Post vaccinal temporary sensorineural hearing loss

In our systematic research we identified four studies concerning the onset of neurological adverse events following vaccination and two excluding this association. A 33-year-old Italian man, belonging to the Italian Army was hospitalized because he suffered from vertigo, nausea and sudden right hearing loss not classified (NDD), that set in 24 h after the administration of tetanus-diphtheria and meningococcal vaccines. Some neurological events arising after vaccination are very difficult to treat. In our case, the functional recovery on low and medium frequencies was possible about 6 months after the morbid event

Benzene and lipid asset

Background: In relation to the medico-social and medico-legal aspects of urban pollution we studied the effects of benzene present in urban pollution on outdoor workers exposed to physical, chemical, and psychosocial stressors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the possible correlation between the levels of benzene and its urinary metabolites in the blood (Trans muconic acid and S-phenylmecapturic acid) and the parameters of the lipid structure: Total cholesterol, High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides and blood sugar. Materials and methods: From an initial group 1,500 we selected a group of 199 subjects. A blood sample was taken for each worker to assess blood benzene levels and urinalysis to determine the levels of trans, trans-muconic acid and S-phenyl mercapturic acid. We compared the mean and standard deviation of the following lipid parameters: Total Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, Triglycerides and glycemia with benzene and urinary metabolites; we excluded the workers with confounding factors and performed the Pearson’s correlation between lipid parameters and urinary metabolites in the total sample and also among age, seniority, sex and BMI; multiple linear regression was performed for the evaluation of the main confounding factors. Results: We did not find a statistically significant alteration between the values of the lipid structure between the two groups of workers and the parameters of benzene. Triglycerides and HDL are statistically significantly influenced by sex (p=0.001) and (p=0.00) and BMI (p=0.00) and (p=0.001) as well as total cholesterol is influenced in a statistically significant way from age (p=0.003) and blood glucose from BMI (p=0.002) A statistically significant difference was found among the averages of phenylmercapturic S acid values of traffic policeman and police drivers (p<0.05), where higher values were among drivers. Conclusions: The results suggest that occupational exposure to levels of benzene, present in urban pollution, would appear not to influence the values of the lipid parameters in traffic policeman

Work-related stress in three groups with specific homogeneous tasks

In relation to the medico-social and medico-legal aspects of stress we have studied the effects of stress on different working populations. Background: Stress is the second most common work-related health problem, affecting about 22% of workers in the EU. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2000) defines work-related stress as a condition that "occurs when the demands of the work environment exceed the ability of workers to cope with it". In the evaluation of this work-related stress it is of fundamental importance to identify the factors capable of generating and increasing it in order to identify categories of subjects particularly at risk and plan interventions for the prevention, elimination or reduction of risk. Material and methods: Tasks analysed: -Administrative (n.519) -Drivers/porters/doormen/workers (n.103) -Social workers/educators/teachers (n. 31) Subjective: Stress was first assessed in the three groups, and then stratification by sex was carried out, assessing stress in the male-female subgroups. Results: The new and original results allow the correction of situations defined as critical, through original and new, preventive, never applied, protocols, which are at the forefront of the preventive technological procedures already known. Conclusions: Our research showed that for most of the tasks analysed, in the various and specific tasks in comparison with each other, never studied before and compared with each other, the level of stress for some areas was found in comparison to be much higher in some tasks

Protocolli sanitari vaccinali per il personale militare e civile impiegato nei recenti teatri operativi: Gibuti, Iraq e Somalia

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Cadmium and lipid balance in outdoor workers exposed to urban stressor

The aim of our study was to evaluate the association between levels of blood and urinary cadmium and lipid balance in a group of outdoor workers. The study was conducted on a group of 146 individuals (average age 45,1 ± 8,5). Blood and urinary samples were collected for the detection of total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood cadmium and urinary cadmium. We divided the group of workers into two subgroups according to the task:75 traffic policemen and 71 police drivers. Gender differences were found. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed a positive association between blood and urinary cadmium levels and total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides levels. Total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly higher in the group of traffic policemen than in police drivers. In conclusion, the results suggest a statistically significant association between blood and urinary cadmium levels and lipid balance contributing to an increase of the cardiovascular risk

Correlazione tra benzene e testosterone nei lavoratori esposti a inquinamento urbano

Scopo. Pochi studi hanno esaminato gli effetti del benzene sul testosterone. Lo scopo di questo studio era di valutare la possibile correlazione tra i livelli di benzene nel sangue e i livelli testosterone. Materiali e metodi. Lo studio ha riguardato un gruppo di 148 soggetti. Per ogni lavoratore sono stati effettuati un prelievo di sangue per la valutazione dei livelli di benzene ematico e del testosterone e l’analisi delle urine per la determinazione dei livelli di acido trans, trans-muconico e acido S-fenilmercapturico. Abbiamo stimato la correlazione di Pearson tra le variabili nel campione totale e metaboliti urinari, età, anzianità lavorativa, sesso, BMI. Per la valutazione dei principali fattori confondimento è stata eseguita la regressione lineare multipla. Risultati. La correlazione di Pearson ha evidenziato: 1.una correlazione inversa significativa è stata trovata tra l’acido S- fenil mercapturico e il testosterone libero; 2. una correlazione diretta significativa tra acido trans-trans muconico e BMI. Dopo aver suddiviso il campione in base alla mediana del benzene ematico (161,0 ng/L), la correlazione di Pearson ha mostrato una significativa correlazione inversa tra l’acido S-fenil mercapturico e il testosterone libero nel gruppo con valori inferiori a tale mediana . Conclusioni. I nostri risultati, da considerare preliminari, suggeriscono che l’esposizione occupazionale a bassi livelli di benzene, presenti nell’inquinamento urbano, influenza i livelli di testosterone ematico. Tali risultati dovranno essere confermati in successive ricerche, con l’eventuale possibilità di includere anche ulteriori specifici test sulla fertilitàAim. Many studies have examined the effects of benzene on testosterone. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible correlation between the blood levels of benzene and the levels of testosterone. Materials and methods. The study involved a group of 148 subjects. For every worker have been made out a blood sample for the evaluation of benzene and testosterone levels and an urine analysis for the evaluation of the levels of trans, trans-muconic acid and S-phenylmercapturic acid. We estimated the Pearson correlation coefficient between the variables in the sample and the urinary metabolites, age, length of service, gender, BMI. For the analysis of the major confounding factors it was performed a multiple linear regression. Results. The Pearson correlation coefficiet showed: 1. a significant inverse correlation between the S-phenyl mercapturic acid and free testosterone; 2. a significant direct correlation between trans-trans muconic acid and BMI. After dividing the sample according to the median of blood benzene (161.0 ng / L), Pearson correlation coefficient showed a significant inverse correlation between the S-phenyl mercapturic acid and free testosterone in the group with values below this median. Conclusions. Our results, to be considered preliminary, suggest that occupational exposure to low levels of benzene, present in urban pollution, affect the blood levels of testosterone. These results need to be confirmed in future studies, with the eventual possibility of including more specific fertility test

Work related stress and blood glucose levels

AIM: The aim of the study is to evaluate work-related subjective stress in a group of workers on a major Italian company in the field of healthcare through the administration of a valid "questionnaire-tool indicator" (HSE Indicator Tool), and to analyze any correlation between stress levels taken from questionnaire scores and blood glucose values. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied a final sample consisting of 241 subjects with different tasks. The HSE questionnaire - made up of 35 items (divided into 7 organizational dimensions) with 5 possible answers - has been distributed to all the subjects in occasion of the health surveillance examinations provided by law. The questionnaire was then analyzed using its specific software to process the results related to the 7 dimensions. These results were compared using the Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression with the blood glucose values obtained from each subject. RESULTS: From the analysis of the data the following areas resulted critical, in other words linked to an intermediate (yellow area) or high (red area) condition of stress: sustain from managers, sustain from colleagues, quality of relationships and professional changes. A significant positive correlation (p <0.05) between the mean values of all critical areas and the concentrations of glucose values have been highlighted with the correlation index of Pearson. Multiple linear regression confirmed these findings, showing that the critical dimensions resulting from the questionnaire were the significant variables that can increase the levels of blood glucose. CONCLUSION: The preliminary results indicate that perceived work stress can be statistically associated with increased levels of blood glucose