The Development of an Empirical Model for Estimation of the Sensitivity to Heat Stress in the Outdoor Workers at Risk

Background: Workers who work in hot environments may be at risk for heat stress. Exposure to heat can result in occupational illnesses, including heat stroke, heat cramps, and heat exhaustion. The risk of exposure to heat depends on individual, environmental, and occupational risk factors. Individual risk factors may decrease the individual’s tolerance to heat stress. Sensitivity as an intrinsic factor may predispose a person to heat stress. Aim: This study was aimed to determine the criteria for sensitivity parameter, specify their weights using the fuzzy Delphi-analytical hierarchy, and finally providing a model to estimate sensitivity. The significant of the study is presenting a model to estimate the sensitivity to heat stress. Materials and Methods: The expert’s opinions were used to extract the criteria in Delphi method. After determining the weight of each criterion, Fuzzy analytic hierarchy Process (FAHP), by mathematical principles matrix and triangular fuzzy numbers, was applied for the prioritization of criteria. Results: According to experts’ viewpoints and considering some exclusion, 10 of 36 criteria were selected. Among 10 selected criteria, age had the highest percentage of responses (90% (27/30)) and its relative weight was 0.063. After age, the highest percentages of response were assigned to the factors of preexisting disease (66.6% (20/30)), body mass index (56.6% (17/30)), work experience (53.3% (16/30)), and clothing (40% (16/30)), respectively. Other effective criteria on sensitivity were metabolic rate, daily water consumption, smoking habits, drugs that interfere with the thermoregulatory processes, and exposure to other harmful agents. Conclusions: Eventually, based on the criteria, a model for estimation of the workers’ sensitivity to heat stress was presented for the first time, by which the sensitivity is estimated in percent.Keywords: Heat stress, Sensitivity, Personal factors, Fuzzy AH

Descemet's membrane detachment management following trabeculectomy

Purpose: To present a case of total Descemet's membrane detachment (DMD) after trabeculectomy and its surgical management. Case Report: A 68-year-old woman presented with large DMD and corneal edema one day after trabeculectomy. Intracameral air injection on day 3 was not effective. Choroidal effusion complicated the clinical picture with Descemet's membrane (DM) touching the lens. Choroidal tap with air injection on day 6 resulted in DM attachment and totally clear cornea on the next day. However, on day 12 the same scenario was repeated with choroidal effusion, shallow anterior chamber (AC), and DM touching the lens. The third surgery included transconjunctival closure of the scleral flap with 10/0 nylon sutures, choroidal tap, and intracameral injection of 20 sulfur hexafluoride. After the third surgery, DM remained attached with clear cornea. Suture removal and needling bleb revision preserved bleb function. Lens opacity progressed, and the patient underwent uneventful cataract surgery 4 months later. Conclusion: Scleral flap closure using transconjunctival sutures can be used for DMD after trabeculectomy to make the eye a closed system. Surgical drainage of choroidal effusions should be considered to increase the AC depth. © 2016 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research

Etude ethnobotanique de quelques lavandes marocaines spontanées

Le genre Lavandula est l'un des plus importants genres de la famille des Lamiacées et est riche en plantes à usage multiple, alimentaire, fourrager, aromatique, cosmétique et médicinal. Au Maroc, la bibliographie fait allusion à plusieurs espèces de ce genre, communément appelées lavandes, à écologie et phytogéographie diversifiées et dont d’une part la distinction taxinomique n’est pas des plus faciles et d’autre part l’éventualité d’un usage différent selon les localités et ou les espèces n’est pas investie. Aussi, l’objectif du présent travail est de rechercher les lavandes dans différentes régions du Maroc ; puis, par le biais d’investigations ethnobotaniques auprès d’herboristes et de vendeurs de plantes aromatiques et médicinales (PAM), inventorier leurs principaux usages traditionnels. Ainsi, durant l’année 2014, des prospections floristiques à la recherche de lavandes sauvages ont permis de repérer et localiser Lavandula stoechas L et L. atlantica Braun-Blanq , L. pedunculata Mill, L. multifida L, L. dentata L, L. maroccana Murb respectivement au plateau central « Oulmès, et Aguelmous » et au moyen atlas central « Ait Amro Ouali », la plaine de Sais « Ain Jerri », et en haut atlas occidental « bassin versant d’Ourika ». Les enquêtes ethnobotaniques menées auprès d’herboristes et vendeurs dans chaque site de récolte, via un questionnaire préétabli ont permis de dresser la liste des noms vernaculaires utilisés pour chaque espèce et ont révélé que les lavandes ont essentiellement des vertus thérapeutiques, que les feuilles et les fleurs sont les parties les plus utilisées surtout sous forme de décoction pour le traitement d’affections broncho-pulmonaires, gastrointestinales et uro-génitales.Mots clés : Lavandula, plantes aromatique et médicinales, enquête ethnobotanique, Maroc

Modélisation et Cartographie des Risques d’érosion Hydrique du Sol par l’application des SIG, Télédétection et Directives PAP/CAR. Cas du Bassin Versant de Beht, Maroc

Modeling and mapping potential risk of soil erosion is extremely important to watershed management. The advanced technology of geomatics as Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote sensing (RS) become a valuable source of assistance to estimate soil loss at the large area, in faster manner, and with a consistent level of reliability.The main objective of this work is to elaborate the map of vulnerable area to the hydrical erosion based on the The Priority Actions Programme / Regional Activity Centre (PAP/RAC) method using (GIS) and (RS) in the Beht watershed in upstream of Ouljat Sultan dams. This watershed occupies the upstream part of El Kansera basin and it is one of sub-watersheds of the Sebou River. It extends an area of approximately 2472km2 and overlaps on two geomorphologicals units: the Central Meseta and the Tabular Middle Atlas. En deed, the PAP/RAC method is based on three approaches: the first is the predictive approach that provides a synthetic map of erosive states, the result of this step shows that59% of study basin is subjected to a high and very high degree of erosion. The second is the descriptive approach that allows to maps the various erosion forms. Result of this approach hows that only 21% of study watershed is stable or stabilized by vegetation; the rest is infected by all erosion forms with different degree. The third approach provides a consolidated and integrated map of erosion, which shows that the degree of erosion intensity is proportional to that of the causal factors and especially in the area who combine the causal factors, (slope and friability of soil at their high levels, and the vegetation cover and its density at their low levels).La modélisation et la cartographie des potentiels risques de l’érosion hydrique des sols est d’une grande importance dans la gestion et l’aménagement des bassins versants. Ce travail a pour objectif d’élaborer la carte de vulnérabilité des sols à l’érosion dans le bassin versant de Beht en amont du barrage de Ouljet Soltane, en se basant sur les directives du Programmes d’Actions Prioritaires/ Centre d’Activité Régionale (PAP /CAR).Cette méthode consiste à définir les principaux facteurs causaux (pente, lithologie, érodibilité, occupation du sol, densité du couvert végétal, formes et ampleur d’érosion existant sur terrain) et fait appel à un ensemble de données ( MNT, Géologie, images Landsat 8,et autres..) en utilisant SIG et télédétection. Le bassin versant de Beht, qui est un affluent principal de l’Oued Sebou, couvre deux unités géomorphologiques dont le moyen Atlas et le plateau central. L’application de la méthode PAP/CAR, qui comporte trois phases, a donné les résultats suivants: dans la 1 ère phase (prédictive) la carte des états érosifs, montre que 59% des terrains du bassin d’étude sont exposé à des fortes à très fortes érosions. Les résultats obtenus pour la 2 ème phase (descriptive), montrent que ce bassin versant est réellement touché par l’érosion à différentes formes et que seulement 21% de la surface peut être considérée comme stable ou stabilisée mais avec un risque d’instabilité non nul. Pour la 3 ième phase, qui est celle d’intégration, elle a permis d’obtenir la carte consolidée de l’érosion qui montre que le degré d’intensité de l’érosion est proportionnel à celle des facteurs causaux et surtout dans les zone de combinaison des facteurs (pente et friabilité du sol à leurs haut niveau et le couvert végétal et sa densité à leurs bas niveaux)

A role for SETD2 loss in tumorigenesis through DNA methylation dysregulation

SETD2-dependent H3 Lysine-36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) has been recently linked to the deposition of de-novo DNA methylation. SETD2 is frequently mutated in cancer, however, the functional impact of SETD2 loss and depletion on DNA methylation across cancer types and tumorigenesis is currently unknown. Here, we perform a pan-cancer analysis and show that both SETD2 mutation and reduced expression are associated with DNA methylation dysregulation across 21 out of the 24 cancer types tested. In renal cancer, these DNA methylation changes are associated with altered gene expression of oncogenes, tumour suppressors, and genes involved in neoplasm invasiveness, including TP53, FOXO1, and CDK4. This suggests a new role for SETD2 loss in tumorigenesis and cancer aggressiveness through DNA methylation dysregulation. Moreover, using a robust machine learning methodology, we develop and validate a 3-CpG methylation signature which is sufficient to predict SETD2 mutation status with high accuracy and correlates with patient prognosis

Level Crossing Analysis of Burgers Equation in 1+1 Dimensions

We investigate the average frequency of positive slope $\nu_{\alpha}^{+}$, crossing the velocity field $u(x)- \bar u = \alpha$ in the Burgers equation. The level crossing analysis in the inviscid limit and total number of positive crossing of velocity field before creation of singularities are given. The main goal of this paper is to show that this quantity, $\nu_{\alpha}^{+}$, is a good measure for the fluctuations of velocity fields in the Burgers turbulence.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Exposure to heat stress in the workplace: A systematic review

Background and aims: Working in hot environments is one of the common physical risks factor in the workplace, which can also cause heat-related illnesses and various health effects on workers, and also increasing the risk of injuries and occupational accidents. The purpose of this paper is review conducted studies about heat stress in different countries, investigation the indices of heat stress, the characteristics of the exposure in hot environments, high-risk occupations, and sutvey the status and importance of these studies. Methods: In this review study used Web of Science, Scopus, Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Iran Medex, Magiran, Google Scholar and SID databases. The keywordsincluded Heat stress, Heat strain, Heat exposure, Heat waves, Workplace, Knowledge and attitude of workers about heat stress, the period of 2000 to 2015 was investigated, and finally 103 original articles were identifed. Results: 90 of all study being cross-sectional studies, 41 being related to outdoor workplaces, and 42 being related to indoor environment. 19 studies were about perceptions and behavioural responses of exposure to heat stress.A range of heat indices were used with 60 (71) studies using Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index (WBGT). Most of studied focused on manufacturing workers and farmers. Most of studies indicated that workers were suffering from heat stress and strain. Conclusion: The results of reviewed studies showed that stress in workplace is worrying due to the nature of the working processes both indoor and outdoor, and of climate change. Therefore it is necessary to considering preventive and control programs to reduce the heat stress by the management and staff's participation to eliminate or reduce its lethal effects. © 2018 JTehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services. All rights reserved

Microarray analysis identification of key pathways and interaction network of differential gene expressions during osteogenic differentiation

Background: Adult bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are multipotent stem cells that can differentiate into three lineages. They are suitable sources for cell-based therapy and regenerative medicine applications. This study aims to evaluate the hub genes and key pathways of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to osteogenesis by bioinformatics analysis in three different days. The DEGs were derived from the three different days compared with day 0. Results: Gene expression profiles of GSE37558 were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. A total of 4076 DEGs were acquired on days 8, 12, and 25. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that the non-canonical Wnt signaling pathway and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated signaling pathway were commonly upregulated DEGs for all 3 days. KEGG pathway analysis indicated that the PI3K-Akt and focal adhesion were also commonly upregulated DEGs for all 3 days. Ten hub genes were identified by CytoHubba on days 8, 12, and 25. Then, we focused on the association of these hub genes with the Wnt pathways that had been enriched from the protein-protein interaction (PPI) by the Cytoscape plugin MCODE. Conclusions: These findings suggested further insights into the roles of the PI3K/AKT and Wnt pathways and their association with osteogenesis. In addition, the stem cell microenvironment via growth factors, extracellular matrix (ECM), IGF1, IGF2, LPS, and Wnt most likely affect osteogenesis by PI3K/AKT. © 2020, The Author(s)

Functional differences of Toll-like receptor 4 in osteogenesis, adipogenesis and chondrogenesis in human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Multipotent human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are promising candidates for bone and cartilage regeneration. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is expressed by hMSCs and is a receptor for both exogenous and endogenous danger signals. TLRs have been shown to possess functional differences based on the species (human or mouse) they are isolated from therefore, the effects of knockdown of TLR4 were evaluated in humans during the differentiation of MSCs into bone, fat and chondrocyte cells in vitro. We investigated the expression profile of TLR4 during the differentiation of hMSCs into three different lineages on days 7, 14 and 21 and assessed the differentiation potential of the cells in the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, as an exogenous agonist) and fibronectin fragment III-1c (FnIII-1c, as an endogenous agonist). TLR4 expression increased following the induction of hMSC differentiation into all three lineages. Alkaline phosphatase activity revealed that FnIII-1c accelerated calcium deposition on day 7, whereas LPS increased calcium deposition on day 14. Chondrogenesis increased in the presence of LPS; however, FnIII-1c acted as a reducer in the late stage. TLR4 silencing led to decreased osteogenesis and increased adipogenesis. Furthermore, Wnt5a expression was inversely related to chondrogenesis during the late stage of differentiation. We suggest that understanding the functionality of TLR4 (in the presence of pathogen or stress signal) during the differentiation of hMSCs into three lineages would be useful for MSC-based treatments. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Ltd