Fitness-to-work considerations in the paradigmatic pain condition of headache disorder.

Headache disorders are common, including in the working population. Clinicians caring for patients with headache need to be aware of work-related factors as potential causes or triggers of headache disorders, and consider the impact of headache on fitness-to-work, especially in safety-sensitive and decision-critical roles. Such fitness-to-work determination should include individualized consideration of the nature of the headache disorder itself, the pattern of the headache, the impact of sleep deprivation on the headache as it relates to fitness to do shiftwork, medication and substance side effects, fitness-to-work implications of associated medical or psychiatric conditions, and the potential of symptom feigning or malingering for secondary gain.

Vitamin D levels and deficiency with different occupations: a systematic review.

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent worldwide, but some groups are at greater risk. We aim to evaluate vitamin D levels in different occupations and identify groups vulnerable to vitamin D deficiency.

Methods: An electronic search conducted in Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text generated 2505 hits; 71 peer-reviewed articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria.

Back schools for the treatment of chronic low back pain: possibility of benefit but no convincing evidence after 47 years of research-systematic review and meta-analysis.

Back schools are interventions that comprise exercise and education components. We aimed to systematically review the randomized controlled trial evidence on back schools for the treatment of chronic low back pain. By searching MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central as well as bibliographies, we identified 31 studies for inclusion in our systematic review and 5 of these for inclusion in meta-analyses.

"Decision-critical" work: a conceptual framework.

"Safety-sensitive" workers, also termed "safety-critical" workers, have been subject to fitness to work assessments due to concerns that a performance error may result in worker injury, injury to coworkers or the general public, and/or disruption of equipment, production or the environment. However, there exists an additional category of "decision-critical" workers, distinct from "safety-sensitive" workers, in whom impairment may impact workplace performance, relationships, attendance, reliability and quality. Adverse consequences in these latter areas may not be immediately apparent, but a potential "orbit of harm" nevertheless exists.

Reporting on work-related low back pain: data sources, discrepancies and the art of discovering truths.

Work-related pain is unique in the pain context as it is, in theory, tied to one or more workplace activities and is therefore preventable. Back pain is a leading cause of lost workplace productivity, absence from work and reduced quality of life. Aggregate estimates of the work-related contribution to the overall burden of back pain vary, which may reflect incomplete reporting, inconsistency in data collection and coding between studies and jurisdictions, or, alternatively, genuine differences between occupational groups and countries.

The occupational health of Santa Claus.

Previous publications in the field of Santa studies have not focused on health and safety issues arising from Santa's workplace activities. However, it should be acknowledged that unique occupational hazards exist for Santa Claus. Major occupational health issues affecting Santa are discussed, along with suggestions for future research directions.

What is the relationship between disease activity, severity and damage in a large Canadian systemic sclerosis cohort? Results from the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group (CSRG).

We studied the relationships between physician-assessed damage, severity and activity in a large, multicentre systemic sclerosis (SSc, scleroderma) cohort. We hypothesized that there is a relationship between disease activity and severity and damage, but that severity would be more strongly related to damage. A total of 520 SSc patients (87% women, mean age 56 years, mean 8.

Data linkage to estimate the extent and distribution of occupational disease: new onset adult asthma in Alberta, Canada.

Background: Although occupational asthma is a well recognized and preventable disease, the numbers of cases presenting for compensation may be far lower than the true incidence.

Methods: Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) claims for any reason 1995-2004 were linked to physician billing data. New onset adult asthma (NOAA) was defined as a billing for asthma (ICD-9 code of 493) in the 12 months prior to a WCB claim without asthma in the previous 3 years.

Assembly of aligned linear metallic patterns on silicon.

In order to harness the potential of block copolymers to produce nanoscale structures that can be integrated with existing silicon-based technologies, there is a need for compatible chemistries. Block copolymer nanostructures can form a wide variety of two-dimensional patterns, and can be controlled to present long-range order. Here we use the acid-responsive nature of self-assembled monolayers of aligned, horizontal block copolymer cylinders for metal loading with simple aqueous solutions of anionic metal complexes, followed by brief plasma treatment to simultaneously remove the block copolymer and produce metallic nanostructures.