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Biomedical subjects

H Strasser

Publications and source records attributed to H Strasser.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Evaluation of a supermarket twin-checkout involving forward and backward operation.

Cashier workplaces recently put into service in self-service shops of a retail company provide a face-to-face position of two cashiers. These twin-checkouts involve both traditional goods handling from the front to the rear as well as a reverse technique - i e, forward operation from behind. By means of different methods they have been analysed from an ergonomics point of view and evaluated in respect of operators' workload resulting from the specific layout. The results support the conclusion that the new 'backward' system and twin-checkouts are not inferior to traditional single checkouts. On the contrary, a working technique where the arm moves from behind to the front involves a better approach to accounting for physiological characteristics and obviously allows a better fitting of the task of operators.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1989

Local muscular strain dependent on the direction of horizontal arm movements.

Manual material handling still plays an important role in assembly work as well as in the service industry. By means of an ergonomic layout of working places, the effects of disadvantageous working conditions, especially static load resulting from unfavourable postures of the body as well as unnecessary physiological cost arising from body movements may be avoided. In this context knowledge about the optimum directions of horizontal arm movements is fundamental. Therefore by means of advanced methods of multi-channel electromyography (EMG) and applying computer assisted evaluation methods, physiological responses to one-handed horizontal material handling in a sitting position were recorded. In order to obtain myoelectric signals from the most important task-relevant muscles out of more than 40 muscle groups of the hand-arm-shoulder-system, preceding research was done also aiming at standardized lead positions for surface EMG. Groups of five young females each participated in a series of successive experiments, in which the direction of movements of the left arm was varied. The subjects worked without and with an external load imposed by weights of 0, 1, 2 and 4 kg. The movements between 20 degrees and 230 degrees--measured from the frontal plane of the subjects--included working from ahead and from behind. The lifting distance was 38 cm starting from different outward points within the reach to a fixed point near the body. Also in one test series the handling frequency was varied between 12, 24 and 48 lifts per minute. Assessment of the physiological cost by electromyographic activities (EA), especially the determination of the most stressful and least expensive directions of repetitive horizontal movements, was more effective when differentiating static and dynamic portions of muscular strain than common means of EA.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

[Alterations of sleep stage pattern in human beings and hang-over effects under the influence of estazolam/2nd Comm.: Studies on the hang-over effect in psycho-physiological performance (author's transl)].

10 healthy male and female subjects spent 7 nights both with a quiet surrounding and defined noise of subsonic jet fly-overs in a sleep laboratory. During the last 4 nights they were medicated in a double-blind cross-over test design with the benzodiazepine 8-chloro-6-phenyl-4H-s-triazolo (4,3-a)-(1,4)benzodiazepine (estazolam, BAY k 4200) at a dosage of 2 mg and placebo. On each following morning they passed a tracking test and an apparative mental arithmetic calculation test in order to evaluate a potential hangover. Simultaneously heart rate was registered continuously. The results were as follows: About 10 h after medication significant hang-over effects of estazolam in psycho-physiological performance could still be seen. Statistically significant differences between the conditions with estazolam and placebo in the range of 5 to 15% were found. Hang-over is not restricted to tracking and mental performance but can also be seen in slightly lowered heart rate.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1982

[Psychosomatics and rehabilitation (author's transl)].

Psychosomatics are presently undergoing a period of reorientation. Its scope is extending beyond the traditional, typically psychosomatic disorders to disease processes that are of considerable relevance to rehabilitation, offering novel explanatory models. Psychosocial influences are vital to the course of rehabilitation, too. This is discussed on the examples of coronary diseases and motor disability. Psychic factors may increase the risk of being affected by a disease, or they may be activated during the disease and rehabilitation processes (as in traumatic neurosis). In either case can maximum rehabilitation success be accomplished only when these factors are taken into account. Hence, psychotherapeutic supports are indispensable components of the rehabilitation effort, with analytical therapy needing be supplemented and abbreviated by other techniques. In their institutional structures, rehabilitation facilities moreover have at their disposal a therapeutic potential that could be utilized. This would however presuppose an increased interest in psychodiagnosis - not least in view of the pressing need for prevention.

Coronary Disease↗
PubMed1976

[Experimental study on the tracking behaviour with a view to differentiating the effects of an antidepressant in various doses compared to placebo (author's transl)].

In a double-blind cross-over study 15 highly motivated, healthy male subjects (Ss), aged from 23 to 29 years, were given 200 mg and 400 mg p-methoxy-phenoxyaceticacid-diethylaminoethylamide-hydrochloride (mefexamide) and a placebo. On each of the three days the Ss were tested in different tracking devices and the integrated absolute error was measured in the tests of a duration of three hours each. Influences of practice, leading to unwanted and disturbing effects were excluded by a preceding period of four training sessions on different days. The main result of the investigation was that performance in tracking was ambivalent. The single dosage (200 mg mefexamide) caused small improvements in tracking in the range of about 5%. These differences from placebo partly could be determined to be significant at the level of 5% compared to placebo. The double dosage (400 mg mefexamide) deteriorated tracking performance significantly (5%-and partly 1%-level, two-tailed test) in the range of about 10% on the average. Differences in performance between the two dosages were correspondingly larger and could be determined at a higher level of significance, too.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

[Controlled research of the influence of Neoston on tracking performance, heart rate, sinus arrhythmia and on subjective rating of healthy subjects].

The influence of Neoston--a relatively new analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory agent--on performance in different tracking tests, on heart rate, on sinus arrhythmia and on subjective rating was objectivated. 15 healthy male and female subjects, aged from 19 to 27 years, took part in the sessions lasting about 2 1/2 hrs each. Two times two pills Neoston or a placebo were taken orally 2 and 5 hrs before the tests, making a total of 2 g. Performance in tracking was poorer on the whole with Neoston than with placebo, but only up to a maximum of 5%. Except one measurement point out of 10 all differences between the tests with the active drug and placebo were not statistically significant at the level of 5%. Yet a relatively uniform trend suggests a certain but only a small damping effect of Neoston. When relating the data of the second and third session on the data of the first session of each day, damping effects could be made more obvious. Hereby the influence of Neoston on tracking performance could be demonstrated to exist also statistically significant but to be practically almost irrelevant. In physiological variables as well as in subjective rating only small differences between the drug and placebo condition were measured. When relating the results to comparable research on the effects of alcohol, tranquilizers and stimulants, it is concluded that with Neoston in the relatively high dosage as used here, no real detrimental effects on traffic safety are to be expected.

Adult↗