Monitoring the tobacco use epidemic III: The host: data sources and methodological challenges.

Objective: This Host paper (III of V) reviews key surveillance and evaluation systems that monitor the characteristics, attitudes and behaviors of tobacco users that are crucial for tobacco control efforts.

Methods: We summarize and expand on the recommendations from the Host Working Group of the National Tobacco Monitoring, Research and Evaluation Workshop. We also discuss research challenges and make additional recommendations for improving tobacco control surveillance and evaluation.

Method of calculating tsunami travel times in the Andaman Sea region.

A new model to calculate tsunami travel times in the Andaman Sea region has been developed. The model specifically provides more accurate travel time estimates for tsunamis propagating to Patong Beach on the west coast of Phuket, Thailand. More generally, the model provides better understanding of the influence of the accuracy and resolution of bathymetry data on the accuracy of travel time calculations.

Perceiving others' perceptions of risk: still a task for Sisyphus.

The recent literature providing insights from neuroscience and evolutionary biology into how individuals perceive risky choice situations represents a "second wave" of findings that recapitulates as well as challenges the risk perception research begun in the 1980s, which relied on psychometric survey research. Gleaning insights from the first wave of research that could improve the communication and control of environmental risks has yielded disappointing results. This is a result, in part, of the eagerness of scholars and pundits to posit a chasm between the "rational" and "objective" perceptions of experts, on the one hand, and a lay public that is seen as lurching between "paranoia and neglect" and as insensitive to the magnitude of risks.

Quality of diabetes care in family medicine practices: influence of nurse-practitioners and physician's assistants.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess whether the quality of diabetes care differs among practices employing nurse-practitioners (NPs), physician's assistants (PAs), or neither, and which practice attributes contribute to any differences in care.

Methods: This cross-sectional study of 46 family medicine practices from New Jersey and Pennsylvania measured adherence to American Diabetes Association diabetes guidelines via chart audits of 846 patients with diabetes. Practice characteristics were identified by staff surveys.

Invasive pneumococcal disease in an underimmunized, high HIV prevalence population.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in a predominantly minority population with low childhood immunization rates and high HIV prevalence, during the early childhood pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7) era.

Methods: A retrospective cases series analysis of 131 patients diagnosed with IPD at University Hospital in Newark, NJ from 2000 through 2005, and who had their pneumococcal isolates serotyped, was conducted. Changes in IPD over time were analyzed with the Cochran-Armitage test and linear regression.

Prostate-specific antigen screening and mortality from prostate cancer.

Background: There is no available evidence from randomized trials that early detection of prostate cancer improves health outcomes, but the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is commonly used to screen men for prostate cancer.

Objective: The objective of the study is to see if screening with PSA decreases mortality from prostate cancer.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This is a case-control study using one-to-one matching on race, age, and time of availability of exposure to PSA screening.

Stillbirth recurrence in a population of relatively low-risk mothers.

We sought to estimate the risk of stillbirth recurrence among relatively low-risk women, a group defined as maternal age <35 years; absence of congenital anomalies; gestational age range of 20-44 weeks inclusive; singleton births; and non-smokers. The Missouri maternally linked data containing births from 1978 to 1997 were used for the study. We identified the study group (low-risk gravidae who experienced a stillbirth in the first pregnancy) and a comparison group (low-risk gravidae who delivered a live birth in their first pregnancy) and compared the stillbirth risks in the second pregnancy between both groups.

Higher nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in menthol cigarette smokers with and without schizophrenia.

This study examined whether smoking menthol cigarettes was associated with increased biochemical measures of smoke intake. Expired carbon monoxide (CO) and serum nicotine and cotinine were measured in 89 smokers with schizophrenia and 53 control smokers immediately after smoking an afternoon cigarette. Serum nicotine levels (27 vs.

A national survey of medical students' beliefs and knowledge in screening for prostate cancer.

Background: Today's medical students are being educated at a time when there are no evidence-based guidelines for prostate cancer screening.

Objective: To examine medical students' knowledge and beliefs concerning prostate cancer screening and specific determinants for their beliefs.

Design, Setting, And Participants: One thousand six hundred and forty four students were sampled at 20 medical schools using a web-based, cross-sectional survey.

Case study on chronic organophosphate poisoning.

Ernest and Leslie Rea, two farmers in their mid-fifties, contacted their local County Agricultural Extension Office in Cape May, New Jersey, regarding health problems associated with their use of pesticides. They were referred to Dr. Hamilton and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) clinic for consultation and evaluations.

Exploring health, safety and environment in central and Eastern Europe: an introduction to the European Centre for Occupational Health, Safety and the Environment (ECOHSE).

This article traces the development of the European Centre for Occupational Health, Safety and the Environment (ECOHSE) at the University of Glasgow. ECOHSE recently has been designated a Thematic Network by the European Union which is providing administrative support through 2004. The de facto de-regulation that accompanied emergent capitalism in Eastern Europe created opportunities for exploitation of the work force.

The New Jersey Residential Well-Testing Program--a case study: Randolph Township.

Since 1993, several wells have been found to be contaminated in Randolph Township, New Jersey. As a result, the local health department believed there was a need to develop an ordinance that would protect the health of private well users. Samplings of 1,488 private and nonpublic wells in Randolph Township were used to provide the basis for the ordinance proposal.

Characteristics and smoking cessation outcomes of patients returning for repeat tobacco dependence treatment.

Previous studies of tobacco dependence treatment have reported very low cessation rates among smokers who relapse and return to make a subsequent formal attempt to quit. This retrospective cohort study examined 1745 patients who attended a tobacco dependence clinic between 2001 and 2005, and the characteristics and outcomes of those who relapsed and returned for repeat treatment. Patients who returned for repeat treatment showed higher markers of nicotine dependence and were more likely to have a history of treatment for mental health problems than patients who attended the clinic for only one treatment episode.

Factors associated with quitting smoking at a tobacco dependence treatment clinic.

Objective: To identify factors associated with successful quitting at a free tobacco treatment clinic.

Methods: A cohort study of the first 1021 patients who made a quit attempt. Baseline and treatment variables were recorded, and logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with abstinence at 4-week and 6-month follow-up.

The neurobiological basis for partial agonist treatment of nicotine dependence: varenicline.

Smoking cessation has major health benefits for men and women of all ages. However, most smokers are addicted to nicotine and fail repeatedly in their attempts to quit. Stimulation of nicotinic receptors in the brain, particularly alpha4beta2 receptors, releases dopamine in the meso-limbic area of the brain and is reinforcing.

Heart rate variability biofeedback: effects of age on heart rate variability, baroreflex gain, and asthma.

Objectives: To present additional analysis of data from a previously published study showing that biofeedback training to increase heart rate variability (HRV) can be an effective component in asthma treatment. HRV and intervention-related changes in HRV are negatively correlated with age. Here we assess the effects of age on biofeedback effects for asthma.

Is race a determinant of stillbirth recurrence?

Background: A history of stillbirth may result in an increased risk for recurrence, although information regarding this remains scanty. It is also uncertain whether race is a determinant of stillbirth recurrence given that the risk of stillbirth varies across racial and ethnic populations.

Methods: The Missouri maternally linked cohort data set containing births from 1978 through 1997 was used.

Perceptions of service providers and community members on intimate partner violence within a Latino community.

This study examined perceptions regarding intimate partner abuse (IPV) in a largely Latino community in New Jersey through focus groups with Latino community members and key informant interviews with providers of services to this population. Questions examined definitions of partner abuse; perceptions of factors contributing to, or protecting against, IPV; and barriers to reporting IPV both for the victim and the community at large. Atlas.

Project northland in Croatia: a community-based adolescent alcohol prevention intervention.

War and social transition in Croatia have increased unemployment and rates of substance abuse. A decrease in prevention programs places adolescents at an increased risk. Data collected from the 2002 Split Youth Behavior Risk Survey (YRBS) showed that adolescents are at risk for alcohol use and related problems.

Asthma in pregnancy--its relationship with race, insurance, maternal education, and prenatal care utilization.

Objective: This study examines racial/ethnic disparities in the rate of asthma during pregnancy, and examines insurance type, maternal education, and prenatal care initiation/utilization as potential determinants of the disparities.

Design And Setting: This historical cohort study utilizes the linked birth certificates and maternal hospital claims data for all singleton live births to New Jersey residents in New Jersey hospitals in 1989--1993 (N=556,597).

Results: Compared to whites, African-American (odds ratio, OR=1.

Cigar use before and after a cigarette excise tax increase in New Jersey.

Objective: To determine whether cigarette smokers in New Jersey substituted cigars following a cigarette excise tax increase.

Methods: We examined data from New Jersey's 2001 and 2002 Adult Tobacco Survey (NJATS). Adjusted odds ratios were generated for ever and current cigar use, controlling for demographics and cigarette smoking status.