184
American epidemic since 2003, and the low rate of symptomatic infection may chal-lenge commercial viability. It has also been argued that renewed epidemics in North America or Western Europe, or the designation of WNV as a potential bioterrorism agent, could boost efforts toward a vaccine. It is also worth noting that the spread of WNV in North America may be seen as a proxy for future emerging vector-borne infectious diseases. Taken together, these points argue for an investigation to examine orientation toward a hypothetical WNV vaccine. To do so, data was collected using a self-administered mail survey administered in Greeley, Colorado. A four-page ques-tionnaire (English and Spanish) was mailed to 777 residents proportionally sampled for ethnicity (Hispanic-Latino/Anglo). 385 completed questionnaires were returned (50%). The study models likelihood of vaccination uptake at no cost and at a cost of $25 contingent on demographics, understanding of mosquito ecology, WNV disease proximity, and the Health Belief Model (HBM), which includes a risk perception element consisting of perceived susceptibility and severity. Regression analysis (adj R-square of .29) shows that likelihood of vaccination uptake is predicted significantly by all elements of the HBM (severity, susceptibility, benefits, barriers) as well as the individuals understanding of WNV’s ecology and the proximity of WNV to the in-dividual.
W4-G.1 Trump BD, Linkov I, Palma OJ, Tokai A, Bostrom A; bdt2011@gmail. com
Carnegie Mellon University, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, University of Lisbon, Portugal, University of Osaka, Japan, University of Washington
SRA SPECIALTY GROUPS: WHAT IS MISSING?
The Society for Risk Analysis encompasses a variety of fields and professions in the promotion and increased understanding of risk analysis. However, certain ar-eas were not explicitly included within the Society or its specialty groups, yet remain potential boons for membership. To discover what are underrepresented within SRA and what activities occur within these areas that warrant their inclusion into the soci-ety, we engaged in several interviews with senior SRA staff members and engaged in a thorough literature review. The fruits of these efforts were used within a multi-criteria decision analysis with the ultimate goal of generating a ranked list of currently under-represented subject areas according to their overall utility-added to SRA. This session will start with presentation summarizing these areas and their potential impacts within the Society, and will offer specific recommendations with respect to subject areas that the society should target for membership in the near future. A panel discussion featuring represenetatives from SRA-Japan, SRA-Europe and SRA-USA will follow.
P.56 Tsai MS, Pan SC, Lin MH, Ho WC, Chen PC, Lin RS; s761006@hot-mail.com
China Medical University
AIR POLLUTION, ABNORMAL BIRTH WEIGHT AND OBESITY MAY INCREASE THE RISK OF DEVELOPING ASTHMA DURING ADOLES-CENCE
Asthma is an important public health task. Air pollution may increase the risk of inducing asthma. Abnormal birth weight has also been associated with developing asthma during childhood and adolescence; in addition, adolescents who are obese have a proposed higher risk of asthma. The objective of this study is to assess wheth-er air pollution intwheth-eracts the effects of abnormal birth weight and obesity during adolescence for inducing asthma. The air pollution database was based on Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (Taiwan EPA) air quality monitoring sta-tion network. The birth cohort was based on two major databases including the fol-lowing: 1) the birth registry database of the Ministry of Interior and 2) a six-month mass screening survey of adolescent asthma and lung function testing conducted by the Taiwan EPA and National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taiwan from Octo-ber 1995 to March 1996. The study population included junior high school students countrywide. We analyzed a 10% random sampling of nationwide junior high school students (n=85,791), who completed two questionnaires (ISAAC and New England) and lung function testing. Air pollution may play a role of interacting with abnormal birth weight and obese during adolescence in inducing asthma.
P.32 Tsou MC, Chien LC, Özkaynak H, Beamer P, Dang W; lcchien@tmu. edu.tw
TMU
MOUTHING FREQUENCY OF CHILDREN UNDER 2 YEARS OLD IN TAIWAN
Children are often more vulnerable than adults to higher exposures to environ-mental contaminants due to their unique behaviors. In order to estimate the nature and magnitude of their exposures and potential health risks, it is necessary to obtain detailed information on children’s activity patterns, especially in Taiwan, where there is lack of this information. The environment, such as the house type and the primary caregiver to the children, also is an important factor influencing contaminant expo-sures.. In this study, 32 participating children were recruited. They were then matched by sex (two groups: male and female) and age (four groups: 6, 12, 18 and 24 months) groups. Children were videotaped about 2 hours, and then we recorded mouthing frequency (hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth) from the videotapes using pen-to-paper method. The average age of children was 17.15(± 7.78) months. The median hand-to-mouth frequency was 10.50 contacts/h. The median object-to-mouth fre-quency was 9.50 contacts/h. The median hand-to-mouth frefre-quency of children who
