Assessment of coarse and fine hand motor performance in asymptomatic subjects exposed to hand-arm vibration.

A frequently encountered exposure profile for hand-arm vibration in contemporary occupational setting comprises workers with a long history of intermittent exposure but without detectable signs of hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). Yet, most of the published studies deal with developed HAVS cases, rarely discussing the biological processes that may be involved in degradation of manual dexterity and grip strength when it can be most beneficial - during the asymptomatic stage. In the present paper, a group of 31 male asymptomatic vibration-exposed workers (according to the Stockholm Workshop Scale) were compared against 30 male controls.

Rewarming curves and derived parameters in the diagnosis of hand-arm vibration syndrome.

Background: Exposure to hand-arm vibrations is a known cause of the Hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), a progressive syndrome beginning with sensory loss and leading to gangrene, making timely diagnosis essential.

Objectives: Assessment of the usefulness of 9 diagnostic parameters claimed as being of greatest value in the diagnosis of HAVS, and examination of the complementary diagnostic value of the curve shapes.

Methods: Three groups of subjects (HAVS cases, exposed workers without irreversible changes, and controls) were examined by cold provocation followed by thermographic imaging, obtainment of rewarming curves for four preselected regions and calculation of parameters.

[Home-based exercise training in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

Introduction: The role of rehabilitation programmes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is to lower dyspnoea, improve exercise tolerance and quality of life.

Objective: We have developed a short-course, home-based, rehabilitation programme of physical exercise for lower limb muscles, based on walking at patients' fastest pace. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of such a programme regarding the exercise tolerance, pulmonary functions and quality of life.

ECG changes in humans exposed to 50 Hz magnetic fields.

Possible health issues of ELF EMFs include cardiovascular effects since both electrocardiogram and heart-rate changes have been reported in the literature. A non-linear relationship between field strength and biological response has been reported in some studies. In this study, a total of 59 subjects, divided into three independent magnetic field strength groups, were compared.