Search results for "Occupational Health"

Improvement of Raw Milk Cheese Hygiene through the Selection of Starter and Non-Starter Lactic Acid Bacteria: The Successful Case of PDO Pecorino Sic…

2021

This review article focuses on the technological aspects and microbiological critical points of pressed-cooked cheeses processed from raw ewe’s milk without the inoculation of starter cultures, in particular “Pecorino” cheese typology produced in Italy. After showing the composition of the biofilms adhering to the surface of the traditional dairy equipment (mainly wooden vat used to collect milk) and the microbiological characteristics of PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheese manufactured throughout Sicily, this cheese is taken as a case study to develop a strategy to improve its hygienic and safety characteristics. Basically, the natural lactic acid bacterial populations of fresh and ripened chees…

Dynamic Mathematical Modelling of the Removal of Hydrophilic VOCs by Biotrickling Filters

2015

A mathematical model for the simulation of the removal of hydrophilic compounds using biotrickling filtration was developed. The model takes into account that biotrickling filters operate by using an intermittent spraying pattern. During spraying periods, a mobile liquid phase was considered, while during non-spraying periods, a stagnant liquid phase was considered. The model was calibrated and validated with data from laboratory- and industrial-scale biotrickling filters. The laboratory experiments exhibited peaks of pollutants in the outlet of the biotrickling filter during spraying periods, while during non-spraying periods, near complete removal of the pollutant was achieved. The gaseou…

Basal ice formation in snow cover in Northern Finland between 1948 and 2016

2018

Insecticide residues in cotton soils of Burkina Faso and effects of insecticides on fluctuating asymmetry in honey bees (Apis mellifera Linnaeus).

2011

8 pages; International audience; Four insecticides (acetamiprid, cypermethrin, endosulfan and profenofos) are used quarterly in the cotton-growing areas of Burkina Faso, West Africa. These insecticides were investigated in soils collected from traditionally cultivated and new cotton areas. Also, the effects of insecticide exposure on the developmental instability of honey bees, Apis mellifera, were explored. In soil samples collected three months after insecticide treatments, endosulfan and profenofos concentrations varied in the range of 10-30μgkg(-1) in the traditionally cultivated zones and 10-80μgkg(-1) in the new cotton zones, indicating a pollution of agricultural lands. However, only…

Genomic Analysis and Lineage Identification of SARS-CoV-2 Strains in Migrants Accessing Europe Through the Libyan Route

2021

Many African countries, representing the origin of the majority of refugees, asylum-seekers, and other migrants, toward regions bordering on the Mediterranean area, are experiencing sustained local transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Sicily is one of the main entry gates of migrants crossing into Europe. We conducted a pilot study, based on the full-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains isolated from migrants coming to Sicily by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, with the aim to investigate the viral genome polymorphism and to describe their genetic variations and the phylogenetic relationships. On June 21, a nongovernmental organization vessel rescu…

Cyclic hantavirus epidemics in humans--predicted by rodent host dynamics.

2009

Wildlife-originated zoonotic diseases are a major contributor to emerging infectious diseases. Hantaviruses cause thousands of human disease cases annually worldwide, and understanding and predicting human hantavirus epidemics still poses unsolved challenges. Here we studied the three-level relationships between the human disease nephropathia epidemica (NE), its etiological agent Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) and the rodent host of the virus, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). A large and long-term data set (14 years, 2583 human NE cases and 4751 trapped bank voles) indicates that the number of human infections shows both seasonal and multi-annual fluctuations, is influenced by the phase of vole…

Proposed Environmental Risk Management Elements in a Carpathian Valley Basin, within the Roşia Montană European Historical Mining Area

2021

Non-ferrous metals mining activities have long accompanied people, and began in the study area of South East Europe over 2000 years ago. The environment quality is significantly affected by both historic mining activities and contemporary impacts. All these problems, inducing synergic negative effects on local organism communities, have created a chronic state of pollution. The Corna Valley has one of the oldest historical human impacts in Romania due to the influence of mining. Fish and benthic macroinvertebrates have exhibited significant responses to long term mining effects on lotic systems. The analysis of macroinvertebrate communities, correlated with the lack of fish and some biotope…

Co-inertia multivariate approach for the evaluation of anthropogenic impact on two commercial fish along Tyrrhenian coasts

2019

Abstract Aliphatic hydrocarbon levels were determined by the GC/MS technique in fish livers of Engraulis encrasicolus (Ee) and Trachurus trachurus (Tt), collected from a particular area of the Mediterranean Sea, called GSA 10, which is located exactly in Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania coast and North Sicily coast. The aim was to evaluate their potential use as specific bioindicators towards this class of contaminants. Both Tt and Ee are considered to be pollution monitoring bioindicators, due to their dominance in marine communities and economic fishing interest. Ee showed a higher tendency to bioaccumulate TAHs, due to the lower quantity of fatty acids in liver tissues with respect to Tt.…

Evaluation of the shielding in a treatment room with an electronic brachytherapy unit.

2017

Esteya® (Elekta Brachytherapy, Veenendaal, The Netherlands) is an electronic brachytherapy (eBT) system based on a 69.5 kVp x-ray source and a set of collimators of 1 to 3 cm in diameter, used for treating non-melanoma skin cancer lesions. This study aims to estimate room shielding requirements for this unit. The non-primary (scattered and leakage) ambient dose equivalent rates were measured with a Berthold LB-133 monitor (Berthold Technologies, Bad Wildbad, Germany). The latter ranges from 17 mSv h-1 at 0.25 m distance from the x-ray source to 0.1 mSv h-1 at 2.5 m. The necessary room shielding was then estimated following US and some European guidelines. The room shielding for all barriers…

Health communication in covid-19 era: Experiences from the italian vaccinarsì network websites

2021

In 2013, in a bid to combat Vaccine Hesitancy (VH) and provide information on vaccines by communicating with the general public and the health community (e.g., healthcare workers and public health operators), the Italian Society of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine (S.It.I.) published the national website “VaccinarSì”. The project was subsequently extended to ten Italian Regions. This led to the creation of the VaccinarSì Network, whose websites are publicly owned. The aim of this work was to present the framework of the websites of the VaccinarSì Network and to analyse user behaviour in the pre-COVID-19-era (dating from each website’s publication until 31 January 2020) and in the COVID-19-er…