Survey of the effect of odour impact on communities.

In the context of environmental malodour, surveys are valuable as they allow for the relatively detailed analysis of multiple factors pertaining to odour perception and subsequent reaction. However, the causes for an individual to experience odour impact while a neighbour will not are still not understood. The goal of this current survey design was to consolidate varying research paths for surveys within the environmental odour research space. This survey investigated the area of effect for wastewater treatment plants by using stratified random sampling techniques that radiated from the industrial areas. Additionally, this survey provided a "non-alerted" response to environmental malodour that represents a step forward for ecological validity. We found a small number of items relating to odour annoyance and home ownership that can be used in order to predict odour impact for individual community members. However, we also did not find any relationship with odour impact and perceived control. This survey design and analysis reconciles the varied approaches towards community surveys administered in prior literature, as well as providing information to improve future community engagement policies.

Unrepresented community odour impact: Improving engagement strategies.

Complaints for odour causing industry continue to increase in numeracy and severity. One assessment approach using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/Olfactometry (GC-MS/O), has been used primarily to identify priority odourants within a standardised panel. We investigated the variation of response between participants of average and high olfactory sensitivity, and discovered that current GC-MS/O methodologies do not represent the entirety of community odour impact. Based on these results we constructed a Biosolids Processing Odour Wheel followed by a Community Odour Wheel for use by untrained community members and site operators. By using the information gathered from this research, as well as odour testing workshops for a wastewater treatment plant's staff and community surrounding the facility, we established a communicative system, which was subsequently incorporated into an online dynamic odour observation platform. This platform provides the WWTP with meaningful information from the community, as well as a common language for which to discuss environmental malodour with all stakeholders.

An investigation of the emotion of disgust as an affective barrier to intention to screen for colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening participation remains unacceptably low. This study investigated the emotion of disgust as a potential deterrent to intention to screen for CRC. The study utilised a convenience sample of individuals' 40-70 years of age to complete an online survey. Participants included 30 men and 118 women recruited between December 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014. Data on socio-demographics, health status, screening intentions and emotional barriers to bowel screening were collected via an on-line survey. Logistic regression analysis was utilised to investigate predictors of screening intention. Individuals were more likely to report intention to screen if they had prior screening experience, and reported fewer emotional concerns to screening for CRC. Results implicate disgust as a predictor of screening avoidance among participants. Specifically, higher reported faecal disgust was predictive of a 3% decrease in screening intention. This study was the first to empirically position disgust alongside other negative emotional states as an affective barrier to screening for CRC. Trait disgust sensitivity was not a reliable predictor of screening intention. This research suggests that anticipated faecal disgust may contribute to avoidance of screening for CRC.

The impact of malodour on communities: a review of assessment techniques.

Malodours remain the biggest source of complaints regarding environmental issues. This factor is likely to increase, as the urban development steadily encroaches into areas that have malodourous emitting industries (such as wastewater and waste management operations and intensive livestock practices), and has the potential to be both time and fiscally expensive. Despite the enormous amount of research involved in odour detection and abatement, as well as the creation of several distinct methodologies, there has yet been no definitive procedure to evaluate odour impact on communities, as well as community response. This paper is a review of the current methods that explore this problem, as well as a précis of this research field's goals and challenges. The first aim of this review is to illustrate the dichotomy between regulatory-established procedures, such as panellist testing, and methods that are centred around producing a more comprehensive explanation of factors that influence an odour's impact on a community or individual. In that regard, we have addressed several predominant paradigms of inquiry for this field: analytical methods, panellist testing, qualitative research, and survey methods, with associated variants. Secondly, the challenges of measuring and monitoring community impact are discussed. While the quantification of odorants is crucial to appreciating impact, individual-based modifiers of perception have an enormous scope for which to shape the effect of those odours. Perceptual differences are also likely the most dominant variables that influence the elicited behaviour of individuals who have experienced malodour exposure.

Elbow dislocation secondary to fall during police arrest.

A case of total elbow dislocation with significant swelling and loss of distal pulses during police arrest is described. To date, this specific injury in relation to police arrest has not been described in the literature. Whilst attempting to remove the detainee from a public transport vehicle, the patient and the officers involved fell to the ground with his arm slightly flexed. He was handcuffed to the rear and taken to the police office. Whilst there, it was noted that his left elbow was swelling dramatically and he complained of pain. The detainee and officers attended the emergency room and he was found to have a total dislocation of the left elbow and vascular compromise of the limb. The elbow was promptly reduced with sedation and a post reduction angiogram demonstrated injury to the tissues surrounding the brachial artery.

A comparison of sniff bottle staircase and olfactometer-based threshold tests.

Olfactometers have been gaining popularity as research tools, but they have yet to replace established testing procedures in a variety of laboratory and clinical settings, including absolute threshold tests. In this research, we designed and operated a simple olfactometer with which to assess threshold. To do this, we used a method-of-adjustment test that was compared to the three-alternative forced choice ascending sniff bottle staircase method, which is currently a standard threshold test procedure. We found that the olfactometer threshold test correlated highly with the staircase method, and that it possessed suitable test-retest reliability. The advantages of the olfactometer threshold test include faster test time and reduced cleaning and reassembly demands. Future use of the olfactometer in olfactory identification and/or detection thresholds amongst odors is also outlined.

An indoline-derived compound that markedly reduces mouse body weight.

OBJECTIVE: We describe how a single intraperitoneal injection of an indoline-derived drug (SN 28127) reduced mouse body weight (25-45% loss) and adipose tissue mass (∼75%). METHODS AND RESULTS: The reductions in body weight peaked at ∼21-28 days post drug injection and were maintained throughout the study (160 days). The mice ate as much as vehicle-treated control mice. A more potent SN 28127 analog (SN 29220) reversed high-fat diet-induced obesity and type 2 diabetes in C57BL/6J mice on a high-fat diet. Insulin induced a sustained reduction in blood glucose in fasted SN 29220-treated mice compared with the vehicle-treated mice. All drug-treated mice exhibited a transient increase in water intake from ∼10 days post drug injection that lasted for ∼70 days. Following a single injection of (3)H-labeled SN 29220, radioactivity accumulated within 4 h in the liver, bile duct and ileum with little detected in the brain; within 1-2 days, most of the radioactivity was found in the pancreas, spleen, liver, bile duct, stomach, kidneys and white adipose tissue. High levels of glucose were detected in urine collected from SN 29220 but not vehicle-treated C57BL/6J mice at ∼60 days post injection, while fecal triacylglycerols and cholesterol were not different between SN 29220 and vehicle-treated mice. These data lead us to hypothesize that the hepatic system is the primary drug target. Genes involved in fatty acid synthesis (FASn, SCD1 and PPARγ) and appetite stimulation (AGRP) were upregulated at 160 days post drug treatment, indicative of adaptation to reduced body weight. CONCLUSION: We hypothesize that indoline-derived drug-induced chronic toxicity to the hepatic system leads to a reduction in white adipose tissue mass. The mice adapt to this drug-induced toxicity with reduced steady-state body weight. Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying these responses has potential to identify novel targets for prevention and treatment of obesity.

Differences in naming accuracy of odors presented to the left and right nostrils.

Two interlinked areas of debate within psychology are the existence of hemispheric specialization for olfactory processing and whether odors are processed primarily as perceptual codes or as a set of semantic features. This study compared accuracy in naming and judgments of familiarity by right handed subjects to common odors that were presented to the left or right nostrils. There was significantly better production of the correct name of the odor after left side presentation, than after right. Familiarity ratings were identical.

The acquisition of odour qualities.

Odours can evoke a large range of qualities. Some of these qualities (e.g., sweetness) appear to be acquired through simultaneously experiencing odours mixed with tastes. Acquisition might also occur when two odours are experienced as a mixture. In this case mixture components might acquire each other's qualities. This was tested in two experiments. In the first, subjects repeatedly sniffed two odour mixtures (either AX, BY or AY, BX). Odours mixed with A acquired A's properties and were judged more similar to A than to B. Odours mixed with B were not clearly discriminable. The second experiment used a similar approach except that Odour B was replaced. Subjects now smelled either AX, CY or AY, CX. All components were discriminable. Odours mixed with A acquired A's properties and were judged more similar to A than to C. Although odours mixed with C did not acquire C's qualities due to a confusion of quality terms, odours previously mixed with C were judged as more similar to C than to A. Evidence of other quality exchanges were also obtained. These results suggest that pure odour qualities can be learnt and lend support to William James's (1890) notion of the acquired equivalence/distinctiveness of cues.

Perceptual learning with odors: implications for psychological accounts of odor quality perception.

After two odors have been experienced in a mixture, the pair are subsequently rated as sharing more qualities and smelling more alike than equally exposed controls. These effects may result from the retrieval of a common mixture memory when either component is sniffed alone. If correct, odor pairs experienced together in a mixture should also be less discriminable than those experienced an equal number of times but in different mixtures. This was tested here by exposing participants to two odor mixtures (either AX, BY or AY, BX) and then testing their ability to discriminate between the components. As predicted, odors previously experienced together as a mixture were less discriminable than controls. These and related findings noted above suggest that learning and memory play an important role in odor quality perception.

Resistance to extinction of conditioned odor perceptions: evaluative conditioning is not unique.

A tasteless odor will smell sweeter after being sampled by mouth with sucrose and will smell sourer after being sampled with citric acid. This tasty-smell effect was found in experiments that compared odor-taste and color-taste pairings. Using odors and colors with minimal taste (Experiment 1), the authors found that repeated experience of odor-taste mixtures produced conditioned changes in odor qualities that were unaffected by intermixed color-taste trials (Experiment 2). An extinction procedure, consisting of postconditioning presentations of the odor in water, had no detectable effect on the changed perception of an odor (Experiments 3 and 4). In contrast, this procedure altered judgments about the expected taste of colored solutions. Evaluative conditioning (conditioned changes in liking) is claimed to be resistant to extinction. However, these results suggest that resistance to extinction in odors is related to the way they are encoded rather than to their hedonic properties.

Confusing tastes and smells: how odours can influence the perception of sweet and sour tastes.

This study investigated the relationship between perception of an odour when smelled and the taste of a solution to which the odour is added as a flavorant. In Experiment 1 (E1) sweetness, sourness, liking and intensity ratings were obtained for 20 odours. Taste ratings were then obtained for sucrose solutions to which the odours had been added as flavorants. Certain odours were found to enhance tasted sweetness while others suppressed it. The degree to which an odour smelled sweet was the best predictor of the taste ratings. These findings were extended in Experiment 2 (E2), which included a second tastant, citric acid, and employed four odours from E1. The most sweet smelling odour, caramel, was found to suppress the sourness of citric acid and, as in E1, to enhance the sweetness of sucrose. Again, odours with low sweetness suppressed the sweetness of tasted sucrose. The study demonstrated that the effects of odours on taste perception are not limited to sweetness enhancement and apply to sour as well as sweet tastes. The overall pattern of results is consistent with an explanation of the taste properties of odours in terms of prior flavour-taste associations.

The relationship between alcohol sales and assault in New South Wales, Australia.

AIMS: This paper explores the relationship between alcohol sales and assault in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. DESIGN: The design was a cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between alcohol sales and assault, taking into account spatial autocorrelation. SETTING: The analyses were carried out separately on data from metropolitan Sydney and country NSW. PARTICIPANTS: The unit of analysis was local government areas (178 in NSW). MEASUREMENTS: The dependent variable was assault rates. The independent variables were overall alcohol sales and sales disaggregated by alcohol and outlet type and relevant demographic and socio-economic factors. FINDINGS: Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant relationship between overall alcohol sales in an area and its incidence of assault for both Sydney and country NSW. There were few effects of outlet or alcohol type for Sydney, but the effect of alcohol sales from hotels and off-licences accounted for most of the alcohol-assault relationship for country NSW. CONCLUSIONS: Although the current research cannot exclude an opportunity account of the role of alcohol in assault, the results are entirely consistent with alcohol consumption as a causal agent.

Chronic right-lower-quadrant abdominal pain: is there a role for elective appendectomy?

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Chronic right-lower-quadrant abdominal pain is a frequent problem in the pediatric population. The purpose of this report is to detail the outcome of management of these patients with appendectomy. METHODS: Appendiceal colic was judged to be present if the history showed cramping abdominal pain in association with McBurney's point tenderness. This is a retrospective review of 50 consecutive pediatric patients experiencing pain for greater than 1 year. All patients were evaluated at a single institution by one surgeon and underwent elective appendectomies from April 1985 through April 1997. RESULTS: Seventy-five percent of the patients were girls. One hundred forty-nine imaging and endoscopic studies were performed with 135 negative findings. Twenty-three patients had a minimum of one previous emergency room visit or hospitalization for the same abdominal complaints. The pathological findings were distinctly different from those of incidental appendectomies. Three patients had undergone previous diagnostic explorations for abdominal pain, the appendix was not removed, and a subsequent appendectomy relieved the discomfort. Forty-nine of the 50 patients were pain free at 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: Appendiceal colic is a clinical diagnosis. It is anticipated that patients with cramping abdominal pain associated with McBurney's point tenderness could undergo less preoperative workup and expedited resolution of the problem in the future.

Frequency of blood glucose monitoring in relation to glycaemic control: observational study with diabetes database.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate patterns of self monitoring of blood glucose concentration in diabetic patients who use insulin and to determine whether frequency of self monitoring is related to glycaemic control. SETTING: Diabetes database, Tayside, Scotland. SUBJECTS: Patients resident in Tayside in 1993-5 who were using insulin and were registered on the database and diagnosed with insulin dependent (type 1) or non-insulin dependent (type 2) diabetes before 1993. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of glucose monitoring reagent strips dispensed (reagent strip uptake) derived from records of prescriptions. First recorded haemoglobin A1c concentration in the study period, and reagent strips dispensed in the previous 6 months. RESULTS: Among 807 patients with type 1 diabetes, 128 (16%) did not redeem any prescriptions for glucose monitoring reagent strips in the 3 year study period. Only 161 (20%) redeemed prescriptions for enough reagent strips to test glucose daily. The corresponding figures for the 790 patients with type 2 diabetes who used insulin were 162 (21%; no strips) and 131 (17%; daily tests). Reagent strip uptake was influenced both by age and by deprivation category. There was a direct relation between uptake and glycaemic control for 258 patients (with recorded haemoglobin A1c concentrations) with type 1 diabetes. In a linear regression model the decrease in haemoglobin A1c concentration for every extra 180 reagent strips dispensed was 0.7%. For the 290 patients with type 2 diabetes who used insulin there was no such relation. CONCLUSIONS: Self monitoring of blood glucose concentration is associated with improved glycaemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes. Regular self monitoring in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes is uncommon.

Property damage and public disorder: their relationship with sales of alcohol in New South Wales, Australia.

It has been suspected for some time that alcohol is involved in the origin of offensive behaviour and property damage incidents. Using regression analyses and a cross-sectional design, this study investigates these relationships for both Sydney and country New South Wales (NSW), whilst controlling for key social and demographic variables. The study found that both offence types occurred more frequently in areas with greater sales of alcohol. The effect of alcohol sales was considerably larger in Sydney than it was in country NSW. There was an interaction between aboriginal population size and alcohol sales for country NSW offensive behaviour data. Overall, these findings are consistent with alcohol consumption playing a causal role in these offences, however, the possibility remains that alcohol sales may be acting as an indicator of criminal opportunity.

Expression of the 'dead box' RNA helicase p68 is developmentally and growth regulated and correlates with organ differentiation/maturation in the fetus.

The human DEAD box protein p68 is an established RNA-dependent ATPase and RNA helicase, p68 has been highly conserved in evolution and appears to be essential for normal growth, suggesting that this protein plays an important role in the cell. Although the biochemical activities of p68 are fairly well characterized, little is known about its biological function. This report shows that p68 is detectable in quiescent cell lines, but its expression is induced by serum, suggesting that this protein may play a role in cell growth. It is also shown that both p68 mRNA and protein are differentially expressed in adult tissues; in this case, however, the levels do not always correlate with proliferation status, suggesting that the regulation of expression in the animal may be different from that in cell lines. Finally, it is shown that p68 expression is developmentally regulated and appears to correlate with organ differentiation/maturation. These findings suggest that p68 expression may not simply reflect proliferation/differentiation status and that it appears to be regulated in a more complex way.

Alcoholic ketoacidosis at autopsy.

Total ketone bodies (acetone, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate) were measured in 105 medicolegal autopsies (71 non-alcoholics, 22 chronic alcoholics, and 12 diabetics) using a coupled enzymatic head-space gas chromatographic method. Samples included vitreous humour, pericardial fluid, and blood from the femoral vein, inferior vena cava (IVC), superior vena cava (SVC), and aorta. Vitreous ketone levels showed good correlation with blood and pericardial fluid levels, suggesting that vitreous could be used as an alternative autopsy specimen for this analysis. This opens up the possibility of using simpler clinical laboratory methodologies which cannot be applied to autopsy blood due to hemolysis. In 71 non-alcoholics (age 18 to 96, median 67) total ketones (mM/L) were: vitreous 0.19 to 3.35, median 0.49; pericardial fluid 0.02 to 1.54, median 0.35; femoral blood 0.23 to 8.08, median 1.00; aortic blood 0.25 to 9.96, median 0.90; IVC blood 0.30 to 6.49, median 1.27; SVC blood 0.32 to 6.00, median 1.07. Eleven outliers (> 2.5 mM/L in femoral blood) mostly had prolonged illness prior to death. The 22 alcoholics (age 36 to 83, median 62) included four extreme outliers with femoral blood total ketone levels of 129.9 (also diabetic), 39.4 (no anatomical cause of death), 38.5 (suicidal hanging), and 18.6 (hypothermia), suggesting that while alcoholic ketoacidosis may be a previously overlooked potential cause of death, interpretation must be guarded and made within the total case context. The other 18 alcoholics had ketone levels not statistically different from non-alcoholics, suggesting that ketoacidosis is a significant factor in at most a small minority of alcoholic deaths. Three of 12 diabetics had extreme elevations of femoral blood ketone bodies: 87.5, 20.4, and 17.4 mM/L. Measurement of ketone bodies in vitreous humour or pericardial fluid using clinical laboratory methodologies is recommended in unexplained deaths in chronic alcoholics as well as diabetics.

The management of acute headache in adults in an acute admissions unit.

There have been no previously published studies about acute admissions with headaches to a medical admissions ward. In our retrospective case-note study of all patients admitted with headaches to the acute medical admission ward of Ninewells Hospital, Dundee over a six-month period, there were 114 admissions with headache (2.4% of all admissions). CT scans were done in 68 (59.6%) and were abnormal in 21 patients. Twenty four patients (21.1%) had serious underlying causes for headaches. Predictors for CT abnormalities are discussed. Eighteen patients had lumbar punctures and six had abnormal results. Most patients were discharged after one day, nine were transferred to the neurosurgical unit and there were two deaths. Deficiencies in record keeping were identified as was a lack of precision in diagnosis. Changes in practice are needed to improve patient care and perhaps national guidelines are required.