Estimated Risk of HIV Acquisition and Practice for Preventing Occupational Exposure: A Study of Healthcare Workers at Tumbi and Dodoma Hospitals, Tanzania.

Health care workers (HCWs) are at risk of acquiring human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) and other infections via exposure to infectious patients' blood and body fluids. The main objective of this study was to estimate the risk of HIV transmission and examine the practices for preventing occupational exposures among HCWs at Tumbi and Dodoma Hospitals in Tanzania. This study was carried out in two hospitals, namely, Tumbi in Coast Region and Dodoma in Dodoma Region. In each facility, hospital records of occupational exposure to HIV infection and its management were reviewed. In addition, practices to prevent occupational exposure to HIV infection among HCWs were observed. The estimated risk of HIV transmission due to needle stick injuries was calculated to be 7 cases per 1,000,000 HCWs-years. Over half of the observed hospital departments did not have guidelines for prevention and management of occupational exposure to HIV infections and lacked well displayed health and safety instructions. Approximately, one-fifth of the hospital departments visited failed to adhere to the instructions pertaining to correlation between waste materials and the corresponding colour coded bag/container/safety box. Seventy four percent of the hospital departments observed did not display instructions for handling infectious materials. Inappropriate use of gloves, lack of health and safety instructions, and lack of use of eye protective glasses were more frequently observed at Dodoma Hospital than at Tumbi Hospital. The poor quality of the hospital records at the two hospitals hampered our effort to characterise the risk of HIV infection acquisition by HCWs. Greater data completeness in hospital records is needed to allow the determination of the actual risk of HIV transmission for HCWs. To further reduce the risk of HIV infection due to occupational exposure, hospitals should be equipped with sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and HCWs should be reminded of the importance of adhering to universal precautions

The discourse of Olympic security 2012 : London 2012

This paper uses a combination of CDA and CL to investigate the discursive realization of the security operation for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Drawing on Didier Bigo’s (2008) conceptualisation of the ‘banopticon’, it address two questions: what distinctive linguistic features are used in documents relating to security for London 2012; and, how is Olympic security realized as a discursive practice in these documents? Findings suggest that the documents indeed realized key banoptic features of the banopticon: exceptionalism, exclusion and prediction, as well as what we call ‘pedagogisation’. Claims were made for the exceptional scale of the Olympic events; predictive technologies were proposed to assess the threat from terrorism; and documentary evidence suggests that access to Olympic venues was being constituted to resemble transit through national boundarie

The detection, survival and persistence of Staphylococcus capitis NRCS-A in neonatal units in England

BACKGROUND: The multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus capitis clone, NRCS-A is increasingly associated with late-onset sepsis in low birthweight newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in England and globally. Understanding where this bacterium survives and persists within the NICU environment is key to developing and implementing effective control measures. AIM: To investigate the potential for S. capitis to colonise surfaces within NICUs. METHODS: Surface swabs were collected from four NICUs with and without known NRCS-A colonisations/infections present at the time of sampling. Samples were cultured and S. capitis isolates analysed via whole genome sequencing. Survival of NRCS-A on plastic surfaces was assessed over time and compared to that of non-NRCS-A isolates. The bactericidal activity of commonly used chemical disinfectants against S. capitis was assessed. FINDINGS: Of 173 surfaces sampled, 40 (21.1%) harboured S. capitis with 30 isolates (75%) being NRCS-A. Whilst S. capitis was recovered from surfaces across the NICU, the NRCS-A clone was rarely recovered from outside the immediate neonatal bedspace. Incubators and other bedside equipment were contaminated with NRCS-A regardless of clinical case detection. In the absence of cleaning, S. capitis was able to survive for 3 days with minimal losses in viability (< 0.5 log10 reduction). Sodium troclosene and a QAC-based detergent/disinfectant reduced S. capitis to below detectable levels. CONCLUSION: S. capitis NRCS-A can be readily recovered from the NICU environment, even in units with no recent reported clinical cases of S. capitis infection, highlighting a need for appropriate national guidance on cleaning within the neonatal care environment

Net primary productivity of forest stands in New Hampshire estimated from Landsat and MODIS satellite data

© 2007 Potter et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Cancer Incidence among Former Love Canal Residents

Ba c k g r o u n d: The Love Canal was a rectangular 16-acre, 10-ft-deep chemical waste landfill situated in a residential neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. This seriously contaminated site came to public attention in 1978. Only one prior study examined cancer incidence in former residents of the Love Canal neighborhood (LC). Objective: In this study we aimed to describe cancer incidence in former LC residents from 1979 to 1996 and to investigate whether it differs from that of New York State (NYS) and Niagara County (NC). Me t h o d s: From 1978 to 1982, we interviewed 6,181 former residents, and 5,052 were eligible to be included in this study. In 1996, we identified 304 cancer diagnoses in this cohort using the NYS Cancer Registry. We compared LC cancer incidence with that of NYS and NC using standardized incidence ratios (SIRs), and we compared risks within the LC group by potential exposure to the landfill using survival analysis. Res u l t s: SIRs were elevated for cancers of the bladder [SIR NYS = 1.44; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 0.91–2.16] and kidney (SIR NYS = 1.48; 95 % CI, 0.76–2.58). Although CIs included 1.00, other studies have linked these cancers to chemicals similar to those found at Love Canal. We also found higher rates of bladder cancer among residents exposed as children, based on two cases. Co n c l u s i o n s: In explaining these excess risks, the role of exposure to the landfill is unclear given such limitations as a relatively small and incomplete study cohort, imprecise exposure measurements, and the exclusion of cancers diagnosed before 1979. Given the relatively young age of the cohort, further surveillance is warranted. Key w o r d s: cancer, community health, exposure assessment, hazardous waste sites, Love Canal. Environ Health Perspect 117:1265–1271 (2009). doi:10.1289/ehp.0800153 available vi

The effect of increasing the supply of skilled health providers on pregnancy and birth outcomes: evidence from the midwives service scheme in Nigeria

Background: Limited availability of skilled health providers in developing countries is thought to be an important barrier to achieving maternal and child health-related MDG goals. Little is known, however, about the extent to which scaling-up supply of health providers will lead to improved pregnancy and birth outcomes. We study the effects of the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS), a public sector program in Nigeria that increased the supply of skilled midwives in rural communities on pregnancy and birth outcomes. Methods: We surveyed 7,104 women with a birth within the preceding five years across 12 states in Nigeria and compared changes in birth outcomes in MSS communities to changes in non-MSS communities over the same period. Results: The main measured effect of the scheme was a 7.3-percentage point increase in antenatal care use in program clinics and a 5-percentage point increase in overall use of antenatal care, both within the first year of the program. We found no statistically significant effect of the scheme on skilled birth attendance or on maternal delivery complications. Conclusion: This study highlights the complexity of improving maternal and child health outcomes in developing countries, and shows that scaling up supply of midwives may not be sufficient on its own

The role of cranial CT in the investigation of meningitis

More patients with meningitis are undergoing CT and the number of inappropriate requests are increasing. There are few abnormal CT scans presenting a contraindication for lumbar puncture and the majority of these patients usually have clinical signs to suggest raised intracranial pressure