Impact of health instructions on improving knowledge and practices of haemophilia A adolescents: a single centre experience.

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, health education has been elevated to a higher standing in healthcare systems in managing chronic illness; yet, this approach has not received sufficient support in developing countries as these societies still tend to the traditional stage of 'treatment after disease'. Adolescence is a critical period and voyage into adulthood can be more challenging for haemophilia teens. For teens with haemophilia, learning to care for their own disorder is a giant step forward in asserting their independence and preparation for adult life. AIM: We aimed to determine impact of health instructions on improving knowledge and practices of haemophilia A adolescents. METHODS: An interventional study was conducted on 50 haemophilia A adolescents at outpatient clinic of Pediatric Hematology Unit of Zagazig University Hospitals. Three tools were used. The first was a structured interview sheet to evaluate patients' knowledge. The second was a clinical checklist to evaluate patients' practices. The third was health instructions program. Tools were developed by the researchers based on a thorough review of related literature and a full understanding of the needs of haemophilic adolescents. Evaluation of health instructions success was based on comparing scores of tool I and tool II before health instructions (pretest) and after health instructions immediately (posttest) and after 2 months (follow-up test). RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in knowledge and practices of haemophilia A adolescents in posttest and follow-up test compared to pretest. CONCLUSION: Health instructions have an impact on improving knowledge and practices of haemophilia A adolescents.

A comparative study of some methods for measuring carbon monoxide in air.

The present study aimed at comparing between some physical and chemical methods for measuring carbon monoxide (CO) level in air and selecting the most suitable one concerning simplicity, reproducibility, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. Known concentrations of CO were prepared in cylinders and air samples with unknown concentrations of CO were collected in plastic bags from the street environment. Both known and unknown concentrations of CO were measured by four selected methods. The leucocrystal violet method was found suitable only for levels of CO higher than 40 ppm and not recommended for ambient levels. The iodine pentoxide method was suitable for any level of CO in air but only for grab samples. The combustion method was also suitable for any level of CO above 10 ppm and for grab and continuous samples. MIRAN-IA analyzer is an infrared instrument, is very simple, sensitive and accurate for concentrations of 10 ppm and above. Other types of infrared analyzers may give higher accuracy and sensitivity levels at lower concentrations.

A six-year follow up study for evaluation of the 85 dBA safe criterion for noise exposure.

This study included 114 workers who have been exposed to noise levels of 78 to 91.4 dBA and followed over a six year period. Workers exposed to nose levels up to 85 dBA eight hours daily for six days per week and for twelve years showed a slightly higher (1%) hearing impairment than the corresponding control subjects. Impairment of hearing among workers exposed to higher noise levels was 9.6%.

Dust exposure in manual flax processing in Egypt.

Manual flax processing originated in Egypt in 2 000 BC. In the present study a representative sample of the workers involved in this trade, where flax is processed in small workshops or homes, was examined, and their dust exposure was evaluated. The study showed that workers handling and processing flax are exposed to high concentrations of dust; the levels of dust at hackling and combing are considerably higher than at batting and spinning. Byssinosis prevailed in 22-9% of the examined workers, and 18-4% of them had their forced expiratory volume in one second reduced by more than 10% at the end of the first morning work period (4 hours) of the week. Both the rates and the grades of these syndromes increased with duration of exposure. Smoking appeared to be one of the important contributory factors in the production of byssinosis. The relationship between dust concentration and prevalence of byssinosis seems to be curvilinear.

Study of some parameters affecting noise level in textile spinning and weaving mills.

Noise was evaluated in six spinning and five weaving halls located in three textile mills in Egypt. Spindle speed (rpm) and loom speed (picks per minutes) were found to be important parameters affecting the noise level in these mills. Reduction of the number of spinning machines to five spindles per square meter of floor area will probably bring the noise level below the TLV. In the weaving departments, the decrease in the number of looms will not effectively reduce the noise level.