The influence of health workers’ motivation and the work environment on attitudes towards adolescent girls seeking sexual and reproductive health services in DR Congo

The influence of health workers’ motivation and the work environment on attitudes towards adolescent girls seeking sexual and reproductive health services in DR CongoThe influence of health workers’ motivation and the work environment on attitudes towards adolescent girls seeking sexual and reproductive health services in DR Cong

Microbial Quality and Nutritional Aspects of Norwegian Brand Waters

The microbiological quality of the five leading brands of Norwegian bottled still waters was investigated. All brands were free for the enteric indicator organisms and named pathogens whose absence is demanded in current quality directives. The relatively nutrient-poor agar R2A revealed large heterogeneous bacterial populations which grew slowly, or not at all, on clinical media specified for use in substrate-utilization approaches to identification. The main approach used for identification was cultivation of microbes on R2A, followed by amplication and partial sequencing of 16S rDNA genes. The identity of the heterotrophic plate count of the brands differed significantly to that found in many other similar studies with respect to the dominating species. The bacterial flora was dominated by beta- and alphaproteobacteria most of which were psychrotolerant. Several brands contained Sphingomonas and large populations of Methylobacterium species which have been associated with a variety of opportunistic infections of immunocompromised hosts. Analysis of the isolated strains nutritional capabilities using the Biolog GN2® system, gave in most instances low positive scores, and strain identifications using the system were generally inconclusive. Measures of assimilable organic carbon in the water revealed that some brands contained levels higher than those which have been associated with biological stability and restricted or no growth of heterotrophs in distribution systems. The relationship between assimilable organic carbon and R2A plate counts was significant and moderately positive for bottled waters. Assimilable organic carbon correlated strongly with the survival time of Escherichia coli when introduced into bottles as a contaminant. Those brands having high values (~ 100 µg/L) supported protracted survival, but not growth of E. coli, whereas E. coli quickly became nonculturable in brands with low values. Thus measures of assimilable organic carbon may have a particular value in predicting the survival of this and nutritionally similar species of hygienic relevance. Only small numbers of fungi were found. However, one isolate (Aureobasidium pullans) has been associated with infections of humans

Undersøkelse av forandringer i mikrobiologisk kvalitet under produksjon og distribusjon av drikkevann ved Vansjø interkommunale vannverk

Innholdet av bakterier etter hvert trinn i behandlingsprosessen ved Vansjø vannverk og ved 19 punkter fra distribusjonsnettet ble målt. I tillegg ble tilstedeværelsen av sopp og protozoer i vannet under produksjon undersøkt. Parallelt med kimtallsanalyser ble det utført tester (Biolog® GN2) som gir en indikasjon på bakterienes samlede metabolske potensial i vannet. Vannverket produserer et drikkevann fritt for mikrober og som ikke ga utslag i panelet av 95 metabolske tester. Filtreringstrinn tilførte vannet bakterier og sopparten Cryptococcus magnus (som ikke regnes som sykdomsframkallende). Både UV-anlegget og postklorering inaktiverte effektivt den mikrobielle populasjonen. Amøber ble dyrket fra råvannet, men var ikke til stede i rentvannet. Nettprøvene inneholdt bakterier, men det var ingen klar sammenheng mellom avstand fra vannverket og kimtallet eller metabolsk aktivitet i vannet. Kimtalls- og GN2-data viste bedre og mer signifikante korrelasjoner for prøver tatt ved hvert rensetrinn enn for rentvannsprøver tatt under distribusjon. Dette kan tyde på at bakterier med naturlig opphold i råvannet har andre egenskaper enn de som finnes i ledningsnettet. GN2 ga et datarikt utrykk for det samlede metabolske potensialet i vannet under rensing. Det ville være nyttig å bruke denne testen til å karakterisere andre vannbehandlingsregimer (f. eks. membranfiltrering) for å se om et samlet datasett generer behandlingsspesifikke profiler.Changes in the microbiological quality of drinking water during its production and distribution at Vansjø waterworks. The bacterial content of drinking water after each stage in its production at Vansjø waterworks and at 19 points on the distribution system was investigated. In addition the content of fungi and protozoa in the raw and finished waters was measured. Parallel analyses of the total metabolic capabilities of the indigenous bacteria were performed using the Biolog® GN2 system. The waterworks produces a drinking water which was free for microbes and which scored negative for all of the 95 individual GN2 reactions. Filtration steps increased the bacterial load and contaminated the water with Cryptococcus magnus (a non-pathogenic yeast). Both UV-treatment and post chloronination effectively inactivated the microbial population. Amoeba were grown from the raw water, but were not present in the finished drinking water. Distribution net samples contained bacteria but there was no clear correlation between distance from the treatment plant and the bacterial count. Bacterial counts and GN2-data were more strongly and more significantly correlated for samples taken during the production process than samples taken during distribution. This could be explained by bacteria in the raw water having different growth characteristics than those in the distribution system. GN2 provides a data-rich measure of the total metabolic character of a drinking water particularly during its production. It would be useful to apply the test to other water-treatment types (eg membrane filtration) in order to see if treatment-specific profiles emerge from the data

Hva finnes på innsiden av kranarmaturer?

Innsiden av vannkraner kommer i kontakt med både mikrober som er til stede i drikkevann og de som finnes på hender, matrester og i luften. En hypotese er at kranbiofilmer kan være tilholdssted for sykdomsfremkallende mikroorganismer med opphav i både drikkevann og omgivelsene. For å undersøke denne muligheten, ble den mikrobiologiske kvaliteten ved 87 kraner bedømt i forhold til de hygieniske indikatorene Enterobacteriaceae og Staphyloccus aureus (som begge kan gi mage-tarminfeksjoner og matforgiftning) og heterotroft kimtall som kan gi en indikasjon på dannelse av biofilm. I tillegg ble tilstedeværelsen av frittlevende aerobe protozoer undersøkt. Kun én kran 319 Innsendte artikler Vann I 03 2012 var kontaminert med S. aureus. To kraner var kontaminert med et fåtall Enterobacteriaceae. Tre kraner var kontaminert med cysteproduserende amøber, blant annet Acanthamoeba polyphaga, som kan være årsak til alvorlig hornhinnebetennelse. Det var stor spredning i det aerobe kimtallet (0/mL - 100, 000/mL). Kraner synes ikke å være en viktig kilde til de utvalgte patogene/indikatorbakteriene. Imidlertid gir den store variasjonen i heterotroft kimtall og tilstedeværelsen av frittlevende amøber grunn til ettertanke

Protective factors against psychological distress among inpatients in substance use treatment : a cross-sectional study

Several studies have found co-occurrence between substance abuse and mental health problems, as well as an association between treatment retention and psychological distress. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of possible protective factors with psychological distress. The present study tested physical activity, self-esteem and sense of coherence, and psychological distress level among inpatients in substance use treatment. The study design was cross-sectional and multicenter. Patients (N = 167) were recruited in 2018 from 10 Norwegian inpatient facilities. They self-reported on 3 validated measurement instruments: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence Scale, and frequency of physical activity. The Hopkins Symptom Checklist-10 was used as an outcome variable of psychological distress. The associations were investigated with multiple linear and logistic regression methods. The results suggested that high self-esteem and sense of coherence were protective factors against high levels of psychological distress: self-esteem (β = −.39, P < .001) and sense of coherence (β = −.352, P < .001). The results offer support for a salutogenic approach in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment by enhancing individuals’ protective factors to reduce psychological distress. Keywords: Inpatient treatment; protective factors; psychological distress; self-esteem; sense of coherence.publishedVersio

Visible foliar injury and infrared imaging show that daylength affects short-term recovery after ozone stress in Trifolium subterraneum

Tropospheric ozone is a major air pollutant affecting plants worldwide. Plants in northern regions can display more ozone injury than plants at lower latitudes despite lower ozone levels. Larger ozone influx and shorter nights have been suggested as possible causes. However, the effects of the dim light present during northern summer nights have not been investigated. Young Trifolium subterraneum plants kept in environmentally controlled growth rooms under long day (10 h bright light, 14 h dim light) or short day (10 h bright light, 14 h darkness) conditions were exposed to 6 h of 70 ppb ozone during daytime for three consecutive days. Leaves were visually inspected and imaged in vivo using thermal imaging before and after the daily exposure. In long-day-treated plants, visible foliar injury within 1 week after exposure was more severe. Multivariate statistical analyses showed that the leaves of ozone-exposed long-day-treated plants were also warmer with more homogeneous temperature distributions than exposed short day and control plants, suggesting reduced transpiration. Temperature disruptions were not restricted to areas displaying visible damage and occurred even in leaves with only slight visible injury. Ozone did not affect the leaf temperature of short-day-treated plants. As all factors influencing ozone influx were the same for long- and short-day-treated plants, only the dim nocturnal light could account for the different ozone sensitivities. Thus, the twilight summer nights at high latitudes may have a negative effect on repair and defence processes activated after ozone exposure, thereby enhancing sensitivity

Prediction of underlying atrial fibrillation in patients with a cryptogenic stroke: results from the NOR-FIB Study

Background - Atrial fibrillation (AF) detection and treatment are key elements to reduce recurrence risk in cryptogenic stroke (CS) with underlying arrhythmia. The purpose of the present study was to assess the predictors of AF in CS and the utility of existing AF-predicting scores in The Nordic Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke (NOR-FIB) Study. Method - The NOR-FIB study was an international prospective observational multicenter study designed to detect and quantify AF in CS and cryptogenic transient ischaemic attack (TIA) patients monitored by the insertable cardiac monitor (ICM), and to identify AF-predicting biomarkers. The utility of the following AF-predicting scores was tested: AS5F, Brown ESUS-AF, CHA2DS2-VASc, CHASE-LESS, HATCH, HAVOC, STAF and SURF. Results - In univariate analyses increasing age, hypertension, left ventricle hypertrophy, dyslipidaemia, antiarrhythmic drugs usage, valvular heart disease, and neuroimaging findings of stroke due to intracranial vessel occlusions and previous ischemic lesions were associated with a higher likelihood of detected AF. In multivariate analysis, age was the only independent predictor of AF. All the AF-predicting scores showed significantly higher score levels for AF than non-AF patients. The STAF and the SURF scores provided the highest sensitivity and negative predictive values, while the AS5F and SURF reached an area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) > 0.7. Conclusion - Clinical risk scores may guide a personalized evaluation approach in CS patients. Increasing awareness of the usage of available AF-predicting scores may optimize the arrhythmia detection pathway in stroke units

Effects of ozone on Trifolium species grown under different daylength conditions by assessment of visible ozone-induced injury, growth analysis and infrared thermography.

Tropospheric ozone is a secondary air pollutant which is formed during chemical reactions involving nitrogen oxides (NOx)and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of solar radiation. Ozone enters the plant leaf mainly through the stomata. Inside the leaf, the oxidizing potential of ozone and the resulting formation of radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) make ozone highly phytotoxic. Ozone exposure thus can cause visible foliar injury, biomass reduction and increased leaf senescence, as well as alteration in the assimilate partitioning. The background for this thesis is that there are indications of that plants growing under Nordic conditions seem less tolerant to ozone than plants which grow further south in Europe. Thus, the main aim of this thesis was to compare the reaction to ozone exposure of plants growing under a long daylength and plants growing under a short daylength. Three experiments were performed where long day plants of the genus Trifolium were grown under controlled conditions in a phytotron. In experiment I, 52 d old plants of T. subterraneum were investigated, in experiment II 21 d old plants of T.subterraneum were investigated whereas in experiment III, 31 d old plants of T. subterraneum, T .pratense var. Bjursele and T. repens var. Norstar were investigated. To study the effect of daylength in relation to ozone exposure, the plants were subjected to the same daily ozone dose (0 ppb or 70 ppb for 3d for 6h day-1) and grown under different photoperiods where the only factor varying was the light during the night period (long day: 10 h PAR/14 h dim light, short day: 10h PAR/14 dark). The different daylength treatments resulted in different degree of visible ozone-induced foliar injury; LD induced significantly more visible ozone- induced foliar injury in 21 and 52 days old plants of Trifolium subterraneum and 31 days old plants of Trifolium pratense compared to SD. The LD promoted visible ozone-injury was mostly accompanied by an increase in the above ground biomass. The LD treated plants thus might have been using a greater proportion of their metabolic gain in order to grow at the expense of the repair of the ozone-induced damage. Other explanations involve increased ethylene formation under LD conditions, or that a photoreceptor (e.g. phytochrome) activates the defense system to a higher degree under SD - than under LD conditions. In experiment III, two new methods to detect ozone stress were investigated by using an infrared camera. By using passive thermography, parallel digital and infrared imaging of the leaves of T. subterraneum and T. pratense revealed an ozone induced change in the temperature. In the fourth trifoliate leaf of T.subterraneum, there was a significant increase in the leaf temperature after three days of ozone exposure, and an increase in the temperature of the fifth trifoliate leaf after two days of ozone exposure. In Trifolium pratense there was a temperature decrease in the third trifoliate leaf after 3 days of ozone exposure. These temperature changes were not dependent on visible ozone-induced foliar injury. As the leaf temperature might be an indirect measure of the transpiration, the different responses can possibly be related to stomatal behaviour. Other additional or alternative explanations might involve changes in the internal structure of the leaves, or changed biochemical events which might affect the leaf temperature. Leaves of all the Trifolium species were also subjected to active thermography where the leaf temperature responses were recorded before, during and after a 25 s light pulse. The time constant (ô) was calculated and used as an indicator of how quickly the temperature cools down to the leaf s temperature before the light pulse. In addition, the maximum temperature differences due to the light pulse were compared. The results showed an indication towards a decrease in the maximum temperature difference, followed by an increase in the time for cooling in ozone-exposed leaves of T. subterraneum and T. pratense. T.repens seemed to respond in an opposite manner, and showed a less stable temperature response. The use of thermography seems to be a supplementary method to investigate ozone stress as it is non-destructive and has the potential to detect ozone injury before it becomes apparent

A prospective biopsychosocial repeated measures study of stress and dropout from substance addiction treatment

Dropout from Substance Addiction Treatment Fulltext Metrics Get Permission Cite this article Authors Bøhle K , Otterholt E, Bjørkly SK Received 7 June 2022 Accepted for publication 2 May 2023 Published 13 July 2023 Volume 2023:14 Pages 61—75 DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/SAR.S376389 Checked for plagiarism Yes Review by Single anonymous peer review Peer reviewer comments 2 Editor who approved publication: Dr Rajendra D Badgaiyan Download Article [PDF] Kari Bøhle,1– 3 Eli Otterholt,1,2 Stål Kapstø Bjørkly1,4 1Faculty of Health and Social Science, Molde University College, Molde, Norway; 2Clinic of Mental Health and Addiction, Møre and Romsdal Hospital Trust, Molde, Norway; 3Department of Mental Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 4Regional Centre for Research and Education in Forensic Psychiatry, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway Correspondence: Kari Bøhle, Molde University College, Britvegen 2, Molde, 6412, Norway, Tel +47 911 09 321 ; +47 71 21 40 00, Email [email protected] Introduction: This prospective, repeated-measures observational study tested biopsychosocial variables as risk factors for dropping out of inpatient substance addiction treatment. Substance use disorder (SUD) is viewed as a chronic relapsing disease caused by an interaction between biological, psychological, and social factors. However, there is a lack of prospective studies that combine biopsychosocial variables when assessing dropout. The aims of this study were to investigate whether there was 1) An association between biopsychosocial factors and dropping out of inpatient substance addiction treatment, 2) An interaction with SUD diagnosis and cortisol, and 3) Different dropout rates between short-term and long-term institutions. Materials and Methods: Patients (n = 173) were recruited from two inpatient treatment centers in Norway between 2018 and 2021. The following biopsychosocial variables were measured at four timepoints: ward atmosphere (Ward Atmosphere Scale, WAS), psychological distress (Hopkins Symptom Checklist 10, HSCL-10), motivation (M-scale of the Circumstances, Motivation, Readiness, and Suitability questionnaire), and concentration of salivary cortisol (CORT- nmol/L). Cortisol levels were measured for two consecutive days at each timepoint and calculated by two cortisol indices, daytime cortisol slope (DCS) and area under the curve with respect to the ground (AUCG). A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to find an association between dropout rates and the biopsychosocial variables. Results: The results suggest a lower dropout odds for patients with high motivation (OR = 0.76, p = 0.022) and patients admitted to short-term treatment (OR = 0.06, p = 0.005). An interaction with stimulant SUD and DCS (OR = 13.74, p = 0.024) also revealed higher dropout odds. No statistical significance was found for psychological distress, WAS, and cortisol AUCG. Conclusion: The results support monitoring motivation during treatment and further investigating biopsychosocial variables when assessing dropout risk together with SUD diagnosis. Keywords: cortisol, psychological distress, ward atmosphere, retention, drug abstinencepublishedVersio