Comparative study on the activities of part-time occupational physicians in Japan between 2008 and 2016: effects of the stress-check program.

The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan recommends that an occupational physician (OP) play an important role in implementing the stress-check program since 2015. This study aimed to compare the activities and encountered difficulties of Japanese part-time OPs in 2008 and 2016, and to investigate the effects of the stress-check program. Questionnaires were sent via mail to 946 part-time OPs in Kyoto prefecture in 2016. Completed questionnaires were returned by 181 OPs who were private practitioners or physicians in hospitals, and served as OPs on a part-time basis. In 2016, OPs utilized long hours for activities related to general health examination and to stress-check. Hours for specific health examination, health and hygiene education, health promotion activity, development of a comfortable workplace, and guidance of workers on sick leave reduced from 2008 to 2016. A total of 62% OPs frequently encountered difficulties in the stress-check-related activities in 2016. Many OPs also reported difficulties in the mental health care and the prevention of health hazard due to overwork both in 2008 and 2016. Enforcement of the stress-check program in 2015 changed the activities of part-time OPs in Japan. OPs should be given opportunities to gain more information in this area.

Activities of private clinic- or hospital-based occupational physicians in Japan.

The present study was initiated to examine the activities of private clinic- or hospital-based occupational physicians (OPs) and to identify difficulties the OPs encountered in their occupational health service (OHS). A questionnaire was sent by mail to 557 OPs in Kyoto prefecture, Japan. Effective answers were obtained from 86 OPs who were private practitioners or physicians in hospitals and served as OPs on a part-time basis. Considering 3 h as a unit, a majority (92%) served <1 to 2 units/month. The leading fields of OHS provided by the OPs were general health examination and its follow-up, prevention of overwork, and mental health care, as well as support of workers on sick leave to return to work. OPs wished to allocate more time for maintenance and management of work and the work environment, mental health care, work area rounding, and attendance at the safety and health committee meetings. Difficulties were encountered most often in the management of mental ill health and overwork, and support of employees' return to work. Many OPs also reported difficulties with industrial hygiene-related issues such as risk assessment, and maintenance and management of work and the work environment. The present survey identified difficulties that were frequently encountered by private clinic- and hospital-based OPs in their practice of OHS; these include issues on mental health, overwork and industrial hygiene. The needs to offering OPs specific opportunities to gain information and skills in these areas are stressed.

Calcite-specific coupling protein in barnacle underwater cement.

The barnacle relies for its attachment to underwater foreign substrata on the formation of a multiprotein complex called cement. The 20 kDa cement protein is a component of Megabalanus rosa cement, although its specific function in underwater attachment has not, until now, been known. The recombinant form of the protein expressed in bacteria was purified in soluble form under physiological conditions, and confirmed to retain almost the same structure as that of the native protein. Both the protein from the adhesive layer of the barnacle and the recombinant protein were characterized. This revealed that abundant Cys residues, which accounted for 17% of the total residues, were in the intramolecular disulfide form, and were essential for the proper folding of the monomeric protein structure. The recombinant protein was adsorbed to calcite and metal oxides in seawater, but not to glass and synthetic polymers. The adsorption isotherm for adsorption to calcite fitted the Langmuir model well, indicating that the protein is a calcite-specific adsorbent. An evaluation of the distribution of the molecular size in solution by analytical ultracentrifugation indicated that the recombinant protein exists as a monomer in 100 mm to 1 m NaCl solution; thus, the protein acts as a monomer when interacting with the calcite surface. cDNA encoding a homologous protein was isolated from Balanus albicostatus, and its derived amino acid sequence was compared with that from M. rosa. Calcite is the major constituent in both the shell of barnacle base and the periphery, which is also a possible target for the cement, due to the gregarious nature of the organisms. The specificity of the protein for calcite may be related to the fact that calcite is the most frequent material attached by the cement.