Abstract
Background
The percentage of temporary workers in the workforce has increased in many European countries. The working environments of temporary workers are often characterized by job ...insecurity and exposure to hazardous working conditions. Studies have investigated the health status of this population but few of them have specifically investigated work-related diseases. The aim of this study is to compare the risk of uncompensated work-related diseases (UWRD) in temporary workers with permanent contract workers in France between 2009 and 2014.
Methods
UWRD and suspected associated exposure factors were notified by occupational physicians involved in French UWRD surveillance programme. Sociodemographic and professional characteristics were recorded for all salaried workers consulted by occupational physicians. We analysed musculoskeletal (MSD) disorders (elbow, hand/wrist, shoulder, back) and mental health disorders (MHD) according the type of consultation (periodic check-up, hiring...) using logistic regression. The distributions of notified exposure factors for MSD and MHD were compared between temporary and permanent workers.
Results
Of the 433 148 salaried workers consulted as part of the surveillance programme, 5.3% and 80.2% had temporary and permanent contracts, respectively. Temporary workers were as likely to have work-related shoulder, elbow and hand/wrist MSD as permanent workers. The former had a lower risk of MHD irrespective of the type of consultation (OR = 0.4, 95 % CI 0.3-0.5) and a lower risk of back MSD during on-demand/return-to-work consultations (OR = 0.2, 95% CI 0.1-0.5) and during periodic check-ups (OR = 0.3, 95% CI 0.2-0.7).
Conclusions
Temporary workers were not at a higher risk of UWRD (MSD and MHD) than permanent workers. This suggests that the generally poor health status found in temporary workers in previous studies may be linked more to their general health status and perceived job insecurity than to poorer working conditions.
Key messages
In our study, the risk of work related musculoskeletal disorders and mental health disorders in temporary workers was no greater than that in permanent workers.
Poor general health known in temporary workers, may be linked more to their general health status, job insecurity and decreasing career trajectory than to poorer working conditions.
Developmental biology aims to understand how the dynamics of embryonic shapes and organ functions are encoded in linear DNA molecules. Thanks to recent progress in genomics and imaging technologies, ...systemic approaches are now used in parallel with small-scale studies to establish links between genomic information and phenotypes, often described at the subcellular level. Current model organism databases, however, do not integrate heterogeneous data sets at different scales into a global view of the developmental program. Here, we present a novel, generic digital system, NISEED, and its implementation, ANISEED, to ascidians, which are invertebrate chordates suitable for developmental systems biology approaches. ANISEED hosts an unprecedented combination of anatomical and molecular data on ascidian development. This includes the first detailed anatomical ontologies for these embryos, and quantitative geometrical descriptions of developing cells obtained from reconstructed three-dimensional (3D) embryos up to the gastrula stages. Fully annotated gene model sets are linked to 30,000 high-resolution spatial gene expression patterns in wild-type and experimentally manipulated conditions and to 528 experimentally validated cis-regulatory regions imported from specialized databases or extracted from 160 literature articles. This highly structured data set can be explored via a Developmental Browser, a Genome Browser, and a 3D Virtual Embryo module. We show how integration of heterogeneous data in ANISEED can provide a system-level understanding of the developmental program through the automatic inference of gene regulatory interactions, the identification of inducing signals, and the discovery and explanation of novel asymmetric divisions.
Around half of Filipino children are not consuming any dairy products on a given day, which has shown to be associated with increased risk of inadequate nutrient intakes. The current study applies ...dietary modelling to assess the nutritional impact of meeting dairy recommendations in reducing nutrient inadequacy in children aged one to five years in the Philippines. Dietary intake data of Filipino children aged one to five years (
= 3864) were analyzed from the 8th National Nutrition Survey 2013. Children who did not meet national dairy recommendations were identified. Two scenarios were applied, based on two types of commonly consumed milk products by the survey participants. In scenario one, one serving of powdered milk was added to the diet of these children. In scenario two, one serving of a young children milk (YCM) or preschool children milk (PCM) was added to the diet of children aged one to two years and three to five years, respectively. Mean nutrient intakes and percentages of children with inadequate intakes were estimated before and after applying modelling scenarios. Scenario one demonstrated improvement in calcium, phosphorus, sodium, vitamin A and riboflavin intakes, while in scenario two, further improvement of intakes of a wider range of nutrients including iron, selenium, zinc, magnesium, potassium, vitamins C, D, E, thiamin, niacin, vitamins B6, and B12 was observed. In both scenarios, if all children would meet their dairy recommendations, theoretical reductions in population nutrient inadequacy would be observed for all micronutrients, for example, only 20% of children aged one to two years would be inadequate in vitamin A instead of the current 60%, iron inadequacy would see a 5% reduction, and approximately 10% reduction for calcium and 20% reduction for folate. The present study is the first to apply dietary modelling to assess the theoretical impact of meeting dairy recommendations on nutrient inadequacy in children in the Philippines. Dairy consumption should be encouraged as part of the strategy to reduce nutrient inadequacies. Calcium, iron, vitamins D, E, and folate are of concern in the Philippines as the level of inadequacies are extremely high in early years, YCM and PCM can help increase the intake of these nutrients.
Hunting and butchering of wild non-human primates infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is thought to have sparked the HIV pandemic. Although SIV and other primate retroviruses infect ...laboratory workers and zoo workers, zoonotic retrovirus transmission has not been documented in natural settings. We investigated zoonotic infection in individuals living in central Africa.
We obtained behavioural data, plasma samples, and peripheral blood lymphocytes from individuals living in rural villages in Cameroon. We did serological testing, PCR, and sequence analysis to obtain evidence of retrovirus infection.
Zoonotic infections with simian foamy virus (SFV), a retrovirus endemic in most Old World primates, were identified in people living in central African forests who reported direct contact with blood and body fluids of wild non-human primates. Ten (1%) of 1099 individuals had antibodies to SFV. Sequence analysis from these individuals revealed three geographically-independent human SFV infections, each of which was acquired from a distinct non-human primate lineage: De Brazza's guenon (Cercopithecus neglectus), mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), and gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), two of which (De Brazza's guenon and mandrill) are naturally infected with SIV.
Our findings show that retroviruses are actively crossing into human populations, and demonstrate that people in central Africa are currently infected with SFV. Contact with non-human primates, such as happens during hunting and butchering, can play a part in the emergence of human retroviruses and the reduction of primate bushmeat hunting has the potential to decrease the frequency of disease emergence.
Malnutrition is a major public health concern in the Philippines. Milk and dairy products are important sources of energy, protein, and micronutrients for normal growth and development in children. ...This study aims to assess the contribution of different types of milk to nutrient intakes and nutrient adequacy among young and preschool children in the Philippines. Filipino children aged one to four years (
= 2992) were analysed while using dietary intake data from the 8th National Nutrition Survey 2013. Children were stratified by age (one to two years and three to four years) and by milk beverage consumption type: young children milk (YCM) and preschool children milk (PCM), other milks (mostly powdered milk with different degrees of fortification of micronutrients), and non-dairy consumers (no milks or dairy products). The mean nutrient intakes and the odds of meeting nutrient adequacy by consumer groups were compared, percentage of children with inadequate intakes were calculated. Half (51%) of Filipino children (all ages) did not consume any dairy on a given day, 15% consumed YCM or PCM, and 34% consumed other milks. Among children one to two years, those who consumed YCM had higher mean intakes of iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, B vitamins, folate, and vitamins C, D, and E (all
< 0.001) when compared to other milk consumers. Non-dairy consumers had mean intakes of energy, total fat, fibre, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, zinc, folate, and vitamins D and E that were far below the recommendations. Children who consumed YCM or PCM had the highest odds in meeting adequacy of iron, zinc, thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, and vitamins C, D, and E as compared to other milks or non-dairy consumers, after adjusting for covariates. This study supports the hypothesis that dairy consumers had higher intakes of micronutrients and higher nutrient adequacy than children who consumed no milk or dairy products. Secondly, YCM or PCM have demonstrated to be good dairy options to achieve nutrient adequacy in Filipino children.
Abstract
Background
The prevalence of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in Southeast Asia has been rapidly growing over the last 50 years. French Polynesia is an overseas territory located in South ...pacific which comprised in 2018, 275 918 inhabitants. No epidemiologic data on IBD are available in this population who has a single genetic and environmental background. The aim of this study was to describe the incidence, prevalence, characteristics and evolution of IBD patients in French Polynesia.
Methods
We performed a retrospective, multi-centre, cohort study including all patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) diagnosed and/or followed in general hospital or clinics in French Polynesia between January 2011 and April 2018. The diagnosis of IBD was based on clinical, biological, endoscopic and histological criteria. Three groups of patients were defined: Polynesians; Immigrants who developed IBD in Polynesia; and immigrants who developed IBD before their arrival in Polynesia.
Results
A total of 49 patients (25M, 24F) with IBD (27 CD, 30 UC) were identified in French Polynesia. The IBD overall prevalence in French Polynesia was 17 cases per 100 000 inhabitants (11/100 000 for UC and 6/100 000 for CD). Only five Polynesians were diagnosed with IBD (4 UC, 1 CD). Among immigrants, 12 (6 UC, 6 CD) IBD patients were diagnosed before their arrival in Polynesia and 21 (16 UC, 4 CD) developed their IBD in Polynesia. The prevalence of IBD in Polynesians was 1.2 cases/100 000 inhabitants (1.5/100 000 for UC and 0.4/100 000 for CD). The prevalence of IBD in immigrants who developed their IBD in Polynesia was 203 cases/100 000 inhabitants (154/100 000 for UC and 39/100 000 for CD). The mean overall incidence of IBD in Polynesians was 0.1 cases/100 000 inhabitants and 13 cases/100 000 inhabitants for immigrants. The median age at diagnosis of IBD was 43.4 (IQR: 34.1–51.2) years. The majority of IBD patients (72%) were Caucasian. No Polynesian with IBD required immunosuppressive therapy, biologic or surgery. Among immigrants who developed IBD in Polynesia, 19% of cases received immunosuppressive drugs, 14% received biologics and only one underwent surgery. Among immigrants with IBD before their arrival in Polynesia, 45% received immunosuppressive drugs and 66% biologics.
Conclusions
The results of our study demonstrate a very low prevalence of IBD among Polynesians as it was observed in Southeast Asia 50 years ago. The prevalence of IBD among immigrants who developed their disease in Polynesia is similar to IBD prevalence currently observed in European countries. The IBD developed in Polynesia seemed to require less immunosuppressive drugs, biologics or surgery.
The phylogenetic relationships between recent Elephantidae (Proboscidea, Mammalia), that is to say extant elephants (Asian and African) and extinct woolly mammoth, have remained unclear to date. The ...prevailing morphological scheme (mammoth grouped with Asian elephant) is either supported or questioned by the molecular results. Recently, the monophyly of woolly mammoths on mitochondrial grounds has been demonstrated (
Thomas et al., 2000), but it conflicts with previous studies (
Barriel et al., 1999;
Derenko et al., 1997). Here, we report the partial sequencing of two mitochondrial genes: 128
bp of 12S rDNA and 561
bp of cytochrome
b for the Lyakhov mammoth, a 49,000-year-old Siberian individual. We use the most comprehensive sample of mammoth (11 sequences) to determine whether the sequences achieved by former studies were congruent or not. The monophyly of a major subset of mammoths sequences (including ours) is recovered. Such a result is assumed to be a good criterion for ascertaining the origin of ancient DNA. Our sequence is incongruent with that of
Yang et al. (1996), though obtained for the same individual. As far as the latter sequence is concerned, a contamination by non-identified exogenous DNA is suspected. The robustness and reliability of the sister group relation between
Mammuthus primigenius and
Loxodonta africana are examined: down-weighting saturated substitutions has no impact on the topology; analyzing data partitions proves that the support of this clade can be assigned to the most conservative phylogenetic signal; insufficient taxonomic and/or characters sampling contributed to former discordant conclusions. We therefore assume the monophyly of “real mammoth sequences” and the (
Mammuthus,
Loxodonta) clade.
Summary
Background
Sleep has emerged as a potentially modifiable risk factor for obesity in children.
Objectives
The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the association between overnight ...sleep duration and obesity among American Indian (AI) children ages 2–5 years.
Methods
Data were examined from the baseline assessment of children enrolling in the Healthy Children, Strong Families study, which is a randomized lifestyle intervention trial in five diverse rural and urban AI communities nationally among children ages 2–5 years. Multivariable models were built to assess the relationship between sleep duration and BMI z‐score while controlling for potential sociodemographic and behavioural covariates.
Results
Three hundred and ninety‐eight children had sufficient data to be included in analysis. In multivariable models controlling for potential covariates, overnight sleep duration was significantly and inversely associated with BMI z‐score (B = −0.158, t = −1.774, P = 0.006). Similarly, when controlling for covariates, children who slept 12 or more hours had significantly lower BMI z‐scores compared with those who slept 8 to 10 h (P = 0.018) or less than 8 h (P = 0.035); the difference between 12+ hours and 10 to 12‐h groups did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.073) but supported a linear relationship between overnight sleep duration and BMI. Weekday‐to‐weekend variability in overnight sleep duration was not associated with BMI z‐score (B = 0.010, t = 0.206, P = 0.837).
Conclusions
Overnight sleep duration is independently and inversely related to BMI z‐score among AI children ages 2–5 years, even when controlling for important sociodemographic and obesogenic lifestyle factors. This represents the first report, to our knowledge, of sleep duration as a risk factor for obesity among AI children.
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