Louisiana Residents Research Articles

Discourses of worry, stress, and high blood pressure in rural south Louisiana.

To explore how a sample of rural Louisiana residents constructed accounts about worry and stress in relationship to their high blood pressure. Qualitative study combining critical social theories, African American studies, and critical discourse concepts. Study participants consisted of a convenience sample (N = 30) of African American women (n = 15) and men (n = 15) with high blood pressure. Over a 4-month period in 1999 a community-based population sample was interviewed twice. Field experiences in the community and the assistance of community consultants were critical to data analysis. Based on 60 interviews, 191 passages about worry and 58 passages about stress were analyzed using discourse analysis. Participants not only distinguished between worry and stress in their everyday lives, but they also highlighted how those concepts were interrelated. Participants' concerns about themselves as well as their children, kin, and community were emphasized in passages about worry. Stress was primarily associated with doing multiple tasks and confronting multiple prejudices in the workplace and surrounding community. Participants perceived worry and stress as important health-related concepts that affected their high blood pressure. Nursing strategies designed to address these concerns may better facilitate holistic health.

Legal Systems in Conflict: Property and Sovereignty in Missouri, 1750-1860

Legal Systems in Conflict: Property and Sovereignty in Missouri, 1750-1860. By Stuart Banner. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000. Pp. xiii, 206. Maps. $39.95.) In this brief book, Stuart Banner, law professor at Washington University, compares the legal systems of the region of Louisiana that would become the state of Missouri before and after the Louisiana Purchase. This comparison, the author notes, addresses five historiographical gaps (4). Aside from challenging the anti-Spanish bias of local historians, who accepted the conclusion of American settlers that under Spain the region had no law, the focus on Upper Louisiana counters the emphasis on the Atlantic seaboard colonies perpetuated by most colonialists. Western historians are aided by the book's examination of why American lawyers migrated and became such influential figures in the territories. For economic historians, Banner explores the shift in land usage from open fields to enclosed private holdings. Finally, as legal historian, the author addresses the basic but often-neglected question, What causes the law to change? (6) Prior to the Purchase, civil and criminal procedure for the French-dominated population of Spanish Upper Louisiana relied upon oral presentations to local officials, who would interrogate parties and witnesses before issuing decisions that were deemed final. Despite this seemingly imperious structure, Banner contends that the territory's inhabitants accepted these decrees because officials based their judgments upon mores and local customs. Finding only minimal reference to the legal texts that governed the Spanish empire further south, the author concludes that cases were decided according to intuitive sense of justice shared by the community, or at least by large enough fraction of the to make the decision acceptable (52). Banner points to low court costs, quick decisions, and effective enforcement to demonstrate that the residents of Upper Louisiana seldom resorted to informal settlements, and he concludes that the large proportion of civil suits among the population reflected widespread acceptance of legal system in which judgments were made reference only to the unwritten norms of the community (56). Reliance on local custom provided residents with degree of control despite the absence of representative assembly or elected officials. Property rights reinforced this sense of self-government. Contrary to the American concept of public ownership, inhabitants understood common lands to be owned by the public directly, without the intermediation of any government as the public's agent (74). Spanish officials tended to permit the French residents to regulate the commons themselves (76), and residents clung to this privilege, despite the commons' economic inefficiencies, because control of the commons provided them with a way of recapturing sense of political participation (80). commons, Banner concludes, was thus zone of self-government, against the background of political system that otherwise contained few formal representative institutions (77). The transfer of the Louisiana Territory to the United States brought flood of American settlers to Upper Louisiana. Many of these migrants were lawyers trained in the Anglo-American legal tradition, and they came because the federal government established an American court system in St. Louis and needed judges with legal training immediately (86). Those who failed to secure appointments usually profited by setting up successful practices, by entering politics, and by using their knowledge of titles to speculate in frontier lands. …

Federal Medicare Transfers Across States: Winners and Losers

Medicare currently transfers roughly $ 200 billion annually to the elderly. The difference between medicare expenditures flowing into the state and annual Medicare taxes leaving the state—both on an annual and a lifetime basis—varies widely across states. Lifetime Medicare transfers, defined as the present value of benefits less accumulated (and predicted) Medicare taxes, are, on average, $17,386 per household. However, these benefits vary widely across states, so that residents of some states benefit by more than $40,000 per household, while residents of other states actually lose, in the sense of paying more in taxes than they will receive in benefits. Expected Medicare benefits per dollar of taxes paid varies from $.84 for residents of Oregon to $1.93 for residents of Louisiana. The differences are present even after controlling for a variety of factors such as the migration pattern of retirees, the price of health care, and the underlying health status of people in each state. These variations raise questions about the fairness and efficiency of the Medicare program.

Time‐of‐travel in the lower Mississippi River: model development, calibration, and application

The Mississippi River is the source of drinking water for more than 1 million Louisiana residents. The river also is used for transportation of hazardous chemicals and petroleum products, and is the receiving stream for wastewater effluents from numerous industries and municipalities. To minimize the public's risk from contaminant spills and accidental discharges, drinking water providers need timely warning of approaching contaminants. Based on a modified plug‐flow (MPF) formulation, a time‐of‐travel model has been developed to provide projections of the time of arrival, peak arrival time, time of passage, and duration of contaminant spills on the Mississippi River. Estimates of the peak concentrations of contaminants passing downstream locations are calculated from spill mass, discharge, and calculated duration. The model used for this research was calibrated using dye time‐of‐travel studies. The primary objective of this model is to facilitate the timely warning of drinking water providers. Additionally, this model may be of value in other water quality management applications, including contingency planning, impact assessment, monitoring, enforcement, and surveillance.

Factors Associated with Consumer Preferences for Convenience Meat

An ordered-probit model was used to examine the preferences of Louisiana and southeast Texas residents for convenience meat. The results suggested that male, younger or unmarried respondents, and Catholics had higher probabilities of agreeing that they preferred convenience meat than their corresponding counterparts. However, unmarried male Caucasians had the highest probability of strongly agreeing or somewhat agreeing that they preferred to buy convenience meat. The results also suggested that price was an important determinant in shaping these preferences.

The Effects of Personal Network and Local Community Contexts on the Receipt of Formal Aid during Disaster Recovery

Studies of the response of individuals to disasters have relied primarily upon individual factors for explanation. Using data collected in telephone interviews with 594 residents of southwestern Louisiana, we examine the effects of local community and personal network contexts, as well as individual factors on individuals’ use of aid from formal organizations. We find that our measures of personal network context significantly affect five of our seven measures of the utilization of formal aid, and that network form affects these outcomes more consistently than network composition does. These effects are generally consistent with our predictions. We also find significant effects of our measure of local community context, the level of owner-occupancy in an area. Living in areas with higher rates of owner-occupancy has a positive effect on three of our measures of formal aid Based upon these findings we conclude that contextual factors exert important effects on individuals’ use of formal aid. We suggest that studies of the provision of aid to individuals by organizations should be supplemented with more detailed studies of the effects of personal network and local community contexts on individuals’ receipt of specific sources of aid from formal organizations.

Health risks from exposure to metals in household dusts.

The levels of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), and nickel (Ni) were determined in a total of 315 indoor and outdoor dust samples collected from 53 households in Louisiana. Inductively coupled plasma analysis revealed that in many samples, the metal content exceeded the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Risk-Based Concentration (RBC) guidelines. For example, the number of dust samples above the EPA-RBC included 64 for Cd, 52 for Hg, 43 for As, 4 for Fe, 4 for Cu, 3 for Cr, and 2 for Ni. One-hundred fifty-two samples exceeded the street-dust level for Pb published by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The results of this study indicate that exposure to indoor and/or outdoor dust presents a potential health risk for Louisiana residents.

Effects of Gender, Ethnicity and Place of Residence on Nutrient Intake Among Elderly Residents of Southwestern Louisiana

The purpose of this study was to examine the joint effects of gender, ethnicity, seasonal variations and place of residence on nutrient intake among elderly residents of Southwestern Louisiana. Three hundred and fifty-one elderly subjects volunteered and completed all four interviews evenly spaced throughout the year. Multiple analysis of covariance and hierarchal log linear regression were used to examine the joint effects of the independent variables on nutrient intake of eight nutrients; calories, protein, iron, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, riboflavin and thiamin. There were differences between males and females for the intake of calories, protein, iron and vitamin C. Over time, there were differences between rural and urban subjects. Rural subjects showed greater seasonal variability than urban subjects. In addition, the three ethnic groups showed different patterns of seasonal variability. When the nutrient intake data were dichotomized at 68% of the Recommended Dietary Allowances, we found that Blacks were more likely to report values below 68% of the RDA than were either Caucasian group. Also, males were more likely to report values below 68% of the RDA than were females. This study illustrates the need for assessing the effects of multiple factors on nutrient intakes. It also shows that there can be significant differences even between nominally similar ethnic groups. With the increased nutritional risk that the elderly face, further research is needed to clarify and extend these results.

Single female‐headed households, handgun possession, and the fear of rape

The influence of fear of rape, perceived risk of rape, and prior victimization on the presence of handguns in single female‐headed households is examined. On the basis of previous research, a causal model that includes a number of control factors is developed and tested. Prior criminal victimization of the household was the only factor that was a significant predictor of the presence of a handgun. Interestingly, fear of rape had a negative, although not statistically significant, association with handgun possession, indicating that the presence of the weapon may reduce fear. Further implications are also discussed. Data were collected using a mail survey of Louisiana residents.

Leprosy in Six Isolated Residents of Northern Louisiana

Northern Louisiana has been essentially free of indigenous leprosy, and now it is not. Six new cases of leprosy have been diagnosed: three in 1986, the other three in 1985, 1983, and 1982, respectively. The patients had been lifelong residents of six scattered rural parishes. Leprosy had never been reported from five of them. No patient had had contact with human leprosy. The patients were white; four were women; the mean +/- SD age at onset was 60.3 +/- 16.4 years (age range, 31 to 80 years); and the mean +/- SD interval to diagnosis was 1.2 +/- 1.4 years. One patient had Hodgkin's disease at the age of 25 years and leprosy at the age of 31 years; another patient had cervical carcinoma. All rural northern Louisiana residents coexist with armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus), some of which are infected with Mycobacterium leprae, the significance of which is unknown. Hypothetically, exposure to an unknown human case, reactivation of "asymptomatic" leprosy through immunosenescence or immunosuppression, or infection from an environmental source might have occurred. Because the patients lacked contact, travel, residence, and exposure risk factors, the origin of leprosy in the new indigenous cases is noteworthy and is not understood.

Leprosy in six isolated residents of northern Louisiana. Time-clustered cases in an essentially nonendemic area

Leprosy in six isolated residents of northern Louisiana. Time-clustered cases in an essentially nonendemic area

The incidence of pseudotumor cerebri. Population studies in Iowa and Louisiana.

We surveyed all neurologists, ophthalmologists, and neurosurgeons in Iowa, eastern Nebraska, and Louisiana over one year to determine the annual incidence of pseudotumor cerebri in residents of Iowa and Louisiana. The results were similar for both states. In Iowa, the annual incidence in the general population was 0.9 per 100,000 persons. When obesity was considered, this increased the incidence to 13/100,000 persons in Iowa and 14.85/100,000 persons in Louisiana for women 20 to 44 years of age who were 10% or more over ideal weight. Furthermore, the incidence became 19.3/100,000 for women in the same age range when they were 20% or more over ideal weight. The female-to-male ratio was 8:1, and the mean weight was 38% above ideal weight for height. Pseudotumor cerebri is a relatively common neurologic illness and may be an important preventable cause of blindness in obese young women.

SPARGANOSIS IN SOUTHERN UNITED STATES.

Summary Twenty-three cases of human sparganosis are reported. Of these, 21 were in residents of the southern United States, principally Louisiana, Texas and Florida. Two infections were in patients from Puerto Rico and British Honduras. Cases of sparganosis have been diagnosed annually since 1953, and except for two that were seen in 1948 and 1949, also reported herein, the infection had not been observed previously in Louisiana. With the addition of these 21 cases, the total number of naturally acquired infections reported for the United States to date is 35, of which 25 occurred in residents of Louisiana and adjoining states.