Sangyo igaku. Japanese journal of industrial health最新文献

In order to examine the differences in which blue- and white-collar workers perceive their own health status, a survey using self-administered questionnaire was conducted. The subjects were 1,428 male workers in a tire manufacturing factory, consisting of 1,185 blue-collar workers and 243 white-collar workers. Most of the blue-collar workers were engaged in shift work consisting of three shifts/d. The questionnaire included 32 items concerning health habits, life and job satisfaction, mental stress, and type A behavior. The following findings were obtained. Good daily health habits were related to age. Older workers had better health habits than the younger ones both in white- and blue-collar workers. The white-collar workers were more satisfied with their life and jobs, and also showed type A behaviors at a higher rate. As for fatigue and dissatisfaction association with shift work, the workers' complaints increased in the order of day shift, evening shift and midnight shift. The older workers had fewer complaints than the younger ones. These results suggested that health management and education will be more effective if the working conditions and the background of each worker are taken into consideration.

A questionnaire was mailed to a total of 3,889 residents 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, and 65 years of age living in 11 municipalities of Hida district, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, to inquire about their life style and health practices. Of the 3,889 residents, 2,919 (75.1%) responded to the questionnaire. They were divided into two groups for comparison; the subjects of occupational health services and those of community health services. The subjects of occupational health services at ages 40-55 showed lighter daily physical activity level than those of community health services. However, the subjects at ages 60 and 65 showed equally heavy daily physical activity level in two groups, which indicates that the subjects of occupational health services aged 60 and 65 years are engaged in heavier job at worksite and home. The prevalence of self-rated stress tended to be higher in the subjects of occupational health services. The mean health practice scores tended to be higher for the subjects of occupational health services than for those of community health services at ages 40-55. The percentage of people who had examinations for circulatory diseases were higher among the subjects of occupational health services at ages 40-60 compared with those for the subjects of community health services. Many of the subjects of occupational health services receiving an examination for stomach cancer had obtained the examination service at municipalities provided by local governments. The subjects of occupational health services generally showed superior attitudes toward health care, which suggests that health management for the former is more easily approached than the latter.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

To study the measuring conditions of surface electromyogram for work analysis in the field of industrial health, the effect of electrode fixation, electrode distance and electrode-muscle distance were studied using a mathematical model. The results were as follows; 1) The output waveforms of two electrode fixed models, i.e., parallel-fixed model (two electrodes were fixed in parallel to the direction of the muscle fibers) and transverse-fixed model (two electrodes were fixed in transverse to the direction of the muscle fibers) were compared. The maximum output and rectified integrated output of the parallel-fixed model were 2.59 times and 1.2-1.5 times larger than those of transverse-fixed model, respectively. The high output area of the parallel-fixed model was only one round area, but the areas of transverse-fixed model were four round areas which were wider than the area of the parallel-fixed model. The rectified integrated output of the parallel-fixed model was more affected by the location of neuro-muscular junction than that of transverse-fixed model when the electrodes were fixed near the neuro-muscular junction. 2) The rectified integrated output increased by electrode distance, and the changing rate of the rectified integrated output by electrode distance was particularly large when the electrode distance was shorter than 2 cm.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The concentration of delta-aminolevulinic acid in blood (ALA-B) was determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). To improve the chromatographic separation and the recovery rate of ALA determination in blood, acetate buffer was used in the reaction mixture of fluorescence derivatization. The detection limit of ALA-B was ca. 2 micrograms/l at signal to noise ratio of 5, and the analytical recovery was 102.0 +/- 4.10% (mean +/- SD), when 50 micrograms/l of ALA was added to 7 blood samples (ALA-B levels: 6.5-103.0 micrograms/l). ALA-B levels in control subjects (n = 19) were 5.3 +/- 1.4 micrograms/l (mean +/- SD) and those in 52 lead workers (blood lead levels (Pb-B): 2.4-86.2 micrograms/dl) were 15.4 +/- 12.2 micrograms/l (range: 3.1-137.3 micrograms/l). Standard curve of ALA was linear over a wide range, at least up to 400 micrograms/l. In the workers, the correlation coefficients of ALA-B vs. Pb-B and ALA-B vs. delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity (ALA-D) were higher than those of urinary concentration of ALA vs. Pb-B and that vs. ALA-D, especially in the moderate Pb-B level (less than 40 micrograms/dl, n = 35). Unless the urinary concentrations of ALA were not corrected, significant correlation could not be found between Pb-B and urinary ALA in the workers moderately exposed to lead, and the correlation coefficient between urinary ALA and ALA-D was -0.354, while the correlation coefficients of ALA-B vs. Pb-B and ALA-B vs. ALA-D were 0.739 and -0.746, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

In order to clarify the health effects of work stress and possible strategy for its prevention and treatment, we reviewed the literature on work stress as follows: 1) Review was made on 12 major psychosocial work stressors, 4 acute reactions to stress, disease outcome of work stress, measurement methods of those variables, and theoretical models of work stress. 2) Epidemiological studies of the effects of work stressors on cardiovascular diseases, psychological distress and mental disorders in Japan were reviewed. Also, work stress in specific occupations such as software engineers, nurses and female researchers was reviewed. 3) The following strategies for the prevention and treatment of the health effects of work stress were reviewed: i) surveillance of work stress, ii) improvement of psychosocial work environment, iii) education and information dissemination, and iv) reinforcement of occupational mental health services. Finally, the need for further investigation on the health effects of work stress and on the possible programs for the prevention and treatment in occupational health care system was discussed.