Human Leukocyte Elastase (HLE) has recently been implicated as a poor prognostic marker in certain breast cancers and as a key component involved in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases. Because HLE is so expensive, Porcine Pancreatic Elastase (PPE) has been used to model elastase activity and inhibition. This paper elucidates the differences and similarities between HLE and PPE through enzym...

OBJECTIVE On the basis of the job demands-control-support model by Karasek and Theorell, we investigated how social and organizational factors influence workers' use of personal protective equipment (PPE). METHODS A cross-sectional study was performed among 1420 workers in 203 motor vehicle-repair garages. Multilevel modeling was performed to account for the hierarchical structure of the data...

BACKGROUND Peer physical examination (PPE) is an efficient and practical educational approach whereby students can practise their examination skills on each other before commencing clinical practice with actual patients. Little is known about the use of PPE in osteopathy education. METHODS Students in Year 1 of the osteopathy programs at Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia) and Southern...

This paper describes an initiative to integrate aspects of ergonomics and comfort into a selection system for personal protective equipment (PPE). Selection criteria intended for PPE mainly focus on the efficiency of chemical protection to reduce respiratory and skin exposure. However, the efficiency of PPE is not exclusively determined by the protection aspects of respiratory protective equipm...

BACKGROUND Parapneumonic pleural effusion (PPE) is a common complication of pneumonia. The accurate diagnosis of PPE remains a challenge. Recent studies suggest that procalcitonin (PCT) emerges as a potential biomarker for PPE. Our study aimed to determine the diagnostic value of PCT for PPE by a clinical study and summarize the overall diagnostic performance of PCT through a meta-analysis. M...

Epmyema thoracis is associated with high mortality ranging between 6% to 24%. The incidence of empyema is increasing in both children and adults; the cause of this surge is unknown. Most cases of empyema complicate community- or hospital-acquired pneumonia but a proportion results from iatrogenic causes or develops without pneumonia. Parapneumonic effusions (PPE) develop in about one half of th...

We report the MR and clinical findings of two patients with growth hormone deficiency and posterior pituitary ectopia (PPE). Possible causes of PPE are discussed.

The importance of hands in the transmission of nosocomial infection has been world wide admitted. However, it is difficult to induce this behavior in health-care workers. The aim of the present work was to point out the importance of hand bacteria colonization, the influence of hand washing and of patient physical examination. One hundred health-care workers were randomly divided in two groups:...

This study aimed to examine the practices and perceptions of motorcycle taxi drivers concerning the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), based on field research and an exploratory and descriptive qualitative approach. Thirty motorcycle taxi drivers from Jequié, Bahia State, Brazil, were interviewed. Data collection used a semi-structured interview and questionnaire. Data were analyzed us...