Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Worksite Safety Climate, Smoking, and the Use of Protective Equipment by Blue-Collar Building Workers Enrolled in the MassBUILT Smoking Cessation Trial

Objective: To assess potential contributors to high injury rates and smoking prevalence among construction workers, we investigated the association of safety climate with personal protective equipment use, and smoking behaviors. Methods: Logistic regression models estimated risk ratios for personal protective equipment use and smoking using data from participants in MassBUILT smoking cessation intervention (n = 1725). Results: Contractor safety climate was negatively associated with the use of dust masks (rate ratio [RR], 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 0.94), respirators (RR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.75 to 0.89), general equipment (RR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.00), and fall protection (RR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.91 to 0.98) and positively associated with current smoking (RR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.25) but not smoking cessation. Coworker safety climate was negatively associated with the use of dust masks (RR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.82 to 0.92), respirators (RR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.87), general equipment (RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94 to 0.98), fall (RR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.89 to 0.96), and hearing protection (RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.83 to 0.93) but not smoking. Conclusions: Worksite safety climate may be important for personal protective equipment use and smoking, but further research is needed.
Short Sleep Duration Increases the Risk of Chronic Kidney Disease in Shift Workers

Objective: To investigate the association of sleep duration and shift work with development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Japanese workers. Methods: A total of 3600 participants without CKD were observed for an average of 4.4 years. The Cox proportional-hazards regression model was used to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of the risk of CKD associated with sleep duration and shift work. Results: Sleep duration and shift work showed no significant association with the risk of CKD. Nevertheless, when the results were stratified by shift work status, short sleep duration was associated with a significantly higher risk of CKD among shift workers (hazard ratio = 3.60; 95% confidence interval: 1.52 to 10.68). Conclusions: Short sleep duration was a risk factor for early CKD but only among shift workers.
Alcohol intake and binge drinking among Italian adolescents: The role of drinking motives

ABSTRACT Binge drinking, a pattern associated with worse outcome, is becoming increasingly popular among youths, thus negatively impacting social life. To investigate drinking patterns and their underlying motives in Italian adolescents, the Alcohol Use Questionnaire and the Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised Short Form were administered to 332 school-age teenagers (16–19 years; 139 girls, 193 boys) from a single Roman school, recruited at their classrooms through the intermediation of their teachers. Boys scored higher than girls on all drinking and binge measures. They also scored higher on the Enhancement, Social, and Conformity Drinking Motive Questionnaire–Revised Short Form subscales. Binge drinking scores positively correlated with gender, alcohol consumption, and with all Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised Short Form subscales. In the two-step hierarchical model, Drinking Motive Questionnaire–Revised Short Form enhancement and conformity predicted alcohol use and Drinking Motive Questionnaire–Revised Short Form coping motives significantly predicted binge drinking. Binge drinking is prevalent among Italian adolescents, who mainly drink to enhance perceived positive effects of alcohol, conform to their social groups, and face their problems. Boys binge more than girls.
Psychiatric comorbidity, psychological distress, and quality of life in gamma-hydroxybutyrate-dependent patients

ABSTRACT Understanding the psychiatric state and psychological distress level of patients with gamma-hydroxybutyrate dependence is important to develop effective detoxification and relapse management methods. The aim of the current study was to assess the prevalence among gamma-hydroxybutyrate-dependent individuals of psychiatric comorbidity and psychological distress levels and their association with the individuals' pattern of misuse and quality of life. There were 98 patients tested with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview-plus, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Depression Anxiety Stress scale, and the EuroQoL-5D as a part of the Dutch gamma-hydroxybutyrate detoxification monitor in 7 addiction treatment centers. Participants were selected from those undergoing inpatient gamma-hydroxybutyrate detoxification treatment between March 2011 and September 2012. Males accounted for 68% of the participants and the average age was 28-years-old. A high rate of psychiatric comorbidity (79%) was detected, including anxiety (current 38%, lifetime 40%), mood (13%, 31%), and psychotic disorders (13%, 21%). The level of psychological distress was significantly higher than the standard outpatient reference group, especially in patients with current psychiatric comorbidity (Brief Symptom Inventory Global Severity Index mean 1.61 versus 1.09, p ≤ 0.01). Increased gamma-hydroxybutyrate misuse (higher dose and shorter interval between doses) was associated with the presence of lifetime psychosis, current mood disorders (rpb = 0.23, p = 0.025), and psychoticism as a symptom of psychological distress. Current anxiety, mood disorders and high psychological stress had a negative effect on participants' quality of life. Gamma-hydroxybutyrate dependence is characterized by serious psychiatric comorbidity and psychological distress, both of which are, in turn, associated with increased gamma-hydroxybutyrate use and a lower quality of life. This needs to be considered during detoxification to avoid complicated withdrawal. Providing treatment for patients' mental health issues is vital for ensuring treatment compliance, avoiding relapse and improving the patients' quality of life.
Exploiting problem structure in pattern search methods for unconstrained optimization

A direct search method for unconstrained optimization is described. The method makes use of any partial separability structure that the objective function may have. The method uses successively finer nested grids, and minimizes the objective function over each grid in turn. All grids are aligned with the coordinate directions, which allows the partial separability structure of the objective function to be exploited. This has two advantages: it reduces the work needed to calculate function values at the points required and it provides function values at other points as a free by-product. Numerical results show that using partial separability can dramatically reduce the number of function evaluations needed to minimize a function, in some cases allowing problems with thousands of variables to be solved. Results show that the algorithm is effective on strictly C 1 problems and on a class of non-smooth problems.
Pilot Metabolome-Wide Association Study of Benzo(a)pyrene in Serum From Military Personnel

Objective: A pilot study was conducted to test the feasibility of using Department of Defense Serum Repository (DoDSR) samples to study health and exposure-related effects. Methods: Thirty unidentified human serum samples were obtained from the DoDSR and analyzed for normal serum metabolites with high-resolution mass spectrometry and serum levels of free benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Metabolic associations with BaP were determined using a metabolome-wide association study (MWAS) and metabolic pathway enrichment. Results: The serum analysis detected normal ranges of glucose, selected amino acids, fatty acids, and creatinine. Free BaP was detected in a broad concentration range. MWAS of BaP showed associations with lipids, fatty acids, and sulfur amino acid metabolic pathways. Conclusion: The results show that the DoDSR samples are of sufficient quality for chemical profiling of DoD personnel.
Nonmonotone globalization of the finite-difference Newton-GMRES method for nonlinear equations

In this paper, we study nonmonotone globalization strategies, in connection with the finite-difference inexact Newton-GMRES method for nonlinear equations. We first define a globalization algorithm that combines nonmonotone watchdog rules and nonmonotone derivative-free linesearches related to a merit function, and prove its global convergence under the assumption that the Jacobian is nonsingular and that the iterations of the GMRES subspace method can be completed at each step. Then we introduce a hybrid stabilization scheme employing occasional line searches along positive bases, and establish global convergence towards a solution of the system, under the less demanding condition that the Jacobian is nonsingular at stationary points of the merit function. Through a set of numerical examples, we show that the proposed techniques may constitute useful options to be added in solvers for nonlinear systems of equations.
The Use of Microteaching to Facilitate Teaching Skills of Practitioners who work with Older Adults

Abstract The purpose this article is to describe microteaching as an approach to facilitating the acquisition of health teaching skills by health care practitioners who work with older adults. Based on the principles of adult learning, integrated with age-related sensory changes, such health teaching strategies must address the needs of older adults. Microteaching as an approach, within the context of a minifellowship program, is described. Principles of adult learning are delineated, age-related sensory changes influencing the teaching learning process are reviewed, and selected teaching skills are described. Older adult learner objectives, appropriate for use by health care professionals in the classroom and in clinical settings are discussed.
Symbolic elimination in dynamic optimization based on block-triangular ordering

We consider dynamic optimization problems for systems described by differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). Such problems are usually solved by discretizing the full DAE. We propose techniques to symbolically eliminate many of the algebraic variables in a preprocessing step before discretization. These techniques are inspired by the causalization and tearing techniques often used when solving DAE initial value problems. Since sparsity is crucial for some dynamic optimization methods, we also propose a novel approach to preserving sparsity during this procedure. The proposed methods have been implemented in the open-source JModelica.org platform. We evaluate the performance of the methods on a suite of optimal control problems solved using direct collocation. We consider both computational time and probability of solving the problem in a timely manner. We demonstrate that the proposed methods often are an order of magnitude faster than the standard way of discretizing the full DAE, and also significantly increase probability of successful convergence.
The Associations of Multimorbidity With Health-Related Productivity Loss in a Large and Diverse Public Sector Setting: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Objective: To evaluate absenteeism, presenteeism, and total lost productive time (LPT) associated with multimorbidity. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 3228 state-government employees from Tasmania were collected in 2013. The validated measures of absenteeism, presenteeism, and LPT were obtained from employees’ self-reported data over a 28-day period. Analyses were stratified by sex. Negative binomial models were used to estimate the associations between multimorbidity and LPT. Results: The average health-related total LPT was 1.2 (standard deviation [SD] = 2.4) and 1.7 (SD = 3.5) days for men and women with multimorbidity, respectively. Women (rate ratio [RR] = 2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.8 to 4.9) and men (RR = 4.4, 95%CI 3.0 to 6.2) with 4+ chronic conditions were significantly more likely to report LPT compared with those without any chronic conditions. Conclusion: We found multimorbidity is of concern within the workforce, with a positive association of multimorbidity and LPT observed, and significant differences in LPT between men and women reporting multimorbidity.
Cerebral activation during performance of a card sorting test

Summary The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is used clinically for evaluating frontal lobe function, but there is some controversy as to its specificity for detecting frontal lobe damage. To investigate the cerebral regions essential to the performance of the Card Sorting Test, we measured the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 18 normal subjects by PET under the three conditions: (i) during the Modified Card Sorting Test (MCST); (ii) during a matching-to-sample (MTS) task, based on the MCST, but with selective attention to one of three stimulus categories (colour, number or shape) as a control to cancel the effects of maintenance of sets in the MCST; (iii) under resting conditions as overall control. When rCBF during the MCST was compared with that during each MTS task separately, significant activations were observed during the MCST in the left or bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), bilateral inferior parietal lobes, left superior occipital gyrus and left cerebellum. Compared with all the MTS tasks inclusively, significant increase in rCBF was detected during the MCST in the bilateral DLPFC, inferior parietal lobes, striate cortex, cerebellum and left occipital cortex. These results suggest the involvement of the DLPFC and other related areas such as the inferior parietal cortex in the execution of the MCST, and may help explain why a variety of brain lesions can result in impaired performance on the Card Sorting Test.
Accuracy of Self-Reported Smoking and Secondhand Smoke Exposure in the US Workforce: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys

Objectives:Occupational health studies often rely on self-reported secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. This study examines the accuracy of self-reported tobacco use and SHS exposure. Methods:Data on serum cotinine, self-reported tobacco use, and SHS exposure for US workers were extracted from three National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (n = 17,011). Serum cotinine levels were used to classify workers into SHS exposure categories. The percent agreement between self-reported tobacco use and SHS exposure with the cotinine categories was calculated. Results:Workers reporting tobacco use were 88% accurate whereas workers reporting work, home, or home+work exposures were 87% to 92% accurate. Workers reporting no SHS exposure were only 28% accurate. Conclusions:Workers accurately reported their smoking status and workplace-home SHS exposures, but substantial numbers reporting “no exposures” had detectable levels of cotinine in their blood, indicating exposure to SHS.
Effective Knowledge Management Systems for a Clinical Nursing Setting

ABSTRACT Given the critical role of nurses as knowledge workers in a hospital environment, this study investigates the knowledge management processes and organizational enablers associated with effective knowledge management systems (KMS) for a clinical nursing setting. The interview and survey findings shed light on how to effectively design and deploy a clinical KMS in a hospital nursing environment.
Measures of Work-Family Conflict Predict Sickness Absence From Work

Objective: To examine the relation between work-family conflict and sickness absence. Methods: The BELSTRESS III study comprised 2983 middle-aged workers. Strain-based work-home interference (WHI) and home-work interference (HWI) were assessed by means of self-administered questionnaires. Prospective data of registered sickness absence during 12-months follow-up were collected. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results: HWI was positively and significantly related to high sickness absence duration (at least 10 sick leave days) and high sickness absence frequency (at least 3 sick leave episodes) in men and women, also after adjustments were made for sociodemographic variables, health indicators, and environmental psychosocial factors. In multivariate analysis, no association between WHI and sickness absence was found. Conclusions: HWI was positively and significantly related to high sickness absence duration and frequency during 12-months follow-up in male and female workers.
Pharmaceutical Production Workers and the Risks of Mortality From Respiratory System Cancer and Lymphatic and Hematopoietic Tissue Cancers

Objectives: To evaluate further elevated mortality risks from respiratory system cancer (RSC) and lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue cancers (LHTC) in a cohort of 1466 male workers employed full-time in pharmaceutical production. Methods: We computed standardized mortality ratios, and in nested case-control studies of RSC and LHTC, evaluated mortality risks by plant exposures with adjustment for potential confounding factors. Results: Subjects with potential plant exposure had no elevated RSC risk and a statistically significant LHTC excess. The case-control study found many RSC risks reduced with adjustment for smoking, and LHTC risks increased with increasing levels of average exposure to dimethyl-formamide. Conclusions: RSC mortality risks decreased, and we found limited evidence that positive confounding by smoking may explain some remaining excess risks. For LHTC, increased mortality risks and exposure-response patterns in the case-control study may indicate a possible workplace association.
A Systematic Review of Occupational Health and Safety Interventions With Economic Analyses

Objective: We reviewed the occupational health and safety intervention literature to synthesize evidence on financial merits of such interventions. Methods: A literature search included journal databases, existing systematic reviews, and studies identified by content experts. Studies meeting inclusion criteria were assessed for quality. Evidence was synthesized within industry-intervention type clusters. Results: We found strong evidence that ergonomic and other musculoskeletal injury prevention interventions in manufacturing and warehousing are worth undertaking in terms of their financial merits. We also found strong evidence that multisector disability management interventions are worth undertaking. Conclusions: While the economic evaluation of interventions in this literature warrants further expansion, we found a sufficient number of studies to identify strong, moderate, and limited evidence in certain industry-intervention clusters. The review also provided insights into how the methodological quality of economic evaluations in this literature could be improved.
Prosthetic Outcome Measures for Use With Upper Limb Amputees: A Systematic Review of the Peer-Reviewed Literature, 1970 to 2009

The overall goal was to perform a systematic literature search and structured review of the state of outcome measurement in the field of upper limb prosthetics and to propose future directions for research in this area. The review is based on systematic searches of Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and RECAL electronic databases from 1970 to March 2009 and on subsequent review of the reference lists of the identified publications (citation tracking), as well as articles in the author's personal collection. Each article was independently reviewed by two readers. Publications were initially screened for relevance, and then fully reviewed to extract relevant data and review the methodological quality of the study. A quality rating form, based on guidelines provided by Terwee et al. (J Clin Epidemiol. 2006;60:34–42), was devised for evaluation of the clinimetric properties of the identified outcome measures. The search identified 660 peer-reviewed publications related to outcome measurement with upper limb amputees of which 25 met all of the author's inclusion criteria for full review. In the adult literature, seven outcome measures (4 amputees specific and 3 generic) were revealed. This compares with 25 measures identified in the lower limb adult amputee outcomes review by Condie et al. (J Prostht Orthot. 2006;18:13–45). In the pediatric review, nine distinct outcome measures (5 amputees specific and 4 generic) were found. Two of the pediatric measures also have younger child versions. There was overlap of one measure, the Assessment of Capacity for Myoelectric Control (ACMC), between adult and pediatric studies. The use of standardized outcome measures with adult upper limb amputees is sparse in the published studies with this clinical population, and upper limb prosthetic-specific measures are few in number. Attention needs to be paid to all aspects of measurement development and validation across the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. The measures with greatest psychometric promise for use in upper limb prosthetics are the ACMC, the Upper Extremity Functional Status Module of the Orthotics and Prosthetics User Survey, the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand Questionnaire, and the Trinity Amputation and Prosthesis Experience Scales. Greater strides toward measure development and validation have been made with pediatric upper limb amputees. The emphasis that is currently needed is on the determination of the test-retest reliability and responsiveness of the most promising measures (ACMC, University of New Brunswick Test, the Assisting Hand Assessment, Prosthetic Upper Extremity Functional Index, and the ABILHAND-Kids) and discussion on how best to approach the measurement of participation and quality of life.
The incidence of tonsillectomy in school children

THE rise in the incidence of tonsillectomy is one of the major phenomena ofmodern surgery, for it has been estimated that 200,000 of these operations are performed annually in this country and that tonsillectomies form one-third of the number of operations performed under general ancesthesia in the United States. There are, moreover, features in the age, geographical and social distribution of the incidence, so unusual as to justify the decision of the Section of Epidemiology to devote an evening to its discussion.
Structure and process of nursing care for prevention of surgical site infection: observational study

High rates of infection can reflect the quality of the service. Two previous studies in the same place reported an overall surgical site infection incidence of 14,1% and 22%, what motivated this research. The aim of this study was to analyze the structure and nursing process and its possible relationship with the prevention and control of surgical site infection (SSI). It is a descriptive, observational and documentary analysis study performed in a large general teaching Hospital in Sao Paulo from August 2007 to March 2008 . The data were collected from institutional documents and trough directed observation of the nursing practice . The results showed that the normative documents are in accord with the current evidence. However, the structure issues present limitations with negative impact for the prevention of SSI. The nursing processes accomplished partially to the recommended standards , the hand washing, appropriate use of antibiotics and accomplishment of postoperative dressing’s present improvement opportunities that could positively impact the surgical site infection’s rates. These results point out the need of review the nursing process and the adequacy of some structural issues in order to achieve the standards for prevention and control of the surgical site infection.
An adapted postdonation motivational interview enhances blood donor retention

BACKGROUND: Blood donors may hold conflicting thoughts about future donation. While they may perceive the direct benefit to themselves and others, they often report compelling reasons not to give again. As a result the standard encouragements to return may not be sufficient to motivate some donors. This study examined the effects of a postdonation adapted motivational interview (AMI) on blood donor attitudes and repeat donation behavior.