Corrosion-Related Accidents in Petroleum Refineries: Lessons learned from accidents in EU and OECD countries

Petroleum refineries are generally acknowledged to be high hazard sites due to the nature of petroleum products and the processing technologies that produce them in the current era. For the most part, however, the risks are well-known and refinery operators have applied considerable knowledge and resources over the past decades to control and minimize risk potential. Nonetheless, major accidents in refineries tend to regularly occur with impacts not only on human health and the environment, but also in many cases on social and economic well-being. A recurring cause of accidents in petroleum refineries is well-known to be corrosion. This report studies corrosion-related accidents in refineries within the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), comparing accident occurring before and after 2000 and with the view to providing insights into recent causal trends and identifying lessons learned that could influence prevention strategies in future. The report highlights process and equipment conditions and potential risk management failures that were cited in 99 different corrosion-related accidents occurring between 1965 and 2008. In particular, the study provides some evidence to confirm concerns among experts in both government and industry that the risk of corrosion failures causing major accidents in EU and OECD countries remains a strong area of concern. The aim of this analysis is to aid particular inspectors by providing a concise summary of refinery corrosion hazards and examples of how they have been manifested in past accidents. The findings may be also useful to operators in renewing aspects of their risk management strategy or training personnel on how to recognize and evaluate potential corrosion risks.JRC.G.6-Security technology assessmen

Strategy for Capacity Building on Chemical Accident Prevention and Preparedness Programmes in EU Neighbourhood Countries

The European Union established the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in 2004 to promote an area of peace, stability and prosperity in its immediate neighbourhood with the Countries to the East (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) and to the South (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, and Tunisia). It aims at developing tighter and more beneficial relations between the EU and her neighbours in political, economic and cultural domains, and in particular on security matters, as well as extending and enhancing current existing cooperation frameworks in order to reduce the likelihood of any new divide appearing. The strengthening of the safety and security with the EU Neighbourhood Countries, also from an economical and resources sharing angle, is identified as a great strategic priority by the European Commission and the EU and is an issue that has acquired a more relevant importance following the latest developments in some of these countries. One particular area of shared concern is the control of chemical accident risks. The Seveso Directive has existed as legislation in the European Union since 1982 and holds a long history of regulatory responses aimed at controlling sites where dangerous substances are processed and stored and where accidents may result in fatalities and serious injury to people or damage to the environment. As such, there is considerable logic in accelerating implementation of a Seveso approach in Neighbourhood Countries to continue the momentum towards Seveso becoming a standard approach to chemical accident prevention and preparedness worldwide. For this reason, the Civil Protection Mechanism 2014-2020 (Decision No. 1313/2013 of the European Parliament), managed under DG-ECHO, introduced a new initiative, Seveso Capacity Building in EU Neighbourhood Countries strategy to collaborate with its neighbours on strengthening chemical accident prevention and preparedness programmes. The Joint Research Centre’s Major Accident Hazard Bureau is leading the implementation of this initiative on behalf of DG-ECHO. The JRC therefore has analysed its own experience in capacity building, conducted research and sought expert feedback to produce this strategy document for the initiative. This report presents the final strategy that is the outcome of this process.JRC.G.5-Security technology assessmen

Development and validation of combined symptom‐medication scores for allergic rhinitis*

Background: Validated combined symptom-medication scores (CSMSs) are needed to investigate the effects of allergic rhinitis treatments. This study aimed to use real-life data from the MASK-air® app to generate and validate hypothesis- and data-driven CSMSs. Methods: We used MASK-air® data to assess the concurrent validity, test-retest reliability and responsiveness of one hypothesis-driven CSMS (modified CSMS: mCSMS), one mixed hypothesis- and data-driven score (mixed score), and several data-driven CSMSs. The latter were generated with MASK-air® data following cluster analysis and regression models or factor analysis. These CSMSs were compared with scales measuring (i) the impact of rhinitis on work productivity (visual analogue scale [VAS] of work of MASK-air® , and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment: Allergy Specific [WPAI-AS]), (ii) quality-of-life (EQ-5D VAS) and (iii) control of allergic diseases (Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test [CARAT]). Results: We assessed 317,176 days of MASK-air® use from 17,780 users aged 16-90 years, in 25 countries. The mCSMS and the factor analyses-based CSMSs displayed poorer validity and responsiveness compared to the remaining CSMSs. The latter displayed moderate-to-strong correlations with the tested comparators, high test-retest reliability and moderate-to-large responsiveness. Among data-driven CSMSs, a better performance was observed for cluster analyses-based CSMSs. High accuracy (capacity of discriminating different levels of rhinitis control) was observed for the latter (AUC-ROC = 0.904) and for the mixed CSMS (AUC-ROC = 0.820). Conclusion: The mixed CSMS and the cluster-based CSMSs presented medium-high validity, reliability and accuracy, rendering them as candidates for primary endpoints in future rhinitis trials

Development and validation of combined symptom-medication scores for allergic rhinitis*

Background Validated combined symptom-medication scores (CSMSs) are needed to investigate the effects of allergic rhinitis treatments. This study aimed to use real-life data from the MASK-air(R) app to generate and validate hypothesis- and data-driven CSMSs. Methods We used MASK-air(R) data to assess the concurrent validity, test-retest reliability and responsiveness of one hypothesis-driven CSMS (modified CSMS: mCSMS), one mixed hypothesis- and data-driven score (mixed score), and several data-driven CSMSs. The latter were generated with MASK-air(R) data following cluster analysis and regression models or factor analysis. These CSMSs were compared with scales measuring (i) the impact of rhinitis on work productivity (visual analogue scale [VAS] of work of MASK-air(R), and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment: Allergy Specific [WPAI-AS]), (ii) quality-of-life (EQ-5D VAS) and (iii) control of allergic diseases (Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test [CARAT]). Results We assessed 317,176 days of MASK-air(R) use from 17,780 users aged 16-90 years, in 25 countries. The mCSMS and the factor analyses-based CSMSs displayed poorer validity and responsiveness compared to the remaining CSMSs. The latter displayed moderate-to-strong correlations with the tested comparators, high test-retest reliability and moderate-to-large responsiveness. Among data-driven CSMSs, a better performance was observed for cluster analyses-based CSMSs. High accuracy (capacity of discriminating different levels of rhinitis control) was observed for the latter (AUC-ROC = 0.904) and for the mixed CSMS (AUC-ROC = 0.820). Conclusion The mixed CSMS and the cluster-based CSMSs presented medium-high validity, reliability and accuracy, rendering them as candidates for primary endpoints in future rhinitis trials.Peer reviewe

Molecular regulation of auditory hair cell death and approaches to protect sensory receptor cells and/or stimulate repair following acoustic trauma

International audienceLoss of auditory sensory hair cells (HCs) is the most common cause of hearing loss. This review addresses the signaling pathways that are involved in the programmed and necrotic cell death of auditory HCs that occur in response to ototoxic and traumatic stressor events. The roles of inflammatory processes, oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, cell death receptors, members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal pathway and pro- and anti-cell death members of the Bcl-2 family are explored. The molecular interaction of these signal pathways that initiates the loss of auditory HCs following acoustic trauma is covered and possible therapeutic interventions that may protect these sensory HCs from loss via apoptotic or non-apoptotic cell death are explored

2019 ARIA Care pathways for allergen immunotherapy

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is a proven therapeutic option for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and/or asthma. Many guidelines or national practice guidelines have been produced but the evidence-based method varies, many are complex and none propose care pathways. This paper reviews care pathways for AIT using strict criteria and provides simple recommendations that can be used by all stakeholders including healthcare professionals. The decision to prescribe AIT for the patient should be individualized and based on the relevance of the allergens, the persistence of symptoms despite appropriate medications according to guidelines as well as the availability of good-quality and efficacious extracts. Allergen extracts cannot be regarded as generics. Immunotherapy is selected by specialists for stratified patients. There are no currently available validated biomarkers that can predict AIT success. In adolescents and adults, AIT should be reserved for patients with moderate/severe rhinitis or for those with moderate asthma who, despite appropriate pharmacotherapy and adherence, continue to exhibit exacerbations that appear to be related to allergen exposure, except in some specific cases. Immunotherapy may be even more advantageous in patients with multimorbidity. In children, AIT may prevent asthma onset in patients with rhinitis. mHealth tools are promising for the stratification and follow-up of patients.Peer reviewe