Associations of fatigue to work-related stress, mental and physical health in an employed community sample.

BACKGROUND: While work-related fatigue has become an issue of concern among European employees, the relationship between fatigue, depression and work-related stressors is far from clear. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the associations of fatigue with work-related stressors, severe medical disease, health behavior and depression in the working population and (2) to determine the unique impact of work-related stressors on fatigue. METHODS: We used cross-sectional data of N = 7,930 working participants enrolled in the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) from 2007 to 2012 filled out the Personal Burnout Scale (PBS) of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), the PHQ-9, and a list of work-related stressors. RESULTS: A total of 27.5% reported increased fatigue, esp. women, younger persons with a lower social status and income, smokers, severely medically ill, previously and currently depressed participants. Fatigue was consistently associated with severe medical disease, health behavior and depression, which need to be taken into account as potential confounders when analyzing its relationship to work-related strains. Depression was consistently associated with work-related stressors. However, after statistically partialling out depression, fatigue was still significantly associated with work-related stress. CONCLUSIONS: Fatigue as an indicator of allostatic load is consistently associated with work-related stressors such as work overload after controlling for depression. The brief Personal Burn-out Scale is suitable for assessing work-related fatigue in the general population.

The Toymakers: an application activity.

Novel teaching strategies can help students recognize and experience, firsthand, the relevance of course content for clinical practice. The Toymaker Activity challenged students in a pediatric nursing course to use principles of growth and development in a creative and practical way. Student participation and feedback demonstrated successful application and improved understanding of the impact of growth and development in the nursing care of children.

Physical activity decreases the number of beta-adrenergic receptors on human lymphocytes.

On intact human lymphocytes a specific binding site (BS) for 125I-Cyanopindolol (125I-CYP), a derivative of the beta-blocking drug pindolol, was characterized. Inhibition of binding for catecholamines in the following order of potency: l-isoprenaline greater than l-adrenaline greater than l-noradrenaline proves the BS as a beta 2-receptor subtype. In 77 healthy persons (36 females, 41 males) the number of BS amounted to 2,639 +/- 125 BS/cell without any significant correlation to age (17-86 years) or sex. The dissociation constant (KD) indicating the affinity of iodocyanopindolol to the BS on intact lymphocytes was KD = 1.9 +/- 1.1 X 10(-10) M. A change of the number of beta-adrenergic receptors on intact human lymphocytes has been measured previously in asthmatics and in the myocardium of patients with congestive heart failure. We investigated a possible change in the beta-receptors on lymphocytes by physical and mental activity ("stress") in physicians going about their daily routine work. Persons left alone in a hospital room reading or sleeping were defined as "inactive controls". The number of BS on intact lymphocytes was significantly higher in inactive persons at 8 a.m. (2,230 +/- 482 BS) compared to active persons (1,743 +/- 285 BS; P less than 0.05) and at 1 p.m. (2,394 +/- 253 BS vs 1,733 +/- 556; P less than 0.05) but not different at 6 p.m. (1,634 +/- 578 BS vs 1,768 +/- 588 BS; P less than 0.1). The KD remained unchanged under all conditions. The serum noradrenaline and adrenaline levels were also measured during the day.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Species variations in the pathophysiologic responses of vertebrate eyes to a chemical irritant, nitrogen mustard.

Much of our knowledge of the ocular responses to irritants is derived from studies on the effects of mustards applied topically to the rabbit eye. The present study shows, however, that vertebrate eyes display profound species variations in the initial (first 6 hours) response to nitrogen mustard (NM). Rabbits and guinea pigs showed two episodes, ducks and cats one, and owl monkeys no episode of increased intraocular pressure. Development of anterior chamber flare and cellular invasion was seen in all species except ducks and owl monkeys. Pupillary constriction of differing time-course and magnitude was observed in all species except guinea pigs and ducks. At least one indomethacin-sensitive component of the NM-induced inflammatory response was demonstrated in each subprimate species, the nature of which depended upon the predominant ocular effect of prostaglandins in each. The present work suggests that while rabbits and guinea pigs may be of particular value for the study of some aspects of the ocular response to irritation and trauma, these species may be unsuitable for studying ocular inflammation and therapeutics as applicable to man.

The role of the arachidonic acid cascade in the species-specific X-ray-induced inflammation of the rabbit eye.

To identify the mediator(s) of the apparently species-specific X-ray-induced inflammation of the rabbit eye, inhibitors of the synthesis and/or release of known or putative mediators of ocular inflammation were administered prior to irradiation. The X-ray-induced ocular inflammation, particularly the rise in intraocular pressure, was found to be inhibited by intravenous pretreatment of rabbits with flurbiprofen, indomethacin, or imidazole (1, 10, and 100 mg/kg i.v., respectively), or by combined intravitreal and topical administration of flurbiprofen. Systemic, intravitreal, and/or topical pretreatment with prednisolone or disodium cromoglycate or the retrobulbar injection of ethyl alcohol or capsaicin failed to block the inflammatory response, whereas vitamin E apparently exerted some protective effect. These findings show that the X-ray-induced inflammation of the rabbit eye is mediated, at least in part, by prostaglandins (PGs) and/or related autacoids. In addition, these results suggest that the unique sensitivity of the rabbit eye to X-ray-induced inflammation is due either to the presence in this species of a unique or uniquely effective triggering mechanism for the release of PG precursors or to the greater sensitivity of this species to the ocular inflammatory effects of PGs. Thus the rabbit eye may provide a unique model for studying some aspects of arachidonic acid release or ocular PG effects, but extreme caution must be exercised in generalizing such findings to other species.