Manual handling training: an investigation of current practice

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common cause of severe long-term pain and physical disability affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In industrialised countries, about one third of all health-related absences from work are due to MSDs. In the UK, the 1992 Manual Handling Operations Regulations (UK) set out a hierarchy of measures aimed at reducing the risks presented by manual handling; nevertheless concerns have been raised regarding the suitability of manual handling training and it’s effectiveness in reducing MSDs among employees. The study outlined here investigated current practice in relation to manual handling training within the UK and aimed to establish whether such training was considered by organisations to be effective. One hundred and fifty telephone interviews were conducted in total comprising 120 interviews with representatives from UK organisations and 30 interviews with representatives from UK training consultancies. The findings suggest that manual handling training is considered to be more effective if it is tailored to meet specific task and industry needs. The results from this study have informed new guidelines for effective manual handling training. It is hoped that these guidelines will be useful for other nations

Manual handling training: investigation of current practices and development of guidelines

This report presents findings of a systematic literature review, telephone survey and expert panels undertaken to determine what constitutes effective manual handling training. The results of the systematic review indicate there is very little evidence supporting the effectiveness of both technique and educational based manual handling training. There was evidence that principles learnt during training are not applied in the workplace. Strength and flexibility training appears potentially beneficial, however further research is needed to determine whether it has long term benefits in terms of injury reduction. There was no evidence for the effectiveness of back schools in preventing low back pain. Ergonomics interventions that include risk assessment, observation of workers, tailored training and task/equipment redesign have been shown to be beneficial in the literature. The telephone survey indicated that induction of new staff and statutory requirements are the main drivers for manual handling training. More than 75% of companies surveyed conduct inhouse manual handling training rather than out sourcing training to consultants. Most organisations and consultancies record participant feedback on training courses and sickness absence is regarded as the main outcome measure of effectiveness. Survey respondents felt that manual handling training is mor effective if it is tailored to specific industry and task demands. Practical elements in training were believed to reinforce learning, particularly if tailored to individual job demands. To be effective, manual handling training needs to be embedded as an ongoing process in organisations and reinforced with regular refresher courses. Training should encourage the workforce to assess risk and there needs to be careful monitoring of working practices. The expert panels reviewed the findings and the discussions were used to generate and refine a set of guiding principles for ef fective manual handling training

Exploring the knowledge, skills, abilities and other factors of ergonomics advisors

This paper presents the findings of a focus group study garnering the opinions of three groups of experienced ergonomists about what characteristics make for a good (as opposed to a poor) professional in their field and if any further characteristics define what it is to be expert. Asking ergonomists their opinion provided themes that could usefully be categorised into the ‘knowledge, skills and abilities and other factors’ taxonomy. The four characteristics identified across all three groups were having practical (not just theoretical) knowledge, taking a holistic/systematic approach, being observant/perceptive and having good communication skills. Whilst the first two of these characteristics could be acquired from an academic course with work placement opportunities, the second two are unlikely to form part of a formal ergonomics training course, though arguably they should. The implications of these findings for the training and practice of ergonomists and other professionals using ergonomics are discussed. Identifying the skills required for high level performance as an ergonomics advisor is of paramount importance for both the education and practice of ergonomics professionals. This work adds to the body of knowledge about how best to support and train new and experienced professionals in the discipline

Similarity search in Mass Spectra Databases

Shotgun proteomics is a widely known technique for identification of protein and peptide sequences from an "in vitro" sample. A tandem mass spectrometer generates tens of thousands of mass spectra which must be annotated with peptide sequences. For this purpose, the similarity search in a database of theoretical spectra generated from a database of known protein sequences can be utilized. Since the sizes of databases grow rapidly in recent years, there is a demand for utilization of various database indexing techniques. We investigate the capabilities of (non)metric access methods as the database indexing techniques for fast and approximate similarity retrieval in mass spectra databases. We show that the method for peptide sequences identification is more than 100x faster than a sequential scan over the entire database while more than 90% of spectra are correctly annotated with peptide sequences. Since the method is currently suitable for small mixtures of proteins, we also utilize a precursor mass filter as the database indexing technique for complex mixtures of proteins. The precursor mass filter followed by ranking of spectra by a modification of the parametrized Hausdorff distance outperforms state-of-the-art tools in the number of identified peptide sequences and the speed of search. The..

Additional file 6: of Trimming of sequence reads alters RNA-Seq gene expression estimates

Influence of minimum length requirements on junction alignment and detection. (a) The average number of reads aligned to junctions per sample with increasing minimum read length requirements after trimming with SolexaQA, Q = 40. (b) The average frequency of reads aligned to junctions (number of reads aligned to junctions per total reads aligned). (c) The average number of junctions detected per sample. (d) The average frequency of junction detection (number of junctions detected per total reads mapped). For all panels, data were normalized to the Q40 value with no minimum length filter, on a per sample basis. Error bars represent standard deviations. (PDF 114 kb

The association between interoceptive accuracy and emotional eating.

<p><b>N = 36.</b> Emotional eaters were characterised by higher interoceptive accuracy. but a lower metacognitive insight into their own interoceptive abilities (B).</p

Zero order correlations (Pearson’s r) between interoceptive indices.

<p>Zero order correlations (Pearson’s r) between interoceptive indices.</p

The association between interoceptive awareness and emotional eating.

<p><b>N = 36.</b> Emotional eaters were characterised by a lower metacognitive insight into their own interoceptive abilities.</p

The association between heartbeat discrimination and emotional eating.

<p><b>N = 37.</b> Those where were able to accurately discriminate their heartbeat had a greater propensity for emotional eating.</p

Descriptive characteristics of the sample for study 2.

<p>Descriptive characteristics of the sample for study 2.</p