicological evaluation. The landscape of the food-relevant chemical universe was evaluated using cheminformatics, and subsequently the bioactivity of food-relevant chemicals across the publicly available ToxCast highthroughput screening program was assessed. In total, 8659 food-relevant chemicals were compiled including direct food additives, food contact substances, and pesticides. Of these food-relevant chemicals, 4719 had curated structure definition files amenable to defining chemical fingerprints, which were used to cluster chemicals using a selforganizing map approach. Pesticides, and direct food additives clustered apart from one another with food contact substances generally in between, supporting that these categories not only reflect different uses but also distinct chemistries. Subsequently, 1530 food-relevant chemicals were identified in ToxCast comprising 616 direct food additives, 371 food contact substances, and 543 pesticides. Bioactivity across ToxCast was filtered for cytotoxicity to identify selective chemical effects. Initiating analyses from strictly chemical-based methodology or bioactivity/cytotoxicity-driven evaluation presents unbiased approaches for prioritizing chemicals. Although bioactivity in vitro is not necessarily predictive of adverse effects in vivo, these data provide insight into chemical properties and cellular targets through which foodrelevant chemicals elicit bioactivity. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Disseminating relevant health information to underserved audiences: implications of the Digital Divide Pilot Projects*

PubMed Central

Kreps, Gary L.

2005-01-01

Objective: This paper examines the influence of the digital divide on disparities in health outcomes for vulnerable populations, identifying implications for medical and public libraries. Method: The paper describes the results of the Digital Divide Pilot Projects demonstration research programs funded by the National Cancer Institute to test new strategies for disseminating relevant health information to underserved and at-risk audiences. Results: The Digital Divide Pilot Projects field-tested innovative systemic strategies for helping underserved populations access and utilize relevant health information to make informed health-related decisions about seeking appropriate health care and support, resisting avoidable and significant health risks, and promoting their own health. Implications: The paper builds on the Digital Divide Pilot Projects by identifying implications for developing health communication strategies that libraries can adopt to provide digital health information to vulnerable populations. PMID:16239960

Accuracy of automatic syndromic classification of coded emergency department diagnoses in identifying mental health-related presentations for public health surveillance.

PubMed

Liljeqvist, Henning T G; Muscatello, David; Sara, Grant; Dinh, Michael; Lawrence, Glenda L

2014-09-23

Syndromic surveillance in emergency departments (EDs) may be used to deliver early warnings of increases in disease activity, to provide situational awareness during events of public health significance, to supplement other information on trends in acute disease and injury, and to support the development and monitoring of prevention or response strategies. Changes in mental health related ED presentations may be relevant to these goals, provided they can be identified accurately and efficiently. This study aimed to measure the accuracy of using diagnostic codes in electronic ED presentation records to identify mental health-related visits. We selected a random sample of 500 records from a total of 1,815,588 ED electronic presentation records from 59 NSW public hospitals during 2010. ED diagnoses were recorded using any of ICD-9, ICD-10 or SNOMED CT classifications. Three clinicians, blinded to the automatically generated syndromic grouping and each other's classification, reviewed the triage notes and classified each of the 500 visits as mental health-related or not. A "mental health problem presentation" for the purposes of this study was defined as any ED presentation where either a mental disorder or a mental health problem was the reason for the ED visit. The combined clinicians' assessment of the records was used as reference standard to measure the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the automatic classification of coded emergency department diagnoses. Agreement between the reference standard and the automated coded classification was estimated using the Kappa statistic. Agreement between clinician's classification and automated coded classification was substantial (Kappa = 0.73. 95% CI: 0.58 - 0.87). The automatic syndromic grouping of coded ED diagnoses for mental health-related visits was found to be moderately sensitive (68% 95% CI: 46%-84%) and highly specific at 99% (95% CI: 98%-99.7%) when compared with the

Trends in public perceptions and preferences on energy and environmental policy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Farhar, B.C.

1993-02-01

This report presents selected results from a secondary analysis of public opinion surveys, taken at the national and state/local levels, relevant to energy and environmental policy choices. The data base used in the analysis includes about 2000 items from nearly 600 separate surveys conducted between 1979 and 1992. Answers to word-for-word questions were traced over time, permitting trend analysis. Patterns of response were also identified for findings from similarly worded survey items. The analysis identifies changes in public opinion concerning energy during the past 10 to 15 years.

Leadership for Public Health 3.0: A Preliminary Assessment of Competencies for Local Health Department Leaders.

PubMed

Jadhav, Emmanuel D; Holsinger, James W; Anderson, Billie W; Homant, Nicholas

2017-01-01

The foundational public health services model V1.0, developed in response to the Institute of Medicine report For the Public's Health: Investing in a Healthier Future identified important capabilities for leading local health departments (LHDs). The recommended capabilities include the organizational competencies of leadership and governance, which are described as consensus building among internal and external stakeholders. Leadership through consensus building is the main characteristic of Democratic Leadership . This style of leadership works best within the context of a competent team. Not much is known about the competency structure of LHD leadership teams. The objectives of this study characterize the competency structure of leadership teams in LHDs and identify the relevance of existing competencies for the practice of leadership in public health. The study used a cross-sectional study design. Utilizing the workforce taxonomy six management and leadership occupation titles were used as job categories. The competencies were selected from the leadership and management domain of public health competencies for the Tier -3, leadership level. Study participants were asked to rank on a Likert scale of 1-10 the relevance of each competency to their current job category, with a rank of 1 being least important and a rank of 10 being most important. The instrument was administered in person. Data were collected in 2016 from 50 public health professionals serving in leadership and management positions in a convenience sample of three LHDS. The competency of most relevance to the highest executive function category was that of "interaction with interrelated systems." For sub-agency level officers the competency of most relevance was "advocating for the role of public health." The competency of most relevance to Program Directors/Managers or Administrators was "ensuring continuous quality improvement." The variation between competencies by job category suggests there are

Is gender becoming relevant in uro-oncological research? A bibliographical analysis.

PubMed

Kunath, Frank; Keck, Bastian; Bertz, Simone; Brookman-May, Sabine; May, Matthias; Vergho, Daniel; Hartmann, Arndt; Riedmiller, Hubertus; Wullich, Bernd; Burger, Maximilian

2013-10-01

Gender differences are increasingly recognized as important in numerous diseases and found to be relevant in various cancer entities. While a larger number of manuscripts on gender effects in gastro-intestinal and pulmonary neoplasms have been published, urological malignancies involving men and women alike seem less studied in this regard. The present analysis aimed at describing the role of gender effects in general oncological and uro-oncological research and is the first such bibliometrical analysis. The electronic database MEDLINE was searched for relevant medical subject headings from January 1991 to December 2011. Publication types, publishing journal and impact factors were identified. Trends were assessed by linear regression. The numbers of annual publications on all major tumour entities and on urological malignancies increased similarly. While the portion of publications on gender effects was below 1 % for each tumour entity, the annual increase of novel publications on gender effects was significant in most and prominent in pulmonary (1.87, 95 % CI 1.11-2.63; <0.0001) and colorectal neoplasms (2.16, 95 % CI 1.49-2.82; <0.0001). While the annual increase of novel publications on gender effects was significant in bladder cancer (0.33, 95 % CI 0.11-0.54; 0.005), it failed level of significance in renal cell cancer (0.25, 95 % CI -0.19-0.24; 0.82). While the overall role of gender effect seems small in general oncological research, it is increasing steadily. In uro-oncological research, such trend is also visible in bladder but not in renal cell cancer. Respective awareness on importance of gender effects should be raised.

Half-century of Dental Public Health research: bibliometric analysis of world scientific trends.

PubMed

Celeste, Roger Keller; Broadbent, Jonathan M; Moyses, Samuel Jorge

2016-12-01

To describe the characteristics of Dental Public Health (DPH) scientific publications within core DPH journals over time and to compare DPH journals with DPH content from other journal types. The Scopus database was used to identify DPH-relevant articles published from 1965 to 2014 in three core DPH journals (DPHJs) and from 2005 to 2014 in Dental Journals (DJs), Public Health (PHJs) and General Journals (GJs). To identify DPH-relevant articles, a search strategy with words about oral health and public health was applied to each group of journals. Research themes were created by grouping similar keywords to report changes in the focus of articles over time. The most productive journals, countries, institutions and authors were also estimated for each set of journals. In 2005-2014, 60 297 articles were identified, of which 2.7% in DPHJs, 10.4% from PHJs, 38.2% from GJs and 48.7% from DJs. DPH-relevant articles published in the core DPHJs, DJs and PHJs tended to share a strong emphasis on dental caries, healthcare/services research on children and adolescents. Over time, the focus in the DPHJs has increased towards health behaviour/promotion/education, quality of life and socioeconomic factors. In the last decade, those themes were more frequent in DPH journals than in the other groups. DPH research published in DPHJs had some unique features and greater focus on the themes of quality of life, socioeconomic factors and health behaviour/education/promotion than other groups of journals. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Public health co-benefits of greenhouse gas emissions reduction: A systematic review.

PubMed

Gao, Jinghong; Kovats, Sari; Vardoulakis, Sotiris; Wilkinson, Paul; Woodward, Alistair; Li, Jing; Gu, Shaohua; Liu, Xiaobo; Wu, Haixia; Wang, Jun; Song, Xiaoqin; Zhai, Yunkai; Zhao, Jie; Liu, Qiyong

2018-06-15

Public health co-benefits from curbing climate change can make greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategies more attractive and increase their implementation. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize the evidence of these health co-benefits to improve our understanding of the mitigation measures involved, potential mechanisms, and relevant uncertainties. A comprehensive search for peer-reviewed studies published in English was conducted using the primary electronic databases. Reference lists from these articles were reviewed and manual searches were performed to supplement relevant studies. The identified records were screened based on inclusion criteria. We extracted data from the final retrieved papers using a pre-designed data extraction form and a quality assessment was conducted. The studies were heterogeneities, so meta-analysis was not possible and instead evidence was synthesized using narrative summaries. Thirty-six studies were identified. We identified GHG mitigation strategies in five domains - energy generation, transportation, food and agriculture, households, and industry and economy - which usually, although not always, bring co-benefits for public health. These health gains are likely to be multiplied by comprehensive measures that include more than one sectors. GHG mitigation strategies can bring about substantial and possibly cost-effective public health co-benefits. These findings are highly relevant to policy makers and other stakeholders since they point to the compounding value of taking concerted action against climate change and air pollution. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

An ERP Study on Self-Relevant Object Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miyakoshi, Makoto; Nomura, Michio; Ohira, Hideki

2007-01-01

We performed an event-related potential study to investigate the self-relevance effect in object recognition. Three stimulus categories were prepared: SELF (participant's own objects), FAMILIAR (disposable and public objects, defined as objects with less-self-relevant familiarity), and UNFAMILIAR (others' objects). The participants' task was to…

Public Health Policies and Practices of the Ottoman Empire with Special Reference to the Gallipoli Campaign.

PubMed

Aboul-Enein, Basil; Puddy, William

2015-06-01

To review the selected historiographic and contemporary literature that examined the Ottoman public health practices and policies with special reference to the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War. To date, no work has been published surrounding the Ottoman public health policies and responses during the battle of Gallipoli. A historiographic methodology was used to examine relevant primary and secondary publications using ten academic electronic databases. The literature discussed pre-war Hapsburg efforts to improve the Ottoman medical infrastructure, the activities of military medical students and units at Gallipoli, quarantine and vaccination procedures, and general medical issues throughout the empire during the war. Access to the official Turkish archives and translating relevant official documents into English are warranted. This represents an opportunity for military and public health historians to examine and identify relevant public health practices and policies that the Ottoman Empire implemented during the First World War and, in particular, the Gallipoli campaign.

An exploratory study identifying where local government public health decision makers source their evidence for policy.

PubMed

Stoneham, Melissa; Dodds, James

2014-08-01

The Western Australian (WA) Public Health Bill will replace the antiquated Health Act 1911. One of the proposed clauses of the Bill requires all WA local governments to develop a Public Health Plan. The Bill states that Public Health Plans should be based on evidence from all levels, including national and statewide priorities, community needs, local statistical evidence, and stakeholder data. This exploratory study, which targeted 533 WA local government officers, aimed to identify the sources of evidence used to generate the list of public health risks to be included in local government Public Health Plans. The top four sources identified for informing local policy were: observation of the consequences of the risks in the local community (24.5%), statewide evidence (17.6%), local evidence (17.6%) and coverage in local media (16.2%). This study confirms that both hard and soft data are used to inform policy decisions at the local level. Therefore, the challenge that this study has highlighted is in the definition or constitution of evidence. SO WHAT? Evidence is critical to the process of sound policy development. This study highlights issues associated with what actually constitutes evidence in the policy development process at the local government level. With the exception of those who work in an extremely narrow field, it is difficult for local government officers, whose role includes policymaking, to read the vast amount of information that has been published in their area of expertise. For those who are committed to the notion of evidence-based policymaking, as advocated within the WA Public Health Bill, this presents a considerable challenge.

Social media in public health.

PubMed

Kass-Hout, Taha A; Alhinnawi, Hend

2013-01-01

While social media interactions are currently not fully understood, as individual health behaviors and outcomes are shared online, social media offers an increasingly clear picture of the dynamics of these processes. Social media is becoming an increasingly common platform among clinicians and public health officials to share information with the public, track or predict diseases. Social media can be used for engaging the public and communicating key public health interventions, while providing an important tool for public health surveillance. Social media has advantages over traditional public health surveillance, as well as limitations, such as poor specificity, that warrant additional study. Social media can provide timely, relevant and transparent information of public health importance; such as tracking or predicting the spread or severity of influenza, west nile virus or meningitis as they propagate in the community, and, in identifying disease outbreaks or clusters of chronic illnesses. Further work is needed on social media as a valid data source for detecting or predicting diseases or conditions. Also, whether or not it is an effective tool for communicating key public health messages and engaging both, the general public and policy-makers.

Effectiveness of capacity building interventions relevant to public health practice: a systematic review.

PubMed

DeCorby-Watson, Kara; Mensah, Gloria; Bergeron, Kim; Abdi, Samiya; Rempel, Benjamin; Manson, Heather

2018-06-01

This systematic review assessed the effectiveness of capacity building interventions relevant to public health practice. The aim is to inform and improve capacity building interventions. Four strategies were used: 1) electronic database searching; 2) reference lists of included papers; 3) key informant consultation; and 4) grey literature searching. Inclusion (e.g., published in English) and exclusion criteria (e.g., non-English language papers published earlier than 2005) are outlined with included papers focusing on capacity building, learning plans, or professional development plans within public health and related settings, such as non-governmental organizations, government, or community-based organizations relating to public health or healthcare. Outcomes of interest included changes in knowledge, skill or confidence (self-efficacy), changes in practice (application or intent), and perceived support or supportive environments, with outcomes reported at the individual, organizational or systems level(s). Quality assessment of all included papers was completed. Fourteen papers were included in this review. These papers reported on six intervention types: 1) internet-based instruction, 2) training and workshops, 3) technical assistance, 4) education using self-directed learning, 5) communities of practice, and 6) multi-strategy interventions. The available literature showed improvements in one or more capacity-building outcomes of interest, mainly in terms of individual-level outcomes. The available literature was moderate in quality and showed a range of methodological issues. There is evidence to inform capacity building programming and how interventions can be selected to optimize impact. Organizations should carefully consider methods for analysis of capacity building interventions offered; specifically, through which mechanisms, to whom, and for which purpose. Capacity-building interventions can enhance knowledge, skill, self-efficacy (including confidence

[The role of the public health personnel in the Prevention Department (in the Hygiene Services and Public Health Care and Hygiene of Food and Nutrition): proposal for the future of public health care].

PubMed

Brusaferro, Silvio; Marcolongo, Adriano; Schiava, Flavio; Bggio, Luca; Betta, Alberto; Buzzo, Armando; Cinquetti, Sandro; Coin, Paulo; Dal Fior, Tina; De Battisti, Fabio; De Marchi, Chiara; De Noni, Lucia; Donatoni, Luigi; Ferraresso, Anna; Gallo, Giovanni; Gallo, Lorenza; Gallo, Tolinda; Gottardello, Lorena; Menegon, Tiziana; Minuzzo, Michele; Paussi, Gianna; Pinna, Clara; Poli, Albino; Rossato, Luigi; Sbrogliò, Luca; Simeoni, Josef; Speccini, Manuela; Stoppato, Ugo; Superbi, Piero; Tardivo, Stefano; Urdich, Alessandro; Valsecchi, Massimo; Zamparo, Manuela

2008-01-01

A global and local discussion on Public Health relevance is taking place, including the future role and organization of its services. Noteworthy becomes the role played by Public Health Specialists. This work presents the results of a workshop, carried out following the Guilbert methodology, whose aim was to define Public Health Doctors functions and their related activities. The programme involved 30 professionals from Triveneto area (North Eastern Italy), working in Prevention Departments at National Health Service and Universities. The key-functions identified were: 1) Health status assessment and identification of community risk factors, 2) Health Promotion, 3) Prevention, 4) Protection, 5) Planning, 6) Communication, 7) Professional Training, 8) Alliances and resources for complex Public Health programs, 9) Crisis management in Public Health, 10) Research. For each function activities were identified, meaning concerning areas and contents that must be warranted by professionals. This experience allowed to share existing attitudes and experiences present in Triveneto area, and it can stand as a feasible instrument for different settings. Nevertheless, it appears mandatory explaining at each level in the society role and functions of Prevention Departments.

Identifying like-minded audiences for global warming public engagement campaigns: an audience segmentation analysis and tool development.

PubMed

Maibach, Edward W; Leiserowitz, Anthony; Roser-Renouf, Connie; Mertz, C K

2011-03-10

Achieving national reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will require public support for climate and energy policies and changes in population behaviors. Audience segmentation--a process of identifying coherent groups within a population--can be used to improve the effectiveness of public engagement campaigns. In Fall 2008, we conducted a nationally representative survey of American adults (n = 2,164) to identify audience segments for global warming public engagement campaigns. By subjecting multiple measures of global warming beliefs, behaviors, policy preferences, and issue engagement to latent class analysis, we identified six distinct segments ranging in size from 7 to 33% of the population. These six segments formed a continuum, from a segment of people who were highly worried, involved and supportive of policy responses (18%), to a segment of people who were completely unconcerned and strongly opposed to policy responses (7%). Three of the segments (totaling 70%) were to varying degrees concerned about global warming and supportive of policy responses, two (totaling 18%) were unsupportive, and one was largely disengaged (12%), having paid little attention to the issue. Certain behaviors and policy preferences varied greatly across these audiences, while others did not. Using discriminant analysis, we subsequently developed 36-item and 15-item instruments that can be used to categorize respondents with 91% and 84% accuracy, respectively. In late 2008, Americans supported a broad range of policies and personal actions to reduce global warming, although there was wide variation among the six identified audiences. To enhance the impact of campaigns, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and businesses seeking to engage the public can selectively target one or more of these audiences rather than address an undifferentiated general population. Our screening instruments are available to assist in that process.

Identifying Like-Minded Audiences for Global Warming Public Engagement Campaigns: An Audience Segmentation Analysis and Tool Development

PubMed Central

Maibach, Edward W.; Leiserowitz, Anthony; Roser-Renouf, Connie; Mertz, C. K.

2011-01-01

Background Achieving national reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will require public support for climate and energy policies and changes in population behaviors. Audience segmentation – a process of identifying coherent groups within a population – can be used to improve the effectiveness of public engagement campaigns. Methodology/Principal Findings In Fall 2008, we conducted a nationally representative survey of American adults (n = 2,164) to identify audience segments for global warming public engagement campaigns. By subjecting multiple measures of global warming beliefs, behaviors, policy preferences, and issue engagement to latent class analysis, we identified six distinct segments ranging in size from 7 to 33% of the population. These six segments formed a continuum, from a segment of people who were highly worried, involved and supportive of policy responses (18%), to a segment of people who were completely unconcerned and strongly opposed to policy responses (7%). Three of the segments (totaling 70%) were to varying degrees concerned about global warming and supportive of policy responses, two (totaling 18%) were unsupportive, and one was largely disengaged (12%), having paid little attention to the issue. Certain behaviors and policy preferences varied greatly across these audiences, while others did not. Using discriminant analysis, we subsequently developed 36-item and 15-item instruments that can be used to categorize respondents with 91% and 84% accuracy, respectively. Conclusions/Significance In late 2008, Americans supported a broad range of policies and personal actions to reduce global warming, although there was wide variation among the six identified audiences. To enhance the impact of campaigns, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and businesses seeking to engage the public can selectively target one or more of these audiences rather than address an undifferentiated general population. Our screening instruments are

Measuring Teacher Dispositions: Identifying Workplace Personality Traits Most Relevant to Teaching Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yao, Yuankun; Pagnani, Alexander; Thomas, Matt; Abellan-Pagnani, Luisa; Brown, Terrell; Buchanan, Dawna Lisa

2017-01-01

What personality traits represent dispositions most relevant to teaching professionals? Could an instrument reflecting work personality traits for a wide variety of professions provide a valid assessment of dispositions for teacher candidates? This study analyzed the internal structure of a state mandated dispositions assessment that was adapted…

Relevance and speed of message delivery trade-offs in augmentative and alternative communication.

PubMed

Bedrosian, Jan L; Hoag, Linda A; McCoy, Kathleen F

2003-08-01

This report is the first in a series of investigations designed to test a theory identifying the effects of conversational trade-offs between selected maxims on public attitudes toward augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system users and their communication. In the current study, the trade-offs between the relevance of a prestored message and its speed of delivery were examined. Participating were 96 sales clerks. Twelve scripted videotaped conversational conditions, involving an AAC customer and a clerk at a checkout counter, were used to manipulate message relevance, speed of message delivery, and participant/AAC user gender. Following each assigned viewing, participants completed a questionnaire designed to assess their attitudes toward the AAC user and his or her communication. Significantly higher mean ratings were found for the conditions involving the slowly delivered relevant messages (both preceded by a conversational floorholder and without a floorholder) when compared to the quickly delivered partly relevant message condition. In addition, the condition involving the slowly delivered relevant message with a floorholder yielded significantly higher mean ratings than that without the floorholder. There was no effect for participant/user gender. Modifications of the theory and technological implications are discussed.

Hierarchthis: An Interactive Interface for Identifying Mission-Relevant Components of the Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Litomisky, Krystof

2012-01-01

Even though NASA's space missions are many and varied, there are some tasks that are common to all of them. For example, all spacecraft need to communicate with other entities, and all spacecraft need to know where they are. These tasks use tools and services that can be inherited and reused between missions, reducing systems engineering effort and therefore reducing cost.The Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System, or AMMOS, is a collection of multimission tools and services, whose development and maintenance are funded by NASA. I created HierarchThis, a plugin designed to provide an interactive interface to help customers identify mission-relevant tools and services. HierarchThis automatically creates diagrams of the AMMOS database, and then allows users to show/hide specific details through a graphical interface. Once customers identify tools and services they want for a specific mission, HierarchThis can automatically generate a contract between the Multimission Ground Systems and Services Office, which manages AMMOS, and the customer. The document contains the selected AMMOS components, along with their capabilities and satisfied requirements. HierarchThis reduces the time needed for the process from service selections to having a mission-specific contract from the order of days to the order of minutes.

HEALTH GeoJunction: place-time-concept browsing of health publications.

PubMed

MacEachren, Alan M; Stryker, Michael S; Turton, Ian J; Pezanowski, Scott

2010-05-18

The volume of health science publications is escalating rapidly. Thus, keeping up with developments is becoming harder as is the task of finding important cross-domain connections. When geographic location is a relevant component of research reported in publications, these tasks are more difficult because standard search and indexing facilities have limited or no ability to identify geographic foci in documents. This paper introduces HEALTH GeoJunction, a web application that supports researchers in the task of quickly finding scientific publications that are relevant geographically and temporally as well as thematically. HEALTH GeoJunction is a geovisual analytics-enabled web application providing: (a) web services using computational reasoning methods to extract place-time-concept information from bibliographic data for documents and (b) visually-enabled place-time-concept query, filtering, and contextualizing tools that apply to both the documents and their extracted content. This paper focuses specifically on strategies for visually-enabled, iterative, facet-like, place-time-concept filtering that allows analysts to quickly drill down to scientific findings of interest in PubMed abstracts and to explore relations among abstracts and extracted concepts in place and time. The approach enables analysts to: find publications without knowing all relevant query parameters, recognize unanticipated geographic relations within and among documents in multiple health domains, identify the thematic emphasis of research targeting particular places, notice changes in concepts over time, and notice changes in places where concepts are emphasized. PubMed is a database of over 19 million biomedical abstracts and citations maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information; achieving quick filtering is an important contribution due to the database size. Including geography in filters is important due to rapidly escalating attention to geographic factors in public

A comparison of the performance of seven key bibliographic databases in identifying all relevant systematic reviews of interventions for hypertension.

PubMed

Rathbone, John; Carter, Matt; Hoffmann, Tammy; Glasziou, Paul

2016-02-09

Bibliographic databases are the primary resource for identifying systematic reviews of health care interventions. Reliable retrieval of systematic reviews depends on the scope of indexing used by database providers. Therefore, searching one database may be insufficient, but it is unclear how many need to be searched. We sought to evaluate the performance of seven major bibliographic databases for the identification of systematic reviews for hypertension. We searched seven databases (Cochrane library, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Epistemonikos, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), PubMed Health and Turning Research Into Practice (TRIP)) from 2003 to 2015 for systematic reviews of any intervention for hypertension. Citations retrieved were screened for relevance, coded and checked for screening consistency using a fuzzy text matching query. The performance of each database was assessed by calculating its sensitivity, precision, the number of missed reviews and the number of unique records retrieved. Four hundred systematic reviews were identified for inclusion from 11,381 citations retrieved from seven databases. No single database identified all the retrieved systematic reviews for hypertension. EMBASE identified the most reviews (sensitivity 69 %) but also retrieved the most irrelevant citations with 7.2 % precision (Pr). The sensitivity of the Cochrane library was 60 %, DARE 57 %, MEDLINE 57 %, PubMed Health 53 %, Epistemonikos 49 % and TRIP 33 %. EMBASE contained the highest number of unique records (n = 43). The Cochrane library identified seven unique records and had the highest precision (Pr = 30 %), followed by Epistemonikos (n = 2, Pr = 19 %). No unique records were found in PubMed Health (Pr = 24 %) DARE (Pr = 21 %), TRIP (Pr = 10 %) or MEDLINE (Pr = 10 %). Searching EMBASE and the Cochrane library identified 88 % of all systematic reviews in the reference set, and

mirPub: a database for searching microRNA publications.

PubMed

Vergoulis, Thanasis; Kanellos, Ilias; Kostoulas, Nikos; Georgakilas, Georgios; Sellis, Timos; Hatzigeorgiou, Artemis; Dalamagas, Theodore

2015-05-01

Identifying, amongst millions of publications available in MEDLINE, those that are relevant to specific microRNAs (miRNAs) of interest based on keyword search faces major obstacles. References to miRNA names in the literature often deviate from standard nomenclature for various reasons, since even the official nomenclature evolves. For instance, a single miRNA name may identify two completely different molecules or two different names may refer to the same molecule. mirPub is a database with a powerful and intuitive interface, which facilitates searching for miRNA literature, addressing the aforementioned issues. To provide effective search services, mirPub applies text mining techniques on MEDLINE, integrates data from several curated databases and exploits data from its user community following a crowdsourcing approach. Other key features include an interactive visualization service that illustrates intuitively the evolution of miRNA data, tag clouds summarizing the relevance of publications to particular diseases, cell types or tissues and access to TarBase 6.0 data to oversee genes related to miRNA publications. mirPub is freely available at http://www.microrna.gr/mirpub/. vergoulis@imis.athena-innovation.gr or dalamag@imis.athena-innovation.gr Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and the Public Speaking Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colvin, Janet Weston; Tobler, Nancy

2012-01-01

From the earliest roots of rhetoric, practitioners emphasized the need for analyzing one's audience before developing a speech. Textbooks for most basic public speaking courses spend at least one chapter discussing audience analysis. Authors discuss adapting messages to various demographic, cultural, and individual differences. As a result,…

Modeling Retention at a Large Public University: Can At-Risk Students Be Identified Early Enough to Treat?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singell, Larry D.; Waddell, Glen R.

2010-01-01

We examine the extent to which readily available data at a large public university can be used to a priori identify at-risk students who may benefit from targeted retention efforts. Although it is possible to identify such students, there remains an inevitable tradeoff in any resource allocation between not treating the students who are likely to…

Identifying Evidence for Public Health Guidance: A Comparison of Citation Searching with Web of Science and Google Scholar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levay, Paul; Ainsworth, Nicola; Kettle, Rachel; Morgan, Antony

2016-01-01

Aim: To examine how effectively forwards citation searching with Web of Science (WOS) or Google Scholar (GS) identified evidence to support public health guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Method: Forwards citation searching was performed using GS on a base set of 46 publications and replicated using WOS.…

Do black lives matter in public health research and training?

PubMed

Rosenberg, Molly; Ranapurwala, Shabbar I; Townes, Ashley; Bengtson, Angela M

2017-01-01

To examine whether investments made in public health research align with the health burdens experienced by white and black Americans. In this cross-sectional study of all deaths in the United States in 2015, we compared the distribution of potential years of life lost (PYLL) across 39 causes of death by race and identified key differences. We examined the relationship between cause-of-death-specific PYLL and key indicators of public health investment (federal funding and number of publications) by race using linear spline models. We also compared the number of courses available at the top schools of public health relevant to the top causes of death contributor to PYLL for black and white Americans. Homicide was the number one contributor to PYLL among black Americans, while ischemic heart disease was the number one contributor to PYLL among white Americans. Firearm-related violence accounted for 88% of black PYLL attributed to homicide and 71% of white PYLL attributed to homicide. Despite the high burden of PYLL, homicide research was the focus of few federal grants or publications. In comparison, ischemic heart disease garnered 341 grants and 594 publications. The number of public health courses available relevant to homicide (n = 9) was similar to those relevant to ischemic heart disease (n = 10). Black Americans are disproportionately affected by homicide, compared to white Americans. For both black and white Americans, the majority of PYLL due to homicide are firearm-related. Yet, homicide research is dramatically underrepresented in public health research investments in terms of grant funding and publications, despite available public health training opportunities. If left unchecked, the observed disproportionate distribution of investments in public health resources threatens to perpetuate a system that disadvantages black Americans.

Beyond Research Ethics: Novel Approaches of 3 Major Public Health Institutions to Provide Ethics Input on Public Health Practice Activities.

PubMed

Klingler, Corinna; Barrett, Drue H; Ondrusek, Nancy; Johnson, Brooke R; Saxena, Abha; Reis, Andreas A

2018-02-23

Public health institutions increasingly realize the importance of creating a culture in their organizations that values ethics. When developing strategies to strengthen ethics, institutions will have to take into account that while public health research projects typically undergo thorough ethics review, activities considered public health practice may not be subjected to similar oversight. This approach, based on a research-practice dichotomy, is increasingly being criticized as it does not adequately identify and manage ethically relevant risks to those affected by nonresearch activities. As a reaction, 3 major public health institutions (the World Health Organization, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Public Health Ontario) have implemented mechanisms for ethics review of public health practice activities. In this article, we describe and critically discuss the different modalities of the 3 approaches. We argue that although further evaluation is necessary to determine the effectiveness of the different approaches, public health institutions should strive to implement procedures to ensure that public health practice adheres to the highest ethical standards.

A systematic approach to evaluating public health training: the obesity prevention in public health course.

PubMed

Mainor, Avia; Leeman, Jennifer; Sommers, Janice; Heiser, Claire; Gonzales, Cecilia; Farris, Rosanne P; Ammerman, Alice

2014-01-01

Public health practitioners require new knowledge and skills to address the multilevel factors contributing to obesity. This article presents the systematic approach the Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation (Center TRT) used both to assess practitioners' competencies to lead public health obesity prevention initiatives and to evaluate its annual, competency-based obesity prevention course. In 2006, Center TRT identified priority public health competencies for obesity prevention and then planned 7 annual courses to address the priority competencies progressively over time. Each year, a longitudinal evaluation based on Kirkpatrick's training evaluation framework was administered to course participants (n = 243) to assess perceptions of the course (daily), changes in self-reported competency (immediately pre- and postcourse), and course impact on practice over time (at 6 months). Participants rated the course highly for quality and relevance. Although many participants reported low levels of confidence prior to the course, following the course, at least 70% reported feeling confident to perform almost all competencies. At 6-month follow-up, the majority of participants reported completing at least 1 activity identified during course action planning. We identified practitioners' high-priority competency needs and then designed 7 annual courses to progressively address those needs and new needs as they arose. This approach resulted in trainings valued by practitioners and effective in increasing their sense of competence to lead public health obesity prevention initiatives. The course's continuing impact was evidenced by participants' high level of completion of their action plans at 6-month follow-up. Competency-based training is important to develop a skilled public health workforce.

Ethical issues in public health surveillance: a systematic qualitative review.

PubMed

Klingler, Corinna; Silva, Diego Steven; Schuermann, Christopher; Reis, Andreas Alois; Saxena, Abha; Strech, Daniel

2017-04-04

Public health surveillance is not ethically neutral and yet, ethics guidance and training for surveillance programmes is sparse. Development of ethics guidance should be based on comprehensive and transparently derived overviews of ethical issues and arguments. However, existing overviews on surveillance ethics are limited in scope and in how transparently they derived their results. Our objective was accordingly to provide an overview of ethical issues in public health surveillance; in addition, to list the arguments put forward with regards to arguably the most contested issue in surveillance, that is whether to obtain informed consent. Ethical issues were defined based on principlism. We assumed an ethical issue to arise in surveillance when a relevant normative principle is not adequately considered or two principles come into conflict. We searched Pubmed and Google Books for relevant publications. We analysed and synthesized the data using qualitative content analysis. Our search strategy retrieved 525 references of which 83 were included in the analysis. We identified 86 distinct ethical issues arising in the different phases of the surveillance life-cycle. We further identified 20 distinct conditions that make it more or less justifiable to forego informed consent procedures. This is the first systematic qualitative review of ethical issues in public health surveillance resulting in a comprehensive ethics matrix that can inform guidelines, reports, strategy papers, and educational material and raise awareness among practitioners.

Automatic jargon identifier for scientists engaging with the public and science communication educators

PubMed Central

Chapnik, Noam; Yosef, Roy; Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet

2017-01-01

Scientists are required to communicate science and research not only to other experts in the field, but also to scientists and experts from other fields, as well as to the public and policymakers. One fundamental suggestion when communicating with non-experts is to avoid professional jargon. However, because they are trained to speak with highly specialized language, avoiding jargon is difficult for scientists, and there is no standard to guide scientists in adjusting their messages. In this research project, we present the development and validation of the data produced by an up-to-date, scientist-friendly program for identifying jargon in popular written texts, based on a corpus of over 90 million words published in the BBC site during the years 2012–2015. The validation of results by the jargon identifier, the De-jargonizer, involved three mini studies: (1) comparison and correlation with existing frequency word lists in the literature; (2) a comparison with previous research on spoken language jargon use in TED transcripts of non-science lectures, TED transcripts of science lectures and transcripts of academic science lectures; and (3) a test of 5,000 pairs of published research abstracts and lay reader summaries describing the same article from the journals PLOS Computational Biology and PLOS Genetics. Validation procedures showed that the data classification of the De-jargonizer significantly correlates with existing frequency word lists, replicates similar jargon differences in previous studies on scientific versus general lectures, and identifies significant differences in jargon use between abstracts and lay summaries. As expected, more jargon was found in the academic abstracts than lay summaries; however, the percentage of jargon in the lay summaries exceeded the amount recommended for the public to understand the text. Thus, the De-jargonizer can help scientists identify problematic jargon when communicating science to non-experts, and be implemented

Automatic jargon identifier for scientists engaging with the public and science communication educators.

PubMed

Rakedzon, Tzipora; Segev, Elad; Chapnik, Noam; Yosef, Roy; Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet

2017-01-01

Scientists are required to communicate science and research not only to other experts in the field, but also to scientists and experts from other fields, as well as to the public and policymakers. One fundamental suggestion when communicating with non-experts is to avoid professional jargon. However, because they are trained to speak with highly specialized language, avoiding jargon is difficult for scientists, and there is no standard to guide scientists in adjusting their messages. In this research project, we present the development and validation of the data produced by an up-to-date, scientist-friendly program for identifying jargon in popular written texts, based on a corpus of over 90 million words published in the BBC site during the years 2012-2015. The validation of results by the jargon identifier, the De-jargonizer, involved three mini studies: (1) comparison and correlation with existing frequency word lists in the literature; (2) a comparison with previous research on spoken language jargon use in TED transcripts of non-science lectures, TED transcripts of science lectures and transcripts of academic science lectures; and (3) a test of 5,000 pairs of published research abstracts and lay reader summaries describing the same article from the journals PLOS Computational Biology and PLOS Genetics. Validation procedures showed that the data classification of the De-jargonizer significantly correlates with existing frequency word lists, replicates similar jargon differences in previous studies on scientific versus general lectures, and identifies significant differences in jargon use between abstracts and lay summaries. As expected, more jargon was found in the academic abstracts than lay summaries; however, the percentage of jargon in the lay summaries exceeded the amount recommended for the public to understand the text. Thus, the De-jargonizer can help scientists identify problematic jargon when communicating science to non-experts, and be implemented by

Anthropologists and Policy-Relevant Research: The Case for Accountability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Milton M. R.

Anthropology research should be relevant to public policy formation. If anthropologists continue to produce research which reflects a "detached observer" perspective, their studies will not enjoy widespread credibility. The use of policy-relevant anthropology (applied anthropology) will depend in large part on the efforts of anthropologists toward…

The use of social networking sites for public health practice and research: a systematic review.

PubMed

Capurro, Daniel; Cole, Kate; Echavarría, Maria I; Joe, Jonathan; Neogi, Tina; Turner, Anne M

2014-03-14

Social networking sites (SNSs) have the potential to increase the reach and efficiency of essential public health services, such as surveillance, research, and communication. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to identify the use of SNSs for public health research and practice and to identify existing knowledge gaps. We performed a systematic literature review of articles related to public health and SNSs using PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL to search for peer-reviewed publications describing the use of SNSs for public health research and practice. We also conducted manual searches of relevant publications. Each publication was independently reviewed by 2 researchers for inclusion and extracted relevant study data. A total of 73 articles met our inclusion criteria. Most articles (n=50) were published in the final 2 years covered by our search. In all, 58 articles were in the domain of public health research and 15 were in public health practice. Only 1 study was conducted in a low-income country. Most articles (63/73, 86%) described observational studies involving users or usages of SNSs; only 5 studies involved randomized controlled trials. A large proportion (43/73, 59%) of the identified studies included populations considered hard to reach, such as young individuals, adolescents, and individuals at risk of sexually transmitted diseases or alcohol and substance abuse. Few articles (2/73, 3%) described using the multidirectional communication potential of SNSs to engage study populations. The number of publications about public health uses for SNSs has been steadily increasing in the past 5 years. With few exceptions, the literature largely consists of observational studies describing users and usages of SNSs regarding topics of public health interest. More studies that fully exploit the communication tools embedded in SNSs and study their potential to produce significant effects in the overall population's health are needed.

Developing a national framework of quality indicators for public hospitals.

PubMed

Simou, Effie; Pliatsika, Paraskevi; Koutsogeorgou, Eleni; Roumeliotou, Anastasia

2014-01-01

The current study describes the development of a preliminary set of quality indicators for public Greek National Health System (GNHS) hospitals, which were used in the "Health Monitoring Indicators System: Health Map" (Ygeionomikos Chartis) project, with the purpose that these quality indicators would assess the quality of all the aspects relevant to public hospital healthcare workforce and services provided. A literature review was conducted in the MEDLINE database to identify articles referring to international and national hospital quality assessment projects, together with an online search for relevant projects. Studies were included if they were published in English, from 1980 to 2010. A consensus panel took place afterwards with 40 experts in the field and tele-voting procedure. Twenty relevant projects and their 1698 indicators were selected through the literature search, and after the consensus panel process, a list of 67 indicators were selected to be implemented for the assessment of the public hospitals categorized under six distinct dimensions: Quality, Responsiveness, Efficiency, Utilization, Timeliness, and Resources and Capacity. Data gathered and analyzed in this manner provided a novel evaluation and monitoring system for Greece, which can assist decision-makers, healthcare professionals, and patients in Greece to retrieve relevant information, with the long-term goal to improve quality in care in the GNHS hospital sector. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effectiveness of knowledge translation strategies used in public health: a systematic review

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Literature related to the effectiveness of knowledge translation (KT) strategies used in public health is lacking. The capacity to seek, analyze, and synthesize evidence-based information in public health is linked to greater success in making policy choices that have the best potential to yield positive outcomes for populations. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify the effectiveness of KT strategies used to promote evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) among public health decision makers. Methods A search strategy was developed to identify primary studies published between 2000–2010. Studies were obtained from multiple electronic databases (CINAHL, Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews). Searches were supplemented by hand searching and checking the reference lists of included articles. Two independent review authors screened studies for relevance, assessed methodological quality of relevant studies, and extracted data from studies using standardized tools. Results After removal of duplicates, the search identified 64, 391 titles related to KT strategies. Following title and abstract review, 346 publications were deemed potentially relevant, of which 5 met all relevance criteria on full text screen. The included publications were of moderate quality and consisted of five primary studies (four randomized controlled trials and one interrupted time series analysis). Results were synthesized narratively. Simple or single KT strategies were shown in some circumstances to be as effective as complex, multifaceted ones when changing practice including tailored and targeted messaging. Multifaceted KT strategies led to changes in knowledge but not practice. Knowledge translation strategies shown to be less effective were passive and included access to registries of pre-processed research evidence or print materials. While knowledge brokering did not have a significant effect generally, results suggested that it did

Evaluation of unique identifiers used as keys to match identical publications in Pure and SciVal - a case study from health science.

PubMed

Madsen, Heidi Holst; Madsen, Dicte; Gauffriau, Marianne

2016-01-01

Unique identifiers (UID) are seen as an effective key to match identical publications across databases or identify duplicates in a database. The objective of the present study is to investigate how well UIDs work as match keys in the integration between Pure and SciVal, based on a case with publications from the health sciences. We evaluate the matching process based on information about coverage, precision, and characteristics of publications matched versus not matched with UIDs as the match keys. We analyze this information to detect errors, if any, in the matching process. As an example we also briefly discuss how publication sets formed by using UIDs as the match keys may affect the bibliometric indicators number of publications, number of citations, and the average number of citations per publication.  The objective is addressed in a literature review and a case study. The literature review shows that only a few studies evaluate how well UIDs work as a match key. From the literature we identify four error types: Duplicate digital object identifiers (DOI), incorrect DOIs in reference lists and databases, DOIs not registered by the database where a bibliometric analysis is performed, and erroneous optical or special character recognition. The case study explores the use of UIDs in the integration between the databases Pure and SciVal. Specifically journal publications in English are matched between the two databases. We find all error types except erroneous optical or special character recognition in our publication sets. In particular the duplicate DOIs constitute a problem for the calculation of bibliometric indicators as both keeping the duplicates to improve the reliability of citation counts and deleting them to improve the reliability of publication counts will distort the calculation of average number of citations per publication. The use of UIDs as a match key in citation linking is implemented in many settings, and the availability of UIDs may become

Climate Change and Public Health Surveillance: Toward a Comprehensive Strategy.

PubMed

Moulton, Anthony Drummond; Schramm, Paul John

Climate change poses a host of serious threats to human health that robust public health surveillance systems can help address. It is unknown, however, whether existing surveillance systems in the United States have adequate capacity to serve that role, nor what actions may be needed to develop adequate capacity. Our goals were to review efforts to assess and strengthen the capacity of public health surveillance systems to support health-related adaptation to climate change in the United States and to determine whether additional efforts are warranted. Building on frameworks issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we specified 4 core components of public health surveillance capacity relevant to climate change health threats. Using standard methods, we next identified and analyzed multiple assessments of the existing, relevant capacity of public health surveillance systems as well as attempts to improve that capacity. We also received information from selected national public health associations. Multiple federal, state, and local public health agencies, professional associations, and researchers have made valuable, initial efforts to assess and strengthen surveillance capacity. These efforts, however, have been made by entities working independently and without the benefit of a shared conceptual framework or strategy. Their principal focus has been on identifying suitable indicators and data sources largely to the exclusion of other core components of surveillance capacity. A more comprehensive and strategic approach is needed to build the public health surveillance capacity required to protect the health of Americans in a world of rapidly evolving climate change. Public health practitioners and policy makers at all levels can use the findings and issues reviewed in this article as they lead design and execution of a coordinated, multisector strategic plan to create and sustain that capacity.

Climate Change and Public Health Surveillance: Toward a Comprehensive Strategy

PubMed Central

Moulton, Anthony Drummond; Schramm, Paul John

2017-01-01

Context Climate change poses a host of serious threats to human health that robust public health surveillance systems can help address. It is unknown, however, whether existing surveillance systems in the United States have adequate capacity to serve that role, nor what actions may be needed to develop adequate capacity. Objective Our goals were to review efforts to assess and strengthen the capacity of public health surveillance systems to support health-related adaptation to climate change in the United States and to determine whether additional efforts are warranted. Methods Building on frameworks issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we specified 4 core components of public health surveillance capacity relevant to climate change health threats. Using standard methods, we next identified and analyzed multiple assessments of the existing, relevant capacity of public health surveillance systems as well as attempts to improve that capacity. We also received information from selected national public health associations. Findings Multiple federal, state, and local public health agencies, professional associations, and researchers have made valuable, initial efforts to assess and strengthen surveillance capacity. These efforts, however, have been made by entities working independently and without the benefit of a shared conceptual framework or strategy. Their principal focus has been on identifying suitable indicators and data sources largely to the exclusion of other core components of surveillance capacity. Conclusions A more comprehensive and strategic approach is needed to build the public health surveillance capacity required to protect the health of Americans in a world of rapidly evolving climate change. Public health practitioners and policy makers at all levels can use the findings and issues reviewed in this article as they lead design and execution of a coordinated, multisector strategic

A public utility model for managing public land recreation enterprises.

Treesearch

Tom Quinn

2002-01-01

Through review of relevant economic principles and judicial precedent, a case is made that public-land recreation enterprises are analogous to traditionally recognized public utilities. Given the historical concern over the societal value of recreation and associated pricing issues, public-land management policies failing to acknowledge these utility-like...

Publicly funded practice-oriented clinical trials: of importance for healthcare payers.

PubMed

Neyt, Mattias; Christiaens, Thierry; Demotes, Jacques; Walley, Tom; Hulstaert, Frank

2016-11-01

Many questions of relevance to patients/society are not answered by industry-sponsored clinical trials. We consider whether there are benefits to governments in funding practice-oriented clinical trials. A literature search including publications on institutions' websites was performed and supplemented with information gathered from (inter)national stakeholders. Areas were identified where public funding of clinical trials is of importance for society, such as head-to-head comparisons or medical areas where companies have no motivation to invest. The available literature suggests publicly funded research programs could provide a positive return on investment. The main hurdles (e.g., sufficient funding and absence of equipoise) and success factors (e.g., selection of research questions and research infrastructure) for the successful conduct of publicly funded trials were identified. Governments should see public funding of pragmatic practice-oriented clinical trials as a good opportunity to improve the selection and quality of treatments and stimulate efficient use of limited resources.

A NEW RELEVANCE ESTIMATOR FOR THE COMPILATION AND VISUALIZATION OF DISEASE PATTERNS AND POTENTIAL DRUG TARGETS.

PubMed

VON Korff, Modest; Fink, Tobias; Sander, Thomas

2017-01-01

A new computational method is presented to extract disease patterns from heterogeneous and text-based data. For this study, 22 million PubMed records were mined for co-occurrences of gene name synonyms and disease MeSH terms. The resulting publication counts were transferred into a matrix Mdata. In this matrix, a disease was represented by a row and a gene by a column. Each field in the matrix represented the publication count for a co-occurring disease-gene pair. A second matrix with identical dimensions Mrelevance was derived from Mdata. To create Mrelevance the values from Mdata were normalized. The normalized values were multiplied by the column-wise calculated Gini coefficient. This multiplication resulted in a relevance estimator for every gene in relation to a disease. From Mrelevance the similarities between all row vectors were calculated. The resulting similarity matrix Srelevance related 5,000 diseases by the relevance estimators calculated for 15,000 genes. Three diseases were analyzed in detail for the validation of the disease patterns and the relevant genes. Cytoscape was used to visualize and to analyze Mrelevance and Srelevance together with the genes and diseases. Summarizing the results, it can be stated that the relevance estimator introduced here was able to detect valid disease patterns and to identify genes that encoded key proteins and potential targets for drug discovery projects.

What do people with aphasia want to be able to say? A content analysis of words identified as personally relevant by people with aphasia.

PubMed

Palmer, Rebecca; Hughes, Helen; Chater, Tim

2017-01-01

Word finding is a common difficulty for people with aphasia. Targeting words that are relevant to the individual could maximise the usefulness and impact of word finding therapy. To provide insights into words that people with aphasia perceive to be personally relevant. 100 people with aphasia were each asked to identify 100 words that would be particularly important for them to be able to say. Two speech and language therapist researchers conducted a quantitative content analysis of the words selected. The words were coded into a framework of topics and subtopics. The frequency with which different words and topics were selected was then calculated. 100 participants representing 20 areas of the United Kingdom ranged in age from 23 to 85 years. Word finding difficulties ranged from mild to severe. The sample of 9999 words selected for practice included 3095 different words in 27 topics. The majority of words selected (79.4%) were from the topics 'food and drink' (30.6%), 'nature and gardening' (10.3%), 'entertainment' (9.4%), 'places' (7.3%), 'people' (6.7%), 'house' (6.5%), 'clothes' (5.2%) and 'travel' (3.5%). The 100 words types chosen with the greatest frequency were identified. These account for 27 percent of the 9999 words chosen by the participants. Personally relevant vocabulary is unique to each individual and is likely to contain specific or specialist words for which material needs to be individually prepared. However there is some commonality in the words chosen by people with aphasia. This could inform pre-prepared materials for use in word finding therapy from which personally relevant words could be selected for practice.

On Relevance Weight Estimation and Query Expansion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robertson, S. E.

1986-01-01

A Bayesian argument is used to suggest modifications to the Robertson and Jones relevance weighting formula to accommodate the addition to the query of terms taken from the relevant documents identified during the search. (Author)

Alumni survey of Masters of Public Health (MPH) training at the Hanoi School of Public Health

PubMed Central

Le, Linh Cu; Bui, Quyen Tu; Nguyen, Ha Thanh; Rotem, Arie

2007-01-01

Background 1) To elicit the opinions of the Public Health alumni of the MPH program; 2) To assess the applicability of the knowledge and skills acquired; 3) To identify the frequency of the public health competencies that the alumni performed. Methods We requested 187 graduates to complete a self-administered questionnaire and conducted in-depth interviews with 8 alumni as well as a focus group discussion with 14 alumni. Results In total 79.1% (148) of the MPH graduates completed and returned the questionnaire. Most alumni (91%) agreed that the MPH curriculum corresponded with the working requirements of public health professionals; and nearly all were satisfied with what they have learnt (96%). Most respondents said that the MPH program enabled them to develop relevant professional skills (95%) and that they were satisfied with the curriculum (90%). Notably fewer respondents (73%) felt that the MPH program structure was balanced and well designed. Most alumni (64.3%) were satisfied with Hanoi School of Public Health (HSPH) full-time lecturers; but even more (83%) were satisfied with visiting lecturers. The most commonly selected of the 34 pre-identified public health competencies were: applying computer skills (66.4%), planning and managing health programs (47.9%), communicating with the community and/or mobilizing the community to participate in health care (43.2%). Overall, the MPH alumni felt that HSPH emphasized research methods at the expense of some management and operational competencies. The most important challenges at work identified by the alumni were insufficient skills in: data analysis, decision making, inter-sectoral cooperation development, English language and training. Conclusion The training program should be reviewed and revised to meet the needs of its graduates who enter diverse situations and positions. English language skills were identified as top priority for further emphasis. The training program should comply with a more advanced

Return on investment of public health interventions: a systematic review

PubMed Central

Masters, Rebecca; Anwar, Elspeth; Collins, Brendan; Cookson, Richard; Capewell, Simon

2017-01-01

Background Public sector austerity measures in many high-income countries mean that public health budgets are reducing year on year. To help inform the potential impact of these proposed disinvestments in public health, we set out to determine the return on investment (ROI) from a range of existing public health interventions. Methods We conducted systematic searches on all relevant databases (including MEDLINE; EMBASE; CINAHL; AMED; PubMed, Cochrane and Scopus) to identify studies that calculated a ROI or cost-benefit ratio (CBR) for public health interventions in high-income countries. Results We identified 2957 titles, and included 52 studies. The median ROI for public health interventions was 14.3 to 1, and median CBR was 8.3. The median ROI for all 29 local public health interventions was 4.1 to 1, and median CBR was 10.3. Even larger benefits were reported in 28 studies analysing nationwide public health interventions; the median ROI was 27.2, and median CBR was 17.5. Conclusions This systematic review suggests that local and national public health interventions are highly cost-saving. Cuts to public health budgets in high income countries therefore represent a false economy, and are likely to generate billions of pounds of additional costs to health services and the wider economy. PMID:28356325

Assessing Public Issues Knowledge and Needs of Extension Agents in Florida

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gay, Keegan D.; Owens, Courtney T.; Lamm, Alexa J.; Rumble, Joy N.

2017-01-01

It has been argued that to remain relevant in today's society, Extension must expand its role to provide public issues education. We conducted a web-based survey to determine whether Extension agents in Florida were prepared to deal with contentious issues. Survey respondents identified issues affecting their clientele, levels of frequency with…

How to exploit twitter for public health monitoring?

PubMed

Denecke, K; Krieck, M; Otrusina, L; Smrz, P; Dolog, P; Nejdl, W; Velasco, E

2013-01-01

Detecting hints to public health threats as early as possible is crucial to prevent harm from the population. However, many disease surveillance strategies rely upon data whose collection requires explicit reporting (data transmitted from hospitals, laboratories or physicians). Collecting reports takes time so that the reaction time grows. Moreover, context information on individual cases is often lost in the collection process. This paper describes a system that tries to address these limitations by processing social media for identifying information on public health threats. The primary objective is to study the usefulness of the approach for supporting the monitoring of a population's health status. The developed system works in three main steps: Data from Twitter, blogs, and forums as well as from TV and radio channels are continuously collected and filtered by means of keyword lists. Sentences of relevant texts are classified relevant or irrelevant using a binary classifier based on support vector machines. By means of statistical methods known from biosurveillance, the relevant sentences are further analyzed and signals are generated automatically when unexpected behavior is detected. From the generated signals a subset is selected for presentation to a user by matching with user queries or profiles. In a set of evaluation experiments, public health experts assessed the generated signals with respect to correctness and relevancy. In particular, it was assessed how many relevant and irrelevant signals are generated during a specific time period. The experiments show that the system provides information on health events identified in social media. Signals are mainly generated from Twitter messages posted by news agencies. Personal tweets, i.e. tweets from persons observing some symptoms, only play a minor role for signal generation given a limited volume of relevant messages. Relevant signals referring to real world outbreaks were generated by the system and

Retrieval of publications addressing shared decision making: an evaluation of full-text searches on medical journal websites.

PubMed

Blanc, Xavier; Collet, Tinh-Hai; Auer, Reto; Iriarte, Pablo; Krause, Jan; Légaré, France; Cornuz, Jacques; Clair, Carole

2015-04-07

Full-text searches of articles increase the recall, defined by the proportion of relevant publications that are retrieved. However, this method is rarely used in medical research due to resource constraints. For the purpose of a systematic review of publications addressing shared decision making, a full-text search method was required to retrieve publications where shared decision making does not appear in the title or abstract. The objective of our study was to assess the efficiency and reliability of full-text searches in major medical journals for identifying shared decision making publications. A full-text search was performed on the websites of 15 high-impact journals in general internal medicine to look up publications of any type from 1996-2011 containing the phrase "shared decision making". The search method was compared with a PubMed search of titles and abstracts only. The full-text search was further validated by requesting all publications from the same time period from the individual journal publishers and searching through the collected dataset. The full-text search for "shared decision making" on journal websites identified 1286 publications in 15 journals compared to 119 through the PubMed search. The search within the publisher-provided publications of 6 journals identified 613 publications compared to 646 with the full-text search on the respective journal websites. The concordance rate was 94.3% between both full-text searches. Full-text searching on medical journal websites is an efficient and reliable way to identify relevant articles in the field of shared decision making for review or other purposes. It may be more widely used in biomedical research in other fields in the future, with the collaboration of publishers and journals toward open-access data.

Tracking uptake of innovations from the European Union Public Health Programme.

PubMed

Voss, Margaretha; Alexanderson, Kristina; McCarthy, Mark

2013-11-01

The European Commission developed the Public Health Programme to enable cross-national innovation and transfer in fields of health information, health threats and health promotion. PHIRE (Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe), a collaboration of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) with seven partners, addressed the uptake of these public health innovation projects at country level. EUPHA thematic sections lead on areas of public health practice and research and experts can choose to be section members. The section presidents of seven sections chose eight European public health projects, starting in the EU Public Health Programme in 2003-05, that provided new knowledge for practice and covered a majority of the EU countries. A web-based questionnaire recorded country informants' (CIs) perceptions of uptake, assessed as relevance and dissemination to a range of public and non-governmental organizations. 108 CIs individually described the eight innovations in an average of 14 (46%) of the 30 European countries. Three of the eight innovations were considered of high relevance by >60% of respondents and at least 70% of informants considered seven of the eight innovation projects as of high or moderate relevance. Dissemination was noted across governmental, professional and academic settings, with high impact on knowledge/awareness for at least 30% of CIs. Some projects had uptake within the policy cycle in particular countries and connected strongly with academics and professionals. Projects working at local level had less visibility nationally and some projects were unknown to national respondents. European Union funding for public health can contribute to cross-national knowledge transfer and uptake of innovations. More attention is needed to classify, characterize and identify public health innovations and to demonstrate their direct contribution to European health and well-being.

Do Commonly Used Functional Outcome Measures Capture Activities that Are Relevant for People with Stroke in India?

PubMed

Prakash, V; Ganesan, Mohan; Vasanthan, R; Hariohm, K

2017-04-01

In India, post-stroke outcomes are determined using functional outcome measures (FOMs), the contents of which have not been validated for their relevance to the Indian population. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the cultural validity of five frequently used stroke-specific FOMs by comparing their contents with the problems reported by patients with stroke in India. Face-to-face structured interviews were conducted with 152 patients diagnosed with stroke in India. Problems and goals identified by the patients were compared to each item included in the FOMs used in stroke rehabilitation. The Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) and the Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) include items related to the most frequently identified problems. However, neither covers problems related to the need for squatting and sitting on the floor. Use of public transport and community walking are not included in the SIS. Leisure and recreational activities (e.g. gardening, reading books), cognitive and speech functions (e.g. memory, thinking) and bowel and bladder dysfunctions were the common items identified as "not a problem" or "not relevant" by the patients. Our findings suggest that the SIS and FAI are the most appropriate FOMs for patients with stroke in India as they include items related to the majority of problems identified by study participants. Many items on both measures, however, were identified as not a problem or not relevant. There is a need for developing culture-specific FOMs that incorporate all major concerns expressed by patients with stroke in India.

Participatory methods for Inuit public health promotion and programme evaluation in Nunatsiavut, Canada.

PubMed

Saini, Manpreet

2017-01-01

Engaging stakeholders is crucial for health promotion and programme evaluations; understanding how to best engage stakeholders is less clear, especially within Indigenous communities. The objectives of this thesis research were to use participatory methods to: (1) co-develop and evaluate a whiteboard video for use as a public health promotion tool in Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, and (2) develop and validate a framework for participatory evaluation of Inuit public health initiatives in Nunatsiavut, Labrador. Data collection tools included interactive workshops, community events, interviews, focus-group discussions and surveys. Results indicated the whiteboard video was an engaging and suitable medium for sharing public health messaging due to its contextually relevant elements. Participants identified 4 foundational evaluation framework components necessary to conduct appropriate evaluations, including: (1) community engagement, (2) collaborative evaluation development, (3) tailored evaluation data collection and (4) evaluation scope. This research illustrates stakeholder participation is critical to develop and evaluate contextually relevant public health initiatives in Nunatsiavut, Labrador and should be considered in other Indigenous communities.

Systematic review of public health branding.

PubMed

Evans, W Douglas; Blitstein, Jonathan; Hersey, James C; Renaud, Jeanette; Yaroch, Amy L

2008-12-01

Brands build relationships between consumers and products, services, or lifestyles by providing beneficial exchanges and adding value to their objects. Brands can be measured through associations that consumers hold for products and services. Public health brands are the associations that individuals hold for health behaviors, or lifestyles that embody multiple health behaviors. We systematically reviewed the literature on public health brands; developed a methodology for describing branded health messages and campaigns; and examined specific branding strategies across a range of topic areas, campaigns, and global settings. We searched the literature for published studies on public health branding available through all relevant, major online publication databases. Public health branding was operationalized as any manuscripts in the health, social science, and business literature on branding or brands in health promotion marketing. We developed formalized decision rules and applied them in identifying articles for review. We initially identified 154 articles and reviewed a final set of 37, 10 from Africa, Australia, and Europe. Branded health campaigns spanned most of the major domains of public health and numerous communication strategies and evaluation methodologies. Most studies provided clear information on planning, development, and evaluation of the branding effort, while some provided minimal information. Branded health messages typically are theory based, and there is a body of evidence on their behavior change effectiveness, especially in nutrition, tobacco control, and HIV/AIDS. More rigorous research is needed, however, on how branded health messages impact specific populations and behaviors.

Identifying Candidate Chemical-Disease Linkages ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Presentation at meeting on Environmental and Epigenetic Determinants of IBD in New York, NY on identifying candidate chemical-disease linkages by using AOPs to identify molecular initiating events and using relevant high throughput assays to screen for candidate chemicals. This hazard information is combined with exposure models to inform risk assessment. Presentation at meeting on Environmental and Epigenetic Determinants of IBD in New York, NY on identifying candidate chemical-disease linkages by using AOPs to identify molecular initiating events and using relevant high throughput assays to screen for candidate chemicals. This hazard information is combined with exposure models to inform risk assessment.

Use of a Market Survey in Identifying Potential Publics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruddock, Maryann S.

Perceptions of St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, by current students, alumni, Austin area high school seniors, and the general public were studied. Respondents' knowledge of the university and what they look for when choosing a school were assessed. About 500 general public respondents and about 300 respondents for each of the other groups…

What do people with aphasia want to be able to say? A content analysis of words identified as personally relevant by people with aphasia

PubMed Central

Hughes, Helen; Chater, Tim

2017-01-01

Background Word finding is a common difficulty for people with aphasia. Targeting words that are relevant to the individual could maximise the usefulness and impact of word finding therapy. Aims To provide insights into words that people with aphasia perceive to be personally relevant. Methods and procedures 100 people with aphasia were each asked to identify 100 words that would be particularly important for them to be able to say. Two speech and language therapist researchers conducted a quantitative content analysis of the words selected. The words were coded into a framework of topics and subtopics. The frequency with which different words and topics were selected was then calculated. Outcomes and results 100 participants representing 20 areas of the United Kingdom ranged in age from 23 to 85 years. Word finding difficulties ranged from mild to severe. The sample of 9999 words selected for practice included 3095 different words in 27 topics. The majority of words selected (79.4%) were from the topics ‘food and drink’ (30.6%), ‘nature and gardening’ (10.3%), ‘entertainment’ (9.4%), ‘places’ (7.3%), ‘people’ (6.7%), ‘house’ (6.5%), ‘clothes’ (5.2%) and ‘travel’ (3.5%). The 100 words types chosen with the greatest frequency were identified. These account for 27 percent of the 9999 words chosen by the participants. Discussion Personally relevant vocabulary is unique to each individual and is likely to contain specific or specialist words for which material needs to be individually prepared. However there is some commonality in the words chosen by people with aphasia. This could inform pre-prepared materials for use in word finding therapy from which personally relevant words could be selected for practice. PMID:28346518

100 Most Influential Publications in Scoliosis Surgery.

PubMed

Zhou, James Jun; Koltz, Michael T; Agarwal, Nitin; Tempel, Zachary J; Kanter, Adam S; Okonkwo, David O; Hamilton, D Kojo

2017-03-01

Bibliometric analysis. To apply the established technique of citation analysis to identify the 100 most influential articles in scoliosis surgery research published between 1900 and 2015. Previous studies have applied the technique of citation analysis to other areas of study. This is the first article to apply this technique to the field of scoliosis surgery. A two-step search of the Thomson Reuters Web of Science was conducted to identify all articles relevant to the field of scoliosis surgery. The top 100 articles with the most citations were identified based on analysis of titles and abstracts. Further statistical analysis was conducted to determine whether measures of author reputation and overall publication influence affected the rate at which publications were recognized and incorporated by other researchers in the field. Total citations for the final 100 publications included in the list ranged from 82 to 509. The period for publication ranged from 1954 to 2010. Most studies were published in the journal Spine (n = 63). The most frequently published topics of study were surgical techniques (n = 35) and outcomes (n = 35). Measures of author reputation (number of total studies in the top 100, number of first-author studies in the top 100) were found to have no effect on the rate at which studies were adopted by other researchers (number of years until first citation, and number of years until maximum citations). The number of citations/year a publication received was found to be negatively correlated with the rate at which it was adopted by other researchers, indicating that more influential manuscripts attained more rapid recognition by the scientific community at large. In assembling this publication, we have strived to identify and recognize the 100 most influential articles in scoliosis surgery research from 1900 to 2015. N/A.

Building public trust in uses of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act de-identified data.

PubMed

McGraw, Deven

2013-01-01

The aim of this paper is to summarize concerns with the de-identification standard and methodologies established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, and report some potential policies to address those concerns that were discussed at a recent workshop attended by industry, consumer, academic and research stakeholders. The target audience includes researchers, industry stakeholders, policy makers and consumer advocates concerned about preserving the ability to use HIPAA de-identified data for a range of important secondary uses. HIPAA sets forth methodologies for de-identifying health data; once such data are de-identified, they are no longer subject to HIPAA regulations and can be used for any purpose. Concerns have been raised about the sufficiency of HIPAA de-identification methodologies, the lack of legal accountability for unauthorized re-identification of de-identified data, and insufficient public transparency about de-identified data uses. Although there is little published evidence of the re-identification of properly de-identified datasets, such concerns appear to be increasing. This article discusses policy proposals intended to address de-identification concerns while maintaining de-identification as an effective tool for protecting privacy and preserving the ability to leverage health data for secondary purposes.

Evaluation of unique identifiers used as keys to match identical publications in Pure and SciVal – a case study from health science

PubMed Central

Madsen, Heidi Holst; Madsen, Dicte; Gauffriau, Marianne

2016-01-01

Unique identifiers (UID) are seen as an effective key to match identical publications across databases or identify duplicates in a database. The objective of the present study is to investigate how well UIDs work as match keys in the integration between Pure and SciVal, based on a case with publications from the health sciences. We evaluate the matching process based on information about coverage, precision, and characteristics of publications matched versus not matched with UIDs as the match keys. We analyze this information to detect errors, if any, in the matching process. As an example we also briefly discuss how publication sets formed by using UIDs as the match keys may affect the bibliometric indicators number of publications, number of citations, and the average number of citations per publication.  The objective is addressed in a literature review and a case study. The literature review shows that only a few studies evaluate how well UIDs work as a match key. From the literature we identify four error types: Duplicate digital object identifiers (DOI), incorrect DOIs in reference lists and databases, DOIs not registered by the database where a bibliometric analysis is performed, and erroneous optical or special character recognition. The case study explores the use of UIDs in the integration between the databases Pure and SciVal. Specifically journal publications in English are matched between the two databases. We find all error types except erroneous optical or special character recognition in our publication sets. In particular the duplicate DOIs constitute a problem for the calculation of bibliometric indicators as both keeping the duplicates to improve the reliability of citation counts and deleting them to improve the reliability of publication counts will distort the calculation of average number of citations per publication. The use of UIDs as a match key in citation linking is implemented in many settings, and the availability of UIDs may become

Behavior analysis and public policy

PubMed Central

Fawcett, Stephen B.; Bernstein, Gail S.; Czyzewski, Mare J.; Greene, Brandon F.; Hannah, Gerald T.; Iwata, Brian A.; Jason, Leonard A.; Mathews, R. Mark; Morris, Edward K.; Otis-Wilborn, Amy; Seekins, Tom; Winett, Richard A.

1988-01-01

The Task Force on Public Policy was created to examine ways for behavior analysts to be more functional citizen scientists in the policymaking arena. This report informs readers about the contexts and processes of policymaking; and it outlines issues regarding the roles of behavior analysts in crating policy-relevant conceptual analyses, generating research data, and communicating policy-relevant information. We also discuss a possible role for the professional association in enhancing analysis, research, and advocacy on policies relevant to the public interest. PMID:22477991

Identifying Factors Associated with Risk Assessment Competencies of Public Health Emergency Responders.

PubMed

Hao, Jiejing; Ren, Jiaojiao; Wu, Qunhong; Hao, Yanhua; Sun, Hong; Ning, Ning; Ding, Ding

2017-06-04

This study aimed to better understand the current situation of risk assessment and identify the factors associated with competence of emergency responders in public health risk assessment. The participants were selected by a multi-stage, stratified cluster sampling method in Heilongjiang Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The questionnaires that measured their perceptions on risk assessment competences were administered through the face-to-face survey. A final sample of 1889 staff was obtained. Of this sample, 78.6% of respondents rated their own risk assessment competences as "relatively low", contrasting with 21.4% rated as "relatively high". Most of the respondents (62.7%) did not participate in any risk assessment work. Only 13.7% and 42.7% of respondents reported participating in risk assessment training and were familiar with risk assessment tools. There existed statistical significance between risk assessment-related characteristics of respondents and their self-rated competences scores. Financial support from the government and administrative attention were regarded as the important factors contributing to risk assessment competences of CDC responders. Higher attention should be given to risk assessment training and enhancing the availability of surveillance data. Continuous efforts should be made to remove the financial and technical obstacles to improve the competences of risk assessment for public health emergency responders.

A step-by-step guide to systematically identify all relevant animal studies.

PubMed

Leenaars, Marlies; Hooijmans, Carlijn R; van Veggel, Nieky; ter Riet, Gerben; Leeflang, Mariska; Hooft, Lotty; van der Wilt, Gert Jan; Tillema, Alice; Ritskes-Hoitinga, Merel

2012-01-01

Before starting a new animal experiment, thorough analysis of previously performed experiments is essential from a scientific as well as from an ethical point of view. The method that is most suitable to carry out such a thorough analysis of the literature is a systematic review (SR). An essential first step in an SR is to search and find all potentially relevant studies. It is important to include all available evidence in an SR to minimize bias and reduce hampered interpretation of experimental outcomes. Despite the recent development of search filters to find animal studies in PubMed and EMBASE, searching for all available animal studies remains a challenge. Available guidelines from the clinical field cannot be copied directly to the situation within animal research, and although there are plenty of books and courses on searching the literature, there is no compact guide available to search and find relevant animal studies. Therefore, in order to facilitate a structured, thorough and transparent search for animal studies (in both preclinical and fundamental science), an easy-to-use, step-by-step guide was prepared and optimized using feedback from scientists in the field of animal experimentation. The step-by-step guide will assist scientists in performing a comprehensive literature search and, consequently, improve the scientific quality of the resulting review and prevent unnecessary animal use in the future.

A step-by-step guide to systematically identify all relevant animal studies

PubMed Central

Leenaars, Marlies; Hooijmans, Carlijn R; van Veggel, Nieky; ter Riet, Gerben; Leeflang, Mariska; Hooft, Lotty; van der Wilt, Gert Jan; Tillema, Alice; Ritskes-Hoitinga, Merel

2012-01-01

Before starting a new animal experiment, thorough analysis of previously performed experiments is essential from a scientific as well as from an ethical point of view. The method that is most suitable to carry out such a thorough analysis of the literature is a systematic review (SR). An essential first step in an SR is to search and find all potentially relevant studies. It is important to include all available evidence in an SR to minimize bias and reduce hampered interpretation of experimental outcomes. Despite the recent development of search filters to find animal studies in PubMed and EMBASE, searching for all available animal studies remains a challenge. Available guidelines from the clinical field cannot be copied directly to the situation within animal research, and although there are plenty of books and courses on searching the literature, there is no compact guide available to search and find relevant animal studies. Therefore, in order to facilitate a structured, thorough and transparent search for animal studies (in both preclinical and fundamental science), an easy-to-use, step-by-step guide was prepared and optimized using feedback from scientists in the field of animal experimentation. The step-by-step guide will assist scientists in performing a comprehensive literature search and, consequently, improve the scientific quality of the resulting review and prevent unnecessary animal use in the future. PMID:22037056

Cooperation or Competition: Does Game Theory Have Relevance for Public Health?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westhoff, Wayne W.; Cohen, Cynthia F.; Cooper, Elizabeth Elliott; Corvin, Jaime; McDermott, Robert J.

2012-01-01

In this paper, we use game theory to understand decisions to cooperate or to compete in the delivery of public health services. Health care is a quasi-public good that is often associated with altruistic behavior, yet it operates in an increasingly competitive environment. With mounting health care regulation and changes in privatization,…

Making processes reliable: a validated pubmed search strategy for identifying new or emerging technologies.

PubMed

Varela-Lema, Leonora; Punal-Riobóo, Jeanette; Acción, Beatriz Casal; Ruano-Ravina, Alberto; García, Marisa López

2012-10-01

Horizon scanning systems need to handle a wide range of sources to identify new or emerging health technologies. The objective of this study is to develop a validated Medline bibliographic search strategy (PubMed search engine) to systematically identify new or emerging health technologies. The proposed Medline search strategy combines free text terms commonly used in article titles to denote innovation within index terms that make reference to the specific fields of interest. Efficacy was assessed by running the search over a period of 1 year (2009) and analyzing its retrieval performance (number and characteristics). For comparison purposes, all article abstracts published during 2009 in six preselected key research journals and eight high impact surgery journals were scanned. Sensitivity was defined as the proportion of relevant new or emerging technologies published in key journals that would be identified in the search strategy within the first 2 years of publication. The search yielded 6,228 abstracts of potentially new or emerging technologies. Of these, 459 were classified as new or emerging (383 truly new or emerging and 76 new indications). The scanning of 12,061 journal abstracts identified 35 relevant new or emerging technologies. Of these, twenty-nine were located within the Medline search strategy during the first 2 years of publication (sensitivity = 83 percent). The current search strategy, validated against key journals, has demonstrated to be effective for horizon scanning. Even though it can require adaptations depending on the scope of the horizon scanning system, it could serve to simplify and standardize scanning processes.

The Use of Social Networking Sites for Public Health Practice and Research: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Cole, Kate; Echavarría, Maria I; Joe, Jonathan; Neogi, Tina; Turner, Anne M

2014-01-01

Background Social networking sites (SNSs) have the potential to increase the reach and efficiency of essential public health services, such as surveillance, research, and communication. Objective The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to identify the use of SNSs for public health research and practice and to identify existing knowledge gaps. Methods We performed a systematic literature review of articles related to public health and SNSs using PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL to search for peer-reviewed publications describing the use of SNSs for public health research and practice. We also conducted manual searches of relevant publications. Each publication was independently reviewed by 2 researchers for inclusion and extracted relevant study data. Results A total of 73 articles met our inclusion criteria. Most articles (n=50) were published in the final 2 years covered by our search. In all, 58 articles were in the domain of public health research and 15 were in public health practice. Only 1 study was conducted in a low-income country. Most articles (63/73, 86%) described observational studies involving users or usages of SNSs; only 5 studies involved randomized controlled trials. A large proportion (43/73, 59%) of the identified studies included populations considered hard to reach, such as young individuals, adolescents, and individuals at risk of sexually transmitted diseases or alcohol and substance abuse. Few articles (2/73, 3%) described using the multidirectional communication potential of SNSs to engage study populations. Conclusions The number of publications about public health uses for SNSs has been steadily increasing in the past 5 years. With few exceptions, the literature largely consists of observational studies describing users and usages of SNSs regarding topics of public health interest. More studies that fully exploit the communication tools embedded in SNSs and study their potential to produce significant effects

Defining and Developing a Global Public Health Course for Public Health Graduates.

PubMed

Karkee, Rajendra; Comfort, Jude; Alfonso, Helman

2015-01-01

Global public health is increasingly being seen as a speciality field within the university education of public health. However, the exact meaning of global public health is still unclear, resulting in varied curricula and teaching units among universities. The contextual differences between high- and low- and middle-income countries, and the process of globalization need to be taken into account while developing any global public health course. Global public health and public health are not separable and global public health often appears as an extension of public health in the era of globalization and interdependence. Though global public health is readily understood as health of global population, it is mainly practiced as health problems and their solutions set within low- and middle-income countries. Additional specialist competencies relevant to the context of low- and middle-income countries are needed to work in this field. Although there can be a long list of competencies relevant to this broad topic, available literature suggests that knowledge and skills related with ethics and vulnerable groups/issues; globalization and its impact on health; disease burden; culture, society, and politics; and management are important.

Using Twitter to Identify and Respond to Food Poisoning: The Food Safety STL Project.

PubMed

Harris, Jenine K; Hawkins, Jared B; Nguyen, Leila; Nsoesie, Elaine O; Tuli, Gaurav; Mansour, Raed; Brownstein, John S

Foodborne illness affects 1 in 4 US residents each year. Few of those sickened seek medical care or report the illness to public health authorities, complicating prevention efforts. Citizens who report illness identify food establishments with more serious and critical violations than found by regular inspections. New media sources, including online restaurant reviews and social media postings, have the potential to improve reporting. We implemented a Web-based Dashboard (HealthMap Foodborne Dashboard) to identify and respond to tweets about food poisoning from St Louis City residents. This report examines the performance of the Dashboard in its first 7 months after implementation in the City of St Louis Department of Health. We examined the number of relevant tweets captured and replied to, the number of foodborne illness reports received as a result of the new process, and the results of restaurant inspections following each report. In its first 7 months (October 2015-May 2016), the Dashboard captured 193 relevant tweets. Our replies to relevant tweets resulted in more filed reports than several previously existing foodborne illness reporting mechanisms in St Louis during the same time frame. The proportion of restaurants with food safety violations was not statistically different (P = .60) in restaurants inspected after reports from the Dashboard compared with those inspected following reports through other mechanisms. The Dashboard differs from other citizen engagement mechanisms in its use of current data, allowing direct interaction with constituents on issues when relevant to the constituent to provide time-sensitive education and mobilizing information. In doing so, the Dashboard technology has potential for improving foodborne illness reporting and can be implemented in other areas to improve response to public health issues such as suicidality, spread of Zika virus infection, and hospital quality.

Using Twitter to Identify and Respond to Food Poisoning: The Food Safety STL Project

PubMed Central

Hawkins, Jared B.; Nguyen, Leila; Nsoesie, Elaine O.; Tuli, Gaurav; Mansour, Raed; Brownstein, John S.

2017-01-01

Context: Foodborne illness affects 1 in 4 US residents each year. Few of those sickened seek medical care or report the illness to public health authorities, complicating prevention efforts. Citizens who report illness identify food establishments with more serious and critical violations than found by regular inspections. New media sources, including online restaurant reviews and social media postings, have the potential to improve reporting. Objective: We implemented a Web-based Dashboard (HealthMap Foodborne Dashboard) to identify and respond to tweets about food poisoning from St Louis City residents. Design and Setting: This report examines the performance of the Dashboard in its first 7 months after implementation in the City of St Louis Department of Health. Main Outcome Measures: We examined the number of relevant tweets captured and replied to, the number of foodborne illness reports received as a result of the new process, and the results of restaurant inspections following each report. Results: In its first 7 months (October 2015-May 2016), the Dashboard captured 193 relevant tweets. Our replies to relevant tweets resulted in more filed reports than several previously existing foodborne illness reporting mechanisms in St Louis during the same time frame. The proportion of restaurants with food safety violations was not statistically different (P = .60) in restaurants inspected after reports from the Dashboard compared with those inspected following reports through other mechanisms. Conclusion: The Dashboard differs from other citizen engagement mechanisms in its use of current data, allowing direct interaction with constituents on issues when relevant to the constituent to provide time-sensitive education and mobilizing information. In doing so, the Dashboard technology has potential for improving foodborne illness reporting and can be implemented in other areas to improve response to public health issues such as suicidality, spread of Zika virus

Building public trust in uses of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act de-identified data

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Objectives The aim of this paper is to summarize concerns with the de-identification standard and methodologies established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, and report some potential policies to address those concerns that were discussed at a recent workshop attended by industry, consumer, academic and research stakeholders. Target audience The target audience includes researchers, industry stakeholders, policy makers and consumer advocates concerned about preserving the ability to use HIPAA de-identified data for a range of important secondary uses. Scope HIPAA sets forth methodologies for de-identifying health data; once such data are de-identified, they are no longer subject to HIPAA regulations and can be used for any purpose. Concerns have been raised about the sufficiency of HIPAA de-identification methodologies, the lack of legal accountability for unauthorized re-identification of de-identified data, and insufficient public transparency about de-identified data uses. Although there is little published evidence of the re-identification of properly de-identified datasets, such concerns appear to be increasing. This article discusses policy proposals intended to address de-identification concerns while maintaining de-identification as an effective tool for protecting privacy and preserving the ability to leverage health data for secondary purposes. PMID:22735615

Reframing climate change as a public health issue: an exploratory study of public reactions.

PubMed

Maibach, Edward W; Nisbet, Matthew; Baldwin, Paula; Akerlof, Karen; Diao, Guoqing

2010-06-01

Climate change is taking a toll on human health, and some leaders in the public health community have urged their colleagues to give voice to its health implications. Previous research has shown that Americans are only dimly aware of the health implications of climate change, yet the literature on issue framing suggests that providing a novel frame--such as human health--may be potentially useful in enhancing public engagement. We conducted an exploratory study in the United States of people's reactions to a public health-framed short essay on climate change. U.S. adult respondents (n = 70), stratified by six previously identified audience segments, read the essay and were asked to highlight in green or pink any portions of the essay they found "especially clear and helpful" or alternatively "especially confusing or unhelpful." Two dependent measures were created: a composite sentence-specific score based on reactions to all 18 sentences in the essay; and respondents' general reactions to the essay that were coded for valence (positive, neutral, or negative). We tested the hypothesis that five of the six audience segments would respond positively to the essay on both dependent measures. There was clear evidence that two of the five segments responded positively to the public health essay, and mixed evidence that two other responded positively. There was limited evidence that the fifth segment responded positively. Post-hoc analysis showed that five of the six segments responded more positively to information about the health benefits associated with mitigation-related policy actions than to information about the health risks of climate change. Presentations about climate change that encourage people to consider its human health relevance appear likely to provide many Americans with a useful and engaging new frame of reference. Information about the potential health benefits of specific mitigation-related policy actions appears to be particularly compelling. We

Identifying newly acquired cases of hepatitis C using surveillance: a literature review.

PubMed

Sacks-Davis, R; VAN Gemert, C; Bergeri, I; Stoove, M; Hellard, M

2012-11-01

Surveillance of newly acquired hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is crucial for understanding the epidemiology of HCV and informing public health practice. However, monitoring such infections via surveillance systems is challenging because they are commonly asymptomatic. A literature review was conducted to identify methodologies used by HCV surveillance systems to identify newly acquired infections; relevant surveillance systems in 15 countries were identified. Surveillance systems used three main strategies to identify newly acquired infections: (1) asking physicians to classify cases; (2) identifying symptomatic cases or cases with elevated alanine aminotransferases; and (3) identifying cases with documented evidence of anti-HCV antibody seroconversion within a specific time-frame. Case-ascertainment methods varied with greater completeness of data in enhanced compared to passive surveillance systems. Automated systems that extract and link testing data from multiple laboratory and clinic databases may provide an opportunity for collecting testing histories for individuals that is less resource intensive than enhanced surveillance.

Identifying Factors Associated with Risk Assessment Competencies of Public Health Emergency Responders

PubMed Central

Hao, Jiejing; Ren, Jiaojiao; Wu, Qunhong; Hao, Yanhua; Sun, Hong; Ning, Ning; Ding, Ding

2017-01-01

This study aimed to better understand the current situation of risk assessment and identify the factors associated with competence of emergency responders in public health risk assessment. The participants were selected by a multi-stage, stratified cluster sampling method in Heilongjiang Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The questionnaires that measured their perceptions on risk assessment competences were administered through the face-to-face survey. A final sample of 1889 staff was obtained. Of this sample, 78.6% of respondents rated their own risk assessment competences as “relatively low”, contrasting with 21.4% rated as “relatively high”. Most of the respondents (62.7%) did not participate in any risk assessment work. Only 13.7% and 42.7% of respondents reported participating in risk assessment training and were familiar with risk assessment tools. There existed statistical significance between risk assessment-related characteristics of respondents and their self-rated competences scores. Financial support from the government and administrative attention were regarded as the important factors contributing to risk assessment competences of CDC responders. Higher attention should be given to risk assessment training and enhancing the availability of surveillance data. Continuous efforts should be made to remove the financial and technical obstacles to improve the competences of risk assessment for public health emergency responders. PMID:28587226

Use of the VITEK 2 system to identify and test the antifungal susceptibility of clinically relevant yeast species

PubMed Central

Melhem, MSC; Bertoletti, A; Lucca, HRL; Silva, RBO; Meneghin, FA; Szeszs, MW

2013-01-01

Eleven quality control isolates (Candida albicans ATCC 64548, C. tropicalis ATCC 200956, C. glabrata ATCC 90030, C. lusitaniae ATCC 200951, C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019, C. krusei ATCC 6258, C. dubliniensis ATCC 6330, Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 9763, Cryptococcus neoformans ATCC 90012, C. gattii FIOCRUZ-CPF 60, and Trichosporon mucoides ATCC 204094) and 32 bloodstream isolates, including C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. guilliermondii, C. pelliculosa (Pichia anomala), C. haemulonii, C. lusitaniae, and C. kefyr were identified at the species level by the VITEK 2 system. A set of clinical isolates (32 total) were used as challenge strains to evaluate the ability of the VITEK 2 system to determine the antifungal susceptibility of yeasts compared with the CLSI and EUCAST BMD reference standards. The VITEK 2 system correctly identified 100% of the challenge strains. The identification of yeast species and the evaluation of their susceptibility profiles were performed in an automated manner by the VITEK 2 system after approximately 15 h of growth for most species of Candida. The VITEK 2 system ensures that each test is performed in a standardized manner and provides quantitative MIC results that are reproducible and accurate when compared with the BMD reference methods. This system was able to determine the MICs of amphotericin B, flucytosine, voriconazole, and fluconazole in 15 h or less for the most common clinically relevant Candida species. In addition, the VITEK 2 system could reliably identify resistance to flucytosine, voriconazole, and fluconazole and exhibits excellent quantitative and qualitative agreement with the CLSI or EUCAST broth microdilution reference methods. PMID:24688520

The architectural relevance of cybernetics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Frazer, J.H.

1993-12-31

This title is taken from an article by Gordon Pask in Architectural Design September 1969. It raises a number of questions which this article attempts to answer. How did Gordon come to be writing for an architectural publication? What was his contribution to architecture? How does he now come to be on the faculty of a school of architecture? And what indeed is the architectural relevance of cybernetics? 12 refs.

Techniques for identifying cross-disciplinary and 'hard-to-detect' evidence for systematic review.

PubMed

O'Mara-Eves, Alison; Brunton, Ginny; McDaid, David; Kavanagh, Josephine; Oliver, Sandy; Thomas, James

2014-03-01

Driven by necessity in our own complex review, we developed alternative systematic ways of identifying relevant evidence where the key concepts are generally not focal to the primary studies' aims and are found across multiple disciplines-that is, hard-to-detect evidence. Specifically, we sought to identify evidence on community engagement in public health interventions that aim to reduce health inequalities. Our initial search strategy used text mining to identify synonyms for the concept 'community engagement'. We conducted a systematic search for reviews on public health interventions, supplemented by searches of trials databases. We then used information in the reviews' evidence tables to gather more information about the included studies than was evident in the primary studies' own titles or abstracts. We identified 319 primary studies cited in reviews after full-text screening. In this paper, we retrospectively reflect on the challenges and benefits of the approach taken. We estimate that more than a quarter of the studies that were identified would have been missed by typical searching and screening methods. This identification strategy was highly effective and could be useful for reviews of broad research questions, or where the key concepts are unlikely to be the main focus of primary research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Horizon scanning of new and emerging medical technology in Australia: its relevance to Medical Services Advisory Committee health technology assessments and public funding.

PubMed

O'Malley, Sue P; Jordan, Ernest

2009-07-01

In 1998, a formal process using full health technology assessments (HTAs) was implemented to determine the suitability for public subsidy of new and emerging medical technologies in the Australian private healthcare sector. This process is overseen by the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC). In 2004, horizon scanning was introduced in Australia with the stated objective of identifying new and emerging medical technologies into the public healthcare sector, with consideration to the publicly subsidized private healthcare sector. How well horizon scanning works in identifying new and emerging technologies suitable for government subsidized funding in the private healthcare sector is examined in this study. A descriptive evaluation of the impact of horizon scanning as an early alert and awareness system identifying new and emerging technologies before these technologies are submitted to MSAC for a full HTA. All MSAC HTAs commenced after the introduction of horizon scanning in 2004 were cross-checked with the list of Prioritizing Summaries or Horizon Scanning Reports to determine whether a prior Prioritizing Summary or Horizon Scanning Report had been carried out. Of the forty-three technologies that were the subject of a full MSAC HTAs in the time period examined, only eleven had been the subject of either a Prioritizing Summary or Horizon Scanning Report. As a result of a full MSAC HTA, twelve of the technologies that were not the subject of a Prioritizing Summary or Horizon Scanning Report were given positive recommendations for public funding. Horizon scanning was set up to scan the introduction of new and emerging medical technologies into the public healthcare sector, with consideration to the publicly subsidized private healthcare sector. Based on the number of new and emerging technologies that have been the subject of a full MSAC HTA without first being subjected to either a Prioritizing Summary or Horizon Scanning Report, horizon scanning in Australia

How do you assign persistent identifiers to extracts from large, complex, dynamic data sets that underpin scholarly publications?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wyborn, Lesley; Car, Nicholas; Evans, Benjamin; Klump, Jens

2016-04-01

Persistent identifiers in the form of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) are becoming more mainstream, assigned at both the collection and dataset level. For static datasets, this is a relatively straight-forward matter. However, many new data collections are dynamic, with new data being appended, models and derivative products being revised with new data, or the data itself revised as processing methods are improved. Further, because data collections are becoming accessible as services, researchers can log in and dynamically create user-defined subsets for specific research projects: they also can easily mix and match data from multiple collections, each of which can have a complex history. Inevitably extracts from such dynamic data sets underpin scholarly publications, and this presents new challenges. The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) has been experiencing and making progress towards addressing these issues. The NCI is large node of the Research Data Services initiative (RDS) of the Australian Government's research infrastructure, which currently makes available over 10 PBytes of priority research collections, ranging from geosciences, geophysics, environment, and climate, through to astronomy, bioinformatics, and social sciences. Data are replicated to, or are produced at, NCI and then processed there to higher-level data products or directly analysed. Individual datasets range from multi-petabyte computational models and large volume raster arrays, down to gigabyte size, ultra-high resolution datasets. To facilitate access, maximise reuse and enable integration across the disciplines, datasets have been organized on a platform called the National Environmental Research Data Interoperability Platform (NERDIP). Combined, the NERDIP data collections form a rich and diverse asset for researchers: their co-location and standardization optimises the value of existing data, and forms a new resource to underpin data-intensive Science. New publication

A Relevant Model for Preparing Aspiring Superintendents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robicheau, Jerry; Haar, Jean

2008-01-01

The relevance of administrative preparation programs has been questioned. The questions center around how well programs are preparing school leaders to deal with the myriad of requirements placed in front of them (i.e. demands relate to issues of accountability, changing demographics, aging professionals, demanding publics, and school…

[Good governance of publicly-produced health services: ideas for moving forward].

PubMed

Freire, José Manuel; Repullo, Jose Ramon

2011-06-01

The good performance of publicly-produced health services is of vital importance, well beyond the health sector. Taking into account the great complexity of the health services in the public sector due both to their public and professional nature, we identify seven Gordian Knots as being responsible for the most frequent problems of publicly produced health services in Spain and Latin America. From the concept of good governance we take its character as a normative and ethical benchmark and its potential to renew and invigorate the government of the public sector. From comparative analysis of publicly-produced health services in the best performing countries, we extract eight characteristics which contribute significantly to good performance. A final reflection is on the relevance of the importance of offsetting the potential hostility to a reformist impulse of the status-quo with alliances that strengthen public trust and the social contract between health professionals and citizens based on the values of public health systems.

Ixodes ricinus and Its Transmitted Pathogens in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas in Europe: New Hazards and Relevance for Public Health

PubMed Central

Rizzoli, Annapaola; Silaghi, Cornelia; Obiegala, Anna; Rudolf, Ivo; Hubálek, Zdeněk; Földvári, Gábor; Plantard, Olivier; Vayssier-Taussat, Muriel; Bonnet, Sarah; Špitalská, Eva; Kazimírová, Mária

2014-01-01

Tick-borne diseases represent major public and animal health issues worldwide. Ixodes ricinus, primarily associated with deciduous and mixed forests, is the principal vector of causative agents of viral, bacterial, and protozoan zoonotic diseases in Europe. Recently, abundant tick populations have been observed in European urban green areas, which are of public health relevance due to the exposure of humans and domesticated animals to potentially infected ticks. In urban habitats, small and medium-sized mammals, birds, companion animals (dogs and cats), and larger mammals (roe deer and wild boar) play a role in maintenance of tick populations and as reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens. Presence of ticks infected with tick-borne encephalitis virus and high prevalence of ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., causing Lyme borreliosis, have been reported from urbanized areas in Europe. Emerging pathogens, including bacteria of the order Rickettsiales (Anaplasma phagocytophilum, “Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis,” Rickettsia helvetica, and R. monacensis), Borrelia miyamotoi, and protozoans (Babesia divergens, B. venatorum, and B. microti) have also been detected in urban tick populations. Understanding the ecology of ticks and their associations with hosts in a European urbanized environment is crucial to quantify parameters necessary for risk pre-assessment and identification of public health strategies for control and prevention of tick-borne diseases. PMID:25520947

Perceived Relevance of Educative Information on Public (Skin) Health: Results of a Representative, Population-Based Telephone Survey.

PubMed

Haluza, Daniela; Schwab, Markus; Simic, Stana; Cervinka, Renate; Moshammer, Hanns

2015-11-09

Individual skin health attitudes are influenced by various factors, including public education campaigns, mass media, family, and friends. Evidence-based, educative information materials assist communication and decision-making in doctor-patient interactions. The present study aims at assessing the prevailing use of skin health information material and sources and their impact on skin health knowledge, motives to tan, and sun protection. We conducted a questionnaire survey among a representative sample of Austrian residents. Print media and television were perceived as the two most relevant sources for skin health information, whereas the source physician was ranked third. Picking the information source physician increased participants' skin health knowledge (p = 0.025) and sun-protective behavior (p < 0.001). The study results highlight the demand for targeted health messages to attain lifestyle changes towards photo-protective habits. Providing resources that encourage pro-active counseling in every-day doctor-patient communication could increase skin health knowledge and sun-protective behavior, and thus, curb the rise in skin cancer incidence rates.

Public health ethics: from foundations and frameworks to justice and global public health.

PubMed

Kass, Nancy E

2004-01-01

Ethics dilemmas have been present throughout the history of public health, and bioethics has devoted considerable attention to issues relevant to public health. Only recently, however, has public health ethics emerged as a recognized subfield of bioethics. Public health ethics requires that public health improvement come through just and respectful means. Bioethics in the future not only will take on more issues of public ethics, but will apply it extensive scholarship in distributive justice to questions of global public health.

Migration: a core public health ethics issue.

PubMed

Wild, V; Dawson, A

2018-05-01

In this article, we outline the link between migration, public health and ethics. Discussing relevant arguments about migration from the perspective of public health and public health ethics. Critical review of theories and frameworks, case-based analysis and systematic identification and discussion of challenges. Migration is a core issue of public health ethics and must take a case-based approach: seeking to identify the specific ethical dimensions and vulnerabilities in each particular context. Public health as a practice, built upon the core value of justice, requires the protection and promotion of migrants' well-being (even if this produces tension with immigration services). Ethical analysis should take all phases of migration into account: before, during and after transit. We argue that migration policies, at least as they relate to migrants' well-being, should be founded upon a shared humanity, respect for human rights and on the idea that effective public health cannot and should not be confined within the borders and to the citizens of any host country. We make the case for migration to be seen as a core issue of public health ethics. Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Children living with a mentally ill parent: the role of public health nurses.

PubMed

Mahoney, Laurie

2010-08-01

Public Health Nurses work with children under 18 years in schools and the community. Increasingly children are living with a parent suffering from a mental illness. Consequently Public Health Nurses are encountering more mental illness as part of their practice. The research reported in this article aimed to identify the Public Health Nurse's role with regard to children in these circumstances. A qualitative research design was used with eight Public Health Nurses working in rural and urban settings. Participants engaged in a focus group from which data were gathered and analysed thematically using axial coding. To evaluate the identified themes six of the participants went on to take part in a further focus group. The three key themes identified were Advocacy, Assessment, and Relational Knowing and Clinical Practice. It emerged that the role of Public Health Nurses working with such families involved advocating for the child, using a range of assessment skills to gather relevant information and make referrals, with all informed by expert knowledge and clinical experience. Findings indicate the need for more acknowledgement of the frequency with which Public Health Nurses are encountering problems associated with mental illness; and hence the need for provision of appropriate education and support that will enable them to effectively advocate for children's safety and wellbeing.

Return on investment of public health interventions: a systematic review.

PubMed

Masters, Rebecca; Anwar, Elspeth; Collins, Brendan; Cookson, Richard; Capewell, Simon

2017-08-01

Public sector austerity measures in many high-income countries mean that public health budgets are reducing year on year. To help inform the potential impact of these proposed disinvestments in public health, we set out to determine the return on investment (ROI) from a range of existing public health interventions. We conducted systematic searches on all relevant databases (including MEDLINE; EMBASE; CINAHL; AMED; PubMed, Cochrane and Scopus) to identify studies that calculated a ROI or cost-benefit ratio (CBR) for public health interventions in high-income countries. We identified 2957 titles, and included 52 studies. The median ROI for public health interventions was 14.3 to 1, and median CBR was 8.3. The median ROI for all 29 local public health interventions was 4.1 to 1, and median CBR was 10.3. Even larger benefits were reported in 28 studies analysing nationwide public health interventions; the median ROI was 27.2, and median CBR was 17.5. This systematic review suggests that local and national public health interventions are highly cost-saving. Cuts to public health budgets in high income countries therefore represent a false economy, and are likely to generate billions of pounds of additional costs to health services and the wider economy. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Public health program capacity for sustainability: a new framework

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Public health programs can only deliver benefits if they are able to sustain activities over time. There is a broad literature on program sustainability in public health, but it is fragmented and there is a lack of consensus on core constructs. The purpose of this paper is to present a new conceptual framework for program sustainability in public health. Methods This developmental study uses a comprehensive literature review, input from an expert panel, and the results of concept-mapping to identify the core domains of a conceptual framework for public health program capacity for sustainability. The concept-mapping process included three types of participants (scientists, funders, and practitioners) from several public health areas (e.g., tobacco control, heart disease and stroke, physical activity and nutrition, and injury prevention). Results The literature review identified 85 relevant studies focusing on program sustainability in public health. Most of the papers described empirical studies of prevention-oriented programs aimed at the community level. The concept-mapping process identified nine core domains that affect a program’s capacity for sustainability: Political Support, Funding Stability, Partnerships, Organizational Capacity, Program Evaluation, Program Adaptation, Communications, Public Health Impacts, and Strategic Planning. Concept-mapping participants further identified 93 items across these domains that have strong face validity—89% of the individual items composing the framework had specific support in the sustainability literature. Conclusions The sustainability framework presented here suggests that a number of selected factors may be related to a program’s ability to sustain its activities and benefits over time. These factors have been discussed in the literature, but this framework synthesizes and combines the factors and suggests how they may be interrelated with one another. The framework presents domains for public health

Public health program capacity for sustainability: a new framework.

PubMed

Schell, Sarah F; Luke, Douglas A; Schooley, Michael W; Elliott, Michael B; Herbers, Stephanie H; Mueller, Nancy B; Bunger, Alicia C

2013-02-01

Public health programs can only deliver benefits if they are able to sustain activities over time. There is a broad literature on program sustainability in public health, but it is fragmented and there is a lack of consensus on core constructs. The purpose of this paper is to present a new conceptual framework for program sustainability in public health. This developmental study uses a comprehensive literature review, input from an expert panel, and the results of concept-mapping to identify the core domains of a conceptual framework for public health program capacity for sustainability. The concept-mapping process included three types of participants (scientists, funders, and practitioners) from several public health areas (e.g., tobacco control, heart disease and stroke, physical activity and nutrition, and injury prevention). The literature review identified 85 relevant studies focusing on program sustainability in public health. Most of the papers described empirical studies of prevention-oriented programs aimed at the community level. The concept-mapping process identified nine core domains that affect a program's capacity for sustainability: Political Support, Funding Stability, Partnerships, Organizational Capacity, Program Evaluation, Program Adaptation, Communications, Public Health Impacts, and Strategic Planning. Concept-mapping participants further identified 93 items across these domains that have strong face validity-89% of the individual items composing the framework had specific support in the sustainability literature. The sustainability framework presented here suggests that a number of selected factors may be related to a program's ability to sustain its activities and benefits over time. These factors have been discussed in the literature, but this framework synthesizes and combines the factors and suggests how they may be interrelated with one another. The framework presents domains for public health decision makers to consider when developing

Identifying relevant hyperspectral bands using Boruta: a temporal analysis of water hyacinth biocontrol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agjee, Na'eem Hoosen; Ismail, Riyad; Mutanga, Onisimo

2016-10-01

Water hyacinth plants (Eichhornia crassipes) are threatening freshwater ecosystems throughout Africa. The Neochetina spp. weevils are seen as an effective solution that can combat the proliferation of the invasive alien plant. We aimed to determine if multitemporal hyperspectral data could be utilized to detect the efficacy of the biocontrol agent. The random forest (RF) algorithm was used to classify variable infestation levels for 6 weeks using: (1) all the hyperspectral bands, (2) bands selected by the recursive feature elimination (RFE) algorithm, and (3) bands selected by the Boruta algorithm. Results showed that the RF model using all the bands successfully produced low-classification errors (12.50% to 32.29%) for all 6 weeks. However, the RF model using Boruta selected bands produced lower classification errors (8.33% to 15.62%) than the RF model using all the bands or bands selected by the RFE algorithm (11.25% to 21.25%) for all 6 weeks, highlighting the utility of Boruta as an all relevant band selection algorithm. All relevant bands selected by Boruta included: 352, 754, 770, 771, 775, 781, 782, 783, 786, and 789 nm. It was concluded that RF coupled with Boruta band-selection algorithm can be utilized to undertake multitemporal monitoring of variable infestation levels on water hyacinth plants.

Public health laboratory quality management in a developing country.

PubMed

Wangkahat, Khwanjai; Nookhai, Somboon; Pobkeeree, Vallerut

2012-01-01

The article aims to give an overview of the system of public health laboratory quality management in Thailand and to produce a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis that is relevant to public health laboratories in the country. The systems for managing laboratory quality that are currently employed were described in the first component. The second component was a SWOT analysis, which used the opinions of laboratory professionals to identify any areas that could be improved to meet quality management systems. Various quality management systems were identified and the number of laboratories that met both international and national quality management requirements was different. The SWOT analysis found the opportunities and strengths factors offered the best chance to improve laboratory quality management in the country. The results are based on observations and brainstorming with medical laboratory professionals who can assist laboratories in accomplishing quality management. The factors derived from the analysis can help improve laboratory quality management in the country. This paper provides viewpoints and evidence-based approaches for the development of best possible practice of services in public health laboratories.

Making Geoscience Data Relevant for Students, Teachers, and the Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taber, M.; Ledley, T. S.; Prakash, A.; Domenico, B.

2009-12-01

The scientific data collected by government funded research belongs to the public. As such, the scientific and technical communities are responsible to make scientific data accessible and usable by the educational community. However, much geoscience data are difficult for educators and students to find and use. Such data are generally described by metadata that are narrowly focused and contain scientific language. Thus, data access presents a challenge to educators in determining if a particular dataset is relevant to their needs, and to effectively access and use the data. The AccessData project (EAR-0623136, EAR-0305058) has developed a model for bridging the scientific and educational communities to develop robust inquiry-based activities using scientific datasets in the form of Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET, http://serc.carleton.edu/eet) chapters. EET chapters provide step-by-step instructions for accessing specific data and analyzing it with a software analysis tool to explore issues or concepts in science, technology, and mathematics. The AccessData model involves working directly with small teams made up of data providers from scientific data archives or research teams, data analysis tool specialists, scientists, curriculum developers, and educators (AccessData, http://serc.carleton.edu/usingdata/accessdata). The process involves a number of steps including 1) building of the team; 2) pre-workshop facilitation; 3) face-to-face 2.5 day workshop; 4) post-workshop follow-up; 5) completion and review of the EET chapter. The AccessData model has been evolved over a series of six annual workshops hosting ~10 teams each. This model has been expanded to other venues to explore expanding its scope and sustainable mechanisms. These venues include 1) workshops focused on the data collected by a large research program (RIDGE, EarthScope); 2) a workshop focused on developing a citizen scientist guide to conducting research; and 3) facilitating a team on an annual basis

Free software to analyse the clinical relevance of drug interactions with antiretroviral agents (SIMARV®) in patients with HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Giraldo, N A; Amariles, P; Monsalve, M; Faus, M J

Highly active antiretroviral therapy has extended the expected lifespan of patients with HIV/AIDS. However, the therapeutic benefits of some drugs used simultaneously with highly active antiretroviral therapy may be adversely affected by drug interactions. The goal was to design and develop a free software to facilitate analysis, assessment, and clinical decision making according to the clinical relevance of drug interactions in patients with HIV/AIDS. A comprehensive Medline/PubMed database search of drug interactions was performed. Articles that recognized any drug interactions in HIV disease were selected. The publications accessed were limited to human studies in English or Spanish, with full texts retrieved. Drug interactions were analyzed, assessed, and grouped into four levels of clinical relevance according to gravity and probability. Software to systematize the information regarding drug interactions and their clinical relevance was designed and developed. Overall, 952 different references were retrieved and 446 selected; in addition, 67 articles were selected from the citation lists of identified articles. A total of 2119 pairs of drug interactions were identified; of this group, 2006 (94.7%) were drug-drug interactions, 1982 (93.5%) had an identified pharmacokinetic mechanism, and 1409 (66.5%) were mediated by enzyme inhibition. In terms of clinical relevance, 1285 (60.6%) drug interactions were clinically significant in patients with HIV (levels 1 and 2). With this information, a software program that facilitates identification and assessment of the clinical relevance of antiretroviral drug interactions (SIMARV ® ) was developed. A free software package with information on 2119 pairs of antiretroviral drug interactions was designed and developed that could facilitate analysis, assessment, and clinical decision making according to the clinical relevance of drug interactions in patients with HIV/AIDS. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mapping International University Partnerships Identified by East African Universities as Strengthening Their Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health Programs.

PubMed

Yarmoshuk, Aaron N; Guantai, Anastasia Nkatha; Mwangu, Mughwira; Cole, Donald C; Zarowsky, Christina

International university partnerships are recommended for increasing the capacity of sub-Saharan African universities. Many publications describe individual partnerships and projects, and tools are available for guiding collaborations, but systematic mappings of the basic, common characteristics of partnerships are scarce. To document and categorize the international interuniversity partnerships deemed significant to building the capacity of medicine, nursing, and public health programs of 4 East African universities. Two universities in Kenya and 2 in Tanzania were purposefully selected. Key informant interviews, conducted with 42 senior representatives of the 4 universities, identified partnerships they considered significant for increasing the capacity of their institutions' medicine, nursing, and public health programs in education, research, or service. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Partners were classified by country of origin and corresponding international groupings, duration, programs, and academic health science components. One hundred twenty-nine university-to-university partnerships from 23 countries were identified. Each university reported between 25 and 36 international university partners. Seventy-four percent of partnerships were with universities in high-income countries, 15% in low- and middle-income countries, and 11% with consortia. Seventy percent included medicine, 37% nursing, and 45% public health; 15% included all 3 programs. Ninety-two percent included an education component, 47% research, and 24% service; 12% included all 3 components. This study confirms the rapid growth of interuniversity cross-border health partnerships this century. It also finds, however, that there is a pool of established international partnerships from numerous countries at each university. Most partnerships that seek to strengthen universities in East Africa should likely ensure they have a significant education component. Universities should make

Investigation of occupational asthma: Do clinicians fail to identify relevant occupational exposures?

PubMed Central

de Olim, Carlo; Bégin, Denis; Boulet, Louis-Philippe; Cartier, André; Gérin, Michel; Lemière, Catherine

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Specific inhalation challenges (SIC) enable the identification of the agent responsible of occupational asthma (OA). A clinician may fail to identify a specific agent in the workplace, which may potentially lead to a misdiagnosis. The expert assessment method performed by an occupational hygienist has been used to evaluate occupational exposures in epidemiological studies. OBJECTIVE: The broad aim of the present study was to evaluate the contribution of an expert assessment performed by an occupational hygienist to the diagnosis of OA. The specific aim was to compare work-place exposures identified by an occupational hygienist and by chest physicians in subjects with positive SICs and subjects with asthma, but with a negative SIC. METHODS: SICs were performed in 120 cases: 67 were positive and 53 were negative. A clinician assessed occupational exposures to sensitizers during a routine clinical evaluation preceding the performance of the SIC. An expert assessment of occupational exposures was performed by an occupational hygienist blind to the result of the SIC. RESULTS: The occupational hygienist identified the causal agent in 96.7% of the 61 cases of positive SIC. In 33 (62.3%) cases of negative SICs, the occupational hygienist identified ≥1 sensitizing agent(s) that had not been identified by the clinician. CONCLUSION: The hygienist identified the causal agent in almost all subjects with OA. In contrast, the clinician failed to identify potential exposures to sensitizers in >60% of the negative SIC subjects, which may have resulted in some subjects being misdiagnosed as not having OA. PMID:26422401

Leptospira interrogans at the human-wildlife interface in northern Botswana: a newly identified public health threat.

PubMed

Jobbins, S E; Sanderson, C E; Alexander, K A

2014-03-01

Leptospirosis is the most widespread zoonosis in the world. In northern Botswana, humans live in close proximity to a diversity of wildlife and peridomestic rodents and may be exposed to a variety of zoonotic pathogens. Little is known regarding the occurrence and epidemiology of L. interrogans in Africa despite the recognized global importance of this zoonotic disease and the threat it poses to public health. In Botswana, banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) live in close proximity to humans across protected and unprotected landscapes and may be a useful sentinel species for assessing the occurrence of zoonotic organisms, such as L. interrogans. We utilized PCR to screen banded mongoose kidneys for leptospiral DNA and identified 41.5% prevalence of renal carriage of L. interrogans (exact binomial 95% CI 27.7-56.7%, n = 41). Renal carriage was also detected in one Selous' mongoose (Paracynictis selousi). This is the first published confirmation of carriage of L. interrogans in either species. This is also the first report of L. interrogans occurrence in northern Botswana and the only report of this organism in a wildlife host in the country. Pathogenic Leptospira are usually transmitted indirectly to humans through soil or water contaminated with infected urine. Other avenues, such as direct contact between humans and wildlife, as well as consumption of mongooses and other wildlife as bushmeat, may pose additional exposure risk and must be considered in public health management of this newly identified zoonotic disease threat. There is a critical need to characterize host species involvement and pathogen transmission dynamics, including human-wildlife interactions that may increase human exposure potential and infection risk. We recommend that public health strategy be modified to include sensitization of medical practitioners to the presence of L. interrogans in the region, the potential for human infection, and implementation of clinical screening. This study

Review of Selected Dissertations Relevant to the "Journal of School Public Relations"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hurtado, DeAnn; McCue, Lesley

2012-01-01

The article provides summaries of doctoral dissertations completed between January 2008 and December 2011 addressing foci of the "Journal of School Public Relations". The five areas are public relations, communication, school and community relations, conflict management, and human resources management. The periodic summaries of these dissertations…

Contextual Hub Analysis Tool (CHAT): A Cytoscape app for identifying contextually relevant hubs in biological networks.

PubMed

Muetze, Tanja; Goenawan, Ivan H; Wiencko, Heather L; Bernal-Llinares, Manuel; Bryan, Kenneth; Lynn, David J

2016-01-01

Highly connected nodes (hubs) in biological networks are topologically important to the structure of the network and have also been shown to be preferentially associated with a range of phenotypes of interest. The relative importance of a hub node, however, can change depending on the biological context. Here, we report a Cytoscape app, the Contextual Hub Analysis Tool (CHAT), which enables users to easily construct and visualize a network of interactions from a gene or protein list of interest, integrate contextual information, such as gene expression or mass spectrometry data, and identify hub nodes that are more highly connected to contextual nodes (e.g. genes or proteins that are differentially expressed) than expected by chance. In a case study, we use CHAT to construct a network of genes that are differentially expressed in Dengue fever, a viral infection. CHAT was used to identify and compare contextual and degree-based hubs in this network. The top 20 degree-based hubs were enriched in pathways related to the cell cycle and cancer, which is likely due to the fact that proteins involved in these processes tend to be highly connected in general. In comparison, the top 20 contextual hubs were enriched in pathways commonly observed in a viral infection including pathways related to the immune response to viral infection. This analysis shows that such contextual hubs are considerably more biologically relevant than degree-based hubs and that analyses which rely on the identification of hubs solely based on their connectivity may be biased towards nodes that are highly connected in general rather than in the specific context of interest. CHAT is available for Cytoscape 3.0+ and can be installed via the Cytoscape App Store ( http://apps.cytoscape.org/apps/chat).

Design, Development, and Psychometric Analysis of a General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry Topic Inventory Based on the Identified Main Chemistry Topics Relevant to Nursing Clinical Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Corina E.

2013-01-01

This two-stage study focused on the undergraduate nursing course that covers topics in general, organic, and biological (GOB) chemistry. In the first stage, the central objective was to identify the main concepts of GOB chemistry relevant to the clinical practice of nursing. The collection of data was based on open-ended interviews of both nursing…

Considerations for increasing the competences and capacities of the public health workforce: assessing the training needs of public health workers in Texas

PubMed Central

Borders, Stephen; Blakely, Craig; Quiram, Barbara; McLeroy, Kenneth

2006-01-01

Background Over the last two decades, concern has been expressed about the readiness of the public health workforce to adequately address the scientific, technological, social, political and economic challenges facing the field. A 1988 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) served as a catalyst for the re-examination of the public health workforce. The IOM's call to increase the relevance of public health education and training prompted a renewed effort to identify competences needed by public health personnel and the organizations that employ them. Methods A recent evaluation sought to address the role of the 10 essential public health services in job services among the Texas public health workforce. Additionally, the evaluation examined the Texas public health workforce's need for training in the 10 essential public health services. Results and conclusion Overall, the level of perceived training needs varied dramatically by job category and health department type. When comparing aggregate training needs, public health workers with greater day-to-day contact (nurses, health educators) indicated a greater need for training than their peers who did not, such as those working in administrative positions. When prioritizing and designing future training modules regarding the 10 essential public health services, trainers should consider the effects of job function, location and contact with the public. PMID:16872494

Using News Media Databases (LexisNexis) To Identify Relevant Topics For Introductory Earth Science Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cervato, C.; Jach, J. Y.; Ridky, R.

2003-12-01

Introductory Earth science courses are undergoing pedagogical changes in universities across the country and are focusing more than ever on the non-science majors. Increasing enrollment of non-science majors in these introductory Earth science courses demands a new look at what is being taught and how the content can be objectively chosen. Assessing the content and effectiveness of these courses requires a quantitative investigation of introductory Earth science topics and their relevance to current issues and concerns. Relevance of Earth science topics can be linked to improved students' attitude toward science and a deeper understanding of concepts. We have used the Internet based national news search-engine LexisNexis Academic Universe (http://www.lexisnexis.org/) to select the occurrence of Earth science terms over the last 12 months, five and ten years both regionally and nationally. This database of term occurrences is being used to examine how Earth sciences have evolved in the news through the last 10 years and is also compared with textbook contents and course syllabi from randomly selected introductory earth science courses across the nation. These data constitute the quantitative foundation for this study and are being used to evaluate the relevance of introductory earth science course content. The relevance of introductory course content and current real-world issues to student attitudes is a crucial factor when considering changes in course curricula and pedagogy. We have examined students' conception of the nature of science and attitudes towards science and learning science using a Likert-scale assessment instrument in the fall 2002 Geology 100 classes at Iowa State University. A pre-test and post-test were administered to see if the students' attitudes changed during the semester using as reference a control group comprised of geoscience undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty. The results of the attitude survey have been analyzed in terms

Linking science, public values, and decision-making: Case study development for public deliberations about climate change resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weller, N.; Bennett, I.; Bernstein, M.; Farooque, M.; Lloyd, J.; Lowenthal, C.; Sittenfeld, D.

2016-12-01

Actionable science seeks to align scientific inquiry with decision-making priorities to overcome rifts between scientific knowledge and the needs of decision makers. Combining actionable science with explorations of public values and priorities creates useful support for decision makers facing uncertainty, tradeoffs, and limited resources. As part of a broader project to create public forums about climate change resilience, we convened workshops with decision makers, resilience experts, and community stakeholders to discuss climate change resilience. Our goals were 1) to create case studies of resilience strategies for use in public deliberations at science museums across 8 U.S. cities; and 2) to build relationships with decision makers and stakeholders interested in these public deliberations. Prior to workshops, we created summaries of resilience strategies using academic literature, government assessments, municipal resilience plans, and conversations with workshop participants. Workshops began with example deliberation activities followed by semi-structured discussions of resilience strategies centered on 4 questions: 1) What are the key decisions to be made regarding each strategy? 2) What stakeholders and perspectives are relevant to each strategy? 3) What available data are relevant to each strategy? 4) What visualizations or other resources are useful for communicating things about each strategy? Workshops yielded actionable dialogue regarding issues of justice, feasibility, and the socio-ecological-technical systems impacted by climate change hazards and resilience strategies. For example, discussions of drought revealed systemic and individual-level challenges and opportunities; discussions of sea level rise included ways to account for the cultural significance of many coastal communities. The workshops provide a model for identifying decision-making priorities and tradeoffs and building partnerships among stakeholders, scientists, and decision makers.

Public Engagement in Planetary Science through Europlanet Social Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heenatigala, T.

2017-09-01

From 'Save the Hubble' campaign to ESA's Rosetta mission, social media has played a major role in public engagement and continues to grow. However, with this growing number of social media platforms and the amount of content that goes public daily, the 'noise' level is high - making it difficult to reach a good, relevant audience. Hence, it's important to use different strategies with the content created, from launching a video to live session to issue a press release. Under the Horizon 2020, the Europlanet Media Centre[1] identifies the importance of using social media for outreach. Europlanet uses primary and secondary social media platforms strategically to engage with the followers and a new audience.

Identifying Future Disease Hot Spots: Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index.

PubMed

Moore, Melinda; Gelfeld, Bill; Okunogbe, Adeyemi; Paul, Christopher

2017-06-01

Recent high-profile outbreaks, such as Ebola and Zika, have illustrated the transnational nature of infectious diseases. Countries that are most vulnerable to such outbreaks might be higher priorities for technical support. RAND created the Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index to help U.S. government and international agencies identify these countries and thereby inform programming to preemptively help mitigate the spread and effects of potential transnational outbreaks. The authors employed a rigorous methodology to identify the countries most vulnerable to disease outbreaks. They conducted a comprehensive review of relevant literature to identify factors influencing infectious disease vulnerability. Using widely available data, the authors created an index for identifying potentially vulnerable countries and then ranked countries by overall vulnerability score. Policymakers should focus on the 25 most-vulnerable countries with an eye toward a potential "disease belt" in the Sahel region of Africa. The infectious disease vulnerability scores for several countries were better than what would have been predicted on the basis of economic status alone. This suggests that low-income countries can overcome economic challenges and become more resilient to public health challenges, such as infectious disease outbreaks.

Programmes and calls for public health research in European countries.

PubMed

Conceição, Claudia; Grimaud, Olivier; McCarthy, Mark; Barnhoorn, Floris; Sammut, Marvic; Saliba, Amanda; Katreniakova, Zuzana; Narkauskaité, Laura

2013-11-01

Public health research, at population and organizational level, needs to be identified independently within 'health' research from biomedicine and life sciences. In PHIRE (Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe), we investigated the extent and character of public health research calls and programmes in European countries. Country respondents, identified through national member associations of the European Public Health Association completed a standardized recording instrument. Public health research was defined, and the call period limited to the latest full year (2010). Of the 30 countries included (EU 27 plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), there were reports for 25 countries A simple classification of the calls was developed. There were 75 calls and programmes included. Of these, 41 (55%) together were in France and the UK, and 34 in a further 14 countries, while 9 countries reported there were no calls or programmes opened in 2010. Calls were categorized across diseases, behaviours, determinants, services and methodologies. Some calls were broad, while others--particularly in the countries with several calls--were more detailed towards specific issues. Levels of funding varied markedly and were difficult to define. Where stated, in 32 responses, 19 calls were only open to national applicants and 13 from abroad. Most European countries have competitive programmes and calls relevant for public health research, but they are poorly identified. Only a minority of countries present a wide range of topics and specific fields. Effort is needed to develop classifications for public health programmes and calls for public health research, improve information (including financial) collection to enable systematic comparisons and build greater recognition of public health research within research communities, with national and European research funding organizations, and for practitioners and policymakers.

Reflections on relevance: Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics in 2004.

PubMed

Balon, Richard

2005-01-01

Relevance of an article is a highly desirable yet hardly predictable quality at the time of its publication. Article relevance is frequently measured by the impact factor of the journal where the article is published. Furthermore, impact factor, citation index and citation analysis are used as a measure of research progress and scientific wealth of a nation. The wisdom and significance of this approach to relevance is debatable and thus discussed here. In 2004, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics published a variety of articles which, in the author's view, are clinically relevant. Several selected clinically relevant issues reviewed in this article include: the conceptualization of fibromyalgia as a stress disorder; the psychosocial impact and psychosocial interventions in cancer; the impact of alexithymia on patient care; the possible relationship between depression and nutrition (namely intake of folate and pyridoxal phosphate); the significance of hypercoagulability in panic-like anxiety; the questionable value of single isomer drugs, and the relevance and adequacy of clinimetrics versus psychometrics in clinical research. The reviewed issues seem to be relevant to clinical practice, research or both, but also to our critical thinking, and the critical review of the developments in psychiatry and psychology. Copyright 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Knowledge transfer on complex social interventions in public health: a scoping study.

PubMed

Dagenais, Christian; Malo, Marie; Robert, Émilie; Ouimet, Mathieu; Berthelette, Diane; Ridde, Valéry

2013-01-01

Scientific knowledge can help develop interventions that improve public health. The objectives of this review are (1) to describe the status of research on knowledge transfer strategies in the field of complex social interventions in public health and (2) to identify priorities for future research in this field. A scoping study is an exploratory study. After searching databases of bibliographic references and specialized periodicals, we summarized the relevant studies using a predetermined assessment framework. In-depth analysis focused on the following items: types of knowledge transfer strategies, fields of public health, types of publics, types of utilization, and types of research specifications. From the 1,374 references identified, we selected 26 studies. The strategies targeted mostly administrators of organizations and practitioners. The articles generally dealt with instrumental utilization and most often used qualitative methods. In general, the bias risk for the studies is high. Researchers need to consider the methodological challenges in this field of research in order to improve assessment of more complex knowledge transfer strategies (when they exist), not just diffusion/dissemination strategies and conceptual and persuasive utilization.

Identifying and characterising health policy and system-relevant documents in Uganda: a scoping review to develop a framework for the development of a one-stop shop.

PubMed

Mutatina, Boniface; Basaza, Robert; Obuku, Ekwaro; Lavis, John N; Sewankambo, Nelson

2017-02-06

Health policymakers in low- and middle-income countries continue to face difficulties in accessing and using research evidence for decision-making. This study aimed to identify and provide a refined categorisation of the policy documents necessary for building the content of a one-stop shop for documents relevant to health policy and systems in Uganda. The on-line resource is to facilitate timely access to well-packaged evidence for decision-making. We conducted a scoping review of Uganda-specific, health policy, and systems-relevant documents produced between 2000 and 2014. Our methods borrowed heavily from the 2005 Arksey and O'Malley approach for scoping reviews and involved five steps, which that include identification of the research question; identification of relevant documents; screening and selection of the documents; charting of the data; and collating, summarising and reporting results. We searched for the documents from websites of relevant government institutions, non-governmental organisations, health professional councils and associations, religious medical bureaus and research networks. We presented the review findings as numerical analyses of the volume and nature of documents and trends over time in the form of tables and charts. We identified a total of 265 documents including policies, strategies, plans, guidelines, rapid response summaries, evidence briefs for policy, and dialogue reports. The top three clusters of national priority areas addressed in the documents were governance, coordination, monitoring and evaluation (28%); disease prevention, mitigation, and control (23%); and health education, promotion, environmental health and nutrition (15%). The least addressed were curative, palliative care, rehabilitative services and health infrastructure, each addressed in three documents (1%), and early childhood development in one document. The volume of documents increased over the past 15 years; however, the distribution of the different

Learning from experts on public engagement with CCS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xenias, Dimitrios; Whitmarsh, Lorraine

2016-04-01

Carbon Capture and Storage is a key technology for the transition to a low carbon economy. There are thus strong normative, substantive and instrumental rationales for public acceptance of large scale CCS. In this study, we interviewed 12 experts in CCS from the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany. The experts had previous experience on public engagement on CCS, and were asked to identify barriers and drivers for CCS deployment and public engagement with CCS. Interviews lasted between 40 and 70 minutes. Thematic analysis revealed a small number of recurrent issues, including: (a) lack of political leadership on the matter; (b) lack of public knowledge on relevant technologies, which may not however always be necessary; and (c) difficulty communicating why CCS is not a direct substitute for renewable energy generation. Despite the recent government disengagement from CCS funding in the UK, another surprise finding was that lack of funding and political leadership was a perceived barrier internationally. These emergent views inform a follow-up online survey with the UK public, currently in preparation, which will expand on and triangulate the present findings and lead to development of a toolkit for the benefit of those involved with public engagement with CCS.

Bibliometric analysis of military trauma publications: 2000-2016.

PubMed

Vickers, Mark L; Coorey, C P; Milinovich, G J; Eriksson, L; Assoum, M; Reade, M C

2018-01-13

Bibliometric tools can be used to identify the authors, topics and research institutions that have made the greatest impact in a field of medicine. The aim of this research was to analyse military trauma publications over the last 16 years of armed conflict in order to highlight the most important lessons that have translated into civilian practice and military doctrine as well as identify emerging areas of importance. A systematic search of research published between January 2000 and December 2016 was conducted using the Thompson Reuters Web of Science database. Both primary evidence and review publications were included. Results were categorised according to relevance and topic and the 30 most cited publications were reviewed in full. The h-index, impact factors, citation counts and citation analysis were used to evaluate results. A plateau in the number of annual publications on military trauma was found, as was a shift away from publications on wound and mortality epidemiology to publications on traumatic brain injury (TBI), neurosurgery or blast injury to the head. Extensive collaboration networks exist between highly contributing authors and institutions, but less collaboration between authors from different countries. The USA produced the majority of recent publications, followed by the UK, Germany and Israel. In recent years, the number of publications on TBI, neurosurgery or blast injury to the head has increased. It is likely that the lessons of recent conflicts will continue to influence civilian medical practice, particularly regarding the long-term effects of blast-related TBI. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Longitudinal Metagenomic Analysis of Hospital Air Identifies Clinically Relevant Microbes.

PubMed

King, Paula; Pham, Long K; Waltz, Shannon; Sphar, Dan; Yamamoto, Robert T; Conrad, Douglas; Taplitz, Randy; Torriani, Francesca; Forsyth, R Allyn

2016-01-01

We describe the sampling of sixty-three uncultured hospital air samples collected over a six-month period and analysis using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our primary goals were to determine the longitudinal metagenomic variability of this environment, identify and characterize genomes of potential pathogens and determine whether they are atypical to the hospital airborne metagenome. Air samples were collected from eight locations which included patient wards, the main lobby and outside. The resulting DNA libraries produced 972 million sequences representing 51 gigabases. Hierarchical clustering of samples by the most abundant 50 microbial orders generated three major nodes which primarily clustered by type of location. Because the indoor locations were longitudinally consistent, episodic relative increases in microbial genomic signatures related to the opportunistic pathogens Aspergillus, Penicillium and Stenotrophomonas were identified as outliers at specific locations. Further analysis of microbial reads specific for Stenotrophomonas maltophilia indicated homology to a sequenced multi-drug resistant clinical strain and we observed broad sequence coverage of resistance genes. We demonstrate that a shotgun metagenomic sequencing approach can be used to characterize the resistance determinants of pathogen genomes that are uncharacteristic for an otherwise consistent hospital air microbial metagenomic profile.

Privacy-Aware Relevant Data Access with Semantically Enriched Search Queries for Untrusted Cloud Storage Services.

PubMed

Pervez, Zeeshan; Ahmad, Mahmood; Khattak, Asad Masood; Lee, Sungyoung; Chung, Tae Choong

2016-01-01

Privacy-aware search of outsourced data ensures relevant data access in the untrusted domain of a public cloud service provider. Subscriber of a public cloud storage service can determine the presence or absence of a particular keyword by submitting search query in the form of a trapdoor. However, these trapdoor-based search queries are limited in functionality and cannot be used to identify secure outsourced data which contains semantically equivalent information. In addition, trapdoor-based methodologies are confined to pre-defined trapdoors and prevent subscribers from searching outsourced data with arbitrarily defined search criteria. To solve the problem of relevant data access, we have proposed an index-based privacy-aware search methodology that ensures semantic retrieval of data from an untrusted domain. This method ensures oblivious execution of a search query and leverages authorized subscribers to model conjunctive search queries without relying on predefined trapdoors. A security analysis of our proposed methodology shows that, in a conspired attack, unauthorized subscribers and untrusted cloud service providers cannot deduce any information that can lead to the potential loss of data privacy. A computational time analysis on commodity hardware demonstrates that our proposed methodology requires moderate computational resources to model a privacy-aware search query and for its oblivious evaluation on a cloud service provider.

Privacy-Aware Relevant Data Access with Semantically Enriched Search Queries for Untrusted Cloud Storage Services

PubMed Central

Pervez, Zeeshan; Ahmad, Mahmood; Khattak, Asad Masood; Lee, Sungyoung; Chung, Tae Choong

2016-01-01

Privacy-aware search of outsourced data ensures relevant data access in the untrusted domain of a public cloud service provider. Subscriber of a public cloud storage service can determine the presence or absence of a particular keyword by submitting search query in the form of a trapdoor. However, these trapdoor-based search queries are limited in functionality and cannot be used to identify secure outsourced data which contains semantically equivalent information. In addition, trapdoor-based methodologies are confined to pre-defined trapdoors and prevent subscribers from searching outsourced data with arbitrarily defined search criteria. To solve the problem of relevant data access, we have proposed an index-based privacy-aware search methodology that ensures semantic retrieval of data from an untrusted domain. This method ensures oblivious execution of a search query and leverages authorized subscribers to model conjunctive search queries without relying on predefined trapdoors. A security analysis of our proposed methodology shows that, in a conspired attack, unauthorized subscribers and untrusted cloud service providers cannot deduce any information that can lead to the potential loss of data privacy. A computational time analysis on commodity hardware demonstrates that our proposed methodology requires moderate computational resources to model a privacy-aware search query and for its oblivious evaluation on a cloud service provider. PMID:27571421

Reframing climate change as a public health issue: an exploratory study of public reactions

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Climate change is taking a toll on human health, and some leaders in the public health community have urged their colleagues to give voice to its health implications. Previous research has shown that Americans are only dimly aware of the health implications of climate change, yet the literature on issue framing suggests that providing a novel frame - such as human health - may be potentially useful in enhancing public engagement. We conducted an exploratory study in the United States of people's reactions to a public health-framed short essay on climate change. Methods U.S. adult respondents (n = 70), stratified by six previously identified audience segments, read the essay and were asked to highlight in green or pink any portions of the essay they found "especially clear and helpful" or alternatively "especially confusing or unhelpful." Two dependent measures were created: a composite sentence-specific score based on reactions to all 18 sentences in the essay; and respondents' general reactions to the essay that were coded for valence (positive, neutral, or negative). We tested the hypothesis that five of the six audience segments would respond positively to the essay on both dependent measures. Results There was clear evidence that two of the five segments responded positively to the public health essay, and mixed evidence that two other responded positively. There was limited evidence that the fifth segment responded positively. Post-hoc analysis showed that five of the six segments responded more positively to information about the health benefits associated with mitigation-related policy actions than to information about the health risks of climate change. Conclusions Presentations about climate change that encourage people to consider its human health relevance appear likely to provide many Americans with a useful and engaging new frame of reference. Information about the potential health benefits of specific mitigation-related policy actions

Influencing governance of a public-private partnership in plant genomics: The societal interface group as a new instrument for public involvement.

PubMed

Hanssen, Lucien; Gremmen, Bart

2013-08-01

The Centre for BioSystems Genomics (CBSG) is a Dutch public-private partnership in plant genomics active in potato and tomato research and exploitation. Its Societal Interface Group (SIG) has been developed to inform its communication strategy and governance practice. This new instrument identifies and discusses early signals from society by bringing together people from different societal backgrounds with members of CBSG management. This interactive learning process facilitates the inclusion of public concerns and needs in scientific developments in the field of plant genomics, and simultaneously enables genomics scientists to search for more societal aims, meanings, and starting points for their research agenda. Analysis of the SIG sessions revealed that the input of public expertise is not threatening or irrational, but provides the opportunity to harness the creative potential of future users highly relevant for the development of societal practices in which plant genomics plays a role.

biologically relevant effects of dipentyl phthalate

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

metadata sheet, data sheet for each table and figure in the published manuscriptThis dataset is associated with the following publication:Gray , E., J. Furr , K. Tatum-Gibbs, C. Lambright , H. Sampson, B. Hannas, V. Wilson , A. Hotchkiss , and P. Foster. Establishing the Biological Relevance of Dipentyl Phthalate Reductions in Fetal Rat Testosterone Production and Plasma and Testis Testosterone Levels. TOXICOLOGICAL SCIENCES. Society of Toxicology, 149(1): 178-91, (2016).

Perceived Relevance of Educative Information on Public (Skin) Health: Results of a Representative, Population-Based Telephone Survey

PubMed Central

Haluza, Daniela; Schwab, Markus; Simic, Stana; Cervinka, Renate; Moshammer, Hanns

2015-01-01

Individual skin health attitudes are influenced by various factors, including public education campaigns, mass media, family, and friends. Evidence-based, educative information materials assist communication and decision-making in doctor-patient interactions. The present study aims at assessing the prevailing use of skin health information material and sources and their impact on skin health knowledge, motives to tan, and sun protection. We conducted a questionnaire survey among a representative sample of Austrian residents. Print media and television were perceived as the two most relevant sources for skin health information, whereas the source physician was ranked third. Picking the information source physician increased participants’ skin health knowledge (p = 0.025) and sun-protective behavior (p < 0.001). The study results highlight the demand for targeted health messages to attain lifestyle changes towards photo-protective habits. Providing resources that encourage pro-active counseling in every-day doctor-patient communication could increase skin health knowledge and sun-protective behavior, and thus, curb the rise in skin cancer incidence rates. PMID:26569274

Mobile applications in oncology: is it possible for patients and healthcare professionals to easily identify relevant tools?

PubMed

Brouard, Benoit; Bardo, Pascale; Bonnet, Clément; Mounier, Nicolas; Vignot, Marina; Vignot, Stéphane

2016-11-01

Mobile applications represent promising tools in management of chronic diseases, both for patients and healthcare professionals, and especially in oncology. Among the large number of mobile health (mhealth) applications available in mobile stores, it could be difficult for users to identify the most relevant ones. This study evaluated the business model and the scientific validation for mobile applications related to oncology. A systematic review was performed over the two major marketplaces. Purpose, scientific validation, and source of funding were evaluated according to the description of applications in stores. Results were stratified according to targeted audience (general population/patients/healthcare professionals). Five hundred and thirty-nine applications related to oncology were identified: 46.8% dedicated to healthcare professionals, 31.5% to general population, and 21.7% to patients. A lack of information about healthcare professionals' involvement in the development process was noted since only 36.5% of applications mentioned an obvious scientific validation. Most apps were free (72.2%) and without explicit support by industry (94.2%). There is a need to enforce independent review of mhealth applications in oncology. The economic model could be questioned and the source of funding should be clarified. Meanwhile, patients and healthcare professionals should remain cautious about applications' contents. Key messages A systematic review was performed to describe the mobile applications related to oncology and it revealed a lack of information on scientific validation and funding. Independent scientific review and the reporting of conflicts of interest should be encouraged. Users, and all health professionals, should be aware that health applications, whatever the quality of their content, do not actually embrace such an approach.

Public Relations Bibliography: Tenth Edition, 1981.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Albert

1982-01-01

Includes 1800 citations relevant to the practice and professional development of public relations, in the following categories: public relations, communication, research, media relations, publicity, advertising, health and welfare, lobbying, and activism, etc. (Available from Communication Research Associates, 7100 Baltimore Blvd., Suite 500,…

Imagining Moral Bioenhancement Practices: Drawing Inspiration from Moral Education, Public Health Ethics, and Forensic Psychiatry.

PubMed

Specker, Jona; Schermer, Maartje H N

2017-07-01

In this article, we consider contexts or domains in which (future) moral bioenhancement interventions possibly or most likely will be implemented. By looking closely at similar or related existing practices and their relevant ethical frameworks, we hope to identify ethical considerations that are relevant for evaluating potential moral bioenhancement interventions. We examine, first, debates on the proper scope of moral education; second, proposals for identifying early risk factors for antisocial behaviour; and third, the difficult balancing of individual freedom and third party concerns in (forensic) psychiatry. In imagining moral bioenhancement in practice, we observe that unlike other forms of enhancement, moral enhancement fundamentally asks how the interests and preferences of the individual and the interests of others should be weighed (in view of public safety and managing public risk). Highly diverse domains such as education, mental health, and the judicial domain might be involved, and moral bioenhancement might challenge existing institutional settings. Given these highly varied contexts and domains, it appears unlikely that there will be a distinct set of practices that will be referred to as "moral bioenhancement."

Representation of Nursing Scientists from German-speaking countries in High Impact Journals. A bibliometric publication analysis

PubMed

Hirt, Julian; Buhtz, Christian; Mersdorf, Benedikt; Meyer, Gabriele

2018-02-01

Background: The frequency of publications by nursing scientists from the German-speaking area in journals with a high impact factor is an indicator for participation of the discipline in the international discourse. Previous publication analyses focused on nursing science journals only and regularly found an underrepresentation of experimental studies and clinical topics. Aim: To identify and analyse the number of publications by nursing scientists from Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland in international high impact journals. Method: The Journal Citation Reports were used to identify nursing relevant categories of journals in which the highest 10 % of the years 2010 to 2014 were selected according to the 5-year Impact Factor. Inclusion of publications and data extraction were carried out by two independent persons. Results: 106939 publications from 126 journals were screened; 100 publications were identified with 229 contributions by 114 nursing scientists. 42 % of studies are observational and 11 % are experimental. The majority of studies are clinically oriented (55 %). More than 50 % have been published in the past two years. Conclusions: The number of publications by nursing scientists from the German-speaking countries in High Impact Journals is low. There is an increase throughout the observation period. In opposite to former analyses a higher proportion of clinical research has been found.

Public key infrastructure for DOE security research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aiken, R.; Foster, I.; Johnston, W.E.

This document summarizes the Department of Energy`s Second Joint Energy Research/Defence Programs Security Research Workshop. The workshop, built on the results of the first Joint Workshop which reviewed security requirements represented in a range of mission-critical ER and DP applications, discussed commonalties and differences in ER/DP requirements and approaches, and identified an integrated common set of security research priorities. One significant conclusion of the first workshop was that progress in a broad spectrum of DOE-relevant security problems and applications could best be addressed through public-key cryptography based systems, and therefore depended upon the existence of a robust, broadly deployed public-keymore » infrastructure. Hence, public-key infrastructure ({open_quotes}PKI{close_quotes}) was adopted as a primary focus for the second workshop. The Second Joint Workshop covered a range of DOE security research and deployment efforts, as well as summaries of the state of the art in various areas relating to public-key technologies. Key findings were that a broad range of DOE applications can benefit from security architectures and technologies built on a robust, flexible, widely deployed public-key infrastructure; that there exists a collection of specific requirements for missing or undeveloped PKI functionality, together with a preliminary assessment of how these requirements can be met; that, while commercial developments can be expected to provide many relevant security technologies, there are important capabilities that commercial developments will not address, due to the unique scale, performance, diversity, distributed nature, and sensitivity of DOE applications; that DOE should encourage and support research activities intended to increase understanding of security technology requirements, and to develop critical components not forthcoming from other sources in a timely manner.« less

[Development of a pharmacological curriculum for general practice: Identifying and prescribing orally administered pharmacological substances with relevance for general practice].

PubMed

Straßner, Cornelia; Kaufmann-Kolle, Petra; Flum, Elisabeth; Schwill, Simon; Brandt, Bettina; Steinhäuser, Jost

2017-05-01

General practitioners (GPs) are among the specialists who prescribe the highest number of medication. Therefore the improvement of pharmacological competencies is an important part of the GP specialist training. The self-concept of general practice stating that GPs are the first contact persons for all health problems makes it challenging to define and acquire competencies for specialist training. While the "Competence-based Curriculum" developed by the German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians defines diagnoses, reasons for counselling and competencies which are essential for general practice, a similar orientation guide is lacking for the pharmacological field. The aim of this study is to define and characterize pharmacological substances which every GP should know so well that he or she is able to conduct counselling and monitoring. We analysed private and public health insurance prescriptions of all general practices participating in the CONTENT project in the period from 2009 to 2014. The analysis was limited to substances with oral application which were prescribed at least once by at least 25 % (n = 11) of the practices. While the 100 most frequent prescriptions were included due to their frequency, less frequently prescribed substances were assessed concerning their relevance for general practice in a rating procedure. The substances included were classified by diagnoses and reasons for counselling. We analysed 1,912,896 prescriptions from 44 practices and 112,535 patients on the basis of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system. After applying the inclusion criteria, 453 substances were left, 302 of which were considered relevant for general practice and could be assigned to 45 diagnoses / reasons for counselling. The result of this study could be considered a working draft for a pharmacological curriculum for general practice, which may complement the "Competence-based Curriculum" in the medium term. Copyright

Measuring individual work performance: identifying and selecting indicators.

PubMed

Koopmans, Linda; Bernaards, Claire M; Hildebrandt, Vincent H; de Vet, Henrica C W; van der Beek, Allard J

2014-01-01

Theoretically, individual work performance (IWP) can be divided into four dimensions: task performance, contextual performance, adaptive performance, and counterproductive work behavior. However, there is no consensus on the indicators used to measure these dimensions. This study was designed to (1) identify indicators for each dimension, (2) select the most relevant indicators, and (3) determine the relative weight of each dimension in ratings of work performance. IWP indicators were identified from multiple research disciplines, via literature, existing questionnaires, and expert interviews. Subsequently, experts selected the most relevant indicators per dimension and scored the relative weight of each dimension in ratings of IWP. In total, 128 unique indicators were identified. Twenty-three of these indicators were selected by experts as most relevant for measuring IWP. Task performance determined 36% of the work performance rating, while the other three dimensions respectively determined 22%, 20% and 21% of the rating. Notable consensus was found on relevant indicators of IWP, reducing the number from 128 to 23 relevant indicators. This provides an important step towards the development of a standardized, generic and short measurement instrument for assessing IWP.

Building an Ontology for Identity Resolution in Healthcare and Public Health.

PubMed

Duncan, Jeffrey; Eilbeck, Karen; Narus, Scott P; Clyde, Stephen; Thornton, Sidney; Staes, Catherine

2015-01-01

Integration of disparate information from electronic health records, clinical data warehouses, birth certificate registries and other public health information systems offers great potential for clinical care, public health practice, and research. Such integration, however, depends on correctly matching patient-specific records using demographic identifiers. Without standards for these identifiers, record linkage is complicated by issues of structural and semantic heterogeneity. Our objectives were to develop and validate an ontology to: 1) identify components of identity and events subsequent to birth that result in creation, change, or sharing of identity information; 2) develop an ontology to facilitate data integration from multiple healthcare and public health sources; and 3) validate the ontology's ability to model identity-changing events over time. We interviewed domain experts in area hospitals and public health programs and developed process models describing the creation and transmission of identity information among various organizations for activities subsequent to a birth event. We searched for existing relevant ontologies. We validated the content of our ontology with simulated identity information conforming to scenarios identified in our process models. We chose the Simple Event Model (SEM) to describe events in early childhood and integrated the Clinical Element Model (CEM) for demographic information. We demonstrated the ability of the combined SEM-CEM ontology to model identity events over time. The use of an ontology can overcome issues of semantic and syntactic heterogeneity to facilitate record linkage.

Building an Ontology for Identity Resolution in Healthcare and Public Health

PubMed Central

Duncan, Jeffrey; Eilbeck, Karen; Narus, Scott P.; Clyde, Stephen; Thornton, Sidney; Staes, Catherine

2015-01-01

Integration of disparate information from electronic health records, clinical data warehouses, birth certificate registries and other public health information systems offers great potential for clinical care, public health practice, and research. Such integration, however, depends on correctly matching patient-specific records using demographic identifiers. Without standards for these identifiers, record linkage is complicated by issues of structural and semantic heterogeneity. Objectives: Our objectives were to develop and validate an ontology to: 1) identify components of identity and events subsequent to birth that result in creation, change, or sharing of identity information; 2) develop an ontology to facilitate data integration from multiple healthcare and public health sources; and 3) validate the ontology’s ability to model identity-changing events over time. Methods: We interviewed domain experts in area hospitals and public health programs and developed process models describing the creation and transmission of identity information among various organizations for activities subsequent to a birth event. We searched for existing relevant ontologies. We validated the content of our ontology with simulated identity information conforming to scenarios identified in our process models. Results: We chose the Simple Event Model (SEM) to describe events in early childhood and integrated the Clinical Element Model (CEM) for demographic information. We demonstrated the ability of the combined SEM-CEM ontology to model identity events over time. Conclusion: The use of an ontology can overcome issues of semantic and syntactic heterogeneity to facilitate record linkage. PMID:26392849

Content Validity in Evaluation and Policy-Relevant Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mark, Melvin M.; And Others

1985-01-01

The role of content validity in policy-relevant research is illustrated in a study contrasting results of surveys concerning public opinion toward gun control. Inadequate content validity threatened inferences about the overall level of support for gun control, but not about opinion difference between sexes or respondents of varying political…

Identifying mechanisms for facilitating knowledge to action strategies targeting the built environment.

PubMed

Fazli, Ghazal S; Creatore, Maria I; Matheson, Flora I; Guilcher, Sara; Kaufman-Shriqui, Vered; Manson, Heather; Johns, Ashley; Booth, Gillian L

2017-01-03

In recent years, obesity-related diseases have been on the rise globally resulting in major challenges for health systems and society as a whole. Emerging research in population health suggests that interventions targeting the built environment may help reduce the burden of obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, translation of the evidence on the built environment into effective policy and planning changes requires engagement and collaboration between multiple sectors and government agencies for designing neighborhoods that are more conducive to healthy and active living. In this study, we identified knowledge gaps and other barriers to evidence-based decision-making and policy development related to the built environment; as well as the infrastructure, processes, and mechanisms needed to drive policy changes in this area. We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of data collected through consultations with a broad group of stakeholders (N = 42) from Southern Ontario, Canada, within various sectors (public health, urban planning, and transportation) and levels of government (federal, provincial, and municipalities). Relevant themes were classified based on the specific phase of the knowledge-to-action cycle (research, translation, and implementation) in which they were most closely aligned. We identified 5 themes including: 1) the need for policy-informed and actionable research (e.g. health economic analyses and policy evaluations); 2) impactful messaging that targets all relevant sectors to create the political will necessary to drive policy change; 3) common measures and tools to increase capacity for monitoring and surveillance of built environment changes; (4) intersectoral collaboration and alignment within and between levels of government to enable collective actions and provide mechanisms for sharing of resources and expertise, (5) aligning public and private sector priorities to generate public demand and support for community action; and, (6

36 CFR 296.20 - Public Awareness Programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the Interior the relevant information on public awareness activities required by section 10(c) of the... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Public Awareness Programs... PROTECTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES: UNIFORM REGULATIONS § 296.20 Public Awareness Programs. (a) Each...

Dissecting the genetics of the human transcriptome identifies novel trait-related trans-eQTLs and corroborates the regulatory relevance of non-protein coding loci†

PubMed Central

Kirsten, Holger; Al-Hasani, Hoor; Holdt, Lesca; Gross, Arnd; Beutner, Frank; Krohn, Knut; Horn, Katrin; Ahnert, Peter; Burkhardt, Ralph; Reiche, Kristin; Hackermüller, Jörg; Löffler, Markus; Teupser, Daniel; Thiery, Joachim; Scholz, Markus

2015-01-01

Genetics of gene expression (eQTLs or expression QTLs) has proved an indispensable tool for understanding biological pathways and pathomechanisms of trait-associated SNPs. However, power of most genome-wide eQTL studies is still limited. We performed a large eQTL study in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 2112 individuals increasing the power to detect trans-effects genome-wide. Going beyond univariate SNP-transcript associations, we analyse relations of eQTLs to biological pathways, polygenetic effects of expression regulation, trans-clusters and enrichment of co-localized functional elements. We found eQTLs for about 85% of analysed genes, and 18% of genes were trans-regulated. Local eSNPs were enriched up to a distance of 5 Mb to the transcript challenging typically implemented ranges of cis-regulations. Pathway enrichment within regulated genes of GWAS-related eSNPs supported functional relevance of identified eQTLs. We demonstrate that nearest genes of GWAS-SNPs might frequently be misleading functional candidates. We identified novel trans-clusters of potential functional relevance for GWAS-SNPs of several phenotypes including obesity-related traits, HDL-cholesterol levels and haematological phenotypes. We used chromatin immunoprecipitation data for demonstrating biological effects. Yet, we show for strongly heritable transcripts that still little trans-chromosomal heritability is explained by all identified trans-eSNPs; however, our data suggest that most cis-heritability of these transcripts seems explained. Dissection of co-localized functional elements indicated a prominent role of SNPs in loci of pseudogenes and non-coding RNAs for the regulation of coding genes. In summary, our study substantially increases the catalogue of human eQTLs and improves our understanding of the complex genetic regulation of gene expression, pathways and disease-related processes. PMID:26019233

Dissecting the genetics of the human transcriptome identifies novel trait-related trans-eQTLs and corroborates the regulatory relevance of non-protein coding loci†.

PubMed

Kirsten, Holger; Al-Hasani, Hoor; Holdt, Lesca; Gross, Arnd; Beutner, Frank; Krohn, Knut; Horn, Katrin; Ahnert, Peter; Burkhardt, Ralph; Reiche, Kristin; Hackermüller, Jörg; Löffler, Markus; Teupser, Daniel; Thiery, Joachim; Scholz, Markus

2015-08-15

Genetics of gene expression (eQTLs or expression QTLs) has proved an indispensable tool for understanding biological pathways and pathomechanisms of trait-associated SNPs. However, power of most genome-wide eQTL studies is still limited. We performed a large eQTL study in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 2112 individuals increasing the power to detect trans-effects genome-wide. Going beyond univariate SNP-transcript associations, we analyse relations of eQTLs to biological pathways, polygenetic effects of expression regulation, trans-clusters and enrichment of co-localized functional elements. We found eQTLs for about 85% of analysed genes, and 18% of genes were trans-regulated. Local eSNPs were enriched up to a distance of 5 Mb to the transcript challenging typically implemented ranges of cis-regulations. Pathway enrichment within regulated genes of GWAS-related eSNPs supported functional relevance of identified eQTLs. We demonstrate that nearest genes of GWAS-SNPs might frequently be misleading functional candidates. We identified novel trans-clusters of potential functional relevance for GWAS-SNPs of several phenotypes including obesity-related traits, HDL-cholesterol levels and haematological phenotypes. We used chromatin immunoprecipitation data for demonstrating biological effects. Yet, we show for strongly heritable transcripts that still little trans-chromosomal heritability is explained by all identified trans-eSNPs; however, our data suggest that most cis-heritability of these transcripts seems explained. Dissection of co-localized functional elements indicated a prominent role of SNPs in loci of pseudogenes and non-coding RNAs for the regulation of coding genes. In summary, our study substantially increases the catalogue of human eQTLs and improves our understanding of the complex genetic regulation of gene expression, pathways and disease-related processes. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements (ARARs)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On-site remedial actions must attain or waive the Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements (ARARs) upon completion. The following links provide information about identifying, attaining and waiving these requirements.

Identifying and Describing the Impact of Cyclone, Storm and Flood Related Disasters on Treatment Management, Care and Exacerbations of Non-communicable Diseases and the Implications for Public Health.

PubMed

Ryan, Benjamin; Franklin, Richard C; Burkle, Frederick M; Aitken, Peter; Smith, Erin; Watt, Kerrianne; Leggat, Peter

2015-09-28

Over the last quarter of a century the frequency of natural disasters and the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) across the globe have been increasing. For individuals susceptible to, or chronically experiencing, NCDs this has become a significant risk. Disasters jeopardize access to essential treatment, care, equipment, water and food, which can result in an exacerbation of existing conditions or even preventable death. Consequently, there is a need to expand the public health focus of disaster management to include NCDs. To provide a platform for this to occur, this article presents the results from a systematic review that identifies and describes the impact of cyclone, flood and storm related disasters on those susceptible to, or experiencing, NCDs. The NCDs researched were: cardiovascular diseases; cancers; chronic respiratory diseases; and diabetes.   Four electronic publication databases were searched with a date limit of 31 December 2014. The data was analyzed through an aggregation of individual papers to create an overall data description. The data was then grouped by disease to describe the impact of a disaster on treatment management, exacerbation, and health care of people with NCDs. The PRISMA checklist was used to guide presentation of the research.   The review identified 48 relevant articles. All studies represented developed country data. Disasters interrupt treatment management and overall care for people with NCDs, which results in an increased risk of exacerbation of their illness or even death. The interruption may be caused by a range of factors, such as damaged transport routes, reduced health services, loss of power and evacuations. The health impact varied according to the NCD. For people with chronic respiratory diseases, a disaster increases the risk of acute exacerbation. Meanwhile, for people with cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes there is an increased risk of their illness exacerbating, which can result in death

Partnering Healthy@Work: an Australian university-government partnership facilitating policy-relevant research.

PubMed

Jose, Kim; Venn, Alison; Jarman, Lisa; Seal, Judy; Teale, Brook; Scott, Jennifer; Sanderson, Kristy

2017-12-01

Research funding is increasingly supporting collaborations between knowledge users and researchers. Partnering Healthy@Work (pH@W), an inaugural recipient of funding through Australia's Partnership for Better Health Grants scheme, was a 5-year partnership between the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian State Service (TSS). The partnerships purpose was to evaluate a comprehensive workplace health promotion programme (Healthy@Work) targeting 30 000 public sector employees; generating new knowledge and influencing workplace health promotion policy and decision-making. This mixed methods study evaluates the partnership between policy-makers and academics and identifies strategies that enabled pH@W to deliver key project outcomes. A pH@W document review was conducted, two partnership assessment tools completed and semi-structured interviews conducted with key policy-makers and academics. Analysis of the partnership assessment tools and interviews found that pH@W had reached a strong level of collaboration. Policy-relevant knowledge was generated about the health of TSS employees and their engagement with workplace health promotion. Knowledge exchange of a conceptual and instrumental nature occurred and was facilitated by the shared grant application, clear governance structures, joint planning, regular information exchange between researchers and policy-makers and research student placements in the TSS. Flexibility and acknowledgement of different priorities and perspectives of partner organizations were identified as critical factors for enabling effective partnership working and research relevance. Academic-policy-maker partnerships can be a powerful mechanism for improving policy relevance of research, but need to incorporate strategies that facilitate regular input from researchers and policy-makers in order to achieve this. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions

The relevance of public health research for practice: A 30-year perspective.

PubMed

Diderichsen, Finn

2018-06-01

The Nordic context where public health responsibility is strongly devolved to municipalities raises specific demands on public health research. The demands for causal inference of disease aetiology and intervention efficacy is not different, but in addition there is a need for population health science that describes local prevalence, distribution and clustering of determinants. Knowledge of what interventions and policies work, for whom and under what conditions is essential, but instead of assuming context independence and demanding high external validity it is important to understand how contextual factors linked to groups and places modify both effects and implementation. More implementation studies are needed, but the infrastructure for that research in terms of theories and instruments for monitoring implementation is needed. Much of this was true also 30 years ago, but with increasing spending on both public health research and practice, the demands are increasing that major improvement of population health and health equity are actually achieved.

How Have States Used Executive Orders to Address Public Health?

PubMed

Gakh, Maxim; Callahan, Karen; Goodie, Aaliyah; Rutkow, Lainie

2018-06-07

Gubernatorial executive orders (GEOs) are important, yet poorly understood, public health tools. We analyzed health-related GEOs nationwide using a modified legal mapping approach. We searched Westlaw's Netscan Executive Orders database for orders issued between 2008 and 2014. Search terms were generated from the Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicators (LHIs). GEOs were screened with data abstracted and analyzed on the basis of LHIs, states, years, and characteristics identified in previous literature. We found differences in GEOs issued per LHI. Of the 303 unique orders, they ranged from 32 to 53 issued per year and 0 to 45 issued per state. Most GEOs managed governmental public health functions, required collaboration, and mandated studying problems. Fewer directly addressed health equity, chronic disease, and resource deployment. Gubernatorial authority and political and institutional factors appear relevant to GEO issuance. GEOs offer means to institute public health policies and should be considered by public health professionals.

Feminism and public health nursing: partners for health.

PubMed

Leipert, B D

2001-01-01

It is a well-known fact that nursing and feminism have enjoyed an uneasy alliance. In recent years, however, nursing has begun to recognize the importance of feminism. Nevertheless, the literature still rarely addresses the relevance of feminism for public health nursing. In this article, I articulate the relevance of feminism for public health nursing knowledge and practice. First, I define and describe feminism and public health nursing and then I discuss the importance of feminism for public health nursing practice. The importance of feminism for the metaparadigm concepts of public health nursing is then reviewed. Finally, I examine several existing challenges relating to feminism and public health nursing research, education, and practice. The thesis of this article is that feminism is vitally important for the development of public health nursing and for public health care.

Seeing the Chemistry around Me--Helping Students Identify the Relevance of Chemistry to Everyday Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Tracy Lynn

2012-01-01

The study attempted to determine whether the use of a series of reading and response assignments decreased students' perceptions of chemistry difficulty and enhanced students' perceptions of the relevance of chemistry in their everyday lives. Informed consent volunteer students enrolled in General Chemistry II at a community college in the…

A new approach to the concept of "relevance" in information retrieval (IR).

PubMed

Kagolovsky, Y; Möhr, J R

2001-01-01

The concept of "relevance" is the fundamental concept of information science in general and information retrieval, in particular. Although "relevance" is extensively used in evaluation of information retrieval, there are considerable problems associated with reaching an agreement on its definition, meaning, evaluation, and application in information retrieval. There are a number of different views on "relevance" and its use for evaluation. Based on a review of the literature the main problems associated with the concept of "relevance" in information retrieval are identified. The authors argue that the proposal for the solution of the problems can be based on the conceptual IR framework built using a systems analytic approach to IR. Using this framework different kinds of "relevance" relationships in the IR process are identified, and a methodology for evaluation of "relevance" based on methods of semantics capturing and comparison is proposed.

Tobacco industry efforts to undermine policy-relevant research.

PubMed

Landman, Anne; Glantz, Stanton A

2009-01-01

The tobacco industry, working through third parties to prevent policy-relevant research that adversely affected it between 1988 and 1998, used coordinated, well-funded strategies in repeated attempts to silence tobacco researcher Stanton A. Glantz. Tactics included advertising, litigation, and attempts to have the US Congress cut off the researcher's National Cancer Institute funding. Efforts like these can influence the policymaking process by silencing opposing voices and discouraging other scientists from doing work that may expose them to tobacco industry attacks. The support of highly credible public health organizations and of researchers' employers is crucial to the continued advancement of public health.

Balancing commercial and public interests

PubMed Central

Furberg, Curt D; Hall, Mark A; Sevick, Mary Ann

2004-01-01

A large number of randomized clinical trials with important health outcomes are completed each year. Those with favorable findings are typically reported and published rapidly, while the publication of those with unfavorable results is often delayed or given a positive "spin." This observation applies primarily to industry-sponsored trials. Our objectives are to discuss the responsibility of pharmaceutical firms to the public with respect to timely, complete, and unbiased information from all randomized clinical trials and to propose solutions for improvements. We believe that in addition to financial obligations to their shareholders, pharmaceutical companies have social responsibilities to the public and to health care providers. However, private markets do not reward or compel optimal disclosure of drug safety or inferiority information on a voluntary basis. A problem which has not previously been identified relates to non-comparability of drugs. A case report from the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT) illustrates how public interests may be violated due to failure to inform about drug inferiority. The current system for dissemination of relevant medical information could be improved if all involved parties collaborated fully. However, full disclosure of trial results is unlikely when research results are unfavorable to the firm. We conclude that expanded government regulations will be required for a satisfactory solution to the problem. PMID:15239846

Climate services to improve public health.

PubMed

Jancloes, Michel; Thomson, Madeleine; Costa, María Mánez; Hewitt, Chris; Corvalan, Carlos; Dinku, Tufa; Lowe, Rachel; Hayden, Mary

2014-04-25

A high level expert panel discussed how climate and health services could best collaborate to improve public health. This was on the agenda of the recent Third International Climate Services Conference, held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, 4-6 December 2013. Issues and challenges concerning a demand led approach to serve the health sector needs, were identified and analysed. Important recommendations emerged to ensure that innovative collaboration between climate and health services assist decision-making processes and the management of climate-sensitive health risk. Key recommendations included: a move from risk assessment towards risk management; the engagement of the public health community with both the climate sector and development sectors, whose decisions impact on health, particularly the most vulnerable; to increase operational research on the use of policy-relevant climate information to manage climate- sensitive health risks; and to develop in-country capacities to improve local knowledge (including collection of epidemiological, climate and socio-economic data), along with institutional interaction with policy makers.

'Are we there yet?' - operationalizing the concept of Integrated Public Health Policies.

PubMed

Hendriks, Anna-Marie; Habraken, Jolanda; Jansen, Maria W J; Gubbels, Jessica S; De Vries, Nanne K; van Oers, Hans; Michie, Susan; Atkins, L; Kremers, Stef P J

2014-02-01

Although 'integrated' public health policies are assumed to be the ideal way to optimize public health, it remains hard to determine how far removed we are from this ideal, since clear operational criteria and defining characteristics are lacking. A literature review identified gaps in previous operationalizations of integrated public health policies. We searched for an approach that could fill these gaps. We propose the following defining characteristics of an integrated policy: (1) the combination of policies includes an appropriate mix of interventions that optimizes the functioning of the behavioral system, thus ensuring that motivation, capability and opportunity interact in such a way that they promote the preferred (health-promoting) behavior of the target population, and (2) the policies are implemented by the relevant policy sectors from different policy domains. Our criteria should offer added value since they describe pathways in the process towards formulating integrated policy. The aim of introducing our operationalization is to assist policy makers and researchers in identifying truly integrated cases. The Behavior Change Wheel proved to be a useful framework to develop operational criteria to assess the current state of integrated public health policies in practice. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Knowledge Transfer on Complex Social Interventions in Public Health: A Scoping Study

PubMed Central

Dagenais, Christian; Malo, Marie; Robert, Émilie; Ouimet, Mathieu; Berthelette, Diane; Ridde, Valéry

2013-01-01

Objectives Scientific knowledge can help develop interventions that improve public health. The objectives of this review are (1) to describe the status of research on knowledge transfer strategies in the field of complex social interventions in public health and (2) to identify priorities for future research in this field. Method A scoping study is an exploratory study. After searching databases of bibliographic references and specialized periodicals, we summarized the relevant studies using a predetermined assessment framework. In-depth analysis focused on the following items: types of knowledge transfer strategies, fields of public health, types of publics, types of utilization, and types of research specifications. Results From the 1,374 references identified, we selected 26 studies. The strategies targeted mostly administrators of organizations and practitioners. The articles generally dealt with instrumental utilization and most often used qualitative methods. In general, the bias risk for the studies is high. Conclusion Researchers need to consider the methodological challenges in this field of research in order to improve assessment of more complex knowledge transfer strategies (when they exist), not just diffusion/dissemination strategies and conceptual and persuasive utilization. PMID:24324593

A survey of public health and consumer health informatics programmes and courses in Canadian universities and colleges.

PubMed

Arocha, Jose F; Hoffman-Goetz, Laurie

2012-12-01

As information technology becomes more widely used by people for health-care decisions, training in consumer and public health informatics will be important for health practitioners working directly with the public. Using information from 74 universities and colleges across Canada, we searched websites and online calendars for programmes (undergraduate, graduate) regarding availability and scope of education in programmes, courses and topics geared to public health and/or consumer health informatics. Of the 74 institutions searched, 31 provided some content relevant to health informatics (HI) and 8 institutions offered full HI-related programmes. Of these 8 HI programmes, only 1 course was identified with content relevant to public health informatics and 1 with content about consumer health informatics. Some institutions (n  =  22) - which do not offer HI-degree programmes - provide health informatics-related courses, including one on consumer health informatics. We found few programmes, courses or topic areas within courses in Canadian universities and colleges that focus on consumer or public health informatics education. Given the increasing emphasis on personal responsibility for health and health-care decision-making, skills training for health professionals who help consumers navigate the Internet should be considered in health informatics education.

Gaps in policy-relevant information on burden of disease in children: a systematic review.

PubMed

Rudan, Igor; Lawn, Joy; Cousens, Simon; Rowe, Alexander K; Boschi-Pinto, Cynthia; Tomasković, Lana; Mendoza, Walter; Lanata, Claudio F; Roca-Feltrer, Arantxa; Carneiro, Ilona; Schellenberg, Joanna A; Polasek, Ozren; Weber, Martin; Bryce, Jennifer; Morris, Saul S; Black, Robert E; Campbell, Harry

Valid information about cause-specific child mortality and morbidity is an essential foundation for national and international health policy. We undertook a systematic review to investigate the geographical dispersion of and time trends in publication for policy-relevant information about children's health and to assess associations between the availability of reliable data and poverty. We identified data available on Jan 1, 2001, and published since 1980, for the major causes of morbidity and mortality in young children. Studies with relevant data were assessed against a set of inclusion criteria to identify those likely to provide unbiased estimates of the burden of childhood disease in the community. Only 308 information units from more than 17,000 papers identified were regarded as possible unbiased sources for estimates of childhood disease burden. The geographical distribution of these information units revealed a pattern of small well-researched populations surrounded by large areas with little available information. No reliable population-based data were identified from many of the world's poorest countries, which account for about a third of all deaths of children worldwide. The number of new studies diminished over the last 10 years investigated. The number of population-based studies yielding estimates of burden of childhood disease from less developed countries was low. The decreasing trend over time suggests reductions in research investment in this sphere. Data are especially sparse from the world's least developed countries with the highest child mortality. Guidelines are needed for the conduct of burden-of-disease studies together with an international research policy that gives increased emphasis to global equity and coverage so that knowledge can be generated from all regions of the world.

Factors impacting time to acceptance and publication for peer-reviewed publications.

PubMed

Toroser, Dikran; Carlson, Janice; Robinson, Micah; Gegner, Julie; Girard, Victoria; Smette, Lori; Nilsen, Jon; O'Kelly, James

2017-07-01

Timely publication of data is important for the medical community and provides a valuable contribution to data disclosure. The objective of this study was to identify and evaluate times to acceptance and publication for peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, and letters to the editor. Key publication metrics for published manuscripts, reviews, and letters to the editor were identified by eight Amgen publications professionals. Data for publications submitted between 1 January 2013 and 1 November 2015 were extracted from a proprietary internal publication-tracking database. Variables included department initiating the study, publication type, number of submissions per publication, and the total number of weeks from first submission to acceptance, online publication, and final publication. A total of 337 publications were identified, of which 300 (89%) were manuscripts. Time from submission to acceptance and publication was generally similar between clinical and real-world evidence (e.g. observational and health economics studies) publications. Median (range) time from first submission to acceptance was 23.4 (0.2-226.2) weeks. Median (range) time from first submission to online (early-release) publication was 29.7 (2.4-162.6) weeks. Median (range) time from first submission to final (print) publication was 36.2 (2.8-230.8) weeks. Time from first submission to acceptance, online publication, and final publication increased accordingly with number of submissions required for acceptance, with similar times noted between each subsequent submission. Analysis of a single-company publication database showed that the median time for manuscripts to be fully published after initial submission was 36.2 weeks, and time to publication increased accordingly with the number of submissions. Causes for multiple submissions and time from clinical trial completion to first submission were not assessed; these were limitations of the study. Nonetheless, publication planners should consider

Infodemiology and Infoveillance: Framework for an Emerging Set of Public Health Informatics Methods to Analyze Search, Communication and Publication Behavior on the Internet

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Infodemiology can be defined as the science of distribution and determinants of information in an electronic medium, specifically the Internet, or in a population, with the ultimate aim to inform public health and public policy. Infodemiology data can be collected and analyzed in near real time. Examples for infodemiology applications include: the analysis of queries from Internet search engines to predict disease outbreaks (eg. influenza); monitoring peoples' status updates on microblogs such as Twitter for syndromic surveillance; detecting and quantifying disparities in health information availability; identifying and monitoring of public health relevant publications on the Internet (eg. anti-vaccination sites, but also news articles or expert-curated outbreak reports); automated tools to measure information diffusion and knowledge translation, and tracking the effectiveness of health marketing campaigns. Moreover, analyzing how people search and navigate the Internet for health-related information, as well as how they communicate and share this information, can provide valuable insights into health-related behavior of populations. Seven years after the infodemiology concept was first introduced, this paper revisits the emerging fields of infodemiology and infoveillance and proposes an expanded framework, introducing some basic metrics such as information prevalence, concept occurrence ratios, and information incidence. The framework distinguishes supply-based applications (analyzing what is being published on the Internet, eg. on Web sites, newsgroups, blogs, microblogs and social media) from demand-based methods (search and navigation behavior), and further distinguishes passive from active infoveillance methods. Infodemiology metrics follow population health relevant events or predict them. Thus, these metrics and methods are potentially useful for public health practice and research, and should be further developed and standardized. PMID:19329408

Infodemiology and infoveillance: framework for an emerging set of public health informatics methods to analyze search, communication and publication behavior on the Internet.

PubMed

Eysenbach, Gunther

2009-03-27

Infodemiology can be defined as the science of distribution and determinants of information in an electronic medium, specifically the Internet, or in a population, with the ultimate aim to inform public health and public policy. Infodemiology data can be collected and analyzed in near real time. Examples for infodemiology applications include the analysis of queries from Internet search engines to predict disease outbreaks (eg. influenza), monitoring peoples' status updates on microblogs such as Twitter for syndromic surveillance, detecting and quantifying disparities in health information availability, identifying and monitoring of public health relevant publications on the Internet (eg. anti-vaccination sites, but also news articles or expert-curated outbreak reports), automated tools to measure information diffusion and knowledge translation, and tracking the effectiveness of health marketing campaigns. Moreover, analyzing how people search and navigate the Internet for health-related information, as well as how they communicate and share this information, can provide valuable insights into health-related behavior of populations. Seven years after the infodemiology concept was first introduced, this paper revisits the emerging fields of infodemiology and infoveillance and proposes an expanded framework, introducing some basic metrics such as information prevalence, concept occurrence ratios, and information incidence. The framework distinguishes supply-based applications (analyzing what is being published on the Internet, eg. on Web sites, newsgroups, blogs, microblogs and social media) from demand-based methods (search and navigation behavior), and further distinguishes passive from active infoveillance methods. Infodemiology metrics follow population health relevant events or predict them. Thus, these metrics and methods are potentially useful for public health practice and research, and should be further developed and standardized.

Interpretation of clinical relevance of X-chromosome copy number variations identified in a large cohort of individuals with cognitive disorders and/or congenital anomalies.

PubMed

Willemsen, Marjolein H; de Leeuw, Nicole; de Brouwer, Arjan P M; Pfundt, Rolph; Hehir-Kwa, Jayne Y; Yntema, Helger G; Nillesen, Willy M; de Vries, Bert B A; van Bokhoven, Hans; Kleefstra, Tjitske

2012-11-01

Genome-wide array studies are now routinely being used in the evaluation of patients with cognitive disorders (CD) and/or congenital anomalies (CA). Therefore, inevitably each clinician is confronted with the challenging task of the interpretation of copy number variations detected by genome-wide array platforms in a diagnostic setting. Clinical interpretation of autosomal copy number variations is already challenging, but assessment of the clinical relevance of copy number variations of the X-chromosome is even more complex. This study provides an overview of the X-Chromosome copy number variations that we have identified by genome-wide array analysis in a large cohort of 4407 male and female patients. We have made an interpretation of the clinical relevance of each of these copy number variations based on well-defined criteria and previous reports in literature and databases. The prevalence of X-chromosome copy number variations in this cohort was 57/4407 (∼1.3%), of which 15 (0.3%) were interpreted as (likely) pathogenic. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Towards A Suicide Free Society: Identify Suicide Prevention As Public Health Policy*

PubMed Central

Singh, Ajai R.; Singh, Shakuntala A.

2004-01-01

Major Depression. Therefore facilities to tackle this condition need to be set up globally on a warfooting by governments, NGOs and health care delivery systems, if morbidity and mortality of the world population has to be seriously controlled . The need, first of all, is to identify suicide prevention as public health policy, just as we think in terms of Malaria or Polio eradication, or have achieved smallpox eradication. PMID:22815599

Mining Twitter to Assess the Public Perception of the "Internet of Things".

PubMed

Bian, Jiang; Yoshigoe, Kenji; Hicks, Amanda; Yuan, Jiawei; He, Zhe; Xie, Mengjun; Guo, Yi; Prosperi, Mattia; Salloum, Ramzi; Modave, François

2016-01-01

Social media analysis has shown tremendous potential to understand public's opinion on a wide variety of topics. In this paper, we have mined Twitter to understand the public's perception of the Internet of Things (IoT). We first generated the discussion trends of the IoT from multiple Twitter data sources and validated these trends with Google Trends. We then performed sentiment analysis to gain insights of the public's attitude towards the IoT. As anticipated, our analysis indicates that the public's perception of the IoT is predominantly positive. Further, through topic modeling, we learned that public tweets discussing the IoT were often focused on business and technology. However, the public has great concerns about privacy and security issues toward the IoT based on the frequent appearance of related terms. Nevertheless, no unexpected perceptions were identified through our analysis. Our analysis was challenged by the limited fraction of tweets relevant to our study. Also, the user demographics of Twitter users may not be strongly representative of the population of the general public.

Identifying Opportunities for Vertical Integration of Biochemistry and Clinical Medicine.

PubMed

Wendelberger, Karen J.; Burke, Rebecca; Haas, Arthur L.; Harenwattananon, Marisa; Simpson, Deborah

1998-01-01

Objectives: Retention of basic science knowledge, as judged by National Board of Medical Examiners' (NBME) data, suffers due to lack of apparent relevance and isolation of instruction from clinical application, especially in biochemistry. However, the literature reveals no systematic process for identifying key biochemical concepts and associated clinical conditions. This study systematically identified difficult biochemical concepts and their common clinical conditions as a critical step towards enhancing relevance and retention of biochemistry.Methods: A multi-step/ multiple stakeholder process was used to: (1) identify important biochemistry concepts; (2) determine students' perceptions of concept difficulty; (3) assess biochemistry faculty, student, and clinical teaching scholars' perceived relevance of identified concepts; and (4) identify associated common clinical conditions for relevant and difficult concepts. Surveys and a modified Delphi process were used to gather data, subsequently analyzed using SPSS for Windows.Results: Sixteen key biochemical concepts were identified. Second year medical students rated 14/16 concepts as extremely difficult while fourth year students rated nine concepts as moderately to extremely difficult. On average, each teaching scholar generated common clinical conditions for 6.2 of the 16 concepts, yielding a set of seven critical concepts and associated clinical conditions.Conclusions: Key stakeholders in the instructional process struggle to identify biochemistry concepts that are critical, difficult to learn and associated with common clinical conditions. However, through a systematic process beginning with identification of concepts and associated clinical conditions, relevance of basic science instruction can be enhanced.

The priority group index: a proposed new method incorporating high risk and population burden to identify target populations for public health interventions.

PubMed

Zhang, Bo; Cohen, Joanna E; OʼConnor, Shawn

2014-01-01

Selection of priority groups is important for health interventions. However, no quantitative method has been developed. To develop a quantitative method to support the process of selecting priority groups for public health interventions based on both high risk and population health burden. Secondary data analysis of the 2010 Canadian Community Health Survey. Canadian population. Survey respondents. We identified priority groups for 3 diseases: heart disease, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Three measures--prevalence, population counts, and adjusted odds ratios (OR)--were calculated for subpopulations (sociodemographic characteristics and other risk factors). A Priority Group Index (PGI) was calculated by summing the rank scores of these 3 measures. Of the 30 priority groups identified by the PGI (10 for each of the 3 disease outcomes), 7 were identified on the basis of high prevalence only, 5 based on population count only, 3 based on high OR only, and the remainder based on combinations of these. The identified priority groups were all in line with the literature as risk factors for the 3 diseases, such as elderly people for heart disease and stroke and those with low income for chronic lower respiratory diseases. The PGI was thus able to balance both high risk and population burden approaches in selecting priority groups, and thus it would address health inequities as well as disease burden in the overall population. The PGI is a quantitative method to select priority groups for public health interventions; it has the potential to enhance the effective use of limited public resources.

Commentary: public disclosure in the health field: is there a relevant option?

PubMed

Weil, T P

2001-01-01

Steadily increasing numbers of private, not-for-profit, and public agencies are releasing quality of care and financial information to enhance the market power of those purchasing America's health services. These sources range widely from the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A growing interest in publicly disclosing performance information that concerns providers, as recently recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on patient safety, until now has only achieved a modest impact. A major exception is in those metropolitan areas where acute-care facilities experience intense competition for patient admissions. Although the comparative quality and cost information currently available is for the most part in the public interest, it is concluded that, in the foreseeable future, these report cards as now structured will not result in any significant enhancement in access, improvement in quality, or reduction in cost. Options to encourage more public disclosure explored in this paper are Congress potentially passing legislation (a) to establish a Center for Patient Safety within the US Department of Health and Human Services as recommended by the recent Institute of IOM study, or (b) empowering the SEC beyond its current mandate to collect and disseminate all pertinent quality of care and cost information on every provider in the United States. The latter alternative would include user-friendly, comparative analyses to be provided on the Internet and elsewhere and would make readily available information from HEDIS, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery studies, cost comparisons based on Medicare cost reports and SEC filings, and other similar sources.

Legal issues affecting children with preexisting conditions during public health emergencies.

PubMed

Rutkow, Lainie; Vernick, Jon S; Wissow, Lawrence S; Tung, Gregory J; Marum, Felicity; Barnett, Daniel J

2013-06-01

Among the millions of children in the United States exposed to public health emergencies in recent years, those with preexisting health conditions face particular challenges. A public health emergency may, for example, disrupt treatment regimens or cause children to be separated from caregivers. Ongoing shortages of pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists may further exacerbate the risks that children with preexisting conditions face in disaster circumstances. The US Department of Homeland Security recently called for better integration of children's needs into all preparedness activities. To aid in this process, multiple legal concerns relevant to pediatricians and pediatric policymakers must be identified and addressed. Obtaining informed consent from children and parents may be particularly challenging during certain public health emergencies. States may need to invoke legal protections for children who are separated from caregivers during emergencies. Maintaining access to prescription medications may also require pediatricians to use specific legal mechanisms. In addition to practitioners, recommendations are given for policymakers to promote effective pediatric response to public health emergencies.

17 CFR 13.6 - Promulgation of rules; publication.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...; publication. 13.6 Section 13.6 Commodity and Securities Exchanges COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION PUBLIC RULEMAKING PROCEDURES § 13.6 Promulgation of rules; publication. After consideration of all relevant matters... also be made in the Federal Register if a proposal is subsequently withdrawn. The required publication...

17 CFR 13.6 - Promulgation of rules; publication.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

...; publication. 13.6 Section 13.6 Commodity and Securities Exchanges COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION PUBLIC RULEMAKING PROCEDURES § 13.6 Promulgation of rules; publication. After consideration of all relevant matters... also be made in the Federal Register if a proposal is subsequently withdrawn. The required publication...

Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics.

PubMed

Flahault, A; Bar-Hen, A; Paragios, N

2016-11-10

The aim of this manuscript is to provide a brief overview of the scientific challenges that should be addressed in order to unlock the full potential of using data from a general point of view, as well as to present some ideas that could help answer specific needs for data understanding in the field of health sciences and epidemiology. A survey of uses and challenges of big data analyses for medicine and public health was conducted. The first part of the paper focuses on big data techniques, algorithms, and statistical approaches to identify patterns in data. The second part describes some cutting-edge applications of analyses and predictive modeling in public health. In recent years, we witnessed a revolution regarding the nature, collection, and availability of data in general. This was especially striking in the health sector and particularly in the field of epidemiology. Data derives from a large variety of sources, e.g. clinical settings, billing claims, care scheduling, drug usage, web based search queries, and Tweets. The exploitation of the information (data mining, artificial intelligence) relevant to these data has become one of the most promising as well challenging tasks from societal and scientific viewpoints in order to leverage the information available and making public health more efficient.

18 CFR 1312.20 - Public awareness programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... the Interior the relevant information on public awareness activities required by section 10(c) of the... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Public awareness... PROTECTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES: UNIFORM REGULATIONS § 1312.20 Public awareness programs. (a) Each...

Open Window: When Easily Identifiable Genomes and Traits Are in the Public Domain

PubMed Central

Angrist, Misha

2014-01-01

“One can't be of an enquiring and experimental nature, and still be very sensible.” - Charles Fort [1] As the costs of personal genetic testing “self-quantification” fall, publicly accessible databases housing people's genotypic and phenotypic information are gradually increasing in number and scope. The latest entrant is openSNP, which allows participants to upload their personal genetic/genomic and self-reported phenotypic data. I believe the emergence of such open repositories of human biological data is a natural reflection of inquisitive and digitally literate people's desires to make genomic and phenotypic information more easily available to a community beyond the research establishment. Such unfettered databases hold the promise of contributing mightily to science, science education and medicine. That said, in an age of increasingly widespread governmental and corporate surveillance, we would do well to be mindful that genomic DNA is uniquely identifying. Participants in open biological databases are engaged in a real-time experiment whose outcome is unknown. PMID:24647311

Public archaeological interpretation on the campus of St. Mary's College of Maryland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horrom, Alexander Michael

2011-12-01

Communicating archaeological findings to non-archaeologists is one of the most important and challenging aspects of the discipline. Archaeologists must serve multiple publics, bring communities into the archaeological process, and effectively disseminate information in order for their work to achieve relevance in the modern world. Communication with the public can take many forms, and brings together aspects of historic preservation, dialogic interpretation, applied critical archaeology, heritage, and landscape studies. This dissertation analyzes public interpretation at St. Mary's City, Maryland, a multi-component historic landscape containing historic and prehistoric sites from various time periods and proposes measures to be taken there to better engage the public. This site presents a unique context for public interpretation: the Historic St. Mary's City archaeological museum occupies a portion of the landscape, while neighboring St. Mary's College of Maryland is a public collegiate campus that contains an imposing number of uninterpreted sites. Exploration of the histories and relationships between these institutions provide insight into the many factors which impact public interpretation. Examination of this case includes identifying audiences, gauging attitudes towards archaeology, assessing current interpretive measures, and identifying areas where public engagement can be improved. The example of St. Mary's outlines how an individual's relationship to archaeology is interwoven into their experience of the landscape. The past and present coexist on historic landscapes, and public communication can use this juxtaposition to engage audiences in meaningful ways. I conclude by developing an archaeological walking tour of the St. Mary's landscape aimed at creating discussion and making people aware of the sites around them.

Tobacco Industry Efforts to Undermine Policy-Relevant Research

PubMed Central

Landman, Anne

2009-01-01

The tobacco industry, working through third parties to prevent policy-relevant research that adversely affected it between 1988 and 1998, used coordinated, well-funded strategies in repeated attempts to silence tobacco researcher Stanton A. Glantz. Tactics included advertising, litigation, and attempts to have the US Congress cut off the researcher's National Cancer Institute funding. Efforts like these can influence the policymaking process by silencing opposing voices and discouraging other scientists from doing work that may expose them to tobacco industry attacks. The support of highly credible public health organizations and of researchers’ employers is crucial to the continued advancement of public health. PMID:19008508

A machine learning heuristic to identify biologically relevant and minimal biomarker panels from omics data

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background Investigations into novel biomarkers using omics techniques generate large amounts of data. Due to their size and numbers of attributes, these data are suitable for analysis with machine learning methods. A key component of typical machine learning pipelines for omics data is feature selection, which is used to reduce the raw high-dimensional data into a tractable number of features. Feature selection needs to balance the objective of using as few features as possible, while maintaining high predictive power. This balance is crucial when the goal of data analysis is the identification of highly accurate but small panels of biomarkers with potential clinical utility. In this paper we propose a heuristic for the selection of very small feature subsets, via an iterative feature elimination process that is guided by rule-based machine learning, called RGIFE (Rule-guided Iterative Feature Elimination). We use this heuristic to identify putative biomarkers of osteoarthritis (OA), articular cartilage degradation and synovial inflammation, using both proteomic and transcriptomic datasets. Results and discussion Our RGIFE heuristic increased the classification accuracies achieved for all datasets when no feature selection is used, and performed well in a comparison with other feature selection methods. Using this method the datasets were reduced to a smaller number of genes or proteins, including those known to be relevant to OA, cartilage degradation and joint inflammation. The results have shown the RGIFE feature reduction method to be suitable for analysing both proteomic and transcriptomics data. Methods that generate large ‘omics’ datasets are increasingly being used in the area of rheumatology. Conclusions Feature reduction methods are advantageous for the analysis of omics data in the field of rheumatology, as the applications of such techniques are likely to result in improvements in diagnosis, treatment and drug discovery. PMID:25923811

A qualitative study examining methods of accessing and identifying research relevant to clinical practice among rehabilitation clinicians.

PubMed

Patel, Drasti; Koehmstedt, Christine; Jones, Rebecca; Coffey, Nathan T; Cai, Xinsheng; Garfinkel, Steven; Shaewitz, Dahlia M; Weinstein, Ali A

2017-01-01

Research examining the utilization of evidence-based practice (EBP) specifically among rehabilitation clinicians is limited. The objective of this study was to examine how various rehabilitative clinicians including physical therapists, occupational therapists, rehabilitation counselors, and physiatrists are gaining access to literature and whether they are able to implement the available research into practice. A total of 21 total clinicians were interviewed via telephone. Using NVivo, a qualitative analysis of the responses was performed. There were similarities found with respect to the information-seeking behaviors and translation of research across the different clinician types. Lack of time was reported to be a barrier for both access to literature and implementation of research across all clinician types. The majority of clinicians who reported having difficulty with utilizing the published literature indicated that the literature was not applicable to their practice, the research was not specific enough to be put into practice, or the research found was too outdated to be relevant. In addition, having a supportive work environment aided in the search and utilization of research through providing resources central to assisting clinicians in gaining access to health information. Our study identified several barriers that affect EBP for rehabilitation clinicians. The findings suggest the need for researchers to ensure that their work is applicable and specific to clinical practice for implementation to occur.

32 CFR 229.20 - Public awareness programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the Interior the relevant information on public awareness activities required by section 10(c) of the... 32 National Defense 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Public awareness programs. 229.20 Section 229.20...) MISCELLANEOUS PROTECTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES: UNIFORM REGULATIONS § 229.20 Public awareness programs. (a...

[The European countries confronting cancer: a set of indicators assessing public health status].

PubMed

Borella, Laurent

2008-11-01

We now know that efficient public policies for cancer control need to be global and take into account each and all the factors involved: economics and level of development, style of life and risk factors, access to screening, effectiveness of the care-providing system. A very simple scorecard is proposed, based on publicized public health indicators, which allows a comparison between European countries. We extracted 49 indicators from public databases and literature concerning 22 European countries. We made correlation calculations in order to identify relevant indicators from which a global score was extracted. Using a hierarchical clustering method we were then able to identify subsets of homogeneous countries. A 7 indicator scorecard was drawn up: national gross product, scientific production, smoking rate, breast screening participating rate, all cancer mortality rate (male population), 5 years relative survival for colorectal cancer and life expectancy at birth. A global score shows: 1) the better positioned countries: Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and France; 2) the countries where cancer control is less effective: Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Three subsets of countries with a fairly similar profile were identified: a high level of means and results group; a high level of means but a medium level of results group; and a low level of means and results group. This work emphasizes dramatically heterogeneous situations between countries. A follow-up, using a reduced but regularly updated set of public health indicators, would help induce an active European policy for cancer control.

Pharmaceutical products as emerging contaminant in water: relevance for developing nations and identification of critical compounds for Indian environment.

PubMed

Chinnaiyan, Prakash; Thampi, Santosh G; Kumar, Mathava; Mini, K M

2018-04-17

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are contaminants of emerging concern and have been detected worldwide in water bodies in trace concentrations. Most of these emerging contaminants are not regulated in water quality standards except a few in the developed countries. In the case of developing countries, research in this direction is at a nascent stage. For the effective management of Pharmaceutical contaminants (PC) in developing countries, the relevance of PCs as an emerging contaminant has to be analyzed followed by regular monitoring of the environment. Considering the resource constraints, this could be accomplished by identifying the priority compounds which is again region specific and dependent on consumption behavior and pattern. In this work, relevance of pharmaceutical compound as emerging contaminant in water for a developing country like India is examined by considering the data pertaining to pharmaceutical consumption data. To identify the critical Pharmaceutical Contaminants to be monitored in the Indian environment, priority compounds from selected prioritization methods were screened with the compounds listed in National List of Essential Medicine (NLEM), India. Further, information on the number of publications on the compound as an emerging contaminant, data on monitoring studies in India and the number of brands marketing the compound in India were also analyzed. It is found that out of 195 compounds from different prioritization techniques, only 77 compounds were found relevant to India based on NLEM sorting.

Climate change and public health policy: translating the science.

PubMed

Braks, Marieta; van Ginkel, Rijk; Wint, William; Sedda, Luigi; Sprong, Hein

2013-12-19

Public health authorities are required to prepare for future threats and need predictions of the likely impact of climate change on public health risks. They may get overwhelmed by the volume of heterogeneous information in scientific articles and risk relying purely on the public opinion articles which focus mainly on global warming trends, and leave out many other relevant factors. In the current paper, we discuss various scientific approaches investigating climate change and its possible impact on public health and discuss their different roles and functions in unraveling the complexity of the subject. It is not our objective to review the available literature or to make predictions for certain diseases or countries, but rather to evaluate the applicability of scientific research articles on climate change to evidence-based public health decisions. In the context of mosquito borne diseases, we identify common pitfalls to watch out for when assessing scientific research on the impact of climate change on human health. We aim to provide guidance through the plethora of scientific papers and views on the impact of climate change on human health to those new to the subject, as well as to remind public health experts of its multifactorial and multidisciplinary character.

Climate Change and Public Health Policy: Translating the Science

PubMed Central

Braks, Marieta; van Ginkel, Rijk; Wint, William; Sedda, Luigi; Sprong, Hein

2013-01-01

Public health authorities are required to prepare for future threats and need predictions of the likely impact of climate change on public health risks. They may get overwhelmed by the volume of heterogeneous information in scientific articles and risk relying purely on the public opinion articles which focus mainly on global warming trends, and leave out many other relevant factors. In the current paper, we discuss various scientific approaches investigating climate change and its possible impact on public health and discuss their different roles and functions in unraveling the complexity of the subject. It is not our objective to review the available literature or to make predictions for certain diseases or countries, but rather to evaluate the applicability of scientific research articles on climate change to evidence-based public health decisions. In the context of mosquito borne diseases, we identify common pitfalls to watch out for when assessing scientific research on the impact of climate change on human health. We aim to provide guidance through the plethora of scientific papers and views on the impact of climate change on human health to those new to the subject, as well as to remind public health experts of its multifactorial and multidisciplinary character. PMID:24452252

Relevant Repositories of Public Knowledge? Libraries, Museums and Archives in "The Information Age"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Usherwood, Bob; Wilson, Kerry; Bryson, Jared

2005-01-01

In a project funded by the AHRB, researchers at the University of Sheffield used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to examine the perceived contemporary relevance of archives, libraries and museums. The research sought to discern how far the British people value access to these established repositories of public…

Evaluation of the Implementation of Culturally Relevant and Responsive Education. Publication No. 218

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maddahian, Ebrahim

2004-01-01

The main purpose of this study was to gather evidence regarding the existence of a Culturally Relevant and Responsive Educational program (CRRE) in schools and especially classrooms. The CRRE conceptual framework presents a comprehensive model dealing with all aspect of instruction and education (Maddahian, and Bird, 2004). To examine the…

Assessing public concern for landscape quality: a potential model to identify visual thresholds

Treesearch

Arthur W. Magill

1990-01-01

Considerable public criticism and sometimes legal obstructions have been directed toward landscape management in relation to the extraction of natural resources. Many managers do not understand public concerns for visually attractive resources. Managers need to know when landscape alterations, like clearcuts, attract public attention and become visually objectionable....

Assessment of public perception of radioactive waste management in Korea.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Trone, Janis R.; Cho, SeongKyung; Whang, Jooho

2011-11-01

The essential characteristics of the issue of radioactive waste management can be conceptualized as complex, with a variety of facets and uncertainty. These characteristics tend to cause people to perceive the issue of radioactive waste management as a 'risk'. This study was initiated in response to a desire to understand the perceptions of risk that the Korean public holds towards radioactive waste and the relevant policies and policy-making processes. The study further attempts to identify the factors influencing risk perceptions and the relationships between risk perception and social acceptance.

Public clonotype usage identifies protective Gag-specific CD8+ T cell responses in SIV infection

PubMed Central

Asher, Tedi E.; Wilson, Nancy A.; Nason, Martha C.; Brenchley, Jason M.; Metzler, Ian S.; Venturi, Vanessa; Gostick, Emma; Chattopadhyay, Pratip K.; Roederer, Mario; Davenport, Miles P.; Watkins, David I.; Douek, Daniel C.

2009-01-01

Despite the pressing need for an AIDS vaccine, the determinants of protective immunity to HIV remain concealed within the complexity of adaptive immune responses. We dissected immunodominant virus-specific CD8+ T cell populations in Mamu-A*01+ rhesus macaques with primary SIV infection to elucidate the hallmarks of effective immunity at the level of individual constituent clonotypes, which were identified according to the expression of distinct T cell receptors (TCRs). The number of public clonotypes, defined as those that expressed identical TCR β-chain amino acid sequences and recurred in multiple individuals, contained within the acute phase CD8+ T cell population specific for the biologically constrained Gag CM9 (CTPYDINQM; residues 181–189) epitope correlated negatively with the virus load set point. This independent molecular signature of protection was confirmed in a prospective vaccine trial, in which clonotype engagement was governed by the nature of the antigen rather than the context of exposure and public clonotype usage was associated with enhanced recognition of epitope variants. Thus, the pattern of antigen-specific clonotype recruitment within a protective CD8+ T cell population is a prognostic indicator of vaccine efficacy and biological outcome in an AIDS virus infection. PMID:19349463

Identifying climate risk perceptions, information needs, and barriers to information exchange among public land managers.

PubMed

Peters, Casey B; Schwartz, Mark W; Lubell, Mark N

2018-03-01

Meeting ecosystem management challenges posed by climate change requires building effective communication channels among researchers, planners and practitioners to focus research on management issues requiring new knowledge. We surveyed resource managers within two regions of the western United States regions to better understand perceived risks and vulnerabilities associated with climate change and barriers to obtaining and using relevant climate science information in making ecosystem management decisions. We sought to understand what types of climate science information resource managers find most valuable, and the formats in which they prefer to receive climate science information. We found broad concern among natural resource managers in federal agencies that climate change will make it more difficult for them to achieve their management goals. Primary barriers to incorporating climate science into planning are distributed among challenges identifying, receiving, and interpreting appropriate science and a lack of direction provided by agency leadership needed to meaningfully use this emerging science in resource planning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identifying the Gaps in Practice for Combating Lead in Drinking Water in Hong Kong

PubMed Central

Lee, Wai Ling; Jia, Jie; Bao, Yani

2016-01-01

Excessive lead has been found in drinking water in Hong Kong in tests carried out in 2015. Investigations have identified that the problem in public rental housing estates was caused by the problematic solders used in the plumbing, and recommendations on enhancing the quality control system and strengthening the relevant water quality standards have been proposed. The cause for the same problem happening in other premises where soldering has not been adopted for water pipe connections is left unidentified. Considering the unidentified cause and the recommendations made, this study aims to identify the gaps in practice followed in Hong Kong for safeguarding the water quality of new installations. A holistic review of governing ordinances and regulations, products and materials used and the testing and commissioning requirements adopted in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world were conducted. Based on international practices and parametric analysis, it was found that there are gaps in practices followed in Hong Kong, which are directly and indirectly leading to the lead-in-water crisis. Recommendations for improvement in the quality control system, and the water quality standards including the allowable lead content and leaching limit for products and materials and the testing and commissioning requirements on plumbing installations have been made. The review and the identified gaps would become useful reference for countries in strengthening their relevant water quality standards. PMID:27706062

Identifying the Gaps in Practice for Combating Lead in Drinking Water in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Lee, Wai Ling; Jia, Jie; Bao, Yani

2016-09-30

Excessive lead has been found in drinking water in Hong Kong in tests carried out in 2015. Investigations have identified that the problem in public rental housing estates was caused by the problematic solders used in the plumbing, and recommendations on enhancing the quality control system and strengthening the relevant water quality standards have been proposed. The cause for the same problem happening in other premises where soldering has not been adopted for water pipe connections is left unidentified. Considering the unidentified cause and the recommendations made, this study aims to identify the gaps in practice followed in Hong Kong for safeguarding the water quality of new installations. A holistic review of governing ordinances and regulations, products and materials used and the testing and commissioning requirements adopted in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world were conducted. Based on international practices and parametric analysis, it was found that there are gaps in practices followed in Hong Kong, which are directly and indirectly leading to the lead-in-water crisis. Recommendations for improvement in the quality control system, and the water quality standards including the allowable lead content and leaching limit for products and materials and the testing and commissioning requirements on plumbing installations have been made. The review and the identified gaps would become useful reference for countries in strengthening their relevant water quality standards.

Tracing Scientific Facilities through the Research Literature Using Persistent Identifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayernik, M. S.; Maull, K. E.

2016-12-01

Tracing persistent identifiers to their source publications is an easy task when authors use them, since it is a simple matter of matching the persistent identifier to the specific text string of the identifier. However, trying to understand if a publication uses the resource behind an identifier when such identifier is not referenced explicitly is a harder task. In this research, we explore the effectiveness of alternative strategies of associating publications with uses of the resource referenced by an identifier when it may not be explicit. This project is explored within the context of the NCAR supercomputer, where we are broadly interesting in the science that can be traced to the usage of the NCAR supercomputing facility, by way of the peer-reviewed research publications that utilize and reference it. In this project we explore several ways of drawing linkages between publications and the NCAR supercomputing resources. Identifying and compiling peer-reviewed publications related to NCAR supercomputer usage are explored via three sources: 1) User-supplied publications gathered through a community survey, 2) publications that were identified via manual searching of the Google scholar search index, and 3) publications associated with National Science Foundation (NSF) grants extracted from a public NSF database. These three sources represent three styles of collecting information about publications that likely imply usage of the NCAR supercomputing facilities. Each source has strengths and weaknesses, thus our discussion will explore how our publication identification and analysis methods vary in terms of accuracy, reliability, and effort. We will also discuss strategies for enabling more efficient tracing of research impacts of supercomputing facilities going forward through the assignment of a persistent web identifier to the NCAR supercomputer. While this solution has potential to greatly enhance our ability to trace the use of the facility through

Digital Object Identifiers (DOI's) usage and adoption in U.S Geological Survey (USGS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frame, M. T.; Palanisamy, G.

2013-12-01

Addressing grand environmental science challenges requires unprecedented access to easily understood data that cross the breadth of temporal, spatial, and thematic scales. From a scientist's perspective, the big challenges lie in discovering the relevant data, dealing with extreme data heterogeneity, large data volumes, and converting data to information and knowledge. Historical linkages between derived products, i.e. Publications, and associated datasets has not existed in the earth science community. The USGS Core Science Analytics and Synthesis, in collaboration with DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Mercury Consortium (funded by NASA, USGS and DOE), established a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) service for USGS data, metadata, and other media. This service is offered in partnership through the University of California Digital Library EZID service. USGS scientists, data managers, and other professionals can generate globally unique, persistent and resolvable identifiers for any kind of digital objects. Additional efforts to assign DOIs to historical data and publications have also been underway. These DOI identifiers are being used to cite data in journal articles, web-accessible datasets, and other media for distribution, integration, and in support of improved data management practices. The session will discuss the current DOI efforts within USGS, including a discussion on adoption, challenges, and future efforts necessary to improve access, reuse, sharing, and discoverability of USGS data and information.

RELEVANCE OF WHOLE BODY VIBRATION EXERCISE IN SPORT: A SHORT REVIEW WITH SOCCER, DIVER AND COMBAT SPORT.

PubMed

Morel, Danielle Soares; Dionello, Carla da Fontoura; Moreira-Marconi, Eloá; Brandão-Sobrinho-Neto, Samuel; Paineiras-Domingos, Laisa Liane; Souza, Patrícia Lopes; Sá-Caputo, Danúbia da Cunha; Dias, Glenda; Figueiredo, Claudia; Carmo, Roberto Carlos Resende; Paiva, Patrícia de Castro; Sousa-Gonçalves, Cintia Renata; Kütter, Cristiane Ribeiro; Guedes-Aguiar, Eliane de Oliveira; Cloak, Ross; Bernardo-Filho, Mario

2017-01-01

Whole body vibration exercise (WBVE) has been used as a safe and accessible exercise and important reviews have been published about the use of this exercise to manage diseases and to improve physical conditions of athletes The aim of this paper is to highlight the relevance of WBVE to soccer players, divers and combat athletes. This study was made through a systematic review of publications involving WBVE and the selected sports in two databases (Pubmed and PEDRo). It were identified 10 studies involving WBVE and sports (6 of soccer, 2 of diving and 2 of sport combat) with 156 subjects (80 soccer players, 32 divers and 44 combat athletes), with age from 17 to 44 years old. The use of WBVE has proven to be a safe and useful strategy to improve the physical conditions of players of different sports. These findings may have clinical relevance and should be considered as a strategy to be used to try improve the physical conditions of players.

Breast cancer survivorship program: testing for cross-cultural relevance.

PubMed

Chung, Lynna K; Cimprich, Bernadine; Janz, Nancy K; Mills-Wisneski, Sharon M

2009-01-01

Taking CHARGE, a theory-based self-management program, was developed to assist women with survivorship concerns that arise after breast cancer treatment. Few such programs have been evaluated for cultural relevance with diverse groups. This study determined the utility and cultural relevance of the program for African American (AA) breast cancer survivors. Two focus groups were held with AA women (n = 13), aged 41 to 72 years, who had completed primary treatment. Focus group participants assessed the program content, format, materials, and the self-regulation process. Content analysis of audiotapes was conducted using an open, focused coding process to identify emergent themes regarding program relevance and topics requiring enhancement and/or further emphasis. Although findings indicated that the program's content was relevant to participants' experiences, AA women identified need for cultural enhancements in spirituality, self-preservation, and positive valuations of body image. Content areas requiring more emphasis included persistent fatigue, competing demands, disclosure, anticipatory guidance, and age-specific concerns about body image/sexuality. Suggested improvements to program materials included portable observation logs, additional resources, more photographs of younger AA women, vivid colors, and images depicting strength. These findings provide the basis for program enhancements to increase the utility and cultural relevance of Taking CHARGE for AA survivors and underscore the importance of evaluating interventions for racially/ethnically diverse groups.

Relevant Scatterers Characterization in SAR Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaabouni, Houda; Datcu, Mihai

2006-11-01

Recognizing scenes in a single look meter resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, requires the capability to identify relevant signal signatures in condition of variable image acquisition geometry, arbitrary objects poses and configurations. Among the methods to detect relevant scatterers in SAR images, we can mention the internal coherence. The SAR spectrum splitted in azimuth generates a series of images which preserve high coherence only for particular object scattering. The detection of relevant scatterers can be done by correlation study or Independent Component Analysis (ICA) methods. The present article deals with the state of the art for SAR internal correlation analysis and proposes further extensions using elements of inference based on information theory applied to complex valued signals. The set of azimuth looks images is analyzed using mutual information measures and an equivalent channel capacity is derived. The localization of the "target" requires analysis in a small image window, thus resulting in imprecise estimation of the second order statistics of the signal. For a better precision, a Hausdorff measure is introduced. The method is applied to detect and characterize relevant objects in urban areas.

A Systematic Review of Extramural Presentations and Publications from Pharmacy Student Research Programs

PubMed Central

Martin, Jennifer; Worede, Leah; Islam, Sameer

2016-01-01

Objective. To conduct a systematic review of reports of pharmacy student research programs that describes the programs and resulting publications or presentations. Methods. To be eligible for the review, reports had to be in English and indicate that students were required to collect, analyze data, and report or present findings. The outcome variables were extramural posters/presentations and publications. Results. Database searches resulted in identification of 13 reports for 12 programs. Two-thirds were reports of projects required for a course or for graduation, and the remaining third were elective (participation was optional). Extramural posters resulted from 75% of the programs and publications from 67%. Conclusion. Although reporting on the outcomes of student research programs is limited, three-quarters of the programs indicated that extramural presentations, publications, or both resulted from student research. Additional research is needed to identify relevant outcomes of student research programs in pharmacy. PMID:27667837

A Systematic Review of Extramural Presentations and Publications from Pharmacy Student Research Programs.

PubMed

Slack, Marion K; Martin, Jennifer; Worede, Leah; Islam, Sameer

2016-08-25

Objective. To conduct a systematic review of reports of pharmacy student research programs that describes the programs and resulting publications or presentations. Methods. To be eligible for the review, reports had to be in English and indicate that students were required to collect, analyze data, and report or present findings. The outcome variables were extramural posters/presentations and publications. Results. Database searches resulted in identification of 13 reports for 12 programs. Two-thirds were reports of projects required for a course or for graduation, and the remaining third were elective (participation was optional). Extramural posters resulted from 75% of the programs and publications from 67%. Conclusion. Although reporting on the outcomes of student research programs is limited, three-quarters of the programs indicated that extramural presentations, publications, or both resulted from student research. Additional research is needed to identify relevant outcomes of student research programs in pharmacy.

Does a research article's country of origin affect perception of its quality and relevance? A national trial of US public health researchers.

PubMed

Harris, M; Macinko, J; Jimenez, G; Mahfoud, M; Anderson, C

2015-12-30

The source of research may influence one's interpretation of it in either negative or positive ways, however, there are no robust experiments to determine how source impacts on one's judgment of the research article. We determine the impact of source on respondents' assessment of the quality and relevance of selected research abstracts. Web-based survey design using four healthcare research abstracts previously published and included in Cochrane Reviews. All Council on the Education of Public Health-accredited Schools and Programmes of Public Health in the USA. 899 core faculty members (full, associate and assistant professors) Each of the four abstracts appeared with a high-income source half of the time, and low-income source half of the time. Participants each reviewed the same four abstracts, but were randomly allocated to receive two abstracts with high-income source, and two abstracts with low-income source, allowing for within-abstract comparison of quality and relevance Within-abstract comparison of participants' rating scores on two measures--strength of the evidence, and likelihood of referral to a peer (1-10 rating scale). OR was calculated using a generalised ordered logit model adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. Participants who received high income country source abstracts were equal in all known characteristics to the participants who received the abstracts with low income country sources. For one of the four abstracts (a randomised, controlled trial of a pharmaceutical intervention), likelihood of referral to a peer was greater if the source was a high income country (OR 1.28, 1.02 to 1.62, p<0.05). All things being equal, in one of the four abstracts, the respondents were influenced by a high-income source in their rating of research abstracts. More research may be needed to explore how the origin of a research article may lead to stereotype activation and application in research evaluation. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited

A review of NCI's extramural grant portfolio: identifying opportunities for future research in genes and environment in cancer.

PubMed

Ghazarian, Armen A; Simonds, Naoko I; Bennett, Kelly; Pimentel, Camilla B; Ellison, Gary L; Gillanders, Elizabeth M; Schully, Sheri D; Mechanic, Leah E

2013-04-01

Genetic and environmental factors jointly influence cancer risk. The NIH has made the study of gene-environment (GxE) interactions a research priority since the year 2000. To assess the current status of GxE research in cancer, we analyzed the extramural grant portfolio of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from Fiscal Years 2007 to 2009. Publications attributed to selected grants were also evaluated. From the 1,106 research grants identified in our portfolio analysis, a random sample of 450 grants (40%) was selected for data abstraction; of these, 147 (33%) were considered relevant. The most common cancer type was breast (20%, n = 29), followed by lymphoproliferative (10%, n = 14), colorectal (9%, n = 13), melanoma/other skin (9%, n = 13), and lung/upper aerodigestive tract (8%, n = 12) cancers. The majority of grants were studies of candidate genes (68%, n = 100) compared with genome-wide association studies (GWAS) (8%, n = 12). Approximately one-third studied environmental exposures categorized as energy balance (37%, n = 54) or drugs/treatment (29%, n = 43). From the 147 relevant grants, 108 publications classified as GxE or pharmacogenomic were identified. These publications were linked to 37 of the 147 grant applications (25%). The findings from our portfolio analysis suggest that GxE studies are concentrated in specific areas. There is room for investments in other aspects of GxE research, including, but not limited to developing alternative approaches to exposure assessment, broadening the spectrum of cancer types investigated, and conducting GxE within GWAS. This portfolio analysis provides a cross-sectional review of NCI support for GxE research in cancer.

Word order denotes relevance differences: The case of conjoined phrases with lexical gender.

PubMed

Kesebir, Selin

2017-08-01

This work explores the order of linguistic references to the two genders (e.g., men and women vs. women and men). It argues that a gender is more likely to be mentioned first when it is perceived to have higher relevance in a context rather than lower relevance, and audiences assign stronger relevance to a party when the party is mentioned first rather than second. Studies 1-3 document the current prevalence of male-first conjoined phrases in the public (but not family) domain and link the pattern to historical changes in women's public presence over the 20th century. Study 4 shows that contextual relevance cues affect the odds of first mention, such that people are more likely to refer to a woman before a man, when the two are in a primary school classroom rather than a corporate office. At the same time, Studies 4 and 5 find that people often choose to reproduce collectively preferred word order patterns (e.g., men and women). Studies 6 and 7 show that these choices matter because people assign more relevance to a party when it comes first rather than second in a conjoined phrase. Overall, this work offers theoretical grounding and empirical evidence for word order as a means of expressing and perpetuating gender stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding Evidence-Based Public Health Policy

PubMed Central

Chriqui, Jamie F.; Stamatakis, Katherine A.

2009-01-01

Public health policy has a profound impact on health status. Missing from the literature is a clear articulation of the definition of evidence-based policy and approaches to move the field forward. Policy-relevant evidence includes both quantitative (e.g., epidemiological) and qualitative information (e.g., narrative accounts). We describe 3 key domains of evidence-based policy: (1) process, to understand approaches to enhance the likelihood of policy adoption; (2) content, to identify specific policy elements that are likely to be effective; and (3) outcomes, to document the potential impact of policy. Actions to further evidence-based policy include preparing and communicating data more effectively, using existing analytic tools more effectively, conducting policy surveillance, and tracking outcomes with different types of evidence. PMID:19608941

Mining Twitter to Assess the Public Perception of the “Internet of Things”

PubMed Central

Yoshigoe, Kenji; Hicks, Amanda; Yuan, Jiawei; He, Zhe; Xie, Mengjun; Guo, Yi; Prosperi, Mattia; Salloum, Ramzi; Modave, François

2016-01-01

Social media analysis has shown tremendous potential to understand public's opinion on a wide variety of topics. In this paper, we have mined Twitter to understand the public's perception of the Internet of Things (IoT). We first generated the discussion trends of the IoT from multiple Twitter data sources and validated these trends with Google Trends. We then performed sentiment analysis to gain insights of the public’s attitude towards the IoT. As anticipated, our analysis indicates that the public's perception of the IoT is predominantly positive. Further, through topic modeling, we learned that public tweets discussing the IoT were often focused on business and technology. However, the public has great concerns about privacy and security issues toward the IoT based on the frequent appearance of related terms. Nevertheless, no unexpected perceptions were identified through our analysis. Our analysis was challenged by the limited fraction of tweets relevant to our study. Also, the user demographics of Twitter users may not be strongly representative of the population of the general public. PMID:27391760

Becoming (a) Public: What the Concept of Public Reveals about a Programmatic Public Pedagogy at the University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ripatti-Torniainen, Leena

2018-01-01

This article extends the ongoing argumentation of 'public,' publics and universities by providing a conceptual discussion of issues at the core of the public sphere: how does public form and exist amid private and individual life and pursuits, and how does a collective public body identify itself. The discussion is placed in dialogue with two…

Psychosocial Clusters and their Associations with Well-Being and Health: An Empirical Strategy for Identifying Psychosocial Predictors Most Relevant to Racially/Ethnically Diverse Women’s Health

PubMed Central

Jabson, Jennifer M.; Bowen, Deborah; Weinberg, Janice; Kroenke, Candyce; Luo, Juhua; Messina, Catherine; Shumaker, Sally; Tindle, Hilary A.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Strategies for identifying the most relevant psychosocial predictors in studies of racial/ethnic minority women’s health are limited because they largely exclude cultural influences and they assume that psychosocial predictors are independent. This paper proposes and tests an empirical solution. METHODS Hierarchical cluster analysis, conducted with data from 140,652 Women’s Health Initiative participants, identified clusters among individual psychosocial predictors. Multivariable analyses tested associations between clusters and health outcomes. RESULTS A Social Cluster and a Stress Cluster were identified. The Social Cluster was positively associated with well-being and inversely associated with chronic disease index, and the Stress Cluster was inversely associated with well-being and positively associated with chronic disease index. As hypothesized, the magnitude of association between clusters and outcomes differed by race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS By identifying psychosocial clusters and their associations with health, we have taken an important step toward understanding how individual psychosocial predictors interrelate and how empirically formed Stress and Social clusters relate to health outcomes. This study has also demonstrated important insight about differences in associations between these psychosocial clusters and health among racial/ethnic minorities. These differences could signal the best pathways for intervention modification and tailoring. PMID:27279761

Moving toward policy development on assigning publication credit for oncology nurses' contributions to scholarly and scientific work.

PubMed

Ginn, D; Butler, L J

1998-05-01

The policy implications of a 1996 national nursing survey on the allocation of publication credit form of this paper. An earlier article (Butler & Ginn, 1997) describes and analyzes the outcome of the survey; the purpose here is to draw on that analysis, and on the relevant literature, to propose a starting place for discussion within the specialty of oncology and the nursing profession regarding assignment of credit for various contributions to collaborative scholarly work. After identifying the growing need for such a discussion and briefly highlighting the findings of the survey, the paper goes on to examine unacceptable practices in scholarly work and identify issues which should be resolved before collaborative work is undertaken. The final portion of the paper makes tentative suggestions as to principles and guidelines which might be applied to avoid disputes about the value of different contributions to a collaborative project. It is emphasized that the intention is not to advocate acceptance of the guidelines suggested here, but to create sufficient interest so that an approach to allocation of publication credit may be developed which will be consistent and relevant to the needs of the nursing profession.

Situating the Lesotho Secondary School Geography in Curriculum Relevance Debate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raselimo, Mohaeka

2017-01-01

The issue of curriculum relevance has attracted attention of academics and the general public in Lesotho where there are social, economic, environmental and political challenges confronting the society. To address these challenges education, through various school subjects, is expected to play a pivotal role. However, there are concerns that the…

A statistical approach to identify, monitor, and manage incomplete curated data sets.

PubMed

Howe, Douglas G

2018-04-02

Many biological knowledge bases gather data through expert curation of published literature. High data volume, selective partial curation, delays in access, and publication of data prior to the ability to curate it can result in incomplete curation of published data. Knowing which data sets are incomplete and how incomplete they are remains a challenge. Awareness that a data set may be incomplete is important for proper interpretation, to avoiding flawed hypothesis generation, and can justify further exploration of published literature for additional relevant data. Computational methods to assess data set completeness are needed. One such method is presented here. In this work, a multivariate linear regression model was used to identify genes in the Zebrafish Information Network (ZFIN) Database having incomplete curated gene expression data sets. Starting with 36,655 gene records from ZFIN, data aggregation, cleansing, and filtering reduced the set to 9870 gene records suitable for training and testing the model to predict the number of expression experiments per gene. Feature engineering and selection identified the following predictive variables: the number of journal publications; the number of journal publications already attributed for gene expression annotation; the percent of journal publications already attributed for expression data; the gene symbol; and the number of transgenic constructs associated with each gene. Twenty-five percent of the gene records (2483 genes) were used to train the model. The remaining 7387 genes were used to test the model. One hundred and twenty-two and 165 of the 7387 tested genes were identified as missing expression annotations based on their residuals being outside the model lower or upper 95% confidence interval respectively. The model had precision of 0.97 and recall of 0.71 at the negative 95% confidence interval and precision of 0.76 and recall of 0.73 at the positive 95% confidence interval. This method can be used to

Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers: Using a Public Health Systems Approach to Improve All-Hazards Preparedness and Response

PubMed Central

Leinhos, Mary; Williams-Johnson, Mildred

2014-01-01

In 2008, at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Institute of Medicine (IOM) prepared a report identifying knowledge gaps in public health systems preparedness and emergency response and recommending near-term priority research areas. In accordance with the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act mandating new public health systems research for preparedness and emergency response, CDC provided competitive awards establishing nine Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers (PERRCs) in accredited U.S. schools of public health. The PERRCs conducted research in four IOM-recommended priority areas: (1) enhancing the usefulness of public health preparedness and response (PHPR) training, (2) creating and maintaining sustainable preparedness and response systems, (3) improving PHPR communications, and (4) identifying evaluation criteria and metrics to improve PHPR for all hazards. The PERRCs worked closely with state and local public health, community partners, and advisory committees to produce practice-relevant research findings. PERRC research has generated more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and nearly 80 practice and policy tools and recommendations with the potential to significantly enhance our nation's PHPR to all hazards and that highlight the need for further improvements in public health systems. PMID:25355970

Healthcare professionals' agreement on clinical relevance of drug-related problems among elderly patients.

PubMed

Bech, Christine Flagstad; Frederiksen, Tine; Villesen, Christine Tilsted; Højsted, Jette; Nielsen, Per Rotbøll; Kjeldsen, Lene Juel; Nørgaard, Lotte Stig; Christrup, Lona Louring

2018-02-01

Background Disagreement among healthcare professionals on the clinical relevance of drug-related problems can lead to suboptimal treatment and increased healthcare costs. Elderly patients with chronic non-cancer pain and comorbidity are at increased risk of drug related problems compared to other patient groups due to complex medication regimes and transition of care. Objective To investigate the agreement among healthcare professionals on their classification of clinical relevance of drug-related problems in elderly patients with chronic non-cancer pain and comorbidity. Setting Multidisciplinary Pain Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark. Method A pharmacist performed medication review on elderly patients with chronic non-cancer pain and comorbidity, identified their drug-related problems and classified these problems in accordance with an existing categorization system. A five-member clinical panel rated the drug-related problems' clinical relevance in accordance with a five-level rating scale, and their agreement was compared using Fleiss' κ. Main outcome measure Healthcare professionals' agreement on clinical relevance of drug related problems, using Fleiss' κ. Results Thirty patients were included in the study. A total of 162 drug related problems were identified, out of which 54% were of lower clinical relevance (level 0-2) and 46% of higher clinical relevance (level 3-4). Only slight agreement (κ = 0.12) was found between the panellists' classifications of clinical relevance using a five-level rating scale. Conclusion The clinical pharmacist identified drug related problems of lower and higher clinical relevance. Poor overall agreement on the severity of the drug related problems was found among the panelists.

30 CFR 769.16 - Public information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Public information. 769.16 Section 769.16... information. (a) Promptly after determining that a petition is complete, the Director shall notify the general public of the receipt of the petition and request submissions of the relevant information by a newspaper...

30 CFR 769.16 - Public information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Public information. 769.16 Section 769.16... information. (a) Promptly after determining that a petition is complete, the Director shall notify the general public of the receipt of the petition and request submissions of the relevant information by a newspaper...

Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics

PubMed Central

Bar-Hen, A.; Paragios, N.

2016-01-01

Summary Objectives The aim of this manuscript is to provide a brief overview of the scientific challenges that should be addressed in order to unlock the full potential of using data from a general point of view, as well as to present some ideas that could help answer specific needs for data understanding in the field of health sciences and epidemiology. Methods A survey of uses and challenges of big data analyses for medicine and public health was conducted. The first part of the paper focuses on big data techniques, algorithms, and statistical approaches to identify patterns in data. The second part describes some cutting-edge applications of analyses and predictive modeling in public health. Results In recent years, we witnessed a revolution regarding the nature, collection, and availability of data in general. This was especially striking in the health sector and particularly in the field of epidemiology. Data derives from a large variety of sources, e.g. clinical settings, billing claims, care scheduling, drug usage, web based search queries, and Tweets. Conclusion The exploitation of the information (data mining, artificial intelligence) relevant to these data has become one of the most promising as well challenging tasks from societal and scientific viewpoints in order to leverage the information available and making public health more efficient. PMID:27830257

"Sankofa" Teaching and Learning: Evaluating Relevance for Today's African-American Student

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talpade, Medha; Talpade, Salil

2014-01-01

The intent of this project was to identify and relate the values and perceptions of today's African American students to culturally relevant teaching and learning practices. The reason for relating student culture with teaching practices is to improve pedagogical processes for African American students. Culturally relevant pedagogy, according to…

Integrative Approach to Pain Genetics Identifies Pain Sensitivity Loci across Diseases

PubMed Central

Ruau, David; Dudley, Joel T.; Chen, Rong; Phillips, Nicholas G.; Swan, Gary E.; Lazzeroni, Laura C.; Clark, J. David

2012-01-01

Identifying human genes relevant for the processing of pain requires difficult-to-conduct and expensive large-scale clinical trials. Here, we examine a novel integrative paradigm for data-driven discovery of pain gene candidates, taking advantage of the vast amount of existing disease-related clinical literature and gene expression microarray data stored in large international repositories. First, thousands of diseases were ranked according to a disease-specific pain index (DSPI), derived from Medical Subject Heading (MESH) annotations in MEDLINE. Second, gene expression profiles of 121 of these human diseases were obtained from public sources. Third, genes with expression variation significantly correlated with DSPI across diseases were selected as candidate pain genes. Finally, selected candidate pain genes were genotyped in an independent human cohort and prospectively evaluated for significant association between variants and measures of pain sensitivity. The strongest signal was with rs4512126 (5q32, ABLIM3, P = 1.3×10−10) for the sensitivity to cold pressor pain in males, but not in females. Significant associations were also observed with rs12548828, rs7826700 and rs1075791 on 8q22.2 within NCALD (P = 1.7×10−4, 1.8×10−4, and 2.2×10−4 respectively). Our results demonstrate the utility of a novel paradigm that integrates publicly available disease-specific gene expression data with clinical data curated from MEDLINE to facilitate the discovery of pain-relevant genes. This data-derived list of pain gene candidates enables additional focused and efficient biological studies validating additional candidates. PMID:22685391

Applications of information and communications technologies to public health: A scoping review using the MeSH term: "public health informatics".

PubMed

Bhattarai, Arjun Kumar; Zarrin, Aein; Lee, Joon

2017-01-01

To investigate the public health domains, key informatics concepts, and information and communications technologies (ICTs) applied in articles that are tagged with the MeSH term "public health informatics" and primarily focus on applying ICTs to public health. The MeSH term "public health informatics" was searched on MEDLINE-PubMed. The results of the search were then screened in two steps in order to only include articles about applying ICTs to public health problems. First, articles were screened based on their titles and abstracts. Second, a full-text review was conducted to ensure the relevance of the included articles. All articles were charted based on public health domain, information technology, article type, and informatics concept. 515 articles were included. Communicable disease monitoring (N=235), public health policy and research (N=201), and public health awareness (N=85) constituted the majority of the articles. Inconsistent results were found regarding the validity of syndromic surveillance and the effectiveness of PHI integration within the healthcare systems. PHI articles with an ICT focus cover a wide range of themes. Collectively, the included articles emphasized the need for further research in interoperability, data quality, appropriate data sources, accessible health information, and communication. The limitations of the study include:1) only one database was searched; 2) by using MeSH tags as a selection criterion, PHI articles without the "public health informatics" MeSH term were excluded. Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of PHI, MeSH identifiers were not assigned consistently. Current MeSH-tagged articles indicate that a comprehensive approach is required to integrate PHI into the healthcare system.

Process-Based Governance in Public Administrations Using Activity-Based Costing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becker, Jörg; Bergener, Philipp; Räckers, Michael

Decision- and policy-makers in public administrations currently lack on missing relevant information for sufficient governance. In Germany the introduction of New Public Management and double-entry accounting enable public administrations to get the opportunity to use cost-centered accounting mechanisms to establish new governance mechanisms. Process modelling in this case can be a useful instrument to help the public administrations decision- and policy-makers to structure their activities and capture relevant information. In combination with approaches like Activity-Based Costing, higher management level can be supported with a reasonable data base for fruitful and reasonable governance approaches. Therefore, the aim of this article is combining the public sector domain specific process modelling method PICTURE and concept of activity-based costing for supporting Public Administrations in process-based Governance.

Online Work Force Analyzes Social Media to Identify Consequences of an Unplanned School Closure - Using Technology to Prepare for the Next Pandemic.

PubMed

Rainey, Jeanette J; Kenney, Jasmine; Wilburn, Ben; Putman, Ami; Zheteyeva, Yenlik; O'Sullivan, Megan

During an influenza pandemic, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may recommend school closures. These closures could have unintended consequences for students and their families. Publicly available social media could be analyzed to identify the consequences of an unplanned school closure. As a proxy for an unplanned, pandemic-related school closure, we used the district-wide school closure due to the September 10-18, 2012 teachers' strike in Chicago, Illinois. We captured social media posts about the school closure using the Radian6 social media-monitoring platform. An online workforce from Amazon Mechanical Turk categorized each post into one of two groups. The first group included relevant posts that described the impact of the closure on students and their families. The second group included irrelevant posts that described the political aspects of the strike or topics unrelated to the school closure. All relevant posts were further categorized as expressing a positive, negative, or neutral sentiment. We analyzed patterns of relevant posts and sentiment over time and compared our findings to household surveys conducted after other unplanned school closures. We captured 4,546 social media posts about the district-wide school closure using our search criteria. Of these, 930 (20%) were categorized as relevant by the online workforce. Of the relevant posts, 619 (67%) expressed a negative sentiment, 51 (5%) expressed a positive sentiment, and 260 (28%) were neutral. The number of relevant posts, and especially those with a negative sentiment, peaked on day 1 of the strike. Negative sentiment expressed concerns about childcare, missed school lunches, and the lack of class time for students. This was consistent with findings from previously conducted household surveys. Social media are publicly available and can readily provide information on the impact of an unplanned school closure on students and their families. Using social media to

Sensitivity Training: Relevance for Social Work Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papell, Catherine P.

The author explores the validity of sensitivity training for professional social work education with its inherent concern for the relation between experiential and theoretical learning. The various streams in the sensitivity training movement are surveyed and the laboratory concept identified as particularly relevant. A human relations laboratory,…

Assessing the relevance of ecotoxicological studies for regulatory decision making.

PubMed

Rudén, Christina; Adams, Julie; Ågerstrand, Marlene; Brock, Theo Cm; Poulsen, Veronique; Schlekat, Christian E; Wheeler, James R; Henry, Tala R

2017-07-01

Regulatory policies in many parts of the world recognize either the utility of or the mandate that all available studies be considered in environmental or ecological hazard and risk assessment (ERA) of chemicals, including studies from the peer-reviewed literature. Consequently, a vast array of different studies and data types need to be considered. The first steps in the evaluation process involve determining whether the study is relevant to the ERA and sufficiently reliable. Relevance evaluation is typically performed using existing guidance but involves application of "expert judgment" by risk assessors. In the present paper, we review published guidance for relevance evaluation and, on the basis of the practical experience within the group of authors, we identify additional aspects and further develop already proposed aspects that should be considered when conducting a relevance assessment for ecotoxicological studies. From a regulatory point of view, the overarching key aspect of relevance concerns the ability to directly or indirectly use the study in ERA with the purpose of addressing specific protection goals and ultimately regulatory decision making. Because ERA schemes are based on the appropriate linking of exposure and effect estimates, important features of ecotoxicological studies relate to exposure relevance and biological relevance. Exposure relevance addresses the representativeness of the test substance, environmental exposure media, and exposure regime. Biological relevance deals with the environmental significance of the test organism and the endpoints selected, the ecological realism of the test conditions simulated in the study, as well as a mechanistic link of treatment-related effects for endpoints to the protection goal identified in the ERA. In addition, uncertainties associated with relevance should be considered in the assessment. A systematic and transparent assessment of relevance is needed for regulatory decision making. The relevance

The ethics of 'public understanding of ethics'--why and how bioethics expertise should include public and patients' voices.

PubMed

Schicktanz, Silke; Schweda, Mark; Wynne, Brian

2012-05-01

"Ethics" is used as a label for a new kind of expertise in the field of science and technology. At the same time, it is not clear what ethical expertise consists in and what its political status in modern democracies can be. Starting from the "participatory turn" in recent social research and policy, we will argue that bioethical reasoning has to include public views of and attitudes towards biomedicine. We will sketch the outlines of a bioethical conception of "public understanding of ethics," addressing three different issues: (a) the methodological relevance of moral questions and problems raised by lay persons in everyday life regarding biomedicine and technology, (b) the normative relevance of such lay moralities for the justification of ethical decisions, and (c) the necessity of public deliberation in this context. Finally, we draw conclusions in view of the concepts and methods such a conception of "public understanding of ethics" should employ.

Nutrition economics - food as an ally of public health.

PubMed

Lenoir-Wijnkoop, I; Jones, P J; Uauy, R; Segal, L; Milner, J

2013-03-14

Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are a major and increasing contributor to morbidity and mortality in developed and developing countries. Much of the chronic disease burden is preventable through modification of lifestyle behaviours, and increased attention is being focused on identifying and implementing effective preventative health strategies. Nutrition has been identified as a major modifiable determinant of NCD. The recent merging of health economics and nutritional sciences to form the nascent discipline of nutrition economics aims to assess the impact of diet on health and disease prevention, and to evaluate options for changing dietary choices, while incorporating an understanding of the immediate impacts and downstream consequences. In short, nutrition economics allows for generation of policy-relevant evidence, and as such the discipline is a crucial partner in achieving better population nutritional status and improvements in public health and wellness. The objective of the present paper is to summarise presentations made at a satellite symposium held during the 11th European Nutrition Conference, 28 October 2011, where the role of nutrition and its potential to reduce the public health burden through alleviating undernutrition and nutrition deficiencies, promoting better-quality diets and incorporating a role for functional foods were discussed.

A Review of NCI’s Extramural Grant Portfolio: Identifying Opportunities for Future Research in Genes and Environment in Cancer

PubMed Central

Ghazarian, Armen A.; Simonds, Naoko I.; Bennett, Kelly; Pimentel, Camilla B.; Ellison, Gary L.; Gillanders, Elizabeth M.; Schully, Sheri D.; Mechanic, Leah E.

2013-01-01

Background Genetic and environmental factors jointly influence cancer risk. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has made the study of gene-environment (GxE) interactions a research priority since the year 2000. Methods To assess the current status of GxE research in cancer, we analyzed the extramural grant portfolio of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from Fiscal Years 2007 to 2009. Publications attributed to selected grants were also evaluated. Results From the 1,106 research grants identified in our portfolio analysis, a random sample of 450 grants (40%) was selected for data abstraction; of these, 147 (33%) were considered relevant. The most common cancer type was breast (20%, n=29), followed by lymphoproliferative (10%, n=14), colorectal (9%, n=13), melanoma/other skin (9%, n=13), and lung/upper aero-digestive tract (8%, n=12) cancers. The majority of grants were studies of candidate genes (68%, n=100) compared to genome-wide association studies (GWAS) (8%, n=12). Approximately one third studied environmental exposures categorized as energy balance (37%, n=54) or drugs/treatment (29%, n=43). From the 147 relevant grants, 108 publications classified as GxE or pharmacogenomic were identified. These publications were linked to 37 of the 147 grant applications (25%). Conclusion The findings from our portfolio analysis suggest that GxE studies are concentrated in specific areas. There is room for investments in other aspects of GxE research, including, but not limited to developing alternative approaches to exposure assessment, broadening the spectrum of cancer types investigated, and performing GxE within GWAS. Impact This portfolio analysis provides a cross-sectional review of NCI support for GxE research in cancer. PMID:23462918

Clinical and Public Health Considerations in Urine Drug Testing to Identify and Treat Substance Use.

PubMed

Barthwell, Andrea G

2016-05-11

To expand appropriate use of substance use testing, practitioners must increase their knowledge of the appropriate methodology, scope, and frequency. Yet, there is a current lack of accepted guidelines on clinical testing to identify and treat substance use. This article (1) conveys the importance of substance use testing as a clinical and public health response to trends of prescription drug abuse and increased access to medical and commercialized marijuana; (2) summarizes central features of the rapidly evolving science and the practice of patient-centered substance use testing in a clinical setting; and (3) provides recommendations that balance costs and benefits and serve as a starting point for appropriate testing to prevent, identify, and treat substance use disorders. The author conducted a search of peer-reviewed and government-supported articles and books in electronic databases and used her own knowledge and clinical experience. The author makes recommendations for determining the methodology, scope, and frequency of testing in each stage of care based on clinical considerations and methodological factors. Conclusion/Importance: Integrating sensible substance use testing broadly into clinical health care to identify substance use, diagnose substance use disorders, and guide patients into treatment can improve health outcomes and reduce the costs of substance use and addiction. No single testing regimen is suitable for all clinical scenarios; rather, a multitude of options, as discussed herein, can be adapted to meet a patient's unique needs. Ultimately, the practitioner must combine patient-specific information with knowledge of test technologies, capabilities, limitations, and costs.

Relevant, irredundant feature selection and noisy example elimination.

PubMed

Lashkia, George V; Anthony, Laurence

2004-04-01

In many real-world situations, the method for computing the desired output from a set of inputs is unknown. One strategy for solving these types of problems is to learn the input-output functionality from examples in a training set. However, in many situations it is difficult to know what information is relevant to the task at hand. Subsequently, researchers have investigated ways to deal with the so-called problem of consistency of attributes, i.e., attributes that can distinguish examples from different classes. In this paper, we first prove that the notion of relevance of attributes is directly related to the consistency of attributes, and show how relevant, irredundant attributes can be selected. We then compare different relevant attribute selection algorithms, and show the superiority of algorithms that select irredundant attributes over those that select relevant attributes. We also show that searching for an "optimal" subset of attributes, which is considered to be the main purpose of attribute selection, is not the best way to improve the accuracy of classifiers. Employing sets of relevant, irredundant attributes improves classification accuracy in many more cases. Finally, we propose a new method for selecting relevant examples, which is based on filtering the so-called pattern frequency domain. By identifying examples that are nontypical in the determination of relevant, irredundant attributes, irrelevant examples can be eliminated prior to the learning process. Empirical results using artificial and real databases show the effectiveness of the proposed method in selecting relevant examples leading to improved performance even on greatly reduced training sets.

Surfing the net for public health resources.

PubMed

Angell, C; Hemingway, A; Hartwell, H

2011-08-01

To identify public health open educational resources (OER) available online, map the identified OER to The Public Health Skills and Career Framework (PHSCF), and triangulate these findings with public health practitioners. Systematic online search for public health OER. An online search was undertaken using a pre-defined set of search terms and inclusion/exclusion criteria. Public health OER were then mapped against the UK PHSCF. The findings of the search were discussed with public health specialists to determine whether or not they used these resources. A number of public health OER were identified, located on 42 websites from around the world. Mapping against the UK PHSCF demonstrated a lack of coverage in some areas of public health education. It was noted that many of the OER websites identified were not those generally used in practice, and those sites preferred by public health specialists were not identified by the online search. Public health OER are available from a number of providers, frequently universities and government organizations. However, these reflect a relatively small pool of original OER providers. Tagging of websites does not always identify their public health content. In addition, users of public health OER may not use search engines to identify resources but locate them using other means. Copyright © 2011 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identifying New Strategies to Assess and Promote Online Health Communication and Social Media Outreach: An Application in Bullying Prevention.

PubMed

Edgerton, Elizabeth; Reiney, Erin; Mueller, Siobhan; Reicherter, Barry; Curtis, Katherine; Waties, Stephanie; Limber, Susan P

2016-05-01

Every day in classrooms, playgrounds and school hallways, through text messages and mobile technology apps, children are bullied by other children. Conversations about this bullying-what it is, who is involved, and how to stop it-are taking place online. To fill a need for relevant, research-based materials on bullying, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration worked with Widmeyer Communications to investigate the scope of media conversations about bullying and discover new strategies for promoting appropriate public health messages about bullying to intended audiences. Key components of the methodology included: analyzing common search terms and aligning social media content with terms used in searches rather than technical language; identifying influencers in social media spheres, cultivating relationships with them, and sharing their positive, relevant content; examining which digital formats are most popular for sharing and creating content across platforms; tracking and reporting on a wide variety of metrics (such as click-through and engagement rates and reach, resonance, relevance, and Klout scores) to understand conversations around bullying; and looking at online conversations and engaging participants using applicable resources and calls to action. A key finding included a significant gap between search terms and online content and has led to recommendations and comprehensive ideas for improving the reach and resonance of StopBullying.gov content and communications. © 2016 Society for Public Health Education.

Mammalian lipoxygenases and their biological relevance.

PubMed

Kuhn, Hartmut; Banthiya, Swathi; van Leyen, Klaus

2015-04-01

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) form a heterogeneous class of lipid peroxidizing enzymes, which have been implicated not only in cell proliferation and differentiation but also in the pathogenesis of various diseases with major public health relevance. As other fatty acid dioxygenases LOXs oxidize polyunsaturated fatty acids to their corresponding hydroperoxy derivatives, which are further transformed to bioactive lipid mediators (eicosanoids and related substances). On the other hand, lipoxygenases are key players in the regulation of the cellular redox homeostasis, which is an important element in gene expression regulation. Although the first mammalian lipoxygenases were discovered 40 years ago and although the enzymes have been well characterized with respect to their structural and functional properties the biological roles of the different lipoxygenase isoforms are not completely understood. This review is aimed at summarizing the current knowledge on the physiological roles of different mammalian LOX-isoforms and their patho-physiological function in inflammatory, metabolic, hyperproliferative, neurodegenerative and infectious disorders. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Oxygenated metabolism of PUFA: analysis and biological relevance". Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The impact of globalization on public health: implications for the UK Faculty of Public Health Medicine.

PubMed

Lee, K

2000-09-01

There has been substantial discussion of globalization in the scholarly and popular press yet limited attention so far among public health professionals. This is so despite the many potential impacts of globalization on public health. Defining public health broadly, as focused on the collective health of populations requiring a range of intersectoral activities, globalization can be seen to have particular relevance. Globalization, in turn, can be defined as a process that is changing the nature of human interaction across a wide range of spheres and along at least three dimensions. Understanding public health and globalization in these ways suggests the urgent need for research to better understand the linkages between the two, and effective policy responses by a range of public health institutions, including the UK Faculty of Public Health Medicine. The paper is based on a review of secondary literature on globalization that led to the development of a conceptual framework for understanding potential impacts on the determinants of health and public health. The paper then discusses major areas of public health in relation to these potential impacts. It concludes with recommendations on how the UK Faculty of Public Health Medicine might contribute to addressing these impacts through its various activities. Although there is growing attention to the importance of globalization to public health, there has been limited research and policy development in the United Kingdom. The UK Faculty of Public Health Medicine needs to play an active role in bringing relevant issues to the attention of policy makers, and encourage its members to take up research, teaching and policy initiatives. The potential impacts of globalization support a broader understanding and practice of public health that embraces a wide range of health determinants.

43 CFR 7.20 - Public awareness programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

....20 Public Lands: Interior Office of the Secretary of the Interior PROTECTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES Uniform Regulations § 7.20 Public awareness programs. (a) Each Federal land manager will establish... Federal land manager annually will submit to the Secretary of the Interior the relevant information on...

Environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity: potential public health concerns

PubMed Central

Marczylo, Emma L.; Jacobs, Miriam N.; Gant, Timothy W.

2016-01-01

Abstract Throughout our lives, epigenetic processes shape our development and enable us to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Identifying and understanding environmentally induced epigenetic change(s) that may lead to adverse outcomes is vital for protecting public health. This review, therefore, examines the present understanding of epigenetic mechanisms involved in the mammalian life cycle, evaluates the current evidence for environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity in human cohorts and rodent models and highlights the research considerations and implications of this emerging knowledge for public health and regulatory toxicology. Many hundreds of studies have investigated such toxicity, yet relatively few have demonstrated a mechanistic association among specific environmental exposures, epigenetic changes and adverse health outcomes in human epidemiological cohorts and/or rodent models. While this small body of evidence is largely composed of exploratory in vivo high-dose range studies, it does set a precedent for the existence of environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity. Consequently, there is worldwide recognition of this phenomenon, and discussion on how to both guide further scientific research towards a greater mechanistic understanding of environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity in humans, and translate relevant research outcomes into appropriate regulatory policies for effective public health protection. PMID:27278298

Environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity: potential public health concerns.

PubMed

Marczylo, Emma L; Jacobs, Miriam N; Gant, Timothy W

2016-09-01

Throughout our lives, epigenetic processes shape our development and enable us to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Identifying and understanding environmentally induced epigenetic change(s) that may lead to adverse outcomes is vital for protecting public health. This review, therefore, examines the present understanding of epigenetic mechanisms involved in the mammalian life cycle, evaluates the current evidence for environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity in human cohorts and rodent models and highlights the research considerations and implications of this emerging knowledge for public health and regulatory toxicology. Many hundreds of studies have investigated such toxicity, yet relatively few have demonstrated a mechanistic association among specific environmental exposures, epigenetic changes and adverse health outcomes in human epidemiological cohorts and/or rodent models. While this small body of evidence is largely composed of exploratory in vivo high-dose range studies, it does set a precedent for the existence of environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity. Consequently, there is worldwide recognition of this phenomenon, and discussion on how to both guide further scientific research towards a greater mechanistic understanding of environmentally induced epigenetic toxicity in humans, and translate relevant research outcomes into appropriate regulatory policies for effective public health protection.

Integration of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy into the Science Learning Progression Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernardo, Cyntra

2017-01-01

This study integrated elements of culturally relevant pedagogy into a science learning progression framework, with the goal of enhancing teachers' cultural knowledge and thereby creating better teaching practices in an urban public high school science classroom. The study was conducted using teachers, an administrator, a science coach, and…

Exploiting Publication Contents and Collaboration Networks for Collaborator Recommendation

PubMed Central

Kong, Xiangjie; Jiang, Huizhen; Yang, Zhuo; Xu, Zhenzhen; Xia, Feng; Tolba, Amr

2016-01-01

Thanks to the proliferation of online social networks, it has become conventional for researchers to communicate and collaborate with each other. Meanwhile, one critical challenge arises, that is, how to find the most relevant and potential collaborators for each researcher? In this work, we propose a novel collaborator recommendation model called CCRec, which combines the information on researchers’ publications and collaboration network to generate better recommendation. In order to effectively identify the most potential collaborators for researchers, we adopt a topic clustering model to identify the academic domains, as well as a random walk model to compute researchers’ feature vectors. Using DBLP datasets, we conduct benchmarking experiments to examine the performance of CCRec. The experimental results show that CCRec outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in terms of precision, recall and F1 score. PMID:26849682

Benchmarking Gas Path Diagnostic Methods: A Public Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simon, Donald L.; Bird, Jeff; Davison, Craig; Volponi, Al; Iverson, R. Eugene

2008-01-01

Recent technology reviews have identified the need for objective assessments of engine health management (EHM) technology. The need is two-fold: technology developers require relevant data and problems to design and validate new algorithms and techniques while engine system integrators and operators need practical tools to direct development and then evaluate the effectiveness of proposed solutions. This paper presents a publicly available gas path diagnostic benchmark problem that has been developed by the Propulsion and Power Systems Panel of The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) to help address these needs. The problem is coded in MATLAB (The MathWorks, Inc.) and coupled with a non-linear turbofan engine simulation to produce "snap-shot" measurements, with relevant noise levels, as if collected from a fleet of engines over their lifetime of use. Each engine within the fleet will experience unique operating and deterioration profiles, and may encounter randomly occurring relevant gas path faults including sensor, actuator and component faults. The challenge to the EHM community is to develop gas path diagnostic algorithms to reliably perform fault detection and isolation. An example solution to the benchmark problem is provided along with associated evaluation metrics. A plan is presented to disseminate this benchmark problem to the engine health management technical community and invite technology solutions.

Identifying factors relevant in the assessment of return-to-work efforts in employees on long-term sickness absence due to chronic low back pain: a focus group study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Efforts undertaken during the return to work (RTW) process need to be sufficient to prevent unnecessary applications for disability benefits. The purpose of this study was to identify factors relevant to RTW Effort Sufficiency (RTW-ES) in cases of sick-listed employees with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Methods Using focus groups consisting of Labor Experts (LE's) working at the Dutch Social Insurance Institute, arguments and underlying grounds relevant to the assessment of RTW-ES were investigated. Factors were collected and categorized using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF model). Results Two focus groups yielded 19 factors, of which 12 are categorized in the ICF model under activities (e.g. functional capacity) and in the personal (e.g. age, tenure) and environmental domain (e.g. employer-employee relationship). The remaining 7 factors are categorized under intervention, job accommodation and measures. Conclusions This focus group study shows that 19 factors may be relevant to RTW-ES in sick-listed employees with CLBP. Providing these results to professionals assessing RTW-ES might contribute to a more transparent and systematic approach. Considering the importance of the quality of the RTW process, optimizing the RTW-ES assessment is essential. PMID:22272831

Cross-phenotype analysis of Immunochip data identifies KDM4C as a relevant locus for the development of systemic vasculitis.

PubMed

Ortiz-Fernández, Lourdes; Carmona, Francisco David; López-Mejías, Raquel; González-Escribano, Maria Francisca; Lyons, Paul A; Morgan, Ann W; Sawalha, Amr H; Smith, Kenneth G C; González-Gay, Miguel A; Martín, Javier

2018-04-01

Systemic vasculitides represent a heterogeneous group of rare complex diseases of the blood vessels with a poorly understood aetiology. To investigate the shared genetic component underlying their predisposition, we performed the first cross-phenotype meta-analysis of genetic data from different clinically distinct patterns of vasculitis. Immunochip genotyping data from 2465 patients diagnosed with giant cell arteritis, Takayasu's arteritis, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis or IgA vasculitis as well as 4632 unaffected controls were analysed to identify common susceptibility loci for vasculitis development. The possible functional consequences of the associated variants were interrogated using publicly available annotation data. The strongest association signal corresponded with an intergenic polymorphism located between HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DQA2 (rs6932517, P=4.16E-14, OR=0.74). This single nucleotide polymorphism is in moderate linkage disequilibrium with the disease-specific human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class II associations of each type of vasculitis and could mark them. Outside the HLA region, we identified the KDM4C gene as a common risk locus for vasculitides (highest peak rs16925200, P=6.23E-07, OR=1.75). This gene encodes a histone demethylase involved in the epigenetic control of gene expression. Through a combined analysis of Immunochip data, we have identified KDM4C as a new risk gene shared between systemic vasculitides, consistent with the increasing evidences of the crucial role that the epigenetic mechanisms have in the development of complex immune-mediated conditions. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Online Work Force Analyzes Social Media to Identify Consequences of an Unplanned School Closure – Using Technology to Prepare for the Next Pandemic

PubMed Central

Rainey, Jeanette J.; Kenney, Jasmine; Wilburn, Ben; Putman, Ami; Zheteyeva, Yenlik; O’Sullivan, Megan

2016-01-01

Background During an influenza pandemic, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may recommend school closures. These closures could have unintended consequences for students and their families. Publicly available social media could be analyzed to identify the consequences of an unplanned school closure. Methods As a proxy for an unplanned, pandemic-related school closure, we used the district-wide school closure due to the September 10–18, 2012 teachers’ strike in Chicago, Illinois. We captured social media posts about the school closure using the Radian6 social media-monitoring platform. An online workforce from Amazon Mechanical Turk categorized each post into one of two groups. The first group included relevant posts that described the impact of the closure on students and their families. The second group included irrelevant posts that described the political aspects of the strike or topics unrelated to the school closure. All relevant posts were further categorized as expressing a positive, negative, or neutral sentiment. We analyzed patterns of relevant posts and sentiment over time and compared our findings to household surveys conducted after other unplanned school closures. Results We captured 4,546 social media posts about the district-wide school closure using our search criteria. Of these, 930 (20%) were categorized as relevant by the online workforce. Of the relevant posts, 619 (67%) expressed a negative sentiment, 51 (5%) expressed a positive sentiment, and 260 (28%) were neutral. The number of relevant posts, and especially those with a negative sentiment, peaked on day 1 of the strike. Negative sentiment expressed concerns about childcare, missed school lunches, and the lack of class time for students. This was consistent with findings from previously conducted household surveys. Conclusion Social media are publicly available and can readily provide information on the impact of an unplanned school closure on students

A Systematic Review of Assessment Tools Measuring Interprofessional Education Outcomes Relevant to Pharmacy Education.

PubMed

Shrader, Sarah; Farland, Michelle Z; Danielson, Jennifer; Sicat, Brigitte; Umland, Elena M

2017-08-01

Objective. To identify and describe the available quantitative tools that assess interprofessional education (IPE) relevant to pharmacy education. Methods. A systematic approach was used to identify quantitative IPE assessment tools relevant to pharmacy education. The search strategy included the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education Resource Exchange (Nexus) website, a systematic search of the literature, and a manual search of journals deemed likely to include relevant tools. Results. The search identified a total of 44 tools from the Nexus website, 158 abstracts from the systematic literature search, and 570 abstracts from the manual search. A total of 36 assessment tools met the criteria to be included in the summary, and their application to IPE relevant to pharmacy education was discussed. Conclusion. Each of the tools has advantages and disadvantages. No single comprehensive tool exists to fulfill assessment needs. However, numerous tools are available that can be mapped to IPE-related accreditation standards for pharmacy education.

[Pedagogical training in stricto sensu graduate programs in public health].

PubMed

Corrêa, Guilherme Torres; Ribeiro, Victoria Maria Brant

2013-06-01

The scope of this research is to discuss the relevance and need for pedagogical training of university lecturers in the Public Health field. The contention is that college teaching is a practice that requires specific training, since it is characterized by complex elements that transcend the mastery of given content. Considering stricto sensu graduate studies as an important stage in the training of future university lecturers, an attempt was made to identify and analyze the subjects and practices of pedagogical training in academic masters and doctorate programs in Public Health. To achieve the research aim, this work was based on Pierre Bourdieu's field theory and on Tomaz Tadeu da Silva's curriculum theory. Results indicate that the programs do not consider the aspect of teacher training as a major issue. With regard to the Public Health field approximately 61% of masters and 38% of doctorate programs have pedagogical training subjects/practices. Furthermore, there is a tendency for technical-instrumental training, which is in line with the history of the Public Health field. The conclusion is that there is a need to develop a culture that values college and graduate Public Health teaching, considering the complexity of pedagogical practice in all its dimensions.

Effects of microcystin-LR and cylindrospermopsin on plant-soil systems: A review of their relevance for agricultural plant quality and public health

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Machado, J.; Campos, A.

Toxic cyanobacterial blooms are recognized as an emerging environmental threat worldwide. Although microcystin-LR is the most frequently documented cyanotoxin, studies on cylindrospermopsin have been increasing due to the invasive nature of cylindrospermopsin-producing cyanobacteria. The number of studies regarding the effects of cyanotoxins on agricultural plants has increased in recent years, and it has been suggested that the presence of microcystin-LR and cylindrospermopsin in irrigation water may cause toxic effects in edible plants. The uptake of these cyanotoxins by agricultural plants has been shown to induce morphological and physiological changes that lead to a potential loss of productivity. There is alsomore » evidence that edible terrestrial plants can bioaccumulate cyanotoxins in their tissues in a concentration dependent-manner. Moreover, the number of consecutive cycles of watering and planting in addition to the potential persistence of microcystin-LR and cylindrospermopsin in the environment are likely to result in groundwater contamination. The use of cyanotoxin-contaminated water for agricultural purposes may therefore represent a threat to both food security and food safety. However, the deleterious effects of cyanotoxins on agricultural plants and public health seem to be dependent on the concentrations studied, which in most cases are non-environmentally relevant. Interestingly, at ecologically relevant concentrations, the productivity and nutritional quality of some agricultural plants seem not to be impaired and may even be enhanced. However, studies assessing if the potential tolerance of agricultural plants to these concentrations can result in cyanotoxin and allergen accumulation in the edible tissues are lacking. This review combines the most current information available regarding this topic with a realistic assessment of the impact of cyanobacterial toxins on agricultural plants, groundwater quality and public health. - Highlights

RELEVANCE OF WHOLE BODY VIBRATION EXERCISE IN SPORT: A SHORT REVIEW WITH SOCCER, DIVER AND COMBAT SPORT

PubMed Central

Morel, Danielle Soares; Dionello, Carla da Fontoura; Moreira-Marconi, Eloá; Brandão-Sobrinho-Neto, Samuel; Paineiras-Domingos, Laisa Liane; Souza, Patrícia Lopes; Sá-Caputo, Danúbia da Cunha; Dias, Glenda; Figueiredo, Claudia; Carmo, Roberto Carlos Resende; Paiva, Patrícia de Castro; Sousa-Gonçalves, Cintia Renata; Kütter, Cristiane Ribeiro; Guedes-Aguiar, Eliane de Oliveira; Cloak, Ross; Bernardo-Filho, Mario

2017-01-01

Background: Whole body vibration exercise (WBVE) has been used as a safe and accessible exercise and important reviews have been published about the use of this exercise to manage diseases and to improve physical conditions of athletes The aim of this paper is to highlight the relevance of WBVE to soccer players, divers and combat athletes. Material and methods: This study was made through a systematic review of publications involving WBVE and the selected sports in two databases (Pubmed and PEDRo). Results: It were identified 10 studies involving WBVE and sports (6 of soccer, 2 of diving and 2 of sport combat) with 156 subjects (80 soccer players, 32 divers and 44 combat athletes), with age from 17 to 44 years old. Conclusion: The use of WBVE has proven to be a safe and useful strategy to improve the physical conditions of players of different sports. These findings may have clinical relevance and should be considered as a strategy to be used to try improve the physical conditions of players. PMID:28740940

An Afrocentric approach to building cultural relevance in social work research.

PubMed

Davis, Sarita K; Williams, Aisha D; Akinyela, Makungu

2010-01-01

Social work researchers who identify and define social problems run the risk of leaving their social fingerprints on such problems, as well as their favored solutions to them. As a result, the direction of the research agenda is driven by the focus of the research problem formulation, instead of the cultural relevance. The purpose of this article is to offer guiding principles for integrating cultural relevance into the social work research process. The authors offer definitions of cultural relevance, a rationale for using cultural relevance in social work research, a framework for constructing cultural relevance in the process of research problem formulation, and an example of how this framework applies within the context of HIV prevention education in the African American community.

State of the art: public health and passenger ships.

PubMed

Mouchtouri, Varvara A; Nichols, Gordon; Rachiotis, George; Kremastinou, Jenny; Arvanitoyannis, Ioannis S; Riemer, Tobias; Jaremin, Bogdan; Hadjichristodoulou, Christos

2010-01-01

The purpose of this report is to describe issues relevant to public health and to review all passenger ship associated diseases and outbreaks. Moreover, legislation and practices on sanitation and diseases surveillance related to ships internationally were also reviewed. Some relevant historical information about infections on merchant ships is provided as well. The methods used to develop the state-of-the-art report included a scientific literature review and an extensive and thorough search of the websites of organisations and government departments. A considerable effort was made to capitalise on previous experience in the field. In particular, for the literature review, a total of 158 scientific articles were used including 91 full papers and 67 abstracts, 7 guidelines published by the WHO, and 13 guideline documents published by other organisations. Moreover, 5 international conventions relevant to passenger ships were identified. At the international level, public health issues related to ships are regulated by the revised International Health Regulations (2005). Other conventions of the International Maritime Organization regulate safety on board ships and waste and ballast water management, while conventions of the International Labour Organization regulates issues related to working conditions on board ships. Guidelines for preventing and controlling public health threats on board ships can be found in seven Guidelines published by the World Health Organization, including the WHO Guide to Ship Sanitation, which provides a framework for policy making and local decision making. The literature review results revealed that the infections/outbreaks that occur on passenger ships include Norovirus, Legionella spp., Salmonella spp., E. coli, Vibrio spp., and influenza A and B virus. The modes of transmission include person to person, waterborne, foodborne, airborne, and vector-borne, and shore excursions are responsible for some outbreaks. The industry (especially

Knowledge as a Common Good: The Societal Relevance of Scientific Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bouter, Lex M.

2010-01-01

Universities are, to a large extent, publicly funded. It is reasonable to expect that society should benefit as a result. This means that scientific research should at least have a potential societal impact. Universities and individual researchers should therefore give serious thought to the societal relevance of their research activities and…

A knowledge management tool for public health: health-evidence.ca.

PubMed

Dobbins, Maureen; DeCorby, Kara; Robeson, Paula; Husson, Heather; Tirilis, Daiva; Greco, Lori

2010-08-18

The ultimate goal of knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) activities is to facilitate incorporation of research knowledge into program and policy development decision making. Evidence-informed decision making involves translation of the best available evidence from a systematically collected, appraised, and analyzed body of knowledge. Knowledge management (KM) is emerging as a key factor contributing to the realization of evidence-informed public health decision making. The goal of health-evidence.ca is to promote evidence-informed public health decision making through facilitation of decision maker access to, retrieval, and use of the best available synthesized research evidence evaluating the effectiveness of public health interventions. The systematic reviews that populate health evidence.ca are identified through an extensive search (1985-present) of 7 electronic databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, BIOSIS, and SportDiscus; handsearching of over 20 journals; and reference list searches of all relevant reviews. Reviews are assessed for relevance and quality by two independent reviewers. Commonly-used public health terms are used to assign key words to each review, and project staff members compose short summaries highlighting results and implications for policy and practice. As of June 2010, there are 1913 reviews in the health-evidence.ca registry in 21 public health and health promotion topic areas. Of these, 78% have been assessed as being of strong or moderate methodological quality. Health-evidence.ca receives approximately 35,000 visits per year, 20,596 of which are unique visitors, representing approximately 100 visits per day. Just under half of all visitors return to the site, with the average user spending six minutes and visiting seven pages per visit. Public health nurses, program managers, health promotion workers, researchers, and program coordinators are among the largest groups of registered users, followed by

Why relevant chemical information cannot be exchanged without disclosing structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Filimonov, Dmitry; Poroikov, Vladimir

2005-09-01

Both society and industry are interested in increasing the safety of pharmaceuticals. Potentially dangerous compounds could be filtered out at early stages of R&D by computer prediction of biological activity and ADMET characteristics. Accuracy of such predictions strongly depends on the quality & quantity of information contained in a training set. Suggestion that some relevant chemical information can be added to such training sets without disclosing chemical structures was generated at the recent ACS Symposium. We presented arguments that such safety exchange of relevant chemical information is impossible. Any relevant information about chemical structures can be used for search of either a particular compound itself or its close analogues. Risk of identifying such structures is enough to prevent pharma industry from relevant chemical information exchange.

Public policy: extending psychology's contributions to national priorities.

PubMed

DeLeon, Patrick H; Kazdin, Alan E

2010-08-01

Much of today's psychological research and practice is relevant to our national health agenda and can serve the public interest. President Obama's landmark health care reform success provides an unprecedented opportunity to revolutionize society's definition of "quality care" and highlight rehabilitation's potential. Advocacy, vision, and a public policy presence with persistence are critical. Those involved often focus exclusively upon specific issues (e.g., reimbursement, research funding, or graduate student support). By developing a "bigger picture" approach addressing society's real needs and embracing the changes technology will ultimately bring, psychology can have a more lasting impact. There are unlimited opportunities to advance the profession through personal involvement in the public policy arena. It is essential that psychology's next generation receives relevant mentoring.

Preferences for engagement in health technology assessment decision-making: a nominal group technique with members of the public.

PubMed

Wortley, Sally; Tong, Allison; Howard, Kirsten

2016-02-01

To identify characteristics (factors) about health technology assessment (HTA) decisions that are important to the public in determining whether public engagement should be undertaken and the reasons for these choices. Focus groups using a nominal group technique to identify and rank factors relevant to public engagement in HTA decision-making. Thematic analysis was also undertaken to describe reasons underpinning participants' choices and rankings. Members of the Australian general public. 58 people, aged 19-71 years participated in 6 focus groups. 24 factors were identified by participants that were considered important in determining whether public engagement should be undertaken. These factors were individually ranked and grouped into 4 themes to interpret preferences for engagement. Members of the public were more likely to think public engagement was needed when trade-offs between benefits and costs were required to determine 'value', uncertainties in the evidence were present, and family members and/or carers were impacted. The role of public engagement was also seen as important if the existent system lacked transparency and did not provide a voice for patients, particularly for conditions less known in the community. Members of the public considered value, impact, uncertainty, equity and transparency in determining when engagement should be undertaken. This indicates that the public's preferences on when to undertake engagement relate to both the content of the HTA itself as well as the processes in place to support HTA decision-making. By understanding these preferences, decision-makers can work towards more effective, meaningful public engagement by involving the public in issues that are important to them and/or improving the processes around decision-making. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Identifying and Meeting Training Needs for Public Participation Responsibilities in Water Resources Planning. Publication No. 107.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ertel, Madge O.

This project surveyed planners in coastal zone management and 208 programs in New England to determine what type of skills and/or experience were required for planners to implement successful public participation programs. The research indicated that prior experience is more directly related to perceived adequacy than either academic or…

A Framework for Developing the Structure of Public Health Economic Models.

PubMed

Squires, Hazel; Chilcott, James; Akehurst, Ronald; Burr, Jennifer; Kelly, Michael P

2016-01-01

A conceptual modeling framework is a methodology that assists modelers through the process of developing a model structure. Public health interventions tend to operate in dynamically complex systems. Modeling public health interventions requires broader considerations than clinical ones. Inappropriately simple models may lead to poor validity and credibility, resulting in suboptimal allocation of resources. This article presents the first conceptual modeling framework for public health economic evaluation. The framework presented here was informed by literature reviews of the key challenges in public health economic modeling and existing conceptual modeling frameworks; qualitative research to understand the experiences of modelers when developing public health economic models; and piloting a draft version of the framework. The conceptual modeling framework comprises four key principles of good practice and a proposed methodology. The key principles are that 1) a systems approach to modeling should be taken; 2) a documented understanding of the problem is imperative before and alongside developing and justifying the model structure; 3) strong communication with stakeholders and members of the team throughout model development is essential; and 4) a systematic consideration of the determinants of health is central to identifying the key impacts of public health interventions. The methodology consists of four phases: phase A, aligning the framework with the decision-making process; phase B, identifying relevant stakeholders; phase C, understanding the problem; and phase D, developing and justifying the model structure. Key areas for further research involve evaluation of the framework in diverse case studies and the development of methods for modeling individual and social behavior. This approach could improve the quality of Public Health economic models, supporting efficient allocation of scarce resources. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics

Public Attitudes toward Animal Research: A Review

PubMed Central

Ormandy, Elisabeth H.; Schuppli, Catherine A.

2014-01-01

Simple Summary Public engagement on issues related to animal research, including exploration of public attitudes, provides a means of achieving socially acceptable scientific practice and oversight through an understanding of societal values and concerns. Numerous studies have been conducted to explore public attitudes toward animal use, and more specifically the use of animals in research. This paper reviews relevant literature using three categories of influential factors: personal and cultural characteristics, animal characteristics, and research characteristics. Abstract The exploration of public attitudes toward animal research is important given recent developments in animal research (e.g., increasing creation and use of genetically modified animals, and plans for progress in areas such as personalized medicine), and the shifting relationship between science and society (i.e., a move toward the democratization of science). As such, public engagement on issues related to animal research, including exploration of public attitudes, provides a means of achieving socially acceptable scientific practice and oversight through an understanding of societal values and concerns. Numerous studies have been conducted to explore public attitudes toward animal use, and more specifically the use of animals in research. This paper reviews relevant literature using three categories of influential factors: personal and cultural characteristics, animal characteristics, and research characteristics. A critique is given of survey style methods used to collect data on public attitudes, and recommendations are given on how best to address current gaps in public attitudes literature. PMID:26480314

The Effect of Relevance Strategies on Student Perceptions of Introductory Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedesco, Heather N.; Kentner, Ashley; Natt, Jane

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to test whether increasing the relevancy of course assignments in a large multisection introductory public-speaking course would lead to improvements in student perceptions of course outcomes. Survey responses from 1,878 students were analyzed to test whether differences exist between students enrolled in classes held…

Leading for Democracy in Urban Schools: Toward a Culturally Relevant Progressivism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seher, Rachel

2013-01-01

The article examines the enactment of culturally relevant progressivism on the part of the principal of the Social Justice School, a small urban public high school explicitly committed to democratic education. Drawing upon extensive interviews and field observations conducted over the course of an academic year by a teacher-researcher within the…

Identifying and acting on potentially inappropriate care? Inadequacy of current hospital coding for this task.

PubMed

Cooper, P David; Smart, David R

2017-06-01

Recent Australian attempts to facilitate disinvestment in healthcare, by identifying instances of 'inappropriate' care from large Government datasets, are subject to significant methodological flaws. Amongst other criticisms has been the fact that the Government datasets utilized for this purpose correlate poorly with datasets collected by relevant professional bodies. Government data derive from official hospital coding, collected retrospectively by clerical personnel, whilst professional body data derive from unit-specific databases, collected contemporaneously with care by clinical personnel. Assessment of accuracy of official hospital coding data for hyperbaric services in a tertiary referral hospital. All official hyperbaric-relevant coding data submitted to the relevant Australian Government agencies by the Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania, Australia for financial year 2010-2011 were reviewed and compared against actual hyperbaric unit activity as determined by reference to original source documents. Hospital coding data contained one or more errors in diagnoses and/or procedures in 70% of patients treated with hyperbaric oxygen that year. Multiple discrete error types were identified, including (but not limited to): missing patients; missing treatments; 'additional' treatments; 'additional' patients; incorrect procedure codes and incorrect diagnostic codes. Incidental observations of errors in surgical, anaesthetic and intensive care coding within this cohort suggest that the problems are not restricted to the specialty of hyperbaric medicine alone. Publications from other centres indicate that these problems are not unique to this institution or State. Current Government datasets are irretrievably compromised and not fit for purpose. Attempting to inform the healthcare policy debate by reference to these datasets is inappropriate. Urgent clinical engagement with hospital coding departments is warranted.

Adapting online learning for Canada's Northern public health workforce.

PubMed

Bell, Marnie; MacDougall, Karen

2013-01-01

Canada's North is a diverse, sparsely populated land, where inequalities and public health issues are evident, particularly for Aboriginal people. The Northern public health workforce is a unique mix of professional and paraprofessional workers. Few have formal public health education. From 2009 to 2012, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) collaborated with a Northern Advisory Group to develop and implement a strategy to strengthen public health capacity in Canada's 3 northern territories. Access to relevant, effective continuing education was identified as a key issue. Challenges include diverse educational and cultural backgrounds of public health workers, geographical isolation and variable technological infrastructure across the north. PHAC's Skills Online program offers Internet-based continuing education modules for public health professionals. In partnership with the Northern Advisory Group, PHAC conducted 3 pilots between 2008 and 2012 to assess the appropriateness of the Skills Online program for Northern/Aboriginal public health workers. Module content and delivery modalities were adapted for the pilots. Adaptations included adding Inuit and Northern public health examples and using video and teleconference discussions to augment the online self-study component. Findings from the pilots were informative and similar to those from previous Skills Online pilots with learners in developing countries. Online learning is effective in bridging the geographical barriers in remote locations. Incorporating content on Northern and Aboriginal health issues facilitates engagement in learning. Employer support facilitates the recruitment and retention of learners in an online program. Facilitator assets included experience as a public health professional from the north, and flexibility to use modified approaches to support and measure knowledge acquisition and application, especially for First Nations, Inuit and Metis learners. Results demonstrate that

[Design of a conceptual model on the transference of public health research results in Honduras].

PubMed

Macías-Chapula, César A

2012-01-01

To design a conceptual model on the transference of public health research results at the local, context level. Using systems thinking concepts, a soft systems approach (SSM) was used to analyse and solve what was perceived as a problem situation related to the transference of research results within Honduras public health system. A bibliometric analysis was also conducted to enrich the problem situation. Six root definitions were defined and modeled as relevant to the expressed problem situation. This led to the development of the conceptual model. The model obtained identified four levels of resolution as derived from the human activities involved in the transference of research results: 1) those of the researchers; 2) the information/documentation professionals; 3) health staff; and 4) the population/society. These actors/ clients and their activities were essential to the functioning of the model since they represent what the model is and does. SSM helped to design the conceptual model. The bibliometric analysis was relevant to construct the rich image of the problem situation.

The Simple Theory of Public Library Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newhouse, Joseph P.

A simple normative theory applicable to public library services was developed as a tool to aid libraries in answering the question: which books should be bought by the library? Although developed for normative purposes, the theory generates testable predictions. It is relevant to measuring benefits from services which are provided publicly because…

Arsenic in North Carolina: Public Health Implications

PubMed Central

Sanders, Alison P.; Messier, Kyle P.; Shehee, Mina; Rudo, Kenneth; Serre, Marc L.; Fry, Rebecca C.

2012-01-01

Arsenic is a known human carcinogen and relevant environmental contaminant in drinking water systems. We set out to comprehensively examine statewide arsenic trends and identify areas of public health concern. Specifically, arsenic trends in North Carolina private wells were evaluated over an eleven-year period using the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) database for private domestic well waters. We geocoded over 63,000 domestic well measurements by applying a novel geocoding algorithm and error validation scheme. Arsenic measurements and geographical coordinates for database entries were mapped using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. Furthermore, we employed a Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) geostatistical framework, which accounts for geocoding error to better estimate arsenic values across the state and identify trends for unmonitored locations. Of the approximately 63,000 monitored wells, 7,712 showed detectable arsenic concentrations that ranged between 1 and 806 μg/L. Additionally, 1,436 well samples exceeded the EPA drinking water standard. We reveal counties of concern and demonstrate a historical pattern of elevated arsenic in some counties, particularly those located along the Carolina terrane (Carolina slate belt). We analyzed these data in the context of populations using private well water and identify counties for targeted monitoring, such as Stanly and Union Counties. By spatiotemporally mapping these data, our BME estimate revealed arsenic trends at unmonitored locations within counties and better predicted well concentrations when compared to the classical kriging method. This study reveals relevant information on the location of arsenic-contaminated private domestic wells in North Carolina and indicates potential areas at increased risk for adverse health outcomes. PMID:21982028

Arsenic in North Carolina: public health implications.

PubMed

Sanders, Alison P; Messier, Kyle P; Shehee, Mina; Rudo, Kenneth; Serre, Marc L; Fry, Rebecca C

2012-01-01

Arsenic is a known human carcinogen and relevant environmental contaminant in drinking water systems. We set out to comprehensively examine statewide arsenic trends and identify areas of public health concern. Specifically, arsenic trends in North Carolina private wells were evaluated over an eleven-year period using the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services database for private domestic well waters. We geocoded over 63,000 domestic well measurements by applying a novel geocoding algorithm and error validation scheme. Arsenic measurements and geographical coordinates for database entries were mapped using Geographic Information System techniques. Furthermore, we employed a Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) geostatistical framework, which accounts for geocoding error to better estimate arsenic values across the state and identify trends for unmonitored locations. Of the approximately 63,000 monitored wells, 7712 showed detectable arsenic concentrations that ranged between 1 and 806μg/L. Additionally, 1436 well samples exceeded the EPA drinking water standard. We reveal counties of concern and demonstrate a historical pattern of elevated arsenic in some counties, particularly those located along the Carolina terrane (Carolina slate belt). We analyzed these data in the context of populations using private well water and identify counties for targeted monitoring, such as Stanly and Union Counties. By spatiotemporally mapping these data, our BME estimate revealed arsenic trends at unmonitored locations within counties and better predicted well concentrations when compared to the classical kriging method. This study reveals relevant information on the location of arsenic-contaminated private domestic wells in North Carolina and indicates potential areas at increased risk for adverse health outcomes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Putting food on the public health table: Making food security relevant to regional health authorities.

PubMed

Rideout, Karen; Seed, Barbara; Ostry, Aleck

2006-01-01

Food security is emerging as an increasingly important public health issue. The purpose of this paper is to describe a conceptual model and five classes of food security indicators for regional health authorities (RHAs): direct, indirect, consequence, process, and supra-regional. The model was developed after a review of the food security literature and interviews with British Columbia community nutritionists and public health officials. We offer this conceptual model as a practical tool to help RHAs develop a comprehensive framework and use specific indicators, in conjunction with public health nutritionists and other community stakeholders. We recommend using all five classes of indicator together to ensure a complete assessment of the full breadth of food security. This model will be useful for Canadian health authorities wishing to take a holistic community-based approach to public health nutrition to develop more effective policies and programs to maximize food security. The model and indicators offer a rational process that could be useful for collaborative multi-stakeholder initiatives to improve food security.

Searching for sustainability within public health policy: insights from an injury prevention perspective.

PubMed

Errington, Gail; Evans, Catrin; Watson, Michael C

2017-04-01

Sustaining public health programmes in the long-term is key to ensuring full manifestation of their intended benefits. Although an increasing interest in sustainability is apparent within the global literature, empirical studies from within the European setting are few. The factors that influence sustainability are generally conceptualized at three levels: programme level, the immediate context and the wider environment. To-date attention has focused primarily on the former two. Using a community-based child injury prevention programme in England as an exemplar, this paper explores the concept of sustainability within the wider policy environment, and considers the impact of this on local programmes. A content review of global and UK national public health policies (1981-2014) relevant to child safety was undertaken. Interviews were held with senior representatives of global and UK agencies involved in developing child safety policy. Forty-nine policies were reviewed. The term 'sustain', or its derivatives, featured in 36 (73%) of these. Its' use however, related primarily to conservation of resources rather than continued programme operation. Potential mechanisms for supporting programme sustainability featured within some documents; however, the approach to sustainability was inconsistent between policies and over time. Policy stakeholders identified programme sustainability as relevant to their core business, but its' conceptualization varied according to individual interpretation. Programme sustainability is poorly addressed within global and UK-based public health policy. Strengthening a national and international policy focus on sustainability and incorporating sustainability into public health planning frameworks may create a more supportive environment for local programmes. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Drama advertisements: moderating effects of self-relevance on the relations among empathy, information processing, and attitudes.

PubMed

Chebat, Jean-Charles; Vercollier, Sarah Drissi; Gélinas-Chebat, Claire

2003-06-01

The effects of drama versus lecture format in public service advertisements are studied in a 2 (format) x 2 (malaria vs AIDS) factorial design. Two structural equation models are built (one for each level of self-relevance), showing two distinct patterns. In both low and high self-relevant situations, empathy plays a key role. Under low self-relevance conditions, drama enhances information processing through empathy. Under high self-relevant conditions, the advertisement format has neither significant cognitive or empathetic effects. The information processing generated by the highly relevant topic affects viewers' empathy, which in turn affects the attitude the advertisement and the behavioral intent. As predicted by the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the advertisement format enhances the attitudes and information processing mostly under low self-relevant conditions. Under low self-relevant conditions, empathy enhances information processing while under high self-relevance, the converse relation holds.

Identifying dietary differences between Scotland and England: a rapid review of the literature.

PubMed

Chambers, Stephanie; Barton, Karen L; Albani, Viviana; Anderson, Annie S; Wrieden, Wendy L

2017-10-01

Rates of premature mortality have been higher in Scotland than in England since the 1970s. Given the known association of diet with chronic disease, the study objective was to identify and synthesise evidence on current and historical differences in food and nutrient intakes in Scotland and England. A rapid review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature was carried out. After an initial scoping search, Medline, CINAHL, Embase and Web of Science were searched. Relevant grey literature was also included. Inclusion criteria were: any date; measures of dietary intake; representative populations; cross-sectional or observational cohort studies; and English-language publications. Study quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-sectional Studies. A narrative synthesis of extracted information was conducted. Fifty publications and reports were included in the review. Results indicated that children and adults in Scotland had lower intakes of vegetables and vitamins compared with those living in England. Higher intakes of salt in Scotland were also identified. Data were limited by small Scottish samples, difficulty in finding England-level data, lack of statistical testing and adjustment for key confounders. Further investigation of adequately powered and analysed surveys is required to examine more fully dietary differences between Scotland and England. This would provide greater insight into potential causes of excess mortality in Scotland compared with England and suitable policy recommendations to address these inequalities.

Promoting public health legal preparedness for emergencies: review of current trends and their relevance in light of the Ebola crisis

PubMed Central

Cohen, Odeya; Feder-Bubis, Paula; Bar-Dayan, Yaron; Adini, Bruria

2015-01-01

Background Public health legal preparedness (PHLP) for emergencies is a core component of the health system response. However, the implementation of health legal preparedness differs between low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and developed countries. Objective This paper examines recent trends regarding public health legal preparedness for emergencies and discusses its role in the recent Ebola outbreak. Design A rigorous literature review was conducted using eight electronic databases as well as Google Scholar. The results encompassed peer-reviewed English articles, reports, theses, and position papers dating from 2011 to 2014. Earlier articles concerning regulatory actions were also examined. Results The importance of PHLP has grown during the past decade and focuses mainly on infection–disease scenarios. Amid LMICs, it mostly refers to application of international regulations, whereas in developed states, it focuses on independent legislation and creation of conditions optimal to promoting an effective emergency management. Among developed countries, the United States’ utilisation of health legal preparedness is the most advanced, including the creation of a model comprising four elements: law, competencies, information, and coordination. Only limited research has been conducted in this field to date. Nevertheless, in both developed and developing states, studies that focused on regulations and laws activated in health systems during emergencies, identified inconsistency and incoherence. The Ebola outbreak plaguing West Africa since 2014 has global implications, challenges and paralleling results, that were identified in this review. Conclusions The review has shown the need to broaden international regulations, to deepen reciprocity between countries, and to consider LMICs health capacities, in order to strengthen the national health security. Adopting elements of the health legal preparedness model is recommended. PMID:26449204

Promoting public health legal preparedness for emergencies: review of current trends and their relevance in light of the Ebola crisis.

PubMed

Cohen, Odeya; Feder-Bubis, Paula; Bar-Dayan, Yaron; Adini, Bruria

2015-01-01

Public health legal preparedness (PHLP) for emergencies is a core component of the health system response. However, the implementation of health legal preparedness differs between low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and developed countries. This paper examines recent trends regarding public health legal preparedness for emergencies and discusses its role in the recent Ebola outbreak. A rigorous literature review was conducted using eight electronic databases as well as Google Scholar. The results encompassed peer-reviewed English articles, reports, theses, and position papers dating from 2011 to 2014. Earlier articles concerning regulatory actions were also examined. The importance of PHLP has grown during the past decade and focuses mainly on infection-disease scenarios. Amid LMICs, it mostly refers to application of international regulations, whereas in developed states, it focuses on independent legislation and creation of conditions optimal to promoting an effective emergency management. Among developed countries, the United States' utilisation of health legal preparedness is the most advanced, including the creation of a model comprising four elements: law, competencies, information, and coordination. Only limited research has been conducted in this field to date. Nevertheless, in both developed and developing states, studies that focused on regulations and laws activated in health systems during emergencies, identified inconsistency and incoherence. The Ebola outbreak plaguing West Africa since 2014 has global implications, challenges and paralleling results, that were identified in this review. The review has shown the need to broaden international regulations, to deepen reciprocity between countries, and to consider LMICs health capacities, in order to strengthen the national health security. Adopting elements of the health legal preparedness model is recommended.

[The application in public health nursing of the employee empowerment model and relevant considerations].

PubMed

Chang, Li-Chun; Yen, Wan-Chuan; Lu, Su-Ying

2006-04-01

Empowerment, rooted in the black civil rights and other civic movements of the 1960s, has greatly impacted thought and theories on health promotion activities, management strategies, and educational reform. Public health nurses are vital facilitators to the introduction and implementation of the empowerment concept in the health care field. Employee empowerment, based on the concept of empowerment, comprises the two domains of ability and power, which may be assessed through psychological and organizational empowerment. This article illustrates the employee empowerment model, the combination of cognitive empowerment model, and its application in public health nursing. The empowering process includes confirming feelings of powerlessness during the dialogue phase; empowerment education and organizational dialogue during the development phase; and collective action for goal-setting during the action phase. This paper also notes issues that should be considered related to model implementation, including new technology of old paradigm, the risk for more disempowered status, and an appropriate methodology for research paradigms. The employee empowerment model presented in this paper may be used as a guide to design empowerment education curricula for public health nurses.

Most Cited Publications in Cervical Spine Surgery

PubMed Central

Brooks, Francis; Sandler, Simon; Yau, Yun-Hom; Selby, Michael; Freeman, Brian

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study is to perform a citation analysis on the most frequently cited articles in the topic of cervical spine surgery and report on the top 100 most cited publication in this topic. Methods We used the Thomson Reuters Web of Science to search citations of all articles from 1945 to 2015 relevant to cervical spine surgery and ranked them according to the number of citations. The 100 most cited articles that matched the search criteria were further analyzed by number of citations, first author, journal, year of publication, country and institution of origin. Results The top 100 cited articles in the topic of cervical spine surgery were published from 1952-2011. The number of citations ranged from 106 times for the 100th paper to 1206 times for the top paper. The decade of 1990-1999 saw the most publications. The Journal of Spine published the most articles, followed by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery America. Investigators from America authored the most papers and The University of California contributed the most publications. Cervical spine fusion was the most common topic published with 36 papers, followed by surgical technique and trauma. Conclusion This article identifies the 100 most cited articles in cervical spine surgery. It has provided insight to the history and development in cervical spine surgery and many of which have shaped the way we practice today. PMID:28765803

The relevance and legibility of radio/TV weather reports to the Austrian public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keul, A. G.; Holzer, A. M.

2013-03-01

The communicative quality of media weather reports, especially warnings, can be evaluated by user research. It is an interdisciplinary field, still uncoordinated after 35 years. The authors suggest to shift from a cognitive learning model to news processing, qualitative discourse and usability models as the media audience is in an edutainment situation where it acts highly selective. A series of field surveys 2008-2011 tested the relevance and legibility of Austrian radio and television weather reports on fair weather and in warning situations. 247 laypeople heard/saw original, mostly up-to-date radio/TV weather reports and recalled personally relevant data. Also, a questionnaire on weather knowledge was answered by 237 Austrians. Several research hypotheses were tested. The main results were (a) a relatively high level of meteorological knowledge of the general population, with interest and participation of German-speaking migrants, (b) a pluralistic media usage with TV, radio and internet as the leading media, (c) higher interest and attention (also for local weather) after warnings, but a risk of more false recalls after long warnings, (d) more recall problems with radio messages and a wish that the weather elements should always appear in the same order to faciliate processing for the audience. In their narrow time windows, radio/TV weather reports should concentrate on main features (synoptic situation, tomorrow's temperature and precipitation, possible warnings), keep a verbal “speed limit” and restrict show elements to serve the active, selective, multioptional, multicultural audience.

Data Publication & Citation practices in Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muench, August

2011-05-01

We investigated author behaviors around the practices of publishing and citing data products within refereed astronomical journals. We set the scope of this investigation to encompass AAS publications over the last decade, including the AAS publisher transition that took place in 2008-09. Our analysis focused on parsing the journal articles’ source material (LaTeX, XML) to catalog hyperlinks between the published text and extended data products that were provided by authors as part of the standard editorial process for refereed publications. We quantitatively and rhetorically analyzed this catalog of hyperlinks to decipher (some of) the authors’ behaviors with regard to data citation and publication. We focused on authors’ adoption and utilization of two specific data-literature links: journal hosted supplementary material and the NASA ADEC recommended system of dataset "identifiers,” which were designed to provide persistent links between articles and packages of relevant, reusable data located at trusted, established astronomy archives. These types of hyperlinks are, however, minor subsets of the overall catalog, where the bulk of author inserted links provide descriptive elements to otherwise "unpublished” material but not to unique, reusable datasets. In general our investigation reveals a consistent level of effort by authors to cite and publish some data products, although case by case examples darkly illuminate individual author's experiences with data publication and citation within the standard editorial process. Finally, we point out a couple of functional issues with existing data-literature links as specifically related to the suite of author behaviors examined in this project.

Health visitor or public health nurse? A Scottish study.

PubMed

Wilson, Susan

2006-09-01

The Scottish Executive and the National Health Service (NHS) have been consistently promoting 'public health nursing' as a new way forward in the community. In addition, since 2001 traditional health visitor and school nurse education programmes have been replaced by a single public health nurse training curriculum. However, many of the roles, responsibilities and job descriptions of clinical health visiting staff have remained unchanged within health board areas. This has led to apparent confusion among staff, both newly qualified and those already in post. This lack of clarity in policy and role prompted this research study, which set out to investigate the perceptions of the public health role of the health visitor within a health board area in Scotland. Initially, a review of the relevant literature was undertaken to provide in-depth background information on the topic, to enable a critical analysis of the current public health role of the health visitor. This analysis was further informed by obtaining qualitative and quantitative data via a questionnaire sent to 89 health visitors, to determine the attitudes and opinions of health visitors currently working within a Scottish health board area. Results from the study indicate that, despite the plethora of public health-related Scottish Executive publications and the changes in educational programmes, many health visitors still carry out what is perceived as a traditional role with mainly the under-five age group. The study also identified the need for clear direction in the public health role for health visitors, with many health visitors expressing a willingness to make changes to their current role.

Training public health superheroes: five talents for public health leadership.

PubMed

Day, Matthew; Shickle, Darren; Smith, Kevin; Zakariasen, Ken; Moskol, Jacob; Oliver, Thomas

2014-12-01

Public health leaders have been criticized for their policy stances, relationships with governments and failure to train the next generation. New approaches to the identification and training of public health leaders may be required. To inform these, lessons can be drawn from public health 'superheroes'; public health leaders perceived to be the most admired and effective by their peers. Members and Fellows of the UK Faculty of Public Health were contacted via e-newsletter and magazine and asked to nominate their 'Public Health Superhero'. Twenty-six responses were received, nominating 40 different people. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis, based on 'grounded theory', was conducted. Five leadership 'talents' for public health were identified: mentoring-nurturing, shaping-organizing, networking-connecting, knowing-interpreting and advocating-impacting. Talent-based approaches have been effective for leadership development in other sectors. These talents are the first specific to the practice of public health and align with some aspects of existing frameworks. An increased focus on identifying and developing talents during public health training, as opposed to 'competency'-based approaches, may be effective in strengthening public health leadership. Further research to understand the combination and intensity of talents across a larger sample of public health leaders is required. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Public Regulatory Databases as a Source of Insight for Neuromodulation Devices Stimulation Parameters

PubMed Central

Kumsa, Doe; Steinke, G. Karl; Molnar, Gregory F.; Hudak, Eric M.; Montague, Fred W.; Kelley, Shawn C.; Untereker, Darrel F.; Shi, Alan; Hahn, Benjamin P.; Condit, Chris; Lee, Hyowon; Bardot, Dawn; Centeno, Jose A.; Krauthamer, Victor; Takmakov, Pavel A.

2017-01-01

Objective The Shannon model is often used to define an expected boundary between non-damaging and damaging modes of electrical neurostimulation. Numerous preclinical studies have been performed by manufacturers of neuromodulation devices using different animal models and a broad range of stimulation parameters while developing devices for clinical use. These studies are mostly absent from peer-reviewed literature, which may lead to this information being overlooked by the scientific community. We aimed to locate summaries of these studies accessible via public regulatory databases and to add them to a body of knowledge available to a broad scientific community. Methods We employed web search terms describing device type, intended use, neural target, therapeutic application, company name, and submission number to identify summaries for premarket approval (PMA) devices and 510(k) devices. We filtered these records to a subset of entries that have sufficient technical information relevant to safety of neurostimulation. Results We identified 13 product codes for 8 types of neuromodulation devices. These led us to devices that have 22 PMAs and 154 510(k)s and six transcripts of public panel meetings. We found one PMA for a brain, peripheral nerve, and spinal cord stimulator and five 510(k) spinal cord stimulators with enough information to plot in Shannon coordinates of charge and charge density per phase. Conclusions Analysis of relevant entries from public regulatory databases reveals use of pig, sheep, monkey, dog, and goat animal models with deep brain, peripheral nerve, muscle and spinal cord electrode placement with a variety of stimulation durations (hours to years); frequencies (10–10,000 Hz) and magnitudes (Shannon k from below zero to 4.47). Data from located entries indicate that a feline cortical model that employs acute stimulation might have limitations for assessing tissue damage in diverse anatomical locations, particularly for peripheral nerve and

Public Regulatory Databases as a Source of Insight for Neuromodulation Devices Stimulation Parameters.

PubMed

Kumsa, Doe; Steinke, G Karl; Molnar, Gregory F; Hudak, Eric M; Montague, Fred W; Kelley, Shawn C; Untereker, Darrel F; Shi, Alan; Hahn, Benjamin P; Condit, Chris; Lee, Hyowon; Bardot, Dawn; Centeno, Jose A; Krauthamer, Victor; Takmakov, Pavel A

2018-02-01

The Shannon model is often used to define an expected boundary between non-damaging and damaging modes of electrical neurostimulation. Numerous preclinical studies have been performed by manufacturers of neuromodulation devices using different animal models and a broad range of stimulation parameters while developing devices for clinical use. These studies are mostly absent from peer-reviewed literature, which may lead to this information being overlooked by the scientific community. We aimed to locate summaries of these studies accessible via public regulatory databases and to add them to a body of knowledge available to a broad scientific community. We employed web search terms describing device type, intended use, neural target, therapeutic application, company name, and submission number to identify summaries for premarket approval (PMA) devices and 510(k) devices. We filtered these records to a subset of entries that have sufficient technical information relevant to safety of neurostimulation. We identified 13 product codes for 8 types of neuromodulation devices. These led us to devices that have 22 PMAs and 154 510(k)s and six transcripts of public panel meetings. We found one PMA for a brain, peripheral nerve, and spinal cord stimulator and five 510(k) spinal cord stimulators with enough information to plot in Shannon coordinates of charge and charge density per phase. Analysis of relevant entries from public regulatory databases reveals use of pig, sheep, monkey, dog, and goat animal models with deep brain, peripheral nerve, muscle and spinal cord electrode placement with a variety of stimulation durations (hours to years); frequencies (10-10,000 Hz) and magnitudes (Shannon k from below zero to 4.47). Data from located entries indicate that a feline cortical model that employs acute stimulation might have limitations for assessing tissue damage in diverse anatomical locations, particularly for peripheral nerve and spinal cord simulation. © 2017

45 CFR 162.506 - Standard unique health plan identifier.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Standard unique health plan identifier. 162.506 Section 162.506 Public Welfare Department of Health and Human Services ADMINISTRATIVE DATA STANDARDS AND RELATED REQUIREMENTS ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS Standard Unique Health Identifier for Health Plans § 162...

45 CFR 162.506 - Standard unique health plan identifier.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Standard unique health plan identifier. 162.506 Section 162.506 Public Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES ADMINISTRATIVE DATA STANDARDS AND RELATED REQUIREMENTS ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS Standard Unique Health Identifier for Health Plans § 162...

Improving interpretation of publically reported statistics on health and healthcare: the Figure Interpretation Assessment Tool (FIAT-Health).

PubMed

Gerrits, Reinie G; Kringos, Dionne S; van den Berg, Michael J; Klazinga, Niek S

2018-03-07

Policy-makers, managers, scientists, patients and the general public are confronted daily with figures on health and healthcare through public reporting in newspapers, webpages and press releases. However, information on the key characteristics of these figures necessary for their correct interpretation is often not adequately communicated, which can lead to misinterpretation and misinformed decision-making. The objective of this research was to map the key characteristics relevant to the interpretation of figures on health and healthcare, and to develop a Figure Interpretation Assessment Tool-Health (FIAT-Health) through which figures on health and healthcare can be systematically assessed, allowing for a better interpretation of these figures. The abovementioned key characteristics of figures on health and healthcare were identified through systematic expert consultations in the Netherlands on four topic categories of figures, namely morbidity, healthcare expenditure, healthcare outcomes and lifestyle. The identified characteristics were used as a frame for the development of the FIAT-Health. Development of the tool and its content was supported and validated through regular review by a sounding board of potential users. Identified characteristics relevant for the interpretation of figures in the four categories relate to the figures' origin, credibility, expression, subject matter, population and geographical focus, time period, and underlying data collection methods. The characteristics were translated into a set of 13 dichotomous and 4-point Likert scale questions constituting the FIAT-Health, and two final assessment statements. Users of the FIAT-Health were provided with a summary overview of their answers to support a final assessment of the correctness of a figure and the appropriateness of its reporting. FIAT-Health can support policy-makers, managers, scientists, patients and the general public to systematically assess the quality of publicly reported

Use of natural variation to identify loci associated with relevant agronomic phenotypic traits

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Analysis of natural allelic variation is a useful discovery tool to identify novel alleles in genes and pathways that are consistent with agronomic productivity and environmental stability. Switchgrass, a native perennial North American prairie grass and emerging biofuel feedstock species, is divide...

Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McMurry, Julie A.; Juty, Nick; Blomberg, Niklas

In many disciplines, data are highly decentralized across thousands of online databases (repositories, registries, and knowledgebases). Wringing value from such databases depends on the discipline of data science and on the humble bricks and mortar that make integration possible; identifiers are a core component of this integration infrastructure. Drawing on our experience and on work by other groups, we outline 10 lessons we have learned about the identifier qualities and best practices that facilitate large-scale data integration. Specifically, we propose actions that identifier practitioners (database providers) should take in the design, provision and reuse of identifiers. We also outline themore » important considerations for those referencing identifiers in various circumstances, including by authors and data generators. While the importance and relevance of each lesson will vary by context, there is a need for increased awareness about how to avoid and manage common identifier problems, especially those related to persistence and web-accessibility/resolvability. We focus strongly on web-based identifiers in the life sciences; however, the principles are broadly relevant to other disciplines.« less

Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data

PubMed Central

Juty, Nick; Blomberg, Niklas; Burdett, Tony; Conlin, Tom; Conte, Nathalie; Courtot, Mélanie; Deck, John; Dumontier, Michel; Fellows, Donal K.; Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra; Gormanns, Philipp; Grethe, Jeffrey; Hastings, Janna; Hériché, Jean-Karim; Hermjakob, Henning; Ison, Jon C.; Jimenez, Rafael C.; Jupp, Simon; Kunze, John; Laibe, Camille; Le Novère, Nicolas; Malone, James; Martin, Maria Jesus; McEntyre, Johanna R.; Morris, Chris; Muilu, Juha; Müller, Wolfgang; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Sariyar, Murat; Snoep, Jacky L.; Soiland-Reyes, Stian; Stanford, Natalie J.; Swainston, Neil; Washington, Nicole; Williams, Alan R.; Wimalaratne, Sarala M.; Winfree, Lilly M.; Wolstencroft, Katherine; Goble, Carole; Mungall, Christopher J.; Haendel, Melissa A.; Parkinson, Helen

2017-01-01

In many disciplines, data are highly decentralized across thousands of online databases (repositories, registries, and knowledgebases). Wringing value from such databases depends on the discipline of data science and on the humble bricks and mortar that make integration possible; identifiers are a core component of this integration infrastructure. Drawing on our experience and on work by other groups, we outline 10 lessons we have learned about the identifier qualities and best practices that facilitate large-scale data integration. Specifically, we propose actions that identifier practitioners (database providers) should take in the design, provision and reuse of identifiers. We also outline the important considerations for those referencing identifiers in various circumstances, including by authors and data generators. While the importance and relevance of each lesson will vary by context, there is a need for increased awareness about how to avoid and manage common identifier problems, especially those related to persistence and web-accessibility/resolvability. We focus strongly on web-based identifiers in the life sciences; however, the principles are broadly relevant to other disciplines. PMID:28662064

Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data.

PubMed

McMurry, Julie A; Juty, Nick; Blomberg, Niklas; Burdett, Tony; Conlin, Tom; Conte, Nathalie; Courtot, Mélanie; Deck, John; Dumontier, Michel; Fellows, Donal K; Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra; Gormanns, Philipp; Grethe, Jeffrey; Hastings, Janna; Hériché, Jean-Karim; Hermjakob, Henning; Ison, Jon C; Jimenez, Rafael C; Jupp, Simon; Kunze, John; Laibe, Camille; Le Novère, Nicolas; Malone, James; Martin, Maria Jesus; McEntyre, Johanna R; Morris, Chris; Muilu, Juha; Müller, Wolfgang; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Sansone, Susanna-Assunta; Sariyar, Murat; Snoep, Jacky L; Soiland-Reyes, Stian; Stanford, Natalie J; Swainston, Neil; Washington, Nicole; Williams, Alan R; Wimalaratne, Sarala M; Winfree, Lilly M; Wolstencroft, Katherine; Goble, Carole; Mungall, Christopher J; Haendel, Melissa A; Parkinson, Helen

2017-06-01

In many disciplines, data are highly decentralized across thousands of online databases (repositories, registries, and knowledgebases). Wringing value from such databases depends on the discipline of data science and on the humble bricks and mortar that make integration possible; identifiers are a core component of this integration infrastructure. Drawing on our experience and on work by other groups, we outline 10 lessons we have learned about the identifier qualities and best practices that facilitate large-scale data integration. Specifically, we propose actions that identifier practitioners (database providers) should take in the design, provision and reuse of identifiers. We also outline the important considerations for those referencing identifiers in various circumstances, including by authors and data generators. While the importance and relevance of each lesson will vary by context, there is a need for increased awareness about how to avoid and manage common identifier problems, especially those related to persistence and web-accessibility/resolvability. We focus strongly on web-based identifiers in the life sciences; however, the principles are broadly relevant to other disciplines.

Identifiers for the 21st century: How to design, provision, and reuse persistent identifiers to maximize utility and impact of life science data

DOE PAGES

McMurry, Julie A.; Juty, Nick; Blomberg, Niklas; ...

2017-06-29

In many disciplines, data are highly decentralized across thousands of online databases (repositories, registries, and knowledgebases). Wringing value from such databases depends on the discipline of data science and on the humble bricks and mortar that make integration possible; identifiers are a core component of this integration infrastructure. Drawing on our experience and on work by other groups, we outline 10 lessons we have learned about the identifier qualities and best practices that facilitate large-scale data integration. Specifically, we propose actions that identifier practitioners (database providers) should take in the design, provision and reuse of identifiers. We also outline themore » important considerations for those referencing identifiers in various circumstances, including by authors and data generators. While the importance and relevance of each lesson will vary by context, there is a need for increased awareness about how to avoid and manage common identifier problems, especially those related to persistence and web-accessibility/resolvability. We focus strongly on web-based identifiers in the life sciences; however, the principles are broadly relevant to other disciplines.« less

Summarizing Simulation Results using Causally-relevant States

PubMed Central

Parikh, Nidhi; Marathe, Madhav; Swarup, Samarth

2016-01-01

As increasingly large-scale multiagent simulations are being implemented, new methods are becoming necessary to make sense of the results of these simulations. Even concisely summarizing the results of a given simulation run is a challenge. Here we pose this as the problem of simulation summarization: how to extract the causally-relevant descriptions of the trajectories of the agents in the simulation. We present a simple algorithm to compress agent trajectories through state space by identifying the state transitions which are relevant to determining the distribution of outcomes at the end of the simulation. We present a toy-example to illustrate the working of the algorithm, and then apply it to a complex simulation of a major disaster in an urban area. PMID:28042620

Gene expression profiling to identify the toxicities and potentially relevant human disease outcomes associated with environmental heavy metal exposure.

PubMed

Korashy, Hesham M; Attafi, Ibraheem M; Famulski, Konrad S; Bakheet, Saleh A; Hafez, Mohammed M; Alsaad, Abdulaziz M S; Al-Ghadeer, Abdul Rahman M

2017-02-01

Heavy metals are the most commonly encountered toxic substances that increase susceptibility to various diseases after prolonged exposure. We have previously shown that healthy volunteers living near a mining area had significant contamination with heavy metals associated with significant changes in the expression of some detoxifying genes, xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, and DNA repair genes. However, alterations of most of the molecular target genes associated with diseases are still unknown. Thus, the aims of this study were to (a) evaluate the gene expression profile and (b) identify the toxicities and potentially relevant human disease outcomes associated with long-term human exposure to environmental heavy metals in mining area using microarray analysis. For this purpose, 40 healthy male volunteers who were residents of a heavy metal-polluted area (Mahd Al-Dhahab city, Saudi Arabia) and 20 healthy male volunteers who were residents of a non-heavy metal-polluted area were included in the study. Total RNA was isolated from whole blood using PAXgene Blood RNA tubes and then reversed transcribed and hybridized to the gene array using the Affymetrix U219 GeneChip. Microarray analysis showed about 2129 genes were identified and differentially altered, among which a shared set of 425 genes was differentially expressed in the heavy metal-exposed groups. Ingenuity pathway analysis revealed that the most altered gene-regulated diseases in heavy metal-exposed groups included hematological and developmental disorders and mostly renal and urological diseases. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction closely matched the microarray data for some genes tested. Importantly, changes in gene-related diseases were attributed to alterations in the genes encoded for protein synthesis. Renal and urological diseases were the diseases that were most frequently associated with the heavy metal-exposed group. Therefore, there is a need for further studies to validate these

77 FR 11128 - Medicare Program; Public Meetings in Calendar Year 2012 for All New Public Requests for Revisions...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-24

... 10- page limit for relevant studies published between the application deadline and the public meeting... include but are not limited to, alcoholic beverages, illegal narcotics, explosives, firearms or other...

Public Scholarship Student Projects for Introductory Environmental Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baum, Seth D.; Aman, Destiny D.; Israel, Andrei L.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a model project for introductory undergraduate courses that develops students as citizens contributing scholarship to public discussions of environmental issues. In this field-based project, students actively and independently engage with an environmental issue and present their project experience to a relevant public forum. In…

Relevance in the science classroom: A multidimensional analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartwell, Matthew F.

While perceived relevance is considered a fundamental component of adaptive learning, the experience of relevance and its conceptual definition have not been well described. The mixed-methods research presented in this dissertation aimed to clarify the conceptual meaning of relevance by focusing on its phenomenological experience from the students' perspective. Following a critical literature review, I propose an identity-based model of perceived relevance that includes three components: a contextual target, an identity target, and a connection type, or lens. An empirical investigation of this model that consisted of two general phases was implemented in four 9th grade-biology classrooms. Participants in Phase 1 (N = 118) completed a series of four open-ended writing activities focused on eliciting perceived personal connections to academic content. Exploratory qualitative content analysis of a 25% random sample of the student responses was used to identify the main meaning-units of the proposed model as well as different dimensions of student relevance perceptions. These meaning-units and dimensions provided the basis for the construction of a conceptual mapping sentence capturing students' perceived relevance, which was then applied in a confirmatory analysis to all other student responses. Participants in Phase 2 (N = 139) completed a closed survey designed based on the mapping sentence to assess their perceived relevance of a biology unit. The survey also included scales assessing other domain-level motivational processes. Exploratory factor analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated a coherent conceptual structure, which included a primary interpretive relevance dimension. Comparison of the conceptual structure across various groups (randomly-split sample, gender, academic level, domain-general motivational profiles) provided support for its ubiquity and insight into variation in the experience of perceived relevance among students of different

Women creating public art and community, 2000-2014.

PubMed

Mulvey, Anne; Egan, Irene M

2015-03-01

This narrative describes a series of 15 short-term public art projects that were part of a program for women and girls in Lowell, Massachusetts, a mid-size city in the United States. The projects were designed to give public space to women's stories and perspectives by exhibiting their creative art in response to suggested themes. A few thousand women and girls representing diverse age and cultural groups created art based on their lived experiences. The organizers of the program met people in comfortable settings, tailored their art-making approaches to particular groups, and used inclusive processes in developing and executing the program. Program successes and challenges were related to the organizational structure of the art projects, the annual themes and art media, the extent of outreach and support, the process of creation, and the impact of art exhibits. Using community psychology and feminist frameworks, authors reflect on the projects and their relevance across contexts, highlight key organizing strategies, and identify ways the project represents community psychology in action.

Public health human resources: a comparative analysis of policy documents in two Canadian provinces

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Amidst concerns regarding the capacity of the public health system to respond rapidly and appropriately to threats such as pandemics and terrorism, along with changing population health needs, governments have focused on strengthening public health systems. A key factor in a robust public health system is its workforce. As part of a nationally funded study of public health renewal in Canada, a policy analysis was conducted to compare public health human resources-relevant documents in two Canadian provinces, British Columbia (BC) and Ontario (ON), as they each implement public health renewal activities. Methods A content analysis of policy and planning documents from government and public health-related organizations was conducted by a research team comprised of academics and government decision-makers. Documents published between 2003 and 2011 were accessed (BC = 27; ON = 20); documents were either publicly available or internal to government and excerpted with permission. Documentary texts were deductively coded using a coding template developed by the researchers based on key health human resources concepts derived from two national policy documents. Results Documents in both provinces highlighted the importance of public health human resources planning and policies; this was particularly evident in early post-SARS documents. Key thematic areas of public health human resources identified were: education, training, and competencies; capacity; supply; intersectoral collaboration; leadership; public health planning context; and priority populations. Policy documents in both provinces discussed the importance of an educated, competent public health workforce with the appropriate skills and competencies for the effective and efficient delivery of public health services. Conclusion This policy analysis identified progressive work on public health human resources policy and planning with early documents providing an inventory of issues to be

Public health human resources: a comparative analysis of policy documents in two Canadian provinces.

PubMed

Regan, Sandra; MacDonald, Marjorie; Allan, Diane E; Martin, Cheryl; Peroff-Johnston, Nancy

2014-02-24

Amidst concerns regarding the capacity of the public health system to respond rapidly and appropriately to threats such as pandemics and terrorism, along with changing population health needs, governments have focused on strengthening public health systems. A key factor in a robust public health system is its workforce. As part of a nationally funded study of public health renewal in Canada, a policy analysis was conducted to compare public health human resources-relevant documents in two Canadian provinces, British Columbia (BC) and Ontario (ON), as they each implement public health renewal activities. A content analysis of policy and planning documents from government and public health-related organizations was conducted by a research team comprised of academics and government decision-makers. Documents published between 2003 and 2011 were accessed (BC = 27; ON = 20); documents were either publicly available or internal to government and excerpted with permission. Documentary texts were deductively coded using a coding template developed by the researchers based on key health human resources concepts derived from two national policy documents. Documents in both provinces highlighted the importance of public health human resources planning and policies; this was particularly evident in early post-SARS documents. Key thematic areas of public health human resources identified were: education, training, and competencies; capacity; supply; intersectoral collaboration; leadership; public health planning context; and priority populations. Policy documents in both provinces discussed the importance of an educated, competent public health workforce with the appropriate skills and competencies for the effective and efficient delivery of public health services. This policy analysis identified progressive work on public health human resources policy and planning with early documents providing an inventory of issues to be addressed and later documents providing

Developing and Enacting Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Voices of New Teachers of Color

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borrero, Noah E.; Flores, Esther; de la Cruz, Gabriel

2016-01-01

A group of preservice and first year teachers share their experiences as new teachers of Color entering the profession in urban public schools. Specifically, these novice teachers discuss the transition from an urban education teacher preparation program into the classroom and their successes and challenges enacting culturally relevant pedagogy.…

Relevance of randomised controlled trials in oncology.

PubMed

Tannock, Ian F; Amir, Eitan; Booth, Christopher M; Niraula, Saroj; Ocana, Alberto; Seruga, Bostjan; Templeton, Arnoud J; Vera-Badillo, Francisco

2016-12-01

Well-designed randomised controlled trials (RCTs) can prevent bias in the comparison of treatments and provide a sound basis for changes in clinical practice. However, the design and reporting of many RCTs can render their results of little relevance to clinical practice. In this Personal View, we discuss the limitations of RCT data and suggest some ways to improve the clinical relevance of RCTs in the everyday management of patients with cancer. RCTs should ask questions of clinical rather than commercial interest, avoid non-validated surrogate endpoints in registration trials, and have entry criteria that allow inclusion of all patients who are fit to receive treatment. Furthermore, RCTs should be reported with complete accounting of frequency and management of toxicities, and with strict guidelines to ensure freedom from bias. Premature reporting of results should be avoided. The bar for clinical benefit should be raised for drug registration, which should require publication and review of mature data from RCTs, post-marketing health outcome studies, and value-based pricing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biomedically relevant chemical and physical properties of coal combustion products.

PubMed Central

Fisher, G L

1983-01-01

The evaluation of the potential public and occupational health hazards of developing and existing combustion processes requires a detailed understanding of the physical and chemical properties of effluents available for human and environmental exposures. These processes produce complex mixtures of gases and aerosols which may interact synergistically or antagonistically with biological systems. Because of the physicochemical complexity of the effluents, the biomedically relevant properties of these materials must be carefully assessed. Subsequent to release from combustion sources, environmental interactions further complicate assessment of the toxicity of combustion products. This report provides an overview of the biomedically relevant physical and chemical properties of coal fly ash. Coal fly ash is presented as a model complex mixture for health and safety evaluation of combustion processes. PMID:6337824

Per-service supervised learning for identifying desired WoT apps from user requests in natural language

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Web of Things (WoT) platforms are growing fast so as the needs for composing WoT apps more easily and efficiently. We have recently commenced the campaign to develop an interface where users can issue requests for WoT apps entirely in natural language. This requires an effort to build a system that can learn to identify relevant WoT functions that fulfill user’s requests. In our preceding work, we trained a supervised learning system with thousands of publicly-available IFTTT app recipes based on conditional random fields (CRF). However, the sub-par accuracy and excessive training time motivated us to devise a better approach. In this paper, we present a novel solution that creates a separate learning engine for each trigger service. With this approach, parallel and incremental learning becomes possible. For inference, our system first identifies the most relevant trigger service for a given user request by using an information retrieval technique. Then, the learning engine associated with the trigger service predicts the most likely pair of trigger and action functions. We expect that such two-phase inference method given parallel learning engines would improve the accuracy of identifying related WoT functions. We verify our new solution through the empirical evaluation with training and test sets sampled from a pool of refined IFTTT app recipes. We also meticulously analyze the characteristics of the recipes to find future research directions. PMID:29149217

Per-service supervised learning for identifying desired WoT apps from user requests in natural language.

PubMed

Yoon, Young

2017-01-01

Web of Things (WoT) platforms are growing fast so as the needs for composing WoT apps more easily and efficiently. We have recently commenced the campaign to develop an interface where users can issue requests for WoT apps entirely in natural language. This requires an effort to build a system that can learn to identify relevant WoT functions that fulfill user's requests. In our preceding work, we trained a supervised learning system with thousands of publicly-available IFTTT app recipes based on conditional random fields (CRF). However, the sub-par accuracy and excessive training time motivated us to devise a better approach. In this paper, we present a novel solution that creates a separate learning engine for each trigger service. With this approach, parallel and incremental learning becomes possible. For inference, our system first identifies the most relevant trigger service for a given user request by using an information retrieval technique. Then, the learning engine associated with the trigger service predicts the most likely pair of trigger and action functions. We expect that such two-phase inference method given parallel learning engines would improve the accuracy of identifying related WoT functions. We verify our new solution through the empirical evaluation with training and test sets sampled from a pool of refined IFTTT app recipes. We also meticulously analyze the characteristics of the recipes to find future research directions.

Maxwell and creation: Acceptance, criticism, and his anonymous publication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marston, Philip L.

2007-08-01

Although James Clerk Maxwell's religious views and discussions on atoms having the properties of ``manufactured articles'' have been discussed, some aspects of the responses by his contemporaries to his remarks on creation have been neglected. Various responses quoted here include a book from 1878 by ``Physicus'' (George John Romanes) attributing ``arrogance'' to Maxwell for his inferences. Relevant aspects of the evolution of the perspective of Romanes are noted. A response by B. F. Westcott indicated that Maxwell was the author of a related anonymous publication concerned with what eventually became known as the heat death of the universe. In his teaching to theology students, Westcott, a friend of Maxwell, emphasized Maxwell's reasoning based on the dissipation of energy. There are similarities between Maxwell's perspective on creation and Biblical commentaries by fellow Eranus Club members Westcott and J. B. Lightfoot. Interest in Maxwell's remarks extended into the twentieth century. The principal Baptist chapel attended by Maxwell and his wife when in London in the 1860s is identified and some relevant attributes of the chapel and of its pastor are described.

Tools to support evidence-informed public health decision making

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Public health professionals are increasingly expected to engage in evidence-informed decision making to inform practice and policy decisions. Evidence-informed decision making involves the use of research evidence along with expertise, existing public health resources, knowledge about community health issues, the local context and community, and the political climate. The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools has identified a seven step process for evidence-informed decision making. Tools have been developed to support public health professionals as they work through each of these steps. This paper provides an overview of tools used in three Canadian public health departments involved in a study to develop capacity for evidence-informed decision making. Methods As part of a knowledge translation and exchange intervention, a Knowledge Broker worked with public health professionals to identify and apply tools for use with each of the steps of evidence-informed decision making. The Knowledge Broker maintained a reflective journal and interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of decision makers and public health professionals. This paper presents qualitative analysis of the perceived usefulness and usability of the tools. Results Tools were used in the health departments to assist in: question identification and clarification; searching for the best available research evidence; assessing the research evidence for quality through critical appraisal; deciphering the ‘actionable message(s)’ from the research evidence; tailoring messages to the local context to ensure their relevance and suitability; deciding whether and planning how to implement research evidence in the local context; and evaluating the effectiveness of implementation efforts. Decision makers provided descriptions of how the tools were used within the health departments and made suggestions for improvement. Overall, the tools were perceived as valuable for advancing

Tools to support evidence-informed public health decision making.

PubMed

Yost, Jennifer; Dobbins, Maureen; Traynor, Robyn; DeCorby, Kara; Workentine, Stephanie; Greco, Lori

2014-07-18

Public health professionals are increasingly expected to engage in evidence-informed decision making to inform practice and policy decisions. Evidence-informed decision making involves the use of research evidence along with expertise, existing public health resources, knowledge about community health issues, the local context and community, and the political climate. The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools has identified a seven step process for evidence-informed decision making. Tools have been developed to support public health professionals as they work through each of these steps. This paper provides an overview of tools used in three Canadian public health departments involved in a study to develop capacity for evidence-informed decision making. As part of a knowledge translation and exchange intervention, a Knowledge Broker worked with public health professionals to identify and apply tools for use with each of the steps of evidence-informed decision making. The Knowledge Broker maintained a reflective journal and interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of decision makers and public health professionals. This paper presents qualitative analysis of the perceived usefulness and usability of the tools. Tools were used in the health departments to assist in: question identification and clarification; searching for the best available research evidence; assessing the research evidence for quality through critical appraisal; deciphering the 'actionable message(s)' from the research evidence; tailoring messages to the local context to ensure their relevance and suitability; deciding whether and planning how to implement research evidence in the local context; and evaluating the effectiveness of implementation efforts. Decision makers provided descriptions of how the tools were used within the health departments and made suggestions for improvement. Overall, the tools were perceived as valuable for advancing and sustaining evidence

Assessment of graduate public health education in Nepal and perceived needs of faculty and students

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Despite the large body of evidence suggesting that effective public health infrastructure is vital to improving the health status of populations, many universities in developing countries offer minimal opportunities for graduate training in public health. In Nepal, for example, only two institutions currently offer a graduate public health degree. Both institutions confer only a general Masters in Public Health (MPH), and together produce 30 graduates per year. The objective of this assessment was to identify challenges in graduate public health education in Nepal, and explore ways to address these challenges. Methods The assessment included in-person school visits and data collection through semi-structured in-depth interviews with primary stakeholders of Nepal’s public health academic sector. The 72 participants included faculty, students, alumni, and leaders of institutions that offered MPH programs, and the leadership of one government-funded institution that is currently developing an MPH program. Data were analyzed through content analysis to identify major themes. Results Six themes characterizing the challenges of expanding and improving graduate public health training were identified: 1) a shortage of trained public health faculty, with consequent reliance on the internet to compensate for inadequate teaching resources; 2) teaching/learning cultures and bureaucratic traditions that are not optimal for graduate education; 3) within-institution dominance of clinical medicine over public health; 4) a desire for practice–oriented, contextually relevant training opportunities; 5) a demand for degree options in public health specialties (for example, epidemiology); and 6) a strong interest in international academic collaboration. Conclusion Despite an enormous need for trained public health professionals, Nepal’s educational institutions face barriers to developing effective graduate programs. Overcoming these barriers will require: 1

41 CFR 60-250.42 - Invitation to self-identify.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Invitation to self-identify. 60-250.42 Section 60-250.42 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions Relating to... PROTECTED VETERANS Affirmative Action Program § 60-250.42 Invitation to self-identify. (a) Special disabled...

41 CFR 60-250.42 - Invitation to self-identify.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Invitation to self-identify. 60-250.42 Section 60-250.42 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions Relating to... PROTECTED VETERANS Affirmative Action Program § 60-250.42 Invitation to self-identify. (a) Special disabled...

41 CFR 60-250.42 - Invitation to self-identify.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 1 2011-07-01 2009-07-01 true Invitation to self-identify. 60-250.42 Section 60-250.42 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions Relating to... PROTECTED VETERANS Affirmative Action Program § 60-250.42 Invitation to self-identify. (a) Special disabled...

41 CFR 60-250.42 - Invitation to self-identify.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 1 2012-07-01 2009-07-01 true Invitation to self-identify. 60-250.42 Section 60-250.42 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions Relating to... PROTECTED VETERANS Affirmative Action Program § 60-250.42 Invitation to self-identify. (a) Special disabled...

Psychology, psychologists, and public policy.

PubMed

McKnight, Katherine M; Sechrest, Lee; McKnight, Patrick E

2005-01-01

Evidence-based policy is being encouraged in all areas of public service ( Black 2001 ). Unprecedented federal legislation reflects a faith in science "as a force for improved public policy" ( Feuer et al. 2002 ). The objective of evidence-based policy is to use scientific research to drive decision making. Thus, the link between social science research and public policy seems to be a natural one. The purpose of this chapter is to address how psychological science in general, and clinical psychology in particular, can be of use to public policy makers. We discuss how psychological science can be relevant and applicable to informing policy, and we describe the role clinical scientists might play in generating, disseminating, and implementing that information. We also note distinct limitations on the usefulness of psychological research in driving public policy. We discuss some pitfalls and recommend areas where clinical psychology might best serve public policy.

Performance management of the public healthcare services in Ireland: a review.

PubMed

Mesabbah, Mohammed; Arisha, Amr

2016-01-01

Performance Management (PM) processes have become a potent part of strategic and service quality decisions in healthcare organisations. In 2005, the management of public healthcare in Ireland was amalgamated into a single integrated management body, named the Health Service Executive (HSE). Since then, the HSE has come up with a range of strategies for healthcare developments and reforms, and has developed a PM system as part of its strategic planning. The purpose of this paper is to review the application of PM in the Irish Healthcare system, with a particular focus on Irish Hospitals and Emergency Services. An extensive review of relevant HSE's publications from 2005 to 2013 is conducted. Studies of the relevant literature related to the application of PM and of international best practices in healthcare performance systems are also presented. PM and performance measurement systems used by the HSE include many performance reports designed to monitor performance trends and strategic goals. Issues in the current PM system include inconsistency of measures and performance reporting, unclear strategy alignment, and deficiencies in reporting (e.g. feedback and corrective actions). Furthermore, PM processes have not been linked adequately into Irish public hospitals' management systems. The HSE delivers several services such as mental health, social inclusion, etc. This study focuses on the HSE's PM framework, with a particular interest in acute hospitals and emergency services. This is the first comprehensive review of Irish healthcare PM since the introduction of the HSE. A critical analysis of the HSE reports identifies the shortcomings in its current PM system.

Public engagement with CCS: barriers, key issues and ways forward

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xenias, Dimitrios

2017-04-01

Although Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is recognised as a crucial transition technology to a low-carbon world, it has not been popular with the public or some governments (e.g. the UK). Also, despite its use in industrial processes for decades, CCS remains and unfamiliar technology for most publics. It is therefore important to foster top-down and bottom-up acceptance of large scale CCS. In an exploratory round of interviews we canvassed the views of British, Dutch, German and Norwegian experts (N=13) with previous experience in public engagement with CCS. They identified barriers and drivers for CCS deployment and public engagement with CCS. Thematic analysis revealed a small number of recurrent issues, including: (a) lack of political leadership on CCS; (b) lack of public knowledge on relevant technologies and (c) difficulty communicating why CCS is necessary. Emphasis on these barriers varied with the level of experts' engagement with the public. More interestingly, although most experts agreed on the importance of public engagement, their views divided between 'why' engage and 'how' best to do this. In a subsequent expert survey (N=99) interview findings were reinforced: public support was seen as important for CCS roll-out (72%), though lower than political support and funding. The survey also showed that local public was expected to experience most risks, while global public will experience most benefits; whereas local business is seen to benefit more than global. Experts were overwhelmingly positive about CCS - risks outweigh benefits, and are confident that CCS will play a major role in climate change mitigation (along with reduced energy demand and renewables). These findings will be expanded on and triangulated in a follow-up public survey which will benefit those involved with public engagement with CCS.

Relevant Publications-HDSC/OWP

Science.gov Websites

Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia) 2004 (2006) 3 Precipitation-Frequency Atlas of the United Western United States, California 1973 superseded by NA14 Vol6 back to top 3. Hydrometeorological Reports Precipitation over the Ohio River Basin above Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1943 superseded (see PMP documents) 3

The Infectious Diseases Society of America emerging infections network: bridging the gap between clinical infectious diseases and public health.

PubMed

Pillai, Satish K; Beekmann, Susan E; Santibanez, Scott; Polgreen, Philip M

2014-04-01

In 1995, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention granted a Cooperative Agreement Program award to the Infectious Diseases Society of America to develop a provider-based emerging infections sentinel network, the Emerging Infections Network (EIN). Over the past 17 years, the EIN has evolved into a flexible, nationwide network with membership representing a broad cross-section of infectious disease physicians. The EIN has an active electronic mail conference (listserv) that facilitates communication among infectious disease providers and the public health community, and also sends members periodic queries (short surveys on infectious disease topics) that have addressed numerous topics relevant to both clinical infectious diseases and public health practice. The article reviews how the various functions of EIN contribute to clinical care and public health, identifies opportunities to further link clinical medicine and public health, and describes future directions for the EIN.

Retracted Publications Within Radiology Journals.

PubMed

Rosenkrantz, Andrew B

2016-02-01

The purpose of this study was to characterize trends related to retracted publications within radiology journals. PubMed was queried to identify all articles with the publication type "retracted publication" or "notification of retraction." Articles published within radiology journals were identified using Journal Citation Reports' journal categories. Available versions of original articles and publication notices were accessed from journal websites. Citations to retracted publications were identified using Web of Science. Overall trends were assessed. Forty-eight retracted original research articles were identified within radiology journals since 1983, which included 1.1% of all PubMed "retracted publication" entries. Distinct PubMed entries were available for the retracted publication and retraction notification in 39 of 48 articles. The original PDF was available for 37 articles, although the articles were not watermarked as retracted in 23 cases. In six cases with a watermarked PDF, further searches identified nonwatermarked versions. Original HTML versions were available for 13 articles but 11 were not watermarked. The mean (± SD) delay between publication and retraction was 2.7 ± 2.8 years (range, 0-16 years). The mean number of citations to retracted articles was 10.9 ± 17.1 (range, 0-94 citations). Reasons for retraction included problematic or incorrect methods or results (although it typically was unclear whether these represented honest errors or misconduct) in 33.3% of cases, complete or partial duplicate publication in 33.3% of cases, plagiarism in 14.6% of cases, a permission issue in 8.3% of cases, the publisher's error in 6.3% of cases, and no identified reason in 6.3% of cases. One or no retractions occurred annually from 1986 to 2001, although two or more retractions occurred annually in nine of the 12 years from 2002 through 2013. Retraction represents an uncommon, yet potentially increasing, issue within radiology journals that publishers

Culturally Relevant Management Education: Insights from Experience in Nunavut

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wihak, Christine

2005-01-01

The author's experience with a Nunavut business management education program illustrates how to develop culturally relevant organizational behavior curriculum. The process initially involved interviews with Inuit Elders about culturally appropriate responses to scenarios of cultural conflicts in the workplace identified by Inuit managers. The…

Relevancy 101

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynnes, Chris; Newman, Doug

2016-01-01

Where we present an overview on why relevancy is a problem, how important it is and how we can improve it. The topic of relevancy is becoming increasingly important in earth data discovery as our audience is tuned to the accuracy of standard search engines like Google.

Clinically Relevant Outcome Measures Following Limb Osseointegration; Systematic Review of the Literature.

PubMed

Al Muderis, Munjed M; Lu, William Y; Li, Jiao Jiao; Kaufman, Kenton; Orendurff, Michael; Highsmith, M Jason; Lunseth, Paul A; Kahle, Jason T

2018-02-01

The current standard of care for an amputee is a socket-based prostheses. An osseointegrated implant (OI) is an alternative for prosthetic attachment. Osseointegration addresses reported problems related to wearing a socket interface, such as skin issues, discomfort, diminished function, quality of life, prosthetic use, and abandonment. The purpose of this report is to systematically review current literature regarding OI to identify and categorize the reported clinically relevant outcome measures, rate the quality of available evidence, and synthesize the findings. A multidisciplinary team used PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methods. Search methodology was based on identifying clinically relevant articles. Three databases were searched: PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science. Clinical studies with aggregated data reporting at least 1 clinically relevant outcome measure were included. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) criterion was used for critical appraisal and recommendations. This review identified 21 clinically relevant observational studies. Outcome measures were categorized into the following 9 categories: vibratory stimulation, complications, biomechanics, economics, patient-reported outcome measures, electromyography, x-ray, physical functional performance, and energy consumption. This systematic review consisted of Level III and IV observational studies. Homogeneous outcome measures with strong psychometric properties across prospective studies do not exist to date. Higher-level, prospective, randomized, long-term, clinically relevant trials are needed to prove efficacy of OI compared with socket prosthetic attachment. Osseointegration was at least equivalent to sockets in most studies. In some cases, it was superior. Osseointegration represents a promising alternative to socket prosthetic attachments for extremity amputees. Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for

Equity in public health standards: a qualitative document analysis of policies from two Canadian provinces

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Introduction Promoting health equity is a key goal of many public health systems. However, little is known about how equity is conceptualized in such systems, particularly as standards of public health practice are established. As part of a larger study examining the renewal of public health in two Canadian provinces, Ontario and British Columbia (BC), we undertook an analysis of relevant public health documents related to equity. The aim of this paper is to discuss how equity is considered within documents that outline standards for public health. Methods A research team consisting of policymakers and academics identified key documents related to the public health renewal process in each province. The documents were analyzed using constant comparative analysis to identify key themes related to the conceptualization and integration of health equity as part of public health renewal in Ontario and BC. Documents were coded inductively with higher levels of abstraction achieved through multiple readings. Sets of questions were developed to guide the analysis throughout the process. Results In both sets of provincial documents health inequities were defined in a similar fashion, as the consequence of unfair or unjust structural conditions. Reducing health inequities was an explicit goal of the public health renewal process. In Ontario, addressing “priority populations” was used as a proxy term for health equity and the focus was on existing programs. In BC, the incorporation of an equity lens enhanced the identification of health inequities, with a particular emphasis on the social determinants of health. In both, priority was given to reducing barriers to public health services and to forming partnerships with other sectors to reduce health inequities. Limits to the accountability of public health to reduce health inequities were identified in both provinces. Conclusion This study contributes to understanding how health equity is conceptualized and incorporated

The global context for public health nutrition taxation.

PubMed

Thow, Anne Marie; Heywood, Peter; Leeder, Stephen; Burns, Lee

2011-01-01

To assess critically the scope for public health nutrition taxation within the framework of the global tax reform agenda. Review of the tax policy literature for global policy priorities relevant to public health nutrition taxation; critical analysis of proposals for public health nutrition taxation judged against the global agenda for tax reform. The global tax reform agenda shapes decisions of tax policy makers in all countries. By understanding this agenda, public health nutritionists can make feasible taxation proposals and thus improve the development, uptake and implementation of recommendations for nutrition-related taxation. The priorities of the global tax reform agenda relevant to public health nutrition taxation are streamlining of taxes, adoption of value-added tax (VAT), minimisation of excise taxes (except to correct for externalities) and removal of import taxes in line with trade liberalisation policies. Proposals consistent with the global tax reform agenda have included excise taxes, extension of VAT to currently exempted (unhealthy) foods and tariff reductions for healthy foods. Proposals for public health nutrition taxation should (i) use existing types and rates of taxes where possible, (ii) use excise taxes that specifically address externalities, (iii) avoid differential VAT on foods and (iv) use import taxes in ways that comply with trade liberalisation priorities.

A content relevance model for social media health information.

PubMed

Prybutok, Gayle Linda; Koh, Chang; Prybutok, Victor R

2014-04-01

Consumer health informatics includes the development and implementation of Internet-based systems to deliver health risk management information and health intervention applications to the public. The application of consumer health informatics to educational and interventional efforts such as smoking reduction and cessation has garnered attention from both consumers and health researchers in recent years. Scientists believe that smoking avoidance or cessation before the age of 30 years can prevent more than 90% of smoking-related cancers and that individuals who stop smoking fare as well in preventing cancer as those who never start. The goal of this study was to determine factors that were most highly correlated with content relevance for health information provided on the Internet for a study group of 18- to 30-year-old college students. Data analysis showed that the opportunity for convenient entertainment, social interaction, health information-seeking behavior, time spent surfing on the Internet, the importance of available activities on the Internet (particularly e-mail), and perceived site relevance for Internet-based sources of health information were significantly correlated with content relevance for 18- to 30-year-old college students, an educated subset of this population segment.

Quality of glucose measurement with blood glucose meters at the point-of-care: relevance of interfering factors.

PubMed

Heinemann, Lutz

2010-11-01

A good understanding of the relevance of interfering factors having an impact on blood glucose (BG) measurement is needed to obtain the required quality. This depends on the application in which meters designed for self-monitoring of BG (SMBG) are used. By means of a literature search all publications (from January 1, 1980 to August 10, 2009) were identified that report about the influence of potentially interfering substances/factors on the measurement quality of BG meters. Certain substances (e.g., maltose) can have a profound and misleading impact on the BG measurement result when the enzymatic reaction embedded on the given test strips cross-reacts. Also, a number of other drugs (e.g., acetaminophen) and factors (like temperature and altitude) affect the reliability of BG measurement massively. However, the susceptibility of the BG meter (depending on the enzyme technology of the test strips) differs significantly. In daily practice the factors that have a relevant impact on the reliability of BG measurements with modern BG meters are rarely met. Clearly this also depends on the intended use (SMBG in patient hands vs. point-of-care testing in hospitals). To avoid misleading measurement results requires adequate training of all people involved.

Using Human Interest Stories To Demonstrate Relevant Concepts in the Public Speaking Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stowell, Jessica

Students can learn the concepts of descriptive language, "group think," and how to overcome communication apprehension painlessly by using human interest stories with humerous elements. A public relations teacher uses two audio tapes and a true story about a former student in her classroom. Garrison Keillor's 12-minute story "Tomato…

Educating the future public health workforce: do schools of public health teach students about the private sector?

PubMed

Rutkow, Lainie; Traub, Arielle; Howard, Rachel; Frattaroli, Shannon

2013-01-01

Recent surveys indicate that approximately 40% of graduates from schools of public health are employed within the private sector or have an employer charged with regulating the private sector. These data suggest that schools of public health should provide curricular opportunities for their students--the future public health workforce--to learn about the relationship between the private sector and the public's health. To identify opportunities for graduate students in schools of public health to select course work that educates them about the relationship between the private sector and public health. We systematically identified and analyzed data gathered from publicly available course titles and descriptions on the Web sites of accredited schools of public health. Data were collected in the United States. The sample consisted of accredited schools of public health. Descriptions of the number and types of courses that schools of public health offer about the private sector and identification of how course descriptions frame the private sector relative to public health. We identified 104 unique courses with content about the private sector's relationship to public health. More than 75% of accredited schools of public health offered at least 1 such course. Nearly 25% of identified courses focused exclusively on the health insurance industry. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed 5 frames used to describe the private sector, including its role as a stakeholder in the policy process. Schools of public health face a curricular gap, with relatively few course offerings that teach students about the relationship between the private sector and the public's health. By developing new courses or revising existing ones, schools of public health can expose the future public health workforce to the varied ways public health professionals interact with the private sector, and potentially influence students' career paths.

The bioethicist as public intellectual.

PubMed

Parsi, Kayhan P; Geraghty, Karen E

2004-01-01

Public intellectuals have long played a role in American culture, filling the gap between the academic elite and the educated public. According to some commentators, the role of the public intellectual has undergone a steady decline for the past several decades, being replaced by the academic expert. The most notable cause of this decline has been both the growth of the academy in the twentieth century,which has served to concentrate intellectual activity within its confines, and the changing nature of the media, which has framed the way in which information is conveyed to the public. We argue that although bioethics has developed primarily within the academic tradition and utilized the role of expert when dealing with the public, bioethicists are well suited to don the mantle of the public intellectual. Indeed, because they address issues in medicine and science of great relevance for the general public, bioethicists have a duty to revitalize the tradition of public intellectuals as a necessary complement to the important, but narrower role of the expert.

A substantial number of scientific publications originate from non-university hospitals.

PubMed

Fedder, Jens; Nielsen, Gunnar Lauge; Petersen, Lars J; Rasmussen, Claus; Lauszus, Finn F; Frost, Lars; Hornung, Nete; Lederballe, Ole; Andersen, Jens Peter

2011-11-01

As we found no recent published reports on the amount and kind of research published from Danish hospitals without university affiliation, we have found it relevant to conduct a bibliometric survey disclosing these research activities. We retrieved all scientific papers published in the period 2000-2009 emanating from all seven Danish non-university hospitals in two regions, comprising 1.8 million inhabitants, and which were registered in a minimum of one of the three databases: PubMed MEDLINE, Thomson Reuters Web of Science and Elsevier's Scopus. In 878 of 1,252 papers, the first and/or last author was affiliated to a non-university hospital. Original papers made up 69% of these publications versus 86% of publications with university affiliation on first or last place. Case reports and reviews most frequently had authors from regional hospitals as first and/or last authors. The total number of publications from regional hospitals increased by 48% over the 10-year period. Publications were cited more often if the first or last author was from a university hospital and even more so if they were affiliated to foreign institutions. Cardiology, gynaecology and obstetrics, and environmental medicine were the three specialities with the largest number of regional hospital publications. A substantial number of scientific publications originate from non-university hospitals. Almost two thirds of the publications were original research published in international journals. Variations between specialities may reflect local conditions. not relevant. not relevant.

The lack of a non-communicable disease curriculum threatens the relevance of global public health education.

PubMed

Greenberg, Henry; Leeder, Stephen R; Shiau, Stephanie

2016-06-01

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, lung disease and diabetes are major public health challenges for emerging economies. However, Masters of Public Health (MPH) curricula in the USA do not provide germane coursework. To assess the availability of global NCD courses in MPH curricula, we searched the websites of the 50 schools accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health as of 1 July 2013. Our questionnaire queried availability of a global or international health department or track, availability of an NCD track, and the presence of courses on NCD, NCD risk factors, CVD or global NCDs as well as global health infrastructure. All schools had online course coursework available. Thirty-one schools (62%) offered a global/international health track or certificate; 38 (76%) offered an NCD course but only 4 (8%) offered a global NCD course. Of the schools with a global health program, none required an NCD course but all offered courses on global health economics or infrastructure. For public health schools to be aligned with global realities and to retain a leadership role, curricular initiatives that highlight the NCD epidemic and its societal complexities will need new emphasis. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Public Health Analysis Transport Optimization Model v. 1.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beyeler, Walt; Finley, Patrick; Walser, Alex

PHANTOM models logistic functions of national public health systems. The system enables public health officials to visualize and coordinate options for public health surveillance, diagnosis, response and administration in an integrated analytical environment. Users may simulate and analyze system performance applying scenarios that represent current conditions or future contingencies what-if analyses of potential systemic improvements. Public health networks are visualized as interactive maps, with graphical displays of relevant system performance metrics as calculated by the simulation modeling components.

Public Budgeting: The Compromises Among the Sound Budgeting Principles in Contingency Funding

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

sound decisions (including the full financial costs and benefits of the budget decisions, and the impacts thereof) and be made accessible to all...is also seen when all relevant data and costs projections result, in a timely manner, in a budget document that is accessible by the public . A medium...include all relevant data and costs projections, and makes information accessible to the public for review in a timely manner. The budget

Teacher as Public Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Sheila

2006-01-01

In this article "teacher as public art" is used as a metaphor to describe and explain the all-too-common perceptions and experiences of professors of color, especially women, within the academy. Highlighted throughout this discussion are: (1) the relevance of locating self within the context of people and place; and (2) the importance of bringing…

Biology of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): clinical and therapeutic relevance.

PubMed

Graux, Carlos

2011-04-01

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a heterogeneous disease comprising several clinico-biological entities. Karyotyping of leukemic cells identifies recurrent chromosome rearrangements. These are usually translocations that activate genes encoding transcription factor regulating B- or T-cell differentiation. Gene expression-array confirms the prognostic relevance of ALL subgroups identified by specific chromosomal rearrangements and isolates new subgroups. Analysis of genomic copy number changes and high throughput sequencing reveal new cryptic deletions. The challenge is now to understand how these cooperative genetic lesions interact in order to have the molecular rationales needed to select new therapeutic targets and to develop and combine inhibitors with high levels of anti-leukemic specificity. The aim of this paper is to provide some data on the biology of acute lymphoblastic leukemia which are relevant in clinical practice. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 154.29 - Informal public hearings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Administrator may conduct an informal public hearing to gather relevant information or otherwise assist Agency... the following information: (1) The time, date, and place of the hearing. (2) A brief description of...

Finding and accessing diagrams in biomedical publications.

PubMed

Kuhn, Tobias; Luong, ThaiBinh; Krauthammer, Michael

2012-01-01

Complex relationships in biomedical publications are often communicated by diagrams such as bar and line charts, which are a very effective way of summarizing and communicating multi-faceted data sets. Given the ever-increasing amount of published data, we argue that the precise retrieval of such diagrams is of great value for answering specific and otherwise hard-to-meet information needs. To this end, we demonstrate the use of advanced image processing and classification for identifying bar and line charts by the shape and relative location of the different image elements that make up the charts. With recall and precisions of close to 90% for the detection of relevant figures, we discuss the use of this technology in an existing biomedical image search engine, and outline how it enables new forms of literature queries over biomedical relationships that are represented in these charts.

Pediculosis capitis and relevant factors in secondary school students of Hamadan, west of Iran.

PubMed

Omidi, Afsar; Khodaveisi, Masoud; Moghimbeigi, Abas; Mohammadi, Nahid; Amini, Roya

2013-09-17

Pediculosis capitis is a problem in children and has worldwide distribution. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of pediculosis degree and its relevant factors in the secondary schools in Hamadan west of Iran. The study was carried out in two phases. A cross-sectional procedure was used to determine the prevalence of pediculosis, and the case study was done to identify the relevant factors to the infestation. Totally, 10841 secondary students were chosen and classified in accordance with the clustering sample. The prevalence of pediculosis was 1.05%. It was 1.27% among the urban student; whereas 0.05% among the rural students. About 2.3% belonged to female students, and 0.11% was pertained to the male students. The greatest amount of infestation prevalence was reported from the schools of urban areas particularly in the public schools of suburbia. Furthermore, the prevalence of infestation was more where some individuals had pediculosis previous history and suffered from head inching. It turned out to be a significant relationship between pediculosis, head itching (P<0.001) and previous history of pediculosis (P<0.001). The prevalence of pediculosis in Hamadan is low, but is more in the areas which are deprived of the access to health facilities. Therefore, there is a need for educational campaigns about danger of infection and regular mass screening at school.

The War on Public Education: Agonist Democracy and the Fight for Schools as Public Things

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knight, Kathleen Abowitz

2018-01-01

Agonistic critiques of democratic theory conceptualize democracy as a site of conflict and struggle; as the fight against privatization escalates, these critiques become more relevant for educational governance. Public education governance has, in addition, increasingly been the site of conflicts between federal, state and local levels, as…

Identifying public water facilities with low spatial variability of disinfection by-products for epidemiological investigations

PubMed Central

Hinckley, A; Bachand, A; Nuckols, J; Reif, J

2005-01-01

Background and Aims: Epidemiological studies of disinfection by-products (DBPs) and reproductive outcomes have been hampered by misclassification of exposure. In most epidemiological studies conducted to date, all persons living within the boundaries of a water distribution system have been assigned a common exposure value based on facility-wide averages of trihalomethane (THM) concentrations. Since THMs do not develop uniformly throughout a distribution system, assignment of facility-wide averages may be inappropriate. One approach to mitigate this potential for misclassification is to select communities for epidemiological investigations that are served by distribution systems with consistently low spatial variability of THMs. Methods and Results: A feasibility study was conducted to develop methods for community selection using the Information Collection Rule (ICR) database, assembled by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The ICR database contains quarterly DBP concentrations collected between 1997 and 1998 from the distribution systems of 198 public water facilities with minimum service populations of 100 000 persons. Facilities with low spatial variation of THMs were identified using two methods; 33 facilities were found with low spatial variability based on one or both methods. Because brominated THMs may be important predictors of risk for adverse reproductive outcomes, sites were categorised into three exposure profiles according to proportion of brominated THM species and average TTHM concentration. The correlation between THMs and haloacetic acids (HAAs) in these facilities was evaluated to see whether selection by total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) corresponds to low spatial variability for HAAs. TTHMs were only moderately correlated with HAAs (r = 0.623). Conclusions: Results provide a simple method for a priori selection of sites with low spatial variability from state or national public water facility datasets as a means to reduce exposure

The nursing profession: public image, self-concept and professional identity. A discussion paper.

PubMed

ten Hoeve, Yvonne; Jansen, Gerard; Roodbol, Petrie

2014-02-01

To discuss the actual public image of nurses and other factors that influence the development of nurses' self-concept and professional identity. Nurses have become healthcare professionals in their own right who possess a great deal of knowledge. However, the public does not always value the skills and competences nurses have acquired through education and innovation. Discussion paper. We identified 1216 relevant studies by searching MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases in the period 1997-2010. Finally, 18 studies met our inclusion criteria. The included studies show that the actual public image of nursing is diverse and incongruous. This image is partly self-created by nurses due to their invisibility and their lack of public discourse. Nurses derive their self-concept and professional identity from their public image, work environment, work values, education and traditional social and cultural values. Nurses should work harder to communicate their professionalism to the public. Social media like the Internet and YouTube can be used to show the public what they really do. To improve their public image and to obtain a stronger position in healthcare organizations, nurses need to increase their visibility. This could be realized by ongoing education and a challenging work environment that encourages nurses to stand up for themselves. Furthermore, nurses should make better use of strategic positions, such as case manager, nurse educator or clinical nurse specialist and use their professionalism to show the public what their work really entails. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Identifying Effective Strategies for Climate Change Education: The Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) Partnership Audiences and Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, J. G.; Feldman, A.; Muller-Karger, F. E.; Gilbes, F.; Stone, D.; Plank, L.; Reynolds, C. J.

2011-12-01

Many past educational initiatives focused on global climate change have foundered on public skepticism and disbelief. Some key reasons for these past failures can be drawn directly from recognized best practices in STEM education - specifically, the necessity to help learners connect new knowledge with their own experiences and perspectives, and the need to create linkages with issues or concerns that are both important for and relevant to the audiences to be educated. The Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) partnership has sought to follow these tenets as guiding principles in identifying critical audiences and developing new strategies for educating the public living in the low-lying coastal areas of Florida and the Caribbean on the realities, risks, and adaptation and mitigation strategies for dealing with the regional impacts of global climate change. CACCE is currently focused on three key learner audiences: a) The formal education spectrum, targeting K-12 curricula through middle school marine science courses, and student and educator audiences through coursework and participatory research strategies engaging participants in a range of climate-related investigations. b) Informal science educators and outlets, in particular aquaria and nature centers, as an avenue toward K-12 teacher professional development as well as for public education. c) Regional planning, regulatory and business professionals focused on the built environment along the coasts, many of whom require continuing education to maintain licensing and/or other professional certifications. Our current activities are focused on bringing together an effective set of educational, public- and private-sector partners to target the varied needs of these audiences in Florida and the U.S. Caribbean, and tailoring an educational plan aimed at these stakeholder audiences that starts with the regionally and topically relevant impacts of climate change, and strategies for effective adaptation and

Science, Scientists, and Public Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schooler, Dean, Jr.

The politically relevant behavior of scientists in the formulation of public policy by the United States government from 1945-68 is studied. The following types of policy issues are treated: science, space, weather, weapons, deterrence and defense, health, fiscal and monetary, pollution, conservation, antitrust, transportation safety, trade and…