A Tool to Help Nurses Provide Health Education on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Cardiovascular Health.

Adverse pregnancy outcomes are associated with poor short- and long-term cardiovascular health. However, patients and their health care providers may not have knowledge of this risk or of the healthful practices that can reduce this risk. Childbirth care can be a pivotal time in the patient-clinician relationship to build awareness and spur prevention planning.

Community and Systems Contributors and Strategies to Reduce Racial Inequities in Maternal Health in the Deep South: Provider Perspectives.

Purpose: Black pregnant individuals in Alabama are disproportionately affected by severe maternal morbidity and mortality (SMM). To understand why racial disparities in maternal health outcomes persist and identify potential strategies to reduce these inequities, we sought perspectives from obstetric health care providers, health administrators, and members of local organizations who provide pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care services in Alabama.

Methods: We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with stakeholders (=20), purposively recruited from community-based organizations, clinical settings, government organizations, and academic institutions.

Training and Dissemination of Lung Cancer Education Curriculum Among Community Health Advisors in the Deep South: a Program Evaluation.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the USA. In the rural Black Belt region of Alabama, high rates of lung cancer incidence and mortality coupled with disproportionate lack of access to health services stresses the need for navigating high risk and disproportionately affected groups towards successfully obtaining lung cancer screenings. We utilized our well-accepted Community Health Advisor (CHA) model for education and awareness.

Characterization of heat index experienced by individuals residing in urban and rural settings.

Heatwave warning systems rely on forecasts made for fixed-point weather stations (WS), which do not reflect variation in temperature and humidity experienced by individuals moving through indoor and outdoor locations. We examined whether neighborhood measurement improved the prediction of individually experienced heat index in addition to nearest WS in an urban and rural location. Participants (residents of Birmingham, Alabama [N = 89] and Wilcox County, Alabama [N = 88]) wore thermometers clipped to their shoe for 7 days.

Effect of an Additional 30 Minutes Spent Outdoors during Summer on Daily Steps and Individually Experienced Heat Index.

Spending time outdoors is associated with increased physical activity; however, high ambient temperature/humidity, together with built environment features in urban versus rural environments, may influence physical activity. We conducted an intervention trial with 89 urban and 88 rural participants performing normal activities on Days 1-2 (baseline) and spending an additional 30 min outdoors on Days 3-7 (intervention) in the summer. Participants wore a pedometer with real-time visual feedback to track daily steps taken and a thermometer clipped to their shoe to track temperatures experienced individually.

Methods for Estimating Wet Bulb Globe Temperature From Remote and Low-Cost Data: A Comparative Study in Central Alabama.

Heat stress is a significant health concern that can lead to illness, injury, and mortality. The wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index is one method for monitoring environmental heat risk. Generally, WBGT is estimated using a heat stress monitor that includes sensors capable of measuring ambient, wet bulb, and black globe temperature, and these measurements are combined to calculate WBGT.

The effect of time spent outdoors during summer on daily blood glucose and steps in women with type 2 diabetes.

This study investigated changes in glycemic control following a small increase in time spent outdoors. Women participants with type 2 diabetes (N = 46) wore an iBUTTON temperature monitor and a pedometer for 1 week and recorded their morning fasting blood glucose (FBG) daily. They went about their normal activities for 2 days (baseline) and were asked to add 30 min of time outdoors during Days 3-7 (intervention).

Estimating Occupational Heat Exposure From Personal Sampling of Public Works Employees in Birmingham, Alabama.

Objective: This study investigated whether using thermometers clipped on workers' shoes would result in different heat exposure estimation and work-rest schedules compared with using area-level meteorological data alone.

Methods: Alabama workers (n = 51) were individually monitored using thermometers on shoes. Wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was estimated using thermometer temperatures (WBGT [personal]) or nearby weather station temperatures (WBGT [WS]).

Effects of Indoor Thermal Environment on Human Food Intake, Productivity, and Comfort: Pilot, Randomized, Crossover Trial.

Objective: It was hypothesized that exposure to mild temperatures above the human thermoneutral zone would decrease caloric intake in a sedentary office environment.

Methods: Women (n = 25) were randomized in a crossover design to perform seated office work for 7 hours in a thermoneutral condition (control, 19°C-20°C) and a condition above the thermoneutral zone (warm, 26°C-27°C). Food intake was estimated by weight and bomb calorimetry, peripheral temperature by thermal imaging, and thermal comfort and productivity by questionnaires.

Prevention of zearalenone-induced hyperestrogenism in prepubertal mice.

Previous methods for the control of zearalenone (ZEN)-induced hyperestrogenism in animals have proven largely ineffective. The main objective in this study was to identify an enterosorbent that decreases the dietary bioavailability, and subsequent estrogenic effects, of ZEN. Initial in vitro screenings in aqueous solution (4 microg ZEN/ml) indicated that an activated carbon (AC) was the most efficient sorbent (99%), followed by a combination of 2 parts AC plus 3 parts HEC (hectorite) (69%), cetylpyridinium-exchanged low-pH montmorillonite (CP-LPHM) clay (58%), hexadecyltrimethylammonium-exchanged low-pH montmorillonite (HDTMA-LPHM) clay (54%), and HEC alone (28%).