Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and reproductive health in adult sons: a study in the Danish National Birth Cohort.

Study Question: Is maternal pre-pregnancy BMI associated with semen quality, testes volume, and reproductive hormone levels in sons?

Summary Answer: Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with an altered reproductive hormone profile in young adult sons, characterized by higher levels of oestradiol, LH, and free androgen index (FAI) and lower levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in sons born of mothers with pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity.

What Is Known Already: Evidence suggests that maternal pre-pregnancy BMI may influence reproductive health later in life. Only one pilot study has investigated the association between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and reproductive health outcomes in sons, suggesting that a high BMI was associated with impaired reproductive function in the adult sons.

Maternal alcohol intake in early pregnancy and biomarkers of fecundity in adult sons: A cohort study.

Male fecundity may be largely determined through fetal programming and therefore potentially be sensitive to exposure to maternal alcohol intake during pregnancy. We investigated whether maternal alcohol intake in early pregnancy was associated with biomarkers of fecundity in adult sons. In total, 1058 sons from the Fetal Programming of Semen Quality (FEPOS) cohort nested in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) provided blood and semen samples at around 19 years of age.

The effect of farming environment on asthma; time dependent or universal?

The increasing prevalence of asthma is linked to westernization and urbanization. Farm environments have been associated with a lower risk of asthma development. However, this may not be universal, as the association differs across birth cohorts and farming methods.

Impaired neck motor control in chronic whiplash and tension-type headache.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is twofold, first to present a new method based on head laser tracking designed to measure head or hand movements and second to further investigate if patients suffering from chronic whiplash or tension-type headache have impaired motor control of neck muscles.

Material And Methods: A new laser tracking instrument was designed to measure the ability of a test person to track a reference point moving on the wall by a laser fixed to the forehead or held in the hand. The reference point to be tracked moves in runs of a circle or a square at three different speeds 10, 20, or 30 cm/s.

Influence of Wearing Ballistic Vests on Physical Performance of Danish Police Officers: A Cross-Over Study.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the influence of wearing a ballistic vest on physical performance in police officers.

Methods: We performed a cross-over study to investigate the influence of wearing a ballistic vest on reaction and response time, lumbar muscle endurance and police vehicle entry and exit times. Reaction and response time was based on a perturbation setup where the officers' pelvises were fixed and EMG of lumbar and abdominal muscles was recorded.

Job-exposure matrices addressing lifestyle to be applied in register-based occupational health studies.

Objectives: Information about lifestyle factors in register-based occupational health studies is often not available. The objective of this study was therefore to develop gender, age and calendar-time specific job-exposure matrices (JEMs) addressing five selected lifestyle characteristics across job groups as a tool for lifestyle adjustment in register-based studies.

Methods: We combined and harmonised questionnaire and interview data on lifestyle from several Danish surveys in the time period 1981-2013 for 264 054 employees registered with a DISCO-88 code (the Danish version of International Standard Classification of Occupations ISCO)-88) in a nationwide register-based Danish Occupational Cohort.

Estimated impact of replacing sitting with standing at work on indicators of body composition: Cross-sectional and longitudinal findings using isotemporal substitution analysis on data from the Take a Stand! study.

The purpose was to examine and compare the effects of replacing time spent sitting with standing at work on fat-free mass, fat mass and waist circumference using isotemporal substitution. Analyses were conducted on work hours on both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. The study included 223 persons from an intervention study aimed at reducing sitting time at work among office employees.

In field conditions, commercial pigment grade TiO2 was not harmful to terrestrial isopods but reduced leaf litter fragmentation.

We investigated the effects of a commercial pigment grade rutile TiO2 on the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber in three locations that differed in terms of abiotic and biotic conditions: the laboratory, open air, and the closed barn. Mortality and isopod energy reserves (digestive gland total proteins, lipids and carbohydrates) were not affected following 14days exposure to up to 1000mg TiO2 per kg dry leaves (mg/kg) under any experimental scenario. However, in the field tests, isopods consumption of TiO2-coated leaves was reduced compared to that of uncoated leaves and the decrease was not dose-dependent.

Worker Exposure and High Time-Resolution Analyses of Process-Related Submicrometre Particle Concentrations at Mixing Stations in Two Paint Factories.

The paint and coatings industry is known to have significant particulate matter (PM) emissions to the atmosphere. However, exposure levels are not studied in detail especially when considering submicrometre (PM1) and ultrafine particles (particle diameter below 100nm). The evidence is increasing that pulmonary exposures to these size fractions are potentially very harmful.

Comparison of dust release from epoxy and paint nanocomposites and conventional products during sanding and sawing.

The release of dust generated during sanding or sawing of nanocomposites was compared with conventional products without nanomaterials. Epoxy-based polymers with and without carbon nanotubes, and paints with different amounts of nano-sized titanium dioxide, were machined in a closed aerosol chamber. The temporal evolution of the aerosol concentration and size distribution were measured simultaneously.

Psychosocial factors at work and the development of mobility limitations among adults in Denmark.

Aim: Psychosocial factors in the working environment have been shown to be associated with mobility limitations, but this has not yet been confirmed in a Danish population. We aimed to examine how psychosocial factors at work are related to developing mobility limitations in Denmark.

Methods: This study is based on data from 2952 middle-aged men and women without mobility limitations in 2000.

Pulmonary toxicity of perfluorinated silane-based nanofilm spray products: solvent dependency.

A number of cases of pulmonary injury by use of aerosolized surface coating products have been reported worldwide. The aerosol from a commercial alcohol-based nanofilm product (NFP) for coating of nonabsorbing surfaces was found to induce severe lung damage in a recent mouse bioassay. The NFP contained a 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl trialkoxysilane (POTS) and the effects were associated with the hydrolyzed forms of the silane; increase in hydrolyzation resulted in faster induction of compromised breathing and induction of lung damage.

Do self-reported psychosocial working conditions predict low back pain after adjustment for both physical work load and depressive symptoms? A prospective study among female eldercare workers.

Objectives: To investigate whether psychosocial working conditions predict the development of low back pain (LBP) in female eldercare workers while adjusting for physical workload and depressive symptoms.

Methods: We investigated risk for developing LBP for between 1 and 30 days in the past year and developing LBP for more than 30 days in the past year at follow-up in 1537 female eldercare workers with no LBP in the year before baseline. Data were analysed using logistic regression analysis adjusted for sociodemographic variables, health behaviours, physical workload and depressive symptoms at baseline.

Encounters between workers sick-listed with common mental disorders and return-to-work stakeholders. Does workers' gender matter?

Introduction: The aims of this paper were to examine how disabled workers assess encounters with return-to-work (RTW) stakeholders during sickness absence due to common mental disorders (CMD) and to investigate gender differences in these assessments.

Method: Data on contact with and assessment of encounters with RTW-stakeholders were obtained from a questionnaire investigation (N = 226). The participants were recruited from employees applying for sickness benefits due to CMD from the Municipality of Copenhagen.

Paid care work and depression: a longitudinal study of antidepressant treatment in female eldercare workers before and after entering their profession.

Background: Previous studies have reported that employees in paid care work (e.g., child, health, and elderly care) have increased rates of hospitalization with depression and treatment with antidepressants.

Salivary cortisol and sleep problems among civil servants.

Objective: The present study used information from a field study conducted among 4489 civil servants (70% women) in Denmark in 2007. The purpose was to examine the association between sleep problems and salivary cortisol by using a cross-sectional design with repeated measures in a subsample three-month later.

Methods: Sleep problems during the past night and the past 4 weeks were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire on overall sleep quality, disturbed sleep, sleep length and awakening problems.

Client-related work tasks and meaning of work: results from a longitudinal study among eldercare workers in Denmark.

Purpose: To investigate the association between the perception of client-related work tasks and the experience of meaning of work among eldercare workers in the Danish eldercare sector.

Methods: We used baseline and follow-up questionnaire data from 3,985 female eldercare workers. The eldercare workers' perception of the client-related work tasks was measured by six items.

Occupation, morbidity, and hospital admission.

Introduction: The Occupational Hospitalization Register (OHR) is an ongoing register for research and surveillance established by the National Research Centre for the Working Environment in the 1980s. This review puts in perspective the contributions from the OHR to the understanding of relation between work and the burden of diseases in general and circulatory disease in particular.

Research Topics: This review covers selected topics in which studies based on OHR has contributed to the scientific knowledge during more than two decades.

Modern indoor climate research in Denmark from 1962 to the early 1990s: an eyewitness report.

Unlabelled: Modern, holistic indoor climate research started with the formation of an interdisciplinary 'Indoor Climate Research Group' in 1962 at the Institute of Hygiene, University of Aarhus, Denmark. After some years, other groups started similar research in Denmark and Sweden, and later - after the First International Indoor Air Symposium in Copenhagen 1978--this research spread to many countries and today it is carried out globally by probably 2000 scientists. This paper recounts the history of Danish indoor climate research, focusing on the three decades from the early 1960s to the founding of the Indoor Air journal in 1991.

Influence of psychosocial work environment on adherence to workplace exercise.

Objective: Physical exercise can reduce the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, but adherence to exercise is challenging for many employees. This study determines prognostic factors for adherence to workplace exercise.

Methods: In Copenhagen, 132 office workers with neck/shoulder pain were randomized to 2 or 12 minutes of exercise five days a week.

The impact of self-reported exposure to whole-body-vibrations on the risk of disability pension among men: a 15 year prospective study.

Background: Whole-body-vibrations are often associated with adverse health effect but the long term effects are less known. This study investigates the association between occupational exposures to whole-body vibrations, and subsequent transition to disability pension.

Methods: A total of 4215 male employees were followed up for subsequent disability pension retirement.

Comparison of dust released from sanding conventional and nanoparticle-doped wall and wood coatings.

Introduction of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) into traditional surface coatings (e.g., paints, lacquers, fillers) may result in new exposures to both workers and consumers and possibly also a new risk to their health.

Predicting flow at work: investigating the activities and job characteristics that predict flow states at work.

Flow (a state of consciousness where people become totally immersed in an activity and enjoy it intensely) has been identified as a desirable state with positive effects for employee well-being and innovation at work. Flow has been studied using both questionnaires and Experience Sampling Method (ESM). In this study, we used a newly developed 9-item flow scale in an ESM study combined with a questionnaire to examine the predictors of flow at two levels: the activities (brainstorming, planning, problem solving and evaluation) associated with transient flow states and the more stable job characteristics (role clarity, influence and cognitive demands).

Work injuries and disability.

Problem: This study estimated the hazard ratio for disability pension retirement (DPR) for persons who have experienced a work injury causing absence lasting at least one day after the accidental injury occurred and to estimate the fraction of DPR attributable to work injuries.

Methods: A total of 4,217 male and 4,105 female employees from a national survey were followed up for subsequent DPR.

Results And Impact On Industry And Government: Having had a work injury was a strong predictor of DPR among men.