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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Bioremediation of a weathered and a recently oil-contaminated soils from Brazil: a comparison study.

The facility with which hydrocarbons can be removed from soils varies inversely with aging of soil samples as a result of weathering. Weathering refers to the result of biological, chemical and physical processes that can affect the type of hydrocarbons that remain in a soil. These processes enhance the sorption of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) to the soil matrix, decreasing the rate and extent of biodegradation. Additionally, pollutant compounds in high concentrations can more easily affect the microbial population of a recently contaminated soil than in a weathered one, leading to inhibition of the biodegradation process. The present work aimed at comparing the biodegradation efficiencies obtained in a recently oil-contaminated soil (spiked one) from Brazil and an weathered one, contaminated for four years, after the application of bioaugmentation and biostimulation techniques. Both soils were contaminated with 5.4% of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) and the highest biodegradation efficiency (7.4%) was reached for the weathered contaminated soil. It could be concluded that the low biodegradation efficiencies reached for all conditions tested reflect the treatment difficulty of a weathered soil contaminated with a high crude oil concentration. Moreover, both soils (weathered and recently contaminated) submitted to bioaugmentation and biostimulation techniques presented biodegradation efficiencies approximately twice as higher as the ones without the aforementioned treatment (natural attenuation).

Bacteria↗
PubMed2004

The role of adverse weather conditions in acute releases of hazardous substances, Texas, 2000-2001.

High winds, flooding, lightning, and other phenomena associated with adverse weather can cause power failures, equipment damage, and process upsets resulting in chemical releases. Of the 5000 events in Texas that were reported to the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) system during 2000-2001, adverse weather conditions contributed to 110 (2%) events. Rain was the most frequent adverse weather condition. Most events to which adverse weather conditions contributed occurred during June or September; these months correspond with the high temperature and hurricane season in Texas. Most events occurred in coastal counties with large numbers of industrial facilities. Three industries reported the majority of events: industrial and miscellaneous chemicals manufacturing; petroleum refining; and plastics, synthetics, and resin manufacturing. Power failures were associated more often with adverse weather-related events than with nonweather-related events. Releases occurred most commonly from ancillary process equipment and process vessels. Events associated with adverse weather-related conditions involved nine victims. System and process design improvements, such as improved backup power generation and redesigned secondary containment systems, could be explored to reduce the potential negative effects of severe weather.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Use of local climatic data to determine if weather precludes the operation of an air medical system.

INTRODUCTION: Weather is one of many factors that affect safety in an air medical program. Syracuse, New York, has notoriously bad weather, and some have questioned whether an air medical service is practical given central New York's climate. This study was undertaken to determine the extent to which the area's climate could be expected to limit the availability of an air medical service. METHODS: CAMTS weather minimums for rotor-wing programs were compared with 1996-1997 hourly weather observations from the Northeastern Regional Climate Center (NRCC) and sunrise/sunset data from the United States Naval Observatory to determine how frequently weather conditions could be expected to preclude an air medical response in the greater Syracuse area. RESULTS: Exactly 17,544 hourly observations were made. CAMTS weather minimums would have precluded local flights for 606 (3.5%) of these hours and cross-country flights for 1111 (6.3%) hours. Cross-country flights were more likely to be precluded than local flights (P = .001), and both local and cross-country flights were more likely to be precluded at nighttime than in the daytime (P = .001). All flights were more likely to be precluded during winter months than during summer months (P = .000). CONCLUSION: The weather in central New York generally does not preclude the operation of an air medical services system.

Air Ambulances↗
PubMed1984

[Suicide and weather].

In 151 patients, admitted to an intensive care unit after attempted suicide, the possible influence of weather at the time of the attempt was analysed retrospectively. The "biosynoptic daily analysis" of the German Weather Service provided the weather data. There was a 5% and 1%, respectively, significant level for the positive correlation between the time of the attempted suicide and the weather parameters "stable upslide, labile upslide, fog and thunderstorm" and the summarized parameters "warm air, upslide and weather drier than on the two preceding days". Significantly fewer attempts than expected occurred when the weather description was "low pressure and trough situation, labile ground layer--upslide above" and the summarized parameters "subsidence or downslide motion". Besides the individual factors such as the reaction to conflicts and the spectrum of reactions, exogenous factors like weather must be considered as important for the time of suicidal attempt.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Population-based study of the contribution of weather to hip fracture seasonality.

Previous studies have demonstrated seasonal increases in hip fracture incidence, but none have directly assessed the influence of inclement weather on this seasonality. In this study, the daily occurrence of hip fracture among women aged 45 years and older in Rochester, Minnesota, from 1952 through 1989 was ascertained using the resources of the Rochester Epidemiology Project and compared with the occurrence of inclement weather as recorded in hourly readings by the National Weather Service in Rochester for the same time period. Among the women aged 45-74 years, the risk of hip fracture was increased on days with snow (relative risk (RR) = 1.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10-1.81) or freezing rain (RR = 1.82, 95% CI 1.27-2.62). In this group, the elevated risk of hip fracture in winter, compared with summer (RR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.0-2.09), was reduced after controlling for weather (RR = 1.16, 95% CI 0.81-1.65). Among women aged 75 years and older, ice and snow were not strongly related to fracture occurrence. The winter-related increase in risk (RR = 1.16, 95% CI 0.96-1.40) was essentially unchanged after controlling for weather and was similar to the weather-adjusted seasonality of hip fracture occurrence in younger women. These data suggest that there are factors other than weather that may be linked to the seasonal pattern in hip fracture occurrence and that operate at all ages.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

The influence of the weather and the phase of the moon on post-operative nausea and vomiting.

BACKGROUND: Post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is believed and previously reported to be influenced by the weather and the phase of the moon. We therefore determined the effects of specific and general weather patterns as well as the lunar phase on PONV in adults undergoing balanced inhalation anaesthesia. METHODS: The incidence of PONV was prospectively evaluated in 1801 patients undergoing elective surgical, urologic and head and neck procedures. Air temperature, barometric pressure, air water vapour pressure and the general weather situation were obtained from the National Weather Institute in Germany on the days of surgery. Corresponding categories of temperature, pressure, vapour pressure and their day-to-day changes, the general weather situation and the phase of the moon were used to group the patient data. The differences between the proportion of patients having PONV and the proportion predicted to have PONV according to their calculated risk were determined for each category. Further, bivariate and multivariate testing was applied. RESULTS: Within 24 h after anaesthesia, PONV occurred in 555 of the patients (31%). There was no correlation between weather conditions and PONV occurrence or between the phase of the moon and PONV occurrence. Even when corrected for the patients' risk and other potentially confounding factors in multivariate logistic regression analysis, no statistically significant impact of the hypothesized factors could be detected. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that neither the weather nor the phases of the moon have any clinically relevant effect on the incidence of PONV after general anaesthesia.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

A warm heart and a clear head. The contingent effects of weather on mood and cognition.

Prior studies on the association between weather and psychological changes have produced mixed results. In part, this inconsistency may be because weather's psychological effects are moderated by two important factors: the season and time spent outside. In two correlational studies and an experiment manipulating participants' time outdoors (total N = 605), pleasant weather (higher temperature or barometric pressure) was related to higher mood, better memory, and "broadened" cognitive style during the spring as time spent outside increased. The same relationships between mood and weather were not observed during other times of year, and indeed hotter weather was associated with lower mood in the summer. These results are consistent with findings on seasonal affective disorder, and suggest that pleasant weather improves mood and broadens cognition in the spring because people have been deprived of such weather during the winter.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

The effects of weather on fungal abundance and richness among 25 communities in the Intermountain West.

BACKGROUND: Because moisture and temperature influence the growth of fungi, characterizing weather conditions favorable for fungi may be used to predict the abundance and richness of fungi in habitats with different climate conditions. To estimate habitat favorability to fungi, we examined the relationship of fungal abundance and species richness to various weather and environmental parameters in the Intermountain West. We cultured fungi from air and leaf surfaces, and collected continuous temperature and relative humidity measures over the growing season at 25 sites. RESULTS: Fungal richness was positively correlated with fungal abundance (r = 0.75). Measures of moisture availability, such as relative humidity and vapor pressure deficit, explained more of the variance in fungal abundance and richness than did temperature. Climate measurements from nearby weather stations were good predictors of fungal abundance and richness but not as good as weather measurements obtained in the field. Weather variables that took into account the proportion of time habitats experienced favorable or unfavorable relative humidity and temperatures were the best predictors, explaining up to 56% of the variation in fungal abundance and 72% for fungal richness. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the abundance and richness of fungi in a habitat is limited by the duration of unfavorable weather conditions. Because fungal pathogens likely have similar abiotic requirements for growth as other fungi, characterizing weather conditions favorable for fungi also may be used to predict the selective pressures imposed by pathogenic fungi on plants in different habitats.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMed2002

The role of situation assessment and flight experience in pilots' decisions to continue visual flight rules flight into adverse weather.

Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) is a major safety hazard in general aviation. In this study we examined pilots' decisions to continue or divert from a VFR flight into IMC during a dynamic simulation of a cross-country flight. Pilots encountered IMC either early or later into the flight, and the amount of time and distance pilots flew into the adverse weather prior to diverting was recorded. Results revealed that pilots who encountered the deteriorating weather earlier in the flight flew longer into the weather prior to diverting and had more optimistic estimates of weather conditions than did pilots who encountered the deteriorating weather later in the flight. Both the time and distance traveled into the weather prior to diverting were negatively correlated with pilots' previous flight experience. These findings suggest that VFR flight into IMC may be attributable, at least in part, to poor situation assessment and experience rather than to motivational judgment that induces risk-taking behavior as more time and effort are invested in a flight. Actual or potential applications of this research include the design of interventions that focus on improving weather evaluation skills in addition to addressing risk-taking attitudes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Studies on genetics of heat tolerance in dairy cattle with reduced weather information via cluster analysis.

The objective of this study was to explore the possibility of reducing the number of weather stations for studies on genetics of heat tolerance in dairy cattle. The similarity of information from 21 Georgia weather stations was analyzed by cluster analysis. Two major clusters have been found, separating Georgia along the NE and SW line. One weather station was selected for each of the clusters based on the minimal distance to all the remaining weather stations and on completeness of the weather information. The production dataset consisted of 114,751 first-parity test-day records for milk on 14,297 Holsteins from 120 herds in Georgia. Analyses using a model for daily milk yield with temperature-humidity index classes and several other fixed effects showed no increase in error sum of squares when using only two weather stations. The threshold of heat stress was different for each of the two regions but the rate of decline after the threshold was similar. After accounting for different thresholds, the genetic component of heat tolerance for milk was higher with the two-station model. Genetic studies on or evaluation for heat tolerance based on information from a few carefully selected weather stations can be as accurate as those based on information from numerous such stations.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Weather and shade effects on cow corral activities.

Visual scanning at 15-min intervals was used to monitor effects of shade forms and weather types on corral activities of cows. The method allowed one person to observe several dozen cows in a large pen, regardless of grouping pattern. Complete ration eating between 0600 and 1800 h was reduced 13% during hot weather, as compared to cool weather in unshaded corrals or pens with 4-m wide solid strip shades and unprotected manger . Hot afternoon fresh-feed eating response was reduced in comparison to cool weather 14% for unshaded corrals and 46% for strip shaded corrals having unprotected mangers . Cows having the strip shade plus a separate shade over the manger or a combined completely shaded free-stall rest and feeding area had double the ad libitum eating between fresh feed offerings during cool or warm weather over animals with unprotected mangers , and the response was tripled in hot weather. The percentage of cows resting or ruminating in the standing position increased linearly as temperatures increased. The effect was most evident for unshaded cows or those with the strip shade and unprotected manger . The percentage of cows drinking water or lingering around the trough without drinking increased in hot weather for unshaded animals. The observation method is taught easily, and results are useful in extension education programs.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Effects of dietary fiber on intake, milk yield, and digestion by lactating dairy cows during cool or hot, humid weather.

Lactating cows were offered diets with increasing neutral detergent fiber concentrations to determine the effects on intake, milk yield and composition, blood hormones, and nutrient digestion during cool or hot weather conditions. Tifton 85 bermudagrass hay was substituted for corn silage so that the forage portion of diets were: 1) 40% corn silage (control), 2) 32.4% corn silage, 7.6% bermudagrass, 3) 24.8% corn silage, 15.2% bermudagrass, or 4) 17.2% corn silage, 22.8% bermudagrass (dry basis). Dietary neutral detergent fiber concentrations (% dry matter) were 30.2, 33.8, 37.7, and 42.0, respectively. Intake of dry matter declined with increasing dietary neutral detergent fiber during cool and hot periods, but intake adjusted for cool weather treatment differences did not change further during hot weather. Milk yield declined linearly with increasing neutral detergent fiber during cool weather and changed quadratically during hot weather. Milk temperature declined with increasing dietary neutral detergent fiber for the p.m. milking during the cool period and declined with increasing dietary neutral detergent fiber for the a.m. and p.m. milkings during the hot period. Digestibility of neutral detergent fiber improved and ruminal turnover of particulate digesta was increased with greater dietary neutral detergent fiber content. No dietary fiber level by hot weather interaction was observed, suggesting that total energy intake may have and a greater effect on milk yield than dietary fiber content during hot, humid weather.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Weather, Chinook, and stroke occurrence.

BACKGROUND: Changes in weather and season have been linked to stroke occurrence. However, the association has been inconsistent across stroke types. Calgary is a city in the Chinook belt and is subject to high variability in weather conditions. METHODS: We obtained hourly weather data over a 5-year period from 1996 to 2000; Chinook events were identified according to the accepted definition. We reviewed administrative data to determine stroke occurrence and defined stroke types to maximize specificity of diagnosis. To examine the hypothesis that weather affected the number of strokes occurring in a given day, we compared average daily stroke occurrence on Chinook days and non-Chinook days; we compared mean daily temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and wind speed by the number of strokes occurring on any given day. RESULTS: Annual variation in stroke frequency was observed. No seasonal, monthly, or weekly variation in overall stroke occurrence or occurrence by type was evident. No relationship with changes in weather parameters was observed. CONCLUSIONS: We found no association between weather changes and stroke occurrence. A cause-and-effect relationship between weather and stroke occurrence is dubious because of a lack of consistency across studies.

Alberta↗
PubMed2001

Mortality related to cold and air pollution in London after allowance for effects of associated weather patterns.

We looked for atypical weather patterns that could confound, and explain large inconsistencies in, conventional estimates of mortality due to SO(2), CO, and smoke. Using Greater London data for 1976-1995 in the linear temperature/mortality range 0-15 degrees C we determined weather patterns associated with pollutants (all deseasonalized) by single regressions of daily temperature, wind, rain, humidity, and sunshine at successive days advance and delay. Polluted days were colder (P<0.01 for SO(2), CO, and smoke) and less windy and rainy than usual, and this cold weather was more prolonged than usual with 50% maximum temperature depression 5.9 days (95% interval 4.0-7.7) before high SO(2), compared to 2.0 (1.6-2.3) days before average cold days. We also used multiple regression of mortality at 50+ years of age on all these weather factors and pollutants at 0-, 1-, 2- to 4-, 5- to 13-, and 14- to 24-day delays to allow for the atypical weather patterns. This showed cold weather associated with 2.77 excess deaths per million during 24 days following a 1 degrees C fall for 1 day, but no net excess deaths with SO(2) (mean 28.0 ppb) or CO (1.26 ppm). It suggested (P>0.05) some increase with smoke, perhaps acting as surrogate for PM(10), for which data were too scanty to analyze.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed2005

Influence of weather on emergency transport events coded as stroke: population-based study in Japan.

Studying the relation between incidence of stroke and weather is difficult because it requires large-scale community-based data collection. Despite the lack of strong evidence that weather conditions influence stroke incidence, many clinicians feel that meteorological conditions influence the onset of stroke. This study examined whether emergency events related to stroke are influenced by meteorological factors and was based on computerized records of emergency medical transport services in a Japanese city during the period January 1992-December 2003. A total of 53,585 patients transported for an event coded as stroke were analyzed in relation to meteorological factors such as temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure. Poisson regression analysis was applied to clarify the influence of daily meteorological conditions on the daily incidence of emergency transport due to events coded as stroke. Ordinary least squares regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of weather, defined as the combination of meteorological parameters, on the occurrence of emergency transport due to events coded as stroke. Daily mean ambient temperature and daily mean relative humidity showed a statistically significant negative effect on the incidence of the emergency transport events for both men and women (P<0.001). Daily mean barometric pressure was not significantly related to these events. The occurrence of a holiday was negatively related to the incidence (P<0.001). Dry weather and cool weather were likely to shift the circadian curve of the incidence upward. Thus, occurrence of emergency transport due to events coded as stroke is likely to be associated with weather conditions.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Effect of season and weather on pediatric emergency department use.

It is commonly believed that emergency department (ED) use is affected by extreme weather. To test this hypothesis, data concerning use of a pediatric ED during three seasonally diverse months was analyzed in the light of Weather Bureau information concerning daily conditions during the study months. Seven measures of extreme weather were defined: 1) extreme cold (daily high temperature less than or equal to 25 degrees F); 2) extreme heat (daily high temperature greater than or equal to 88 degrees F); 3) unusual cold (winter) with departure from normal of mean temperature less than -10 degrees F; 4) unusual heat (summer) with departure from normal of mean temperature greater than 10 degrees F; 5) precipitation greater than or equal to 0.25 inches (in water-equivalent inches); 6) stormy (thunderstorm, hail, ice, or blowing snow); 7) snow-covered (greater than or equal to 6 inches of snow on the ground). Seasonal use patterns were examined and the proportion of days with each weather factor was compared with the proportion of visits on days with the factor. The data indicate 1) season has a major affect on ED use because it affects prevalence of disease and injury; 2) extremely cold and stormy conditions significant reductions in ED use of approximately 5-20%; 3) 80-95% of expected visits are made on days with very bad weather. The data indicate that weather is a minor factor in determining ED use.

Child↗
PubMed2006

Prevalence of hot weather conditions related to sports participation guidelines: a South Australian investigation.

BACKGROUND: There is scant guidance in the literature on the most appropriate Australian measures of, and thresholds for, extreme heat regarding giving advice on safe sports participation in hot weather. The purpose of this paper is to present a process for investigating two common measures of heat (air temperature, wet bulb globe temperature (WGBT)) in one state in Australia (South Australia), regarding their usefulness in making decisions regarding sports participation in the heat. METHOD: Commonly reported measures and thresholds of extreme heat were identified from a systematic review of guidelines regarding sports participation in hot weather. Dry air temperature (threshold of 35 degrees C), and WBGT index (threshold of 28 degrees C) were highlighted. Repeated daily measures of dry air temperature by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and WBGT index from 12 meteorological recording sites in South Australia (SA) for four consecutive summer periods (2000-2004) were analysed using these thresholds to investigate the prevalence of extremely hot temperatures in SA during these periods. The extremely hot hours-per-day data were standardised using a denominator of per-day-month across the 12 SA recording regions. RESULTS: Across the four summer seasons of data in SA, there were similar standardised numbers of hours-per-day of extremely hot dry air temperature and WBGT index. There was a high correlation between these hours of hot weather measures, highlighting the congruence between hot air and humidity measures. Three distinct regional site groupings were identified, in which there was a different prevalence of extremely hot weather conditions. CONCLUSION: In SA, dry air temperature is an appropriate and robust measure of extreme heat related to sports participation, this measure providing as much information as WBGT in identifying extremely hot periods of weather. Dry air temperature can be readily measured by sports participants or officials irrespective of the geographical location in SA. Three SA regions demonstrated distinct differences in prevalence of extremely hot conditions, suggesting the need for site-specific interpretation of heat participation guidelines to ensure sports safety in hot weather. Other states in Australia could use the approach outlined in this paper to identify the most appropriate measure of extreme heat relevant to local conditions, and to assist in interpreting heat limit guidelines in a local context.

Hot Temperature↗
PubMed2004

Relationship between illness-associated absence in day-care children and weather parameters.

This 5-year study demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between morbidity among children attending day-care centres and various weather parameters. The study was undertaken in south-central Sweden, where sharp seasonal contrasts in climatic and weather conditions occur. Illness-associated absence (IAA) decreased significantly when the weather was bright, sunny and warm, determined using average monthly weather parameters analysed over 60 months. This may be because good weather encourages outdoor activities which, in turn, reduce the risk of spreading respiratory tract infections as outdoor play areas are larger, body contact is less frequent, and any bacteria and viruses present will be readily dispersed. In multiple regression analysis, outdoor temperature was the most prominent parameter linked with IAA. This may reflect the behaviour of the staff with regard to various weather conditions. It is therefore to be recommended that children attending day-care centres should be allowed and encouraged to play outdoors when conditions allow.

Absenteeism↗