Work hour

BACKGROUND: Low back pain due to disc herniation is a common problem causing frequent hospital visits and loss of working days with major socio-economic impact. Conservative treatments like analgesics, physiotherapy do not work in all patients. Surgical treatment has been the mainstay of treatment when indicated but is associated with anesthetic and surgical complications. Intradiscal oxygen-ozone chemonucleolysis is a minimally invasive procedure done under local anesthesia and has promising role in shrinking the bulged disc and reducing nerve root compression and related symptoms...

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia and frailty are often used interchangeably in clinical practice yet represent two distinct conditions and require different therapeutic approaches. The literature regarding the co-occurrence of both conditions in older patients is scarce as most studies have investigated the prevalence of sarcopenia and frailty separately. OBJECTIVES: We aim to evaluate the prevalence and co-occurrence of sarcopenia and frailty in a large sample of acutely admitted older medical patients...

OBJECTIVES: The literature is nonexistent on the assessment of overall fractions of diseases attributable to multiple dependent psychosocial work factors. The objectives of the study were to calculate the overall fractions of coronary heart diseases (CHD) and depression attributable to multiple dependent psychosocial work factors in 35 European countries. METHODS: We used already published fractions of CHD and depression attributable to each of the following psychosocial work factors: job strain, effort-reward imbalance, job insecurity, long working hours, and workplace bullying...

Weight-based discrimination (WBD) is common and associated with reduced physical and emotional functioning. WBD is common in the workplace, yet no studies have evaluated a WBD intervention delivered in a worksite setting. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a 3-hour, remote-delivered WBD intervention at a large public university. Six workshops including 94 participants (41.76 ± 9.37 y; 92.8% women) were delivered December 2020 through May 2021; 88...

PURPOSE: Ultrasound imaging is commonly used in decompression research to assess venous gas emboli (VGE) post-dive, with higher loads associated with increased decompression sickness risk. This work examines, for the first time in humans, the performance of a novel electrical impedance spectroscopy technology (I-VED), on possible detection of post-dive bubbles presence and arterial endothelial dysfunction that may be used as markers of decompression stress. METHODS: I-VED signals were recorded in scuba divers who performed standardized pool dives before and at set time points after their dives at 35-minute intervals for about two hours...

There is need for a greater connection between General Practice and GP trainees in their hospital component of training. Currently, in Scotland, there are no national education programmes specifically designed for GP trainees during their hospital component of training. Our aim was to develop and evaluate the feasibility of a national online 'bitesize' education programme delivered live for GP trainees in their hospital component of training. The study also aims to assess the barriers to attending these teaching sessions and whether they made trainees feel more connected to General Practice...

Sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) fulfills the requirements of the top transparent electrodes (TTEs) in semitransparent perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and stacked tandem solar cells (TSCs) as well as the recombination layers in monolithic TSCs. However, the high-energy ITO particles will cause damage to the devices and reduce the photovoltaic performance. Herein, the interface reactive sputtering strategy has been proposed and implemented to construct cost-effective TTEs with high transmittance and excellent carrier transporting ability, aiming to realize high-performance semitransparent and tandem PSCs...

Nurses have valuable knowledge and expertise to share. Yet, for a variety of reasons, many nurses do not write for publication. Members in one Sigma Theta Tau International chapter requested information about publishing so a writing for publication program (WPP) was convened. Ten nurses from diverse clinical and academic backgrounds participated. The goal of the WPP was to support a small group of nurses to advance knowledge and develop practical skills through the development of a manuscript with mentorship from doctorally-prepared nurses with publishing experience...

BACKGROUND: The extraordinary growth in women's incarceration over the past several decades has resulted in calls for expansion of research into their unique needs and experiences, including those related to pregnancy and perinatal care. However, while research into the health outcomes of women who are incarcerated while pregnant has grown, research on women's custodial and perinatal care patterns has remained nearly non-existent. Here, we sought to describe (1) the characteristics of the population of women who came to be incarcerated in a state prison system during pregnancy and (2) the characteristics of women's custodial and perinatal care patterns during and after incarceration...

This work studies the direct current breakdown characteristics of unfilled epoxy and epoxy nonconductive nanocomposites (SiO2,MgO and Al2O3). It also examines the variation of electrical properties in epoxy nanocomposites. The novel aspect of this study is that the samples of Epoxy nanocomposite were exposed to high voltages of up to six kilo volts for three hours using field electron microscopy under high vacuum conditions (10-5 mbar). The current emitted from these samples was measured at three different intervals of time...

Prolonged standing at work is associated with health risks. The appearance of lower-limb and lower-back discomfort is one of the most prevalent factors in prolonged standing workers. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of an eight-hour workday on foot pressure and musculoskeletal discomfort in standing workers. Thirty-six assembly-line workers (six women) were recruited to participate in a cross-sectional study to assess foot pressure and surface, foot, knee, and lower-back discomfort before and after a real workday...

BACKGROUND: Many studies have focused on the quality of pain management in hospitalized patients with cancer pain, while what happens after discharge remains unclear. AIM: The purpose of this study was to investigate the pain intensity and satisfaction of pain relief among a large sample of Chinese patients with cancer pain after discharge. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational research. SETTINGS AND SAMPLE: ABOUT: 1,013 patients were recruited in a tertiary cancer hospital, and their residence addresses were distributed in 6 geographical regions, including 26 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions...

The hippocampus is crucial for acquiring and retrieving episodic and contextual memories. In previous studies, the inactivation of dentate gyrus (DG) neurons by chemogenetic- and optogenetic-mediated hyperpolarization led to opposing conclusions about DG's role in memory retrieval. One study used Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD)-mediated clozapine N-oxide (CNO)-induced hyperpolarization and reported that the previously formed memory was erased, thus concluding that denate gyrus is needed for memory maintenance...

BACKGROUND: Exposure to air pollution can exacerbate asthma with immediate and long-term health consequences. Behaviour changes can reduce exposure to air pollution, yet its 'invisible' nature often leaves individuals unaware of their exposure, complicating the identification of appropriate behaviour modifications. Moreover, making health behaviour changes can be challenging, necessitating additional support from healthcare professionals. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study used personal exposure monitoring, data feedback, and co-developed behaviour change interventions with individuals with asthma, with the goal of reducing personal exposure to PM2...

Hydrotreating renewable oils over sulfided metal catalysts is commercially applied to produce green diesel, but it requires a continuous sulfur replenishment to maintain catalyst activity, which inevitably results in sulfur contamination and increases production costs. We report a robust P-doped NiAl-oxide catalyst with frustrated Lewis pairs (i.e., P atom bonded with the O atom acts as an electron donor, while the spatially separated Ni atom acts as an electron acceptor) that allows efficient green diesel production without sulfur replenishment...

Transferring an existing marketed pharmaceutical product from batch to continuous manufacturing (CM) without changes in regulatory registration is a challenging task in the pharmaceutical industry. Continuous manufacturing can provide an increased production rate and better equipment utilisation while retaining key quality attributes of the final product. Continuous manufacturing necessitates the monitoring of critical quality attributes in real time by appropriate process analytical tools such as near infra-red (NIR) probes...

This work aims to evaluate the biological activities of the EEGP, in order to contribute with a natural therapeutic alternative, to face infections. The EEGP MIC tests showed antibacterial activity against two strains of S. aureus (LPM 63 and LPM 86), both at concentrations of 550 µg/mL. The MBC performed with the inhibition values showed that the EEGP has bacteriostatic activity in both strains. Biofilm inhibition rates exhibited an average value greater than 65% at the highest concentration. The EEGP antioxidant potential test showed good antioxidant activity (IC50) of 11...

Citizen science is a participatory science approach in which members of the public (citizens) collaborate with scientists and professional researchers and become involved in research and innovation activities, resulting in the co-creation of scientific knowledge and innovation. Citizen science has been widely applied in research, particularly in the social sciences, environmental sciences, information and communication technologies, and public health. However, the application of this approach in clinical sciences, particularly in translational medicine research, is still nascent...

The occurrence of vaso-occlusive crisis greatly depends on the competition between the sickling delay time and the transit time of individual sickle cells, i.e., red blood cells (RBCs) from sickle cell disease (SCD) patients, while they are traversing the circulatory system. Many drugs for treating SCD work by inhibiting the polymerization of sickle hemoglobin (HbS), effectively delaying the sickling process in sickle cells (SS RBCs). Most previous studies on screening anti-sickling drugs, such as voxelotor, rely on in vitro testing of sickling characteristics, often conducted under prolonged deoxygenation for up to 1 hour...

INTRODUCTION: Amid the ongoing Non-Communicable Disease and COVID-19 pandemic, understanding prevalence and characteristics associated with work stress is vital from a health and economic perspective, more so among information technology (IT) professionals. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence and factors associated with work stress among IT professionals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Bengaluru, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken on a convenient sample of 356 IT professionals in Bengaluru, India, between September 2020 and March 2021 to assess work stress...