OBJECTIVES To study new onset of adult asthma in relation to dampness and moulds in dwelling places. METHODS Totally, 7104 young adults from 13 countries who participated in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS I and II) who did not report respiratory symptoms or asthma at baseline were followed prospectively for 9 years. Asthma was assessed by questionnaire data on asthmat...

Moulds constitute the largest group of bacteria, prevailing both in the indoor and outdoor air. Approximately 200 000 species of moulds have been identified so far, where only a small group of around 200 may present a threat to human health. Fungi from Aspergillus species are among the moulds considered to be most pathogenic. They also constitute the group of most pathogenic moulds most frequen...

A tracheotomy tube, as well as the stoma through which it is inserted into the patient's throat, may represent a potential risk of fungal infections for patients suffering from larynx cancer. The study was aimed at evaluating the influence of the hospital room environment on the fungal colonisation of tracheotomy tubes in the case of patients diagnosed with larynx cancer and operated on in the ...

The association research platform MYTOX "Mycotoxins and Toxigenic Moulds" held the 5th meetingofitsInternationalSymposiuminGhent,Belgiumon11May2016.[...].

Much is being written about plastics these days---newspapers are full of stories about the plastic menace, governments are up in arms banning polybags around the country, schools and colleges are launching awareness drives to ban plastics. But they are still around. And will be around for times to come. Not only strewn on the roads or choking drains and rivers, but also inside our homes. Over t...

In laboratory experiments we demonstrate that protoplasmic tubes of acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum show current versus voltage profiles consistent with memristive systems. This result complements previous findings on memristive properties of other living systems (human skin and blood and leaves) and contributes to development of self-growing bioelectronic circuits.

For efficient manufacture of moulds and dies and in order to meet the unstable market situation, a well organised reconfigurable manufacturing system is required. The geometric features of moulds and dies are not the same as discrete parts. They are contained elements on a block of steel and are usually in the form of contours, slots, corners, slope faces, curved surfaces and cavities. A lot of...

The meniscus is a fibrocartilaginous tissue that is critically important to the loading patterns within the knee joint. If the meniscus structure is compromised, there is little chance of healing, due to limited vascularity in the inner portions of the tissue. Several tissue-engineering techniques to mimic the complex geometry of the meniscus have been employed. Of these, a self-assembly, scaff...

The " discovery " of penicillin by Fleming in 1928 and its dramatic production, urged on by the necessities of war, heralded a new era of therapeutics. It has changed the pattern of disease the prognosis of infections, the expectation of life, indeed, it has changed the whole human ecology. Before the discovery of penicillin, there were many early descriptions of the characteristics and propert...