Articles

“Inclusive working life in Norway”: a registry-based five-year follow-up study

In 2001, the Norwegian authorities and major labour market partners signed an agreement regarding ‘inclusive working life’ (IW), whereby companies that participate are committed to reducing sickness absence. O...

Authors: Line Foss, Hans Magne Gravseth, Petter Kristensen, Bjørgulf Claussen, Ingrid Sivesind Mehlum and Knut Skyberg

Solving a methodological challenge in work stress evaluation with the Stress Assessment and Research Toolkit (StART): a study protocol

Stress evaluation is a field of strong interest and challenging due to several methodological aspects in the evaluation process. The aim of this study is to propose a study protocol to test a new method (i.e.,...

Authors: Dina Guglielmi, Silvia Simbula, Michela Vignoli, Ilaria Bruni, Marco Depolo, Roberta Bonfiglioli, Maria Carla Tabanelli and Francesco Saverio Violante

Diagnostic approach in cases with suspected work-related asthma

Work-related asthma (WRA) is a major cause of respiratory disease in modern societies. The diagnosis and consequently an opportunity for prevention are often missed in practice.

Authors: Tor B Aasen, P Sherwood Burge, Paul K Henneberger, Vivi Schlünssen and Xaver Baur

Involvement of occupational physicians in the management of MRSA-colonised healthcare workers in Germany – a survey

Colonisation of healthcare workers (HCWs) with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains (MRSA) is a challenge for any healthcare facility. Persistent carriage of MRSA among HCWs causes special problems...

Authors: Madeleine Dulon, Frank Haamann and Albert Nienhaus

A compendium of causative agents of occupational asthma

The objective is to provide an evidence-based compendium of allergenic and irritant agents that are known to cause occupational asthma in order to improve diagnostics and disease management.

Authors: Xaver Baur

Work-related leukemia: a systematic review

Leukemia is a complex disease, which only became better understood during the last decades following the development of new laboratory techniques and diagnostic methods. Despite our improved understanding of t...

Authors: Ioannis Polychronakis, George Dounias, Vasilios Makropoulos, Elena Riza and Athena Linos

Obesity effect on a multimodal physiotherapy program for low back pain suffers: patient reported outcome

Several studies have linked obesity to the increased likelihood of lower back pain, but there are no studies focussing on the effectiveness of a multimodal physiotherapy programme (MPP) in obese subjects who s...

Authors: Antonio I Cuesta-Vargas and Manuel González-Sánchez

The effect of introducing IGRA to screen French healthcare workers for tuberculosis and potential conclusions for the work organisation

In France, pre-employment screening for tuberculosis (TB) is performed for healthcare workers (HCW). Screening is repeated when exposure to TB patients or infectious material occurs. The results of these TB sc...

Authors: Adrien Moucaut, Albert Nienhaus, Benedicte Courtois, Virginie Nael, Claire Longuenesse, Bruno Ripault, Pierre Rucay, Stéphanie Moisan, Yves Roquelaure and Dominique Tripodi

Ischemic heart disease risk factors in lead exposed workers: research study

Review of other epidemiological studies reveal inconsistent results of relationships between high blood lead level and risk of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia. In this study we wanted to find if...

Authors: Masoumeh Ghiasvand, Kamran Aghakhani, Ahmad Salimi and Ranjit Kumar

Instrument for stress-related job analysis for hospital physicians: validation of a short version

Working conditions in hospitals may endanger physicians' health and impair patient care. For this reason, an instrument was developed in the form of a questionnaire, in order to record problems in physicians' ...

Authors: Monika Keller, Eva Bamberg, Maren Kersten and Albert Nienhaus

Hydrogen sulphide inhalational toxicity at a petroleum refinery in Sri Lanka: a case series of seven survivors following an industrial accident and a brief review of medical literature

This case series details clinical observations in 7 survivors of accidental hydrogen sulphide inhalation toxicity at a petroleum refinery in Sri Lanka. One survivor developed status epilepticus and severe neur...

Authors: Mitrakrishnan Chrishan Shivanthan, Harshani Perera, Saroj Jayasinghe, Panduka Karunanayake, Thashi Chang, Sujatha Ruwanpathirana, Nilwala Jayasinghe, Yamini De Silva and Dinushka Jayaweerabandara

Quantitative neurosensory findings, symptoms and signs in young vibration exposed workers

Long-term exposure to hand-held vibrating tools may cause the hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) including vibration induced white fingers and sensorineural symptoms. The aim was to study early neurosensory ef...

Authors: Lars Gerhardsson, Lage Burstrom, Mats Hagberg, Ronnie Lundstrom and Tohr Nilsson

Fatal snake bites – sociodemography, latency pattern of injuries

India is a thickly populated country; apart from having biodiversity among people, climate does change from place to place. Western Ghats of South India harbors variety of plantations and diverse creatures. Ag...

Authors: Chidananda PS Rao, Parameshwar Shivappa and Veeresh R Mothi

How to optimize the benefits of computer assisted sperm analysis in experimental toxicology

Exposure at the working place to various substances, that may affect semen quality is possible and should be investigated in detail. One appropriate method for this is computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) w...

Authors: Carsten Schleh and Anne-Laure Leoni

A prospective investigation of injury incidence and risk factors among army recruits in combat engineer training

United States Army combat engineer (ENG) training is an intense 14-week course designed to introduce new recruits to basic soldiering activities, Army values and lifestyle, and engineering skills and knowledge...

Authors: Joseph J Knapik, Bria Graham, Jacketta Cobbs, Diane Thompson, Ryan Steelman and Bruce H Jones

Persistence of antibodies in laboratory staff immunized with quadrivalent meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine

Occupational exposure to live meningococci can potentially cause invasive meningococcal disease in laboratory staff. While, until recently, immunization with quadrivalent polysaccharide vaccine represented one...

Authors: Johannes Elias, Jamie Findlow, Ray Borrow, Angelika Tremmel, Matthias Frosch and Ulrich Vogel

Perception of stress-related working conditions in hospitals (iCept-study): acomparison between physicians and medical students

The students’ perception of working conditions in hospitalshasn’t been subject of research in Germany so far. However theperception plays an important role talking about the sustainability ofworking conditions...

Authors: Jan Bauer and David A Groneberg

Occupational airborne exposure, specific sensitization and the atopic status: evidence of a complex interrelationship

We have investigated the relationship between atopic status and long-term occupational exposure to latex proteins or methyl diethyl diisocyanate (MDI) as high and low molecular weight asthma-inducing agents, r...

Authors: Xaver Baur and Liubov Barbinova

Screening for tuberculosis and the use of a borderline zone for the interpretation of the interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) in Portuguese healthcare workers

The effect of using a borderline zone for the interpretation of the interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) on the prediction of progression to active tuberculosis (TB) in healthcare workers (HCW) is analysed.

Authors: Albert Nienhaus and José Torres Costa

Speech recognition index of workers with tinnitus exposed to environmental or occupational noise: a comparative study

Tinnitus is considered the third worst symptom affecting humans. The aim of this article is to assess complaints by workers with tinnitus exposed to environmental and occupational noise.

Authors: Márcia Soalheiro, Lucelaine Rocha, Diane Francis do Vale, Viviane Fontes, Daniel Valente and Liliane Reis Teixeira

Multiple Myeloma and lifetime occupation: results from the EPILYMPH study

The EPILYMPH study applied a detailed occupational exposure assessment approach to a large multi-centre case–control study conducted in six European countries. This paper analysed multiple myeloma (MM) risk as...

Authors: Carla Perrotta, Anthony Staines, Mary Codd, Silke Kleefeld, Dominique Crowley, Andrea T’ Mannetje, Nicholas Becker, Paul Brennan, Silvia De Sanjosé, Lenka Foretova, Marck Maynadié, Alexandra Nieters, Paolo Boffetta and Pierluggi Cocco

A pilot study on the stability of toluene in blood from workers

Biological monitoring is used to assess toluene exposure in medical examinations. The American Conference of Industrial Hygienists, Japanese Society for Occupational Health and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ...

Authors: Masanori Ogawa and Teppei Sasahara

Work-related musculoskeletal discomfort of dairy farmers and employed workers

Dairy farming is physically demanding and associated with a high frequency of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). This study investigated and compared work-related MSD, ergonomic work factors and physical exertio...

Authors: Christina Lunner Kolstrup

Physical capacity and psychological mood in association with self-reported work ability in vibration-exposed patients with hand symptoms

The aim of this study was to investigate whether self-reports of work ability correlated to the results of quantitative tests measuring physical capacity and a questionnaire assessing psychological mood in vib...

Authors: Maria Edlund, Lars Gerhardsson and Mats Hagberg

Erratum to: The role of cumulative physical work load in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis – a case–control study in Germany (Seidler et al. 2008).

Authors: Andreas Seidler, Ulrich Bolm-Audorff, Nasreddin Abolmaali and Gine Elsner

Mobile air quality studies (MAQS) in inner cities: particulate matter PM10 levels related to different vehicle driving modes and integration of data into a geographical information program

Particulate matter (PM) is assumed to exert a major burden on public health. Most studies that address levels of PM use stationary measure systems. By contrast, only few studies measure PM concentrations under...

Authors: Stefanie Uibel, Cristian Scutaru, Daniel Mueller, Doris Klingelhoefer, Diana My Linh Hoang, Masaya Takemura, Axel Fischer, Michael F Spallek, Volker Unger, David Quarcoo and David A Groneberg

Bronchial asthma and COPD due to irritants in the workplace - an evidence-based approach

Respiratory irritants represent a major cause of occupational obstructive airway diseases. We provide an overview of the evidence related to irritative agents causing occupational asthma or occupational COPD.

Authors: Xaver Baur, Prudence Bakehe and Henning Vellguth

Assessing and improving health in the workplace: an integration of subjective and objective measures with the STress Assessment and Research Toolkit (St.A.R.T.) method

The aim of this work was to introduce a new combined method of subjective and objective measures to assess psychosocial risk factors at work and improve workers’ health and well-being. In the literature most o...

Authors: Chiara Panari, Dina Guglielmi, Aurora Ricci, Maria Carla Tabanelli and Francesco Saverio Violante

Acute renal failure following oxalic acid poisoning: a case report

Oxalic acid poisoning is being recognized as an emerging epidemic in the rural communities of Sri Lanka as it is a component of locally produced household laundry detergents. Herein we describe a case of a 32 ...

Authors: Uditha Dassanayake and Christeine Ariaranee Gnanathasan

Cumulative keyboard strokes: a possible risk factor for carpal tunnel syndrome

Contradictory reports have been published regarding the association of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) and the use of computer keyboard. Previous studies did not take into account the cumulative exposure to keybo...

Authors: Andreas Eleftheriou, George Rachiotis, Socratis E Varitimidis, Charilaos Koutis, Konstantinos N Malizos and Christos Hadjichristodouloul

Occupational lead exposure among automotive garage workers – a case study for Jimma town, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, although there are numerous small-scale and medium industries which use lead-based raw materials that may pose health risks to workers, there are no workplace regulations for lead exposure. Moreov...

Authors: Yalemsew Adela, Argaw Ambelu and Dejene A Tessema

Particulate matter (PM) 2.5 levels in ETS emissions of a Marlboro Red cigarette in comparison to the 3R4F reference cigarette under open- and closed-door condition

Potential health damage by environmental emission of tobacco smoke (environmental tobacco smoke, ETS) has been demonstrated convincingly in numerous studies. People, especially children, are still exposed to E...

Authors: Daniel Mueller, Johannes Schulze, Hanns Ackermann, Doris Klingelhoefer, Stefanie Uibel and David A Groneberg

Nanoparticles and cars - analysis of potential sources

Urban health is potentially affected by particle emissions. The potential toxicity of nanoparticles is heavily debated and there is an enormous global increase in research activity in this field. In this respe...

Authors: Stefanie Uibel, Masaya Takemura, Daniel Mueller, David Quarcoo, Doris Klingelhoefer and David A Groneberg

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Assessment of the influence of whole body vibration on Cochlear function

Whole body vibration (WBV) is a potentially harmful consequence resulting from the dissipation of energy by industrial machineries. The result of WBV exposure on the auditory system remains unknown. The object...

Authors: Seyyed-Ali Moussavi-Najarkola, Ali Khavanin, Ramazan Mirzaei, Mojdeh Salehnia and Mehdi Akbari

Cryptococcus spp isolated from dust microhabitat in Brazilian libraries

The Cryptococcus spp is currently composed of encapsulated yeasts of cosmopolitan distribution, including the etiological agents of cryptococcosis. The fungus are found mainly in substrates of animal and plant or...

Authors: Diniz P Leite Jr, Janaina V R S Amadio, Evelin R Martins, Sara A A Simões, Ana Caroline A Yamamoto, Fábio A Leal-Santos, Doracilde T Takahara and Rosane C Hahn

Diesel exhaust in miners study: how to understand the findings?

The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study (DEMS) is an outstanding epidemiological project on the association between occupational diesel exhaust exposures, measured as long-term respirable elemental carbon (REC) est...

Authors: Peter Morfeld

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 ...

Authors: Stefanie Uibel, Daniel Müller, Doris Klingelhoefer and David A Groneberg

Infectious diseases in healthcare workers – an analysis of the standardised data set of a German compensation board

Healthcare workers (HCW) are exposed to infectious agents. Disease surveillance is therefore needed in order to foster prevention.

Authors: Albert Nienhaus, Chandrasekharan Kesavachandran, Dana Wendeler, Frank Haamann and Madeleine Dulon

Human endometrial cell coculture reduces the endocrine disruptor toxicity on mouse embryo development

Previous studies suggested that endocrine disruptors (ED) are toxic on preimplantation embryos and inhibit development of embryos in vitro culture. However, information about the toxicity of endocrine disruptors ...

Authors: Myeong-Seop Lee, Young-Sang Lee, Hae-Hyeog Lee and Ho-Yeon Song

Interferon-gamma release assays for the tuberculosis serial testing of health care workers: a systematic review

Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) are increasingly used in the tuberculosis (TB) screening of health care workers (HCWs). However, comparatively high rates of conversions and reversion as well as growing...

Authors: Felix C Ringshausen, Anja Schablon and Albert Nienhaus

The course of physical functional limitations and occupational conditions in a middle-aged working population in France

Physical functional limitations (PFL) have mainly been studied in older populations. The aim of this study was to better understand the course of PFL and associations with occupational factors by gender in a m...

Authors: Matthieu de Stampa, Aurélien Latouche, Francis Derriennic, Christine Monfort, Annie Touranchet and Bernard Cassou

Occupational health issues in marine and freshwater research

Marine and freshwater scientists are potentially exposed to a wide variety of occupational hazards. Depending on the focus of their research, risks may include animal attacks, physiological stresses, exposure ...

Authors: Glenn Courtenay, Derek R Smith and William Gladstone

Effect of education and health locus of control on safe use of pesticides: a cross sectional random study

In Egypt, many pesticides are used to control pests in agricultural farms. Our study aimed to investigate knowledge and behaviors of farmers related to pesticide use and their relation to educational level and...

Authors: Sherine Gaber and Soha Hassan Abdel-Latif

Six-month low level chlorine dioxide gas inhalation toxicity study with two-week recovery period in rats

Chlorine dioxide (CD) gas has a potent antimicrobial activity at extremely low concentration and may serve as a new tool for infection control occupationally as well as publicly. However, it remains unknown wh...

Authors: Akinori Akamatsu, Cheolsung Lee, Hirofumi Morino, Takanori Miura, Norio Ogata and Takashi Shibata

Combined effects of salicylic acid and furosemide and noise on hearing

A major cause of the hearing loss following exposure to intense noise involves release of free radicals resulting from the elevated metabolism. The free radicals induce damage to several of the components of t...

Authors: Marrigje A de Jong, Cahtia Adelman, Melissa Rubin and Haim Sohmer

Leupeptin reduces impulse noise induced hearing loss

Exposure to continuous and impulse noise can induce a hearing loss. Leupeptin is an inhibitor of the calpains, a family of calcium-activated proteases which promote cell death. The objective of this study is t...

Authors: Haim Gavriel, Abraham Shulman, Alfred Stracher and Haim Sohmer

Burnout hazard in teachers results of a clinical-psychological intervention study

The study investigates whether established in-patient therapy for teachers with burnout results in long-acting success and whether gender gaps and differences between teachers of different school levels exist....

Authors: Ralf Wegner, Peter Berger, Bernd Poschadel, Ulf Manuwald and Xaver Baur

Educators' working conditions in a day care centre on ownership of a non-profit organization

Working conditions of nursery school teachers have not been scrutinized thoroughly in scientific research. Only a few studies have so far examined work-load and strain in this profession. Preferably, subjectiv...

Authors: Bianca Kusma, Stefanie Mache, David Quarcoo, Albert Nienhaus and David A Groneberg

Tobacco smoke particles and indoor air quality (ToPIQ) - the protocol of a new study

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a major contributor to indoor air pollution. Since decades it is well documented that ETS can be harmful to human health and causes premature death and disease. In comparis...

Authors: Daniel Mueller, Stefanie Uibel, Markus Braun, Doris Klingelhoefer, Masaya Takemura and David A Groneberg

Complications and management of acute copper sulphate poisoning; a case discussion

Copper sulphate ingestion (accidental or deliberate) is a rare form of poisoning usually limited to the Indian subcontinent. Though the rates are on the decline, it is essential that physicians are aware of it...

Authors: Champika SSK Gamakaranage, Chaturaka Rodrigo, Sajitha Weerasinghe, Ariaranee Gnanathasan, Visvalingam Puvanaraj and Harshani Fernando