Community Engagement and Outreach Programs For Lead Prevention In Mississippi

The objective of the project was to encourage health promotion through education, outreach, and community-based training. The people attending health fairs (n = 467), community events (n = 469), and Kindergarten classes (n = 241) were the study participants. Hands-on training was offered at homebuilding retail stores (n = 25). U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s online visual training was given to realtors (n = 220), and inspectors, contractors, and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) workers (n = 75). Training workshops were attended by home-buyers and rental home owners at the Neighborhood Association Meetings (n = 91). The impact of training was evaluated by pre- and posttests. Nearly, 90% of the participants (n = 25) reported the hands-on training was useful. At posttest after the HUD online training, 59.4%, 67.9%, 65.1% of the participants (n = 220) identified soil, car batteries, and paint as sources of lead in the environment, respectively. Nearly 70% identified lead as a poison in the environment while 77.5% and 47.2% demonstrated two behaviors which help prevent lead poisoning. A total of 62.3%, 48.1%, and 58.5%, at posttest identified three complications or illnesses—behavioral, physical, and psychological, respectively. The home owners are required to get permission from the City for housing repair. In coordination with the federally funded housing repair or lead abatement programs, the trained inspectors are authorized to certify the renovation or repair works. These outreach activities were successful in improving the knowledge of the community people on lead poisoning prevention

An Efficient Deep Learning Model To Detect COVID-19 Using Chest X-Ray Images

The tragic pandemic of COVID-19, due to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus-2 or SARS-CoV-2, has shaken the entire world, and has significantly disrupted healthcare systems in many countries. Because of the existing challenges and controversies to testing for COVID-19, improved and cost-effective methods are needed to detect the disease. For this purpose, machine learning (ML) has emerged as a strong forecasting method for detecting COVID-19 from chest X-ray images. In this paper, we used a Deep Learning Method (DLM) to detect COVID-19 using chest X-ray (CXR) images. Radiographic images are readily available and can be used effectively for COVID-19 detection compared to other expensive and time-consuming pathological tests. We used a dataset of 10,040 samples, of which 2143 had COVID-19, 3674 had pneumonia (but not COVID-19), and 4223 were normal (not COVID-19 or pneumonia). Our model had a detection accuracy of 96.43% and a sensitivity of 93.68%. The area under the ROC curve was 99% for COVID-19, 97% for pneumonia (but not COVID-19 positive), and 98% for normal cases. In conclusion, ML approaches may be used for rapid analysis of CXR images and thus enable radiologists to filter potential candidates in a time-effective manner to detect COVID-19

Risk Factors and Gender Differentials for Death Among Children Hospitalized With Diarrhoea in Bangladesh

To identify risk factors for death among children with diarrhoea, a cohort of 496 children, aged less than 5 years, admitted to the intensive care unit of a diarrhoeal disease hospital in Bangladesh, was studied during November 1992-June 1994, Clinical and laboratory records of children who died and of those who recovered in the hospital were compared, Deaths were significantly higher among those who had altered consciousness, hypoglycaemia, septicaemia, paralytic ileus, toxic colitis, necrotizing enterocolitis, haemolytic-uraemic syndrome, invasive or persistent diarrhoea, dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and malnutrition, Females experienced a 2-fold higher risk of death than males (p=0.003). Several indices of severe infections were identified more frequently among females than males. Females with severe infections were less frequently brought to the hospital than their male counterparts, The time lapse between onset of symptoms and hospital admission was significantly higher in females than males, This study suggests initiation of programmes to alleviate social disparity between genders for healthcare in poor communities, The study-results may also help physicians identify either prognostic indicators or risk factors for death among children hospitalized with severe illnesses associated with diarrhoea

Intestinal Enzymes During Malnutrition & Infection In Rabbits

Background & objectives: Malnutrition plays an important role in the intestinal absorption of nutrients. However, reports are not consistent whether intestinal enzymes are decreased in the presence of malnutrition. It is also not clear whether simultaneous presence of malnutrition and infection adds to the problem of malabsorption of nutrients. The aim of the present study was to determine intestinal functions in terms of concentrations of disaccharidase enzymes during diarrhoea and protein energy malnutrition. Methods: Concentrations of three disaccharidase enzymes, namely maltase, sucrase and lactase were measured in nine energy-restricted and five control rabbits during diarrhoea induced by rabbit diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (RDEC-1). Malnutrition was achieved in the rabbit model by feeding the animals for 30 days with half the amount of food fed to well-nourished control rabbits. Both the energy-restricted and the control groups were challenged by RDEC-1. Diarrhoea occurred on day 1-7 after administration of the strain. After onset of diarrhoea, both groups of rabbits were sacrificed and their intestinal mucosa was examined to determine the concentration of lactase, maltase and sucrase. Results: The energy-restricted animals and controls did not differ significantly for concentrations (units/mg proteins) of lactase (0.65 +/- 0.28 vs 0.56 +/- 0.17), maltase (6.20 +/- 2.70 vs 6.47 +/- 1.90) and sucrase (5.42 +/- 2.30 vs 5.13 +/- 1.40) measured during acute infectious diarrhoea. Interpretation & conclusion: The results suggested that the enzymatic functions of the intestinal brush border were not statistically different during diarrhoea among malnourished rabbits compared with their well-nourished counterparts

Breast Cancer Fatalism: The Role of Women\u27s Perceptions of the Health Care System

Cancer fatalism, which can be understood as the belief that cancer is a death sentence, has been found to be a deterrent to preventive cancer screening participation. This study examines factors associated with breast cancer fatalism among women. We analyzed data from a 2003 survey of women 40 years of age. The survey collected information about respondents\u27 knowledge and attitudes regarding breast health. Analyses compared the characteristics of women who reported and those who did not report a fatalistic attitude. Women with a fatalistic attitude were more likely to be African American, to have a family history of breast cancer, to rate their quality of care as fair or poor, to believe that not much could be done to prevent breast cancer, to believe that breast cancer could not be cured if found early, and to believe that treatment could be worse than the disease

Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Lead Poisoning in Young Children in Bangladesh

Lead poisoning is a major public-health problem in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the extent of and risk factors for elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) in children in Bangladesh during September 2007\u2013July 2009. The study included 919 children aged less than 16 years. The children were recruited from six urban locations in Dhaka and one rural area in Chirirbandar, Dinajpur. In total, 495 (54%) children had high BLLs (>10 \u3bcg/dL), with higher BLLs observed among children aged 5-9 years compared to children of other ages (p<0.001). The BLLs among children in urban Dhaka were significantly higher than those in rural areas (13.45\ub18.21 \u3bcg/dL vs 7.29\ub16.25 \u3bcg/dL, p<0.001). The high BLLs correlated with low body mass index (r=-0.23, p<0.001) and low haemoglobin status (r=-0.10, p=0.02). On bivariate analysis, proximity to industry (p<0.001), drinking-water from municipal supply or tubewell (p<0.001), brass or lead water-taps (p<0.001), use of melamine plate (p=0.001), and indigenous medicinal (kabiraji) treatments (p=0.004) significantly correlated with higher BLLs. Proximity to industry and the use of indigenous medicines remained significant predictors of high BLLs after controlling for the confounders. Several risk factors appropriate for future educational interventions to prevent exposure to lead poisoning were identified

Latin America and the Caribbean: Assessment of the Advances in Public Health for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

To improve health and economy of the world population, the United Nations has set up eight international goals, known as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), that 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. The goals include: (1) eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; (2) achieving universal primary education; (3) promoting gender equality; (4) reducing child mortality; (5) improving maternal health; (6) combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; (7) ensuring environmental sustainability; and (8) developing a global partnership for development. Having been in the midway from the 2015 deadline, the UN Secretary-General urges countries to engage constructively to review progress towards the MDGs. This paper aims to evaluate advances in public health, with special reference to gender inequalities in health, health sector reform, global burden of disease, neglected tropical diseases, vaccination, antibiotic use, sanitation and safe water, nutrition, tobacco and alcohol use, indicators of health, and disease prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC). The paper also identifies areas of deficits for the achievement of MDGs in LAC

Higher Parental Age and Lower Educational Level are Associated with Underweight among Preschool Children in Terengganu, Malaysia

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the determinants of underweight among preschool children. A total of 218 preschool children were enrolled. Their sociodemographic data were collected using self-reported questionnaires whilst body weight and height were measured, recorded and the BMI for-age z-score was calculated using WHO AnthroPlus software. Of all preschool children participants, 47.7% were male and 53.3% were female. Most of them were Malays (99.5%), aged 4 to <5 years (40.8%) and came from low-income household (92.7%). Overall, the prevalence of underweight, normal, overweight and obese was 17.9%, 73.8%, 4.6% and 3.7% respectively. The underweight prevalence was higher than the national prevalence (13.7%). Of all parent participants, 12.4% were male and 87.6% were female. Most of them aged 30−39 years (55.5%) and did not hold a degree (89.4%). Multivariate logistic regression showed that parental age and their level of education were the determinants of childhood underweight. The risk of being underweight increased with the age of parents (p=0.033) and lower level of education of parents (p=0.042). In conclusion, this study found that underweight among preschool children was mainly associated with parental factors. Hence, designing a special nutritional intervention program involving older parents and lower education levels could overcome this problem

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe