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Agricultural Work (agricultural + work)
Selected AbstractsDifferential effect of environmental risk factors on postural instability gait difficulties and tremor dominant Parkinson's disease,,MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 12 2010G.O. Skeie MD Abstract Both environmental and genetic factors contribute to the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). We have examined environmental risk factors in a Norwegian population of incident PD patients and controls, the Norwegian ParkWest study. All five neurological wards in the study area of Western Norway participated in the study. A 4-step diagnostic procedure was used to establish a representative cohort of patients with incident PD at a high level of diagnostic accuracy. 212 incident PD patients and 175 age- and gender-matched controls were included. PD patients and controls were asked for information on occupation, education, exposure to pesticides, tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. Agricultural work was associated with a higher risk of PD (OR 1.75 (1.03,3.0) P = 0.009). There were no differences as to other occupations. Smoking (OR 0.63 (0.42,0.95) P = 0.016) and alcohol use (OR 0.55 P = 0.008) were associated with a lower risk for PD. Interestingly, this inverse association was only seen in postural instability gait difficulties (PIGD) PD (P = 0.046 for smoking, P = 0.07 for alcohol consumption), and not in tremor dominant (TD) PD which was similar to controls. Consumption of coffee was lower in PD patients (3.3 ± 1.8 cups per day vs. 3.8 ± 2.0 in controls P = 0.02). In the regression model including intake of alcohol, coffee, and smoke, only coffee (P = 0.007) and alcohol intake (P = 0.021) remained significant whereas smoking was no longer significant. Thus, it seems as though only coffee intake reduces the risk of PD in general while associations to alcohol and smoking differ between PIGD and TD-PD patients. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society [source] Health, medication use, and agricultural injury: A reviewAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 11 2009Donald C. Voaklander PhD Abstract Background Agricultural work in the United States and Canada continues to be one of the most dangerous vocations. Surveillance evidence suggests that older farmers (>60 years of age) are at greater risk of serious injury than their younger counterparts. The purpose of this article was to outline illnesses and medications that may contribute to older farmers' increased risk of agricultural injury and to determine a minimum set of health-related covariates that could be used in farm injury studies. Methods A review of English language literature in Medline, CINAHL, and NIOSH databases was conducted examining disease and medication factors related to farm injury. Results Health- and disease-related factors most commonly reported as significantly contributing to agricultural injury included previous injury, hearing problems, depression, arthritis, and sleep deprivation. The use of "any medication" was identified as a significant risk factor for injury in a number of studies. The use of sleep medication was significantly related to injury in two studies. Conclusions Based on the findings, it is recommended that at a minimum, researchers collect information on the prevalence of previous injury, hearing problems, depression, arthritis/muscular-skeletal problems and sleep disturbance as these have been identified as significant risk factors in a number of studies. In addition, where subjects that identify any of these afflictions, further information should be sought on any medications used in their treatment which can add data on disease severity. More research and surveillance activities need to be focused on the older farm worker. This population is critical to the maintenance of the agricultural base in North America and health and safety research initiatives need to address this. By integrating research from the fields of gerontology, occupational health and safety, and injury prevention, innovative interventions could be constructed to assist the aging farmer in the continuation of safe farming. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:876,889, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] The possible role of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the aetiology of cryptorchidism and hypospadias: a population-based case,control study in rural SicilyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANDROLOGY, Issue 1 2007P. Carbone Abstract This was an open case,control study of the possible association between parental occupational and domestic exposures to potential endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) assessed by questionnaire and cryptorchidism and hypospadias in their offspring in the agricultural area of Ragusa. Cases of infants born between 1998 and 2002 with either of these two malformations (n = 90), and controls (n = 203), were recruited through the paediatric services (for cases) and a random sample of healthy infants attending the same services born in the same period of time (for controls). Data on occupational and environmental exposures of parents prior to and during the index case (or control), were collected through interviews with both parents. Concerning occupational exposures, we did not find a statistically significant increase in risk among parents directly involved in agricultural work. We did find a non-statistically significant increase in risk for cryptorchidism in mothers employed in agriculture [adjusted odds ratios (OR) 2.97; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.77,11.47] and with probable exposure to pesticides (adjusted OR 2.74; 95% CI 0.72,10.42). Fathers who had indirect contact with agricultural products (transport and retail) had an increased risk (not statistically significant) for cryptorchidism (adjusted OR 2.45; 95% CI 0.63,9.59) and hypospadias and cryptorchidism combined (adjusted OR 2.24; 95% CI 0.67,7.48). Increases in risk of the two malformations pooled were also observed in relation to the mother's age below 25 (adjusted OR 1.99; 95% CI 0.97,4.09), to the presence of genital disease of the father (adjusted OR 2.41; 95%C I0.94,6.17), and the mother (adjusted OR 3.47;95% CI1.34,8.99), to low birth weight of the infant (adjusted OR 4.49; 95% CI 1.23,16.31). Increased risk was also observed for mothers consuming alcohol during pregnancy (adjusted OR 3.09; 95% CI 0.98,9.66), and for couples who conceived while using condoms (adjusted OR 2.12; 95% CI 1.02,4.41). The study therefore provides only limited support to the hypothesis of a possible association between the risk of cryptorchidism and hypospadias and the occupational exposure to EDC and agricultural work. [source] The Accelerating Biophysical Contradictions of Industrial Capitalist AgricultureJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 3 2010TONY WEIS The productivity of industrial capitalist agriculture is central to dominant development narratives. It is also highly unstable, with intractable biophysical problems created in the substitution of labour, skill and knowledge with technology, and overridden with unsustainable ,technological fixes' and masked by a host of externalized costs. Relatively cheap oil is central to this, effectively subsidizing the low-priced industrial grains and oilseeds on which global food security has come to hinge. However, the chronic biophysical contradictions of industrial capitalist agriculture are accelerating, at the same time as the surge in biofuels has augmented the still-rising demand of livestock feed to embolden industrial producers. A period of acute and ominously regressive food price volatility looms in the short term, with more ruinous outcomes ahead. But this might also widen openings for rebuilding biodiverse food systems and remaking and valorizing agricultural work, which will involve rethinking agriculture's place in conceptions of development and modernity. [source] Maquila Age Maya: Changing Households and Communities of the Central Highlands of GuatemalaJOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2001Liliana R. Goldín As rural peoples of Central America and beyond struggle to create and access new forms of market participation and means of survival under the conditions generated by structural adjustment policies, significant social and cultural shifts are taking place at the local level. This paper analyzes on three levels the impact of maquiladora industries: the region and communities, sending households, and individuals. In particular, I address the implications of migration and urbanization for the new communities, the complex nature of diversified households, and attitudes toward industrial and agricultural work. I conclude with a discussion about the implications of these findings for transitions to proletarianization. [source] Year-round high physical activity levels in agropastoralists of Bolivian Andes: Results from repeated measurements of DLW method in peak and slack seasons of agricultural activitiesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Hiroshi Kashiwazaki By the repeated use of the doubly labeled water method (DLW), this study aimed to investigate (1) the extent of changes in energy expenditure and physical activity level (PAL) in response to increased agricultural work demands, and (2) whether the seasonal work demands induce the changes in the fairly equitable division of work and similarity of energy needs between men and women observed in our previous study (Phase 1 study; Kashiwazaki et al., 1995: Am J Clin Nutr 62: 901,910). In a rural small agropastoral community of the Bolivian Andes, we made the follow-up study (Phase 2, 14 adults; a time of high agricultural activity) of the Phase 1 study (12 adults; a time of low agricultural activity). In the Phase 2 study, both men and women showed very high PAL (mean±SD), but there was no significant difference by sex (men; 2.18 ± 0.23 (age; 64 ± 11 years, n = 7), women; 2.26 ± 0.25 (63 ± 10 years, n = 7)). The increase of PAL by 11% (P = 0.023) in the Phase 2 was equally occurred in both men and women. The factorial approach underestimated PAL significantly by ,15% (P < 0.05). High PAL throughout the year ranging on average 2.0 and 2.2 was attributable to everyday tasks for subsistence and domestic works undertaking over 9,11 h (men spent 2.7 h on agricultural work and 4.7 h on animal herding, whereas women spent 7.3 h almost exclusively on animal herding). The seasonal increase in PAL was statistically significant, but it was smaller than those anticipated from published reports. A flexible division of labor played an important role in the equitable energetic increase in both men and women. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Workers compensation and occupational health and safety in the Australian agricultural industryAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2009Robert Guthrie Abstract Objectives:,The objective of this paper is to review the available workers compensation and occupational health and safety data and the legal framework in relation to the agricultural industry to explore whether any factors highlight the need to pay special attention to the particular circumstances of those engaged in the industry. Design:,This paper explores some of the special features of the agricultural industry, looking first at agricultural worker fatalities and injuries as a matter of ongoing concern for all participants in this industry, government, as well as occupational health and workers compensation authorities. The paper analyses how occupational health and workers compensation laws may have special application to this industry. Finally, the paper considers some workers compensation provisions that have particular application to the agricultural industry. Conclusions:,Our survey of the available data and literature leads to the conclusion that the dangerous nature of agricultural work and the special legal and economic framework in which that work is undertaken identify the agricultural industry as presenting Australian Governments and specialist authorities with particular challenges in relation to improving workplace safety and reducing workplace injury. [source] | |||||||||||||