US Government news & alerts
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Disaster Recovery Center in Cedar Rapids in Linn County - the final one in Iowa - will close Saturday, Oct. 25, according to officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
DES MOINES, Iowa — The deadline for requests for public assistance to the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division (HSEMD) for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and state assistance is only three days away.
OAKVILLE, Iowa — The Oakville Recovery Task Force will conduct an all-day workshop, October 18, 2008, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oakville Community Center to develop recovery projects for Oakville, Eliot and Huron townships and the surrounding area. Members of the public are welcome to stop by to observe the process.
AUSTIN, Texas — A motor coach used as a FEMA/State Disaster Center continues its circuit in Trinity County with a second stop in Groveton, Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 16-19. Residents who suffered damage from Hurricane Ike will have the chance to get face-to-face assistance when the coach stops at the following location:
AUSTIN, Texas — A FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center in Hardin County will end operations at the close of business Friday, Oct. 17.
AUSTIN, Texas — Due to an active hurricane season, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is giving local governments in Texas more time to request federal reimbursements for repairing public facilities and cleaning up storm debris.
AUSTIN, Texas — The mobile FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center which ended operations in Jefferson County Oct. 15, has moved on to open in Orange County. The center is on a circuit to provide assistance to those who suffered damage from Hurricane Ike. It will be at its new site Friday through Wednesday, Oct. 17-22. The new location is:
AUSTIN, Texas — One of the FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Centers in Harris County will end operations at the close of business Friday, Oct. 17.
BATON ROUGE, La. — A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) will open Monday, October 20 in Winnsboro and another in Grand Lake to assist residents who had damage or losses from hurricanes Gustav and Ike, according to Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials.
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas workers who are unemployed because of Hurricane Ike have until Nov. 12 to apply for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA).
AUSTIN, Texas — Jasper County residents who suffered losses from Hurricane Ike will be able to get face-to-face assistance Wednesday through Saturday, Oct. 15 to 18, when a FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center opens in Evadale at the following location:
AUSTIN, Texas — The FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center in Walker County will end operations at the close of business Saturday, Oct. 18.
AUSTIN, Texas — More than 2,300 contract inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have completed more than 266,000 inspections of homes damaged by Hurricane Ike. The inspectors now average 12,000 homes a day.
AUSTIN, Texas — Cherokee County residents who suffered losses from Hurricane Ike will be able to get face-to-face assistance beginning Tuesday, Oct. 14 when a FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center opens in Rusk at the following location:
AUSTIN, Texas — Madison County residents who suffered losses from Hurricane Ike will be able to get face-to-face assistance Tuesday through Friday, Oct. 14 to17, when a FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center opens in Madisonville at the following location:
AUSTIN, Texas — The sixth FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center is opening in Galveston County Monday, Oct. 13. Residents who suffered damage from Hurricane Ike can access face-to-face assistance at the following location:
AUSTIN, Texas — One of the FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Centers in Montgomery County will end operations at the close of business Wednesday, Oct. 15.
New Orleans, Louisiana — The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s transitional sheltering initiative for applicants displaced by Hurricane Ike, originally scheduled to end Oct. 14, has been extended.
Background:
There is strong evidence supporting the use of antenatal corticosteroids in women at risk of preterm birth to promote fetal lung maturation and reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity. This audit aimed to assess the use of antenatal corticosteroids prior to preterm birth in the nine hospitals in four South East Asian countries participating in the South East Asia Optimising Reproductive Health in Developing Countries (SEA-ORCHID) Project. MethodWe reviewed the medical records of 9550 women (9665 infants including 111 twins and two triplets) admitted to the labour wards of nine hospitals in four South East Asian countries during 2005. For women who gave birth before 34 weeks gestation we collected information on women’s demographic and pregnancy background, the type, dose and use of corticosteroids, and key birth and infant outcomes.
Results:
Administration of antenatal corticosteroids to women who gave birth before 34 weeks gestation varied widely between countries (9% to 73%) and also between hospitals within countries (0% to 86%). Antenatal corticosteroids were most commonly given when women were between 28 and 34 weeks gestation (80%). Overall 6% of women received repeat doses of corticosteroids. Dexamethasone was the only type of antenatal corticosteroid used.
Women receiving antenatal corticosteroids compared with those not given antenatal corticosteroids were less likely to have had a previous pregnancy and to be booked for birth at the hospital and almost three times as likely to have a current multiple pregnancy. Exposed women were less likely to be induced and almost twice as likely to have a caesarean section, a primary postpartum haemorrhage and postpartum pyrexia.
Infants exposed to antenatal corticosteroids compared with infants not exposed were less likely to die. Live born exposed infants were less likely to have Apgar scores of <7 at five minutes and less likely to have any lung disease.
Conclusion:
In this survey the use of antenatal corticosteroids prior to preterm birth varied between countries and hospitals. Evaluation of the enablers and barriers to the uptake of this effective antenatal intervention at individual hospitals is needed.
Background:
Anticoagulation with warfarin should be stopped 4-6 days before invasive procedures to avoid bleeding complications. Despite this routine, some patients still have high International Normalized Ratio (INR) values on the day of surgery and the procedure may be cancelled. We sought to identify easily available clinical characteristics that may influence the rate of normalization of prothrombin time when warfarin is stopped before surgery or invasive procedures.
Methods:
Clinical data were collected retrospectively from consecutive cases from two cohorts, who stopped warfarin 6 days before surgery. An INR value of 1.6 or higher on the day of surgery or requirement for reversal with vitamin K the day before surgery were criteria for slow return (S) to normal INR.
Results:
Of 202 patients, 14 (7%) were classified as S. Eight of the S-patients required reversal with vitamin K one day before surgery and in another case surgery was cancelled due to high INR. Baseline INR was the only variable significantly associated with classification as S in stepwise logistic regression analysis (p=0.003). The odds ratio for being in the normal group was 0.27 (95% confidence interval 0.12-0.62) for each unit baseline INR increased. The positive predictive value of baseline INR with a cut off at >3.0 was only 15% and for INR >3.5 it was 33%.
Conclusions:
Baseline INR, but not the size of the maintenance dose, is associated with the rate of normalization of prothrombin time after stopping warfarin, but it has limited utility as predictor in clinical practice. Whenever normal hemostasis is considered crucial for the safety, the INR should be checked again before the invasive procedure.