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At least 523 records · Page 29Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

The three Rs of fire safety, emergency action, and fire prevention planning: promoting safety at the worksite.

Fire safety is of paramount importance for everyone. In many workplaces, the occupational health nurse's scope of practice encompasses safety related activities. Included within this role is the responsibility for fire safety, emergency action, and fire prevention planning. The Three Rs of fire safety, emergency action, and fire prevention plans are rules, responsibilities, and resources. Myriad building and fire safety codes, regulations, and standards exist with which an employer must comply. An employer's responsibility for installing, testing, inspecting, and maintaining fire safety related equipment is extensive. Emergency action and fire prevention planning begins with conducting a detailed physical survey and preparing site maps. It includes making key policy decisions, writing procedures, and training employees in those procedures by practicing and executing site drills. The best resources available for emergency planning are the local fire department and the property insurer. Planning ahead means an efficient emergency response if disaster strikes. It saves lives, limits property damage, and preserves the environment.

Emergencies↗
PubMed1992

Classification of accidents in the Arctic. A suggestion for adaptation of the Nordic classification for accident monitoring.

Since 1980 the Nordic Medico-Statistical Committee (NOMESCO) has supported the development of the Classification for Accident Monitoring. The objective of the Classification is to provide the foundation for accident prevention. In agreement with the purpose of NOMESCO to establish comparable medical statistics in the Nordic countries, it is considered how the Nordic Classification might be adapted to conditions in Arctic areas, in order also to facilitate accident prevention in these areas. The Classification is multiaxial and describes place of occurrence, injury mechanism, activity (of victim), products involved in accidents, and information of special relevance to traffic accidents and occupational accidents. The hierarchical build-up of the coding system allows subspecification of the variables mentioned above, thus enabling the system to contain such information which is suggested for Arctic areas, and at the same time preserving the comparability of data at an aggregated level. Further development is suggested in a plan of work.

Accidents↗
PubMed2005

An iterative method for calculating gamma-ray build-up factors in multi-layer shields.

Point kernel codes that simulate gamma-ray transport often use build-up factors to take scattered photons into account. This study introduces a new method, for computing multi-layer shield build-up factors. This method, based on an empirical formula for calculating double-layer shield build-up factors, is iterative. For an N-layer shield, each iteration of the method treats the first and the second layer of the shield. It replaces these layers by a single equivalent layer composed of an appropriate material and, hence, it turns the N-layer shield into an (N - 1)-layer shield. In order to determine the equivalent layer of an appropriate material, a neural network approach is developed: some neural networks trained on a large set of various configurations provide the equivalent material for any double-layer configuration. The method is implemented into MERCURE-6.3 straight-line attenuation code and is validated by comparison between MERCURE-6.3 results and reference data for one-dimensional geometries. Reference data obtained from transport calculations performed using the Sn transport code TWODANT. The comparisons prove the accuracy and sturdiness of the method.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2004

Novel forms of chemical protein diversity -- in nature and in the laboratory.

Novel chemical variants of proteins have been found in nature, including potent 'microprotein' natural products and folded protein molecules that contain a cyclic polypeptide chain. Researchers have used chemical synthesis and genetic methods to make these proteins and more: protein catenanes, neoglycoproteins, and artificial protein molecules with novel architectures or made from novel building blocks. De novo design has taken a big step forward with the accurate design and construction of proteins with complex molecular structure. A variety of non-coded amino acids and other building blocks has been used to make increasingly sophisticated protein molecular devices for use as biosensors and for the study of signal transduction inside living cells.

Cyclotides↗
PubMed1999

Indoor air quality and the law in Singapore.

With the greater use of air-conditioned offices in Singapore, achieving good indoor air quality has become an important issue. The laws that impose duties upon designers and contractors with respect to the design and construction of air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) systems are set out in the Building Control Regulations and the Singapore Standard Code of Practice for Mechanical Ventilation and Air-conditioning in Buildings (hereinafter "SS CP 13:1980"). ACMV maintenance is governed by the Environmental Public Health Act, the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act, and the Land Titles (Strata) Act, as well as by lease or tenancy agreements. Designers, contractors, developers, building owners and management corporations may also be liable to the workers, occupants and other premises users for indoor air quality (IAQ)-related injuries under the general principles of contract and tort. Recently, the Guidelines for Good Indoor Air Quality in Office Premises was issued by the Ministry of Environment to complement SS CP 13:1980 toward improving the indoor air quality of air-conditioned office premises. Although the Guidelines have no statutory effect, they may be adopted as contractual requirements in construction, lease and maintenance contracts. They may also be used to determine the relevant standard of duty of care required to discharge tortious liability. This paper looks at the existing laws and rules affecting the design, construction and maintenance of air-conditioned offices in light of Part III of the Ministry's Guidelines.

Air Conditioning↗
PubMed2002

Which coding system for therapeutic information in evidence-based medicine.

The coding of information in the computer representation of clinical trials is essential both for the rationalisation of the activities involved in the production of therapeutic information for evidence-based decision support and for the integration of the messages produced by these activities with clinical information and electronic patient record systems. There is no standard coding system available, however, so building on existing evaluations, we performed a simple semi-quantitative evaluation of ICD-10, CDAM, MEDDRA, MESH, READ, SNOMED and UMLS to provide objective criteria for the choice of a coding system. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for four clinical trials recorded in TriSum constituted the corpus of evaluation texts. Criteria included coding coverage, size, integration and language coverage. The results of the comparison lead us to choose SNOMED as the most appropriate coding system for our needs. The absence of a European Medical Language System project is observed, as is the need for combinatorial as opposed to enumerative systems.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed1999

Monte Carlo modelling of radiotherapy kV x-ray units.

To obtain accurate information for absorbed dose calculations in water for kilovoltage x-rays, the photon spectrum, planar fluence and the angular distribution of the photons at the collimator exit of the x-ray unit have to be known. The only way to obtain this information is by Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. Compared with the situation for high-energy photons and electrons, where in recent years numerous papers have been devoted to MC modelling of complete clinical accelerator units, there is a lack of similar work for kV x-ray units. A reliable MC model for a kV x-ray unit would allow the output information to be used in a treatment planning system for regular and irregular treatment fields. Furthermore, with MC simulation, perturbation factors of dose-measuring devices, such as those specified in codes of practice, can be calculated. In this work, the MC code EGS4/BEAM was used to build realistic models of two complete x-ray units. The tungsten target, exit window, collimator, additional filtration and applicator were taken into account. For some aspects of the work, a comparison was made with the simulations from another MC code, MCNP4B. The contribution to the characteristic radiation from electron impact ionization and from the photoelectric effect of reabsorbed bremsstrahlung photons was studied. Calculated and measured photon fluence spectra in air and half-value layers for a Philips MCN410 tube were compared for several anode voltages and additional filtrations. Results from the two codes agreed well, and the agreement with measured spectra was found to be good for energies above 50 keV but rather less good below that energy. For a Siemens Stabilipan 2 Th300 x-ray tube, HVLs and dose distributions in water were compared with measurements for several clinical x-ray qualities. For most of the combinations of radiation qualities and applicators, good agreement was obtained, although there were also some cases where the agreement was not so good. Electron contamination and photon build-up at the water surface were studied using MC simulation. The influence of depth on the photon spectral distribution was investigated. Both EGS4/BEAM and MCNP4B, in their default versions, handle inadequately the production of characteristic x-rays. This was found to have only a minor influence on the calculated dosimetric quantities. Simulations with MCNP4B required the use of several variance reduction techniques in order to obtain results within reasonable calculation times.

Calibration↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Peptide-encoding for structure determination of nonsequenceable polymers within libraries synthesized and tested on solid-phase supports.

A method of indirectly determining the structure of nonpeptidic or nonsequenceable compounds that have been synthesized on individual particles of solid support is described. The technique permits the parallel synthesis of a compound that is not susceptible to Edman degradation (e.g., N-terminal-blocked peptide), or one containing components that cannot be identified by amino acid sequencing, together with a corresponding "coding" peptide. Each coupling step in the assembly of the nonsequenceable compound is followed by the coupling of an amino acid to a different attachment site of the same carrier particle, whereby the amino acid unambiguously codes for the previously coupled building block of the nonsequenceable compound. The rationale is to enable the sequence determination of a biologically active compound that has been identified through the screening of a library of nonequenceable compounds, by translating the sequence of its "coding" peptide, determined by Edman degradation, into the structure of the active compound. The technique facilitates the construction and screening of nonpeptidic libraries for the discovery of important pharmaceutical compounds.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2004

Expanding the genetic code.

Although chemists can synthesize virtually any small organic molecule, our ability to rationally manipulate the structures of proteins is quite limited, despite their involvement in virtually every life process. For most proteins, modifications are largely restricted to substitutions among the common 20 amino acids. Herein we describe recent advances that make it possible to add new building blocks to the genetic codes of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Over 30 novel amino acids have been genetically encoded in response to unique triplet and quadruplet codons including fluorescent, photoreactive, and redox-active amino acids, glycosylated amino acids, and amino acids with keto, azido, acetylenic, and heavy-atom-containing side chains. By removing the limitations imposed by the existing 20 amino acid code, it should be possible to generate proteins and perhaps entire organisms with new or enhanced properties.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed2003

Sub-grouping of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 var genes based on sequence analysis of coding and non-coding regions.

BACKGROUND: The variant surface antigen family Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein-1 (PfEMP1) is an important target for protective immunity and is implicated in the pathology of malaria through its ability to adhere to host endothelial receptors. The sequence diversity and organization of the 3D7 PfEMP1 repertoire was investigated on the basis of the complete genome sequence. METHODS: Using two tree-building methods we analysed the coding and non-coding sequences of 3D7 var and rif genes as well as var genes of other parasite strains. RESULTS: var genes can be sub-grouped into three major groups (group A, B and C) and two intermediate groups B/A and B/C representing transitions between the three major groups. The best defined var group, group A, comprises telomeric genes transcribed towards the telomere encoding PfEMP1s with complex domain structures different from the 4-domain type dominant of groups B and C. Two sequences belonging to the var1 and var2 subfamilies formed independent groups. A rif subgroup transcribed towards the centromere was found neighbouring var genes of group A such that the rif and var 5' regions merged. This organization appeared to be unique for the group A var genes CONCLUSION: The grouping of var genes implies that var gene recombination preferentially occurs within var gene groups and it is speculated that the groups reflect a functional diversification evolved to cope with the varying conditions of transmission and host immune response met by the parasite.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Evacuation behaviours of occupants with learning difficulties in residential homes.

PURPOSE: This paper reports the results of unannounced evacuation of two residential care premises providing accommodation for people with learning disabilities. METHOD: Awareness of disability has in relation to fire safety focussed generally on mobility. With the advent of performance-based fire safety engineering codes which require the characterization of buildings and their occupants it is necessary to obtain knowledge of the likely behaviours of people with learning difficulties in an emergency. The unannounced evacuations which were conducted at 11.30 pm were video recorded to enable observation and an analysis of the residents' behaviours. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The results and observations obtained raise many issues; including transferable training skills, predictability of evacuation behaviours, and the need in performance code evaluation to consider the characterization of buildings and their occupants as mutually inclusive processes.

Facility Design and Construction↗
PubMed1985

Localization of the initiation of translation in messenger RNAs of prokaryotes by learning techniques.

Learning processes are applied to the recognition of protein coding regions in prokaryotes. Non-contradictory, statistical and logical rules are deduced from a set of known examples of coding sequences. These rules enable to build characteristic patterns on the m-RNA upstream of the initiating codon. These rules are applied with success to recognize more than 180 coding sequences and to detect and/or eliminate hypothetical reading frames or unknown genes.

Bacteria↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The hidden code in genomics: a tool for gene discovery.

Among new insights coming from the completion of sequencing of the human genome, reported in Nature and Science, are clues of how evolution has increased the complexity of species, and in particular how the genetic code has enabled this process. It is clear that life has not only evolved by increasing the number of genes, but also by ingeniously evolving an efficient code for expressing diversity in the building blocks (i.e. the amino acids). The rules of nucleic acid base pairing and the classification of amino acids according to hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity relationships define a binary DNA code, which determines the general biophysical characteristics of proteins. Sense and antisense strands can encode protein segments having inverted and complementary hydropathy. The underlying binary code controls association and dissociation of proteins and presumably represents a primordial code that might have emerged in the early stages of self-organizing biochemical cycles. It is the purpose of this communication to provide a perspective of the code in the context of a binary language from its primordial origin to its present day format and to propose to use this code as a genomic mining tool.

Expressed Sequence Tags↗
PubMed1999

Distribution of mesothelioma cases in different occupational groups and industries in Australia, 1979-1995.

Australia was a producer and user of asbestos and has one of the highest national incidences of mesothelioma in the world. The incidence is still rising and expected to do so for another 10-20 years. A study was conducted in 1996 to examine the past and current incidence rates of mesothelioma in a number of industries and occupations as the basis for predicting future outcomes. Occupational histories of a total of 3758 mesothelioma cases collected by two sequential national schemes--the Australian Mesothelioma Surveillance Program (1979-1985) and Australian Mesothelioma Register (1986-1995)--were reviewed and coded by the authors. The building industry contributed the largest number of cases nationwide followed by shipbuilding and repair, asbestos cement production, crocidolite mining and milling, railway locomotive construction and repair, coal-fired power stations, and other engineering operations. The mean latency between initial occupational asbestos exposure and diagnosis of the disease was 37.4 years (range = 4-66 years) for cases notified between 1979 and 1985, and 41.4 years (range = 6-84 years) for those between 1986 and 1995. Trends for each industry group have been changing considerably in the past 16 years, with the traditional primary asbestos industry cases from crocidolite mining and milling now on the decline and cases from asbestos cement production having plateaued. In contrast, more recently, more cases were observed from the asbestos user industries such as the building industry, and from occupations such as plumbers, carpenters, machinists, and car mechanics. These increases might be a reflection of the longer latency effects of the intermittent and less severe exposures in these larger occupational groups.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Quiz-o-matic: a free Web-based tool for construction of self-scoring on-line quizzes.

Increasingly, educators are using the World-Wide Web (the Web) and related technology to supplement their traditional teaching materials. In this paper, we present a free tool that has been placed on the Web to enable educators to create Web pages that present self-scoring quizzes. Such Web-based practice quizzes provide students with an opportunity for interactive assessment and review of course material. The tool, Quiz-o-Matic, uses active server pages to build the HTML and JavaScript code for each quiz, without requiring the user to edit any code. We present evidence that students judge the self-scoring quizzes to be useful and worthwhile additions to a course.

Chicago↗
PubMed2004

[The biography of a neuron].

A summary review of current concepts regarding the major events in the long life cycle (the "biography") of a typical human brain neuron, and the main cellular and molecular mechanisms involved, is provided. Once born in the embryo, neurons never undergo cell division: Their differentiated phenotype, which includes the multiple neuronal networks that each cell establishes, is the cumulative result, over years of development, if many cell-autonomous (intrinsic) and intercellular (extrinsic) signaling events that regulate gene expression. The effect of such signals is not just qualitative, but dependent on their precise timing and dosage. Moreover, most intercelullar signals are powerfully regulated by tissue spatial constraints, or by the patterned bioelectrical activity (spontaneous and/or experience-related) of the developing neuronal networks. Thus, a major part of the biological information required to build each adult neuron is coded by a myriad of temporally-, spatially- or activity-dependent signaling events that occur within the developing neuronal networks themselves over a very protracted period. These facts cast serious doubt on the biological soundness of cell-replacement strategies as substitutes for damaged adult brain neurons.

Cell Differentiation↗
PubMed1996

Efficiencies of different genes and different tree-building methods in recovering a known vertebrate phylogeny.

The relative efficiencies of different protein-coding genes of the mitochondrial genome and different tree-building methods in recovering a known vertebrate phylogeny (two whale species, cow, rat, mouse, opossum, chicken, frog, and three bony fish species) was evaluated. The tree-building methods examined were the neighbor joining (NJ), minimum evolution (ME), maximum parsimony (MP), and maximum likelihood (ML), and both nucleotide sequences and deduced amino acid sequences were analyzed. Generally speaking, amino acid sequences were better than nucleotide sequences in obtaining the true tree (topology) or trees close to the true tree. However, when only first and second codon positions data were used, nucleotide sequences produced reasonably good trees. Among the 13 genes examined, Nd5 produced the true tree in all tree-building methods or algorithms for both amino acid and nucleotide sequence data. Genes Cytb and Nd4 also produced the correct tree in most tree-building algorithms when amino acid sequence data were used. By contrast, Co2, Nd1, and Nd41 showed a poor performance. In general, large genes produced better results, and when the entire set of genes was used, all tree-building methods generated the true tree. In each tree-building method, several distance measures or algorithms were used, but all these distance measures or algorithms produced essentially the same results. The ME method, in which many different topologies are examined, was no better than the NJ method, which generates a single final tree. Similarly, an ML method, in which many topologies are examined, was no better than the ML star decomposition algorithm that generates a single final tree. In ML the best substitution model chosen by using the Akaike information criterion produced no better results than simpler substitution models. These results question the utility of the currently used optimization principles in phylogenetic construction. Relatively simple methods such as the NJ and ML star decomposition algorithms seem to produce as good results as those obtained by more sophisticated methods. The efficiencies of the NJ, ME, MP, and ML methods in obtaining the correct tree were nearly the same when amino acid sequence data were used. The most important factor in constructing reliable phylogenetic trees seems to be the number of amino acids or nucleotides used.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1995

Rural cooperative coding project.

Data quality is the cornerstone on which other quality activities are built. The importance of accurately coded data cannot be overlooked. The Rural Cooperative Coding Project sought to collaborate with rural hospitals in Utah to improve the quality of that data through an individualized educational program allowing open and active discussions. We hope that this project has assisted rural facilities in building and enhancing their own ongoing coding and data quality improvement activities.

Abstracting and Indexing↗