Impacts of gender, weather, and workplace differences in farm worker's gear

Background: The farmers cannot help working in outdoor conditions which have high humidity and solar radiation during the harvest period. Wearable items including clothing are the nearest environment of human body, and to understand the current state of them can be a way to set up an active prevention strategy against the health risk from heat stress in summertime agriculture. The aim of this study was to investigate the work wear and accessories which the elderly farmers used during agricultural working. Methods: One hundred twenty farmers (49 males and 71 females) working in nine separate sites on different days took part in this study. The average age of subjects was 61 years old. We examined the types of working posture, clothing, and items that the farmers used and/or wore. We also interviewed the farmers to know why they used such items while working. Results: The results of this study were as follows: (1) Farmers worked in the thermal environment which was over wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) reference value, and the farmers could suffer heat stress due to workload induced from wearing conventional long-sleeved shirts and long trousers which were 0.66 clo in average under this summertime working thermal condition. (2) The farmers tended to change the layer of upper clothing for adapting to weather condition. (3) The types of footwear used seemed to be related with facilities as well as weather, and farmers tended to wear lighter footwear when the weather is hotter or when they work in PVC greenhouse. The majority of elderly farmers wore loafers and rubber shoes which had indistinguishable thin soles. (4) The types of hats showed the difference between facilities as well as gender and only 31.7 % of all participants used long brims. (5) Korean elderly farmers did not use any active cooling item as agricultural auxiliary tools in summer harvesting time. Conclusions: Korean elderly farmers worked in poor surroundings which could threaten their health and safety and seemed not to adjust their workload and clothing during summer harvest season. Thus, it would be necessary to monitor individual responses in order to ensure that the risk of heat stress is preventedopen

Female Heads of Household in Low-Income Korean Families under the IMF Economic Crisis

This research analyzes the emotional and economic situation faced by low-income, female heads of households at the time of the IMF crisis. We examined two groups of women, those who became the primary wage earners in their families as a direct result of the IMF crisis and those who did so before the crisis, and investigated the differences between the two groups. According to the results of this research, the two groups showed numerous differences on many levels. Those who became primary wage earners after the IMF crisis were high school or university graduates, with a higher proportion of them in their 30s, followed by those in their 40s, and half were still living with their spouses. The reasons behind their becoming the chief breadwinners of their families included divorce, the husbands sudden lay-offs or financial incompetence for supporting the family, and separation from their spouses. Female heads of household after the IMF crisis typically experienced severe financial difficulties due to the lower wages they earned through part-time work. They were also more likely to be living in apartments on temporary leases. It is shown that there was no significant difference between the two groups on the grounds that they received support from their natal families. However, while pre-IMF female heads of household were most likely to turn to family members first for support, post-IMF family heads were just as likely to look to their friends for support. Nevertheless, among post-IMF female breadwinners, siblings were also likely to offer help. These results can be interpreted as meaning female heads of household felt more at ease with their natal family members. The need for governmental support for these women is made apparent in their children, who were forced to stay in welfare facilities, and it was the presence of their mothers, rather than the fathers, that was most vital for the children

The Role of Echocardiography in Evaluating Cardiovascular Diseases in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Patients with diabetes mellitus are highly susceptible to cardiovascular complications, which are directly correlated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In addition to coronary artery disease, there is growing awareness of the risk and prevalence of heart failure (HF) in patients with diabetes. Echocardiography is an essential diagnostic modality commonly performed in patients with symptoms suggestive of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), such as dyspnea or chest pain, to establish or rule out the cause of symptoms. Conventional echocardiographic parameters, such as left ventricular ejection fraction, are helpful not only for diagnosing CVD but also for determining severity, treatment strategy, prognosis, and response to treatment. Echocardiographic myocardial strain, a novel echocardiographic technique, enables the detection of early changes in ventricular dysfunction before HF symptoms develop. This article aims to review the role of echocardiography in evaluating CVD in patients with diabetes mellitus and how to use it in patients with suspected cardiac diseases

Front Matter

This file contains cover for Volume II, Issue II, Editorial Board, Acknowledgements

Benefit From Directional Microphone Hearing Aids: Objective and Subjective Evaluations

ObjectivesThe aims of this study were to find and compare the effect of directional (DIR) processing of two different hearing aids via both subjective and objective methods, to determine the association between the results of the subjective and objective evaluations, and to find out individual predictive factors influencing the DIR benefit.MethodsTwenty-six hearing aid users fitted unilaterally with each two different experimental hearing aid performed modified Korean Hearing in Noise Test (K-HINT) in three DIR conditions; omnidirectional (OMNI) mode, OMNI plus noise reduction feature, fixed DIR mode. In order to determine benefits from DIR benefit within a hearing aid and compare performance of the DIR processing between hearing aids, a subjective questionnaire was administrated on speech quality (SQ) and discomfort in noise (DN) domain. Correlation analysis of factors influencing DIR benefit was accomplished.ResultsBenefits from switching OMNI mode to DIR mode within both hearing aids in K-HINT were about 2.8 (standard deviation, 3.5) and 2.1 dB SNR (signal to ratio; SD, 2.5), but significant difference in K-HINT results between OMNI and OMNI plus noise reduction algorithm was not shown. The subjective evaluation resulted in the better SQ and DN scores in DIR mode than those in OMNI mode. However, the difference of scores on both SQ and DN between the two hearing aids with DIR mode was not statistically significant. Any individual factors did not significantly affect subjective and objective DIR benefits.ConclusionDIR benefit was found not only in the objective measurement performed in the laboratory but also in the subjective questionnaires, but the subjective results was failed to have significant correlation with the DIR benefit obtained in the K-HINT. Factors influencing individual variation in perceptual DIR benefit were still hard to explain

Multiple Myeloma Manifesting as a Fluctuating Sixth Nerve Palsy

We report a case of multiple myeloma that presented as a fluctuating sixth cranial nerve palsy in the absence of widespread signs of systemic disease. A 63-year-old woman presented with horizontal diplopia of two weeks duration that subjectively changed over time. Ocular examination showed a fluctuating sixth nerve palsy. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the brain showed multiple, enhancing, soft tissue, mass-like lesions involving the left cavernous sinus and the apex of both petrous bones. Based on bone marrow biopsy and hematologic findings, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma may be included in the differential diagnosis of a fluctuating sixth nerve palsy, and although ophthalmic signs are rare and generally occur late in the course of multiple myeloma, they can still be its first signs

The involvement of Eph–Ephrin signaling in tissue separation and convergence during Xenopus gastrulation movements

AbstractIn Xenopus gastrulation, the involuting mesodermal and non-involuting ectodermal cells remain separated from each other, undergoing convergent extension. Here, we show that Eph–ephrin signaling is crucial for the tissue separation and convergence during gastrulation. The loss of EphA4 function results in aberrant gastrulation movements, which are due to selective inhibition of tissue constriction and separation. At the cellular levels, knockdown of EphA4 impairs polarization and migratory activity of gastrulating cells but not specification of their fates. Importantly, rescue experiments demonstrate that EphA4 controls tissue separation via RhoA GTPase in parallel to Fz7 and PAPC signaling. In addition, we show that EphA4 and its putative ligand, ephrin-A1 are expressed in a complementary manner in the involuting mesodermal and non-involuting ectodermal layers of early gastrulae, respectively. Depletion of ephrin-A1 also abrogates tissue separation behaviors. Therefore, these results suggest that Eph receptor and its ephrin ligand might mediate repulsive interaction for tissue separation and convergence during early Xenopus gastrulation movements