Search

This article addresses the striking resemblance of a late nineteenth-century obstetrical simulator to contemporary commercial paper dolls. This period is often characterised in histories of medicine as one of increasing institutionalisation and professionalisation of childbirth through hospital training and state regulation. But this narrative is only part of the story. It marginalises the perspective of patients and midwives, and those outside of the geographic 'West', and it silences aspects of medical culture: social and caring relationships, emotion, play, and humour. While these aspects of medical history are less well represented in textual sources, material objects like Shibata Kōichi's 'Obstetrical Pocket-Phantoms' can help to give a fuller picture. Beginning by situating Shibata's phantoms in the conventional histories of obstetric training and the intermedial spaces of the clinic and lecture theatre, I then ask how the phantoms might have been used and understood differently outside of these spaces. Using Robin Bernstein's concept of 'scriptive things', I employ a visual and material study of the objects, informed by the wider cultural contexts of dolls and popular print culture in Germany, the USA and Japan, to argue for a history of Shibata's phantoms as paper dolls that encouraged many forms of play: from learning and explorative, to mothering and caring, to humorous and subversive. By acknowledging that Shibata's phantoms would also have been recognised as paper dolls, I present a history that centres unrecorded aspects of, and under-studied agents in, medical culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of People & Nature is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Numerous diffuse sources contribute in addition to industrial plants to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) concentrations causing concern regarding potential health effects and environmental impacts. Routine monitoring focuses on PM mass and determination of the total concentrations for selected elements. However, assessment of the (eco-)toxicological potential and the spatial distribution as well as the interaction in the environment requires suitable characterisation of the elemental speciation and mobility. Classical off-line sequential extraction techniques have been explored for this purpose but require high effort and were of limited suitability especially for low particle mass sampled on filters. A novel online sequential extraction (OSE) technique was recently developed using low amounts of model dust samples with transient elemental monitoring by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to overcome the challenges. However, the application of this method to PM samples was not reported until now. In the current study, the OSE was adapted for application to punches of PM2.5 filter samples to achieve elemental fractionation with minimum manual input, low relative standard deviations and reduced risk of contamination or loss of residual sample material during solvent changes. Four samples from China and seven samples from Germany were exemplary investigated to identify regional and temporal changes in elemental fractionation and to highlight the potential of the OSE method for filter samples. Normalisation of the data as percentage of the aqua regia leachable fraction for each element demonstrated clear differences between the Chinese and the German samples. In particular, fireworks affected samples showed a unique characteristic mobility pattern. In addition, normalisation to the aqua regia leachable Mn content was performed to highlight the combination of the elemental fractionation pattern and the relative abundance between the various investigated samples. Thereby, a major improvement in the classification of the PM samples was achieved. Principal component analysis visualises the observed differences in 2-D plots with clusters of different regional and also partly different temporal samples. The obtained results indicate the potential of OSE for an improved understanding of chemical element patterns of PM samples in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence and nature of pandemic fatigue–defined as a gradually emerging subjective state of weariness and exhaustion from, and a general demotivation towards, following recommended health-protective behaviors, including keeping oneself informed during a pandemic–has been debated. Herein, we introduce the Pandemic Fatigue Scale and show how pandemic fatigue evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic, using data from one panel survey and two repeated cross-sectional surveys in Denmark and Germany (overall N = 34,582). We map the correlates of pandemic fatigue and show that pandemic fatigue is negatively related to people's self-reported adherence to recommended health-protective behaviors. Manipulating the (de)motivational aspect of pandemic fatigue in a preregistered online experiment (N = 1584), we further show that pandemic fatigue negatively affects people's intention to adhere to recommended health-protective behaviors. Combined, these findings provide evidence not only for the existence of pandemic fatigue, but also its psychological and behavioral associations. In this study the authors introduce a measure of pandemic fatigue and report the existence of, and changes in, pandemic fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also identify correlates of pandemic fatigue and show that those who experienced more pandemic fatigue were less likely to adhere to various health-protective behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reaching population immunity against COVID‐19 is proving difficult even in countries with high vaccination levels. Thus, it is critical to identify limits of control and effective measures against future outbreaks. The effects of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and vaccination strategies are analyzed with a detailed community‐specific agent‐based model (ABM). The authors demonstrate that the threshold for population immunity is not a unique number, but depends on the vaccination strategy. Prioritizing highly interactive people diminishes the risk for an infection wave, while prioritizing the elderly minimizes fatalities when vaccinations are low. Control over COVID‐19 outbreaks requires adaptive combination of NPIs and targeted vaccination, exemplified for Germany for January–September 2021. Bimodality emerges from the heterogeneity and stochasticity of community‐specific human–human interactions and infection networks, which can render the effects of limited NPIs uncertain. The authors' simulation platform can process and analyze dynamic COVID‐19 epidemiological situations in diverse communities worldwide to predict pathways to population immunity even with limited vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zentralblatt fuer Arbeitsmedizin, Arbeitsschutz und Ergonomie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of GMS Journal for Medical Education is the property of German Medical Science Publishing House gGmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Little is known about the knowledge and use of technology-based interventions (TBIs) by health personnel working in the addiction field across Europe. Methods: An online questionnaire was designed using SurveyMonkey® in order to determine the level of knowledge, use and perceived efficacy of TBIs in substance use disorders (SUDs), among health professionals across six EU Member States: Germany, Italy, UK, France, Poland and the Netherlands. The survey was sent to a convenience sample of 1200 addiction experts. Results: Surveyed participants (311, response rate 26%), had a mean professional addiction experience of 17 years; 23% stated to have good knowledge of TBIs, while 12% use them in their clinical practice. Forty-six percent consider TBIs useful in the treatment of addiction, and 44% foresee a significant increase of them in the future. TBIs were considered important for people facing barriers to accessing treatment (63%) and for providing support outside the formal care settings (60%). Lack of technical support (48%), poor infrastructure and equipment (42%), and lack of digital literacy among health workers (38%) were identified as the main obstacles in the diffusion of TBIs. Conclusions: Knowledge and utilisation of TBIs among health workers in drug addiction field is low. Nevertheless, TBIs are perceived as a possible means of facilitation in providing access to treatment, and as therapeutic tools which will become more important in the future. The need to improve training policies, awareness and attitudes towards TBIs among EU health professionals, working in the field of addiction is paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German government has decided for the nuclear phase out, but a decision on a strategy for the management of the highly radioactive waste is not defined yet. Partitioning and Transmutation (P&T) could be considered as a technological option for the management of highly radioactive waste, therefore a wide study has been conducted. In the study group objectives for P&T and the boundary conditions of the phase out have been discussed. The fulfillment of the given objectives is analyzed from neutronics point of view using simulations of a molten salt reactor with fast neutron spectrum. It is shown that the efficient transmutation of all existing transuranium isotopes would be possible from neutronic point of view in a time frame of about 60 years. For this task three reactors of a mostly new technology would have to be developed and a twofold life cycle consisting of a transmuter operation and a deep burn phase would be required. A basic insight for the optimization of the time duration of the deep burn phase is given. Further on, a detailed balance of different isotopic inventories is given to allow a deeper understanding of the processes during transmutation in the molten salt fast reactor. The effect of modeling and simulation is investigated based on three different modeling strategies and two different code versions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical skin/eye splashes can cause burns. Standard references recommend decontamination with water. Diphoterine, a polyvalent, hypertonic, amphoteric, chelating solution is an alternative. Occupational medical records of 24 workers in a German metallurgy firm from 1994 to 1998 were reviewed. There were 11 acid eye splashes, 8 acid skin splashes, 4 base eye splashes, and 1 base skin splash. Following Diphoterine decontamination, no burns developed and there were no requirements for burn treatment or sequelae. Three workers had 1 lost workday each. Diphoterine decontamination successfully prevented skin/eye burns in this group of metallurgy workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]