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PH 3301: Environmental Health

Survey course examining environmental factors that enhance or impede population health: climate change; particulate matter and ozone air pollutants; environmental justice; drinking water systems and regulation; industrial agriculture; food deserts.

Introduction

You'll find information about how to find books, search for articles, and about the many services Alkek has to offer you.  Alkek Librarians are available to help you via Ask-A-Librarian. The TxState Writing Center is available for help with writing skills and has various online resources and services. SLAC also has excellent Documentation Guides. Alkek Library also has information about a variety of Writing Styles.

Getting Started | Background Information | Reference Material

Reference Material in the form of subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks typically provides background essays, definitions, broad overviews of various topics, or other pertinent facts. Sage eReference: Health & Social Care

The objective today's session: Students will be able to recognize the wealth of public health information available beyond just doing a Google search. At the end of the session, Dr. Monforton's expectation is that students will be able to describe some of the databases available and be better prepared to build effective key word searches.

Subject matter topics for the workshop could be any of those listed above and/or versions of the questions posed below.

  1. During Hurricane Harvey and the aftermath (Aug-Oct 2017) some residents raised concerns about poor air quality due to emissions from local petrochemical plants.
    a.)  What was reported at the time in local/regional papers (original reporting) about air quality?  (e.g., Houston Chronicle, Houston Press, Baytown News) 
    b.)  What were government officials (U.S. EPA, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Harris County), residents, and topic experts saying at the time? 
    c.)  In 2019, was there reporting from these same news outlets that followed-up on Harvey-related air quality problems?
  2. In late 2015 and most of 2016, global health officials focused significant attention on an epidemic of Zika fever. The illness is associated with birth defects when there is in utero transmission.  What information is available in the peer-reviewed literature on:
    a.)  the number, type, and severity of the most prevalent birth defects diagnosed in infants infected in utero with the virus;
    b.)  differences in severity or type of birth defects depending on trimester of infection; and/or
    c.)  Zika transmission, diagnosis, and/or prognosis among infants in Puerto Rico
  3. Papers in the peer-reviewed literature on the effect of specific public health interventions in the U.S., such as, motorcycle helmet laws and mortality rates; sugar-sweetened sodas and specific health outcomes; hands-free (cell phone) laws and motor vehicle incidents. motorcycle helmet laws in the U.S. on mortality rates for motorcycle drivers or passengers?  (i.e. intervention effectiveness studies)

 

Browzine: Featured Public Health Journals


Browse more Public Health journals.