The Impact of prevention measures and organisational factors on occupational injuries

This paper analyses the impact of a series of managerial and organisational factors on occupational injuries. These consist of occupational safety measures, as regards both the intensity and the orientation of risk prevention in companies, and the adoption of certain work organisation practices, quality management and the use of flexible production technologies. We estimate a negative binomial regression based on a sample of 213 Spanish industrial establishments, defining a constant random parameter to take account of non-observable heterogeneity. Our results show that occupational safety measures, the intensive use of quality management tools and the empowerment of workers all help to reduce the number of injuries. We have also confirmed the presence of synergies between the organisational factors analysed and the development of an occupational safety strategy featuring participation and the extension of prevention to all levels of the organisation.

Cardiac injuries in blunt chest trauma

Blunt chest traumas are a clinical challenge, both for diagnosis and treatment. The use ofCardiovascular Magnetic Resonance can play a major role in this setting. We present two cases: a12-year-old boy and 45-year-old man. Late gadolinium enhancement imaging enabled visualizationof myocardial damage resulting from the trauma.

On homology searches by protein Blast and the characterization of the age of genes

Background: It has been shown in a variety of organisms, including mammals, that genes that appeared recently in evolution, for example orphan genes, evolve faster than older genes. Low functional constraints at the time of origin of novel genes may explain these results. However, this observation has been recently attributed to an artifact caused by the inability of Blast to detect the fastest genes in different eukaryotic genomes. Distinguishing between these two possible explanations would be of great importance for any studies dealing with the taxon distribution of proteins and the origin of novel genes. Results: Here we used simulations of protein sequences to examine the capacity of Blast to detect proteins of diverse evolutionary rates in the different species of an eukaryotic phylogenetic tree that included metazoans, fungi and plants. We simulated the evolution of protein genes with the same evolutionary rates than those observed in functional mammalian genes and with among-site rate heterogeneity. Under these conditions, we found that only a very small percentage of simulated ancestral eukaryotic proteins was affected by the Blast artifact. We show that the good detectability of Blast is due to the heterogeneity of protein evolutionary rates at different sites, since only a small conserved motif in a sequence suffices to detect its homologues. Our results indicate that Blast, at least when applied within eukaryotes, only misses homologues of extremely fast-evolving sequences, which are rare in the mammalian genome, as well as sequences evolving homogeneously or pseudogenes.Conclusion: Although great care should be exercised in the recognition of remote homologues, most functional mammalian genes can be detected in eukaryotic genomes by Blast. That is, the majority of functional mammalian genes are not as fast as for not being detected in other metazoans, fungi or plants, if they had been present in these organisms. Thus, the correlation previously found between age and rate seems not to be due to a pure Blast artifact, at least for mammals. This may have important implications to understand the mechanisms by which novel genes originate.

Bacterial membrane injuries induced by lactacin F and nisin

The combined action of nisin and lactacin F, two bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria, is additive. In this report, the basis of this effect is examined. Channels formed by lactacin F were studied by experiments using planar lipid bilayers, and bactericidal effects were analyzed by flow cytometry. Lactacin F produced pores with a conductance of 1 ns in black lipid bilayers in 1 mM KClat 10 mV at 20°C. Pore formation was strongly dependent on voltage. Although lactacin F formed pores at very low potential (10 mV), the dependence was exponentialabov e 40 mV. The injuries induced by nisin and lactacin F in the membranes of Lactobacillus helveticus produced different flow cytometric profiles. Probably, when both bacteriocins are present, each acts separately; their cooperation may be due to an increase in the number of single membrane injuries

Visual performance in preterm infants with brain injuries compared with low-risk preterm infants

Background: Neonatal brain injuries are the main cause of visual deficit produced by damage to posterior visual pathways.While there are several studies of visual function in low-risk preterm infants or older children with brain injuries, research in children of early age is lacking. Aim: To assess several aspects of visual function in preterm infants with brain injuries and to compare them with another group of low-risk preterm infants of the same age. Study design and subjects: Forty-eight preterm infants with brain injuries and 56 low-risk preterm infants. Outcome measures: The ML Leonhardt Battery of Optotypes was used to assess visual functions. This test was previously validated at a post-menstrual age of 40 weeks in newborns and at 30-plus weeks in preterm infants. Results: The group of preterminfants with brain lesions showed a delayed pattern of visual functions in alertness, fixation, visual attention and tracking behavior compared to infants in the healthy preterm group. The differences between both groups, in the visual behaviors analyzed were around 30%. These visual functions could be identified from the first weeks of life. Conclusion: Our results confirm the importance of using a straightforward screening test with preterminfants in order to assess altered visual function, especially in infants with brain injuries. The findings also highlight the need to provide visual stimulation very early on in life.

A priori ratemaking using bivariate poisson regression models

In automobile insurance, it is useful to achieve a priori ratemaking by resorting to gene- ralized linear models, and here the Poisson regression model constitutes the most widely accepted basis. However, insurance companies distinguish between claims with or without bodily injuries, or claims with full or partial liability of the insured driver. This paper exa- mines an a priori ratemaking procedure when including two di®erent types of claim. When assuming independence between claim types, the premium can be obtained by summing the premiums for each type of guarantee and is dependent on the rating factors chosen. If the independence assumption is relaxed, then it is unclear as to how the tari® system might be a®ected. In order to answer this question, bivariate Poisson regression models, suitable for paired count data exhibiting correlation, are introduced. It is shown that the usual independence assumption is unrealistic here. These models are applied to an automobile insurance claims database containing 80,994 contracts belonging to a Spanish insurance company. Finally, the consequences for pure and loaded premiums when the independence assumption is relaxed by using a bivariate Poisson regression model are analysed.

Victimologia del desenvolupament : Incidència i repercussions de la victimització i la polivictimització en joves catalans

L'elevada freqüència de victimització en nens, nenes i adolescents és una realitat que ha impulsat l’aparició de la denominada victimologia del desenvolupament, en la qual s’emmarca aquest projecte. Des d’aquesta perspectiva, s’han entrevistat 123 joves, d’entre 12 i 17 anys (M= 14,28 i DT= 1,43) atesos en 13 centres de salut mental de la província de Barcelona, sobre les seves experiències de victimització relatives a delictes comuns, victimització per part de cuidadors, victimització per iguals i/o germans, victimització sexual, victimització indirecta/ser testimoni i victimització per Internet. Alhora s’han avaluat les característiques i el perfil dels victimaris, així com el malestar psicològic i la presència de psicopatologia en les víctimes. Un 99,2% dels menors ha patit alguna forma de victimització al llarg de la seva vida i un 85,4% l’ha sofert en el darrer any. Gran part de les victimitzacions s’inicien durant la infància, estan vinculades a persones conegudes, de l’entorn habitual del menor, i són comeses per un agressor de sexe masculí. Si bé no totes aquestes formes de victimització suposen delictes punibles al nostre país, sí que configuren una part important de la biografia del menor que cal considerar i valorar, donades les implicacions que poden arribar a tenir en el seu desenvolupament. Els resultats confirmen que la victimització i, especialment, l’acumulació d’experiències victimitzants tenen un efecte negatiu en l’estat emocional del menor, cosa que fa que, en els adolescents polivictimitzats, s’obtinguin nivells més elevats de psicopatologia general, així com de simptomatologia internalitzant i externalitzant.

Victimología del desarrollo. Incidencia y repercusiones de la victimización y la polivictimización en jóvenes catalanes

El estudio presenta datos sobre la incidencia de la victimización en jóvenes catalanes usuarios de centros de salud mental a partir de sus propias respuestas, estableciendo las características principales relativas al victimario, las lesiones físicas derivadas, el malestar psicológico asociado y la presencia de psicopatología.