Synthesis and Application of D- and C-Labelled tert-Butyl Hoechst Dye.

Herein, the successful syntheses of D- and C-N-methyl and D-tert-butyl Hoechst dyes are presented. This includes the preparation of the labelled D- and C-N-methyl piperazines and D-tert-butylated hydroxytoluene precursors. The tert-butyl Hoechst dye is known to bind a specific RNA aptamer.

Public health and law collaboration: the Philadelphia Lead Court study.

Objectives: We determined whether Philadelphia Lead Court is effective in enforcing lead hazard remediation in the homes of children with elevated blood lead levels.

Methods: We created a deidentified data set for properties with an initial failed home inspection (IFHI) for lead hazards from January 1, 1998, through December 31, 2008, and compared compliance rates within the first year and time to compliance for lead hazard remediation between 1998 and 2002 (precourt period) and between 2003 and 2008 (court period). We evaluated predictors of time to compliance.

Philadelphia's Lead Court is making a difference.

The Philadelphia Lead Court (PLC) was created as an innovative law enforcement strategy to compel property owners to comply with city health codes to remediate their properties of lead hazards, which had led to elevated blood lead levels and lead poisoning in resident children. This study presents a detailed account of and analyzes the opinions of fifteen key informants drawn from the Philadelphia health and law departments and judicial system that staff and run the PLC in response to a fifteen-question structured survey. Main themes reviewed include the effectiveness of the PLC as compared with precourt law enforcement strategies and within the context of a specialized court, the use of fines, the impact of grant funding for remediation work, the major advantages and disadvantages of the PLC, and suggested changes to improve court function, followed by key recommendations.

Primary prevention of lead exposure: the Philadelphia lead safe homes study.

Objective: Lead exposure in children can lead to neuropsychological impairment. This study tested whether primary prevention interventions in the newborn period prevent elevated blood lead levels (BLLs).

Methods: The Philadelphia Lead Safe Homes (LSH) Study offered parental education, home evaluation, and lead remediation to the families of urban newborns.

Health and housing collaboration at LAST: the Philadelphia Lead Abatement Strike Team.

The Lead Abatement Strike Team (LAST) was developed in 2002 by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) in response to community concern about management of children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs). Fourteen hundred backlog properties (housing at least one child with EBLLs) were identified through inspection as having housing-based lead hazards for which no satisfactory environmental remediation (control of lead hazards) had been achieved. In the first two years of LAST, 834 new housing cases also were identified.