Possible connections between carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and exposure to vibrating handheld tools, repetitive wrist movements, and heavy manual work were examined in a case-referent study. 43 ment of the conduction velocities in the median nerve at the wrist level. Patients on whom the transverse carpal ligament was divided because ofpost-traumatic nerve compression were excluded from the study. The remaining 38 patients constituted the cases in this study.For each case, two referents were drawn from among other surgical cases (hospital referents) and two further referents from the general population register and the telephone directory, respectively (population referents). All referents were matched for sex (only men were included), age (± 3 years), and the hospital referents also for year of operation (±3 years).The hospital referents were collected from the medical register at the Southern Hospital. During 1975-80, the catchment areas for the surgical department of this hospital and the clinic of hand surgery of Sabbatsberg Hospital were similar. For each case, one referent had been operated on for gall bladder disease and the other for varicous veins in the legs.The population referents were living in the catchment area of the clinic of hand surgery of the Sabbatsberg Hospital. A new population referent was drawn if the first could not be interviewed because of death, severe mental retardation, or admission to a

Threats from chemical warfare agents, commonly known as nerve gases, constitute a serious security issue of increasing global concern because of surging terrorist activity worldwide. However, nerve gases are difficult to detect using current analytical tools and outside dedicated laboratories. Here we demonstrate that surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) can be used for sensitive detection of femtomol quantities of two nerve gases, VX and Tabun, using a handheld Raman device and SERS substrates consisting of flexible gold-covered Si nanopillars. The substrate surface exhibits high droplet adhesion and nanopillar clustering due to elasto-capillary forces, resulting in enrichment of target molecules in plasmonic hot-spots with high Raman enhancement. The results may pave the way for strategic life-saving SERS detection of chemical warfare agents in the field.

A rapid screening and identification method based on derivatization and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been developed for the detection of alkylphosphonic acids (APAs), the degradation products of organophosphorus nerve agents. The novel method described involves rapid (5 min) and direct derivatization of 25 microL aqueous sample using highly fluorinated phenyldiazomethane reagents (e.g., 1-(diazomethyl)-3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzene). The APA derivatives are then screened by GC-MS negative ion chemical ionization (NICI) and identified by electron ionization (EI) mode. The conditions for the derivatization were optimized using statistical experimental design and multivariate data analysis. Method robustness was evaluated using aqueous samples from an official OPCW Proficiency Test and all APAs present in the sample were conclusively identified. Limits of detection for rapid screening using SIM NICI were between 5 and 10 ng/mL APA in aqueous sample, and for identification using full scan EI 100 ng/mL.