Second hand smoke exposure and the risk of invasive meningococcal disease in children: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Invasive meningococcal disease remains an important cause of serious morbidity and mortality in children and young people. There is a growing body of literature to suggest that exposure to passive smoke may play a role in the development of the disease, therefore we have performed a systematic review to provide a comprehensive estimate of the magnitude of this effect for smoking by any household member, by individual family members, and of maternal smoking before and after birth. Methods Four databases (Medline, Embase, PsychINFO and CAB Abstracts database) were searched to identify studies (to June 2012) and reference lists scanned for further studies. Titles, abstracts and full texts were checked for eligibility independently by two authors. Quality of included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Pooled odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using random effect models, with heterogeneity quantified using I2. Results We identified 18 studies which assessed the effects of SHS on the risk of invasive meningococcal disease in children. SHS in the home doubled the risk of invasive meningococcal disease (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.63 to 2.92, I2 = 72%), with some evidence of an exposure-response gradient. The strongest effect was seen in children under 5 years (OR 2.48, 95% CI 1.51 to 4.09, I2 = 47%). Maternal smoking significantly increased the risk of invasive meningococcal disease by 3 times during pregnancy (OR 2.93, 95% CI 1.52-5.66) and by 2 times after birth (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.54-3.31). Conclusions SHS exposure, and particularly passive foetal exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy, significantly increases the risk of childhood invasive meningococcal disease. It is likely that an extra 630 cases of invasive meningococcal disease annually in children under 16 are directly attributable to SHS exposure in UK homes

Methodological development of a quality index for agricultural operations, for corn cultivation using multi-criterion analysis

One of the major problems in the Brazilian agriculture is related to the production loss in the field, which, due to many factors, is not being considered. This article has the objective to develop a methodology to identify a quality index which integrates some crop quality variables which are able to indicate how the crop is developing in terms of loss in the field. The results have showed that the strategy of multi-criterion analysis and Fuzzy logic proved to be important tools for the assessment and preparation of a quality index for corn production. The index proposed performed well in representing the quality of agricultural operations when compared with reality.<br>Um dos maiores problemas na agricultura brasileira refere-se à perda da produção no campo que, devido a vários fatores, não é considerada. Este artigo tem o objetivo de desenvolver uma metodologia para identificar um índice de qualidade que integre algumas variáveis qualitativas da cultura que são capazes de mostrar como está o desenvolvimento em termos de perda no campo. Os resultados mostraram que a análise de multicritério e lógica fuzzy são ferramentas importantes na verificação e confecção de um índice de qualidade de perdas, para a cultura do milho. O índice calculado representou bem a qualidade das operações agrícolas, quando comparado com a realidade