Development and Evaluation of Surveillance System for Identifying Jail-Associated COVID-19 Cases in Minnesota, USA, 2022.

Confinement facilities are high-risk settings for the spread of infectious disease, necessitating timely surveillance to inform public health action. To identify jail-associated COVID-19 cases from electronic laboratory reports maintained in the Minnesota Electronic Disease Surveillance System (MEDSS), Minnesota, USA, the Minnesota Department of Health developed a surveillance system that used keyword and address matching (KAM). The KAM system used a SAS program (SAS Institute Inc.

Turning Community Feedback into a Culturally Responsive Program for American Indian/Alaska Native Commercial Tobacco Users.

Background: American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) cigarette smoking prevalence is disproportionately high, especially in the northern United States. Tailored quitlines are needed to support AI/AN commercial tobacco users with quitting.

Objectives: Obtain community feedback by working with trusted AI/AN partners; genuinely incorporate feedback into program design; collaboratively develop and implement culturally relevant quitline services for Minnesota's AI/AN community.

Sharing Wisdom, Sharing Hope: Strategies Used by Native American Cancer Survivors to Restore Quality of Life.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the experiences of Native American cancer survivors in navigating life after cancer and what resources and strategies survivors found useful for coping and achieving optimal quality of life (QoL) after diagnosis (the terms "Native Americans" and "Natives" are used interchangeably in this article to describe American Indians and Alaska Natives). The research questions were What advice and words of wisdom do Native cancer survivors prioritize in messages to other Native cancer survivors? and What do those messages reveal about how Native cancer survivors interpret, experience, and restore QoL after diagnosis?

Methods: This study used a qualitative phenomenologic descriptive study design. Researchers used thematic analysis to identify themes related to peer advice and QoL from transcripts of semi-structured interviews with 52 geographically and clinically diverse Native cancer survivors in the United States.

Reconciling research and community priorities in participatory trials: application to Padres Informados/Jovenes Preparados.

Background: Participatory research (PR) trials aim to achieve the dual, and at times competing, demands of producing an intervention and research process that address community perspectives and priorities, while establishing intervention effectiveness.

Objective: To identify research and community priorities that must be reconciled in the areas of collaborative processes, study design and aim and study implementation quality in order to successfully conduct a participatory trial. We describe how this reconciliation was approached in the smoking prevention participatory trial Padres Informados/Jovenes Preparados (Informed Parents/Prepared Youth) and evaluate the success of our reconciled priorities.

Do traditional measures of water quality in swimming pools and spas correspond with beneficial oxidation reduction potential?

Objectives: Oxidation reduction potential (ORP) is a more direct measure of water quality in swimming pools and spas than free chlorine. However, ORP is not considered in some state pool codes, including Minnesota's. This study examined whether compliance with the Minnesota Pool Code assured an ORP > or = 650 millivolts (mV), a value defined in the literature as adequate to kill viral and bacterial pathogens within seconds.