Dentigenous infectious foci - a risk factor of infective endocarditis.

BACKGROUND: Dentigenous, infectious foci are frequently associated with the development of various diseases. The role of such foci in the evolution of endocarditis still remains unclear. This article presents the concluding results of an interdisciplinary study verifying the influence of dentigenous, infectious foci on the development of infective endocarditis. MATERIAL/METHODS: The study subjects were 60 adult patients with history of infective endocarditis and coexistent acquired heart disease, along with the presence at least 2 odontogenic infectious foci (ie, 2 or more teeth with gangrenous pulp and periodontitis). The group had earlier been qualified for the procedure of heart valve replacement. Swabs of removed heart valve tissue with inflammatory lesions and blood were then examined microbiologically. Swabs of root canals and their periapical areas, of periodontal pockets, and of heart valves were also collected. RESULTS: Microbial flora, cultured from intradental foci, blood and heart valves, fully corresponded in 14 patients. This was accompanied in almost all cases by more advanced periodontitis (2nd degree, Scandinavian classification), irrespective of the bacterial co-occurrence mentioned. In the remaining patients, such consistency was not found. CONCLUSIONS: Among various dentigenous, infectious foci, the intradental foci appear to constitute a risk factor for infective endocarditis.

[Awareness of health hazards in view of demonstrated behavioural patterns both conducive and detrimental to health]. / Swiadomosc zagrozen w aspekcie prezentowanych zachowan pro i antyzdrowotnych.

BACKGROUND: Credibility of physicians depends not only on their knowledge and achievements in therapies they manage but also on daily manifested behavioural patterns, directed at maintaining and augmenting own health as well as prevention of diseases. A patient will hardly trust members of medical staff if their health-related behaviour indeed contradicts the scientific evidence they quote. WORK'S OBJECTIVE: The study is chiefly aimed at establishing whether future physicians' awareness of health hazards, associated with behavioural patterns detrimental to health, e.g., cigarette smoking - does influence elimination of such attitudes. Oral hygiene among the studied group was also evaluated, and the potential relationship between the examined behavioural profiles verified. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Questionnaire-based diagnostic survey was employed. The study was conducted throughout the first half of 2012. Altogether 166 last-year students of Medical Faculty participated; questionnaire-return rate was 83%. The study is a part of a larger project, involving students of other City of Poznan universities. RESULTS: Most respondents estimate their health as "good" (60.08%). As far as their behavioural patterns are concerned the future physicians declare a detrimental-to-health lifestyle (49.40%). This self-assessment is reflected in their everyday conduct: 13.25% admit cigarette smoking while in 21.69% of the respondents dental defects exist. Preventive actions are also conspicuously rare among those who should be particularly convinced of their importance - 56.02% visit their dentist only having noticed an annoying change or experiencing toothache. CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of health-hazards associated with behavioural patterns influences the life-style of future physicians. Some individuals in the related group, despite the acquired professional knowledge, do not appear to modify their unfavourable behavioural profiles, and in a number of cases actually extend their scope. 2. Failure to augment one's well-being is of multifaceted nature. 3. University teachers should emphasise shaping not only of knowledge in the future health-care providers but also of their attitudes. Implementation in practice of this premise will ensure optimal effectiveness of the learning process and will enable the physicians become credible entities within a health-care system.

[Tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity among patients with Type 2 diabetes]. / Palenie tytoniu, alkohol i aktywnosc fizyczna wsród pacjentów z cukrzyca typu 2.

The present article is focused on tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and necessary physical activity, and how they contribute to everyday life of diabetic patients. The article is based on a study comprising 106 such patients, treated in two leading centres of diabetological care in the City of Poznan. Fifty eight male and 48 female patients were examined. Eighty nine per cent of the studied group were convinced of the negative effect of tobacco smoking on human health, 9% - had no opinion in this matter while 2% - expressed rather astonishing, in the study's context, view on the supposedly beneficial influence of smoking on health. Forty three patients in the studied group never smoked, 47 - gave up the habit while 16 - still smoked. Analysis of the respondents' knowledge on the glycaemic effect of alcohol proved interesting. Only 54 persons knew that alcohol consumption considerably diminished level of glucose in the blood, occasionally leading to severe hypoglycaemia whereas 27 had no opinion on the matter, and 16 thought that alcohol actually increased the level of glucose in the blood. Three respondents did not think alcohol influenced a diabetic's body in any way. Thirty four per cent declared abstinence. Physical activity, in the view of 90% of the subjects, beneficially influenced the health of a diabetic patient, 5% - did not form an opinion about it, and another 5% suggested an unquestionably negative effect of physical effort on health. Daily physical activity, continued for at least 30 minutes, declared 53% of the examined group, 3 times a week - 13%, and 5 times a week- 8%. The remaining subjects exercised even less frequently or at all.

[Prevalence of tobacco smoking among nurses and the awareness of harmfulness of smoking habit]. / Rozpowszechnienie palenia tytoniu wsród pielegniarek a swiadomosc szkodliwosci nalogu.

INTRODUCTION: Smoking is one of several well documented harmful agents that people voluntarily expose to. Nurses are considered by society as the authority in the field of health, what means that they should take advantage of their accomplishments and references in procedures concerned with prophylaxis and smoking habit treatment. For these reasons - nurses' attitude to smoking is so crucial. Solving the problem of smoking within this profession is important for both nurses and their patients. AIM: The aim of the research was the assessment of prevalence of smoking among the nurses from the Lodz district and the knowledge about harmfulness of smoking. MATERIAL AND METHODS: There were 74 respondents taken into account of nursing personnel: 73 female and 1 male. There was authors' questionnaire prepared for the study. RESULTS: Basing on the research - 40% of the nursing personnel were smokers. The majority of respondents (57%) smoke more than the half of pack of cigarettes and stress is the most common reason (47%). Currently smokers more often came from families where other members smoked cigarettes (63%). More than half of respondents (57%) do not mind smoking while their friends are in their own home. Studies showed that only 57 % smokers undertook attempts to stop smoking, mostly for health reason. Health and financial considerations were the cause of cessation of tobacco use by smokers in the past. CONCLUSION: Smoking by nursing personnel is wide. It is important to nursing personnel to be aware of the existence of the relationship between change in patient health behavior, and attitude of persons who learn them to live healthy. On the basis of self-knowledge regarding the scope of the harmful effects of smoking tobacco, the research showed that the level of knowledge had no significant effect on health behavior study of nursing personnel.

[Prevalence of tobacco smoking among health-care managers]. / Rozpowszechnienie palenia papierosów wsród osób realizujacych funkcje kierownicze w zakladach opieki zdrowotnej.

A whole variety of new organisational solutions are being introduced nowadays, at an increasing pace, in health-care institutions, not always preceded by appropriate information related to the upcoming changes. The situation may be conducive to the feeling of discomfort and doubt among managerial staff, as to the ultimate result of imminent innovations. A necessity to relieve the perceived tension will then arise, for example, by way of smoking. The principal objective of the present study was to examine the occurrence of tobacco-smoking among the nursing executive personnel. Two groups of employees holding high-ranking positions in the nursing subsystem were included in the study. The initial part of the project was performed throughout the first quarter of 2010, and comprised 102 departmental female nurses. The concluding part is planned for October - November, 2010, and will address the second and third-level managers. A questionnaire-based, diagnostic survey was the employed research method. The questionnaires' return rate was 85%. The Fisher-Freeman-Halton test was applied in statistical calculations (for expected values < 5). The study revealed, so far, that the performance of managerial functions induced undesirable behavioural patterns, i.e., tobacco smoking. It also affected low self-assessment of their bio-psycho-social wellness. The majority of the respondents took part in various forms of in-service, refresher training which also included information concerning behavioural patterns detrimental to health. The latter influenced the participating nurses' self-assessment of the extent of their knowledge related to tobacco smoking and its harmful effect on their health.

[Tobacco smoking among hospitalised patients with coronary arterial disease]. / Palenie tytoniu wsród osób hospitalizowanych z powodu choroby niedokrwiennej serca.

The impact of tobacco smoking on the development of cardio-vascular diseases, including coronary arterial disease (CAD) is very well known by now. More than 1/3 of the Polish adult population are affected which roughly corresponds with WHO accepted percentage of smokers world-wide (over 30%, over 15 years of age). Smokers with cardio-vascular problems are, naturally, even more dramatically affected. The article focuses on selected consequences of tobacco smoking among patients with coronary arterial disease. One hundred patients, already diagnosed with CAD, and hospitalised because of it, formed the studied group (71 male, 29 female). A survey questionnaire was employed as a tool, to inquire the subjects on elements of their life-style, encompassing both declared, acquired knowledge on behavioural patterns conducive to health and its implementation in every-day life. The life-style patterns included, for example, proper diet, physical activity and tobacco smoking. The study results showed that 97% of the group were well aware of the negative influence of smoking on their health (the remaining 3% left the question unanswered). None of the respondents was convinced of the alleged positive aspects of tobacco smoking. At the same time, 17% of the subjects with CAD still smoked, 56% ceased smoking, and the remaining 27% never smoked. The study revealed moreover that the very realisation that nicotinism influenced the CAD progress was instrumental in ceasing smoking by the 56% of former tobacco addicts. Tobacco smoking remains an issue among persons with diagnosed coronary arterial disease. A clear discrepancy was noted, between the almost 100% awareness of the habit's harmful consequences and reality of every-day life.

[Tobacco smoking among nurses--a lack of knowledge or effect of work overload?]. / Palenie papierosów wsród pielegniarek--brak wiedzy, czy efekt przeciazenia praca?

Nursing profession is characterised by a number of workload modes, both psycho-social and purely physical in nature. There are those typically present in all care-related professions as well as those specifically associated with nursing personnel workplace. Such workload categories characteristically result in negative consequences both observed in personal functioning sphere and in wider, social aspect. Nurses constitute, beside medical staff, an essential pillar among medical professions. Full realisation of preventive, therapeutical and rehabilitative functions would be not possible without them. However, as it is frequently being noticed, nurses' professional activity takes place in difficult conditions, resulting from the lack of necessary resources. Nursing personnel are also considerably burdened physically, both throughout preparations to, and during actual care over the patient, and psychically as well, as a result of functioning among ill persons. Medical condition and suffering of the latter substantially contribute to the resultant perception of working conditions by nursing personnel. The present article focuses on examining the relationship between tobacco smoking among nurses, and their perception of being overloaded by work environment requirements. The study was conducted in 2008 throughout the territory of Wielkopolska (Great Poland). It comprised 118 persons employed in nursing subsystem. Diagnostic survey was the employed method, with the use of questionnaire as a research tool. The study revealed that the performance of nurses' professional duties is more often than not accompanied by elements of quantitative work overload, affecting somatic health, as well as those of qualitative overload, which induced undesirable effects in the psychical sphere of wellness. It was also established that 27.12% of the population under study smoked. The addiction frequently happens to be a way to have a pleasant rest after exhaustive work.

[Tobacco smoking among hospitalised patients with arterial hypertension]. / Palenie tytoniu wsród hospitalizowanych osób z nadcisnieniem tetniczym.

Currently 33% of the Polish adult population smoke tobacco (42% males and 25% females), which is a serious issue, particularly in the context of cardiovascular diseases. A study of the extent of smoking among patients with arterial hypertension (AH) served as the basis for the present article. The studied group comprised 100 patients hospitalised due to AH, 46 males and 54 females. A survey, aided by a specially designed questionnaire, was the method of the medical part of the study. It concentrated on health-related behaviour patterns conducive, or not, to AH treatment such as: systematic control of blood pressure, proper diet, physical activity, and tobacco smoking. The respondents were also asked to indicate the sources of their knowledge on the proper, in this context, lifestyle. The study revealed that 46.0% of the subjects smoked; most of them males, inhabitants of a large city (both genders), over 50-year-old, and with secondary school education. The majority of the group, while declaratively fully aware, thanks to the received information, of the necessity of the cessation of smoking - fails to react appropriately. Tobacco smoking constitutes a vital issue among the AH patients. The physician is not always the source of knowledge on the threats, associated with the addiction. The fact that 2/3 of the patients aware of the necessity of smoking cessation fails to do so is a reason for concern.

[Cigarette smoking among nursing personnel employed in the oncology departments, in the context of the educational tasks performed]. / Palenie papierosów przez pielegniarki zatrudnione na oddzialach onkologicznych w aspekcie realizowanych zadan edukacyjnych.

Cigarette smoking has become a popular occurrence in the 21st Cent. It was recognised by the WHO as a disease and classified as the one associated with the addiction. The list of illnesses related to smoking is still expanding while the adult smokers keep living shorter. These observations should then be reflected in creating "a fashion for non-smoking" among the health care professionals. The analysis of the extent of cigarette smoking among the nursing personnel, employed in the oncologic departments was the chief objective of the present study. The diagnostic survey was the employed method of research. It was aided by a questionnaire. The studied group comprised 100 male and female nurses, randomly selected, and employed in the oncologic departments. The survey was performed between April and June, 2007. The return rate was 71%. The results will be confronted with the earlier assessment done by the male and female nurses. The study revealed that the majority of the nursing personnel, employed in the oncologic departments do not smoke. The main reasons behind the cessation of smoking by the respondents, the former smokers, were: health considerations (45.5%), and the social ones (36.4%). It was also established that the personnel are aware of the influence of the demonstrated behavioural patterns, both conducive and detrimental to health, on the fact of being credible during a health education session, performed by them. Cigarette smoking by nursing personnel, employed in the oncologic departments is not a widespread occurrence. The personnel should, as often as possible, direct their educational actions on the patient and his/her family, and emphasise the influence of the proper life-style on the preservation of health, its improvement, and the prevention of diseases or complications. Alerting the nursing personnel to the association between the behaviour patterns of the therapeutic team, and the behaviour patterns and attitudes conducive to health of their patients, is important.

[Tobacco smoking, physical inactivity and stress in 40-year-old patients with cardiovascular diseases]. / Palenie tytoniu, brak aktywnosci fizycznej i stres u 40-letnich pacjentów z chorobami ukladu sercowo-naczyniowego.

In the randomised study of 1037 40-year-old inhabitants of the City and the (former) Province of Poznan, born 1959, the occurrence of such cardiovascular diseases as arterial hypertension and ischemic heart disease was established in this subpopulation. Their association with the life-style of the subjects was also assessed. A structured questionnaire was developed for this study, comprising the basic socio-demographical data, the elements of life-style, a self-assessment of one's health as well as subjective and objective medical examination, and the results of selected laboratory tests. The prevalence of arterial hypertension was established at 22.47%, while that of ischemic heart disease at 3.96%. Such negative to health behavioural patterns as tobacco smoking (36% of smokers were hypertensive, obesity--29% had BMI in excess of 30, physical inactivity in 52% of the hypertensive subgroup)--were revealed among those with cardiovascular diseases. Poor coping with emotional stress was also found among the latter group. The results indicate the necessity of more intensive health education, directed at both the healthy population and at those with cardiovascular diseases.

[Reasons for systematic, primary and specialist care of the over-40 population in the city and province of Poznan]. / Przyczyny systematycznej opieki podstawowej i specjalistycznej nad 40-letnimi mieszkancami miasta Poznania i województwa poznanskiego.

The work constitutes a part of a larger project "Comparative analysis of some elements of health state among 40-year-old inhabitants of the City and the Province of Poznan, born 1938, 1959", backed by National Committee of Sciences, performed in the Department of Public Health, Chair of Social Medicine, K. Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, in Poznan. Altogether 1037 persons, born in 1959, were medically examined as to their social background, education, life-style, and their current health picture. Some of the key elements were compared, where possible, with a similar, though much larger group of those born in 1938. The article focuses on the 40-year-olds born in 1959, and describes the causes of admission by their respective family physicians, as well as specialists (secondary care). Place of residence, gender and education of the persons examined were taken into consideration. The results point to the prevailing causes of admission, such as arterial hypertension, diseases of the digestive tract (gastric and duodenal ulcer), and of locomotor system.

[Causes of hospital admission among 40-year-olds]. / Przyczyny przyjec do szpitala wsród osób czterdziestoletnich.

The work constitutes a part of the larger project "Comparative analysis of some elements of health state among 40-year-old inhabitants of the City and the Province of Poznan, born 1938, 1959", backed by National Committee of Sciences, performed in the Dept. of Public Health, Chair of Social Medicine, K. Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, in Poznan. Altogether 1037 persons, born in 1959, were medically examined as to their social background, education, life-style, and their current health picture. Some of the key elements were compared, where possible, with a similar, though much larger group of those born in 1938. The article focuses on the 40-year-olds born in 1959, and describes the causes of their hospitalisation throughout the year preceding the examination. Place of residence, gender and education of the persons examined were taken into consideration. The results point to the prevailing causes of hospitalisation, such as cardiovascular disease, diseases of the digestive and urinary tract, and consequences of accidents and poisonings.