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Objectives. To evaluate health impacts of drought during the most severe drought in California's recorded history with a rapid assessment method. Methods. We conducted Community Assessments for Public Health Emergency Response during October through November 2015 in Tulare County and Mariposa County to evaluate household water access, acute stressors, exacerbations of chronic diseases and behavioral health issues, and financial impacts. We evaluated pairwise associations by logistic regression with pooled data. Results. By assessment area, households reported not having running water (3%-12%); impacts on finances (25%-39%), property (39%-54%), health (10%-20%), and peace of mind (33%-61%); worsening of a chronic disease (16%-46%); acute stress (8%-26%); and considering moving (14%-34%). Impacts on finances or property were each associated with impacts on health and peace of mind, and acute stress. Conclusions. Drought-impacted households might perceive physical and mental health effects and might experience financial or property impacts related to the drought. Public Health Implications. Local jurisdictions should consider implementing drought assistance programs, including behavioral health, and consider rapid assessments to inform public health action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the study on the primary prevention of occupational asthma through identifying and controlling exposures to asthma-causing agent. The doctors tested 39 substances distinguished as causing allergic occupational asthma in the U. S. and equated them with the occupational asthmagens in the Great Britain and Germany. As a result, the execution of an evidence-based identification and regulatory process for occupational asthmagens will help to guarantee primary prevention of occupational asthma in the U.S. These include the establishing identification criteria, providing a list of occupational asthmagens, collecting use, exposure and health effects information, requiring medical surveillance and medical removal protection and inducing development of safer alternatives.

We assessed inhalation risks to California communities from airborne agricultural pesticides by probability distribution analysis using ambient air data provided by the California Air Resources Board and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. The pesticides evaluated include chloropicrin, chlorothalonil, chlorpyrifos, S,S,S-tributyl phosphorotrithioate, diazinon, 1,3dichloropropene, dichlorvos (haled breakdown product), endosulfan, eptam, methidathion, methyl bromide, methyl isothiocyanate (MITC; metam sodium breakdown product), molinate, propargite, and simazine. Risks were estimated for the median and 75th and 95th percentiles of probability (50, 25, and 5% of the exposed populations). Exposure estimates greater than or equal to noncancer reference values occurred for 50% of the exposed populations (adults and children) for MITC subchronic and chronic exposures, methyl bromide subchronic exposures (year 2000 monitoring), and 1,3-dichloropropene subchronic exposures (1990 monitoring). Short-term chlorpyrifos exposure estimates exceeded the acute reference value for 50% of children (not adults) in the exposed population. Noncancer risks were uniformly higher for children due to a proportionately greater inhalation rate-to-body weight ratio compared to adults and other factors. Target health effects of potential concern for these exposures include neurologic effects (methyl bromide and chlorpyrifos)-and respiratory effects (1,3-dichloropropene and MITC). The lowest noncancer risks occurred for simazine and chlorothalonil. Lifetime cancer risks of one-in-a-million or greater were estimated for 50% of the exposed population for 1,3-dichloropropene (1990 monitoring) and 25% of the exposed populations for methidathion and molinate. Pesticide vapor pressure was found to be a better predictor of inhalation risk compared to other methods of ranking pesticides as potential toxic air contaminants. Key words: agriculture, air monitoring, fumigants, inhalation... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from the 1998 California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) were examined. The BRFSS is an ongoing statewide telephone survey of randomly selected adults. The prevalence of self-reported lifetime asthma was 13.6% and the prevalence of active asthma was 6.6%. Prevalence rates were highest among African-Americans and lowest among Hispanics. Associations between asthma and gender, obesity, smoking, depression, migraine, and income were also examined. Active asthma was associated with low income, smoking, obesity, migraine, and depression in women, but not in men. The relationships observed suggest complex interactions between asthma and other chronic conditions, gender, and life-style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Les performances académiques et de tests psychologiques de 836 enfants mexicains–américains ont été étudiées sur une période de quatre ans. Ces enfants, âgés de 6 à 12 ans, vivaient dans une ville rurale de Californie à prédominance Hispanique. Les moyennes des résultats sur les tests psychologiques étaient à l’intérieur d’une déviation standard des normes nationales. Les résultats académiques (lecture, mathématiques et langue) étaient en dessous de la moyenne nationale, bien que à l’intérieur d’une déviation standard des résultats de l’État de Californie. Des régressions hiérarchiques multiples ont été réalisées avec les variables démographiques (langue de l’enfant, langue de la maison, statut d’immigrant, et niveau de pauvreté) et les résultats des tests psychologiques afin de prédire la performance future sur le “CAT”. Les résultats du test “Coding and Digit Span” se sont révélés les meilleurs indicateurs et étaient meilleurs que les variables démographiques pour cette population. Performance in psychological tests and academic achievement over four years was examined for 836 Mexican–American children aged 6 to 12 years living in a rural and predominantly Hispanic town in California. Mean scores on tests were within one standard deviation of national norms. Reading, math, and language scores were below the national average, but they remained within one standard deviation of the state’s population’s scores. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted for both demographic variables (child’s language, household language, migrant status, and poverty level) and psychological test scores. Demographic variables and psychological test scores were used to predict later test performance on the CAT. Test scores for Coding and Digit Span were the best predictors and were better than these demographic variables for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asthma is a highly prevalent disease that affects the quality of life of many people in the United States. Yet there is limited descriptive epidemiological understanding of the disease, particularly at the state and local levels. Minimal surveillance of asthma is occurring across the country. Surveillance of a disease requires that public health workers have the ability to accurately identify cases, have access to needed data, and have adequate resources so that they can collect, assess, report, and use the data—all considerable challenges in the case of asthma. We consider four groups of questions that asthma surveillance should address: (1) How much asthma is there and what are the trends in asthma occurrence over time? (2) How severe is the asthma and what are the trends in asthma severity over time? (3) How well is asthma controlled and what are the trends in asthma management over time? (4) What is the cost of asthma? Because wise decision making in public health depends on the availability of appropriate data for program planning, implementation, and evaluation, we encourage increased surveillance of asthma in jurisdictions across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the association between rice burning and asthma hospitalizations in Butte County, California. Factors responsible for the burning of rice from 1983-92; Treatment options for asthma; Average hospitaization, per acre rice burned.