[A workplace intervention aimed at increasing awareness in nursing personnel performing manual handling activities]. / La consapevolezza come obiettivo formativo del personale sanitario addetto alla movimentazione di pazienti: esperienza di un nuovo metodo educativo.

Here we describe a workplace intervention aimed at reducing the risk of low back pain in nursing personnel. The intervention we carried out included a specific ergonomic training and an exercise program according to the Feldenkrais Method. After the intervention, we evaluated its effect on the execution of manual handling activities in nurses. We found an increased rate of correct manual handling in the post-intervention period.

Occupational sensitization to epoxy resin and reactive diluents in marble workers.

10 out of 22 marble workers handling a bicomponent resin, based on epoxy resin and ortho-cresyl glycidyl ether (CGE), developed contact dermatitis and airborne contact dermatitis within 20 days to 2 months of exposure. All 22 subjects were patch tested with epoxy resin, bisphenol A, epichlorohydrin and a series of reactive diluents. The 10 symptomatic subjects were all positive to the reactive diluent CGE, and 4 of them also to epoxy resin. The other reactive diluents that gave positive reactions were phenyl glycidyl ether (7 cases), cyclohexanedimethanol glycidyl ether (2 cases), 1,6-hexanediol diglycidyl ether (2 cases) and allyl glycidyl ether (1 case). The findings of our study suggest that allergic potential is directly proportional to the electronic charge available, for all electron-rich molecules (solvents, high and low polymers, reagents) that interact with the glycidyl ether group. Lesser, but still noticeable, effects are detected when activation of the glycidyl group is related to the possible formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds. In practice, the occupational problem was partly solved by changing the type of glycidyl ether.

Epidemiology of hepatocellular carcinoma in a province of northern Italy: prevalence of the risk factors and incidence in the population.

AIMS: Epidemiologic studies on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in limited geographic areas of Italy are rare, and most of them derive from autopsies. We retrospectively analyzed the prevalence of risk factors (sex, age, HBsAg, alcoholism, cirrhosis) in 137 HCC diagnosed between 1980 and 1989 in a single centre of northern Italy (Bergamo). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: One hundred and nine of the HCC (79.6%) occurred in men (M:F = 3.9:1); 35.8% were HBsAg+ and 41.4% had histories of alcoholism. There were significant differences between men and women as regards prevalence of HBsAg+ (40.4% vs 17.9%; p = 0.046) and alcoholism (47.6% vs 17.9%, p = 0.008). The mean age of the patients was 63.6 years (range, 40-82), with significant differences between men and women (62.4 +/- 08 vs 68.2 +/- 1.4, p = 0.001), between HCC/HBsAg+ and HCC/HBsAg- (59.1 +/- 1.1 vs 66.1 +/- 0.8, p = 0.00001) and between alcoholics and nonalcoholics (61.6 +/- 1.1 vs 64.8 +/- 0.9; p = 0.03). Liver cirrhosis was associated with HCC in 104/122 cases (data not available for 15 patients) without differences in distribution of sex, age, HBsAg+ or alcoholism between HCC with cirrhosis and HCC without cirrhosis. Incidence was calculated for the surrounding territory of the hospital center (10 towns, districts 5 and 6, USSL 30). Fifty-four cases of HCC were found in this area over the 10-year period, in according with a mean standardized incidence rate (Lombardy population 1971) of 11.7/100,000 inhabitants/year (c.i. 95%, 1.49-21.86).