نشریه طب کار
سال سوم شماره 4 (پیاپی 6، زمستان 1390)

Noise Induced Hearing Loss(NIHL) is among the most common occupational diseases which may cause irreversible and permanent hearing loss. Noise is the most frequent preventable occupational exposure. The most importanmt cause of NIHL is exposure to noise more than 85 dB and not to use hearing protection devices. Considering the importance of hearing protection deivices for prevention of NIHL, this study was designed to evaluate the frequency of its use and its quality in Yazd industrial workers.

In a cross-sectional study 648 industrial workers in Yazd entered the study and were evaluated for exposure to noise more than 85 dB and the quality of use of hearing protection devices. A questionnaire about the need for hearing protection devices, the quality of its use, using proper device and the reasons to abstain from using was filled for each participant.

Mean age and duration of employment of workers was 34.8±9.67 years and 9± 6.2 years. 21% of the workers used hearing protection devices and from these 35.7% used proper device and 54 (64.3%) used nonproper device. There was a significant statistical relationship between age, employment duration, and workers’ income and hearing protection device use. The most frequent reason for not to use devices was worker’s discomfort while wearing protection devices.

Frequency of exposure to noise was high, but frequency of using hearing protection devices was low. Most workers couldn’t use the devices correctly. Considering that NIHL is preventable, providing proper devices for workers and their training for correct use is necessary.

Emergency personnel are usually exposed to needle stick injuries (NSI) and contamination with HBV, HCV & HIV. The cost of health and psychological effects of such injuries demonstrates the importance of evaluating its risk factors and preventing it. One of these factors is job stress. A cross-sectional study was conducted among emergency personnel of 4 university hospitals in Tehran in 2008 - 2009. A triplex questionnaire was used including demographic features, Nordique psychological stress questionnaire and SPSS (Ver. 11) was used for analysis of the data. Tree hundred and fifty respondents including 162 (46.3%) males and 188 (53.7%) women, with an average age of 30±5.6 years including 146 residents (41.7%),43 interns (12.3%) & 161 nurses (46%) entered the study. Sixty nine persons (19.7%) reported a history of NSI and 99 persons (28.3%) had Blood and Body fluid exposure during last 3 months.158 persons (45.1%) were classified as low, 158 (45.1%) as moderate and 34 (9.8%) as severe stress level. there was not any significant difference between the proportion of NSI in different stress levels (P=0.374), but there was a significant difference in NSI proportion between nurses, and interns, residents (P=0.002). This study demonstrates that the frequency of NSI & BBFE in emergency personnel is significant, especially in residents. So it’s necessary to have a program for reducing it. The stress level didnt influence the rate of NSI. We suggest doing a survey to study the relationship between NSI and job stress factors (such as workload, role ambiguity) separately.

The extended use of nanoparticles has increased and public concern about possible adverse health effects of exposure to this substance is growing. This study was conducted to assess the cytotoxic effects of different concentrations of MgO nanoparticles on human blood mononuclear cells. In this laboratory trial study, suspensions of blood mononuclear cells were prepared from 10 young healthy men and then were incubated with different concentrations of the nanoparticles (1, 10, 100, 500, 1000 and 1500 µg/ml) at 37 °c, and finally the percent of dead cells were measured by MTT assay after 6 and 24 hours of incubation. Positive and negative controls were also applied. According to the results, the minimum and maximum death rate for 1 and 1500 µg/ml after 6 hours exposure was 30.9% and 44.7%, whereas for 24 hrs. Incubation was 26.5% and 64.4%, respectively. A significant difference was found in percent of dead cells in 1000 µg/ml. The highest toxicity of nanoparticles was found after 24 hrs. from 500 µg/ml and afterward. Significant difference was also found between the exposed cells and control group (p<0.05). This study showed that the toxicity of human blood mononuclear cells are dependent on both concentration and incubation time. In addition, LC50 was determined for 600 µg/ml just for 24 hours exposure.

Musculoskeletal disorders are among the common factors of work-related injuries in the developed and developing countries and this study tries to identify risk factors in this criteria case. This study was aimed to evaluate the nurses', awareness of ergonomic principles of work place, their employment problems and work-related injuries in two Iranian hospitals.

To perform this study, 335 nursing personnel who fulfilled inclusion to participate were selected from 13 different wards of two hospitals. For data collection, a verified five staged questionnaire was used.

Nurse's awareness of ergonomic principles, working conditions and work-related injuries and problems received 2.93 0.58, 2.23 0.54 and 2.66 0.76 scores out of 5, respectively. According to the obtained average scores, nurse's awareness of safety principles was mediocre and two other indices were scored low and weak.

Therefore it is necessary to adopt comprehensive training programs in order to increase nurse's awareness of ergonomics principles in work places and improve their working conditions.

Intruduction: Musculoskeletal disorders are among the most common disorders due to ergonomic risk factors. This study was designed to evaluate the frequency of musculoskeletal disorders in an auto-part manufacturing company in 2010. This descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 94 welders and operators of an auto-part manufacturing company. The method of sampling was census. We used NMQ and RULA method for evaluation of MSDs and Work postures. Data was analyzed using SPSS (ver. 17). Mean age of the subjects was 30.44 years (range: 20-56 years). The age group with the most frequent musculoskeletal disorders was 20-29 years (52.1%). Mean employment duration of the subjects was 5.2 years (range: 0-12 years). According to the results of NMQ, 70.2% of the subjects had experienced pain or discomfort in one of the areas of musculoskeletal system. According to RULA method 50.95% of subjects had RULA score=7 which takes place in action level 4. There was a statistically significant relationship between age and employment duration and musculoskeletal disorders (p<0.05). This study showed that musculoskeletal disorders were more frequent in low back. Considering that the action level of 4 was the most frequent one among the workers (50.9%), immediate ergonomic intervention is necessary.

In previous studies the appearance of vitiligo following occupational exposure has been defined. This study evaluates high risk occupational exposures before the onset of disease among patients with vitiligo All vitiliginous patients refered to dermatologic clinic of Imam Hospital, were asked about age of onset, recent and previous occupations, risky occupational exposures, autoimmune systemic disease and family history. Laboratory evaluation about diabetis melitus and thyroid disease was performed. Of 135 patients included in the study, 70 (51.85%) patients had an occupation and 65 (48.14%) were unemployed. Of 70 occupational cases, 23 (32.9%) had a risky occupational exposure. The most prevalent risky occupational exposures were exposure to detergents, oil colour, print dye and pesticides. Occupational cases were divided into two groups: with risky occupational exposure and without risky exposure. In risky occupational exposure group, the ratio of men to women was significantly higher. There was a significant difference in distribution of the disease between two groups and extremities were significantly more involved in risky exposure group. Age at onset was significantly lower in non-risky exposure group. None of the patients with risky occupational exposure used skin protction. High prevalence of risky occupational exposure may indicate it as a risk factor for vitiligo. Knowledge about these risky chemicals and prevention, may reduce occupational vitiligo.

This study evaluated the frequency of high- risk behaviors in health care of Shahid Beheshti hospital personnel which is the largest teaching hospital of Kashan University of Medical Sciences.

This was a cross- sectional, descriptive study. Health affairs including blood sampling, dressing and injections performed by medical personnel in different parts of Shahid Beheshti hospital of Kashan was assessed. Some cases of dressings, injections and blood sampling activities by health care workers, nurses and interns, were randomly selected and assessed by direct observation patients and HCWs were blinded to the study in different parts of the hospital.

In this study a total of 140 subjects from different parts of the hospital in the field of injections, dressings and blood sampling were evaluated. Results showed that most high- risk behaviors were related to the lack of washing hands before starting work and the least risky behavior was in appropriate way of pouring blood into the tube, not wearing gloves and not putting tourniquet 5-6 inches above the injection site in blood sampling, dressing and injection, respectively.

It seems that one of the causes of risky behaviors in medical practices is lack of awareness among nurses and absence or lack of training programs on infection control and existing standards to control the incidence of medical personnel errors; we can reduce or eliminate these errors by adequate management. Proper and regular training programs could also raise the level of personnel information and reduce the occurrence of these errors.

Injury to muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, nerves, blood vessels and soft tissues lead to musculoskeletal disorders. Type of work, the rate of repetition, severity and duration of work are risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. Food plants contain repetitive motions so it is necessary to study the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in this study. This study is a descriptive- analytical study to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the one of the food manufacturing plans. Therefore, 200 workers in this industry were examined. In order to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and symptoms Nordic questionnaire was used and to identify different body parts affected, body map questionnaire was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS (Ver. 18). The most common symptoms of patients were related to low back. Chi square test showed a significant relationship between sex and prevalence of symptoms in the areas of back, shoulder and elbow of workers during the past 12 months (P <0.05). But in the neck, thighs, knees and feet we did not see any significant difference. Sex is a risk factor for development musculoskeletal disorders, so as the prevalence of symptoms in women was more than men.