1,583 research outputs found

    Emerging viral infections in vulnerable populations:Epidemiology and mathematical modeling

    Get PDF

    Emerging viral infections in vulnerable populations:Epidemiology and mathematical modeling

    Get PDF

    Effects of municipal smoke-free ordinances on secondhand smoke exposure in the Republic of Korea

    Get PDF
    ObjectiveTo reduce premature deaths due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers, the Republic of Korea (ROK) adopted changes to the National Health Promotion Act, which allowed local governments to enact municipal ordinances to strengthen their authority to designate smoke-free areas and levy penalty fines. In this study, we examined national trends in SHS exposure after the introduction of these municipal ordinances at the city level in 2010.MethodsWe used interrupted time series analysis to assess whether the trends of SHS exposure in the workplace and at home, and the primary cigarette smoking rate changed following the policy adjustment in the national legislation in ROK. Population-standardized data for selected variables were retrieved from a nationally representative survey dataset and used to study the policy action’s effectiveness.ResultsFollowing the change in the legislation, SHS exposure in the workplace reversed course from an increasing (18% per year) trend prior to the introduction of these smoke-free ordinances to a decreasing (−10% per year) trend after adoption and enforcement of these laws (β2 = 0.18, p-value = 0.07; β3 = −0.10, p-value = 0.02). SHS exposure at home (β2 = 0.10, p-value = 0.09; β3 = −0.03, p-value = 0.14) and the primary cigarette smoking rate (β2 = 0.03, p-value = 0.10; β3 = 0.008, p-value = 0.15) showed no significant changes in the sampled period. Although analyses stratified by sex showed that the allowance of municipal ordinances resulted in reduced SHS exposure in the workplace for both males and females, they did not affect the primary cigarette smoking rate as much, especially among females.ConclusionStrengthening the role of local governments by giving them the authority to enact and enforce penalties on SHS exposure violation helped ROK to reduce SHS exposure in the workplace. However, smoking behaviors and related activities seemed to shift to less restrictive areas such as on the streets and in apartment hallways, negating some of the effects due to these ordinances. Future studies should investigate how smoke-free policies beyond public places can further reduce the SHS exposure in ROK

    Evaluating the sustainability and resiliency of local food systems

    Get PDF
    With an ever-rising global population and looming environmental challenges such as climate change and soil degradation, it is imperative to increase the sustainability of food production. The drastic rise in food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic has further shown a pressing need to increase the resiliency of food systems. One strategy to reduce the dependence on complex, vulnerable global supply chains is to strengthen local food systems, such as by producing more food in cities. This thesis uses an interdisciplinary, food systems approach to explore aspects of sustainability and resiliency within local food systems. Lifecycle assessment (LCA) was used to evaluate how farm scale, distance to consumer, and management practices influence environmental impacts for different local agriculture models in two case study locations: Georgia, USA and England, UK. Farms were grouped based on urbanisation level and management practices, including: urban organic, peri-urban organic, rural organic, and rural conventional. A total of 25 farms and 40 crop lifecycles were evaluated, focusing on two crops (kale and tomatoes) and including impacts from seedling production through final distribution to the point of sale. Results were extremely sensitive to the allocation of composting burdens (decomposition emissions), with impact variation between organic farms driven mainly by levels of compost use. When composting burdens were attributed to compost inputs, the rural conventional category in the U.S. and the rural organic category in the UK had the lowest average impacts per kg sellable crop produced, including the lowest global warming potential (GWP). However, when subtracting avoided burdens from the municipal waste stream from compost inputs, trends reversed entirely, with urban or peri-urban farm categories having the lowest impacts (often negative) for GWP and marine eutrophication. Overall, farm management practices were the most important factor driving environmental impacts from local food supply chains. A soil health assessment was then performed on a subset of the UK farms to provide insight to ecosystem services that are not captured within LCA frameworks. Better soil health was observed in organically-farmed and uncultivated soils compared to conventionally farmed soils, suggesting higher ecosystem service provisioning as related to improved soil structure, flood mitigation, erosion control, and carbon storage. However, relatively high heavy metal concentrations were seen on urban and peri-urban farms, as well as those located in areas with previous mining activity. This implies that there are important services and disservices on farms that are not captured by LCAs. Zooming out from a focus on food production, a qualitative methodology was used to explore experiences of food insecurity and related health and social challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fourteen individuals receiving emergency food parcels from a community food project in Sheffield, UK were interviewed. Results showed that maintaining food security in times of crisis requires a diverse set of individual, household, social, and place-based resources, which were largely diminished or strained during the pandemic. Drawing upon social capital and community support was essential to cope with a multiplicity of hardship, highlighting a need to develop community food infrastructure that supports ideals of mutual aid and builds connections throughout the food supply chain. Overall, this thesis shows that a range of context-specific solutions are required to build sustainable and resilient food systems. This can be supported by increasing local control of food systems and designing strategies to meet specific community needs, whilst still acknowledging a shared global responsibility to protect ecosystem, human, and planetary health

    30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2023)

    Get PDF
    This is the abstract book of 30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2023

    Annual SHOT Report 2015

    Get PDF
    SHOT is affiliated to the Royal College of PathologistsBe WARM: Work Accurately and Reduce Mistakes 1. Use a TACO checklist 2. Use a bedside checklist TACO Checklist Red Cell Transfusion for Non-Bleeding Patients. Human factors in hospital practice. Be safe! Use the bedside checklist. • Review the need for transfusion (do the benefits outweigh the risks)? • Can the transfusion be safely deferred until the issue can be investigated, treated or resolved? • Consider body weight dosing for red cells (especially if low body weight) • Transfuse one unit (red cells) and review symptoms of anaemia • Measure the fluid balance • Consider giving a prophylactic diuretic • Monitor the vital signs closely, including oxygen saturatio

    Early life cow's milk allergy prevention: PLGA Nanoparticles for the Oral Delivery of β-Lactoglobulin Derived Peptide and CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides

    Get PDF
    The prevalence and lack of good solutions for cow's milk allergy (CMA) in young children are leading to public concern and increasing socioeconomic problems. This requires new preventive approaches. In this thesis, we investigated the potential of an oral formulation – based on poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NP) – of selected peptides from whey proteins and CpG-Oligodeoxynucleotides for CMA prevention, using both in vitro and in vivo studies. In vitro, we showed, through Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) and imaging in living cells, that PLGA NP protected the encapsulated peptides for up to 6 hours in simulated gastric fluid and extended their residence time in isolated mouse dendritic cells to 96 hours. This demonstrates the hypothesis that PLGA nanoparticles improved the stability of the encapsulated peptide cargo in the gastrointestinal lumen and retention in intestinal DC upon internalization. In vivo, we showed that oral pretreatment with two PLGA-NP-encapsulated peptides, prior to allergic sensitization to whey, protected mice from acute allergic skin reactions upon intradermal exposure to whey. In addition, we have shown that this protection is dose-related and may be associated with whey-specific systemic silencing of ex vivo whey-stimulated TNF-α release by splenocytes. Intriguingly, in vivo, we showed the superior tolerogenic effect of orally administered PLGA nanoparticles co-loaded with T-cell epitopes containing peptide and a CpG adjuvant as compared to the separately encapsulated peptide and CpG counterpart. The combination of peptides and CpG prevented rise in specific IgE antibody levels in serum and whey-induced acute allergic skin reactions, and showed a beneficial immunomodulatory effect on immune cells. Finally, allergy-associated immunomodulatory effects of empty, peptide or CpG-containing PLGA nanoparticles were evaluated in vitro using dendritic cells derived from human monocytes. The immature moDCs primed with CpG-ODN loaded PLGA NP also effectively increased the ratios of Treg/Th2 and Th1/Th2. This finding supports the hypothesis that the co-encapsulated CpG-ODN facilitates the inhibition of Th2 immunity also in vivo. In conclusion, our findings substantiate the translational potential of PLGA nanoparticles in which T-cell epitopes containing peptides are encapsulated for future development of effective and safe strategies for early life CMA prevention (i.e., supplementing hydrolyzed formula milk for infants at risk). In addition, besides BLG-peptides also CpG-ODN motives, which may include bacterial DNA of selected bacterial strains, can be co-loaded in the PLGA NP to increase the efficacy of the formulations in oral tolerance induction. This strategy may be further developed as a modality to treat cow’s milk allergy for example as adjunct treatment for allergen specific oral immunotherapy

    International consensus statement on allergy and rhinology: Allergic rhinitis – 2023

    Get PDF
    Background In the 5 years that have passed since the publication of the 2018 International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Allergic Rhinitis (ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2018), the literature has expanded substantially. The ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2023 update presents 144 individual topics on allergic rhinitis (AR), expanded by over 40 topics from the 2018 document. Originally presented topics from 2018 have also been reviewed and updated. The executive summary highlights key evidence-based findings and recommendation from the full document. Methods ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2023 employed established evidence-based review with recommendation (EBRR) methodology to individually evaluate each topic. Stepwise iterative peer review and consensus was performed for each topic. The final document was then collated and includes the results of this work. Results ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2023 includes 10 major content areas and 144 individual topics related to AR. For a substantial proportion of topics included, an aggregate grade of evidence is presented, which is determined by collating the levels of evidence for each available study identified in the literature. For topics in which a diagnostic or therapeutic intervention is considered, a recommendation summary is presented, which considers the aggregate grade of evidence, benefit, harm, and cost. Conclusion The ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2023 update provides a comprehensive evaluation of AR and the currently available evidence. It is this evidence that contributes to our current knowledge base and recommendations for patient evaluation and treatment
    • …
    corecore