Suchergebnisse

Wage theft, which is the non-payment of employee entitlements, is a term that has gained currency in the legal and policy literature. In Australia, the context for this study, pressure has been applied to the hospitality industry after a string of revelations, many involving celebrity chef business interests, of routine wage violations. A national study into the working experiences of chefs, involving individual and group interviews, investigated the dimensionality of wage theft forms in professional kitchens. Besides cataloguing a number of direct and indirect wage theft genres, the study has revealed that alongside creative and exploitative organizational practices, victims are often complicit in their own mistreatment. Theoretically, this augments our understandings of how workers can become disempowered in organizational contexts. Practically, it suggests interventions directed at both victims and perpetrators are required to complement policy and jurisdictional approaches.

INTRODUCTION: Cyanide is a deadly poison, particularly with oral exposure where larger doses can occur before symptoms develop. Prior studies and multiple governmentagencies highlight oral cyanide as an agent with the potential for use in a terrorist attack. Currently, there are no FDA approved antidotes specific to oralcyanide. An oral countermeasure that can neutralize and prevent absorption of cyanide from the GI tract after oral exposure is needed. Our objective was toevaluate the efficacy of oral sodium thiosulfate on survival and clinical outcomes in a large, swine model of severe cyanide toxicity. METHODS: Swine (45-55kg) were instrumented, sedated, and stabilized. Potassium cyanide (8 mg/kg KCN) in saline was delivered as a one-time bolus via an orogastric tube. Three minutes after cyanide, animals randomized to the treatment group received sodium thiosulfate (510 mg/kg, 3.25 M solution) via orogastric tube. Our primary outcome was survival at 60 minutes after exposure. We compared survival between groups by log-rank, Mantel-Cox analysis and trended labs and vital signs. RESULTS: At baseline and time of treatment all animals had similar weights, vital signs, and laboratory values. Survival at 60 min was 100% in treated animals compared to 0% in the control group (p=0.0027). Animals in the control group became apneic and subsequently died by 35.0 min (20.2,48.5) after cyanide exposure. Mean arterial pressure was significantly higher in the treatment group compared to controls (p=0.008). Blood lactate (p=0.02) and oxygen saturation (p=0.02) were also significantly different between treatment and control groups at study end. CONCLUSION: Oral administration of sodium thiosulfate improved survival, blood pressure, respirations, and blood lactate concentrations in a large animal model of acute oral cyanide toxicity.

INTRODUCTION: Hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) is found in various settings. Reports of chemical suicide, where individuals have combined readily available household chemicals to produce lethal concentrations of H(2)S, have demonstrated that H(2)S is easily produced. Governmental agencies have warned of potential threats of use of H(2)S for a chemical attack, but currently there are no FDA-approved antidotes for H(2)S. An ideal antidote would be one that is effective in small volume, readily available, safe, and chemically stable. In this paper we performed a review of the available literature on the mechanism of toxicity, clinical presentation, and development of countermeasures for H(2)S toxicity. DISCUSSION: In vivo, H(2)S undergoes an incomplete oxidation after an exposure. The remaining non-oxidized H(2)S is found in dissolved and combined forms. Dissolved forms such as H(2)S gas and sulfhydryl anion can diffuse between blood and tissue. The combined non-soluble forms are found as acid-labile sulfides and sulfhydrated proteins, which play a role in toxicity. Recent countermeasure development takes into account the toxicokinetics of H(2)S. Some countermeasures focus on binding free hydrogen sulfide (hydroxocobalamin, cobinamide); some have direct effects on the mitochondria (methylene blue), while others work by mitigating end organ damage by generating other substances such as nitric oxide (NaNO2). CONCLUSION: H(2)S exists in two main pools in vivo after exposure. While several countermeasures are being studied for H(2)S intoxication, a need exists for a small-volume, safe, highly effective antidote with a long shelf life to treat acute toxicity as well as prevent long-term effects of exposure.