Thermal Comfort Performance of Active Cooling T-Shirt in Agricultural Protective Clothing

The purpose of this research aimed to investigate if a t-shirt with printed cooling technology can significantly improve the physiological and subjective thermal comfort of agricultural workers. Chest skin temperature, chest microclimate humidity, and the heart rate of twenty agricultural workers were measured. Daily exit surveys consisting of perceived exertion, comfort, and temperature sensations were gathered along with an additional exit survey consisting of acceptance information from the agricultural workers. Results from this study will determine if novel textile finishing technologies, such as the ones used in this study, can improve comfort for agricultural and industrial work applications

Perceived weight discrimination, changes in health, and daily stressors

Objective  To examine whether perceived weight discrimination is associated with change in health markers over time and whether it is associated with daily stressors, physical symptoms, and affect.  Methods  Participants were selected from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study if they had data on perceived weight discrimination and health markers at MIDUS II (2004–2006), health markers at MIDUS III (2013–2014), and a body mass index ≥25 kg/m2(N = 1,841). A subset of these participants (N = 1,153) reported on their experiences daily for 8 days as part of the second National Study of Daily Experiences.  Results  Perceived weight discrimination was associated with declines in mental and physical health over time (medianβ =0.06). Participants who reported weight discrimination experienced more daily stressors (β =0.13), physical symptoms (β =0.13), and negative affect (β =0.13) and less positive affect (β =−0.12) over the 8 days of the second National Study of Daily Experiences. Weight discrimination was most strongly associated with interpersonal stressors (medianβ =0.14), feelings of anger (β =0.16) and frustration (β =0.14), lower attention (β =−0.14) and activity (β =−0.16), and more nonspecific physical symptoms (e.g., fatigue;β =0.10).  Conclusions  This research replicates the association between perceived weight discrimination and worse health over time and extends this literature to show that people who experience weight discrimination have more daily stressors, physical symptoms, and negative emotions

Workplace, Household, and Personal Predictors of Pesticide Exposure for Farmworkers

In this article we identify factors potentially associated with pesticide exposure among farmworkers, grade the evidence in the peer-reviewed literature for such associations, and propose a minimum set of measures necessary to understand farmworker risk for pesticide exposure. Data sources we reviewed included Medline, Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, PsycINFO, and AGRI-COLA databases. Data extraction was restricted to those articles that reported primary data collection and analysis published in 1990 or later. We read and summarized evidence for pesticide exposure associations. For data synthesis, articles were graded by type of evidence for association of risk factor with pesticide exposure as follows: 1 = association demonstrated in farmworkers; 2 = association demonstrated in nonfarmworker sample; 3 = plausible association proposed for farmworkers; or 4 = association plausible but not published for farmworkers. Of more than 80 studies we identified, only a third used environmental or biomarker evidence to document farmworker exposure to pesticides. Summaries of articles were compiled by level of evidence and presented in tabular form. A minimum list of data to be collected in farmworker pesticide studies was derived from these evidence tables. Despite ongoing concern about pesticide exposure of farmworkers and their families, relatively few studies have tried to test directly the association of behavioral and environmental factors with pesticide exposure in this population. Future studies should attempt to use similar behavioral, environmental, and psychosocial measures to build a body of evidence with which to better understand the risk factors for pesticide exposure among farmworkers

Farmworker Exposure to Pesticides: Methodologic Issues for the Collection of Comparable Data

The exposure of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families to agricultural and residential pesticides is a continuing public health concern. Pesticide exposure research has been spurred on by the development of sensitive and reliable laboratory techniques that allow the detection of minute amounts of pesticides or pesticide metabolites. The power of research on farmworker pesticide exposure has been limited because of variability in the collection of exposure data, the predictors of exposure considered, the laboratory procedures used in analyzing the exposure, and the measurement of exposure. The Farmworker Pesticide Exposure Comparable Data Conference assembled 25 scientists from diverse disciplinary and organizational backgrounds to develop methodologic consensus in four areas of farmworker pesticide exposure research: environmental exposure assessment, biomarkers, personal and occupational predictors of exposure, and health outcomes of exposure. In this introduction to this mini-monograph, first, we present the rationale for the conference and its organization. Second, we discuss some of the important challenges in conducting farmworker pesticide research, including the definition and size of the farmworker population, problems in communication and access, and the organization of agricultural work. Third, we summarize major findings from each of the conference’s four foci—environmental exposure assessment, biomonitoring, predictors of exposure, and health outcomes of exposure—as well as important laboratory and statistical analysis issues that cross-cut the four foci

MHC class I–deficient natural killer cells acquire a licensed phenotype after transfer into an MHC class I–sufficient environment

In MHC class I–deficient hosts, natural killer (NK) cells are hyporesponsive to cross-linking of activation receptors. Functional competence requires engagement of a self–major histocompatability complex (MHC) class I–specific inhibitory receptor, a process referred to as “licensing.” We previously suggested that licensing is developmentally determined in the bone marrow. In this study, we find that unlicensed mature MHC class I–deficient splenic NK cells show gain-of-function and acquire a licensed phenotype after adoptive transfer into wild-type (WT) hosts. Transferred NK cells produce WT levels of interferon-γ after engagement of multiple activation receptors, and degranulate at levels equivalent to WT NK cells upon coincubation with target cells. Only NK cells expressing an inhibitory Ly49 receptor specific for a cognate host MHC class I molecule show this gain-of-function. Therefore, these findings, which may be relevant to clinical bone marrow transplantation, suggest that neither exposure to MHC class I ligands during NK development in the BM nor endogenous MHC class I expression by NK cells themselves is absolutely required for licensing

Eye Health and Safety Among Latino Farmworkers

Abstract: Farmworkers face a variety of risk factors for eye injuries. Measures of eye protection use and of eye safety knowledge and beliefs are based on a survey of 300 Latino farmworkers in North Carolina. Few farmworkers report using eye protection (8.3%); most (92.3%) report that employers do not provide eye protection. Approximately 70% report that they are not trained in preventing eye injuries; 81% believe that their chances of getting an eye injury are low. Many farmworkers choose to take risks in order to save time. Interventions are needed that target farmworker knowledge and beliefs about eye safety

Getting under the skin: children's health disparities as embodiment of social class

Social class gradients in children’s health and development are ubiquitous across time and geography. The authors develop a conceptual framework relating three actions of class—material allocation, salient group identity, and inter-group conflict—to the reproduction of class-based disparities in child health. A core proposition is that the actions of class stratification create variation in children’s mesosystems and microsystems in distinct locations in the ecology of everyday life. Variation in mesosystems (e.g., health care, neighborhoods) and microsystems (e.g., family structure, housing) become manifest in a wide variety of specific experiences and environments that produce the behavioral and biological antecedents to health and disease among children. The framework is explored via a review of theoretical and empirical contributions from multiple disciplines and high-priority areas for future research are highlighted