Pain and Prescription Opioid Use Among US Construction Workers: Findings From the 2011‒2018 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

To examine prescription opioid and nonopioid analgesic use among US construction workers and their associations with pain conditions and sociodemographic factors. We analyzed data for about 9000 (weighted 11.5 million per year) construction workers who responded to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2011 to 2018.

Injury inequalities among U.S. construction workers.

This study explores racial/ethnic inequalities in work-related injuries among U.S. construction workers.

Musculoskeletal Disorders and Prescription Opioid Use Among U.S. Construction Workers.

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and opioid use are a combined burden for construction safety and health. This study examines both issues among construction workers using a large population-based survey.

Methods: The prevalence of MSDs in construction was estimated using multi-year data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Activities and risk factors associated with fall-related injuries among US Army soldiers.

Introduction: Falls/near falls are the second leading cause of hospitalisation and outpatient visits among US Army soldiers. While numerous studies have evaluated fall-related or near fall-related injuries among elderly adults, few have evaluated this association among young adults. The objective of this study is to describe the characteristics and risk factors associated with fall-related or near fall-related injuries among male US Army soldiers.

The association between nutrition and behavioural health in a US Army population.

Objective: The relationship between nutrition and behavioural health (BH) outcomes has been established in the literature. However, the relationship between nutrition and anxiety is unclear. Furthermore, the relationship between nutrition and BH outcomes has not been examined in a US Army Soldier population.

Injury Risk Factors Associated With Weight Training.

Grier, T, Brooks, RD, Solomon, Z, and Jones, BH. Injury risk factors associated with weight training. J Strength Cond Res 36(2): e24-e30, 2022-The purpose of this evaluation was to identify injury risk factors associated with weight training (WT).

Prescription opioid use and associated factors among US construction workers.

Background: Construction workers are among the segments of the US population that were hit hardest by the opioid prescription and overdose deaths in the past decades. Factors that underlie opioid use in construction workers have been compartmentalized and isolated in existing studies of opioid use and opioid overdose, but they ignore the overall context of their use. This study examines prescription opioid use and its association with a variety of occupational and nonoccupational factors in construction workers in the United States.

Vaping, Smoking, and the Physical Fitness of Active Young Men.

Introduction: Adverse effects of cigarette smoking on physical performance are well studied. Because of the recent rise in popularity of vaping, it is important to evaluate its effect on fitness both independently and in conjunction with traditional cigarette use.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis performed in 2018 on data collected from U.

The Combined Effect of Cigarette Smoking and Fitness on Injury Risk in Men and Women.

Background: Prior studies have identified cigarette smoking and low fitness as independent risk factors for injury; however, no studies have evaluated the combined effect of cigarette smoking and fitness on injury risk.

Objective: To evaluate the combined effect of cigarette smoking and fitness on injury risk in men and women.

Design: This is a secondary analysis of data collected from US Army recruits (n = 2000) during basic combat training within the United States in 2007.

Barriers to antiretroviral therapy initiation for HIV-positive children aged 2-18 months in Swaziland.

Although early antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces HIV-related mortality in children by up to 75%, almost half of HIV-positive children younger than 1 year old in Swaziland do not initiate ART. This study was conducted to identify barriers to early ART initiation among HIV-positive infants. This was a case-control study among HIV-positive infants, aged 2 to 18 months, who either did not initiate ART (cases), or initiated ART (controls), during 18 months after testing.

A qualitative analysis of the barriers to antiretroviral therapy initiation among children 2 to 18 months of age in Swaziland.

HIV/AIDS remains one of the leading causes of death among children under 5 years old in Swaziland. Although studies have shown that early initiation of infants and children diagnosed with HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART) significantly reduces mortality, many children do not initiate ART until the later stages of disease. This study was designed to collect qualitative data from mothers and caregivers of HIV-positive children to identify the barriers to ART initiation.

Characterization and prediction of chemical functions and weight fractions in consumer products.

Assessing exposures from the thousands of chemicals in commerce requires quantitative information on the chemical constituents of consumer products. Unfortunately, gaps in available composition data prevent assessment of exposure to chemicals in many products. Here we propose filling these gaps via consideration of chemical functional role.

Screening, prevalence, and risk factors for cervical lesions among HIV positive and HIV negative women in Swaziland.

Background: Cervical Cancer (CC) is the number one cancer among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Although CC is preventable, most women in developing countries do not have access to screening.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence and risk factors for cervical lesions using visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) among 112 HIV positive and 161 negative women aged 18-69 years.

The Epidemiology of Emergency Department-Treated Burn Injuries Associated with Portable Heaters in the United States, 2003-2013.

The purpose of this study is to examine the epidemiology of portable space heater-related burn injuries among an emergency department nationally representative population of the United States. The data analyzed in this study were collected from the Consumer Products Safety Commission's 2003-2013 National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. There were approximately 53,636 space heater-related thermal burn injuries attributed to portable space heaters from 2003 to 2013.

Developing a Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Model Knowledgebase in Support of Provisional Model Construction.

Developing physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models for chemicals can be resource-intensive, as neither chemical-specific parameters nor in vivo pharmacokinetic data are easily available for model construction. Previously developed, well-parameterized, and thoroughly-vetted models can be a great resource for the construction of models pertaining to new chemicals. A PBPK knowledgebase was compiled and developed from existing PBPK-related articles and used to develop new models.

A Workflow to Investigate Exposure and Pharmacokinetic Influences on High-Throughput in Vitro Chemical Screening Based on Adverse Outcome Pathways.

Background: Adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) link adverse effects in individuals or populations to a molecular initiating event (MIE) that can be quantified using in vitro methods. Practical application of AOPs in chemical-specific risk assessment requires incorporation of knowledge on exposure, along with absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties of chemicals.

Objectives: We developed a conceptual workflow to examine exposure and ADME properties in relation to an MIE.

SHEDS-HT: an integrated probabilistic exposure model for prioritizing exposures to chemicals with near-field and dietary sources.

United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) researchers are developing a strategy for high-throughput (HT) exposure-based prioritization of chemicals under the ExpoCast program. These novel modeling approaches for evaluating chemicals based on their potential for biologically relevant human exposures will inform toxicity testing and prioritization for chemical risk assessment. Based on probabilistic methods and algorithms developed for The Stochastic Human Exposure and Dose Simulation Model for Multimedia, Multipathway Chemicals (SHEDS-MM), a new mechanistic modeling approach has been developed to accommodate high-throughput (HT) assessment of exposure potential.