Innovative and beneficial informal sweetpotato seed private enterprise in northern Uganda.

Research conducted in the informal sweetpotato seed (vines) supply system in the Gulu region, northern Uganda (2013-2015) revealed a diverse set of actors using private enterprise in a range of selling and marketing channels. The different channels offer an efficient and effective marketing system, providing different services and conveniences for farmers at different prices. The actors include local vine multipliers, traders, dry season root farmers, transporters and town sellers.

Official blame for drivers with very low blood alcohol content: there is no safe combination of drinking and driving.

Background: Some laboratory studies find that driving is impaired even at blood alcohol content (BAC)=0.01%. However, no real-world traffic studies have investigated whether minimally 'buzzed' drivers (BAC=0.

The relationship between serious injury and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in fatal motor vehicle accidents: BAC = 0.01% is associated with significantly more dangerous accidents than BAC = 0.00%.

Aim: To analyze the severity of automotive injuries associated with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in increments of 0.01%.

Design/setting: Epidemiological study using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

Alcohol as a risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Aim: To test whether alcohol is a risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Design And Setting: US epidemiological study using computerized death certificates, linked birth and infant death dataset, and Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

Participants: All SIDS cases (n = 129,090) and other infant deaths (n = 295,151) from 1973-2006; all persons involved in late-night alcohol-related crashes (n = 135,946) from 1994-2008.

A July spike in fatal medication errors: a possible effect of new medical residents.

Background: Each July thousands begin medical residencies and acquire increased responsibility for patient care. Many have suggested that these new medical residents may produce errors and worsen patient outcomes-the so-called "July Effect;" however, we have found no U.S.

A steep increase in domestic fatal medication errors with use of alcohol and/or street drugs.

Background: Increasingly, medications are consumed outside of clinical settings, with relatively little professional oversight. Despite this trend, previous studies of medication errors have focused on clinical settings.

Methods: We examined all US death certificates from January 1, 1983, to December 31, 2004 (N = 49,586,156), particularly those with fatal medication errors (FMEs) (n = 224,355).

A spike in fatal medication errors at the beginning of each month.

At the beginning of each month, there is a spike in government payments to individuals, resulting in a beginning-of-the-month spike in purchases of prescription drugs and in increased pharmacy workloads. Studies suggest that pharmacy error rates increase with increased workloads. These facts raise an important and previously unanswered question: is there a spike in fatal medication errors at the beginning of each month? We examined all United States death certificates from 1979-2000 (> 47,000,000 deaths) and showed that medication error deaths for which the decedent was dead on arrival or died in the emergency room or as an outpatient spiked by 25% above normal at the beginning of each month.

Cardiac mortality is higher around Christmas and New Year's than at any other time: the holidays as a risk factor for death.

Background: Research published in Circulation has shown that cardiac mortality is highest during December and January. We investigated whether some of this spike could be ascribed to the Christmas/New Year's holidays rather than to climatic factors.

Methods And Results: We fitted a locally weighted polynomial regression line to daily mortality to estimate the number of deaths expected during the holiday period, using the null hypothesis that natural-cause mortality is unaffected by the Christmas/New Year's holidays.

Morbidity and mortality from medical errors: an increasingly serious public health problem.

From 1983 to 1998, U.S. fatalities from acknowledged prescription errors increased by 243%, from 2,876 to 9,856.