Search

BACKGROUND: A major industrial fire accident occurred in a tire manufacturing factory in Daejeon, Korea, on 12 March 2023 and lasted for 3 d, generating air pollutant emissions. Although evidence regarding the health effects of urban fires is limited, residents near tire factory may have experienced health hazards due to smoke exposure from fire plumes. OBJECTIVES: Capitalizing on the timing of this fire incident as a natural experiment, we estimated the attributable excess air pollution exposure and associated disease development among residents living near the tire factory. METHODS: We used the generalized synthetic control method to estimate air pollution exposure and health burden attributable to the accident among residents living in smoke-exposed districts. Based on satellite images and air pollution monitoring results, three administrative districts (within 1.2 km from the factory) were defined as smoke-exposed, and the other 79 districts of Daejeon were defined as controls. Among the 11 monitoring stations in Daejeon, the station located 500 m from the factory was used to estimate excess air pollution exposure (P[M.sub.10], P[M.sub.2.5], N[O.sub.2], [O.sub.3], S[O.sub.2], and CO) for residents in the exposed districts. The number of daily district-level disease-specific incidence cases were acquired from the National Health Insurance Database and used to estimate excess health burden resulting from the fire. RESULTS: During the first week following the factory fire, residents of exposed districts had an estimated excess exposure to 125.2 [95% confidence interval (CI): 44.9, 156.7] [micro]g/[m.sup.3] of P[M.sub.10], 50.4 (95% CI: 12.7, 99.8) ppb of N[O.sub.2], and 32.0 (95% CI: 21.0, 35.9) ppb of S[O.sub.2]. We also found an average increase in the incidence cases of other diseases of upper respiratory tract [20.6 persons (95% CI: 6.2, 37.4)], lung disease due to external agents [2.5 persons (95% CI: 2.1, 3.3)], urticaria and erythema [5.9 persons (95% CI: --0.6, 11.2)], and episodic and paroxysmal disorders [8.5 persons (95% CI: 3.7, 13.4)] in exposed districts. DISCUSSION: Excessive air pollution exposure and disease incidence were identified among residents living close to the tire factory. Preventive measures, such as a warning system, to avoid health impacts to people breathing fire-related pollution may be beneficial for communities impacted by such events. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14115, Introduction A sudden fire occurred at a tire manufacturing factory in Daejeon, Korea, on 12 March 2023. The fire lasted for 58 h, burning 200,000 stored tires and causing a [...]

Just under 2.5 million people die annually due to alcohol use. This global estimate, however, excludes most of the health burden borne by others than the alcohol user. Alcohol's harm to others includes a multitude of conditions, such as trauma from traffic crashes, fetal disorders due to prenatal exposure to alcohol, as well as interpersonal and intimate partner violence. While alcohol's causal role in these conditions is well-established, alcohol's harm to others' contribution to the overall health burden of alcohol remains unknown. This knowledge gap leads to a situation in which alcohol policy and prevention strategies largely focus on the reduction of alcohol's detrimental health harms on the alcohol users, neglecting affected others and population groups most vulnerable to these harms, including women and children. In this article, we seek to elucidate why estimates for alcohol's harm to others are lacking and offer guidance for future research. We also argue that a full assessment of the alcohol health burden that includes the harm caused by others' alcohol use would enhance the visibility and public awareness of such harms, and advancing the evaluation of policy interventions to mitigate them. Chaque annee, un peu moins de 2,5 millions de deces sont lies a la consommation d'alcool. Cette estimation globale ne tient cependant pas compte de l'impact sur la sante de l'entourage des consommateurs d'alcool. Les mefaits de l'alcool sur les autres ont une multitude de consequences, parmi lesquelles des traumatismes dus aux accidents de la circulation, des anomalies fatales liees a une exposition prenatale a l'alcool, ainsi que des actes de violence interpersonnelle et entre partenaires. Bien que le role causal de l'alcool dans ces problematiques soit bien etabli, les repercussions de tels mefaits sur la sante dans son ensemble restent a determiner. Des lacunes qui aboutissent souvent a une situation dans laquelle les politiques et strategies de prevention se concentrent principalement sur la diminution des effets nefastes de l'alcool sur la sante des consommateurs eux-memes, negligeant les personnes qui les entourent et les categories de population les plus vulnerables, en particulier les femmes et les enfants. Dans cet article, nous tentons d'expliquer pourquoi il n'existe aucune estimation concernant les mefaits de l'alcool sur les autres et prodiguons des conseils pour de futures recherches. Nous plaidons aussi pour une analyse complete de la charge sanitaire imputable a l'alcool incluant les mefaits de l'alcool sur les autres, afin d'ameliorer la visibility et de mieux sensibiliser l'opinion publique a ces problematiques, mais aussi de faire progresser l'evaluation des interventions politiques entreprises pour y remedier. Cerca de 2,5 millones de personas mueren cada ano por el consumo de alcohol. Sin embargo, esta estimacion global excluye la mayor parte de la carga sanitaria que soportan personas que no son consumidores de alcohol. Los danos del alcohol a terceros incluyen multitud de afecciones, como los traumatismos por accidentes de trafico, los trastornos fetales debidos a la exposicion prenatal al alcohol, y la violencia interpersonal y de pareja. Aunque se sabe que el alcohol influye en estas afecciones, se desconoce la contribucion de los danos del alcohol a terceros a la carga sanitaria global que supone el alcohol. Esta falta de conocimiento conduce a una situacion en la que las estrategias de politica y de prevencion del alcohol se centran en gran medida en la reduccion de los danos perjudiciales del alcohol para la salud de los consumidores de alcohol, dejando de lado a los demas afectados y a los grupos de poblacion mas vulnerables a estos danos, incluidas las mujeres y los ninos. En este articulo, tratamos de dilucidar por que faltan estimaciones sobre los danos del alcohol en otras personas y ofrecemos orientaciones para futuras investigaciones. Tambien argumentamos que una evaluacion completa de la carga sanitaria del alcohol que incluya los danos causados por el consumo de alcohol de otras personas mejoraria la visibilidad y la concienciacion publica de esos danos, y haria avanzar la evaluacion de las intervenciones politicas para mitigarlos. [phrase omitted], Introduction Just under 2.5 million people die annually due to alcohol use. (1) This global estimate, however, excludes most of the health burden borne by others than the alcohol user. [...]

Author(s): Meshari Ahmed Alhadlaq[sup.1], Othman I. Aljurayyad[sup.1,2], Ayidh Almansour[sup.1], Saleh I. Al-Akeel[sup.1], Khaloud O. Alzahrani[sup.1], Shahad A. Alsalman[sup.1], Reham Yahya[sup.3,8], Rashad R. Al-Hindi[sup.4], Mohammed Ageeli Hakami[sup.5], Saleh D. Alshahrani[sup.6], Naif [...], Classification of pathogenic E. coli has been focused either in mammalian host or infection site, which offers limited resolution. This review presents a comprehensive framework for classifying all E. coli branches within a single, unifying figure. This approach integrates established methods based on virulence factors, serotypes and clinical syndromes, offering a more nuanced and informative perspective on E. coli pathogenicity. The presence of the LEE island in pathogenic E. coli is a key genetic marker differentiating EHEC from STEC strains. The coexistence of stx and eae genes within the bacterial genome is a primary characteristic used to distinguish STEC from other pathogenic E. coli strains. The presence of the inv plasmid, Afa/Dr adhesins, CFA-CS-LT-ST and EAST1 are key distinguishing features for identifying pathogenic E. coli strains belonging to EIEC, DAEC, ETEC and EAEC pathotypes respectively. Food microbiological criteria differentiate pathogenic E. coli in food matrices. 'Zero-tolerance' applies to most ready-to-eat (RTE) foods due to high illness risk. Non-RTE foods' roles may allow limited E. coli presence, which expose consumers to potential risk; particularly from the concerning Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) strains, which can lead to life-threatening complications in humans, including haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and even death in susceptible individuals. These findings suggest that decision-makers should consider incorporating the separate detection of STEC serotypes into food microbiological criteria, in addition to existing enumeration methods. Contamination of STEC is mainly linked to food consumption, therefore, outbreaks of E. coli STEC has been reviewed here and showed a link also to water as a potential contamination route. Since their discovery in 1982, over 39,787 STEC cases associated with 1,343 outbreaks have been documented. The majority of these outbreaks occurred in the Americas, followed by Europe, Asia and Africa. The most common serotypes identified among the outbreaks were O157, the 'Big Six' (O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145), and other serotypes such as O55, O80, O101, O104, O116, O165, O174 and O183. This review provides valuable insights into the most prevalent serotypes implicated in STEC outbreaks and identifies gaps in microbiological criteria, particularly for E. coli non-O157 and non-Big Six serotypes. Keywords: Escherichia coli, STEC, O157, Big Six, Food poisoning, Epidemiology, Outbreaks, SFDA and Microbiological Criteria

Introduction Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been found to be positively related to victimization of emotional abuse from an intimate partner. However, as PTSD has also been demonstrated to be associated with perpetration of emotional abuse, there may be confounding factors between perpetration and victimization of emotional abuse as many couples present with bi-directional abusive behavior. The current study examined the unique variance of PTSD symptom severity among trauma exposed women explained by victimization and perpetration of emotional abuse, as well as to explore whether these factors interact. Method Couples with trauma exposed women (N = 141) completed measures of physical and emotional abuse in their current relationship and women reported on their own PTSD symptom severity. Results Victimization of the Restrictive Engulfment, Hostile Withdrawal, and Denigration forms of emotional abuse were positively associated with PTSD symptom severity. For Hostile Withdrawal and Denigration, the associations between victimization and PTSD symptom severity were only significant among women who were not also engaging in emotional abuse perpetration. Victimization of Dominance/Intimidation emotional abuse was not related to PTSD symptoms. Rather, perpetration of Dominance/Intimidation emotional abuse was associated with heightened PTSD symptom severity. Conclusion Findings suggest specific dimensions of emotionally abusive behaviors, both victimization and perpetration, place trauma exposed women at risk for heightened symptom severity., Author(s): Donald A. Godfrey [sup.1] , Caitlin M. Kehoe [sup.1] , Victoria E. Bennett [sup.1] , Deanna L. Pollard [sup.1] , Julia C. Babcock [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/048sx0r50, grid.266436.3, [...]

Although many studies have found the effect of group counseling on enhancement of meaning in life, few studies have employed the class group counseling in life education. The present study assessed the effect of class group counseling on life education for undergraduate students. Two classes from a Chinese university were randomly allocated into the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received class group counseling for 1.5 months. The intervention and control groups completed the meaning in life questionnaire (MLQ), the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS), and the positive affect and negative affect scales (PANAS) before and after the intervention. The results showed that the intervention improved students' life satisfaction, positive affect, and presence of meaning, and decreased negative affect. These findings indicated that class group counseling could play an important role in the life education of undergraduate students. The current study extends our understanding of improving mental health and preventing suicide for undergraduate students., Author(s): Caixia Yang [sup.1] , Zhongling Pi [sup.2] , Ruiru Liu [sup.1] , Xiying Li [sup.2] , Wei Wang [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/01dyr7034, grid.440747.4, 0000 0001 0473 0092, College [...]

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) bacteria are responsible for a spectrum of disease, ranging from simple to bloody diarrhea, and pose increased risk for severe complications, including hemolytic uremic syndrome [...]

The aim was to test the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the PIL-SF in a sample of people from seven Latin American countries. Additionally, the characteristics of the PIL-SF items were evaluated and to assess the relationship between purpose in life, as measured by the PIL-SF, and fear of COVID-19. A total of 4306 people from seven Latin American countries participated in the study. The results indicated that the PIL-SF is invariant in the seven participating countries and, therefore, there is evidence that the items reflect the purpose of life in the same way in all countries. This allows comparisons of purpose in life between countries that are free of bias, reflecting the true differences in how countries respond to items. From IRT, the discrimination parameters are adequate and indicate that the items cover a wide range of the purpose in life construct. The difficulty parameters are adequate and increase monotonically. This indicates that people would need a higher level of purpose in life to respond to the higher response categories. Thus, the PIL-SF items would be useful in determining people with a relatively high degree of purpose in life. Identifying people with different levels of purpose in life would allow them to be part of intervention programs, either to support those with low levels or to maintain and reinforce their purpose in life. The evidence of cross-country measurement invariance of the PIL-SF provides a measure to be used in cross-cultural studies about the meaning of life., Author(s): Tomás Caycho-Rodríguez [sup.1] , Lindsey W. Vilca [sup.2] , Mauricio Cervigni [sup.3] [sup.4] [sup.5] [sup.6] , Miguel Gallegos [sup.7] [sup.8] [sup.3] [sup.6] , Pablo Martino [sup.3] [sup.4] [sup.5] [sup.6] [...]

In this study, we investigated the association between positive emotion expression in children's writing at age 11, as indicated by objective raters, and age 50 self-reported well-being outcomes-positive emotions, optimism, life satisfaction, meaning in life, social well-being, and physical health. Using a representative sample (N = 436) from the United Kingdom who participated in the National Child Development Study (NCDS), we found that positive emotion expression at age 11 was related to greater optimism, life satisfaction, meaning in life, and social well-being, but not positive emotions or physical health, at age 50 after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES) in adulthood. The associations between positive emotion expression in childhood and well-being in adulthood remained significant when accounting for age 11 academic ability and SES. By using an observational measure of positive emotion during childhood and accounting for relationships among well-being outcomes in adulthood, our findings offer important insights regarding the long-term correlates of children's positive emotions., Author(s): John K. Coffey [sup.1] [sup.2] , S. Katherine Nelson-Coffey [sup.1] [sup.2] , Hannah Parsley [sup.1] , Michael Pluess [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.267628.f, 0000 0001 2149 5776, Psychology Department, [...]