ENVELHECIMENTO E TRABALHO: AS MUDANÇAS EM FAVOR DA FORÇA DE TRABALHO IDOSA

RESUMO As mudanças demográficas estão se manifestando no trabalho, visto que idosos estão cada vez mais presentes nas organizações. Com isso, há uma demanda de mudanças nos contextos laborais. Contudo, ainda existe um desconhecimento nas modificações que necessitam ser feitas no trabalho em favor da força de trabalho idosa. Dessa forma, o presente estudo buscou reunir os fatores que precisam ser alterados no trabalho para favorecer a permanência e inserção dos trabalhadores mais velhos. Para isso, foi realizada uma revisão de literatura. A partir da análise das publicações, foi possível identificar nove fatores no trabalho que necessitam de alteração em favor dos idosos. Assim, constatou-se que a temática que envolve o idoso e o trabalho é relevante e complexa, devendo ser cada vez mais abordada a fim de estimular a criação de sistemas de trabalho propícios aos idosos. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Trabalhador Idoso; Projeto de Trabalho; Macroergonomia. ABSTRACTDemographic changes are manifesting in the workplace, as older people are increasingly present in organizations. With this, there is a demand for changes in work contexts. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about the changes that need to be made at work in favor of the elderly workforce. Thus, the present study sought to gather the factors that need to be changed in the work to favor the permanence and insertion of older workers. For this, a literature review was performed. From the analysis of the publications, it was possible to identify nine factors at work that need to change in favor of the elderly. Thus, it was found that the issue involving the elderly and work is relevant and complex and it should be increasingly addressed in order to stimulate the creation of work systems that are suitable for the elderly. KEYWORDS: Elderly Worker; Work Project; Macroergonomics

ENVELHECIMENTO E TRABALHO: AS MUDANÇAS EM FAVOR DA FORÇA DE TRABALHO IDOSA

As mudanças demográficas estão se manifestando no trabalho, visto que idosos estão cada vez mais presentes nas organizações. Com isso, há uma demanda de mudanças nos contextos laborais. Contudo, ainda existe um desconhecimento nas modificações que necessitam ser feitas no trabalho em favor da força de trabalho idosa. Dessa forma, o presente estudo buscou reunir os fatores que precisam ser alterados no trabalho para favorecer a permanência e inserção dos trabalhadores mais velhos. Para isso, foi realizada uma revisão de literatura. A partir da análise das publicações, foi possível identificar nove fatores no trabalho que necessitam de alteração em favor dos idosos. Assim, constatou-se que a temática que envolve o idoso e o trabalho é relevante e complexa, devendo ser cada vez mais abordada a fim de estimular a criação de sistemas de trabalho propícios aos idosos

A model of anti-angiogenesis: differential transcriptosome profiling of microvascular endothelial cells from diffuse systemic sclerosis patients

The objective of this work was to identify genes involved in impaired angiogenesis by comparing the transcriptosomes of microvascular endothelial cells from normal subjects and patients affected by systemic sclerosis (SSc), as a unique human model disease characterized by insufficient angiogenesis. Total RNAs, prepared from skin endothelial cells of clinically healthy subjects and SSc patients affected by the diffuse form of the disease, were pooled, labeled with fluorochromes, and hybridized to 14,000 70 mer oligonucleotide microarrays. Genes were analyzed based on gene expression levels and categorized into different functional groups based on the description of the Gene Ontology (GO) consortium to identify statistically significant terms. Quantitative PCR was used to validate the array results. After data processing and application of the filtering criteria, the analyzable features numbered 6,724. About 3% of analyzable transcripts (199) were differentially expressed, 141 more abundantly and 58 less abundantly in SSc endothelial cells. Surprisingly, SSc endothelial cells over-express pro-angiogenic transcripts, but also show up-regulation of genes exerting a powerful negative control, and down-regulation of genes critical to cell migration and extracellular matrix-cytoskeleton coupling, all alterations that provide an impediment to correct angiogenesis. We also identified transcripts controlling haemostasis, inflammation, stimulus transduction, transcription, protein synthesis, and genome organization. An up-regulation of transcripts related to protein degradation and ubiquitination was observed in SSc endothelial cells. We have validated data on the main anti-angiogenesis-related genes by RT-PCR, western blotting, in vitro angiogenesis and immunohistochemistry. These observations indicate that microvascular endothelial cells of patients with SSc show abnormalities in a variety of genes that are able to account for defective angiogenesis

A Geostatistical Approach to Assess the Spatial Association between Indoor Radon Concentration, Geological Features and Building Characteristics: The Case of Lombardy, Northern Italy

Radon is a natural gas known to be the main contributor to natural background radiation exposure and second to smoking, a major leading cause of lung cancer. The main source of radon is the soil, but the gas can enter buildings in many different ways and reach high indoor concentrations. Monitoring surveys have been promoted in many countries in order to assess the exposure of people to radon. In this paper, two complementary aspects are investigated. Firstly, we mapped indoor radon concentration in a large and inhomogeneous region using a geostatistical approach which borrows strength from the geologic nature of the soil. Secondly, knowing that geologic and anthropogenic factors, such as building characteristics, can foster the gas to flow into a building or protect against this, we evaluated these effects through a multiple regression model which takes into account the spatial correlation of the data. This allows us to rank different building typologies, identified by architectonic and geological characteristics, according to their proneness to radon. Our results suggest the opportunity to differentiate construction requirements in a large and inhomogeneous area, as the one considered in this paper, according to different places and provide a method to identify those dwellings which should be monitored more carefully

The FunGenES Database: A Genomics Resource for Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation

Embryonic stem (ES) cells have high self-renewal capacity and the potential to differentiate into a large variety of cell types. To investigate gene networks operating in pluripotent ES cells and their derivatives, the “Functional Genomics in Embryonic Stem Cells” consortium (FunGenES) has analyzed the transcriptome of mouse ES cells in eleven diverse settings representing sixty-seven experimental conditions. To better illustrate gene expression profiles in mouse ES cells, we have organized the results in an interactive database with a number of features and tools. Specifically, we have generated clusters of transcripts that behave the same way under the entire spectrum of the sixty-seven experimental conditions; we have assembled genes in groups according to their time of expression during successive days of ES cell differentiation; we have included expression profiles of specific gene classes such as transcription regulatory factors and Expressed Sequence Tags; transcripts have been arranged in “Expression Waves” and juxtaposed to genes with opposite or complementary expression patterns; we have designed search engines to display the expression profile of any transcript during ES cell differentiation; gene expression data have been organized in animated graphs of KEGG signaling and metabolic pathways; and finally, we have incorporated advanced functional annotations for individual genes or gene clusters of interest and links to microarray and genomic resources. The FunGenES database provides a comprehensive resource for studies into the biology of ES cells

Lack of in vivo genotoxic effect of dried whole Aloe ferox juice

<p>Aloe ferox Mill is widely used as a traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of a broad spectrum of illnesses given its laxative, anti-inflammatory, bitter tonic, anti-oxidant, antimicrobial and anti-cancer properties. Using the in vivo alkaline comet assay in animals (OECD 489), this study investigated the potential in vivo genotoxicity of dried Aloe ferox juice at dose levels of 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg/day in mice. Aloe ferox showed no genotoxic activity in preparations of single cells from the colon of the treated Hsd:ICR (CD-1) male mice. No statistically significant increase in DNA migration over the negative control was observed by analysis of variance for both comet parameters, tail moment and tail intensity, apart from the positive control ethyl methanesulphonate that induced clear and statistically significant increases in DNA migration parameters over the concurrent controls. The new reported scientific evidence unequivocally demonstrates that dried Aloe ferox juice containing hydroxyanthracene derivatives does not induce DNA damage in preparations of single cells from colon in in vivo comet genotoxicity studies. This suggests that the hyperplastic changes and mucosal hyperplasia observed after long-term administration of Aloe vera non-decolourised whole leaf extract may be attributed to an epigenetic effect of the material under investigation.</p&gt