Use of tobacco retail permitting to reduce youth access and exposure to tobacco in Santa Clara County, California

AbstractObjectiveTo target youth smoking, the impact of a local tobacco retail permit was evaluated on the number and location of tobacco retailers, and on the level of enforcement and compliance with tobacco sales regulations from 2010 to 2012 within unincorporated Santa Clara County, California.MethodsGeographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping of each of 36 tobacco retailers pre- and post-intervention, observational surveys of tobacco retail environments pre- and post-intervention, and post-intervention enforcement surveys to measure location of sales, level of enforcement action, and compliance with laws governing sale of tobacco products were conducted.ResultsEleven (30.6%) of the initial 36 retailers selling tobacco at the start of the intervention stopped selling tobacco post intervention. Of these 11 retailers, one was within 500feet of another retailer, and three were within 1000feet of a K–12 school. Ten (91%) of the retailers who stopped selling tobacco were non-traditional retailers.ConclusionAn immediate reduction in the number of stores selling tobacco occurred following implementation of tobacco retail permitting. Post-implementation, all retailers who underwent compliance checks were in compliance with laws prohibiting sales of tobacco to minors. Compliance with laws governing the sale of tobacco has potential to reduce access and use of tobacco products by youth

An Accredited Local Health Department’s Use of the QI Roadmap to Build a Culture of Quality

Studies that exist on quality improvement efforts within local health departments indicate that there needs to be clearer approaches for achieving a culture of quality. This study describes how a local health department used the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO’s) Roadmap to an Organizational Culture of Quality Improvement (QI Roadmap) to successfully build a quality culture on its journey to becoming accredited, as reflected in results from a February 2016 survey. Local health departments who invest in and promote QI efforts that are aligned with strategic priorities; establish the necessary infrastructure to regularly track and report performance data, including customer service data; expand the use of different types of teams; offer opportunities to identify areas of improvement and trainings; and promote resources for using various improvement models can establish a solid foundation in QI leading to accreditation

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

A simple, sufficient, and consistent method to score the status of threats and demography of imperiled species

Managers of large, complex wildlife conservation programs need information on the conservation status of each of many species to help strategically allocate limited resources. Oversimplifying status data, however, runs the risk of missing information essential to strategic allocation. Conservation status consists of two components, the status of threats a species faces and the species’ demographic status. Neither component alone is sufficient to characterize conservation status. Here we present a simple key for scoring threat and demographic changes for species using detailed information provided in free-form textual descriptions of conservation status. This key is easy to use (simple), captures the two components of conservation status without the cost of more detailed measures (sufficient), and can be applied by different personnel to any taxon (consistent). To evaluate the key’s utility, we performed two analyses. First, we scored the threat and demographic status of 37 species recently recommended for reclassification under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and 15 control species, then compared our scores to two metrics used for decision-making and reports to Congress. Second, we scored the threat and demographic status of all non-plant ESA-listed species from Florida (54 spp.), and evaluated scoring repeatability for a subset of those. While the metrics reported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) are often consistent with our scores in the first analysis, the results highlight two problems with the oversimplified metrics. First, we show that both metrics can mask underlying demographic declines or threat increases; for example, ∼40% of species not recommended for reclassification had changes in threats or demography. Second, we show that neither metric is consistent with either threats or demography alone, but conflates the two. The second analysis illustrates how the scoring key can be applied to a substantial set of species to understand overall patterns of ESA implementation. The scoring repeatability analysis shows promise, but indicates thorough training will be needed to ensure consistency. We propose that large conservation programs adopt our simple scoring system for threats and demography. By doing so, program administrators will have better information to monitor program effectiveness and guide their decisions

Determinants of exposure to secondhand smoke among Vietnamese adults: California Vietnamese Adult Tobacco Use Survey, 2007-2008.

Because smoking rates are high among Vietnamese men, we used data from the 2007-2008 California Vietnamese Adult Tobacco Use Survey to estimate secondhand smoke exposure and associated risk factors among Vietnamese nonsmokers. Thirty percent of nonsmokers were exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) at home, 8% at work, 52% in bars, and 67% on a college campus. At home, odds of SHS exposure were greater for women than for men and for adults aged less than 40 years than for older adults. Odds of SHS exposure were higher for former smokers at work (among employed men) and among men when in bars. Future interventions should consider sex, age, and smoking history in efforts to prevent SHS exposure among Vietnamese adults

Imperiled species threat and demography scoring

Data for the PeerJ manuscript, <i>A simple, sufficient, and consistent method to score the status of threats and demography of imperiled species</i>.  Preprint at https://peerj.com/preprints/1860/.<div><br></div><div>Consists of four tab-separated files written directly from the R data.frames used in the analysis:</div><div><br></div><div>FWS_change_spp.tsv: Threat and demography scores, as well as FWS status metrics, for 52 species in Analysis 1 of the paper. These species were either proposed for status changes by FWS (37 spp.) or were controls (15 spp.).</div><div><br></div><div>LDA_data.tsv: A reshaped dataset based on FWS_change_spp.tsv, for linear discriminant analysis in Analysis 1.</div><div><br></div><div>all_FL_spp.tsv: Threat and demography scores for 54 ESA-listed species from Florida, non-plant and FWS with primary jurisdiction.</div><div><br></div><div>FL_multiperson.tsv: Threat and demography scores for ten randomly selected species in all_FL_spp.tsv, with scores from five different people.</div

Speeding Toward Extinction: Vessel Strikes Threaten North Atlantic Right Whale

The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered whales on the planet. Only around 360 remain. 7 The two greatest threats to this species are vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. To reduce the risk from these threats, the United States government must: 1) require vessels to avoid areas where North Atlantic right whales are present or if avoidance is not possible, slow down to minimize the risk of serious injury or death; and 2) reduce the number of vertical lines from fishing gear in the water, particularly in times and places where North Atlantic right whales are present. For this analysis, Oceana examined vessel speeds in areas where U.S. regulations direct them to slow down to protect whales and found that most vessels were not slowing down when they should be