Factors Associated with Mental Health Service Utilization Among Ethiopian Immigrants and Refugees.

This study assesses factors associated with mental health service utilization by Ethiopian immigrants and refugees in the U.S. A cross-sectional survey, based on Anderson and Newman's Framework of Health Services, which examines facilitators and barriers of service utilization, was implemented to gather data from 297 Ethiopian immigrants and refugees in the U.

Using qualitative methods to inform the design of a decision aid for people with advanced cystic fibrosis: The InformedChoices CF patient decision aid.

Objective: To assess information needs of adults with Cystic Fibrosis and their families toward designing a patient decision aid about invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and lung transplant.

Methods: Focus groups and in-depth interviews explored participants' knowledge, prior clinical conversations, and decisions about IMV and lung transplant. Interviews and focus groups were recorded and transcribed for analysis.

A Decision Aid to Support Shared Decision Making About Mechanical Ventilation in Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients (InformedTogether): Feasibility Study.

Background: Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease patients are often unprepared to make decisions about accepting intubation for respiratory failure. We developed a Web-based decision aid, InformedTogether, to facilitate severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease patients' preparation for decision making about whether to accept invasive mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure.

Objective: We describe feasibility testing of the InformedTogether decision aid.

The KAP evaluation of intervention on fall-induced injuries among elders in a safe community in Shanghai, China.

Background: To evaluate the effect of an intervention on fall induced injuries of elderly people in a safe-community in Shanghai and to discuss an intervention model that is proper for the community to generalize.

Methodology/principal Findings: Five neighborhood areas in a Safe Community were purposively selected. All individuals aged 60 years or over in five neighborhoods were prospective participants.

Contraception use and associations with intimate partner violence among women in Bangladesh.

This study examines the association between contraception use and intimate partner violence (IPV) among women of reproductive age in Bangladesh. The observational study of 10,996 women used the chi-squared test and logistic regressions to assess the associations. Almost 80% of all respondents had used contraceptives at some point in their lives.

Umbilical cord-cutting practices and place of delivery in Bangladesh.

Objective: To investigate place of delivery, umbilical cord-cutting instruments used, and substances applied to the cord stump in Bangladesh.

Methods: A cross-sectional data analysis was performed on a nationally representative sample of 4925 women of reproductive age (15-49 years) with at least 1 child.

Results: More than 80% of women delivered at home.

Assessing the ecotoxicologic hazards of a pandemic influenza medical response.

Background: The global public health community has closely monitored the unfolding of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic to best mitigate its impact on society. However, little attention has been given to the impact of this response on the environment. Antivirals and antibiotics prescribed to treat influenza are excreted into wastewater in a biologically active form, which presents a new and potentially significant ecotoxicologic challenge to microorganisms responsible for wastewater nutrient removal in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and receiving rivers.

Biofilm formation in environmental bacteria is influenced by different macromolecules depending on genus and species.

The formation of biofilms by diverse bacteria isolated from contaminated soil and groundwater on model substrata with different surface properties was assessed in a multifactorial screen. Diverse attachment phenotypes were observed as measured by crystal violet dye retention and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Bulk measurements of cell hydrophobicity had little predictive ability in determining whether biofilms would develop on hydrophobic or hydrophilic substrata.

The polymer physics and chemistry of microbial cell attachment and adhesion.

The attachment of microbial cells to solid substrata is a primary ecological strategy for the survival of species and the development of specific activity and function within communities. An hypothesis arising from a biological sciences perspective may be stated as follows: The attachment of microbes to interfaces is controlled by the macromolecular structure of the cell wall and the functional genes that are induced for its biological synthesis. Following logically from this is the view that diverse attached cell behaviour is mediated by the physical and chemical interactions of these macromolecules in the interfacial region and with other cells.

Construction of artificially structured microbial consortia (ASMC) using dielectrophoresis: examining bacterial interactions via metabolic intermediates within environmental biofilms.

The construction of artificial biofilms with defined internal architectures is described. Bacterial cells are suspended in a low conductivity medium, guided to specific areas in a microelectrode array by dielectrophoresis (DEP), and then immobilised using the flocculating agent poly(ethylenimine). Multispecies biofilms can be constructed by introducing different species at different times.

Towards microbial tissue engineering?

Tissue engineering involves the creation of multicellular tissues from individual cells. It was previously perceived that tissues were only formed by higher organisms such as plants and animals. However, it is now known that multicellular systems of microorganisms, such as microbial colonies, biofilms, flocs and aggregates, can also show extensive spatial organization.