Relationship between Burnout and Occupational Factors in Staff of Facilities for Mentally Retarded Children: Fumi TAKEDA, et al. Department of Health Sciences, Institute of Health & Sports Sciences, University of Tsukuba—Based on the data for 382 nursery teachers and instructors in 71 facilities for mentally retarded children, we studied occupational factors related to burnout in staff of facilities for mentally retarded children. As the result of stepwise multiple regression analysis, burnout scores were significantly related to “work burden”, “work satisfaction”, “dissatisfaction with effectiveness of treatment/instruction”, “emotional support”, and “aversion to dealing with children”. The lower scores in “work satisfaction”and “emotional support”and the higher scores in “work burden”, “aversion to dealing with children”, and “dissatisfaction with effectiveness of treatment/instructions”resulted in the higher burnout scores. These results suggest that it is important to improve the organizational working, support, and training systems. (J Occup Health 2001; 43: 173-179)

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An Investigation of Symptoms In Ethylene Oxide Sterilization Workers in Hospitals: Katsuya YAHATA, et al. The Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, The University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan—We investigated the frequency of particular symptoms reported during daily sterilization work with ethylene oxide (EO). By means of a self-administered questionnaire we received 287 replies from 66 institutions where sterilization work was performed, (148 used EO, and 139 used other substances). In these two groups, complaints such as stiff shoulders (19.2%), low back pain (13.9%), and skin burning (13.2%) were frequently reported. When we compared the EO sterilization workers with other workers by means of Fisher''s exact test, significant differences were observed among the cases of diarrhea, headache, dullness, sore throat and eye irritation. We also investigated some safety and health management factors that suggested correlations with the manifestation of these symptoms. (J Occup Health 2001; 43: 180-184)

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Bisphenol-A Affects Spermatogenesis in the Adult Rat Even at a Low Dose: Motoharu SAKAUE, et al. Environmental Health Sciences Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies—Bisphenol-A (BPA), a xenobiotic estrogenic compound widely used as a plastics monomer, has been suspected to have a so-called low dose effect on the reproductive system when administered transplacentally. In the present study, we investigated possible low-dose effects of BPA on spermatogenesis in adult rats. Male rats (13 weeks old; W13) were administrated a daily oral dose of BPA, ranging from 2 ng to 200 mg/kg, for 6 days and examined for testicular weight (TW) and daily sperm production (DSP) at W14 and W18. A BPA dose as low as 20 μg/kg tended to decrease TW and significantly reduced both DSP and the efficiency of spermatogenesis (DSP per gram testis) at W18, showing that BPA suppressed a normal increase in DSP and TW from W13 to W18. A single administration of 20 μg BPA/kg to W13 rats affected the intensity or mobility of several protein spots in the testicular cytosol fraction as shown by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis analysis. The present study showed that BPA at a low dose affects spermatogenesis in the adult rat. (J Occup Health 2001; 43: 185-190)

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Natural Killer Cell Activity and its Related Psychological Factor, Sense of Coherence in Male Smokers: Hiroyuki NAKAMURA, et al. Department of Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University—Sense of Coherence (SOC), a candidate for a mediating stress factor, is studied in the framework of Antonovsky''s salutogenesis paradigm, which emphasizes the origin of health. Emotional stress is associated with a decrease in cellular immune function including natural killer cell activity (NKCA). The purpose of this study was to clarify the involvement of SOC and smoking behavior in cellular immunity including NKCA. The author performed a psychological questionnaire and examined NKCA and NK cell subsets in 125 men (45.1 ± 7.88 yr, mean ± SD) engaged in office work. The psychosocial factors included SOC and health locus of control (HLC) as well as perceived life stress and life style. SOC and smoking status was recognized to affect NKCA as well as CD57+CD16+. A higher SOC and never smoking significantly contributed to a higher level of NKCA. In subjects with a higher SOC, NKCA in never and ex-smokers were significantly higher than those in present smokers, whereas in subjects with a lower SOC, NKCA only in never smokers was significantly higher than that in present smokers. There were no significant differences in the stress index, alcohol obesity, or HLC among smoking status. SOC showed a moderately negative relationship with life stress. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that SOC and smoking were significantly correlated to NKCA and CD57+CD16+, independently of other psychosocial variables, suggesting salutogenic contributions of SOC. SOC may be an important psychological modifier in determining the relationship between cellular immunity and smoking cessation. The reduced NKCA with lower SOC in present smokers, whose association seems to be produced not through daily life stress, must be dealt with as an occupational mental health problem. (J Occup Health 2001; 43: 191-198)

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