Individual and Public-Program Adaptation: Coping with Heat Waves in Five Cities in Canada

Heat Alert and Response Systems (HARS) are currently undergoing testing and implementation in Canada. These programs seek to reduce the adverse health effects of heat waves on human health by issuing weather forecasts and warnings, informing individuals about possible protections from excessive heat, and providing such protections to vulnerable subpopulations and individuals at risk. For these programs to be designed effectively, it is important to know how individuals perceive the heat, what their experience with heat-related illness is, how they protect themselves from excessive heat, and how they acquire information about such protections. In September 2010, we conducted a survey of households in 5 cities in Canada to study these issues. At the time of the survey, these cities had not implemented heat outreach and response systems. The study results indicate that individuals' recollections of recent heat wave events were generally accurate. About 21% of the sample reported feeling unwell during the most recent heat spell, but these illnesses were generally minor. Only in 25 cases out of 243, these illnesses were confirmed or diagnosed by a health care professional. The rate at which our respondents reported heat-related illnesses was higher among those with cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses, was higher among younger respondents and bore no relationship with the availability of air conditioning at home. Most of the respondents indicated that they would not dismiss themselves as

DETERMINATION OF THE CONCENTRATIONS OF THE STEROIDS ESTRADIOL, PROGESTERONE AND TESTOSTERONE IN BOVINE SERA - COMPARISON OF COMMERCIAL DISSOCIATION ENHANCED LANTHANIDE FLUORESCENCE IMMUNOASSAY KITS WITH CONVENTIONAL RADIO AND ENZYME IMMUNOASSAYS

The performance of three conventional enzyme and radioimmunoassays routinely used to detect residues of anabolic steroids in cattle sera were compared with dissociation enhanced lanthanide fluorescence immunoassay (DELFIA) kits designed for the hospital market. Slight modifications to the kit reagents were required for the analysis of bovine sera. Owing to the large sample volumes used in conventional assays, detection limits were generally better than those obtained with DELFIA kits, however, assay reproducibility was enhanced using the DELFIA technology. Comparison of sera obtained from cattle implanted with anabolic steroids revealed a good correlation between alternate methods (r(2) from 0.91 to 0.97). The DELFIA kits offer a faster method for measuring estradiol, progesterone and testosterone with adequate sensitivity and in a safer environment than that encountered using radioimmunoassays.

Role of low-energy electrons in Ar emission from low-pressure radio frequency discharge plasma

Optical emission spectra from a low-pressure Ar plasma were studied with high spatial resolution. It has been shown that the intensity ratios of Ar lines excited through metastable levels to those excited directly from the ground state are sensitive to the shape of electron energy distribution function. From these measurements, important information on the spatial variation of plasma parameters can be obtained. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)01629-0].

Structure observed in measured electron energy distribution functions in capacitively coupled radio frequency hydrogen plasmas

Electron energy probability functions measured with a passively compensated Langmuir probe in asymmetric capacitively coupled hydrogen and deuterium plasmas exhibit structure. The otherwise relatively continuous distribution appears to have an abrupt peak in electron density near 5 eV. This structure occurs at a higher energy in deuterium than hydrogen and there is a correlation between floating potential and the voltage at which the structure is observed in the second derivative of the I(V) characteristic. While the cause of the structure has yet to be clarified, spectroscopic observations and computer-based hydrogen models indicate that the high energy tail of the distribution is strongly modulated during the radio frequency cycle. The effect of this modulation on plasma properties and probe measurements has yet to be explored. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)00819-0].