Pipeline emergency preparedness in Nebraska: Identifying interagency preparedness gaps and proposing solutions.

In Nebraska, there are over 28,000 miles of pipelines that carry various materials, which could impact human health and the natural environment in the event of a leak or spill. Nebraska is heavily reliant on its expansive groundwater supply from the large High Plains aquifer system as well as smaller secondary aquifers. Eighty-eight percent of Nebraska's population utilizes groundwater for personal use, and the state's agricultural sector depends on it for irrigation and livestock care.

Existing Challenges and Opportunities for Advancing Drought and Health Research.

Purpose Of Review: Drought is one of the most far-reaching natural disasters, yet drought and health research is sparse. This may be attributed to the challenge of quantifying drought exposure, something complicated by multiple drought indices without any designed for health research. The purpose of this general review is to evaluate current drought and health literature and highlight challenges or scientific considerations when performing drought exposure and health assessments.

The effect of heterogeneous severe drought on all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the Northern Rockies and Plains of the United States.

Drought is a distinct and complicated climate hazard that regularly leads to severe economic impacts. Changes in the frequency and occurrence of drought due to anthropogenic climate change can lead to new and unanticipated outcomes. To better prepare for health outcomes, more research is needed to develop methodologies to understand potential consequences.

The Association between Drought Exposure and Respiratory-Related Mortality in the United States from 2000 to 2018.

Climate change has brought increasing attention to the assessment of health risks associated with climate and extreme events. Drought is a complex climate phenomenon that has been increasing in frequency and severity both locally and globally due to climate change. However, the health risks of drought are often overlooked, especially in places such as the United States, as the pathways to health impacts are complex and indirect.

Estimating the Burden of Heat-Related Illness Morbidity Attributable to Anthropogenic Climate Change in North Carolina.

Climate change is known to increase the frequency and intensity of hot days (daily maximum temperature ≥30°C), both globally and locally. Exposure to extreme heat is associated with numerous adverse human health outcomes. This study estimated the burden of heat-related illness (HRI) attributable to anthropogenic climate change in North Carolina physiographic divisions (Coastal and Piedmont) during the summer months from 2011 to 2016.

Evaluating the Sensitivity of Heat Wave Definitions among North Carolina Physiographic Regions.

Exposure to extreme heat is a known risk factor that is associated with increased heat-related illness (HRI) outcomes. The relevance of heat wave definitions (HWDs) could change across health conditions and geographies due to the heterogenous climate profile. This study compared the sensitivity of 28 HWDs associated with HRI emergency department visits over five summer seasons (2011−2016), stratified by two physiographic regions (Coastal and Piedmont) in North Carolina.

Associations of Emergency Department Visits for Asthma with Precipitation and Temperature on Thunderstorm Days: A Time-Series Analysis of Data from Louisiana, USA, 2010-2012.

Background: Studies of thunderstorm asthma to understand risk factors using high-resolution climate data and asthma outcomes on a large scale are scarce. Moreover, thunderstorm asthma is not well studied in the United States.

Objectives: We examined whether climate parameters involved in thunderstorms are associated with emergency department (ED) visits for acute asthma attacks in the United States.

Drought and all-cause mortality in Nebraska from 1980 to 2014: Time-series analyses by age, sex, race, urbanicity and drought severity.

Background: Climate change will increase drought duration and severity in many regions around the world, including the Central Plains of North America. However, studies on drought-related health impacts are still sparse. This study aims to explore the potential associations between drought and all-cause mortality in Nebraska from 1980 to 2014.

Evaluating Changes in Health Risk from Drought over the Contiguous United States.

The outcomes of drought can be difficult to assess due to the complexity of its effects. While most risk assessments of drought are developed for agriculture or water resources, the associations with human health are not well studied due to unclear and complex pathways. This study is the first to assess potential changes in health risk from droughts during the last decade in the contiguous United States.

Geospatial Distribution of Age-Adjusted Incidence of the Three Major Types of Pediatric Cancers and Waterborne Agrichemicals in Nebraska.

This study was conducted to examine, at the county level, the relationship between pediatric cancer incidence rate and atrazine and nitrate mean concentrations in surface and groundwater. A negative binomial regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between central nervous system (CNS) tumors, leukemia, lymphoma, and atrazine and nitrate mean concentrations in groundwater. The age-adjusted brain and other CNS cancer incidence was higher than the national average in 63% of the Nebraska counties.

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Pulmonary Conditions among Farmers and Ranchers in the Central United States.

This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors for work-related respiratory conditions (asthma, farmer's lung, sinusitis, rhinitis, and environmental allergies, diagnosed by a physician) among farm and ranch operators in the central US. A survey was conducted by the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH) in 2018, focusing on work-related injuries, illnesses, exposures, and preventive measures in a seven-state region (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota). Farms and ranches (n = 16,818) with an email address and annual sales exceeding $5,000 were randomly selected for the survey.

Low-Level Groundwater Atrazine in High Atrazine Usage Nebraska Counties: Likely Effects of Excessive Groundwater Abstraction.

Recent studies observed a correlation between estrogen-related cancers and groundwater atrazine in eastern Nebraska counties. However, the mechanisms of human exposure to atrazine are unclear because low groundwater atrazine concentration was observed in counties with high cancer incidence despite having the highest atrazine usage. We studied groundwater atrazine fate in high atrazine usage Nebraska counties.

Mapping Heat Vulnerability Index Based on Different Urbanization Levels in Nebraska, USA.

Heatwaves cause excess mortality and physiological impacts on humans throughout the world, and climate change will intensify and increase the frequency of heat events. Many adaptation and mitigation studies use spatial distribution of highly vulnerable local populations to inform heat reduction and response plans. However, most available heat vulnerability studies focus on urban areas with high heat intensification by Urban Heat Islands (UHIs).

The association between drought conditions and increased occupational psychosocial stress among U.S. farmers: An occupational cohort study.

Background: Drought represents a globally relevant natural disaster linked to adverse health. Evidence has shown agricultural communities to be particularly susceptible to drought, but there is a limited understanding of how drought may impact occupational stress in farmers.

Methods: We used repeated measures data collected in the Musculoskeletal Symptoms among Agricultural Workers Cohort study, including 498 Midwestern U.

Substance use disorders in the farming population: Scoping review.

Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review is to summarize the current knowledge base in order to make recommendations for prevention and treatment of substance use disorders among the farming populations.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed articles published between January 1989 and September 2019. The search yielded 3,426 citations and the final review was conducted on 42 articles.

Extreme Weather and Climate Change: Population Health and Health System Implications.

Extreme weather and climate events, such as heat waves, cyclones, and floods, are an expression of climate variability. These events and events influenced by climate change, such as wildfires, continue to cause significant human morbidity and mortality and adversely affect mental health and well-being. Although adverse health impacts from extreme events declined over the past few decades, climate change and more people moving into harm's way could alter this trend.

Public Health Policy Actions to Address Health Issues Associated with Drought in a Changing Climate.

Over the last century, droughts have caused more deaths internationally than any other weather- or climate-related disaster. Like other natural disasters, droughts cause significant changes in the environment that can lead to negative health outcomes. As droughts are becoming more frequent and intense with climate change, public health systems need to address impacts associated with these events.

Drought severity and all-cause mortality rates among adults in the United States: 1968-2014.

Background: Little is known about the effect of drought on all-cause mortality, especially in higher income countries such as the United States. As the frequency and severity of droughts are likely to increase, understanding the connections between drought and mortality becomes increasingly important.

Methods: Our exposure variable was an annual cumulative drought severity score based on the 1-month, county-level Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index.

An open challenge to advance probabilistic forecasting for dengue epidemics.

A wide range of research has promised new tools for forecasting infectious disease dynamics, but little of that research is currently being applied in practice, because tools do not address key public health needs, do not produce probabilistic forecasts, have not been evaluated on external data, or do not provide sufficient forecast skill to be useful. We developed an open collaborative forecasting challenge to assess probabilistic forecasts for seasonal epidemics of dengue, a major global public health problem. Sixteen teams used a variety of methods and data to generate forecasts for 3 epidemiological targets (peak incidence, the week of the peak, and total incidence) over 8 dengue seasons in Iquitos, Peru and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

PRECIPITATION AND FATAL MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES: Continental Analysis with High-Resolution Radar Data.

Precipitation, even at light intensity, contributes a significant risk of fatal motor vehicle crashes across the United States, at nearly all times of day, and in all seasons.

Climate research priorities for policy-makers, practitioners, and scientists in Georgia, USA.

Climate change has far-reaching effects on human and ecological systems, requiring collaboration across sectors and disciplines to determine effective responses. To inform regional responses to climate change, decision-makers need credible and relevant information representing a wide swath of knowledge and perspectives. The southeastern U.

Changes in extreme events and the potential impacts on human health.

Unlabelled: Extreme weather and climate-related events affect human health by causing death, injury, and illness, as well as having large socioeconomic impacts. Climate change has caused changes in extreme event frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution, and will continue to be a driver for change in the future. Some of these events include heat waves, droughts, wildfires, dust storms, flooding rains, coastal flooding, storm surges, and hurricanes.