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Medical and Research Library News

DSHS Medical and Research Library publishes MRL News, a monthly newsletter that highlights training opportunities, trending topics, and journal articles for public health professionals.

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Medical and Research Library News By Month

August 2025

Medical and Research Library News

Training opportunities
Websites and reports on trending topics
Journal articles of note
New eBooks

Training opportunities

The webinars and online classes listed here are shared solely as opportunities to learn more information of interest to public health personnel. All times listed are in Central Time.

August 12, 2025; 1–2:30 p.m. From Longevity to Vitality: Applying the Science of Aging.
Due to a variety of factors, such as medical advances and a declining birthrate, the median age of the U.S. population has been creeping upwards from around 30 after WWII to 39 today. This demographic shift, accompanied by overall population growth, has increased the population of older adults and those suffering from aging-associated disruptions like dementia. This webinar from the National Academies will explore how policymakers can leverage our scientific understanding of aging to promote thriving and healthy populations.

August 13, 2025; 10–11 a.m. Medical Nutrition Therapy in Clinical Practice: Enhancing Patient Outcomes.
This presentation from the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) will introduce participants to the foundational principles of Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) and highlight how it differs from general nutrition education or wellness advice. Attendees will gain insight into the specialized role of the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) in the development of an individualized plan of care and nutrition therapy interventions. This session will explore conditions such as diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, and gastrointestinal disorders, for which MNT is particularly effective.

August 14, 2025; 1–3 p.m. Increasing Accountability, Performance, and Feedback Skills.
In this webinar from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), leaders will practice a simple yet powerful four-step feedback model that is intentional and has a positive impact. The feedback model is fact-based and highlights the impact of behaviors/performance on the team, department, and organization. It encourages everyone to take accountability for their actions and supports building collaborative solutions between leaders and employees.

Websites and reports on trending topics

CDC Wonder is the CDC Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiological Research. It provides access to a wide array of public health information. Search for and read published documents on public health concerns, including reports, recommendations and guidelines, articles and statistical research data published by CDC. It has reference materials and bibliographies on health-related topics. Query numeric data sets on CDC's information systems via fill-in-the blank webpages. Public-use data sets about mortality (deaths), cancer incidence, HIV and AIDS, TB, natality (births), census data, and many other topics are available for query, and the requested data are readily summarized and analyzed.

Learning Express Library is a resource available through the TexShare databases that offers interactive training modules. It covers topics like math and writing skills, but also includes training on computer software like the Microsoft Office programs, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. Please email the library if assistance is needed to access the TexShare databases.

ProQuest Public Health is another database is available through the TexShare databases. It is designed to be the ideal starting point for public health information and research. With journals, news, trade publications, reports and more, ProQuest Public Health covers a wide variety of disciplines ranging from social sciences and biological sciences to business. Journal results are indexed from core literature collected from a variety of publishers using appropriate public-health terminology.

State Trackers - NASHP is a site from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) that monitors and displays state-level actions, legislation, and policies related to various healthcare topics. These trackers help state officials, researchers, and the public understand how states are addressing key healthcare issues, such as Medicaid coverage, prescription drug costs, and health system consolidation. The trackers can be filtered by policy area, topic, and state.

Journal articles of note

Barratt JLN, Jacobson D, Pierre-Louis E, et al. Genetic characterization of Plasmodium vivax linked to autochthonous malaria transmission in the US (2023) using Illumina AmpliSeq technology: a genetic epidemiology study. Lancet Reg Health Am. 2025;48:101159. Published 2025 Jun 21. doi:10.1016/j.lana.2025.101159
Abstract
Background: Malaria is a mosquito borne disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. In 2023, the United States (US) experienced nine cases of autochthonous Plasmodium vivax malaria transmission: seven in Florida, one in Texas, and another in Arkansas. These were the first autochthonous cases since 2003 when a cluster was identified in Florida. The aim of this study was to genetically characterize the implicated P. vivax isolates in order to complement epidemiologic investigations of these cases.
Methods: A custom Illumina AmpliSeq sequencing panel capturing 495 amplicons was designed. This panel was used to ascertain whether these 2023 cases were related and assess if they were associated with a single or separate introduction event. Sequence data were hierarchically clustered, and a Naïve Bayes classification approach was used to assign genotypes to a probable geographic origin based on 113 'geo-informative' SNPs captured by the panel. Genotypes associated with the 2023 Arkansas, Texas, and Florida cases were clustered alongside those sequenced from archived blood samples from the 2003 Florida case-patients, a set of reference strains, and other travel-associated specimens. Microsatellite analysis was performed on a subset of samples from these autochthonous cases to complement the AmpliSeq analysis.
Findings: The 2023 autochthonous Florida cases were genetically linked as were the 2003 Florida cases. The 2023 and 2003 Florida clusters were genetically distinct, and the two Florida clusters were distinct from the 2023 Texas and Arkansas cases, which were also distinct from each other. These genotypes classified to the Central or South American region using the Naïve Bayes classifier, including those from the 2003 cluster.
Interpretation: These data support that at least three distinct P. vivax introduction events in the US in 2023, involving parasites possessing genetic signatures consistent with Central or South America.

Betancourt D, Shumate C, Canfield MA, et al. Assessing the impact of social factors on survival among infants born with transposition of the great arteries, tetralogy of tallot, and diaphragmatic hernia in Texas, 2011-2019. Matern Child Health J. Published online July 9, 2025. doi:10.1007/s10995-025-04126-2
Abstract
Introduction: Social factors impact survival for infants with birth defects. This analysis describes the impact of social factors on one-year survival for infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), transposition of the great arteries (TGA), and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF).
Methods: Survival estimates were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test with 0.05 significance stratified by social factors for infants born 2011-2019 with CDH (N = 942), TGA (N = 1,102), or TOF (N = 1,545). Crude hazard ratios (HR) and adjusted hazard ratios (AHR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for infant death using the Cox proportional hazards models.
Results: One-year survival was 88.7% for TOF, 88.0% for TGA, and 72.7% for CDH. Infants with CDH whose mother resided along the Texas-Mexico border had an increased risk of death compared to non-border residents (HR = 1.68, p =.003). Lower maternal education attainment was associated with increased risk of death for infants with TGA (HR = 1.75, p =.002) or TOF (HR = 1.54, p =.005) compared to infants whose mother had more than a high school education. Maternal Hispanic ethnicity increased the risk of death for infants with TGA (HR = 1.75, p =.005) or TOF (HR = 1.74, p =.002) compared to NH White infants.
Discussion: Hispanic maternal ethnicity, lower maternal educational attainment, and residence along the Texas-Mexico border negatively impact infant one-year survival.

Haas CB, McGee-Avila JK, Luo Q, et al. Cancer incidence and trends in US adults with HIV. JAMA Oncol. Published online June 12, 2025. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2025.1589
Abstract
Importance: People with HIV are living longer due to improvements in antiretroviral therapy over the last 2 decades. Current age-specific estimates of cancer risk among people with HIV may inform cancer prevention and clinical guidelines for this population.
Objective: To estimate cancer incidence rates (IRs) using a population-based linkage of HIV and cancer registries.
Design, setting, and participants: This population-based cohort study used data from 12 US states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico from 2001 to 2019. People with HIV and the general population in the HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study were included in the analysis, which occurred between October 2023 and December 2024.
Main outcomes and measures: Age-standardized IRs (per 100,000 person-years) were calculated across calendar periods (2001 to 2004, 2005 to 2009, 2010 to 2014, and 2015 to 2019) and incidence rate ratios (IRRs) across calendar periods using adjusted Poisson regression. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were estimated for 2010 to 2014 and 2015 to 2019, and age group-specific cancer incidence and SIRs were estimated for 2010 to 2019.
Results: The analysis included 7.2 million person-years among 847 107 people with HIV (5.3 million person-years among males [73%]). Comparing years 2015 to 2019 to years 2010 to 2014, incidence of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) decreased 23% (IRR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.70-0.84), Kaposi sarcoma (KS) decreased 24% (IRR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.69-0.84), Hodgkin lymphoma decreased 25% (IRR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.65-0.86), and cancers of the lung decreased 17% (IRR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.77-0.90) and liver decreased 25% (IRR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.67-0.84). Among people with HIV aged 70 to 84 years, IRs were highest for cancers of the prostate (448.01; 95% CI, 404.26-495.20), lung (269.79; 95% CI, 240.86-301.24), female breast (202.29; 95% CI, 155.79-258.32), liver (82.82; 95% CI, 67.16-101.03), and colon (107.57; 95% CI, 89.61-128.08), exceeding the IRs for DLBCL (41.83; 95% CI, 30.95-55.31) and KS (15.37; 95% CI, 9.11-24.29). From 2015 to 2019, risk remained significantly elevated in people with HIV for several cancer types, including KS (SIR, 213.87; 95% CI, 198.81-229.73), Hodgkin lymphoma (SIR, 6.29; 95% CI, 5.68-6.94), DLBCL (SIR, 5.25; 95% CI, 5.25-6.01), cancers of the anus (SIR, 17.07; 95% CI, 16.01-18.17), vulva (SIR, 11.40; 95% CI, 9.60-13.44), liver (SIR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.74-2.05), and lung (SIR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.51-1.68). For nearly all these cancers, SIRs significantly declined with increasing age.
Conclusions and relevance: In this cohort study, significant declines in the incidence and relative risk for cancers among people with HIV demonstrate continued progress in HIV treatment and cancer prevention. These estimates may provide insight into the priorities for prevention and early detection of cancer as the population of people with HIV enters ages with greater risk for cancer.

Valdez KR, Mendell NL, Escárcega-Ávila AM, et al. Survey of fleas and ticks for Rickettsia rickettsii and Rickettsia typhi in the El Paso community and other areas in Texas, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Am J Trop Med Hyg. Published online June 17, 2025. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.24-0709
Abstract
This survey was conducted with the aim of determining the public health risk of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and murine typhus in the urban and peri-urban areas of El Paso, as well as other areas in Texas, southern New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The approach was to assess the diversity of tick and flea species, determine if the ticks and fleas were infected with Rickettsia rickettsii and Rickettsia typhi (R. typhi), respectively, and assess previous human infection with Rickettsia species. Ticks and fleas were collected from domestic and wild animals and tested using a nested polymerase chain reaction assay. Human plasma samples were also tested for antibodies using an indirect fluorescence assay. Among 203 fleas, including Pulex irritans, Echidnophaga gallinacea, and Ctenocephalides felis (C. felis), collected from wild and domestic small mammals, only one pool of four C. felis collected from a dog in the El Paso community was positive for Rickettsia felis. All 194 Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks collected from stray and domestic dogs in the El Paso community, southern Doña Ana County, and Ciudad Juarez were negative for Rickettsia spp. In Travis County, Texas, a total of 207 ticks collected from white-tailed deer, including 196 Ixodes scapularis and 11 Dermacentor albipictus, were negative for Rickettsia spp. pathogens. Among 375 archived human plasma samples collected in the El Paso community, only two were positive for R. typhi antibodies. These preliminary findings suggested that tick- and flea-borne diseases were not a major health risk in the El Paso community, or the other areas included in this survey.

New eBooks in the library

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green

How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-Based Healthcare by Trisha M. Greenhalgh

Institutional Review Board: Management and Function edited by Elizabeth A. Bankert & Bruce G. Gordon

Investing in Health and Wellbeing: When Prevention Is Better Than Cure by Christoper Dye

Leading Through: Activating the Soul, Heart, and Mind of Leadership by Kim B. Clark

For more information, employees may email the Medical and Research Library at library@dshs.texas.gov to receive research assistance, learn how to access electronic materials, or to obtain the full text of articles mentioned in this month’s news.

The Medical and Research Library News is sent out once a month or when important library news or events occur. Recent issues of the MRL News are online. If any of the links do not open for you, please email library@dshs.texas.gov and we will send you what you need. Thank you!

If you would like to subscribe, please send an email to library@dshs.texas.gov with Subscribe in the subject line.

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July 2025

Medical and Research Library News

Training opportunities
Websites and reports on trending topics
Journal articles of note
New ebooks

Training opportunities

The webinars and online classes listed here are shared solely as opportunities to learn more information of interest to public health personnel. All times listed are in Central Time.

July 10, 2025; 1–3:30 p.m. Exploring the Types of Evidence Behind Diet and Chronic Disease.
Join this webinar from the National Academies to explore the types of evidence used to look at relationships between diet and chronic disease.

July 17, 2025; 11:30a.m.–1 p.m. Empowering Patients to Change Behavior Using Digital Healthcare Tools.
This webinar from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will explore how digital health tools can empower patients to take an active role in their health and drive meaningful, sustainable behavior change. The panel will examine how clinical decision support systems, artificial intelligence-powered platforms, and mobile health apps can help healthcare providers engage patients in managing chronic conditions and making informed decisions about their health.

July 29, 2025; 12–1:30 p.m. Health Statistics on the Web.
Join this webinar from the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) to learn the difference between data and statistics, key features and use of health statistics, steps to finding health statistics, and sources of health statistics at the local, state and national level in this 90-minute webinar.

July 30, 2025; 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. DSHS Grand Rounds - Transforming HIV Prevention and Care.
This webinar is offered by the DSHS Office of Practice and Learning Grand Rounds program. Presenters will describe recent advances in HIV prevention and care, with a focus on the exciting developments in long-acting HIV prevention and treatment. Dr. Taylor will also cover the state of the HIV epidemic in Texas and the evolution of comprehensive HIV care.

Websites and reports on trending topics

CINAHL Complete is a DSHS library e-resource that provides access to literature in nursing and allied health disciplines dating back to 1981. The full text of 600 journals can be found within, and over 5,600 journals are indexed, including virtually all English language nursing journals along with selected titles in biomedicine, alternative therapies, and consumer health. Please contact the library for remote access options.

Disaster Research Response (DR2) Resources Portal is a repository of data collection tools and related resources curated by the National Institutes of Health to empower human health research in response to disasters and public health emergencies.

ECRI Guidelines Trust is a publicly available repository of objective, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines that provides physicians, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners with up-to-date clinical practices to advance safe and effective patient care.

ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, is a bibliographic search engine providing free access to educational-related literature. ERIC provides coverage of journal articles, conferences, meetings, government documents, theses, reports, audiovisual media, and monographs.

Journal articles of note

Danner MT, Schrodt CA, Tuttle A, et al. Three cases of adolescent orf virus skin and soft tissue infection in southeast Texas. Pediatr Infect Dis J. Published online May 9, 2025. doi:10.1097/INF.0000000000004851
Abstract
We report 3 adolescents who presented to a tertiary care hospital in Houston, Texas, with cutaneous skin lesions after contact with sheep and/or goats. The cases presented a diagnostic challenge initially but were later suspected or confirmed as orf virus infection after consultation with infectious diseases specialists.

Jackson SS, Pfeiffer RM, Gardner E, et al. Sex differences in cancer mortality among solid organ transplant recipients. Int J Cancer. 2025;157(3):427-435. doi:10.1002/ijc.35415
Abstract
Males have increased mortality after a cancer diagnosis than females, possibly due to poorer immunosurveillance. We tested whether the female survival advantage is lost with immunosuppression by evaluating 17,048 cancer patients (68% male) with a prior solid organ transplant using data from the US Transplant Cancer Match Study and 1,221,914 cancer patients (58% male) from the general population using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. We evaluated 13 solid cancers that occur in both sexes. We compared mortality due to cancer in males and females using a male:female hazard ratio (M:F HR) derived from Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, diagnosis year, stage, and cancer treatment. Among cancer patients in the general population, males had higher cancer-specific mortality than females for cancers of the lip, stomach, colorectum, anus, liver, lung, skin, brain, and thyroid, with M:F HRs ranging from 1.06 to 1.59. Only colorectal cancer showed an attenuation in the female mortality advantage in transplant recipients (M:F HRTransplant: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.77, 1.03; vs. M:F HRGenPop: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.08; P-interaction = 0.007). Among kidney cancer patients, the female mortality advantage was stronger in the transplant population (M:F HRTransplant: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.60; M:F HRGenPop: 1.02; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.04; P-interaction = 0.003). Overall, we did not find consistent evidence that the female advantage in cancer mortality is weakened among immunosuppressed transplant recipients, suggesting that non-immune factors contribute to the female advantage among cancer patients in the general population.

Shumate C, Allred R, Dixon A, et al. Trends in the prevalence of Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) in Texas by maternal race/ethnicity and maternal age groups, 1999-2020. Am J Med Genet A. Published online May 4, 2025. doi:10.1002/ajmg.a.64109
Abstract
Down syndrome (DS) is a common chromosomal aneuploidy characterized by intellectual disability. Older maternal age is the strongest known risk factor for DS. The purpose of this study was to describe DS prevalence among major racial/ethnic groups stratified by maternal age, and to assess trends in prevalence over time in Texas. Cases with DS diagnoses delivered between 1999 and 2020 were identified from the Texas Birth Defects Registry (TBDR). Birth prevalence and crude prevalence ratios (PRs) by maternal race/ethnicity, maternal education, residence along the Texas-Mexico border, and Texas public health region (PHR) were calculated. Trends over time were assessed using Joinpoint. DS prevalence was significantly lower among mothers < 35 years compared to those 35+ years. Hispanic mothers, mothers with less than high school education, and mothers residing along the Texas-Mexico border had consistently higher PRs. Joinpoint analyses revealed significant increases in DS prevalence over time among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic mothers. These findings identified significant increases in DS prevalence among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic mothers compared to non-Hispanic White mothers, suggesting a potential widening of racial/ethnic differences in DS occurrence. Further research is needed to explore underlying drivers of these trends and to address differences in DS prevalence.

Stephens SB, Morris SA, Benjamin RH, et al. Longitudinal trends in pediatric survival by congenital heart defect in Texas, 1999 to 2017. JACC Adv. Published online May 19, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.101812
Abstract
Background: Despite previously improved survival among children with congenital heart defects (CHDs), U.S. population-level evaluations of survival within recent years are scarce.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the survival landscape among children with CHDs in a large population-based birth defects registry overall and by CHD lesion.
Methods: This population-based cohort study evaluated 1999 to 2017 live births with ≥1 major CHD in the statewide Texas Birth Defects Registry. Variables included CHD lesion, demographics, gestational age at birth (term/preterm), low birthweight (<2,500 g at birth), among others. Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to describe survival to 7 days, 28 days, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years of life. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates were generated for 1-year survival for CHDs overall by lesion, using log-rank tests assessing differences by exposure.
Results: Of 61,656 children with CHDs, survival was 98.1% and 90.7% at 7 days and 10 years, respectively, and substantially varied by lesion (range, 50.0% to 97.3% 10-year survival). Survival longitudinally improved for complex lesions including hypoplastic left heart syndrome (48.7% 1-year survival for cases born 1999-2004 vs 64.8% in 2014-2017; P < 0.0001). One-year survival differed by maternal race/ethnicity (eg, 58.3% for cases with complex pulmonary atresia born to non-Hispanic Black mothers vs 80.5% for non-Hispanic White mothers, P = 0.01), sex, gestational age, birthweight, and extracardiac defect status.
Conclusions: One-year survival improved for most CHDs over recent decades, although survival varies widely by CHD and characteristics. Findings have implications for clinical counseling, population-level resource and research planning, and reinforce the need for mitigation of disparities among individuals with CHDs.

New ebooks at the library

Academic Conference Presentations by Mark R. Freiermuth.

Complete Guide to Laboratory Safety, 4th ed. by Dan Scungio and Terry Jo Gile.

Conducting an Observational Epidemiological Study by Sarah Cuschieri.

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.

Emerging Zoonotic and Wildlife Pathogens: Disease Ecology, Epidemiology, and Conservation by Dan Salkeld.

Plotkin's Vaccines, 8^th ed. edited by Walter A. Orenstein.

People, Performance, and Succeeding as a Manager by the Harvard Business Review.

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Success: NCLEX-Style Q&A Review, 5^th ed. by Catherine Melfi Curtis.

The Scientific Basis of Mpox (Monkeypox) edited by Rajkumar Rajendram.

Wastewater-Based Disease Surveillance for Public Health Action by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

If you would like to subscribe, please send an email to library@dshs.texas.gov with Subscribe in the subject line.

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June 2025

Medical and Research Library News

Training opportunities
Websites and reports on trending topics
Journal articles of note
New eBooks

Training opportunities

The webinars and online classes listed here are shared solely as opportunities to learn more information of interest to public health personnel. All times listed are in Central Time.

June 9, 2025; 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Microplastics and Health: Research Priorities, Mitigation Strategies, and Public Communication in the Face of Uncertainties.
Join this webinar from the National Academies to learn about emerging science, policy responses, and public communication strategies surrounding microplastics and human health. With growing evidence of widespread exposure and ongoing uncertainty about health impacts, this discussion will explore key research gaps and opportunities, examine past, present, and potential mitigation efforts, and discuss how risk communication can be used to support informed decisions in the face of scientific uncertainty.

June 12, 2025; 1–2 p.m. INSPIRE: Readiness - Tackling Public Health Communication Conundrums: Rumors and Public Trust.
Join the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) for a timely conversation as they explore strategies to safeguard public health and build public trust. In today's fast-paced information landscape, misleading rumors pose a serious threat to public health efforts, weakening trust and diminishing effective response. To address this complex issue, this webinar brings together experienced public health champions to share real-world strategies and lessons learned in their communities. This INSPIRE: Readiness session will highlight communication tactics, cross-agency collaborations, and community engagement tools that may be used to help dispel harmful public health rumors. Inaccurate information, whether about vaccines, disease outbreaks, or public health mandates, can spread quickly through social media, word of mouth, or online forums – often overshadowing accurate messages from trusted sources. During this webinar, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to manage public perception during health crises and how to build more resilient systems in the future.

June 18, 2025; 1–2:30 p.m. How PubMed Works: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is the National Library of Medicine’s controlled vocabulary thesaurus that gives uniformity and consistency to the indexing and cataloging of biomedical literature. Join this webinar from the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) to explore the MeSH database, describe a controlled vocabulary, explore the four types of MeSH terms, locate and explain entry terms, date introduced, previous indexing, and automatic explosion.

June 25, 2025; 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. DSHS Grand Rounds - TB and Mental Health Comorbidities.
This webinar is offered by the DSHS Office of Practice and Learning Grand Rounds program. DSHS Grand Rounds explores the science and practice of population health and awards continuing education credits/contact hours for various disciplines. Visit the Grand Rounds calendar to see information on upcoming sessions. Held monthly on the fourth Wednesday, sessions last 90 minutes with the final 20 minutes reserved for Q&A.

Websites and reports on trending topics

AIDSVu is an interactive online mapping tool that visualizes the impact of the HIV epidemic on communities across the United States. This tool is presented by Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and visualizes HIV-related data by race/ethnicity, sex, age, and transmission category, and shows how HIV is related to various social determinants of health, such as high school education, poverty, and housing.

ASABE Technical Library from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), a professional and technical organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food, and biological systems, provides online access to ASABE standards, meeting and conference papers, textbooks, and monographs.

FastStats A to Z provides quick access to statistics on topics of public health importance and is organized alphabetically. Links are provided to publications that include the statistics presented, to sources of more data, and to related web pages. From the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

State Public Health Legislation Database covers topics related to public health including infectious disease prevention and treatment, public health reporting and workforce and vaccines. It includes all introduced legislation from 2021 to the present and is updated at least twice per month as legislation is identified by National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) staff.

Journal articles of note

Hsu CJ, Schraw JM, Desrosiers TA, et al. All genetic subtypes of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia exhibit increased incidence rates in children with Down syndrome. Leukemia. Published online April 11, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41375-025-02602-w

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have a 20-fold increased risk and 2% lifetime risk of developing B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Despite improvements over time, survival in DS-ALL remains consistently
10 to 20% lower compared to non-DS-ALL, due to both increased relapse and more frequent and severe treatment-related toxicities.

Lombard J, Stenkamp-Strahm C, McCluskey B, et al. The One Health challenges and opportunities of the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle in the United States. J Dairy Sci. Published online April 28, 2025. doi:10.3168/jds.2024-26222
Abstract
The outbreak of H5N1 in dairy cattle in United States revealed challenges in identification and management of a novel disease. The virus showed an exceptional ability to spread between farms and among cows within a farm. The impact of the virus on dairy cattle varied from nonclinical to severe clinical signs and death. Many dairy producers did not report clinical signs in their cows or test for the virus. Cats and peridomestic birds on many affected dairies died from viral exposure. Dairy workers showed signs of conjunctivitis, which was confirmed to be due to H5N1. With the disease affecting multiple species and showing efficient cow-to-cow transmission, the situation only worsened. There was a negative impact on the relationships among dairy producers, dairy workers, poultry producers, and veterinarians, in which professional and personal relationships were severed and some experienced loss of employment. The regulatory response varied by geographic location, and in some states, animal health and human health authorities elevated producer fears of consequences of reporting. Authorities did quickly confirm that pasteurization inactivated the virus in dairy products and showed that it was very rarely detected in beef from affected cows. In this review, we will describe the relationships among the dairy industry and animal and human health and why the H5N1 outbreak requires a One Health perspective of all stakeholders in order to address it effectively.

McGarry ME, Raraigh KS, Farrell P, et al. Cystic fibrosis newborn screening: a systematic review-driven consensus guideline from the United States Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Int J Neonatal Screen. 2025;11(2):24. Published 2025 Apr 2.
doi:10.3390/ijns11020024
Abstract
Newborn screening for cystic fibrosis (CF) has been universal in the US since 2010; however, there is significant variation among newborn screening algorithms. Systematic reviews were used to develop seven recommendations for newborn screening program practices to improve timeliness, sensitivity, and equity in diagnosing infants with CF: (1) The CF Foundation recommends the use of a floating immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) cutoff over a fixed IRT cutoff; (2) The CF Foundation recommends using a very high IRT referral strategy in CF newborn screening programs whose variant panel does not include all CF-causing variants in CFTR2 or does not have a variant panel that achieves at least 95% sensitivity in all ancestral groups within the state; (3) The CF Foundation recommends that CF newborn screening algorithms should not limit CFTR variant detection to the F508del variant or variants included in the American College of Medical Genetics-23 panel; (4) The CF Foundation recommends that CF newborn screening programs screen for all CF-causing CFTR variants in CFTR2; (5) The CF Foundation recommends conducting CFTR variant screening twice weekly or more frequently as resources allow; (6) The CF Foundation recommends the inclusion of a CFTR sequencing tier following IRT and CFTR variant panel testing to improve the specificity and positive predictive value of CF newborn screening; (7) The CF Foundation recommends that both the primary care provider and the CF specialist be notified of abnormal newborn screening results. Through implementation, it is anticipated that these recommendations will result in improved sensitivity, equity, and timeliness of CF newborn screening, leading to improved health outcomes for all individuals diagnosed with CF following newborn screening and a decreased burden on families.

Zhang K, Taylor MM, Hunyadi J, et al. Examining demographic, geographic, and temporal patterns of melanoma incidence in Texas From 2000 to 2018: retrospective study. JMIR Cancer. 2025;11:e67902. Published 2025 May 2. doi:10.2196/67902
Abstract
Background: Melanoma currently ranks as the fifth leading cancer diagnosis and is projected to become the second most common cancer in the United States by 2040. Melanoma detected at earlier stages may be treated with less-risky and less-costly therapeutic options.
Objective: This study aims to analyze temporal and spatial trends in melanoma incidence by stage at diagnosis (overall, early, and late) in Texas from 2000 to 2018, focusing on demographic and geographic variations to identify high-risk populations and regions for targeted prevention efforts.
Methods: We used melanoma incidence data from all 254 Texas counties from the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR) from 2000 to 2018, aggregated by county and year. Among these, 250 counties reported melanoma cases during the period. Counties with no cases reported in a certain year were treated as having no cases. Melanoma cases were classified by SEER Summary Stage and stratified by the following four key covariates: age, sex, race and ethnicity, and stage at diagnosis. Incidence rates (IRs) were calculated per 100,000 population, and temporal trends were analyzed using joinpoint regression to determine average annual percentage changes (AAPCs) with 95% CIs for the whole time period (2000-2018), the most recent 10-year period (2009-2018), and the most recent 5-year period (2014-2018). Heat map visualizations were developed to assess temporal trends by patient age, year of diagnosis, stage at diagnosis, sex, and race and ethnicity. Spatial cluster analysis was conducted using Getis-Ord Gi* statistics to identify county-level geographic clusters of high and low melanoma incidence by stage at diagnosis.
Results: A total of 82,462 melanoma cases were recorded, of which 74.7% (n=61,588) were early stage, 11.3% (n=9,352) were late stage, and 14% (n=11,522) were of unknown stage. Most cases were identified as males and non-Hispanic White individuals. Melanoma IRs increased from 2000 to 2018, particularly among older adults (60+ years; AAPC range 1.20%-1.84%; all P values were <.001), males (AAPC 1.59%; P<.001), and non-Hispanic White individuals (AAPC of 3.24% for early stage and 2.38% for late stage; P<.001 for early stage and P = .03 for late state). Early-stage diagnoses increased while the rates of late-stage diagnoses remained stable for the overall population. The spatial analysis showed that urban areas had higher early-stage incidence rates (P=.06), whereas rural areas showed higher late-stage incidence rates (P=.05), indicating possible geographic-based differences in access to dermatologic care.
Conclusions: Melanoma incidence in Texas increased over the study time period, with the most-at-risk populations being non-Hispanic White individuals, males, and individuals aged 50 years and older. The stable rates of late-stage melanoma among racial and ethnic minority populations and rural populations highlight potential differences in access to diagnostic care. Future prevention efforts may benefit from increasing access to dermatologic care in areas with higher rates of late-stage melanoma at diagnosis.