Musculoskeletal reported symptoms among aircraft assembly workers: a multifactorial approach

The aim of this study was to evaluate factors associated with reported work-related musculoskeletal symptoms among aircraft assembly workers. Population consisted of 552 (491 men/61 women) workers who performed tasks related to the work of aircraft assembly. Participants completed a comprehensive questionnaire, including socio-demographic information, habits/lifestyles, working conditions, and work organization. Workers also answered the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire to obtain data on musculoskeletal symptoms. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to analyze factors associated with musculoskeletal reported symptoms. Results showed that body regions with the highest prevalence of reported musculoskeletal symptoms were similar when referred the past twelve months and the past seven days. Significant factors associated with musculoskeletal symptoms included variables related to conflicts at work, sleep problems, mental fatigue, and lack of time for personal care and recovery. Working time in the industry was associated only with reports for the last seven days and regular physical activity off-work seems to be a positive factor in preventing musculoskeletal symptoms for the past twelve months. The results highlight the multi-factorial nature of the problem. Actions to prevent musculoskeletal diseases at the aircraft assembly work should consider multiple interventions that would promote better recovery between work shifts.

Forum: social network for the surveillance and prevention of workplace accidents

In 2008, academic researchers and public service officials created a university extension studies platform based on online and on-site meetings denominated "Work-Related Accidents Forum: Analysis, Prevention, and Other Relevant Aspects. Its aim was to help public agents and social partners to propagate a systemic approach that would be helpful in the surveillance and prevention of work-related accidents. This article describes and analyses such a platform. Online access is free and structured to: support dissemination of updated concepts; support on-site meetings and capacity to build educational activities; and keep a permanent space for debate among the registered participants. The desired result is the propagation of a social-technical-systemic view of work-related accidents that replaces the current traditional view that emphasizes human error and results in blaming the victims. The Forum uses an educational approach known as permanent health education, which is based on the experience and needs of workers and encourages debate among participants. The forum adopts a problematizing pedagogy that starts from the requirements and experiences of the social actors and stimulates support and discussions among them in line with an ongoing health educational approach. The current challenge is to turn the platform into a social networking website in order to broaden its links with society.

Study of postures in sugarcane cutters in the Pontal of Paranapanema-SP, Brazil

The expansion of sugarcane monoculture in Brazil in the last decades has pointed out to the necessity of considering the question of sugarcane cutters occupational health. In this work we present a cross-sectional study aiming to examine the occupational posture of a group of sugarcane cutters, which work in a cane field located in the region of Pontal do Paranapanema-SP, Brazil. The study was made using the Ergonomic Analysis of Work - EAW methodology and the postural analysis method by Win-OWAS. Through the obtained records of postures, it was observed that during a workday the sugarcane cutters remain standing erect on two legs or in one leg 66% of the time and that their trunk remain tilted and in rotation, according to 63% of the positions categorized. It was also observed that the sugarcane cutter trunk performs repetitive and boundless movements during his routine of work, which can expose this individual to additional wear of their musculoskeletal functions. The activities in which the individual engages have favorable or adverse influence on his posture. The repetitive movements involved in specialized occupations are equivalent to repeated exercises, thus may be responsible for the excessive development of certain muscle groups. The study suggests that the postures adopted by sugarcane cutters can overload their musculoskeletal system and predispose the cutters to work-related musculoskeletal diseases.

O adoecer pelo trabalho na enfermagem: uma revisão integrativa

A busca incessante pela realização de diferentes atividades provoca no homem um aumento das cargas laborais, levando ao aparecimento de doenças físicas, psíquicas e emocionais. Resolveu-se buscar evidências científicas sobre as formas de adoecimento pelo trabalho da enfermagem, bem como as formas para o enfrentamento e prevenção ao adoecimento e acidentes de trabalho. Utilizou-se a revisão Integrativa e a pesquisa foi realizada em bases de dados eletrônicas na área da saúde. Os descritores utilizados foram: doença ocupacional, prevenção ocupacional, trabalhador da enfermagem. Encontrou-se 27 artigos. Percebeu-se que os trabalhadores da enfermagem apresentam dores lombares, injúrias músculo-esqueléticas, sofrem acidentes com material pérfuro-cortante, estresse e tensão no trabalho, sofrem com poluição ambiental e dermatites.

Distúrbios osteomusculares relacionados ao trabalho em profissionais de enfermagem: revisão integrativa da literatura

OBJETIVO: Avaliar as evidências sobre o adoecimento de trabalhadores de enfermagem pelos Distúrbios Osteomusculares Relacionados ao Trabalho (DORT). MÉTODOS: Revisão integrativa da literatura utilizando as bases: Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS), BVS Enfermagem, Scopus e Banco de Teses da Universidade de São Paulo (USP) obtendo-se 17 estudos. RESULTADOS: Evidenciou-se que os DORT acometem os profissionais de enfermagem e relacionam-se às condições inadequadas dos ambientes de trabalho, à organização e estrutura do trabalho. CONCLUSÃO: É necessário investir em programas preventivos, capacitações, educação em saúde, estratégias de intervenção e organização dos serviços existentes.

Qualidade de vida no trabalho e distúrbios osteomusculares relacionados ao trabalho entre profissionais de enfermagem

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a associação de Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho (QVT) com os distúrbios osteomusculares (DORT) entre profissionais de enfermagem que trabalham em bloco cirúrgico. MÉTODOS: Estudo de abordagem quantitativa, descritivo, transversal e correlacional, do qual participaram 211 trabalhadores de Enfermagem de 11 hospitais de Londrina-PR, Brasil. Para coleta de dados, foram utilizados três instrumentos: caracterização sociodemográfica e profissional, Escala Visual Analógica e o Questionário Nórdico. RESULTADOS: A maioria dos participantes era de auxiliares de enfermagem (62,6%), do sexo feminino (87,1%), casados (54,5%), com idade média de 40 anos. Dentre os participantes, 38,9% apresentavam queixas osteomusculares na região inferior das costas e 37,9%, na região dos ombros. Neste estudo, a QVT obteve associação estatisticamente significante com os distúrbios osteomusculares na região lombar e dos ombros nos últimos 12 meses (p=0,00). CONCLUSÃO: A ausência de lombalgia contribuiu significativamente para elevar a medida de QVT (p=0,010), embora o modelo final de regressão tenha explicado, apenas 22,6% da variância da medida de QVT.

Der Einfluss von daily hassles auf Aspekte der Arbeitssituation im internationalen Vergleich

Die Literatur zu Arbeitszufriedenheit zeigt, dass die Bedeutung verschiedener Komponenten der Arbeitszufriedenheit zwischen einzelnen Kulturkreisen schwankt. Um diese unterschiedlichen Befunde zu erklären, bietet die "Affective Events Theory" einen Erklärungsrahmen an, der den Einfluss affektiver Erlebnisse auf verschiedene Einstellungskomponenten abbildet. Diese Studie hatte zum Ziel, bei Beschäftigten mit unterschiedlichen kulturellen Hintergründen, den Einfluss von "daily hassles" auf Empfindungen und verschiedene Komponenten der Arbeitszufriedenheit zu untersuchen. Da sich bei Mitgliedern independenter und interdependenter Kulturen verschiedene Interpretationen der gleichen Situationen finden, die anschließend zu unterschiedlichen affektiven und kognitive Reaktionen führen, wurden insgesamt 244 Beschäftigte aus Deutschland (independent) und Japan (interdependent) befragt. Sie erinnerten selbst erlebte, berufliche "daily hassles" hinsichtlich der kognitiven Dimensionen "Verursacher" und "Kontrollierbarkeit" und gaben ihre Reaktionen auf Fragebögen an. Allgemeine Arbeitszufriedenheit wurde als Konstrukt konzipiert, das aus einer affektiven und einer kognitiven Komponente besteht. Es wurde vermutet, dass die Befragten abhängig vom kulturellen Hintergrund und der kognitiven Struktur der "daily hassles" unterschiedliche Empfindungen zeigen, die die affektiven und kognitiven Komponenten der Arbeitszufriedenheit unterschiedlich beeinflussen. Zudem wurde angenommen, dass allgemeine Arbeitszufriedenheit im jeweiligen Kulturkreis durch diese beiden Komponenten unterschiedlich stark beeinflusst wird. Die Ergebnisse der Regressionsanalysen eines grafischen Kettenmodells konnten diese Annahmen zum großen Teil bestätigen: in independenten Kulturkreisen erweist sich allgemeine Arbeitszufriedenheit als ein aus zwei Komponenten bestehendes Konstrukt mit einer kognitiven und einer affektiven Komponente; in interdependenten Kulturen hingegen entspricht allgemeine Arbeitszufriedenheit vornehmlich einer affektiven Komponente. Es zeigte sich, dass die affektive Komponente in beiden Kulturkreisen durch unterschiedliche Empfindungen beeinflusst wird. Auf den ersten Blick gleiche, berufliche Ereignisse werden abhängig vom kulturellen Hintergrund unterschiedlich interpretiert und lösen differierende Empfindungen aus. Diese beeinflussen ihrerseits verschiedene Komponenten der Arbeitszufriedenheit unterschiedlich. Entgegen dem aktuellen Stand der Literatur spiegeln Angaben zu allgemeiner Arbeitszufriedenheit somit nicht ein universell einheitliches (kognitives) Phänomen wider sondern sind abhängig vom kulturellen Hintergrund unterschiedlich stark affektiv besetzt.

Studio caso-controllo multicentrico su distacco di retina e movimentazione manuale di carichi

Obiettivo Valutare l’ipotesi secondo cui la movimentazione manuale di carichi possa essere un fattore di rischio per il di distacco di retina. Metodi Si è condotto uno studio caso-controllo ospedaliero multicentrico, a Bologna, (reparto di Oculistica del policlinico S. Orsola Malpighi, Prof. Campos), e a Brescia (reparto di oculistica “Spedali Civili” Prof. Semeraro). I casi sono 104 pazienti operati per distacco di retina. I controlli sono 173 pazienti reclutati tra l’utenza degli ambulatori del medesimo reparto di provenienza dei casi. Sia i casi che i controlli (all’oscuro dall’ipotesi in studio) sono stati sottoposti ad un’intervista, attraverso un questionario strutturato concernente caratteristiche individuali, patologie pregresse e fattori di rischio professionali (e non) relativi al distacco di retina. I dati relativi alla movimentazione manuale di carichi sono stati utilizzati per creare un “indice di sollevamento cumulativo―ICS” (peso del carico sollevato x numero di sollevamenti/ora x numero di anni di sollevamento). Sono stati calcolati mediante un modello di regressione logistica unconditional (aggiustato per età e sesso) gli Odds Ratio (OR) relativi all’associazione tra distacco di retina e vari fattori di rischio, tra cui la movimentazione manuale di carichi. Risultati Oltre alla chirurgia oculare e alla miopia (fattori di rischio noti), si evidenzia un trend positivo tra l’aumento dell’ICS e il rischio di distacco della retina. Il rischio maggiore si osserva per la categoria di sollevamento severo (OR 3.6, IC 95%, 1.5–9.0). Conclusione I risultati, mostrano un maggiore rischio di sviluppare distacco di retina per coloro che svolgono attività lavorative che comportino la movimentazione manuale di carichi e, a conferma di quanto riportato in letteratura, anche per i soggetti miopi e per coloro che sono stati sottoposti ad intervento di cataratta. Si rende quindi evidente l’importanza degli interventi di prevenzione in soggetti addetti alla movimentazione manuale di carichi, in particolare se miopi.

Fattori eziologici della Sindrome del Tunnel Carpale: una revisione sistematica con meta-analisi degli studi analitici

OBIETTIVO: sintetizzare le evidenze disponibili sulla relazione tra i fattori di rischio (personali e lavorativi) e l’insorgenza della Sindrome del Tunnel Carpale (STC). METODI: è stata condotta una revisione sistematica della letteratura su database elettronici considerando gli studi caso-controllo e di coorte. Abbiamo valutato la qualità del reporting degli studi con la checklist STROBE. Le stime studio-specifiche sono state espresse come OR (IC95%) e combinate con una meta-analisi condotta con un modello a effetti casuali. La presenza di eventuali bias di pubblicazione è stata valutata osservando l’asimmetria del funnel plot e con il test di Egger. RISULTATI: Sono stati selezionati 29 studi di cui 19 inseriti nella meta-analisi: 13 studi caso-controllo e 6 di coorte. La meta-analisi ha mostrato un aumento significativo di casi di STC tra i soggetti obesi sia negli studi caso-controllo [OR 2,4 (1,9-3,1); I(2)=70,7%] che in quelli di coorte [OR 2,0 (1,6-2,7); I(2)=0%]. L'eterogeneità totale era significativa (I(2)=59,6%). Risultati simili si sono ottenuti per i diabetici e soggetti affetti da malattie della tiroide. L’esposizione al fumo non era associata alla STC sia negli studi caso-controllo [OR 0,7 (0,4-1,1); I(2)=83,2%] che di coorte [OR 0,8 (0,6-1,2); I(2)=45,8%]. A causa delle molteplici modalità di valutazione non è stato possibile calcolare una stima combinata delle esposizioni professionali con tecniche meta-analitiche. Dalla revisione, è risultato che STC è associata con: esposizione a vibrazioni, movimenti ripetitivi e posture incongrue di mano-polso. CONCLUSIONI: I risultati della revisione sistematica confermano le evidenze dell'esistenza di un'associazione tra fattori di rischio personali e STC. Nonostante la diversa qualità dei dati sull'esposizione e le differenze degli effetti dei disegni di studio, i nostri risultati indicano elementi di prova sufficienti di un legame tra fattori di rischio professionali e STC. La misurazione dell'esposizione soprattutto per i fattori di rischio professionali, è un obiettivo necessario per studi futuri.

Interpretare per il Tribunale penale internazionale per il Ruanda. Il trauma vicario e le sue conseguenze sul lavoro degli interpreti.

This dissertation discusses the professional figure of interpreters working for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The objective is to investigate specific job-related stress factors, particularly the psychological consequences interpreters may have to face, the so-called vicarious trauma. People working for the ICTR are exposed to genocide victims’ violent and shocking testimonies, a situation that could have negative psychological impacts. Online interviews with some interpreters working for the ICTR were carried out in order to arrive at a more thorough understanding of this topic. The study is divided into four chapters. Chapter I outlines the historical aspects of the simultaneous interpreting service in the legal field at the International Military Tribunal, in the trials of the Nazi leaders, and then it analyses a modern international criminal jurisdiction, the ICTR. Chapter II firstly discusses the differences between conference interpreting and court interpreting and in the second part it investigates job-related stress factors for interpreters, focusing on the legal field. Chapter III contains a detailed analysis of vicarious trauma: the main goal is to understand what psychological consequences interpreters have to cope with as a result of translating abused people’s accounts. Chapter IV examines the answers given by ICTR interpreters to the online interviews. The data collected from the interview was compared with the literature survey and the information derived from their comparison was used to put forward some suggestions for studies to be carried out in the future.

The risk of musculoskeletal disorders for workers due to repetitive movements during tomato harvesting

Tomatoes are the most common crop in Italy. The production cycle requires operations in the field and factory that can cause musculoskeletal disorders due to the repetitive movements of the upper limbs of the workers employed in the sorting phase. This research aims to evaluate these risks using the OCRA (occupational repetitive actions) index method This method is based firstly on the calculation of a maximum number of recommended actions, related to the way the operation is performed, and secondly on a comparison of the number of actions effectively carried out by the upper limb with the recommended calculated value. The results of the risk evaluation for workers who manually sort tomatoes during harvest showed a risk for the workers, with an exposure index greater than 20; the OCRA index defines an index higher than 3.5 as unacceptable. The present trend of replacing manual sorting onboard a vehicle with optical sorters seems to be appropriate to reduce the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) and is supported from both a financial point of view and as a quality control measure.

TILLING for Mutations in Model Plants and Crops

A growing world population, changing climate and limiting fossil fuels will provide new pressures on human production of food, medicine, fuels and feed stock in the twenty-first century. Enhanced crop production promises to ameliorate these pressures. Crops can be bred for increased yields of calories, starch, nutrients, natural medicinal compounds, and other important products. Enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses can be introduced, toxins removed, and industrial qualities such as fibre strength and biofuel per mass can be increased. Induced and natural mutations provide a powerful method for the generation of heritable enhanced traits. While mainly exploited in forward, phenotype driven, approaches, the rapid accumulation of plant genomic sequence information and hypotheses regarding gene function allows the use of mutations in reverse genetic approaches to identify lesions in specific target genes. Such gene-driven approaches promise to speed up the process of creating novel phenotypes, and can enable the generation of phenotypes unobtainable by traditional forward methods. TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genome) is a high-throughput and low cost reverse genetic method for the discovery of induced mutations. The method has been modified for the identification of natural nucleotide polymorphisms, a process called Ecotilling. The methods are general and have been applied to many species, including a variety of different crops. In this chapter the current status of the TILLING and Ecotilling methods and provide an overview of progress in applying these methods to different plant species, with a focus on work related to food production for developing nations.

Predictors of sickness absence in patients with a new episode of low back pain in primary care

This study examines predictors of sickness absence in patients presenting to a health practitioner with acute/ subacute low back pain (LBP). Aims of this study were to identify baseline-variables that detect patients with a new LBP episode at risk of sickness absence and to identify prognostic models for sickness absence at different time points after initial presentation. Prospective cohort study investigating 310 patients presenting to a health practitioner with a new episode of LBP at baseline, three-, six-, twelve-week and six-month follow-up, addressing work-related, psychological and biomedical factors. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify baseline-predictors of sickness absence at different time points. Prognostic models comprised 'job control', 'depression' and 'functional limitation' as predictive baseline-factors of sickness absence at three and six-week follow-up with 'job control' being the best single predictor (OR 0.47; 95%CI 0.26-0.87). The six-week model explained 47% of variance of sickness absence at six-week follow-up (p<0.001). The prediction of sickness absence beyond six-weeks is limited, and health practitioners should re-assess patients at six weeks, especially if they have previously been identified as at risk of sickness absence. This would allow timely intervention with measures designed to reduce the likelihood of prolonged sickness absence.

Assessment Of Dynamic Properties Of A Crowd Model For Human-Structure Interaction Modeling

As lightweight and slender structural elements are more frequently used in the design, large scale structures become more flexible and susceptible to excessive vibrations. To ensure the functionality of the structure, dynamic properties of the occupied structure need to be estimated during the design phase. Traditional analysis method models occupants simply as an additional mass; however, research has shown that human occupants could be better modeled as an additional degree-of- freedom. In the United Kingdom, active and passive crowd models are proposed by the Joint Working Group as a result of a series of analytical and experimental research. It is expected that the crowd models would yield a more accurate estimation to the dynamic response of the occupied structure. However, experimental testing recently conducted through a graduate student project at Bucknell University indicated that the proposed passive crowd model might be inaccurate in representing the impact on the structure from the occupants. The objective of this study is to provide an assessment of the validity of the crowd models proposed by JWG through comparing the dynamic properties obtained from experimental testing data and analytical modeling results. The experimental data used in this study was collected by Firman in 2010. The analytical results were obtained by performing a time-history analysis on a finite element model of the occupied structure. The crowd models were created based on the recommendations from the JWG combined with the physical properties of the occupants during the experimental study. During this study, SAP2000 was used to create the finite element models and to implement the analysis; Matlab and ME¿scope were used to obtain the dynamic properties of the structure through processing the time-history analysis results from SAP2000. The result of this study indicates that the active crowd model could quite accurately represent the impact on the structure from occupants standing with bent knees while the passive crowd model could not properly simulate the dynamic response of the structure when occupants were standing straight or sitting on the structure. Future work related to this study involves improving the passive crowd model and evaluating the crowd models with full-scale structure models and operating data.

A qualitative study on the role of cultural background in patients perspectives on rehabilitation

Background Low back pain (LBP) is one of the major concerns in health care. In Switzerland, musculoskeletal problems represent the third largest illness group with 9.4 million consultations per year. The return to work rate is increased by an active treatment program and saves societal costs. However, results after rehabilitation are generally poorer in patients with a Southeast European cultural background than in other patients. This qualitative research about the rehabilitation of patients with LBP and a Southeast European cultural background, therefore, explores possible barriers to successful rehabilitation. Methods We used a triangulation of methods combining three qualitative methods of data collection: 13 semi-structured in-depth interviews with patients who have a Southeast European cultural background and live in Switzerland, five semi-structured in-depth interviews and two focus groups with health professionals, and a literature review. Between June and December 2008, we recruited participants at a Rehabilitation Centre in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Results To cope with pain, patients prefer passive strategies, which are not in line with recommended coping strategies. Moreover, the families of patients tend to support passive behaviour and reduce the autonomy of patients. Health professionals and researchers propagate active strategies including activity in the presence of pain, yet patients do not consider psychological factors contributing to LBP. The views of physicians and health professionals are in line with research evidence demonstrating the importance of psychosocial factors for LBP. Treatment goals focusing on increasing daily activities and return to work are not well understood by patients partly due to communication problems, which is something that patients and health professionals are aware of. Additional barriers to returning to work are caused by poor job satisfaction and other work-related factors. Conclusions LBP rehabilitation can be improved by addressing the following points. Early management of LBP should be activity-centred instead of pain-centred. It is mandatory to implement return to work management early, including return to adapted work, to improve rehabilitation for patients. Rehabilitation has to start when patients have been off work for three months. Using interpreters more frequently would improve communication between health professionals and patients, and reduce misunderstandings about treatment procedures. Special emphasis must be put on the process of goal-formulation by spending more time with patients in order to identify barriers to goal attainment. Information on the return to work process should also include the financial aspects of unemployment and disability.