A novel contaminant in museums? A cross-sectional study on xerophilic Aspergillus growth in climate-controlled repositories.

In the last decade, extensive fungal growth has developed in Danish museums parallel to climate change, challenging occupational health and heritage preservation. The growth was unexpected as the museums strived to control relative humidity below 60 %, and it should exceed 75 % to risk growth. A Danish case study found xerophilic Aspergillus species able to grow at low relative humidity in a museum repository.

Designing and executing a functional exercise to test a novel informatics tool for mass casualty triage.

Objective: The testing of informatics tools designed for use during mass casualty incidents presents a unique problem as there is no readily available population of victims or identical exposure setting. The purpose of this article is to describe the process of designing, planning, and executing a functional exercise to accomplish the research objective of validating an informatics tool specifically designed to identify and triage victims of irritant gas syndrome agents.

Materials And Methods: During a 3-year time frame, the research team and partners developed the Emergency Department Informatics Computational Tool and planned a functional exercise to test it using medical records data from 298 patients seen in 1 emergency department following a chlorine gas exposure in 2005.

Data Capture and Analysis of Signs and Symptoms in a Chemically Exposed Population.

This manuscript provides a practical case study to demonstrate data collection from paper-based medical records so that the occurrence of specific signs/symptoms indicative of a chemical exposure can be studied.

Validating Signs and Symptoms From An Actual Mass Casualty Incident to Characterize An Irritant Gas Syndrome Agent (IGSA) Exposure: A First Step in The Development of a Novel IGSA Triage Algorithm.

Contribution To Emergency Nursing Practice: • Chemical exposures daily pose a significant threat to life. Rapid assessment by first responders/emergency nurses is required to reduce death and disability. Currently, no informatics tools for Irritant Gas Syndrome Agents (IGSA) exposures exist to process victims efficiently, continuously monitor for latent signs/symptoms, or make triage recommendations.

Hydrolysis of Baltic amber during thermal ageing--an infrared spectroscopic approach.

To enable conservation of amber in museums, understanding of chemical changes is crucial. While oxidation has been investigated particularly well for this natural polymer, further degradation phenomena in relation to humidity and pollutants are poorly studied or still unknown. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was explored with regard to Baltic amber.

Evidence concerning oxidation as a surface reaction in Baltic amber.

The aim of this study was to provide evidence about oxidation as a surface reaction during degradation of Baltic amber. A clear understanding of the amber-oxygen interaction modalities is essential to develop conservation techniques for museum collections of amber objects. Pellet-shaped samples, obtained from pressed amber powder, were subjected to accelerated thermal ageing.

Influence of partial coherence on analyzer-based imaging with asymmetric Bragg reflection.

Image magnification via twofold asymmetric Bragg reflection (a setup called the "Bragg Magnifier") is a recently established technique allowing to achieve both sub-micrometer spatial resolution and phase contrast in X-ray imaging. The present article extends a previously developed theoretical formalism to account for partially coherent illumination. At a typical synchrotron setup polychromatic illumination is identified as the main influence of partial coherence and the implications on imaging characteristics are analyzed by numerical simulations.

Resilience and challenges among staff of gulf coast nursing homes sheltering frail evacuees following Hurricane Katrina, 2005: implications for planning and training.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to: (1) explore experiences and responses of staff in caring for sheltered, frail, Hurricane Katrina evacuees; and (2) identify how planning and training can be enhanced for staff who may care for frail older populations during and after disasters.

Methods: Individual, in-person, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 staff members in four nursing homes in Mississippi, sheltering 109 evacuees in November 2005, nine weeks after Hurricane Katrina. Twenty-four were direct care staff, including certified nursing assistants, licensed nurses, dietary aides, and social workers; 14 were support staff, including maintenance and business managers.

Evaluation of online disaster and emergency preparedness resources.

Introduction: Increasingly, individuals are relying on the Internet as a major source of health information. When faced with sudden or pending disasters, people resort to the Internet in search of clear, current, and accurate instructions on how to prepare for and respond to such emergencies. Research about online health resources ascertained that information was written at the secondary education and college levels and extremely difficult for individuals with limited literacy to comprehend.

Providing shelter to nursing home evacuees in disasters: lessons from Hurricane Katrina.

Objectives: We examined nursing home preparedness needs by studying the experiences of nursing homes that sheltered evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

Methods: Five weeks after Hurricane Katrina, and again 15 weeks later, we conducted interviews with administrators of 14 nursing homes that sheltered 458 evacuees in 4 states. Nine weeks after Katrina, we conducted site visits to 4 nursing homes and interviewed 4 administrators and 38 staff members.

Protecting nursing home residents during emergencies or disasters: an exploratory study from South Carolina.

Purpose: This is an exploratory study of nursing home preparedness in South Carolina intended to: (1) examine nursing home administrators' perceptions of disaster preparedness in their facility in the absence of an immediate emergency or disaster, and changes in their views about preparedness following a large disaster; (2) study whether administrators' knowledge of shortcomings in preparedness leads them to change their views about planning; and (3) suggest ways to enhance preparedness.

Methods: A descriptive survey based on interviews with public officials responsible for nursing home safety was developed and mailed to all 192 licensed nursing homes in South Carolina in July 2005, and an extensive literature review was performed. As responses to the baseline survey were received, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.

Coastal terrorism: using tabletop discussions to enhance coastal community infrastructure through relationship building.

The unique vulnerability of the nation's ports to terrorist attacks and other major disasters requires development of specialized training approaches that integrate and connect critical stakeholders. In 2003, the University of South Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness developed and held its first Coastal Terrorism workshop in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Key federal, regional, state, and coastal agency leaders were invited to the 2-day event to explore, in a no-risk environment, the crucial role that public health agencies would play in a covert biological agent incident aboard a cruise ship.

Emergency preparedness academy adds public health to readiness equation.

From November 2003 to May 2004, the University of South Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control co-sponsored a 6-month-long Academy for Public Health Emergency Preparedness. Six-member teams made up of public health staff and community partner representatives (N = 78) attended from their respective health districts. The Academy consisted of three 6-day training sessions designed to prepare the teams to complete a team-based covert biological bioterrorism tabletop exercise.