Current status and research progress of occupational health monitoring in welding fume operations / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Welding operations are widely present in the manufacturing production process, involving a large number of occupational groups, and are the key occupations where work injuries and occupational diseases occur in China. For different welding processes and welding materials, the content and focus of occupational health monitoring are different. At present, the item of occupational health examination in welding operation is in poor consistency with the on-site exposure of occupational hazard factors, and it is mainly concentrated in the stage of disease development, which can not reflect the early health damage caused by welding dust exposure in time. The emergence of biomarkers of welding dust can make up for this defect. Therefore, it is of great significance to describe the current situation of occupational health monitoring of welding dust and summarize the research progress of related biomarkers for the early prevention of diseases caused by welding dust and the practice of occupational health monitoring.

Analysis on the influencing factors of low back pain in the occupational workers of key industries in China / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influencing factors of low back pain and the relationship of the influence of bad working posture, weight load and frequency of load and the dose-response relationship among the occupational workers of key industries in China. METHODS: A total of 57 501 employees from 15 key industries in China were selected as research subjects using stratified cluster sampling method. The occurrence of low back pain in the past one year, as well as occupational factors such as job type, labor organization and work posture were investigated by using the Chinese version Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire. RESULTS: The prevalence of low back pain in the occupational population of key industries in China was 16.4%(9 448/57 501). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of low back pain in females was higher than that in males(P<0.01). Married, obese, occasional and frequent smokers, and a history of lower back disease were associated with increased risk of low back pain(all P<0.05). The risk of low back pain was associated with older age, higher education level, and lower frequency of physical exercise(all P<0.01). The risk of low back pain was higher with longer working time, greater back curvature, and the high frequency of long standing and sitting position work, uncomfortable working posture, repeated operation per minute, and lifting>5 kg weight(all P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The influencing factors of low back pain in the occupational population of key industries in China include bad working posture, high frequency load, weight load and other individual factors. There is a dose-response relationship with low back posture load and frequency of load.

Effect of pranlukast on neonatal rats with periventricular leukomalacia / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the effect of pranlukast (Pran) on neonatal rats with periventricular leukomalacia (PVL).@*METHODS@#The rats, aged 3 days, were randomly divided into a sham-operation group, a PVL group, and a Pran group. A rat model of PVL was prepared by right common carotid artery ligation and postoperative hypoxia. The rats in the sham-operation group were given isolation of the right common carotid artery without ligation or hypoxic treatment. The rats in the Pran group were given intraperitoneal injection of Pran (0.1 mg/kg) once every 12 hours, for 3 consecutive days, and those in the sham-operation group and the PVL group were given intraperitoneal injection of an equal volume of normal saline. On day 14 after modeling, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the pathological changes of brain tissue; immunofluorescent staining was used to measure the expression of myelin basic protein (MBP) in brain tissue (n=8); Western blot was used to measure the expression of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (CNPase), MBP, and G protein-coupled receptor 17 (GPR17) (n=8). On day 21 after modeling, Morris water maze test was used to evaluate the learning and memory abilities of rats in each group (n=8).@*RESULTS@#The results of HE staining showed that the PVL group had greater pathological changes of white matter than the sham-operation group, and compared with the PVL group, the Pran group had a significant improvement in such pathological changes. The results of immunofluorescence assay showed that the PVL group had a lower mean fluorescence intensity of MBP than the sham-operation group (P<0.05), and the Pran group had a higher mean fluorescence intensity of MBP than the PVL group (P<0.05). Western blot showed that compared with the sham-operation group, the PVL group had significantly lower relative expression of MBP and CNPase (P<0.05) and significantly higher relative expression of GPR17 (P<0.05), and compared with the PVL group, the Pran group had significantly higher relative expression of MBP and CNPase (P<0.05) and significantly lower relative expression of GPR17 (P<0.05). Morris water maze test showed that compared with the sham-operation group, the PVL group had a significant increase in escape latency and a significant reduction in the number of platform crossings, and compared with the PVL group, the Pran group had a significant reduction in escape latency and a significant increase in the number of platform crossings (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#Pran can alleviate brain damage, promote myelination, and improve long-term learning and memory abilities in neonatal rats with PVL, possibly by reducing the expression of GPR17.