Evaluating Injury and Illness Trends in Federal and Postal Service Employees Using Workers' Compensation Claims Data 2007-2022.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand federal workplace injury/illness trends.

Methods: Over 1.5 million federal and Postal Service employee workers' compensation (WC) claims from 2007 to 2022 were linked to employment data and analyzed.

Occupational Injuries Among Construction Workers by Age and Related Economic Loss: Findings From Ohio Workers' Compensation, USA: 2007-2017.

Background: This study examined age-group differences in the rate, severity, and cost of injuries among construction workers to support evidence-based worker safety and health interventions in the construction industry.

Methods: Ohio workers' compensation claims for construction workers were used to estimate claim rates and costs by age group. We analyzed claims data auto-coded into five event/exposure categories: transportation incidents; slips, trips, and falls (STFs); exposure to harmful substances and environments; contact with objects and equipment (COB); overexertion and bodily reaction.

Workers' Compensation Costs for Occupational Hearing Loss Claims in the United States, 2009-2013.

This study estimated the average annual number of U.S. workers' compensation (WC) claims for occupational hearing loss (OHL) and their associated cost and identified the industry/occupation classifications with the highest numbers of OHL claims.

Physiological effects of temperature on Greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides shows high vulnerability of Arctic stenotherms to global warming.

Global warming affects the metabolism of ectothermic aquatic breathers forcing them to migrate and undergo high-latitudinal distribution shifts to circumvent the temperature-induced mismatch between increased metabolic demand and reduced water oxygen availability. Here the authors examined the effects of temperature on oxygen consumption rates in an Arctic stenotherm, the Greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides, and calculated the optimal temperature for maximum aerobic scope, AS(T ), which was found to be 2.44°C.

Measuring the benefits of occupational safety and health research with economic metrics: Insights from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Measuring the ultimate impact of research on health and economic well-being has presented challenges that have rarely been surmounted, and research on preventing occupational injuries and illnesses is no exception. Nevertheless, there is an increasing need to demonstrate the value of publicly funded research. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently contracted with the RAND Corporation to conduct six in-depth case studies that aimed to quantify the benefits of key NIOSH research efforts using economic metrics.

The Impact of a State-Based Workers' Compensation Insurer's Risk Control Services on Employer Claim Frequency and Cost Rates.

Objective: This study evaluated the impact of a state workers' compensation (WC) insurer's onsite risk control (RC) services on insured employers' WC claim frequency and cost.

Methods: We used two methods to model 2004 to 2017 claims data from 4606 employers that received RC visits over time and compare this claims experience to matching employers that did not receive RC services.

Results: Relative total WC claim rates increased slightly after RC services, while relative lost-time claims rates either remained similar or decreased and WC cost rates decreased.

Workers' Compensation Claim Rates and Costs for Musculoskeletal Disorders Related to Overexertion Among Construction Workers - Ohio, 2007-2017.

Overexertion is a leading cause of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among construction workers. Nearly 90% of construction jobs require manual handling of materials for approximately one half of the worker's time (1). In 2015, overexertion from lifting and lowering materials caused 30% of WMSDs among construction workers; overexertion involving pushing, pulling, holding, carrying, and catching materials caused an additional 37% of WMSDs (1).

The effects of elevated potassium, acidosis, reduced oxygen levels, and temperature on the functional properties of isolated myocardium from three elasmobranch fishes: clearnose skate (Rostroraja eglanteria), smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis), and sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus).

Elevated plasma potassium levels (hyperkalemia), reduced plasma pH (acidosis), reduced blood oxygen content, and elevated temperatures are associated with species-specific rates of at-vessel and post-release mortality in elasmobranch fishes. The mechanism linking these physiological disturbances to mortality remains undetermined however, and we hypothesize that the proximate cause is reduced myocardial function. We measured changes in the functional properties of isolated ventricular myocardial strips from clearnose skate (Rostroraja eglanteria), smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis), and sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) when subjected to the following stressors (both in isolation and in combination): hyperkalemia (7.

Swimming in unsteady water flows: is turning in a changing flow an energetically expensive endeavor for fish?

Unsteady, dynamic flow regimes commonly found in shallow marine ecosystems such as coral reefs pose an energetic challenge for mobile organisms that typically depend on station-holding for fitness-related activities. The majority of experimental studies, however, have measured energetic costs of locomotion at steady speeds, with only a few studies measuring the effects of oscillatory flows. In this study, we used a bidirectional swimming respirometer to create six oscillatory water flow regimes consisting of three frequency and amplitude combinations for both unidirectional and bidirectional oscillatory flows.

Swimming in unsteady water flows: is turning in a changing flow an energetically expensive endeavor for fish?

Unsteady, dynamic flow regimes commonly found in shallow marine ecosystems such as coral reefs pose an energetic challenge for mobile organisms that typically depend on station holding for fitness-related activities. The majority of experimental studies, however, have measured energetic costs of locomotion at steady speeds, with only a few studies measuring the effects of oscillatory flows. In this study, we used a bidirectional swimming respirometer to create six oscillatory water flow regimes consisting of three frequency and amplitude combinations for both unidirectional and bidirectional oscillatory flows.

The impacts of warming and hypoxia on the performance of an obligate ram ventilator.

Climate change is causing the warming and deoxygenation of coastal habitats like Chesapeake Bay that serve as important nursery habitats for many marine fish species. As conditions continue to change, it is important to understand how these changes impact individual species' behavioral and metabolic performance. The sandbar shark () is an obligate ram-ventilating apex predator whose juveniles use Chesapeake Bay as a nursery ground up to 10 years of age.

Combined Effects of Acute Temperature Change and Elevated CO on the Metabolic Rates and Hypoxia Tolerances of Clearnose Skate (), Summer Flounder (), and Thorny Skate ().

Understanding how rising temperatures, ocean acidification, and hypoxia affect the performance of coastal fishes is essential to predicting species-specific responses to climate change. Although a population's habitat influences physiological performance, little work has explicitly examined the multi-stressor responses of species from habitats differing in natural variability. Here, clearnose skate (Rostaraja eglanteria) and summer flounder () from mid-Atlantic estuaries, and thorny skate () from the Gulf of Maine, were acutely exposed to current and projected temperatures (20, 24, or 28 °C; 22 or 30 °C; and 9, 13, or 15 °C, respectively) and acidification conditions (pH 7.

Degree of Integration Between Occupational Safety and Health Programs and Wellness Programs: First-year Results From an Insurer-Sponsored Wellness Grant for Smaller Employers.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe levels of integration between occupational safety and health (OSH) and workplace wellness programs/practices/policies ("programs") among participants in an insurer-sponsored wellness grant program.

Methods: We analyzed survey responses about year 1 of an insurer-sponsored grant to start a wellness program from 220 small- and medium-sized employers. Responses yielded 25 indicators of OSH-wellness integration, and 10 additional indicators to summarize multiple responses.

Are all bony fishes oxygen regulators? Evidence for oxygen regulation in a putative oxygen conformer, the swamp eel Synbranchus marmoratus.

This study investigated the oxygen consumption of the putative oxygen conformer marbled swamp eel Synbranchus marmoratus during progressive hypoxia. Earlier studies have not reached an agreement on whether S. marmoratus is a conformer or a regulator.

Workers' compensation injury claims among workers in the private ambulance services industry-Ohio, 2001-2011.

Background: Ambulance service workers frequently transfer and transport patients. These tasks involve occupational injury risks such as heavy lifting, awkward postures, and frequent motor vehicle travel.

Methods: We examined Ohio workers' compensation injury claims among state-insured ambulance service workers working for private employers from 2001 to 2011.

Blood pressure in the Greenland shark as estimated from ventral aortic elasticity.

We conducted inflations of freshly excised ventral aortas of the Greenland shark, , and used pressure-diameter data to estimate the point of transition from high to low compliance, which has been shown to occur at the mean blood pressure in other vertebrates including fishes. We also determined the pressure at which the modulus of elasticity of the aorta reached 0.4 MPa, as occurs at the compliance transition in other species.

Applying Machine Learning to Workers' Compensation Data to Identify Industry-Specific Ergonomic and Safety Prevention Priorities: Ohio, 2001 to 2011.

Objective: This study leveraged a state workers' compensation claims database and machine learning techniques to target prevention efforts by injury causation and industry.

Methods: Injury causation auto-coding methods were developed to code more than 1.2 million Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation claims for this study.

Editor's Highlight: Genetic Targets of Acute Toluene Inhalation in Drosophila melanogaster.

Interpretation and use of data from high-throughput assays for chemical toxicity require links between effects at molecular targets and adverse outcomes in whole animals. The well-characterized genome of Drosophila melanogaster provides a potential model system by which phenotypic responses to chemicals can be mapped to genes associated with those responses, which may in turn suggest adverse outcome pathways associated with those genes. To determine the utility of this approach, we used the Drosophila Genetics Reference Panel (DGRP), a collection of ∼200 homozygous lines of fruit flies whose genomes have been sequenced.

Characterization of the functional and anatomical differences in the atrial and ventricular myocardium from three species of elasmobranch fishes: smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis), sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus), and clearnose skate (Raja eglanteria).

We assessed the functional properties in atrial and ventricular myocardium (using isolated cardiac strips) of smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis), clearnose skate (Raja eglanteria), and sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) by blocking Ca release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) with ryanodine and thapsigargin and measuring the resultant changes in contraction-relaxation parameters and the force-frequency relationship at 20 °C and 30 °C. We also examined ultrastructural differences with electron microscopy. In tissues from smooth dogfish, net force (per cross-sectional area) and measures of the speeds of contraction and relaxation were all higher in atrial than ventricular myocardium at both temperatures.

Development of methods for using workers' compensation data for surveillance and prevention of occupational injuries among State-insured private employers in Ohio.

Background: Workers' compensation (WC) claims data may be useful for identifying high-risk industries and developing prevention strategies.

Methods: WC claims data from private-industry employers insured by the Ohio state-based workers' compensation carrier from 2001 to 2011 were linked with the state's unemployment insurance (UI) data on the employer's industry and number of employees. National Labor Productivity and Costs survey data were used to adjust UI data and estimate full-time equivalents (FTE).

Hearing Impairment Among Noise-Exposed Workers - United States, 2003-2012.

Hearing loss is the third most common chronic physical condition in the United States, and is more prevalent than diabetes or cancer (1). Occupational hearing loss, primarily caused by high noise exposure, is the most common U.S.