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Biomedical subjects

J Aho

Publications and source records attributed to J Aho.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Electronic patient record systems and the general practitioner: an evaluation study.

We studied how well electronic patient record (EPR) systems meet the needs of general practitioners (GPs) and other health-care professionals for specific information. GPs in eight health centres in the South-Ostrobothnia region of Finland were invited to participate. They used three types of EPR system. They were asked to access EPRs to obtain 20 types of information for patients receiving anticoagulant treatment. In total 2,389 patient cases were studied. All of the information requested was available for 73% of the cases (range 55-93%). There was a significant difference between the type of EPR system and the percentage of patients for whom information was available through the EPR. However, further analysis showed that differences in performance between EPR systems probably reflected differences in the way EPRs were used by different organizations. Great care should be taken in attempts to rank EPR systems based on their performance.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Consumer managed co-operative--a solution for progressing wastewater management in rural areas.

In Finland the question of appropriate wastewater treatment in rural areas has become very prominent during the last years. The new Environmental Protection Act stipulates that wastewaters must be treated to the extent that they cannot have a negative impact on nature. The Ministry of the Environment is currently preparing a decree specifying the requirements. The draft of the decree proposes that on-site treatment units should decrease the BOD load by 90, total phosphorus load by 85 and total nitrogen load by 40 per cent. To meet the new requirements, the old systems that include septic tanks only need more efficient wastewater treatment methods. Whatever technical solution is selected, the house owner must pay for it. At the moment, even the septic tanks are emptied and maintained irregularly. More sophisticated wastewater treatment methods definitely need more maintenance, which cannot be made the sole duty of the house owners. One potential organisational alternative for managing wastewater treatment in rural areas is the co-operative. Finland has one such pioneering co-operative formed for on-site sanitation. Varsinais-Suomi Water Services Co-operative provides the house owner with professional assistance in wastewater treatment at a reasonable cost. Suvisaari Water Services Co-operative is another new organisation selling sewerage services to its members. But its technology is different: this co-operative operates an LPS-sewerage system instead of on-site treatment.

Community Participation↗

Heart rate and cardiac arrhythmia during high-Gz flight.

Twenty-four pilots (age 20-32 years) were monitored with a Holter monitor during 26 hours including a high-Gz flight in order to evaluate heart rate (HR) and cardiac rhythm. Flight experience did not predict the mean in-flight HR (range 69-121 beats/minute), which decreased with increasing age and correlated to the maximum HR during sleep. We recorded maximally 27 ventricular and 97 supraventricular ectopic beats, 10 junctional rhythms, 5 gray-out, 1 vestibular symptom, and 1 instance of numbness of the feet during the flight. No causal relationship between HR, cardiac arrhythmia, or symptoms was found. Adaptation to in-flight +Gz stress takes place without significant arrhythmia and at a submaximal age-related HR.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Injuries associated with the use of ejection seats in Finnish pilots.

During the years 1958-91 17 Finnish pilots were forced to use ejection seats. The aircraft types were as follows: a) BA Hawk in 6 instances; b) a Mig 21-F-13 in 4; c) a Mig-21-Bis in 3; d) a Gnat Folland in 2; e) a Vampire Trainer in 1; and f) a MU-3 in 1 case. There were 3 ejections completed successfully, 12 pilots sustained slight injuries, and 5 pilots suffered major injuries--3 from compression fractures of the thoracic spine, 1 from fracture of the femur, and 1 from rupture of the medial collateral ligament of the knee. All major injuries were associated with Soviet aircraft. One BA-Hawk pilot died due to a direct impact against a tree after a low-altitude ejection. Two pilots launched the seat under negative G-forces. One of these became temporarily blind, and suffered a partial loss of vision for 3 months. Four Hawk pilots were saved during landing phase by a tandem ejection, receiving only minor injuries.

Accidents, Aviation↗

Contact lenses in hypoxia.

Seven women with soft contact lenses were examined during a 4 h period in a decompression chamber. The atmospheric pressure was lowered from the normal value of 1000 millibars (750 mmHg) to 560 millibars (420 mmHg), which corresponds to the altitude of 4000 m above sea level. The humidity, temperature, percentage of carbon acid and illumination were attempted to be kept even. Five test subjects developed subjective, and all the 7 also developed objective eye symptoms. It was concluded that hypoxia itself may cause eye discomfort for aircraft passengers with contact lenses. The most serious objective findings were corneal erosions in 3 and opacities of corneal stroma in 5 test persons. The control group without contact lenses did not develop any symptoms during the test.

Adult↗

Drug treatment of motion sickness: scopolamine alone and combined with ephedrine in real and simulated situations.

In two placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trials scopolamine (0.3 mg) alone or combined with ephedrine (25 mg) was tested for its effectiveness in the prevention of seasickness during 24 h at sea and of motion sickness in rotating chair tests in a laboratory. Scopolamine was effective both alone and in combination with ephedrine, which supports the hypothesis on central cholinergic overactivity in the pathogenesis of motion sickness. Ephedrine did not markedly increase the effectiveness of scopolamine. Side-effects were slight and did not disturb the operating ability of the volunteers.

Adult↗

Host-parasite interface of the fluke Collyriclum faba (Bremser in Schmalz, 1831) as revealed by light and electron microscopy.

Light and electron microscopy of Collyriclum faba reveals that the dorsal tegument is highly convoluted, containing regular groups of between one and five spines. The thinner ventral covering has a less spiny surface with shallow infoldings. The lining of the capsule is characterized by numerous layers of collagen reflecting a strong cellular response by the host.

Animals↗

On the microwave exposure.

During the last decades the use of microwaves has been common in the industry, medicine, household and armed forces. According to the literature microwaves may especially cause lens opacities and other serious health disturbances. The authors of this paper examined 121 radar workers, but nothing was found which could be connected to microwaves. For example, the amount of lens opacities had correlation only to the age of the patients, but not to the exposure time of microwaves. The exposure duration varied from 0 to 28 years and the age of the patients between 18 and 59 years.

Adolescent↗

On the significance of heterophoria for stereoscopic vision.

This study was undertaken to explain the possible correlation between heterophoria and stereopsis because, in the literature, there are different opinions. The subjects were 806 recruits. They were trained as rangefinder men, of whom a perfect stereopsis is required. The permitted maximal limits of heterophoria were 1 prism diopter (PrD) vertically, of esophoria 5 PrD, and of exophoria 6 PrD. Soldiers wit abnormal stereopsis, myopia, hyperopia more than 1.75, or astigmatism over 0.50 diopters, were omitted. The heterophoria was tested with Herschel's prism to 5 m distance. The stereoscopic vision was investigated using Pulfrich's device and the so-called three-needle test. No statistically significant correlation could be demonstrated between heterophoria and the degree of stereopsis. Surprisingly, it could be noticed that persons with esopheria finshed Pulfrich's test more quickly than those with exophoria. This difference was statistically highly significant. In the three-needle test, the results had the same trend. This might have some importance to rangefinder men and to pilots if it can be confirmed in the military practice.

Adult↗

Heterophoria--its influence on stereopsis and the importance of cycloplegia in refraction testing of pilot applicants.

Heterophoria, its influence on stereopsis, and the importance of cycloplegia in refraction testing of pilot applicants were studied. Distant heterophoria was found in 94.5-100% while near heterophoria was found in 86.9-98.1% of the cases, depending on the test used. Hyperphoria of over 1 prism diopter was extremely rare. No statistically significant correlation between distant heterophoria and the degree of stereopsis could be demonstrated at a range of up to at least 6 prism diopters. Cycloplegia induced a mean difference of +0.75 diopter in refraction before and during cycloplegia. Eight percent of the applicants failed because of refractive errors (spherical extremes, -0.75 diopter and +4.50 diopters; cylindrical extreme, 1.25 diopters). It is concluded that stereopsis does not seem to be affected much by heterophoria within moderate limits, and that cycloplegia in refraction testing of young pilot applicants must be considered relatively important.

Accommodation, Ocular↗