[Comparison of the incidence rate of occupational injuries among permanent, temporary and immigrant workers in Friuli-Venezia Giulia]. / Confronto dell'incidenza degli infortuni tra lavoratori tipici, interinali e migranti del Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

OBJECTIVES: to evaluate the difference in the frequency of occupational injuries between permanent and temporary workers, and between Italian and immigrant workers. DESIGN: we compared the incidence rate of occupational injury between permanent and temporary workers and between Italian and immigrant workers. SETTING: 160 factories and 4 employment agencies operating in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. PARTICIPANTS: all permanent workers of the above-named factories and temporary workers of the above-named employment agencies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: incidence rate ratio of occupational injury in relation to type of workers (permanent and temporary) and their nationality (Italian and immigrant). RESULTS: there were 1,499 occupational injuries among 18,210 permanent workers and 392 among 1,345 temporary workers. The incidence rate ratio of occupational injury was significantly higher in temporary workers than in permanent workers (IR 2.46; 95% CI 2.02-2.99). Nationality appears to be an important risk factor especially among permanent workers (IR 1.63; 95% CI 1.34-1.98). Temporary work--regardless nationality--seems to be a major risk for occupational injury.

Clearance of irretrievable bile duct and pancreatic duct stones by extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy, using a transportable device: effectiveness and medium-term results.

BACKGROUND AND GOALS: Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) is an established treatment of irretrievable biliary and pancreatic stones, but the cost of the shockwave generators limits its widespread use. We revised data about the effectiveness of our treatment for refractory stones using a transportable shockwave generator. STUDY: We retrospectively evaluated the short and medium-term outcomes of patients who underwent ESWL using a transportable electromagnetic shockwave generator between 1998 and 2003 at our unit, for the treatment of irretrievable bile duct or pancreatic duct stones. All patients received intravenous conscious sedation and antibiotic prophylaxis. RESULTS: Complete stone clearance was achieved in 70/82 patients (85.4%), in 66 of the patients (94.2%) with 1 session of ESWL. Despite the insertion of a stent in the bile duct, 2 patients had moderate cholangitis, while they waited for the next ESWL session. We did not record any moderate-severe complication of ESWL, but 2 patients underwent surgery owing to perforation/bleeding during endoscopic removal of residual fragments. A symptomatic recurrence of stones was recorded in 10/69 (14.5%) patients, who had been previously cleared and whose follow-up data (median follow-up 29 mo; range 7 to 66) were available. CONCLUSIONS: We obtained satisfactory stone clearance by using a transportable shockwave generator. Most patients required 1 session. Our experience confirmed the safety of the treatment, even though patients may experience cholangitis while awaiting definitive treatment. The use of a transportable ESWL generator may be a valuable option in centers, while ensuring a sufficient proficiency in biliary endoscopy.

Solução de carvão ativado e corante vital para a biópsia de linfonodo sentinela em ratos / Vital dye and carbon solution for sentinel lymph node biopsy in rats

Objetivo: Determinar se soluções de azul patente V com carvãoativado permitem a identificação do carvão ativado no estudo dolinfonodo sentinela em ratos por patologistas. Métodos: Três gruposde 20 ratas foram submetidos ao estudo do linfonodo sentinela em três concentrações diferentes (6, 1 e 0,5%) de solução de Azul Patente V e carvão ativado. Para cada grupo, a solução foi injetada no coxim plantar da pata direita traseira e após 30 minutos foi feitaa exérese do linfonodo sentinela na região inguinal de cada rata. Osespécimes retirados foram submetidos ao estudo histológico por coloração hematoxilina-eosina (HE) para identificação do carvão ativado no tecido. Resultados: Todas as lâminas demonstraram no estudo histológico a presença de carvão ativado nos tecidosanalisados. As diferentes concentrações apresentaram dificuldades distintas para o estudo: nas lâminas do grupo de 6% a identificação de todas as 20 lâminas foi possível com aumento de 100x; já o grupo de concentração de 1% foi necessário um aumento de 200x e também as 20 lâminas apresentaram o pigmento; no último, de 0,5%, em seislâminas foi necessária a técnica de imersão (aumento de 100x) paraa identificação correta do carvão, todas as outras 14 foram estudadascom aumento de 400x. Conclusões: O estudo do linfonodo sentinelacom as soluções propostas foi possível e permitiu corretamente a identificação do carvão ativado no estudo histológico. Logo, a solução de 0.5% seria a mais adequada das três soluções estipuladas para o emprego neste procedimento, pois é a de menor concentração decarvão e que ainda permite o estudo adequado dos tecidos.