654 research outputs found
Occupational medicine and toxicology
This editorial is to announce the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, a new Open Access, peer-reviewed, online journal published by BioMed Central. Occupational medicine and toxicology belong to the most wide ranging disciplines of all medical specialties. The field is devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, management and scientific analysis of diseases from the fields of occupational and environmental medicine and toxicology. It also covers the promotion of occupational and environmental health. The complexity of modern industrial processes has dramatically changed over the past years and today's areas include effects of atmospheric pollution, carcinogenesis, biological monitoring, ergonomics, epidemiology, product safety and health promotion. We hope that the launch of the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology will aid in the advance of these important areas of research bringing together multi-disciplinary research findings
Medical work Assessment in German hospitals: a Real-time Observation study (MAGRO) – the study protocol
Background: The increasing economic pressure characterizes the current situation in health care and the need to justify medical decisions and organizational processes due to limited financial resources is omnipresent. Physicians tend to interpret this development as a decimation of their own medical influence. This becomes even more obvious after a change in hospital ownership i.e. from a public to a private profit oriented organization. In this case each work procedure is revised.
To date, most research studies have focused mainly on differences between hospitals of different ownership regarding financial outcomes and quality of care, leaving important organizational issues unexplored. Little attention has been devoted to the effects of hospital ownership on physicians' working routines.
The aim of this observational real time study is to deliver exact data about physicians' work at hospitals of different ownership.
Methods: The consequences of different management types on the organizational structures of the physicians' work situation and on job satisfaction in the ward situation are monitored by objective real time studies and multi-level psycho diagnostic measurements.
Discussion: This study is unique in its focus. To date no results have been found for computer-based real time studies on work activity in the clinical field in order to objectively evaluate a physician's work-related stress. After a complete documentation of the physicians' work processes the daily work flow can be estimated and systematically optimized. This can stimulate an overall improvement of health care services in Germany
a cross-sectional study of differences among medical residents with various specialties working in German hospitals
Objectives This study aimed to analyse and compare differences in occupational
stress, depressive symptoms, work ability and working environment among
residents working in various medical specialties. Methods 435 German hospital
residents in medical training working in 6 different medical specialties
participated in a cross-sectional survey study. Physicians were asked about
their working conditions and aspects of mental health and work ability. The
Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, the Work Ability Index, the ICD-10
Symptom Rating and the Perceived Stress Questionnaire were used to measure
working conditions, mental health and work ability. Results Results show that
up to 17% of the physicians reported high levels of occupational distress and
9% reported high levels of depressive symptoms. 11% of the hospital physicians
scored low in work ability. Significant differences between medical
specialties were demonstrated for occupational distress, depressive symptoms,
work ability, job demands and job resources. Surgeons showed consistently the
highest levels of perceived distress but also the highest levels of work
ability and lowest scores for depression. Depressive symptoms were rated with
the highest levels by anaesthesiologists. Significant associations between
physicians’ working conditions, occupational distress and mental health-
related aspects are illustrated. Conclusions Study results demonstrated
significant differences in specific job stressors, demands and resources.
Relevant relations between work factors and physicians' health and work
ability are discussed. These findings should be reinvestigated in further
studies, especially with a longitudinal study design. This work suggests that
to ensure physicians' health, hospital management should plan and implement
suitable mental health promotion strategies. In addition, operational
efficiency through resource planning optimisation and work process
improvements should be focused by hospital managemen
Bicycle helmet use and non-use – recently published research
Bicycle traumata are very common and especially neurologic complications lead to disability and death in all stages of the life. This review assembles the most recent findings concerning research in the field of bicycle traumata combined with the factor of bicycle helmet use. The area of bicycle trauma research is by nature multidisciplinary and relevant not only for physicians but also for experts with educational, engineering, judicial, rehabilitative or public health functions. Due to this plurality of global publications and special subjects, short time reviews help to detect recent research directions and provide also information from neighbour disciplines for researchers. It can be stated that to date, that although a huge amount of research has been conducted in this area more studies are needed to evaluate and improve special conditions and needs in different regions, ages, nationalities and to create successful prevention programs of severe head and face injuries while cycling. Focus was explicit the bicycle helmet use, wherefore sledding, ski and snowboard studies were excluded and only one study concerning electric bicycles remained due to similar motion structures within this review. The considered studies were all published between January 2010 and August 2011 and were identified via the online databases Medline PubMed and ISI Web of Science
Car indoor air pollution - analysis of potential sources
The population of industrialized countries such as the United States or of countries from the European Union spends approximately more than one hour each day in vehicles. In this respect, numerous studies have so far addressed outdoor air pollution that arises from traffic. By contrast, only little is known about indoor air quality in vehicles and influences by non-vehicle sources
Chronic cough due to occupational factors
Within the large variety of subtypes of chronic cough, either defined by their clinical or pathogenetic causes, occupational chronic cough may be regarded as one of the most preventable forms of the disease. Next to obstructive airway diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which are sometimes concomitant with chronic cough, this chronic airway disease gains importance in the field of occupational medicine since classic fiber-related occupational airway diseases will decrease in the future. Apart from acute accidents and incidental exposures which may lead to an acute form of cough, there are numerous sources for the development of chronic cough within the workplace. Over the last years, a large number of studies has focused on occupational causes of respiratory diseases and it has emerged that chronic cough is one of the most prevalent work-related airway diseases. Best-known examples of occupations related to the development of cough are coal miners, hard-rock miners, tunnel workers, or concrete manufacturing workers. As chronic cough is often based on a variety of non-occupational factors such as tobacco smoke, a distinct separation into either occupational or personally -evoked can be difficult. However, revealing the occupational contribution to chronic cough and to the symptom cough in general, which is the commonest cause for the consultation of a physician, can significantly lead to a reduction of the socioeconomic burden of the disease
Effect of montelukast on platelet activating factor- and tachykinin induced mucus secretion in the rat
Background: Platelet activating factor and tachykinins (substance P, neurokinin A, neurokinin B) are important mediators contributing to increased airway secretion in the context of different types of respiratory diseases including acute and chronic asthma. Leukotriene receptor antagonists are recommended as add-on therapy for this disease. The cys-leukotriene-1 receptor antagonist montelukast has been used in clinical asthma therapy during the last years. Besides its inhibitory action on bronchoconstriction, only little is known about its effects on airway secretions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of montelukast on platelet activating factor- and tachykinin induced tracheal secretory activity.
Methods: The effects of montelukast on platelet activating factor- and tachykinin induced tracheal secretory activity in the rat were assessed by quantification of secreted 35SO4 labelled mucus macromolecules using the modified Ussing chamber technique.
Results: Platelet activating factor potently stimulated airway secretion, which was completely inhibited by the platelet activating factor receptor antagonist WEB 2086 and montelukast. In contrast, montelukast had no effect on tachykinin induced tracheal secretory activity.
Conclusion: Cys-leukotriene-1 receptor antagonism by montelukast reverses the secretagogue properties of platelet activating factor to the same degree as the specific platelet activating factor antagonist WEB 2086 but has no influence on treacheal secretion elicited by tachykinins. These results suggest a role of montelukast in the signal transduction pathway of platelet activating factor induced secretory activity of the airways and may further explain the beneficial properties of cys-leukotriene-1 receptor antagonists
Scientometric Analysis and Density-Equalizing Mapping
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by the increase of the mean
pulmonary arterial pressure in the lung circulation. Despite the large number
of experimental and clinical studies conducted on pulmonary hypertension,
there is no comprehensive work that analyzed the global research activity on
PH so far. We retrieved the bibliometric data of the publications on pulmonary
hypertension for two periods from the Web of science database. Here, we set
the first investigation period from 1900 to 2007 (t1) due to the cited half
life of articles and the relating difficulties to interpret the citation
parameters. The second evaluation period (t2) covers the time interval from
2008 onwards including the year 2015. The data were analyzed and processed to
density-equalizing maps using the NewQIS platform. A total number of 18,986
publications were identified in t1 that come from 85 countries. The US
published the highest number of publications (n = 7,290), followed by the UK,
Germany, Japan and France. In t2 19,676 items could be found worked out by 130
countries. The raking started just the same with the USA as most publishing
nation with 7,127 publications on PH, followed by the UK and Germany. Japan
fell back on 6th place, whereas China came into view on the 5th position.
Analyzing the average citation rate as a parameter for research quality,
Mexico reached the highest value in t1 and Ireland in t2. While, the country
specific h-index underlined the leading position of the US research in both
evaluation periods again. The average number of international collaboration
items was expanding from none in 1978 to 530 items in 2015 with the USA as the
country with the highest number of collaboration articles. The present study
is the first large scale density-equalizing mapping and scientometric analysis
of global PH research activity. Our data draw a sketch of the global research
architecture in this field, indicating a need for specific research programs
in countries with a lower human development index
Targeting of Rad51-dependent homologous recombination: implications for the radiation sensitivity of human lung cancer cell lines
The aim of the present work was to study the role of Rad51-dependent homologous recombination in the radiation response of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines. A dose- and time-dependent increase in the formation of Rad51 and γ-H2AX foci with a maximum at about 4 and 1 h after irradiation, followed by a decrease, has been found. The relative fraction of cells with persisting Rad51 foci was 20–30% in radioresistant and 60–80% in radiosensitive cell lines. In comparison, a higher fraction of residual Dsb was evident in cell lines with nonfunctional p53. Transfection with As-Rad51 significantly downregulates radiation-induced formation of Rad51 foci and increases apoptosis, but did not influence the rejoining of DNA double-strand breaks. Interestingly, wortmannin, a well-known inhibitor of nonhomologous end-joining, also inhibits Rad51 foci formation. In general, there was no correlation between the clonogenic survival at 2 Gy and the percentage of initial Rad51 or γ-H2AX foci after ionising radiation (IR). The most reliable predictive factor for radiosensitivity of NSCLC cell lines was the relative fraction of Rad51 foci remaining at 24 h after IR. Although most of the Rad51 foci are co-localised with γ-H2AX foci, no correlation of the relative fraction of persisting γ-H2AX foci and SF2 is evident
Ships, ports and particulate air pollution - an analysis of recent studies
The duration of use is usually significantly longer for marine vessels than for roadside vehicles. Therefore, these vessels are often powered by relatively old engines which may propagate air pollution. Also, the quality of fuel used for marine vessels is usually not comparable to the quality of fuels used in the automotive sector and therefore, port areas may exhibit a high degree of air pollution. In contrast to the multitude of studies that addressed outdoor air pollution due to road traffic, only little is known about ship-related air pollution. Therefore the present article aims to summarize recent studies that address air pollution, i.e. particulate matter exposure, due to marine vessels. It can be stated that the data in this area of research is still largely limited. Especially, knowledge on the different air pollutions in different sea areas is needed
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