Public Health Commons^™

Prevention Of Occupational Exposure Of Tuberculosis To Health Care Workers, Thomas C. Carle

Theses

The resurgence of tuberculosis in the United States within the past decade has prompted the health care community to develop tuberculosis elimination policies. However, recent outbreaks of tuberculosis have proved to be resistant to multiple antibiotics. Tuberculosis infections among health care workers is also rising. This increase in occupational exposures has prompted the examination of current exposure control measures.

The occupational exposure to tuberculosis is prevented by the use of administrative policies, engineering controls and personal protective equipment. Each control measure has inherent strengths and weaknesses and when implemented through an exposure control plan the risk of occupational exposure can …

Managing Occupational Hazards Confronting Healthcare Workers, Kiran A. Mody

Theses

The primary goal of this thesis is to identify, evaluate, and control occupational hazards that may exist in health care facilities.

Due to the complex nature of health care facilities, healthcare workers are always challenged by an imposing group of occupational hazards. The magnitude and diversity of these hazards, and the constantly changing nature of government regulations make it difficult to guarantee absolute protection and accuracy of the material contained herein. However, awareness of the risks, compliance with basic preventive measures, and adequate interventions are all essential components to consider in protecting healthcare workers.

Therefore, potential health effects of various …

Federal Support For Medical Education: Framing The Issues For The Systems Reform Debate, Karen Matherlee

National Health Policy Forum

Designed primarily for federal legislative and regulatory health staff involved in systems reform efforts, the session provided a primer on current medical education policies (with emphasis on federal strategies) and a prospectus on policies to change them.

Patients As Subjects For Research: Ethical Dilemmas For The Primary Care Clinician-Investigator, Susan F. Slatkoff, Peter Curtis, Ann L. Coker

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Background: Past studies suggested an association between human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). In 1987, University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals Family Practice Center clinicians were approached for a control population to study this association. Methods: One hundred fives patients attending the UNC Hospitals Neoplasia Clinic with biopsy-proven CIN 2 or 3 and 268 control patients attending the UNC Family Practice Center for a routine Papanicolaou smear were enrolled in this case-control study. Case and control patients consented to having an additional cervical specimen taken and to being interviewed. The cervical specimens were classified by the Southern blot …

Humic And Fulvic Acids: Sink Or Source In The Availability Of Metals To The Marine Bivalves Macoma Balthica And Potamocorbula Amurensis?, Alan W. Decho, Samuel N. Luoma

Faculty Publications

Humic acids (HA) and fulvic acids (FA) are common forms of organic matter in marine sediments, and are routinely ingested by deposit- and suspension-feeding animals. These compounds may be a sink for metals, implying that once metals are bound to humic substances they are no longer available to food webs. A series of experiments was conducted to quantitatively examine this premise using 2 estuarine bivalves from San Francisco Bay, USA: the suspension feeder Potarnocorbula arnurensis and the facultative deposit feeder Macoma balthica. HA and FA, isolated from marine sediments, were bound as organic coatings to either hydrous ferric oxides …

An Assessment Of Four-Hour Sample Durations Used To Determine Full-Shift Noise Exposures In A Foundry, Vince Marlo Fleming

Community & Environmental Health Theses & Dissertations

Full-shift sampling, usually eight hours, is traditionally performed to assess daily occupational noise exposure. This sampling approach is inefficient, and costly for repeated, long-term exposure evaluations. This study assessed the use of four-hour sample durations and subsequent data analysis to determine daily occupational noise exposures in a foundry. The four-hour sample durations were extracted from full-shift samples and analyzed on their ability to provide valid data for estimating mean daily noise exposure levels without significantly affecting sampling precision or accuracy. Results of this study indicate four-hour sample durations can be used successfully to estimate full-shift noise exposures provided certain criteria …

The Identification And Magnitude Estimation Of Occupational Stressors In The Industrial Hygiene Profession, Judith Hinch

Community & Environmental Health Theses & Dissertations

The industrial hygiene professional is responsible for the evaluation and control of hazards in the workplace. Job stress has been identified as a factor affecting the health, safety and productivity of workers and can be considered a workplace hazard.

This study involved the development of an instrument to identify and quantify sources of stress within a give profession. The industrial hygiene profession was chosen, though the method can be, and has been, used to evaluate stress in other groups of individuals. The method involved the identification of the most significant sources of stress by surveying a small number of the …

Use Of In Vivo Complementation In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis To Identify A Genomic Fragment Associated With Virulence, Lisa Pascopella, Frank M. Collins, Jean M. Martin, Mong Hong Lee, Graham F. Hatfull, C. Kendall Stover, Barry R. Bloom, William R. Jacobs Jr.

Public and Community Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Novel molecular tools and genetic methods were developed to isolate genomic fragments of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that may be associated with virulence. We sought to restore virulence, a characteristic of M. tuberculosis that is correlated with growth rate in mouse spleen and lung tissue, to the avirulent strain H37Ra by complementation. A representative library of the virulent M. tuberculosis strain H37Rv was constructed and transformed into H37Ra. Enrichment for individual faster-growing recombinants was achieved by passage of pools of H37Ra transformants harboring the H37Rv library through mice. A molecular strategy was devised to isolate and clone the H37Rv genomic DNA fragment …

Ua66/14/4 Kentucky Partnership Newsletter, Vol. Ii, No. 2, Kentucky Partnership For Farm Family Health & Safety

University Organizations

Newsletter created by and about the Kentucky Partnership for Farm Family Health & Safety.

Menopausal Hormone Replacement: Not Necessarily Routine, Mary Guinan

School of Public Health Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Ua12/4 Commuter Link, Vol. 2, No. 2, Wku Health Services

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created for non-traditional students returning to WKU.

The Effects Of Organizational Culture On Quality Of Life For Older Veterans, Michelle Diane Stone

Dissertations

The organizational culture in a Veteran's Administration Medical Center (VAMC) was described using triangulated methods which included both secondary quantitative survey data, and internal documentary data sources. The initial survey data collected, from staff and elder veterans revealed an overall positive perception from both samples regarding the quality of life for elder veterans living on extended care wards. The study investigated the extent to which the VAMC's organizational culture affected these perceptions of quality of life.

Documentary data were collected from a variety of VAMC sources regarding behaviors, ideologies, leadership trends, mechanisms of control, and the formal organizational structure. A …

The Effect Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Education Program On Knowledge, Attitudes And Sexual Behavior Of Selected College Students, Arlene Jaine Jackson Montgomery

Health Services Research Dissertations

The problem studied in this investigation was whether a behaviorally focused Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Program affects the knowledge, sexual attitudes and sexual behavior of college students.

Three hundred and six first-and third-year college students were included in the study from one university located in Southeastern Virginia. The sample was predominately female, African-American and mainly between the ages of 16-22 years of age.

Freshmen students were presently enrolled in the institution's HIV/AIDS education program, which was a part of a required course. The class sessions consisted of a pretest prior to student's completing the reading assignment …

Ua66/14/4 Kentucky Partnership Newsletter, Vol. Ii, No. 1, Kentucky Partnership For Farm Family Health & Safety

University Organizations

Newsletter created by and about the Kentucky Partnership for Farm Family Health & Safety.

Intelad : Intelligent Computer Workstation Adjustment Software, David W. Venezia

Theses

Muscular-skeletal disorders are a significant safety concern for professional computer users. Regard for human health, regulatory emphasis, and the inherent cost of the disorders give rise to this point. In an attempt to reduce the risk of injury to computer operators from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, this body of work provides an easy to use tool capable of determining the near optimal workstation orientation for any operator/workstation combination. Using a unique algorithm and compiled anthropometric data, computer software has been specially developed to map individual workstations in the Cartesian coordinate system. This mapping yields a recommended orientation that is compared to …

Quantitative Economic Evaluations Of Hiv-Related Prevention And Treatment Services: A Review, David R. Holtgrave, Ronald O. Valdiserri, Gary A. West

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Dr. Holtgrave and colleagues at the CDC set forth an extensive taxonomy of HIV prevention and treatment services and review reports of efforts to subject some of those services to formal economic evaluation. They find few services thus far to have been so evaluated, no evaluation to have focused solely upon behavioral outcomes and most economic evaluations to lack formal quantitative analyses.

A Case Study Of Health Risk Communication: What The Public Wants And What It Gets, Jeannette M. Trauth

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Dr. Trauth presents a content analysis of 40 years of coverage of a major local source of air pollution by a Pittsburgh newspaper. She also summarizes the results of a survey conducted to determine the extent to which citizens of most likely affected communities, e.g., understand health risks and desire further information.

A Financial Analysis Of A Southern California Coalition Of Visiting Nurse Associations, Diane Sutton Burns

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Certified Nursing Assistants' Satisfaction With Education And Training Programs In Long-Term Care Facilities: A Massachusetts Study, Sheila Kenny Morin

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Test Of Cognitive Bias In Medical Decision Making, Paul J. Hershberger, Howard M. Part, Ronald J. Markert, Steven M. Cohen, William W. Finger

Family Medicine Faculty Publications

Purpose. To develop an inventory to measure the influence of cognitive biases on medical decisions. Method. The Inventory of Cognitive Biases in Medicine (ICBM) consists of 22 medical scenarios in which respondents choose between alternatives that represent bias-prone or statistically based decisions. In 1992 and 1993 the ICBM was administered to 102 medical students and residents and 318 physician faculty at the Wright State University School of Medicine. Results. The statistically correct decision was made in fewer than half the ICBM scenarios for both groups (students and residents, 41%; faculty, 49%); and only the faculty scored better than chance. Acceptable …

Introduction (Environmental Threats In Egypt: Perceptions And Actions), Salwa Sharawi Gomaa

Faculty Book Chapters

[abstract not provided]

Pollution And People In Cairo, Nicholas S. Hopkins, Sohair Mehanna, Tamer Abdelkader, Noha Abu Gazia, Samer El-Karanshawy, Inas Tewfik

Faculty Book Chapters

[abstract not provided]

Molecular Subtyping Of Salmonella Enteritidis Phage Type 8 Strains From The United States, Miguel A. Usera, Tanja Popovic, Cheryl A. Bopp, Nancy A. Strockbine

United States Public Health Resources

Salmonella enteridis is now the most common serotype of the genus Salmonella reported in the United States. Bacteriophage typing has been helpful for subdividing S. enteritidis strains from different sources in the United States. Most S. enteritidis outbreaks reported were egg related, and the majority of them were caused by strains of phage type 8. To determine whether restriction fragment length polymorphism of the rRNA genes (ribotyping) and of the genomic DNAs from two lysogenic phages from S. enteritidis could be used to discriminate between S. enteritidis phage type 8 strains, we conducted Southern hybridization studies on 24 isolates from …

Bacteriuria And Pregnancy Outcome: A Prospective Hospital-Based Study In Pakistani Women, Rahat N. Qureshi, Khalid S. Khan, Omar Darr, Nasir Khattak, Bader J. Farooqui, Javed H. Rizvi

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

The prevalence of bacteriuria in Pakistani women and its association with complications of pregnancy was studied. Out of 1579 women, 77 had bacteriuria (4.8%). There was no association of age, gravidity, parity, haemoglobin, pre-eclampsia, mode of delivery, gestational age at delivery, preterm delivery and low birth-weight with presence of bacteriuria. With detection and treatment the pregnancy outcome of women with bacteriuria in pregnancy was the same as that of those without.

Acceptability Of First Trimester Medical Abortion, Beverly Winikoff

Reproductive Health

Unwanted pregnancy is a serious and stressful problem for women. As stated in this paper, technologies that afford safe and effective abortion are well accepted and provide relief from a great difficulty. Many women fear surgery and will go far to avoid it. There is substantial apprehension about general anesthesia during surgery and also fear that local anesthesia may not prevent pain. This leads to a high demand for a medical abortion alternative. Some women consider that the quick and definitive surgical alternative is easier; some find that swallowing a pill is easier. Privacy is greatly valued. Medical abortion technology …

Family Planning And Reproductive Health: Briefing Sheets For A Gender Analysis, Kirsten Moore, Debbie Rogow

Reproductive Health

This series of briefing sheets, developed by the Population Council, represents a starting point for the application of gender to the family planning (FP) and reproductive health (RH) arena. The information covers five key areas of RH: gender-based abuse, FP and gender issues among adolescents, sexuality and FP, men’s and women’s social and economic responsibilities for childrearing, and the complicated nexus between gender and FP/RH. In so doing, it provides a strong foundation for gender training. This concept was first developed to fulfill a need for gender training within the regional Operations Research/Technical Assistance Projects. To date, two such workshops …

Community-Based Aids Prevention And Care In Africa: Case Studies From Five African Countries, Ann Leonard

HIV and AIDS

The Population Council carried out a three-year project entitled “Community-Based AIDS Prevention and Care in Africa: Building on Local Initiatives.” Given the constraints faced by the health care infrastructure in responding to the AIDS crisis and the limitations of traditional educational approaches in motivating people to modify their sexual behavior, in the African context community-based AIDS prevention and care of those affected are the first line of defense against the infection. This project was developed to explore efforts by organizations in Africa dealing directly with the consequences of AIDS, to understand the essential components of effective community-based efforts for AIDS …

A Survey On The Motivational Techniques Used By Men's College Tennis Coaches, John A. Ross

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Profile Of Clients Of Different Providers Of Family Planning Services In Egypt, Social Planning, Analysis & Administration Consultants (Spaac)

Reproductive Health

The Government of Egypt launched its national family planning (FP) program in 1966. The early phase was mainly supply oriented and aimed at ensuring wide distribution of contraceptives primarily through pharmacies to meet rising demand. Between 1988 and 1992 a number of additional sources of FP services appeared, with an increase in clinic-based services through both the private and public sectors. In 1992 about one-fourth of users relied on pharmacies to get their FP supplies compared to about one-half in 1988. This change evolved through the influence of two forces: the initiation of a number of FP projects, and expanded …

Gender Inequalities And Demographic Behavior: Egypt, Nora Guhl Naguib, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Barbara L. Ibrahim

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This is one of three reports on the relationship between gender equity, family structure and dynamics, and the achievement of reproductive choice prepared by the Population Council for the 1994 International Year of the Family and the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. These reports provide critical reviews of the relationship between gender inequality and demographic behavior in three demographically significant, culturally distinct parts of the developing world: Egypt, India, and Ghana and Kenya. Their purpose is to help governments and international agencies design and implement policies that are affirmative of women, sensitive to the family's central role in …