Objectives: To evaluate the occupational functioning and identify health-related determinants of the continuation of occupational activity in workers with a recent myocardial infarction. Material and Methods: The project was a retrospective study concerning 183 male workers, aged 39-65 years, who had suffered a primary uncomplicated myocardial infarction approximately three years prior to the study. The study group comprised both the persons who returned to work after the incident and those who did not. The subjects' mental health as well as quality of life and occupational functioning were evaluated using NHP scale, Beck Depression Inventory, STAI questionnaire by Spielberger et al., WAI, and own questionnaire "My work". Results: Data analysis revealed that the persons who returned to work after myocardial infarction were characterized by a younger age and a higher level of education, self-rated health and quality of life than the persons who did not resume their occupational activity. The occupationally active individuals showed a varying degree of readaptation to work. In the maladapted group, such disturbances occurred as depression, anxiety and lowered work ability. Conclusions:The study results indicate that in workers with a recent myocardial infarction, the current procedure for assessment of work ability, which is based solely on the evaluation of physical health, is insufficient and should be supplemented with the assessment of their mental health. The employers should also undertake activities for a better adjustment of working conditions to the abilities of workers who have experienced a cardiac incident.

Objectives: The overall aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of and annoyance due to the noise from wind turbines in populated areas of Poland. Material and Methods: The study group comprised 156 subjects. All subjects were asked to fill in a questionnaire developed to enable evaluation of their living conditions, including prevalence of annoyance due to the noise from wind turbines and the self-assessment of physical health and well-being. In addition, current mental health status of the respondents was assessed using Goldberg General Health Questionnaire GHQ-12. For areas where the respondents lived, A-weighted sound pressure levels (SPLs) were calculated as the sum of the contributions from the wind power plants in the specific area. Results: It has been shown that the wind turbine noise at the calculated A-weigh ted SPL of 30-48 dB was noticed outdoors by 60.3% of the respondents. This noise was perceived as annoying outdoors by 33.3% of the respondents, while indoors by 20.5% of them. The odds ratio of being annoyed outdoors by the wind turbine noise increased along with increasing SPLs (OR = 2.1; 95% CI: 1.22-3.62). The subjects' attitude to wind turbines in general and sensitivity to landscape littering was found to have significant impact on the perceived annoyance. About 63% of variance in outdoors annoyance assessment might be explained by the noise level, general attitude to wind turbines and sensitivity to landscape littering. Conclusions: Before firm conclusions can be drawn further studies are needed, including a larger number of respondents with different living environments (i.e., dissimilar terrain, different urbanization and road traffic intensity).

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of low frequency noise (LFN) at levels normally occurring in the industrial control rooms on human mental performance (attention, visual perception and logical reasoning) and subjective well-being. Subjects were 191 male volunteers categorised in terms of subjective sensitivity to noise in general. They performed standardised tests: the Signal Detection Test (test I), the Stroop Colour-Word Test (test II), and two sub-tests of the General Aptitude Test Battery, i.e. the Math Reasoning Test (test III) and the Comparing of Names Test (test IV). Three different acoustic conditions were used in the between-subjects design: the background laboratory noise of about 30 dB(A), LFN, and a broadband noise without dominant low frequency components (reference noise) at 50 dB(A). Each subject was tested only once in randomassigned exposure conditions. Generally, no significant differences in performance related to exposure conditions were noted. Some of the results from test I and test II were influenced by sensitivity to noise. However, there were no significant differences between high-and low-sensitive subjects during exposure to LFN. The annoyance of LFN and reference noise was rated higher than that of the background noise. Subjects highly-sensitive to noise reported higher annoyance due to LFN in comparison with low-sensitives. No significant differences related to noise sensitivity in annoyance assessment of background and reference noises were noted. In conclusion, no effects due to LFN on mental performance compared to background and reference noises were found.

Phthalates are among of the most frequently investigated environmental chemicals influencing children's health and particularly their neuropsychological development. However, the reported effects of these compounds on child behavior, cognitive and psychomotor outcome are not fully consistent. The aim of this study is to evaluate the associations between prenatal and early postnatal phthalate exposures and child neurodevelopment at age of 7 years. A total of 134 mother-child pairs from Polish Mother and Child cohort (REPRO_PL) constitute the basis for current analysis. Eleven phthalate metabolites were measured in urine samples collected from mothers in the 3 rd trimester of pregnancy and from children at the age of 2 years. Child neuropsychological development at early school age (7 years) was assessed by both the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) filled by mothers and the Polish adaptation of the Intelligence and Development Scales (IDS) performed by psychologists. MEP concentration during pregnancy was significantly associated with increased risk of peer relationship problems in SDQ (OR=2.7, p=0.03). The concentration of two phthalate metabolites (oxo-MEHP and MiBP) in the urine collected from mothers during pregnancy, as well as MnBP concentration at age of 2 years were of borderline significance on prosocial behaviour and hyperactivity/inattention problems, respectively (OR=2.6, p=0.08; OR=2.2, p=0.07; OR=2.6, p=0.08). The results of the IDS analyses focused on child's cognitive and psychomotor development are not fully conclusive. Negative associations were evident between some phthalates in early childhood period and fluid intelligence and cognition (MEP: β=-5.2; p=0.006; β=-4.2; p=0.006; MnBP: β=-4.9; p=0.03; β=-4.0; p=0.03; respectively) and psychomotor skills (OH-MiNP: β=-1.2; p=0.07), while positive associations have been found in the prenatal period (MEP: β=2.9; p=0.07 for cognition; β=1.4; p=0.06 for language skills; oxo-MEHP: β=3.6; p=0.03 for fluid intelligence; β=2.9; p=0.03 for cognition; β=1.2; p=0.08 for psychomotor development). Further studies are required in order to elucidate which are the most critical periods of phthalate exposure on children's neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Effects of environmental exposures in utero and in the first years of life on early life health and development is a growing research area with major public health implications. The main aim of this work has been to provide an overview of the next step of the Polish Mother and Child Cohort Study (REPRO _ PL) covering exposure, health and neurodevelopment assessments of children at 7 years of age. Details regarding methodology of the follow-up of the children are crucial for cross-cohort collaboration and a full understanding of the future research questions. Phase III of the REPRO _ PL cohort covers a follow-up of 900 children at the age of 7 years old. The questionnaire filled in by the mothers is composed of: socio-demographic, child exposure and home environment information, nutritional status and health data. In the case of 400 children, environmental (including collection of urine, saliva and buccal cells), health status and psychomotor assessments are performed. Health and development check consists of physical measurements, child health status assessment (including lung function tests, skin prick testing, an interview/examination by an allergist) and psychomotor development tests (the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Intelligence and Development Scales). The results of the study will become available within the next few years. Extension of the REPRO _ PL cohort with examinations of children at the age of 7 years old may provide a better understanding of the relationship between environmental and lifestyle-related factors and children's health and neurodevelopment; and may further strengthen scientific base for policies and interventions promoting healthy lifestyle. mother-child cohorts [6,7]), in 2 publications focused on REPRO _ PL [8,9] and 2 concerning European birth cohorts [3,4]. In addition to the analyses performed only within the REPRO _ PL sample, the data from this study was also included in combined analyses from a few European cohorts [10][11][12]. To utilize the already performed work it is crucial to follow up the children to address new hypotheses or to evaluate whether the observed associations still persist in the school age. The main aim of this work has been to provide an overview of the next step of the REPRO _ PL study covering the exposure and health as well as the assessment of neurodevelopment among 7-year-old children. The details regarding methodology of the follow-up of the children are crucial for a cross-cohort collaboration and a full understanding of the future research questions. OBJECTIVESREPRO _ PL aims at evaluation of the impact of exposure to environmental and lifestyle-related factors during pregnancy and after birth on pregnancy outcomes and children's health. As regards the children's health and development within the 7 years of life, the study's 3 specific aims refer to: -assessment of the impact of prenatal exposure to maternal lifestyle-related factors (tobacco constituents, alcohol consumption, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), physical...