The occurrence and fate of anti-inflammatory and analgesic pharmaceuticals in sewage and fresh water: treatability by conventional and non-conventional processes.

Usually, vehicles' stop-and-go driving will consume more fuel and emit more CO2 than constant speed driving. To reduce vehicles' CO2 emissions, vehicles' travel should be smoothed by reducing the stop-and-go times. In this paper, a three-tier structure is proposed to realize dynamic traffic light control for smoothing vehicles' travel. In tier-1, an electronic toll collection (ETC) system is employed for collecting road traffic flow data and calculating the recommended speed. In tier-2, radio antennas are installed near the traffic lights. Road traffic flow information can be obtained by wireless communication between the antennas and ETC devices. In tier-3, a branch-and-bound-based real-time traffic light control algorithm is designed to smooth vehicles' travels. After smoothing vehicles' travels, more vehicles can pass intersections with less waiting time and fewer short-time stops; therefore, the vehicles' CO2 emissions can be reduced. Simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme performs much better than the adaptive fuzzy traffic light control method: The average waiting time, short-time stop times, and CO2 emissions are greatly reduced, and the nonstop passing rate is greatly improved.

An Open Traffic Light Control Model for Reducing Vehicles' $\hbox{CO}_{2}$ Emissions Based on ETC Vehicles

The study investigated the separate and combined effects of ventilation rate, free convection flow produced by a thermal manikin, and the presence of objects on the distribution of tracer gas and particles in indoor air. The concentration of aerosol particles and tracer gas was measured in a test room with mixing ventilation. Three layouts were arranged: an empty room, an office room with an occupant sitting in front of a table, and a single-bed hospital room. The room occupant was simulated by a thermal manikin. Monodisperse particles of three sizes (0.07, 0.7, and 3.5 μm) and nitrous oxide tracer gas were generated simultaneously at the same location in the room. The particles and gas concentrations were measured in the bulk room air, in the breathing zone of the manikin, and in the exhaust air. Within the breathing zone of the sitting occupant, the tracer gas emerged as reliable predictor for the exposure to all different-sized test particles. A change in the ventilation rate did not affect the difference in concentration distribution between tracer gas and larger particle sizes. Increasing the room surface area did not influence the similarity in the dispersion of the aerosol particles and the tracer gas.

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A comparison between tracer gas and aerosol particles distribution indoors: The impact of ventilation rate, interaction of airflows, and presence of objects

Rapid assessment of soil and contaminant variability via portable x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: Copşa Mică, Romania

Distribution characteristics, growth, reproduction and transmission modes and control strategies for microbial contamination in HVAC systems: A literature review

Health problems related to the environment continue to be a major source of concern all over the world. Society needs to develop measures that will eliminate or considerably reduce hazardous factors from the environment that can result in health risk to humans.

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Potential Impact of Climate Change on Pandemic Influenza Risk

Background: The objective of the present study was to determine the association between chemotherapy and infectious complications in patients diagnosed with Hematologic malignancies (HMs) Materials and Methods: The study included 463 patients diagnosed with HMs multiple myeloma (MM), Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), non-HL (NHL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and chronic myeloid leukemia, between January 2014 and June 2015 The patients were followed for 1 year after inclusion, to record the infectious complications The collected data included age, sex, type of chemotherapy regimen, and several blood tests at admission All patients received prophylactic treatment with antibiotics and antifungal agents For each infection, we recorded the microbiological diagnosis and the day of occurrence since HMs diagnosis Results: In patients with MM, we found that the treatment with growth factors (hazard ratio [HR] 22; confidence interval [CI] 95%: 1–46; P = 003) was associated with a higher chance of infectious complications In patients with non-Hodgkin lymhoma (LNH), the following drugs were associated with a higher infectious incidence: cytarabine (HR: 23; CI 95%: 1–5; P = 003), methotrexate (HR: 21; CI 95%: 18–4; P = 001), dexamethasone (HR: 17; CI 95%: 09–3; P = 006), growth factors (HR: 17; CI 95%: 09–32; P = 0001), and etoposide (HR: 25; CI 95%: 15–42; P = 0002) Cytarabine (induction) (HR: 2; CI 95%: 11–37; P = 001), cytarabine (consolidation) (HR: 21; CI 95%: 13–35; P = 001), and growth factors (HR: 21; CI 95%: 13–35; P = 0002) were often on the therapeutic plan of patients with AML, which developed infections Conclusion: Regarding the chemotherapy regimen, the highest incidences of infectious complications were observed for growth factors and cytarabine

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Chemotherapy-related infectious complications in patients with Hematologic malignancies

Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) are a diverse group of chemicals comprising all human and veterinary drugs, diagnost ics agents, nutraceuticals and other chemicals such as fragrances, sun-screen agen ts and excipients (inert ingredients used in PPCP manufacturing and formulation). The origins of PPCPs as „trace” environmental pollu tants results largely from their worldwide, continual usage by humans and domestics animals as a result of ingestion/excretion as well as the purposeful, dire ct disposal of expired or unwanted PPCPs. Compared with other pollutants little is kno wn regard to potential environmental risks. The aim of this study is to define the types of PPC Ps occurring in surface and ground water, to synthesize the environmental origin, dist ribution, effects and to outline the importance of establishing a national water monitor ing network for the early detection of PPCPs presence.

Environmental risks of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water

Hospital acquired illness or “nosocomial” illness is of increasing concern to public health administrators, hospitals, physicians and patients. Engineering infection control measures are used to reduce the concentration and prevent the spread of these particles throughout a building in order to decrease exposure to and risk of illness from infectious pathogens. The engineer who attempts to deal with microbial indoor air quality finds that pertinent microbiological information exists in abundance but not in easily digestible forms. This paper will provide a brief review of the problem of controlling airborne disease transmission in healthcare facilities with emphasis on medical microbiology and aerobiology in order to offer some conclusions regarding the potential for engineering control of infectious diseases.

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Engineering Control of Airborne Disease Transmission in Health Care Facilities

UNLABELLED Breast cancer is the most common cancer in females. Epidemiological research has shown a dose-dependent association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer incidence in women. AIM The purpose of the study was to estimate the relationship between alcohol consumption in Romanian women from Transylvania geographic area and breast cancer risk. MATERIAL AND METHOD We have performed a case-control study on 223 patients with breast cancer, hospitalized in the Oncologic Institute "Lon Chiricuţa", Cluj-Napoca and 211 non-cancer controls, apparently healthy women, from the same geographic area. To achieve this aim we have used a validated food-frequency questionnaire, that included questions about alcoholic beverages consumption. RESULTS The results shows a low mean level of alcohol ingestion at both studied population groups: 5.87 g/day ethanol in breast cancer women and 4.79g/day ethanol to controls. The positive association between alcohol intake and breast cancer risk was observed for a modest level of ingestion of over 6.03 g/day ethanol (OR = 1.74, p = 0.04). The increase of alcohol intake is associated with the breast cancer risk increase (chi squared = 8.25, p for trend 0.04). CONCLUSION Reducing alcohol consumption is a potential way to reduce breast cancer risk.

Dana Sirbu

Papers

Potential Impact of Climate Change on Pandemic Influenza Risk

Chemotherapy-related infectious complications in patients with Hematologic malignancies

Environmental risks of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water

Engineering Control of Airborne Disease Transmission in Health Care Facilities

Correlation of alcohol intake with breast cancer