Video observation of hand-hygiene compliance in a manufacturer of ready-to-eat pie and pastry products

ABSTRACT

Food-handler hand-hygiene can be a contributory factor for food-borne illness. Cognitive data (knowledge/attitudes/self-reported practices), while informative, are not indicative of behaviour, and are subject to biases. Consequently, observation of behaviour is superior to survey data. However, researcher presence in direct observation increases reactivity, whereas video observation gives comprehensive analysis over a longer period, furthermore, familiarity reduces reactivity. Although video observation has been used to assess food safety at retail/foodservice, this valuable method is under-utilized in food-manufacturing environments. For the study, footage (24 h) was reviewed to assess compliance in a food-manufacturing site with company protocol. Video observation of food-handlers entering production (n = 674) was assessed; upon 70 occasions no attempt to implement hand-hygiene was observed. Of attempted hand-hygiene practices (n = 604), only 2% implemented compliant practices. Although 78% of attempts utilized soap, only 42% included sanitizer. Duration ranged from 1 to 69 s (Median 17 s). The study provides hand-hygiene data in an area that observational data is seldom captured.     

Evaluating the transparency of pharmaceutical company disclosure of payments to patient organisations in the UK

Patient organisations contribute to many areas of pharmaceutical policy. In developing their organisational capacity, many turn to financial support from pharmaceutical companies, which may create conflicts of interests. However, the transparency of the industry’s self-regulatory approach to the disclosure of payments to patient organisations has evaded scrutiny. Using company reports disclosing payments to UK patient organisations in 2012–2016, we evaluate the transparency of reporting using indicators derived from industry’s European patient organisation Code. We found a large proportion of companies did not have any disclosure reports available despite many having made payments, confirmed by comparing with annual financial accounts of patient organisations registered as charities. Where disclosure reports were available, many payments were not adequately described, resulting in large portions of money being disclosed without clarity as to the payment type and purpose. We found companies were clearer regarding whether payments were financial or benefits-in-kind, but transparency was particularly inadequate as to whether it could be determined if payments were indirect or direct and restricted or unrestricted, and almost no companies mentioned the VAT status of payments. Our findings suggest that the industry’s self-regulatory approach to transparency has not been working efficiently. We suggest ways for standardising and increasing the precision of information by pharmaceutical companies and advocate for the introduction of a centralised, and easily accessible national-level payment database.     

中药资源产业副产品循环利用模式研究

"健康中国"建设战略的提出促使我国中药资源产业必须走一条高质量发展之路。但目前我国中药资源产业还未摆脱粗放、污染和孤岛式的发展模式。通过分析中药资源产业生产过程中产生的副产品及废弃物现象及原因、传统处理方式的不足,基于循环经济和超循环经济理论,研究如何高质量绿色发展,创新中药副产品循环利用的模式,构建中药资源高效利用的超循环经济模式体系,最后提出了促进我国中药资源产业高质量发展的策略建议。     

Heightened hypocrisy: a critical analysis of how the alcohol industry-sponsored ‘‘Nigerian Beer Symposium’’ jeopardises public health

This paper analyses how an alcohol industry-sponsored ‘Nigerian Beer Symposium’ (NBS) could endanger public health. The NBS, an annual one-day symposium, sponsored by Heineken-Nigerian Breweries, was recently introduced to create awareness of the ‘health and nutritional benefits of beer consumption’. Amongst other resource persons, Heineken-Nigerian Breweries contracts professors, medical doctors, nutritionists, advertisers, and celebrities from Africa and Europe to discuss the health and nutritional benefits of beer consumption. While all of the speakers strategically focused on the health and nutritional benefits of beer consumption, a few, in passing, mentioned drinking in moderation. In particular, male speakers focused on how beer prevents cancer, reduces the incidence of kidney stones, enhances vitality and cardiovascular health, and facilitates longevity and cognition among the aged. The female speakers encouraged women to consume beer because it enhances vitality and improves skin/physical beauty. Overall, none of the speakers specifically mentioned the consequences of alcohol (mis)use. This paper argues that the NBS is strategically organised to encourage beer initiation and/or high consumption, which will increase the sponsor’s profit. By providing biased information about the purported health and nutritional benefits of beer, the NBS will mislead the public, leading to more alcohol-related problems in Nigeria. Therefore, NBS should be regulated by implementing WHO-recommended alcohol policies in Nigeria.     

Industry Funding Is Correlated With Publication Productivity of US Academic Radiation Oncologists

Purpose

Industry payments to physicians are financial conflicts of interest and may influence research findings and medical decisions. We aim to (1) characterize industry payments within radiation oncology; and (2) explore the potential correlation between receiving disclosed industry payments and academic productivity.

中药产业应对“一带一路”倡议的知识图谱分析

目的:分析"一带一路"倡议和中药产业的研究热点,为中药产业发展提供全新、系统的参考数据。方法:在中国知网以主题词的形式进行专业检索,使用CiteSpace软件绘制关键词网络图谱、聚类图谱、叠加图谱。结果:"一带一路"倡议研究现状以所涉及的区域经济、文化、社会协同发展等为主;中药产业研究现状以中药资源与种植、中药产业链、中药现代化、人才培养、中药产品研发和保护等为主;中药产业应对"一带一路"倡议的出路在于相关的政府机构对中药产业的政策支持、人才培养、中药产业相关的企业和个人要重视中药国际化和持续化发展、竞争力的培养等。结论:中药产业的良好、健康发展,需要党和各级政府适时出台各种有利于促进中药产业发展的政策和措施,社会各界要为中药产业的发展培养需要的人才、提供建议,中药企业要善于利用SWOT分析技术,坚持特色,重点培养核心竞争力。     

Applying Health Belief Model to Unveil Employees’ Workplace COVID-19 Protective Behaviors: Insights for the Hospitality Industry

The overwhelming majority of the countries around the globe have witnessed severe cases of the COVID-19 outbreak. Unfortunately, many countries are still beset with such an infectious disease. Despite the fact that there is currently no specific approved cure for this deadly infection, restrictions (e.g., lockdown and border closing) are gradually eased. Meanwhile, businesses are reopening and outdoor leisure activities are about to start again based on strict health, social distancing, and hygiene rules. However, as we still have a long way to reach an ultimate treatment for such deadly virus, changing human behavior sounds the best defense in tackling this challenge till a vaccine is developed for protection against COVID-19. With this realization, using Health Belief Model as the theoretical underpinning, our study endeavors to unveil employees’ adherence to protective health behaviors (PHBs) in the hospitality industry, which is known as a people-focused, labor-intensive, and service-oriented business. This is so crucial since there is a high degree of (frequent) interaction between employees and customers in hotels. Moreover, such establishments are known as areas where customers engage in a variety of activities that make health concerns even more crucial. To achieve the objectives of this research, we used secondary data obtained from one of the largest hotel-related online communities in the world: the ‘Tales from the front desk’. Using template analysis approach, 1680 employees’ comments were examined. The results revealed that hotel employees found themselves at high risk of being infected and several obstacles that impeded their PHBs in the workplace were identified. Our study will provide momentous implications about PHBs against COVID-19 for the hospitality industry.     

Impact of environmental biofilms: Industrial components and its remediation

The growth of technology and requirements globally for various commodities has brought about new challenges. Biofilms are aggregations of microbial cells, which contaminate and spoil industrial components and environments. These microbial cells with extracellular polymeric substances colonize living and nonliving surfaces and pose a serious problem for all industries, affecting their processes, leading to a reduction of product quality and economic loss. Industries, such as medical, food, water, dairy, wine, marine, power plants are exposed to biofilm formation. Pipe blockages, waterlogging and reduction of the heat-transfer efficiency, hamper the operating system of plants. Many industries do not set up remedial measures to control biofilm formation as they are not aware of this threat. Various conventional methods to control these biofilms are adopted by industries in their regular workflow, but these are temporary solutions. This calls for further research into remediation of the biofilm and its control for industrial components. This review article addresses the problems of biofilms and proposes solutions for various industrial components. Nanotechnology promises several options, and bring about a new aspect into the industrial economy, by solving the problems of environmental biofilms.