Unintentional strangulation deaths from the "choking game" among youths aged 6-19 years - United States, 1995-2007

The "choking game" is defined as self-strangulation or strangulation by another person with the hands or a noose to achieve a brief euphoric state caused by cerebral hypoxia. Participants in this activity typically are youths (Andrew & Fallon, 2007). Serious neurologic injury or death can result from engaging in this activity. Recent news media reports have described numerous deaths among youths attributed to the choking game. Because no traditional public health dataset collects data on this practice, CDC used news media reports to estimate the incidence of deaths from the choking game. This report describes the results of that analysis, which identified 82 probable choking-game deaths among youths aged 6-19 years during 1995-2007. Seventy-one (86.6%) of the decedents were male, and the mean age was 13.3 years. Parents, educators, and health-care providers should become familiar with warning signs that youths are playing the choking game (Urkin & Merrick, 2006). Impact of industry: By learning about the risk factors for and warning signs of the choking game, parents, educators, and health-care providers may be able to identify youth at risk for playing the game and prevent future deaths.     

A relational demography model of workgroup identification: testing the effects of race,race dissimilarity,racial identification,and communication behavior

This study tested a relational demography model of workgroup identification. We theorized that early in workgroup formation, (a) racial identification would moderate the influence of racial dissimilarity on member communication behavior (frequency and length of verbal participation) during a group task, (b) member communication behaviors would mediate the effect of racial dissimilarity on workgroup identification, and that (c) these effects would be affected non‐symmetrically by racial group membership (White, Black). This model was tested among a sample of 211 undergraduates (113 White and 98 Black), working in 43 temporary workgroups. Whites' racial identification moderated the relationship between racial dissimilarity and member communication behaviors, which in turn partially mediated the effect of racial dissimilarity on workgroup identification, generally consistent with our model. Among Black workgroup members support for our model was limited. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tibouchina pulchra (Cham.) Cogn., a native Atlantic Forest species, as a bio-indicator of ozone: visible injury

Tibouchina pulchra saplings were exposed to carbon filtered air (CF), ambient non-filtered air (NF) and ambient non-filtered air+40 ppb ozone (NF+O3) 8 h per day during two months. The AOT40 values at the end of the experiment were 48, 910 and 12,895 ppb h(-1), respectively, for the three treatments. After 25 days of exposure (AOT40=3871 ppb h(-1)), interveinal red stippling appeared in plants in the NF+O3 chamber. In the NF chamber, symptoms were observed only after 60 days of exposure (AOT40=910 ppb h(-1)). After 60 days, injured leaves per plant corresponded to 19% in NF+O3 and 1% in the NF treatment; and the average leaf area injured was 7% within the NF+O3 and 0.2% within the NF treatment. The extent of leaf area injured (leaf injury index) was mostly explained by the accumulated exposure of ozone (r2=0.89; p<0.05).     

Pesticides in urban multiunit dwellings: hazard identification using classification and regression tree (CART) analysis

Many units in public housing or other low-income urban dwellings may have elevated pesticide residues, given recurring infestation, but it would be logistically and economically infeasible to sample a large number of units to identify highly exposed households to design interventions. Within this study, our aim was to devise a low-cost approach to identify homes in public housing with high levels of pesticide residues, using information that would allow the housing authority and residents to determine optimal strategies to reduce household exposures. As part of the Healthy Public Housing Initiative, we collected environmental samples from 42 public housing apartments in Boston, MA, in 2002 and 2003 and gathered housing characteristics; for example, household demographics and self-reported pesticide use information, considering information available with and without a home visit. Focusing on five organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides, we used classification and regression tree analysis (CART) to disaggregate the pesticide concentration data into homogenous subsamples according to housing characteristics, which allowed us to identify households and associated networks impacted by the mismanagement of pesticides. The CART analysis demonstrated reasonable sensitivity and specificity given more extensive household information but generally poor performance using only information available without a home visit. Apartments with high concentrations of cyfluthrin, a pyrethroid of interest given that it is a restricted use pesticide, were more likely to be associated with Hispanic residents who resided in their current apartment for more than 5 yr, consistent with documented pesticide usage patterns. We conclude that using CART as an exploratory technique to better understand the home characteristics associated with elevated pesticide levels may be a viable approach for risk management in large multiunit housing developments.     

Biogas production from malt bagasse from craft beer industry: kinetic modeling and process simulation

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - In this work, biogas was synthesized from malt enriched-craft beer bagasse with the objective to generate clean energy. Thus, a kinetic model based...     

Chronic exposure to lead acetate promotes changes in the alveolar bone of rats: microstructural and physical–chemical characterization

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - There are a few data relating to the effects of lead (Pb) exposure on the alveolar bone, which has very distinct morphophysiological characteristics...