Operators’ exposure to noise and vibration in the grass cut tasks: comparison between private and public yards

During the green maintenance, the grass cut tasks require the operators to use machines (especially lawn tractors, mowers, blowers and brush cutters) which transmit them high levels of noise and vibration. The requests of the Directive 2003/10/EC for the operators’ noise exposure are difficult to be applied in seasonal variable activities, as grass cut tasks are. The same problem exists in case of the workers’ exposure to vibration sources. Aim of this work was to compare the noise and vibration operators exposure of a public yard with a private one in the grass cut tasks. Data were collected using the requested standards considering all the noisy and vibrating sources of the operators. Moreover, the different work organisation in the two yards was considered. The results showed that there are not significant differences among the two yards types for the noise risk: the limit value was exceeded for almost all the workers: in this case operators must be protected by the hearing protector devices. For the hand-arm vibration risk, the operators of the private yard are conversely slightly more exposed: in this case major problems are present, because it is more difficult to protect the operators

Vibration transmitted to operator’s back by machines with back-pack power unit: a case study on blower and spraying machines

To correctly evaluate the vibration transmitted to the operators, it is necessary to consider each body’s point interested by the vibratory stimulus produced by machines. All the body’s part in contact to the vibration, when a portable device with internal combustion engine is used, are: hands, back and shoulders. Some information for wholebody vibration are available in the ISO 2631-1997 standard, which otherwise refers to a seated operator. ‘C’ type standards for the vibration analysis exist for some portable machines with an internal combustion engine which is comprehensive in the machine (chainsaw, brush-cutter, blower). If the engine is not inside the machine, but it is on the operator’s back, ‘C’ type standards on vibration measurements are quite incomplete. The IMAMOTER institute of CNR, the DISAFA Department (University of Turin) and the Occupational Medicine Department of the University of Catania started some tests to verify the vibration levels transmitted to an operator working with backed engine devices. Two machines have been examined: a blower and a spraying machine. Two operative conditions have been considered during all the tests: idling and full load. Three operators have been involved and each test has been repeated three times. The spraying machine has been tested both with the empty tank and with 10 litres of water, to simulate the load to be caused by the presence of liquid inside the tank. In this work the comfort condition of ISO 2631-1 standard was considered, using the frequency weighting Wc curve with the weighting factor 0.8 for X axis (back-ventral direction) and the Wd curve for Y and Z axis (shoulder - shoulder and buttocks - head) with weighting factors 0.5 and 0.4 (respectively for Y and Z axis). Data were examined using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software package. The statistical analysis underlined that the running condition is the main factor to condition the vibration levels transmitted to the operator’s back, while the ballast and the operators are influent when the running conditions are distinguished. Concerning medical investigation, lower back and shoulders are the main critical part of the body interested by vibration transmitted to each operator

Hand arm vibration generated by a rotary pick-up for table olives harvesting

The manual harvest of olives is one of the most expensive operations in the table olives production, but the use of the electric hand-guided machines triples the productivity.  The development of these new machines leads to changes in the harvesting methodologies and in the operator’s working behavior.  These items may also affect the hand-arm vibration (HAV) transmitted to the operators during the work.  Aim of this study is to evaluate the hand-arm vibration transmitted to the operator using an experimental electric labor saving machine with rotary combs with teeth of different dimensions covered by silicon to minimize the damage to the drupes.  Moreover, the olives removal forces have been analyzed to understand if the force necessary to detach the drupes is correlated to the vibration levels transmitted to the operator’s hand arm.  With this type of hand held olive harvester, it has been found that higher is the fruit removal force, higher are the measured vibration levels.   Keywords: HAV, portable olive shakers, rotary pick-up, table olive

Depression, auditory-verbal hallucinations, and delusions in patients with schizophrenia: Different patterns of association with prefrontal gray and white matter volume

Structural brain abnormalities, including decreased gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volume, have been observed in patients with schizophrenia. These decrements were found to be associated with positive and negative symptoms, but affective symptoms (depression and anxiety) were poorly explored. We hypothesized that abnormalities in GM and WM volume might also be related to affective symptoms. GM and WM volumes were calculated from high-resolution T1 structural images acquired from 24 patients with schizophrenia and 26 healthy controls, and the associations of positive, negative, and affective symptoms with the brain volumes that showed significant reduction in patients were investigated. Patients demonstrated GM volume reductions in the bilateral prefrontal cortex, and WM volume reductions in the right frontal and left corpus callosum. Prefrontal cortex volume was significantly and inversely associated with both auditory-verbal hallucinations and depression severity. WM volume alterations, in contrast, were related to alogia, anhedonia, and delusions. The combined impact of auditory-verbal hallucinations and depression on similar sub-regions of the prefrontal cortex suggests that depression is involved in hearing voices. Further, this adverse impact of depression on prefrontal GM volume may underlie the impairment demonstrated by these patients in cognitive tasks that rely on executive processes

A high-throughput cloning system for reverse genetics in Trypanosoma cruzi

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The three trypanosomatids pathogenic to men, <it>Trypanosoma cruzi</it>, <it>Trypanosoma brucei </it>and <it>Leishmania major</it>, are etiological agents of Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness and cutaneous leishmaniasis, respectively. The complete sequencing of these trypanosomatid genomes represented a breakthrough in the understanding of these organisms. Genome sequencing is a step towards solving the parasite biology puzzle, as there are a high percentage of genes encoding proteins without functional annotation. Also, technical limitations in protein expression in heterologous systems reinforce the evident need for the development of a high-throughput reverse genetics platform. Ideally, such platform would lead to efficient cloning and compatibility with various approaches. Thus, we aimed to construct a highly efficient cloning platform compatible with plasmid vectors that are suitable for various approaches.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We constructed a platform with a flexible structure allowing the exchange of various elements, such as promoters, fusion tags, intergenic regions or resistance markers. This platform is based on Gateway^®technology, to ensure a fast and efficient cloning system. We obtained plasmid vectors carrying genes for fluorescent proteins (green, cyan or yellow), and sequences for the <it>c-myc </it>epitope, and tandem affinity purification or polyhistidine tags. The vectors were verified by successful subcellular localization of two previously characterized proteins (<it>Tc</it>Rab7 and PAR 2) and a putative centrin. For the tandem affinity purification tag, the purification of two protein complexes (ribosome and proteasome) was performed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We constructed plasmids with an efficient cloning system and suitable for use across various applications, such as protein localization and co-localization, protein partner identification and protein expression. This platform also allows vector customization, as the vectors were constructed to enable easy exchange of its elements. The development of this high-throughput platform is a step closer towards large-scale trypanosome applications and initiatives.</p

Targeting Ion Channel TRPM4

The transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (TRPM4) ion channel is ubiquitously expressed. Dysregulation and/or functional mutations of TRPM4 lead to several diseases. Within our studies, we screened for TRPM4 inhibitors and identified small molecules that block TRPM4 in the low µM range. Furthermore, we investigated the pathophysiology of TRPM4 in cardiac conditions, immune diseases and cancer using these novel inhibitors, molecular biology techniques and functional assays

Risk for pelvic metastasis and role of pelvic lymphadenectomy in node-positive vulvar cancer - results from the AGO-VOP.2 QS vulva study

Simple Summary In node-positive vulvar squamous cell cancer, questions of when and how to perform pelvic lymphadenectomy (LAE) as well as the optimal extent of pelvic treatment in general have been surrounded by considerable controversy. In Germany, systematic pelvic LAE is currently recommended as a staging procedure in patients at risk for pelvic nodal involvement in order to prevent morbidity caused by pelvic radiotherapy (RT) in patients without histologically-confirmed pelvic involvement. However, the population at risk for pelvic metastases remains insufficiently described, resulting in the potential overtreatment of a considerable proportion of patients with groin-positive disease. This applies to the indication to perform surgical staging but also to adjuvant RT of the pelvis without previous pelvic staging. Our study aims to describe the risk for pelvic lymph node metastasis with regard to positive groin nodes and to clarify the indication criteria for pelvic treatment in node-positive vulvar cancer. Abstract The need for pelvic treatment in patients with node-positive vulvar cancer (VSCC) and the value of pelvic lymphadenectomy (LAE) as a staging procedure to plan adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) is controversial. In this retrospective, multicenter analysis, 306 patients with primary node-positive VSCC treated at 33 gynecologic oncology centers in Germany between 2017 and 2019 were analyzed. All patients received surgical staging of the groins; nodal status was as follows: 23.9% (73/306) pN1a, 23.5% (72/306) pN1b, 20.4% (62/306) pN2a/b, and 31.9% (97/306) pN2c/pN3. A total of 35.6% (109/306) received pelvic LAE; pelvic nodal involvement was observed in 18.5%. None of the patients with nodal status pN1a or pN1b and pelvic LAE showed pelvic nodal involvement. Taking only patients with nodal status ≥pN2a into account, the rate of pelvic involvement was 25%. In total, adjuvant RT was applied in 64.4% (197/306). Only half of the pelvic node-positive (N+) patients received adjuvant RT to the pelvis (50%, 10/20 patients); 41.9% (122/291 patients) experienced recurrent disease or died. In patients with histologically-confirmed pelvic metastases after LAE, distant recurrences were most frequently observed (7/20 recurrences). Conclusions: A relevant risk regarding pelvic nodal involvement was observed from nodal status pN2a and higher. Our data support the omission of pelvic treatment in patients with nodal status pN1a and pN1b

Association between Serum Interleukin-6 Concentrations and Mortality in Older Adults: The Rancho Bernardo Study

Background: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) may have a protective role in acute liver disease but a detrimental effect in chronic liver disease. It is unknown whether IL-6 is associated with risk of liver-related mortality in humans. Aims: To determine if IL-6 is associated with an increased risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and liverrelated mortality. Methods: A prospective cohort study included 1843 participants who attended a research visit in 1984–87. Multiple covariates were ascertained including serum IL-6. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to examine the association between serum IL-6 as a continuous (log transformed) variable with all-cause, CVD, cancer, and liver-related mortality. Patients with prevalent CVD, cancer and liver disease were excluded for cause-specific mortality. Results: The mean (6 standard deviation) age and body-mass-index (BMI) of participants was 68 (610.6) years and 25 (63.7) Kg/m 2, respectively. During the 25,802 person-years of follow-up, the cumulative all-cause, CVD, cancer, and liverrelated mortality were 53.1 % (N = 978), 25.5%, 11.3%, and 1.3%, respectively. The median (6IQR) length of follow-up was 15.3610.6 years. In multivariable analyses, adjusted for age, sex, alcohol, BMI, diabetes, hypertension, total cholesterol, HDL, and smoking, one-SD increment in log-transformed serum IL-6 was associated with increased risk of all-cause, CVD, cancer, and liver-related mortality, with hazard ratios of 1.48 (95 % CI, 1.33–1.64), 1.38 (95 % CI, 1.16–1.65), 1.35 (95 % CI, 1.02–1.79)