Predictors of the return to work for pregnant employees on preventive leave: Patients from an occupational medicine consultation in Switzerland.

According to the Swiss legislation on maternity protection in the workplace (OProMa), if pregnant workers are exposed to occupational hazards and no protective measures are taken, a gynecologist will prescribe a certificate of preventive leave and the women must stop working. Returning to work is only possible if job adjustments are made. This study aims to evaluate the burden of absences on companies and to examine the predictors of the return to work for pregnant workers on preventive leave, by examining both the probability of return to work and the time required to return to work.

A narrative review on factors associated with job interruption during pregnancy.

Most women continue to work during pregnancy. However, some of them have to stop working before giving birth. Absence from work poses several challenges for employers and employees, as well as for society.

Gender and work in ergonomics: recent trends.

Since the establishment of the Gender and Work Technical Committee (TC) of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) in 2006, many researchers have addressed the role of sex and gender in ergonomics, producing a great deal of new information. This special issue aims to present new ways of viewing women's work and gender differences in work-related injury risks in an era of rapidly changing labour market configurations. It offers innovative methods for integrating sex and gender into ergonomic analysis and for designing work environments.

[Protection of pregnant and breastfeeding workers in Switzerland: a practical guide].

Specific working conditions may endanger pregnant women's and their children's health. Switzerland has specific legislation for the protection of pregnant and breastfeeding employees. However, the implementation of these provisions presents important shortcomings.

Small Things Matter: The 11.6-kDa TraB Protein is Crucial for Antibiotic Resistance Transfer Among Enterococci.

Conjugative transfer is the most important means for spreading antibiotic resistance genes. It is used by Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and archaea as well. Conjugative transfer is mediated by molecular membrane-spanning nanomachines, so called Type 4 Secretion Systems (T4SS).

Midwives and protection of pregnant workers in Western Switzerland: Practices, difficulties and contributions.

Background: Switzerland's maternity protection legislation aims to protect the health of pregnant employees and their unborn children by regulating their potential occupational exposure to hazards and strenuous activities. This legislation provides a role for obstetricians, but not for midwives.

Aims: Identify the practices of Switzerland's French-speaking midwives that favour the implementation of maternity protection legislation and reflect on the profession's role in supporting pregnant employees.

Evolution of gynaecologists' practices regarding the implementation of Swiss legislation on maternity protection at work between 2008 and 2017.

Background: In accordance with the International Labour Organization’s Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183) and European Union Directive 92/857CEE (1992), Switzerland’s Labour Law and its Maternity Protection Ordinance (OProMa) aim to protect the health of pregnant employees and their future children while enabling them to pursue their working activities. Gynaecologists-obstetricians have a key role in this legislation, particularly through the prescription of preventive leave for patients who would otherwise face dangerous or arduous tasks in the absence of an adequate risk analysis or suitable protective measures.

Implementation of the Swiss ordinance on maternity protection at work in companies in French-speaking Switzerland.

Background: Switzerland's Ordinance on Maternity Protection at Work (OProMa) requires that companies take the necessary measures to ensure that pregnant employees can continue working without danger.

Objective: To investigate the extent of compliance with OProMa within companies in French-speaking Switzerland as well as factors which facilitate and obstruct the ordinance's implementation.

Methods: A stratified random telephone survey of 202 companies from the healthcare and food industry was conducted.

Implementation of maternity protection legislation: Gynecologists' perceptions and practices in French-speaking Switzerland.

Background: In several countries, maternity protection legislations (MPL) confer an essential role to gynecologist-obstetricians (OBGYNs) for the protection of pregnant workers and their future children from occupational exposures. This study explores OBGYNs' practices and difficulties in implementing MPL in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Methods: An online survey was sent to 333 OBGYNs.

"They say we have a choice, but we don't": A gendered reflection on work-family strategies and planning systems of atypical schedules within male-dominated occupations in Canada and Switzerland.

For parents working in the transportation industry, atypical schedules are often a daily puzzle. Schedule planning systems allowing workers to choose shifts may affect job strenuousness and work-family balance (WFB) for both female and male workers. How could ergonomic interventions related to the implementation of those systems better consider gender dynamics regarding WFB strategies, and minimize inequities among workers? This article presents a joint analysis of two independent case studies related to ergonomic interventions in transport companies in Canada and Switzerland.

Implementation, mechanisms and effects of maternity protection legislation: a realist narrative review of the literature.

Purpose: Most industrialized countries have introduced maternity protection legislation (MPL) to protect the health of pregnant workers and their unborn children from workplace exposure. This review aimed to assess this legislation's level of implementation, barriers and facilitators to it, and its expected or unexpected effects.

Methods: A realist narrative review was conducted.

TraN: A novel repressor of an Enterococcus conjugative type IV secretion system.

The dissemination of multi-resistant bacteria represents an enormous burden on modern healthcare. Plasmid-borne conjugative transfer is the most prevalent mechanism, requiring a type IV secretion system that enables bacteria to spread beneficial traits, such as resistance to last-line antibiotics, among different genera. Inc18 plasmids, like the Gram-positive broad host-range plasmid pIP501, are substantially involved in propagation of vancomycin resistance from Enterococci to methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus.

Protection of pregnant women at work in Switzerland: practices, obstacles and resources. A mixed-methods study protocol.

Introduction: Like most industrialised countries, Switzerland has introduced legislation to protect the health of pregnant workers and their unborn children from workplace exposure. This legislation provides for a risk assessment, adaptations to workplaces and, if the danger is not eliminated, preventive leave (prescribed by a gynaecologist). This study's first objective is to analyse the degree to which companies, gynaecologists and midwives implement the law.

Targeting Type IV Secretion System Proteins to Combat Multidrug-Resistant Gram-positive Pathogens.

For many gram-positive pathogens, conjugative plasmid transfer is an important means of spreading antibiotic resistance . Therefore, the search for alternative treatments to fight and prevent infections caused by these bacteria has become of major interest. In the present study, we evaluated the protein TraM, from the conjugative plasmid pIP501, as a potential vaccine candidate.

Conjugative type IV secretion in Gram-positive pathogens: TraG, a lytic transglycosylase and endopeptidase, interacts with translocation channel protein TraM.

Conjugative transfer plays a major role in the transmission of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. pIP501 is a Gram-positive conjugative model plasmid with the broadest transfer host-range known so far and is frequently found in Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium clinical isolates. The pIP501 type IV secretion system is encoded by 15 transfer genes.

VirB8-like protein TraH is crucial for DNA transfer in Enterococcus faecalis.

Untreatable bacterial infections caused by a perpetual increase of antibiotic resistant strains represent a serious threat to human healthcare in the 21(st) century. Conjugative DNA transfer is the most important mechanism for antibiotic resistance and virulence gene dissemination among bacteria and is mediated by a protein complex, known as type IV secretion system (T4SS). The core of the T4SS is a multiprotein complex that spans the bacterial envelope as a channel for macromolecular secretion.

In vitro antibacterial and chemical properties of essential oils including native plants from Brazil against pathogenic and resistant bacteria.

The antimicrobials products from plants have increased in importance due to the therapeutic potential in the treatment of infectious diseases. Therefore, we aimed to examine the chemical characterisation (GC-MS) of essential oils (EO) from seven plants and measure antibacterial activities against bacterial strains isolated from clinical human specimens (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and sensitive (MSSA), Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella Typhimurium) and foods (Salmonella Enteritidis). Assays were performed using the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC and MIC90%) (mg/mL) by agar dilution and time kill curve methods (log CFU/mL) to aiming synergism between EO.

Essential oils from herbs against foodborne pathogens in chicken sausage.

Consumption of chicken meat and its products, especially sausage, have increased in recent years. However, this product is susceptible to microbial contamination during manufacturing, which compromises its shelf life. The flavoring and preservative activities of essential oils (EO) have been recognized and the application of these antimicrobial agents as natural active compounds in food preservation has shown promise.

Pathway deregulation and expression QTLs in response to Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection in swine.

Actinobacillus (A.) pleuropneumoniae is among the most important pathogens in pig. The agent causes severe economic losses due to decreased performance, the occurrence of acute or chronic pleuropneumonia, and an increase in death incidence.

Effects of paracetamol on NOS, COX, and CYP activity and on oxidative stress in healthy male subjects, rat hepatocytes, and recombinant NOS.

Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is a widely used analgesic drug. It interacts with various enzyme families including cytochrome P450 (CYP), cyclooxygenase (COX), and nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and this interplay may produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). We investigated the effects of paracetamol on prostacyclin, thromboxane, nitric oxide (NO), and oxidative stress in four male subjects who received a single 3 g oral dose of paracetamol.

Identification of QTL affecting resistance/susceptibility to acute Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection in swine.

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is among the most important pathogens worldwide in pig production. The agent can cause severe economic losses due to decreased performance, acute or chronic pleuropneumonia and an increased incidence of death. Therapeutics cannot be used in a sustainable manner, and vaccination is not always available, but discovering more about host defence and disease mechanisms might lead to new methods of prophylaxis.

TraG encoded by the pIP501 type IV secretion system is a two-domain peptidoglycan-degrading enzyme essential for conjugative transfer.

pIP501 is a conjugative broad-host-range plasmid frequently present in nosocomial Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium isolates. We focus here on the functional analysis of the type IV secretion gene traG, which was found to be essential for pIP501 conjugative transfer between Gram-positive bacteria. The TraG protein, which localizes to the cell envelope of E.

Role of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide in adult rat hepatocytes proliferating in vitro: Effects of CAS 1609.

During liver regeneration in vivo carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxide (NO) are supposed to play a significant role. We raise the question whether CO and NO are involved in the growth process of cultured hepatocytes. Rat hepatocytes were stimulated into proliferation, growth being estimated by DNA content, mRNA by quantitative RT-PCR, and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) activity by GC-MS.

Characterization of the porcine transferrin gene (TF) and its association with disease severity following an experimental Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection.

Transferrin (TF)-mediated provision of iron is essential for a productive infection by many bacterial pathogens, and iron-depletion of TF is a first line defence against bacterial infections. Therefore, the transferrin (TF) gene can be considered a candidate gene for disease resistance. We obtained the complete DNA sequence of the porcine TF gene, which spans 40 kb and contains 17 exons.