Search

Solid waste production grows annually, reaching 2.2 billion tons per year in 2025. While in some developed countries more than 60% of the waste is sent to landfills, in developing countries the destination is still observed from waste to landfills or open burning, while concern about recycling remains without consolidated government actions or other mitigating actions. In countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, recycling is carried out by recyclers or urban recyclers, informal workers who take up this activity due to unemployment and poverty in these regions. Due to the problems involved in the entire collection and recycling process, it is essential to use technologies that favor the professional practice of collectors of recyclable materials, combining popular knowledge with scientific technical knowledge, social organization and society participation, of better health and occupational conditions for this range of society. Thus, a systematic review is proposed to identify the use of technologies that contribute to the improvement of the health and safety conditions of solid waste handlers after their conventional disposal. So, following the preferential reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P), this systematic review protocol was developed with the objective of presenting suitable guidelines for the development of a research that can provide results to meet the goal sought. Five databases will be accessed (SCOPUS, PubMed, Science Direct, EBSCOhost and Web of Science) and a total of 9 keyword combinations will be used.

Background Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) continues to be a burden to the Egyptian population and its economy. Despite all efforts, the prevalence of infection continues to be one of the highest in the world. The high national prevalence has been attributed to unintentional, nosocomial spread during an anti-schistosomiasis campaign conducted in the 1970’s, but that does not fully explain the persistent infection rates. Work is needed to further clarify risk associations. A serosurvey was performed in Manshiet Nasser, a slum in Cairo sometimes referred to as Mokattem Hills where a primary occupation is garbage collection and sorting, to characterize potential risk factors for infection. Methods Following a detailed mapping and census of the area, a cluster sampling was performed and demographic and risk behavior data and a blood sample were collected from subjects older than 6 months. Blood samples were tested using 4th generation anti-HCV EIA kit. Results The slum was estimated to house 45,000 residents. Blood samples were obtained from 2169 subjects. The age adjusted anti-HCV seroprevalence was 9.1 %. Participants with HCV antibodies were more likely to be male, heads of households, subjects without formal education, and those with a lower standard of living. After adjustment of all prevalence ratios (aPR) for age, the following risk factors were significantly associated with higher risk of HCV infection: Garbage collection (aPR 1.5), history of blood transfusion (aPR 2.0), tattooing (aPR 1.4), history of schistosomiasis (aPR 1.5), and use of traditional latrines (aPR 2.0) or pits for sanitation (aPR 1.3). The results of the multivariate analysis indicated that age (p

Os autores estudaram o tipo de serviço executado por 36 coletores de lixo, de uma cidade do interior do Estado de são Paulo, observando o elevado índice de ausências ao trabalho por problemas decorrentes de acidentes de trabalho e de saúde, principalmente. Concomitantemente constaram vários riscos ocupacionais e o desuso de equipamentos de proteção individual a eles fornecidos, o que provavelmente contribui, entre outras causas, para o número de ausências ao trabalho. The authors studied the kind of work a sample of 36 garbage collectors have been doing in a city of the State of São Paulo. A high frequency of occupational accidents and sick-due to health problem and some occupational risks was observed among them, and also that these worker haven't worn the individual protection equipament received, that probably contributes to such number of stop workwing.

The objective of this study was to determine the presence of Strongyloides stercoralis in urbangarbage collectors through the use of immunological and parasitological methods. A total of 92individuals were evaluated from August, 1997, to June, 1998. For the parasitological diagnosisBaermann and Lutz’ methods were applied. The immunological diagnosis involved the indirectfluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detectspecific IgG antibodies. Of the 92 workers examined, six (6.5%) were infected with larvae of S.stercoralis . The IFAT detected 19 (16.3%) and the ELISA 17 (18.5%) positive serum samples. Thedifferences between the results of parasitological and immunological methods were statisticallysignificant (p

Serum Clara cell protein (CC16) and surfactant-associated protein A (SP-A) were measured in a cross-sectional study in 402 firefighters. For the population as a whole, no associations were detected between serum pneumoproteins and smoke exposure. SP-A levels were increased in symptomatic subjects exposed to fire smoke within 2 days before testing. SP-A levels were higher after an inhalation incident ever. CC16 was negatively associated with the number of fires fought in the last 12 months in current nonsmokers. These associations between pneumoprotein levels reiterate the importance of adequate use of self-contained breathing apparatus by firefighters.

Modern embedded devices (e.g. PDAs, mobile phones) are now incorporating Java as a very popular implementation language in their designs. These new embedded systems include multiple complex applications (e.g. 3D rendering applications) that are dynamically launched by the user, which can produce very energy-hungry systems if they are not properly designed. Therefore, it is crucial for new embedded devices a better understanding of the interactions between the applications and the garbage collectors to reduce their energy consumption and to extend their battery life. In this paper we present a complete study, from an energy viewpoint, of the different state-of-the-art garbage collectors mechanisms (e.g. mark-and-sweep, generational garbage collectors) for embedded systems. Our results show that traditional solutions of garbage collectors for Java-based systems do not seem to produce the lowest energy consumption solutions.