Star wars and strategic defense initiatives: work activity and health symptoms of unionized bank tellers during work reorganization.

Work activity and health symptoms of bank tellers whose work was undergoing reorganization were examined during a university-union study of the health effects of work in women's traditional jobs. Data were gathered through collective and individual interviews, analysis of work activity, and a questionnaire administered to 305 tellers. Employees worked in a standing posture over 80 percent of the time. More than two-thirds frequently suffered pain in back, legs, and feet. The average teller had been involved in 3.7 robberies as a direct victim and six as a witness. Work required feats of memory and concentration. In order to meet job demands, tellers engaged in supportive activities and teamwork. The introduction of individualized objectives threatened the employees' ability to collaborate and induced distress. More than twice as many tellers as other female workers in Québec experience psychological distress (Ilfeld scale), related to: robbery during the past two years (odds ratio = 1.7; confidence interval = 1.0-2.9); difficult relations with superiors (O.R. = 2.6; C.I. = 1.3-5.3); and full-time work (O.R. = 2.3; C.I. = 1.3-3.9). Diverse methods enriched the analysis, and union participation allowed the proposal of concrete correction measures.

The 120-S minute: using analysis of work activity to prevent psychological distress among elementary school teachers.

Primary school teachers in Québec suffer psychological distress, as shown by the Québec Health Survey (M. Gervais, 1993; Santè Québec, 1995). The authors applied and extended the French model (F. Guérin, A. Laville, F. Daniellou, J. Duraffourg, & A. Kerguelen, 1991) of analysis of work activity to observing classroom teaching (14 women in 10 classrooms for a total of 48 hr 24 min) to identify stressful elements. The authors observed a rapid sequence of actions, eye fixations of short duration, little physical or mental relaxation, multiple simultaneous activities, and uncomfortable temperature and humidity levels. Teachers use many strategies to teach, to create a learning environment, and to maintain attention in classrooms under adverse conditions. Examination of these strategies led to recommendations to improve relations between the teachers and their supervisors and to make the classroom an easier place to teach.

Evaluation of exposure data from men and women with the same job title.

In the epidemiological approach to occupational cancers, large bodies of data must be analyzed to find rare cases of cancer. The exposure status of workers must therefore be assessed. Inaccuracies will lead to bias toward the null value in certain cases. Job title has often been used as a proxy for exposure status. This study was undertaken to examine content (ie, tasks and activities) associated with job title among men and women in a large Québec municipality. Occupational accident reports were studied for 1589 accidents, and 113 men and women workers were interviewed about job content. Women and men did not seem to have the same accident rates. From interview data, it appeared that women and men with the same job title did not perform the same tasks. Thus, they might have different exposures. The data reported here support caution in using job title to estimate exposure for both genders if the job-exposure matrix has not previously been validated separately by gender. In addition, it may be unwise to adjust relationships between job title and cancer incidence for gender, thus treating gender as a confounder when it may be a proxy for specific exposures.

HPRT-mutant frequency and lymphocyte characteristics of workers exposed to ionizing radiation on a sporadic basis: a comparison of two exposure indicators, job title and dose.

Using the clonal HPRT-mutant frequency assay, mutant frequencies of humans have been shown to rise following exposure to large doses of mutagens during radiotherapy, chemotherapy or after an atom bomb explosion. Success in relating mutant frequencies to exposure to high levels of mutagens has encouraged researchers to examine the effects of lower doses, such as those found among workers exposed at their jobs. In order to relate low doses of mutagens to biological effects, accurate characterization of exposure is critical, but most occupational studies are forced to use gross measures of exposure derived from job title or professional judgments as to potential exposure. Mutant frequencies and other relevant lymphocyte characteristics of 58 industrial workers were related to exposure status in two ways. When workers were classed as "exposed" or "unexposed" to ionizing radiation, no difference in any biological variable was seen between the two groups. When dosimeter readings were used as the exposure indicator, significant relationships appeared between dose and mutant frequency and CD4/CD8 lymphocyte subpopulation ratios. Mutant frequency was also positively related to age and smoking status. The time course of exposure and of appearance of mutant cells is discussed and it is suggested that this relationship receive attention in occupational studies of genotoxic effects.

Nuclear medicine patients do not have higher mutant frequencies after exposure to thallium-201.

The HPRT-lymphocyte clonal assay has been used to detect mutants induced in vivo in humans. This method has previously detected a rise in mutant frequency among nuclear medicine patients following exposure to technetium-99m, at a dose corresponding in theory to 5.1 mGy. In the present study, nuclear medicine patients were sampled before and after exposure to thallium-201, corresponding to a whole-body dose of 4.2 mGy. No rise in mutant frequency was found. We suggest that a difference in the effective dose received by the patients' lymphocytes accounts for the apparent contradiction with earlier results.

Use of antibiotic-loaded bone cement in the management of common infections of the foot and ankle.

Antibiotic-loaded bone cement is a useful adjunct in the management of chronic osteomyelitis and in the prevention of recurrent osteomyelitis after an initial attack. Additionally, antibiotic-loaded bone cement stimulated the formation of granulation tissue in excess of that which would normally be expected. Our experience has been consistent with others' experience, which suggests that the use of antibiotic-loaded bone cement is an effective means of reducing the length of hospitalization and the cost usually associated with traditional methods in the management of bone and soft-tissue infections.

Mutant frequency of radiotherapy technicians appears to be associated with recent dose of ionizing radiation.

The frequency of hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) mutants among peripheral T-lymphocytes of radiotherapy technicians primarily exposed to 60Co was measured by the T-cell cloning method. Mutant frequencies of these technicians in 1984 and 1986 were significantly higher than those of physiotherapy technicians who worked in a neighboring service, and correlated significantly with thermoluminescence dosimeter readings recorded during the 6 mo preceding mutant frequency determination. Correlations decreased when related to dose recorded over longer time intervals. HPRT mutant frequency determination in peripheral lymphocytes is a good measure of recently received biologically effective radiation dose in an occupationally exposed population.

Molecular characterization of 15 rearrangements among 90 human in vivo somatic mutants shows that deletions predominate.

Ninety hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase-deficient mutants were isolated from lymphocytes of 31 individuals drawn from both control populations and populations exposed to low doses of ionizing radiation. Southern analysis of the DNA revealed altered hybridization patterns in 15 mutants. Of these, 14 changes consisted of deletions of 2 to 40 kilobases or more.