Ischemic cardiovascular disease in workers occupationally exposed to urban air pollution – A systematic review

Introduction. Cardiovascular disease is the first cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Among several known risk factors, researchers also focus their attention on the chronic exposure to air pollution. There is much evidence that exposure to air pollution, especially to ultrafine particles, can damage the endothelium and can favour cardiovascular diseases in the general population. Occupational exposition could be an additive risk factor for the cardiovascular system. This article presents a scientific review of the linkage between occupational exposure to air pollution and ischemic heart disease. Materials and method. A scientific review was undertaken, followed by PRISMA Statements. Observational studies were selected from several scientific databases, likesuch as Pubmed, Google Scholar, Nioshtic-2 and Reserchgate, searching for selected key words: police workers, professional drivers, mail carriers, filling station attendants, road cleaners, garage workers, motor vehicles and engine maintenance. All the key words were combined with “Boolean Operators” with the following words: cardiovascular (or cardiac) disease, cardiovascular function, cardiovascular system, ischemic heart disease, coronary disease, myocardial infarction. During the systematic research, the focus was on retrospective and prospective studies from January 1990 – December 2014. Results. Both the retrospective and prospective studies showed an increased risk of ischemic heart disease in occupationally occupied people exposed to air pollution. Only one study presented a ly minor risk. Conclusions. The findings of this systematic review suggest a possible linkage between occupational exposure to urban air pollution, especially to motor exhaust and particulate, and ischemic heart disease

K+ to pi-mu+mu+ and doubly-charged Higgs

The rate for the lepton-number-violating decay K+ to pi- mu+mu+ is calculated in a model which incorporates doubly-charged Higgs bosons. We find that for reasonable values of the parameters the decay branching ratio may be as large as 2E-16. Although this is a discouragingly small number, it is of the same order of magnitude as the rate mediated by massive Majorana neutrinos.Comment: 8 pages, RevTex, Figure1 is P

Suspected cutaneous leishmaniasis in a sample of Western Sicily residents: what correlation with occupation?

Background: Leishmaniasis is a widespread infectious disease, but there is not much information about its prevalence in high risk occupational categories. Objectives: Te aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of Leishmania immunological positivity in human skin tissues collected from subjects living in Western Sicily, with suspected cutaneous Leishmania infection, in order to explore the risk possibly related to occupation. Methods: 318 consecutive subjects (M/F ratio=1.0, mean age=40\ub125.4 years), attending the Dermatology Department of the University of Palermo Hospital from 2013 to 2015, without any previous history of Leishmania infection and performing various occupations, were included. Parasite isolation and PCR-RT test on skin scrapings were performed to evaluate the immunological status; all data were analyzed by the chi square test, comparing all positive results from the di\ufb00erent provinces. Results: 81 (50.9%) out of 159 females and 79 (49.7%) out of 159 males were found PCR-RT positive to Leishmania infantum, with a higher risk in the Agrigento district (p<0.001) and in subjects living in rural areas (p=0.0038), regardless of the type of work performed. Te observed animal leishmaniasis prevalence in the same areas shows the endemic status of the disease in Sicily. Conclusions: Although based on a relatively small sample, our study shows that cutaneous leishmaniasis represents a health care problem with a medical and social impact in Western Sicily. An active surveillance system and the establishment of diagnosis and treatment centres could be useful in controlling this public health problem

Impact of spin-orbit coupling on quantum Hall nematic phases

Anisotropic charge transport is observed in a two-dimensional (2D) hole system in a perpendicular magnetic field at filling factors nu=7/2, nu=11/2, and nu=13/2 at low temperature. In stark contrast, the transport at nu=9/2 is isotropic for all temperatures. Isotropic hole transport at nu=7/2 is restored for sufficiently low 2D densities or an asymmetric confining potential. The density and symmetry dependences of the observed anisotropies suggest that strong spin-orbit coupling in the hole system contributes to the unusual transport behavior.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Landauer formula without Landauer's assumptions

The Landauer formula for dissipationless conductance lies at the heart of modern electronic transport, yet it remains without a clear microscopic basis. We analyze the Landauer formula microscopically, and give a straightforward quantum kinetic derivation for open systems. Some important experimental implications follow. These lie beyond the Landauer result as popularly received.Comment: LaTeX, 7pp, one fi

The X-Gamma Imaging Spectrometer (XGIS) onboard THESEUS

A compact and modular X and gamma-ray imaging spectrometer (XGIS) has been designed as one of the instruments foreseen on-board the THESEUS mission proposed in response to the ESA M5 call. The experiment envisages the use of CsI scintillator bars read out at both ends by single-cell 25 mm 2 Silicon Drift Detectors. Events absorbed in the Silicon layer (lower energy X rays) and events absorbed in the scintillator crystal (higher energy X rays and Gamma-rays) are discriminated using the on-board electronics. A coded mask provides imaging capabilities at low energies, thus allowing a compact and sensitive instrument in a wide energy band (~2 keV up to ~20 MeV). The instrument design, expected performance and the characterization performed on a series of laboratory prototypes are discussed.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of the THESEUS Workshop 2017 (http://www.isdc.unige.ch/theseus/workshop2017.html), Journal of the Italian Astronomical Society (Mem.SAIt), Editors L. Amati, E. Bozzo, M. Della Valle, D. Gotz, P. O'Brien. Details on the THESEUS mission concept can be found in the white paper Amati et al. 2017 (arXiv:171004638) and Stratta et al. 2017 (arXiv:1712.08153

Colored noise in the fractional Hall effect: duality relations and exact results

We study noise in the problem of tunneling between fractional quantum Hall edge states within a four probe geometry. We explore the implications of the strong-weak coupling duality symmetry existent in this problem for relating the various density-density auto-correlations and cross-correlations between the four terminals. We identify correlations that transform as either ``odd'' or ``anti-symmetric'', or ``even'' or ``symmetric'' quantities under duality. We show that the low frequency noise is colored, and that the deviations from white noise are exactly related to the differential conductance. We show explicitly that the relationship between the slope of the low frequency noise spectrum and the differential conductance follows from an identity that holds to {\it all} orders in perturbation theory, supporting the results implied by the duality symmetry. This generalizes the results of quantum supression of the finite frequency noise spectrum to Luttinger liquids and fractional statistics quasiparticles.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Modulation theory of quantum tunneling into a Calogero-Sutherland fluid

Quantum hydrodynamics of interacting electrons with a parabolic single particle spectrum is studied using the Calogero-Sutherland model. The effective action and modulation equations, describing evolution of periodic excitations in the fluid, are derived. Applications to the problem of a single electron tunneling into the FQHE edge state are discussed

Electron fractionalization induced dephasing in Luttinger liquids

Using the appropriate fractionalization mechanism, we correctly derive the temperature (T) and interaction dependence of the electron lifetime $\tau_F$ in Luttinger liquids. For strong enough interactions, we report that $(T\tau_F)\propto g$, with $g\ll 1$ being the standard Luttinger exponent; This reinforces that electrons are {\it not} good quasiparticles. We immediately emphasize that this is of importance for the detection of electronic interferences in ballistic 1D rings and carbon nanotubes, inducing ``dephasing'' (strong reduction of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations).Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure (Final version for PRB Brief Report