Occupational injuries in Flemish pilots in Belgium. A questionnaire survey

A questionnaire survey was conducted in Antwerp, Belgium in 2002-2004 on the factors influencing the occurance of work-related accidents and injuries in Flemish maritime pilots. 130 questionnaires were collected and analysed, and the response rate was 37,6%. The accidents reported in the questionnaire occured between 1980 and 2005, and most of them (70,7%) during the last 10 years. Various factors were taken into consideration: causes of accidents, their time and site, type of injury, human factors, transfer to ships, use of safety equipment, state of the sea, visibility, etc. The obtained results were summed up in 3 tables, and were compared with data from the literature. In this study, authors attempted to assess the importance of these various factors on the occurance of work-related accidents among pilots, and improve their prevention

Clinical procedure for colon carcinoma tissue sampling directly affects the cancer marker-capacity of VEGF family members

Background: mRNA levels of members of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor family (VEGF-A, -B, -C, -D, Placental Growth Factor/PlGF) have been investigated as tissue-based markers of colon cancer. These studies, which used specimens obtained by surgical resection or colonoscopic biopsy, yielded contradictory results. We studied the effect of the sampling method on the marker accuracy of VEGF family members. Methods: Comparative RT-qPCR analysis was performed on healthy colon and colon carcinoma samples obtained by biopsy (n = 38) or resection (n = 39) to measure mRNA expression levels of individual VEGF family members. mRNA levels of genes encoding the eicosanoid enzymes cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) and of genes encoding the hypoxia markers glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1) and carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) were included as markers for cellular stress and hypoxia. Results: Expression levels of COX2, 5-LOX, GLUT-1 and CAIX revealed the occurrence in healthy colon resection samples of hypoxic cellular stress and a concurrent increment of basal expression levels of VEGF family members. This increment abolished differential expression of VEGF-B and VEGF-C in matched carcinoma resection samples and created a surgery-induced underexpression of VEGF-D. VEGF-A and PlGF showed strong overexpression in carcinoma samples regardless of the sampling method. Conclusions: Sampling-induced hypoxia in resection samples but not in biopsy samples affects the marker-reliability of VEGF family members. Therefore, biopsy samples provide a more accurate report on VEGF family mRNA levels. Furthermore, this limited expression analysis proposes VEGF-A and PlGF as reliable, sampling procedure insensitive mRNA-markers for molecular diagnosis of colon cancer

Estimating the Incidence of Symptomatic Rotavirus Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND:We conducted for the first time a systematic review, including a meta-analysis, of the incidence of symptomatic rotavirus (RV) infections, because (1) it was shown to be an influential factor in estimating the cost-effectiveness of RV vaccination, (2) multiple community-based studies assessed it prospectively, (3) previous studies indicated, inconclusively, it might be similar around the world. METHODOLOGY:Pubmed (which includes Medline) was searched for surveys assessing prospectively symptomatic (diarrheal) episodes in a general population and situation, which also reported on the number of the episodes being tested RV+ and on the persons and the time period observed. A bias assessment tool was developed and used according to Cochrane guidelines by 4 researchers with different backgrounds. Heterogeneity was explored graphically and by comparing fits of study-homogenous 'fixed effects' and -heterogeneous 'random effects' models. Data were synthesized using these models. Sensitivity analysis for uncertainty regarding data abstraction, bias assessment and included studies was performed. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Variability between the incidences obtained from 20 studies is unlikely to be due to study groups living in different environments (tropical versus temperate climate, slums versus middle-class suburban populations), nor due to the year the study was conducted (from 1967 to 2003). A random effects model was used to incorporate unexplained heterogeneity and resulted in a global incidence estimate of 0.31 [0.19; 0.50] symptomatic RV infections per personyear of observation for children below 2 years of age, and of 0.24 [0.17; 0.34] when excluding the extreme high value of 0.84 reported for Mayan Indians in Guatemala. Apart from the inclusion/exclusion of the latter study, results were robust. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Rather than assumptions based on an ad-hoc selection of one or two studies, these pooled estimates (together with the measure for variability between populations) should be used as an input in future cost-effectiveness analyses of RV vaccination

Effectiveness of rotavirus vaccination in prevention of hospital admissions for rotavirus gastroenteritis among young children in Belgium : case-control study

Objective : To evaluate the effectiveness of rotavirus vaccination among young children in Belgium. Design : Prospective case-control study. Setting : Random sample of 39 Belgian hospitals, February 2008 to June 2010. Participants : 215 children admitted to hospital with rotavirus gastroenteritis confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and 276 age and hospital matched controls. All children were of an eligible age to have received rotavirus vaccination (that is, born after 1 October 2006 and aged >= 14 weeks). Main outcome measure : Vaccination status of children admitted to hospital with rotavirus gastroenteritis and matched controls. Results : 99 children (48%) admitted with rotavirus gastroenteritis and 244 (91%) controls had received at least one dose of any rotavirus vaccine (P= 12 months. The G2P[4] genotype accounted for 52% of cases confirmed by polymerase chain reaction with eligible matched controls. Vaccine effectiveness was 85% (64% to 94%) against G2P[4] and 95% (78% to 99%) against G1P[8]. In 25% of cases confirmed by polymerase chain reaction with eligible matched controls, there was reported co-infection with adenovirus, astrovirus and/or norovirus. Vaccine effectiveness against co-infected cases was 86% (52% to 96%). Effectiveness of at least one dose of any rotavirus vaccine (intention to vaccinate analysis) was 91% (82% to 95%). Conclusions : Rotavirus vaccination is effective for the prevention of admission to hospital for rotavirus gastroenteritis among young children in Belgium, despite the high prevalence of G2P[4] and viral co-infection

Noninvasive monitoring of radiotherapy-induced microvascular changes using dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) in a colorectal tumor model

To examine dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) with a macromolecular contrast agent (P792) to visualize effects of radiotherapy (RT) on microvascular leakage in a colorectal cancer model.Journal Articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Plus ou moins de mycotoxines en bio qu’en conventionnel ?

Ce 9 juin 2016, l’émission Pour ou contre de RTL-TVI posait la question « Manger bio est-il dangereux ? ». Si nous n’avons pas l’espace pour passer en revue l’ensemble des arguments évoqués qui mériteraient un dossier plus complet, nous voulions néanmoins revenir et faire le point scientifique sur le premier élément qui a été invoqué : les mycotoxine

Adapting a community-based ART delivery model to the patients’ needs: a mixed methods research in Tete, Mozambique

BACKGROUND: To improve retention in antiretroviral therapy (ART), lessons learned from chronic disease care were applied to HIV care, providing more responsibilities to patients in the care of their chronic disease. In Tete - Mozambique, patients stable on ART participate in the ART provision and peer support through Community ART Groups (CAG). This article analyses the evolution of the CAG-model during its implementation process. METHODS: A mixed method approach was used, triangulating qualitative and quantitative findings. The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured focus groups discussions and in-depth interviews. An inductive qualitative content analysis was applied to condense and categorise the data in broader themes. Health outcomes, patients’ and groups’ characteristics were calculated using routine collected data. We applied an ‘input – process – output’ pathway to compare the initial planned activities with the current findings. RESULTS: Input wise, the counsellors were considered key to form and monitor the groups. In the process, the main modifications found were the progressive adaptations of the daily CAG functioning and the eligibility criteria according to the patients’ needs. Beside the anticipated outputs, i.e. cost and time saving benefits and improved treatment outcomes, the model offered a mutual adherence support and protective environment to the members. The active patient involvement in several health activities in the clinics and the community resulted in a better HIV awareness, decreased stigma, improved health seeking behaviour and better quality of care. CONCLUSIONS: Over the past four years, the modifications in the CAG-model contributed to a patient empowerment and better treatment outcomes. One of the main outstanding questions is how this model will evolve in the future. Close monitoring is essential to ensure quality of care and to maintain the core objective of the CAG-model ‘facilitating access to ART care’ in a cost and time saving manner

Impact of the substitution distribution and the interlayer distance on both the surface energy and the hydration energy for Pb-montmorillonite

International audienceThe understanding of the adsorption of charged species in swelling clays is of primary importance to optimise the capture of heavy metal ions in soils. Adsorption is expected to depend on the microscopic structure of the clay, which varies strongly with the origin and history (hydration-desorption cycles, temperature ...) of the sample. Then it is necessary to evaluate the distinct interaction energies between water molecules, interlayer cations and clay surfaces, taking into account the position of the substitutions in the clay layer. Here we propose an investigation of plausible structures of some Pb-montmorillonites differing by their interlayer distances, their layer charges and the distribution of substitutions in octahedral sheet from a modelling approach, looking at the evolution of the partial charges in these structures. Using a methodology previously developed in the simpler case of alkali cations, we also estimate the surface energy in the dry state and then the details of the hydration energy for the cation and for the clay layer to interpret the capacity of ion adsorption in swelling clays to capture heavy metals. We conclude from our calculations that a cell structure with intermediate layer charge (close to 0.5 per unit cell) is probably the best candidate to allow the capture of the Pb2+ as interlayer cations considering the electrostatic effect. The hydration process of the cation appears as the most energetic part of the hydration of swelling clays compared to the interactions with the layer, but the cation mobility is limited since the hydration process is not complete. This means that the heavy metal ions, present in the interlayer space, will be unable to diffuse and will be captured in the case of a low layer charge