Emergency contraception for sexual assault victims in North Carolina emergency departments.

Introduction: One in 5 women is a victim of sexual assault. This study examines the administration of emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault in North Carolina hospital emergency departments.

Methods: One hundred seventeen surveys were mailed to hospital emergency departments across the state to determine their emergency contraception practices for victims ofsexual assault.

Cost of injuries from a prospective cohort study of North Carolina high school athletes.

Objective: To estimate the economic cost of injuries in a population of US high school varsity athletes.

Design And Setting: The North Carolina High School Athletic Injury Study, conducted from 1996 to 1999, was a prospective cohort study of injury incidence and severity. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select athletic teams from 100 high schools in North Carolina.

Nature's bounty - drug discovery from the sea.

With ∼ 40 years of research completed after the development of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, drug discovery opportunities in the sea are still too numerous to count. Since the FDA approval of the direct-from-the-sea calcium channel blocker ziconotide, marine natural products have been validated as a source for new medicines. However, the demand for natural products is extremely high due to the development of high-throughput assays and this bottleneck has created the need for an intense focus on increasing the rate of isolating and elucidating the structures of new bioactive secondary metabolites.

Storage of household firearms: an examination of the attitudes and beliefs of married women with children.

Although safe firearm storage is a promising injury prevention strategy, many parents do not keep their firearms unloaded and locked up. Using the theory of planned behavior as a guiding conceptual framework, this study examines factors associated with safe storage among married women with children and who have firearms in their homes. Data come from a national telephone survey (n=185).

Dermoscopic appearance of juvenile xanthogranuloma.

Juvenile xanthogranuloma (JXG) is the commonest form of non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis and manifests as asymptomatic yellow-red papulonodules that usually occur in childhood and spontaneously regress within a year of formation. The diagnosis may be made by clinical examination alone and confirmed by histology in cases of diagnostic doubt. Here we report the use of dermoscopy in evaluating skin lesions suggestive of JXG.

Triangulating differential nonresponse by race in a telephone survey.

Introduction: In 1994, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandated sufficient inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities in all federally funded research.

Correlates of intimate partner violence among female patients at a North Carolina emergency department.

Objective: This paper identifies comorbid factors among female emergency department (ED) patients who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV).

Methods: 321 adult female patients completed self-administered questionnaires while in an urban North Carolina emergency department. IPV was assessed by questioning whether the patient had ever been afraid of a partner, physically hurt or threatened by a partner, or forced to have sex by a partner.

Blood transfusion and risk of metastatic disease or recurrence in patients undergoing immediate TRAM flap breast reconstruction: a clinical study and meta-analysis.

Background: The transfusion of blood products has a known immunomodulatory effect that may affect cancer recurrence. The present study examined whether blood transfusion is an independent risk factor for recurrence or development of metastatic disease among patients undergoing immediate breast reconstruction with a transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap.

Methods: Records of 103 patients who underwent mastectomy and immediate reconstruction with a TRAM flap between 1991 and 2001 were reviewed.

Work-related hazards and workplace safety of US adolescents employed in the retail and service sectors.

Objective: Our goal was to examine the hazard exposures, work experiences, and workplace safety training of adolescents employed in retail and service jobs in the United States.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional telephone survey among working adolescents, 14 to 18 years old, in the continental United States. Data were collected in 2003.

Women's experiences with violence: a national study.

Background: Violence against women (VAW) is widespread and linked to negative public health and social outcomes. Research on VAW, however, has largely been limited to convenience samples and on variable definitions of violence, hindering our ability to fully characterize this important problem nationally and among subgroups of women.

Methods: Using a population-based national sample of noninstitutionalized women ages > or =18 (n = 1,800), we conducted a telephone survey on women's experiences with 6 types of violence, including being followed and repeatedly contacted, as well as physical and sexual assault by intimate partners and others.

Modification at the C9 position of the marine natural product isoaaptamine and the impact on HIV-1, mycobacterial, and tumor cell activity.

As part of an investigation to generate optimized drug leads from marine natural pharmacophores for the treatment of neoplastic and infectious diseases, a series of novel isoaaptamine analogs were prepared by coupling acyl halides to the C9 position of isoaaptamine (2) isolated from the Aaptos sponge. This library of new semisynthetic products was evaluated for biological activity against HIV-1, Mtb, AIDS-OI, tropical parasitic diseases, and cancer. Compound 4 showed potent activity against HIV-1 (EC(50) 0.

Pseudonits in dreadlocked hair: a louse-y case of nits.

We report a case of pseudonits in dreadlocked hair, with prominent hair roots of shed hair closely resembling Pediculosis humanus capitis infestation.

A prospective study of injury incidence among North Carolina high school athletes.

Sports-related injuries are an issue of concern in high school sports athletes. A prospective cohort study of injury risk factors was conducted from 1996 to 1999 among varsity high school athletes in 12 sports in 100 North Carolina high schools. Data were collected by trained school personnel.

Zebra mussel antifouling activity of the marine natural product aaptamine and analogs.

Several aaptamine derivatives were selected as potential zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) antifoulants because of the noteworthy absence of fouling observed on Aaptos sponges. Sponges of the genus Aaptos collected in Manado, Indonesia consistently produce aaptamine-type alkaloids. To date, aaptamine and its derivatives have not been carefully evaluated for their antifoulant properties.

Geophysical constraints on contaminant transport modeling in a heterogeneous fluvial aquifer.

Approximately 3000 measurements of hydraulic conductivity in over 50 flowmeter boreholes were available at the Macro-Dispersion Experiment (MADE) site in Columbus, Mississippi, USA to quantify the heterogeneity in hydraulic conductivity at the site scale. This high-density measurement approach is perhaps infeasible for time and expense in typical groundwater remediation sites. A natural-gradient tracer experiment from the MADE site was simulated by a groundwater flow and solute transport model incorporating direct-current (DC) resistivity data collected over the observed plume location.

Delineating alluvial aquifer heterogeneity using resistivity and GPR data.

Conceptual geological models based on geophysical data can elucidate aquifer architecture and heterogeneity at meter and smaller scales, which can lead to better predictions of preferential flow pathways. The macrodispersion experiment (MADE) site, with >2000 measurements of hydraulic conductivity obtained and three tracer tests conducted, serves as an ideal natural laboratory for examining relationships between subsurface flow characteristics and geophysical attributes in fluvial aquifers. The spatial variation of hydraulic conductivity measurements indicates a large degree of site heterogeneity.

Use of discretionary protective equipment in high school athletes: prevalence and determinants.

Objectives: We sought to describe the use of discretionary protective equipment among high school athletes and to examine social and behavioral determinants contributing to equipment usage.

Methods: We analyzed data from a 3-year (1996-1999), stratified, 2-stage cluster sample of athletes engaged in 12 organized sports in 100 North Carolina high schools (n=19728 athlete-seasons) (an athlete-season represents an individual student who participates in a particular sport in a particular season). We used generalized logistic regression to model the association of social and behavioral determinants and demographic variables with discretionary protective equipment use.

Assessment of an interactive computer-based patient prenatal genetic screening and testing education tool.

The Enhancing Patient Prenatal Education study tested the feasibility and educational impact of an interactive program for patient prenatal genetic screening and testing education. Patients at two private practices and one public health clinic participated (N = 207). The program collected knowledge and measures of anxiety before and after use of the tool.