| GSPH | PITT HOME |
 |
News04/30/2012 Congratulations to Michael Bazaco on defending his dissertation! Michael Bazaco, a student of Dr. Fabio and longtime CIRCA collaborator successfully defended his dissertation. Dr. Bazaco examined perceived neighborhood contentedness and its impact on physical and sedentary activity in adolescents. He developed a measure of perceived neighborhood contentedness utilizing aspects of perceived neighborhood safety, familiarity and comfort. This was then measured in a large, nationally representative population of adolescents and evaluated for its appropriateness. Perceived neighborhood contentedness had a significant association with an increased level of physical activity in the population. This relationship was consistent across both genders and study waves. It had a smaller but still significant relationship with sedentary activity, as measured by screen time duration. This works demonstrates the importance of community factors on the behavior of adolescents.Congratulations Dr. Bazaco! 04/17/2012 CDC Vital Signs Report I am writing to share with you the newest edition of CDC Vital Signs. Yesterday's report presents the latest information about child injury in the United States and highlights strategies for addressing the issue. Key points in the Vital Signs report include:
In conjunction with Vital Signs, CDC is also releasing the National Action Plan for Child Injury Prevention, developed in partnership with more than 60 stakeholders. The goals of the National Action Plan are to raise awareness about the problem of child injuries and the effects on our nation, offer solutions by uniting stakeholders around a common set of goals and strategies, and mobilize action to reduce child injury and death. The National Action Plan can be found at www.cdc.gov/safechild/NAP. Vital Signs and the National Action Plan are not just about data-they are about action. There are solutions that work to prevent child injury. The challenge is to apply what we know and work together to prevent these unnecessary deaths and help children live to their fullest potential. 04/06/2012 Abstracts from CIRCA members accepted for the 2012 Society for Epidemiologic Research Annual Meeting. Dr. Anthony Fabio and Dr. Michael Bazaco will present results from the CASINO Community Survey Project. Dr. Fabio will present his abstract titled "Effect of Large Scale Business Developments on Neighborhood Collective Efficacy." The results suggest that, with the exception of an increase in violent crime, the initial effect of the developments have shown a positive effect on neighborhood resident perceptions. Dr. Bazaco will present part of his dissertation work titled "Development Of A Measure Of Neighborhood Contentedness." The results suggest that the domains of neighborhood contentedness may vary by population demographics, notably age. It may therefore be important to develop these scales independently for each population. 03/12/2012 CIRCA Core Faculty member interviewed about new study assessing stair-related preschool injuries. A new study released online March 12, 2012 in Pediatrics found that every six minutes, a child under the age of 5 is treated in the ER for a stair-related injury. Dr. Sonika Bhatnagar recommended that parents minimize stair use while carrying children, if carrying a child while using stairs, then use the handrail with the free hand, keep stairs free of objects, do not use stairs with a stroller, do not use baby walkers, do not allow children to play on or around stairs, and install stair gates, preferably wall mounted, but do not rely on them exclusively. See full story here » 02/19/2012 CIRCA, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Collaborate to Prevent Pediatric Injuries CIRCA welcomes Dr. Sonika Bhatnagar, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and staff physician with Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) of UPMC, onto our Core Faculty. Dr. Bhatnagar joined CHP in 2008 after receiving her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine, completing her residency at the Cleveland Clinic, and earning an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2010, she was appointed to serve on the CDC's Steering Committee for the National Action Plan to prevent childhood unintentional injuries. She has served as a consultant to the CDC's Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and in 2011, she was named a National Finalist for the White House Fellowship. She recently founded, in collaboration with the Injury Prevention and Trauma Programs at CHP of UPMC, the Oakland Campus of the Kohl's Home Safety Center at CHP, which provides hands-on learning opportunities for parents and caregivers on how to prevent injuries to children at home. The main Center also offers in-home safety assessments and car seat installation demonstrations, and provides safety items, like bike helmets and cabinet locks, to families in need. CHP previously collaborated with CIRCA on a number of pediatric prevention programs. Additionally, as the area's only Level 1 Regional Resource Pediatric Trauma Center, CHP provides state-of-the-art trauma care to children in the region and conducts cutting edge research on pediatric injury prevention and treatment. The members of CIRCA look forward to working with Dr. Bhatnagar and the team at CHP to enhance research, education, and outreach efforts in injury control and prevention. 02/17/2012 CIRCA Outreach Core completes community survey on neighborhood collective efficacy in Pittsburgh InDr Ricci completed data collection of a community based survey using a random sample of listed landline telephone numbers. Changes in collective efficacy were assessed by measuring perceptions of residential mobility, social cohesion and violent crime change over five years. More than 1,209 interviews were completed across neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. Data are currently being analyzed to assess whether neighborhood safety, collective efficacy and underlying neighborhood variables are known to influence individual behavior and whether neighborhood level developments are a mediating factor. collaboration with the Falk Foundation, CIRCA will assess weapon use in violent crimes in the city of Pittsburgh. The investigators will follow the natural history of weapons to determine what factors are important in the illegal use of weapons. The results are expected to provide quantitative data to better inform community policies. 01/11/2012 CIRCA Director, Dr. Anthony Fabio awarded Falk Foundation grant to trace weapons used in crime In collaboration with the Falk Foundation, CIRCA will assess weapon use in violent crimes in the city of Pittsburgh. The investigators will follow the natural history of weapons to determine what factors are important in the illegal use of weapons. The results are expected to provide quantitative data to better inform community policies. 01/04/2012 CIRCA Training Core Director Appointed to Steering Committee for the Pennsylvania Injury Community Planning Group Thomas J. Songer, Ph.D., has been appointed as a member of the Steering committee for the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Injury Community Planning Group. The group’s mission is "To develop a comprehensive and coordinated injury prevention effort which will guide Pennsylvanians to prevent injuries and violence across the lifespan by empowering state and local partners through the collection and analysis of data and the leveraging of resources for injury prevention programs to recapture lost human potential." http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/violence___injury_prevention/14129/injury_community_planning_group/557649 12/16/2011 CIRCA Core Faculty Member named Chair of the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences Steven M. Albert, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., has been appointed by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) to head the school's Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences. Dr. Albert's research examines how societies can ensure optimal aging, including the prevention of falls. http://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/news.php?id=235 11/21/2011 Dr. Anthony Fabio has published the first quantitative work demonstrating the variation of the shape of the age-crime curve by neighborhood disadvantage This is the first study to quantitatively compare the observed age-crime curves between neighborhoods of varying socidemogprahic disadvantage. The results suggest that residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood during early adolescence may have an enduring effect on the shape of the age-crime curve throughout an individual's life. Knowing how age-crime curves differ by neighborhood disadvantage levels can inform the design of interventions and public policies to reduce violence. The age-crime curve provides insights into both an individual’s risk of violence over his life-course as well as a snap-shot of the prevalence rates of violence in specific populations or neighborhoods. This is important for targeting prevention efforts among individuals and neighborhoods. For individuals, knowing the shape of the curve reveals at what age risk starts, when risk is greatest, and when it decreases, allowing us to target prevention programs at specific age groups. Identifying systematic variation in the age crime curve with neighborhood disadvantage provides a basis for targeting interventions geographically or temporally by predicting when future violence epidemics may emerge. By monitoring the curve, we can see whether specific cohorts enter the curve at an earlier age, possibly forecasting a change to the shape of the curve predicting increased community violence levels. Fabio A, Tu L, Loeber R, and Cohen J. Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and the Shape of the Age-Crime Curve. American Journal of Public Health, 2011 Jul 21. (http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/S1/S325) 11/21/2011 Dr. David Kolko has published a paper in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine Evaluating the feasibility and clinical benefits of an integrated mental health intervention (doctor-office collaborative care [DOCC]) vs enhanced usual care (EUC) for children with behavioral problems. Group comparisons found significant improvements for DOCC over EUC in service use and completion, behavioral and emotional problems, individualized behavioral goals, and overall clinical response. Pediatricians and parents were highly satisfied with DOCC. This study is one of the first to demonstrate the clinical benefits of DOCC for behavioral problems and support the integration of collaborative mental health services for common mental disorders in primary care. Kolko DJ, Campo JV, Kilbourne AM, Kelleher K. Doctor-Office Collaborative Care for Pediatric Behavioral Problems: A Preliminary Clinical Trial. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2011 Nov 7. (http://134.147.247.42/han/JAMA/archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/archpediatrics.2011.201v1) 11/21/2011 Dr’s Berger and Fabio’s work on the association of inflicted Traumatic Brain injury and the recession has been highlighted in major new publications An increase in child abuse, mostly in infants, is linked with the recent recession in new research that raises fresh concerns about the impact of the nation's economic woes. KBerger RP, Fromkin JB, Stutz H, Makoroff K, Scribano PB, Feldman K, Tu LC, Fabio A. An Increase in Abusive Head Trauma During An Economic Recession: A Multi-Center Analysis. Pediatrics, 128 (4), 637-643, 2011. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/19/earlyshow/living/parenting/main20108155.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;4) |