Health Protection Research Articles

Monitoring and Predicting Air Quality with IoT Devices

The growing concern about air quality and its influence on human health has prompted the development of sophisticated monitoring and forecast systems. This article gives a thorough investigation into forecasting the air quality index (AQI) with an Internet of Things (IoT) device that analyzes temperature, humidity, PM10, and PM2.5 levels. The dataset used for this analysis comprises 5869 data points across six critical parameters essential for accurate air quality prediction. The data from these sensors is sent to the ThingSpeak cloud platform for storage and preliminary analysis. The system forecasts AQI using a TensorFlow-based regression model, delivering real-time insights. The combination of IoT technology and machine learning improves the accuracy and responsiveness of air quality monitoring systems, making it a useful tool for environmental management and public health protection. This work presents comparatively the effectiveness of feedforward neural network models trained with the ‘adam’ and ‘RMSprop’ optimizers over different epochs, as well as the machine learning algorithm random forest with varying numbers of estimators to forecast AQI. The models were trained using both types of regression analysis: linear regression and random forest regression. The findings show that the model achieves a high degree of accuracy, with the predictions closely aligning with the actual AQI values, thus having the potential to significantly reduce the negative health impact associated with poor air quality, protecting public health and alerting users when pollution levels are higher than allowed. Specifically, the random forest model with 100 estimators delivers the best overall performance for both AQI 10 and AQI 2.5, achieving the lowest Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.2785 for AQI 10 and 0.2483 for AQI 2.5. This integration of IoT technology and advanced predictive analysis addresses the significant worldwide issue of air pollution by identifying the pollution hotspots and allowing decision-makers for quick reactions, and the development of effective strategies to reduce pollution sources.

Post-synthetic modification fluorescence UiO-66-Eu immunochromatography for high-performance detection of sodium pentachlorophenoate

Sodium pentachlorophenate (PCP) is widely used as a herbicide, fungicide, or molluscicide. It is highly toxic, easily soluble in water, making it highly prone to diffusion and causing water and soil pollution. Through the food chain, it enters animal bodies and remains in food, causing toxicity to humans and animals. Therefore, establishing a rapid and simple detection method for PCP is crucial for human health and environmental protection. Herein, lanthanide metal Eu3+ was introduced into UiO-66-(COOH)2 by post-synthesis modification, and the nanomaterials prepared based on this method have the advantages of both UiO-66-(COOH)2 and Eu3+. The rigid skeleton structure of UiO-66-(COOH)2 can protect the activity of antibody, the detection environment pH tolerance range of UiO-66-Eu is 3–11. While Eu3+ has long fluorescence lifetime, high fluorescence intensity, high signal-to-noise ratio, and low photobleaching rate. UiO-66-Eu-based immunochromatography assay was successfully applied in PCP detection with the detection limits of 0.84, 0.98, and 0.37 μg/kg for pork, chicken, and shrimp, respectively, which was up to 10-fold more sensitive than the reported ICAs. The recoveries ranged from 79.7 %−113.1 %, with the coefficient of variation from 6.6 %−17.1 %. Parallel detection of 30 samples by LC-MS/MS showed a good correlation with that of our proposed method (R2 >0.98). This work not only provides a creative attempt for UiO-66-Eu based highly sensitive and strongly tolerant ICAs, but also guarantees human health and environmental protection.

Simultaneous Electrochemical Detection of Catechol and Hydroquinone Based on a Carbon Nanotube Paste Electrode Modified with Electro-Reduced Graphene Oxide.

Effectively detecting catechol (CC) and hydroquinone (HQ) simultaneously is crucial for environmental protection and human health monitoring. In the study presented herein, a novel electrochemical sensor for the sensitive simultaneous detection of CC and HQ was constructed based on an electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO)-modified multi-walled carbon nanotube paste electrode (MWCNTPE). Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques were utilized to characterize the sensing interface and investigate the sensing mechanism. Under the optimal detection conditions, the oxidation peak currents of CC and HQ show a good linear relationship with their concentrations in the range of 0.4-400 μM with a detection limit of 0.083 μM for CC and 0.028 μM for HQ (S/N = 3). Moreover, the sensor exhibits good performance and can be applied successfully in the simultaneous detection of CC and HQ in tap water samples and urine samples with satisfactory results, indicating its promising application prospects.

Guarantees of implementation of the right to health protection and medical assistance

Guarantees of implementation of the right to health protection and medical assistance

Prenatal and early life maternal substance use prevalence among Australian children born 2007-2018: a data linkage study using health, death, and child protection data

ObjectiveQuantify the scale and type of maternal substance use from conception to the child’s second birthday (First 1000 days) to inform screening and support services that may reduce associated harm or risk for children. ApproachWe used mother and child records from whole-population health, death, and child protection datasets to ascertain maternal substance use during the First 1000 days for children born in NSW, Australia, from 2008-2017. The primary outcome - maternal substance use - included use of illicit substances, alcohol, opioid-agonist treatment, organic compounds, solvents, and misuse of prescription medicines. ICD-10 and SNOMED-CT diagnosis codes were used. ResultsThe birth cohort included 970,470 children and 625,856 mothers. 32,000 children (3.4%) had a record of maternal substance use during the First 1000 days of life, including 13,647 (1.4%) with alcohol and 23,485 (2.4%) other drug use. Ascertainment was highest from child protection records (26,045 children), followed by mother’s (12,956 children) then children’s hospital records (3,826 children). 18,672 (1.9%) children had a record of carer substance use only in child protection records. Combining data increased the prevalence estimates; adding child protection records increased the prevalence estimate to 3.4%, compared with 1.2% in health and death records alone. ConclusionMore than 3 in every 100 Australian children had a record of maternal substance use in administrative data during the First 1000 days of life in this decade-long study. In addition to health and death data, child protection data offers public health insights into the scale of maternal substance use among whole-population cohorts of children.

“I feel like it's just really become second nature, almost like the screen’s not there”: a qualitative case study of the transition to telehealth for home visitation program to support fragile infants due to the COVID-19 pandemic

A subset of early childhood home visitation programs support fragile infants and prevent hospital readmission as infants transition out of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) into their home. However, the COVID-19 pandemic initiated an unexpected change in the delivery of home visitation care to adhere to social distancing guidelines, resulting in a rapid transition into telehealth services. In this study, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff from a NICU-transition home visitation program in Arizona. The Modified Technology Acceptance Model (MTAM) was used to evaluate the experiences of in-person to telehealth home visitations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rapid Qualitative Analysis Method was utilized to generate a thematic analysis. Three major themes were identified: staff-centric, family-centric, and the experience of collective adjustment to the stressors of the pandemic. Participants faced challenges transitioning to telehealth visits, including not being able to physically demonstrate development skills on the infant. However, the telehealth model allowed staff to serve a larger geographic area, as well as allowing them to build a larger caseload as they had more control over their schedule. Staff also noted that families appreciated telehealth home visits as an added layer of health protection for their fragile infants. Because the transition to telehealth was abruptly necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study participants did not have the option to not use telehealth; thus, in the future, the MTAM framework could benefit from adaptions that address the rapid adoption of technology due to large disruptors such as COVID-19.

A Review of Force Health Protection Aspects of Lyme Disease in the U.S. Military.

Lyme disease (LD) is an underrated threat to the military that negatively impacts mission readiness. Lyme disease has traditionally been thought to only be a risk in an operational context, where training or deployments are frequently conducted in heavily wooded environments. However, this view diminishes risks posed by many off-duty outdoor recreational activities. Furthermore, although the Army introduced a permethrin factory-treated Army Combat Uniform in 2012, permethrin retention and subsequent protection have been shown to decrease significantly after 3 months of wear. Thus, although LD is a known health risk that threatens unit readiness, beyond using treated uniforms there has been little progress at the unit level to address this threat. Focusing on a narrative review of LD and its impact on U.S. military force health protection, sources included DoD websites and policies, government press releases and information papers from sources like the CDC and FDA, and scholarly peer-reviewed journals with full-text access from the online databases EBSCOhost, MEDLINE, SCOUT, and Google Scholar. Searches included the following key words: LD and military, Army, etiology, epidemiology, incidence, treatments, post-treatment LD, and chronic LD. Articles were selected for review based on the relevance of their abstracts and titles. Although the incidence of LD appears to be increasing among service members, it is difficult to attribute this increase to military-related duties. Also, despite ongoing LD research specifically conducted and funded by the DoD, there are limited data on the mitigating effects of force education and permethrin-treated uniforms on the LD threat. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that LD negatively impacts military readiness and monetary costs diverted from other priorities. Lyme disease poses a genuine threat to the health and careers of service members and is an often-overlooked disruptor to military operations. Simple, feasible prevention strategies that are tailored to high-risk geographic regions can be emphasized by military units to reduce the incidence of on-duty and off-duty cases. Additionally, there remains a critical need for new preventative and diagnostic measures for LD.

Phage-based biocontrol of Porphyromonas gingivalis through indirect targeting.

Lytic phages are valuable agents for targeted elimination of bacteria in diverse applications. Nevertheless, lytic phages are difficult to isolate for some target pathogens. We offer proof of concept that this limitation may be overcome via indirect phage targeting, which involves knocking out species that interact closely with and benefit the primary problematic target bacteria. Our target (P. gingivalis) only forms a periodontal pathogenic biofilm if the pioneer colonizer (S. gordonii) offers its surface for P. gingivalis to attach. Phage predation of the co-adhesive S. gordonii significantly reduced abundance of the target pathogen by >99%, decreased the total biofilm biomass by >44%, and suppressed its production of cytotoxic metabolic byproducts. Thus, this research extends the scope of phage-based biocontrol for public health protection.

Source and Influencing Factor Analysis of Soil Heavy Metals Based on PMF Model and GeoDetector

In Lijiang City, as a typical example, 93 soil samples were collected from the study area, and soil pH； organic matter； and heavy metals arsenic （As）, mercury （Hg）, copper （Cu）, zinc （Zn）, lead （Pb）, cadmium （Cd）, and chromium （Cr） were determined. We explored the sources of heavy metals in the study area by means of Positive Definite Matrix Factorization （PMF） modeling and analyzed the impact of influencing factors by combining seven heavy metals with 13 influencing factors in a GeoDetector. The results showed that the mean values of soil heavy metals ω（As）, ω（Hg）, ω（Cu）, ω（Zn）, ω（Pb）, ω（Cd）, and ω（Cr） in the study area were 17.55, 0.19, 86.75, 164.84, 28.95, 0.39, and 167.87 mg·kg-1, respectively, which were greater than the background values of soils in Yunnan Province （except for As and Pb）. Regarding spatial distribution, the high values of Cu and Cr content were mainly concentrated in Yulong Naxi Autonomous County； the high value areas of As, Hg, Pb, and Cd were mainly concentrated in Ninglang Yi Autonomous County； and the high value of Zn content was mainly concentrated in Huaping County. Correlation analysis and PMF modeling revealed that the main sources of heavy metals As and Hg in the study area were industrial sources, Zn was from transportation pollution sources, Cr and Cu were from natural sources, and Cd and Pb were from agricultural sources. Further, the factor detector of the GeoDetector found that soil pH and organic matter （OC） had strong explanatory power for the content of seven heavy metals, and the interaction detector found that the results following the interaction of different influencing factors were nonlinear enhancement or two-factor enhancement, in which the interaction of OC and pH was the dominant factor for the spatial differentiation of heavy metals. This provides an important scientific basis for the protection of the soil environmental health and sustainable development in Lijiang City.

Water Quality Assessment using Machine Learning: A Focus on Coliform Prediction in Water

Water quality assessment is essential for safeguarding public health and protecting water resources. This study focused on predicting water quality, specifically the presence of total coliforms, using various machine-learning techniques. The present study utilises a publicly available dataset encompassing the geographical area of India consisting of various physical water quality parameters. Various regression techniques were applied to the dataset after appropriate pre-processing including feature selection and normalisation. The findings demonstrate that gradient boosting regression outperforms other methods, achieving high accuracy with mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.0349, mean squared error (MSE) of 0.0038, and root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.0620. Conductivity and temperature emerged as the most influential factors in total coliform prediction, as revealed by feature importance analysis. These results contribute to water quality understanding, aiding water resource management for public health protection. By accurately predicting total coliform presence, proactive measures can be taken timely to mitigate and minimise health risks associated with microbial contamination.

“Step into Medicine” — a pilot project of the Program “Education by Service”

In the period from February to June 2024, on the basis of the Institute of Accreditation and Simulation Technologies of the Northern State Medical University of Arkhangelsk, a pilot project was implemented within the framework of the "Ministry Training" program, which was called the "Step into Medicine Excursion Program". The social partner of the project was the Ministry of Education of the Arkhangelsk region. The social task set by the partner is to involve schoolchildren in the world of medicine, popularize medical professions among schoolchildren, and increase the level of literacy in the field of health protection.

Analysis of legislative basis for medical rehabilitation in Russia

Background. In recent years, there have been significant changes in the regulatory documentation related to medical rehabilitation, caused by the need to consolidate the principles for rehabilitation of patients in post-COVID period and standardize the procedures used for it. Therefore, it is important to analyze the existing regulatory framework and the proposed changes that will come into force in the near future.Objective: to assess the regulatory legal acts governing the provision of medical rehabilitation in Russia.Material and methods. Regulatory legal acts and their drafts were obtained through the reference and legal systems “Kontur Standard”, “ConsultantPlus”, and the Federal Portal of Draft Regulatory Legal Acts. The following electronic libraries, databases and other sources were used to collect secondary information: eLibrary, Google Scholar, PubMed/MEDLINE, Yandex and social networks.Results. Article 41 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees the right to health protection and medical care. Within the latter the use of medical rehabilitation can be considered. Going down to the next level, the term “medical rehabilitation” is found in Federal Law dated November 27, 2011 No. 323-FZ “On the fundamentals of health protection of citizens in the Russian Federation”. However, the requirements in the field under consideration are specifically described in Orders of the Ministry of Health of Russia No. 788n and 878n, which establish a three-stage provision of medical rehabilitation and give specific time instructions for the frequency and duration of care prcedures. The conditions for the transition of patients between the stages of medical rehabilitation are presented, and creating interdisciplinary rehabilitation teams is specified.Conclusion. The analysis of innovations in the regulatory framework showed no fundamental changes in the regulation of medical rehabilitation. At the moment, there is a need to expand it by regulating the activities of multidisciplinary rehabilitation teams. A more detailed elaboration of normative documentation regulating the provision of medical rehabilitation to children is necessary.

EVALUATION OF THE HEALTH LITERACY LEVELS IN SOCIAL WORKERS

Health literacy levels of social workers working with disadvantaged or risky groups of society have a very important place in the protection of public health. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the level of health literacy knowledge of social workers in Turkey and various variables. In this study, 237 social workers working in institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies and the Ministry of Health in different provinces of Turkey were included in the analysis. Health literacy levels were measured using Turkey’s Health Literacy (TSOY-32). The SPSS package program was used in the statistical analysis of the data and p

Comparative Analysis of Water Wells and Tap Water: Case Study from Lebanon, Baalbeck Region

Water deficit is a fundamental factor in public health and economic growth. Water supply and population growth are directly linked to water demand. The physio-chemistry and microbiology analysis of water is utmost significance in dietary requirements. Drinking water has the main concern especially it affects food security. This study includes a number of representative sites where 24 water samples (from wells, reservoirs and tap water) were analysed. These sites are located in the western villages of Baalbeck, the main city of the Bekaa Plain in Lebanon where the analysed water is used mainly for domestic needs and for irrigation. This study investigates the physiochemical and microbiological properties. Among the selected sites, Hawsh Barada site shows a strong contamination by nitrate. At the Nabi Rashaded (tap), Beit Shema and Bednayel (borehole and tap), contamination above the norm by zinc ion was noted. From a microbiological point of view, Hawsh barada, Nabi-Rashadeh, Hawsh-bay, and Beit shema are markedly polluted and do not meet the standard for drinking water. Hence, water quality in Hawsh barada, Nabi-Rashadeh, Hawsh-bay, Beit shema and Bednayel are not suitable for drinking, and this must be informed to decision makers who can act implementing environmental controls for health protection in the studied region.

Inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-consume liquid infant milk treated with Ohmic Heating

Ohmic heating is a promising alternative method to conventional heating for microbial inactivation. This study aimed to inactivate Listeria monocytogenes and assess some quality parameters in ready-to-consume liquid infant milk treated with different voltage gradients of ohmic heating. Different ohmic heating voltage gradients (5, 10, and 20V cm-1) were applied to the samples inoculated with Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC 13932) for 5 minutes. The application of 20 V cm-1 ohmic heating induced inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes at 4 minutes and resulted in approximately 5.34 log reduction; however, there was no significant reduction for the 5 and 10V cm-1 groups. Moreover, 20V cm-1 ohmic heating application did not cause any changes in pH, L*, and b* values. A significant decrease in a* value and an increase in hydroxymethylfurfural value was noted in this group. In conclusion, the effectiveness of ohmic heating in pathogen inactivation depends on the applied electric field intensity and the application time. As a result, the ohmic heating conditions must be carefully determined for the infant milk to inactivate pathogens and ensure public health protection. The results of this study contain significant and beneficial data that can be disposed of the listeriosis risk associated with the consumption of infant milk in infants.

Simulation Technologies in Obstetrics: Teaching in a New Way or Leaving the Status Quo?

The protection of reproductive health of the population of Russia has been declared by the country's leadership to be the most important state task and is one of the priority components of the National Projects "Healthcare", "Demography" and "Family". The development of the latest technologies in medicine determines the need to create and widely implement an innovative approach to the training and professional preparation of doctors. In this regard, there is a need to change the methodology for training doctors at present.

Generation and Composition of Medical Waste in Lafia

Background: Effective management of medical waste is a prerequisite for efficient delivery of healthcare services, human health and environmental protection; and the availability of adequate data with regard to medical waste generation and composition is generally considered to be fundamental in the development of efficient medical waste management. However, in Lafia, the state capital of Nasarawa State, Nigeria and a rapidly developing town, there is inadequate information on the medical waste generation and composition. This study thus sets to evaluate the medical waste composition and generation in Lafia by direct observation during both rainy and dry seasons Methodology: The study involved the survey of a cross section of three (3) tertiary health institution. Findings: The study showed that there is significant variation in healthcare waste management practices and sustainability factors (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) (3Rs). The test showed that there prominent method of healthcare waste management at the studied institution was practice of incineration, pit burning and burying and frequency of waste disposal, leaving out other new and improved technologies for proper waste managements. This study aims to evaluate the medical waste generation and composition in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria across public and private hospitals. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: It is anticipated that the outcome of this research will avail resourceful data that will be needed for effective hospital waste management and other planning and design works.

Об отдельных актуальных проблемах правового статуса врача и необходимости их законодательного решения.

Federal Law No. 323-FZ dated 11/21/2011 «On the Basics of Public Health protection in the Russian Federation» identifies two close, interrelated, but at the same time independent rights of a citizen: in article 21, the right to choose a doctor, taking into account the consent of a doctor, i. e. the right to choose any doctor at all and not only the attending physician, and in article 70 the patient’s right to choose the attending physician. At the same time, with the exception of the district service, the Basics do not disclose the mechanism for a citizen to choose a doctor, including a doctor, when providing him with primary specialized medical care and specialized medical care. This mechanism has not been disclosed in the procedures for providing medical care. In this regard, the authors proposed to supplement article 21 of the Fundamentals with instructions that the procedures for providing medical care, including the procedure for choosing a doctor by the patient. In addition, the publication noted that the absence of detailed and comprehensive medical care in the relevant procedures.

Health equity and synergistic abatement strategies of carbon dioxide and air pollutant emissions reduction in China’s eastern coastal area

Abstract Quantifying regional health disparities linked to air pollution is essential for enhancing air quality and attaining carbon neutrality objectives. Nonetheless, the efficacy of proactive policies in ensuring equitable health protection in China’s Eastern Coastal Area (ECA) remains uncertain. Here, we employed an integrated assessment model to assess the combined reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) and atmospheric pollutants and their health repercussions in the ECA of China. Our findings reveal that 273 000 premature deaths are attributable to air pollution in 2060 in the ECA in the absence of mitigation policies. Conversely, carbon reduction policies are poised to curtail 80% of CO2 emissions, alongside reductions of 76% for NOx, 79% for SO2, 80% for PM2.5, 72% for VOCs, and 66% for NH3 emissions. Air pollution control policies could mitigate premature deaths by 19 600, while carbon reduction policies could potentially lower them by 50 800. The health inequality coefficient among provinces stands at 0.19, primarily attributable to significantly higher mortality rates in Hebei and Shandong. These findings yield valuable insights for crafting synergistic abatement strategies in similarly imbalanced developmental regions grappling with comparable environmental challenges.

Enhancement of Health Services: Advanced Security Mechanism for Telemedicine in Public Health Practice

The sudden advancement of telemedicine in the healthcare industry presents potential hazards such as cyber-attacks and network susceptibilities, in addition to difficulties in patient privacy, data protection, and public health monitoring. To avoid illegal access, digital watermarking and precise medical image transfer are essential. Thus, for telemedicine in public health action, we introduce a unique security mechanism termed wavelet crypto fast decomposition with penguin optimization (WCFD-PO). Rivest-Shamir-Adelman (RSA), wavelet transforms (WT), and fast random singular value decomposition (FRSVD) encryption algorithms make up the suggested security methodology. By using the methods WT and FRSVD, one can decrease computing complexity and increase robustness. The PO approach offers a better-optimized scale factor in the fewest groups and repetitions as compared to the RSA approach, which is used for encrypting the watermarked image. The proposed mechanism is implemented by employing a Python application. Comprehensive testing indicates that our novel approach functions better than the current techniques, demonstrating the technique's higher efficiency. With the assistance of secure telemedicine solutions, this investigation offers physicians and tech programmers insightful information that will boost public health management.