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The workshop discussed the possibility of breaking the link between economic growth and environmental damage, and options that would encourage industry and government to take steps to reduce emissions, with 8 catalysts for change identified.
The workshop discussed the possibilities of innovative technologies to increase food production. Most of the concepts discussed are based on rainfall management, conservation and recycling. Simple technologies, adopted to local circumstances, can increase farm yields in small-scale agriculture. Small-scale rainfed agriculture is viable with intelligent utilisation of harvested rainfall. These small-scale technologies need however to be complemented with educational programs, incentives and trade to be broadly adopted and effective. The need for better documentation of results was also raised in the discussion.
Water awareness and communication are crucial for developing water security. Better knowledge and improved insight can lead to new ways of thinking and hence more effective handling of water-related problems. The outcomes of the workshop are summarised.
Population increase and growing quantities of human excreta create serious problems and high risks for people's health. Alternative solutions are becoming crucial to improve urban living conditions, and to shorten water and nutrient flows into circulation of used water and nutrient in human excreta. The speakers presented a wide range of experiences of "closing the loops" and thereby turning potential waste into productive use. The focus of the workshop deliberations was on simplifying the hygienisation of urine and faeces and the reuse in food production by using urine-diverting toilets, as well as innovative ways to recycle sewage after various stages of treatment.
In the workshop of the 34th in-service training course for University Hospital Medical Technologists in 2000 sponsored by the Ministry of Education, all participants discussed future aspects of the clinical hematology laboratory and the role of medical technologists. We report here a summary of the discussion.
Over the past three decades, an array of legislation with attendant regulations has been implemented to enhance the quality of the environment and thereby improve the public's health. Despite the many beneficial changes that have followed, there remains a disproportionately higher prevalence of harmful environmental exposures, particularly air pollution, for certain populations. These populations most often reside in urban settings, have low socioeconomic status, and include a large proportion of ethnic minorities. The disparities between racial/ethnic minority and/or low-income populations in cities and the general population in terms of environmental exposures and related health risks have prompted the "environmental justice" or "environmental equity" movement, which strives to create cleaner environments for the most polluted communities. Achieving cleaner environments will require interventions based on scientific data specific to the populations at risk; however, research in this area has been relatively limited. To assess the current scientific information on urban air pollution and its health impacts and to help set the agenda for immediate intervention and future research, the American Lung Association organized an invited workshop on Urban Air Pollution and Health Inequities held 22-24 October 1999 in Washington, DC. This report builds on literature reviews and summarizes the discussions of working groups charged with addressing key areas relevant to air pollution and health effects in urban environments. An overview was provided of the state of the science for health impacts of air pollution and technologies available for air quality monitoring and exposure assessment. The working groups then prioritized research needs to address the knowledge gaps and developed recommendations for community interventions and public policy to begin to remedy the exposure and health inequities.
A workshop to evaluate the scientific evidence for the etiologic associations between modifiable lifestyle and environmental risk factors and to identify areas for future research in breast cancer etiology was sponsored jointly by the Canadian Breast Cancer Initiative and the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative in May, 2001. Reviews of the scientific evidence in these topics were commissioned and an expert panel convened to consider the reviews and make recommendations for research. The panel concluded that there was substantial evidence to proceed with additional research in several areas of breast cancer etiology. Particular support for future research for several lifestyle and environmental risk factors including alcohol, diet, physical activity, anthropometric factors, hormonally active agents and occupational exposures was identified. Several emerging hypotheses for breast cancer etiology were also considered and recommendations made in these areas. Specific areas for future consideration included: insulin-like growth factors, pharmaceuticals, viruses, psychosocial factors, and functional polymorphisms. The panel also identified common themes for future research including: studies of exposures across the life cycle; research in populations with unusual exposure levels; consideration of effect modification; development of improved exposure assessment methods and use of intermediate endpoints; separation of disease subtypes by hormone receptor status, stage and tumour markers; and consideration of biological mechanisms in breast cancer etiology.
In addition to being a fast-growing subpopulation, the elderly also receive large quantities of medication and are particularly exposed to iatrogenic effects. In France, 8.6 per cent of hospitalizations of patients over the age of 70 are due to an adverse event. This workshop comprising pharmaceutical companies, pharmacologists, geriatricians and health authorities aimed to make propositions for improving drug research in the elderly in order to prevent iatrogenic drug reactions by encouraging more rigorous application of existing guidelines. In addition to information extrapolated from clinical trials conducted on young or healthy people, it is imperative to include in clinical trials a sufficient number of elderly patients and to take into consideration specific criteria such as multiple medication regimens, concomitant diseases, cognitive impairment and motor disturbances. The assessment of drugs used in the elderly must be based on a specific and validated geriatrics scale and in some cases (postmarketing studies) may be based on specific trials (those called 'conducted in the real world').
A workshop on childhood atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors of the central nervous system, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the United States, was held on January 29, 2001 in Bethesda, Maryland. Drs. Malcolm Smith, Jaclyn Biegel, and Roger Packer hosted the meeting. There were 22 participants from 14 institutions. The sessions were designed to review what was known about the biology and clinical behavior of rhabdoid tumors and to begin to develop treatment strategies that might be effective against this clinically aggressive group of malignancies. This report summarizes the biology sessions from the meeting. A detailed summary of the discussions regarding diagnostic studies and the roles for radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and bone marrow or stem cell transplant in the treatment of rhabdoid tumors will be published separately.
The Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit is a non-governmental organization providing legal aid, advice, and support to people with HIV/AIDS in India. This article summarizes a series of workshops on "HIV/AIDS: The Law and Ethics" organized by the Unit to empower people with HIV/AIDS and educate the Indian judiciary.
Workshop 1 considered the nature and identity of water stakeholders and how best to facilitate an open, transparent, democratic process of dialogue leading to agreed strategies to address water problems.
Severe stresses are being generated by increasing demand for competing water uses, above all between agriculture and urban needs. Amongst potential solutions considered, two dominated the workshop: virtual water and water reuse. Virtual water implies indirect water use: water-poor countries importing food rather than attempting self-sufficiency and thereby keeping their real water resources for economically more beneficial uses. There are serious political and economic risks associated; one proposed solution is an international virtual water trading council. Improved forms of water reuse, particularly use of treated urban wastewater for irrigation, can maximise the use made of limited supply.
After seven papers discussing specific examples of ecological sanitation projects, the workshop considered the background, motivation and feasibility of this technology. It was agreed that ecological sanitation could help tackle water scarcity, health protection and, by recycling water and nutrients into agriculture, food scarcity. Dense cities are probably unsuitable for its implementation, but rural, town and peri-urban areas are promising. Key issues that remains are: the microbiological and chemical risks associated with the technology; the need for major information, education and support programmes; effective linking to reuse schemes; tailoring systems to meet local physical, socio-economic and cultural circumstances.
Despite its crucial importance, water receives undesirably low prominence on the political agenda and is often too little featured in the media. The workshop discussed means of boosting awareness and understanding of the issues. Understanding the "unwritten rules" of media and building active relationships will help; a well elaborated strategy for reaching a specific target group is essential, using the most appropriate media. Other channels of communication, e.g. education and marketing campaigns, can be extremely valuable.
A framework for a workshop on grant writing to be presented to allied health professionals who seek to develop or improve their grant writing skills is described. The proposed framework contains eight sections that describe preparation for a grant application. The sections discuss activities that occur before, during, and after completing the application. The framework is flexible in its delivery format. The flexibility of this framework creates unique opportunities to present information to allied health professionals and to encourage them to seek funding for research and clinical projects.
Clinical chemical analyses are carried out in many animal experiments performed for medicinal research. For the evaluation of the analytical results fundamentals which have been tried tested and proven in human medicine are still frequently missing, such as reliability criteria, reference values, condition of specimen collecting and the knowledge of other important influences. The workshop conference of the German Society for Clinical Chemistry therefore prepared an inventory, and the most important problems were discussed with examples; guide-lines were worked out for planning, performance and evaluation of clinical chemical investigations on laboratory animals.
The main findings are presented from a workshop on national population projections in developed countries, held in Voorburg, Netherlands, October 25-28, 1988. "The programme concentrated on four themes: general aspects of national population projections, fertility, mortality and international migration. Under the first theme, an international comparison of the forecasting process was presented, and items like accuracy, variants and monitoring were discussed. The other sessions contained cross-country overviews of actual trends, most recent assumptions and currently applied extrapolation methods. Furthermore, special attention was given to the use of time series methods and explanatory models for the extrapolation of fertility."
A participatory approach was used to create a computer ergonomics workshop for college students, incorporating an instructional systems design process and adult learning inquiry perspectives. The primary objective of this participatory ergonomic pilot intervention was to involve students throughout the training design process in solving computer workstation ergonomic problems and adopting healthy computing behaviors. Students' level of participation included becoming part of the training design team, a co-facilitator, or a student trainee. A second objective was to examine the translation of an industrial office ergonomics training program into a college computer ergonomics training program. The long term goal was to reduce upper extremity symptoms and disability. The program was piloted at one private university. The three student trainees significantly increased their knowledge of computer ergonomics from 69% of test items answered correctly pre-training to 82% post-training. Trainees were also successful in conducting computer ergonomic evaluations of students' computing work areas. They achieved 100% accuracy in identifying ergonomic problems and proposing solutions in five ergonomic workstation assessments in the field. This approach was successful in creating a sense of ownership among the student developers and facilitators as reflected in their self-reports during a post-intervention debriefing. The results of this pilot study justify formal controlled trials of this intervention in university students, who will become tomorrow's workers.