Occupational Health News and Research

RSS

Preschool children particularly vulnerable to food-borne toxins

In a sobering study published in the journal Environmental Health, researchers at UC Davis and UCLA measured food-borne toxin exposure in children and adults by pinpointing foods with high levels of toxic compounds and determining how much of these foods were consumed.

14 Nov 2012

Toilet training method not related to urinary accidents in children

Parents: stop worrying about which toilet training method to use - where urinary accidents in children are concerned, it doesn't matter. This clearly-stated message, published today in Clinical Pediatrics by physician researchers from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, emphasizes that the method of training chosen by parents is not the cause of urinary accidents in children.

3 Nov 2012

Research team receives grant to study impact of urban air pollution on TB immunity

An international team of researchers, led by Stephan Schwander, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Global Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health, has received a $2.96 million grant to conduct a "real-world" study on the impact of urban air pollution on the human immune system's ability to resist Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.

29 Oct 2012

Feinstein Institute to study overall impact of WTC disaster on responders

The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has been awarded a $1 million grant from the World Trade Center Health Program, which is administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and Safety to comprehensively study the overall physical, mental and socioeconomic impact of the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on responders, as well as identify the linkage between socioeconomic status and health among all occupations of WTC responders.

26 Oct 2012

UNDP releases report examining impact of laws regarding sex work, effectiveness of HIV response

The UNDP on Thursday released a report, titled "Sex Work and the Law," which "examines 48 countries in Asia and the Pacific to assess laws, legal policies and law enforcement practices that affect the human rights of sex workers and impact on the effectiveness of HIV responses," according to a UNDP press release.

20 Oct 2012

Adults with HIV can benefit from cognitive training exercises

As more effective antiretroviral therapy has evolved over the past 30 years, HIV/AIDS has shifted from an acute to a chronic condition. But as patients live longer, research indicates that they are experiencing cognitive impairments at a higher rate than people without the disease.

17 Oct 2012

Study assesses ethnic disparities among construction workers with injuries

White non-Hispanic construction workers are awarded higher workers' compensation settlements in Illinois than Hispanic or black construction workers with similar injuries and disabilities, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

15 Oct 2012

AXA PPP healthcare introduces new Facebook app for cancer patients

AXA PPP healthcare has launched a new Facebook application - little big things - for people affected by cancer to share inspirational tips and practical information on coping with the disease and its treatment.

15 Oct 2012

Health Employers Association of British Columbia, PAR-BC reach tentative agreement

A tentative agreement has been reached between the Professional Association of Residents of British Columbia (PAR-BC) and the Health Employers Association of British Columbia (HEABC).

29 Sep 2012

Link between work-family conflict and musculoskeletal pain among nurses

Nurses and other hospital workers, especially those who work long hours or the night shift, often report trying to juggle the demands of the job and family obligations. A study out today by The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) suggests that the higher the work-family conflict the greater the risk that health care workers will suffer from neck and other types of musculoskeletal pain.

28 Sep 2012

Wiley publishes 6th Edition of Patty's Toxicology

The expanded 6th Edition of the cornerstone reference work on occupational health and toxicology is now published by Wiley. Patty's Toxicology, 6th Edition, 6-Volume Set updates its comprehensive coverage and adds chapters to reflect the changing and expanding field of Toxicology.

25 Sep 2012

RI MUHC, McGill University launch Montreal component of Canada-wide aging study

It's often referred to as the "Silver Tsunami". The aging of the Canadian population will become a public health challenge in the coming decades. By 2025, it is estimated that one in five Canadians will be over 65, and within 30 years Quebec will have one of the most elderly populations in the Western world.

20 Sep 2012

Employees behaving badly in the workplace

Over 86% of Australia’s professional workers have deliberately ignored or snubbed a colleague at work at least once, according to the findings of a new study by SACS Consulting into counter-productive workplace behaviours (CWBs) announced today.

10 Sep 2012

Less than half of U.S. schools address pandemic preparedness in their school plan

Less than half of U.S. schools address pandemic preparedness in their school plan, and only 40 percent have updated their school plan since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

31 Aug 2012

Preventing falls in older people: an interview with Professor Lindy Clemson

We often think of tripping over a step edge or pathway obstruction but there can be a range of things that can contribute to a fall. One of the most common is that our ability to balance can be reduced. This means that we don’t recover from a trip and are at more of a risk of losing our balance.

29 Aug 2012

XJB-5-131 prevents secondary damage of severe traumatic brain injury

Treatment with an agent that blocks the oxidation of an important component of the mitochondrial membrane prevented the secondary damage of severe traumatic brain injury and preserved function that would otherwise have been impaired, according to a research team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Graduate School of Public Health and Department of Chemistry in a report published online today in Nature Neuroscience.

27 Aug 2012

Secondhand smoke exposure decreases sensitivity to cough-eliciting respiratory irritants in children

New research from the Monell Center reveals that exposure to secondhand smoke decreases sensitivity to cough-eliciting respiratory irritants in otherwise healthy children and adolescents.

20 Aug 2012

Caffeine may help control movement in people with Parkinson's

Caffeine, which is widely consumed around the world in coffee, tea and soft drinks, may help control movement in people suffering from Parkinson's. This is the finding of a study conducted at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) that was recently published in Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Aug 2012

Obesity and heart disease risk in children: an interview with Joana Kist-van Holthe

'What defines obesity in children' is a very important question, primarily because we need to use one definition in order to be able to compare the prevalence of obesity in different countries. It is also important to have a single definition in order to evaluate whether interventions are successful or not.

31 Jul 2012

Nurse burnout leads to higher healthcare-associated infection rates

Nurse burnout leads to higher healthcare-associated infection rates (HAIs) and costs hospitals millions of additional dollars annually, according to a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

30 Jul 2012