Do we recover from vacation? Meta-analysis of vacation effects on health and well-being.
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OBJECTIVES: The aim of this meta-analysis is to investigate to what extent vacation has positive effects on health and well-being, how long such effects endure after work resumption, and how specific vacation activities and experiences affect these relationships. METHODS: Based on a systematic literature search (PsycInfo, Medline) and methodological exclusion criteria, in a stepwise approach, 7 studies were selected and reviewed. Effect sizes (Cohen's d) were calculated i) for every outcome variable within every study, ii) for every study by averaging the effect sizes per study, and iii) for homogeneous categories of outcome variables (exhaustion, health complaints, life satisfaction). RESULTS: The results suggest that vacation has positive effects on health and well-being (small effect, d=+0.43), but that these effects soon fade out after work resumption (small effect, d=-0.38). Our research further demonstrated that vacation activities and experiences have hardly been studied. Therefore, their contribution to vacation effect and fade out remains unclear. DISCUSSION: Progress in future vacation research will depend on strong research designs that incorporate repeated measurements pre-, inter- and post-vacation. (+info)
Trends and seasonality in birth frequency: a comparison of Muslim and Jewish populations in southern Israel: daily time series analysis of 200 009 births, 1988-2005.
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Gunshot injuries due to celebratory gun shootings.
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Traditional shooting with guns often occurs and leads to unwanted gunshot injuries in areas where celebrations are held. Such injuries have been classified as celebratory gun shooting injury in the international disease classification system. CASE: An 8-year-old female patient presented with respiratory arrest. The heartbeats normalized upon cardiopulmonary resuscitation. On physical examination, the only pathological finding was a skin defect measuring 1 x 1 cm on the midline and located 2 cm in front of the coronal suture. Cranial CT revealed a bone defect of 0.5 cm in the area 2 cm in front of the coronal suture on the midline, tetraventricular and extensive subarachnoid hemorrhage and parenchymal hematoma in the frontal area. It was initially thought to be a gunshot injury; however, on cranial CT, no bullet fragments or bullet exit hole was observed. A cervicothoracal direct graph was obtained and an image that might have been compatible with a bullet core was detected at Th 2-3 vertebra level. CONCLUSION: Although gunshot injuries are generally well- known, this may not be a very familiar topic for neurosurgeons. The primary aim of this report is to emphasize that a bullet round randomly fired into the air ascends in reverse direction to gravity and after reaching a zero point, it returns to the ground at a high velocity that facilitates its penetration into the skull according to a principal physics law. (+info)
Assessment of dietary consumption and time-course of changes in serum lipids and lipoproteins before, during and after Ramadan in young Algerian adults.
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INTRODUCTION: During the month of Ramadan, fasting is obligatory for all healthy adult Muslims, with the only exempted adults being those who have to travel or are sick. The aim of this study was to see whether changes in food intake and meal patterns during Ramadan fasting could modify serum lipid and lipoprotein parameters in healthy Algerian young men and women volunteers. The time-course prospective study was done in order to investigate at what time eventual changes to these parameters occur during Ramadan and their disappearance after Ramadan. METHODS: Subjects were interviewed by trained interviewers using the method of the "seven day recall and record", before, during and after Ramadan. The serum lipid and lipoprotein contents were analysed at different times. RESULTS: The total energy intake was higher during Ramadan (13 and 11 MJ/day) than before and after Ramadan (11 and 9 MJ/day) in men and women, respectively. In the second week of Ramadan, carbohydrate intake was elevated by 22 percent and 24 percent in men and women, respectively, compared to before and after Ramadan. At the end of Ramadan, the low density lipoproteins (LDL) percentages decreased by 20 percent in women and 55 percent in men compared to the values obtained before Ramadan. In both groups, the amount of serum high density lipoproteins (HDL) was 1.4-fold higher, in particular on day 28 of Ramadan, in comparison with the period before and after Ramadan. Indeed, a progressive decrease in LDL-C was noted in women and was particularly drastic in men. In contrast, HDL-C had increased by 30 percent on day 15 of Ramadan, compared to before Ramadan. CONCLUSION: This study shows that striking changes in nutritional habits during Ramadan may be useful in reducing LDL levels and in increasing HDL levels. The young Muslim's diet during Ramadan may contribute to favourable modifications of the serum lipoprotein profile related to cardiovascular protection. (+info)
The effect of weekend and holiday sleep compensation on childhood overweight and obesity.
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Blue Monday phenomenon among men: suicide deaths in Japan.
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The number of suicide deaths in Japan has continued to be high, and is a pressing social problem. Although the weekly distribution of suicide deaths has been documented, no nationwide analysis has yet been conducted. In the present study, the ratios of the number of suicide deaths per day, by day of the week, and on weekdays relative to holidays were calculated using the data for all suicide deaths recorded in 2003. The suicide deaths recorded on holidays were treated as the reference, and a confidence interval of 95% (95% CI) was used. We calculated the suicide death ratios among men and women of all ages (men:23,396, women:8,713, total:32,109) and also among those of productive age (age:15-64 years, men:18,552, women:5,481, total:24,033). Among men of all ages, the suicide death ratio on Mondays was found to be significantly high at 1.49 (95% CI:1.04-2.14), and the ratios were found to decrease over the course of the week from Monday to Friday. On each weekday, the suicide death ratios among men of productive age were found to be higher than those among men of all ages. Among women, the suicide death ratios on any weekday were found to be higher than 1, but there was no significant difference between the days. Among both men and women, the number of suicide deaths on holidays was lower than that on weekdays. This study revealed that the number of suicide deaths recorded per day on Mondays is 1.5 times higher than that on holidays among men. This suggests that the structure of the work week may possibly influence suicide deaths among men. Future discussions regarding the arrangement and distribution of weekly holidays should be conducted in order to reduce the number of suicide deaths. (+info)
Postponement of death around Chinese holidays: a Hong Kong perspective.
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INTRODUCTION: Historical anecdotes suggest human beings can postpone death around important occasions. Some formal studies have claimed that elderly Jewish men and Chinese women in America postponed death around the Passover and Harvest Moon (or Mid-Autumn) Festival (HMF), respectively. METHODS: We examined deaths from cancer, cerebrovascular and heart diseases in the Chinese around four important holidays celebrated in Hong Kong. From computerised data in 1995-2000, the expected weekly deaths for 12 weeks before and after Lunar New Year, Ching Ming, HMF and Chung Yeung holidays were calculated using a polynomial regression model for the three diseases in men and women, under and over the age of 75 years. The differences in the observed deaths one week before and one week after the four holidays were tested by the binomial test. RESULTS: There were significantly fewer deaths overall in men before the holidays than after (p-value equals 0.0081), with most of the difference being due to cancer deaths, particularly among men over 75 years of age. For women, there were actually more deaths before than after the holidays. The data, stratified according to age, gender, disease and holiday, yielded only five out of 48 variables with a p-value of less than 0.05, which was slightly above chance, considering the large number of comparisons made. In four of the five situations, there were significantly fewer deaths before than after the holidays; but after Bonferroni correction, only the finding of fewer cancer deaths for men aged over 75 years before HMF was significant. CONCLUSION: Other than cancer deaths in males, we found little evidence in this dataset of death postponement until after important holidays in the Hong Kong Chinese population. (+info)