ABSTRACT
Objective To determine the ameliorative effects of Junzhi beverageⅠon neurobehavioral functions in subjects exposed to long-term sustained work.Methods Forty male students of a military institution were randomized into control group ( n=20 ) and the intervention group ( n=20 ) .All the subjects were exposed to 10-hours′high intensity mental work continuously (8∶00-18∶00).At 12∶50, the intervention group drunk a bottle of water with Junzhi beverageⅠ, but the control group drunk water of the same volume only.At 17∶00, neurobehavioral functions of all the subjects were tested by neurobehavioral core test battery (WHO-NCTB) and attention span test(AST).Results According to the results of WHO-NCBT, after 10-hours′continuous mental work,the profile of mood state in the intervention group was more stable than in the control group with lower scores in negative mood and higher scores in positive mood.Meanwhile, some of the neurobehavioral indexes were also found to be significantly improved, including shortened mean time of simple reaction and decreased error reaction rate, enhanced digit span backward, higher scores in Beton test , digit symbol test, Santa Ana practice hand and correct dot number (P<0.05).In addition, higher scores were obtained in the intervention group in AST(P<0.05).Conclusion Junzhi beverageⅠ can significantly improve the neurobehavioral function under sustained mental work conditions, which suggests that the beverage has the potential to postpone mental fatigue protect and enhance cognitive function.
ABSTRACT
The study was conducted to predict the risk of chronic exposure by neurobehavioral test and to use it as a basic source of the management for workers exposed to organic solvents. The exposed group was selected from coating department of textile processing industry. The unexposed group was selected from those who visited the clinic to take an annual check-up. The author administered WHO-NCTB (neurobehavioral core test battery). Also, Scandinavian Questionnaire 16 was tested by self-administration to find the correlation between subjective symptoms and NCTB results, and to assess the availability of the Questionnaire in mass screening test concurrently. The final analysed subjects were 78 (27 in exposed group and 51 in unexposed group) workers except who had a neurologic disease or systemic disease affecting the central nervous system. In Questionnaire study, there was no significant difference in total neurotoxic symptom scores between the exposed and the unexposed group. In NCTB, the exposed group had lower mean scores than the unexposed group for all tests. When the effect by age and education were considered, there was a statistically significant difference only in pursuit timing test. This study suggests the availability of NCTB and the Questionnaire for the assessment of neurobehavioral change in workers exposed to organic solvents.
Subject(s)
Central Nervous System , Education , Mass Screening , Surveys and Questionnaires , Solvents , TextilesABSTRACT
A cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the effects of chronic exposure to low-dose solvent on neurobehavioral performance of 48 male workers exposed to organic solvents. A control group of 50 workers was selected from same factories. Each worker completed a medical and occupational questionnaire and four tests of Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery. These included Benton visual retention test, digit symbol, digit span, and pursuit aiming. Comparison of mean performance showed a significantly poorer performance on digit symbol, digit span, and pursuit aiming. In univariate analysis, age contributed to poor performance on Benton visual retention test and educational level was found to reduce the performance on symbol digit in both groups. Amount of alcohol intake was found to reduce the performance on digit symbol and smoking appeared to slow pursuit aiming in the exposure group. In multiple regression analysis, controlling for age, educational level, alcohol, and smoking, solvent exposure was found to be associated with performance of digit span, and number of correct dot of pursuit aiming. Age on Benton visual retention, educational level on digit symbol, and smoking on pursuit aiming were found to be a significant factors on each test items. This study suggest that short-term memory, and perception can be affected easily by chronic exposure of organic solvents which air concentration level were under the Threshold Limit Value.