The aim of the study was to investigate the unknown effect of air pollutants on the occurrence or deterioration of respiratory diseases in the area with a humid continental climate. This ...retrospective study included 5868 patients with respiratory symptomatology (upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), pneumonia, acute bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and asthma) admitted to emergency department (ED). The number of patients, values of meteorological parameters (mean daily values of air temperature pressure and relative humidity) and concentrations of air pollution particles (≤10 μm (PM10), ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)) were collected during a two-year ( July 2008 - June 2010) period. There were 1839 (31.3%), 1712 (29.2%), 1313 (22.4%), 614 (10.5%) and 390 (6.6%) patients with pneumonia, COPD, URTI, acute bronchitis and asthma, respectively. The mean daily concentrations of NO2 (25.9 (1.7-89.7) μg/m3), O3 (47.1 (4.7-135.4) μg/m3) and PM10 particles (25.7 (4.6-146.6) μg/m3) were below the legally defined thresholds. Among other results, the occurrence of respiratory diseases showed positive Spearman's correlation with the values of air humidity (days 0-3, r=0.15 to 0.19), PM10(days 0-3, r=0.10 to 0.13) and NO2 concentrations (day 0, r=0.11), and negative correlation with the values of air temperature (days 0-3, r=-0.36 to -0.34), pressure (day 0, r=-0.10) and O3 concentrations (days 0-3, r=-0.21 to -0.22) (p<0.05 all). In conclusion, the occurrence of respiratory diseases showed correlation with weather conditions and air pollutants despite the legally permitted values in the region with a humid continental climate.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether nitrogen dioxide (NO
), ozone (O
), and certain meteorological conditions had an impact on cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related emergency department ...(ED) visits in the metropolitan area of Zagreb. This retrospective, ecological study included 20,228 patients with a cardiovascular disease as their primary diagnosis who were examined in the EDs of two Croatian University Hospitals, Sisters of Charity and Holy Spirit, in the study period July 2008-June 2010. The median of daily CVD-related ED visits during the study period was 28 and was the highest during winter. A significant negative correlation was found between CVD-related emergency visits and air temperature measured no more than three days prior to the visit, and the highest negative correlation coefficient was measured two days earlier (R=0.266, p≤0.001). The number of CVD-related emergency visits significantly correlated with the average NO
concentration on the same day (R=0.191, p<0.001). The results of multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the number of CVD-related emergency visits depended on air temperature, and NO
and O
concentrations. The higher the air temperatures, the lower the number of daily CVD-related emergency visits (p<0.001). An increase in NO
concentrations (p=0.005) and a decrease in O
concentrations of two days earlier (p=0.006) led to an increase in CVD-related ED visits. In conclusion, the decrease in O
concentrations and the increase in NO
, even if below the legally binding thresholds, could be associated with an increase in CVD-related emergency visits and a similar effect was observed with lower temperature measured no more than three days prior to the visit.
In recent years, there is ever more awareness about the impact of polluted air on the incidence of acute and chronic cardiac disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of certain ...meteorological factors, NO2 concentration in the air and number of patients presenting to Emergency Department of Internal Medicine, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center (ED), during a two-year period, with special reference to the incidence of patients with a cardiac referral diagnosis according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The total number of patients was 44,245, of which 12,946 with a cardiac referral diagnosis. Meteorological parameters (temperature and air pressure) during the warm and cool periods of the year and NO2 concentrations during the study period were recorded. Study results showed the total number of patients presenting to ED to be greatest in summer, while the number of cardiac patients was highest in winter. There was positive correlation between the number of ED patients with cardiac referral diagnosis and increasing NO2 concentrations in the air. Despite the fact that the highest concentrations of NO2 were recorded in the cool period of the year when there were more traffic jams, the influence of the air NO2 concentration on the number of patients with cardiac diagnoses was statistically most significant in the warm period of the year when the slightest increase in the concentration of NO2 in the air significantly increased the number of cardiac patients presenting to ED. These results indicate the need for further research of the importance of photochemical processes and their impact on cardiovascular patients.
In this study, we investigated the correlation of air temperature, pressure and concentration
of air pollutants with the rate of admissions for cardiac arrhythmias at two clinical centers
in the area ...with a humid continental climate. This retrospective study included 3749 patients with
arrhythmias admitted to emergency department (ED). They were classified into four groups: supraventricular
tachycardia (SVT), ventricular tachycardia (VT), atrial fibrillation/undulation (Afib/Aund),
and palpitations (with no ECG changes, or with sinus tachycardia and extrasystoles). The
number of patients, values of meteorological parameters (average daily values of air temperature,
pressure and relative humidity) and concentrations of air pollutants (particles of dimensions ~10
micrometers or less (PM(10)), ozone (O(3)) and nitrogen dioxide (NO(2))) were collected during a two-year
period ( July 2008-June 2010). There were 1650 (44.0%), 1525 (40.7%), 451 (12.0%) and 123 (3.3%)
patients with palpitations, Afib/Aund, SVT and VT, respectively. Spearman’s correlation yielded
positive correlation between the occurrence of arrhythmias and air humidity on the day (r=0.07), and
1 (r=0.08), 2 (r=0.09) and 3 days before (r=0.09), and NO(2) particles on the day (r=0.08) of ED admission;
palpitations and air humidity on the day (r=0.11), and 1 (r=0.09), 2 (r=0.07) and 3 days before
(r=0.10), and PM(10) (r=0.11) and NO(2) (r=0.08) particles on the day of ED admission; and Afi b/Aund
and air humidity 2 days before (r=0.08) ED admission (p<0.05 all). In conclusion, there was a very
weak positive correlation of the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmias with air humidity and concentration
of air pollutants in the region with a humid continental climate.
The appearance of MI is more frequent during winter 1-6,14,20 . Because of acclimatization, people in cold regions (Finland) may not experience more winter excess mortality than those in mild regions ...(London) 21,22 . ...we would like to emphasize the need for decreasing the upper lawful limits of air pollutants as it increases the number of patients with MI.
The large global production of plastics and their presence everywhere in society and the environment have created a need for assessing chemical hazards and risks associated with plastic products. ...Plastics from polystyrene can release potentially toxic products (including styrene), particularly when heated. In this study we used a Fluo-Imager Analyser with software for spectral fluorescence signature (SFS) analysis. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the amount of styrene released into food and beverages by using SFS on a Fluo-Imager Analyser. Our results showed that concentrations of released styrene were in the range of 1.45–9.95 μg/L for hot water and 0.10–2.78 μg/L for room temperature water. The results indicate that this fluorescence diagnostic method is an effective tool for analysis of styrene released into food and beverages from polystyrene containers and cups, and could be useful in further investigations of styrene toxicity.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
We investigated correlation between the normal level of air pollution, weather conditions and stroke occurrence in the region of Southeast Europe with a humid continental climate. This retrospective ...study included 1963 patients, 1712 (87.2%) with ischemic (IS) and 251 (12.8%) with hemorrhagic stroke (HS) admitted to emergency department. The number of patients, values of weather condition (meteorological parameters) air temperature (°C), atmospheric pressure (kPa), relative humidity (%) and concentrations of air pollutants particulate matter (PM
10
), nitrogen dioxide (NO
2
), ozone (O
3
), were recorded and evaluated for each season (spring, summer, autumn, winter) during 2 years (July 2008–June 2010). The highest rate of IS was observed during spring (28.9%) (
p
= 0.0002) and HS in winter (33.9%) (
p
= 0.0006). We have found negative Spearman’s correlations (after Bonferroni adjustment for the multiple correlations) of the number of males with values of relative humidity (%) (day 0, rho = − 0.15), the total number of strokes (day 2, rho = − 0.12), females (day 2, rho = − 0.12) and IS (day 2, rho = − 0.13) with concentrations of PM
10
(µg/m
3
), as well as negative correlations of the number of females (day 2, rho = − 0.12) and IS (day 2, rho = − 0.12) with concentrations of NO
2
(µg/m
3
) (for all
p
< 0.002). In winter, the number of HS (day 0, rho = 0.25,
p
= 0.001) positively correlated with concentrations of O
3
(µg/m
3
). The appearance of stroke has seasonal variations, with the highest rates during spring and winter. Positive correlation between the number of HS and values of O
3
requires an additional reduction of the legally permitted pollutants concentrations.
Željeli smo istražiti nepoznati utjecaj onečišćivača zraka na pojavnost ili pogoršanje bolesti dišnoga sustava u području s vlažnom kontinentalnom klimom. Ova retrospektivna studija je obuhvatila ...5868 bolesnika s respiracijskom simptomatologijom (infekcija gornjih dišnih putova (IGDP), upala pluća, akutni bronhitis, kronična opstruktivna plućna bolest (KOPB) i astma) primljenih u hitnu službu. Podaci o broju bolesnika, vrijednostima meteoroloških parametara (srednje dnevne vrijednosti tlaka, temperature zraka i relativne vlage) i koncentracijama čestica onečišćenja zraka (≤10 μm (PM10), ozona (O3) i dušičnog dioksida (NO2)) prikupljeni su tijekom dvije godine (srpanj 2008. – lipanj 2010. godine). Bilo je 1839 (31,3%), 1712 (29,2%), 1313 (22,4%), 614 (10,5%) i 390 (6,6%) bolesnika s upalom pluća, KOPB-om, IGDP-om, akutnim bronhitisom i astmom. Srednje dnevne koncentracije NO2 (25,9 (1,7-89,7) μg/m3), O3 (47,1 (4,7-135,4) μg/m3) i čestica PM10 (25,7 (4,6-146,6) μg/m3) bile su ispod zakonski definirane granične vrijednosti. Među ostalim rezultatima, ukupna pojavnost bolesti dišnoga sustava bila je u pozitivnoj Spearmanovoj korelaciji s vlažnosti zraka (dani 0-3, r=0,15-0,19) i koncentracijom čestica PM10 (dani 0-3, r=0,10-0,13) i NO2 (dan 0, r=0,11), a u negativnoj korelaciji s temperaturom (dani 0-3, r=-0,36 do -0,34) i tlakom zraka (dan 0, r=-0,10) te koncentracijom čestica O3 (dani 0-3, r=-0,21 do -0,22) (za sve p<0,05). U zaključku, pojavnost bolesti dišnoga sustava pokazala je korelaciju s vremenskim uvjetima i onečišćivačima zraka unatoč zakonski dopuštenim vrijednostima u području s vlažnom kontinentalnom klimom.
Cilj istraživanja bio je ispitati imaju li dušikov dioksid (NO2), ozon (O3) i određene meteorološke prilike utjecaja na broj pregleda u Hitnoj službi (HS) zbog kardiovaskularnih bolesti (KVB) u gradu ...Zagrebu. U ovu retrospektivnu, ekološku studiju bilo je uključeno 20.228 bolesnika s primarnom dijagnozom jedne od kardiovaskularnih bolesti, pregledanih u HS-u dviju kliničkih bolnica: Sestre milosrdnice i „Sveti Duh“, u promatranom razdoblju od srpnja 2008. do lipnja 2010. Medijan dnevnih pregleda u HS-u zbog KVB-a tijekom promatranog razdoblja bio je 28, a najviše tijekom zime. Značajna negativna korelacija utvrđena je između broja pregleda u HS-u zbog KVB-a i temperature zraka do tri dana ranije, s najvećim negativnim koeficijentom korelacije dva dana ranije (R=-0,266, p=0,000). Broj pregleda u HS-u zbog KVB-a značajno korelira s prosječnim koncentracijama NO2 na isti dan (R=0,191, p=0,000). Rezultati stupnjevite regresijske analize pokazali su da broj pregleda u HS-u zbog KVB-a ovisi o temperaturi zraka i koncentraciji NO2 i O3. Što je viša temperatura zraka, to je manji broj pregleda u HS-u zbog KVB-a (p=0,000), a slično vrijedi i za koncentraciju ozona (p=0,006). Povećanje koncentracije NO2 povezano je s povećanjem broja pregleda u HS-u zbog KVB-a (p=0,005). Zaključno se može ustvrditi da povećanje koncentracije NO2 može biti povezano s povećanjem broja pregleda u HS-u zbog KVB-a, čak ako su navedene koncentracije unutar pravnoobvezujućih razina, sa sličnim utjecajem niže temperature zraka do tri dana ranije.
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