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Artykuł podejmuje problem niewerbalnych form komunikowania tożsamości płciowej przez bohaterów transseksualnych. Takie aspekty pretranzycji i tranzycji, jak zachowania gestyczne i uzewnętrznienie swojej płci psychicznej przez dobór odpowiedniego zapachu, były zwykle lokowane na marginesie naukowych dociekań. Jednak adekwatnie wyselekcjonowane fragmenty literackie i filmowe stanowią odpowiedni materiał badawczy do przybliżenia takich kwestii, jak rola gestów, mimiki, sposobów chodzenia, znaczenia mikro-ruchów twarzy, wybór perfum. W artykule podjęto próbę odpowiedzi na następujące pytania badawcze: w jaki sposób gesty, mimika, sposoby chodzenia, a nawet dobór perfum bohaterów transseksualnych kształtują płciową (re)prezentację w przestrzeni publicznej? Jakie funkcje pełnią zachowania gestyczne, mikro-ruchy twarzy, perfumy w niewerbalnym komunikowaniu tożsamości płciowej przez transkobiety, jak również transmężczyzn? W badaniu tekstów kultury zastosowano technikę montażu. Okazuje się, że bohaterowie różnym drobiazgom – w procesie autokreacji i w reprezentowaniu swojej tożsamości płciowej – nadają istotne znaczenia. Transkobiety i transmężczyźni tekstualizując siebie, z jednej strony często fetyszyzują własną twarz, z drugiej zaś doświadczanie własnego oblicza może zdumiewać subtelnością i synestezyjnym charakterem. W ich ciałoteksty - ukierunkowane na zaznaczenie przynależności płciowej – wpisane są celowo dobrane zachowania gestyczne, perfumy. Wybory te, choć odwołują się do stereotypowej mowy ciała kobiety lub mężczyzny oraz ich zapachu, nie mają wydźwięku pejoratywnego. Zmienia się status ontyczny stereotypu. Staje się on inspiracją, drogowskazem i nośnikiem komunikacji.

Introduction: Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and bacterial antimicrobial resistance posed a therapeutic risk during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The aim of this study was to analyze the HAIs in COVID-19 patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and non-ICU at the University Hospital in Krakow (UHK) with an emphasis on the susceptibility of the most frequently isolated pathogens and the prevalence of extensively drug resistant (XDR) microorganisms. Methods: This laboratory-based study was carried out at the University Hospital in Krakow in the ICU and non-ICUs dedicated to COVID-19 patients between May 2021 and January 2022. All isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae were analyzed using PFGE protocol. Results: 288 independent HAI cases were identified, with the predominance of urinary tract infections (UTI), especially in the non-ICU setting. The most common ICU syndrome was pneumonia (PNA). The prevalence of XDR organisms was 29.1% in the ICU and 26.4% in non-ICUs among all isolates. The incidence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae infection was 24.8 cases per 10,000 hospitalizations and the carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii infection incidence was 208.8 cases per 10,000 hospitalizations. The prevalence of XDR strains was highest in Acinetobacter spp, in PNA cases. The PFGE typing demonstrated that almost all XDR strains varied widely from each other. Conclusions: In this study, there was a high incidence of HAI in COVID-19 patients. Similarly, the prevalence of XDR microorganisms, especially XDR-A.baumannii, was also high. PFGE did not confirm the horizontal spread of any organism strains.

Wstęp Bakterie Gram-ujemne są istotnym czynnikiem etiologicznym szerokiego zakresu zakażeń szpitalnych. Rozpowszechnienie szczepów bakterii wielolekoopornych, zarówno należących do rzędu Enterobacterales, jak i niefermentujących pałeczek z gatunku Pseudomonas aeruginosa, stanowi poważne wyzwanie dla współczesnej medycyny. Badanie nowych opcji terapeutycznych oraz monitorowanie antybiotykowrażliwości drobnoustrojów jest ważnym elementem działań zapobiegających rozwojowi i utrzymywaniu się zakażeń z udziałem szczepów wielolekoopornych. Celem pracy było porównanie aktywności in vitro połączenia ceftazydymu z awibaktamem z najczęściej stosowanymi w Polsce antybiotykami, mającymi zastosowanie w leczeniu zakażeń bakteriami Gram-ujemnymi z rzędu Enterobacterales oraz P. aeruginosa, w ramach programu badawczego ATLAS. Materiał i metody W pracy analizowano wrażliwość 1677 szczepów rzędu Enterobacterales oraz 500 niefermentujących pałeczek P. aeruginosa, izolowanych w latach 2014–2018 w ośrodkach biorących udział w programie, na ceftazydym z awibaktamem oraz inne antybiotyki stosowane w leczeniu zakażeń pałeczkami Gram-ujemnymi. Wyniki Niemal 99% (98,9%) szczepów rzędu Enterobacterales, w tym 96,9% szczepów wytwarzających beta-laktamazy typu ESBL, było wrażliwych na ceftazydym z awibaktamem. Notowano wysoki odsetek szczepów Escherichia coli oraz Klebsiella pneumoniae wrażliwych na ceftazydym z awibaktamem, odpowiednio: 99,8% i 98,9%, w tym także szczepów ESBL-dodatnich tych samych gatunków, odpowiednio: 98,5% i 98,7%. Wrażliwość szczepów P. aeruginosa na ceftazydym z awibaktamem była niższa niż badanych szczepów Enterobacterales, niemniej jednak kształtowała się na poziomie 91,7%, co czyniło ceftazydym z awibaktamem drugim, po kolistynie, najlepiej działającym antybiotykiem wobec tych bakterii. Wnioski Przedstawione dane w połączeniu z dotychczas opublikowanymi wynikami farmakokinetycznymi, farmakodynamicznymi, klinicznymi i bezpieczeństwa wskazują, że połączenie ceftazydymu z awibaktamem może stanowić cenną opcję leczenia zakażeń wywoływanych przez Enterobacterales oraz P. aeruginosa, w tym zakażeń szczepami wielolekoopornymi.

The article presents the issue of the representation of a transsexual subject’s experience in various discourses. Pointing to the need for dialogical openness, the author proposes a transdiscursive perspective on transsexuality. By referring to the literary and historical discourses, the author proves that transsexual characters are constantly present in culture, but there is lack of textological reflection on this issue in studies on transsexual individuals. The author puts forward the thesis that these transsexual characters are searching for hypotexts in which they can find confirmation of their internal gender identity. As a result, during the process of transistion, they externalize themselves through intertextual bodywriting. On the one hand, they textualize themselves, but on the other hand, they create textual narrations about themselves. They want to exist socially throughout the text. The article is an attempt to open up theoretical reflections on transsexuality.

Downstream processing of ABE fermentation broth is challenging issue. In this work, results of the application of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic commercial membranes during the pervaporation of ABE aqueous mixtures were investigated and presented. Hydrophobic pervaporation experiments were performed using ABE-water mixtures containing 0-5 wt% of organics in feed, using commercial membranes: POMS, PEBAX, and PervapTM4060. Separation factor and Pervaporation Separation Index were employed to discuss hydrophobic pervaporation results. PervapTM4060 membrane revealed the best separation performance in the removal of ABE components from diluted aqueous mixtures mimicking the fermentation broth, resulting in two-phase permeate containing ca. 34 wt% of organics. The subsequent liquid-liquid phase separation resulted in the organic phase containing 62 wt% of ABE. Hydrophilic pervaporation experiments were performed in contact with ABE-water system initially comprising 38 wt% of water applying both the PervapTM4100 PVA based polymeric membrane and modified silica ceramic one. Application of hydrophilic membranes allowed for the complete dewatering of ABE-water mixtures. Eventually, the combination of membrane separation processes (microfiltration, hydrophobic pervaporation, hydrophobic thermopervaporation, membrane distillation, and hydrophilic pervaporation) enhanced by the liquid-liquid phase separation was suggested for the recovery and dehydration of ABE aqueous mixture.

The article raises the thesis about transsexual heroes’ increased desire to possess a well-sexed voice that in combination with the verbal world becomes gender identity expression. While examining various cultural texts the author considers the gender vocal metamorphosis during the transition process paying attention to the role of hypotexts. The author addresses the questions regarding the motivation of transsexual women and men when choosing a name. The author also deals with the language used in creating the images of trans-heroes compatible with the psychological issues in gender and communication.

A novel and efficient method is proposed to evaluate the concentration polarization (CP) effect in pervaporation process. The novelty of the method results from the approach towards the CP phenomenon, that proposes the calculation algorithm on the basis of permeate fluxes and feed/permeate compositions as a function of the feed flow velocity only. The main advantage of the method over the approaches available in the literature is that the intrinsic enrichment factor is calculated directly from the experimental data instead of being found as one of the regression parameters. To prove this approach, pervaporation experiments were carried out using commercial hydrophobic composite PDMS based membrane Pervatech for the recovery of methyl acetate (MeAc) from diluted aqueous solutions (0–1.5 wt% MeAc in feed mixture). Pervaporation performance of PDMS membrane was investigated at various feed flow rates in the range 4.8–70 dm3 h−1 and at three different temperatures of feed mixture (i.e. 30 °C, 40 °C, and 50 °C). It was shown that the intrinsic enrichment factor changes noticeably when the process parameters are altered and this change is one of the key factors affecting the concentration polarization modulus value during pervaporative removal of organic compounds from diluted aqueous solutions. With increasing temperature and feed flow rate, the concentration polarization modulus increases, reaching the value close to 1 at temperature of 50 °C and at the average feed flow rate equal to 1.34 cm s−1. Moreover, under these conditions, the thickness of the boundary layer tends to zero.

Patients over 75 years of age, who, in addition, often have already exceeded the average life expectancy, in the Polish population on average 77.4 years, are the subject of discussion concerning the most appropriate choice of treatment.To analyse the long-term results in elderly patients over 75 years of age with lung cancer who underwent curative pulmonary resection.166 patients aged from 75 to 85 (mean: 77.4 ±2.3) operated on for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were included in this study. There were 128 (77%) men and 38 (23%) women.Lobectomy, including bilobectomy, was performed in 122 (74%) patients, pneumonectomy in 8 (5%) patients, and wedge resections or segmentectomy in the remaining 36 patients. Squamous or adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in 46% and 42% of cases respectively. Clinical stage I A was diagnosed in 36 (22%) patients, I B in 51 (31%), IIA in 30 (18%), IIB in 19 (11%) and IIIA in 30 (18%) of our cases. The early 30-day postoperative mortality was 5% whilst postoperative morbidity occurred in 47% of cases. The five-year survival rate was 30%. In statistical analysis, the TNM classification (Surgical resections for lung cancer in patients over 75 years of age are characterised by a relatively good long-term prognosis. Careful and strictly detailed preoperative selection, particularly of patients with pulmonary comorbidities and the earliest possible diagnosis of a lung tumour, can reduce the occurrence of these postoperative complications in elderly patients, which negatively influence long-term results.Najwłaściwszy sposób leczenia raka płuca i możliwości radykalnego leczenia operacyjnego u najstarszych pacjentów, powyżej 75. roku życia, często w wieku przekraczającym średni czas przeżycia w populacji Polski (77,4 roku), stanowią podmiot dyskusji.Ocena odległych wyników radykalnego leczenia operacyjnego u chorych powyżej 75. roku życia z niedrobnokomórkowym rakiem płuca (NDRP).Do badania włączono 166 chorych w wieku od 75 do 85 lat (średnia 77,4 ±2,3 roku), operowanych z powodu NDRP. Wśród nich było 128 (77%) mężczyzn i 38 (23%) kobiet.U 122 (74%) chorych wykonano lobektomię lub bilobektomię, u 8 (5%) pneumonektomię, natomiast u pozostałych 36 (21%) chorych – resekcję klinową lub segmentektomię. Najczęściej u badanych rozpoznawano raka płaskonabłonkowego (47%) oraz gruczolakoraka (42%). Stopień kliniczny I A stwierdzono u 36 (22%) chorych, I B u 51 (31%), II A u 30 (18%), II B u 19 (11%), a III A u pozostałych 30 (18%) chorych. Wczesna, 30-dniowa śmiertelność pooperacyjna wyniosła 5%. Powikłania we wczesnym okresie pooperacyjnym wystąpiły u 47% badanych. Pięcioletnie przeżycie po operacji uzyskano u 30% badanych. W analizie statystycznej wykazano, że stopień zaawansowania nowotworu (Resekcje płucne u chorych powyżej 75. roku życia pozwalają uzyskać satysfakcjonujące wyniki pod względem odległego przeżycia pod warunkiem ostrożnej i wnikliwej przedoperacyjnej selekcji pacjentów, zwłaszcza tych, którzy są obciążeni chorobami współistniejącymi, oraz wczesnego rozpoznania choroby. Może to zmniejszyć częstość występowania tych powikłań pooperacyjnych, które negatywnie wpływają na przeżycia odległe.

1. Katelyn N. Purvis* 2. Anna Kujawska George, MD† 3. Ana C. Xavier, MD, PhD‡ 1. *University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL 2. †Sneeze Allergy of Texas, The Woodlands, TX 3. ‡Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL A previously healthy 2-year-old girl presented to the hospital with 2 weeks of decreased appetite and hoarseness, quickly followed by a refusal to speak or eat. On physical examination at the time of admission the patient was well-appearing and well-nourished. Eye examination revealed mild bilateral conjunctival injection with minimal eye drainage. On inspection of the oropharynx, her uvula was noted to be erythematous and uniformly enlarged. White patches were present on the surface of the uvula, which was lobular in appearance. No lymphadenopathy was appreciated, and the remainder of her physical examination findings were within normal limits. Laboratory analysis disclosed normal initial evaluation findings, including a complete blood cell count, throat culture, and C2, C4, and C1 esterase inhibitor levels. Her medical history was notable only for mild atopic dermatitis and surgery for left lacrimal duct stenosis at 1 year of age. Her family history was noncontributory to her present state of illness. Two weeks earlier, on the second day of her illness, the patient was taken to her primary care physician. At that time, a throat culture was obtained, and the patient was empirically treated with amoxicillin, cetirizine, and a single dose of subcutaneous epinephrine. The throat culture was negative for group A streptococcus, and amoxicillin therapy was discontinued. The patient was subsequently started on prednisolone. …

In this study the efficiency of three various commercial membranes based on poly(octylmethyl siloxane), poly(ether-block-amide), and poly(dimethylsiloxane) polymers were investigated in pervaporative separation of acetone, butanol, and ethanol from aqueous binary solutions (0–5 wt% of organics) at 60 °C. The influence of fermentation broth microfiltration on membrane performances in pervaporative removal of ethanol was also investigated. The use of microfiltration improved the effectiveness of the removal of ethanol from the broth comparing with the unfiltered one. Molar ratios of organics to water fluxes and Pervaporative Separation Index (PSI) values were employed to discuss membranes' performance in removal of organic solvents from binary aqueous mixture. It was found that PDMS based (Pervap4060) membrane shows the best separation efficiency in all tested binary aqueous mixtures. Modelling of the process proved the feasibility of pervaporation process for the removal of acetone, butanol and ethanol from binary and quaternary aqueous mixtures.

Pervap™ 2200, 2201, 2216, 2255, and 2510 hydrophilic, PVA membranes were investigated in pervaporation of water-tetrafluoropropanol mixtures. Physicochemical properties of membranes were characterized by determining the contact angle (CA) of water and glycerol and the surface free energy (SFE). The separation and transport properties of membranes were determined during vacuum pervaporation in contact with water-TFP mixtures containing up to 22 wt.% water. It was found that all membranes were hydrophilic (CA < 90°) and the polar component of SFE was much higher than the dispersive one. The apparent activation energy for water transport was very high (Eapp = 81.3 kJ/mol), indicated that water transport is activated thermally. Pervap™ membranes were very selective during the dehydration process of TFP. In contact with the Pervap™ 2200, 2201, and 2216 permeate contained practically pure water, regardless the feed composition. The process separation index (PSI) for Pervap™ 2200 and 2216 was close to 5000 kg m−2 h−1, suggesting that both membranes can be efficiently applied in the batch pervaporation process for TFP dehydration.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes were synthesised by varying the degree of crosslinking and were characterised in a pervaporation system coupled to a mass spectrometry (MS) for on-line monitoring and collecting data points with an interval of 2 s. This monitoring approach allows obtaining very precise information about the impact of solutes’ solubilisation within the membrane and their influence on solvent permeation. Using dilute aqueous solutions of ethyl acetate and hexyl acetate, it is shown how solutes with diverse nature and diverse partitioning into the membrane, determine the transport of solvent and solute by progressively modifying the membrane transport properties. From the evolvement of the time-dependent diffusion coefficients of the selected solutes during transient transport, it is possible to infer about solute-membrane molecular interactions and their impact in terms of membrane rearrangement and fluidification.

Air gap membrane distillation technique (AGMD) was applied for removal of ethanol, butanol and acetone–butanol–ethanol mixture from water. The influence of various parameters (feed temperature, cooling wall temperature) on pure water transport in AGMD was determined and the efficiency of organic solvents removal from water through two porous membranes (PTFE and PP) was investigated in the detail. Selectivity of organic components recovery did not change significantly with an increase of feed temperature from 41 °C to 63 °C in case of AGMD applied for ethanol and butanol recovery, however significantly higher fluxes were obtained at higher feed temperature. Slightly higher fluxes were obtained during experiments performed with PTFE membrane comparing with PP one. It was found that both PTFE and PP membranes are wetted during AGMD process of water–butanol feed mixture if organic concentration exceeds 2.5 wt% (PTFE) and 1 wt% (PP) at 63 °C feed temperature. This fact limits the possibility of wider AGMD application in organic solvent recovery. The comparison of the efficiency of AGMD with the efficiency of thermopervaporation (TPV) was also performed. In case of 1 wt% ethanol feed mixture it was found that AGMD seems to be more suitable due to higher process separation index value (PSI in the range of 6 kg m −2 h −1 ) than in the case of TPV (PSI in the range of 3 kg m −2 h −1 ). On the contrary, in the case of water–butanol or water–ABE systems TPV is much more efficient method for organics recovery from aqueous mixtures than AGMD. In contact with 3 wt% ABE mixture PSI is equal to 28 and 9 kg m −2 h −1 for TPV and AGMD processes, respectively.

Properties of one POMS and two PDMS based (Pervatech, Pervap 4060) membranes in recovery of various organic components (acetone, butanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate) from aqueous binary mixtures (4 wt.% of organics) were determined during pervaporation at various permeate pressures (1–25 mbar). Performances of membranes were compared, finding that Pervap 4060 is the most effective membrane in all systems tested, whereas Pervatech is the least effective. Permeances of organics and water increased with an increase of pressure on the permeate side in the most of the tested binary aqueous mixtures. Selectivity of the tested membranes towards organics was improved by increase of permeate pressure. Comparing the effectiveness of membranes, it was found that it is related to the hydrophobicity of membranes expressed by surface free energy (SFE) parameter. SFE changes in the following order: Pervap 4060 > POMS > Pervatech. Membrane performances also follow this order during pervaporation.

PDMS based membranes were prepared using various modification approaches. Structural and surface properties of prepared membranes were investigated applying a number of instrumental techniques (AFM, FT-IR, DSC, SEM, CA). Finally, transport and separation properties of the developed membranes were determined during pervaporation (PV) experiments in contact with water and water-ethanol mixture. The results were compared with efficiency of the native and commercial PDMS based membrane. Applied preparation procedures resulted in creation of membranes possessing different morphology and pervaporative performance, e.g. modification of membrane matrix with salt method resulted in smaller crosslinking ratio of poly(dimethyl siloxane) sample comparing with pristine PDMS membrane. Whereas, plasma treatment of PDMS sample caused reduction of hydrophobic properties of PDMS membrane resulting in much lower separation factor (β = 6.0). PV results showed that PDMS_NaCl (β = 10.5) and PDMS_Al2O3_mod._C8 (β = 10.8) possessed the most selective properties towards organics among all PDMS based membranes tested in this study, showing that salt method and filling of poly(dimethylsiloxane) matrix with triethoxy(octyl)silane (C8) modified Al2O3 allowed to obtain improved membranes performance in hydrophobic pervaporation.

Temperature driven membrane thermopervaporation was studied in this work. Impact of various experimental conditions (feed temperature – T f , type of membrane, type of organic solvent in binary aqueous mixture, feed composition) on transport and selectivity in TPV was investigated experimentally. Two commercially available dense PDMS based membranes (Pervatech and Pervap 4060) were utilized during TPV experiments in contact with pure water and binary aqueous mixtures of acetone, butanol and ethanol. Intrinsic properties (permeance and selectivity coefficient) of membranes were determined and discussed. Transport in thermopervaporation increases with an increase of feed temperature (at constant temperature of permeate). During TPV experiments performed with Pervatech in contact with acetone–water system, permeance of acetone increased from 0.12 mol m −2 h −1 kPa −1 at T f = 30 °C to 0.24 mol m −2 h −1 kPa −1 at T f = 42 °C, whereas permeance of butanol increased from 0.45 mol m −2 h −1 kPa −1 at T f = 30 °C to 0.64 mol m −2 h −1 kPa −1 at T f = 41 °C. Pervap 4060 membrane showed better properties in thermopervaporative recovery of butanol and ethanol from water than Pervatech membrane. It was also found that the application of stainless steel porous support reduces ethanol and water fluxes, but it does not affect the selectivity up to 3 wt.% of ethanol in feed.

Butanol has a great potential as a biofuel and to date a lot of research has been done both in terms of more efficient butanol production as well as in developing product recovery methods. Many of them deal with separation techniques which can be used for selective recovery of acetone, n-butanol and ethanol from model solutions and fermentation broths. This work is a review of techniques used for ABE recovery, such as distillation, adsorption, gas stripping, liquid–liquid extraction, pertraction, membrane distillation, sweeping gas pervaporation, thermopervaporation and vacuum pervaporation. Advantages and disadvantages of using particular methods, examples of applications and integrated processes are also described.

Thermopervaporation (TPV) of ethanol–water mixture using the PDMS based composite membrane was investigated in the range of the EtOH mass fractions in feed xEtOH,f=0.003–0.057. The mean temperatures of feed and cooling liquid as well as their mean difference were 63.8, 5.4 and 58.5 °C, respectively. It was found that ethanol flux increases approximately linearly with xEtOH,f, whereas the H2O flux is almost constant. Comparing to the pervaporation process with the same type of membrane, TPV is a slower process because of a lower driving force created. To characterize quantitatively the TPV process, the multilayer in-series transport model based on solution–diffusion approach and Stefan–Maxwell equation was developed. The model calculations have shown that the highest temperature drop is in the air gap layer. Permeabilities of EtOH and H2O in the PDMS membrane layer can be calculated using concentrations referring to the gas phase (or partial pressures). It was found that for EtOH such a permeability is negative, whereas for H2O is positive. The negative EtOH permeability can be explained in terms of the solution–diffusion model assuming a strong dependence of the product of partition and permeability coefficients on concentration. The obtained dependence can also indicate strong couplings between EtOH and H2O in the transport through the PDMS membrane.

The monitoring of concentration of methane dissolved in water is important for the security of underwater pipelines, delineation of oil and gas fields, and optimization of proper location of oil and gas wells. The reported system consists of metal oxide gas sensor separated from water by hydrophobic pervaporation membrane. Methane MEMS sensor was based on multilayer SiO 2 /Si 3 N 4 film equipped with platinum heater and coated with sensing layer made of nanoparticle SnO 2 /Pd (3 wt. %). Methane saturation of water leads to a decrease in sensor resistance by a factor of 6 – 7, the response time of the system is of 200–300 s.

This survey searched for allergic skin reactions associated with, and possibly resulting from, sporting or recreational activities. The goal was to develop profiles of the types of allergens and responses that might be expected in association with particular sports involvement. The data mainly derive from published reports of allergic-appearing skin responses occurring during and after sports participation. The majority of these are single or short series of cases. Some supplementary data from earlier reviews, and two cases from our own clinical experience, have also been incorporated. Given the scattered availability of published case material in this field, we have included most of the reports that came to our attention. We have indicated where the connection between the clinical response and the putative agent or sporting activity seems tenuous. The data are organised according to type of reaction (type I, immunoglobulin E-mediated, largely hives, angioedema and anaphylaxis; and type IV, cell-mediated, largely contact dermatitis). Some envenomations that may be amplified by allergy have also been included. In water sports, allergic sensitivity to equipment (wetsuits, masks, goggles), water per se and disinfecting agents, and various water-dwelling creatures was found. In team and other outdoor sports, most allergies related to shoes, braces/supports and other equipment, and occasionally to topical medicaments and other miscellaneous contactants. Sports participants encounter a variety of potential sensitisers. Of interest is whether a higher level of physical activity may put them at greater risk of becoming sensitised.