The Impact of Sports Training on the Spinal Cord Injury Individual's Balance.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes major challenges to mobility and daily life activities and maintaining balance becomes a crucial issue. Individuals with SCI often need to adopt new strategies to manage balance with minimal discomfort. Sports and physical activities have become one of the most popular rehabilitation methods for people with SCI.

The Medico-Legal and Social Aspects of the Eligibility Examination for Enrolment in the Seafarers Registry: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

Background: Working on board presents unique healthcare challenges for maritime personnel. Italian Law mandates a medical fitness assessment for seafarers registry enrolment. The Port Health Officer assesses seaworthiness and, against this judgment, the applicants can appeal to the First-degree Medical Commission.

Microbiomes of urban trees: unveiling contributions to atmospheric pollution mitigation.

Urban trees are crucial in delivering essential ecosystem services, including air pollution mitigation. This service is influenced by plant associated microbiomes, which can degrade hydrocarbons, support tree health, and influence ecological processes. Yet, our understanding of tree microbiomes remains limited, thus affecting our ability to assess and quantify the ecosystem services provided by trees as complex systems.

Development of a methodology for dose assessment and estimate of amount of NORM residues disposable in a conventional landfill.

The final disposal of NORM wastes in conventional landfill generally determines problems of acceptance by the landfill operators, since their willingness to accept Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) is often limited due to their concern about the radiological risks and reluctance of the local community to have at local landfills material that despite being cleared is still perceived as 'radioactive'. In order to raise awareness among landfill operators, and also among other stakeholders on the actual radiological risk of exempted or cleared NORM wastes, it is of interest to estimate the mass of annual wastes containing NORM that can be disposed of in a landfill for conventional waste complying with the annual dose criterion of 1 mSv. A methodology was developed considering a hypothetical homogeneous large landfill and assuming that NORM wastes are delivered with an initial activity concentration of 1 kBq kg.

Geological and mineralogical characterization of fibrous tremolite from Iacolinei quarry (Basilicata, Italy).

Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA) has drawn the attention worldwide when investigation revealed an increased incidence of malignant mesothelioma in population living near NOA sites. In Basilicata region (South Italy), population living in the villages of Castelluccio Superiore and Inferiore, Lauria, Latronico, Episcopia, San Severino Lucano, and Francavilla in Sinni may be considered at high risk of asbestos exposure because these villages are either surrounded by or built on NOA-rich ophiolitic outcrops. In this work we investigated an asbestos tremolite sample coming from the ophiolitic rocks outcropping in the quarry of Iacolinei, widely used in the past to extract aggregates for various applications.

Adsorption Technology for PFAS Removal in Water: Comparison between Novel Carbonaceous Materials.

PFASs are a variety of ecologically persistent compounds of anthropogenic origin loosely included in many industrial products. In these, the carbon chain can be fully (perfluoroalkyl substances) or partially (polyfluoroalkyl substances) fluorinated. Their ubiquitous presence in many environmental compartments over the years and their long-lasting nature have given rise to concerns about the possible adverse effects of PFASs on ecosystems and human health.

Enabling Effective Implementation of Occupational Safety and Health Interventions.

Background: The design, implementation, and evaluation are three important stages of occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions. Historically, there has been a tendency to prioritize implementation, often neglecting detailed design and rigorous outcome evaluation. Currently, much has changed, and contemporary approaches recognize the interdependence of these stages, considering them integral to the success of any intervention.

Gender Differences in Sinonasal Cancer Incidence: Data from the Italian Registry.

Background: Although rare, sinonasal cancers (SNCs) have a high occupational attributable fraction.

Methods: We applied gender-based approaches to descriptive analyses, incidence, and patterns of exposures using the Italian National Sinonasal Cancer Registry (ReNaTuNS: Registro Nazionale Tumori Naso-Sinusali).

Results: The study included 2851 SNC patients.

Sinonasal cancer incidence in Lombardy, Italy, 2008-20.

Background: Epithelial sinonasal cancers (SNC) are rare tumours with recognized associations with known/suspected occupational carcinogens (wood/leather dust, nickel/chromium compounds and formaldehyde). In Italy, a national SNC registry organized as a network of regional registries was established by law in 2008.

Aims: To describe SNC time trends, occupational exposures and geographical distribution in Lombardy, North-West Italy, based on population registry data (2008-20).

A real-time biphasic Kalman filter-based model for estimating human core temperature from heart rate measurements for application in the occupational field.

Introduction: Early identification of hypothermia or hyperthermia is of vital importance, and real-time monitoring of core temperature () of the workers exposed to thermal environments is an extremely valuable tool. From the existing literature studies, the model developed by Buller et al. in their study of 2013 that generates real-time estimates of from heart rate () measurements using the Kalman filter (KF) shows good potential for occupational application.

Mesothelioma among seamen: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: Navy personnel and seafarers live and work 24 h per day in the shipboard environment and they are exposed to asbestos fibers released into the confined spaces aboard ships. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the mesothelioma risk of seamen working aboard ships, either commercial or naval vessels, as compared to that of the general population.

Methods: We carried out a literature search in MEDLINE through PubMed and EMBASE, from inception to 31 December 2021, of all studies on seamen working aboard ships, either commercial or naval vessels, characterized by exposure to asbestos and providing mesothelioma risk estimates.

Survival of Patients with Sinonasal Cancers in a Population-Based Registry, Lombardy, Italy, 2008-2023.

Sinonasal cancers (SNCs) are rare malignancies associated with occupational exposures. The aim of this study was to analyse the survival of SNC patients using data from the population-based SNC registry of the Lombardy region (10 million people), Italy. We included epithelial SNC cases registered in 2008-2020 and followed-up for vital status until 31 July 2023.

Proposal and practicality of an alternative blue-light hazard risk assessment method for high-intensity white-light sources at workplaces.

. It is prescribed to determine blue-light hazard (BLH) weighted radiances, , for an assessment of spotlights with an angular subtense . The BLH weighted irradiance, , can be used alternatively for smaller sources.

Occupational carcinogens in Italy: an overview on exposure to cadmium and its compounds.

Given the recognized carcinogenicity of cadmium, several regulatory interventions have been carried out over the years to protect exposed workers. The aim of the study is to investigate the prevalence and extent of exposure to cadmium among Italian workers. Data was collected from a nation-wide occupational exposure registry (SIREP, 1996-2022).

Colorectal Cancer: 35 Cases in Asbestos-Exposed Workers.

Background: Asbestos is considered one of the major global work-related carcinogens. Some studies suggest a potential causal relationship between asbestos exposure and colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the role of asbestos in CRC carcinogenesis is still controversial.

Toward a Unified Description of the Electrostatic Assembly of Microgels and Nanoparticles.

The interplay of soft responsive particles, such as microgels, with nanoparticles (NPs) yields highly versatile complexes that show great potential for applications, ranging from plasmonic sensing to catalysis and drug delivery. However, the microgel-NP assembly process has not been investigated so far at the microscopic level, thus hindering the possibility of designing such hybrid systems a priori. In this work, we combine state-of-the-art numerical simulations with experiments to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms taking place when microgel-NP assembly is controlled by electrostatic interactions and the associated effects on the structure of the resulting complexes.

Development of a methodology for assessing radiological dose due to use of NORM sludge as fertilizer.

In Europe, the general obligation to recycle drives for increased reuse of residues containing Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). In agriculture, this has led to the reuse of sludge produced by groundwater filtration facilities as a means of fertilization. In the frame of the RadoNorm project, a methodology was developed for dose assessment of agricultural workers and other members of the public living near agricultural fields in which NORM-containing sludge is applied.

Dissolution Reaction and Surface Modification of UICC Amosite in Mimicked Gamble's Solution: A Step towards Filling the Gap between Asbestos Toxicity and Its Crystal Chemical Features.

This study focuses on the dissolution process and surface characterization of amosite fibres following interaction with a mimicked Gamble's solution at a pH of 4.5 and T = 37 °C, up to 720 h. To achieve this, a multi-analytical approach was adopted, and the results were compared to those previously obtained on a sample of asbestos tremolite and UICC crocidolite, which were investigated under the same experimental conditions.

A Multiaxial Rehabilitation Programme for Workers with COVID-19 Sequelae Using a Conventional and Technological-Robotic Approach: The Proposal of INAIL and Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi.

The COVID-19 sequelae have been shown to affect respiratory and cardiological functions as well as neuro-psychological functions, and, in some cases, metabolic/nutritional aspects. The Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (Istituto Nazionale Assicurazione Infortuni sul Lavoro, INAIL) recorded that, until December 2022, 315,055 workers were affected by COVID-19; therefore, there is a need to identify an effective approach to treat such patients. Robotic and technological devices could be integrated into the rehabilitation programme of people with long COVID conditions.

From field analysis to nanostructural investigation: A multidisciplinary approach to describe natural occurrence of asbestos in view of hazard assessment.

The environmental impact of natural occurrences of asbestos (NOA) and asbestos-like minerals is a growing concern for environmental protection agencies. The lack of shared sampling and analytical procedures hinders effectively addressing this issue. To investigate the hazard posed by NOA, a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses geology, mineralogy, chemistry, and toxicology is proposed and demonstrated here, on a natural occurrence of antigorite from a site in Varenna Valley, Italy.

Sector of Employment and Mortality: A Cohort Based on Different Administrative Archives.

Administrative data can be precious in connecting information from different sectors. For the first time, we used data from the National Social Insurance Agency (INPS) to investigate the association between the occupational sectors and both non-accidental and accidental mortality. We retrieved information on occupational sectors from 1974 to 2011 for private sector workers included in the 2011 census cohort of Rome.