Pesticide assessment: Protecting public health on the home turf

Pesticide regulation is examined in the context of Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s assessment of the chlorophenoxy herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) for turf. 2,4-D is the most common herbicide used to kill weeds in grass.The medical literature does not uniformly indicate harms from herbicides. However, the balance of epidemiological research suggests that 2,4-D can be persuasively linked to cancers, neurological impairment and reproductive problems. These may arise from 2,4-D itself, from breakdown products or dioxin contamination, or from a combination of chemicals.Regulators rely largely on toxicology, but experiments may not replicate exposures from 2,4-D application to lawns because environmental breakdown products (eg, 2,4-dichlorophenol) may not accumulate and selected herbicides are possibly less contaminated. Dioxins are bioaccumulative chemicals that may cause cancer, harm neurological development, impair reproduction, disrupt the endocrine system and alter immune function. No dioxin analyses were submitted to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, and the principal contaminants of 2,4-D are not among the 17 congeners covered in pesticide regulation. Independent assessment of all dioxins is needed, in tissues and in the environment.The 2,4-D assessment does not approach standards for ethics, rigour or transparency in medical research. Canada needs a stronger regulator for pesticides. Potentially toxic chemicals should not be registered when more benign solutions exist, risks are not clearly quantifiable or potential risks outweigh benefits. Until landscaping pesticides are curtailed nationally, local bylaws and Quebec’s Pesticide Code are prudent measures to protect public health. Physicians have a role in public education regarding pesticides.     

"脑死亡法"与我国肝脏移植

目前我国是世界上尚未通过脑死亡法的少数国家之一。经过几十年的努力，我国肝脏移植已经取得了很大的成绩，但因为我国没有实行脑死亡法，供肝主要来源于心脏死亡的供体，造成供肝质量较差，导致我国肝脏移植后的疗效不如国际先进水平。实施脑死亡法必将大大促进我国肝脏移植水平的提高。     

国家药物政策相关立法研究

世界卫生组织（WHO）推荐各国制定国家药物政策（NDP）,有利于政府各部门及社会各界对国家医药．f-作的目标和策略统一认识和协调行动。本文通过比较研究WHO和多国NDP,结合我国国情初步拟定了我国NDP的目标和框架,并从提高药品可及性、保证药品质量安全、促进合理用药、促进制药行业发展、加快中药发展五方面,提出完善我国药品管理法律体系的建议,     

Transport Mobility for Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Background: The transport mobility of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) is of vital interest for the individual, as well as for society. Enhanced transport mobility can be related to improved functional health status and a higher degree of autonomy, which in turn may reduce the demand for societal support. UN Resolution 48/96, together with Swedish legislation and ''Vision Zero'' have in different ways established that the transport system must be designed to meet also the needs of children and adolescents with disabilities. Hence, it is necessary to identify and eliminate obstacles hindering children and adolescents with CP from using public transport and other means of transport, such as their own cars, at the same level as other members of society. However, in the case of children and adolescents with CP, the transport situation and the learner driver's educational situation have so far been largely unknown. Aim: The general aim of the thesis was to describe and analyse, from a legislative and a public health perspective, the transport mobility situation for children and adolescents with CP. Furthermore, the general aim was to identify obstacles for the target group to use public transport and other means of transportation, at the same level as other members of the society, and to suggest improvements that will remove the identified obstacles. Material and methods: Several different data collection methods were used. Data, concerning travel habits and parents' perceived risks regarding transportation, were taken from a postal questionnaire addressed to parents of children and adolescents with CP. In order to estimate the numbers of potential learner drivers with CP in each age group in Sweden, a literature review was conducted, based on Swedish material. Furthermore, logbooks for learner drivers with CP were analysed retrospectively, in order to identify procedures, problems and key tasks in their driver education. Visual search strategies for learner drivers with CP were analysed, utilizing an eye tracker, and an attempt was made to introduce a screening tool for predicting the outcome of driver education. Results: Children and adolescents with CP were found to be transported under unsafe conditions, causing worry among their parents. When transporting children in the family vehicle, the parents were exposed to a very heavy burden, which increased their worry. The prevalence of potential learner drivers with CP who were in need of highly specialised driver education, including individually adapted driver training vehicles, was estimated to be 0.15 per 1,000 of a population-based age group of learner drivers in Sweden. Complex procedures, structural problems and financial obstacles made it difficult for adolescents with CP to obtain a driving licence and an adapted vehicle. The total duration of the driving tuition given by a driving instructor was found to be almost nine times higher for learner drivers with CP than for non-disabled learner drivers. Visual search strategies among learner drivers with CP were found to be less flexible than among other learner drivers. This fact indicated a need for better methods of teaching such strategies to this group as an integral component of their driver education. The validity of the motor-free visual perceptual test, TVPS-UL, for predicting the outcome of driver education for learner drivers, was found to be low. In order to find a reliable and valid screening tool for this purpose, future studies should focus on cross-validation of visual perceptual and dual task performance tests for different types of independent variables, such as obtaining a driving licence or not, accident involvement and driving ability. Conclusion: The transport system was found, from a legislative and public health perspective, to be unsuitable to meet the needs of children and adolescents with CP. Suggestions for improving transport mobility for children and adolescents with CP are provided. Several of these suggestions are practical, concrete and contextual for Swedish conditions, and some of them necessitate future research. However, a number of these suggestions are also applicable in an international context.     

School physical activity policies and associations with physical activity practices and behaviours: A systematic review of the literature

The development and implementation of school policies is considered a key strategy for the promotion of physical activity (PA) in children and adolescents. This study aimed to systematically review and synthesise existing literature focusing on the associations between formal written school-based PA policies and (a) school PA practices and (b) PA behaviours of school-aged children and adolescents. Fifty-one papers reporting on 52 studies met the eligibility criteria. All but two studies were from high income countries, most used cross-sectional designs and demonstrated fair methodological quality, and just over a third examined language aspects of policies. Findings predominantly indicated a lack of or inconclusive associations between the various characteristics examined and PA outcomes. Inconclusive associations were identified between both PA practice and behaviour outcomes and state level policies, policies focusing on PE and school-day PA, and in studies examining language aspects of policies. Inconclusive associations with both types of outcomes were more likely to be identified compared to a lack of associations in studies using self-report measures and in studies not providing information about the quality of exposure and outcome measures used. Overall, findings highlight the need for further research that acknowledges the complex relationship between school policies and PA outcomes and employs robust methodological approaches to enhance our understanding of this area.     

Verbesserter Schutz vor blutübertragbaren Erregern – Umsetzung der europäischen Nadelstichrichtlinie in deutsches Recht abgeschlossen

Needlestick injuries are common in healthcare workers. Due to European directive 32/2010/EU all member states had to implement new rules on the prevention of needlestick injuries. Setting into law the new technical rule on biohazards in the healthcare sector (TRBA 250) end of march based on the German order on biosafety (Biostoffverordnung) the implementation in Germany is complete: Today the use of safety devices is mandatory for nearly all risky procedures, healthcare workers are sheltered best from the risk of needlesticks now.