Food safety practices among pregnant women and mothers in the women, infants, and children program, Miami, Florida

Pregnant women and infants are two groups at the highest risk of severe outcomes from foodborne illnesses. We surveyed adult clients of a Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinic serving predominately African Americans in inner-city Miami, Florida, to assess food safety practices. Eligible and consenting women completed a 23-item self-administered survey with questions concerning food handling practices around the Partnership for Food Safety Education's Fight BAC! campaign constructs of "clean", "separate" (not cross-contaminated), "cook", and "chill". Of 342 eligible clients, 299 (87.4%) consented to participate. In general, the clients' food safety practices were most problematic in the cook and chill constructs. Using a cooking thermometer, refrigerating foods within 2 h, and thawing them safely were the least commonly reported safe practices. Women who were pregnant with their first child had the lowest food safety practice scores. Of the 62 pregnant participants, 32 (51.6%) reported eating hot dogs or deli meats without first reheating them some of the time or more often, and 22 (35.5%) reported eating soft cheeses and blue-veined cheeses some of the time or more often, putting the women at risk of listeriosis. Although all women in the WIC program could benefit from food safety education, these findings indicate that women during their first pregnancy should especially be targeted for food safety education.     

Current and historical deposition of PBDEs, pesticides, PCBs, and PAHs to Rocky Mountain National Park

An analytical method was developed for the trace analysis of 98 semivolatile organic compounds (SOCs) in remote, high-elevation lake sediment. Sediment cores from Lone Pine Lake (west of the Continental Divide) and Mills Lake (east of the Continental Divide) in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, were dated using 210Pb and 137Cs and analyzed for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organochlorine pesticides, phosphorothioate pesticides, thiocarbamate pesticides, amide herbicides, triazine herbicides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using this method. SOC deposition profiles were reconstructed, and deposition half-lives and doubling times were calculated, for U.S. historic-use pesticides (HUPs) and current-use pesticides (CUPs) as well as PBDEs, PCBs, and PAHs. Sediment records indicate that the deposition of CUPs has increased in recent years, while the deposition of HUPs has decreased since U.S. restriction, but has not been eliminated. This is likely due to the revolatilization of HUPs from regional soils, atmospheric transport, and deposition. Differences in the magnitude of SOC sediment fluxes, flux profiles, time trends within those profiles, and isomeric ratios suggest that SOC deposition in high-elevation ecosystems is dependent on regional upslope wind directions and site location with respect to regional sources and topographic barriers.     

Priming induces functional coupling of N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine receptors in equine neutrophils

The synthetic formylpeptide fMLP is widely used as a model chemoattractant and secretagogue for mammalian neutrophils. Despite possessing fMLP receptors, equine neutrophils do not produce superoxide anions in response to fMLP and there is no inflammatory reaction in the horse when fMLP is injected intradermally. The functional capability of these receptors was investigated after pretreatment with recognized priming agents. Purified neutrophils were pretreated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), platelet-activating factor (PAF), or tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and superoxide anion generation and shape change quantified by lucigenin-dependent chemiluminescence (LDCL) and flow cytometry, respectively. LPS, TNF-alpha, and PAF pretreatment induced significant LDCL in response to fMLP; similarly LPS pretreatment was a prerequisite for fMLP-stimulated neutrophil polarization in response to fMLP. However, LPS failed to induce fMLP-mediated chemotaxis of equine neutrophils. These data indicate that equine neutrophil fMLP receptors are not vestigial as previously thought but can trigger both respiratory burst activity and cell polarization responses after priming.     

An assessment of US and Canadian smoking reduction objectives for the year 2000

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed whether US and Canadian smoking reduction objectives for the year 2000 are attainable. The United States seeks to cut smoking in its population to 15%; the Canadian goal is 24%. METHODS: Smoking data were obtained for the United States (1974-1994) and Canada (1970-1995) for the overall populations and several age-sex subpopulations. Analyses estimated trends, future prevalences, and the likelihood of goal attainment. Structural time-series models were used because of their ability to fit a variety of trends. RESULTS: The findings indicate that smoking has been declining steadily since the 1970s, by approximately 0.7 percentage points a year, in both countries. Extrapolating these trends to the year 2000, the US prevalence will be 21% and the Canadian prevalence 24%. CONCLUSIONS: If the current trends continue, the Canadian goal seems attainable, but the US goal does not. The US goal is reachable only for 65-to 80-year-olds, who already have low smoking prevalences. It appears that both countries must increase their commitment to population-based tobacco control.     

A general model for leaching of one or more solid reactants from porous ore particles

A general, unsteady-state model for leaching of one or more solid reactant species from a nonreactive, porous, spherical pellet is derived in dimensionless form for the interpretation of leaching data and for use in the design of coarse-ore leaching processes. Numerical solutions of the model equations are obtained with implicit finite difference approximations. The effects of diffusion rate, chemical reaction rate, and competition between multiple solid reactants are examined using the concept of the effectiveness factor. The importance of deposits of solid reactants on the pellet surface is ascertained. It is shown that the model is capable of simulating both “reaction-zone” and “homogeneous” kinetics, depending on the choice of parameters. The model is also capable of simulating leaching from a distribution of particle sizes, and techniques for the modification of model parameters for this purpose are discussed.     

Habitat Creation Opportunities for Landward Coastal Re-alignment: Essex Case Studies

Relative sea-level fluctuations during the Holocene period have combined with medieval to present saline floodplain embanking to reduce the inter-tidal saltmarsh area in Essex from 40 000 ha to 4400 ha. The present loss by erosion is estimated at 2%/annum for the country, and the reduction in these areas is not only detrimental to related habitats but has caused an increasing requirement for flood-defence financial investment.
Recent initiatives by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Environment Agency and English Nature have created mechanisms and opportunities to develop sustainable flood-control structures where coastal re-alignment has been the preferred option.
The Orplands frontage covers 2 km of sea wall which have been deliberately breached to allow 40 ha of rare saltmarsh to re-establish. At Abbotts Hall, an arable field of 20 ha has been converted to its former saltmarsh by creek re-establishment and tidal inundation by reversal of existing sluices. These two schemes have (a) regenerated habitats for halophytic and semi-halophytic plants, marine and brackish invertebrates, and (b) provided roost, feed and breeding areas for birds and nursery areas for marine fish fry. Apart from flood control and habitat creation, particular features were incorporated to provide niche locations for targeted types of wildlife.     

Gender differences in peer relations of children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Objective: To examine gender differences in the peer relations of children with congenital neurodevelopmental conditions (NDC). Participants: Thirty-four children with cerebral palsy or spina bifida and 41 typically developing (TD) children, ages 6-12. Measures: Personality Inventory for Children-Second Edition (PIC-2), Social Network Inventory for Children-Child Version, and the Friendship Quality Questionnaire-Revised (FQQ-R). Results: Children with NDC report smaller social networks and lower quality of friendships than TD peers. Group × Gender interaction effects were not significant. Conclusion: Prior to adolescence, the social differences and risks associated with NDC do not appear to be gender specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)