A comparison of general and ambulance specific stressors: predictors of job satisfaction and health problems in a nationwide one-year follow-up study of Norwegian ambulance personnel

Objectives To address the relative importance of general job-related stressors, ambulance specific stressors and individual characteristics in relation to job satisfaction and health complaints (emotional exhaustion, psychological distress and musculoskeletal pain) among ambulance personnel. Materials and methods A nationwide prospective questionnaire survey of ambulance personnel in operational duty at two time points (n = 1180 at baseline, T1 and n = 298 at one-year follow up, T2). The questionnaires included the Maslach Burnout Inventory, The Job Satisfaction Scale, Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-10), Job Stress Survey, the Norwegian Ambulance Stress Survey and the Basic Character Inventory. Results Overall, 42 out of the possible 56 correlations between job stressors at T1 and job satisfaction and health complaints at T2 were statistically significant. Lower job satisfaction at T2 was predicted by frequency of lack of leader support and severity of challenging job tasks. Emotional exhaustion at T2 was predicted by neuroticism, frequency of lack of support from leader, time pressure, and physical demands. Adjusted for T1 levels, emotional exhaustion was predicted by neuroticism (beta = 0.15, p < .05) and time pressure (beta = 0.14, p < 0.01). Psychological distress at T2 was predicted by neuroticism and lack of co-worker support. Adjusted for T1 levels, psychological distress was predicted by neuroticism (beta = 0.12, p < .05). Musculoskeletal pain at T2 was predicted by, higher age, neuroticism, lack of co-worker support and severity of physical demands. Adjusted for T1 levels, musculoskeletal pain was predicted neuroticism, and severity of physical demands (beta = 0.12, p < .05). Conclusions Low job satisfaction at T2 was predicted by general work-related stressors, whereas health complaints at T2 were predicted by both general work-related stressors and ambulance specific stressors. The personality variable neuroticism predicted increased complaints across all health outcomes

Baráttan við ginklofa í Vestmannaeyjum

Efst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn.Ginklofi (Neonatal tetanus) var í upphafi 19. aldar mikill heilbrigðisvandi í Vestmannaeyjum. Allt að 60-70% nýfæddra barna dóu á fyrstu tveimur vikunum og dönsk heilbrigðisyfirvöld stóðu nær ráðþrota gagnvart þessum dularfulla sjúkdómi. Árið 1847 var ungur danskur læknir, Peter Anton Schleisner (1818-1900), sendur til Vestmannaeyja til að rannsaka ástandið. Hann kom upp fæðingarstofu, leiðbeindi um hreinlæti og hvatti til brjóstagjafar og annarra breytinga í mataræði. Engin lækning var þekkt við sjúkdómnum svo að Schleisner gat aðeins gripið til fyrirbyggjandi úrræða. Hann bar kopaiva-smyrsl á naflastúfinn við fæðingu og notaði önnur þrautreynd meðul eins og ópíum-tinktúru með saffrani og kvikasilfurssmyrsl ef um sýkingu virtist að ræða. Þegar Schleisner hélt til Danmerkur ári síðar hafði dánartíðni nýbura lækkað um helming. Nýburadauðinn í Vestmannaeyjum hélst síðan jafnlágur út alla 19. öldina. Fólk hafði þá trú að það væri að þakka „naflaolíunni“ sem Schleisner tók í notkun. Hluta af skýringunni má einnig rekja til bættra lífskjara, nokkurrar fjölgunar velstæðra ófrískra kvenna, aukinna þéttbýlisáhrifa, breytinga á lífsháttum og aðgerða í hreinlætismálum. Í samanburði við aðstæður á skosku eynni St. Kildu, þar sem aðstæður voru hinar sömu og ástandið breyttist ekki fyrr en rétt fyrir aldamótin 1900, er ljóst að aðgerðir Schleisners höfðu mikla þýðingu. Sumarið 1847 sigldi hinn 29 ára gamli danski læknir Peter Anton Schleisner (1818-1900)1 (mynd 1) til Vestmannaeyja við suðurströnd Íslands. Hann hafði fengið ítarleg fyrirmæli frá dönskum stjórnvöldum. Markmið þeirra var að berjast gegn neonatal tetanus, sem á íslensku nefnist ginklofi og var landlæg farsótt í Vestmannaeyjum. Í þessari grein er því lýst hvers vegna Schleisner var sendur í þessa för, hvað hann tók sér fyrir hendur og hvernig framlag hans var metið af samtíðarmönnum og þegar tímar liðu fram.Vísindasjóður félags íslenskra heimilislækn

Effect of acute exercise and hypoxia on markers of systemic and mucosal immunity

Purpose To determine how immune markers are affected by acute hypoxic exercise at the same relative intensity. Methods Twelve endurance-trained males (age: 28 ± 4 years, V˙V˙ O2max: 63.7 ± 5.3 mL/kg/min) cycled for 75 min at 70 % of altitude-specific V˙V˙ O2max, once in normoxia (N) and once in hypobaric hypoxia equivalent to 2000 m above sea-level (H). Blood and saliva samples were collected pre-, post- and 2 h post-exercise. Results Participants cycled at 10.5 % lower power output in H vs. N, with no significant differences in heart rate (P = 0.10) or rating of perceived exertion (P = 0.21). Post-exercise plasma cortisol was higher in H vs. N [683 (95 % CI 576–810) nmol/l vs. 549 (469–643) nmol/l, P = 0.017]. The exercise-induced decrease in CD4:CD8 ratio was greater in H vs. N (−0.5 ± 0.2 vs. −0.3 ± 0.2, P = 0.019). There were no significant between-trial differences for adrenocorticotropic hormone, plasma cytokines, antigen-stimulated cytokine production, salivary immunoglobulin-A or lactoferrin. However, there was a main trial effect for concentration [F(11) = 5.99, P < 0.032] and secretion [F(11) = 5.01, P < 0.047] of salivary lysozyme, with this being higher in N at every time-point. Conclusion Whether the observed differences between H and N are of sufficient magnitude to clinically impair host defence is questionable, particularly as they are transient in nature and since other immune markers are unaffected. As such, acute hypoxic exercise likely does not pose a meaningful additional threat to immune function compared to exercise at sea level, provided that absolute workload is reduced in hypoxia so that relative exercise intensity is the same

An exploration of job stress and health in the Norwegian police service: a cross sectional study

BACKGROUND: Police work is regarded as a high-stress occupation, but so far, no nationwide study has explored the associations between work stress and health. AIMS: To explore physical and mental health among Norwegian police and associations to job stress. Comparisons were made with a nationwide sample of Norwegian physicians and the general Norwegian population. METHODS: Comprehensive nationwide questionnaire survey of 3,272 Norwegian police at all hierarchical levels, including the Norwegian Police Stress Survey with two factors (serious operational tasks and work injuries), the Job Stress Survey with two factors (job pressure and lack of support), the Basic Character Inventory, the Subjective Health Complaint questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and Paykel's Suicidal Feelings in the General Population. RESULTS: The frequency of job pressure and lack of support was mainly associated to physical and mental health problems. Females showed higher means on anxiety symptoms than males (4.2, SD 2.9 and 3.7, SD 2.9, respectively; p < 0.01), while males showed higher means on depressive symptoms (3.1, SD 2.9 and 2.4, SD 2.5, respectively; p < 0.001). Police reported more subjective health complaints, depersonalization and higher scores on three of four personality traits than physicians, but lower scores on anxiety and depressive symptoms than the general population. CONCLUSION: This is the first nationwide study to explore job stress and physical and mental health in police. The results indicate that Norwegian police have high levels of musculoskeletal health problems mainly associated to the frequency of job pressure and lack of support. However, also frequent exposure to work injuries was associated to health problems. This may indicate that daily routine work as well as police operational duties must be taken into consideration in assessing job stress and police health

Maximal aerobic power characteristics of male professional soccer players, 1989-2012

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to quantify maximal aerobic power (VO2max) in soccer as a function of performance level, position, age, and time of season. In addition, the authors examined the evolution Of VO2max among professional players over a 23-y period. Methods: 1545 male soccer players (22 +/- 4 y, 76 +/- 8 kg, 181 +/- 6 cm) were tested for VO2max at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center between 1989 and 2012. Results: No differences in VO2max were observed among national-team players, 1st- and 2nd-division players, and juniors. Midfielders had higher VO2max than defenders; forwards, and goalkeepers (P < .05). Players <18 y of age had similar to 3% higher VO2max than 23- to 26-y-old players (P = .016). The players had 1.6% and 2.1% lower VO2max during off-season than preseason (P = .046) and in season (P = .021), respectively. Relative to body mass, VO2max among the professional players in this study has not improved over time. Professional players tested during 2006-2012 actually had 3.2% lower VO2max than those tested from 2000 to 2006 (P = .001). Conclusions: This study provides effect-magnitude estimates for the influence of performance level, player position, age, and season time on VO2max in men's elite soccer. The findings from a robust data set indicate that VO2max values similar to 62-64 mL . kg(-1) . min(-1) fulfill the demands for aerobic capacity in men's professional soccer and that VO2max is not a clearly distinguishing variable separating players of different standards

A longitudinal transitional perspective on why adolescents choose to quit organized sport in Norway

The present study used a prospective cohort design to explore the reasons why young athletes decided to quit playing handball. The theoretical underpinnings were drawn from the fields of career transition, motivation, and meaningful experiences in organized youth sport. Thirty-four athletes were included in a larger research project exploring the complex interplay of psychosocial factors during the transition period from lower-to upper-secondary school in Norway. In this study, the data collection involved three sources: individual interviews with the 10 athletes who decided to leave their teams during the study period (five girls and five boys), and individual open-ended questionnaires for these 10 participants collected five times over two seasons, aligned with their participation in focus group interviews. The data analysis involved a three-step process of inductive content analysis of the total corpus of the data. A core finding indicates that all adolescents had gone through a decision-making process over time to determine whether they should continue or quit. It was a process of accumulating reasons that resulted in the final decision. However, the results reveal a broad variation within individual perception and interpretation of what each adolescent experienced as meaningful. Of equal importance, the adolescents not only took their experiences in sport into account when considering quitting organized youth sport, but these were considered in light of their evaluation of meaningfulness in other areas of life. Overall, findings indicate that “dropping out of organized youth sport” should not be regarded as unambiguously negative.publishedVersio

Den blonde kjempe

Hvem var modell for kirurgen og romanhelten Jonas Fjeld? Det kan ha vært doktor Tandberg på Lillehammer.publishedVersio

The road to gold: Training and peaking characteristics in the year prior to a gold medal endurance performance

Purpose: To describe training variations across the annual cycle in Olympic and World Champion endurance athletes, and determine whether these athletes used tapering strategies in line with recommendations in the literature. Methods: Eleven elite XC skiers and biathletes (4 male; 28±1 yr, 85±5 mL. min-1. kg-1 V̇O2max, 7 female, 25±4 yr, 73±3 mL. min-1. kg-1 V̇O2max) reported one year of day-to-day training leading up to the most successful competition of their career. Training data were divided into periodization and peaking phases and distributed into training forms, intensity zones and endurance activity forms. Results: Athletes trained ∼800 h/500 sessions.year-1, including ∼500 h. year-1 of sport-specific training. Ninety-four percent of all training was executed as aerobic endurance training. Of this, ∼90% was low intensity training (LIT, below the first lactate threshold) and 10% high intensity training (HIT, above the first lactate threshold) by time. Categorically, 23% of training sessions were characterized as HIT with primary portions executed at or above the first lactate turn point. Training volume and specificity distribution conformed to a traditional periodization model, but absolute volume of HIT remained stable across phases. However, HIT training patterns tended to become more polarized in the competition phase. Training volume, frequency and intensity remained unchanged from pre-peaking to peaking period, but there was a 32±15% (P<.01) volume reduction from the preparation period to peaking phase. Conclusions: The annual training data for these Olympic and World champion XC skiers and biathletes conforms to previously reported training patterns of elite endurance athletes. During the competition phase, training became more sport-specific, with 92% performed as XC skiing. However, they did not follow suggested tapering practice derived from short-term experimental studies. Only three out of 11 athletes took a rest day during the final 5 days prior to their most successful competition

Maximal aerobic power characteristics of male professional soccer players, 1989-2012

Published version of an article in the journal:International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. Also available from Human Kinetics: http://journals.humankinetics.com/ijspp-back-issues/ijspp-volume-8-issue-3-may/maximal-aerobic-power-characteristics-of-male-professional-soccer-players-1989ndash2012Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to quantify maximal aerobic power (VO2max) in soccer as a function of performance level, position, age, and time of season. In addition, the authors examined the evolution Of VO2max among professional players over a 23-y period. Methods: 1545 male soccer players (22 +/- 4 y, 76 +/- 8 kg, 181 +/- 6 cm) were tested for VO2max at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center between 1989 and 2012. Results: No differences in VO2max were observed among national-team players, 1st- and 2nd-division players, and juniors. Midfielders had higher VO2max than defenders; forwards, and goalkeepers (P < .05). Players <18 y of age had similar to 3% higher VO2max than 23- to 26-y-old players (P = .016). The players had 1.6% and 2.1% lower VO2max during off-season than preseason (P = .046) and in season (P = .021), respectively. Relative to body mass, VO2max among the professional players in this study has not improved over time. Professional players tested during 2006-2012 actually had 3.2% lower VO2max than those tested from 2000 to 2006 (P = .001). Conclusions: This study provides effect-magnitude estimates for the influence of performance level, player position, age, and season time on VO2max in men's elite soccer. The findings from a robust data set indicate that VO2max values similar to 62-64 mL . kg(-1) . min(-1) fulfill the demands for aerobic capacity in men's professional soccer and that VO2max is not a clearly distinguishing variable separating players of different standards

Mortality among Norwegian doctors 1960-2000

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To study the mortality pattern of Norwegian doctors, people in human service occupations, other graduates and the general population during the period 1960-2000 by decade, gender and age. The total number of deaths in the study population was 1 583 559.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Census data from 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990 relating to education were linked to data on 14 main causes of death from Statistics Norway, followed up for two five-year periods after census, and analyzed as stratified incidence-rate data. Mortality rate ratios were computed as combined Mantel-Haenzel estimates for each sex, adjusting for both age and period when appropriate.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The doctors had a lower mortality rate than the general population for all causes of death except suicide. The mortality rate ratios for other graduates and human service occupations were 0.7-0.8 compared with the general population. However, doctors have a higher mortality than other graduates. The lowest estimates of mortality for doctors were for endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, diseases in the urogenital tract or genitalia, digestive diseases and sudden death, for which the numbers were nearly half of those for the general population. The differences in mortality between doctors and the general population increased during the periods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Between 1960 and 2000 mortality for doctors converged towards the mortality for other university graduates and for people in human service occupations. However, there was a parallel increase in the gap between these groups and the rest of the population. The slightly higher mortality for doctors compared with mortality for other university graduates may be explained by the higher suicide rate for doctors.</p