Prevalence and Management of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Correctional Settings: A Systematic Review

Admissions to jails and prisons in the United States number 10 million yearly; persons entering locked correctional facilities have high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). These individuals come disproportionately from communities of color, with lower access to care and prevention, compared with the United States as a whole. Following PRISMA guidelines, the authors present results of a systematic review of literature published since 2012 on STIs in US jails, prisons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, and juvenile facilities. This updates an earlier review of STIs in short-term facilities. This current review contributed to new recommendations in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2021 treatment guidelines for STIs, advising screening for Trichomonas in women entering correctional facilities. The current review also synthesizes recommendations on screening: in particular, opt-out testing is superior to opt-in protocols. Carceral interventions-managing diagnosed cases and preventing new infections from occurring (eg, by initiating human immunodeficiency virus preexposure prophylaxis before release)-can counteract structural racism in healthcare.

Occupational and Environmental Hazards of Correctional Settings: A Scoping Literature Review From ACOEM's Presidential Task Force on Correctional Institutions

OBJECTIVE

Maintaining healthful, safe, and productive work environments for workers in correctional settings is a matter of deep consequence to the workers themselves, the institutions they serve, the incarcerated individuals with whom they share space, and inevitably, to our wider community. We hypothesized that an examination of the academic literature would reveal opportunities for an improved approach to research in these settings.

METHODS

We performed a scoping literature review using search terms related to the occupational and environmental health of workers in correctional environments, limited to studies performed in the United States.

RESULTS

A total of 942 studies underwent title and abstract screening, 342 underwent full-text review, and 147 underwent data extraction by a single reviewer. The results revealed a body of literature that tends strongly toward analyses of stress and burnout of correctional staff, largely based on self-reported data from cross-sectional surveys. Those studies related to physical health were predominantly represented by topics of infectious disease. There were few or no studies examining exposures or outcomes related to diagnosable mental health conditions, musculoskeletal injury, environmental hazards, medical or mental health staff, immigration detention settings, or regarding incarcerated workers. There were very few studies that were experimental, longitudinal, or based on objective data.

DISCUSSION

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has promulgated a research strategy for correctional officers that should guide future research for all workers in correctional settings, but realization of these goals will rely upon multidisciplinary collaboration, specific grants to engage researchers, and an improved understanding of the barriers inherent to correctional research, all while maintaining rigorous protection for incarcerated persons as an especially vulnerable population.

Challenges and Opportunities in Correctional Health Care Quality: A Descriptive Analysis of Compliance With NCCHC Standards

This descriptive analysis examines data collected as part of the accreditation program of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC). Based on the NCCHC Standards for Health Services, the accreditation program uses external peer review to determine whether correctional institutions meet these standards in their provision of health services. Analysis of compliance patterns looked at four facility characteristics-total annual admission, capacity, average daily population, and average daily intake-for jails and prisons. Findings reveal differences between facilities that were compliant and those that were not compliant with specific standards. These findings can inform the development of tailored quality improvement programs.

Evaluation of ITS PCR and RFLP for Differentiation and Identification of Brewing Yeast and Brewery 'Wild' Yeast Contaminants

A reference library of ITS PCR/RFLP profiles was collated and augmented to evaluate its potential for routine identification of domestic brewing yeast and known ‘wild’ yeast contaminants associated with wort, beer and brewing processes. This library contains information on band sizes generated by restriction digestion of the ribosomal RNA‐encoding DNA (rDNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region consisting of the 5.8 rRNA gene and two flanking regions (ITS1 and ITS2) with the endonucleases CfoI, HaeIII, HinfI and includes strains from 39 non‐Saccharomyces yeast species as well as for brewing and non‐brewing strains of Saccharomyces. The efficacy of the technique was assessed by isolation of 59 wild yeasts from industrial fermentation vessels and conditioning tanks and by matching their ITS amplicon sizes and RFLP profiles with those of the constructed library. Five separate, non‐introduced yeast taxa were putatively identified. These included Pichia species, which were associated with conditioning tanks and Saccharomyces species isolated from fermentation vessels. Strains of the lager yeast S. pastorianus could be reliably identified as belonging to either the Saaz or Frohberg hybrid group by restriction digestion of the ITS amplicon with the enzyme HaeIII. Frohberg group strains could be further sub‐grouped depending on restriction profiles generated with HinfI.

The US drug safety system: role of the pharmaceutical industry

PURPOSE

Despite increasingly strident calls for improved drug safety in the United States, recent events underscore the continuing gap among manufacturers, regulators, patients, and physicians. In the period leading to the recent Institute of Medicine report on the future of drug safety, representatives from industry were given an opportunity to provide input into this report. In light of continuing concerns about drug safety and pending legislation, this original perspective provides an important context.

METHODS

This work consolidates the views of representatives of individual pharmaceutical companies; the large industry trade associations, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO); and those of the authors with regard to the industry role of drug safety in the United States.

RESULTS

To ensure continued protection of the public's health, manufacturers must recognize themselves as critical to ensuring safe products; maintain corporate safety functions separate from marketing functions; provide oversight by a senior medical executive; engage in structured epidemiological research, risk assessment, and risk communication; and mandate the formation and maintenance of an internal, interdisciplinary, senior level safety council.

CONCLUSIONS

The importance of aggressive and accountable drug safety will only become more salient as the public and their elected representatives demand better accountability from industry. Individual corporations now have the opportunity to move first to counter perceptions of profit over safety and to ensure that their business practices adequately protect the public's health.

Mesenchymal dysplasia of the placenta

Placental mesenchymal dysplasia is a rare human placental disorder in which the placenta is enlarged and contains cystic villi and dilated vasculature. It is important to recognize this disorder because it may mimic a partial hydatidiform mole. In contrast to a partial mole, mesenchymal dysplasia may coexist with a normal fetus. This case occurred at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, in June 2002.

Tissue distribution of primaquine in the rat

The distribution of primaquine was measured in seven rat tissues at 15-180 min after the intraperitoneal injection of the antimalarial 8-aminoquinoline. The half-life of unmetabolized primaquine was 4.0 h in lung, 1.7-1.9 h in blood, spleen, kidney and heart, and 1.2 h in liver. At each interval, the concentrations of unmetabolized primaquine were (in order): lung greater than liver, kidney, spleen greater than heart greater than brain greater than or equal to blood. At 3 h after the injection of [6-O-methyl-3H]primaquine, unmetabolized primaquine constituted 10% of the total 3H in blood and 40-60% of the total 3H in liver, brain, heart and kidney.

Inhibition of precursor incorporation into nucleic acids of mammalian tissues by antimalarial aminoquinolines

1 Chloroquine, primaquine and ethidium inhibitied thymidine incorporation into deoxyribonucleic acid of rat tissues when administered concurrently with the labelled precursor. 2 Chloroquine and primaquine inhibited the incorporation of uridine and adenine, but not orotate, into various ribonucleic acid fractions of liver of rats and mice. These drugs had no effect on leucine incorporation into hepatic protein in rats or mice. 3 Although chloroquine and primaquine are active against different stages in the life cycle of the malarial parasites, the two aminoquinolines exert similar effects in rodent tissues.