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Employee health insurance premiums continue to rise exponentially despite stagnant inflation rates. The national trend in recent years has been to decrease benefit usage by attempting to establish a healthier workforce. The incorporation of employee health promotion programs either within, or outside of the worksite, is the favored means of providing a solution. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of employee health promotion program usage in Central Florida, and the economic impact, if any, of these programs. The basic research questions for this study are: 1. What percentage of the corporations surveyed have instituted employee health promotion programs. 2. What is the most common program content among the companies using such? 3. What is the average cost of program implementation (per employee) and the average annual operations cost for companies using health promotion programs? 4. Has a real or perceived monetary gain been determined by the use of the health promotion programs? 5. Can any cost savings be originated? 6. Does a relative difference in savings exist between large and small companies by using such programs? 7. What percentage of Central Florida companies using health promotion programs depend upon extraneous services (e.g., PPOs, HMOs, consultants) to initiate and/or perpetuate their programs? The procedure of study will include the use of a survey questionnaire mailed to a representative sampling of 100 various size area business establishments, grouped according to employee number. Quantification and analysis of survey results will then be summarized and used to ascertain the effectiveness of such endeavors.

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In the extreme environment of space, radiation induced health issues is a major concern. The ability to induce higher levels of free radicals and reactive oxidative species (ROS) are factors to be addressed. Ceria nanoparticles (CNPs) can provide a means to scavenge ROS through regenerative redox coupling that occurs on the surface and acts as a radioprotectant. Additionally, the defect levels in CNP can be categorized by the Ce3+/Ce4+ ratio with a high ratio indicating superoxide scavenging, a radical species with high oxidative potential. However, engineering a specialized Ce3+ NP often requires a harsh reducing agent. We hypothesized a wet-chemical synthesis utilizing both reducing and non-reducing sugars to engineer stable CNPs with high Ce3+ state. This sustainable process uses simple sugars to ensure high biocompatibility while maintaining the specific vacancy density found in Ce3+ dominant CNP. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) show that the reducing sugars allows for nearly 70/30 Ce3+/Ce4+ ratio compared to non-reducing sugars. This high Ce3+/Ce4+ ratio of CNPs can be useful in scavenging ROS in space radiation applications. In addition, typical drug molecules utilize biopolymers which can increase ROS under the ionizing radiation environments found in space. To improve the drug viability, we hypothesized CNPs conjugated to drugs as a viable solution. Current results indicate high Ce3+ structural confirmation of ceria nanoparticles using a wet-chemical synthesis. The synthesized nanoparticles were then conjugated with risedronate, a third-generation bisphosphonate. Microwave radiation studies indicated that CNP was able to be used as a radioprotectant as it prevented changes in drug chemistry as detected by UV/Vis spectra after exposure to microwave radiation. Finally, in vitro human mesenchymal stem cell results from alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Alizarin red S (ARS) assays, suggest potential for the conjugates to differentiate cells. The mechanism for radioprotective ability can be attributed to the high Ce3+ state.

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No description available.