Rapid Detection and Classification of Salmonella enterica Shedding in Feedlot Cattle Utilizing the Roka Bioscience Atlas Salmonella Detection Assay for the Analysis of Rectoanal Mucosal Swabs.

With an increasing focus on preharvest food safety, rapid methods are required for the detection and quantification of foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella enterica in beef cattle. We validated the Atlas Salmonella Detection Assay (SEN), a nucleic acid amplification technology that targets Salmonella rRNA, for the qualitative detection of S. enterica with sample enrichment using immunomagnetic separation as a reference test, and we further evaluated its accuracy to predict pathogen load using SEN signal-to-cutoff (SCO) values from unenriched samples to classify animals as high or nonhigh shedders.

Method Modification for the Atlas Environmental LE Detection Assay Using FoodChek Actero Enrichment Media and Half-Fraser Media for the Detection of spp. from Environmental Surfaces.

Two candidate method modifications for the Atlas Listeria Environmental LE Detection Assay were compared with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Food Safety and Inspection Service Microbiology Laboratory Guidebook 8.

Tracking health and the environment: a pilot test of environmental public health indicators.

Examining the relationship between health outcomes and environmental exposures requires summary measures, or indicators. To advance the use of indicators, the Johns Hopkins Center for Excellence in Environmental Public Health Tracking piloted three pairs of indicators: 1) air toxics and leukemia in New Jersey, 2) mercury emissions and fish advisories in the United States, and 3) urban sprawl and obesity in New Jersey. These analyses illustrate the feasibility of creating environmental hazard, exposure, and health outcome indicators, examining their temporal and geographic trends, and identifying their temporal and geographic relationships.

A review of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening interventions in older women.

Although cancer-screening guidelines recommend periodic testing for women 50 years of age and older, these tests are underused. A search of databases identified 156 community-based breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening intervention studies published before April 2003. Most were conducted in the United States.

Assessing cardiovascular reactivity in working women with the social competence interview.

The Social Competence Interview (SCI), an interview to induce cardiovascular reactivity through recounting a stressful life experience, was used with a sample of 120 working women employed as childcare providers. Women recounted their most stressful work factor while cardiovascular reactions were monitored at 2-minute intervals (data points included 4 baseline, 6 SCI, and 3 recovery). Increases were found when comparing mean baseline and SCI measures: systolic blood pressure (SBP) increased 10.