Study of the Career Factors Determining the Research Results of Enterprise Researchers: Comparison of Two Career Stages: Junichi NISHIMURA, et al. Department of Psychology and Education, Tokyo Kasei University—The purpose of this study is to discuss the types of results of studies conducted by enterprise researchers and their differences according to generation as well as to divide the subjects into two groups, one group less than 40 years old (younger group) and the other 40 or more years old (elder group), comparing the career factors which determine the research results of both groups. For this purpose, we mailed a questionnaire to a total of 3, 485 researchers from 83 companies selected by enterprise size from the Japanese pharmaceutical companies list. Among them, 1, 067 people from 37 companies answered. We obtained the following results by analyzing the achievements in the last three years of 669 males who had been working for four or more years in the same company. (1) The factor analysis revealed that the research results could be divided into two types: the product development performance (PDP) and the research performance (RP). The two types of results showed a weak correlation with each other. (2) In PDP there was no difference according to generation. RP increased from the twenties to the forties, and thereafter it was stable. (3) The multiple regression analysis indicated that the promotional effect of “interaction with people from different industries ” on PDP was developed in both the younger and elder groups. On the other hand, the encouragement effect of “expectation from the company” was only observed in the elder group. (4) The encouragement effect of “doctoral degrees”, “number of academic society memberships” and “presence of company research reports ” on RP was observed in both groups. On the other hand, whereas the promotional effect of “communication with other societies'' members ” was only observed in the younger group, that of “ personal networks not possessed by others ”, “ expertise not possessed by others ” and “ current occupational satisfaction ” was only detected in the elder group.

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Change in Blood Volume in the Brain during a Simulated Aircraft Landing Task: Yoshinori TAKEUCHI. Department of Public Health, Kyorin University School of Medicine—The change in brain blood volume during a stressful task was measured by using Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS) which monitors concentration changes in oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO₂) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hb) levels in the brain. To operate a flight simulator is a complex task and well-reflected real world, which is different from the task in a laboratory. Nine pilots landed a flight simulator in a crosswind of which the velocity was varied as four conditions from the light to strong. HbO₂ obtained from left forehead was increased as a function of wind velocity. Few or no changes were seen in HbO₂ from right forehead or Hb from both the left and right forehead. The results of this study showed that the brain blood volume was affected by mental stress which depended on the difficulty of the task. An assessment of mental stress may be able to monitor an increase in HbO₂ in the left forehead by NIRS in the field.

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Recovery from Mental III Health in an Occupational Setting: A Cohort Study in Japan: Yoshio MiNo, et al. Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Okayama University Medical School—Objectives: The purpose of this study is to clarify the degree of recovery from mental ill health in occupational settings and the nature of perceived job stress associated with recovery. Methods: A 1-year cohort study was carried out in 287 of 763 workers who scored 8 or more on the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30), and the proportion recovering during the year was compared according to the presence of individual perceived job stress items. To control confounding factors, multiple logistic analysis was used. Results: Recovery from mental ill health was observed in 48.7% after the first 6 months and in 66.1 % after 1 year. During the first 6-month period, no identified job stress item was associated with recovery. During the second 6-month period, however, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) between recovery and the absence of perceived job stress was 4.2 (1.3-13.1) for “ Too much responsibility ”, even after controlling for sex, age, the degree of family life satisfaction, physical health state, and the initial GHQ score. Conclusion: Relief from excessive responsibility might promote recovery in mentally ill workers.

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A Study on an Evaluation Tool for the Management of Liver Disease by Occupational Health Management Agencies: Moon-Hee JUNG, et al. Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Hanyang University—The management of liver disease is one of the most important services of occupational health nurses. It is therefore important to also develop an evaluation tool for it in order to improve the quality of nursing activities provided by occupational health management agencies. This study was conducted to develop such a standardized evaluation tool for the management of liver disease performed by occupational health nurses. The contents of the tool were made into the form of a questionnaire after the validity test and preliminary survey on the basis of interviews with occupational health nurses and workers given between Dec. 1, 1997 and May 31, 1998. The test for the reliability and validity of the developed tool was conducted on 106 nurses placed by occupational health management agencies and 136 workers diagnosed with liver disease, between July 30, 1998 and Sep. 30, 1998. 61 nurses' answers and 22 workers' answers were used for a test-retest analysis. The data were analyzed by means of Cronbach's alpha coefficients, Pearson's correlations, Spearman's correlations and multiple regression analysis in SPSS/ PC+. The results are as follows; 1. 25 items in the tool for nurses and 17 in the tool for workers were finally selected as items in the questionnaire. And each item was in the form of a 5-point scale. 2. Cronbach's alpha and test-retest correlation coefficient of the finally developed tool were higher than 0.70 and its explanatory power for the common variables of each factor was higher than 90%, which proved that its reliability and content validity was fairly high. The tool developed in this study is therefore expected to be useful in evaluating the services for the management of liver disease provided by occupational health nurses in group health practice.

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Ventilatory Response to Carbon Dioxide during Moderate Exercise: Masayoshi T_AKAHASHI, et al. National Institute for Resources and Environment—Elevated carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration is one of the most important physiological stressors with closed-circuit breathing-apparatus (CCBA). We determined the ventilatory response to CO₂ during moderate exercise by measuring the relationship between V_E and P_ETCO₂. Based on our findings, it is recommended that the permissible inhaled CO₂ limit for CCBA in the Japan Industrial Standard (JIS) be lowered from 3% to 2%, and that the members of a rescue or fire fighter team who use CCBA be selected on the basis of their ventilatory sensitivity to CO₂.

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Working Accidents among Mill Operators in Small-sized Factories Manufacturing Home Roof Tiles in Pejaten and Nyitdah Villages, Tabanan Regency Indonesia: SUTJANA, I.D.P.: Department of Physiology, Udayana University—Hand presses and mills for making home roof tiles have been used since 1980 in small-sized factories in Pejaten and Nyitdah villages. While the mills have such advantages as shortening the production process, reducing the physical workload and decreasing dust, working accidents caused by using the machines have increased. In December 1996, the heads of two villages, the owners and the operators of the machines were interviewed and the factories were inspected to clarify the relationships between machine use and working accidents. The results showed that the frequency of the accidents was not high but the injuries were severe due to machines with no safety covers and a lack of knowledge in safe machine operation.

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Impact of Health Professionals on Health Promotion Activities in Japanese Worksites: Tomohiro HIRAO, et al. Department of Hygiene & Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa Medical University—We tried to assess the impact of health staff on health promotion activities in Japanese worksites. We surveyed all worksites with 50 or more employees in Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan through self-administered questionnaires. We constructed a general linear model that contained three health professions, occupational physicians, health supervisors and occupational health nurses, which are common in the Japanese workplace as co-regressors, and fourteen health promotion activities as dependent variables. The impact of occupational physicians was small. The impact of health supervisors was considered high in workplace defined activities. The impact of occupational health nurses was considered high in person-to-person services and life-style related activities. Through assessing the impact, the strengths and weaknesses of each health professional were clarified.

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