Subject(s)
Focal Infection/complications , Focal Infection/pathology , Giant Cells/chemistry , Psoriasis/etiology , Tonsillitis/complications , Tonsillitis/pathology , Antigens, CD/analysis , Antigens, Differentiation/analysis , Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic/analysis , Biomarkers/analysis , Hyperplasia , Immunohistochemistry , Muramidase/analysis , S100 Proteins/analysisABSTRACT
The Hamilton-Wentworth regional health department was asked by one of its municipalities to determine whether the present water supply and sewage disposal methods used in a community without piped water and regional sewage disposal posed a threat to the health of its residents. Three approaches were used: assessments by public health inspectors of all households; bacteriological and chemical analyses of water samples; and completion of a specially designed questionnaire by residents in the target community and a control community. 89% of the 227 residences in the target community were found to have a drinking water supply that, according to the Ministry of Environment guidelines, was unsafe and/or unsatisfactory. According to on-site inspections, 32% of households had sewage disposal problems. Responses to the questionnaire revealed that the target community residents reported more symptoms associated with enteric infections due to the water supply. Two of these symptoms, diarrhea and stomach cramps, had a relative risk of 2.2 when compared to the control community (p less than 0.05). The study was successfully used by the municipality to argue for provincial funding of piped water.
Subject(s)
Health Status , Health , Sewage , Waste Disposal, Fluid , Water Supply/standards , Diarrhea/epidemiology , Gastrointestinal Diseases/epidemiology , Humans , Ontario , Surveys and Questionnaires , Water Microbiology , Water Supply/analysisABSTRACT
An in vitro phagocytosis assay of adherent cells of 12 palatine tonsils (7 children's and 5 adults' cases with persistent angina) was performed by use of flow cytometry (FCM), using fluorescent latex particles (FLP). The mean value of the percentages of phagocytic cells in the children's group (81.4%) was higher than that in the adults' group (64.0%). In addition, separate immunocytochemical stainings with each antibody--Anti-Leu-M5, OKDR, OKT6, S-100, and lysozyme--were made on smear preparations of a child's and an adult's tonsillar adherent cells after incubation with FLP. By use of the light microscope, the percentages of phagocytic cells in relation to positive cells for each antibody were calculated. The lysozyme positive cell proved to have the highest percentage of phagocytic cells. Then, the average number of phagocytized FLP in one positive cell for each antibody were calculated. With regard to the lysozyme positive cell, this cell proved to have the highest average number of FLP.
