Marjan Bilban

Integral Control of Health Hazards in Hospital Environment

Hospitals present complex indoor environment with various users, health hazards and specific activities. This paper classifies health hazards specific to the hospital environment (HE), defines their interactions and possible impacts on human health and summarizes recommendations for biological and chemical hazards. A detailed literature review clearly shows that there is no developed system or method for integral control of health hazards in HE. There is no appropriate technology available that would allow development of optimal thermal comfort conditions for individual users in HE. For integral control of physical hazards, an innovative low exergy (LowEx) system was designed and tested. The system enables individual control of thermal comfort parameters to meet the needs of various users in the same room. It enables the design of optional conditions for healthcare and treatment considering the different requirements of individual patients and thermally neutral zones for other users. The system application is presented in a model room for burns patient. The measured energy use was lower by 11–27% for space heating and by 32–73% for cooling, when using LowEx system as compared to the conventional system. Owning to its flexibility, the system can also be used for other potential users.

Influence of daily individual meteorological parameters on the incidence of acute coronary syndrome.

Background: A nationwide study was conducted to explore the short term association between daily individual meteorological parameters and the incidence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) treated with coronary emergency catheter interventions in the Republic of Slovenia, a south-central European country. Method: We linked meteorological data with daily ACS incidence for the entire population of Slovenia, for the population over 65 years of age and for the population under 65 years of age. Data were collected daily for a period of 4 years from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2011. In line with existing studies, we used a main effect generalized linear model with a log-link-function and a Poisson distribution of ACS. Results and Conclusions: Three of the studied meteorological factors (daily average temperature, atmospheric pressure and relative humidity) all have relevant and significant influences on ACS incidences for the entire population. However, the ACS incidence for the population over 65 is only affected by daily average temperature, while the ACS incidence for the population under 65 is affected by daily average pressure and humidity. In terms of ambient temperature, the overall findings of our study are in line with the findings of the majority of contemporary European studies, which also note a negative correlation. The results regarding atmospheric pressure and humidity are less in line, due to considerable variations in results. Additionally, the number of available European studies on atmospheric pressure and humidity is relatively low. The fourth studied variable—season—does not influence ACS incidence in a statistically significant way.

Seat-belt use and non-use in adults in Slovenia.

Aim:To identify population groups at risk of non-use of seat belts in front and rear seats in order to enable more focused planning of preventive actions in Slovenia.Methods:The national health behaviour survey of 15,379 adults aged 25–64, carried out in 2001; response rate 64 %; 9,043 questionnaires eligible for analysis. The observed outcomes: non-use of seat belts in the front and rear seats. Logistic regression was used for relating gender, age, education level, socio-economic factors and geographical region to the observed outcomes.Results:Non-use of seat belts in the front seats: 5.7 %; the highest odds: males (ORmales vs. females = 1.89, p < 0.001), aged 25–29 (OR25–29 vs. 50–59 = 2.68, p < 0.001), the lowest education level (ORuncompleted primary vs. university education = 2.77, p = 0.001), upper social class (ORupper vs. lower = 3.54, p = 0.0 14), western Slovenia (ORwestern vs. eastern = 1.31, p = 0.027). Non-use of seat belts in the rear seats: 65.2 %; the highest odds: aged 25–29 (OR25–29 vs. 60–64 = 2.83, p < 0.001), vocational (ORvocational vs. university education = 1.36, p = 0.005) and secondary education level (ORsecondary vs. university education = 1.36, p = 0.003), western Slovenia (ORwestern vs. eastern = 1.37, p < 0.001).Conclusions:Both observed outcomes are a problem particularly in younger age groups with secondary education level or lower, living in western Slovenia; non-use of seat belts in the front seats also in males and in upper social class.

Lead Exposure and Oxidative Stress in Coal Miners

We aimed to investigate the short-term correlation between blood lead levels and oxidative stress generation in coal miners. The study involved 94 male coal miners from the Velenje Coal mine, arranged into four groups: three groups according to the number of consecutive working days, and a fourth control group. Miners who worked for three consecutive days had higher blood levels of lead and 8-isoprostane than the control group (P < 0.001). Correlation between lead and 8-isoprostane was of medium strength (r = 0.512, P < 0.001). Short-term lead environmental exposure can potentially harmful and should be considered when formulating improvements in working processes.