Validity and reliability of a questionnaire for assessment of fatigue, health and social well-being in suburban bus drivers

Background and aims: Health, fatigue, and social well-being in suburban bus drivers are the most important factors of their function and frequency of car accidents and any disorder in this regard could lead to unpleasant outcomes for passengers and other people of society. Therefore, developing an instrument capable of identifying and expressing effective factors on this occupation well seems necessary. The present study was conducted to validate a questionnaire of fatigue, health, and social well-being in bus drivers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 285 suburban bus drivers in Soffeh and Kaveh bus terminals of Isfahan, Iran. Simple random sampling was done. After the questionnaire was translated, its validity was assessed by a panel of experts, calculation of content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), and exploratory factor analysis. The questionnaire’s reliability was assessed by test-retest and internal consistency and for this purpose, respectively; internal consistency coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach’s alpha were used. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS software. Results: In determining face validity, occupation control was deleted. Also, organizational support was deleted from organizational factors and assessed independently as “Employer’s support”. Mean CVI of the questionnaire was obtained 0.92 and in determining CVR, for most items the values higher than 0.65 were measured. Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation yielded three factors with Eigen value of higher than one as follows: Health, organizational factors, and fatigue. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was obtained 0.882 for the whole questionnaire and total ICC was obtained 0.87. Conclusion: This study represented suitable evidence on strength of factor construct and instrument reliability and could be considered by researchers as a tool for research, training, and practical purposes in bus drivers

Risk factors and control strategies for silicotuberculosis as an occupational disease

Silicotuberculosis is critical in community settings among workers and employees exposed to silica dust. Older age of entry (>30 years), male sex, infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), exposure duration, smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, migration, the severity of the silicosis and the intensity of the exposure are potential risk factors. Lack of timely diagnosis and treatment for tuberculosis (TB) may also raise the rate of infection; previous treatment of TB is possibly associated with the development of silicotuberculosis in more than half of patients, increasing with age (>40 years). Identification of risk factors benefits not only the academic research community, but also the workers or employees and policy making. Some strategies can be implemented, such as controlling or reducing exposure to silica dust, ensuring continuity of treatment of TB or extended anti-TB treatment, management of the situation by occupational health professionals, prevention of oscillating migration, providing workers with compensation, training and education in occupational health, improving the quality of life of miners and workers, intensive medical surveillance and TB screening in routine health check ups, and policy making for higher immunity to inhibit inhalation of dust by workers or employees

Risk factors and control strategies for silicotuberculosis as an occupational disease

Silicotuberculosis is critical in community settings among workers and employees exposed to silica dust. Older age of entry (>30 years), male sex, infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), exposure duration, smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, migration, the severity of the silicosis and the intensity of the exposure are potential risk factors. Lack of timely diagnosis and treatment for tuberculosis (TB) may also raise the rate of infection; previous treatment of TB is possibly associated with the development of silicotuberculosis in more than half of patients, increasing with age (>40 years). Identification of risk factors benefits not only the academic research community, but also the workers or employees and policy making. Some strategies can be implemented, such as controlling or reducing exposure to silica dust, ensuring continuity of treatment of TB or extended anti-TB treatment, management of the situation by occupational health professionals, prevention of oscillating migration, providing workers with compensation, training and education in occupational health, improving the quality of life of miners and workers, intensive medical surveillance and TB screening in routine health check ups, and policy making for higher immunity to inhibit inhalation of dust by workers or employees. Keywords: Human immunodeficiency virus co-infection, occupational infections, risk factors, silicotuberculosi

Memory and CAR-NK cell-based novel approaches for HIV vaccination and eradication

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is one of the critical infectious agents with thousands of newly infected people worldwide. High mutational capability and rapid diversification, inhibition of humoral and cellular immune responses, and thus inability for recognition of an immunogenic region in the viral envelope by the immune system are major challenges. Natural killer (NK) cells are multifunctional, playing a key role in the identification and elimination of HIV-infected cells. These cells identify and eliminate virus-infected cells in a multilateral manner, such as ligand stress, antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC), T follicular helper (Tfh), and the activation of most of the stimulatory receptors. Moreover, these cells release cytokines leading to the activation of cytotoxic lymphocytes (CTLs) and dendritic cells (DCs), contributing to efficient viral elimination. Some subsets of NK cells exhibit putatively enhanced effector functions against viruses following vaccination easily expanded and identified by NK cell lines culture. Furthermore, NK cells promote the elimination of HIV-infected cells which reduce the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. Memory NK cells have higher functionality and renewable potential. A pioneering strategy to establish an efficacious HIV vaccine would include stimulation of the accumulation and long-term maintenance of these HIV-reactive NK cells. CAR-NK (chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer) cells-based antiviral therapies have emerged as novel approaches with the ability of antigen recognition and more advantages than CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor-T) cells. Recent development of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived NK cells with enhanced activity and efficiency conferred a promising insight into CAR-NK cell-based therapies. Therefore, memory and CAR-NK cells-based approaches can emerge as novel strategies providing implications for HIV vaccine design and therapy