Loss Of Man-hours Research Articles

Mechanisms of anthelmintic action.

In the vast field of medical sciences, parasitology constitutes a small segment and has received comparatively scant attention, though worm infestation is a medical and public health problem of great magnitude, both in man and domesticated animals. The economic loss in terms of morbidity in man, loss of man-hours of work, and poor quality of animals, is exorbitant. Increasing the areas under cultivation, and quick and extensive modern transport system has contributed to the spread of worm infection beyond its traditional tropical and sub-tropical habitat. Drugs used as anthelmintics prior to World War II were mostly developed on empirical basis. Advances in the knowledge of physiology and biochemistry of parasites in last few years, have helped to a certain extent, in understanding the mechanism of action of known drugs, and development of newer chemotherapeutic agents. Understanding the mechanisms of action of anthelmintics, requires a more complete understanding of helminth physiology, biochemistry, effect of environment, and role played by immunological processes in parasitic diseases, than is available at present.

Factors Influencing Road Traffic Delay: Drivers’ Perspectives And Loss Of Man-Hour Along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Lagos, Nigeria

This study examined drivers’ perception of road traffic delay attributes and factors influencing road traffic delay with a view to assessing loss of man hours along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. This view translated to policy statements that can tremendously reduce the road traffic delay in the study area. Primary data were collected through questionnaire administration, traffic volume survey and direct field observation while the secondary data were obtained from past relevant journals, textbooks among others. The sample frame evolved from an average of 3 day traffic volume survey, which translated into 17,647 drivers between 7 am – 7 pm in the study area. The sample size was 117 (0.007%) as the purposive sampling technique was adopted. The frequency tables and likert scale outputs were adopted for data analyses. The study found that most drivers along this road were majorly (75.2%) young educated working adults while the trips made accounted for the concentration of work and after-work trips along this road. The study revealed that traffic delay along the road was largely due to indiscreet use of bus-stops, bad roads condition, drivers’ recklessness with DAI values of 4.70, 3.77 and 3.41 respectively using a 5 Point Likert Scale. This study established that a total of 2,920 ‘man-hours’ was lost annually on this road as the daily accumulated estimate for man hour loss was estimated as 8 hours per day. The strict enforcement and monitoring of proper usage of bus-stops and prompt rehabilitation of bad roads are needed among other recommendations.Key Words: Road Traffic Delay, Drivers’ Perspectives, Man-Hour Loss

Value of preplacement examination of the lumbar spine.

There is no single condition where skilled labor is involved that causes more loss of man-hours than low back symptoms (Runge). Coulter found that 79 per cent of back strains were in the lumbosacral area, as compared with only one-third of fractures. He believes that the lumbosacral spine is especially vulnerable to injury for two reasons: first, it is least protected by supporting structures in the region; second, it is more often subjected to excessive strain in lifting and bending than are other sections of the vertebral column. To be considered also is the fact that the lumbosacral region is more frequently the site of anomalies than any other part of the body. Colcher and Hursch point out that pain and disability could be and often are consistent with the anomalous findings. For these reasons, preplacement roentgen examinations of the lumbosacral spine have passed the stage of innovation. Cushway and Maier reported on routine examination of the spine for industrial employees in March of 1929.In their series of 931 examinations, 414 men were found to have a total of 510 anomalies and abnormalities. The necessity for preplacement examinations has been further emphasized by the steady increase in the number of so-called “industrial backs” in the recent past. Becker reported that from 1940 to 1950 Ohio had an increase of 31 per cent in employment and that during that period there was a 132 per cent increase in back injuries. In the same decade, with an increase of only 7 per cent in the industrial force of New York, back injuries increased 43 per cent. Becker also cites the experience of Minnesota, with a 57 per cent increase in its industrial force and 80 per cent increase in back injuries. The monetary significance of these observations is illustrated by a year's experience in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with over 6,900 back injuries reported and nearly $1,500,000 in related compensation payments. According to Carney, these conditions cost the American railroads 29 million dollars in claims in 1941. In 1951 and each year thereafter, over 100 million dollars have been paid out, even though accidents were reduced. Any traumatic cause of backache, superimposed upon a pre-existing low back affection, causes a difficult medical problem, from the point of view of both patient and physician. The greatest difficulty is the estimation of the actual significance of the patient's complaints as compared with the physical signs of injury and its effect on the pre-existing low back condition. As Flaxman has pointed out, many patients with low back affections work and carryon a normal life until trauma aggravates a pre-existing lesion. It may be that the complaint of backache is so common that hardly anyone gives it much attention until an injury aggravates the pain.

HEALTH IN INDUSTRY

THE importance of securing, in the crisis of man-power and woman-power through which Great Britain is now passing, that there is no waste of labour and that the full woman-power and manpower of the country is utilized to the maximum extent possible in furtherance of the nation's war effort-though it should be noted that the latter is not to be interpreted too narrowly-is now generally appreciated. As the last report of the Chief Inspector of Factories showed, the importance of eliminating the loss of man-hours and woman-hours due to accidents and to sickness is still far from being realized. Nor, as that report and successive reports of the Select Committee on National Expenditure have indicated, have managements either in industry or in Government departments and factories learnt the lessons and applied to good purpose the experience acquired during the War of 1914-18.