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Individuals diagnosed with cancer are a vulnerable population during disasters. Emergency preparedness efforts are crucial for meeting the health and safety needs of patients, health-care professionals, health-care facilities, and communities before, during, and after a disaster. Recognizing the importance of advancing emergency preparedness expertise to cancer control efforts nationwide, especially in the era of climate change, we searched National Cancer Institute–designated cancer centers' websites to examine emergency preparedness information sharing and evidence of research efforts focused on disaster preparedness. Of 71 centers, 56 (78.9%) presented some emergency preparedness information, and 36 (50.7%) presented information specific to individuals diagnosed with cancer. Only 17 (23.9%) centers provided emergency preparedness information for climate-driven disasters. Informed by these data, this commentary describes an opportunity for cancer centers to lead knowledge advancement on an important aspect of climate change adaptation: disaster preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Rapid Assessment Disuse Index (RADI) is a brief tool aimed to promptly assess primary care patients' overall physical inactivity and sedentary behavior. This study examines the relation between physical inactivity and sitting time (RADI) to cardiometabolic risk among primary care patients. Methods: Survey data and electronic medical record information were collated to explore the association between RADI scores (cumulative and sitting) to metabolic syndrome (and components) among women and men, using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Among women, the cumulative RADI score was not significantly associated with metabolic syndrome. However, the RADI sitting score was related to low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and metabolic syndrome. That is, a transition to a higher RADI sitting score by 1 unit (vs remaining in the score) was related with a 1.4 and 1.3 times higher odds for having low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (95% confidence interval, 1.05-1.87) and metabolic syndrome (95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.64), respectively. Among men, no significant relations were found. Conclusions: The RADI sitting score is positively and significantly related to high-density lipoprotein and metabolic syndrome among women, yet not men. Due to the RADI's potential clinical utility, future research should attempt to examine these relations in larger, more robust samples and adjudicated outcomes using a prospective design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although recommended lung cancer screening with low‐dose computed tomography scanning (LDCT) reduces mortality among high‐risk adults, annual screening rates remain low. This study complements a previous nationwide assessment of access to lung cancer screening within 40 miles by evaluating differences in accessibility across rural and urban settings for the population aged 50 to 80 years and a subset eligible population based on the 2021 US Preventive Services Task Force LDCT lung screening recommendations. Methods: Distances from population centers to screening facilities (American College of Radiology Lung Cancer Screening Registry) were calculated, and the number of individuals who had access within graduating distances, including 10, 20, 40, 50, and 100 miles, were estimated. Census tract results were aggregated to counties, and both geographies were classified with rural‐urban schemas. Results: Approximately 5% of the eligible population did not have access to lung cancer screening facilities within 40 miles; however, different patterns of accessibility were observed at different distances, between regions, and across rural‐urban environments. Across all distances and geographies, there was a larger percentage of the population in rural geographies with no access. Although the rural population represented approximately 8% of the eligible population, the larger percentage of the rural population with no access was noteworthy and translated into a larger number of individuals with no access at longer distance thresholds (≥40 miles). Conclusions: Disparities in access should be examined as both percentages of the population and numbers of individuals with no access in order to tailor interventions to communities and increase access. Geospatial analysis at the census tract level is recommended to help to identify optimal focus areas and reach the most people. Lay Summary: As annual lung cancer screening rates remain low, this study examines access to lung cancer screening nationwide and across rural and urban settings.A geographic information system network analysis of census tract–level populations is used to estimate access at different distances, including 10, 20, 40, 50, and 100 miles, and the results are aggregated to counties.Approximately 5% of the eligible population does not have access to screening facilities within 40 miles; however, different patterns of accessibility are observed at different distances, between regions, and across rural‐urban environments.Across all distances and geographies, there is a larger percentage of the population in rural geographies with no access. This study uses geospatial analysis to examine access to lung cancer screening at graduating distances nationwide and across rural‐urban settings. Approximately 5% of the eligible population does not have access to lung cancer screening facilities within 40 miles; however, different patterns of accessibility are observed at different distances, between regions, and across rural‐urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Screening current and former heavy smokers 55 to 80 years of age for lung cancer (LC) with low-dose chest CT scanning has been recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force since 2013. Although the number of screening facilities in the United States has increased, screening uptake has been slow.Research Question: To what extent is geographic access to screening facilities a barrier for screening uptake nationally?Study Design and Methods: Screening facilities were defined as American College of Radiology (ACR) Lung Cancer Screening Registry (LCSR) facilities. Analysis was performed at different geographic levels using a road network to calculate travel distances for the recommended age groups. Full access to screening was defined as the entire 55- to 79-year-old population being within 40 miles of an ACR LCSR facility. No access was defined as lack of access by the entire target population. Partial access was expressed in intervening quartiles. A geospatial approach then was used to integrate accessibility with smoking prevalence and LC mortality rates to identify potential focus areas visually.Results: Screening facilities addresses were geocoded to identify 3,592 unique locations. Analysis of census tracts and aggregation to counties revealed that among 3,142 counties, adults 55 to 79 years of age have full access to an LC screening registry facility in 1,988 (63%) counties, partial access in 587 (19%) counties, and no access in 567 (18%) counties. Overall, less than 6% of those 55 to 79 years of age do not have access to registry screening facilities. Variation in screening facility access was noted across the United States, between states, and within some states.Interpretation: It is recommended to calculate accessibility using subcounty geographies and to examine variation regionally and within states. A foundation geographic accessibility layer can be integrated with other variables to identify geographic disparities in access to screening and to focus on areas for interventions. Identifying areas of greatest need can inform state and local officials and healthcare organizations when planning and implementing LC screening programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of disasters on the delivery of health services suggests that patients with cancer should be identified as a vulnerable population that requires additional attention and assistance during a disaster. Incorporating the special case of these patients into an event management framework can elevate resilience, decrease suffering, and save lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maps are well recognized as an effective means of presenting and communicating health data, such as cancer incidence and mortality rates. These data can be linked to geographic features like counties or census tracts and their associated attributes for mapping and analysis. Such visualization and analysis provide insights regarding the geographic distribution of cancer and can be important for advancing effective cancer prevention and control programs. Applying a spatial approach allows users to identify location-based patterns and trends related to risk factors, health outcomes, and population health. Geographic information science (GIScience) is the discipline that applies Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other spatial concepts and methods in research. This review explores the current state and evolution of GIScience in cancer research by addressing fundamental topics and issues regarding spatial data and analysis that need to be considered. GIScience, along with its health-specific application in the spatial epidemiology of cancer, incorporates multiple geographic perspectives pertaining to the individual, the health care infrastructure, and the environment. Challenges addressing these perspectives and the synergies among them can be explored through GIScience methods and associated technologies as integral parts of epidemiologic research, analysis efforts, and solutions. The authors suggest GIScience is a powerful tool for cancer research, bringing additional context to cancer data analysis and potentially informing decision-making and policy, ultimately aimed at reducing the burden of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents results and analysis of a methodology for automatic building extraction that integrates remote sensing sources and readily available geographic information system data (tax assessor parcel data). The methodology consists of a series of image processing and spatial analysis techniques and incorporates an initial simplification, parcel-based image partitioning procedure. The results showed great promise for such image partitioning in reducing the complexity of the building extraction procedure by localizing its search while maintaining the integrity of the structures (85 percent of buildings reside completely within parcels and the majority of the rest consists of very small portions outside the parcel boundaries). Herein, we discuss the results as they apply to three distinct building types (commercial, residential, and high-rise). The paper presents successful building extraction scenarios as well as challenges, difficulties and drawbacks of the process and identifies the underlying factors that impact the success of footprint extraction for each type of building. The results show that 83 percent of commercial buildings are successfully extracted with average footprint area discrepancy less than 10 percent, while challenges in high-rise and residential scenes are examined and further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses National Cancer Database data to estimate associations between hurricane disaster declarations, which could disrupt electrical power, and survival of patients undergoing radiotherapy for nonoperative locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer between 2004 and 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of the cancer burden is important for informing and advocating cancer prevention and control. Mortality data are readily available for states and counties, but not for congressional districts, from which representatives are elected and which may be more influential in compelling legislation and policy. The authors calculated average annual cancer death rates during 2002 to 2011 for each of the 435 congressional districts using mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics and population estimates from the US Census Bureau. Age-standardized death rates were mapped for all sites combined and separately for cancers of the lung and bronchus, colorectum, breast, and prostate by race/ethnicity and sex. Overall cancer death rates vary by almost 2-fold and are generally lowest in Mountain states and highest in Appalachia and areas of the South. The distribution is similar for lung and colorectal cancers, with the lowest rates consistently noted in districts in Utah. However, for breast and prostate cancers, while the highest rates are again scattered throughout the South, the geographic pattern is less clear and the lowest rates are in Hawaii and southern Texas and Florida. Within-state heterogeneity is limited, particularly for men, with the exceptions of Texas, Georgia, and Florida. Patterns also vary by race/ethnicity. For example, the highest prostate cancer death rates are in the West and north central United States among non-Hispanic whites, but in the deep South among African Americans. Hispanics have the lowest rates except for colorectal cancer in Wyoming, eastern Colorado, and northern New Mexico. These data can facilitate cancer control and stimulate conversation about the relationship between cancer and policies that influence access to health care and the prevalence of behavioral and environmental risk factors. CA Cancer J Clin 2015;65:339-344. © 2015 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although colorectal cancer death rates in the United States have declined by half since 1970, large geographic disparities persist. Spatial identification of high-risk areas can facilitate targeted screening interventions to close this gap. Methods: We used the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic within ArcGIS to identify contemporary colorectal cancer "hotspots" (spatial clusters of counties with high rates) based on county-level mortality data from the national vital statistics system. Hotspots were compared with the remaining aggregated counties (non-hotspot United States) by plotting trends from 1970 to 2011 and calculating rate ratios (RR). Trends were quantified using joinpoint regression. Results: Spatial mapping identified three distinct hotspots in the contemporary United States where colorectal cancer death rates were elevated. The highest rates were in the largest hotspot, which encompassed 94 counties in the Lower Mississippi Delta [Arkansas (17), Illinois (16), Kentucky (3), Louisiana (6), Mississippi (27), Missouri (15), and Tennessee (10)]. During 2009 to 2011, rates here were 40% higher than the non-hotspot United States [RR, 1.40; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.34-1.46], despite being 18% lower during 1970 to 1972 (RR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.78-0.86). The elevated risk was similar in blacks and whites. Notably, rates among black men in the Delta increased steadily by 3.5% per year from 1970 to 1990, and have since remained unchanged. Rates in hotspots in west central Appalachia and eastern Virginia/North Carolina were 18% and 9% higher, respectively, than the non-hotspot United States during 2009 to 2011. Conclusions: Advanced spatial analysis revealed large pockets of the United States with excessive colorectal cancer death rates. Impact: These well-defined areas warrant prioritized screening intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses and characterizes the vulnerability of unregulated groundwater systems to microbial contamination in 18 counties in the state of Georgia using a contamination risk screening strategy based on watershed characteristics and elements of the Safe Drinking Water Act's Wellhead Protection program. Environmental data sources analyzed include septic systems, elevation, land use and land cover data, soil, vegetation coverage, demographics, and livestock. A geospatial overlay/index modeling approach was developed to identify areas of higher vulnerability for groundwater pollution by taking into consideration watershed land use, hydrology, and topography ( LHT). Sensitivity analysis was used to evaluate the effectiveness of model variables. The results of the model were validated by using field data and output from U.S. EPA's DRASTIC model, a widely used intrinsic vulnerability assessment tool. The validation showed a higher risk of microbial contamination for wells located in a high to medium LHT vulnerability zones. LHT provided a clear distribution of satisfactory and unsatisfactory wells in the three vulnerability zones; however, the majority of wells (>75%), with both satisfactory and unsatisfactory test results, are located in medium DRASTIC vulnerability zone. This difference between LHT and DRASTIC can be attributed to the microbial contamination specific factors incorporated into LHT index. It is concluded that although inclusion of potential contamination sources on adjacent land uses in the vulnerability assessment framework adds to the complexity of the processes involved in a vulnerability assessment, such inclusion provides a meaningful perspective to groundwater protection efforts as an effective screening tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initial building footprint extraction as well as inventory update are still achieved via manual, labor-consuming digitizing from imagery. An extraction methodology is presented that integrates automatic and manual processes. This integration provides the advantage of a repetitive action accomplished by a computer and superior human decision making. The suggested approach incorporates readily available GIS parcels layers to provide an easily replicable simplification process that can precede any extraction procedure. The results emphasize a great savings in time (and subsequently in cost) by using parcel-based partitioning during the image preprocessing and integrating with current common extraction workflows, including manual digitizing. We present a quantitative comparison between the suggested methodology and both an automatic and a fully manual extraction procedure. The approach shows consistent savings of more than 30 percent in time, extracting buildings for both commercial and residential parcels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthquakes cause massive loss of property and lives, and mitigating their potential effects requires accurate modeling and simulation of their impacts. Earthquake building damage modeling and risk assessment applications require accurate accounts of inventories at risk and their attributes such as structure type, usage, size, number of stories, shape, year built, value, etc. This paper describes the development of algorithms for automatically extracting and recognizing 2-D building shape information using integrated aerial imagery processing and Geographic Information Systems data. We use vector parcel geometries and their attributes to simplify the building extraction task by limiting the processing geography. Extraction is significantly improved by innovatively weighting the histograms. Extracted buildings are cleaned, simplified, and run through 2-D shape recognition routines that classify the footprint. We discuss reasons for successes and failures in both extraction and recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most challenging problems in digital photogrammetry todayis automatic extraction of cartographic features from large-scale aerial images. Automatic detection of such features in general, and buildings in particular, will significantly improve the map compilation process as well as other tasks, such as DEM and orthophoto generation. This paper presents a semiautomatic approach for the extraction of buildings from large-scale images. The main goal is to recover three-dimensional (3D) outlines of buildings. The extraction should be sufficiently accurate, reliable, and efficient in order to comply with the high standards set by the photogrammetric community. In order to obtain a 3D description, the approach comprises stereo analysis for extracting building heights, along with a general knowledge of building geometry and shadow information. The paper explains the approach, presents experiments, and discusses the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals diagnosed with cancer are a vulnerable population during disasters. Emergency preparedness efforts are crucial for meeting the health and safety needs of patients, health-care professionals, health-care facilities, and communities before, during, and after a disaster. Recognizing the importance of advancing emergency preparedness expertise to cancer control efforts nationwide, especially in the era of climate change, we searched National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers' websites to examine emergency preparedness information sharing and evidence of research efforts focused on disaster preparedness. Of 71 centers, 56 (78.9%) presented some emergency preparedness information, and 36 (50.7%) presented information specific to individuals diagnosed with cancer. Only 17 (23.9%) centers provided emergency preparedness information for climate-driven disasters. Informed by these data, this commentary describes an opportunity for cancer centers to lead knowledge advancement on an important aspect of climate change adaptation: disaster preparedness., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: To bridge gaps identified during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic by developing a system that provides public health departments improved capability to manage and track medical countermeasures at the state and local levels and to report their inventory levels to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)., Materials and Methods: The CDC Countermeasure Tracking Systems (CTS) program designed and implemented the Inventory Management and Tracking System (IMATS) to manage, track, and report medical countermeasure inventories at the state and local levels. IMATS was designed by CDC in collaboration with state and local public health departments to ensure a "user-centered design approach." A survey was completed to assess functionality and user satisfaction., Results: IMATS was deployed in September 2011 and is provided at no cost to public health departments. Many state and local public health departments nationwide have adopted IMATS and use it to track countermeasure inventories during public health emergencies and daily operations., Discussion: A successful response to public health emergencies requires efficient, accurate reporting of countermeasure inventory levels. IMATS is designed to support both emergency operations and everyday activities. Future improvements to the system include integrating barcoding technology and streamlining user access. To maintain system readiness, we continue to collect user feedback, improve technology, and enhance its functionality., Conclusion: IMATS satisfies the need for a system for monitoring and reporting health departments' countermeasure quantities so that decision makers are better informed. The "user-centered design approach" was successful, as evident by the many public health departments that adopted IMATS.