Evaluation of the Anti-Spike (RDB) IgG Titer among Workers Employed at the University of Pisa Vaccinated with Different Types of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines.

With the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, many authors started evaluating the immunization efficacy of the available vaccines mainly through sero-positivity tests or by a quantitative assessment of the IgG against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus in vaccinated subjects. In this work, we compared the titers resulting from vaccination and tried to understand the potential factors affecting the immune response to the available SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. This study was conducted on 670 volunteers employed at the University of Pisa and undergoing a health surveillance program at the University Hospital of Pisa.

Phenotyping Occupational Asthma Caused by Acrylates in a Multicenter Cohort Study.

Background: While acrylates are well-known skin sensitizers, they are not classified as respiratory sensitizers although several cases of acrylate-induced occupational asthma (OA) have been reported.

Objective: To evaluate the characteristics of acrylate-induced OA in a large series of cases and compare those with OA induced by other low-molecular-weight (LMW) agents.

Methods: Jobs and exposures, clinical and functional characteristics, and markers of airway inflammation were analyzed in an international, multicenter, retrospective cohort of subjects with OA ascertained by a positive inhalation challenge to acrylates (n = 55) or other LMW agents (n = 418) including isocyanates (n = 125).

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Severe Occupational Asthma: Insights From a Multicenter European Cohort.

Background: Although sensitizer-induced occupational asthma (OA) accounts for an appreciable fraction of adult asthma, the severity of OA has received little attention.

Objective: The aim of this study was to characterize the burden and determinants of severe OA in a large multicenter cohort of subjects with OA.

Methods: This retrospective study included 997 subjects with OA ascertained by a positive specific inhalation challenge completed in 20 tertiary centers in 11 European countries during the period 2006 to 2015.

Are high- and low-molecular-weight sensitizing agents associated with different clinical phenotypes of occupational asthma?

Background: High-molecular-weight (HMW) proteins and low-molecular-weight (LMW) chemicals can cause occupational asthma (OA) although few studies have thoroughly compared the clinical, physiological, and inflammatory patterns associated with these different types of agents. The aim of this study was to determine whether OA induced by HMW and LMW agents shows distinct phenotypic profiles.

Methods: Clinical and functional characteristics, and markers of airway inflammation were analyzed in an international, multicenter, retrospective cohort of subjects with OA ascertained by a positive inhalation challenge response to HMW (n = 544) and LMW (n = 635) agents.

[Effects of the work limitations on the career path of a cohort of health workers].

Background: The median age of the workforce, and of healthcare workers in particular, is increasing, resulting in a reduced work capacity. This may prompt the occupational physician to issue fitness for work limitations.

Objectives: To examine the health surveillance data collected over 20 years on the employees of a large healthcare institution to identify the effects of the limitations imposed on their career paths.

Work-related asthma in a sample of subjects with established asthma.

Objective: To assess the impact of occupational exposure to irritants or sensitizers on the occurrence, recrudescence and worsening of asthma and to identify unrecognized cases of work related asthma (WRA) including Work-Exacerbated Asthma (WEA) and Occupational Asthma (OA), in a general asthma clinic population sample.

Setting, Design And Participants: The study was a population-based cross sectional survey. 1289 asthmatic subjects (from 15 to 46 yrs old) living in a vast district of Tuscany (Italy) were identified from the Medical Reimbursement Register of the National Health System.

[The post-mortem external examination in Italy: critical issues and perspectives].

The purpose of the postmortem external examination is to ascertain death and authorize burial. Requirements regarding external postmortem examinations and the tasks of physicians having this specific duty, vary in different regions of Italy. In this study, we analyzed the rationale and role of physicians performing post mortem external examinations.

Sputum eosinophilia is a determinant of FEV1 decline in occupational asthma: results of an observational study.

Objective: To evaluate the potential determinants of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) decline in workers with occupational asthma (OA) still exposed to the causative agent. We hypothesised that sputum eosinophilia might be a predictor of poor asthma outcome after diagnosis.

Setting, Design And Participants: In a specialistic clinical centre of the University Hospital of Pisa, we studied 39 participants (28 M, 11 F) diagnosed as having OA, routinely followed up between 1990 and 2009.

[The Health Surveillance database of a large hospital enterprise: a 20-year analysis].

To evaluate the aging of the working population and its effects, a 20 years observational study was conducted on health surveillance data of a large healthcare company. The data showed a gradual increase in the mean age of workers, especially among subjects with restrictions/requirements regarding their job title. If no preventive/corrective measures are taken, the socio-economnic situation will get worse with economic and social damages.

[Burden of disease of occupational asthma in Tuscany: methodological aspects and preliminary results].

In Italy, unlike in other European countries, the public health burden of work-related asthma (WRA) has not yet be defined by means of a standardized validated epidemiological metric. The aim of the present study is to describe the methodology for the calculation of the Burden of Disease of WRA in Tuscany on the grounds of available healthcare and health survey data. The paper is particularly intended to illustrate the methodological approach to estimate the prevalence of the disease.

Mild improvement in symptoms and pulmonary function in a long-term follow-up of patients with toluene diisocyanate-induced asthma.

Background: Long-term follow-up of diisocyanate-induced occupational asthma has been occasionally reported.

Methods: We studied the outcome of toluene diisocyanate (TDI)-induced asthma in 46 patients at diagnosis and after a follow-up of 11 ± 3.6 years.

May the reduction of exposure to specific sensitizers be an alternative to work cessation in occupational asthma? Results from a follow-up study.

Background: Few data are reported on the effects of a reduction of exposure to specific sensitizers in occupational asthma (OA). The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome of subjects with OA, comparing the effect of a reduction with that of the persistence or cessation of occupational exposure to the specific sensitizer.

Subjects And Methods: Forty-one subjects with OA due to different sensitizers were diagnosed via a specific inhalation challenge.

Comparison between Airway Responses to High versus Low Molecular Weight Compounds in Occupational Asthma.

Occupational asthma (OA) is a heterogeneous disease, and the characteristics of the sensitizer responsible for OA may induce different clinical, functional, and biological manifestations. We examined the characteristics of 74 patients with OA induced by low molecular weight compounds (LMWC) or by high molecular weight compounds (HMWC) and diagnosed by specific inhalation challenge (SIC). Patients with OA induced by LMWC had a longer occupational exposure before the beginning of symptoms, a lower sputum eosinophilia, and a higher prevalence of late airway response (LAR), in comparison with patients with OA induced by HMWC.

Sequential sensitization to different occupational compounds in a young woman.

Background: Very few authors have reported sensitization to two or more different occupational sensitizers in a single patient.

Objective: To describe a subject with occupational asthma caused by sensitization to two different agents, exposure to which occurred in dierent time periods.

Methods: We studied a young woman with asthma-like symptoms predominantly in relationship to a sequential occupational exposure, first to methylene diisocyanate (MDI) and later to flour dust.

[The occupational and active research, diagnosis and reporting of occupational diseases].

The Occupational Doctor plays a key role on the protection of workers safety and prevention of occupational and work-related disease. His training and his need of updating, due to the constant transformation of work, the evolution of technology and the medical progress, set him in the center of all activities carried out to protect health in workplaces. The Occupational Doctor should devote special attention to the working anamnesis as well as to the pathological anamnesis both close and remote.

[Silica risk in construction industry: an investigation on raw materials].

Typical construction activities like demolition, excavation and sanding can expose workers to silica, but there are few investigations carried out with the aim of evaluating the silica content in raw materials used for these activities (mortars, plasters, cement...

[Epidemiologic surveillance in occupational bladder cancer: a Tuscan experience].

The percentage of bladder cancer as occupational disease in West-Europe is of 5/10%, but only a few amount of them are recognized as occupational disease from INAIL. The above mentioned research project is realized in order to decrease the gap between expected and claimed cases of occupational disease and it is conducted with the collaboration of ASL of Pisa, ASL of Empoli, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana and INAIL. 677 patients with bladder cancer were interviewed by phone, among them 64 subjects had a working experience compatible with neoplastic risks because had a previous occupational exposure to aromatic amines and metal working fluids.

One-year longitudinal study of young apprentices exposed to airway occupational sensitizers.

Background: The prevalence of diagnosed asthma and wheezing in young subjects is increasing; among environmental risk factors, occupational exposure can play a relevant role.

Study Objectives: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of occupational exposure to a large variety of irritants and/or sensitizers on the incidence of respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function impairment in a group of young apprentices during the first year of work exposure, and to determine the prevalence of asthma-like symptoms and the role of different risk factors (gender, smoking habit, atopy and occupational exposure) in this young population.

Design And Methods: We studied 448 young apprentices at the first pre-employment evaluation with a standardized questionnaire, spirometry and skin prick tests; in 244 of them clinical and functional evaluation was repeated after 1 year exposure to respiratory irritants or sensitizers.

LMW-PTP associates and dephosphorylates STAT5 interacting with its C-terminal domain.

Hematopoietic cells, particularly megakaryoblastic ones, display a high level of low M(r) phosphotyrosine protein phosphatase (LMW-PTP) expression; nevertheless, the role of this PTP in such cellular lineages has been scarcely investigated. Here, we demonstrate that LMW-PTP is able to associate and dephosphorylate signal transducer and activator of transcription-5 (STAT5) in DAMI megakaryocytic cells. Numerous researchers repeatedly hypothesized the association of a regulatory phosphotyrosine protein phosphatase with STAT5 C-terminus, but such phosphotyrosine protein phosphatase remained unknown.

Risk factors for chronic respiratory disorders in a sample of farmers in middle Italy.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of respiratory symptoms in agricultural workers in a rural area of Tuscany and to relate them to some occupational risk factors.

Subjects And Methods: A cross sectional study was performed on a sample of 461 agricultural workers from two rural area of Tuscany. All subjects underwent to respiratory questionnaire, pulmonary function test and skin prick tests.