Attributable Fraction Of Work Accidents Related To Occupational Noise Exposure In A Southeastern City Of Brazil.

Noise is the most frequent type of occupational exposure and can lead to both auditory and extra-auditory dysfunction as well as increasing the risk of work accidents. The purpose of this study was to estimate the attributable fraction of work accidents related to occupational noise exposure in a medium-sized city in Southeast Brazil. In this hospital-based case-control study, including 600 cases and 822 controls, the odds ratio of work accidents (controlled for several covariables) was obtained classifying occupational noise exposure into four levels and determining the prevalence at each level. Based on these data, the calculated attributable fraction was 0.3041 (95%CI: 0.2341-0.3676), i.e., 30% of work accidents in the study area were statistically associated with occupational noise exposure. The authors discuss the causes of this association and the implications for the prevention of work accidents.231649-5

The effectiveness of the parliamentary front on sport in the Brazilian National Congress between the World Cup and the Olympic Games

Parliamentary Fronts (PF) are supra party institutions in the Brazilian National Congress (BNC) that aim to exert political clout in policies regarding a specific subject. Although seldom studied, these institutions have proliferated, and their number peaked in the 54th legislature (2011- 2015) with a tally of 210. In this article, we analyse the effectiveness of the Mixed Parliamentary Front for Sports (FPE), which comprises 198 federal deputies (from 513) and 8 senators (from 81). As method we combined: prosopography of its members; network analysis formed by the decision- making arenas occupied by them at BNC; analysis of their political clout in the legislation for sport. Our results indicate a network mainly comprised of right-wing parties and professional politicians, which suggests a strong potential of political clout. Four theoretical constructs from their profile characteristics were correlated to the centrality within the network, which showed that political expertise and political specialization were crucial factors. We found 8 central members, reinforcing arguments from literature which proposed the existence of an operative nucleus within PF. In relation to the clout in the formulation of sport policy, the representatives belonging to the front were responsible for 94 (61%) proposals of the total of 246 bills presented in the field of sports. Moreover, they are not effective in approving these propositions, although more effective than others PF. Nevertheless, this research gave us a better understanding of policy formulation in complex political arenas, inaugurating a method and a theory to study effectiveness and centrality of this kind of institution

Assessing the Urban Metabolism of Informal Settlements: Understanding Infrastructure Configurations and Measuring Resource Use

The dynamic and increasing urbanization prospects of the global South pose several challenges for human development. Urban Metabolism methods and analyses are vastly promoted as tools to aid in understanding, quantifying, and providing useful insights and outcomes. In this research Urban Metabolism scholarship and perspectives have been reviewed and considered as a whole into a discussion and development of a methodology that is designed to be applied to Informal Urban Settlements within cities of developing countries, more specifically Brazil and South America. The distribution and disparities of studies and the scholarship is analyzed before moving to a proposal of a mixed-methods focused on a Material Flow Analysis quantification itself, mainly focused on infrastructure configurations and quantifications, in addition to resource consumption flows, such as water, energy and waste. A pilot research composed of a site visit and Participant Observations done in a field research, which supports the methodology development and its qualitative analysis is also reported. The methodology development, its findings, and limitations are presented and are designed to allow future research to be done using the method to improve the body of scholarship which partially neglects that the specificities of these areas differ from the largely studied formal areas in the global North

Análise de risco em laboratório de engenharia bioquímica: estudo de caso

Os laboratórios de ensino em universidades apresentam diversos riscos aos seus usuários, o que pode levar a ocorrência de acidentes. Desse modo, é preciso conhecer os riscos associados às atividades do laboratório para propor medidas preventivas de segurança com o objetivo de evitar acidentes e garantir a saúde e segurança dos usuários. Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar, avaliar e propor medidas de segurança para os riscos presentes no laboratório de graduação de Fundamentos da Engenharia Bioquímica da Escola de Química da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Para tanto, foi elaborado um check-list baseado em normas de segurança e um questionário que foi aplicado ao responsável do laboratório. Esse método se mostrou eficiente para a identificação das maiores deficiências relacionadas com a sinalização, estrutura física, materiais e equipamentos e proteção contra incêndio encontradas, e permitiu a proposta de medidas de controle