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BIOMECHANICAL OVERLOAD OF THE WRIST IN MILKING PARLOR WORKERS:RISK PROFILES AND PREVENTION CRITERIA
No full textABSTRACT
The association between biomechanical risks and musculoskeletal disorders in agriculture is well known, but within the dairy industry, the literature is still sparse on the precise exposure. This project, addressed at fulfilling some of the knowledge gaps and at creating exposure and risk Profiles for specific milking parlor activities, has been conducted in order to:
a) estimating the effects on wrists of parlors’ workers of repetitive motions, pointing out an ultrasonography approach;
b) developing screening tools useful in the periodical health surveillance of dairy workers to detect early wrists’ changes;
c) compare the levels of muscle activation in milking work between large herd and small herd operations;
d) define preventive criteria addressed at risk control in dairy activities.
The project has been carried out in 4 single studies, In the first, 14 parlor workers and 22 controls were studied through a) personal anamnesis collection; b) wrists ultrasonography; c) upper limb clinical evaluation. The study confirmed the wrist as target of biomechanical risk factors and identified the two wrist’s acoustic window characterized by the highest predictive value for wrist’s structure alteration. The second study was conducted on 40 dairy workers, studied with the approach defined in the first study. Main objective was evaluating the levels of concordance between questionnaire results and clinical and ultrasound evidences. The questionnaire showed a high level of specificity (82.15%. C.I.95%: 62.4%-93.2%) if compared with clinical investigation outcomes and/or ultrasound findings. The study allowed us to conclude that 1) the administration of a questionnaire can be predictive of early wrist’s changes. 2) The questionnaire created is adequate for the periodical screening of parlor workers’ wrist. The same population was involved in the third study, addressed to defining risk Profiles of wrist biomechanical overload of parlor workers. Anthropometric measurements, personal and occupational variables, surface electromyography data of dominant upper limb muscles were collected to define activation profiles. Strain Index for each single milking subtask (pre dipping, wiping/stripping, attaching, post dipping) was evaluated. The study defined three main risk profiles: low, medium and high risk. Main risk determinants were: characteristics of the workstation, organization of the work, milking routine. We concluded that organization of the milking routine, and cluster weight not major than 2.4 Kg are useful interventions to be carried out. The fourth study was conducted to compare upper limb muscle activity between US and Italian industrialized Dairy operations. Twenty-nine workers were recruited from large herd US herd (>1000 head) dairies and 39 from small herd Italian dairies. Surface electromyography was used to assess muscle exertion levels of all workers, measuring intensity, expressed as root mean square of the raw signal, amplitude probability distribution function percentiles, and the percent muscular rest of the interested muscles. The statistical analyses indicated significantly greater average muscle activity during milking tasks among large herd versus small herd dairy workers in the biceps brachii (p<0.001), upper trapezius (p=0.002), and the wrist flexors (p<0.001) between the two dairy types. The final study demonstrated that, independently from the size and the country, parlor activities pose significant biomechanical wrist risk
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Continuous lidar measurements of stratospheric aerosols and ozone after the Pinatubo eruption. Part II: Time evolution of ozone profiles and of aerosol properties
No full textWorkforce ageing an emerging challenge for Occupatinal Health and Safety and the Diagnosis and Prevention of Occupational Diseases
No full textLife expectation is increasing in developed and industrialized countries but is still very low in developing, in-transition and underdeveloped countries. In this context, population ageing in the industrialized world has already become a fact and, according to various sources, the proportion of the ‘ageing part’ of these countries’ population will significantly increase over the coming years. This brings about relevant changes in the structure of the so-called “Age Pyramid”. The condition for developing sound actions and interventions is represented by the availability of good knowledge, based on grounded evidence. Nonetheless, this knowledge is often missing and opinions not based on the evidence, as well as prejudices, are often present; even a precise definition of “aged worker” is missing.
In this paper, we will propose a definition of “aged workers”, show specific health data regarding this working category, and recommend some specific actions to be taken
Monitoring Pinatubo aerosols and attempting to retrieve ozone profiles at L’Aquila lidar station (42oN, 13oE)
No full textVariations on the Author
Full text link“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
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