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The present observational study was conducted to uncover potential differences in the risk of experiencing high occupational heat strain during agriculture work between migrants and their native coworkers, as well as to elucidate the factors that may contribute to such differences. The study took place over the period from 2016 through 2019 and involved monitoring 124 experienced and acclimatized individuals from high-income (HICs), upper-middle-income (UMICs), as well as lower-middle- and low-income (LMICs) countries. Baseline self-reported data for age, body stature, and body mass were collected at the start of the study. Second-by-second video recordings throughout the work shifts were captured using a video camera and were used to estimate workers' clothing insulation, covered body surface area, and body posture, as well as to calculate their walking speed, the amount of time they spent on different activities (and their intensity) and unplanned breaks throughout their work shifts. All information derived from the video data was used to calculate the physiological heat strain experienced by the workers. The core temperature of migrant workers from LMICs (37.81 ± 0.38 °C) and UMICs (37.71 ± 0.35 °C) was estimated to be significantly higher compared to the core temperature of native workers from HICs (37.60 ± 0.29 °C) (p < 0.001). Moreover, migrant workers from LMICs faced a 52% and 80% higher risk for experiencing core body temperature above the safety threshold of 38 °C compared to migrant workers from UMICs and native workers from HICs, respectively. Our findings show that migrant workers originating from LMICs experience higher levels of occupational heat strain, as compared to migrant workers from UMICs and native workers from HICs, because they take fewer unplanned breaks during work, they work at a higher intensity, they wear more clothing, and they have a smaller body size., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Aim: Postresuscitation hemodynamics are associated with hospital mortality/functional outcome. We sought to determine whether low-dose steroids started during and continued after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) affect postresuscitation hemodynamics and other physiological variables in vasopressor-requiring, in-hospital cardiac arrest., Methods: We conducted a two-center, randomized, double-blind trial of patients with adrenaline (epinephrine)-requiring cardiac arrest. Patients were randomized to receive either methylprednisolone 40 mg (steroids group) or normal saline-placebo (control group) during the first CPR cycle post-enrollment. Postresuscitation shock was treated with hydrocortisone 240 mg daily for 7 days maximum and gradual taper (steroids group), or saline-placebo (control group). Primary outcomes were arterial pressure and central-venous oxygen saturation (ScvO 2 ) within 72 hours post - ROSC., Results: Eighty nine of 98 controls and 80 of 86 steroids group patients with ROSC were treated as randomized. Primary outcome data were collected from 100 patients with ROSC (control, n  = 54; steroids, n  = 46). In intention-to-treat mixed-model analyses, there was no significant effect of group on arterial pressure, marginal mean (95% confidence interval) for mean arterial pressure, steroids vs. control: 74 (68-80) vs. 72 (66-79) mmHg] and ScvO 2 [71 (68-75)% vs. 69 (65-73)%], cardiac index [2.8 (2.5-3.1) vs. 2.9 (2.5-3.2) L/min/m 2 ], and serum cytokine concentrations [e.g. interleukin-6, 89.1 (42.8-133.9) vs. 75.7 (52.1-152.3) pg/mL] determined within 72 hours post-ROSC ( P  = 0.12-0.86). There was no between-group difference in body temperature, echocardiographic variables, prefrontal blood flow index/cerebral autoregulation, organ failure-free days, and hazard for poor in-hospital/functional outcome, and adverse events ( P  = 0.08->0.99)., Conclusions: Our results do not support the use of low-dose corticosteroids in in-hospital cardiac arrest. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT02790788 ( https://www.clinicaltrials.gov )., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Background: Occupational heat exposure can provoke health problems that increase the risk of certain diseases and affect workers' ability to maintain healthy and productive lives. This study investigates the effects of occupational heat stress on workers' physiological strain and labor productivity, as well as examining multiple interventions to mitigate the problem., Methods: We monitored 518 full work-shifts obtained from 238 experienced and acclimatized individuals who work in key industrial sectors located in Cyprus, Greece, Qatar, and Spain. Continuous core body temperature, mean skin temperature, heart rate, and labor productivity were collected from the beginning to the end of all work-shifts., Results: In workplaces where self-pacing is not feasible or very limited, we found that occupational heat stress is associated with the heat strain experienced by workers. Strategies focusing on hydration, work-rest cycles, and ventilated clothing were able to mitigate the physiological heat strain experienced by workers. Increasing mechanization enhanced labor productivity without increasing workers' physiological strain., Conclusions: Empowering laborers to self-pace is the basis of heat mitigation, while tailored strategies focusing on hydration, work-rest cycles, ventilated garments, and mechanization can further reduce the physiological heat strain experienced by workers under certain conditions.

Objective: Night-time home blood pressure (HBP) monitoring has emerged as a feasible, reliable and low-cost alternative to ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring. This study evaluated the optimal schedule of night-time HBP monitoring in terms of agreement with night-time ABP and association with preclinical target-organ damage., Methods: Untreated hypertensive adults were evaluated with ABP (24-h) and HBP monitoring (daytime: six days, duplicate morning and evening measurements; night-time: three nights, three-hourly automated measurements/night), and determination of left ventricular mass index, common carotid intima-media thickness and urinary albumin excretion., Results: A total of 94 patients with all nine night-time HBP measurements were analysed [mean age 51.8 ± 11.1 (SD) years, men 57%). By averaging an increasing number of night-time systolic HBP readings, there was a consistent trend towards stronger association of night-time HBP with night-time ABP (correlation coefficients r increased from 0.69 to 0.81), and with target-organ damage indices (for left ventricular mass index r increased from 0.13 to 0.22, carotid intima-media thickness 0.12-0.25, urinary albumin excretion 0.33-0.41). However, no further improvement in the association was observed by averaging more than four to six night-time readings. The diagnostic agreement between HBP and ABP in detecting nondippers was improved by averaging more readings, with a plateau at four readings (single reading: agreement 81%, kappa 0.37; four readings: 88%, 0.49; nine readings: 84%, 0.40)., Conclusion: A two-night HBP schedule (six readings) appears to be the minimum requirement for a reliable assessment of night-time HBP, which gives reasonable agreement with ABP and association with preclinical organ damage.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the association of night-time blood pressure (BP) assessed by home blood pressure (HBP) or ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring with preclinical target organ damage in untreated hypertension., Methods: Untreated hypertensive study participants were evaluated with ABP monitoring (24-h) and HBP monitoring during daytime (6 days, duplicate morning and evening measurements) and night-time (automated asleep measurements, three nights, 3-hourly measurements/night). Target organ damage was assessed by echocardiographic left ventricular mass index (LVMI), common carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), urine albumin excretion (UAE), and ankle-brachial index (ABI)., Results: A total of 131 study participants were analysed [mean age 52.1 ± 11.9 (SD) years, BMI 29.9 ± 5.3  kg/m2, men 58%, cardiovascular disease history 6.1%]. Daytime and night-time HBP were slightly higher than the respective ABP values (mean difference for systolic daytime/night-time 3.5 ± 10.6/2.6 ± 9.8  mmHg, P < 0.01 for both comparisons and diastolic -0.3 ± 6.8/1.2 ± 6.2  mmHg, P = NS/0.02, respectively). There was a strong correlation between daytime ABP and HBP (r = 0.71/0.72, systolic/diastolic), as well as between the respective night-time values (r = 0.80/0.79; all P < 0.01). Night-time ABP and HBP presented strong and comparable correlations with all the indices of preclinical target organ damage. In multivariate analyses, both LVMI (R2 = 0.26) and cIMT (R2 = 0.25) were determined by night-time systolic HBP, age and male sex; UAE (R2 = 0.28) by night-time systolic HBP and male sex; ABI (R2 = 0.20) by male sex and night-time home pulse pressure., Conclusion: In untreated hypertensives, night-time BP assessed by home monitoring appears to be as good as night-time ambulatory monitoring in determining preclinical target organ damage.