Forest harvesting in rural properties: Risks and worsening to the worker’s health under the ergonomics approach

Through an ergonomic approach, this study aimed to evaluate whether workers involved in forest harvesting activities in rural properties are subject to the development of work-related diseases, as well as their consequences. A cross-sectional study with 267 forest workers in rural properties in the Brazilian Central region was used. The following evaluations were performed for each of the activities (felling, delimbing, tracing, manual extraction and manual loading): physical workload evaluation; biomechanical evaluation; risk of repetitive strain injuries/work-related musculoskeletal disorders; environmental noise and vibration factors, where relevant, and thermal overload through the Wetbulb Globe Temperature index. The results showed that in general the physical workload was very high, exceeding the cardiovascular load limits and adding to the need for work reorganization. All activities exposed workers to serious and imminent risks of developing injuries to the spine and lower limbs. Likewise, in general the risk of the appearance of RSI/WMSDs was very high for all activities evaluated. Such results are due to the combination of organizational work factors and factors of the work environment such as exposure to bad weather, uneven terrain, lifting and handling loads above tolerable limits, excessive noise and thermal overload. All of this allows to conclude that ergonomic risks and workers’ health hazards in forest harvesting in rural properties are latent and very worrying, and that these workers are exposed to a form of labor exploitation that invariably leads to physical and emotional exhaustion and therefore to their decreased labor capacity and useful working life.     

Enterprise architecture,IT effectiveness and the mediating role of IT alignment in US hospitals

Despite the possible benefits of implementing healthcare information technologies, successful implementation of effective healthcare information technology is constrained by cultural and regulatory concerns and technical obstacles encountered when establishing or upgrading an organisation's enterprise infrastructure. In this paper, we advance Ross' four‐stage model of enterprise architecture maturity as a valuable IT resource for helping healthcare organisations sustain a competitive advantage. We use partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling to analyse survey data from 164 US hospitals at different stages of EA maturity. Our results provide evidence that enterprise architecture maturity directly influences the effectiveness of hospitals' IT resources for achieving strategic goals. Further, enterprise architecture maturity indirectly influences the effectiveness of IT resources when IT alignment is incorporated as a mediating variable. We discuss the implications of our findings for research and practice and suggest opportunities for future research.     

Model-guided evaluation of consumer products

An evaluation of a consumer product is presented as an example of how ergonomics models can guide data collection and interpretation by non-ergonomists. The product, a new cooking pan, was compared with its earlier counterpart on performance and safety tests for specific features. Model-guided evaluations produced data which could be well-fitted by linear relationships, and measures derived from the data could be interpreted in physical terms by engineers. This is now the standard methodology for pan evaluation in the client company.     

黄冈市农村卫生人才培养的现状与对策

本文采取问卷调查和文献查阅相结合的方式,对黄冈市卫生专业技术人员队伍现状进行了调查和分析,剖析了黄冈市农村卫生人才培养的方法和经验,提出了切实可行的农村卫生人才培养的对策与建议。     

大气生物气溶胶的源排放与源解析研究进展

2019年新冠肺炎(COVID-19)的全球爆发引起了公众对生物气溶胶的广泛关注。生物气溶胶是大气气溶胶的重要组成部分。生物气溶胶由于具有普通气溶胶的理化性质和本身特有的生物学特性,在全球生态系统、气候变化、空气质量和公共卫生等领域均扮演十分重要的角色。然而,目前学术界对生物气溶胶的研究主要集中在采样监测、消杀防护以及其环境与健康效应等方面,关于源特性研究相对滞后。基于此,聚焦大气中微生物的来源现状,综述了最近20年来生物气溶胶的自然源和人为源排放特性研究进展,并阐述了影响源排放和输送过程的主要因素(如生物地理区域、土地利用类型和环境因素等),探讨了当前生物气溶胶的各种源解析方法。最后,给出了生物气溶胶来源下一步的研究展望,以期为深入理解生物气溶胶的来源、输送与变化机理,更好地评估大气微生物污染水平与监控病原体的气溶胶传播提供参考。     

基于数据融合的ABC-SVM社区疾病预测方法

针对现有社区医疗服务中的疾病预测方法存在数据利用率低、疾病分析类型单一、自动化程度差、疾病预测效果不理想等不足,提出在物联网大数据环境下可用于社区医疗的健康数据融合及疾病预测方法. 通过主成分分析(PCA)和聚类分析对社区中居民的生理指标数据进行特征提取;结合人工蜂群(ABC)算法构造支持向量机(SVM)非线性分类器对数据进行特征级融合分析并预测潜在疾病. 实验结果表明,所提方法的疾病识别准确率达到93.10%,相较于传统SVM方法和BP神经网络方法分别提高17.24% 和72.41%. 该方法能够在提高数据利用率、降低计算资源消耗的前提下有效识别多种潜在疾病,可实现疾病早发现、早预防、早治疗;可广泛应用于社区健康管理、老年社区监护甚至临床医疗.     

桥梁健康监测中损伤特征提取的小波包方法

针对桥梁健康监测中结构损伤识别的特点,从模式识别的角度提出和分析了损伤特征提取问题.阐述了基于小波包分析的两种节点能量特征提取的方法.为了研究小波包系数节点能量和小波包信号成分节点能量对损伤信息进行特征提取的差异,通过对随机荷载激励下的连续梁进行数值模拟,得到了结构未损和损伤状态下的加速度时程信号.应用小波包变换,对不同结构状态下的加速度信号分别提取了两种小波包节点能量特征,并对它们作为结构损伤特征指标的敏感性进行了比较.认为两种特征指标的敏感性相差很小,而小波包系数节点能量特征指标的计算效率更高,更适合桥梁健康监测中损伤特征提取的要求.     

The Role of Chronic Inflammation in Various Diseases and Anti-inflammatory Therapies Containing Natural Products

Chronic inflammation represents a long-term reaction of the body's immune system to noxious stimuli. Such a sustained inflammatory response sometimes results in lasting damage to healthy tissues and organs. In fact, chronic inflammation is implicated in the development and progression of various diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and even cancers. Targeting nonresolving inflammation thus provides new opportunities for treating relevant diseases. In this review, we will go over several chronic inflammation-associated diseases first with emphasis on the role of inflammation in their pathogenesis. Then, we will summarize a number of natural products that exhibit therapeutic effects against those diseases by acting on different markers in the inflammatory response. We envision that natural products will remain a rich resource for the discovery of new drugs treating diseases associated with chronic inflammation.     

Screening of Inhibitors Targeting Heat Shock Protein 47 Involved in the Development of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Heat shock protein 47 (HSP47), a collagen-specific molecular chaperone, is causally related to fibrotic diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The identification of Compounds that interfere with the HSP47-collagen interaction is essential for the development of relevant therapeutics. Herein, we prepared human HSP47 as a soluble fusion protein expressed in E. coli and established an assay system for HSP47 inhibitor screening. We screened a natural and synthetic Compound library established at Nagasaki University. Among 1023 Compounds, 13 exhibited inhibitory activity against human HSP47, of which three inhibited its function in a dose-dependent manner. Epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate, one of these three Compounds, is a typical polyphenol Compound derived from tea leaves. Structurally related Compounds were synthesized and examined for their activity, revealing a hydroxyl group at A-ring position 5 as important for its activity. The present findings provide valuable insight for the development of natural product-derived therapeutics for fibrotic diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.     

Nephrotoxicity of Herbal Products in Europe—A Review of an Underestimated Problem

Currently in Europe, despite the many advances in production technology of synthetic drugs, the interest in natural herbal medicines continues to increase. One of the reasons for their popular use is the assumption that natural equals safe. However, herbal medicines contain pharmacologically active ingredients, some of which have been associated with adverse effects. Kidneys are particularly susceptible to injury induced by toxins, including poisonous constituents from medicinal plants. The most recognized herb-induced kidney injury is aristolochic acid nephropathy connected with misuse of certain Traditional Chinese herbal medicines. Data concerning nephrotoxicity of plant species of European origin are scarce. Here, we critically review significant data of the nephrotoxicity of several plants used in European phytotherapy, including Artemisia herba-alba, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Euphorbia paralias, and Aloe). Causative mechanisms and factors predisposing to intoxications from the use of herbs are discussed. The basic intention of this review is to improve pharmacovigilance of herbal medicine, especially in patients with chronic kidney diseases.