Occupational Hearing Loss for Platinum Miners in South Africa: A Case Study of Data Sharing Practices and Ethical Challenges in the Mining Industry

Background: The relevant legislation ensures confidentiality and has paved the way for data handling and sharing. However, the industry remains uncertain regarding big data handling and sharing practices for improved healthcare delivery and medical research. Methods: A semi-qualitative cross-sectional study was used which entailed analysing miners’ personal health records from 2014 to 2018. Data were accessed from the audiometry medical surveillance database (n = 480), the hearing screening database (n = 24,321), and the occupational hygiene database (n = 15,769). Ethical principles were applied to demonstrate big data protection and sharing. Results: Some audiometry screening and occupational hygiene records were incomplete and/or inaccurate (N = 4675). The database containing medical disease and treatment records could not be accessed. Ethical challenges included a lack of clarity regarding permission rights when sharing big data, and no policy governing the divulgence of miners’ personal and medical records for research. Conclusion: This case study illustrates how research can be effectively, although not maliciously, obstructed by the strict protection of employee medical data. Clearly communicated company policies should be developed for the sharing of workers’ records in the mining industry to improve HCPs.

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P38 COVID-19 impact on Surgical Training And Recovery Planning (COVID-STAR) Survey

BJS Open ◽

10.1093/bjsopen/zrab032.037 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

◽

Joshua Clements

Keyword(s):

Surgical Training ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Healthcare Delivery ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Surgical Trainee ◽

Surgical Specialty ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Training Time ◽

Surgical Trainees ◽

And Training

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in dynamic changes to healthcare delivery. Surgery as a specialty has been significantly affected and with that the delivery of surgical training. Method This national, collaborative, cross sectional study comprising 13 surgical trainee associations distributed a pan surgical specialty survey on the COVID-19 impact on surgical training over a 4-week period (11th May - 8th June 2020). The survey was voluntary and open to medical students and surgical trainees of all specialties and training grades. All aspects of training were qualitatively assessed. This study was reported according to STROBE guidelines. Results 810 completed responses were analysed. (M401: F 390) with representation from all deaneries and training grades. 41% of respondents (n = 301) were redeployed with 74% (n = 223) redeployed > 4 weeks. Complete loss of training was reported in elective operating (69.5% n = 474), outpatient activity (67.3%, n = 457), Elective endoscopy (69.5% n = 246) with > 50% reduction in training time reported in emergency operating (48%, n = 326) and completion of work-based assessments (WBA) (46%, n = 309). 81% (n = 551) reported course cancellations and departmental and regional teaching programmes were cancelled without rescheduling in 58% and 60% of cases respectively. A perceived lack of Elective operative exposure and completions of WBA’s were the primary reported factor affecting potential training progression. Overall, > 50% of trainees (n = 377) felt they would not meet the competencies required for that training period. Conclusion This study has demonstrated a perceived negative impact on numerous aspects of surgical training affecting all training specialties and grades.

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Hearing healthcare gaps in LMICS: snapshot from a semi-urban community in Nigeria

African Health Sciences ◽

10.4314/ahs.v21i2.53 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 912-918

Author(s):

Adebolajo Adeyemo ◽

Segun Ogunkeyede ◽

Oluyinka Dania

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Urban Communities ◽

Healthcare Delivery ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Traditional Healers ◽

Medical Intervention ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Ear Diseases

Background: Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) have high prevalence of hearing loss which are mainly due to pre- ventable causes. While urban communities in LMICs are likely to have functional hearing healthcare delivery infrastructure, rural and semi-urban communities may have different reality. Objectives: This study aimed to provide: (i) a snapshot of the burden of ear diseases and (ii) a description of available hearing healthcare resources in a semi-urban Nigerian community. Methods: A cross-sectional study of households selected by multistage random sampling technique. Seventy-four partici- pants: 39 males and 35 females with mean age of 34 years ± 5.24 were recruited and answered a structured questionnaire. In addition, the availability of hearing healthcare services in 15 health centers within the community were determined. Results: All participants reported recent occurrence of ear complaints or gave similar history in a household member. Com- mon complaints were ear discharge, ear pain and hearing loss. Medical intervention was sought from patent medicine stores, hospitals and traditional healers. None of the assessed hospitals within the study site was manned by an ENT surgeon or ENT trained nurse. Conclusion: Despite the heavy burden of ear complaints there is inadequate hearing healthcare delivery in a typical LMIC community. This highlights the need for urgent improvement of hearing healthcare. Keywords: Hearing loss; healthcare delivery; disease burden; ear diseases; developing countries.

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Cross-Sectional Study of Water Quality Changes in Lake of Kalan Malayer Dam(Case Study: 2017-2018)

Journal of Environmental Health Engineering ◽

10.52547/jehe.8.1.99 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 99-116

Author(s):

Bahare Lorestani ◽

Hajar Merrikhpour ◽

Mehrdad Cheraghi ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Quality Changes ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional

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Big data and Belmont: On the ethics and research implications of consumer-based datasets

Big Data & Society ◽

10.1177/20539517211048183 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 205395172110481

Author(s):

Remy Stewart

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Big Data ◽

Social Science Research ◽

Research Participant ◽

Science Research ◽

Business Practices ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

Marketing Risk ◽

Brokerage Firms

Consumer-based datasets are the products of data brokerage firms that agglomerate millions of personal records on the adult US population. This big data commodity is purchased by both companies and individual clients for purposes such as marketing, risk prevention, and identity searches. The sheer magnitude and population coverage of available consumer-based datasets and the opacity of the business practices that create these datasets pose emergent ethical challenges within the computational social sciences that have begun to incorporate consumer-based datasets into empirical research. To directly engage with the core ethical debates around the use of consumer-based datasets within social science research, I first consider two case study applications of consumer-based dataset-based scholarship. I then focus on three primary ethical dilemmas within consumer-based datasets regarding human subject research, participant privacy, and informed consent in conversation with the principles of the seminal Belmont Report.

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Community determinants of COPD exacerbations in elderly patients in Poland: protocol for a retrospective Big Data observational cohort study

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030524 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. e030524 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Izabela Zakowska ◽

Katarzyna Kosiek ◽

Anna Kowalczyk ◽

Jacek Grabowski ◽

Maciek Godycki-Cwirko

Keyword(s):

Big Data ◽

Elderly Patients ◽

Local Community ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Local Communities ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Community Factors ◽

Community Indicators ◽

Copd Exacerbations

IntroductionAnalyses of large sets of electronic health-related data (Big Data), including local community indicators, may improve knowledge of the outcomes of chronic diseases among patients and healthcare systems. Our study will estimate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its exacerbations in elderly patients in the Lodz region, Poland; it will also evaluate local community factors potentially associated with disease exacerbations and rank local communities according to health and local community indicators.Methodsand analysisLocal community factors, including medical/health, socioeconomic and environmental values potentially associated with COPD exacerbations will be identified. A retrospective analysis of a cohort of about half a million people 65 years old and older, living in local communities of the Lodz region in 2016 will be performed. Relevant data will be extracted from databases, including those of the National Health Fund, Tax Office and National Statistics Centre. This cross-sectional study will include data for a 1 year period, from 1 January until 31 December 2016. The data will first be checked for quality, cleaned and analysed using data mining techniques, and then multilevel logistic regression will be used to discover the community determinants of COPD exacerbations.Ethics and disseminationThe study protocol has been approved by the Bioethical Committee of Medical University of Lodz (RNN/248/18/KE, 10 July 2018). Our findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and reports.

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Subtitling’s cross-cultural expressivity put to the test: A cross-sectional study of linguistic and cultural representation across Romance and Germanic languages

Multilingua ◽

10.1515/multi-2018-0116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 38 (5) ◽

pp. 505-528 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Marie-Noëlle Guillot

Keyword(s):

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cultural Representation ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Communicative Practices ◽

Feature Film ◽

Germanic Languages ◽

Cultural Pragmatics ◽

Initial Focus

Abstract This article focuses on linguistic and cultural representation in AVT as a medium of intercultural literacy. It has two objectives: it puts to the test increasingly accepted assumptions about AVT modalities’ distinctive meaning potential and expressive capacity, with a case study of communicative practices in their representation, via AVT, in subtitles across Romance and Germanic languages. The second objective is to make a start on a neglected question to date, by considering, concurrently, the respective potential for representation of different types of languages, Indo-European in the first instance, in different pair configurations. The study applies to (Romance) French, Italian, Spanish and (Germanic) English and German and uses a cross-cultural pragmatics framework to explore representation, per se and comparatively across the languages represented in the main data, Lonnergan’s 2016 feature film Manchester by the Sea. Data is approached qualitatively from a target text end in the first instance and primarily, in a subset of scenes from across the film. Quantitative analysis is used complementarily for diagnostic purposes or as a complementary source of evidence, with initial focus on types of features identified in earlier studies as a locus of stylised representation in subtitling with evidence of distinctive pragmatic indexing (e.g. pronominal address, greetings, thanking). The study is a pilot study and is exploratory at this stage, but part of a broader endeavour to inform debates about, and build up the picture of, AVT as cross-cultural mediation and, ultimately, promote our understanding of films in translation’s societal impact.

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Men’s Health-Related Magazines: A Retrospective Study of What They Recommend and the Evidence Addressing Their Recommendations

American Journal of Men s Health ◽

10.1177/1557988320936900 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 155798832093690

Author(s):

Mohamed A. Jalloh ◽

Mitchell J. Barnett ◽

Eric J. Ip

Keyword(s):

Health Care Providers ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Men’S Health ◽

Men's Health ◽

Care Providers ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Media Messages ◽

Large Populations ◽

Health Related

Magazines have traditionally been an effective medium for delivering health media messages to large populations or specific groups. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we evaluated nine issues from 2016 publications of American men’s health-related magazines ( Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness) to evaluate their recommendations and determine their validity by examining corresponding evidence found in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. We extracted health recommendations ( n = 161) from both magazines and independently searched and evaluated evidence addressing the recommendations. We could find at least a case study or higher quality evidence addressing only 42% of the 161 recommendations (80 recommendations from Men’s Health and 81 recommendations from Men’s Fitness). For recommendations from Men’s Health, evidence supported approximately 23% of the 80 recommendations, while evidence was unclear, nonexistent, or contradictory for approximately 77% of the recommendations. For recommendations from Men’s Fitness, evidence supported approximately 25% of the 81 recommendations, while evidence was unclear, nonexistent, or contradictory for approximately 75% of the recommendations. The majority of recommendations made in men’s health-related magazines appear to lack credible peer-reviewed evidence; therefore, patients should discuss such recommendations with health-care providers before implementing.

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Geographic and socioeconomic distribution of food vendors: a case study of a municipality in the Southern Brazil

Cadernos de Saúde Pública ◽

10.1590/0102-311x00145015 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Elizabeth Nappi Correa ◽

Cristina Maria Proença Padez ◽

Ângelo Horta de Abreu ◽

Francisco de Assis Guedes de Vasconcelos

Keyword(s):

Secondary Data ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Healthy Food ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Distribution Profile ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Different Types ◽

The Mean ◽

The City

Abstract: The objective of this study was to identify the food vendor distribution profile of the city of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, and investigate its association with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of different municipal regions. This descriptive, cross-sectional study obtained the location of food vendors from secondary data from different institutional sources. The density of different types of food vendors per 1,000 inhabitants in each municipal weighted area was calculated. The Kruskal-Wallis test compared the mean density of food vendors and the weighted income areas. The lowest-income regions had the lowest density of butchers, snack bars, supermarkets, bakeries/pastry shops, natural product stores, juice bars, and convenience stores. The identification of these areas may encourage the creation of public policies that facilitate healthy food startups and/or maintenance of healthy food vendors, especially in the lowest-income regions.

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Evaluation of Drug Use Patterns of Out Patient Attendees in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Dermatology and Venereology Department as a Tool to Promote Rational Prescribing

Update Dental College Journal ◽

10.3329/updcj.v4i1.21158 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 4-9

Author(s):

Nushrat Noor ◽

Md Jamal Uddin ◽

Mohammad Afsan ◽

Hafiza Akhter ◽

Farhana Kabir

Keyword(s):

Tertiary Care ◽

Inappropriate Prescribing ◽

Healthcare Delivery ◽

Essential Medicine ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

World Health ◽

Carbon Paper ◽

Healthcare Delivery System ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Prescribing Indicators

Background: Drug utilization studies are pre requisite for the formulation of drug policies. They offer useful methods for teaching and training in drug therapy and also identify the problems that arise from drug usage in healthcare delivery system and highlight the current approaches to the rational use of medicines. Objectives: The main objective of the prescription audit or evaluation was to measures for improving the prescription practices and to generate information on the core prescribing indicators proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Methods: This was a descriptive type of cross sectional study. The study was conducted in the Out Patient Department (OPD) of Dermatology & Venereology in a tertiary care private hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh in between January and March2012. A total of 300 prescriptions were obtained with the help of a pre-inserted carbon paper in a special format using WHO core prescribing indicators. Results: The average number of drugs per encounter was 3.8 and no single drug was prescribed by generic name. Use of antibiotic (56% of encounters) was frequent, but injection use (2.67% of encounters) was within the recommendation of WHO. The use of fixed drug combinations (FDCs) was 15.28% of prescribed drugs. Only 22.08% drugs were prescribed from national essential medicine list. Conclusion: The findings from the current study showed a trend towards inappropriate prescribing. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/updcj.v4i1.21158 Update Dent. Coll. j: 2014; 4 (1): 04-09

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Atmospheric Benzene and Determination of Trans, Trans-Muconic Acid of Workers at Oil Sites in Pointe-Noire

Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology ◽

10.9734/cjast/2021/v40i1631427 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 82-90

Author(s):

Ebenguela Ebatetou Ataboho ◽

Josué Richard Ntsimba Nsemi ◽

Donatien Moukassa

Keyword(s):

Oil And Gas ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Gas Production ◽

Medical Surveillance ◽

Muconic Acid ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Oil And Gas Production ◽

Risk Of Exposure ◽

Production Company

Trans, trans-muconic acid is generally considered a useful biomarker of exposure to benzene that occurs naturally in crude oil. Objective: To estimate exposure of benzene to workers in an oil and gas production company. Materials and Methods: Firstly, it was a descriptive, cross-sectional study which consisted of benzene atmospheric quantification in a sample individual measurements of a homogeneous exposure group of workers. Secondly, urinary assays of trans, trans-muconic acid have been performed at the end of the shift in the selected workers. Results: A total of 79 (47.88%) workers agreed to participate in the study. Seventeen atmospheric samples were usable and 79 urinary assays at the end of the shift were carried out. The average benzene concentration for all sites was 10 times lower than the regulatory average exposure value (1 ppm=3.25 mg/m3):average: 0.122pp, median: 0.053ppm and range: 0.019-1.448 ppm. All 79 urinary assays of trans, trans-muconic acid were below the biological exposure index (<500 µg/g creatinine) with an average of 37.34 µg/g creatinine, a median of 30 µg/g creatinine, and an extent from 10 to 150 µg/g creatinine. Conclusion: Airborne benzene concentrations were below company limits. The same was true for the urinary assays of trans, trans-muconic acid. Overall, therefore, exposure to benzene is low in this company. However, there is a need to maintain regular medical surveillance as the risk of exposure is ongoing.

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