Tinnitus is said to be a common complaint of workers who are exposed to noise. We studied the prevalence and characteristics of tinnitus in 647 noise-exposed workers who had been notified as cases of noise-induced deafness. One hundred and fifty-one had tinnitus, giving a prevalence of 23.3 per cent. The tinnitus was bilateral in 42.4 per cent of cases, and of high frequency in 44.4 per cent. In 23.8 per cent it was associated with other symptoms. About 30 per cent of those with tinnitus complained that it interfered with daily activities like telephone conversation and sleep. The workers with tinnitus had consistently higher hearing thresholds at both high and low frequencies than those with no tinnitus. This finding remained even after adjusting for differences in sex, age and ethnic group composition and in the noise exposure duration. Workers are often told that noise exposure causes deafness, but little is mentioned about tinnitus. Awareness of the possible occurrence of tinnitus may encourage workers to cooperate more actively in a company hearing conservation programme.

Although proper exercise training induces positive physiological effects, improper exercise can lead to injury, fatigue, and poor performance. The frequency, intensity, time/duration, type, volume, and progression (FITT-VP) are the essential components of exercise training to maintain or improve physical fitness and health. The purpose of this study was to develop specific exercise programs by applying the FITT-VP principle and to examine the effects on heart rate (HR) and hematological and biochemical parameters in dogs. The healthy male Beagles (n = 4) included in this study performed continuous and interval exercises, comprising 12 protocols. The HR monitoring elicited an affirmative response to activities but varied depending on the protocols. The hematologic parameters (e.g., red blood cell count, white blood cell count, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration) were within the reference ranges both before and after exercise. The creatine kinase level significantly increased, and the cholesterol level decreased after exercises. In conclusion, the continuous and interval exercise program elicits an appropriate HR reaction, has no adverse effects on the serum parameters, and provides valuable insight for healthcare in dogs.

The effect of propofol infusion on the stress response was studied in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Ten patients received propofol infusion during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and ten controls received diazepam. Blood levels of cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline were sampled. There was a significant reduction in all three hormones (P< 0.05) in the study group. In addition, the amount of sodium nitroprusside used during CPB was significantly reduced (P< 0.05).