Damp housing, mould growth, and symptomatic health state.

Abstract

Widespread administration of anti-D immunoglobulin antenatally in this regimen would not be possible at present because of limited supply from a decreasing pool of immunised donors. Immunoglobulin produced by genetic engineering, however, may be available soon, and trials are planned to study the effectiveness of even lower doses. When studying a treatment regimen for any side effects it is important to avoid the bias created by considering only untoward consequences. Unexpected benefits are also possible, and we paid particular attention to any effects anti-D immunoglobulin may have had on the incidence of hypertensive disease such as pre-eclampsia. Some evidence suggests that previous blood transfusions may reduce the incidence,5 and possibly some blood products also do so. The data collected, however, though not contradicting this hypothesis, showed no significant difference.

Home is where the hearth is: Grant recipients’ views of England's Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (Warm Front)

“…Householders appeared to have an increased sense of control, self esteem and a more positive sense of their home-effects best explained not simply as a consequence of the removal of negative conditions but rather of the introduction of positive changes at both a material and a psychosocial level. While research has pointed to the link between negative socio-economic conditions, including cold and poor physical health, and others have posited a link between poor living conditions and poor psycho-social outcomes (Hopton & Hunt, 1996;Khanom, 2000;Platt, Martin, Hunt, & Lewis, 1989), our findings suggest that relatively simple improvements to material circumstances have a positive impact not only on physical but also mental well-being. Beneficiaries of home energy improvements felt happier, more comfortable and more in control of their environment.…”

Indoor airborne fungi and wheeze in the first year of life among a cohort of infants at risk for asthma

“…Numerous studies (primarily cross-sectional in design) involving older children and adults have reported at least one positive association between total airborne fungal or bacterial counts, or specific fungal taxa including Penicillium, Cladosporium, Aspergillus or Alternaria species, and respiratory symptoms including cough, wheeze and asthma (Platt et al, 1989;Strachan et al, 1990;Bjornsson et al, 1995;Li and Hsu, 1997;Garrett et al, 1998;Dharmage et al, 2001;Downs et al, 2001). Null findings in all age groups also have been reported for both airborne (Su et al, 2001) and dustborne fungi (Wickman et al, 1992;Verhoeff et al, 1994).…”

Effects of damp and mould in the home on respiratory health: a review of the literature

“…Objective methods such as air sampling, weight gain of wood blocks, or cultivation of spores from dust have been tested (36, 38, 49, 51-.S4), but only a modest agreement between objective sampling methods and questionnaires has been found (39,49,50). Most epidemiologic studies have relied on questionnaires completed by occupants to measure the presence of damp or mould, but evidence from two studies suggests that occupants are more likely to report their homes as having damp or mould than are research investigators, with as much as 30% disagreement (36,41), and a recent study suggests the opposite -that is, that occupants are less likely to report homes as being damp (50).…”

“…Fig. 3 shows the odds ratios for cough and wheeze in adults associated with damp and mould in the home (36,(43)(44)(45), and Fig. 4 shows the odds ratios for asthma in both children and adults (33,(39)(40)(41)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50).…”

“…Fig. 1 shows the odds ratios from the studies which have investigated an association between damp or mould in the home and wheeze in children (32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39), and Fig. 2 shows the odds ratios for cough (32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41).…”