RESUMEN
Thailand's first national steps challenge has been implemented in 2020 with the goal to raise the level of physical activity nationwide by monitoring achievements through a smartphone application. This study examined the daily step counts of participants in the first national steps challenge. Six data points from 186,653 valid participants were retrieved and analyzed in five periods using Poisson regression. The mean daily steps peaked at 3196 in Period 1, and steadily dropped to 1205 in Period 5. The daily steps per period were analyzed using the participants' characteristics, such as the type of participant, sex, age, body mass index, and area of residence. The overall mean daily steps of the participants meant physical activity was far below the recommended level and tended to drop in later periods. The general population achieved significantly higher mean daily steps than public health officers or village health volunteers (24.0% by multivariate analysis). Participants who were female, younger (<45 years), obese (body mass index > 30), and living in rural areas had fewer mean daily steps (13.8%, 44.3%, 12.7%, and 14.7% by multivariate analysis, respectively), with statistical significance. In the future, the national steps challenge should be continuously implemented by counting all steps throughout a day, using more strategies to draw attention and raise motivation, advocating for more participants, as well as reporting the whole day step counts instead of distance.
Asunto(s)
Ejercicio Físico , Caminata , Estudios Transversales , Femenino , Humanos , Motivación , TailandiaRESUMEN
The cadmium (Cd) contaminated rice fields in Mae Sot District, Tak Province, Thailand has been one of the major environmental problems in Thailand for the last 10 years. We used disability adjusted life years (DALYs) to estimate the burden of disease attributable to Cd in terms of additional DALYs of Mae Sot residents. Cd exposure data included Cd and ß2-microglobulin (ß2-MG) in urine (as an internal exposure dose) and estimated cadmium daily intake (as an external exposure dose). Compared to the general Thai population, Mae Sot residents gained 10%-86% DALYs from nephrosis/nephritis, heart diseases, osteoporosis and cancer depending on their Cd exposure type and exposure level. The results for urinary Cd and dietary Cd intake varied according to the studies used for risk estimation. The ceiling effect was observed in results using dietary Cd intake because of the high Cd content in rice grown in the Mae Sot area. The results from ß2-MG were more robust with additional DALYs ranging from 36%-86% for heart failure, cerebral infraction, and nephrosis/nephritis. Additional DALYs is a useful approach for assessing the magnitude of environmental Cd exposure. The Mae Sot population lost more healthy life compared to populations living in a non- or less Cd polluted area. This method should be applicable to various types of environmental contamination problems if exposure assessment information is available.
Asunto(s)
Cadmio/orina , Exposición a Riesgos Ambientales , Contaminantes Ambientales/orina , Años de Vida Ajustados por Calidad de Vida , Adolescente , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Agricultura , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Oryza/crecimiento & desarrollo , Tailandia , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
This article describes the development and characterization of a partially selective preconcentrator/focuser (PCF) module for a field-portable micro-scale gas chromatograph (µGC) designed to rapidly determine trace levels of two vapor-phase markers of the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT): 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane (DMNB) and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT). The PCF module has three primary components. The first is a high-volume sampler, comprising a resistively-heated 6-cm long stainless steel tube packed with tandem beds of the graphitized carbons Carbopack B (C-B, 30 mg) and Carbopack Y (C-Y, 15 mg), which traps the markers but permits more volatile interferences to pass through largely unretained. The second component is a microfocuser (µF), comprising a 4.2×9.8 mm Si chip containing a deep-reactive-ion-etched (DRIE) cavity packed with 2mg of C-B, a Pyrex cap, integrated heaters, and etched fluidic channels. The third component is a commercial polymer-membrane filter used as a pre-trap to remove particles and adsorbed low volatility interferences. Markers captured in the sampler are thermally desorbed and transferred to the µF, and then thermally desorbed/injected from the µF into a downstream separation (micro)column and detected. Scrubbed ambient air is used as carrier gas. The adsorbent capacities, baseline temperatures, sampling and desorption flow rates, and heating profiles were optimized for each PCF module component while minimizing the analysis time. An overall transfer efficiency of 86% was achieved at marker concentrations of ~0.2-2.6 ppb. In the final configuration the PCF module requires just 60s to collect a 1-L sample (3 L/min), focus (40 mL/min), and inject the markers (3 mL/min), producing half-maximum injection peak widths of ~2 and 5 s, and preconcentration factors of 4500 and 1800, for DMNB and 2,4-DNT, respectively.
Asunto(s)
Cromatografía de Gases/métodos , Sustancias Explosivas/análisis , Trinitrotolueno/análisis , Butanos/análisis , Cromatografía de Gases/instrumentación , Dinitrobencenos/análisisRESUMEN
This article describes the development and characterization of a multi-stage preconcentrator/focuser (PCF) module designed to be integrated with a microfabricated gas chromatograph (µGC) for autonomous, in situ determinations of volatile organic compounds. The PCF module has been optimized specifically for the determination of trichloroethylene (TCE) vapors at low- or sub-parts-per-billion concentrations in the presence of common indoor air co-contaminants in residences at risk of vapor intrusion (VI) from surrounding TCE-contaminated soil. It consists of three adsorbent-packed devices arranged in series: a pre-trap of conventional (tubular metal) design for capturing interferences with vapor pressures <3 torr; a high-volume sampler, also of conventional design, for capturing (and transferring) TCE and other compounds with vapor pressures within the range of ~3 to 95 torr; and a microfocuser (µF) consisting of a micromachined Si chamber with an integrated microheater for focusing and injecting samples into the separation module. The adsorbent masses, sampling and desorption flow rates, and heating profiles required for selective, quantitative capture and transfer/injection of TCE are determined for each of the devices, and the assembled PCF module is used to analyze a test atmosphere containing 200 parts-per-trillion of TCE and 27 relevant co-contaminants with a conventional downstream capillary column and electron-capture detector. An average TCE transfer efficiency of 107% is achieved for a 20 L air sample, with a preconcentration factor of ~800,000.