The nasal microbiota of dairy farmers is more complex than oral microbiota, reflects occupational exposure, and provides competition for staphylococci.

Allergic and autoimmune diseases had been attributed to lack of exposure to biodiversity, an important factor in regulating immune homeostasis in a healthy host. We posit that the microbiome of healthy dairy farmers (DF) will be richer than non-farmers (NF) living in urban settings due to exposure to a greater biodiversity in the dairy environment. However, no studies have investigated the relationships between microbiota of dairy farmers (DF) compared with urban non-farmers (NF).

Sorting Through the Spheres of Influence: Using Modified Pile Sorting to Describe Who Influences Dairy Farmers' Decision-Making About Safety.

Objectives: The primary goal of this study was to describe the mutually perceived influence of bankers and insurers on their agricultural clients' decision-making regarding health and safety.

Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 dairy farmers, 11 agricultural bankers, and 10 agricultural insurers from central Wisconsin. Three of the interview questions involved pile sorting.

Integrating Agricultural Injury Prevention with Rural Pediatrics: A Pilot Assessment.

Background: Childhood agricultural injuries are an important public health problem. Pediatricians are a trusted source of expertise in children's health and safety and could serve as a sphere of influence to augment child agricultural injury prevention efforts. The purpose of this pilot study was to begin to explore the perspectives of pediatricians in a large rural health clinic about addressing child agricultural injury prevention within their practice.

Socio-environmental risk factors for medically-attended agricultural injuries in Wisconsin dairy farmers.

Background: Accidents are common in the agricultural industry, particularly among dairy farmers. How said farmers get hurt is well established, but far less is known about how distal, socio-environmental factors influence injuries. This study examined associations between medically-attended agricultural injuries and: (1) personal sociodemographic characteristics, and (2) farm environment features and general safety practices.

Social environments, risk-taking and injury in farm adolescents.

Background: Farm environments are especially hazardous for young people. While much is known about acute physical causes of traumatic farm injury, little is known about social factors that may underlie their aetiology.

Objectives: In a nationally representative sample of young Canadians aged 11-15 years, we described and compared farm and non-farm adolescents in terms of the qualities of their social environments, engagement in overt multiple risk-taking as well as how such exposures relate aetiologically to their reported injury experiences.

"When This Breaks Down, It's Black Gold": Race and Gender in Agricultural Health and Safety.

Farmers are growing older, and fewer new agriculturists are rising to take their place. Concurrently, women and minorities are entering agriculture at an increasing rate. These rates are particularly curious viewed in light of the racialized and gendered nature of agriculture.

The Entanglements of Agrarian Ethics With Agrarian Risks and Leveraging Them in Agricultural Health Safety.

Agriculture is the most dangerous occupation in the United States for both workers and bystanders. Family farms highlight an intersection of domesticity and labor. Agrarian ethics of animal husbandry, land stewardship, and kinship are often conflated and constructed to accommodate unpredictable risks (e.

An Evaluation Tool for Agricultural Health and Safety Mobile Applications.

As the use of mobile devices and their software applications, or apps, becomes ubiquitous, use amongst agricultural working populations is expanding as well. The smart device paired with a well-designed app has potential for improving workplace health and safety in the hands of those who can act upon the information provided. Many apps designed to assess workplace hazards and implementation of worker protections already exist.

MD-CTS: An integrated terminology reference of clinical and translational medicine.

New vocabularies are rapidly evolving in the literature relative to the practice of clinical medicine and translational research. To provide integrated access to new terms, we developed a mobile and desktop online reference-Marshfield Dictionary of Clinical and Translational Science (MD-CTS). It is the first public resource that comprehensively integrates Wiktionary (word definition), BioPortal (ontology), Wiki (image reference), and Medline abstract (word usage) information.

Immigrant dairy workers' perceptions of health and safety on the farm in America's Heartland.

Background: Dairy farming is dangerous. Yearly, farms grow fewer and larger by employing immigrant workers, who have limited industrial agriculture experience and safety and health training.

Methods: We examined results of five focus groups with 37 Hispanic, immigrant dairy workers.

Agricultural Media Coverage of Farm Safety: Review of the Literature.

Agricultural media merit increased attention in addressing dynamic changes in safety aspects of one of the nation's most hazardous industries. Changes in farming, such as larger-scale, new "niche" enterprises and new technologies, bring new forms of risk to the safety of those who live and work on farms and ranches. At the same time, traditional agricultural media--commercial firms that publish farm periodicals and commercial radio/television stations and networks that provide farm programming--are changing dramatically.

Epidemiologic trends in medically-attended tree stand fall injuries among Wisconsin deer hunters.

Background: Tree stand falls are the most common injury to hunters in the USA, but there is limited research on the topic. This study examined the 5-year trends in incident tree stand fall injuries in rural north-central Wisconsin and described patient demographics and injury features.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on five prior hunting seasons, 2009-2013.

Blood α-synuclein in agricultural pesticide handlers in central Washington State.

Epidemiologic studies suggest that occupational exposure to pesticides might increase Parkinson disease risk. Some pesticides, such as the organophosphorus insecticide chlorpyrifos, appear to increase the expression of α-synuclein, a protein critically involved in Parkinson disease. Therefore, we assessed total blood cell α-synuclein in 90 specimens from 63 agricultural pesticide handlers, mainly Hispanic men from central Washington State, who participated in the state's cholinesterase monitoring program in 2007-2010.

Determinants of butyrylcholinesterase inhibition among agricultural pesticide handlers in Washington State: an update.

Objectives: Organophosphate (OP) and N-methyl-carbamate (CB) insecticides are used widely in agriculture to manage insect pests of economic importance. Agricultural workers are more likely to suffer exposure because of the widespread use of OP/CBs in agriculture, and pesticide-related illnesses among handlers may be more severe when compared to other farm workers. The goal of this study was to identify occupational and personal characteristics associated with butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibition in participants recruited from the Washington State Cholinesterase Monitoring Program from 2006 to 2011.

Blood acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase as biomarkers of cholinesterase depression among pesticide handlers.

Objective: Agricultural pesticide handlers are at an elevated risk for overexposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, but symptoms can be difficult to recognise, making biomarkers invaluable for diagnosis. Occupational monitoring programmes for cholinesterase depression generally rely on measuring activity of either of the two common blood cholinesterases which serve as proxy measurements for nervous-system acetylcholinesterase activity: red blood cell acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and plasma butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). These biomarkers, however, may be affected differentially by some OPs and the relationship between them has not been well characterised.

Farm Mapping to Assist, Protect, and Prepare Emergency Responders: Farm MAPPER.

Responders such as firefighters and emergency medical technicians who respond to farm emergencies often face complex and unknown environments. They may encounter hazards such as fuels, solvents, pesticides, caustics, and exploding gas storage cylinders. Responders may be unaware of dirt roads within the farm that can expedite their arrival at critical sites or snow-covered manure pits that act as hidden hazards.

Asymmetry in noise-induced hearing loss: evaluation of two competing theories.

Competing theories exist about why asymmetry is observed in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). We evaluated these theories using a cohort of young workers studied over 16 years. The study aim was to describe and evaluate patterns of hearing loss and asymmetry by gender, agricultural exposure and gunfire exposure.

The use of audience response system technology with limited-english-proficiency, low-literacy, and vulnerable populations.

Audience response systems (ARS) have long been used to improve the interactivity of educational activities. Most studies of ARS have addressed education of literate trainees. How well these devices work with low-literacy subjects is not well studied.

Guidelines for children's work in agriculture: implications for the future.

The North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT) were developed to assist parents in assigning developmentally appropriate and safe farm work to their children aged 7-16 years. Since their release in 1999, a growing body of evidence has accumulated regarding the content and application of these guidelines to populations of working children on farms. The purpose of this paper is to review the scientific and programmatic evidence about the content, efficacy, application, and uptake of NAGCAT and propose key recommendations for the future.

Developing the 2012 national action plan for protecting children in agriculture.

In 1996 the US launched a National Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention Initiative, guided by an action plan generated by a 42-member multidisciplinary committee. A major update to the plan was released following the 2001 Summit on Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention. From the year 2010 through 2011 a comprehensive assessment of progress to date was conducted followed by the drafting, review and finalizing of a new action plan-"The 2012 Blueprint for Protecting Children in Agriculture.

Determinants of early-stage hearing loss among a cohort of young workers with 16-year follow-up.

Objectives: The authors had a unique opportunity to study the early impacts of occupational and recreational exposures on the development of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in a cohort of 392 young workers. The objectives of this study were to estimate strength of associations between occupational and recreational exposures and occurrence of early-stage NIHL and to determine the extent to which relationships between specific noise exposures and early-stage NIHL were mitigated through the use of hearing protection.

Methods: Participants were young adults who agreed to participate in a follow-up of a randomised controlled trial.

Randomized trial of a hearing conservation intervention for rural students: long-term outcomes.

Objectives: We had the rare opportunity to conduct a cluster-randomized controlled trial to observe the long-term (16-year) effects of a well-designed hearing conservation intervention for rural high school students. This trial assessed whether the intervention resulted in (1) reduced prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) assessed clinically and/or (2) sustained use of hearing protection devices.

Methods: In 1992-1996, 34 rural Wisconsin schools were recruited and 17 were assigned randomly to receive a comprehensive, 3-year, hearing conservation intervention.

Agricultural safety training: California style.

In response to 1990 regulations in California, agricultural industry leaders formed a coalition with academic institutions and farm organizations to ensure they were compliant with new standards for worker safety in agricultural work settings. Out of this coalition emerged a not-for-profit organization, AgSafe. This was followed by a formal training program, the California Agricultural Safety Certificate Program.