Articles

Pulmonary functionality among workers of a Central Italy waste-to-energy plant: a retrospective study

We are observing a growing trend towards the use of waste incineration in waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in Italy. Various authors started to investigate their potential health effects, but without univocal outc...

Authors: L. Coppeta, A. Pietroiusti, S. Policardo, F. Mormone, O. Balbi, E. Tursi, S. Baldi, E. Plutoni, A. Torriero and A. Magrini

The Back College for nurses – an evaluation of intermediate effects

Nursing staff and care workers run an increased risk of work related musculoskeletal disorders such as low back pain. The Institution for Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention in the Health and Welfare S...

Authors: Bianca Kusma, Aki Pietsch, Helge Riepenhof, Sören Haß, Daniel Kuhn, Klaus Fischer and Albert Nienhaus

Desired improvements of working conditions among medical assistants in Germany: a cross-sectional study

In outpatient care in Germany, medical assistants (MAs) are the contact persons for patients’ concerns and their working conditions are relevant to their own health and the provided quality of care. MAs workin...

Authors: Jessica Scharf, Patricia Vu-Eickmann, Jian Li, Andreas Müller, Stefan Wilm, Peter Angerer and Adrian Loerbroks

Potentially traumatic experiences of seafarers

The aim of the present study is to assess the extent to which seafarers had been affected by severe mental stress situations and what possible psychological effects they may have.

Authors: Hans-Joachim Jensen and Marcus Oldenburg

Prevalence of back pain in employees of a German chemical company: results of a large cross-sectional study

With the current study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of back pain in employees of a German chemical company. We put a specific focus on disabling back pain and its association with sociodemographic, li...

Authors: Matthias Claus, Michael Schuster, Stefan Webendörfer, David A. Groneberg, Jacqueline Jähner and Daniel Schiffmann

Biosolubility of high temperature insulation wools in simulated lung fluids

Biosolubility is an important parameter in the understanding of mechanisms involved in pulmonary toxicity of fibrous materials. It can be studied in vitro using models of simulated lung fluids and observing th...

Authors: Annapaola Cannizzaro, Federica Angelosanto, Elena Barrese and Antonella Campopiano

The metabolic demands of internal medicine residency

North American and European accreditation bodies have legislated progressively more strict work hour restrictions for residents in light of evidence that sleep deprivation leads to increased medical errors and...

Authors: Sarah Sy, Karanvir Sall, Erika Dempsey, Gale Tedder and Kenneth Michael Madden

Cross-sectional study about the activities for various occupational groups on board during different voyage stages

Employees on board must be highly qualified in order to be able to independently meet the different work requirements during the three voyage stages of a ship (port stay, river and sea passage). In this study,...

Authors: Marcus Oldenburg and Hans-Joachim Jensen

Examining a novel firefighter exercise training program on simulated fire ground test performance, cardiorespiratory endurance, and strength: a pilot investigation

Firefighting is a dangerous occupation with high rates of injuries and fatalities, with the majority of line of duty fatalities due to cardiovascular events. Additionally, firefighters struggle with poor healt...

Authors: Brittany S. Hollerbach, Sara A. Jahnke, Walker S. C. Poston, Craig A. Harms and Katie M. Heinrich

Maritime welfare facilities - utilization and relevance for the compensation of shipboard stress

Maritime welfare institutions enable crew members of ships to use different recreation facilities ashore during their work assignments aboard. This study analyses the shipcrew members’ need and their usage beh...

Authors: Marcus Oldenburg and Hans-Joachim Jensen

Survival of Staphylococcus aureus on the outer shell of fire fighter turnout gear after sanitation in a commercial washer/extractor

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus contamination on surfaces including turnout gear had been found throughout a number of fire stations. As such, the outer shell barrier of turnout gear jackets may be an...

Authors: Daniel Farcas, Francoise M. Blachere, Michael L. Kashon, Deborah Sbarra, Diane Schwegler-Berry, Jeffrey O. Stull and John D. Noti

Comparative proteomic analysis in serum of former uranium miners with and without radon induced squamous lung cancer

Former uranium miners of the Wismut Company, East Germany, have been exposed to ionizing radiation from radon decay products and therefore were at high risk for lung cancer. Since histological types of cancer ...

Authors: Simone Helmig, Günter Lochnit and Joachim Schneider

Correction to: Comparison between the musician-specific seating position of high string bow players and their habitual seating position – a video raster stereographic study of the dorsal upper body posture

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Authors: Daniela Ohlendorf, Jennifer Marx, Kathrin Clasen, Eileen M. Wanke, Stefan Kopp, David A. Groneberg and Stefanie Uibel

Prevalence and predictors of MRSA carriage among employees in a non-outbreak setting: a cross-sectional study in an acute care hospital

Health care workers have an increased risk of being infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), though little information is available about how prevalent (dormant) MRSA colonization is amon...

Authors: Melanie Schubert, Daniel Kämpf, Lutz Jatzwauk, Franziska Kynast, Annette Stein, Ruth Strasser, Madeleine Dulon, Albert Nienhaus and Andreas Seidler

Descriptive review of junior OB/GYN physicians’ work task financial compensation in German hospitals

Beginning in the first decade of the 21st centruy, there was a growing disregard for the benefits of the German medical system concerning the junior obstetricians/gynecologists (OB/GYN) job situation. As in ot...

Authors: Dörthe Brüggmann, Anja Herpe, David Quarcoo, Norman Schöffel, Eileen M. Wanke, Daniela Ohlendorf, Doris Klingelhöfer, David A. Groneberg and Stefanie Mache

Alterations in the gut microbiota of patients with silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis

Silicosis resulting from silica exposure is a global occupational disease characterized by severe pathological changes in progressive pulmonary fibrosis. Previous evidence has indicated that dysbiosis of the g...

Authors: Yao Zhou, Lv Chen, Gaofeng Sun, Ying Li and Ruixue Huang

New insights into the mortality risk from nasopharyngeal cancer in the national cancer institute formaldehyde worker cohort study

Indications were found that a diagnostic bias could have contributed to the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) suggestion of a persistent increased mortality risk for nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC).

Authors: Matthias Möhner, Yimeng Liu and Gary M. Marsh

Development and evaluation of a training program for dialysis nurses – an intervention study

A dialysis nurse’s work is complex and demanding. Based on the results of a systematic review and a survey study, we developed a health-promoting intervention for dialysis nurses. The aim of this study is to e...

Authors: Maren Kersten, Sylvie Vincent-Höper, Heidi Krampitz and Albert Nienhaus

A systematic review on occupational hazards, injuries and diseases among police officers worldwide: Policy implications for the South African Police Service

Occupational hazards, injuries and diseases are a major concern among police officers, including in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is limited locally relevant literature for guiding policy for the South Af...

Authors: Gift Gugu Mona, Moses John Chimbari and Charles Hongoro

Stress, health, noise exposures, and injuries among electronic waste recycling workers in Ghana

Electronic waste (e-waste) recycling workers in low and middle-income countries have the potential for occupational injuries due to the nature of their work at informal e-waste sites. However, limited research...

Authors: Katrina N. Burns, Stephanie K. Sayler and Richard L. Neitzel

Disaster preparedness training for Latino migrant and seasonal farm workers in communities where they work

Authors: Rene P. Rosenbaum and Brenda Long

The office work and stretch training (OST) study: an individualized and standardized approach for reducing musculoskeletal disorders in office workers

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are a common health problem in office workers. In Germany, MSD (mainly back pain related) are the main cause of workdays lost to incapacity. This is not only bothersome for the ...

Authors: Fabian Holzgreve, Laura Maltry, Jasmin Lampe, Helmut Schmidt, Andreas Bader, Julia Rey, David A. Groneberg, Anke van Mark and Daniela Ohlendorf

Muscular imbalances and balance capability in dance

A high unilateral load to the musculoskeletal system is specific for formation dance. Due to the lack of data the aim of this study was the side-related (right – left) analysis of strength- and balance capabil...

Authors: Eileen M. Wanke, Julia Schreiter, David A. Groneberg and Burkhard Weisser

Prevalence of hidden carbon monoxide poisoning in auto service workers; a prospective cohort study

Carbon monoxide (CO) is formed as a result of the incomplete burning of hydrocarbon-containing fuels such as natural gas, coal, liquid petroleum gas, and wood. CO is a colorless, odorless, and poisonous gas th...

Authors: Oğuzhan Bol, Serhat Koyuncu and Nurullah Günay

Comparison between the musician-specific seating position of high string bow players and their habitual seating position – a video raster stereographic study of the dorsal upper body posture

Effects of playing high stringed bow instruments on the upper body posture have not been analysed so far. The instrument-specific seating position when playing in an orchestra is compared to the habitual seati...

Authors: Daniela Ohlendorf, Jennifer Marx, Kathrin Clasen, Eileen M. Wanke, Stefan Kopp, David A. Groneberg and Stefanie Uibel

Leadership position and physician visits – results of a nationally representative longitudinal study in Germany

So far, studies within the occupational field have largely concentrated on working conditions and job stressors and staff members’ or subordinate health. Only a few have focused on managers in this context, bu...

Authors: Katrin Christiane Reber, Hans-Helmut König and André Hajek

Work-related outcomes in randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trials in osteoarthritis – are they adequately reported in journal publications? A systematic review

Osteoarthritis (OA) has a high prevalence in Western societies and can affect an individual’s life in a number of domains, including work. In our experience, treatment trials on OA, however, rarely report work...

Authors: Daniel Sowah, Flora Balat and Sebastian Straube

Nurse-work instability and incidence of sick leave – results of a prospective study of nurses aged over 40

The Nurse Work Instability Scale (Nurse-WIS) is an occupation-specific instrument that ascertains “work instability,” the interval before restricted work ability or prolonged sick leave occurs. The objective o...

Authors: Melanie Klein, Stefanie Wobbe-Ribinski, Anika Buchholz, Albert Nienhaus and Anja Schablon

Indoor concentrations of VOCs in beauty salons; association with cosmetic practices and health risk assessment

The use of cosmetic products in beauty salons emits numerous kinds of toxic air pollutants. The objectives of this study were to measure the concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, formaldehy...

Authors: Mostafa Hadei, Philip K Hopke, Abbas Shahsavani, Mahbobeh Moradi, Maryam Yarahmadi, Baharan Emam and Noushin Rastkari

Work related injuries in Qatar: a framework for prevention and control

Work related injuries (WRIs) are a growing public health concern that remains under-recognized, inadequately addressed and largely unmeasured in low and middle-income countries (LMIC’s). However, even in high-...

Authors: Amber Mehmood, Zaw Maung, Rafael J. Consunji, Ayman El-Menyar, Ruben Peralta, Hassan Al-Thani and Adnan A. Hyder

Olfactory dysfunction revisited: a reappraisal of work-related olfactory dysfunction caused by chemicals

Occupational exposure to numerous individual chemicals has been associated with olfactory dysfunction, mainly in individual case descriptions. Comprehensive epidemiological investigations into the olfactotoxic...

Authors: Sabine Werner and Eberhard Nies

Health, risk behaviour and consumption of addictive substances among physicians - results of an online survey

Previous studies were able to show that hazardous alcohol and substance abuse among physicians is not rare. Currently no recent data to detect risk groups are available either on the prevalence of hazardous dr...

Authors: Dominik Pförringer, Regina Mayer, Christa Meisinger, Dennis Freuer and Florian Eyer

Knowledge of first aid methods and attitude about snake bite among medical students: a cross sectional observational study

Snake bite is a neglected public health problem in tropical and subtropical region. The study was conducted with objectives to determine the knowledge of first aid methods in snake bite and the perception of s...

Authors: Nuwadatta Subedi, Ishwari Sharma Paudel, Ajay Khadka, Umesh Shrestha, Vipul Bhusan Mallik and K. C. Ankur

Impact of shift work on the diurnal cortisol rhythm: a one-year longitudinal study in junior physicians

Cumulative epidemiological evidence suggests that shift work exerts harmful effects on human health. However, the physiological mechanisms are not well understood. This study aimed to examine the impact of shi...

Authors: Jian Li, Martin Bidlingmaier, Raluca Petru, Francisco Pedrosa Gil, Adrian Loerbroks and Peter Angerer

Correction to: Health risks in international container and bulk cargo transport due to volatile toxic compounds

Magne Bråtveit and Rune Djurhuus have removed themselves as authors from this article [1] as they did not approve the final version and they do not agree with the revisions made to the section “Occurrences of ...

Authors: Xaver Baur, Lygia Therese Budnik, Zhiwei Zhao, Louis Verschoor, Federico Maria Rubino, Claudio Colosio and Jorgen R. Jepsen

Mutagenic and DNA repair activity in traffic policemen: a case-crossover study

Emissions from vehicles are composed of heterogeneous mixtures of hazardous substances; several pollutants such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are amongst the most dangerous substances detected in ...

Authors: Caterina Ledda, Carla Loreto, Massimo Bracci, Claudia Lombardo, Gaetano Romano, Diana Cinà, Nicola Mucci, Sergio Castorina and Venerando Rapisarda

Sulfur dioxide exposure reduces the quantity of CD19⁺ cells and causes nasal epithelial injury in rats

Reactive airway dysfunction syndrome (RADS), also called irritant-induced asthma, is a type of occupational asthma that can occur within a very short period of latency. The study sought to investigate the infl...

Authors: Ruonan Chai, Hua Xie, Junli Zhang and Zhuang Ma

Epworth sleepiness scale in medical residents: quality of sleep and its relationship to quality of life

Resident doctors are continuously exposed to prolonged working hours and night shifts, making them susceptible to the many physical, psychological, and cognitive side effects of sleep deprivation, which may af...

Authors: Yehia Z. Alami, Beesan T. Ghanim and Sa’ed H. Zyoud

“Areas of Worklife scale” (AWS) short version (Spanish): a confirmatory factor analysis based on a secondary school teacher sample

This study examines the construct validity of the Areas of Worklife Short Scale, a practical instrument to measure employees’ perceptions of their work environments in the sample of secondary obligatory educat...

Authors: B. Masluk, S. Gascón Santos, A. Albesa Cartagena, A. Asensio Martinez, E. Peck and M. P. Leiter

Long-term effect of hand-arm vibration on thermotactile perception thresholds

Occupational exposure to hand-transmitted vibration (HTV) is known to cause neurological symptoms such as numbness, reduced manual dexterity, grip strength and sensory perception. The purpose of this longitudi...

Authors: Ronnie Lundström, Adnan Noor Baloch, Mats Hagberg, Tohr Nilsson and Lars Gerhardsson

Association of plasma PCB levels and HbA1c concentration in Iran

The rapid increase in prevalence of diabetes mellitus over the last decades warrants more attention to the effects of environmental and occupational exposures on glucose metabolism. Our study aimed to assess t...

Authors: Sahar Eftekhari, Omid Aminian, Zeinab Moinfar, Thomas Schettgen, Andrea Kaifie, Michael Felten, Thomas Kraus and André Esser

Willingness to commute among future physicians: a multicenter cross-sectional survey of German medical students

Many countries are faced with a decrease in physicians in non-urban areas. Especially for regions with decreasing populations, temporary solutions like commuting models might be a suitable option. So far, litt...

Authors: Johannes Quart, Tobias Deutsch, Solveig Carmienke, Susanne Döpfmer and Thomas Frese

Hepatitis C in healthcare personnel: secondary data analysis of therapies with direct-acting antiviral agents

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections are blood-borne, generally chronic and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to describe the results of therapies with direct-acting...

Authors: Claudia Westermann, Dana Wendeler and Albert Nienhaus

Occupational infection and needle stick injury among clinical laboratory workers in Al-Madinah city, Saudi Arabia

Clinical laboratory workers face biohazard such as needlestick injury and occupational infection on a daily basis. In this study, we examined self-reported frequency of occupational infection and needlestick i...

Authors: Omar F. Khabour, Khalil H. Al Ali and Waleed H. Mahallawi

Noise exposure and auditory thresholds of military musicians: a follow up study

Military musicians are working in a noisy environment with high sound exposure levels above the international standards. Aim of the current study is to find out, whether they develop the expected hearing impai...

Authors: Reinhard Müller and Joachim Schneider

Cotton dust exposure and self-reported respiratory symptoms among textile factory workers in Northwest Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional study

Cotton dust induced respiratory disorders are dramatically increased over the globe, especially the problem is serious in developing countries. Respiratory symptoms, such as cough, phlegm, wheezing, shortness ...

Authors: Sintayehu Daba Wami, Daniel Haile Chercos, Awrajaw Dessie, Zemichael Gizaw, Atalay Getachew, Tesfaye Hambisa, Tadese Guadu, Dawit Getachew and Bikes Destaw

In vitro toxicological evaluation of surgical smoke from human tissue

Operating room personnel have the potential to be exposed to surgical smoke, the by-product of using electrocautery or laser surgical device, on a daily basis. Surgical smoke is made up of both biological by-p...

Authors: Jennifer D. Sisler, Justine Shaffer, Jhy-Charm Soo, Ryan F. LeBouf, Martin Harper, Yong Qian and Taekhee Lee

Evaluating a framework for tuberculosis screening among healthcare workers in clinical settings, Inner Mongolia, China

Health care workers are at high risk for tuberculosis (TB). China, a high burden TB country, has no policy on medical surveillance for TB among healthcare workers. In this paper, we evaluate whether China’s na...

Authors: Shiming Cheng, Deanna Tollefson, Guangxue He, Yuan Li, Hui Guo, Shua Chai, Fangfang Gao, Fei Gao, Guoxin Han, Liping Ren, Yulin Ren, Jianbo Li, Lixia Wang, Jay K. Varma, Dongmei Hu, Haiying Fan…

Hydrogen sulphide exposure in waste water treatment

The aims of this study was to assess exposure to hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) among waste water treatment workers (WWWs), and achieve a better measure of the risks of H₂S exposure than only using the eight-hour averag...

Authors: Åse Dalseth Austigard, Kristin Svendsen and Kari K. Heldal

Food offerings on board and dietary intake of European and Kiribati seafarers - cross-sectional data from the seafarer nutrition study -

Overweight and cardiovascular risk factors are a common phenomenon in seafarers. According to internal observation particularly crew members from the Pacific Island State of Kiribati are exposed to a high risk...

Authors: Birgit-Christiane Zyriax, Robert von Katzler, Bettina Jagemann, Joachim Westenhoefer, Hans-Joachim Jensen, Volker Harth and Marcus Oldenburg