Using a Virtual Reality Tool to Provide Primary Prevention Training in the Construction Field Following a Periodic Medical Visit: Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The construction field is highly concerned with the risk of work-related accidents, and training employees is difficult due to their small numbers in most companies.

Objective: This study aimed to study the impact of a virtual reality (VR) training tool following a periodic occupational health medical visit on the feeling of personal effectiveness in preventing occupational risks related to co-activity on a construction site.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with employees who had a periodic medical visit between April 1, 2022, and October 13, 2022, in a French occupational health service specializing in the construction field (Services Médicaux Interentreprises Bâtiment Travaux Publics [SMIBTP]).

[End of career and end of exposure visits].

END-OF-CAREER AND END-OF-EXPOSURE VISITS Many legislative changes have been introduced in recent months concerning the activity of occupational physicians. Particular emphasis has been placed on the traceability of exposure and the resulting medical follow-up with the creation of end-of-career and end-of-exposure visits. These new features imply changes in terms of post-occupational monitoring in particular, but other appointments are obviously possible for workers in conjunction with their prevention and occupational health service.

Attitudes of cystic fibrosis patients and parents toward carrier screening and related reproductive issues.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-limiting autosomal recessive disorder affecting ~1 in 2500-4000 Caucasians. As most CF patients have no family history of the disorder, carrier screening for CF has the potential to prospectively identify couples at risk of conceiving an affected child. At-risk couples may consequently choose to act on the provided information and take steps to avoid the birth of a child with CF.

Attitudes of cystic fibrosis patients and their parents towards direct-to-consumer genetic testing for carrier status.

Background: An increasing number of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing companies have started offering tests for carrier status of autosomal recessive disorders.

Materials & Methods: A written questionnaire was administered to 47 patients and 65 parents of children with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a common severe autosomal recessive disorder, to assess their views about the offer of DTC carrier tests. All participants were recruited from a CF patient registry in Belgium.

Diamidines versus Monoamidines as Anti-Pneumocystis Agents: An in Vivo Study.

Some compounds articulated around a piperazine or an ethylenediamine linker have been evaluated in vitro to determine their activity in the presence of a 3T6 fibroblast cell line and an axenic culture of Pneumocystis carinii, respectively. The most efficient antifungal derivatives, namely N,N'-bis(benzamidine-4-yl)ethane-1,2-diamine (compound 6, a diamidine) and N-(benzamidine-4-yl)-N'-phenylethane-1,2-diamine (compound 7, a monoamidine), exhibited no cytotoxicity and were evaluated in vivo in a rat model. Only the diamidine 6 emerged as a promising hit for further studies.