Evacuation of people to a medium-high public buildings

Evacuation of people into the building that is not classified as dedicated protective one is not a conventional solution. However, the experiment described in the study shows that with the appropriate identification of a threat and proper alerting this type of evacuation can be an effective way to preserve the health and lives of people at risk. Examination of the possibility of using a medium-high public building for this purpose is the subject of this study. The study focuses on the verification of potentially safe building areas that can be used to save people, as well as traffic conditions and capacity in these spaces. A research experiment was carried out with use of computer simulation in the Pathfinder software. For the purpose of this study, the possibility of staying in a area relatively easily accessible in buildings was considered. Places generally intended for possible stay of people were: staircases and underground garages. The conducted experiment showed that it is possible to quickly evacuate people into the buildings in case of specific danger occurring. Simulations confirmed that in less than 12 minutes it is possible to evacuate over 500 people from outside to empty spaces such as staircase or a garage of a nearby building

Selected aspects of the diagnostic process in rail transport

The article presents selected results of research in the area of reducing the risk of defects in railway infrastructure and traffic control devices. The first part of the article will discuss selected topics used in a defectoscope car for automated ultrasonic rail inspections related to the identification of joints and flaws. A method based on the identification of joints and flaws using a neural network will be presented. The second part of the article will cover research on the automatic collection of diagnostic data from railway traffic control devices. The solutions presented concern a simulator of railway traffic control device malfunctions, from which data is extracted to populate a database of malfunctions and then used in the inference process. The article will present partial results of research on both systems

Tick-borne diseases in Poland: Prevalence and difficulties in diagnostics

The article presents an overview of diagnostics of tick-borne diseases in Poland, which form one of the most prevalent group of occupational illnesses in the Polish area. This is a current issue due to a constantly growing number of tick-borne infections, i.e., Lyme borreliosis, tick-borne encephalitis, tularemia, Q fever, human granulocytic anaplasmosis and babesiosis. The scale of the problem is well illustrated by the latest reports of the Polish National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene (NIPH – NIH). The article also covers the taxonomy of vectors of etiological factors, as well as their reservoirs and possible transmission to humans. The highest risk of tick-borne infection is particularly connected with people either resting or working in the forest or meadow surroundings (i.e., foresters, farmers, hunters). The article contains up-to-date data on epidemiology, etiopathogenesis, symptomatology, laboratory medicine and factors affecting the credibility of results according to current recommendations of the Polish Society of Epidemiology and Physicians of Infectious Diseases and the Polish National Chamber of Laboratory Diagnosticians. The presented review focuses on modern laboratory techniques used in difficult diagnostics of tick-borne diseases, mainly diagnostics algorithms, pre-analytical phase (type of biological material) and analytical phase of diagnostics (reference methods, efficacy of different techniques, interfering factors, proper diagnostic procedures). Med Pr 2016;67(1):73–8

New insight into bacterial zoonotic pathogens posing health hazards to humans

This article presents the problem of evolutionary changes of zoonotic pathogens responsible for human diseases. Everyone is exposed to the risk of zoonotic infection, particularly employees having direct contact with animals, i.e. veterinarians, breeders, butchers and workers of animal products’ processing industry. The article focuses on pathogens monitored by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which has been collecting statistical data on zoonoses from all European Union countries for 19 years and publishing collected data in annual epidemiological reports. Currently, the most important 11 pathogens responsible for causing human zoonotic diseases are being monitored, of which seven are bacteria: Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium bovis, Brucella spp., Coxiella burnetti and Verotoxin- producing E. coli (VTEC) / Shiga-like toxin producing E. coli (STEC). As particularly important are considered foodborne pathogens. The article also includes new emerging zoonotic bacteria, which are not currently monitored by ECDC but might pose a serious epidemiological problem in a foreseeable future: Streptococcus iniae, S. suis, S. dysgalactiae and staphylococci: Staphylococcus intermedius, S. pseudintermedius. Those species have just crossed the animal-human interspecies barrier. The exact mechanism of this phenomenon remains unknown, it is connected, however, with genetic variability, capability to survive in changing environment. These abilities derive from DNA rearrangement and horizontal gene transfer between bacterial cells. Substantial increase in the number of scientific publications on this subject, observed over the last few years, illustrates the importance of the problem. Med Pr 2014;65(6):819–82

Significance of near misses for work safety in construction

W budownictwie odnotowuje się największy udział liczby wypadków śmiertelnych w stosunku do wszystkich wypadków. Przedmiotem niniejszego artykułu jest analiza wszystkich zdarzeń niebezpiecznych, zarejestrowanych w dużym przedsiębiorstwie budowlanym na przestrzeni ostatnich kilku lat. Szacuje się, że liczba zdarzeń potencjalnie wypadkowych jest kilka razy większa od liczby wypadków. Zdarzenia potencjalnie wypadkowe stanowią istotne „wyprzedzające” źródło wiedzy na temat wypadków. Warunkiem pozyskiwania wiedzy na podstawie zdarzeń potencjalnie wypadkowych jest ich systematyczne rejestrowanie i analizowanie.The construction industry has the highest share of fatal accidents in relation to all accidents. The subject of this article is the analysis of all hazardous events registered in a large construction company over the last few years. It is estimated that the number of near misses is several times greater than the number of accidents. Near-miss incidents constitute an important „advance” source of knowledge about accidents. The condition for acquiring knowledge on the basis of near misses is their systematic recording and analysis

Influence of Effective Microorganisms and Clinoptilolite on Gut Barrier Function, Intestinal Health and Performance of Broiler Chickens during Induced <i>Eimeria tenella</i> Infection

The prohibition of certain coccidiostats in poultry has created a need to seek an alternative to control Eimeria infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of effective microorganisms (EM) in a multi-strain probiotic (Bokashi®), with clinoptilolite as a feed supplement on the mRNA expression of tight junction proteins and redox enzymes in the caecal tissue of chickens infected with E. tenella. The integrity of the intestinal barrier was tested by determining the concentration of fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran (FITC-d) in the chicken’s serum. A total of 600 1-day-old Ross 308 male chickens received diets with a 0.5% or 0.8% concentration of the probiotic together with clinoptilolite. The experiment used 5 treatment groups, and a control group, each with 5 replicates with 20 birds. The results indicate that the use of the 8 kg/t of feed multi-strain probiotic together with clinoptilolite in the diet of poultry caused a significant reduction in the number of E. tenella oocysts in the faeces and caecum and significantly improved the growth rate of chicken broilers infected with E. tenella. In addition, the probiotic and clinoptilolite enhanced antioxidant processes in the caecal mucosa and reduced oxidative stress induced by E. tenella infection