Occupational exposures to solar ultraviolet radiation of vineyard workers in Tuscany (Italy).

A study to quantify the UV exposure of vineyard workers was carried out using polysulphone dosimetry. The study took place in Tuscany (Italy) involving 32 vineyard workers, covering three different stages of the vine's growth. The level of personal exposure expressed as a function on the available ambient UV radiation was determined. We also assessed skin reflectance parameters, pre and post exposure. It was found that during spring backs received between 53% and 87% of ambient exposure and arms between 30% and 60%. During summer, the workers received on the back between 36% and 77% of ambient exposure and between 19% and 43% of ambient exposure on the arm. The comparison with the occupational UV exposure limit showed that all subjects received UV exposures in excess of the limit. The exposure of back of neck exceeded 10 SED (assumed as a threshold level of sun-adapted skin for Mediterranean subjects) in spring, which means that in the case of non sun-adapted skin and without sun protection, erythema can be induced in this targeted population. The cumulative exposure was also estimated under specific assumptions of UV exposure giving values in some cases higher than previous studies.

Short-term UV exposure of sunbathers at a Mediterranean Sea site.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether systematic differences in solar UV exposure on a specific anatomical site (chest) exist among three groups of Italian sunbathers: healthy subjects (suntanned and non-suntanned individuals) and subjects affected by abnormally high sensitivity to solar exposure. A second aim of the study was to search for a possible relation among biological markers of individual response to UV exposure (such as skin colorimetric parameters, skin temperature and changes in free radical amounts [FR] in the blood) and photosensitivity. FR in the blood were analyzed because of their possible influence on UV carcinogenesis. Measurements of ambient doses (i.e. incident erythemally weighted irradiance on a horizontal surface over a specified period of time) and erythemally effective UV dose received by an anatomical site (here called personal dose or exposure on a specific anatomical site) were investigated. Personal doses received by the chest were determined using polysulfone dosimetry. Exposure Ratio (ER), defined as the ratio between the personal dose and the corresponding ambient dose during the same exposure period, was then calculated. Measuring of skin color in the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage L (luminance), a (redness), b (yellowness) system and skin temperature were also carried out on the inner upper arm (nonexposed skin site) and on the chest. It was found that the median value of ER was 0.20 (min: 0.09 and max: 0.34) for suntanned individuals, it was 0.17 (min: 0.13 and max: 0.42) for non-suntanned individuals and it was 0.19 (min: 0.14 and max: 0.34) for photosensitive individuals. There were no significant differences across the groups in their median ER scores. In addition, the statistical analysis showed that L on the exposed site before exposure demonstrated consistently higher median scores after exposure in all groups. The b value after exposure was significantly lower than before exposure in all participants, while no significant differences for a were observed before or after exposure between or within the groups. Our findings suggest that photodermatoses are not significantly related to ER and to the changes in biological markers due to too short-term UV exposure.

Symptom prevalence and clustering of symptoms in people living with chronic hepatitis C infection.

Quality of life has been shown to be poor among people living with chronic hepatitis C. However, it is not clear how this relates to the presence of symptoms and their severity. The aim of this study was to describe the typology of a broad array of symptoms that were attributed to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Phase 1 used qualitative methods to identify symptoms. In Phase 2, 188 treatment-naïve people living with HCV participated in a quantitative survey. The most prevalent symptom was physical tiredness (86%) followed by irritability (75%), depression (70%), mental tiredness (70%), and abdominal pain (68%). Temporal clustering of symptoms was reported in 62% of participants. Principal components analysis identified four symptom clusters: neuropsychiatric (mental tiredness, poor concentration, forgetfulness, depression, irritability, physical tiredness, and sleep problems); gastrointestinal (day sweats, nausea, food intolerance, night sweats, abdominal pain, poor appetite, and diarrhea); algesic (joint pain, muscle pain, and general body pain); and dysesthetic (noise sensitivity, light sensitivity, skin problems, and headaches). These data demonstrate that symptoms are prevalent in treatment-naïve people with HCV and support the hypothesis that symptom clustering occurs.