[Age-related effects on mental ability and their associations with personal characteristics among female teachers]. / Altersbezogene Effekte mentaler Leistungsfähigkeit und deren Zusammenhang zu personenbezogenen Merkmalen bei Lehrerinnen.

AIM: Mental ability is considered as a resource that supports coping processes among teachers. It consists of fluid speed-orientated components and crystallised precision-orientated components. Both components are subject to differential aging processes and are affected by personal factors. In this context, the effects of age and the correlation between mental ability and personal factors are analysed for a set of younger and older female teachers. METHODS: The data collection was carried out during extended preventive medical examinations at schools in Saxony. The analysis included the data of 252 female teachers. Mental ability was measured with standardised and validated instruments. Data were collected for the verbal and cognitive abilities to respond, to reset, to concentrate, to remember and to orientate as well as for strategy development. These variables were assigned to the speed-orientated and the precision-orientated components on the basis of measurements of time and errors. Personal factors included sense of coherence, susceptibility to stress, incapacity to recover, mental health and health complaints. In order to analyse age effects, the female teachers were divided into 2 age groups (< 45 and 45 years). RESULTS: The fluid components of mental ability showed significant but small effects in favour of the younger age group. No significant difference was found for the crystallised components among the age groups. In both age groups mental ability had a more favourable value for the teachers compared to the general population. The personal factors showed no differences for younger and older teachers, with the exception of physical health complaints which were mentioned more often by older teachers. Only a few very small correlations were detectable between the components of mental ability and personal factors. CONCLUSIONS: Besides the favourable mental ability of the teachers, the hypothesised and expected age effects are confirmed: the fluid abilities decline with age while the crystallised abilities remain stable. This is a starting point for prevention and intervention. Training allows maintenance or an improvement of mental ability at any age. Multidirectional correlations exist between mental ability and personal factors. Since mental ability comprises far more components than those considered in this study, the research approach should be expanded in the future.

[Primary Prevention during Interaction of Teachers and Students--An Interdisciplinary Modular Programme According to Psychic and Psychosomatic Disorders in the Setting of Vocational Schools]. / Primärprävention in der Interaktion zwischen Schülern und Lehrern--Ein interdisziplinäres modulares Programm für psychische und psychosomatische Beeinträchtigungen im Setting Berufsschule.

The aim of the project was the development of a modular primary preventive programme according to psychic and psychosomatic disorders in the setting of vocational schools and the evaluation of the corresponding interventions. Preventive strategies were integrated in the basic and further education of teachers and a concept for their occupational medical care. These strategies with long-term effects were supplemented by interventions to promote health and competence directly in the field.

Functional characterization of the human prion protein promoter in neuronal and endothelial cells.

Human prion diseases such as Creutzfeld-Jakob disease and kuru are of major medical and biological importance because of their fatal course, epidemic potential, and unique pathophysiology. Endogenous expression of the normal cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) is necessary for infection and prion replication. However, knowledge of human PrP(C) gene regulation is rudimentary. We therefore cloned1543 bp of the 5' untranslated and promoter region of the PrP gene. Using transient transfection assays, the full-length promoter and serial deletion mutants subcloned in a luciferase reporter vector were analyzed in neuronal (KELLY) and endothelial (EA.hy926) cell lines, which both express PrP(C) as shown by RT/PCR. Analysis of promoter constructs in KELLY cells indicated two activating regions at -131/-284 and -1303/-1543, relative to the 3'-terminal end of exon 1, and also two repressing elements at -254/-567 and -567/-909 in neuronal cells. In EA.hy926 cells, activating elements were identified at -131/-284 and -284/-567, and one repressing region was localized at -567/-909. In addition, transcriptional start sites were determined by 5'-RACE reaction and RNase protection assay, revealing one major transcriptional start site located at -47 (in KELLY cells), -53 (in human thalamus) and at about -55 (in EA.hy926 cells).

Sympathetic and parasympathetic activation in heart rate variability in male hypertensive patients under mental stress.

Disturbed sympathetic and also parasympathetic activity of the autonomic nervous system points to pathological alterations in the cardiovascular system. Untreated hypertensive subjects were examined with respect to the question of whether an increase in sympathetic activity necessarily goes along with a reduction in parasympathetic activity, and whether 'delayed' recovery behaviour after mental stress could be an indicator of a disturbed cardiovascular function. In 20 male hypertensive (HT) and 20 normotensive (NT) subjects (control group), heart rate variability (HRV) was compared during rest and under mental stress. The testing procedure consisted of the following phases: habituation, arithmetic tasks without and with interference, recovery. HRV was analysed using the trigonometric regressive spectral analysis (TRS). Proceeding from the total variance (ms2), the weighted averaged frequency (Hz) and the variance parts (ms2) in the frequency bands 'low frequency' (LF-band: 0.04-0.15 Hz) and 'high frequency' (HF-band: 0.15-0.40 Hz) were explored. The variance part modulated by spontaneous breathing within the HF-band was assessed additionally. The variance part in the LF-band under mental stress was significantly increased in the HT group (P<0.01). Activity in the HF-band (without the respiration-dependent part) under mental stress did not differ between both groups, whereas the breathing-modulated part of variance in the HF-band was reduced in the HT subjects. During the recovery period in the HT group, the weighted averaged frequency was still elevated compared to baseline, and the variance part in the LF-band was increased, which may point to delayed recovery behaviour. In addition, by using a discriminant analysis 85% of all subjects were reclassified to the original groups, all HT subjects being assigned 'correctly'. Spectral variance parameters enable early discovery of altered cardiovascular regulation. Respiration influences variance in the HF-band in hypertensive subjects and should therefore be paid attention to. The variance part in the LF-band, weighted averaged frequency and the respiration-modulated variance in the HF-band turned out to be the most valid parameters for the differentiation between NT and HT subjects.

Hypertriglyceridaemia in mild hypertension: impact on cardiovascular and hormonal reactivity under different stress tests.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the significance of hypertriglyceridaemia (HTG) for associated components of the metabolic syndrome and stress reactivity in subjects with mild hypertension. METHODS: Seventeen asymptomatic subjects with mild hypertension assessed by 24-h blood pressure (BP) measurement plus HTG (TG >2.3 mmol/l) were recruited and compared with age- and sex-matched subjects with hypertension alone and healthy controls. Cardiovascular and hormonal stress reactivity were tested in a standardised programme consisting of 6 min mental stress, 3 min finger grip and a submaximal bicycle ergometry. RESULTS: The hypertensive patients with HTG exhibited significantly higher fasting insulin, uric acid and gamma-GT levels and lower HDL-cholesterol. The cardiovascular reactivity was similar in all three tests with respect to brachial and peripheral BP in the groups. Peripheral BP during the tests was found to be higher particularly in subjects with hypertension alone. The correlations between BP parameters were disturbed in hypertensives with HTG. Latter group showed significantly higher dopamine, noradrenaline, as well as ACTH levels and an increased ACTH/cortisol ratio. CONCLUSION: HTG in mild hypertension is indicative for insulin resistance accompanied by a modified vascular reactivity as well as elevated catecholamines and ACTH.

Leukocyte responsiveness to substances that activate the respiratory burst is not altered in borderline and essential hypertension.

Activated leukocytes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of hypertension and its complications. The present study investigated the activity stage of leukocytes for production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in 17 normotensive controls and subjects with borderline (n = 17) or essential hypertension (n = 17) using different biological materials (whole blood and isolated polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs)), stimuli (zymosan and formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP)) and ROS detection assays (chemiluminescence, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion determination). Neither the capacity for extracellular generation of oxygen metabolites nor the production of ROS with an intracellular origin were significantly different in isolated PMNLs between controls and hypertensive subjects. There were no significant differences in the luminol-amplified zymosan- or FMLP-stimulated whole blood chemiluminescence response. In addition, the leukocyte count did not differ between the groups. The results suggest that circulating leukocytes of controls and hypertensives existed in a resting state in our experimental conditions. We did not find any evidence of enhanced basal leukocyte free radical activity in patients with mild or severe hypertension.

The trigonometric regressive spectral analysis--a method for mapping of beat-to-beat recorded cardiovascular parameters on to frequency domain in comparison with Fourier transformation.

Heart rate and peripheral blood pressure as physiological recorded vegetative parameters are very often rhythmically investigated with the Fourier Transformation (FT). In contrast to the original use of FT these parameters are still stochastic with overlaying rhythmical structures. The R-R intervals as independent variables of time are not equidistant. The mathematical structure for the spectral decomposition is critically analysed. The purpose of this article is the presentation of a mathematical method, considering both the statistical and rhythmical features of such time series. On the basis of trigonometric regressions, this method is presented to eliminate the equidistance problems, arising with the usage of FT, by a new mathematical approach. This method computes more precisely the spectral power especially in the VLF range (0.003-0.04 Hz) than FT, because this method of trigonometric regression does not perform a frequency quantization. This method has been used and successfully tested for the analysis of peripheral blood pressure and R-R intervals including an effective reduction of input data.

[Prevalence of symptoms in selected diagnostic groups in teachers]. / Prävalenz von Befunden in ausgewählten Diagnosegruppen bei Lehrern.

In the context of occupational medical screening, teachers in the age groups up to, and older than, 45, were examined under a standardized medical programme in 1987 (22,240) and in 1988 (25,934). The relative risk within these groups for various illnesses was compared with data from investigations with other workers also examined in the former German Democratic Republic (over 400,000 yearly). As was the case for other occupational groups, the most frequently occurring symptoms were related to the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems. Teachers in both age categories showed a higher risk for illnesses of the nervous system, especially psychic disturbances and neurosis, and kidney and bladder diseases; male teachers showed a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases, and female teachers for diseases of the respiratory system. Elevated relative risks were already apparent in the group up to 45 years; for diseases of the nervous system the risk increased even further in subjects in the older age category. The proportion of persons overweight was, among female teachers, markedly smaller than in other groups.

Special assessment of aircraft noise effects during night by the Council of Experts for Environmental Questions of FRG.

The "Special Assessment of Environment and Health" (SAEH) by the Council of Experts for Environmental Questions of Federal Republic of Germany is presented regarding to it's statements concerning the consequences of aircraft noise during night. Considering the issue of sustainability it is emphasized that lower limit values of the validity of scientific results need to be accepted. As the discussion of the literature shows the statements of the Council are rather vague and warily. This is a question of used parameters of noise effects during the night as well as its interpretation. It seems necessary to utilize a hierarchical structure of limit values and with interpretation of the term "threshold" as normal physiological reactions. More investigations are necessary in this field.

Protection goals for residents in the vicinity of civil airports.

Based on extensive and detailed reviews the present paper suggests evaluation criteria for aircraft noise for the prediction of noise effects and for the protection of residents living in the vicinity of (newly constructed or extended) civil airports. The protection concept provides graded evaluation criteria: Critical loads indicate noise loads that shall be tolerated only exceptionally during a limited time. Protection Guides are central evaluation criteria for taking actions to reduce noise immission. Threshold values inform about measurable physiological and psychological reactions due to noise exposures where long term adverse health effects are not expected. Evaluation criteria are provided for various protection goals, for hearing, communication and sleep, for the avoidance of annoyance and of suspected cardiovascular diseases. As protection of the residents is understood as a dynamic process, these criteria must be repeatedly tested and adapted to new scientific findings.

Occupational health and safety from communist to capitalist structures.

This article focuses on individual effects of the transformation from communist to capitalist structures in the system of occupational health and safety (OHS). Despite basic similarities among the communist nations the systems of OHS differed immensely. The political changes during transformation additionally contributed to varying opportunities for the development of OHS systems. Changes affecting the living and working conditions are significant and are demonstrated by the development of new work structures and work biographies. This is reflected in changed attitudes to demands and contents of work. No differences, however, were found between the employed and unemployed when asked about these issues. Conclusions for OHS in postcommunist states are drawn.

Occupational medicine--its contribution to protection and promotion of health at work.

This article deals with the special demands on occupational medicine due to the changes of work and of tasks at workplaces. Conclusions for research in occupational medicine are drawn from these processes. They are discussed on the basis on an analysis of literature from the years 1980-1998. Focus of future research in the field of occupational medicine is developed by taking international tendencies, the interdisciplinary setting of occupational medicine, and the close relations between science and practice into consideration.

Sense of smell in workers exposed to agricultural odours.

AIM: To investigate the effect of occupational exposure to agricultural odours on sense of smell. METHODS: Olfaction was investigated in 60 employees of dairy and pig-breeding farms and compared to 60 non-farm controls living in the same rural area. Both groups were matched for age, sex and smoking habits. All participants underwent standardized, validated tests for olfactory function and were tested before and after the first day of a working cycle. In addition, farm subjects were also tested in the evening of Day 5 of this period. RESULTS: There was no difference in overall olfactory function between the two groups. Olfactory function was not related to duration of exposure to the odorous environment. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that occupational exposure to strong agricultural odours has no major impact on the sense of smell.

[Promoting competence in training courses--"health sciences--public health" at the Dresden Medical Academy]. / Kompetenzvermittlung in Aufbaustudiengängen--"Gesundheitswissenschaften--Public Health" an der Med. Akademie Dresden.

The postgraduate study "Gesundheitswissenschaften--Public Health" of the Medical Academy of Dresden was started at 1991. Reasons are given for the necessity of Public-Health education in the new Laender of the FRG. Basing on the previous experiences some examples are given for the development of public-health competence for students, teachers and a Medical Faculty. Some difficulties in the job market are discussed.

[Sex specific stress reactions in students during final examinations]. / Geschlechtsspezifische Beanspruchungsreaktionen bei Studenten während der Abschlussexamina.

24 women and 43 men were investigated in rest and in connection with final examinations with a complex psychophysiological method. The reactions of women were characterized by a lower level of blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol, a higher level of heart rate, trijodthyronine, cortisol. No differences were found in subjective parameters and the results of examinations. Discrimination analysis supports partly these findings. The explanation of the gender specific reactions and their epidemiological importance is only possible on the basis of the complexity of the load strain connections.