Friday, November 9, 2012

Current Case Count - Multistate Fungal Meningitis Outbreak


CDC 24/7: Saving Lives. Protecting People. Saving Money through Prevention.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC 24/7: Saving Lives. Protecting People. Saving Money through Prevention.™.

http://www.cdc.gov/hai/outbreaks/meningitis-map.html

Multistate Fungal Meningitis Outbreak - Current Case Count

November 9, 2012 2:30 PM EST
NOTICE: Going forward, we will be providing case count updates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Cases with Fungal Infections Linked to Steroid Injections

Cases and Deaths with Fungal Infections Linked to Steroid Injections

Table by State
StateTotal Case CountsPeripheral Joint InfectionsDeaths
TOTALS438*1032
Florida (FL)2303
Georgia (GA)100
Idaho (ID)100
Illinois (IL)200
Indiana (IN)5204
Maryland (MD)2301
Michigan (MI)12868
Minnesota (MN)1100
New Hampshire (NH)1340
New Jersey (NJ)2700
New York (NY)100
North Carolina (NC)301
Ohio (OH)**1500
Pennsylvania (PA)100
Rhode Island (RI)300
South Carolina (SC)100
Tennessee (TN)81013
Texas (TX)200
Virginia (VA)5002

*428 cases of fungal meningitis, stroke due to presumed fungal meningitis, or other central nervous system-related infection meeting the outbreak case definition, plus 10 peripheral joint infections (e.g., knee, hip, shoulder, elbow). No deaths have been associated with peripheral joint infections.
** Ohio previously reported 16 cases. Ohio has corrected their case count to 15 cases.
Case counts by state are based on the state where the procedure was performed, not the state of residence.

Supreme Court to tackle key voting rights provision


CNN

November 9th, 2012
03:29 PM ET

Court to tackle key voting rights provision

The Supreme Court agreed today to decide whether the key enforcement provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be scrapped, amid arguments it is a constitutionally unnecessary vestige of the civil rights era.
Known as Section 5, the provision gives the federal government open-ended oversight of states and localities with a history of voter discrimination. Any changes in voting laws and procedures in the covered states must be "pre-cleared" by federal authorities in Washington.
The provision was reauthorized by Congress in 2006 for 25 more years. This move prompted a lawsuit by officials in Shelby County, Alabama, who argued that the monitoring was overly burdensome and unwarranted.
The case could be one of the biggest the justices tackle this term, potentially offering a social, political and legal barometer on the progress of civil rights in the United States - and the justices take on the level of national vigilance still needed to ensure that minorities have equal access in the election process.
While the high court announced this week its intention to take up the issue, oral arguments - and, after that, a decision - won't come until next year.
Post by: 
Filed under: Civil Rights • Supreme Court

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/09/supreme-court-to-tackle-key-voting-rights-provision/?hpt=hp_t2

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Dept of Health & Human Services: Minority Resources...Money & More

FYI: Minority Resources...Money & More

Provided by the Office of Minority Health Resource Center's Information Services Team
November 07, 2012



Funding

Federal Grants

$500k or less . . .  

Non Federal Grants

Minority Population Specific: $500k or less . . . 
  • The Seattle Indian Health Board's Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI): Partnership to Support Depression Programming (PSDP). An opportunity for Urban Indian Health Organizations (UIHOs) to participate in a facilitated partnership and strategic planning process. Supported by a cooperative agreement through the Office of Minority Health. View Full Announcement [PDF | 69KB] Exit Disclaimer
$500k or less . . . 
  • The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA): PHA End Childhood Obesity Innovation Challenge. The finalists will win a trip to Washington, D.C., where they'll present their idea before a panel of judges and all attendees at the PHA's Building a Healthier Future Summit on March 6-8, 2013. View Full Announcement Exit Disclaimer
  • The Sunflower Foundation: Letters of Intent (LOI), Integrated Care Initiative. View Full Announcement Exit Disclaimer

Resources

  • The Commonwealth Fund: Webinar. Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy. November 13, 2012, at 2:00 pm, ET. Learn More Exit Disclaimer

Scholarships/Fellowships

  • The American Heart Association/Macy's: Go Red for Women Multicultural Scholarship Fund. View Full Announcement Exit Disclaimer
  • Montana State University: NIMHD NIH-funded fellowship. Graduate Education in Health for Minority Scholars (GEhMS). View Full Announcement Exit Disclaimer
  • The University of Minnesota: The Division of Epidemiology & Community Health/Nutrition Graduate Program. PostdoctoraL Fellowship in Nutrition and Cancer. View Full Announcement Exit Disclaimer
  • Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN2): Postdoctoral Fellowship Positions now open. View Full Announcement Exit Disclaimer
  • The University of Arizona: Graduate Certificate in Maternal & Child Health (MCH)Scholarships avaialble. View Full Announcement Exit Disclaimer

Resources

  • Community-Campus Partnerships for Health: A free online database of faculty mentors & portfolio reviewers launched to support community-engaged careers in the academy. CCPH Database of Faculty Mentors and Portfolio Reviewers. Learn More Exit Disclaimer

American Indians/Alaska Native Health

  • Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board: A new website launched to serve as a national multimedia health resource for Native teens and young adults. The We R Native Website. Learn More Exit Disclaimer
  • Florida Department of Health, Office of Minority Health and the American Indian Advisory Council: Celebrating November as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. Share the Spirit: Cultures, Traditions and Contributions. Resources, stats, history and a calendar of events now available. Learn More

Diabetes

  • NEI/National Eye Health Education Program: November is Diabetes Awareness Month A variety of resources in English and Spanish for community organizations and health professionals to use in educating people about diabetic eye disease are now available. Learn More

Emergency Preparedness

  • National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems: Hurricane Sandy Resources now available, including a crisis response map and local and federal relief organizations. Learn More Exit Disclaimer

Health Care

  • American Public Health Association: Public health infographics now available. What Does Public Health Mean for You? Learn More Exit Disclaimer

Health Equity

Events

  • Community-Campus Partnerships for Health: Forum. 2nd National Community Partner Forum on Community-Engaged Health Disparities Research. December 5-7, 2012 in Washington, DC. Learn More
  • Community-Campus Partnerships for Health: Knowledge for Equity Conference, National Conference on Using Data to Promote Health Equity and Address Disparities. November 13, 2012 8:00 am - November 14, 2012 5:00 pm in Silver Spring, MD. Learn More Exit Disclaimer
  • The Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health/Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH): First Annual Symposium. Environmental Justice And Environmental Health Disparities In Maryland And DC. December 1, 2012, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Learn More Exit Disclaimer
  • Community Oriented Correctional Health Services (COCHS): Webcast. Addressing Health Disparities for Minority Populations in Jails. 8:30 am EST on Thursday, December 6, 2012. Learn More Exit Disclaimer

Nutrition/Obesity

  • University of Southern California: Obesity infographics now available.Understanding Childhood Obesity. Learn More Exit Disclaimer

Pulmonary Health

  • FDA/CTP: Launch new Spanish and/or English pledge widget to protect kids from tobacco. Break the Chain of Tobacco Addiction. Learn More

Substance Abuse

  • SAMHSA: Seven scripted modules to assist treatment program staff in understanding and implementing evidence-based group therapy practices based on Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 41, now available for download. Substance Abuse Treatment: Group Therapy Inservice Training. Learn More

Opportunities for Public Comment

  • NIH: Request for Information (RFI) Pediatric Suicide Prevention in Emergency Medicine Settings. Seeking input on strategies to enhance suicide prevention efforts targeted at children and adolescents within emergency medicine department (ED) settings, where many individuals at high risk for suicide are seen. Feedback is requested from any and all organizations and individuals interested in youth suicide prevention research in the ED setting. Learn More

Adolescent Health

  • Office of Adolescent Health: Updated fact sheets on state and national summaries that focus on different areas of adolescent health and behavior now available. These fact sheets provide data from across federal agencies, so you can see exactly how adolescents in your state compare to the national averages. Fact sheets include:Physicial Health; Mental Health; Substance Abuse; and Healthy Relationships Learn More

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

SAMHSA: Helping Children and Youth Who Have Experienced Traumatic Events

United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - A Life in the Community for Everyone: Behavioral Health is Essential to Health, Prevention Works, Treatment is Effective, People Recover
Download New Community Action Guide To Support Infants and Young Children
Supporting Infants, Toddlers, and Families Impacted by Caregiver Mental Health Problems, Substance Abuse, and Trauma: A Community Action Guide
Supporting Infants, Toddlers, and Families Impacted by Caregiver Mental Health Problems, Substance Abuse, and Trauma: A Community Action Guide presents resources that service providers, advocates, and practitioners can use to better understand and respond to young children whose caregivers are negatively affected by these issues. The Guide offers information, resources, and tips useful for engaging the wider community to come together for children and families in need of support.
The Guide is outlined in five sections:
  • Section 1 focuses on the importance of early development for children from birth to age 5.
  • Section 2 looks at the newest research on how toxic stress can harm brain development.
  • Section 3 emphasizes building a sturdy foundation for young children with family and the surrounding community.
  • Section 4 outlines a six-step roadmap for action.
  • Section 5 provides resources and references to help you move forward.
The problems facing families today are complex. Fortunately, small changes can have big impacts. Working together—connecting community resources and groups—enables us all to work more efficiently to help families benefit from resources that are coordinated and responsive to their needs. This Guide is meant to serve as a resource in support of this improved approach.

View These Related Resources

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Thirty-four contracts totaling $40 million were awarded this week to 29 academic and research organizations


DHS S&T Directorate Awards 34 Contracts For Cybersecurity Research, Development
By: Anthony Kimery
10/26/2012                                


Thirty-four contracts totaling $40 million were awarded this week to 29 academic and research organizations by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) to research and develop solutions to cybersecurity challenges.

The contracts were awarded by DHS’ S&T Cyber Security Division (CSD) under a Jan. 2011 Cyber Security R&D Broad Agency Announcement (BAA 11-02) that solicited proposals for 14 Technical Topic Areas (TTAs) aimed at improving security in federal networks and across the Internet while developing new and enhanced technologies for detecting, preventing and responding to cyber attacks on the nation’s critical information infrastructure.

BAA 11-02 elicited white paper responses from more than 1,000 offerors. Following an extensive review and down-select process, more than 200 offerors were invited to submit full proposals for a final review. And of those, new awards were made to the organizations that were announced Thursday.

Many of the awards involve several organizations “teamed to conduct the planned research,” according to the S&T Cyber Security Division. “These organizations will conduct cyber security research and developments that result in knowledge products and deployable security solutions that advance understanding of cyber risks, as directed by the President in the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.

The 14 technical topic areas are:
  • Software Assurance;
  • Enterprise-Level Security Metrics;
  • Usable Security;
  • Insider Threat;
  • Resilient Systems and Networks;
  • Modeling of Internet Attacks;
  • Network Mapping and Measurement;
  • Incident Response Communities;
  • Cyber Economics;
  • Digital Provenance;
  • Hardware-Enabled Trust;
  • Moving Target Defense;
  • Nature-Inspired Cyber Health; and
  • Software Assurance MarketPlace

Dr. Douglas Maughan, director of DHS' S&T Cyber Security Division, toldHomeland Security Today “The work to be accomplished through these contracts will significantly advance cyber security and support the mission of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s Cyber Security Division to create a safe, secure and resilient cyber environment.”

“Our goal,” said Maughan, “is to transform the cyber-infrastructure to be resistant to attack so that critical national interests are protected from catastrophic damage and our society can confidently adopt new technological advances.”

The Cyber Security Division convened a meeting October 9-11 in Washington, DC of the principal investigators of the 34 funded projects and their international co-funding partners for a kickoff meeting where they were able to discuss how all of the collective work will come together over the lifespan of each project’s research, development and technology transition to significantly advance cyber security.

Maughan explained at the investigators’ meeting that the contracts are intended to “deliver both near-term and medium-term solutions to develop new and enhanced technologies for the detection of, prevention of and response to cyber attacks on the nation’s critical information infrastructure, based on customer requirements; to perform research and development aimed at improving the security of existing deployed technologies and to ensure the security of new emerging cybersecurity systems,” and “to facilitate the transfer of these technologies into operational environments.”

The 34 Cyber Security Division contracts are intended to develop knowledge products and deployable security solutions advancing the understanding of cyber risks were awarded pursuant to the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, which is an implementing component of the National Strategy for Homeland Security that is complemented by the National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets.

According to DHS, “The purpose of this document is to engage and empower Americans to secure the portions of cyberspace that they own, operate, control, or with which they interact. Securing cyberspace is a difficult strategic challenge that requires coordinated and focused effort from our entire society -- the federal government, state and local governments, the private sector and the American people.”

In his address to the principal investigators’ meeting this month, Maughan emphasized that “Cybersecurity  research is a key area of innovation needed to support our future,” and that “DHS S&T continues with an aggressive cyber security research agenda” that involves “Working to solve the cyber security problems of our current (and future) infrastructure and systems; working with academe and industry to improve research tools and datasets; [and] looking at future R&D agendas with the most impact for the nation, including education.”

Maughan concluded that the Cyber Security Division “Need[s] to continue [with a] strong emphasis on technology transfer and experimental deployments.”

The 34 contracts that were awarded this week went to the following organizations:
  • Applied Visions, Inc, Northport, NY
  • Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Columbia University, New York, NY
  • Def-Logix, Provo, UT
  • George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
  • Georgia Tech Research Corp., Atlanta, GA
  • HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, CA
  • IBM Research, Yorktown Heights, NY
  • International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, CA
  • ITT Advanced Engineering & Sciences Division, Rome, NY
  • Kestrel Technology, LLC, Palo Alto, CA
  • Merit Network Inc, Ann Arbor, MI
  • Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI
  • Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
  • Northrop Grumman Information Systems, McLean, VA
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN
  • Pacific NW National Laboratory, Richland, WA
  • Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
  • Raytheon BBN Technologies, Cambridge, MA
  • Rutgers University - New Brunswick Campus, New Brunswick, NJ
  • The Trustees of Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
  • The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
  • The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
  • Trustees of Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
  • Trustees of Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
  • University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
  • University of Maryland, College Park, MD
  • University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute, Marina del Rey, CA

Four of these contracts include co-funding from international partners – two from the United Kingdom and two from Australia. Negotiations are currently underway for additional international co-funding from partner agencies in Canada, Sweden and The Netherlands.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Webinar: Satellite Communications



https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=528370&sessionid=1&key=919B35A7E5EA4B58805760E6F1E8C22A&sourcepage=register

Logo
Evolving portfolio of satellite communications solutions

Tuesday 20 November 2012 at 15:00 GMT (London) / 16:00 CET. Click here to see the start time in other timezones. 


Inmarsat will be delighted to introduce our portfolio that has expanded recently to specifically address your business-critical communications requirements. 

New services, new pricing models and a brand new IsatPhone Pro humanitarian package will be highlighted in this webinar, along with a sneak preview of our product and services roadmap, featuring new L-band offerings and capacity, as well as our game-changing next-generation Ka-band network, Global Xpress®. 

Whether you are an emergency responder who needs immediate access to communications to effectively carry out relief operations, or an NGO needing long-term reliable voice and data connectivity, our portfolio is designed to provide you with a solution you can depend upon. 

Drew Brandy, Vice President, Inmarsat Industry and Florian Lefèvre, Inmarsat’s Director of Sales, EMEA region for Industry, as well as our technical experts will be delighted to welcome you to the webinar to discuss how Inmarsat is well placed to address your requirements now, and what we are doing to ensure that as your needs evolve, our portfolio of services can grown with you. 

You will also have an opportunity to ask questions and engage with our panel throughout the webinar. If you can’t make it, but are interested in this update from Inmarsat, please register and we will send you a link to access the webinar post-event. We look forward to welcoming you on 20 November 2012, 3:00pm GMT. 








Webinar: Toxic Release Inventory for Communities


Introduction to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for Communities
November 8, 2012  1:00 – 2:30 pm EST

Next week, EPA and the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) will present a webinar for community grassroots groups and others who serve as community leaders about how to access and use EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory data. TRI can help address local community concerns about toxic chemical emissions and associated environmental impacts. Webinar participants will learn about TRI basics, as well as about EPA’s recent pilot projects with four communities, and will also hear from a grassroots group which, as a result of the pilot project, is now using TRI data to build on its ongoing efforts to protect the community from industrial pollution.

Featured speakers will include:
  • Shelley Fudge, TRI Community Engagement Initiative lead in US EPA’s Washington, DC Office
  • Lily Lee, the TRI Coordinator for US EPA’s San Francisco Office
  • Erin Heaney, Executive Director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York
All are welcome to participate!  For more information, including soon to be posted agenda, speaker bios, etc. please visit: http://www.ChemicalRight2Know.org. 

To register, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/406067464 

Webinar Contacts
Bryan Shipley, ECOS at bshipley@ecos.org 
Christine Arcari, US EPA at arcari.christine@epa.gov

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