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Background: Work in the textile sector has been recognized as an occupational danger for than 300 years. Byssinosis is the most frequent and well-studied disease affecting cotton textile workers; nevertheless, additional symptom complexes such as mill fever, weaver's cough, and mattress-maker's cough also affect textile workers. Objectives 1. To Evaluate the Health Hazards of the cotton Mattress workers after prolonged expose to cotton dust. 2. To assess the spirometric Profile in these cotton mattress workers. 3. To examine the relationship of the degree of impairment of lung functions with duration of exposure. Material & Methods. Study Design: Community based prospective cross-sectional study. Study Area: Department of Physiology and Department of General Medicine. Siddhartha medical college, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. Study Period: 1 year. Study Population: cotton mattress workers are enrolled in to the present study to evaluate, spirometric profile. Sample Size: 30 males cotton mattress workers are enrolled in to the present study to evaluate, spirometric profile and 15 cases of control group were evaluated. Sampling Technique: Simple Random technique. Study Tools and Data Collection Procedure: 30 male cotton mattress workers, along with control group of 15 male cases were taken, belonging to different areas of Vijayawada city. A detailed History & Clinical examination was done, other coexisting lung diseases like DM/HTN and smokers were excluded, spirometric (Pulmonary Function Test) evaluation done with the aid of Medispiror, Spirometer. Results are analyzed. Results: Analysis shows that there was a significant variation between cotton mattress workers and non-cotton mattress workers as far as FVC, FEV1 are concerned, in these two tests, t-test values are -3.71327, -3.4394 respectively, and the corresponding pvalues were 0.000866234, 0.001787 respectively and factor FEF25-75 shows significant decrement in seen as t-est value is -1.60617 corresponding p-value are 0.119072 respectively However the factors FEV1% and PEF shows no significant decrement or Increase In cotton mattress workers and others (t-test values -3.37492, 0.045478). Conclusion: All the subjects with more than 5 years exposure are symptomatic (cough-100%, chest tightness 21%, S.0.B 21%). Sneezing is the predominant upper Respiratory symptom (80%). The occupation of cotton mattress making has a statistically significant cause-effect relationship with regard to ventilatory defect. FEV1 and FVC showed negative correlation with duration of exposure and that with increased duration exposure FEV1 and FVC values are decreasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timber heritage faces numerous risks, with the threat from insect and fungal attack particularly sensitive to climate. The Scheffer index estimates the deterioration of wood by combining average temperature and days of rain. We determined the Scheffer index from twenty sites in Europe across the 20th and early 21st century using meteorological observations, largely from the European Climate Assessment Dataset. Results showed that Scheffer indices across Europe loosely align with Köppen climate classes, which are also defined in terms of temperature and rainfall. However, within a given Köppen class, a wide range of Scheffer indices were found, thus representing very different threats to heritage. This suggests that specific heritage climate parameters, such as the Scheffer index, are needed. Trends in the Scheffer index provide a fairly robust guide to management strategy by identifying locations where the risk for timber is increasing. However, a simple index cannot necessarily describe the complex interactions between biological pests and climate; such complexity is better handled with well-constructed models. Nevertheless, the Scheffer index offers heritage managers an easily calculated estimate of the spatial distribution of risk to timber and the likely direction of future change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cobalt and cobalt nanoparticles have many applications, for example, in the hard metal industry and in tires. The assessment of long term effects is crucial, as these materials are persistent. For many organism groups, multigenerational (MG) exposure is a highly relevant scenario for persistent materials. In this study, the biological effect of CoCl2 (salt) and Tungsten Carbide Cobalt nanoparticles (WCCo NPs) exposure was assessed in an MG test (4 generations in spiked + 2 generations in clean soil) using the OECD/ISO standard soil test species Enchytraeus crypticus. To ensure transgenerational survival, sublethal concentrations were used to assess the MG impact. MG exposure did not increase toxicity (survival, reproduction). There was an increase in reproduction at low concentrations of Co. Materials were characterized in the exposure media and the organisms in terms of Co content. Uptake of Co-occurred from exposure to both CoCl2 and WCCo, although without toxicity for WCCo. Cobalt from CoCl2 exposure seemed to be stored, whereas for WCCo it was eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve intra-laboratory consistency and experimental repeatability during high temperature oxidation testing, metallic coupons undergo a standardised surface preparation. It is stipulated in international testing standards that grinding of a coupons surface acceptably replicates surface conditions encountered in industrial settings whilst ensuring that each coupons surface is chemically and topographically homogenised [1,2]. Grade 91 steel tubing exposed in the laboratory to flowing steam at 650 °C and 1 bar for up to 3000 h has been compared with Grade 91 tubing exposed in a commercially operated boiler system at elevated pressures at temperatures in the range of 500 to 650 °C for 91 kh. It has been found that a pre-existing surface structure dissimilar from that of the bulk alloy and that of a ground surface, is present on the inside surface of the tubing. The presence of pre-existing surface features in commercially exposed material has implications on the long term morphological development of the oxidation region and may account for some of the discrepancies between observations made in laboratory and service exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]