A case study exploring field-level risk assessments as a leading safety indicator

Health and safety indicators help mine sites predict the likelihood of an event, advance initiatives to control risks, and track progress. Although useful to encourage individuals within the mining companies to work together to identify such indicators, executing risk assessments comes with challenges. Specifically, varying or inaccurate perceptions of risk, in addition to trust and buy-in of a risk management system, contribute to inconsistent levels of participation in risk programs. This paper focuses on one trona mine's experience in the development and implementation of a field-level risk assessment program to help its organization understand and manage risk to an acceptable level. Through a transformational process of ongoing leadership development, support and communication, Solvay Green River fostered a culture grounded in risk assessment, safety interactions and hazard correction. The application of consistent risk assessment tools was critical to create a participatory workforce that not only talks about safety but actively identifies factors that contribute to hazards and potential incidents. In this paper, reflecting on the mine's previous process of risk-assessment implementation provides examples of likely barriers that sites may encounter when trying to document and manage risks, as well as a variety of mini case examples that showcase how the organization worked through these barriers to facilitate the identification of leading indicators to ultimately reduce incidents.

Identification of novel gene signatures in patients with atopic dermatitis complicated by eczema herpeticum

BACKGROUND

A subset of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) is prone to disseminated herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection (ie, atopic dermatitis with a history of eczema herpeticum [ADEH+]). Biomarkers that identify ADEH+ are lacking.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to search for novel ADEH+ gene signatures in PBMCs.

METHODS

An RNA-sequencing approach was applied to evaluate global transcriptional changes by using PBMCs from patients with ADEH+ and patients with atopic dermatitis without a history of eczema herpeticum (ADEH-). Candidate genes were confirmed by means of quantitative PCR or ELISA.

RESULTS

PBMCs from patients with ADEH+ had distinct changes to the transcriptome when compared with those from patients with ADEH- after HSV-1 stimulation: 792 genes were differentially expressed at a false discovery rate of less than 0.05 (ANOVA), and 15 type I and type III interferon genes were among the top 20 most downregulated genes in patients with ADEH+. We further validated that IFN-α and IL-29 mRNA and protein levels were significantly decreased in HSV-1-stimulated PBMCs from patients with ADEH+ compared with those from patients with ADEH- and healthy subjects. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis demonstrated that the upstream regulators of type I and type III interferons, interferon regulatory factor (IRF) 3 and IRF7, were significantly inhibited in patients with ADEH+ based on the downregulation of their target genes. Furthermore, we found that gene expression of IRF3 and IRF7 was significantly decreased in HSV-1-stimulated PBMCs from patients with ADEH+.

CONCLUSIONS

PBMCs from patients with ADEH+ have a distinct immune response after HSV-1 exposure compared with those from patients with ADEH-. Inhibition of the IRF3 and IRF7 innate immune pathways in patients with ADEH+ might be an important mechanism for increased susceptibility to disseminated viral infection.

Using a baculovirus display library to identify MHC class I mimotopes

We have developed a baculovirus-based display system for identifying antigen mimotopes for MHC class I-specific T cells. The mouse MHC class I molecule, Dd, was displayed on baculovirus-infected insect cells with a library of 9- and 10-mer peptides tethered via a flexible linker to the N terminus of beta2 microglobulin. As a test case, the library was screened by flow cytometry by using a multimeric fluorescent alphabetaTCR from a mouse T cell specific for Dd plus an unknown self peptide. A mimotope was identified that, when bound to Dd, stimulated the T cell to secret IL-2. The sequence of the mimotope was used to identify a self peptide present in a mouse protein, Spin. The Spin peptide, when complexed with Dd, also activated the T cell. This technique should be generally useful in identifying and manipulating MHC class I peptide mimotopes and epitopes.