Neurological dysfunctions among workers exposed to inorganic lead

This study was carried out to detect the electroencephalographic [EEG] changes as well as its pattern and to study the relation between motor conduction and presence of EEG changes among workers exposed to inorganic lead. Twenty workers occupationally exposed to inorganic lead and another twenty workers not exposed to lead were chosen as index and control groups respectively. The following investigations were performed for both groups. haemoglobin [Hb], blood lead [BPb], urine delta aminolevulinic acid [ALA], motor nerve conduction velocity [MNCV] and distal latency [DL] of right radial nerve, and EEG. EEG chages were significantly more among exposed group [5 workers, 25%] than control group [0%]. Left temporal discharge was noticed among the five workers and generalized bilateral epileptic activity among only 2 of them. Among exposed group, no significant differences were seen between exposed workers with and those without EEG changes as regards all investigations. There were insignificant correlations between duration of exposure, BPb, urine ALA, MNCV and DL, and presence of EEG changes among exposed workers

Road traffic injuries admitted to Jubail hospital: a study of site, severity and outcome

The present work showed that road traffic injuries admitted to Jubail Hospital were mainly at the head and neck followed by multiple injuries. Injury severity score proved to be a good predictor to assess outcome of cases but it has to be applied also at pre-hospital level and it has to be tried and tested in other areas of Saudi Arabia. Most of the admitted injured victims suffered from mild to moderate injuries. Age, nationality, victim status proved to be important predictors of injury outcome. Improvement in the emergency medical care system is required with special emphasis on causes of case referrql to other hospitals. Careful supervision of children is required to avoid playing at streets, and use of safety measures inside cars, especially safety belts is highly bene ficial as demonstrated in other studies to lower rates of head and neck injuries

Psychological effects of trace anesthetics on physicians

This study was carried out in Alexandria University Hospital. Thirty four anesthetists were randomly selected and a similar number from the medicine department matched for age were chosen as a control group. A battery of psychological tests were administered to both groups to reveal the effect of exposure to traces of anaesthetic gases on their psychological state. The study showed that the anesthetists [index group] had a higher percent. change of stress test [16.45 +/- 15.435 compared with 7.910 +/- 5.935, t= 3.01], higher staff satisfaction [3.88 +/- 2.508 compared with 2.35 +/- 2.385] t= 2.58 while, they had a lower coronary prone behaviour score [7.29 +/- 3.61 compared with 8.88 +/- 1.62] t= 2.34. Memory, anxiety and job satisfaction scores as well as sociodemographic characteristics did not differ significantly between the two groups

Risk of occupational eye injury

Occupational eye injury is one of the common injuries occurring at work. This research used the matched pair case control esign to study 377 pairs of workers. The maximum likelihood estimate of the odds ratio was utilized to statistically evaluate the findings. The results indicated that young age [less than 25 years], inexperience at present work chronic illness, performing unusual tasks and failure to use safety goggles were significant risk factors for occupational eye injury

Relation between personal level of noise exposure and noise induced deafness

This study was formulated to reveal the dose response and dose effect relationship between personal noise dosimetry and occupational noise induced deafness using 2 methods of deafness assessment. The included 368 production workers were from four factories. The selected workers had a mean age of 33.07 +/- 5.99 years, and exposed to noise for a relatively short period, 5.94 +/- 3.96 years. More than 65% of workers suffered from noise deafness using either method. Including level of hearing at 4000 Hz proved to be very beneficial for assessment of the relation between noise level and degree of occupational functional hearing loss. Type of noise, noise peak level, duration of exposure in addition to level of personal noise level proved to be important factors for predicting occupational hearing loss. Dose response relationship curve showed that increased noise level was accompanied by an increased proportion of workers suffering from noise deafness. At noise levels exceeding 100 dB all exposed workers suffered from occupational deafness. Due to the short duration of exposure most of the workers suffered from mild deafness

Accident proneness pattern and effect of nationality

The pattern of accident frequency was studied in a construction company. The accident records of workers for 3 consecutive years were analysed to reveal the shape of accident distribution. It was found that the distribution followed a negative binomial distribution [proneness hypothesis]. The pattern was constant over the three studied years. Significant inter-year correlation was found for the number of accident commited by the worker each year. Classification of workers by nationality after matching for type of work did not affect the accident frequency pattern. No significant differences were found among the mean accident number for Egyptians, Indians or Philipinos.