Environmental Public Health Commons^™

Dietary Carbohydrates And Breast Cancer Risk: A Prospective Study Of The Roles Of Overall Glycemic Index And Glycemic Load, Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Meera Jain, Geoffrey R. Howe, Anthony B. Miller, Thomas E. Rohan

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

We examined breast cancer risk in association with overall glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and dietary carbohydrate and sugar intake in a prospective cohort of 49,613 Canadian women enrolled in the National Breast Screening Study who completed a self‐administered food frequency questionnaire between 1980 and 1985. Linkages to national mortality and cancer databases yielded data on deaths and cancer incidence, with follow‐up ending between 1998 and 2000. During a mean follow‐up of 16.6 years, we observed 1,461 incident breast cancer cases. GI, GL, total carbohydrate and total sugar intake were not associated with breast cancer risk in the total …

Dietary Carbohydrates And Breast Cancer Risk: A Prospective Study Of The Roles Of Overall Glycemic Index And Glycemic Load, Stephanie A. Navarro Silvera, Meera Jain, Geoffrey R. Howe, Anthony B. Miller, Thomas E. Rohan

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

We examined breast cancer risk in association with an overall glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and dietary carbohydrate and sugar intake in a prospective cohort of 49,613 Canadian women enrolled in the National Breast Screening Study who completed a self-administered food frequency questionnaire between 1980 and 1985. Linkages to national mortality and cancer databases yielded data on deaths and cancer incidence, with follow-up ending between 1998 and 2000. During a mean follow-up of 16.6 years, we observed 1,461 incident breast cancer cases. GI, GL, total carbohydrate, and total sugar intake were not associated with breast cancer risk in the …

Assessing Intervention Effects In A School-Based Nutrition Intervention Trial: Which Analytic Model Is Most Powerful?, Jessica B. Janega, David M. Murray, Sherri P. Varnell, Jonathan L. Blitstein, Amanda Birnbaum, Leslie A. Lytle

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This article compares four mixed-model analyses valid for group-randomized trials (GRTs) involving a nested cohort design with a single pretest and posttest. This study makes estimates of intraclass correlations (ICCs) available to investigators planning GRTs addressing dietary outcomes. It also provides formulae demonstrating the potential benefits to the standard error of the intervention effect (σΔ) from adjustments for both fixed and time-varying covariates and correlations over time. These estimates will allow other researchers to use these variables to plan their studies by estimating a priori detectable differences and sample size requirements for any of the four analytic options. These methods …

Evaluation Of The Biological Sampling Kit (Biskit) For Large-Area Surface Sampling, Mark P. Buttner, Patrica Cruz, Linda Stetzenbach, Amy Klima-Comba

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Current surface sampling methods for microbial contaminants are designed to sample small areas and utilize culture analysis. The total number of microbes recovered is low because a small area is sampled, making detection of a potential pathogen more difficult. Furthermore, sampling of small areas requires a greater number of samples to be collected, which delays the reporting of results, taxes laboratory resources and staffing, and increases analysis costs. A new biological surface sampling method, the Biological Sampling Kit (BiSKit), designed to sample large areas and to be compatible with testing with a variety of technologies, including PCR and immunoassay, was …

A Schematic For Focusing On Youth In Investigations Of Community Design And Physical Activity, Kevin J. Krizek, Amanda Birnbaum, David M. Levinson

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper provides a first step in addressing special considerations for youth in a relatively new area of physical activity research. After reviewing the urgent need for novel approaches to increasing physical activity, the growing interest in the effects of community design are discussed. Although most discussion on this topic has focused on adults, there are important differences between youth and adults that warrant a special focus on youth and need to be accounted for. This article presents a schematic that accounts for how and where youth spend their time, decomposing the day into time spent in travel and time …

Determination Of The Efficacy Of Two Building Decontamination Strategies By Surface Sampling With Culture And Quantitative Pcr Analysis, Mark P. Buttner, Patrica Cruz, Linda Stetzenbach, Amy Klima-Comba

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

The efficacy of currently available decontamination strategies for the treatment of indoor furnishings contaminated with bioterrorism agents is poorly understood. Efficacy testing of decontamination products in a controlled environment is needed to ensure that effective methods are used to decontaminate domestic and workplace settings. An experimental room supplied with materials used in office furnishings (i.e., wood laminate, painted metal, and vinyl tile) was used with controlled dry aerosol releases of endospores of Bacillus atrophaeus (“Bacillus subtilis subsp. niger,” also referred to as BG), a Bacillus anthracis surrogate. Studies were performed using two test products, a foam decontaminant and chlorine dioxide …

Sex Differences In Copd And Lung Cancer Mortality Trends—United States, 1968–1999, Neely Kazerouni, C. J. Alverson, Stephen C. Redd, Joshua A. Mott, David M. Mannino

David M. Mannino

Purpose: Cigarette smoking by U.S. women in the 1940s and 1950s caused large increases in smoking-related lung disease among women. To determine the magnitude of these increases, we compared the mortality trends for males and females in the United States for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer for 1968-1999.

Methods: We used the national mortality data files compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics of the CDC and U.S. census data to calculate age-adjusted (2000) death rates for COPD, lung cancer, and all causes.

Results: COPD death rate for females increased by 382% from 1968 through 1999, …

Risk Factors For Asthma Incidence: A Review Of Recent Prospective Evidence, M. S. King, David M. Mannino, F. Holguin

David M. Mannino

AIM:

The aim of this study is to determine what factors have been shown, in prospective studies, to predict the incidence of asthma.

METHODS:

We performed a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature from 1994 to 2004 to determine what factors predict the development of asthma in both children and adults. This search strategy yielded 40 studies, with 36 providing some estimate of asthma incidence for the total sample and or a specific subgroup.

RESULTS:

Annual estimated incidence of physician-diagnosed asthma ranged from 0.6 to 29.5 per 1000 persons. Risk factors for incident asthma among children included: male sex, atopic sensitization, …

School-Based Approaches To Affect Adolescents’ Diets: Results From The Teens Study, Leslie A. Lytle, David M. Murray, Cheryl L. Perry, Mary Story, Amanda Birnbaum, Martha Y. Kubik, Sherri Varnell

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This article reports on the outcomes of the Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School (TEENS) study, a 2-year intervention study conducted in 16 middle schools with a goal of increasing students’ intakes of fruits, vegetables, and lower-fat foods. Despite positive interim results for students randomized to intervention schools, the positive effects of the intervention were not seen for the primary outcomes at the end of the 2nd year. Positive effects were seen only for a food choice score (suggesting that the students usually choose lower versus higher fat foods) and not for measures of food intake. Future studies …

The Presence Of P22 Bacteriophage In Electrocautery Aerosols, Dale Stephenson, David Allcott, Michael Koch

Dale J. Stephenson

Electrosurgery units, including lasers and electrosurgical cauterizers, are commonly used for both inpatient and outpatient procedures. The generation of an aerosol plume, associated with the use of these devices, is a result of many factors including: 1) direct aspiration of blood and body fluids, 2) direct heating and vaporization of cellular fluid causing cells to explode, and 3) the carbonization of cells and cell fragments at high temperatures. Although initial studies have concluded that these plumes create only a malodorous nuisance, subsequent research suggests the presence of potential chemical and pathological hazards, including bacteria and virus. Most scientific research has …

Musculoskeletal Injuries Associated With Selected University Staff And Faculty In An Office Environment, R. Steven Konkel, Thomas F. Fisher, Carolyn Harvey

Environmental Health Science Faculty and Staff Research

A research team with backgrounds in occupational therapy, rehabilitation, policy and rulemaking, and prevention programs affecting occupational health and safety designed, validated, and analyzed an ergonomics survey of university staff and faculty. The purpose of the study was to validate identified risk factors from the literature contributing to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMDs) in an office setting within a university setting. The study was also designed to determine differences between faculty and staff in the university setting and their exposure to physical risk factors to WRMDs. The results suggest faculty have their keyboard in awkward positions more frequently than staff, and …

Do Recent Data From The Seychelles Islands Alter The Conclusions Of The Nrc Report On The Toxicological Effects Of Methylmercury?, Alan H. Stern, Joseph L. Jacobson, Louise Ryan, Thomas A. Burke

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

In 2000, the National Research Council (NRC), an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, released a report entitled, "Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury." The overall conclusion of that report was that, at levels of exposure in some fish- and marine mammal-consuming communities (including those in the Faroe Islands and New Zealand), subtle but significant adverse effects on neuropsychological development were occurring as a result of in utero exposure. Since the release of that report, there has been continuing discussion of the public health relevance of current levels of exposure to Methylmercury. Much of this discussion has been linked to …

Copd In The Never-Smoker, David M. Mannino, Kathryn Marie Mcgonigle

David M. Mannino

Objectives 1. Identify never-smokers as an important subset of the COPD population. 2. Discuss the relationship between asthma and COPD. 3. Understand the genetic components of COPD. 4. Identify occupational risk factors for COPD. 5. Discuss prevention methods for COPD in the never-smoker.

Fear Assessment: Cost-Benefit Analysis And The Pricing Of Fear And Anxiety, Matthew D. Adler

All Faculty Scholarship

Risk assessment is now a common feature of regulatory practice, but fear assessment is not. In particular, environmental, health and safety agencies such as EPA, FDA, OSHA, NHTSA, and CPSC, commonly count death, illness and injury as costs for purposes of cost-benefit analysis, but almost never incorporate fear, anxiety or other welfare-reducing mental states into the analysis. This is puzzling, since fear and anxiety are welfare setbacks, and since the very hazards regulated by these agencies - air or water pollutants, toxic waste dumps, food additives and contaminants, workplace toxins and safety threats, automobiles, dangerous consumer products, radiation, and so …

Musculoskeletal Injuries Associated With Selected University Staff And Faculty In An Office Environment, R. Konkel, Thomas Fisher, Carolyn Harvey

Steve Konkel

A research team with backgrounds in occupational therapy, rehabilitation, policy and rulemaking, and prevention programs affecting occupational health and safety designed, validated, and analyzed an ergonomics survey of university staff and faculty. The purpose of the study was to validate identified risk factors from the literature contributing to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMDs) in an office setting within a university setting. The study was also designed to determine differences between faculty and staff in the university setting and their exposure to physical risk factors to WRMDs. The results suggest faculty have their keyboard in awkward positions more frequently than staff, and …