Blue Bounty: Italy's Dual-Use Solution for Crab Invasion, Nutritional Value, Safety, and Valorization.

In the past few years, non-native blue crab has been expanding its range in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas. However, when non-indigenous species establish a lasting presence in a novel ecosystem and actively expand into other regions, posing potential risks to local biodiversity and economic harm, they are classified as invasive species. For this study, two different batches of blue crabs were collected: one from the Mediterranean Sea and the other from the Adriatic coast area.

Allergic Sensitization and Psychosomatic Involvement in Outdoor and Indoor Workers: A Preliminary and Explorative Survey of Motorway Toll Collectors and Office Employees.

The incidence of respiratory and cutaneous allergic disorders may be variable if we consider work activity. These disorders are reported in the current literature to have a relevant psychosomatic involvement. The aim of the study was to submit a survey on the self-reported occurrence of allergic respiratory and cutaneous diseases in outdoor and indoor workers to verify the onset or exacerbations of such pathologies, encourage surveillance, and suggest the need for further studies.

Novel Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Monitoring of Immune Thrombocytopenia.

Lower-than-normal platelet counts are a hallmark of the acquired autoimmune illness known as immune thrombocytopenia, which can affect both adults and children. Immune thrombocytopenia patients' care has evolved significantly in recent years, but the disease's diagnosis has not, and it is still only clinically achievable with the elimination of other causes of thrombocytopenia. The lack of a valid biomarker or gold-standard diagnostic test, despite ongoing efforts to find one, adds to the high rate of disease misdiagnosis.

Age-Related Diseases and Foods Generating Chlorinative Stress.

Background: Aging is a slow and inexorable process affecting all life beings and is characterised by age-related worsening in adaptation to external changes. Several factors contribute to such a process, and oxidative stress due to external damages is one key player. Of particular interest is the oxidative stress generated from halogen compounds such as chloride.

Upper Limb Disorders in Catering Workers.

Background: The literature reports that catering workers are exposed to various occupational health hazardsé.

Objective: This study aims to assess a cohort of catering workers in relation to upper limb disorders, thus contributing to the quantification of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in this occupational sector.

Methods: Here, 500 employees, of which 130 were males and 370 were females, with an overall mean age of 50.

Assessing the Impact of Work Activities on the Physiological Load in a Sample of Loggers in Sicily (Italy).

Occupational logging activities expose workers to a wide range of risk factors, such as lifting heavy loads, prolonged, awkward positioning of the lower back, repetitive movements, and insufficient work pauses. Body posture has an important impact on the level of physiological load. The present study involved a group of 40 loggers in the province of Enna (Sicily, Italy) with the aim of defining the impact of logging activities on the workers' physiological strain during the three primary work tasks of felling, delimbing, and bucking.

Occupational hand and wrist disorders among forestry workers: An exposed-control study to investigate preventive strategies.

Background: In the arboriculture sector, some activities are still manually performed by forestry workers, which result consequently exposed to a high risk of developing muscle skeletal disorders. The Italian Compensation Authority reported an increase of work-related tendinopathies and carpal tunnel syndrome in loggers, but screening protocols are not available yet.

Objectives: The objectives were: a) to evaluate the prevalence of tendinopathies and carpal tunnel syndrome in a sample of loggers and b) identify a sound screening approach.

Processionary caterpillar reactions in Southern Italy forestry workers: description of three cases.

Background: Processionary caterpillar (PC), also named Thaumatopea pityocampa, has been reported to cause hypersensitivity reactions after contact with a toxin contained in hair-like bristles which cover this insect. Occupational exposure to PC is underestimated in outdoor workers and especially in forestry workers (FW) and is globally diffusing because of rising temperatures.

Cases Presentation: We present the first three cases of FW from Sicily, a Southern Italy (SI) region, which reported hypersensitivity reactions due to exposure to PC infested trees.

Hand-Wrist Disorders in Chainsaw Operators: A Follow-Up Study in a Group of Italian Loggers.

Despite the mechanization process implemented in arboriculture, logging tasks are still manually performed by chainsaw operators, which therefore are exposed to the risk of developing hand-wrist musculoskeletal disorders. Our research aimed to: (a) define whether the slight changes observed in 2017 showed an evolution to overt diseases; (b) study some risk determinants for these diseases such as age, working experience, and performing a secondary job. We recruited in a two-year follow-up study, 38 male forestry workers performing logging tasks employed in the Sicilian Forestry Department located in Enna.

Formaldehyde Exposure and Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Review of the Literature.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate associations between cumulative and peak formaldehyde exposure and occurrence of acute myeloid leukemia. A comprehensive search was performed using the PubMed and Embase databases. We included studies presenting information about the role of formaldehyde in leukemic occurrence and mortality risk.

Equilibrium disorders in workers exposed to mixed solvents.

. Organic solvents cause diseases of the vestibular system. However, little is known regarding the correlation between vestibular damage and exposure to organic solvents below threshold limit values.

Occupational exposure to anaesthetic gases and high-frequency audiometry.

Objectives: Occupational exposure to anaestethic gases has been suggested to induce auditory damages. The aim of this study is to investigate high-frequency audiometric responses in subjects exposed to anaesthetic gases, in order to highlight the possible effects on auditory system.

Methods: The study was performed on a sample of 30 medical specialists of Messina University Anaesthesia and Intensive care.

Interleukin-10 involvement in exposure to low dose of benzene.

Objective: To establish if serum levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10) in subjects exposed to benzene are connected with age, working years, and employment age.

Methods: We evaluated serum levels of IL-10 in 51 employees working in oil refinery (group A) and in 16 office workers who resided in the same area (group B).

Results: There was no statistically significant difference between serum concentrations of IL-10 in groups A and B.

Neurocognitive effects in welders exposed to aluminium.

Objectives: Various authors who studied the effects of aluminium (Al) exposure on the neurocognitive system in the last 30 years have reached different and often contradictory conclusions. The aim of this study is to help clarify the effects that the metal causes on cognitive ability in a group of naval welders exposed to Al.

Methods: The study was performed on a sample of 86 male Al welders in a shipyard in Messina.

Serum levels of copper, selenium and manganese in forestry workers testing IgG positive for Brucella, Borrelia, and Rickettsia.

The aim of this study is to measure the alterations in the trace levels of serum copper (Cu), selenium (Se), and manganese (Mn) in forestry workers testing immunoglobulin G (IgG)-positive for Brucella, Borrelia, and Rickettsia. The study was conducted on a sample of 758 subjects (560 male and 198 female). All the subjects underwent medical examinations, which investigated particularly the presence of clinical signs compatible with zoonoses, and routine blood tests from venous blood sample, which tested previous immunisation versus cited microorganisms and serum concentration of Cu, Se, and Mn.

Changes induced by exposure of the human lung to glass fiber-reinforced plastic.

The inhalation of glass dusts mixed in resin, generally known as glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GRP), represents a little-studied occupational hazard. The few studies performed have highlighted nonspecific lung disorders in animals and in humans. In the present study we evaluated the alteration of the respiratory system and the pathogenic mechanisms causing the changes in a group of working men employed in different GRP processing operations and exposed to production dusts.

Influence of environmental factors on the evolution of industrial noise-induced hearing loss.

The aim of the study is to investigate how environmental factors, associated with exposure to industrial noise, affect the development of chronic noise-induced hearing loss. The study was conducted on 186 male subjects working in two bottling plants, situated respectively in a small farming community, and in a medium-sized city with significant levels of noise pollution. Levels of occupational exposure were the same for the two groups.