The LIFE MED HISS project aims at setting up a surveillance system on the long term effects of air pollution on health, using data from National Health Interview Surveys and other currently available ...sources of information in most European countries. Few studies assessed the long term effect of air pollution on hospital admissions in European cohorts.
The objective of this paper is to estimate the long term effect of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on first-ever (incident) cause-specific hospitalizations in Italy.
We used data from the Italian Longitudinal Study (ILS), a cohort study based on the 1999–2000 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), followed up for hospitalization (2001–2008) at individual level. The survey contains information on crucial potential confounders: occupational/educational/marital status, body mass index (BMI), smoking habit and physical activity.
Annual mean exposure to PM2.5 and NO2 was assigned starting from simulated gridded data at spatial resolution of 4 × 4 km2 firstly integrated with data from monitoring stations and then up-scaled at municipality level.
Statistical analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazard models with robust variance estimator.
For each cause of hospitalization we estimated the hazard ratios (HRs) adjusted for confounders with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) related to a 10 μg/m3 increase in pollutants. For PM2.5 and NO2, respectively, we found positive associations for circulatory system diseases 1.05(1.03–1.06); 1.05(1.03–1.07), myocardial infarction 1.15(1.12–1.18); 1.15(1.12–1.18), lung cancer 1.18(1.10–1.26); 1.20(1.12–1.28), kidney cancer 1.24(1.11–1.29); 1.20(1.07–1.33), all cancers (but lung) 1.06(1.04–1.08); 1.06(1.04–1.08) and Low Respiratory Tract Infections (LRTI) 1.07 (1.04–1.11); 1.05 (1.02–1.08).
Our results add new evidence on the effects of air pollution on first-ever (incident) hospitalizations, both in urban and rural areas. We demonstrated the feasibility of a low-cost monitoring system based on available data.
•A low-cost monitoring system to study effect of air pollution has been tested.•This surveillance system could be implemented in all European countries.•Italian Health Interview Survey has been followed-up for hospitalizations.•For PM2.5 and NO2 we found effects of air pollution on first-ever hospitalizations.•The adverse health effects can be seen both in urban and rural areas.
In this study, the performance of two types of source apportionment models was evaluated by assessing the results provided by 40 different groups in the framework of an intercomparison organised by ...FAIRMODE WG3 (Forum for air quality modelling in Europe, Working Group 3). The evaluation was based on two performance indicators: z-scores and the root mean square error weighted by the reference uncertainty (RMSEu), with pre-established acceptability criteria. By involving models based on completely different and independent input data, such as receptor models (RMs) and chemical transport models (CTMs), the intercomparison provided a unique opportunity for their cross-validation. In addition, comparing the CTM chemical profiles with those measured directly at the source contributed to corroborate the consistency of the tested model results. The most commonly used RM was the US EPA- PMF version 5. RMs showed very good performance for the overall dataset (91% of z-scores accepted) while more difficulties were observed with the source contribution time series (72% of RMSEu accepted). Industrial activities proved to be the most difficult sources to be quantified by RMs, with high variability in the estimated contributions. In the CTMs, the sum of computed source contributions was lower than the measured gravimetric PM10 mass concentrations. The performance tests pointed out the differences between the two CTM approaches used for source apportionment in this study: brute force (or emission reduction impact) and tagged species methods. The sources meeting the z-score and RMSEu acceptability criteria tests were 50% and 86%, respectively. The CTM source contributions to PM10 were in the majority of cases lower than the RM averages for the corresponding source. The CTMs and RMs source contributions for the overall dataset were more comparable (83% of the z-scores accepted) than their time series (successful RMSEu in the range 25% - 34%). The comparability between CTMs and RMs varied depending on the source: traffic/exhaust and industry were the source categories with the best results in the RMSEu tests while the most critical ones were soil dust and road dust. The differences between RMs and CTMs source reconstructions confirmed the importance of cross validating the results of these two families of models.
Display omitted
•Receptor models (RMs) and chemical transport models (CTMs) were tested jointly.•Unprecedented database with 49 independent source apportionment results.•Differences between brute force and tagged species CTM approaches were observed.•CTMs tend to have lower source contributions or impacts than RMs.•The study provides the basis for the joint application of RMs and CTMs.
Pregnancy-related acute kidney injury (PRAKI) contributes to 3-7% of overall acute kidney injury (AKI) cases in Indian subcontinent. The aim of this study was to determine the outcomes of PRAKI and ...risk factors associated with renal injury and maternal mortality. One hundred and sixty-five patients with PRAKI, seen at M. S. Ramaiah Medical College between 2005 and 2014, were included in this, observational study. AKI was analyzed in terms of maximal stage of renal injury attained as per Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss of function, and End-stage renal disease (RIFLE) criteria. Outcomes included requirement for renal replacement therapy (RRT), maternal, and fetal mortality. Incidence of PRAKI was 1.56%, and the mean age of the study population was 25 years. Fifty percent of the patients were diagnosed with PRAKI during their first pregnancy. PRAKI was observed most commonly in the postpartum period (60%), followed by third trimester (32%); as per RIFLE criteria, failure was seen in 36% and injury in 34%. Thirty percent of cases required RRT. Sepsis (59%), pre-eclampsia, and eclampsia (56%) were the leading causes of PRAKI, while sepsis was the leading cause of maternal mortality. Maternal and fetal mortality were 20% and 22%, respectively. In univariate analysis, shock, hemorrhage requiring transfusion of >5 units packed red blood cells, oliguria, and "Loss" category of RIFLE were significantly associated with mortality. Majority of the patients (57%) required Intensive Care Unit care with a mean duration of admission at 7.3 days, and 75% was diagnosed with AKI at the time of admission. We report the lowest incidence of PRAKI in contemporary Indian literature. PRAKI was associated with high maternal and fetal mortality, with sepsis being the leading cause. No association was noted between mortality and initial stages of RIFLE criteria.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, autoimmune, connective tissue disorder which has multi-organ involvement. Patient might rarely present with major joint sterile inflammatory effusion ...and evaluation of such patients for connective tissue disorders helps in the early diagnosis and treatment. We hereby, present the case of 35-year-old female with left knee joint effusion subsequently diagnosed to have SLE with lupus nephritis Class IIIa.
Epistaxis is one of the most common acute otorhinolaryngologic emergency disorders
To review the aetiological profile, management and outcome of epistaxis in a resource challenged environment in ...Nigeria Methods: A retrospective review of patients that were managed for epistaxis over a five year period
A total of 88 patients with an incidence of 18/1000 consisting of 53 males M:F ratio 1.5:1. The age ranged from 2- 68 years and age group 0-10 years was the most affected 29 (33%). Majority 73.9% presented during hot, dry season. Larger proportion (60.2%) was due to Idiopathic cause followed by trauma (11.4%). Over 47% has systemic illnesses that were incidentally discovered. Anterior nasal packing was the most common treatment modality in 46 (52.3%) patients. Thirty three (37.5%) patients were admitted either due to severe anaemia necessitating blood transfusion or due to underline medical condition. Eight (9.1%) patients had blood transfusion.
Epistaxis is a common otorhinolaryngologic emergency among the children and the young adult in Africa with highest prevalence during the dry season. A deliberate effort to find the cause of epistaxis is hereby advocated as poverty and ignorance usually prevent most of our patients with underlying medical condition to present until they are in critical emergency situation.
We report a case of idiopathic erythrocytosis in a 31-year-old male who was incidentally detected to have hypertension during his preemployment checkup. Urine routine showed proteinuria and ...hematuria. Biochemical parameters revealed raised serum creatinine, and histological findings of the renal biopsy showed IgAN.
For most Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) and startups in Nigeria, conducting market research and evaluation is solely based on customers' verbal feedback and demands, which is often flawed ...and highly limited. Social media (Twitter), as a business intelligence tool, can help SMEs gain insight into customers' perspectives of their products and services through Sentiment Analysis. This research presents a Twitter Sentiment Analysis for business intelligence using three machine learning algorithms; Bernoulli Naive Bayes (BNB), Linear Support Vector Classification (SVC), and Logistic Regression (LR) algorithm, to get the text polarity of tweets (Negative/positive). The dataset used for the research was gotten from Kaggle; the tweets were processed and analyzed using Python programming libraries on Kaggle's Jupyter Notebook cloud environment. Our result showed that Logistic Regression achieved better performance with an accuracy of 83% based on Precision-Recall evaluation metrics.
Research was aimed to evaluate the bio-invigoration techniques using Bacillus sp. CKD061 in improving seed viability and vigor of local upland rice. The research is arranged in factorial with ...completely randomized design (CRD). The different upland rice cultivars as first factor that consists of 11 cultivars, namely: Pae Tinangge, Pae Rowu, Pae Uwa, Pae Tanta, Pae Waburi-Buri, Pae Mornene, Pae Indalibana, Pae Lawarangka, Pae Huko, Pae Wagamba and Pae Momea. The second factor is the seed bio-invigoration technique, consists of 5 treatments, namely: without seed bio-invigoration (B0), NaCl + Bacillus sp. CKD061 (B1), KNO3 + Bacillus sp. CKD061 (B2), Ground burned-rice husk + Bacillus sp. CKD061 (B3), and Ground brick + Bacillus sp. CKD061 (B4). The results showed that seed bio-invigoration using Bacillus sp. CKD061 gave effect on the seed viability and vigor. Interaction of the seed bio-invigoration and upland rice cultivars were able to improve seed viability and vigor. Seed bio-invigoration ttreatment using ground brick + Bacillus sp. CKD061 was the best treatment, which could improve the viability and vigor of Pae Waburi-Buri, Pae Mornene and Pae Indalibana. The treatment increased vigor index by 133% in Pae Waburi-Buri and 127% in Pae Mornene, and Pae Indalibana compared with control.
There are several mosaic diseases commonly found on soybeans in Indonesia, including Southeast Sulawesi, which are thought to be caused by viruses. Mosaic disease caused by Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) ...is considered as important disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of mosaic diseases, to detect SMV and to identify potential insect vectors. Field survey were conducted in several soybean production areas including Konawe, South Konawe and Kolaka. Virus detection was carried out by serological techniques using DAS-ELISA. Based on symptom observation, mosaic disease was found in all locations with incidence ranged from 38.46 to 64.00%. Variation of mosaic symptoms were recorded, involving yellow mosaic, mosaic with vein clearing, leaf cupping, curling, thickening and some chlorosis. According to DAS-ELISA, only 2.92 to 8.00% of field samples gave positive reaction to SMV antibody. This result indicated that other viruses might be associated with mosaic disease. Common virus insects vectors were found in the field, namely Aphis gossypii, Empoasca paraterminalis, and Bemisia tabaci.
PDF
