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PubMed2003

The future of work environment reforms: does the concept of work environment apply within the new economy?

"Work environment," as a conceptual framework for reforming working life, may not be readily transferable from the tangible conditions of the industrial context in which it was conceived to the more flexible conditions of modern labor. Since the flexible conditions of work generally presuppose an increased responsibility and some sort of personal commitment on the part of the worker, isolating the environmental conditions from the personal abilities of the worker is becoming more difficult. As a consequence, only to a limited extent can the problems of modern labor be interpreted as work environment issues and subjected to work environment measures. With the propagation of flexible working conditions, work environment institutions and their reform ambitions will be passed by. And work environment reforms, rather than being a practical task of coordinating different protective measures at workplaces, will be reduced to an argument within the ideologically motivated rejection of an increasingly polarized labor market.

Economics↗

PubMed2004

[Environment-related health disorders. Experience and perspectives in the care of patients with environment-related health disorders].

Environmental medicine outpatient clinics, counseling centers, and practicing physicians have observed environment-related health disorders in patient groups of mixed age as well as for groups consisting only of adults or children. Practicing physicians suspected correlations between environmental factors and health disorders in 36-45% of cases, environmental medicine outpatient clinics and counseling centers in 4-34% for mixed-age groups, 0-24% for adults, and 9-13% for children. A comparison of these data is difficult due to differences in data acquisition, evaluation methods, and descriptive statistics used. Furthermore, data on children are insufficient. Patient-oriented environmental medicine faces a number of problems regarding determination of exposure, effects, and susceptibility, including a lack of scientifically verified cause-and-effect models as well as incorrect diagnoses, attributions, and conclusions. In view of the scope and intensity of environment-related health disorders, the topic cannot be ignored. A functioning program of environmental medicine counseling and patient care is needed for practicing physicians, universities and/or the public sector to deliver effective primary medical care in this field. As always, the building blocks of environ-mental medicine counseling are medical history, physical examination, differential diagnosis, human biomonitoring, and on-site inspection with environmental monitoring while also taking gender differences into account. Uniform basic documentation procedures and health science analyses will help to optimize patient care in environ-mental medicine. The value of a diagnostic algorithm in the care of patients with environment-related health disorders is beyond dispute. Last but not least, quality assurance and control are a sine qua non of patient-oriented environmental medicine.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Relationships between work environments, psychological environments and psychological well-being.

Work environments appear to have both positive and negative impacts on the psychological well-being of workers. This paper reviews a number of models and theories that have addressed this issue. First, those aspects of the psychological work environment, which are thought to be most relevant to well-being, are described. Second, a number of models and theories are considered. How then is it possible to best understand how the work environment creates a psychological environment, which in turn may affect psychological well-being? While some of the available approaches are general and offer descriptive frameworks, others do attempt to explain the relationships between a more narrow set of work characteristics and well-being. Further, recent approaches focus on explaining emotional reactions at work and the role of the psychological contract. A sound understanding of work and well-being is still some way away. However, focusing on more specific kinds of well-being, taking account of other contextual influences, and looking at both the salubrious and harmful effects of the work environment are likely to bring about greater understanding.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1994

Genotype by environment interactions in laying hens based on relationship between breeding values of sires in temperate and tropical environments.

This study was conducted to evaluate the significance of genotype by environment (G x E) interactions for tropical poultry breeding. Three environmental conditions were considered: controlled normal-temperature (20 +/- 2 C, CN) and controlled high-temperature (32 C, CH) housing in Germany as well as natural open tropical housing in Malaysia (22 to 34 C, TO). Eighty-four sires were considered as genotypes. Their 5,352 progeny were tested simultaneously over three environments. For each sire, its part breeding value (BV) was estimated within each environment for each performance trait. Correlations between these BV for a pair of environments were used to estimate the magnitude of G x E interactions and the degree of relationship between them to demonstrate their implications on breeding strategies. Differences between observed and expected genetic correlations of BV for body weight, egg weight, egg number, egg mass, feed intake, and production efficiency as a fraction of the expected correlation were 5.1, 4.0, 36.7, 36.5, 17.7, and 31.6%, respectively, suggesting greater significance of G x E interactions for reproduction and production efficiency. The relationships between BV over the three environments were linear for most of the traits studied, but the coefficients of determination were dependent upon the magnitude of interactions involved. Relative efficiencies of indirect selection in CN or CH for performance in TO were also very low.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

The AMUSE-environment: a didactical environment where active multimedia use stimulates expertise.

The rapidly evolving information technology domain continuously offers new opportunities for computer aided education (C.A.E.). In a pilot project at the Department of Medical Informatics, we studied the possibilities and the limitations of multimedia systems for computer aided education in medicine. Different specialists paid attention to the medical, didactic, conceptual and technical points of view. From this teamwork originated the AMUSE-environment: an environment where Active Multimedia Use Stimulates Expertise. The AMUSE-environment describes a didactic framework that focuses on knowledge acquisition and application in complex content domains (the transfer and stimulation of expertise). In the context of advanced learning and random access instruction, the active involvement of the user is mandatory. Multimedia systems enhance communication by integrating different media (e.g., text, pictures, audio, video, ...) in one natural, user-friendly environment. The first application that uses the AMUSE-environment is developed in cooperation with the Haematology Department of the University Hospital Gasthuisberg. The haematologists filled the didactical framework with more than 500 full color illustrations and corresponding text and audio. The application gives a complete overview of the morphology of the blood and bone marrow cells.

Audiovisual Aids↗

PubMed2004

Effects of social interaction, physical environment and food choice freedom on consumption in a meal-testing environment.

Consumption of pizza, salad and iced tea was assessed in four separate tests at a central location. Three aspects of context were added in successive tests-social interaction during consumption, the physical environment in which the food was consumed and choice among foods-so that the fourth test had all effects present. The proportion consumed averaged from 79 to 82% of the food presented and increased significantly in the presence of one or more of the context manipulations. Salad consumption was higher when there was a choice of dressings in an enhanced environment. Pizza and tea consumption were higher in an enhanced restaurant-like environment. Social interaction alone has no detectable impact on food consumption. It is concluded that people eat more in enhanced contexts and careful consideration should be given to the environment in studies of food consumption.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Obesogenic environments: exploring the built and food environments.

Obesity is a significant health and social problem which has reached pandemic levels. The obesogenicity of an environment has been defined as 'the sum of influences that the surroundings, opportunities, or conditions of life have on promoting obesity in individuals or populations'. Prevention and treatment of obesity has focused on pharmacological, educational and behavioural interventions, with limited overall success. A novel and a longer-term approach would be to investigate the environments that promote high energy intake and sedentary behaviour; this has not yet been fully understood. The obesity epidemic has attracted attention at all levels, from general media interest to policy and practice from health and other professions including urban designers and planners. Shaping the environment to better support healthful decisions has the potential to be a key aspect of a successful obesity prevention intervention. Thus in order to develop effective environmental interventions, in relation to obesity, we need to understand how individuals, and different groups of individuals, interact with their environments in terms of physical activity and food intake.

Eating↗

PubMed2005

Social and physical environments and disparities in risk for cardiovascular disease: the healthy environments partnership conceptual model.

The Healthy Environments Partnership (HEP) is a community-based participatory research effort investigating variations in cardiovascular disease risk, and the contributions of social and physical environments to those variations, among non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic residents in three areas of Detroit, Michigan. Initiated in October 2000 as a part of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' Health Disparities Initiative, HEP is affiliated with the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center. The study is guided by a conceptual model that considers race-based residential segregation and associated concentrations of poverty and wealth to be fundamental factors influencing multiple, more proximate predictors of cardiovascular risk. Within this model, physical and social environments are identified as intermediate factors that mediate relationships between fundamental factors and more proximate factors such as physical activity and dietary practices that ultimately influence anthropomorphic and physiologic indicators of cardiovascular risk. The study design and data collection methods were jointly developed and implemented by a research team based in community-based organizations, health service organizations, and academic institutions. These efforts include collecting and analyzing airborne particulate matter over a 3-year period; census and administrative data; neighborhood observation checklist data to assess aspects of the physical and social environment; household survey data including information on perceived stressors, access to social support, and health-related behaviors; and anthropometric, biomarker, and self-report data as indicators of cardiovascular health. Through these collaborative efforts, HEP seeks to contribute to an understanding of factors that contribute to racial and socioeconomic health inequities, and develop a foundation for efforts to eliminate these disparities in Detroit.

Air Pollutants↗

PubMed1994

The NMDA receptor antagonist dizocilpine differentially affects environment-dependent and environment-independent ethanol tolerance.

Antagonists of the N-methyl-D-aspartate subtype of glutamate receptor have been reported to block the development of tolerance to various effects of ethanol and opiates, using paradigms in which tolerance is believed to be governed by learning. There is considerable evidence to implicate the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor in learning processes, and therefore the ability of the antagonists to block tolerance has been attributed to their effects on learning. To evaluate this hypothesis, we compared, in C57BL/6 mice, the effect of the uncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, dizocilpine, on environment-dependent (associative) tolerance to ethanol, which is governed by learning, and on environment-independent (nonassociative) ethanol tolerance, in which learning plays a minimal role. Environment-dependent tolerance was induced by repeated ethanol injections, and dizocilpine blocked the development of this type of tolerance to the hypothermic and incoordinating effects of ethanol. In contrast, when environment-independent ethanol tolerance was induced by feeding the mice an ethanol-containing liquid diet, dizocilpine treatment had no effect on the development of tolerance to the hypothermic, incoordinating or hypnotic effects of ethanol. The results support the hypothesis that the effect of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists on ethanol tolerance reflects the more general role of this receptor in processes involving learning and memory.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Biology-environment interaction and evocative biology-environment correlation: contributions of harsh discipline and parental psychopathology to problem adolescent behaviors.

Using an adoption paradigm, the Bioecological Model of development proposed by Bronfenbrenner and Ceci in 1994 was tested by concurrently modeling for biology-environment interaction and evocative biology-environment correlation. A sample of 150 adult adoptees (ages, 18-45 years) provided retrospective reports of harsh adoptive parent discipline, which served as the environmental independent variables. Birth parent psychopathology served as the biological predictor. The dependent variables were retrospective adoptee and adoptive parent reports on adolescent aggressive and conduct-disordered behaviors. Finally, adoptees were classified as experiencing contextual environmental risk using the presence of two or more adverse factors in the adoptive home (e.g., adoptive parent psychopathology) as the cutoff. The contextual environment was found to moderate the biological process of evocative biology-environment correlation, providing empirical support for the Bronfenbrenner and Ceci (1994) Bioecological Model.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

An APL procedure to estimate genotype by environment interaction when two environments are considered.

Genotype by environment interaction (GEI) is a relevant topic in many fields of applied biology. Normal parametric approaches following analysis of variance are not suitable when large differences between error variances within environments are present. We illustrate an APL program following Yamada's approach to estimate GEIs and ancillary statistics when two environments are considered. The choice of APL environment is based on its value as a useful tool in algorithm implementation and problem-solving. Its use is suggested in biological applications where matrix algebra is involved and an understanding of the computing complexity of problems is generally not required.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2003

Fitness and adaptation in a novel environment: effect of inbreeding, prior environment, and lineage.

The ability of populations to undergo adaptive evolution depends on the presence of genetic variation for ecologically important traits. The maintenance of genetic variation may be influenced by many variables, particularly long-term effective population size and the strength and form of selection. The roles of these factors are controversial and there is very little information on their impacts for quantitative characters. The aims of this study were to determine the impacts of population size and variable versus constant prior environmental conditions on fitness and the magnitude of response to selection. Outbred and inbred populations of Drosophila melanogaster were maintained under benign, constant stressful, and variably stressful conditions for seven generations, and then forced to adapt to a novel stress for seven generations. Fitness and adaptability were assayed in each replicate population. Our findings are that: (1) populations inbred in a variable environment were more adaptable than those inbred in a constant environment; (2) populations adapted to a prior stressful environment had greater fitness when reared in a novel stress than those less adapted to stress; (3) inbred populations had lower fitness and were less adaptable than the outbred population they were derived from; and (4) strong lineage effects were detectable across environments in the inbred populations.

Adaptation, Biological↗

PubMed1983

How people make their own environments: a theory of genotype greater than environment effects.

We propose a theory of development in which experience is directed by genotypes. Genotypic differences are proposed to affect phenotypic differences, both directly and through experience, via 3 kinds of genotype leads to environment effects: a passive kind, through environments provided by biologically related parents; an evocative kind, through responses elicited by individuals from others; and an active kind, through the selection of different environments by different people. The theory adapts the 3 kinds of genotype-environment correlations proposed by Plomin, DeFries, and Loehlin in a developmental model that is used to explain results from studies of deprivation, intervention, twins, and families.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

The rehabilitation team: staff perceptions of the hospital environment, the interdisciplinary team environment, and interprofessional relations.

Although inpatient rehabilitation is an interdisciplinary activity organized around a treatment team, there is a limited understanding of the workings of the interdisciplinary process. To elucidate staff perceptions of key aspects of the rehabilitation treatment process, we surveyed staff (n = 113) from selected inpatient teams. The staff completed social psychological instruments that measure perceptions of the hospital environment (The Ward Atmosphere Scale [WAS]), the team's environment (the Group Environment Scale [GES]), and interprofessional relations (Interprofessional Perception Scale [IPS]). Rehabilitation staff generally endorse the team approach, but express concerns over professional boundaries. Interprofessional difficulties seemed to be independent of team membership or professional training. Compared with published data from other settings, rehabilitation teams resembled task-oriented groups, but showed significant differences across teams in their perceptions of the team and hospital environments. The task-oriented character of rehabilitation teams, team-specific characteristics, and discord in interprofessional relationships may need to be considered in studies of rehabilitation teams effectiveness.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Systematic health, environment and safety activities: do they influence occupational environment, behaviour and health?

This study investigated the relationships between systematic health, environment and safety (HES) activities (as defined by Norway's Internal Control Regulation), the working environment, and workers' health-related behaviour and health. A questionnaire on systematic HES activities was answered by 237 managers of motor vehicle repair garages. A further questionnaire, on the working environment, health-related behaviour and health, was answered by workers (n = 2174) from the same garages. Using regression analysis, systematic HES activities were positively and significantly correlated with the following separate outcome variables, measured at an individual level: satisfaction with HES activities, physical working environment, social support, HES-related management support, health-related support, and control and workers' participation in activities related to occupational health. Workers at garages with systematic HES activities reported fewer musculoskeletal symptoms. Firm conclusions on the direction of causality are difficult to draw because of the cross-sectional design.

Accidents, Occupational↗

PubMed1979

Physiological reaction of women during exercise and recovery, in a comfortable environment and a hot environment.

Physiological reaction and oxygen intake during exercise and recovery were measured in fourteen young female Japanese during the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle at 25 degree C with 50% relative humidity and at 35 degree C with 50% relative humidity. Subjects, clad in bathing suits only, performed a bicycle ergometer exercise at a constant work load of 600 kg . m/min at a cycling rate of 50 rpm for 20 min and recovered while remaining on the bicycle ergometer for 40 min. The mean values of sweat volume and skin temperature were significantly greater at 35 degree C than at 25 degree C. It has been shown that heart rate and rectal temperature during exercise were slightly higher at 35 degree C than at 25 degree C, while those during recovery were significantly higher at 35 degree C than at 25 degree C. Oxygen intake, oxygen debt, and the fall in diastolic blood pressure after exercise were considerably greater at 35 degree C than at 25 degree C. The increase in oxygen intake in a hot environment might result from an increased metabolism due to higher body temperature and increased energy requirement for heat dissipation such as profuse sweating, higher heart rate, and increased ventilatory volume. The increase in oxygen debt in a hot environment might reflect the increased metabolism caused by higher body temperature and the increased production of lactic acid in the working muscle as a result of an insufficient blood supply to the muscle. The increases in sweat volume, oxygen intake during exercise, and oxygen debt in women in a hot environment were considerably smaller than corresponding values for men. The smaller increase in sweat volume in women in a hot environment could reflect a smaller oxygen intake and a more marked dilation of skin vessels in women than in men.

Adult↗

PubMed1985

A method to assess the environment for genetic studies: the Common Environment Index and the Household Relationships Interview.

Genetic and environmental influences in causing a disease are difficult to measure because of lack of precision in identification of relevant nongenetic variables. The Household Relationships Interview and Schedule was developed to measure shared common environment in families (Common Environment Index) and to take into account developmental stages throughout the life cycle and separation/disruption. Seven trained persons interviewed three individuals who reported fictitious interrelated life histories varying in length and complexity. Discrepancies between the recorded data and the true data were analyzed. Overall 96.1% of the items were recorded correctly. Thus, the method has shown good face and construct validity and reliability for measuring quantity of time shared by relatives in a common household. Common environment as measured by this instrument should be a particularly useful tool in behavior-genetic studies.

Environment↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The theory of the organism-environment system: II. Significance of nervous activity in the organism-environment system.

The relation between mental processes and brain activity is studied from the point of view of the theory of the organism-environment system. It is argued that the systemic point of view leads to a new kind of definition of the primary tasks of neurophysiology and to a new understanding of the traditional neurophysiological concepts. Neurophysiology is restored to its place as a part of biology: its task is the study of neurons as living units, not as computer chips. Neurons are living units which are organised as metabolic systems in connection with other neurons; they are not units which would carry out some psychological functions or maintain states which are typical only of the whole organism-environment system. Psychological processes, on the other hand, are processes always comprising the whole organism-environment system.

Animals↗