Occupational segregation as a determinant of US worker health.

Background: Racial segregation provides a potential mechanism to link occupations with adverse health outcomes.

Methods: An African-American segregation index (I(AA)) was calculated for US worker groups from the nationally representative pooled 1986-1994 National Health Interview Survey (n = 451,897). Ranking and logistic regression analyses were utilized to document associations between I(AA) and poor worker health.

The attentional influence of new objects and new motion.

Previous research on the attentional influence of new objects and new motion in the environment has focused on studying these two visual features in isolation. In the present study, we examined new objects and new motion when they co-occurred within one scene. In addition, we evaluated the extent to which low-level luminance changes can contribute to the attention-capturing properties of each of these dynamic events.

Capture of attention by new motion in young and older adults.

Recent research has shown that newly introduced motion in a scene captures attention in young adults. Prior research has been mixed in terms of possible age-related differences in the allocation of visual attention, and it remains unclear whether new motion has a similar influence on visual attention in older adults. In the present study, we directly compared the capture of attention by new motion in young and older adults.

Experimental analysis of retention forces of different magnetic devices for bone-anchored auricular facial prostheses.

The aim of this study was to determine which combination of differently designed magnetic abutments provides the best retention for an auricular prosthesis. The withdrawal forces of eight combinations of abutments were measured and results compared. There was a significantly higher withdrawal force in arrangements containing three magnets over only two.

Reported skin cancer screening of US adult workers.

Background: Early detection of skin cancer by skin examination may reduce its associated morbidity and mortality, in particular for workers routinely exposed to sun.

Objectives: We sought to describe the proportion of US workers reporting skin cancer screening examination in a representative sample of the US worker population in the National Health Interview Survey.

Methods: Report of skin cancer examination in the 2000 and 2005 National Health Interview Survey cancer control supplements were examined by a range of variables.

Assessment of the effect of visual impairment on mortality through multiple health pathways: structural equation modeling.

Purpose: To estimate the direct effects of self-reported visual impairment (VI) on health, disability, and mortality and to estimate the indirect effects of VI on mortality through health and disability mediators.

Methods: The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a population-based annual survey designed to be representative of the U.S.

Employment and occupation effects on depressive symptoms in older Americans: does working past age 65 protect against depression?

Objectives: This article examines the effects of work status, occupational sector, and occupation type on depressive symptoms in older Americans. We partially controlled for the healthy worker selection effect by including disability as a predictor of both work status and depressive symptoms.

Methods: We analyzed a nationally representative sample of 23,247 respondents aged 65 to 88 from the National Health Interview Survey pooled over 1997 to 2000.

Healthcare provider smoking cessation advice among US worker groups.

Objective: Among workers in dusty occupations, tobacco use is particularly detrimental to health because of the potential synergistic effects of occupational exposures (for example, asbestos) in causing disease. This study explored the prevalence of smoking and the reported smoking cessation discussion with a primary healthcare provider (HCP) among a representative sample of currently employed US worker groups.

Methods: Pooled data from the 1997-2003 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) were used to estimate occupation specific smoking rates (n = 135,412).

The health behaviors of the older US worker.

Background: As the US workforce ages, lifestyle factors will increasingly affect their health, yet little information is available on their prevalence in older working populations.

Methods: Using the nationally representative 1997-2003 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), reported current smoking, risky drinking and leisure-time physical activity behaviors of older workers (> or =65 years) were compared with older non-workers. These behaviors were evaluated by age, gender, race, ethnicity, and occupation, as well as prototype "healthy" and "risky" persons.

Severity of concurrent visual and hearing impairment and mortality: the 1986-1994 National Health Interview Survey.

Purpose: Visual impairment and, to a lesser extent, hearing impairment are independent predictors of reduced survival in selected studies of community-residing adults. To date, the association of severity of concurrent impairment and mortality has not been examined.

Method: The National Health Interview Survey is a continuous, multistage, area probability survey of the U.

Inhibitory control in children with frontal infarcts related to sickle cell disease.

Evidence from past studies indicates that children with traumatic brain injury experience difficulties with inhibitory control. Less is known about inhibitory control in children with frontal brain injury related to cerebral infarction. We compared the inhibitory performance of children with frontal infarcts related to sickle cell disease with that of a control group of children with sickle cell disease but no history of cerebral infarction.

Abrupt onsets cannot be ignored.

Participants identified target letters at cued locations in the presence of occasional abrupt onsets of new distractor letters. The onsets distracted the participants and impaired their letter identification performance despite confirmation that they were using the information provided by the cue. This result contrasts with earlier results found by other researchers that revealed an ability of participants to ignore abrupt onsets in some cases.

Leisure-time physical activity levels of the US workforce.

Background: Few studies in the US have assessed physical activity levels across worker groups, despite the increasingly sedentary milieu of contemporary US occupations and increasing obesity rates among US workers. The present study determined the proportion of US workers meeting the Healthy People 2010 Guidelines for leisure-time physical activity levels in major US occupational groups.

Methods: Self-reported leisure-time physical activity was defined as: a) light-moderate activity > or =30 min five or more times per week; and/or b) vigorous activity > or =20 min three or more times per week.

Dental care access and unmet dental care needs among U.S. workers: the National Health Interview Survey, 1997 to 2003.

Background: Healthy People 2010 oral health objectives call for an increase in the proportion of adults who use the oral health care system annually. To assess progress toward this goal, the authors evaluated dental care utilization and the extent of unmet dental care needs of U.S.

Smoking rate trends in U.S. occupational groups: the 1987 to 2004 National Health Interview Survey.

Objective: It is unknown if the gap in smoking rates observed between United States blue- and white-collar workers over the past four decades has continued into the new millennium.

Methods: The National Health Interview Survey is a nationally representative survey of the US civilian population. Smoking and current occupational status were assessed over survey periods 1987 to 1994 and 1997 to 2004 (n= 298,042).

Profile of children investigated for sexual abuse: association with psychopathology symptoms and services.

Sexually abused children may have poor mental health because of their victimization as well as preexisting or co-occurring family problems. However, few studies consider psychopathology in relation to both abuse and other family experiences. This study uses data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) to create latent subgroups of 553 children investigated for sexual abuse.

Inhibitory control in children with phenylketonuria.

Past studies have reported impairments in children with early-treated phenylketonuria (PKU) in executive abilities such as strategic processing and working memory. Findings have been inconsistent in terms of the integrity of inhibitory control, another executive ability. This study administered 4 inhibitory tasks (flanker, Stroop, go/no-go, antisaccade) to 26 children with PKU and 25 typically developing control children.

Inhibitory control in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Impairments in executive abilities such as cognitive flexibility have been identified in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It remains unclear, however, whether such individuals also experience impairments in another executive ability: inhibitory control. In the present study, we administered three inhibitory tasks to 18 children with ASD, 23 siblings of children with ASD, and 25 typically developing children.

Magnetic resonance imaging evidence of cytotoxic cerebral edema in acute mountain sickness.

The present study applied T2- and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to examine if mild cerebral edema and subsequent brain swelling are implicated in the pathophysiology of acute mountain sickness (AMS). Twenty-two subjects were examined in normoxia (21% O2), after 16 hours passive exposure to normobaric hypoxia (12% O2) corresponding to a simulated altitude of 4,500 m and after 6 hours recovery in normoxia. Clinical AMS was diagnosed in 50% of subjects during hypoxia and corresponding headache scores were markedly elevated (P<0.

Occupation and lung cancer mortality in a nationally representative U.S. Cohort: The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the risk of lung cancer mortality in a nationally representative sample of U.S. workers by occupation.

Thyroid hormone receptors TRalpha1 and TRbeta differentially regulate gene expression of Kcnq4 and prestin during final differentiation of outer hair cells.

Thyroid hormone (TH or T3) and TH-receptor beta (TRbeta) have been reported to be relevant for cochlear development and hearing function. Mutations in the TRbeta gene result in deafness associated with resistance to TH syndrome. The effect of TRalpha1 on neither hearing function nor cochlear T3 target genes has been described to date.

Just like new: newly segregated old objects capture attention.

Subjects searched for target letters that were either contained in or segregated from a group of distracting letters and were either moving or stationary. Subjects were faster to identify targets that had recently become segregated from the group regardless of whether the segregation was accomplished by (1) the element itself moving away from the group or (2) the group moving away from the segregated element. The results show that attention can be captured by newly apparent objects that are produced by a new grouping of an existing scene.

Revisiting inhibitory control across the life span: insights from the ex-Gaussian distribution.

Changes in inhibitory control occur across the life span and have been associated with alterations in prefrontal function. In this study, ex-Gaussian analysis was used to reexamine data from an inhibitory control task. Participants (ages 6 to 82 years) composed three groups: children, young adults, and older adults.

Motion onset captures attention: a rejoinder to Franconeri and Simons (2005).

Recently, we have provided evidence that the onset of motion captures attention (Abrams & Christ, 2003, 2005a, 2005b). In the present article, we clarify the motion onset hypothesis, we discuss recent data (Franconeri & Simons, 2005) that, at least on the surface, seem to challenge the hypothesis, and we present results from a new experiment (Christ & Abrams, 2005). Finally, we conclude that, although motion onset does indeed appear to capture attention, motion in the absence of a motion onset might also attract attention under certain circumstances.