Working conditions and public health risks in slaughterhouses in western Kenya

Background: Inadequate facilities and hygiene at slaughterhouses can result in contamination of meat and occupational hazards to workers. The objectives of this study were to assess current conditions in slaughterhouses in western Kenya and the knowledge, and practices of the slaughterhouse workers toward hygiene and sanitation. Methods: Between February and October 2012 all consenting slaughterhouses in the study area were recruited. A standardised questionnaire relating to facilities and practices in the slaughterhouse was administered to the foreperson at each site. A second questionnaire was used to capture individual slaughterhouse workers’ knowledge, practices and recent health events. Results: A total of 738 slaughterhouse workers from 142 slaughterhouses completed questionnaires. Many slaughterhouses had poor infrastructure, 65% (95% CI 63–67%) had a roof, cement floor and walls, 60% (95% CI 57–62%) had a toilet and 20% (95% CI 18–22%) had hand-washing facilities. The meat inspector visited 90% (95% CI 92–95%) of slaughterhouses but antemortem inspection was practiced at only 7% (95% CI 6–8%). Nine percent (95% CI 7–10%) of slaughterhouses slaughtered sick animals. Only half of workers wore personal protective clothing - 53% (95% CI 51–55%) wore protective coats and 49% (95% CI 46–51%) wore rubber boots. Knowledge of zoonotic disease was low with only 31% (95% CI 29–33%) of workers aware that disease could be transmitted from animals. Conclusions: The current working conditions in slaughterhouses in western Kenya are not in line with the recommendations of the Meat Control Act of Kenya. Current facilities and practices may increase occupational exposure to disease or injury and contaminated meat may enter the consumer market. The findings of this study could enable the development of appropriate interventions to minimise public health risks. Initially, improvements need to be made to facilities and practices to improve worker safety and reduce the risk of food contamination. Simultaneously, training programmes should target workers and inspectors to improve awareness of the risks. In addition, education of health care workers should highlight the increased risks of injury and disease in slaughterhouse workers. Finally, enhanced surveillance, targeting slaughterhouse workers could be used to detect disease outbreaks. This “One Health” approach to disease surveillance is likely to benefit workers, producers and consumers

Socio-demographic and lifestyle factors associated with overweight in a representative sample of 11-15 year olds in France: Results from the WHO-Collaborative Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of overweight in children and adolescents is high and overweight is associated with poor health outcomes over short- and long-term. Lifestyle factors can interact to influence overweight. Comprehensive studies linking overweight concomitantly with several demographic and potentially-modifiable lifestyle factors and health-risk behaviours are limited in adolescents - an age-group characterized by changes in lifestyle behaviours and high prevalence of overweight. Thus, the objective of the current study was to examine the association of overweight with several socio-demographic and lifestyle variables simultaneously in a representative sample of adolescents.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A nationally representative sample of 11-15 year-olds (n = 7154) in France participated as part of the WHO-Collaborative Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Students reported data on their age, height, weight, socio-demographic variables, lifestyle factors including nutrition practices, physical activity at two levels of intensity (moderate and vigorous), sedentary behaviours, as well as smoking and alcohol consumption patterns using standardized HBSC protocols. Overweight (including obesity) was defined using the IOTF reference. The multivariate association of overweight with several socio-demographic and lifestyle factors was examined with logistic regression models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The adjusted odds ratios for the association with overweight were: 1.80 (95% CI: 1.37-2.36) for low family affluence; 0.73 (0.60-0.88) for eating breakfast daily; 0.69 (0.56-0.84) for moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA); and 0.71 (0.59-0.86) for vigorous physical activity (VPA). Significant interactions between age and gender as well as television (TV) viewing and gender were noted: for boys, overweight was not associated with age or TV viewing; in contrast, for girls overweight correlated negatively with age and positively with TV viewing. Fruit and vegetable intake, computer and video-games use, smoking and alcohol consumption were not associated with overweight.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In multivariate model, family affluence, breakfast consumption and moderate to vigorous as well as vigorous physical activity were negatively associated with overweight. These findings extend previous research to a setting where multiple risk and protective factors were simultaneously examined and highlight the importance of multi-faceted approaches promoting physical activity and healthy food choices such as breakfast consumption for overweight prevention in adolescents.</p

A Distinct Mechanism of Vascular Lumen Formation in <i>Xenopus</i> Requires EGFL7

<div><p>During vertebrate blood vessel development, lumen formation is the critical process by which cords of endothelial cells transition into functional tubular vessels. Here, we use <i>Xenopus</i> embryos to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying lumen formation of the dorsal aorta and the posterior cardinal veins, the primary major vessels that arise via vasculogenesis within the first 48 hours of life. We demonstrate that endothelial cells are initially found in close association with one another through the formation of tight junctions expressing ZO-1. The emergence of vascular lumens is characterized by elongation of endothelial cell shape, reorganization of junctions away from the cord center to the periphery of the vessel, and onset of Claudin-5 expression within tight junctions. Furthermore, unlike most vertebrate vessels that exhibit specialized apical and basal domains, we show that early <i>Xenopus</i> vessels are not polarized. Moreover, we demonstrate that in embryos depleted of the extracellular matrix factor Epidermal Growth Factor-Like Domain 7 (EGFL7), an evolutionarily conserved factor associated with vertebrate vessel development, vascular lumens fail to form. While Claudin-5 localizes to endothelial tight junctions of EGFL7-depleted embryos in a timely manner, endothelial cells of the aorta and veins fail to undergo appropriate cell shape changes or clear junctions from the cell-cell contact. Taken together, we demonstrate for the first time the mechanisms by which lumens are generated within the major vessels in <i>Xenopus</i> and implicate EGFL7 in modulating cell shape and cell-cell junctions to drive proper lumen morphogenesis.</p></div