The Correlation of Chemical Exposure and Personal Hygiene with Irritant Contact Dermatitis Among Workers in the Production Worker

Background: The production process at PT. X using oxalic acid as a mixture of Gum Rosin and Turpentine. Oxalic acid is corrosive and toxic and readily oxidized by water and oxygen that can cause irritation, rashes, burns, and damage to the skin and can cause irritant contact dermatitis. Irritant contact dermatitis cases reached 85% in the workplace. This is caused by direct exposure to chemicals, lack of attention to hygiene, sanitation and the lack of use of personal protective equipment. Purpose: This study aimed to study the correlation of chemicals exposure and personal hygiene with the incidence of irritant contact dermatitis on production workers of PT. X. Methods: This was a quantitative research with cross-sectional approach. The population was 35 workes of PT. X. The sampling technique used total sampling, while data analysis by using Pearson Correlation test. Results: The test results showed that there was a significant correlation between the exposure of the chemical with the occurrence of irritant contact dermatitis with p value = 0.047, whereas the correlation between personal hygiene with the incidence of irritant contact dermatitis with p value = 0.202 (insignificant). Conclusion: the exposure of chemicals significantly correlate with the occurence of contact dermatitis among the workers, while the personal hygiene had no correlation with the occurrence of irritant contact dermatitis of workers

Total synthesis of Escherichia coli with a recoded genome

Nature uses 64 codons to encode the synthesis of proteins from the genome, and chooses 1 sense codon—out of up to 6 synonyms—to encode each amino acid. Synonymous codon choice has diverse and important roles, and many synonymous substitutions are detrimental. Here we demonstrate that the number of codons used to encode the canonical amino acids can be reduced, through the genome-wide substitution of target codons by defined synonyms. We create a variant of Escherichia coli with a four-megabase synthetic genome through a high-fidelity convergent total synthesis. Our synthetic genome implements a defined recoding and refactoring scheme—with simple corrections at just seven positions—to replace every known occurrence of two sense codons and a stop codon in the genome. Thus, we recode 18,214 codons to create an organism with a 61-codon genome; this organism uses 59 codons to encode the 20 amino acids, and enables the deletion of a previously essential transfer RNA

Small RNA interactome of pathogenic E. coli revealed through crosslinking of RNase E

RNA sequencing studies have identified hundreds of non-coding RNAs in bacteria, including regulatory small RNA (sRNA). However, our understanding of sRNA function has lagged behind their identification due to a lack of tools for the high-throughput analysis of RNA–RNA interactions in bacteria. Here we demonstrate that in vivo sRNA–mRNA duplexes can be recovered using UV-crosslinking, ligation and sequencing of hybrids (CLASH). Many sRNAs recruit the endoribonuclease, RNase E, to facilitate processing of mRNAs. We were able to recover base-paired sRNA–mRNA duplexes in association with RNase E, allowing proximity-dependent ligation and sequencing of cognate sRNA–mRNA pairs as chimeric reads. We verified that this approach captures bona fide sRNA–mRNA interactions. Clustering analyses identified novel sRNA seed regions and sets of potentially co-regulated target mRNAs. We identified multiple mRNA targets for the pathotype-specific sRNA Esr41, which was shown to regulate colicin sensitivity and iron transport in E. coli. Numerous sRNA interactions were also identified with non-coding RNAs, including sRNAs and tRNAs, demonstrating the high complexity of the sRNA interactome

Detection of small RNAs in Bordetella pertussis and identification of a novel repeated genetic element

Background: Small bacterial RNAs (sRNAs) have been shown to participate in the regulation of gene expression and have been identified in numerous prokaryotic species. Some of them are involved in the regulation of virulence in pathogenic bacteria. So far, little is known about sRNAs in Bordetella, and only very few sRNAs have been identified in the genome of Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough. Results: An in silico approach was used to predict sRNAs genes in intergenic regions of the B. pertussis genome. The genome sequences of B. pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis, Bordetella bronchiseptica and Bordetella avium were compared using a Blast, and significant hits were analyzed using RNAz. Twenty-three candidate regions were obtained, including regions encoding the already documented 6S RNA, and the GCVT and FMN riboswitches. The existence of sRNAs was verified by Northern blot analyses, and transcripts were detected for 13 out of the 20 additional candidates. These new sRNAs were named Bordetella pertussis RNAs, bpr. The expression of 4 of them differed between the early, exponential and late growth phases, and one of them, bprJ2, was found to be under the control of BvgA/BvgS two-component regulatory system of Bordetella virulence. A phylogenetic study of the bprJ sequence revealed a novel, so far undocumented repeat of ~90 bp, found in numerous copies in the Bordetella genomes and in that of other Betaproteobacteria. This repeat exhibits certain features of mobil

Happiness around the world: A combined etic-emic approach across 63 countries.

What does it mean to be happy? The vast majority of cross-cultural studies on happiness have employed a Western-origin, or "WEIRD" measure of happiness that conceptualizes it as a self-centered (or "independent"), high-arousal emotion. However, research from Eastern cultures, particularly Japan, conceptualizes happiness as including an interpersonal aspect emphasizing harmony and connectedness to others. Following a combined emic-etic approach (Cheung, van de Vijver & Leong, 2011), we assessed the cross-cultural applicability of a measure of independent happiness developed in the US (Subjective Happiness Scale; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and a measure of interdependent happiness developed in Japan (Interdependent Happiness Scale; Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015), with data from 63 countries representing 7 sociocultural regions. Results indicate that the schema of independent happiness was more coherent in more WEIRD countries. In contrast, the coherence of interdependent happiness was unrelated to a country's "WEIRD-ness." Reliabilities of both happiness measures were lowest in African and Middle Eastern countries, suggesting these two conceptualizations of happiness may not be globally comprehensive. Overall, while the two measures had many similar correlates and properties, the self-focused concept of independent happiness is "WEIRD-er" than interdependent happiness, suggesting cross-cultural researchers should attend to both conceptualizations

Perceptions of science, science communication, and climate change attitudes in 68 countries – the TISP dataset

Science is integral to society because it can inform individual, government, corporate, and civil society decision-making on issues such as public health, new technologies or climate change. Yet, public distrust and populist sentiment challenge the relationship between science and society. To help researchers analyse the science-society nexus across different geographical and cultural contexts, we undertook a cross-sectional population survey resulting in a dataset of 71,922 participants in 68 countries. The data were collected between November 2022 and August 2023 as part of the global Many Labs study “Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism” (TISP). The questionnaire contained comprehensive measures for individuals’ trust in scientists, science-related populist attitudes, perceptions of the role of science in society, science media use and communication behaviour, attitudes to climate change and support for environmental policies, personality traits, political and religious views and demographic characteristics. Here, we describe the dataset, survey materials and psychometric properties of key variables. We encourage researchers to use this unique dataset for global comparative analyses on public perceptions of science and its role in society and policy-making

Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries

Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most people trust scientists and agree that scientists should engage more in society and policymaking. We found variations between and within countries, which we explain with individual- and country-level variables, including political orientation. While there is no widespread lack of trust in scientists, we cannot discount the concern that lack of trust in scientists by even a small minority may affect considerations of scientific evidence in policymaking. These findings have implications for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase trust in scientists

Determination of the refractive index of tin telluride film using Terahertz spectroscopy

Tin telluride films were prepared and characterized using terahertz time domain spectroscopy. The films were deposited on glass substrate at different temperatures inside a vacuum chamber with a pressure of 10 -6 torr,\. The substrate temperatures were 30 degrees Centigrade and 50 degrees Centigrade approximately. The real and imaginary parts of the complex refractive index were determined using the transmission spectra. The complex refractive indices were plotted against frequency that ranged from 0 THz to 0.6 THz. For films deposited at 30 degrees centigrade, the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index were found to be 4.8 and 3.5 respectively. Those deposited at 50 degrees centigrade yielded values of 5.6 and 4.0 the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index was observed on both samples at about 0.5 THz. The imaginary part of the index decreased and an increase in the real part of the refractive index was exhibited. This behavior was attributed to the increase in the materials resistivity that slows down the propagation of the electromagnetic pulse. Negative imaginary part was obtained at about 0.5 THz, which indicated the onset of compression of the electromagnetic pulse at it penetrated the sample