Industrial nanoparticle application : representative survey among Swiss companies shows low usage and basic protection means

Manufactured nanoparticles are introduced into industrial processes, but they are suspected to cause similar negative health effects as ambient particles. The poor knowledge about the scale of this introduction did not allow global risk analysis so far. In 2006 a targeted telephone survey among Swiss companies (1) showed the usage of nanoparticles in a few selected companies but did not provide data to extrapolate on the totality of the Swiss workforce. To gain this kind of information a layered representative questionnaire survey among 1'626 Swiss companies was conducted in 2007. Data was collected about the number of potentially exposed persons in the companies and their protection strategy. The response rate was 58.3%. An expected number of 586 companies (95%−confidence interval 145 to 1'027) was shown by this study to use nanoparticles in Switzerland. Estimated 1'309 (1'073 to 1'545) workers do their job in the same room as a nanoparticle application. Personal protection was shown to be the predominant type of protection means. Companies starting productions with nanomaterials need to consider incorporating protection measures into the plans. This will not only benefit the workers' health, but will also likely increase the competitiveness of the companies. Technical and organisational protection means are not only more cost−effective on the long term, but are also easier to control. Guidelines may have to be designed specifically for different industrial applications, including fields outside nanotechnology, and adapted to all sizes of companies.

The fallacy of slimming products: a case analysis in Switzerland

Introduction: Many people desire to lose weight. This favors the marketing of "miracle" products with overemphasized slimming capacities. To our knowledge, no study regarding the claimed performances of slimming products has ever been conducted in Switzerland. Objectives: To assess weight loss claims of slimming products available in Switzerland by analyzing their corresponding advertisements. Methods: Between May 2008 and February 2013, 31 advertisements for 13 different slimming products from a single producer were collected. Weight loss claims and text of the advertisement were analyzed. Results: Weight loss claims ranged between 7 and 31 kg, with an estimated daily weight loss ranging between 300 g and 1 kg. 84% of the advertisements targeted women (by including the photograph of a woman), 61% showed a picture of a person before and after using the product, and 51% claimed that the product had improved marital relationships. The terms "natural", "miracle/extraordinary" and "scientific" were present in 92%, 77%, and 31% of the products, respectively. Free gifts were provided to buyers for 69% of the products. Cost was very similar for all 13 products (range: 49 to 59 CHF, with 8 products costing the same amount) and no correlation was found between cost of the product and weight loss claims. No differences were found for weight loss claims according to presence or absence of a picture or of the terms ".natural", ".miracle/extraordinary" and ".scientific" Finally, the yearly costs for advertising such products (French-speaking Switzerland) ranged between 56,000 and 126,000 CHF, suggesting that the gains obtained were higher than this value. Conclusion: In Switzerland, advertisements for slimming products use positive and reassuring terms to attract consumers, which are lured by unreachable, false promises of rapid and easy weight loss. Taking into account the costs of advertising, the gains obtained appear to be significant. Legislation on advertising of such products is urgently needed.

Endogenous depth of reasoning

We introduce a model of strategic thinking in games of initial response. Unlike standard level-k models, in this framework the player's `depth of reasoning' is endogenously determined, andit can be disentangled from his beliefs over his opponent's cognitive bound. In our approach,individuals act as if they follow a cost-benefit analysis. The depth of reasoning is a function ofthe player's cognitive abilities and his payoffs. The costs are exogenous and represent the gametheoretical sophistication of the player; the benefit instead is related to the game payoffs. Behavioris in turn determined by the individual's depth of reasoning and his beliefs about the reasoningprocess of the opponent. Thus, in our framework, payoffs not only affect individual choices inthe traditional sense, but they also shape the cognitive process itself. Our model delivers testableimplications on players' chosen actions as incentives and opponents change. We then test themodel's predictions with an experiment. We administer different treatments that vary beliefs overpayoffs and opponents, as well as beliefs over opponents' beliefs. The results of this experiment,which are not accounted for by current models of reasoning in games, strongly support our theory.Our approach therefore serves as a novel, unifying framework of strategic thinking that allows forpredictions across games.

Development of a Subgrade Drainage Model for Unpaved Roads, TR-654, 2015

With over 68 thousand miles of gravel roads in Iowa and the importance of these roads within the farm-to-market transportation system, proper water management becomes critical for maintaining the integrity of the roadway materials. However, the build-up of water within the aggregate subbase can lead to frost boils and ultimately potholes forming at the road surface. The aggregate subbase and subgrade soils under these gravel roads are produced with material opportunistically chosen from local sources near the site and, many times, the compositions of these sublayers are far from ideal in terms of proper water drainage with the full effects of this shortcut not being fully understood. The primary objective of this project was to provide a physically-based model for evaluating the drainability of potential subbase and subgrade materials for gravel roads in Iowa. The Richards equation provided the appropriate framework to study the transient unsaturated flow that usually occurs through the subbase and subgrade of a gravel road. From which, we identified that the saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks, was a key parameter driving the time to drain of subgrade soils found in Iowa, thus being a good proxy variable for accessing roadway drainability. Using Ks, derived from soil texture, we were able to identify potential problem areas in terms of roadway drainage . It was found that there is a threshold for Ks of 15 cm/day that determines if the roadway will drain efficiently, based on the requirement that the time to drain, Td, the surface roadway layer does not exceed a 2-hr limit. Two of the three highest abundant textures (loam and silty clay loam), which cover nearly 60% of the state of Iowa, were found to have average Td values greater than the 2-hr limit. With such a large percentage of the state at risk for the formation of boils due to the soil with relatively low saturated hydraulic conductivity values, it seems pertinent that we propose alternative design and/or maintenance practices to limit the expensive repair work in Iowa. The addition of drain tiles or French mattresses my help address drainage problems. However, before pursuing this recommendation, a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis is needed.

Use of LIDAR-based Elevation Data for Highway Drainage Analysis: A Qualitative Assessment, 2003

US Geological Survey (USGS) based elevation data are the most commonly used data source for highway hydraulic analysis; however, due to the vertical accuracy of USGS-based elevation data, USGS data may be too “coarse” to adequately describe surface profiles of watershed areas or drainage patterns. Additionally hydraulic design requires delineation of much smaller drainage areas (watersheds) than other hydrologic applications, such as environmental, ecological, and water resource management. This research study investigated whether higher resolution LIDAR based surface models would provide better delineation of watersheds and drainage patterns as compared to surface models created from standard USGS-based elevation data. Differences in runoff values were the metric used to compare the data sets. The two data sets were compared for a pilot study area along the Iowa 1 corridor between Iowa City and Mount Vernon. Given the limited breadth of the analysis corridor, areas of particular emphasis were the location of drainage area boundaries and flow patterns parallel to and intersecting the road cross section. Traditional highway hydrology does not appear to be significantly impacted, or benefited, by the increased terrain detail that LIDAR provided for the study area. In fact, hydrologic outputs, such as streams and watersheds, may be too sensitive to the increased horizontal resolution and/or errors in the data set. However, a true comparison of LIDAR and USGS-based data sets of equal size and encompassing entire drainage areas could not be performed in this study. Differences may also result in areas with much steeper slopes or significant changes in terrain. LIDAR may provide possibly valuable detail in areas of modified terrain, such as roads. Better representations of channel and terrain detail in the vicinity of the roadway may be useful in modeling problem drainage areas and evaluating structural surety during and after significant storm events. Furthermore, LIDAR may be used to verify the intended/expected drainage patterns at newly constructed highways. LIDAR will likely provide the greatest benefit for highway projects in flood plains and areas with relatively flat terrain where slight changes in terrain may have a significant impact on drainage patterns.

Managing Decisions Regarding Rural Expressway Routes and Associated Highway Bypasses, 2009

For several years, the Iowa Department of Transportation has constructed bypasses along rural highways. Most bypasses were constructed on the state’s Commercial Industrial Network (CIN). Now that work on the CIN has been completed and the system is open to traffic, it is possible to study the impacts of bypasses. In the past, construction of highway bypasses has led community residents and business people to raise concerns about the loss of business activity. For policy development purposes, it is essential to understand the impacts that a bypass might have on safety, the community, and economics. By researching these impacts, policies can be produced to help to alleviate any negative impacts and create a better system that is ultimately more cost-effective. This study found that the use of trade area analysis does not provide proof that a bypass can positively or negatively impact the economy of a rural community. The analysis did show that, even though the population of a community may be stable for several years and per capita income is increasing, sales leakage still occurs. The literature, site visits, and data make it is apparent that a bypass can positively affect a community. Some conditions that would need to exist in order to maximize a positive impact include the installation of signage along the bypass directing travelers to businesses and services in the community, community or regional plans that include the bypass in future land development scenarios, and businesses adjusting their business plans to attract bypass users. In addition, how proactive a community is in adapting to the bypass will determine the kinds of effects felt in the community. Results of statistical safety analysis indicate that, at least when crashes are separated by severity, bypasses with at-grade accesses appear to perform more poorly than either the bypasses with fully separated accesses or with a mix of at-grade and fully separated accesses. However, the benefit in terms of improved safety of bypasses with fully separated accesses relative to bypasses with a mixed type of accesses is not statistically conclusive.

Safety Analysis of Low-Volume Rural Roads in Iowa, 2010

Iowa features an extensive surface transportation system, with more than 110,000 miles of roadway, most of which is under the jurisdiction of local agencies. Given that Iowa is a lower-population state, most of this mileage is located in rural areas that exhibit low traffic volumes of less than 400 vehicles per day. However, these low-volume rural roads also account for about half of all recorded traffic crashes in Iowa, including a high percentage of fatal and major injury crashes. This study was undertaken to examine these crashes, identify major contributing causes, and develop low-cost strategies for reducing the incidence of these crashes. Iowa’s extensive crash and roadway system databases were utilized to obtain needed data. Using descriptive statistics, a test of proportions, and crash modeling, various classes of rural secondary roads were compared to similar state of Iowa controlled roads in crash frequency, severity, density, and rate for numerous selected factors that could contribute to crashes. The results of this study allowed the drawing of conclusions as to common contributing factors for crashes on low-volume rural roads, both paved and unpaved. Due to identified higher crash statistics, particular interest was drawn to unpaved rural roads with traffic volumes greater than 100 vehicles per day. Recommendations for addressing these crashes with low-cost mitigation are also included. Because of the isolated nature of traffic crashes on low-volume roads, a systemic or mass action approach to safety mitigation was recommended for an identified subset of the entire system. In addition, future development of a reliable crash prediction model is described.

Low-cost MR-compatible moving heart phantom.

For the development and evaluation of cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) imaging sequences and methodologies, the availability of a periodically moving phantom to model respiratory and cardiac motion would be of substantial benefit. Given the specific physical boundary conditions in an MR environment, the choice of materials and power source of such phantoms is heavily restricted. Sophisticated commercial solutions are available; however, they are often relatively costly and user-specific modifications may not easily be implemented. We therefore sought to construct a low-cost MR-compatible motion phantom that could be easily reproduced and had design flexibility. A commercially available K'NEX construction set (Hyper Space Training Tower, K'NEX Industries, Inc., Hatfield, PA) was used to construct a periodically moving phantom head. The phantom head performs a translation with a superimposed rotation, driven by a motor over a 2-m rigid rod. To synchronize the MR data acquisition with phantom motion (without introducing radiofrequency-related image artifacts), a fiberoptic control unit generates periodic trigger pulses synchronized to the phantom motion. Total material costs of the phantom are US$ < 200.00, and a total of 80 man-hours were required to design and construct the original phantom. With schematics of the present solution, the phantom reproduction may be achieved in approximately 15 man-hours. The presented MR-compatible periodically moving phantom can easily be reproduced, and user-specific modifications may be implemented. Such an approach allows a detailed investigation of motion-related phenomena in MR images.

Radiotherapy and temozolomide for newly diagnosed glioblastoma: recursive partitioning analysis of the EORTC 26981/22981-NCIC CE3 phase III randomized trial.

PURPOSE: The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer and National Cancer Institute of Canada trial on temozolomide (TMZ) and radiotherapy (RT) in glioblastoma (GBM) has demonstrated that the combination of TMZ and RT conferred a significant and meaningful survival advantage compared with RT alone. We evaluated in this trial whether the recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) retains its overall prognostic value and what the benefit of the combined modality is in each RPA class. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Five hundred seventy-three patients with newly diagnosed GBM were randomly assigned to standard postoperative RT or to the same RT with concomitant TMZ followed by adjuvant TMZ. The primary end point was overall survival. The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer RPA used accounts for age, WHO performance status, extent of surgery, and the Mini-Mental Status Examination. RESULTS: Overall survival was statistically different among RPA classes III, IV, and V, with median survival times of 17, 15, and 10 months, respectively, and 2-year survival rates of 32%, 19%, and 11%, respectively (P < .0001). Survival with combined TMZ/RT was higher in RPA class III, with 21 months median survival time and a 43% 2-year survival rate, versus 15 months and 20% for RT alone (P = .006). In RPA class IV, the survival advantage remained significant, with median survival times of 16 v 13 months, respectively, and 2-year survival rates of 28% v 11%, respectively (P = .0001). In RPA class V, however, the survival advantage of RT/TMZ was of borderline significance (P = .054). CONCLUSION: RPA retains its prognostic significance overall as well as in patients receiving RT with or without TMZ for newly diagnosed GBM, particularly in classes III and IV.

A Comparative Policy Analysis of Seat Belt Laws, RB37-013, 2014

This analysis examined data from a variety of sources to estimate the benefit of enhancing Iowa’s current law to require all passengers to use seat belts. In addition to assessing Iowans’ opinions about changing the law, a literature review, a legislative policy review, and analysis of Iowa crash data were completed. Currently 28 states enforce seat belt laws for all passengers. Belted passengers riding with an unbelted passenger are 2 to 5 times more likely to suffer fatal injuries in a crash relative to when all occupants are using seat belts. Iowans are highly compliant (90%-94%) with the current seat belt law for front seat occupants. Of more than 1000 Iowans surveyed, 85% said they always use a seat belt when riding in the front seat, but only 36% always do so when they ride in the back seat. The most common reasons given for not using seat belts in the back seat are forgetting to buckle up and because it is not the law. Iowans widely support strengthening Iowa’s seat belt law — 62% said Iowa law should require all rear seat passengers to use seat belts. Four out of five respondents said they would use seat belts more often when sitting in the rear seat if it was the law. It is estimated rear seat fatalities would decrease about 48%, from 13 to 7 fatalities annually, if an all-passenger law was implemented in Iowa.

Optimal stop-loss reinsurance: a dependence analysis

The stop-loss reinsurance is one of the most important reinsurance contracts in the insurance market. From the insurer point of view, it presents an interesting property: it is optimal if the criterion of minimizing the variance of the cost of the insurer is used. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the analysis of the stop-loss contract in one period from the point of view of the insurer and the reinsurer. Firstly, the influence of the parameters of the reinsurance contract on the correlation coefficient between the cost of the insurer and the cost of the reinsurer is studied. Secondly, the optimal stop-loss contract is obtained if the criterion used is the maximization of the joint survival probability of the insurer and the reinsurer in one period.

Rapid LC-MS/MS quantification of the major benzodiazepines and their metabolites on dried blood spots using a simple and cost-effective sample pretreatment.

BACKGROUND: Dried blood spots (DBS) sampling has gained popularity in the bioanalytical community as an alternative to conventional plasma sampling, as it provides numerous benefits in terms of sample collection and logistics. The aim of this work was to show that these advantages can be coupled with a simple and cost-effective sample pretreatment, with subsequent rapid LC-MS/MS analysis for quantitation of 15 benzodiazepines, six metabolites and three Z-drugs. For this purpose, a simplified offline procedure was developed that consisted of letting a 5-µl DBS infuse directly into 100 µl of MeOH, in a conventional LC vial. RESULTS: The parameters related to the DBS pretreatment, such as extraction time or internal standard addition, were investigated and optimized, demonstrating that passive infusion in a regular LC vial was sufficient to quantitatively extract the analytes of interest. The method was validated according to international criteria in the therapeutic concentration ranges of the selected compounds. CONCLUSION: The presented strategy proved to be efficient for the rapid analysis of the selected drugs. Indeed, the offline sample preparation was reduced to a minimum, using a small amount of organic solvent and consumables, without affecting the accuracy of the method. Thus, this approach enables simple and rapid DBS analysis, even when using a non-DBS-dedicated autosampler, while lowering the costs and environmental impact.

Palliative surgical procedures to restore shoulder function in obstetric brachial palsy. Critical analysis of Narakas' series.

Dr. Narakas intended to study a series of 61 cases of shoulder sequelae of obstetric palsy. His vast experience would have enriched our clinical knowledge of this ailment. The authors carry on with that study to clarify his therapeutic approach and share the benefit of his experience.

Computational analysis of the genetic and environmental contributions to disease-related human phenotypes: From predicting adverse lipid response of HIV patients receiving antiretroviral therapy to genome-wide association studies of cardiovascular and lipid related disorders

Genetic variants influence the risk to develop certain diseases or give rise to differences in drug response. Recent progresses in cost-effective, high-throughput genome-wide techniques, such as microarrays measuring Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), have facilitated genotyping of large clinical and population cohorts. Combining the massive genotypic data with measurements of phenotypic traits allows for the determination of genetic differences that explain, at least in part, the phenotypic variations within a population. So far, models combining the most significant variants can only explain a small fraction of the variance, indicating the limitations of current models. In particular, researchers have only begun to address the possibility of interactions between genotypes and the environment. Elucidating the contributions of such interactions is a difficult task because of the large number of genetic as well as possible environmental factors.In this thesis, I worked on several projects within this context. My first and main project was the identification of possible SNP-environment interactions, where the phenotypes were serum lipid levels of patients from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) treated with antiretroviral therapy. Here the genotypes consisted of a limited set of SNPs in candidate genes relevant for lipid transport and metabolism. The environmental variables were the specific combinations of drugs given to each patient over the treatment period. My work explored bioinformatic and statistical approaches to relate patients' lipid responses to these SNPs, drugs and, importantly, their interactions. The goal of this project was to improve our understanding and to explore the possibility of predicting dyslipidemia, a well-known adverse drug reaction of antiretroviral therapy. Specifically, I quantified how much of the variance in lipid profiles could be explained by the host genetic variants, the administered drugs and SNP-drug interactions and assessed the predictive power of these features on lipid responses. Using cross-validation stratified by patients, we could not validate our hypothesis that models that select a subset of SNP-drug interactions in a principled way have better predictive power than the control models using "random" subsets. Nevertheless, all models tested containing SNP and/or drug terms, exhibited significant predictive power (as compared to a random predictor) and explained a sizable proportion of variance, in the patient stratified cross-validation context. Importantly, the model containing stepwise selected SNP terms showed higher capacity to predict triglyceride levels than a model containing randomly selected SNPs. Dyslipidemia is a complex trait for which many factors remain to be discovered, thus missing from the data, and possibly explaining the limitations of our analysis. In particular, the interactions of drugs with SNPs selected from the set of candidate genes likely have small effect sizes which we were unable to detect in a sample of the present size (<800 patients).In the second part of my thesis, I performed genome-wide association studies within the Cohorte Lausannoise (CoLaus). I have been involved in several international projects to identify SNPs that are associated with various traits, such as serum calcium, body mass index, two-hour glucose levels, as well as metabolic syndrome and its components. These phenotypes are all related to major human health issues, such as cardiovascular disease. I applied statistical methods to detect new variants associated with these phenotypes, contributing to the identification of new genetic loci that may lead to new insights into the genetic basis of these traits. This kind of research will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying these pathologies, a better evaluation of disease risk, the identification of new therapeutic leads and may ultimately lead to the realization of "personalized" medicine.

Profitieren ältere Hypertoniker von einer medikamentösen Therapie? [Do elderly hypertensive patients benefit from drug therapy?].

Cet article présente les résultats de la revue systématique: Musini VM, Tejani AM, Bassett K, Wright JM. Pharmacotherapy for hypertension in the elderly. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009 Oct 7;(4):CD000028. PMID: 19821263.