Practical Solutions for Pesticide Safety: A Farm and Research Team Participatory Model

Development of the Practical Solutions for Pesticide Safety guide used participatory research strategies to identify and evaluate solutions that reduce pesticide exposures for workers and their families and to disseminate these solutions. Project principles were (1) workplace chemicals belong in the workplace, and (2) pesticide handlers and farm managers are experts, with direct knowledge of production practices. The project’s participatory methods were grounded in self-determination theory. Practical solutions were identified and evaluated based on five criteria: practicality, adaptability, health and safety, novelty, and regulatory compliance. Research activities that had more personal contact provided better outcomes. The Expert Working Group, composed of farm managers and pesticide handlers, was key to the identification of solutions, as were farm site visits. Audience participation, hands-on testing, and orchard field trials were particularly effective in the evaluation of potential solutions. Small work groups in a Regional Advisory Committee provided the best direction and guidance for a “user-friendly” translational document that provided evidence-based practical solutions. The “farmer to farmer” format of the guide was endorsed by both the Expert Working Group and the Regional Advisory Committee. Managers and pesticide handlers wanted to share their solutions in order to “help others stay safe,” and they appreciated attribution in the guide. The guide is now being used in educational programs across the region. The fundamental concept that farmers and farmworkers are innovators and experts in agricultural production was affirmed by this study. The success of this process demonstrates the value of participatory industrial hygiene in agriculture.     

APOE2 allele increased in tardive dyskinesia.

Ninety-seven inpatients with tardive dyskinesia (average AIMS score = 13), the majority of whom were schizophrenic, were studied. Forty patients were Caucasian, and 57 were African-American. The APOE genotypes of these patients were compared to previously published genotypes of controls and with previously published studies of APOE genotypes in patients with schizophrenia. There were no significant differences in APOE allele frequencies comparing the African-American tardive dyskinesia population and the African-American control groups. In contrast, significant (< 0.05) P values were obtained comparing the Caucasian tardive dyskinesia population to the Caucasian controls, when comparing allele frequencies and genotypic frequencies. This study suggests that Caucasians bearing an APOE2 allele are at increased risk of developing tardive dyskinesia, whereas African-Americans are not. APOE genotype-specific risks of both tardive dyskinesia and Alzheimer's disease that vary across populations could be due to recruitment of patients or controls or could be due to modifying effects of differing genetic or environmental backgrounds. The mechanism by which the APOE2 allele increases risk of tardive dyskinesia is not known. Further information about the mechanisms of increased risk of tardive dyskinesia could result in stratification of prescribing practices weighing the costs of medications against the relative risk of side effects.     

Use of CO2 to move structures as an aid to percutaneous procedures

By injecting small amounts of CO2 through a needle, one can move bowel or bladder from the intended path of instruments during interventional procedures. The technique worked well in six of seven cases in the pelvis and retroperitoneum; it was not effective in the mediastinum or midabdomen (n = 6).     

外科手术中产生的烟气:仅仅是大量的热空气吗?

外科医生和手术室人员经常接触手术设备产生的烟气,病人也会暴露于烟气中,特别是腹腔镜手术中产生的烟气滞留于腹腔内这一密闭空间并被吸收.这些烟气是一种与香烟烟气相似的毒性物质,然而对这种毒性物质的影响还未引起足够重视.应该采取必要措施尽可能减少手术中烟气的不良影响.