Risk Assessment at the Cosmetic Product Manufacturer by Expert Judgment Method

A case study was performed in a cosmetic product manufacturer. We have identified the main risk factors of occupational accidents and their causes. Risk of accidents is assessed by the expert judgment method. Event tree for the most probable accident is built and recommendations on improvement of occupational health and safety protection system at the cosmetic product manufacturer are developed. The results of this paper can be used to develop actions to improve the occupational safety and health system in the chemical industry

Clinicopathological changes in cats with FIP and SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to people with SARS-CoV-2 infection

The diagnosis of COVID-19 in people is mostly based on the molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 in biological specimens of patients with clinical signs consistent with the disease. Haematological and hematobiochemical investigations in these patients are mostly focused on the detection and monitoring of signs consistent with the systemic inflammatory reaction (SIRS) or with the multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS) that are negative prognostic factors in sick people or of changes in blood gas analysis associated with the respiratory distress. Several case reports on cats spontaneously infected with the SARS-CoV-2 or a few cases of experimental infections have been published. However, in the large majority of cases cats were non symptomatic or had mild and self-limiting respiratory or gastrointestinal signs. Clinicopathological abnormalities were present only in those cases on which other diseases were present (e.g., lymphoma, feline retrovirus infection) and were mostly consistent with the primary underlying disease. Contrarily to SARS-CoV-2 infection in people and cats, cats affected by feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), the systemic disease induced by the feline coronavirus (FCoV), have severe haematological or biochemical changes. These changes often have a diagnostic relevance and allow to differentiate FIP from other diseases with a similar clinical presentation (i.e., Yong cats with stunted growth, jaundice, fever, neurological or ocular symptoms, and/or intracavitary effusions). These changes include: Non-regenerative, normocytic, normochromic anaemia, usually associated with microcytosis, that, however, may occur in several inflammatory or chronic diseases, and it is therefore not specific for FIP. Neutrophilic leukocytosis usually without left shift, that, however, has a poor specificity. Lymphopenia, that may be found also in other diseases, but it is particularly frequent in cats with FIP. Hyperproteinemia, hyperglobulinemia and hypoalbuminemia with subsequent inverted albumin:globulin ratio. In a young cat with the clinical signs mentioned above, this protein profile is quite diagnostic for FIP, and its specificity may be further increased by performing serum protein electrophoresis, that typically reveals an increase in alpha2 and gamma-globulins. Increased serum concentration of positive acute phase proteins, such as alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) or serum amyloid A (SAA), or decreased activity of the negative acute phase protein paraoxonase 1 (PON-1). Among these, increased AGP and decreased PON-1 have a high sensitivity and overall high accuracy for FIP. Analysis of the effusions, when present (i.e., in the so-called wet or effusive FIP): effusions from cats with FIP are typically yellow, sticky and may contain fibrin clots. The fluid usually has a high protein concentration, a high specific gravity, and a variable number of cells. Cytology reveals a nonspecific inflammatory pattern, mostly characterized by non-degenerated neutrophils, lymphocytes, and macrophages, as well as by a granular proteinaceous background. Moreover, due to the high protein concentration of the effusion, the Rivalta test is usually positive, and protein electrophoresis on effusion may reveal the same pattern described above for serum. Although, as stated above and with the exception of tests on effusions, all the changes above are not “per se” consistent with FIP. Therefore, the clinicopathological profile should be interpreted as a whole, and along with the results of molecular tests or of immunodetection of the virus in body fluids or tissues. Results consistent with FIP may support the clinical diagnosis in cats on which history and clinical signs are potentially consistent with this disease

Na-O Anticorrelation and HB. IV. Detection of He-rich and He-poor stellar populations in the globular cluster NGC 6218

We used the multifiber spectrograph FLAMES on the ESO Very Large Telescope UT2 to derive atmospheric parameters, metallicities and abundances of O and Na for 79 red giant stars in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6218 (M 12). We analyzed stars in the magnitude range from about 1 mag below the bump to the tip of the Red Giant Branch. The average metallicity we derive is [Fe/H]=-1.31+/-0.004+/-0.028 dex (random and systematic errors, respectively), with a very small star-to-star scatter (rms=0.033 dex), from moderately high-resolution Giraffe spectra. This is the first extensive spectroscopic abundance analysis in this cluster. Our results indicate that NGC 6218 is very homogeneous as far as heavy elements are concerned. On the other hand, light elements involved in the well known proton-capture reactions of H-burning at high temperature, such as O and Na, show large variations, anticorrelated with each other, at all luminosities along the red giant branch. The conclusion is that the Na-O anticorrelation must be established in early times at the cluster formation. We interpret the variation of Na found near the RGB-bump as the effect of two distinct populations having different bump luminosities, as predicted for different He content. To our knowledge, NGC 6218 is the first GC where such a signature has been spectroscopically detected, when combined with consistent and homogeneous data obtained for NGC 6752 to gain in statistical significance.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures; fig.5 degraded in resolution; tables 2,3,5 available at CDS. Accepted for publication on A&

The Luminosity Function of M3

We present a high precision, large sample luminosity function (LF) for the Galactic globular cluster M3. With a combination of ground based and Hubble Space Telescope data we cover the entire radial extent of the cluster. The observed LF is well fit by canonical standard stellar models from the red giant branch (RGB) tip to below the main sequence turnoff point. Specifically, neither the RGB LF-bump nor subgiant branch LF indicate any breakdown in the standard models. On the main sequence we find evidence for a flat initial mass function and for mass segregation due to the dynamical evolution of the cluster.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures. ApJ, in pres

Identification of Protein Carbonyls (PCOs) in canine serum by Western Blot Techinque and preliminary evaluation of PCO concentration in dogs with systemic inflammation

In people, serum Protein Carbonyls (PCOs) increase during oxidative stress (OS) due to oxidative damage to proteins. OS is often associated with inflammation and especially with sepsis, a condition hard to diagnose in veterinary medicine because reliable markers are lacking. The aim of this study was to assess whether PCOs in canine serum may be detected by antibody-based methods such as Western Blotting (WB), and to preliminarily investigate the possible utility of this marker in dogs with inflammation. A serum sample oxidized in vitro was used to set up the method; the coefficient of variation obtained by repeated analysis varied from 24 to 36%. In order to assess whether the technique may cover the range of PCOs concentration detectable in routine practice, PCOs were measured in 4 healthy dogs and in 15 with inflammatory diseases, in some cases potentially associated with sepsis, as suggested by the results of other inflammatory markers such as C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and the anti-oxidant enzyme Paraoxonase 1 (PON-1): the concentration of PCOs was low in dogs with normal PON-1 activity, moderately increased in the majority of dogs with low-normal PON-1 activity, and severely increased in dogs with very low PON-1 activity. In conclusion this study demonstrates that PCOs, may be detected in canine serum, using antibody-based techniques such as WB. The preliminary results in dogs with and without systemic inflammation encourage further studies on the possible role of PCOs as inflammatory markers

Evaluation of the analytical variability of dipstick protein pads in canine urine

BackgroundThe dipstick is a first-line and inexpensive test that can exclude the presence of proteinuria in dogs. However, no information is available about the analytical variability of canine urine dipstick analysis. ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the analytical variability in 2 dipsticks and the inter-operator variability in dipstick interpretation. MethodsCanine urine supernatants (n = 174) were analyzed with 2 commercially available dipsticks. Two observers evaluated each result blinded to the other observer and to the results of the other dipstick. Intra- and inter-assay variability was assessed in 5 samples (corresponding to the 5 different semi-quantitative results) tested 10 consecutive times over 5 consecutive days. The agreement between observers and between dipsticks was evaluated with Cohen's k test. ResultsIntra-assay repeatability was good (3/10 errors), whereas inter-assay variability was higher (from 1/5 to 4/5 discordant results). The concordance between the operators (k = 0.68 and 0.79 for the 2 dipsticks) and that of the dipsticks (k = 0.66 and 0.74 for the 2 operators) was good. However, 1 observer and 1 dipstick overestimated the results compared with the second observer or dipstick. In any case, discordant results accounted for a single unit of the semi-quantitative scale. ConclusionsAs for any other method, analytic variability may affect the semi-quantitation of urinary proteins when using the dipstick method. Subjective interpretation of the pad and, to a lesser extent, intrinsic staining properties of the pads could affect the results. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the effect of this variability on clinical decisions

Human reliability in the petroleum industry: A case study of the Petro-HRA method

acceptedVersio