Evaluating a training-for-action job health and safety program

This paper describes an action research evaluation method developed to assess a worker training program which encourages trainees to use knowledge acquired to correct health and safety problems in their workplaces. The project teaches trainees from the same workplace to identify problem areas collectively using a tool called a Risk Chart and then to prioritize problems to work on with the aid of an Action Plan. Follow-up trainee interviews are conducted to determine what impact the training has on trainees. The methodology is presented and preliminary results are discussed, with particular emphasis on the advantages and limitations of this method.     

Salutogenic childhood factors reported by middle-aged individuals

This study is salutogenic (=causes of health), focusing on factors which corresponded to good mental health in subjects who had been exposed to at least three child psychiatric risk factors when growing up. The material was drawn from a prospective, longitudinal population study on mental health, the Lundby Study, which was performed in three waves in 1947, 1957 and 1972. In 1988/89, 148 individuals then 42–56 years of age, were re-visited and interviewed about their life span experiences. Factors previously found to increase stress resilience in children and adolescents were identified. The personal dispositions during childhood found to be associated with adult positive mental health were childhood positive self-esteem, successful coping, internal locus of control and intellectual capacity. Childhood family factors, such as trusting relations with a parent and shared values, were also important. Antonovsky's sense of coherence model can be used to explain the mechanisms by which the different variables can lead to health through increasing an individual's capacity for comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness, the three concepts of sense of coherence.     

Evoked oscillatory cortical responses are dynamically coupled to peripheral stimuli.

We report that the response of neurons in rat somatosensory cortex to tactile stimulation consists of two components, a short-latency response and an oscillatory response, observable as up to 8 peaks in the post-stimulus-time-histogram with interpeak intervals in the order of 100 ms (10 Hz). While the first component is always stimulus locked, the second component is strictly stimulus-locked only when elicited from the resting state: once started, the oscillations are only weakly affected by further stimulation. This implies generally that the question of stimulus locking of oscillatory response components is not a yes/no question. Instead, the concept of dynamic coupling is shown to adequately capture the different limit cases. We present a simple dynamic model that exemplifies this point.     

Enhanced long-term reduction of plasma leptin concentrations by super-flux polysulfone dialysers.

BACKGROUND: Hyperleptinaemia in chronic haemodialysis (CHD) patients has been associated with malnutrition, which is an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality in this patient group. METHODS: To assess the influence of HD on plasma leptin, 10 CHD patients were crossover randomized to low-flux polysulfone (PS: F 6HPS), high-flux PS (F 60S), super-flux PS (F 500S) or super-flux cellulose-tri-acetate (CTA: Tricea 150G) for 12 weeks each. Blood samples were collected at the start of the study and each 12-week period. In addition, the relationship between patient characteristics, inflammation and leptin was analysed. RESULTS: At baseline, all groups showed similar leptin concentrations (mean 33.6+/-21.7 ng/ml). After a single HD session, a significant (P<0.01) decrease was observed with all three high permeable devices (Tricea 150G -52.7+/-6.4%; F 60S -63.1+/-5.7%; F 500S -68.7+/-8.2%), whereas leptin remained stable with low-flux PS. After 12 weeks, a marked increase was observed with low-flux PS (week 1, 30.4+/-23.0; week 12, 40.5+/-5.4 ng/ml, P = 0.05), no change with super-flux CTA and high-flux PS (Tricea 150G week 1, 29.4+/-23.7; week 12, 32.0+/-27.9 ng/ml, P = ns; F 60S week 1, 36.0+/-31.8; week 12, 33.0+/-31.2 ng/ml, P = ns), and a significant decrease with super-flux PS (week 1, 38.3+/-33.0; week 12, 29.5+/-31.9 ng/ml, P = 0.02). The change in leptin after 12 weeks was significantly different between super-flux PS, and both low-flux PS (P = 0.009) and super-flux CTA (P = 0.01). Besides interleukin-6 (IL-6) at the start of the study (P = 0.006), no correlations were observed between patient characteristics, parameters of inflammation and plasma leptin levels. CONCLUSIONS: Apart from low-flux PS, plasma leptin decreased considerably with all three high permeable dialysers after a single HD session. In the long run, leptin levels were lower with high-flux PS than with low-flux PS. Moreover, after switching from high-flux PS to super-flux PS (but not super-flux CTA), an additional decrease in leptin was observed. Apart from IL-6 at the start of the study, neither patient characteristics nor inflammatory parameters correlated with plasma leptin levels in this patient group.