Bulletin of the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine in Gdynia最新文献

All workers, including seafarers and fishermen, may be confronted with life-threatening situation, and they should be trained in the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CRP) techniques. In this paper, which was presented during the meeting of the co-ordinators of the EU Project on the health of seafarers held in Gdynia in April 1996, the Author reports on the experiences in the CPR training, which was conducted by occupational physicians, who were responsible for the medical aspects of the disaster plan of the Province of Antwerp including the Antwerp port.

Bacteria transfer from the water into the air may play an important role in bioaerosol cycle. Bubbles raising through the water column collect bacteria but also other suspended material and transport them towards water surface. When the bubble burst at the water surface collected material are skimmed off the bubble to become highly enriched in jet and film drops. After ejection airborne droplets can evaporate and as small droplets can be transported even to remote locations. Such a stream of aerosol droplets may carry stream of bacteria scavenged from the water column. The fate of bacteria in the air may possibly depend on the environmental conditions like intensity of sunlight or ambient air humidity. In addition the wind speed might be responsible for both wave/bubble mediated production of marine originated droplets and their transport in the atmosphere. The evidences that bacteria are transferred from the breaking waves, in particular in the coastal zone, were observed during several field experiments conducted in 1994 and 1995 over the Gulf of Gdansk and the Baltic Sea coast. Enhanced sea to air bacteria transfer were noticed over the polluted waters where in addition gas supersaturations in the water were recorded. Further laboratory investigations of bacteria scavenge via bubbles produced by single capillary and by plume of bubbles produced by ceramic stone indicated high enrichment within both mesophile and psychrophile bacteria categories.

In compass of 1989-1995 all in all 388 dockers were examined, including 136 stevedores, 128 operators of mechanic equipment, 74 hoistmen and 73 retired stevedores. Out of the group of 508 stevedores that in 1989 was selected for the purpose of the study, at the end of 1995 there were 136 still working, and out of 141 operators 128 remained in employment. The number of the hoistmen working did not change. The stevedores perform heavy and a very heavy loading labour, the rest moderate and light. The highest number of changes was found in the lumbar segment of the spine-totally 56.2%, then in the sacroiliac articulations-totally 50.6%, in the cervical spine-totally 34.4%, within the shoulder girdle-33.1% and in the thoracic segment of the spine-26.3%. In stevedores these proportions were higher. A transfer to a lighter work or retirement could not inhibit the degenerative process within the musculoskeletal system. Evaluating the development of the disease in the period of observation, a progress of the pathological process was observed. No relation between the loss of fitness in stevedores and their body mass could be found. The mean time of the disease tended to increase with age of the examined. In a considerable number of the subjects a casual connection between the changes in the musculoskeletal system and the work performed was revealed.

A sample of 187 medically treated injuries among fishermen was the basis for this study. Nearly half the injuries occurred while shooting or hauling fishing gear. The most common injuries were in the upper extremities (48.7%). Twenty-two percent of the injuries occurred while working with winches ropes and wires and about 30% were caused by falls or slips. Seventy-five percent of accidents occurred on trawlers, where the trawl doors (other boards) are a special hazard. Medical treatment ashore was delayed for more than 24 hours in 35% of the injuries, showing the need for providing optimal treatment facilities on board. Prevention measures should include technical improvements, safety training courses and efforts to enhance the motivation for safe work. The fishermen's proposals for prevention seem to be most useful and should be used to the full extent.

Studies on the vector ecology conducted in the Ural Region and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and in Russia in the years 1970-1995, are reviewed. For many years, the information on the incidence of parasitic and vector-borne diseases in the Soviet Union was not available. The recently published data indicated that the actual figures for these diseases were many times higher than those which were officially reported.

Seafarers' free time activities on board ship and on shore were investigated by means of a questionnaire sent to 507 seafarers working on 35 ships. All the seafarers were Finnish citizens and all the ships in Finnish ownership. The questionnaire was returned by 245 seafarers (22 of them were women) from a total of 34 ships. Reading was the most popular way of spending free time while on board ship. Next came watching television or listening to the radio; then chatting with friends and sleeping/keeping to oneself. About one in four put physical exercise and sauna baths among the three most common ways of spending free time. The most common ways of spending free time on shore were meeting friends and acquaintances and watching TV or listening to the radio. In third place were "other ways of spending leisure time", most of which included being out of door, hunting, going to the summer cottage and gardening. Physical exercise activity was greater on shore than on board ship. The respondents were grouped into four categories: A) reader/student/hobbyist: B) sociable: C) exercise enthusiast D) TV watcher/radio listener Group A considered the ship's atmosphere and the spirit of solidarity on board better than the others. Group B had more often a good friend on board ship and less often suffered from anxiety or depression. Group C more often considered their health and working capacity good. Group D had no positive differences over the other groups. More attention should be paid to developing the ways in which free time is spent not only on board but also during the compensatory free time on shore.

In 1993-1996, serological tests for HIV were performed comprising seamen, fishermen, people travelling abroad, drug addicts, patients of National Health Service Hospitals, health workers and other groups of people from the Gdańsk Region. HIV-antibodies were determined by means of immunoezymatic method ELISA, using Abbot's test recombinant HIV1/HIV2 third generation. Positive results were verified with the aid of the specific confirmation test Western blot. All in all there were 34,911 tests made and in 40 patients (0.11%) HIV-antibodies were revealed. In the group of seafarers made of 26,988 people HIV-antibodies were detected in 14 men (0.05%): 11 seamen and 3 deep-sea fishermen. The group of people travelling abroad consisted of 4269 subjects, and out them 6 men (0.18%) and one woman (0.12%) were seropositive. Out of 137 people from the group of risk-drug addicts taking narcotics intravenously-8 men (8%) and one women (2.7%) were infected. In the group of 2442 National Health Service patients, HIV-antibodies were noted in 5 men (0.31%) and one women (0.12%). Out of 172 health service workers examined nobody was infected. The group defined as "other subjects", was composed of 703 men, out which 2 were seropositive (0.28%) and 200 women-2 of them had HIV-antibodies (1.0%). The majority of seropositive subjects were men, 35 of them; there were 5 seropositive women.

A high speed catamaran was involved in an accident off Jersey. No one was injured as a result of the actual accident itself but there were a number of serious injuries sustained by passengers during the evacuation of the vessel. A number of deficiencies in the design of the vessel were identified as a result of the accident and the evacuation of passengers and crew. Access routes and the number of exits were important causes of concern. Lifejackets and life rafts were found to have problems in their use and their specification seemed not to be well adapted to their possible use. Life rafts in particular were found not to be sufficiently robust. The low crew to passenger ratio required passengers to take on roles for which they had neither the expertise nor the training. Crew and passengers all responded to the best of their ability but unnecessary strain was placed on all due to lack of sufficient trained people being available. Hypothermia was not a major problem but if the rescue had taken much longer then there would have been a rapidly increasing number of people affected. Rescue equipment should be improved to cope with this life threatening condition.

The present study is an attempt to apply analysis of regression for the purposes of evaluation of loss of hearing. This method consists in calculating equations of regression for relation between the age of the examined people and the degree of elevation of the hearing threshold for various frequencies. The slope of the regression line allows to conclude about the degree of damage to hearing. Practical application of this method was shown with an example of a study on the status of hearing in workers of several manufacturing departments of a pottery plant.