Articles: health.
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Traffic noise disturbs sleep and may impair recuperation. There is limited information on single and combined effects of air, road, and rail traffic noise on sleep and recuperation. ⋯ Road, rail, and air traffic noise differentially affect objective and subjective assessments of sleep. Differences in the degree of noise-induced sleep fragmentation between traffic modes were explained by the specific spectral and temporal composition of noise events, indicating potential targets for active and passive noise control. Field studies are needed to validate our findings in a setting with higher ecologic validity.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Analysis of the lung microbiome in the "healthy" smoker and in COPD.
Although culture-independent techniques have shown that the lungs are not sterile, little is known about the lung microbiome in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We used pyrosequencing of 16S amplicons to analyze the lung microbiome in two ways: first, using bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) to sample the distal bronchi and air-spaces; and second, by examining multiple discrete tissue sites in the lungs of six subjects removed at the time of transplantation. We performed BAL on three never-smokers (NS) with normal spirometry, seven smokers with normal spirometry ("healthy smokers", HS), and four subjects with COPD (CS). ⋯ Our data suggests the existence of a core pulmonary bacterial microbiome that includes Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Prevotella, Fusobacterium, Haemophilus, Veillonella, and Porphyromonas. Most strikingly, there were significant micro-anatomic differences in bacterial communities within the same lung of subjects with advanced COPD. These studies are further demonstration of the pulmonary microbiome and highlight global and micro-anatomic changes in these bacterial communities in severe COPD patients.
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BMC Int Health Hum Rights · Jan 2011
Perception and valuations of community-based education and service by alumni at Makerere University College of Health Sciences.
Training of health professionals can be deliberately structured to enhance rural recruitment by exposing the trainees to the realities of rural life and practice through Community-Based Education and Service (COBE) programs. Few studies have surveyed the alumni of these programs to establish their post-university views and whether the positive impact of COBE programs endures into the post-university life. This study surveyed the alumni of COBE at Makerere to obtain their perceptions of the management and administration of COBE and whether COBE had helped develop their confidence as health workers, competence in primary health care and willingness and ability to work in rural communities. ⋯ This study has established that the positive impact of COBES endures with the alumni of the program. Health planners should take advantage of the impact of COBES and provide it with more support.
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Health is a state of physical, mental, and social well-being. Personality traits measure individual differences in adaptive functioning and mental health, but little is known about how well personality accounts for health's affective aspects (i.e., "happiness") and its non-affective aspects (i.e., "wellness") in the general population. ⋯ The emotional, social, and physical aspects of well-being are interdependent, but specific configurations of TCI Self-directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-transcendence influence them differentially. Interactions among different combinations of character traits have strong effects on the perception of both wellness and happiness.
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Displacement is a hallmark of modern humanitarian emergencies. Displacement itself is a traumatic event that can result in illness or death. Survivors face challenges including lack of adequate shelter, decreased access to health services, food insecurity, loss of livelihoods, social marginalisation as well as economic and sexual exploitation. ⋯ The following is a discussion of the health impacts of conflict and displacement in the Middle East. A review was conducted of published literature on migration and displacement in the region. Different cases are discussed with an emphasis on the recent, large-scale and urban displacement of Iraqis to illustrate aspects of displacement in this region.