Elena Barrese

The correlation between heat exposure in outdoor working environments and adverse effects to the health of workers has been widely investigated. Recent epidemiological studies, combined with direct observations, highlight an increase in work-related risks and hazards, which in turn leads to an increase in accidents at work. In this research, we investigated the tendencies and variability of such hazards in the Italian cities of Cagliari, Genoa, Lamezia Terme, Lecce, and Venice, as well as other cities overlooking the Mediterranean Basin, namely Beirut, Cairo, Gibraltar, Istanbul, Larnaca, Tunis, and Valencia.Specifically, we evaluated the Heat Index (HI), which is not considered the most accurate and reliable heat stress indicator, but can be applied on a wide scale as it depends entirely on temperature (Ta) and relative humidity (RH) data.Data products released by NOAA and based on local measurements across the Mediterranean Basin, performed between 2000 and 2024, were collected and analyzed with Jamovi 2.6.19, R v. 4.4.2 and MATLAB v. 2023. The HI provides two threshold values, Danger and Extreme Danger, which correspond to specific combinations of relative humidity and temperature considered hazardous for human health. We calculated the number of hours that, every year between May and October, exceed these thresholds. All trends lines show an increase over time, compatible with anthropogenic climate change. From this, we infer a percentage increase in the order of 60% with respect to productivity hour loss over the time span of two decades. The analysis also showed an extension of the boreal summer to September. Data confirm a constant increase in the number of HI-Danger which, in Tunis for example, increased from 49 days in 2000 to 156 days in 2024.Furthermore, the threshold of 35 °C as a limit for work activities often used in absence of national regulations does not appear to be conservative in more than one third of the studied locations. Despite the limitations of this methodology, this work is intended to set up new mitigation policies, at various scales, in the absence of more detailed methods accounting for additional parameters such as clothing and specific body acclimatation.

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is harmful to human health and an adequate assessment of its concentrations, both in outdoor and indoor environments, is necessary in the context of sustainable policies designed to mitigate health risks. In this research, ground indoor and outdoor HCHO measurements are integrated with the analysis of tropospheric total columns obtained by satellite surveys to assess the concentrations of HCHO in a number of environments, exploiting the proximity of a World Meteorological Organization—Global Atmosphere Watch (WMO/GAW) observation site in Calabria, Southern Italy to a National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) department in the municipality of Lamezia Terme. The meteorological parameters used by the WMO station are also used to provide additional data and test new correlations. Using statistical significance tests, this study demonstrates the presence of a correlation between indoor and outdoor HCHO concentrations, thus showing that an exchange between indoor and outdoor formaldehyde does occur. Rooms located in the local INAIL building where indoor measurements took place also demonstrate degrees of susceptibility to HCHO exposure, which are correlated with the orientation of prevailing wind corridors in the area. The new findings constitute an unprecedented characterization of HCHO hazards in Calabria and provide regulators with new tools with which to mitigate formaldehyde-related risks.

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is harmful to human health and an adequate assessment of its concentrations, both in outdoor and indoor environments, is necessary in the effort of risk mitigation. In this research, ground indoor and outdoor HCHO measurements have been integrated with the analysis of tropospheric total columns obtained by satellite surveys to assess the concentrations of HCHO in a number of environments, exploiting the proximity of a World Meteorological Organization – Global Atmosphere Watch (WMO/GAW) observation site in Calabria, Southern Italy to a National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) department in the municipality of Lamezia Terme. Meteorological parameters gathered at the WMO station have also been used to provide additional data and test new correlations. Using statistical significance tests, the study demonstrates the presence of a correlation between indoor and outdoor HCHO concentrations, thus showing that an exchange between indoor and outdoor formaldehyde does occur. Rooms located in the building where indoor measurements took place have also demonstrated degrees of susceptibility to HCHO exposure which are correlated with the orientation of prevailing wind corridors in the area. The new findings constitute an unprecedented characterization of HCHO hazards in Calabria and provide regulators with new tools on how to mitigate formaldehyde-related risks.

Dermal exposure of workers to pesticides can be assessed using patches, placed on the workers’ clothes or used to wipe off the substance from the skin. Since there are no official indications of the materials to be used for patch sampling, a wide range of materials is suggested in the scientific literature. This paper reports a laboratory study on the affinity of four different pesticides widely used in southern Italy with five patch matrices. Imidacloprid, Hexythiazox, Boscalid and Myclobutanil were tested with cotton and gauze sheets, polyethylene tissue and two different grades of cellulose papers. An aerosol machine was used to nebulize the substance on the patches in a closed system, simulating the conditions of use on the workers’ clothes. The recovery of the analytes from the media was evaluated, by spiking the patches with a known amount of each active substance and testing their performances as skin wipes. Samples were extracted and analyzed in gas chromatography with an electron capture detector. The recovery from the spiked patches was 89–96% for all pesticides, while the test recoveries were very different. Results showed a higher affinity with Imidacloprid and Hexythiazox for gauze, with Myclobutanil for cotton and with Boscalid for paper filters (W41).

Biosolubility is an important parameter in the understanding of mechanisms involved in pulmonary toxicity of fibrous materials. It can be studied in vitro using models of simulated lung fluids and observing the loss of structural molecules, expressed as dissolution constant (K_dis). The aim of this paper was the study of dissolution behaviour of four wools belonging to high temperature insulation wools (HTIW) in saline solutions simulating lung fluids. Four HTIW were studied in saline solutions at pH 7.4 (representative of the extracellular environment) and 4.5 (representative of the intracellular conditions): refractory ceramic fibers (RCF), two alkaline earth silicate wools (AES1 and AES2 with high calcium and magnesium content respectively), and polycrystalline wools (PCW). Size, morphological and chemical changes of fibers were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). RCF, AES2 and PCW did not show statistically significant diameter changes. AES1 size distribution shifted to a larger mean diameter suggesting that through dissolution there was a preferential loss of thin fibers at acid pH after 14 days of treatment. Both AES wools showed selective leaching of alkali/alkali earth oxides (incongruent dissolution) at pH 7.4: a fast and extensive selective leaching of calcium for AES1 with complete dissolution of fibers already after 14 days of treatment and a moderate selective leaching of magnesium for AES2. PCW showed some transversal breakage of the fibers in both pH environments (low congruent dissolution). For RCF, the treatment produced uncorroded fibers in both pH environments without chemical changes and fiber fragmentation (no dissolution). The estimated K_dis at physiological pH followed the sequence: AES1 > AES2 > PCW > RCF. All wools had a low K_dis at acid pH suggesting a low dissolution rate of short fibers. The leaching process and transverse fragmentation play an important role in the biopersistence mechanisms and pathogenicity of fibers and the K_dis estimate is undoubtedly useful as a preliminary toxicological screening of fibers, especially for developing fibers.