Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1)

Fasting plasma insulin levels in an unselected Prague suburban population

Anděl M., Kraml P., Málková J., Procházková Z., Poledne R., Potočková J.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):4-9

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine the levels of fasting plasma insulin in an unselected population of a Prague suburban community and correlate the levels of insulin with other metabolic and anthropometric parameters which could be directly or indirectly associated with insulin levels. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 835 adult inhabitants, the Prague suburban community, were examined. Mean age of examined people was 44.9 ± 16.9 years, the group included 370 men and 465 women, 189 of the latter were in the menopause. The parameters examined included the fasting plasma levels of insulin, glycaemia, total cholesterol, HDL...

Occurrence of Salmonella enteritidis phage type 21 in Tyrol

Khaschabi D., Schönbauer M., Sixl W.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):10-12

This paper describes results of the epidemiological analysis of the occurrence of Salmonella enteritidis phage type 21 in Tyrol (Austria).

Environmental epidemiology of malignancies. The Central European perspective

Holcátová I., Bencko V.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):13-17

The epidemiology of tumour diseases is one of the basic fields of non-infectious epidemiology. When in the first half of this century the most serious infections had been put under control in Europe and North America other kinds of diseases such as carcinomas emerged. Incidence of these diseases seem to be epidemical, exactly in those parts of the world. Carcinomas have been recorded as the second largest group of death causes nowadays. Despite frequent efforts to refer to the tumour diseases as the civilisation evils, we have to weigh critically the opinion that malignant tumours are the privilege of industrial countries whereas the primitive nations...

Trends in the incidence of problematic drug addicts in the Czech Republic, 1995-1996

Šejda J., Studničková B., Polanecký V.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):18-24

During 1996 there were 3,252 newly registered problematic drug users (incidence 31.5/100,000 inhabitants) while in 1995 it was only 2,470 drug users (23.9/100,000 inhabitants). Trends in the incidence of problematic drug users and their age structure and regional distribution between 1995-1996 characterise the current drug scene in the Czech Republic as follows: Slightly upward trend of the incidence of problematic drug users with prevalent position of pervitin. Dramatic increase in heroin use in 1995 has changed in slower growth of the number of new users in 1996. Proportion of men to women is totally 2:1 with major differences between individual...

Air-borne microorganisms in the metropolitan area of Graz, Austria

Köck M., Schlacher R., Pichler-Semmelrock F.P., Reinthaler F.F., Eibel U., Marth E., Friedl H.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):25-28

Urban and rural regions are affected by different microorganism loads depending on their structure and utilization. At 7 sampling sites in the metropolitan area of Graz, counts of airborne bacteria as well as yeasts and molds were conducted over a one-year period at two-week intervals. Bacteria and yeasts/molds counts in a village area to the South of Graz dominated by agriculture exceeded the corresponding counts in a suburban residential area fourfold (327 CFU/m³ air-bacteria) and twofold (185 CFU/m³ air-yeasts/molds) respectively. In the vicinity of a composting facility located in the same residential area, microorganism counts...

Health status of workers of a thermal power station exposed for prolonged periods to arsenic and other elements from fuel

Buchancová J., Klimentová G., Knížková M., Meško D., Gáliková E., Kubík J., Fabiánová E., Jakubis M.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):29-36

The Nováky Power Station (NPS) has been using since 1953 as fuel coal with a high content of As and with a low content of other metals. This involves a constant risk for the workers as well as pollution of the surroundings. The authors described 16 cases of chronic As intoxication in NPS workers after 22.3 ± 8.4 years of exposure (especially stokers, maintenance workers, boiler cleaners). Among clinical symptoms prevailed sensory and motor polyneuropathy (13 cases), pseudoneurasthenic syndrome (10 cases), toxic encephalopathy (6 cases) and nasal septum perforation (2 cases). After 1989 the intoxications with As did not occur any more due to...

Trends in cigarette sales and lung cancer mortality in four central European countries

Kubík A., Pleško I.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):37-41

Remarkable increases in lung cancer risk have recently been observed in the Central European (CE) area. This study examines the patterns of lung cancer mortality rates and cigarette sales in 1965-1989 in four CE countries with a total population of 64.2 million and 31,000 deaths from lung cancer in the last year under study. The patterns of increases in cigarette sales during the 1960s and 1970s were different by country, and, in the 1980s, the consumption in Hungary and Poland exceeded 3,000 pieces of cigarettes/year per adult (age 15 years and older). Among men, the lung cancer death rates in 1989 for the Czech Republic (75.8/100,000, age-adjusted...

Survey of the microbiological quality of bottled water

Šefcová H.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):42-44

Three different types of bottled water had counts of psychrophilic bacteria (aerobic colony count at 22 °C) ranging from 10⁰-10⁴ colony forming unit/1 ml. The most frequent type of bottled water to exceed limits for psychrophilic microorganisms was still table water. The growth of psychrophilic microorganisms of up to 10⁴ CFU/ml began over the six month storage period.

The role of psychological factors in questionnaire-based studies on routes of human toxoplasmosis transmission

Flegr J., Hrdá Š., Tachezy J.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):45-50

The paper studies impacts of particular toxoplasmosis risk factors (consumption of raw meat and contact with cats), their interactions, and their relationship with the personality of the subjects. Among 243 men and 343 women the frequency of subjects with antitoxoplasma immunity was 26.6 % and 21.6 %, respectively. The association of antitoxoplasma immunity (assessed by the toxoplasmin skin test) with the two risk factors was estimated by log-linear analysis. Reported contact with cats has no influence on the probability of having antitoxoplasma immunity (P = 0.23) while the consumption of raw meat increased this probability (P = 0.0008). Very strong...

Long-term monitoring of the immune reactivity of stainless steel welders

Hanovcová I., Chýlková V., Tejral J., Andrýs C., Procházková J., Turková M., Srb V., Ettlerová E., Kokeš J.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):51-56

The immune reactivity of stainless steel welders (n = 22-53) was evaluated in a three year's study. The results (phagocytic activity, cellular and humoral immunity) were statistically compared with those in control group of non-exposed persons from the same plant (n = 14-23) and with long-term laboratory reference values (LRV) (n = 14-311). In welders several changes were found when compared to the LRV: in humoral response there were higher prealbumin, lysozyme, circulating immune complexes and lower IgG. In phagocytic tests there were lower ingestion, bactericidal activity and higher metabolic activity of peripheral mononuclear leucocytes. In cellular...

Determination of the mycotoxin fumonisins in gluten-free diet (corn-based commodities) in the Czech Republic

Ostrý V., Ruprich J.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):57-60

The fumonisins, mycotoxins produced by Fusarium moniliforme, are known to occur worldwide as natural contaminants of corn. They are associated with several animal diseases and are a potential threat to human health. A total of 127 samples of corn-based foods (gluten-free diet) in the Czech Republic were analysed by Ridascreen Fumonisin Fast ELISA methods in years 1995-1996. Eighty eight % of the corn-based foods were found to be positive for fumonisins (FB1, FB2, FB3) and 12 % of the examined corn-based foods laid below of a determination limit which was about 9 ng fumonisins/g corn-based foods. The highest fumonisin contamination levels were...

Growing importance of non-Candida species as opportunistic pathogens

Tomšíková A.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):61-66

A 40-year study of C. albicans, non-C. albicans species and non-Candida species in the excretions of patients with different diseases is described. An increase of non-C. albicans, and non-Candida species since 1980 has been determined. The study is completed by a review of new and emerging yeasts.

Characterization of Plesiomonas shigelloides from diarrheic children

Bravo L., Monté R., Rámirez M., Garcia B., Urbášková P., Aldová E.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):67-70

Infrastructure of 29 P. shigelloides strains isolated as the only positive finding from children with diarrhea (biochemical properties, antigenic structure, antigenic relationship to shigellae, ATB susceptibility and plasmids) were described. A big variety of 22 serovars in a relatively small number of strains was found, inclusive four new 0 (093, 094, 095 and 096) and one new H (H46) antigen. Some strains belonged to the so-called "Schubert antigenic scheme" the serovars of which come of surface water of small ponds in Germany.

60^th Bithday of Professor Vladimír Bencko, M.D., D.Sc.

Editorial

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):3  

Summary report. The Joint WHO/IOMEH Workshop on Human Exposure Assessment in Environmental Health Decision-Making. Sosnowiec, Poland, 19-23 November 1996

Dellarco M., Gutschmidt K., Kjellstrom T.

Cent Eur J Public Health 1998, 6(1):71-73