Understanding sharps injuries in home healthcare: The Safe Home Care qualitative methods study to identify pathways for injury prevention.

Background: Home healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors in the United States. Percutaneous injuries from sharp medical devices (sharps) are a source of bloodborne pathogen infections among home healthcare workers and community members. Sharps use and disposal practices in the home are highly variable and there is no comprehensive analysis of the system of sharps procurement, use and disposal in home healthcare.

A pilot study to measure the compressive and tensile forces required to use retractable intramuscular safety syringes.

Background: A pilot study was conducted at the Tampa Veterans Administration Patient Safety Center. The objective was to determine the forces required to operate retractable safety syringes to evaluate potential adverse occupational health and patient safety issues.

Methods: Four brands (100 each) of retractable syringes were tested, using a digital force gauge, in air and in a simulated patient material (SPM).

Alcohol, stress-related factors, and short-term absenteeism among urban transit operators.

Transit operators, relative to workers in many other occupations, experience high levels of work-related stress, as documented through neuroendocrine elevations on the job vis-a-vis resting states (J Occup Health Psychol. 1998;3:122-129). Previous research suggests that self-reported job stress is associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption among transit operators (Alcohol Clin Exp Res.

Can gold therapy be used more safely in rheumatoid arthritis? Adverse drug reactions are more likely in patients with nodular disease, independent of HLA-DR3 status.

Objective: . To investigate whether features associated with severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are predictive of adverse drug reactions (ADR) to gold salts, independent of HLA-DR3 status.

Methods: A cohort of patients with RA (n = 41) who developed thrombocytopenia (platelets < 100 10(6)/l) or proteinuria (> 1.

Occupational stressors and hypertension: a multi-method study using observer-based job analysis and self-reports in urban transit operators.

This multi-method study aimed to disentangle objective and subjective components of job stressors and determine the role of each for hypertension risk. Because research on job stressors and hypertension has been exclusively based on self-reports of stressors, the tendency of some individuals to use denial and repressive coping might be responsible for the inconclusive results in previous studies. Stressor measures with different degrees of objectivity were contrasted, including (1) an observer-based measure of stressors (job barriers, time pressure) obtained from experts, (2) self-reported frequency and appraised intensity of job problems and time pressures averaged per workplace (group level), (3) self-reported frequency of job problems and time pressures at the individual level, and (4) self-reported appraised intensity of job problems and time pressures at the individual level.

Burnout and alcohol problems among urban transit operators in San Francisco.

Although occupational burnout has been linked with numerous psychosomatic symptoms and mental health problems, few studies have examined the association between burnout and substance use. This study assessed the contribution of burnout (Emotional Exhaustion--Maslach Burnout Inventory) to the risk of alcohol dependence and alcohol-related harm among a sample of urban transit operators. The study population consisted of 993 current drinkers who participated in the 1993-1995 San Francisco Muni Health and Safety Study.

Nodular disease in rheumatoid arthritis: association with cigarette smoking and HLA-DRB1/TNF gene interaction.

Objective: To investigate the association of nodular disease in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with smoking, seropositivity, and polymorphisms at HLA-DRB1 and TNF loci.

Methods: Consecutive patients with RA (n = 420) attending a hospital clinic were examined for the presence of subcutaneous nodules. Rheumatoid factor (RF) status and HLA-DRB1 genotype were determined on every patient, and their smoking history was recorded.

Alcohol consumption and incidence of workers' compensation claims: a 5-year prospective study of urban transit operators.

Background: Numerous studies have linked alcohol impairment on the job to occupational injury. Few studies have looked at the association of nonwork drinking and occupational injury.

Methods: This study examines first workers' compensation claims after a baseline assessment of alcohol consumption and other occupational variables in 1836 transit operators participating in a medical examination for driver's license renewal.

Relationship among the HLA-DRB1 shared epitope, smoking, and rheumatoid factor production in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Rheumatoid factor (RF) production in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is generally associated with more severe disease. In some studies, RF production has been associated with carriage of HLA-DRB1 alleles encoding the RA-associated shared epitope (SE). Patients who smoke are also more likely to be RF positive.

Job stress, unwinding and drinking in transit operators.

Objective: This study tests the spillover model of the effects of work stress on after-work drinking, using the variable "length of time to unwind" as a mediator.

Method: A total of 1,974 transit operators were contacted and 1,553 (79%) of them participated in a personal interview. Complete data on the variables in this analysis were available for 1,208 respondents (84% men).

Smoking and disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis: association with polymorphism at the glutathione S-transferase M1 locus.

Objective: To determine whether the relationship between smoking and disease severity in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with polymorphism at the glutathione S-transferase (GST) M1 locus.

Methods: Genotyping for GSTM1 was carried out using polymerase chain reaction methodology on 164 women with established RA. Smoking history was obtained on each patient.