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Objectives: To re-examine the relation between heavy physical work and the occurrence of sciatic pain among construction workers reported previously to be absent in an epidemiological study. METHODS-Poisson log linear regression was used to model for the frequency of sciatic pain among concrete reinforcement workers and maintenance house painters with adjustment for the interactive effects of earlier back accidents and aging that modified the relation.Results: Concrete reinforcement work not only had a direct effect on the frequency of sciatic pain, but it also contributed significantly to the risk indirectly through earlier back accidents. The risk of sciatic pain increased from age 25 to 54 in a different manner for a worker depending on his occupational group and record of back accidents.Conclusions: Epidemiological studies on low back pain need to be analysed with sound methodology. This is important in view of future meta-analyses that will be performed for the purpose of providing guidelines on the prevention of back disorders in heavy physical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of several serological tests was assessed by studying sera from 30 women with clinical findings of perihepatitis and a high chlamydial antibody titre in the indirect immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT). The other tests included the complement fixation test and enzyme immunoassays in which the antigen comprised either partially purified particles (EIA kit) or purified major outer membrane protein (MOMP EIA) of Chlamydia trachomatis L2 or lipopolysaccharide isolated from an Re mutant of Salmonella (Re LPS EIA). High IgG titres were noted in most (88-96%) of the patients by MOMP EIA and EIA kit, and in fewer patients (50%) by Re LPS EIA or complement fixation test. Seroconversion was found in 11-44% of the patients for IgG and in 28-36% for IgM; high IgG titre was thus the best diagnostic indicator for each test. The enzyme immunoassay tests have the advantage of being automated either with partially purified corpuscular or purified MOMP antigen and would allow a sensitive easy screening for chlamydial aetiology of women with pain of the right upper quadrant. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim was to examine a possible association of amount of sunshine and risk for acute closed angle glaucoma. This was a retrospective analysis of hospital discharge registry data, linked to meteorological data for the same period. The study was a national survey using hospital discharge data for the whole of Finland over a 10 year period. All subjects with the acute closed angle glaucoma diagnosis from the hospital discharge registry were collected for the years 1972 to 1982. A total of 1796 patients were found. Meteorological data from two cities in Finland, Helsinki and Oulu, were collected for the same years from the Finnish Meteorological Institute. A peak incidence of acute closed angle glaucoma was noted whenever the number of hours without sunshine increased. A regression analysis including incidence of acute closed angle glaucoma as a dependent variable, and sex, mean temperature, mean air pressure, mean humidity, total amount of rain per month, and mean sunshine hours as independent variables, was constructed. Sex and sunshine hours best explained the variation in incidence in a covariate model. No other meteorological variate could improve the model fit. The result confirms that the number of hours without sunshine is positively associated with the incidence of acute closed angle glaucoma, when other meteorological variables are controlled for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]