Patoturvallisuusopas

Uusi patoturvallisuuslaki (494/2009) tuli voimaan 1.10.2009 ja valtioneuvoston asetus patoturvallisuudesta (319/2010) 5.5.2010. Tämä patoturvallisuusopas korvaa patoturvallisuusohjeet (MMM:n julkaisuja 7/1997), jotka poistuivat käytöstä 1.10.2009. Patoturvallisuusoppaassa esitetty ei ole padon omistajaa sitovaa, vaan oppaan tarkoitus on täydentää ja selventää esimerkein ja selostuksin laissa ja asetuksessa esitettyä. Oppaassa käsitellään padon suunnittelua kuten hydrologista mitoitusta ja padon teknisiä turvallisuusvaatimuksia, padon rakentamista ja käyttöönottoa sekä vahingonvaaraselvitystä, padon omistajan turvallisuussuunnitelmaa sekä padon kunnossapitoa, käyttöä, tarkkailua, vuosi- ja määräaikaistarkastuksia. Padot luokitellaan vahingonvaaran perusteella luokkiin 1, 2 ja 3. Luokittelua ei tarvitse kuitenkaan tehdä, jos patoturvallisuusviranomainen katsoo, että padosta ei aiheudu vaaraa. Jokaiselle luokitellulle padolle on padon omistajan laadittava tarkkailuohjelma, jonka patoturvallisuusviranomainen hyväksyy päätöksellään. Padosta aiheutuvan vahingonvaaran selvittämiseksi 1-luokan padon omistajan on laadittava vahingonvaaraselvitys padosta ihmisille, omaisuudelle ja ympäristölle aihetuvasta vahingonvaarasta. Myös muusta kuin 1-luokan padosta voi patoturvallisuusviranomainen määrätä tehtäväksi vahingonvaaraselvityksen luokittelua varten. Padon omistajan on laadittava 1-luokan padolle turvallisuussuunnitelma onnettomuus- ja häiriötilanteiden varalle. Suunnitelmassa esitetään padon omistajan omatoiminen varautuminen em. tilanteiden varalle. Pelastusviranomainen arvioi tapauskohtaisesti pelastuslain mukaisen suunnitelman laatimistarpeen. Padon omistajan on toimitettava patoturvallisuusviranomaiselle tietojärjestelmään vietäväksi patoturvallisuusasetuksessa mainitut tiedot. Patoturvallisuusviranomaisen ja padon omistajan on säilytettävä kustakin luokitellusta padosta ajantasaiset tulosteet tietojärjestelmästä sekä muut padon turvallisuuden kannalta tärkeät asiakirjat patoturvallisuuskansiossa siten, että ne ovat mahdollisissa häiriötilanteissa nopeasti saatavilla.

The use of dietary supplements and medication among Finnish elite athletes

Background: Dietary supplements are widely used among elite athletes but the prevalence of dietary supplement use among Finnish elite athletes is largely not known. The use of asthma medication is common among athletes. In 2009, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) removed the need to document asthma by lung function tests before the use of inhaled β2-agonists. Data about medication use by Paralympic athletes (PA) is limited to a study conducted at the Athens Paralympics. Aims: To investigate the prevalence of the use of self-reported dietary supplements, the use of physician-prescribed medication and the prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma and allergies among Finnish Olympic athletes (OA). In addition, the differences in the selfreported physician-prescribed medication use were compared between the Finnish Olympic and the Paralympic athletes. Subjects and methods: Two cross-sectional studies were conducted in Finnish Olympic athletes receiving financial support from the Finnish Olympic Committee in 2002 (n=446) and in 2009 (n=372) and in Finnish top-level Paralympic athletes (n= 92) receiving financial support from Finnish Paralympic committee in 2006. The results of the Paralympic study were compared with the results of the Olympic study conducted in 2009. Both Olympic and Paralympic athletes filled in a similar semi-structured questionnaires. Results: Dietary supplements were used by 81% of the athletes in 2002 and by 73% of the athletes in 2009. After adjusting for age-, sex- and type of sport, the odds ratio OR (95% confidence interval, CI) for use of any dietary supplement was significantly less in 2009 as compared with the 2002 situation (OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.43-0.90). Vitamin D was used by 0.7% of the athletes in year 2002 but by 2% in 2009 (ns, p = 0.07). The use of asthma medication increased from 10.4 % in 2002 to 13.7% in 2009 (adjusted OR 1.71; 95% CI 1.08-2.69). For example, fixed combinations of inhaled long-acting β2-agonists (LABA) and inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) were used three times more commonly in 2009 than in 2002 (OR 3.38; 95% CI 1.26-9.12). The use of any physician-prescribed medicines (48.9% vs. 33.3%, adjusted OR 1.99; 95% CI 1.13-3.51), painkilling medicines (adjusted OR 2.61; 95% CI 1.18-5.78), oral antibiotics (adjusted OR 4.10; 95% CI 1.30-12.87) and anti-epileptic medicines (adjusted OR 37.09; 95% CI 5.92-232.31) was more common among the PA than in the OA during the previous seven days. Conclusions: The use of dietary supplements is on the decline among Finnish Olympic athletes. The intake of some essential micronutrients, such as vitamin D, is suprisingly low and this may even cause harm in those well-trained athletes. The use of asthma medication, especially fixed combinations of LABAs and ICS, is clearly increasing among Finnish Olympic athletes. The use of any physician-prescribed medicine, especially those to treat chronic diseases, seems to be more common among the Paralympians than in the Olympic athletes.

Dam safety guide

A new Dam Safety Act (494/2009) came into force on 1st October 2009 and a Government Decree on Dam Safety (319/2010) on 5th May 2010. This Dam Safety Guide replaces the Dam Safety Code of Practice (Publication of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 7/1997), removed from circulation on 1st October 2009. The Dam Safety Guide is not binding on the dam owner; the purpose is to complement and elucidate the relevant law and and decree through examples and descriptions. The Guide takes up questions concerning dam design, for instance hydrological dimensioning and technical safety requirements, dam construction and use, the dam break hazard analysis and the dam owner’s emergency action plan, maintenance, use, monitoring as well as the annual and periodic inspections. Dams are classified according to the hazard they pose into class 1, 2 or 3 dams. The classification is not needed, if, according to the dam safety authority, the dam poses no danger. The owner of a classified dam must prepare a monitoring programme, to be approved by decision of the dam safety authority. To establish the hazard caused by a dam, the owner of a class 1 dam must prepare an analysis of the dam hazard to humans and property as well as to the environment. The dam safety authority may also require a dam break hazard analysis for a dam other than class 1 dam if deemed necessary for classification. The owner of a class 1 dam must prepare a plan of measures in case of emergency or operational failure. The plan shall present the dam owner’s state of preparedness to act on their own initiative in the situations described above. In each case, the rescue authorities make a separate assessment for the need to prepare a plan as set out in the Rescue Act. The dam owner must provide the information specified in the Dam Safety Decree to be entered into the dam safety information system. The dam safety authority and the owner of the dam must keep up-to-date printouts in their own dam safety files from the information system for each dam as well as other important documents connected with dam safety to ensure that these are readily available in case of disturbance.

Accelerating food safety and quality control: The use of antibody engineering techniques in the detec-tion of low-molecular weight food contaminants

The increased awareness and evolved consumer habits have set more demanding standards for the quality and safety control of food products. The production of foodstuffs which fulfill these standards can be hampered by different low-molecular weight contaminants. Such compounds can consist of, for example residues of antibiotics in animal use or mycotoxins. The extremely small size of the compounds has hindered the development of analytical methods suitable for routine use, and the methods currently in use require expensive instrumentation and qualified personnel to operate them. There is a need for new, cost-efficient and simple assay concepts which can be used for field testing and are capable of processing large sample quantities rapidly. Immunoassays have been considered as the golden standard for such rapid on-site screening methods. The introduction of directed antibody engineering and in vitro display technologies has facilitated the development of novel antibody based methods for the detection of low-molecular weight food contaminants. The primary aim of this study was to generate and engineer antibodies against low-molecular weight compounds found in various foodstuffs. The three antigen groups selected as targets of antibody development cause food safety and quality defects in wide range of products: 1) fluoroquinolones: a family of synthetic broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs used to treat wide range of human and animal infections, 2) deoxynivalenol: type B trichothecene mycotoxin, a widely recognized problem for crops and animal feeds globally, and 3) skatole, or 3-methyindole is one of the two compounds responsible for boar taint, found in the meat of monogastric animals. This study describes the generation and engineering of antibodies with versatile binding properties against low-molecular weight food contaminants, and the consecutive development of immunoassays for the detection of the respective compounds.