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R Toussaint

Publications and source records attributed to R Toussaint.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Construction work and low back disorder. Preliminary findings of the Hamburg Construction Worker Study.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional part of a longitudinal study in 571 male construction workers. OBJECTIVES: The Hamburg construction worker study is being conducted to assess the extent of musculoskeletal disorders in construction workers and factors predisposing for or leading to musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this analysis is to report findings about the association between job history and low back disorder. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Repetitive strain in forced positions during long periods of time has been reported as a risk factor for low back disorder. Of all construction workers, bricklayers predominantly are exposed to these conditions. METHODS: Subjects were recruited mainly from a routine health check-up. A structured interview with complete job history, job related activities, and symptoms was administered, and a detailed standardized physical examination was performed. Age-adjusted prevalences of low back pain were calculated, and logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and their confidence intervals for different durations of working in a specific job category and physical signs of low back disorder, adjusting for a variety of possible confounders. RESULTS: The 12 month prevalence of low back pain was highest in painters (57%), intermediate in concrete builders and bricklayers (41%), and lowest in carpenters and unskilled workers (38%). The age-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of low back disorder for having worked longer than 10 years as a bricklayer was 2.3 (1.2-4.5). CONCLUSIONS: Working longer than 10 years as a bricklayer was associated with signs of low back disorder. No comparable associations were found for house painters, carpenters, nor concrete builders. If replicated, these findings could be used to focus preventive measures on bricklayers with a long job history.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

The Solar Acoustic Spectrum and Eigenmode Parameters

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) project estimates the frequencies, amplitudes, and linewidths of more than 250,000 acoustic resonances of the sun from data sets lasting 36 days. The frequency resolution of a single data set is 0.321 microhertz. For frequencies averaged over the azimuthal order m, the median formal error is 0.044 microhertz, and the associated median fractional error is 1.6 x 10(-5). For a 3-year data set, the fractional error is expected to be 3 x 10(-6). The GONG m-averaged frequency measurements differ from other helioseismic data sets by 0.03 to 0.08 microhertz. The differences arise from a combination of systematic errors, random errors, and possible changes in solar structure.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1983

Concentrations of prostaglandin E2 and F2 alpha in the cardiovascular system of infants with persisting patent ductus arteriosus.

The distribution of prostaglandin E2 and F2 alpha was examined in the peripheral veins and in several positions of the cardiovascular system before and after the blood had passed through the lungs in 37 infants. Prostaglandin E2 varied from 0.25 +/- 0.09 ng/ml to 0.44 +/- 0.09 ng/ml when measured in the pulmonary artery, the ductus arteriosus, the right atrium, the right ventricle, the left atrium, the left ventricle, the inferior vena cava and the descending aorta. Prostaglandin F2 alpha was much higher in these positions of the cardiovascular system. The range was 0.99 +/- 0.36 ng/ml to greater than 2.0 ng/ml. The vascular tissues produced virtually identical high amounts of prostaglandin E2 and F2 alpha, but there were no significant differences in prostaglandin E2 and F2 alpha, concentrations, in venous blood as well as in systemic arterial blood. The results suggest that prostaglandin E2 is not responsible for the persisting patency of the ductus arteriosus in infants. There is no explanation for the increased prostaglandin F2 alpha concentrations in these patients.

Aorta, Thoracic↗
PubMed1982

Absent pulmonary artery. A hint to its embryogenesis.

Cardiac catheterization was performed in nine patients with unilateral absence of a pulmonary artery. Aortography revealed a diverticulum of the innominate artery in five of six patients in whom the aortic arch and absent pulmonary artery were on opposite sides. It is suggested that the diverticulum indicates fetal systemic blood supply to the affected lung through the distal part of the sixth aortic arch, which--consisting of ductal tissue--obliterated after birth, leaving the diverticulum where the ductus joins the innominate artery.

Aorta, Thoracic↗
PubMed1982

[The right aortic arch with retrooesophageal component].

We report on 8 children with a right aortic arch and a retrooesophageal component of the upper descending aorta. The chest roentgenogram shows a right aortic arch and the oesophagogram a broad posterior indentation of the oesophagus in every case. Aortography was performed in 5 cases: in 2 children, the branches of the right aortic arch originate in a mirror image relationship to normal, in the other 3 children, the left subclavian artery originates as 4th branch from a retrooesophageal diverticulum of the upper descending aorta. Three children have an acyanotic congenital cardiac defect. Four of the children are asymptomatic while 3 have exertional dyspnoe and one suffers from dysphagia and frequent bronchitis. The symptoms are caused by compression of the oesophagus and the trachea by the right aortic arch, the retrooesophageal diverticulum and the patent or atretic ductus arteriosus originating from the latter. Only one child had to be operated for severe symptoms. There is a significant difference between the right aortic arch with or without a retrooesophageal component. The former mostly occurs alone and sometimes causes clinically significant oesophago-tracheal compression, while the latter is almost always combined with a cyanotic cardiac defect (tetralogy of Fallot, truncus arteriosus) but practically never causes a compression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

[Not Available].

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Belgium↗
PubMed1978

[Not Available].

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Belgium↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sacroiliac dysfunction in construction workers.

BACKGROUND: In the literature of manual medicine the sacroiliac joint is widely accepted as a potential source of low back pain. On the other hand, some investigations have detected sacroiliac joint dysfunction without concomitant low back pain. The prevalence of sacroiliac dysfunction in the population has been noted in the medical literature to be between 19.3% and 47.9%. However, the prevalence of sacroiliac dysfunction in the general population and for construction workers is unknown. OBJECTIVE: This article presents results from the Hamburg Construction Workers Study in respect to sacroiliac diagnostics. The prevalence of and connection between sacroiliac dysfunction and low back pain are particularly interesting. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: The sacroiliac joint diagnostics were studied in a cross-section investigation of a cohort of 480 male construction workers. Manual examination is the standard in the diagnostics of sacroiliac joint conditions at present. The assessment of sacroiliac joint function by standing flexion test, the spine test, the iliac compression test, and the iliac springing test was operationalized as two categories: sacroiliac dysfunction I and II. RESULTS: A prevalence of 29.0% was found for dysfunction I and 6.3% for dysfunction II, whereas a prevalence of 7.9% was found for the coprevalence of low back pain and sacroiliac dysfunction on the day of examination. This study demonstrated no statistical associations between low back pain and sacroiliac joint dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: The reason why symptomatic and asymptomatic sacroiliac dysfunctions exist has not yet been sufficiently explained. The identification of pain-provoking factors should be the aim of subsequent investigations. A further study with a prospective design will be necessary to answer the questions that remain.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sacroiliac joint diagnostics in the Hamburg Construction Workers Study.

BACKGROUND: In the medical literature, test procedures for sacroiliac joint diagnostics are viewed as controversial. The provocation tests are based on provoked sacroiliac pain, whereas the palpation tests examine the motion of the sacroiliac joint or describe the condition indirectly if limitation of the sacroiliac function is present. It must be presumed that the use of different test results in the detection of varying functional phenomena of a sacroiliac dysfunction or, alternatively, that identical effects of a dysfunction are evaluated in differing ways. OBJECTIVE: This article presents results with regard to the consistency of tests for sacroiliac joint dysfunctions carried out on participants from the building trade. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: The consistency of the tests (standing flexion test, spine test, iliac compression test, iliac springing test) used in a cross-section investigation of a cohort of 480 male construction workers is presented. To evaluate the degree of consistency of the test procedure the percentage agreement and the kappa value, including a confidence interval of 95%, are given. RESULTS: The consistency between the iliac compression test and the three sacroiliac palpation tests could not be shown to be statistically significant. The consistency between the three palpation tests was moderate to good and the percentage agreement was acceptable (87.4%, 88.6%, 80.9%). CONCLUSIONS: It may be assumed that the palpation tests characterize the same dysfunction of the sacroiliac joint. Standing flexion test, spine test, and iliac springing test seem to be valuable tools for sacroiliac joint diagnostics.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Multifocal atrial tachycardia in infancy].

Four infants with multifocal atrial tachycardia are presented. They all displayed the typical ECG-findings of this particular form of supraventricular tachycardia: at least 3 different P-waves; varying atrial rate over 100 beats per minute; an isoelectric baseline between P-waves and a permanent variation of PP-, PR- and RR-intervals. One baby had a truncus arteriosus communis, the other 3 were healthy except for their rhythm disorder. In 2 of our patients, the multifocal atrial tachycardia was already present at birth, in the other 2 infants it became apparent at age 2 and 4 months respectively. Two children were asymptomatic, the other 2 had a slightly enlarged heart and some evidence of pulmonary venous congestion on chest roentgenogram. All 4 patients received digoxin. The tachycardia disappeared in 2 cases under but without definite causal relation to that treatment. In the 2 other cases the tachycardia persists in spite of treatment. Multifocal atrial tachycardia is a rare form of rhythm disturbance in infancy; it is difficult to treat but frequently resolves spontaneously within the first year of life.

Cardiac Pacing, Artificial↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Echocardiographic detection of endocarditis vegetations of the tricuspid valve in 2 children with ventricular septal defect].

Two children with ventricular septal defect and tricuspid valve endocarditis are presented. One of them had ongoing endocarditis with septic pulmonary embolism, the other suffered from florid endocarditis presumably 3 months before the study. M-mode echocardiography showed echodense masses in the right ventricular outflow tract in one and anomalous systolic anterior movement of tricuspid valve tissue in the other patient. Sectorechocardiography demonstrated in both children abnormal masses originating from the tricuspid valve and extending into the right ventricular outflow tract. Surgery confirmed endocarditic vegetations and destructions of the tricuspid valve. After operative closure of the ventricular septal defect and reconstruction of the tricuspid valve both children are well. Our experience underlines the usefulness of echocardiography, especially sectorechocardiography, in demonstrating endocarditic vegetations originating from the tricuspid valve.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Heart rate and heart rhythm in healthy infants and children].

Cardiac rate and rhythm in 141 healthy infants, toddlers and schoolchildren during 24 hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring are reported. Maximal and minimal heart rate (1/min) in infants 1 to 5 months of age were 204 +/- 17 and 105 +/- 13, in infants 6 to 12 months of age 187 +/- 19 and 101 +/- 15; in toddlers 177 +/- 17 and 66 +/- 10; in schoolchildren 158 +/- 24 and 54 +/- 6. A sizeable proportion of children of all age groups showed patterns of sinus arrhythmias indistinguishable from second degree sinuatrial block. Supraventricular escape beats and escape rhythms were frequent as well. The longest RR interval was 1.03 +/- 0.16 sec. in infants, 1.20 +/- 0.25 sec. in toddlers, and 1.35 +/- 0.15 sec., respectively, in schoolchildren. Two % of infants, 7% of toddlers, and 6% of schoolchildren had episodes of second degree atrioventricular block type I (Wenckebach) at rest. Supraventricular extrasystoles were found in 38%, 13% and 26%, respectively, and uniform ventricular extrasystoles in 18%, 20% and 16%, respectively, of infants, toddlers and schoolchildren. These data, together with similar information in the literature, can be taken as basis for the evaluation of ambulatory electrocardiograms in children.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗