Objectives We aimed to measure and evaluate whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure among drivers of mining vehicles in the Barents region. Study design In the period from November 2012 to August 2014, this cross-sectional study was carried out at 3 mines in Finland, Norway and Sweden as part of the MineHealth project. Methods Measurements of WBV were conducted on the surface of the driver's seat d...

We examined the effects of ischemia (ISC) alone and with low-intensity exercise (ISC+EX) on growth hormone (GH) and muscle function responses. Nine men (22 +/- 0.7 yr) completed 3 study days: an ISC day (thigh cuff inflated five times, 5 min on, 3 min off), an ISC+EX day [knee extension at 20% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) with ISC], and a control day. MVCs and submaximal contraction task...

BACKGROUND Procrastination is a common behavior which affects different aspects of life. The procrastination assessment scale-student (PASS) evaluates academic procrastination apropos its frequency and reasons. OBJECTIVES The aims of the present study were to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Farsi version of the PASS in a sample of Iranian medical students. PATIENTS AND METHODS...

Who gains from more information on the quality of pharmaceutical drugs? Are there incentives for voluntary post-approval clinical trials among pharmaceutical companies? Contrary to popular belief, this paper shows that it is not in the consumer interest that clinical evidence establishing the relative e¤ectiveness within a class of drugs are produced. Pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand...

BACKGROUND No studies have compared the 2-factor structures of Wong's and Post's versions of the short-form Stroke-Specific Quality of Life (i.e., 12-item SSQOL) scale. This study compared the construct validity of 2 short-forms of the 12-item-SSQOL (not the 12-domain-SSQOL). METHODS Data were obtained from a previous validation study of the original 49-item SSQOL in 263 patients. Construct v...

Vibrotactile feedback (VTF) has been shown to improve balance performance in healthy people and people with vestibular disorders in a single-task experimental condition. It is unclear how age-related changes in balance affect the ability to use VTF and if there are different attentional requirements for old and young adults when using VTF. Twenty younger and 20 older subjects participated in th...

A modified version of the nonlinear iterative Chahine algorithm is presented and applied to the inversion of spectral extinction data for particle sizing. Simulated data were generated in a λ range of 0.2-2 µm,and particle-size distributions were recovered with radii in the range of 0.14-1.4 µm. Our results show that distributions and sample concentrations can be recovered to a high degree of a...

Corruption by the politically connected is often blamed for economic ills, particularly in less developed economies. Using a loan-level data set of more than 90,000 …rms that represents the universe of corporate lending in Pakistan between 1996 and 2002, we investigate rents to politically connected …rms in banking. Classifying a …rm as “political”if its director participates in an election, we...

This paper describes the database development of spoken Hindi Hybrid words. The main focus is on the analysis of spoken Hindi Hybrid Words by using endpoint detection algorithm. The development is done in the robust environment. Male and Female speakers are selected from different states to analyze the acoustical variation in their utterances. Various emotions such as normal, happy, anger and s...

BACKGROUND Objective measures of outcome ensure reliable decisions with regard to treatment planning. Oxford Elbow Score (OES) is one of the common outcome measures used for assessing quality of life of patients with elbow disorders. OES consists of three domains: pain, elbow function and social/psychological. The aim of this study is to test the validity and reliability of the Turkish version ...