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PubMed2002

Greenhouse gas emissions from building and operating electric power plants in the Upper Colorado River Basin.

As demand for electricity increases, investments into new generation capacity from renewable and nonrenewable sources should include assessment of global (climate) change consequences not just of the operational phase of the power plants but construction effects as well. In this paper, the global warming effect (GWE) associated with construction and operation of comparable hydroelectric, wind, solar, coal, and natural gas power plants is estimated for four time periods after construction. The assessment includes greenhouse gas emissions from construction, burning of fuels, flooded biomass decay in the reservoir, loss of net ecosystem production, and land use. The results indicate that a wind farm and a hydroelectric plant in an arid zone (such as the Glen Canyon in the Upper Colorado River Basin) appear to have lower GWE than other power plants. For the Glen Canyon hydroelectric plant, the upgrade 20 yr after the beginning of operation increased power capacity by 39% but resulted in a mere 1% of the CO2 emissions from the initial construction and came with no additional emissions from the reservoir, which accounts for the majority of the GWE.

Biodegradation, Environmental↗

PubMed1985

[The new Charité building and the University Surgical Clinic].

The new multi-storey hospital of the Humboldt-University in Berlin has a capacity of 1050 beds, encompasses a surgical clinic with 312 beds, 11 theatres and its own unit for intensive care. All kinds of modern surgery can be performed in its 7 specialised wards.

Berlin↗

PubMed1978

[The effect of an on the job training program -- stairclimbing -- on the physical working capacity of employees (author's transl)].

Following medical screening and physical fitness testing (W170) 52 voltuntary employees in a 31-story administration building were formed into matched pairs and randomly allocated into intervention (stairclimbing) and control (lift) groups. The intervention group was asked to climb at least 25 floors/workday or 125 floors/week. the control group was asked to use only the lift. The intervention time was 10 weeks. The physiological measurements were made before and after the intervention. The number of stairs climbed was recorded daily in a diary. The heart rate was recorded continuously over one workday before and during the interventions. The average quantity of training in the final intervention group (n = 19) was 29.9 floors/workday or 36,790 kpm/week and in the control group 4.6 and 5980 correspondingly. The average training frequency was 4.3 in intervention and 1.4 climbs/workday in the control group. The average number of continuous floors used during climbing was 7.0 in intervention and 3.4 in control group. The average number of minutes on heart rate level of 130-159 beats/min during one workday was 7.8 in intervention and 1.6 in control group. The W170 (W/kg) increased 17.8% and the predicted VO2max (ml/min/kg) 15.1% in intervention group. The difference between the intervention group and the control group was significant (p less than 0.01). It was concluded, that stairclimbing is a suitable on the job physical activity program for middle-aged, untrained men.

Employment↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital Center. Chicago, Illinois.

Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital has been serving the ethnic community on Chicago's near-northwest side since 1894. The city's first Polish hospital, it was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth to care for many Polish immigrants who settled in the area. Although the surrounding neighborhood is now predominantly comprised of 56% hispanic, 9% black and 37% white ethnic residents, the hospital retains strong ties to the Polish community, as witnessed by a visit to Saint Marys by Cardinal Karol Wojtyla shortly before his election as Pope John Paul II. The hospital's first site was a vacant three-story brick apartment building which the Sisters remodeled into a 24-bed hospital. This facility was quickly outgrown, even after purchase of the two-story frame house next door which increased Saint Marys capacity to 44 beds. Eight years after its founding, a brand new hospital was built. Over the years, Saint Marys continued to experience steady growth requiring the periodic addition of new buildings and wings. By the early 1970s, the need for another brand-new facility was evident. In 1975, a new hospital opened, based on some of the Friesen supply concepts. Today, Saint Marys operates a nearby family practice center, a home health care service, a satellite lab and an intensive care emergency helicopter serving patients in a 120 mile radius.

Chicago↗

PubMed2000

Apoptosis induction by the satratoxins and other trichothecene mycotoxins: relationship to ERK, p38 MAPK, and SAPK/JNK activation.

The satratoxins are members of the trichothecene mycotoxin family that are produced by the fungus Stachybotrys and that have been etiologically associated with building-related health problems. The purpose of this study was to relate cytotoxic and apoptotic capacities of satratoxins and other trichothecenes to the activation of three groups of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) (extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK), p38 MAPK, and stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (SAPK/JNK)). Two myeloid models, RAW 264.7 murine macrophage and U937 human leukemic cells were used. Upon evaluating representative trichothecenes in the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) cleavage assay, cytotoxicity was evident according to the following rank order: satratoxin G, roridin A, and verrucarin A > T-2 toxin, satratoxin F, H > nivalenol, and vomitoxin. Comparable results were found when measuring trichothecene-mediated apoptosis using DNA fragmentation and fluorescence microscopy assays, thus suggesting that cytotoxicity was mediated through an apoptotic process. Assessment of MAPK activation using Western blot analysis revealed that trichothecenes activated not only SAPK/JNK and p38 MAPK but also ERK. Activation of MAPKs by satratoxins and other trichothecenes correlated with and preceded apoptosis. The concentration of satratoxin G sufficient for protein synthesis inhibition correlated with that required for apoptosis and activation of all three MAPKs. Cycloheximide had similar effects to trichothecenes, suggesting that ribosome binding or protein synthesis inhibition may play roles in MAPK activation and apoptosis induction. Apoptosis induction by satratoxin G and vomitoxin was markedly enhanced when ERK activation was selectively inhibited by ERK-specific inhibitor PD98059, thus indicating a negative role for ERK. Inhibition of p38 MAPK activity with the p38-specific inhibitor SB203580 had no effect on apoptosis induction by the highly toxic satratoxin G. However, SB203580 moderately inhibited apoptosis induction by the less toxic trichothecene vomitoxin, thus implying a partial role of p38 MAPK in trichothecene-induced apoptosis. The results suggest that the satratoxins are among the most potent trichothecenes and that MAPKs may play integral roles in the diverse toxic manifestations of these mycotoxins.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

SOX genes and neural progenitor identity.

Resident among the highly structured adult nervous system, a few cells, referred to as neural progenitors or stem cells, maintain the ability to self-renew or differentiate. From the time of their specification during neural induction and throughout the building of the nervous system, neural progenitor cells preserve their broad developmental potential and replicative capacity to be able to produce the vast array of neuronal and glial cell types of the mature nervous system as, and when, required. Recently, considerable attention has been focused on identifying the molecular mechanisms responsible for maintaining neural progenitor or stem cell fate throughout ontogeny. The expression of a subset of SOX transcription factors is initiated concomitant with the acquisition of neural progenitor identity and is then maintained in the entire progenitor population of the developing and adult nervous system. Strikingly, studies in the central and peripheral nervous system of chick and mouse have revealed that SOX factors are key regulators of neural progenitor identity, promoting self-renewal in a context-dependent manner by sustaining the undifferentiated state of progenitor cells and maintaining their ability to either proliferate or differentiate.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Trying to keep a balance: the meaning of health and diabetes in an urban aboriginal community.

Although the predominant paradigm of epidemiological investigation continues to focus narrowly on the individual and on individual risk factors, there is a growing body of work that calls for a rethinking of the current epidemiological models. In this paper we illustrate the need for a more comprehensive epidemiological approach towards understanding the risks for diabetes, by exploring the lived experiences of diabetes and lay meanings of risk among Aborigines living in Melbourne, Australia. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted within the Melbourne Aboriginal community in the state of Victoria over a 22-month period (1994-1996). Melbourne Aborigines see non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) as the result of living a life out of balance, a life of lost or severed connections with land and kin and a life with little control over past, present or future. The lay model regarding diabetes that is derived from the narratives of Melbourne Aborigines, consists of three levels of connectedness important in determining an individual's susceptibility not only to diabetes but to all disease--(1) family, (2) community and (3) society. This structure of interactive systems at successive levels from the individual to the population fits within the framework of an ecological paradigm. The strength of ethnography as applied to epidemiology is that it has the capacity to discover previously unknown components of a system at several different levels, and to build models to explain how these components interact. This framework, developed using an ethno-epidemiological approach, has application in other indigenous populations who have been dispossessed of their land, their pasts and their future. There is great potential to apply this approach to the major public health challenges presented by rapid global socio-cultural and environmental change that are impacting negatively on population health.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

PubMed2000

A new theoretical approach to tablet strength of a binary mixture consisting of a well and a poorly compactable substance.

The objective of this study was to analyse the tensile strength of a well and a poorly compactable substance in a tablet mixture. Recent developments in the theory of percolation were taken into account and two power laws are proposed, one for the tensile strength as a function of the relative density of the mixture, and the other for the relationship between the strength and compaction pressure. Both equations are assumed to be valid in a comparatively low pressure range. A universal testing instrument Zwick UPM 1478 was used for the manufacture and testing of the compacts. Mixtures of Avicel PH101 and paracetamol at different ratios were chosen as model systems. The experimental results showed that the proposed model equations fitted the experimental data reasonably well for all mixture ratios. It was observed that the critical solid fraction of the mixture, i.e. the strength percolation threshold, increased with rising amounts of the drug. We investigated the strength threshold not only in terms of the solid fraction, but also in terms of the mass fraction (excipient percolation threshold). It is assumed that a tablet can only be produced with a certain minimal amount of the well compactable substance that is needed to build a percolating cluster in the tablet. An interpretation is therefore provided for the dilution capacity of a direct tableting excipient with a poorly compactable drug. The dilution capacity was experimentally determined according to the method of Minchom and Armstrong (Br. Pharm. Conf. (1987) 69 pp.). Our experimental estimate of 79.9% drug is in perfect agreement with our proposed theoretical calculation of 79.7%. These estimates are, however, much higher than the one reported in a recent study (Y. Habib, L. Augsburger, G. Reier, Th. Wheatley, R. Shangraw, Dilution potential: a new perspective, Pharm. Dev. Tech. 1 (2) (1996) 205-212) where the dilution capacity of the same mixture was investigated. This discrepancy can be explained based on the different pressure ranges and extrapolation techniques that were used. As a conclusion, concepts of the percolation theory can successfully be applied to the kind of mixture studied in this paper. It is conceivable that the theoretical tools presented can also be applied to mixtures of more than two substances if they consist of a single well compactable excipient and several poorly compactable components. Such mixtures are relevant for the development of direct compressible tableting formulations.

Pressure↗

PubMed2002

Social skills and attitudes associated with substance use behaviors among young adolescents.

PURPOSE: To examine how adolescents' attitudes and social skills affect current substance use and intentions to use substances in the future. METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire was administered to 2646 seventh graders in their classrooms. The questionnaire was developed to measure the frequency of tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use, anticipated use, positive attitudes toward drug use, self-efficacy to say "no," decision-making skills, advertising-viewing skills, anxiety-reducing skills, communication skills, drug-resistance skills, perception of peer substance use, and weapon-carrying behavior. Ethnicity classified respondents as "white" or "students of color" and family structure indicated one vs. two-parent families. Data were analyzed with Spearman's r, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression. RESULTS: Forty-one percent of students were minority, 50.6% female, over 90% were either 12- or 13-year-olds, and 69.9% lived in two-parent families. A multiple linear regression model demonstrated that self-efficacy to say "no, positive attitudes toward drug use, perception of peer substance use, male gender, weapon-carrying, and fighting accounted for 51% of the variation in the current use multiple substance scale. Anticipated substance use during the subsequent year was significantly associated with current substance use, positive attitudes toward drug use, self-efficacy to say "no, drug-resistance skills, weapon-carrying, and fighting behavior. This model accounted for 73.9% of the variance in anticipated substance use. CONCLUSIONS: In today's world, where drug use is common, building adolescents' drug-resistance skills and self-efficacy, while enhancing decision-making capacity, may reduce their use of illegal substances.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Mental health and illness in Boston's children and adolescents: one city's experience and its implications for mental health policy makers.

In 1999, the Boston Public Heath Commission used data from a variety of sources to explore the level of mental health disturbance in Boston's children and adolescents. Data for 1997 from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that about 20% of Boston public high school students had ever experienced suicidal ideation, while approximately 10% had actually attempted suicide. About one in five teenage respondents to the Boston Youth Survey said they were frequently depressed. While females were more likely to report depression, males were more likely to report isolation and less likely to consider counseling. Medicaid claims data revealed differences by gender and age, with males using psychiatric emergency and Medicaid mental health services more than females, and 10- to 15-year-olds using these services more than other age groups. Emergency room injury surveillance and death certificate data indicated that among children and adolescents, females were twice as likely to attempt suicide as males, although males were more likely to complete a suicide. This data analysis helped pinpoint areas of need and has proven useful in the development of a child and adolescent mental health action agenda. Efforts to date have included expansion of surveillance, legislative advocacy, coalition building, and new services. Key indicators including suicidal ideation and attempts, service utilization, and service capacity have been chosen as markers for future improvement.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Bridging the gap between health literacy and patient education for people with multiple sclerosis.

Health literacy links literacy skill level with the ability to understand health information and take control of one's health. People who have multiple sclerosis (MS) are bombarded with information on the disease and its prognosis, symptom management, and complex treatment options--information that is vital to self-management and quality of life. Approximately 50% of the people who have MS experience cognitive deficits, such as memory loss and a diminished capacity for learning, processing, and recalling information. By identifying and removing barriers to learning and building collaborative nurse-patient partnerships, nurses can make MS education meaningful for their patients.

Educational Status↗

PubMed2004

Telehealth in Alaska: delivery of health care services from a specialist's perspective.

Integrating store-and-forward telemedicine into the ANMC ENT practice for remotely located patients has improved access for care as well as the quality of care for our patients. The involvement of the ANMC ENT department in the design of the telemedicine system was critical. Yet building the telemedicine service required creative measures to encourage use and careful management of our capacity to receive a growing number of cases. Cost savings due to avoided travel have been readily apparent, based on the high cost of travel in Alaska, The improvement in departmental productivity was an unexpected yet welcome outcome. Much of the current research in telemedicine appropriately focuses on the applicability of this modality to clinical problems. Our four years experience indicates that one of the challenges in the future will be to integrate telemedicine with the existing infrastructure of medicine so that it can more easily become part of mainstream practice.

Alaska↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Rationale for the building of a new hospital].

The "Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo" has completed the preliminary planning of the building of a new, great hospital, after a long and deep debate about the role and the significance of a modern hospital, thought to support, during the next century, the activity of a "hospital of national relevance and high specialization". The main aspects about the number of beds in the new hospital are debated and considered in the new conditions following the new programming acts of health planning in Italy and Lombardy and the needs of demography and emerging health demands The choice between new building or restructuring the existing hospital is discussed and the debate is referred to international scientific bibliography. Risk management is also considered as a must in a new hospital building.

Health Services Needs and Demand↗

PubMed2005

Requirements and test methods for on site domestic wastewater treatment plants: the European standard (prEN 12566-3) compared to other international standards.

To ensure that domestic wastewater treatment plants run in an efficient and reliable way, certifications already exist while others will be implemented soon. To date, we have listed eight standards: four from European countries (Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands and Norway), one project from the European Union, two from North America (USA and Quebec) and one from Australia and New Zealand together. The European procedure includes verification of structure stability, water tightness and treatment capacity at test centre (38 weeks). The American Standard sets minimal standards for materials, dimensioning, building and performances of the plants. It also highlights the information and minimum service that should be provided by the manufacturer and distributors. The review process relating to treatment performances shares major similarities with the EU project since both documents were elaborated almost simultaneously. Australia and New Zealand have adopted a series entitled On-site Domestic Wastewater Treatment Units made up of three parts. The third one integrates construction requirements and describes quite an interesting procedure to efficiently test the small plant: after approximately 13 weeks of testing (half the total duration), the aeration chamber (provided it exists) is filled with sludge from septic tanks to simulate its operation after several years. Overview of the treatment efficiency test procedures of the three main standards is given.

Europe↗

PubMed1999

Low physical capacity among adolescents in practical education.

The aim of this study was to obtain better knowledge about teenagers' physical capacity and physical activity. The study group consisted of 301 students in upper secondary school, 191 students in practical education (74 girls and 117 boys) and 110 students in theoretical education (57 girls and 53 boys). The adolescents were 16-19 years old and lived in southern Sweden. The study comprised three parts: a questionnaire, seven physical tests (one test to predict maximal oxygen uptake, three strength tests, two flexibility tests and one balance test) and information on each pupil's grades. Pupils in practical education for occupations like industrial- and building workers, mechanics, assistant nurses and hairdressers, all of which are occupations involving physical effort, had lower physical capacity than pupils in theoretical education among both girls and boys. A correlation was found between physical capacity and grades.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1978

Maximal exercise capacity of children with heart defects.

Maximal treadmill tests following the Bruce protocol were performed by 830 children with heart defects and the endurance times compared with normal values from 327 children seen in the same clinic because of normal murmurs and from 388 normal children randomly selected and tested in the schools. When values in the normal clinic children were used as the reference, only 21 percent of the patients with heart defects had endurance times below the 10th percentile line. This line was 14 percent higher in the normal school children, and 47 percent of the patient group had values below the 10th percentile when values in the school children were used as the reference. Maximal heart rate in children with heart defects was almost always in the normal range (180 to 210 beats/min) except in patients with cyanosis or severe valve disease and, when encouraged to continue exercising, even these children had a mean maximal heart rate of 175 beats/min. When comparing the exercise capacity of children with heart defects with that of normal children, the source of the normal children is important; body build needs to be considered, as well as physical activity habits. Clinic patients without heart defects probably serve as a better normal control group than children obtained from the school system. Maximal exercise tests do not necessarily distinguish between children with mild or severe heart disease. Only children with lesions causing cyanosis or children with obviously severe disease have consistent reductions in exercise capacity.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Further studies on the pharmacologic effects of the 7-hydroxy catabolite of methotrexate in the L1210 murine leukemia cell.

This paper describes studies that further explore the pharmacologic activity of the 7-hydroxy catabolite of methotrexate (7-OH-MTX). A 3-hr exposure of L1210 leukemia cells to 100 microM 7-OH-MTX produced negligible suppression of cell growth despite the build-up of intracellular polyglutamyl congeners to levels 2.7 times greater than the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) binding capacity. There was no evidence for direct inhibition of DHFR under these conditions based upon measurements of cellular tetrahydrofolate cofactor and dihydrofolate levels, nor was there suppression of [3H]deoxyuridine incorporation into DNA or [14C]formate incorporation into purines. When the interval of exposure to 100 microM 7-OH-MTX was increased to 6 hr, cell growth was inhibited by 60% and there was mild (approximately 50%) inhibition of purine and thymidylate biosynthesis associated with a small increase in cellular dihydrofolate and a small decline in cellular tetrahydrofolates. Consistent with weak inhibition of DHFR was the absence of significant binding of 7-OH-MTX polyglutamates to DHFR as assessed by gel filtration of cell extracts. Mild direct inhibition of purine biosynthetics by 7-OH-MTX- or MTX-polyglutamyl congeners was demonstrated based upon inhibition of [14C]formate incorporation into purines in cells pretreated with fluorodeoxyuridine so as to prevent tetrahydrofolate cofactor depletion or dihydrofolate polyglutamate build-up. Effects of a 6-hr exposure of cells to 100 microM 7-OH MTX on cell growth were reversed completely by 10 microM leucovorin; effects on cells containing comparable levels of MTX polyglutamyl congeners were unaffected by leucovorin. These studies demonstrate very weak inhibition of L1210 leukemia cell growth and purine, pyrimidine and tetrahydrofolate synthesis by the polyglutamyl congeners of 7-OH-MTX. The data suggest that effects of 7-OH-MTX polyglutamates on folate-requiring enzymes are not likely to play an important role in moderate-dose MTX regimens. However, pharmacologic activity may be expressed in high-dose MTX protocols when high blood levels of 7-OH-MTX are sustained over long intervals to the extent to which polyglutamate congeners accumulate in tumor cells and add to the much more potent inhibitory effects of MTX polyglutamates already present. Pharmacologic activity, however, would be diminished, if not completely reversed, by the concurrent administration of leucovorin.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

[Driving capacity of diabetics against the background of legal principles].

Within the conversion of the 2nd Council Directive on Driving Licences of the Council of the European Communities (91/439/EEC) into national law, changes became necessary to the Road Traffic Act (StVG) and a new Driving Licence Ordinance (FeV) was created which has been in force since 01.01.1999 (Federal Law Gazette, 1998, Part I No. 55, 26. August 1998). Both in Annex III of the EC Directive and in Annex 4 of the Driving Licence Ordinance, statements are made with regard to the driving capability of diabetics. Besides this legal basis for evaluating capacity to drive a motor vehicle, the appraisal guidelines (Begutachtungs-Leitlinien zur Kraftfahrereignung) established in commission of the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing are to be understood as a set of rules which are outside the framework of actual legal statute as such and which are intended to support assessors in making decisions in individual cases. When considering whether an appraisal of driving capacity has to take place, in particular a difference is made between the different classes of vehicle. For motor cycles and passenger cars (Classes A and B), it will also be the case in future that a medical examination will only be ordered if there is a specific reason. Apart from this, only a sight test is necessary, as has been the practice up to now. In the case of lorries and buses (Classes C and D) and the licence for transportation of passengers (on a commercial basis) there will be an initial appraisal, as has also been the case up to now, and there will also be repeat appraisals. This is new for Class C, where up to the present there has only been an initial appraisal. The basic principle which applies is that the driving licence authority has the duty to instigate appraisal of the driving capacity of an applicant for a driving licence or of the holder of a driving licence if there is justified doubt about the driving capacity of the person concerned.

Automobile Driver Examination↗