In an attempt to understand fatigue of industrial workers in an integrated framework of their daily life behavior, the occurrence of fatigue feeling during a one-month period was related to working and living conditions of individual workers. The data were collected using a questionnaire from every day for one month from 32 workers engaged in four different types of jobs in a chemical factory in Tokyo. Six kinds of daily behavior reported on via the questionnaire were taken as explanatory variables for occurrence of fatigue feeling, together with age, job type, and number of days from the last off-day. The statistical analyses including multi-discriminant analysis by Hayashi's Quantification II method disclosed that the workers' fatigue feeling was influenced by various factors, and that such behavioral variables as liquor intake and physical exercise on the previous day played decisive roles to the extent similar to age or job type variables.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

High hair and urinary mercury levels of fish eaters in the nonpolluted environment of Papua New Guinea.

Hair and mercury concentrations of 134 fish-eating subjects in the Lake Murray area and 13 non-fish-eating subjects in the upper-Strickland area, Papua New Guinea, were studied. Hair mercury levels among the subjects in the Lake Murray area (mean = 21.9 micrograms/g, range = 3.7-71.9 micrograms/g) and urinary mercury levels (mean = 7.6 micrograms/g creatinine, range = 1.4-25.6 micrograms/g creatinine) were markedly higher than levels found in subjects from the upper-Strickland area (mean hair mercury = 0.75 micrograms/g, mean urinary mercury = 0.48 micrograms/g creatinine). Mercury intake of the fish eaters, estimated from mercury concentrations found in fish and from the observed amounts of fish consumed, was approximately 73 micrograms/d. Hair and urinary mercury concentrations were correlated significantly (r = .59), indicating that urinary mercury excretion was elevated because fish consumption was very high.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Energy expenditure, physical exertion and time allocation among Huli-speaking people in the Papua New Guinea Highlands.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to (1) elucidate the energetic adaptations of Huli people by comparing the three sub-populations in relation to their diversified natural and socioeconomic environment, based on energy expenditure and time allocation data; and (2) assess the applicability of a new index of physical exertion levels of activities (physical exertion index: PEI). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Married males and females (n = 43) were selected, including 14 from a hilly village, 13 from a flat swampy village and 16 migrants to a town. Continuous heart rate (HR) monitoring, in conjunction with minute-by-minute observation of activities, was undertaken. Total energy expenditure was assessed by flex-HR method and physical activity level (PAL) was calculated as multiples of basal metabolic rate. Observed activities were divided into 15 categories and the PEI was calculated for each: PEI = (mean HR of a categorized activity)/(flex HR) x 100. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in PAL among the three sub-populations: 1.77, 1.92 and 1.81 for men and 1.78, 1.98 and 1.66 for women in hilly and flat villages, and a town, respectively. The comparison of the two village groups revealed that hilly terrain did not affect substantially the physical intensity of agricultural activities. On the other hand, the town migrants were engaged in sedentary paid jobs and these were less energy consuming than agricultural work. However, the different energy costs between paid jobs and agricultural work were offset by longer work time in the town group than in the two village groups (251 vs 50 or 70 min in males; 258 vs 152 or 138 min in females), resulting in similar PAL in the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: Despite contrasting natural and social environments, no significant difference was found in daily physical activity level among the three sub-populations (two villages and a town) of Huli-speaking people in Papua New Guinea Highlands.

Adult↗