DEET insect repellent: effects on thermoregulatory sweating and physiological strain

Insect repellents (e.g. N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide or DEET) applied to the skin can potentially interfere with sweat production and evaporation, thus increasing physiological strain during exercise-heat stress. The purpose was to determine the impact of 33% DEET lotion on sweating responses, whole body thermoregulation and thermal sensation during walking exercise in the heat. Nine volunteers (2 females, 7 males; 22.1 ± 4.9 years; 176.4 ± 10.0 cm; 79.9 ± 12.9 kg) completed 5 days of heat acclimation (45°C, 20% rh; 545 watts; 100 min/day) and performed three trials: control (CON); DEET applied to forearm (DEET_LOC, 12 cm²); and DEET applied to ~13% body surface area (DEET_WB,). Trials consisted of 30 min walking (645 watts) in 40°C, 20% rh environment. Local sweat rate (SR), onset and skin wettedness were measured in DEET_LOC, and heart rate (HR), rectal temperature (T _re), skin temperature (T _sk), RPE, and thermal sensations (TS) were measured during DEET_WB. No differences (p > 0.05) were observed between DEET_LOC versus CON, respectively, for steady state SR (1.89 ± 0.44 vs. 2.09 ± 0.84 mg/cm²/min), SR area under the curve (46.9 ± 11.7 vs. 55.0 ± 20.8 mg/cm²), sweating onset, or skin wettedness. There were no differences (p > 0.05) in HR, T _re, T _sk, Physiological Strain Index, RPE or TS between DEET_WB versus CON. DEET did not impact measures of local forearm sweating and when applied according to military doctrine, did not adversely impact physiological responses during exercise-heat stress. DEET can be safely worn during military, occupational and recreational activities in hot, insect infested environments.     

World health system performance revisited: the impact of varying the relative importance of health system goals

Background

In 2002, the World Health Organization published a health system performance ranking for 191 member countries. The ranking was based on five indicators, with fixed weights common to all countries.

Methods

We investigate the feasibility and desirability of using mathematical programming techniques that allow weights to vary across countries to reflect their varying circumstances and objectives.

Results

By global distributional measures, scores and ranks are found to be not very sensitive to changes in weights, although differences can be large for individual countries.

Conclusions

Building the flexibility of variable weights into calculation of the performance index is a useful way to respond to the debates and criticisms appearing since publication of the ranking.     

Health care seeking among detained undocumented migrants: a cross-sectional study

Background  

As in many European countries, access to care is decreased for undocumented migrants in the Netherlands due to legislation. Studies on the health of undocumented migrants in Europe are scarce and focus on care-seeking migrants. Not much is known on those who do not seek care.     

汶川地震后重灾区人群重性抑郁障碍流行病学调查

目的 了解中国汶川5·12地震后重灾区居民的重性抑郁障碍患病率、患者的人口学和社会文化特征及患病相关危险因素.方法 采用分层整群抽样方法随机抽取≥15岁人群14 503人,以一般健康问卷12项(GHQ-12)为筛选工具,采用美国精神障碍诊断与统计手册第4版(DSM-Ⅳ)轴Ⅰ障碍定式临床检查版(SCID-Ⅰ/P)为调查诊断工具.结果 重性抑郁障碍现患180例,时点患病率为1.27%,终生患病率为1.36%;女性(OR=1.56,95%CI:1.136～2.143,P＜0.05)、合并躯体疾病(OR=4.02,95%CI:2.75～5.90,P＜0.05)、地震中受伤(OR=3.29,95%CI:1.92～5.65,P＜0.05)、财产损失(其中10万～20万元OR=2.09,95%CI:1.18～3.69,P＜0.05;＞20万元OR=2.54,95%CI:1.38～4.68,P＜0.05)、家人去世或失踪(OR=3.79,95%CI:2.08～6.89,P＜0.05)以及中年人群(OR=2.31,95%CI:1.38～3.86,P＜0.05)为危险因素.有职业为保护性因素(OR=0.60,95%CI:0.43～0.83,P＜0.05).结论 重性抑郁障碍是目前地震灾区较为多发的精神疾病.     

VEGF对缺血/再灌注损伤胰腺细胞凋亡的影响

目的 研究血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)对缺血/再灌注损伤胰腺组织细胞凋亡的影响.方法 将雄性sD大鼠30只随机分为3组(n=10),A组为假手术组,B组为缺血/再灌注损伤组,C组为缺血/再灌注损伤+VEGF反义寡核苷酸组.通过血管夹阻断大鼠腹腔干及肠系膜上动脉30 min,然后去除血管夹再灌注6 h,建立大鼠胰腺缺血/再灌注损伤模型.对各组胰腺组织进行VEGF免疫组化染色及TUNEL法细胞凋亡检测.结果 缺血/再灌注损伤后胰腺组织出现细胞凋亡,同时VEGF蛋白表达上调.缺血/再灌注损伤+VEGF反义寡核苷酸组的胰腺组织VEGF蛋白表达较缺血/再灌注损伤组显著减少(P<0.05),前者细胞凋亡指数较后者明显升高(P<0.05).结论 VEGF能抑制缺血/再灌注损伤胰腺细胞凋亡,可能对胰腺缺血再灌注损伤具有保护作用.     

Pain among drug users completing an inpatient detoxification program

We determined the prevalence of persistent pain among illicit drug users who have completed inpatient clonidine detoxification and are returning to the community. We found that 17% of drug users have substantial unexplained pain at discharge, and that drug injectors have significantly more pain than non‐injectors. Drug users with substantial pain reported worse self‐perceived health, interference with daily activities and sleep than pain‐free drug users. Our findings suggest that assessing pain at the first outpatient primary care appointment after drug treatment may be an important aspect of the longitudinal care of this population.     

Hand,foot and mouth disease in China: evaluating an automated system for the detection of outbreaks

Objective

To evaluate the performance of China’s infectious disease automated alert and response system in the detection of outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth (HFM) disease.

Methods

We estimated size, duration and delay in reporting HFM disease outbreaks from cases notified between 1 May 2008 and 30 April 2010 and between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012, before and after automatic alert and response included HFM disease. Sensitivity, specificity and timeliness of detection of aberrations in the incidence of HFM disease outbreaks were estimated by comparing automated detections to observations of public health staff.

Findings

The alert and response system recorded 106 005 aberrations in the incidence of HFM disease between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 – a mean of 5.6 aberrations per 100 days in each county that reported HFM disease. The response system had a sensitivity of 92.7% and a specificity of 95.0%. The mean delay between the reporting of the first case of an outbreak and detection of that outbreak by the response system was 2.1 days. Between the first and second study periods, the mean size of an HFM disease outbreak decreased from 19.4 to 15.8 cases and the mean interval between the onset and initial reporting of such an outbreak to the public health emergency reporting system decreased from 10.0 to 9.1 days.

Conclusion

The automated alert and response system shows good sensitivity in the detection of HFM disease outbreaks and appears to be relatively rapid. Continued use of this system should allow more effective prevention and limitation of such outbreaks in China.     

早期康复对脑卒中患者日常生活能力的影响

[目的]探讨早期康复对脑卒中患者日常生活能力的影响。[方法]将符合纳入标准患者按入院时间先后分为康复组和对照组。每组按方案进行治疗,治疗前及治疗40d后分别进行改良巴氏指数评定表评分,根据评分判断临床疗效。[结果]治疗前,康复组患者Barthel指数评分为28.75±13.55,对照组为29.33±14.07,差异无统计学意义(P﹥0.05)。治疗40d后,康复组患者Barthel指数评分为69.50±16.67,对照组为52.33±19.08,两组均有不同程度的改善,但康复组的改善程度明显优于对照组(P﹤0.05)。[结论]早期康复可以明显提高脑卒中患者日常生活能力。     

XEN‐45 collagen implant for the treatment of uveitic glaucoma

Importance

The XEN‐45 implant, a hydrophilic collagen implant which drains aqueous to the subconjunctival space, has not been investigated in the context of uveitic glaucoma.

Background

To determine the safety and efficacy of the XEN‐45 collagen implant in eyes with uveitic glaucoma.

Design

Exploratory prospective case series.

Participants

patients with medically uncontrolled uveitic glaucoma.

Methods

Twenty‐four consecutive patients (mean age ± standard deviation [SD] = 45.3 ± 18.1 years) were implanted with the XEN‐45 implant.

Main Outcome Measures

The primary outcome measure was intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction at 12 months as compared to baseline. Secondary outcome measures included ocular hypotensive medication use at 12 months, the requirement for further glaucoma surgery and failure. Intraoperative and postoperative complications were documented.

Results

The baseline mean ± SD IOP was 30.5 ± 9.8 mmHg and the mean ± SD number of glaucoma medications required was 3.3 ± 0.8. In 20 eyes (83.3%) in whom conventional glaucoma surgery was originally perceived to be inevitable, further surgery was not required after XEN‐45 implantation. The mean IOP was reduced by 60.2% from baseline to 12.2 ± 3.1 mmHg and mean medication usage was reduced to 0.4 ± 0.9 at 12 months (both P < 0.001). One patient had hypotony persisting beyond 2 months that required surgical revision and one patient developed blebitis. The 12‐month cumulative Kaplan–Meier survival probability was 79.2%.

Conclusions and Relevance

The XEN‐45 implant is effective for the treatment of patients with medically uncontrolled uveitic glaucoma. Potentially sight‐threatening complications, including bleb‐related ocular infection and persistent hypotony, may occur.