Case-control study of student-perpetrated physical violence against educators.

Purpose: Although prior research focused primarily on student-on-student school violence, educators are also at risk. This study was designed to identify risk factors for assaults against educators.

Methods: Kindergarten-grade 12 educators (n = 26,000), randomly selected from a state license database, were screened for eligibility (6,469, eligible) by mailed questionnaire.

Long-term mortality after screening for colorectal cancer.

Background: In randomized trials, fecal occult-blood testing reduces mortality from colorectal cancer. However, the duration of the benefit is unknown, as are the effects specific to age and sex.

Methods: In the Minnesota Colon Cancer Control Study, 46,551 participants, 50 to 80 years of age, were randomly assigned to usual care (control) or to annual or biennial screening with fecal occult-blood testing.

Violence against educators: a population-based study.

Objective: Identify the magnitude and risk factors for occupational physical assault (PA) and nonphysical violence (NPV) against Minnesota educators.

Methods: Among 26,000 randomly selected licensed kindergarten to grade 12 educators, 6469 eligible educators reported whether they experienced PA or NPV during the prior year. Multiple logistic regression models were based on directed acyclic graphs.

Interaction of CYP1B1, cigarette-smoke carcinogen metabolism, and lung cancer risk.

A previously published case-control study nested in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial found a significant relationship of serum levels of total NNAL (4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol and its glucuronides) to prospective lung cancer risk. The present paper examines this relationship in the context of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes important in the metabolism of tobacco smoke carcinogens. DNA was extracted from the subjects' lymphocytes and analyzed for SNPs in 11 locations on four genes related to tobacco carcinogen metabolism.

Recruitment methods employed in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.

Background: The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) is a US National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate whether certain screening tests reduce mortality from prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian cancer. To obtain adequate statistical power, it was necessary to enroll over 150,000 healthy volunteers. Recruitment began in 1993 and ended in 2001.

A prospectively measured serum biomarker for a tobacco-specific carcinogen and lung cancer in smokers.

Background: No prior studies have related a tobacco-specific carcinogen to the risk of lung cancer in smokers. Of the over 60 known carcinogens in cigarette smoke, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) is specific to tobacco and causes lung cancer in laboratory animals. Its metabolites, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol and its glucuronides (total NNAL), have been studied as biomarkers of exposure to NNK.

Asthma, atopy, and lung function among racially diverse, poor inner-urban Minneapolis schoolchildren.

As part of an assessment of schoolchildren's environmental exposures and health, a probability sample of 136 children from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds was drawn from grades 2-5 of two inner-urban Minneapolis schools (Whittier, Lyndale). Questionnaires were administered to a parent/guardian; blood samples for IgE and lung function tests were obtained. Overall adjusted rates for lifetime asthma (15.

Risk factors for work-related assaults on nurses.

Background: Work-related homicides have been the subject of considerable study, but little is known about nonfatal violence and relevant risk factors.

Methods: We surveyed 6300 Minnesota nurses who were selected randomly from the 1998 licensing database and determined their employment and occupational violence experience. In a nested case-control study, we examined environmental exposures and physical assault.

Impact of training on work-related assault.

Although training is often recommended as a part of a comprehensive approach to address occupational violence, little empirical literature exists to support this recommendation. Over 40% of nurses responding to the Minnesota Nurses Study reported being trained about occupational violence, involving seven different training topics. Although at the univariate level, an increased risk was identified for nurses trained in managing assaultive/violent patients, no statistically significant results remained at the multivariate level.

Children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: using diverse exposure metrics to document ethnic/racial differences.

Four metrics were used to assess exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) for a probability sample (n = 152) of elementary school-age children in two economically disadvantaged neighborhoods: a) caregiver responses to a baseline questionnaire (BQ) about smoking status and behavior; b) 48-hr time-activity (T-A) data on location and time spent by children in the presence of tobacco smoke; c) total urinary cotinine as a marker for nicotine uptake; and d) urinary NNAL [4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol] + NNAL-Gluc [4-(methylnitrosamino)-1- (3-pyridyl)-1-(O-beta-D-glucopyranuronosyl)butane] as a marker for uptake of the tobacco-specific lung carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). Consistent differences in ETS exposure by ethnicity and race were observed. Although data were insufficient to determine differences for NNAL + NNAL-Gluc, BQ responses, T-A data, and cotinine levels all indicated that average ETS exposure was highest for African-American children, moderately high for those designated "other" (white, Southeast Asian, Native American), moderately low for Hispanic children, and lowest for Somali immigrant children.

Recruitment, retention, and compliance results from a probability study of children's environmental health in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

The School Health Initiative: Environment, Learning, and Disease (SHIELD) study used a probability sample of children (second through fifth grades) from two low-income and racially mixed neighborhoods of Minneapolis, Minnesota, to assess childhood environmental health. Children were eligible to participate in SHIELD regardless of whether they or their families spoke a foreign language, their household had a telephone, or they were enrolled in a special education program. The overall enrollment rate in year 1 was 57%, with a substantial disparity between children from English-speaking (42%) versus non-English-speaking (71%) families.