86,705 research outputs found

    Chemometric study of the correlation between human exposure to benzene and PAHs and urinary excretion of oxidative stress biomarkers

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    Urban air contains benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which have carcinogenic properties. The objective of this paper is to study the correlation of exposure biomarkers with biomarkers of nucleic acid oxidation also considering smoking. In 322 subjects, seven urinary dose biomarkers were analyzed for benzene, pyrene, nitropyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, and naphthalene exposure, and four effect biomarkers for nucleic acid and protein oxidative stress. Chemometrics was applied in order to investigate the existence of a synergistic effect for the exposure to the mixture and the contribution of active smoking. There is a significant difference between nicotine, benzene and PAH exposure biomarker concentrations of smokers and non-smokers, but the difference is not statistically significant for oxidative stress biomarkers. The PAH biomarkers are those which best correlate with all the oxidative stress biomarkers. Results suggest that 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine and protein nitro-oxidation 3-nitrotyrosine are the most sensitive biomarkers for the exposure to the urban pollutant mixtures and that a synergic effect of the mixtures exists. All the oxidative stress biomarkers studied drive the increase in the oxidative stress biomarkers in the subjects having higher exposures. Chemometrics proved to be a powerful method for the interpretation of human biomonitoring data

    Protect your data and protect yourself: balancing privacy and health protection in Public health

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    The General data protection regulation (Gdpr) of 2016, implemented since 2018, has become a crucial issue in the field of epidemiology. The Gdpr concerns the protection of personal data, which includes all information that identifies or can identify a natural person, providing information about their habits, health status, and lifestyle, and regulates their processing. Epidemiological studies rely on the use of personal data and their interconnection. The introduction of this regulation is marking an important transition for the work of epidemiologists. There is a need to understand how this can coexist with the research activities that have always been carried out in epidemiology and public health. This section aims to lay the foundations for a discussion on the topic and provide a framework for researchers and epidemiologists that answers some of the doubts that accompany daily work

    Millennials looking for their place in epidemiology

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    : The "millennial" epidemiologists, born between the beginning of the 80s and the end of the 90s, are the generation that most of all, today, lives between the present and the future of this discipline. This issue of Recenti Progressi in Medicina aims to talk about what young (and no longer young) epidemiologists and public health researchers are dealing with and to reflect on the most relevant topics in our field, with an eye to the future. Starting from the profile of the "millennial" epidemiologists in Italy and the topics on which they work, the issue develops through three parts dealing with relevant topics for the present and the future of Public health. The first part deals with the important issue of finding a balance between the protection of personal data and the protection of health through a dialogue between researchers, jurists and citizens. The second part aims to clarify the issue of big data and its implications for producing health. The third part touches on four relevant topics for the perspectives of epidemiology through reflections and application examples of machine learning, integration between pharmacoepidemiology and environmental epidemiology, health prevention and promotion involving citizens and other stakeholders, and epidemiology of mental health. In a constantly changing world, challenges for those who work to produce health are not lacking, as is the determination to face them. With this issue, we hope to contribute to the awareness of who we are and our potential, to help millennials (but not only) find their place in epidemiology, today and tomorrow

    Young researchers no more young: who are we?

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    To reflect on the present and the future of the “millennial” epidemiologists in Italy, the starting question is who are we? The online survey “I giovani ricercatori non più giovani: chi siamo? #GIOVANIDENTRO” was launched in 2022 and advertised at conferences of the Italian association of epidemiology to gather voices from all over Italy. Information on training, job position, attitudes and difficulties encountered in our profession and in scientific production activity has been collected and contextualized to answer the starting question and provide food for thought for the perspectives of our profession

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Aspetti sociali del lavoro: indagine conoscitiva tra i dipendenti di una industria dolciaria di Perugia

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    Indagine su gli aspetti sociali del lavoro ed in particolare le correlazioni tra essi e il tempo libero ed il pendolarismo. Il lavoro crea difficoltà in famiglia soprattutto per le donne. Gli elementi più rilevanti per i lavoratori sono lo scarso tempo a disposizione per la famiglia e lo scarso contatto con i figli, ma anche problemi di gestione della casa e malattie dei familiari. I tempi di pendolarismo nella realtà socio-aziendale considerata appaiono relativamente contenuti

    The spatial resolution of the nociceptive system.

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    Background and aims: A systematic study of the spatial resolution of the nociceptive system across different body districts is surprisingly lacking, especially considering the recent description of a fovea for pain at the fingertips (Mancini et al Curr Biol 2013). In this psychophysical study we assessed the spatial acuity of ten body regions, using the two-point discrimination (2PD) of Nd:YAP laser pulses that selectively activate Aδ cutaneous afferents. Methods: Using two Nd:YAP lasers we delivered either one or two simultaneous pulses (diameter: 1.3 mm) of identical energy on each of the following body sites: forehead, volar forearm, hand dorsum, hand palm, fingertip, shoulder, lower back, upper thigh, calf, and foot dorsum. The 2PD task consisted in judging whether one or two stimuli were delivered, using ascending and descending staircases of varying spatial distance between the two pulses. Single stimuli were included as catch trials. All stimuli elicited a clear pinprick sensation related to the activation of Aδ afferents. Results: We found a proximal-distal gradient of spatial acuity for nociceptive stimuli, with higher acuity for proximal stimuli, an observation in agreement with innervation density of skin nociceptors and perceptual threshold of Aδ stimuli. Two distal regions (fingertips and palm) represented an exception, and showed maximal spatial acuity (see also Mancini et al., 2013). Conclusions: This study provides the first systematic description of spatial acuity of the nociceptive system across the entire body in healthy participants
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