OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the effects of unemployment on health-related behavioral changes and worker's health, and to produce the basic data that is needed to formulate the necessary measures for reducing the health hazards and social costs caused by unemployment. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted with a group of 123 people who had lost their jobs due to structural unemployment (the unemployment group) and with a group of 155 employed people (the employment group). The 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used as a tool for evaluating the demographic characteristics, the health-related behaviors and the health level. RESULTS: Irregular mealtimes and increased smoking and drinking rates were observed in the unemployment group (P<0.05). The results of the logistic regression analysis that was conducted after correcting for the confounding variable showed that in the unemployment group, unlike in the employment group, the odds ratio of the group with a low health level score on the SF-36 has a significant difference in "Role limitation resulting from physical problems" (OR 2.20, 95% CI=1.01~4.78), "Role limitation resulting from emotional problems" (OR 4.51, 95% CI=1.90~10.69) and "Mental health" (OR 3.43, 95% CI=1.52~7.74) among the eight lower areas. CONCLUSIONS: Unemployment causes a negative change in health-related behaviors and lower levels of mental and physical health. Systematic research must be conducted to promote good health among unemployed workers and to reduce their social costs.
Confounding Factors (Epidemiology) ; Drinking ; Employment ; Hazardous Substances ; Health Behavior ; Health Status ; Health Surveys ; Logistic Models ; Meals ; Odds Ratio ; Quality of Life ; Questionnaires ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Unemployment

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the association of work-related musculoskeletal neck symptom and occupational risk factors, and to identify the dose-response relationships between work-related musculoskeletal neck symptom and physical condition. METHODS: Workers from four metal industry companies were enrolled in the study. General characteristics, psyhcosocial and physical risk factors and work-related musculoskeletal neck symptom were investigated by questionnaire in the baseline study. At the follow-up study 2 years later, the neck symptom was surveyed. Workers who did not complain neck symptom at baseline and complain at follow-up, and workers who did complain neck symptom at baseline and follow-up were defined as case. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of physical risk factors were estimated for these subjects. Additionally, subjects who did not change their work at follow-up were analysed. RESULTS: Among the cohort of 251, 199 (79.3%) were used in the analysis, of which 71 (35.7%) were classified as cases. The adjusted ORs and the ORs of the subjects who did not change their work were increased with exposure to the following kinds of work: 'repetitive', 'lift', 'push/pull', 'neck/shoulder (overhead/bend)', 'hand/wrist (bend/pinch)', 'trunk (twist/bend)', 'pressure point', and 'incentive work'. Finally, with increasing exposure to 'repetitive', 'lift', 'push/pull', 'awkward postures', 'pressure point', and 'incentive work', the risks of work-related musculoskeletal neck symptom were increased. CONCLUSIONS: Work-related musculoskeletal neck symptom was increased with increasing exposure time of certain physical risk factors, and a dose-response relationship was observed.
Cohort Studies ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Neck* ; Odds Ratio ; Questionnaires ; Risk Factors*

No abstract available.
Air Pollutants/*toxicity ; Air Pollution/*prevention & control ; *Dust ; *Environmental Exposure ; Humans ; Industrial Waste ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Reduction Behavior

No abstract available.
Korea* ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Radon*

Acknowledgements section was missing. The publisher apologises for these errors.

There is a more urgent call for educational methods of machine learning in medical education, and therefore, new approaches of teaching and researching machine learning in medicine are needed. This paper presents a case using machine learning through text analysis. Topic modeling of news articles with the keyword ‘asbestos’ were examined. Two hypotheses were tested using this method, and the process of machine learning of texts is illustrated through this example. Using an automated text analysis method, all the news articles published from January 1, 1990 to November 15, 2016 in South Korea which included ‘asbestos’ in the title and the body were collected by web scraping. Differences in topics were analyzed by structured topic modelling (STM) and compared by press companies and periods. More articles were found in liberal media outlets. Differences were found in the number and types of topics in the articles according to the partisanship and period. STM showed that the conservative press views asbestos as a personal problem, while the progressive press views asbestos as a social problem. A divergence in the perspective for emphasizing the issues of asbestos between the conservative press and progressive press was also found. Social perspective influences the main topics of news stories. Thus, the patients' uneasiness and pain are not presented by both sources of media. In addition, topics differ between news media sources based on partisanship, and therefore cause divergence in readers' framing. The method of text analysis and its strengths and weaknesses are explained, and an application for the teaching and researching of machine learning in medical education using the methodology of text analysis is considered. An educational method of machine learning in medical education is urgent for future generations.
Asbestos ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Korea ; Machine Learning ; Methods ; Social Problems ; Social Responsibility

INTRODUCTION: Studies evaluating rats and mice have provided convincing evidence that renal adenoma and carcinoma are induced by oral doses of lead acetate and lead subacetate, as well as by parenteral doses of lead phosphate. In addition, at least 2 cases of kidney cancer associated with heavy exposure to lead have been reported. However, there is still not enough information to confirm or rule out an association between kidney cancer and exposure to lead. CASE REPORT: In this study, we describe a case of kidney cancer in 54-year-old male worker that was exposed to lead-stearate while employed in the polyvinyl chloride processing industry for 17 years. The patient presented with gout and hypertension. Further examination revealed proteinuria, glucose in the urine and elevated blood urea nitrogen/creatinine levels. Renal ultrasonography, renal computed tomography and renal biopsy revealed chronic renal failure and renal cell cancer. CONCLUSION: We concluded that the gout and chronic renal failure in this case was caused by chronic lead exposure. However, further study is required to determine if the renal cancer was induced by lead exposure.
Adenoma ; Animals ; Biopsy ; Glucose ; Gout ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Neoplasms ; Lead ; Lead Poisoning ; Male ; Mice ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Diseases ; Organometallic Compounds ; Polyvinyl Chloride ; Proteinuria ; Rats ; Renal Insufficiency ; Urea

OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to investigate the association between work ability and job stress factors in three manufacturing industries. METHODS: The data were gathered from 705 workers of 3 manufacturing industries, from August 2007 to January 2008. A structured, self-reported questionnaire was used to access the demographic, socioeconomic and work related characteristics. Work ability and job stress factors were determined using two questionnaires: the work ability index (WAI) of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS), respectively. RESULTS: According to the logistic regression analysis results, WAI was related to job stress factors after adjustment for age, shift work, employment type and exercise. Of the eight subscales, job demand, interpersonal conflict, lack of reward, occupational climate and total score were significantly associated with WAI. In the analysis of each factory, interpersonal conflict, job insecurity and lack of reward were significantly associated with WAI in factory II, and organizational system, lack of reward and total score in factory III, but there was no significant association in factory I. CONCLUSIONS: Job stress factors were significantly associated with WAI in two of the three manufacturing industries. Further and more detailed study needs to be conducted to reduce the job stress and improve the work ability.
Climate ; Employment ; Logistic Models ; Occupational Health ; Questionnaires ; Reward

OBJECTIVES: Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is one of the serious risk factors for heart diseases. We evaluated the acute and chronic effects of work-related factors on HRV. METHODS: The five-minute HRV of 85 male workers from an automobile assembly factory were measured at 9 A.M. (before-work) and at 5 P.M. (after-work). The workplace noise, temperature and physical workload levels were measured as work-related factors. We postulated that the HRV measured at beforework represents the chronic effects and the HRV measured at after-work represents the acute effects of work-related factors. We used generalized linear regression analysis with adjusting for the general characteristics and/or the morning HRV. RESULTS: The subjects exposed to noise or a hot environment showed increased HRV in the afternoon and decreased HRV in the morning. Machine oil and interpersonal conflict decreased the HRV in the morning, but other chemicals did not show any effect on the HRV. A physical workload decreased the HRV in both the morning and afternoon. CONCLUSION: The physical and chemical environment, psychosocial stress and a physical workload may affect the autonomic nerve system.
Automobiles ; Autonomic Pathways ; Heart ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Male ; Noise ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVES: As automobile part manufacturing is characterized by high speed and high repetition, observation methods which are usually utilized for static posture are inappropriate to evaluate musculoskeleatal risk factors. This study quantified the risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders on the forearm and suggested exposure limits by estimating the risk factors using surface electromyography (EMG) and electrogoniometer. METHODS: Ten percent of the total workers at 3 automobile part manufacturing factories were randomly selected, and 99 male workers were recruited as study subjects. The study was conducted during May 2003 to September 2004. The workers were equipped with electrogoniometers on the wrist and the elbow, surface EMGs on the skin of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) and extensor carpi radialis (ECR) muscles, and the heart beat recorder during work as indicators of joint movement, local muscle tension and physical work load, respectively. RESULTS: After controlling for age, body mass index and job stress, wrist flexion maximum angle, FDS relative activity (RA) and ECR RA were significantly associated with forearm musculoskeletal symptoms. The odds ratios of the forearm were 5.0(95% CI: 1.1-22.7), 14.0(95% CI: 1.5-128.8) and 7.3(95% CI: 1.1-49.4) for wrist flexion maximum angle more than 76 degrees, FDS RA more than 2.8%, and ECR RA more than 3.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Joint angle and focal muscle activity were associated with forearm musculoskeletal symptoms. To reduce forearm musculoskeletal symptoms among automobile part manufacturers, the wrist flexion angle, and FDS and ECR activity need to be reduced below the guidelines recommended in this study.
Automobiles* ; Body Mass Index ; Elbow ; Electromyography* ; Forearm ; Heart ; Humans ; Joints ; Male ; Muscle Tonus ; Muscles ; Odds Ratio ; Posture ; Risk Factors* ; Skin ; Wrist