Research Results

It has recently been proposed that lead contamination of drinking water arising from galvanic corrosion of lead and copper pipe will be minimized if the lead and copper pipes are brought into direct contact when compared to pipe separations of 1 cm to 15 cm and external electrical contact via a grounding strap. A direct, four month test of this hypothesis was conducted with measurement of galvanic current and lead release to water.

Antibiotic effectiveness is a common pool resource that can be prematurely depleted through resistance. Some experts warn that we may face a global ecological collapse in antibiotic effectiveness.

In a Viewpoint article for the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Swanson discusses gun violence, the role mental illness plays in mass tragedies, and warns against crisis-driven policy.

A recovery-based mental health system uses coercion only when necessary to prevent harm or arrest severe deterioration, only as a last resort, and always with respect for the person's dignity. Recovery envisions a process by which persons experiencing a mental disorder take control of their lives, including planning for care in a crisis, assisted by caring partners. For those who are strongly treatment-resistant or have not begun the recovery process, there may be no alternative to coercion.

This study takes as a starting place the inherent tension between public safety and civil rights in considering mental illness as a significant concern for firearms policy and law. This means grappling with the full range of social benefits and costs that may accrue in casting a wide net with a broad mesh to find a few dangerous people among the many with largely non-dangerous disorders of thought, mood, and behavior.

This article reports results of a survey of 460 individuals in five stakeholder groups during the initial implementation period of a Virginia health care law that enables competent adults with serious mental illness to plan for treatment during incapacitating crises using an integrated advance directive with no legal distinction between psychiatric or other causes of decisional incapacity. The study concludes that relevant stakeholders support implementation of advance directives for mental health, but level of baseline knowledge and perception of barriers vary.

Similar to the triaging of patients by health care workers, legal and public health professionals must prioritize and respond to issues of law and ethics in declared public health emergencies. As revealed by the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza outbreak and other events, there are considerable inconsistencies among professionals regarding how to best approach these issues during a public health emergency.

This monograph illuminates one key component of service systems, policing, highlighting the role of police officers as front-line workers in the community, and it examines trends in thinking and practice and common challenges surrounding policing and mental illnesses internationally.

This study improved on the existing work by examining these issues with a more rigorous scientific design. The researchers first examined the relationship between land-use law, the built environment, and crime using detailed block-level crime data and careful observations conducted on 205 blocks in eight different relatively high-crime areas of Los Angeles. They then analyzed the relationship between changes in land-use zones and crime in all neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

This article serves as a call to action to achieve universal health agency accreditation within this decade. The authors identify the challenge, and offer strategies and opportunities for implementation.