Pesticide poisoning in pediatric patients is still an important reason for presenting to the emergency department in Romania. In this context, the present study aims to raise awareness of the toxicological impact of pesticides on human health in pediatrics. For this purpose, the demographic characteristics, clinical assessment, and outcome of pediatric patients with acute pesticide poisoning admitted to the toxicology department of “Saint Mary” Emergency Children’s Hospital from Iasi, were analyzed. This retrospective study focused on the clinical and laboratory data of patients aged under 18 years diagnosed with acute pesticide poisoning between 2010–2020. The statistical analysis was performed using the Statistica 10 package. A total of 49 patients presented with manifestations of acute pesticide poisoning, and the most common pesticide involved was diazinon. The most frequent exposure route was accidentally ingesting pesticide products (95%). The primary clinical manifestations were toxic encephalopathy, coma, depressive disorder, gastric disorders, and respiratory failure. Changes in the glycemic status, liver, and kidney damage were also present. Treatment included decontamination, administration of antidote, supportive care, and recommendations to be closely monitored to avoid a new incident. These results highlight the toxic potential of pesticides on human health and their biological consequences, which require an increase in consciousness of the precautions imposed on their use, especially when children are nearby.
Air pollution is a major threat to public health, and the effects of pollution are perceived in all countries of the world, by all social categories, regardless of age. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a growing prevalence worldwide and an increasing number of risk factors that exacerbate symptoms and accelerate disease progression. Exposure to air pollution is one of the less studied and less investigated risk factors for COPD. Depending on the size and chemical nature of the pollutant, it can overcome the defence mechanism of the respiratory system and enter the lung tissues, thus causing some respiratory diseases. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that six major air pollutants have been identified, namely particulate matter (PM), ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and lead. The severe impact of PM exposure is demonstrated by the link between exposure to high concentrations of PM and certain severe diseases such as silicosis, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and COPD. In Iași County, Romania, air quality measurements are performed by six automatic air quality monitoring stations, and the data obtained are used to create annual reports and these are also available online. Due to the high concentrations of air pollutants, the city of Iași is one of the three topmost polluted cities in Romania. A future assessment on the impact of air pollution on the health of the inhabitants of these cities and the implementation of new methods to improve air quality is needed.
Introduction: COVID-19 was the turning point of 2020, endangering the health of the entire population around the world. Among other therapeutic methods and supportive measures, physiotherapy represents a useful intervention applied on COVID-19 patients suffering from respiratory symptoms, this being supported by recent literature data. Materials and Methods: The study was performed on 45 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 (28 men, 17 women, mean age = 65.03, standard deviation = 14.83). They participated for 2 weeks (the required period of hospitalization) to a series of 14 physiotherapy sessions, which included: position changing, respiratory control, passive joint movements, bed workout, and walking exercises. Depending on the status of the patient, two distinct types of physiotherapy were performed (mild and active). The status of the patients was assessed through a basic assessment of the vital signs, range of motion, degree of dyspnea, and also through the UZ Leuven Start To Move protocol (STMP). The statistical analysis of the data was performed using the Statistica 10 program and included the Spearman correlations (for measuring the strength and direction of association between the ranked variables), the Mann-Whitney test (for measuring the significance of the differences between the groups of patients who undergone light vs. active physiotherapy) and factor analysis (for assessing the changes of the clinical parameters investigated in the study, depending on the type of applied therapy). All differences were considered significant at p < 0.05. Results: The majority of patients (n = 38) benefited from physiotherapy, with the complete disappearance of symptoms met only in the group of patients who followed active physiotherapy. These effects depended on the applied type of physiotherapy (mild vs. active, p = 0.47). In contrast, all patients who were unable to perform physiotherapy (n = 7) remained symptomatic at discharge. Conclusion: The results of this study point out the significant additional role of physiotherapy for a better management of COVID-19 patients. More studies are needed to investigate not only the impact that physiotherapy has on the symptoms of this disease, but also its effects on effort capacity, muscle strength and lung capacity.
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