Can self-testing be enhanced to hasten safe return of healthcare workers in pandemics? Random order, open label trial using two manufacturers' SARS-CoV-2 lateral flow devices concurrently and nested viral culture study.

Background: Covid-19 healthcare worker testing, isolation and quarantine policies had to balance risks to patients from the virus and from staff absence. The emergence of the Omicron variant led to dangerous levels of key-worker absence globally. We evaluated whether using two manufacturers' lateral flow tests (LFTs) concurrently improved SARS-CoV-2 Omicron detection significantly and was acceptable to hospital staff.

COVID-19 risk mitigation in reopening mass cultural events: population-based observational study for the UK Events Research Programme in Liverpool City Region.

Objectives: To understand severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission risks, perceived risks and the feasibility of risk mitigations from experimental mass cultural events before coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions were lifted.

Design: Prospective, population-wide observational study.

Setting: Four events (two nightclubs, an outdoor music festival and a business conference) open to Liverpool City Region UK residents, requiring a negative lateral flow test (LFT) within the 36 h before the event, but not requiring social distancing or face-coverings.

The association of forced expiratory volume in one second with occupational exposures in a longitudinal study of adults in a rural community in Iowa.

Purpose: The Keokuk County Rural Health Study (KCRHS) is a longitudinal population-based study conducted in rural Iowa. A prior analysis of enrollment data identified an association of airflow obstruction with occupational exposures only among cigarette smokers. The current study used spirometry data from all three rounds to investigate whether level of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV) and longitudinal change in FEV were associated with occupational vapor-gas, dust, and fumes (VGDF) exposures, and whether these associations were modified by smoking.

The association of chronic bronchitis and airflow obstruction with lifetime and current farm activities in a sample of rural adults in Iowa.

Objective: Farmers have an increased risk for chronic bronchitis and airflow obstruction. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of these health outcomes with farm activities.

Methods: We evaluated the Keokuk County Rural Health Study (KCRHS) enrollment data for farm activities and the two health outcomes chronic bronchitis based on self-reported symptoms and airflow obstruction based on spirometry.

An Economic Evaluation of the Impact of Using Rapport-Based Interviewing Approaches With Child Sexual Abuse Suspects.

Two studies examined whether rapport-based interviewing with child sexual abuse (CSA) suspects provides greater interview yield that could result in overall cost-savings to the investigation. First, multi-level modelling was applied to 35 naturalistic CSA suspect interviews to establish whether rapport-based interviewing techniques increase "yield" - defined as information of investigative value. The Observing Rapport Based Interviewing Technique (ORBIT coding manual was used to code interviews; it includes an assessment of both interpersonal adaptive and maladaptive rapport-based interviewer engagement as well as motivational interviewing (MI) strategies.

Workplace indoor environmental quality and asthma-related outcomes in healthcare workers.

Background: Asthma-related health outcomes are known to be associated with indoor moisture and renovations. The objective of this study was to estimate the frequency of these indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors in healthcare facilities and their association with asthma-related outcomes among workers.

Methods: New York City healthcare workers (n = 2030) were surveyed regarding asthma-related symptoms, and moisture and renovation factors at work and at home during the last 12 months.

Facilitators and barriers to effective information sharing during international disaster response.

Effective information sharing is essential for the successful management of disasters. But as 30 years' worth of UK public inquiries repeatedly highlight, differences in terminology and goals across agencies can make this difficult to achieve. The growing scale and intensity of disasters raises additional challenges, with emergency responders being required to work across regions and even countries.

Clustering asthma symptoms and cleaning and disinfecting activities and evaluating their associations among healthcare workers.

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease with varying severity and subtypes. Recent reviews of epidemiologic studies have identified cleaning and disinfecting activities (CDAs) as important risk factors for asthma-related outcomes among healthcare workers. However, the complexity of CDAs in healthcare settings has rarely been examined.

Occupation and task as risk factors for asthma-related outcomes among healthcare workers in New York City.

Background: Previous studies have suggested an association of asthma onset and exacerbation with cleaning and disinfecting activities in a number of industries, including healthcare. The objective of the current study was to investigate the association of asthma and related outcomes with occupations and tasks in urban healthcare workers in the United States.

Methods: A questionnaire was implemented in a sample of workers from nine healthcare occupations in New York City.

Information sharing in interteam responses to disaster.

Unlabelled: Research demonstrates that information sharing is facilitated by familiarity, and having a common understanding of problems, use of lexicon, and semantic meaning. These factors can be difficult to develop within extreme environments such as disasters as members of the multi-agency system that responds often have limited experience of working together. Public inquiries repeatedly highlight the impact of information sharing difficulties on public safety, but limited academic research has focused on identifying concrete behaviours that facilitate interteam information sharing within such environments.

Exposures to Volatile Organic Compounds among Healthcare Workers: Modeling the Effects of Cleaning Tasks and Product Use.

Objectives: Use of cleaning and disinfecting products is associated with work-related asthma among healthcare workers, but the specific levels and factors that affect exposures remain unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the determinants of selected volatile organic compound (VOC) exposures in healthcare settings.

Methods: Personal and mobile-area air measurements (n = 143) from 100 healthcare workers at four hospitals were used to model the determinants of ethanol, acetone, 2-propanol, d-limonene, α-pinene, and chloroform exposures.

Occupational Exposure to Vapor-Gas, Dust, and Fumes in a Cohort of Rural Adults in Iowa Compared with a Cohort of Urban Adults.

Problem/condition: Many rural residents work in the field of agriculture; however, employment in nonagricultural jobs also is common. Because previous studies in rural communities often have focused on agricultural workers, much less is known about the occupational exposures in other types of jobs in rural settings. Characterizing airborne occupational exposures that can contribute to respiratory diseases is important so that differences between rural and urban working populations can be assessed.

Characterization of cleaning and disinfecting tasks and product use among hospital occupations.

Background: Healthcare workers have an elevated prevalence of asthma and related symptoms associated with the use of cleaning/disinfecting products. The objective of this study was to identify and characterize cleaning/disinfecting tasks and products used among hospital occupations.

Methods: Workers from 14 occupations at five hospitals were monitored for 216 shifts, and work tasks and products used were recorded at five-minute intervals.

Indoor and outdoor particulate matter and endotoxin concentrations in an intensely agricultural county.

The objectives of this study were to characterize rural populations' indoor and outdoor exposure to particulate matter (PM)(10), PM(2.5), and endotoxin and identify factors that influence these concentrations. Samples were collected at 197 rural households over five continuous days between 2007 and 2011.

Effects of common agricultural tasks on measures of hearing loss.

Background: Among agricultural populations, hearing loss caused by excessive noise exposure is common. However, examinations of associations between exposure to agricultural tasks and hearing loss are limited.

Methods: Audiometry and lifetime exposure to 11 agricultural tasks were analyzed among 1,568 participants.

Noise exposures of rural adolescents.

Purpose: This project was conducted to characterize the noise exposure of adolescents living in rural and agricultural environments.

Methods: From May to October, 25 adolescents ages 13 through 17, living either on a farm or a rural nonfarm, were enrolled in the study. Subjects received training on the correct operation and use of personal noise dosimeters and the proper way to record their daily tasks on activity cards.

Occupational noise exposure assessment in intensive swine farrowing systems: dosimetry, octave band, and specific task analysis.

The scientific literature is lacking in published agricultural noise assessments for employees of swine confinement facilities that have included dosimeter data, octave band analysis, or specific task exposure assessments. This study reports on the former three types of noise assessments in the farrowing stage of swine. Dosimeter data on workers revealed all assessments to be greater than 90 decibels measured on the A-scale (dBA), which exceeds the 85 dBA National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Recommended Exposure Limit (REL).