Application of Near-Miss Management Systems: An Exploratory Field Analysis in the Italian Industrial Sector

Near-miss events are usually identified as adverse events that could have turned into incidents/injuries but, due to an intervention of a safety system or by chance, developed into harmless situations instead. Past and present studies have also outlined the importance of collecting and analyzing near-miss events, as they have same causes of more serious events, thereby allowing for more effective preventative measures at the workplace. Although their importance has been outlined for several years, standard models for designing near-miss management systems (NMMSs) are still lacking and cannot yet support companies in their full-scale application. Despite this condition, NMMSs are applied in several industrial sectors, such as in the construction, mining, chemical, and nuclear industries. The aim of this study is to analyze how companies are developing their own NMMSs. An exploratory analysis was developed through survey analysis; it was provided to a sample of Italian companies in order to evaluate the adoption level of NMMSs as well as current practices applied by companies. The sample included companies of different sizes in the industrial sector. The results extracted from the field analysis outline interesting issues that point out current procedures adopted for the identification, collection, and analysis of near-miss events as well as real benefits and criticalities related to the application of NMMSs

DIGITAL GRAPE: TECNOLOGIE DIGITALI PER UNA VITICOLTURA SOSTENIBILE

Il progetto “Nuove Tecnologie Digitali e Sistemi di Supporto alle Decisioni per il miglioramento della qualità e della sostenibilità in viticoltura (Digital-Grape)”, finanziato dalla Regione Puglia, ha permesso di sviluppare una piattaforma tecnologica che integra modelli per la gestione di input agronomici cruciali, come irrigazione e fertilizzazione, e offre sistemi di tracciabilità per garantire la qualità e la sicurezza delle produzioni. Inoltre, fornisce accesso a una rete agro-meteorologica regionale, dati satellitari, mappe di rischio e modelli previsionali per le principali avversità della vite, come peronospora, oidio e tignoletta, nonché per la contaminazione da Ocratossina A. La presente nota riporta i risultati ottenuti in seguito all’applicazione dei modelli previsionali DMCast, Strizyk e Maurin EPI per peronospora, Pmaxacc per oidio, Mariani et al. per la tignoletta e OTA-Grapes per la contaminazione da ocratossina A durante le tre stagioni vegetative 2021-2023. I risultati sottolineano la necessità di validare i modelli previsionali nelle specifiche condizioni dei differenti areali viticoli

CT043, a Protective Antigen That Induces a CD4+ Th1 Response during Chlamydia trachomatis Infection in Mice and Humans▿

Despite several decades of intensive studies, no vaccines against Chlamydia trachomatis, an intracellular pathogen causing serious ocular and urogenital diseases, are available yet. Infection-induced immunity in both animal models and humans strongly supports the notion that for a vaccine to be effective a strong CD4+ Th1 immune response should be induced. In the course of our vaccine screening program based on the selection of chlamydial proteins eliciting cell-mediated immunity, we have found that CT043, a protein annotated as hypothetical, induces CD4+ Th1 cells both in chlamydia-infected mice and in human patients with diagnosed C. trachomatis genital infection. DNA priming/protein boost immunization with CT043 results in a 2.6-log inclusion-forming unit reduction in the murine lung infection model. Sequence analysis of CT043 from C. trachomatis human isolates belonging to the most representative genital serovars revealed a high degree of conservation, suggesting that this antigen could provide cross-serotype protection. Therefore, CT043 is a promising vaccine candidate against C. trachomatis infection

Interlaboratory Standardization of the Sandwich Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Designed for MATS, a Rapid, Reproducible Method for Estimating the Strain Coverage of Investigational Vaccines.

International audienceThe meningococcal antigen typing system (MATS) sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was designed to measure the immunologic cross-reactivity and quantity of antigens in target strains of a pathogen. It was first used to measure the factor H-binding protein (fHbp), neisserial adhesin A (NadA), and neisserial heparin-binding antigen (NHBA) content of serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) isolates relative to a reference strain, or “relative potency” (RP). With the PorA genotype, the RPs were then used to assess strain coverage by 4CMenB, a multicomponent MenB vaccine. In preliminary studies, MATS accurately predicted killing in the serum bactericidal assay using human complement, an accepted correlate of protection for meningococcal vaccines. A study across seven laboratories assessed the reproducibility of RPs for fHbp, NadA, and NHBA and established qualification parameters for new laboratories. RPs were determined in replicate for 17 MenB reference strains at laboratories A to G. The reproducibility of RPs among laboratories and against consensus values across laboratories was evaluated using a mixed-model analysis of variance. Interlaboratory agreement was very good; the Pearson correlation coefficients, coefficients of accuracy, and concordance correlation coefficients exceeded 99%. The summary measures of reproducibility, expressed as between-laboratory coefficients of variation, were 7.85% (fHbp), 16.51% (NadA), and 12.60% (NHBA). The overall within-laboratory measures of variation adjusted for strain and laboratory were 19.8% (fHbp), 28.8% (NHBA), and 38.3% (NadA). The MATS ELISA was successfully transferred to six laboratories, and a further laboratory was successfully qualified