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At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Runoff simulation with particle-associated azinphosmethyl in multispecies stream microcosms: implications for the field.

We investigated the acute (5 d) effects of particle-associated azinphosmethyl (AZP) in multispecies microcosms and assessed the results in the context to data obtained from a parallel field study undertaken in the Lourens River, South Africa. A runoff simulation was carried out in stream microcosms containing the macroinvertebrate fauna of an uncontaminated Lourens River site exposed to particle-associated AZP (control and 200, 1000, 5000, 20,000 microg/kg; three replicates each) for 1 h. Measured AZP concentrations in filtered microcosm water resulted in the following values: Not detectable (control) and 0.03, 0.2, 1.1, and 6.9 microg/L, respectively. The two highest treatments resulted in significantly (analysis of variance [ANOVA]) reduced total numbers of individuals, while the number of taxa was affected in the 20,000 microg/kg treatment only. A comparison with previous data suggests that observed effects partly resulted from particle-associated AZP. Particularly affected were six out of 14 macroinvertebrate taxa such as mayfly and stonefly taxa. In parallel, the distribution of macroinvertebrates at a pesticide-free and a contaminated stretch of the Lourens River was monitored five times during the spraying season in 2001 and 2002. Out of the 14 core taxa found in the microcosm study as well as in the field approach, 10 showed comparable reactions in the microcosm experiment and in their field distribution; they were either classified as affected or unaffected in both studies. Thus, we conclude that particle-associated AZP has the potential to affect the invertebrate community structure of the Lourens River and that microcosm studies employing field-relevant exposure scenarios may be valuable for a local risk assessment of pesticide-related community disruptions in the Lourens River.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

The European Community and dental education.

This paper traces the impact of the Rome Treaty of March 1957 on the countries of the European Economic Community relative to dental education. It also reviews the studies that have been conducted to help determine how best to implement the freedom of movement of dentists throughout the Community.

Education, Dental↗
PubMed2005

Dissimilatory iron reduction and odor indicator abatement by biofilm communities in swine manure microcosms.

Animal waste odors arising from products of anaerobic microbial metabolism create community relations problems for livestock producers. We investigated a novel approach to swine waste odor reduction: the addition of FeCl(3), a commonly used coagulant in municipal wastewater treatment, to stimulate degradation of odorous compounds by dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria (DIRB). Two hypotheses were tested: (i) FeCl(3) is an effective source of redox-active ferric iron (Fe(3+)) for dissimilatory reduction by bacteria indigenous to swine manure, and (ii) dissimilatory iron reduction results in significant degradation of odorous compounds within 7 days. Our results demonstrated that Fe(3+) from FeCl(3) was reduced biologically as well as chemically in laboratory microcosms prepared with prefiltered swine manure slurry and limestone gravel, which provided pH buffering and a substrate for microbial biofilm development. Addition of a 1-g liter(-1) equivalent concentration of Fe(3+) from FeCl(3), but not from presynthesized ferrihydrite, caused initial, rapid solids flocculation, chemical Fe(3+) reduction, and E(h) increase, followed by a 2-day lag period. Between 2 and 6 days of incubation, increases in Fe(2+) concentrations were accompanied by significant reductions in concentrations of volatile fatty acids used as odor indicators. Increases in Fe(2+) concentrations between 2 and 6 days did not occur in FeCl(3)-treated microcosms that were sterilized by gamma irradiation or amended with NaN(3), a respiratory inhibitor. DNA sequences obtained from rRNA gene amplicons of bacterial communities in FeCl(3)-treated microcosms were closely related to Desulfitobacterium spp., which are known representatives of DIRB. Use of iron respiration to abate wastewater odors warrants further investigation.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed2005

Soil microbial diversity and soil functioning affect competition among grasses in experimental microcosms.

A gradient of microbial diversity in soil was established by inoculating pasteurized soil with microbial populations of different complexity, which were obtained by a combination of soil fumigation and filtering techniques. Four different soil diversity treatments were planted with six different grass species either in monoculture or in polyculture to test how changes of general microbial functions, such as catabolic diversity and nutrient recycling efficiency would affect the performance of the plant communities. Relatively harsh soil treatments were necessary to elicit visible effects on major soil processes such as decomposition and nitrogen cycling due to the high redundancy and resilience of soil microbial communities. The strongest effects of soil diversity manipulations on plant growth occurred in polycultures where interspecific competition between plants was high. In polycultures, soil diversity reduction led to a gradual, linear decline in biomass production of one subordinate grass species (Bromus hordeaceus), which was compensated by increased growth of two intermediate competitors (Aegilops geniculata, B. madritensis). This negative covariance in growth of competing grass species smoothed the effects of soil diversity manipulations at the plant community level. As a result, total shoot biomass production remained constant. Apparently the effects of soil diversity manipulations were buffered because functional redundancy at both, the microbial and the plant community level complemented each other. The results further suggests that small trade-offs in plant fitness due to general functional shifts at the microbial level can be significant for the outcome of competition in plant communities and thus diversity at much larger scales.

Biodiversity↗
PubMed2002

Making the most of collaboration: exploring the relationship between partnership synergy and partnership functioning.

Considering the challenges inherent to collaboration and the time it takes to achieve measurable outcomes, partnerships need a way to determine, at an early stage, whether they are making the most of collaboration. The authors have developed a new measure, partnership synergy, which assesses the degree to which a partnership's collaborative process successfully combines its participants' perspectives, knowledge, and skills. This article reports the results of a national study designed to examine the relationship between partnership synergy and six dimensions of partnership functioning: leadership, administration and management, partnership efficiency, nonfinancial resources, partner involvement challenges, and community-related challenges. Data were collected from 815 informants in 63 partnerships. Results of regression analysis conducted with partnership-level data indicated that partnership synergy was most closely related to leadership effectiveness and partnership efficiency. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed2000

Female adolescents and their sexuality: notions of honour, shame, purity and pollution during the floods.

This paper explores the experiences of female adolescents during the 1998 floods in Bangladesh, focusing on the implications of socio-cultural norms related to notions of honour, shame, purity and pollution. These cultural notions are reinforced with greater emphasis as girls enter their adolescence, regulating their sexuality and gender relationships. In Bangladeshi society, adolescent girls are expected to maintain their virginity until marriage. Contact is limited to one's family and extended relations. Particularly among poorer families, adolescent girls tend to have limited mobility to safeguard their 'purity'. This is to ensure that the girl's reputation does not suffer, thus making it difficult for the girl to get married. For female adolescents in Bangladesh, a disaster situation is a uniquely vulnerable time. Exposure to the unfamiliar environment of flood shelters and relief camps, and unable to maintain their 'space' and privacy from male strangers, a number of the girls were vulnerable to sexual and mental harassment. With the floods, it became difficult for most of the girls to be appropriately 'secluded'. Many were unable to sleep, bathe or get access to latrines in privacy because so many houses and latrines were under the water. Some of the girls who had begun menstruation were distressed at not being able to keep themselves clean. Strong social taboos associated with menstruation and the dirty water that surrounded them made it difficult for the girls to wash their menstrual cloths or change them frequently enough. Many of them became separated from their social network of relations, which caused them a great deal of anxiety and stress. Their difficulty in trying to follow social norms have had far-reaching implications on their health, identity, family and community relations.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Listening to native patients. Changes in physicians' understanding and behaviour.

OBJECTIVE: To discover how physicians develop an understanding of Native patients and communities that enables them to communicate better with these patients. DESIGN: Qualitative method of in-depth interviews. SETTING: Native communities across Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Ten non-Native physicians providing primary care to Native patients and communities. METHOD: In-depth, semistructured interviews explored communication strategies developed by primary care physicians working with Native patients. The audiotaped and transcribed interviews were analyzed by the investigators using the phenomenologic approach of immersion and crystallization. MAIN FINDINGS: Three main themes emerged. First was elements of communication: during patient-physician communication, physicians speak less, take more time with patients, and become comfortable with silence. Second was community context: patients' illnesses are not distinct from their community context; patient care and community relations, culture, and values are often inseparable. Third was the process of change in physicians: over time, participants increased understanding of Native culture, ways of communicating, and behaviour. Change comes about through long service, listening well, and participating in community events. CONCLUSION: Developing cross-cultural communication was difficult and took years, if not forever. Understanding Native communities changed physicians. They described a journey of self-examination, development of personal relationships, and rewards and frustrations.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Microbial communities in different soil types do not converge after diesel contamination.

AIMS: To study the comparative effect of diesel addition and simulated bioremediation on the microbial community in three different soil types. METHODS AND RESULTS: Three different soils were amended with diesel and bioremediation treatment simulated by addition of nutrients. The progress of bioremediation, and the effect on the indigenous microbial communities, was monitored using microbiological techniques. These included basal respiration, sole carbon source utilization patterns using both a commercially-available substrate set and a set designed to highlight changes in hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria, and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiling. The development of active hydrocarbon-degrading communities was indicated by the disappearance of diesel, increases in soil respiration and biomass, and large changes in the sole carbon source utilization patterns and PLFA profiles compared with control soils. However, comparison of the relative community structure of the three soils using PLFA profiling showed that there was no tendency for the community structure of the three different soil types to converge as a result of contamination. In fact, they became more dissimilar as a result. Changes in the sole carbon source utilization patterns using the commercially-available set of carbon sources indicated the same result as shown by PLFA profiling. The specially selected set of carbon sources yielded no additional information compared with the commercially-available set. CONCLUSIONS: Diesel contamination does not result in the development of similar community profiles in different soil types. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The results suggest that different soils have different inherent microbial potential to degrade hydrocarbons, a finding that should be taken into account in impact and risk assessments. Following the development of the microbial community and its recovery is a useful and sensitive way of monitoring the impact and recovery of oil-contaminated soils.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1992

Stirring the social pot. Community effects of program and policy research.

The increasing interest in a national health program will lead to major changes in healthcare. The coming changes will be larger perhaps than those of the past decade and almost certainly will be outward--outside large institutions, into communities. Community relations will become increasingly important and therefore should become a part of studies to guide administrative decisions regarding program development. Administrators and their research collaborators should be aware of the unintended "side effects" of such community-oriented research. These effects have organizational and research implications that decision makers may choose to use to build community-organization alliances and promote public education to create supportive and informed consumers and a responsive healthcare system.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed2000

RESEARCH: Plant Community Structure in Relation to Long-Term Disturbance by Mechanized Military Maneuvers in a Semiarid Region.

/ Mechanized military maneuvers are an intensive form of disturbance to plant communities in large areas throughout the world. Tracking by heavy vehicles can cause direct mortality and indirectly affect plant communities through soil compaction and by altering competitive relationships. We assessed the long-term condition of structural attributes of open woodland, grassland, and shrubland communities at Fort Carson, Colorado, in relation to levels of disturbance and soil texture. Covariate analyses were used to help separate the directional forcings by the chronic disturbance from the regenerative capacities in order to assess the relative resistance and resilience of the communities and to determine whether the continual disturbance-recovery processes balanced under current levels of utilization. All three communities responded differently to disturbance. In open woodlands, altered understory/overstory relationships were suggested by increased grass, forb, shrub, and total vegetation cover and smaller decreases in shorter than taller woody species with increasing levels of disturbance. Grassland communities generally displayed greater responses to disturbance than other communities, but temporal dynamics were often similar, indicating relatively less resistance but greater resilience of this community. Weed and exotic species increased both temporally and in relation to levels of disturbance in all three community types. Temporal trends in community-level indices of dissimilarity and diversity also indicate that rates of disturbance were greater than rates of recovery. Few variables were related to within-community differences in soil texture. While total aerial cover was temporally stable, changes in species composition and in basal cover in grasslands and shrublands suggest increasing erosion potential.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1999

Voices from the field--a qualitative analysis of classroom, school, district, and state health education policies and programs.

This study provides a qualitative analysis of responses from classroom-, school-, district-, and state-level educators and administrators to open-ended questions about school health education. These questions were posed as part of the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS), conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1994, and elicited a range of responses about the status of school health education programs and factors that facilitated and hindered the delivery of such programs. To improve school health education in the United States, respondents cited the need to increase the value and priority of health education in the school curriculum and advocated for 1) professional preparation in health education for persons teaching health-related courses, 2) health education course curricula to address important and timely issues, 3) student testing in health education, 4) improved resources and support for health education, and 5) increased communication and collaboration within their schools and communities related to health education.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗
PubMed2004

Colorectal cancer among Yemeni patients. Characteristics and trends.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe the characteristics and trends of colorectal cancer registered in Aden Cancer Registry. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of all registered cancers (1735) was performed at Aden Cancer Center, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen from the years 1997-2001, to describe colorectal cancers with regards to age, sex and residency distribution, subsites and histopathology, and incidence rates. RESULTS: The results indicate that digestive system cancers are the most common cancers (17.1%); and colorectal cancer (28%) is the most common of these. Developing countries characteristics of this cancer are clear. These include a relatively high proportion of early-onset tumor (19.3% of cases were <40 years), and left sided subsite distribution (49.4% of cases were in the rectum and rectosigmoid junction). CONCLUSION: Further analytical studies, to address the community-related risk factors, public education, and screening programs for colorectal cancer are mandatory.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Federal, state, and local partnerships in providing primary care: one urban health department's endeavor with a state university medical center.

We describe how the federal government, the City of Chicago, and the State of Illinois worked together to increase the availability and accessibility of health care services on Chicago's underserved west side by reopening a bankrupt, federally-funded community health center. The federal government made the building available to the City which then contracted with a state university medical center to be the provider of services. This partnering has allowed the Chicago Department of Health to offer services in a previously underserved area. The University has gained an opportunity for community-based primary care teaching, as well as community relations. Patients have increased access to a wide variety of specialty and inpatient care. If public health providers are to be successful in this financial climate, they must look to new partners and new ways of delivering services to increase availability of services at a time when they are greatly needed.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Health and social context: social capital's utility as a construct for nursing and health promotion.

Social capital is a health-related construct that is a way for pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) to conceptualize the interconnectedness between health and social relations. Applying the concept of "social capital" to child and family health has the capacity to help PNPs reframe persistent questions and explore health issues in new and creative ways. A health-enabling environment must be built using a bottom-up approach, with participatory health promotion programs and internally driven community health projects. PNPs must create opportunities for networking and diffusing knowledge about community-related health issues. PNPs also must build their own social capital and practice "vision therapy" to develop new interventions to enhance child and family health.

Community Networks↗
PubMed2005

Community-level physiological profiles of cloacal microbes in songbirds (order: Passeriformes): variation due to host species, host diet, and habitat.

The relationship between microorganisms and birds has received increased attention recently. The state of knowledge of this relationship, however, is based largely on examination of sick or dead birds, and knowledge of the prevalence and community structure and function of microbes in healthy wild populations is limited. Using carbon substrate utilization profiles, microbial communities were examined in 91 cloacal samples from 14 species within apparently healthy summer and winter passerine populations. Within each season, gradient lengths and eigenvalues from ordination analyses suggested that many samples differed in their carbon substrate utilization and several had very different communities. Cloacal microbe carbon utilization profiles were distinguishable among host species, season-specific diet, and study site in the ordination analyses. However, these patterns were only observed for the analysis of the summer data set. The results of this study support the idea that the avian host's microbial community, relative to carbon substrate utilization, is related to host diet. Previously, this pattern had only been reported for potential pathogens isolated from the avian cloaca. Study site-specific patterns in the ordination analysis suggest that environmental conditions at a particular study site may influence cloacal microbial communities in birds. Results of this study indicate that examination of community-level physiological profiles may be a useful technique for distinguishing among avian cloacal samples, similar to that already established for discriminating aqueous and soil samples. Future studies that correlate microbe physiological profiles to condition-based indices of avian hosts may be most useful for eventually using the profile as an indicator of environmental conditions experienced by hosts.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Waste incineration, Part I: Technology.

Based upon an overview of the technology of incineration and the nature of hospital waste, HHMM offers the following suggestions: Old retort or other excess air incinerators should be replaced regardless of age. Even if emissions control equipment and monitoring devices can be retrofitted, excess-air incinerators are no longer cost-effective in terms of capacity, fuel consumption, and heat recovery. Audit (or have a specialist audit) your waste stream thoroughly. Consult a qualified engineering company experienced in hospital installations to get a system specified as exactly as possible to your individual conditions and needs. Make sure that the capacity of your incinerator will meet projections for future use. Anticipate the cost of emissions control and monitoring devices whether your state currently requires them or not. Make sure that your incinerator installation is engineered to accept required equipment in the future. Develop a strong community relations program well in advance of committing to incinerator installation. Take a proactive position by inviting your neighbors in during the planning stages. Be sure the contract governing incinerator purchase and installation has a cancellation clause, preferably without penalties, in case community action or a change in state regulations makes installation and operation impractical. The technology is available to enable hospitals to burn waste effectively, efficiently, and safely. HHMM echoes the concerns of Frank Cross--that healthcare facilities, as well as regional incinerators and municipalities, show the same concern for environmental protection as for their bottom lines. When emissions are under control and heat is recovered, both the environment and the bottom line are healthier.

Maintenance and Engineering, Hospital↗
PubMed1995

[The conceptual values of community medicine].

The original basis of community-related medicine, hygiene, has academic traditions reaching back to early in the last century. The newer "free", "social medicine", burst forth after World War II. In the recent years, many new branches have arisen from these main trunks, e.g. public health, community medicine, epidemiology, occupational medicine, environmental medicine, health promotion etc. The new branches are frequently given designations that lead to false ideas of consistent conceptual structures that do not exist, and only contribute to considerable professional confusion. The author considers conceptual clarification to be urgent. A limited number of simple, understandable and logically developed main designations and classifications are needed. Scandinavian classification principles should be harmonized with common international concepts.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

An implementation framework for household and community integrated management of childhood illness.

This paper describes the development and recent history of the third component of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy, improving household and community practices (HH/C IMCI). An implementation framework for this third component, developed through review of experiences of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in community-based child health and nutrition programmes, is then presented. This Framework responds to demand from NGOs and their partners for a description of the different categories of community-level activities necessary for the implementation of a comprehensive child health and nutrition programme. These categories of activities facilitate the systematic cataloguing, synthesis and coordination of organizational activities and experience. It also serves as a reference tool for improving communication of related community child health activities, and a guide for designing appropriate behaviour change strategies. The Framework was endorsed by participants in an international workshop held in Baltimore, Maryland in January 2001, and specified three linked elements that are integral to HH/C IMCI, supported by a multi-sectoral platform that addresses constraints communities face in adopting practices that promote health and nutrition. The three programmatic Elements critical to HH/C IMCI programmes are (1). improving partnerships between health facilities or services and the communities they serve; (2). increasing appropriate and accessible care and information from community-based providers; and (3). integrating promotion of key family practices critical for child health and nutrition. The Framework presented in this paper is an ideal tool for describing, sharing and coordinating efforts in the field, and is purposely descriptive rather than prescriptive.

Child↗