Chronic Endometritis in Subfertile Mares With Presence of Chlamydial DNA

When endometritis becomes chronic in mares, infertility can follow. Among various causative agents, many bacteria are involved, and mono- or mixed-infections are common. In our study, 50 mares with a previous history of subfertility were subjected to clinical and ultrasonographic examination of the reproductive tract, and samples were collected for cytology, histology, bacteriology, and polymerase chain reaction for Chlamydia spp detection. The aim of this work was to highlight the presence of Chlamydia abortus in chronic endometritis of subfertile mares. Endometrial chronic lesions were detected in five of six Chlamydia-positive animals

Computer-assisted technique for airborne dust sampling data representativeness and worker's exposure assessment - CAT-ReADS

Nowadays, occupational exposure to airborne dust is still one of the most concerning problems our society should face, since both airborne dust is a common pollutant in almost all the NACE sectors activities, and the occupational exposure quantification is critical. One of the possible causes can be identified in determining the real conditions of dust pollution in the workplaces, attributable to the delicacy of the various phases of acquisition of the measures, and on the variability of operations carried out by workers, affecting the pollutant emission rates. A research project in progress discusses the causes of uncertainty attributable to laboratory and sampling activities, and to the identification of the most appropriate techniques of the results’ representativeness assessment. A recent result is the development of an original Computer-Assisted Technique for Airborne Dust Sampling data representativeness and worker's exposure assessment - CAT-ReADS, MS-Excel Vbasic developed - it supports the companies and external audit technicians, from the setting of the surveys and the laboratory activities to the verification, in a rigorous statistical approach, of compliance/noncompliance of the field measurement results vs the limit values. The resulting workplaces pollution and workers’ exposure assessment are free from subjective simplifications: CAT-ReADS includes various sections of guided selection and data analysis, covering Instruments and their calibration, Recording of environmental parameters and activities carried out by the workers during the samplings, Calculation of concentrations, Calculation of expanded uncertainty, Statistical tests for estimating the probability of exceeding the limit value, both referring – as is common practice- to the mean value, and, in a more cautionary way, to the upper uncertainty values (assuming a confidence level of 95%). The paper provides some examples of the implementation of CAT-ReADS in different production scenarios, and an in-depth discussion of the results

The role of basic and applied research activities for the improvement of OS&H conditions and the dissemination of the Culture of Safety

Although the European panorama is experiencing a profound change in advance to the Industry 4.0, revolutionizing the world of work with technical, technological and information innovations, in Italy even today we have to deal with the "old" problem of work related injuries and fatalities. In particular, the accident indices of the last few years do not seem to differ much from those typical of the 1970s. The cultural effort matured with the enforcement of the European Directives, with the consequent passage from a rigid prescriptive approach to a flexible one based on risk analysis, is therefore not sufficient to face without “trauma” such rapid technological development accompanied by legislative, productive changes and increasingly widespread reassignment of tasks within the Companies. In this context, the role of scientific research is essential to contribute to technological transfer and scientific knowledge by reconciling the essential aspects of Occupational Safety and Health, through a rigorous and devoted analysis of working scenarios. Furthermore, the dissemination of a Culture of Safety at all levels (Management and Staff roles) can encourage a bilateral synergy "Industry-University" from an OS&H point of view. The present work discusses in more detail the results of the research carried out by the “young” OS&H researchers of the Polytechnic University of Turin presented on the second day of the Conference Dissemination of The Culture of Safety and Health at Work - “Eras of OS&H Development from early ’50 to industry 4.0”