Some anthropometric characteristics, reactions on physical stress, and blood pressure in males aged 18 in "Primorsko-Goranska" County, Croatia.

The paper presents the distribution and average values of some anthropometric characteristics in 1,210 males aged 18 in "Primorsko-Goranska" County, as well as some manifestations of physical fitness parameters and some correlations between these two groups of characteristics. The prevalence of hypertensive and limit values for systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 8.6% and for diastolic blood pressure (DBP) 2.1%. Body weight and body mass index were in a significantly positive correlation with SBP and DBP Body mass index showed a significantly positive correlation with heart rate after step-test. Therefore, it can be concluded that overweight reduces tolerance on workload.

Study of some immunological parameters in workers occupationally exposed to benzene.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate the immunotoxicity of benzene exposure, to establish the correlation between the exposure biomarkers and some immunological parameters, and to assess the possible influence of confounding factors on the results of immunological assay applicable in routine medical surveillance of benzene-exposed workers. METHODS: Forty-nine female workers in the shoemaking industry who were exposed to solvent mixtures and 27 nonexposed controls were examined. Workers were exposed to benzene concentrations of up to 15 ppm, and to toluene of up to 50 ppm. RESULTS: Significant differences in the levels of benzene and toluene in blood and phenols in post-shift urine between the exposed and the control group confirmed solvent exposure. The number of B-lymphocytes (P = 0.01) was lower in the shoe workers than in the controls. Significant correlation was found between the level of immunoglobulin G and benzene in the work atmosphere, while confounding factors had no impact on immunological values. CONCLUSION: According to these results, exposure to benzene concentration lower than 15 ppm can induce depression of the circulating B-lymphocyte level and therefore this fact could be used to develop a promising method for health surveillance of benzene-exposed workers. However, considerably more effort in the research on benzene immunotoxicity, especially in the search for suitable health surveillance methods, is still required.

Work conditions as risk factors for varicose veins of the lower extremities in certain professions of the working population of Rijeka.

This research aims to establish the effect of working conditions on the appearance of varicose veins. The epidemiological study was carried out on 1,324 examinees, 530 males and 794 females, employed in 5 highly represented groups of professional activities in Rijeka (catering, trade, light industry, heavy industry and finances). The data were collected by survey and clinical examination. Varicose veins were more prevalent in the trade than in the office workers (odds ratio (OR) = 2.08; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.31-3.31), and more prevalent in catering industries than in the office workers (OR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.001-2.43). chi 2-testing suggested that standing in the workplace (OR = 1.35; 95% CI = 0.95-1.92), weight handling while working (OR = 1.29; 95% CI = 1.01-1.64) and working indoors (OR = 1.61; 95% CI = 1.02-2.53) were risk factors for varicose veins. By multiple logistic regression, the following risk factors were isolated in the total population: female sex (OR = 1.92; 95% CI = 1.37-2.67), workplace (OR = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.78-0.99), age (OR = 1.05; 95% CI = 1.03-1.07), body mass index (OR = 1.04; 95% CI = 1.01-1.07) and family history of the disease (OR = 1.99; 95% CI = 1.55-2.57).

Conception and pregnancy in several examples from Croatian sacral patrimony.

Starting from the viewpoint of the history of medicine, the authors analyze the themes of conception and pregnancy in examples from canonical and apocryphal iconography of the lives of Mary and Jesus. St. Anne's and St. Joachim's assignation and kiss at the Golden Portal is a symbolic moment of St. Mary's conception. Jesus' conception has been represented in the theme of the Annunciation. The physical perception of pregnancy is experienced by St. Mary in the Visitation to Elizabeth. Several paintings, wall paintings and mosaics created in the area of today's Croatia in the period from the 6th to the 17th centuries were chosen for explicit illustration of the themes.

Endemic goitre and plasmatic levels of vitamins A and E in the school-children on the island of Krk, Croatia.

A total of 1975 school-children on the island of Krk aged 7-19 years of life were included in this study. The purpose was to establish the goitre status and plasmatic level of vitamins A and E in the examined children with the enlarged thyroid gland. The goitre prevalence was 29.8%. The average plasmatic values of vitamins A and E in the children with enlarged thyroids were statistically significantly lower from the reference values. Mentioned goitre prevalence at the level of moderate and heavier endemic goitre speaks on behalf of alimentary iodine deficiency. But the goiter examinations suggested the idoine deficiency not to be the only etiological factor of goitre on the island of Krk. Lower average plasmatic values of vitamins A and E in the examined with the enlarged thyroids referred to this fact to a certain degree.

Birth of St. Mary (St. Anne's parturition) in the light of messages from medical education: three examples from Croatian sacral heritage.

Christian tradition treats birth in several characteristic motives. The most frequent is the Birth of Jesus Christ, while much rarer is the apocryphal motive of the birth of St. Mary. By analyzing three paintings from Croatian 16-17th-century sacral-art heritage, depicting the parturition of St. Anne (St. Mary's Mother), the authors of this paper are trying to define the role of ethnomedical notions in the formation of modern medical and general culture.

The effect of air pollution on ventilatory function in nonsmoking women.

This study investigated disorders of ventilatory function in unemployed nonsmoking women living in areas with different air pollution. Subjects from Bakar and Krasica had lived in areas with large industrial plants in the vicinity. Continuous air quality measurements showed that SO2 concentrations exceeded the recommended values. The control group had lived in the Viskovo area where measurements showed the air to be clean. Ventilatory functions were measured on two occasions, in 1986 and in 1990. FVC, FEV1, Tiffeneau index, and FMF25-75 were taken and expressed as absolute and relative values. In both 1986 and 1990 measurements, women of Viskovo manifested significantly better values of ventilatory function than the women living in Bakar, except for the Tiffeneau index. The same stands for the 1986 comparison between Viskovo and Krasica women, whereas the second, 1990 measurement showed no difference between the two groups. Decreased ventilatory function in the Bakar women over both measurements and in the Krasica women at the first measurement may be associated with a long-term exposure to an increased air pollution with respect to the Viskovo area.

Arterial hypertension in correlation with age and body mass index in some occupational groups in the harbour of Rijeka, Croatia.

The research was carried out among 3787 workers in the harbour of Rijeka (Croatia), divided into six professional groups: harbour-transportation workers, administration staff, warehouse and assistant workers, artisans, motor vehicles drivers and seamen aboard the tugboats. The prevalence of arterial hypertension (AH) in relation to age and body mass index (BMI) was analysed. Significant correlation between prevalence of AH and age (r = 0.97) and between prevalence of AH and BMI (r = 0.98) was proven. Prevalence of AH for all the subjects was 10.6%. The lowest prevalence (7.3%) was established for harbour-transportation workers, who were the youngest on average and who were of lowest mean value of BMI. The highest prevalence of AH (16.6%) was for the warehouse and assistant workers, who were the oldest on average and were of highest mean value of BMI. Those differences were statistically significant in relation to other groups but in relation to the average age and the average values for those professional groups they fitted into the expected values. Results did not confirm positive relationship between potentially harmful working conditions of the surveyed professions and the development of AH. Age and BMI as reliable predictors of AH were pointed out.

[Health fitness of professional drivers and recurrence of alcoholism]. / Zdravstvena sposobnost vozaca profesionalaca i visestruki recidiv alkoholizma.

In the Occupational Medicine Unit of the Primary Health Centre in Rijeka health ability of 6695 professional drivers and applicants for professional driving licence was assessed in respect to alcohol abuse over the period from 1991 until mid-1995. A total of 354 drivers were found to be unfit for driving a motor vehicle. Among them 66 drivers (19% of the unfit and 1% of all examined drivers) were found to be unfit because of alcoholism. Eighteen of those, all with a controlled period of abstinence of at least six months, after return of the driving licence, were reported to have two or more recurrences of alcohol abuse, and had their driving licence taken away again. Results suggest that the percentage (27%) of drivers who as multiple recidivists were declared unfit for driving is high considering the total number of drivers declared unfit for driving because of alcoholism. Therefore a change is proposed to be made in the Book of Rules for the Assessment of Health Ability for Motor Vehicles Driving, calling for assessment of permanent disability for driving after multiple alcohol dependence recidivism or for temporary disability for driving during an extended period after the first established relapse of alcohol dependence.

The prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss in seamen.

Hearing was analysed in 231 seamen with the length of sea service longer than five years. Among 107 seamen in deck service, 86 seamen in engine service, and 38 seamen in radio and general services statistically significant differences in relation to age, total length of service and the length of sea service were not established. There were no differences in the degree of hearing loss among those groups of seamen either. Based upon calculated simple regression coefficients, a statistically significant correlation was established between age, total length of service or length of sea service with the average hearing loss at the frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz in the left ear in seamen from all ship services. Correlation was best pronounced at 2000 and 4000 Hz. In seamen from deck, radio or general services, a significant multiple correlation was established between age, total length of service and length of sea service, and the degree of hearing loss at 4000 Hz in the left ear. The same correlation, likewise, was true of seamen from deck service at 2000 Hz in the left ear and at 4000 Hz in the right ear.

The effects of air pollution on ventilatory lung functions.

The prevalence of chronic bronchitis was studied among female subjects aged 18-63 years from three areas with different ambient air quality: Bakar and Krasica with SO2 concentrations above the WHO guideline and Viskovo where the SO2 concentrations were below the guideline. The subjects were examined and administered a questionnaire. Differences in their ventilatory lung functions were tested and related to air quality. The subjects from the two regions to air quality. The subjects from the two regions with a higher pollution level had lower FVC and FEV1 values than those from the Viskovo region. However, no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of chronic bronchitis between the subjects from regions with different ambient air quality were found. The same applies to the occurrence of pathological restrictive ventilation disturbances. In the Krasica region the occurrence of pathological obstructive ventilatory disturbances was significantly higher than in the Viskovo and Bakar regions; a correlation between the duration of residence and ventilatory lung function was also observed.

Estimation of physical work load by statistical analysis of the heart rate in a conveyor-belt worker.

Physical work load was estimated in a female conveyor-belt worker in a bottling plant. Estimation was based on continuous measurement and on calculation of average heart rate values in three-minute and one-hour periods and during the total measuring period. The thermal component of the heart rate was calculated by means of the corrected effective temperature, for the one-hour periods. The average heart rate at rest was also determined. The work component of the heart rate was calculated by subtraction of the resting heart rate and the heart rate measured at 50 W, using a regression equation. The average estimated gross energy expenditure during the work was 9.6 +/- 1.3 kJ/min corresponding to the category of light industrial work. The average estimated oxygen uptake was 0.42 +/- 0.06 L/min. The average performed mechanical work was 12.2 +/- 4.2 W, i.e. the energy expenditure was 8.3 +/- 1.5%.

[Alcoholism, risk factors and prevalence of arterial hypertension in naval personnel]. / Alkoholizam, faktori rizika i prevalencija arterijske hipertenzije u pomoraca.

In this paper, the authors tried to establish the association of alcoholism with arterial hypertension as well as with risk factors for atherosclerosis, which are invariably accompanying arterial hypertension, in engine-room personnel (N = 80), in other seamen of the "Jugolinija" (N = 119), and in the control group which was made up of employees of the Technical Department, Shipyard, "3. maj", Rijeka (N = 108). The chi 2-test showed a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of alcoholism, and the t-test a statistically significant difference in the daily consumption of alcohol between the two groups of seamen and the control group. The prevalence of alcoholism and the daily consumption of alcohol were higher in seamen. There were no such differences between the two groups of seamen. Similarly, arterial hypertension was more prevalent and systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were higher in the two groups of seamen compared with the control group. Since, there were no significant linear correlations between the alcohol consumption and SBP and DBP, it could not be said that higher values of SBP and DBP were positively related to the greater consumption of alcohol in seamen as compared to the control group. No significant linear correlation was found between alcohol consumption and studied risk factors too. However, higher prevalence of arterial hypertension in alcoholics among the engine-room personnel suggested some association of the alcohol consumption with arterial hypertension.

[Noise as a risk factor for arterial hypertension in sailors]. / Buka kao faktor rizika arterijske hipertenzije u pomoraca.

Analysis of the prevalence of arterial hypertension among seamen using the chi-square test did not show a difference between the engine-room personnel (n = 80) exposed to elevated total ship noise levels (103 +/- 4.6 dB) and the rest of the crew (n = 119) exposed to lower noise levels (63 +/- 4.6 dB), or between the engine-room personnel and the control group (n = 108) exposed to lower levels of occupational noise (64-72 dB). The number of persons with hypertension was higher among the rest of the crew than among the controls. According to Student's t-test there was no difference in systolic or diastolic blood pressure levels between the two groups of seamen. In both these groups blood pressures were higher than in the control group. Among the seamen not working in the engine-rooms and in the subpopulations of both groups of seamen the number of hypertensive persons was greater among those with a noise-induced hearing loss than among those without it. Of the features which could be connected with arterial hypertension and are known to be risk factors of atherosclerosis (age, length of service, body mass index, body fat percentage, plasma cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose, cigarette and alcohol consumption, psychic tension index and recovery time in Lorenz test), only the body mass index could have caused the marked differences in blood pressures between seamen and the controls. The degree of hearing loss correlated with systolic blood pressure in both groups of seamen as well as with diastolic blood pressure in the engine-room personnel. The results of the study do not allow to draw a clear conclusion regarding correlation between ship noise and arterial hypertension, although some indicators point to a certain effect of noise on blood pressure.