Asbestos Exposure and Malignant Mesothelioma in Construction Workers—Epidemiological Remarks by the Italian National Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM)

Notwithstanding the ban in 1992, asbestos exposure for workers in the construction sector in Italy remains a concern. The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of malignant mesothelioma (MM) cases recorded by the Italian registry (ReNaM) among construction workers. Incident mesothelioma cases with a definite asbestos exposure have been analyzed. Characteristics of cases and territorial clusters of crude rates of MM in construction workers have been described, as well as the relation between asbestos use before the ban and the historical trend of workforce in the construction sector in Italy. ReNaM has collected 31,572 incident MM cases in the period from 1993 to 2018 and asbestos exposure has been assessed for 24,864 (78.2%) cases. An occupational exposure has been reported for 17,191 MM cases (69.1% of subjects with a definite asbestos exposure). Among them, 3574 had worked in the construction sector, with an increasing trend from 15.8% in the 1993–98 period to 23.9% in 2014–2018 and a ubiquitous territorial distribution. The large use of asbestos in construction sector before the ban makes probability of exposure for workers a real concern still today, particularly for those working in maintenance and removal of old buildings. There is a clear need to assess, inform, and prevent asbestos exposure in this sector.

The Compatibility between Fibonacci Sequence and Elliott Impulse Wave in the Context of A-share Market

The connections between Fibonacci sequence and Elliott impulse wave that Ralph Elliot has proposed in Elliott Wave Principle are not valid all the time owing to the type and variability of the stock market. It is a probabilistic event which can reflect the compatibility between Fibonacci sequence and Elliott impulse wave. In order to explore the compatibility between Fibonacci sequence and basic-form Elliott impulse wave in the context of Chinese A-share market, a research via analyzing the historical trend of 50 core assets’ individual stocks was conducted in Chinese A-share market. The study reveals that Fibonacci sequence does not highly fit basic-form Elliott impulse wave in the context of Chinese A-share market. Suggestions for investors are diversifying the investment strategy to enhance risk controllability, rather than using Elliott Wave Principle singly.

Long-term changes in the optimum planting date of gladiolus in southern Brazil

The objective of this work was to test long-term trends in the planting date of gladiolus to ensure marketing of these flowers on Mother’s Day and All Souls’ Day in Santa Maria (latitude: 29° 43’ S, longitude: 53° 43’ W, and altitude: 95 m), Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Minimum and maximum air temperature data from 106 years were used (1912-2017) to simulate the optimum planting date indicated through the PhenoGlad model, aiming to harvest floral stems for both market dates for early, intermediate I, intermediate II and late cultivars. The homogeneity of the historical series was tested using the run test, and the historical trend was tested by the Mann-Kendal test. The magnitude of the trend was estimated with simple linear regression, and the descriptive statistics were calculated. For marketing on Mother’s Day, there was no historical trend that implied a change in the planting date of gladiolus for any of the development cycles. For marketing on All Souls’ Day, there was a positive historical trend only for the early and intermediate cycles I and II; thus, the increase in air temperature implied a delay of 9.2 days, 9.5 days and 6.9 days for the planting date, respectively, indicating that a shortening of the gladiolus development cycle occurred, mainly in late winter/early spring.