Working Day Research Articles

Correlation between occupational hazard exposure and abnormal bone mineral density in steelworkers

ObjectivesTo investigate the relationships between abnormal bone mineral density (BMD) and exposure to single or combined occupational hazards in steelworkers by analyzing the correlations between various occupational hazards (night-shift work, high temperature, dust and noise) and abnormal BMD with both a single-risk score model (SRSM) and a hybrid-risk score model (HRSM).MethodsParticipants were selected from a cross-sectional study called “Cohort Study on the Health Effects of the Occupational Population in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region”. A total of 6816 participants were recruited for this study. Night-shift work and high temperature, dust and noise exposure were considered occupational hazards and were analyzed separately and in combination (coexposure). The health risk factor score and partial regression coefficient were used to establish an SRSM and an HRSM.ResultsThe rate of abnormal BMD in steelworkers was 27.6% (28.0% in males and 23.3% in females). Logistic regression revealed that, compared with that of individuals with 0 cumulative days of night-shift work, the risk of abnormal BMD for individuals with various amounts of night-shift work was as follows: ~927.20 days (OR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.15 ~ 1.72), ~ 1772.02 days (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.19 ~ 1.77), and ≥ 2573.50 days (OR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.27 ~ 1.89). Compared with that of the cumulative exposure to high temperatures in the 0 °C·y group, the risk of abnormal BMD in the other groups was as follows: 667.49~°C·y (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.06 ~ 1.71) and ≥ 790.30 °C·y (OR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.03 ~ 1.69). Compared with that of the cumulative amount of dust exposure in the 0 mg/m3·y group, the risk of abnormal BMD for the other groups was as follows: 30.42 ~ mg/m³·y (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.02 ~ 1.49) and ≥ 40.17 mg/m³·y (OR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.14 ~ 1.65). Compared with that of the cumulative amount of noise exposure in the 0 dB(A)·y group, the risk of abnormal BMD for the other groups was as follows: ≥1707.47 dB(A)·y (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.00 ~ 1.40). When an SRSM was used, compared with that in the control group (score < 0.42), the risk of abnormal BMD in the other groups was as follows: ~0.42 (OR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.03 ~ 1.19), ~ 0.72 (OR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.24 ~ 1.83), and ≥ 0.97 (OR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.71 ~ 2.60). When an HRSM was used, compared with that of the reference group (score < 0.360), the risk of abnormal BMD for the other groups was as follows: ~0.360 (OR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.05 ~ 1.52), ~ 0.576 (OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.18 ~ 1.74), and ≥ 0.779 (OR = 2.08, 95% CI: 1.70 ~ 2.55).Conclusions(1) Night-shift work and high temperature and dust exposure may contribute to abnormal BMD in steelworkers. (2) The higher the corresponding risk score of occupational hazard coexposure is, the greater the risk of abnormal BMD in steelworkers. When workers are exposed to multiple occupational hazards at the same time, coexposure models could reveal the relationships between occupational hazard exposure and abnormal BMD in steelworkers more accurately.

Investigating the Role of Working Patterns in Tinnitus: Results From a Large UK Population.

This study aimed to examine the association of different working patterns and tinnitus. This cross-sectional study (2006-2010, n = 91,089) was a secondary analysis of existing data from the UK Biobank. It exploratorily evaluated the association between various working patterns, including shift work (day workers/sometimes/frequent), night shift work (day workers/rarely/sometimes/frequent), heavy work (never/sometimes/usually/always), work satisfaction (very happy/moderately happy/moderately unhappy/very unhappy), standing work (never/sometimes/usually/always) and workplace noise (no/exposing <1 year/1 to 5 years/>5 years) and the occurrence (yes/no), frequency (constant/transient) and severity (troublesome/not troublesome) of tinnitus. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis models were conducted. Sub-analysis was performed to estimate the effects of age, sex, and different working factors on tinnitus. The study results showed that occasional shift and night shift were associated with an increased risk of tinnitus, while frequent shift/night shift showed no such association. This risk was further exacerbated by increased heavy work, prolonged standing work, lower job satisfaction, and extended exposure to noisy workplaces. Specifically, being occasionally engaged in shift/night shift, increasing workload, and short-term noise exposure (<1 year) were correlated with "transient tinnitus," while long-time noise exposure (>5 years) was identified as a significant risk factor for "constant tinnitus." Lower work satisfaction and noise exposure for more than 1 year were positively associated with "troublesome tinnitus." Irregular working shifts, increasing physical workload, lower work satisfaction, and longer noise exposure were related to the occurrence, frequency, and severity of tinnitus in the UK Biobank cohort. Therefore, targeted interventions aimed at improving working patterns may help prevent tinnitus.

Optimizing Bioethanol Production by Comparative Environmental and Economic Assessments of Multiple Agricultural Feedstocks

This study assesses the sustainability of bioethanol production from multiple agricultural feedstocks, including corn stover, wheat straw, and rice husk, using a life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The process focuses on converting lignocellulose biomass into bioethanol through advanced biotechnology, enriching energy security and supporting sustainable development in Pakistan. The process includes various stages of feedstock utilization, including cultivation, harvesting, transportation, preprocessing, and conversion, eventually yielding 1 kg of bioethanol with different inventories for each of the three feedstocks. A comparative analysis of the three feedstocks reveals that the wheat straw showed the highest environmental impacts, while rice husk exhibits the least environmental impacts and emerges as a more sustainable and viable option for bioethanol production. The economic assessment revealed the feasibility of bioethanol production, achieving a daily revenue of $9600 and a monthly income of $211,200, based on 22 working days in a single 8 h shift. The total initial capital investment cost was estimated at $478,515, while operational costs were calculated at $225,921. The external cost of the plant was evaluated at $14.23. Transitioning from grid-mix to renewable energy, such as photovoltaic systems, showed a reduction among three feedstocks. Therefore, bioethanol production not only addresses waste management challenges but also contributes to waste-to-energy conversion and renewable energy generation, aligning with public health goals and sustainable development. The findings highlight the potential of bioethanol production as a strategic solution to manage agricultural waste sustainably and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Estimation of the budget impact of the dual dispensing circuit of emicizumab in France: The HemiValue study.

Estimation of the budget impact of the dual dispensing circuit of emicizumab in France: The HemiValue study.

STRENGTHENING INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY FOR ENDURING WELLBEING: BUILDING INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

The inaugural issue of Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk in 2025, commemorating the journal’s 60th anniversary, examines the critical role of promoting care and collaboration across generations, involving social work students, practitioners and academics in this shared endeavour. This issue engages with the theme of World Social Work Day 2025 through articles that focus on social workers’ wellbeing, as well as their experiences, roles, knowledge and perspectives in strengthening intergenerational solidarity within communities.

Assessing harvesting productivity and fuel efficiency in secondary Nothofagus antarctica forest management in Northern Patagonia

ABSTRACT Forestry science has generated extensive knowledge about the operational aspects of forest harvesting machinery in industrial plantations. However, less knowledge is available for native forestry settings, particularly in developing countries. To address this, astrip cutting field experiment, with chainsaw, was conducted to assess the impact of stand structure on harvesting productivity (m3/h) and fuel efficiency (m3/l) in 12 contrasting plots of secondary Nothofagus antarctica forests in Northern Patagonia, Argentina. Additionally, the work days and fuel consumption necessary for strip cutting 1 ha was calculated. Harvesting productivity and fuel efficiency were highly correlated, and both increased with the total volume and dominant height of the stands but decreased with tree stand density. When the total volume increased from the minimum to the maximum value of the range (5.5 m3/ha to 244.2 m3/ha), productivity increased by 540% and fuel efficiency by 460%, and when the dominant height increased from the minimum to the maximum value of the range (2.05 m to 6.95 m), productivity increased by 560% and fuel efficiency by 440%. In terms of work days and fuel consumption, stands with a dominant height of 2.05 m required 9.3 work days (8 h/day) and 21.1 l fuel per hectare, while stands with a dominant height of 6.95 m required 51.7 work days (8 h/day) and 147.6 l fuel per hectare. Overall, this study’s findings highlight that greater operational efficiency is achieved in stands with higher volumes. Furthermore, dominant height serves as an easily measurable proxy for labor and fuel requirements, contributing to the feasibility analysis of projects in N. antarctica secondary forests and similar ecosystems globally.

Impact evaluation of an interdisciplinary approach to patients with chronic non-cancer pain in Chilean primary care

IntroductionChronic non-cancer pain affects one-third of the global population. In Chile, its prevalence is estimated at 34%, surpassing the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Its high costs reveal that clinical treatment causes the greatest economic impact, followed by days of work absenteeism.ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the impact on resource consumption, quality of life, and pain perception in patients with CNCP, an interdisciplinary approach implemented in Chilean primary care public health.MethodsA concurrent cohort study was conducted with patients aged 25 to 64 with chronic non-cancer musculoskeletal pain. The population studied was 698 patients receiving primary health services in centers with similar size and territorial proximity. The clinical intervention introduced patient-centered care, psychotherapy and physiotherapy from the perspective of the neuroscience of pain. The impact analysis was conducted using negative binomial regression models, generalized linear models, and ordered logistic regressions.ResultsResults show that the patients who were intervened increased the number of physician consultations at primary care (IRR: 1.56; 95% CI 1.30–1.87) and increased medication consumption (coef 2.38; 95% CI 2.10–2.67) compared to control patients. Intervened patients improved their quality of life (COEF 0.14; 95% CI 0.09–0.19), and pain perception was statistically significant. Despite the health system’s structural, cultural, and organizational barriers, the intervention was implemented and consolidated in daily operation, providing learnings for a further scale-up.ConclusionThe study demonstrates that an interdisciplinary approach to chronic non-cancer pain management in Chilean primary care improves quality of life and pain perception while increasing healthcare resource use. Despite system barriers, the intervention was successfully implemented and sustained within patient-centered care. These findings highlight the need for resource reallocation to ensure long-term sustainability and scalability through the public health system.

Differences of communication activity and mobility patterns between urban and rural people

Human mobility and other social activity patterns influence various aspects of society such as urban planning, traffic predictions, crisis resilience, and epidemic prevention. The behaviour of individuals, like their communication frequencies and movements, are shaped by societal and socio-economic factors. In addition, the differences in the geolocation of people as well as their gender and age cast effects on their activity patterns. In this study we focus on investigating these patterns by using mobile phone data, specifically the call detail records (CDRs), to analyze the social communication and mobility patterns of people. This dataset can provide us insight into the individual and population-level behaviours in rural and urban environments on a daily, weekly and seasonal basis. The results of our analyses show that in the urban areas people have high calling activity but low mobility, while in the rural areas they show the opposite behaviour, i.e. low calling activity combined with high mobility. Overall, there is a decreasing trend in people’s mobility through the year even though their calling activity remained consistent except for the holidays during which time the communication frequency drops markedly. We have also observed that there are significant differences in the mobility between the work days and free days. Finally, the age and gender of individuals have also been observed to play a role in the seasonal patterns differently in urban and rural areas.

Relationship between days of work and presenteeism, and mediation of this relationship by fatigue among disaster responders.

Occupational health studies have identified positive associations between work duration and presenteeism, but there is limited understanding of this relationship in disaster responders. We examined the relationship between the number of work days and presenteeism and the mediating effect of fatigue in disaster responders deployed after the Noto Peninsula earthquake. This cross-sectional study examined disaster responders deployed after the Noto Peninsula earthquake (Japan, 2024). Data were collected using the health management version of the app for Japanese Surveillance in Post-extreme Emergencies and Disasters, and included days of work, fatigue score, and presenteeism. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the direct and indirect effects of the number of work days on presenteeism, with fatigue as a potential mediator. Sensitivity analysis was also performed. We analyzed 4656 disaster responders who were deployed after the Noto Peninsula earthquake. Presenteeism increased with the number of work days, and ranged from 3.4% (1day) to 16.9% (>7days). However, fatigue decreased as the number of work days increased. SEM demonstrated a significant direct effect of the number of work days on presenteeism, and that fatigue slightly decreased this effect for work durations of 4 to 7days and more than 7days. Sensitivity analyses supported these findings. Working more days led to increased presenteeism in disaster responders, but fatigue decreased as the number of work days increased. Future longitudinal studies should examine additional factors that may affect presenteeism in disaster responders and other individuals exposed to stressful environments.

Determinants of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Food Delivery Riders in Eastern Peninsular Malaysia: An Ergonomic Risk Assessment.

Background/Objectives: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) have been found to be the leading factor in disabilities and absenteeism among workers. Despite their growing numbers, WMSD prevalence and risk factors among food delivery riders remain underexplored. Given the high WMSD prevalence among motorcyclists and the rising road traffic accidents (RTAs) among delivery riders in Malaysia, a cross-sectional study was conducted to identify the determinants of WMSDs among this neglected group. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic factors, work-related factors, and a validated Malay-translated Standardised Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (M-SNMQ) was used to evaluate the WMSD symptoms and related factors among 191 food delivery riders in Eastern Peninsular Malaysia. An ergonomic risk assessment using the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) method and whole-body vibration (WBV) measurement was also conducted to elicit the WMSD risk and vibration exposure among the riders. The determinants of WMSDs were analysed using multiple logistic regression using SPSS 20.4. Results: This study revealed a high prevalence of WMSDs (74.9%) among food delivery riders in Eastern Peninsular Malaysia. Furthermore, three factors were found to be significantly associated with WMSDs among riders, namely the increasing average working days (aOR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.34, 2.98; p = 0.001), whole-body vibration (WBV) above the exposure action value (EAV) limit (aOR = 2.71; 95% CI = 1.13, 6.53; p = 0.026), and not exercising before work (aOR = 21.63; 95% CI = 7.45, 62.79; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Targeted interventions are essential to mitigate ergonomic risks and enhance rider safety. Occupational health policies should prioritise pre-work exercise and WBV exposure reduction to minimise musculoskeletal strain. Future longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the long-term impact of these risks on riders' health.

Association of EHR-Integrated Secure Messaging Use with Clinician Workload and Attention Switching.

Secure messaging use for clinician-to-clinician communication has grown rapidly in recent years. To examine the association between secure messaging use, electronic health record (EHR) time, and frequency of attention switching among clinicians primarily working in an inpatient setting. Retrospective cohort study. Attending physicians, trainee physicians, and advanced practice providers who worked in an inpatient setting during a 3-month period (February-April, 2023) from 14 hospitals within a large midwestern health system. Secure messaging use (i.e., Epic Secure Chat) was measured as the total number of messages sent or received between clinicians, aggregated at the clinician-day level. The primary outcomes were EHR time (a measure for workload) and the frequency of patient switching (a measure for cognitive burden) within the EHR. Linear mixed-effect models were used to examine the association between daily secure messaging volume and the primary outcomes, adjusting for age, gender, patient load, and correlations within clinicians and clinical service assignments. A total of 3996 clinicians (2174 [54%] female, medianage 38years [IQR 33, 48]) with 103,285 clinical work days, > 145 million audit log actions, and ~ 4.5 million secure messages were included. Median secure messaging volume was 9 (IQR 0, 51) messages per day, median EHR time was 250.5min (IQR 140.3, 377.4) per day, and median number of patient switches was 79 (IQR 35, 147) per day. An increase in secure messaging volume from the 25th to 75th percentile was associated with a 25.5min (95% CI 24.8, 26.2, p < 0.001) increase in EHR time and 18.1 (95% CI 17.6,18.6, p < 0.001) additional patient switches. Secure messaging use was associated with increased EHR time and frequency of attention switching. The results suggest that secure messaging use is associated with clinician work behaviors, potentially contributing to increased workload and cognitive burden.

Climate-linked heat inequality in the global southern workforce: Cambodian workers’ economic and health vulnerability to high core temperatures in five occupational sectors

ABSTRACT Under climate change, the risk of heatwaves is increasing worldwide. However, the health risks resulting from heatwaves are uneven. Relatively socially disadvantaged people are disproportionately affected by temperature extremes. This paper explores this point in Cambodia: one of the world's hottest and most humid countries, and a Least Developed Country (LDC) as designated by the UN. The paper evidences the extent of the heat exposure faced by workers in Cambodia and the way occupational, environmental and geographical dynamics combine to shape it. It explores heat stress in five occupational sectors – construction, garment work, informal selling, agriculture and tourism work – across four climatic zones of Cambodia. The results of the study show that 64% of the 100 surveyed workers recorded core temperatures over 38°C – considered an unhealthy body temperature – at least once within 7 days of work. However, substantial variances were observed within and between occupations. Even within the same study region, the number of working minutes over 38°C ranged from 0.8% on average for tourism workers to 8.4% of working minutes for construction workers. These variations translate to significant differences in occupational sensitivity to high temperatures, especially when combined with humidity.

Abstract A005: Multi-cancer clinical concordance analysis of Optim.AITM, a combinatorial functional precision medicine platform

Abstract PURPOSE: Precision medicine aims to improve effective treatment selection based on patient-specific features such malignant genomic or transcriptional alterations. Functional precision medicine approaches, which include ex vivo phenotypic drug response data, can provide additional information to further improve individualized treatment selection. We have previously reported the clinical feasibility of a combinatorial functional precision medicine platform, Optim.AITM, to accurately identify both effective and resistant treatment options in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This study now explores the clinical application of Optim.AITM towards predicting drug sensitivity and resistance across a range of both hematological and solid cancers. METHODS: Optim.AITM employs a hybrid experimental-analytical approach that searches 531,441 possible permutations derived from 100-200 ex vivo test combinations to predictively rank all clinically actionable treatments within an FDA-approved 12-drug panel. As of November 11, 2024, Optim.AITM reports have been successfully processed for 20 cancer types in KYAN’s clinical laboratory licensed by the Ministry of Health Singapore. In this study, we interrogated 64 cases across 5 hematological cancer types and 15 solid tumor types. Sample sources included peripheral blood, bone marrow aspirate, tissue biopsy/resection and pleural/peritoneal fluid. Retrospective concordance was evaluated by comparing the normalized cell viability (NCV) results generated through Optim.AITM against the prior lines of treatment for each sample, as indicated in sample requisition forms. Clinical laboratory test performance was also evaluated. RESULTS: 81% of samples collected had enough cancer cells for testing and reports were successfully generated for 92% of these samples. Median time-to-report from samples collection was 4.4 ± 3 working days for hematological cancers and 6.3 ± 4 working days for solid cancers. With an established NCV cut-off of 0.5, Optim.AITM indicated approximately 88% correlation with retrospective therapies, for cases where clinical information was available. From 35 solid cancer cases evaluated, 85.7% (p-value &amp;lt; 0.0001) demonstrated concordance to prior line(s) of treatment. For hematological cancers, 89.7% of the 29 cases (p-value = 0.0005) were concordant with previously observed resistance. CONCLUSION: Retrospective concordance analysis further validates the clinical robustness of the platform, increasing confidence of the predictive capability of Optim.AITM. Expanding on prior prospective clinical results, this study importantly highlights Optim.AITM’s capability to provide treatment guidance across a wider range of both hematological and solid malignancies. Collectively, these findings demonstrate the utility of functional assays, particularly for patients who lack traditional biomarkers, have failed standard of care treatments or those with fast-progressing/aggressive cancers. Citation Format: Masturah Mohamed Abdul Rashid, Jhin Jieh Lim, Weng Tong Ho, Chin Hin Ng, Hugo Saavedra, Edward Kai-Hua Chow. Multi-cancer clinical concordance analysis of Optim.AITM, a combinatorial functional precision medicine platform [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Functional and Genomic Precision Medicine in Cancer: Different Perspectives, Common Goals; 2025 Mar 11-13; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(5 Suppl):Abstract nr A005.

Ultrafine particle mobile monitoring study designs for epidemiology: Cost and performance comparisons.

Given the difficulty of collecting air pollution measurements for individuals, researchers use mobile monitoring to develop accurate models that predict long-term average exposure to air pollution allowing the investigation of its association with human health. While recent mobile monitoring studies focused on predictive models' abilities to select optimal designs, cost is also an important feature. This study aims to compare costs to predictive model performance for different mobile monitoring designs. We used data on ultrafine particle stationary roadside mobile monitoring and associated costs collected by the Adult Changes in Thought Air Pollution (ACT-AP) study. By assuming a single-instrument, local monitoring, and constant costs of equipment and investigator oversight, we focused on the incremental cost of staff work days composed mostly of sampling drives and quality control procedures. The ACT-AP complete design included data collection from 309 sites, ~29 visits per site, during 4 seasons, every day of the week. We considered alternative designs by selecting subsets of fewer sites, visits, seasons, days of week, and hours of day. Then, we developed exposure prediction models from each alternative design and calculated cross-validation (CV) statistics using all observations from the complete design. Finally, we compared CV R2s and the numbers of staff work days from alternative designs to those from the complete design and demonstrate this exercise in a web application. For designs with less visits per site, the costs for number of work days were lower and model performance (CV R2) also worsened, but with mild decline above 12 visits per site. The costs were also less for designs with fewer sites when considering at least 100 sites, while the reduction in performance was minimal. For temporally-restricted designs that were constrained to have the same number of work days and thus the same cost, restrictions on the number of seasons, days of week, and/or hours of the day adversely impacted model performance. Our study provides practical guidance to future mobile monitoring campaigns that have the ultimate goal of assessing the health effect of long-term air pollution. Temporally-balanced designs with 12 visits per site are a cost-effective option that provide relatively good prediction accuracy with reduced costs. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP15100.

Primary headaches and shift work: a study of the association in a population of risk-exposed workers

Primary headaches are characterized by an high prevalence, especially among workers. This issue entails remarkable costs, both direct and indirect. For a great amount, the latter consist in the loss of work days for this disease and in a decrease of occupational efficiency among these patients. Moreover, workers suffering from headache could be at high risk for occupational injuries, due to a reduction in attention and to the possible onset of adverse drug effects of their therapies. Thus, primary headache should not be no longer overlooked as an important occupational disease. Among putative risks factors that could increase the rate of headache's onset in the occupational environment, shift work is of great interest. We studied 97 workers (93 males and 4 females) of a single chemical plant located in Lombardy (Italy). Considering only male workers, the prevalence of primary headache was found to be significantly high among shift workers compared to workers occupied only during the day (40.4% vs 21.9%, p=0.043). Our results, although observed on a little population, seem to add some evidence, suggesting a role for shift work to increase the prevalence of headache among workers.

Respiratory symptoms associated with chemical hazards in operational personnel of the footwear companies at San Miguel neighborhood of Cúcuta, North of Santander

Health during working life is often affected by different risk factors that cause damage to the body, such as chemical substances used in different jobs during their execution. In the footwear companies, it is very common for them to be used, so health problems for those who are continuously exposed are frequent, since workers must handle these substances on a daily basis, which leads them to inhale toxic vapors and be exposed throughout the work day, causing alterations in the airway, increasing the degree of risk due to the concentration of substances such as solvents and adhesives, exposure, and worker susceptibility, which can cause from allergic irritation to carcinogenic damage. The objective of the research was to find out the causes that generate respiratory symptoms produced by chemical substances in operational workers in the footwear companies at San Miguel neighborhood in Cúcuta, North of Santander. The study population consisted of 100 workers and, using the web-validated sample calculation method, a sample of 80 operational workers from the footwear companies at San Miguel neighborhood of Cúcuta, North of Santander was obtained. A methodology based on a mixed approach was used, which allowed investigating footwear factories to obtain detailed information on respiratory symptoms associated with chemical hazards in operational personnel. As a result, workers in the footwear companies at San Miguel neighborhood of Cúcuta, North of Santander are exposed to chemical substances that represent an unacceptable level of risk. Among the identified hazards are gases and vapors, particulate matter, and the handling of chemical liquids, each with different levels of probability and acceptability of risk according to the assessment carried out. In addition, the lack of information, training and awareness of workers to identify the danger and correct handling of chemical substances, the importance of using PPE (personal protection elements), increase the risks of suffering health problems.

Stock’s selection and trend prediction using technical analysis and artificial neural network

Stock trading offers potential profits when traders buy low and sell high. To maximize profits, accurate analysis is essential for selecting the right stocks, timing purchases, and selling at peak prices. The authors propose a new method for selecting potential stocks that are highly likely to rise in price. The method has two stages. First, technical analysis, using moving averages and stochastic oscillators, filters stocks with downward trends, anticipating a reversal and subsequent rise. Second, for selected stocks, future price trends are predicted using artificial neural networks, specifically long short-term memory (LSTM) with adaptive moment estimation (Adam) optimizer. The second step ensures that only stocks with increasing prices will be chosen for trading. This study analyzes five hundred Fortune 500 stocks over three different periods, with 250 days of data each. Simulations conducted in Python showed that technical analysis could filter 5 to 6 candidate stocks. Subsequently, the LSTM model predicted that only 4 of these stocks would have an upward trend. Validation shows that trend predictions are correct, resulting in an average profit of 5.51% within 10 working days. This profit outperforms the profits generated by other existing methods.

Quantitative Assessment of Work-related Hand-arm Vibration Exposure Among Workers in the Construction, Underground Coal Mining, Wood Working, and Metal Working Industry: The German Hand-arm Vibration Study.

Quantitative Assessment of Work-related Hand-arm Vibration Exposure Among Workers in the Construction, Underground Coal Mining, Wood Working, and Metal Working Industry: The German Hand-arm Vibration Study.

Immigrant Susceptibility to Hand Injuries in Industrial Work Environments: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract Aims: The aim of this study was to elucidate the prevalence and demographic characteristics of patients admitted to Emergency Departments (EDs) with work-related hand injuries and to determine the factors that contribute to such injuries and have an impact on the severity of injuries. Methods:The study spanned from January 2021 to January 2022 and involved patients seeking medical attention for hand injuries at a Level-3 ED near an industrial area. Out of a total of 2,153 patients which had hand injuries,946 patients admitted due to work-related injuries were evaluated. Data on demographics, injury severity, the timing of injuries, the data on immigrant status, occupational hand injury prevalence in local and immigrant populations, and basic data on treatment methods were collected and analyzed. Results:The study revealed that 31.9% of individuals with hand injuries were migrants. Injuries were more prevalent during the last working days of the week and in the 35-50 age group. The 2nd finger exhibited the highest injury rate. Surgical interventions were required for 63.95% of patients, with 32.72% of those identified as immigrants. Conclusions:The study highlights that hand injuries are more common among immigrants and sheds light on their vulnerability in occupational settings. Factors such as increased risks in industrial jobs, language barriers, and social and cultural adaptation problems contribute to this increased sensitivity. To reduce these inequalities and increase workplace safety, special preventive measures, personal protection method training, as well as frequent repetition of language, social and cultural adaptation training will reduce the severity of hand injuries and injuries due to occupational accidents in the migrant population as well as in the general population.

Legal regulation of work outside the established working hours

The article examines the issues of legal regulation of overtime work and work in an irregular working day mode. A comparative analysis is conducted and the features of legal regulation of these types of work are identified. The authors show the similarities and differences between overtime work and irregular working hours in matters of payment, establishing duration limits, requirements for obtaining employee consent, and providing compensation.