Methods and systems used to measure and monitor occupational disease and injury in New Zealand

The National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee (NOHSAC) commissioned Health Outcomes International to conduct a review of methods and systems used to measure and monitor occupational disease and injury in New Zealand. This is NOHSAC’s second project designed to provide an independent evidence-based assessment of some of the measures that would deliver the greatest benefit for the prevention of occupational injury and disease in New Zealand

A case study of boundary layer ventilation by convection and coastal processes

It is often assumed that ventilation of the atmospheric boundary layer is weak in the absence of fronts, but is this always true? In this paper we investigate the processes responsible for ventilation of the atmospheric boundary layer during a nonfrontal day that occurred on 9 May 2005 using the UK Met Office Unified Model. Pollution sources are represented by the constant emission of a passive tracer everywhere over land. The ventilation processes observed include shallow convection, turbulent mixing followed by large-scale ascent, a sea breeze circulation and coastal outflow. Vertical distributions of tracer are validated qualitatively with AMPEP (Aircraft Measurement of chemical Processing Export fluxes of Pollutants over the UK) CO aircraft measurements and are shown to agree impressively well. Budget calculations of tracers are performed in order to determine the relative importance of these ventilation processes. Coastal outflow and the sea breeze circulation were found to ventilate 26% of the boundary layer tracer by sunset of which 2% was above 2 km. A combination of coastal outflow, the sea breeze circulation, turbulent mixing and large-scale ascent ventilated 46% of the boundary layer tracer, of which 10% was above 2 km. Finally, coastal outflow, the sea breeze circulation, turbulent mixing, large-scale ascent and shallow convection together ventilated 52% of the tracer into the free troposphere, of which 26% was above 2 km. Hence this study shows that significant ventilation of the boundary layer can occur in the absence of fronts (and thus during high-pressure events). Turbulent mixing and convection processes can double the amount of pollution ventilated from the boundary layer

Isolation of the toxin responsible for gousiekte, a plant-induced cardiomyopathy of ruminants in southern Africa

Gousiekte was induced in sheep and goats by the oral and intravenous (i/v) administration of methanolic and ethanolic precipitates of aqueous extracts of Pavetta harborii. Further purification of the toxic principle was carried out by dialysis and ion-exchange chromatography. The toxin was eluted from the cation-exchange resin with 1 mol/l of ammonium acetate and finally purified on Sephadex G-10 and silica gel. Spots on thin-layer chromatographic plates (TLC) were visualized with ninhydrin. Gousiekte was induced with the pure toxin after i/v administration in goats. The yield of pure toxin was about 10 mg/kg of dried leaves. A compound, indistinguishable from the above on TLC, was also isolated from the gousiekte-inducing plants Pavetta schumanniana, Fadogia homblei and Pachystigma pygmaeum.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

A New Technique for Inferior Hypogastric Plexus Block: A Coccygeal Transverse Approach -A Case Report-

Chronic pelvic pain is a common problem with variable etiology. The sympathetic nervous system plays an important role in the transmission of visceral pain regardless of its etiology. Sympathetic nerve block is effective and safe for treatment of pelvic visceral pain. One of them, the inferior hypogastric plexus, is not easily assessable to blockade by local anesthetics and neurolytic agents. Inferior hypogastric plexus block is not commonly used in chronic pelvic pain patients due to pre-sacral location. Therefore, inferior hypogastric plexus is not readily blocked using paravertebral or transdiscal approaches. There is only one report of inferior hypogastric plexus block via transsacral approach. This approach has several disadvantages. In this case a favorable outcome was obtained by using coccygeal transverse approach of inferior hypogastric plexus. Thus, we report a patient who was successfully given inferior hypogastric plexus block via coccygeal transverse approach to treat chronic pelvic pain conditions involving the lower pelvic viscera

Effect of pavetamine on protein synthesis in rat tissue

Pavetamine, the active principle of plants causing gousiekte in ruminants, was found in this study to be an inhibitor of protein synthesis in the rat heart. Sprague-Dawley rats were injected intra-peritoneally with 8-10 mg/kg pavetamine and the levels of protein synthesis in the different organs determined utilizing L-[4-³H]phenylalanine incorporation. In contrast to the more than 23% inhibition found in heart tissue at 4, 24 and 48 h after administration of pavetamine, the effect on the kidney, liver, spleen, intestine and skeletal muscle was minimal or returned to pretreatment levels within 48 h. These results may offer an explanation for the clinical signs observed in ruminants with gousiekte, where the heart only is affected.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat v.9 was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. Directorates of Veterinary Services (Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment) of the North-West and Gauteng Provinces

Clinical pathological changes in gousiekte, a plant-induced cardiotoxicosis of ruminants

Twenty sheep were dosed with either Pachystigma pygmaeum or Fadogia homblei belonging to the Rubiaceae. The experimentally-induced cardiotoxicoses were monitored by various clinical pathological parameters and heart function tests. Elevated AST (aspartate transaminase) activity in the serum proved to be a more reliable indicator of cardiac damage in gousiekte than either LD (lactate dehydrogenase) or CK (creatine kinase). Persistent increases of AST activity were recorded from c. 14 days after commencement of dosing, and this activity sometimes peaked as late as 30 days after the dosing had ceased. Tachycardia and diminished heart function were registered only terminally. Lesions of gousiekte were present in all the sheep that were exposed to the plants. In a field outbreak of P. pygmaeum, where 60 out of 90 sheep died, 14 out of the 15 animals examined had increased AST levels compared with none of the 15 controls. These results indicated that increased enzyme levels can be of use to identify affected animals during latency in a natural outbreak of gousiekte.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.lmchunu2014mn201

Perinatal mortality in lambs of ewes exposed to cultures of Diplodia maydis (= Stenocarpella maydis) during gestation. A study of the central-nervous-system lesions

Previously published results of dosing trials, involving 82 ewes, revealed that 66% of the offspring of dams exposed to cultures of Diplodia maydis in the second trimester of pregnancy and 87% of lambs of ewes exposed in the third trimester, were born dead or died soon afterwards. Spongiform degeneration of myelin of varying degree was present in the brains of all the stillborn and non-viable lambs in these trials. Myelin lamellae were separated at the intraperiod line. The spongiform degeneration occurred throughout the central nervous system in severely affected animals, whereas in mildly affected lambs the lesions had a predilection for the white matter, particularly of the cerebellum and cerebrum. In 28 lambs the spongiform degeneration progressed to lytic necrosis, and hydrocephalus was recorded in two animals.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

Isolation and characterization of and some observations on poisoning by bufadienolides from Cotyledon orbiculata L. var. orbiculata

The approximate LD₅₀ and cumulative effect of 4 bufadienolides, isolated from Cotyledon orbiculata, were determined in guinea-pigs. Two of the bufadienolides proved to be mildly cumulative. One of the mildly cumulative bufadienolides induced subacute intoxication with some signs of krimpsiekte when injected intravenously into a sheep over 13 days. In the sheep, the paralysis was accompanied by signs of malaise, such as electrocardiographic changes and ruminal stasis.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format