102,780 research outputs found
Patologie non neoplastiche da esposizione lavorativa ad amianto
No full text...L’esposizione occupazionale ad amianto è stata rilevante in passato in molteplici attività lavorative. Oggi, in Italia, sono generalmente esposti solo alcuni lavoratori (ad es. addetti a decoibentazioni, rimozioni e smaltimenti di materiali contenenti amianto), ma l’attenzione deve essere rivota anche agli ex esposti, in considerazione della latenza - anche di varie decadi - con cui si possono manifestare le patologie da amianto, sia neoplastiche che non. I principali quadri clinici non neoplastici derivati dall’esposizione occupazionale ad amianto sono l’asbestosi (pneumoconiosi caratterizzata da alveolite e fibrosi interstiziale diffusa), l’atelettasia rotonda ed alcune pleuropatie (placche, ispessimenti, versamenti pleurici benigni); viene considerata correlata all’amianto anche l’assai rara fibrosi retroperitoneale. Il procedimento diagnostico richiede un’approfondita anamnesi lavorativa ed extra lavorativa, l’esame clinico del paziente e l’effettuazione di indagini essenzialmente strumentali (prove di funzionalità respiratoria complete ed imaging radiologico con Rx torace ed eventualmente HRCT), talora integrati da esami di laboratorio (ad es. ricerca corpuscoli dell’asbesto in varie matrici biologiche) e sempre con attenzione alla diagnosi differenziale rispetto ad altre fibrosi polmonari e pleuropatie. Quasi tutte le patologie non neoplastiche da amianto sono incluse per legge nella Tabella delle Malattie Professionali e per alcune di esse sussiste l’obbligo di denuncia alle Autorità competenti, da parte di qualsiasi medico che ne formuli la diagnosi o la sospetti. La loro prevenzione è basata su specifici provvedimenti legislativi, nonché sui principi cardine della Medicina del Lavoro e si avvale di vari interventi di prevenzione primaria, secondaria e terziaria.Occupational exposure to asbestos was relevant in the past in many work settings. Nowadays, in Italy, only a few workers are generally exposed (e.g., those involved in removal and disposal of asbestos containing materials); however, ex-exposed workers should also be considered, taking into account the long latency period (various decades) before appearance of all asbestos diseases. The main non-malignant occupational asbestos diseases are: asbestosis (a pneumoconiosis characterized by alveolitis and diffuse interstitial fibrosis); round atelectasis; pleural abnormalities such as plaques, thickenings, effusions; the very rare retroperitoneal fibrosis can also be asbestos-related. The diagnostic procedures requires a thorough occupational and extra-occupational history collection, physical examination of the patient, complete lung function tests, imaging (chest X-ray sometimes supplemented by HRCT), sometimes with laboratory test (e.g., asbestos body count in biological samples); differential diagnosis should be considered versus other interstitial lung disorders and other pleural changes. Almost every non-malignant asbestos disease is included by law in the List of occupational diseases; it is also mandatory for every physician performing diagnosis, to report almost every diseases to the health and compensation authorities. Prevention of non-malignant asbestos diseases is based upon specific legislation as well as upon the cardinal principles of Occupational Health; the interventions pertain to primary, secondary and tertiary prevention
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION AND FITNESS FOR WORK: A CASE SERIES AND COMPARISON WITH LITERATURE.
No full textIntroduction
The increasing number of healthcare workers (HCWs) occupationally exposed to ionising radiation (IR) and the growing number of cancer disease survivors in the working age, require adopting shared and sustainable management models to protect workers' health and safety.
Methods
We performed a retrospective analysis of health surveillance activities carried out in the last six years on HCWs working at the University Hospital of Verona. All cancer cases were collected and evaluated, as well as information on the characteristics of the worker and job task. The cases were then appraised and compared with the most recent evidence in the literature.
Results
Ten cancer cases were recognised: four breast cancer, one gastric lymphoma, two papillary thyroid carcinomas, one melanoma, two leukaemia cases and one colon cancer. For eight workers, it was necessary to appraise the probability of causation regarding occupational exposure and the onset of the disease, as well as fitness for work, which in more than 50% of the cases led to restrictions.
Discussion
The case series analysis enabled to identify a tailor-made health surveillance protocol for these IR-exposed workers and to facilitate the support of a team of referral physicians so that the worker was quickly taken care of. The literature review revealed insufficient scientific evidence to support the occupational physician in managing these cases.
Conclusion
The management of cancer workers exposed to IR requires a close multidisciplinary collaboration, in order to take care both of their health and safety protection needs and their professionalism at work
Virus-induced asthma
No full textClinical and experimental investigations indicate that respiratory viral infections are important triggers for asthma attacks. Viral upper respiratory infections have been associated with 80% of asthma exacerbations in children and 50% of all asthma episodes in adults. Human Rhinovirus (HRV) has been implicated as the most common virus associated with asthma episodes. The observation that the great majority of wheezing lower respiratory tract illnesses in early life are associated with acute viral infections suggests that viruses may also alter the development of the lungs or of the immune system, acting as co-factors for the inception of asthma. Whilst there is no doubt that viruses are important asthma exacerbation factors, the role of viral infections in the development of asthma still remains controversial
Incidence and determinants of symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections after booster dose in a large European multicentric cohort of health workers-ORCHESTRA project
No full textThe ORCHESTRA project is funded by the European Commission, Horizon 2020 Program, Grant Agreement No. 101016167.
The Verona and Oviedo cohorts were also supported by the Regional
Health Authority (Azienda Zero), Veneto Region, Italy, and by the
Health Research Institute of Asturias (ISPA), Spain, respectively. The
Northern Barcelona cohort has been funded by the regional Ministry
of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain) (Called COVID19-
PoC SLT16_04).Porru S, Monaco MGL, Spiteri G, Carta A, Caliskan G, Violán C, Torán-Monserrat P, Vimercati L, Tafuri S, Boffetta P, Violante FS, Sala E, Sansone E, Gobba F, Casolari L, Wieser A, Janke C, Tardon A, Rodriguez-Suarez MM, Liviero F, Scapellato ML, dell'Omo M, Murgia N, Mates D, Calota VC, Strhársky J, Mrázová M, Pira E, Godono A, Magnano GC, Negro C, Verlato G; Orchestra WP5 Working Grou
Bibliographie Hilarion G. Petzold 1958 – 2009 mit Anhang als Einführung
No full textDieses Archiv enthält die Gesamtbibliographie der Werke des Autors nebst einiger Texte „Über H. G. Petzold“ im Schlussteil der Bibliographie sowie einen Anhang mit einer Einführung in die Architektur des Werkes in seinem wissenslogischen Aufbau als Ausarbeitung seines „Tree of Science Modells“ (2007).This archive contains the complete bibliography of the author and some texts about H. G. Petzold, moreover an epilogue with an introduction to the architecture of the works in its epistemological structure and composition and as an elaborations of Petzold’s „Tree of Science Modell (2007).https://www.fpi-publikation.de/polyloge/01-2009-petzold-h-g-gesamtbibliographie-h-g-petzold-1958-2009-updating-november2009/peerReviewedpublishedVersio
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe 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
Recommended from our members
3346: Samuel G. Freedman, author, 2013
No full textPhotograph of author Samuel G. Freedman, at NT Daily Slash meeting in the Mayborn School of Journalism at UNT
Open issues around COVID-19 and work: Lessons learned from the literature and the European ORCHESTRA multicentric study on health workers.
No full textIntroduction
SARS-CoV-2 had enormous impact on occupational health, particularly in healthcare. In Italy, nearly 500,000 health workers (HW) were infected. A few questions remain to be addressed by occupational medicine, e.g. relationship between humoral and cellular immunity, impact of breakthrough infections, comorbidities, variants of concerns; long COVID; compensation; targeted risk assessment and health surveillance.
Materials and Methods
Considerations from literature and data from the European ORCHESTRA multicentric project, involving about 63,500 HW from 14 European countries with > 50 papers published.
Results
Vaccines contained the pandemic, even though breakthrough infections (cumulative incidence < 1.5% in fully vaccinated HW, 20.6% in boosted) and reinfections occurred, mainly due to variants of concern and to some determinants, including comorbidity and immunological status. Moreover, at least 65 million individuals worldwide are estimated to have long COVID, occurring in at least 10% of SARS-CoV-2 infections, with > 200 symptoms/signs. The study of immune response is still crucial. Humoral response is relevant in > 99.3% of vaccinated HW, with decreasing temporal trends, related to age, previous infections, vaccine type. Little is known about cellular immunity and its interaction with humoral response, which we are currently studying on about 300 HW.
Conclusions
In occupational settings, risk assessment and health surveillance protocols should consider the risk factors for breakthrough and reinfections and risk profiles for vulnerable workers with comorbidities and predisposing factors for long COVID. The new vaccine campaigns should be concurrent with the flu vaccine; health surveillance program should consider return-to-work policies; compensation criteria for occupationally infected workers should be harmonized
EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAMS AMONG HEALTH WORKERS: RESULTS OF TWO INTERVENTIONS IN A LARGE ITALIAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL.
No full textIntroduction
Health promotion (HP) is an important goal of Occupational Medicine. Workplace interventions showed their effectiveness in improving employees’ health. However, studies on health workers (HW) are few and limited, involving small groups. The aim of this research was to evaluate the usefulness of HP programs (HPP) in a large University Hospital.
Methods
In 2020, two online screening questionnaires were addressed to the over 4,900 HW belonging to the University Hospital of Verona. Salt consumption (SC) was assessed through MINISAL questionnaire, while the risk of sleep apnea (SA) was evaluated through STOP-BANG. HW at high risk for high SC were invited to an individual counseling session and a 6-month follow-up, while polygraphy was offered to HW at high risk for SA.
Results
MINISAL and STOP-BANG were filled out by 34% and 31% of the study population. In particular, 350 were included in the high SC category and 212 in the high risk for SA. Follow-up examinations were performed in 95 HW; 83% showed a reduction in SC. Polygraphy was performed in 64 HW; 69% were diagnosed with SA and a pulmonological examination was therefore recommended.
Discussion
The prevalence of HW at high risk for high SC or SA was low, as compared to the general population. The percentage of HW participating in HP programs and the adherence to counseling recommendations were good, showing a high awareness among HW.
Conclusion
Our studies confirmed the effectiveness of HPP among HW. Screening questionnaires are low-cost and easy-to-perform tools, very useful in involving large working populations
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