Media: A Double-Edged Sword in the Disease Control. Content Analysis of News Report on SARS Event in Taiwan

Objective: This study was conducted to explore what media exactly do when disease is emerging and furthermore, to infer the role and the responsibility that media should play. Method: A content analysis with 0.81 inter-rater reliability was adopted to categorize SARS-related events shown on the three major newspapers in 117 days, dated from March 13th (the date before the first probable case of SARS in Taiwan was identified) to July 7th (the date after Taiwan was removed from the list of SARS-affected countries by the bulletin of World Health Organization), 2003. Results: There were totally 8923 SARS events related news found in the observed newspapers during the study period. When the epidemic situation is more serious, the media will also lay out more coverage on reporting the related contents. In the reporting contents, the three most influential newspapers in Taiwan mainly emphasized the impact dimension (34.27%). Only 2.16% of the coverage was on the topic of health communication and prevention education. Overall, the opinions of general public are the primary sources of news (46.57%). Health authority was not the main and typical sources information of the press (9.42%). Conclusion: Media is a double-edged sword in the communicable disease control. We suggest that the health authority should take advantage of media to transmit message rapidly to convey related information to public.

Enzyme measurements for risk evaluations in sewage treatment plants

Objectives: Work in sewage treatment plants may cause health problems in terms of airways symptoms, unusual tiredness, fever, and diarrhoea. The presence of such symptoms has been related to bacterial endotoxin. The project was undertaken to assess if risk evaluations could be performed by measuring the amounts of two different microbial enzymes and to evaluate their relation to endotoxin. Methods: Measurements were performed at 120 work sites in 10 different sewage treatment plants of varying age and capacity. The content of N-acetyl-hexosaminidase (NAHA), bacterial hydrolase (BH) and endotoxin was measured in sewage water and in airborne samples. Results: There was a close relationship between endotoxin and NAHA, both in the water itself and in air samples. Generally exposure levels were low but higher at work sites where the water or sludge was agitated or when repairing pumps and cleaning basins. Conclusions: Measurements of NAHA are suitable to determine risk exposures in sewage treatment plants. Such measurements are faster and cheaper than measures of endotoxin. A level of 50-70 U/m3 is suggested as a risk threshold. Further work is required to define more precise threshold limit values.

Could Sputum Eosinophilia Act as a Predictive Test for Diagnosis of High Risk Bakery Workers to Asthma?

Background: Occupational flour inhalation has been a culprit in the start of several pulmonary diseases such as asthma. We examined the relationship between occupational wheat flour inhalation in bakery and supermarket employees with pulmonary functions, respiratory symptoms, and sputum eosinophilia to determine hyper-responsiveness in a cross-sectional study in Iran. Methods: 122 subjects from traditional bakeries and 137 subjects from supermarket employees were enrolled in the study. Flour exposure concentrations, respiratory signs, sputum analysis, and respiratory volumes and capacities were measured based on the standard methods. Results: Respirable concentration of flour in the bakery workers was two- to four-fold of ACGIH’s threshold limit value in which bread-bakers with 2.2 mg/m3 experienced maximum exposures. The supermarket employees were not exposed to flour dust. The respiratory volumes in both bakery and supermarket employees were in the normal range. However, the median of voluminal percentage in bakery workers except Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) decreased (p p < 0.05). In addition, we observed increased respiratory symptoms in the bakery workers, again more prevalent in the bread-bakers. There was a significant correlation between flour exposure concentration and sputum eosinophilia in which the percentage of eosinophilia in the bread-bakers was more than other bakery and supermarket employees. Although there were reductions in the respiratory volumes, the results indicated no obstructive spirometric pattern. Conclusions: Sputum eosinophilia might be a suitable screening method to detect airway hyper-responsiveness in workers exposed to known asthmogens.

Magnesium intervention and blood pressure—A study on risk groups

Hypothesis: Although mineral deficiency in particular magnesium is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease intervention experiments with magnesium show only modest results. Previously published data suggest that there may be particular risk groups in the population. The study was undertaken to investigate if such risk groups could be identified. Experimental design: Subjects (n = 31) were 50 - 79 years old with no disease. The 24 hour urinary excretion of urea (proxy for acidity), magnesium, calcium, and potassium was measured at two week intervals, with and without intervention with mineral water. Intervention with mineral water comprised 75 mL daily, supplying 3.1 mmol Mg, 2.3 Ca, and 0.02 K. Major results: There was a significant relation between acidity and excretion of magnesium, calcium, and potassium, both at one occasion and regarding changes over time. Among subjects with a high secretion of urea there was an inverse relation between the excretion of magnesium and systolic blood pressure. After intervention with mineral water, there was a strong tendency to a decrease in the systolic blood pressure among those with an initial high excretion of urea and a low excretion of magnesium. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the importance of acid-base conditions for mineral homeostasis and suggest the presence of risk groups in the population, related either to a low intake or to a disorder in the reabsorbtion mechanisms. Mineral water decreased the systolic blood pressure in that particular risk group.

Paraben Content in Adjacent Normal-malignant Breast Tissues from Women with Breast Cancer

Objective Accumulation of estrogenic compounds and other carcinogens in normal breast tissues contributes to unpredictable breast cancer incidence during adolescence and throughout life.To assess the role of parabens in this phenomenon,the paraben content of adjacent normal-malignant breast tissues is measured in women with breast cancer living in Isfahan Province,Iran.Methods Adjacent normal-malignant breast tissue samples were obtained from 53 subjects.The parabens including methyl-paraben(Me PB),ethyl-paraben(Et PB),propyl-paraben(Pr PB),and butylparaben(Bu PB)were extracted from the sample supernatant and then subjected to gas chromatography analysis.Results Some risk factors for breast cancer were stimulated by parabens in adjacent malignant-normal breast tissues among young and middle-aged women with breast cancer.We observed a significant association for dose-response pattern of Me PB[OR=98.34(11.43–185.2),P=0.027]for both ER+and PR+women and Me PB[OR=164.3(CI:112.3–216.3),P<0.001]for HER2+women than women with negative receptors.The risk of 95-fold increase in Me PB dose and 164-fold increase in∑PBs dose were significant for women with hereditary breast cancer in first-degree relatives.Conclusions These results may promote future epidemiology studies and strategies to improve women's lifestyle and consume paraben-free products.

Survey of Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Upper Extremity Musculoskeletal Disorders by Repetitive Job Activities Methods in Baker of Iran

Aim: The first purpose is to survey the cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) prevalence in 4 zones of neck, shoulder, hand/wrist and back, and the second purpose is to survey the risk factors producing upper limb musculoskeletal disorders by using OCRA index method. In this analytic-descriptive and cross-sectional study, incorporation of four data collection methods was contained;observing and interviewing methods, using questionnaire and check list, were utilized. Randomly, 384 samples for CTD prevalence and 423 samples for OCRA index exposure survey were collected by cluster ratio sampling. In this study, findings indicated that CTD prevalence was high in studied bakery workers and most disorder and pain were reported in back, knees and hand/wrist. Through different tasks, most percentage of neck CTD (7.1%) and shoulder CTD (27.8%) was related to selling and baker tasks respectively, and most percentage of hand/wrist CTD (33/3%) and back CTD (38.1%) was related to bread baker task. There was a significant correlation between shoulder, hand/wrist and back CTD with bakery and task type, and effect of job background on CTD preva-lence was improved in the above four zones. The rather high prevalence of CTD in the young pop-ulation with average age of 30 years which have a few work experiences and the results of per-formed risk assessment can be taken account of serious warning, if it is not considered.

Ambient Temperature and Mortality Due to External Causes: A Systematic Review

Background: External causes include accidents, injuries or health problems that arise immediately after accidents or other external factors. The purpose of this review was to collect information about the relation between temperature and mortality due to external causes. Methods: A systematic search of articles was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Embase, and Web of Science until January 2017, with no restriction. Broad searches were conducted in all fields, using key words related to ambient temperature exposure and deaths due to external causes. Results: Nine articles were included in the study. Except two articles, one of which had been designed in a cross-sectional way and the other that was retrospective, the rest of the articles were ecological. The outcomes reported were heterogeneous and different metrics had been used in the results;therefore conducting of meta-analysis was not possible. Five articles had found direct and significant relations between high temperature and deaths due to external causes. Only one study found no relation. In the case of cold, one study showed that the proportion of death due to external causes was low during cold waves. Another study showed that there was no relation between cold waves and mortality due to external causes. But one article showed that death due to external causes increased on cold days, significantly. Conclusion: The results of this systematic review showed that high temperatures (heat) were more likely to cause mortality due to external causes than low temperatures (cold). Due to the small number of studies in this field, especially in the context of cold and death due to external causes, it is difficult to make robust conclusions.

Biodiversity of the Micro-morphologies of the Petal Epidermis of Angiosperms &Their Scientific Aesthetics, Quasi-Geometry

The micro-morphologies and biodiversities of the epidermis of flower petals of angiosperms were reported for the first time. By manual slicing anatomy and microscopic photography technique, the micro-morphologies of the upper and lower epidermis of petals of some common ornamental flowers in Kunming were studied, and the biodiversities were discovered. The results showed these much-varied pigment cells appeared not only a new compensation to anatomy, but a new criteria to taxonomy, so that a brand new research field of “Cell Taxonomy” was established instead of the current “Chromosome Taxonomy” widely used in phytosystematics research. Furthermore, the most interesting and significant phenomena was their scientific aesthetics: these pigment cells of flower petals were quite special, planary, far different from the ordinary plant cells in plant organs & tissues. By comparison to ordinary geometry, these colorful cells of the fresh flower petals could be described as “Quasi-geometry” for their special origin and micro-morphological characteristics. As for the aspect of art, it was quite similar to “Quasi-crystal” discovered by Daniel Schechtman, so that the art future was discussed, obviously another new epoch of scientific-art history began.

Assessing preventive health behaviors from COVID-19:a cross sectional study with health belief model in Golestan Province,Northern of Iran

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is a new viral disease that has caused a pandemic in the world.Due to the lack of vaccines and definitive treatment,preventive behaviors are the only way to overcome the disease.Therefore,the present study aimed to determine the preventive behaviors from the disease based on constructs of the health belief model.Methods:: In the present cross-sectional study during March 11–16,2020,750 individuals in Golestan Province of Iran were included in the study using the convenience sampling and they completed the questionnaires through cyberspace.Factor scores were calculated using the confirmatory factor analysis.The effects of different factors were separately investigated using the univariate analyses,including students sample t-test,ANOVA,and simple linear regression.Finally,the effective factors were examined by the multiple regression analysis at a significant level of 0.05 and through Mplus 7 and SPSS 16.Results: The participants’mean age was 33.9±9.45 years;and 57.1%of them had associate and bachelor's degrees.Multiple regression indicated that the mean score of preventive behavior from COVID-19 was higher in females than males,and greater in urban dwellers than rural dwellers.Furthermore,one unit increase in the standard deviation of factor scores of self-efficacy and perceived benefits increased the scores of preventive behavior from COVID-19 by 0.22 and 0.17 units respectively.On the contrary,one unit increase in the standard deviation of factor score of perceived barriers and fatalistic beliefs decreased the scores of the preventive behavior from COVID-19 by 0.36 and 0.19 units respectively.Conclusions: Results: of the present study indicated that female gender,perceived barriers,perceived self-efficacy,fatalistic beliefs,perceived interests,and living in city had the greatest preventive behaviors from COVID-19 respectively.Preventive interventions were necessary among males and villagers.

Inhibition of E. coli and bio-preservation of ground beef by Lactobacillus,black pepper extract and EDTA

The objectives of present study were to evaluate the potential of Lactobacillus reuteri or Lactobacillus casei combined with black pepper extract(BPE)and ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid(EDTA)for controlling the growth of E.coli O157:H7 and improving the chemical,microbiological and sensory quality of ground beef stored at 10℃ for 12 days.The in vitro results indicated that the combination of L.casei with BPE and EDTA had the most potent antibacterial effect against E.coli and resulted in 2.7 log CFU/ml reduction.In ground beef,the combination of L.reuteri or L.casei with BPE and EDTA decreased E.coli and aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts up to 1 and 1.6 log CFU/g,respectively.Meanwhile,this combination significantly reduced the lipid oxidation rate(up to 60%)and improved odor and overall acceptability scores of ground beef.It was concluded that the combination of L.casei with BPE and EDTA could be used in ground beef to control microbial proliferation,retard lipid oxidation,and improve sensory quality.

Metagenomic insights into the variation of bacterial communities and potential pathogenic bacteria in drinking water treatment and distribution systems

High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons was conducted to characterize the changing patterns of bacterial community and potential pathogens in full-scale drinking water treatment and distribution systems.Results showed that Actinobacteria was the predominant phylum in source water,while Proteobacteria dominated after chlorine disinfection and its relative abundance increased from 40.88%±9.45%to 67.86%±27.10%.The genera Pseudarthrobacter,Arenimonas,and Limnohabitans were effectively removed by chlorination,while Phreatobacter,Undibacterium,Pseudomonas,and Sphingomonas within the Proteobacteria phylum were greatly enriched after chlorination.Metagenomic analyses revealed the occurrence of 56 species of potential pathogenic bacteria within 17 genera in drinking water,mainly including Pseudomonas fluorescens and five mycobacteria species,which were also persistent in tap water samples.The bacteria were found to be involved in various pathways,among which considerable groups were related to human diseases,including infectious diseases and even cancers.

Biotoxicity evaluation of zinc oxide nanoparticles on bacterial performance of activated sludge at COD,nitrogen,and phosphorus reduction

The unique properties and growing usage of zinc oxide nanoparticles increase their release in municipal wastewater treatment plants.Therefore,these nanoparticles,by interacting with microorganisms,can fail the suitable functioning of biological systems in treatment plants.For this reason,research into the toxicity of ZnO is urgent.In the present study,the toxicity mechanism of ZnO-NPs towards microbial communities central to granular activated sludge(GAS)performance was assessed over 120-day exposure.The results demonstrate that the biotoxicity of ZnO-NPs is dependent upon its dosage,exposure time,and the extent of reactive oxygen species(ROS)production.Furthermore,GAS performance and the extracellular polymeric substances(EPS)content were significantly reduced at 50 mg/L ZnO-NPs.This exposure led to decreases in the activity of ammonia monooxygenase(25.2%)and nitrate reductase(11.9%)activity.The Field emission scanning electron microscopy images confirmed that ZnO-NPs were able to disrupt the cell membrane integrity and lead to cell/bacterial death via intracellular ROS generation which was confirmed by the Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy analysis.After exposure to the NPs,the bacterial community composition shifted to one dominated by Gram-positive bacteria.The results of this study could help to develop environmental standards and regulations for NPs applications and emissions.

Combined effects of silver nanoparticles and mercury on gill histopathology of zebrafish(Danio rerio)

Objective:To evaluate the combined effects of silver nanoparticles(Ag NPs)and Hg^(2+)on the gill histopathology of zebrafish(Danio rerio)under the controlled conditions.Methods:In this study,one non-lethal concentration of Ag NPs(0.1 mg/L),six concentrations of Hg^(2+)(0.001,0.005,0.01,0.05,0.1 and 0.2 mg/L),and six mixture concentrations of Ag NPs and Hg^(2+)(0.1 plus 0.001,0.005,0.01,0.05,0.1,and 0.2 mg/L)were used as the control group.After 4 days of exposure,samples were prepared for gill histology.Results:The results showed that notable damages were observed in aneurism,such as vacuolation of secondary lamella,fusion,hypertrophy,mucus secretion and necrosis.Moreover,our findings indicated that the Hg^(2+)and Ag NPs alone led to shorter secondary lamella length and smaller lamellae’s diameter of gills compared to the mixture of Ag NPs and Hg^(2+).However,the extent of damages in gill tissues after exposure to mixture of Ag NPs and Hg^(2+)was lower than Hg^(2+)ions and Ag NPs.Conclusions:It appears that the presence of Ag NPs can potentially reduce the toxicity of Hg^(2+)ions.However,to assess the toxicity mechanisms of nanoparticles in presence of pollutants,further studies should be encouraged.