MedWorm: Occupational Health

Mercury levels in feed and muscle of farmed tilapia

American Journal of Industrial Medicine — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:18:28 +0100

ConclusionsThese low levels of THg in farmed tilapia may be due to the low THg concentrations found in the analyzed fish feed, that ranged from 5.2 to 33.2 µg kg−1, below the limit of 100 µg kg−1 established by the European Commission. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Source: American Journal of Industrial Medicine)

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Safety management by walking around (SMBWA): A safety intervention program based on both peer and manager participation. - Luria G, Morag I.

SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:09:27 +0100

We describe a three-year long case study t... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))

Safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organisations: Antecedents and consequences of safety behaviour. - Fernández-Muñiz B, Montes-Peón JM, Vázquez-Ordás CJ.

SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:09:27 +0100

The occupational health and safety standard OHSAS 18001 has gained considerable acceptance worldwide, and firms from diverse sectors and of varying sizes have implemented it. Despite this, very few studies have analysed safety management or the safety clim... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))

Psychosocial safety climate moderates the job demand-resource interaction in predicting workgroup distress. - Dollard MF, Tuckey MR, Dormann C.

SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:09:27 +0100

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) arises from workplace policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety that are largely driven by management. Many work stress theories are based on the fundamental interacti... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))

Does contracting with owner operators lead to worse safety outcomes for US motor carriers? Evidence from the Motor Carrier Management Information System. - Monaco K, Redmon B.

SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:09:27 +0100

Using data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System, we model crashes as a function of firm characteristics, with a focus on the employment relationship. We find that very small firms (one driver, one truck) and firms that contract with owner o... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))

Major Study Finds Miscarriage Risk Higher for Nurses...

NurseZone.com Nursing News — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:39:58 +0100

January 27, 2012 - A recent study published by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology has found the rate of spontaneous abortion in nurses who handle chemotherapy drugs to be twice that in nurses who did not handle these drugs. Past studies have yielded similar results, but this study, done in partnership with National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Nurses’ Health Study 2, used a significantly larger sample size of nearly 7,000 nurse pregnancies. The study looked at five potentially hazardous exposures: x-rays, chemotherapy drugs, sterilizing agents, anesthetic gases and antiviral drugs. (Source: NurseZone.com Nursing News)

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California Appellate Panel Affirms Defense Judgment Under Component Parts Doctrine

LexisNexis® Mealey's™ Emerging Toxic Torts Legal News — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:16:44 +0100

LOS ANGELES - A unanimous panel of the Second District California Court of Appeal, Division Three, issued an opinion Feb. 1 affirming summary judgment under the component parts doctrine for the suppliers of raw materials to a metal fabrication company that were sued by an employee for personal injuries he alleges resulted from occupational exposure to metal fumes and dust (John Maxton v. Western States Metals, et al., No. B227000, Calif. App., 2nd Dist., Div. 3; 2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 94). Full story on lexis.com (Source: LexisNexis® Mealey's™ Emerging Toxic Torts Legal News)

Taking a look behind the wheel: An investigation into the personality predictors of aggressive driving.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:36:40 +0100

Authors: Dahlen ER, Edwards BD, Tubré T, Zyphur MJ, Warren CR Abstract The present study evaluated a theoretical model of the relationships among six aspects of driver personality (i.e., driving anger and the Big Five personality factors), aggressive driving, and two outcomes of aggressive driving: motor vehicle crashes and moving violations. Data from 308 drivers recruited from two vehicle licensing offices were analyzed using structural equation modeling. As expected, aggressive driving predicted crashes and moving violations. Based on the zero-order correlations, emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were related to aggressive driving in the expected directions; however, the picture changed when the joint effects of all variables were examined via structural...

Does gender moderate the relationship between driver aggression and its risk factors?

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:36:30 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate the importance of conducting the gender analysis using both regression approaches. With few exceptions, factors that were predictive of driver aggression were generally the same for both male and female drivers. PMID: 22269480 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

The effect of age, gender and attitudes on self-regulation in driving.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:36:21 +0100

Authors: Gwyther H, Holland C Abstract Self-regulation in driving has primarily been studied as a precursor to driving cessation in older people, who minimise driving risk and compensate for physical and cognitive decline by avoiding driving in challenging circumstances, e.g. poor weather conditions, in the dark and at busy times. This research explores whether other demographic groups of drivers adopt self-regulatory behaviours and examines the effects of affective and instrumental attitudes on self-regulation across the lifespan. Quantitative data were collected from 395 drivers. Women were significantly more likely than men to engage in self-regulation, and to be negatively influenced by their emotions (affective attitude). A quadratic effect of age on self-regulation was determ...

Occupational driver safety: Conceptualising a leadership-based intervention to improve safe driving performance.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:36:10 +0100

This study adopts the A-B-C framework to identify the contingencies associated with an effective exchange of safety information within the occupational driving context. Utilizing a sample of occupational drivers and their supervisors, this multi-level study examines the contingencies associated with the exchange of safety information within the supervisor-driver relationship. Safety values are identified as an antecedent of the safety information exchange, and the quality of the leader-member exchange relationship and safe driving performance is identified as the behavioural consequences. We also examine the function of role overload as a factor influencing the relationship between safety values and the safety information exchange. Hierarchical linear modelling found that role overload mod...

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Controlling factors of the parental safety perception on children's travel mode choice.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:36:00 +0100

This study focuses on six to twelve year old children. Parents determine to a large extent the mode choice of children in this age category. Based on the analysis of an extensive survey, the research shows that traffic infrastructure has a significant impact on parental decision making concerning children's travel mode choice, by affecting both the real and the perceived traffic safety. Real traffic safety is quantified in terms of numbers of accidents and road infrastructure. For the perceived traffic safety a parental allowance probability is calculated per road type to show that infrastructure characteristics influence parental decision making on the children's mode choice. A binary logistic model shows that this allowance is determined by age, gender and traffic infrastructure near the...

The effects of studded tires on fatal crashes with passenger cars and the benefits of electronic stability control (ESC) in Swedish winter driving.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:35:49 +0100

This study set out to examine the effects of studded tires on fatal crashes on roads covered with ice or snow in Sweden and also to investigate the extra benefits of electronic stability control (ESC) during the winter months. Two different studies are presented in this paper. Both studies used an induced exposure approach. In the main study, 369 in-depth studies of fatal crashes with passenger cars were analyzed to determine whether loss-of-control (LOC) had been a major component or not. Only crashes involving cars without ESC and equipped with approved studded or non-studded winter tires were analyzed. The additional study used police-reported crashes that occurred during the winter seasons 2003-2010, involving passenger cars with and without ESC. While police records in Sweden do not i...

Main characteristics of train-pedestrian fatalities on Finnish railroads.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:35:38 +0100

In conclusion, the effective prevention of railway suicides and accidents calls for a systems approach involving effective measures introduced by authorities responsible for urban planning, railways, education and public health. PMID: 22269485 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Comparison of risk factors for cervical spine, head, serious, and fatal injury in rollover crashes.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:35:27 +0100

This study demonstrates both common and unique risk factors for different types of injuries in rollover crashes. PMID: 22269486 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Accidents and close call situations connected to the use of mobile phones.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:35:17 +0100

Authors: Korpinen L, Pääkkönen R Abstract The aim of our work was to study the accidents and close call situations connected to the use of mobile phones. We have analyzed how the accidents/close call situations are connected to background information, in particular age, gender and self-reported symptoms. The study was carried out as a cross-sectional study by posting the questionnaire to 15,000 working-age Finns. The responses (6121) were analyzed using the logistic regression models. Altogether 13.7% of respondents had close call situations and 2.4% had accidents at leisure, in which the mobile phone had a partial effect, and at work the amounts were 4.5% and 0.4% respectively, during the last 12 months. Essentially, we found that: (1) men tend to have more close calls and acci...

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Electroencephalogram and electrocardiograph assessment of mental fatigue in a driving simulator.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:35:06 +0100

In this study, we measured mental fatigue in drivers using electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiograph (ECG). Together, thirteen healthy subjects performed a continuous simulated driving task for 90min with simultaneous ECG and multi-channel EEG recording of each subject. Several important physiological parameters were investigated using preprocessed ECG and EEG signals. The results show that the EEG alpha and beta, the relative power, the amplitude of P300 wave of event-related potential (ERP), the approximated entropy of the ECG, and the lower and upper bands of power of heart rate variability (HRV) are significantly different before and after finishing the driving task (p<0.05). These metrics are possible indices for measuring simulated driving mental fatigue. PMID: 2226948...

The impact of perceptual treatments on driver's behavior: From driving simulator studies to field tests-First results.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:34:55 +0100

Authors: Auberlet JM, Rosey F, Anceaux F, Aubin S, Briand P, Pacaux MP, Plainchault P Abstract Our study focused on the lateral position of drivers in relation to risk on rural crest vertical curves, using a field site proposed by a local operator of the French road network (Conseil Général de Maine-et-Loire, 49). The final goal was to test one road treatment on this field site. The study consisted of three stages. The first, using driving simulators, selected two perceptual treatments (i.e., rumble strips on both sides of the centerline and sealed shoulders) from five that were tested in order to help drivers maintain lateral control when driving on crest vertical curves. The rumble strips were installed first on the field site. The second stage was to develop a diagnostic devic...

Individual and area socioeconomic inequalities in cause-specific unintentional injury mortality: 11-Year follow-up study of 2.7 million Canadians.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:34:44 +0100

This study investigated the association between individual and area socioeconomic status (SES) and leading causes of unintentional injury mortality in Canadian adults. Using the 1991-2001 Canadian Census Mortality Follow-up Study cohort (N=2,735,152), Cox proportional hazard regression was used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for all-cause unintentional injury, motor vehicle collision (MVC), fall, poisoning, suffocation, fire/burn, and drowning deaths. Results indicated that associations with SES differed by cause of injury, and were generally more pronounced for males. Low education was associated with an elevated risk of mortality from all-cause unintentional injury and MVC (males only) and poisoning and drowning (both sexes). Low income was strongly associated wi...

The impact of compulsory cycle helmet legislation on cyclist head injuries in New South Wales, Australia: A rejoinder.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:34:34 +0100

Authors: Rissel C Abstract This paper challenges the conclusion of a recent paper by Walter et al. (Accident Analysis and Prevention 2011, doi:10.1016/j.aap.2011.05.029) reporting that despite numerous data limitations repealing the helmet legislation in Australia could not be justified. This conclusion is not warranted because of the limited time period used in their analysis and the lack of data beyond a few years before the introduction of legislation, the failure to adequately account for the effect of the phasing in of the legislation, the effect of the marked reduction in child cyclists, and the non-comparability of the pedestrian and cycling injuries and related lack of consideration of the severity of head injuries. The extent to which helmet legislation deters people from ...

A multivariate tobit analysis of highway accident-injury-severity rates.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:34:23 +0100

Authors: Anastasopoulos PCh, Shankar VN, Haddock JE, Mannering FL Abstract Relatively recent research has illustrated the potential that tobit regression has in studying factors that affect vehicle accident rates (accidents per distance traveled) on specific roadway segments. Tobit regression has been used because accident rates on specific roadway segments are continuous data that are left-censored at zero (they are censored because accidents may not be observed on all roadway segments during the period over which data are collected). This censoring may arise from a number of sources, one of which being the possibility that less severe crashes may be under-reported and thus may be less likely to appear in crash databases. Traditional tobit-regression analyses have dealt with the o...

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Safety evaluation of right-turn smart channels using automated traffic conflict analysis.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:34:12 +0100

Authors: Autey J, Sayed T, Zaki MH Abstract This paper presents the results of a before-after (BA) safety evaluation of a newly proposed design for channelized right-turn lanes. The new design, termed "Smart Channels", decreases the angle of the channelized right turn to approximately 70°. The implementation of these modified right-turn channels is usually advocated to allow for safer pedestrian crossing. However, the benefits also extend to vehicle-vehicle interactions since the new approach angle affords drivers a better view of the traffic stream they are to merge with. The evaluation is conducted using a video-based automated traffic conflict analysis. There are several advantages that support the adoption of traffic conflict techniques in BA safety studies. Traffic conflicts ...

Comprehensibility of traffic signs among urban drivers in Turkey.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:34:01 +0100

Authors: Kirmizioglu E, Tuydes-Yaman H Abstract Traffic signs are commonly used traffic safety tools, mainly developed to provide crucial information in a short time to support safe drive; but the success depends on their comprehensibility by the drivers. Also, a sudden change in the traditionally used and accepted signs can cause significant safety problem, as in the case of cancellation of red oblique bars in 2004 as a part of the European Union Harmonization Process of Turkey. Having a severe traffic safety problem in Turkey, a need to assess both the comprehensibility of internationally accepted traffic signs and current level of driver education, was the main motivation behind this study. A paper-based survey study in 2009 that reached a sample of 1478 urban drivers in the Cit...

Do deterrence and social-control theories predict driving after drinking 15 years after a DWI conviction?

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:33:51 +0100

CONCLUSION: Our prospective study demonstrated that for this convicted DWI offender cohort, classic formulations of deterrence and social-control theories did not account for DWI. However, results suggest that punishment may decrease the likelihood of DWI recidivism. PMID: 22269495 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Measuring safety treatment effects using full Bayes non-linear safety performance intervention functions.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:33:40 +0100

Authors: El-Basyouny K, Sayed T Abstract Full Bayes linear intervention models have been recently proposed to conduct before-after safety studies. These models assume linear slopes to represent the time and treatment effects across the treated and comparison sites. However, the linear slope assumption can only furnish some restricted treatment profiles. To overcome this problem, a first-order autoregressive (AR1) safety performance function (SPF) that has a dynamic regression equation (known as the Koyck model) is proposed. The non-linear 'Koyck' model is compared to the linear intervention model in terms of inference, goodness-of-fit, and application. Both models were used in association with the Poisson-lognormal (PLN) hierarchy to evaluate the safety performance of a sample of i...

Mapping commuter cycling risk in urban areas.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:33:30 +0100

Authors: Yiannakoulias N, Bennet SA, Scott DM Abstract Cycling is becoming an increasingly important transportation option for commuters. Cycling offers exercise opportunities and reduces the burden of motor vehicle travel on society. Mapping the risk of collision between cyclists and motor vehicles in urban areas is important to understanding safe cyclist route opportunities, making informed transportation planning decisions, and exploring patterns of injury epidemiology. To date, many geographic analyses and representations of cyclist risk have not taken the concept of exposure into account. Instead, risk is either expressed as a rate per capita, or as a count of events. Using data associated with the City of Hamilton, Canada, we illustrate a method for mapping commuter cyclist c...

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Analytic choices in road safety evaluation: Exploring second-best approaches.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:33:19 +0100

Authors: Elvik R Abstract Conducting rigorous before-and-after studies is essential for improving knowledge regarding the effects of road safety measures. However, state-of-the-art approaches like the empirical Bayes or fully Bayesian techniques cannot always be applied, as the data required by these approaches may be missing or unreliable. The choice facing researchers in such a situation is to either apply "second-best" approaches or abstain from doing an evaluation study. An objection to applying second-best approaches is that these approaches do not control as well for confounding factors as state-of-the-art approaches. This paper explores the implications of choice of study design by examining how the findings of several evaluation studies made in Norway depend on choices made...

Prevalence of motor vehicle crashes involving drowsy drivers, United States, 1999-2008.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:33:07 +0100

This study estimated the proportion of crashes that involved a drowsy driver in a representative sample of 47,597 crashes in the United States from 1999 through 2008 that involved a passenger vehicle that was towed from the scene. Multiple imputation was used to address missing data on driver drowsiness. In the original (non-imputed) data, 3.9% of all crashes, 7.7% of non-fatal crashes that resulted in hospital admission, and 3.6% of fatal crashes involved a driver coded as drowsy; however, the drowsiness status of 45% of drivers was unknown. In the imputed data, an estimated 7.0% of all crashes (95% confidence interval: 4.6%, 9.3%), 13.1% of non-fatal crashes that resulted in hospital admission (95% confidence interval: 8.8%, 17.3%), and 16.5% of fatal crashes (95% confidence interval: 12...

Effectiveness of traffic light vs. boom barrier controls at road-rail level crossings: A simulator study.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:32:56 +0100

Authors: Rudin-Brown CM, Lenné MG, Edquist J, Navarro J Abstract Although collisions at level crossings are relatively uncommon occurrences, the potential severity of their consequences make them a top priority among safety authorities. Twenty-five fully-licensed drivers aged between 20 and 50 years participated in a driving simulator study that compared the efficacy, and drivers' subjective perception, of two active level crossing traffic control devices: flashing lights with boom barriers and standard traffic lights. Because of its common usage in most states in Australia, a stop sign-controlled level crossing served as the passive referent. Although crossing violations were less likely at the level crossings controlled by active devices than at those controlled by stop signs, b...

A driving simulator study of driver performance on deceleration lanes.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:32:44 +0100

Authors: Calvi A, Benedetto A, De Blasiis MR Abstract Deceleration lanes are important because they help drivers transition from high-speed lanes to low-speed ramps. Although they are designed to allow vehicles to depart the freeway safely and efficiently, many studies report high accident rates on exit ramps with the highest percentage of crashes taking place in deceleration lanes. This paper describes the results of a driving simulator study that focused on driving performance while approaching a divergence area and decelerating during the exiting maneuver. Three different traffic scenarios were simulated to analyze the influence of traffic volume on driving performance. Thirty drivers drove in the simulator in these scenarios while data on their lateral position, speed and decel...

Road traffic injury incidence and crash characteristics in Dar es Salaam: A population based study.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:32:32 +0100

In conclusion, RTIs in this urban East African setting are a major source of disability. This study provides incidence data and crash characteristics that may be used to construct prevention programs and could validate secondary data sources. PMID: 22269502 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

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Systematic review and quality assessment of economic evaluation studies of injury prevention.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:32:21 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: This review has shown that approaches to economic evaluation of injury prevention vary widely and most studies do not fulfill methodological rigour. Improving quality and harmonization of economic evaluation studies in the field of injury prevention is needed. One way of achieving this would be to establish international guidelines on economic evaluation for injury prevention interventions, based on established economic evaluation checklists, to assist researchers in the design and reporting of economic evaluations. PMID: 22269503 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

How fleeting emotions affect hazard perception and steering while driving: The impact of image arousal and valence.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:32:09 +0100

This study investigated the lingering effects of emotion-evoking images on driving as measured in a driving simulator. Images were projected on an in-vehicle display while drivers followed a lead vehicle at a safe distance. To ensure attention to the images drivers were required to indicate whether each image was positive or negative by pressing a button. Occasional braking events (sudden decelerations in the lead vehicle that necessitated braking) occurred either 250 or 500ms after the button press. In the 250ms delay condition braking RT was faster after high arousal images (fastest for high arousal positive images); following a 500ms delay braking RT was slower after high arousal images (slowest for high arousal negative images). Responding to all images reduced steering performance (in...

Use of crash surrogates and exceedance statistics to estimate road safety.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:31:58 +0100

Authors: Tarko AP Abstract The limited ability of existing safety models to properly reflect crash causality has its source in cross-sectional analysis applied to the estimation of the intrinsically complex safety factors with highly aggregated and frequently poor quality of data. The adequacy of the data may be improved thanks to the unprecedented progress in sensing technologies and the invention of the naturalistic driving method of data collection. Proposed in this paper is a new modeling paradigm that integrates several types of safety models. The primary improvement results from a more adequate representation of the crash occurrence process by incorporating crash precursor events into the modeling framework. A Pareto-based estimating method for the likelihood of a collision o...

Cyclist safety on bicycle boulevards and parallel arterial routes in Berkeley, California.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:31:47 +0100

This study compares the safety of bicyclists riding on bicycle boulevards to those riding on parallel arterial routes in Berkeley, California. Literature on the impact of motor vehicle traffic characteristics on cyclist safety shows that high motor vehicle speeds and volumes and the presence of heavy vehicles are all detrimental to cyclist safety. This suggests that cyclists may be safer on side streets than on busy arterials. Bicycle boulevards-traffic-calmed side streets signed and improved for cyclist use-purport to offer cyclists a safer alternative to riding on arterials. Police-reported bicycle collision data and manually collected cyclist count data from bicycle boulevards and parallel arterial routes in Berkeley, California from 2003 to 2010 are used to test the hypothesis that Ber...

Safety management by walking around (SMBWA): A safety intervention program based on both peer and manager participation.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:31:37 +0100

We describe a three-year long case study that collected empirical data in which a modified MBWA was practiced in order to improve safety in a semiconductor fabrication facility. The main modification involved integrating an information system with the MBWA in order to create a practice that would generate safety leadership development and an organizational safety learning mechanism, while promoting employee safety participation. The results of the case study demonstrate that the SMBWA practice facilitated thousands of tours in which safety leadership behaviors were practiced by managers and by employees (employees performed five times as many tours as managers). The information system collected information about safety behaviors and safety conditions that could not otherwise be obtained. T...

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The negative binomial-Lindley generalized linear model: Characteristics and application using crash data.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:31:26 +0100

The objective of this paper is to document the application of a NB generalized linear model with Lindley mixed effects (NB-L GLM) for analyzing traffic crash data. The study objective was accomplished using simulated and observed datasets. The simulated dataset was used to show the general performance of the model. The model was then applied to two datasets based on observed data. One of the dataset was characterized by a large amount of zeros. The NB-L GLM was compared with the NB and zero-inflated models. Overall, the research study shows that the NB-L GLM not only offers superior performance over the NB and zero-inflated models when datasets are characterized by a large number of zeros and a long tail, but also when the crash dataset is highly dispersed. PMID: 22269508 [PubMed - in ...

Distraction and pedestrian safety: How talking on the phone, texting, and listening to music impact crossing the street.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:31:15 +0100

This study was designed to test how talking on the phone, texting, and listening to music may influence pedestrian safety. 138 college students crossed an interactive, semi-immersive virtual pedestrian street. They were randomly assigned to one of four groups: crossing while talking on the phone, crossing while texting, crossing while listening to a personal music device, or crossing while undistracted. Participants distracted by music or texting were more likely to be hit by a vehicle in the virtual pedestrian environment than were undistracted participants. Participants in all three distracted groups were more likely to look away from the street environment (and look toward other places, such as their telephone or music device) than were undistracted participants. Findings were maintaine...

The range of replications technique for assessing the external validity of road safety evaluation studies.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:31:04 +0100

Authors: Elvik R Abstract This paper introduces a simple statistical technique that can be used to assess the external validity of road safety evaluation studies. External validity refers to the possibility of generalising the results of research to other contexts than those in which it was made. There are several aspects of external validity. Two aspects that are often of interest concern the applicability of the results of road safety evaluation studies across countries and time. Can the results of studies made in one or more countries be applied in countries where studies have not been made? Can the results of studies made many years ago still be applied? The technique introduced in this paper is designed to provide support in answering these questions. The technique evaluates t...

Fuzzy approach for reducing subjectivity in estimating occupational accident severity.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:30:53 +0100

Authors: Pinto A, Ribeiro RA, Nunes IL Abstract Quantifying or, more generally, estimating the severity of the possible consequences of occupational accidents is a decisive step in any occupational risk assessment process. Because of the lack of historic information (accident data collection and recording are incipient and insufficient, particularly in construction) and the lack of practical tools in the construction industry, the estimation/quantification of occupational accident severity is a notably arbitrary process rather than a systematic and rigorous assessment. This work proposes several severity functions (based on a safety risk assessment) to represent biomechanical knowledge with the aim of determining the severity level of occupational accidents in the construction indu...

Fatal crash involvement of unlicensed young drivers: County level differences according to material deprivation and urbanicity in the United States.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:30:43 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: An association with material deprivation and the likelihood of a fatal crash involving a young unlicensed driver is a new finding. It can be used to inform specific county-level interventions and promote state licensing policies to provide equity in young people's mobility regardless of where they live. PMID: 22269512 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

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Modeling the impact of spatial relationships on horizontal curve safety.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:30:32 +0100

Authors: Findley DJ, Hummer JE, Rasdorf W, Zegeer CV, Fowler TJ Abstract The curved segments of roadways are more hazardous because of the additional centripetalforces exerted on a vehicle, driver expectations, and other factors. The safety of a curve is dependent on various factors, most notably by geometric factors, but the location of a curve in relation to other curves is also thought to influence the safety of those curves because of a driver's expectation to encounter additional curves. The link between an individual curve's geometric characteristics and its safety performance has been established, but spatial considerations are typically not included in a safety analysis. The spatial considerations included in this research consisted of four components: distance to adjacent ...

Fuzzy-logic-based network for complex systems risk assessment: Application to ship performance analysis.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:30:22 +0100

Authors: Abou SC Abstract In this paper, a new interpretation of intuitionistic fuzzy sets in the advanced framework of the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence is extended to monitor safety-critical systems' performance. Not only is the proposed approach more effective, but it also takes into account the fuzzy rules that deal with imperfect knowledge/information and, therefore, is different from the classical Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy system, which assumes that the rule (the knowledge) is perfect. We provide an analytical solution to the practical and important problem of the conceptual probabilistic approach for formal ship safety assessment using the fuzzy set theory that involves uncertainties associated with the reliability input data. Thus, the overall safety of the ship engine is in...

Aggregate nonparametric safety analysis of traffic zones.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:30:11 +0100

Authors: Siddiqui C, Abdel-Aty M, Huang H Abstract Exploring the significant variables related to specific types of crashes is vitally important in the planning stage of a transportation network. This paper aims to identify and examine important variables associated with total crashes and severe crashes per traffic analysis zone (TAZ) in four counties of the state of Florida by applying nonparametric statistical techniques such as data mining and random forest. The intention of investigating these factors in such aggregate level analysis is to incorporate proactive safety measures in transportation planning. Total and severe crashes per TAZ were modeled to provide predictive decision trees. The variables which carried higher weight of importance for total crashes per TAZ were - tot...

Discrepancies between knowledge and practice of childhood motor vehicle occupant safety in Nova Scotia-A population-based study.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:30:01 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: Discrepancies between knowledge and practice are evident through all stages of CMVRs, but most marked with booster seats. The roles of lower socioeconomic status and gaps in CMVR legislation, in influencing discrepant practice, must be acknowledged and suggest the need for targeted education concurrent with development of comprehensive all-stages CMVR policies. PMID: 22269516 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

The beliefs which motivate young male and female drivers to speed: A comparison of low and high intenders.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:29:50 +0100

Authors: Horvath C, Lewis I, Watson B Abstract In Australia, young drivers aged 17-24 years, and particularly males, have the highest risk of being involved in a fatal crash. Investigation of young drivers' beliefs allows for a greater understanding of their involvement in risky behaviours, such as speeding, as beliefs are associated with intentions, the antecedent to behaviour. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was used to conceptualise beliefs using a scenario based questionnaire distributed to licenced drivers (N=398). The questionnaire measured individual's beliefs and intentions to speed in a particular situation. Consistent with a TPB-based approach, the beliefs of those with low intentions to speed ('low intenders') were compared with the beliefs of those with high inten...

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Pedestrian head translation, rotation and impact velocity: The influence of vehicle speed, pedestrian speed and pedestrian gait.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:29:39 +0100

Authors: Elliott JR, Simms CK, Wood DP Abstract In road traffic collisions, pedestrian injuries and fatalities account for approximately 11% and 20% of casualties in the USA and the EU, respectively. In many less motorised countries, the majority of victims are pedestrians. The significant influences of vehicle speed, pedestrian speed and pedestrian gait on pedestrian post-impact kinematics have been qualitatively noted in the literature, but there has been no quantitative approach to this problem. In this paper, the MADYMO MultiBody (MB) pedestrian model is used to analyse the influences of vehicle speed, pedestrian speed and pedestrian gait on the transverse translation of the pedestrian's head, head rotation about the vertical head axis and head impact velocity. Transverse trans...

The effects of driver identity on driving safety in a retrospective feedback system.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:29:27 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: The new retrospective feedback system with driver identity has the potential to enhance a person's driving safety (e.g., speeding, central-line crossing, momentum of potential collision), which is an indication of the valence of one's name in a feedback system design. PMID: 22269519 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Factors associated with hit-and-run pedestrian fatalities and driver identification.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:29:15 +0100

Authors: Macleod KE, Griswold JB, Arnold LS, Ragland DR Abstract As hit-and-run crashes account for a significant proportion of pedestrian fatalities, a better understanding of these crash types will assist efforts to reduce these fatalities. Of the more than 48,000 pedestrian deaths that were recorded in the United States between 1998 and 2007, 18.1% of them were caused by hit-and-run drivers. Using national data on single pedestrian-motor vehicle fatal crashes (1998-2007), logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors related to hit-and-run and to identify factors related to the identification of the hit-and-run driver. Results indicate an increased risk of hit-and-run in the early morning, poor light conditions, and on the weekend. There may also be an associat...

A Bayesian network based framework for real-time crash prediction on the basic freeway segments of urban expressways.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:29:03 +0100

Authors: Hossain M, Muromachi Y Abstract The concept of measuring the crash risk for a very short time window in near future is gaining more practicality due to the recent advancements in the fields of information systems and traffic sensor technology. Although some real-time crash prediction models have already been proposed, they are still primitive in nature and require substantial improvements to be implemented in real-life. This manuscript investigates the major shortcomings of the existing models and offers solutions to overcome them with an improved framework and modeling method. It employs random multinomial logit model to identify the most important predictors as well as the most suitable detector locations to acquire data to build such a model. Afterwards, it applies Baye...

Macroscopic spatial analysis of pedestrian and bicycle crashes.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:28:51 +0100

This study investigates the effect of spatial correlation using a Bayesian spatial framework to model pedestrian and bicycle crashes in Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs). Aggregate models for pedestrian and bicycle crashes were estimated as a function of variables related to roadway characteristics, and various demographic and socio-economic factors. It was found that significant differences were present between the predictor sets for pedestrian and bicycle crashes. The Bayesian Poisson-lognormal model accounting for spatial correlation for pedestrian crashes in the TAZs of the study counties retained nine variables significantly different from zero at 95% Bayesian credible interval. These variables were - total roadway length with 35mph posted speed limit, total number of intersections per TA...

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Investigation of a supplementary tool to assist in the prioritization of emphasis areas in North American strategic highway safety plans.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:28:39 +0100

This study reviewed the SHSP and traffic safety action plan of 53 jurisdictions in North America, and conducted descriptive data analyses to clarify the issues that currently affect the selection and prioritization process of jurisdiction-specific emphasis areas. We found that the current process relies heavily on high-level collision data analysis and communication among the SHSP stakeholders, but may not be the most efficient and effective way of selecting and prioritizing the emphasis areas and allocating safety improvement resources. This study then formulated a formal collision diagnosis test, known as the beta-binomial test, to clarify and illuminate the selection and the prioritization of jurisdiction-specific emphasis areas. We developed numerical examples to demonstrate how engine...

The effectiveness of alcohol control policies on alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the United States.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:28:27 +0100

Authors: Chang K, Wu CC, Ying YH Abstract Multiple alcohol control policies have been enacted since the early 1980s to keep drunk drivers off the roads and to prevent more alcohol-related traffic fatalities. In this paper, we analyze nine traffic policies to determine the extent to which each policy contributes to effective alcohol-related fatality prevention. Compared with the existing literature, this paper addresses a more comprehensive set of traffic policies. In addition, we used a panel GLS model that holds regional effects and state-specific time effects constant to analyze their impact on alcohol-related fatalities with two distinct rates: alcohol-related traffic deaths per capita and alcohol-related traffic deaths per total traffic deaths. While per capita alcohol-related ...

Driving styles and their associations with personality and motivation.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:28:15 +0100

Authors: Taubman-Ben-Ari O, Yehiel D Abstract The associations between driving styles and the Big-Five personality factors and perceived costs and benefits of driving were examined in order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of driving styles. Questionnaires tapping driving style, personality traits, motivations for driving, and background variables were completed by 320 drivers (150 men and 170 women). The results show that each driving style is associated with a unique set of sociodemographic, personality, and motivational factors. The reckless and angry styles were both endorsed more by men than women, by younger drivers, and by those displaying higher levels of Extroversion and thrill seeking, and lower levels of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. However, whereas t...

Influence of standing or seated pelvis on dummy responses in rear impacts.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:28:02 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: The matched testing showed no significant difference in occupant kinematics or biomechanical responses between the standing and seated pelvis in rear sled tests. The Hybrid III dummy with the seated pelvis is suitable for FMVSS 301 and other testing of seats and belt restraint systems in severe rear impacts. PMID: 22269526 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Errors in judging the approach rate of motorcycles in nighttime conditions and the effect of an improved lighting configuration.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:27:49 +0100

Authors: Gould M, Poulter DR, Helman S, Wann JP Abstract One of the key contributory factors for accident involvement is misjudgment of approach speed (Department for Transport, 2010). Past research has indicated that individuals can use the rate of visual looming in order to the judge time to passage (TTP) of approaching vehicles, and that smaller vehicles loom to a lesser extent than larger vehicles (e.g., Horswill et al., 2005). However, the judgment of TTP in nighttime conditions has received little attention. This paper explores drivers' abilities to make judgments of motorcycles and car approach speeds in nighttime driving conditions, when only the headlights are visible, as well as the effectiveness of a tri-headlight configuration on the accuracy of motorcycle speed judgmen...

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The influence of car registration year on driver casualty rates in Great Britain.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:27:35 +0100

Authors: Broughton J Abstract A previous paper analysed data from the British national road accident reporting system to investigate the influence upon car driver casualty rates of the general type of car being driven and its year of first registration. A statistical model was fitted to accident data from 2001 to 2005, and this paper updates the principal results using accident data from 2003 to 2007. Attention focuses upon the role of year of first registration since this allows the influence of developments in car design upon occupant casualty numbers to be evaluated. Three additional topics are also examined with these accident data. Changes over time in frontal and side impacts are compared. Changes in the combined risk for the two drivers involved in a car-car collision are in...

The effect of sanctions and police enforcement on drivers' choice of speed.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:27:20 +0100

Authors: Ryeng EO Abstract A Stated Preference survey of speed choice on Norwegian rural roads with 80km/h speed limit was made by the roadside in order to determine which factors most strongly influence this choice. The aim was to study deliberate speeding to identify any correlations between speed choice and (1) the drivers' perception of the level of police enforcement, (2) penalties for speeding and (3) the speed choice of the other drivers on the road. Drivers were asked about their perception of these variables before being presented to nine hypothetical situations for which they were asked about the most likely speed to choose. Speed measurements were conducted before the interview, but without informing respondents of it. A total of 408 interviews were made. Drivers made ba...

Strategies for dealing with resistance to recommendations from accident investigations.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:27:05 +0100

Authors: Lundberg J, Rollenhagen C, Hollnagel E, Rankin A Abstract Accident investigation reports usually lead to a set of recommendations for change. These recommendations are, however, sometimes resisted for reasons such as various aspects of ethics and power. When accident investigators are aware of this, they use several strategies to overcome the resistance. This paper describes strategies for dealing with four different types of resistance to change. The strategies were derived from qualitative analysis of 25 interviews with Swedish accident investigators from seven application domains. The main contribution of the paper is a better understanding of effective strategies for achieving change associated with accident investigation. PMID: 22269530 [PubMed - in process] (Sour...

Another look at safety climate and safety behavior: Deepening the cognitive and social mediator mechanisms.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:26:50 +0100

In this study, safety climate literature and the theory of planned behavior were combined to explore the cognitive and social mechanisms that mediate the relationship between organizational safety climate and compliance and proactive safety behaviors. The sample consisted of 356 workers from a transportation organization. Using a multiple mediation design, the results revealed that proactive and compliance safety behaviors are explained by different patterns of combinations of individual and situational factors related to safety. On the one hand, the relationship between organizational safety climate and proactive safety behaviors was mediated by coworkers' descriptive norms and attitudes toward safety. On the other hand, supervisors' injunctive safety norms and perceived behavioral contro...

Using support vector machine models for crash injury severity analysis.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:26:36 +0100

Authors: Li Z, Liu P, Wang W, Xu C Abstract The study presented in this paper investigated the possibility of using support vector machine (SVM) models for crash injury severity analysis. Based on crash data collected at 326 freeway diverge areas, a SVM model was developed for predicting the injury severity associated with individual crashes. An ordered probit (OP) model was also developed using the same dataset. The research team compared the performance of the SVM model and the OP model. It was found that the SVM model produced better prediction performance for crash injury severity than did the OP model. The percent of correct prediction for the SVM model was found to be 48.8%, which was higher than that produced by the OP model (44.0%). Even though the SVM model may suffer from...

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Braking from different speeds: Judgments of collision speed if a car does not stop in time.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:26:21 +0100

Authors: Svenson O, Eriksson G, Gonzalez N Abstract The purpose of speed limits is to keep driving speed low enough for drivers to be able to pay attention to relevant information and timely execute maneuvers so that the car can be driven in a safe way and stopped in time. If a driver violates a speed limit or drives too fast she or he will not be able to stop as quickly as from a slower speed. We asked participants to imagine that they themselves had driven a car outside a school at a speed of 30km/h when a child suddenly had rushed into the street. From this speed it was possible to stop the car just in front of the child after braking as quickly and forcefully as possible. We then asked the participants to imagine that they drove the same street at a higher speed of 50km/h and t...

The acute effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and methamphetamine on driving: A simulator study.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:26:06 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study have for the first time illustrated how both MDMA and methamphetamine effect driving performance, and provide support for legislation regarding testing for the presence of illicit drugs in impaired or injured drivers as deterrents for driving under the influence of illicit drugs. PMID: 22269534 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

The prevalence and nature of stopped on-the-road driving tests and the relationship with objective performance impairment.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:25:51 +0100

CONCLUSION: Driving tests are sometimes stopped after drug treatment or placebo. The decision to stop driving is not a good correlate of objective performance. PMID: 22269535 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Crashes and crash-surrogate events: Exploratory modeling with naturalistic driving data.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:25:37 +0100

Authors: Wu KF, Jovanis PP Abstract There is a need to extend and refine the use of crash surrogates to enhance safety analyses. This is particularly true given opportunities for data collection presented by naturalistic driving studies. This paper connects the original research on traffic conflicts to the contemporary literature concerning crash surrogates using the crash-to-surrogate ratio, π. A conceptual structure is developed in which the ratio can be estimated using either a Logit or Probit formulation which captures context and event variables as predictors in the model specification. This allows the expansion of the crash-to-surrogate concept beyond traffic conflicts to many contexts and crash types. The structure is tested using naturalistic driving data from a study cond...

The relative risk of nearside accidents is high for the youngest and oldest pedestrians.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:25:22 +0100

Authors: Dunbar G Abstract Police road accident data from Great Britain for 1990-2009 were analysed. RR(NF) is the risk of a casualty occurring in the first half of road crossing, the half nearest to the pedestrian's starting position at the roadside, compared to the risk of it occurring in the second half. Children and younger adult pedestrians had a high relative risk of being killed or seriously injured in the nearside of the road (RR(NF)). RR(NF) decreased with age, for men and women, but rose again for people aged over 85 years. It was also substantially lower for children under 10 years old. Three possible explanations for lifespan changes in RR(NF) were evaluated: that change results from slower walking speeds, from a specific failure to attend to the far side before beginni...

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The effects of non-evaluative feedback on drivers' self-evaluation and performance.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:25:10 +0100

Authors: Dogan E, Steg L, Delhomme P, Rothengatter T Abstract Drivers' tend to overestimate their competences, which may result in risk taking behavior. Providing drivers with feedback has been suggested as one of the solutions to overcome drivers' inaccurate self-evaluations. In practice, many tests and driving simulators provide drivers with non-evaluative feedback, which conveys information on the level of performance but not on what caused the performance. Is this type of feedback indeed effective in reducing self-enhancement biases? The current study aimed to investigate the effect of non-evaluative performance feedback on drivers' self-evaluations using a computerized hazard perception test. A between-subjects design was used with one group receiving feedback on performance i...

A field evaluation of real-life motor vehicle accidents: Presence of unrestrained objects and their association with distribution and severity of patient injuries.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:24:57 +0100

Authors: Staff T, Eken T, Hansen TB, Steen PA, Søvik S Abstract Moving objects may pose an added threat to car occupants in motor vehicle accidents (MVAs). However, to our knowledge, there have only been two case studies published on the subject. For the present study, accident reports and photo documentation from MVAs were collected on-scene by dedicated paramedics. Emergency medical service personnel on-scene were interviewed as necessary. Potentially harmful unrestrained objects in the involved motor vehicles (MVs) were identified and categorised by type, weight and hardness. Seatback offset by unrestrained objects was noted. The patient injury distribution (Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) body regions) and severity (AIS severity scores and New Injury Severity Score (NISS) score...

The characteristics of young pre-licensed drivers: Evidence from the New Zealand Drivers Study.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:24:43 +0100

CONCLUSION: The young people who were pre-licensed drivers displayed a range of demographic and behavioural characteristics that indicate they may be at higher crash risk than their peers who did not drive before licensing. Identifying those who drive before licensing and targeting road safety interventions towards this group may help reduce the high crash risk among novice drivers. PMID: 22269540 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

The effects of driving experience on responses to a static hazard perception test.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:24:31 +0100

Authors: Scialfa CT, Borkenhagen D, Lyon J, Deschênes M, Horswill M, Wetton M Abstract Novice drivers exhibit deficits in hazard perception that are likely to increase their risk of collisions. We developed a static hazard perception test that presents still images to observers and requires them to indicate the presence of a traffic conflict that would lead to a collision. Responses to these scenes were obtained for young adult novice (N=29) and experienced drivers (N=27). Additionally, participants rated the hazard risk and clutter of each scene. Novice drivers rated traffic conflicts as less hazardous and responded more slowly to them. Using a subset of 21 scenes, we were able to discriminate novice and experienced young adult drivers with a classification accuracy of 78% and a ...

A holistic approach for assessing traffic safety in the United Arab Emirates.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:24:19 +0100

Authors: Hassan MN, Hawas YE, Maraqa MA Abstract Traffic accident and fatality rates can be utilized as indicators of traffic safety, but cannot reflect the overall status of traffic safety in a country. This paper uses a holistic perspective approach to investigate traffic safety in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Initially, 12 potential items were selected to investigate the issue of traffic safety in the country. The investigation included data collection and analyses from official police reports, survey among road-users and interview of traffic safety experts. Based on data analysis and interpretation, the main factors affecting traffic safety in the UAE along with their level of deficiency were identified. The study revealed that the main factors contributing to traffic safety...

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Drivers' comprehension of traffic information on graphical route information panels.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:24:08 +0100

Authors: Lai CJ Abstract The concept of using signs to display graphical traffic information is now becoming increasingly popular. The main objective of this study was to design and undertake laboratory research to examine whether the content of traffic information displayed on graphical route information panel (GRIP) could be readily understood. Six kinds of GRIP signs that composed of three changeable information contents (road color only, road color with journey time, and road color with traffic speed) and two different road network types (triangle and tetragon) were proposed and tested in the experiment. Results showed that GRIP with road color only had the greatest optimum route choice percentage and the fastest response time compared to the other contents. On the contrary, GR...

Safety effects of unsignalized superstreets in North Carolina.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:23:56 +0100

Authors: Ott SE, Haley RL, Hummer JE, Foyle RS, Cunningham CM Abstract Arterials across the United States are experiencing far too many collisions. Agencies tasked with improving these arterials have few available effective solutions. Superstreets, called restricted crossing u-turns by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), are part of a menu of unconventional arterial intersection designs that may provide a promising solution. Up to this point, there is little valid information available on the safety effects of superstreets, as study results have been from basic analyses that only account for traffic volume changes. The purpose of this research was to determine the safety effects of the unsignalized superstreet countermeasure on existing arterials in North Carolina. The safet...

Decision-making capacities and affective reward anticipation in DWI recidivists compared to non-offenders: A preliminary study.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:23:45 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: Decision making is a plausible explanatory neurocognitive pathway to severer forms of DWI. The role of emotional processing in DWI risk is uncertain. Subtyping DWI offenders using neurocognitive criteria seems a promising avenue for improving clinically meaningful methods of DWI risk assessment and intervention. PMID: 22269545 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Brake lamp detection in complex and dynamic environments: Recognizing limitations of visual attention and perception.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:23:33 +0100

Authors: McIntyre S, Gugerty L, Duchowski A Abstract Worldwide, both brake lamps and tail lamps on motor vehicles are required to be red. Previous studies have not examined the effect of this confound in a complex, high-traffic scenario in a driving simulator or on visuomotor behavior. In the first experiment, drivers detected brake lamps on nine lead vehicles and lane changes on two rear vehicles in a 15min simulated night time highway drive. A second experiment was used to examine the findings in the context of pre-attentive visual processing research. A third experiment analyzed visuomotor behavior and subjective workload during a vigilance task to further evaluate this hypothesis. For all studies, tail lamp color was manipulated, resulting in two conditions: the currently manda...

Some hazards are more attractive than others: Drivers of varying experience respond differently to different types of hazard.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:23:22 +0100

Authors: Crundall D, Chapman P, Trawley S, Collins L, van Loon E, Andrews B, Underwood G Abstract The ability to detect hazards in video clips of driving has been inconsistently linked to driving experience and skill. One potential reason for the lack of consistency is the failure to understand the structural differences between those hazards that discriminate between safe and unsafe drivers, and those that do not. The current study used a car simulator to test drivers of differing levels of experience on approach to a series of hazards that were categorized a priori according to their underlying structure. The results showed that learner drivers took longer to fixate hazards, although they were particularly likely to miss hazards that were obscured by the environment (such as a pe...

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What does the driver look at? The influence of intersection characteristics on attention allocation and driving behavior.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:23:11 +0100

Authors: Werneke J, Vollrath M Abstract One of the main contributing factors with intersection accidents is lack of information due to attention allocation. In many cases, drivers fail to yield right of way to other traffic participants. One reason is that drivers have inappropriate expectations about a traffic situation. They allocate their attention primarily to certain areas of the intersection but neglect others. In a driving simulator study, the influence of intersection complexity on drivers' expectations and their driving behavior was examined. In two T-intersections, the complexity was varied by the traffic density (low and high) using either one or two important objects: vehicles (left) with or without pedestrians (right). Additionally, the reaction to two critical inciden...

Differentiating risky and aggressive driving: Further support of the internal validity of the Dula Dangerous Driving Index.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:23:00 +0100

Authors: Richer I, Bergeron J Abstract The Dula Dangerous Driving Index (DDDI) is a cross-cultural validated instrument that measures simultaneously various manifestations of behaviours, cognitions, and affects associated with dangerous driving. The aims of the study were to translate the DDDI into French and then to verify the validity and reliability of the French version of the scale by means of observed behaviours on a driving simulator, and of self-reported measures of driving behaviours, personality and sociodemographic characteristics. A first sample of 395 drivers completed self-reported questionnaires and a second sample of 75 male drivers also completed tasks on a driving simulator. A confirmatory factorial analysis supported the internal validity of the scale. Findings a...

A study of factors affecting highway accident rates using the random-parameters tobit model.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:22:49 +0100

Authors: Anastasopoulos PCh, Mannering FL, Shankar VN, Haddock JE Abstract A large body of previous literature has used a variety of count-data modeling techniques to study factors that affect the frequency of highway accidents over some time period on roadway segments of a specified length. An alternative approach to this problem views vehicle accident rates (accidents per mile driven) directly instead of their frequencies. Viewing the problem as continuous data instead of count data creates a problem in that roadway segments that do not have any observed accidents over the identified time period create continuous data that are left-censored at zero. Past research has appropriately applied a tobit regression model to address this censoring problem, but this research has been limit...

Cognitive screening of older drivers does not produce safety benefits.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:22:37 +0100

Authors: Siren A, Meng A Abstract Although screening policies for older drivers based on chronological age are widely used in many countries, previous research has shown that increasing age does not cause higher crash rates and that consequently, chronological age per se is at best only a weak predictor of safe driving performance. Previous research on age-based mandatory screening of older drivers has not been able to demonstrate any safety benefits from screening measures. The present study is a population-based evaluation of the safety effects that the introduction of the cognitive test as an age-based screening tool has had in Denmark. The primary data used came from the Danish road accident register. The present study compared the number of fatal accidents before and after the...

The influence of conformity and group identity on drink walking intentions: Comparing intentions to drink walk across risky pedestrian crossing scenarios.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:22:26 +0100

This study examined the influence of psychosocial factors upon individuals' intentions to drink walk across four experimental scenarios (and a control condition). Specifically, a 2×2 repeated measures design was utilised in which all of the scenarios incorporated a risky pedestrian crossing situation (i.e., a pedestrian crossing against a red man signal) but differed according to the level of group identity (i.e., low/strangers and high/friends) and conformity (low and high). Individuals were assessed for their intentions to drink walk within each of these different scenarios. Undergraduate students (N=151), aged 17-30 years, completed a questionnaire. Overall, most of the study's hypotheses were supported with individuals reporting the highest intentions to drink walk when in the presenc...

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Analysis of crash severities using nested logit model-Accounting for the underreporting of crashes.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:22:15 +0100

This study demonstrates an application of a recently proposed weighted conditional maximum likelihood estimator in tackling the problem of underreporting of crashes when using a nested logit model for crash severity analyses. PMID: 22269553 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Does contracting with owner operators lead to worse safety outcomes for US motor carriers? Evidence from the Motor Carrier Management Information System.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:22:04 +0100

Authors: Monaco K, Redmon B Abstract Using data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System, we model crashes as a function of firm characteristics, with a focus on the employment relationship. We find that very small firms (one driver, one truck) and firms that contract with owner operators have fewer crashes than employee-only companies, once other firm characteristics and exposure are controlled. Additionally, though very small firms are more likely to have severe crashes, we find no relationship between the share of owner operators and crash severity. PMID: 22269554 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Age differences in simulated driving performance: Compensatory processes.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:21:52 +0100

Authors: Andrews EC, Westerman SJ Abstract In the context of driving, the reported experiment examines compensatory processes for age-related declines in cognitive ability. Younger (26-40 years) and older (60+ years) participants (n=22 each group) performed a car following task in a driving simulator. Several performance measures were recorded, including assessments of anticipation of unfolding traffic events. Participants also completed a range of measures of cognitive ability - including both fluid and crystallised abilities. Three examples of age-related compensation are reported: (i) older drivers adopted longer headways than younger drivers. Data were consistent with this being compensation for an age-related deficit in complex reaction time; (ii) older drivers with relatively...

Examination of factors determining fault in two-vehicle motorcycle crashes.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:21:41 +0100

This study assesses how various rider-, driver-, and other crash-specific factors contribute to at-fault status in two-vehicle motorcycle crashes, as well as how these same factors affect the propensity for other high-risk behaviors. Furthermore, the interrelationships among fault status and these other behaviors are also examined using a multivariate probit model. This model is developed using police-reported crash data for the years 2006-2010 from the State of Ohio. The results show that younger motorcyclists are more likely to be at-fault in the event of a collision, as are riders who are under the influence of alcohol, riding without insurance, or not wearing a helmet. Similarly, motorcyclists were less likely to be at-fault when the other driver was of younger age or was driving under...

Reliability of simulator driving tool for evaluation of sleepiness, fatigue and driving performance.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:21:29 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: In healthy subjects, the INRETS-MSIS SIM2 simulator appropriately measures driving impairment in terms of inappropriate line crossings related to extended wakefulness but has limitations to measure the impact of extended driving on drivers' performance. PMID: 22269557 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

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A prospective cohort study on minor accidents involving commuter cyclists in Belgium.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:21:18 +0100

Authors: de Geus B, Vandenbulcke G, Int Panis L, Thomas I, Degraeuwe B, Cumps E, Aertsens J, Torfs R, Meeusen R Abstract The purpose of this study is to gain insight into bicycle accidents. Bicycle accident data and weekly exposure data were prospectively collected for one year to calculate the incidence rate (IR) of bicycle accidents. An accident was included if it occurred during utilitarian cycling, resulting in an acute injury with corporal damage. If an accident occurred, a detailed questionnaire was filled out to collect detailed information about its circumstances and consequences. A sample of 1087 regular (≥2 cycling trips to work a week) adult (40±10 years) cyclists was analyzed. Over the 1-year follow-up period, 20,107 weeks were covered, accumulating 1,474,978 cycled ...

Psychosocial safety climate moderates the job demand-resource interaction in predicting workgroup distress.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:21:06 +0100

Authors: Dollard MF, Tuckey MR, Dormann C Abstract Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) arises from workplace policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety that are largely driven by management. Many work stress theories are based on the fundamental interaction hypothesis - that a high level of job demands (D) will lead to psychological distress and that this relationship will be offset when there are high job resources (R). However we proposed that this interaction really depends on the organizational context; in particular high levels of psychosocial safety climate will enable the safe utilization of resources to reduce demands. The study sample consisted of police constables from 23 police units (stations) with longitudinal survey ...

Evaluation of a program to enhance young drivers' safety in Israel.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:20:54 +0100

Authors: Toledo T, Lotan T, Taubman-Ben-Ari O, Grimberg E Abstract Young drivers in Israel, as in other parts of the world, are involved in car crashes more than any other age group. The graduated driver licensing system in Israel requires that all new drivers be accompanied by an experienced driver whenever they drive for the first 3months after obtaining a driving license. In an effort to make the accompanied driving phase more effective, a novel program which targets both young drivers and their parents was initiated in 2005. The program administers a personal meeting with the young driver and the accompanying parent scheduled for the beginning of the accompanied driving phase. In this meeting guidance is given regarding best practices for undertaking the accompanied driving, as...

Distracted driving in elderly and middle-aged drivers.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:20:43 +0100

This study examined distracted driving performance in an instrumented vehicle (IV) in 86 elderly (mean=72.5 years, SD=5.0 years) and 51 middle-aged drivers (mean=53.7 years, SD=9.3 year) under a concurrent auditory-verbal processing load created by the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). Compared to baseline (no-task) driving performance, distraction was associated with reduced steering control in both groups, with middle-aged drivers showing a greater increase in steering variability. The elderly drove slower and showed decreased speed variability during distraction compared to middle-aged drivers. They also tended to "freeze up", spending significantly more time holding the gas pedal steady, another tactic that may mitigate time pressured integration and control of information, ...

The effects of positive emotion priming on self-reported reckless driving.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:20:31 +0100

Authors: Taubman-Ben-Ari O Abstract Five studies examined the effects of positive emotion priming on the willingness to drive recklessly. In all five, young drivers were exposed to one of the following primes of positive affect: a positive mood story; happy memories; an exciting film; a relaxing film; or thoughts on the meaning in life. Following the prime, the participants were asked to report on their willingness to drive recklessly. The responses were compared to those of groups exposed either to neutral affect, another kind of positive affect, or negative affect priming. In two of the studies, participants were also asked to report on their driving styles (risky, anxious, angry, or careful) as a second dependent variable. Positive affect, especially in the form of arousal, was ...

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Using reflective clothing to enhance the conspicuity of bicyclists at night.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:20:20 +0100

Authors: Wood JM, Tyrrell RA, Marszalek R, Lacherez P, Carberry T, Chu BS Abstract Bicycling at night is more dangerous than in the daytime and poor conspicuity is likely to be a contributing factor. The use of reflective markings on a pedestrian's major joints to facilitate the perception of biological motion has been shown to greatly enhance pedestrian conspicuity at night, but few corresponding data exist for bicyclists. Twelve younger and twelve older participants drove around a closed-road circuit at night and indicated when they first recognized a bicyclist who wore black clothing either alone, or together with a reflective bicycling vest, or a vest plus ankle and knee reflectors. The bicyclist pedalled in place on a bicycle that had either a static or flashing light, or no l...

Substance use and social, health and safety-related factors among fatally injured drivers.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:20:09 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: Substance abuse and mental health problems, as well as reckless driving behavior were more pronounced among fatally injured drivers with substance findings when compared to sober drivers. Thus, prevention and early intervention concerning substance abuse, mental health problems and DUI are essential. Improved traffic safety cannot be achieved by means of traffic policy only, but integration with other policies, such as health and social policy should be strengthened. PMID: 22269564 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

The development of railway safety in Finland.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:19:59 +0100

This study reviews the development of railway safety in Finland from 1959 to 2008. The results show that the level of safety has greatly improved over the past five decades. The total number of railway fatalities did not show any obvious decreasing or increasing trend during the first decade, but since the early 1970s the annual number of fatalities has decreased from about 100 to 20. The estimated overall annual reduction per year from 1970 to 2008 was 5.4% (with a 95% confidence interval from -8.2% to -2.6%). The reduction in subcategories per million train-kilometres from 1959 to 2008 was 4.4% per year for passengers, 8.3% for employees, 5.0% for road users at level crossings and 3.6% for others (mainly trespassers). The safety improvement for passengers and staff was probably influence...

Safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organisations: Antecedents and consequences of safety behaviour.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:19:48 +0100

Authors: Fernández-Muñiz B, Montes-Peón JM, Vázquez-Ordás CJ Abstract The occupational health and safety standard OHSAS 18001 has gained considerable acceptance worldwide, and firms from diverse sectors and of varying sizes have implemented it. Despite this, very few studies have analysed safety management or the safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organisations. The current work aims to analyse the safety climate in these organisations, identify its dimensions, and propose and test a structural equation model that will help determine the antecedents and consequences of employees' safety behaviour. For this purpose, the authors carry out an empirical study using a sample of 131 OHSAS 18001-certified organisations located in Spain. The results show that management's commitm...

The effects of on-street parking and road environment visual complexity on travel speed and reaction time.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:19:37 +0100

Authors: Edquist J, Rudin-Brown CM, Lenné MG Abstract On-street parking is associated with elevated crash risk. It is not known how drivers' mental workload and behaviour in the presence of on-street parking contributes to, or fails to reduce, this increased crash risk. On-street parking tends to co-exist with visually complex streetscapes that may affect workload and crash risk in their own right. The present paper reports results from a driving simulator study examining the effects of on-street parking and road environment visual complexity on driver behaviour and surrogate measures of crash risk. Twenty-nine participants drove a simulated urban commercial and arterial route. Compared to sections with no parking bays or empty parking bays, in the presence of occupied parking bay...

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The role of cognitive and visual abilities as predictors in the Multifactorial Model of Driving Safety.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:19:27 +0100

CONCLUSION: The Capacity to Drive Safely declines with chronological age, and this decline is associated with age-related declines in several higher order cognitive abilities involving manipulation and storage of visuospatial information under speeded conditions. There are also age-independent effects of cognitive function and vision that determine driving safety. PMID: 22269568 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Early driving experience and influence on risk perception in young rural people.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:19:16 +0100

Authors: Knight PJ, Iverson D, Harris MF Abstract Young people, particularly males and those from a rural area, are over represented in road crashes; this occurs in vehicle dependent countries around the world, including Australia. The attitudes, experiences and behaviours of young drivers are some of the key factors which affect their potential to have an early on road driving experience that is crash free. This paper considers the views of young people, some of whom were brought up on rural properties, and had significant, responsible roles in agricultural work, including task related driving from a very early age. This early responsibility and associated awareness of risk of injury in farm related tasks can affect risk perception and impact on later risk taking behaviours. Ten f...

Fatal intersection crashes in Norway: Patterns in contributing factors and data collection challenges.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:19:07 +0100

Authors: Ljung Aust M, Fagerlind H, Sagberg F Abstract Fatal motor vehicle intersection crashes occurring in Norway in the years 2005-2007 were analyzed to identify causation patterns among their underlying contributing factors, and also to assess if the data collection and documentation procedures used by the Norwegian in-depth investigation teams produces the information necessary to do causation pattern analysis. 28 fatal accidents were analyzed. Causation charts of contributing factors were first coded for each driver in each crash using the Driving Reliability and Error Analysis Method (DREAM). Next, the charts were aggregated based on a combination of conflict types and whether the driver was going straight or turning. Analysis results indicate that drivers who were performin...

Short-term outcomes of a motivation-enhancing approach to DUI intervention.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:18:57 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that a motivation-enhancing approach can be effective in producing short-term change in factors that can help facilitate and sustain behavioral change. This is consistent with previous research on the use of motivational approaches, and extends such findings to suggest promise in group-based settings and with people across demographic categories and dependence levels. Future research should focus on larger studies looking at long-term behavioral change, including recidivism. PMID: 22269571 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

Overly cautious and dangerous: An empirical evidence of the older driver stereotypes.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:18:47 +0100

Authors: Joanisse M, Gagnon S, Voloaca M Abstract Negative comments regarding the competency of older drivers are frequently heard in the general population. While negative stereotypes of older drivers seem to be present, their existence has yet to be empirically validated. We thus investigated the stereotypes pertaining to older drivers in two experiments. In both experiments young adults viewed 12 simulated clips of three categories of driving behaviors (i.e., younger adults' unsafe behaviors, older drivers' unsafe behaviors and appropriate-safe driving behaviors) without knowing the driver's age. They were asked to rate how representative the behaviors were of a typical younger, middle-aged, or older driver. Experiment 1 showed that older drivers' unsafe behaviors were rated as ...

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Job Demands-Control-Support model and employee safety performance.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:18:36 +0100

Authors: Turner N, Stride CB, Carter AJ, McCaughey D, Carroll AE Abstract The aim of this study was to explore whether work characteristics (job demands, job control, social support) comprising Karasek and Theorell's (1990) Job Demands-Control-Support framework predict employee safety performance (safety compliance and safety participation; Neal and Griffin, 2006). We used cross-sectional data of self-reported work characteristics and employee safety performance from 280 healthcare staff (doctors, nurses, and administrative staff) from Emergency Departments of seven hospitals in the United Kingdom. We analyzed these data using a structural equation model that simultaneously regressed safety compliance and safety participation on the main effects of each of the aforementioned work c...

Emotional abilities as predictors of risky driving behavior among a cohort of middle aged drivers.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:18:26 +0100

Authors: Arnau-Sabatés L, Sala-Roca J, Jariot-Garcia M Abstract The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between emotional abilities and the influence of this relationship on self reported drivers' risky attitudes. The risky driving attitudes and emotional abilities of 177 future driving instructors were measured. The results demonstrate that risky attitudes correlate negatively with emotional abilities. Regression analysis showed that adaptability and interpersonal abilities explained the differences observed in the global risk attitude index. There were some differences in the specific risk factors. The variability observed in the speed and distraction and fatigue factors could also be explained by interpersonal and adaptability abilities. Nevertheless the tendency t...

Planning sample sizes for before-after accident comparisons.

Accident; Analysis and Prevention. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:18:14 +0100

We present a simple method for estimating necessary sample sizes to obtain a target precision or power when the effect is represented as a proportional change in a Poisson rate. We also show that necessary sample sizes are not very different when full Bayesian models are implemented. PMID: 22269575 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Accident; Analysis and Prevention.)

GP commissioners should help coordinate social care

OnMedica Latest News — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

MPs call for doctors to tackle “fragmented” social care systemRelated items from OnMedicaFalls prevention services are not evidence-basedGPs should promote occupational therapy & physical activityHealth Bill still divides GPsHip fracture care improves in many areasIrish Assembly debates care of the elderly (Source: OnMedica Latest News)

Understanding Living Skills: First Steps to Evidence‐based Practice. Lessons Learned from a Practice‐based Journey in the Netherlands

Occupational Therapy International — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

AbstractLiving skills training is a commonly used but sparsely described and researched – occupational therapy – intervention for people with severe mental health problems. A service improvement project was established in a mental health organization in the Netherlands starting in 2006 to design more effective living skills training courses for individuals and groups. The steps of the evidence‐based practice process underpinned the project. Theoretical and empirical evidence was derived from an extensive literature review. This was supplemented by the preferences of clients and their families as an equally valued source of evidence as is the experience and knowledge of a range of mental health professionals. Information from these three sources provided building blocks for the develo...

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Sensitization and symptoms associated with soybean exposure in processing plants in South Africa

American Journal of Industrial Medicine — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

ConclusionsExposure and sensitization to soybean were associated with the presence of work related symptoms, including flu‐like symptoms, cough, chest tightness, and nasal symptoms. The aetiology of these symptoms and more particularly the best intervention strategies require more detailed investigation. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Source: American Journal of Industrial Medicine)

On the construction and use of linear low‐dimensional ventilation models

Indoor Air — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

AbstractThe construction of fast reliable low‐dimensional models is important for monitoring and control of ventilation applications. We employ a discrete Green’s function approach to derive a linear low‐dimensional ventilation model directly from the governing equations for indoor ventilation (i.e. the Navier–Stokes equations supplemented with a transport equation for indoor‐pollutant concentration). It is shown that the flow equations decouple from the concentration equation when the ratio α of air‐mass‐flow‐rate to pollutant‐mass‐flow‐rate increases to infinity. A low‐dimensional discrete representation of the Green’s function of the concentration equation can then be constructed, either based on numerical simulations or experiments. This serves as a linear mo...

Risk assessment for airborne infectious diseases in aircraft cabins

Indoor Air — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

AbstractPassengers in an aircraft cabin can have different risks of infection from airborne infectious diseases such as influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and tuberculosis (TB) due to the non‐uniform airflow in an aircraft cabin. The current investigation presents a comprehensive approach to assessing the spatial and temporal distribution of airborne infection risk in an aircraft cabin. A case of influenza outbreak was evaluated in a 4 hour flight in a twin aisle, fully occupied aircraft cabin with the index passenger seated at the center of the cabin. The approach considered the characteristics of the exhalation of the droplets carrying infectious agents from the index passenger; the dispersion of these droplets; and the inhalation of the droplets by susceptible passen...

Nuclear matrix protein‐22: a prospective evaluation in a population at risk for bladder cancer. Results from the UroScreen study

BJU International — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSIONS• NMP22 outcomes are affected by haematuria, infection and concentrated urine.• NMP22 alone cannot be recommended for primary screening in a high‐risk population nor as an alternative to cystoscopy during follow‐up.• A NMP22 test might be a useful adjunct to urine cytology. (Source: BJU International)

Clean Air Standards [Capitol Health Call]

JAMA — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

(Source: JAMA)

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Experimental exposure of healthy subjects with emissions from a gas metal arc welding process—part II: biomonitoring of chromium and nickel

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:34:03 +0100

Conclusion For the biological monitoring of chromium and nickel in urine of subjects exposed to welding fumes, a dependency on exposure dose was seen under standardized conditions after a single exposure over a period of 6 h. Thus, this study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between ambient and biological exposures from welding fumes and provides a good basis for evaluating future biological threshold values for these metals in welding occupation. Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Original ArticlePages 1-7DOI 10.1007/s00420-012-0738-8Authors Monika Gube, Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen, GermanyPeter Brand, Institute for Occupational and Social M...

Exposure of healthy subjects with emissions from a gas metal arc welding process: part 1—exposure technique and external exposure

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:34:02 +0100

Conclusion The Aachen Workplace Simulation Laboratory is suitable for controlled exposure studies with human subjects. Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Original ArticlePages 1-6DOI 10.1007/s00420-012-0739-7Authors P. Brand, Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, GermanyP. Havlicek, Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, GermanyM. Steiners, ISF, Welding and Joining Institute, Aachen University of Technology, Pontstraße 49, 52062 Aachen, GermanyK. Holzinger, ISF, Welding and Joining Institute, Aachen University of Technology, Pontstraße 49, 52062 Aachen, GermanyU. Reisgen, ISF, Welding and Joining Institute, ...

Exposure of healthy subjects with emissions from a gas metal arc welding process: part 3—biological effect markers and lung function

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:34:02 +0100

Conclusion In healthy, young subjects neither changes in spirometry nor changes in inflammatory markers measured in exhaled breath condensate could be detected after short-term exposure. Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Original ArticlePages 1-7DOI 10.1007/s00420-012-0740-1Authors P. Brand, Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Aachen University of Technology, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, GermanyK. Bischof, Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Aachen University of Technology, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, GermanyL. Siry, Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Aachen University of Technology, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, GermanyJ. Bertram, Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Aachen University of Technology, Pauwelsstr. 3...

Retrospective cohort study of accident outcomes for individuals who have successfully undergone driver assessment following stroke. - Pearce AM, Smead JM, Cameron ID.

SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:54:53 +0100

Background: The occupational role of 'driver' is highly valued. Stroke can have a significant impact on an individual's ability to drive safely. Multi-disciplinary driver assessments are conducted to assess the safety of post-stroke individuals returnin... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))

Comparison of FEV3, FEV6, FEV1/FEV3 and FEV1/FEV6 with usual spirometric indices

Respirology — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: FEV6 and FEV1/FEV6 can be used as surrogates for FVC and FEV1/FVC, respectively, and these parameters showed acceptable sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for occupational health evaluations.© 2012 The Author. Respirology © 2012 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (Source: Respirology)

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A Tool for Supporting Decision Making for Occupational Health Practitioners at the Occurrence of Novel Influenza.

Sangyo Eiseigaku Zasshi : Journal of Occupational Health — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Authors: Wada K, Suzuki H, Imai T, Aizawa Y PMID: 22306588 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Sangyo Eiseigaku Zasshi : Journal of Occupational Health)

Cadmium Exposure and Cancer MortalityCadmium Exposure and Cancer Mortality

Medscape Today Headlines — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:00:00 +0100

Is there conclusive evidence linking cadmium exposure to an increased risk of cancer? Read this study to find out the latest research. Occupational and Environmental Medicine (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)

Aphysiologic performance on dynamic posturography in work-related patients

European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:12:23 +0100

This study aimed to assess and compare the prevalence of aphysiologic performance on computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) in patients with the potential for secondary gain using a retrospective review of two groups of patients: work-related patients referred for dizziness and/or imbalance (Group 1) were compared against a group of patients with complaints of dizziness or imbalance, who had no history of work-related injury, or litigation procedures (Group 2). CDP and videonystagmography (VNG) were carried out in all patients. The Sensory Organization Test summaries were scored as normal, aphysiologic, or vestibular using the scoring method published by Cevette et al. in Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 112:676–688 (1995). 24 out of 88 (27%) patients had aphysiologic CDP in Group 1 an...

Treatment Options for Tauopathies

Current Treatment Options in Neurology — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:11:02 +0100

Opinion statement To date, there are no approved and established pharmacologic treatment options for tauopathies, a very heterogenous group of neuropsychiatric diseases often leading to dementia and clinically diagnosed as atypical Parkinson syndromes. Among these so-called Parkinson plus syndromes are progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), also referred to as Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome; frontotemporal dementia (FTD); and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Available treatment strategies are based mainly on small clinical trials, miscellaneous case reports, or small case-controlled studies. The results of these studies and conclusions about the efficacy of the medication used are often contradictory. Approved therapeutic agents for Alzheimer´s dementia, such as acet...

Environmental digest

RSC - J. Environ. Monit. latest articles — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:31:31 +0100

J. Environ. Monit., 2012, 14,319-326DOI: 10.1039/C2EM90001G, NewsRead the latest environmental news including: Public and occupational health Research Chemical hazards Environmental quality LegislationThe content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry (Source: RSC - J. Environ. Monit. latest articles)

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Should urologists care for the pharyngeal infection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Chlamydia trachomatis when we treat male urethritis?

Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:22:04 +0100

Abstract Detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) or Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) from the pharynx of women or men is not uncommon. However, there is no recommendation how urologists should care for the pharyngeal infection of men with urethritis in Japan. The aim of this study is to clarify the prevalence of NG or CT infection in the pharynx of men and to show a recommendation for urologists. The Japanese reports about the detection of NG or CT from the pharynx or the oral cavity of men in Japan are reviewed in the literature from 1990 to 2011. The prevalence of NG or CT in the pharynx was 4% or 6% in men who attended clinics, and 20% or 6% in men who were positive for NG or CT from genital specimens, respectively. Single 1-g dose ceftriaxone was recommended to treat pharynge...

Differences in Predictors of Return to Work Among Long-Term Sick-Listed Employees with Different Self-Reported Reasons for Sick Leave

Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:21:47 +0100

Conclusions Tailoring for different reasons for sick leave might improve the effects of new interventions because the predictors of full RTW differ among groups. Enhancement of partial RTW and RTW self-efficacy may be relevant components of any intervention, as these were predictors of full RTW in at least two groups. Content Type Journal ArticlePages 1-11DOI 10.1007/s10926-011-9351-zAuthors Jenny J. J. M. Huijs, TNO, Behavioural and Societal Sciences, Participation and Social Cohesion, P.O. Box 718, 2130 AS Hoofddorp, The NetherlandsLando L. J. Koppes, TNO, Behavioural and Societal Sciences, Participation and Social Cohesion, P.O. Box 718, 2130 AS Hoofddorp, The NetherlandsToon W. Taris, Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherland...

Benefits and Mechanisms of Recovery Among Peer Providers With Psychiatric Illnesses

Qualitative Health Research — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Providing peer support to individuals with psychiatric disabilities has emerged as a promising modality of mental health services. These services are delivered by individuals who experience mental illnesses themselves. The purpose of this study was to explore how working as a peer provider can enhance personal recovery. The study was conducted with 31 peer providers employed in a variety of mental health agencies. Data were collected through face-to-face semistructured interviews and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Qualitative analysis revealed a wide range of recovery benefits for the peer providers. The benefits span across five wellness domains: foundational, emotional, spiritual, social, and occupational. In addition, analysis revealed five role-related and five work-environ...

Early Intervention Services for Psychosis and Time Until Application for Disability Income Support: A Survival Analysis.

Community Mental Health Journal — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Authors: Krupa T, Oyewumi K, Archie S, Stuart Lawson J, Nandlal J, Conrad G Abstract Ensuring the financial security of individuals recovering from first episode psychosis is imperative, but disability income programs can be powerful disincentives to employment, compromising the social and occupational aspects of recovery. Survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to examine the rate at which individuals served by early intervention for psychosis (EIP) services apply for government disability income benefits and factors that predict rate of application. Health records for 558 individuals served by EIP programs were reviewed. Within the first year of receiving services 30% will make application for disability income; 60% will do so by 5 years. Rate of application is p...

Socioeconomic disparities in the uptake of breast and cervical cancer screening in Italy: a cross sectional study.

BMC Public Health - Latest articles — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Inequalities in the uptake of female screening widely exist in Italy. Organized screening programs may have an important role in increasing screening attendance and tackling inequalities. (Source: BMC Public Health - Latest articles)

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A Computer Model for the Simulation of Nonspherical Particle Dynamics in the Human Respiratory Tract

Advances in Pharmacological Sciences — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:35:24 +0100

In the study presented here deposition of spheres and nonspherical particles with various aspect ratios (0.01–100) in the human respiratory tract was theoretically modeled. Shape of the nonspherical particles was considered by the application of the latest aerodynamic diameter concepts. Particle deposition was predicted by using a stochastic model of the lung geometry and simulating particle transport trajectories according to the random-walk algorithm. Concerning fibers total deposition is significantly enhanced with respect to that of spheres for μm-sized particles, whereby at normal breathing conditions peripheral lung compartments serve as primary deposition targets. In the case of oblate disks, total deposition becomes mostly remarkable for submicron particles, with the b...

Comparison between the first and second versions of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire: psychosocial risk factors for a high need for recovery after work

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:12:54 +0100

Conclusions The results suggested the COPSOQ II to be better predictive than COPSOQ I for a high NFR, but also indicated that ‘degrees of freedom’ should be included into the COPSOQ II when studying the NFR as outcome parameter. Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Original ArticlePages 1-8DOI 10.1007/s00420-012-0741-0Authors Philippe Kiss, Securex, Occupational Health Service, Brouwerijstraat 1, 9031 Ghent, Drongen, BelgiumMarc De Meester, Securex, Occupational Health Service, Brouwerijstraat 1, 9031 Ghent, Drongen, BelgiumAndré Kruse, Securex, Occupational Health Service, Brouwerijstraat 1, 9031 Ghent, Drongen, BelgiumBrigitte Chavée, Securex, Occupational Health Service, Brouwerijstraat 1, 9031 Ghent, Drongen, BelgiumLutgart Braeckman, Department of Public H...

Acute Treatment Options for Spinal Cord Injury

Current Treatment Options in Neurology — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:12:19 +0100

Opinion statement Most treatment options for acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) are directed at minimizing progression of the initial injury and preventing secondary injury. Failure to adhere to certain guiding principles can be detrimental to the long-term neurologic and functional outcome of these patients. Therapy for the hyperacute phase of traumatic SCI focuses on stabilizing vital signs and follows the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) algorithm for ensuring stability of airway, breathing and circulation, and disability (neurologic evaluation)—with spinal stabilization—and exposure. Spinal stabilization, with cervical collars and long backboards, is used to prevent movement of a potentially unstable spinal column injury to prevent further injury to the sp...

The normative score and the cut-off value of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI)

European Spine Journal — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:54:52 +0100

Conclusions We defined the normative score and the cut-off value of the ODI. Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Original ArticlePages 1-7DOI 10.1007/s00586-012-2173-7Authors Juichi Tonosu, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, 7-3-1 Hongo, Tokyo, JapanKatsushi Takeshita, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, 7-3-1 Hongo, Tokyo, JapanNobuhiro Hara, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, 7-3-1 Hongo, Tokyo, JapanKo Matsudaira, Clinical Research Centre for Occupational Musculoskeletal Disorders, Kanto Rosai Hospital, Kanagawa, JapanSo Kato, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Komagome Hospital, T...

Contact dermatitis to para‐phenylenediamine in hair dye following sensitization to black henna tattoos – an ongoing problem

JDDG — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: The most common cause of allergic contact dermatitis after black henna tattoos is PPD. Both the long skin contact and the high concentrations of PPD increase the risk of sensitization. Allergic contact dermatitis may be followed by post‐inflammatory hyper‐ or hypopigmentation, scarring and lifelong sensitization, which can have occupational impact, especially for hair dressers and cosmeticians. (Source: JDDG)

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Current understanding of the mechanism of benzene-induced leukemia in humans: implications for risk assessment

Carcinogenesis — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Benzene causes acute myeloid leukemia and probably other hematological malignancies. As benzene also causes hematotoxicity even in workers exposed to levels below the US permissible occupational exposure limit of 1 part per million, further assessment of the health risks associated with its exposure, particularly at low levels, is needed. Here, we describe the probable mechanism by which benzene induces leukemia involving the targeting of critical genes and pathways through the induction of genetic, chromosomal or epigenetic abnormalities and genomic instability, in a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC); stromal cell dysregulation; apoptosis of HSCs and stromal cells and altered proliferation and differentiation of HSCs. These effects modulated by benzene-induced oxidative stress, aryl hydrocarb...

The Farnsworth Flashlight is not equivalent to the Farnsworth Lantern

Journal of the Optical Society of America A — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

The Farnsworth Lantern has been accepted in many occupational applications. Modern instruments purporting to be equivalent were inevitable given the ubiquity of its use. The OPTEC900® (Stereo Optical) has been validated and adopted as an acceptable substitute, although the fail rate is ... (Source: Journal of the Optical Society of America A)

Carbon Black Nanoparticle Instillation Induces Sustained Inflammation and Genotoxicity in Mouse Lung and Liver

Particle and Fibre Toxicology — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Deposition of CBNPs in lung induces inflammatory and genotoxic effects in mouse lung that persist considerably after the initial exposure. Our results demonstrate that CBNPs may cause genotoxicity both in the primary exposed tissue, lung and BAL cells, and in a secondary tissue, the liver. (Source: Particle and Fibre Toxicology)

Changes of occupational class differences in physical functioning: a panel study among employees (2000-2007)

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion Occupational class differences in physical functioning widened due to a faster decline of physical functioning in the lower occupational classes. Health behaviours, employment status and material conditions explained the widening class differences in physical functioning. (Source: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health)

Occupational cytotoxic medication exposure in pregnancy

NeLM - Drugs in Pregnancy — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Source: UK Teratology Information Service Area: Evidence > Drugs in Pregnancy SUMMARY: Chemotherapeutic agents used in the management of malignant disease and as immunosuppressants are cytotoxic and therefore potentially hazardous substances which may be mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic. Epidemiological evidence suggests that substantial systemic absorption occurs in non-pregnant health professionals exposed to chemotherapeutic agents, therefore concerns exist regarding possible adverse fetal effects following maternal occupational exposure in pregnancy. The available data which investigate the risks of occupational exposure amongst pregnant women provide conflicting findings and may also be confounded due to differences in workplace health and safety meas...

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Comparing the Use of an Online Expert Health Network against Common Information Sources to Answer Health Questions

Journal of Medical Internet Research — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: Workers are often unable to find correct answers to OSH questions when using common information sources, generally informational websites. Because workers frequently misjudge the quality of the information they find, other strategies are required to assist workers in finding correct answers. Expert advice provided through an online expert network can be effective for this purpose. As many people experience difficulties in finding correct answers to their health questions, expert networks may be an attractive new source of information for health fields in general. (Source: Journal of Medical Internet Research)

SVOC exposure indoors: Fresh look at dermal pathways

Indoor Air — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

AbstractThis paper critically examines indoor exposure to semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) via dermal pathways. First, it demonstrates that — in central tendency — an SVOC’s abundance on indoor surfaces and in handwipes can be predicted reasonably well from gas‐phase concentrations assuming that thermodynamic equilibrium prevails. Then equations are developed, based upon idealized mass‐transport considerations, to estimate transdermal penetration of an SVOC either from its concentration in skin‐surface lipids or its concentration in air. Kinetic constraints limit air‐to‐skin transport in the case of SVOCs that strongly sorb to skin‐surface lipids. Air‐to‐skin transdermal uptake is estimated to be comparable to or larger than inhalation intake for many SVOCs of c...

Thank You to Reviewers 2011

American Journal of Industrial Medicine — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

(Source: American Journal of Industrial Medicine)

Genetic variation in radiation-induced cell death [RESEARCH]

Genome Research — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Radiation exposure through environmental, medical, and occupational settings is increasingly common. While radiation has harmful effects, it has utility in many applications such as radiotherapy for cancer. To increase the efficacy of radiation treatment and minimize its risks, a better understanding of the individual differences in radiosensitivity and the molecular basis of radiation response is needed. Here, we integrated human genetic and functional genomic approaches to study the response of human cells to radiation. We measured radiation-induced changes in gene expression and cell death in B cells from normal individuals. We found extensive individual variation in gene expression and cellular responses. To understand the genetic basis of this variation, we mapped the DNA sequence var...

Psychometric properties and differential explanation of a short measure of effort–reward imbalance at work: A study of industrial workers in Germany

American Journal of Industrial Medicine — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

ConclusionsThis short version of the ERI questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool for epidemiological research on occupational health. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Source: American Journal of Industrial Medicine)

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Respiratory health status of children from two different air pollution exposure settings of Sri Lanka: A cross‐sectional study

American Journal of Industrial Medicine — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

ConclusionsPoor indoor air quality was a major determinant of wheezing for the overall study group. Children from urban areas of Sri Lanka have poorer respiratory health status as compared to children from semi‐urban areas. Besides poor outdoor air quality, this difference may also be due to other unexplored factors which may differ between urban and semi‐urban areas in Sri Lanka. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Source: American Journal of Industrial Medicine)

Increased lung cancer risk among bricklayers in an Italian population‐based case–control study

American Journal of Industrial Medicine — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

ConclusionsOur findings provide additional evidence of increased lung cancer risk in Italian bricklayers. The association is plausible because they are exposed to several carcinogens, notably crystalline silica. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Source: American Journal of Industrial Medicine)

Comparison of sampling methods for assessment of indoor microbial exposure

Indoor Air — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

In this study, different sampling methods were compared regarding their assessment of microbial exposures, including culturable fungi and bacteria, endotoxin, as well as the total inflammatory potential (TIP) of dust samples from Danish homes. The GSP filter sampler and BioSampler were used for sampling of airborne dust, whereas the Dust Fall Collector (DFC), the Electrostatic Dust Fall Collector (EDC) and vacuum cleaner were used for sampling of settled dust. The GSP assessed significantly higher microbial levels than the BioSampler, yet measurements from both samplers correlated significantly. Considerably higher levels of fungi, endotoxin and TIP were found in the EDC compared to the DFC, and regarding fungi, the EDC correlated more strongly and significantly to vacuumed dust than the D...

Prediction of Failure to Retain Work 1 Year After Interdisciplinary Functional Restoration in Occupational Injuries

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: This study identified demographic, psychosocial, and occupational factors that were predictive of failure to retain work. These risk factors may be used to individualize treatment plans for CDOMD patients in order to provide optimal functional restoration. (Source: Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)

[Reporting of work-related mental health].

Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

This article deals with the mental health of employees from ten different companies. These data show that almost 1 in 5 employees rate their mental well-being as poor. Most notably, women with lower status in the services sector are affected. Those who are temporarily in a bad mood are often affected by strong physical complaints and tend to assess the quality of their work as rather poor. Moreover, the data from 3,349 employees show that the extent of social capital of an organization highly correlates with the mental well-being of their employees. Our results show that work-related stress factors and (psychological) illnesses can be detected and prevented more often if the influence of social parameters on mental well-being are taken into consideration. PMID: 22290163 [PubMed - in ...

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[Medical students and their career choices : Preferred specialty, where and how to work].

Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

This article presents selected results from a nationwide online survey in Germany asking medical students about their occupational perspectives and expectations: what kind of specialization are they inclined to, where do they want to work, and under what conditions? We sent an email to all the students at 34 of 36 faculties of medicine, asking them to partake in the survey. Through 9 July 2010, 12,518 students answered, which is 15.7% of all 79,929 students enrolled in medicine. One central result is that general medicine-compared to the current situation-will have significant problems in recruiting young medical professionals, if the preferences of the students do not change. In addition, we found spatial disparities: students consider Berlin and Hamburg, urban areas in Southern Germany...

De novo acute myeloid leukemia risk factors

Cancer — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSIONS:The current results suggested that several factors play a role in AML predisposition with possible joint effects. Risk profiles for AML differed by sex and WHO subtype. Cancer 2012. © 2012 American Cancer Society. (Source: Cancer)

A multidisciplinary and multidimensional intervention for patients with hand osteoarthritis.

Clinical Rehabilitation — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions: A non-pharmacological multidisciplinary and multidimensional treatment programme for patients with hand osteoarthritis was developed. Further research is necessary to investigate the effectiveness of this treatment programme. Currently, the programme is being evaluated in an ongoing randomized clinical trial. PMID: 22278603 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Clinical Rehabilitation)

Open access: Comprehensive occupational health and safety resource now available online

EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

(Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) DFG provides no-cost access to MAK collection which is a milestone in establishment of free access to research data/transparent policy consultancy. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)