The role of acculturation on sense of fairness of the division of family labor and marital quality among Brazilian immigrants in the U.S.

Over 1 million people are admitted into the United States each year with the status of legal permanent residents. Brazilian immigrants in the US are a relatively small population; however, their numbers are growing to approximately 800,000 to 1 million. Among immigrant couples, partners may acculturate using different attitudes and at different paces. Also, acculturation involves changes in many domains, including the perceptions of fairness in the division of family labor, which may have implications for marital quality. The current study aimed to evaluate the relationships among acculturation, sense of fairness of the division of family labor, and marital quality among Brazilian immigrants in the US. An additional purpose of this study was to address this growing and yet under studied population. Results suggest that there is a significant relationship between sense of fairness of the division of family labor and marital quality among Brazilian immigrant married women, in that perceptions of unfairness in the division of labor contribute to decrease marital quality. However, the associations involving acculturation were not confirmed. There are two possible explanations for these non-significant findings. First, it is possible that Brazilian women are more similar to their American counterparts in regards to sense of fairness than previously thought. Therefore, being more or less acculturated would not be predictive of sense of fairness among this particular sample. Second, the findings of the current study also point to the need to look more closely at the instrumentation used to measure acculturation, to review its concept and indicators. It is recommended that instruments measuring acculturation among Brazilian immigrants should be specifically designed to address the uniqueness of this specific population. In addition, acculturation measure should be updated to assess the possibility that remote acculturation may occur by mean of mass communication between geographically separated groups. It is important for counselors who work with Brazilian immigrant couples to be knowledgeable of the demographic realities these couples face (e.g., decreased career mobility and lower rates of domestic help), as well as marital dynamics involving partners sense of fairness with changing expectations of the division of family labor and marital quality

Integrated feature selection and classification algorithm in the prediction of work-related accidents in the retail sector: a comparative study

Assessing the different factors that contribute to accidents in the workplace is essential to ensure the safety and well-being of employees. Given the importance of risk identification in hazard prediction, this work proposes a comparative study between different feature selection techniques (χ2 test and Forward Feature Selection) combined with learning algorithms (Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, and Naive Bayes), both applied to a database of a leading company in the retail sector, in Portugal. The goal is to conclude which factors of each database have the most significant impact on the occurrence of accidents. Initial databases include accident records, ergonomic workplace analysis, hazard intervention and risk assessment, climate databases, and holiday records. Each method was evaluated based on its accuracy in the forecast of the occurrence of the accident. The results showed that the Forward Feature Selection-Random Forest pair performed better among the assessed combinations, considering the case study database. In addition, data from accident records and ergonomic workplace analysis have the largest number of features with the most significant predictive impact on accident prediction. Future studies will be carried out to evaluate factors from other databases that may have meaningful information for predicting accidents.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CeDRI (UIDB/05757/2020 and UIDP/05757/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021). This work has been supported by NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-072598 iSafety: Intelligent system for occupational safety and well-being in the retail sector. Inˆes Sena was supported by FCT PhD grant UI/BD/153348/2022.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evaluation of toxic/protective effects of the essential oil of Salvia officinalis on freshly isolated rat hepatocytes

For this study the essential oil (EO) of sage (Salvia officinalis L.) was isolated from air-dried vegetative aerial parts of the plants by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC and GC-MS. A total yield of 12.07 mg of EO per g of plant dry mass was obtained and more than 50 compounds identified. The major compounds were cis-thujone (17.4 %), alpha-humulene (13.3 %), 1,8-cineole (12.7 %), E-caryophyllene (8.5 %) and borneol (8.3 %). The EO fraction of sage tea was also isolated by partition with pentane and the respective components identified. The toxic and antioxidant protective effects of S. officinalis EO were evaluated on freshly isolated rat hepatocytes. Cell viability (LDH leakage), lipid peroxidation and glutathione status were measured in experiments undertaken with cells (suspensions of 1x106 cells per millilitre) exposed to EO alone (toxicity of the EO; t-BHP as positive control); and with cells exposed to EO and an oxidative compound (t-BHP) together (in EO protection evaluation; quercetin as positive control) for 30 min. The results show that the EO is not toxic when present at concentrations below 200 nl/ml; it was only at 2000 nl EO/ml that a significant LDH leakage and GSH decrease were observed indicating cell damage. In the range of concentrations tested, the EO did not show protective effects against t-BHP-induced toxicity.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BD/6942/2001, POCTI/AGR/43482/2001

Hepatotoxicity of an essential oil of Salvia officinalis L.: an in vitro study using freshly isolated rat hepatocytes

Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is a popular Mediterranean aromatic herb that is cultivated worldwide. It is used since ancient times as a medicinal herb for treating a variety of ailments and has a reputation for memory enhancement [1,2]. It is also commonly used for flavouring and seasoning of foods, most of their properties being due to essential oils [1,3]. Sage extracts have also been reported to have an antioxidant effects and excellent properties in inhibiting lipid peroxidation [1]. Sage derivatives continue to be important components of contemporary phytopharmaceuticals, although their potentially toxic effects have not received much attention. In this study, the hepatotoxicity of an essential oil obtained by hydrodistilled aerial parts of Salvia officinalis L. plants (12 mg/g dry weight) harvested in April 2000, cultivated in Arouca experimental farms in northern Portugal, was investigated in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes. The studied concentrations (0 microL/ml, 0.08 microL/ml, 0.4 microL/ml, 2 microL/ml, and 10 microL/ml) did not induce lipid peroxidation measured by the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay. However, it was observed a concentration dependent increase of lactate dehydrogenase leakage of 30 min of incubation with the essential oil (18.1%, 21.4%, 28.0%, 29.4%, and 51.6%). Values of reduced and oxidized glutathione will also be discussed. Tert-butylhydroperoxide (1.0 mM, 30 min), a well-known toxic compound, was used as positive control for cell damage. Our results show that care should be taken when applying essential oils in the food industry or as alternative medicines because of their potentially toxic effects on the liver

Early impact of abdominal compartment syndrome on liver, kidney and lung damage in a rodent model

Background: Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) sometimes occurs in critically ill patients following damage control surgery. The purpose of the present study was to develop a model of ACS and to evaluate its pathologic impact on liver, kidney, and lung morphology. Methods: Twenty Wistar rats (mass 300\u2013350 g) were randomly divided into four groups: 1) intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH): a laparotomy was performed and the abdomen packed with cotton until an intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) of 15 mm Hg was reached; 2) hypovolemia (HYPO): blood was withdrawn until a mean arterial pressure ~60 mm Hg was reached; 3) IAH + HYPO (to resemble clinical ACS); and 4) sham surgery. After 3 hours of protective mechanical ventilation, the animals were euthanized and the liver, kidney and lungs removed to examine the degree of tissue damage. Results: IAH resulted in the following: oedema and neutrophil infiltration in the kidney; necrosis, congestion, and microsteatosis in the liver; and alveolar collapse, haemorrhage, interstitial oedema, and neutrophil infiltration in the lungs. Furthermore, IAH was associated with greater cell apoptosis in the kidney, liver and lungs compared to sham surgery. HYPO led to oedema and neutrophil infiltration in the kidney. The combination of IAH and HYPO resulted in all the aforementioned changes in lung, kidney and liver tissue, as well as exacerbation of the inflammatory process in the kidney and liver and kidney cell necrosis and apoptosis. Conclusions: Intra-abdominal hypertension by itself is associated with kidney, liver and lung damage; when combined with hypovolemia, it leads to further impairment and organ damage

Active regulatory T-cells contribute to broadened T-cell repertoire diversity in ivIg-treated SLE patients

Octapharma

Integral elastic, electronic-state, ionization, and total cross sections for electron scattering with furfural

We report absolute experimental integral cross sections (ICSs) for electron impact excitation of bands of electronic-states in furfural, for incident electron energies in the range 20-250 eV. Wherever possible, those results are compared to corresponding excitation cross sections in the structurally similar species furan, as previously reported by da Costa et al. [Phys. Rev. A 85, 062706 (2012)] and Regeta and Allan [Phys. Rev. A 91, 012707 (2015)]. Generally, very good agreement is found. In addition, ICSs calculated with our independent atom model (IAM) with screening corrected additivity rule (SCAR) formalism, extended to account for interference (I) terms that arise due to the multi-centre nature of the scattering problem, are also reported. The sum of those ICSs gives the IAM-SCAR+I total cross section for electron-furfural scattering. Where possible, those calculated IAM-SCAR+I ICS results are compared against corresponding results from the present measurements with an acceptable level of accord being obtained. Similarly, but only for the band I and band II excited electronic states, we also present results from our Schwinger multichannel method with pseudopotentials calculations. Those results are found to be in good qualitative accord with the present experimental ICSs. Finally, with a view to assembling a complete cross section data base for furfural, some binary-encounter-Bethe-level total ionization cross sections for this collision system are presented. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC

Disfunção temporomandibular e fatores associados em trabalhadores da indústria

Objetivo: Identificar a prevalência e fatores associados às Disfunções Temporomandibulares (DTM) em trabalhadores da indústria. Método: Estudo de corte transversal realizado com 1.252 trabalhadores da indústria atendidos pelo Serviço Social da Indústria (SESI), no Distrito Federal de seis estados brasileiros, em 2011. Os dados de risco ocupacional foram coletados na anamnese e entrevista ao paciente ou consulta ao PPRA/PCMSO. Adotou-se o Manual de Critérios do SESI para determinar a presença de DTM através de sinais e sintomas. Procedeu-se à análise multivariada de regressão logística, estimando o OR e Intervalo de Confiança a 95%, analisando o ajustamento pelo método da máxima verossimilhança. Resultados: Dos participantes, 15,50% apresentam algum sinal e sintoma de DTM. O ruído foi o sinal mais expressivo da ocorrência da DTM (10,14%). Observou-se associação com o sexo feminino (OR ajustado = 1,68; 1,19-2,35 IC 95%), raça/cor da pele negra/parda (OR ajustado = 1,76; IC 95%: 1,21-2,56), uso de tabaco (OR ajustado = 1,89; IC 95%: 1,18-3,04) e exposições ocupacionais a agentes físicos (OR ajustado = 1,81; IC 95%: 1,22-2,70) e ergonômicos (OR ajustado: 1,72; IC 95%: 1,18-2,51). Conclusão: Houve baixa prevalência de DTM na população da indústria. Encontrou-se associação estatisticamente significante com sexo feminino, fumante, etnia negra/parda e exposição a agentes físicos e ergonômicos no ambiente laboral, reforçando a importância da adoção de medidas preventivas para a melhoria da qualidade de vida do trabalhador