Psychological effects of aircraft noise exposure on children have only recently been addressed in the References. The current study took advantage of a natural experiment caused by the opening of a major new airport, exposing children in a formerly quiet area to aircraft noise. In this prospective longitudinal investigation, which employed non-exposed control groups, effects of aircraft noise prior to and subsequent to inauguration of the new airport as well as effects of chronic noise and its reduction at the old airport (6 and 18 month post relocation), were studied in 326 children aged 9 to 13 years. The psychological health of children was investigated with a standardized quality of life scale as well as with a motivational measure derived from the Glass and Singer stress aftereffects paradigm. In addition a self report noise annoyance scale was used. In the children studied at the two airports over three time points, results showed a significant decrease of total quality of life 18 month after aircraft noise exposure as well as a motivational deficits operationalized by fewer attempts to solve insoluble puzzles in the new airport area. Parallel shifts in children's attributions for failure were also noted. At the old airport parallel impairments were present before the airport relocation but subsided there after. These findings are in accord with reports of impaired psychological health after noise exposure and indicate the relevance of monitoring psychological parameters as a function of environmental stressors among children.
Several aspects regarding nuclear power plants and works of the chemical industry were assessed by self-report inventories. The inventories included items related to attitudes and mood. Subjects (N = 228) were divided according to living distance to a nuclear power plant (up to 5 km, 5–10 km, 10–15 km), age (18–39 versus 40–59 years) and sex. Results demonstrate different risk perception referring to nuclear power plants and works of the chemical industry. Women and older persons reported more negative attitudes. In addition, the results confirm the assumption of an inverted U-shaped relationship between strength of negative attitudes toward nuclear power plants and distance of dwelling to the plant. The results are best explained by psychobiological models of stress.
Patients who are infected or colonised by MRSA should be isolated. However, isolation is very costly in terms of time and work. In order to shorten the period of isolation, attempts are being made to eradicate this organism from patients by means of whole-body washing in addition to nasal mupirocin treatment. The effectiveness of such washes has not yet been adequately confirmed by studies. From September 1997 to August 1998, therefore, in a clinical trial of MRSA eradication, 28 patients were washed for a period of five days with a 1:1 diluted preparation based on octenidine dihydrochloride. At the same time, the nose was treated with mupirocin. Before washing was begun, on day 4 during washing and on days 1, 4 and 7 after washing was completed, smears were taken from each patient from the nose, pharynx, forehead hairline, groin, axilla and wounds, and in the case of women from the sub-mammary area. Elimination of the MRSA was achieved in 21 out of 28 cases; in four cases the washing was discontinued on account of skin redness, in three cases no elimination could be achieved during the control period. In order to ensure the success of eradication and to minimise skin reactions due to the washing, the wash procedure must be standardised, and decontamination controlled microbiologically. The study confirms that MRSA can be eradicated by means of washing with an antiseptic combined with mupirocin treatment.
Out-patient operations cause lower costs and they are a method the patients are less burdened with than it is the case with usual operating methods. Avoiding nosocomial infections is regarded as another advantage. The rate of infection can be given by a carefully kept nosocomial infection surveillance. Ambulatory surgery units have difficulties in keeping these statistics because they often do not take over the after-treatment of this patients. Out-patient operations in surgeries must guarantee the same standard of hygiene which can usually be found in hospitals. Hospital epidemiologists, health authorities and professional associations have published corresponding guidelines with organizational/functional and structural requirements. These requirements, however, are only met by few ambulatory practices. Surgery holders justify the non-observance of the guidelines by supposing that the spectrum of germs in their office differs from that in a hospital and that there aren't any pathogens. The standard of hygiene in ambulatory surgery units is not controlled regularly. Therefore the hygienic conditions and the microbial burden of five surgeries that carry out out-patient operations under general anaesthesia were determined within the scope of microbial monitoring of the surroundings. Only two surgeries achieved a standard of hygiene which is comparable with that of a hospital. Up to 42% of the taken samples were sterile. The other three surgeries did not meet the requirements. The microbial burden in these surgeries was distinctly higher. The spectrum of detected microorganisms was very wide and there were pathogens too. Hygienic controls and monitoring of the surroundings should be carried out regularly as a measure to guarantee the production and maintenance of quality. Thus the actually achieved hygienic standard in the surgeries can be controlled and improved if necessary. Ambulatory surgeries should be liable to similar hygienic controls as hospitals.
According to recent literature reviews, women seem to be especially prone to report symptoms of the so-called Sick-Building-Syndrome. In a large German study into the Sick-Building-Syndrome (the ProKlimA-project) 4596 persons from 14 buildings around Germany filled out a questionnaire regarding Sick-Building-symptoms and potential psychosocial determinants. The present article presents questionnaire results from 2517 female employees (as compared to 2079 male employees) which showed that women report higher scores in sensory irritation, a higher bodily complaint rate and more negative evaluation of the indoor climate. In addition most psychosocial variables showed less favourable scores for women as compared to men. Gender stratified logistic regression analysis suggests an effect of less favourable working conditions under which women are employed. Thus although women are more prone to express impairments in wellbeing, such expression has to be critically evaluated against the background of their living and working conditions.
Accumulating evidence from European cities indicates that current levels of ambient air pollution are likely to be associated with detectable effects on daily mortality and hospital admissions. Public health authorities everywhere are concerned about the possible effects of air pollution on the health of their populations but there are no guidelines for how these effects can efficiently be monitored. Furthermore, decisions about air pollution monitoring tend to be made without reference to the epidemiological requirements of health monitoring. The APHEA project (Air Pollution and Health a European Approach) investigated the short-term health effects of air pollution in 15 European cities. Experience gained in this project provides a basis for recommendations to public health and environmental authorities concerning the requirements for a basic health monitoring system. This paper considers the theoretical and practical aspects of a monitoring system and makes recommendations concerning 1) the minimum data set required, 2) the methods of statistical analysis and presentation and 3) Europewide coordination of monitoring.
A multi-centric study was carried out in three laboratories, to evaluate the efficiency of a standardized kit for the detection of enterovirus genome in wastewater. Twenty one samples of 20 liters of wastewater were analyzed before and after concentration through glass wool. Each sample was analyzed with the Amplicor kit as well as with techniques developed independently in each laboratory. The results show that the Amplicor kit is well suited to the detection of enterovirus genome in treated wastewater. The results may be compared to those obtained with semi-nested RT-PCR techniques used in each laboratory. However, the Amplicor kit technique is more simple and has the advantage of providing a standardized technique useful for comparative studies. During this work it was observed that the sensitivity of the detection of infectious viruses and virus genome was improved when concentrated samples were used for analysis.
Cistern-collected rain water which is used as process water for toilet flushing, cleaning purposes, garden irrigation and linen washing, was experimentally contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, Salmonella enteritidis, Yersinia enterocolitica and Campylobacter jejuni. The longevity of those pathogens was investigated considering different temperatures and contents of organic materials. Neither Salmonella enteritidis, Yersinia enterocolitica nor Campylobacter jejuni are able to grow at temperatures of 5 degrees C, 15 degrees C, 20 degrees C or 37 degrees C. The most sensitive pathogen was Campylobacter jejuni which showed rapidly decreasing of colony counts at 15 degrees C as compared with Yersinia enterocolitica or Salmonella enteritidis. For Salmonella enteritidis the decrease of bacterial concentrations was higher at 37 degrees C than at 5 degrees C. Increasing the concentrations of organic compounds by addition of bacteriological pepton or addition of extreme++ amounts of pidgeon feces lowers the rate of bacterial death but an increase in colony counts could not be observed at the different temperatures investigated. The elimination of salmonella is supported if the cisterns are layered with a biofilm and sediment. So it could be confirmed, that raised amounts of organic material, pidgeon feces together with optimal temperatures which can be observed accidentally in rain water cisterns can not enhance growth of enteropathogenic bacteria.
Introduction: Clinical parameters for the early diagnosis of a potential development of childhood cirrhosis are not available. A cross-section study was performed to investigate whether the serum copper content and the activities of the newborn's glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) may be associated with the copper contents of the drinking water and/or the maternal serum and thus could serve as early indicator of an elevated health hazard.
The efficacy of disinfecting medical gloves with isopropanol 60% (v/v) while they are worn was assessed for 4 different brands of latex gloves (Biogel(R) Diagnistic (A), Safeskin(R) Satin Plus (B), Safeskin(R) LPE (C) and Baxter Non-Sterile Latex Exam Gloves (D)) and one latex-free nitrile grove (100% Nitrile N-Dex(R) (E)). Even in the presence of coagulated blood disinfection of the gloves was more efficient than disinfection of the bare hand. The efficacy of the disinfection of glove C, D and E decreased if 10 disinfections were carried out successively. An increase of perforations detected with the water inflation test according to EN 455-1 was found for brand E. As gloves of brand C and D became tacky after 10 disinfections, they were inappropriate for manual work. As a result, disinfection with isopropanol 60% (v/v) can be recommended for gloves of brand A and B only Disinfection of these gloves is admissable e.g. after indirect patient contact, taking blood samples or labratory work if no visible contamination or perforation has occurred. However, after contact with patients suffering from an infectious disease or carrying multiresistant organisms the gloves have to be changed. The same holds true if the gloves might be contaminated with naked viruses (e.g. Poliomyelitis virus), since virucidal alcoholic hand disinfectants require high concentration thus leading to materials incompatibility.
