We are all becoming increasingly aware of allergies and the problems that they represent in the daily lives of many people. The heightened pubic interest and awareness is in the context of a significant increase over the last decade in number of individuals who suffer from allergic problems such as anaphylactic reaction, asthma, hay fever, and eczema. The underlying basis for the rise in the number of allergy suffers has been the focus of considerable research. Much of this attention has concentrated on the quality of the outdoor air we breath, especially as the roads have become more and more congested with traffic generating exhausted pollutants. But researches have identified that sources of air pollution outside the home cannot account for the increasing prevalence of allergy, and so other reasons have to be invested. Many researches have discovered that increasing tendency of allergic problems is linked to the allergens commonly found within the indoor environment, such as those related to house dust, chemicals, mites, cockroaches, domestic and pets and also affected by the physical environments like temperature humidity, and ventilation level. Therefore, researcher's interest is now much more focused on the indoor environment and those factors that influence the level of indoor allergens, as well as the presence of pollutants in buildings. The authors reviewed some measures to control the indoor air quality to prevent allergic diseases.
Air Pollution ; Air Pollution, Indoor ; Allergens ; Anaphylaxis ; Asthma ; Cockroaches ; Dust ; Eczema ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; Humidity ; Hypersensitivity ; Mites ; Prevalence ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal ; Ventilation

OBJECTIVES: We focused on the relationship between symptoms of depression and emotional labor to investigate the mental health status of workers. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 2,346 workers among bankers were our study subjects. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the socio-demographics, job characteristics, emotional labor and, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D). We used multiple logistic regression analysis to estimate the relationship between emotional labor and the symptoms of depression. RESULTS: The prevalence of symptoms of depression among the survey subjects was 20.6%. After adjusting for confounding factors, emotional effort (OR: 1.7, 95% CI=1.28~2.31) and, emotional disharmony (OR: 4.5, 95% CI=3.13~6.44) in men and emotional effort (OR: 1.9, 95% CI=1.33~2.75), emotional disharmony (OR: 6.1, 95% CI=4.12~9.09) in women showed a statistically significant association with symptoms of depression. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that emotional disharmony and emotional effort are related to symptoms of depression. Managing emotional disharmony is important in managing symptoms of depression.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mental Health ; Prevalence ; Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the job stress factors, psychosocial stress and their associations in workers engaged in the research and development of vehicles, and according to job role. METHODS: We recruited 4,066 subjects from workers at a research and development center of an automobile company. A total of 2,764 workers answered the questionnaire about socio-demographic factors, health behaviors, work-related factors, subjective labor intensity, KOSS, and SF-PWI. The final analysis included 2,282 male manufacturing and research workers. Univariate analyses and multiple logistic analyses were conducted on the complete questionnaire data to compare the job stress factors, psychosocial stress and their associations between research and manufacturing workers. RESULTS: The adjusted Odds ratios comparing the high risk group to the low risk group regarding PWI group were 2.23(95%CI=1.63-3.04) in "Lack of rewards", 1.64(95%CI=1.20-2.24) in "Interpersonal conflict", 1.59(95%CI=1.15- 2.20) in "Organizational injustice", 1.58(95%CI=1.17-2.14) in "Occupational climate" and 1.43(95%CI=1.05-1.94) in "Job insecurity" among research workers, and 2.46(95%CI=1.59 -3.80) in "Lack of rewards" and 1.94(95%CI=1.17-3.22) in "Organizational injustice" among manufacturing workers. CONCLUSIONS: There are differences in job stress factors between research and manufacturing workers. Further studies and discussions based on quantitative methodology for seeking more fundamental causes of these differences are required to establish job stress intervention plans and policies.
Automobiles ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Questionnaires