Evaluation of harmful algal bloom outreach activities

This is the final version of the article. Available from MDPI via the link in this record.With an apparent increase of harmful algal blooms (HABs) worldwide, healthcare providers, public health personnel and coastal managers are struggling to provide scientifically-based appropriately-targeted HAB outreach and education. Since 1998, the Florida Poison Information Center-Miami, with its 24 hour/365 day/year free Aquatic Toxins Hotline (1-888-232-8635) available in several languages, has received over 25,000 HAB-related calls. As part of HAB surveillance, all possible cases of HAB-related illness among callers are reported to the Florida Health Department. This pilot study evaluated an automated call processing menu system that allows callers to access bilingual HAB information, and to speak directly with a trained Poison Information Specialist. The majority (68%) of callers reported satisfaction with the information, and many provided specific suggestions for improvement. This pilot study, the first known evaluation of use and satisfaction with HAB educational outreach materials, demonstrated that the automated system provided useful HAB-related information for the majority of callers, and decreased the routine informational call workload for the Poison Information Specialists, allowing them to focus on callers needing immediate assistance and their healthcare providers. These results will lead to improvement of this valuable HAB outreach, education and surveillance tool. Formal evaluation is recommended for future HAB outreach and educational materials.The funding for this study was provided by the Florida Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Florida Harmful Algal Bloom Taskforce, as well as the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Oceans and Human Health Center at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School (NSF 0CE0432368; NIEHS 1 P50 ES12736), the former National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School (NIEHS P30ES05705), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Red Tide POI (P01 ES 10594)

Evaluation of Harmful Algal Bloom Outreach Activities

With an apparent increase of harmful algal blooms (HABs) worldwide, healthcare providers, public health personnel and coastal managers are struggling to provide scientifically-based appropriately-targeted HAB outreach and education. Since 1998, the Florida Poison Information Center-Miami, with its 24 hour/365 day/year free Aquatic Toxins Hotline (1–888–232–8635) available in several languages, has received over 25,000 HAB-related calls. As part of HAB surveillance, all possible cases of HAB-related illness among callers are reported to the Florida Health Department. This pilot study evaluated an automated call processing menu system that allows callers to access bilingual HAB information, and to speak directly with a trained Poison Information Specialist. The majority (68%) of callers reported satisfaction with the information, and many provided specific suggestions for improvement. This pilot study, the first known evaluation of use and satisfaction with HAB educational outreach materials, demonstrated that the automated system provided useful HAB-related information for the majority of callers, and decreased the routine informational call workload for the Poison Information Specialists, allowing them to focus on callers needing immediate assistance and their healthcare providers. These results will lead to improvement of this valuable HAB outreach, education and surveillance tool. Formal evaluation is recommended for future HAB outreach and educational materials

Cosmetic outcomes and quality of life in children with cardiac implantable electronic devices

BackgroundAxillary implant location is an alternative implant location in patients for cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) for the purposes of improved cosmetic outcome. The impact from the patient’s perspective is unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare scar perception scores and quality of life (QOL) in pediatric patients with axillary CIED implant location versus the standard infraclavicular approach.MethodsThis is a multicenter prospective study conducted at eight pediatric centers and it includes patients aged from 8 to 18 years with a CIED. Patients with prior sternotomy were excluded. Scar perception and QOL outcomes were compared between the infraclavicular and axillary implant locations.ResultsA total of 141 patients (83 implantable cardioverter defibrillator [ICD]/58 pacemakers) were included, 55 with an axillary device and 86 with an infraclavicular device. Patients with an ICD in the axillary position had better perception of scar appearance and consciousness. Patients in the axillary group reported, on average, a total Pediatric QOL Inventory score that was 6 (1, 11) units higher than the infraclavicular group, after adjusting for sex and race (P = 0.02).ConclusionsQOL is significantly improved in axillary in comparison to the infraclavicular CIED position, regardless of device type. Scar perception is improved in patients with ICD in the axillary position.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147032/1/pace13522.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147032/2/pace13522_am.pd

Exposure and Effect Assessment of Aerosolized Red Tide Toxins (Brevetoxins) and Asthma

addresses: National Science Foundation National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Oceans and Human Health Center, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Miami, Florida 33136, USA. [email protected]: PMCID: PMC2717136types: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.'Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives'Copyright © 2009 National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesIn previous studies we demonstrated statistically significant changes in reported symptoms for lifeguards, general beach goers, and persons with asthma, as well as statistically significant changes in pulmonary function tests (PFTs) in asthmatics, after exposure to brevetoxins in Florida red tide (Karenia brevis bloom) aerosols

Psychosocial functioning of parents of children with heart diseasedescribing the landscape

The aim was to describe the psychological functioning of parents of school-age children with heart disease (HD) in a large-scale, transnational evaluation of parent dyads across the spectrum of cardiac diagnoses and a range of psychosocial domains. Parents of children with HD attending routine out-patient cardiology follow-up visits completed questionnaires assessing their mental health, coping, and family functioning. Parents (1197 mothers and 1053 fathers) of 1214 children (mean age: 12.6 years; S.D. 3.0 years; median time since last surgery: 8.9 years) with congenital or acquired HD from three centers each in the UK and the USA participated (80% response rate). Parents of children with milder HD demonstrated few differences from healthy norms and had significantly lower scores on measures of illness-related stress and post-traumatic stress than parents of children with single ventricle conditions or cardiomyopathy. Parents in these latter two diagnostic sub-groups had significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than healthy norms but did not differ on other measures of family functioning and coping skills. There were few differences between parents from the UK and the USA. Agreement between mothers and fathers within a dyad was highest for the measure of frequency of illness-related stressors (ICC = 0.67) and lowest for anxiety (ICC = 0.12). Conclusion: Our results suggest two different pathways for the long-term psychological well-being of parents of children with HD: on the one hand, more complex HD is associated with poorer long-term psychosocial outcomes; in contrast, there are also grounds for optimism, particularly for parents of children with less complex conditions, with better psychological outcomes noted for some groups of parents compared to previously reported early psychosocial outcomes. Future work needs to identify factors other than disease severity which might explain poorer (or better) functioning in some parents of children with more complex HD