Work Place Health Promotion

This article deals with the question of whether and how much workplace health promotion measures have infiltrated the working world and which factors determined the results of health promotion programs for the enterprises. To answer this question we conducted a longitudinal study (measuring times: 1997 and 2003) in 150 enterprises in Hessen and Thueringen of the service sector and metal branch. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect the data. One of the results was that the high level of occupational safety and health (OSH) obtained was greatly appreciated by the enterprises interviewed. Many of the enterprises (82.7%) were able to implement at least one workplace health promotion (WHP) measure, mostly assessments of occupational health risks and behavior-oriented offers. The portion of businesses with a very good to sufficient level of workplace health promotion increased clearly from 16.0% in 1997 to 27.4% in 2003. Half of the enterprises interviewed confirmed the need for information and consultation in questions about occupational safety and health issues and workplace health promotion. They expected support particularly from the institutions for statutory occupational accident insurance, health insurance companies, public institutions for labor protection and safety engineering, as well as from the advisory boards of the trade unions. These institutions definitely need to address the consultation requests from the enterprises, as the lack of information and contact persons was one of the reasons why workplace health promotion measures could not be implemented.This study was commissioned by the Hans Boeckler Foundation and the SMBG and translated by Evelyn Jäck     

Real-Time Sonoelastography of Salivary Glands for Diagnosis and Functional Assessment of Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome

The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of real-time sonoelastography (RTS) of salivary glands for the diagnosis and assessment of glandular damage in primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS). After institutional review board approval, 45 pSS patients, 24 sicca patients and 11 healthy controls were investigated prospectively. Questionnaires were completed and Saxon and Schirmer tests and routine blood tests carried out in all patients. All patients underwent B-mode ultrasonography and RTS of parotid and submandibular glands. Abnormal findings were graded from 0 to 48 and from 0 to 16, respectively. Sialoscintigraphy was done according to a routine protocol; scoring ranged from 0 to 12. Statistical analysis comprised receiver operating characteristic curve and multivariate regression analysis. Patients with pSS had higher B-mode (median score = 25 [range: 2–44] vs. 9 [1–20], p < 0.001) and RTS (6.5 [2–13] versus 4 [1–9], p < 0.001) scores than controls with sicca syndrome, yielding areas under the curve of 0.83 and 0.85 (p < 0.05 each), respectively for pSS diagnosis. In cases with an inconclusive B-mode ultrasonography result, RTS (cutoff score: ≥6) led to a sensitive (66.7%) and specific (85.7%) classification of patients and sicca controls. In multivariate regression analysis, RTS (regression coefficient = –0.48, p = 0.005), but not B-mode ultrasonography, reflected impaired salivary gland function according to the Saxon test, whereas none of the subjective measures of dryness or discomfort were related to ultrasonography results. B-mode and RTS results were both associated with sialoscintigraphy scores (regression coefficient = 0.66, p < 0.001, and regression coefficient = 0.55, p = 0.001, respectively). Reproducibility of B-mode ultrasonography and RTS was good, with intra-class correlation coefficients of 0.93 (95% confidence interval: 0.57–0.98) and 0.93 (95% confidence interval: 0.79–0.98), respectively. In summary, RTS might be a useful adjunct to B-mode ultrasonography for diagnosis and assessment of salivary gland impairment in primary Sjögren’s syndrome.     

The Chain of Relationships Among Gratitude,Prosocial Behavior and Elementary School Students’ School Satisfaction: The Role of School Affect

Based on Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotion, we explored the role of school affect (i.e., positive affect in school and negative affect in school) in connecting gratitude, prosocial behavior, and school satisfaction among a sample of 324 (176 males) elementary school students in grades 4 to 6 by using structural equation modeling. The participants completed a packet of questionnaires, including the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6), the Elementary School Students’ Subjective Well-Being in School Scale (ESSSWBSS), and the Primary School Upper Grade Students’ Prosocial Behaviors Questionnaire (PSUGSPBQ). The results showed that elementary school students’ (1) positive affect in school and negative affect in school significantly related to school satisfaction; (2) prosocial behavior fully mediated the relation between gratitude and school satisfaction; (3) gratitude related to school satisfaction indirectly through positive affect in school and negative affect in school. As hypothesized, the effect was stronger for positive affect in school. Limitations and practical applications of the study were discussed.     

Rapid development of microsatellite markers for the critically endangered Saiga (Saiga tatarica) using Illumina® Miseq next generation sequencing technology

We developed 17 variable microsatellite markers for the threatened Saiga antelope. Using one Illumina Miseq lane resulted in 105,948 unique fragments containing a microsatellite motif. Eighty-one ordered primer pairs resulted in 26 analyzable fragments, of which 17 markers showed variability in at least one population from Kazakhstan. Number of alleles ranged from 2 to 11 and values of heterozygosity varied from 0.08 to 0.91 (H_O) and 0.08 to 0.88 (H_E). The markers are currently used to delineate conservation units and to help understanding annual migration dynamics in this species.