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

Thirty six Coloured and Black patients with a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia were evaluated by means of Present State Examination. The two groups were concordant by means of the 12 systems for the diagnosis of schizophrenia. This preliminary report has shown the difference in symptomatology of schizophrenia among the Coloureds of South Africa and the Blacks from Namibia. The differences are influenced by cultural and ethnical factors. The authors discuss the validity of methods employed in the study, especially language and intellectual capability as bias factors that may have influenced the final results.

1,397 seamen and deep-sea fishermen were examined, their polycardiographic records were evaluated. Their mean age was 44.1 +/- 9.3 years, while the period of the service at sea averaged 22.8 +/- 7.1 years. Using Wezler and Boeger's method, physical analysis of the blood circulation was carried out. Carotid arteriograms were evaluated with Donzelot's method. Electrocardiograms were evaluated following Minnesota Code 1982. In 587 people (42.0%) pathological changes in the blood circulation were revealed. In 260 people (18.6%) ECG records were abnormal. In 112 people (8%) border hypertension was recorded and in 486 people (13.3%) arterial hypertension was diagnosed. Abnormal speed of the central pulse wave, air chamber elasticity coefficient and peripheral resistance occurred in 35%, and abnormal carotid arteriograms were registered in 34.5% of the men examined. The data of the survey indicated that the risk of diseases of the circulatory system was high in the occupational group examined.

A case of heavy carbon monoxide poisoning is reported, with disorders in the central nervous system and circulatory disturbances (brain oedema), disfunction of the cardiac muscle and of platelet haemostasis). The level of carboxyhaemoglobin was over 45%. The patient was given hyperbaric treatment at 0.15 MPa (2.5 ATA). On the first day of treatment, the time of stay in the hyperbaric chamber was 90 minutes. During the session the patient regained consciousness. Hyperbaric treatment was continued for 4 days more. At completion of the treatment, the disturbances in both the central nervous system and blood circulation recessed.

Exposure of the deck crew to volatile hydrocarbon compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon PAH compounds was observed and monitored on two Norwegian product tankers. The tankers were loading their cargo with the hatches open during the monitoring period. One of the tankers loaded gas oil. This type of cargo is not volatile, and very low concentrations of the monitored chemical PAH compounds were found on this tanker. The second tanker loaded gasoline. On this tanker high concentrations of hydrocarbon compounds were found; benzene was as high as 55 ppm, toluene was as high as 34 ppm, hydrocarbon compounds in the C5-C7 range were as high as 570 ppm, n-hexane was as high as 25 ppm. The levels of PAH-compounds were low. None of the seamen working on the deck did use respiratory protective equipment during the work. The exposure of the deck crew to volatile hydrocarbon compounds ought to be reduced on product tankers. Better routines concerning the use of respiratory protective equipment is an immediate action which ought to take place. Loading volatile cargo like gasoline with the hatches open should be avoided.

Among ticks Ixodes ricinus collected in April 1994 in the forest near Fraknowo (Olsztyn province, N. C. Poland), 17 ticks were evaluated for Borrelia infection by cultivating in the BSK-H medium (Sigma). The ticks were examined in five pools--four of 3 females and one pool of 5 nymphs. Spirochaetes were cultured successfully only from one pool of females and identified as Borrelia burgdorferi with monoclonal antibodies: H 9724, H 5332, H 3TS and 11 G 1 by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). This is the first reported isolate of B. burgdorferi from Ixodes ricinus in Poland.

Cysts in the organs of the abdominal cavity revealed in ultrasonographic examinations in patients with none or with unclear clinical symptoms cause diagnostic and fitness for work assessment problems. The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of ultrasonography of cysts, combined with biochemical, bacteriological, cytological examinations and analysis of markers CEA and AFP of the fluid collected with fine needle aspiration biopsy (FAB). The study material examined were maritime workers who were submitted to these examinations for diagnostic purposes and/or previous to issue of certificate of health for work at sea. Examinations results provided support for usefulness of the method discussed in diagnosis and differentiation of inflammatory and neoplastic processes with simple cysts. This was crucial for final diagnosis, for decision about treatment and recognizing fitness for work at sea. It was concluded that the method FAB is safe both in hospital as well as in ambulatory conditions.

In 1993, 2178 out of 3816 Ixodes ricinus and 45 out of 82 Dermacentor reticulatus collected from vegetation at 35 sites and removed from hunter-killed deer in Olsztyn province (N. C. Poland) were examined individually for the presence of Borrelia spirochaetes. Detection of spirochaetes was carried out by the routine indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using polyclonal antibody anti-B. burgdorferi, strain 1 B 29. Borreliae, presumably B. burgdorferi, were evident in 192 (11.5%) I. ricinus (nymphs and adults) collected from vegetation (n = 1666) and in 6 (1.2%) of those removed from hosts (n = 512). Among the first ones, infection rate in nymphs (7.5%) was 2.5 times lower than in adults (18.8%) but was similar in females (18.7%) and males (18.9%). The calculated minimal and maximal infection rates of ticks collected from different locations were 2.9% and 35.7%, respectively. No spirochetes were observed in D. reticulatus tested.