The Bad Air Sponge

A summary of concerns raised in recent health department inspections of area schools, with inspection date.

Manhattan High School (Aug. 15): Several toilets were not in proper working conditions, and most drinking fountains in D wing were not functioning. The girls locker room had one sink without functioning water, a drinking fountain that did not work and no lighting. Records indicated the same problems were noted in last year’s report.

Paper towel or hand dryers were not provided in inspected restrooms. Also, there were at least four rooms where cleaning supplies were not separated from the student population.

Water was disinfected, yet not routinely monitored, backflow and cross contamination issues were found, and the boiler inspection was not current.

Lighting appeared inadequate, pest access and harborage were not restricted. One room was reported to have mouse droppings and holes in walls that needed repair. The inspectors noted that this issue would be rechecked.

Manhattan High East Campus (Aug. 9): Toilets and sinks were not installed and maintained. Adequacy of lighting was questioned. Noted in the report was a complaint in reference to an odor making people sick. The report noted the carpets were cleaned to combat the odor issue.

Blue Valley High School (Aug. 16): No negative indicators.

Riley County High (Aug. 15): The boiler inspection was not current.

Anthony Middle School (Aug. 13): Toilets were not installed and maintained properly; boys and girls toilets were dirty. A sink in the south end of the boys restroom had a drain handle missing. Two of the paper towel dispensers were broken.

The boiler did not have a current inspection.

Eisenhower Middle School (Aug. 10): There was no ground fault plug by the sink in two rooms, and an eye wash station was not hooked up.

Amanda Arnold School (Aug. 15): The boiler inspection was not current and there was a note to check some rust.

Bergman School (Aug. 14): Some sinks and toilets were not installed and maintained properly. Automatic handwashing sensors were not working, a drinking fountain was not working and a toilet was fixed onsite.

Cleaning supplies were not separated from the student population and playground equipment was not safe and in good repair. The hand-hold monkey bars were rusting. Also, one door needed to be weather-stripped. The boiler inspection was not current. There was one broken swing in the kindergarten playground.

Bluemont School (Aug. 8): The report found problems with appropriate water temperature, and sinks and drinking fountains installed and maintained. There was no water for washing in the boys’ restroom on the third floor, and the second floor girls’ restroom had a toilet not flushing.

The building was not handicap accessible, did not have paper towel or hand dryers provided in restrooms, and cleaning supplies were not separated from student population. The boiler inspection was not current. There was a lack of drinking water in a few rooms and cleaning supplies were stored under a sink.

Lee School (Aug. 8): Sinks and toilets were not installed and maintained. There were notes to clean rust from toilet bowls in one of the mobile units. Water that was too hot was an issue in one of the girls’ restrooms.

Cleaning supplies were not separated from the student population. Hazardous chemicals were not stored properly. Playground equipment was not found to be safe and in good repair. The ’s’ hooks were not closed on the swings and the end caps in the teeter totter were off. There was no current boiler inspection. The environmental systems report was positive.

Marlatt School (Aug. 13): Toilets, sinks and drinking fountains were not installed and maintained. Cleaning supplies were not separated from the student population, and playground equipment was not found in safe and good repair. There were notes of rusted chains at the tops of the swings, two chains were broken on the stand and swing, and plastic covering on a ladder was broken and rusting.

The boiler inspection was past due. Ventilation was inadequate. Also noted on the report was that the front office return vent behind the main nest was very dirty and plugged.

There was no hot water in the handicap sink in the women’s restroom. A damaged sink was repaired with duct tape. A sink was found with broken porcelain. Another sink was found broken along with two drinking fountains not working and one toilet out of order. There was bolt stress on the monkey bars, the bars were not stable and there were no end caps on the bolts. There was also a note to remove grass from soft surfaces.

Northview School (Aug. 15): The water temperature was not appropriate. Hazardous chemicals were not stored properly, playground equipment was not safe and in good repair, and the depth of cushion material under playground equipment was not at the required six inches. The teeter-totter seats were worn with cracks and some were broken. The metal slide was labeled “too hot” with a temperature of 152 degrees.

Ogden School (Aug 15): The playground was found not usable because a new mobile unit was on it.

Randolph Grade School (Aug. 16): No negative indicators.

Riley County Grade School (Aug. 15): Cleaning supplies were not separated from the student population, and cleaning supplies were found under the sink.

Seven Dolors School (Aug. 15): Paper towels or hand dryers were not provided in restrooms. One dispenser was not working properly.

Theodore Roosevelt School (Aug. 9): The hot water was off. Cleaning supplies were not separated from the student population, and hazardous chemicals were not stored properly. Black soot was found on a wall behind an electrical outlet, a defective splashboard was found and an air conditioner that was over a door had a cord hanging down.

A lack of adequate lighting was found in one room. Paint chips came off the window due to rain and wet conditions, and will need to be checked for lead and repainted.

Woodrow Wilson School (Aug. 9): Water temperature was inappropriate. Electrical issues were cited, including cords from the TV/VCR/DVD players hanging down with the potential to entangle a child. A note stated the issue needed to be addressed as soon as possible.

The boiler inspection was not current. Playground equipment was not safe and in good repair, and the cushion material under playground equipment was not the appropriate depth of six inches. Side notes show some equipment was being installed and the fence on the east side was down and under construction. Lighting did not appear adequate.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2007) — Some people are oblivious to the odor in the locker room after a game, while others wrinkle their noses at the slightest whiff of sweat. Research by Prof. Doron Lancet, research student Idan Menashe, and colleagues, published in this month’s PLoS Biology, shows that this difference is at least partly genetic.

Our sense of smell often takes a back seat to our other senses, but humans can perceive up to 10,000 different odors. Like mice, which boast a highly developed sense of smell, we have about 1000 different genes for the smell-detecting receptors in our olfactory “retinas.” In humans, however, over half of these genes have become defunct in the last few million years. Some of these genes are “broken” in all people, while others still function in some of the population.

Lancet and his coauthors, from several institutions in Israel and Florida, had their experimental volunteers sniff varying concentrations of compounds that smelled like banana, eucalyptus, spearmint, or sweat. They compared their ability to detect each odor with their patterns of receptor gene loss. The team found that one gene (OR11H7P) appeared to be associated with the capacity of smelling sweat.

Genetic epidemiology analysis reveals a multifaceted mechanism underlying enhanced olfactory sensitivity to the sweaty odor of isovaleric acid in humans.

When participants had two genes with disrupting mutations, they were likely to be impervious to the offending odor, while those that were hypersensitive to the smell had at least one intact gene.

The scientists noted, however, that while having at least one intact OR11H7P gene might determine if you can smell whether your loved one has just come from the gym, this is not the entire story.

Women were generally slightly more sensitive to many smells than men, and some individuals of both sexes were better or worse in across-the-board acuity to all odorants. Furthermore, as is always the case, not all variation was caused by genetic differences; environmental factors were seen to play an important role as well.

Citation: Menashe I, Abaffy T, Hasin Y, Goshen S, Yahalom V, et al. (2007) Genetic elucidation of human hyperosmia to isovaleric acid. PLoS Biol 5(11): e284. doi:10.1371/ journal.pbio.0050284