Regional CZT myocardial perfusion reserve for the detection of territories with simultaneously impaired CFR and IMR in patients without obstructive coronary artery disease: a pilot study.

Objectives: To assess the diagnostic performances of CZT myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR) for the detection of territories with simultaneous impaired coronary flow reserve (CFR) and index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) in patients without obstructive coronary artery disease.

Methods: Patients were prospectively included before being referred for coronary angiography. All patients underwent CZT MPR before invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and coronary physiology assessment.

[Experience of tele-expertise in cardiology in Pays de la Loire].

Introduction: General practitioners regularly need specialized advice for therapeutic adaptation, ECG interpretation or to facilitate referral to the local cardiologist. Tele-expertise could amplify these possibilities of coordination between professionals. An experiment in tele-expertise in cardiology was carried out by the URML in Pays de la Loire between 2016 and 2017.

[Not Available].

Introduction: General practitioners regularly need specialized advice for therapeutic adaptation, ECG interpretation or to facilitate referral to the local cardiologist. Tele-expertise could amplify these possibilities of coordination between professionals. An experiment in tele-expertise in cardiology was carried out by the URML in Pays de la Loire between 2016 and 2017.

Results of a feasibility study: barriers and facilitators in implementing the Sherbrooke model in France.

Objectives: Return-to-work interventions associated with the workplace environment are often more effective than conventional care. The Sherbrooke model is an integrated intervention that has proved successful in preventing work disability due to low-back pain. Implementation, however, runs up against many obstacles, and failure has been reported in many countries.

Searching for high-quality articles about intervention studies in occupational health--what is really missed when using only the Medline database?

Objective: Most occupational health physicians access electronic databases to obtain reliable medical information. Although it has been demonstrated that the use of Medline alone does not ensure comprehensiveness, many experts rely solely on this database. Our study aimed to discover to what extent the physician who limits his/her search to Medline misses studies of high quality.

Fate of abstracts presented at an International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) congress--followed by publication in peer-reviewed journals?

Objectives: Presentations at international meetings offer an excellent way to disseminate current research findings. One measure of the quality of research is its subsequent publication. Our study aimed to determine the publication rate of abstracts presented at a congress of the International Commission of Occupational Health (ICOH), and to identify predictive factors of publication and differences between presented abstracts and -subsequently published papers.

Performance of chest radiograph and CT scan for lung cancer screening in asbestos-exposed workers.

Objectives: The aim was to compare, in a cohort of asbestos-exposed workers, the sensitivity and the specificity of low-radiation helical chest CT scan with chest radiograph for the biennial screening of bronchopulmonary cancer, according to the size of detected nodules.

Material And Methods: The screening procedure consisted of biennial chest radiograph and monodetector chest CT scan, given to 972 individuals who had been highly exposed to asbestos. A total of 2555 screening procedures were performed.

Aerial dispersal of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospital rooms by infected or colonised patients.

The aim of this study was to assess to what extent patients with meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at respiratory sites shed viable MRSA into the air of hospital rooms. We also evaluated whether the distance from the patient could influence the level of contamination. Air sampling was performed directly onto MRSA-selective agar in 24 hospital rooms containing patients with MRSA colonization or infection of the respiratory tract.

[Characteristics of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis according to professional situation].

Aim: To describe the health and professional status of multiple sclerosis patients of working age and to compare a group of patients in work (group T1) with a group of unemployed patients (group T2).

Materials And Methods: A case-controlled study was performed. In the course of a specific consultation with a neurologist, demographic, medical and professional data were gathering using a questionnaire.

Evaluation of urinary mutagenicity in azo dye manufacture workers.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate urinary mutagenicity in workers employed in a major chemical plant located near Rouen (France) that produces dichlorobenzidine and azo dyes.

Materials And Methods: Samples were obtained from 47 male workers aged 38.9+/-11.

Nurses' health, age and the wish to leave the profession--findings from the European NEXT-Study.

Background And Objectives: In many industrialised countries the number of workers with low health is expected to increase in the nursing profession. This will have implications for occupational health work in health care. The European NEXT-Study (www.

Polyhexamethylenebiguanide hydrochloride exposure and erythema multiforme in a physician.

A 52-year-old woman physician developed recurrent erythema multiforme. Occupational and environmental exposure assessment suggested a disinfectant containing polyhexamethylenebiguanide hydrochloride (PHMB), Phagosept. Elimination of the product was followed by disappearance of symptomatology.

A cross-sectional study of the health effects of work schedules on 3212 hospital workers in France: implications for the new French work schedules policy.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of work schedules on the health of hospital workers at the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP). Out of 40 hospitals, 17 volunteered to participate in this study. The Standard Shiftwork Index and a questionnaire concerning physicians' work schedules were used.

Work schedules in health care in France: very few changes between 1991 and 1998, according to national data.

It is important to know whether working time schemes offer, following the adoption of the 1990 ILO Night Work Convention, a better use of the actual knowledge in moderating the adverse effects of shiftwork for both sexes. The last two national studies on a representative sample, about working conditions in France (1991, 1998), show an increase of night work among female nursing staff. Long hours of work are becoming more common for nurses.

Nosocomial pertussis in healthcare workers from a pediatric emergency unit in France.

Objective: After pertussis was diagnosed in July 1997 in a 55-year-old nurse (case) from a pediatric emergency unit who had a respiratory illness and paroxysmal cough for 5 weeks, an epidemiological investigation was initiated to determine if other healthcare workers (HCWs) from the same unit also had pertussis.

Design: Interviews were conducted to assess symptoms occurring in the previous months. Two sera were collected 2 to 3 months apart for 59 of 61 HCWs of the unit.

Introduction to the special section on psychological and behavioral approaches to occupational health.

The history of the International Commission on Occupational Health is deeply bound to that of the 20th century. First and only international scientific society of such an importance, it was founded in 1906 to bring solutions to the problems caused by a great number of occupational injuries and diseases due to the developing of industry. With the passing years, from a small medical group it has become a multidisciplinary society, present in 90 countries, where researchers, government authorities, and practitioners are coexisting in a permanent exchange between practice and research.

Assessment of bibliographic databases performance in information retrieval for occupational and environmental toxicology.

Objective: To determine the efficiency of the major bibliographic databases by assessing the percentage of references among the total literature available that can be retrieved from each database. We also evaluated the best database combinations to carry out an exhaustive search.

Methods: BIOSIS, EMBASE, MEDLINE, NIOSH-TIC, and TOXLINE were searched on two topics: allergy to latex and asbestos and mesothelioma, in the title, abstract, or keywords (textwords).

[Vaccination in adults].

The vaccinal status of adults is not well known but there are reasons to think it is fair from satisfactory. On the occasion of far away travels or premarital or antenatal special examinations, or systematically, every medical doctor should check his patients' state of immunization, regarding the main infectious hazards. Some situations need special attention: patients suffering from chronic visceral diseases, or elderly; people traveling to endemic countries (the case of diphtheria testifies to the development of new hazards all over the world); people with special leisure activities (such as hunting or fishing), or at risk behaviours (alcohol, tobacco, or some sexual practices).

[Role of the conditions of recording and analysis of the atrial signal on the results of ECG signal averaged P wave].

Several studies have shown that high amplification and averaging of the electrocardiographic P wave may soon enable better identification of people at high risk of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The results of this technique are closely dependent on the conditions of recording and analysis of the atrial signal but this factor has not been widely appreciated. The authors, therefore, undertook a study of the reliability of the manual method of measuring P wave duration, the influence of the filters used and the level of background noise on the 3 parameters of analysis: the duration of the P wave (DUR), the root mean square of the amplitude of the terminal 20 milliseconds (RMS20) and the integral under the P curve (IN).

Blood superoxide dismutase and plasma malondialdehyde among workers exposed to asbestos.

Blood superoxide dismutase (SOD) and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) (an indicator of lipid peroxidation [LPO]) were determined in 97 randomly selected asbestos exposed workers (age range: 25-60 years, mean duration of exposures 19.8 +/- 8.3 years) and in 42 healthy male controls.

Relative cardiac cost and physical, mental and psychological work load among a group of post-operative care personnel.

Continuous registration of heart rate and careful minute-by-minute observation of all physical, mental and psychological job-related events was carried out in a group of nine post-operative care personnel. The relative cardiac cost (RCC) correlated significantly with the observed work events. The magnitude of participation of physical, mental and psychological work elements in the changes in RCC varied in the investigated subjects according to the type and magnitude of the different work events.

Risk of spontaneous abortion among nurses handling antineoplastic drugs.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the frequency of spontaneous abortion in two groups of women. One group consisted of women regularly involved in the preparation of cancer chemotherapy perfusions and therefore considered to be exposed to cytostatic agents; the other consisted of women not occupationally exposed to such agents. The study was carried out in four French hospitals.