1,720,958 research outputs found
Formaldehyde exposure and epigenetic effects: A systematic review
Full text linkFormaldehyde (FA) is a general living and occupational pollutant, classified as carcinogenic for humans. Although genotoxicity is recognized as a FAmechanism of action, a potential contribution of epigenetic effects cannot be excluded. Therefore, aim of this review is to comprehensively assess possible epigenetic alterations induced by FA exposure in humans, animals, and cellular models. Asystematic review of Pubmed, Scopus, and IsiWeb of Science databases was performed. DNAglobal methylation changes were demonstrated in workers exposed to FA, and also in human bronchial cells. Histone alterations, i.e., the reduction in acetylation of histone lysine residues, in human lung cells were induced by FA. Moreover, a dysregulation of microRNA expression in human lung adenocarcinoma cells as well as in the nose, olfactory bulb and white blood cells of rodents and nonhuman primates was reported. Although preliminary, these findings suggest the role of epigenetic modifications as possible FA mechanisms of action that need deeper qualitative and quantitative investigation. This may allow to define the role of such alterations as indicators of early biological effect and the opportunity to include such information in future risk assessment and management strategies for public and occupationally FA-exposed populations
Inflammatory bowel diseases and work disability: A systematic review of predictive factors
No full textOBJECTIVE: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), are chronic, relapsing intestinal disorders that may severely compromise patients' labour force participation. In this context, the present review aims to provide an overview on possible IBD pathological, socio- demographic, and treatment-related factors predictive for work disability with the purpose to provide guidance for a successful clinical and occupational management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic review of PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science databases was performed to retrieve all the studies addressing IBD-related predictors for work disability. RESULTS: Several factors have been suggested to predict work disability in the 15 revised investigations, although with not homogeneous results. Having CD was reported as a significantly better predictor for permanent work disability compared to UC, maybe in relation to the generally more serious disease course. Activity and severity of IBD, also indicated by the need for surgical treatment and comorbidities, was related to a significantly greater risk for work disability, although the exact role of other variables, i.e., specific symptoms, disease pattern and inflammatory parameters are still unclear. Among demographic factors, a significant predictive role has been suggested for female gender. CONCLUSIONS: Further research seems necessary to confirm the role of IBD related factors on work disability, and on other parameters of work impairment, i.e., absenteeism, presenteeism, activity and productivity loss. Additionally, work disability should be evaluated in relation to specific occupational risk factors. Overall, this may require a multidisciplinary approach aimed to achieve an adequate IBD clinical evaluation and management, an improvement of patients' psychosocial and professional well-being, while appropriately assessing and managing risks in the workplace
Shift work and migraine: A systematic review
No full textOBJECTIVES: Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of headache, mainly affecting the working age population with a great socioeconomic impact. The etiology of migraine is still uncertain, and various individual and/or environmental risk factors have been suggested as triggers of the attacks, including irregularities in the sleep-wake rhythm. In this perspective, it is possible that shift and night work, affecting circadian rhythms, may play a key function in the disease pathogenesis. Therefore, aim of this review was to provide an overview on the possible association between shift works and migraine development or clinical outcomes. METHODS: A systematic review of literature studies available in Pubmed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science databases, addressing the possible shift work-migraine relationship was performed. RESULTS: Conflicting data emerged from the revised studies. Some results supported a positive association between migraine prevalence and shift works, according to peculiar job tasks, seniority in shift works, specific work schedules, and number of night shifts performed in a month. However, other investigations failed to confirm such findings. CONCLUSIONS: The limited number of available studies, their cross-sectional nature, the different criteria employed for migraine diagnosis, and the various shift work schedules analyzed, together with exposure to other confounding factors on workplace do not allow to extrapolate definite conclusions on shift work-migraine relationship. From an occupational health perspective, further studies appear necessary to better understand such exposure-disease association and possibly define risk assessment and management strategies to protect the health of susceptible and/or migraine affected workers
Fractional exhaled nitric oxide and nanomaterial exposure in workplaces
No full textBackground: The widespread application of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) and the increasing likelihood of general and occupational exposure raised concerns on their possible human health impact. ENMs, in fact, may induce alterations in different organ systems, and particularly in the respiratory tract. This makes it important to identify possible biomarkers of early lung effect in exposed workers. In this regard, the possibility to use the fractional exhaled levels of nitric oxide (FENO) in biological monitoring has attracted considerable interest. Objective: To comprehensively assess the role of FENO as a possible biomarker of lung effect in ENM exposed workers. Methods: A systematic search was performed on Pubmed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Knowledge databases according to the PRISMA guidelines. Results: Seven studies investigated FENO in workers exposed to different kinds of metal-(i.e. sil-ver and gold), metal oxide-(titanium and silica dioxide), and carbon-based ENMs (carbon nano-tubes). In general, no significant alterations were detected between exposed workers and controls. Conclusion: Definite conclusion on the function of FENO in occupational biological monitoring cannot be extrapolated due to the limited number of available studies and the small size of investigated populations. Additionally, the lack of environmental monitoring data and the fragmented knowledge on ENM modes of action prevent to establish dose-response relationships. Future research appears necessary to deeply define the possibility to employ FENO as an early biomarker of lung effects taking in consideration possible occupational exposure issues, i.e. differently characterized ENMs and work tasks, as well as individual influencing factors, i.e. smoking and atopy
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
Variations 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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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