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Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands

Near infrared or infrared A (IRA) accounts for over 40% of the solar spectrum (SS) and is able to reach subcutaneous tissue as well as the retina. Outdoor workers are occupationally exposed to solar radiation (SR), but the level of exposure may differ widely depending on the job performed, time spen...

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Autores principales: Grandi, Carlo, D’Ovidio, Maria Concetta
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068431/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32093162
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041357
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author Grandi, Carlo
D’Ovidio, Maria Concetta
author_facet Grandi, Carlo
D’Ovidio, Maria Concetta
author_sort Grandi, Carlo
collection PubMed
description Near infrared or infrared A (IRA) accounts for over 40% of the solar spectrum (SS) and is able to reach subcutaneous tissue as well as the retina. Outdoor workers are occupationally exposed to solar radiation (SR), but the level of exposure may differ widely depending on the job performed, time spent outdoors, latitude, altitude, season, personal protection, etc. Until now, risk assessment and management for outdoor workers has focused on the prevention of both acute and long-term effects on the eye and the skin due to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) with little consideration of the other components of the SS (a possible exception is represented by visible radiation with reference to the eye). A growing body of evidence coming from in vitro studies indicates that IRA is involved in cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and may interfere with the respiratory chain in the mitochondria. Moreover, it can modulate gene expression and some metabolic pathways. The biological action of IRA is only partly attributable to a thermal mechanism, should it be also involved in photochemical ones. The cellular and molecular pathways affected by IRA are partly similar and partly different with respect to those involved in the case of visible ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. Consequently, the net effect of the SS is very difficult to predict at different levels of the biological organization, making more difficult the final balance of health risk and benefits (for the skin, eye, immune system, blood pressure, etc.) in a given exposure situation. Moreover, few in vivo studies and no epidemiological data are presently available in this regard. Investigating this topic may contribute to better defining the individual exposome. More practically, it is expected to bring benefits to the risk assessment and management for outdoor workers exposed to SS, contributing to: (1) better definition of the individual profiles of susceptibility, (2) more focused preventive and protective measures, (3) better implementation of the health surveillance and (4) a more effective information and training.
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spelling pubmed-70684312020-03-19 Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands Grandi, Carlo D’Ovidio, Maria Concetta Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Near infrared or infrared A (IRA) accounts for over 40% of the solar spectrum (SS) and is able to reach subcutaneous tissue as well as the retina. Outdoor workers are occupationally exposed to solar radiation (SR), but the level of exposure may differ widely depending on the job performed, time spent outdoors, latitude, altitude, season, personal protection, etc. Until now, risk assessment and management for outdoor workers has focused on the prevention of both acute and long-term effects on the eye and the skin due to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) with little consideration of the other components of the SS (a possible exception is represented by visible radiation with reference to the eye). A growing body of evidence coming from in vitro studies indicates that IRA is involved in cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and may interfere with the respiratory chain in the mitochondria. Moreover, it can modulate gene expression and some metabolic pathways. The biological action of IRA is only partly attributable to a thermal mechanism, should it be also involved in photochemical ones. The cellular and molecular pathways affected by IRA are partly similar and partly different with respect to those involved in the case of visible ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. Consequently, the net effect of the SS is very difficult to predict at different levels of the biological organization, making more difficult the final balance of health risk and benefits (for the skin, eye, immune system, blood pressure, etc.) in a given exposure situation. Moreover, few in vivo studies and no epidemiological data are presently available in this regard. Investigating this topic may contribute to better defining the individual exposome. More practically, it is expected to bring benefits to the risk assessment and management for outdoor workers exposed to SS, contributing to: (1) better definition of the individual profiles of susceptibility, (2) more focused preventive and protective measures, (3) better implementation of the health surveillance and (4) a more effective information and training. MDPI 2020-02-20 2020-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7068431/ /pubmed/32093162 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041357 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Grandi, Carlo
D’Ovidio, Maria Concetta
Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands
title Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands
title_full Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands
title_fullStr Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands
title_full_unstemmed Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands
title_short Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands
title_sort balance between health risks and benefits for outdoor workers exposed to solar radiation: an overview on the role of near infrared radiation alone and in combination with other solar spectral bands
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068431/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32093162
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041357
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