Estimation of the risks of thermal stress due to the microclimate for manual fruit and vegetable harvesters in central Italy

Agricultural workers are exposed to various risks, including chemical agents, noise, and many other factors. One of the most characteristic and least known risk factors is constituted by the microclimatic conditions in the different phases of work (in field, in greenhouse, etc). A typical condition is thermal stress due to high temperatures during harvesting operations in open fields or in greenhouses. In Italy, harvesting is carried out for many hours during the day, mainly in the summer, with temperatures often higher than 30 degrees C. According to ISO 7243, these conditions can be considered dangerous for workers' health. The aim of this study is to assess the risks of exposure to microclimatic conditions (heat) for fruit and vegetable harvesters in central Italy by applying methods established by international standards. In order to estimate the risk for workers, the air temperature, radiative temperature, and air speed were measured using instruments in conformity with ISO 7726. Thermodynamic parameters and two more subjective parameters, clothing and the metabolic heat production rate related to the worker's physical activity, were used to calculate the predicted heat strain (PHS) for the exposed workers in conformity with ISO 7933. Environmental and subjective parameters were also measured for greenhouse workers, according to ISO 7243, in order to calculate the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT). The results show a slight risk for workers during manual harvesting in the field. On the other hand, the data collected in the greenhouses show that the risk for workers must not be underestimated. The results of the study show that, for manual harvesting work in climates similar to central Italy, it is essential to provide plenty of drinking water and acclimatization for the workers in order to reduce health risks. Moreover, the study emphasizes that the possible health risks for greenhouse workers increase from the month of April through July.

Female mating preferences and male coloration covary with water transparency in a Lake Victoria cichlid fish

Rapid speciation in Lake Victoria cichlid fish of the genus Pundamilia may be facilitated by sexual selection: female mate choice exerts sexual selection on male nuptial coloration within species and maintains reproductive isolation between species. However, declining water transparency coincides with increasingly dull coloration and increasing hybridization. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism underlying this pattern in Pundamilia nyererei, a species that interbreeds with a sister species in turbid but not in clear water. We compared measures of intraspecific sexual selection between two populations from locations that differ in water transparency. First, in laboratory mate-choice experiments, conducted in clear water and under broad-spectrum illumination, we found that females originating from turbid water have significantly weaker preferences for male coloration than females originating from clear water. Second, both the hue and body coverage of male coloration differ between populations, which is consistent with adaptation to different photic habitats. These findings suggest that the observed relationship between male coloration and water transparency is not mediated by environmental variation alone. Rather, female mating preferences are indicated to have changed in response to this variation, constituting the first evidence for intraspecific preference-trait co-evolution in cichlid fish. (C) 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 99, 398-406.

Meeting the decision-making preferences of patients with breast cancer in oncology consultations: impact on decision-related outcomes

To investigate how involvement preferences of patients with breast cancer change during the treatment decision-making process and determine the impact of meeting patients' expectations on decision-making outcomes.

Format preferences of district attorneys for post-mortem medical imaging reports: understandability, cost effectiveness, and suitability for the courtroom: a questionnaire based study

The objective of this study was to explore the perception of the legal authorities regarding different report types and visualization techniques for post-mortem radiological findings.

Is less more? Patients' preferences for drug information leaflets

Present package information leaflets do not fulfil the needs of many patients. The objective of this study was to investigate patients' preferences towards content and presentation of drug information leaflets using prepared medication brochures in a discrete choice experiment.

Conformational preferences of natural and C3-modified epothilones in aqueous solution

The conformational properties of the microtubule-stabilizing agent epothilone A ( 1a) and its 3-deoxy and 3-deoxy-2,3-didehydro derivatives 2 and 3 have been investigated in aqueous solution by a combination of NMR spectroscopic methods, Monte Carlo conformational searches, and NAMFIS calculations. The tubulin-bound conformation of epothilone A ( 1a), as previously proposed on the basis of solution NMR data, was found to represent a significant fraction of the ensemble of conformations present for the free ligands in aqueous solution.