Workers’ Aging Management—Human Fatigue at Work: An Experimental Offices Study

The aging issue in the work context is becoming a significant element of the future sustainability of service and industrial companies. It is well known that with increasing worker age the problem of maintaining the performance and the safety level when fatigue increases is a crucial point, and fatigue increases with the age. Due to social and political developments, especially in Western countries, the retirement age is increasing and companies operate with a higher workforce mean age. Therefore, the problem of recognizing and measuring fatigue has become a key aspect in the management of aging. Note that in the scientific engineering field, the problem of fatigue evaluation when a worker is performing his/her work activities is an important issue in the industrial and service world and especially in the context of the researchers that are investigating the human reliability assessment. As it is clear from the literature, the industrial operations management are suffering from some misleading concepts that only the medicine scientific context can clarify. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to define what are the open issues and the misleading concepts present in the classical fatigue evaluation methods, and second to define two experimental curves of fatigue that will help the decision makers to minimize the impact of fatigue on the workers, thus maximizing the sustainability of the working tasks assigned. This aim is achieved by examining the medical literature about the measurement of a particular kind of fatigue related to the circadian cycle, i.e., the cognitive one; after that, a survey about the possible technologies for measurements is performed. On the basis of technology selection, an experiment on real work activities is performed and some remarkable results about the fatigue in the workers observed and the technology use and its limitations are defined

«La più bella e riguardevole città del mondo». Note sui ‘dialoghi napoletani’ di Torquato Tasso

Il seminario punta l’attenzione, in particolar modo, sulla produzione dialogica di Torquato Tasso, la quale è strettamente legata ai difficili anni di Sant’Anna (1579-1586). Nel ricco corpus dialogico elaborato da Tasso esiste un gruppo di opere, alle quali è possibile affiancare l’attributo di ‘napoletane’. Ci riferiamo al Nifo overo del piacere, al Porzio overo de l’amicizia, al Minturno overo de la bellezza e al Manso overo dell’amicizia. Sono opere che, come molti degli scritti del letterato cinquecentesco, hanno avuto complesse vicende redazionali ed editoriali. È indubbio che questi scritti presentino spiccati tratti comuni. Se si esclude il Manso, tutti i ‘dialoghi napoletani’ sono ambientati in un passato prossimo (spesso identificabile in uno specifico arco temporale) e presentano personaggi, partenopei o meno, in relazione tra di loro e in rapporti diretti con la città. È il caso del filosofo Agostino Nifo, protagonista del dialogo sul piacere, il quale fu maestro di Simone Porzio, personaggio protagonista del dialogo sulle virtù, e legato ad Antonio Minturno, anch’egli protagonista dello specifico dialogo sulla bellezza. I citati dialoghi sono riattraversati, al fine di individuarne richiami interni ed elementi comuni. Si verifica, da un lato, la possibilità o meno, già paventata in sede bibliografica, che essi possano essere letti come un nucleo, se non compatto, almeno sinergico di testi, al di là della loro incerta datazione. Dall’altro lato, infine, si evidenziano elementi che consentano una riflessione generale sulle caratteristiche della scrittura dialogica del letterato nato a Sorrento. Ancora una volta, quindi, Napoli finisce per divenire un luogo centrale della produzione letteraria rinascimentale. Non è un caso che spesso questi dialoghi siano, per tempi scrittura e tematiche affrontate, fortemente legati alle vicende che Tasso visse nella città partenopea durante i suoi brevi soggiorni degli anni Ottanta e Novanta

La coscienza della fine: le ultime opere di Giovanni Pontano

Il seminario appunta l’attenzione, in particolar modo, sull’ultimo periodo di vita e di attività letteraria di Giovanni Pontano, uno degli esponenti più importanti dell’Umanesimo napoletano, corifeo della celebre Accademia che ne prese il nome. «Ritirato della politica – dichiara Bistagne – a partire degli anni novanta del Quattrocento, è un Pontano stanco, realistico e quasi cinico a ripiegarsi sulla letteratura come unico scopo dell’intellettuale. Di fronte al crollo del regno aragonese, è questa l’epoca in cui scrive o pubblica opere come il De sermone, il De prudentia, la Lepidina, ma anche in cui offre consigli ai sovrani nel suo carteggio, in una dimensione adesso privata, mentre tutta la sua vita precedente aveva assunto una dimensione pubblica. Attraverso l’esame di alcune lettere del Pontano ad amici o sovrani cercheremo di mostrare come la coscienza della fine abbia contribuito a delineare un ritratto del loro autore più complesso e profondo di quando era coinvolto negli affari pubblici»

Case report of an atypical early onset X-linked retinoschisis in monozygotic twins

BACKGROUND: X-linked Retinoschisis (XLRS) is one of the most common macular degenerations in young males, with a worldwide prevalence ranging from 1:5000 to 1:20000. Clinical diagnosis of XLRS can be challenging due to the highly variable phenotypic presentation and limited correlation has been identified between mutation type and disease severity or progression. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the atypical early onset of XLRS in 3-month-old monozygotic twins. Fundus examination was characterized by severe bullous retinal schisis with pre-retinal and intraretinal haemorrhages. Molecular genetic analysis of the RS1 was performed and the c.288G > A (p. Trp96Ter) mutation was detected in both patients. CONCLUSIONS: Early onset XLRS is associated with a more progressive form of the disease, characterized by large bullous peripheral schisis involving the posterior pole, vascular abnormalities and haemorrhages. The availability of specific technology permitted detailed imaging of the clinical picture of unusual cases of XLRS. The possible relevance of modifying genes should be taken into consideration for the future development of XLRS gene therapy

Polydatin Induces Differentiation and Radiation Sensitivity in Human Osteosarcoma Cells and Parallel Secretion through Lipid Metabolite Secretion

Osteosarcoma is a bone cancer characterized by the production of osteoid tissue and immature bone from mesenchymal cells. Osteosarcoma mainly affects long bones (femur is most frequently site) and occur in children and young adults with greater incidence. Here, we investigated the role accomplished by polydatin, a natural antioxidative compound, in promoting osteogenic differentiation alone or after radiation therapy on osteosarcoma cells. In vitro, polydatin significantly induced cell cycle arrest in S-phase and enhanced bone alkaline phosphatase activity. Moreover, the differentiation process was paralleled by the activation of Wnt-β-catenin pathway. In combination with radiotherapy, the pretreatment with polydatin promoted a radiosensitizing effect on osteosarcoma cancer cells as demonstrated by the upregulation of osteogenic markers and reduced clonogenic survival of tumor cells. Additionally, we analyzed, by mass spectrometry, the secretion of sphingolipid, ceramides, and their metabolites in osteosarcoma cells treated with polydatin. Overall, our results demonstrate that polydatin, through the secretion of sphingolipids and ceramide, induced osteogenic differentiation, alone and in the presence of ionizing therapy. Future investigations are needed to validate the use of polydatin in clinical practice as a potentiating agent of radiotherapy-induced anticancer effects

Assessing Risks Awareness in Operating Rooms among Post-Graduate Students: A Pilot Study

Background: In this study, we promote a global approach to occupational risk perception in order to improve occupational health and safety training programs. The study investigates the occupational risk perception of operating room healthcare workers using an Analytic Hierarchy Process approach. Methods: A pilot study was carried out through a cross-sectional survey in a university hospital in Southern Italy. An ad hoc questionnaire was administered to enrolled medical post-graduate students working in the operating room. Results: Fifty medical specialists from seven fields (anaesthetists, digestive system surgeons, general surgeons, maxillofacial surgeons, thoracic surgeons, urologists, and gynaecologists) were questioned about perceived occupational risk by themselves. Biological, ionizing radiation, and chemical risks were the most commonly perceived in order of priority (w = 0.300, 0.219, 0.210). Concerning the biological risk, gynaecologists unexpected perceived this risk as less critical (w = 0.2820) than anaesthesiologists (w = 0.3354), which have the lowest perception of the risk of ionizing radiation (w = 0.1657). Conclusions: Prioritization methods could improve risk perception in healthcare settings and help detect training needs and perform sustainable training programs

Main postharvest fungal diseases of pomegranate fruit in southern Italy

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an increasingly important crop in Apulia, where most of the Italian production occur. The main yield problem is related to postharvest losses caused by fungi. The present research was conducted using fruit of two cultivars (Mollar de Elche and Wonderful) with different characteristics, from local markets, orchards, and packinghouses in the province of Lecce (southern Italy). The main fungi observed on stored pomegranate fruit were Botrytis sp., Pilidiella granati, Alternaria spp., Penicillium spp. (s.l.), Colletotrichum acutatum, and Cytospora punicae. The early three pathogens infected fruit through the calyx area during blossom, and then spread to the entire pomegranate. Moreover, Botrytis sp. was responsible for harmful latent infections, especially during the cold storage, which was a critical stage even for C. acutatum. Two different species of Alternaria, causing “black heart” or “black spot”, were identified: A. alternata and A. arborescens. The main Penicillium spp. s.s. observed were P. glabrum, P. adametzioides, and P. brevicompactum. Few isolates of Talaromyces albobiverticillius were also present. These fungi, that share very similar macroscopic characteristics, were mainly present on decayed stamens and wounds. In the present study, P. granati and C. punicae, predominantly recorded as etiological agents of pomegranate trunk canker, were isolated from fruit

Unexpected ovarian activity in premenopausal breast cancer survivors treated with exemestane and GnRH analogues

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