Suchergebnisse

Abstract

Objective
This paper highlights the occupational risk of Q fever from exposure to raw animal products in the context of multiple notified Q fever cases from 2020 to 2023 linked to four pet food manufacturing facilities in South-East Queensland, Australia.


Methods
The Queensland Government Notifiable Conditions System was used to identify Q fever cases linked to pet food manufacturing in the Metro North and Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service areas of Brisbane, Australia. Data on each case from routine public health follow-up were collected and descriptively analysed.


Results
Between 2020 and 2023, 12 confirmed Q fever infections (17% of total cases) were linked to four pet food manufacturing facilities. Eleven cases reported direct or environmental exposure to raw meat and animal products. None were previously vaccinated for Q fever.


Conclusion
These cases demonstrate the increased risk of Q fever infection as part of the pet food manufacturing process, highlighting an underappreciated preventable occupational risk, which can be mitigated with the use of pre-screening and vaccination of workers. All occupations should conduct workplace-based risk assessments to identify risks such as Q fever to prevent adverse negative health outcomes.

Describes the increasing use of strategic alliances in the international market by US domestic airlines. Gives specific examples. Delineates the policy issues and alternatives available to the US Department of Transportation. Expects that international strategies will be increasingly utilized by carriers in the future, as the international market will continue to be the fastest‐growing segment.

This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (August 2018) in accordance with the publisher's archiving policy This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ; Acti-Meal is a co-product of the wine industry, consisting of a steam distilled, milled and dried grape marc meal rich in carbohydrates (55–65%). In this 90-day study, growth and feed utilisation of juvenile (1.82 g) greenlip abalone (Haliotis laevigata) fed diets containing graded dietary inclusion levels of Acti-Meal (0 basal, 5, 10, 15 and 20%) were examined. Four replicates were allocated per treatment with 15 abalone per tank and abalone were fed to excess daily. All experimental diets were formulated to contain 35% crude protein, 5% crude lipid and 17.5 MJ kg−1 gross energy. In addition, a commercial diet was also fed to abalone and compared with the 0% diet. Growth and feed utilisation of greenlip abalone fed the commercial diet and the 0% basal diet were similar. Greenlip abalone fed any Acti-Meal inclusion level (5, 10, 15 and 20%) exhibited significantly superior growth to abalone fed the 0% basal diet. Notably, in comparison to the basal diet, specific growth rate and biomass gain were improved by 5 to 6% and 10 to 12% respectively. The improvements were achieved despite greenlip abalone consuming significantly less feed (~9%) when fed the Acti-Meal diets. Greenlip abalone fed diets with Acti-Meal also exhibited superior apparent feed conversion ratios compared to those fed the 0% basal diet, on average FCRs were reduced by 13%. We recommend dietary inclusions of up to 20% Acti-Meal to improve greenlip abalone growth. We also recommend an on-farm growth trial to validate this product. ; This study was funded by the South Australian Government Functional Food Focus Program, Thriving Abalone Project (6251).

Point-of-care diagnostics in the developing world and resource-limited areas require numerous special design considerations to provide effective early detection of disease. Of particular need for these contexts are diagnostic technologies featuring low costs, ease of use, and broad applicability. Here we present a nanoparticle-inkjet-printable microfluidics-based platform that fulfills these criteria and that we expect to significantly reduce the footprint, complexity, and cost of clinical diagnostics. This reusable $0.01 platform is miniaturized to handle small sample volumes and can perform numerous analyses. It can perform complex, minimally invasive analyses of single cells without specialized equipment and personnel. This inexpensive, accessible platform has broad applications in precision diagnostics and is a step toward the democratization of medical technologies.

Purpose
– This participatory health research project of researchers and women prisoners examined housing and homelessness as perceived by incarcerated women to understand this public health concern and help guide policy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.


Design/methodology/approach
– A participatory research team designed and conducted a survey of 83 incarcerated women in BC, Canada. Using descriptive statistics, the authors examined socio-demographic factors related to social support networks and family housing and women's housing preference upon release.


Findings
– In total, 44 percent of participants reported no family home upon release while 31 percent reported lost family ties due to their incarceration. Most vulnerable subpopulations were women aged 25-34, aboriginal women and those with multiple incarcerations. Housing preferences differed between participants suggesting needs for varied options. Further implementation, evaluation and appraisal of social programs are required.


Research limitations/implications
– This study surveyed one correctional facility: future research could utilize multiple centers.


Practical implications
– Addressing housing instability among released incarcerated individuals is important fiscally and from a public health lens. Improved discharge planning and housing stability is needed through policy changes and social programs. A social support network, "Women in2 Healing," has developed from the research group to address these issues.


Social implications
– Housing stability and recidivism are closely linked: providing stable housing options will lessen the social, fiscal and medical burden of individuals returning to crime, substance abuse, illness and poverty.


Originality/value
– Housing instability addresses an important social determinant of health and focussing on incarcerated women builds upon a small body of literature.

Objective: The current study is intended to evaluate the stability of a scissor lift and the performance of various fall-arrest harnesses/lanyards during drop/fall-arrest conditions and to quantify the dynamic loading to the head/neck caused by fall-arrest forces. Background: No data exist that establish the efficacy of fall-arrest systems for use on scissor lifts or the injury potential from the fall incidents using a fall-arrest system. Method: The authors developed a multibody dynamic model of the scissor lift and a human lift operator model using ADAMS™ and LifeMOD™ Bio-mechanics Human Modeler. They evaluated lift stability for four fall-arrest system products and quantified biomechanical impacts on operators during drop/fall arrest, using manikin drop tests. Test conditions were constrained to flat surfaces to isolate the effect of manikin-lanyard interaction. Results: The fully extended scissor lift maintained structural and dynamic stability for all manikin drop test conditions. The maximum arrest forces from the harnesses/lanyards were all within the limits of ANSI Z359.1. The dynamic loading in the lower neck during the fall impact reached a level that is typically observed in automobile crash tests, indicating a potential injury risk for vulnerable participants. Conclusion: Fall-arrest systems may function as an effective mechanism for fall injury protection for operators of scissor lifts. However, operators may be subjected to significant biomechanical loadings on the lower neck during fall impact. Application: Results suggest that scissor lifts retain stability under test conditions approximating human falls from predefined distances but injury could occur to vulnerable body structures.

A celebratory collection of essays on philosophy, rights and natural law, inspired by the work of Knud HaakonssenOver his long and illustrious career, Knud Haakonssen has explored the role of natural law in formulating doctrines of obligation and rights in accordance with the interests of early modern polities and churches. A hallmark of his approach has been to show how natural law in early modern Europe was not a unified doctrine, but a field of crosscutting idioms that prosecuted competing political and juridical programmes.The essays collected in this volume range across this exciting and contested field. These studies acknowledge Haakonssen's immense academic achievement and give us new insights into the cultural and political role of law and rights in a variety of historical contexts and circumstances. Key FeaturesCrosses national, disciplinary, intellectual and ideological bordersDeals with a wide range of contexts and aspects over a chronological period from the Reformation to the aftermath of the French RevolutionCovers an unusually wide range of questions at the intersection between natural law, religion and politicsContributors include Maria Rosa Antognazza, James Harris, Simone Zurbuchen and John Cairns"