Assessing Patient Acceptance of Integrating Oral Care with Prenatal Care in a Safety Net Clinic

Background: Lack of adequate oral health has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, and both the American Dental Association and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists advocate oral health care for women while pregnant, especially women served by health centers serving the underinsured and uninsured. Objective: A Rural, Safety Net Clinic, which provides healthcare to medically underserved persons in the Williamsburg area of Virginia, began offering dental care to pregnant women accessing prenatal care from January 2015. We want to document the clinic’s experience with patient acceptance of the free dental care offered. Methods: We reviewed data on the uptake of dental care from January 2015 to June 2018. Results: In 2015, 22.9% of women referred had a dental procedure carried out and in 2016 and 2017, the percentages were 26.4% and 29.3% respectively. The percentage for the first half of 2018 was 32.1%. Their two main reasons for declining was having no dental health problems and having issues with transportation. Conclusion: While the number of pregnant women accepting oral care is rising; less than a third of women in this vulnerable population accepted oral dental care while pregnant. We recommend further exploration of why uninsured and underinsured women decline dental care to determine how to effectively intervene with dental care for low income women to improve pregnancy outcomes

Some Factors Associated with Low Birthweight in Ogun State, Nigeria

The data for this study was extracted from the Health Information reported by the health facilities in the state to the State Ministry of Health. The purpose of the study was to determine the incidence of low birth weight in the State and some factors associated with it. The study showed the incidence to be 11 .4%. Low birth weight was also found to be commoner in females infants than males infants (

Translational toxicology: a developmental focus for integrated research strategies

Background Given that toxicology studies the potential adverse effects of environmental exposures on various forms of life and that clinical toxicology typically focuses on human health effects, what can and should the relatively new term of translational toxicology be taken to mean? Discussion Our assertion is that the core concept of translational toxicology must incorporate existing principles of toxicology and epidemiology, but be driven by the aim of developing safe and effective interventions beyond simple reduction or avoidance of exposure to prevent, mitigate or reverse adverse human health effects of exposures. The field of toxicology has now reached a point where advances in multiple areas of biomedical research and information technologies empower us to make fundamental transitions in directly impacting human health. Translational toxicology must encompass four action elements as follows: 1) Assessing human exposures in critical windows across the lifespan 2) Defining modes of action and relevance of data from animal models 3) Use of mathematical models to develop plausible predictions as the basis for 4) Protective and restorative human health interventions. The discussion focuses on the critical window of in-utero development. Summary Exposure assessment, basic toxicology and development of certain categories of mathematical models are not new areas of research; however overtly integrating these in order to conceive, assess and validate effective interventions to mitigate or reverse adverse effects of environmental exposures is our novel opportunity. This is what we should do in translational toxicology so that we have a portfolio of interventional options to improve human health that include both minimizing exposures and specific preventative/restorative/mitigative therapeutics

Understanding the public health role, motivations, and perceptions of Community Health Workers deployed to Low-Income Housing in Richmond, Virginia

Background For the US health indicators to improve to the level of other developed countries, the use of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in vulnerable populations has been indicated as a possible long-term intervention. There are few models of long-term deployment of CHWs as part of the district level public health system in the US. Method In this study we interviewed CHWs who served as neighborhood-integrated health district staff assigned to low-income housing in Richmond, Virginia for 10 years. Qualitative analyses of their taped and transcribed interviews resulted in 5 themes from the interviews. The themes were Activities, Satisfaction, Strengths, Facilitation/Resources and Challenges. We highlighted quotes from the CHWs interviews for themes and summarized the findings from each theme. Results CHWs carried out a variety of activities daily and these were described. The CHWs were generally satisfied with their job because it enabled them to assist others. The strength of their communities was resilience, and the resources they needed more included physical resources, human resources, political support, and more comprehensive programming. Their client’s challenges include transportation, mental health, and physical safety and the CHWs challenge to effectively carrying out their work with clients was trust by community members. Conclusion The information garnered from the CHWs would be useful in designing CHW programs at other health districts

Rising Temperature and the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Foot and Mouth Disease of Livestock in Mongolia

Background: Climate change is projected to have cascading effects on the environment and thereby trigger effects on animal health, human health and wellbeing. Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals that has had dramatic socioeconomic impacts on nomadic pastoralist communities who are increasingly vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate change. FMD outbreaks are occurring more frequently in Mongolia and the effects of climatic change, such as more droughts, increasing temperature, and changing snow fall patterns, are also becoming more obvious. Methods: In this study we use spatiotemporal mapping and regression analyses to explore trends and associations between climate variables and FMD outbreaks across Mongolia from 2010 to 2020. Results: We found that the number of days with temperature above 80 °F in a province in a given year was associated with having a FMD outbreak. None of the other climate variables were associated with FMD outbreaks at the provincial level. Conclusion: Given the projected increase in warming temperatures across Mongolia, there is a need to further explore the association between rising temperatures and FMD outbreaks to prevent FMD from having cascading impacts on nomadic herder communities. Mitigating approaches for herders to use to reduce the impact of rising number of hot days on FMD spread needs to be devised and governments in countries with nomadic herding communities should enact climate adaptation policies for them