Fundamental Moral Attitudes to Animals and Their Role in Judgment: An Empirical Model to Describe Fundamental Moral Attitudes to Animals and Their Role in Judgment on the Culling of Healthy Animals During an Animal Disease Epidemic

In this paper, we present and defend the theoretical framework of an empirical model to describe people’s fundamental moral attitudes (FMAs) to animals, the stratification of FMAs in society and the role of FMAs in judgment on the culling of healthy animals in an animal disease epidemic. We used philosophical animal ethics theories to understand the moral basis of FMA convictions. Moreover, these theories provide us with a moral language for communication between animal ethics, FMAs, and public debates. We defend that FMA is a two-layered concept. The first layer consists of deeply felt convictions about animals. The second layer consists of convictions derived from the first layer to serve as arguments in a debate on animal issues. In a debate, the latter convictions are variable, depending on the animal issue in a specific context, time, and place. This variability facilitates finding common ground in an animal issue between actors with opposing convictions.     

Fetal translocation between chromosomes 2, 18, and 21 resolved by fish

An apparently balanced t(2q;21q) translocation was discovered in fetal blood and amniocytes of a 22-week fetus, monitored because of ultrasonographic evidence of a heart disease. FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) analysis disclosed a complex translocation between chromosomes 2q, 18q, and 21q, which was inherited from the healthy mother. This observation corroborates the usefulness of molecular cytogenetic techniques in raising the quality of prenatal diagnosis and detecting subtle rearrangements not resolved by standard cytogenetics.     

阿坝州大骨节病和扶贫开发决策中AHP方法的应用

大骨节病防治和扶贫开发试点工作涉及阿坝州的经济、社会、生态等各方面,且州内各县、乡、村情况各异,众多具体措施关系复杂。为了提高决策质量,使试点工作取得“优化举措、重点突破”的效果,应用AHP方法建立了定量模型。     

人群的自然和社会属性分类下PM2.5对心血管疾病的影响

为了研究人群在自然属性和社会属性分类下的效应修饰作用,利用2005~2011年北京市大气PM_2.5日均浓度、气象要素及循环系统疾病每日死亡人数数据,根据不同年龄、性别及学历将人群分组,采用时间序列的半参数广义相加模型（GAM）,定量评价大气PM_2.5对居民循环系统疾病死亡人数的影响.单污染物模型和多污染物模型结果表明,PM_2.5为影响循环系统疾病每日死亡人数的主要大气污染物.北京市空气中PM_2.5的浓度每增加10μg/m³,循环系统疾病总死亡人数增加0.50%（95% CI：0.36,0.63）.不同人群的易感程度不同,各人群死亡人数的增加范围为0.23~0.71%,女性、60~74岁人群、文盲人群的健康风险相对较高.在文盲人群中,老年（60+）女性占比为66.2%,为了分离社会属性人群分类中可能存在的自然属性因素干扰,本文去除其中老年、女性这两个混杂因素的影响,文盲人群健康风险仍然大于较高学历的人群.年龄和性别因素叠加在学历因素上,可能加大低学历人群的健康风险,对于这部分叠加了自然因素和社会因素双重敏感性的人群应给与重点关注.     

响应曲面法优化物理活化制备羊骨基活性炭工艺

为通过物理活化法制备羊骨活性炭,采用响应曲面(Response surface methodology,RSM)实验设计,以活化温度、活化时间、CO2流量为试验因素,以碘吸附值为响应值,建立数学模型,工艺条件进行优化。结果表明:最佳工艺条件为活化温度476.05℃、活化时间9.34 min、CO2流量159.4 mL/min,在此条件下碘吸附值为411 mg/g;通过对碘吸附值曲面方程和二次多项回归方程解逆矩阵得知该方程的预测值与实际值之间具有较好的拟合度。     

2000-2009年全国职业中毒状况规律分析和对策探讨

职业中毒是我国的主要职业病之一,严重影响着劳动者的健康和社会的和谐稳定。根据卫生部2000-2009年公布的职业病统计数据,分析总结我国职业中毒的发生规律。结果表明：职业中毒是仅次于尘肺病的第二大类职业病。职业中毒占职业病总数的12.8%-18%,在职业中毒病例中,急性职业中毒占22.4%-39.6%,慢性职业中毒占60.4%-77.6%。职业中毒总人数变化从2000年到2005年较平稳,从2006年起,呈波浪形上升趋势,但其增幅远小于职业病总数和尘肺病新发病例人数的增幅。其中,急性职业中毒总人数略有下降趋势,慢性职业中毒总人数呈波浪形上升趋势。引起急性职业中毒占前两位的化学毒物主要是一氧化碳和硫化氢,引起慢性职业中毒占前两位的化学毒物主要是铅及其化合物和苯。中小企业职业中毒发生率高。建议各级职能部门重点加强相关行业的监管,尤其是其中的中小企业的监管;履行指导的职责,加强有效果的安全教育和培训;同时加强职业监控监护。     

Evidence for the Role of Infectious Disease in Species Extinction and Endangerment

Abstract:  Infectious disease is listed among the top five causes of global species extinctions. However, the majority of available data supporting this contention is largely anecdotal. We used the IUCN Red List of Threatened and Endangered Species and literature indexed in the ISI Web of Science to assess the role of infectious disease in global species loss. Infectious disease was listed as a contributing factor in <4% of species extinctions known to have occurred since 1500 (833 plants and animals) and as contributing to a species' status as critically endangered in <8% of cases (2852 critically endangered plants and animals). Although infectious diseases appear to play a minor role in global species loss, our findings underscore two important limitations in the available evidence: uncertainty surrounding the threats to species survival and a temporal bias in the data. Several initiatives could help overcome these obstacles, including rigorous scientific tests to determine which infectious diseases present a significant threat at the species level, recognition of the limitations associated with the lack of baseline data for the role of infectious disease in species extinctions, combining data with theory to discern the circumstances under which infectious disease is most likely to serve as an agent of extinction, and improving surveillance programs for the detection of infectious disease. An evidence-based understanding of the role of infectious disease in species extinction and endangerment will help prioritize conservation initiatives and protect global biodiversity.     

Analysis of Total Work Inability in Poland in 2000 and 2001 According to Age,Disease Diagnosis and Occupation

This study was to determine the main health-related reasons, age and occupation of those who took ear retirement due to total work inability. This was done through an analysis of the data from Poland’s Soci Insurance Institution (ZUS) from 2000 and 2001. An analysis of these data showed an increase in the numb of certificates confirming total inability to work in people over 40 years old. Over 50% of certificates wo, were issued to workers in 2 age-groups: 45–49 and 50–54.

Diseases of the circulatory system, musculoskeletal system and connective tissue as well as mental and behavioural disorders are the main causes of early inability to work. Approximately 70% of people who obtained certificates confirming total inability to work had blue- and blue-and-white-collar jobs.     

Geographic Analysis of Forest Health Indicators Using Spatial Scan Statistics

Geographically explicit analysis tools are needed to assess forest health indicators that are measured over large regions. Spatial scan statistics can be used to detect spatial or spatiotemporal clusters of forests representing hotspots of extreme indicator values. This paper demonstrates the approach through analyses of forest fragmentation indicators in the southeastern United States and insect and pathogen indicators in the Pacific Northwest United States. The scan statistic detected four spatial clusters of fragmented forest including a hotspot in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain region. Three recurring clusters of insect and pathogen occurrence were found in the Pacific Northwest. Spatial scan statistics are a powerful new tool that can be used to identify potential forest health problems.     

WATER RESOURCES AND HUMAN HEALTH: THE VIEWPOINT OF MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY1

ABSTRACT: Medical geography studies both areal patterns of human health and disease and the environmental and cultural factors that contribute to such conditions. In such studies water resources are of major importance, not only because they are essential for life and their scenic beauty is of inspirational value, but also because they are involved, directly or indirectly, in more than 80 percent of all disease. The direct involvements result from various disease causing agents sometimes found in surface or ground water organic ones such as bacteria, worms, etc., which are known as pathogens, and inorganic ones such as trace elements and synthetic toxic chemicals. Surface waters may have indirect effects also, for they may serve as habitats or breeding places for organisms that do not themselves cause human disease but that serve as vectors or hosts for such pathogens. This paper will discuss these various roles of water resources in both endemic and epidemic disease occurrences and ways in which various human activities domestic, economic, recreational, or religious — increase or reduce our exposure to such diseases.