An innovative approach for health and safety training and occupational health program annual enrollment for laboratory animal care and use personnel.

Animal care and use personnel in research laboratory facilities are inherently exposed to a variety of workplace hazards. The health and safety of the workforce working directly with or around research animals is of paramount importance, and as such, an occupational health and safety program for at-risk staff is essential. In order to maximize participation in and the effectiveness of health and safety training and occupational health program enrollment for animal care and use personnel at an academic health sciences university, an innovative annual "health fair" was developed and implemented at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Practical Considerations for Navigating Withdrawal from the Federal Select Agent Program.

Introduction: Clear guidance is provided by the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) to assist registered entities in nearly all facets of compliance with the Federal select agent regulations (7 CFR Part 331; 9 CFR Part 121; 42 CFR Part 73). If a registered entity chooses to discontinue its registration, detailed instructions for registration withdrawal are deeply embedded within a document entitled "eFSAP Form 1 Amendment Instructions," which is found on the FSAP website within the electronic Federal Select Agent Program (eFSAP) Resource Center.

Methods: Using the information found within the eFSAP Form 1 Amendment Instructions, as well as extensive written and verbal guidance provided by the lead assigned entity point of contact at the FSAP, we completed the FSAP withdrawal process during a 12-month period between 2022 and 2023.

A Means of Codifying Safety Cross-Training Knowledge Expectations for Biosafety Professionals.

Introduction: The health and safety issues encountered by biosafety professionals in the daily conduct of their work is rarely limited solely to potentially infectious pathogens. A basic understanding of the other types of hazards inherent to laboratories is necessary. As such, management of the health and safety program at an academic health institution sought to ensure crosscutting competency for its technical staff, including staff members within the biosafety program.

Pivoting the Biosafety Program in Response to COVID-19: Recommendations of Key Services and Tasks to Consider for the Next Pandemic.

Introduction: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a rapid adjustment of work tasks was necessary for many biosafety programs (and other safety programs) to address drastic shifts in workload demands amid pandemic-related shutdowns and subsequent needs for supporting COVID-19-related safe work protocols, diagnostic testing, research, vaccine development, and so forth. From a program management standpoint, evaluating and understanding these tasks were critically important to ensure that appropriate support and resources were in place, especially during such unprecedented times of rapid change and significant impact to normal life and routine.

Methods: Described here are examples of how the biosafety program at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) addressed these challenges.

Assessing the Established Competency Categories of the Biosafety, Infection Prevention, and Public Health Professions: A Guide for Addressing Needed Professional Development Training for the Current and Next Pandemic.

A recent series of widespread infectious disease outbreaks has highlighted commonalities and differences between three key professions that operate on the front lines of response in support of research and/or direct healthcare providers: biosafety, infection prevention, and public health. This assessment, which builds upon previous study by the authors, examines the stated professional competency categories for these three areas, highlighting similarities and differences. This assessment is important as these professions are being drawn together in an operational environment driven by the current pandemic and inevitably future disease outbreaks.

An assessment of outpatient clinic room ventilation systems and possible relationship to disease transmission.

Background: With healthcare shifting to the outpatient setting, this study examined whether outpatient clinics operating in business occupancy settings were conducting procedures in rooms with ventilation rates above, at, or below thresholds defined in the American National Standards Institute/American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers/American Society for Health Care Engineering Standard 170 for Ventilation in Health Care Facilities and whether lower ventilation rates and building characteristics increase the risk of disease transmission.

Methods: Ventilation rates were measured in 105 outpatient clinic rooms categorized by services rendered. Building characteristics were evaluated as determinants of ventilation rates, and risk of disease transmission was estimated using the Gammaitoni-Nucci model.

A Cyclotron Decommissioning Radiological Assessment Exercise Performed by Student Mentees Underrepresented in the Radiation Safety Profession.

Cyclotrons used in nuclear medicine imaging accelerate protons, deuterons, and helium ions to bombard a target, which produces nuclear reactions that generate positron-emitting radionuclides. Secondary neutrons are nonuniformly emitted in these reactions and induce heterogeneous activation of the cyclotron components and concrete vault enclosure. This poses radioactive waste management complications when decommissioning a cyclotron facility, since the objective is to ensure that exposures are within regulatory limits and as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).

Characterization of Work Settings in Which Biosafety Professionals Conduct Operations: Results from the First Survey of the Biosafety Analytics Initiative Survey Series.

Introduction: With the endorsement and support of the ABSA International Council and the Prevention, Preparedness and Response (P2R) Academy of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, a survey to characterize the work settings in which biosafety professionals operate was conducted. The survey was the first of a planned series of 10 solicitations in support of an overarching "Biosafety Analytics Initiative," the goal of which is to identify commonalities, trends, possible benchmarking opportunities, and professional training needs.

Methods: The survey was developed, tested, and then distributed electronically for a 3-week period between May 29 and June 19, 2019.

Contextual Information for the Potential Enhancement of Annual Radiation Protection Program Review Reports.

Organizations possessing sources of ionizing radiation are required to develop, document, and implement a "radiation protection program" that is commensurate with the scope and extent of permitted activities and sufficient to ensure compliance with basic radiation safety regulations. The radiation protection program must also be reviewed at least annually, assessing program content and implementation. A convenience sample assessment of web-accessible and voluntarily-submitted radiation protection program annual review reports revealed that while the reports consistently documented compliance with necessary regulatory elements, very few included any critical contextual information describing how important the ability to possess radiation sources was to the central mission of the organization.

Radiation Monitoring Results from the First Year of Operation of a Unique Ambulance-based Computed Tomography Unit for the Improved Diagnosis and Treatment of Stroke Patients.

When a blood clot blocks the blood supply to the brain or when a blood vessel bursts, resulting in brain cell death, the medical condition is referred to as a "stroke." Stroke is a main cause of death worldwide and is a common cause of disability. A common form of stroke, called ischemic stroke, is when blood flow to the brain is decreased.

Maternal exposure to radiographic exams and major structural birth defects.

Background: An increasing number of radiologic exams are performed in the United States, but very few studies have examined the effects of maternal exposure to radiologic exams during the periconceptional period and birth defects.

Objectives: To assess the association between maternal exposure to radiologic exams during the periconceptional period and 19 categories of birth defects using a large population-based study of birth defects.

Methods: We studied 27,809 case mothers and 10,200 control mothers who participated in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study and delivered between 1997 and 2009.

Strategies for Navigating Common Ethical Dilemmas Encountered by Operational Radiation Safety Professionals.

Because operational radiation safety professionals can encounter ethical dilemmas in the course of their work, codes of ethics and professional standards of conduct are maintained by the Health Physics Society (HPS) and the American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP). While these works provide valuable guidance, they do not operationalize the types of ethical dilemmas radiation safety practitioners might encounter. For example, consider the ethical conundrum of “dual loyalty,” defined as the situation in which an individual holds simultaneous obligations to two or more parties.

A data-driven model for estimating industry average numbers of hospital security staff.

In this article the authors report the results of an expanded survey, financed by the International Healthcare Security and Safety Foundation (IHSSF), applied to the development of a model for determining the number of security officers required by a hospital.

Characterization of a sialate-O-acetylesterase (NanS) from the oral pathogen Tannerella forsythia that enhances sialic acid release by NanH, its cognate sialidase.

Tannerella forsythia, a Gram-negative member of the Bacteroidetes has evolved to harvest and utilize sialic acid. The most common sialic acid in humans is a mono-N-acetylated version termed Neu5Ac (5-N-acetyl-neuraminic acid). Many bacteria are known to access sialic acid using sialidase enzymes.

Maternal occupational exposure to ionizing radiation and major structural birth defects.

Background: Ionizing radiation (IR) is known to be carcinogenic and mutagenic, but little is known about the association between maternal occupational exposure to IR and birth defects.

Methods: We studied 38,009 mothers who participated in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study and delivered between 1997 and 2009. We assessed odds ratios [ORs] for the association between maternal occupations with potential exposure to IR and 39 birth defects.

Assessing the Biological Safety Profession's Evaluation and Control of Risks Associated with the Field Collection of Potentially Infectious Specimens.

Because the origins of the biological safety profession are rooted in the control and prevention of laboratory-associated infections, the vocation focuses primarily on the safe handling of specimens within the laboratory. But in many cases, the specimens and samples handled in the lab are originally collected in the field where a broader set of possible exposure considerations may be present, each with varying degrees of controllability. The failure to adequately control the risks associated with collecting biological specimens in the field may result in illness or injury, and could have a direct impact on laboratory safety, if infectious specimens were packaged or transported inappropriately, for example.

Tissue-engineered, hydrogel-based endothelial progenitor cell therapy robustly revascularizes ischemic myocardium and preserves ventricular function.

Objectives: Cell-based angiogenic therapy for ischemic heart failure has had limited clinical impact, likely related to low cell retention (<1%) and dispersion. We developed a novel, tissue-engineered, hydrogel-based cell-delivery strategy to overcome these limitations and provide prolonged regional retention of myocardial endothelial progenitor cells at high cell dosage.

Methods: Endothelial progenitor cells were isolated from Wistar rats and encapsulated in fibrin gels.

An updated radiation protection program prospectus based on 20 years of data describing program drivers and activities.

In 1992, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSCH) Radiation Safety Program began assembling data on a monthly basis that described various program drivers and associated activities. At the end of calendar year 2002, a decade of data had been collected, so the information was summarized into a novel program prospectus, displaying various program indicator parameters in a format similar to that used in a commercial enterprise prospectus provided to potential investors. The consistent formatting of the data afforded a succinct and easily digestible snapshot of program activities and trends.

Assessing postdisaster psychological stress in hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER) workers.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of traumatic stress experienced by secondary responders to disaster events to determine if mental health education should be included in HAZWOPER training.

Methods: Preexisting survey tools for assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), resiliency, and mental distress were combined to form a web-based survey tool that was distributed to individuals functioning in secondary response roles. Data were analyzed using the Fisher exact test, 1-way ANOVA, and 1-sample t tests.

How the University of Texas system responded to the need for interim storage of low-level radioactive waste materials.

Faced with the prospect of being unable to permanently dispose of low-level radioactive wastes (LLRW) generated from teaching, research, and patient care activities, component institutions of the University of Texas System worked collaboratively to create a dedicated interim storage facility to be used until a permanent disposal facility became available. Located in a remote section of West Texas, the University of Texas System Interim Storage Facility (UTSISF) was licensed and put into operation in 1993, and since then has provided safe and secure interim storage for up to 350 drums of dry solid LLRW at any given time. Interim storage capability provided needed relief to component institutions, whose on-site waste facilities could have possibly become overburdened.

Staffing benchmarks: a model for determining how many security officers are enough.

The authors describe the development of a model which assists with answering the question, "for a facility with certain characteristics, what would be the industry average number of security FTE's?" Through the use of multiple regression analysis using actual field data, an objective means of making this determination is possible, they report.