We investigate the nature of CXOU J005440.5-374320 (J0054), a peculiar bright ($\sim$$4\times10^{39}\( erg/s) and soft X-ray transient in the spiral galaxy NGC 300 with a 6-hour periodic flux ...modulation that was detected in a 2014 Chandra observation. Subsequent observations with Chandra and XMM-Newton, as well as a large observational campaign of NGC 300 and its sources performed with the Swift Neil Gehrels Observatory, showed that this source exhibits recurrent flaring activity: four other outbursts were detected across \)\sim\(8 years of monitoring. Using data from the Swift/UVOT archive and from the XMM-Newton/OM and Gaia catalogues, we noted the source is likely associated with a bright blue optical/ultraviolet counterpart. This prompted us to perform follow-up observations with the Southern African Large Telescope in December 2019. With the multi-wavelength information at hand, we discuss several possibilities for the nature of J0054. Although none is able to account for the full range of the observed peculiar features, we found that the two most promising scenarios are a stellar-mass compact object in a binary system with a Wolf\)-\(Rayet star companion, or the recurrent tidal stripping of a stellar object trapped in a system with an intermediate-mass (\)\sim1000\( \)M_\odot$) black hole.
Multi temporal data visualization in EO mobile apps Orru, C.; Cuccu, R.; Rivolta, G. ...
2017 9th International Workshop on the Analysis of Multitemporal Remote Sensing Images (MultiTemp),
2017-June
Conference Proceeding
This paper describes how large amounts of data and time series can be visualized within mobile devices. The Sentinel App and My Vegetation App are two mobile applications developed to satisfy the ...needs of different user profiles, with a variety of objectives ranging from educational and outreach purposes as well as for several communities which include researchers but also general public. This paper will present the main features of these mobile apps, their possible exploitation for multi temporal applications and the visualization and data representation problems addressed.
To improve the health surveillance program for workers with a known previous exposure to asbestos in a big metallurgic-mechanical industry from Lombardy, the sources of risk and the different ...exposure levels hare been reconstructed based on specific jobs. The eligibility criteria and a specific work program including information and organization supports hare been established by a work group composed by health physicians, workers and industrial hygienists. The major goals of the program were: to listen and support each worker who perceives worries about his health status; to prevent, if possible, diseases, especially cancer, resulting from exposure; to document the existing injuries for legal compensation. The resulting actions consist of counselling; indication to follow an adequate life and work style; indication, based on specific request of worker, of sanitary checks of first or eventually second level.
<<The role of the occupational health physician in smoking cessation programmes: the experience of the "Clinica del Lavoro"of Milan>>.
The "Centre for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ...tobacco dependency", set up at the Occupational and Environmental Respiratory Diseases Section of the Clinica del Lavoro in Milan in September 2000, can count on multidisciplinary expertise, including occupational health physicians, pneumologists and clinical psychologists. Each step of the diagnostic and therapeutic process is based on an integrated approach that considers both the biological aspects of tobacco dependency and the psychological and behavioural aspects. The Centre, moreover, within the framework of "Health Promotion" programmes, offers advice to businesses as regards the new legislation that prohibits smoking at the workplace.
The proposed treatment programme is based on psychological and motivational support (personal or team work), that can be associated with pharmacological therapy, either as an alternative or an addition. The drug preferred is slow-releasing buproprione, which has proved to be extremely effective compared to other drugs in increasing the probability of smoking cessation and decreasing side effects.
In an occupational population of more than 2000 workers, we succeeded in treating about 51% of the subjects, who had stopped smoking, after one year from the beginning of the programme. The best results were achieved using the association of psychological support and buproprione therapy (54%), compared with the other methods (psychological support alone: 42%; psychological support and free nicotine replacement therapy: 33%).
The alveolar fiber load was evaluated by bronchoalveolar lavage and by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) in 50 subjects with or without occupational exposure to asbestos. ...The concentration of asbestos fibers in bronchoalveolar lavage was significantly higher in the groups of people currently and formerly occupationally exposed, compared to the concentration found in people only exposed environmentally, despite wide interindividual variation within the groups. Nonasbestos inorganic fibers were present in all groups, but the concentrations did not differ significantly. Both in people occupationally exposed and in those only environmentally exposed, the alveolar load consisted mainly of ultrashort and ultrathin fibers, which can be studied only with TEM. In fact, the percentage of fibers greater than 5 micron long was only around 15% in the occupationally exposed and was minimal in those only environmentally exposed. The geometric mean diameters of asbestos fibers retained in the alveoli ranged from 0.05 micron for chrysotile to 0.15 micron for amphiboles.
Cases of mesothelioma in non-asbestos textile workers have been frequently reported but the identification of asbestos dispersion sources in the workplaces has never been adequately performed. During ...3 years of activity of the Mesothelioma Register for Lombardy, 40 cases (10.8% of all cases) were collected in textile workers engaged in all types of productive activities. The hypothesis that a significant asbestos risk for textile workers appeared not negligible.
The research was aimed at the identification of asbestos dispersion sources in textile factories.
Specific information was collected by technicians, maintenance personnel and other experts and direct inspections were carried out in numerous workplaces that had not yet undergone significant changes with respect to the past. Also the industrial machinery utilised in the previous 40-50 years was thoroughly examined.
Epidemological evaluation of the recorded cases showed a widespread distribution in the different phases of textile production. Inspections also showed that a large amount of asbestos had been regularly used applied to the ceilings and also to the walls of factories in order to avoid both condensation of steam and reflection of noise. In addition, asbestos had also been widely used to insulate water and steam pipes. The braking systems of most of the machines also had asbestos gaskets, and on several looms some brakes operated continuously in order to keep the warp in constant tension.
Our observations confirmed that since production techniques in the textile industry required working in damp and warm conditions with the noise of the rapidly moving machines, asbestos was very often used because of its absorbent and soundproofing qualities and its resistance to friction. We demonstrated that asbestos was thus widely used in the industry and this certainly produced considerable fibre dispersions in the atmosphere of the workplaces. Asbestos risk must therefore be recognised for all those who have worked in the textile industry in the recent past and, as a result, cases of mesothelioma must be considered occupational diseases.
The value of early detection of subclinical hypothyroidism is the object of a long lasting debate. In this study, we assessed the cost effectiveness of a policy based upon screening for this ...condition through thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) serum level measurements in the elderly.
A Markov model was developed where hypothetical elderly patients (i.e. > or = 60 years of age), who attend general practitioner (GP) clinics for periodic health examinations in a primary-care setting in Italy, made transitions between health states at annual interval for 15 years, thus allowing an estimation of the average cost and of the expected average number of quality-adjusted life-years (QALY). In this model, patients were assumed to be seen at annual intervals by GPs for clinical examination and serum cholesterol level measurement, to which a TSH, T3 and T4 serum measurement was added. In the base-case analysis, TSH was measured every 5 years and, if abnormal, T3 and T4 serum levels were also determined. Costs were analysed from the perspective of the Italian National Health Service (NHS) and reflected 1996 values.
In the base-case analysis, the additional benefit estimated from testing a female population for subclinical hypothyroidism every 5 years was 0.36 QALY, with a cost per QALY gained of 668,298 lire (L). The expected gain in QALY for men was 0.20 and the cost per QALY gained was L270,322. In general, the best cost-effectiveness profile was seen with testing every 3 years. Results were sensitive to variations in the prevalence of disease among the target population, both in men and women.
Our study indicates that a screening policy for subclinical hypothyroidism in the elderly population could be worthwhile. However, as the costs could be significant when applied at the population level, this policy deserves further assessment through well-designed primary research.
