ABSTRACT
For over five years we have been involved in a series of collaborations between academic public health and state and local public health organizations. This article briefly describes the outcomes produced and under development by these collaborations and delineates and discusses some characteristics we now hypothesize will predict successful academic/practice collaboration. These collaborative projects with public health organizations in Alabama, Indiana, and New Mexico have produced outcomes that influenced the organization of the agencies and the allocation of resources within the agencies. The collaborations also have contributed to the body of literature concerning management processes in public health agencies and influenced the teaching of strategic management to students of health services. Our experiences and interactions led to the identification of 10 characteristics we believe predict successful academic and practice collaborations, discussed in three groups as (1) characteristics of successful academic collaborators, (2) characteristics of successful collaborating public health organizations, and (3) characteristics of successful collaborative projects.
Subject(s)
Community Health Services , Public Health Administration , HumansABSTRACT
Birth defects in live-born infants were documented for 2 years in Jefferson County, Alabama (USA)--1986 and 1987--and in Uppsala County, Sweden--1985 and 1986. A total of 27,561 live births (9,179 white male, 8,728 white female, 4,883 black male, and 4,771 black female infants) occurred in Jefferson County; 6,896 live births (3,535 male and 3,361 female) were recorded in Uppsala County. These newborns were studied to establish a database of birth defects for the two small geographic areas and to study similarities and differences. Rates of hip dislocation, heart malformations, and clubfoot were high in Swedish infants. Similar frequencies of spina bifida and polydactyly were noted in Alabama whites and Swedish infants. Regional registries offer a systematic approach to detection of clustering of specific birth defects, identification of families for further study, location of patients with unique needs, and enhanced coordination of health services, including genetic counseling.
Subject(s)
Congenital Abnormalities/epidemiology , Alabama/epidemiology , Clubfoot/epidemiology , Female , Genetic Counseling , Heart Defects, Congenital/epidemiology , Hip Dislocation, Congenital/epidemiology , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Male , Polydactyly/epidemiology , Prospective Studies , Racial Groups , Registries , Spinal Dysraphism/epidemiology , Sweden/epidemiologyABSTRACT
We analyzed nutrient levels in amniotic fluid obtained during the second trimester of normal, uncomplicated pregnancies from 221 women who delivered apparently healthy infants and from 8 with neural tube defect (NTD) pregnancies. Folate was measured by microbiological assay, vitamin B12 by a radiobinding method, and zinc, copper and iron by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. We found that the mean amniotic fluid nutrient levels of normal pregnancies were 24.7 nmol/l for folate, 600 pmol/l for vitamin B12, and 1.7, 1.9, and 9.0 mumol/l for zinc, copper and iron, respectively. Amniotic fluid folate, zinc, copper and iron levels of NTD pregnancies were similar to those found during normal pregnancy, however, vitamin B12 levels were markedly lower than those of normal pregnancies.
