Building materials can expose public and workers to radiation because of their content of radium, thorium and potassium isotopes. This is why it is very important from the radiological point of view to survey the natural radioactivity content of commonly used building materials in any country. This work consists of ...

A systematic review of qualitative peer-reviewed publications was conducted to identify drivers of and barriers to help-seeking behaviour in adults with new-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA). 1058 abstracts were searched to identify relevant publications. 21 relevant publications were identified assessed for quality and subjected to analysis informed by thematic and grounded ...

PURPOSE: To examine prescribing of biologic and nonbiologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (nbDMARDs) in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) before and after publication of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) treatment recommendations. METHODS: We identified biologic naïve RA patients cared for by US rheumatologists participating in the CORRONA registry with visits prior to ...

Human biomonitoring (analysis of biological fluids) is increasingly being used for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants. Smoking tobacco is a significant source of indoor air pollution and is harmful to human health. The aim of this research was to find both the best non-invasive matrices (from among saliva, urine, semen ...

Risk assessment determines pathways, and exposures that lead to poor health. For exposures that fall disproportionately on urban low-income communities, minorities, and Native Americans, these pathways are often more common than in the general population. Although risk assessors often evaluate these pathways on an ad hoc basis, a more formal ...

The impact of environmental noise on public health, in The Netherlands, is limited: Less than 1% of the myocardial infarction cases per year are attributable to long-term exposure to road traffic noise. Furthermore, although the Dutch noise policy is not directed to prevent cardiovascular disease due to noise exposure, health ...

The Danish Poison Information Centre (DPIC) provides information to the public and health care professionals on acute poisonings. The DPIC received 41,000 enquiries during the first three years of its existence as an open 24h telephone service. The aim of this data register study was to classify all substance exposures, ...

ROBERTSON K. & BROWN P. (2011) European Journal of Cancer Care20, 315-321 Mild soaps and radiotherapy: a survey of the UK public to identify brands of soap considered mild and analysis of these to ascertain suitability for recommendation in radiotherapy departments Cancer agencies recommend that patients use mild soap when ...

Processing of crude oil has been carried out in Ghana for more than four decades without measures to assess the hazards associated with the naturally occurring radionuclides in the raw and processed materials. This study investigates the exposure of the public to (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K in crude oil, petroleum ...

Objective: To assess the recall of media reports about vitamin D and associated factors. Methods: Analysis of cross-sectional telephone interview data (2,001 Queensland adults, 18-70 years) on vitamin D and personal sun protection, recall of media reports and participant characteristics. Results: 83.7% of participants had heard of vitamin D, 47.5% ...

Dermal absorption of some chemicals and drugs can cause systemic toxicity. We evaluated several case reports from the past decade, which discuss the dermal absorption of a specific chemical and potential local and systemic effects. We focused on herbicide and pesticide exposure along with exposure to cutaneous medication, occupational contact, ...

Since the publication of the US Surgeon General Reports in 1996 and 2006 and the report of the California Environmental Protection Agency in 1999, many reports have appeared on the contribution of air and biomarkers to different facets of the secondhand smoke (SHS) issue, which are the targets of this ...

Second-hand smoke (SHS) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality on a global scale. Governments have increasingly sought to mitigate the effects of SHS by introducing legislation that restricts tobacco consumption in public places. There is emerging evidence that such legislation leads to direct and indirect health benefits. Exposure ...

The Institute of Medicine's report on calcium and vitamin D makes a positive contribution by grounding its recommendations on the available evidence base. The committee does not substantially change recommended dietary intakes for calcium and modestly increases those for vitamin D based on the need for a median serum 25-hydroxyvitamin ...

In July 2001, the EU Nickel Directive came into full force to protect European citizens against nickel allergy and dermatitis. Prior to this intervention, Northern European governments had already begun to regulate consumer nickel exposure. According to part 2 of the EU Nickel Directive and the Danish nickel regulation, consumer ...

With the prevalence of sunlight exposure in Orange County, California, one would expect it to be rare and unusual to find high incidence of Vitamin D deficiencies among its residents. This study evaluated the concentration of Vitamin D3 as part of a larger study to evaluate bone health in Orange ...

During the last eight years, 'VINČA' Institute-Radiation and Environmental Protection Laboratory has performed environmental 'spot' broadband measurements of extremely low frequency (ELF-50 Hz) electric and magnetic fields and RF (100 kHz-3 GHz) electromagnetic fields in over 35 municipalities in Serbia. These investigations were motivated by the local population requesting information ...

This study evaluated the effect of Taiwan's smoke-free ordinance and media campaigns on public awareness and secondhand smoke exposure. The authors conducted 3 waves of research-in July 2008 (before media campaigns), in December 2008 (during media campaigns), and in March 2009 (3 months after implementation of the smoke-free law). National ...

The unprecedented toxic release in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001 created one of the worst environmental disasters in US history, followed by a contentious and ongoing battle over the existence, etiology, and legitimation of World Trade Center-related illness. In this paper, I explore the enactment of epistemic authority by ...

Implementation of smoke free policies has potentially substantial effects on health by reducing secondhand smoke exposure. However little is known about whether the introduction of anti-smoking legislation translates into decreased secondhand smoke exposure. We examined whether smoking bans impact rates of secondhand smoke exposure in public places and rates of ...

The essential purpose of public health surveillance is to monitor important health outcomes and risk factors and provide actionable information to practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and the public to prevent or ameliorate exposure, disease, and death. Although separate 1970s-era acts of Congress made possible the creation of modern occupational health ...

We review human studies on the relation between acute exposures to prenatal famine and adult physical and mental health. These studies are observational and include exposures to a famine environment by natural or man-made causes or, more commonly, from the interplay between natural and human factors. These natural experiments provide ...

This is the 27th Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' (AAPCC) National Poison Data System (NPDS). As of 1 July 2009, 60 of the nation's 60 US poison centers (PCs) uploaded case data automatically. The upload time was 19.9 [9.7, 58.7] (median [25%, 75%]) minutes, creating ...

To determine the level of awareness of the hazards of tobacco smoking and secondhand smoke inhalation among adults in China. Household surveys were conducted with a total of 13 354 respondents aged 15 years or over from 100 counties of 28 Chinese provinces using a stratified multi-stage geographically clustered sample ...

After more than fifteen years of application, ICRP Publication 60 has been revised. The revision was based upon the concept of 'controllable dose' as the dose or sum of doses to an individual from a particular source that can reasonably be controlled by whatever means. The new recommendations have been ...

The Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, both enacted in 2008, were intended to protect children from exposure to lead by setting federal limits on lead content. Neither of these federal actions, however, addresses a newly recognized pathway of exposure to lead from ...

TENORM are found in a wide variety of waste materials, some raw mineral ores and in some consumer products (in trace amounts) where molecules of radionuclides may be bound to specific minerals used in the manufacturing process and can result in increases in radiation exposures to workers and the public. ...

Background Because a strong association was observed between pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and the use of public transport, increasing with duration of journey, a study was carried out to assess infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and working conditions among workers in this sector. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and ...

In November, 2009, a scientific panel met in Seletun, Norway, for three days of intensive discussion on existing scientific evidence and public health implications of the unprecedented global exposures to artificial electromagnetic fields (EMF). EMF exposures (static to 300 GHz) result from the use of electric power and from wireless ...

This study estimated whether 1990-1997 changes in expenditures per capita of local health departments (LHDs) and percentage share of local public revenue allocated to LHDs were associated inversely with 1990-1997 changes in mortality rates for Black and White racial/ethnic groups in the US. Population was 883 local jurisdictions with 1990 ...

Characterizing the epidemiology of head and neck cancers is challenging and has received limited attention in the medical literature. Traditionally, 80%-90% of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) have been attributed to tobacco and alcohol use, but with growing public awareness and tobacco control efforts over the past few ...

The summer of 2008 in Nassau County, New York, was marked by a historic season of human West Nile virus illness and West Nile virus activity in mosquitoes. The commissioner of Health of the State of New York declared a public health threat, and a decision was made to use ...

Ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine [MDMA]) is an illegal synthetic amphetamine used as a stimulant and hallucinogen. On January 4, 2010, the Los Angeles County (LAC) Department of Public Health (DPH) learned of six MDMA-related emergency department (ED) visits and one death, all linked to a New Year's Eve event attended by approximately ...

A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to dismiss a class action suit by individuals who had been notified of possible exposure to tuberculosis and who later required testing has important implications for the public health practice of mounting public notification campaigns to encourage testing to reduce ...

Healthcare providers need to understand traditional and nontraditional financing options and other potential strategies for accessing capital. Common financing options include bonds, commercial lending, acquisition financing, and financing through the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 232 program. Alternative strategies for accessing capital include joint ventures, equity, sale of ...

The purpose of this research was to assess California public health departments capacity, practices, and resources for changing nutrition and physical activity environments for obesity prevention. The researchers surveyed key public health department personnel representing all 61 health departments in California using a Web-based survey tool. The response rate for ...

The contribution of radiology to brain tumor research is unknown. We sought to determine how the proportion of neuro-oncologic publications generated by radiology departments has changed and if there is an association with NIH funding levels. Therefore we searched The National Library of Medicine's PubMed database for all articles published ...

The increase in ragweed mediated health problems has led to the development of defense strategies in the countries with the most serious ragweed pollution, namely Hungary, Italy and France. The aim of this paper is to define the frequency of allergic disturbances brought by ragweed pollen in the period between ...

OBJECTIVES: During an influenza pandemic, public health employees will play a significant role in implementing community response and control protocols. We aimed to determine how informed health department employees are about pandemic response and how willing they are to report to work during a pandemic. METHODS: We conducted an anonymous, ...

Pandemic influenza remains a potential major threat to global public health. It is essential for emergency departments to be involved in planning for the management of such a major event. It is also important for emergency departments to be clear on their internal arrangements for staff and for patient care. ...

INTRODUCTION: To improve the public health system's ability to prevent and control chronic diseases, we must first understand current practice and develop appropriate strategies for measuring performance. The objectives of this study were to measure capacity and performance of local health departments in diabetes prevention and control and to investigate ...

On September 29, 2008, the Ravalli County Public Health Department (RCPHD) notified the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (MDPHHS) of a large-scale human exposure to a dead bat at an elementary school. On October 1, the bat was confirmed to be rabid, and on October 4, MDPHHS ...

This qualitative study reviews and analyzes quality improvement (QI) techniques in police departments as a background for assessing ways to introduce QI into public health departments. Police departments and public health departments have many elements in common. These findings provide some understanding of how public health departments can incorporate QI ...

Exposure to mercury from environmental sources, such as fish consumption, poses potential health risks to the public. The state of Vermont has developed educational brochures and posters displaying safe fish consumption guidelines in order to educate the public regarding mercury exposure through fish. In this study, a group of medical ...

Part 1 of this 2-article series reviews serious moral problems created by emergency department (ED) crowding. In this second part of the series, we identify and describe operational and financial barriers to resolving the crisis of ED crowding, along with a variety of institutional and public policy strategies proposed or ...

Under the current US Department of Health and Human Services regulatory and ethical system for research involving human subjects, research is defined in terms of several key concepts: intent, systematic investigation, and generalizability. If an investigator engages in a systematic investigation designed or intended to contribute to generalizable knowledge, then ...

This report was prepared by the Indiana University Center for Bioethics under contract with the Indiana State Department of Health as a part of the project “Translating Ethics Advice into Practice: Public and Professional Outreach about Pandemic Influenza Planning in Indiana.” The views expressed in this document are those of ...

OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors affecting the demand for local public health services and to compare the spending patterns of independent and unified public health departments. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Cross-sectional data for 2004 from various public health departments in Connecticut. STUDY DESIGN: Uses probit analysis to examine the factors affecting ...

All-state fiscal year 2005 public health-related spending in the state of Oklahoma was investigated including funds from federal, state, and local sources expended through the state health department and the two autonomous metropolitan health departments. METHODOLOGY: The cost finding and allocation methodology used a series of structured resource worksheets developed ...

California Department of Health Services and California Distance Learning Health Network collaborated with the California Conference of Local Health Officers to produce the Pandemic Influenza and Public Health Law: What Public Health Departments Need to Know satellite broadcast and tabletop exercise training. Local health officers, county counsels, school superintendents, hospital ...