Land Application of Treated Sewage Sludge: Community Health and Environmental Justice

Background: In the United States, most of the treated sewage sludge (biosolids) is applied to farmland as a soil amendment. Critics suggest that rules regulating sewage sludge treatment and land application may be insufficient to protect public health and the environment. Neighbors of land application sites report illness following land application events

Odors from Sewage Sludge and Livestock: Associations with Self-Reported Health

Class B treated sewage sludge (TSS) contains microbes and toxicants and is applied to land in areas where livestock wastes may be present. We evaluated relationships of reports of TSS and livestock odors with acute symptoms and excessive flies

Data quality from a longitudinal study of adolescent health at schools near industrial livestock facilities

Longitudinal designs enable examination of temporal relationships between exposures and health outcomes, but extended participation can cause study fatigue. We present an approach for analyzing data quality and study fatigue in a participatory, longitudinal study of adolescents

Pittsboro, adult community members with disabilities, Chatham County, North Carolina : focusing on life with a disability in Pittsboro, NC : an action oriented community diagnosis : findings and next steps of action

This document is a qualitative report of the findings from an Action Oriented Community Diagnosis (AOCD) focused on persons with disabilities, 18 years and older residing in and/or using services in Pittsboro, North Carolina. AOCD is a process in which the strengths and needs of a community are assessed in order to gain an understanding of the community from the perspective of those that live or work there and then have them identify goals and action steps to move toward achievement of these goals. This AOCD began in October 2002 and was conducted by six graduate students from the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Public Health under the direction of two preceptors from the North Carolina Office on Disability and Health (NCODH) and instructors from the Department of Health Behavior Health Education at the UNC School of Public Health. As part of the AOCD process, the team spoke with service providers, community members with disabilities, and community members without disabilities in Pittsboro as well as reviewed secondary data sources. The information gleaned from the interviews, focus groups and other data sources were analyzed and themes were identified. While conducting these interviews and focus groups, it became apparent that the team was speaking with people who had different points of view. The team referred to these points of view as “insider” and “outsider.” Insiders were community members with and without disabilities and the family members of persons with disabilities. The team looked to insiders to supply a perspective of someone familiar with Pittsboro’s history and inner workings. Outsiders were service providers who worked in Pittsboro, or who worked at an agency that served Pittsboro. Although the team realized that some of the outsiders were actually residents of Pittsboro, the team chose to interview these people for their expertise as professionals serving Pittsboro, and for information on how services are delivered; thus they were considered to supply an outsider point of view. The team felt that it was important to examine both the insider and outsider perspectives because, by looking at the experiences and interpretations of persons with different points of views, steps could be taken to begin action on areas where points of view were similar, and discussion could be encouraged in areas where points of view differed. Two categories of themes were identified from the AOCD findings: descriptive themes and active themes. The team noted two themes as being descriptive: strengths, and finance and income. Strengths was considered a descriptive theme because it represented potential resources for the Pittsboro community to tap into as they worked to achieve action steps in prioritized areas. Pittsboro’s overall strengths will be increased through progress in other areas. Finances and Income was also considered a descriptive theme but for slightly different reasons. While all services are affected by finances available, to a certain extent, finances are affected by less changeable forces such as the national economy and budget. The team wanted to ensure that concrete action steps could be developed that did not require an unrealistic influx of funds. Active themes are those where the power to take action lies within the community. Active themes include awareness, attitudes, support, accessibility, activities, housing and transportation. The team hosted a community forum May 1st in Pittsboro. During the forum the community members and services providers extensively discussed two of the active themes: attitudes and support. As a result of the discussions the community identified several action steps for each theme. To address attitudes, the community plans to work within existing committees and organizations to increase representation of community members with disabilities and to work with Pittsboro’s strong faith community to provide outreach and needs assessments for persons with disabilities. To increase support for persons with disabilities, the forum participants plan to investigate resources available to persons with disabilities and update and distribute a resource list of services to persons with disabilities. The support action steps were also directed at utilizing Pittsboro’s strong volunteer community to help persons with disabilities obtain jobs. Another result of the forum was that some of the service providers and community members who attended became better acquainted with one another. Building new partnerships between people will hopefully lead to future collaborative efforts to help Pittsboro better serve community members with disabilities.Master of Public Healt

The National Public Health Leadership Institute: Evaluation of a Team-Based Approach to Developing Collaborative Public Health Leaders

Recent public health literature contains calls for collaborative public health interventions and for leaders capable of guiding them. The National Public Health Leadership Institute aims to develop collaborative leaders and to strengthen networks of leaders who share knowledge and jointly address public health problems. Evaluation results show that completing the institute training increases collaborative leadership and builds knowledge-sharing and problem-solving networks. These practices and networks strengthen interorganizational relationships, coalitions, services, programs, and policies. Intensive team-and project-based learning are key to the program’s impact

OpenCourseWare and the Self-Learner

OpenCourseWare is identified as a learning tool for self-learners around the world. Although thousands of courses are freely available, only a small percentage (by world population standards) are aware of these banks of knowledge. As Librarians strive to disseminate knowledge to their community, to be aware and knowledgeable of this division of the Open Educational Movement is beneficial to the movement's sustainability

The National Public Health Leadership Institute: Evaluation of a Team-Based Approach to Developing Collaborative Public Health Leaders

Recent public health literature contains calls for collaborative public health interventions and for leaders capable of guiding them. The National Public Health Leadership Institute aims to develop collaborative leaders and to strengthen networks of leaders who share knowledge and jointly address public health problems. Evaluation results show that completing the institute training increases collaborative leadership and builds knowledge-sharing and problem-solving networks. These practices and networks strengthen interorganizational relationships, coalitions, services, programs, and policies. Intensive team-and project-based learning are key to the program’s impact

A Potential Application of Pseudomonas psychrotolerans IALR632 for Lettuce Growth Promotion in Hydroponics

Controlled environment agriculture hydroponic systems grow plants year-round without restriction from outside environmental conditions. In order to further improve crop yield, plant growth-promoting bacteria were tested on hydroponically grown lettuce (Lactuca sativa) plants. From our bacterial endophyte library, we found one bacterium, Pseudomonas psychrotolerans IALR632, that is promising in promoting lettuce growth in multiple hydroponic systems. When Green Oakleaf lettuce seeds were inoculated with IALR632 during germination, IALR632 significantly increased lateral root development by 164%. When germinated seedlings were inoculated with IALR632 and then transplanted to different hydroponic systems, shoot and root fresh weights of Green Oakleaf increased by 55.3% and 17.2% in a nutrient film technique (NFT) system in the greenhouse, 13.5% and 13.8% in an indoor vertical NFT system, and 15.3% and 13.6% in a deep water cultivation (DWC) system, respectively. IALR632 also significantly increased shoot fresh weights of Rex by 33.9%, Red Oakleaf by 21.0%, Red Sweet Crisp by 15.2%, and Nancy by 29.9%, as well as Red Rosie by 8.6% (no significant difference). Inoculation of IALR632-GFP and subsequent analysis by confocal microscopy demonstrated the endophytic nature and translocation from roots to shoots. The results indicate that P. psychrotolerans IALR632 has a potential application in hydroponically grown lettuce plants

A Potential Application of <i>Pseudomonas psychrotolerans</i> IALR632 for Lettuce Growth Promotion in Hydroponics

Controlled environment agriculture hydroponic systems grow plants year-round without restriction from outside environmental conditions. In order to further improve crop yield, plant growth-promoting bacteria were tested on hydroponically grown lettuce (Lactuca sativa) plants. From our bacterial endophyte library, we found one bacterium, Pseudomonas psychrotolerans IALR632, that is promising in promoting lettuce growth in multiple hydroponic systems. When Green Oakleaf lettuce seeds were inoculated with IALR632 during germination, IALR632 significantly increased lateral root development by 164%. When germinated seedlings were inoculated with IALR632 and then transplanted to different hydroponic systems, shoot and root fresh weights of Green Oakleaf increased by 55.3% and 17.2% in a nutrient film technique (NFT) system in the greenhouse, 13.5% and 13.8% in an indoor vertical NFT system, and 15.3% and 13.6% in a deep water cultivation (DWC) system, respectively. IALR632 also significantly increased shoot fresh weights of Rex by 33.9%, Red Oakleaf by 21.0%, Red Sweet Crisp by 15.2%, and Nancy by 29.9%, as well as Red Rosie by 8.6% (no significant difference). Inoculation of IALR632-GFP and subsequent analysis by confocal microscopy demonstrated the endophytic nature and translocation from roots to shoots. The results indicate that P. psychrotolerans IALR632 has a potential application in hydroponically grown lettuce plants