Search results for "Epidemiology"

Wastewater-based epidemiology for early warning of SARS-COV-2 circulation: A pilot study conducted in Sicily, Italy

2022

There is increasing evidence of the use of wastewater-based epidemiology to integrate conventional monitoring assessing disease symptoms and signs of viruses in a specific territory. We present the results of SARS-CoV-2 environmental surveillance activity in wastewater samples collected between September 2020 and July 2021 in 9 wastewater treatment plants (WTPs) located in central and western Sicily, serving over 570,000 residents. The presence of SARS-CoV-2, determined in 206 wastewater samples using RT-qPCR assays, was correlated with the notified and geo-referenced cases on the areas served by the WTPs in the same study period. Overall, 51% of wastewater samples were positive. Samples we…

First nation-wide estimation of tobacco consumption in Spain using wastewater-based epidemiology

2020

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become a very useful tool to monitor a population's drug consumption or exposure to environmental and food contaminants. In this work, WBE has been applied to estimate tobacco consumption in seven Spanish regions. To this end, 24 h composite wastewater samples were taken daily for one week in 17 wastewater treatment plants, covering altogether a population of ca. 6 million inhabitants. The samples were treated by enzymatic deconjugation and the wastewater content of two human-specific nicotine metabolites (namely, cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine) was measured to estimate the daily consumption of nicotine. The population-weighted average nicotine…

Levels and change in autonomous and controlled work motivation in older workers—The role of proximity to retirement and sense of community at work

2021

Previous studies suggest a preretirement disengagement process from work, which includes reduced work motivation. In this study, we investigated changes in autonomous and controlled work motivation over two years among participants of the Health, Aging and Retirement Transition in Sweden (HEARTS) study. We found stability in both types of motivation; however, those who retired after the study period showed more distinct declines in autonomous motivation. A stronger sense of community at work was related to level, but not change in autonomous motivation. Intra-individual fluctuations in the expected retirement age did not predict work motivation or vice versa. Future studies are needed to be…

COVID-19 Pandemic: Prevention and protection measures to be adopted at the workplace

2020

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2, identified in Wuhan, China, for the first time in December 2019, is a new viral strain, which has not been previously identified in humans; it can be transmitted both by air and via direct and indirect contact; however, the most frequent way it spreads is via droplets. Like the other viruses belonging to the same family of coronaviruses, it can cause from mild flu-like symptoms, such as cold, sore throat, cough and fever, to more severe ones such as pneumonia and breathing difficulties, and it can even lead to death. Since no effective specific drug therapy has been found yet, nor any vaccine capable of limiting the spread of this pathogen, it is important for way…

Multiple Linear Regression to predict larvicidal activity against <em>Aedes aegypti </em>mosquito

2017

Vector-borne diseases are one of the important health problems in most tropical countries. Aedes aegypti is an important vector for transmission of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, arthritis, and Zika fever. According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that Ae. aegypti causes 50 million infections and 25,000 deaths per year. The emerging scenario highlights that the eco-friendly and effective control measures for mosquito vectors is of crucial importance. One of the most effective vector control measures has been the use of larvicidal compounds however; this success was short lived due to development of resistance against them in many mosquito strains, ecological imbalance …

Burden of HIV and hepatitis C co-infection: the changing epidemiology of hepatitis C in HIV-infected patients in France.

2015

Équipe UB/CHU (EA) Pôle MERS CT3 Hors Enjeu; International audience; Background & AimsTo better evaluate the HIV-HCV co-infection burden in the context of new effective HCV treatment. MethodsWe reviewed all the epidemiological data available on HCV-related disease in HIV-infected patients in France. Sources of data have been selected using the following criteria: (i) prospective cohorts or cross-sectional surveys; (ii) conducted at a national level; (iii) in the HIV-infected population; (iv) able to identify HCV co-infection and chronic active hepatitis C (HCV RNA positive); and (v) conducted during the period 2003-2012. ResultsThe overall prevalence of HIV-HCV co-infection has decreased fr…

Infant feeding practices and early growth among children of the nationwide Elfe cohort

2020

International audience; Rapid early growth is considered as a risk factor for obesity later in life. Breastfeeding is associated with slower growth in the first months of life, but the complementary diet of non- exclusively breastfed infants remains poorly considered. Our objective was to analyze the links between infant diet during the first year and growth up to 18 months. Analyses included 8315 infants from the Elfe birth cohort. Infants were grouped into clusters using hierarchical clustering according to infant diet characteristics (breastfeeding duration, introduction of infant formula, main food groups and unmixed foods). Association between clusters and weight, height and BMI betwee…

Initiating complementary feeding: a decision influenced by the child's growth?

2020

International audience; Background and aims: Infant feeding practices are subject to multiple influences. The age of onset of complementary feeding (CF) varies according to many factors such as maternal characteristics (smoking, age, education level, body size, country of birth) or infant characteristics (sex) (Bournez et al., 2017). The aim was to study if, in addition to these factors, age could depend on the child's growth. We have hypothesized that larger children (or heavier / more corpulent ones) would be introduced to CF earlier than "average"-sized children would. Methods: Data from the ELFE cohort (French Longitudinal Study since Childhood) made it possible to describe the age of C…

Mediation analysis to understand the role of overweight on the relationship between Mediterranean diet and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: evidence…

2019

Assessing environmental noise exposure: does the size of the neighbourhood matter?

2013

International audience; In environmental epidemiology, studies rely on the quantification of subject'sexposures in a surface defined as the subject exposure area. For outdoor exposure, this area is often considered as the subject's neighbourhood. But, depending on the authors, the size and the nature of this neighbourhood differs, making difficult to compare results. In order to study the impact of the sampling surface on the noise exposure values affected to a subject, a high definition environmental noise model has been builton a middle-sized French city. Outdoor neighbourhood noise indices were computed at 10,394 residential buildings, using eight different sizes of buffers defined by di…