OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effects of a middle-school healthy eating promotion intervention combining environmental changes and computer-tailored feedback, with and without an explicit parent involvement component. DESIGN Clustered randomised controlled trial. SETTING Fifteen West-Flemish (Belgian) middle schools. SUBJECTS A random sample of 15 schools with 2991 pupils in 7th and 8th grad...

Increased domestic, laboratory confirmed, Campylobacter notifications were reported in Siderhamn municipality, December 2002 and January 2003. Concurrently, during preliminary investigations a large outbreak of acute gastroenteritis was detected. Simultaneously, two studies were completed to identify risk factors for infection with Campylobacter and acute gastrointestinal infection (AGI): (1) a...

The Wyoming Department of Health investigated an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis among persons who dined at a tourist saloon in central Wyoming during October 2001. Human caliciviruses (HuCVs) were suspected as the etiological agent of the outbreak based on the incubation period, duration of illness, and symptoms observed in ill patrons. A retrospective cohort study demonstrated that ill patr...

A highly luminescent freestanding film composed of the quantum cluster, Au(15), was prepared. We studied the utility of the material for specific metal ion detection. The sensitivity of the red emission of the cluster in the composite to Cu(2+) has been used to make a freestanding metal ion sensor, similar to pH paper. The luminescence of the film was stable when exposed to several other metal ...

Types of land disposed residuals from selected metal smelting and refining industries are described, as are the origin and disposition of land disposed residuals from the primary copper industry as an example. Quantities of land-disposed or stored residuals, including slags, sludges, and dusts, are given per unit of metal production for most primary and secondary metal smelting and refining ind...

BACKGROUND In the past 25 years, China has experienced remarkable economic growth and rapid agricultural-to-industrial and rural-to-urban transitions. As a consequence, China now faces many daunting environmental challenges that are significantly affecting human health and quality of life, including indoor and outdoor air pollution, water pollution, deforestation, loss of agricultural land, and...

Water sorption is important for the overall structure and function of keratinized tissues such as the human epidermal stratum corneum (SC). In this study we report on a gravimetric method for studying sorption properties of human SC, both from heel and female breast skin. Changes in mass were measured as the relative humidity was altered in steps under controlled environmental conditions. The p...

Detection of microbial enzymes in natural environments is important to understand biochemical activities and to verify the biotechnological potential of the microorganisms. In the present report, 346 isolates from soil, water, and plants were screened for enzyme production (caseinase, gelatinase, amylase, carboxymethyl cellulase, and esterase). Our results showed that 89.6% of isolates produced...

Fecal contamination of water poses a significant risk to public health due to the potential presence of pathogens, including enteric viruses. Therefore, sensitive, reliable and easy to use methods for the concentration, detection and quantification of microorganisms associated with the safety and quality of water are needed. In this study, we performed a field evaluation of an anion exchange re...