PERCEIVED INDOOR AIR QUALITY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL WORK ENVIRONMENT IN OFFICE, SCHOOL AND HEALTH CARE ENVIRONMENTS IN FINLAND

Objectives: The study examined the extent and prevalence of perceived indoor environment-related (IE-related) symptoms environmental complaints and psychosocial work environmental factors in Finnish office, school and health care environments. Material and Methods: The data were collected from non-industrial workplaces (N = 455) in 2011-2012 and 2015-2017 using the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health's Indoor Air Questionnaire (IA Questionnaire). Suspicion of IE-related problems was reported in 59% of workplaces. The data consisted of 28 826 employees' responses. Results: The employees reported symptoms and environmental discomfort in office environments less often than in school or health care environments. The most often reported IE-related complaints were stuffy air (39% of respondents), dry air (34%) and insufficient ventilation (33%). The most often reported symptoms were irritation of the nose (27% of respondents), irritation of the eyes (26%), and hoarse or dry throat (24%). The results showed differences between the perceived IE in office, school and health care environments. Conclusions: Compared to earlier findings, the most often perceived IE-related symptoms and complaints have increased in Finnish health care environments. The office employees' perceptions of psychosocial work environment remained fairly unchanged whereas health care personnel more often assessed their psychosocial environment as positive compared to previous reports. Instead of exact reference values, comparing the results of IA Questionnaires with the distributions and mean values of the results of this study may be more informative for those striving to solve IE-related problems. The presented distribution and mean values of perceived symptoms, environmental complaints and psychosocial work environment might help to relate the results to other workplaces. This, in turn, might increase the understanding that IA Questionnaire results are influenced by many factors. The results presented can be used as new reference material when interpreting the results of IA Questionnaires in office, school and health care environments.Peer reviewe

Ambulance crew-initiated non-conveyance in the Helsinki EMS system-A retrospective cohort study

Background Ambulance patients are usually transported to the hospital in the emergency medical service (EMS) system. The aim of this study was to describe the non-conveyance practice in the Helsinki EMS system and to report mortality following non-conveyance decisions. Methods All prehospital patients >= 16 years attended by the EMS but not transported to a hospital during 2013-2017 were included in the study. EMS mission- and patient-related factors were collected and examined in relation to patient death within 30 days of the EMS non-conveyance decision. Results The EMS performed 324,207 missions with a patient during the study period. The patient was not transported in 95,909 (29.6%) missions; 72,233 missions met the study criteria. The patient mean age (standard deviation) was 59.5 (22.5) years; 55.5% of patients were female. The most common dispatch codes were malaise (15.0%), suspected decline in vital signs (14.0%), and falling over (12.9%). A total of 960 (1.3%) patients died within 30 days after the non-conveyance decision. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that mortality was associated with the patient's inability to walk (odds ratio 3.19, 95% confidence interval 2.67-3.80), ambulance dispatch due to shortness of breath (2.73, 2.27-3.27), decreased level of consciousness (2.72, 1.75-4.10), decreased blood oxygen saturation (2.64, 2.27-3.06), and abnormal systolic blood pressure (2.48, 1.79-3.37). Conclusion One-third of EMS missions did not result in patient transport to the hospital. Thirty-day mortality was 1.3%. Abnormalities in multiple respiratory-related vital signs were associated with an increased likelihood of death within 30 days.Peer reviewe

Managing quartz exposure in the construction industry

This summary is the final report of the research project "Quartz Exposure and its Management in the Construction Industry" funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund, the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT, and the Finnish Construction Trade Union. The report outlines the safe performance of house building and infrastructure construction work that exposes you to respirable quartz dust. In essence, we describe how to perform dust producing worktasks with the exposure being less than 10 % of the current OEL (below the ASA registering threshold for those exposed to carcinogens at work). In addition, we list worktask specific solutions that lead to an exposure necessitating statutory health status monitoring by occupational health care (more than 40 % of OEL), and what methods are associated with excessive exposures (above OEL)

Carriership of two copies of C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat intermediate-length alleles is a risk factor for ALS in the Finnish population

The hexanucleotide repeat expansion in intron 1 of the C9orf72 gene causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. In addition to the effects of the pathogenic expansion, a role of intermediate-length alleles has been suggested in ALS, corticobasal degeneration and Parkinson's disease. Due to the rarity of intermediate-length alleles with over 20 repeats and the geographical variability in their frequency, large studies that account for population stratification are needed to elucidate their effects. To this aim, we used repeat-primed PCR and confirmatory PCR assays to determine the C9orf72 repeat allele lengths in 705 ALS patients and 3958 controls from Finland. After exclusion of expansion carriers (25.5% of the ALS patients and 0.2% of the controls), we compared the frequency of intermediate-length allele carriers of 525 ALS cases and 3950 controls using several intermediate-length allele thresholds (7-45, 17-45, 21-45, 24-45 and 24-30). The carriership of an intermediate-length allele did not associate with ALS (Fisher's test, all p >= 0.15) nor was there any association with survival (p >= 0.33), when we divided our control group into three age groups (18-65, 66-84 and 85-105 years). Carriership of two intermediate-length alleles was associated with ALS, when the longer allele was >= 17 repeats (p=0.002, OR 5.32 95% CI 2.02-14.05) or >= 21 repeats (p=0.00016, OR 15.21 95% CI 3.79-61.0). Our results show that intermediate-length alleles are a risk factor of ALS when present in both alleles, whereas carrying just one intermediate-length allele was not associated with ALS or survival.Peer reviewe

Ilmanvaihtojärjestelmien puhtaus ja puhdistaminen sairaaloiden vuodeosastoilla

Ilmanvaihtojärjestelmien epäpuhtaudet voivat auheuttaa sisäilmaongelmia.Työterveyslaitos, Laadukas sisäympäristö -teema, Itä-Suomen yliopisto, Ympäristötieteen laitos, Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu.1

Influence of the support of copper catalysts on activity and 1,2-dichloroethane selectivity in ethylene oxychlorination

Five different support materials were modified with 5 wt.% Cu, using an evaporation impregnation method. The synthesized CuCl2/γ-Al2O3, CuCl2/TiO2 (Hombikat), CuCl2/TiO2 (Alfa Aesar), CuCl2/SiO2 and CuCl2/H-Beta-25 materials were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive Xray microanalysis, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and CO2-temperature programmed desorption. The physical-chemical characterization was correlated with catalytic activity, stability and selectivity in the ethylene oxychlorination. It was found that γ-Al2O3 and TiO2 support materials demonstrate very good activity and 1,2dichloroethane selectivity compare to other catalysts. Zeolite H-Beta-25 and SiO2 support materials proved to be unusable for this reaction.</p

Laser-ultrasonic delivery of agents into articular cartilage

Peer reviewe