Surveillance of laboratory exposures to human pathogens and toxins, Canada 2020

Background: The Laboratory Incident Notification Canada surveillance system monitors laboratory incidents reported under the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act and the Human Pathogens and Toxins Regulations. The objective of this report is to describe laboratory exposures that were reported in Canada in 2020 and the individuals who were affected. Methods: Laboratory incident exposures occurring in licensed Canadian laboratories in 2020 were analyzed. The exposure incident rate was calculated and the descriptive statistics were performed. Exposure incidents were analyzed by sector, activity type, occurrence type, root cause and pathogen/toxin. Affected persons were analyzed by education, route of exposure sector, role and laboratory experience. The time between the incident and the reporting date was also analyzed. Results: Forty-two incidents involving 57 individuals were reported to Laboratory Incident Notification Canada in 2020. There were no suspected or confirmed laboratory acquired infections. The annual incident exposure rate was 4.2 incidents per 100 active licenses. Most exposure incidents occurred during microbiology activities (n=22, 52.4%) and/or were reported by the hospital sector (n=19, 45.2%). Procedural issues (n=16, 27.1%) and sharps-related incidents (n=13, 22.0%) were the most common occurrences. Most affected individuals were exposed via inhalation (n=28, 49.1%) and worked as technicians or technologists (n=36, 63.2%). Issues with standard operating procedures was the most common root cause (n=24, 27.0%), followed by human interactions (n=21, 23.6%). The median number of days between the incident and the reporting date was six days. Conclusion: The rate of laboratory incidents were lower in 2020 than 2019, although the ongoing pandemic may have contributed to this decrease because of the closure of non-essential workplaces, including laboratories, for a portion of the year. The most common occurrence type was procedural while issues with not complying to standard operating procedures and human interactions as the most cited root causes.

A Retrospective Evaluation of Chemotherapy Overdoses in Dogs and Cats

Chemotherapy overdoses (ODs) are severe complications that can occur following the use of antineoplastics. However, little is known about chemotherapy ODs in veterinary medicine. The goals of this retrospective study were to report the occurrence, type, and cause of known chemotherapy ODs in companion animal medicine. The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine oncology and internal medicine listservs were solicited for chemotherapy OD cases in dogs and cats. An OD was defined as administration of a chemotherapy dose 10% higher than intended, or at a shorter interval than planned. Twelve non-anthracycline ODs in 11 dogs, and 3 cat ODs, were collected. Overdoses in dogs included carboplatin, cyclophosphamide, L-asparaginase, lomustine, mustargen, vincristine, and vinorelbine. The cat ODs included doxorubicin and vincristine. In dogs, the median OD was 2.1x (range: 1.2–10x) the intended dose. All dogs survived the OD and developed a variety of gastrointestinal and hematologic toxicities of varying grades. Both cats with a 2.4x vincristine OD died despite supportive care. The cat who received a 2x OD of doxorubicin survived the event, experiencing Veterinary Cooperative Oncology Group–common terminology criteria for adverse events (VCOG) grade I thrombocytopenia and anemia, and VCOG grade II neutropenia. Chemotherapy ODs appear to be rare in veterinary medicine and are typically 2–3xs the intended dose. Clinical effects include VCOG grade I and II gastrointestinal distress and VCOG grade III and IV hematologic effects. With appropriate supportive care, most patients will survive the event. Life-threatening events are more common in cats following vincristine ODs.

Selected clinical parameters and changes in cardiac morphology and function assessed by magnetic resonance imaging in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis without clinically apparent heart disease

Background The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and the cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) changes in people without clinically overt heart disease. Methods The study group consisted of 74 people (48.81 ± 11.35 years): 29 patients with RA, 23 patients with AS and 22 people from control group. Blood samples were taken to assess laboratory parameters, disease activity was determined using activity scales, and CMR was performed. Results It was shown that the factors independently related to higher left ventricular mass index are AS occurrence, human B27 leukocyte antigen occurrence, higher neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin concentration (NGAL) and higher body mass index (BMI). The lower right ventricular ejection fraction is result of an independent effect of RA, AS and higher NGAL. RA presence, methotrexate use, higher rheumatoid factor titer, higher NGAL, older age and higher BMI should be considered independent risk factors for greater left ventricular myocardium water content. RA occurrence, AS occurrence, type 2 diabetes occurrence and a higher C-reactive protein concentration can be independently associated with a higher probability of non-ischemic left ventricular myocardium injury. Larger pericardial fluid volume is result of an independent effect of higher NGAL, higher anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies titer and higher DAS28 disease activity index. Use of steroids is protective factor against larger volume of pericardial fluid. Conclusions RA and AS in people without clinically apparent heart disease are associated with the occurrence of adverse changes in CMR. Key Points•RA and AS in people without clinically apparent heart disease are associated with the occurrence of adverse changes in CMR..•The independent risk factors for higher LVEF are AS occurrence, human B27 leukocyte antigen occurrence, higher NGAL concentration and higher BMI..•RA presence, methotrexate use, higher RF, higher NGAL, older age and higher BMI are independent risk factors for higher LV T2 ratio..•RA occurrence, AS occurrence, type 2 diabetes occurrence and a higher CRP are independently associated with a higher risk of non-ischemic LV myocardium injury..

Injuries and fatalities in Colombian mining emergencies (2005 - 2018)

Background. During the last decades several developed countries reported a decrease in the occurrence of mining injuries. Mining is a very important sector of Colombias economy without analyses of injuries and fatalities in mining emergencies. Objective. This study describes the occurrence of mining emergencies in Colombia between 2005 and 2018, and their principal characteristics. Methods. An ecological study was performed with the mining emergencies registered by the National Mining Agency between 2005 and 2018. The study described the place of occurrence, type of event, legal status and type of mines, mineral extracted, and number of injuries and fatalities. Benfords law was used to explore the quality of the data. Results. A total of 1,235 emergencies occurred, with 751 injured workers and 1,364 fatalities. The majority of emergencies were from collapses, polluted air, and explosions, most of which occurred in coal (77.41%), gold (18.06%), and emerald (1.38%) mines. Many emergencies occurred in illegal mines (27.21%), most of which were gold, construction materials, emerald, and coal. Illegal mines had a higher relative proportion of injuries and fatalities than legal mines (p<0.05). Mining disasters are likely to be underreported given that Benfords Law was not satisfied. Conclusions. Colombia is a country with increasing mining activity, where the occurrence of mining emergencies, injuries, and fatalities is growing. This is the first one full description of mining emergencies in Colombia with the few available data.

An Early Prediction of Lung Cancer using CT Scan Images

Lung cancer is a common occurrence type in a population and one amonglethal cancers. Recently, out of several research presented by diverse health agencies; it is obvious that the fatality ratio is rising due todelayeddiagnosis of lung cancer. Hence, an artificial intelligence-based diagnosis is required to find out the onset of lung nodule micro-calcification, which may support the doctors and radiologists to accurately predict it through image processing methods. In this paper, a novel technique is proposed to identify the nodule micro-calcification pattern by using its physical features. The physical features that considered are the reflection coefficients and mass densities of the binned CT image of lung. The physical features measurements reiteratesonce again the existence of malignant nodule. Then, by applying the methods of thresholding and in interpolation of physical features, a three-dimensional (3D) projected image of the region of interest (ROI) is achieved in respect of physical dimensions. Thus, the nodule size is calculated from 3D projection. This concept is used to verify how best in classification with 100 malignant images (the nodule presence) and 10 normal images (the nodule absence). Apart size measurement, the proposed method supports SVM classifier to act for excellentclassification from normal and malignantinput imagesby just using two physical features. The classifier exhibited an accuracy of 98%.

Spatial Trends in Mineral Abundances across Tyrrhena Terra on Mars derived from Geomorphological and Mineralogical Mapping

&lt;p&gt;Tyrrhena Terra hosts an intriguing variety of aqueously altered materials accompanied by unaltered mafic rocks. Our study region extends from the southern rim of the Isidis impact basin, including the Libya Montes region, southward to the Hellas Basin rim (Fig. 1). The NW part is dominated by lava flows from Syrtis Major that grade southwards into the TT highlands, dissected by fluvial channels and overprinted by abundant impact craters. These landforms together with lobate and fan-shaped deposits within impact craters are evidence for a variable history of erosion and deposition. Ancient phyllosilicate-rich materials have been exposed and uplifted from the subsurface, as they often occur in crater ejecta and central crater uplifts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our previous studies used CRISM spectral data together with CTX, HiRISE, and HRSC images as well as their derived topography data to create geomorphological maps of the southern Isidis region and Tyrrhena Terra. These datasets were used to map and characterize the types and occurrences of phyllosilicates, chlorite, opal, zeolites, carbonates, olivines, and pyroxenes and to assess the relationships between selected aqueous outcrops and surface features.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this work, we build on these results by seeking correlations between aqueous mineral detections with our geomorphological map to assess 1) whether or not there are relationships between specific units and mineral occurrences, and 2) if there are trends across the study region in terms of mineral occurrence and abundance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The mineralogical map originates from a study that spans not only the inter-Isidis-Hellas region, but also extends northwards to Nili Fosse and westwards to Terra Sabea. The focus of that study was on the metamorphic- and hydrothermally-related alteration history using CRISM targeted and mapping data, including hundreds of calibrated MTRDR images. These mineral detections were available to us as a mapped shape file, enabling us to assess the minerals in context with the geomorphological map. We utilized ESRI&amp;#8217;s ArcGIS system and conducted multiple statistical queries in terms of mineral occurrence/type versus map unit in order to reveal possible trends within and across the study region.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fe/Mg-phyllosilicates are the dominant aqueous mineral type within the study region and are more abundant in the central region compared to the proximity of either the Isidis or Hellas impact basin. Chlorites increase in abundance with distance from both impact basins, which could be an indication of hydrothermal processes from geothermal flux. The large Hellas impact event appears to have produced more varied temperatures and water chemistries, resulting in increased mineral variability near its rim.&lt;/p&gt;

Lithium, Cobalt and Graphite occurrences in Europe, Results from GeoEra FRAME project wp 5

&lt;p&gt;The H2020 GeoERAFRAME project (www.frame.lneg.pt) consists of a partnership of 11 European geological surveys. Geographical and geological information was collected including the genetic type of the different commodities. In the EU, data show that there are 1195 registered occurrences, prospects or deposits of Li, Co and graphite, of these only 17 are active. The data classify the occurrences according to their genetic type, occurrence type and production status. The data have been supplied from geological surveys national databases and in this compilation, we regard all Co deposits with a mean Co &gt;100ppm as potential occurrences for Co. For the other commodities, Li bearing minerals or graphite must be identified or explored for to be included.&lt;br&gt;Even if our compilation has shown that the different national resource databases contain data of variable quality, with a lot of shortcomings, inconsistences and errors, the overall quality is good enough to assess the EU potential.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Lithium deposits can be group into the following types: i) High grade Li deposits including Li-rich LCT pegmatites, rare metal granites and atypical stratiform deposits such as Jadar. The distribution of lithium in Europe shows a strong clustering highlighting the Li potential of the Variscan belt of south and central Europe. Representative examples are Sepeda pegmatites (103 000t Li2O &amp;#8211; grade 1.0%) or Beauvoir rare-metal granite (325 260t Li2O &amp;#8211; grade 0.78%). Medium-grade Li deposits are represented by hydrothermal deposits such as greisens and Li-bearing quartz veins associated to some peraluminous rare metal granites (Cinovec 2 715 010 Li2O &amp;#8211; grade 0.42%).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cobalt is a common minor constituent in a number of different ore types. In Europe, most of the known Co-bearing deposits and showings are clustering in the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden and Norway). In the Nordic countries, the deposits mostly represent magmatic Ni-Cu and Fe-Ti-V deposits and VMS deposits, whereas elsewhere in Europe genetic types are more varied from sediment-hosted, to lateritic and 5-element vein types, among others. The only active mines producing cobalt are located in Finland. Kevitsa mine in northern Finland is a large low-grade Ni-Cu-PGE deposit, which produced 591 t of Co in 2018. Kylylahti mine is a small-sized Outokumpu-type Cu-Zn-Ni-Co deposit, which produced 278 t of Co in 2018. Terrafame is a large, low-grade black-shale hosted Zn-Ni-Cu-Co mine that produces Co as by product to Ni and Zn.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Graphite is a common mineral in rocks throughout Europe. However, find economically interesting deposits are rare. The bulk of the graphite occurrences occur in Archean or Proterozoic rocks of Fennoscandia and Ukraine. In addition, a number of amorphous graphite occurrences are found in Phanerozoic rocks in Austria. There are also a large number of showings where the genetic type is unknown. Active mines are situated in Ukraine, Austria and Norway. The graphite bearing rocks are typically organic rich para-gneiss often associated with carbonates and iron formations. The graphite content varies from 2-3% up to over 40%. The Tr&amp;#230;len deposit in Norway is the world&amp;#8217;s richest graphite deposit in current production with an average ore grade of 31%.&lt;/p&gt;

Trajectory of the Victims of Overland Transport Accidents: From Prehospital to Hospital Care

Objective The aim is to evaluate the trajectory of the victims of ground transportation accidents from the prehospital care to the hospital. Methods The sample consisted of 1,264 patients collected from the prehospital care, from June 2015 to June 2016. The trajectory was analyzed by the difference in the average time elapsed between the call and the hospital entrance. The Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used, adopting a significance level of 5% and 95% confidence. Results Patients had a mean age of 31.2 years, Glasgow Coma Scale of 14.8 points, and 24.8 days of hospitalization. It is characterized predominantly masculine, conductive of the vehicle, being the motorcycle prevalent; most of them wore a helmet/seat belt and no alcohol. The association between the average time of care and the characteristics related to the victim was significant: the use of the belt/helmet, alcoholism, and type of discharge and relative to the accident: area of occurrence, period of the week, shift of occurrence, type of prehospital care, and other party involved. Conclusion The characteristics related to ground transportation accident interfere in the time of prehospital care to the hospital, which can influence the prognosis.

IDENTIFYING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENT VICTIMS IN SIDOARJO IN 2016

Traffic accident becomes a very serious case because it causes not only material loss but also physical and psychological harms to the subject and the people around him. Accidents that occurred resulted in not only injuries but also death. This study aims to identify characteristics of traffic accident victims in Sidoarjo in 2016. It was an observational study with cross sectional design and based on daily data of traffic accident with 735 samples. Data were processed by ordinal logistic regression statistic test. In this case, variables of the study included the severity of victim, age, gender, profession, time of occurrence, type of collision, and type of vehicle. The results of characteristic identification showed that most of the victims had minor injuries, were male, aged ≥ 34 years old, workers, and got into accidents in the afternoon. The conclusion was factors affecting the severity of traffic accident victims in Sidoarjo were head-on-collisions (hitting straight) and motorcycles as the vehicle type. Modelling obtained was 3,133 for the constant of head-on-collision (hitting straight), 1,464 for the constant of vehicle type (motorcycles), and Y value of 4,597. This study was not supported by complete predictor data, thus the data need to be added so that the accuracy of classification increases and the value gets significant.