Climate change, human health, and biomedical research: analysis of the National Institutes of Health research portfolio.

Background: According to a wide variety of analyses and projections, the potential effects of global climate change on human health are large and diverse. The U.S.

Research opportunities for cancer associated with indoor air pollution from solid-fuel combustion.

Background: Indoor air pollution (IAP) derived largely from the use of solid fuels for cooking and heating affects about 3 billion people worldwide, resulting in substantial adverse health outcomes, including cancer. Women and children from developing countries are the most exposed populations. A workshop was held in Arlington, Virginia, 9-11 May 2011, to better understand women's and children's potential health effects from IAP in developing countries.

Evidence-based clinical recommendations regarding screening for oral squamous cell carcinomas.

Background: This article presents evidence-based clinical recommendations developed by a panel convened by the American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs. This report addresses the potential benefits and potential risks of screening for oral squamous cell carcinomas and the use of adjunctive screening aids to visualize and detect potentially malignant and malignant oral lesions.

Types Of Studies Reviewed: The panel members conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE, identifying 332 systematic reviews and 1,499 recent clinical studies.

Frontiers in cancer epidemiology: a challenge to the research community from the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program at the National Cancer Institute.

The Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is developing scientific priorities for cancer epidemiology research in the next decade. We would like to engage the research community and other stakeholders in a planning effort that will include a workshop in December 2012 to help shape new foci for cancer epidemiology research. To facilitate the process of defining the future of cancer epidemiology, we invite the research community to join in an ongoing web-based conversation at http://blog-epi.

Epigenetic Contributions to the Relationship between Cancer and Dietary Intake of Nutrients, Bioactive Food Components, and Environmental Toxicants.

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression that occur without a change in DNA sequence. Cancer is a multistep process derived from combinational crosstalk between genetic alterations and epigenetic influences through various environmental factors. The observation that epigenetic changes are reversible makes them an attractive target for cancer prevention.

Cancer and environment: definitions and misconceptions.

Background: Scientific evidence supports an association between environmental exposures and cancer. However, a reliable estimate for the proportion of cancers attributable to environmental factors is currently unavailable. This may be related to the varying definitions of the term "environment.

Evidence-based clinical recommendations regarding screening for oral squamous cell carcinomas.

Background: This article presents evidence-based clinical recommendations developed by a panel convened by the American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs. This report addresses the potential benefits and potential risks of screening for oral squamous cell carcinomas and the use of adjunctive screening aids to visualize and detect potentially malignant and malignant oral lesions.

Types Of Studies Reviewed: The panel members conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE, identifying 332 systematic reviews and 1,499 recent clinical studies.

The effect of an international embargo on malnutrition and childhood mortality in rural Haiti.

The study objective was to determine the effect of an international embargo against Haiti, from October 1991 through October 1994, on early childhood protein-energy malnutrition and all-cause mortality in a geographic area where humanitarian aid was continuously available to the children in the study. The authors used longitudinal anthropometric records on 1593 children, 24 months old or younger, living in the rural Grand Anse Department of Haiti from 1989 through 1996. Kaplan-Meier graphs for all-cause mortality accounting for malnutrition status and stratified by calendar period were applied to the database and assessed using logrank tests.

The military oral health care system as a model for eliminating disparities in oral health.

Background: Healthy People (HP) 2010 is a national health promotion and disease prevention initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dental insurance and clinical dental outcomes in NHANES III.

Objectives: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) 1988-1994 is one of the few nationally representative data sets with information on both private dental insurance and a clinical dental exam. The objective of this analysis was to examine the possible associations between private dental insurance and clinical exam outcomes, demographic variables, and dental visits.

Methods: Using NHANES III data, analysis was limited to persons aged 20 years or older who had a dental exam and reported on their private dental insurance status.

Continuity of care and early diagnosis of head and neck cancer.

This study investigated whether receiving continuous regular care with the same primary care provider had an independent association with stage at diagnosis for head and neck cancers (HNCA) in a Medicare population. The study database (N = 10,662) linked files from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program 1991-2000 for patients with cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx with their files from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Program. Continuity of care displayed a statistically significant independent association and dose-response pattern with stage at diagnosis when the provider was an internist but not a general or family physician.

Dental visits among smoking and nonsmoking US adults in 2000.

Objective: To examine dental visits among smoking and nonsmoking adults in a nationally representative sample.

Methods: Logistic regression analysis was performed, using a sample of 15,250 US adults from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component 2000.

Results: Current smokers were less likely to report dental visits (32.

Comorbidity and early diagnosis of head and neck cancer in a Medicare population.

Background: This study assessed potential opportunities for an early diagnosis of head and neck cancers (HNCA), and the role played by comorbidity, among contacts by Medicare patients with the healthcare system before their diagnosis. Comorbidity was hypothesized to affect the relationship between use of healthcare services and stage of disease.

Methods: The study database (n =11,312) was constructed by linking files from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program 1991 through 1999 and those of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Program.

Dental visits among older U.S. adults, 1999: the roles of dentition status and cost.

Background: The proportion of older adults in the United States will continue to grow during the next few decades. Aging populations will bring unique challenges to dentistry. Understanding dental visit patterns will help the profession become prepared.

Race/ethnicity and untreated dental caries: the impact of material and behavioral factors.

Objective: To use nationally representative data, group variables into categories of material and behavioral factors, and assess their relative contribution to racial/ethnic variation in untreated caries.

Methods: Participants were from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), aged 20-50 years. Material factors were income, education, employment status, dental insurance status, and urban residence.

Dental insurance visits and expenditures among older adults.

Objectives: We examined the effect of age, income, and coverage on dental service utilization during 1996.

Methods: We used data from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Results: Edentulous and poorer older adults are less likely to have coverage and less likely to report a dental visit than dentate or wealthier older adults.

Special Olympics: the oral health status of U.S. athletes compared with international athletes.

The Healthy Athletes Special Smiles Program provides oral health screening and data collection for athletes with mental retardation who are participating in Special Olympic events. Recently, data regarding international athletes have become available for the first time, allowing a comparison against data collected in the United States. The international athletes from the countries of China, Lebanon, Poland, South Africa, and Turkey were generally younger than those of the United States (mean age 17.

A comparison of health professions student attitudes regarding tobacco curricula and interventionist roles.

Health care providers who feel prepared are more apt to assume tobacco interventionist roles; therefore, educational preparation is critical. A nonprobability sample of health professions students at an urban academic health center were asked to respond to a twenty-two-item survey eliciting demographic, behavioral, and tobacco-related attitudinal information. Frequency distributions were assessed with Pearson chi-square statistics.

Cigarette smoking, periodontal disease: and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a significant risk factor for both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and periodontal disease. The goal of this study was to better understand the role of smoking in a possible relationship between periodontal disease and COPD.

Methods: The study population consisted of 7,625 participants in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) during 1988-1994 who were aged 30 years or older when examined and who received a spirometric examination.

Prevalence and predictors of untreated caries and oral pain among Special Olympic athletes.

The authors assessed the prevalence and predictors of untreated caries and oral pain among Special Olympic athletes. The study population consisted of a convenience sample of 9,620 athletes who were participating in the 2001 Special Olympics events held at 40 sites in the United States, and who consented to a standardized oral health screening. The prevalence of oral pain and untreated caries was 13.

Opportunities for oral cancer screening among older African-American women.

Background: Older persons with smoking histories are important targets for oral cancer screening. Although older persons in low-income communities often lack regular dental care, little is known about the characteristics of groups at greatest risk for poor screening.

Methods: Survey data from 576 African-American women aged 45-93 were used to identify predictors of smoking and recency and type of dental care.

Oral cancer examinations among adults at high risk: findings from the 1998 National Health Interview Survey.

Objectives: Cigarette smoking and alcohol use are risk factors for oral and pharyngeal cancer. Recommendations for periodic oral cancer examinations highlight the importance of examining high-risk smokers and alcohol users. This investigation assessed whether cigarette smoking and alcohol use were associated with receipt of an oral cancer examination.

Epidemiologic risk factors for periodontal attachment loss among adults in the United States.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify variables related to periodontal loss of attachment (LOA).

Materials And Methods: The study population consisted of a nationally representative sample of 12,325 US adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. The analyses used survey multinomial logistic regression to account for the complex survey design.

The role of cigarette smoking in the association between periodontal disease and coronary heart disease.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a significant risk factor for both coronary heart disease and periodontal disease. The goal of this study was to better understand the role of smoking in the relationship between periodontal disease and heart attack history.

Methods: The study population consisted of 5,285 participants in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) during 1988-1994 and who were age 40 years or older when examined.