The Costs Of Disparities In Preventable Heart Failure Hospitalizations In The US South, 2015-17.

Black Americans in the US South have high rates of preventable heart failure hospitalizations, which reflects systemic inequities that also produce economic costs. We measured the direct medical costs of disparities in preventable heart failure admissions (that is, excess admissions) among Medicare beneficiaries living in six states in the US South (Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina). We used 2015-17 data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project and constructed negative binomial models with state-level fixed effects to calculate adjusted admission rates with heart failure as the principal diagnosis.

Perceptions of wood in rivers and challenges for stream restoration in the United States.

This article reports a study of the public perception of large wood in rivers and streams in the United States. Large wood is an element of freshwater aquatic ecosystems that has attracted much scientific interest in recent years because of its value in biological and geomorphological processes. At the heart of the issue is the nature of the relationship between scientific recognition of the ecological and geomorphological benefits of wood in rivers, management practices utilizing wood for river remediation progress, and public perceptions of in-channel wood.

CLS advanced degrees and career enhancement. Part 2--A comparison of perceptions.

Objective: To determine whether recipients of clinical laboratory science (CLS) advanced degrees (MS) perceive greater career enhancement value related to earning an advanced degree than is perceived by their baccalaureate level (BS) colleagues.

Design: Two questionnaires were used-one for certified or licensed CLS professionals who had earned MS CLS degrees; the other for matched BS CLS colleagues.

Setting: Five academic programs that conduct both National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences accredited CLS education and CLS MS degree programs participated.

CLS advanced degrees and career enhancement. Part 1--Comparison of career data.

Objective: Determine whether recipients of clinical laboratory science (CLS) advanced degrees (MS) experience greater career achievements than their baccalaureate level (BS) colleagues.

Design: Two similar questionnaires were used-one for certified or licensed CLS professionals who had earned advanced CLS degrees (MS); the other for matched BS CLS colleagues.

Setting: Five academic programs that conduct both National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences accredited CLS education and CLS MS degree programs participated.

Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from tuberculosis patients with HIV infection or AIDS.

Contacts exposed to tuberculosis patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection were compared with contacts of HIV-negative patients for evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission, based on a review of records of tuberculin skin tests administered during routine health department follow-up investigations in Miami/Dade County, Florida, from 1985 through 1989. After an adjusted analysis designed to balance background prevalence, tuberculin positivity was 42.0% in 2,158 contacts of HIV-negative patients compared with 28.

Florida's tuberculosis epidemic. Public health response.

Florida ranked fourth in the nation with 1,707 tuberculosis cases reported in 1992 for a rate of 12.7 per 100,000 population. Thirteen percent of these patients had AIDS.

Blood groups in a marsupial (Monodelphis domestica).

We produced alloimmune sera against erythrocytes of the marsupial, Monodelphis domestica. By absorption fractionation, six operationally monospecific blood typing reagents (hemolysins) were prepared. Using segregation analyses, we found that each reagent detects a blood group antigen controlled by an autosomal dominant gene.

Pediatric tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus infection in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Objective: To describe the factors underlying an increasing incidence of tuberculosis in children.

Design: Descriptive case review.

Setting: Palm Beach County, Fla.

Surveillance and epidemiologic mapping of monoclonal antibody-defined rabies variants in Florida.

Brain tissues from 128 rabid animals from Florida in 1987 and 1988 were analyzed with monoclonal antibodies and cases were mapped by species and antigenic variant. The single variant found in terrestrial animals was distinguished easily from the variety of antigenic variants identified for infected bats, and there was no evidence of transmission of rabies between bats and terrestrial animals. The raccoon (Procyon lotor) appeared to be the sole maintenance source for terrestrial animal rabies in Florida.

Multiple sclerosis in Key West, Florida.

In 1984, a press release by a Miami, Florida, neurologist described a possible cluster of persons with multiple sclerosis in Key West, Florida. The authors examined the cluster using prevalence rates, which are recognized as having a latitudinal gradient for multiple sclerosis, being generally high at high latitudes and low at low latitudes. Case ascertainment showed 32 definite or probable cases among residents of the study area (latitude, 24.

Tuberculosis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome--Florida.

Florida reported 1858 cases of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and 8455 cases of tuberculosis from January 1, 1981, through October 31, 1986. Of the patients with AIDS, 159 (8.6%) also had tuberculosis, and 154 (1.

Epidemic campylobacteriosis associated with a community water supply.

In May 1983, an estimated 865 cases of epidemic gastrointestinal disease occurred in Greenville, Florida. Surveillance of pharmacy sales of antidiarrheal medicines suggested that the outbreak was confined to Greenville and its immediate vicinity. Surveys demonstrated that the gastrointestinal illness attack rates inside and outside the city limits were 56 per cent (72/128) and 9 per cent (7/77), respectively (relative risk (RR) = 6.

Persistence of rabies antibody in free-ranging raccoons.

The immune status of a wildlife population to rabies virus probably influences the occurrences of epizootics among that species in a given geographical area. This is not to say that enzootic transmission of the virus will not occur, but rather that attainment of epizootic levels may be hampered through herd immunity. After an epizootic of rabies in a raccoon population in the Fall of 1970, a serologic surveillance program was initiated from November 1970 through August 1974.

Specific spectrophotometry of ascorbic acid in serum or plasma by use of ascorbate oxidase.

We describe a specific enzymatic spectrophotometric method for ascorbic acid in serum or plasma. Samples are analyzed indirectly by measuring the absorbance at 593 nm of a reaction product, a complex of ferrous ion and 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-s-triazine (Fe2+-TPTZ). This product is formed by reduction of the corresponding ferric ion complex (Fe3+-TPTZ), which is nonspecifically reduced by various biological reducing agents under acidic conditions.