The School Health Intensity Rating Scale: establishing reliability for practice.

It is important for school nurses to identify health care needs and nursing resources necessary to achieve desired health outcomes for the school-age population. The purpose of this study was to determine interrater reliability for the School Health Intensity Rating Scale (SHIRS), a tool developed to assess intensity of health care needs of the school-age population. Four school nurses assessed 20 fictitious student records using SHIRS. The SHIRS produced moderate kappa coefficients for more than half of the 15 parameters with 2 additional parameters near the moderate kappa range.

[Frequency of psychiatric admissions from recently built satellite areas (concrete buildings) in the western district of Copenhagen]. / Psykiatrisk indlaeggelseshyppighed fra nyere drabantbebyggelser (betonbyggerier) i Københavns vestegn.

Scandinavian investigations have demonstrated that the extent of mental disturbances is related to the nature of the district concerned. Young satellite districts, concrete built up areas in the periphery of large cities have been pointed out as high risk regions. Environments with poor resources, dominated by social disintegration increase the risk of mental disturbances in persons who are already poorly integrated. Four satellite building sites which were built within the past 25 years in the westerly part of Copenhagen were investigated for the frequency of inpatient admissions in the regional psychiatric department in 1985. 23% of all the admissions occur from these regions where 12% of the basic population lives. The majority of the admissions occur partly from the oldest of these regions built in the nineteen sixties and also from the two youngest regions built at the end of the nineteen seventies. The same pattern was found for the main diagnoses: character disturbances and drug addiction while the diagnosis of schizophrenia is commonest in the two youngest regions. Socio-economical data which suggests social disintegration in these districts is quoted. Purposeful social-psychiatric efforts in the high risk districts are necessary. Mental hygienic requirements should be taken into consideration in planning new residential districts.

Kinetic distribution model for chemicals based on results from a standard environmental system.

In order to reduce potential hazards to the environment resulting from production and use of chemicals, some governments have enacted laws and corresponding regulations. Thus, for instance, the German "law on hazardous substances," and the regulation regarding a.o. submission of test data on physiochemical properties of new substances, have been ratified by the Federal Republic of Germany legislation in 1980 and 1981, respectively. This implies that before production, marketing, and use of a new chemical, its potential hazard to human beings and the environment has to be checked. Therefore it is necessary to have available accurate information about the probable fate of this new chemical in the environment, i.e., its distribution among the different environmental compartments. To this end, the submission of basic physiochemical data of a new chemical, such as boiling point, vapor pressure, water solubility, fat solubility, and partition coefficient in the system n-octanol/water, is mandatory for its registration. These data are meant to be used by the official evaluating department as a basis for describing the distribution behavior of the substance in the environment. However, there is no generally accepted procedure yet which would allow the reliable prediction. Such a calculation procedure should comprise all factors decisive for distribution and degradation of chemicals in the environment, according to their significance. We have taken a first step in this direction by carrying out the following experiments, with the aim of developing such a distribution model as well as identifying the physicochemical properties of chemicals required for the prediction of distribution patterns. The distribution patterns of 12 selected substances, having significant differences with respect to their physiochemical properties, were determined via radiotracer technique, in a defined, standardized, terrestrial ecosystem. The results of the experiments were compared with one another as well as with values calculated by use of mathematical models from the literature. These comparisons show that there are certain correlations between the distribution patterns obtained by experiments and those calculated by the stationary distribution models. However, these also indicate that some of the experimental findings cannot be explained within the framework of stationary distribution models. Kinetic models represent a more universal approach toward predicting the distribution of chemicals in an ecological system. Various prototypes are described in the literature but we could not use them due to their mathematical shortcomings.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Testing of chemicals by evaluation of their distribution and degradation patterns in an environmental standard system.

Due to the EC directive 79/831 of September 18, 1979, and the German law on hazardous substances, the submission of test data on physical--chemical properties of new substances is mandatory for their registration. These data are supposed to predict in which compartments (air, water, soil, vegetation) the substance will primarily accumulate if it enters the environment. To calculate the distribution of a substance in the environment compartments, different mathematical models have been developed by several working groups, but have not yet been verified in practical experiments. During a prolonged period, the distribution of substances in the environment compartments has been investigated by experiments in an environmental standard system; design and function are explained. Distribution and degradation patterns of 12 reference substances will systematically be investigated, covering a wide spectrum in regard to their physical--chemical properties. Up to now 7 substances have been investigated under standard conditions. The distribution patterns established in these experiments are presented and compared with those obtained mathematically by use of the presently discussed stationary distribution models and values for the physical--chemical properties of the tested substances. The time alterations observed in the distribution patterns are interpreted by a kinetic model which will be part of the calculation method which is presently being developed on the basis of the obtained test values. The good consistency of distribution patterns established by experiments with those established mathematically justifies the assumption that a reliable calculation method of distribution patterns can be submitted as soon as our current work will be finished.

Social wasps: discrimination between kin and nonkin brood.

In experiments in which nest boxes were switched, colony foundresses of the social wasp Polistes fuscatus accepted sisters' combs with little brood destruction but destroyed younger brood in the combs of less closely related females and sometimes deserted these combs. Discrimination between related and unrelated brood does not appear to depend on prior brood contact or environmentally acquired cues.