Isolated and combined effects of prolonged exposures to noise and whole-body vibration on hearing,vision and strain

Summary This study was carried out in order: (1) to examine the effects of isolated and combined prolonged exposures to noise and whole-body vibration on hearing, vision and subjectively experienced strain, and (2) to check the combined effects with repeated exposures. Six male subjects were exposed twice to noise (N) at 92 dBA, whole-body vibration (V) in the Z-axis at 4 Hz and 1.0 ms^–2 rms, and noise and vibration (NV) for 90 min with each condition. Temporary threshold shifts of hearing (TTS) and their integrals (ITTS) were measured at 4, 6, 10, and 12 kHz. Visual acuity was examined by means of a very sensitive test. Cross-modality matching (CMM) of the handgrip force was used to judge the subjectively experienced strain. NV induced a clear tendency of higher TTS and ITTS than N, with several significant differences most pronounced at 10 kHz. With repeated exposures, the effect of NV decreased, while the reactions to N and V remained unchanged. The individual reactions to NV differed. The influence of the duration of exposures on vision depended on the condition; N caused time-dependent changes, whereas V did not. CMM-data increased with the duration of the exposure during V and NV. N was generally judged to be more straining than V; NV caused higher strain than V during the first 30 min of exposure only. Correlations between different effects suggest certain links between them. Additionally, less motivation — daily obtained by a questionnaire — often correlated with higher ITTS during N and NV. The results also illustrate the combined effects on the individual susceptibility, repetition of exposure, the kind of response, and, possibly, the actual psychic state.Abbreviations CMM cross-modality matching - MVC maximum voluntary contraction force - N exposure condition: noise level 92dBA, no whole-body vibration - NV exposure condition: combined exposure to noise with a level of 92 dBA and wholebody vibration with 4 Hz, 1 ms^–2 rms - V exposure condition: whole-body vibration with 4 Hz, 1 ms^–2 rms - TTS temporary threshold shift - ITTS integral of temporary threshold shift - WBV whole-body vibration in the common sense This work was done in the Temporary International Research Team on Combined Effects of Noise and Vibration of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance of the Socialist Countries. The authors gratefully acknowledge the help and assistance of L.-M. Brumm, Y. Bening, M. Godau, G. Weber, and R. Vizcaino.     

西雅图心绞痛调查量表对冠心病患者机体功能及生活质量的评估研究

目的对冠心病患者机体功能状态及生活质量进行评估。方法采用Ｓｐｅｔｕｓ等设计的ＳｅａｔｔｌｅＡｎｇｉｎａＱｕｅｓｔｉｏｎｎａｉｒｅ问卷对１００例冠心病患者躯体活动受限程度、心绞痛稳定状态及发作情况、治疗满意程度和疾病认识程度进行测评研究。结果重复测定显示该量表有良好的重复性，心理疗法配合药物治疗组的评分明显优于单纯药物治疗组（Ｐ＜０．０５）。结论该量表用于我国冠心病患者有较满意的信度，同时也证实了心理疗法在冠心病治疗中的重要地位。     

儿童最大吸氧量与体格发育关系的研究

本文报告了４３６名１０－１９岁男女儿童少年最大吸氧量与休格发育的关系。相关分析可见，ＶＯ２ｍａｘ，ＶＯ２ｍａｘ／身高及ＶＯ２ｍａｘ／最大心率与身高，体重及瘦体重等体格发育变量有高度正相关；ＶＯ２ｍａｘ／体重与各体格变量，男童呈较低的正相关，妇童为较低的负相关；ＶＯ２ｍａｘ／ＬＢＭ与各体格变量，男女童均无相关。按身高，体重及ＬＢＭ分组，将男女儿童分别为发育较好（第１）组及较差（第２）组，比较两组ＶＯ     

Changing the College AOD Environment for Primary Prevention

Identifying environmental factors reflected to alcohol use is important for program planning and evaluation in college alcohol and drug prevention programs. Little has been written concerning uses of data in environmental prevention efforts. This paper presents four brief interrelated case studies of how environmental modifications were used by a college alcohol prevention project to 1) change the marketing practices and service policies of a student-oriented bar, 2) alter the sales practices of a campus bookstore concerning alcohol paraphernalia, 3) to develop a campaign with the goal of reducing risk factors related to heavy drinking at private student parties, and 4) stop an unsafe bus from transporting students to bars in Mexico. Creative use of such environmental prevention approaches has potential benefit to colleges and universities concerned with the primary prevention of alcohol-related problems experienced by students.     

Systematic Reviews on the Basis of Methodological Criteria

This paper describes a method of systematic reviewing. This method puts much emphasis on the methodological quality of the randomised clinical trials involved. Various items concerning the internal validity, precision and relevance of the studies are scored in such a way that next to the methodological quality the amount of uncertainty about it also becomes visible. These quality assessments are not only useful for systematic reviews, but also have an educational function for researchers with respect to the design and publication of a clinical trial.     

Tension neck and evaluation of a physical training course among office workers in a bank corporation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a physical training course in a group of patients (n=74) suffering from chronic tension neck. All participants in the course were employed by a bank corporation in Helsinki, Finland. A comparable control group (n=77) consisted of office workers with tension neck from the same bank corporation who did not attend any training course. The outcome was analysed 6 months after the course. Pain and disability in the neck and shoulder region did not vary significantly between the group which participated in the training course and the control group. The experimental group had increased the amount of physical workout compared to the control group (83.7% vs 69.0%, P = 0.0448). Also, regarding the frequency of relaxation and stretching exercises the two groups differed significantly: the experimental group had continued to perform exercises more often (P= 0.0434). The frequency of sick leave days did not significantly differ between the groups, but the office workers in the experimental group had more periods of extended sick leave (> 10 days) and the controls had more frequent short sick leaves. The experimental group did increase their physical workout significantly compared with the controls, but no differences were detected regarding pain and disability. In order to gain more benefit more attention should be paid to the educational part of the training courses in order to enhance the patients'self-care abilities. Also, strategies to alleviate psychosocial problems and organized relaxation exercises could decrease muscle tension in the neck in office workers.     

Duchenne型肌营养不良症

作者综述了１０年来对Ｄｕｃｈｅｎｎｅ型肌营养不良症（ＤＭＤ）的研究概况。主要包括①ＤＭＤ的临床研究。②血清生化研究表明ＣＫ、ＬＤＨ、Ｍｂ是诊断ＤＭＤ病人和携带者的敏感指标。③心脏无创性检测和肌肉超微结构研究。④部分抗肌萎缩蛋白基因ＹＡＣ物理图谱，精细限制酶图谱和缺失热区的核苷酸顺序分析，首次发现内含子中ＡＴ富集区的同源顺序与ＤＭＤ断裂有关。⑤抗肌萎缩蛋白的缺失热区疏水肽段存在与否与ＤＭＤ发病密切相关。     

Endoscopic sphincterotomy for common bile duct stones: Impact of recent technical advances

Technical improvements, such as mechanical lithotripsy, stenting or nasobiliary drainage, and wire-guided cannulation, have reduced the risk of complications in endoscopic sphincterotomy. To determine the extent of this reduction in risk, we assessed the medical records of 1352 patients with common bile duct stones in whom the procedure was conducted. Complications examined were: acute cholangitis and pancreatitis. Stone clearance was achieved in 1256 patients (92.8%), with an overall morbidity rate of 7.7% and a mortality rate of 0.15%. One hundred and forty-two patients had stones with a diameter greater than 20mm; 97 of these patients did not undergo lithotripsy. Cholangitis occurred in 10 of these 97 patients (10.3%), whereas, in the 45 patients who underwent lithotripsy, there were no cases of cholangitis (P=0.02). Stone removal was not immediately accomplished or attempted in 396 patients. In 82 of these patients in whom a stent or a nasobiliary drain was placed in the common bile duct, the incidence of cholangitis was 1.2%, significantly less (P=0.045) than the incidence of 6.4% in the other 314 patients given no stenting or nasobiliary drain. To overcome difficult cannulation, precut sphincterotomy was conducted in 134 patients and wireguided sphincterotomy, a recently introduced procedure, was conducted in 55 patients. When the precutting technique was used, the incidence of acute pancreatitis was significantly higher (8/134; 6.0%) than that in the patients in whom the standard procedure was conducted, i.e., neither the precut technique nor wire-guided ES was used (23/1218; 1.9%) (P=0.008). There were no cases of pancreatitis in the 55 patients in whom wire-guided sphincterotomy was performed, although the difference was not statistically significant because of the small number of patients (P=0.06). Based on these findings, we conclude that improved technologies have led to a significant reduction of complications in endoscopic sphincterotomy.