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PubMed2001

Evaluation of gingival recession in left- and right-handed adults.

Recession is the exposure of the root surface by an apical shift in the position of the gingiva. Several factors have been implicated in the etiology of gingival recession. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between gingival recession and the hand, right or left, duration, frequency, and technique of tooth brushing in left- and right-handed adults in Erzurum, Turkey. Fifty five left-handed (35 female and 20 male) and 55 right-handed (35 female and 25 male) subjects were included in the study. The left and right hand positions of the subjects were determined by using Oldfield's Edinburg Inventory Index, and they were divided into two groups as left-handed and right-handed. The amount of gingival recession and localization, oral hygiene situations, gingival bleeding, toothbrushing duration, frequency, and techniques of subjects were evaluated. The relationship between the amount of gingival recession and localization and the subjects' hand, duration, frequency and technique of tooth brushing were examined. The data were evaluated with variance analysis and student's t test. The oral hygiene situations in right- and left-handed subjects were determined. On comparing the left-handed subjects with the right-handed ones, it was observed that the left-handed subjects had better oral hygiene than the right-handed. But, this case was not statistically significant (p > .05). In both right-handed and left-handed subjects, women had better oral hygiene than men (p < .01). The rate of gingival recession was found more in the left-handed than in the right-handed (p < .05). In the right-handed subjects, gingival recession was found in the premolar and canine regions of upper right and lower right jaw. A similar result was also observed in the left-handed subjects, because gingival recession was seen on their upper left and lower left jaw. Incisive teeth were affected at the same rate in the left-handed and right-handed. The gingival recession was seen more in maxillary jaw than in mandibular jaw in both groups. A statistically significant relationship between gingival recession and frequency duration, and technique of tooth brushing was found. While the greatest amount of gingival recession was found in horizontal scrub technique, gingival recession increased with increasing tooth brushing duration and frequency. The relationship between gingival recession and hand using in tooth brushing was determined.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Acephate exposure and decontamination on tobacco harvesters' hands.

Agricultural workers manually harvesting tobacco have the potential for high dermal fexposure to pesticides, particularly on the hands. Often gloves are not worn as it hinders the harvesters' ability to harvest the tobacco leaves. To enable harvesters to remove pesticide residue on the hands and decrease absorbed doses, the EPA Worker Protection Standard requires growers to have hand-wash stations available in the field. The purpose of this study was to measure the concentration of acephate residue on the hands of tobacco harvesters, and the effectiveness of hand washing in reducing the acephate residue. Hand-wipes from the hands of 12 tobacco harvesters were collected at the end of the morning and at the end of the afternoon over 2 consecutive days. Each harvester had one hand-wiped prior to washing his hands, and the other hand-wiped after washing his hands with soap and water. In addition to the hand-wipe samples, leaf-wipe samples were collected from 15 tobacco plants to determine the amount of acephate residue on the plants. The average acephate level in leaf-wipe samples was 1.4 ng/cm(2). The geometric mean prewash and postwash acephate levels on the hands were 10.5 and 0.4 ng/cm(2), respectively. Both prewash (P-value=0.0009) and postwash hand (P-value=0.01) samples were positively correlated with leaf-wipe concentrations. Tobacco harvester position tended to influence hand exposure. Hand washing significantly reduced acephate levels on the hand, after adjusting for sampling period, hand sampled, job position, and leaf-wipe concentration (P-value< or =0.0001) with levels reduced by 96%. A substantial amount of acephate was transferred to the hands, and while hand washing significantly reduced the amount of residue on the hands, not all residue was removed.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2003

Hand anthropometry of Indian women.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Data on the physical dimension of the hand of Indian women are scanty. This information is necessary to ascertain human-machine compatibility in the design of manual systems for the bare and gloved hand, such as design and sizing of hand tools, controls, knobs and other applications in different kinds of precision and power grips. The present study was undertaken to generate hand anthropometric data of 95 women, working in informal industries (beedi, agarbatti and garment making). METHODS: Fifty one hand measurements of the right hand (lengths, breadths, circumferences, depths, spreads and clearances of hand and fingers) were taken, using anthropometric sliding and spreading calipers, measuring tape and handgrip strength dynamometer. The data were statistically analyzed to determine the normality of data and the percentile values of different hand dimensions, and simple and multiple regression analysis were done to determine better predictors of hand length and grip strength. RESULTS: The hand breadths, circumferences and depths were approximately normally distributed, with some deviation in case of the finger lengths. Hand length was significantly correlated with the fist, wrist and finger circumferences. The fist and wrist circumferences, in combination, were better predictors of hand length. The hand lengths, breadths and depths, including finger joints of the Indian women studied were smaller than those of American, British and West Indian women. The hand circumferences of the Indian women were also smaller than the American women. Grip strengths of Indian women (20.36 +/- 3.24 kg) were less than those of American, British and West Indian women. Grip strength was found to be statistically significant with hand dimensions, such as hand height perpendicular to wrist crease (digit 5), proximal interphalangeal joint breadth (digit 3) and hand spread across wedge 1. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: The women who are forced to frequently use cutters, strippers and other tools, which are not optimally designed to their hand dimensions and strength range, might have higher prevalence of clinical symptoms and disorders of the hand. In view of the human hand-tool interface requirements, the present data on Indian women would be useful for ergo-design applications of hand tools and devices.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Right-handers and left-handers have different representations of their own hand.

The visual control of our own hand when dealing with an object and the observation of interactions between other people's hand and objects can be involved in the construction of internal representations of our own hand, as well as in hand recognition processes. Therefore, a different effect on handedness recognition is expected when subjects are presented with hands holding objects with either a congruent or an incongruent type of grip. Such an experiment was carried out on right-handed and left-handed subjects. We expected that the different degree of lateralisation in motor activities observed in the two populations [J. Herron, Neuropsychology of left-handedness, Academic Press, New York, 1980.] could account for the construction of different internal hand representations. As previously found [L.M. Parsons, Imaged spatial transformations of one's hands and feet, Cogn. Psychol., 19 (1987) 178-241.], in order to identify handedness, subjects mentally rotated their own hand until it matched with the presented one. This process was confirmatory, being preceded by an implicit visual analysis of the target hand. Presentation of hands holding objects with congruent or incongruent types of grip influenced handedness recognition at different stages in right-handed and left-handed subjects. That is, the mental rotation stage was affected in right-handed subjects, whereas the initial phase of implicit hand analysis was affected in left-handed subjects. We suggest that in handedness recognition, left-handers relied more on a pictorial hand representation, whereas right-handers relied more on a pragmatic hand representation, probably derived from experience in the control of their own movements. The use of different hand representations may be due to differential activation of temporal and premotor areas.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Food worker hand washing practices: an observation study.

Improvement of food worker hand washing practices is critical to the reduction of foodborne illness and is dependent upon a clear understanding of current hand washing practices. To that end, this study collected detailed observational data on food worker hand washing practices. Food workers (n = 321) were observed preparing food, and data were recorded on specific work activities for which hand washing is recommended (e.g., food preparation, handling dirty equipment). Data were also recorded on hand washing behaviors that occurred in conjunction with these work activities. Results indicated that workers engaged in approximately 8.6 work activities per hour for which hand washing is recommended. However, workers made hand washing attempts (i.e., removed gloves, if worn, and placed hands in running water) in only 32% of these activities and washed their hands appropriately (i.e., removed gloves, if worn, placed hands in running water, used soap, and dried hands) in only 27% of these work activities. Attempted and appropriate hand washing rates varied by work activity--they were significantly higher in conjunction with food preparation than other work activities (46 versus < or = 37% for attempted hand washing; 41 versus < or = 30% for appropriate hand washing) and were significantly lower in conjunction with touching the body than other work activities (13 versus > or = 27% for attempted hand washing; 10 versus > or = 23% for appropriate hand washing). Attempted and appropriate hand washing rates were significantly lower when gloves were worn (18 and 16%) than when gloves were not worn (37 and 30%). These findings suggest that the hand washing practices of food workers need to be improved, glove use may reduce hand washing, and restaurants should consider reorganizing their food preparation activities to reduce the frequency with which hand washing is needed.

Consumer Product Safety↗
PubMed2006

Age-related attenuation of dominant hand superiority.

BACKGROUND: The decline of motor performance of the human hand-arm system with age is well-documented. While dominant hand performance is superior to that of the non-dominant hand in young individuals, little is known of possible age-related changes in hand dominance. We investigated age-related alterations of hand dominance in 20 to 90 year old subjects. All subjects were unambiguously right-handed according to the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. In Experiment 1, motor performance for aiming, postural tremor, precision of arm-hand movement, speed of arm-hand movement, and wrist-finger speed tasks were tested. In Experiment 2, accelerometer-sensors were used to obtain objective records of hand use in everyday activities. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our data confirm previous findings of a general task-dependent decline in motor performance with age. Analysis of the relationship between right/left-hand performances using a laterality index showed a loss of right hand dominance with advancing age. The clear right-hand advantage present at younger ages changed to a more balanced performance in advanced age. This shift was due to a more pronounced age-related decline of right hand performance. Accelerometer-sensor measurements supported these findings by demonstrating that the frequency of hand use also shifted from a clear right hand preference in young adults to a more balanced usage of both hands in old age. Despite these age-related changes in the relative level of performance in defined motor tasks and in the frequency of hand use, elderly subjects continued to rate themselves as unambiguous right-handers. CONCLUSION: The discrepancy between hand-specific practical performance in controlled motor tests as well as under everyday conditions and the results of questionnaires concerning hand use and hand dominance suggests that most elderly subjects are unaware of the changes in hand dominance that occur over their lifespan, i.e., a shift to ambidexterity.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Eye-head-hand coordination in pointing at visual targets: spatial and temporal analysis.

This study investigated whether the execution of an accurate pointing response depends on a prior saccade orientation towards the target, independent of the vision of the limb. A comparison was made between the accuracy of sequential responses (in which the starting position of the hand is known and the eye centred on the target prior to the onset of the hand pointing movement) and synergetic responses (where both hand and gaze motions are simultaneously initiated on the basis of unique peripheral retinal information). The experiments were conducted in visual closed-loop (hand visible during the pointing movement) and in visual open-loop conditions (vision of hand interrupted as the hand started to move). The latter condition eliminated the possibility of a direct visual evaluation of the error between hand and target during pointing. Three main observations were derived from the present work: (a) the timing of coordinated eye-head-hand pointing at visual targets can be modified, depending on the executed task, without a deterioration in the accuracy of hand pointing; (b) mechanical constraints or instructions such as preventing eye, head or trunk motion, which limit the redundancy of degrees of freedom, lead to a decrease in accuracy; (c) the synergetic movement of eye, head and hand for pointing at a visible target is not trivially the superposition of eye and head shifts added to hand pointing. Indeed, the strategy of such a coordinated action can modify the kinematics of the head in order to make the movements of both head and hand terminate at approximately the same time. The main conclusion is that eye-head coordination is carried out optimally by a parallel processing in which both gaze and hand motor responses are initiated on the basis of a poorly defined retinal signal. The accuracy in hand pointing is not conditioned by head movement per se and does not depend on the relative timing of eye, head and hand movements (synergetic vs sequential responses). However, a decrease in the accuracy of hand pointing was observed in the synergetic condition, when target fixation was not stabilised before the target was extinguished. This suggests that when the orienting saccade reaches the target before hand movement onset, visual updating of the hand motor control signal may occur. A rapid processing of this final input allows a sharper redefinition of the hand landing point.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Prevalence and pattern of radiographic hand osteoarthritis and association with pain and disability (the Rotterdam study).

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence and pattern of radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA) of the hand joints and its association with self reported hand pain and disability. METHODS: Baseline data on a population based study (age >/=55 years) were used (n = 3906). Hand ROA was defined as the presence of Kellgren-Lawrence grade >/=2 radiological changes in two of three groups of hand joints in each hand. The presence of hand pain during the previous month was defined as hand pain. The health assessment questionnaire was used to measure hand disability. RESULTS: 67% of the women and 54.8% of the men had ROA in at least one hand joint. DIP joints were affected in 47.3% of participants, thumb base in 35.8%, PIP joints in 18.2%, and MCP joints in 8.2% (right or left hand). ROA of other joint groups (right hand) co-occurred in 56% of DIP involvement, 88% of PIP involvement, 86% of MCP involvement, and 65% of thumb base involvement. Hand pain showed an odds ratio of 1.9 (1.5 to 2.4) with the ROA of the hand (right). Hand disability showed an odds ratio of 1.5 (1.1 to 2.1) with ROA of the hand (right or left). CONCLUSIONS: Hand ROA is common in the elderly, especially in women. Co-occurrence of ROA in different joint groups of the hand is more common than single joint disease. There is a modest to weak association between ROA of the hand and hand pain/disability, varying with the site of involvement.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed1989

Right and left hand skill in left-handers: distribution, learning, and relation to nonverbal intelligence.

The relation of hand skill to nonverbal intelligence (spatial reasoning) tested by Cattle's Culture Fair Intelligence Test was studied in left-handed subjects. Hand skill was assessed by the peg moving test, which revealed that some of the left-handers (Geschwind scores and self-reports) were ambidexters. The distribution for right hand skill fitted to Gaussian data better than that for left hand skill. The R-L difference between the hands in peg moving times could also be described by normal distributions in the total sample, ambidexters, and left-handers. The right and left hands of ambidexters were as fast as the left-handers. In left-handers, the right hand was significantly slower than the left hand. In males, right-hand skill fitted to Gaussian data better than left-hand skill. In males and females, right and left-hand skill fitted to Gaussian data. Left-hand skill fitted to Gaussian data better in females than males. The difference between right- and left-hand peg-moving times was found to be larger in females than males. There was no significant difference between the right- and left-hand peg moving times of the male and female left-handers. The mean peg moving times for the right and left hands linearly decreased at each successive trial (N = 10). This motor learning was found to be better in left-handers with high IQs than those with low IQs. The right hand of left-handers with high IQs was faster than that with low IQs. The motor learning of the left hand was not different in left-handers with high and low IQs. The regression line for ambidexters exhibited less learning than that for left-handers. It was suggested that right hand skill is associated with nonverbal intelligence in left-handers, indicating the importance of left hemispheric processing in this kind of cognitive performance.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Microbiological effects of hand washing at a beef carcass-breaking facility.

The hands of workers in the carcass-breaking facility at a beef packing plant were sampled by rinsing. Total aerobes, coliforms, and Escherichia coli were enumerated for each sample. The numbers of bacteria recovered from duplicate groups of 25 hand samples collected before and after hands were washed with an antibacterial gel, rinsed in a disinfectant solution, washed with the gel and rinsed with the disinfectant, or washed in the disinfectant for 20 s were similar for samples collected before work began after breaks. The numbers of bacteria recovered from samples collected before and after hands were washed with the antibacterial gel and rinsed in the disinfectant solution were similar for samples collected after work as well. However, the mean numbers of aerobes recovered from the four groups of hand samples after work were all >6.5 log CFU per hand, while 9 of the 10 corresponding values for groups of hand samples collected before work were <6.5 log CFU per hand; the total numbers of coliforms recovered from three groups of hand samples collected after work were >4 log CFU/25 hands, while 9 of the corresponding values for groups of hand samples collected before work were <4 log CFU/25 hands. The total numbers of E. coli recovered from all groups of hand samples collected after work were >3.5 log CFU/25 hands, while 9 of the corresponding values for groups of hand samples collected before work were <3 log CFU/25 hands. Thus, although washing and/or rinsing apparently did not reduce the numbers of bacteria on hands, fewer bacteria were recovered from hands before than after work.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Impairment in the control of coupled cyclic movements of ipsilateral hand and foot after total callosotomy.

Integrity of both cerebral hemispheres is required to control in-phase or anti-phase coupling of ipsilateral hand and foot oscillations, as shown by the impairment of these tasks when performed on the healthy side of hemiplegic patients. On this basis, coupling of hand-foot movements was analysed in a right-handed subject (ME) who underwent a total resection of the corpus callosum. Oscillations of the prone hand and foot, paced by a metronome at different frequencies, as well as EMG activity in extensor carpi radialis (ECR) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles were analysed by measuring the average phase difference between the hand and foot movements and EMG cycles. ME performed in-phase movements (right-hand extension coupled to right-foot dorsal flexion) at frequencies up to 3 Hz, though the hand cycle progressively lagged the foot cycle as the frequency increased. At 3 Hz the hand lag reached -142 degrees (as compared to about 25 degrees in healthy subjects). The lag increased even further after application of an inertial load to the hand, reaching 180 degrees at 1.8 Hz (about 50 degrees in healthy subjects). ME's hand lag is caused by the lack of any anticipatory reaction in hand movers. In contrast to healthy subjects, which activate the ECR earlier than the TA when the frequency increases, ME activated the ECR later than TA at all frequencies higher than 0.9 Hz. Anti-phase movements (hand extension coupled to foot plantar flexion) were performed only upto 1 Hz in unloaded conditions. At 0.6 Hz, movements were in tight phase-opposition (3 degrees), but at 1 Hz, the hand lag reached -34 degrees because of a delayed ECR activation. After hand loading ME was unable to couple movements in anti-phase. In contrast, normal subjects maintain a tight anti-phase coupling up to 2.0 Hz, both with an unloaded or loaded hand. Similar deficits were observed by ME when performing in-phase and anti-phase coupling on the left side, as well as when he was blindfolded. In normal subjects, an anticipated muscular activation of hand movers compensates for hand loading. Since this compensation must depend on monitoring the hand delay induced by loading, the absence in ME of such compensatory reaction suggests that callosal division had apparently compromised the mechanisms sustaining feedback compensation for differences in the biomechanical limb properties. They also confirm and reinforce the idea that elaboration of the afferent message, aiming at controlling the phase of the movement association, needs the co-operation of both cerebral hemispheres.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Hand dominance effect on median and ulnar sensory evoked amplitude and latency in asymptomatic workers.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relative effect of hand dominance on the median and ulnar sensory evoked responses and grip strength in active workers. DESIGN: A cross-sectional or survey design. SETTING: Workers from 4 different sites underwent on-site testing of the median and ulnar sensory nerves in both hands (antidromic stimulation, 14 cm), and testing of bilateral grip strength. PATIENTS: 224 workers, asymptomatic of hand, wrist, or finger pain, numbness, or tingling: 87% were right handed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Amplitude and latency of the median and ulnar sensory response and the grip strength of each hand. RESULTS: The amplitude of the median sensory response in the dominant hand was significantly lower in right handed individuals (34.6 microm V versus 38.8 microm V) but not in left handed workers (34.2 microm V versus 34.3 microm V). A similar relationship held for the ulnar evoked responses and the grip strength. Median and ulnar sensory latencies in right handed individuals did not differ side to side, whereas left handed workers had a slightly shorter latency on the left. CONCLUSIONS: The left hand of a right handed worker may not be exposed to as much trauma, resulting in relative protection of the nerves in the hand and a higher amplitude of the left median and ulnar evoked response. Left handed individuals may be more likely to use both hands equally and thus expose the nerves in each hand to an equal amount of trauma, resulting in their sensory amplitudes being equivalent (and also equal to the dominant hand of a right handed individual).

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Predicting upper limb recovery after stroke: the place of early shoulder and hand movement.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the predictive value of early shoulder and hand movement after stroke for subsequent hand movement and function. DESIGN: An inception cohort design following 71 patients for 3 months after first stroke. SETTING: Rehabilitation medicine units in three Sydney teaching hospitals. PATIENTS: A consecutive sample of 71 first-stroke patients, mean age 67 years, was assessed for upper limb function. Those with preexisting impairment in the hemiplegic limb, early good recovery in hand function, or impaired comprehension were excluded. Data were available for 65 patients at 1 month, 50 at 2 months, and 46 at 3 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hand movement and hand function were assessed at 1, 2, and 3 months. A standardized hand movement scale and four specific hand function tasks were used. The outcome variables were (1) "good" hand movements, ie, independent index finger extension or opposition of finger/s to thumb and (2) ability to perform one of the specified hand function tasks. RESULTS: Initial shoulder shrug predicted good hand movement (odds ratios 7.3, 7.0, 6.0) and hand function (odds ratios 13.8, 5.3, 11.3) at 1, 2, and 3 months, respectively. Initial presence of synergistic hand movement predicted good hand movement (odds ratios 10, 13.8, 12.2) at 1, 2, and 3 months and hand function (odds ratios 27.9, 7.5) at 1 and 2 months. Initial active shoulder abduction predicted good hand movement at 1 month and hand function at 1 and 2 months only. CONCLUSIONS: Early shoulder shrug and synergistic hand movements are useful bedside predictors of hand outcome after stroke.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Hand rim configuration: effects on physical strain and technique in unimpaired subjects?

OBJECTIVE: Hand rim wheelchair propulsion is inefficient and physically straining. To evaluate the possibly advantageous role in this respect of three different prototype hand rim configurations (a rubber foam-coated cylindrical (II) hand rim and two profiled rubber foam-coated hand rims (wide and narrow: III, IV)), a group of 10 unimpaired subjects conducted four submaximal discontinuous wheelchair exercise tests on a computer-controlled wheelchair ergometer, thus allowing a comparison with a standard hand rim (chromium-plated round hand rim (I)). METHODS: Apart from physiological measures (oxygen uptake, heart rate (HR), ventilation, mechanical efficiency (ME)), a subjective score for the rating of each of the hand rims was determined, as well as characteristics of the force application in the propulsion phase during each test condition. Timing parameters of the push and recovery phase were determined. Each exercise test was conducted with one of the four hand rim configurations in a counter-balanced order. RESULTS: Analysis of variance with repeated measures (hand rim configuration, power output) revealed no significant effects (P>0.05) on any of the physiological parameters and force application characteristics for the main factor 'hand rim configuration'. Only the subjective score (scale 0-10) for rating of the hand rims proved significantly different between the round rubber (7.5+/-0.53) coated hand rim-receiving the highest score-versus the narrow rubber-coated flat profiled hand rim (5.5+/-1.72). DISCUSSION: In this subject group and under the selected tasks and submaximal conditions of wheelchair propulsion, the studied hand rim configurations did not introduce critical shifts in the technique of (de-)coupling and power production in the push phase. As a consequence, no systematic shifts in ME are found among the different hand rim configurations. It is suggested that the biological constraints of the task overrule the possible effects of small design variations of the different hand rim configurations within the studied subject group and under the limited test conditions. The hand rim design characteristics may however be much more critical in (1) experienced wheelchair users, (2) especially those subjects with a limited hand-arm and/or trunk function and/or (3) under much more extreme conditions of daily wheelchair ambulation (i.e. turning, stopping/starting, negotiating a slope) or during peak performance. These issues clearly require continued future research. As such, the current results can be viewed as preliminary results only.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Glove barriers to bacterial cross-contamination between hands to food.

Human hands are an important source of microbial contamination of foods. However, published data on the effectiveness of handwashing and glove use in a foodservice setting are limited. Bacterial transfer through foodservice quality gloves was quantified using nalidixic acid-resistant Enterobacter aerogenes (a nonpathogenic surrogate with attachment characteristics similar to Salmonella). Five transfer rates were determined: chicken to bare hand, chicken to hand through gloves, bare hand to lettuce, hand to lettuce through gloves (with low inoculum on hands), and hand to lettuce through gloves (with high inoculum on hands). At least 30 observations were made for each percent transfer rate using 30 individual volunteers. The logarithm of percent transfer data were then fit to distributions: chicken to bare hand, normal (0.71, 0.42); chicken to hand through gloves, gamma (5.91, 0.40, -5.00); bare hand to lettuce, logistic (1.16, 0.30); hand to lettuce through gloves (low inoculum), normal (0.35, 0.88); hand to lettuce through gloves (high inoculum), normal (-2.52, 0.61). A 0.01% transfer was observed from food to hands and from hands to food when subjects wore gloves and a 10% transfer was observed without a glove barrier. These results indicate that gloves are permeable to bacteria although transfer from hands to food through a glove barrier was less than without a glove barrier. Our results indicate that gloves may reduce both bacterial transfer from food to the hands of foodservice workers and in subsequent transfer from hands back to food.

Colony Count, Microbial↗
PubMed2004

Hand washing compliance among retail food establishment workers in Minnesota.

Inadequate hand washing by food workers is an important contributing factor to foodborne disease outbreaks in retail food establishments (RFEs). We conducted a survey of RFEs to investigate the effect of hand washing training, availability of hand washing facilities, and the ability of the person in charge (PIC) to describe hand washing according to the Minnesota Food Code (food code) on workers' ability to demonstrate food code-compliant hand washing. Only 52% of the PICs could describe the hand washing procedure outlined in the food code, and only 48% of workers could demonstrate code-compliant hand washing. The most common problems observed were failure to wash for 20 s and failure to use a fingernail brush. There was a strong positive association between the PIC being a certified food manager and being able to describe the food code hand washing procedure (odds ratio [OR], 5.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2 to 13.7), and there was an even stronger association between the PIC being able to describe hand washing and workers being able to demonstrate code-compliant hand washing (OR, 15; 95% CI, 6 to 37). Significant associations were detected among correct hand washing demonstration, physical infrastructure for hand washing, and the hand washing training methods used by the establishment. However, the principal determinant of successful hand washing demonstration was the PIC's ability to describe proper hand washing procedure. These results suggest that improving hand washing practices among food workers will require interventions that address PIC knowledge of hand washing requirement and procedure and the development and implementation of effective hand washing training methods.

Consumer Product Safety↗
PubMed1988

Evidence for a maternal effect on infant hand-use preferences.

Left-handed offspring occur more frequently when one or both parents are left-handed. Among parental pairs with discordant handedness, left-handed mothers have more left-handed offspring than do left-handed fathers. No previous study has looked for this maternal effect in the hand-use preferences of infants. Handedness of 42 infants (21 females) 6-13 months of age (M = 10 months) was assessed by a reliable and valid procedure that provides hand-use preference scores separately for reaching and unimanual manipulation of objects. Equal numbers of age-matched male and female infants were formed into three groups representing different patterns of parental handedness: neither parent left-handed, father left-handed, mother left-handed. Infants of left-handed mothers showed more left hand-use than infants of left-handed fathers or infants of right-handed parents. Indeed, 64% of infants with left-handed mothers had significant left hand-use preference scores whereas none of the infants in the other groups had significant left hand-use preference scores. Possible mechanisms for this maternal effect on infant hand-use preferences are discussed.

Child Development↗
PubMed1998

The relation between hand morphology and quadrupedalism in primates.

Primate hands can be classified into two broad categories on the basis of ray proportions and other features. Ectaxonic hands are characterized by a longer fourth ray and are found in most strepsirhines. Most haplorhines possess mesaxonic hands which are characterized by a longer third ray. Preuschoft et al. ([1993] in H. Preuschoft and D.J. Chivers (eds.): Hands of Primates. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 21-30) proposed a biomechanical model which predicts that, during quadrupedalism, a mesaxonic hand should be held in a more neutral position with respect to the forearm, whereas an ectaxonic hand should be more ulnarly deviated. The relation between hand positioning and the mesaxony/ectaxony categorization is investigated for 27 primate taxa. Videotapes were recorded for each species walking quadrupedally on arboreal supports. Several species were also videotaped during ground quadrupedalism. The degree of deviation of the hand relative to the substrate and the grips utilized were quantified for 18 species from the videotapes. Primates with mesaxonic hands use deviated hand positions and grips, especially when walking quadrupedally on small poles. Several species with ectaxonic hands use neutral hand positions and grips when walking quadrupedally on similar supports. Also, several primates, with either ectaxonic or mesaxonic hands, display a combination of deviated hand positions and grips when on arboreal substrates and neutral hand positioning when on the ground. The statistical results indicate that hand positioning during quadrupedal walking is more variable than expected based on the mesaxony/ectaxony classification. Furthermore, radiographic data suggest that primates evolved at least two different mechanisms of hand ulnar deviation.

Animals↗