Workers' Compensation Elements in Different Jurisdictions in the United States.

: Over the decades, the workers' compensation system has provided many injured workers with a significant guarantee of both medical and financial support when they have been injured on the job. To be effective, workers' compensation systems at a minimum should include principles that require the addressing of medical causation, determination of an individual's functional ability both pre- and post-injury to include activity restrictions, return-to-work capability and disability, meeting jurisdiction-specific reporting requirements of the workers' compensation reporting requirements, and having knowledge of other perspectives of the various authorities and jurisdictions present in the United States. ACOEM lays out a description of various aspects of workers' compensations systems in the United States, with recommendations for minimal standards and best practices. This paper limits itself to the discussion of jurisdictions within the United States and ACOEM strongly recommends that providers consult directly with the states in which they are working as there are state variations in workers' compensation.

Safely Returning America to Work: Part I: General Guidance for Employers.

: Businesses are struggling to re-open as the world continues to deal with the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The reopening of businesses will require employers to implement safe return-to-work strategies through evaluation, testing, work modifications, and development of appropriate workplace policies. There will be unique challenges along the way as no one approach will be ideal for all workplaces and industries. This document is intended to provide return-to-work guidance for both employers and the occupational and environmental medicine physicians who will be supporting businesses in implementing safe return-to-work strategies.

Peripheral and central auditory dysfunction induced by occupational exposure to organic solvents.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of solvent exposure on hearing function, through an audiological test battery, in a population not occupationally exposed to high levels of noise. METHODS: One hundred ten workers from a coating factory were studied. Jobs at the factory were divided into three different levels of solvent exposure. Hearing status was assessed with a test battery including pure-tone hearing thresholds (0.5-8 kHz), high-frequency hearing thresholds (12 and 16 kHz), and dichotic listening measured through dichotic digits test. Multiple linear regression models were created to explore possible association between solvent exposure and each of the hearing outcomes. RESULTS: Significant associations between solvent exposure and the three hearing outcomes were found. Covariates such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity were also significantly associated with the studied hearing outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Occupational exposure to solvents may induce both peripheral and central auditory dysfunction. The dichotic digits test seems as a sensible tool to detect central auditory dysfunction associated with solvent exposure. Hearing loss prevention programs may use this tool to monitor hearing in solvent-exposed workers.

cDNA cloning and spatiotemporal expression during avian embryogenesis of hnRNP A1, a regulatory factor in alternative splicing.

Alternative splicing and selective transport of RNA transcripts from cell nuclei are important regulatory mechanisms of gene expression during embryonic development. Here we report the molecular characterization and developmental expression in several tissue and organ systems of chicken hnRNP A1, a nucleo-cytoplasmic 'shuttle' protein which in mammalian systems has been shown to function in the regulation of RNA alternative splicing by antagonizing constitutive splicing factors such as SF2/ASF. We show that hnRNP A1 is represented in the chicken by a single gene which is widely expressed at early embryonic stages, with particularly high levels of expression in the brain, skin, developing gut, and other ectodermal and endodermal derivatives. At later stages, expression of its mRNA and protein product become progressively confined to specific organ primordia and cell types, where both transient and persistent expression patterns are observed. HnRNP A1 protein is expressed at sites of active neurogenesis in the developing central and peripheral nervous systems, regions of known extensive alternative splicing.