Presentations of patients of poisoning and predictors of poisoning-related fatality: Findings from a hospital-based prospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Poisoning is a significant public health problem worldwide and is one of the most common reasons for visiting emergency departments (EDs), but factors that help to predict overall poisoning-related fatality have rarely been elucidated. Using 1512 subjects from a hospital-based study, we sought to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of poisoning patients and to identify predictors for poisoning-related fatality.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between January 2001 and December 2002 we prospectively recruited poisoning patients through the EDs of two medical centers in southwest Taiwan. Interviews were conducted with patients within 24 hours after admission to collect relevant information. We made comparisons between survival and fatality cases, and used logistic regressions to identify predictors of fatality.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 1512 poisoning cases were recorded at the EDs during the study period, corresponding to an average of 4.2 poisonings per 1000 ED visits. These cases involved 828 women and 684 men with a mean age of 38.8 years, although most patients were between 19 and 50 years old (66.8%), and 29.4% were 19 to 30 years. Drugs were the dominant poisoning agents involved (49.9%), followed by pesticides (14.5%). Of the 1512 patients, 63 fatalities (4.2%) occurred. Paraquat exposure was associated with an extremely high fatality rate (72.1%). The significant predictors for fatality included age over 61 years, insufficient respiration, shock status, abnormal heart rate, abnormal body temperature, suicidal intent and paraquat exposure.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In addition to well-recognized risk factors for fatality in clinical settings, such as old age and abnormal vital signs, we found that suicidal intent and ingestion of paraquat were significant predictors of poisoning-related fatality. Identification of these predictors may help risk stratification and the development of preventive interventions.</p

Impact of the New Malaysian Cigarette Pack Warnings on Smokers' Awareness of Health Risks and Interest in Quitting Smoking

The objective of this research was to compare the response of adult smokers in Malaysia to newly proposed pictorial cigarette warnings against the current text-only warnings. The study population included 140 adult male smokers who were enrolled in a randomized trial to view either the new pictorial warnings (intervention) or the old text-only warnings (control). Participants completed pre-exposure and post-exposure questionnaires that assessed their awareness of the health risks of smoking, response to the package warnings, and interest in quitting smoking. Exposure to the pictorial warnings resulted in increased awareness of the risks of smoking, stronger behavioral response to the warnings and increased interest in quitting smoking. The new warnings in Malaysia will increase smokers' knowledge of the adverse health effects of smoking and have a positive effect on interest in quitting

Activated Carbon from Rubber Wood Sawdust by Carbon Dioxide Activation

AbstractActivated carbon (AC) is an organic adsorbent and mostly used to adsorb volatile organic compound pollutants. In the present work, AC was produced from rubber wood sawdust via a physical activation method using CO2 gas. Prior to activation process, the biomass was carbonized under N2 gas flow of 600mL/min for 1h at a corresponding temperature to produce char. The effect of activation temperature (700, 720, 740, and 760°C) and time (60, 90, and 120min) on the mass yield and characteristics of activated carbon was investigated. In overall, the yield of AC decreased when heated at higher activation temperature and increased at longer time. Under nitrogen adsorption analysis, surface area and pore volume of AC were determined. At higher temperature, surface area and pore volume increased, but excessive heating could break the pore structure. Next, the performance of activated carbon was tested in term of adsorption capacity for gas and liquid phase adsorption represented by benzene and trichloroethylene, respectively. Preliminary results suggested that the AC could adsorb both compounds efficiently