Gestational Hormone Concentrations Are Associated With Timing of Delivery in a Fetal Sex-Dependent Manner.

Background: Early delivery remains a significant public health problem that has long-lasting impacts on mother and child. Understanding biological mechanisms underlying timing of labor, including endocrine disruption, can inform prevention efforts.

Methods: Gestational hormones were measured among 976 women in PROTECT, a longitudinal birth cohort in Puerto Rico.

Preterm birth and PM in Puerto Rico: evidence from the PROTECT birth cohort.

Background: Preterm birth (PTB, birth before 37 weeks of gestation) has been associated with adverse health outcomes across the lifespan. Evidence on the association between PTB and prenatal exposure to air pollutants is inconsistent, and is especially lacking for ethnic/racial minority populations.

Methods: We obtained data on maternal characteristics and behaviors and PTB and other birth outcomes for women participating in the Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT) cohort, who lived in municipalities located along the North Coast of Puerto Rico.

Correction to: International prospective observational cohort study of Zika in infants and pregnancy (ZIP study): study protocol.

Following publication of the original article [1], the author mentioned that two additional NIH staff were involved in the development of the protocol who did not receive recognition in the Acknowledgments section in their published article.

International prospective observational cohort study of Zika in infants and pregnancy (ZIP study): study protocol.

Background: Until recently, Zika virus (ZIKV) infections were considered mild and self-limiting. Since 2015, they have been associated with an increase in microcephaly and other birth defects in newborns. While this association has been observed in case reports and epidemiological studies, the nature and extent of the relationship between ZIKV and adverse pregnancy and pediatric health outcomes is not well understood.

Community Engagement and Research Translation in Puerto Rico's Northern Karst Region: The PROTECT Superfund Research Program.

We describe here the social science-environmental health collaboration in PROTECT, the Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats, which is one of eighteen Superfund Research Program centers funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This collaboration has multiple facets: (1) create a holistic, unified research program that addresses the complexity of environmental contamination, (2) offer research participants an engaged and respectful interaction with the research team, (3) provide cross-training, in which the team's social scientists learn environmental health and the environmental health scientists learn social science, and (4) provide training for graduate students and post-docs in multiple disciplines in this burgeoning form of collaboration.

Increasing opportunistic oral cancer screening examinations: findings from focus groups with general dentists in Puerto Rico.

This study aims to identify educational and training modalities that dentists in Puerto Rico (PR) believe will increase the quality and quantity of opportunistic oral cancer screening examinations (OCS) in dental offices on the island. The study was conducted in three phases: a systematic search of relevant literature, an expert review and consensus panel, and focus groups (FG) involving PR general dentists. To increase OCS by dentists in PR, the FG participants proposed a small group, hands-on OCS training, an integrated oral cancer course, and readily available videos, photographs, and computer simulations to further demonstrate OCS performance and facilitate differential diagnosis.