Latent Trajectories of Haematological, Hepatic, and Renal Profiles after Oil Spill Exposure: A Longitudinal Analysis.

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in crude oil has carcinogenic effects on various organ systems. This longitudinal cohort study examined the effects of oil spill exposure on the haematological, hepatic, and renal profiles of Rayong oil spill clean-up workers. The sample included 869 clean-up workers from the Rayong oil spill. Latent class mixture models were used to investigate and classify the longitudinal trajectories and trends of the haematological, hepatic, and renal indices. Subgroup analysis was used to evaluate the association between the urinary metabolites of PAHs and VOCs and haematological, hepatic, and renal parameters. Most clean-up workers (97.6%) had increasing levels of white blood cells (WBCs) (0.03 × 103 cells/µL), 94.90% of the workers had a significantly increasing trend of blood urea nitrogen (0.31 mg/dL per year), and 87.20% had a significantly increasing trend of serum creatinine (0.01 mg/dL per year). A high-decreasing trend of WBCs was seen in 2.42% (-0.73 × 103 per year). Post-exposure changes in haematological, renal, and hepatic profiles are present in workers exposed to the Rayong oil spill. This indicates possible long-term health complications and worsening renal function after exposure to PAHs and VOCs in crude oil.

Analysis of land surface temperature with land use and land cover and elevation from NASA MODIS satellite data: a case study of Bali, Indonesia.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) offers numerous land products of the Earth's datasets. On the other hand, researchers find it difficult to retrieve this data for specific places. The methods for extracting and analyzing land surface temperature (LST), land use and land cover (LULC), and elevation are presented in this study. The R commands provided make the time-consuming process of extracting data for specific places much more accessible. As a result, a statistical study of LST over Bali is shown as an example. Over the 15 regions of Bali, a quadratic polynomial identified five possible warming patterns, while a logistic regression model assessed the probability of warming. The findings suggest that 25.2% of Bali has warmed during the last two decades, with temperatures being highest in urban and built-up areas and deciduous forests and inversely associated with elevation. Global warming has sparked a lot of academic interest and has become a serious climate problem. The techniques proposed in this work simplify the extraction of LST, LULC, and elevation data from MODIS satellites. These approaches can also be used on other datasets with identical topologies, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), aerosol optical depth (AOD), and night light data.

Haematological, renal, and hepatic function changes among Rayong oil spill clean-up workers: a longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: The Rayong oil spill incident of 2013 leaked over 50,000 barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Thailand. This study assessed trends and changes in the haematological, renal, and hepatic indices among the Rayong oil spill clean-up workers 5 years after the spill. METHODS: Haematological, renal, and hepatic indices measured for 570 oil spill clean-up workers at baseline and annually during 5-year follow-ups were analysed. Haemoglobin (Hb), haematocrit (Hct), white blood cell (WBC) count, red blood cell (RBC) count, and platelet count for haematological function, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) for hepatic function, and creatinine (Cr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) for renal function were assessed. The longitudinal measures of haematological, renal and hepatic indices were analysed using analysis of variance for repeated measures. The generalised estimating equations (GEE) were used to assess trends of these indices and associated factors, including exposure level. RESULTS: Increasing trends were observed per year for WBC (0.52 ± 0.03 × 103 cells/µL), Cr (0.01 ± 0.00 mg/dL), platelet (0.31 × 103 µL per year), and BUN (0.24 ± 0.03 mg/dL). Decreasing trends of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were observed (1.54 ± 0.21 IU/L per year). Clean-up workers with high exposure to the oil spill had a significantly higher average of WBC and lower average of BUN than low-exposure and unknown-exposure workers. Gender and age were significantly associated with creatinine changes. CONCLUSION: Results of this study show the differences between baseline and follow-up haematological, renal, and hepatic indices and trends of these indices. The long-term changes in the indices in this study show worsening renal functions after oil spill and possibility of cardiovascular effects. These findings contribute to expanding knowledge on the long-term health effects of oil spills.

Neonatal mortality at the neonatal unit: the situation at a teaching hospital in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: The first 28 days of life- the neonatal period is the most vulnerable time for a child's survival. Globally, neonatal mortality has seen a downward trend in recent years. The main objective of this study was to determine the percentage of neonatal mortality and to provide information on factors associated with neonatal mortality at the neonatal unit of a tertiary health facility or teaching hospital. METHODS: Data of neonates admitted to the neonatal in-patient unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Ghana from January 2013 to May 2014 were analyzed. Logistic regression model was performed to assess the association between neonatal mortality and predictors. RESULTS: A total of 5,195 neonatal admissions were recorded. The overall percentage of neonatal mortality was 20.2%. Infants with very low birth weight, having 5-minute Apgar score lower than 4, newborns with pre-term delivery, being referred from other health facilities, and being diagnosed with respiratory distress and birth asphyxia had a higher percentage of neonatal mortality. CONCLUSION: The mortality at the neonatal in-patient unit at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana is very high. There is the need for continuous attention and interventions to help reduce the risk of mortality among neonates admitted to the facility.