Self-administered questionnaire and direct observation by checklist: comparing two methods for physical exposure surveillance in a highly repetitive tasks plant.

Background: We evaluated the agreement between a questionnaire and an observational checklist for exposure assessment in the setting of an upper-limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders (UWMSD) surveillance program in a population with a high level of physical exposures.

Methods: A surveillance program was implemented in a large shoe factory. Physical exposures were assessed in 1996 by a self-administered questionnaire and by the direct observation of work tasks assessed using a checklist filled out by trained assessors.

Stem cell mobilization in idiopathic steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome.

Steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) is classically thought to be a T-cell disorder. The aim of this study was to examine whether or not thymus homeostasis was affected in SSNS. Mature and naive T cell recent thymic emigrants were quantified in the peripheral blood of nephrotic patients and controls.

Gas-liquid selective oxidations with oxygen under explosive conditions in a micro-structured reactor.

The gas-liquid oxidation of cyclohexane is performed at high temperature (>200 degrees C) and pressure (up to 25 bar) using pure oxygen in a Pyrex capped silicon etched microreactor which allows convenient screen reaction conditions well above the flammability limit.

New VAPB deletion variant and exclusion of VAPB mutations in familial ALS.

Objective: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder involving upper and lower motor neurons. The vesicle-associated membrane protein B (VAPB) gene has been genetically linked to ALS in several large Brazilian families in which the disorder is caused by a proline to serine mutation at codon 56 (P56S). No additional mutations have been identified.

Educational differences in cancer mortality among women and men: a gender pattern that differs across Europe.

We used longitudinal mortality data sets for the 1990s to compare socioeconomic inequalities in total cancer mortality between women and men aged 30-74 in 12 different European populations (Madrid, Basque region, Barcelona, Slovenia, Turin, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland) and to investigate which cancer sites explain the differences found. We measured socioeconomic status using educational level and computed relative indices of inequality (RII). We observed large variations within Europe for educational differences in total cancer mortality among men and women.

Work increases the incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome in the general population.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in a general population according to employment status and to assess the proportion of cases attributable to work. CTS occurring in patients aged 20-59 years living in the French Maine and Loire region were included prospectively from 2002 to 2004. Medical and occupation history was gathered by mailed questionnaire.

Dupuytren's disease: personal factors and occupational exposure.

Background: The etiology of Dupuytren's disease is unknown, and the role of occupational exposure is still debated. Our objective was to study the association between occupational exposures, personal risk factors and Dupuytren's disease.

Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, nine occupational physicians performed clinical examinations, focused on Dupuytren's disease, of 2,406 French male civil servants employed at the Equipment Ministry in 1998 and interviewed them about medical history, leisure manual exposure and occupational biomechanical exposure to vibrations and manual work.

Biomechanical strains and low back disorders: quantifying the effects of the number of years of exposure on various types of pain.

Objective: To assess the effects of duration of exposure to biomechanical strains on various types of low back pain (LBP).

Methods: The population study was a random sample from the GAZEL cohort. Durations of exposure to selected biomechanical strains during subjects' working lifetime and potential confounders were assessed in 1996 by self-administered questionnaires.

Do workers with self-reported symptoms have an elevated risk of developing upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders three years later?

Objectives: Few prospective studies have evaluated outcomes of workers with self-reported symptoms of upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (UEMSD). The objective was to study the three-year outcomes of workers with self-reported symptoms, with or without a positive physical examination.

Methods: In 1993-4, 598 subjects highly exposed to repetitive work filled out a Nordic-style questionnaire.

[Exposure to psychosocial stressors at work in the Pays de la Loire region in 2002].

Objective: An epidemiological surveillance system of work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limb (MSDs) was implemented in 2002 in the Pays de la Loire region to assess the prevalence of the MSDs and their biomechanical and psychosocial risk factors in the working population. We will report here only the results concerning the exposure to psychosocial stress in the work environment. According to the Karasek "demand-autonomy" model, high psychological work demands may increase risk of ill health, particularly if there is a low level of decision latitude for the employees and low social support by the hierarchy or colleagues.

Frequency of low back pain among men and women aged 30 to 64 years in France. Results of two national surveys.

Introduction: In France, most studies of low back pain (LBP) have been carried out among workers or patients. Until very recently, the frequency of LBP in the general population was not known, because National Health Surveys did not include questions on LBP.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of LBP in the French population aged 30 to 64 years.

[Characterisation and measurement of social position in epidemiologic studies].

Background: The terms "socioeconomic status", "socioeconomic position", "social classes" ...

Low-back pain definitions in occupational studies were categorized for a meta-analysis using Delphi consensus methods.

Objective: To determine which literature-based definitions of low back pain (LBP) could be combined to produce sufficiently similar sets for use in a meta-analysis.

Study Design And Setting: A group of six international experts participated in an e-mail-administered Delphi process. Literature-based LBP definitions were preliminarily classified into 14 sets within four outcome types: pathology, symptoms and care-seeking, functional limitations, and participation.

Selected questions on biomechanical exposures for surveillance of upper-limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Objective: Questionnaires for assessment of biomechanical exposure are frequently used in surveillance programs, though few studies have evaluated which key questions are needed. We sought to reduce the number of variables on a surveillance questionnaire by identifying which variables best summarized biomechanical exposure in a survey of the French working population.

Methods: We used data from 2002 to 2003 French experimental network of Upper-limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders (UWMSD), performed on 2,685 subjects in which 37 variables assessing biomechanical exposures were available (divided into four ordinal categories, according to the task frequency or duration).

[Changing social disparities and mortality in France (1968-1996): cause of death analysis by educational level].

Background: Little information is available on temporal trend in socioeconomic inequalities in cause of death mortality in France. The aim of this paper was to study educational differences in mortality in France by cause of death and their temporal trend.

Methods: We used a representative sample of 1% of the French population and compared four periods (1968-1974, 1975-1981, 1982-1988, 1990-1996).

Socioeconomic inequalities in alcohol related cancer mortality among men: to what extent do they differ between Western European populations?

We aim to study socioeconomic inequalities in alcohol related cancers mortality [upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) (oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus and liver)] in men and to investigate whether the contribution of these cancers to socioeconomic inequalities in cancer mortality differs within Western Europe. We used longitudinal mortality datasets, including causes of death. Data were collected during the 1990s among men aged 30-74 years in 13 European populations [Madrid, the Basque region, Barcelona, Turin, Switzerland (German and Latin part), France, Belgium (Walloon and Flemish part, Brussels), Norway, Sweden, Finland].

Changes in socioeconomic inequalities in cancer mortality rates among French men between 1968 and 1996.

Objectives: We investigated changes in socioeconomic inequalities in cancer mortality rates among men in France between 1968 and 1996.

Methods: We used a representative sample of 1% of the French population and studied 4 periods (1968-1974, 1975-1981, 1982-1988, and 1990-1996). Causes of death were obtained by direct linkage with the French national death registry.

Validity of Nordic-style questionnaires in the surveillance of upper-limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Objectives: The study aimed at comparing results of standardized Nordic-style questionnaires with those of clinical examinations in two surveys on upper-limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Methods: The "repetitive task" survey (1757 workers in 1993-1994 and 598 workers in 1996-1997) studied risk factors of the disorders among those exposed to repetitive work. The "Pays de la Loire" survey (2685 workers in 2002-2003) was part of a population-wide surveillance system.

Predictive factors for incident musculoskeletal disorders in an in-plant surveillance program.

Objectives: A surveillance program for upper-limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders (UWMSD) based on assessment of health and risk factors was implemented between 1996 and 2000 in a large shoe factory with overall high levels for biomechanical exposure. The study aimed to identify workers with an increased risk of UWMSD incidence.

Methods: In 1996, 1997 and 2000, 166 workers filled out a questionnaire and underwent a standardized physical examination.

Patient choice: an influencing factor on policy-related research to decrease bedrail use as physical restraint.

Background: This paper shows patients' enactment of choice in mixed methods, multidisciplinary study on the use of bedrails as restraints.

Approach: Under the pressure of the implementation of impending legislation, patients from a Canadian elderly care rehabilitation unit were recruited to be part of this study and assigned to either a study or control group. Study group patients were exposed to a new facility policy on restraints in which bedrails were not to be used on a patient's bed except under specified conditions.

Health problems were the strongest predictors of attrition during follow-up of the GAZEL cohort.

Background And Objectives: This study examined socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health factors associated with response to annual mail questionnaires in a longitudinal study from 1990 through 2000 within the French GAZEL cohort.

Methods: Twenty thousand six hundred twenty-four participants volunteered in 1989, and received each year a questionnaire. As responding one given year was not independent of responding in other years, mixed models were used to analyze the variables associated with response.

Epidemiologic surveillance of upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders in the working population.

Objective: Since 2002, an epidemiologic surveillance system of work-related, upper-limb musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) has been implemented in France's Pays de la Loire region to assess the prevalence of MSDs and their risk factors in the working population.

Methods: The surveillance was based on a network of occupational physicians (OPs) and used the recommendations of a group of European experts (criteria document consensus). In 2002-2003, 80 of 400 OPs volunteered to participate.

Why are manual workers at high risk of upper limb disorders? The role of physical work factors in a random sample of workers in France (the Pays de la Loire study).

Objective: To investigate the reasons for the excess risk of upper limb musculoskeletal disorders among manual workers compared with other workers in a random sample of 2656 French men and women (20-59 years old) participating in a study on the prevalence of work related upper limb disorders conducted by France's National Institute of Health Surveillance.

Methods: Prevalence ratios (PR) of physician-diagnosed musculoskeletal disorders of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand (any of six leading disorders, rotator cuff syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome) in manual versus non-manual workers were calculated using Cox regression models with a constant time of follow up and robust variance.

Results: 11.