Dade County Research Articles

Tracing Black Racial and Spatial Politics in South Florida via Memory

As far back as the New Deal era, South Florida’s white power brokers wanted African Americans to live in the northwest section of then Dade County and away from the region’s lucrative seaside. Even today, however, people of color, many of Bahamian descent, remain in Miami’s bayside Coconut Grove community, but they do so amid gentrification and wealthy South American neighbors. Such ongoing settlement and the eventual migration of people of African descent to the northwest section of the county by the late 1960s fit into a larger narrative of black self-determination in Florida. This article explores such settlement and migratory patterns and how they fit into a larger black resistance tradition dating back to the nineteenth century.

Implementing an HIV Test and Treat Rapid Response Anti Retroviral Initiation Program in a Southern City with High HIV Incidence

BackgroundEarly initiation of antiretroviral (ART) after HIV diagnosis (Test and Treat Rapid Response, TTRR) is safe and acceptable, shortens the time to virologic suppression, reduces HIV associated morbidity and mortality, and can potentially decrease HIV transmission. Miami Dade County is first in the US for HIV incidence. As with other cities in the South, barriers to routine HIV care result in delays in engagement in care. The average time from HIV diagnosis at the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) STD clinic in Miami to ART initiation is 60 days. The University of Miami, in collaboration with the FDOH, implemented a pilot HIV TTRR program in 2016 whose aim is to speed up the process from initial HIV diagnosis to initiation of ART. This study describes enrolled patients’ demographics and the time to ART initiation in the first year of implementation (March 2016–February 2017).MethodsWhen an individual is diagnosed with HIV at the FDOH STD clinic, a TTRR team consisting of a Disease Intervention Specialist, Patient Navigator, Case Manager, and HIV Provider, is activated. This team ensures that: 1) a visit with an HIV provider occurs within 48 hours; 2) ART is prescribed as soon as possible (1–7 days from diagnosis); and 3) provision of ART and appropriate follow up occurs at the initial visit. Demographics, laboratory results, and time to ART were recorded and summarizedResultsIn one year, 45 patients were enrolled (73% male, 27% female); 70% of male were MSM. A majority were foreign born (32% Cuba, 24% Haiti, 18% other Hispanic countries), and from ethnic minorities (53 % Hispanic, 30% African American). An HIV Provider evaluated 48% of the patients the same day of HIV diagnosis; 88% within 48 hours. The mean time to ART initiation was 6 days (37% same day, 69% <7 days). FTC/TAF/EVG/c was most frequently prescribed (91%). The mean viral load at initial presentation was 4.32 log10 (SD=1.1). The mean CD4 count was 463 cells/mm3 (SD=263); 20% had less than 200 cells/mm3. All but one patient came to the next consecutive appointment.ConclusionImplementation of a TTRR program is feasible in cities with recognized barriers to HIV care. TTRR programs should be essential components of HIV prevention efforts to control the spread of the HIV epidemic in the South. Funding from P30A1073961 and H97HA27433.Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Healthy caregivers-healthy children (HC2) phase 2: Integrating culturally sensitive childhood obesity prevention strategies into childcare center policies

ObjectiveDespite the high prevalence of obesity among preschool-aged children, most states lack childcare center (CCC) nutrition and physical activity policies. The Healthy Caregivers, Healthy Children (HC) Phase 2 project is examining the relationship between the CCC nutrition and physical activity environment and child dietary intake/physical activity patterns and body mass index (BMI). ParticipantsA total of 24 “Quality Counts” (Miami Dade County, Florida's Quality Rating Improvement System [QRIS)]) CCCs serving low resource families with ≥50 2-to-5year olds attending have been randomized to either intervention (n=12) or control (n=12). InterventionThe HC2 intervention arm CCCs receive implementation of a daily curricula for (1) teachers/parents; (2) children; (3) snack, beverage, physical activity, and screen time policies; and (4) technical assistance with menu modifications. Control arm schools receive an attention control safety curriculum. HC2 is delivered once a month in year 1, quarterly in year 2 and will be disseminated throughout the Quality Counts network in year 3. Main outcome measuresPrimary outcome measures include the Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation tool (EPAO), standardized dietary intake and physical activity patterns surveys, and child BMI. The ‘Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM)’ framework will guide the interpretation of outcome measures. ConclusionsCCCs are in need of evidence-based standardized nutrition and physical activity policies. The intersection of RE-AIM and early childhood obesity prevention in the childcare setting could generate robust and new information to the field about potential barriers, facilitators, adoption, and sustainability in this setting.

Spatial patterns of off-the-system traffic crashes in Miami–Dade County, Florida, during 2005–2010

ABSTRACTObjective: The objective of this study is to analyze the spatial distribution of the vehicles involved in crashes in Miami–Dade County. In addition, we analyzed the role of time of day, day of the week, seasonality, drivers’ age in the distribution of traffic crashes.Method: Off-the-system crash data acquired from the Florida Department of Transportation during 2005–2010 were divided into subcategories according to the risk factors age, time of day, day of the week, and travel season. Various spatial statistics methods, including nearest neighbor analysis, Getis-Ord hot spot analysis, and kernel density analysis revealed substantial spatial variations, depending on the subcategory in question.Results: Downtown Miami and South Beach showed up consistently as hotspots of traffic crashes in all subcategories except fatal crashes. However, fatal crashes were concentrated in residential areas in inland areas.Conclusion: This understanding of patterns can help the county target high-risk areas and help to reduce crash fatalities to create a safer environment for motorists and pedestrians.

Practices to Minimize Flooding Damage to Commercial Vegetable Production

Flooding is a major risk for commercial vegetable production in south Florida, especially in the south Dade County area. Flooding causes oxygen deficiency, or hypoxic stress, causing the plants to produce less energy. This shortage in energy prevents the absorption of nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. This revised 4-page fact sheet discusses several different management practices for overcoming flood damage, including the use of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers, oxygen fertilizers, growth regulators, and fungicides. Written by Goudong Liu, Yuncong Li, and Xiangju Fu, and published by the Soil and Water Science Department, December 2015. SL 206/SS425: Practices to Minimize Flooding Damage to Commercial Vegetable Production (ufl.edu)

Mental Illness in America’s Jails Also Made Headlines 50 Years Ago

Mental Illness in America’s Jails Also Made Headlines 50 Years Ago

Beyond Part C: Reducing Middle School Special Education for Early Intervention Children with Developmental Delays

ABSTRACTThis study examined the rates of special education placement during middle school grades (sixth through eighth) among children who participated in the Linda Ray Intervention Program (LRIP) center-based and home-based learning modalities. The study sample included 113 children in Miami Dade County Public Schools who had gestational cocaine exposure and received early intervention services due to developmental delays. This study found that children who participated in the center-based (25 hours per week) learning modality had a significantly lower rate of special education placement (14%) than the students in the home-based (three hours per week) learning modality (30%) in middle school. Also, results indicated that children who were socioeconomically disadvantaged (free/reduced lunch) and in the home-based learning modality were three to four times more likely to be in special education. This study provides evidence for the long-term impact of the LRIP center-based modality on special education outcomes.

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New records for &lt;em&gt;Amblyomma rotundatum&lt;/em&gt; Koch (Acari: Ixodidae) from the cane toad, &lt;em&gt;Rhinella marina&lt;/em&gt; L. in Florida, with notes on identification of the nymphs &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Abstract Sixty-one cane toads, R. marina, were captured by hand at four locations in Dade County, Florida, on May 9 (n=32) and September 3 (n=29) 2014. Toads were examined for ectoparasites and any ticks seen were removed and placed in 95% ethanol. Of the 61 toads, 8 (13.1%) collected in two separate locations were found with attached Amblyomma sp. A total of 31 ticks (12 nymphs, 19 larvae) were removed from the toads, ranging from 1–13 specimens collected per toad. In the case of 3 nymphal specimens found in our study, precise identification could not be made by conventional light microscopy due to obscured or unclear characters; therefore, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed on these specimens to aid in identification. SEM analysis revealed an internal spur, albeit tiny, on coxa II of the specimens in question, but no spur was seen on coxa III. Published key characters for A. rotundatum state that, “a small internal spur is present on each of coxa II and III.” Despite this published descrip...

Investigating the Role of Fungal Entomopathogens in Whitefly Landscape IPM Programs

The rugose spiraling whitefly, Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin, and Bondar’s nesting whitefly, Paraleyrodes bondari Perracchi, are two recently introduced whitefly species affecting several plant hosts in Florida. Native to Central America, rugose spiraling whitefly was first detected in the Continental United States from Miami–Dade County, FL, in 2009 (Stocks and Hodges 2012, Pest Alert, DACS-P01745). Since then its distribution range has expanded rapidly, and it has become a serious pest in residential, commercial, and municipal landscapes (Kumar et al. 2013, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN101500.pdf ). Rugose spiraling whitefly has been reported affecting more than 100 plant species (Stocks 2012, FDACS-DPI report. 6 p.) including landscape (coconut palm, black olive, gumbo limbo, weeping fig, live oak, rose, and sabal palm), agriculture (citrus, mango, avocado, and sugarcane), and natural areas (sabal palm, live oak, coconut palm, Brazilian pepper, and Virginia creeper). This insect has the potential for spreading into the northern parts of the State and beyond. Rugose spiraling whitefly reproduces throughout the year with multiple, overlapping generations. Endemic to Brazil, Bondar’s nesting whitefly was first reported from a ficus hedge in Lee County, FL, in 2011. Since then it has been found affecting at least five plant species in seven Florida counties (Stocks 2012, FDACS-DPI report. 6 p.). Feeding by these whiteflies causes stress to host plants resulting in premature leaf drop. Furthermore, the excessive production of wax and honeydew creates an enormous nuisance in infested areas. Black sooty mold fungi can then grow on the honeydew, reducing aesthetics of plants in the landscape.

Delineation of macroporous zones in the unsaturated portion of the Miami Limestone using ground penetrating radar, Miami Dade County, Florida

Summary The Atlantic Coastal Ridge in Dade County is an ooid shoal formed during the late Pleistocene. The ridge is composed of the eogenetic karst Miami Limestone, characterized by a heterogeneous distribution of porosity that can manifest as large touching-vug macroporous features with sizes in the meters and tens of meters. Direct evidence for the presence of such large dissolution features is only visible when exposed to the surface which may be problematic in urbanized areas. For that reason it is critical to detect any potential precursors for such dissolution features at the subsurface level. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of ground penetrating radar to detect areas of macroporosity by quantifying changes in electromagnetic wave velocity and relate them to changes in porosity after application of the complex refractive index model (CRIM). In order to constrain volumetric water content (VWC) in the CRIM, an experiment using Miami Limestone samples was designed to understand: (1) the range of typical VWCs; and (2) the effect of capillary fringe on water table elevation. The results show several areas where increases in EM wave travel time associated with contrasts in porosity exceeding 40% cannot be explained by changes in VWCs typically shown in the Miami Limestone. This study may help understand porosity variability in the unsaturated part of the Miami Limestone and if expanded to larger scales may aid groundwater flow models by better capturing distributions of macroporous areas that may contribute to direct recharge of the Biscayne aquifer.

Host stage suitability and impact of Encarsia noyesi (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) on the invasive rugose spiraling whitefly, Aleurodicus rugioperculatus (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), in Florida

Rugose spiraling whitefly (RSW), Aleurodicus rugioperculatus, is an invasive species that was first detected in the United States as a pest in urban landscapes in Miami Dade County in south Florida in 2009. Subsequently RSW has spread to become a serious nuisance pest on ornamental plants and palms in urban areas across south Florida. In 2012, an aphelinid parasitoid, Encarsia noyesi, was first documented attacking RSW in Miami Dade County, and observations suggest that as this parasitoid has dispersed and become more common, populations of RSW have declined. Greenhouse studies were conducted to evaluate the potential of E. noyesi as a biocontrol agent against RSW. Findings suggest that E. noyesi is an arrhenotokous, autoparasitoid of whiteflies. In clip cage studies, second, third and fourth stage nymphs were parasitized by E. noyesi and supported development of progeny, with significant reductions in whitefly survival. In screen cage studies, parasitism by E. noyesi reduced whitefly survival from 55% in controls to less than 10% in wasp treatment cages, which translated into smaller adult whitefly populations, and reductions in egg production of 89–98%. The wasps caused abrupt declines in whitefly populations, which were maintained at low levels for several generations until monitoring was terminated. Encarsia noyesi appears to be an excellent candidate for use in a biological control program against RSW in Florida, and could match previous successes using aphelinid parasitoids against whiteflies.

The Impact of Red Light Cameras on Crashes Within Miami–Dade County, Florida

Objective: To determine the safety effect of red light camera (RLC) programs, this study attempted to estimate its impact on collisions within Miami–Dade County, FloridaMethods: A before–after evaluation using a comparison group along with traffic control correction was employed. Twenty signalized intersections with RLCs that began enforcement on January 1, 2011, were matched to 2 comparison sites located at least 2 miles from camera sites to minimize spillover effect. An empirical Bayes analysis was used to account for potential regression to the mean effects. An index of effectiveness along with 95% confidence intervals were calculated based on the comparison between the estimated and actual number of crashes in the after period.Results: During the first year, RLC sites experienced a marginal decrease in right angle/turn collisions (−3%), a significant increase in rear-end collisions (+40%), and significant decreases in all injury (−19%) and RLR-related injury collisions (−24%). An increase in right angle/turning (+14%) and rear-end (+51%) collisions at the RLC sites was observed after 2 years despite camera enforcement. A significant reduction in RLR-related injury crashes (−17%), however, was still observed after 2 years. A nonsignificant decline in all injury collisions (−12%) was also noted.Conclusions: RLCs showed a benefit in reducing RLR-related injury collisions at camera sites after enforcement commenced, yet its tradeoff was a large increase in rear-end collisions. There was inconclusive evidence whether RLCs affected right angle/turning and all injury collisions. Statutory changes in crash reporting during the second year of camera enforcement affected the incidence of right angle and rear-end collisions; nevertheless, a “novelty effect” could not be ruled out. Future research should consider events such as low frequencies of severe injury/fatal collisions and changes in crash reporting requirements when conducting RLC analyses.

Prominent APA Members Call for Major MH System Reform

Prominent APA Members Call for Major MH System Reform

Elemental analysis of soils using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) with multivariate discrimination: tape mounting as an alternative to pellets for small forensic transfer specimens.

Elemental analysis of soil is a useful application of both laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in geological, agricultural, environmental, archeological, planetary, and forensic sciences. In forensic science, the question to be answered is often whether soil specimens found on objects (e.g., shoes, tires, or tools) originated from the crime scene or other location of interest. Elemental analysis of the soil from the object and the locations of interest results in a characteristic elemental profile of each specimen, consisting of the amount of each element present. Because multiple elements are measured, multivariate statistics can be used to compare the elemental profiles in order to determine whether the specimen from the object is similar to one of the locations of interest. Previous work involved milling and pressing 0.5 g of soil into pellets before analysis using LA-ICP-MS and LIBS. However, forensic examiners prefer techniques that require smaller samples, are less time consuming, and are less destructive, allowing for future analysis by other techniques. An alternative sample introduction method was developed to meet these needs while still providing quantitative results suitable for multivariate comparisons. The tape-mounting method involved deposition of a thin layer of soil onto double-sided adhesive tape. A comparison of tape-mounting and pellet method performance is reported for both LA-ICP-MS and LIBS. Calibration standards and reference materials, prepared using the tape method, were analyzed by LA-ICP-MS and LIBS. As with the pellet method, linear calibration curves were achieved with the tape method, as well as good precision and low bias. Soil specimens from Miami-Dade County were prepared by both the pellet and tape methods and analyzed by LA-ICP-MS and LIBS. Principal components analysis and linear discriminant analysis were applied to the multivariate data. Results from both the tape method and the pellet method were nearly identical, with clear groupings and correct classification rates of >94%.

Definition and management of hypertension among Haitian immigrants: a qualitative study.

Hypertension is a major health concern among Haitian immigrants, one of the largest Caribbean immigrant groups in the United States. Yet, little is known about how Hatian immigrants define and manage hypertension. For this qualitative study, face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 Haitian immigrants in Miami Dade County, Florida. Results indicated that most Haitian immigrants used the Haitian Creole word tansyon to represent hypertension. Tansyon was considered as either a normal condition of the human body or a maladi (illness). Both traditional biomedical and alternative approaches were used to manage hypertension. The findings show that how Haitian immigrants defined hypertension shaped their beliefs about its occurrence and the resulting management strategies used. Those who believed tansyon was a normal body condition did not take any management measures. Awareness and understanding of Haitian immigrants' beliefs about and approaches to hypertension management can enhance culturally sensitive care and improve health outcomes.

Miami Dade County Moving Forward, Sustainable Buildings Program

As a leader in public sector sustainability efforts, Miami Dade County has adopted several measures that directly impact the built environment and promote sustainability throughout its operations. In the past few years, the Board of County Commissioners approved the Sustainable Buildings Ordinance (O-07-65) and its associated implementing order (IO-8-8), which established the Sustainable Buildings Program and required that all new county-owned, county-financed, and county-operated buildings meet the appropriate standard under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.To further support and streamline the Sustainable Buildings Program, the Office of Sustainability (OOS) recently embarked on a project to integrate sustainability into the capital improvements process (S-CIP). The resulting guidelines and recommendations will be incorporated into the Implementing Order (IO 8-8). In addition, OOS has set up S-CIP training modules to acquaint the directors of capital departments, OCI staff and sustainable buildings committee members with the new S-CIP guidelines.Miami Dade County Moving Forward, Sustainable Buildings ProgramAll authorsPatricia Gómez, Ben Moore & Claudia Regojohttps://doi.org/10.1080/10485236.2014.10781521Published online:08 January 2014Display full sizeThe Internal Services Department (ISD) trades shop facility is the first facility built under the Sustainable Buildings Ordinance and implementing order mandates to receive LEED certification at the silver level from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). According to the USGBC post-occupancy research, data collected have shown that LEED certified office buildings use an average of 25-30% less energy than conventional office buildings. Thus, a 100,000-sq-ft office building can save over one million dollars and 15 million pounds of CO2 during its lifetime (20 years). Cumulative to date, there are over 2,000,000 sq ft of new or renovated green space planned for the county that will meet maximum sustainable measures or become certified under the LEED rating system (31 qualifying projects and six additional non-qualifying projects). This translates to energy savings of around $20,000,000 in the next 20 years and a reduction of around 300,000,000 lbs of CO2. Some of the upcoming LEED projects include the Marlins Stadium, the Children's Courthouse, the ISD West Lot, the Northeast Library, the Miami Art Museum and the Miami Science Museum.

Automatic Extraction of Number of Lanes from Georectified Aerial Images

The number of lanes is a basic input to many transportation studies. Traditionally, these data are either collected in the field or manually extracted from aerial images. These methods of data acquisition are both resource intensive and time-consuming, especially when large study areas are involved. The availability of remotely sensed georectified aerial images provides an inexpensive alternative to acquiring these data via automatic feature extraction. This paper explored a method to automatically extract the number of lanes from high-resolution georectified aerial images. In this method, geographic coordinates of a target roadway were precisely mapped to pixels in aerial images. These pixels were first grouped into fixed-length profiles. The saturation threshold was then applied to exclude profiles covering nonpaved areas such as plants and building roofs. Lane profile candidates were then identified from the remaining profiles with the support vector machine classification technique. The number of lanes was then estimated by optimizing the lane locations according to the lane profile candidates and lane width constraints. The method was tested by using georectified aerial images of Miami–Dade County in Florida. For all six test cases involving two-lane and four-lane suburban roadway segments, the method accurately determined the number of lanes. Test results indicate that it is feasible to extract the number of lanes from georectified aerial images in suburban and urban areas with the method developed in this research.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of individuals with very high rapid plasma reagin

The objective of the study was to identify clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with infectious syphilis who presented with a high rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titre (≥1: 512) during the year of 2009 at the Miami Dade County Health Department (MDCHD) STD clinic. Potential cases were identified by a search in the electronic database. Among 519 individuals identified with reactive RPR, 190 individuals met criteria for infectious syphilis and 32 of them had at least one RPR titre of ≥1: 512. We found that the majority of individuals with high RPR were men who have sex with men (82%), from ethnic minorities (91%), and HIV infected (75%) but only 3 of them were on antiretroviral therapy. Overall, 50% of these patients with very high RPR titres were symptomatic, and the most common symptom was skin rash (93%).

Asthma in Underserved Schoolchildren in Miami, Florida: Results of a School- and Community-Based Needs Assessment

Objective. Asthma is the most common chronic condition in childhood and disproportionately impacts the poorer and ethnic minorities. The objectives of the study were to estimate the prevalence of asthma in Miami–Dade County (MDC) schoolchildren to aid case-finding and linkage to care. Methods. We used the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) definition of possible asthma (“Ever told by a doctor or nurse that they had asthma and still had asthma”) and analyzed data from four sources. These included the: (1)-MDC YRBSS 2009, (2)-MDC Health Connect Asthma Survey of school nurses (>2008), (3)-parents’ survey in the five HealthConnect survey elementary schools with highest asthma prevalence, and (4)-focus group with parents of asthmatic children. Results. (1)-MDC YRBSS data showed that 21.3% of high- and 21.4% of middle-school students had been diagnosed with possible asthma. Prevalence was the highest in African-American middle-school girls (26.9%). (2)-HealthConnect survey responders reported that 4.9% of the students in 131 MDC schools had possible asthma. Asthma prevalence was higher in elementary schools (median = 7.1%) and in low-income MDC zip codes. (3)-Of the parent survey responders, 24.9% indicated that their child had possible asthma, and 19.2% reported that their children had no usual source of care. (4)-Focus group participants reported frequent loss of Medicaid coverage for their children, landlords’ indifference to the role of poorly maintained housing in asthma, and unmet needs regarding knowledge of health system navigation. Conclusions. Asthma may be common in MDC schoolchildren, particularly in poor communities. Formidable structural factors limit the caregivers’ abilities to manage childhood asthma.

Dopamine transporter DAT and receptor DRD2 variants affect risk of lethal cocaine abuse: a gene–gene–environment interaction

Epistatic gene–gene interactions could contribute to the heritability of complex multigenic disorders, but few examples have been reported. Here, we focus on the role of aberrant dopaminergic signaling, involving the dopamine transporter DAT, a cocaine target, and the dopamine D2 receptor, which physically interacts with DAT. Splicing polymorphism rs2283265 of DRD2, encoding D2 receptors, were shown to confer risk of cocaine overdose/death (odds ratio ∼3) in subjects and controls from the Miami Dade County Brain Bank.1 Risk of cocaine-related death attributable to the minor allele of rs2283265 was significantly enhanced to OR=7.5 (P=0.0008) in homozygous carriers of the main 6-repeat allele of DAT rs3836790, a regulatory VNTR in intron8 lacking significant effect itself. In contrast, carriers of the minor 5-repeat DAT allele showed no significant risk (OR=1.1, P=0.84). DAT rs3836790 and DRD2 rs2283265 also interacted by modulating DAT protein activity in the ventral putamen of cocaine abusers. In high-linkage disequilibrium with the VNTR, DAT rs6347 in exon9 yielded similar results. Assessing the impact of DAT alone, a rare DAT haplotype formed by the minor alleles of rs3836790 and rs27072, a regulatory DAT variant in the 3′-UTR, occurred in nearly one-third of the cocaine abusers but was absent in African American controls, apparently conferring strong risk. These results demonstrate gene–gene–drug interaction affecting risk of fatal cocaine intoxication.