Zurich Area Research Articles

Seasonal and diurnal characteristics of water soluble inorganic compounds in the gas and aerosol phase in the Zurich area

Abstract. Gas and aerosol samples were taken using a wet effluent diffusion denuder/aerosol collector (WEDD/AC) coupled to ion chromatography (IC) in the city of Zurich, Switzerland from August to September 2002 and in March 2003. Major water soluble inorganic ions; nitrate, sulfate, and nitrite were analyzed online with a time resolution of two hours for the gas and aerosol phase. The fraction of water soluble inorganic anions in PM10 varied from 15% in August to about 38% in March. Seasonal and diurnal variations of nitrate in the gas and aerosol phase were observed with more than 50% of the total nitrate in the gas phase during August and more than 80% of nitrate in the aerosol phase during March exceeding the concentration of sulfate by a factor of 2. Aerosol sulfate, on the other hand, did not show significant variability with season. However, in the gas phase, the SO2 concentration was 6.5 times higher in winter than in summer. Nitrous acid (HONO) also showed a diurnal variation in both the gas and aerosol phase with the lowest concentration (0.2–0.6 µg/m3) in the afternoon. The primary pollutants, NO, CO and SO2 mixing ratios were often at their highest between 04:00–10:00 local time due to the build up of fresh vehicle emission under a nocturnal inversion.

Die akute HIV-1-Infektion in Zürich: 2002–2004

Acute HIV-infection mostly presents with unspecifc symptoms. Thus the acute retroviral syndrome is often not readily recognized. Here we present an interim analysis of a prospective study from 62 patients with documented acute HIV infection acquired between January 2002-August 2004 in the greater Zurich area. 61.5% of patients were infected by homosexual contacts, mostly with HIV-1 subtype B, 34% acquired infection by heterosexual contacts, often with non-B-virus subtypes. Transmission occurred in all sexually active age groups (18-72 years). Clinical symptoms presented as follows: fever (77%), pharyngitis (56%), fatigue (52%), gastrointestinal symptoms (45%), rash (39%). On first physician contact, an ARS was only suspected in 27% of the cases. Patients primarily called on their family doctors (37.5%), went to see larger walk in clinics or emergency rooms (37.5%), and 16% were hospitalised. In 16% of patients other sexually transmitted diseases were diagnosed contemporaneously. Drug resistant virus (single class resistance) was transmitted in only one patient.

Y-chromosome STR haplotypes in a population sample from Switzerland (Zurich area)

Allele frequencies and haplotypes for 12 Y-chromosome STR loci (DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DYS438 and DYS439), included in the PowerPlex ®Y multiplex kit, were determined for a Swiss population sample of 150 male individuals. The gene diversities for the different loci were in the same range as shown for other European Population samples. The haplotype diversity was 0.9922. Pairwise haplotype analysis showed no significant differences in comparison with other European Population samples.

A Trip Generation Method for Time-Dependent Large-Scale Simulations of Transport and Land-Use

This paper presents an attempt to integrate dynamic traffic models and location choice models in a more consistent way than the four-step planning scheme. Two temporal horizons are considered. On the long run, individuals select the location of their primary activity based on local land-use data and on travel costs. Mode choice is omitted. On the short run, car travelers select the departure time and route on the journey to their the primary activity. On the short run, the travel demand is disaggregated at the individual level. On the long run, users characteristics are aggregated. A methodology is developed that can be used to bootstrap multi-agents simulations of land-use and transport in an efficient way. The emphasis is put on the provision of an operational model. Therefore, the paper focuses on the technical details of the implementation of this methodology and on its applications to large-scale systems. Results are presented on the Zurich area.

Efficient Map Matching of Large Global Positioning System Data Sets: Tests on Speed-Monitoring Experiment in Zürich

Speed and location observations from Global Positioning System (GPS) loggers are quickly becoming an important source of data for travel behavior researchers. Postprocessing these data requires identifying the location of the GPS data points on a coded map of the transportation network. The output of the map-matching process is the identification of the routes that were actually taken. This paper presents an innovative map-matching algorithm that relies only on the GPS coordinates and the network topology. Examples are provided on a large data set for the Zurich area. The paper demonstrates the efficiency of the algorithm in regard to accuracy and computational speed.

Fossile Föhren – präzises Werkzeug der Paläoklimaforschung: Stand der Jahrringforschung an fossilen Bäumen und Vernetzung hochauflösender Archive | Fossil pine trees – accurate tool in paleoclimatic research

A comparison of different high-resolution archives, such as tree rings, ice cores and marine varves show high degrees of similarity and reveal significant hemispheric climatic events (Older Dryas, Gerzensee Deviation, onset of Younger Dryas). Even the eruption of the Laachersee volcano (Eifel, Germany) 13 070 years ago is recorded synchronously in all of these archives. Trees from the Zurich area extend the absolute tree-ring chronology back to 12 449 years BP. This extension is relevant for quaternary research as well as for calibrating the 14C curve and other archives. The recent findings from the Uetliberg may provide further progress in filling the existing gaps in the Lateglacial tree-ring chronologies.

Electronic games and environmental factors associated with childhood obesity in Switzerland.

Environmental factors and behaviors associated with obesity have not been well described in children living in Europe. Although television watching has been repeatedly associated with obesity, it is unclear whether other sedentary activities, such as use of electronic games, are independently associated with obesity in children. The hypothesis was that various types of sedentary activities are associated with obesity in children living in Switzerland. This was a cross-sectional study of children (grades one to three) from four communities in the Greater Zurich Area (Switzerland). Obesity was defined as a combination of overweight (BMI) and overfat (skinfold thicknesses). Environmental factors were assessed by questionnaire. The children's physical activity was estimated by their teacher (scale 0 to 10). Of 922 eligible subjects, 872 (94.6%) took part in the study. Use of electronic games [odds ratio (OR) = 2.03 per hour per day, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.57 to 2.61, p < 0.001], television (OR = 2.83 per hour per day, 95% CI: 2.08 to 3.86, p < 0.001), physical activity (OR = 0.80 per unit, 95% CI: 0.72 to 0.88, p < 0.001), maternal work (OR = 1.93, 95% CI: 1.13 to 3.29, p = 0.02), and paternal smoking (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.07 to 2.96, p = 0.03) were independently associated with obesity. Further adjustment for socioeconomic status, when available, did not change these results. In this sample of children living in Switzerland, the use of electronic games was significantly associated with obesity, independently of confounding factors. The association of obesity with television use and lack of physical activity confirms results from other populations and points to potential strategies for obesity prevention.

New Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology ICB at ZHW

The recently founded Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology ICB of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, (ZHW) is the common platform for all R&amp;D as well as service activities of the Abteilung für Chemie und Biologische Chemie CBC. The geographical market of the ICB comprises primarily the Greater Zurich Area, eastern and central Switzerland. The customers are the small- and medium-sized enterprises of the region as well as larger corporations in Switzerland. The ICB benefits from its two pillars, chemistry and biotechnology, and a sound networking of the institute at ZHW and in Switzerland. The structure of the ICB is clearly centered around three focal points of competence, namely Specialty Chemistry, (Bio)Chemical Measurement and Sensor Technique, and Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.

Baden

General information: Baden, an historical health resort with thermal springs, is located not far downstream from Zurich. Baden is a little town with 16,500 inhabitants and the center of a region of around 100,000 inhabitants. Although Baden is located within the canton of Aargau, it is part of the economic region of Zurich. Compared to its size, Baden offers a wide range of cultural events (including a Casino, theatre, art galleries and museums). In 1891, Brown Boveri und Cie. (BBC) was founded in Baden, a company which later became Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) in 1988. Today the headq uar- ters of ABB Switzerland, a national company of the worldwide operating ABB Technology & Engineering Group, is still situated in Baden. What the author states: In order to further its economic development and wealth, Baden takes advantage of its location within the Greater Zurich Area, its affiliation to the canton of Aargau, and its proximity to southern Germany. Concurrently, Baden has established itself as a regional center for living, working, shopping and cultural events. In addition, a partnership with Zurich concerning tourism and economic promotion results in a win-win-situation for both cities. Commuter traffic between Baden and Zurich further strengthens the tight relationship to Zurich, and the establishment of the suburban railway system in 1990, which facilitates this link, has been recognized as a real blessing for Baden.

Longitudinal monthly body measurements from 1 to 12 months of age: a study by practitioners for practitioners. Zurich Association of Practicing Paediatricians.

A longitudinal growth study with monthly measurements during the 1st year of life was conducted by nine paediatricians working in private practice in Zurich. Of 92 children, none was lost to the study and only 32 of 1104 planned visits were missed; the quality of the measurements was comparable to that of a specialised university clinic. Compared to the Zurich Longitudinal Growth Studies, children of this study were considerably heavier and taller. In 92% of the subjects, growth velocity was at least once outside the reference range (3rd 97th percentile). For weight increments, the corresponding proportion was 87%. The data indicate that current standards for the 1st year of life for the Zurich area might no longer be appropriate and need to be updated. The currently used velocity percentiles based on 3-monthly measurements are not suitable to assess individual height and weight increments calculated from monthly measurements.

Survey of the methicillin resistance-associated genes mecA, mecR1-mecI, and femA-femB in clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The restriction site polymorphism of the chromosomal femAB region and the first appearance of the regulatory element mecR1-mecI associated with the methicillin resistance determinant (mec) were analyzed in 192 initially methicillin resistant (Mcr) Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates collected between 1965 and 1990 in the Zurich area. Forty-three of the strains lost the resistance spontaneously. All isolates that were still Mcr hybridized with mecA, the gene for the low-affinity penicillin-binding protein PBP 2'. Mcr strains isolated before 1977 lacked sequences that hybridized with mecR1-mecI, a regulatory element controlling the expression of mecA; exceptions to this were one strain isolated in 1966 and one strain isolated in 1972. The size of the EcoRV fragment carrying femA, a chromosomally encoded factor involved in pentaglycine side chain formation of the peptidoglycan and essential for the expression of methicillin resistance, was conserved in all strains but one, which was susceptible to methicillin even though it carried a functional mecA gene. The methicillin susceptibility of this particular strain was presumably due to a spontaneous femA-like mutation. The 192 strains belonged to seven different EcoRV restriction fragment patterns recognizable with a 10.5-kb probe covering the femAB region. Some 93% of the 149 Mcr strains belonged to pattern A, and the remaining Mcr strains shared patterns A' and B. The 42 isolates which spontaneously lost their resistance upon storage and revival represented all seven different patterns. This strong conservation of femA suggests an important role for femA in cell wall metabolism and methicillin resistance.

Epidemiology and clinical significance of nontuberculous mycobacteria in patients negative for human immunodeficiency virus in Switzerland.

Over the last decades, the rate of isolation of tubercle bacilli has declined in the developed countries, while the incidence of infection with nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) has increased. In a retrospective study, we analyzed all cases of patients negative for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and from whom NTM were isolated in the Zurich area of Switzerland from 1983 to 1988. During the 6-year study period, 513 patients infected with NTM were identified, 34 of whom had clinically significant disease. The presentation of mycobacteriosis was found to be lung disease in 23 cases, soft-tissue disease in 10 cases, and disseminated disease in one case. The highest attack rate of pulmonary mycobacteriosis was 0.49% and was found in the group of patients 41-50 years old. During the 6-year period, the incidence of tuberculosis declined from 16.2 to 13.2 per 100,000 population, while the incidence of mycobacteriosis increased from 0.4 to 0.9 per 100,000 population. Clinically nonsignificant NTM isolates were found more frequently in patients with chronic lung diseases (P less than .01) and especially in patients with a history of tuberculosis (P less than .001).

Surface tension of wastewater samples measured by the drop volume method

rn A systematic study of the application of the drop volume technique to the measurement of the surface tension of wastewater samples taken at the second clarifier outlet of sewage treatment plants in the Zurich area is reported. Use of a computer-controlled drop volume instrument allows us to obtain reproducible surface tension data for samples containing surface-active solutes in widely varying concentrations. It is shown that biodegradation must be inhibited (by sodium azide) between sampling and measurement. Two measuring procedures (standard and equilibrating) capable of yielding reproducible surface tension data are suggested.

Nutritional status of the elderly in Zürich.

The nutritional status of 91 non-institutionalized elderly persons from the Zurich area, aged between 63 and 83 years, was investigated. Three different methods were used to establish the food intake and the nutritional status of these volunteers, respectively: (1) chemical determination of the nutrient content of the daily consumed food; (2) calculation of its nutrient content based on the interviews with the volunteers, and (3) assessment of the vitamin (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin C) and iron status by various biochemical and chemical assays. Additionally, weight, height, and blood pressure of each person were recorded and hemoglobin concentration, red and white blood cell counts, hematocrit, serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, and blood sugar determined. The results of the three methods were compared. The values of the interview method based on a questionnaire, and the assessment of the vitamin and iron status agreed well with each other. They showed that the nutrient intake covered the RDA, and vitamin and iron intake of the elderly were satisfactory with a few exceptions. The nutrient content of the daily meals determined by chemical methods was lower than the calculated results based on the interviews. The possible reasons for this discrepancy as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the employed methods are discussed.

Salmonella and Shigella infections in Switzerland, with special reference to typhoid vaccination for travellers.

This prospective study reveals that 48% of 368 salmonelloses and 81% of 43 shigelloses diagnosed within one year in the Zurich area were imported from abroad. Travellers in close contact with the local population have a higher risk of being affected by typhoid fever or shigellosis than the average tourist. The clinical course was generally mild, and there was no lethal case. As the incidence of Salmonella typhi is very low, typhoid vaccination is recommended only for high-risk travellers.

METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCI 1965-75

Methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus has been one of the major problems of gram positive infections in hospitals in the Zurich area. Up to 1971, about 20% of staphylococcal disease was caused by these peculiar organisms. Since 1972, however, a gradual decrease in the number of methicillin-resistant organisms has been observed, with an unprecedented low of 3% in 1975. The nearly 700 methicillin-resistant cultures that have isolated since 1965 exhibited, with rare exceptions, conventional group-III patterns of lysis in phage-typing and similar antibiotypes. It is suggested that all these isolates are derivatives of a strain which has long existed in the staphylococcal population. The reasons for the changes in the frequency of this strain as an agent causing staphylococcal disease are unclear. The use of penicillinase-resistant β-lactam antibiotics in hospitals does not seem to play a major role in the distribution and spread or in the disappearance of this strain.

Oskar Pfister and the beginning of religious socialism

In the year 1907, Oskar Pfister wrote a booklet with the title Social Development as a Fight for the Dignity of Man. In it there is a statement that is enlightening for his anthropology of that time: "There may also be great, heroic, noble personalities in the most miserable slavery, but they show us all the more the unworthiness of their situation. But if greater masses are involved, we know today with infallible certainty that also the innermost center of moral feelings is dependent on the outward social conditions. If, for example, the housing conditions and the salaries are very bad, immorality must increase powerfully with a necessity of nature which is shown in moral statistics. In a similar way an inherent connection between social conditions and the number of suicides, thefts, arsons, etc., can be shown. ''1 Here Pfister takes over the view of Alexander von Oettingen (compare Moral Statistics in Their Significance for Christian Social Ethics 2 ) that man is impressed, as far as his mental sphere is concerned, by social conditions just as he in turn influences them. (Compare also Pfister, The Freedom of Will: A Critical Systematic Investigation 3 ). Pfister felt himself challenged by the gospel of Jesus to stand up for the dignity of man. In the above-mentioned booklet, Social Development as a Fight for the Dignity of Man, he states that the church has permitted a "limiting of the dignity of man to the religious dimension which is completely contrary to the spirit of Jesus. ''4 "One was satisfied with slaves, one wanted the souls to be free. And still one should have known that in horrible servitude the soul, the moral dignity, died also necessarily. ''5 Therefore, Pfister dealt also with the social existence of man. Due to this concern, in the years before World War I he came into close contact with the religious-social movement of Hermann Kutter and Leonhard Ragaz. Oskar Pfister participated in a preliminary conference of religious-social pastors in the year 1906, from which the religious-social movement came forth. There even exists a photograph of this conference, The Rev. Hans Ulrich J~/ger-Werth, Th.D., a young pastor who serves in a little town within the Greater Zurich area, became interested in Pfister's early work in social action and his role in the formation of a political party in Switzerland. This paper, read at the symposium in honor of the centennial anniversary of the birth of Pfister held in Zurich in February under the sponsorship of the Institutes of Religion and Health and other organizations, is an example of the way in which Pfister speaks to a young generation who find in his writings much that is relevant to their thoughts.

Epidemiology of Hepatitis

New serological tests allow one to classify the majority of patients with acute viral hepatitis into patients with hepatitis B, with hepatitis A or with hepatitis NonA/NonB. This breakdown was performed with 207 consecutive patients from the Zurich area in 1979. The data were compared with those obtained in patient series from 1977/78 (220 patients) and series published earlier (another 790 patients since 1972). Before 1979 only hepatitis B and hepatitis NonB could be differentiated. Since 1972 approximately 50% of all patients have had hepatitis B. In 1979 25% of the remaining patients had hepatitis A and 13% hepatitis NonA/NonB, while the others could not be classified. In all series so far analyzed slightly more men than women were affected, almost half of the patients were between 15 and 29 years old and no seasonal peaks were apparent. Sporadic disease is the rule, and clusters are extremely rare. However, there was a slight shift of risk situations which might have led to transmission of the virus. The percentage of patients with appropriately timed blood transfusions dropped from 12% in 1972 to 5% in 1979 and medical staff members from 18% to 6%, while the percentage of patients with histories of drug use increased from 4% to 11% and of travellers to foreign countries from 15% to 40%. Most of the travellers had hepatitis A, and the majority of transfused patients had hepatitis B, while drug users had either hepatitis B or NonA/NonB. Some background data on hepatitis viruses are summarized and possible prophylactic measures are discussed.