Hand-handhold coupling: effect of handle shape, orientation, and friction on breakaway strength.

Objective: The aim was to determine the maximum force that can be exerted on an object before it is pulled or slips from the grasp of the hand ("breakaway strength") for fixed overhead handholds of varying orientation, shape, and friction.

Background: Many studies have quantified hand strength by having participants squeeze, pull on, or create torque on an object or handle, but few studies have measured breakaway strength directly.

Method: In two experiments, hand strength was measured as both overhead breakaway strength for handholds typical of fixed industrial ladders and as maximum isometric grip strength measured using a common Jamar grip dynamometer.

Discovery of novel and potent benzhydryl-tropane trypanocides highly selective for Trypanosoma cruzi.

A benzhydryl tropinone oxime that is potently toxic to Trypanosoma cruzi has been previously identified. An SAR investigation determined that no part of the original compound was superfluous and all early SAR probes led to significant drops in activity. The only alteration that could be achieved without loss of activity was replacement of the aryl chloride substituent with chloro homologues.

Orienting and maintenance of gaze in contamination fear: Biases for disgust and fear cues.

The present study examines the extent to which attentional biases in contamination fear commonly observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are specific to disgust or fear cues, as well as the components of attention involved. Eye tracking was used to provide greater sensitivity and specificity than afforded by traditional reaction time measures of attention. Participants high (HCF; n = 23) and low (LCF; n = 25) in contamination fear were presented with disgusted, fearful, or happy faces paired with neutral faces for 3 s trials.

Balance improvements in female high school basketball players after a 6-week neuromuscular-training program.

Context: Poor balance has been associated with increased injury risk among athletes. Neuromuscular-training programs have been advocated as a means of injury prevention, but little is known about the benefits of these programs on balance in high school athletes.

Objective: To determine whether there are balance gains after participation in a neuromuscular-training program in high school athletes.

Global physical activity questionnaire (GPAQ): nine country reliability and validity study.

Purpose: Instruments to assess physical activity are needed for (inter)national surveillance systems and comparison.

Methods: Male and female adults were recruited from diverse sociocultural, educational and economic backgrounds in 9 countries (total n = 2657). GPAQ and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were administered on at least 2 occasions.

Effects of handle orientation, gloves, handle friction and elbow posture on maximum horizontal pull and push forces.

Biomechanical models were evaluated for effects of handle orientation, handle material, gloves and arm posture on maximal pull/push force. Eight healthy subjects performed maximum pull/push exertions on handles with two different orientations and two different surface materials, using bare hand and two types of glove as well as two arm postures. The empirical data supported the proposed biomechanical models: Pull/push forces for the bare hand on a rubber handle decreased 10% when the handle was parallel to the pull/push direction, compared with when perpendicular to it.

Peripheral blood effects in benzene-exposed workers.

The hematotoxic effects of benzene exposure may be important in the occurrence of subsequent health effects. We sought to provide further information on peripheral blood effects by studying 928 workers in five factories in and around Shanghai, China exposed to a wide range of benzene concentrations. Specifically, we sought to investigate which blood indices are more strongly related to benzene exposure and which concentration levels of benzene result in peripheral blood changes.

A standardized method for measuring the force required to join wire harnesses and sparkplugs.

Understanding the forces required to insert a sparkplug wire (wire) onto a sparkplug (plug), independent of worker variation, is important for ergonomists, engineers, and designers. This paper describes a methodology for measuring the forces required to seat a wire onto a plug. A three-axis programmable mill was used to insert wires onto plugs mounted on a force transducer.

A hospital-based case control study of aplastic anemia in Shanghai, China.

We report results of a hospital-based case control study of 137 consecutive patients diagnosed with aplastic anemia (AA) in participating hospitals over a 4-year period. Diagnoses were made by a single laboratory, subjects were age- and gender-matched to two controls and interviewed concerning previous disease, work histories and exposures to potential etiologic agents. Analysis was conducted on two distinct subgroups: severe aplastic anemia (SAA) and moderate aplastic anemia (MAA).

Biomechanical analysis for handle stability during maximum push and pull exertions.

This study investigated the effect of handle stability on maximum push/pull force. It was hypothesised that people apply force in directions deviated from the pure push/pull direction to generate a moment that assists producing greater push/pull force when the handle position is fixed (stable) compared to when it is not fixed (unstable). Eight healthy subjects performed maximum push and pull exertions on a stable and an unstable handle in a seated posture, while maximum push/pull force, vertical force and lateral force were recorded.

Seizure risk in brain tumor patients with conversion to generic levetiracetam.

Breakthrough seizure activity has been reported with conversion from brand name to generic anticonvulsants. This has prompted several organizations to support physician notification of generic substitution and patient consent. Recently, a generic formulation of levetiracetam has become available.

Ensuring comparability of benzene exposure estimates across three nested case-control studies in the petroleum industry in support of a pooled epidemiological analysis.

Background: Three case-control studies each nested within a cohort of petroleum workers assessed exposure to benzene in relation to risk of haematopoietic cancers. These studies have each been updated and the cases will be pooled to derive a more powerful study. The benzene exposure of new leukemia cases and controls was estimated in accordance with each respective study's original methods.

A hospital-based case-control study of acute myeloid leukemia in Shanghai: analysis of environmental and occupational risk factors by subtypes of the WHO classification.

The objectives were: (1) to investigate potential environmental and occupational risk factors of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and (2) to explore the relationships between risk factors and AML subtypes according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification. The investigation was a hospital-based case-control study consisting of 722 newly diagnosed AML cases (August 2003 through June 2007) and 1444 individually gender-age-matched patient controls at 29 hospitals in Shanghai. A 17-page questionnaire was used to obtain information on demographics, medical history, family history, lifestyle risk factors, employment history, residential history, and occupational and non-occupational exposures.

A hospital-based case-control study of non-Hodgkin lymphoid neoplasms in Shanghai: analysis of environmental and occupational risk factors by subtypes of the WHO classification.

The objectives were (1) to investigate potential environmental and occupational risk factors of non-Hodgkin lymphoid neoplasms (NHLN), and (2) to explore the relationships between risk factors and NHLN subtypes according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification. The investigation was a hospital-based case-control study consisting of 649 newly diagnosed NHLN cases (August 2003 through January 2008) and 1298 individually gender-age-matched patient controls at 25 hospitals in Shanghai. A 17-page questionnaire was used to obtain information on demographics, medical history, family history, lifestyle risk factors, employment history, residential history, and occupational and non-occupational exposures.

Homozygosity of the polymorphism MICA5.1 identifies extreme risk of progression to overt adrenal insufficiency among 21-hydroxylase antibody-positive patients with type 1 diabetes.

Context: Autoimmunity associated with Addison's disease (AD) can be detected by measuring 21-hydroxylase (21OH) autoantibodies. Subjects with type 1 diabetes (T1D) are at increased risk for AD. Genetic factors including HLA-DRB1*0404 and MICA have been associated with AD in populations with and without T1D.

Benzene exposure in industries using or manufacturing paint in China--a literature review, 1956-2005.

A systematic review of the Chinese literature was conducted from 1956 to 2005. The survey included both online and manual searching, as well as expert discussions aimed at providing insight into factors affecting benzene exposure levels in paint/coatings industries. Data extracted from 204 papers included: (1) year of occurrence, (2) type of paint/coatings products, (3) type of industries where the products were used or produced, (4) job titles and work activities, (5) type of literature searched, (6) working conditions whenever data were available, and (7) exposure levels.

Morphological characterization of Cryptosporidium parvum life-cycle stages in an in vitro model system.

Cryptosporidium parvum is a zoonotic protozoan parasite that mainly affects the ileum of humans and livestock, with the potential to cause severe enteric disease. We describe the complete life cycle of C. parvum in an in vitro system.

Incremental specificity of disgust sensitivity in the prediction of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms: Cross-sectional and prospective approaches.

The present study examines the association between disgust sensitivity (DS) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms in two non-clinical samples. Findings from Study 1 (n=270) revealed a significant association between DS and OCD symptoms even after controlling for negative affect and anxiety sensitivity. Subsequent analysis also revealed a specific association between DS and the washing subtype of OCD symptoms when controlling for other OCD symptom dimensions.

Contamination fear and effects of disgust on distress in a public restroom.

The present study examined the effect of a disgust mood induction on self-reported distress during exposure to 5 stimuli with increasing potential for contagion in a public restroom among contamination fearful individuals. Participants were 36 adults identified as high in contamination fear (HCF) and 47 adults identified as low in contamination fear (LCF) who were randomly assigned to either a disgust or neutral emotion induction condition. Consistent with predictions, HCF participants exhibited significantly more distress than LCF participants during exposure to the sources of contagion in the restroom.

The effects of insertion method and force on hand clearance envelopes for rubber hose insertion tasks.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine how hand space for manual insertion of flexible hoses is affected by insertion method and force.

Background: Adequate space is needed during assembly tasks in which workers join parts together with their hands. Hose installations are an example of such a task.

A novel real-time polymerase chain reaction method for high throughput quantification of small regulatory RNAs.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are important players of both transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene silencing networks. In order to investigate the functions of these small regulatory RNAs, a system with high sensitivity and specificity is desperately needed to quantitatively detect their expression levels in cells and tissues. However, their short length of 19-24 nucleotides and strong similarity between related species render most conventional expression analysis methods ineffective.

Incidence, risk factors, and impact of severe neutropenia after hyperthermic intraperitoneal mitomycin C.

Background: Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) are considered the standard of care for patients with peritoneal dissemination of appendiceal cancer and are increasingly being evaluated for use in patients with carcinomatosis from colon cancer. Mitomycin C (MMC) is one of the most frequently used HIPEC agents in the management of peritoneal-based gastrointestinal malignancies. This study analyzes the incidence and risk factors for developing neutropenia following MMC-HIPEC combined with CRS.