Internal structure and standardized scores of the Spanish adaptation of the EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) for early reading assessment

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Case-Crossover Analysis of Air Pollution Health Effects: A Systematic Review of Methodology and Application

Case-crossover is one of the most used designs for analyzing the health-related effects of air pollution. Nevertheless, no one has reviewed its application and methodology in this context. Objective: We conducted a systematic review of case-crossover (CCO) designs used to study the relationship between air pollution and morbidity and mortality, from the standpoint of methodology and application.Data sources and extraction: A search was made of the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases.Reports were classified as methodologic or applied. From the latter, the following information was extracted: author, study location, year, type of population (general or patients), dependent variable(s), independent variable(s), type of CCO design, and whether effect modification was analyzed for variables at the individual level. Data synthesis: The review covered 105 reports that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these, 24 addressed methodological aspects, and the remainder involved the design’s application. In the methodological reports, the designs that yielded the best results in simulation were symmetric bidirectional CCO and time-stratified CCO. Furthermore, we observed an increase across time in the use of certain CCO designs, mainly symmetric bidirectional and time-stratified CCO. The dependent variables most frequently analyzed were those relating to hospital morbidity; the pollutants most often studied were those linked to particulate matter. Among the CCO-application reports, 13.6% studied effect modification for variables at the individual level.Conclusions: The use of CCO designs has undergone considerable growth; the most widely used designs were those that yielded better results in simulation studies: symmetric bidirectional and time-stratified CCO. However, the advantages of CCO as a method of analysis of variables at the individual level are put to little use

Combined Analysis of the Short-Term Effects of Photochemical Air Pollutants on Mortality within the EMECAM Project

In recent years, some epidemiologic studies have attributed adverse effects of air pollutants on health not only to particles and sulfur dioxide but also to photochemical air pollutants (nitrogen dioxide and ozone). The effects are usually small, leading to some inconsistencies in the results of the studies. Furthermore, the different methodologic approaches of the studies used has made it difficult to derive generic conclusions. We provide here a quantitative summary of the short-term effects of photochemical air pollutants on mortality in seven Spanish cities involved in the EMECAM project, using generalized additive models from analyses of single and multiple pollutants. Nitrogen dioxide and ozone data were provided by seven EMECAM cities (Barcelona, Gijón, Huelva, Madrid, Oviedo, Seville, and Valencia). Mortality indicators included daily total mortality from all causes excluding external causes, daily cardiovascular mortality, and daily respiratory mortality. Individual estimates, obtained from city-specific generalized additive Poisson autoregressive models, were combined by means of fixed effects models and, if significant heterogeneity among local estimates was found, also by random effects models. Significant positive associations were found between daily mortality (all causes and cardiovascular) and NO2, once the rest of air pollutants were taken into account. A 10 μg/m3 increase in the 24-hr average 1-day NO2 level was associated with an increase in the daily number of deaths of 0.43% [95% confidence interval(CI), –0.003–0.86%] for all causes excluding external. In the case of significant relationships, relative risks for cause-specific mortality were nearly twice as much as that for total mortality for all the photochemical pollutants. Ozone was independently related only to cardiovascular daily mortality. No independent statistically significant relationship between photochemical air pollutants and respiratory mortality was found. The results in this study suggest that, given the present levels of photochemical pollutants, people living in Spanish cities are exposed to health risks derived from air pollution

Há uma gota de sangue em cada museu : a ótica museológica de Mário de Andrade

Há uma gota de sangue em cada museu: a ótica museológica de Mário Andrade (M.A.) é uma dissertação de mestrado que aborda o pensamento museológico do autor de Macunaíma através da análise de seus escritos, de sua coleção particular e de suas práticas à frente do Departamento de Cultura da cidade de São Paulo e do Serviço do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional. Três questões orientam a presente dissertação: 1a. Até que ponto as propostas museológicas de M.A. representam consolidação ou rompimento com o pensamento modernista? 2a. Como se colocam na obra de M.A. as questões referentes à identidade nacional e cultura popular? 3a. Sendo o museu um lugar privilegiado de construção de memória, não seria também um baluarte da tradição? Em que sentido um museu pode ser ruptura? Como são tratadas as idéias de coleção e museu pelo poeta modernista? O enfrentamento destas questões, aliado ao entendimento de que a gota de sangue é gota de humanidade e sinal de historicidade presente nos museus, constitui a base desse estudo.

Fatores De Riscos Psicossociais no Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica-INEM: Delegações Centro e Sul

No âmbito do Mestrado em Gestão da Prevenção de Riscos Laborais, procede-se a uma investigação com vista à identificação dos Fatores de Riscos Psicossociais nos trabalhadores dos Serviços Administrativos e de Emergência das Delegações Centro e Sul do Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica - INEM. Pretende-se colmatar essa lacuna visto que o INEM, até então, nunca efetuou nenhuma avaliação dos Fatores de Riscos Psicossociais, sendo que as investigações realizadas no instituto são relativas ao stresse ocupacional. A pesquisa exploratória e descritiva, com enfoque simultaneamente quantitativo e qualitativo, concretiza-se mediante a realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas às chefias de cada delegação e aplicação do questionário F-Psico versão 3.0 (Escala de Valoración de los riesgos psicosociales do Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo – INSHT) aos trabalhadores dos serviços do Centro e do Sul do INEM. Participaram do estudo 185 trabalhadores, sendo 10% pertencentes à Delegação Centro e 14% pertencentes à Delegação Sul. Com os resultados obtidos pretende-se propor medidas preventivas, com vista a contribuir para a eliminação ou redução dos Riscos Psicossociais identificados. / Regarding the Masters Degree in Prevention of Labor Risk Management, an investigation aimed to identify the Psychosocial Risk Factors in the emergency and administrative workers in the Central and Southern Delegations of the National Institute of Medical Emergency. Aimed fill the gap because the National Institute of Medical Emergency, till then, never made any assessment of Psychosocial Risk Factors, and the investigations performed in the institute are related to occupational stress. The research which is simultaneously quantitative and qualitative, descriptive and exploratory will be will held bearing in mind the semi-structured interviews to the employers of each delegation and application of the Psychosocial Risk Factors identification questionnaire F-Psico 3.0 to the services workers of the central and southern delegations of de National Institute of Medical Emergency. The study included 185 workers, with 10% belonging to the Central Delegation and 14% belonging to the Southern Delegation. With the results we will propose preventive or corrective measures to eliminate or reduce the Psychosocial Risks identified.

Hearing hazards to firefighters

This paper examines the risks of occupational noise induced hearing loss in firefighters. OSHA and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) guidelines are described and noise data collected from the Blue Island (Illinois) Fire Department is analyzed.