Problemi na khigienata最新文献

These studies, centering on occupational environmental factors, biologic monitoring, and toxicodynamic investigations, involved a total of 105 workers distributed into eight job groups, who were 45 years, of age on the average and had from 5 to 10 years of special occupational experience at "Electrosteel" Works. Evidence was obtained for presence of unfavorable microclimate conditions, elevated equivalent levels of noise, excess of general and local vibrations, exposure to manganese aerosols, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides; some of the subjects and deviations in hepatic status and connective tissue. Job groups found to be at risk were those of steel founders, crane workers, and pourers.

The role of major factors influencing sampling effectiveness if using fluid absorbing media for studies of air pollution was investigated. The decisive role proved to be played by volatility of the substances used. Highly effective sampling was achieved with low volatility substances, or when chemical interaction between the absorbing medium and the substance to be studied resulted in compounds of low volatility.

Priority problems for collaboration between the NHMEN Center and HEIs over the period 1993-1994 are pointed out: updating sanitary legislation; monitoring the environment, including community and territorial planning; assessing health risk; manpower training; developing an efficient health-information system; and public education in ecology. A detailed analysis is presented on interactions between the NHMEN Center and HEIs aimed at solving the above problems by implementing tasks pertaining to scientific research, applied research, expertization, training, and methodological activities.

Based on cardinal problems of medical prevention, the author formulates priority lines of action for the country's health structures in the field of community health, emphasizing areas for interaction between the National Center of Hygiene and Hygiene-and-Epidemiology Inspectorates across the country. According to the author, priority problems necessitating collaborative efforts between the National Center of Hygiene and HEIs throughout the country should be focused on the following areas: updating sanitary legislation; environmental monitoring, including community and territorial planning; health risk assessment; development of an efficient health-information system concerning environment and health; manpower training; and ecologic education of the public. Collaboration also needs to cover joint implementation of projects at international collaboration level along the lines of the World Health Organization, the PHARE programs, etc. The priorities referred to also reflect the conception of medical prevention functions in the area of community health.

It was the purpose of this study to define the frequency of occurrence of a number of individual and occupational factors contributing to development of arterial hypertension in "Asarel" MMW open-pit workers. The investigated subjects numbered 36 and ranged in age from 22 to 55 years (average, 36 +/- 1.9 years). The jobs represented included mainly: diggers, bulldozers, driver, drillers, blasters, road-service workers, electric and mechanic fitters. Endpoints measured and evaluated included: arterial blood pressure, pulse rate, biometric characteristics (age, occupational experience, body height and weight), common risk factors, such as family antecedents, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, level of physical activity at and off work, etc. For this sample of open-pit workers, findings indicated a relatively high incidence of hypertension (28% of subjects). The level of arterial hypertension consistently correlated with worker age, length of occupational experience, and body weight. There was high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors: alcohol consumption, family history, cigarette smoking, use of salty foods, overweight. The observed changes in the cardiovascular system and high prevalence of risk factors point to the necessity of taking specific medical prevention measures. These have been taken into consideration in designing the overall program of upgrading work conditions and organization, as well as improving the style of life of "Asarel" MMW workers.

Under experimental conditions, the masking effect of three types of music and of "white" masking noise was studied using a special speech-audiometric test (L. Tsaneva 1978, 1993). The signal-to-noise relation was found to be the most significant factor affecting spoken information perception, regardless of the type of music used as masking agent (level of correlation coefficients, jR = 0.89). The types of music used (modern, classical, playback) showed no appreciable differences in masking, remaining at the same time stronger masking factors compared to "white" noise. Conclusions were made as to hygienic-ergonomic aspects to be considered for intensity of musical programs in conforming with pertinent standards.

It was the purpose of this study to investigate the occupational "burn out" syndrome in personnel catering for children at nurseries and mother-and-child homes (MCH). Burnout as consequence of unsurmounted prolonged occupational stress in characterized by a growing sense of professional exhaustion, indifference to the ones entrusted, decreased reliance on one's own professional skills, loss of motivation for work. Using Maslach's questionnaire, the extent of experienced burn out was defined for 180 subjects from a variety of child establishments. Results indicated prevalence of early stages of the syndrome, which was significantly higher at MCHs, reflecting differences in workloads. Clearly manifested symptoms were noted in 30% of investigated subjects. The burn out state of personnel at child establishments was primarily characterized by decrease in the sense of competence and performance. Since a marked burn out syndrome in attending personnel carries a risk for the general development of children, there is a need for recognizing the problem and defining responsibilities for relevant prevention.

This occupational physiology study was undertaken within a wider applied-research framework designed to evaluate the occupational environment and its impact on workers at "Asarel" Mining and Milling Works. Analysis of activities showed physical effort (dynamic and static) to be the major problem at the open pit, though varying in extent between jobs (most prominent for blasters and bulldozerists). Nervous/emotional strain, while not leading, was sustained mostly by diggers and blasters, followed by drivers. Organization of work (shift regimen, no regulated breaks, stepwise schedule of days off work) was hardly appropriate and did not allow for recovery. Interviewed workers qualified working conditions as extremely unfavorable; they disapproved with the physical factors of the occupational environment, the workplace, the state of machines and devices, and remuneration for work performed. Exertion from work, assessed by pulse rate and energy expended, was moderate for most activities of diggers, drivers, and drillers. The burden of physical effort was great for blasters at the open pit and for diggers and drillers performing extra repair operations (pulse rate, 100-110 strokes/min; energy expended, 5.2-5.5 Kcal/min). Hardest and least attractive was the work of blasters at stores for explosive materials (pulse rate, 120-141 strokes/min; energy expended, 5.5-6.5 Kcal/min). These adverse factors of labor activities might produce a negative impact on worker health and performance, leading to occupational impairment of their musculoskeletal system, to labor-related disorders of their cardiovascular and nervous systems, etc. Preventive measures are thus necessary to limit physical exertion, optimize the work-and-rest regimen; also, there is a need for conducting pertinent preventive medical examinations, providing social measures (conditions for transportation, rest, nutrition, sports), etc.

Noise, a stressogenic factor adversely affecting the body, is subject to monitoring and control, notably, at sites where health considerations impose a more rigorous acoustic regimen. Where systematic and ubiquitous excesses over admissible noise level occur in an urban environment, a special case of health impact is that produced upon an inpatient's course of recovery from illness. This paper presents evidence from a survey of mean excesses over HEI-regulated noise standards for zones enclosing 16 Sofia inpatient facilities. The procedure used to determine and map mean excesses in cities has been made available to the preventive network of local HEIs countrywide; however, it still has not been put into practice everywhere. This renewed presentation, it is hoped, should contribute to recognizing its necessity and making use of the technique. The most frequently encountered excesses over the admissible noise level were within the range 15-20 dB A. For districts incorporating hospital institutions, this acoustic situation may be qualified as not only inadequate to requirements but also as generating a health risk for vulnerable population groups. Clearly, the noise regimen observed in the surveyed zones in an environmental physical hazard hindering the process of recovery from illness--with all health, social, and economic negative effects entailed.

This study was concerned with the relationship of changes in cardiac variance to age. A total of 518 subjects were involved. The following indicators of ACV (analysis of cardiac variance) were investigated: mean--mean value of successive cardiac intervals, SD--standard deviation of mean value of cardiac intervals (R-R), AMo--amplitude of the mode, HI--homeostatic index, Pt--spectral power of R-R related to thermoregulation, Pr--spectral power of R-R related to respiration, IBO--index of centralization. For each one of these ACV indicators, a mathematical expression of its relationship to age was specified. The coefficients obtained from the indicated expressions of the relationship "age-to-ACV indicators" represent transfer coefficients for the particular measured quantities. Their methodological importance lies in the fact that through them it becomes possible to make age corrections of ACV indicator figures for the purpose of comparing individual subjects or groups of subjects. These coefficients help to establish nomograms for the particular age ranges.