Statewide Linkage Study of Infection and Colorectal Cancer Incidence in Michigan, United States.

Objective: Nontyphoidal infection is one of the most common foodborne illnesses, and its oncogenic potential has been documented in animal models. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether individuals who were exposed to enteric infection are more likely to develop colorectal cancer (CRC) than the general population through the linkage of 2 statewide public health surveillance databases.

Materials And Methods: We designed a 2-stage probabilistic linkage, starting with 17,587 records of enteric salmonellosis reported to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services between 1992 and 2020.

Population-Level Study on Fetal Deaths and Preterm Births during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in the State of Michigan.

Objective: The aim of the study is to explore the effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic on preterm birth at different gestational ages and fetal death in the state of Michigan.

Study Design: Data on live births and fetal deaths in the state of Michigan from March to November in the years 2017 through 2020 were obtained from Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). Preterm birth rate, fetal death rate (per 1,000 live births) overall and stratified by race and maternal comorbidities during the period of pandemic (March-November 2020) were compared with the same period (March-November) in the prepandemic years (2017-2019).

Racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality across Michigan, United States.

Background: Black populations in the United States are being disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the increased mortality burden after accounting for health and other demographic characteristics is not well understood. We examined characteristics of individuals who died from COVID-19 in Michigan by race stratified by their age, sex and comorbidity prevalence to illustrate and understand this disparity in mortality risk.

Methods: We evaluate COVID-19 mortality in Michigan by demographic and health characteristics, using individual-level linked death certificate and surveillance data collected by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services from March 16 to October 26, 2020.

Exposure and potential effects of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in protected streams of the US National park Service southeast region.

Globally, protected areas offer refugia for a broad range of taxa including threatened and endangered species. In the United States (US), the National Park Service (NPS) manages public lands to preserve biodiversity, but increasing park visitation and development of surrounding landscapes increase exposure to and effects from bioactive contaminants. The risk (exposure and hazard) to NPS protected-stream ecosystems within the highly urbanized southeast region (SER) from bioactive contaminants was assessed in five systems based on 334 pesticide and pharmaceutical analytes in water and 119 pesticides in sediment.

Activation of Shigella flexneri type 3 secretion requires a host-induced conformational change to the translocon pore.

Type 3 secretion systems (T3SSs) are conserved bacterial nanomachines that inject virulence proteins (effectors) into eukaryotic cells during infection. Due to their ability to inject heterologous proteins into human cells, these systems are being developed as therapeutic delivery devices. The T3SS assembles a translocon pore in the plasma membrane and then docks onto the pore.

Topological Analysis of the Type 3 Secretion System Translocon Pore Protein IpaC following Its Native Delivery to the Plasma Membrane during Infection.

Many Gram-negative bacterial pathogens require a type 3 secretion system (T3SS) to deliver effector proteins into eukaryotic cells. Contact of the tip complex of the T3SS with a target eukaryotic cell initiates secretion of the two bacterial proteins that assemble into the translocon pore in the plasma membrane. The translocon pore functions to regulate effector protein secretion and is the conduit for effector protein translocation across the plasma membrane.

Building an Ontology for Identity Resolution in Healthcare and Public Health.

Unlabelled: Integration of disparate information from electronic health records, clinical data warehouses, birth certificate registries and other public health information systems offers great potential for clinical care, public health practice, and research. Such integration, however, depends on correctly matching patient-specific records using demographic identifiers. Without standards for these identifiers, record linkage is complicated by issues of structural and semantic heterogeneity.

Completing Death Certificates from an EMR: Analysis of a Novel Public-Private Partnership.

With the objective of increasing electronic death registration, Intermountain Healthcare and the Utah Office of Vital Records and Statistics have developed a system enabling death certification from within Intermountain's electronic medical record (EMR), consisting of an EMR module and an HL7 interface. Comparison of post-intervention death certification at Intermountain Healthcare against a baseline study found a slight increase in the percentage of deaths certified electronically (73% pre vs. 77% post).

Birth of identity: understanding changes to birth certificates and their value for identity resolution.

Introduction: Identity information is often used to link records within or among information systems in public health and clinical settings. The quality and stability of birth certificate identifiers impacts both the success of linkage efforts and the value of birth certificate registries for identity resolution.

Objective: Our objectives were to describe: (1) the frequency and cause of changes to birth certificate identifiers as children age, and (2) the frequency of events (ie, adoptions, paternities, amendments) that may trigger changes and their impact on names.

Electronic end-of-life care registry: the Utah ePOLST initiative.

As a patient's end-of-life approaches, it is typical for the disease to be the focus of treatment instead of the dying patient. There is limited congruence between the care preferred by patients and the treatment actually delivered to patients during their end-of-life. The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment Paradigm has been endorsed or is in development in all but three states and the District of Columbia in an effort to ensure that patients are provided with adequate opportunities to specify their end-of-life care preferences.

A focus area maturity model for a statewide master person index.

Objective: The sharing of personally identifiable information across organizational boundaries to facilitate patient identification in Utah presents significant policy challenges. Our objective was to create a focus area maturity model to describe and evaluate our progress in developing a policy framework to support a statewide master person index (sMPI) for healthcare and public health operations and research in Utah.

Materials And Methods: We used various artifacts, including minutes from policy guidance committee meetings over a span of 18 months, a report from Utah's Digital Health Services Commission, and a draft technical requirements document to retrospectively analyze our work and create a focus area maturity model describing the domain of policy needed to support the sMPI.

Population-based trends and correlates of maternal overweight and obesity, Utah 1991-2001.

Objective: This study aims to identify recent population-based trends in maternal overweight and obesity and adverse outcomes.

Study Design: Statewide retrospective cohort study of birth certificate data for live singleton births to women in Utah between 1991 and 2001.

Results: Prepregnancy overweight and obesity increased from 25.