BACKGROUND In the United States, male-to-male sexual transmission accounts for the greatest number of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnoses and a substantial number of sexually transmitted infections (STI) annually. However, the prevalence and annual incidence of HIV and other STIs among men who have sex with men (MSM) cannot be estimated in local contexts because demographic data on...

INTRODUCTION The prevalence of obesity is higher in rural than in urban areas of the United States, for reasons that are not well understood. We examined correlations between percentage of rural residents, commute times, food retail gap per capita, and body mass index (BMI) among North Carolina residents. METHODS We used 2000 census data to determine each county's percentage of rural resident...

Introduction: The increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has changed the global temperature and had a negative impact on global climate conditions. Landfill gas is one of the major GHG contributors. With the knowledge of GHG inventory, it is possible to carry out disaster prevention measures. Materials and Methods: In this study, tow Landfill Gas Emissions Modeling (LandGEM) and Intergover...

20 batches of Alpinia oxyphylla Miq. were collected from Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan province in China. The contents of heavy metals of As, Hg, Pb, Cd, and Cu were determined and compared. The results indicated that geographical source might be a major factor to influence the contents of heavy metals of arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and copper (Cu) in Alpinia o...

Elevated and more rapidly increasing breast cancer incidence rates have been described for Marin County, California (CA), a homogeneous, high socioeconomic status population for which yearly surveillance is facilitated by its status as a county. The present study evaluates the histology and hormonal phenotype of the excess breast cancer cases occurring in white, non-Hispanic women living in Mar...

INTRODUCTION We conducted a study to determine whether hospital type (county [ie, safety-net] vs private) affects health care access (appendiceal perforation [AP] rates), treatment (laparoscopic appendectomy [LA] rates), and outcomes in children with appendicitis. METHODS A review of cases involving children who had appendicitis between 1998 and 2007 was performed. Data from county and privat...

BACKGROUND Patient safety is of the utmost importance in health care. The patient safety culture in an institution has great impact on patient safety. To enhance patient safety and to design strategies to reduce medical injuries, there is a current focus on measuring the patient safety culture. The aim of the present study was to describe the patient safety culture in an ED at two different hos...