Head and dental injuries among farriers and hoof care practitioners: A nationwide survey in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND/AIM: There is a paucity of evidence on injuries sustained by farriers and hoof care practitioners, two professions exposed to unique occupational hazards. The aim of this study was to collect and examine data on occupational head/face and dental injuries among farriers and hoof care practitioners in a nationwide survey in Switzerland. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data on occupational head/face and dental injuries were gathered in a questionnaire-based, voluntary survey, which was mailed to all farriers and hoof care practitioners in Switzerland. The statistical analysis comprised multiple regressions with a nested design (α = 0.05). RESULTS: The survey included 278 respondents (response rate of 78.1%). Head/face injuries were more frequently reported by farriers than hoof care practitioners (60.6% and 20.7%, respectively). Among full-time workers, farriers had a higher chance of an occupational head/face injury compared with hoof care practitioners (p = .007). The rate of dental injuries, mainly related to a horse kick, was 11.1% and 1.9% among farriers and hoof care practitioners, respectively. Negligence in wearing mandatory eye protection was reported by 37.5% of respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Farriery and hoof care management entail a significant risk of occupational head/face and dental injuries. Preventive safety measures-eye protection in particular-and knowledge in dental first aid should be promoted among farriers and hoof care practitioners to decrease the frequency and severity of work-related injuries.

Abnormal creatine transport of mutations in monocarboxylate transporter 12 (MCT12) found in patients with age-related cataract can be partially rescued by exogenous chaperone CD147.

Membrane transporters influence biological functions in the ocular lens. Here, we investigate the monocarboxylate transporter 12 (MCT12), also called creatine transporter 2 (CRT2), which is found in the ocular lens and is involved in cataract. As the age-related form affects about half of the population world-wide, understanding relevant pathomechanisms is a prerequisite for exploring non-invasive treatments. We screened the coding exons of the gene SLC16A12 in 877 patients from five cohorts, including Caucasian and Asian ethnicities. A previously identified risk factor, SNP rs3740030, displayed different frequencies in the Asian cohorts but risk could not be established. In 15 patients 13 very rare heterozygous nucleotide substitutions were identified, of which eight led to non-synonymous and four to synonymous amino acid exchanges and one mapped to the canonical splice site in intron 3. Their impact on creatine transport was tested in Xenopus laevis oocytes and human HEK293T cells. Four variants (p.Ser158Pro, p.Gly205Val, p.Pro395Gln and p.Ser453Arg) displayed severe reduction in both model systems, indicating conserved function. Two of these, p.Gly205Val, and p.Ser453Arg, did not localize to the oocyte membrane, suggesting possible impacts on protein interactions for transporter processing. In support, exogenously supplied excess of MCT12's chaperone CD147 in HEK293T cells led to a partial recovery of the defective uptake activity from p.Gly205Val and also from mutant p.Pro395Gln, which did localize to the membrane. Our findings provide first insight in the molecular requirements of creatine transporter, with particular emphasis on rescuing effects by its chaperone CD147, which can provide useful pharmacological information for substrate delivery.