Prevalence and risk factors for low back pain among professional cooks working in school lunch services

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of self-reported low back pain among professional cooks was estimated to examine the effects of daily life conditions, job-related factors, and psychological factors on this disorder.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data was collected using a mailed self-administered questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 7100 cooks, 5835 (82%) replied to the questionnaire, including 1010 men and 4825 women. The mean age was 41.4 for men and 47.5 for women. The prevalence of low back pain during a 1-month period was 72.2% among men and 74.7% among women, with no significant differences between groups. By logistic regression analyses, factors significantly associated with the prevalence of low back pain in 1 month were female gender (prevalence ratio [PR] 1.32; 95% CI, 1.03–1.68), current smoking (PR 1.57; 95% CI, 1.24–1.98), and past smoking (PR 1.35; 95% CI, 1.01–1.79). As for job-related factors, the number of cooked lunches per person (PR 1.28; 95% CI, 1.05–1.56), breaks in the morning session (PR 1.33; 95% CI, 1.13–1.56), kitchen environment (PR 1.09; 95%, CI, 1.03–1.15), and height of cooking equipment (PR 1.13; 95% CI, 1.08–1.19) were associated with the prevalence of low back pain. As for psychological factors, job satisfaction (PR 1.22; 95% CI, 1.03–1.45), stress at work (PR 1.68; 95% CI, 1.42–1.99), financial constraints (PR 1.23; 95% CI, 1.03–1.47), health-related stress (PR 1.31; 95% CI, 1.08–1.59) and worries about the future (PR 1.24; 95% CI, 1.01–1.52) were similarly associated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Daily life conditions, job-related factors, and psychological factors are associated with the occurrence of low back pain. It is important to take comprehensive preventive measures to address a range of work and life conditions that can be improved to decrease the incidence of low back pain for professional cooks.</p

Morphogenesis of Chloroplasts during the Illumination in Etiolated Cotyledons of a C4 Plant Amaranthus

To investigate the development of plastids in various leaf tissues of a NAD-MEtype C4 plant, Amaranthus patulus Bertoloni, structural changes of etioplasts undercontinuous illumination were observed by means of an electron microscope. Before theillumination, all etioplasts in epidermal cells including guard cells, mesophyll cells, bundlesheath cells, and vascular parenchymatous cells were small and spherical in shape, andcontained prolamellar bodies with extending single-thylakoids. After the illumination, theplastids elongated, and the disorganization of prolamellar bodies and the formation ofprimary grana occurred at first in epidermal plastids, secondary in mesophyll plastids,then in bundle sheath plastids, and finally in vascular parenchymatous plastids. Thisdifference of start for plastid morphogenesis among leaf tissues may be reflected simply bythose anatomical arrangement for light exposure. The function of peripheral reticulumfound in mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts and the crystalline iclusion in epidermalplastids was also discussed

Prevalence of self-reported finger deformations and occupational risk factors among professional cooks: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have pointed out that the school lunch workers in Japan are suffering from work-related disorders including finger deformations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of self-reported finger deformations and the association with job-related risk factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional questionnaire study of 5,719 subjects (response rate: 81%, 982 men and 4,737 women) was undertaken during September 2003 to February 2004.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Finger deformations were found among 11.7% of the men and 35.6% of the women studied, with significant differences among sex, age and sex-age groups. For both men and women the pattern of finger deformations across the hand was similar for the right and the left hand. For women, the deformations were found in about 10% of the distal interphalangeal joints of all fingers. Based on multiple logistic regression analyses, the factors female sex, age, the number of cooked lunches per cook and cooking activities were independently associated with the prevalence of finger deformations. High prevalence odds ratios were found for those frequently carrying or using tools by hands such as delivering containers, distributing meals, preparing dishes, washing equipment, cutting and stirring foods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Among the school lunch workers studied, women had a higher prevalence of finger deformations on all joints of both hands. Various cooking tasks were associated with the prevalence of finger deformations. The results suggest that improvements in working conditions are important for preventing work-related disorders such as finger deformations.</p

Coexistence of transthyretin- and Aβ-type cerebral amyloid angiopathy in a patient with hereditary transthyretin V30M amyloidosis

金沢大学附属病院神経内科Embargo Period 12 month

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Effects of exceeding stroke frequency of maximal effort on hand kinematics and hand propulsive force in front crawl

This study aimed to assess kinematic and kinetic changes in front crawl with various stroke frequency (SF) conditions to investigate why swimming velocity (SV) does not increase above a certain SF (SFmax). Eight male swimmers performed 20 m front crawl four times. The first trial involved maximal effort, whereas SF was controlled during the next three trials. The instructed SFs were 100 (T100%), 110 (T110%), and 120% (T120%) of the SFmax. Through pressure measurement and underwater motion analysis, hand propulsive force (calculated by the difference between the palm and dorsal pressure value and the hand area) and the angle of attack of the hand were quantified, and differences between trials were assessed by a repeated-measures ANOVA. There was no difference in SV between the conditions, while the angle of attack during the latter half of the underwater stroke at T120% was smaller by 25.7% compared with T100% (p = 0.007). The lower angle of attack induced a lower pressure value on the palm that consequently caused a smaller hand propulsive force at T120% than T100% (p = 0.026). Therefore, the decrease in the angle of attack must be minimised to maintain the hand propulsive force