Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine最新文献

Introduction and objective: Elimination irrigation therapy has been proposed as a potential treatment for upper respiratory tract infections, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, due to its antiviral properties and mechanical cleansing effects. Additionally, a combination of mineral water with antibiotic therapy has shownto be effective in improving the course clinical infection and positively impact the immune system, potentially enhancing the normal state of microbiota state. The aim of the study is to investigate the influence of elimination-irrigation therapy using a combination of mineral water and ciprofloxacin on the interaction form of individual microbiota species of the upper respiratory tract mucous membrane.

Material and methods: During the study, microbiological methods were used, such as microscopic, bacteriological and biofilm cultivation methods. rovoking antagonistic interactions within these associations, and a general decrease in microbial colonization activity. During the multispecies biofilm formation by L. sporogenes and S. aureus ATCC 25923, as well as L. sporogenes and E. coli ATCC 25922, a mutual antagonistic effect was determined. The forms of microbial interaction in multispecies biofilm was changed in the presence of 0.0313 mg/ml Ciprofloxacin.

Conclusions: The 10-minute mineral water treatment and addition of 0.0313 mg/ml Ciprofloxacin enhanced the antagonistic interaction between L. sporogenes and E. coli ATCC 25922, as well as with S. aureus ATCC 25923.

Introduction: In 2022-2023, examinations were carried out for the presence of a pathogenic bacterium Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) vegetable products (sprouts and vegetable mixtures and salads) sold for immediate consumption in retail shops located in Lublin, eastern Poland. The identification of Listeria strains were performed according to the Polish Standard and accomplished with the Microgen Listeria-ID System.

Results: A high prevalence of L. monocytogenes infections was found in the unprocessed sprouts of plants belonging to the cabbage (Brassicaceae) family - kale (30.8%), broccoli (18.8%) and radish (7.1%). The mean prevalence of infections in this family (18.6%) was significantly higher compared to the sprouts of plants belonging to other families, none of which were infected (P<0.05). In the minimally processed RTE mixtures and salads, L. monocytogenes was detected in 6.1% of samples. The presence of following non-pathogenic species of the Listeria genus was also found In the examined RTE products: L. innocua, L. grayi, and L. seeligeri, which occurred both in sprouts and vegetable mixtures and salads in the prevalence of 13.8% and 10.2%, respectively.

Conclusions: The obtained results demonstrate a high prevalence of L. monocytogenes in sprouts, especially those of the cabbage family, which was markedly greater compared to vegetable mixtures. The results suggest a need for continuation of research on the occurrence of L. monocytogenes in the sprouts of plants belonging to the cabbage family. If the results of this study are subsequently confirmed, the application of suitable prevention measures are to be highly recommended.

Introduction and objective: Poor motor skills can increase the burden of disease and negatively affect the overall quality of life. The aim of the study was to investigate how people aged 60 and over assess their overall quality of life, overall health status and other domains of life in relation to socio-demographic factors.

Material and methods: The study was conducted among 1,534 people aged 60 and over and living in a home environment - 831 people living in Małopolskie Province in Poland, and 703 people from Prešov Province in Slovakia. Polish and Slovak versions of the standardized WHOQOL-Bref questionnaire were used to assess quality of life. For all tests, a significance level of 0.05 was adopted.

Results: Mean perceived level of quality of life (p=0.000), mean level of satisfaction with one's health status (p=0.001), and results of physical function assessment (p=0.00) were significantly higher among the Polish seniors than among the seniors from Slovakia. In contrast, psychological function (p=0.000) and scores in the environmental domain (p=0.029) were significantly higher in seniors from Slovakia than in those from Poland. Only place of residence of the subjects was not found to be a determinant of their quality of life.

Conclusions: The level of overall quality of life in people over 60 in Poland and Slovakia was good. Age, education, living arrangements and marital status were the socio-demographic factors that were found to determine the level of the quality of life in people aged 60 and over in Poland and Slovakia.

Introduction and objective: The Rehabilitation Definition for Research Purposes (RDRP), published in 2022 by Cochrane Rehabilitation, addresses discrepancies resulting from the multiplicity and heterogeneity of rehabilitation definitions hitherto used in the contexts of science, health, and social/legal aspects. The RDRP, based on the paradigm of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health, provides clear-cut criteria for what rehabilitation includes and excludes. The final version of the RDRP achieved brad agreement among global stakeholders.

Material and methods: The translation methodology satisfied recommendations established by the Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Section and Board of the European Union of Medical Specialists. The translating group was composed of representatives of all professions constituting the rehabilitation team reflecting the specifics of the practice of rehabilitation, persons with disability, and linguist professionals.

Results: The article presents the Polish version of the RDRP, established through consensus among a broad representation of professions involved in rehabilitation and end users of rehabilitation.

Conclusions: RDRP may aid 1) researchers carrying original research and compiling original reports, by helping them to correctly define rehabilitation interventions; 2) authors of review papers, by providing clear-cut criteria for papers being considered for inclusion as concerned with rehabilitation; 3) those responsible for developing rehabilitation programmes in health care; 4) clinicians, in making decisions related to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Introduction and objective: The medical records were examined of 222 patients of the Osteoporosis Treatment Clinic at the Central Clinical Hospital of the Medical University of Łódź, Poland. The influence was analyzed of 27 clinical risk factors on the occurrence of low-energetic fractures in this population. The aim of the research was to find possible dependencies between different risk factors, and the actual fractures that were recorded in the database.

Material and methods: For each risk factor and for each category (e.g., patients with diabetes and patients without diabetes), the percentage was computed of patients who had incidents osteoporotic fractures, and the percentage of those without fractures. Student's t-test and Pearson's chi-squared test were used to find statistically significant risk factors.

Results: Statistically significant risk factors were found: age, chronic kidney disease, T-scores of the femoral neck and T-score of the lumbar spine, serum phosphate levels, FRAX-BMD, FRAX-BMI, and the type of diet.

Conclusions: Some observations concerning the influence of individual risk factors on the occurrence of fractures are consistent with those presented in the literature. However, it was also noticed that the patients with hyperthyroidism, rheumatic diseases, diabetes, cancer or gastrointestinal diseases, had a smaller percentage of fractures than the patients who did not have these diseases. This may be explained by the small number of those having these diseases, or by the fact that they had already received appropriate treatment.

Introduction and objective: Job burnout is a phenomenon that results from unmanaged chronic workplace stress, which is directly related to the stressful nature or workplace, as well as experiencing chronic emotional strain and is characterized by high emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and low professional efficacy. Emergency Medical Teams are just such a workplace. Paramedics functioning in a state of prolonged, permanent stress begin to lose motivation to continue their work with their previous commitment. The purpose of this study is to answer the question of whether the paramedics surveyed feel professionally burned out, and how stress affects the performance of professional activities and health behaviour.

Material and methods: The study was conducted from May 2019 to September 2019 among 238 (223 males and 15 females) paramedics of the outgoing Emergency Medical Service from the Mazovian province. The study used standardized tools in the form of questionnaires: Link Burnout Questionnaire - LBQ and Health Behavior Inventory Questionnaire - IZZ.

Results: The study showed high levels of psychophysical exhaustion in our sample of paramedics.

Conclusions: The problem of professional burnout among paramedics requires wider recognition as well as the development of preventive measures to minimize its negative effects. It is necessary to consider the education of paramedics on the subject in question, as well as extending increased psychological support to this professional group.

Introduction: Anaplasma phagocytophilum are tick-borne bacteria affecting both human and animal health. The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of A. phagocytophilum in questing I. ricinus ticks collected in Lublin Province, eastern Poland.

Material and methods: Ticks were collected by the flagging method. Total DNA from ticks was extracted by boiling in ammonium hydroxide. Detection of A. phagocytophilum was performed by amplifying a fragment of the 16S rDNA gene.

Results: Overall, 626 I. ricinus ticks were tested for the presence of A. phagocytophilum DNA. The prevalence of the pathogenic bacteria was 1.28%. The occurrence of A. phagocytophilum among adults was 1.8%, whereas none of the collected I. ricinus nymphs were infected.

Conclusions: The study revealed the presence of A. phagocytophilum in I. ricinus in eastern Poland, which constitutes a potential health risk for residents, tourists, forestry, and agricultural workers.

Introduction and objective: The article formulates the following theses and conclusion: (1) the development processes of precision medicine and precision public health (PPH) are correlated; (2) the development of public health genomics depends not only on an increasingly complete exploration of the principles of the human genome, but also on a fundamentally better investigation of how broad environmental factors can alter gene expression or structure; (3) a necessary condition for the development of both precision medicine and precision public health is the collection of increasingly broader and more complete information about pro- and anti-health factors; (4) the above necessary condition is only possible in a situation of strong authoritarianism with regard to taking health-promoting measures. It is likely that in the near future public health will be shaped by health-promoting authoritarianism.

Brief description of the state of knowledge: There are two main problems in the development of precise public health (PPH). The first, is maintaining the right proportions between actions based on the genomic data, and actions determined by better understanding of the effect of environmental factors. The second, is the necessity to subject individuals and populations to increasingly closer pro-health surveillance, which must be increasingly more effective, forcing specific health-promoting behaviours on individual and social scales.

Summary: PPH in full can only exist in conditions of complete information concerning health determinants of an individual, and each distinguished group of individuals, as well as fully pro-health organization of individual and social life, i.e. in conditions of full individual and social medicalization. However, such a full medicalization cannot be achieved in any way other than authoritarian.

Introduction and objective: Multiple studies showed that patients with a severe course of COVID-19 may develop cardiovascular complications. Assessment of the incidence of myocardial injury in young, physically fit male patients with no comorbidities, and asymptomatic/mild course of the disease who recovered from COVID-19.

Material and methods: A prospective, single-center, observational cohort study of 75 young (median[IQR] age 22 years) physically fit male patients, without comorbidities and smoking who recently recovered from COVID-19. Results were compared with a control group of age-matched, physically fit men with no comorbidities who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.

Results: 19(25%) patients had possible COVID-19 related myocardial injury[PCRMI] on cardiovascular magnetic resonance [CMR] including definitive myocarditis (n=1;1.3%) and possible myocarditis (n=3;4%). Other abnormalities: mildly decreased (<50%) left ventricular(LV) ejection fraction (n=4;5%), increased LV end-diastolic volume index (n=8;11%) and LV mass index (n=9;12%). Patients with PCRMI had higher NT-pro-BNP level (29 vs 20pg/mL respectively, P=0.02) and lower LV ejection fraction (55% vs 59% respectively, P=0.03). PCRMI was demonstrated in 3(27%) volunteers from the control group based on the presence of LGE (2/18%) and decreased LV ejection fraction (1/9%). No volunteer from the control group was diagnosed with definitive or possible myocarditis.

Conclusions: PCRMI was a frequent finding in young, asymptomatic, physically-fit patients sans comorbidities relatively late after recovery from COVID-19. Whereas no definitive or possible myocarditis was found in the control group, LGE was relatively frequent suggesting that our findings might not be COVID-19 specific. This warrants a need for further investigation into the long-term cardiovascular consequences of COVID-19.

Introduction and objective: Medicinal plants have a long and significant history of being used for their healing properties. One famous example is Commiphora, which is mostly found in the southern part of Arabia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a water-based extract obtained from two different varieties of myrrh in suppressing the proliferation of Candida spp. at different concentrations.

Material and methods: The inhibitory activity of the aqueous extract of two different varieties of myrrh, commonly used in traditional medicine, was assessed against five pathogenic yeasts using the diffusion technique. Mass spectrum was used to analyze myrrh's chemical composition for antimicrobial effects.

Results: The aqueous extract of both tested species of myrrh (Commiphora myrrha and Commiphora molmol) showed inhibitory effects on all tested isolates. During the chemical examination of myrrh, it was noted that the material included 12 components known for their antimicrobial properties. The essential oil derived from two varieties of myrrh showed the most significant effects on Candida tropicalis (ATCC 66029), Candida guilliermondii (ATCC 6260), Candida laurentii (ATCC 18803), Candida neoformans (ATCC 66031), and Candida albicans (ATCC 14053). Analysis of chemical composition of the myrrh revealed 19 known components, of which 12 compounds have been proven by research to suppress the growth of microorganisms.

Conclusions: C. myrrha and C. molmol aqueous extracts exhibit a promising antifungal effect against common Candida infections. The aqueous extracts present a variety of antimicrobial compounds; however, further research is necessary to elucidate the specific mechanisms of action of these compounds, and to evaluate their efficacy, toxicity and safety before considering their clinical application.