BACKGROUND Mental disorders are common diagnostic causes for longer sickness absence and disability retirement in OECD-countries. Short sickness absence spells are also common, and neither trivial for health and work ability. We studied how prior short sickness absence spells and days are associated with subsequent longer sickness absence due to mental disorders in two age-groups of municipal e...

Sickness-induced anorexia is a conserved behavior induced during infections. Here, we report that an intestinal pathogen, Salmonella Typhimurium, inhibits anorexia by manipulating the gut-brain axis. Inhibition of inflammasome activation by the S. Typhimurium effector, SlrP, prevented anorexia caused by IL-1β-mediated signaling to the hypothalamus via the vagus nerve. Rather than compromising h...

AIM To compare levels of self-efficacy among the general working population and employees with sickness absence from work, and to examine if general self-efficacy measured before occurrence of sickness absence predicted subsequent onset of sickness absence and Return-to-Work. METHODS The study follows a cohort of 5357 working employees and 106 long-term sickness absent employees in Denmark. T...

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE INSTITUTE OF SOUND AND VIBRATION RESEARCH Doctor of Philosophy VISUAL ACUITY, EYE MOVEMENTS, THE ILLUSION OF MOTION AND MOTION SICKNESS WITH OPTOKINETIC STIMULI by Nicholas Andrew Webb Motion sickness and the illusion of self-motion (vection) can be induced by the use of an optokinetic drum (a black and white striped cylinder which rotates around a sea...

BACKGROUND Workplace stressors, such as bullying, are strongly related to subsequent long-term sickness absence, but little is known of the possible physiological mechanisms linking workplace stressors and sickness absence. The primary aim of this study was to investigate to what extent cortisol levels were associated with subsequent sickness absence and if cortisol mediated the association bet...

Cetacean mass stranding events associated with naval mid-frequency sonar use have raised considerable conservation concerns. These strandings have mostly involved beaked whales, with common pathologies, including "bubble lesions" similar to decompression sickness symptoms and acoustic traumas. However, other cetacean species have also stranded coincident with naval exercises. Possible mechanism...

Sickness Absence and Local Benefit Cultures In many countries, sickness absence financed by generous insurance benefits has become an important concern in the policy debate. It turns out that there are strong variations in absence behavior between local geographical areas, and it has been difficult to explain these variations by observable socioeconomic factors. In this paper we investigate whe...

Few studies have been carried out to examine the relation between postural stability and subjective reports or feelings of motion sickness. Two views seem to exist on the relation between immersion in a virtual reality (VR) environment and subjective feelings of motion sickness. One predicts that the immersion induces both postural instability and motion sickness. Another view is that preimmers...

BACKGROUND Exposure to shift work has been associated with negative health consequences, although the association between shift work and sickness absence remains unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate associations between cumulative exposure to shift work and sickness absence among ground staff employees of an airline company. METHODS This study used data from the MORE (Monitoring O...