[Dust Exposure and Respiratory Health Effects Among Stones Crushers in Haut-Katanga Province, D.R. Congo].

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of symptoms and respiratory diseases and to assess respiratory function in stones crushers stones in the province of Haut Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This cross-sectional analytical study included 293 stones crushers and 295 office workers from public administrative services. A standardized respiratory health questionnaire was used, and lung function test performed with the use of peak flow-meters.

Air Quality in the Working Environment and Respiratory Health of Female Congolese Stone Quarry Workers.

Background And Aim: Environmental and occupational exposure to high dust levels are known to be associated with lung function impairment. We assessed the ambient air quality in the working environment and the respiratory health of female stone quarry workers in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a context of severe economic, security, and health crises.

Methods: This was a case-control study conducted in three stone quarry sites.

Meaningful and feasible composite clinical worsening definitions in paediatric pulmonary arterial hypertension: An analysis of the TOPP registry.

Background: Composite clinical worsening (cCW) outcomes might allow measurement of disease progression in paediatric pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This TOPP registry analysis investigated three cCW outcomes and their predictive strength for lung transplantation/death.

Methods: Patients ≤17 years with idiopathic/familial PAH or PAH-associated congenital heart disease diagnosed ≤3 months before enrolment were included.

Correction to: Estimation of exposure durations for vitamin D production and sunburn risk in Switzerland.

In the original article, the authorship list was given as "A. Religi, C. Backes, A.

Estimation of exposure durations for vitamin D production and sunburn risk in Switzerland.

Although overexposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is responsible for cutaneous melanoma and epithelial skin cancer and can cause negative health effects such as sunburn, a "little and often" exposure regime is often suggested to produce naturally recommended vitamin D levels, being essential for skeletal health. This study aimed to quantify solar UV doses needed to trigger 1000 International Units (IU) vitamin D doses and, at the same time, producing sunburn in Switzerland. Solar UV erythema irradiance (in mW/m) measured at four meteorological stations in Switzerland for the period 2005-2017 were used to evaluate effective solar UV radiation producing 1000 IU vitamin D doses in skin phototype II and III individuals.

Evaluation of Exposure Assessment Tools under REACH: Part II-Higher Tier Tools.

Stoffenmanager®v4.5 and Advanced REACH Tool (ART) v1.5, two higher tier exposure assessment tools for use under REACH, were evaluated by determining accuracy and robustness.

Evaluation of Exposure Assessment Tools under REACH: Part I-Tier 1 Tools.

Tier 1 occupational exposure assessment tools recommended for use under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and restriction of CHemicals (REACH) were evaluated using newly collected measurement data. Evaluated tools included the ECETOC TRAv2 and TRAv3, MEASEv1.02.

Silicosis in underground miners in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo: 27 cases.

Silicosis is one of the most prevalent occupational lung diseases and a public health problem throughout the world. Underground miners of copper and cobalt are exposed to the dust of these minerals and thus to the risk of developing silicosis. The objective of this report was to describe a series of silicosis cases in miners exposed to mineral dusts at a mining company operating since the colonial era in Lubumbashi, Katanga province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Sun exposure to the eyes: predicted UV protection effectiveness of various sunglasses.

The aim of this study was to assess solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) doses received by the eyes in different exposure situations, and to predict the sun protection effectiveness provided by various styles of sunglasses at facial, periorbital, and ocular skin zones including the cornea and accounting for different head positions. A 3D numeric model was optimized to predict direct, diffuse and reflected erythemally weighted UVR doses received at various skin zones. Precisely defined facial, periorbital, and ocular skin zones, sunglasses (goggles, medium-, and large-sized sunglasses) and three head positions were modeled to simulate daily (08:00-17:00) and midday (12:00-14:00) UVR doses.

Improving nutritional care quality in the orthopedic ward of a Septic Surgery Center by implementing a preventive nutritional policy using the Nutritional Risk Score: a pilot study.

Background/objectives: Septic Surgery Center (SSC) patients are at a particularly high risk of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), with a prevalence of 35-85% found in various studies. Previous collaboration between our hospital's SSC and its Clinical Nutrition Team (CNT) only focussed on patients with severe PEM. This study aimed to determine whether it was possible to improve the quality of nutritional care in septic surgery patients with help of a nutritional policy using the Nutritional Risk Score (NRS).

Respiratory health of dust-exposed Congolese coltan miners.

Purpose: In Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), informal coltan mining has been expanding amidst increased insecurity due to armed conflicts. We investigated the impact of occupational dust-exposure on the respiratory health of Congolese coltan miners.

Methods: In total, 441 Congolese workers participated in this study, including 199 informal coltan miners and 242 office workers (controls).

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.

Body Anatomical UV Protection Predicted by Shade Structures: A Modeling Study.

Shade is an important means of protection against harmful effects of sun ultraviolet (UV) exposure, but not all shades are identically protective. UV rays scattered by the atmosphere and surroundings can reach the skin indirectly. To evaluate the relative contribution of the direct, diffuse, and reflected radiation in UV protection provided by different sizes of shade structure, we used SimUVEx v2, a numeric tool based on 3D graphic techniques and ambient ground UV irradiance.

Use of intravenous iron in cyanotic patients with congenital heart disease and/or pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Secondary erythrocytosis is common in patients with cyanosis secondary to congenital heart disease (CHD) and/or pulmonary hypertension (PH). This compensatory mechanism aims at increasing oxygen delivery to the tissues, but it requires adequate iron stores. Optimal methods of iron supplementation in this setting remain controversial, with fears of excessive erythropoiesis and hyperviscosity symptoms.

Exposure to field vs. storage wheat dust: different consequences on respiratory symptoms and immune response among grain workers.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to understand the differential acute effects of two distinct wheat-related dusts, such as field or stored wheat dust handling, on workers' health and how those effects evolved at 6 month intervals.

Methods: Exposure, work-related symptoms, changes in lung function, and blood samples of 81 workers handling wheat and 61 controls were collected during the high exposure season and 6 months after. Specific IgG, IgE, and precipitins against 12 fungi isolated from wheat dust were titrated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, dissociation-enhanced lanthanide fluorescence immunoassay, and electrosyneresis.

Nasal fibroscopy as a routine screening procedure of sinonasal adenocarcinoma of woodworkers: French longitudinal case study.

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the relevancy of flexible nasoendoscopy as a routine screening procedure of sinonasal adenocarcinoma among people occupationally exposed to wood dust.

Methods: This study included woodworkers, occupationally exposed to wood dust. Evaluations were scheduled at the time of inclusion (T0) and after a 2-year period (T1).

Facial exposure to ultraviolet radiation: Predicted sun protection effectiveness of various hat styles.

Background/purpose: Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) doses received by individuals are highly influenced by behavioural and environmental factors. This study aimed at quantifying hats' sun protection effectiveness in various exposure conditions, by predicting UVR exposure doses and their anatomical distributions.

Methods: A well-defined 3-dimensional head morphology and 4 hat styles (a cap, a helmet, a middle- and a wide-brimmed hat) were added to a previously published model.

Meta-scale mountain grassland observatories uncover commonalities as well as specific interactions among plant and non-rhizosphere soil bacterial communities.

Interactions between plants and bacteria in the non-rhizosphere soil are rarely assessed, because they are less direct and easily masked by confounding environmental factors. By studying plant vegetation alliances and soil bacterial community co-patterning in grassland soils in 100 sites across a heterogeneous mountain landscape in the western Swiss Alps, we obtained sufficient statistical power to disentangle common co-occurrences and weaker specific interactions. Plant alliances and soil bacterial communities tended to be synchronized in community turnover across the landscape, largely driven by common underlying environmental factors, such as soil pH or elevation.

Respiratory health of women selling cassava, corn and soybean flour in Lumbumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of respiratory complaints in Congolese women selling grain flours in Lubumbashi. The study enrolled 370 women, including 183 cassava, corn and soybean flour selling women (exposed group) and 187 tax collectors in municipal markets (control group) in Lubumbashi, DRC. A standardized respiratory health questionnaire was used, and a lung function test performed with the use of peak flow-meters.

Experiencing a probabilistic approach to clarify and disclose uncertainties when setting occupational exposure limits.

Objectives: Assessment factors (AFs) are commonly used for deriving reference concentrations for chemicals. These factors take into account variabilities as well as uncertainties in the dataset, such as inter-species and intra-species variabilities or exposure duration extrapolation or extrapolation from the lowest-observed-adverse-effect level (LOAEL) to the noobserved- adverse-effect level (NOAEL). In a deterministic approach, the value of an AF is the result of a debate among experts and, often a conservative value is used as a default choice.

Nano-object Release During Machining of Polymer-Based Nanocomposites Depends on Process Factors and the Type of Nanofiller.

We tested the nanomaterial release from composites during two different mechanical treatment processes, automated drilling and manual sawing. Polyurethane (PU) polymer discs (1-cm thickness and 11-cm diameter) were created using different nanomaterial fillers: multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), carbon black (CB), silicon dioxide (SiO2), and an unfilled PU control. Drilling generated far more submicron range particles than sawing.

Primary and Immortalized Human Respiratory Cells Display Different Patterns of Cytotoxicity and Cytokine Release upon Exposure to Deoxynivalenol, Nivalenol and Fusarenon-X.

The type B trichothecene mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV) and fusarenon-X (FX) are structurally related secondary metabolites frequently produced by on wheat. Consequently, DON, NIV and FX contaminate wheat dusts, exposing grain workers to toxins by inhalation. Those trichothecenes at low, relevant, exposition concentrations have differential effects on intestinal cells, but whether such differences exist with respiratory cells is mostly unknown, while it is required to assess the combined risk of exposure to mycotoxins.

Determinants of Sunburn and Sun Protection of Agricultural Workers During Occupational and Recreational Activities.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify determinants of occupational sunburn in agricultural workers and assess their occupational and recreational sun protection habits.

Methods: Specific surveys of agricultural workers in Switzerland and France were conducted (N = 1538). Multivariate logistic regressions identified occupational sunburn determinants.

Adapting the "Chester step test" to predict peak oxygen uptake in children.

Aim Of The Study: Maximal exercise testing may be difficult to perform in clinical practice, especially in obese children who have low cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise tolerance. We aimed to elaborate a model predicting peak oxygen consumption (VO2) in lean and obese children with use of the submaximal Chester step test.

Methods: We performed a maximal step test, which consisted of 2-minute stages with increasing intensity to exhaustion, in 169 lean and obese children (age range: 7-16 years).