The relationship between depressive symptoms among female workers and job stress and sleep quality.

OBJECTIVE: Recently, workers' mental health has become important focus in the field of occupational health management. Depression is a psychiatric illness with a high prevalence. The association between job stress and depressive symptoms has been demonstrated in many studies. Recently, studies about the association between sleep quality and depressive symptoms have been reported, but there has been no large-scaled study in Korean female workers. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the relationship between job stress and sleep quality, and depressive symptoms in female workers. METHODS: From Mar 2011 to Aug 2011, 4,833 female workers in the manufacturing, finance, and service fields at 16 workplaces in Yeungnam province participated in this study, conducted in combination with a worksite-based health checkup initiated by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). In this study, a questionnaire survey was carried out using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form(KOSS-SF), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale(CES-D). The collected data was entered in the system and analyzed using the PASW (version 18.0) program. A correlation analysis, cross analysis, multivariate logistic regression analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted. RESULTS: Among the 4,883 subjects, 978 subjects (20.0%) were in the depression group. Job stress(OR=3.58, 95% CI=3.06-4.21) and sleep quality(OR=3.81, 95% CI=3.18-4.56) were strongly associated with depressive symptoms. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that job stress displayed explanatory powers of 15.6% on depression while sleep quality displayed explanatory powers of 16.2%, showing that job stress and sleep quality had a closer relationship with depressive symptoms, compared to the other factors. The multivariate logistic regression analysis yielded odds ratios between the 7 subscales of job stress and depressive symptoms in the range of 1.30-2.72 and the odds ratio for the lack of reward was the highest(OR=2.72, 95% CI=2.32-3.19). In the partial correlation analysis between each of the 7 subscales of sleep quality (PSQI) and depressive symptoms, the correlation coefficient of subjective sleep quality and daytime dysfunction were 0.352 and 0.362, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the depressive symptoms of female workers are closely related to their job stress and sleep quality. In particular, the lack of reward and subjective sleep factors are the greatest contributors to depression. In the future, a large-scale study should be performed to augment the current study and to reflect all age groups in a balanced manner. The findings on job stress, sleep, and depression can be utilized as source data to establish standards for mental health management of the ever increasing numbers of female members of the workplace.

A WDM-PON with an 80 Gb/s capacity based on wavelength-locked Fabry-Perot laser diode.

We investigate a high capacity WDM-PON based on wavelength-locked Fabry-Perot laser diodes. A color-free transmission of 2.5 Gb/s per channel is achieved with a polarization independent F-P LD and a decision threshold control circuit at the receiver. Then, we demonstrate an 80 Gb/s capacity (2.5 Gb/s x 32 channels) WDM-PON with transmission length of 20 km. We also investigate impairments in transmission.

Arthrostoma miyazakiense (Nematoda: Ancylostomatidae) infection in raccoon dogs of Korea and experimental transmission to dogs.

Arthrostoma miyazakiense (Nematoda: Ancylostomatidae) is a hookworm species reported from the small intestines of raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in Japan. Five Korean raccoon dogs (N. procyonoides koreensis) caught from 2002 to 2005 in Jeollanam-do (Province), a southeastern area of South Korea, contained helminth eggs belonging to 4 genera (roundworm, hookworm, whipworm, and Capillaria spp.) and cysts of Giardia sp. in their feces. Necropsy findings of 1 raccoon dog revealed a large number of adult hookworms in the duodenum. These hookworms were identified as Arthrostoma miyazakiense based on the 10 articulated plates observed in the buccal capsule and the presence of right-sided prevulval papillae. Eggs of A. miyazakiense were 60-65 x 35-40 micrometer (av. 62.5 x 35 micrometer), and were morphologically indistinguishable from those of Ancylostoma caninum. The eggs were cultured to infective 2nd stage larvae via charcoal culture, and 100 infective larvae were used to experimentally infect each of 3 mixed-bred puppies. All puppies harbored hookworm eggs in their feces on the 12th day after infection. This is the first report thus far concerning A. miyazakiense infections in raccoon dogs in Korea, and the first such report outside of Japan.

Relationship between DNA ploidy and proliferative cell nuclear antigen index in canine hemangiopericytoma.

The mitotic index is reported to be correlated with recurrence, mean patient survival, and metastasis of canine hemangiopericytoma (CHP). However, to the authors' knowledge, studies investigating the parameters that can predict recurrence or metastasis of CHP with low mitotic index have not been done. To evaluate growth kinetics of CHP with low mitotic index, a retrospective analysis of the proliferative activity by antiproliferative cell nuclear antigen monoclonal antibody and DNA contents by flow cytometry (FCM) was performed with 21 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded CHP samples. Of the 21 tumors evaluated by FCM, 6 (26.6%) were aneuploid tumors, and 15 (71.4%) were diploid tumors. There was significant correlation between the PCNA index and ploidy pattern. The diploid group had 39.1 +/- 9.2 PCNA index, whereas the aneuploid group's proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) index was 63.1 +/- 8.2. The diploid group had mean mitotic index value of 1.140 +/- 0.855, and the aneuploid group had a mean value of 1.067 +/- 0.767. From these results, the CHP samples with low mitotic index were classified into either the aneuploid group with higher PCNA index or the diploid group with lower PCNA index, suggesting that DNA ploidy and proliferative activity may give an indication about malignancy of CHPs with a low mitotic index.

Evaluation of the effect of fluoride-containing acetic acid on NiTi wires.

The possibility of the formation of hydrofluoric acid by the reaction of fluoride with acetic acid seems natural in the oral cavity. The effect of an acidic fluoride solution on NiTi wires was investigated by testing microhardness and color changes on wires. For aesthetic reasons, the color change on wires was also evaluated. Wires were immersed in four different test solutions for 1 or 3 days. As-received wires were used as a reference. After immersion for 3 days, the microhardness of the tested wires increased 1.8% to 10.4% compared to that of their as-received state. Wires immersed in a higher NaF concentration, lower pH solution with longer immersion yielded a more corroded surface than those of the counter cases. Wires showed a different color after immersion. However, after 3 days in solutions of pH 4, wires showed an appreciable color change regardless of the products. In test solutions, 3M wires showed the highest volumetric and percentage (0.59 for 0.05%; 1.19 for 0.2% solution) weight loss and G&H wires showed the least volumetric and percentage (0.43 for 0.05%; 1.05 for 0.2% solution) weight loss among tested wires. In pH 6 solutions, wires lost weight and were under the detection limit of the testing machine.