Lack of effect of doxycycline on disease activity and joint damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A double blind, placebo controlled trial

Objective. To investigate the effects of doxycycline on disease activity and joint destruction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. A 36 week double blind, placebo controlled crossover trial was conducted. Patients (n = 66) received 50 mg doxycycline or placebo twice a day during 12, 24, or 36 weeks. Patient assessments were...

Hand wash and manual skin wipes

Hand wash and skin wipes are major techniques that have been used for dermal exposure sampling. Both techniques remove chemicals either deposited on or transferred to the skin contaminant layer by a combination of chemical and mechanical actions. The paper overviews identified methods and techniques, with emphasis on sampling parameters and...

Transfer of contaminants from surface to hands: Experimental assessment of linearity of the exposure process, adherence to the skin, and area exposed during fixed pressure and repeated contact with surfaces contaminated with a powder

Estimation of dermal exposure in the workplace resulting from contact with contaminated surfaces is important in risk assessment. Models have been developed to describe the process of exposure due to transfer, but for major input parameters - that is, contact area surface and adherence - defaults are used. This study examines the effect of one...

Manipulation performance in interactive virtual environments

We have studied manipulation performance in virtual environments using two types of controllers: virtual hand control and 3D mouse-cursor control. These manipulation methods were tested under monoscopic and stereoscopic viewing conditions. Participants were asked to discriminate, grasp, pitch, roll and position virtual objects. Both speed and...

The hand in the cold, performance and risk

When a person is exposed to cold and his metabolic rate is insufficient to maintain a positive or neutral heat balance, the body will cool down. For the extremities this will result in a drastic reduction of blood flow, resulting in a so called "physiological ampu-tation" with extremity cooling towards ambient temperature. The dexterity decrease...

Physiological criteria for functioning of hands in the cold

Hands are important instruments in daily life. Without hands man is hardly able to function independently. Proper functioning of the hands is determined by several physiological parameters. These physiological parameters in turn are influenced by environmental factors. In this view of the literature, physiological processes in manual dexterity...

Vocational rehabilitation of young adults with a disability of one arm or hand

The paper presents a summary of a study of the vocational rehabilitation of young adults with a disability of one hand or arm. It demonstrates the importance of labor research in vocational rehabilitation. The success of vocational rehabilitation depends in large measure on the suitability of the job chosen and the adaptability of the workplace....

Pain, thermal sensation and cooling rates of hands while touching cold materials

Hand cooling and resulting comfort and pain were studied in 12 subjects, while touching six different materials (polyurethane foam, wood, nylon, rustproof steel, aluminium, and temperature-controlled metal) which were initially at ambient temperature. This was done for three ambient temperatures (-10°, 0° and 10°C), after pre-exposure exercise...

Simulation of hand cooling due to touching cold materials

A simple analytical model has been developed to simulate the cooling of the hands due to touching various types of cold material. The model consisted of a slab of tissue, covered on both sides with skin. The only active mechanism was the skin blood flow. The blood flow was controlled by body core temperature, mean skin temperature, and local...